I really enjoy making my own book ads for social media. I realize this is not the case for everyone, but there are some concepts that can make it easier. I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on design/my tips and tricks (some of which may be pretty obvious, but that's fine - fundamental [...]
Short story: Thompson, Ellis, and Patrol
A side fic from the Aestus fictional world Thompson plunked himself down on the ground and reached for the cookies. He grabbed two and stuffed them in his mouth. Ellis yanked the tin away. Thompson half-dove as he reached over, sputtering in protest, only to be met by a broad palm squashed against his face [...]
Producing My Own Audiobook! (Part 1)
I decided I wanted to try producing an audiobook after several months of people asking if I had one/for accessibility reasons/looking at the market and realizing audiobooks were a major trend. I used to hate how I sounded reading aloud - in fact, reading aloud was a source of terror as a child, because I [...]
Is my MC realistic? Or unnecessarily special?
When I first started writing Jossey, the protagonist of Aestus, Book 1: The City, I did not want her to be the typical heroine of Tropeland. I grew up around enough fanfiction to be leery of the so-called Mary Sue (beautiful, talented, everyone falls in love with her, good at everything she does, etc. to [...]
Brief Updates for the Writing Community
Announcement: There is an Indie Book Community discord server in the works but non-indie writers are welcome too (as long as they’re supportive of indie publishing and such)! I know many of you are querying, and that’s totally fine - please join us! (Invite may expire in 7 days.) I’m S. Z. Attwell and can [...]
Vermeer and writing
Some thoughts. I saw a thread on Vermeer and how his painting Girl With a Pearl Earring is not a painting of a particular person, but of a “tronie,” a representation of some quality, whether age or youth or pain or something else (thread here: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1597381167069921281?s=46&t=NsoZmPKiAWC3zTYiS5p4MQ) I wanted to cry. I realized something. My characters [...]
Mastodon
I use Twitter heavily for my book marketing. In the interest of not losing that platform in case the bulk of my followers went elsewhere, I decided to look farther afield and see what was out there. I had heard of Mastodon, but was intimidated by the decentralized platform, the new terminology, etc. - until [...]
Writer’s Block
Writing block sucks, and I've had it for about two years now.
The S. Z. Attwell Project Planning Method
As a writer, and in life, I have to tackle large projects all the time. However, I don’t exactly follow the structured paper-planner route. My attention is more…focused. By that, I mean that I can sit for 5-10 hours at a time working on something, to the point that I sometimes don’t eat dinner until [...]
Space and our fragile Earth
I was in tears just now watching William Shatner’s response to going to space. (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=gI5bTKwDpoM) I have never been to space. But I understand what he’s talking about. At night, I can see stars. That’s normal - they’re amazing and beautiful, but I never thought much beyond that. But it occurred to me one [...]