Illustrator, author
It's Friday the 13th! Again! It's perfect time to remind you good luck black cats :)
Whether you believe in Friday 13th bad luck or not, we wish you all the best and all the luck. Btw, we think the superstition about the bad luck black cats was made up by the white cats' gang. Just look at those pics!
Stamp your feet via Lenore on BookLikes
Reading lesson via Lenore on BookLikes
The Sleepyhead via Tina Sandevska on BookLikes
Smart one via
Just sitting via
and sitting via
and still sitting via
Come, sit by via
Mark Twain’s vintage cat Bambino via
Lucky 13 via
Comma cat via Tina Sandevska on BookLikes
And if you wish to read some cat books have a look at the collection of several reads featuring cats found by Kagama -The Literaturevixen.
Happy Friday the 13th and good luck! ;-)
P.S. Watch out! Zombie kittens are waiting.
furry zombies via Musings of NerdyNatasha on BookLikes
Originally posted on BookLikes Blog: December 13, 2013, updated June 13, 2014.
First book trailer for The Night of Elisa - Hope you enjoy it! More videos coming soon :)
Visit The Night of Elisa on Pinterest and discover the boards and more about the book :)
I'd like to invite you take a look at the book Spotlight and Giveaway at lovely blog GOTHIC MOMS ^.^
A nice chance to get a free copy of The Night of Elisa :)
Have fun, and don't miss the cool book reviews and other articles on the blog!
You can find my debut out now @ Smashwords.com!
Coming soon on Amazon as KIndle Edition.
ILLUSTRATED PRINT EDITION coming 30th May!
Stay tuned!!!
Bellow, the book blurb:
Sometimes, life and love can follow the most obscure paths, just as they did for Elisa. Her life becomes a dark, cold, lonely cage the day the Devil takes her as his wife. He takes away almost everything she holds dear: her health, her wealth and what is left of her family. Trapped between the nuances of life and beyond-life, Elisa finds herself struggling for a better tomorrow. With her health deteriorating, how will she summon the courage and strength to stand her ground? And how far will she go in the pursuit of a dream? Embark with Elisa on this puzzling Gothic adventure set in the late Victorian era, between the world of the Living and the picturesque, melancholic Duskland.
"It is strange... How can I 'go home' when I have no memories of that place at all?" - Elisa
"Stop it, Elisa. You're bleeding, my darling!" - Leonhard
"Ah, love, the biggest poison and most dangerous drug there is."
- Dr. Charles
Above, Leonhard, one of the protagonists of “The XIIIth Hour at Duskland” (short story) and “The Night of Elisa” (illustrated novella coming soon!).
I would like to share my experience of indie author & illustrator, on creating my debut work, a novella born out of a short story + the feedback of amazing readers!
Almost 2 years ago, I was sitting out in the balcony in one of my off days and started drafting a short story which came to my mind.
That short story was “The XIIIth Hour at Duskland”. When I thought it was finished, I looked for beta readers on Goodreads and a few people were kind enough to take of their precious times and good will to Read my material and provide honest feedback.
From that precious feedback, I changed several things in the manuscript. The essence of the story was the same, but I changed something to fit to grammar rules, cut words which didn’t fit for the characters and timeframe and so on.
I even put it for sale on Kindle and Smashwords , as an experiment. I wanted to know how the self-publishing engines worked, and how would be the general feedback of the readers.
Most people thought the story had grammar issues, it meant, no matter how hard I tried to improve it in this aspect (specially, when English is NOT my primary language), it really didn’t work. Lucky me, one of my readers were also an editor, the one I am working with to this day, Clare Diston.
She edited the text, and all grammar issues were gone and the story was presentable. Still, readers were complaining they missed more explanation behind the facts (short stories focus on actions and plot, different from a novel or novella, where you have room for characterization and details). The readers wanted to know more about the main characters, what triggered the events we read in the story and so on.
It was clear to me I needed to do something about it and listen to the “vox populi, vox dei”. So, during the last semester of 2013, I decided to turn the short story ( 8.5 k words ) into an illustrated novella ( 55 k words ). The initial idea became a beautifully illustrated Gothic Ghost story, divided into 7 chapters, where the settings are better explored and the characters have more time to make themselves living.
All thanks to the fantastic readers and curious people who takes time to read first time author stories and provide honest, constructive feedback! I learned a lot during the process, and now I have a better, more attractive product to offer, to give back to those who helped me and new readers.
I gave a new tittle to the novella (The Night of Elisa), it is all done and edited, now I am finishing painting the concepts and illustrations and preparing the manuscript/design for the publishing market.
The big learning for me as indie author was: LOVE the people who give you 2 and 3 stars (and even 1) if they are being honest in their feedback. Because that feedback can help you take your work to the next level, learn and work on a better product for your audience! In no moment I felt down when I got low rating, on the contrary, I knew each low rating on my short story was worthy a chest of gold!
Hope this story can inspire you or at least, give you some insight!
The introduction to the upcoming “Stories of Duskland" short story anthology/illustrated book is now available for FREE at Smashwords.com!
Click HERE to download your copy. ~ 9K words.
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Sterling Hundley (sterlinghundley.com)
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Robin Eley (robineley.com)
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Grigor Eftimov (http://existentialdreams.blogspot.com)
Cesar Santos (santocesar.com)
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Tyler Jacobson (tylerjacobsonart.com)
Together, they will reveal the secrets of their success, talk about clients, promotion, art business, copyright, selling your art, among other important professional subjects. You will enjoy this content browsing through top notch illustrations and having access to great bonus videos.
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"Art Collab – Artistic Collaboration in the Digital Era" is a celebration of diversity; diversity of cultures, techniques, styles and creative thinking.”
The World Wide Web has changed the ways of the Art Community. Today there are no boundaries for artists from around the globe to interact with each other, exchange experiences and creative juice. The Digital Era has ignited a true creative genesis where the “ordinary” person has the chance to create and present something “extraordinary” to a web audience and where the so-called “artists” can grow, learn and re-invent themselves at a much faster pace within a web of information. This book presents to you a little slice of pie of what happens when one join forces with other creative minds, in person and/or through the means of the internet. You can create something big and innovative, no matter where you are: your imagination is the limit.
If you are an art lover, a creative mind, an artist who is curious about what happens around the Art Community, is in search of new ideas for your next big project and/or is willing to grow and stretch your artistic skills, this book is for you. You are invited to take a closer look at this collection of collaborative projects and their makings as well as enjoy the articles and beautiful illustrations we have gathered here for you! Artists included in the book are Adrian Schmetz / Amir hossein Erfani / Ben Ami Scopinho / Dariusz Zawiazalec / Diego de almeida / Fernando ferreiro / Ira Krykun / ISIS SOUSA / Juliana Karina / Kim Edwin Jektvik / Lampros Kalfuntzos / Mario lopez / Markus Schlogl / Stephanie Rose.
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You can buy it on Amazon, click HERE.
Buy it on Sketchoholic.com.
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