Yeah, I said it. Bring it on, baby.

Anyone who’s ever dared to love, bump, and grind, knows that the love and sex scene can be a wild and crazy ride. ::teehee!::

As for me, in my own delightful adventures on dating websites, I’ve been asked to join threesomes, be a dominatrix, and to be a secret mistress more times than I can count. At one point– and I’m sure many women share this experience– my inbox had become so inundated with these kinds of requests that unless a guy was coming to the table with a clown fetish or a desire to spank a melon while hanging from a chandelier, I frankly just wasn’t interested, lol!

Then came a lovely young man (now my friend). Let’s call him Johnny. Enter Johnny, Johnny’s girlfriend, and their online calendar that detailed more than just when their next vacay would be. There were also lovers scheduled in, right in between date night, project deadlines, and Sunday brunch. WOWZA! Hello, polyamory!

How did they make it work? Didn’t they get jealous? What about “belonging” to someone? I had questions out of the wazoo, and to be honest, the answers I got were incredible. The most enlightening love and sex conversations I’ve ever had were with folks in polyamorous relationships. And while I’ve never taken a couple up on a proposition myself (though I certainly considered it), I found myself reexamining my own understandings of love, relationships, and human nature. Polyamory is a concept that tends to be deeply misunderstood, and one that few are brave enough to explore… until now.

Ben Fritz, an award-winning web producer, is directing a scripted, comedic web-series called “The Ethical Slut”. (Purr.) It’s inspired by “The Ethical Slut” guidebook, which (since its debut in 1997) has been hailed as a sexy manifesto on how to reclaim and redefine the meaning of pleasure and happiness through polyamory, open relationships, and other delightful adventures.

In the same vein, the web series will follow the lives of two families as they dare to attempt a polyamorous lifestyle. If you were a fan of hit tv shows like “Big Love” and “Hung”, then this film project is right up your alley! Check us out:

Interested in seeing more? Support “The Ethical Slut” on our Kickstarter campaign today, and explore where an open mind can take you as a writer, a film lover, and as a person.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Slut Utopia awaits; we start shooting in a little over 3 weeks and there’s so much more to do! Stay tuned for more updates on this sassy web series, and as always…

Keep it indie (purr),
<3 Colby

1. Ipad Mini

Great googly moogly, the Ipad Mini and her delightful accessories are probably going to be your greatest ally on any trip. For one, 99.999% of hostels have free WiFi, but if you don’t have a computer, you’ll have to pay to use theirs. So bring one! And honestly, I suggest the Ipad Mini. It’s as small as a journal, lightweight, and POWERFUL. It’s one of the most advanced notebooks on the market, and in my opinion, it comes at a VERY reasonable price (starts at $299.00 for 16 GB).

With the Ipad Mini, you can create videos, podcasts, and documents as well as surf the net. It’s super fast and also comes equipped with SIRI, a digital assistant who speaks over 10 languages, talks to you, and also just makes magic for you when you ask it to do research, find locations, and schedule your appointments for you. The Ipad Mini might very well be the first step towards the Singularity, but who cares so long as you can catch my train to Seville while also speaking Mandarin Chinese to your computer?

Most importantly, though, you have a compact way to write your travel journals, blog posts, and yes, your novels and scripts if you so choose! How can you type efficiently with a touch tablet, though? Well luckily, I’ve got some more writer’s tech for you, namely:

2. The Poetic Keybook Bluetooth Keyboard Case (Ipad Accessory)

The Poetic Keybook Bluetooth Keyboard is easy to connect to your Ipad Mini, protects it from damage, and ALSO allows you to actually TYPE (none of this touch-screen tomfoolery)! So if need to write on the road but want to use a more traditional way of getting your thoughts down, buy the Poetic Keybook. I recommend buying the black case because it makes your expensive Ipad look more like a journal than a $300.00 Macbook in hiding, which may discourage folks from taking it on first glance.

As a mini caution, the keyboard DOES need to be charged. The upside? It doesn’t take long to charge, and you can plug it in at the same time you’re charging your Ipad Mini. In fact, the Keybook’s charger is designed to plug into the Ipad Mini’s wall charger with minimum fuss. Another mini caution, typing on the Poetic may take some getting used to as its dimensions are smaller than a regular keyboard. Solution? You’ll get used to it after about a week of typing, promise. Aside from that though, this accessory rocks socks for writers on the go!

3. The Notability App

So basically, the haters at Apple copied off of the genius of the Livescribe Pulse Pen (which I formerly recommended for note taking and still do (especially for PC users!)). They integrated all of Livescribe’s kick-ass features with the iOS interface, and BAM, here’s what you get with the Notability app:

* Fully Featured Handwriting: The ability to take notes RIGHT on your Ipad mini screen without ink marks, and without the notetaking lag (i.e. your notes appear at the same time you write them).
* Editable PDFs: The ability to make notes on PDFs and then send them to yourself via email or a cloud service
* Advanced Word Processing: you can use features like bolding, italics, bullet points, underlining, and more
* Linked Audio Recording: By far the BEST feature and one that was snatched right from Livescribe, wherein you can record audio while taking notes. Furthermore, Notability will LINK the audio recordings to your writing. Don’t remember what your chem teacher said about covalent bonds? Just click on that section of your notes and Notability will play the recording of your teacher’s lecture back to you at THAT particular point in class! BOSS.
* Auto-sync: Your notes are always backed up in the cloud. And you can use whichever cloud service you like, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Box or WebDAV. I’m a huge fan of Google Drive, by the by.
* Media Insertion & Library Organization: You can add pictures, web clips, drawings, figures, and more to enhance your notes! You can also import notes, PDFs, RTFs, .doc, .ppt, and .xls files as PDFs using Google Drive.

So as you can see, Notability kicks up all the features we love into overdrive. But of course, we need an awesome stylus to help us take notes, and some great apps (customized for your needs) wouldn’t hurt either! I won’t dictate to you which stylus or which apps to get, but the Apple Store has tons for you to choose from, all designed for your particular writing needs!

4. Scrivener App for Ipad Mini (COMING SOON!)

MAJOR TECH WATCH: Scrivener is currently developing an app for the Ipad Mini, and when they do, I will officially have hit my Writer Travel Tech Nirvana. Follow Scrivener on Twitter to see their newest updates on the Ipad Mini app! And if you have not been lucky enough to experience the beauty of Scrivener for writing novels, short stories, scripts, and much more, then check out my article on Scrivener to see what you’ve been missing! In the meantime, check out the pic to the left to see a sneak preview of what the Scrivener Ipad Mini app is going to look like! I’m amped, are you?

So what about you? What kinds of writer tech do you prefer to use while you’re on the road, traveling, and backpacking? Did I leave anything out? I’m a Mac girl, but I’d love to hear from you PC users too! Leave your suggestions below, and in the meantime…

Keep it indie & Rock on, Write on,
<3 Colby

That was the first thought I had this morning as I stretched, yawned, and rolled myself out of my bed. I shuffled to the bathroom. Need to clean it. UGH. Shuffled to the kitchen. Dishes in the sink. UGH. Shuffled to my bed, looked at my clock. 12:30 PM… only a half an hour before I had to go lead a writer’s workshop that was about 30 mins away from where I live. And I hadn’t showered, eaten, nor had I even BOOKED the darned room in which we were supposed to have the workshop. UGH!!

Look at my email box and found it crammed with “CIN”s (Colby, I need) and “CUP”s (Can you, please…?).

Ugh, ugh,

UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

No, this isn’t a clip from a saucy triple-x film, nor is it the newest Master P track. This is my- Colby’s- terribly-crammed, type-A, overly-committed life.

I’ve always prided myself on being able to run multiple things at once: grad school coursework, teaching, trying to grow a business, writing a novel series, PUBLISHING my first novel myself, being Co-Director of this, Director of that, producing a play, trying (in vain) to keep up with my friends and fam, traveling back and forth to see my fam in NY, writing two scripts, helping people edit and write their own stuff-

AAHHH!! SKEEEERRRRR!!!

-and then all of that came to a screeching halt when my body told me NO this morning. NO, NO, NO. “NO, Colby,” it said. “Or you will die!”

*lightning strike*

Okay, lol! Let’s rewind. All of these projects I’m on, while they’re fun and wonderful learning experiences, were also working against me. They ate into my time, my energy, and sometimes, even wore down my emotional and intellectual fortitude. I was unable to fit everything into my schedule, and as a result, it’s been affecting my writing and my general peace of mind. I got overwhelmed, stressed out, and now I– and my apartment– look like a nuclear ground zero. And I’m getting very little writing done! So let me offer you some tips of advice that’ll help you to stay out of my situation!

1. Organize your creative projects on a timeline.

Creatives kick ass. We are passionate about what we do even when we know our passions might guide us right into a cardboard box eating ramen noodles. “Creating” is the love of our lives, and in order to live, breathe, and function, we need to be in our craft all day, every day.

This is especially true if you’re a creative with high ambitions and a strong work ethic; you probably have a hundred ideas and projects swimming around in your mind. You may be tempted to tackle them all at once too! But DON’T. Instead, first make a master list of all your creative projects (and leave plenty of space for some new ones). Then, assign all your projects to a creative timeline. Do NOT tackle all your projects at once, or you’ll go crazy! Here’s a brief excerpt of my (newly-created) creative timeline:

• By April 29th: finish author rewrites for “Ghosts of Koa”. Put manuscript down, and don’t look at it again until May 8th.
• By May 6th: finish beat sheet for pilot script and spec script, even if they suck. Give to someone you trust to critique and don’t pick up again until May 13th.
• By May 15th: finish final round of line edits for “Ghosts of Koa” and send to graphic designer
• By May 31st: publish Ghosts of Koa

Etcetera. Doing this will help you to get all your projects in line and tackle them one-by-one. It’ll get your writing done in a timely fashion without burning you out too!

2. “No” is a powerful word.

Heading organizations and initiating programs is a great opportunity to learn the most about your craft, the field in general, yourself, and about other people who are on the creative journey with you. People who lead tend to be the ones who not only come up with ideas but also execute them, which takes a lot of time and effort. If you do something (or a series of things) really well, people will put more and more responsibility on you or go to you first for assistance and guidance. This is a wonderful thing, and it not only helps to build great friendships, but it also hones many of your interpersonal and leadership skills. But sometimes, this can get extremely overwhelming and exhausting.

You’ve GOT to learn how to say “NO”. This is probably one of the most powerful words in the English language. It’s monosyllabic, clear, forceful, and honestly just shuts things DOWN in an instant, without need for further explanation. Don’t be a jerk, obviously, but know when to decline a project. Know when you should cancel a meeting to get some shut-eye. Know when a friend would be better served by doing a project on his own rather than having you to come in and help. It’ll take pressure off of you, allow you to show your vulnerability (because we aren’t superhuman, after all), and it’ll also get you some well-needed writing time.

Be honest and kind, though. Don’t be a jerk (like the dude above!). People are coming to you for help because they like and trust you, so don’t just brush them off with an attitude. Here’s some nice ways to say NO:

• Hey, I’d love to, but I’m swamped right now… (this is my life’s motto right now)
• My schedule won’t allow me to do this at the moment, but here are some resources that can help you…
• I can’t at the moment, but I’ll be free as of (insert date here)… (Only use this line if you really are willing to help the person as of that date.)

Try these out, and see how they work for you. And smile too. Smiling always helps you to drop the NO nuke with grace, kindness, and style.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

I have such a hard time with this. I’m sort of a perfectionist + eldest of three kids + LOVE to work on things I’m passionate about. What’s on the other half of the equal sign? Being a Type-A in-charge energetic workaholic, who loves things to go her way (with her own personal projects, at least), who is just NOT used to asking folks for help. It’s partially a pride thing, partially a “I like it done this way” thing, but mostly a “I feel really badly for depending on others” thing. Yeah, issues. I’m working on it!

If you’re anything like me, you gotta get over yourself and ASK FOR HELP! Yes, I know it’s hard. I’m still working on getting over MYself, for goodness sakes, so I know it’s a challenge. This doesn’t mean that you give half of your business responsibilities to a stranger or anything, but you can ask people to help you with little things. Especially if you’re running a group or workshop that is beneficial to everyone involved. So start small. Here are some ways to start asking folks for help:

• Give other people in your camp mini-tasks that might include getting supplies, sending emails, wrangling up folks, drafting letters or memos, taking meeting notes, etc. This will make them a part of your team, allow them to hone their leadership skills and establish a good rapport, while also taking things off of your plate.

• Ask people for advice and put them in the “expert chair”. People who are sought out for their wisdom feel more empowered to take on slightly bigger tasks in the future… like being a second pair of eyes on a project you’re working on or fielding other project problems.

• On a personal note, if you can afford it, hire a housekeeper or an assistant. Um, YEAH I said it. No shame in my game. I work 16 hours a day, and while I have lots of growth and very little money to show for it, it doesn’t mean that I don’t need a clean lovely apt like the next crazy workaholic. This is a form of “asking for help” that people sometimes look down upon, especially if you’re a woman. But don’t worry about that. You’re the only person who has to live in your apt and pay your bills (unless you’ve got roommates or a spouse, and even then, hrm… ::side eye::). SO, just do what I do, tell the haters to kick rocks, and call your local cleaning service! Hire a personal assistant (if it’s in your budget, that is) to run your smaller errands like taking the cat to the vet or scheduling appointments. It’ll make you feel worlds better, take a load off of your to-do list, and you’d be helping someone else keep a roof over their heads by paying them for their services!

So what about you? What are your life and writing hacks that help you to be a little less crazy? Share them here, and in the meantime… yep, you already know…

Rock on, write on,
<3 Colby

YUM, I like to reward my hard work. how about you?

This is going to be the frilliest, girliest, sweetest, cutie-patootiest post I’ve ever written, but I don’t care because you know why?

I PASSED MY MASTERS DEFENSE!!

And I’m going to go celebrate with some delicious Chinese food and then a big ole fat yummy cupcake made especially for me. Because food is the way to celebrate (in my world, at least)!

But before I go and indulge in the most bliss, savory, succulent, and sweetest gastronomical delights I’ve had all year, I just wanted to share some huge lessons I learned about being a graduate student, a writer, a business owner, and a person all at the same time.

The Genesis: I came to UW Madison on full scholarship, walking on clouds (because it’s an amazing program in a field that I love). Even so, at the time I was really unsure if this was the right and final destination for me. I knew in my heart that I was a writer, but I didn’t know (at that time, at least) how to monetize that into a living wage. So I took a “safer” route: research, PhD, free education. Plus I really like research and I’m good at it, so “why not?”, I said. “Plus there’s nothing stopping me from writing fiction, and PLUS I’ll get a marketable degree!” This was my justification for not pursuing my dream of being a full-time writer, and quite a good one it was. At that time, at least.

I’m SO about this food right about now

As much as one might have expected me to crash and burn due to not pursuing my true passion full-time, this actually turned out to be a great decision. It was a great decision, even when I cried so hard it hurt, even when I hated being here every second of my life, even when I was so depressed that I lost twenty pounds (that really woke me up to how much I hated Madison), even when my home life began to burn before my eyes… many people around me didn’t realize how hard this process was for me. I felt intellectually and socially out of place, among other things, and I also just couldn’t sink my teeth into the Ivory Tower the way that I felt I should have. Times were challenging, to say the least. But I don’t regret any of it. Why? How could all those terrible things I just listed actually have ANY upside to them? Well, check this out. While studying here I was also able to accomplish the following:

• Gain over three years of university-level teaching experience (teaching methods, statistics, and an intro sociology course),
  

  death by sweet bliss!

• Experience sociological, statistical, and methodological training at the top institution in the world for the field of Sociology and Social Research… for FREE,
• Take other classes in French, Creative Writing, Film, and African American Literature to supplement my knowledge as a researcher and as a person,
• Get my Masters degree in Sociology & Social Research,
• Establish an actual business and a life mission that I love in the form of my multimedia production house, Rebel Ragdoll,
• Lay the creative foundation, create a world and characters, invent a language, design a really awesome complex plot, and write thousands of words for my first novel series, “The Books of Ezekiel”,
• Finish and publish my first novel and write 50% of the second novel,
• Contract my first licensing book,
• Learn how to flambé (YUP, this IS an accomplishment, lol!),
• Develop some serious emotional strength on top of that which I already had,
• Take two AMAZING backpacking trips across Europe (one of which is in four weeks, omg!),
• and way, WAY more.

Honestly, we gotta be grateful as much as we can for our experiences, even when they hurt. As clichéd as it sounds, when life throws you some fucked up lemons, you gotta squeeze those bitches and make your lemonade. But my tangible mini-victories were not the only things I got out of being here. I also learned some valuable life lessons, and since I’m about the quick bullet points today (because I need to get to my celebratory feast!), here’s a summary of what I really learned that changed my life forever:

hit me, baby! mm!

• Do not EVER let anyone define who you are… even if you’re the only one in your category.
• Count your blessings, but don’t be afraid to expand your goals either!
• You can make anything work with dedication, belief in your ideas, and finding the right support.
• Branding is everything, and EVERY skill you have can be used to the advantage of your brand. I’m leaving here with a degree in social research, lots of analytical skills, and guess what? Luck has it that Hollywood needs TONS of researchers! (Can you say back door?)
• Resources are all around you. If you can’t find them, you need to look harder or merely open your eyes!
• Yes, you’re busy, but stay in touch with your friends and family. Keep your loved ones close!
• Don’t be afraid to acknowledge when something isn’t working for you or when you aren’t happy. There is more than one way to get what you want, and you don’t have to be rigid to get it!
• DON’T. GIVE. UP. HUSTLE. KEEP GETTING UP WHEN YOU GET KNOCKED DOWN. YOUR DREAM IS WORTH IT AND SO ARE YOU!

::droolontable:: pecan pie, I love you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a tantalizing Fish in Black Bean sauce with Rice meal and a sinful triple vanilla fudge cupcake waiting for me… don’t wait up, ya’ll. Teehee! I’ll be back with another writer-journey post soon, but in the meantime:

Keep it indie… and hey, write on, rock on too!
<3 Colby

One major note: My definition of success at the moment is “having a good meeting”. I was traveling with a group of students when I had these experiences so no one was actually *pitching* their ideas. In truth, we were pitching ourselves. My indication of the meeting being a success was whether or not I was able to draw the exec’s attention (in a good way) and develop a good in-meeting rapport. So take this into account!

Anyways, let’s get it on! Here’s the second MAJOR thing I learned about talking to execs in Hollywood:

2. It’s not really about you. Even when it *is* about you (and your pitch), it’s not about you. And you want it that way. (Good in a Room, Chapter 23: Dumb is the New Smart)

This goes back to the earlier post on “outward focus”. In other words, find out what the exec is interested in, what he needs, what his priorities are. Ask meaningful questions about him and his needs, not how he is going to best serve you. ALSO, don’t try to complete the exec’s sentences, show off your knowledge (even if you are a whiz at acting/writing/post-production stuff, etc), and never say “I KNOW” (because you really don’t know ’til you’ve been there, trust me!).

All this will help you with any meeting you have on your plate because:

• The exec will believe (and rightfully so) that you are concerned not only with your own success, but with his success and that of the company as well.
  

  but, but! ::sniff sniff:: I thought it was about MEEEE!

• Nothing in Hollywood gets done without a team, and so one of the keys to being regarded highly in Hollywood is to be a team player. Team players are about the team, not only about themselves.
• Focusing on “making an impression” puts a lot of pressure on only one individual: YOU. Take that pressure off by asking questions, being receptive, and coaxing “collaboration” into the conversation. Make it a learning session where two people are forming a connection, rather than a selling session, where only you are giving and the other is receiving.

So please. Don’t be like the guy in the pic above! ::side eye::

Again, meeting an exec isn’t always about knocking his socks off, it’s about being smart, curious, willing to help, and being an absolute pleasure to spend time with. So be yourself, keep asking questions, and use your meeting as a learning experience. Dumb is the new smart, because “being dumb” helps you to realize that it’s not about YOU.

So what about you? Have you ever been in a situation (professional or personal) where “being curious” rather than being the “hot shot” worked well? Share your experiences below!

Stay tuned for future posts, and as always:

Keep it indie,
<3 Colby

If there are in fact metaphorical golden fleeces, Andromedas, and Promethean fires to be attained in Hollywood, then you should consider “Good in a Room” as your personal key to them all. YES, it will be your Jason, your Perseus, your Prometheus. This book delivers.

“Good in a Room” gives you the lay of the Hollywood landscape as Mrs. Palmer takes you into the minds of Hollywood and business execs and helps you to not only put them at ease and form a genuine connection with you, but also to potentially wow them with your self-presentation and your ideas.

Don’t believe me? Well, let me tell you about some of my lessons learned and applied with execs in Hollywood that brought all the advice in this book to life. Here is one way (of many) that “Good in a Room” helped me!

1. Listen more, speak less. (Chapter 24: 100 Percent Outward Focus)

this little guy gets it!

There is a sector of the “young, fly, and flashy” out there who have watched way too many episodes of Entourage and believe that “acting big and talking fast” is all there is to making it in Hollywood. Sike. In truth, a quiet confidence, humility, and an eagerness to learn and help will take you SO much farther. People in general love to talk about themselves and their needs; they love to have others listening to them. This does not exclude execs because hey, they’re people too! So give them what they want. Learn to listen. Learn to ask questions. Learn what is important to them.

As Stephanie Palmer says “Listening is a crucial component of building rapport…”. YES. And I experienced this first hand.

Listening is how you foster openness, gain trust, and build rapport. If you spend too much time being a braggart and a show off, you’ll put others on the defensive. You’ll miss out on valuable information and lessons. More importantly, you’ll be unable to make a genuine connection with the your person of interest because you have robbed yourself of the primary tools we all need in order to connect with others’: honesty, openness, and vulnerability.

Trying too hard to be buddy-buddy, trying too hard to impress rather than learn will never get you anywhere except stereotyped as young, immature, and inexperienced. The moment the exec smirks at you rather than smiles warmly at you, you’re done. I watched a couple of my travel buddies tank this way when we were introducing ourselves to some of the people we met.

So take Stephanie Palmer’s advice: listen and learn, and you’ll see people respond and warm up to your receptivity. It worked for me! Make it work for you!

So what about you? Have you ever gone into a meeting and noticed how listening helped to build rapport? List your experiences below!

Again, this was just one of the many ways that “Good in a Room” helped me. More posts on lessons learned are coming super soon, so stay tuned, and as always…

Keep it indie,
<3 Colby

1. They focus TOO much on marketing and less on writing!

In fact, the one MAJOR thing that indie book publishers, authors, and marketers forget to do is: WRITE THE DARNED BOOK! The best way to strike a balance between the business of your indie publishing press and the creative side of it is to literally stick to a schedule. Network with your groups for no more than an hour a day, maybe with an occasional re-tweet or Facebook re-share throughout the day or lunch break. But don’t forget to WRITE THAT BOOK TOO! An hour of uninterrupted time (with no internet) can help you get a LOT done in a little amount of time. So don’t get so bogged down with marketing that your final book product never makes it out of the printer! More importantly, you must write the book well, which gets into our second point…

2. The other aspects of book-making get lost in the process.

The gates of online distribution have opened up, this gives indie authors an awesome license to publish freely and break the mold. Some molds, however, like book quality, professional editing, AND professional graphic cover design, are molds that are not meant to be broken. Before you put all this effort into networking, building relationships, and marketing, just make absolutely sure that you have a book that you are proud of, that you put your all into, that you KNOW is worthy of people’s time, money, and attention. One bad book can ruin your career and make all that awesome networking amount to naught.

3. Some indies treat people as though they exist merely to buy their books. And this is the gravest mistake of indie publishers.

What I’m about to say is going to seem hypocritical in the face of the last two points I just made but: your story doesn’t matter. People can and will buy it, even if you’re just a mediocre writer.

“WHAT?” You say. “BUT YOU JUST TOLD US TO FOCUS MORE ON WRITING AND ON THE BOOKMAKING PROCESS!”

Yes, I did. And you should. You should release the VERY BEST work possible. Seriously. But if there’s one golden rule of indie publishing that I’ve learned by doing it myself & by watching others do it, that rule is:

Readers buy from people they like. Yes. I’ll say it again, and I’ll add that extra something that just blew your mind. People buy from people they like… even if the work of the people they like is “mediocre”.

Strange, right? But not rocket science, actually! Why? Because people buy from folks they like and trust.

If they like you, they’ll want to support you. (These are your network.) If they like you AND like your work, they will support you AND tell others about you and your books. (These are your fans.)

Think about it. Imagine that you’re a huge Stephen King fan; you love his work. He’s a phenomenal writer, hands down and has the reputation to back it up. So, loving his work, you go to a horror writer convention, meet him, and he acts terribly or condescendingly towards you. Total disappointment! If you’re like most people, you will be FAR less inclined to support his work in the future. (King would never do this, by the way. I hear he’s delightful towards his readers (as I expect any writer would be)).

Treat your readers kindly. And EVERYONE is a would-be reader, so that translates to treat people kindly. While this sounds like common-sense, surprisingly it isn’t for some writers. I’ve seen many would-be writers in forums and Facebook groups, both independently and traditionally-published, act disgustingly towards people in their reader-base and then weeks or months later try to get those same people they hurt to buy their work. And then, some of these folks even have the nerve to COMPLAIN about readers in general “not having taste” or “not supporting their work”! Wow!

When I see these comments, I think to myself, “LOL, are you serious? No way am I buying your work, and furthermore, you’re deleted.”

Bottom line: people are people. We are social creatures who like to be spoken to, interacted with, and we like to form kind and genuine relationships with others. None of us likes to be used just for our money or resources; no one likes stopping randomly along the road of life just to be sucked dry of our hard-earned money… especially by people we dislike. As a writer, as an independent, and more importantly, as a person, you need to form warm and solid relationships with your readers and with your writing colleagues. It’ll not only help your book, but it will help you! You’ll find a great & supportive writing-reading community, a place to receive feedback, people from whom to draw inspiration, and general companionship amongst like-minded people who go through the same things you do as we all struggle to keep bibliophilia alive in the world.

So treat people like people. Do it because it’s the humane thing to do, but also do it for the sake of not having your work, and your reputation, die a slow death on the shelf.

So what have you found are the major mistakes of marketers or people trying to sell their books? What has made a poor impression on you as a reader or writer? Share your experiences and advice to writers below!

Keep it indie and write on, rock on!
<3 Colby

GHOSTS OF KOA

For over one hundred years the Civic Order and the Alchemic Order have held a shaky truce, peppered by violence and mistrust. But when Koa, a Civilian-born insurgency, bombs an Alchemist summit, the truce is shattered. Now, Koa is rising. War is coming. And all fifteen-year-old Zeika Anon can do is keep moving as she watches the lords of alchemy slowly overtake her home.

But when clashes between Koa and the Alchemic Order put a final, deadly squeeze on the remaining Civilian territories, Zeika finds herself in the crosshairs of fate. She must walk the line between survival and rebellion against the Alchemists. On one side of the line awaits death. On the other, the betrayal of her civilization, her loyalties, and herself.

The first in THE BOOKS OF EZEKIEL series, GHOSTS OF KOA is a fast-paced, post-apocalyptic survival tale, set in the streets of a dying city that has been crushed by alchemic law. Layered with the elements of gritty crime drama, dark urban fantasy, hard sci-fi, and horror, GHOSTS OF KOA is a wild ride to the end of a young girl’s sanity as she struggles with an impossible choice: to keep one step ahead of a war… or to be consumed by it.

Ghosts of Koa will be available in ebook and paperback on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, the Apple iBookstore on May 2013!

In the meantime, journey into the world of alchemy at THE BOOKS OF EZEKIEL website, where you can find out more about this dark, fantastical world and of the men and beasts within it. Vignettes, short stories, maps, illustrations, guilds, information on the series, the histories of the two Orders, alchemic secrets, lore, and much MUCH more await!

Stay tuned, keep it indie, and remember, dolls set the trend!

Write on, rock on,

<3 Colby

Some of these tips combine a couple of the tactics I’ve laid out in former posts, including the Pinching Pennies for Travel Post #1 and Pinching Pennies for Travel Post #2. So feel free to check out those ideas as well! Okay, let’s get to it.

1. Pimp your Youth, Student, or Teacher Status

This will be my second major backpacking trip abroad, and I’ve yet to pay over 700 dollars for a round-trip ticket! YES. ROUND TRIP TICKET TO EUROPE FOR 700 DOLLARS. Why? Because while I work (as a university-level teacher), I’m also a perpetual student. Laugh if you will, but you can do it while I’m sunbathing in Sevilla, Spain, suckas!

Seriously, though, if you are under 26, a student, or teaching, you’ll be saving at least 50% on your plane tickets for as long as you hold that status. The Student Travel Agency offers some AWESOME discounts for students on the move. You can also check out ISIC (www.isic.org), which offers the ISIC, IYTC, and the ITIC cards for students, youths, or teachers, respectively. Having just one of these cards will save you money not only on plane tickets, but also on tours, attractions, grub, supplies, and excursions worldwide! There are over 40,000 ways to save with these cards, so get on them!

And if you don’t qualify for any of these cards, strongly consider taking a writing class (or any class) at an accredited university (online classes count too!) Not only will you be honing your writer skills, but you can also save crazy money on airfare!

2. Fly out on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and fly the red-eye route

^this guy just saved 300 bucks!

Buying a plane ticket for the middle of the week (preferably at times that no one else wants to fly) will shave off a few hundred dollars from your plane ticket fare. The most popular times to fly out are folks going on those weekend days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Furthermore, no one likes getting up at the crack or crunch of dawn to much of anything, especially when it comes to waiting on long lines and getting felt up by disgruntled airport security dudes. Yeah. But if you want to pinch your pennies, then strongly consider inconveniencing yourself for a couple hours by taking really early or really late flights. They’re way cheaper.

3. Buy your tickets at ridiculous hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday morning

Between the hours of 2 am and 7 am during the weekdays, plane tickets are super cheap. Why? Because no one in their right mind is up looking for plane tickets or anything else at that time of night… except you. You should be up scrounging for tix because, as it is said, the early bird catches the $200.00-cheaper worm. Make sure you peruse websites like Kayak.com, Statravel.com, and bookingbuddy.com at those god-awful (but serendipitous) times of day to see what deals you can get. You won’t be disappointed! Just make sure you avoid the expensive morning, lunch, and evening rushes (7 am-9 am) and (12 pm – 8 pm), when everyone is about to go to work or on lunch or have just gotten home from work.

4. Take a piecemeal approach to buying your plane tickets

So say that you’re flying out to, say, South Af

rica from the West coast or from Middle America (like I am), you might find that direct flights from Chicago or Los Angeles to South Africa are insanely long and expensive. In my experience, it’s WAY cheaper (and more bearable) to fly out from the East coast to any country further east. So I buy my plane tickets in two stages.

First, I handle the international flights from the East coast to my destination. Choose INTERNATIONAL airports, because flying in and out of them is insanely cheap. The cheapest airport to fly out from in the NYC area is the Newark Airport, but keep on top of the plane ticket websites to compare and contrast departure airports. Also figure out which international airports are the cheapest to fly into at your target destination. As mentioned earlier in this post as well, there is a double benefit to this process if you use STA Travel or have an ISIC / ITIC / IYTC card.

Secondly. After I’ve booked internationally, I look for the cheapest domestic flights from my location (Milwaukee or Chicago) to New York, and I set up price alerts on my plane ticket websites (kayak.com, bookingbuddy.com, etc). I use the techniques above to find the cheapest flights I can and book them when they pop up. I can sometimes even find $99 round-trip flights from the midwest to the east coast, and I’ll actually bookend those flights around my international flights.

Using this technique can save you a couple hundred dollars that you wouldn’t save if you were looking for direct flights straight from your city to your final destination.

5. Set a budget

So we all want to get the cheapest tickets possible! However, instead of waiting for ticket prices to plummet to depths that we will never see (400 round trip ticket to Spain, anyone?), you should instead set a budget or threshold of how much you’re willing to pay (reasonably) for your plane ticket. For example, I now know that I can get to Spain and back for 700 bucks, so once I see that price, I don’t bank on getting a cheaper ticket. It’s cheap enough and what I budgeted for, and so I buy it. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by waiting on ticket prices that will just never happen. Be patient, hustle, but be reasonable.

And enjoy your ridiculously discounted writer-backpacker trip. With all the price hustling you’ve been doing, you’ve earned it! And if you have any plane-fare-saving tips to share, share them in the comments below!

Write on, rock on, and keep it indie,
<3 Colby

1. Timing, timing, timing!

Pay attention to what many tourist spots call “high season”, “shoulder (middle) season”, and “low season”. For example, between late June and late August in Europe, the tourist season heats up, because this is when everyone is going on vacation. Hotel, hostel, and train space tends to be hard to find, and prices for everything sky-rockets! So if you can, try to travel during the spring and the fall (for Europe), when the prices are super low, the sites aren’t packed with bodies, and things are generally calmer and more normal. This can save you hundreds of dollars and hours worth of headache. High, low, and shoulder season are very country specific, however, so research the particular country you want to go to and try to travel during their tourist low and shoulder season.

2. Get all inclusive packages at your hotel or hostel.

So I’ll definitely talk about the hottest hostels in much more depth in a future Fashionable Writer-Backpacker post, but because this tip will save you TONS of money, I’ll kick-start the hostel talk here! This summer, I’ve decided to stop in Seville, Spain to take in the gorgeous city, people, and the totally delish grub. But since I wanted to do this on the cheap, I got picky with my hostels. You can too.

I decided to stay at Sevilla Inn Backpackers, where for 17 euros a night, they offered free wifi, free breakfast, free BBQs, free walking tours twice a day, AND they also have “Spanish Experience Night” on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The Spanish Experience Night includes a tour of the flamenco museum, an actual flamenco show, a paella cooking lesson, and free sangria drinks. All this. For 17 euros a night.

Need I say more?

Actually, I WILL say more. The hostel also provides FREE LOCKERS to hold your backpack while you explore the city. So in short, get all the bang you can for your buck and it’ll save you money in the long run. There are literally thousands of hostels across the world and they’re all competing for YOUR traveler’s dollar! Just like Sevilla Inn Backpackers, most hostels are pulling out all the stops to get you to stay with them. It’s a buyer’s market, ladies and gents. So buy!

3. Cheap Eats & Street Eats

If you can, try to avoid sit down restaurants as much as possible UNLESS someone’s treating you, you can flirt your way to a free meal, or you can successfully eat a meal’s worth of free samples without looking like you’re trying to get a free meal. If you don’t have any of the above three superpowers, however, stick with eating cheaply.

You can do this by taking an hour or so to grocery shop and cook every night, or by finding a bonafide street vendor. BE CAREFUL with street vendors in certain places! And don’t think that just because you’re in France or Brussels that every street vendor is going to be on the level… make sure that the food you’re getting is clean, fresh, and not going to make a reappearance on your hostel floor an hour later. Get a good recommendation of a cheap food place from your hostel front desk.

4. Save crazy money on plane tickets by buying strategically!

Easily one of the most expensive parts of your trip, if you find a way to save on plane tickets, you save yourself between $1,000 – $1,500. BUT since my next post is about this, I’m not going to spoil the fun here! Stay tuned to the next Fashionable Writer-Backpacker post: Week 12, Plane Tickets!

In the meantime, what are some penny-pinching techniques YOU use when you’re traveling abroad? Share below!

Keep it indie,
<3 Colby