OnyxTowers

Monday, October 5, 2015

My First Story Is Finally Up On Wattpad - Read Now!

My first published #fiction for a collection of stories for my #TheFrails book series.

Click the link below the image to read my story:

The Frails Stage 1 - The Nutpunch.

Already uploaded Act 1 & 2. Will upload more next week. Stay tuned!
#A #NA #S #T #GF #H

Distractions!

It's hard to keep an organized household when one has adult ADHD and isn't medicated.


Not shown is the probiotic I swallowed shortly before this pic was taken.

This is how I spent my day:

Woke up @ 11:45am and put eyedrops in
Blinked to the dreary landscape of rain and cloudiness all around
Made coffee
Doggie cuteness distracting me
Thunder & lighting making dog curl around my legs
Turn on computer
Turn on fan/s to stave off nightmarish humidity (frizzy hair hell not pictured)
Cannot follow simple conversation as I drone off to father's chit chat
Cannot string thought sentences, so off to the internetz!
THANK YOU INTERNET FOR NOT MAKING ME THINK STUFFS
I take all those supplements there (see above pic)
Drank regular Lipton tea cup with vanilla soy milk
Did dishes
Drank a full bottle of water; feeling strangely dehydrated these days
Went back to my desk to sort thru inbox (appox. 1hr cuz 5 email accounts)
Went back for coffee
Back to internetz, where I opened 3 tabs from 1 email I got, about getting paid by sites for stories, including price per word and word count, such as this one
And this one
And this one too
More rain, now comes in torrential!
Went to kitchen to make a banana/coconut milk/chia seed/peanut butter /spinach smoothie
Oh look, Imgur (drinking smoothie)
Delete that beeyotch spam!
Should I play that electronic trip hop music from yesterday? hmm...
(36min later) 6hr. meditation music??! Yes please!
2hrs later...I finally figured out how to shut off auto docking of windows on Windows 8!~~ *self-hi-five
Rain's easing up
Doggy chillin' on mat beside me. He can't be bothered to give any fucks today

My mother can be hear slamming drawers in her room (an everyday occurrence/ has Alzheimer's)
My father let me know a friend of his is visiting today, out of the blue (he put his dog down last week so we're gonna cheer him up)
My ADHD is going especially haywire today, grrr
when is food?...
Blog post! blog post...right...
Rain is getting worse-er. It makes me jumpy and nervous because this is exactly how the flood happened last year. The one where FEMA was called to our street and I gave them the grand tour :-P

Better txt msg my tenant to let him know that the car he put a buncha money on restoring is sitting in water half-way up the tires
Friend dude gets here; I offer my condolences, he asks me to please hook up his new bluetooth speaker to his Samsung tablet
I make the hookup and install an app to boost his tablet's memory too, free of charge (trying to be nice)
My best friend whom I hear of once every several months calls; we trade sick family stories and finally friend ea. other on facebook (he just got an account not long ago; he is planet Earth's only non-tech-savvy Asian)
Well, THIS hot mess

Finally calmed after the rains receded 4hrs later (leaving trash n floating debris on our lawn for the umpteenth time) so crisis averted!
I put on 3" flip flops and partially opened one of the gates cuz in the middle, it was exactly 1 foot underwater. The water at it's worst was half-way up the driveway. I had 4" water reaching above my ankles
um, blog today? Any day now?
was offered food n wine by the boys who also dined on Klondike bars. Checked in on my mother and we spoke a bits, as she appeared lucid now (she has Alzheimer's)
they all left for church choir practice
I bathed the dog as his scent was a tad on the pungent side, then I showered too
they got home, then I once again sat down with another cuppa coffee, for a grand total of 4 today
FINALLY typing out this blog post!

My constantly changing environment, my senile father springing new projects on me without warning, my mother's feverish/random mood swings, and my wandering mind = a cocktail of 'Fuck my life!'

Side bar: Hate it when teens casually use this phrase...wait 'till you get out in the real world sweeties. You won't be able to handle getting your wifi cut off because you can't pay your bills. And let's add terrible people to the mix, shall we?

I'm not sure how normal authors handle their day-to-day, (especially with small children!) but my life is plagued with randomness. So much that I cannot plan a goddamned thing. Now I don't have kids (yet) but my elderly folks are currently my dependents. And we always have one crisis or another around here, including things breaking, busting, leaking, rusting, etc. I don't have help, because I am the help around here.

You accomplished authors with small children...how the heck do you get anything done????

I read an article somewhere stating that some beloved famous authors of all time had been plagued with illnesses and addictions. Who knows what other hardships...I think Jane Austen was the sole caretaker of her mother and sister? Oh no wait, her brothers chipped in. Wish mine would.

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So I wrote the aforementioned some 2wks. ago. My mother's moods hit sky high and we had to 'watch her' for her safety. Kinda hard when she was giving me the stink-eye, like I was Satan's butthole. Ah well. At least my ADHD finally calmed da fuck down. I can power-up my brain- hooray!

Then I went on my once-a-year sugar binge, of Raffaello coconut trufles/ Flan/ and brownies. My stomach...officially so full of regrets!

One more thing...
I finally got around to uploading my first story to Wattpad; go read it!

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Writer's Music

Music For Writing Books

Sometimes you need to chill. You can't write with all this damn noise buzzing about!
Shut off that annoying vibrating cell phone.
Turn the tablet OFF.
In fact, now's a good time to charge these devices.
Shut off the Xbox. Playstation. Nintendo DS.
The TV.
Dim those lights. Keep desklight on.
The only thing that should be turned on right now, is your computer, notebook, wordprocessor, typewriter, or whatever you use to type out those stories.
Last but not least, put on noise-cancelling headphones on. Not earbuds, but headphones. Trust me, you don't want to hear the landscapers buzzing outside your window, or the ambulance or squealing kids playing outdoors.

Next, you need a warm cup of tea, something soothing perhaps. Or decaf coffee. Nothing overtly caffeinated, unless you're on deadline of course!

Below, a few of my favorites:

And one more thing...
I highly, HIGHLY, recommend a beverage warmer. Because what's gonna happen is that you're so engrossed with your typing, you forget about your beverage. And it sits there getting cold.
As you can see, I have one. It's a tad worn. Had it since 2012 and it only cost like $8.00 so definitely a great purchase. Especially on snowy cold days.

Ok, you got your beverage, now for the tunes...

Where To Find Music For Writing

There's plenty of places on the internetz. There are easy ways to find them. Here's a few:

Free web radio
streaming music playlists
your own digital music collection
YouTube playlists. Here's one I usually listen to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfLasDNONI
iTunes, Amazon App Store, or Google Play. Look up apps with the following words: concentration, meditation, mood, relaxing, radio
The new Youtube Music app that came out in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/yt/music/index.html?locale=US

How To Find Music For Writing

Simply put into a search engine (Google, or whatever you use) the following 3 words:

writer's music playlist

And you'll see all the fun stuff that comes up. Wowee!

Recommended Websites For Free Writer's Music Streaming

So here's a couple of FREE websites that work for me:

So when you click the links, always look for the type of genre of music that you like to listen to. Or put keywords within the website's search. Enjoy, and happy writing!

Monday, March 23, 2015

How To Copyright On Ebooks Wattpad

When You Copyright Books Or Stories

There are several things writers need to know about copyright when it comes to writing books. I'll briefly run down the list so you can understand the basics, but you'll have to do the in-depth research yourself.

*Please read the disclaimer at the very bottom of the post before you read on.

1. Copyright limitations vary from country to country

Don't kid yourself into thinking that if you copyright your book in the United States, that it's protected elsewhere. Some countries honor United States copyright, some don't. Every country has a copyright variation with different restrictions. For more info, read https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory

2. Copyright typically lasts 70 years before it becomes public domain

That's about when most ~~authors~~ people outlive their mortality. (morbid, I know) Some folks set up an estate for this, to handle the re-registration process, or leave it to loved ones to continue the copyright. If not, the work ends up going to public domain.

A good example is J.R.R. Tolkien's estate. Had the copyright not continued, his works would've gone to public domain, free for all to read. So today, you have to pay to read his books, where the book rights are controlled.

3. What can be copyrighted

According to the copyright.gov website, basically the following:

And click on this link for further details: http://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-limitation.html

4. Copyrighted works created after January 1, 1978 are protected for 70 years after the death of the creator

For more information in detail, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

5. Copyright infringement

The reason to get your work officially registered with the copyright office, is in the case of litigation, where somebody plagiarizes your work, then you can provide authenticated proof of registration before a court of law. So you can sue for damages. Or, they lie and claim that you stole the story from them. They can counter-sue you; it's rare, but it can happen.

Infringement begins when it it discovered. One must file within the 3 years after infringement, lest you risk getting awarded for damages. But this rule varies from state to state.

If you win, most state courts award statutory damages in “not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just.”

You can publish without actual official registration of your copyright, but without registration, cases like those are mighty difficult to prove.

For more info on copyright limitations, you may want to read this: http://law.freeadvice.com/intellectual_property/copyright_law/copyright_statute_limitations.htm

6. Copyright registration fee costs $35

There's different fees for the type of copyright you need, but the minimum starts at $35.00. http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html

And that's the basics. Unless you're ready to upload to a self-publishing platform, this step may be overkill for now.

Posting Copyright On Wattpad

The Wattpad community seems loyal and quite insular. They seem like they got each other's backs. Case in point, the plagiarism of Ancient Guardians book series (go here to read about the kerfuffle) where some anonymous person uploaded the entire free ebook to their Wattpad profile and passed it off as their own, only to be outted by a loyal Wattpad reader, who in turn notified the actual author.

Did you think you were gonna get away with plagiarism? You fool!

But such cases are rare, and one should never be apprehensive of putting their material out there for the world to see. After all, how the hell are you gonna get noticed if you don't display your work?

I've got a few Wattpad stories to read in my account. I've noticed that some do and don't bother putting up a copyright disclaimer. My guess is that, because once you post a story, Wattpad puts the little ( C ) symbol on the right-hand side for you. But still, some folks put the disclaimer up regardless. I suppose I'm one of them. Anyway, here's an example:

Here's the other thing about Wattpad. You can create a story in it, but you cannot copy & paste text. The platform does not allow for it. I suppose that's to deter infringement from trafficking out, which is awesome. But like the above case of plagiarism, it does not prevent it from coming in.

So if you reeeeeeeally like that story of yours, write it in your computer's text editor software and make a backup copy before uploading to Wattpad, preferably to a cloud drive or an external hard drive. Because shit happens all the time, and computer get virus' and malware, and inevitably crash to irreparable oblivion.

Wattpad doesn't really have much information on copyright, which I found strange. I had to search the site with a fine toothed comb, and all I came up with was titled:

How to create a copyright for your story :)

It's a Wattpad read, submitted by a Wattpad user named Ariel. It's written in 4 parts. (which are 4 pages to the non-Wattpad person) That direct link will only show up for registered users, so sign up if you plan on using Wattpad. Or sign in if already a member.

Now, the easiest way to find a copyright disclaimer is to Google the following 3 words: copyright sample disclaimer

Or look it up in whatever search engine you use. I personally prefer DuckDuckGo, but that's just me.
Now there are several variations on these disclaimers, simply because they are all tailored to the subject matter.

So a fiction book with have a section talking about

'similarities to any real persons is purely coincidental'

whereas a self-help book will have a section like

'neither author nor any other person be held liable for any damages that may result from following counsel of this book'.

One must seek the best fit for that books' genre and/or subject matter.

Things that should be inserted within the disclaimer (as told by Ariel):

valid email address
company name if you have one, or your name with the trademark symbol
valid website address of author and/or publisher
the actual copyright and/or trademark symbols;
© and ™, and if trademark is registered, then ®

And that's pretty much what I know thus far. I already made my own custom template for my brand of stories. Happy Googling everybody!

*The text posted above was strictly for entertainment purposes only, not to be purported to qualify or substitute any real legal advice. Please seek legal counsel regarding any serious questions about copyright and intellectual properties, as the author and writer of this blog/website has no actual legal background or any such legal credentials. The author and writer of this article and bog/website does not take any responsibility in the actions or decisions regarding any one person's acquisition and posting of a copyright disclaimer; you agree by reading this article that you the reader, claim sole responsibility when you choose to put any disclaimers in your authored works. By reading the article posted above, you agree not to indemnify or hold the author of this article responsible in any way, legal or otherwise, and you agree to assume all responsibility regarding the posting of any copyright disclaimers to any such works that you create.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Where To Find Kindle Free Ebooks

///Updated due to algorithm change in store: Nov. 26, 2017///

I was going to make more blog posts about seo and monetization. But the whole premise of this blog is to talk about writing and books.
So!
Now what's better than some average ebook?

Free Kindle Ebooks On Amazon

I know what you're thinking. Go to the Amazon store and type in FREE in the search bar, right?

WRONG.
Because all that's going to do, is bring up all the free books under the Kindle Unlimited deal. Amazon is a for-profit business, so of course they're going to push forward KU books. Which are only available to Amazon Prime members. For members only, who paid for that subscription service.

And if you're not a member, you'll be charged whatever the price is on that ebook.

I'll show you how to to it easily, but you have to go step by step.

Before you go through these steps, please note:

All books get sent to your Kindle device. They look like this: https://amzn.to/2GHm6kR

Have an active Amazon account. If not, go create one: https://amzn.to/1qk7s2Y

If you don't have an actual Kindle device, you can download the Amazon Kindle software for PC computer: https://amzn.to/2q569On

Android phone or tablet: https://amzn.to/2JuKatm

Mac or iPhone: https://amzn.to/2HiMwe2

Done? Then let's get some FREE Amazon Kindle ebooks!

1. Sign in to your Amazon account

First and foremost, sign in. Because once you do, all books will be sent to your Amazon account. Without an Amazon account, you will get squat. Nothing. Nada.

On the Amazon.com search bar, make sure you click that left side grey button to select Books, and narrow down your selection only to Kindle Store. Set it that way so it doesn't go looking at all corners of the giant Amazon store, pulling up search results you don't want.

For example: You want Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, not the Harry Potter DVD of the book by the same name.

2. In the Amazon search bar, Select Books on the left drop-down menu, then type the following exactly: 0.00

Very important that you type it that way. '0.00' (minus apostrophes) Because that means zero dollars and zero cents.

When you go through this step, go very slowly. You want to double check that the price next to the book actually reads
Kindle Price: $0.00
and does NOT read
Kindle Unlimited $0.00 or $0.99 or some other arbitrary price number. (see below) otherwise, you're on the hook for whatever price they sell it at.

This works on Amazon United States. For other countries, set the local currency to all zeros. So for Amazon U.K. it should read as £0.00 and such.

3. Get the book in an Amazon store that is not in the United States

BE AWARE: The same FREE ebook in the American Amazon store (www.Amazon.com) will not be FREE in the British Amazon store (www.Amazon.co.uk)

Book release dates are set by foreign publications rights, which are limited. So one book can be released early in one country, while taking months to be launched in another.

Here is an example:

Both stores are considered separate entities, therefore your American login information will not work in the British store, and vice versa.
Same goes for the Canadian Amazon store, the Japanese Amazon store, etc.

How To Switch Countries On Amazon

Scroll down to the very bottom of the Amazon store to switch to your country of choice:

4. Get the book

Before you get that book, go to the right side of the screen inside that green box. It has a drop-down menu with options. Those options are the places Kindle will send your book to. You can send it to your Kindle PC software, to Kindle Cloud for storage, or in my case, to my Kindle Android device which I set it to. Do this now.

Now you can get your free ebook!

To acquire the book, click on the orange button on the right hand side that says Buy now with 1-Click™ *. Don't be afraid, it's not actually going to charge you money for it. It just means that this particular shopping cart transaction is now completed, letting you know you finally have your book sent to your Kindle eReader, or Kindle software you installed on your tablet.

If it worked properly, this is the next page you should see:

The book should be included in your Kindle library now.

5. Check your summary statement

Since the View a summary of your order button is there, let's take a look at it.
Clicking on it will ask you for your password, then this screen shows up:

Oh look, everything is zeros. That's exactly what we want.

And if you take a look on the right hand side, there's a button that allows you to Need to print an invoice? so you can indeed print a hard copy for your own records. I'm not sure how long Amazon holds onto this information but I do keep my own copy for myself, in the rare event of a computer glitch.
Always keep proof of transactions!

Why does Amazon give away free ebooks? Is it a scam?

It's completely legit. Sometimes a publisher chooses to give away a free ebook outside of the Kindle Unlimited deal because they haven't signed up for KU. KU is for members only; one must as a reader or an author, sign up for it to get/give specials and discounted books for participants only. But not everybody signs up for KU, it's voluntary.

Sidenote: KU has received mixed reviews by some authors. Some say it's advantageous while others comment mixed reviews. It's always best to review the fine print and evaluate before signing up.

Why do authors give away free ebooks on Amazon?

Some authors who aren't signed up for KU simply give away a free ebook anyway for one purpose: To hook in a reader.

That first book in a long series will keep them coming back for more. So! 1st book is free, and the rest of the series costs money to purchase. Wider demographic exposure. Plain logic. Everybody wins!

One more thing...

Just because a book is free for 2 months doesn't mean it will be in 3 months. These freebie offers are often fleeting, so if there's a book you really want, and you said to yourself Still looking, I'll come back later then chances are, it may not be there when you return. Take is as you go, because availability is not always guaranteed.

And that's pretty much all there is to it. Happy book downloading!

* (this is Amazon's trademark; all their rights reserved.)

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