November 2019 News

Hello, everyone.

I know I don’t have a big following, but I still like to pretend I’m talking to all of you as I unload several thoughts I’ve been having lately.

Nothing deep. Mostly events, things I’m doing, things that are happening.

Life is exciting. And I don’t mean my life… I mean, life in general.

There is so much to do. Our world may have a bunch of problems because of social media, but at the same time, it gives creatives (like myself) an open world to play with. I like that. I like seeing what’s out there, what’s being created. Whether it’s books, video, audio, art, theater. I feel proud of all you the people out there who are risking their creations in front of an audience that is, basically, the size of the world.

Today, I wanted to talk about what I’m doing as a creative and what I’m consuming (as a consumer, ha!).

ME AS AN AUTHOR

As you know, I write books. My writing career began in 1994 when I discovered Anne Rice and her book Interview with the Vampire. I wrote fanfiction, attempted a few original novels, moved to short stories and then… came my vampire agency series.

Where am I now? I’m writing the fifth book in the series. Books one to three are published, but all advertising has stopped (except for a few low bid AMS and Bookbub Ads). I’m happy and scared to report that I am getting some downloads and page reads on my series. Good because I can see most of the readers read all three books, and scared because my books are in dire need of a good editor.

Now, I have found an editor I think will be good for my books and she’s working on my prequel book (which is also my reader magnet and that you can get for free if you sign up for my newsletter @ www.claudia-silva.com). She got it in the schedule when she got a full schedule, so it’ll take a while. I’m on her schedule starting January to work on books 1-3 and I’m excited. So far, she has returned the first editing draft and I have returned it. I’m waiting to hear from her again, but I know it’ll take a while. In January, we’ll begin working on the first three books and I will prepare to re-release them.

Book four has been written, revised, and edited by me. Book five is at about 40%. When I’m done I’ll rewrite another short story before starting the revising/editing process with book 5. After that, I will rewrite a final short story in this series before starting on book 6. Exciting times, right?

Next, I’m ready to start on my next series of books. This time, they will not be a series, but a serial. Books are connected, but they will not have an overarching plot.

I want to pay for another book 5’s cover. I want to have a contest to see which cover I will use. This will happen about 1 month before book 5’s release. I don’t know when this will be, but almost for sure after summer 2020. Cover for book 6 is ready.

I will have all six covers for my next series at the end of next year.

Yes, I think about this all the time. You will hear about it again in later posts. It’s fun to think about. There is much more coming, but I’ll wait to talk about it for now.

ME AS AN ARTIST

I have a dream of opening an Etsy store with my ballerina art. So far, I have four ballerinas ready to sell. I drew two more this summer and began coloring one last week. Once I’m done with both, I’ll have six in my portfolio. When I get twelve I will make an attempt to sell them at fairs and then maybe open my Etsy store officially.

It’s nervewracking, to say the least, but it’s a dream of mine. Perhaps between my books and my art and my teacher products, I’ll be able to make a living one day.

ME AS A TpT SHOP OWNER

My life has been weird. I’m technically a Chemical Engineer, but I have worked in many different areas. From industrial engineer, to production scheduler, to bilingual teacher. After I finished my Master’s degree in bilingual education, I began to create my own materials in Spanish. They became popular in my school back then (2010-2012), so I decided to open a store in the then, growing TeachersPayTeachers.com store.

Everybody doubted me at first. No one will buy your products, they said. You won’t make a profit, they said. Well, at first they were right. It took me about two years to build a big enough store and the earnings started to come in. Currently, my teacher store pays for my expensive author hobby (yes, still a hobby).

This year, I created a new product. I didn’t mean to create it. It came more out of necessity with sub lesson plans at first, but soon turned into a wonderful resource for students.

I created decodable books in Spanish for emerging readers in Kindergarten. It has been a wonderful experience. The other bilingual teacher in my grade-level loved them so much I kept making more and more. In order to sell them, I need the rights to the pictures I’m using. This is why, for the past four weeks, I’ve been drawing and inking like crazy until I managed to finish all the drawings in the books.

The books increase in difficulty as the year progresses. They start with the vowels and then move to consonants. The sentences start with easy patterns and become more complicated with each letter to try to develop students’ reading skills. I am two books away from having written all the books. Once I’m done, I will reimagine the covers and then create TpT covers for each product.

Another thing that’s new is how TpT is changing. They will not go onto something called TpT School Access. I will opt-in in order to have my products available to download to the schools that sign up for this program. They will start beta testing next year and I’ll see how things go.

ME AS A READER

So many books to read and so little time. I write, draw, and manage a TeachersPayTeachers store. I work full time as a kindergarten teacher and are also a mom of two and wife to my wonderful husband. Still, I make time for it all. My husband says I’m the most efficient person he knows. I don’t know about that.

My daughter and I went to a Red Queen event and met author Victoria Aveyard. I had read the first two books in her series and we got the rest of her books then. I’m currently reading King’s Cage, the third book. After I’m done, I will read the last book, War Storm.

I would also like to read a book by one of my first friends I met in a group on Facebook. She is a wonderful person and she has volunteer to read some of my work. She is supporting and caring and hard-working, and I would love to read one of her books. I will write a review when I’m done. I’m excited about getting into her world.

Then, there is a list I already have for 2020:

1. Rebel, by Marie Lu (the fourth book of her Legend series)
2. Legendary and Finale, by Stephanie Garber (books 2 and 3 of the Caraval series)
3. Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson (ever read Mistborn? You should)
4. The Institute, by Stephen King (still a fan)
5. Children of Virtue and Vengeance, by Tomi Adeyemi (because the first book ended in a cliffhanger)
6. Catch 22 (because I’ve always wanted to read it)

There are many more books I want to read. So much I am also an Audible subscriber. I’m currently listening to The Demon Accords 1 (God Touched), and I got two books for one credit last month: Watchers, by Dean Koontz and Invisible, by James Patterson.

I mostly use Audible to find books that are like my own series, but for two months I’ll deviate to listen to the ones I got for half off.

ME AS A GAMER

I’m starting a new segment on videogames in 2020 because I’ve finally branched out from playing exclusively Zelda. I started with Skyrim, moved to Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and today I finished Horizon Zero Dawn (I’m still in the mourning period on that one).

Next, I will play Link’s Awakening (remastered for the switch, although I played it on the Gameboy decades ago). Next, I will play one of the Tomb Raiders (my husband says he will recommend one to me), then one of the Uncharted’s and then I may try the new Star Wars that came out this weekend. Who knows?

I’m, of course, waiting for the second Breath of the Wild, the next Skyrim, the next Witcher, and the next Horizon Zero Dawn. In March, I am playing the new Final Fantasy VII.

See? There are so many good things out there and so little time to enjoy them

ME AS A VIEWER

Ok, so here’s more amazing content waiting to be consumed (by me). Now with Disney + (we got the special three-year price). First of all, I am having so much fun with The Mandalorian. Too bad it’s coming out slowly. Now, Netflix’s The Witcher series is coming out soon, too, and that looks pretty great, too. This is not counting the shows we are already watching: The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, Lucifer, The Morning Show, Westworld, American Gods, Stranger Things… to name a few.

Then, there’s all this new content coming to Disney +: Loki, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch and Vision, etc.

And then… movies! Star Wars Episode IX! We already got tickets, do you?

WINDING DOWN…

I think I got most of this stuff out. Phew! I can feel my brain unloading all this information and getting more free space. LOL. I’ll be back in December with more updates.

In the meantime, keep enjoying life!

Cheers