Hi my dear people,
Here’s a link to my most recent interview on Smashwords. I’m happy to receive your suggestions regarding other possible questions for a future interview.
In the meantime, salud and cheers! FFJ
Category Archives: Indie
September! Plus some video bits.
In keeping with the new season, it’s a warm day today in the Sydney region—and very much so in sunny Katoomba! 🙂 Let’s open doors and windows, and switch off those heaters (well, today only).
Jenny Mosher is a darling: she’s uploaded shorter videoclips of my 30-minute interview. Here are Jenny and yours truly discussing my sources of inspiration.
FF Jensen on finding inspiration for ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
And here’s what I call the ‘cruel’ part of the interview: Jenny and I get into ‘killing one’s darlings’.
On feedback, editing and killing my darlings (ouch!).
Enjoy! And of course enjoy the warmer weather, FFJ
In The Hot Seat With FF Jensen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhTacgSSb4
Finally, after an impeccable post-production, here’s the 30 minute interview: Jenny Mosher, in The Hot Seat With FF Jensen.
(imagine a drum roll here :-))
I would wish to thank Jenny, Ally, Sarah and Josh for the opportunity ‘to burn my arse off’ in The Hot Seat. Mind you, I’d do that again any day!
Get yourselves a glass of red or white, or any other drink of your preference and enjoy. Catcha later, FF 🙂
Beware of ‘sharks’—and not only when you take a swim: vanity presses are out to getcha!
Yes, you know who I’m talking about—and it isn’t this amazing creature.
I’m talking about those opportunistic ‘professionals’ who take advantage of creative people. We all want to create, right? We want to write, draw, paint, design, etc., and don’t want to invest that precious energy watching our backs.
The bad news is that we have to!
Have you ever heard about ‘vanity presses’? I bet you have. In the past, they were the only option if you wanted to become a published author without ending up in a traditional publisher’s slush pile. They’re called ‘vanity’ presses because they cater for the so-called ‘vain and whimsical’ who aspire to have their work published. Meh! For a start, if you’ve written a book, any book, on any topic, you aren’t vain or whimsical. You don’t deserve to be taken for a ride. You’ve done the hard yards and good on you! Trouble is that there are some who are ‘out to getcha’.
Case in point: A very good writer, Ellis Shuman, one of my highly respected Twitter mates, tells us about his experience with iUniverse, a vanity press that these days disguises itself as a self-publishing facilitator. I’ve done my research and found that vanity presses are operating by stealth these days. I have found a number of articles on this subject which shed light on an aspect of human nature that is as old as the hills: if you have a deep-seated and legitimate wish, there will be a bullshit peddler out there ready to sell you a shoddy bill of goods or services that will cost you a bundle and you’ll get nothing in return. I recommend you read this Savvy Book Writers blog post. Even Random House is mentioned as potentially treacherous for un-agented writers!
Indiefolk do it the hard way. Just to give an example of how hard, these days I’m juggling my ‘day job’, trying to finish a couple of short stories and sorting out my PR strategy. Mind you, I’m not complaining. Life isn’t meant to be easy and I’m a creative person at heart. I’m hard working too. All the same, the self-preservation learning curve seems to get in the way of it all.
In any case, let’s keep on smiling. Have a great day, FFJ 🙂
What’s in a pseudonym? And what is behind it? Part I
We all know that a pseudonym or nom de plume can be a really creative idea in itself, to such an extent that you can find websites that ‘throw’ a random name at the click of a mouse. Being the linguistic nerd that I am, my website of choice in this area is Behind the Name. You can also use it to create character together, thus saving yourself a bundle on legal fees if someone decides to take you to court on defamation charges. And I’m not joking.
Some pseudonyms in literary history are a cracker. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known to us as Mark Twain (1835-1910), is by far one of my favourites. As a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi, young Samuel would cry ‘mark twain’ to announce a river depth of two fathoms. In my culture of origin, the celebrated poet Pedro Bonifacio Palacios (1854-1917) went by the sobriquet Almafuerte, portmanteau of two words which means strong soul in Spanish. It wasn’t his only pseudonym, though, but I believe it was the one he truly identified with: he had a very hard life right from the outset.
I could write a whole book—even a whole collection—on what is in a pseudonym. Behind it, there’s a human being who happens to be an author, and many times it’s that very human being’s circumstance that requires a cloak of anonymity.
Part II will be released soon. In the meantime, to those online invisible friends, thanks for sharing my posts 🙂 Cheers, FFJ