#AdultingForAuthors

AfA – 03 – With Liana Smith-Bautista at B&B (part 1 of 2)

4 December 2018
by Ansela
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AfA – 03 – With Liana Smith-Bautista at B&B (part 1 of 2)
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This is the second author interview I conducted while I was in Cebu City a few weeks ago. This time, I chatted with Liana Smith-Bautista, an editor and romance author (she writes under the pen name Kate Sebastian). I spoke with Liana over coffee, pasta and cookies at the Books & Brews Cafe, and she shared her productivity tips, including scary apps and what music is great to write to.

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Show Notes:

About Liana Smith-Bautista / Kate Sebastian

Kate Sebastian - Liana Smith-Bautista

Kate Sebastian has been crafting stories since she was tiny. She spent her childhood reimagining classic fairy tales and inventing new ones, then having her dolls and stuffed toys reenact them in elaborate sets she built by rearranging the furniture in her house.

She earns a good living writing articles and editing manuscripts, but decided to try her hand at writing romance (the steamy kind) since she reads so much of it.

Her first published work of fiction was Old Enemies Make the Best Lovers, after which she had a genre crisis. She eased herself back into writing with a short story, “On the Calendar,” which was accepted into the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year Volume 2 anthology, published in December 2016; then published a short story, “Christmas Weddings Make the Best Lovers Quarrel,” in Make Your Wish Come True: A #romanceclass Anthology, which had a limited release also in December 2016. She tried her hand at compiling and editing an anthology just a few months later with Summer Feels: A #romanceclass Anthology, which launches April 30, 2017, and which features her short story “An Overdue Adventure.”

For more updates, like Kate’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/katesebastianauthor and follow her on Twitter @ImKateSebastian and on Instagram @kate.sebastian.

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AfA – 02 – With KC Cimafranca at the ABC (part 2 of 2)

26 November 2018
by Ansela
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Adulting for Authors podcast

AfA – 02 – With KC Cimafranca at the ABC (part 2 of 2)
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I met up with KC Cimafranca — author of paranormal and fantasy fiction — at the Abaca Baking Company in Cebu. We discuss how to write when your brain refuses to cooperate and your characters fall silent.

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Show Notes

About KC

KC Cimafranca

KC Cimafranca purposefully flunked a university entrance examination so she would have an excuse to take up mass communications instead of accountancy. A decade or so after graduation and she still finds herself filling up time writing dialogues and creating scenes in her mind. She also discovered it’s a good way to tune out her three children’s constant screams for their mother.

A virtual assistant by day, she reads romance, serial killer, or YA fantasy novels or watches kdramas at night.

Engkwentro
#StrangeLit - Incredible Truths

Contact Kate:

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AfA – 01 – With KC Cimafranca at the ABC (part 1 of 2)

17 November 2018
by Ansela
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Adulting for Authors Podcast

AfA – 01 – With KC Cimafranca at the ABC (part 1 of 2)
Season One

 
 
00:00 /
 
1X
 

I met up with KC Cimafranca — author of paranormal and fantasy fiction — at the Abaca Baking Company in Cebu. We discuss how to write amidst chaos and exactly how much milk tea one needs to do a full night’s work.

Listen and Subscribe

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About KC

KC Cimafranca

KC Cimafranca purposefully flunked a university entrance examination so she would have an excuse to take up mass communications instead of accountancy. A decade or so after graduation and she still finds herself filling up time writing dialogues and creating scenes in her mind. She also discovered it’s a good way to tune out her three children’s constant screams for their mother.

A virtual assistant by day, she reads romance, serial killer, or YA fantasy novels or watches kdramas at night.

Engkwentro
Photo by Bentchbites on Instagram
#StrangeLit - Incredible Truths

Show Notes

Contact Kate:

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Events News

And the winners are …

18 September 2018
by Ansela
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Radish Live Chat - 16 September 2018

Last Sunday, I had my very first Radish Live Chat for my story The Billionaire’s Game. It was so much fun! I didn’t expect so many readers would be there from places where it was either too early in the morning or too late at night. Thank you so much.

Radish Live Chat - 16 September 2018

We got over 13,000 ❤️ on the live chat! You guys are the best.

The Live Chat was exclusively for readers who read my latest update of TBG, chapter 56 “Tea and Company”. As I promised, I held a Radish coin giveaway. I posted eight questions about TBG and picked the best answers. I said the winners would get 10 coins each, but after giving it some thought, I changed my mind and awarded them 12 coins instead.

Q1. What do you think happens in the next episode?

Obviously I already knew what was going to happen in chapter 57, but I thought it would be fun to find out what the readers were speculating.

Here are some of the responses:

charu a5 – no faking dating with Brandon? but making Mason jealous

CYO31make mason do some hardwork to win back his girl

And the winner is…

Ash***SPOILER***

Yeah, Ash guessed one detail in the next episode which I can’t post here because spoiler reasons. Sorry!

Q2. What was your favorite part of episode 56?

Some of the responses…

Nonin Favorite part Mason saying I love you (twice) to Ines .. even though she’s not there

uh_okay a2 my favorite part is when mason gets defensive about ines, he takes own of his mistakes and realizes he messed up big time. i just hope be does enough to win

slcampbell18 A2 – when ines opened the door to brandon and brandon instantly knew something was wrong just by looking at her.

And the winner is…

myriamwitticaA2 my favorite part is how in sync Brandon is with Ines. He’s a good friend to her

I like how the reader recognized how amazing the friendship is between Ines and Brandon.

Q3. Who is your favorite character? Tell us why.

Some of the responses…

CYO31 A3. Mason all the way. he is flawed but he owns upto his mistake and nof to metion he ks complete package if you know what I mean😜😜 and he sends her such cute and thoughtful texts

slcampbell18 A3 – while i love mason and ines. i like Daria. shes unique and interesting. Shes totally different.

I picked two winners for this one! They are…

naveen925 A3 – mason – ive feel like ive seen a huge change and growth in his character. he’s changed so much since the start. He used to have such a cold exterior and now he’s so vulnerable around ines. His change is amazing to see

manoolaxx A3 Mason…..watching someone not used to love and yet faling in love and making all the mistakes is hearkbreaking and I love it

Q4. Should Ines forgive Mason? Why or why not?

Some of the responses…

cams24 Q4: yes but not before mason works for it HARD.

arrowhearts ines needs to listen to mason first. i know our girl is hurting but you once she’s able to clear the air with him it will all be good. mason needs to step it up!!!

Bundo ines should forgive Mason. I think nobody will love Ines like Mason

And the winner is…

CYO31A4. yes she should forgive him but not get back together untill mason does something big big and apologizes to her in a way that she can see how sorry he is and how much he truly loves her and that he will never do anything to hurt her on purpose again.

Q5: Should Brandon and Ines try dating each other? Why or why not?

Okay, I’ll admit, this question is pretty wild. But come on — you know you were thinking it!

Some of the responses…

cams24 Q5 fake dating to make mason jelly?

arrowhearts OMG. theyre cute but i feel like theres a friend-zone kind of line that separates them. but if it would rile up mason and would make the stort interesting…i just wanna see mason pissed af because hes cute that way

rq25 nah. they seem like they will make great buds but not dating. i feel like their characters are a bit similar in terms of empathy etc. you need similarities in a relationship yes. but cannot be too muh the same

goldieontheloose Q5 : no. because they are absolutely awesome friends and I’m not sure they could have such awesome chemistry as ines and Mason.

goteemtiger Q5 NO i dont ship Brandon and Ines. Brandon may be attractive and all but he’s not Mason. It would also be kind of weird bc she’s his assistant.

All good answers! But the winner is…

blisssss Ines loves Mason too much to date someone else and especially Brandon her boss

Q6: should Mason try to get Ines back?

Sirone Q6: yes, he should grovel

CYO31 maybe Mason should make Ines pancakes. one of every fruit pancake

And the winner is…

Nonin He’ll buy the whole Starbucks just for her hahahajk

Let’s not forget how much Ines loves coffee!

Q6: should Mason try to get Ines back?

Speaking of coffee, the next question had only one correct answer so it wasn’t hard to pick a winner.

Q7. What are Ines’s two favorite beverages?

And the winner is …

aashi A7 coffee and tea

Q8: Ines’s favorite beverages are coffee and tea. What are they metaphors for? First correct answer wins!

Only one person got the correct answer, so they get 14 coins instead of 12.

Chandramukhi A8 Coffee for Mason and Tea for Brandon

Congratulations to all the winners! You should have received your coins by now. If you haven’t, please drop me an email at ansela@anselacorsino.com and let me know. Of course, don’t forget to mention your Radish username in your email.

If you haven’t won in last week’s Radish coin giveaway, you still have a chance! I’ll be doing another Live Chat on Sunday, September 23. It will start as soon as TBG Chapter 57 is published, which will be at 12 noon Manila Time (or 0400 GMT). The chat will run for three hours, and anyone who reads Chapter 57 during the chat can joinb. BUT if you join within the first fifteen minutes of the chat, then you automatically win three coins.

Here are more details about the Live Chat.

During the Live Chat, I will be posting questions and fielding answers. So you have until the end of the chat to put in your answers for a chance to win Radish coins! If you’ve already won coins in the trivia last Sunday, you won’t be able to win in the next chat. But you are still welcome to answer questions for fun.

See you at the Live Chat!

Contest Events News

How to win coins in today’s Radish live chat

16 September 2018
by Ansela
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So we’re doing a Live Chat on the Radish app at noon (Manila time) on Sunday, September 16. Everyone who joins the chat has a chance to win coins. I’ll explain how!

First off, you’ll need to purchase Chapter 56 of The Billionaire’s Game when it becomes available at noon on Sunday. Once you do, you’ll see an invitation link on the story page of the Radish app. I suggest you read the chapter first before joining the chat so you don’t get spoiled!

During the chat, I’ll be posting several questions about TBG. Some of these questions have one correct answer. The first ones to answer each of these questions correctly win 10 coins. As for the other questions, I will choose the best answer and award 10 coins to the one who answered. You may only win once but feel free to answer as many questions as you like!

I posted details on how the chat works in a previous post.

Talk to you soon!

Contest Events News

Let’s chat! (And maybe win some coins.)

8 September 2018
by Ansela
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Radish Live Chat
Radish Live Chat

The Radish fiction app has a new chat feature! These are scheduled chats with specific authors that begin right after an author updates a story.

Guess what? I have a scheduled chat on Sunday, September 16 and the following Sunday on September 23. Yes you and I will be able to chat right after I post a new chapter of my story The Billionaire’s Game. Only those who purchase the new chapter will be able to join the chat. If you join the chat within 15 minutes from when it starts, you automatically win three Radish coins!

You will have a chance to win more coins if you stay on the chat and join my giveaways. I’m giving away 110 coins during each of the two scheduled chats — that means I will be giving away a total of 220 coins in all.

These coins can be used to purchase chapters of my stories and stories by any other author on Radish. Isn’t it exciting?

How does it work? Check out the helpful guidelines below :

I’ll be on there starting at 12 noon (Manila Time) to chat about Ines, Mason and all things TBG.

Other Radish authors also have chats this month. Check out the schedule below:

Radish Live Schedule
Radish Live Schedule

Soon, I’ll be announcing how you can win coins during the chat. So you don’t miss it, why don’t you sign up to my mailing list and get the announcement directly in your inbox?

See you at the chat!

#WritingWednesday Patreon The Write Life Writing

Writing Wednesday : Learning

20 June 2018
by Ansela
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#WritingWednesday: Learning

A couple of Saturdays ago, I attended a lecture about writing LGBT characters by Brij Bautista and Ronald Jeffrey S. Lim. It was great. I’m a cisgender heterosexual romance author, I’m grateful for any wisdom I can get from LGBTQI authors about writing LGBTQI characters, especially in romantic situations.

In case you’re wondering, no I’m not planning to write LGBTQI romance books. Partly because I would rather people read LGBTQI books written by LGBTQI authors, and mostly because I think I would be really terrible at it, not having been in relationship with someone of the same sex (L) or a transgender man (T). However, I do have LGBT characters in my stories. While they aren’t the main characters — I write straight romance, and all my couples have always been cis-het — they still play significant roles and I want to portray them fairly, authentically, and interestingly. Goodness knows how many terrible portrayals of LGBTQI characters there are in literature, and I don’t want to add to that trash heap.

I had to bail from an out-of-town trip to Tagaytay to attend this lecture. Because that’s what you do when you’re a professional — you may have to give up fun things for your craft. This is something you learn when you meet pro authors. Other things we give up: television shows, parties, dinners out with friends. (What are you giving up for your craft?)

This is all part of my attempt to adopt the growth mindset. This is believing you can get better in a skill, and understanding that effort makes you stronger. As opposed to my old mindset where I would just rely on the skills I was already good at.

I was a smart kid. I knew this because everyone told me so. And I think this is why my grades were mostly mediocre. Why try harder when everyone already knew how smart you were? But as I grew older I noticed that success is mostly determined by opportunity and hard work.  I already had the opportunity to succeed in writing. My parents could afford to send me to good schools, I was surrounded by books growing up, I had computers and access to the internet. I only needed to work hard.  And I didn’t. Not really.

Now that I’m living my dream of being an author, I decided I was going to have to make some changes. I would always try to be better at my craft. I would work harder. I would give up television shows (except for three or four because I’m not a saint), watching movies except for the one movie a month I really needed to see, hanging out with casual acquaintances I’m not really that close to so I could reserve my free time to be with my real friends. Most of all, I would try to try new things and learn new skills.

What about you? Do you think adopting a growth mindset will improve your writing career?

Contest

CONTEST: #BlurbThis — Write the best blurb for your Wattpad story

31 May 2018
by Ansela
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#BlurbThis

This contest is open to everyone with a qualified romance story on Wattpad. The prize: I will feature the winning blurbs on my Wattpad message board along with links to the stories.

To qualify, the stories must

  • be a romance story/novel/novella.
  • be written by you. You may not submit entries for other people’s stories.
  • be either a completed story of five or more chapters or an ongoing story with at least five (5) already published chapters.
  • be written in English, Taglish or Filipino. (Apologies to authors who write in other languages, but these are the only ones I am decently fluent in.)
  • have a cover that is PG-13, with no copyright-infringing images.

What is a blurb? A blurb is a short text that is usually found at the back of novels that gives a potential reader an idea of what the book is about. In Wattpad, it’s the story description.

To qualify, the blurb must be

  • written in the same language the story is written in. For example, if your story is written in Taglish, your blurb must also be in Taglish.
  • not longer than 150 words. If your blurb is longer than the maximum 150 words, your entry will be disqualified.
  • PG-13 (story may be mature but the blurb should be for general audiences)
  • written by you, the author, or someone you’ve commissioned/hired/requested to write the blurb (like your friend or your editor)
  • free of typos and adhere to grammar and spelling rules.

To join, email me at ansela{dot]corsino[at}gmail[dot}com with the subject :

#BlurbThis – <STORY TITLE> – <AUTHOR NAME>

In the body of your email, put in the following information:

  • Author name
  • Link to your Wattpad profile
  • Link to your Wattpad story
  • Story title
  • Blurb/story description
  • Any trigger warnings/content warnings for your story: strong language, mature situations, abuse, assault, rape. If there aren’t any, please indicate NO CONTENT WARNING.

This contest will run until from June 3 until August 25, 2018. I will choose winners every week. The cutoff for submissions each week is 11pm on Saturday, Manila Time. Please note the following additional rules:

  • Each author may submit not more than one entry per week
  • The blurb you submit must be the actual blurb used on your Wattpad story page.
  • If your blurb doesn’t win, you may re-submit a new blurb entry for the same story again so long as you send it in before 11pm on August 25. Basically you can keep trying until you win or until the end of the contest, so long as you send a NEW blurb each time
  • Once your blurb has won, you may no longer submit a blurb for that same story. You may submit a blurb for a different story
  • You don’t need to send me a copy of your story, I won’t be reading it. I will only be judging your blurbs
  • I will reply to all entries I receive and inform the authors that I’ve received their submissions. If you don’t receive a reply within three days from the time you sent in your entry, please check your spam folder. If my reply isn’t there, please check your email and make sure you spelled my email address correctly
  • You’re not required to follow me on Wattpad, but you can if you like.
  • I will be promoting the winning stories but I will take no moral responsibility for the stories themselves. However, if I find anything illegal or highly questionable in a story (the glorifying of abuse, for example), I reserve the right to disqualify its entry.

I will not accept submissions through any means other than email. Please don’t PM me your blurb submissions on Wattpad (you will be blocked). If you have questions or require clarification, please post a comment below.

To help you along, here are some articles on how to write a good blurb:

Good luck!

Photo by MJ S on Unsplash

Patreon The Write Life Writing Writing Wednesday

Writing Wednesday

31 May 2018
by Ansela
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writing wednesday : LISTEN

I’ve decided my free writing-related posts on Patreon will be going up on Wednesday every week. Writing Wednesday! It did not get off to an auspicious start, as I barely made it yesterday — I published the post five minutes to midnight. Oh boy.

But it’s up, yass! It’s a list of writing/publishing-related podcasts I listen to. If you’ve been following this blog, it’s really a follow up to my post Writers’ Resources: Podcasts! — Part 1 : Craft. I never got to post part 2 of that, sorry.

ICYMI, I have other writing-related posts this month:

Do you have writing/publishing questions? A topic you’d like me to discuss? Let me know in the comments here or on Patreon, or email me at ansela{dot]corsino[at}gmail{dot]com.

Publishing The Write Life Writing

[PATREON] For Writers: If Facebook shuts down tomorrow, will you be able to cope?

11 May 2018
by Ansela
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I knew that very few things on the internet that are forever or at least lasted longer than a decade. Remember MySpace? That is used to be the most popular social platform until Facebook came along. Twitter and Facebook are useful now, but there’s always the possibility they’ll go in the way of MySpace. Websites, however, will probably stay around and remain relevant for as long as the internet exists.

I didn’t want to wake up one day and find out that the platform I’ve worked hard to cultivate and get followers to is suddenly gone and there was no way my readers could find me. Twitter and Facebook and Wattpad are owned by companies — we have no control over their business decisions. But my website? I have control over that.

Read more on my Patreon. You can follow me for free!