More Spun Fun

This is a photo of the lovely wool I’ve been working on for a couple months.

It’s a three ply yarn. There’s a Charcoal gray, an Antique Red, a Silver and a Dusty Rose. For some reason it reminds me of Good and Plenty candy.

It was not easy to 3-ply, for some reason it kept getting tangled in my fingers. There must have been too much twist. It washed out just fine. Lovely stuff, though.

It’s funny. Once I spin a yarn, I have nothing to say about it. My mind is blank, except for the knowledge that’s it’s done and I really enjoyed spinning it.

 

The Next Step – A Picker

Lil Dynamo – lives up to it’s name.

I’ve got several llama fleeces, and the problem with llamas are they are dirt bathers.

After a few hours with an unwashed llama fleece, I wake up that night with my sinuses completely closed up.

That’s a LOT of dirt.

So washing a llama fleece takes many, many washings. Each one has the potential to matt the fleece a little bit more.

So the other day, I really blew it and matted a white llama fleece. It was just a mess. Not felted, because I could pull it apart, but the fiber was in knots. I went to Etsy to price pickers and found this little oak picker that is small enough to fit under the bed.

I put a fist full of matted llama in. It took a couple of passes to get the mats out, and with it came handfuls of dirt. But the fiber is a lovely fluffy mass now. Not a matted mess. (Big sigh of relief!)

I think carding is now possible.

I Humbly Announce: Nomination for Best Novella

I Humbly Announce: Nomination for Best Novella

Yes, I am very grateful for this nomination.

The Emissary: Journey is the first of the series “Horsewomen of the Zombie Apocalypse.”

In a world where the stinking dead walk the land, Bethany McLeod must take her sisters Alexis, Dani and Julie cross-country to Fort Chatten, Kentucky, a journey of 100 miles. Can four women and six horses make it 100 miles and arrive alive?

It’s just three years since the Zombie Apocalypse. The McLeod and Davidson’s clans survive in a world where the muerto viviente – walking dead – infest the cities and towns.

Alexis McLeod is a healer, eager to prove herself. She volunteers to travel to Fort Chatten, the home of the Davidson clan. Led by Bethany, the four sisters risk their lives to help Clan Davidson.

Armed to the teeth, the sisters are horse archers, light cavalry, quick enough to avoid the muerto.

Militia, marauders and mad-men abound, the stinking dead walk the land, eating everything in their path.

But what will they find if they get to Fort Chatten?

This story is suitable for all ages.

Melissa Foster Joins Hugh Howey in Buying Her Way Onto New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists

I saw this and I don’t believe it.

I’ve been around the self-publishing scene since 2008.

I remember when Amanda Hocking and David Danglish were just getting started. They couldn’t afford to pay anyone to get their ebooks onto any bestsellers’ lists. They had to do their own covers and struggled to pay for editing.

There are others on this list who were in the same boat – people who were struggling to pay their bills, pinning their hopes on making a few extra bucks with their e-books. They gave each other support and encouragement and celebrated the modest success they enjoyed.

This post is just bullshit.

Amazon Alert: Your Guide to Unethical Authors

ResultSource is one of many companies offering to help authors buy their way onto New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists. ResultSource was outed by The Wall Street Journal in The Mystery of the Book Sales Spike,
How Are Some Authors Landing On Best-Seller Lists? They’re Buying Their Way.

After you read The Wall Street Journal article google “authors buying their way onto bestseller lists” for an even more eye-opening experience. As also told by The Wall Street Journal, a growing number of author frauds are buying their way onto the New York Times Bestseler List and USA Today Bestseller List, including Hugh Howey and Melissa Foster.

Soren Kaplan purchased about 2,500 books through ResultSource, paying about $22 a book, including shipping, for a total of about $55,000, to buy his way onto the bestseller lists. He also paid a few of $20,000 to $30,000 to ResultSource for…

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Update For The Emissary – Arrival

I’ve been writing. A thousand words a day for a couple of weeks on the sequel to The Emissary.

It’s been a lot of fun. More fun than I expected and things are ticking along so well that I’ve got a deadline. A date set with my copyeditor for not one, but two ebooks in the series.

What I can say about the series: I love how these characters interact. They’ve got the same snappy attitude that my cousins and I had grown up. A certainly sisterly maliciousness that has been a lot of fun to write.

I can’t write much more, because I’d start giving away spoilers.