A Nafplio Visit

Oct 25, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts

One of the best things about living in Greece is the history. Literally, with every stone you lift, you’re bound to find a wee bit of history underneath. This weekend, we went to Nafplio and visited the castle of Palamidi. Nafplio was the second capital of...

North American Vikings

Oct 23, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts

I was just writing the other day about the 1339 monk who wrote about the discovery of America. Now, analysis of wood from timber-framed buildings in the L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland shows a Norse-built settlement over 1,000 years ago – 471 years before...

The Delayed Buyer Effect

Oct 21, 2021 | Marketing

Mina Baturan recently shared a helpful tip on her Facebook Group, AmWritingFantasy. She calls it The Delayed Buyer Effect and it is the result of what happens when someone sees your ad, wants to read your book, but doesn’t buy or download. Or does download with Kindle...

5 Favorite Children’s Illustrators

Oct 19, 2021 | Interviews Features and Reviews

You may remember how my Greek edition of Whisker Smile, published by Patakis Publishers, has won the prestigious IBBY award for illustration. Today I have 5 of my favorite children’s illustrators, selected from a post by Domestika. Maurice Sendak Where The Wild...

Punching an Asteroid

Oct 15, 2021 | Random Musings

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news yet but NASA is launching an unusual mission: to punch an asteroid in the face. As LiveScience reports, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is scheduled to launch on Nov. 23. According to NASA, it could help...

The Best Writer’s Note

Oct 13, 2021 | Entertainment

I came across this on Facebook and just had to share. Yes, it’s probably fake. But it’s still the best writer’s note ever! The Best Writer’s NotePowered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This...

Ending Letters

Oct 11, 2021 | Quora

Have you paid any attention to the letters we use to end our words? For example, you won’t find any words ending in U, V, I, or J. Why is that? Gareth Adamson has the answer on Quora. And yes, it has to do with history. But also with grammar. Ending with a J ‘J’...

Hardcover Books on KDP

Oct 9, 2021 | Publishing

A while ago, I was notified by Amazon that hardcover versions are now available for my books – but that this was still in beta and I wasn’t supposed to mention anything. Now, hardcovers are officially here and Dave Chesson, aka Kindlepreneur, has published...

Terra Incognita: the 1339 Discovery of America

Oct 7, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts

As The Economist reports, a paper for the academic journal Terrae Incognitae by Paolo Chiesa, a professor of Medieval Latin Literature at Milan University, reveals that an Italian monk referred to America in a book he wrote as early as the starts of the 14th century....

Do You, Like, Like Like?

Oct 5, 2021 | Writing

I mentioned in my previous post how we had some American friends stay with us over the summer. One of them was a teen girl who, as teens do, used “like” every now and then. A habit I soon found myself repeating. Then I came across an interesting article on...

A Long Hiatus

Oct 1, 2021 | Random Musings

I swear, I didn’t plan on disappearing for this long. It was only when I saw that my last blog was published two months ago, on August 3rd, that I realized how time had flown by. However, I couldn’t not share a little gem I came across today as I was...

Reigniting Your Passion

Aug 3, 2021 | Writing

I apologize for disappearing lately. It’s summer, which means I’m trying to get some rest and enjoy the Greek sun and sea. We also have friends over, which adds to the temptation to drop everything and head to the beach. Plus, of course, I still need to...

Real-Life Aliens

Jul 23, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts

What might life on another planet look like? What the British Antarctic Survey came across earlier this year (2021) may shed some light. As Wired reports, the Society wanted to study the history of the floating shelf. Instead, they came across strange creatures that...

Past Visions of the Future

Jul 14, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts

How did our grandfathers imaging our present? Robert Langkjær-Bain of Fivemedia has an excellent article with some (often hilarious) illustrations answering that very question. Flying Cars With AirCar completing its first flight on June 28th, 2021, maybe we’re...

Pixar’s Screenwriting Tips

Jun 30, 2021 | Writing

In my last post, I discussed how to create memorable characters the Pixar way. This one has some more writing tips from No Film School. This one includes several tweets from Director and Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats (@lawnrocket). I hope you find them useful!...

Create Memorable Characters the Pixar Way

Jun 26, 2021 | Writing

No Film School has published some of Pixar’s tips for creating memorable characters. From Woody to Nemo, Pixar’s characters have a unique way of sticking with you, whether it’s due to their hilarious banter or heartbreaking humanity. But what is it...

Survey: What Readers Really Want

Jun 23, 2021 | Marketing

A few days ago, Written World Media (WWM) published the results of a survey on what readers really want. The company has five reader-facing brands such as Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy, and Red Feather Romance, that allow authors and publishers to reach the right...

Medieval Name Generators

Jun 19, 2021 | Writing

You may recall my previous posts on naming your characters (Old Anglo-Saxon Character Names, Free Online Character Name Generators, and Naming your Characters the Easy Way). There is now a new character naming tool on Reedsy, the Medieval Name Generator. If you’re...