Hello Dreamers. I would like to wish all of you a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Hope you have a nice rest with some yummy food! See you all on the other side! Or Ottawa CanCon , which starts Friday!

Hello Dreamers Got all these weird AI images, might as well put them to use. After some arguments with my computer, I got the haul video up onto Youtube. It simply goes through everything I bought at Ignite and WOTS. Another will be posted post CanCon Ottawa. Below are where you can find these books by these authors. Just as a warning some of them might not be available anymore. With that, enjoy! Books Fate's Fall Volume 1 by Karla Doyle: https://www.amazon.ca/Fates-Falls-

Hello Dreamers. I had a grande time at WOTS! Over the weekend I was able to sell 8 books and an embroidered patch. While not quite enough to pay for the table, its still a better outcome than at Ignite by Books. I also got to talk to readers and hand out business cards. All and all, a great time. As with WOTS there were lessons to be learned and some interesting trends that popped up. The Book that Sold the Most Is... Whispers of the Abyss. Yeah, I know, people heard 'Te

I've been working hard on the site. My goal? To make it easier for you to find us in search results. One big change I want to celebrate is the integration of Bluesky into the blog. Now, whenever I post here, a link will automatically appear on my Bluesky account . This involved using Hookdeck and webhooks, along with Wix Automation. It required some tricky programming to ensure that key information passes smoothly from one step to the next, all while complying with Bluesky's

Hello Dreamers. How many of you are in Toronto, or surrounding area? How many of you have time to spare? Well, Toronto's Word on the Street is this week! Sept 27th - Sept 28th this year! I will be there, with a table. There will be physical copies and merch for sale! I have a square reader for those who want to pay with plastic. Whether you buy anything or not it would be a good opportunity to see me in person! Hope to see you there.

Hello Dreamers. So I attended the event over the weekend. Overall I had a good time and got to meet some cool people, though there are a few takeaways from the event that I know I need to incorporate in future events, not just for Ignite, but others, like WOTS. Like perhaps booking two nights as opposed to one in the hotel - I pretty well scrambled on the last day to get on transit and get home. As well as not forgetting my business cards (oops). Booth Setup On the day of t

Hello Dreamers. At time of write I have this side hustle trying to sell print on demand posters of some of my digital art. Its called Bold Expressions Spot if your interested to check it out. You can own this image as a poster print here. Has an alternative colour swatch. As part of operations I run a few ads on Facebook. There I link to other posters in the store. A/B testing showed that many resonated with the "Respect My Existance or Expect My Resistance" piece over o

The three of us sat in the concrete bunker. Our living situation since the nukes fell a year ago. One year of sitting in a dark, concrete room under the ground, lit with a fluorescent tube that started flickering two months ago. Shelves stuffed with cans of beans and spam and bottles of water from a begone era where taps existed. The closet of a toilet, which began reeking about six months ago, being the only reprieve from having multiple sets of eyes staring at me, and us. T

Hello Dreamers. AI generated image. I promise there is a point to it Let me start by saying, unlike a lot of individuals in my profession as starving self-published author, that I do not hate AI. AI, like any computational technology or paradigm, is an extension of the mind. Just as early computing helped make math easier and less prone to error, AI can be leveraged to assist in many tasks. Yes, I am aware it isn't without growing pains, such as programming jobs disappeari

Hello Dreamers. The campaign will end in 3 days. If you have pledged already, thank you. But if you haven't, you might want to consider it. Either way, if you can share the campaign link to anyone you think would be interested in backing Guide From Madness, that would be great as well. Much of the merch wouldn't be worth ordering if it fails. Thank you for your time and attention. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shannonfrancessmith/guide-from-madness

The Dilemma of Choices The other day, my mother approached me with a simple request: "Could you find me a solar-powered fountain for a bird bath?" Before you roll your eyes, thinking Yet another old crone who can't work a computer , let me share her reasoning. "I can get them on Amazon," she said, "but I would rather not. You have an account on Temu, can you check?" This same woman has often warned me against buying from platforms like Wish, Shein, and Temu. Her reasons are w

Hello Dreamers, Below is chapter 1 of Guide from Madness, if you wish to get an idea about the quality, pacing, and overall style of the writing, feel free to give it a read. Now, quick disclaimer this chapter is pending another editing pass and will have some differences in the final work. Enjoy. Chapter 1: Helen watered the garden in Lord Baxter’s estate, staring at all the pretty flowers beading water from the iron watering can designed for this very purpose. From forge

Hello Dreamers. It's Live!!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shannonfrancessmith/guide-from-madness Take this opportunity to...

Hello Dreamers. As some of you might be aware I am experimenting with crowdfunding again! This time its on Kickstarter. While their funding model is all or nothing, they also have a higher success rate overall than Indiegogo. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shannonfrancessmith/guide-from-madness Due to a few setbacks I'm aiming to have the book on Amazon by September 21st. Might be later depending on what's going on. Feel a little sad that it won't be ready til the en

Hello Dreamers. There is nothing more cringe than finding an error in your book once its been published, and is out there for the world...

Hello Dreamers. July 8th, 1988, would be the day I came into this world. And it hasn't been the same since! Its a weird day for me. Too...

Hello Dreamers! Happy Canada Day Its July 1st. Pride Month is over. Autism Awareness month has begun. Its also the day the British...

Photo by Binyamin Mellish: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-and-gray-concrete-house-with-attic-during-twilight-186077/ Earl and Betty...

Hello Dreamers. Some updates on current projects that are up in the air. Been a while since I posted as I feel like the thumbnail....

Hello Dreamers. Photo by Ekaterina Belinskaya: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-metal-frame-4744773/ The offical Space Whale Dreams PO...