book production Archives - Author K. Williams

I Am Serious About My Art – Open Book Blog Hop #554

November 9, 2026 By Captain Maiel Leave a Comment

Topic #554

Do you take yourself too seriously when it comes to your writing?

Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop, Friend! The authors included in this ongoing learning series wish to thank you for your reading. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writing with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.

Absolutely, I do. The same thought for other writers, too! I take my and their responsibility as contributors to the artform. This is based on how much it means to me. How others feel is evident to me, in the way they talk about their works. Neither of us come to the work lightly. And, I most certainly hope that my work and their work will be here long after we are gone. There’s no point, to me, to publish otherwise. It certainly doesn’t make us rich!

The whole reason I became a writer was that I fell in love with books and the authors who made them. I dreamt of sitting among them since I was a girl. Some folks might feel that’s arrogant–believing who are you to think you belong in such a space. What I have to say to them is: I’m a writer. Their space IS my space. Yes, I haughtily take a seat here. They’re who I want to be around, be like, and share community with. That’s why I call myself a writer. That’s who I think I am, because writing is what I do. Why wouldn’t other writers feel this same way?

Do artists not see themselves in community with other artists? Is that presumptive of them? What about filmmakers? Historians, architects, mathematicians? There are those who came before who inspired us, who we wish to find ourselves among. I’m pretty sure astronauts dream of being among other astronauts. Is it arrogance or alignment? Is there some prize for refusing to call yourself by writer and doing writerly things? There is not.

Now, will everyone remember my name? That, my friends is not what I aim for. I much prefer that readers remember my books, even if they struggle with thinking of the titles, which would be poetic, because I struggle to remember names, too! But seriously–may the stories impress upon them, leaving beautiful daydreams and thoughts. May it scare the hell out of them where appropriate. May it make them feel.

Isn’t that why we write? If I am not here to share my words with others, what am I even doing? I’ve always been confused by the folks saying, I do it for me. Groovy. Very good. So why did you put it in print, though? That wasn’t a necessary step if you did it for yourself. You can literally just get a single copy to put on your shelf. Outside of that, you felt the need to share if you print it. Publishing is sharing. That is why it is done. We really need to get on board with that, and stop letting others call us arrogant for thinking someone might want to read the things we have to say. Aren’t those people sharing their meals on Facebook? Why do they think anyone wants to hear their words? They’re not exempt from the question.

When that question comes up, push it back on the asker. There is literally nothing wrong with being a literature lover. Books are fantastic things. Humanity creating them is incredible. I don’t see porpoises or beavers writing books. Look at humans creating all these things! We should be proud. We should presume that others want to hear the words. Aren’t we looking to not only beautify our world but make connection?

Maybe those people just want to keep us all disconnected. They don’t want you articulating yourself out into the world and finding connection with others or, forbid, creating something on which others find connection with still more others. Community makes them itch, if they can’t control it. And, just maybe, they are more invested in your suffering in silence and building walls because they are just absolutely cruel individuals on the inside. Ugly behavior is for real. As I mentioned in my previous entry, folks will work against you because they have ugly feelings about you.

It may be elitism, arrogance, ignorance, misery, dislike, or even hate that drives others to mock a writer’s desire to create and publish. Despite them, do your writing. If you are moved to share it with the world, share it with the world. There’s something in that. Someone out there needs to see your words, and you sense it. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing arrogant in that. It’s the desire for connection and understanding. Embrace it. It is a beautiful human thing.

Click on the links in the scroll box below to find out what the other authors think about this topic. Before you go, drop your email in the subscription box (top right for desktop views – scroll down for phones). The hop will arrive each Friday without the need to search for it. See you next time!

Update Regularly – Open Book Blog Hop #553

November 2, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

Topic #553

When was the last time you updated your bio? Do you want to
share it? Do you have any advice for other authors?

You’d be surprised how important a bio is to a writer. This is a pitch point. What is a pitch point? It’s where you can sell yourself to the prospective reader. And, if you don’t do it quickly, concisely, and make it exciting, you may not keep their attention. Just like the book blub, the mini bio of an author sells you and your work. This is where you claim your ability and make your reliability known.

towel day, don't panic written on the cardboard roll left with no toilet paper, speaks on the anxiety people may feel in similar situations.

That sounds stressful! And, it is. I am not great at selling myself, but I can muddle through pitching my work. Talking about myself feels very egotistical. I don’t know if that comes from being bullied, being asked to make myself smaller so others can shine, or the media born role my perceived gender is groomed into. Let me go seemingly off track a minute…

So many folks are able to toot their own horn about their accomplishments. I’ve been told I’m arrogant. For some reason, people perceive of me as a person of privilege. That’s not true, in the sense of what they’re thinking. My family never had tons of money or connections. My mom did forms for the state of New York, and dad worked at a university in the buildings management department, estimating jobs and so forth. We stayed home for vacations a lot. Sometimes we got to go to Florida.

All their eggs were placed in my education and my brother’s education. We’ve achieved the status quo. So, no, I am still not riding high. However, my mother dug herself out of poverty and pushed us beyond it. My daughter will be more privileged than me, although she has a single parent. My niece is far more privileged than either me or my brother (he and his wife divorced mostly amicably). That privilege is a great sign for their futures. While I fret about retiring and falling into poverty, I know my daughter can rise well beyond where I landed. She has two generations fighting for that. My niece is a veterinarian and will do well for herself. Her partner is also doing amazingly well. These brilliant kids!

While we are at ease with this, both me and my brother keep pushing forward for ourselves, as not to be a burden on the kiddos. Our needs certainly won’t help them, and our goal is to see them through to absolute independence. I don’t want my daughter to have to rely on the presence of a partner to keep her financially sound. I am struggling today to avoid that for her tomorrow.

All those things I have achieved with the small catapult my parents gave me, yeah, I’m going to brag about them. They were not handed to me. Struggling through every day of class and every assignment, I wrested that degree from the hands that said I would never achieve it. Yes, I had a guidance counselor who said I’d never. Then, ten years after that, I returned for another degree, to get me better footing at my job and promotion opportunities (struggling for each step I earned). They said I’d never. I did. With a 4.0, too. So take that!

My writing and my degrees intertwined to build a somewhat comfortable existence. At least, I can afford to keep my daughter going forward. She will knock it out of the park! Her math scores are above average. If we could manage the focus, she’d be killing it. Her brain is a mixture of her donor and mine. Creative and scientific. I’m grateful to him for his contribution, just as I had hoped. The girl loves math, just like he does. That was not a strong subject for me, and it created an insurmountable hurdle toward the future I had hoped for myself. Let’s return to the topic…

Now, a lot of this might ring familiar with others and draw them into me, seeing themselves echoed in the struggle. There are gatekeepers who want to trip you in the race, before you get there. Whether they do it to better their odds or maintain the stratum, it doesn’t matter. They are the ones grabbing your legs and pulling you back, making it leagues harder to get there. I’m not even competing with them, just trying to get my own.

In addition, these folks will condition you to feel ashamed of your accomplishments. They seek your silence and dimmed light, actively shaming you for speaking with any authority or making it known you are the whole ball of wax. Shitty, yes. But, we have to move beyond it to write that bio.

Have you ever thought about writing out your bio and handing it to a trusted friend to massage into a couple paragraphs? There are people out there who you can hire to write these. You might need them a few times in life to get started. That’s okay. I recommend it! They will get you past yourself so you can view the task from a better distance.

Recently, I got news that my script was moved up and added to the market for producers to view and contact me about. That created a whole whirlwind of emotions. This is a much needed step forward. However, I asked myself if I was truly ready for this. Not for a personal standpoint, because hell yes, I am ready to get going. My concern was around the pieces I needed: pitch deck, bio, summary, polished script, and so on. The anxiety was real. This is the big show, so to speak.

Then, I got a good look at that bio I put out years ago, doing the best I could with all my anxious hang ups holding me back (that’s why I took you on that tangent). When I say it’s a struggle to get out of your own way on these, I mean it. They offered me a shot to have it polished and I took them up. What they gave back, I was able to shine up further and fix. The result:

Kelly Williams is a multi-talented professional based in Saratoga Springs, New York, excelling as a screenwriter, author, and YouTuber. With a versatile creative vision, Kelly crafts compelling narratives across a broad spectrum of genres, including Science Fiction, Thriller/Suspense, Action & Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Historical, and Horror, primarily targeting television and feature film formats.

Currently, Kelly is channeling energy into an ambitious rewrite of the epic ‘Trailokya,’ adapting it as a streaming series to align with existing published literary works. Beyond the page, Kelly also brings experience as a photographer, YouTuber, and researcher. Passionate about the craft of filmmaking and screenwriting, Kelly is actively seeking representation and collaborative opportunities, eager to connect with fellow professionals in the industry, particularly regarding writing and acting for writers.

I don’t know if this is better, but it does sound better to me. The old one, which you can see here, needed a lot of work, and narrowing. When I don’t know what to write, I can drone on a bit. Talking about myself in the third person is awkward and goes against my grain. This was a helpful step to have offered. So, if you can afford a bio writer, send them your site link and resume. Let them get you here. You can tweak what they say, but a stranger can encapsulate you better than you can yourself. They will know what a reader wants to see, and what is just a bonus point to learn later on.

waste basket with crumpled paper, scrap pile — ^{Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash}

My ultimate assessment on the new bio (above): this bio is something you would find in a pamphlet at a convention. It felt so much better. Much more professional than the piece I had achieved on my own. It doesn’t boast. It outlines. The wording creates precision. It’s focused to the recipient.

Writing a bio is on par with your book blurb, and you can think of it as an author blurb in the same vein. It’s the story of you. Keep to all the pertinent and present information of interest. Your name, accomplishments, general location, and what you work on. Boom. Mini bio. Here–I’ll save you the google search: Bio Writers on Fiverr. You’re welcome. I do this for a living and that was a freebie.

If you’d like to see some other bio samples, please click on the other author posts below in the scroll box. Before you go, add your email address to the subscription box (right column for PC users and scroll down for phones). The hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday without the need to search us up. See you next time!

Periodically – Open Book Blog Hop #552

October 26, 2026 By Captain Maiel 4 Comments

Topic #552

What was/is your favorite periodical from back in the day?

The serial periodical holds a special place in my heart. I learned a lot from picking up and reading articles in a lot of various versions of this media. Whether it was old school People magazine, the enquirer, Life and Time, or even Zoobooks, there was a lot to check out. I was also privy to printed newspapers and televised newscasts. The information at my fingertips was as good as it could get back in the day. My grandmother kept a load of periodical media strewn across her table to check out, and shelves of interesting books.

My favorite ever periodical, however, was National Geographic. This gave me a window onto the world, but it also was like a mini museum. I’d read about new discoveries, antiquities, people and their cultures, and animals from every reach imaginable. They even drew you up into space. When I got older, that didn’t change. The more frivolous side of me sought other magazines to add to the fray, expanding the base of knowledge.

What magazines did a preteen gravitate toward? Something called 16 magazine and Seventeen. There was Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, and Bop, too. Imagine, if you will, periodicals loaded with celebs and their ridiculousness, and then fashion and make up. So vapid! But, so satisfying to a teenager. 16 and the others were a way to get posters of the people you adored from film and television (even music), while seventeen taught you all the fashionable life skills. Looking back, the latter is so cringe. It was geared toward making girls amicable young women who catered to boys. Yikes! But, that tracks as a cosmo for kids. Bunch of groomers!

Nothing wrong with being fashion focused and on trend, but trying to condition half the population to act as servant is wild! When you view this through the lens of current issues on trafficking and abuse of girls, it really leaves you cold! I always preferred the readings of National Geographic and periodicals like that. It was a lot of fun turning from 16 and Seventeen to the higher learning periodical. I felt full after reading those articles. Mentally, I felt supported and I grew from them. The other was just cheap candy–no sustenance. It would often leave you feeling depressed about yourself.

Today, I’ll still pick up National Geographic, even with the ownership change that shifted priorities within the journal, and distilling certain biases. Speaking of excellent periodicals, have you hard of Archaeology? It was a favorite of mine in my twenties. I collected them and still have a few that I have passed to my daughter. The Silver Sarcophagus of Egypt was a favorite. As a history nut, both of these magazines have given me a lot to think about and probably have fed into my writing.

Curious about the other authors’ periodical of choice? Click on their links below to find out more. Before you go, add your email to the subscription box on the top right (scroll down if you’re reading this on your phone). The hop will arrive in your inbox on Fridays without the need to search for us. Easy! See you next time!

In The Event – Open Book Blog Hop #551

October 19, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

Topic #551

Are there any writing events you’d love to be part of?

It has been quite a bit of time since I did my last event. But, then, it also has been a long time since I had a new release to sign. My daughter was born nine years ago, and at that time, I decided to focus on motherhood and making sure we were financially well. She is my world, and I very much sought having her. This was all planned. I had to be responsible about it.

dear katie — ^{Mom working while you nap on the Magic Boppy.}

When little was an infant, writing while she napped on my knee was easy. She’d nap or nurse and I worked uninterrupted. She was a pretty quiet baby. As she grew, the active nurturing became bigger. I set aside my book to work on later, when I thought I’d find my focus. In that time, a promotion in the day job and shift in my work took place. By the end of the day, I am super exhausted and don’t look forward to doing anything but tuning out. The job I do is mentally taxing, taking a lot out of me. Not to mention getting up early erases the late evenings, as all I do now is prepare us both for the next day.

Some days, I work from home. That helps create earlier nights without commute time. I’m no less exhausted and no less in need of tuning out. On top of this, things are going to hell where I live fast. It’s scary as hell. A lot of energy goes into staying informed and thinking about next steps, if there are any to keep my daughter safe. As her rights are whittled away, I’m raising her to dream of school overseas and not returning. That said, where does she go? Things just don’t seem stable anywhere. That’s defeating.

I’m an old lady, past her prime, and near retirement. I will probably be okay, regardless of what happens (or so I think–despite the increased prevalence of violence toward women of all ages). Hopefully, things get better for all of us. That includes better opportunity.

In this economy, I don’t think many seek books. Sales remain terrible across the board. That said, if you find events, that focuses the crowd on those still seeking them. Ideally, the event makes it easier to find your readers among them. Thus, I’d love to have a table at an event. However, it’s not that easy. An author requires a wad of spare cash to buy their stock and set up. Table fees, posters/cards/handouts (each require design and may incur further costs for it), decorations, and the rest add up quick. If your sales run slow or absent, the argument about it’s worth dwindles.

My greatest wish for an event is to afford a table at a great Comicon or several. Travel costs and the aforementioned costs make that pretty impossible to keep up. Not to mention, I have a day job. I can’t just take off. I’d have to use my time if approved, which is limited to enabling work elsewhere. That’s dicey. I’d pray it benefits me! I’d rather take a real vacation. Enjoying myself on a getaway has greater benefit to renewing my soul and energy. Vacation planning provides enough stress but comes without the fear of not breaking even, or gaining new readers.

Absolutely, events are a lot of fun once you are there and can relax into the day. They can be defeating, too. As I said, slow interest and sales is super disheartening. You can have a perfect little book but not enough rizz to draw crowds. Let me tell you, for some reason that still elude me at my great age, I don’t have the rizz to draw crowds. I do my best.

Maybe the best event we could attend is one that teaches us how to be more attractive to readers as authors. A hands on course, with useful feedback to hone our social media craft and event craft. How to engage along with how to decorate your space. Voice work, even. Yeah, cause sometimes its the voice with which you speak–not just your face. People are strange and reactive creatures. You don’t have to know that you’re pushing them away to push them away. They read your appearance and speech pattern and react to it. Sometimes, you don’t have to do anything, they just want to dislike you. Sometimes, you just seem invisible. Roll of the dice.

At this stage, I think Comicon or learning how to stage myself for shoppers would be the best benefit. What events would the other authors like to engage with? Find out by clicking their links below in the scroll box. Before you go, please drop your email in the box on the upper right (scroll down on your phones). This way, the hop will arrive each Friday without the need to search for it. See you next time!

What Plans? Open Book Blog Hop #550

October 12, 2026 By Captain Maiel 6 Comments

Topic #550

It’s only October, but stores are filling with Christmas merchandise.
Have you started to get ready for the holidays?

Oh, wow. The leaves haven’t even fallen yet. I’m only thinking of Halloween and the fall fun. What plans? I’m a pantser. I’m not even sure I can make plans right now. It’s been super rainy and that makes my allergies spin out of control. Damn mold! I thought my head was still spinning from the rides and flight from vacation! I’m running on slow mode right now.

If I worried about the holidays too soon, my anxiety would pancake me. I’d get nowhere. However, I do shop for gifts for different holidays and birthdays throughout the year. I may get something for a loved one a year in advance, depending on what I bump into and when. I don’t hesitate when I find the perfect thing, or say I will do it later. I’ve missed out on a lot of great things by waiting. Adjusting the budget and putting off other unnecessary things is my preference.

I’ll admit, in my basement right now, there is a new Christmas decoration. Is that plans? It is a Costco buy that I stumbled upon in August. That tree was not going to be there in December if I waited (although, it is likely to be in excess now). Also, it was marked way down to mark the opening of the new store. It will add to the whimsy of my Peanuts and Seuss collection. I may put my Grinch and Max with it. Sounds good!

Other than that, not a thought about it. No plans. I will likely start to worry in November, closer to our harvest feast day at the end of the month. At that time, Mom takes us to get a real tree for her living room and our celebration. We check out the ornaments, treats, and get into the spirit. We may not do this in December. The past few years, the tree has not lasted, losing needles a few weeks before the holiday, and becoming quite fragile by the 25th.

Mom planned the meal for our gathering a couple weeks back. In addition, I did update my daughter’s wish list. I’ve been focused on planning a vacation since spring, that we just returned from this past weekend. It was HOT and poured rain nearly every day. The disappointment is subtle, because it disrupted our trick or treat night at Magic Kingdom. We were not able to see the headless horseman or the parade. Kiddo did get a big bag of candy, and her aunt gave her the one she collected with it.

Despite the rain, we managed to still have a good time. TSA stole my refillable cup when leaving, but we are home safe and made some great memories.

I wonder what plans the authors have. We can find out clicking on their links in the box below. Don’t forget to drop your email in the subscription box before you go. This way, the hop will arrive each Friday without the need to search for us. See you back here next week!