Two Time-Sensitive Tidbits

Check out the writerly silent auction and the book design app.

Everything’s on sale these days, and even as writers we’re focused on how to spend our money.

I wanted to tell you about two opportunities.

1. Writerly Silent Auction

Terrain.org organizes an annual silent auction of items—mostly experiences and services—geared to writers. It went live today and runs through Tuesday, Dec. 16.

I bid on a few things right away, including Birding & Beering with my old friend J. Drew Lanham. Mine was the first bid, at the $150 minimum, and I was outbid $50 later this morning.

Other items include:

• Rare, signed Wendell Berry broadside

• Hike, map and flyfish northwest Oregon with Joe Wilkins

• Essay critique with Alison Hawthorne Deming

• Poetry consultation and signed book by Suzanne Frischkorn

• Home-cooked meal, poetry and Austin stroll with Todd Boss and Hila Plitmann

• A Route Through Grief to Love: A Writing the Wild lab with David James Duncan

• Birdwatching and walking tour of South Florida’s Green Cay Wetlands with Andrew Furman

• And many more

Oh, how I wish I could hike and flyfish with Joe Wilkins. If I lived closer to the Pacific Northwest, I would spend all my Christmas money on that dream.

The auction app requires that you register before you bid, and the registration process obliges you to enter your credit card information. You will not be charged unless you win.

Notice your emotions as you peruse this auction. I’m very interested in what they are. I had a few emotions, which I won’t belabor; I am determined that a writing community beyond comparison is possible. Before you go in and look around, you may want to say to yourself, “I’m thrilled that the world has so many gifted writers. I’m glad I can be a part of a writing community as rich as this one. These writers help me expand in love, creativity, and abundance, as I help them. What can I learn from someone in this group? What could they learn from me?”

2. Book Design App

Vellum is on sale through Dec. 8 at 30 percent off.

Vellum is a book-design app that allows you to import a book draft from Word or Scrivener, name a trim size then choose one of 26 design configurations, and design a professional looking book. You can design for KDP, Kobo, Apple Books, and all the rest, generating print-ready pdf and ePub files.

You pay a one-time fee (normally $249), download the app to your laptop, and design all the books your heart desires. Vellum does not include cover design.

You do not need Vellum if

• you have only one book manuscript

• you don’t plan to self-publish

• you don’t own and use a Mac (the app is not compatible with a PC)

• you intend to use indie book designers

I use Vellum. I’m still learning its abilities, and I don’t have everything figured out. I love human book designers, and I still use them, but Vellum gives me the opportunity to design a book quickly and adequately. I’m very happy with it.

Thirty percent off of $249 brings the cost of Vellum to $174.99.

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Update

Last week I began to propose a challenge, that we stretch ourselves to enter at least one contest before the end of the year. However, December is always a blur, and my current thinking is that we need to wait. The holidays are enough of a challenge.

That’s it for this week.

Stay in the spiral. 🌀