I’m jumping off this crazy merry-go-round of publishing and promoting. Enough is never enough, but, you know, I am enough. #amwriting but #amdonepromoting
I’m losing my gumption for writing.
Or at least for publishing.
I can’t imagine myself ever not writing. The publishing part, though, it drains my soul.
As much as I want my stories to land on the hearts that need them, I am tired of how ‘less than’ publishing makes me feel.
It’s an incredibly competitive industry and one that is skewed towards the people who
Continue reading “I’m Enough”
And I’m off!
Where to, you ask?
Why, success and fame, of course.
(success and fame are relative terms.)
Continue reading “Can You Handle the S#*t Sandwich?”Okay, okay, so I kind of fell off the SHOW YOUR WORK daily bandwagon, but I have great excuses.
Excuse #1: I was getting tired of me, me, me.
When you have a new book coming out, you have to promote yourself. I always struggle with this, and that probably Continue reading “SHOW YOUR WORK A Week Later”
I don’t understand the internet. Or my computer. Or my phone for that matter.
I’m pretty much convinced that it’s all magic. Mostly a good magic, but magic still.
My son is a professional ‘coder’ but I don’t really understand what that is beyond Continue reading “It Must Be Magic”
“The more willing we are willing to separate from distraction and step into the open arms of boredom, the more writing we will get on the page.” -Ann Patchett
#truth: Writing is boring.
It’s very easy to find a suitable distraction to Continue reading “I’m Just a Distractible Girl”
Promoting your writing can sometimes feel like you’re waving a flag in a crowd of deaf and blind people with better things to do.
Really.
It feels like that.
It also feels like the physics homework I had back in eleventh grade where I regurgitated all the stuff the teacher told me but I never understood.
I’m doing all the things I’m supposed to do and ever hopeful that this will bring about the desired result. And yet, Continue reading “It’s Not Snake Oil, Really!”
I can while away entire mornings reading and commenting on other people’s blogs.
And when I consider the number of bloggers out there blogging away, it baffles my mind.
Some of them post every day, a few more than once a day.
I’m tempted to think that these are people who have too much time on their hands,
but then I realized Continue reading “Blog On, My Friends, Blog On”
Since you became an adult, how often do you do things you really don’t want to do?
Okay, bad example since we all pay taxes and spend our savings on the new furnace, roof, tires, etc.
We also clean out the sink drainer, fold our laundry, and go to the dentist.
I remember that as a kid, the big draw of being an adult is you no longer had to do anything unless you wanted to. I suppose that is still kind of true, but not doing some things could lead to losing your house, car, teeth, respect, significant other or even land you in jail.
And yet, sometimes it’s doing the things we are least comfortable doing, that make us grow, and maybe even change our lives. Staying put and only doing the easy stuff leads to stagnation of the soul.
And once we do these things that make us uncomfortable, it gets easier and easier.
I’ve decided to try something new on my writing journey. Continue reading “Avoiding Stagnation of the Soul (or Me-in the movies!)”
Most of us writers are professional whiners. We know how to complain with colorful, compelling alliteration and perfect grammar.
And, truly, we have so much to complain about—low pay, minimal recognition for ridiculous amounts of work, a swamped market, the Big 5 monopoly that rigs the system and controls the best-seller lists. And then there’s the social media grind, endless platform building, the odds, the hours of harvesting the dregs of your heart, only to be dismissed because that genre’s not selling. Thankless work, really.
And whose skin doesn’t crawl when they hear the phrase, “Anybody can get published nowadays.” I read a well-written complaint recently wherein a professional writer said something to the effect of – Continue reading “Writer or Brain Surgeon – YOU decide”
Okay, it’s time to get serious about this writing gig. No more lolligogging about reading books about how to be a better writer. The excrement is about to hit the fan. I have a new book coming out June 6, 2017! We are now in the three-month countdown and I need YOU. (Yes, I’m serious. I’m tired of trying to do this all by myself.)
What? You don’t think there’s any way you can help? I beg to differ.
My first two novels, I’m Not Her and Girl’s Weekend have done well. There were plenty of lovely reviews from lovely people who took the time to read and then write about what they read. A bunch of other awesome people picked my book for their book club and then invited me to come to the meeting! That was super fun and luckily most everyone liked the book (there was this one grumpy lady….but even that was fun).
Still other amazing people recommended my books or gave them as gifts. So all in all, both books did okay, even cracking the bestselling list on Barnes & Noble’s Nook and gracing the New & Notable section of Apple ibooks (right next to Hamilton!!).
But this next book? I want it to do more than okay! Here’s what one famous writer (and you’ll have to either subscribe to my newsletter or buy the book to find out who!) said about Practicing Normal: Continue reading “Getting Serious about Writing and YOU”
My Life in Paragraphs 