Write up in the paper about Pic Jump

First Book Signing

Dreams come true.

Here is one of mine:  I'm in 8th grade and in the basement of my mother's house, busily pounding the keys of my beautiful brand new (manual) red typewriter, spinning story after story as my mind takes me places that I want to explore.  In the deepest recesses of my soul I want, desperately, to be an author.  A REAL author - in my mind I've already published books, seen my name in print, become sucessful.  For years, I faithfully pound away at the keys, buying typewriter ribbon and paper, never dreaming that personal computers are the future and the day will come when I will laugh at the memory.  All I know, when I'm 12 going on 13 is that if I can't be an author, I don't want to be anything else.

Finally, after 40 some-odd years, that dream is coming true.  I have 12 books out and I must take a moment and say I didn't do it alone.  Yes, I'm an Indie, but the books would never have become reality without the support of heaven, family, and friends.

As an independent author, I am everything - writer, editor, cover designer, in charge of either doing or delegating every aspect of the business.  Make no mistake, if you are an Indie it IS a business.

<------The artists that drew/colored the book trailer presentation you see on screen.  The media people at the college were able to make the presentation loop so we didn't have to push 'play' every four minutes.

The book trailers are on You Tube: 
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChannelingMee

We brought the extra decor with us - the garland, the large baskets of flowers, the big bow with bells.

There were posters to be made, along with business cards, making arrangements with the store, treats (note:  use chocolate).  It was a lot of work, but fun. 

One of my fans who has read all of the books (and previously asked me how I sleep at night) brought his wife with him and bought Pic Jump, the first book we sold that day.  He'd already read it, now he owns it.  I like satisfied customers!  He can't seem to get enough of the COS series and was happy to find there is a prequel and a follow up in the works.

The campus director for special collections at the library bought four books and wants to buy the rest.  Apparently, they have a collection of books written by local authors.  Who knew?

The last books that were bought:  a librarian bought two sets of the 3 award winners that will be going to two local libraries north of our little burg and wants the rest of the books in the New Year!

And the winners of the Book drawing are:

Patricia German from South Dakota



Stephanie Bondlow from Louisiana

Rebecca Stephen from Indiana 

Congratulations 

I will be mailing your chosen books to you this coming week! 

Interview coming up

Tomorrow, Saturday October 22nd, my interview with romantic suspense author Ronda Hinrichsen will be posted on http://thewriteblocks.blogspot.com/  It was fun and thought provoking.

More than once I've been asked what my favorite thing has been that has happened since finishing and releasing 12 books in 12 months.

The answer is the response of fans.

For instance, I received word yesterday one of my fans went online to  http://www.iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/  where the current giveaway the 3 of my award-winning books is being held and she left a comment there.  She wasn't trying to enter to win the books (she'd already bought all of them) she just wanted everyone to know that she loved them all.  Wow. It renewed my hope and made me want to plow ahead with more books.

Just this morning I received an email that told me one of my fans had a dream about a particularly potent scene in Walking in Lightning.  Another Wow.   

To me, the fact the fan had a dream about the characters in the book is affirmation that my writing has touched something deeper than a persons's eyes.  It sank into their subconcious which then spun the scene out for them in a dream.  The fan said it was like being in a movie it was so real.

Some of my fans have made drawings of my COS characters on deviantart.
http://chest-of-souls.deviantart.com/   You'll even see some of my tracings there.

For me, the fans reactions have been Powerful heady stuff and the best kind of reward because when I write, I do so from the heart.  I want the books to be talked about, laughed about, and discussed with pros and cons for the characters.  It's been one of my dreams for a long time.

I write because I must, but fans are why I continue to do so with a smile.

Writing a book Step Five: Destination

Step One: Dream
Step Two: Desire
Step Three: Discipline
Step Four: Determination
Step Five:  Destination

Everything, up to this point, has been for this final step.  You've dreamed, wanted it to come true, made sure you worked at it every day, and determined you were going to be successful.

Now, you decide what your destination is by taking the next (scarier) step in the world of Indie publishing.  Where are you going to publish your work? 

My personal preferences and why I chose them: 

Amazon for Ebook - they have name recognition and are International.  Their upload system is easy (and free) for Ebook. 
Problem:  sometimes their uploads have issues.  I use the same format, font, and 'formula' for each of my books.  However, sometimes the work I've done shows up as a combination of large and small fonts or the spacing is wrong.  I'm not HTML oriented.  Is this a scheme to get you to buy their services so everything will be perfect?  I have no idea.  I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt in spite of the fact there is one book they have never gotten right.
UPDATE:  They have fixed this issue

Lulu.com for my POD (Print on demand) - biggest reason I chose them:  it's free.  If you want to purchase professional services, they are available.  I've had a few problems with the printing machinery creasing or misprinting pages, but as long as I took a picture of the problem and emailed them, they have been good to replace the damaged books.    However, lately, I've had a problem with my soft covers showing on Amazon.  Lulu was supposed to take care of that when I 'purchased' their extended reach program.  They have Live Chat where you can 'speak' to a rep who then helps you with your problem.  I found Live Chat a MUCH better way to go rather than email. 

Now there is another issue:  Lulu sends the information about the soft covers to Amazon, but Amazon is backlogged - REALLY backlogged.  My last three books of the 12 I've written - Storm, Walking in Lightning, and Pic Jump, were published in May and June.  They are not showing and this is October.  I contacted Lulu and Amazon and the problem is on Amazon's end.  It should not take them 4 and 5 months to list a product.
There may be something else going on.  I guess I'll find out soon.

18 Oct 2011: Pic is now showing as a softcover but it will 'take longer' for the other two which were uploaded first - no reason given.

24 Oct 2011:  All books with both formats are now showing (insert big sigh of relief)

2013:  New issue:  old cover instead of new on paperback version of Chest of Souls Book One and Two.  Sigh...

Writing a book Step Four: Determination

Step One: Dream
Step Two: Desire
Step Three: Discipline
Step Four: Determination

To write, you must be determined.  Some people might call it pure pigheadedness.  Call it what you will, without it, you will not be able to reach any goal, much less write a book. 

My definition of Determination while writing is:  persistence married to intentions.

Are you persistent?  Can you stick with something until it's finished? 
I'm married to the a man that descended from generations of good hard-working farmers.  His very DNA will not allow him to quit until a job is finished - he is incapable of calling it quits until he is comfortable with the job.

As writers, we need to do the same.  As Indie authors, it is critical.  We are our own company - CEO, editor, everything.

As an author, you can't please everyone.  You can get a 5-star 'WOW' from one person and a 1-star 'YUCK' from another on the same book.  Why is that?  The same reason some people like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate.  For instance, I prefer 'clean' books - I don't like profanity of any kind, I prefer romance over sex, and if there is violence, it must have a purpose such as self-defense, to save the world, etc.  I'm sure there are millions of readers just the opposite.  To each their own and this is a GOOD thing - it means we can write what we like to read and millions can appreciate our efforts. 

What are your intentions for your book?  Do you intend for your books to be commercially successful or are you willing to just let family have a copy and call it good?

Success takes work.  It means doing things others don't like to do.  One of those things is rewriting.

I usually have about six drafts.

1) Bare bones:  the idea and whether or not I can build a book around the idea.  Maybe how I want the book to end.
2) Bones:  Basic manuscript - I usually write about 20-30 chapters and try to be consistent with length.  In this draft, I made the connections between characters and the main plot.
3) Sinews: Manuscript is expanded and I'm refining characters/plot and making sure the book flows.
4) Muscles: Another rewrite.  I polish the manuscript and fill in holes.  Is it exciting enough?  At this point, I seek to destroy bad elements.
5) Guts: Another re-write and expansion.  Plots and sub plots:  is there enough action?
6) Flesh:  Final re-write/edit/polish.  This is the point I allow pre-readers to see it and point out the things I missed (there are usually typos, grammatical errors, and an occasional continuity issue which is a major oops - like having a character be 6 years old on one page and 8 on another)

Writing a book Step Three: Discipline

Step One:  Dream
Step Two: Desire
Step Three: Discipline

Writing is... wait for it... WORK!  
This four letter word seems to be the step where most people get lost or permanently lose their desire.  This is a business and to succeed, you must treat it like one.   As an Indie Author, I am my own boss.  If I fail to host a full-spectrum prism of personal responsibility for my books, my career fails.   

I spend an average of 8 hours a day, but during crunch time I have been known to spend up to 16 (my record was 20, or was it 22?).  As much as possible, surround yourself with experts.  My group consists of pre-readers/editors/family/friends.  

I know my weaknesses.  Marketing is not my favorite thing to do.  While I write, my husband's main job when he has free time, is to find and share articles/books about writing/publishing/marketing.

A BIG PLUS: I have adult children.  They offer insights to characters they do/don't like and why. I do not always take their advice.  I decide because I'm the author.  If the issue comes up more than once, I take it more seriously.  I role-play with my oldest daughter to let the creative juices flow.  It is a phenomenal experience!  I have an enormous extended family who are willing to read - many are NOT readers, but become my fans.  Whenever that happens, the magic spawns more creative juices.

Did I mention the flame of genius is fickle?
For some reason, people I've talked to/read about feel that if genius is not burning, they can't or shouldn't write.  Here's some bubblegum for your brain (if this is the way you feel).  Since most authors must have a job in the "real" world in addition to listening to their muses,  what would happen if you didn't go to work in the real world until you felt like it?  What would happen if you called in and told your boss that you weren't coming in today because your muses were silent?   The same goes for writing.   If you want to succeed, you must WORK.

The biggest flower in my basket of discipline:  Rewrites.  As an author you have to be willing to RE-write whatever you need to and continue for as long as it takes to whip your manuscript into shape.  I was willing to comb through my manuscripts as many times as it took - each time tightening loose bolts, or eliminating fluff.  The upside to rewrites: you learn to write cleaner manuscripts so your effort won't take as much editing.

Recap:  take personal responsibility for your work, treat writing like a business, surround yourself with people who make up for your weakness, be willing to rewrite when necessary.