Is It Time to Finally Quit this Crazy Business?

Hello, friends and Fire Enthusiasts. We’re going to get real today – not that I lie, cheat or steal here. I just mean that I thought I would spend this time talking about my reality, and perhaps yours, too.

I’ve sold a few books, but that’s really all. Not too many. The 30 total reviews or so I have received for my three novels have been pretty good. I certainly can’t be anything but pleased with those. Even the one or two bad reviews are helpful in the grant scheme of things. I read those and then quickly moved on, refusing to dwell on the negative.

So why am I telling you all of this? Well, it’s because I wonder who else is struggling in the same waters as me?

For the most part I try and put on a positive display. I don’t lie and make up glorious numbers or pretend to be a best seller when I am clearly not. I do think it’s important to appear to be an “I’ve got it all together” -looking author. I think readers need to know that you’re not quitting tomorrow. On the other hand, I want to be a help to others. If I step out and admit that things are moving at a snail’s pace, perhaps it helps someone else who is on the verge of giving up.

I really think it is more important for me to get someone to back away from the proverbial ledge than it is to continue this front.

Earlier I mentioned something about water. You see, I know I’m not a bad writer. Too many have said wonderful things about my work for that to be true. The trouble is – and I really believe this – there is a sea of books out there. Ultimately, it may prove to be too much competition for many of us. I don’t think it’s only me. Are we telling our stories because we want to get rich? Or are we doing it because we simply have stories to tell and it would be a shame not to?

For my third book, I moved away from horror and penned a paranormal with a strong dose of romance. I was (and am) very excited about it. I once again paid for the professional edit job, and lucked out by getting a wonderful friend, author and artist to design a beautiful cover. I started dropping the teasers well in advance. I built buzz for a cover reveal, followed by the event; I literally did everything right in the promotion of it. I’m sure there was more, but I put all my time, efforts and everything I’d learned into it.

Very little happened. *crickets play*

Perhaps we really do need to withhold judgment until book ten. I don’t know. Seemingly every day we read about someone hitting it big with a first effort. Perhaps it really is not in the cards for me. Or you. Only God knows.

I did not pen this to be a rant. Nor did I hope to eclipse some record amount of comments, hoping to have so many people run to my aid for fear of me finally stepping over that ledge.

Let me just thank you well in advance now. I’m fine, and I appreciate the well-wishes. I’m not quitting. I have too many stories to tell…and I hope those of you who are in that same boat as I have stories to tell as well. It’s a tough business. However, it still is a very exciting time to be alive and find ourselves equipped with the gift of storytelling. For better or worse, I’ve published three novels that a handful of people seem to have enjoyed. You’ve written some things that people have enjoyed, too, right? If nothing else, we need to remember that it really is tough for everyone, and that we are not alone in that boat. Let’s take an evening to hold hands, pass the bottle around, sing some songs and celebrate our gift!

And then let’s get back to work.

Let’s not quit. Regret is a terrible thing. We’ll stop when the fingers no longer work well enough to hit these keyboard keys, or perhaps when they pull the damned plug.

I had hoped to spend the rest of the year promoting/networking. Now it appears I’m shutting that down to simply begin the next project. If you don’t hear from me it’s because I’m in the writers’ cave, using my two hours a day to write instead of network - thanks to my 11 hour day job.

I’ll be back. I promise.

I hope you will be as well.

We’ll talk soon.     

Keeping From Drowning

Greetings and salutations, Fire Enthusiasts. Thanks so much for dropping by and hanging out with me for a few minutes. I realize that there is plenty of competition for your time and hardly any of that as it is! And this is precisely what I have come to talk about this week.

You see, I feel bad when I don’t spend enough time with you guys. When I started writing again a few years ago, finished the novel and found my publisher, it was all about me. It was about the first of many novels which would propel me into the consciousness of the world, or at least my little part of it. *laughs* Back then, I had no idea that any of you were here already or about to join me in this crazy pursuit that more often than not consumes us and drives us beyond normal means to get our words out into the world.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that there was a wonderful community of writers and/or readers out there. During that first year, many of you held me up and tirelessly encouraged me to hold the course in spite of newbie roadblocks, obstacles and potholes in the road before me…and us. Now, I feel like one of those tireless encouragers (is that even a word?), and I love that!

My part of the Packaging Department Office. Forgive the tape on the window.

The Problem: You’ll recognize it because it’s probably your problem, too. I have between 4:30 pm and 8:00 pm, and that’s it. During this time it's shuttling kids around, appointments, eating dinner and cleaning the kitchen, and occasional performances at the schools for those kids that I mentioned. It makes it tough to keep up with everything that you guys are up to, though I try.

Working and writing: I have an 11 hour day job (which I have whined about many times) which I have to wake up for at an ungodly hour. I sneak my writing in during coffee breaks and finally on Saturday morning where I have a chunk of time before the house wakes up.

Reading: I pretty much only read before bed. This also helps to tire my eyes and to induce sleep. When I’ve got something really good to read, I take trusty Kindle to work with me and read there. That’s good news for many of you guys because I’ve only been reading indie books for a year and a half. That’s how well written your books are to me. *raises glass in toast* Speaking of reading, my TBR pile is literally a mound of books. I’m getting through them as fast as I can, but…

When I need to get away from the house noise, I retreat to the bedroom.

Networking: Throughout the day I am attached to my trusty iPhone, constantly sorting through e-mail and blog posts that I have delivered to my inbox (As a side note, if you have yet to add this feature to your sites, I highly recommend it. It saves so much time, rather than readers having to go hunting for your posts). I save the ones that I really want to address and delete the rest. It hurts, but there is no time for them all. When I get home I go through what I have saved and visit everyplace that I can.

Promotion: Throughout the day, I might tweet or Facebook post about my book or my one blog post a week, but I really try and keep that to a minimum. I get so much more enjoyment re-tweeting, sharing and "liking" what you guys have going on. Any more promotion than that is really only spam, isn’t it? Eventually, it becomes invisible, skipped or deleted without a second thought. It’s sad, but the reality.

The reason my left knee hurts now. Lol!

The Why: Why did I explain all of that? Really, the answer is because I care, and want you to understand that more often than not, I’m barely treading water. You'll notice that I didn’t mention anything about articles that I write or housework or the treadmill that we just bought to help defeat this rapidly increasing middle of mine. My hope is that by the end of the week, I will have “liked” a post or two of yours, re-tweeted, or shown you some #Writer Wednesday and #Follow Friday love, and said hello to you on your blog or website. Often I read your posts but have little to add, and the last thing that I want to do is simply add some lame comment that takes up more of our time. There’s already very little time in the day as it is. #justsayin’

By the way, if I haven't thrown you some Twitter love, blame the Follow Friday app that I use. I could never forget any of you. *grins*

How do you guys keep from drowning? I'd love to hear your advice and recommendations. We've been holding each other up for a couple of years now, haven't we?

I think my cat has the best idea yet. 

We’ll talk soon.

Help Wanted: A (Sexy) Assistant

Greetings and Salutations, Fire Enthusiasts.

How is everyone? Unless we bump into each other on Facebook or Twitter, I don’t get that opportunity to ask. J So, how are you? I ask because I also want to remind myself that these pages shouldn’t be about the incredible blossoming career of the big-shot writer from the little town in Central California – although that would be totally frigging awesome!!

Okay, enough of that.

Help Wanted: An Assistant:

He or she must be media-savvy and fluent with all devices, gizmos and programs. The job pays very little, but the promise of future earnings is potentially very high. The good news is there is no office to report to and one can work from the convenience of their own laptop and/or device. She? Who am I kidding? The applicant must be male, because working with any attractive female would simply be too distracting and the author must be busy writing at all times. Sorry, my female friends. You are all far too attractive and distracting and, um,…

See, I already forgot what we were talking about.

I know all of you are in the very same boat as me. All we wanted to do was write our stories, right? However, it soon became at least one blog that we needed to maintain, followed by a place to promote (Facebook, Twitter, Google +, etc.). From there, new friends began to invite you to other places. For me it was Horror groups and Horror Social Media destinations. If you are a reader or simply want to find the readers in order to market your book, then you’ve been to Goodreads, Shelfari or some other reader-friendly sites.

Of course, many, if not all of us, are now trying to figure out how in the world we’re supposed to maintain our writing and reading schedules with so much time now needed to devote to promotion. In fact, I spotted at least two posts this past weekend questioning that very thing.

I’d love to hear from you this week on this subject. How much time do you devote to promotion? What have you realized needs to be your priorities? Where do you draw the line?

Another question beckons: If we spend less time promoting ourselves on social networks, what about promoting our friends and neighbors?

Thankfully, many sites do a pretty good job of automatically pasting your posts on other sites. Many of you are better at this than I am. Unless a site, post or Network automatically prompts me, I may not know how to get it to post for me. That’s why I say that I’m still learning some of this stuff. If we can program and schedule these things more efficiently, then that gives us more time during the week to promote the works of others.

For me, I am in a constant state of re-evaluation. Every few months or so, I see what works and what doesn’t, and I tweak what I do. While I have a break at work, that’s when I manage my #WW and #FF on Twitter, as well as participate in the Novel Publicity Karmic Friday Chain on Facebook. Everything else I do at home. Unfortunately, for Twitter, if I haven’t conversed with someone in a while, the FollowFriday App. doesn’t pick them up anymore. I try and catch some of these folks during the week (when I see there activity) and toss them a random greeting. For blogs, I try and follow by e-mail notification, where possible. This way I leave their note in my Inbox so I can get back to it that week. I used to go down the blog list, but I rarely get time for that. It’s hard enough finding time to visit the blogs during the week as it is!! And blog hops? Those are great, but you are definitely going to spend your week visiting only those participating in the hop. Have you noticed? In order to share the love, I try and take time off between hops.

Before this post becomes book number three, I’m going to walk away; however, I really would like to hear how you good people manage your time on this subject. Perhaps we’ll help each other. By the way, after every sexy applicant was disqualified, here's who I ended up with. I can see he's going to be a lot of help.

We’ll talk soon.

300 Blog Limit

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. It's good to see you. I hope you feel the same way, too.

I come to you today because I just realized that there was a limit to the amount of blogs that one can follow. Imagine my surprise. Perhaps many of you have already faced this dilemma; perhaps many of you are about to hit this mark.

Obviously, there is not enough time in most people's day or even week to be able to follow along with each and everyone of 300 blogs; however, at least in my case, I try and visit periodically. I bet everyone feels the same. For writers, we know how difficult of a proposition it is for others to understand what we go through on a daily basis, so it's great if we can support one another.
So, here I was, happily following along with everyone who elicited some reaction out of me. Sometimes I would follow because I felt some connection with someone's blog, sometimes it was because what the person was doing was really cool or noteworthy, sometimes it was simply a gut-instinct to regularly visit. Of course, sometimes I was following someone else back.

In any event, now I am trying to figure out how to get around this 300 number ceiling. Any thoughts?

Does anyone already have the answer to this?

Some of you folks are doing such cool things that I really want to remain a part of it. Many do reviews that I would like to know about. Many of you write novels and I have either bought a copy already or am hoping to, or I simply want to continue encouraging you in your hopes, aspirations and dreams..

Is the answer that we must stake ourselves to one another on each of the social networks and try and keep up that way? Is there just a procedural thing that we must do to get around this number?

I hope there is an answer to this because I'd hate to have to make difficult decisions to unfollow some just to make room to follow others. I study my follower number just like the next person and my heart dips just a bit when the number decreases. I'd hate to do this to others, too.

Anyway, thanks for whatever input anyone might have with regard to this subject. In a great many ways I am still just a newbie.

We'll talk soon.

Author Event Advice?

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. How is your week? Good, I hope.

In the next few weeks I have several scheduled author events. It’s kind of a make or break month for me. You see, my novel is about vampires loosed in my real hometown of Kingsburg, California. In the novel the vampires show up a couple of weeks before the Swedish Festival. It is a real event which takes place on the third weekend of May. My point is, if I can’t sell this book in this area, I’m guessing that it might be time to close up shop, in a manner of speaking.

We’ve discussed this before, but I have an eleven hour day job. Life was busy before I restarted writing and found myself blessed with a published novel. I went from this blog to adding two more (although I rarely help with that third one) and then took on a job as an article writer for a local on-line magazine, Kings River Life as the Kingsburg writer. All of this, plus keeping active on all of the social networks is too much; however, I have been doing it because I’m 42 years old and feel as if I should hustle, attempting to see whether I might be able to make something out of this writing career.

Notice that I didn’t say anything about keeping up with housework, being a good dad and husband, etc.

In any event, I definitely wouldn’t quit writing, but I would most likely scale back. There’s no way that I can maintain this pace.

However, this is not why I have come to you today. Since I am embarking upon my very first series of author events, I would like to hear from those of you who have already done some of these for advice. Do you have any words of wisdom for me? I was thinking about buying a table which would be longer than a regular card-table, something to give me a bit more room. I was thinking about covering it with two tablecloths: one a long neutral one, and another a much smaller one, giving me a splash of dark red or maroon (going with the blood visuals, don’t’cha know). I have ordered several acrylic book displays. I am planning on buying a couple of baskets for my business cards and magazine bookmarks. I am also thinking about making up some binders with either short stories of mine as well as some of the articles that I have written for the magazine.

Am I missing anything? I have a library event and a book club that I am doing, but I am also doing an outdoor festival for two days.

I know that a few of you have done similar events and could share a few insights. I’d love to hear them.

We’ll talk soon.

Computer Problems

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. I have a question for you: how much would you just love to meet a hacker in a dark alley and give him a pounding that he would not soon forget?

I ask this question because after much work and heartache, my laptop is finally working well once again after being a problem for nearly a month.

It all began earlier this month when I caught a virus called: System Tools 2011. It acted as if it was an antivirus program that had detected a virus. It claimed that my laptop was infected with multiple viruses. It immediately attempted to get me to go to a website which would allow me to purchase the software which would solve my problems.

Yet, the main problem was that it itself was the virus, and it was simply trying to get money out of me.

It took me three afternoon/evenings to be rid of the virus. I'm not much of a hacker myself. In fact, I love to quote Samuel L. Jackson in Jurassic Park in these areas: "PLEASE! GODDAMMIT! I HATE THIS HACKER CRAP!"

After I was rid of the virus, it took me many attempts to clean the laptop because I began to have consistency issues. I would run a scan of the machine, only to find issues, but not be able to fix them all. Just when I thought it was working perfectly, it would lock up on me or act extremely slow. It was quite frustrating.

If you have noticed how inconsistently I have been posting or commenting on the posts of others, this issue is the cause of most of this. We also had a New York City trip which began just days after the virus attack, followed by my allergies flaring up. I'm hoping to be back to my old self with regard to blogging, etc. We'll see.

For those of you who might have been like me, a bit slow to double-check the security of your machine or home network, do so. If you have yet to back up your hard drive, do that , too. I got lucky...this time. You never know what might happen, especially with how busy most of us are. For me, I work too many hours (11) and have to get up too early in the morning at 3:00 am. This gives me precious little time for blogging, Promotion and post/article writing. When I want my laptop, I don't want to worry that it might not be safe.

It is a lesson for us all.

We'll talk soon.