Book Update!

Things will be busy the next few months, with book design and launch. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to make sure you don’t miss anything—announcements, giveaways, special offers, and more!

Stay tuned, and thanks for your support!

Estimating E-Book Sales-Info and link

Work, work, work…these days writers who want to get published have to take on the work of more than just writing. There's idea creation, organizing, editing, marketing and promotion, programming, sales tracking, and more. 

I'm neck deep in all this as the push to publish continues. One of the habits I picked up along the way helps me through periods of writer's block. I read about all the other stuff I should be doing. Doing so makes me feel productive, instead of staring at a screen worrying about the next sentence. Plus, reading industry news usually gives me ideas for my approach to the business of being a writer, which can be profitable, I think. 

Here's an industry nugget. It's a Forbes article about Estimating Kindle E-Book Sales for writers, and other curious folks out there. 

What do you do when you get writer's block, or when your day job gets tough? Feel free to share. 

Just Keep Swimming!

This post is not just about swimming.

Our children have a book about the Disney character Nemo. In the book Nemo faces doubt and obstacles about whether or not he’ll make the swim team, or win a race. He doubts his chances because he has two mismatched fins—a regular-size fin, and a tiny little one.

While Nemo may not be so sure of himself, his friend Dory encourages him every chance she can. “Just keep swimming!” Dory cries. By the end of the book, well, I won’t spoil it. You can find Just Keep Swimming online or at a store. I like the positive messages about faith and perseverance.

We all need this in our lives! Personally, there are times when my writing work, and revisions get tough. When I feel bogged down and can’t phone a friend, I remind myself to, “Just keep swimming!” I needed to say it a lot last week to power through a tough spot. And it worked! My project is moving forward, and I’ll be making some fun announcements about it in the coming weeks.  

Do you have an encouraging phrase, or something you do for yourself, or others, when the going gets tough? Share it with us, maybe you’ll help someone, or start a trend.

Just Keep Swimming!

Playing through the pain

Whenever my peers and I suffered through difficult tests, tryouts, performances and other such trials the words “suck it up” and “shake it off” came out of the mouths of our coaches and teachers frequently. I heard them more times than I care to detail here, but I’ve not forgotten.

I knew going into this venture there would be some highs and lows. By venture I mean fill in the blank—writing career, parenthood, life, you get the picture. I also knew it could lead to fun stuff such as back pain, eye strain, anxiety, saggy butt, carpal tunnel, etc. But, as I stop to write this amidst a major push to finish a novel, raise kids with my husband, freelance, maintain a household, be a good citizen of the world, etc., I am struggling.

I know it is time to push through the pain, but there is a good dose of heavy heart with each page I write and every moment I get with my beautiful family this week. I am not sad by the writing or the family, but because I don’t think my grandma will be around long enough to see the full potential of either.

She has been a huge supporter of my endeavors (and sympathizer of the struggles) to be a writer. I am a writer—at least she saw me practicing my craft and shared in the happiness as I became published. But, I hoped so hard this year she would be around to see her great-grandchildren at the holidays, and be around to read her grandchild's first book.

She loves books. I just thought it would be really great to share part of this with her, and I just don’t know if we’ll have the chance. We have so many wonderful memories, times we went to the library, times we surrounded ourselves with books and catalogs. She helped pass her love of books and learning on to my mom, who gave it to me, and my kids. Our children also get some from their dad’s side, thankfully.

So, while I’m saddened we may lose a dear member of our family, I know I need to be thankful. I am thankful. I am thankful for life, family, and so many things. But, I think it is important to recognize she may not hug the babies again, or read another great story, or even my story. And I need to let myself be sad for this for just a little bit. Maybe a miracle will bring her around, I believe it could happen, but if it doesn’t I know she would want us to celebrate her and share our love with others. In fact, I read stories about people making a wish come true for Batkid and the sweet sentiment of one woman interviewed for Humans of New York yesterday and it made me think of my grandma. 

While we all have problems, struggles and pain, spreading love and joy is an important message we could all use to hear.

I’ll grab some tissues, hug and kiss my sweetie and my kids as often as they’ll let me, get back to the work of publishing articles and book(s), and play through the pain. Whatever happens, I plan to encourage my family to spend more time having fun together, playing, sharing, goofing off, reading and celebrating life. These are gifts, cherish them.