March 9

If you are a work at home person, do you find yourself in charge of maintenance and maintenance men? That is me, today. We are having our kitchen floor re-grouted and I'm up early waiting for them to come in. Of course when they called to remind me of the appointment, I didn't pick up the phone. Then the message said not to use my shower. Which made me laugh- um, you're doing my floor guys. I hope they show up prepared to do the floor since there is no tile in my shower.

I think it's going to be an interesting day. I'd love to hear about yours. Cheers~

March 8

I've pretty much had my head in my work. Which can be a good thing and a bad thing. I write three or four books a year. Twenty percent get published. I do my best to promote the books that do get published, but mostly I work on the next book. Recently, I've noted that people with Kindles are choosing only one of the two e-books I have out. Since it was"in my opinion" the least attractive of the two books, I thought I'd go find out why they are choosing that book. Turns out- the other- more attractive book is not on Kindle. Huh. So I started a campaign to have my readers ask for the book on Kindle. Then I went to my publisher with a simple question- why is my second e-book not on Kindle? The answer- it was an oversight on their part. Sigh.

The book has been available for over a year and never on Amazon e-books. *Head meet desk.* All my promo, reviews, etc and it took me a year to ask my publisher why. I assumed they would do it without my intervention- as they did the first book.

Sigh. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the craziness of it all. Oh, and keep an eye out for DREAM MAN arriving to Amazon Kindle sometime soon. Cheers~

March 7

I'm thinking about blogs. As you know I have two, this little daily diary and then a once a week writers blog that offers craft topics and book reviews. I am unable to get to visit my friends' blog as much as I would like these days- what with writing, revising and Master's work-plus, well, life. It makes me wonder what the value is in blogs. Some peoples' blogs really take off. Some people gain fans with their blogs and always seem to have something witty and viral worthy to say-what I mean by viral is people will talk about it- tweet it- facebook it, etc. I wish I were one of those people. I think it can really move your career along. Sort of like a nationally syndicated columnist. People go everyday to read your words and talk about them. So there is no denying that blogs work, but the question is, do they work for everyone?

Do you feel your blog is working for you? What sort of information gets the most reaction? What are your favorite blogs to visit?

March 4

Yesterday I finished judging a local contest. I was reading paranormal romance stories. It brought me back-many, many long years ago to when I first began to write novels. It's not that the work was really bad, as much as the writers have so much to learn. One work in particular read as if it were written my a high school student. Perhaps it was. There was a wonderful naive concept of love and romance. As a somewhat older woman, don't laugh, it struck me as creepy stalker love. But I can remember the young girl in me and she might have thought it was beautiful, prince charming stuff...sigh. Funny how our view of life changes as we grow older. They say really good writers have some life experience on them. Meanwhile there are phenoms who get published at 17.

The truth is that long lasting careers are built by people with life experience. It shows in the writing and creates more nuance, texture, grit.

I wrote my first book when I was twenty. Someone told me to forget it. No one buys a book from anyone until they are 40. Ha- well, there are always people who will be eager to tell you you can't do something. What they mean is they believe they can't do something.

I digress. My point being that writers grow into their craft-even after they publish. So keep writing. Keep growing. Have a great weekend. Cheers~

March 3

I have sent my revisions off and now I wait to see what happens next with the book. It is typical to go back and forth a few times both with your agent and then with the editor. The idea is to use the team to create the best book possible.

How are things in your world?

I'm working on judging contests and doing school stuff. I think a couple of weeks off would be a dream. But this is life. So, I try to take a few mini breaks every week.

What do you do to stay sane?

March 2

I'm listening to the birds who have returned early to claim their territory. There are robins and now red-winged blackbirds that sit and sing. Flocks of geese fly overhead, going back to their northern summer homes. They don't stop because the lake is still frozen. The tree buds are growing bigger. Yesterday, little dog found a patch of earth without snow that was warmed by the sun enough she could dig around and get muddy. Heaven for little dogs. 19 Days until Spring or Fall for those of you on the other side of the world. Cheers~

March 1

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit - as a dear friend is fond of saying at the start of every month. It is supposed to bring good luck. So far for us, March has come in like a lamb. We have sunshine and may even get above freezing here. March is the month of Spring Break. I think I could use one. But often times we can't afford a break. There is too much life going on. So I recommend that you take a ten minute spring break. Buy some coconut scented sunscreen and rub it on your hands and face. Put on sunglasses and play the beach boys loud on your MP3 player and sit in the window sunlight or in a sunny part of your deck shielded from the cold and for ten minutes enjoy the hope that is Spring. Cheers~