HARD WORK

As I mentioned in my last post, there is a lot to do when you make the decision to self-publish. I was out of my element. I can sit and write a novel all day, but navigating book formatting and website design was entirely foreign.

Luckily, I have a great daughter who has been an avid blogger since the ice age—long before it was as popular as it is now. The next business expense was to fly her and my first grandson (who I hadn’t seen since he was two weeks old) home. During this “horribly rough” week, I tended my adorable seven month old grandson (life is hard) while my daughter worked away on my new website, my book covers, my author photo, and marketing. It was fabulous to work alongside my daughter and draw upon her knowledge. (communications major) I couldn’t have done it without her. She educated me on so much. (Guess all that college debt is paying off!)

Seriously.

My plan was to dump all six of my novels into the public’s lap and see what happened.

Not a good marketing strategy.

So, how did we do it?

More on this next time.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Day Job

“Don’t quit your day job?”

Ever hear that snarky little comment? If you write, you’ve heard it.

Now let’s get one thing straight—I am very lucky to have a husband who supports our family. I don’t have to work. But, I do want to help pay off all of our college debts, therefore, once my children moved on with life, I knew I wanted to do something to help. I began to write. As I write this now, I’ve been writing, seriously, for six years.

And I haven’t earned one single dime as of yet.

Luckily, I have a husband who believes in me and has faith in me. He believes my books will sell one day. The thing is, I’m lucky in that I don’t have to earn a living with writing like most people do. I do have a goal in mind. (need I say it again, college debts) Therefore, I have a lot invested in this. I’ve spent a lot of time with the hope that one day my work will pay off. This remains to be seen. I know many writers must hold down a ‘day job’ while working on their manuscripts during their ‘spare’ time. I feel for you. And I am in awe of you. Not sure I could handle that.

In the meantime, my day job is writing . . . and hoping.

But, mostly, sheer hard work.

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net