So . . . Yeah . . . I Write Poems . . . Sometimes . . .

Not often. Haven’t written a poem since, well, 2001 maybe, or 02. Oh, no, wait! Wrote one this year . . . for Thomasyna. Rather an amusing verse, not probably a perfect rhyme, but hey–she threw it together in a few minutes. Being in a hurry, you understand. Maybe I’ll post it here as well, but it’s in one of the last four chapters of the book.

Wrote my first good one back in the ’70s, and it’s the one that gets a lot of attention on the two sites I have it posted. I don’t actually frequent these two writer’s site, although I pay for one of them. Just wasn’t feeling I was going anywhere with them. I’ve since returned to them, having decided to try to make a go of them.

Thing is, joining any sort of social site is a little agonizing and overwhelming to me. I have social anxieties;  online rooms are just the same to me as a real room packed with people. Doesn’t matter if I know each and every person there or it’s full of strangers. The feelings are just the same no matter what. After a while, I want to run. Or, I’m frozen in the seat I’ve dropped down in, and likely won’t move out of it until my courage totally fails, or everyone else has left the building.

Makes life a little tough. Especially when, as an author, I’m supposed to be networking and getting my name out there by whatever means will work. And since these two sites have generated the most feedback for me on my poems and short stories, you’d think I’d’ve stuck with it. Maybe built a bigger reader base.

Same thing for my author websites and even the personal ones. I sit here staring at the screen, willing my fingers to work, and often they run scared. Brain shuts down . . . ideas freeze . . . and the sites are neglected. Visitors quit coming, cobwebs shroud what’s already there . . .

Big sad mess.

Anyway, I’ve decided to bring those poems out into the open and post the reviews of them here. Tell the story behind each one. I’ve found it amusing to discover the different views each reviewer takes on them. Read the poems and their corresponding reviews and see if you agree or have a different opinion!

Getting Back Into The Muse . . .

I hope everyone is doing well on this sunny winter day. A little warmer than it has been here.

I had expected to be posting more regularly, but life tosses us more than lemons sometimes. So now I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. Nothing seems to help me more than either a great new idea for a new story, or else one for the one I’m working on–OR a new theme for my site that I absolutely love!

Nothing holds me back more than having to give up my spacious workspace and cram into a tiny sardine can! But I will conquer it . . . eventually. A mother does whatever for her kids . . .

In any case, I’m loving this new theme by MH Magazines. So hard to find an author/writer/publisher theme that works and doesn’t cost the life of my firstborn. Working with the lite version right now, but I expect to go for the paid version in the near future. All I have to do now, is figure out how I use those image boxes to the left of posts.

I’ve noted that sales of my work comes mainly from Europe and Asia. I may offer a sale on them for a couple of weeks. See if things pick up here in the home country. Really, though, it doesn’t matter where sales come from!

Getting some more feedback on Thomasyna. All good! I’ll post it later with the reviews on site. Hoping they will go onto to whatever site they got the story from and post there as well, but I do enjoy getting emails too!

I’m in a little bit of a rut with Stormi’s story, plus trying to decide how many books I want to do for this series. Do I want to do each character’s alone or do I want to chose one to be the main focus of the story, with others as subplots. I have ideas for four or five more . . . so we’ll see. I am hoping to pick up momentum on finishing Stormi by the end of next year. I’ve a couple other projects going as well, some short stories in other genre. Trying to get out more so I can build a bigger readership. Not easy when one is an unknown indie author.

But that would be the case were I traditionally published. Been there, done that, actually. And was screwed royally by the publisher. Facts are, an author has to bring readers in on his/her own power, and get word out about their books on their own budget and time. All the promises of book signings, bookstores getting the books on display, and ads going out never happened.  Royalties didn’t cover the expenses, so I made the decision right then to never go that route again. So, I formed my own publishing entity as was recommended, and I haven’t looked back.

All the hardships of getting published and noticed could make a writer quit–if money was the only reason for writing. For me, it’s also the joy of creating the world and characters; writing something fun, or serious and worthwhile, or simple and silly. Really, I guess it’s mostly for the joy of it.

So, dear readers, I’m going to sign off for now and get to it! See you next time! Enjoy your visit here. Download the free chapters of the books while you’re here!