writing

I’ve been asked . . . If you could start over again . . .

by

. . . what would you do differently with making your stories into ebooks?”

Let me start by saying, I was aware of ebooks around the late 90s, I think. Definitely by the early 20s. I was encouraged by an Irish author/self publisher to get my romances into PDF and HTML. Do it now! The time has come!

But, nope, I dragged my feet. I didn’t believe it. Ebooks? You mean, like reading books off a Star Trek tablet? Are you kidding me? And writing them that way? I need my paper and pens! No, no, no, no, no!

Okay, actually, by that time, I had a desktop PC, and I never looked back for my paper and pens. Nor most importantly, that darn typewriter! I loved my paper and pens. I hated typewriters. Hated them! My new PC made all the difference in getting those romances written. And I could print out a copy of my manuscript in a jiffy!

So, instead of jumping into learning how to get started with ebooks, I spent another year and more sending my stuff around to agents and publishers. All to no avail. I could have papered my walls with my rejections. In fact, I did.

Finally, when I received, not one but two, rejections for Thomi from the same agent, I decided it was, indeed, time to start learning more about this ebook business. I got a used copy of  Adobe Acrobat 5 and figured out how to get a decent PDF created. I also sprang for an ebook creator for making HTML ebooks. Was fairly easy, and I liked that I got to create the total look of the book.

I even applied for and got my publisher’s contract with Amazon in order to sell PDFs. But before I could wrap my head around that service, they rolled out the Kindle and Kindle Publishing Direct. PDFs were abandoned while I learned next how to create a decent .mobi file.

It wasn’t until 2010 that I finally published my two romances to the Kindle. Had I listened to those in the know years before, I would have had all those learning years  behind me so much sooner. Although, times change . . . new technology flies into our world every day. I’ve taken advantage of some of it, ignored some, and am still scared of a lot of it. I’m more open to learning, though, than I was at the start.

My advice now?

Take a risk! Try something new! It just might work for you!

Please take a reading risk, and purchase one of my romance ebooks today!

 

The Resurrection Of Joleigh-Anna Resurrection Book Cover - White Lily on a fiield of greenBuy All For The Love Of Thomi!

 

 

 

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

by

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!