Blurbs.
I've spent the past three days emailing well-respected authors. Hopeful for their endorsements, I gathered the contacts I made the past ten years, as well as emails from other writers I love, and sent them my genuine and heartfelt request. A request for a blurb. A blurb from great writers who I hope remember what it was like . . . searching for someone to give their debut novel a boost. A leg-up. I worry everyone is so busy with their own work, their own life, they'll forget their days of struggle. Forget what it's like to receive any stroke of good fortune. For someone they respect to turn their way with a nod, and and kind word.
I understand some of these folks receive dozens of requests nearly every day, and it's impossible to honor them all. Especially, if they don't like the manuscript in front of them. I get that.
Oh God, look my way, just once.
It's been such a long journey. Televenge has been over ten years in the writing. I'm so close, I can taste it. I can't even describe the angst. These few final months before the novel is published is filled with publicity work and preparing for a book tour and many sleepless nights.
It's the story of lifetime.
Just give me a chance, God. Give me a chance.
Julie Murkette and the team at Satya House are like branches of a great oak, holding me up, supporting me through every battle, every storm. We're determined to break barriers, and hopefully, with the support of my readers, create a sensation.
It's in God's hands, now. I just have to remember to leave it there.
Blessings to you and yours,
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Shoutin' Hallelujah! A New Computer!
HP w185e! My new computer! Laws-a-mercy! After 11 years. A new computer. I can't even tell you what it's like. Everything moves at the speed of sound, I'm having trouble keeping up! Finally, I've been able to upgrade and what a wonder.
Sorry to say, I'm still carrying around my flip phone. IPads scare me to death, and I'm all thumbs when it comes to the remote on the TV. Nook? Kindle? No. I like to open a real book. Not fake one.
I'm a word person and I make no apologies. I keep up with what I need. Not what everybody else is using.
But . . .
I do plan to dig into my social media now. Now that I don't have something equivalent to dial-up. Now I can pull up You Tube without waiting twenty minutes for it to load. I even like the feel of this new keyboard. Coffee spots and toast crumbs from 2006 have wedged themselves into the spaces between the keys on my old keyboard. God knows what else.
So I say goodbye to my old Dell. It's been a good computer. Wrote my last three books on it. It has served me well but it's time to move on.
Blessings to you and yours.
Sorry to say, I'm still carrying around my flip phone. IPads scare me to death, and I'm all thumbs when it comes to the remote on the TV. Nook? Kindle? No. I like to open a real book. Not fake one.
I'm a word person and I make no apologies. I keep up with what I need. Not what everybody else is using.
But . . .
I do plan to dig into my social media now. Now that I don't have something equivalent to dial-up. Now I can pull up You Tube without waiting twenty minutes for it to load. I even like the feel of this new keyboard. Coffee spots and toast crumbs from 2006 have wedged themselves into the spaces between the keys on my old keyboard. God knows what else.
So I say goodbye to my old Dell. It's been a good computer. Wrote my last three books on it. It has served me well but it's time to move on.
Blessings to you and yours.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Touchdown Pass For Publicity!
And so it begins! My radio interview this morning sent me spinning! I'm pumped. Ready to rumble. Live internet talk radio is the coolest thing. From your own home, in your jammies, you can talk to the world. Susan Rich Talks, was my host this morning, talking about my books, my writing life, and specifically--about Southern writers and dialect in writing. Twenty minutes of discussion ... giving writers something to think about. Tune in to her show! Susan Rich is doing a great service out there on the west coast for all types of writers, so check out her website and tune in!
It's one way to get the marketing machine started as we make our way toward publication day.
I'm convinced the success of any book is the amount of leg work you put into it after it's written. My head is spinning with ideas and I'm wondering if there will be enough time in the days ahead to do all I want to do. I'm working hand-in-hand with a great publisher and publicist to give Televenge a huge push into the literary public. It's exciting. It's scary. It's a hell of a lot of work. I do believe I could spend twelve hours a day just reading the blogs and websites that deal with book publicity.
In the days to come, I'll be posting my ideas, what worked, what did not. And of course, I'll rely on my old tried-and-true ... public appearances. For Southern Fried Women I spoke at over 150 venues, only scratching the surface. It's going to be a busy year, and it's already Valentine's Day.
The road can seem daunting. There are monsters everywhere. The bad economy, the fluctuating publishing industry, and bookstore after bookstore closing their doors. But I'm reminded, strangely, of the Tom Brady story. The Aaron Rogers story. Those quarterbacks that nobody wanted in the beginning of their careers. Their struggle was years in the making. But eventually, the best won out. Boy-howdy, did it ever. It's enough to give this writer that extra push I need on most days to keep going. Who knows? Televenge may be the touchdown pass I was hoping for.
Blessings to you and yours.
It's one way to get the marketing machine started as we make our way toward publication day.
I'm convinced the success of any book is the amount of leg work you put into it after it's written. My head is spinning with ideas and I'm wondering if there will be enough time in the days ahead to do all I want to do. I'm working hand-in-hand with a great publisher and publicist to give Televenge a huge push into the literary public. It's exciting. It's scary. It's a hell of a lot of work. I do believe I could spend twelve hours a day just reading the blogs and websites that deal with book publicity.
In the days to come, I'll be posting my ideas, what worked, what did not. And of course, I'll rely on my old tried-and-true ... public appearances. For Southern Fried Women I spoke at over 150 venues, only scratching the surface. It's going to be a busy year, and it's already Valentine's Day.
The road can seem daunting. There are monsters everywhere. The bad economy, the fluctuating publishing industry, and bookstore after bookstore closing their doors. But I'm reminded, strangely, of the Tom Brady story. The Aaron Rogers story. Those quarterbacks that nobody wanted in the beginning of their careers. Their struggle was years in the making. But eventually, the best won out. Boy-howdy, did it ever. It's enough to give this writer that extra push I need on most days to keep going. Who knows? Televenge may be the touchdown pass I was hoping for.
Blessings to you and yours.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Paper, Rock, Typewriters
I'm blogging from a different computer today, as mine has just about given up the ghost. It's gone bonkers. Done all kinds of crazy things lately. Not good timing. But is it ever when your computer is your livelihood?
I guess I've been around a while, because I remember typing on manuals, and then on selectrics, as well as mag-card typewriters. Those were the good old days when we went to the library to do research, dug through encyclopedias, and collected boxes of magazines in our basements. I think I've mentioned this before, but I used to type on a noisy IBM late at night when my children were asleep. I'd cram pillows around it to muffle the sound. Mimeograph machines. Remember those? Good grief, I'm dating myself. Of course, I know some writers who pound out their first drafts with pen and paper. I can't imagine it.
Back in the 8o's, I worked for a law firm that was cutting edge when it came to the "new" windows programs. Those tiny monitors with green-tinted type. I took to computers like a bear in the woods. Well. At least to word processing. I loved the feel of the "new" keyboards, learning the software programs. I remember thinking ... someday, everybody will have one of these in their homes. Little did I know we would carry them around in our pockets.
What's next?
I don't try to keep up anymore. I've settled in with a dated version of Word, a few online programs for writers, and good ol' Google. My energy is better spent these days writing the book, and exploring the best ways to market it. Tweeting, Facebook, keeping up with it social media is difficult enough.
Right now--I'd just like to have a computer that doesn't crash every time I open my Internet program.
Blessings to you and yours.
I guess I've been around a while, because I remember typing on manuals, and then on selectrics, as well as mag-card typewriters. Those were the good old days when we went to the library to do research, dug through encyclopedias, and collected boxes of magazines in our basements. I think I've mentioned this before, but I used to type on a noisy IBM late at night when my children were asleep. I'd cram pillows around it to muffle the sound. Mimeograph machines. Remember those? Good grief, I'm dating myself. Of course, I know some writers who pound out their first drafts with pen and paper. I can't imagine it.
Back in the 8o's, I worked for a law firm that was cutting edge when it came to the "new" windows programs. Those tiny monitors with green-tinted type. I took to computers like a bear in the woods. Well. At least to word processing. I loved the feel of the "new" keyboards, learning the software programs. I remember thinking ... someday, everybody will have one of these in their homes. Little did I know we would carry them around in our pockets.
What's next?
I don't try to keep up anymore. I've settled in with a dated version of Word, a few online programs for writers, and good ol' Google. My energy is better spent these days writing the book, and exploring the best ways to market it. Tweeting, Facebook, keeping up with it social media is difficult enough.
Right now--I'd just like to have a computer that doesn't crash every time I open my Internet program.
Blessings to you and yours.
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