What It Means

My local Borders lingers still.  It has a few shelves of books.  The adult fiction section would fit in my living room.  I often do some shopping in the center where the store is located so I go in and check it out.  And then I walk out empty-handed.  The best buy I've found in the last few weeks of its slow demise is the stack of AP study guides my daughter needs for her current high school classes.  The store is filled with cheap, but still over-priced, towels and other things that have never belonged in a bookstore.

I miss sitting the cafe and if it was still open, I would  likely be writing this blog post there with an iced latte sharing the table with me along with a stack of books I was considering purchasing.  Instead, I've visited my local library on a more regular basis.  Nearly every two weeks I stop in and see what new releases they have and prowl the aisles in search of new authors.  Their fantasy/scifi offerings are limited and they seldom updated but I've discovered some mystery/thriller writers I've quite come to enjoy like CJ Box and Jonathan Kellerman.  Of course the library doesn't carry their earlier books so I've turned to online sellers.

My husband bought me a Kobo eReader for Christmas last year and I was thrilled with it though I often wish I'd asked him for a Kindle instead.  But it's easy to purchase books on and I like reading on it.  So I'm still buying books and spending less gas to do so.  I make a lot of ice coffee at home and do nearly all my writing at my own desk. 

So though Borders is gone, I'm not reading less though I've bought no physical books for my own reading pleasure in the past few weeks.  I'm probably going to buy the next Preston and Childs book tomorrow to read at lunch at work this week.  I'm over my sadness at the end of Borders and only worry that I've adjusted so well.  If all brick and mortar stores go extinct, will I get over it so quickly?  Will you?  Do you see the end in sight?

Up and Running.

I finally got my personal laptop back in the game.  It's running faster than ever thanks to some simple advice from the great guy at the computer fix-em-up shop.  I wish I could tell his boss t give him a raise.

After a few days of using my slow desktop, I really came to understand how irritating word verification can be when visiting blogs.  It's just one more step, but that one more step cuts into the time I've set aside to visit blogs.

On the other side of the coin, I've heard lots of chatter lately about malware and spam finding its way unto blogs and disrupting or even destroying lots of work.  I guess having the word verification can help prevent some of that.

I use Norton protection on my personal computer, but the guy at the fix-em place told me it does really slow down a computer.  He gave me some advice on what to use instead when my subscription expires.  It's amazing what talking face to face with an expert can do for understanding something that usually causes me lots of confusion.  In the world of writing, we call that networking.

I wish I had the time to network a little this fall by attending a big writers' conference.  But I have neither the money nor the time.  Face to face can really help clear the fog of confusion at times. 

At least I still have all my bloggy friends to network with online.  They've helped me so much by answering questions and providing links to even more information.  And now that I have my laptop back, I'll be cruising along at high speed to visit them more often.

What was the last memorable face to face networking opportunity you had for your writing?

Can't Get There From Here

The phrase, 'can't get there from here,' is a running joke in our family.  But over the course of the last few days it has become reality.  I live in central PA where we had a flash flood on Wednesday bringing nearly six inches of rain to our locale in a few hours time followed by another four inches over night into Thursday.

Wednesday got ugly really quick and our school tried to send the students home early.  Teachers were asked to stay in case the buses had to return before delivering their students.  Lots of buses did return and by the time I helped check all those frightened kids in, the roads had flooded enough that I couldn't get home either.  After about three hours, the flash flood eased off enough for some roads to clear and I made it home to a flooded basement.  Then the real flood started and overflowed the creeks and again inundated the roads again.  For more than a day, we couldn't go anywhere.  We really couldn't get 'there' from here.

Now two days after the flood, many roads are still closed, schools are closed  and some areas are going to get worse as the flood moves unto the Susquehanna River.  But my basement is nearly dry.  I've washed the floor with bleach again and cleaned the baseboards with mildew cleaner.  It even smells nice.  Some roads are open again so we can go to the store if need be.  We can get 'there' again.

So after cleaning the basement floor, I propped my feet up and opened my laptop to visit some more Insecure Writer Blogs, and low and behold, MY LAPTOP HAS BEEN ATTACKED BY A VIRUS! AGAIN!!!  This one is my work computer so I can't download any programs such as a security feature.  It relies on what they've installed on it.  So for the second time in as many months, I can't get to the internet on my laptop.  Can't get there from here. 

So I'm back on my trusty old desktop, a little slow, but protected by Norton.  It's too slow to visit all the blogs I wanted to today so I'm sorry I won't get to meet all those Insecure Writers just yet. 

What do you think is the best security program to protect your computer with? I have to get something different on my personal laptop this time. Did you ever pickup a virus and know exactly where it came from? Are there particular sites you avoid because you think they might infect you?

Insecure Writer in September

We all have some things in this business that makes our stomachs a little queasy.  For me the list is pretty long and I'm sure I'll have more than enough material to keep up with our monthly sharing of what causes us stress and discomfort.  Thanks, Alex Cavanaugh, for getting out all together.

If you're not interested in my problems, here is a link to the list of other insecure writers sharing their headaches, woes and also the expertise to help each other.

My insecurity this month isn't a little thing. It's a huge one.  I'm getting ready to publish my first book using Kindle Direct Publishing.  Though I manage to do lots of basic things on my computer, I really don't know my way around it. I'm extremely intimidated by the task in front of me. 

A few writer friends have given me starting points and I've ran off copies of the instructions from Amazon but I'm still dithering about jumping into this project.  Do I have my manuscript formatted correctly? Have I done enough editing? What have I gotten myself into? Should I pay someone to help me with the first time?

Power of Pen

Jack Hillman is a PA writer I first met through my membership in Pennwriters.  This past July, I spent a few hours with Jack and some other authors at the Saucon Valley Farmer's Market.  Jack not only arranged the booksigning event with the management of the Farmer's Market, he provided the shade.  We didn't sell lots of books that day, but we had a chance to network and share our ideas, our frustrations with the industry and our speculations of where the world of books is heading.

But let me tell you a little about Jack Hillman.  First of all he's a clever man of great wit.  It's just plain fun to talk with him.  His broad spectrum of knowledge ranges from writing, publishing, marketing and other areas not related to being an author. 

His recent experiences with his publisher reminded me a bit of my own, so we had lots to discuss about that.  His trilogy called The Giant's Wars, is set in the Saucon Valley and connected to a local legend of a lost river.  The young hero, Eric Johnson, encounters all kinds of legendary characters and creatures in his adventures.  As you can tell from his cover art, Jack's book is filled with great fantasy action.  It's just the thing for young readers, especially those reluctant boys.  Buy it here!

Booksigning opportunities are become rarer and rarer.  I'm grateful to Jack for sharing this chance with me.  Where have you held booksignings? Do you expect more venues for writers published with small presses to close? Are booksignings going to become a thing of the past?

Work Desk vs. Work Desk

A few authors, I'm not sure of the numbers, make enough on their writing to work only at their career of choice.  But most writers are like me.  We work another job to help pay the mortgage and put food on the table.  For school teachers like me, summer is over and I'm back at work. 

While preparing for the start of classes a few weeks ago, I thought about the two different desks I maintain for my two jobs.  My school desk is of the old metal variety, probably nearly as old as I am.  The floor of my office is painted cement and is in the center of the girls' lockerroom so I have no windows to the outside world.  It's a very cold setting, especially when there are no students around.  The chattering teenagers do wam the place up a little.

My writing desk at home is in the front room where I get the morning sun.  The window overlooks the front porch and the surrounding flower beds.  The floor is carpeted, the walls lined with bookshelves and I even have a fireplace.  I have two cheap desks I put together to form an 'L' so I can spread out all my 'stuff.' The desktop computer is on one desk and I set my laptop on either.  Everything is right at hand. I love that work space.

At school, I have one wall covered in the senior photos my students have given me over 25 years of teaching.  I have two different pottery dishes made just for me by students in their pottery class and a few other keepsakes and gifts.  I can't count the coffee mugs given to me over the years.  If I could retire tomorrow, I wouldn't miss that old metal dinosaur-like desk but I would miss those kids.

If I hit the big time and can spend money on a new, bigger fancier desk where it all matches, I'm not sure I would give up those two mismatched, $99, desks I've spent so many hours at. 

Both my school desk and my writing desk have one thing in common.  Somewhere on both of them is a folded paper towel where I set my ice coffee.  Sometimes hot coffee or tea claim the spot of honor.  My favorite drinks help make my work areas comfortable and welcoming. 

What makes your workspace a place where things get done?  Would you change anything is you could? Is your environment conducive to getting a lot of work done?

At My Best

Summer's over and I'm back at school and dealing with a new crop of freshmen and returning upper classmen.  The kids are fun but I'd rather retire.  The odd thing about being back at the day job is the amount of writing work I get done. 

Perhaps because I have fewer hours I work with more intensity during those precious minutes.  Today at lunch I ate my ranch chicken wrap while polishing my one-liner and blurb for my latest fantasy romance, A Tiger's Courage.  I was thrilled last week to receive a contract offer from New Concepts Publishing for this book but of course I received it just in time to be back at work.  But today at work I managed to get it done and send it out tonight.  I even stopped by the post office on my way home to put the contract in the mail.

I've always liked working under pressure with time constraints.  In the summer when I should have hours and hours to write, I seem to get less done than when I'm teaching school for eight hours per day.  Why?  I do get distracted when I'm working at home by laundry, cooking, yard work but I still have more hours than during the school year.  I can't figure it out but there it is.  So for the next ten months, I'm expecting some of my best work.

Are you a pressure worker? Do you find time constraints inspire you to work more efficiently?