Read, Read, Read......

My teaching job pays the bills and I would love to write full time. But I do love those teenagers. What I hate, as do many of my peers, is the endless paperwork and dare I say it, INSERVICE. So today was our first inservice day and our district scheduled a speaker for the entire day. Now we've had these before and let me say everyone was a waste of money. I've been dreading it since I received the schedule. I took some magazines to the auditorium and a few other little pieces of work to occupy myself. We all did. I never looked at it.
This speaker dazzled us. Finally a person talking about education and using common sense at the same time. A speaker with data compiled by Bill Gates Educational Programs and not any teachers' union or political animal. What did we learn? America is falling behind countries like China and India. Their students spend nearly twice the hours in school than ours. Our students are some of the best readers in the world in fourth grade and fall to around 50th by the time they're in high school. Why?
It's a complex problem but a lot of it is related to our schools inability to change. I've been teaching for over twenty years and it is really the same. New names are given the same old methods.
I'm also a parent and want my children to be getting all the education they can. How can I see that happen? Something I learned to day; push technology use in your school and encourage it in your home. And make sure they read. Read. Read. Read.
As a writer, the more readers the better. As a parent, the more readers at my house, the better.

My Book is Featured

I'm so happy with my publisher, New Concepts today. My very first book with them, The Greater Good, is being featured on their front page this month. Even though it was released a while ago, this exposure will hopefully boost its sales and that of the other books in the series. You've heard me rant about ebook pirates and what they've cost me. I admit to being depressed and discouraged by seeing my books being stolen but this has really cheered me up.

If you've never read one of the books in my Solonian Series let me give you a short over view. The series takes places in a furturistic Earth after an asteroid strike has sent the humans survivors back to a state of pre-technology when every day is a struggle to live. Humans have settled in small isolated colonies one of which is Solonia. Solonia is a dying settlement. Dying because all their men have succumbed to a wasting disease and only the women remain. In desperation they reach out to a newly settled colony. The Realm is composed of adventurers and warriors determined to explore and civilize their new settlement. In each novel in this series, one couple is followed on their uneven, rocky road to love.

Please visit my website to learn more or my publisher to read the first chapter. I have great hopes for ramping up the interest in this series especially since the fourth book will be out early next year.

Fall Approaches

Every August since I've tried make my way as writer becomes a time of stress and pressure. My bill-paying job is teaching. That means in a few days I'll be back on the job from 6:45 am until around 3:15 Monday through Friday. It will cut into a huge chunk of my writing time. Not that I write much during those hours during the summer months. During those times I do all the other things that chew up time. Laundry, yard work, cooking, cleaning, shopping and blogging to name a few. Starting soon I'll be doing all those things in the evening and those hours are my writing hours.

You can't hear me, but I'm screaming, "I don't want to go back to school." Now I love my students but I want to stay home and write. I want to finish this WIP and sent it out. I want to work on book#3 of The Futhark Chronicles. I want to find a home for First Dragon. But like so many writers I don't have this choice. Not only does the mortgage need my income but so does the college tuition of two children. Let's not even talk about food. Yes I have to work so we have that stuff.

I set a goal to finish Tiger's Mate before returning to school and I'm getting to it a little early today and planning on working late. Maybe this will be the one to allow me early retirement.

Piracy Stabs Me in the Pocketbook

You may remember my blog earlier this summer about ebook pirates. This week, the proverbial crapola hit the fan. I received my royalty statement for the second quarter of 2009. My third book, the one appearing on all those pirate sites, had many fewer sales than the first two books in the series.

The first two books, The Greater Good and The Lesser Evil, held steady with downloads and had a minor upswing in print sales. But that third book, A Ruthless Good, had not near the download sales as the first two books did in the same time period.

I'll blame a little bit of the drop in sales on my cover. The cover misleads one into thinking A Ruthless Good is an erotic romance when it's actually only a sensual level of heat like the first two books and the forthcoming fourth book, One Good Woman. But I truly believe it was the durn pirates that blasted my sales to the bottom of the financial sea.

What should I do? I'm going to ramp up my promotion and try to find those honest readers who believe in paying for merchandize instead of stealing it. I'm working on a plan right now so stay tuned.

Where and When of Blogging

I go through fits and starts with my blogging. On rare occasions I've had periods when I believe I have something to say everyday. I have a friend who does say something entertaining almost every day and I find that pretty inspirational. Then there are times when I'm deep into a project and can't seem to think of one little tidbit worth sharing. I know readers of my blog don't expect to learn the secret to publishing success and how to win the lottery against all odds, but I try to say something of some value or at least an interesting read.
So when should one post something? I tend to avoid controversy on this blog so you won't see any great last word on ebook vs traditional, taxing the rich vs the middle class, or even paper or plastic.(I use cloth reusable bags)
I do blog when I have a new work to promote or some other writing milestone, but many days I search the echoing emptiness of my creative cortex and find a blinking cursor on a blank white page. And I've fallen into a habit of blogging about once per week on either Monday or Tuesday whether I have anything wonderfully original to say or not.
During the summer months, I blog from my home computer but soon I'll be back at school. I'd like to blog on my lunch hour from work. But should I? Use of my computer at school is strictly monitored. So I might not.
I'm sure most people who read my blog have their own blog going. How often do you write a new post and when do you do it?

Still Feels Good

Yesterday I finally received the print copies of my latest release, A Ruthless Good. I was busy doing some major cleaning in a spare bedroom and didn't even realize the books had been delivered. I took a break to get my mail and there were the boxes on the front porch. I didn't open them right away but went back to my cleaning.

Then when I was ready to sit down and get back to my WIP, I finally opened the boxes. There it was, my work in print again. A book in my hands, everyword my own. The dedication in the front and bio in the back, all my own creation. I have three books already released and four more under contract. Will it ever get old? Will the thrill of holding those books in my hands go away? I hope not. Even if I eventually sell over a hundred books, I hope I still get excited to open those boxes and lift out the first, perfect shining copy.

My romance books sell more in ebook format than they do in print and maybe someday all books will be ebooks. I don't think that will happen during my writing career. I expect to savor more boxes of books and the scent that wafts up when I cut away that packing tape. Now all I have to do is figure out what I'll do with this cover during booksignings. I'm not sure how it would go over in a library.

To Group or Not to Group

This past week, a member of our local chapter of RWA decided not to join the national organization this year which of course means she can't belong to our local group, CPRW. It was kind of sad but also completely understandable. Marie contributed a lot to our group and was supportive to all of us. But there were economic factors to be considered.
Belonging to RWA isn't cheap. Marie has her first YA novel coming out in the near future so she wasn't really a romance writer. At some point she weighed her options and decided she could better spend that big chunk of dues money elsewhere. How many more of us will be making such tough decisions in the future?
I admit to considering it. Though I have three romance novels published with New Concepts Publishing, one contracted with them and another contracted with TWRP, I'm concentrating on my fantasy writing. Would I miss whatever I get from RWA if I left? I'm not sure but I don't think I would. Would I miss what I get from CPRW? Absolutely. Unconditional support, a fount of wisdom from fellow writers, and the companionship of those who know what being a writer is.
I also belong to Pennwriters and have found support there not only in the yearly conferences but in other functions as well as their member loop. In Pennwriters I also have a chance to spend time with other fantasy authors. Recently I joined with some other local Pennwriters in forming a group blog, The Susquehanna Writers, and planning some group book signings. And Pennwriters is cheap compared to RWA.
So yes, I've been tempted to leave RWA like my friend Marie but I can't give up CPRW. Yet. I could change my mind in the future but for now I'll stay. The same issues causing controversy with Romance Writers of America plagues many writers groups. What to do with digital publishing? Where is the line between published and not? Is the group meeting the needs of all their members?
I write because I enjoy it and of course I hope to be wildly successful someday. My day job has lots of issues, stresses, politics and frustrations. I don't need that same kind of thing in my writing career. I've avoided posting about the discussions on RWA and really have followed it as little as possible. I don't have the time or the interest. I never get involved in the contentious discussions that come up on Pennwriters every few months about epublishing versus traditional, agent versus unagented and all the things that go around over and over again. I don't even read the posts when the arguments start.
I want to be a writer. I want to smooze with other writers. I want to help my colleagues if I can and know I can go to them for help. Mostly I just want to write the best book I can write.