Links Updated

I've added a few links to the sidebar, so be sure to check out what's on other people's blogs in the writing and publishing world. Some agent blogs, some editor blogs, a blog dedicated to helping you polish your query letter, lots of good stuff.

Unless something untoward happens, I'm going to stop giving updates on the ankle. It's healing. Folks think I'm getting around a lot better, and it's not hurting quite so much anymore. I think I can safely say it's a hassle having to limp everywhere, but it's getting better and at least I'm getting around on it.

It's amazing how hard it is to write a story if you aren't using the right characters for it. I'm swapping some around in my current project, but I'm not saying more until I'm sure it's the right choice.

Currently reading: The Private Patient by P.D. James, and The Father Hunt by Rex Stout.

If you've signed up for our suspense workshop at the Muse Online Writers Conference, feel free to visit my website and download the articles on writing and adding suspense. They're not required reading, but it never hurts to prepare.

'til next time~~~

Editing round 2, done

Got back second round edits on Blood Money, as expected. Unless Alexandra finds anything that we missed the first two times through, we're probably done.

Here are some links to blog posts that might be of interest to writers:

What do you think? -- Talks about authors' attitudes toward themselves and their work, and how it can affect promotion efforts.

The Myth of "Just An Author" -- Can an author be 'just an author' and leave everything else to his publisher?

Book Publishing Glossary -- Ever hear a publishing term and wonder what it meant? Now you can find out!

Not publishing related, but hilarious: Cake Wrecks -- When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong.


Currently I'm reading Triple Jeopardy by Rex Stout, and Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie. Enjoying both.

Current ankle condition: I'm up and hobbling without support now, but goodness! Sometimes it hurts more now than I did when I broke the thing!

I'm going to have to look through my saved links and update the links in the sidebar. There are a number of useful blogs I haven't got listed there, such as Pimp My Novel, which are both fun to read and informative about the publishing business.

Until next time~~

Forward motion

Things are moving forward, although as usual not as easily or quickly as I might prefer. The ankle is still healing. I've gotten now to where I can walk without the walker or a cane while wearing the boot, so I am now adding in a bit of time spent walking in a regular shoe, which will no doubt help strengthen the muscles that stabilize the ankle. It's not quite as painful as it was when I started putting weight on it a few weeks ago, but it can still be very uncomfortable if I overdo.

We've done the first round of edits on Blood Money. Alexandra, my editor, says I may get the next round by Sunday. So far, so good. I'm not sure when the cover art will be started, so I'm still looking forward to seeing what the art department comes up with.

Recently read two books I enjoyed, Run Afoul, by Joan Druett, and Terra Incognita, by Ruth Downie. The first is the third novel in the Wiki Coffin series (Wiki is half-Maori, and works as a translator in an American exploring expedition fleet in the mid-1800s.) I liked the main character and the story enough that I'm considering getting the first two in the series. Terra Incognita is the second in Ruth Downie's Roman Britain series, and I enjoyed it as much as the first. I'm looking forward to reading the second.

More later~~

Ah, mobility!

As of today, I am on the way back to mobility. The doctor looked at the x-rays of my ankle and declared the bone healed, stating that the fracture line was close to unnoticeable. I've begun putting weight on the foot while working my way around the house with the aid my walker, which sometimes means working my way sideways through doors because the door frames are not wide enough. Still, after seven weeks, it feels great to be up and around.

One of the books I've read, from the recent spate of book buying, is Medicus by Ruth Downie. I hit it after about four other books that just didn't grab my interest, and was pulled into the story so quickly that I immediately began looking for other titles by the author. The narrative voice is great, the characters are fun to spend time with, and the historical era--Roman Britain--is one that hasn't already been explored to death, so it was a refreshing read. Her next novel is firmly on my to-buy list.

I've just started Royal Flush, the latest in Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series. It promises to be a fun read.

A bit of progress to report on the current WIP. Now that the brain is beginning to function better, the writing's coming more easily. Certainly being able to get up and get around should help some--it's not easy typing when you're lying on your side.

After a few really hot days, we've had a continued span of nice weather, really odd for the last part of July, but I'm certainly not complaining. Hopefully it won't mean we're in for nasty weather this winter to make up for it.

I contacted Mysterical-E, and my story, "Picture Imperfect", is scheduled for the fall edition, which should be out somewhere around the end of September. I'll post a link when it's up.

If you've tried following the link to the interview in the post a couple back, it works now.

'til next time~~~

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is, basically, taking the words another has written and putting your own name to them, as if they were yours.

There are some wonderful blog posts around the web on the subject of plagiarism and why it's something writers and readers shouldn't tolerate.

Anti-Plagiarism Day!

It's Anti-Plagiarism Day

The posts contain a lot of links to other posts on the subject as well, so expect to spend some time looking.

Intellectual property has always had trouble getting the respect it deserves. It is exactly that--property. When you take someone else's words and present them as your own, it's stealing. It's the same as if you walked into a craftsman's workshop, picked up a fine carving from his workbench, walked off with it, and put it on display as your own work.

This is not flattery. The person you stole from will not feel that you've paid homage to them, and will not thank you. If you like a turn of phrase or a passage from a book that much, buy the book and put it on your shelf where you can re-read it all you want. Don't steal what someone else labored over and display it as your own work.

Plagiarism doesn't happen by accident. Don't be guilty of it.

Click on the Writing label to find all other posts on writing.

'til next time~~~

Hey, who let it get so hot?

Actually, we've had some really nice weather for the past week or so, but it's about to get back to summertime conditions, which I'm not looking forward to. Hot, humid air is still hot and humid, no matter how many fans you have blowing on you.

So, have I gotten anything written while I've been housebound with this ankle? Erm...no. I have been reading a lot, though. You can't call it slacking, because reading is as essential to the process of storytelling as putting words on a page. You never know when something you read will spark an idea that spins off in an entirely different direction and gives you something else to write about.

The ankle appears to be healing. I've got two more weeks of no walking, unless the doctor decides to add to it when I see him next. Hopefully he won't.

I've been telling everyone that the cutoff date for registration for the Muse Online Writers Conference is the end of August. Turns out it may actually be the first of August. If you're going to sign up, do so quickly. There's only about three weeks left in July.

My family's been bringing me gift cards from Barnes and Noble, so I can order books off their website. I've got a lovely stack of things waiting to be read, which is a delight, because I read fast. Current read is Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout. Previous reads include other Rex Stout stories, some by Donna Leon, Rhys Bowen's second "Royal Spyness" book A Royal Pain, and the first in a new series by Thea Phipps, Charades With A Lunatic. Lots of great reading there! Also looking forward to the new Dick Francis/Felix Francis book, which is out in August.

Looking forward to being up and around again, in a few weeks. Watch your footing, so you don't end up spending the best parts of summer staring at the ceiling!

Until later~~

Those low down, imperfection blues

Isn't it fun when life decides to remind us that we're not the indestructible creatures that we like to think we are?

On June 2, I put my foot down wrong stepping out of my parents' house and twisted my ankle, in the process also breaking my fibula and tearing a bunch of ligaments in my right ankle. The orthopedist decided I needed a plate and screws to fix the break, and I underwent the operation on the 9th. Today was my first post-op checkup with the doctor. According to the x-ray, I have six screws in my ankle, five of which are attached to the plate and the bone, and the sixth appears to be directly linking the two bone ends. Got another four weeks to go before I'm supposed to begin walking again. No putting weight on it until then. The stitches came out today as well. I can say that I'm glad I didn't look at the incision site until after it had had a chance to do some healing.

The interview and article at Mysterious People, which I mentioned in my last post, are up, and have been since June 1 and 2. Of course, I haven't felt up to doing much computerwise during the last few weeks, so here are the links I promised before the broken ankle:

A Conversation with Pepper Smith

Writing Suspense

Hope your summer is injury-free. At least with all this down time, I don't have many excuses for not writing, lol!

'til next time~~~

Upcoming interview

The lovely Jean Henry Mead, who runs the Mysterious People blog, has been posting a series of author interviews and articles, some by well known authors and some by less well known ones. I'm honored that she's chosen to include me in the series. When the interview and article post, I'll post the links here.

As a reminder, if you're looking for previous posts on writing and don't want to search through the archives, there's a link in the sidebar that will bring up only those posts with the writing tag.

If you're looking to keep up to date with posts here...the only thing I can suggest is to add yourself as a follower on the widget in the sidebar. I post when something comes up I want to yak about, which isn't as often as I should.

Another reminder about the Muse Online Writers Conference. This is a free event held for one week during October. To find out what workshops are on offer this year, please visit the website and look through the list. JD Webb and I will, of course, be doing our suspense workshop again this year. Registration is open, but will close toward the end of August, so don't wait if you want to check it out.

Still have future writing posts rolling around in my head. Will get them out here once they stop rolling...

Till later~~~

Delayed gratification

Hmm. Well, if you’ve checked over at Mysterical-E, you’ve no doubt noticed that my story didn’t make this issue. Perhaps the next one, coming out in July? I’ll have to check back with them to see exactly when it’s supposed to show up if it’s not out in July.

Work is progressing on the current WIP. It remains to be seen if writing during allergy season is a good or bad thing, though. I feel like I’m in a fog so much of the time. Got to give some thought to another writing post. With everything blossoming right now, though, all I really seem to want to do is hibernate.

Once upon a time, I figured I’d put together a newsletter when enough interesting things happen to let people know about. I guess my life is just not that interesting. Check back here for any updates that I thought might be of interest, because I’m probably going to ditch the newsletter idea.

What makes suspense?

I have to warn you that it's a big part of allergy season for me, so if you detect a slight incoherence, you know why.

In October for the past three years, the Muse Online Writers Conference has offered a number of workshops and live chats with authors, editors, publishers, and even a few agents, with the goal of helping authors to improve their craft and their chances at publication. We will be offering our course on adding suspense to fiction again this year, following the same lines as last year–

JD Webb and I posted a number of writing prompts, sentences that students were to take and begin a suspense story with. The results were interesting–and by the end, I believe the participants understood more clearly what suspense is and how to incorporate it.

So what is suspense? It is the feeling that something bad might happen. It is not violence, it’s the fear that the violence might happen. It is not shock effect, although suspense and shock effect work hand in hand in some genres. It can be compared in a minor way to the fear you might feel going to the doctor when you know you’re going to get a shot. You feel apprehension about getting stabbed in the arm with a needle, but once it’s actually happened, you no longer feel the fear and apprehension. In the same way, suspense loses its punch if you let the bad thing happen. The goal is to keep the reader on edge by keeping your protagonist just this side of the bad results threatened by your villain.

As instructors, we, too, each took one of the prompts and began a suspense story with it. Mine is posted below:

_______________________

The small hairs on the back of Roger’s neck rose as he slid the nozzle of the gas hose into the Miata’s tank.

He stiffened, looking up. The driver of the black Chevy at the next island over had his back to him. Close to the station’s front door, an elderly man held the lid of an old-fashioned chest freezer open, while two young boys picked out ice cream treats. No one from inside the station’s office seemed to be looking his way.

Someone, somewhere, was staring at him. And hard, by the feel of it.

He squeezed the pump handle and locked it on before turning slowly on his heel, looking around with a feigned casual air. Heat rose from the faded asphalt of Hwy 236. Directly across from him, a farmer wheeled his tractor in a tight arc and started back along the length of his field, cutting the long grass for hay. Down the road to his left, houses clustered on both sides for a distance of about a quarter of a mile. To the right, on his side of the road, was a feed store. The farmer’s field took up the rest of the other side, green grass stretching away for as far as he could see.

The small community was little more than a spot along the road, too small to be incorporated as a town. Quaint, Marissa had called it when they’d passed through on their honeymoon. There was also no one in sight, aside from the farmer, who was headed away from him.

Still…

He shook himself and turned back to the car. Marissa had fallen asleep not long before they’d gotten here. He leaned his forearms on the driver’s door, smiling as he studied her. She wasn’t one to let things get in the way of her plans. They’d made the reservations for this trip last year, before their honeymoon had ended, and not even the surprise discovery seven months ago that she was pregnant had been enough to deter her from it. He reached in and gently brushed a few strands of her long black hair from her face.

“Hey, hon, better wake up.”

One corner of her mouth quirked. “I wasn’t asleep.”

He grinned. “Sure. This is the last chance for a bathroom stop before we reach our hotel.”

She grimaced, opening her eyes. “You do know that this child of yours plays kickball with my bladder, don’t you?”

“You’ve mentioned it before.”

She sat up, unfastened her seatbelt, and opened her door.

“Need any help?” Roger asked.

“I’m not as big as a house, yet.” She carefully levered herself out of the low-slung car. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

The weight of the pregnancy had given her walk a cute little sway. Roger pushed himself upright, watching her over the roof of the Miata as she walked away.

The sense that he was being watch returned, so strong that he gave up any pretense of casual interest in his surroundings. He scanned the area, looking first past Marissa to be sure she wasn’t heading into trouble, then turning to look intently toward the small cluster of houses. A couple of children had come out onto a front lawn to play catch. An ancient Ford Fairlane rattled past along the highway, pulling off at the feed store. There were a few places where someone could have hidden behind bushes to stare at him unobserved. There was no way of knowing if anyone was using them without going to check.

The pump handle clicked off. He turned back to pull the nozzle from the tank and return it to the pump. As soon as Marissa came back from the bathroom, they’d be leaving, and his hidden observer would just have to find someone else to stare at.

A red pickup truck approached from the direction of the houses, slowing as if to turn in at the service station. Marissa swung around.

“Roger, do you have a couple of dollars for…” Her voice trailed away. He looked at her quickly. She stared past him, her eyes wide, and her face pale and blank with shock. “Billy--”

Roger half-turned, looking behind him. The red pickup had slowed to a crawl. Its driver, a lean, muscular man with short dark hair and a bushy mustache, stared back at him, cold, arrogant, a slight smile curving his mouth. Marissa’s psychotic ex-husband, who’d beaten her so badly that she’d lost their nearly full-term baby, and gotten himself convicted of manslaughter in the death of their child. She’d divorced him while he was in prison. He wasn’t supposed to be out yet.

Billy’s smile widened. He raised an arm and mimed pointing a gun at Roger’s head. His index finger crooked as if pulling the trigger. Roger’s skin crawled. Billy looked past him at Marissa, then stepped on the gas and accelerated away.

____________________________

Does this give you the feeling that something bad is going to happen? Billy has announced his intentions. If I were to continue the story, of course, it would become a contest between Roger and Billy, with the lives of Roger, Marissa, and the unborn child at stake. Keeping the suspense high requires that the readers care about what happens to this young family, which is another vital aspect of suspense. If your readers don’t have a strong desire to see them escape, they might just root for Billy to track them down and kill them.

Click on the Writing label for all other posts on writing.

Back on Blogger

Erm...never mind. I didn't care as much as I ought to have for the new blog software on my website, so I'm back to posting here. I'll just transfer a couple of posts from the other blog to here, then shut the other one down.

New blog

Well, I'm in the process of setting up a blog on my website. Don't know yet if I like it more than this one, but I've got a post on it about writing suspense. The new site is here. This one will stay up, in any case, because google already sends people here for a few of the writing posts.

Edited to add: In case you get here through some freak of Google pointing you here, I gave up the blog on my website and have continued this one. Just click the home tab at the top of the page to get to the newest posts.

Update on publishing schedule

My books have been assigned dates for publication. They are as follows--

Blood Money--April 2010
Rio Star--October 2010
Reef Runner--April 2011

Haven't been assigned an editor yet, but that's coming.

If you haven't read anything of my series yet, don't forget the short story "The Uncle Hunt" is available in pdf on my website. Just click on the link on the front page, which will take you to the page where the download link resides (look for the download link toward the bottom of that page).

In looking through the stack of links I've been collecting, I found a couple that I think I'll add this time around. First is called The Cardinal Sins from over at Mysterious Matters, regarding what not to do in writing mysteries. Useful if you have aspirations in that direction.

The second: You know those emails going around every now and then about the woman who paid $250 for the Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe and generously decided to share it with the world via email? Guess what? It's an urban legend. To get the history of that particular story, visit Snopes, the urban legend site, and enter Neiman-Marcus cookie in the search box. If you want the REAL Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe, visit their website. It's free to whoever wants it.

Publishing news

Well, publishing news as it applies to me, that is.

Mundania Press has acquired my Patty O'Donnell series, as of the end of January. Blood Money is tentatively scheduled to come out next year, though there's no firm date yet. The other two are expected at six month intervals after that. Will post updates as I get them.

Whoohooo!!!

First post of 2009...

Well, if you've been checking in from time to time, you've noticed that I don't tend to post much. I've added (I think) the followers function to the sidebar--if you add yourself to it, and I happen to post something, you'll know about it rather than hoping to catch a new post through randomly clicking on my blog. Not that I'm expecting there are many people actually reading this...

In any case, we're still stuck in the old house. Once the weather got cold, the mold problem got to be much less of a problem because the mold doesn't like the cold much. Still looking for financing to build the new house. The first company we applied with kept us hanging for a while before informing us that our part of the country is a declining market and declined to make the loan. The fact that pretty much the whole country is a declining market doesn't seem to figure into it.

So far as I know, my story "Picture Imperfect" should be coming out in the Spring issue of Mysterical-E. I'm thinking somewhere around the first of March, but we'll see how it goes. I'll post more on it once I get word for certain.

I have a ton of links I've been saving up, but since I'm not posting from home, they'll have to wait until the next post.

'til next time~~~

Changes...

Just about wherever you are in my house, you see boxes. Some are packed full, others are flat and in stacks, waiting to be chosen because they're just the right size to put that set of knick-knacks inside, or for my husband's billion pairs of shoes. (Okay, so he doesn't have a billion pairs, but he wears size 12/13 depending on the shoe maker, so a big box is a necessity.) This process has been going on for probably two months now, mostly because I didn't want to hold off to the last minute and pack trash along with the stuff we wanted to keep. There's nothing like opening a box of treasured possessions and finding an old straw wrapper from a long-forgotten fast-food meal to bring home the need for pre-planning and organization for an undertaking of this size.

Yes, we're moving. Sort of. If all goes to plan, we're pulling down the old house we live in now and building new on the same lot. I don't think I'm going to miss this place all that much. But we've been here nineteen years, so there's a lot of junk to wade through in search of the things we really need and want to keep. Ask my son. Now that he's packing up his own things, I think he finally sees the wisdom in all those admonitions to pick up the trash so he can see what needs to be put away. He's already staked out the back bedroom in the yet-to-be-built house, which happens to be the master bedroom, but since the new house's two bedrooms are of equal size, I don't mind, because I really like the big windows in the second bedroom. Besides, the master bath is going to be cut down to a half-bath to make room for the furnace and the water heater. It's funny how not all house plans come with designated spots for those things.

I've been hearing geese, most likely on their way further south. Can't say I blame them. I hate cold weather. Leaves are falling off the trees at an increasing rate. Both remind me that we have little time left here. Not in the metaphysical sense--there's a lot of mold in the floor and the walls, and we have to have the windows open for the fresh air. Once it gets cold enough that we have to shut the windows, we will have to abandon the place, if it hasn't been pulled down before then. Mortgage paperwork is such a joy, especially when you have to rely on others to get back to you with requested information. I'm not sure we'll be done with it before we have to be out of here.

The Muse Online Writer's Conference starts next week. So far, we've got a bit over 150 people signed up for the Suspense workshop. If you're one of them and you haven't gotten my papers, "Writing Suspense" and "Adding Suspense", you might want to grab them off my website. They're not required reading, but you might find them useful, since this year, workshop attendees get to write their own short suspense scenes. My workshop partner is also running his tagline workshop again, so keep that in mind.

Now, off to wrestle with myself over whether I should be writing fiction or packing. Choices, choices...

'Til next time~~

Website update complete, plus Muse Conference

Finally, got the website update finished and posted. If you find any links that don't work, click the link at the bottom of the website pages to report them, please.

The Uncle Hunt is now available as a pdf download on my website. Enjoy! I ask that you don't pass along the file. Please help me keep track of how many downloads it gets by directing people to the appropriate page on my website. They can download it themselves. Requires Adobe Reader or an equivalent pdf reader to open the file. Adobe Reader is a free download from Adobe.

The Muse Online Writers Conference registration is open until September 1, 2008. If you intended to attend this year, you've only got a few more days to register. Lea is making no exceptions this year. If you miss the cutoff date, you'll have to wait for next year's conference.

Mysterical-E has accepted my story "Picture Imperfect" for publication. It will probably be out in the spring issue, from what I'm told.

Still waiting to hear back from the publisher about my books. I will post information as I get it.

Until next time~~~

Website updates coming soon

We've had problems with a computer virus getting in and messing things up (my husband's user account on the computer vanished entirely, including all his current bookmarks, which were considerable in number), followed by weeks worth of getting the harddrives reformatted, getting all the software loaded back on, and getting the computer and the router talking to each other again. A frustrating series of events for all sentients involved. I'm sure the computer didn't care one way or the other.

I plan on revamping my website, which may or may not include changing the background color scheme. Probably any future sample chapters will be posted in pdf format, and I'll likely have a free story download available sometime in August. Articles I've written for the Muse Online Writers Conference are also posted there, on the articles page. Those will continue to be available.

My three out-of-print books are currently in the queue at another publisher. The first has made it through the initial read and is waiting for an editor to give it a good look before they'll make any decisions on it. If there's one thing the writing biz teaches you eventually, it's patience.

Speaking of the Muse Online Writers Conference, registration is now open. Registration runs sometime through September--my bad on not remembering exact dates. I'll post them once I've tracked all the information down. The conference is free, and you have the advantage of being able to attend your chosen workshops in your pajamas if you choose, because no one will ever see you. Except, perhaps, your housemates and the delivery man.

Many thanks to Lynne Patrick of Creme de la Crime, an independent British crime publisher, for unwittingly giving me exactly what I needed to get my latest Patty story moving forward. You rock.

Until next time~~

Stereotypes in Writing

My apologies for the extended delay in posting again. You really don't want to hear all about my allergy problems and the effect they have on my brain, so I won't get into that.

I’ve been pondering this post for a while, and decided to finally get my brain in gear and write it.

A number of years ago, before my first novel made it to print, a reader complained about the fact that my characters of a particular nationality weren’t the way characters of that nationality were portrayed in movies. I explained to her, politely, that the characters in the movies were stereotypes, and that I don’t use them.

Stereotypes are a sort of shorthand that is used to invent characters without giving much thought to it. Movies and television use them because they’ve got only so much time to tell a story, and they can’t afford to spend much of it developing their characters. Since movies and tv are such a pervasive part of our culture, their use of that particular shorthand is a trap that we can easily fall into. Got an Italian character? Throw in a love of pasta and a few ‘Mama Mia’s and you’ve got it, right?

Well, only if you’re writing a five minute children’s cartoon.

Writing characters according to stereotypes is somewhat undesirable because a) people are not all alike, inside or outside arbitrary national lines, and b) stereotypes often originated as uncomplimentary characterizations based on national prejudices.

Writing to stereotypes also suggests that the author didn’t do his/her homework.

If you have a character of a nationality other than your own, take some time to do some research into the history of the country your character comes from. If you can find books that tell you about the culture of that particular nation, it will help you to understand your character better, and you can write a more fleshed-out person rather than a one-size-fits-all, flat stereotype.

A word of caution, though—if you intend to use that nation’s slang and idioms in your character’s conversations, try to get someone from that nation to help you get it right.

Some time ago, I decided, for reasons I won’t go into, to learn Irish gaelic. I quite enjoyed the studying, learning new words and sentence structures, but discovered something that stayed with me a lot longer than the language did. Slang and idiomatic sayings are intimately tied into the culture and history of the people who made them up. If you have no understanding of the culture and history, and have no one to help you correct your mistakes, it’s better not to use them. There is nothing that screams ignorance louder than the improper use of them.

Don’t worry that not throwing in the stuff you hear in the movies is going to keep your readers from knowing who your characters are. I usually just have mine speaking good old plain English, and I can’t tell you the number of times people have told me, “Oh, such and such sounded so (fill in nationality).” Once your reader knows a character is a certain nationality, they’ll fill in the accent, among other things.

Click on the Writing label for all other posts on writing.

End of March Blues

Can you say 'tax time?' April 15 is suddenly just a short period away. A quarter of the year is gone. How did that happen so quickly?

Patty has suddenly made it plain she's ready for her next story, so I guess I'll have to oblige her. It's about time, really. Some people claim there's no such thing as writer's block, but I imagine that's just because they've never experienced it. Like the girl who tried to tell me there was no such thing as PMS. Uh-huh.

I've gathered a few links to posts on other blogs that I found interesting. Especially as writers, we tend to be isolated and have ideas about how the business works that aren't really accurate.

The first is Wait, you mean THIS is the hard part? Just how do those books get to the bookstore?

Next is The Other 90% Someone may be getting rich off those books, but it might not be who you think it is.

Sandra Ruttan has some Unsolicited Advice...For Aspiring Authors Seeking Advice.

And finally, if you have something through a small press that uses a POD printer, this will probably be of interest to you, because Amazon's changing their policy about doing business with any POD printer but their own. Writers Weekly

Sigh. As if life wasn't already difficult enough.

Tomorrow is the last official day of my contract for Reef Runner. The series will be out of print in April. Hopefully I'll have news soon on if it's going back into print elsewhere.

Out for now~~~