In Memory of my Dad

This is not my usual writing post. Today marks seven years since my wonderful daddy died. He was the kindest man you could meet. He never met a stranger and loved everyone. He could fix anything and everyone called on him to fix anything and everything.

I’ve more than once in the last seven years picked up the phone to call and ask him how to fix something, but then I’d realize that wasn’t possible.

He was taken away from us suddenly. He had a massive heart attack. The funny thing about heart attacks is they don’t discriminate or give warning. He was in great health and we all had joked he would out live us.

As for me I’m comfortable in the knowledge that I’ll see my daddy again one day. He was a man of faith and loved the Lord. I have no doubt where he is. I know he’s looking down from Heaven shaking his head at this post. But I felt I needed to honor him for a day, but in my heart I honor him everyday.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You… and if you still have your father, go hug him today or call him up and just say “I Love You”. That’s the last memory I have of daddy is leaving the night before and he gave me a big hug and said he loved me and I told him back.

Lists & Writing

As a writer I’ve had to get better organized. Not that Accounting didn’t already have me organizing, but in writing it’s different.

Someone asked the other day where I advertise and where I sell my books and where all I blog. Funny thing is sometimes I get so caught up in the whirlwind of it that I have to sit and think. That’s where the lists come in.

Here are the lists I have to keep in order to keep up:

1: Books (Funny enough after about book 4 I lost count and had a hard time remembering names)

2: ISBN numbers – very important to keep up with when entering other book sites.

3: Advertising Sites

4: Social Media Sites

5: Where your book is currently listed

6: Most importantly the user ID’s and Passwords to all the above sites. This can get tricky.

7: Characters for each book. Yep I forget sometimes who went with what book. Sign of my mind growing old 😦

8: Blog sites

9: Books in process (Very important so that if I mention them on a blog I can identify them later.)

10: A list to keep up with the lists. Yep, I have a 4″ notebook with all this organized in it. Thank goodness my editor and partner in crime keeps this book up to date. My way is sticky notes in a box.

As for you, this may not help. You may add more lists that you need, but this is just the ones I keep up with. May sound like a lot, but it keeps you from going crazy, well for me crazier.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Where do I put my books?

As a writer I’ve learned a lot about marketing and where books sell and don’t. Before I published my first book I had never heard of many of these sites. As just a reader I was aware of Amazon and Barnes & Nobles and places like that. Now that I’ve done research it’s amazing how many are out there.

Here are some of the places I’ve found and how I’ve done with these.

E-book Sites:

1: Amazon: This was the first place I put my books. The first two I actually put in under KDP Select which for me was a mistake. For some KDP Select works, but it just didn’t work for me. It limits where you can put your work. As for Amazon it’s gone pretty well. They make it so easy to put your books on their site and it’s highly recognized.

2: Smashwords.com: This site was not known to me until an author friend suggested it. Now I’ve seen a lot of information on it. It’s been one of my best selling sites. Through their program my books are put on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, Sony, Apple, Baker & Taylor and Library Direct. It’s a easy site to put your book on. You get an author page and they make it easy to advertise.

3: Google Play: This site to me wasn’t easy to use. I have several of my books on this site, but they really don’t sale good. It’s really difficult to put your books on it. Others might find this site helpful, but it wasn’t for me.

4: Allromancebooks.com: This site is really cool. It’s as the name says for romance books. It’s an easy site to work with. My sales have been fairly decent on this site. But of course they haven’t been on there but a couple of months.

5: Lightning Source: This is a great site with a lot of professional opportunities. It’s fairly easy to put your books on and a lot of more professional sites look at these books more.

Printed Books

1: CreateSpace: This is a print on demand site. I have all my books on this site for print and the sales go through Amazon. The site is easy to use and if you pay for the Expanded Distribution then it goes to several wholesalers all over the world.

2: Lightning Source: I’ve just signed a contract with them. This is the first professional printer that I’ve signed with. I’m really excited about using them and Barnes & Noble highly recommended this site to me. This is the site most of the big publishing houses pull from.

As I say, this is just a couple of the sites where my books are at and the experiences I’ve had. But of course everyone has different experiences and this is only my opinion.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Like ivy running up a tree…

As a writer our mind usually wonders around, looking for an inspiration or story. I was sitting on my porch this morning looking out at my ivy bed as I call it. When we moved into our home 19 years ago I planted this ivy and over the years it’s taken over three trees and countless attempts at growing purple thrift around the border. The only way to keep it in control is to use the weedeater around the edges and every year or so I burn it out to clear out the limbs and leaves and as my son says the snakes.

My writers mind works like that ivy. Sometimes it runs up this tree then stops and runs up another tree clean to the top. Usually it branches out and goes in several different directions. Sometimes it drives me insane 🙂 But others it’s a good thing because it helps to finish manuscripts.

Does your writers mind work like that? Tell me about how your mind wraps around a story. With mine, it’s like the ivy. Some stories take hold and I have to just work to the finish. Other times my mind goes all willy nilly and I have to pull it back and take back control.

Hope everyone is having a productive Saturday… Tell me how yours is going.

As always, Good writing and May God Bless You…