On Self Publishing

So am I missing something? When did Lulu cease to be free to self-publish? Days were when you could publish through them and they'd only print and charge you for it when you ordered a physical copy. Like...print on demand.

Now they want money up front.

I guess they had one too many terrible author's work being saved to their servers. Snort.

#cheapies #luluyoucrazypants #disappointment

An End

Is in sight! I'm thrilled to announce that I have less than one hundred pages left to edit in my novel: a little over fifty, in fact. Then it is off for round two of proof-reading from my editor and with any luck, I will be self-publishing by Christmastime! How exciting.

So, if you were wondering what to get me for Christmas, you can buy my book, thus putting a little money in my pocket. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. If you're wondering if I will offer an electronic version, the answer is yes. However, keep in mind that an e-book can't be autographed. So, if you would like an autographed copy, you'll have to message me and we can work out the details.

Now, onto business. Life has been bringing many changes my way in the last few months, during the midst of what is usually one of my favorite seasons. I find myself letting Fall pass me by, however, and am eager for Winter to arrive in all its cool, sparkling glory. All these changes tend to unsettle me and make me focus less on the projects I want to work on and more on things that have no productivity value whatsoever. Case in point: it should not have taken me so long to format this novel. I've had it written for a long time and applied page settings (margins, indentations, etc.) months ago. Pacing chapters and page breaks really shouldn't have taken so long. However, I am the kind of creative person who needs schedule and order in her life. Anyone else like that? You need organization in order to let the creative chaos thrive? Take disorganization, a lack of schedule, and my brain, and what you end up with is hours that are really unaccounted for in terms of productivity. Sigh. If anyone has tips on how to self-organize or schedule, I'd appreciate it. What do you do in order to keep yourself on task?

Ah, well. I'm off to continue formatting and editing. Wish me luck! Perhaps my willpower alone will get me through the rest of this task, scheduled or not.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

When writing a first person, female teenager voice, is it ok to end an internal narration sentence with a preposition?

People so rarely think in correct grammar, you see.

Editing, round three-hundred and four. (Except I'm not really keeping count.)

Getting Mixed Up

It's so easy to do! For instance, when I wrote my post yesterday I neglected to check the exact number of pages in my novel as it is to be formatted, so what did my brain do? Mixed up numbers, of course! In other words, when I said my novel was 130 pages long, that was incorrect. However, along with the news that the novel currently stand at 360 pages, I can proudly say that I worked hard today and formatted through page 131. How exciting! Being that much closer to my goal makes me happy.

You know, when I started writing this book it was in answer to some very silly, fantastical, escapist YA novels I'd been reading. Additionally, I was coming off of a bad break-up and I realize now that I needed that escapism and reversion to the ideals of my youth. In this case, unequal relationships. I'm sure you are all familiar with these relationships in your own way. Inequality can present itself in a romantic relationship in many ways: differences in circumstance, culture, or age are some of the more common ones. All of those mean that one person in the relationship is in a position of more power than the other. Some common instances in popular culture are teachers and students, vampires and humans, older men and younger women, a wealthy person and someone from "the wrong side of the tracks", "trophy" wives, etc, etc, etc...you get the idea.

My point in bringing all this up is that even though I was trying to fight certain stereotypes and ideas when I began the novel, I still had a head full of inequality when it came to romance. (And by inequality, I mean unhealthy.) As a result, I had an example of a bad, power-skewed relationship written into the main arc of the storyline. I told myself the reason for it would be revealed later on in the series (yes, it's a YA series, but this is only the first novel I'm detailing here) and that it wasn't a true example of one of this unequal relationships. However, now that I'm a few years older, wiser, and more content with life, I can see that I was only kidding myself. It is still possible for me to utilize the story arc, but it isn't necessary for me to bring the inequality into the present story. The relationship does not need to be romantic for me to still have my "big reveal" during the series. I can maintain the integrity of the story and the characters as I first imagined them, but I can do it without writing a romantic relationship that is part of what I was initially trying to rebel against with this novel.

Anyhow, the above is a huge part of the edits going on as a I format. I delete a sentence here, add a line there, and voila! The story is still intact, but the creepy elements of what would have been an extremely unequal relationship are vanishing, little by little. So, how about you, dear readers? Ever enjoyed the guilty pleasure of adoring a novel, or movie, or television program that includes an unhealthy relationship? How do these relationships make you feel when you see them or read about them? Do you think it's possible to be in any of those situations and have it not be unhealthy? What would have to happen to make the relationship be ok? Explore in the comments, please! 

To Self-Publish...

...one must first format one's book properly. I admit, I have only the slightest idea of what I'm doing. However, I must trust Lulu when it tells me the margins it requires and the size of the file I can upload in order to publish with it. I started the process of formatting many moons ago and have still only reached page 89 out 130-odd pages in my YA novel. I'm excited, but it is tedious work and when I'm also hunting for a day job and trying to organize a household after having gotten married and moved a month ago, well. Things slip through the cracks, you understand. In addition to the formatting, I've been polishing some areas of the story that were only roughly edited previously. Thanks much to my friends who have helped in that area of the process. The story would not be where it is today and I would be far less capable if you hadn't helped. Speaking of those who have helped, do any of my librarian friends want a free copy of the book for their collections? I mean the ones that are available to the general public, of course, but I'd take a request for a private collection, too. Or, if you'd rather sample the book first, just email me at the address on my profile. I'm happy to have any readers, or potential readers, at all at this time! Have any of you self-published? Do you have suggestions or advice? I'm happy to hear it! Comment below, please.

Challenge #1

Ok, poetry partner, here is my take on "Ode to the West Wind," or whatever. I'm so holding up my end of the bargain.

Ode to the Morning Rain (by me!)

I

How softly the morning rain hails Spring,
Her fertile glory held in promises made
By the water misting down upon the hills.

Those hills, which only months before
Were barren and brown and black
With rotting wood and broken stem

Are now as green, or if not, hold the
Promise of such lively greenery as
Only you, soft morning rain, provide.

Yet Winter’s damage still prevails
Amidst the sodden shrubs and lusty gales.

II

That damage might be prevalent
Even at such glorious time as this,
Is inconceivable, yet the evidence

So obvious in my sight, in the
Sight of all the world, persists-
The broken boughs, once heavy

With snow and ice- the homes now
Smashed where once little birds
Sang, that the cycle of their lives

Be not in vain, and yet in the morning rain
I find those surviving, who might sing again.

III

Go away! The morning’s mist seems
To proclaim. Be gone from our sight,
Cold ice and hail! For your time is up,

And now Spring has come upon us,
To awaken our hearts and spirits with
Cheer and wonder, that we survive,

Somehow, the bitter Winter and all her
Creeping chill. We have survived, the
Little birds proclaim, their tentative joy

In the brisk morning a true sound to behold,
Their voices upraised with sung praises manifold.

IV

Ah, but what new danger comes with Spring,
That may yet silence all happy noise, and
Surely still the beating wings and hearts?

That same promise as foretells of green
And newly hatched voices instills in man
A sense of purpose, a feverish belonging

Which, unchecked, rages over every instinct,
Every shred of common decency and sense,
And makes our hearts beat faster than before

With the desire to feed and proclaim our own lives
To the world and thrums our bodies like bees in hives.

V

It is such irritable, heedless sense which
Drove me fast in the morning rain, which
Made me lose myself in that precious second.

As I directed my vehicle, dazed, from
Holy mysteries homeward bound instead
And dreamt, wide-eyed of the pleasures

Of afternoon naps and a cat upon my
Chest. I felt alive, then! I was all myself
And yet the only thing that is bleeding so

Is the little bird which dove at the road
To find a worm and found my car instead.


VI

Oh! Spring morning, with its rain and promise!
Such things should be forbidden on such a
Glorious day as this could and should have been!

To drive forward, to leave behind myself
That little flash of blue, so alive moments before,
To see him lying in the road, body broken,

Life no more! I would die, myself, to atone
For the sin of taking his unknown life, for
The tragedy of Spring with its feverish dream.

I know the little fellow only saw a worm,
And flew too fast for me to brake, and yet!

And yet!