On a wild ride...

      I have been meaning to sit down for over a week now and just write. There is so much in my head right now that it would be impossible to put any of it down in any kind of sense. As I said to Owen the other night, "My ADD brain used to keep my thoughts on train tracks. One train track would be on the novel, one on what to cook for dinner, one 'the game,' one on a friend who was having a hard time and so on. Now, it is all in a jumbled pile that is more cloud than anything organized."
     However, in that jumbled mess, a few things are standing out right now. The first being with how Midnight to Morning is doing. Three weeks have passed since it was published: Three weeks of teaching myself how to talk the book up. Three weeks of continuing my crash course in self-promoting. In those three weeks I've sold every copy I self-purchased and more are on the way.  There even has been a book signing set up.Unfortunately, there hasn't been a decent amount of online sales in either printed or e-reader form, and that is where the bulk of profit comes from. Another issue has been getting the word out locally. The good-ol'-boy network down here makes it almost impossible to get in the paper - even though I have seen them promot numerous local authors. My hometown paper up north said they would put in a blurb if I wrote it up, but it has yet to show up there either. So I sit and chant, "It has only been three weeks." and keep plugging away.
     The second standing out in my mind (and you all knew this had to come out sooner or later) is the astonishing amount of time I am spending online in-game. Well, chalk that up to my precious creative outlet being killed off on December 15th. There are people counting on me and people I am counting on. With all these years role-playing my dear Amandiona, she had to be given the happy ending she deserves. That means many more hours than anticipated are being spent multi-tasking. Take now for example. 'The Game' is up, as is two different instant messengers and I'm sitting here blogging! Now, look closely, I'm only going to say this one time. Yes, my SWG friends, I will put our story into book format. No, it will not be in the format you want. As it stands right now, making this a piece of fan-fiction causes a gag reflex. Lucas should not get any credit for the world we have written. I have years of notes, screenshots and memories. The lives of our dear "other selves" will be preserved in some form of printed fiction. I promise.
     With those things said, and the fact that Owen just walked in the door with dinner, I'll sign off for now. Clear Skies!

The Strangest of Weeks

     October 15th, that was the day I had set aside as the release date for the novel. However, that wasn't to be, and I knew it long before the date arrived. The injury to my hip over the summer had put me in a bad way emotionally and I had dawdled on various tasks in the must-do-before-publishing list. Those tasks included making sure I had cover art, that I had made all the recommended changes by my wonderful editor, and had completed one more "read aloud" to catch any other errors. There were also other tasks, like making sure a friend of mine has the results of my "beta test" on his book before too much time had passed. As the day approached, only the edits had been finished. I started telling those who questioned that October 30th would be the day instead.
     As that day approached, I was still without cover art. Panicking, I turned to my husband and he worked for hours until a new concept came to both of us and a totally unexpected cover jumped out of the screen. I was overjoyed, but still the novel wasn't ready. I had nearly a hundred pages left to go over, and he was leaving for a family trip (I read aloud to him.) Tears were shed, but I allowed the day to pass by and made up some good excuses to push the date to November 5th.
     That was when the insanity started. Normally, I get some quiet time in while working at the high school. I've relied on that time to write/edit/research. This week it was not to be. I spent nearly every break either covering for someone or helping out with something. When the students were in the room, even though I am just a "lowly substitute," I ended up in detailed conversations about various topics with them instead of sitting back and watching as they complete the assignments left by their regular teacher. Then there is the PRAXIS II test I'm taking on the 12th. Somewhere along the way I was managing to take notes out of an extensive textbook to assist with studying for it. Internally, I was fretting and fussing over pushing back the date again. This would mean that the novel wouldn't make it onto mainstream sites like Amazon until too close to Christmas. Evenings were spent multi-tasking and I was waking at 3am with insomnia and putting myself back to sleep by proofreading.
     But our God is a God of wonders and I know to trust His timing. Even though I fussed, I kept reminding myself that it was in His hands. The final read-over was completed late on November 5th and my husband put together a back cover for me. I knew the 6th was out of the question for a print date. Knew there was NO WAY I could pull it off. Why? Because in the online game I play (which is a month from destruction) those I interact with had scheduled the final battle for the virtual town I manage. It was going to be an all day event in one way or another. But remember...God's ways are mysterious...Just as we were starting to gather for the battle, the server we were on crashed. Not just a "wait ten minutes and you'll get in" crash, a "whoops we broke the whole thing" crash! By the time it was repaired, most of my friends had given up and we were forced to reschedule. I was so very frustrated at the waste of a day!
     Then it happened. I looked first at the computer, then at my netbook, back to the computer again, and grabbed the flash-drive. One transferred file, a reset of margins, shock at the page count, and a quick run through Word later (the book was written in OpenOffice) and I started the process to upload the novel to Lulu.com. Carefully going over each step, I made it through and ordered the first copies. It was late, really late, but I was strangely awake. That alone is amazing because I'm normally in bed by ten. However, I took the strange level of alertness and went ahead and completed the process to make it and E-book as well. It was midnight when the book went live...ironic since the title is Midnight to Morning.