Roll with it

I AM ON VACATION!!!

This was actually postponed from three years ago.  We were definitely overdue.  And while we will enjoy the sauna, grilling, and a different view...I still have editing.  Because of course I do.  😁

I've set up shop in the kitchen.  This place has a decided lack of desks.  It's disturbing.  And I can't type with my laptop on my lap.  Too wibbly wobbly.  

We brought the fur children.  My feline son has ants in his pants.  Can't seem to settle his cute little butt down.  We're staying for a week.  He was running this place Day 2 of the last time we were here.  

But back to the theme.

Roll with it.

I'm a creature of habit.  I like what I like how I like it.  I love my desk, my Sanctuary, and all my regular writing habits.  And I'm not someone who turns a corner easily, so this is a bit challenging.  But here I am.  Sitting at the kitchen table in a rigid wooden chair with my laptop and my special light-up keyboard because I need the familiarity of the clack clack clack of the keys.  My power cord to my laptop is stretched from table to cabinet.  And it's a bit uncomfortable.

But it's no more uncomfortable than sitting around and doing absolutely nothing with my writing.  That's simply unacceptable.  If I have to sit on the floor and put my laptop on a coffee table, I will.  If my ass goes numb, already halfway there now, I will still sit here and finish what I started.

Rarely is there a perfect writing day.  Those are for rich authors who can sequester themselves in a suite or writers' haven and only concentrate on one thing.  The rest of us juggle on the daily.  Squeeze this love in when we can.

Picture of Simba sleeping by my feet.  Obligatory feline son picture.

  

Simply, write when you can, even in not-so-great circumstances.  You'll be glad you did.

Always writing*

...signed numb ass in Oklahoma

Please Come Again Review

I have an author interview and review for Please Come Again available.  All my love and thanks to Lily who did both.  💖  

When I began publishing, I could send a story off to six different review sites and come back with three good reviews I could use on my webpage.  This was circa 2006.  

The game has changed...and then some.

Most of those sites no longer exist.  The ones that do have changed their protocol.  Some are "members only" for authors.  Some no longer review and only advertise.  And some are booked for months for reviews so why bother?

Then there are ads.  They're expensive as hell.  And where do you want to place them?  Twitter?  FB?  Insta?  Amazon?  There are so many sites willing to post one post for you for an exorbitant amount of money in front of their 60,000 followers.  I can't justify that.  Believe me, I've tried.  I have to be smart with my advertising dollars.  

I find my reviewers.  I post my ads.  I scour the damn Internet looking for ways to promote myself I haven't thought of previously.  My hair is always on fire.  I want to give my works the most and best exposure I can find.  I want to blast the ever-loving hell out of them, as a proud parent does.  😊

So go take a look at Lily's site and check out my review.  We'd both appreciate it.  😁

Always writing*

...and working this ass off...😉

Write to Market

Write to Market also means Write to Trend.  Crunch numbers.  Look at Data.  Observe what is popular.  Sink your teeth into and write something that fits into those parameters.  I think it's a losing game.

I will go farther and even admit that I would rather do the research than pay one of MANY sites to do this for me.  

I'm talking hundreds of dollars to point you in the right direction.

Problems I have with this:

1.  The market can become saturated nearly overnight with the "trending" genre.

2.  I feeling like continuing to "write to market" leaves you chasing instead of leading.

3.  There are certain genres that will always be popular, and a good book will always find a home.

4.  Some agents ask for such a particular book on their MSWL there is no way you're writing it before interest fades, and the next hot thing comes down the pike.

5.  I want to be the first Crystal Inman--not the next whoever else:  Nora Roberts. MaryJanice Davidson. 

6.  There isn't a next new thing---UNTIL THERE IS.

My Facebook feed is full of ads promising to make my book a bestseller if I pay them to do this, that, and the other.  There are magic words they can use, and voila!  Tricks of the trade.  Blah blah blah.  

I've tried to educate myself on SEO, press kits, keyword searches, etc.  

The best you can do as a writer is write what you are called to write.  Believe in yourself and your words.  Don't chase someone else's dream or their stories.  Build your own so magnificent and beautiful and grand there is no possible way you won't succeed.  No matter what the market trend says.

Always writing*  

Used to it

 As I was leaning over the dryer and stretching up to open the cabinet above it to grab a trash bag to clean out Simba's litter box, I suddenly thought:  1.  I forget how short I am.  2.  I'm used to inconveniencing myself to grab said trash bag.  3.  Why haven't I moved trash bag box down to an easier accessible place for my short self?

Because I was used to it. 

This has been my routine every other day for years.  Maybe my spine is getting something out of it, though I doubt it.

Then I started thinking back about things I've become used to.  I'm more of a homebody, but that's due to Fibro and kick-starting my writing career into high.  I need to make myself get dressed and go out to eat breakfast by myself.  Thrift store shop.  Mix it up a bit.

But there are things in your life that you do NOT get used to.  That's because you're not meant to.

I was treated poorly at my previous job.  I would go in optimistic each day,  and by the time we opened the doors, I wanted to cry.  Not once did I get used to it.

Being in a relationship that you have no benefit from but wishing upon wish it will change?  No.  Exit stage left.  Been there twice.  It won't change.  You have to change the dynamic.

Now.  Professionally.  I'm an optimist, mostly. 😉😁

Query rejections are BRUTAL.  They pop in my email, and I file them and continue on.  I don't let myself become used to them because that's not where I live.  I live on the bestseller lists doing book tours and meeting readers and making a difference in lives.

Now that?  THAT I could get used to.

Always writing*

Self-doubt

I am my own cheerleader.  I am also my family's cheerleader.  I believe everybody should have someone who cheers them on no matter what.  Being the matriarchal maven of Clan Inman, that be me.  And I will never let me children, gbabies, or future ggbabies believe they don't have what it takes.

I raised myself a great deal of the time so I learned to be my own cheerleader.  But it took me many years to figure that out.  Now, it's second nature.  Most times, I'll do it in a humorous way.  "Let's do this, bitches!"  Knowing I am, indeed, bitches.  😂 Or muttering the Bob the Builder catchphrase paraphrased..."Can we do it?"  You bet your balls we can.  😁  It eases the pressure a bit while giving me a bit of an oomph to continue.

But self-doubt?  She's a wily fucking cow.  I'm not a regular on Twitter though I really enjoy a handful of accounts.  But it seems as though every time I hop on Twitter, I see a feed full of people who are being asked to send fulls on their first queries, and they found their dream agents on THEIR FIRST BOOKS.

Not going to lie.  I'm this meme right here.  

Oh.  Did you?  That's so wonderful.  For you.  And your first book.  Wow.  😐

Then begins the litany in my grey matter of:  "What have I done wrong?" "What part of my story is unpalatable?"  "Should I stop trying to find an agent?"  "Maybe I'll never be what they want."  

ON AND ON AND ON AND ON

And I have to shut that voice down because it won't fade away.  Oh no, friends.  It'll grow louder and louder until I can't hear anything else, and I can't let that happen.  I won't let that happen.  At book talks, I tell the audience, "Good books find a home."  And I mean that.  I wouldn't say it if I didn't.  

I'll shake myself off.  Take a few deep breaths.  Dive back in.  Because I have so many stories in me, and I'm not going to let a few stumbles along the way completely derail me.  Rah rah, Crystal.  RAH RAH

Always writing*

First kisses

That intoxicating first kiss.  

Fascination

One minute Megan was standing on the ground.  The next minute, Wade’s mouth angrily took hers as his arms tightened around her.  Her back pressed against a tree, and she had nowhere to go.  There was nothing gentle in the kiss.  Wade's mouth sealed over hers and took everything he’d never asked for.  The bite of it had her moaning against his mouth.

Megan’s hands fisted in his hair and kept his mouth pressed to hers while she nipped at his lip and told herself that Wade's intensity had sparked hers and this wasn’t her fault, and oh God, his mouth tasted like nothing she’d ever had before.

*******

Always writing*

When the real world intrudes on my fantasy life

In a perfect world, my short ass would tap tap tap away creating worlds that readers would enjoy whilst others worried about book covers, editing, marketing, publishing, et al.  I would do book tours, signings, and anything else required, but my main job would be the stories.

In the real world, I have depression, anxiety, fibro, and am prone to headaches.  Actually have one working my right temple currently.  Depression and anxiety are a ridiculous pair of assholes you think would ALMOST contradict each other.  Like hey!  You sorry fuckers should cancel each other out!  Alas, no.  I, at least, understand depression for what it is.  Anxiety?  ANXIETY?  It's your brain playing chicken with you.  

Why are you anxious, Crystal?  I have no idea.  Seriously?  Yeah.  Take it up with my brain.  😑

I literally lost a week to fibro.  Had the worst flare of my life on the weekend, and it pretty much sucked the life out of me through the week.  Body flared.  Weak.  It was awful.  My PCP and I believe stress triggers it.  😫  Hey Anxiety!  Nice to see you again, you absolute POS.  😡

Immersing myself in writing calms my circuits down.  I may bitch, whine, and moan, but it's absolutely therapeutic.  It's when I am at my best.  It's falling down the rabbit hole on purpose and skipping down any path you choose and knowing, KNOWING, it'll still be better than what's topside.  

Writers are prone to depression.  I've many theories as to why.  But a large part of me thinks it's because we have to come back out of the rabbit hole.

Always writing*