Monday? Again?

And nearly July?

And some horrible horrible person on my Facebook feed had the AUDACITY to remind everyone that six months from yesterday is Christmas.  My thoughts as of this morning:

Time needs to slow its roll whilst I need to speed my roll up.  😬

I wrote myself a timeline for the books I've started and when I thought to finish and publish.

I have "Incantation", Book Four in the Rivers Sisters set, finished in July and "Canary:  Dark Descent" finished in the fall. I'm going to have to swap those out. I'm about 20,000 words short, give or take, on Canary DD.  But it's going out next.

Think I'll meander over and open that one up.

Always writing*

...and NOT thinking about the 'ber months and their holidays...😑 

I write.

I've written, to publish, since 2005. I put together a website. I started a blog. I was committed to it. 

A fire burned my home to the ground in 2006.

I started over.

But it's hard to set aside the time when you work forty hours and commute an hour a day. A million issues with the loss of the house and several relationships.

Moved to town. A hundred and six more issues. Not an ideal time to work on writing. Dedicated myself to my kids and job.

Fast forward myself to now. I write full-time. The game is completely different. You don't send SASEs and receive form letters shoved back in them. Most use query tracker (I LOVE QUERY TRACKER), and it's all online. 

Need new website, blog, Twitter, Insta, TikTok, FB page, etc. It's crazy how much as changed (good or bad) and how much has evolved for the better.

Googled myself today. The first site to pop with my name is LinkedIn! My website IS in flux as my tech mistress is working on a brand new site. 

Sites in order:

LinkedIn

Amazon Author Page

Simon & Schuster Author Page

Goodreads

ThriftBooks!!!

InmanBooks

Twitter

That floors me. Truly. Need to work on raising a couple of those sites in the results. I feel my website needs to be in the top spot with Amazon and Simon & Schuster right below. 

Goals.

Always writing* 

When I made friends with IngramSpark

My views have bumped up a bit. Hello to all my new visitors! Glad to have you.

Today I shall be cussing and discussing my experience with IngramSpark. 

To be fair, I went into this new foray with zero idea of what in the hell I was doing. Zero. Incredibly more labor-intensive than Kindle Publishing on Amazon. That's simply what it is.

I didn't have "embedded font". That took me two weeks and several sleepless nights, only to find out it's a simple print issue. Color me educated. I threw together an entire book cover (front, spine, back) and simply wanted to import it to use.

Um, no.

I learned I must use a "template book cover" from IS with their calculations to print correctly. Okay. That took a good couple of weeks while I was struggling not to punch a wall and cha cha on my laptop.

Formatting. Two books in, and I've finally understood what I need on calculations. I probably had seven revisions on formatting the interior for "Chimera." Nobody was happy in Whoville.

But the biggest issue was the back and forth with ISBNs, barcodes, and uploading files. What did I need first? And I needed a cover to get the ISBN. But I needed the ISBN to begin the file for the new book. And I had to have all the info for both to fill out because Bowker and IS want everything. Understandable.

"Chimera" was three weeks of throwing my hands up and cursing everything from font to format and back again.

"Canary" was three days of pulling my shit together and using all the new knowledge.

Was it worth it?  We shall see.  Right now, the eBook distributors have my eBook but aren't showing the cover.  😑

IS assures me they have 30 days to add all the meta data, including the cover.  They resent all the info, to make sure the distributors have it.

Hard to sell a book with a black cover, no matter how good the story. 😶

meh

Always writing*

...Dark Descent...second story in my "Canary" trilogy...

I made this.

Let's say I wanted to stomp on my laptop about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I couldn't work my Chimera book cover into IngramSpark specs, and I was about to lose my shit. I worked on that SOB for well over a week, tweaking it. 

My first foray into IS territory, and I was dying slowly and horrifically.  I hated Canva, Adobe, and really, every other picture program because I WAS NOT GETTING IT.

After revising the cover, probably about seven times, I received a proof I could approve!!! 🥳🎉

Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus.

Then I immediately went to work on the cover for Canary. I used Canva. The Cold War was over. And I made this:

I love this cover with my soul.  It's exactly what I wanted, and I am damn proud.

I learn something new daily. And I DO NOT give up. 

Here's to the lifetime learners and stubborn souls who keep going even when they want to use their laptop for target practice.  You are my people.  And you can do it!

Always writing*

A cover! A cover! My kingdom for a cover!

For some unknown reason, IngramSpark is having one hell of a hard time accepting the cover for my paperback, Chimera. There is a process. I've followed it. Repeatedly. Still shows my cover as pure black. I've sent two HELP ME emails. No response. I've lost what little I have left of my writerly sense of humor. I wanted Chimera available at the beginning of June. 😣

Tick tock, Clarice.

I'm also on my last edit of Canary. I need to look for cover images. Now. I don't know whether to put the cover together as a whole and then add the file, or try to use the IngramSpark Cover Template something or other because maybe they will finally take my fucking artwork. ???

Guys. It's only ten o'clock. If I had an ulcer, it would already be flaring. 😒

Luckily, I've put an extra big scoop of Energizer powder into my smoothie this morning. 😁

Always writing*

...and making covers that SOME places seem to have a problem with, but not the ebook...OH NO...that one's fine...😑

Priorities

Y'all know I'm a Mom and Mimi.  The past five days, I've been basically a full-time Mimi.  My middle daughter has the girls in "school."  They are two and four.  But they had a break to switch from the school year to summer, and my daughter didn't have anyone to watch the girls while she worked the past five days.

Take that in. 

If she missed one day, she could be fired.  She could lose her apartment, have utilities cut off, and be at zero.  Because she didn't have anyone to watch her girls.  One of those days was Memorial Day.  No one is going to watch your kids on Memorial Day.???  It's a holiday.  Everybody has a day off.  Except for those who don't.  😑

Some families don't have built-in friends and relatives who will watch the kids.  I didn't have that.  She doesn't have that.  And it's hard to find someone you're going to trust your two small children with.  Great concept.  Terrifying reality.

I had this problem twenty years ago.

Single parents need help in ways that aren't being offered.  And, per usual, programs and guidelines are made by those who have never had to deal with the issue.  

They crunch numbers and nod their heads and plug in calculations that look right on paper.  

Parents and their children deserve better.  We should be doing everything in our power to cultivate young minds and giving parents the opportunity to have better choices.  

Period.

Always advocating for parents and their babies*

I'm tired.

 I feel guilty because I'm tired.

Is that a woman thing? A "me" thing? A both thing? I'm not sure.

When I've particularly gone through it and come out on the other side, this quote resonates in my head: 

“Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great. You have no power over me!”  Attributed to Jim Henson who I love with my soul.  💖

Usually I'll give myself a day or two, at most, and I start again on editing or writing. "Chimera" is off for processing. Publishing through IngramSpark, which was an entirely new experience. I feel as though I've been put through the woodchipper. 😬 It was an entirely new experience, but now I'm adept at submitting and publishing through them. Only took half my mind and most my soul. 😶

I think I'm going to give myself a day or two. Then I'll edit "Canary" and publish. 

Today? 

I think I'm going to make a casserole and vacuum. 😎 

Always writing*

...this blog counts 😁