I’ve been thinking about the challenges of getting people to read and more importantly buy your book when it finally gets published.  It has been getting more and more obvious to me that it’s never too soon to develop an audience, not to mention build that network of contacts, before your book comes out. Let’s explore that thought for a moment, shall we? I’ve been told about the challenges of having a book accepted by a publisher.  There’s the contract negotiation, the back and forth editing, promotion, etc.  A lot of work goes on behind the scenes (so I’m told… no experience with that aspect yet) before the book ever hits the shelves.  And when it hits the shelves, then what? […]

Let me just begin by saying, “Holy Crap it’s cold out there!”  For those of you who haven’t been watching the news, or hail from a more balmy climate, it has been -40 degrees (celcius or farenheit, it just doesn’t matter) or colder for the past several days (that is with windchill, but still).  I, for one, haven’t felt overly anxious to do any outdoor activities. On another note, I learned something about myself this week.  It was another of those “well Duh!” moments I mentioned not so long ago.  Let me begin with a little background. I have talked about my ability to procrastinate; I could probably win an award for it if one existed.  I’m also a bit […]

Have you ever had one of those “Well Duh!” moments?  I know I occasionally do and I hate them almost as much as I love them. Aaron and I went to a short (2-hour) workshop last week with Simon Rose.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect; the description of the workshop mentioned things like “where do ideas come from” and “plot versus character”.  Still, I’ve known Simon for quite a while and I’ve wanted to hear what has to say for some time. While the workshop didn’t go into great detail on several of the topics (it was almost a fireside chat in many ways), I came away with a few items that left me shaking my head.  Not […]

When I was young (OK, younger) I wrote all the time.  I wrote about practically anything that caught my fancy, usually friends, and the humorous situations I could put them in.  Despite that, I never entertained the idea of getting my writing published.  I can clearly remember thinking:  ‘who am I to submit stuff?  I’ve never done anything interesting.” I believed then (and I suppose I still do to an extent) that a writer needs some life experience to be effective.  An imagination is a fine thing, but at some point the reader will see through the imagined and realize that there is no substance to it.  But what is life experience anyway? I’ve had a couple situations in the […]