Do you ever go into the book store, look at the shelves and wonder what the heck you were thinking?  Do you wonder if it’s pure arrogance on your part to think that your work is good enough to sit on those shelves too?  I do… all the time in fact.  But doing it now is a source of motivation for me now while in the past it served to do the exact opposite. Perhaps I should explain myself a bit more. There was a time that I loved going into the book store to see what new worlds were waiting to be explored.  Then, when I made the conscious decision to try my own hand at writing, it became […]

For those of you who don’t know, my day job (you know, the one that currently pays my mortgage, buys groceries and gets me up and mobile every day) is Product Management.  “And what exactly do you do as a  Product Manager?” you might say. Well, thank you very much for asking.  I’ll be happy to tell you. As a Product Manager, I spend my day identifying market requirements (see talking to customers and asking them what they want/need), researching solutions and products that might fit the customer needs and then building products and solutions within the entire framework.  Pretty clear right?  Right? Would it help if I mentioned that I also create marketing materials that describe what the value and […]

There was a time when I didn’t even consider the problems of writing a sequel to a story.  The writing I was doing was  going so slowly I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish.  But finish I did and I now have not one, but two completed books to try and get published.  It feels pretty good. Still, the two books are not related to each other; they’re not the same genre and weren’t even writen for the same age group.  But now, I’m plotting out my third book which is a sequel to my first.  So chronologically, it will be the second book of my first series.  Clear as mud, right? Still, this leads me to the subject of today’s […]

I’m very excited to announce that I have achieved one of my writing goals:  to get a book published.  Now before you go popping the champaign I’ve got to clarify that statement a wee bit.  I published my Nanowrimo book… on a web-based POD (Print on demand) site.  It’s not available for sale (not yet anyway) and I have no self-delusions that I’m going to hit the best-seller list with it (again, at least not yet). I know what you’re thinking; print on demand’s not real publishing.  It’s nothing more than a glorified vanity press… and at one time I might have agree with you.  Now, I’m not so sure.  If there’s one thing that really can give you a […]