2nd Chances

Clearance!

Well, the book is out. The blogging has petered off, I'm in full speed preparation toward the Romantic Times Booksellers Convention and...I'm tackling my clutter situation with the help of a specialist.

First step? Accept you have a problem you can't handle on your own. Yup, I'm there. Been there for a whole lot of months...likely nearly a year.

Second step? Be ready to do what it takes, surrender to it. And call for help.

It was strange, having Casey come into the house. First time we'd had any company in the house in a long, long time. Sure, we had some new kitchen stuff done and we had new windows put in. That was years ago and the clutter was pretty much confined to two very bad rooms and some closets that were so full nothing else fit.

Sigh.

So, I figured Casey would check the whole house out. Make notes, maybe take pictures... Instead, she asked what room was first and we started with that one. She didn't even look at the rest of the house.

Husband's clutter room first. The front room, the room the front door opens to. Used to be a gargage at some point point before we bought the house. Which now has no garage and no shed... Which means the front room has all the tools from the garage and shed we once had. Plus the big desk and all the paperwork, the washer/dryer, my bike and a ton of assorted stuff.

Our first assignment, from Casey? An hour a day and big projects on weekends. It's only been four days but we've already made a lot of progress. Bags of stuff to Goodwill, bunch of stuff to trash, another load of electronics to be recyclyed. Since the majority of the room is huband's territory, I've been given permission to spend time at the other end of the house. My clutter room. Full of craft projects, books, sewing stuff, work out stuff, convention stuff, knick knacks, collectibles, costume this and that, music books, college papers... Sigh.

She says we'll have that room back by the end of March.

I'll be ready for it!

On the promotion tour this week? It's a light week. I'm at Castles&Guns on Tuesday. The Daily Dose of Decadence on Wednesday and Thursday. And I'm holding court at my local RWA meeting on Saturday here at home.

The Romance Writers Revenge is guesting Margaret Rowe on Friday, do stop by! She's always a charming visitor.

Brave New Chance

I have a nice mellow week ahead of me! It's pretty nice because I'm a bit fixated on the one thing that has me a bit freaked out.

On Wednesday...gulp...I have a woman coming to my house to help me with...with the clutter that has taken over every room in my house.

And I'm scared.

And I'm embarrassed.

How did this happen? I was never a total neat freak, but I never imagined letting things get so bad.

Sigh.

Okay, I had some bad years and somewhere in the midst of those years, it all let go and took over. It started when we moved from a 1700 square foot house, with a two car garage and a garden shed to an 1100 square foot house, no garage (not even a carport) and no sheds. And really bad storage. Little by little, over the space of a year, boxes were emptied as I tried to take it slow, tried to make certain everything went where it was supposed to go.

Didn't do too bad. Until...well, the two years before my sudden cardiac death weren't good years. I suffer from chronic depression and it was winning. Four years after my sudden cardiac death I accept that this is beyond me. And Wednesday, Casey is coming.

Part of me wants to spend the next three days cleaning everything I possible can. But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of doing it right? So it won't happen again?

Wish me luck.

I do have one fun thing happening this week. The ladies of  the Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem blog are spending February letting Cupid interview couples from assorted books. On Thursday, Emily and Captain Silvestri are on the hotseat! Do come by! It should be a lot of fun!

And I'll likely need fun after Wednesday's scary visit. (shudder)

 

Take A Chance On…What?

 

Come see me at Whipped Cream and the Fish Goddess Party Pavilion on Sunday. Today!

 

 

I wrote a blog about promotion this last week for the Revenge. It was pretty funny, the initial reaction was a general exodus from the ship of everyone. The whole idea of thinking about this before you finish a book had them all spinning into dizzy. Unfortunately, the reality of publishing today is that you may very well be asked, as an author, what ideas you have toward promotion yourself and your book. It’s just the way it is. (And several did come back and we ended up having an interesting conversation about the subject.)

Promotion can be as little as having a website, or a presence on FB. Being part of a blog, anything! Showing an editor/agent that you have done something toward being easy to find is important!

Now, I’ve been on the blog, The Romance Writers Revenge, for a few years so I’ve got that going for me. Though I’m not Maureen O. Betita on that blog. I’m 2^nd Chance. (I really need to make more of an effort to link the two names… Hmmm, need to think about this!)

I’m on Facebook but I do need an author page. The book is for sale on Amazon, but I really need to set up an author’s page there! I joined Goodreads, but really have no idea what I’m supposed to do there.

Promotion is tricky! I have several ideas for promotional giveaways at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, which I’ll attend in April. I’ll have my first book signing there! I have buttons to order for the hallway promo tables and a treasure chest I’m giving away in Club RT…and I need to make some postcards with the covers of all three books on them, and bookmarks… I’ve been thinking about a limited supply of little autograph books for the E-Expo…and for the Saturday Bookfaire in case B&N doesn’t get me any of my books to sign. (They’ve been known to do this, best to be prepared.)

I also put together along with my friend, Jane Lange, a bag of goodies for the newbies who attend the convention and take Judi McCoy’s preconvention class. And I put several things in that to promote myself. Buttons, bookmarks, postcards, some RWR stuff… I’ve remained c lose with several of the newbies from past conventions and they have all greeted my debut with clamor and joy. It’s good to make friends! Even before you have a book to push!

Which is my point.

You never know when you reach out to help here or there, when you pick up some of the fun stuff scattered about at a convention…what will work for the promotional aspects and what will fall flat.

I really don’t do Twitter. I have an account and I post maybe…three times a month. I just can’t seem to get the kick of twitter… I’m also taking a podcasting class and how knows how that will work! With promotion, as with everything in life, you take a chance and you wait to see how it works for you. I’ve been brainstorming to help me fine tune my promotional arrow.

But this is tricky business! Money, energy…all of these things are limited and so what to pick and what not to pick…where to spend the money or the energy? What will reach your readership? I like buttons, so I’m making buttons. I like bookmarks, so I’m making bookmarks. I wasn’t going to make postcards but my publisher has a plan for our bookmarks at the convention, so now I am going to do postcards. And my treasure chest is going to be full of fun pirate-ey stuff and I hope to see a lot of people interested in that!

It’s all a crapshoot, for the most part. You take a chance and you cast your seeds to the wind, trying to encourage them to land on fertile ground and increase the odds of your book making it into their hands…

Sometimes, you just have to have faith!

And sometimes I think I’d rather buy a lottery ticket! ;-)

Hope all the chances you take this week hit the right spot and fill your hands with blooming flowers!

This week, today I'm at Whipped Cream, and I am on the Sunday Spotlight for Decadent Publishing. Come Friday, I'm a guest of Ellen Keener and back on the Daily Dose of Decadence come Saturday where I am showing off my collection of Kraken!

A Chance to Breathe

Wow, what a week it was! I spent the week celebrating the release of my book...and helping my Mom in her continued recovery from pneumonia.

Yes, some real up and down moments this week. The release party at the Romance Writers Revenge blog was wonderful...all attended while sitting across from my mom at her kitchen table. (And thank you so much to my mother's wonderful neighbors who gave me the password to their wifi signal so I could connect without having to run down to Starbucks and so keep an eye on Mom's oxygen levels, keep an extra ear out when the visiting nurse and physical therapist paid a visit...all of it.)

Anyway! It was a very busy blog week for me. The Revenge, a blog at Castles&Guns, a visit to The Embraced; Scribal Love and my regular stint on the Revenge come Friday. I had one day off. Thursday.

Which I spent shopping for myself...Macys and Jo-Annes Fabric, Beverly's and for my Mom at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Lots of running around...hoping for a connection with my old voice instructor that didn't come off.

And this week? I get a week to breathe. Yes, I was home late Friday, Saturday and now am heading back to Mom's on Sunday. But it isn't likely to be for more than a few days this time, not the whole week.

She's making good progress and if she hadn't picked up an infection, she'd be on her own by now. We're hoping come Tuesday that she will be cleared by the doctor and I will be back on the road to home. And a chance to breathe.

Life just asks a bit more from us sometimes. But it also delivers a bit more, hence I now have a book published! ;-)

Friday is my normal blog day on the Revenge! Sunday, the 13th, I'll be part of the Whipped Cream/Goddess Fish Valentine's blog! And my author spotlight at the Daily Dose of Decadence...but for the next few days? I get to breathe!

Breathe with me!