Rumors of my Demise...

... have been greatly exaggerated. [Stolen from Mark Twain.] But it's true that I haven't written anything, anything toward my new novel, since I released An Untold Want. Done a lot of research, yes, but no writing.

I guess today, Thanksgiving Day, is a good day to talk about why.  I have a good friends, a wonderful family, a secure job, and heath care.  So if I want to take a month off from writing and just hang out with my friends or watch movies or read books, or go to Portland or some other such place. I have that option. And I am thankful for that.

I am going to take a page out of my friend Sherry's book [her blog post, actually] and list some of the things I'm also thankful for.

I am also thankful that...

• I have the writing gene, so I can express myself without it being all about me. [Even though it is.]
• I have a writing community, of both close friends and acquaintances whom I've never met in person.
• I have my vision [with the aid of glasses these days] and my hearing.
• I have good health in general.
• I am intelligent.  [Okay, stroking my own ego, but it's true.]
• I don't have to work outdoors in extreme temperatures.
• I am no longer too skinny because of the Williamson poverty diet that was a staple in college. In fact, at this point, a little less food would be better for my health.
• I am not afraid ...
•  of losing my job, not because it's secure, but because I know that I will work at whatever job I have to, no matter how menial, in order to support myself.  
• of people disliking me because I realized a long time ago, that no matter what I do, not everyone is going to want to be my friend. I try very hard to let everyone carry their own baggage, and not make it about me.
• of expressing my opinion, for much the same reason; I know that not everyone is going to agree with me, and I'm okay with that.  
• in turn, of keeping my own counsel, of keeping my opinions to myself, mostly because I don't like arguing just for the sake of arguing.
• of being different.
• I  can live without TV. I gave up cable TV about a year ago, and haven't missed it.  It has become the opiate of the masses.
• I can afford to eat out when I want to.
• I make a good salary, almost cushy, and certainly better than most of the people in the world these days.
  

• I am not allergic to dogs or cats.  I love pets, and a life without one seems incomplete.
• I love to read.  As with a lack of pets, a world without stories, without books, would be a poor life indeed.
• I have been able to travel to foreign countries, to see the world, and yet, to appreciate what it right outside my door.

And there are so many more. 

Finally, because I can't write something without throwing in some snark, some sarcasm, I'm really thankful that I finished the memory quilt.  I will never put that much pressure on myself again, trying to finish something that complex in less than a year.  

I am especially thankful that my friend, Kim, gave up a weekend and helped me put all the blocks together.

With that said, I hope you'll take time to count your blessings too.

Reviews: An Untold Want

Wow, I've gotten some really good reviews on An Untold Want, and I can't help but brag a little bit. I did get one two-star review, but what the person wrote wasn't so awful. The other review more than make up for one unhappy reader.  My favorite is "best book I've read in a long time" which was written, BTW, by someone I don't know, not a friend.

So here goes, starting with the two-star review:

[one two-star review]

"It was an interesting read. But I didn't keep my attention. Glad it was free I would have not been happy if I paid for it."


[no three-star reviews, yet]


[four four-star reviews]

"A book by New author spins a riveting tail, set in a southern town. I liked the quick pace and life like story line. Just a touch pagan and interesting inter-dependencies."

"Didn't want to put this book down, and I hope there is a sequel. I can't wait for more books from this lady."

And two very long reviews that I won't add here. But you can find them here.


[nine, count 'em, nine five-star reviews]

"This is a great tale highlighting the value of women's relationships with other women, the depths of support we bring to each other, the passing on of wisdom and insight.The characters are well developed, interesting and likable. I'm hoping there is a sequel because I want to find out what happens next. :)"

"Love the interspersed diaries & how they your together. I kept going back to reference them. Well developed characters. Would have liked to see something happen to jerky boyfriend but guess that would have been too pat. Nicely interwoven plot."

"Great book. Best book I've read in a long time. Great writing skills by author. Can't wait to read her other books."

And six others you can find here.

In a future post, I want to write about how everyone brings something to the story, how everyone has their on slant on what's happening. That's the real magic of books, that I can read the same thing as someone else and get a totally different message from it.

NaNoWriMo Begins Without Me

Yes, NaNoWriMo started today, but if you had the day I had, well, I'm just not up for writing anything meaningful.  I could easily write a couple of gory murder scenes, but that wouldn't fit my new novel, hence doesn't fit into NaNoWriMo. What? you say. No bizarre murder(s) in this story? Yes, I say. Maybe I'm getting mellow in my old age, although probably not. What I do know is that if my days keep going the way they've been going, that could change. I could decide to change and write a serial killer story, one where the killer gets away with the murders.

Funny. It really is a stress reliever. When I was working at IBM, I made a friend who had a mother as mentally abusive as mine. We decided then that we'd write a series of murder mysteries, stories where we killed our mothers [in every novel] and got away with it. I never took it to that extreme, because I tried to love my mother, but writing brutal scenes sometimes helps me vent the stress.

Anyway, I've been bad. About writing. I haven't written anything since I published An Untold Want, over a month ago. I have been thinking a lot about Beryl and her situation.  And I had plans to write this evening, really. But writing isn't just typing. I can do research and mentally layout the plot. You know, right now, I don't even know her last name. So lots of stuff to do, without ever typing a single word, without a word count.

Also, I haven't written in the past month, mainly because I needed to finish the memory quilt before Christmas.  I finished it this past Tuesday.  Yay!! Tomorrow, via a friend, it's on it's way to the quilter [the person who takes the top and backing, puts some batting between the layers, and sews it all together] and should be done in plenty of time for Christmas.  [photo to the right]

With that said, life is complicated and my main goal is to enjoy it.  So if I don't write 50K words this month, I'm not going to be upset about it.  I want writing to be a joy not a job.

e-book Cover Design Competition

So, last month I submitted the cover of An Untold Want to the e-book Cover Design Competition looking for feedback on my cover.  BTW, there is a wealth of information in the past competitions on how to create a good cover for an e-book.

Here's what I wrote as an explanation:

Nellie Williamson submitted An Untold Want designed by Nellie Williamson. “An Untold Want is a women’s literary novel. One of the motifs running through the novel is crows. Although the story takes place in modern times, there are diary sections from ancestors of the protagonist. The text on the cover comes from one of the diary sections.”


And here is the comment (understand the he doesn't comment at all on a lot of book covers):

JF: The bit of crow running off the top distracts more than it adds.

And yes, I can see that.  But I was pretty happy that there wasn't more of a criticism.  He typically doesn't hold back.  As with writing, if you put yourself out there, you need to be able to take the critique.

With that said, I probably would have still left the "bit of crow" at the top.  But I have learned a lot from his reviews, and appreciate his comments.

Maggie Sleeping, Beryl Rising

Now that An Untold Want is out there and being read, Beryl in the story I started working on last year around this time has made her presence known.

Several people--one in a Amazon review--have suggested that I write a sequel to An Untold Want, and I may do so sometime in the future, but right now I want to think of other stories.  And I'm not even sure where I would go with a sequel for An Untold Want, maybe follow one of the girls around.  But that's for later. 

The past few weeks, I've been working on Beryl's story,  on the structure, and details, have been letting backstory and life events percolate in my head, while finishing the memory quilt [will post photos when the quilt is done] I'm making for my sister-in-law's Christmas present.  You can't really watch TV while sewing, but you can think about stuff like plot lines.

And I had almost forgotten the joy of creating new characters and new places.  I want to explore where Beryl and Sinclair [potential love interest?] will go with their friendship.  Her background has expanded immensely in the past few months and I've figured out what I think is a clever way to bring in much of that backstory.

Anyway, I'm starting to enjoy writing again.  Not that I'm not loving the excitement of publishing, but for me it's always been about creating. 

So watch this space...  I don't think it will take me seven years to write this one.

Free Promotion Results are In

Sorry I haven't followed up sooner, but last week was crazy--work wise, book wise, and quilt wise. 

About the free promotion.  In the US, in four days, I gave away 4006 books.  During that time, I made it to and stayed consistently in the top three for free literary women's fiction/sagas.  I also hovered in the top 100 free the last two days. 

What I didn't know--until I stumbled across it last night--is that Amazon.com sales reports don't account for foreign sales/freebies.

Downloads in foreign countries:

85 on amazon.co.uk
6   on amazon.de
3   on amazon.fr
2   on amazon.es
2   on amazon.it
1   on amazon.co.jp
12 on amazon.in
23 on amazon.ca
2   on amazon.com.br
0   on amazon.com.mx

A grand total of 4142 books downloaded in four days.

Good, right?

Well, at the end of day two, I read a blog post that stated that free promotions are a waste of time.  Needless to say, this post had me a little down for awhile.  It said that people who pull down free books usually don't read them.  So I did some arithmetic [on my calculator because I can't add/subtract/multiply/divide] and found that even if only 5% of the people who pulled the book down for free read it, that's 207 people who I hope will enjoy it and talk about it to their friends. [I omitted the 0.1 person of 207.1, because s/he is probably distraught and not very well rounded.] 

So, contrary to what the blog said, I think this was a great opportunity to get my name out there.  And people are reading it.  I've already gotten several really good reviews from people I don't know, comments like "Great book. Best book I've read in a long time. Great writing skills by author. Can't wait to read her other books."

You can not imagine how good that made me feel.  And the other reviews, though longer, are just as nice.  Don't believe me? Go check it out yourself. 

So, with that said, I feel really good about the promotion and the fact that I've sold 24 books this month (paid for books).  It's a start.  An execellent start.

An Untold Want - Free Promotion October 7-10

Starting tonight, soon after midnight, my novel, An Untold Want, will be free until midnight on October 10th or until it reaches #1 in free books.

An Untold Want is at http://goo.gl/LD9Wfm

It's only on Kindle.

Don't have a Kindle, you say. You can get free Kindle apps for your PC/tablet/smart-phone at http://goo.gl/O0YNvR or read it in the Amazon Cloud. I read on my smart phone all the time in doctor's offices or waiting for a tune-up on my car, you know, stuff like that.

Free promotions like this are a marketing tactic. Every free book looks like a sale after the price goes back to $2.99. So don't worry about it being free.



Please share this information with friends and family, so that I can start building a name and a financial cushion for retirement. Or I may have to come live with you when I retire.