Even
though I have a great deal of flexibility in my day-to-day responsibilities (my
children are all grown and moved away), I don’t always write every day. I like
to have a little bit of an external push, so I usually participate in NaNoWriMo
in November. Otherwise, I write when the housework is done, the bills are paid,
my schoolwork is done (I’m currently enrolled on online university) and my
teeny little day job is completed. I can’t seem to write if I have anything
hanging over my head. That being said, I spend most of my day at my desk and
often, writing becomes part of it. And when I do write, time sometimes gets
away from me. My husband is supportive, but I try not to write at night so I
can spend time with him.
How do you
promote your books?
This
is an area I am still learning about. I started a blog which I rarely post to.
*grimace* I’m considering a website, but it is a little of a vicious cycle of
not wanting to spend money until I make money and not being able to make money
until I do some marketing which means spending money.
There
are two things I have done for sure: I create bookmarks of my book covers with
Vistaprint.com which I give away whenever it seems appropriate and I pay for a
book tour and Facebook party with Singing Librarian Books because it brings in
reviews and provides a little more exposure.
I
have also joined two groups: ANWA (American Night Writers Association) and
LDStorymakers Guild which allow me to post my books on their website.
My
most recent project was published in partnership with BooksYouCanTrust.com, who
took care of all up-front costs and when those costs are reimbursed, we will
share the subsequent royalties. Since they have spent a bit of time and energy
getting my book to press, so to speak, they will be promoting it as well. As readers
see this new project, they will be directed to Amazon, where my others books
are available for sale.
I
am currently considering using Amazon’s book deals and offering one of my books
free for a day to see what kind of response I’ll get. This was recommended at
the most recent writer’s conference I attended.
What kind of
research do you do?
There’s
an old saying of ‘write what you know.’ So far, I have taken that to heart. My
first novel, The Triple-Date Dare,
took place on the Oregon coast (a place I know well), the main characters were
a fledgling author and a policeman (my cousin is retired police), and the story
involved three dates, two of which I took from personal experiences.
My
third book, Building a Life, takes
place during a house building project. My husband has been a general contractor
for 30 years and has built for our family eight houses. Needless to say, I had
easy access to a pretty dependable resource if I couldn’t remember something
from my own experience. The main character also plays soccer, a sport my son
excelled at and I integrated his experiences on the field into the story.
My
current work-in-progress involves an elderly person suffering a stroke. I
didn’t have any close personal experience, so I admit, I just Googled the
recovery time and process of a stroke. Google gave me enough information for this
supporting character. The story also involves small fires at a campground,
which I took from family experiences, as well as a sailing adventure during a
freak storm, also from family history.
Since
most of my stories are about relationships, I try to use snippets of things I
know about other people (without giving away anything personal) or imagine
myself in someone else’s shoes, which is a little harder. I pay attention at
meetings, gatherings, and parties and listen to others’ personal stories which
I then make notes of (with permission) for use in a future story. Using
personal stories is my best resource and because I’m older (almost 60), I have
lots of years to draw from!
No comments:
Post a Comment