Putting Things Into Perspective

Nothing like being sick to get you to sit down and take a look at your life. Thing is, most of the time I'm trying to avoid this by doing all the things I want to do. Then your body does something that makes you not avoid that taking stock...it gets sick. Then you're stuck on the couch with nothing but time to think about where you are in life.
Not to mention, time to watch the whole first season of Project Runway again that happens to be rerun in the afternoon of said sickness.
So, after seeing Austin and Jay pretend fight after Austin getting into Pg. 6 in the Post, I'm thinking, well later Jay wins. Austin is augh'ed at about 4th place and doesn't make it to the top 3 for fashion week. But he is on another show advertised called The Real Housewives of Orange County picking out wedding dresses. I actually LOVE Austin's fashion sense and old movies like he does. So I think he's a great pick. Which goes to show, you don't have to win to get the edge. There is no certain way.
Malan Breton, another fav. project runway designer of mine, was only on two shows, and then was augh'ed. But I think he is one of the most popular from last season, and doing fabulous with his own line of fashion. There isn't any one way to do something. Just you're own story. Just the way for you.
It's like all the people who went to the famous store in Hollywood to be discovered. That worked for one person. Then everyone else was trying it.
Then, back to getting to my perspective on things, the whole train of thought leads to what I'm doing. My book is out. I've got it out so it can be purchased, and into the hands of children. Now, it's time to really get the word out there. Print to order is the future since I think in the next 20 years books are going to go more digital or the option of hard cover or ebook.
Going around the regular way of doing things is becoming more of an option. If Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak hadn't been rejected by IBM and started Apple, would the internet be the way it is today? Personal computers are common place, in our hands, mobile. So, I self-published which got my book out there. I'm not waiting years to start getting my story to children, it's there now. And later, I'll know numbers to show if necessary.
But it's there.
I've tried the Bookcrossing.com program which is a wonderful way to promote reading and make it fun looking for books. I used to do High Tech PR so when I feel better, or even later during the Xmas break, I'm going to try to write a press kit for my book. I'm having to do it all on my own, but it is making me realize who I am as a writer.

People were excited to sign my book this weekend. Especially when I could tell them the cross streets of where the orchard, a main setting in the book, used to be. The cross streets are Lawrence and Homestead, where the new Kaiser Hospital is now, in Santa Clara, CA. That was the orchard I played in as a child, creek walked in the creek nearby, and had in general kid adventures. I even talked with another vendor at the Holiday Boutique about growing up in the Silicon Valley with its orchards. Most are gone. And the ones left over are being turned into park/landmarks. So, again, I'm proud that my book has captured that Kid Adventure that some of today's kids might be missing out on.
Not to mention the local history angle of my book is a good sell too. It is a start to ideas for the press pack.
I've got a writing conference in February that should help with getting ideas to sell myself and my book. Which brings me to a theme of the Crystal Keeper series: BELIEVE.
I've been signing, "Keep believing in fairies" as my author signature. Maybe that's it. The world needs something to believe in. Fairies are a good place to start.
Keep believing everyone, in yourself and fairies. It is what makes them real. It makes you what you are as well. Just believe in yourself and your story. Only you can tell it.

New books to arrive-to be released into the wild!

Soon to arrive will be my promotional copies for my book "The Lost Secret of Fairies". It is the first of a series of the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. They are due to arrive soon, and to celebrate the release of my book, I am releasing some of them into the wild.
The World's Largest Free Book Club is called Bookcrossing.com. It is an organized release of books into public places for people to enjoy different books. When found, they can be read and then a journal is kept on-line of its journey. All books will be labeled with a Bookcrossing label and number so when found and read, the reader can journal it on-line. It is sort of like a note in a bottle in the ocean.

I will keep you updated to where I leave copies. Until then, keep reading!
For more info on Bookcrossing Free Book Club, visit the website at:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/

Support for the Writers Guild of America

4 cents to 8 cents. After twenty years, that is not too much to ask. And just something, a few cents per download on the internet, because all the TV writers get now is 0 cents. Out of billions of dollars, it is not much to ask.

Writing is something you put your heart and soul in. My book is my baby. Every episode of my favorite shows, like today's CSI that had me balling like a baby because Sarah has left. Ooops. Sorry for those who haven't seen, but it is a good story, with a past character plot twist.
But like I said, writers live to tell a good story. It's not too much to ask to pay the morgage, and pay for health care for their family.

Now, my day job, is also a union job. I am a card carrying Union Member in my teacher's union. And I've gone on a bus to Sacramento a few years ago protesting the Governor and the funding for schools. I walked a picket protest in front of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose when the governor held a fundraising dinnner. I was there when the teachers, nurses, and firefighters chased limos of people supporting this governor that was blaming us for the states problems, the pillars of the state.

I've seen the powers that be BLAME THE LITTLE PEOPLE. But stories are loved. Writers bring joy to the little people with their work, just as other unions build the country, teach the future, save lives. I have never understood the illogic of not supporting unions. Unions protect the little people, and any union member should support what is going on in Hollywood. Sometimes just fighting to get enough to eat and be healthy is all that is asked for. And what I don't understand, is why it has to be fought for.

Unions stay solid! We did in California and swept away what the governor was trying to do. Solidarity does work!

My first book released!

As any writer knows, there is a day job. Mine is teaching. This helps with the fact I've been working on a children's novel series over the last 3 years. So, after all the work of writing, taking writing workshops, going to conferences, and maybe a prayer or two, my book is finally a reality. It has finally been released by Trafford Publishing.
Now, how did this happen? After 2 years of work, I felt the novel was ready to be shopped around. I sent out to several publishers over a year. Some returned with a rejection within a month, 3 months, 2 weeks, and the record holding rejection, 8 months.
After all of this, and literally waiting for the paint to peal in my condo during the last 8 months, I found a self-publishing company in Canada called Trafford Publishing.
It was founded by writers as frustrated as I was by the snail pace trail of rejection most writers faced. It takes months, no years, before anyone might consider your work. Mostly because you were new and unpublished. I had heard a story from another author at a writing conference that mentioned that he had self-published, and then after while of being on his own, he was picked up by an imprint eventually.
This got me thinking. If I could get my novel out there for hungry minds, make some sales, get some numbers, maybe an imprint would want to pick it up as well. Trafford does print to order sales. I liked this option instead of ebooks since children are less likely to carry around a computer print-out. Well, at least maybe children don't now. I still think ebooks will catch on eventually, but then that will be another subject to blog later.
So, after the last rejection, I became the editor of my novel. I enlisted a friend of mine from my Ren. Faire Acting Guild to do the cover art and title page illustration. I designed a cover, wrote the back cover info, webpage, and other items required.
All of my lessons in teaching Young Author's Faire books came to life in this book. Young Author's Faire is a motivational competiton/celebration for children to write stories and put them on display. They have to make a book, using real books as a blue print. All of the lessons I'd taught to make a Young Author's Book, title page, dedication page, etc., helped me to create the living parts of my novel.
And now, after the 2-3 week rewrite, sending the manuscript, and going over the proof, it is now released.
However, the publishing industry is still at the snail pace. The nice thing is Trafford is similar in the small publisher sense because they send out press releases on their list of books through publishing distribution channels. And it takes weeks, maybe months, for the info to trickle down to the databases, on-line retailers, and special order lists. It will be on Amazon.com within 6-8 weeks. But that is the fastest lister. Barnes and Nobles.com could take 6-8 months, if the buyers think my book may sell.
But, it's out there. It is now available for purchasing, and children to become entangled in daydreams I turned into the story. The crystal cave under my house is now real. The fairies and creatures in the creek near my house are real. The orchard, destroyed and built on now, is alive again in the novel. Hopefully, this generation, and future generations, can go on an adventure in their minds that is save and fun.
My book is published.
Now what?