Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Gearing Up For NaNoWriMo

I'm sorry I've been so bad lately about keeping up to date with this blog.  Part of the reason is that I haven't had much news to report.  I've been busy working on a new story and co-authoring another story with Anais Morgan.  I'm excited about both projects and will report back when there's news about either one.

I've attempted to write a novel for NaNoWriMo for the last few years with varying degrees of success.  I'm going to try again this year, and have an idea for a novel, the plot, and characters in place.  But lately, I've been tinkering with the idea of instead of writing a novel for NaNoWriMo, I would write four or five short stories that would total 50,000 words.  I know the "No" in NaNoWriMo means novel, but what's the fun in being a writer if you can't rewrite the script once in a while and create your own rules?  Basically, I'm going to aim for writing 50,000 words this month.  Whether it results in multiple stories or one novel, I still don't know, but I hope I make it to the 50,000 word goal line regardless.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Difference Between Promoting and Bragging

For a few days last month, Chemistry With The Billionaire, hit the All Romance Ebooks bestseller list as well as Amazon's top 100 bestseller list.  Evernight Publishing was gracious enough to tweet the news, and of course, I'm thrilled by the success of the story.

However, I felt uncomfortable tweeting or emailing the news myself.  I know other authors do it, and I celebrate their success when I receive the emails or read the tweets, yet I can't bring myself to do it too.  I realize making the bestseller lists is a great marketing and promotional tool, but to me, it feels too much like bragging.  Yes, making the bestseller list is a great accomplishment, but I guess I'm scared if I send out a tweet or email touting the news, I might be jeopardizing my future success.  I'm superstitious enough to believe that if you get too happy or high on one success, the wheel of fortune might bypass you for more achievements.  Irrational, I know, but that's what keeps me from sending out self congratulatory emails and tweets.  I'm probably passing up some great promotional and marketing opportunities, but I suppose I need to get a little more comfortable with the idea of 'tooting my own horn' before I actually start doing it.