Self-Publishing and the Twitter Connection.

Posted on March 3, 2013 by dianabletter

Alison Wells, author of Housewife With a Half-Life, interviewed me on her blog here. I’m happy to share the interview again to illustrate ways that twitter works. I am not sure how it works, but Alison and I connected on twitter. So, if you are trying to self-publish your book, this is a fabulous way to make connections and meet others in a community that is vast and virtual, and worldwide (Alison lives in Ireland and I’m in Israel and you, dear reader, are somewhere else).

Alison: Tell us how it was for you going on to raise 4 kids, two stepkids and your ‘unofficially adopted’ Ethiopian daughter and putting your writing aside?

Diana: I always made a commitment to myself to write even when I had a house full of kids. I’ve also been a member of the 5 A.M. Writers’ Club and prayed that the kids wouldn’t hear me sneaking around the kitchen and making my first cup of coffee. But I’d always wanted a large family and when things got tough, I told myself, you will only get one shot at raising these kids. You’ll always have your writing. I felt it would wait for me like a patient, loyal lover…

What gave me encouragement was reading about other women who started writing later. Annie Proulx was 53 when her first short story collection was published. She said, “I think that’s important, to know how the water’s gone over the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself.”

Still, it’s absolutely vital for mothers who are writers to write. Because raising kids is very draining. You can get depleted and you need to fill your own well.

Even when I didn’t have whole chunks of time, I made sure to squeeze in some time for myself, even five minutes, because if I didn’t write, I’d feel so deprived. Writing for me is replenishing: I plug into the creative buzz of the universe. I knew that the best way to take care of myself was honoring my need to write. And once you take care of yourself, you take better care of everyone else. You know that on an airplane, they tell you to put on your oxygen mask before you put on the oxygen mask on your kids.

I didn’t get to write as much as I would have liked to, however. It is hard to do it all. I would have loved a housewife with a half-hour to help me!

At what point in your family life did you decide that you wanted to shake things up and do something to bring you back to yourself?

As my kids inched their way out of the house, one by one, I realized I had to do something grand for myself. I was facing an empty nest and I didn’t want to feel empty inside myself.

Alison: Tell us about the trip you decided to go on.

Diana: I was in New York and happened to meet a woman who was riding on her motorcycle to Alaska. She was leaving that very day. I admired her but then forgot about her…until three months later, when I met the same woman the very same day she was returning from Alaska. I believe that a coincidence is when the universe wants to remain anonymous. But two coincidences? I knew I just had to ride a motorcycle up to Alaska and back to jump-start the next chapter of my life.

Had you ever been on a motorcycle before?

Yes, well, that was the problem. I’d never ridden a motorcycle before!

I took six lessons. One of my husband Jonny’s friends, whom I call Mr. X in my book, kept telling me I was never going to be able to do this 16,000-kilometer ride. But once I set my mind on it, I knew I couldn’t not do it.

Alison: What did you hope to experience on your trip and was it anything like you imagined?

Diana: I knew I’d stumbled upon a good story before the trip. It was almost as if I wanted to live this experience because I wanted to write about it.

Motorcycling for a long distance is like meditating with your eyes wide open. You have to be very still inside, very centered, very concentrated, and willing to accept the discomfort that can just about knock you over. You have to sit with the pain. We spend our lives fleeing from pain so that was a valuable lesson for me.

Without giving too much away, what is the key thing you gained from the trip in your relationship with yourself and also your husband.

We are very different, Jonny and I. He was a combat soldier who has remained hyper-vigilant. I’m a writer who likes to go off into my own imaginary world. We had to find a way to meet in the middle. Something terrible happened on our trip (I won’t say what) and we had to learn how to count on each other in a startling and unpredictable way.

Alison: Did you take notes as you went along or was there time for any of that?

Diana: I kept a journal and wrote a blog which formed the basis of my book. I was also on assignment for The New York Times to write a story about the Matanuska Glacier near Anchorage so once we got there, I had time to write the article and add to my notes.

Alison: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

Diana: Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” I hope that my journey inspires readers to try to do the thing they think they cannot do. You write the story of your life every day, as you go along. You can make a commitment each day to try to write your best chapter, and it’s just as important that you live your best chapter. You have a choice. You can be the hero of your own life.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK: THE ISBN CONTROVERSY FOR SELF-PUBLISHERS!

And…take a moment to answer this question: What are you doing with this day in front of you, the only day you’ve got?

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Treat Your Book’s Author Like Your Best Client.

Posted on February 28, 2013 by dianabletter
I got to model for VavaVroom - a company that sells great gear for motorcycling women. I was wearing their shirt that Jonny bought me!

I got to model for VavaVroom – a company that sells great clothes for women. I was wearing their shirt, “I’m One Of Those Girls” that my husband Jonny bought me. See below.

Some people have asked me how I published The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle. I checked out some independent publishing companies but in the end I decided to use Createspace. Full disclosure: This blog is not sponsored by Createspace. If it were, I’d be richer. It is not but  I am rich in happiness.

So I used createspace because they offer print on demand through amazon. My paperbook is always in stock. Because there is no stock! I’m not taking down any trees until someone wants to read my book in their hands.

How do you figure out what size paperback you want?

At the time, I was reading Just Kids by Patti Smith. I loved the book. I loved the writing, the aching, the commitment to art, the dedication, the love, the loss, the introduction to a world I knew little about. I also liked the size of the book, too. I was inspired. I measured the book and chose that size (5 x 8 inches). So, first tip: choose a standard size book.

Best thing for you to do: Go to your bookshelf. Look at your paperbacks. I hope you still have those things. Those things called books. One of my friends said they cluttered her apartment and only reads ebooks. I love her but I was sorry to hear her say that because she was also the first person I knew who had a C.D. I heard one first at her house. I told her I would never get rid of my vinyl records. So here we are. I’m still holding out on my books.

Then I chose a font and a size for my book. I chose the Createspace template which sounds more complicated than it is. Once you get an account at Createspace, you are led through the process, like line dancing with a cute guy in suspenders callin’ out the moves and telling y’all what to do. It’s simple. You download this template and then you cut and paste your book into it. (If you need help on this, give me a holler!)

I printed out a sample page and cut it to the size of the paperback. I stuck the piece of paper into the book to see how my font and size would look. This was helping me to feel that it was a “real” book.

I had to work like my own publishing company and make esthetic decisions. The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle was my first self-publishing venture (I’d already had one book published by a traditional publishing house) and I treated myself as my first and most important client. I wanted to make sure the book was as professional as it could be.

In the end I went with Garamond 11.5. You can experiment with what you think looks like a good fit. It was recommended to me by Catherine Ryan Howard to go with a simple font: Book Antiqua, Garamond Georgia or Times New Roman. I didn’t have any fancy graphics. I would have liked to include some photos and maps of our trip but this would have made my book more expensive to produce. I wanted to keep it simple.

The only thing that was challenging was the ISBN numbers and I will write more on that later. This post is to encourage you to take your time with self-publishing. Don’t rush through it. Once your book is out, it’s out and there’s no way to reel it back in.

As for the above photo, I am winding my way through marketing my book. Full disclosure: It was my husband, Jonny’s idea to contact VaVaVroom. Denise Maple, the owner, suggested I take a photo of myself wearing the shirt that Jonny had so kindly bought for me. This is a powerful example of something you can do to get the word out about your book. Thanks, Denise!

Self-publishing tip of the day: There are millions of books out there. To the world, this is just one book. But to you, this book is the world. Treat your book — and your client — in a professional manner.

 

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Tool For Tuesday: Embrace These 13 Paradoxes.

Posted on February 26, 2013 by dianabletter

In the economy of the universe, nothing is wasted. Everything is transformed – even if we don’t always understand how. These are re are so many paradoxes but read on so you get it right.

1. The more love you give away, the more love you get back.

2. The more you accept your mistakes as life’s lessons, the less mistakes you will make.

3. The more you emotionally detach from loved ones, the more you are able to unconditionally love them.

4. The more you pray for someone you resent, the less time you’ll spend resenting.

5. The more you feel true joy at someone else’s success, the greater chance you’ll have that it will happen to you.

6. The more you keep an open mind, the more you’ll learn to fill it.

7. The more you surrender to the flow of the universe, the more power you’ll feel.

8. The more you ask that your fear will be lifted, the less fear you’ll have.

9. The more love you feel in your heart, the larger your heart will become.

10. The more you replace worry in your mind with trust, the more good you’ll be granted.

11. The more control you let go of, the more control you will have.

12. The more you accept a trying situation, the faster it will stop being your problem.

13. And the more you take care of yourself, the more you’ll be able to take care of those around you.

I don’t know how these paradoxes work…but they paradoxically do, and  I believe them with all my heart. 

Tool for Tuesday: A paradox is the Universe’s economy working in disguise.

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Sandra Bornstein: May This Be The Best Year Of Your Life

Posted on February 24, 2013 by dianabletter
Sandra Bornstein in Munnar, India during her one-year sojourn

Sandra Bornstein in Munnar, India during her one-year sojourn

As part of launching The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle, I am inviting writing guests from around the world to appear on my blog. Today, I am happy to share my interview with Sandra Bornstein. An educator with four sons, Sandra was living her version of the American dream in Colorado–until her husband took a job overseas that required extensive travel and Sandra ended up living by herself and teaching at a boarding school in Bangalore, India.In her memoir, May This Be the Best Year of Your Life, Sandra shares what she has learned about perseverance, travel, education, faith, and family. Here is her interview:

Diana: My blog is about living–and writing–your best chapter each day. What do you do every day to make it part of your best chapter?

 

Sandra: Every morning, I take time to plan my day and create a list of must dos. I designate chunks of time that I will devote to social media, correspondence, my blog, marketing my book, my personal time, preparing meals, reading, and exercising. Without a plan, I would falter. The structure of my day allows me to set goals. Sometimes I achieve my goals while other times I fall short. Remaining motivated is essential. However, the best part of each day is spent outdoors. Being able to enjoy the majesty of the Colorado Rockies cannot be discounted.

Diana: Your memoir, May This Be The Best Year of Your Life, describes your year in India. How do you think the year abroad changed you?

Sandra: Stepping out of my comfort zone had a profound effect on me. For so many years, I had taken for granted many aspects of my daily life. I never thought about what it would be like to live without predictable electricity or a clean water supply. Having lived in an environment where these basic necessities were in limited supply, I gained a new appreciation for the quality of life that is part of living in America.

I was astounded by the masses that lived in squalor. Far too many children did not attend school. They simply played in the dirt or were seen selling items in the middle of the street. I heard from American volunteers that many of the public schools were poorly staffed and teacher absenteeism was deplorable. Without an education, there is no hope of upward mobility.

I wish that more could be done to improve the education system in India and in other Third World countries.

Diana: Can you share a few insights you learned about publishing your book?

Sandra: When I started writing my book, I had a limited understanding of my publishing options. I read about the pros and cons of traditional publishing and explored different alternatives. I decided that I wanted to maintain as much control over the process as possible. The best way to accomplish this was by self-publishing.

However, I knew that it was vital to maintain the quality so that my book would favorably compare head-to-head with a traditionally published book. To avoid the number one complaint of being poorly written and formatted, I hired a team of professionals to edit and format my book. Traditionally published books go through multiple rounds of editing. I was going to mimic this process. But I was able to choose whether I wanted to make all or some of the changes.

The formatting process was tedious. I read about some of the basics and looked through many of my own books so that I could determine how I wanted my book formatted.  Until I received a hard copy of my book, I could not see any issues. I had to be patient with the process. I rejected several versions until I felt it was right.

Additionally, I realized that my book cover could possibly turn on, or turn off, a potential reader. Thus, I sent my cover design to numerous people before I accepted the final version.

Diana: I know you had to adapt to an unfamiliar environment in India; how has it been to return? What traditions or experiences do you now use from India in your life back in Colorado?

Sandra: I have been back in the US for two years. I was delighted to be able to sleep in my own bed and live in my house once again. I appreciated simple things like a vacuum cleaner, an oven, and my kitchen appliances. After not being able to cook and bake, I was thrilled to be able to make my own food.

I would have enjoyed the opportunity to learn how to cook Indian dishes. Since I lived in a guestroom without a kitchen, I never had the opportunity to experiment or explore how to make different food items. I was always curious about ingredients because many of things that I tasted had flavors that I could not distinguish. Perhaps one day, my daughter-in-law, Rachael, will share some of her favorite recipes with me.

Thank you, Sandra!

Thought for the day: May this be the best year of your life. (And you can do that by making this day and this moment the best it can be.)

Looking to get a free copy of Sandra’s book? Enter the Giveaway Contest at Goodreads here (until Feb. 27). You can find photos of India and more information about Sandra and her writing on her website here.

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Writer Alison Wells: Putting Joy and Energy Into Our Lives

Posted on February 21, 2013 by dianabletter
Alison Wells at the launch of Housewife with a Half-Life

Alison Wells at the launch of Housewife with a Half-Life

One of the great things about publishing The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle has been connecting with new and fascinating people from around the world. I’m honored today to post a guest interview with Alison Wells, a rising luminary in Ireland’s writing scene. Shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award among others, Alison has published one novel, Housewife with a Half-Life and three short story collections. She lives in coastal Bray, Ireland, which is about 20 kilometers south of Dublin, with her husband and four children.

Diana:   You have four children—I know what that’s like—so the first question for me is how has being a mother of a large brood impacted your writing? Does it make you a more efficient writer or—hold on a minute, I have an emergency phone call from one of my kids—more scattered?

Alison: That’s a really great question. The answer is both. By participating in writing challenges like NaNoWriMo I’ve learned that I can produce a quantity of work under any circumstances, even amidst family chaos but I’ve also noted that the constant distractions and lack of extended periods to focus on work make it harder to work on longer projects like novels. It’s more difficult to keep everything in my head. Short stories and flash fiction are far easier to work on under these ‘scattered’ circumstances. My fourth child has just started school so now I treat writing like a job and sit down each morning once they’re at school. However, mentally I find it easier to write early in the mornings (5am) when I’m guaranteed that I won’t be interrupted and the usual demands of the house etc aren’t staring me in the face.

Alison with her family!

Alison with her family!

Diana:  My blog is about how to write and live our best chapter. Do you have a routine or something you do to make each day a page in your best chapter?

Alison: I recently wrote 31 posts on creative and mental resilience exploring how we can put energy and joy into our lives or at the very least get through our daily challenges. However I’m a flawed guru and don’t always follow through on the things that help. The things that help most when I do them are a) the 5am writing routine, the satisfaction of having produced material bolsters me for the day and b) keeping a daily record of my goals and progress helps with clarity and to orient me to what I’ve accomplished rather than what I have ‘failed’ to do.

Diana:  Tell me how you decided to go on the self-publishing route. Has it met your expectations? Are you still planning on looking for a traditional publishing house?

Alison: Although I’d achieved most success (shortlists in major short story competitions) for my more literary writing, when I wrote Housewife with a Half-Life it came from a place of light, fun and wonder about the amazing world and universe in which we live. It is a heartwarming comedy featuring a woman and mother trying to find her own identity while saving the universe! The publishers I submitted it to couldn’t see where it would fit in their categories.

I had also been in touch with many fine writers who were putting out their more genre-busting work as self-published novels. It was an act of learning and optimism for me to self-publish this heartfelt book that didn’t fit neatly into a publishing genre.

I made sure to do it right and to as high a professional standard as possible. I paid for an editor and cover design for the book. There were high points such as being asked to launch and sell my book in an established Dublin bookstore. Having a real-life launch was an amazing feeling and great fun. There have also been challenges – gaining visibility and letting people know about my book has been a learning curve.

I think that self-publishing is not just an either or traditional vs personal route. I released three mini short story collections: Stories to make you go ‘ah’, Stories to make you go ‘ooh’ and Stories to read on the train that feature my more literary writing on love, life and loss so that people can get a flavour of my work while I keep working on and submitting my novels.

Diana:   Your novel, Housewife With a Half-Life, manages to be both surreal and realistic–and fantastic and funny. Your collection of stories, Stories to Make You Go Ah, also provide a wonderful insider’s look into domestic life. What are you working on now?

Alison: Thank you. Although I write in different guises – with a more surreal and fantasy slant as A.B. Wells for Housewife with a Half-Life and as Alison Wells for my more literary stories, it all comes from a place of genuine warmth and wonder. The language itself is also important to me, my short stories in particular revel in the music and rhythm of words as well as their meaning. I have just finished a book called The Book of Remembered Possibilities.It’s about what happens to the story of ourselves when memories fail us and what kind of world would there be without stories, It tells the story of a woman caught up in a family crisis who meets her alternate from another reality. However it’s more literary than sci-fi!  I hope to submit this book to publishers after one more read over. As well as the occasional short story I’m concentrating on a second draft of The Exhibit of Held Breath – a book about the power of art and belief, and a tale of how an unusual exhibit enthralls the people of the town and transforms the life of its curator.  I’m also planning a fun sequel to Housewife with a Half-Life. After that I have more exciting projects, plenty of ideas and stories still to come!

Diana: Thank you, Alison! I look forward to reading more of your work!

You can find more information about Alison on her website: www.alisonwells.wordpress.com Or on her author page http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Wells/e/B00813OJCS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thought for the day: Keep a daily record of what you’ve accomplished rather than what you “failed” to do.

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Tool for Tuesday: A Self-Publishing Success Story!

Posted on February 19, 2013 by dianabletter

So here it is! The big day! It’s Tool For Tuesday and I’m tooting my own horn! That’s part of living our best chapter–knowing when to celebrate! And I’m celebrating: The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle

The cover!

The cover!

takes off today!

Here’s my video clip right here

Hope it makes you smile. It’s not a traditional book trailer in that I didn’t talk about the book so much. It’s more for entertainment. So we’re holding a launch party and you’re all invited. The winner of the book giveaway is…

Simon Walsh! Please contact me! I got the number via www.random.org, for all those interested in holding another giveaway.

Writing is sometimes like being a beaver and chewing slowly around a tree!

Writing is sometimes like being a beaver and chewing slowly around a tree!

You can order the book here. That’s the kindle edition. If you want the paperback edition, it’s here.

You can also go to goodreads.com and find my book there. I’ll be holding another giveaway on that site in a bit.

We are each a success when we accomplish a goal that we’ve been working on for a while. When I thought about writing The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle, I was hoping that my literary agent would sell it to a traditional publishing house. That did not happen but what I’ve learned is that our vision is limited. We don’t always know what is best for us.

Since I decided to self-publish, other doors have opened for me. I will now be leading workshops on the in’s and out’s of self-publishing and creative writing workshops. So that is why I’m celebrating.

If you are planning on self-publishing or you’ve just started thinking about it, let me know!

Tool for Tuesday: Toot your own horn every once in a while. That’s not showing off. That’s just celebrating.

When I woke up this morning, the sky was dazzling and blue with some passing clouds and it looked just like the cover of my book:

Life imitating art!

Life imitating art!

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Desperately Seeking to Self-Publish? Here are Some Tips.

Posted on February 18, 2013 by dianabletter
Hard cover image

Hard cover image

OK, so you want to publish your book. Here are some Do’s and Don’t’s I learned before my launch tomorrow of The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle.

Think a Year Ahead. I started to think about publishing my book last March 2012. It has taken me all this time with a lot of false starts to get it going. So be patient.

Research. Do due diligence. I am the kind of person who jumps into a lake without dipping my big toe in first. But I am happy that this time I prepared. And even then, I made plenty of mistakes (see below).

Get a blog. Or, as my mother always says, a blob. Your blog is your entry into the Internet world. You are building a big, fat, thick,  archive of great material that offers people information and entertainment – hopefully, both at the same time. That way, people searching the internet will stumble upon your blog and then buy your book. Or the book after that.

What should your blog be about? Well, at first mine was going to be called “Getting Bletter All the Time” in homage to the Beatles. But it sounded like an inside joke. Then I found that I kept thinking about how this was the next chapter of my life. And I wanted it to be the best chapter of my life. And nobody was blogging about that. Serendipity. There are no coincidences. (Or coincidences are when God wants to be anonymous.)

I also wanted to share my strength, hope and experiences as a writer and as someone who has tried to consciously improve my life. I have learned that you can’t keep it unless you give it away. So I have worked to share what I believe. I know that spiritual truths cannot be sold. We are just messengers passing on spiritual insights.

On wordpress.com, you can do a blog easier than I thought. I finally figured out what widgets are. (They are the thingamajigs that go on the side of the blog.) At first I was going to use as my main photo a collage of items from my bookshelf, including some shells, a photo of my family and a fountain pen. That was how my stepdaughter found me lying on the side of the road, trying to photograph these items. She thought I’d been hurt! I couldn’t get the shot I liked. Finally, I found a photo I liked that my friend, Zeev Alon, took. It is a photo of an olive tree grove near my house. Maybe it has nothing to do with motorcycle or being a Mom but it is peaceful and kind of sums up my outlook on life. To be rooted like an olive tree and still grow in your own individual way.

Welcome to Twitter. I know, it does seem like a silly thing. I don’t tweet about getting my hair cut unless it’s hacked in half (see The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle for that episode). Through twitter, I’ve been able to connect with a lot of people I wouldn’t have met. And I’m not even that good on it. And I don’t have a smart phone so I just do it once a day. But I will be tweeting about this post and then tweeting tomorrow about the launch of my book.

Take a class. If you are clueless about what to do, sign up. I was lucky because when I won First Prize in the Family Circle Fiction Contest last year, I was given a free course at Mediabistro. I took their social media boot camp course and learned more about other sites like pinterest and tumblr and instagram. Still not so great on those but I’m moving along.

Cover Design. Don’t try to do it yourself. I’ve seen too many self-published books that look like schlock. Meaning junk. The letters bleed or the font looks funky. Have someone do it. I loved working with Andrew Brown at designforwriters.

Copy Editing. Once again, never, ever, never, ever publish a book without a professional looking at it. Don’t be in such a rush. And don’t publish a book until you are sure it is the best it can be.

Trailer. Here, I’ve stumbled. I made a great video trailer and it should have been out by now but because I changed the subtitle of my book from “How one woman reinvented herself on the road to Alaska” to “Life Lessons On the road to Alaska” I had to change it on my trailer. Therefore, you’ll have to stay tuned for the very, very funny trailer.

Finally, don’t give up. Getting punched and falling down isn’t defeat. Staying down is. Keep taking small steps in the direction of your dreams. Break your project down into daily segments so you can handle it all.

And remember, if you feel yourself lagging, lean on me and my belief that you can do it. Because I did!

The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle is about to take off!

Love, adventure, spirituality, discovery...and more!

Love, adventure, spirituality, discovery…and more!

 

 

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If You Believe In Something, Then Go After It With All Your Heart.

Posted on February 17, 2013 by dianabletter
The journey from the East End of Long Island, across Canada, up the Alaska Highway, into Anchorage and back again.

The journey from the East End of Long Island, across Canada, up the Alaska Highway, into Anchorage and back again.

SO this is it…the journey of 10,230 miles begins with a single step.

The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle will motivate and inspire you to do something you’ve always dreamed of doing. The Mom is taking off on February 19!

Get out a piece of paper and write down what you want to do. Don’t show anyone the list. It’s yours just to contemplate. Then think of what you can do today to get there.

To be a hero of our own life means we have to take action. Imagine a book where the hero just sits around thinking about what he wants to do but never tries to do it…Would you read a book like that?

Would you write a book like that? But if you do want to write something, here are a few tools to remember:

1. Follow the suggestion of the writer in the movie, “Finding Forrester.” Pick a writer you like, read a sentence and then start writing from the end of that sentence. Here’s one I just made up off the top of my head: I have lived in this town my whole life, but this morning…

Now, take that baton and start running with it. Write for 30 minutes. Just write.

2. Stephen King says to omit adverbs. Who knows? J.K. Rowling uses them liberally. The point is that there are no strict rules. Go with what feels comfortable for you.

3. You have to train. Writing is like running. You have to put in the miles. Write as if you’re practicing writing. It isn’t going to be perfect. It will never be perfect. Keep going.

4. Show don’t tell. Your character is wicked? You don’t have to tell the reader–show that through his actions and words.

5. Listen and observe. Follow conversations and listen how they meander. Listen to how people speak.

6. Get a notebook and carry it around. Jot down everything.

Just to make you feel better: I left for my motorcycle trip on June 21, 2009. It took me two drafts with my literary agent, another draft with one editor and then the final draft with the next editor. It took me more than three years of writing and re-writing to come up with a book that I am very proud of. I almost gave up when my literary agent couldn’t sell it. But I kept at it because I know it’s a good story filled with spiritual insights, love, adventure and inspiration.

Whatever you do is important because you’re giving up part of your life to do it. If you believe in something, then go after it with all your heart.

This is the bridge in the Yukon that I was petrified to cross...But we have to do the thing we're scared to do.

This is the bridge in the Yukon that I was petrified to cross…But we have to do the thing we’re scared to do.

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The Mom Who Took Off…Takes On Your Kids–And Other Information

Posted on February 15, 2013 by dianabletter

OK, here’s the countdown until my launch on February 19…Just some things to share about The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle.

The cover!

The cover!

FIRST REVIEW JUST IN:
“This is an absolutely spell-binding read. I can’t imagine anyone not enjoying this!”

—Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Author of When Elephants Weep and Assault on Truth

I’m also happy to announce my booklet, The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle…Takes On Your Kids. Did you ever want a simple list of DO’s and DON’Ts to make your life as a Mom easier? Here it is! Practical, simple suggestions for you to follow. And it’s free! Just hit drop me a line and I’ll send you it absolutely free of charge! The Mom Who Took Off…Takes On Your Kids.

Why am I sending that booklet free? Because I wanted to pass on some of the tools I learned over the years to make another mother’s life easier!

And while we’re on the subject of making life easier…Holly Rosen Fink wrote a great piece on why mothers should take solo trips here in her great blog Culture Mom. My trip wasn’t solo but I did fly the coop. What do you think on this subject? Let me know!

Finally, thought of the day: If you can’t go in through the front door, try a side entrance. That’s what heroes always do.

Remember to enter a comment or hit like at:

http://www.facebook.com/DianaBletter to enter the contest to win a free paperback of THE MOM WHO TOOK OFF ON HER MOTORCYCLE.

Drawing is February 19, 2013.

 

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You Have To Make It Happen For Yourself. (In All Areas of Your Life and not just Writing.)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by dianabletter

More on self-publishing since I’m getting closer to launching THE MOM WHO TOOK OFF ON HER MOTORCYCLE.

This update on  the DO’s and DON’T’s of self-publishing is from Anne Kleinberg, author of Menopause in Manhattan (How’s that for a title?) who spoke at the Jerusalem Book Fair on February 11 in an event sponsored by Ang-Lit. Press. They are the independent and intrepid publishers who just came out with Love In Israel: 65 Short Love Stories, Ang-Lit. Press’s fourth anthology. (You can buy the wonderful collection here edited by Shelley Goldman.) Anne about what she did to make her book hit #7 of all ebooks sold on barnesandnoble.com. Anne is a six-time “traditionally” published cookbook author, and she  self-published her first novel. Here are some of Anne’s rules:

Edit. “That’s the first rule. Edit and edit some more. Menopause in Manhattan took me three years and many rewrites. I worked with a friend who is an editor and then sent the book to six more friends and another copy editor to find out what works and what doesn’t. Editing will make or break a book.”

Website: “Get it going. I don’t add to mine much but you should.”

Decision: “I had no intention of publishing a novel or even writing one until a friend said, ‘How about a murder mystery with a cook?’ That got me started. I sent the novel out to two literary agents, I got two rejection letters and I didn’t want to wait around much longer so I decided to publish the novel myself.”

Cover: “Get a great cover. I was lucky. An artist whom I love made the cover for me.”

Cover of Menopause in Manhattan

Cover of Menopause in Manhattan

Marketing: “That is the hardest thing. Tap into forums and book clubs. Drop off books somewhere. Just because you’ve produced a book doesn’t make you prom queen.”

Pricing: “Sell cheap.”

Motto: “You have to make it happen for yourself.”

Anne’s words ring true for every aspect of our lives. We have to motivate ourselves. We can’t wait around for someone else to do it for us. We have to make it happen. 

Check out Anne’s website and her cookbooks–everything from sandwiches to cakes and pomegranates here.

And…Hit LIKE on http://www.facebook.com/DianaBletter here to win a free copy of THE MOM WHO TOOK OFF ON HER MOTORCYCLE. 

Or leave a comment!

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Posted in Decisions, self-printing, Writers, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment