Ah, Blond, as much as I understand the scary factor, I am also envious that you even have that option. Being the higher-paid wage earner in our family, me quitting isn't even on the forseeable horizon, no matter how much I pretend otherwise.
The No News is No News Purgatory Thread, Vol. 7
- Thread starter Calla Lily
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I'm embarking on the quest to learn CSS. I already know the basics of HTML (*snort* knew. At some point. I haven't done website designing since high school.) so I figure why not? If I start now, then maybe in six years I'll be able to design my own author web page.
If I fail miserably, I have this super awesome friend that'll help me design the site. Not only that but he'll host for me for super cheap.
I
my friend so hard. 
ETA: I'd also like to try my hand Flash, because I'm a nut job and wanna have flashy fun stuff on my website, because why on earth would I want to keep thing simple and easy?
If I get too carried away, please, someone stop me. I might kick and scream, but I will love you for it eventually.
If I fail miserably, I have this super awesome friend that'll help me design the site. Not only that but he'll host for me for super cheap.
I
my friend so hard. ETA: I'd also like to try my hand Flash, because I'm a nut job and wanna have flashy fun stuff on my website, because why on earth would I want to keep thing simple and easy?
If I get too carried away, please, someone stop me. I might kick and scream, but I will love you for it eventually.
Hugs to Haupe on being sick -- what a crummy time for your family.
Yay for all the ALA awesome for Purgatory! It sounds like a great conference.
Blonde, I think you're making a smart decision. You are practically killing yourself with your day job and writing schedule, but you without the day job, you have the discipline to double your creative output and make that salary back while enjoying life more. You saw what your press is investing in you -- invest in yourself! You are a good bet.
Yay for all the ALA awesome for Purgatory! It sounds like a great conference.
Blonde, I think you're making a smart decision. You are practically killing yourself with your day job and writing schedule, but you without the day job, you have the discipline to double your creative output and make that salary back while enjoying life more. You saw what your press is investing in you -- invest in yourself! You are a good bet.
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(((clovia)))
Blondie, woohoo!! Scary, but exciting.
Can I just ask, wtf is up with my skin? Almost 35 and the past 2 months I've had acne worse than I remember from high school. Seriously?!
Blondie, woohoo!! Scary, but exciting.
Can I just ask, wtf is up with my skin? Almost 35 and the past 2 months I've had acne worse than I remember from high school. Seriously?!
Last query today, Clovia? Or the last agent you plan to query?
Either way, vamp dust.
ETA: Lwalker, we all know now that acne is not just for teens. That's just another lie they tell so you try to make through adolescence. I'm not sure I would have been able to bear the knowledge that I would still break out in my 40s.
Either way, vamp dust.
ETA: Lwalker, we all know now that acne is not just for teens. That's just another lie they tell so you try to make through adolescence. I'm not sure I would have been able to bear the knowledge that I would still break out in my 40s.
So that guy my mom so tactfully introduced me to as "AUTHOR, meet AUTHOR?"
He wrote a marketing manual. And one of the "Dummies" books.
He wrote a marketing manual. And one of the "Dummies" books.
Jo, just because someone doesn't write in your genre doesn't mean they don't count. Writing nonfiction and how-to is a different skill for sure, but not a lesser one.
Totally not what I meant.
To elaborate. I just got out of a six-year career in exactly what this man writes about. If he was going to be impressed by anything I've done, it's NOT going to be that I wrote and sold some women's fiction novel. No, he'd actually have been very impressed that I was the personality and marketing force behind a successful online business for six years. And did many, many of the things he advises his clients to do.
So if my mom was a rational being at all, she'd have hooked us up WHEN I STILL HAD THAT JOB. As it is, wtf is the point? She thinks we're gonna hit it off because we have SO MUCH in common between women's fiction and online marketing? Woo hoo.
ETA: I should also mention that I had a nonfiction title published about 8 years ago. Which my mom seems to have forgotten entirely.
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I'm glad you clarified, because I didn't see what you meant. I guess the heart of it has to do with you wanting your mom understand and appreciate you, but as embarrassing as that scene was, she was proud of you.
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Blonde, I am really glad to hear this, and glad that your agent suggested it. I think it makes total sense. The way you write (meaning in these incredibly productive bursts), I can really see you doing two books a year, and yeah, it's a better use of your time than a day job that doesn't pay all that well.
Dude...it's...
THE EMO-COASTER!!! Bwhahahahah! This is where the ride really gets going.
All appendages crossed, Oh Cloven One!
Heh! Your mom sounds sweet, really. Just, you know, not quite getting with the proverbial program.
Me = talked to my editor re: Book #3 edits, clarified some things in her notes, and I think I can knock this puppy out pretty quick. Yay!
Dude...it's...
THE EMO-COASTER!!! Bwhahahahah! This is where the ride really gets going.
Welp, sent off my last query for this book today.
Nothing left but to wait.
All appendages crossed, Oh Cloven One!
Hence the flailing here, rather than in front of my mother.
Heh! Your mom sounds sweet, really. Just, you know, not quite getting with the proverbial program.
Me = talked to my editor re: Book #3 edits, clarified some things in her notes, and I think I can knock this puppy out pretty quick. Yay!
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I know. But this is only possible if I have a second multi-book (i.e. at least two) deal lined up before the end of the year. If not, I'll be job hunting.
It's been a long couple of years, struggling to pay off the car and the divorce and the debt associated with both. But I did it. And since I don't have a mortgage payment or a family, if I'm GOING to do this, now is the time!
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The Mr. keeps saying as soon as he gets back to work, he wants me to quit
fooling around with freelance contract work and do my own art and writing.
I'd love that. I'd love it even more if it paid for itself.
fooling around with freelance contract work and do my own art and writing.
I'd love that. I'd love it even more if it paid for itself.
That reminds me of my MIL one of the first times she took us to a restaurant. There were two little kids playing in the foyer, and being the benign, clueless white lady that she is, she thought nothing of getting right into their faces to say, "YOU ARE SO PRECIOUS I COULD JUST STEAL YOU. COULDN'T YOU JUST TAKE THEM HOME, CLOVIA?"
O_O
O_O
O_O
...wwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Managed to somehow get my old laptop's battery to recognise a charge, after about a year of it refusing to do so. After a bit of fiddling, it also recognises the Internet now, too.
(I now have an image of myself holding up pictures of a charging battery and the Internet to it, going, "You have to recognise them, surely!")
Word still makes it wheeze and heat up a bit alarmingly (otherwise I'd have just went hell with it and wrote with the power cord in), but I might be able to edit if I'm careful. Hopefully.
When my other laptop is back, I'll look into an upgrade and new memory for this one, so at least if it happens again, I'm not left with edits and a bunch of stuff in a notebook I can't do anything with. And now I can go back and leave all the reps the iPhone wouldn't let me do.
(I'm also aware this is very much a first world problem. Thank you for not telling me to get over myself whenever I updated about this. As much as I hated not being online, I was more frustrated at having all this work to do and no working laptop.)
(I now have an image of myself holding up pictures of a charging battery and the Internet to it, going, "You have to recognise them, surely!")
Word still makes it wheeze and heat up a bit alarmingly (otherwise I'd have just went hell with it and wrote with the power cord in), but I might be able to edit if I'm careful. Hopefully.
When my other laptop is back, I'll look into an upgrade and new memory for this one, so at least if it happens again, I'm not left with edits and a bunch of stuff in a notebook I can't do anything with. And now I can go back and leave all the reps the iPhone wouldn't let me do.
(I'm also aware this is very much a first world problem. Thank you for not telling me to get over myself whenever I updated about this.
As much as I hated not being online, I was more frustrated at having all this work to do and no working laptop.)
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Interesting family news: My stepmother has the house for sale since she can't afford it without Dad and it's big. She mentioned moving back to Orange, so I asked if she'd bought a place. Nope...she and my brother are moving into my stepgrandmother's. Which is no more than 1300 sq ft and already has 2 bedrooms occupied.
Tight fit? Understatement. Either they're getting rid of all their furniture or it's going in storage. Just for my brother's room, he has more books than can go into Grandma's house.
Stepmother wants to keep a closer eye on her mother because my sister is out most of the time between 2 jobs and friends, which I don't fault, but it's definitely going to change things around there.
I can't help wondering what's become of Dad's stuff.
Tight fit? Understatement. Either they're getting rid of all their furniture or it's going in storage. Just for my brother's room, he has more books than can go into Grandma's house.
Stepmother wants to keep a closer eye on her mother because my sister is out most of the time between 2 jobs and friends, which I don't fault, but it's definitely going to change things around there.
I can't help wondering what's become of Dad's stuff.
I think I'm beyond being embarrassed by my mom these days! It comes with knowing that I will very soon be an embarrassing mom too. My girls aren't quite there, but there are plenty of other first-grade moms that get the eye-rolling treatment already.
Sounds like a difficult living situation, KT, but it has some advantages. I hope it works out.
Good morning!
Sounds like a difficult living situation, KT, but it has some advantages. I hope it works out.
Good morning!
I know more and more people are turning to short stories to generate interest in their longer works, but I was surprised to see NYT bestselling authors jump into it as well. Iris Johansen has a $0.99 short story up on Amaz0n. I haven't checked other sites to see if it's there as well, but I assume it is. Maybe more consumers will get used to this idea. I know many either don't like or don't read short stories, so we'll see how this changes with more of them out there.
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