Welcome, Book Maven, and thanks for the links! Going to check them out in a minute.
Welcome, Greg, and thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! I hope this doesn't come off sounding snooty, but may I suggest that you pick up a copy of a grammar book like The Elements of Style by Strunk & White? I know several writers who can tell an excellent story, but get stuck in the grammar/spelling end of things, and it deeply handicaps them when they seek publication. (Or maybe you already have someone who copyedits your work.) Just an observation... I know that writing on a message board isn't anywhere near as "formal" as writing a manuscript, but to be honest, it was hard for me to get through your message.
What you said about feeling proud when you saw your books, though-- no confessing needed. You *should* feel proud of yourself. Setting out to write a book (let alone two) is a big goal, and it's terrific that you accomplished it.
One quick note-- you said that you'd have to basically quit fathering and become a full-time promoter to make your book successful. I know this sounds crazy, but even that wouldn't work. We have at least 2 or 3 people here who put in a *tremendous* amount of time, effort, and money promoting their PA books, and still saw only modest sales. No matter how much work you put in, you're still going to come up against the brick walls that PA has erected-- no returns policy, poor discounts to bookstores, lack of editorial gatekeeping, etc. Thus far, even having an excellent book and major publicity hasn't helped any PA author acheive significant success or national bookstore distribution. Most of the "bestselling" (read: sold more than 500 books) PA authors I know are the ones who are now the most disenchanted with the company and have moved on to other publishers.