She Has Arisen

My book sale for the month is about to fall off my Kindle Reports page. Yes, that’s right, sale, not sales. I’m surprised I sold one this month. I’ve done absolutely nothing in the way of promotions for several months now.

One reason is that I have taken on a number of family related responsibilities in the past several months. There’s a common misconception that retired people have nothing to do with their time, and need other people to give them things to do in order to make them feel useful. Another reason is that I’m a pushover for needy people.

And then, in a successful effort at healthier living, I’m making the time to walk three to five miles a day and I’ve been driving around four counties sourcing farm grown/raised foods and trying to stay out of the middle aisles at the supermarket. Now that I’m signed on with a collective, that should get easier.

Other excuses aside, I’ve also been writing and editing. I’m not the multi-tasker I was back in my nursing days. But I’ve made lots of progress. I’m going over the final, fully edited draft of “Naked Alliances”. It’s down to choosing a cover and getting the book formatted. I’m leaning toward Kindle Select with this one. I only sold hundreds of copies of my Red Clay and Roses on Amazon, usually during ninety-nine cent promos. Sales on other retail platforms really haven’t worked out for me, but that could be due to the genre/nature of the book. I used Facebook and FB through ENT for most of those sales. It’s no wonder that my audience is 35+ year old women and that’s also the majority of people who use FB. I’ve also had some success with blog interviews.

Which brings me to my next point: I had planned to have at least three books in this series set to go before publishing the first but, since it has taken nearly two years to get this one as polished as I wanted it to be, I’m concerned that four, or more, years just might be too long to wait. I’ve already lost a lot of momentum on Naked Alliances. I feel it. That’s not good.

I have the second book in the series roughed out and the third outlined. (sort of) So I am expecting them to be a bit less complicated to execute. But even a few years will crush any momentum I have left. I’m thinking book one’s reception might have a great influence on the production of my works-in-progress.

And then, there’s “The Conduit”, a totally unrelated paranormal crime novel. It won’t have the comedic undertones that “The Naked Eye Series” does. I’m still tossing around the idea of pen names, but I’m hearing that all books should remain on one Author Central page. Elmore Leonard’s great westerns are alongside his unforgettable crime novels, and the covers don’t always indicate the genre. However, many authors do have all their books: romance, paranormal, fantasy under one author name and do quite well, differentiating covers for separate genre. And, surely people will read the blurb before buying the book. And then, there’s another historical novel that’s been shelved for a bit while I get my head together on that one.

Back to “Naked Alliances”, I was hoping to have it published before Christmas, but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen. I’ll be looking for a cover artist soon. I’m open to doing interviews to get if off the ground. I have a list of bloggers who do interviews, but please let me know if you do interviews and would like to know more about me or the book/series.

I’ve fallen in love with Brandi. She’s developed into my muse, encouraging me to move along with her brassy cynicism. The chemistry between Richard Noggin, P.I. and Brandi is fun to write and fun to read.

BTW, I pulled back from doing book reviews on my blog until Amazon settles down a bit. It bothers me that they would pull reviews from authors who know other authors. I hardly think that’s fair, given that all authors are readers, and thus, customers. You may have noticed that I changed my review name on Amazon to a more anonymous name. I had several reasons for doing that. I may change it back, but remain undecided. I’ve always purchased the books I read, mainly as a way of offering additional support to the author. It’s funny to me, considering the scope of Facebook, that they might possibly be using FB as a way to see who “knows” who. There’s not a book that I have read in the past five years that I didn’t “like” the author’s FB page, or at least check them out. I’m “friends” with many indie authors, but also some well renowned traditional authors, as well, and have exchanged comments and emails with many of them, establishing a more personal relationship over time.

If you’ve stayed with me through this lengthy post, I’d love to hear from you. Though I find time to read some blogs and comment when possible. I’ve deeply missed the interactions on this blog. I’ve been isolated. I’m feeling as if I have been on a long journey from home and just returned.

To recap: I’m looking for a cover artist, someone to help with formatting, and opportunities for interviews. I won’t be joining any reciprocal book review clubs due to Amazon’s current policies. I may start posting book reviews along with some interviews that I’ll be doing later this year or next year.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Overdue Diligence

Procrastination is not something that is usually in my repertoire. I like to have it done yesterday.

If you tell me a writing project is due next year, I’ll have it done next week.

There is a backup bottle of Dawn dish liquid on my sink, an extra tube of toothpaste in each bathroom, along with a whole pack of toilet paper, extra body wash, shampoo and conditioner.

My pantry and freezer have at least two of everything.

I like to be prepared.

So what am I whining about? Continuing Education Units.

It’s not that they are difficult. You read the modules and answer questions at the end. More often than not, the questions center on things that have changed in the last two years, so it kind of jumps out at you after thirty years in the profession, whatever is different. But it’s time consuming.

In Georgia, employers are required to provide continuing education to nurses. In Florida, nurses have to be accountable for their own CEUs. In my entire career, I have NEVER known of ANYONE to get audited.

But now, the State has brought in a third party company, CE BROKER, and all CEU providers and all nurses must file CEUs through them. Everything is computerized and if you are not up to date, Wham! They got ya!

In the past, I never worried about not being up to date. I stayed up to date easily doing a little at a time.

Last year, though, I spent all of my time writing and editing a novel. So now, I get to play catch-up with my CEUs and it’s no fun. They’re due ninety days before renewal date which is April 30, 2015. So I’m a bit behind, and praying that going with an online company that reports hourly will help me out here.

You may wonder, why bother? You’re retired and you only work occasionally doing basic health screenings. Here’s the deal. You don’t keep up your professional license and decide to go back to work in your field and you have to take State Boards all over again. I sure don’t want to risk that.

Don’t you want a health care provider who is up to date on the latest and greatest techniques and skills? I’m so ashamed.

Eleven years of hardship and school for a four year degree, thirty years of experience, and lose it because of a few online classes and tests!

That’s why I’ve been offline for a bit and probably will be for the next few weeks. I’m going to be focused on medical error prevention, Florida domestic violence, Florida Laws and Rules, osteoarthritis, ischemic stroke, Aids /HIV, and Humor in Health Care: The Laughter Prescription.

Wish me luck!