Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birthdays. Show all posts

15 October 2011

Happy Birthday to Me!

The sun is shining, the weather is warming, and it's a bright day to mark the anniversary of my birth. Not that anyone is really doing much to mark it, there were no presents beyond hand-made cards from the kids. The agenda holds nothing auspicious - just hauling the kids to a pumpkin patch to get pumpkins and the resulting chaos of that trip.

But the one thing I do around my birthday is look back on the past year. I'm a goal-oriented person. In the past few years, I look on my goals sheet and am disappointed at how little I accomplished. This year is different. Unlike previous years, I actually lost the targeted amount of weight, finished the troublesome book on the docket, and marked off all but one item from the household section of the list. Of course, most of that portion involved a move to Japan that didn't happen, but still - it's progress!

So, now I'm optimistic. :) I've scribbled down a new list of goals. This year, there's not a weight goal. Yes, I heard that shocked gasp. Instead, I've started running again with the goal to finish the Disney Princess Half-Marathon in February. Anyone want to join me? A trip to Disney is always a motivating carrot. I was shocked at how easy it was to fall back into training runs. The body remembers some pretty amazing things.

I'm still waiting to hear about STEALING GRACE, that troublesome book, but am now wrapping up a St. George novella. I'd love to do another St. George book by the end of the year, so that's on the list with a question mark beside it. I've got some big plans for 2012, but those are waiting on the St. George outcomes.

Personally, now that we're not moving to Japan, we're slotted for North Carolina - the Cherry Point area. Although our transfer date isn't until August, the kids and I will most likely move over the summer to give them a chance to settle in and make friends before the school year starts. Since we've already done most of the pre-move purge, getting ready for the move is a simple process of staying on top of the clutter. I'm super-excited about the change of scenery and am really looking forward to house-hunting in the area. I think I'm most excited over the fact my children will go back to school leaving me time to write that isn't between nine and midnight!

What about you? Anyone have any great goals they'd like to share? *throws confetti*

21 August 2010

The Book Electric

Dorchester, Medallion, Harlequin, everybody’s going ebook crazy. But there seems to be some real confusion about ebooks. I’m not an expert by any means, but I

do have a bit of experience in the realm of electronic publishing (short stories, novella, and novel).

I think the thing that bothers me the most is the equating of ebook to self-publishing, also known as “vanity publishing.” Every day there seems to be another place for

anybody to put his or her books up for sale. But just because anybody CAN publish a book SHOULD they?

Yes, I know rejection, tears at your very soul. I also know that everybody who has completed a book-length manuscript has beaten the odds. Each and every person

who has completed a fledgling book deserves high praise. But do they deserve to be published? Probably not. I know I thought my first book-length manuscript was

the most wonderful thing ever written, when in reality it was pretty horrible. It was five or six manuscripts later before I finally began to get the hang of this book-writing

gig, and I still have a lot to learn.

Let me take you through the usual process of getting yourself published. First, you work for years on a manuscript, working and reworking the thing until you’re sure it’s

the best thing in the world. You sent it out numerous times, only to have it bounce right back to you with little or no indication of why the editor doesn’t want your

masterpiece. Rinse and repeat. If you hang in there for as long as it takes, if you’re willing to read ad study and write until your fingers are blistered and you collapse

exhausted against your computer, you might just be lucky and manage to start getting letters from editors saying nice things about your work. Your aren’t quite good

enough for them to publish, of course, but you write well. Writers know this as “almost-there hell” and it can last for years.

It’s easy to see how a person could get discouraged, and in an attempt to stave off lunacy, the person turns to one of the soooo good sounding sites that promise

publication and huge percentage of the profits.

There are several problems with this solution to their little problem. First, a book needs a good editor. A really good one who knows more than just perfect grammar.

An editor’s job may not look that hard from the outside, but I have deep respect for these hard-working creatures who somehow manage to turn a decent manuscript

into a publishable work. The writer works hard on these revisions too, by the way, and has to be able to listen to criticism and advice.

If the potential author can managed to write a not-too-horrible book and even manages to get it edited so it isn’t too bad. Then what? How’s a person to sell these self-

published books? What kind of publicity is one person going to have? Maybe his or her family and friends will buy a few. And the author will get a big hunk of the

money for these five or ten or maybe thirty books. Then what? Just because a book is published doesn’t mean people are going to rush to choose it over the

thousands of other choices. Yeah, if it’s Steven King, sure. But Sally Kling? Not so much.

And then there’s the little problem of getting reviews and the list goes on and on.

As I said, there are three choices when it comes to getting published in electronic form. You can try the big, New York publishers, work through the rejections, and

hope you make a lot of money on the paperbacks, cause your electronic percentage won’t be great.

Or, you can try the smaller publishers, the ones who specialize in electronic books (like, say, Samhain). If you’re good enough, and it is getting more difficult to get

into this market every day, you’ll get an editor, the publicity a company that wants you to sell can give. And you’ll get a nice percentage of sales. As a bonus, most

also do print books.

Or you can self-publish, take your chances and hope for the best. Yeah, some self-published books do make it big, but those are lightning-striking-100-times-in-the-

same-place events. You’re better off buying a lottery ticket.

I hope this clarifies the issue a bit. I’m seriously irked over this self-pubbed equals epubbed toad droppings thing. Don't you believe it.

By the way, today’s my birthday. Any bad signing would be appreciated. What? Oh. I’m turning 29. Again. Hehe.

Have a great weekend!

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com

09 October 2007

Vive La October!


October is the beginning of a dark and dangerous time. Most transitional periods are, whether in life, love or finances. However this is nature we're talking about and it means that Warmth is leaving the Earth, and Cold is taking it's place.
In most parts of the world the plants and animals are busily readying themselves for the biting chill of winter. The leaves have turned red and gold, showing the world that final bit of flirty color before they fall to the ground to be swept into trash bags. Afterward, the trees stretch their bare branches towards the sky as if in supplication for the return of it's lost love, Spring.
The animals eat whatever food is available and either go to ground to hibernate through the cold or try and find a good den so they can continue to find whatever goodies they can grab. Hibernating seems like the best bet, heck, I know I could sleep for months on end given the chance.
So, what's so special about October? Records show it's always been a high birth month. This could just mean that a lot of folks failed to keep their New Years resolution not indulge in unprotected sex pretty quickly (take that any way you want), but I like to look back to find another deeper reason.
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In the old days, during the Winter, humans were stuck shivering in their huts from November until about March. They were cold and very, very bored until a wise (and horny) soul thought showing his wife that the 'serf' was up would be a great way to keep warm. Talk about hangin' ten. *coughs*
Fast forward nine months or so later and it's October--Autumn. The harvesting is all done, and Earth is just beginning its preparation for winter to make the world go through it's slow death once more. However, as a result of last Winter's Sex-olympics, something is about to happen. And it does, after lots of pain, messiness and way too many cuss words for this blog--ta daaaa! the couple brings forth life, thus breaking up the cycle of Death, Renewal and Death. I honestly think that's what humans were put on Earth to do, mess up the works, just a little. It keeps old Mother Nature on her toes.
Then again, this could whole post could just be the semi-egotistical ramblings of an October Baby permanently stuck on Day Light Savings time. You be the judge.