Beginning of the year CONTEST!

I have four books in the hopper right now, described below.  Being very ADD I have no idea which book to work on next, soooo I want you to choose.  No guarantees that what you choose will be the one I publish first on BUT the person who makes the most compelling case (yes I'm asking you to write) will win a signed copy of my book of their choice including their choice of a future book.....go to it and post your response here.

Loft is a women's novel, once more set in New York City. It is huge and getting bigger by the day. Right now it is being picked apart. It is waiting for the big breakthrough rather than the little bursts of independent ideas that have characterized its birthing. While my pitch for it isn't quite ready, I can tell you that it involves garment workers (alive and dead), factory owners, acting teachers who also write plays and opera singers who fall in love with writers.

Remarkable Likeness is the tale two women who meet just post WWII in Germany.  One is an English pianist and one a holocaust survivor who is also a pianist who has revenge on her mind.  Which one is which?

Adelaide II hasn't a name yet but you guessed it, its a continuation of The Shepherd's Image.  Church building or tearing down, Adelaide is faced with challenges every bishop sees in this day of fading mainstream denominations.  How will this unconventional bishop approach them?

Two Rooms  I think it wants to be a novella when it grows up. It is a different kind of love story. Perhaps it is a faith story. I think it wants to be a novella when it grows up.

A day in the writing life…

Woke up wondering if the glitch in the website had fixed itself. 

Spent 20 minutes avoiding the glitch by 1) calling Allstate and 2) Checking to see if a shipment of books had been delivered to upstate NY.

Checked the website.  The glitch was still there.

Tinkered with the short story for the contest to win two tickets to Seminar.  Decided it needed to ferment more.

Hardware diagnostics running on PC…PC has slowed to a crawl.

Read a review of Ian Bostritch at Carnegie Hall while waiting for IE to close.

Decided to pack it in while hardware diagnostics were still running and went to breakfast.

Checked email.  The class proposal I submitted to RVCC has been approved!  I can now do about 100 hours of developmental work for around $.50 an hour only to be tortured by students in March and April.

Added course to my to-do list.

Locked in mortgage refi rate by talking to a guy on the phone who either 1) is attending law school 2) afraid to stop talking.  45 minutes out of my life.  Found the best way to stop him talking was to whistle at him.

Spent 20 minutes trying to decide whether to go ahead and work on Remarkable Likeness or drag myself back into Loft.  Compromised by coming up with a totally different novel.

Spent 15 minutes looking for my idea book so I could write down the idea for the above.

Couldn’t find the idea book.  Wrote it in a word document that I know I will lose in the PC.

Almost lunch time. 

Decided to fix website. Didn’t.

Called new doc for appointment.  Spent 10 minutes giving info to scheduler.   She says I’ll have to fill out a form when I get there with that info.  So why did she ask for it over the phone?

Papers came in from refi blabbermouth.  Signed, scanned and returned.  Quickest chore of the day so far.

Decided to check sales.  Wrong.  Disappointed.  Back to writing.  But is it worth it?  Stop being existential and write.

Back to the prize-winning story.  Still stinks.

Lunch with my old friend.

40 minute post-lunch private melt-down

Cleaned writing desk

Decided to recycle

       or clean the bedroom
                      or clean the bathroom

Long self-lecture about pencil-sharpening and its effects on writer output.

Recycled.

Found the idea book while shelving another book.  Now I can’t remember the idea.

Fixed the science experiment in the kitchen sink.

Made a Dr’s appointment.

Made an appointment to bring my car in for service.

Remembered the idea and wrote it in the book.  Filed the book very close to my favorite chair.  Hope I remember where I put it.

Wrote on Remarkable Likeness for 10 minutes.

Phone rang.  Old college friend.  Talked for an hour.

9PM

Back to thinking about website.  Got into Website Tonight.  Found I could fix the glitch in about 3 and a half seconds.  Fixed the glitch.

Checked Amazon.  Book reviews for In Season and Shepherd’s way by C. Nisaragi are both appearing twice thus distorting my review stats.

Decided to bag it.

Double wahoo!

I submitted a proposal to teach a Self-publishing course at Raritan Valley Community college in their Life-Long Learning section in the spring and my proposal has been accepted.  Bucket list reduction continuing.

Wahoo!

While some folks think this is a lot of nonsense I love doing NaNoWriMo and once again:

I am a winner!  Since Scrivner is one of the prize supporters I am hoping to get a discount so I can buy this writing program.

Ahem...the next step on my journey

Available now on Kindle (and shortly in paperback and on Nook), my latest novel, The Shepherd's Image, my latest novel.  A look at what you will be getting into (cause I know you're going to buy it):

When Wall Street takeover star Adelaide Wasserstein wanted something more in her life than just numbers, she took her father’s sage advice and went looking for a hobby. What she found was an art teacher who kindled in her an interest in the mystery of religious experience in a way that her classical upbringing in languages, in theology and in economics had never done. Entranced, she followed the artist through the doors of the Episcopal Church and into the spiritual life she hadn’t known she needed.

   

The argument against Agent/Publishers

A few posts ago I lauded a Literary Agency for offering self-publishing services.  Here is a link to a reasoned blog on why agencies should not become actual publishers




Publishing Perspectives

I believe literary agent Jason Ashlock has a perspective that definitely has to be considered.  As in all markets, buyer beware.   "An agent representing a client’s works to licensees cannot realistically maintain his or her unwavering allegiance to that client when the licensee is the Agency itself — however the “digital publishing arm” of the agency is described. "

The race to the finish....

Why is it that the closer I get to publishing a book the faster I want to go?  I know that this "race to the finish" attitude is the reason I would be very, very bad at traditional publishing.  I want it to happen now.  Not six to twelve months from now.  Oh well, I guess I have to live with my race horse mentality.