Musing Mondays - Nov 28

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme now hosted at Jenn's blog Books And A Beat that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

Did you catch it? I swear we just blinked and November is gone. Here we are on the last Monday of the month--Cyber Monday, no less. Any great deals you plan to scoop up?

Right now I am preparing for my virtual book tour for Macaroni and Cheese for Thanksgiving. It starts December 5. You can find my book tour schedule here.

Check out this great book I borrowed from the library last week:

In her fifteen years of teaching, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett has found that the biggest stumbling block for aspiring writers (especially women) is not fear of the blank page but frustration with the lack of time. What woman doesn't have too much to do and too little time? Finding an hour free of work, children, or obligations can seem impossible.

But anyone can find fifteen minutes, whether you're sitting in traffic, waiting at a child's soccer practice, or watching the coffee drip. DeMarco-Barrett has created a practical, inspirational guide for fitting serious writing into those stolen moments. She offers writing exercises and techniques for generating ideas, as well as pragmatic advice from the well-known authors who appear on her radio show. With fifteen minutes a day, she can help you to ignite your pen and become the writer you have always wanted to be.

With all the thrill of the book launch, I realized I miss writing terribly. My goal for 2017 is to write a little something each week. Do you set goals? Are you ready to contemplate goals for 2017 yet?

I'm just starting a new book that I promised to review:

Quense published four books on self-publishing. He has now complied them into one complete self-publishing guide, which allows you to purchase them cheaper than if you bought them all separately. 

The goal of self-publishing a book is to produce a quality book package to hold your content. Despite what you read on the internet, self-publishing isn’t easy. There is a lot involved in understanding the self-publishing process and it is quite easy to self-publish a book the wrong way
This boxed set of ebooks explains the self-publishing process and much more.
There are four ebooks in the set.
* Self-publishing a Book: describes a process to get a book published.
* Marketing Plans for Self-published Books: covers basic book marketing strategy and tactics.
* Manage Your Self-publishing Project: Uses a project management approach to graphically illustrate the dual, simultaneous processes of publishing and marketing your book.
* Business Basics for Authors: provides an understanding of the business issues facing new authors.
The boxed set provides the new author with a solid grounding in the self-publishing process and associated issues.
Yet another potential problem is this. The internet swarms with scam artists searching for new authors who may not have a complete understanding of the ins-and-outs of publishing and marketing. The scammers are after the author’s money and use slick websites to mislead the author. The more the new author knows about publishing and marketing, the less likely he is to fall prey to these scam artists.
The Complete Self-publishing Guides boxed set is much less expensive than buying the four books individually.


THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: If you were a character, which author would you trust with your life (to write your story)?

Oh, this is such a tough question. Can you ever really trust another person to tell your story in a way that would make you 100% happy? Undoubtedly, their bias or world view could influence their portrayal.

My first choice would be a deceased author--Laura Ingalls Wilder. She inspires my writing for children and was successful in chronicling her own  life.

For a second choice, I would like Kathi Macias. I've loved her work for years. I met her through my work with Pump Up Your Book. I coordinated virtual book tours for several of her books. We haven't been in touch as much as I would like since I've been working in real estate, but my bookshelves are home to several of her books and I hope to read her new Christmas story soon.

How about you? Who would you trust to write the story of your life?

Hope you have a great week!