Focus

I am taking a free 12 week course called Intentional Blogging by Jeff Goins. (You too can join here:  Goinswriter.com.)

This weeks course is on focus. My blog has not had a focus since I started it. I originally started the blog to talk about my book. And I have to admit I should do this since this is my books site, but I think people get tired of hearing me, me, me, more about me, oh did I mention me? So I believe the blog needs to have another focus as well.

For me, my passion is helping others who have the desire to be a writer embrace that and become the writer they always thought they could be. So my focus will be on teaching people how to write better, how to get published the indie way and how to FEEL like the writer they always wanted to be. I can do this by mentoring new writers- Like the amazing Alyssa Hottinger; getting others to guest blog about helping writers; and by giving as much information as I can about how to be that writer TODAY!

Yippie. I am so excited about this course and about my new direction. Thanks Jeff!

Cover design in Indie publishing- stick to your guns

I am not sure who the people who created my cover design thought they were dealing with, but it has caused me to want to instruct first time indie publishers to stick to their guns. You have a cover design in mind. This is your books brand. It will be the first thing people see about your book. It has to be good. So imagine my shock when after being instructed to find covers in the book store that I liked and explaining my vision: a weathered house on the beach, girl running out front door while being grabbed by multiple ghost hands, ghosts in all the windows of house, I got photo one- a flat photo of a house. Say what?

I had to fight to get the cover you see on my book today and that was just stupid in my opinion. I guess it is true you get what you pay for, but if you are unable to deliver the goods, don't take the money.

Even though I have a cover for my book, I will continue to search for the artist that can give me what I want for a cover. My wish for new indie writers is that they too keep their vision in mind and do what they can to get th

e cover they want.

The second photo is the rejected cover. Fans will recognize the actual cover. Not happy with either of them. Perhaps my standards are too high to be an indie publisher.

Dream Fade

This is why you write it down as soon as you wake up:
I had an entire movie in my dream, all the plot twists and everything- from beginning to the bittersweet end. As soon as I awoke from this great dream I was racked with people problems. (The undream realm sucks sometimes) I had a cold and there was no moisture in the air because it was winter and I had just purchased a new heater. My mouth was completely parched, as in not even a drop of moisture to even swallow since my nose had been stuffed up by a cold and the only way I was getting any air at all was through my mouth, which was gaped open for hours while I slept.

So, I guzzle a drink from the tall glass of water I keep on my bedside table and guess what. Now I have this sudden urge to pee. But I have this incredible story to write down. But it will take so long to capture it all. I will just pee and then dash it off before I forget. I stumble down the hall in the dark; we only have on bathroom in our house, no on-suite, and I kept the light in the hall off so I didn't wake anyone.

Okay, so as I sit and do my business, I try to play back bits and pieces of the dream in my mind so I don't lose it.They were so clear upon waking, but they are starting to fade. Why did that movie take place in my head? What was so important about it? I have no idea, see I have already forgotten how it started. It is okay though, I can still remember the middle and the end. I can piece the beginning together later. Still okay. This will be a best seller. It is so awesome. Gotta get out of the bathroom and write it down. I know the beginning will come back to me as I write it down because I remember...ah...What? I remember...? Oh yeah, there was a woman at the end and she was important because...she...she...oh hell, it's all gone.

And that folks is what happened to the best selling thriller I never wrote!

Social Networks

According to Wikipedia there are almost 200 social network sites to subscribe to. Granted they probably do not all apply to you but I am willing to bet some of you will follow the link and see which network you missed. I am have to wonder how many social networks do we need and how "in touch"are we really staying with each other if we spend all of our time updating the networks we have subscribed to? And with all the networks available, how come I can't find one that does it all (if you have, please let me know!).

What would a network be that does it all? For me that network would have to allow me to access everything from one place. So I need a place that allows me to have my e-mail, facebook, blog and more all accessible from one location. Google+ is almost there. I need to have my blog tabbed across the top and that might make me happy, for now.

If I had all of this in one place could I give up all the other sites? Would others follow suit or would I be hung out there by myself...alone in one site land? Would my facebook friends come check me out or forget about me because they couldn't reach me on their wall with their limited amount of time? Would it be social suicide to have only one location for people to find you? Am I the only one that desires the simplicity of one stop shopping in my social life?

You know you want to look, you just have to...just remember to leave some time in your life for yourself!

Beginnings

This is the start of House On Butcher Harbor blog site. Hope that it will grow as people decide to read my book. It is an unpublished work, so the entire book will only be available once published. I may allow people to read the entire book as long as they agree to post comments here to help promote the book.