The Scribble Pad
The mental meanderings of a slightly loose screw.
AUGUST 09
Friday August 28 - Fresh from my shoulda seen it coming files
I had a lovely radio interview with Janelle Braithwaite of 91.1 FM Talk City this morning. She asked me what I’d most want to tell other writers. I said my biggest advice was to finish the book, because she’d be surprised how many people ask me for advice about getting published, and when I ask them what they’ve written, they tell me they haven’t actually started anything.
I hadn’t even left the studio when I got a call from a man who asked me if I could put him in touch with my publishers because he “always wanted to write.” Alarm bells start jangling. “What have you written,” I ask.
“Well, I ain’t really write nothing yet, you know…”
By the way, here I am on Facebook, here on MySpace, here I am on Amazon, and here I am at good old Kimani. So visit! Click! Friend me!
Tuesday August 25 - Dance, they said
To quote Juice Newton (love her!) "Dance, they said, life is only for the moment, the light is brief, don't waste it, the taste is sweet, so taste it..."
What the hell am I banging on about? Well, everyone and their granny has been telling me I have to keep on at this self-promotion thing. Blog! My Space! Facebook! Shelfari!
And I've always held back, partly out of Judaeo-Christian humility, and partly because of this idiotic belief that I'm just too old to be MySpacing or Facebooking.
But the reality is that she who promotes not is invisible, so I got into it. And you know what?
I'm addicted! This social networking stuff is like crack! I have to drag myself away from it at night. I've met more people in one week than I have all year. This shit is great!
Sunday August 23 - Good review!
There's nothing as pretty as a five star review on Amazon, especially when it's the first review for your latest book.
Makes me feel all fuzzy-wuzzy inside!
Saturday August 14 - Today's the day
After 10 years in the book business, I shoulda known better. There I was, thinking my September release was actually going to be released in September, when my buddy and fellow Kimani author Wayne Jordan lets drop that it comes out on the 15th day of the month before...i.e. TODAY.
Meet Me In Paris is on the shelves! Yes! Way!
Now let's all step aside so we won't be run over by the stampede.
Monday August 10 - 50 Days of Self Promotion
Every time I have a new book out, the same thing happens. First, I'm maternal and proud and excited. That lasts for about a week. It's great.
The next part...well, not so great. It's round about then that it occurs to me that I'm actually gonna have to promote the thing. You know...try to make sure it sells?
There's the rub-a-dub-dub. Sure, PR is my game. Sure, I can promote the hell out of my customers. But me? You serious?
I hate it. My deep seated loathing of self-promotion probably has its roots in some sort of Girl Guide slash Judeo-Christian upbringing, in which or some reason, modesty is a virtue. And when it comes to tooting my own horn, I start to get hives.
But this is a good book. I believe in it. And I want people to read it. Problem is, they can't, if they don't know it exists. So I've embarked upon a new scheme called the 50 Days of Self Promotion in which I have to do something shamelessly self-serving every day until the end of September, the official birth month of Meet Me in Paris. Technically, that would make it 51 days, but 50 sounds more poetic.
50 days of doing something, whether its blogging or plogging or sending out mailings or just tapdancing nude on my roof with a copy of MMIP balanced on my head. No copouts. No excuses. Here goes.
And oh, if you have any promotion ideas for me, I'd be grateful for a holla!
Thursday August 6 - Boasty, boasty!
Yeah, well, I'm about to get all boasty and shit. Why the hell not. I'm entitled, ain't I? Romantic Times just gave Meet Me in Paris 4 stars (yeah, count 'em).
That's muy good news, no? I also heard from a little birdie that it's also been chosen by Harlequin as one of the Intimate Seduction Top 10 Road Trip Books of the summer.
That's me in the corner, glowing. yay, me!
Tuesday August (damn is it really August?) 4 - Time vampires
You know, when you go into business for yourself, it's easy to sit down and decide just how much you'd like to make per hour, and charge accordingly. Then you sit back and expect to earn that much for every working hour of your day.
I pity the fool.
Apart from the scant few hours in which I'm actually earning money, there's also the many, many other perfectly good, factory-sealed, fresh from the bakery seconds, minutes, hours and days that just get sucked away.
I'm talking about the time I spend: begging for interviews, pleading for interviews, conducting interviews, deciphering notes, wooing clients, wading through e-mails, dropping off kids, picking up kids, screaming at kids, chasing down checks, writing checks, worrying about checks, hoping to God I don't get arrested for the checks I write, holding my head and bawling as I wade through my budget, trying to figure out ways to make more money that don't necessarily involve taking my clothes off...you know, that sort of thing.
And the few hours I had left I spend writing.
