Guest Blog

today I have a guest blog at http://loriwidmer.blogspot.com/. It is about how to find sources to interview for a book or article. Check it out!

One of the contributors to last wine book, Pablo Solomon.

 

I received a terrific email from one the contributors to my 101 Recipes for Making Wild Wines at Home: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Herbs, Fruits, and Flowers. This is Pablo Solomon, Internationally known artist, designer and yes wine lover. Thanks Pablo! Here is a link to his site. http://pablosolomon.com/

Book Tour Dot Com

I found this site because I was looking for ways to promote my upcoming books. There are a number of sites in which you will spend a lot of money to do virtual tours. I am not sure I am there yet.

This site-www.booktour.com has two main functions. First it allows you to look up an author or geographic area to see who is doing book tours. The caveat here is that only tours that are listed are the ones that authors or their publishers post on the site.

The other part is authors. You can plug in your book, put down when you want to do a tour and in what area and a number of places appear that would be potential places for book tour. A template appears after you choose the places you are interested in and you write a letter to each of these venues through booktour.com. Then you wait to see if any of the venues are interested. I am still waiting, so I will let you know. Here is a LA Times story about a couple that did their own book tour. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/07/entertainment/la-ca-book-tour7-2010mar07?pg=3. This is important to think about as an author because less and less publishers are sending authors on book tours unless you are a big name. The smaller publishing houses like mine just di not have the funds- so I have to be creative.

I recently did an interview for another blog- http://www.nonfictionink.com/. Check it out and leave a comment. Look around- its a pretty cool blog.

Observations about Hair and Beards

I am never one to do things in order- so when I got my new license in the mail today and looked at myself in the mirror I mused whether I had some unknown writer’s affliction.

Back up two weeks-

I looked at my license- it expired two months ago on my birthday. How could I have forgotten, it was on my birthday. My big 4-0. I had not forgotten, I had procrastinated. I would have moments of clarity during my writing sessions in which I thought- you know I should really get my licensed renewed. The next thought- I have a deadline tomorrow on chapter 3. The license went to the “not as important as writing” file.

So two weeks ago- I had a free afternoon. At least I made it a free afternoon. I got ready and looked in the mirror. Sasquatch was looking back. Hair 2 months overdue for a haircut-check.  Beard and mustache totally out of control-check. It was the perfect day for a license picture.

I arrived at the jammed packed license office and was handed  my number- 645. Yeah I was going to be there awhile, and I was totally unprepared.

The sign at the desk caught my eye- checks or cash only. Crap. I took my chances and  left came back with my $20. After yet another 30 minutes I took the relatively simple signs test. ( I admit I cheated. They have this machine you look in and have to identify blank road signs. Was I supposed to study? For God’s sake there were 16 year olds all around rattling them off. WAIT- there were teens that had studied proudly yelling out the answers. I did what any 40 old scary monkey man struggling writer would do- I repeated what what the nearest teen said. 100 percent pass, Genius) So the woman held out her hand- $32 please. What? Crap- I ran to the bank again, and back.

I paid- sat, took picture. They are now apparently mailing them. So I waited a couple weeks. What did I do in the meantime? Well a hair cut and beard trim of course.

I literally sit in sleep pants for days- with coffee as my only companion. Who really sees me? Days turn into weeks into months. I eat, I make love, I sleep and start over again. Am I the only one afflicted with this almost antisocial affliction? Does Neil Gaiman look all hairy and scary after a book? Was he the number suspect after a sighting of the wolfman upon the completion of Coraline?

Please ring in this one. Or is this blog just part of my daily delusion of reality that writing lures me into with promises of making it big and someday actually driving a car in which I might need a license for?

Been busy

I have not been keeping up here. I have been working on a Tinnitus project, 2 marketing projects, beer book (with the publisher for editing), wine articles, law of attraction articles, and a book on natural health.

This has kept me slammed packed. One of the issues that has come up is one I wanted to share. I have a client that I did not require a deposit from because they were highly recommended and top in their field.

I wish I had not done this because now, the project is at a standstill. I have no money from it, but plenty of billable hours. They really do not know what they want, and they do not communicate very often. Their line of work keeps them busy, but I am busy too.

So I had a dream about this and have learned to follow my gut and intuition:

I was online chatting with the client- I could talk and type. (we were on Skype). I told the client that they were too attached to the older version of the book (this job was to update the book). I told them that he needed to let it go.

He responded that the book was still selling a little. (trickle). I told the client fine, then allow me to create a brand new book with the most updated information available.

At this point a lot of other people got online in the chat and were all talking at once. I told him this was part of the problem as we could no longer communicate clearly. I told him that he needed to just allow me to create the new book and not listen to all of the other chatter. He agreed and the chattering stopped.

So I wrote him a letter today outlining my concerns, the need for a deposit and my thoughts on creating a new book for him. I have not heard back yet, so we will see.

Time to relax with some coffee and get typing!

Learn while your write

One of the things I like about being a freelance writer is that I get to learn about many different subjects as I research them. I am actually getting paid to learn.

One of the bigger projects I am working on is PR writing and placing items on Amazon and Kindle. I have totally become an expert in those fields and I got paid to learn them. Now I am using those skills to make extra money- I am putting other people’s books on Kindle and Amazon and I am using the skills in PR writing and marketing to start new websites for passive income. It is a win- win situation. What is your experience with learning a new skill while you write?