Hitting the Redo Button and Starting Over

A few days ago, I posted this picture on my Instagram feed. Part showing off my pretty blue fingernails and part teasing people as I show where I'm at in the process of retyping Farmer's Daughter.

And then one of my followers there (thank you James!) asked me what I was reading and I was struck by the revelation that I talk and write and post with too many assumptions.

Not everyone knows I'm an independent author who has published two books. So I thought I'd take a few moments and introduce myself.

Hi. I'm Robin.

I'm an Indie Author.

In 2013 I hit publish for my first novel through Amazon KDP. A few years later, I hit publish for the 2nd novel.

I did NOT know what I was doing. I should have been blogging and tweeting and building a fan base before I ever hit that button.

I can't undo that. But in a way, I AM hitting the REDO button. I took my two books off the market for valid reasons...I missed too many continuity mistakes. So while I'm fixing those blunders, I'm also going to fix the social media marketing thing.

I'm going to do a few more posts about my books subject matter. If you've already read version one, please bear with me and share my posts so others can be brought into a universe you already love.

I've also been Twittering more. It's a decent place for me to go when I need a break from the intensity of what I'm writing. Some of my characters struggles are very real to me and I've written a few anxiety attack scene which honestly has triggered my own. More about that another day. Twitter also lets me see what some of my favorite writers and actors are up to...I've had two tweets liked by verified accounts just recently!! Nothing cheers this fangirl up more!!

Dude, Dax Shephard...like, seriously!
If you don't know who he is, you're missing out! lol

Thanks to a wonderful woman Glitter on Instagram who has started posting her vids there, I've decided to give that a try too. I absolutely love her. Probably because she's daring enough to be herself in a world which kinda looks down on overweight people enjoying life. I haven't figured out how to share a link for my YouTube channel, but maybe I'll have it figured out by Monday when I'm scheduling this to be posted. All of my other links for my social media accounts are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Wish me luck as I hit REDO and plow on ahead!

Much love!

It's THAT Time of Year Again

Yes, yes it is.  You all know what I'm talking about.

Time to change the calendars and psych ourselves up for remembering to write 2015 instead of 2014.

Time to rethink life habits and either set goals or resolutions for the upcoming year.  Many of these are the same year after year, not necessarily because we've failed but because we want to do better.

Time to look back and reflect on the past year: everything we've accomplished; everything we've lost; everything we've gained; the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And time to look forward into out hopes and dreams, even if the only hope we have is for the next year to be better than the one ending.  (This is why January is named after the god Janus; he had two faces - one looking forward, one looking back and was the god of gateways.)

Judging by some of the statuses I've seen on Facebook, a lot of us have had a rough time of it in 2014 and are not sad to see it go.  Divorces and deaths balances out the births and the other good things that happened I guess; although it honestly doesn't feel like it sometimes, does it?  But the best we can do is exactly that, our best.  Weather the worst life has to throw at us and treasure the good.

My own year was full of ups and downs, just like everyone else's.  Was it a good year or a bad year?  I don't really know if I'd say it was either way.  I know that it's ending happier than it began, and for that much I am grateful.

I am like everyone else, thinking about what changes I can make in the new year to make my life better.  Some things I have no choice about.  Like tightening up on my diet in order to better control my diabetes and lose weight.  A few months ago while I was off work, my blood sugar went all wonky and the Endocrinologist put me on a second medicine.  I was not happy about that, and it bummer me out for a few days.  Especially since I have to pay $60 for it even though it's covered by my health insurance.  But the foot doctor returned me back to work for 4 hours a day even though the tear in my tendon has not healed and he's decided that surgery is the next step.  Those few hours were enough to start my blood sugars evening out, even though my foot doesn't like it one bit.

The surgery isn't scheduled yet, but will be near the end of January or the beginning of February.  It all depends on when my husband will be able to go back to work.  He's been off because he tweaked something in his shoulder.  He now knows exactly how the cortisone shots to my foot feel as he's had one now.  Thankfully, it seems to be helping him more than they did me.

Although I have not seen stellar sales for Ring of Fire, which is 99cents for the next three days, it has been released and I have sold a few.  I'm a little nervous as I await those customer reviews as the second book isn't like the first one, even though it's the same characters.  Our characters were changed by the events surrounding Angela's kidnapping in the first novel, so it was logical to change the feel of their world.  We get to see more of Craig's family, even meet his imprisoned brother.  So of course, one of my goals for the new year is to sell more books (as always) and finish/release the third one in the series.

And of course, the best way to increase my reader base, is to be smarter on social media.  I've been very lackadaisical about it.  I don't Tweet enough, even though I like Twitter.  And I don't get on Google+ enough either, even though I like it better than Facebook.  So I do have to come up with some kind of strategy for my favorite outlets.  I know I need to write out some kind of blog posting schedule and plan, for both this blog and Broads of a Feather.  I may post only every other week, but my posts have been getting later and later each week!  I don't feel too bad because my partner has been having the same problem.

So far all I've done is think about it, and I really need to start writing things down.  It will be more 'real' that way and I'll be able to hold myself more accountable.  I've been thinking about doing an email list, but I haven't made my mind up yet.  Would any of you be interesting in receiving periodic emails from me, letting you know when I've updated my blog and updates on books?

I also have some research to be doing.  I need to read up on writing non-fiction and biographies.  I should be able to figure it out, after all I'm a smart enough girl when it comes to the written world.  I'm no Stephen King (yet) but I'm not exactly a hack either!

Whatever your plans are for ringing in the New Year. be safe and have fun!  We want to be able to hang out together in the future!  There is still so much left for us to do!

2014 ~ Soon to be a distant memory...

Learning New Things Brings Happiness

I'm always up for learning new things.  Over the weekend, creating Mr. Janney's GTA5 crew I learned how to use their website's program to create emblems.  It's a pretty simple program, but it was still very satisfying.  It was also satisfying to be working on something with my husband, even if I don't see it as important.  His input created a pretty cool emblem for his team to use.  The first one I made didn't translate to the Xbox very well.  This one apparently has!  I guess we're even happier now!

Right now, I'm working on learning how to provide you, my readers, a tweetable quote.  If it works...awesome.  If not...you may never know as I'll have pulled my failed attempts from the internet to save you all from my embarrassment!

Of course, that means I'm going to have to start thinking harder to come up with quotes worth tweeting.  I may drop back down to posting only a few times a week; I'm not sure at the moment.

I myself don't have a big Twitter following yet, but I've been slowly increasing.  It's another one of those social tools that I thought was a waste of time, but it turns out that it's something I enjoy just as much as Pinterest.  I enjoy the short tweets that offer me inspiring quotes, or articles to read, or just snapshots into someone's crazy day.

So to see if this works, I think I said something lame like: Always be learning something new!. Tweetable

My test was successful, although I'm not sure it's any kind of brilliance!  lol!

Keeping it short tonight, as it's getting late and I have things to do yet.  Hope everyone had a pleasant enough Monday!




2014 ~ Full Speed Ahead!

Small Miracles

This may not mean anything to some people, but I have the full weekend off!  Considering that we had both Christmas day and the day after off as paid holidays, this really is a small miracle!  We all started the week off with the full expectation of having to work this Saturday, but of the departments working tomorrow, mine isn't one of them.

After the family dinner tomorrow afternoon, I'll spend some more time working on book two.

There's not much else going on at the moment.  I've spent a bit of time on Google+ and Twitter reading a few good articles.  Twitter and Pinterest are challenges to me, as I'm never sure if I'm using them correctly.  I get this chilling feeling that I'm not getting the most they have to offer.  It is a struggle, but I'll keep plugging away.

When it comes to Twitter, I probably don't follow the right people.  A lot of the people I follow are actors that I like.  Gary Sinise, Marina Sirtis, Mara Wilson.

I really like Mara Wilson.  I was never a big fan when she was a little girl in the movies.  Probably just a generational thing.  Oddly enough, I never even saw Matilda until recently, in the past few years.  And that was because my husband had seen it growing up and liked it.  My hubby's near Mara's age, while I'm ten years older.  It was an okay movie, but I have to be honest that it made me angry the way Matilda's parents treated her; and it made me angry that they just let her go at the end of the movie, even though it was for the best.  But I've read a bit of her blog, Mara Wilson Writes Stuff, and follow her on places like Twitter and Facebook and I just like her attitude.  She's a young woman who has more boldness and bravery than I ever had at her age.  I may be a bit envious of that.  Or at least her online persona has those qualities I admire.

I do have more practical Twitter follows, people in the same trade as I.  Frank Perreti, Ted Dekker, M.B. Mooney, and Jess Hanna.   Not all of them are frequent Tweeters though and I end up with more from my favorite actors.  And "guru" types like +Peg Fitzpatrick and +Jeff Roach even though I follow them more on Google+.  I can't help it, I just like Google+ (even if my computer sometimes doesn't! lol)  I just love Peg F.  She's probably my biggest source of social media information.

There is so much I feel like I'm missing.  I can only spend so much time online because of my job.  And breaks are never long enough!  I'm going to have to learn to better utilize them though, because I don't think my 'day job' is going to be changing anytime soon even though I do have a job interview tomorrow morning.  This week hasn't been too bad in the area of work, two 8 hours days Monday and Tuesday, two whole days off, and then a killer 9 hour shift today.  Usually we run five 9's.  But between family events and just being tired, it doesn't feel much different.

At least I don't have to wear earplugs tonight.  I did earlier in the evening, but the Halo Wars crew has changed so the volume has changed as well.  But it's the low rumble I prefer, so I'll be getting off now to pick up my writing in book two.

#offtowrite #twitter #small miracles