Do What You Love, the Money Will …

October 11, 2013October 11, 2013 / roughwighting / 32 Comments

Do what you love, the money will follow.

This is a quote I’ve heard many times over the years.

How’s that working for you?

I believed this philosophy starting in college, when I majored in English Lit, even though I was encouraged to study something more lucrative, like accounting or engineering.

Problem was, I couldn’t count, and I didn’t believe in logic.

So I stuck with literature.

Over the years, I’ve followed my love of words by editing and writing for medical journals and textbooks (learned a heck of a lot about radiologic technology, but my salary was x-rayed down to the bare bones).

I tutored high school special ed students, who taught me more than an encyclopedia worth of life’s lessons. But, of course, education is not valued as highly as Wall Street, and my pay checks illuminated that fact of life.

Now I’m office managing an historical society, using my words to protect and promote the importance of preserving our history. Love the job, even though “Non-Profit” means “No Money.”

Photo by Elliot Karlan. Can you find me?

In the past few years, I’ve also followed up on my long-held passion to break out into blogging and publishing my (well-filed) novels.

I am truly doing what I love.

Readers are following me.

But the money?

Not so much.

Does this mean I wish I’d ditched my literary muse, and focused on calculators, spreadsheets, and slide rules?

Not on my life.

So, I’m changing the well-known money quote to a more honest one.

Ready?

“Do What You Love, and a Fulfilled Life Will Follow.

Does this work for you?

Follow the rainbow… not the pot of gold.

Bookworm

August 30, 2013 / roughwighting / 29 Comments

I lust for well-written, fast-paced, fabulously thought-out novels.

After a long week of work, with early morning risings, daily walks with the dog, constant work challenges (have you made a postcard, on-line, lately?), a week that is lengthened by attending night-time board meetings and teaching writing classes, baking homemade cookies for sick friends, and creating scrumptious dinners for my man (I say with tongue in cheek) — after a week like that, I adore an empty weekend ahead, with no plans but to sit down with a good book.

Even now, with a day left to the week, I pine for the beginning of the long Labor Day weekend, which will bring me to my soft burgundy chair (or sunny deck chair), dog at my feet, sunny gorgeous view of the SF bay (a view I ignore once engrossed), and a tome of fiction on my lap – in hardback, softback, or Kindle format.

I hold back the urge to escape until Saturday afternoon, after I’ve taken my long weekend walk, meditated through my yoga class, picked up groceries for the weekend, and begun a load of laundry.

Then, then the need for a good read is as palpable as a strong, urgent, irritating itch.

I brew a cup of chamomile, sling on my soft comfy sweatshirt, plop down on my chair, and sigh with passionate desire to enter a new world.

Magic Book © Mariia Pazhyna

How about you? Are you a lusty, dreamy, passionate bookworm too?

(In the past month, I’ve chortled over Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, held my breath during the entire 940 pages of Winter of the World, and now, am chewing my nails over The Ophelia Cut. Next up? The Language of Flowers.)

reading time, books, children's books, grandmothering

Oh, and how can I forget the funny saga of The Pirates Next Door, by Jonny Duddle?

To Market, To Market

January 4, 2013January 9, 2013 / roughwighting / 54 Comments

Oh boy, is this hard. I’ll just share with you right now that I am not comfortable writing this post. Okay, here I go, here I go….

I’m almost ready to publish my book, The Right Wrong Man.

The genre? Romantic suspense. But who likes labels? The book is a fun page turner, spell-binding, sexy, with a main character who is flawed (after all, aren’t we all?) and funny at times, clueless at others, and interesting enough that you (the reader) will want to follow her down her own little rabbit hole and see the horrible mess she’s in.

Well, there, that wasn’t so difficult to publicize (also known as hype, tout, flaunt, plug, oh my gosh so many words under “to market”).

I’m a writer, not a promoter. (That’s sort of like saying “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”) I like the idea of taking the high road (you know, I just love the creative process, not the hard-as-nails side of advertising and marketing).

writing process, writing, publishing, marketing, all-terrain highway

The all-terrain highway of writing.

But writing now is an all-terrain highway. The ups, the downs, the writing, the selling.

So I’m proud to shout out I’VE WRITTEN A GOOD BOOK! I love Meredith, my main character. I’m fascinated by the right wrong men in her life, Gregory and Parker. (Or are they the wrong right men?)

Either way, I’ve written the book and edited it and drafted it 2 or 20 or 33 times. My novel has been read and edited and reviewed and critiqued by men and women who all exclaim, “WHAT A GREAT READ!”

The cover is complete, the formatting from Word to Kindle is just about there, and all I need to do now

Is.

Market It!

Ack, but that’s the HARD part.

Can you believe that? Writing a book is supposed to be the most difficult component of publishing.

Making up a character (but truly, that was easy, because Meredith just popped on the page for me);

Finding and following a plot (well, again, I had no idea where Meredith was going, but before I knew it, she flew away from her comfy home in Boston to visit a stranger in a yacht off of St. Thomas and before she knew it…oh, never mind, you have to read the book to find out);

Getting to ‘The End’ (but you know what? The pages just flew on the tip of my pen from page 1 to 286).

Easy peasy.

Just a gallon of sweat, a bucket of blood.

But now, to market, to market.

If you have any suggestions on how to promote The Right Wrong Man, please pass them on.

Just remember, I’m kind of low on blood right now…