Writer's Life - Family

 One of the hardest parts of my journey is that I have to do it alone. Sure, all writers have to be alone to write, you say. I'm not talking about that alone. Because when I'm writing, I'm never alone. I'm in the company of my characters. 

I'm talking about alone when it comes to support from my family and friends. Sure, my friends have enccouraged me to write, sort of. 

"You're a writer? That's nice. Is it going to rain today?"

My family? Uh, no, not really. I know that people who don't write don't understand what it's like to have stories pop into your head, to write them, to develop characters and then go through all the mishigosh (Yiddish word there meaning "mess") involved in editing and publishing said book. I get that. 

But my friends and my family, with one exception, have never bought any of my books. Not even a novella, not even a $0.99 ebook on sale. Buying, reading and leaving positive reviews for my books would be amazing. If it happened. But it hasn't. And I don't even mean reading all of my books. I have just over 70 books published, so that would be WAY too much to ask of anyone. I mean just one lousy little book. Um. no. That hurts. 

And I believe I'm not alone. I have writer friends in the same boat. So that's why writers, especially romance writers, hang out together, join groups together, have adventures together. Because we read each other's stuff and we get how hard it is to write that book. 

With Thanksgiving here - and I have so much to be grateful for - the one thing that would make my holiday complete is if just one friend or family member got one of my books, read it and said, "Hey, I read such-and-such. Not bad. Really. Better than I expected." That would make my holiday complete. 

Stay safe,

Jean

Struggles of a Novelist - Part Two

 

The dreaded book signing. 

Over the weekend, I participated in a book signing in Woodbridge, New Jersey. The people there were lovely. It was a diverse crowd of authors with books in different genres. That was one thing that made it special. There were books there that could appeal to anyone. The crowd consisted of real readers. And very well-mannered people, which made it so much easier for me.

I'm always a bit of a nervous wreck at those things. I hate bragging and have been raised not to do it about myself.  Yet, if you don't come across as confident, readers will doubt your worth and move on. There's a fine line there. I have adopted an opening line from my former publisher that works well to get the attention of potential buyers. 

Then I have to let my covers and blurbs kind of do the rest. I did have one book that worked its magic. It's "Christmas Duet." Once a reader read the blurb, she bought the book. I brought only four copies and sold out. I probably could have sold more. Who knew? 

All-in-all, it was a good day. I sold out of my Christmas novellas. None of my Hannukkah books, though. Not a Jewish crowd. The novellas went for $6.00. It's worth it to have some inexpensive books so people who don't know you can take a chance on you without ris

king a lot of money. 

It was a long day. Train ride down and back, taxi to and from Penn Station. But I was happy when I got home. I have my work now in the hands of about twenty new readers and that made the trip worthwhile.

If you want to be notified when a new post is made here, it's best to follow me. 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter.

Jean

Struggles of a Novelist - Part One

Howdy. Thanks for stopping by for my first in this intimate series about a writer's life. I hope you enjoy these tidbits and come back for more. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.  

Yes, the writer struggles to discipline herself enough to write a book. Then another and another. BUT ten years later, she's struggling again, but this time to re-edit early works. I no longer struggle to write a book. The words come pretty easily when I'm working on a story I love. But editing old books? Like pulling teeth. 

Right now I'm working on an unusual book - "Love's Last Chance." I love the title. But what's really different about this book is the heroes. I never - and I mean never - use real people in my stories. All of my characters are made up out of my head.

Not this book. There were three men in  my early, single days that came into my life and had a

 connection with me. I ended up walking away from each one. I've always figured it was because I was too young. Maybe 27, 28 years old. Would I still walk away from them now? I wasn't sure when I started "Love's Last Chance." But I am sure now. 

As I struggle to finish this edit, I will continue to post my progress here. I've uploaded the re-edited version as far as I've gotten, if you're curious. It's free in Kindle Unlimited. Meanwhile, I will be devoting an hour tonight to working on it. Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned to this space. More to come from a writer's life.

Free Chapters of New Book in Progress

 I will be posting some chapters from my new romance, "Someone Like You" here in this blog. I'll probably update with new chapters weekly, or every other week. If you're interested and want to keep up on these free reads, I suggest you follow the blog so you'll be notified when a new chapter has been posted. 

Please leave comments. I will be looking for feedback on this book as it's still in progress and can be edited and updated. I'm loving this story. If you do as well, please tell me! Encouraging comments inspire me to keep writing. 

l'll post the first chapter tomorrow. Probably only half a chapter, since my chapters are about ten pages. Stay tuned!

Best regards, 

Jean

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