Ruth Ann Nordin's Blog, page 12

The Rapid Release Craze is Hurting Authors and the Quality of Books

When I say rapid release, this is how I define it: Rapid release is where you set the goal of writing and publishing a new book every 6-8 weeks.

I understand why this craze came to be a thing. Readers can read a book or two a day. There is no effort in reading. It’s a passive activity, like watching TV. I mean, it can seem like effort if you’re not enjoying it, but if you aren’t enjoying it, you can stop doing it. As a rule, readers are choosing what to read. This is fun for them. It’s easy to consume this product.

Writing the book, however, is a lot different. It takes time to come up with the idea. Some ideas take years to properly develop. Then you have to figure out how to execute that idea in an entertaining way that will keep the reader engaged. (I get not all readers enjoy the same book, but there is always going to be someone out there who will enjoy the book that has been written.) Then there’s the matter of getting the cover, having the thing edited, formatted, and published. It takes time to do all of that. I honestly believe this is why so many writers are running to ghostwriters and AI to do the writing for them. It is hard to keep up with that hectic pace long term. You can do it short term, but when you’ve been at this for years, it takes a toll on you.

Some people write faster than others, but there is not a single person out there who is a robot, and sooner or later, real life shows up to knock you down. You can’t continually pump books out like a widget on an assembly line. Not on your own efforts, anyway. It’s not healthy. The human brain needs time to relax. The human body needs to move around. The human spirit needs emotional connection with other people. We can’t spend all of our time in front of a computer writing the next book. I believe walking and dictating a book takes away from the creative break that walking provides. I think, to be a healthy writer, we need to detach ourselves from our work on a regular basis. Otherwise, I think the writing becomes stale. For writing to be fresh, the creative part of the brain needs to rest. Sometimes I think the best thing we can do for our writing is to spend time with loved ones and/or doing something we love that has nothing to do with writing. The more fulfilled we are in other areas of our lives, the more fulfilling our stories will be. Writing for the long haul is a marathon, not a sprint.

I’m not a fan of ghostwriting. I think it makes you a publisher because you’re not writing the story. To be a writer, you need to write. But ghostwriting has become popular among the self-publishing crowd because of the rapid release craze. Writing has gone from something people did for love to something people do for money. When money is the focus, you want to do everything you can to keep those books coming out. Unless you have a side gig that pays the bills, you need those books to keep money pouring in. The problem with ghostwriters is that they want to be paid. I think AI is going to replace a lot of ghostwriters because AI doesn’t need to get paid. Sure, you’ll pay a subscription service to use AI, but that service is cheaper than paying a person to do the work. There’s a debate going on about whether AI can create stories worth reading. I think AI will be able to reach that level for those “write to market” books because AI is good at imitation. And writers who are motivated by money will want to use AI because there’s no way a human being can keep writing books on the rapid release schedule for years and years on end.

While AI books might satisfy for the moment, I don’t see how they can satisfy long term. I don’t believe the quality will be there in those books. I just don’t see how AI will ever be able to replace human creativity. I think AI books will be cookie cutter type of stories. They’ll be forgettable. If your goal is money, this works fine. You’re just looking to sell a widget.

At the end of the day, I think AI’s appeal will be for those authors looking for a short cut in creating a book. I don’t believe those books will have that great of quality. Maybe they’ll be polished, but the story itself will probably be lacking that human creative edge. AI might mimic a lot of things, but I don’t see how it can have “heart” in its work. I remember years ago (maybe a decade ago) when I was full of my own pride and thought I knew all there was to know about selling books. I was in the whole rapid release and make good money trip. To this day, I remember one of the comments I received from a writer who said that they would rather focus on getting a good story out there that would touch people long after they died. At the time, I told this person that I would rather make the money. Well, I did make the money. And that money is all gone. The dirty little secret no one seems to be willing to accept is that those highs don’t last forever. Sooner or later, things go back down.

All I know is that the books I wrote that I invested myself in still matter to me to this day, and a few readers out there still reread them. I don’t see how AI will ever be able to produce those types of books. To produce those books, you need your creativity to be at its best, and to do that, you will need to give yourself time to work on your health, work on your relationships, and work on other things that interest you. You can’t be glued to your computer all the time.

I started reading because it was an escape. The middle school years were rough for me. Long story short, those books I read were my friends. I put myself in those characters’ shoes and lived all sorts of adventures. Those stories still make me smile when I think back on them, and now I’m all grown up with kids who are reaching adulthood. But I remember those stories, and I still love them. I started writing because I loved reading first. Those stories helped make me the writer I am today. They will always have a special place in my heart, and I’m glad for the writers who took the time to write them, even though those books are no longer being published. Those books have been forgotten by the majority of people, just like our books someday may be forgotten by most people. But who knows if they will be remembered decades from now by a few? Maybe something you’ve written might change someone’s life for the better.

It is unfortunate that books have become nothing more than a widget to a lot of people. Storytelling is such a beautiful gift. When you write something that you love, the story means something. At the end of the day, people are still people. We need human connection. When I read a book the author loved writing, I feel that I get to know something about that author. That book is a part of who they are. When I get a chance to talk to that author, it makes me appreciate that person a lot more.

This human connection is what is lost when we’re in a rush to get books out there. There’s a difference between writing fast and rushing, and I’m talking about rushing. Rushing is about rapid release. Rushing hurts the quality of your work. And I believe that rushing ends up harming your physical and emotional health. The best long term strategy for a writer who wants to keep their love for writing alive is to take a deep breath, relax, and do what you can to nurture your creative spirit.

I write all of this after dealing with burnout for a couple of years now. I even got the point of hating the process of writing, even though I did enjoy the stories I was creating. I am just now getting to the point where I love writing again. It makes a huge difference when you love the process.

Secret Admirer is Now Available!

This is Book 1 in the Marriage by Obligation Series.

In this book, I do set up the other books that will follow in this series. Midnight Wedding will feature Lord Quinton and Miss Lydia Hamilton, The Earl’s Jilted Bride will feature Lady Carol and Lord Wright, and Worth the Risk will feature Mr. Reuben St. George and Miss Amelia Carnel. You might remember Lord Quinton from The Cursed Earl. (He was the hero’s best friend in that book.) Mr. Reuben St. George originally showed up in If It Takes a Scandal. (He was the sickly younger brother of Corin, aka Lord Durrant.) The main benefit of keeping all of these Regencies in the same world is that I get to bring past characters back. Here’s a list of all of the Regencies for quick reference in case you are trying to remember The Cursed Earl and If It Takes a Scandal. I use this list a lot as I write my books and plan upcoming ones.

Here is the description:

Lady Rachel, the sister of the very wealthy and highly esteemed Duke of Creighton, has entered her first Season with great anticipation. She loves wearing beautiful gowns. She loves talking to her friends. She loves going to balls and meeting gentlemen. This is going to be the most wonderful time of her life. When she starts receiving missives from a secret admirer, it turns out the Season is even better than she imagined. What lady, after all, can resist the appeal of a mysterious stranger expressing his deep and abiding love in her?

She sets out to enlist the help of an unlikely ally to find out who her secret admirer is. She knows it’s not appropriate to be discussing such personal information with the butler, but he is the only one she trusts to not tell anyone. Little does she realize the very one she’s confiding in is the very one she’s looking for. And there’s no way he’s telling her the truth since her brother, and the rest of London, would never approve the match.

If interested, here is where you can find it:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo (is in Kobo Plus too)

Apple

Google Play (Ebook)

Google Play AI Audiobook

Smashwords

Getting Back to Writing is a Slow Process

I’m happy to say I actually wrote today. Usually, this wouldn’t be news, but I have written (maybe) 5,000 words since before I left Montana on January 6. Moving really takes a whole lot of time. When you have children who are still in school, it’s worse because you have to line up their stuff, too. But I love being back in Nebraska, I love my new home and neighborhood, and I love being around my friends again. I have no doubt that this is where God wants me. I did a lot of praying late last year that He lead this whole thing, and it feels great knowing that I finally got it “right” when it comes to listening to God.

So anyway, today I did finally get something written in Midnight Wedding and The Earl’s Jilted Bride. I ran out of time to do anything with Worth the Risk.

My eyes have been bugging me, so I could only devote 2-3 hours on the computer today. I haven’t done much blogging because it requires me to be on the computer. This is also why I don’t go on social media a lot. I try to focus my attention on the things that are most important.

My children, of course, come before the writing, and since I’ve been homeschooling my youngest, most of my time on the computer has been spent preparing lessons for him. This week is our last week of homeschooling. I have already prepared all but one of his final exams.

That all being said, I have missed writing, and it was so much fun to get back into my characters’ world. When I haven’t written in a while, it feels like there’s a build up of pressure within me. Then, when I do finally write, that pressure is released. After that, I feel relaxed. I’m really hoping to get back into writing more that the homeschooling will be done. I have missed it.

Janet Syas Nitsick and I will be at the St. Matthews Church in Bellevue, Nebraska April 22, 2023

I don’t know if anyone reading this is in the Omaha area, but tomorrow from 9am to 3pm, I will be at the Spring Craft Fair at St. Matthew Catholic Parish. The address is 12330 S 36th St, Bellevue, NE 68123.

Janet will have all of her books for sales, and I will be her lovely assistant who will provide her with sandwiches and witty repartee so she doesn’t fall asleep. If you are able to stop by, it would be fun to say hi and connect a face with a name.

Tonight, Janet, Bev, and I set up the table. Aren’t those covers pretty?

Hope to see you there if you’re in the Omaha area!

Why Passion Matters More Than Ever

This morning, I actually had the time to browse some posts in a couple of writing groups, and I came across one that inspired this post. A writer in there lamented that their sales went way down in March. Now, not every writer experienced this. Some are seeing a drop in income; some aren’t. This has been the way it’s been for years. There will be writers who will thrive in times when others don’t. So I don’t startle easily anymore when I hear these reports. These reports, however, are a good wake up call on the “why” of why we write.

When you’re doing any kind of business, you run the risk of losing your ability to make income. Everything doesn’t keep getting better. Sometimes, no matter how much work you put into something or what new method you try, you won’t see results that you were hoping to. That’s why a rainy day fund is so important. If you can manage to have some extra set aside, then you breathe a lot easier when sales fall.

My sales have been dropping for quite some time now. I’ve been in burnout mode for a while, so I’ve naturally slowed down the writing. I’ve been torn between quitting all together or just throwing out all of the “critical voices” in my head so I will write exactly what I want in order to get that spark back. Despite all of my efforts over the past few years to shut those critical voices out, one or two keep coming back. There’s always that, “Well, someone won’t like this if I put it in the book,” or “Someone will expect this book to go in this direction and will be disappointed if I don’t write it this way,” thought that passes through my mind. I’d like to say that I’ve been strong enough to stand up to these thoughts, but I’m not. There have been times when I caved into the critical voice. Even the smallest detail put into a story can change how much I enjoy it.

I’ll give an example. Interview for a Wife. I published this in September 2021. I originally put in a scene where the heroine’s brother comes looking for her. Now, nothing came of the event. Nothing was supposed to. But it was supposed to explain more of what the heroine went through in her past to add a level of sympathy to her character. This added sympathy was supposed to make the reader (or at least me) happier that she ended up with the hero. So it was just something thrown in to tug on the emotional strings of the person reading the book. The critical voice told me that if I kept that in there, then people would be upset because I never really “did” anything with the brother. It was a fleeting scene that was there for a moment, and was supposed to be there for only a moment. The person editing my book echoed my critical voice. So I ended up removing it. I don’t think I kept the original scene even in my notes, so I can’t retroactively put it back in. And to this day, removing that snippet really bothers me. That book did not live up to the full potential of what I wanted it to be.

There comes a time when a writer is going to have to give serious thought to the “why” of writing. Removing money from the equation makes the “why” a lot easier to see. You see, money is a big incentive for writers to follow those critical thoughts. If we have spent time reading our genre, we know what the readers want. I spent years reading romance before I wrote one. Back when I started writing them, I didn’t think I’d ever make money, so it was easy to write whatever I wanted. The only reason I started writing romance was because I got frustrated over not being able to find the specific story with the specific characters that I wanted to read. I gave no thought to anyone else. I published the book so I could have a paperback copy, and later, when the Kindle came out, I wanted an ebook copy so I published the ebook. Those books that I wrote during that time lacked the correct historical touch. I’ve learned a lot since then and wouldn’t make the same mistakes today. But they are among my favorite stories as far as the story part goes. I was playing and having fun. I didn’t hold anything back. I didn’t start holding back until about 2012 to 2013 when it became clear to me that there was actually money in writing books. That’s when the critical voices took up residence in my head.

I formed an LLC, I started thinking like a business person, I started to pay attention to what I was writing, and I wrote a lot of my stuff to market. The more I wrote to market, the more I listened to those critical voices. Then I began to lose money in 2016, and it occurred to me that there was no guarantees with writing. Just because you go up, it doesn’t mean you stay up. That’s the expectation that writers have. We don’t expect to lose money, especially if we can run ads and publish more books.

Sometimes I think God allowed me to lose money in order to help me get my priorities back in order. You see, when I started out, I put a lot symbolism between God and the church (the Bride of Christ) in my work. Eye of the Beholder, for example, fits. God takes us in our ugliness of sin and makes us beautiful in how He has redeemed us. Then in His Redeeming Bride, I wanted to show that no matter how grave our past sins were, we can always find forgiveness with God. When I wrote those books, there was no critical voice stopping me from putting in what I wanted. Of course, I still wrote my cute little comedies that were meant to be light and fun. I think humor is good for the soul. Not every book I wrote was supposed to have a deeper meaning to it, but some of them did.

So anyway, as I made money, the world did seep in, and I did have a “falling away” of sorts with the close relationship I had with God. As the money dropped, I naturally went back to Him. That part was easy. God never makes it difficult to return to a close relationship with Him. But it is difficult to overcome the critical voices that tell you, “Ewe. You might not want to add that to the story. Someone’s not going to like it.” And that voice can be right. I made the decision to let a certain subplot span from Book 2 to Book 4 in the Misled Mail Order Bride Series. So I left things hanging in Book 3. I actually think the series was better by doing that because it helped me get the hero and heroine together in Book 4. But wow! People did NOT like the way I wrote The Perfect Wife at all. Even people who liked my other books complained about this one. The amount of negative comments I received on The Perfect Wife was more than I even got for how “1980-ish” An Inconvenient Marriage seemed. I didn’t think anything could top the complaints I got for An Inconvenient Marriage. I can actually laugh about this now, but it wasn’t all that fun at the time. So after The Perfect Wife bombed, those critical voices came right back into my head and took up residence again.

It is not easy to write for passion. It is one of the hardest things a writer will ever do because it opens you up to a lot of negative feedback. Unless you’re passionate about stories that naturally cater to the market. If you happen to love writing stuff that is popular, you’ll do fine writing for passion. For those of us who are round shapes trying to fit into a square hole, we will struggle. Our stories are not going to appeal to most people.

For anyone who took the time to read through this entire post and writes for passion, I would like to encourage you to keep going. You see, we are competing now with a world of AI. I heard KU just had its lowest payout ever. I think writers will start using AI to write books in order to produce more content because they’ll get scared when the money starts to dry up. This will be a natural reaction. If they’re writing for money, they will seek out ways to keep making it. But I can’t see how AI will ever match the creativity and passion that someone who loves what they’re writing can produce. We’re human. AI will never be human. We have the ability to put emotion into the words we write. We have the ability to write things that mean something to us. I realize that most people will be content reading stories that have been produced with AI’s help. A lot of people read books once. I think AI will give people that disposable fiction that they like reading. AI will be good at formula writing. Also, let’s face it. If a writer is rushed to keep getting stories out there in order to keep money flowing in, they will not have time to give a story the emotional backing that writing for passion produces. To write for passion, you do have to give all of yourself to a story. Those books aren’t popular with most people, but they will resonate with the person who wrote them, and, if God will it, those books will find the readers who will want to read them more than once.

So anyway, I have decided that my current work in progress, Midnight Wedding, will go to a level that I realize will not please a lot of romance readers. It is a romance, but there’s going to be a dark element to the story. Romance readers don’t really care for “dark”. I already received reviews on my gothic romances and some comments about it. But I’m going to write this book for me. This is an element I could leave out. I does nothing for the plot, but it does give the story the kind of gothic feel I want to read. And since this is my story, I’m going to put it in. Even if you can’t shut the critical voice off, you can shove it out the door. That’s what I am going to intentionally do from now on. I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favorite stories when all is said and done, and I’ll look back and be glad I went with my passion. As writers, it’s okay to write books specifically with us in mind.

April 2023 Newsletter

Oh boy. You can tell I am overwhelmed. I placed this post on the wrong blog. I’ll leave this here and link to this post over there. What a crazy time.

I am part of an April Promo!

The book I’m offering for free is A Perilous Marriage, but if you have already read it, there are other great books being offered as part of this promo, so I thought I’d pass them on. In case you have trouble with the links I provided, here is the direct url: https://litring.com/giveaway/for-the-love-of-reading-giveaway-2/

***

Secret Admirer will be out May 7!

I have this book already done and uploaded, so I won’t need to push back the release date or remove the pre-order.

I’ll give more information about this next month when it comes out, but suffice it to say this is a titled person and servant romance. Specifically, the butler is in love with the lady. I thought it’d be fun to write something like this. I did a subplot years ago in Fairest of Them All with this setup, but I never got to write a romance where they involved the main characters.

This one is mostly cute. It would fit in well for an afternoon read when you want something light and fun. If it sounds interesting, you can pre-order it at these places:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo (included in Plus)

Apple

Google Play

Smashwords

I have not set it up on Radish yet, and it won’t be available on Scribd until May 7. I also still need to get it on audio format on Google Play. I do plan to get it on Kobo in audio, but that won’t be for some months. I have so much going on that I’m having trouble finding time to even write.

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Kobo Plus is expanding to the US and the UK!

I have all of my romances as ebooks (and some in audio) on Kobo Plus. The best thing about Kobo Plus is that I don’t have to be exclusively on Kobo to be in that subscription program. The only reason I’m not in KU (over at Amazon) is because they require me to have my books exclusively on Amazon. I want my books to be as widely available as possible.

The neat thing is that Kobo Plus covers ebooks and audiobooks. I hope to have all of my books up there in audio by the end of the year. Right now, I’d say about half of my books are in audio. The move to Nebraska and getting settled in put a stop to my progress. I am homeschooling now, too, so I don’t expect to get back into uploading audiobooks until about June or July. I can’t afford an assistant, so I do all of this stuff myself.

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I am mostly done with the paperbacks!

With the exception of a few books, I have finally gotten my romances set up on Draft2Digital in paperback form. Thankfully, Draft2Digital had a system to help me make interior files and covers. That was why I was able to get through it as fast as I did. I now have almost 100 romances. When you get that many books in your backlist, it takes a while to get them all out in a certain format.

Draft2Digital will put these on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I’m sure there still some old versions out there through secondary sellers.

***

I haven’t forgotten these three books:

I haven’t been able to get more than a couple thousand words written since I left Montana in early January, and the only book I’ve been able to write in was Midnight Wedding. This is turning out to be a very slow year for me writing-wise.

The move took up a lot of time. Now that I’m settled in, I had to deal with some identity theft, and it looks like a dear friend and fellow author, Janet Syas Nitsick (who I’ve done anthologies with in the past) might lose her husband to cancer. I want to be there for her since she’s done so much for me in the past. I have not put these three books on pre-order because I have no idea when I’ll finish them.

I do not have a ghostwriter, and while I can see AI being good with helping me come up with book descriptions and doing some light brainstorming on where to go next with the plot, I have no intention of letting AI do the actual writing for me. I want all of my books to be my own creative work. I know some authors view books as a business, and they do very well with it. But I want each book to be written by me. I want everything I do with these books, including the promotion I do with them, to come from the heart. I know that makes for lousy business. I am not one of the authors making “six figures”. If you’re an author following my path, you probably won’t make a lot of money.

It’s just that I would rather take things slow and have these books mean something to me on a personal level. Back in 2010, I remember talking with an author who hated my writing style. She wanted to rewrite my books for me. I told her, “I will succeed or fail on my own merits.” I still feel that way today. So when you read my work, you will be getting “me”, not someone, or something, else. I don’t have a problem with other authors using ghostwriters or AI. I’m just saying that I’ve decided those things are not for me and the books I want to create.

Enough of that soapbox.

I hope everyone has a wonderful April!

If Someone Steals Your Identity, These Things Will Help

I wish I didn’t have to make a blog post like this, but since I just went through a case of identity theft, I feel I should write this in case someone else ever goes through this situation and needs guidance.

This is not about someone stealing my books. This is a case where someone got a hold of my name, my social security number, my email address, and other personal information in order to get a credit card. I’m not sure how this happened. I try to be careful. But I did already have Lifelock. Even though I had Lifelock, there were some things I needed to do on my own. So even if you don’t have Lifelock, there are some steps you can do to help protect yourself. I’ll mention those first and then get back to Lifelock at the end of this post.

Create an account with the three main credit bureaus.

They are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can freeze your credit and create a fraud alert for free. While no one can guarantee freezing your credit will stop theft, it is better than doing nothing. If you aren’t going to take out debt any time soon, I recommend doing this even if you aren’t a victim of identity theft. If you think your personal information was compromised but aren’t sure, then you’ll want to also place an initial fraud alert. This alert is good for one year. It will make creditors aware that they should make an attempt to contact you directly before allowing any new forms of debt to open up in your name. Is this perfect? I’m sure it’s not, but it offers a better chance of being protected from theft.

When you freeze your credit, you will be given a code. If you decide to apply for a new credit card, mortgage, etc, you can use this code to unfreeze your credit so the creditor can check out your information. One credit bureau gave me the code in an email. The other sent me my code in the mail. Lifelock has a “lock” feature with TransUnion, so I just did that one through my Lifelock dashboard. But I’m sure TransUnion would be similar to the other two. These freezes and initial fraud alerts were easy to set up. And there’s no cost to do them.

I feel that the freeze and initial fraud alert are a good first step. But if you find out someone already took your identity and is using it for utilities, a credit card, or something else, you need to do more.

What if someone stole your identity and you need to fight back?

You have three things to do at this point. And these will take some time. On and off, this took me about two weeks. It took me a few days just to wrap my mind around what was happening and what to do about it. Shock really does immobilize you. Then you have to do a little at a time to get your brain moving in a proactive direction. I didn’t do all of this in one day. I had to do a little at a time.

1. Fill out the event with the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/.

Complete the form as much as you can. For example, if you don’t know who stole your identity, you can’t complete that portion of the form. I didn’t know the person who stole my identity, but I knew the mailing address the credit card went to because this person used my email address when applying for the card. So I was able to supply that address even though I didn’t have the person’s real name. Be as specific as you can. Leave the rest blank.

When you are done with the form, print the completed form. I recommend printing out at leas two copies. You want one for your physical records. You will need a copy to send to one of the three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion.) You might need a copy when filing a local police report. I had one ready for my local police department, but they didn’t take it. I’m sure this depends on your police department.

2. Go to your local police department to report the theft.

This turned out to be the step that took me the longest to do. I searched for police departments in my area. One was closed to the public. Another told me that I wasn’t in the jurisdiction. Thankfully, the person at this department was nice enough to tell me where to go. It was further out from my home than I expected. So save yourself time driving around and make some phone calls first. If you lost actual money, get a copy of the report. I didn’t lose anything. So I was fine with just having the officer’s business card with the report number written on it. In order to receive money back from Lifelock on the theft, I would have had to produce a physical copy of the report.

3. Place an extended fraud alert with one of the three credit bureaus.

The extended fraud alert is when you have actually been a victim of identity theft. You will need either a copy of the local police report OR a copy of the form from the Federal Trade Commission. You will need two forms of ID. You can use a driver’s license or a state issued ID. You can also use your social security card. (There were a couple of other options, but I don’t recall them off the top of my head.) You will need to make copies of these. I did mine in color. I’m not sure if they take a black-and-white copy or not. I also had to print out the form from Experian requesting to file the extended fraud alert.

Note: You only need to send all of this information to ONE of the three credit bureaus. The one you send all of this information to will notify the other two bureaus.

An extended fraud alert is free. It lasts for seven years. I did have to mail this information directly to the credit bureau. So it takes longer than placing the initial fraud alert.

Is a service like Lifelock worth it?

I recommend signing up for something like Lifelock to protect your identity if you can afford it. It does cost money to have something like Lifelock. Unlike the other things I did, this wasn’t free. But I chose to sign up years ago because I’d been dealing with people stealing my books. I figured if someone targeted my books, someone would eventually target me on a financial level.

I’m not going to say which bank this thief went through to get the credit card, but I will say that this bank ignored all of my phone calls and emails when I contacted them to report the theft. It was only because of Lifelock that I was able to have a conference call with them. Lifelock’s AI system did detect the fraud within a day of me getting the first email about the credit card. I did click the “No, it wasn’t me” right away, and then I received an email instructing me of what to do (reporting the theft to the Federal Trade Commission, going to my local police department, freezing my credit and placing the fraud alerts with the credit bureaus). While someone at Lifelock looked into my case, I took care of all of those things. It was about a week and a half before I received a phone call from someone at Lifelock. I don’t know how their system works, but they were making sure it was really “me” who said I didn’t apply for that credit card. Anyway, the call took about 20 minutes, and Lifelock was able to get me through to the bank to finally get that credit card closed out. Now Lifelock is getting that fraudulent credit card off of my credit report for me. I’m sure I could have done that part myself, but I’d rather let Lifelock do it. So that’s why I say Lifelock (or a similar service) is worth having if you can afford it.

If you can’t afford it, then at least you have the other steps I mentioned to help protect yourself. That’s why I figured I’d take the time to make this post. I hope no one here will need this information. It is stressful when stuff like this happens.

What I’m Up To These Days

I finally have Secret Admirer up on pre-order. It’s set for May 7.

This was my first time using Draft2Digital (D2D) for one of my romances. I have been using D2D for the short stories and YA thrillers. I didn’t really have to do much for formatting on those because they are short, and the longer stories were formatted by someone else. I am used to the Smashwords “meatgrinder”, so when I did my Smashwords system to upload to D2D, there was a snafu that kept showing up at the very end of one of my chapters. I spent a couple of hours trying to get around this without reformatting the entire book again, but it failed. So the other day, I finally bit the bullet and started over from scratch on the entire format. This time, I took into account the issues I ran into with D2D. Thankfully, that version turned out just right. Every time you go with a new system, it takes some time to learn it.

I will say the nice thing about D2D is that it lets you modify your interior ebook so that you can have a couple of fancy fonts and chapter headings. It also gives you the links to each retailer. I like both of those features a lot.

If you want to pre-order this book, here are the links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Apple

Smashwords

I did put it on Google Play, but it doesn’t appear to be live yet in the store. I will get this out on AI audio on Google Play as we get closer to May 7.

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Making Paperbacks

I’m going to focus on getting paperbacks set up through D2D now that I’ve removed them from KDP. (KDP is an extension of Amazon. D2D still puts paperbacks on Amazon. I got sick and tired of KDP messing up the look of my books. D2D’s quality is a lot better.)

Anyway, I have 78 paperbacks to do to get caught up with my romances. I have a total of 97 romances written. Secret Admirer is my 98th romance. This will be a nice side project.

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A Joint Blog Coming

I have decided my main goal at this point in time is to have fun with my books. While I have story ideas, I am going to slow down in writing. I’ll keep writing, but I’ll have less books coming out, at least for this year. I haven’t written anything since the beginning of January, and I don’t feel like I’m ready to get back to those stories. I’m just tired. It takes a lot out of a person to keep writing all the time. Even though I’ve given myself breaks and had a routine that worked, the pressure to keep at it has taken its toll. I need to step back. I have finally given myself permission to write when the muse, so to speak, strikes.

But I still want to be active online, and I still want to talk about books and do fun things with the books I’ve written and am writing. I think sharing a blog with Janet Nitsick will be a lot of fun. We’re working on setting it up right now, and we’re trying to think of things to make it engaging. I’ll share more about this in the near future.

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Still Homeschooling

I enjoy homeschooling. I almost became a teacher. When I was a kid, I used to play school with my little sister. So this is fun for me.

Anyone Out There in the Omaha Area Who Would Like to go to a Book Festival in July?

There is a writing group here in Nebraska where they are thinking of having a book festival on July 21-22. Right now, they are trying to get an idea of how much interest there would be for readers to meet up with local authors. The genres will vary, and it’s been years since I did anything with this writing group, but Janet Syas Nitsick, my author friend, is a member of the group and has been active in it all these years. She is the one who told me about this possible event.

Since I am back in Omaha, I can go to something like this and meet with readers in person. I thought it would be fun to hand out one free signed paperback to any of my readers who showed up to something like this so they could say hi to me. A lot of you have been with me since the early days in 2010 to 2012 when I was just learning the ropes of being a self-published author. And it’s because of you that I’m still doing this today. Believe me, your encouragement and support over the years has been greatly appreciated.

So I thought I’d see if anyone reading this would be interested in going to downtown Omaha to this festival. Please let me know in the comments. Then I can pass along the number of people who are interested to the people who are thinking of putting this event together.

Getting the Most Out of Writing

This morning while I was getting homeschool work ready for my kid, I came across this video. I had to stop everything I was doing because a blog post idea came to mind.

The video, ironically, is about 15 changes you can make so your home serves you better. The topic I want to discuss is how to make writing serve us better.

First off, this is an approach from someone who writes for passion. I no longer write to market. If you’re looking for a “writing to market” post, this isn’t for you.

Write things that inspire you.

When we write things that inspire us, writing is fun. When we are writing things for other people, writing is not as fun. Short term, you will probably do fine writing stuff for other people. But I’m looking at the long term. I’ve been publishing ebooks since 2009, and if you are going to keep at this for the long haul, you need to love what you are writing. All the money in the world doesn’t satisfy you when you get tired of what you’re writing.

Keep things fresh. If you are no longer interested in the stuff you have been writing, switch to something else. If you have branded yourself in a certain genre, look for a niche within the genre that will put a fresh new spin on what you write. For example, I was getting tired of Regencies until I realized I could incorporate gothic themes into it. I love romance, but I also love psychological thrillers and (to a lesser extent) the high emotion of fear found in horror. By blending the together, I find that I have a smaller audience (sales have declined to prove this), BUT I love these books and have a lot of fun writing them. Now, I don’t always feel the need to insert gothic themes into my Regencies. Sometimes I go back to writing a simple happy romance because that is the story I want to write at the moment. By inserting something fresh and new, I have found enjoyment in writing the regular old Regency formula.

Clean your writing space.

If the move I recently made to Nebraska taught me anything, it’s how much more at peace and motivated I have been AFTER throwing a lot of stuff out. I had no idea that letting stuff accumulate in my house actually made it harder for me to stay focused. I donated a ton of stuff and threw out the rest before making the move. When I chose decorations and furniture for the new house, I was intentional about it. I wanted a lot of free space and minimal decorations. My work space is the same. I have drawers where I will put things I need. I file things away immediately. I have been using a To Do List for years, but now I find that I get those items marked off a lot faster than I used to, and I think keeping things neater and cleaner have contributed to that.

When you eliminate clutter, something happens to you psychologically. You feel more relaxed, and you get more done because it’s easier to focus.

Don’t be afraid of letting stuff go.

There’s no sense in holding on to something that isn’t working for you. Even if something used to work, let it go if it’s no longer adding a benefit to your life. This can apply to writing and marketing. Too many times we keep doing something just because we always did it. It becomes a habit. We can fall into habits that are so comfortable that we hate not doing them anymore. But if this isn’t providing use to you, then there’s really no point in continuing on with it.

I’ll give three examples from my life (two on a professional level and one on a personal level). One, I love my Larson family in the historical western romances, but I’m tired of writing about them. I really wanted to write about Tom and Jessica Larson’s four girls, so I did. I had the excitement for that. But I have no desire to write about any of the other Larsons, even though I sell more historical western romances if I write about a Larson. Maybe some day I’ll want to write another Larson story, but at this point in time, I’m not interested, so I’m not going to do it. I have to let the Larsons go. Two, I used to see a great benefit from Booksprout, which is where readers will review ARCs. During the last couple of campaigns, I noticed that there wasn’t much interest in the books I put up, so I didn’t renew my subscription. I’ve been a Booksprout user for years. I think it’s a good service for a lot of authors. This could be because I’m writing to a smaller niche now. I know the books I’m currently writing appeal to less people. I have changed. I need my marketing strategy to adjust with those changes. Three, living in Montana wasn’t working for me. It hadn’t been working for me for a very long time. But it was easier to stay there because my house was paid off, I had permanent plates on my cars, and I knew the right places to go to for doctors, dentists, etc. Moving meant a lot of work and adjustments. It also meant a mortgage. But it was the best choice for me and my family. So I took myself out of my comfort zone and chose this route.

My point to all of that rambling is that sometimes you need to break free of those things that are no longer working, even if you have to take a risk in order to do it. You might not always make money by letting things go, but you might find that you’re level of satisfaction goes way up.

I was ready to hit publish when I thought of something else. Sometimes you need to let go of your perfect ideal of what your writing life should be like. I know goals are important. I suggest making goals within your control. You can’t control how many books you sell or how much money you make. You can only control how many books you write, what you write about, and where you publish your books. You can control what promotional opportunities you join, but you can’t control the outcome of those opportunities. My advice is to let go of goals you can’t control. The moment I let go of the “I will make $X every month” goal, my stress level went way down.

Take time to relax.

Easier said than done on some days, but this is a really good tool to helping you have energy and focus. You might have to say no to some things. Unlike AI, we can’t keep going nonstop. We need breaks. We need to replenish ourselves. I’m sure everyone needs a different amount of time. Someone might do well with one hour. Another person might need two hours. When you feel frazzled out, set aside to rest. See how long it takes for you to feel restless. That restlessness is usually a clue that you’re rested up. How many times in the day do you need to take a step back and relax?

Some of this depends on the demands you’re facing, of course. Some people lead busier lives than others. A person working and then trying to get some writing in will naturally have more to tackle than someone who doesn’t have to work to pay the bills. A person with small children will have more to tackle than someone with grown kids or no kids at all. Whatever your situation is, you can adapt your own time for relaxing. This will help your mind settle down. When you settle down, you will be better able to write your best work. If that means writing less, then write less. If you keep running all day long in the pursuit of getting as many books out as quickly as possible, you’ll burn yourself out if you’re not careful. I know because this happened to me a few years ago. Writers need rest.