Lisa Greer's Blog, page 2

Changing Business Plans

Did that word business in the title make you look twice? Maybe, maybe not. As a writer, I think in terms of art and business, and I wanted to write a bit about how that works for me and how I make decisions about what to write and when (assuming the muse doesn’t bonk me on the head with an idea I cannot resist). My mojo for putting new words on the page is waning these last couple days anyway, so goofing off here seems like a good idea.

I’ve posted recently about my plan to write 75K words by June 20th (and complete the projects I need to that add up to that 75K. I didn’t just pick that number from the sky. Tee hee). Well, I decided yesterday to change my plan a bit to 65.5K words by June 20th. The main reason is that two of the short pieces I’d planned to write are not ones I want to push myself to get done by the end of June. There is really no reason to, so I’ve cut those out of the total. Why stress myself out if I don’t need to? If I do have extra time on my hands, I might get to those projects. Or I might work on something totally different.

How did I come to this decision? I considered a few things:

1) When these publications I was going to write by the end of June will come out. I don’t have control over these particular works–in terms of when they are published. Based upon others yet to come out and many past delays, I don’t see any way they would be released by the end of 2013, even if I did have them done in June or even July. So, why worry about rushing what I can’t rush anyway? I still have completed works that are yet to come under contract. I feel like I’m way ahead on these serials and am just…waiting on other folks to turn wheels that I cannot. Anyway, writing these serials in a rush amounts to worrying about money I will not see this year (gasp. Yes, I wrote something about money and writing!). My time is better spent on other projects if I do complete everything on my list.

2) What I feel like writing right now. I am really enjoying working on the Sorrowmoor serial set, so I’m going to roll with those and with some pen name work I’m doing–at least through June. When those serials are done, they need to be formatted into a single volume for sale as well. Then, I have some other ideas I’d like to spend time on.

3) My motivation to push myself on these particular serials has really flagged. One reason I dig self publishing is the control I have over how books are published and when they come out. My motivation is high to get my stuff out…when I want it out. I like to have a new release every month–if I can get it. Since I write short, that is a reasonable goal. Right now, that is happening since I have a Kickstarter serial set. I don’t like my work to be sat on for long periods of time, especially when these stories are short serials. That makes no sense to me. So, I make decisions accordingly.

4) I don’t like to feel whiny and needy. So, I avoid that by moving ahead myself on what I can do. I have folks who do work for me on the self publishing end, and my deadline is theirs. Nothing stops me from pushing harder there when other things are stalled. The days of having to wait for publishers to move are over–unless we choose to work with publishers. I do work with publishers, and I self publish. Such flexibility and choice is both freeing and terrifying to many people. I find it quite liberating in a business that can be frustrating.

How about you? How do you make big decisions in your writing business or other business?

Write through the Fear

For the past couple of years, I’ve been pretty fearless when it comes to my writing and also the path I’ve chosen for publication and how I get my books out into the world. This stupidity or stroke of genius (depending upon how you look at writing and publishing) has enabled me to write what I wanted to and ship it or put it out there. I have a lot of content in online stores (and in a brick and mortar or two as well), and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished so far–even when I really didn’t know what I was doing. I tweak my plans a lot and have no problem doing so. I feel fine with change and go full speed ahead, generally.

So, this emotion I’m feeling lately is new to me. It has crept up big time in the last week. Namely, it’s a big old, ugly monster with yellow teeth that sits perched on my shoulder and pipes up every ten minutes or so while I write. “Hey. Are you sure this serial is any good? You should probably stop now or erase that and rewrite that page.” I try to brush the voice off, and most of the time, I’m successful. As you might imagine, though, the voice of the Fear Monster wears on me. I confided in a friend that I wasn’t sure if what I’d written in the last couple of weeks or so sucked or not. She compared my pregnant and brain fogged state to being on different drugs and not knowing if what you are doing is crazy or not.

Yeah. I guess I can see that comparison.

So, what do I do? What do you do when the monster in the closet that usually slobbers under cover of darkness at night in your worst dreams comes out and taps you on the shoulder?

What I am doing is writing through the fear. So what if what I’ve completed isn’t good? Editing will work. I am relying on my editors to tell me if anything crazy happens that I don’t see. They have done so in the past, and I’m sure they will now and in the future. I have a feeling, though, that this fear is the result of some crazy hormonal thing. Then again, a good dose of fear isn’t a bad thing. It’s keeping me sharp. I’m re-reading a passage, rather than breezing through a first draft.

Perhaps an excerpt from “In a Dark Time,” a poem by Theodore Roethke, describes the on-going battle with fear:

A steady storm of correspondences!

A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,

And in broad day the midnight come again!

A man goes far to find out what he is–

Death of the self in a long, tearless night,

All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.

Dark,dark my light, and darker my desire.

My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,

Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?

 

Fear is part of life. Today, I chose to walk through it and to bat the monster away. I came out on the other side. Words on paper and an uneasy sense of accomplishment were the product of my being afraid that what I was writing was not good enough. And I’m okay with that. How about you? How do you handle fear in your life, art, or work?

 

An Alien Has Taken Control of My Brain…in other words, I’m just pregnant

I planned for this day and set up a daily word count and accountability post on Facebook in hopes of beating the clock. From my first pregnancy, I remembered having brain mush. This is the state where you sit around and go Duuuuhhhh even though you want to be writing. Or you do stuff around the house, but your brain is just not working right; you walk into a room and forget why you are there. Today, I searched for my shoes for almost ten minutes. Yeah, not fun.

Here was my plan to make progress before mush brain (I was hoping that was an if!) struck. My writing schedule looked like this from the beginning of the year: 75000 words by June 20th– 12 short serials done by then (11 are done now), 5 serials in a set done (on #4 now) and four more serials in the Montmoors set done (1.75 are done). Almost 49000 words written. Not bad for having started this plan Dec. 10, 2012. Now I’m glad I did.

I thought I was just unmotivated to write yesterday. We’ve all had those days where we were just meh on the whole prospect of putting words on the page. I managed to eek out 200+ words before bed anyway. Not my goal, but better than nothing, certainly.

Then I sat down this afternoon and felt the same way about writing. I just couldn’t seem to focus. I am one of those just do it, power through it people. I couldn’t seem to make progress. So, I did some business end stuff while fuming about not getting new words in on my serial. Then it hit me. Uh oh. Mush brain is here. The alien has invaded. My brain is toast. Or at least toast-y.

So, what will I do? Write as much as I can. Go easy on myself and figure my brain very well might have the consistency of pea soup for a year or better. Yeah. That long while massive growth happens for baby and my brain changes again as a mommy (pretty cool stuff actually if you read about it!). I will still be able to write some. I might even have some spectacular days between now and the end of June. I sure hope so, but I’m fine with things, however they happen.

Another writer I respect quite a lot, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, has written about the category of life events/writing events that pregnancy brain (what’s the word? Seriously, I’m thinking hard through the fog) occupies. She calls these events in life that upset our writing schedules life rolls. They could be death, illness, trouble at home, new baby, divorce, an unexpected job loss, or any manner of things that really knock us off balance or make us roll around for a while, trying to get our bearings–happy or sad events. Her advice? Roll with it. Do the best you can, and don’t beat yourself up. Get back to writing when you can. Sounds good to me. From today on, I’m still going to go for my word count goal. Will I make it most days? I don’t know. My day job also needs to get done and will come first, obviously. So, I can’t say, but at least I’ll have tried. And when my brain shouts, “enough!,” I’ll retire to watch House of Cards or to hang with the fam or do some baby related thing. After all, though we might like to think biology no longer applies to us in this post post modern or whatever age it is, it still does. And it can be a real force to be reckoned with.

I’d love to know about your life rolls. Have you had them? How did they impact your writing or other pursuits? How did you handle them with grace (or kicking and screaming as the case may be)?

 

Settle for Small… or Live Big

Note: I had a bunch of thoughts written out on this topic, and then the post got eaten mostly by WordPress. Gah! Anyway, I’ve decided to post what I could. Hopefully, you might see something that makes you think a bit more…or that just has you nodding in understanding.

We’ve been thinking about aging a lot at my house lately. I just had a birthday in January–one where a woman hits the point where she’s past being able to call herself young. It didn’t bother me much, I don’t think. But my husband is at that age where you get horrible birthday parties thrown for you, complete with black balloons and lots of people teasing you that you’ll need a walker soon. He narrowly escaped a party like that last year. There are no bets that he will be so lucky this year. Muwuahahha.

And there’s another big life change coming for us that makes us think about age, time, and its passage. A  new baby is on the way in June, and we are older this time around (almost a decade will have passed after baby one once baby two shows up!), our situation is rather…interesting. Both of us feel like different people from the first time around as parents.

All this thinking about aging has made me develop a newish life philosophy. I have dozens of these (and they change every couple years), but this one has been at the fore lately. It is this: Live life with gusto; do as much as you can. Be as much as you can because if you live this way, you will make the world a better place.

The short version: Live big.

I don’t know if this motto deserves bold letters, but hey, it feels like a big revelation for me.

This philosophy is the secret of my not fearing age–at least this year. No promises on later.

When I feel antsy because I’m “old,” I simply get quiet and remind myself of what I’ve accomplished lately on the home front, writing front, spiritual front, and more. Every year is better than the last, and pain teaches me how to enjoy the good times even more. I made a conscious decision a few years ago to pursue my core competencies and passions without apologies. So far, so good. I plan to suck the marrow out of life, and I know others will be affected positively from my doing so. No one benefits from any of us living small, playing it safe, keeping to the corner until it’s our turn–and it never seems to be, does it? Living big is where it’s at. Go for everything you are dreaming of…with an eye to how what you do will make the world a better place.

I must say that living big has nothing to do with making tons of money and having lots of stuff (I’m not saying making a lot of money won’t happen. It could). I am not a materialist, and that’s part of this whole way of looking at life for me. I believe living big means seeing stuff for what it is–things. Trinkets don’t satisfy in the long run. Accomplishments, being able to say “I did that”, connecting with people, taking good risks, spending time with those you love–those are ways we live big and take up space. The world doesn’t promote living big. Instead, advertisers and even well meaning friends and family often tell us just to buy stuff and be happy with that shiny bobble or with that huge show house we can hardly afford or the nice, shiny cars we need to keep up with other people who are living small.

When I meet people who live big (or just have the pleasure of feeling I know them in the books and essays they write), I am always inspired. I can think of multiple people doing this: Seth Godin comes to mind (I just read The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?…what a book!) along with many women whom I admire for their gutsy moves to have it all (if not all at the same time). For me, many artists and writers embody living big. They reject consumerism quite often and strive for a real, authentic and full life. Many of the things society tells us we must be or do to measure up to some standard someone else has set that we later learn is bogus (only a mother, only a career woman, only a ______ whatever) are simply not true if we scratch the surface and get creative (also part of enlarging ourselves).

So, what’s your philosophy on life and aging? How are you living big, and where would you like to expand your life and soar? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Resolutions Work…For Those Who Make Them

We’ve all see the depressing numbers–only 8% of people who makes resolutions keep them. Sounds bleak, huh? But what about those folks who don’t make any resolutions at all? What is their success rate? The studies seem to show that resolutions do work better than nothing at all. Perhaps it all comes down to personality type. I love goals, and they work well for me. So, generally, I set New Year’s resolutions or intentions as I sometimes call them; my dad laughed at that term, but said he liked it.

This year will bring a lot of change and flux in my life. I plan to re-evaluate my goals often and tweak because it’s hard to say how my life will look in the last half of the year (other than sleep deprived and chaotic). Last year, I met all of my writing goals (write for an hour per day…most days I did and publish X number of stories. I did). This year, these are my resolutions in different categories. They are simple but specific. Some of them are laughable–maybe to many of my readers. For me, they represent me where I am now.

Writing:

Write for 1 hour per day on work days and 2 hours per day at least one weekend day per week OR hit my goal of 432+ words per day (re-evaluate at the end of June when Baby Greer arrives! I have a feeling this amount might drop to 200 words per day or half an hour per day or nothing for a few weeks at least).

Finish 20 Sorrowmoor serials and get into e-book and print after initial Kickstarter is underway and complete and submit Montmoors serials 10-12. Complete pen name serial set of 3.5 more serials. Finish Light the Black Candle (gothic romance novella/novel). This is a minimum goal for next year in terms of output and amounts to about 125K words or more which seems pretty do-able at my current writing rate.

Read at least three books on writing/craft this year. I have several on my shelf and on my Kindle.

Spirituality:

Complete twenty minutes per day of prayer/meditation/centered prayer.

Participate fully in communal worship opportunities, but honor my own relationship to God.

Stay engaged in the present moment. Live in the now. Check in daily with myself.

Activism and Philanthropy (also linked to Spirituality):

Continue my volunteering once per week in local schools.

Look for new opportunities to connect with those making a difference in the community and world and take advantage of at least two of these opportunities this year.

Cross boundaries and do the unexpected in order to serve others and grow. This last year, it was Christmas caroling with new friends.

Family:

Add one night per week that is DD and I night.

Have at least one date night per month with just me and DH. We do this currently, and I want to make sure we continue to do so after baby comes along.

Be thankful for what I do have and accept people for who they are in terms of extended family.

Self Care:

Move at least 10 minutes per day. Many days it’s much more than this, but some days I’m shamefully sedentary.

Read a little every day, even if it’s only for 10 minutes.

Do activities that give me pleasure–at least one or two per day, short or long in length (this is an idea from the 168 Hours book and it works well for making life feel like a lot more fun in spite of work and duties one doesn’t always enjoy).

Friends:

Make at least one new friend this year (a good goal for an introvert in a small town, I think!).

Nurture existing friendships by staying in touch at least monthly.

Choose friends carefully and be a friend. Don’t slip into or prolong toxic relationships just to have “friends.”

 

So, what are your resolutions? Do you even bother, and if so, do they work for you?

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Nights of the Soul and Books

I don’t blog a lot, but today I feel like it. Maybe it’s the gorgeous sunset outside or the reflection on how the year is ending…dying, with a new one to follow.

I write fiction, and I read a lot of it. These last couple months, though, I’ve really been into non-fiction. I wouldn’t say I’m a big self help kind of person, but I am really in favor of reading about subjects I feel ignorant of or that I want to master.

This phase of devouring non-fiction during my reading times started less than two months ago. I found out some amazing news: I was pregnant at 35…again. My only little girl is 9. We had planned for this year to be it if it was going to happened, and it did  just a few months before my 36th birthday when I was probably going to stop trying.

I waited to put the news out there. After all, near the end of October, I was only about 5 weeks along. That’s pretty early. There were some folks I really wanted to tell, but I needed to give it some time. And I had time, right?

So I thought.

During that period of a couple of weeks of waiting, things sort of fell apart on other levels/with other relationships, and my news was delivered differently than I had expected it to be–by me, by choice due to an event I didn’t foresee. I’ve always been sensitive, and I went through a tough time; there were things best left unsaid, and I held them in for the most part. Pregnancy hormones likely made the whole situation worse. There were behaviors I was unwilling to accept at that point from others…at least that I was not going to let into my life and that I could not deal with in a positive way. I needed a bit of reassurance and loyalty, and that didn’t come as I’d expected it to–at least from my vantage point. I tried to put myself in the other person’s shoes, but that didn’t help much. I have often stepped over myself trying to give support to others or swallow anger when I probably shouldn’t have (at the cost of people I love), and I see that now. It didn’t make sense to do it this time.

My choice to take myself out of the situation, deal with it on my own, and just get quiet was the right one. When one is pregnant as with other major points in one’s life (marriage, births, deaths, divorces, new jobs…there are many of them), it is important to go with what feels like self preservation and the emotionally healthy choice. That’s what I did. I’m sorry this story is vague, but it needs to be that way. I’m sure you’ve all dealt with similar sadness during “big” times in your life. My overarching thought was “if only this could have happened at another time–not when I had news I needed to share, not at what should have been a time of happiness.” There were other factors that went into how I handled the whole situation as well. Suffice to say, my heart and mind were in a knot for a time.

I’ve seen people deal with big events at big times in their lives myself and have had my share of people acting out about weddings and at other crucial points–sometimes out of ignorance. I don’t seem to forget those events, and I bet other people don’t either. They are major life transitions. There is something sacred about such times.

What did I turn to in my time of need? Whom could I depend upon? My husband has always been my rock, and he was. And then prayer of course and after that…books. Yes, books. I downloaded a few good ones on my Kindle on topics that were and are near and dear to my heart these days. I’ve found these books nourishment for the soul and reassurance that there are different paths; sometimes things don’t end well and they are messy, despite what fairy tales tell us. These books have helped kill some myths I’d accepted from culture but that I knew in my bones were not true. They’ve helped me embrace what is coming next while smiling about the good that is past.

This reflection doesn’t have a lot to do with Christmas, but then again, maybe it does. Into the darkness came the light, and it still happens that way. Sometimes, the light seeps in through words on the page, and the darkness in our souls and hearts flees from the truth we find. Wishing you much light at the end of one year and the dawn of a new one…

~Lisa

 

Thanksgiving Blog Hop!

Join me and other authors in giving thanks during the Thanksgiving season. Five things I’m thankful for (choosing just five was tough!):

1. My supportive husband and daughter.

2. My parents who are always willing to babysit and spend quality time with my daughter.

3. My wonderful day job and the writing I get to do as a job, too!

4. The new baby who will be joining our family in June of 2013!

5. My Creator who has made everything possible.

I’d like to also give a special “thank you” and shout out to all of you who are readers. My readers allow me to do what I love–write. This is such a gift, and I am grateful every day. Many blessings to all of you this year and always.

To show my thanks, I’m offering an e-book or print copy of the book of mine of your choice to one commenter. You will also be entered if you share this on Facebook or twitter and let me know you did. I’ll do a random drawing and announce the winner Friday, the 23rd of November. So, tell me in the comments, what are you thankful for?

~Love,

Lisa

Now, hop to the next stop with Patricia Kiyono!

http://creative-hodgepodge.blogspot.com/p/thanksgiving-blog-hop.html

 

Sara Daniel’s New Release and the Dark Side of Wiccan Haus

I’m thrilled to have Sara Daniel on the blog today. She is one of the authors in the wildly popular Wiccan Haus series with Musa Publishing. Take it away, Sara!

The Dark Side of the Wiccan Haus by Sara Daniel

Lisa, thanks so much for letting me hang out on your blog today. I know you write gothic and tend toward a darker slant, so I thought you and your readers might like a little peek at the darker side of the Wiccan Haus series, a shared-world, multi-author series by Musa Publishing.

The Wiccan Haus is a magical island enshrouded in fog supposedly off the coast of Maine. Good luck finding it on a map, though. It’s run by four siblings. Sage and Cemil are known as “the light ones,” not just for their light complexion but for their sunny, positive demeanor. Cyrus and Sarka, on the other hand, are known as “the dark ones” and can be more than a bit surly on occasion.

Cyrus, in particular, comes with a truckload of baggage. He has a “retro-cog” ability that allows him to see the history of an object just by touching it. Sounds cool, right? Until everyone starts bringing items to him to touch and he has no idea what grisly image is going to flood his brain next. Until the Synidcate government uses him as a one-man crime-solving machine. Until government enemies decide he must be stopped and kill three of his sisters in an attempt on his life.

So, the Syndicate gave Cyrus and his remaining siblings the Wiccan Haus island as compensation, and they retreated there for both safety and healing.

Armando Verdad, who possesses the truth-finding power, stepped up to take Cyrus’s place in the government. When Armando touches a person who is speaking, their words mentally play back in his head followed by the word “truth” or “lie.” Not quite as amazing as Cyrus’s power, perhaps, but Armando is determined to prove his power is capable of solving crimes and protecting the Syndicate.

The Syndicate Commander’s daughter has just been murdered on her wedding night. If Armando cracks this high-profile case before the police do, he will save his truth-finding department and prove his power is equal to Cyrus’s. So, he follows the victim’s lifebond Vetter to the Wiccan Haus. He’s sure she’s hiding something, and he’s going to figure out exactly what and bring her to justice.

The Wiccan Haus: Psychic Lies

http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25&products_id=430

Fiona must keep her ability to read minds during sex a secret from those determined to exploit her, especially a sexy truth-finding investigator who needs her psychic power to save his job.

Blurb:

Fiona has spent her life hiding her sexual mind-reading power at the risk of being exploited by the government. Instead, she pretends to have lifebond vetting powers like the rest of her family. When her fake power results in the death of an innocent woman, her life of lies unravels and she retreats to the Wiccan Haus.

Armando is the head of the Department of Truth-Finding for the Syndicate. To prove his unit’s worth to the government, he follows Fiona to the Wiccan Haus to expose her as an infiltrator of an enemy faction. The truth about Fiona is even more valuable to his people and his career.

Fiona uses her power to seduce Armando and stop his plans to betray her. But nothing is strong enough to keep her from falling in love with this man whose power threatens to destroy her. Now she must trust him, not only with her life and her psychic lies, but also her heart.

Nell Dixon: The Cinderella Substitute

Welcome writer Nell Dixon to the blog today! Take it away, Nell:

The Cinderella Substitute was the first book I ever sold. Originally it was out with Moonlit Romance another specialist sweet romance publisher. It sold well, garnered great reviews and made the shortlist for several awards. Then my publisher folded.

Audiolark produced it as an audiobook and I waited for the right time and the right publisher to come along, polish it up and re-introduce my firstborn back to the e book world. I’m thrilled to say Astraea Press loved The Cinderella Substitute and now it’s out once more in the big wide world.

Here’s the blurb! In the two years since the tragic car crash that killed his fiancée, Nathanial (Nate) Mayer has successfully avoided another relationship. His family and especially his twin sister Nathalie are worried. Jennifer (Jenni) Blake is Nate’s personal assistant. Hired after the accident, she has her own problems to deal with, including the deaths of her adoptive parents and the debts incurred by their nursing care. But those difficulties pale into insignificance when Jenni finally traces her birth mother…

Nate jabbed the buzzer on his desk for the third time. Where

on earth was Jenni? He paced up and down the room, glaring at the

closed office door.

What could be keeping her? Today of all days he needed to get

going, finish up the job in hand, and escape. Away from the

sympathetic glances of his employees and the murmured

conversations which stopped abruptly whenever he came within

earshot.

He opened the door to her office and saw her in her usual

seat behind the curved ash desk. So why hasn’t she answered the

buzzer? He crossed the pale green carpet in a couple of paces. As he

got closer to her, he knew something was wrong. Her back was

towards him and her shoulders quivered.

“Jenni?”

He moved round the desk to take a better look. A pile of

post lay unopened in front of her, one envelope still secured in her

slim fingers.

“What’s the matter? Are you ill?”

Nate couldn’t imagine why his super-efficient personal

secretary appeared to be having some kind of breakdown. Jenni

never broke down. She had insisted on returning to work after only

a few days’ leave after her adoptive mother died.

She shook her head and he caught a glimpse of tears on her

pale face. For a split second he wondered if Jenni had developed

some kind of sympathy scenario for him based on the office

rumour mill. He dismissed that idea as quickly as it had arisen.

One of his main reasons for employing Jenni had been her complete

lack of interest in gossip and speculation.

“I’m all right.” She wiped the tears away from under her

glasses with shaking fingers.

Nate sighed. “Well you don’t look it,” he remarked. In fact,

now he came to think of it, Jenni looked positively unwell.

“You’re not doing one of those faddy diets?” He hoped he’d

hit on the right answer. It had to be something like that.

She blinked with astonishment and glared at him. “No!”

Nate settled back onto the edge of her desk and folded his

arms. He’d have to think again now his first theory had been shot

out of the water.

© Nell Dixon 2012

Nate is very much a tormented hero with a dark secret but Jenni has secrets of her own and for all her shyness and drab exterior she is quite a feisty, independent girl.

Available as audiobook from Audiolark or from all good etailers, it’s a Christmas story with a difference. I hope you’ll love this story as much as I do.

You can read about the rest of the Mayer family and their love lives in Be My Hero and Dangerous to Know also available from good etailers!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Cinderella-Substitute-ebook/dp/B00A0O38G4/ref=sr_1_17?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351888025&sr=1-17

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cinderella-Substitute-ebook/dp/B00A0O38G4/ref=sr_1_19?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351888286&sr=1-19&keywords=nell+dixon

Q & A with George Wilhite

George Wilhite, author of On the Verge of Madness, talks about self-publisher vs. working with a publisher.

Wilhite has been an aficionado of the horror genre since his youth, discovering Poe and Lovecraft at an early age while also spending many summer nights at drive-in theaters watching the contemporary scene unfold. His stories have been published in numerous anthologies, genre magazines and web sites. He also serves as editor of Static Movement anthologies and reviews books for The Horror Review web site. He can find out more about him at: www.authorsden.com/georgewilhite.

Q: Why did you decide to self publish your debut collection of short fiction, On the Verge of Madness?

A: Essentially, just to get a book out. I was having some success with publishing individual stories, though still for little or no money, but no luck with a publisher willing to release a collection. I gathered up the stories I considered my best at the time and then looked for a common theme. All of the protagonists of the tales in the collection are at a crossroads in their various situations where they have two choices: the supernatural is real, or they are mad.

I decided, at least for this first time around, I would rather get a book at now on my own rather than continuing to submit to publishers.

Q: What were some of the struggles and rewards?

A: First of all, I have no talent in the area of graphic arts, so I knew I needed help with the cover. For a reasonable cost, the publisher, LuLu, provided a serviceable enough cover, but nothing extraordinary. To be honest, the most interesting element of the cover is the photography from my wife I offered as base material.

Then, of course, there was the editing. I didn’t have much money to spend so I just went over the manuscript several times myself, and my ever-patient wife did so a few times, and I also enlisted the help of some fellow writers.

While the process was all rather painstaking, it was worth the efforts to have an actual book to promote. That is the other element that requires a lot of work, sometimes for not the greatest rewards. I promote everything I publish, including “exposure only” web posts, on Facebook and Author’s Den.

I am still glad I self published the first time around because I have received eight very good reviews, which in turn provide more marketing opportunities, since readers like to see reviews on a book when they are deciding whether or not to buy it.

When Smashwords came around, it was also easy to use their vehicle to provide an ebook version of the collection.

Q: So the follow-up collection, Silhouette of Darkness is going to be published by Musa Publishing. How is it different working with a publisher?

A: Well, it’s different in just about every way. I had already been through the stories individually, and the manuscript as a whole, just as many times as I had with On the Verge before submitting it to Musa. The great thing now is that they will bring a fresh set of eyes to the final editing process and–thank goodness!–a talented artist to create a book cover. It is a great relief to let these specialists help make the book the best it can be and to tap into their existing marketing and distribution.

I am still early in the process. The initial release date is November 16, 2012. But so far, I am very pleased with the staff. It seems that Musa is a well organized and mutually supportive group of writers.

Q: How can readers keep in touch with you?

A:

www.authorsden.com/georgewillhite

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/g...

I am just starting up my blog at:

http://georgewilhite.blogspot.com/

Note from Lisa: Silhouette of Darkness is out now at Musa Publishing. I own a copy. And here’s the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Silhouette-of-Darkness-ebook/dp/B009IQ0SXG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1351448537&sr=1-1&keywords=silhouette+of+darkness