Barbara S. Stewart's Blog, page 16

Oh! What a night!!!

Last night was an INCREDIBLE “next step” for me! I told y’all a while back that I was stepping out of my comfort zone, last night was the night!

IT WAS AWESOME!

I was nervous – something you don’t know about me – I AM NOT A FLAMING EXTROVERT! My friends never believe this – that’s because I KNOW THEM! I’m not anxious at all around people I know! Put me in a place where I don’t know people, and OH MY GOODNESS… TOP IT OFF BY PUTTING ME IN FRONT OF PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT MYSELF, heart races in a big way!!!

Last night was the Meet the Authors Night at the Black Horse Winery in Orange Park. It was nice mingling with the other authors, and the guests before the program began. Their questions and comments helped me feel a little more at ease. Everyone was very interesting, but one writer that I spoke with, Chris Hejmanowski, was very personable, knowledgeable, and made me feel comfortable from the first words of our conversation (check out his website –  http://chrishejmanowski.com/ ). We talked about our work not fitting “the traditional molds”. I’ve been told that my work isn’t Contemporary Romance, instead  they are LOVE STORIES – I think I like that better anyway, but there is no “bucket” for Love Stories. We talked about taking chances and later he told me he was proud that I took a chance.

When the program began, I was ready… my cheat sheet of notes to talk about myself, my experience on this journey, and my books, in my hand and ready! My turn to talk…(ACKKKKK!!!!!!!) I decided not to use my cheat sheet – just speak from my heart, and DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH ANYONE! But I looked up at Dr. Hejmanowsk made me feel at ease, and I just started talking. AND I LIVED THROUGH IT! ha ha!

I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM LAST NIGHT’S EXPERIENCE, and I am ready to move on, finish my next LOVE STORY and see what happens. I learned that I need to explore more ways to better my work, more ways to promote my books – AND ME   I have some groundwork to get started and homework to do.

It was a great personal AND professional experience and I am SOOO glad I participated!

Thank you to my friends and family who were there to support me, and special thanks to YOU for standing behind me – literally, so I didn’t have to LOOK AT YOU! ha ha ha!

I will have pictures to put up soon.

I am blessed!

Love, Barbara

Time to git’r done!

Ok.. Ok… I HEAR YOU!

I’ve been nagged enough, no wait….. pushed and bitz’d at… no, that’s not good either… GENTLY NUDGED – YEAH, THAT’S IT!

DEADLINES: (thank you @Jeff Manalo for your subliminal messages – now you need to get busy too!)

1) Finish the draft for Book Two of the Trilogy – When I Look to the Sky – by Wednesday January 23rd – definitive – achievable – and….. I can say I have completed the draft on Wednesday evening when I take part in the Meet the Author Night!

It’s not just my friends who are asking – I’m getting emails from readers asking the same question – WHEN WILL THE NEXT BOOK BE READY? – I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!

2) Get the draft out for edits, corrections, changes and “this doesn’t work” or “I LOVE THIS” feedback! Set a deadline to have the inputs back to me by February 15th.

3) Cover ideas to work with my cover artist by February 6th

4) Have edits and corrections done by March 1st

5) Send final work out to proofers March 1st with a March 15th request for return.

6) Cover deadline (I U Jeff!) March 22nd (there will be pizza nights between now and then! ha ha ha!)

7) Upload for publication (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R5gHF0vzew - please listen!) by MARCH 31st.

So there’s my PLAN OF ACTION – with deadlines because “Goals are dreams with deadlines” Diana Scharf Hunt

Now… I must get busy, I have a deadline to meet

Love, Barbara

ChChChChanges………….

Excited to share this with you…

I almost have the first draft of When I Look to the Sky – Book Two in the Rock and Roll Trilogy – ready! Someone SPECIAL gets first peek (because she won the right at a Chance Drawing for the Oakleaf Relay For Life!) I will still have work to do when she gives it back, but IT’S A STEP!

My other EXCITING news is that I pulled Rock and Roll Never Forgets – Book One in the trilogy – from the distributor I published the eBook through; lesson learned are part of life, RIGHT? It went LIVE on KINDLE SELECT yesterday and in 12 hours I’ve had more downloads that the first 2 weeks through the other distributor.

It’s been a busy time and I am ready for some quiet time, but alas…. THINGS TO DO, PEOPLE TO SEE, PLACES TO GO!  :)

Thank you for following my journey!

Love, Barbara

PS – this is one of those places to go! Scroll till you find someone you know

January 23: Meet the Authors, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Black Horse Winery, 420 Kingsley Avenue, a block west of Park Ave. (Hwy. 17) on the south side of the street. We cosponsor this event with winery owner and winemaker Kiyoko Fiedler, who offers this and other cultural events featuring local musicians, poets, artists and writers.

 

   

          

                

 

 Future “Meet the Authors” are scheduled for 2013: February 27 (2 spots left), March 27, and April 25, all at Black Horse Winery, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Contact me directly if you’d like to participate as an author.

Clay County Writers is a writing group sponsored by the Florida Writers Assn. Monthly meetings (the third Wednesday) are devoted to presentations by writing experts and authors discussing areas of their expertise. Our programs focus on the art, craft, and business of writing.

To learn more about the Florida Writers Assn., go to: http://www.floridawriters.net. Be sure to visit our blog, claycountywriters.wordpress.com and join us on Facebook at “Clay County Writers”

Looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting! Be sure to spread the word.

Warmest wishes,

Maureen Jung

Group Leader, Clay County Writers

A New Year…

…a new RE-solution!

I’ve said it this way for a long time. I don’t do resolutions because I break them, but if I think about it as a RE-solution it’s a different perspective. I’m not making a promise to myself to change this or that – I’m thinking about a SOLUTION to what I already know needs to have focus – a RE-solution! I know what to do – so I’m going to DO IT….

A motivational speaker – Jon Gordon – came to my work a while back and now our desktop screen savers carry little messages of the theme of his talk - Viva la vida – Life is life – LIVE the life – Long live life – Livelihood…

One of the screen savers tells us to pick one word to focus on to change our lives. Here’s Mr. Gordon’s blog on the subject:

http://www.jongordon.com/blog/2012/01/09/one-word-that-will-change-your-life-2/

As I read this and thought about it this morning, way too many words came to me. I thought about making one of my WORD OF THE DAY words to combine them all, but suddenly that word that I love popped in my mind and I was smacking myself in the back of the head because I KNEW IT WAS THERE ALL A LONG! It’s my favorite word, so HOW did I not come up with it right from the start? BECAUSE I WASN’T LISTENING TO MY HEART…

HOPE…

I have HOPE for many things in 2013 and that includes my RE-solutions. I won’t list all of my HOPES here, but I know what they are, and besides….. it’s MY WORD!

Now go pick yours, and make 2013 the best year you’ve ever had! I’m going to HOPE that for all of you. Happy New Year!

Love, Barbara

just thinking “out loud”

Just read this, searched on google because someone pointed it out to me and I thought I’d share this tidbit!

Nora Roberts publishes 5 books a year, and estimates each takes about 45 days to write…

In 1983 Barbara Cartland wrote 23 novels, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most novels written in a single year.

WHAT??????????????

I got 3 in this year and I can’t imagine 5, much less 23!!!!!

 

Thoughts on the year passed…

Blessed…

Unbelievable…

Hopeful…

Joyous…

Scared…

Unknown…

Intimidated…

Proud…

Oh, I could go on, but the reality is, I have to get ready to go to work at some point.

I never could have imagined what the past twelve months would bring, but I guess we never do, do we? I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone so many times that I feel like I’m dancing! (you really don’t want to see that, so quick… THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE! ha!)

Sweet Surrender – the first published – is sitting right where it should be, an average rating of 3 stars. It was a TREMENDOUS learning experience, and I will always be proud of myself for taking a chance.

Rock and Roll Never Forgets is still an UNKNOWN to me at this point, and I’m not thrilled about that, but I took a chance and will chalk it up to lessons learned, and maybe in the very near future I will have other news on that. The chance I took was going to an expanded distribution through a different distributor than I used with SS – the problem is – I can’t see what is happening until too far out. on January 4th I will get information for October. With Amazon/Kindle I could see real-time. I am still VERY proud of this book, because it’s the one that brought me to this point in so many ways. I learned it was “GOOD ENOUGH”, something I struggled with for almost 4 years. We’ll see what the rest of “you” think as time goes by.

And on the advise of my good friend and “artistic mentor”, Jeff, I did a quick read to throw out in time for Christmas. Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under is doing well, and I am hearing (HAPPY FACE AND MORE DANCING!) that this is the “best so far”. BLESSED…

I participated in NaNoWriMo again this year and was a WINNER with over 50,000 words in 30 days (25 actually!) and someday soon I hope you will read The Face In The Mirror, (Thank you Mom) but for now…

I am in the final stages of Book Two in the Rock and Roll Trilogy – When I Look to the Sky, and my chance-drawing winner from the Oakleaf Relay For Life “Dinner with the Author” night – Jennifer Johannes will get to read through it to take me to the next step! Hoping for a spring 2013 publish date – will keep you posted. The story for the third book is KNOWN, but I have to fill in all the middle!

Lastly, to celebrate my adventure, I am posting a link for an event that I am participating in on January 23rd – Meet The Author Night (kinda like Open Mic, only with books! ha ha ha!) at the Black Horse Winery in Orange Park. This event is sponsored by the Clay County Writer’s Group and the Black Horse Winery. There will be three featured authors (I THINK) and I will be one of them. (WAY OUTTA MY COMFORT ZONE, but I have to start somewhere!) If you would like information please email me and I will get it to you – I will have something on the website in the near future.

I love and appreciate EACH OF YOU who have supported me this past year, walked with me, sometimes holding my hand – gently, sometimes dragging me as I dug my heels in because I was scared (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) I wouldn’t trade 2012 in my life for anything and I hope the journey (you knew I had to get that in there SOMEWHERE!) continues into 2013.

Happy New Year, with blessings for happy trails and journeys of your own!

Love, Barbara

 

 

Happier thoughts…..

I wanted to tell you that I’ve left Logan, Brian, and Mitchell (you don’t know him yet!) behind. Too many men in my life right now! And because Andy woke me early this morning and said “It’s time you come back to me…”

I guess he’s missed me as much as I’ve missed him – and Gene is OK with this….

Off to WRITE…. Off to DREAM… Off to work on When I Look to the Sky…

Love, Barbara

Maybe…

Such mixed emotions this evening…. So sad for the devastation in Newtown CT – unfathomable grief….

“What kind of person takes the lives of 20 little children…?” Brain Williams

So, so, so sad….

Maybe that is the sadness I feel…

And elation over another success in my journey. I published and am doing a FREE WEEKEND DOWNLOAD on my latest book – Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under! See the page on my blog for more info.

And maybe I’m feeling sad because I can’t wrap my head around the holidays this year… I keep making an attempt, but all I feel is sad. Maybe it’s because Christmas was my mom’s birthday and some years it hurts more, and I miss her more than others… She would have been 72 this year and I miss being able to share that with her.

Maybe it’s because I’m not done Christmas shopping and I am having a hard time thinking about any of it…

Maybe it’s the moon….  maybe I just don’t know, but I feel like I’m on a roller coaster this week and I’m not feeling the WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

And maybe… it will pass…. soon….

Maybe I’ll write more later

See the changes to other pages in the blog….

 

Love, Barbara

 

 

 

well………….

I am back! What a month November was! over 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo! (and someday a story about ‘the face in the mirror’). December is always jam-packed! Just wanted to stop in to give a few updates….

Rock and Roll Never Forgets is moving, but not as much as I would like to see. Exploring taking it to Kindle Select and by-passing the other eReader outlets because I got way more “traffic” on Kindle exclusively – different ways to promote it… We’ll see, but I am getting things in place so that when I make my decision it will be quick.

I keep learning!

Still seeing LOTS of movement on Sweet Surrender and every bad review is balanced by a good one! That’s what life is all about – right??? BALANCE! My word for the day, along with HOPE and BELIEVE!

I submitted and am waiting the final OK  to proceed with Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? (Thank you Dawn Zattau and Jeff Manalo for your help – I NEVER WOULD HAVE MADE IT WITHOUT YOU!!!). I don’t know if I will make it in time for Christmas on Kindle but I am TRYING! I will keep you posted! Here’s the blurb:

A reunion after twenty years and you realize that people change, in many ways… but do they really?  

Amanda Pierson is a forty-something independent woman. She’s attractive, strong-willed, and smart; a business woman who is good at what she does, and gets what she needs. She’s on a path that works, content to follow where it leads…  

A trip back to her hometown to visit a friend changes her direction, when out of the blue a ‘cowboy’ named Brian causes chaos in the life she thought she wanted. She travels down memory-lane remembering the good, the bad, and the ugly, to see where her heart leads, and finds that a dirt road leads her home.

I appreciate every one of you who take the time to read this and believe in me. I appreciate all of you who TAKE A CHANCE and give a new writer a try, and I hope, if you read Sweet Surrender, that you see improvement and growth with Rock and Roll and then, even MORE with Boots!

I think that’s enough for now! I will be READING for a while – I have a backlog! ha ha!

Love, Barbara

Now I can get back to ‘real life’….

NaNoWriMo is done (for me) for another year! I submitted my 50K words this AM , 50115, but who’s counting? It’s a great experience and I will do it again next year, and I WILL finish this book – The Face in the Mirror (so you can anticipate it)!

I’m now ready to complete the next one that I will be publishing – Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under – waiting on one last set of ‘eyeballs’, but picked up the second to last copy yesterday for edits and they are DONE – I LOVE ME CHALLENGERS!

Jeff is working on the cover and we have a rough draft complete! I am hoping for a FREE KINDLE DOWNLOAD in time for the Christmas holiday (I say Christmas!). I’ll keep you posted.

Book Two of the Trilogy – When I Look to the Sky – is in my clean-up mode before I let any other eyeballs see it! And I did a fundraiser for OakLeaf Relay For Life, selling chances to be the first to read it and Jennifer Chretien Johannes won the honor! Hopefully mid January for her to read it!

Until next time…..

Love, Barbara