Mollie Hunt's Blog, page 79

10 THINGS I LEARNED FROM SELF-PUBLISHING

In a conversation the other day, I mentioned I was self-published. Suddenly instead of discussing the launch of my second book, my friends wanted to know all about my self-publishing experience. Self-publishing is the topic of the day: Is it hard to self-publish? Are self-published books inferior? Are only press-published books worth reading? Can I be a real author?

Wikipedia defines self-publishing as ���the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher.��� With print-on-demand (POD) and e-book technology, self-publishing is within every writer���s grasp. The quality of your writing and the scope of your sales, however,��depend entirely upon you.

I don���t pretend to be an expert on self-publishing, but in my opinion, expert advice may be of limited help. If I hadn���t jumped off the cliff into the abyss of the self-publishing unknown, I wouldn���t be where I am today. I���m not rich, so if you���re looking for a ���get rich from writing��� scheme, you���ll have to find another blog, but I am happy. I am writing. I am selling. The road ahead is filled with promise. What more can I ask?

My conversation got me thinking about what I���ve learned in the past 2 years since I began my self-publishing journey. Here���s what I’ve come up with:

There is life after rejection slips.
Nothing is as gratifying as holding your published book in your hands.
Everyone needs an editor, both for copy and content.
Before you publish, proof proof proof.
Love your work before you ask someone else to love it.
Formatting is vital; space between paragraphs or random blank pages look sloppy.
Self-publishing can be done on a small budget; self-publicity��may be��another matter.
CreateSpace POD copies are cheap; give them to everyone who cares.
Covers matter, as do preface, dedication, copyright page, etc. Make them great, too.
Never stop writing. The rest is fluff.

My books are published in both e-book form through Amazon and print form through CreateSpace, an Amazon company. I have no experience with other companies, though there are several. They range in cost. Amazon is free. Good luck, have fun.

32: LUX – EPILOGUE

Everything I went through with Lux was worth it. Every moment of fear or uncertainty; every bit of physical pain. Even the anxiety attack that led me to the edge of my own hell was a lesson. Lux and the experience of trying to give him a home taught me so much:

Things always work out. Not necessarily the way I think they will or the way I would like them too, but that���s a good thing because if life were limited to my puny human imagination, how dull it would be! God���s infinite possibilities are much more fun and wise.

There are a lot of great people out there. Good people are everywhere, and without their help, there would be no story. Even Jackson can���t do it alone. Part of his power is in pulling together a great team. Teamwork makes things happen. Even though we sometimes feel alone, there is a team waiting for us somewhere: go out and find them.

Love diminishes fear. Hope, faith, and a positive attitude go far in making my life whole, no matter what happens or what surprises fall in my path.

The story continues. There is no beginning, no end, no front or back, no middle. There is no good or bad, right or wrong, up or down. Life is a pool, a river, a whirling infinity. We go on.

Where is Lux now? He is somewhere safe, somewhere warm. Somewhere he can be his true self, whatever that turns out to be. Will he ever be ���normal���? Maybe ��� maybe not. The story continues. Will I ever see him again, touch his little spotted furry face? Yes, I have no doubt about it!

�� �� ��

Thank you for following my journey and��for your compassion and love of Lux.

The End.

 

31: LUX – THE FINAL UPDATE

How many strikes does it take till you���re out? In baseball and drunk driving, the number is 3. Luckily we are dealing with a cat ��� a living feeling sentient being ��� so there is no limit.

The story continues. Is Lux warped? Did his mother abandon him because she sensed something wrong? Does he have feline hyperesthesia syndrome? Did he ingest drugs? Is there a brain dysfunction or chemical imbalance that our tests did not reveal? Will he grow out of it? What could I have done differently? Questions that can never be answered and we just have to move on.

Sadly we again couldn���t keep Lux in our home, but this time he gets to go where he can have his Happily Ever After. I can���t disclose the location, because he and his new people need their privacy, but I can definitely say he will live out his life where he will be cared for and given all the attention, understanding,��and love he needs. Jackson, as with all his cats, will continue to be part of his life, as will we. I’m sure you understand, considering how high-profile Lux���s case has been. Lux is happy and safe, the outcome we all were looking for. Sweet boy can finally have a try at a normal life.

30: LUX ��� BACK HOME BUT NOT FOR LONG, October 2014

��After a substantial period of balancing Lux���s medications and working closely with him to make sure he was socially well-adjusted, his medical team proclaimed him ready to discharge into a home. Jim and I made the drive to pick up our boy in his hideaway. We were joyous, confident, enthusiastic. We welcomed him with open arms, but it didn���t take long to see there was still a problem. As I���ve said before, when Lux is happy, he is sweet, curious and attentive; when his demons come, he turns in an instant. He hates those episodes as much as we do.

This is what happened:

10/05/14: Arrived back in Portland Sunday evening. Lux was quiet on the trip, sleeping under his blanket. Once home, I put him in his kennel and gave him food which he ate. Used the litter box. We played for a while in his suite (2 rooms plus the kennel); mostly he wanted to explore. No aggression.

10/06/14 Morning: Let Lux roam around while I got ready for work. Curious. Hungry.

Evening: Worked on beading in Lux���s room while he watched from the kennel. The door was open so he could come and go as he pleased, but he liked lying in the bed and on the blankets. Everything was fine until suddenly it wasn���t.

Lux began vocalizing, hissing, eyes dilated. I moved to go and he chased me. I got out, then went back about 5 minutes later. He came at me again, attacking my shin. I dropped a towel over him and picked him up. Put him in the kennel and turned down the lights. I realized that he had bitten me hard. I got antibiotics from my doctor. Alerted Jackson. When I went back later to say goodnight, he hissed.

10/07/14 Morning: Lux was friendly and explored while I worked on writing. Then he turned on me, and I left.

Evening: Lux explored a bit after work, but slowly. He jumped up into his kennel, turned and began to vocalize. I closed the kennel door and left him to calm down.

10/08/14 Morning: About the same as yesterday morning, but a shorter time until he acted out.

Evening: I let him run around, me wearing boots and keeping a towel nearby. He attacked my boots, but since he couldn���t get a reaction from me, he settled down a bit.

10/09/14 Morning: Gave increased medication per Jackson. All good.

Evening: I am spending time with him but it���s difficult because he is striking almost every time now. (Yay, boots! I can be calm and talk baby talk, give him a treat and he calms but as quickly gets upset again.)

10/10/14 Morning: Increased medication doesn���t make a noticeable difference. He is still striking, then playing, then loving, then howling.

Evening: Aggressive and striking. Later calm and in his bed.

10/11/14 Morning: Some hissing and a half-hearted strike. (I don���t react because of the boots so maybe not as satisfying?) Then I sat and beaded for an hour. Lux explored and then settled on the table nearby. Was quiet, but still defensive if I moved around. We are taking him into boarding later today while Jackson and the team come up with a new plan.

����

Maybe if I���d read the vet notes a little more closely; maybe if I���d thought with my brain instead of my heart, things would have happened differently. I felt terrible, abandoning Lux yet again, but it was plain it was not meant to be.

Right before we got Luxie back, I had been asked by the Oregon Humane Society to foster a difficult cat and make an assessment on her temperament. She had been in the shelter for far too long and at some point, had��begun to have wild outbursts of aggression. She had been adopted and returned twice, and they needed to know if this cat was too violent for a normal adoption. Long story short, it took only a few days to pinpoint Edie Fisher���s triggers, and a few more to implement techniques to diffuse ther hostility and make her feel secure. Edie was easy, and the timing was perfect to help me see that Luxie was not.

a little more to go……………

 

29: LUX ��� CALL IN THE FALL, September 2014

����

Time passed. Summer moved into autumn. Sunflowers grew from sprouts to stalks, from flowers to heads filled with birdseed. Blue skies threatened gray by the time we got another call.

My anxiety had healed with time and love, and when I heard Jackson���s voice on the phone, knowing what he was about to say, I was ecstatic.

Lux was ready. He was stable on his meds and had been incident-free for a good amount of time.

Do we want to try again? Jackson asked.

Hell, yes! Jim and I agreed.

Lux was coming home!

 

I told everyone the good news: my friends, family, neighbors, the gas station attendant and the jogger on the street. I was strong ��� Lux was strong. This time I was certain we would make it to forever, but again the universe had other plans.

 

And again continued������..

 

 

28: LUX ��� TRAVELING CAT, Summer, 2014

Lux���s room was ready and we said our farewells. No more visits at the boarding facility, those sweet sad moments together where, cat-like, he mostly ignored me, preferring to sniff corners, jump on chairs, and try to chew the plastic waste basket bag. (Which I didn���t allow)

In a way, it was a relief. Something positive was being done. We held high hopes that by stabilizing his meds and giving constant positive reinforcement, time would do its magic and he would morph into the happy cat we so wanted him to be.

Lux left Portland and I went home to my cats, a little smaller for the loss. But I knew that having Lux living with us as he was, unhappy and combative, was out of the question. Think of it as another adventure.

I was safe; Lux was safe. So why did I feel so tenuous?

continued…………….

 

THE MULTI-FACETED GEORGE TAKEI

George and me, 2004

George Takei, Star Trek���s beloved Sulu and Facebook enthusiast, is one of the most multi-dimensional people I���ve ever met. To list his accomplishments would take this entire blog, so if you don���t know the man behind the deep voice and huge smile, look him up. It will be worth it. For now, I want to tell you about Seattle.

When signing autographs, a long somewhat tiresome procedure for media stars, George Takei likes to engage his fans. He is a talker, slowing the long lines to concentrate on every person before him as if they were the only one in the room. But his talk is never random. In Seattle at the 40th Anniversary of Trek some years back, he asked everyone how many languages they spoke. If they answered in the singular, they got a friendly discourse on the importance of communication in a fast-changing world; if they spoke something besides English, George would carry on a conversation with them in that language!

*Note: Klingon counts as a second language.

These are the voyages…

Chronicles of Riss – the “official announcement”

Originally posted on Jeanne Owens, author:

Ok. I know I posted about this yesterday, but I���m going to call this the ���official��� announcement��of its release since I have links to all sites now. And so, without further ado���

Chronicles of Riss, the ��short story collection ���prequel��� to my book Kismet and Tell, is now available!

Confronting evil sorcerers. Fighting monsters. Dueling metal golems. Searching for a sea monster. Hunting lost treasure. Finding a missing show dog. Competing in talent contests. Helping lost children. These are just some of the widely varied exploits that the young mercenary sorceress Marissa ���Riss��� Cobalt shares in this secondAdventures in Sorcery book. Riss reveals how she ended up as a mercenary and chronicles some of the many adventures, ranging from fun to serious, that she���s had prior to the events of Kismet and Tell.

Get it here:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Scribd

iTunes

Kobo

Page Foundry

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FAREWELL, MR. NIMOY

 

 

 

The color of the Star Trek uniform, blue like the sky as I gazed at the contrails, pretending they were space ships. Pretending they were the Enterprise. I was 14.

��

I���m not sure I can go on without Spock. Without Leonard Nimoy. He has been with me always: sometimes as Spock on the big and small screen or in books or even in my dreams when I was lucky; sometimes as Mr. Nimoy, the gracious, regal, creative man who lived in quiet respect and pursuit of beauty.

~2007~

“I think it’s my adventure, my trip, my journey, and I guess my attitude is, let the chips fall where they may.”

~2008~

“I’m touched by the idea that when we do things that are useful and helpful, collecting these shards of spirituality, that we may be helping to bring about a healing.”

~2010~

“I object to intellect without discipline; I object to power without constructive purpose.”

~2011, the Final Convention~

“That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.”

LEONARD NIMOY & SON 1967, Portland

“I believe in goodness, mercy and charity. I believe in casting bread upon the waters.”

�� “Live long and Prosper, Mr. Spock.”

 

THE BOOKS ARE HERE! ��� COPY CATS

How best can I describe seeing my books in print?

Cherry snow cone at the county fair? Summer twilight with the whole hot night ahead? A walk by the ocean? A good meal with sprinkles? Definitely sprinkles!

I write because I write. If I were on a lonely desert island with no one for a million miles, I would still write. The words that roll out onto the screen, forming images and ideas, are my pleasure, but there is also gratification in seeing the books, their blue covers shiny and clean, ready to share with the world.

Okay, and with that validation, I announce COPY CATS, the 2nd Crazy Cat Lady Mystery, available in print and eBook. Ta Da!