Change happens, so you must live with it

Change isn’t easy. It often takes me a long time to accept change. Once I’m comfortable with things as they are, I balk at doing things differently. But sometimes a person has no choice.

Like the time I was called into the HR department and told I was part of the 10% corporate cutback. Basically, I had to “get the hell out” of the office right then and there. My co-workers scrambled to find “brown boxes” so I could pack up my personal stuff.

Then there was the time my daughter went to college. Thinking I’d be sad and lonely, even though her brother remained at home, I kept a kid in my basement for his senior year in high school because his parents moved to Cincinnati.

When my own parents died, that was a huge change. I went from being the little child to the “older generation.” Now I was looked up to for advice. Who me?

Another change dropped out of the sky on me last week. One of my publishers, a small press called Turquoise Morning Press, is closing its doors as of October 31. That means about half of my books will be homeless soon. They will be removed from ebook retailers. That’s all of my Ladies of Legend books and my two books in the Montana Ranchers series with Maddie James. One of the books, Mercer, has yet to be published and was in the galley stages (that means it was close to being finished).

If I didn’t have such a wonderful, techy husband, I’d panic. As it is, the change may open more doors for me—ones I must exploit. I can now “self-publish” my books. It takes time and money for covers and edits. But I am in complete control now. If I finish a book, I can put it online as fast as my husband can do the work.

So, bear with me and my website a while as the transition takes place. Some of the books can go up quickly. Others may be revised and made into a new series. It’s a big, new publishing world out there. I hope you join me for the ride.