Hello world, it's me again

*peeks head around corner* Hello out there. I’m still alive, though you haven’t seen me in … geez I don’t know how long. Due to real life issues, I had to mostly leave the world of writing and publishing several years ago. I thought that I took my name off most everything but recently discovered that I still remained listed on this blog.  I debated whether or not to even return to the publishing world. It had been so long. There have been so many changes. Publishers have come and gone, as well as other writers. In the long run, I couldn’t completely stay away. The end of last year I managed to re-release “Under Wraps” (formally known as “enWrapptured”) at another publisher. It’s a Christmas themed M/M story. Though it’s slow going, I’m getting emerged into writing once again and hope to have at least one story a year submitted (realistic goals).

However, I’ve decided it’s been a bit harder this time around than the first time. So I’ve put a list together of some of things I’ve noticed since my first book was accepted in 2007.

Hardships of re-entering the world of published writing

** Getting back on track with writing: There are many, many WIPs that sat in folders for ages. The plots are weak in your mind so time is spent browsing the characters and outlines/ideas. Also applies to published works and possible follow up stories sitting in those WIP folders. I’ve read the stories before moving on to sequels. So where do you start? Which story should you pick up again? What genre do you want to work in? So many choices. But then the muse can be very strong and lead you to the right place. Though I will still write M/M romance at times, the stories I’m currently working on are M/F & M/M/F

** Setting a writing schedule: I’m still struggle with this. But then, even before, I struggled with this little bit. You would think now that my kids are college age I would have more time. Think again. I’m still a wife and the one that keeps the household going, as well as mom when needed and a grandmother. There just always seems something on my calendar. Don’t even get me started on the fact my husband is finally retiring. He really needs a hobby. LOL But slowly, I’m working on finding that perfect time that my mind is clear and the muse is happy to be tapping away at the keyboard.

** Promotion/Social Media: OH MY! Has things changed in just a few years. The main promoting venues when I was publishing books were Yahoo groups, blogs, and MySpace (I’ve recently deleted all of mine). I thought I had a handle on it all with a nice schedule of when and where I could promote myself and it was easy to get onto blog hops and promo promo promo. Now…well, there’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and I’m sure tons of other stuff I haven’t even wanted to try. I only know these because I use them on a personal basis. Yahoo groups are mostly dead, though there are some still somewhat active with promotions. MySpace .. what’s MySpace? There’s still blogs out there as well, but some of the ones I frequented in the past haven’t been used in a few years. There’s so much more ways to get the word out and to interact with reader/potential readers. But again, this all takes time to learn. Especially when you finally get them linked up, then your computer updates, and boom, it doesn’t work and so again, posting on every area until you can figure out how to re-link them all again. Oh, and then there’s Tweet Deck that just confuses me more.

** Changing Newsletter from Yahoo group to newsletter service & rebuilding list: I took the leap. Though I only had 150 people on my Yahoo newsletter, I changed to MailChimp. After playing around with it for a few days & watching some tutorials (I’m all about research) I figured most of it out and mostly like it. But then, I had no one to send it to. So like building followers on Twitter and Facebook (another struggle) you’ve got to get people to subscribe to your newsletter. Not as easy as it sounds sometimes, because again, it’s time consuming and I don’t want to hound my social medias about it.

** Other writer friends: Some have fallen off the grid like I did :( , others are still around but I don’t have a clue if they will remember me (and I’m bit of a shy person), and then others have soared and become best sellers with mass market books (yay for them :) ).  Needless to say, I guess I need to just man up and try to contact or reestablish relationships. Another thing to put on my to-do list.

** Updating Site/Blog/etc…: Yep, working on updating everything. Newer look that fits me and my upcoming stories. I’ve been working on these while my muse is being stubborn.

** Blog – Keep or get rid of? : I’ve got a blog on Blogger. With all the social media do I really need a blog? Granted Twitter only allows a certain amount of characters, but if I put it on my Facebook first, I can get all the characters I need. However, I like a blog. Believe it or not, there’s still people out there not totally plugged into social media and still read blogs. And I like the fact I can schedule posts in advance. Nope, haven’t figured out if any of the others can do that. But this allows me to plan more and less worry if I have a month’s worth of my Motivational Mondays ready to go.

Okay, I think I’ve babbled on enough. I’m hoping to get back into blogging here again, though I may only be able to do so once a month, so I’ll see you next time.

 

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