Pen To Paper Literary Symposium

This year I was a presenter at the Pen To Paper Literary Symposium, and I must say I enjoyed it very much! Val and her crew are doing a great job. It was even better than last year's event. This year we even had entertainment; Poets, singers and a comedian. Gospel singer Tonya Baker was amazing! I presented two workshops: How To Get Your Books into Bookstores, and the other on Finding a Good Literary Agent. Val was gracious enough to book my room up on the Club level where we had our own lounge! The room was very nice and spacious. I had plenty of room to work. I also met Dan Poynter! You know he is the Self-Publishing guru... the KING in my opinion LOL! Our rooms were on the same floor. When I ran into him coming out of the lounge I was surprised. Dan is one of the nicest, most encouraging and inspiring people you can ever meet. Thanks to him, I am now getting paid to do more workshops! Now, I don't have to bothered with renting space and all that. Being the super woman that I am (that's what my husband calls me)I'm sure I can fit as many as I can in somehow.
So, be on the lookout for my next up and coming workshops. Once my Literary Source site is updated (Pam where you at? LOL!)I'll post my future dates. Until then... keep on reading and writing!

The Best Book Events

I have to start getting my material ready for my next workshop. It's going to be in Dayton Ohio(in October)on finding a literary agent. Actually, I'm doing two. The other one is getting your book into bookstores, the same one I did in Dallas last month. I must say the Black Writers Reunion and Conference in Dallas was very well put together! Tia did a great job. Now, I would participate in that one again. Some other good ones are The National Book Club Conference held in Atlanta, our former Summit at Sea Cruise (this one is the most fun and first on my list), the Miami BookFair, and the Pen to Paper Literary Symposium which is the one I'm doing in October. I encourage anyone who needs direction on publishing, marketing and promoting to attend as many of these book events as possible. They really help!

Lots of Changes!

Wow! I can't beliiiiieve January was the last time I wrote in this blog! And well... I changed my mind about med school and all that. After doing more extensive research (Optometry was what I was strongly considering), like actually visiting some doctors and seeing what the field is really like, I decided that's not for me. For one thing I just can't seem to get writing out of my system!

When I said that I wanted a career change, a part of me was well... frustrated by my 9 to 5 job. They had just announced lay-offs two months earlier, and although they were planning to ax us soon, it seems like they were doing everything they could to get us to just quit. That way they wouldn't have to pay us any severance. Not that they had to anyway, because technically it's a gift. I felt like, dang here I put my little magazine and writing organization on hold and went back to this? I stopped writing full-time for this? No way! Somethings gotta change so I don't fall into this rat race again only to be let down by corporate America... again. This was my first layoff. It wasn't that I was heart broken (well a little), or worried about how I was gonna make it. I just felt like I took two steps back.

Anyway, I did make a change. I started my own business (again). Another writing business. Only this time I'm not trying to run 2 or 3 different businesses and handle a million different things all at the same time. See, while they were busy getting our severance package ready, I was busy test marketing my business. It's a Resume Writing and Consulting business by the way. I started it back in December of 2005, one month after they announced the layoffs. I was doing it part-time, and once I realized that if I put my all into it I could do it full-time, I made plans for that... to go full-time in June. And that's what I did. I have a beautiful office, steady clientale, and I feel like I'm making a difference by helping people. I can still write my books, and do workshops and seminars. I love this! Making a living doing my own thing couldn't be better. I haven't looked back since, and I don't plan to.

I'm Finished!

I've finally finished writing my second novel! At least the first draft. Now, I don't know how much will be changed or added once my agent makes her notes. I wanted to hire an editor, but I just can't afford it. I've got my website renewal due now, among other things. I'm a pretty good editor, but I always like to have a second pair of eyes from the pros. We have an editor at the agency though, so hopefully my agent will like the manuscript and just have her (the editor) make suggestions. Oh, by the way I changed the working title to: Two Birds One Stone. Characters tend to take a life of their own, and as I was writing I felt that the new title fits the story better. Okay, so now I wait... and wait... then edit, then wait some more. In the meantime I'm going back to school. I'm excited about that too. I'll be a pre-med student. Yep in my 30s and a pre-med student. It's scary, but it's what I wanna do in addition to writing. Something to fall back on ya know? I have decided that I'm going to go as far as I can in life no matter how old I am.

My Second Novel

My agent finally said those magic words I've been waiting to hear. "Let's go on and push the second book!" Or something like that. Now, I do hope that one day we eventually find a home (publisher) to re-release "Behind The Screen" since afterall it's my first baby. No one (at the agency) can seem to understand why it's taking so long. After nearly selling out of my print runs of 3000 copies, the bookstores and libraries still want copies! It's okay, I'm ready to move on now. So, I kept pumping this book up. :) I feel like I've grown a lot in my writing. Plus, I'm so into my second one (Severed Vows is the working title by the way) that's all I wanna concentrate on right now. The Internet is still my topic, but this one is more of a relationship/suspense novel, somewhat of a thriller. I'm having to do so much research! Medical, criminal, diets... yes diets! Whew! Now I have to hit a couple of my buddies up who are in law enforcement so that I know what I'm talking about. LOL! The more I write, the more research I have to do. Those of you who have read "Behind The Screen" will see that I'm very versatile when you read my second novel. It's a killer!

I Can't Believe She Asked Me This!

Okay, for those of you who know me or if you've been reading my blog regularly, you know that I've gone back to working a 9-5 job in addition to writing. Well, some people, those who know nothing about the industry at all or even what a writer does (other than write)think that once you write a book that's it! You've got it made in the shade. So, why work? Especially if your book is in most of the major chain bookstores. Take today for instance. I called to make a dentist appointment; just a routine check up for my kids. When I was writing and traveling full-time promoting my book we had private insurance. Our Dentist wasn't in the network for this company, and they wouldn't cover a dime, so we had to go elsewhere. Those of you who have PPOs, or HMOs know what I'm talking about. Anyway, now that I'm with our former company I'm back with using Cigna insurance. Now, we're able to go back to our old Dentist because they will cover some of it. So, the receptionist and I go over my new policy and everything. She remembers me well and asks "So, you're working a regular JOB now?!" Shocked with emphasis on the word job. I said "yes", then she says "So, you're not writing anymore?" Again I said "yes." Then she says "So what happened to your book?" I could tell by her tone that she thought my book didn't do well, writing wasn't for me, and now I absolutely had to go back to working a regular job like everyone else. Since she sounded so shocked like I'm on the verge of being homeless or something, I politely told her that I'm still promoting my book some, but most copies are sold out. I just finished a literary cruise, etc...I explained to her that I went back because I needed extra money (which was the case in the beginning). I then went on to tell her how my old supervisor called me up to help out temporarily, but it turned into a permanent position. I left out the now I'm addicted to the money, this cushiny job looks good on paper now, and now that I know what I know about the industry I'm planning on working at least until I get my second book deal. Because after all that wasn't any of her business.

It just amazes me though the way people think. I remember running into former co-workers when I took time off from work to promote my book, and they would say silly things like 'So, what do you do all day?' And 'So, do you just write and that's all?' Oh, and here's my favorite 'Your book is in the bookstores now! Wow! You must be really banking huh?' Or, You must be rich, wish I could write a book and leave here, etc... People have no idea. The only reason I left my job after 9 years before was to start my publishing company and get my book out there. I couldn't see how to do that and work for someone else too. Now, mind you this does still take a lot of my time away from my craft, but I'm making it work. For those of you who don't know let me tell you, there are plenty of authors out there who still worked even when they were famous and on bestsellers lists. Some waited until their 3rd book came out before they quit, or their third book deal. I heard of one author who has deals with two different publishing houses, and he still works a full-time job. Rhoshonda Tate Billingsly (sp?) is an Essence bestselling author, with 3 novels out, working on others, and she's an anchor for Fox news! You do what you have to until you feel comfortable enough to let the 9-5 go. And that's all there is to it.

New Laptop!

I'm excited about my most recent purchase. A new WinBook Notebook! Lord knows I needed one. My old laptop--an IBM Think Pad is so old it doesn't even keep the right time anymore! LOL! And talk about heavy! I only took the thing with me when I knew for a fact I'd have time to write. I held off on dropping over a thousand dollars on a new one for as long as I could. Now, I'm back to carrying my laptop with me just about everywhere I go as I should! It was hard with the old one because it didn't have a card for internet connection. And when I'm writing I'm constantly doing research mainly on the internet. With all of it's other problems (like not staying charged up for more than 30 minutes!) I refused to buy a card. My new Winbook is lightening fast on the internet! It's light too, only 4 pounds. Now, I think I just might get my current novel finished soon.

My Literary Symposium Weekend

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I've written in my blog!

I signed up late for the Literary Symposium in Dayton, but glad I made it on the Speakers Panel. I didn't sell any books. I sent 15 and didn't sell a one. It was a small event, with not many buyers. And the ones that did buy bought from the authors who conducted seminars. A lot of times that's how it is at these events. If the readers haven't already heard of you, and you're not a presenter, then that equals no sales. That doesn't always happen though. Like in Columbus last year, I wasn't a presenter, but still sold out. Although I was on the speakers panel for the symposium that was the last event and no signings were going on after that. BUT... it's all about exposure when you're just getting out there. I kept that in mind and felt a little better. A lot of people who had already bought the books they wanted before meeting me did at least sign my email list, and seemed eager to check my story out later. I will say all in all I had a great time! I especially loved attorney Avalon Gaston! She gave a lot of legal tips and reminded us what to look out for. The Literary Symposium is a great start for aspiring authors, and even new authors because it's an intimate setting, with experts giving you the real deal about the industry.

Now to the really good part! I left 5 books with the symposium coordinator to sell. They have a website and asked if I'd like to leave some books with them. I took my other 10 with me and on Sunday I went with my sister to church. This is the church I grew up in too. Anyway, my sister had a copy that she was giving to a friend of her's. The pastor asked if he could show the copy to the congregation. He asked me to stand up, and gave me the mic to tell about my book and where it's available to purchase. I felt a little funny doing this in church because I always thought that's not the place to solicit. But everyone wanted a copy!!! I was sooo excited. Only.... we didn't bring those 10 copies with us, because as I said we didn't think church was the place to sell. It was okay though because it was after service. My sister had a list of people for me to autograph copies to. She's going to take them with her next Sunday. Some people asked her to bring their copy to bible study this Wednesday. Now, I'm going to run out. I wish I would have had those other 5 copies! I may have to end up shipping some more copies to my sister. God is really good. See how things work out?