Life seems to have once again gotten in the way of my blogging... or perhaps it was just moodiness and the inability to write anything I thought the four or five people who actually read my blog would want to waste their time on LOL
Actually life is pretty darn good in my neck of the woods for the moment. Valentine's Day was fairly eventful as I got surprise flowers from one of my best friends and then more surprise flowers from my daughter and my daughter's best friend who is really pretty much my other daughter LOL both extremely beautiful (the girls and all the flowers) and very much appreciated. Then from my hubby I got the cutest stuffed dog in the world and some very yummy chocolates. My baby boy made me several beautiful cards and drawings and we had a wonderful time together at his school Valentine's party... 1st grade is the bomb apparently LOL
My book sales are actually tooting right along... between the two novels I have listed on Kindle I've sold 15 copies and made close to $40 in royalties. I'm now venturing into the self-publishing print world and both titles should be available at Amazon.com within the week. I'm a little frustrated with the print side of things because I absolutely LOVE the way they look and the beautiful covers I'm able to design for them. It absolutely amazes me to think I will be able to see something I have written actually in a full print version, and I'm sure once I have a copy in my grubby little paws I will bawl uncontrollably. My issue with it is that the books are (to me anyway) incredibly expensive!!!!! Saving Alexandria was minimum priced at $6.99 which I think is a lot for a novella, and Guardian of Dreams (which I must admit is 450 print pages... I got carried away, but the characters insisted that there was nothing else to cut) minimum priced at $17.99... that's nearly two hours of work for a book written by someone that no has ever heard of and couldn't find an agent or a publisher that would take a chance on her... seems like way to much money to me. So much so that I really had decided not to print publish Guardian of Dreams at all, but then my good friend (the one who sent me surprise flowers) suggested that since I'd gone to the trouble to upload the book and do the whole process I might as well put it out there. If no one buys it then I'm no worse off than I was before and I can still steer my friends and people who are truly interested in my writing toward the e-book which is a much more reasonable $3.99.
That's it for me I think... I wish I had something interesting or important to share, but outside of having to pick up cashier shifts and still not getting my full time hours even between two departments life is pretty much just work, kids, sleep, repeat...
Showing posts with label e-books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-books. Show all posts
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Hospitals, Party Buses, and Book Sales...
It has been an interesting week at el rancho Engle. A week that included the self-publishing of my 2nd e-book on Kindle at Amazon.com, my niece's 21st birthday, and two days spent in the hospital with my youngest son.
When sales on my first e-book hitting the whopping total of 5, I decided it was time to go ahead and upload the next installation in that series. So Guardian of Dreams was edited and uploaded and in the intervening days I have sold another copy of Saving Alexandria as well as one copy of the new book. Definitely not an overwhelming success, but still it gives me a sense of pride that someone out there actually paid for something I wrote. It's scarey as hell because there is that tiny I was a 300 lb teenager voice in the back of my head that still screams "They're going to hate it and laugh at you," but it's pretty much drowned out now by the big girl voice that shrugs and says "so fuckin what if they do?"
Also this week was my niece's 21st birthday for which her sister (also my niece obviously) arranged for a party bus. A party bus I learned during the course of these events, is a bus... sometimes a limo and sometimes and actual bus... that drives you around from club to club and then delivers you home safely and without anyone driving after they've been drinking. The actual bus type have a nightclub complete with dance floor actually inside the bus with coolers for ice and drinks, big screen tv, and a million other ammenities. You can rent the buses for anything, doesn't have to be club hopping, and while they're pricey if you've got a group thing going and everyone pitches in then the price would be super reasonable. I personally did not get to go on the party bus because my baby boy wasn't feeling well and I decided to stay home with him instead, but I have now decided that festivities surrounding my 44th birthday in July will most definitely include the rental of a party bus... the big one with the pole so I can take hysterically funny pictures of my wonderful family and friends on the dance pole... we'll play a Shemar Moore marathon on the big screen and dance like maniacs to a wild variety of music... everyone reading this is hereby invited to my birthday on the party and feel free to blog about it afterward because I'm pretty sure I will :)
The final chapter of my week actually started several weeks ago when my youngest son started getting signs of one of the many pesky viruses that plague primary school children. Low grade fever, headache, stomachache; just overall feeling of yuck. The symptoms came and left and then returned again over the space of several weeks and after a trip to the Dr and another to the ER I was pretty much given the word that there was really not much to be done about viruses. Don't give Motrin or Tylenol unless the temp is over 101, and you don't need to have him seen by the Dr unless there is vomiting, diarrhea, or temp over 102. I followed that advice for weeks, sending him to school when there was no temp and allowing him to continue his regular activities as long as he felt well enough to do so.
Then last Sunday he had a wrestling tournament and that night the low grade temp, headache and stomachache returned. I kept him home on Monday and the fever was gone by Monday night. He was fine on Tuesday and went to school but woke up Wednesday morning complaining of pain in his calf muscles on both legs. I sort of shrugged it off figuring he was having growing pains (he's 7 so the right age for a growth spurt) combined with wrestling and perhaps muscle ache from the virus he was still recovering from. He went to school on Wednesday, wrestling practice Wednesday night without problem but by the time we arrived home for the evening he was having so much pain in his calves that he could barely walk. I asked some friends in the medical field and there was concern that he could have blood clots in his legs.
Although the lack of any visible symptoms of a clot and the fact that it was affecting both calves made it seem unlikely, I took him in to see the Dr on Thursday morning. She started him on antibiotic for a sinus infection and decided to draw some blood work just because he had been have the signs of viral infection for so long. One of the blood tests she ran is called a CK which checks the level of muscle enzymes in the blood. Friday morning she called me at work to say that the enzyme levels in my son's blood were extremely elevated and that he needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately so that they could flush his system with IV fluids.
Normal muscle enzyme levels are 50-173... Karl's enzyme level from the test they took at the Dr office on Thursday morning was 3600. The condition is called Viral Myositis and reading the information about it now after the fact it seems cut and dried... in the midst of it with only a phone call saying he needed to be admitted immediately to flush away whatever is being released by the elevated enzyme levels it was frightening.
This is where I have to say that the staff at Dayton's Children's is unbelievable. Admissions took less than twenty minutes, we were in our room with the IV started within forty minutes, and the admitting resident is required to see the child within two hours of their presence on the floor. Our admitting resident, who I am ashamed to say I cannot remember her name; my mind was on other things I'm afraid. was phenomenal. She was fabulous with my son, reassuring to my 85 year old mother who was nearly apoplectic in her concern, and very straightforward with me. Her personality and bedside manner were perfectly suited to working with ill children and frightened parents. The nurses and staff assistants were all wonderful and kept an excellent balance between closely watching my son's condition and irritating him with procedures and check ups.
All in all it was an exhausting week topped off by a nice Saturday evening spent playing video games and dancing with my kids in our living room. Life is never easy but it's usually worth the struggle.
When sales on my first e-book hitting the whopping total of 5, I decided it was time to go ahead and upload the next installation in that series. So Guardian of Dreams was edited and uploaded and in the intervening days I have sold another copy of Saving Alexandria as well as one copy of the new book. Definitely not an overwhelming success, but still it gives me a sense of pride that someone out there actually paid for something I wrote. It's scarey as hell because there is that tiny I was a 300 lb teenager voice in the back of my head that still screams "They're going to hate it and laugh at you," but it's pretty much drowned out now by the big girl voice that shrugs and says "so fuckin what if they do?"
Also this week was my niece's 21st birthday for which her sister (also my niece obviously) arranged for a party bus. A party bus I learned during the course of these events, is a bus... sometimes a limo and sometimes and actual bus... that drives you around from club to club and then delivers you home safely and without anyone driving after they've been drinking. The actual bus type have a nightclub complete with dance floor actually inside the bus with coolers for ice and drinks, big screen tv, and a million other ammenities. You can rent the buses for anything, doesn't have to be club hopping, and while they're pricey if you've got a group thing going and everyone pitches in then the price would be super reasonable. I personally did not get to go on the party bus because my baby boy wasn't feeling well and I decided to stay home with him instead, but I have now decided that festivities surrounding my 44th birthday in July will most definitely include the rental of a party bus... the big one with the pole so I can take hysterically funny pictures of my wonderful family and friends on the dance pole... we'll play a Shemar Moore marathon on the big screen and dance like maniacs to a wild variety of music... everyone reading this is hereby invited to my birthday on the party and feel free to blog about it afterward because I'm pretty sure I will :)
The final chapter of my week actually started several weeks ago when my youngest son started getting signs of one of the many pesky viruses that plague primary school children. Low grade fever, headache, stomachache; just overall feeling of yuck. The symptoms came and left and then returned again over the space of several weeks and after a trip to the Dr and another to the ER I was pretty much given the word that there was really not much to be done about viruses. Don't give Motrin or Tylenol unless the temp is over 101, and you don't need to have him seen by the Dr unless there is vomiting, diarrhea, or temp over 102. I followed that advice for weeks, sending him to school when there was no temp and allowing him to continue his regular activities as long as he felt well enough to do so.
Then last Sunday he had a wrestling tournament and that night the low grade temp, headache and stomachache returned. I kept him home on Monday and the fever was gone by Monday night. He was fine on Tuesday and went to school but woke up Wednesday morning complaining of pain in his calf muscles on both legs. I sort of shrugged it off figuring he was having growing pains (he's 7 so the right age for a growth spurt) combined with wrestling and perhaps muscle ache from the virus he was still recovering from. He went to school on Wednesday, wrestling practice Wednesday night without problem but by the time we arrived home for the evening he was having so much pain in his calves that he could barely walk. I asked some friends in the medical field and there was concern that he could have blood clots in his legs.
Although the lack of any visible symptoms of a clot and the fact that it was affecting both calves made it seem unlikely, I took him in to see the Dr on Thursday morning. She started him on antibiotic for a sinus infection and decided to draw some blood work just because he had been have the signs of viral infection for so long. One of the blood tests she ran is called a CK which checks the level of muscle enzymes in the blood. Friday morning she called me at work to say that the enzyme levels in my son's blood were extremely elevated and that he needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately so that they could flush his system with IV fluids.
Normal muscle enzyme levels are 50-173... Karl's enzyme level from the test they took at the Dr office on Thursday morning was 3600. The condition is called Viral Myositis and reading the information about it now after the fact it seems cut and dried... in the midst of it with only a phone call saying he needed to be admitted immediately to flush away whatever is being released by the elevated enzyme levels it was frightening.
This is where I have to say that the staff at Dayton's Children's is unbelievable. Admissions took less than twenty minutes, we were in our room with the IV started within forty minutes, and the admitting resident is required to see the child within two hours of their presence on the floor. Our admitting resident, who I am ashamed to say I cannot remember her name; my mind was on other things I'm afraid. was phenomenal. She was fabulous with my son, reassuring to my 85 year old mother who was nearly apoplectic in her concern, and very straightforward with me. Her personality and bedside manner were perfectly suited to working with ill children and frightened parents. The nurses and staff assistants were all wonderful and kept an excellent balance between closely watching my son's condition and irritating him with procedures and check ups.
All in all it was an exhausting week topped off by a nice Saturday evening spent playing video games and dancing with my kids in our living room. Life is never easy but it's usually worth the struggle.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Chugging right along...
I am now the author of not one but two self-published Kindle e-books. At first I thought that was a pretty ballsy move considering the first one has only sold 5 copies in three weeks and has been stuck at 5 for days now. Then last night in a fit of insomnia I realized that I literally have nothing to lose. I don't HAVE to do anything. There are no rules, no right or wrong, no reason not to go ahead and self-publish. It doesn't stop me from pursuing traditional publication if I want to, nor does it require me to continue publishing book after book.
It's sad that it has taken me nearly 44 years to realize that this is the only life I'm going to get and it's perfectly okay to live it in whatever way makes me happy. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about going out and just doing whatever you want and saying f-you to the world. It's never okay to deliberately do things that are hurtful or harmful to yourself or to anyone else.
I think people need to do what makes them happy; what makes life worth getting out of bed for in the morning and worry about what they're "supposed" to be doing. People seem to judge themselves and their loved ones based on what others are doing and what society seems to think is the proper course of life. My niece recently found out that she has been accepted to Ohio State University and I'm THRILLED! It's a wonderful accomplishment and she's an awesome kid who I'm sure will thrive and succeed in college. At the same time it bothers me that there are kids her age who are made to feel like they're less because they've been turned down by colleges or just simply have no interest in attending. Education is important and should always be encouraged and supported. At the same time if someone is content and happy working in a job that doesn't demand a college education and is willing (and able) to live within the financial limitations of that sort of position then that is a life decision which should be supported as well.
I think what I'm really trying to say is that non-negative behavior should be supported. If a kid is working and helping out at home and taking care of business is it really okay to put them down because they don't want to go to college? If a young adult is working hard to support a little apartment and some utilities is there really any shame in being happy with that life; should they really be looked at strangely because they aren't in a "committed relationship", involved in a degree program, or yearning for babies and a mortgage? If a single mother is struggling to get an education or working long hours to further her career is it really okay to assume her child is neglected?
Shouldn't we really encourage people to follow the path that makes them happy and successful in life instead of trying to force them down a road that someone else has chosen for them? I could be wrong... I am wrong a lot.... But after 44 years I can say with pride that I have two college degrees and a post graduate degree and I work at Wal-Mart because it's where I'm happy. I write and self-publish e-books because it makes me happy and gives me a sense of fullfillment. I bake cookies at Christmas, birthday cakes for people I like, and rack my brains for silly gifts because it makes me happy; not because I expect something in return or because I want people to think I'm something special. I do it because it makes me happy and after 44 years I've learned that nothing on earth is as important as being happy with yourself.
It's sad that it has taken me nearly 44 years to realize that this is the only life I'm going to get and it's perfectly okay to live it in whatever way makes me happy. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about going out and just doing whatever you want and saying f-you to the world. It's never okay to deliberately do things that are hurtful or harmful to yourself or to anyone else.
I think people need to do what makes them happy; what makes life worth getting out of bed for in the morning and worry about what they're "supposed" to be doing. People seem to judge themselves and their loved ones based on what others are doing and what society seems to think is the proper course of life. My niece recently found out that she has been accepted to Ohio State University and I'm THRILLED! It's a wonderful accomplishment and she's an awesome kid who I'm sure will thrive and succeed in college. At the same time it bothers me that there are kids her age who are made to feel like they're less because they've been turned down by colleges or just simply have no interest in attending. Education is important and should always be encouraged and supported. At the same time if someone is content and happy working in a job that doesn't demand a college education and is willing (and able) to live within the financial limitations of that sort of position then that is a life decision which should be supported as well.
I think what I'm really trying to say is that non-negative behavior should be supported. If a kid is working and helping out at home and taking care of business is it really okay to put them down because they don't want to go to college? If a young adult is working hard to support a little apartment and some utilities is there really any shame in being happy with that life; should they really be looked at strangely because they aren't in a "committed relationship", involved in a degree program, or yearning for babies and a mortgage? If a single mother is struggling to get an education or working long hours to further her career is it really okay to assume her child is neglected?
Shouldn't we really encourage people to follow the path that makes them happy and successful in life instead of trying to force them down a road that someone else has chosen for them? I could be wrong... I am wrong a lot.... But after 44 years I can say with pride that I have two college degrees and a post graduate degree and I work at Wal-Mart because it's where I'm happy. I write and self-publish e-books because it makes me happy and gives me a sense of fullfillment. I bake cookies at Christmas, birthday cakes for people I like, and rack my brains for silly gifts because it makes me happy; not because I expect something in return or because I want people to think I'm something special. I do it because it makes me happy and after 44 years I've learned that nothing on earth is as important as being happy with yourself.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Baby Steps....
Well my e-book at Amazon still says "publishing" but in reality it is already available for purchase. I know this because my friend in Florida bought it for her Kindle or iPhone or somthing so when I go into my sales tracking there is a little "1" in the box.
I seem to be having a mixed emotional response to this baby step in the direction of actual publication. First of course is excitement even though I know my friends love me and would buy whatever crap I put out like it was the lost writings of Shakespeare. Next came complete and utter terror that I have actually and intentionally made something I wrote available to the public without so much as a pen name to safeguard my anonimity. Finally came acceptance. It is what it is, they will like it or hate it or be indifferent to it; they will buy it or not, and either way it will have very little impact on who I am or how I live my life. It may bring moments of embarrassment, both the good kind and the bad, but Lord knows life is full of that no matter what.
So for anyone interested here is a link to the Amazon site and I'll give anyone reading this the same forwarning that I gave my friends. If SPAG errors cause you issues don't read anything I write LOL
Saving Alexandria
I seem to be having a mixed emotional response to this baby step in the direction of actual publication. First of course is excitement even though I know my friends love me and would buy whatever crap I put out like it was the lost writings of Shakespeare. Next came complete and utter terror that I have actually and intentionally made something I wrote available to the public without so much as a pen name to safeguard my anonimity. Finally came acceptance. It is what it is, they will like it or hate it or be indifferent to it; they will buy it or not, and either way it will have very little impact on who I am or how I live my life. It may bring moments of embarrassment, both the good kind and the bad, but Lord knows life is full of that no matter what.
So for anyone interested here is a link to the Amazon site and I'll give anyone reading this the same forwarning that I gave my friends. If SPAG errors cause you issues don't read anything I write LOL
Saving Alexandria
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