I knew the day would come when I am too busy to add to my blog and too scattered to be able to pull together a cohesive message. Yet it has been weeks since I have posted something and I feel that I must. I guess that’s coming from two things: my tremendous sense of responsibility and my overbearing and ongoing desire to communicate.
So what is keeping me so busy? I’m writing the monthly SPAWN Market Update for the member area of the SPAWN Web site. I am also teaching an 8-week online self-publishing class. Each Tuesday morning, I send students a new lecture and assignment. I just completed the editing on a manuscript for a new client. The day that I finished it, another client sent me her manuscript for a second look-over. My book promotion column for SPAWNews is due soon. And it’s tax time, you know. I’ve been adding and subtracting figures related to my business over the last few days.
On Saturday, I drove two hours to Orange County where I spoke at a writers’ group luncheon. What an absolute delight. Everyone was so nice and so inspired and excited about their craft. It was a great day. Sunday, I sent personal thank yous to all 35 (or so) people I met at the event. That’s also the day I started working on the SPAWN Market Update. It is quite a project. I generally try to provide around 11 pages of information, opportunities, industry news and resources for freelance writers and authors. This means conducting a lot of research.
I often receive emails from colleagues wanting me to respond to someone who contacted them or from individuals who discovered my Web site or the SPAWN site. Over the last few days, I’ve received two such emails requesting benefit of my experience. A grandmother wrote asking how to go about publishing a stream of consciousness poem she wrote reflecting her near-death experience. She wanted to produce it as a children’s book, but I think it is a bit deep and heavy to be promoted as such. Her idea was to buy a blank journal book, write the words on one page and have her illustrator do some drawings on the opposite page. Then she would present this to a publisher.
I spent a good 30 minutes counseling her.
Then I received an email from a woman who mentors a teen who is an amazing poet. She wanted guidance in how to share her poetry with others. The girl wants to help other teens who feel as she does. My response to the mentor and the young poet took a lot of thought and time. I just hope that the people for whom I spend this time actually benefit from what I offer.
The trick is to speak at their level of understanding about the publishing industry and to offer suggestions that aren’t too far out of their grasp. It’s a matter of teaching without overwhelming.
Sunday, I awoke to a black monitor. Yes, overnight, my computer monitor died. It had a one-year warranty and we bought it one year and 5 days earlier. I am actually glad to have this new monitor—it is really sharp!!
So that is my life in a nutshell. I always enjoy hearing from those of you who find and read my blog. I’ve closed my blog to comments because of the tremendous number of spam coming in. Even with the comments feature off, I still get lots of spam. I deleted 93 spam comments this morning from my blog. Those of you who are legitimately reading my blog can contact me directly at plfry620@yahoo.com.