Category: Business of Writing (Page 1 of 2)

Last day of January!

January 31, 2024 / Marsha Ward / 0 Comments

Can you believe it?

This month has just flown by. I’ve been busy with personal issues, so writing has taken a bit of a backseat in my daily schedule.

Then, in the last few days, along came a huge “to-do” problem prompted by something Google and Yahoo wanted folks to implement for email list deliverability. All the entities–corporations, stores, writers–who send out emails to clients and subscribers had to do certain tasks to make sure all their news would arrive in inboxes, and not be shuttled off to spam. This has put the entire world of email marketing into a frenzy.

Most writers aren’t very techie-oriented, so you can imagine what ensued when they were told (pretty much this week) they had to “authenticate” their email provider by making sure the DNS records were updated. Before February 1! Yikes!

Okay, I do happen to know what DNS records are, but most writers don’t. I’ll admit I did call in a little bit of assistance, because I’m out of practice, but Support kinda messed it up, and in the end, I had to go in and tweak the TXT string to make it work.

One issue I’m left with is getting an accurate newsletter sign-up form on this website. To that end, I’ve removed the old one until I have time to create a new one. But . . . now the sign-up links in my books are inaccurate. Please don’t click on them and fill out the old form!

It’s going to take weeks to go through my ebook and book files to upload new information. Huh. There’s always something.

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Hello there. Yes, I’m alive and well.

July 7, 2020 / Marsha Ward / 0 Comments

Well, my goodness, life has been so strange in 2020. It actually started out well, as I had grown accustomed to my new computer, jumping from Windows 7 to Win-10. Because of that, I had been writing steadily, working on a new novel.

Then along came the pandemic. That threw me for a loop, even though I’ve been very cautious, limiting my interaction with others, and all that.

I thought it would be a breeze to go through life with a plague around, as the self-isolation wasn’t much different from my regular hermit-like existence. But being prevented from going and doing, should the fancy strike me, did something weird to my soul. I actually was mourning the loss of that freedom.

I had enough toilet paper, as I never let my supply get very low. I live away from town, and winter snowstorms could prevent me from going to town, so I keep a good stock of food, water, and supplies on hand, just in case. I had the food and water, but there were a couple of essentials I was running low on. After a month, I was able to re-supply, which made me feel much better.

I even ventured a bit into the domestic area of life, and made the occasional pan of this or that. Here’s cornbread.

Looks good, yes? It was very tasty.

Which reminds me of that novel I’ve been writing. The word “tasty” comes up a time or two.

I intended to write a 6,000-word short story, but things got out of hand, with my characters insisting that there was way too much to tell to restrict the story to that length. Thus, it became a novel, with me just taking dictation from those pesky characters.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my characters.

The novel, which became the second longest I’ve ever written, features familiar characters from the Owen Family Universe, thrown together due to unexpected sorrowful circumstances. Don Pedro Chaves has had bit parts in two previous novels, Ride to Raton, and Trail of Storms. The widowed Charity Bingham had a cameo part in Gone for a Soldier, and appeared in a supporting role in Trail of Storms. I never suspected that she had big changes coming into her life.

I think the story is unique, a mashup of several genres and tropes: a marriage of convenience that becomes a multicultural romance in a historical setting, featuring seasoned (mature-age) characters, and just a tiny bit of paranormal activity. Think of a persistent ghost.

Since half of the couple is a Spanish-speaking man, of course I’ve added liberal doses of that language, with, I hope, adequate explanatory text surrounding those passages. I had to do extensive research on various topics, including the Catholic Church in New Mexico Territory in 1867.

Then, in February, when I was almost finished with the book, I encountered an insurmountable plot problem that turned the story into illogical mush. After weeping into my pillow for a couple of nights, I pulled on my big-girl panties, and began what proved to be an extensive re-write. To my great joy, that task went as smoothly as could be, considering that the characters had more to say in this draft than I thought they would. Pushing forward, I re-wrote the unworkable part of the book, which had taken me a year and a half to do, then wrote the ending, all in 4 1/2 months.

Whew!

On June 24, I typed these words:

Surprising Charity was finished! What did I do to celebrate? The next day, I decided to go out on a beautiful, cool afternoon and trim the extraneous branches off the oak tree in my yard, along with other little tasks of yard work. When I had nearly finished, I started to tie up the bag I’d filled with branches, but somehow tripped and fell, giving myself a 1-inch gash above my forehead.

My oh my, that wound bled like there was no tomorrow. I clamped my hand over it, but some blood escaped down my forehead, making me look like I had been in a terrible accident. I won’t harrow up your souls with a photo of that.

When I had been treated by the local EMTs, they advised me to go to the ER to get checked out for the possibility of a bleeding brain. A couple of dear friends took me in, and stayed around (outside) for the four hours it took for medical personnel to clear me of a bleed or a concussion via a CT scan, insert a staple into the top of my head without numbing it first, and pour on super glue to close the rest of the gash. Then I had a lengthy wait on the results of the scan.

In the meantime, I was updating my friends on Facebook on my condition until my phone nearly ran out of juice. Then I was released and went home. The next night, my sweet neighbors took pity on me and brought me a very tasty meal:

Since I’m not supposed to let sunlight hit the wound, this is how I appeared on a subsequent trip to the pharmacy and the post office:

So that’s how I’ve been surviving the plague.

As soon as I get my manuscript back from my beta readers, I’ll make any required edits, begin formatting the book, and once a cover is designed, I’ll bring Surprising Charity into the light of day. That is, I will publish it.

So, how are you doing? Leave me a comment and tell me how you’re faring.

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A few more trip photos

November 9, 2017 / Marsha Ward / 0 Comments

Although I always resolve to take interesting photos when I travel, I usually end up with boring pics of my hotel rooms, which do have a purpose: I upload them to review sites.

It’s hard to take good photographs while driving. Because I had a tight schedule for covering so many miles on the out-going legs of the trip, I couldn’t stop on the way to get good shots of the spectacular fall foliage. I had a workshop session to get to on Saturday night, and I dared not be late.

I did get up at o-dark-thirty the third day out to have brunch in Weed, California, with a Facebook writer friend and her husband, and another writer in the area whom I had met previously at conventions for members of Western Writers of America. I had a lovely meal at Black Bear Diner with Jae and Roy Hall, and Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner.

Roy, who is, among other things, a farrier, gave me advice on the making of the horseshoe nail ring I mentioned in my novel, The Zion Trail.

The wind was blowing that crisp day, which I felt much more as I approached the Oregon Coast. It was interesting to observe the many moods of the Pacific Ocean during my stay.

Here’s a “selfie” I took from a balcony of the workshop room overlooking the beach:

One evening during the dinner break, I met and had dinner with a teenage friend and her new husband, who had previously booked a stay in Lincoln City, Oregon, my destination, as part of their extended honeymoon. We kept in touch, and were fortunate to be able to connect for a brief meal and conversation. Here we are, holding a few of my books that Leta Paine brought for me to autograph. Hubby Dale Whipple owns a bookstore in Burley, Idaho, and has always been an author booster.

I’m glad to be safe at home once again. Although I regret not being able to snap a photo of the huge Halos sign I saw coming and going, I had a wonderful time on my road trip and at the business workshop.

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Business of Writing Workshop

November 8, 2017 / Marsha Ward / 0 Comments

During the last half of October, I took an epic road trip to attend an 8-day workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, hosted by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, two writers I count as mentors in the business of writing. I’ve learned so much over the past four or so years by reading their blogs regularly, but an opportunity came up to attend this workshop on the Oregon Coast and meet them in person, and I had to jump on it.

The venue for the workshop was the Inn at Spanish Head, a ten-story resort hotel on the beach built into a cliff. On the landward side, the reception area is on the ninth floor. The conference room is on the fourth floor. I wasn’t the only one who became confused about whether one went up or down when entering the elevator.

The overall theme of the workshop was Time, since it’s in such short supply for writers, whether indie, hybrid, or traditional. From 7 pm on October 21 to 9:30 pm on October 28, in three sessions a day plus late-night networking, I, and about forty-nine other professional writers, madly took notes on such topics as productivity, tracking output, deadlines, writing process for both linear and non-linear writers, health, separating the businesses of writing and publishing, making short- and long-term business decisions, structures of corporations, estate planning for authors, copyright, trusts, triage as a business plan, branding, virtual assistants, and the true meaning of hybrid.

Faces erased at the request of attendees.

Please note that we covered that extensive list of topics by the end of Monday’s sessions. There were a ton more each day, and I’m still working my way through the incredible amount of knowledge and information. I expect it will be a year-long endeavor.

One thing that was impressed upon us is that we must not make any business decisions and change up our plans for at least the two weeks minimum that it will take for our brains to heal from exploding with the input of all the new facts. Another was that “should do’s” and “supposed to do’s” are deadly, evil beyond imagination. We must choose to do only what works for our style and methods of writing and publishing.

Since I traveled for several days before arriving home, my brain still hasn’t adjusted to all the new knowledge. I have my work cut out for me as the holidays approach. I must not be pressured, though, by my inner panic to DO SOMETHING NOW! I have to study and decide what will work for me.

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