CHANGE IS GOOD

I'm changing my blog to:

http://susanwestley.tateauthor.com/

STILL TRYING

I found a new source for my picture book manuscripts. Check it out: www.meegenius.com.

It's an "app" and I believe the new wave of the future.

In my experience, picture book manuscripts are next to impossible to sell to traditional publishers, so I'm trying this venue.

Wanna know how I'm doing?

First manuscript: They kept for two weeks before rejecting it. Ducks in a Row

Okay, I tell myself, I have more.

Second manuscript: They kept it less than 24 hours before rejecting it. Must have been a really bad one. Mouse and the Tattered Red Umbrella

Third manuscript: I sent it in today. A few hours ago. I'm hoping that the third time is a charm. The Day the Cookies Burned

I feel like I'm throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping it sticks.

If #3 is rejected -- I have more to send.

Wish me luck.

SO MANY DECISIONS

Okay, I've had my website for...let's see...a few months. Yesterday I figured out how it works. I know, I know, if I want to sell books I need to get with the program, but sometimes as "techy" as I feel, too much makes me crazy.

There is a blog on the website. I took a tutorial and wrote something. Should I quit this one and use that one? I'm not sure what to do. So many decisions.

http://susanwestley.tateauthor.com

Check it out.

I do have some good news. Tate's marketing department has gotten me a gig!!!! How cool is that.
I have a book signing scheduled for August 17 at a bookstore in Fort Myers - Annette's Book Nook, 7205 Estero Blvd. #701. The only catch is trying to get a ton of people to show up.

Well, I have a couple of months to figure it out. We'll see what happens.

Going to my other website now.

Over and out.

HAVE PEN WILL TRAVEL

There is a teeny-tiny write up about my book in today's Naples Daily News (Sunday, May 19, 2013) in the TRAVEL section...on the last page. How cool is that!!!

I tried to find it on-line, but no success. Drat. I wanted to post it on Facebook -- oh, well.

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My book, Only Losers Cry, has been out a couple of weeks now. Everyone asks me, "How are sales going?" I haven't a clue.  But, I keep doing everything the marketing department tells me to do and...boy am I ever tired. Who would have thought selling a book could be so exhausting.

I am getting a small write up in the Naples Daily News on Sunday -- in the Travel section under "Local Authors." Cool!

I had a real eye-opening learning experience this past Tuesday. I was invited to a local middle school to give an author talk to the 6th graders. I was there all day...in the library...and OMG. I knew they didn't know my book or me, but I had given one of my books to the teacher and another to the librarian. I even gave them a poster, hoping for a little pre-publicity. Did I get any?

NO!

"Don't worry." the teachers told me, "They will be full of questions."

I did my talk and left time for questions.

"Does anyone have any questions," I asked -- a big smile on my face.

Stares...blank stares...nothing...it was creepy. I looked to the teachers who tried to encourage the children.

But...stares...blank stares...nothing...really creepy.

You know what --The teachers did not even tell the children about me before they came into the library. Nor did they tell them why I was there...why they were there!!!! GREAT.

After the third group -- lunch. At least a break.

By the fourth group, the teachers realized that they needed to prepare the children and the rest of the day went great!!! Lots of enthusiasm and lots of questions.

This may sound like sour grapes, but the principal never stopped by to welcome me to the school. Since I have been in education for several years, I found this unusual. The only welcome and help I received was from the teacher that invited me and the librarian -- wonderful people.

What a learning experience. I know I will have to do this again, but next time I will be better prepared...and hopefully the kids will be, too.

WRITING PAYS OFF

March 16th was my last blog. Seriously! March 16th. Where the heck have I been? Good question -- I have no excuses for not writing ... lazy, I guess.

Drum roll, please:

My book, Only Losers Cry, has finally been released. How cool is that. Now comes the hard work -- trying to sell it. How in the world does a girl from a small southwest Florida town get the word around?

I even received my first royalty checks -- emphasis on the "s." Oh, yeah!!!

I posted it on Facebook and asked all my friends to post it to their account. That's one way.

I did a lot of "pre-selling" to my neighbors who are now dispersed throughout the U.S. Hopefully, they will spread the word.

I'm doing an author's visit to one of our local middle schools.

One of my kids sent me a link to Amazon in China -- it can be purchased there. That was interesting to see my title in Chinese.

But, as I ponder ways to become the next James Paterson, I'm working on another book. This time it's a dystopian story. I don't know where it came from. I've never considered myself a "sci-fi" kind of writer, but I decided to let the muse go and see where it leads me.

Gosh, I like writing!!! But, selling -- my, oh, my ... it's difficult.

WAITING

I receive affirmations from Hazelden everyday. I thought this one was great for all of us writers who have sent in manuscripts and are waiting to hear from publishers...

Or

For all of us writers who are anxious to finish that next book...

Or

People in general...

I've started to realize that waiting is an art, that waiting achieves things. Waiting can be very, very powerful. Time is a valuable thing. If you can wait two years, you can sometimes achieve something that you could not achieve today, however hard you worked, however much money you threw up in the air, however many times you banged your head against the wall. . .
--The Courage to Change by Dennis Wholey

The people who are most successful at living and loving are those who can learn to wait successfully. Not many people enjoy waiting or learning patience. Yet, waiting can be a powerful tool that will help us accomplish much good.

We cannot always have what we want when we want it. For different reasons, what we want to do, have, be, or accomplish is not available to us now. But there are things we could not do or have today, no matter what, that we can have in the future. Today, we would make ourselves crazy trying to accomplish what will come naturally and with ease later.

We can trust that all is on schedule. Waiting time is not wasted time. Something is being worked out - in us, in someone else, in the Universe.

We don't have to put our life on hold while we wait. We can direct our attention elsewhere; we can practice acceptance and gratitude in the interim; we can trust that we do have a life to live while we are waiting - then we go about living it.

Deal with your frustration and impatience, but learn how to wait. The old saying, "You can't always get what you want" isn't entirely true. Often, in life, we can get what we want - especially the desires of our heart - if we can learn to wait.

Today, I am willing to learn the art of patience. If I am feeling powerless because I am waiting for something to happen and I am not in control of timing, I will focus on the power available to me by learning to wait.

You are reading from the book: