cj Sez: Well, didja? Didja turn your clocks back one hour
last night? I did, but the pets’ internal clocks could not care less about that
extra hour of sleep I thought I was going to get.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get back into the
rhythm of blogging, so I’ll just put my bottom in the chair and my fingers on
the keyboard. After such a long hiatus from writing, I’m hopeful the ideas and fingers will move forward again. The reason I’ve been absent for so long is that my real life overpowered
my reel life.
Lyrical Pens blogs for readers and writers will turn from
weekly to monthly blogs, though. I’ll be aiming for the first Sunday in each
month. That said, thank you for stopping by Lyrical Pens today. I really do appreciate
you.
§§
Real and reel:
My real life had some ups and downs this year. My brother
died in June after suffering through debilitating illnesses. He had been under
hospice care since January. Stoic Swede that he was, his only complaint was
that he couldn’t get up when he fell down. We’d been separated by distance for
a long time, but never apart by heart.
I lost my sweet cuddle kitty, Cato the Cat, in January when he suffered the sudden onset of an illness neither the vet nor the veterinary hospital could diagnose.
On the plus side in my reel life, in May, I finally took
renewed interest in finishing the mystery that’s been idling on my computer for
more years than I can remember. I entered the first chapter in a critique
contest and was told it finished at number 17 out of 119 entries. I was cocky enough to hope for an honorable mention, but the result encouraged me to finish the story.
After I typed “The End,” the story also received a positive beta read with good
questions that needed to be answered (“I enjoyed it. It’s a good story.”). A
TIME TO DIE is now out to a couple more beta readers—in another state, so no
local influencing there. I hope their comments are as helpful as the first
reader’s.
§§
Since I am in the process of collecting (reminding myself of) everything I need to do to get a novel ready for the publisher, I resurrected
this article from Jane Friedman’s blog that I mentioned in December last year.
Perhaps other authors will also find a useful nugget in it.
§§
Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll
try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe Thanksgiving celebration
for you and yours.
cj
Blatant Self Promotion:
Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Birthday/whatever day, books are
gifts that keep on giving year-round, and anthologies are even better because
there’s more than one story to read, perhaps by an author who could become a
new favorite.
My fast-paced thriller/suspense novels with a touch of romance, THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, are
available on Amazon or through your favorite e-Tailer and bookstore.
Nota bene: Angela Trigg, the RITA Award-winning author and
owner of The Haunted Book Shop has a few signed copies of my paperback books in
stock. TO ORDER, contact: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us
§§
FYI . . . An announcement in the interest of transparency (de
rigueur word these days). This is something that I only recently learned: If
you buy ebooks from Amazon, you don’t own them. You've been given a license to
read them. Amazon reserves the right to pull the book from sale at any time and
provide you zero compensation for doing so. Per their disclosure of licensing terms in response to a
California law:
“Amazon clarifies that Kindle purchases are licenses, not
ownership, allowing the company or publishers to revoke or alter e-books at any
time.”
Amazon’s recent update to its Kindle store in the U.S.
now includes a disclaimer: “By placing the order, you’re purchasing a license
to the content.” (cj Sez: I didn’t see
any verbiage on other countries.)
I’m happy to announce that when you purchase one of my books
from the D2D Smashwords.com store, the buyers owns them, “without exception”
D2D told me. The buyer keeps the ebook she/he purchases and can load it onto a
Kindle or whatever device.
➜ Follow me on
➜ Amazon: Amazon Central Author Page
➜ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6
