Adventures in Crafting with Words

I spent way too much time today creating promos that would fit well on Twitter.  I had been using the book covers, but it's occurred to me that those aren't the right shape for Twitter.  I know.  I know.  Social media is something I'm still getting used to, years later.  It changes.  It becomes confusing.  There's already so many things I'm having to adapt to... Familial issues. Etsy issues. Scheduling my time issues. All I'd really like to do is sit down and read a book.  I have to save that for when I'm at the gym on the treadmill. Kindle - setting font size 3.  Although I have trouble 'turning' the pages on the treadmill.  Not so much on the elliptical.  Lately I've taken to carrying the huge Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 5 book omnibus edition around.  Oh the looks I'll get at the gym. However last night and today (during Mom's cardiac rehab) I took the time to design some promos that would fit almost perf...

In all three books I drew inspiration from my local area. From the high schools I'd been in. The high school layout for The Bookworm Next Door was the high school I attended.  It had - counts - 5 parking lots. One for the theatre/football stadium, football locker room/weightroom, administration, North Campus/baseball field, and the front Student/Staff parking.  Six if you count the softball field.   So while Mr. Wallace's (a math teacher I actually knew, who once taught at my alma mater, but not when I attended) car would be parked near the North Campus/Baseball field in staff parking hidden by the Foreign Language portables, David's car could easily be overlooked in the crowded Front parking lot.   By the way, my high school also had 5 buildings. Are all,  they say "write what you know" and using actual locations helps. Half-Moon Manor and Keeping Secrets are both in the same county.  This county in fact has 4 school districts.  3 city/...

That is the question... Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous word count expectations Or to take my pen against a sea of manuscript pages And by opposing NaNoWriMo edit them. Okay, seriously.  I have one manuscript that is in the second draft/revisions/editing stage.  It doesn’t even have 50,000 words at the moment.  Not even 48,000 words.  It is, however, the longest manuscript that I have written and it took combining a planned trilogy to get it that long.  Book one was about 30,000 words and books 2 and 3 a combined 17,000+.  I started Keeping Secrets in 2009... What does this mean? I'm not a 40,000+ writer.  I hate adding in additional action just to further a plot and add fluff just to pad a word count. Not everyone can be novel writers.  I'm not. I'm a short story and novella writer.  That also means very few of my books will be more that $4.99 an ebook.  (Print versions via c...