When Computers Do Too Much for You

Last weekend, I planned to replace the hard drive on my work laptop because I literally ran out of space, and I didn't had an extra slot for an additional drive.

Well, DH had been paid, and I entered all the bills and receipts, both business and personal, and reconciled accounts on Quicken over Thursday and Friday. I closed the Quicken window, realized I'd forgotten a receipt, and reopened the application to enter the info before I started my laptop's backup.

And for some reason, an update decided to re-initialize my data file. And by reinitialize, I mean the update blew away the data file I'd spent two days getting up to date and created a new, and very empty, data file.

ARGH!

Thank goddess for backups! I still had the mid-October backup on a couple of different storage mediums. Then I spent Saturday and Sunday re-entering everything I'd entered on Thursday and Friday.

And of course, NaNoWriMo started on Friday.

So, I'm a week behind on installing the new solid state drive. I also 7K behind on my NaNo project novel and 15K behind on A Cup of Conflict.

The family funeral on Monday, the election on Tuesday, and my annual cancer check-up on Wednesday have not helped my mood whatsoever.

Some stories may come out later that I planned, but dammit, I WILL get them done!

The First Setback of the New Year

After bouncing business things off DH while we were mall walking (hey, it's fucking cold here, and the last thing I need is bronchitis right before I head to Vegas for a writers' workshop), I came to the hard decision to push back the release date for A Touch of Mother by a month.

I simply did not get the writing in that I should have during December. Getting a stomach bug that went for a good three days started the downhill slide. Then, I spent a lot of time with GK while he was home on leave for twelve days. I spent more time doing homework for the workshop. And the main crime in this novel is child sex slave trafficking.

There's a part of me worried sick about my own child given current events. A part that doesn't want to deal with certain elements of this story.

While I do not write graphic detail regarding the crimes in the Justice series, my mind still fills in the blanks. Especially given the shit that goes on in the world today. So now I know what's holding me back, I can work past it and resume my writing.

On the plus side, the Season of Magick Anthology is already uploaded and ready to go, so there won't be a delay in its release. I also am flying into Vegas a few days earlier than I planned (got to love cheap deals on flights and hotels in Sin City!), so I'm holing up in a hotel with a Starbucks and will write my ass off on the Millersburg Magick Mystery series.

In conclusion, I'm girding my loins and plowing on. I do sincerely apologize to all of you that pre-ordered A Touch of Mother for my tardiness. I want to make this an awesome story that's worth your time and money.

The Best Thing to Help Yourself

I'm in a weird position in that I basically had to start over with my career this year. My sales gradually fell from 2014 through 2018 simply because I was lucky if I got one book out a year. When I did manage to publish, it was at random times during the year.

I can honestly say there are two things that work in getting reader eyeballs on your stories:

1) A new release triggers interest in all our other works.

2) Publish on a consistent and manageable schedule.

New releases doesn't mean a new novel every month. Put out a single short story or a novella in between bigger novels. If your schedule is too tight for new work, publish an anthology of previous short works, or a collection from a series.

When I say publish on a consistent schedule, post your publishing schedule for the year in a public place, like your website, and stick to it. You don't have to release a something every month.

And now, some of you are freaking. "But, but, SUZAN! You published nearly every month in 2019!"

Yeah, I did. Because I WROTE a good chunk of those books during the chaos of 2014-18, including during my stint with breast cancer. So it was a matter of finishing and/or polishing the new works this year.

And shit still happened in happened. A Matter of Death was supposed to come out in June. However, my father passed away in May, and I knew the novel wasn't going to be ready because my headspace wasn't there. So if something major happens, cut yourself a break and don't beat yourself up over it. Let your readers know there will be a delay, and why if you're comfortable enough.

You'll find readers can be very patient when it comes to reader life rolls as long as they know what's going on.

Will I be releasing eight stories in 2020? That's what I've been trying to figure out  over the last couple of weeks.

There's a couple of Justice Thalia short stories I've written. Do I release them singly, or do I write a couple more and release them as an anthology? Some readers want new Anthea novels, Others want new HERO books. There's a little paranormal mystery series I've been toying with. It's a spin-off of Bloodlines that has been nagging at me for several years.

So you see, I've got to figure out how I'm doing all of this. And that doesn't include a fun, one-off side project I really want to write, even though it probably won't sell a damn.

Back to my original point, release new content, release it consistently, and let your readers know when to expect it. And as always, YMMV.

Sticking to a Schedule

In trying to get all my minutiae finished for Hero De Novo, I find myself still awake at 4:30 a.m.

No, I haven't been to bed yet. No, it's not insomnia for once. This is my own stubbornness of sticking to a publishing schedule.

I need to learn how to stick to a schedule again if I want my business to work. Back in 2012 and 2013, I didn't have a problem. I HAD to schedule everything, or nothing got done. I was homeschooling, working a retail job, and writing.

When everything fell apart in 2013, I still managed to keep a schedule. I would have collapsed into a ball of despair otherwise.

But when 2015 rolled around, I was having to keep other people's schedules. That lasted until 2018, when I simply didn't have the mental space to schedule anything beyond the multitude of my own medical appointments.

So I found myself working on relearning something that used to be habitual. Hopefully, this old dog can relearn her old tricks.

Murphy Is the One True God

Dear Readers,

I'm so very disappointed to say that any new releases scheduled for 2018 will be delayed indefinitely. My body has run into a brand-new issue that necessitates a bunch of diagnostic clinic and assorted doctor visits.

What does this mean for the current books-in-progress exactly? I will continue to write in between various scans, the taking of bits of flesh and blood for assorted tests, and talking to medical personnel. However, my mind is not in a place to concentrate on the finer details of publishing, such as editing and marketing.

Once we know the extent of the issue and we have a treatment plan in place, I'll let you all know the revised release schedule.

In the meantime, blogging may also become sporadic for the reasons above. Thankfully, I'm a few blogs ahead. LOL

Thank you for your patience.

Love,
Suzan