What do I get for my efforts? Anything measurable?

It seems like all I do everyday is Market: donating copies of books for giveaways, making contact with potential readers and other authors, and networking through my blog.  It's paid off though, I'm Author of the Month on Love, Lust, and Lipstick Stain's blog, I've been nominated for the Sunshine Award, I've made friends I don't want to lose.

How does this translate into selling books, though?  I honestly have no idea.  It's like shooting at a target three hundred yards away, open-sighted.  According to Amazon and Barnes and Noble, I'm not selling much.  But Smashwords only sends me quarterly reports and they distribute to Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well.  I have absolutely NO clue how that works.  But last quarter, my Smashwords sales were ten times what my Amazon sales were, and thirty times what my Barnes and Nobles numbers were

I can only assume this quarter's numbers will be better, for a multitude of reasons--

• I've released an additional book.
• I think I've got a handle on the marketing thing.  If nothing else, I at least have a routine...
• My name (brand) is in more places that it was during the last quarter, and if I keep doing what I'm doing, it should be in more places.

My big plan as far as marketing goes is to just get my name in as many forums as possible.  The more people are exposed to my name, the more sales can be expected, right?

But at the moment, sales are measurable to me.  And I have no idea how to predict what my quarterly sales will be...

I can't help but obsess about sales and money.  I'm back at the dentist's office.  *sigh*

The Sunshine Award!

I've been nominated for the Honorary Sunshine Award, which is given to people whose blogs brighten people's lives.  Wow.  That's an honor just by itself.  That means that one person thought about me in the context of brightening their life.  Wow.

Thanks, Jill.  Her blog is here...

http://jillmsanders.com/category/blog/

Okay, to complete the nomination process, I have to do answer some questions, and make some nominations of my own, I'm pretty sure this is a chain thing, but whatever, so here goes...

My Answers To The Questions:

My Favorite Color: Blue
My Favorite Animal: Goats.  I heart goats.

My Favorite Number: 17

My Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beverage: Water (I try not to do caffeine or sugar, unless it's coffee)
My Favorite Alcoholic Beverage: Good Beer.  I'm a beer snob
Facebook or Twitter: Facebook
My Passions: Writing & My family
Giving or Receiving Gifts: Giving
Favorite City: New York, but that's probably because I've only visited once, twenty years ago.  I also love Austin.
Favorite TV Shows: I don't watch TV, sorry.

Ten Blogs I nominate:

Love Lust and Lipstick Stains

Seductive Romance Reviews

Rock and Drool

Vanessa Booke

Just Booked

Butterflies, Books and Dreams

Chronicles of a Writing Mom

Writing Cocoon

Michelle Cameron

Jill Sanders

If I nominated your blog, and you came here to see what's up, you have to write a blog post, using the sunshine award logo, link back to my blog, answer the questions, and nominate ten blogs.  If you do, a giant flying purple elephant will swoop down with Craig Daniels sitting astride, ready and willing to make wild, passionate love to you.  If not, then you'll suffer an indeterminate period of bad luck.  I'm just kidding...Neither of those things will happen, but maybe you'll drive some new people to your blog.  Here's hoping!

Why I'm depressed...

So, I'm depressed and I'm going to blame the Christmas novella.  It's about a couple who is unhappy with their marriage, but by the end they manage to re-kindle their spark.  It's going to be sweet and touching, and sexy and all that.

But I haven't gotten that far yet.

Right now, it's just about a depressing marriage.

Every couple who has been married has gone through the rough patches.  I've been married fourteen years, so I'm drawing on personal experiences for most of this one, and dwelling on that shit is just depressing.  I can't wait to get to the scene where they have cyber-sex.  I can't wait for the story to get to the happy ending, because it will.  I believe in happy endings, it's just getting through the beginning and the middle to get there that's killing me.

When I write a story, some part of me becomes my characters.  When I wrote Hot Mess, and it took a turn I wasn't expecting, I cried while I wrote parts of it.  And I don't cry.  Ever.  Okay, I don't cry much.

The sad thing is, I'm not having to dig too deep to write this novella, and that's bothering me.  It shouldn't, because Lord knows I want to run away to Dallas every time I get the least bit hormonal (note, every three weeks), but still.  I'm hoping that I'll be to happier places in the book by the end of the week.  Otherwise, I'll have to go road-tripping, just to find my balance again.

Don't get me wrong...I'm happily married, not looking for someone else who can make me happier than my wonderful husband.  But we have gone over our fair share of speedbumps in our marriage.  Maybe writing this book will make our relationship even stronger, because maybe when I've finished, I'll be able to identify what makes me unhappy sometimes and change it.

"They" say that writing can be cathartic.  That's why I have a box dedicated entirely to journals in my laundry room.  When something made me sad, I wrote about it, and somehow, capturing the words on paper made me feel better.  That's what's going on now.  Surely...

It actually occurred to me yesterday to scrap the whole thing and write a BDSM romance.  But I know in my heart that this is a story that should be told.  It's a story about redemption, looking beyond the superficial at what you really have, a story about love and how it conquers all.

It's going to be wonderful, if I can make it through...

Summertime fun...

First weekend into summer, and I'm completely exhausted.  I've taken the kids to the pool, cleaned the house a little bit, and managed to appease the dance instructor some.  I completely forgot about the tee-ball awards ceremony, but hey, nobody's perfect, right?

I had to make a deal with the kids.  They do chores and watch movies in their room or play outside and LEAVE ME ALONE all morning, and we get to go to the pool in the afternoon.  The only foreseeable problem with that, is that the pool freaking wears me out.  After two hours in the sun and swimming laps, I want to take a nap, not make dinner.

As I see it though, that's the only way I'm going to get time to write.  I think better in the morning, and they're less fractious at that time, and if all else fails, I'll pull out the "get-along" shirt.  Don't know what that is?  I'm sure I'll post pictures of it later.

This week, I'll be taking my day planner to Mom's house for her to fill my schedule with activities she's arranged for me and my children.  I will fight and argue to retain any freedoms a thirty-seven year-old has a right to with their seventy-six year-old power chair bound parent.  But in the end, I will cave to the guilt she lays on me, because I'm a marshmallow.  Just like old Mr. Stay-Puffed.

There's a dance convention, which I'm dreading.  Last year, while all of the other parents were enjoying the amenities the five-star accommodations were providing, I was fighting with management about the lack of handicapped facilities for Mom.  At the same time, I was trying not to expose my son to the complete estrogen vibes that thousands of dancing girls were giving off.  Fun times...  I'm actually having nightmares about this.

And then there's my novella.  It's actually going pretty well, when I have a chance to sit down and write.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I try to write about real people that others can relate to.  This particular story is about a married couple who have let life get in the way of their love.  That never happens to people, does it?

Anyway, I've had to put some things on the back burner for the summer, because there was no way I could keep up with the schedule I would like to with the kids at home.  Like the cook book.  That's probably not going to happen...Sorry. I will probably work on it, but I've taken it off my timeline...

Spotlight on JB McGee's Forgiven

Today, I'm featuring JB McGee on her spotlight blog tour of her new book, Forgiven.  I'm participating in more blog tours because Summer's coming, and I can't imagine that my kids are going to give me the peace necessary to come up with my own blog posts.  But I'm going to try to get a few in here and there...

J.B. McGee was born and raised in Aiken, South Carolina. After graduating from South Aiken High School, she toured Europe as a member of the 1999 International Bands of America Tour, playing the clarinet. While attending Converse College, an all-girls school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she visited Charleston often. It quickly became one of her favorite vacation spots. She met her husband, Chad, during Christmas break her freshman year, and they married in 2001 and she moved back to her home town. 

In 2005, the couple welcomed their first son, Noah. J.B. finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 2006. During her time studying children's literature, a professor had encouraged her to become a writer.

In 2007, she welcomed their second child, Jonah, and she became a stay at home mom/entrepreneur. In 2009, the found out their two children and J.B. have Mitochondrial Disease. In 2011, a diagnosis also was given to Chad. Please take a moment and learn more about Mitochondrial Disease. Awareness is key to this disease that has no cure or treatments.

J.B. McGee and her family now reside in Buford, Georgia, to be closer to their children's medical team. After a passion for reading had been re-ignited, J.B. decided to finally give writing a shot. Broken (This Series), is her first book and first series.

Here are links to contact the author:

Goodreads

Facebook

Twitter

Website

I'm currently reading this book, and haven't gotten to this part yet, but I have a feeling I'll be reading it later this morning, during my daughter's awards ceremony at school (those things are so long).

I walk to our closet and strip out of my clothes to where I’m down to just my light pink lace bra and matching boy short panties.  When I go into the bathroom to take my contacts out and wash my face, he follows me and acts like he’s busy.  He’s pissed me off even more than I already was.  I turn on my heel to leave the bathroom, and he grabs my elbow right as I think I am out of his reach.  He pulls me back and crushes my body against the wall, pinning my arms above my head.  He has his other hand on the wall beside my face.  His body is so close to mine that I can feel his heat radiating onto my exposed skin.  He glares at me, still silent.  I lift my chin and narrow my eyes at him.  My desire has pooled between my legs, and I am literally bound and determined to not say the first word.

He shakes his head to the side and rolls his eyes.  “You’re so damned set on ignoring me tonight.”

“Hmph.” is all I give him the satisfaction of hearing.

“Why couldn’t you just drink the damn water?”

“It wasn’t about the water,” I spat as I break our eye contact for the first time.  He’s so sexy like this that I can’t even think straight.

He uses the hand that was on the wall to move my chin back up to where I have to look at him.  “Oh really?”  He licks his lips.  “If not the water, then what?”

“You were being rude and bossy,” I pout.

He chuckles.  “I noticed you pouted there, too.  I must say, you’re sexy as hell when you pout fully dressed, but you just took sexy to a whole new level.”

I inhale and exhale sharply, trying to get a grip on the raging heat that is consuming my body.  “It was hard enough without you being a dick.”  I look away again.

“Gabby,” he whispers as he moves a piece of hair behind my ear.  “Do you know how hard it was for me to watch you do that to yourself?  To subject yourself to that?”

I shake my head and gulp.  “No,” I mutter.

“You know I crave control, and I don’t know that I have ever felt so out of control in my life.  You have no idea how hard it was for me to sit there and watch that unfold.  To watch your heart being sliced open and served on a damn platter right in front of me.” He looks up to the ceiling and I can tell he’s trying to contain his anger, or maybe it’s frustration.  I don’t know what I’m seeing in front of me right now.  “I had to try to do something to help you.  And you shut me out, Gabby Girl.”  When he turns his head to look back at me his blue eyes are intense.  They sear me.  “You shut me out, and you shut me down.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper as I bite my lip to keep from crying.

To purchase Forgiven:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

Apple

And here's some fun stuff the Ms McGee has put together for you guys.

Spotify Playlist

Soundbite of JB reading a snippet