Jasinda Wilder: A Self-Publishing Success Story

About a month ago, I made a new author friend--Jasinda Wilder. She'd joined a cross-promotion group I've recently become part of. Until that point, I'd never heard of Jasinda. But I was interested in her book, Falling Into You, because it's a story of love and loss and grief and loving again. I started to read the book and was immediately riveted. I read the book straight through, then thought a lot about the story afterwards. I can honestly say that Falling Into You is one of those rare books that I'll always remember.

The book starts out with sixteen year old protagonists, but it's not a young adult book, its a new adult book (meaning college age and up) then jumps to a time period of several years later. The book is very sensual and makes an accurate portrayal of what can happen when someone becomes stuck in grief and guilt as well as the aftereffects of trauma.

But Jasinda's terrific book isn't why I'm having her guest blog for me. I wanted to showcase her on my blog because of her life story. A year ago, she was struggling with a family member in the hospital and bills mounting up to the point of almost losing her house. Today, as of this week, Jasinda is a USA Today Bestselling author, A New York Times Bestselling author, and #1 on the Amazon Kindle Top 100 list. Needless to say, her financial situation has considerable changed, and all because of writing good books and then self-publishing them.

I felt reading Jasinda's story couldn't help but motivate other struggling authors and give them hope and encouragement. Writing books for publication can be extremely difficult and discouraging. Not everyone will experience the extremes of darkness to fireworks kind of success that has been Jasinda's journey, but you don't have to hit #1 to make a positive difference in your financial situation.

And so, I bring you, Jasinda Wilder. 

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ON HEARTACHE; OR, THE NEXT GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL

By Jasinda Wilder

We’ve all been through hell. I have, and you reading this…you have too. Stop for a moment and think about your life, think about the hardest times. You probably went to bed wondering how you could get up in the morning, and then when you did wake up, you had that blissful moment where you let yourself think it was all a bad dream, something horrible you imagined. Then, of course, reality asserted itself and you wished you could go back to that place of denial. It’s tempting, isn’t it? To want to just deny, deny, deny. Pretend the horror that’s swirling all around you and making a ruin of your life is just a dream.

The problem is, reality doesn’t stop. Truth doesn’t go away, and life doesn’t live itself. Sure, if you ignore the problem long enough, circumstances will eventually change; usually, in my experience, the way they change is for the worse, whereas if you stand up, accept the heartache and let it wash through you and breathe past it, take life one step at a time, you can forge a new reality for yourself. It’s easy for me to type those words, though.

I’ve been there, though, that’s the thing. I’ve been betrayed. I’ve had my heart stomped on and my life ruined and my trust broken and my reality shattered. I’ve ignored problems in the hopes that they’d work themselves out, and I’ve spent the weeks and months and years working to rebuild myself and my life after it all came crashing down. I’ve lost people I loved and cared about to cancer and suicide and age.

I’ve been Nell. I may not have chosen to deal with my pain in the same self-destructive ways she did, necessarily, but I’ve been in denial of my own pain, I’ve closed myself off from those around me, I’ve drank too much in the search for numbness. I’ve also been Colton, having to make my own way in life, having to believe in myself when no one else did.

There’s no secret formula, no magic bit of advice I or anyone else can offer to help you through your hardest times, except, perhaps, what Colton told Nell: just keep breathing. Keep getting up day after day and force yourself to go through the motions. Fake it till you make it. Eventually, things will get better.

How does this apply to writers?

Keep writing. Keep submitting. Keep publishing. Finish a story, be it a novella, short story, novelette, or the fictitious “next great American novel”. Finish it, set it aside and write another one. Polish the first one, make it as best you can, and then don’t mess with it anymore. Just keep writing. Publish it, or work up your query letters if you’re going the trad-pub route. And then? Keep writing. If the first thing you published doesn’t sell, publish something else. Don’t endlessly fiddle with the cover or the blurb, don’t screw around with a social media campaign. Just keep writing. That’s not to say that covers and blurbs and social media aren’t important, because they are, especially for the indie author. But don’t let anything overshadow the writing. That’s where the satisfaction is, that’s where the money is. Write, publish, repeat. Do this as fast and furious as you can.

If your book gets shit reviews, keep an open mind and take the core advice to heart when you write the next one. Try—and you will sometimes fail at this—not to take the bad reviews personally. There’s no accounting for taste, you can’t please everyone…take your pick of overused adages. They’re all true, though, which is why they’re so overused. The reviews are there to help, good or bad.

Before things started taking off for me as Jasinda Wilder, I’d been writing and self-publishing here and there for a long time (and I even made a few passes at trad-pub agents and writing contests), but nothing ever really hit, never felt quite right. I hadn’t found my niche. It was hard. It was discouraging. The stuff I was putting out there just wasn’t finding an audience. So, instead of giving up or continuing to throw more of the same thing at the wall, I stopped, stepped back, and reconsidered my approach.

I looked at what I was writing and why. I looked at the market, at what was selling, what people were reading. Then I looked at myself, my life, the stories I had to tell, and tried to come up with a new plan. The result was a partially-autobiographical novelette, Big Girls Do It Better, and that was the beginning. People identified with my characters and seemed to be responding to my writing style, and were asking for more.

But like I said, that was the beginning. I had setbacks, I had stories that didn’t quite flop, but weren’t really going anywhere either. I had partnerships dissolve and friendships fizzle. I had personal drama, illness, bills that weren’t being paid. And in it all, I kept looking at the market, following the trends, watching for what kind of stories were doing the best and trying to figure out my own angle. See, I don’t want to ever just write a story that will fit neatly into a slot. I believe in taking risks—calculated, considered risks, but risks nonetheless.

So when I look at the market and the bestselling titles, I don’t ask “how can I mimic this and capitalize on the trend?” but rather, “what is the trend, and how can I write a unique and edgy story that will fill that niche?” I don’t want to be part of the trend, I want to further it, make it new, expand on it, push the boundaries.

Falling Into You is a New Adult novel, because that’s the big thing right now, but it’s also a story that (I hope!) will always be relevant. Nell and Colton are all of us, anyone who has faced a mountain of grief and felt buried under a deluge of trial and tribulation. They’re you and me. The healing power of love, the need to let yourself grieve, to own your emotions and keep breathing through the hardest times, the need to find someone that fills the space in your heart, these are timeless issues. Death, pain, the mistakes we make in dealing with our problems, these too are all things that will always be relevant.

You can’t just capitalize on a trend. You have to be relevant and daring. Most of all, you have to believe in your own talent and in the stories you have to tell.

The most-quoted words of advice for new writers: “Write what you know.” But that’s so ambiguous. What you know can be anything. If you know historical fiction, you don’t have to have lived in Restoration-era England to write good Restoration-era romance. I know loss and grief and betrayal and redemption and love and hot sex, so I write about those things. If you know what it’s like to be cheated on and how devastating that is and how to move past it, write that story. It will always be relevant, because people are stupid and cheat on other and they always have and always will.

Write what’s true for you.

Just write. That’s my biggest piece of advice. Don’t be an aspiring writer; be a writer. I can be an aspiring Olympic gymnast (Ha, right!) but unless I go to the gym and get a coach and start learning to do backflips and handstands, I’ll never be anything but an aspiring gymnast. I have to get my ass in the gym and start practicing my backflips. Same with writing. Aspire all you want, all day long. But you’ll never sell a single copy until you sit down, put on your headphones and fill the page with words every single day and finish the damn book.

This is all a bit rambling, I guess, but it all fits together, I hope. Take risks. Understand that heartache is part of life, and one day you might be able to put that heartache into a story and it’ll move people, it’ll touch their lives. But before that, you have to just keep breathing, keep living. Love. Be true to yourself and what you want your life to be. Just breathe, just write.

And listen to great music, because music heals, too. 

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Debra Holland is teaching an online self-publishing class for the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal Chapter of RWA, starting April 8 and running through May 12. Cost is $20 for members, $30 for nonmembers. For more details, see http://romance-ffp.com/page/workshops
 

STARRY MONTANA SKY--ONE OF AMAZON'S TOP 50 GREATEST LOVE STORIES!!!

Starry Montana Sky, Book Two in my Montana Sky Series, is an Amazon Top 50 Love Stories pick!!! I’m over the moon, disbelieving, humbled by being included in such impressive company, and very, very grateful. Amazon picked a book per state, and Starry obviously represents Montana. Wow! What a wonderful early Valentine’s Day present!

The top 50 picks are love stories, not necessarily romances. Many, such as Gone With the Wind, or My Antonia, are classics. 

Today, as I reflect on Starry Montana Sky’s journey, I realized the book has lessons to offer authors and readers about the value of collaboration, persistence, and of following your intuition.

The germ of the idea for Starry Montana Sky came about when I attended the Rose Parade--probably back in 2001. I saw a tiny buggy pulled by miniature horses, and immediately thought, I want miniature horses in my next Montana Sky book! 

For the next hour, I divided my attention between watching the parade and thinking about a story. I wanted to have the miniature horses save the day in a way a horse couldn’t. By the end of the parade, I had the idea of someone being injured in a cave system, and only a little horse could pull him through the tunnel. I scribbled notes all over my parade program. The only possible stumbling block was not knowing if miniature horses existed in the 1890s.

When I returned home, I researched miniature horses, and to my relief found Falabellas existed in Argentina in the 1890s, although they weren’t officially recognized as a breed until the 1930s. So I knew my heroine or hero had to be from Argentina and bring Falabellas to Sweetwater Springs, Montana.

In a an informal plotting group with the fabulous author, Leanne Banks, organized by my local Romance Writers of America (RWA) chapter of Orange County, Leanne mentioned that she’d recently read an article titled, “Last Chance Ranch,” about an organization that rehabilitates wayward youth and suggested that might be something interesting for the book. I liked the idea, and started toying with my own version of Louisa May Alcott’s book, Jo’s Boys, a little known sequel to Little Women and Little Men.

For my heroine, I chose widowed Samantha Rodriguez, an American who’d married an Argentine rancher. Samantha inherits her uncle’s dilapidated ranch in Sweetwater Springs. I gave the book a working title of Sam’s Boys. It wasn’t until two thirds into the book, when the hero, Wyatt Thompson is driving to Samantha’s ranch and admires the night sky, that the title, Starry Montana Sky came to me.

In Starry for the first time I allowed a secondary character a point of view. I LOVED writing the POV of Jack Cassidy, one of the orphaned boys adopted by Samantha. His “voice” flowed out of my fingers, unique and so very him. My writing teacher and editor, Louella Nelson, warned me that he was in danger of taking over the book, and said that I needed to make the rest of my writing match the quality of Jack’s scenes. To this day, those scenes I wrote for Jack are among my favorites.

Once I finished Starry, I entered it in the Orange Rose contest where it took second place. My agent at the time loved the book. But because it was the second in a series, Starry wasn’t submitted to editors. The first in the series, Wild Montana Sky, was the book garnering the stack of rejection letters for not being the type of book the editors were looking for—meaning it wasn’t sexy nor a contemporary Western Romance.

Finally my agent received an offer (with an advance) for Wild Montana Sky. BUT the publisher wasn’t interested in a series. That meant no sale for Starry. Going with my intuition, I turned the offer down. My agent was NOT pleased. She lost interest in me and within a few months she dropped me.

With a pile of rejection letters for all my novels, I turned to writing nonfiction, which I knew I could self-publish and sell in the back of the room when I gave talks. At the time I made that decision, Kindles didn’t yet exist, and self-published novels were considered the bottom of the barrel.

I finally received my first contract for The Essential Guide to Grief and Grieving AND a five month deadline. While in the middle of writing the book, author Delle Jacobs sent me an email about how well she was doing with her self-published books. I made up my mind to self-publish Wild and Starry as soon as I turned in the grief book.

While still on the deadline, I commissioned Delle to design my covers. I knew exactly what I wanted for both books. Wild’s cover took us some time as we went back and forth in choosing the elements. Delle sent me dozens of photos of ranch houses, and when I saw the one for Starry, I emailed her to hang onto that photo for book two. Luckily we found the ranch house for Wild soon after.

The process of creating Starry’s cover was much easier. I told Delle I wanted a starry night sky with a full moon, the ranch house I’d already chosen, and a solitary horse. Delle nailed the beautiful cover on her first design, although we made a few small changes. I think the covers are a big reason for the success of the books, and one of my stipulations for going with Montlake as a publisher was that I’d keep my covers, although they could be polished up.

The sales of Starry always lagged behind Wild. Wild Montana Sky served to weed out the people who didn’t like my type of stories, and the book’s lower review average reflects that--4.2 versus Starry's 4.4. People who bought Starry were predisposed to like the book because they already like my writing style, my voice, and the time and place of my stories.

In November, after an intense Amazon promotion of Wild Montana Sky, the sales of Starry overtook book one. The people who bought and loved book one had jumped to book two, floating the sales and the rank. For the first time, Starry started to outshine, USA Today bestselling Wild Montana Sky.

Amazon chose Starry as the Kindle Daily Deal for January 1, 2013, and I sold the most books I ever had in one day. Starry quickly reached the top 100 Kindle list and dropped lower in rank than the two times Wild Montana Sky made the list. Midway through the month of January, the books flipped in sales and readers who first bought and read Starry returned to buy Wild.

Today, I started to think about why Starry Montana Sky was chosen as a to 50 love story instead of Wild Montana Sky. I don’t know that it’s a better book, but perhaps it’s a more “classic” read, and I believe that’s because of Jack’s POV. 

I’ve learned from Jack. Since his creation, I’ve added the POV of children to my subsequent Montana Sky stories, and I believe the stories are richer for it. I've found I have a knack for getting into the characters of children.

I can’t help but reflect with humility and awe on my journey for the last year and nine months since I first self-published the Montana Sky series, ten years after Wild Montana Sky won the RWA Golden Heart. After years of rejections, I thought my dreams for writing fiction had died, and I never dreamed they’d rise from the ashes and flame into an amazing blaze. I still see the books as simple, old-fashioned romances and am sort of bewildered by the reader response to them. I try to make my stories reflect my own values of love, family, kindness, and helping others because I believe that’s what’s important in life.

So that’s Starry Montana Sky’s journey. Thanks to all who made it possible, especially my readers.

Self-Publishing: Avoiding, "It's too short!" Bad Reviews

A common reason for a bad review is the criticism that a short story or novella is "Too short." Whenever I hear authors complain about this type of review, they also are grinding their teeth because they mention in the product description and/or the cover that the book is a novella or short story. Thus the readers didn't read (or notice) that a book is a novella or short story, or they forgot by the time they got around to reading the story on their ereader.

When I self-published my first collection of short stories, Montana Sky Christmas, I worried about receiving these kinds of negative reviews. To prevent these type of reviews as much as possible, I took four proactive steps to avoid reader confusion.

1. I made "short stories" part of the title. The whole title is, Montana Sky Christmas: A Short Story Collection.

2. I made sure the subtitle was on the cover and as visible as the main title. I did this by changing the font and making the color "pop."

3. I put "Short Stories" in all caps in the product description:  In Montana Sky Christmas, USA Today bestselling author Debra Holland offers seven SHORT STORIES set in the small town of Sweetwater Springs, Montana in 1894.

4. In my email blast to my fans, I made sure to communicate the book was short stories.

In a lucky stroke that I didn't anticipates, when the reviews started coming in, the reviewers often mentioned that the book was composed of short stories. Some even mentioned which stories they liked the best.

To date, a little over four and a half months after publication and with 55 reviews, I don't have any reviews dinging me because Montana Sky Christmas was short stories, instead of one long story. I do have one or two who wistfully mention that they wish there were more.

For my novella, Painted Montana Sky, I did the same thing. I put in the subtitle that the story was a novella--Painted Montana Sky: A Montana Sky Series Novella. The subtitle also identified the novella as part of the series.

The only difficulty I encountered before publication was people asking me what a "novella" was. So when I sent out the fan email announcement, I used novella/novelette as a descriptor.

The first line of the product description reads: In Painted Montana Sky, a NOVELLA from the acclaimed Montana Sky Series, USA Today bestselling author Debra Holland brings together two people who have turned their backs on love and relationships.

I self-published Painted Montana Sky on December 22, and in slightly over a month it has acquired 21 reviews, none of which complain about the length.

So while I might not have forewarned every potential reader about the type and length of these stories, I did everything I think is possible to give them the knowledge, thus preventing future disappointment.

An Agent Bashes Self-Publishing and Amazon

Over the weekend, I attended a wonderful conference on story mastery, which was fun, inspirational, and chock full of interesting attendees. I had a marvelous time--with one exception--the agent who was a guest speaker. It wasn't the first time I've heard agents bash self-publishing and Amazon, but since it's important to me to educate authors about self-publishing, I wanted to write out some of what the agent said, and my opinion of his opinion. :)

First of all, I want to be clear. I am NOT bashing agents. I know and respect many agents. I have one of my own, whom I admire. Nor am I bashing traditional publishing. I'm also traditionally published and may be again in the future.

Before yesterday, I'd heard this agent/literary attorney speak several times. This weekend, when he was discussing selling a screenplay to Hollywood, including what should and should not be in the contracts, I thought he was very sharp and knowledgable, and I considered pitching my screenplay to him.

That opinion changed when he started talking about the importance of having an agent for books. He said editors will ONLY read agented submissions. (There was no mention that authors can pitch to editors at conferences or that editors now troll for best selling self-published books and make offers directly to the authors.) The implication is that an agent is vital for your publishing career.

However, that wasn't what annoyed me.

Someone in the audience asked his opinion of self-publishing. The agent responded by giving the audience opinionated, misleading, and sometimes false information, some of which I will detail here.

The agent was obviously against self-publishing, quoting the old statistic that 97% of authors sell less than 100 books. I know there are more recent surveys, and I also know that these surveys don't tap into much of the self-publishing community. I know a LOT of self-publishers who sell more than 100 books. They sell more than 100 books a year, a month, a week, a day, or an hour. Granted I hang out in the romance author circles, and romance fiction is a big percentage of the market, but I also know authors of other genres who have sold more than 100 books.

I spoke up, not to challenge the guy, but to educate the audience. I stated that I was a successful self-published author who had made the USA Today list and sold almost 100,000 books in a year. The speaker then made his point by saying that I was obviously one of the 3%.

The agent stated that with self-publishing you have to be your own editor and do your own marketing. He said that you want to go with a traditional publisher because they have wider distribution and can get you into brick and mortar stores. All true. But he didn't present the complete picture--that with self-publishing, you pay others to edit your work, and that no matter how you are published, you have to do promotion. Also most new or midlist authors don't receive a lot of promotion from their traditional publisher--so it doesn't matter if the possibility exists for wider distribution and promotion.

The agent was against small publishers, not even mentioning that there are some hot small pubs now that are doing far more for their authors than traditional publishers do for most of their authors. I think you have to be careful and do your research to discover them, but some small publishers are making exciting inroads into the market.

As for brick and mortar stores.... They are less and less viable for authors because many of them don't exist anymore. When my local Borders closed, I started buying my books at Amazon. Stores offer limited shelf-space, that mostly goes to well-known authors. And there's a limited amount of time a book will be available in the store.

The agent did grudging admit that a self-published author could receive higher royalties, but he mentioned that you could make 70% on a $10.00 book. (Untrue, you make 35% on a $10.00 book. You make 70% on a $9.99 book.) Granted, I'm being picky here. But if you are educating your audience, you have to give them the correct information.

Someone asked the agent more about Amazon. The audience member seemed to be asking about Amazon's traditional imprints, but the agent kept referring to Amazon's self-publishing platform. I spoke up and said that Amazon has traditional imprints. The agent responded by saying, "I would never submit to them because Amazon is destroying publishing. And I don't know any other agent who submits to them either."

Wow, really? No other agents submit to Amazon imprints?

I knew some of my fellow Montlakers had their books submitted by agents. Today, I took a survey of my Montlake friends and found a large percentage of authors had their books submitted by their agents. And if you look at Publisher's Marketplace, you'll also see agented sales to Amazon Imprints. I can't believe this agent wouldn't read PM.

Here is a guy who may be acting to detriment of his clients due to his own ideology. This agent is denying his clients the opportunity to have offers from the Amazon imprints, which may be much better than traditional publishing offers--or at the least spark some kind of bidding war. In my case, I had a big six editor approach me for my Montana Sky series. Her terms weren't as good as Montlake's, so I declined her offer. I know several other Montlake authors who had offers from big six publishers, and they, too, went with Amazon's better offers.

Then there is the potential for promotion and generating sales (and thus making money) that Amazon imprints offer. For example, my two Montlake books have sold about 100,000 in four months and a week. Much of those sales are due to Amazon's promotions. I know authors who've had way better sales with Amazon than I have. I certainly know I wouldn't have sold as many so quickly with a traditional publisher.

Amazon is destroying traditional publishing. Yep, that's true. And it's not true. Traditional publishing has been destroying itself. I won't go into the ways it has done so. There are plenty of blogs and articles that address this issue.

One of the things Amazon has done to strike a blow to traditional publishing is opened opportunities for authors. The company made the Kindle a viable option for readers and established a free, easy to use, self-publishing platform. Authors are flocking to self-publishing, many combining a career that includes self-publishing and traditional publishing as a way to have the best of both worlds. However, in the process, agents are becoming less and less important, and may, at times, be a detriment to an author's career.

Think carefully and do your research before you decide you want an agent. Then before submitting to agents, carefully check them out. You want an agent who's future oriented, not stuck in the past. Read their websites and blogs, and speak with their clients. Read PM and see what they've sold. Listen to their podcasts or CDs of when they speak at conferences. A good agent will be gold and do marvelous things for your career. Make sure that's the kind you have.

Superstorm Sandy:Crisis Counseling, Kindness, and Hope

I'm in New Jersey on my second to last day of volunteer crisis counseling. Yesterday, I finally had a chance to take the books to the distribution center. Here's a photo of the books. There are actually more boxes of books than you can see because there are some behind the big boxes. I purposely hadn't opened any, one for ease of transportation, and two because I wanted everyone to see that people from all over the country had sent them.

Once the volunteer who unloaded my car had all the books in his cart, he started to roll them away. I offered to help him open the boxes. "No, Doc," he said in a thick New Jersey accent. "I have plenty of volunteers who can do that. But there's only one you who can counsel people."

Disappointed, I almost stopped him because I really wanted to see all the books. But I would have lingered, seeing who'd sent them, examining covers and reading the back blurbs, starting the stories, and probably coveting more than a few. So I left.

Then when I got home to Bill's late last night, I had another three boxes waiting. And five more tonight. I'll make another stop to the distribution center tomorrow after my last group and before I leave to fly home. The last two nights were dark and cold, and I quickly loaded the boxes in the car because I know I'll dash out of here in the mornings. So I didn't look at who sent them. But I'm VERY grateful.

Today I did a group at the Senior Center in Sayreville, where FEMA and the Red Cross are set up. As can be typical after disasters, neither organization knew about the distribution center for people to get free food and clothing (and now books.) When a woman told me she had to use a portion of her rent money to buy food and diapers, I told her about the distribution center where I knew they had more diapers than they knew what to do with. She was so happy to learn she could receive free food, clothing, and diapers, and she could return another day if she ran out. After that I made sure the Red Cross volunteers who greeted people and said good-bye to them had the directions to the distribution center and told everyone about it.

Just as I was about to leave the building to go back to Our Lady of Victories Church, where I have done the majority of my groups, a Red Cross volunteer came up to me and mentioned that there was a man who'd lost everything and was having a difficult (and thus emotional) time navigating the bureaucratic hoops that disaster victims often have to jump through to receive assistance.

I approached the man, (I'll make up a name and call him John) introduced myself, and asked if he'd like to speak to me. John was tall and wide, with dark circles under his brown eyes. He wore shorts and sandals on a day that I had on a coat and boots. His expression lit up with eagerness, and he said a strong, "yes!" Then John asked me to wait while he left to do some paperwork, promising to return in ten or twenty minutes. I said I'd wait for him.

John returned. We went to an empty room, and he started talking. Very quickly, I could tell that this was a man who life had dealt some very hard knocks, the latest one being Sandy. He and his 17 year-old son were left with only the clothes on their backs. John was on disability from an injury and didn't have resources to replace what he'd lost. He'd been wearing the same clothes for days.

Early on in our discussion, after I'd said something to validate his experience, John said in a tone of wonder, "You've only been talking to me for 10 minutes, and you understand what I'm going through!"
I could tell he hadn't received much compassion in his life.

John told me a story that touched me and also broke my heart--how when the storm first started, he took $100 of his own money, bought candles, and went door to door at the hotel where he was staying and gave one to everyone.

His son said to him, "Dad, why are you doing this when no one cares about you?"

"Because it makes me feel good," John replied.

I hated to think of that young man (who'd been abandoned by his mother at age six) already having a world view that no one cares.

John and I had a very productive session. He was very open to my feedback and suggestions. I connected him with Catholic Charities for some free counseling and with the church for some spiritual support. At the end, he told me how much it meant to him that I had approached him, that I had listened, and that I had cared. The act of kindness was as important to him as the counseling.

As we were walking out, I told John I wanted him to take his son to the distribution center. In addition to getting food and clothing, I told him to search out the books, and I explained how people from all over the country had sent them to me, and I'd taken them to the shelter. I said I knew there were some science fiction and horror stories (thanks to the author-team at Amazon and also to Seventh Star Press) that I was sure a 17 year-old would love to read. "Yah, he likes those kind of books," his father said.

"Be sure you tell him that those books come from people who care," I said.

John thanked me, almost in tears.

As we parted, I hoped that the help I'd given John would indeed make a difference. Even more, I prayed that his son would pick out some books and, in so doing, would not just receive stories, but hope. And maybe, just maybe, he'd come to believe that there are people who do care.

Superstorm Sandy, Trauma Recovery Counseling

As I write this, I'm in Sayreville, New Jersey, doing volunteer crisis counseling for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. I arrived at midnight on the 11th and am staying until the evening of the 18th.

Before I came here, I did a book drive, contacting my writers' groups and asking for donations to be sent to where I'm staying. I knew from experience that people in shelters needed the distraction that a good book can provide. I promised that if I had the time and energy, I'd write some blog posts to keep let people know how it was going. So this post in about keeping that promise

First of all, I I want to acknowledge that I've been welcomed with open arms. People are very touched that someone would come all the way from California on their own accord to help out. My friend, Bill, is housing me and driving me around. Through him I was networked into Catholic Charities. (Did you know Catholic Charities helps people who aren't Catholic? I didn't.) Monday, day one for me, was spent in meeting the people from Catholic Charities and determining where my services could be best utilized. Yesterday started with a meeting of all the agencies in the area who are working to help the victims, including the Red Cross, FEMA, Catholic Charities, United Way, and other government and local organizations. During and after the storm, many of these organizations had to deal with the loss of power or perhaps even damage to their own buildings, but the staff worked hard to help others, and managed to get creative and still accomplish a great deal both for their clients and the general community.

The purpose of the meeting was to learn what everyone was doing and to find a way to enhance the communication between the various agencies. I was there to talk about the free trauma recovery groups I was going to do, and also the group I wanted to organize for the people in the room and anyone else who's worked for one of the organizations serving the victims.

After the meeting, I went to the Red Cross shelter at Rutgers. Earlier in the day Shirley Hailstock had dropped off boxes of books and tote bags, and by the time I got there, people were happily reading. I've been receiving boxes of books (and know I have more coming). Tomorrow, I'll donate them to the distribution center.

I did my first group at the Red Cross shelter. By this time, many of the people who'd originally taken refuge there had moved on to live with families or friends, or found local housing. Those who stayed, had no where else to go. Some had been homeless before the storm and were coping with other issues such has not having proper medication. These people have had a chance to have their lapsed prescriptions renewed, and staff members are trying to transition them into local programs or at least a better situation. So they are receiving the support and attention that they normally don't have. One man commented with awe that he'd been taken to the Rutgers football game.

I also had five Red Cross workers join the group, so I had a mixed "bag" of people. Once I started the group, I felt this inner sense of relief. Even though I'd been "helping" since I'd been in NJ, I finally was doing what I'd really come here to do--aid people in their healing process. My crisis groups are usually a mix of education and sharing, and this one was no different, although I had to sometimes simplify things. But afterwards, I had a lot of feedback that the group was helpful--which was good to hear considering I had to meet very differing needs.

After working at the shelter, I had a break from thinking about the work when Bill, who graduated from Rutgers, took me to a popular restaurant and then to his favorite bar. If you know me personally, you know I'm not a bar person, but this was fun because Bill knew the staff, and we had interesting conversations and lots of laughs. The perfect way to escape for a while.

Today I started my first group at St. Mary of the Victories, and it was to help people, such as the staff of Catholic Charities, who'll be working with the victims. This group was both a training for them in what to say and do to help people with their emotional recovery, but also a place where they could share their own feelings and take a little personal time. I enjoyed working with such a great group of dedicated, caring individuals, knowing that they'd take what they received from their experience with me and pass it on.

Ironically, I gave them a lecture in self-care, but hadn't taken the time for breakfast, and then the group went so long it overlapped with group 2, so I didn't have lunch. However, my excuse was I squeezed in a little workout at Bill's gym, which is in itself self-care, and I did grab a protein drink and add a vitamin packet to it. And I had a protein bar in my purse for after the group. So I was doing self-care, just maybe not as well as I should have.

Catholic Charities has supplied me with a car, and Bill programed his GPS for me. So I'll be able to drive where needed.

The rectory at the church has a guest suite, and I was able to take a nap and join the priest for dinner. He shared with me that he was able to get the message for my groups to the community information network. We have them scheduled every day, including Sunday. I took a picture of the television. They missed the 12:30 Saturday group which is scheduled at the Senior Center. If you know of anyone in the area, encourage them to attend.

I'm sitting on the bed in my guest suite, quickly typing this before heading out to my 7:00 group. Please excuse any typos, missing words, and other mistakes because I'm not going to do my normal editing job.

I just wanted to express my thanks to everyone who's supported me, by praying or thinking positive thoughts, by sending books I can donate, or by being a member of this community and doing so much to help me out. I truly feel blessed to have the support so I can give to others.

Self-Publishing: Making Dreams Come True

As I write this, I'm sitting on my hotel balcony in Montana, looking at the mountains. I've been here for four days, researching, relaxing, reading, and writing. This trip is completely paid for from my self-publishing royalties, and I'm so grateful and excited to be here. I'm having a wonderful time, and I know I won't want to go home in two days.

The air has been a little smoky because of the fires, and the sky has been a pale blue-gray instead of vivid blue. Other than the smoke, the setting is beautiful, and thankfully, I've escaped the Southern California heat. Here's a balcony view, although the picture doesn't really show how beautiful it looks today.

Yesterday, I went for a run. Probably not the best thing to do for my lungs, but before I came here, I visualized jogging through beautiful scenery, and I didn't want to give that up. I ran/walked about three and a half miles, and probably would have gone farther, but the air was dry and smoky. and I hadn't brought water with me. Here's the hill I jogged up. It's one of the foothills before the mountains.

Yesterday was the beginning of the Montana Romance Writers Conference, and they graciously allowed a California girl to attend. It's the smallest conference I've ever been to--about twenty authors--which is nice because I have a chance to get to know everyone. The only person I knew before was Kat Martin, who's here with her husband Larry. I've known the Martins for years. Great people. They took me and Rita Karnopp out to dinner last night. Lots of food, wonderful company, and the best tenderloin ever! (And I'm not much of a beef eater.)

Listening to the speakers at the conference today, helped me dig deeper into the two Montana Sky stories I'm currently working on. I'll be able to add layers and characterization. I've been avoiding writing for the last month--just doing a little a day. Hopefully, I've caught the creative spark and will be able jump back in to a more serious page count.

A nice bonus was that (for some unknown reason) the Montana Sky Series took off yesterday. I had over 400 sales of Wild Montana Sky. Montana Sky Christmas (at only a month old)  overshot its previous sales record of 48 and sold 76 books. Yay!

 Even though Wild Montana Sky and Starry Montana Sky are Montlake's books now, Amazon has recently installed a dashboard that allows their authors to see their sales figures every day. So, I'm still able to keep track.

I haven't been to Montana since long before I wrote Wild Montana Sky, and it was always my dream to return. It never made financial sense to travel to the state when the Montana Sky books languished unsold, and I had plenty of other places in the country to explore. It was only about this time last year, when my self-published income took a leap, that I started telling myself I'd travel to Montana in September.

I didn't make any plans because in 2012, my personal life had far too much upheaval. I just kept the trip as a vague goal. The writers conference gave me an excuse to come here as well as a starting point for my research, even if Anaconda is south of where my books are set.

Tomorrow, we have a book signing, and for the first time, I'll sign Wild Montana Sky and Starry Montana Sky--another dream come true! Then I'll drive to Missoula to spend the night at Kat and Larry's house. They intend to pick my brain about self-publishing, which as you know from reading this blog, is one of my favorite topics. Larry's promised to grill his special salmon...

I've already been invited back to speak at a conference next summer in Bozeman, and I look forward to many more future visits.