Good Grief!

Welcome to Gadabout. I expect to use this as another tool for selling my books, which can be purchased at vandermeerbooks.com, but I also expect this will be of interest to readers all on its own. I would like to have followers and I would like to have input, so make comments, they will be more than welcome. 

A gadabout is defined by dictionary.com as 1) a person who moves about restlessly or aimlessly, especially from one social activity to another, and 2) a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure. My definition is a person who cannot make up her mind. That would be me, which is why Gadabout will be about "a little of this and a little of that."  

This is my response to a free online course about marketing available through Sandi Krakowski, an online marketing guru. Yes, she is selling herself and she’s selling WordPress, another blogging and web development site, but that does not diminish the value of what she has to offer. Click on Sandi's name to access her FREE 30-day introduction to marketing on the web. I’ve found it to be informative and user-friendly

What am I marketing? Obviously myself as a writer, but along the way I’m expecting to provide you as a follower with worthwhile information. When deciding what to focus on in this blog I realized that gathering information and writing articles is what I do best. That's why the content type may change from day to day, but the themes will be consistent. For example:

• In Explore I’ll take you on journies local and far-flung. (Well, not too far-flung. I’m old and I live on a tight budget.) Nevertheless, the articles will be interesting and entertaining.
• Interested in living a healthier lifestyle? Follow my once-a-week column, Age is Only a Number, on getting in shape and eating healthier. It will be painfully personal but worth keeping up with because you will likely see yourself in my struggle.  
• Keep up with ways to improve your life and your community with my weekly Make a Difference column.
• Want to be inspired? Connecting the Dots will lift you up and make you smile.
• Down Home in Northern New Mexico will include home decor, food, entertaining, area personalities and more. 
• Book Blast will introduce you to characters from my books and reviews of books by other authors.

So there it is, a blogilicious smorgasbord of interesting reading, all of it right here.

Also check out my other blog Writers Bloc. That one is exclusively about writing.

Stay with me! Become a follower.

Books by FS (Sharon) Vander Meer

Tiger Lilly, contemporary fiction (ebook/pdf only) fastpencil.com

Not Just Another Day, inspiration

The Ballad of Bawdy McClure, science fiction

Future Imperfect, science fiction

These books are available at www.vandermeerbooks.com, and at online retailers. Print books also available at Tome on the Range in Las Vegas, NM.
 

Getting Noticed

I'm hardly a shrinking violet but when it comes to getting attention for my work I struggle. I'm great at writing but not so good at self-promotion. It may seem like I am because I'm beating the drum right now for my recently-published e-book, Tiger Lilly. The truth is that I'm preaching to the same choir. You have all heard about my struggle to get published in one form or another for some time. What I need is a much bigger audience for my work—and when I say bigger I mean HUGE.

When I go into a bookstore, be it Tome on the Range here in Las Vegas, or to a major retailer, I'm overwhelmed by the numbers of books on the shelves. It's staggering. Throw into the muddle the phenomenon of the e-book and it quadruples the numbers of writers trying to get your attention. In this highly competitive marketplace you have to practically wear meat to get attention. Oh, right, Lady Ga Ga (gag gag) already did that.

My point is that the job of marketing one's work is more angst ridden and time consuming than writing the book. Right now I'd like to be working on any one of five other projects I have cooking in my pea brain, but that has to be put on hold while I put together a strategy for getting attention for Tiger Lilly. While I have marketing and advertising sales experience the focus has always been on something else or for someone else. This time the spotlight is on me, or at least on my books.

My other books, which are in print, are available locally from me and at Tome on the Range. Hopefully my e-book will also be available on Tome's new website bookstore with e-book downloads.

My publisher for Tiger Lilly is a fairly new kid on the block, fastpencil.com, but I like their model. Basically you sign up and proceed to work on your great American novel, or self-help book, or cookbook, or how-to book, or whatever unique idea you may have. The book formats as you write. If you want print books, those may be ordered as POD (print on demand) but there's an upcharge for that driving up the price to the point of ridiculous. I may opt to go that route, because I've already had folks turn up their noses at the e-book concept, but then again, maybe not. Las Vegas, NM has not entirely embraced the digital age but it's happening, slowly but surely.

The downside of fastpencil.com at the moment is that while they do provide you with an ISBN and shoot your work out into the greater marketplace (Ingram's the premier book inventory publication, Amazon, and others), how do I know anyone will notice my baby among the thousands of others on the shelves? Well, I don't, that's why I have to be ready to hit the streets and get my message out there that I have a fantastic, funny and touching book full of engaging characters and enough drama to keep readers turning pages. Don't get me wrong, fastpencil.com offers publishing packages that help with marketing but again, everything they do increases costs. Like any other business person a writer has to judge how much to spend on marketing and how much is a waste of resources. It's a tough call.

Anyway. Buy Tiger Lilly, it's worth every cent of the $9.99 you spend to get to know this modern-day family with its quirks and chaos. It is available in PDF and as an e-book. Ipad owners will enjoy reading it from their ibook collection.

For more about my other books and about me the author go to vandermeerbooks.com.

Tiger Lilly is published and available!

Okay, I'm a proud mama. This is a terrific book from page one right to the finish. It's a funny family drama (and no, it's not about your life or my life) but it hits on all the high points and low points a family can go through. Well, not all, but a bunch.

It's straight forward and goes right to the heart. You will enjoy Tiger Lilly. The book, serialized in Happenstance, is now available in e-format from fastpencil.com, an online bookpublisher for people like me who are great at writing but who haven't hit the magic formula for getting an agent or a traditional publisher.

Unfortunately for those of you who have asked, it is not available in print format, only as a PDF or e-book. Don't let that prevent you from buying and reading Tiger Lilly. It is a great story with lots of laughs and a heart warming conclusion.

Tiger Lilly is the story of widow Lilly Irish who takes in her niece, Annie, someone she hasn’t seen in more than 15 years. Along with Annie come three children, and a dog of questionable breeding. From the moment they blow into her life on a windy fall night and Krank the dog pees on her carpet, Lilly begins a life-changing journey.

Tiger Lilly begins with a family in flux and reaches its climax with the kidnapping of Caleb, the oldest of Annie’s children. Caleb is a boy torn between protectiveness of his mother and siblings, and rage at a life with no stability. On his first day of school he tangles with gangbanger wannabes whose leader is a troubled boy quick to single out someone more conflicted about life than he is. Their school-ground clash leads to horrifying consequences. 

Lilly and Annie join forces to find Caleb before it’s too late, and Lilly finds out what Annie has been running from since her mother’s death years before.

Tiger Lilly is available at fastpencil.com for $9.99, downloadable as a PDF or as an e-publication.

Look for new Happenstance Feb. 7

The Feb. 7 Happenstance is full of great stories. Look for Points to Ponder, thoughts from retired minister Chad Boliek; an article about long time Las Vegas resident Gretchen Bush; What is it About Romance? by regular contributor Cindy Charlton; an article about the Friends of the Museum fund raiser, Planning Ahead for the Future of the Past.

Tracey Preiskorn's Stampin' Up business is just getting off the ground. Her story mirrors that of women who opt to be full-time moms yet want to have something to do that adds to the family income and stimulates creativity.

Artist Trading Cards is an innovative way to get artists and art lovers together. The story in the Feb. 7 issue tells all. A companion article is about the El Zocalo Artist of the Month, Kristine Klaiber, a found art artist.

Pamela G. Daves had an interesting idea called Recipes and Chat. She gives snippets of life encounters and includes a recipe. Look for it and tell us what you think.

Robert E. Gallegos wrote a column in a now defunct weekly called "There Was a Time." It has be "repurposed" in Happenstance as Yesterday. It will be some of his previously published articles plus some that never made it to print.

Mamma and the Monster, by Kayt Peck is a lovely story suitable for any age, though she calls it a children story. It's really about the power of love.

And of course Tiger Lilly continues. If you are following the story or want to start following the story, it begins in the October 2010 issue, which can be found on the archives page at http://www.happenstancelifehappens.com/.

Monday, Monday

Honestly, where does the time go? It's already Jan. 10 and I'm frantically putting together the February issue. I have some great articles lined up and will hopefully have some great submissions. Niki Sebastian is writing an article about a place that many of you know about but may not know enough about.

Thanks for the feedback I've received from all of you. I ask once again that if you like Happenstance, forward it on to others. It's a little of this and a little of that, with a whole lot of me thrown in.

If you are interested in writing an article for Happenstance, or if you are a cartoonist or poet or short story writer or essayest, and want more information about submission policies, a copy is in the current Happenstance. When you get to the site, click on the Happenstance icon in the upper right hand corner and it will take you to the digital version.

Or you can just e-mail me at fsharon@msn.com and I'll send the submission policy to you.

Have a happy…