Recent Journal Entries
- What a Gas!
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Just did something I probably haven't done since my salad days: bought just four gallons of gas. Of course with gas prices the way they are, that dribble of fuel was $15, which would have bought a tank when I was starting out. Why didn't I fill up? Well, payday is next week and I don't drive much so I didn't want to tie up my fun money or a credit card buying gas.
To be honest, I think I had more disposable income when I was 21 than I do now at 41. Salad days? With this gas crisis and the cost of housing in SoCal, I'm still there! Hold the olives and pass the dressing, please.
- April 24, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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- Where Is TIVO When You Need It?
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Warning: this is a subtle advertisement hawking my latest work of genius.
Yes, the new book came out this month. No, I have not done much to publicize it (does this count?). "A Matter of Wife and Death" is available where fine books are sold, as they say, like here.
People tell me I am the least self-promoting author they know. They mean it as a compliment, but a good author really should be out there hawking her work as much as possible. I guess after all those years of writers' conferences, where I was an editor hounded by eager writers, I tend to shy away from self-promotion. Ginger and I laugh about how unabashed many authors are in their self-promotion (even well-known ones, who don't need to be) and how much they enjoy talking about themselves in superlatives. Neither of us is like that.
Of course, they are probably selling more books than we are.
Our publisher hasn't been real helpful on the promotion side either, this being the second book in a series. As a matter of fact, I got an email from them last week that their mail to me is being returned. I considered that rather symbolic, although it was curious since we confirmed they do have my correct address.
Having been in the publishing business for many years, I had no huge expectations for this series. We were unknown fiction authors, even though Ginger is quite acclaimed as an "as told to" collaborator in non-fiction. And we didn't think our work was award worthy. We just hoped and prayed that some women, especially pastors' wives, would see themselves in our books and feel a connection that someone out there understands what they are going through.
If that is how we measure success with this series, it is successful. We get many emails from readers, most of them PWs who are excited to be validated. Isn't it sad that they have to read about themselves in fiction to feel validated?
Go hug your pastor's wife this Sunday. Or if your pastor is a woman, hug her. If you don't have a pastor, just hug some random person on the street! (And let me know how that goes . . .)
- March 28, 2008 | 0 Comments | View or add comments
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