Fabulous Interview

The amazing Sarah M. Eden interviewed me for today's "I Need Friends Friday" event on her website. Sarah writes Regency romances, so you'd never suspect, with only that bit of information, how quirky and funny she really is. Check out the interview to find out what I mean.


Sarah drew this darling stick portrait of me. Read the Interview to find out about the boots.

A Couple of Fun Things

Author Anne Bradshaw, who hosts a giveaway each week on her blog, is featuring author Shirley Bahlmann--one of my favorite people--whose book, The Pioneers: A Course in Miracles, is the item to be given away to a lucky reader this week. Check out Anne's blog here.

Author Cindy R. Williams is inaugurating a new blog, Writers Mirror, with daily themed posts. Wednesday's posts are "Writers Wednesday," and I am featured there today for her very first Writer Interview. Go check out Cindy's blog here.

On Friday, I'll be featured at author Sarah M. Eden's website for her "I Need Friends Friday." Take a look on Friday.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

I Love Readers!

A sweet grandmother who visits our church from time to time bought my three novels a few weeks back. I've been wondering how she would react to them.

Today she hailed me out in the parking lot before church, and told me she's read all three and couldn't put them down! She sent them to her daughter-in-law, who can't be interrupted just now, since she's reading them and can't put them down either. They'll go next to another daughter-in-law. I told her I'm working on book four, and she was excited. Her first DIL was asking if there would be a sequel.

I'm so happy!

Remember, readers have power! Go put a review or a comment about a book you've read on its respective page at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you belong to Goodreads, post the book and do a review. You have no idea how much your actions of this sort raise the spirits of authors. Doing this also influences other people to take a chance on buying and reading that book.

Thank you.

1,000 True Fans

In my perusal of Twitter links, I ran across a reference to 1,000 True Friends, and decided to find out where it came from and what it could mean for me.

I tracked it down to an original post called "1,000 True Fans" on The Technium, written by Kevin Kelly, an "original thinker," blogger, and technology writer. I'm sure he is many other things, as we all are, but let's just call him what I already have, for the sack of brevity.

Kelly asserts that a creator--such as an artist, musician, or author, among others who create works of art--needs to acquire and maintain only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

He defines a True Fan as one who will purchase anything and everything you produce. If your 1,000 True Fans each spend an average of $100 a year on your work, your income will amount to $100,000 a year. Minus your expenses and taxes, that's a living for most folks.

Nice!

I probably spend $1,000 to $1,500 a year on books. I don't think the average person does that, but I hope some of my readers would spend some of their book money on my novels.

But do I have anywhere near 1,000 True Fans?

Let's see. As I write this I have 559 Facebook friends, 161 Fans on my FB Fan Page, 223 Followers on Twitter, and 69 Friends on Goodreads (although I'm sure a lot of those are duplicates), so, in theory, I'm nearing the 1,000 goal. But here's a question: Are they True Fans by definition? Do they each buy $100 worth of my product each year?

Well, no. Not all the friends I've mentioned above care that I write novels. Some are chums from long-ago school days. Some are extended family members I barely know. Some are friends or relatives of my friends. Besides that, I don't have $100 worth of product to sell to my True Fans, even if they each paid into my wild fantasy of making a living from writing. I have much work to do to create product for fans, and to make alternative and derivitive works available to my True Fans.

Kelly mentions that once you've found your 1,000 True Fans, you need to nurture them. You have to maintain direct contact with them. Technology makes this possible. Tweets and blogs and emails and Facebook help a great deal.

I still have a long way to go to achieve a fandom of 1,000 True Fans, but I hope I'm on my way.

Oh, and did you know WD-40 can be used to untangle jewelry chains?

9/11

My son woke me with a phone call--he was frantic, telling me to turn on the TV. I did. Life was never the same.

It's Still Writer Appreciation Week

I was able to send a note today to an author who had a great deal of influence on me when I was a beginner. His name is Robert Newton Peck, who so kindly corresponded with me for a while in the 80s. You might know him as the author of the middle grade "Soup" books, as well as the classic "A Day No Pigs Would Die." I have two of his three books on the writing craft, and just ordered his third. "Fiction is Folks" taught me a lot about characterizations.

Thank you, Rob Peck!

Writer Appreciation Week

Agent Nathan Bransford has proclaimed this Writer Appreciation Week. It's a good idea, and I encourage you to implement it by showing your appreciation to your favorite writer, living or dead.

One way you can accomplish this, if your fav is living, is by seeking out their online presence and sending them a message of gratitude. Do they blog, have a Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter account, book trailers posted on YouTube, or have a contact process on their website? Spread the love. Tell them how much you admire their work. If you blog, write a book review or a love letter. Go to Amazon.com and make a comment on an author's books.

And that brings up books. Have you bought one this week? Go do it!