The family plans sort of fell through for the night. Instead of having someone to share the evening, I find myself alone and reflective. Sometimes that can be good, and sometimes it just gives me a headache. If I’m spending time thinking too hard, I always hope it’s on the current story I’m writing. That is not the case this evening.
It’s Christmas Eve, where are you in your life? There is a steep learning curve as we age. I’d like to think that it has made me an older, wiser woman to have traveled my own particular path through life. It was circuitous and an often tortuous journey at times, but it lead me to now. Here I am! Yea, I’m not impressed either. *delicate snort*
Aside from the usual complaints about being in debt and nothing of value to show for that, I am alright with where I am. Sure, I’d like to be living on the ocean front or on a large lake, river or mountain stream, but that is one of those dreams that you have and discover it’s great for a couple of weeks, but it’s hard to support the cost of exclusivity. Not that I’d turn you down if you offered me a condo for a month, all expenses paid in any of the above locations. My biggest issue is that I don’t have enough time to do all the important things in live.
I like equal parts work and relaxation, or what I like to call sleep. Yes, I include writing as working. It’s time consuming to craft the perfect sentence. Not that I’ve done that yet, but I keep trying and eventually it will turn up on a page. Most like by accident. I'm okay with that too.
At night, I lay down and start to plot my next scene and the next thing I know I’m turning off the alarm clock. The brilliant flashes seem to come while I’m driving back and forth to work or the grocery store. Why is that? It’s not like I will remember that great speech when I have a chance to write it down, and please don’t give me that sorry line about carrying around a digital recorder, because it’s not going to happen while I’m maneuvering through local traffic.
I have my moments though. I will start writing and it pours out of the pen or my fingertips to appear on paper. I will read it later and be amazed. It’s where I am in my life right now. I have a professional career in a field that I can always fall back on to support me but I want that time for something else. I hate having to give up sleeping time to write. Don’t you? My New Years resolutions is to organize my time better, and hope my thoughts will follow that behavior.
Another bit of good news. Shaking Off the Dust made the nominations for the CAPA awards at TRS. Samhain had a lot of nominations, which is always cool. I don’t know how any of these things get decided, but I thank everyone and anyone who enjoyed the book enough to consider it for nomination. Here’s the link.
http://theromancestudio.com/capa.php
Have an amazing Holiday. I’ll still be rambling on about some thing or other when they are over, so check back.
Rhianna
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
‘Tis the Season
I have been keeping both eyes open. There is so much going on in the world and in my life. I look at how our financial systems have bottomed out and wonder what the end product of all of this will be. Will it affect the diversity of the cars on the market? Will my 403 bounce back before I retire? Will I ever pay off my credit cards? How will this affect the way I live my life for the foreseeable future?
Is it the greed of a few that has finally come home to roost? Or is it just egg on their face for a while? There’s this part of me that thinks we should let them pay for their mistakes in business, just like the local store merchant does when he makes bad financial decisions. The sad thing is that it affects not only the hot shot chairman and board members; it affects every one of us to some degree.
Change comes in many ways. The world rotates and hurricanes crash through our man made world and shrieking winds laugh at what they cause to tumble. Can you imagine the first guy that saw the aftermath of a natural disaster and said…”That won’t happen again for fifty years, maybe I can make a buck insuring people against that happening in my life time.” You know, there is a person somewhere that can determine your worth. They can sit at a computer and using some mathematical program they can tell you how much money your life is worth.
So the question is what am I worth? At my day job, I am at the top of my pay scale. I could probably move to a larger city and make more money, or would the cost of living eat up the pay increase? I could live more frugally, but what would my life be worth to me then? I was raised in a society that said you start school at age five, and for twelve years you study to learn how to function and work to support ourselves. Then we spend our adult life working, hoping and praying that you find a job you like and loved ones along the way. Near the end of our lives we are allowed to retire, at which time we can do what ever we can afford, based on how well we saved our money along the way.
I write romance novels, do I rank higher on worth, or automatically get points taken off for distracting the working public with fiction? Are the stories that I write about the journeys people take because they didn’t have a job with retirement funds. How many of the world’s population live vicariously through books?
It’s a strange world that we live in, when several major companies collapse and every person in our country will feel its affects. (Okay, I know I’m rambling) I would rather have given the money to the car makers and taken it away from the banks. You have companies charging what were considered Loan Shark rates in the forties and fifties getting bailed out. The heart of matter is that these companies became greedy. And we as their customers allowed ourselves to be lured into the, “I want” mentality. Paying later, when I might have more money seems like a good idea when I want it now. They were the pied piper and we rushed to follow. They should fall over the cliff. At least that way all of us pay for the mistake.
I believe that our worth is in our own eyes. There are very few of us who define ourselves by how much money we make or have. If people must define themselves that way, I suspect it is a life empty of self worth. Don’t get me wrong, I want to live comfortable with money to do the extra things, but I don’t use money labels in deciding my worth.
Rhianna
I have been keeping both eyes open. There is so much going on in the world and in my life. I look at how our financial systems have bottomed out and wonder what the end product of all of this will be. Will it affect the diversity of the cars on the market? Will my 403 bounce back before I retire? Will I ever pay off my credit cards? How will this affect the way I live my life for the foreseeable future?
Is it the greed of a few that has finally come home to roost? Or is it just egg on their face for a while? There’s this part of me that thinks we should let them pay for their mistakes in business, just like the local store merchant does when he makes bad financial decisions. The sad thing is that it affects not only the hot shot chairman and board members; it affects every one of us to some degree.
Change comes in many ways. The world rotates and hurricanes crash through our man made world and shrieking winds laugh at what they cause to tumble. Can you imagine the first guy that saw the aftermath of a natural disaster and said…”That won’t happen again for fifty years, maybe I can make a buck insuring people against that happening in my life time.” You know, there is a person somewhere that can determine your worth. They can sit at a computer and using some mathematical program they can tell you how much money your life is worth.
So the question is what am I worth? At my day job, I am at the top of my pay scale. I could probably move to a larger city and make more money, or would the cost of living eat up the pay increase? I could live more frugally, but what would my life be worth to me then? I was raised in a society that said you start school at age five, and for twelve years you study to learn how to function and work to support ourselves. Then we spend our adult life working, hoping and praying that you find a job you like and loved ones along the way. Near the end of our lives we are allowed to retire, at which time we can do what ever we can afford, based on how well we saved our money along the way.
I write romance novels, do I rank higher on worth, or automatically get points taken off for distracting the working public with fiction? Are the stories that I write about the journeys people take because they didn’t have a job with retirement funds. How many of the world’s population live vicariously through books?
It’s a strange world that we live in, when several major companies collapse and every person in our country will feel its affects. (Okay, I know I’m rambling) I would rather have given the money to the car makers and taken it away from the banks. You have companies charging what were considered Loan Shark rates in the forties and fifties getting bailed out. The heart of matter is that these companies became greedy. And we as their customers allowed ourselves to be lured into the, “I want” mentality. Paying later, when I might have more money seems like a good idea when I want it now. They were the pied piper and we rushed to follow. They should fall over the cliff. At least that way all of us pay for the mistake.
I believe that our worth is in our own eyes. There are very few of us who define ourselves by how much money we make or have. If people must define themselves that way, I suspect it is a life empty of self worth. Don’t get me wrong, I want to live comfortable with money to do the extra things, but I don’t use money labels in deciding my worth.
Rhianna
Sunday, December 7, 2008
My First Book Signing
I’m grinning today. I had my first book signing and I was pleased with how it went. I had visions of a lonely long wait with a few books in front of me and no one caring. It helps that it was local and I have a friends and family that thought it was a very cool thing to happen.
The place was the local Barnes and Nobles and I set it up about two months ago, though I contacted them in august to make sure they would be carrying the book. It’s the little details that can help. I stopped by the bookstore several times, but in the end it was all by email. My contact there, who is the community liaison, gave me her card initially and when I kept missing her, I finally emailed. My first impression...I personally think that she was planning to get a couple of books and do a signing, but as a debut author she really wasn’t excited or enthusiastic. As a matter of fact, there were three book signings going on at the same time as mine in different genres. Which sort of signified the importance she placed on my novel.
I had scheduled to have my hair cut, colored and highlighted early in the day, so that it was looking fine for signing. I love my hair stylist. She is wonderful, but her idea of hair with volume and mine are slightly different. She had my hair in a style I don’t normally wear, pumped up on steroids. I warned her that I would be putting a comb through it when I left, so she brought it down some. I know I was driving her nuts, but heck it was my day. I only combed it twice before getting to the signing, and it did look fabulous. Thanks Krystal!
Trouble was that I scheduled a 1030 appt and didn’t get out until 1pm. My family tried to cut in line in front of me with my girl Krystal and made me run late. I rushed to my sisters with my change in clothes to find a large lunch ready with family and a bottle of Champagne opened and a toast. This was very touching to me, but I was also stressing because I had to be there at 2pm and still needed to put on makeup, change and get there. Needless to say, I managed to walk into the bookstore at 2:01. On the first floor was the ex congress man with a line of elder people waiting to get their book. Next to him was the Liaison woman, who really is a nice lady. She sent me to the top of the escalator where the romances are stocked and there was a table with my books all over it and a sign.
I’ve been reading where several authors’ recommend what you need for a books signing, so I brought some of my promo materials, bookmarks and some cool little coasters I’d made for the Lori Foster’s get together. I got this wonderful gift last Christmas from my niece, which was an engraved pen with my Pen name. (LOL) I loved it! I also had a 17 by 11 cover art blown up and put on a board and brought that with a stand. I sat down pulled out my few things and started smiling. When the Liaison came up to me a few minutes later, she told me that my book had been selling like hot cakes and she had another box of books she could bring out if I went through what was in front of me. I have to tell you that was very nice to hear.
My family came around and added moral support, but quite a few of my coworkers and friends came with books they’d already bought to have signed and then more came to buy books, almost all of them buying more than one book. I sold all of the ones on the table and then several of the new ones put out. It was more than that. People came and we were telling stories and laughing. So much so that people came up just to see what the excitement was about. One of the store workers said that my line wasn’t as long as the congressman’s, but we were a much happier group. When it was over I felt like it was a success, so did the bookstore.
One of my friends came by and started telling people how she knew she would read the book because it was mine and figured it was okay since it got published, but had no idea that it would ROCK! You can see why we were all laughing. Those kind of comments make my day. It was a good day. I felt like an author.
Rhianna Samuels
The place was the local Barnes and Nobles and I set it up about two months ago, though I contacted them in august to make sure they would be carrying the book. It’s the little details that can help. I stopped by the bookstore several times, but in the end it was all by email. My contact there, who is the community liaison, gave me her card initially and when I kept missing her, I finally emailed. My first impression...I personally think that she was planning to get a couple of books and do a signing, but as a debut author she really wasn’t excited or enthusiastic. As a matter of fact, there were three book signings going on at the same time as mine in different genres. Which sort of signified the importance she placed on my novel.
I had scheduled to have my hair cut, colored and highlighted early in the day, so that it was looking fine for signing. I love my hair stylist. She is wonderful, but her idea of hair with volume and mine are slightly different. She had my hair in a style I don’t normally wear, pumped up on steroids. I warned her that I would be putting a comb through it when I left, so she brought it down some. I know I was driving her nuts, but heck it was my day. I only combed it twice before getting to the signing, and it did look fabulous. Thanks Krystal!
Trouble was that I scheduled a 1030 appt and didn’t get out until 1pm. My family tried to cut in line in front of me with my girl Krystal and made me run late. I rushed to my sisters with my change in clothes to find a large lunch ready with family and a bottle of Champagne opened and a toast. This was very touching to me, but I was also stressing because I had to be there at 2pm and still needed to put on makeup, change and get there. Needless to say, I managed to walk into the bookstore at 2:01. On the first floor was the ex congress man with a line of elder people waiting to get their book. Next to him was the Liaison woman, who really is a nice lady. She sent me to the top of the escalator where the romances are stocked and there was a table with my books all over it and a sign.
I’ve been reading where several authors’ recommend what you need for a books signing, so I brought some of my promo materials, bookmarks and some cool little coasters I’d made for the Lori Foster’s get together. I got this wonderful gift last Christmas from my niece, which was an engraved pen with my Pen name. (LOL) I loved it! I also had a 17 by 11 cover art blown up and put on a board and brought that with a stand. I sat down pulled out my few things and started smiling. When the Liaison came up to me a few minutes later, she told me that my book had been selling like hot cakes and she had another box of books she could bring out if I went through what was in front of me. I have to tell you that was very nice to hear.
My family came around and added moral support, but quite a few of my coworkers and friends came with books they’d already bought to have signed and then more came to buy books, almost all of them buying more than one book. I sold all of the ones on the table and then several of the new ones put out. It was more than that. People came and we were telling stories and laughing. So much so that people came up just to see what the excitement was about. One of the store workers said that my line wasn’t as long as the congressman’s, but we were a much happier group. When it was over I felt like it was a success, so did the bookstore.
One of my friends came by and started telling people how she knew she would read the book because it was mine and figured it was okay since it got published, but had no idea that it would ROCK! You can see why we were all laughing. Those kind of comments make my day. It was a good day. I felt like an author.
Rhianna Samuels
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