A Genuine Super Power

Thought for the day:  Time's fun when you're having flies.  [Kermit the frog]

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: some kinda dastardly plot must be afoot that's making time go faster these days. Have you noticed? If you haven't, I bet you will some day. (It's only a matter of time... HA!) Since the hands on my office clock sometimes spin around fast enough to provide service as a fan, I reckon I shouldn't be surprised that a month-long blogging break would zip by faster than a Corvette on nitrous oxide. (Oh...and if you didn't happen to notice my absence, um, no need to mention it... ya know, no need to hurt my tender widdle feelings...)

So, anyhow, I'm back. I hope those of you who participated in the A-Z Challenge had a lot of fun with it, and I hope those of you who didn't participate had a fantabulous month doing whatever wonderful things you may have done, too.

Me? As planned, I did some writing ... but not nearly as much as I would've liked. Ditto for the editing job. But I did a lot of reading... that's gotta count for something, right? As for the spring cleaning I hoped to do? PBBBBT! As it turns out, I guess I didn't really give a good diddle about doing it, after all. It's possible... nay, probable... that I'm getting too darned old to be scrubbing walls and ceilings, anyway. Besides, it was a lot easier to simply switch to lower wattage light bulbs. And nerts to shampooing the carpets, too. I figure, our cats are prolific barfers, so I'm already washing portions of the rugs every day, anyway, so why should I bother hauling out the noisy machine and turning it into a big production? (Lower wattage bulbs helped with this task, as well...) But I did get the windows washed. Not much choice there. They were covered in pollen. (Have I told you about the kinda pollen we get here? Unbelievable!) And I got some other stuff done, too, but bottom line? Smarticus didn't see a need for me to go overly nuts with the cleaning products, so... I didn't. But we DID shoot a lot of pool. MUCH more fun than cleaning any day of the week.

As you can probably tell by that nifty badge on the right, I returned just in time for our monthly IWSG posts. As always, thanks to our fearless leader, Alex Cavanaugh, for founding this fine group, and
 thanks to all the other nurturing guys and gals who've helped turn it into the thriving community it is today. To join this super supportive (Better than a high-dollar bra... and no underwires!) group of writers and to see links to other participating blogs, please go HERE

Most writers just want to... write. (I know. Profound, right?) Unfortunately, even those who've signed with big publishing houses are expected to be involved in the promotions and sales of their books. (UGH!) And I think it's pretty safe to say most of us HATE that side of things.

[image courtesy of Wikipedia]

I mean, is there anything more uncomfortable than... blowing our own horns?

Heck, if I could play like Louis Armstrong, you probably wouldn't be able to shut me up, but given the heady responsibility of handling a horn properly, I'm afraid I'd be just as likely to stick it into my ear as into my mouth.

Metaphorically speaking, of course. (I KNOW you aren't supposed to stick anything smaller than your elbow into your ear...)

In other words, I HATE the idea of promoting myself or my books. So what's a writer to do... especially an indie writer... when sales are slumping? Well, I have a suggestion for you. Check out Bargainbooksy, a program offered by Written Word Media. For a reasonable fee, which is determined by your book's genre, your book will be listed in a single day's email promotion, which is sent to thousands of people who have already signed up with an interest in your genre. To be included as a bargain, you have to offer your e-book for a reduced price, and you can do this very easily in conjunction with an Amazon countdown offer. I offered both of my novels for ninety-nine cents apiece, and I sold a lot of them. Not enough to cover the cost of the promotion, BUT... and here's the cool part... the number of page views has skyrocketed, and the ripple effect is still in effect a couple of weeks after the promotion ended. If your book is in the KU programs, those page views mean money. So... I've more than made up for the amount of money I spent to set up the two promotions. Whether or not the additional sales will translate into new reviews remains to be seen, but I'm pleased enough with the results at this point to share my experience with you. There's also another program offered by WWM, which is called Freebooksy. Oddly, it costs more to register for that one, and you make NO money from sales. What you do get is a quick boost in your Amazon ratings, and possibly more book reviews, because lots more people receive those daily emails about free books than the reduced-price ones. (I get both!)

Okay, let's take a gander at this month's question, shall we?

What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

A smart-ass response would be that I've always known... seeing's as how I like to say I was born with a book in one hand and a flashlight in the other. (It's dark in there!) But in reality, some of my earliest memories are of how terribly destructive words can be.

Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble. [Yehuda Berg]

Unfortunately, my father was an evil genius when it came to using words in a negative way. My brother would probably disagree and say the belt hurt a lot more than the words... but to my mother and me, his words were devastating.

Fortunately, there were many other people... relatives, friends, teachers... who made up for his toxic use of language, and who consequently, also taught me the immeasurable value of positive words and encouragement.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. [Mother Teresa]

Words- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them. [Nathaniel Hawthorne]

A life-long love affair with reading and writing has amplified my appreciation for the power of language. Books can help us escape from something and transport us to another place or better understanding. Hmmm, I could pontificate on that, but why bother? I'm preaching to the choir here, right? You guys are prolific readers, too, so you already know of the magical, transformational powers of a good book.

My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel... it is, before all, to make you see. [Joseph Conrad]

                                                Isn't that what all writers hope to do?

We just have to know... and appreciate... our audience.












                                   Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Sometimes I wish my first word was 'quote', so that on my death bed, my last words could be 'end quote.' [Steven Wright]