One of the fascinating things about my publishing experiences has been to watch as other authors I know get published. I was one of the first in my 'group' (critique partners and assorted friends) to be published. Many, many others have been published since my first book came out in 2007. Now, 10 books later, I have a different perspective on publishing than I did. And what's interesting to me is to watch as others undergo sea changes, too, as their publishing journeys continue.

I recently wrote an article for my local RWA chapter about how I manage to hold down a full-time job, have time for family and also write 4-5 books a year. I gave the obvious advice: "just sit down and write", "be disciplined", "learn your craft so you're not constantly rewriting"... An important point was "learn your voice." Once I figured out the type of writing I was good at (1st person mystery), writing became easy.

One other bit, though, was "define success for yourself." I promised myself to stay in publishing as long as I had fun doing it. If this became a real 'job' then I'd quit. Who needs that? I already have a full-time job that's tolerable but not particularly enjoyable. If my writing becomes annoying, then why do it? It's not lucrative (I make money at it, sure, but I'm not rolling in dough). I used to say that I want to be the Nora Roberts of ebook publishing: have 3-4 books a year, build a name for myself, and continue to write into the sunset.

I'm seeing friends now who are struggling to define what success means to them. Does it mean having your book on a certain shelf at Border's? Is it to get a New York contract? Is it to snag that particular agent and get them interested in your work? I think every author has to define this for himself/herself. You could use the "New York Times best seller list" but we know that's crap -- it's just a certain amount of data reported at a certain point in time. You could use $$ earned versus $$ spent, but I'm not sure if that's valid -- I'd spend a certain amount of money on conferences and workshops whether I was published or not.

Maybe it's a certain inner satisfaction to know that your stories are being read and appreciated. I love getting mail from people, commenting on my books. But even if I don't get mail, I'm still happy the books are out there.

In the long run, I keep coming back to my formula for success:

  Do I enjoy doing it?
+ Can I fit it into my current lifestyle?
- Do I need to do uncomfortable things to succeed (some promotion, for example)
+ Is it relatively easy for me to do?
                 =
I'm successful at what I'm doing

So far, so good

• Customer service: fix the customer and the product will work fine.
• RTFM: Read The F*ing Manual. Most customers don't. If they did, it would be fine.
• Version Numbers: What idiot would buy the XX.1 version of the product. If they waited until XX.2, it would be fine.

Customer service is now email, not phone support. Okay. I can deal with that. And RTFM is now 'click the help button' because no documentation ships any more. Okay, I can deal with that, too. As long as the help is well written, it'll work.

That third one is what has me in a quandary today. I've been buying beta versions (.1) of applications for my I-thing because there isn't anything else out there. I've been searching for a good calendar manager and thought I had one. Then they did an upgrade and BOOM, my calendar doesn't work any more.

Can you imagine it? What if I was a high-powered businessman and my calendar all of a sudden stopped working? I emailed customer service and got very nice anwers in return: "at the last upgrade some databases didn't upgrade correctly. Try uninstalling and re-installing -- after backing up everything." The advantage of the I-thing is that I can synchronize my calendar and To-Do list with online services (Google & ToodleDo, respectively), so nothing is really lost -- it's just not easily accessible with this device.

If this was a desktop system, I might uninstall, reinstall, and try again. But it's not. I have other options. I went to the I-Store, bought another calendar manaul, and migrated the data. So far, so good. I got an email from the first calendar group and they said, "we're fixing those problems in the next upgrade, stay tuned."

Oops. I've already moved on.

A year ago I would NEVER have bought beta software, which tells me how much (1) my mindset has changed and (2) the industry has changed. Software that isn't thoroughly tested is being released -- a thing which used to be anathema in my industry. People are emerging off the street who can write code, people who haven't gone to college but who have an intuitive grasp of software coding. No formal training, no metholodolgy.

Before you say, "oh, you old fogey", remember: I've been in the industry for years. I was a beta tester for Mosaic (the precursor to Netscape). I remember when there were about 10 web sites in the world. I've been around crazy, off-the-wall creative hackers all my life. This is different. This has the feeling of the old dot-com days, when companies sprang up and software flew off the keyboards. The difference now, though, is there's no entrepeneurs behind it, nobody with the money demanding some Q.A. and testing. People are able to make a go of it without that.

It worries me because right now, it's just a calendar app or a game that's goofy. But what if this permeates into medical softare, or financial software? Do you really want to wait for the .2 release?

Intersting times lie ahead.

I just finished coloring my hard-boiled eggs. I do this a lot. I get a Paz kit and dunk the eggs and put on stickers. Sometimes I get creative with the wax pencil but usually I stick with basic colors, often three and four on an egg.

A friend at work saw me peeling one of these beauties and she said, "You don't have kids. Why do you do the eggs?" My response was, hey, I eat a hard-boiled egg every day, why not have them colored? I do these year-round, at random times. I buy a few extra Paz kits and tuck them in the back of the pantry and sometime in August or November or February I'll see it, pull it out, and make colored eggs.

I have the same philosophy with Christmas lights. I often will leave up a string of lights around a window somewhere and turn them on in August. I think it adds a nice touch to a summer night, reminding us of winter and helping us appreciate the warmth.

I do the same thing with writing (you wondered how this would apply to my writing, didn't you?) If I'm going to go the trouble of doing something (color eggs, put up Christmas lights, write and publish a novel) then I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can. These things take effort and time, and as I blogged about elsewhere (see my Mavens post here) I don't have a lot of time to spend on my writing. So I like to make it all count. I don't work on books I know won't sell, and I don't work on stories with plot lines that make me sweat. I'm in this to enjoy myself as well as make a name as an author. If I can't do both ... well, then I'll need to re-evaluate.

So make those Easter eggs and flip on the Christmas lights. Life is tenuous and to be enjoyed!

Well, I called in for the last time on Thursday to check my jury status. I was relieved when I found that I wasn't needed for Friday. It was a bit of a hassle to check in twice a day to see if I was needed, but overall, not a problem. The Jury Lady made a nice little speech about how pleased they were 'we in the pool' had done our civic duty and how that made democracy work ... etc.

I am not ashamed to admit that I teared up a bit at this. Yeah, it's BS in a way, but it's also true. We take our society for granted so much of the time. But a 'jury of your peers', and 'involvement in the legal system' is one of our rights and a privilege. I'm sure I would have whined if I'd been stuck in a courtroom listening to the legal system drone on, but still -- we're damn lucky to have the chance.

As a woman, I feel especially lucky to be in America. I read the BBC news online, and there are always stories of atrocities against women: circumcision, rapes, forcible marriage, child slavery ... of course women aren't the only ones who suffer, any vulnerable creature does (animals, children, women, the mentally handicapped). Human inhumanity is amazing as is the amazing power of humanity when it's focused on good.

So take a minute today to thank heaven that you live in a free society (I realize 'free' is a relative term to a lot of people). You have options, you don't have to be ashamed of who you are, you are allowed the opportunity to learn and grow. Most of us have food, shelter, warmth, and safety. Just pause and consider that and thank Whoever.

And if you get the call for jury duty, don't whine (too much)...

I've been postponing the Edit From Hell, but now it is upon me. I got edits in for my paranormal book last November, and I've put them off and put them off. Now I have to tackle them. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't procrastinate, but I just haven't been able to face this. I think most of the edits, while probably useful, aren't necessary for understanding of the story. The editor is doing it to make it The Best Book It Can Be.

Not a bad thing, right? Well, look at it this way. This series has sold a grand total of about 12 copies of the 2 books (it's only available in download). I'd like to think I'll hit the jackpot with this book, but I doubt it. I've already decided I can't continue working on this series after this book. It's too time intensive, especially with the edits I'm being given. I'm spending 10 times the amount of time per book that I spend on my other books, and the other books are selling 20 times more than this series.

So it's hard to be motivated. Combine that with the fact I'm not sure this editor and I are ... simpatico, and it means I've put off this drudgery as long as I can. I'm going to do an hour a day on edits and HOPE I have it done in 10 days. That's 9 hours more editing than I've ever had to do with any other books of mine, but I hope it will be enough. Then I can get the book out there and be done with it and move on to something fun.

Sigh. Back to the grindstone.

The weather is the news this week -- snow, ice, bitterly cold temperatures. We didn't get above 0 (yes, zero) for a day or two and now the wind is whipping up, so even though we'll be above zero, it'll still feel below zero.

I like a few days like this. I've always said the best thing about shoveling the driveway is the hot chocolate or coffee waiting for me when I'm done. This nasty weather really makes me appreciate a warm fireplace and a good furnace. I like winter, too, because no one expects you to be out and about in such awful weather. A few diehards go out cross-country skiing or snowboarding, but usually people just huddle inside. In the summertime when it's annoyingly hot people still are out doing sports and I always feel vaguely guilty that I'm not out gardening or walking or doing something in the heat.

Of course, by March it's getting old. By that time there's no place left to put the snow I've shoveled and my shoulders are groaning because I can't toss the shoveled snow high enough to get over the piles at the side of the drive. But I won't think that far ahead. I'm only going to look to January, when it will still be a novelty to have winter coats and boots as part of daily attire and when I still think a fresh coat of snow is pretty.

I admit to becoming a news junkie in the past month. I've been watching polls, reading online at various sites, and agonizing over the outcome of the U.S. elections.I've been trying to articulate why this election year has scared me so much. Yes, scared. I've been concerned in the past when I felt the candidates didn't represent the people or weren't facing the issues I felt needed to be faced.

But I've had a fear lately that the candidates this year aren't addressing the real issues, the underlying issue, that is facing America today. I couldn't put my finger on what that issue was. I couldn't articulate it, so how could I expect a candidate to have an answer for an issue I wasn't sure could be defined?

When Palin grabbed the spotlight, I sensed that focus was being shifted from issues to personality. I got the feeling, and still have it, that McCain and the GOP want to win -- they don't care what's right for America. It's a power struggle for them, like bullies on a playground, and they want to win. That's why Palin was nominated. It was a breathtakingly cynical move designed to distract attention from issues and to appeal to those voters who aren't concerned with issues. It's also designed to give people an out: if they don't want to deal with a black man running, they can feel progressive by supporting a woman (and one that won't threaten them the way Olympia Snowe or Hillary Clinton would). Some people want to feel comfortable about the person in the White House. This gives them a comfortable choice: they don't have to worry about voting for an educated black man (and yes, let's face it: race is a factor in this election). They can vote for someone they like and by gosh, it's a woman! How progressive.

I'm not too worried about the 'experienced' charges. Let's face it, there's no "Presidential Preparation 101" course taught in college. I think it's more important to get a sense of a candidate's ethics, their moral standards, their willingness to be honest and fair. I don't want someone who wants to win the election at any cost. I want someone who makes intelligent decisions because they're the right choice for America, not necessarily for one political party.

As I've seen Palin become a media darling and heard people overlook her obvious flaws, I've gotten more and more scared. You see, I feel our leaders reflect who America is. I've been ashamed of America for the last 8 years. I've been ashamed of our incoherent, ill-informed, and dogmatic leadership. I've been ashamed of leaders with no vision, no grasp of the magnitude of problems facing us, of leaders who can't think globally but only locally. I'm ashamed of an America that values mediocrity, that disdains people who achieve. We're fostering a mentality of the lowest common denominator. We don't ask people to strive anymore. We just lower the standards. We've gone from 'We can do it' to 'We deserve it.'

I don't want to be ashamed of America any more. I want to be proud of this country. I want to be proud of us. I want someone who will lead us. I don't want someone who will direct us. I want a leader who will lead by example. We need an FDR or a Lincoln. We need someone better than us to lead us. We need someone with vision and the guts to make it happen. And even if we can find such a person, I'm not sure that would be enough. The world is in such terrible shape...

These thoughts have been rattling around in my brain for weeks. And I finally read a book that put it all in perspective for me. "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" is the story of where we are and where we need to go. It's a readable book, a bit heavy on data, but still compelling. Even if you just skim it (as I admittedly have done), you get the gist of his text:

The world is at a tipping point and our choices in the next two to four years will determine the fate of the planet. It's time for bold action, a call to arms, a reinvention of America.

WE CAN'T GO BACK TO HOW IT WAS. WE HAVE TO CHANGE AND GO FORWARD.

America can't continue as it's gone. We can't be dependent on fossil fuels. We can't needlessly pollute. We can't ...

Why is America being singled out? Because we're the leader. The world looks to us for direction. Or they used to. That has eroded in the past three decades to the point we're laughable. We're hiding in our bunkers and lifting our heads only to take pot shots. We don't lead by example.

This is an AMAZING opportunity for America. This is our chance to step up to the plate and be the America we used to be, the post-WWII America. This is our chance to be the America we should be, a place we can be proud of. The only way to do it is to have a leader who can lead us. We need someone to set the example, forge the policies, and get the country moving again.

THIS IS THE ISSUE I WAS NOT ABLE TO ARTICULATE.

I want a leader. I don't want a bully. I don't want someone chosen because he's black, or white, or a woman. I don't want someone who's 'just like me'. I want someone one helluva lot BETTER than me. Because he has to be better than me and smarter than me and tougher than me to get the job done.

If you read one book this year, read "Hot, Flat, and Crowded". Read it and think about who you want to step into that leadership position. Think about who can do it. Then vote your conscience and vote with your mind. Don't worry about how you've always voted in the past, don't focus on a single issue (abortion, equal rights, the environment, the war). Think about who can lead us into a NEW future, one we can barely imagine now. Vote for that person. If you don't, America may tip in the wrong direction, and as we tip, so tips the world.

It's a scary future ahead of us. Let's find leaders who can take us there.