Life of A Writer

It's no secret that we all tend to procrastinate to take our minds off writing for a few hours. Usually when I delayed my writing to give my brain a rest, I read my favorite writing blogs, took a shower or went for walk, but these past few days I procrastinated way too long as I entertained myself with a new video game that the kids received for Christmas. Yes, I'll admit it, I've spent several hours on my kids' Play Station 2 (another Christmas gift) playing Thrillville: Off The Rails. I made the mistake of watching the kids play the video game after opening their gifts Christmas morning, and I thought it was interesting. Then, before I knew it, I joined in the fun and became addicted to the game. I should have left it alone. I knew better, but I just couldn't resist, and now the kids laugh at me.

"Mom's addicted to the Playstation," they say.
"It looks like you'll have to take turns with your mom now," my husband told them.

It's been years since I've sat down and played video games, so it's actually been fun and refreshing. Problem is I have to pull myself away in order to get back to my writing. This isn't as hard to do when all the kids are here, though, because when everyone wants to play, we each get an hour. Once my hour's up, I go back to writing. What happens when the kids aren't here or don't want to play? Well, let's just say I need some strong super glue to keep me in front of my work and away from the video game.

The good news: once I return to my laptop, I'm ready to write again. Who knows, I may become addicted to more of their video games and end up writing about video games, too. Of course, then I'd be paid for my time spent procrastinating.

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Dad was released from the hospital Saturday and spent the night with us. Although he was still a bit weak, he looked 100% better and said he felt great. I can't begin to tell you what a blessing it is to see dad back to his old self again. So thanks to everyone who prayed and we ask that you continue to pray.

In the coming weeks and new year, Dad will undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments for the Lymphoma and Leukemia, but he's assured us he'll be around for a while to still "pester" us. In fact, he said the Lord had His reasons for keeping him here on Earth for a while longer, and I'm so glad the Lord has given us more time with dad, especially during the holidays.

The cancer has spread throughout dad's body, but the latest test results revealed that it had not spread to his brain. We're thankful for this bit of good news and pray that the cancer won't reach his brain. The confusion and hallucinations came from lack of oxygen and not what everyone feared, so again, we're thankful.

Since dad's back home and doing better, I'll be back to writing and blogging. There will be times when I have to take dad to the doctor as well as to his treatments, but I'm pretty certain I can manage that and write too. Besides, I've missed writing and look forward to getting back to it. I had dusted off some personal projects that I was working on before dad's illness, so I'll be returning to those as well. It seems like everytime I dust off the personal projects and start planning more projects for the future to launch, something always goes wrong that causes a bigger delay. However, I'm thankful this delay didn't last as long as I feared it would.

I'll let you go now so I can get back to writing, and no matter what your resolutions and goals are for the New Year, make your number one resolution or goal to tell your loved ones how much you love them and what they mean to you, and then top it off with a gigantic hug! You never know what tomorrow will bring, so make this the number one priority on your list of New Year's resolutions and/or goals.

May you and yours have a wonderful holidays and a blessed New Year!

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First, I'd like to thank everyone who has contacted me and left comments. We appreciate all the prayers going out for dad and ask that you, please continue to pray for him. Now for the update...

I just got off the phone with my brother and he said dad is mean as ever, and when my husband, the kids and I visited last night, he was sitting up and talking to everyone. He seemed to be dad this time and really enjoyed the kids being there. Of course he asked me if I'd taken them out to feed them and made sure I had, so he was pretty much the same old dad.

Late last night Dad was transfered from the hospital in Marion, Illinois to Western Baptist hospital in Paducah, Kentucky (an hour drive from my house). We now know that on top of Lymphoma he also has Leukemia, so he's fighting two kinds of cancer. As for his White Blood Cell count, it's no longer 0, so we don't have to wear masks anymore. In fact, they said his White Blood Cell count was higher than it's supposed to be but was better than being 0.

Today they plan to run two more Catscans and an MRI, and tomorrow they're going to do a biopsy.

Unless something major happens, I plan to stay home today to clean the house (people keep dropping by), and they expect dad to be released in 5 days, so I plan to bring him home with me to care for him and take him to his treatments and doctor appointments; therefore, more people will probably drop in to see dad.

I have to write the final "Biggest Loser: Families" recap for a client tomorrow night, and after that my brother has to return to work, so I'll be spending more time at the hospital with dad.

That's the only news that I have at this time, but I will do my very best to keep everyone updated. However, I can't guarantee when I'll be back online, because we have an ice storm moving into our area and I may end up stuck in Paducah, Kentucky. Since I may not be back online in a while after today, I'm going to go ahead and let comments go through instead of screening them, so watch the URLs before you click on them and I apologize in advance for any spam that may make it's way through. When I get back online, I'll delete any spam, but hopefully I won't have any to weed through and delete.

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I'm sending this blog post to reach all my readers/fans, as well as all of you out there who are Christians and attend church.

I'm not sure where to begin right now or what to say, so I'll just start at the beginning...

...On Thursday night my father's place of employment called to tell me they had to take my dad home from work because he was confused and hallucinating (seeing things that weren't there). You have to know my dad to know that he's one of those older men that's very stubborn when it comes to doctors. Everyone suspected something was wrong with dad, but he kept telling us he was ok. Well, after his place of employment phoned me, I made a trip to my father's house Thursday afternoon to check on him (he lives alone and likes to be independent).

When my husband and I arrived at my father's Thursday evening, Dad was a bit confused, seeing double and hallucinating -- he also complained of a severe headache and said he would go to the doctor Friday morning, because work told him he needed a doctor's release to return (it was the only way they knew to get him to see a doctor). To make a long story short, my husband and I finally convinced dad to come home with us so I could take care of him (he didn't need to be alone).

After Kevin and I got dad to our house Thursday evening, dad's condition and state of mind got worse. We managed to get him to visit the ER late that night. The ER staff took him back pretty quickly and ran tests. The results came back and they said he had Lymphoma, which is cancer in the blood. His White Blood Cell count was 0, so they admitted him to the hospital and put him in reverse isolation. (We have to wear masks because his immune system is very low.)

I had been up all night with dad and finally left the hospital when he was settled in his room early Friday morning. My brother arrived at the hospital not long after my husband and I left. I tried to go home to rest, but the phone continued to ring. They discovered that the cancer had spread throughout my father's body, so they arranged to transfer him to Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Illinois. I ended up getting up to make phone calls and then headed into town to take care of things there.

Once a bed opened up in the ICU in Marion sometime late Friday afternoon, dad was transfered by ambulance to the hospital in Marion, Illinois (about and 45 minute drive from my home). With all of this going on and the newest developments that had taken place, I was unable to contact my clients, respond to e-mails or send a message to my readers and fans as I had planned to do until now.

Anyway, with dad's condition the way it is at the present time, I won't be online writing or working as much as I had been until things get better. We have been told that dad's cancer is treatable, but we are waiting for them to run more tests for answers and etc., before they'll begin treatment. They need to know if the cancer has spread to his brain as they suspect -- in addition to other things to help him.

That said, please forgive me as I may not be online as often answering e-mails, fan mails and blogging. I will continue to do what I can to take care of my clients' needs and will log in when I can to check e-mails and fan mail, but I may not reply until things calm down and we know more answers. Right now the only e-mails I will make a priority will be from my paying clients', because God knows I'm going to need to keep working as I'll have to move dad in with me to care for him once he's released from the hospital.

On a final note, if you attend church and have a prayer list, please place my father on your prayer lists and pray for him. His name is Phillip Bailey (known as Cuz to many). And again, bear with me if you send e-mail or fan mail and do not receive a response right away, or if you're subscribed to any of my blogs, newsletters or e-zines (they may not go out as scheduled).

Thank you in advance for listening, understanding and for your prayers,

Misti Sandefur, Christian Author / Freelance Journalist

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Over at Daily Writing Tips Maeve's latest post entitled Even Talent Requires Revision sparked this idea for my blog. In her post, she said, "Self-publishing authors may have plenty of potential as writers, but their novels often suffer from insufficient revision."

Maeve isn't the first to notice that many self-published novels contain spelling and grammar mistakes. I've read several articles where other authors point this out, and the sad fact is it's true. However, you're self-published novel doesn't have to be a statistic. How can you keep it from being a self-published novel that's judged by others because of the grammar and spelling mistakes? Simple, hire a professional editor to edit your novel. Personally, I think it's worth the investment, because if your novel contains too many mistakes, you risk losing your readers. Think about it, how many novels have you put down and never picked up again because they were riddled with so many grammar and spelling mistakes that it made it difficult for you to enjoy and understand the story that was being told?

I know it's not entirely the author's fault that self-published novels are criticized for their spelling and grammar mistakes. Why do I say this? Because a print on demand publisher isn't the same as a traditional publisher. Most print on demand publishers don't take the time to throughly edit the author's novel. Therefore, it's up to you to catch the mistakes, and after so many of your own revisions, you tend to overlook things. A professional editor, however, could greatly improve your novel, and she may catch many of the mistakes you overlooked.

What are your thoughts on hiring a professional editor for self-published novels? Have you ever hired a professional editor for a novel you self-published, or are you thinking about hiring one to edit a novel you're working on or just finished? I invite you to discuss this topic in the comments section.

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You can successfully market your fiction book by learning from the pros. Sure, not all of them will write articles and books that reveal their secrets, but if you take the time to research and study self-published authors who took their books to bestseller status, you'll learn a few of their secrets. Yes, I realize it takes time that you would rather spend on your own projects, but trust me, the time you take to study these successful authors may pay of for you in the long run.

By now you're probably wondering how you're supposed to research these authors to discover their secrets, right? Well, keep reading for two tips that I use to research successful fiction authors.

Google 'Em

Once you find the name of the self-published author who took their book to bestseller status, head to Google and enter their name in the search box (places quotes around their name to search the exact phrase). First, search the Web and click on the links that may lead to the authors' websites, press releases about the authors, news articles about the authors, the authors' books and/or articles and etc.. Once you've discovered those websites and read through the information, search the news section of Google for any news articles about the author as well.

Pay Them a Virtual Visit

Visit the authors' websites and browse their site for news articles about them. Many of the news articles and interviews will reveal how that self-published author marketed his/her fiction book. By reading and studying news articles written about them and the press releases related to their bestseller, you'll discover some or all of the fiction book marketing techniques they used to make their fiction book a bestseller.

As you study the news articles written about the self-published authors and the press releases related to their bestseller, write down each of the book marketing techniques they used, and then add the book marketing techniques that would work for your fiction book to your own fiction book marketing campaign.

Do you need some examples to help get you started and/or to show you what I mean? Following are a few self-published authors who took their books to bestseller status and continue to remain successful. Let's begin with sci-fi fantasy author, Steven Oliverez.

When I learned about Steven Oliverez's success, I interviewed him for Coffee Break for Writers. Then I re-sold my interview with Steven Oliverez to Associated Content. In the interview, Steven said most of his success came from word-of-mouth. He used MySpace and other social networks to connect with readers, writers and many others. He used his blog on MySpace to publish short stories he wrote. He made the stories free and asked his readers to send him feedback. By building a readership on MySpace, his debut novel, The Elder Staves, became a bestseller.

There's no doubt, my friends, that this self-published author's success story proves that word-of-mouth is -- and probably always will be -- the best way to earn an author the title of bestselling author.

Lisa Genova self-published her debut novel entitled Still Alice. Soon after she self-published the novel, she landed a six-figure advance from a traditional publisher. Before landing her advance, Lisa told Tim Wood in an interview that some of her fiction book marketing techniques included public speaking. Not only did Lisa discuss her book, but she also talked about Alzheimer’s, which relates to her debut novel. The main character in Still Alice suffers from Alzheimer’s, so it's a great topic for discussion that helped her plug her book. In addition to speaking about her book and Alzheimer's, Lisa's writes and blogs about this sad disease for the National Alzheimer’s Association.

If you think Steven and Lisa's self-published success stories are inspiring, then let me introduce you to Brunonia Barry, the final self-published author that I'll be using as an example.

Brunonia Barry and her husband self-published her fiction book The Lace Reader. Of course their fiction book marketing techniques paid off when they created so much buzz around the book that it landed Brunonia Barry a sale in a literary auction for more than two-million dollars!

Brunonia and her husband worked hard and spent over $50,000 marketing The Lace Reader to bookstores, something they were told would be difficult to do. Despite what others had told them, they managed to get the attention of a manager from The Spirit of '76 Bookstore in Marblehead. The manager of that bookstore put them in touch with store-based book clubs, and when the members of the book clubs read Brunonia Barry's book, Brunonia attended the meetings and took notes based on feedback from the readers. [Source: Boston Globe]

Now that you have an idea on how to research self-published authors who've reached bestseller status, I encourage you to begin your research and add all the fiction book marketing techniques that you come across to your own book marketing campaign.

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As most writers, I read a lot of books and enjoy a great book, but as I come close to the end, I find myself guessing the ending before I read it. For example, romances usually end with the man getting the woman and they live happily ever after. You know what I'm talking about, right? I have no problem with those endings, but the endings I love the most are the unpredictable endings, the ones you can't predict until the very end. Furthermore, even though the ending was unpredictable, you're still satisfied with it and anxious to rush to your nearest bookstore or favorite online retailer to buy another book by the same author.

While unpredictable endings are great and make a book unforgettable, as a writer I understand how difficult it can be to give your readers an unpredictable ending that will still leave them happy with the way you wrapped up the story. That said, one of my goals for 2009 is to create unpredictable endings for as many of my upcoming Christian fiction novels as I can. Since I know this goal may be a tough one to accomplish, I plan to study as many resources as I can for tips on how to create unpredictable endings. Why not join me and make it one of your goals for the upcoming New Year as well.

What are your thoughts on unpredictable endings? Have your read any novels with unpredictable endings you'd like to recommend? Have you ever written and published a novel or short story with an unpredictable ending? Please share your thoughts and/or tips on this topic in the comments area below.

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