Who am I?

I have been feeling a little bit adrift lately. After my career in the insurance industry flowed seamlessly into working full time (or at least as full time as I wanted it to be) with our company Organic Resource Management, Inc., I was able to have my cake and eat it too. I worked out of the comfort of my home office and was available to our two children for carpool, field trips, being a room parent, Girl Scout leader, etc. It was perfect, and as the kids got older I was able to pursue my interest in researching and writing a book. Now our son has been married for four years and our daughter is in her senior year of college. And we sold our business last year after operating it for 18 years.

I love the fact that I can focus on my writing and publishing business now. But it is always a little awkward when we are out and someone asks me what I do. "I am an author and a publisher", I try to say with authority. And I know that I am! I guess I am just not feeling all that successful right now. Part of me has just a little built of guilt that I am not out seeking a full-time "real" job. Whatever that is. Sometimes I feel so invisible when we are at a gathering and the other people in the group are discussing the goings-on at work. Face it, not many people can relate to what I am doing. I guess I just need to hang around with more authors.

Quote of the Day

Freelance writer Rick Zabel commented, "I'd rather criticize myself for something that I've written than to later criticize myself for not having written anything at all." To my fellow writers out there - write on!

Designed to Sell

This morning I met with a graphic designer to discuss my book. Everything I have heard and read indicates that you should not hire just any graphic designer, but instead find one who has done book design in the past. Seems book design can be a little quirky and technical. Hmmm...sounds like writing a book! Anyway, I met Peggy at a St. Louis Publishers Association meeting last week, and she had designed a book written by an author with whom I was familiar. So she met the first requirement of being both a designer and having experience with books. The second requirement is coming up with an award winning cover on a minimal budget. Okay, so it doesn't have to be award winning, but it does need to look professional and not cost me an arm and a leg. (Especially not my "write" arm.) Because my book is on researching house history in St. Louis County, I have a very small market. I understood that when I decided to write the book, but this approach will be the most beneficial to the reader. Since I won't be selling a lot of books I need to keep my overall expenses as low as I can. Having said that, I also don't want the book to look like I designed and printed it on my home computer. Don't I sound like the typical American? I want it all and I don't want to pay much for it! Peggy listened to my concerns and came up with a reasonable approach where I think I may get to have it all. She will get a proposal back to me next week, and we'll see if we both get what we want.

Borders, Book Signings and Brain Pickings

Yesterday a friend, Cindy, and I went to a book signing at Borders. The author is a friend of Cindy's, so we went to support Edna and her new book. It was a great experience for me as Edna's first book was similar to the one that I am writing, and I have wanted to meet her. She self-published her first book, and had a publisher produce the next two. When I mentioned the book I am writing, she was very excited and immediately suggested that we get together for coffee at a later date. Great! I will be able to learn a lot from her! Cindy has also published a book, so we sat in the coffee shop at Borders after getting our books autographed and I discussed my book with her. As Cindy has done a lot of house research both here and in Mississippi, she has experience in what my book is about. She reviewed my book for content, making sure that I hadn't left any critical step out. She also made some suggestions for illustrations to enhance the subject matter as well. Cindy knows a local archivist that she thought I might want to meet with for input, too, from a different perspective. As my book's goal is to make the research process as helpful and complete as possible, I welcome the opportunity to receive additional information. I am finding in this whole book writing, book publishing process that the more people you get to know, the better off you will be. There is so much to learn about how it all works, and being exposed to those who have been through it helps me make sense of all the new lingo.