Hiatus:  a pause or gap in a sequence, series or process.

Sometimes you make life decisions that require a change in how you think and how you live.  In the last month I’ve made several major decisions that for the remainder of 2019 will bring new challenges and a permanent change in direction.

Last summer I learned that stress can have a disastrous affect on a person’s health.  As I’ve aged I respond much differently to stress than I did when I was forty and I’ve learned a lot more about myself since then too.

 Drafting my story of twenty year old Adeline Dawson and her struggle to survive after the death of her husband during the depth of the Depression is paramount.  To be able to write her story I must give up some activities to continue on my broader life journey.

I posted my first blog in December 2011, hard to believe more than seven years have passed.  It has been the last few years that I decided to post a blog every Wednesday. 

To be honest readers’ responses have been silence.  I have the numbers on how many people visit my website and the blog page but they remain unresponsive.  My readers do not engage with me.  So be it.
In a few days I will be sixty-eight and the gift I’m giving myself is to take a hiatus from writing my weekly blog.  Oh, I’ll be back – not sure when.  The future blog may transform in content, length, frequency, I don’t know at this point.

Readers, thank you for the opportunity to share my writing journey with you.
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The journey continues.

​I want to share my experience with Facebook Ads without editorial comment or analysis.  The data will speak for itself.
 

1. Hired my publicist, Valerie Biel, to develop ads, select target groups, report on ad reach and book sales.
2. Created 6 target groups and ran ads over weekend to determine which group was most effective.
3. Two groups stood out and the other four groups did not work out.
4. Ran ad to the two remaining target reading groups for a week.
5. Had 24 sales from 248 “looks” for a sales rate of 9.68%

 
 
Gross Revenue:   $2.99 x 24 = $71.76
 
Amazon 30% of  gross sales  = $21.53
 
Publisher 70% of gross sales = $50.23
 
Author Royalty !0%  =  $5.02
 
Author Net Revenue  $5.02
Facebook Ad cost = ($131.00)
Publicist Cost = ($258.00)
 
Author Total LOSS from Sales = ( $125.98)
Author Total LOSS including publicist cost = ($383.98)

As writers we are always admonished to “show don’t tell”.  It seems simple and direct.  “Telling” is easy and frankly, lazy.  “Showing” takes craft and is a lot of work.

In my writing I have a crutch – The Emotional Thesaurus A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.  The authors state that the purpose of the book is to help authors brainstorm ways to express their characters’ emotion.

So, ask yourself, when you are feeling insecure – what does that look like?  I draw a blank.  The book lists insecurity and provides:  a succinct definition; physical signals; internal sensations; mental responses; cues of acute or long- term  insecurity; and cues of suppressed insecurity.  Let’s show you the example.
 
Insecurity:  feeling unsure of oneself or displaying a lack of confidence

Physical signals:  fidgeting, rubbing one’s forearms, rushed speech and stammering Internal sensations:  a roiling stomach and uncontrollable dry throat

Mental responses:  over-thinking problems or choices, agreeing only to avoid a confrontation

Cues of acute insecurity:   a bent spine, preferring to do things alone, difficulty making friends

Cues of suppressed insecurity:  deflecting questions or concerns, mimicking others who display confidence
 
These suggestions are not an ending point but a beginning point for a writer to brainstorm how to show what your characters are feeling in a scene.  Now let’s apply the technique:

Adeline had not slept well anticipating the first day of her new job.  At breakfast she stared at her hands and picked at her fingernails.  She left her bowl of oatmeal untouched.  She gulped down a cup of coffee, pushed her chair back to get up and announced: “I have, I need to, I’m leaving for work now.”
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It may be a crutch or it may just make me a better writer.
      

I thought one of the primary advantages of a traditional publishing contract was to work with an editor at the publishing house.  I was wrong.  When updating my publisher on the status of my fourth novel I asked for an estimated publishing timeline and a contract.  The response was that she wouldn’t consider offering a contract until after reading the manuscript.  Fair enough, I thought. 

I wanted clarification that I was expected to pay an independent editor.  My publisher’s response was: “What would you do if you were submitting to any other publisher.”

So, I needed a reality check and I contacted my friend and mentor Christine DeSmet.  She told me that in today’s publishing world only the “Big 4” New York publishing houses have editors working with authors.  For all the medium and small publishers, it is too expensive to have editors on staff so authors are expected to pay out of pocket for editing services.

At my friends’ suggestion I re-read the contract with my publisher.  It had language on submitting an “acceptable manuscript” which was listed in an appendix.  The requirements were all technical on spacing, punctuation, font type, font size and etc.  There was no language on editing services.

How did I overlook that omission?    When signing, I was so eager that I didn’t ask any questions, I didn’t negotiate and I didn’t read the contract carefully.  In the end it is my fault.

Of course, I will have the manuscript professionally edited.  I had all the books in the Irish Troubles Series professionally edited.
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I have learned a lesson and it is my wish that all the authors reading this blog learn a lesson too.