Onramp to Normalcy

This morning, we suddenly got a lovely rain outside. The sun was still shining bright. I felt happy, which is so weird. How can I be content on the couch, watching the rain, with a cat curled up on my feet, when at the same time I miss my babies so much? How can I feel grateful, as I do? But it's a good life. There's no denying it.

I wrote Tuesday night the scene where Gilbert comes in. I like it very much. I'm going to write tonight and tomorrow night. Saturday, I'll catalog and network on www.librarything.com. Sunday, I'll try to publish to Kindle again. Last night I tried this a second time and still my short story previewed in Amazon's viewer not as story text but as straight HTML. This is maddening. If I can't publish a 4-page short story, how will I ever publish an entire novel? I remembered that I vowed to pay someone to do anything I found to be a pain in the ass. I took the vow back because I worried about mounting costs. But now I feel ready to reconsider the vow. I really understand Amanda Hocking's decision to be NYC published despite her success self-publishing. She said on her blog (http://amandahocking.blogspot.com) that she'd made the decision partly because of her frustration over time-consuming publishing chores. She said she'd once spent an entire day trying to get a program to give her the right page margins. She'd rather write and social network with readers. I know just how she feels. Writing brings me joy; wrestling with publishing tasks does not. And publicizing through social networking results in new friendships, which is just wonderful.

My friend Maria, who is a powerhouse consultant, sent me two cover ideas she'd designed for a book on marketing she intends to self-publish. I'll tell her which one I like best. I think I'll tell her to drop the "by" before her name; no one seems to use it anymore. And I could warn her about her title, which is something like "Leadership Uncensored". It had better be uncensored if she promises it. What does she mean to tell them? Her failures? Client mistakes? Will she name names? Mostly, I should say to her "good for trying". Really. Good for us. We could be passive consumers. Lots of people opt out that way. An epitaph on every tombstone should read, "Here lies so-and-so. Good on her for trying." Life is beautiful but so damn difficult.