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Hi,
Man, I have to post more often. I finally heard this week that my self-published book, Billy Buttles and the Gravesend Witch is finally available. The company sent me the proof and I approved it and I now saw it online. I know I self-published, but I can't begin to describe the feeling I got to see something that I wrote in print. First, to hold it in my hands and then to see it on an online store like Amazon or BN.com, it made it official. It is real and my work is out there. Now, I think comes the hard part. I have to promote this thing. I have read different books about doing that and have joined a couple of self-published author's sites for ideas. I have to hit the message boards and create an awareness.
I have begun mentioning it all over the place to friends and in some groups I belong to. I have a very good friend who is a president of a pr company. I have debated getting him to do pr for me. Might want to save that card for another book. We will see. I don't know where to start, but I know that I have to. That is the thing with self-publishing. I realize that I am in charge of doing everything. I have no publishing house to back me. It will be hard, but then I look at that cover with my work in it and know I have to take care of my "baby".
So, I am going to start everything I can and be on the lookout for Billy Buttles and the Gravesend Witch. I appreciate it.
The HD
Hi,It's been a little over a week since I have blogged and I apologize. Got caught up with other work. Last weekend I went to the SCBWI mid-year conference in Orlando. I had a better time this year than last year. I got involved a little bit more and did not stay back in the shadows like I did last year. As I wrote previously, the only thing that bothers me is that I want to go to so many different tracks that it is hard to pick. This year I chose the humor track. Leading the track were Nina Hess, an editor and Mirrorstone and author Debbie Garfinkle. When I arrived in the track, I was pleased that there were only ten of us in the track. I thought that this gave us a little bit more individualized attention. It would also perhaps let us be remembered better to the editors in the track. I had been torn between the middle grade, the mystery and the humor. I saw the mystery had less people than the humor and the middle grade was packed. What was ironic, was that we were right next door to the middle grade track and heard continuous laughter coming from that room. I wondered if I was in the wrong room.As for my track, I enjoyed it. I did think Debbie Garfinkle was very quiet and shy, which was ironic because she was the humor specialist. Still, I received good information, especially the query letter critique. I fixed up the letter and sent it out according to their specifications. Let's hope it works. Otherwise, it was a decent time. We talked about how to craft a humor book and about writing in general.After the meeting, we had individualized critiques of our first chapters for whoever paid for them. By chance, the critiquer I had was Ms. Garfinkle. I was kind of hoping for an editor to get that kind of feedback, but Ms. Garfinkle was very good and helpful. She said she loved my story and could see it being a big hit with boys, but there were several punctuation errors. She also told me that I had to slow my pacing a little. Like I said, that was good feedback for me and I have taken it to heart and made the corrections.Lastly, tomorrow night, I start an online children's writing course from Broward Community College. Should be fun except that I don't know how I'm going to handle it while taking a couple of other online courses for an education degree. It will be tough, but I am going to try very hard. Hope everyone is well and I will update soon, I promise...I think.Later,
Hi,
I have been busy for a few days because I have had papers to complete for my online classes. I have been taking education courses with the hopes of becoming a teacher after the summer. I just want a piece of that lucrative teaching salary...I know, I know. In reality, I think it should be fun. It is a steady job, with summers off and I like working with kids, not in a Michael Jackson kind of way, but in a fun way. It should also be a good experience in getting some insight for writing for children. In any event, I had to finish these papers and did not have time for blogging, writing for me or much else. The main thing that I was upset about, was not writing about the season finale of LOST.
About LOST, Oh, my G-d! I loved it. I am upset about a lot of the things that happened. First off, they killed Michael?! They just brought him back. Why bring him back if they were going to kill him off? I read that the actor Harold Perrineau was upset about that as well. I did want to see him get back together with Walt. Sure, he did bad things, but all for the sake of his son. Almost any parent would do anything for their kids. I hope they bring the character back either next season or the last. I do not believe Jin is dead. At least, I hope not. I am glad Sawyer will still be there, but if this is it for Desmond, I will be greatly annoyed about that as well. I think he might have grown to be my favorite now and it does not look good for his involvement for next season. I do believe he will be back as well, but not to the degree that he was this year. Also, what was up with Locke in the coffin? I always felt that the person in the coffin was either Locke or Michael, so I was not that surprised, but I have to know how it came to that. Having to wait now until January of '09 is crazy. EIGHT MONTHS!!
From what I understand, Billy Buttles is almost ready to go and be available online in places like Amazon and BN.com. Even though I self-published this one, it will still be exciting to see my work in print. I am proud of it and I think it is good and fun, so wish me luck.
My follow-up book, I am still sending out query letters for and I just found out that a friend has a relative at Abrams. I sent it to her and now we'll just wait and see. My friend and her kid liked it and even though it doesn't mean anything, it was encouraging.
This weekend, I have a writing conference in Orlando. I think the conferences are great, but I hate that there are a lot of good tracks and you only can go one. This year I picked the humor track, but may change once I reach there. I also feel that the conferences are not as big a networking place that they try to make it out to be. I have been to two and many people go together or know people from before. It was difficult for me, going solo, to meet people. I will try to mingle a little more this time and hopefully, meet somebody that can assist me in some capacity. I signed up for a private critique this time. It will be valuable for me to hear something from a professional and maybe develop a contact for future use. In any case, it should be fun.
Later,
Hi,
So, I have been researching all of the different writer's blogs so I can do the same thing myself for when Billy Buttles comes out. I have looked at Verla Kay, as well as bookslut, maudnewton, etc. I like Verla Kay because it is geared to children's books as Billy Buttles is. I have to keep at this so I can get the name out there. I have to create an awareness and name recognition. These blogs and websites are great and I realize that I will certainly have to do a whole lot more than I currently am. I must start blogging regularly and posting on other writer's boards and websites. It might be an effective way of gaining exposure on a limited amount of capital to use for this. I am not going to write long tonight, since it is late and I am bleary-eyed from reading blog after blog, but beginning tomorrow, I have to get at it
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Hi,
For those that don't know, I decided last year to pursue a kind of career change. I am still going to do what I've been doing (trading in the stock market), but I have also decided to pursue a career in education. I've been taking a lot of online education courses and been subbing for the last few months. Subbing has been interesting, with some classes great and some just have been really bratty. All in all, I've enjoyed it. So, this leads me to my point (I know, thankfully). Last week, my kids' school where I have been subbing, called me to become the permanent P.E. teacher until the end of the year. Seems the regular coach had been...let go. I accepted immediately, because sports are much better to me than sitting in a classroom. Only, nobody has contacted me from the school to let me know my responsibilities. I tried to get in touch today because I start tomorrow, and I was told somebody would call me back. As of 10:50 p.m. tonight, still no call. I feel like I am going in blind tomorrow. This also leads me to my next point. Teaching is something that I want to do and have enjoyed it, yet when I have to go in, why do I feel annoyed that I am not going to get to spend the time writing? Curse that having to make a living nonsense. I was getting used to spending my time alone at home writing and this puts a damper on it. I will have to make some time for that
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Hi,
Have been crazy busy between taking online classes and finishing up all the remaining work for Billy Buttles. I realize that it has been months since I have written. That should not be. For those of you who don't remember, I had chosen to self-publish my first manuscript Billy Buttles and the Gravesend Witch. I chose to do it through Mill City Press. From what I understand, it should just be a week or two more before it hits the internet for sale. Let's keep fingers crossed. I am very excited about it. Just to see a work that you completed in print with a cover is unreal to me. I wrote that after this, any work I do will be done through traditional means, but this I wanted out right away. Since Billy Buttles, I have finished another manuscript and am now halfway through a third. I finished Billy Buttles so long ago, that it is tough getting back into that mood, but I now have to try to build up interest and get the word out there. I honestly feel that it was a good, fun middle-grade story and I hope others feel the same way. I will now begin writing a lot more about it either every day or every other day. So, please bear with me and keep a look out for Billy Buttles
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Hi everybody,
I hope you all have a very happy holiday. It is after 7 p.m. and everybody is probably home and awaiting the morning. It is an exciting time to be a child (and an adult). Funny thing today, I mentioned the other day how I had decided to self-publish because of just wanting to get my book out there and the bad experience I had with an agent. An agent had agreed to represent me and even called me to discuss it. She asked me to notify any other agents I had contact and withdraw my request for representation. She said she would get a contract in the mail right away. I waited and waited and never received anything. Any time I e-mailed to find out what was going on, there was always a reason why I didn't get anything. From they were changing the template of the contract design to the head of the agency was very sick and in disarray. The old spider-sense went off and I immediately regretted contacting other agencies to pull any offer they might have made. Not that they would have, but that is not the point. I received an e-mail every now and then saying they would get back in touch with me soon. You already know what happened next. Soon enough the e-mails stopped and I heard nothing. I sent out a few other queries to agents and got rejected. I was disheartened after wasting a good 6 months with this one agent
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Hi,
It has been a few days since my last posting. I seem to have caught this bug that is going around south Florida. It is terrible nausea and then includes vomiting. I know...lovely. I'm sure you're all glad that I shared it with you. My kids had it earlier in the week and I caught it yesterday. I remember my kids crying last weekend and throwing up. My son, who is 5, was hysterical crying and said he wanted to go to the doctor, as if that would make it instantly better. I felt awful and said that if I could take the pain from him, I would. Be careful what you wish for. This was terrible. Felt like my chest was on fire.I had a nice streak going of close to ten years without vomiting and it all came to a halt yesterday. I hate that feeling. Sitting over the toilet and waiting for it, knowing that it's inevitable. I felt slightly better afterwards, but only for a couple of hours until it hit again. Thankfully, today is just nausea without the throwing up. Even the nausea is not as bad as yesterday. Hopefully, another day or two and we're done
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Hi everybody,
Hope all of you are well. First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Rosen. I am originally from New York, but I now live in Coral Springs, Florida. Around six years ago, I started working on a Young Adult book called, Billy Buttles and the Gravesend Witch. I have always wanted to be a writer and the inspiration for this story came from the place I was living, Gravesend in Brooklyn. It was so named because there actually was a small cemetery at the end of the area. As a kid, I used to let my imagination run wild with things and think about a cemetery that was there before the town started. That was the impetus for my story. A cemetery that nobody knows how it got there and the strange things happening around the town. I started and stopped many times over the next few years, before finally deciding to just sit down and write it. I finished it at the end of 2006 and naively figured I would send it out and it would be greeted with open arms. Sure I thought I might get a few rejections, but I thought overall it would be positive. In the first batch of ten that I sent out, I received four rejections, three no-replies and three requests from agents to see more of the manuscript. I figured three out of ten was great. I sent in more material and two out of the thee asked for the full manuscript and one agent asked to represent me. I know that you shouldn't jump at the first one that offers, but I did. They told me to withdraw my manuscript from consideration from the two open agencies. The agency, said that they would send a contract out and never did. They kept giving me reason after reason they didn't do it. First telling me not to worry about it and then telling me the agent got really sick for a time, but it never came and go figure, soon the e-mails from them stopped as well. This was a good introduction to the business. This took several months. Afterwards I sent out several more queries and received rejections. Completely disheartening. In the meantime, I have continued writing and have nearly completed another manuscript and am halfway through a third. All of which are Youn Adult stories. I have also sent in some proposals for two non-fiction works and am waiting to hear back
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Good Morning everybody,
Hope you are all well today. It has been very tough to maintain my writing schedule, with looking for a new job and doing school work. I like writing the blog and I also have writing to do for myself, work that I am trying to sell. It has been very tough to maintain and that is why I haven't been posting as much as I would have liked. The main problem is, I just enjoy writing and I do get upset when I don't make the time for it. I feel like the day isn't complete and I feel like I am letting people down. I know it's not like I have a massive following, but if even one person reads then I am happy. Even so, I like writing more for myself. I definitely need a writing job, but I know that will be tough to get. In the meantime, I have to continue doing what I love. I know that every time will be tough, to make the time. Just being realistic, but I want to try. The main thing is, when I have a few minutes try to get some blogging in. Either that, or try to become wealthy so I can just blog. Since I decided to become wealthy, I don't know why people won't listen to me and give me money. Until a job comes along, I am sitting in front of the computer all day, posting for jobs and writing other things. So, if you don't see a daily blog, I apologize and I am trying to get it in there more often. Until tomorrow, hopefully, have a great day.
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