Five Year Project

Life: that thing that happens when

 you’re busy planning things.

-John Lennon

This is the last Friday of the month, which makes it five year project time. If you feel like joining the group, or visiting the rest of us, you can. Here is the link.

My five-year goal: to have a world class publishing company.

 

For those of you familiar with my work, you know I use quotes a lot and this week the one above made it into one of my books. It’s always been one of my favorites, because it seems to apply to just about everything in my life. I plan things and then life happens and it turns out life, the one I didn’t plan, is so much better.

I didn’t plan to move. We were at our last house for sixteen years, all my kids had their first steps there; it was a good house, a house I planned to live in for the rest of my life. And then someone offered to buy it and now I find myself in a new house with five acres that are almost a blank canvas. I find myself with the little hobby farm I always dreamed of, but never planned for.

And my books. I am a nurse. I never planned to write. It was literally something I didn’t do one day, and started the next. It wasn’t in the plans, but it has been amazing.

So, my plan is to have a publishing company. Will it happen? Probably not the way I planned it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

How about you—has your life been better or worse than the one you planned?

Indie Life

Hello everyone! Today is the second Wednesday of the month, making it Indie Life time. It’s a day set aside each month to talk about this Indie publishing world in hopes to educate and encourage each other. If you feel like joining us, or visiting the rest of us who are involved, you can find the list here.

For me, the best teacher has been my own mistakes, and I’ve made them all. Seeing someone else’s grammatical nightmares isn’t so earth shattering as seeing my own, which quickly drives home those little rules like who and not that when you’re referring to people, and their, not they’re, when you’re talking about ownership. It’s been a long road; four and a half years for me, but I’m still learning, which means I’m still making mistakes. I have no reference for this, but I’ve heard a story about group of nuns who purposefully put mistakes in their work, because only God is perfect. I laugh every time I hear that. Trust me; if there’s a mistake in my work, it’s not on purpose. And it’s not for lack of editing*, either. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has gone over their work a hundred times, in all its various forms, sent it to other editors, copy and the like and still, STILL, finds typos and other humbling things. It’s almost enough to have me subscribe to Grammerly. By the way, has anyone tried this yet? If you have, I’d love your feedback; anything that would get rid of those “surprises” in my work. A girl can dream, right?

-Melanie

*If any of you noticed the huge number of commas in this post, know they aren’t there because my grammar sucks, they’re there because I really, really like commas. J

IWSG

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, making it IWSG day. If you feel like joining in, you can. Here is the link.

IWSG is an acronym for Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The meaning and purpose of this group is near  and dear to my heart.

 I’ve been a reader all my life and it never once occurred to me that a writer could be insecure, that it might actually be difficult for them to publish. Now, I’m not talking about the publishing process itself, that’s a whole different topic for another day. No, I’m talking about writing in the first place, and then, being willing to release that writing to the world. I had no idea, until I became a writer myself, that putting words down on paper is like barring your soul; and that to relative strangers. I never realized how incredibly courageous that was, how super-hero worthy.  I just thought they were words, made into stories. I didn’t know they were the essence of a person, and therefore should be handled carefully. That’s why I rarely review.  I’m just too critical, and I know how that can hurt.  So here I am, raising my glass to all of you brave souls who have had the courage to reveal yourself, and to you, who are still trying to work up the nerve. I say go for it.

The world needs to know who you are.