By Gayle Carline
Mystery Author and Damned Tired Dame
My newest mystery is out with my beta readers. I'm sure I'm not the only author who has forsaken everything and everyone around her in order to write those last 20,000 words, push through the editing and get it into the hands of people whose opinion she trusts (even if she also fears them).
So now what do I do?
1. I've got a great idea for a new Peri mystery, and I'm working out the plot.
2. I'm trying out the new Amazon promotion, Kindle Countdown Deals, on The Hot Mess. Authors/publishers can offer books for a discounted price for a limited time. What's the big deal about this? It's about the royalties. For Kindle sales, if you price your book below $2.99 or above $9.99, you only earn 35% of the purchase price. Otherwise, you get 70%. But by using the Countdown Deal, you can offer your $3.99 book for 99 cents and still earn your 70%. I'll let you know how it all works out.
3. I'm cleaning the house. It's a must after spending several weeks typing and reading and typing again while ignoring the dust and dog hair, but it's become a bit of a ritual. My slate is clean, writing-wise, so my environment might as well be, too. I'm not just cleaning, however, I'm hyper-cleaning. Organizing bookshelves, cleaning curios, moving furniture to vacuum. Did I mention washing windows, including laundering the curtains?
This new book must have taken a lot of my attention, because my house is seriously messy. I've cleaned for two days and only have four rooms done. I may have to burn the furniture. I gotta hurry and get everything scrubbed, though, before my beta readers start giving me comments and distracting me. In the meantime, send Advil, and plenty of wine.
How about you? Are you a binge cleaner? Or are you one of those people who can keep your home clean all the time?
Writers - how do you celebrate when you hand your book off to others (betas, editor, agent, etc)?
Congratulations, Gayle!
ReplyDeleteThe first day or two when I my story is in the hands of others and I'm not actively working on it, I'm kind of lost. It's pretty pathetic.
EDIT. DELETE I. SHEESH.
DeleteLOL! Maybe you need a beta reader for your comments!
DeleteI'll be in that mode soon too. After my book goes to beta readers this weekend, I'm taking a few days to have fun, then I have to come home and catch up on EVERYTHING that I set aside for two months while I wrote/edited this book. Organizing files (paper and electronic) is also on my list. And I've started mentally plotting my next Agent Dallas book.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on finishing another novel! We all know what an accomplishment that is.
Welcome back, Gayle! Yeah, I let the messes pile up when I'm under the gun - priorities, priorities, and dust bunnies aren't high on the list! But then it feels good to get organized later, doesn't I! As LJ says, get the filing done, both electronic and paper. Makes us feel better when things are in some semblance of order again. Speaking of which, I REALLY need to tackle the clutter in my basement soon! LOL
ReplyDeleteAnd good luck with your latest book! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I can't comment right now, I'm beta-reading a book...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm also doing the Kindle Countdown Deal right now with one of my books, and the other advantage, besides the fact that we still get the 70% even below $2.99, is that the original price is visible, as well as the # of hours left at that price. Three great features!
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ReplyDeleteI'm pushing to finish my new book by the end of the year. And thanks for the Kindle Countdown Deal, which I'm now going to look into.
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