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Nice post!

Boy can I relate, Morgan! It's been unusually cold but sunny on the Southern Oregon coast for the past two or three days. It was 40 degree when we left to walk our dogs in a local park at 9:00. There's a beautiful pond in the middle of the trees, with a path for walking. It was SO COLD, the ducks, coots and geese didn't go in the pond! Still I'd rather have this than rain!
Happy New Year

I know just what you mean!

I tell people all the time that the best gift to give a writer is a review...it's better than seeing a sale, or anything else, to get a review. Because you know someone read you--and they cared enough to SAY something about it. Love reviews! Great post!

Love and stuff,
Michy

I had a little sunshine come into my life this morning, so I really understand what you're saying. Excellent post, and thank you!
Marja McGraw

Morgan, I wouldn't have walked in the cold. Am not a winter person and get my exercise at the gym and playing tennis indoors! I know the sun felt good.

Thanks for sharing!
Monti
Mary Montague Sikes

I believe it was something like 16 degrees here this morning. Carlene's 40 would have seemed warm to me!
No we're at 18 degrees at almost 1:30pm.

Glad you all can relate to both of what I mentioned.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

I know what you mean. I have been to Alaska. I could take the cold in the winter, but I would miss the sun.

Morgan, I am in awe of you. You went out to walk on such a cold day! I've been walking every morning and have discovered that I really like walking. I didn't go this morning, though. I did get some exercise, though, since my aunt is coming tomorrow so I've been cleaning house (including the toilets!).

What a great analogy! A kind word or a positive review really can bring a ray of sunshine into an author's world.

Good post, Morgan. Sunshine and kindness are both good for the author's--or anyone's--soul.

True, kindness does not only apply to authors in need of it!

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

It was unusually cold here in East Texas when I went for my walk this morning, too, Morgan. Still cold, and I have not received a new review to warm me up. (smile) So glad to see you got a good one.

Kudos to you Morgan for both the post and that you got out and walked. It is so hard to get myself going but once I do, I enjoy it a lot like what you mentioned. Reviewers also have a special place in my heart for sharing their thoughts. I really learned a lot from a negative comment on a review. It was really helpful and constructive.
Wendy
W.S. Gager on Writing

Hey Morgan,

I really got how you compared the warmth of sunshine to a kind word from a reader or peer. The difference is absolutely night and day.

You'd think we were all fully-formed and wholly confident, but this is a strange business. No matter how much you enjoy writing and how good you think your stories are, a few negative words can have you doubting everything.

I keep a file of "kind words." They really help when the mean girls come along, or some other micro-disaster.

Have a great 2013.

Maggie
http://mudpiesandmagnolias.blogspot.com

I do keep clips from my reviews and share them on Twitter from time to time. They keep me going!

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

Happy New Year, Morgan! We went hiking on New Year's Day to Starved Rock Park. The sun made it absolutely wonderful. And I agree the reviews/notes/comments from folks are what keeps me going as a writer. I need to know someone understood and/or enjoyed my hard work.
DL Larson

This is so true. A good review can make up for a lot of gray, cloudy days.

We are all in agreement on this one. Praise warms an author's heart!

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

Morgan, you could send a little of that cold over. Here, we have 40 degrees Celsius (over 100 F) with strong gusty winds. Worst bushfire day since the bad one in 2009.
I did my walking after 10 pm when the temperature lowered to 24 C (75 F).
:)
Bob

Morgan,
It's so true, and I absolutely agree. We write in solitude and then are thrust into the marketing whirlwind. A kind word from a reader goes a long way.
Margot
www.mjustes.com

This turned out great!

Good luck finishing up the story...how fun to already have the cover done...that has to give you some inspiration.

Can't wait to read it!

great) liked everything very much) keep it up and dont stop)

I've got a very significant canine character in When Danger Calls. As a matter of fact, there's also a stuffed dog in that book, and one of my early CPs said she couldn't believe she was caring so much about both of them.

I have used dogs in a number of books over the years, and the occasional cat in a scene--sometimes to the detriment of the cat. Most recently a dog named Paco in DEAD ON figures importantly when the hero finds himself, like Bogey on occasion, stuck with a "dame and a dog"... I also routinely use a photo of myself and Pongo, a Dalmation, on the backflap of my books, and I swear that dog has sold more books than I have.

A well placed pooch can make a book. :)

I'm writing my second novel, it features a talking cat (and an eagle, a deer, etc...). I've established facebook accounts for them. It's allowing me to further flesh out their characters as they interact with new "friends," and (hopefully) will help me market the book when it's done. There's also a dog, but he doesn't get a facebook account as he doesn't play a big role. He's a dumb dog.

MORGAN--Ihave one orphan ms with a dog--his name? Rascal! One of my best friends has had about six dogs--something always happens to them--cancer, rattlesnake bite, etc., and every dog was named Rascal. She said, "When you find a good dog name, why not stick to it?" I've always heard that a dog in a romance is a real winner! Good luck with your project--Celia

Good day, sun shines!
There have were times of troubles when I felt unhappy missing knowledge about opportunities of getting high yields on investments. I was a dump and downright pessimistic person.
I have never imagined that there weren't any need in big initial investment.
Now, I'm happy and lucky , I started to get real money.
It's all about how to select a proper companion who uses your funds in a right way - that is incorporate it in real business, parts and divides the profit with me.

You can get interested, if there are such firms? I'm obliged to tell the truth, YES, there are. Please be informed of one of them:
http://theinvestblog.com [url=http://theinvestblog.com]Online Investment Blog[/url]

All you have to do is make the decision!
I've got a list of project goals for 2010. Writing another book is high on my list, too. I also have a lot of promoting to do for the final book of my YA series. And establishing two new venues for speaking engagements is a priority. Gotta keep the cash flow going.
Hope you do get to that book about Rascal!

I've already got lots of places I'm planning to go and speak and sell books in the coming year. Because I have two series, it always means writing two books a year. I'm on Chapter 9 of a Tempe Crabtree mystery and that's what I should be doing instead of fooling around with blogs. Guess that ought to be my priority!

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Make sure your goals are broken down into measurable increments, and you should be fine. You can control goals, unlike dreams. (Which just happens to be my blog topic today)

I have some goals floating arouind in the back of my head for 2010. One is to definitely make some progress on my WIP! It's actually an old mss I'm resurrecting, so we'll see how that goes. Yesterday I actually sat down at the computer (It's been way too long, I am ashamed to admit.) and did some work on it. Started over. Page one. I'll be keeping some of the ideas, but basically revamping the entire book. I figured it was a good head start for the new year!

Good luck with your goals, Morgan! May 2010 be full of success for you.

I always use the acronym SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Timed.

all of the above! What's life without goals? (boring?)

Many goals, too, one being to get back to more writing-related blogging.

I usually don't make weight goals...never stick to them. lol I don't have any contracts for 2010, so I'm a little nervous that I don't have anything coming out next year. I'm sure I'll fix that soon. heehee But the only goal I'm making is the one I've made for the past three years. GET AN AGENT!

~Phyllis~

I think I blogged about goals myself. *lol* I think they should be re-named "dreams," because they usually turn into that for me. My number ONE goal/dream, is to sell a book to SOMEONE who will put it in an actual store. Before I die, I want to point a reader to a place they can walk in and actually pick up and feel the book.

Yes, I'm a huge believer in ebooks and the future, but most of my generation is stuck in the paper past and turn up their noses at the word, "download." What's a writer to do?

Ginger

Yes, Morgan, those are my three goals. How did you guess?

My weight loss goal this year is to refuse to pay anyone to let me weigh in every week when I could simply use common sense and stop eating all the Hershey's Kisses I bring home from my book signings. LOL

My goal is to get four more books scanned (I do it myself) and put them up for sale on Kindle along with my other three. That takes care of January. For February, my goal is to see my new grandson safely into the world. March, I'll be starting on another book, and from there on, who knows?
Judy

Finish a WIP, lose some weight, market the heck out of my current book.

My (our) primary goal for this year is to get our book through the editing phase and into print! It's already an e-book, but even I don't read e-books unless they are less than 20 pages...so we're going to bite the bullet and get a professional editor and get the book in real print form! Then maybe get the sequel written. Guess I shouldn't say maybe because that would turn it into a dream instead of a goal - lol.

MORGAN--I don't need to say much because Ginger expressed my exact feelings--a book in a store on a shelf before I die, and I know not one person here in town who would download a book. That tells you most everyone I'm in contact with are over 50. I'm the same age category as most of them, and they look at me and ask--a pdf--now, what is that exactly? the want paper.Celia

Rascal is adorable! I think every dog deserves a book. I look forward to hearing more about this one.

I saw Mary's visit!

I've heard that when writing for children, you write as you would for adults and then make it smarter. LOL!

Rascal will make a great children's book character, too.

You'll get to that children's book someday.
DL Larson

Hi Morgan, your blog brought a smile to my face on this gray Florida day. I love book signings, but speaking makes my stomach churn, and do back flips! Imagining folks in their underwear does nothing to calm the savage beast either! Any suggestions?

I'm getting more used to public speaking than before. I print out what I'm going to speak about and make sure to put in bold the main points. Usually,I'll use that as a guideline and digress. It helps also if you know the crowd you're speaking to and/or know a lot about your subject.

If you start first on panels, that helps to make it easier to do
a program by yourself. Also, if there's money involved, it's a good confidence building because it means the person in charge thought you were worth the investment.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

I love giving presentations, just did one for the Rotary Club. All the "important" people in the closest big town (not really very big) seem to be in this organization. I sat next to a judge. I was treated royally. Only sold about 6 books, but since most people had to rush back to work since the meeting was at lunch time this wasn't too bad.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

TBH, I can't stand the promotional aspect of publication. Perhaps once I get to do book signings and school visits that will help (book soon to be released), but I have done a bunch of online promo that will hopefully pay off. My WIP definitely suffers, and sometimes it will take me two hours to open to emails and respond. By the time I'm done, I don't feel inspired at all. Glad you enjoy the promo aspects!

I love doing readings and I love talking about my work, or about writing, and I have no trouble speaking for a purpose (I'm an English professor), but I resent the time it takes to do promotion. My time is short enough as it is; I do some promo, but I think it's a better use of my time to write.

Hence the obscurity, LOL. So it goes.

Some I like, some I dislike. What I dislike most is the time it takes to research events and set them up. Like Katie, by the time I'm finished, I don't feel inspired at all.

Timely post Morgan!

"Annoying"
"Necessary Evil"
"Time Consuming"

Yeah, I can think of a few words for promoting!

I really enjoy most of it, especially when it involves real life activities. It's the detail grudge work that drives me insane. Like making sure I have a listing for an upcoming bookstore appearance in as many of that city's media sources as possible. Gosh, that can take almost two hours sometimes!

Wruters wrute 0N an ON and that is what we do; painters paint, sculptors sculpt...and all of them would much prefer interacting with thier tools and materials, fashioning art than selling it. We all have a good bit of Van Gogh in us, enough that we are not business folks but rather artistic folks, and like singers, musicians, and such, we'd much prefer being ourselves and caught up in the passion of creation over the far less art and science of selling our wares. This is why so many artists have agents and siblings supporting them and doing so much backstage for them. But in the last decade for sure, I have had to do far, far more pushing my work than crafting my work. I have had to enjoy it because it is mmy work I talk to the public about and it is my pride in my work that allows me to be pushy bout pushin it on a complete stranger. Humor and a winning attitude goes a long way to help in matters of signings and speaking engagements, but what really helps so much for writers are the conferences. Nothing better.

LOL, well I guess you know which side of the coin I'm on. I love love love promotion.

It's definitely a necessary part of the business -- it's just tough when you have no backing, no budget, and quite likely, no experience.

But it's all about getting one's name out there so the first questions someone asks when they find out you're a writer won't be, "Oh. Have I heard of you?"

Hi Morgan,
Great blog. I find promoting very hard, but I know it is an essential part of being a writer, I just wishe I was better at it.

Honestly, if I was back at square one, I would promote less and write more. I enjoyed the promo activities and probably spent more time and money that I should have. I think I could have achieved the same lousy results with half the effort. LOL

Hi Morgan,

I think it's safe to say that marketing and promotion are NOT my favorite parts of the writing business. I do understand it has to be done, though. (How else will anyone know our books exist?) So I push myself out there. Once an event begins, however, I love meeting and talking to readers - ever readers who don't read suspenseful mysteries like the Eva Baum series:-).
Charlotte Phillips
Hacksaw
A Box of Texas Chocolates
A Death in Texas

Promoting is not my favorite either. I do enjoy chatting with folks at book signings or author chats. Setting up a schedule is probably the hardest for me. If someone else did that, I'd be okay with the rest of promotion.
Great blog!!

I agree about the award-winning thing. I enjoyed this one. And I recognize that it should have won. But at the same time, award winners can sometimes spend more time on the shelf. Perhaps viewed as too intimidating???

You're absolutely right, Becky, and that would certainly be a shame for this book. The true voice of the narrative speaks to that part of us that sometimes wants to break away from everything we know. All the good books (I think) are based on universal themes of love and loss. This one doesn't disappoint.