No lack of ideas here…

I have been inundated with ideas. That’s a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. I remember when I wrote my first novel…as yet unpublished (as well as still mostly in handwritten form secured within the folds of one of my notebooks). I wrote the whole thing over Christmas break. That’s right! A whole novel in a two week time period. Is it any good? I don’t know. At the time I thought it was the best thing I’d ever done. Pride gushed from every pore of my body. Again, I don’t know if it’s any good. It’s about the Phantom of the Opera of all things! But, the important thing about that novel was that it revived a dream within me; one I’d buried many years ago. I LOVED the process from conception of the idea to the writing and rewriting. I practically worked day and night on the thing. Obsessed, I would say.

As I wrote I thought “this is what I want to do when I grow up.” Keep in mind I was just a few months shy of my 45th birthday! Nearing completion I began to consider a “career” change. I’ve done many things though the last 15 years have been devoted to being a mother and wife as well as volunteering with my local no-kill animal shelter. I also became card maker extraordinaire and designed custom specialty greeting cards. Awesome Cards for Awesome People was my slogan. I loved doing that too, although it barely paid for itself. I actually still do cards by request and have my “regulars” who email or call…regularly!

But, my youngest was getting ready to start school. I realized I would be alone for 5 whole hours every single day. What did I most want to do with that 5 hour time span? I knew. I wanted to write. And, as with anything we undertake…or at least it is this way for me…I began to doubt myself. What if I couldn’t think of anything else to write about? What if I wrote one or two books and then…nothing!

That didn’t happen. In fact, it has been quite the reverse for me. I have idea upon idea and each new story brings with it a whole slew of new ideas…so if you’re lacking, let me know!  Before I finish one, a new one is waiting (and usually I begin before the other is finished). That’s happening as I write A Marriage of Necessity. I have two ideas, in fact. Surprisingly they are both a bit different from anything I’ve done before. One was inspired by this flash of a vision I keep getting every time I walk out into the garage and get into my vehicle. It’s a bit frightening. The other inspiration came from the profile picture of a FaceBook Fan. I then read her story and knew why that picture was calling me.

It’s exciting to know the ideas are forthcoming. I could run out of them today and have enough in my file cabinet to support my writing efforts for the rest of my life. At the same time, it’s a bit frustrating because I want to share them NOW! I also have a job to do as I edit and format and help others achieve their writing dreams through my www.OneStopPublisher.com.

On a positive note….I have finally handed over some of my handwritten manuscripts for transcription. The day I watched the first one walk out the door I thought I would cry. I had to remind myself that she’d come back to me in a format ready to share with the world. Let her go! It’s the only way to do what I want to do…share NOW. And may the ideas be forever forthcoming….

Helping others through One Stop Publisher

This has been a really great day. I can't really pinpoint why. Do you ever have those days? I feel as if I made a lot of connects and was asked to do a blog interview surrounding my collection of faith-based short stories, Becoming... I said yes, of course! I realized too that there are a lot of people out there just like me with the dream of a hold-in-your-hand book. That realization made me even more glad that I began my One Stop Publisher company. I've occasionally had second thoughts about it. I'd love to be able to do nothing but write. However, that's not really reasonable PLUS part of my dream has always been to help others with their dream.

I think the day I helped an 8 year old girl publish her first book I knew I'd continue. We still have some revisions before she "goes public" with it but, she has a proof in hand, and is so proud. I remember the day I held my first book with my name on the cover in my hands. Talk about Cloud 9 (or would that be Cloud 8, Dina?!). It hasn't been a huge seller, though I have sold 2 this week. But, it opened the door and it was practically painless. It gave me the confidence I needed to continue. I'm not so sure a room full of rejection letters would do that. Plus, I still have options. I maintain all rights to my work and can pursue other avenues at any time.

So, does that mean I will continue on the self-publishing path? I don't know. For now, it's working for me and I'm meeting a lot of others who have had success as well. Some of us are teaming up to help others through my One Stop Publisher and links to their sites. It's exciting! I also set my own hours and can change my mind about my projects!!! That is even more exciting and I have exercised that right several times (if you look at my What's She Up To page of my author website, you will see that I recently had a change of heart). And with that, I'm going to change directions and take myself to bed. It's 1:30ish a.m. and I'll be sitting at a tennis tournament all day tomorrow....between running kids to school and other activities. At least it's supposed to be warm-ish--I think.

So, I think I'll leave you with a couple of links:
The Shelf Life of Linda Boulanger on FaceBook
One Stop Publisher on FaceBook
Coffee's Hot -- great networking site
If you get bored....check out the blogs I follow and do some reading. There are some really talented writers there with fun and interesting and insightful things to say. (You can get there from my profile, I believe).