Happy Birthday, Binks

Happy Birthday to The Binkster!

Ten years ago today, Binks entered this world.  I blogged about her birthday last year and showed a picture of when she was born. . .the one where she looks like an alien.  But today, I'm putting up a recent picture of her and her "I'm kind of a big deal" T-shirt.  For those who need catching up, I created the pug, The Binkster, as a character in my debut mystery, CANDLE APPLE RED, before I actually found the real deal.  She's my first ever dog, and it's just crazy that she's already ten!


BTW, I have a few extra T-shirts left over: mediums and XXL's.  (Sad to say, the larges and XL's are long gone.)  If you are interested, go to my website -- www.nancybush.net -- and write a message in my guest book with what size you would like and your snail mail address for shipping. There aren't tons of T-shirts left, but I'll send them out till they're gone.


And again, Happy Birthday, Binks!  You're the best!

Hey, there, sailor. . . Get your free romance right here.

I've got a FREE, (yes, you heard me) TOTALLY FREE romance novel available to Kindle users for ONE DAY ONLY!!  This special offer is for THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER, a personal favorite of mine (but aren't they all, really?) which just went up in e-book format and will be available on Kindle February 4th ABSOLUTELY FREE!

I've decided to give this promotional gimmick a try and see what happens.  And let's face it, it's February. . .the month of Valentine's Day and romance.  So, break out the champagne, chocolates, hearts and flowers and enjoy!

Caffeineless and semi-proud of it

I started the year under the stress of a deadline -- kind of like every other year.  But this time I decided that caffeine wasn't helping my cause, so I quit on December 31st and after a crashing headache that pretty much took me out for New Year's Eve, I have been caffeineless all 13 days of the new year.  So...yes, I feel better, which is....disturbing.  I really like my caffeine, and I was convinced I needed it to keep up the pace.  I've been writing like a mad woman to complete my latest thriller, NOWHERE TO RUN, and I do believe the book will be done next week...all without caffeine.  In fact, I would go so far as to say I have more energy now.  No draggy afternoons.  No bleary mornings.  Don't even seem to need as much sleep.  Kind of a pisser, really, because the way I talked myself into this little experiment was with the clear understanding that it would only be temporary.
So, now what?
Can I really stand to be one of those people who has to ask for something different?  To look for the orange dot on the coffee pot at the Coffee Nook?  To have to question the order when I go somewhere else for coffee?  This has no caffeine, right?  Would you recheck?  I'm sorry.  I just can't have caffeine.
My whole view of myself has been rearranged.
Could be an existential crisis except for the fact that I don't have time for one.
Hmm.....

The Danger of Exercise

I've been working out on a treadmill for the last month or so.  I've always been a walker, so I thought this would be an easy transition.  Instead of striding outside for a morning trip to the Coffee Nook, I decided I'd put my time in on the treadmill instead.  You don't have to worry about the dark, or the weather or anything.  But the treadmill is an evil invention because there is no destination. It just goes on and on and on. . .and you never get anywhere.  Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that the book I'm currently writing is titled NOWHERE TO RUN?

There is also a treadmill risk factor.  This morning, I nearly had a Larry Todd moment.  A Larry Todd moment is when you get distracted, slip, fall down and get shot off the back of the thing.  For my friend, Larry, the distraction was a pretty girl at the gym, and he actually did fall and get thrown from the rear of the treadmill.  (He also lost some facial skin from the belt abrasion.)  For me, it was while I was taking a sip of coffee from my to-go cup, while striding along like I know what I'm doing, and pushing the button on the TV remote to fast forward through a commercial.  One little misstep and I was nearly gone.  BUT, I did manage to catch myself without spilling my coffee. . .much.  Sure, the remote took flight like it was a bird, but I stayed on my feet.  Catlike reflexes.  Yessirree.

Time to get back to NOWHERE TO RUN, the manuscript, not the treadmill.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

The Danner Quartet...finally all available!

 

Nancy's How-To Guide Part II on eBook Publishing

All right, you've gone through the first twelve steps on how to self-publish your own book and now you have an edited manuscript all ready to go.
What's next?
1.  Consider how to get a cover made.  Why a cover, you may ask, since there's no physical book?  Kinda goes along with the mystery of the sphinx.  Guess people want to look at something even if it's really teeny and a lot of times in black and white, but whatever the case, you do need one.
2.  Thoughtfully rub your chin awhile, then check online for book cover artists.  Maybe buy an e-book from someone whose covers you like and see if the cover artist is listed inside.  Read blogs about self-publishing and see if cover artists are advertising.  Or, get creative yourself and expect to become really close friends with i-stock photos.
3.  Buy an ISBN number.  Repeat that.  Buy an ISBN number.  Didn't know they were for sale, but they are.  I bought mine at Bowker.  What?  Bowker.  It's online. (ISBN's seem kinda spendy for what they are, but okay.  Gotta have 'em.)
4.  So, now you've got your manuscript.  You've got your cover.  You've even got your ISBN number.  The last piece is putting the whole thing into HTML programming.
5.  HTM. . .what the?  L?
6.  Am I going to take the time to learn this?  LOL
7.  Or, okay, maybe you will.  You might want to learn something new, like HTML programming.  This may take awhile, so I'm going to go get a glass of wine and sit outside for a season or two while you perfect it.
8.  Go back to Step 2 and search for someone who does HTML programming.  (If his name is Guido, I'm gonna bet he's our guy.)
9.  Send your manuscript electronically to Guido or your other chosen HTML programmer.
10.  Question yourself:  What?  But that's my manuscript!  I can't just send it to a stranger!  What if they steal it from me?
11.  Send it to Guido anyway and then marvel at what comes back to you.  Wow.  It looks GREAT.
12.  Go onto the publishing sites for Amazon, B&N, i-Book etc. and follow the directions on what to do next.
Simple as 1, 2, 3....456789101112.

FYI: The HTML programming for JESSE'S RENEGADE just got finished tonight, so I'll be putting it up soon!
Thanks, Guido.

Nancy's How-To Guide To E-Book Conversion

I've spent a lot of this summer transferring some of my backlisted books -- older ones that have been out of print for sometime -- into e-book form.  Here's a 12-step program on how you do it:
1.  Read your contract and try to decipher what it says.  Force majeure?  What?
2.  Find the clause that deals with out of print books.
3.  Read the clause sixty-seven times to see if you understand what it means on how to contact the publisher and ask for your rights back.
4.  Write a certified letter asking the publisher for your rights back.
5.  Wait awhile, oh, six months or so, depending on what the contract says.
6.  Chafe at how long it's taking for those six months or so to pass.
7.  Receive a response from the publisher, telling you that some of your works are not yet vulnerable to reversion, but they would like to publish the others as long as you sign your e-rights away to all of them on this dotted line.
8.  Politely refuse said offer and tell them to send you your rights back....please....with an undertone of legal action pending....
9.  Receive a letter from the publisher granting you your rights back.  Unbelievable!!  Yay!!
10. Figure out how in the world to now convert that old book in your hand into Word -- scan it?  Write it in because scanning sucks?  Use Dragon-naturally speaking and talk it in? -- so that you can prepare it for HTML programming and then learn the next set of steps to self-publish.
11. Find wine and Skype or sit by yourself in a dark room and contemplate the meaning of life.
12. Open up Word and the book, and type in: Chapter One....

There is a second set of steps that follows this one on how to actually get your Word doc onto Amazon, B&N, Apple etc. sites in order to actually sell your book....more about that later....