Book Anniversary, New For Kindle, and a Question!

This blogging-on-Wednesdays thing seems to be a thing with me now. Hmm. I like it. Gives me something to do before I go to sleep. Also just the quickest of shoutouts to editor James Sanna. I noticed that he emailed me a while back but then I went herp-a-derp and accidentally deleted my entire inbox before I could reply. 

Well! It has certainly been an eventful (almost) two years of writing and publishing for me. As I approach the two year anniversary of the first book I ever published (Paper Dolls), I've been busier than ever with writing and trying to find a job to continue funding my writing. (And I may have finally had a breakthrough on that! More info as I have it.)

May 30th marks two years since I finished the very last sentence in the book, pushed my chair back from my dresser (which I was using as a desk), and stared at the screen in awe. My very first (publishable) book, some 16K words, was finally done. I then proceeded to celebrate the only way my 22-year-old self knew how: screaming, hollering, and waving my hands in the air. And then running out to the living room to alert my mom that no, I wasn't being brutally murdered by some weird axe-weilding psychopath. I was one step closer to realizing my life-long dream of having people on a global scale read my writing.

We watched "The Core." 

May 31st, I got up "early" and drove across town to the Caribou Coffee next to the Half Price Books over by Walmart. 

(Side note: I love the fact that this is actually a blog where I can say something like that and, chances are, most people who read it will know exactly what and where I'm talking about. They make the absolute BEST blended iced mochas. At least they did. I'm not sure if they still do. Haven't been there in awhile but that's my coffee place. Love it!)

I ordered me one of those blended mocha icey drink things, found myself a seat by the window, and unpacked what ended up being the very last Windows PC I've ever used (or plan on using. But that's a rant for an entirely different blog post). I plugged that beasty in (four months old and its battery no longer held a charge) and hooked myself up to the internet as I took a long, delicious sip of that cold, cold beverage. 

At that point, I knew exactly where to go because there was another Minnesotan self-published writer all over the news all that Spring: Amanda Hocking. I'd read her story (and devoured three of her books) and (thankfully) just about every newspaper that ran a story about her also included the URL for Kindle Direct Publishing. 

So I went to kdp.amazon.com and connected my amazon account... And roughly one half hour later I had submitted my book for review and publication. Everything was coming up Emma.

I marketed a little bit, posting about it on twitter and facebook, and then I went home and ate chocolate ice cream while drinking pre-mixed mudslide that I'd bought a few days before in preparation. I also immediately began writing Paper Lanterns.

So much has happened in these two years. I was introduced to Fridley Patch. Because of Paper Dolls, actually. I was on Twitter a lot more back then than I am today. Sitting at the Anoka County Library, I casually checked Twitter and saw a tweet from the Fridley Patch twitter. It was something about that cute little courtyard in the middle of the library, and how appealing it looks even though it's problematic trying to get back in from out there (is it still? I'd love to sit in that little courtyard and write. So cute!) and I was like LOL HEY I'M THERE TOO THAT'S COOL. So I tweeted about as such. 

Chris and I tweeted back and forth a bit and I revealed that I was doing... something to do with the book. I can't for the life of me remember and I've tweeted more than 10K tweets over the years.

And pretty suddenly there was the idea that I was newsworthy. It wasn't until much later in June (almost July, I think?) that I was interviewed, but I didn't mind. I was in shock (still kinda am, honestly) that anyone would want to write an article about me and my book, but it was pretty freaking cool. And what's really funny is that my hair and glasses are both exactly the same now as they were in the picture featured in that article. I just like to make funny faces a bit more now.

Flash forward to May 15th, 2013. Nearly two years since I first logged on to Amazon.com's publishing website, I just submitted my 20th 'book' (it's a short story), and it should be available for purchase within the next 12-24 hours. It is called Zippo and it's $0.99. Surprisingly not all that young adult (although it does cover things that, at least in my experience with today's youth, teens do and say), it is very short, and follows a writer as she sits down at her desk and begins her pre-writing 'ritual.' I can't give any more information than that without spoiling the entire thing. I will link to it on Amazon in the comments when it is finally made available. 

And finally, I have a couple questions to pose to the teens (and the teens at heart) of Fridley:

What do you want to read?

What kind of books do you find yourself gravitating toward when you go to the bookstore/library/amazon.com?

Are you sick of vampires?

What is your stance on the concept of a Mary-Sue character?

I eagerly look forward to your responses! 

I'll probably be writing another one of these next Wednesday!

DFTBA