A Work in Progress

Anyone who hasn't had a bad review of their work doesn't fully understand the stress that comes with being a writer. I recently had one of these reviews. And it seriously made me doubt that what I had put years into was even worth it. It's bad enough that we pour out our blood and sweat and tons of tears into our work without a single affirming word from anyone saying, "what a swell job you're doing" or "though you haven't made a penny of your writing in years, your work is truly great." And we continue to pour away because we are called to write. We can't live without doing that. This particular negative review of my work, The Puzzle Master, was like a slap in the face, with a punch to the gut, and then just when I thought it was over, a blind-sided karate chop to the back of the legs. I questioned if her negative review of my work was valid. I questioned my abilities as a writer. I wondered if indeed the last eighteen years

So, here we are, it's that most wonderful time of the year. No, the OTHER most wonderful time: Thanksgiving. And everyone and their mom is writing what they are thankful for on Facebook. Don't misread me. I'm not un-thankful, but I don't think I need to tell EVERYONE my thoughts. Which is oxymoronic considering I keep a blog and that part of my job as a writer IS to tell everyone my thoughts. But, in my defense, those are FICTIONAL thoughts. So there. No, see, I don't need the month of November to thank God for everything. I should be doing this everyday, and believe me, when my kids get out the door to school, with their lunches, without breakfast on their sweet, noisy, faces, I am MOST thankful. I've been trying to be more thankful in all things, in all situations, in every day that I've lived and will live this year. So, it's great others are telling me what they're thankful for, but come Dec 1st, are these same folks not thankful anymore? I

There's a whole lot to be thoughtful about right now. Particularly now that we're post-election. No more ad campaigns, no more lies ... well, fewer lies anyway... maybe. But, I'm not going into that. No sirree. I'm going to talk about less formidable, less headache-inducing things. Fantastic things --and one not-so-fantastic thing-- that happened this week. I'm doing this so I won't cry. Look at this! ↓ Fantastic: My book, my little, tiny story has been in the top 100 kindle classics for kid literature for three weeks now. THREE WEEKS. Why? I'm not exactly sure. But a few sales a day sure can make a writer happy. THIS is fantastic. If you haven't read my middle grade book, you should.  I kind of like it. The Puzzle Master . ◄▬ Click on that and get the Kindle version for only $.99. Not fantastic : See this coupon? Imagine me cutting coupons out of the Sunday paper. Imagine me trying to save money. Imagine seeing this coupon, reading wha

I am lucky enough to be featured today on a wonderful blog and website called "Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews" and you can click the link here to read it. Interviews are pretty fun, especially when you get to talk about the things you normally wouldn't talk about in a professional writing setting. The interview does this as well as review some of the more normal writing questions. It's a little bit of everything. I also am giving away a free digital copy of my book The Puzzle Master  on her site, so if you're interested, hop on by! -HJS

It's pretty fun pretending to be one of the bigwigs. Because truthfully, I'm so far from it.  Really hard to see, but my book is # 57 between The Yearling and The View from Saturday. When I list my book free for a day on Amazon -- and every self-pubbed author can attest to this -- you turn into this "top-selling" author ... but only temporarily. When a book is free, people tend to take it. Great. That equals thousands of "sales" for me. (Unpaid sales). But the hours and days immediately after the book is free are filled with stragglers. They're the ones who check to see if the book is still free, see it isn't, and still buy it. Those stragglers make me a super-author, because their purchase turns me into a "Top 100 paid children's book" in the classic, or social situations category, in which my book sits on Amazon. Where else can my dinky, little book place next to the top rankings of Bridge to Terabithia , or The Yearlin

Just a heads up for those who would like to have my book (the e-version), I'm offering it FREE on August 2nd, for the entire day ... but only one day. It will be available through Amazon, or you can just click here and get it. The paperback is only $6.99, if you prefer that version, and though not free, you can find that by clicking here . And remember if you miss the free Kindle version of it on the 2nd of August, it's only .99 the rest of the time. (Also, you don't need a Kindle to read the Kindle version! Download the Kindle app for your iphone, droid, PC, Ipad, or mac and all reading tablets. Click here !)

So, it wouldn't be right if I didn't plug my own book for the letter "P." A few months ago, I ventured into unknown territory ... and self-published a middle grade book. Here's the synopsis: Twelve-year-old Marshall Thompson's favorite place in the world is Luke's Junk Store. With one more trip in before school begins, he's intent on finding the perfect thing to take with him on his first day back. But his "great find" ends up being a girl -- and a friendship begins that will change him forever. Together, they share a love of puzzles and something else: sickness. With his asthma, and her in cancer recovery, they're linked as kindred spirits. But when a life-changing incident threatens their friendship, Marshall has to learn to pick up the pieces to his broken puzzle of life and put them back together. The Puzzle Master is a story of friendship, love, forgiveness and hope; issues that surround us at the youngest of age. Through Ma

If you don't know about Ereader News Today or Pixel of Ink , then you're missing out on free books. Sure, some are newbie self-published authors (like myself) but there are plenty of very established authors that offer up their book free everyday. Check out these two sites, like them on FB, or sign up to recieve their newsletter, and you'll never be in want for books ... for free. I've already FAR too many books on my ipad ... but they're free! Just a happy reminder, that I'm offering my new book The Puzzle Master for free again this saturday, the 24th of March. Know anyone who would like to read this? Have a middle-grade/YA reader? Friend or family member? Be sure to send them the book. You can do that! Just go to  the page, and send it as a gift. And hey, if you don't want to wait, then buy it today. It's only $.99! The Puzzle Master Also, remember: you don't need a Kindle to read any of these books. You can download it to your ipad, iph

E-publishing on Amazon is like fishing in an ocean: it's huge, overwhelming, and at any moment a huge wave could take you out. Could. Truthfully, for most things in life we  allow or make them happen. Luck helps, and bad things happen, but working -- and making sure we catch our fish (readers) -- requires a lot of ... work, continually. i.e. all the time. I wish I could say that just by putting a book out in Amazonland means I'm through. Hands off, let the bucks come in. But, I know this isn't the case. Things that we value --and want-- require work to achieve them. And this work requires patience. I read this great post over at a super blog called Writer Unboxed . The post goes into detail about the five top things indie (independent) authors need to work on, work with and utilize to get those book sales. It was discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Mostly, the article was eye opening. What does it say? In a sentence: In order to be successful as an in

Okay, here we go. So, you know that extremely worn cliche that says "never say never?" Well I'm going to use that cliche right now. Don't EVER say never because odds are in your favor that you will do the very thing you said you'd never do. For example, over the past eight years, I've told my husband that I will never self-publish. Absolutely never. (Look at my last post to see reasons to why I didn't want to). It just wasn't for me. Okay, now here's where I explain how I'm going back on that promise. I am self-published (e-published) now, and the book is up on Amazon Kindle today! I've about a million feelings going through me right now: I'm completely scared that my work is no good, completely expectant, hoping for cool things to evolve from it, and I'm completely enamored that I can publish a book myself and see it on Amazon just like all the big-wig authors out there. My book is called The Puzzle Master . It's a