Well, after completing The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet, I needed a break. If you've read the book, you know why finishing the Half Shell Series exhausted me. So I've been visiting my favorite actress, my daughter Shelby, and recharging my batter before I go back to work to finish Broken Crown, the first book in the Sand & Fog Series. But while I was away at the Shakespeare Festival, my dear friend, Olivia Howe, that naughty girl, she released a book. So in the spirit of authors helping authors~~a concept I fully support~~I'm giving a shout out to her. Congratulations doll!

Yesterday my 12th book went live, The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet. It coincided with me entering my 15th month as an Indie. So here's what I've learned: I've gotten very good at clipping coupons to save money and there are people in the world who think it's perfectly acceptable to pirate the book of an Indie Author. Don't get me wrong. I love being an Indie Author. I'm not whining about the cost and the return. I'm pleased with where I am today thanks to my wonderful readers. But I am not Bill Gates here. When you pirate me, I feel it. You make it harder for me to release my next book.

Every time I release a book, I go into my pocket to get it out there. Author economics is like the IRS. We all work 4-5 to pay our taxes before we get to keep any money we earn. Well, my books sell 3-4 months until I've covered the cost of releasing a book and I get to keep some of the money I've earned. That is the cold hard truth of the economics of my Indie World.

So, why am I bringing it up?  I had an interesting series of direct messages on my Facebook page--on my freaking birthday, no less--from a girl whose picture I recognized as someone on the boards where book pirates meet and exchange pirated copies of books. What surprised me about the conversation, is not only her nerve, but that she is totally clueless that her behavior harms me and basically she is stealing my work every time she downloads a pirated version.

I'm posting the conversation. Maybe someone will read it, and realized, there is a person on the other end of the pirate world they are hurting every time they do an illegal download. The people they hurt in my world are my children and my grandson.

As ever I wish you Peace.

Well, I've learned a lot, darlings. But I've learned it from you.

First thing I've learned: Readers are amazing people. How kind they are. How much they invest in your work, and the worlds and characters you create. I missed my release date for The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet. I hit release yesterday 12 days late. I value the relationship that's grown with so many of you. I felt terrible not doing what I said I would do. And quite simply: you were all wonderful. So thank you, for making my difficult time, easier and less stressful--as Amazon makes it more stressful, not making my book live and making me wait for buy links.

Second thing I've learned:  Authors are wonderful people. I was buried yesterday formatting my book and uploading. I was offline most of the day and all through the hours buzz, buzz, buzz from my iPhone. People taking their time on a Sunday, retweeting me, sharing my FB posts, keeping my little book business going while I spent time building my next book. Authors are supportive people. Knowing so many others has enriched my life.

Third Thing I've learned: There is still the kindness of strangers in this too impersonal world we live in. People I don't  know in the breathing world--FB, Twitter, TSU--have sent me an enormous number of emails, direct messages and naughty dude pictures for my Birthday(Thank you for those. Got granny awake today) There is a line in A Streetcar Named Desire. "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." Now I know I'm not taking it the way Tennessee Williams meant it. But it's a pretty darn good sentiment. I think it would be better if we all believed in the kindness of strangers again. I do. So many of you have been so wonderful to me, I do believe in the kindness of strangers. Funny that I should find that in Indie Author land and tentatively stepping into the digital social world. So on this day that makes my 29th year...again, again. well you get the idea...

My heart is touched. My life is overfilled with kindness from others today. And as ever I wish you all Peace.

The opening lines of a Tale of Two Cities sort of fits my mood these days. Not really. My little troubles don't compare to those of the French Revolution. It only feels that way. However, things are slowly starting to return to normal on the mountain. My husband is getting a little better each day and I'm back to writing. In fact, I wrote the last chapter of The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet yesterday and sent it off to editing. It would be nice if I could click my heels three times and have the edits done so I could hit release, but that is not how it works, darlings. And my editor is a terrific  gal. I produce a lot, she has other clients, and somehow manages to always get my work through the process in a reasonable time frame. But I am in that zone--missed my editing window--so we are editing and finalizing the book when she can. I'm grateful for that and I think you're going to love the end of Alan, Chrissie and Neil's story. Well, I hope so. I don't do happily ever after Hallmark the way everyone else does. I do happily ever after a la Susan.

So in the midst of what has been a trying few weeks, I got great news. That's how life works in my world. Chrissie's too. See the parallel.  Crummy and happy overlapping. My little Chrissie, The Girl on the Half Shell,  has advanced into the Semi-Finals of the 2015 Best of Kindle Awards. That's pretty cool, huh? And even better I made it into the next round with a friend. The marvelous Barbara Devlin. See even in the dark moments of life magic can still happen. Never give up. Things get better on their own if you let them. Life is good if you let it be.

I truly appreciate and am touched by all the kinds notes, messages and emails I received regarding my post about  my husband and missing my release date for the new book. Thank you all for being so wonderful and hanging in there with me. It makes it doubly scary and doubly exciting to hit release on The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet, because I so don't want to disappoint any of you wonderful people wanting to find out what happens to Chrissie.

As ever I wish you Peace.

Oh, and I still have a 99cents Kindle Countdown going.
::Buy Links::
Book 1: The Girl on the Half Shell>> http://amzn.to/ZqFAnZ
Book 2:The Girl of Tokens & Tears>>http://amzn.to/18CAn1l
Book 3:The Girl of Diamonds & Rust>>http://amzn.to/1QuUIGW
Book 4:The Girl of Comfortable Quiet coming soon!
Add to your TBR: http://bit.ly/1e5ghj1