Between in Writer's Land

When Night Falls

I’m Between. In a writer’s world that’s the off-center place where you’re shifting from one project to another. It’s also the place where you catch up on Life Stuff, that necessary stuff you’ve let slide while attending to a writing career.

If under a publisher's contract to write, a synopsis whatever still has to be written--and approved. Choices of whatever made. But for now, I'm just dealing with myself and what to do next.

Life Stuff is easy: Pay bills, clean, groceries, recycle, house stuff, friends/family. (Hmm, maybe the latter should be the former. J)

Return to Fairy Cove

Daily Writer Stuff is usually posting on various places, Twitter, Facebook, checking sales, interacting with e-loops (I’m on some great ones, by the way), checking professional group notices, etc.

But Between…. That’s really hard and is not routine. It's highly uncomfortable, because choices must be made for time management. Time Management is perhaps a writer's biggest task.

My Between today concerns Which project next??

Here’s some of my projects:

1.  Need to create a cover for Delilah, an upcoming western romance, revisited. This is a backlist book, rights reverted, and the text formatting is done. I have ideas on that, which is a good start.
2. Ad Work, necessary for sales. Redoing the banner on this blog and reformatting. Not very easy since I did some of the HTML and have long forgotten some tricks. For now, I'm sticking with blogspot.
3. Ad Work2: updating my website, which has had to wait while I worked with other projects. This is truly time-consuming, working with links, etc. I'm reorganizing each romance subgenre, into pods, no small task.
4. Reworking a FB flub up. It was so great and somehow, I followed directions and ended up with--well, something I need to clean.
5. I've gotten material to my Oops reader, a great copyreader, so she's working on that for awhile. Mark that off the list.
6. Which Backlist book to start next, working on her remarks into my text and formatting that for e-publication. Very time consuming, very.

Sleepless in Montana

Then, the big one:

Which new project should I jump into. I spent several hours last night going through my material and options.

Here's a list:

1. Edit a completed Women's Fiction.
2. Finish a short story for one anthology.
3. Begin another short story for another anthology
4. Write the last half of a Viking historical. This would take time because I'd have to get into my research, gods, etc. again.
5. Write another children's short story for that anthology.
6. Complete a psychic romantic suspense, 3/4 done. (These projects get interrupted by what plops on the desk that day.)*

Night Fire Now on Kindle Prime

There's more, but let's revisit that *. Every single day, something pops up and it must be handled. That interruption takes a writer off track from their current work. Sometimes it's difficult to get back into the story.

And worst of all: At some point, when weighing all the uncompleted projects, it's necessary to weigh them. Are they really worthy? That's difficult.

Between is where a writer is unanchored. Sometimes, it's just good to do the small stuff, get that out of the way first. But what do you think?

The Author Biz

Gambler's Lady/Classic Romance

Yesterday was spent on Writer Business, all day. I longed to return to my current hero, truly one of the best I've written. I just love him. But, sigh....

Writing for publication is a business, an industry and sometimes writers have to tear themselves away from their stories to deal with business at hand. We (or someone we pay) deal with copyrights, ISBNs, Royalty Free Stock Photos, technical software, agents, editors, spreadsheets, taxes, etc.

Many writers are now securing their rights. In negotiating publishing contracts, Rights Reversion clauses are so important. Writers are taking those reverted rights straight to e-publishing and gathering new readers in a new medium. Or they may wish to paper/traditional publish. But author rights are their bread and butter, and the stories are frankly part of their individual hearts.

As a long-term professional, I am concerned about the following, and sought permission from Authors Guild for this reprint. Please read carefully:

By Permission, Authors Guild:
 Authors Guild v. HathiTrust. Last month, the Guild moved for summary judgment in its lawsuit against online digital repository HathiTrust, its overseer, the University of Michigan, and four other universities assisting in the unauthorized reproduction of copyright-protected books for the archive. The case was sparked last year when the University of Michigan announced plans to allow students and faculty unlimited downloads of so-called "orphaned" books, out-of-print books whose copyright holders were considered unfindable by the university. The Guild challenged the legality of the university's program (Congress has considered, but never enacted, orphan works legislation), and it quickly found copyright holders for many of the "orphan" titles. The Guild and writers' organizations from Australia, Canada, and Europe, along with several individual writers, came together to sue HathiTrust and the universities.
....

Unfindable. Now there's a word. With a few taps of a keyboard, almost anyone, anything can be found. Unfindable. Hmm.... Who's looking and how hard?

Big term, Orphaned Works. The other day, I was at a favorite Thrift Shop and saw a big box of novels, marked $2.00. That was for the whole box. They were old, and the authors could have died, but their heirs might be alive and needing income. What if those books were declared Orphaned Works? Don't cut out the heirs.

Keep in mind that writers for publication want to earn a paycheck. They can't do that if their work is given for free. Or pirated.

Remember Gambler's Lady, the Romance Classic at the top of this post? It was my second book Ever. And now it is re-covered and epublished by me, one Cait London. I can do that, because Berkley reverted the rights to my real name.

(You can read more about Gambler's Lady here.)

On that Note: Authors, it is critical to assign an executor for your Intellectual Rights.

Something to think about, huh?

Classic Category Returns!

Now on Sale: Gambler's Lady at .99 for a limited time.
Kindle
Smashwords
Nook

Gambler's Lady is now in epub, listed at the above. I labeled the story as a classic, because it's my SECOND ever book.

You'll notice by the original covers, seen below, that the author's name is Cait Logan. Well, now in epub, Cait London serves better.

The original cover is pretty dashing, listed below and probably a better representation of Nick and Kim's love story.  Originally a SCAL (Berkley's great Second Chance at Love) it was edited by Joan Marlow (Golan). I'll always be grateful for her help and guidance.

Who knew?! I just wanted my name on one book cover and this led to an entire career!

But Wait! Gambler's Lady was reprinted in Berkley's Charter Line.

I led the Charter line with Tame the Fury, a western historical, and a great cover, too. Not yet re-released.

As for the story, it's basic romance and that's why I labeled it "Classic".  Nick is pure "Alpha" hero, which means he's not exactly sharing his "feminine side".

Then: Gambler's Lady is not erotica and sometimes shorter books can get tossed into the same bin. Secondly, it's a pretty standard story without suspense that is usual for my books.

Thirdly: It's just a sturdy good romance.

Here's the blurb:
Tough casino owner Nick Santos has a big problem: his ex-wife, an unfit mother, is lurking, wanting custody of their daughter. The minute he sees Kim Reynolds, who's seeking work to fund her fitness business, Nick knows what he wants, a temporary wife. But he isn't Kim's idea of a gentleman and she's not buying. When she takes this gambler's wager, Kim finds herself married and in love with his 4-year old daughter. This hands-off arrangement isn't working, because Nick's hunger for Kim is raging, and hers is returning the favor, and he's set on a real marriage...


I hope you enjoy Gambler's Lady and more of my Classics, selling well now, i.e.: Midnight Rider and Rugged Glory. I was just thrilled when a reader said that she searched for my books in used book stores and now could read the story all over again on her e-reader. How sweet!


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