Image by Fernando Latorre from Pixabay plus a heart
©AnitaDawes2023
#Control
Damage Control…
Still looking for some magic…
The internet excelled itself today…
What with all the constant buffering…
Then Word, WordPress and Grammarly ganged up on me, and everything I had just spent the entire morning doing simply vanished.
Could this be a ploy to get me to switch to the new WP editor, Gutenberg?
Before I knew what was happening, the sneezing arrived!
Everyone in the family has had this cold and I was hoping it would miss me, but this wasn’t to be. Should have been a golden opportunity to crawl away and die quietly but I just couldn’t do it. It would feel too much like giving in and I can’t remember the last time I did that!
Although I have been dragging my heels for long enough, feeling ill was the very last straw. I decided it was time for the confusion and procrastination to stop, even if my nose dripped all over everything!
The problem began last year when I spent every writing hour trying to finish my detective thriller Silent PayBack. Daydreams and routine went out the window and coaxing them back in again has been difficult, to say the least.
We wanted to try something new this year, something that might make a difference, like having a landing page with either Mailchimp or book promotion with BookFunnel.
I have been re-reading some of those marketing books, looking for helpful hints. Trouble is, most of them contradict each other, leaving me more confused than ever.
But despite all of this, we do have a plan!
(despite the weather, the sneezing and the confusion)
- Our books must be the best we can make them, even if it means spending some money. (you have no idea how hard that was to say!)
- Check all the covers, editing, back matter and blurbs.
- Update promo material and create more
- Possibly switch to Gutenberg editor. (I must be mad to even suggest this)
- Create new book trailers.
- Write more character interviews
- Get more reviews
- Finish both of our WIP’s
And…
Drumroll please
I have a great new idea for my next book!
©JayeMarie 2020
Cruise Control…
Do you, like me, have an uneasy feeling about 2020?
After nearly three weeks of struggling to get going and constantly meeting all kinds of resistance, I am on the verge of deciding to swap the big dream for a series of smaller ones.
I already knew this year would be full of changes, most of which won’t be pleasant. In order to cope with these changes, I must regroup somehow and simplify my writing/blogging and life in general in order to cope with the chaos. Cruise control if you will, so I can somehow manage to survive.
You can’t keep on fighting if you’re getting nowhere, especially in times of stress, so it’s time to find the path of least resistance which in my case, means reverting to baby steps.
I had wondered how long it would take for the old demon to infect my new PC, but it’s back! Endless buffering, broken links, missing images, you name it and it ruins my blogging day. The worst part of it all, is I’m not altogether sure what the problem is.
Apart from ruining my mood, I can soon lose concentration when things refuse to work properly. I mean, what is the point of it all?
I thought that by admitting to myself that I wasn’t coping, this would resolve the problem, but this wasn’t good enough apparently.
The baby elephant in the room is insisting I do something!
There are some problems you can track down and find a reason for and hopefully fix, so I have been busy double checking everything.
I discovered I needed to verify my Microsoft account. This surprised me, for surely, I did all this when I first uploaded the new pc, just a few months ago?
You need a mobile phone to obtain the code, but I don’t have one, so enlisted help from the family. Job done, and pc seems to be working better, so hopefully peace will reign for a while!
As for the situations I can do nothing about, I have decided to alter my attitude towards them and adopt more positivity.
No point arguing or getting upset. Changes will have their way and we will live to see the dust begin to settle again…
©JayeMarie 2020
Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie 