Dreamspinner Sale and Some Other Stuff

Did you see?  Everything at Dreamspinner is on sale.  Everything!  25% off!  That’s a good deal.  Until February 19th, this is your chance to pick up any titles you’ve been looking at but haven’t purchased yet.  Lots of good stuff going on there.  Go on and check it out!  I’m proud to be counted among the Dreamspinner authors–I’m in the company of some truly amazing storytellers.  Really, it’s worth a look if you haven’t already.

You know, I still think of myself as primarily a reader first.  And as such, I follow a lot of authors–their blogs, twitter, what have you.  I like to know when my favorite authors are releasing new things.  I like to see how they are coming along with their WIPs.  It’s not an easy thing, writing, and anyone who tells you it is hasn’t done it.  I’m sure that’s not really surprising, it take a lot of work, a lot of imagination.  There is a lot of frustration and heartbreak.  But there are also a lot of rewards.  When even one person tells me “hey, I liked your story” it means the world to me.  Knowing I was able to entertain someone for a few minutes, that they found the story satisfactory, warms my heart.  Thank you to everyone who has read something I’ve written.  And for those of you out there that take a minute to let an author know they you enjoyed their work, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Even if it wasn’t me, I know that authors truly appreciate that.

But I’m going to be bluntly honest here: I also get jealous.  It’s not an emotion I’m proud of, but every once in a while, for a few brief seconds, that jealousy rears it’s ugly head.  As I follow those authors and I see their word counts climb, for a few awful seconds, I wonder why they are accomplishing things that I can’t.  And then I remember that, most often, their situations are different than mine.  Whether it’s that they have more time, or better plot lines, or even just a supportive person at home to push them forward, they have the time and opportunity to get more words on the page.  So after those few seconds of bitter jealousy pass, I’m extraordinarily happy for them.  That they are accomplishing the goals they set out and they are working towards releasing another title that I, and countless others, are going to enjoy reading.  And that is a very good thing.

And I’m reminded that I need to make time to get my words on the page.  I can’t just wait for the opportunity.  Yes, for me, the stars need to align a little bit for me to be able to grow my word count.  But there are things I need to do to nudge those stars along.  I haven’t been doing enough of that lately, but I’m in the process of changing that.  So, there in the side bar is the new word meter for my current WIP.  Because accountablity is one of the stars that I personally need to shove into alignment.

But while I’m doing that, I’m also taking advantage of the Dreamspinner sale! 😀