Reading Challenge/Vision Board

So on Goodreads.com I entered this reading challenge. The Challenge was to read in the urban fantasy genere, four books by June. Two of them have to be by authors you have not read before. So I started with Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I really liked the first one and flew through it. The second one Dragonfly in Amber is full of political history. I don't like political history much, so I am having a hard time getting through this one. She is a fantastic writer and the research and dedication it must have taken her to put this together is just mind boggling. But I am going to stick with the challenge and get through all four of my books and I predict that it will be well before June.

On a side note I am still working hard on my vision board. Of course my personal goals are coming along better but I don't need to depend on what other people decide. So I keep plugging away, hoping that things will fall into place.

All things are possible with God. So I am forever hopeful.

Till Next time.
Katie

Vision Board

Oh, so I know I was going to have this up much earlier but with swim lessons, soccer practices, spring break...... Well, all you mothers get the picture.

So I had to give this a great deal of thought, its hard when you sit down and try to figure out what you are really striving for, but I managed to narrow it down to the essential things that I want to put on my vision board. I decided to leave the business end off since this not a business related blog.

Personal
1. Tone up
2. Weight loss about 5 lbs before vacation
3. Set more time aside for family

Book
1. Secure a book signing
2. In store availability
3. Professional Review
4. 300 sold as per my contract

So there it is. Now that it is in writing I need to start working toward getting
some of it done. Of course that is not all of it since I own a business that will
play into my time also, but it helps to have it in writing in front of me. I think.

So everyone enjoy this beautiful weather and your families.

Till next time.

Katie

Downward facing dog

Okay, so as I was at yoga/Pilate's fusion today doing the downward facing dog for the millionth time, I began to wonder is this some how representative of what sometimes goes on in peoples lives. Assume the position and then you get a good but kicking. Not that anything has happened lately to make me so cynical, it was just a random thought. But then I thought, maybe I need to make a vision board to make sure that things begin to get done in my life. After all now that I am in my forties I ought to have a handle on what I want right? The key is to prioritize. I need to decide which things are most important and put those things at the top of my vision board. So next week before Easter I am going to come up with a list of things that will appear on my board, I think some business related, some book related, some kid related and some just fun related.

So stayed tuned to the next posting to see what will appear on my board.

Till next time
Katie

the niecest people

I found the nicest guy on Goodreads.com this week. He is also an author Emmett Spain and the name of his book is Old Haunts: A London City Novel. I have not yet gotten his book in order to read it but I am very excited to read it.

On a funny note. For the two followers I have, if you don't know that I have a 5 month old great dane puppy, well I do. He got out the other day and as I was chasing him across the neighborhood I found myself thinking what the ******** was I thinking when I said I wanted a great dane puppy. Don't get me wrong he is really funny but gosh what a lot of work. I must be insane.

Kristi, Tammy. I hope all is well with you my only followers. I hope we get to see each other soon.

Katie

#17

I was googiling myself again tonight and I found that on www.tower.com I am ranked #17 on thier new sales for childrens books.

I want to list all the websites I find myself on but as of today, there are just so many. So if you are interested to look, just google my book title "Bia Gets a New Baby Brother" and they will all come right up.

I am still awaiting the first quarter report to find out how many have sold so far but it gives me hope that they will be good when I find new web sites all the time with me listed. Who would have thought!

Thanks to everyone who continues to purchase. I do so appreciate your support.

Till next time.

Katie

I'm back

It has been a while since I last posted but it is not because things have not been going on. I have been posting, posting, posting all over the internet. Which my marketing manager has told me is important. I am anxiously awaiting the schedule for my virtual book tour and am hopeful that will produce some good sales. I posted on high school face book page and actually got some response from that posting, so things are moving along, but as the publication took a long time, so does the process of getting the marketing working for me. As I have no expericence with it, it does not come as a suprise but I intend on working it as hard as I can and keep my chin up.

Please keep in mind that if you request it through a book store or at the library they are likely to then order it to keep in stock and I would be MOST grateful for that.

With spring coming I am hoping to be able to do some foot work around town to the book stores and market on a face to face level, rather than the mailings I have been doing through the winter.

Enjoy the warmer weather everyone.

Til Next

What made you want to do that

When ever someone finds out that I wrote a book, I always get, "What made you want to do that?" I can't say that it was a conscious decision. I always enjoyed writing. I was fairly good in English while in high school. I enjoyed it certainly but never really considered it a career choice. After high school I went to a non-traditional college and still did very well in English.

Years later after having a child and getting married I started to think about writing again. However, at that time the Internet was not what it is today. You still had to do it by snail mail, send in your SASE and wait. So I did. What I wrote made no great impression and if I did get a response it was never positive. So life happened and the writing was put on the back burner.

Many years later now I found myself unexpectedly pregnant with our third child. So I started writing again in hopes that I could stay home with this one, ha ha. That story is still waiting to be published. (I hope it will be the next one.) Then 11 months later I was unexpectedly pregnant again with our fourth child. (I know what you are thinking, doesn't she know how to prevent that. I really did think I had it under control.) So I started writing again. This story would become Bia Gets a New Baby Brother after many re-writes.

So the writing just sat there because I still didn't know what to do until one day I was on Google and I typed in literary agencies. I happen to find one that was geared toward children writings. So I signed with them and they put it in their data base. In the mean time I could not shop it to anyone else. So for two years it continued to sit and I re-wrote the entire thing.

In passing I was talking to my mother who told me that if I wanted to do it I should pursue it, as "Time is going to pass anyway, you might as well do what you want". So I did. I pursued it. Eventually Strategic Publishing Group contacted me and I worked with them for over a year in order to get it to print.

I really just wanted to do something that I love, that I can leave behind for my children, their children, etc. I like to think that somewhere there are children reading my book and smiling and laughing, that they are enjoying reading it as much as I had hoped.

So, I want to say Thanks Mom. Without her simple insight, that book would probably still be sitting on a disc somewhere just waiting to be read.

Till next time.
Katie