AWESOME NEWS!!!! I got picked up by a publisher this month! And it happened fast too! My agent (she’s such a blessing) explained that once we submit, it could take up to two weeks to start getting responses so I shouldn’t get worried. All along, she was expecting it go a lot quicker than that. She just didn’t want me to get my hopes up. But her expectations were high. She’s like a pit bull too! J Anyway, we submitted on like the 6th or 7th, I believe and she told me about a calls of interest starting to come in the following Tuesday, on the 12th. A matter of days! In the end, on October 20th, my agreement with Hyperion Books became official. I feel like this is going to be a great partnership. I enjoyed talking to them over the phone. It felt like talking to my agent. When I talk to my agent, I feel like I’m talking to my best friend. So that was a great plus. I liked their initial ideas and they seem to be open in forming a “partnership” rather than a publisher-author relationship. I am quite excited. We’re looking to re-write and put Counting Raindrops back out in September of next year and my next novel in September, 2006.

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I’m still doing dates and I’m actually getting tired of doing so. It’s not the events or the people. Once I get there and I meet the ladies (and the occasional men that come out), I’m good. I mean, I love talking to the ladies about their perspectives on the issues in my book, the story, and their opinions in general. It’s awesome to see how others can draw an entirely new idea or thought out of your story. Something you never thought about or intended. Readers pay grave attention to detail too. Sometimes I get questions about the smallest detail, incident, or thought in the book and I don’t know how to answer because I never saw it. LOL And that’s another thing. When I’m writing, it feels like it’s not actually me writing. Something takes over. Other writers call it the characters. I can agree with that, but it’s also like your soul taking over and writing the story. I can recall reading chapters like a week or so after I wrote it and I’m so engrossed because it feels new to me. Like I’m reading it for the first time. Like somebody else wrote it. Sometimes I’m in awe and think, “Did I write that?” Because I honestly don’t remember coming up with the idea. Sometimes I’m thinking that this is crap and it doesn’t flow, so I nix it and start over. But getting back to my point, readers will ask me about something in the story and I actually don’t remember writing it or the specific details, so I have to ask them what happened or what was said. LOL And I know I look strange and maybe they’re wonder if I actually wrote the story. But that’s okay. Because I can actually answer that question, “Yes I did” and “No I didn’t”.

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I’m hoping to wrap up the touring this month and concentrate on selling the book to a publisher. I already contacted my agent to let her know I’m ready to sell. Self-publishing is a great way to get your book out there, but it’s a lot of work. The only way I see making a living off this is to constantly stay out on the road or get out there and peddle my book on the street EVERYDAY. Since promoting and selling, I’ve had very little time for writing. I’ll have a spurt here and a spurt there. But nothing where I can consistently write and continue on with an idea for hours or days. Funny. While I was working 10 – 13 hours a day, I could get up at 4AM and use my weekends to write. Now that I’m a full-time author, it seems like I have less time to write. I know I can do this if I have to, but I pray to God that he blesses me with a traditional publisher. If I get one, then try it, then discover that it’s worse than self-publishing, well, at least I would have that personal experience to be able to make that judgment call.

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July, 2004
This has been a really busy month travel-wise. I'm having a great time, but at the same time, I'm seeing myself get tired. When fellow author, Alisha Yvonne, and I went to the Rawsistaz Affair in Richmond, I didn't even have the energy to hang out one night. And that is SO unlike me. Not that I'm a party animal, :-) but I enjoy going out while I'm out on the road because that's the only time I get a chance to do so. But I'm starting to feel drained.

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Ever have two different emotions running through you at the same time? Ha! Ha! That's what I'm feeling right now. Wait, not 2 different emotions, but several.

I'm happy that Counting Raindrops is still being well received wherever I go. It is so great to be in the third print run and to actually see people excited about taking a chance and purchasing a first novel from someone they've never read before. And it's a greater feeling when I go out now and people tell me they've heard of it or have seen info or news on it. And they want to get it right away. And want my autograph to boot! That's still something that's hard to believe. That people want my autograph. LOL

I'm excited because the more I sell, the closer I get to realizing my charity drive goal. That has more meaning to me right now than anything. I'm four months in and half-way to my goal and totally thrilled! Knowing that I can do something positive while sharing something I love is like having my cake and eating it too!

Well, but I'm also tired. I'm not going to lie, traveling every weekend, then pounding the pavement daily when I'm home ain't no joke. It's tiring, it's draining. Sometimes, I just don't feel like smiling. But I have to in order to sell the book. I have to be enthusiastic about it because if I'm not, people are less likely to buy. And it's so funny that I left my job because of all the travel. I'm traveling just as much now. But the funny thing is that I love what I'm doing and this nowhere near compares to the stressful travel that I had before. This time, I'm not going through two bottles of Tylenol a month--almost on a daily basis, in the morning with my coffee I would have Tylenol. Sheesh! I work more hours now, but I'm not that stressed to where Tylenol is my meal now.

My days consist of running up my phone bill, tracking down distributors and bookstores to try to get paid for books sold. Then, I'm making travel arrangements, and preparing promotional materials for the next signing. On top of that, there's ALWAYS some unplanned request or event that happens and I need to drop everything to get that done. Whether it's an interview request, a new opportunity to promote and/or sell, etc. Whatever. Something always comes up to throw off the schedule, but I have to stop to do it because it's linked to more book sales. And that's the name of the game right now.

Oh, yeah, then I'm trying to write books! LOL There's a lot to do and I'm tired. But I keep pressing because I know that I'm paying my dues now and it will pay off in the long run. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. You gotta lay a foundation and put in some work to be able to reap benefits in the end. I know this, but doesn't mean I like every part of it! LOL It's rough at times, but hey, I can take it.

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Whew! Other authors told me this was where the real work began and they weren't kidding. I'm so swamped with everything, I don't know if I'll ever get out. Thank God the sale of the book is going extremely well. January 31st kicked off the charity drive and I'm now pumped about raising money for charity, even though it means we may not make a huge profit. I knew this going in, but it's definitely something I wanted to do, especially with this first book. Especially while it's in my power to do so. There was no expectation to make a profit anyway, but we're hoping to break even on our investment. And since the career change, I'm volunteering for a reading program with a Cleveland organization. I want to give time as well as money. I'm looking forward at getting my own non-profit together this year and having reading programs for troubled youth and the incarcerated. I am so looking forward to doing something much more meaningful than engineering...something that will make a difference.

I was happy to have sold out of the prereleases in Januaury and to pre-sell the final release. Orders are coming in and keeping us all busy. But the toughest part by far is getting the book in stores to meet demands. We have definitely created the demand, but stores are slow to respond and stock it. So there's a lot of calling and following up. Stores say they'll stock, then I announce that readers can pick it up at so and so location, then they go there and it's not in stock. And the store says they can order it for arrival in a couple of weeks. Frustrating. But so are the ways of independent publishing.

I'm really pumped right now to do the best I can. Especially since most feedback has been very positive, I feel even more confident about pushing the book. It would be great to be able to donate 5K to each charity. I know it's small compared to the corporations that donate to these two charities, but it will be huge to me and I'm sure to each inner city child that will benefit. And you know, I actually keep that in the forfront of my mind. I think about being a kid in St. Louis. I think about helping out the little kid that I used to be.

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I’m quite anxious to see how things are going to go this year. Somehow, I’ve managed to get the book in four nationally distributed publications, which should be very helpful in getting the word out about my book. Well, one of them is a paid ad, but the other three came about by someone approaching me. Seems like I’ve done a decent job so far in getting the word out on the internet, so I think people are hearing about it from there and contacting me. I am so thankful that these individuals have contacted me and decided to either publish a review, news, or interview. Now all I gotta do is try to get them in stores so that people won’t be frustrated if they want to go out and purchase it.

I’m looking forward to the 4-day workshop at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Studio. I went last year and I think that was the most intensive course on writing that I ever took. Not that I’ve taken a whole lot. I took a course on Writing the First Novel and the instructor went all up, down, in, out, and around all aspects of writing. I’m vowing to take this class every year. Plus, it serves as a mini vacation. And this time around, there’s another added benefit. My agent, Jenoyne, and I are meeting up for lunch while I’m there. This year, I’m taking the workshop on Creating Characters. Should be extremely interesting. I’m already ready to apply it to my second novel!

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Things are going well at the moment. I don’t think I can ask for more, although I wish it wasn’t so tiresome! I actually SOLD OUT of my prereleases. I thought I was going to have a few copies left over when I picked up my final copies the second week of January. However, Counting Raindrops was selected for 2 online book clubs as well as an Atlanta based book club for January. Orders came flooding in and I sold out of the prereleases. It was actually a blessing that I was able to pick my full release copies up early. I started selling them in advance of the publication date to meet the needs of the book clubs. What’s even better is that my book will be the selection for two other book clubs in February. Things are going okay right now. It’s a matter of keeping the interest out there long enough for people to notice and buy.

Like I said, things are great, but tiring. I’m working on getting books to distributors, bookstores and customers. Also, I’m calling individual bookstores to get them to order. I’m planning my book selling tour and making arrangements. Preparing materials and promo items needed for the tour. This, and I’m still finishing up my move! Through all of this though, I have to somehow make noise about the book so that people will know that it’s out there and go check it out. With there being so many self/independent publishers out there, that can be extremely challenging.

Gotta go finalize plans for the St. Louis book launch party and book signing.

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Ahhh! Christmas morning. I got to sleep in until 7:30 AM this morning! LOL So much looking forward to relaxing with my family here in St. Louis today. No matter what, however, the book bug is always on your back. I'm up before everyone else and going over my list of bookstores to contact and my book selling tour.

I got my first taste of selling in the malls yesterday. I didn't get a chance to do this in Cleveland like I wanted, but I went to the malls in St. Louis to try to sell my last 12 books to shoppers. I passed out about 100 postcards, cruised the mall for 6 hours and sold a whopping 3 books! Whew! Okay, this is going to be hard work, I see. I scoped out strategies. First, of course I did the Toilet Campaign. Then I also found that it was better to actually hang out by the bookstore and catch people coming out. They were more receptive than people just randomly walking in the malls. However, I did find that women in the shoes and designer bags areas in department stores were receptive too. So, I'm taking my strategies and doing it again in malls in Cleveland this weekend.

Sales have been great, but I know there are going to be some rough times ahead. Days where I won't sell a single book. Who knows, it could be a week like that coming. But I already know I gotta keep plugging away and don't let myself get discouraged. Everyone has to start somewhere. I'm paying my dues right now.

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Finally got everything in and it seemed like it took forever. Just a lot of little minor corrections to make most of the time. I know that I can be a perfectionist at times. For the most part, I think it's a good thing. Thus far, I've received tons of compliments on the quality of the prerelease. Still, other times, trying to get everything just perfect causes major delays and many headaches. I'm sitting here already thinking about little things that I wish I could change. At this point however, unless it's something major that's going to take away from the reader's enjoyment of the book, I know I need to let it go and just make the change in the second printing. Yes, I'm praying for a second printing.

There's a never ending stream of little things to do, it seems. Getting the book to the printer was a major project. Now, that it's done, it seems to have been replaced with a million and one small items on the to do list. The next major task is working on more distribution, mailing sell sheets and calling bookstores to get them to order. Also, we're putting together the book tour now. If I can pull it off, it'll be great. I'm looking to do more than just sign my book though. I love it when people email me with questions about my process or need help with some part of the publishing process. So, I want to work that into my book tour as well. Provide an opportunity for other writers to ask whatever questions they want about my process. I'm not an expert, but I can definitely relay what I learned. That's what I'm looking forward to the most.

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November, 2003
I re-routed plans to attend a conference in PA so that I could pick up my books in St. Louis. I picked up 2 boxes that I had shipped to a St. Louis Fedex location, opened the box and just stared at it. I held it in my hands and I did imagine that this must be what a new mother and a new father feels. I mean, just like counting fingers and toes, I checked the page count, made sure all the chapters were there, ran my hands over the cover, and just stared at its detail. I propped it up on the console and glanced at it every few seconds or so while driving west on I-70. I was worse than somebody talking on a cell phone or eating barbecue ribs while driving. I was a proud little mommie.

With preorders, Amazon.com sales, and my mother and sister hustling books like crazy, I'm actually running low. I'm actually having to scale back on pushing my baby because I need to make sure I have books for my book party in December, not to mention the stash I need to keep for Amazon.com sales. However, better to sell out, should that happen, than to have 500 books lined up against my walls saying, "What we gon' do nah?" LOL

I'm having fun but I'm also feeling exhausted already. Maybe because I'm trying to complete a move to Cleveland and finalizing the sale of my condo while in the midst of this madness. It'll work out. It always does. I'm truly blessed.

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It's Thanksgiving Day, and instead of going to visit my family in St. Louis, I stayed at the condo in Cincinnati to pack up for the move back to Cleveland next week. Just a sacrifice that has to be made. I took so many days off this year for writing classes, workshops, conferences, and seminars that I have no vacation days left at work. So now, I'm using my holiday in order to pack up. That's cool because it'll be worth it just to be able to leave Cincinnati and go back to Cleveland. I dislike Cincinnati something awful.

My sister relayed to me a message from the Call and Post in Cleveland. That a writer there wants my photo in addition to the press kit we sent. Kim's going to follow up with him Monday and hopefully, this will be an article on my book. We're selling well in St. Louis (dare I say too well) and I need to start getting the word out in Cleveland. This will be a great start.

I'm still so amazed. It's been a little over a year since I first thought about writing my first book. It was last summer and it hit me like a lightening bolt. One day I suddenly realized that the perfect time that I was looking for to write a novel would never come. So one day, I just made a pledge to myself to make writing my first novel my number one priority. To my surprise, or not, I actually did make it number one from that day on. My first conference was a Writer's Conference in Columbus, Ohio in August that kicked off my learning process. Then, I got the self-publishing handbooks, started studying, and everything grew from there. Writing classes, starting the self-publishing company, putting together my plan. . .everything.

All this is so hard to believe.

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I've been meaning to start a daily log to capture all of my experiences during this process, but things have been going so non-stop that I just haven't had a chance. Here I am, 11 months after writing the first sentence; 5 months after completing the first draft; and 1.5 weeks after holding the first book in my hands. The prerelease is in the hands of readers now, who I'm hoping are reading non-stop.

Feedback has been very positive thus far. So positive that I think I may actually be a writer. Not just a writer, but maybe the potential to be a good writer. But still, I know from other authors that I'm going to continually have to study and hone my craft. Which is not a problem for me. I love to learn. I would love to learn to mold and shape my writing style and to be able to offer something different to readers with each book.

Yes! Each book. It's funny. Only a year ago, I thought completing one book of 300 pages was going to be a daunting task. I love to write. Just never wrote that much for one document before. Now, I just finished my first novel and I have SEVERAL novellas and novels lined up for completion. Now, if I could just quit Toyota so I can get this stuff written! LOL

I'm having a great time writing and promoting. The only frustrating thing right now is not having enough time to do everything. And I'm trying to complete a novella while wrapping up the print job for my novel. I'll never do this again because it does take fun and creativity out of it. I wonder if that's what it's going to be like if I publish with a house? Hmmm... Now, I have target dates, of course, but I'm not under somebody else's deadline. I can see where that will make a difference. Trying to force and squeeze something out before a certain date or time and have it represent your best possible work is not going to be easy. That's going to take non-procrastination and time to let the creative juices flow. I can squeeze something out, I'm finding. But it would be better if I wasn't under a time pressure.

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October, 2003

Finished the final edits this month and sent out ARCs. Added to and revised my plans. Now I'm working on getting it typeset and to the printer. But once again, the whole thing is not going to be ready for publication by November without rushing and skimping. Came up with this idea to do pre-releases. I'll prerelease the book with the story only. I'm making a short run of a limited number of copies and will sell them for less than retail.Lots of work. More work than actually writing the novel. I'm loving it though. Love the business side as well as the writing side. I love controlling my own dream.

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September, 2003 Had to get rid of the publicist. Seemed like I was still doing all the work, but just added on paying someone. And then I got a press kit back that looked like a 3rd grader's school project. I was so hurt. Hurt because I shelled out hundreds of dollars. There was no way I could send out that press kit. Plus, my galleys went out 3 weeks later than agreed on and I don't have a reason why. I figured since I'm doing the work anyway, I needed to fire the publicist and just do it all myself. Didn't know how, but I created my own press kit. Imagine how I felt when the first feedback I got was from someone who said, "NOW THAT'S A PRESS KIT!!!" Made everything worthwhile.Pushing the publication date back to November now. With editing/proofreading, then typesetting and proofreading, then going to print, it's not going to be ready by next month.

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August, 2003 Editing process is taking a little longer than I had planned, but I want to get it right. For now, I'm still keeping my target release date of October, but it's going to be close. I'm continually revising and adding to my publishing and marketing/promotion plans. I took a class, Guerilla Promote with Linda Dominique Grosvenor, that has been a Godsend as far as promoting. I've got to be aggressive in getting the word out. I know what to do and I'm trying to work with my new publicist to get it done. Getting started is a little rough, though.It's getting tough to keep up with everything while still trying to work a full time job. I'm behind on keeping the books organized. I've got receipts all over the place. I'm getting printing quotes, fullfilment plans, and everything else. There's a lot to do. I'm tired, but I love it. Just wish I had more time to do it.Back in March, I had decided to put Jamel White in the story. I wanted a football player in there. A Browns player preferrably. My friend Jesse is an agent and has a couple of players, but the only one who's name I could remember was Jamel White. So, Jamel it was! LOL Then from there, I wanted to give back to my community from day 1. If my community supports me, I wanted to have it automatically built in that I would give back to my community. So, I looked for charities to donate to in St. Louis only, at first. Later, I added Cleveland. Being away from St. Louis and not having a lot of time, I had to find organizations by way of internet. So, I considered the Marshall Faulk Foundation, Cedric the Entertainer's Foundation, and Nelly's 4Sho4Kids. Since I had a football theme, I decided on Marshall Faulk's organizatiion and added on Jamel White's Diamond Kids. If I continue to self publish, this is something I want to do with each book I publish.Went to the 1st annual National Book Club Conference in Atlanta. Networked and got the word out about my book to the most important people, book lovers!!!! It was well received. I made pamplets of the first chapter and handed those out. Once again, saw other authors, and they're actually starting to recognize ME now. That's nice! People are getting more and more interested in my book and the way I'm promoting.

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July, 2003

Editing is a *%!@^. Okay, I found that I'm stubborn and I do have a hard head. From the workshops and classes, I have learned noto to be married to my words. Everytime I get corrections and recommendations back from the editor, I find that I'm defensive. So, I now take it, read it, wait a day, then respond. The second day, I usually see that their suggestion is right, clarifies things, or makes the story better. Thank goodness for editors!

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June, 2003 Went to the BEA in Los Angeles. I guess having plants on the west coast did come in handy for something! Now, I had postcards and writing samples. I handed out postcards to introduce my book to other writers, agents, and editors. Ran into Jenoyne again and gave her a postcard. She actually recognized me. Then she told me about her gettiing into agenting and she requested a sample. Well, I just HAPPENED to have the first three chapters handy. So I gave her a set. It's only been 2 - 3 weeks since having up the website and already, people are starting to recognize my cover. Not me...but my cover. LOL That's cool because I'd rather have the cover in the limelight than me.Went to the Rawsistaz Affair this month too. Picked up a publicist and made contacts for reviews. Once again, people are recognizing the cover, which means I'm doing an okay job of getting the word across the internet. Met some other writers. A great deal of them are sooooo helpful. I'm so amazed and overwhelmed.Finished the first draft too! It's pretty much been edited once and now I need to revise. I've adjusted and added to my publishing plan. Also developed a separate marketing/promotion plan.Went to the VONA Master's Workshop with Terry McMillan. It was such an honor. Terry received our writing samples ahead of time. I was lucky enough to be one of the 2 that she used as an example to the class. She pointed out good things, and bad things. This was such an awesome experience. Took pictures, and she read from her current work in progress, The Interruption of Everything. She shared with us her hobby of painting light switch covers and passed out some. This was so funny because I'm so designer-challenged and I just had a hard time with this. Decorating or anything creative in that aspect is a challenge to me. But that was so cool of her to share that part of herself with us. She signed books later. I didn't read what she wrote in my book until after she had gone: "Cheryl, you can write your butt off, but find the voice." At that time, I had the first chapter written from the perspective of a child and the remaining chapters from the perspective of Vanella as an adult and it just wasn't working. So, I worked it out and changed it. So, Terry, I FOUND THE VOICE!!!! :-)

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May, 2003 Okay, I re-adjusted my schedule. Maybe wriiting a 300 page novel in five months was a little unrealistic anyway. Got a lot written this month. Developing the story hasn't been the problem. When I'm writing, it flows. As a matter of fact, subplots have worked their way into the outline (which I've adjusted so many times), and the characters really do take over the story. I used to think that writers were so full of crap when they said that! LOL You know what? It's TRUE.Started my website this month. My target date to publish was October, 2003 so this gives me 5 months to try to get the word out so that when it comes out, people are aware and want to buy it. I emailed a few well known authors announcing myself as a new writer. To my surprise, some of them actually emailed me back with words of encouragement or even offerings for me to keep in touch or ask any questions. Now THAT, I didn't expect. I'm keeping in touch with a few. I staked out one popular writer's booksigning. I wanted to see and take notes of how his signings were done. He was cool. I must have stayed 30 to 45 minutes after everyone left and he answered EVERY question I could think of. Gave me his email address to keep in touch. That was cool.

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April, 2003 Went to the Black Writers on Tour Conference in Los Angeles. Met Jenoyne Adams and Michael Datcher. They are great together and Jenoyne was so poetic when read from Resurrecting Mingus. Brought samples of my work, just in case. Still not much done in the writing the story. I think maybe 5 additional chapters since February and my deadline for completion was next month. I'm not going to be able to make it and I'm going to have to re-adust the schedule.

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March, 2003 Work is kicking my butt and interfering with writing. I got plants on west coast that I'm starting to travel to frequently. It's throwing my schedule off. Didn't write a whole lot this month. In the meantime, I did a lot of reading on the craft of writing.

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February, 2003 Went to the UCLA Extentions Writer's Studio 4-day workshop. What an experience! Our instructor, Leslie Lehr Spirson (66 Laps), took us all up and down, in, out, and around writing the first novel. This is by far the best writing class I've taken and the feedback has been tremendous. I've learned how to end each chapter and begin each chapter to try to keep the reader reading. Hook 'em! I learned to create a hook for my story. I learned about editing and revising my manscript and so much more. I'm going to have to do this on a yearly basis.

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January, 2003 Wrote first sentence to Counting Raindrops through a Stained Glass Window. Got the first five chapters written. This is really flowing. Got my Elements of Style that I'm keeping by my side and it's still hard trying to figure out what's wrong and what's right. I think I'm going to just write and let the editor worry about that. Speaking of, I picked up an editor to work with me chapter by chapter. I set a goal of four months to have the first draft written. I created detailed character profiles and that's helping me to write about them easily.Researched the web and found a designer in New York to do my cover. He did a cover for Lolita Files' Blind Ambitions. I want my cover to represent the settings of St. Louis and Cleveland and I think girls in football jerseys will best represent that. He already did my company logo and we're going through the first drafts of the cover.

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December, 2002 I read Poynter's book and started outlining my self-publishing process. I also outlined my first novel, Counting Raindrops through a Stained Glass Window. That's the title that came to me, for now. First I created a synopsis, then outlined the plot to the story of the main characters. Bought InDesign so I could learn to typeset my own book. I needed to take a break. Went to New York for the first time for New Years.

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November, 2002 I went to Baltimore to attend a Writer's Conference. These conferences are helpful because I'm getting 45 minutes to an hour of introductory information on all aspects of writing and publishing. Between the past 2 conferences, I have been introduced to writing the first novel, what agents look for, choices in publishing, how to attract a traditional publisher, literary law, etc. I read more books on Novel Writing, Dialogue, and Character Development. I found and signed up to take Writing the First Novel at the UCLA Extension Writer's studio in February, 2003. It's a 4-day workshop, 9 - 5 each day. Can't imagine writing that long, no matter how much I love it. This has been the busiest month.

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October, 2002 Research, research, research. I needed to find more conferences and workshops to go to. The information presented was helpful and I need more. I get books on grammar because I need to go over the basics. I sign up and take an Writer's Digest online class--Descriptive Writing. I jotted down sketches of all the stories I could think of. Came up with 9. Then I selected one to start with. I'm official.

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Doing more packing today. Cleaning bookshelves and trying to narrow down 5 bookcases worth of book into 2. That's going to be tough.Since I started talking about the beginning, I thought it'd be interesting to backtrack over the next couple of entries and go over the highlights from each month. I already regret not starting a diary from day one. Although I can remember everything, I miss out on the emotion of the time. August-September, 2002 Made up my mind to drop everything and write my first novel. Can I do it? Don't know. Never written anything as massive as a 300 page document before, EVER. Went to the Writer's Conference in Columbus and sat in on my first seminars. I was informed to get the self-publishing bibles from Ponter and the Ross'. From what I'm learning, this is the route I think I'm going to go. I'd definitely do it all myself though. I know it's harder, but unless I'm with a traditional publisher, I can't see giving up rights to somebody else. I'd rather learn it and do it myself because I'd have better control over everything. Mom always said I was a passively bossy person.

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