Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!

Some virtual flowers for everyone. And did you know chocolate is good for you? Everyone enjoy a chocolate egg today!

Life Changes Fast and What to Do or Not Do

Cleo and I and Bruce and Puck

Cleo passed away a little over a year ago and now we have a new dog, Puck, who was not a dog when we got him a little less than a year ago.Life changes fast! Since I'm a writer, my head is spinning from the whole world of publishing changing every moment now. How do I keep up? How do I decide what's next for my books? What would be best to do? Every day I see blog posts about this and apps and other wild stuff for promoting and social networking. What's Tweepi? What's Amazon vine? What's....Aargh! When do I write?

And yet, I love this new world too, and want to KEEP UP! I love my new e-reader! I love the ease of e-books, except for one small problem, reading in the bath tub by candlelight...ah well. Now I have plenty to read. So when do I write?!

After asking myself this question several times and realized the answer is simple: Content is King! Write first and foremost. If I don't have product, I won't have anything to sell. So I'm working to avoid the incredible time suck of the electronic world (although, as I now get e-mail on my phone, it can be hard) and write first!

Readers, are you having the same problem and if so what are you doing about it?

Don't Niche Me Out

Yes the title is ungrammatical, but apt, as is the poster for the next signing of "An Eclectic Collage" next Saturday in Eagle, Idaho.I'm one of the contributors to "An Eclectic Collage" with both an article on exercise and several recipes.The Collage contains, well a collage of writing: short stories, poetry, articles and yes, recipes!

Which brings up the reason for this post. There's been a lot of e-talk about writers needing niches in this new world to succeed. Why? Because a niche becomes a brand which becomes the impetus for traffic to your publications. Of course, that seems to make sense. But I resist it. Why? See above. I'm one of those writers who are the definition of "eclectic." I like to write almost anything (even a little bit of bad poetry from time to time) and while I'm sorta/kinda in the genre (mystery, horror, fantasy) camp, some of my best short stories have been literary.

It feels like a niche would cut off some of my writing arms, to my dismay. Doesn't "niche" mean restricted to a small space? Or does it? Perhaps it just means that I'm a writer obsessed with dead things and bright shiny objects (many long stories, and short ones too, although not so much in my articles and recipes) and that's my niche. Now all I need to do is let readers know, right? Or?

What do you think? Is a niche like a brand or completely different? Is it a good thing...or maybe too constricting ala the writers who are forced to write books in the same series...forever. Or just another tool to get your words to the readers?

And those of you who live close to Eagle, hope to see you Saturday!