Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Thanking the Resurrected Insecure Reader Support Group Wednesday


Dear reader,

This is my time to say thank you to the many people who have taken the time to read my words. I appreciate you because you invested time in me. Without you, I would still think I had no voice. I would still feel invisible. In many ways, my life is greatly improved for having and keeping this blog.I feel like I am now part of an amazing community of the most intelligent and diverse minds in the world. Even if we disagreed either politically or ideologically, the intelligent discourses that we have engaged upon either on your blogs or through mine has been an entertaining experience, and I look forward to many more in 2013. I am thankful to you, dear reader, for everything that you do.

"The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude." Friedrich Nietzsche

This blog fest is the brain child of Tara and Vicki. You can visit their blogs by clicking on their names in the previous sentence. :)

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Now onto my second blogfest which also happens on a Wednesday. Many of you are familiar with it, as Alex Cavanaugh came up with it and truthfully, I think it's the most brilliant blog fest ever for three reasons. 1) Simplicity. 2) It re-occurs. 3) It's helpful. Alex, my man, you are a genius.
My insecurity comes about mostly this week because I'm wondering when exactly to start a blog tour for my next book. Deron with Double Dragon Publishing gave me my cover art this week. I wasn't expecting it. And truthfully, I don't think he really was expecting to tackle it. Deron is kind of random. He focuses 100% on getting the book to where it can be bought online. That's where his responsibility ends. And, he has tons of projects to do, because as you all know, everyone is writing (this is a good thing in my opinion because writing encourages critical thinking). Literally, DDP has posted on their website that they will probably not get to new submissions until 2014. I said to him, "I have no problem in waiting my turn. Do not give me any special favors." He responded by saying he'd probably get to it in the spring.

Something obviously happened between then and now, because he just got excited about it and is going to publish it this week. I haven't even had time to think about sending out review copies. But none of that matters anyway because the only people that are going to read it are people who have read the first book. No one I know dives into a series in the second book. No one.

Anyway, with regard to publishing Oculus, it hasn't quite happened yet because there were "issues" with the equation editor that I use in Microsoft Word (yes, my book has math in it). However, before you, dear reader, let out a groan...Donna Hole (beta reader extraordinaire) had me remove all the calculus. She said in pretty blunt words "THIS HAS GOT TO GO." And I said, "Yes ma'am." No calculus at all remains. It is simply one square root equation and one polynomial that Jordan explains fully in the narrative. It's easy stuff that we all learn in fifth grade.

Now, my insecurity isn't that I won't have support from bloggers for a tour. It's that I can't make a decision. THIS is one of the things that really does paralyze me. I AGONIZE over decisions. I've been living in an apartment for four years because I can't decide on where I want to live, or what kind of house I want. Seriously. I'm driving an old car because I can't decide if I want a new one or not. I sometimes can't decide whether or not I should go to a doctor. Right now, I can't decide whether I want my blog tour to start in December or January.

Now, I AM going to have some help from a professional marketer/publicist. I've been communicating with her and really like the fact that she'll be helping my scatterbrained mind to stay organized. I may seem organized on this blog, but if you knew me in real life, you'd know how scatterbrained and "not together" I really am.

I may decide to do some in December and some in January and skip over the dead space between Christmas and New Years. But no matter what, I have a decision to make.

If you would like to see my cover art, you can find it on the tab OCULUS BLOG TOUR above or just click on those caps. If any of you are reading this and would like a free blog post (sometimes we could all use one of these), I'd appreciate a cover reveal on your blog whenever you'd like. The book isn't commercially available yet, but I expect it to be on Friday. You can find the blurb HERE under the words "Short Synopsis." I myself am doing a cover reveal tomorrow just because it's Thursday and it's the first day this week that I don't have anything scheduled.

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This is the last blog fest I'm participating in that also falls on today. It is the brain child of Mina Lobo, a fantastic and supportive author from the blog "Some Dark Romantic." Please go visit her and check out some of the blog fest entries if you have the time.

I wrote a post in the first year that I started blogging. It's about exclamation points, and you can find it HERE. It still gets quite a few views but not any new comments. I promise, it's really funny if you go and take a look.

Whew...I think I survived "Thanking the Resurrected Insecure Reader Support Group Wednesday".

45 comments:

  1. This is a multi-layer post! I know what you mean about not being able to make a decision. I frequently have that problem myself!

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  2. I'd be happy to help out during your tour, Michael. I'll e-mail you about the cover reveal. I'm pretty scattered brained too and it's gotten worse since having kids that pull me in all directions. Anyway, congratulations on getting Oculus finished and out there! And LOL at your !!!!!!! post.

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  3. Wow, that was quick. And just in time for Christmas! Looking forward to seeing the cover of this one. Last one was amazing.

    mood
    Moody Writing

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  4. Do both! One week in December (wouldn't recommend December 10-12 though) and then another in January. Easy!
    And I like to keep things simple. That's how I stay on top of everything.

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  5. I know what you mean about decisions. I think I worry too much. That's exciting that you got your Book 2 dates early. Congratulations!

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  6. Congrats on the early release for Book 2! I remember reading that resurrection post on exclamation marks!!!

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  7. Congrats on your success! I agree about thoses pesty decisions. You are lucky to have help :)

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  8. LOVE the cover! I really enjoy the oranges and reds and how it goes so well with slipstream.
    Internet hugs and high fives!
    (i'm in a great mood today. The MN elections went my way)

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  9. Love the new cover, BUT after seeing some of YOUR art on Pintrest - WOW, I am blown away, and wonder why you need anyone else to design covers for you.

    Decisions, decisions, decisions...I know what you mean.

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  10. That sounds kind of stressful to have things moved up so quick. Ack! But it must be for a good reason. Must be you've got eager readers wanting the next in the series. :))

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  11. Awesome cover and it compliments Slipstream so well. Congrats on the early release - even though it put you in stress mode. :)

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  12. I'm suddenly worried that all that time I spent in my 5th grade math class staring at the fan in the overhead project and not on what was actually being project may come back to bite me somewhere sensitive...

    Still looking forward to Oculus.

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  13. Re: decisions. At least you made the decision to use a publicist. That's a move in the right direction. And oh... you had me at one polynomial.

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  14. Writing calculus into your book... that was brave! I kind of want to see that. heh
    Except I haven't done calc in a while, and I'm not sure what I remember.

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  15. @Keltner: Good to know someone else struggles with the same thing LOL. Thanks for stopping by.

    @Elise: Anytime you want to throw it up is fine by me, Elise. It's not like it's a big secret. And for the record, I'm terrible at keeping secrets which is why I just put it up on buttons anyway. I also added your name to my list that I'm keeping on the above tab. Definitely would want to guest blog on one of most FAVORITE peeps' sites. May the insects in your life always be healthy.

    @Moody: Thank you Moody.

    @Alex: That's a good idea. I think I may do that.

    @Brinda: Thank you dearie :)

    @P.T.: I know. I got signed up for them and then realized they all converged on the same day.

    @C.M. Brown: LOL that was back in my more "I'll try to be funny" days.

    @Siv: Oh thank you.

    @Sarah: I'm so happy too. Loved election night. Things went as good for the democrats as I could have possibly hoped.

    @Faraway: Thank you so much for the compliment. But I feel my art is just not good enough for covers. It's too cartoony. And feel free to pin away at any art you like. I don't care if people use my images. I'll find it flattering.

    @LG Smith: It is a little stressful, especially now that I have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and possible C.E.S. in Las Vegas to plan all in the same time period.

    @Laura: The cover took some time to grow on me, but I do like them side by side. IT's clear they are the same series. Tomorrow in my "not so surprising" cover reveal I'll talk about the elements of the book.

    @M.J.: The math in the book is very basic.

    @Em-Musing: I think going with a professional to help me is a great decision. I was just feeling overwhelmed.

    @Andrew: LOL it was a scene in which Jordan makes his team captain look stupid. I was going for the whole "show don't tell" thing but all the calc just made reader's eyes glaze over.

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  16. Michael,
    I'll put up your cover reveal on my blog. Probably tomorrow b/c I have a blog tour starting next week.

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  17. Okay, the post is written and scheduled to go up on my blog tomorrow morning. Just thought you'd like to know.

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  18. Thank you for joining in the blophop, and what a good quote you chose to accompany it. I wish you luck organising your blog tour!

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  19. @Susan: Thanks so much!

    @VikLit: I appreciate your support :)

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  20. You must be a Libra; we're terrible at making decisions because we take so long weighing the pros and cons.

    Are you going to share the cover?

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  21. Lotsa stuff to comment on. I like the similarities between the first cover and this one. Gimme green though.

    I'm terrible with decision-making too. Have to weigh everything, so it takes me ages to make up my mind. Not to worry. It'll all get done.

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  22. WONDERFUL cover! And what an affirmation of your writing that your publisher is moving ahead so very quickly with your second book. As for your blog tour -- I'm terrible at marketing and any such stuff so I won't even pretend to advise you. Besides, if you've got a pro to advise you on this issue then go with whatever she says.

    How exciting for you! Congratulations. And of course I'll be buying your newest novel.

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  23. i must promote math inclusive book!!
    love the new cover!!!

    now, take your time and a deep breath. launch it here & there over some time, tease us!

    and thanks for giving thanks with us!

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  24. I love the cover. I bet that guy does have a long waiting list.

    You can write a post anytime on my blog.

    And thank you for being here too. The comment you left today did make a difference to me.

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  25. Catchy title. LOl I have a feeling we'll all be doing a lot of doubling and tripling up on posts.

    Count me in on helping you get the word out on the new book. I'd planned to take most of December off, but am making exceptions. :)

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  26. Gosh. Things are moving fast for you! Stunning cover. I will put a cover reveal post together for Friday, with a link to your blog for latest publication details.

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  27. Forgot to say, put me down for the blog tour. Any Friday except Christmas week.

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  28. For one birthday, I told my family all I really wanted was to not have to decide what to do for it. Sometimes it's so much easier to find someone else to make the decisions.

    Blog tour? Why don't you just get it going as soon as you can? Might as well. And if you want a Wednesday over at my blog...although, I don't get much in the way of traffic, so it might be counterproductive.

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  29. LOVED the Oculus cover art! Really cool, Michael. And you're such a fabulous presence in this community. Truly! I always love your thoughts and different voice you bring.

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  30. LOL. Great post title--there's so much going on in the blogosphere these days.

    I love your new cover; I noticed in the sidebar as I was scrolling down. Interesting about the mathematics--it's cool when authors convey information through means other than words.

    And your post about exclamation points was hilarious.

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  31. Thank you for writing good blog posts.
    Right now I am reading your book and have come to a point where I do not have to go back and read to remember where I had left off. It takes a long time for me to finish any book( since five years ago).
    Your blogs and blogs by other writers makes it easy for me to read.

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  32. The new cover looks great! If you need a tour stop I would gladly lend you my blog!
    I have to say I'm glad the Calc didn't make it in!

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  33. omg Sometimes I hate blogger. I had a great comment which just vanished because of the way the login is set up in the comments- urgh.

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  34. Michael, I second Alex's suggestion. If you're publishing this week or next week, I'll probably be able to read it sometime next month. Hooray!

    I'm considering doing another author feature series, and I need fresh meat so...*ahem* Sign me up if you want a blog tour.

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  35. That was a lot of blog hops to take in all at once! Kudos to you for tackling them all with style. I hopped over as part of IWSG, but enjoyed all three parts. As for your insecurity issue this month, I must say, decisiveness doesn't come easy for everyone. However, compromise can if you work at it. I think starting in December, taking a holiday break, then continuing in January would work just fine, too. Good luck, the cover alone has intrigued me enough to look for your first book, and congrats on a major accomplishment!

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  36. That's so exciting about Oculus. I'm looking forward to reading it. If it's cool with you, I'd like to post the cover and blurb on Monday. I need a marketer/publicist of my own; it's so hard to keep everything organized. It's hard enough keeping a novel organized. I can't be expected to keep everything else organized, too! Haha.

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  37. Would love to be able to help you out whenever I can for Oculus. I can do a post next week and if you want to book at the Imaginarium, the door is always open.

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  38. I can't help you with a blog tour spot but I can ask who buys new books in January? Start your tour in late November and December and you might be surprised that people take spots after Christmas. Focus on getting the most dates when people are spending for Christmas.

    BTW, your insecurity of decision making is very similar to mine.

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  39. I'm the opposite in terms of decision making. I don't like it when something is uncertain so I make decisions too quickly - just ask my husband!

    And I'll definitely help reveal your cover. :-)

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  40. Wow -- what a festful post! I'm taking part in the Resurrection one, so trying to hit all the posts on that. (Although I really should join Alex's IWSG, but I'm still a little insecure about it...)

    I like your old post on exclamation points!!!!!

    It's funny -- as a commenter on blogs, I use them to excess, but I very seldom put them in my own blogging posts, and I NEVER do in my written works, even in dialogue.

    Oh -- and awesome cover, too!!!!!

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  41. Your cover up there looks amazing. :)

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  42. Wow, and I thought I was overbooked... I love your thank you note to all your readers. It really means a lot when you start realizing people actualy cares about what you write, so I get it. I think I should write one of those for my blog, too.

    About IWSG, I like your idea of doing a tour in dec and another one in Jan. Both are great months where people are open to buy more books, so go ahead with that plan!

    And your resurrected blog made me laugh. That last image was so funny... Thanks for sharing!

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  43. I think I missed that class in 5th grade 'cause, yeah, that went right over my head. LOL. Glad the calculus is gone. Yech!

    I have yet to read book #1 but I WILL. I WILL.

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  44. You're stopping at my blog on your tour, right? If you don't, I'll be offended. Email me.

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