Must learn self discipline

We've gotten through Christmas, New Years and February is fast approaching and I've done very little in what I told myself I would do. Can't seem to get into the swing. I have however made some small inroads, I have cleared a space on my desk so the dog won't bug me when I try to write. He likes looking out the front window, but any movement on the entire street sets him off, barking to protect me.
So today I am going to send my latest completed work off to Wild Rose, as Ms Penders requested it last fall. I am going to offer it to them before I send it to Wings as they are always accepting of my work. They like sweet fantasy tales. I've read a great deal lately, and find the works I've been reading, mostly fantasy romance, contain much more sex than I am comfortable with. I hate spending money on pages I don't read. I am not a prude, I know sex sells but how many ways can you say the same thing over and over on countless pages? I cannot write sex. And since I now get none, reading about someone else's is an exercise in futility.
I do find it is easier in the contemporary I am now working on. I haven't written a contemp in years. I don't know how my critique partner does it. She turns them out like Jonny be good. She's amazing. That's you Miss Donna.
At first I thought this blog thing was a waste of time, but now I see it's value, not only to the writer but to the reader. I've gone back and read most of the previous posts and find information that is highly usable. This group has the potential to be the best group in our state. And that's saying something as the NY groups are amazing.
Now as if this moment I am going to grab my boot straps and keep my word to myself and do some writing. I hope all of you are far more disclipined than I am. WRITE ON!

Resolutions

We are getting close to the end of the year. The time when folks determine what they could do to improve themselves for the New Year. A fresh start. Some will give up smoking (good plan I did it 50 years ago) some will go on diet, (don't think I need one lost 15 lbs when Bill passed away) some will take on new endeavors (I'm scared, but feel I need to do this.) The fear isn't that I might fail, probably will many times over. What inhibits me is embarrassing Bill or my kids. I have always been a team player and hesitate to initiate action. I love to help but don't like doing things on my own. The only thing I've ever done without others is write. I love it, it is liberating and satisfying. The thing that bothers me about writing is the publicity. Without it your royalties wouldn't buy a happy meal. I know I need to do this and feel fairly certain that many writers would rather just write and let the publicity and promotion take care of itself. Of course that won't happen.
I've made some positive steps in this direction. It won't go into play until after the first of the year, but I've determined to use the services of a PR person, right here in Rochester. Now I would like to propose a package be put together for promotion that each published author could rely on. If anyone has tried and failed with a type of promotion, that has not worked should be put in the packet as well. As a group we should be committed to helping each other. I find most of the younger members are far more savy in this area. I don't know how to put together a face book page or how to use twitter. For that I would ask that any of the members who knows how to do these things create a step by step plan for doing this. It may seem simple to those of you who know how, but do remember brain surgery is easy if you know how. This package will take time to create and I would be happy to serve as a facilitator for this and create the package as long as someone will get the information to me. I will also add what not so brilliant moves I've made. The publishing world is packed with almost successful authors and I feel that it should be the duty of LCRW to provide every method to rise our authors to the top of the pile. We have some brilliant writers and some daring writers who enter the publishing world by writing other types of material such as magazines. Could one of you show me how you did this? This could be another method of publicity. I think pooling our resources would benefit each of us. I would like to understand the complexities of Internet promotion. There have been many books written on the subject and for the most part they are as puzzling as promotion itself. We need a plain and simple plan to get ahead of the pack. Simple as 123, abc. Please chime in and let me know if you feel that this is a good idea or if I'm all wet. Don't worry about telling me I am all wet, I have towels. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year