Goal Achieved!

*Blows dust off blog* Hello! It's been awhile since I've posted. I may have gotten a little distracted with my first self-publishing project. How did it go you ask? Wonderful! The Sergeant is finally loose in the world. It sold like hot cakes (What exactly are hot cakes? Pancakes?) which pushed it to the #1 spot for Amazon Gay & Lesbian Erotica its second day on the market. Woohoo! Six weeks later it's still in the Top Ten. And the reviews have been great as well. I'll spare you my, "You like me! You really like me!" reenactment, and just tell you that I am over the moon happy. I did lots of ugly crying at some of the sweet comments that readers took the time to send me on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you all so much!

In all seriousness, I never expected The Sergeant to get the response it did. I had this book and these characters that I loved, and I hoped that a few people would love them too. I even had a modest little goal. Once I sold 314 copies, I would get a new tattoo to comemmorate it. I figured it would take a few weeks to reach that goal. Well I did reach it ... the same day I released the book. I went to bed with a super big smile on my face. And I'm getting my tattoo in a few weeks.

So I guess the moral of the story is, those cliches are true. If you want something, freaking go for it! You might get everything you want (Like Billy Blanks says) or if you don't reach the moon, you'll still land among the stars (like that poster that every teacher ever has in their classroom says). Publishing a book, creating art, starting a business -  all of it is scary. But just imagine the big grin you'll have once you sell your own 314 copies.

PRETTY BOY - A Love Story

A couple months back I was scrolling through tumblr and came across a little black and white cartoon. It told the story of a meeting between two young men in high school. One, was the pretty boy, the other the high school jock. I won't spoil the story for you in case you decide to read it. But I will say that it was one of the sweetest things I'd ever seen. It was so well done, the scenes, facial expressions, and dialogue perfectly moving the story along in just a few short panels. (I had to think what the proper word was for comics. It is panels, right?) There was a little bit of a trigger in the story for me, but their love story was so sweet I had to have it. And not just as a saved post on my computer. So I actually checked out the source of the tumblr post and saw the artist had a website for their work. When I saw Pretty Boy was available as a booklet I ordered it immediately. The booklet isn't fancy by any means, but I was happy to spend the money and support a fellow writer for a story that I had enjoyed so much.

Actually I see lots of amazing artwork, stories and crafts on tumblr. I'm really in awe that there is so much talent out there in the world. I even posted the other day that I hope some of those artists start selling their stuff on sites like Redbubble, Etsy, etc. I'm sure there are lots of people who would support them by buying their work.

You never know what darling little treasures you'll stumble across on the internet. Thanks OMOCAT for creating Pretty Boy. I love it.

Find OMOCAT's work here: http://www.omocat-blog.com/
PRETTY BOY: http://www.omocat-shop.com/products/pretty-boy-booklet-1

Blowing My Own Horn!

I've mentioned before the problem I had with promoting my first book. Basically I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I printed a bunch of flyers. A bunch. Want to know where most of them are now? In my closet. I didn't have a real plan so I didn't do much with them. I sent my sister some to pass out and to give to a friend of hers who has a sex toys business. I took some to a few novelty sex shops in Houston. And that was it. What a waste of money! I didn't do anything else because I didn't know what else I could do. But I've learned. This time I have a plan. I wrote it down and everything. After spending hours on the internet researching (along with wasting lots of time on tumblr) I came up with lots of things to do to promote The Sergeant. Giveaways, free stories, connecting with other authors, social media. I have plans for all the things. I'm pretty excited about it.

THE PLAN. It's ambitious.

But! I did have one small bit of nervousness to overcome. I was nervous thinking about blowing my own horn because it's not in my nature to do so. So I worried. Worried that people would think my promotional efforts were dumb. Or that no one would pay attention to them, so they wouldn't do me any good. I swear, I spend so much time worrying about the bad things that might happen. It's ridiculous. But there's another but! I smacked myself in the face (figuratively not literally) and gave myself a stern talking to (also figuratively not literally. I don't talk to myself. Much) Self-promotion is part of the job. If I want people to know my book exists, I'm going to have to talk about it. Once I got into that mindset I saw it less as a personal, I hope they like me, sort of thing to more of a here's a product I'd like you to try because I think you'll like it thing. So I'm ready to promote! Will I have the enthusiasm of someone like Colt Cabana right off the bat? No way, that guy is a promotional machine. Check out his podcast and you'll see what I mean. Still, I've got some great ideas and I think they'll really help get word on The Sergeant out there. I know it will be a lot of work but it should also be fun. 

I just want to know one thing before I get started. Can I take all those unused flyers back to Office Depot and get my money back?

I'm Just Like Dean Ambrose

Really. I'm just like Dean Ambrose. Okay really, I'm nothing like Dean Ambrose. But I've chosen to look up to him for my career focus. (Here's where the wrestling geek part of me comes into play)

Who is Dean Ambrose? He's a professional wrestler with the WWE. He was previously known as Jon Moxley and under that ring name he worked some very tough matches on the indy wrestling circuit. Matches that involved being thrown through glass panes, bashed over the head with light bulb tubes, and tossed into barbed wire. He did all of that, wrestling in front of crowds ranging from modest to tiny, sometimes for very little pay, all with the goal of making it to the top of his profession. Right now he's well on his way. He's a featured Superstar with the biggest wrestling company in the world.

Through the Thumbtack Glass

Why do I look up to him? Because I've recently accepted a job teaching here in Houston. But my ultimate goal is to be a full-time erotic romance author. I want to support myself fully from my books. I WANT TO BE A COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. But in order to get what I want, I have to sacrifice, just like Dean did. Except my sacrifice won't be nearly as bloody. All I have to do is work a 9-5 to support my writing habit until I reach my goal. Being a classroom teacher is a worthy profession, one that is necessary in order for our society to continue to grow. But it's not where I want to spend my career years. I want to be able to shut myself in a room and write books all day. I just have to work my version of the indies to reach that dream. I can do it. And when I start to feel low and tired of teaching, I'll just remind myself that if Dean could take light bulb tubes to the head in order to get where he wanted to be, I can certainly put up with grading papers and writing lesson plans.

So as I get underway at my new school I'm determined to do the best job that I can there. And whenever necessary I look at the picture of Dean Ambrose I have posted in my classroom to keep me focused.