Book Trailers (tm) & Author Web Sites discussion

Here is you chance to post why you enjoy being an author.

This is the first winter holiday season that my novel, Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy has been available to the public.

There is just something special that makes me grin from ear-to-ear, when I know that someone liked my story enough to "gift it" to a friend.

I can remember each Christmas that I received a book as a gift...and I remember with affection, each person who gave me that gift. Those are some of my fondest childhood (and grownup) holiday memories.

I get giddy when I think of "my words" being wrapped carefully, and placed under a tree, with a new reader's name on the gift tag. And on Christmas morning, the welcoming look on the new reader's face, as they eagerly rip open the wrapping to find a book! My book!
Whoo! Hooo! That is just too much fun:]

I love that I have become a "Christmas Gift."

OK, now it is your turn...what makes you giddy about be published?

Dee Marie

I love the feeling I get when I know a story is finished! I also enjoy hearing people tell me that they loved the book(s). I like great reviews. I like getting to know my characters. I like feeling like they're real people that I've known for years. I like the twinkle in my oldest daughter's eyes when she tells someone her mom is a writer.

There are so many things that I love about being a writer.

Christie

Even though my book is not on the best-seller lists, it is so gratifying when people, especially strangers, search me out to express how much they loved it.

Going to work at 4am in your jammies :]

I like that I can work in bed. What other profession allows you to do that, and eat toast while you're doing it?

Dee, like you I love the thought of being a Christmas gift. I was asked to sign a book to a lady who doesn't know she's getting a copy for Christmas and it felt lovely being in on the secret.

I've received books for Christmas all my life... I can't imagine not getting a single one. I think I'd sulk. :o)

It seems we are two side of one coin Gina :]

I love the comradery between authors.

I like, since my novel's been published, that my hubby now considers my writing a second book as a job, and not just as a way of getting out of doing laundry and cooking :]

The best part of being a writer is when a reader, a stranger, contacts you with questions about your novel...and they "get it." They get all the little nuances, all the subtle details.

We are indeed a unique community (authors) in this dog eat dog world; we live in! I too, love the comradery we have with one another, all of us genuinely pleased to see one of our own become a success.

Well said Stuart :]

I agree with you Stuart, We are a unique community.
I love it that we can just let ourselves be free.
This is the only job I know of where we can act any age we wish to and get away with it. (on paper of course lol)I love it that you can go to any authors group and just feel at home. I love it that so many wonderful people are always there for you. I love it that some genius had pity on me and invented the spell checker. (love that spell checker) I love the feeling I had when my six year old grandson picked up my book, and said, "hey mee maw, that's you!. I love it that there is people out there (like you Stuart), who take tragedy and turn it into triumph, and then share it with the world to help others. And the thing I love best about authors is that we can laugh at ourselves, and with each other without feeling as though we are being laughed at. We are truly blessed. I wish everyone a successful new year, and that we all have, hope, peace, and never stop dreaming.
Merry Christmas
Patricia J Smith

http://www.freewebs.com/blessedbeps

http://www.authorsden.com/patriciajsmith

I have set up an authors book room, review page and link page on my site for any author who wishes to be displayed. You can visit my site at
http://www.freewebs.com/blessedbeps and see how it is set up to see if you would like to join the other authors there.

Hi Patricia,

I love it that some genius had pity on me and invented the spell checker.

I love that one too!

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness for creating a page on your site for other authors. It is the camradery of authors that sets the Goodreads community apart.

Happy Holidays,
Dee Marie

Hi Patricia and Dee,

I would like to wish you both and all the authors here on Goodreads a happy and safe Christmas and may 2009 be a sensational year for everyone.

Happiness and success,
Cheers Stuart

PS. I LOVE WHITE SMOKE!

Hi Patricia--I totally agree with your nice, long list of what you "love" about being a writer and the writing community. No one will make the book sale for you, nor do the writing, but in all else, other authors >do< understand. Thanks for saying it so well! And, by your author listing offer, doing what Robert Heinlein urged other authors to do--"Pay it forward!" Tom.

Olivia Goldsmith once told me her greatest moments in writing were like a thousand butterflies fluttering in to a room. I haven't experienced that but what has never ceased to amaze me is:
One starts with a blank page.
One after another, words are added to make sentences.
One sentence added to another makes a paragraph.
One paragraph becomes two, then three, and finally a chapter.
I like short chapters so ALTAR and THRONE has eighty-seven of them.

Bravo Ed :]

I like the way my mother holds my books. She's got one copy tucked up in a gift box and she won't even open it because she wants it to remain perfect. My great uncle smiled so much when he got his copy that I think he almost did himself an injury.

The odd thing is how people who used to wonder why I didn't get a real job have now decided, since the books are out there to buy, that I actually have one.

I love that I can get paid to do what I'm addicted to. I have a "habit" that people pay to feed. *G* My monkey is happy, my mortgage company is happy, and I can wear my fuzzy pink bathrobe with pride as my work uniform. *G*

Being a writer isn't what I "do" so much as it is what I "am." Always have been, even since I was a little kid. I was reading around age four and once I figured out how to write, there was no stopping me.

I think spending a lot of years writing non-fiction only helped me hone my skills now that I'm able to really devote time and energy full-time to my fiction. My "play" writing. *LOL* The fun stuff I've always wanted to write.

Well said Tymber! Oh, and I love your name.

Thanks, Dee. Considering my real name (Lesli) gets skewered all the time, figured might as well continue the tradition. *LOL*

Too funny

Who doesn't get tremendous joy over staring at a piece of paper sometimes for an hour or more, narrowly avoiding an aneurysm while trying to figure out how to phrase a particular sentence "just right"? That plus the groupies, assuming they intend to show up at some point prior to my 90th birthday. Last but not least, I can never get enough hits when searching my own name on Google. Who was the famous philosopher that said - "I come up in Google searches, therefore I am"?




Patches of Grey

Too funny Roy :] Love your google-ism!

Me too! :o)

I agree with Christie!
Except... my eldest is a boy!

I love getting Royalty Checks. Not because of the money (although that is fun too)…but because of the confirmation...that yes…I can make a living as a writer!

The best reason in the whole-wide-world for being a writer...are the readers :]

I just discovered that a group of YA readers have started a new Goodreads’ Group devoted to Sons of Avalon Merlin's Prophecy.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

This is especially meaningful to me, as SOA was not slated to be a YA novel, but is quickly garnering a YA following.

I am misty-eyed at the humbling experience that a reader would enjoy Merlin's story enough to create a group devoted to it.

I LOVE my readers!

Way to go Dee! I cannot think of anyone more deserving of such an honor. Wipe your eyes, and celebrate!

Stuart(CEO Australian based fan club)

You are too funny Stuart :]

WOW we are both CEOs of each other's fan club...how cool is that :]

i like asking what if? Creating new world, characters, and adventures. And i like writing the story, having a finished product and then letting world see it as well. I'm not sure why exactly, but it's fun.

p.S. check out my book website at http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Congratz Dee. Gotta love spontaneous, unsolicited fan appreciation.

Hey Thanks Michael,

Well, you should know...I was one of your first spontaneous, unsolicited fans ;]

Do you Twitter?

Dee wrote: "Hey Thanks Michael,

Do you Twitter?"

No, not yet. I don't have time to breathe much less learn about twittering (though I have heard a great deal about it recently.)

I am being crushed under a deluge of deadlines atm (Avempartha release etc.) I shouldn't even be here now posting to you. I'm supposed to be reading through a last minute printer's proof, but my eyes are hurting so I need a little break. And this is coming on the heels of an exhausting weekend road trip to Charlottesville for a book event. The house looks like a college dorm with pizza boxes and empty soda cans. It's like finals week. But still, I wanted to let you know I was happy to see you honored. I thought that was great.

Now I must drag myself back to my bedroom and finish re-reading Avempartha for the elevendy-hundredth time. Humm. Probably not the best thread to be kvetching in.

Hey Michael, You know that I am overjoyed with your success, and will do anything possible to promote your series :)

Oh, and you act like having your room resemble a college dorm as a bad thing ;]

Wishing you a most wonderful week!
Keep us updated!

Dee wrote: "I like, since my novel's been published, that my hubby now considers my writing a second book as a job, and not just as a way of getting out of doing laundry and cooking :]"

I second that one!! (Not that he's pitching in or anything . . . but at least he's not sneering over my shoulder any more!!

There are a lot of things to love about being a writer. For me it's a way to stay sane with a brain that feels like it's constantly in creative overdrive. I sit down and start typing to find out what happens next. If I couldn't do that I'd have to be a stand up comic. (Some of my friends accuse me of that already.)

Of course to write well you must read widely. This gives me a wealth of topics to discuss with people. (I love people! They're Grrrrrrreat!) There are no strangers, only people whose ear I haven't talked off yet...and those people next door who shall remain nameless. Literally. I'm not speaking to them and they know why; on so many levels. They shall reappear as villains in a future novel.

Being published strokes my already inflated ego and it feels wonderful! It turns out people love to talk to authors, yet another bonus. They have so many clever questions and comments, which in turn can become 'what ifs' for future material. It's all good.

What I love most is knowing that somewhere, someone is reading my words, and while they are reading my words we two are connected in a very real and unique way. I get a rush thinking that something I pulled from deep inside my imagination is now apart of theirs.

I started writing when I was 19 and now at 56 it is the only constant in my life. I write because I love it and hate it...it is who I am, finally! A writer.

I like being an author, when late at night I am reading a book (by another author) and I keep thinking...someone, somewhere in the world is sitting in bed, staying up far too late, reading my book :]

I don't like being an "author." I have to write. I writer in the am. If I write well, my day is gold. If I don't, my day is gray.
Being an author is incidental.

Robert Mykle

I was in a paperback swap-n-shop the other day -- looking for a few more Preston/Child novels -- when a woman approached me. "Are you that writer?" she said. In spite of my 2nd novel's release in November, I looked around to be sure she was speaking to me. It seems a clerk at our Kroger had read my novels, loved them, and passed them on to fellow employees - of which this woman was one. The clerk had also pointed me out on a visit to their store. The woman went on for a few minutes praising my work, and I soaked it all in with a glow. Do I love being a writer . . . yes! Marketing myself? Um . . . not so much. But I left that bookstore feeling on top of the world.

My take on things.
Sharon Cupp Pennington

What a wonderful experience, Sharon. i can imagine how you felt. I was stopped by a woman in a shop who said how much she liked my book, Substitutue Bride. I felt on top of the world for the rest of the day. It really makes one feel that all the hard work of writing a book is worth it. Laurel

I agree, Sharon, Laurel et al,
there's nothing more satisfying than having someone tell you your darn book kept them up all night. This is a big reason why I write, aside from enjoying writing and telling myself stories ... -:)
(I'm leaving out the tough parts here - you know, when the words won't come, or lie dead on the page, or you're trying to think of new ways to promote your book) Where else do you get to play god with a small 'g' - we are director, producer, sound man, props girl and we get to play all the parts. How great is that?

Thank you all for sharing your stories :]

Dee wrote: "Here is you chance to post why you enjoy being an author."

Wow. That's a great question that I've never considered. In my mind, whether I like being an author or not is of no consequence -- because I don't have a choice. I MUST tell the story if there's one inside of me to tell. You could say the untold story is my itch -- and the finished manuscript is my hydrocortizone. LOLOL

I agree. For me being an author is not a choice. It's who I am, for better or worse. If I tried to squelch the creative impulse, I wouldn't be true to myself.

I like being an author because it keeps me sane and confirms that the voices in my head are simply asking for their story to be told and not a form of schizophrenia.

But I agree with the comments about the readers. Without them, I'd still be writing for only myself--though self-indulgent will forever be a word I use to describe my writing. :o)

Cheers. Interesting topic.

J.A. Belfield
Darkness & Light

Your book sounds very imaginative, JA. It seems to be true that a creative writer has a whole lot of people running around in their head while going about their mundane household tasks. I know I do.

http://laurellamperdwriter.weebly.com