Linda Nelson

Every time I have gone on a cross-country trip it has been by car. It is not that I am thinking about taking a trip in the near future but if I did have the chance I think I would like to try a different means of travel.

Going by train would be nice, that is, if I wasn’t in a hurry to get somewhere. I have always liked riding on trains. The last time I rode one was almost five years ago when we took the train out of Fitchburg, Ma.

We took it into Boston when we visited the New England Aquarium and Quincy Market. That trip also had a first for me too. I got to ride the subway. It was very different. I didn’t mind it but I wouldn’t want to have to do it every day.

My bus trips have been very short. They were mostly the ones you take on field trips for school or company outings. They weren’t anything spectacular like driving across several states in a site seeing bus.

I have never been on an airplane. Would I if I needed to? I probably would, and I would be kind of nervous too.

But if I was out for a great adventure I think I would love to try a go at a Hot Air Balloon. They are open and airy. Plus I have always been fond of balloons, especially those great big ones you see over head during the summer time.

Our hopes for this summer is to make it out to the coastline – say Hampton Beach or such and Mike is going to show me how to surf cast. It sounds like a lot of fun. I would love to see him catch a big fish, something bigger than a rainbow trout. I’ve caught plenty of those in the past.

Maybe in a year or two I will have the chance to go to the RWA Nationals. That would be fun. I hear they will be in California next year. That means I would have to fly.

We’ll see how things go in the coming year. If I can afford it then it might turn out to be my first real summer vacation in years.

Are you planning a trip this summer? If so, where to? I would love to hear what your summer vacation plans are.

Summers, Vacations, Beaches – Poems by Plath, Teasdale, Cummings, and more (flittingbutterflylauren.wordpress.com)

Do you belong in this day and age as a writer? Do you feel comfortable being an author of the 21st-century?

Over the past five years the face of publishing has changed drastically. Gone are the days where writers wait years to find a publisher who will like their work and see to it that it makes it into print.

We have entered into the age of instant gratification. In this day and age we want it and we want it now. Long gone are the days of having to search a street for a payphone to make a needed call. Almost everyone has cellphones.

Then there is the internet. In the beginning it was all dial up. At first it seemed instant but as time went on we learned that there were faster methods out there for us to use. That gave way to the birth of DSL and broadband.

Social Media began to develop next. We began to reconnect with friends we hadn’t heard from in ages. My Space was one of the first, quickly followed by Face Book and Twitter.

How has all this affected publishing in the 21^st century?

Our Instant Gratification has led to an army of self-publishing authors who are taking the writing world by storm. They are like the zombie armies in the movie World War Z and they can climb over giant walls to get their books published and out there for their readers to find.

Being an author in the 21^st century means you need to learn how to do it all. You need to learn to be your own marketer, your own publishing house and your own cheerleader. You have to be bold and persevere.

You need to learn that even though we are in a time period of instant gratification you need to learn to wait. Selling books to readers who do not know you exist does not happen overnight it takes time.

So if your book sales are not where you think they should be then do something about it, but make sure it is the proper thing to do.

You ask, what should that proper thing be? Well – just write another book and after that write another and then another and so on, eventually they will find you.

How are you surviving as a writer in the 21^st century? I would love to hear about your trials and travails.