Publishing – Linda Nelson

Goings On-

No, I did not work on any of my wips this week. I still did do some writing, with my weekly assignment for class. This term is Organizational Behavior and Fundamentals of Taxation. I never knew that doing taxes could be so interesting. I am already compiling a ton of deductions that I may be able to take in the coming year.

Since I was not working on any of my manuscripts, what have I been doing?

InDesign –

I have played around some more with the Adobe software, InDesign. The more I use it and poke around with it, the more I like it. I can see that once I have mastered that program as much as I have mastered Microsoft Office we are going to get along really well.

I am hoping to have my skills up to par by either February or March when I plan to tackle more of my backlist and get them transferred to Ingram Spark. With any luck, maybe I will have a new title to publish by then.

School – Is going well.

I am about to hit another milestone next month. I will be on the last leg of my bachelor degree. October will see me become a senior. Graduation for the Bachelor degree will take place in October 2019, but the official commencement will be May of 2020.

I will then continue to complete a Master’s of Science in Accounting.

Ten years ago, I never thought I would be learning to crunch numbers let alone go back to school. College was nothing more than a long-lost pipe dream that I had given up on, but things changed in 2016 causing me to see that it was possible to go back to school 30 years later.

It has all been hard work, but well worth the effort. I feel so much better about myself. I even have a better understanding of people because of it.

When I first started out with my education, I was pursuing an Integrated Study plan of Business and Social Services with the hopes of becoming an HR Manager someday. But several people pointed out to me that the job market for HR was too competitive, and my education could be a waste of my money. So I decided to change my education track to accounting which will come in handy as a writer. Who knows what might be waiting for me around the corner in the next five years? I certainly never suspected that I would be going to school five years ago.

Keelaa B Publishing

Keelaa B models for the position of company mascot.

I have created my publishing house. I am in the beginning stages and will continue to develop my marketing and business plan. The first step was to secure the company name, which I completed. Next, I will use my publishing house to publish my books, and as I gain more knowledge about using InDesign, I will be able to open my submission door to providing services to others to help them get their titles published with Ingram.

The decision to go ahead with my own publishing company is an inspiring time for me. With only two years left of school, I am looking to get this company up and running by 2021, and I can’t wait!

What a good question.

I don’t think that this would have been a problem four years ago before I started writing. I may have missed the online communities, but I would have gotten over that problem.

My computer has become the center point for all my writing. It’s my tool. I don’t think I would adjust well to switching back to a typewriter. The correction tape is such a thing of the past. I remember using it back when I was in high school, or the eraser pencil from way back then that tore holes into your page if you scrubbed that type to hard. I don’t miss typewriters at all.

Have you ever used one? If you have it shows your age. – he he he

But if you think about it – where would you be without your computer? Or tablet for that matter?

Would you be able to survive?

Five years ago, in southern NH we had a bad ice storm that wiped out power to a good portion of the state. We went without power in our home for 12 days. It was a nightmare. Back then we didn’t even own a woodstove. We quickly rectified that problem.

But not only was our power gone, our phone was gone too. I had to take my cellphone to work just to keep it charged in case of emergencies.

Now we own a generator. (Thank God)

If I didn’t have my computer I would be lost. The internet would be gone. My ability to create those amazing covers of mine would be gone. I would be reduced to using a typewriter and having holes in my manuscript from the eraser pencil. Spell check and grammar check would be gone, and I would be forced to mail – mail my manuscripts to a publishing house. I wouldn’t be able to self publish. Oh No!

Yup – my computer has become the center of my writing life.

What do you think? Do think you could survive in this day and age without your computer or tablet device?

ROW80 Update:

My goal for this month is to reestablish my blogging. I have been to lazy for quite sometime. I need to get back into the habit of posting twice a week.

What I’ve been up to: For the past few weeks I have been busy preparing Along Came Neil to hit the Kindle shelf. That is done.

Now I am going through each of my previously published works with line edits. I think I have seen an improvement. I just finished up the edits on my Teen Contemporary Series. My Orgarlan Series is up for the edits next. Once those are done I will be able to begin the next book in that series. (I can’t wait)

I am dying to get back to my fantasy world. I’ve had enough of the drama in a teen drug crazed world for now. If you’ve ever known an addict you would know what I’m talking about. It does get to you after a while. Fortunately my books are pretty tame to how they really are in the real world.

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