This is heady stuff, owning a website, and officially feeling like an author! Several thoughts flit through my always-creative brain: what’s next, how do I successfully market It’s a God Thing!, do those who have already read it like it?, how do I publish the nonfiction one under the title Job Loss–What’s Next?, how can I justify spending more on my writing hobby?, and how do I finish the other two books I’ve started?
I’m hoping many of the “how to’s” get answered next week at the Space Coast Writer’s Conference. I’ve never done anything like this before…there are lots of firsts coming my way right now. Heady stuff. I’ll be attending sessions like “Book Promotion”, “Using Media”, “Editing and Selling your Nonfiction Book”, “Freelancing”, “Digital vs. Self-publishing:, and “Crafting Fiction and Memoirs.”
It’s a wide potpourri of stuff, but then, I have lots to learn. Just as lots of prayer went into It’s a God Thing!, I’m sure some direction will send me into a path that’s productive. On a positive note, the local libraries have purchased copies, I’ve ordered another twenty copies, and I have a brochure ready to send out to local groups and churches offering to lead book discussion groups. That’s enough progress for one day, perhaps, and at least
I’ve figured out how to post my first blog.
A career teacher, with forty years of teaching language arts/English, Betty Jackson enjoys wordsmithing, writing, and reading as a vocation and avocation.Retirement is her "age of frosting," a chance to pursue postponed hobbies with gusto. She especially sends kudos to the Space Coast Writers Guild members for their encouragement and advice. Her five books, It's a God Thing!, Job Loss: What's Next? A Step by Step Action Plan, and Bless You Bouquets: A Memoir, And God Chose Joseph: A Christmas Story, and Rocking Chair Porch: Summers at Grandma's are available at Amazon.com. Ms. Jackson is available to speak to local groups and to offer her books at discount for fundraising purposes at her discretion. She and her husband soon celebrate their 47th anniversary, and have lived in New York, New Jersey, Iowa, and now the paradise of Palm Bay, Florida. Their two grown children and daughter-in-love, all orchestra musicians, and our beautiful granddaughters Kaley and Emily live nearby. Hobbies, and probably future topics on her blog: gardening, symphonic music (especially supporting the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra as a volunteer and proud parent of a violinist, a cellist, and an oboist), singing, book clubs, and co-teaching a weekly small-group Bible study for seniors. She volunteers and substitute teaches at Covenant Christian School, and serves as a board member of the Best Yet Set senior group at church. Foundationally, she daily enjoys God's divine appointments called Godincidences, which show God's providence and loving kindness.