Merry Christmas Wishes to All

I am typing this on Christmas Eve day. If you subscribe to my blog, then you'll see this on Christmas, tomorrow. For all others who won't find it timely, here are a few quotations to help you start your new year:

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability. Zig Ziglar

Everyone can have a luxury life. It's a state of mind. It's not necessarily about having the biggest house. It's about living life to the fullest. Paul Miklas

There’s more to life than increasing its speed and size. Timothy Ferriss

Always…unconditionally…follow your heart. Understand that persistence, hard work, and determination are the keys to success. Barbara Cage, poet

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. Unknown

The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do. William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), politician

It only takes one person to change your life—you. Ruth Casey

Wishing peace, love, happiness, hope, success to all.

Denise Barker

God Bless Newtown, Connecticut

I have no cable, watch/listen to no news online, as it is rarely uplifting. Yet I still hear/read of the truly evil deeds that people commit. May God have mercy on that boy's soul. I'd rather not even pray for salvation for the likes of him, but God gives as we give. So I give mercy now. I hope my heart is in it eventually.

My ongoing prayers are for the family members dealing with such unspeakable, unreasonable, unfathomable loss. I cannot begin to imagine the height, the depth, the width, the permeability of that pain...

The Bible speaks of God saving our tears. There must be a reason why He does, other than the immediate release of endorphins here on Earth. Plus God tells us to speak of our trials, so we are mandated not to hold in emotions. I don't know what God will do with our bottled tears once we get to Heaven, or if He uses them beforehand for whatever purpose; we'll have to wait until then for all the answers.

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Time = Stress

We live in a dimension with time. God doesn't. Once we get to heaven, there is eternity instead.

But while we are in these bodies, earthbound, time kinda rules us. I found this great quote today:

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. Steven Wright

And I had to laugh. If we take "time" out of our equations, doesn't it take away the stress? I know it does for me.

Time equals stress.

If it is 1:20 p.m. and you were supposed to be at work by 1:00 p.m., you may feel stressed.

If it is April 15 nearing midnight, you might be feeling stressed.

If it is your fiftieth birthday coming up on Sunday, you could be feeling stressed.

But if you work for yourself, and can claim any hours of the day (or night) to dive in, then you probably don't mind the delay one bit.

And if you filed your income taxes early, then 04.15 has no effect upon you.

Plus, once you are eternal, you won't be celebrating birthdays that end in zeros.

So take time out of the equation (as in, work for yourself and throw that alarm clock in the trash).

Or let time work for you instead of against you (like saving money monthly starting when you are young instead of waiting until you are sixty).

For me, that means no more trying to be a marketing guru or even just understanding today's particular trends, which change anyway.

No more.

I love my blogging. I love Pinterest. I have done both for a while now. I will continue with it.

And my intended readership will find my books via the passage of enough time. To me, marketing is trying to get there faster. Kudos to you who know how to work that system.

Why am I trying to hurry the process? 

Yes, I will dance in my kitchen when I become a self-sustaining author. But I have (and love) my freelancing projects, which pay my bills. 

So why would I choose to add stress to my day by trying to learn something that is forever changing and for which I am not adapted or have no natural inclination?

I'm surprised I'm just now realizing this. Ha!

So, I'm not gonna try anymore.
 
Marketing is a weak area of mine. I'm letting it go. I'm saving my attentions for those things I love doing and over which I have control: my writing process.

And letting time take over.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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J. D. Robb / Nora Roberts's Productivity

I wanna be like Nora Roberts when I grow up! After reading her latest December newsletter and seeing how she has at least one book coming out each month of 2013 (five are new; the rest are re-releases), I wondered about her productivity.

So, here's my ending calculations:

        1,690 Total pp for 2013 NEW RELEASES 
    582,340 Total WC for 2013 NEW RELEASES
        1,595 Daily WC or ~6.38 pp/day on new stuff

And here are the minute calculation details for anyone interested:

For 2013, Nora Roberts has 5 new books coming out per her December newsletter. Per the Official Nora Roberts Companion (aka bio), her new releases average 7/year.

Since these are new releases and I cannot hold the physical book in my hand yet, I'm estimating the page count per existing paperback books, with the exception of Chasing Fire, which is a hardback copy.

So that is the first place where my computations could err. The second place where I could be off the mark is in assigning "mainstream" or "category" to a certain release. That said, here's the skinny:

NEW: Calculation in Death (02.2013) - compared to Naked in Death (310 pp; avg. 340 WC/pg = 105,400WC)

NEW: The Witness (04.2013) - compared to Chasing Fire (HARDBACK mainstream; 470 pp; avg. 382 WC/pg = 179,540WC)
 
NEW: Thankless in Death (09.2013) - again compared to Naked in Death (310 pp; avg. 340 WC/pg = 105,400WC)

NEW: Mirror, Mirror (10.2013) - presumed to be category romance, compared to Sullivan's Woman (250 pp; avg. 306 WC/pg = 76,500WC)

NEW: Dark Witch (11.2013) - her new trilogy, compared with one of the books from her Keys trilogy, Key of Knowledge (350 pp; avg. 330 WC/pg = 115,500WC)

Total pages scheduled for NEW RELEASES in 2013 = 1690 pp.

 

Which does not compute how much she actually CREATED in 2012 (like for publication in 2012 or later for 2014, much less words deleted through revisions, tightening up her latest drafts).

 

Total WC scheduled for NEW RELEASES in 2013 = 582,340 WC.

 

WOW! MORE than half a million NEW WC released each year (or more if she truly does release 7 NEW books a year).

 

Nora's a workaholic and may work 7 days a week (per Companion). If so:

582,340 / 365 = 1595.452 WC/day or ~6.38 pp/day (if your computer is set up for double-spaced text with a font that yields 250WC/page)

Therefore, Nora churns out ~6.38 pages per day, every day, like clockwork. And her first drafts are pretty clean (per Companion). On a second pass, she spends time adding in action tags and description and then her third pass is spent "beautifying"--inserting her great metaphors/similes, or vice versa (per Companion). And she's done.

 

She's my hero. I wanna be like Nora Roberts when I grow up!

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef

If you want to go back to school (where you have never been before), this book will make you think. Out of the box. Against the norm. Into a new dimension.

Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Chef is a wonderful textbook on many specific subjects and yet life in general. The whole time I'm reading, I'm amazed at how his mind works; I hope by partaking of this book that I am soon able to do the same, to break down the complex to the simple. 

I'm rabid to try his language skills on my particular faves: French and Italian. 

His mind-set on the basic principles shortening our learning time is the primo gold herein. Also, I think he does "obsession" well. Something all of us should look for: our own "obsession."

Don't expect to read through this whole book in one sitting, even if you skip parts. It takes time to absorb this new level of learning. Give yourself this treat.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

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