42 Days

It's been 42 days since I published Love's Autograph on Amazon. During those 42 days my writing mind has undergone huge transformation. My writing mind, writer's perspective and faith has transformed.

The number 42 is my favorite number because it was my high school basketball number. I also love that Douglas Adams wrote, "The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42."

What has been so great the last 42 days?

• People were actually buying my book. I only sold less than a hundred of Trail Swap.
• Correlated to people buying books, I was actually making money. More money than I thought possible at this stage of the game. I am not bragging. Believe me, I keep looking at the numbers, rubbing my eyes and looking again. I am not going to be retiring any time soon or quitting my day job, but it is more than pocket change.
• I hired an editor. Yes, finally I have someone to point out all my writing mistakes and help me fix them. Prior to hiring a professional editor, I used a friend who is great at editing but she is busy and the process took a while. I am a big believer that friends and business do not mix.
• I have fans! How do I know this? They left Amazon Reviews and sent me emails and told me so. I think I even acquired somewhat of an email stalker. Yes, I saved every email from my fans.
• Trail Swap and other writing started to sell due to Love's Autograph success.
• I connected with more writers and beta readers.
• I adjusted my book categories.
• I resolved that it is okay to write lesbian romances.
• I learned that romance readers are more generous with their compliments than general fiction readers.
• I have some money to put back into my writing thus I created a separate account for my writing.
• I created a marketing plan and comprehensive book release strategy.
• I am contemplating having a book cover designed for me.
• I wrote a book of short stories that include characters from my latest books.



Beaver's artwork is amazing!

• I had the opportunity to beta read for an author I admire, Jae. Bonus: she instituted changes that I recommended.

As you can see the last 42 days have been pretty big. Love's Autograph has been the catalyst of the this transformation. I have begun to believe that I can be successful as an author and I can make some good money writing fiction.