We CAN! promote our books

R. J. Larson's journey to publication

Greetings from fall-draped Colorado. Davalynn Spencer here, visiting with author R. J. Larson whose second book of her Books of the Infinite series hits stores in November.

Rarely is publishing success an overnight venture, R. J. How did you get into writing?

My personal road to publication was actually a long twenty-years-plus hike through the publishing field. I’ve been a book fanatic since my parents first placed books within my reach. But writing…well, writing books never occurred to me until my sister-in-law, Kathi Macias, became an editor/writer and inspired me to write. I cut my author-teeth, so to speak, on writing devotionals for anthologies and I wrote several historical manuscripts while my children were young, but the third manuscript, Biblical fiction, was the first to sell.

An Author's Time ~ Social Networking

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. This past year, I've tried to evaluate the moments in a writer's life. The next two months, I'd like to break this down even further and consider how we spend our promotional time. This month, I want to narrow in on social networking.

An Author's Time ~ Reader Time

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

This past year, I've tried to evaluate the moments in a writer's life. The next three months, I'd like to break this down even further and consider how we spend our promotional time. This month, I want to narrow in on readers, specifically. 

An Author's Time ~ People Time

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

This month, I want to consider the importance of spending time with other people--or more specifically, other writers.

An Author's Time ~ Learning Time

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

This month I'd like to share about the importance of devoting some of an author's time to learning--learning about the business of publishing and the continued learning of the craft.

An Author's Time ~ Free Time

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

Last month, I wrote about the importance of making time for family, but today I want to concentrate on your free time or "me-time." I'm sure most of you are like me, and you're scratching your head and saying "Me-time? What's that?"

An Author's Time ~ Family

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

We all know how important family time is--sharing our lives with the ones we love, especially when we have children at home. With three daughters, family time is precious to my husband and I. But as a writer, I sometimes wish for more "me time" or "writing time." The big question becomes, how can we split our time usefully, without feeling as though we are neglecting one or the other. 

An Author's Time ~ Mealtime

   Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

Today, I'd like to visit with you about mealtime. I don't know about you, but when I'm in the middle of a writing session, the last thing I want to think about is what I'm going to make for dinner. Dinner out is not an option, and we can only eat so many DiGourno pizzas in a month before my husband starts grumbling. So, what can we do to make this easier on everyone involved?

An Author's Time ~ Exercise

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

Today I'd like to concentrate on making time for exercise. We all know how important exercise is in a person's life--especially for those who lead sedentary lives like a writer. If we don't exercise, our bodies tend to fall apart! We gain weight, our muscles deteriorate, and our joints become stiff and creaky. 

So, if exercise is so good for us, why is the first thing to go when we're crunched for time? (At least, it seems that way for me.)

An Author's Time ~ Time to Work

Greetings from contemporary fiction author, Deborah Vogts. 

If you're reading this, chances are you are part of the writing profession, and you understand how this activity fills nearly every nook and cranny of your life in one way or another. Because of this, it's easy for our lives to become lopsided, neglecting one or more ingredients that will make them richer, and will actually enhance our ability to "write" more effectively.

Today I'd like to concentrate on an Author's Work Time. Seems simple, right? An author writes. But like every aspect of time, there are many things that try to get in the way. Let's go over a few of them now: