Never enough hours

Sometimes I wonder where the day goes. It seems with each passing hour, I become more disorganized. My house is a disaster. The laundry is piled high and the floor needs a good

sweeping, dishes in the sink and the dishwasher's empty. Can anyone tell how to get a

teenager to notice this everyday crap that needs to be done and lend a hand? I've tried

offering to pay a weekly allowance for help. It doesn't phase them. I came home from work

and flipped. Instead of killing them, I sought refuge in my yard. Which is in dire need as well

for a good spring shape up so I spent hours in the yard until it got dark and I couldn't stand up

straight from the planting, weeding and mulching. I walked in expecting to have to cook dinner too but was surprised by an awesome smell. My daughter actually cooked and it was delicious.

I guess she's not completely blind to the household everyday issues.

I took a shower then enjoyed the meal. But guess who got to clean the Kitchen. LOL.

What's the longest you've ever gone without a bath or shower?

3 days spent at the cabin with no running water :)

Ask me anything

Do you plan to continue Sarah & Phillip's relationship beyond Submission Revealed?

Not exactly. Phillip & Sarah make cameo appearances in my current work-in-progress as they help along a couple in distress. :) There also may be a podcast of a short scene between the two of them in the near future!

Ask me anything

will you be writing a follow=up book to "submission revealed" ? I have reaad both of those books and litterally fell in love with them. I really hope you can put together a third = or more - about these characters. thanks. mimsdavis@gmail.com- sue davis

My current work-in-progress contains cameo appearances by both Phillip and Sarah as they coach another couple along, but other than that, these two only ever had these two books. But don't write that in stone...who knows when they might come forward again and demand another story?

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/dianahunter

Are you kidding me?

The other day my father in law came over and said to me, "I've got to show you my newest toy. It's amazing! I can't believe no one thought of this sooner!"

What was it you ask? Something to make children clean up after themselves? An automatic dinner maker? A robot who will do laundry?

No, it was a Kindle.

Now, I agree that Kindles are amazing, wonderful inventions, but HELLO! Ebooks have been around for ten years, thanks. Someone did think of it sooner, Sony, Mobi, and several others. . .

Very few people who are in my "regular/teacher/daughter/mother" world know I am also Arianna Hart (which explains why when Ari gets to play, anything can happen) so I couldn't burst out and say, "Yeah, I've heard of Kindle, they're line number three on my royalty statement." But boy did I want to!

When I started reading ebooks in 2002, NO ONE had heard of them. When I got published in 2003, ebook authors were low man on the totem pole. We weren't considered "real" authors because our books weren't "real" books. Even my accountant mocked me, "I just can't see cuddling up on the couch with a computer."

Bite me.

For years, courageous readers have enjoyed the benefits of ebooks and have had to explain over and over again what an ebook was. Now that Amazon has gotten into the game, suddenly ebooks are the cool kid in school.

A part of me, the part that reads the royalty statements, is thrilled that the masses have discovered ebooks. E publishers have heralded this day for years and years and it looks like our time has finally arrived. Huzzah, huzzah!

A little, teeny, tiny, non-conformist part of me is somewhat saddened by the mainstreaming of ebooks. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that others have discovered the joy that is instant book gratification, but it's kind of like when you discover a new band/author/artist/restaurant that you love but it/they haven't become hugely popular yet and then all of a sudden, you can no longer afford to go there because they are wildly famous now.

Okay, that doesn't make much sense, even to me. Ebooks aren't going to sell out like the latest New York Times bestseller in your local bookstore, but you get the point. I guess I just want a little credit given to all the loyal people who had to put up with, "what? you're reading a what book? Don't you miss having a real book in your hands?" for the last decade.

On the other hand, if you have only just discovered ebooks and you are reading me for the first time, welcome to the wonderful world of ebooks!!! ;-)

Rejected again...

This week I got another editor rejection. Nothing new I hear you say, it happens all the time. Rejection comes with the territory and if you want to be a published author then it's one of the things you just have to deal with. You're right. This is far from my first but for some reason this one affected me more deeply than any others in the past have. So deeply that I had a complete meltdown. There were tears, lots of them. My meltdown even spread to online where I shared my devastation with the whole of the twitterverse. I have no idea why this time it was more painful than any of the rest. Was it the way it was rejected (completely) no 'this was good, but'? One rejection too many? Was it my love for the characters and my belief in their story? The fact that this is the first time in a long time that I had finished something? Or was it everything else in my life that sucked this week just finally getting on top of me?

The proverbial last straw.

Whatever the reason, I was ready to give up. No more writing, it was getting too painful. Why continue with something that used to be enjoyable but was now causing so much hurt? Perhaps I wasn't meant to be a writer after all? And indeed, I haven't written a word since then (twitter doesn't count) until now. I'd like to thank everyone who sent me a message of encouragement, sympathy and empathy or anger on my behalf. Your support means the world to me. Now, almost a week later I am still upset, but not feeling quite so negative. Thanks to all of you, plus a little time and perspective I have decided to get back on the horse after all. Will I have the courage to submit anything again? I don't know yet. Probably. The fact of the matter is that I was a writer before I was published and I'm still a writer now. I am going to try to reclaim the things about it that made me happy before I saw my name on a book. The joy of escaping into a world of my own making, whether anyone else cares about it or not.