Good Morning, friends. I'm writing something a little different this morning on a more personal level. It was 5:30 a.m. and I couldn't sleep and decided to get up. I probably shouldn't have because I went to bed at 1:30 a.m. Four hours of sleep isn't enough... I know that... yet, here I am. 

This sleeping problem of getting up so early is happening because I lay in bed thinking about my writing. I'm sure I'm not the only writer that has this problem. Ideas come to me, or half awake I'm thinking about publishing problems that don't really exist but my dreams think they do. I absolutely hate staying in bed trying to get back to sleep, tossing and turning, so I just get up and come in my office and turn on the computer. 

This morning I pulled out an old proof copy of Full Circle, the Button Boy's Journey, opened it up in the middle and started reading. Now, an hour later, I put it down because my eyes were burning and my old eyes couldn't see the print. 

I realized reading that book how messed up my writing was for that series. Since then, I've learned so much about what writers should do and what not to do. I'm was one of those writers who didn't give a f@@k what I should be doing to make sales to become popular. I just wanted to write and tell my stories and if one person read it, that made me happy. If that one person left a good review, that was even better; it was enough motivation to keep going.

Since writing that trilogy, I've learned about keeping to the same tense throughout the book, pick one or two characters and stick to their points of view throughout the whole book. Also, don't ramble, don't get too descriptive or get more descriptive... so many do's and don'ts, that it boggled my mind.  I was watching YouTube videos to learn how to write, but that became so depressing, that I wouldn't watch them anymore. But I know you readers like their books to be polished, so I'm trying my best to improve and maybe make a few more sales.

I will never have loads of sales because I can't spend oodles of money on marketing, or get out in person to public events (another ramble for another day). Whatever needs to be done, I do myself, except for hiring an editor. I'm also a skeptic and don't trust marketers enough to give them my money--mostly, I don't know who to trust to actually do the work and not run off with it. I don't trust people who say they have read my books and loved  them only to find out they used AI for their review. That's why I have few reviews. That's okay, it doesn't bother me, I'm not writing necessarily to make money. I'm writing to keep myself sane and alert to ward off dementia as I get older. I don't want to just sit around watching TV in my retirement... I want to do something constructive with the time allotted me on Earth.

Well, it is almost 9:00 a.m. now and I'm heading into the kitchen for my second cup of coffee and then I'm going to settle in to work on my next book. It's coming along slowly. I better get crackin' if I want to reach my two more book goal. :)