Betsy Horvath

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  • ‘Twas The Evening of Christmas

    Setting – Christmas evening, inside Betsy’s brain

    Our Cast of Characters – 

    Betsy – your humble author

    Skipper – a chipmunk and Habit Implementation Specialist sent by the Muse Council to help Betsy develop good habits.

    Coffee – the beverage of champions.  He is always with Betsy in one form or another.

    Muse – She is, well, the Muse.  Mysterious.  Elusive.  Creative.

    Harry – Betsy’s Guide for her Quest to become a successful author / publisher.  Although in folklore most Guides for Quests are white hares or white stags, Harry is a white gerbil.  But he has ambitions, oh yes he does.

    And now…..a poem…

     

    ‘Twas the Evening of Christmas

     

    ‘Twas the evening of Christmas

    And in Betsy’s brain,

    The creatures were happy

    Not one did complain.

     

    Skipper was settled,

    All snug in her nest

    Dreaming of habits,

    And which would be best.

     

    Betsy in sweatpants

    And Coffee in cup

    Lounged in a recliner

    And refused to get up.

     

    Then Harry the Quest Guide

    Saw his face in the glass

    As he walked past a mirror,

    And let out a gasp.

     

    Why, his ears, they were silky

    And incredibly long!

    His tail short and puffy!

    His heart burst into song!

     

    “A rabbit!  A rabbit!”

    He squealed with delight.

    “I’m no longer a gerbil!

    I’m a white hare tonight!”

     

    Skipper and Coffee both

    Yelled with pure joy,

    And Betsy jumped up

    To dance with her boy.

     

    The Muse was quite happy

    At Harry’s promotion,

    But she sat by herself

    Far from the commotion.

     

    In the grass by a lake

    Deep, placid, and blue,

    She sat under stars,

    So brilliant and true.

     

    After dancing with Harry

    Betsy left him to chatter

    And tracked down the Muse

    To see what was the matter.

     

    “Nothing’s wrong,” the Muse smiled,

    Then pointed above,

    “The stars shine so brightly

    When you do what you love.”

     

    “Harry’s ears now are long,

    His tail a short little puff.

    You got off your butt,

    And are working your stuff.”

     

    “I may not succeed,”

    Betsy said with a sigh.

    “Maybe not,” the Muse said,

    “But at least you will try.”

     

    Betsy looked at the stars,

    And felt her heart lift.

    Because the fact that she’s trying

    Is itself a great gift.

     

    She may not succeed,

    She may not be good,

    But without trying at all

    She won’t know if she could.

     

    So to everyone reading,

    Good health and good cheer.

    May you try many things,

    And have a Happy New Year!

     

     

     

  • Getting New Covers (and New Cover Reveals!)

    One of the first things you hear when you start going the independent author route is that you need to get professional covers for your books.  You hear things like:  “Don’t try to do it yourself!” and “A bad cover can kill a book!”

    So, of course, I tried to do my book covers myself.

    And it was a mistake.

    Now I’ve had professional covers designed for both of my independent books, and I will have professional covers on all new books moving forward.

    Why?  Why spend the money?  Here are a couple of good reasons-

    1. You have to be aware of your competition.

    People really do judge a book by its cover, and your book will rarely be seen in a vacuum.  Unless you are hand delivering it to a family member, people are going to be looking at your book in the company of many other books – whether it’s on a website like Amazon, or, if you’re fortunate, the shelf of a bookstore.  You need your book to look just as good as the books around it.  If your cover looks homemade (and being homemade is not the point of your book), you’re operating at a disadvantage.  An independently published book already has enough disadvantages in the marketplace.

    2. You have to know your limitations.

    If you are not a cover designer, you have certain limitations as to the level of cover you can design.  I firmly believe in the power of learning, and I think you can learn to be a cover designer.  But if you aren’t one already, you will have to learn it.  Which leads to…

    3. You have to decide where you want to spend your time.

    Can I learn Photoshop and design and become a cover designer?  I probably can if given enough time.  And therein lies the problem – time.  Do I want to spend my time writing, or do I want to spend my time fooling around with Photoshop, coming up with something that’s only half as good as it needs to be?  What is the most efficient use of my time?

    4.  You have to decide where you want to spend your money.

    There are a lot of things you can spend money on these days.  But if you’re going to be an independent author, I submit to you that one of the things you definitely should spend money on is your cover.  Your cover, as well as editing and formatting, are the things that are real investments in your business because they make your products better.  You SHOULD invest money in your business.  But you don’t really need a Boogie Board because it would be oh so cool to write notes and have them go directly to your computer without having to retype them.  (I returned it…geez).

    For these reasons and more, one of the major decisions I’ve made was to get professional covers for my books.  If I want people to take me seriously, I need to take myself seriously.  That means investing in making my books look as good as they can.  After all, the cover is the first impression someone will have of your book.  And you never have a second chance to make a first impression.  As they say.

    So, here are the new covers!

     

    These were designed by Dane Low at ebooklaunch.com.  The covers were reasonably priced, and Dane is just great to work with.  He was very patient with me as I bumbled about, flailing helplessly in my normal charming fashion.  If you want to know, I found Ebook Launch through the Alliance for Independent Authors (ALLI), a terrific organization you really should think about joining if you want to do the independent author gig.   Another source for cover designers is Joel Friedlander (thebookdesigner.com) and his monthly ebook cover design awards.

    Now, as an object lesson, here are the covers I made compared to the ones I just got-

        

        

    Everything from the font choices to the depth of color to the layout is a lot more refined and, well, professional.  Plus, it’s extremely evident that I didn’t exactly have the skill or knowledge I needed to pull off an effective cover. Although I know my friends and family appreciate the covers I made, the new ones really are a hundred million billion times better. 🙂

    And the best part – for the new covers, I didn’t have to sweat over Photoshop for days…weeks…months….yay verily, years.

    So, all in all, I think this was a very good decision. Now I just need to remember all the places I have the old covers and replace them with the new.  And we all know how that goes.  🙂

     

     

     

  • It’s Good To Have Goals

    As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, I’ve become quite introspective here at the end of the year regarding my author business.  Or lack thereof.

    This introspection has led me to think about my reasons for doing this writing thing (again) and to identify a primary objective for what I want to achieve with it (again).  Basically, my primary objective is to be a midlist, professional independent author, producing work regularly and being paid for that work because readers buy it.

    With this objective in mind, I’ve come up with some longer-term and shorter-term goals to give me a map for moving forward.  After all, the primary objective drives the goals defined, and the goals defined drive the decisions made.  And habits support them all.

    If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get anywhere.  If you don’t have a path to your destination, you’ll get lost.  And if you don’t have the tools or the determination, you’ll just sit still.

    At least that’s the way it works for me.

    So.  Goals.

    First, I have to determine what’s under my control.  If I make a goal for something I can’t control, it’s just pure dumb luck if I achieve it.  I really don’t know whether or not people will buy my books – all I can do is work to make sales a definite possibility.  That means sales goals are more mile markers to show me I’m moving in the right direction than true goals.

    Production, publication, and craft are all under my control.  The writing is under my control.  The business is under my control.  Making my books enticing to read and appealing to purchase are under my control.

    In other words, the part of my primary objective where I need to focus is the “midlist, professional independent author, producing work regularly” part.  Then I have to let people know the books are out there so the second part – “paid for that work because readers buy it” – has a chance of happening.

    Okay, so what are my goals then?  Here’s the rough breakdown – I’m starting with the longer term goals because they feed the shorter term goals.

    • End of 3 years – 5,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me.  15 total products, including Hold Me.
    • End of 5 years – 10,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me, 25 total products, including Hold Me.
    • End of 10 years – 100,000 total books sold, excluding Hold Me, 50 total products including Hold Me.

    The “total books sold” numbers are pie-in-the-sky mile markers – I have absolutely no idea whether or not they’re realistic, so I’ll probably be adjusting them as time goes by.  For now, they give me something to shoot for.

    The “total products” numbers are under my complete control, so that’s where I’ll be focusing along with building platforms to make the sales numbers a possibility.

    What do I need to do to make this happen?  These are the shorter term goals and objectives-

    • Speed up my self-editing process – finalize the next books in 2-3 months instead of 7-8 months.
    • Learn to outline and use my writing time more effectively – write the first draft of next book in 1-2 months instead of 3-4 months.
    • Create a production schedule with date deadlines – I already have this roughed out.  It will help me know what tasks I need to be doing so I don’t wander around thinking I have all the time in the world.
    • Outsource some production tasks I’ve been trying to do myself and concentrate on writing.  This will not only free up precious time, it will also let me present my products more professionally and competitively.
    • Work to build up my newsletter list – write a free novella for newsletter signups by end of January.
    • Write shorter blog posts so I can post more regularly – maybe go back to twice a week after the first of the year.
    • By the end of 2017, have 3-4 more products available (one will be that free novella).
    • After there are more books in the Hardy Falls series, start looking into promotion (like Facebook ads).

    Wow, that sounds like a lot of work.  And I’m not going into especially great detail here regarding timing because I honestly don’t know what I’m capable of achieving.  But I know if I want to meet my primary objective, there are steps I need to take.  I also know that I have a lot of plans, and I want to achieve them.

    In the immortal words of Yoda – “Do or do not.  There is no try.”

    I’m not going to try.  I’m going to do.

    I am, darn it! *shakes fist at sky*

    Now that my primary objective has been defined, and I’ve shared some of my goals to get there, I’ll talk about different decisions I’m making, and why I’m making them.  Assuming I know myself.  Which, as we all know, is a little uncertain.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Finding an Objective

    computerwithcatHello, dear readers, and welcome to December. Soon it’s going to be 2017!  Yeesh.

    I always get somewhat introspective at the end of the year, thinking about where I’ve been and where I’m going.  Because of who I am, I also beat myself up for not making as much progress as I think I should have made.  Then, after weeping softly into my pillow, I pick myself up, look ahead to the new year and determine that the next 12  months will be different and better than the last.  They will!  *shakes fists at sky*

    This year, I am scrutinizing my author “business.”  I put “business” in quotes because so far it hasn’t been much of one.  But I am determined that’s going to change.  So the next series of blog posts are going to be all about my goals and objectives as I try to move forward, the decisions I’m making, and why I’m making them.  I’m looking at every corner of what I’ve been doing, looking for places I can improve, and trying to see how I can make this dream of being an independent author a reality.

    I realize many of you reading have absolutely no interest in being an author, but I thought I would post about this stuff because 1) it’s what I have to post about, and 2) recently a number of people have asked me about publishing a book.  It’s my hope that this series of posts will help by showing some of the decisions that need to be made if you go independent.

    If you don’t give a fig about the author biz, well, think of this as reality TV.  Honey Boo Boo tries to be an independent author.

    And away we go!

    This year I achieved some of my goals by getting out Believing It, and by writing the first drafts for the next novel and novella.  That’s awesome, and I’m very happy to have accomplished those tasks.  But I had also wanted to have at least one of the other two books out this year.  That’s not going to happen.  Why?

    At first, I thought it was simply because I didn’t have enough time.   It’s true that I do have a lot of demands on my time – I work full time, am the caretaker for my elderly mother, and, sometimes, I actually have a life.

    But the more I thought about it, the more I realized time was only part of the problem.  The fact is, the real reason I didn’t hit my goals (or at least get closer to hitting them) is because I was flailing around like a dandelion in the wind, trying to do everything and not focusing on the tasks that I NEEDED to do.  Like, oh, writing. (there will be a future post talking about 80/20 tasks).   I was pulled in all sorts of different directions, flitting here and there, and not concentrating on creating books.  Those other things ate up the time I had.  Then I blamed my lack of time as an excuse for not getting more done.  In truth, I had set myself up for failure.

    Which brought me to my first question regarding my authorial ambitions – “is this a hobby or a business?”  Because if I’m trying to do this as a business, I need to change the way I’m working, and I need to be much more dedicated and efficient.  I need to make some decisions I’ve been ignoring and do things differently.

    In other words, “what is my overall objective?”  It’s important to know because the overall objective will (and should) drive the rest of the goals and tasks that need to be done.  It needs to be identified first.  And then—and this is important—it needs to be written down.

    I’ve been thinking a lot about these questions, and here’s what I think my overall objective is (roughly):  I want to be a reliable mid-list author who makes decent money from my books.  I want to consistently and routinely publish multiple books per year and I want to be paid for those publications.  I want to have a loyal fanbase who enjoy and want to read my books (people other than friends and family – LOL).  I do not necessarily want to be a famous author, or even exceedingly rich–those things each have their own price.  I want to be the workhorse writer you can count on with an actual backlist of titles and series you can dive into.

    In other words, I want to have more than three books out in the world.  I want this thing to be a viable business.  Most importantly, I am ready and willing to do the work to make it happen.

    Okay.  Awesome.  So, what’s next?

    Yeah.  Good question.  I think this is where the individual goals come in.  What needs to be accomplished to make this objective a reality?  What time frame do they need to be done in?  What can I realistically do, and what changes do I have to make to what I’m doing to meet my goals?

    And that’s what I’ll be working on this week!

    Stay tuned, friends, for the next installment of….”As The Writer Turns”

    womancomputernight

     

     

     

  • Focus

    focusToo many distractions can make you forget what’s important.  At least, they can make you forget what’s really important to you, to the reality of your situation and your life in all its many aspects.

    Life goes on despite massive change and uncertainty.  We work and play and love and laugh and pay bills and try to make our way.  We love our families (most of the time), have friends and coworkers, meet strangers.  We survive.

    But if we want to do more than survive, if we want to be the best people we can possibly be, then we have to focus.

    In today’s modern world, we are constantly called to distraction.  Between family, friends, work obligations, advertising, social media, emails, the Internet, politics, finances, sports, television, and a million other things, it’s easy to be to have your attention stretched in so many different directions that you lose sight of yourself and what you need to do here and now, to be successful with your own precious life.

    At least it is for me.

    I get stretched and pulled, and I lose focus.  I lose track of my time.  I sit down to check my email, or look at Facebook or YouTube, and suddenly hours have passed.  Even if I’m disciplined enough to limit the actual time in front of the computer, sometimes I find what I see or read to be disturbing to my equilibrium.  Then my thoughts are hijacked for another couple of hours, and I’m using all my creative energy to deal with those feelings instead of moving ahead in other, more productive directions.

    I need to focus on my financial health, on my healthy body/mind/family health, and on my creative health first.  Then the rest can filter around it.

    So, here’s the plan.  Call it the Betsy State of the Union, if you will.

    I’m turning off the Internet as much as possible.  If it’s not possible to turn it off completely, I’ll get an app allowing me to limit access to the more distracting sites (like email and social media).   But ideally, it will be completely off most of the time.

    I’ve gotten away from my Tiny Tasks.  I haven’t been working every day on fiction writing, other writing, business/fiction planning and de-stressing.  I’m going to re-institute them so I touch each of these areas every day (or mostly every day).  That should ensure that fiction writing, blogs, and newsletters get moving again on a more regular basis.

    I have developed an in-depth financial budget to start getting a handle on my own personal debt crisis.  I’ve already screwed it up over the past month or so, but it’s in place again now.

    I’ve developed a health initiative, which faltered during the stress of the last couple of months.  That is being re-implemented as well.

    I’ve started a writing log to show me how much I’m writing every day, and in which areas I’m spending my time.

    Perhaps most importantly, I’m starting a time budget.  I know how much free time I have every day, and I want to account for it, the same way I account for my money.  I want to spend it intentionally, not have it drip away without my consent.  It’s fine to build in time to check email, look at Facebook, or watch television, but those activities must be scheduled, and they must happen outside of prime creative writing time.  The mindless, blank-eyed scrolling, watching, and reading has to stop.

    On top of that, everything’s going to be written down so I can see exactly where the time is going. That’s the first step to regaining control and focus.  If you don’t know what’s going on or when it’s happening, you can’t change it.

    We are constantly being asked to lose focus.  But our lives are infinitely precious.  We can’t just throw them away because we didn’t notice where they went.

    I’ve fought way too hard to have my life.  I will be damned if I’m going to lose it now just because I didn’t see it walking away.

    After all, today might very well be the last we’re given.  None of us know the length of time we’ll be here.  Let’s make it the best possible.

    We’re the only ones who can.

    distractions

  • Keeping On

    boulderWhen we left Betsy many weeks ago, she was staring at the shining cities of the story worlds she was creating.  Harry, the white gerbil who is the Guide on Betsy’s Quest to become a successful independent author, was with her.  Harry wants to upgrade from white gerbil to white hare or even a white stag, and he was very excited to announce that his tail had transformed from a long, skinny gerbil tail to a rabbit puffball.

    But, except for sporadic blog posts, it’s been weeks since we’ve heard from Betsy.  And Harry hasn’t heard from her at all.

    And now, as we join Betsy in her brain, we find her perched top of a large boulder, which is sitting in a sea of mud that stretches as far as the eye can see.

    What in the world is going on?  And where’s Harry?

    Let’s see…

     

     

    *As noted above, Betsy sits on a large boulder in a sea of mud* *Splashes hand through the mud*

    Maybe it’s really chocolate.

    *Tastes*  Oh, ick.  *Spits it out*  *Sighs*

    What the hell are you doing?

    *Betsy jumps and almost falls off the boulder*

    Harry?  You scared the heck out of me.

    Yeah? I’d like to scare the heck out of you.  *Harry comes stomping across the mud on boots that look like little snowshoes*  *Climbs onto boulder next to Betsy*  *Plants paws on hips*  *Glares*

    *Betsy pulls back*  What did I do?

    Nothing!  And that’s the freaking problem!  *Harry gestures wildly*  You’ve done nothing, absolutely nothing for the whole freaking month!  Maybe even longer.  Just sat here on this boulder.

    *Betsy pouts*  I’ve done stuff.

    Yeah, like eat food inappropriate for your diabetic condition.

    *Betsy frowns*  I was anxious.  Food helps when I’m anxious.

    And you also spent money you didn’t have on things you didn’t need.

    I needed that stuff!  I got a third cat, and he needed stuff!

    Right.  What about all the food inappropriate for your diabetic condition you were buying?

    *Betsy’s frown deepens*  I was anxious!

    *Harry marches closer to her*  And how much writing have you done?

    *Betsy gasps*  Hey! I did a lot of writing.  I finished the first draft of the next novel AND of a novella.  That’s pretty good.  I deserved to be able to take a break.

    That was September.  You wasted all of October.

    I did not!

    You haven’t even started to edit anything.

    I started!

    Yesterday.  When did you want to have them finished to go to the editor?

    *Betsy shifts*  Um, the end of October.

    And what day is it?

    It’s, um…hey!  I wrote!  I wrote a newsletter and a blog post, you know.

    *Harry rolls his eyes*  Oooooo  A newsletter and a blog post.  Big freaking hairy deal.  You’re supposed to be freaking editing your freaking book!  *He turns around and lifts his coat to show Betsy his butt*  Do you see this?  *Points*  My tail is getting long again!  I had a rabbit tail.  I was well on my way to finally transforming into a White Hare Guide instead of a White Gerbil Guide and you have to go screw it up!

    I know, I know.  *Betsy’s eyes well with tears*  I’m sorry.

    *Harry sighs*  *Straightens coat*  *Sits next to Betsy*

    Come on, babe.  What’s up with you?  We haven’t even talked for weeks.

    It’s just…  *Betsy swallows*  What’s the point of this whole thing?

    *Harry frowns*  What’s the point of what?

    *Betsy gestures*  This.  Everything.  I mean, yes, I’ve roughed out the next thing or two, but so what?  What’s the point of it?  I should just give up.

    *Harry puts a paw on her arm*  No you shouldn’t.

    *Betsy draws away*  Oh, come on.  You’re just saying that because you want to upgrade to a white hare.

    I mean it.  You shouldn’t stop.

    *Betsy laughs a little bitterly*  Why not?  I keep trying to push this boulder through this sea of mud, and I’m not getting anywhere. The boulder just keeps getting heavier.  Why bother trying?  You can’t win no matter what you do!

    *Harry grabs her arm*  You listen to me. I don’t wanna hear that from you. *You* can!

    *Betsy looks away*  I used to think so.

    *Harry pauses*  Wait. That sounds like…have we just been quoting lines from “Dirty Dancing?”

    Everything is a line from “Dirty Dancing.”

    *Harry’s frowns*  “I carried a watermelon?”

    *Betsy shrugs*  Even that’s appropriate sometimes.

    Sure.  If you’re carrying a watermelon.  *Harry waves paw*  Anyway. What the hell kind of nonsense is this?

    There doesn’t seem to be much of a point, and my life would be a lot easier if I didn’t keep trying to push through all the time. Maybe I could just be normal for once.  Take a nap.  Watch Netflix.  Maybe even vacuum.  *Betsy thinks*  No, not that.

    And what?  Eat inappropriately for your diabetic condition all the time until your health tanks again?  Spend all of your money until you’ve screwed up any progress you’ve made with your debt?  *Harry cocks head*  *Pretends to think*  Oh, wait.  You’re already doing that. How’s it working for you?

    *Two jewel-like tears roll down Betsy’s cheeks*  Harry.  Why are you so mean?

    *Harry sighs*  Look.  Forget my tail for a minute.

    *Betsy blinks*  I did forget it.

    This is about you.  *Harry gestures*  I know it’s hard pushing this boulder through the mud all the time.  But you have to know there’s firm ground underneath.  You just have to keep pushing until you get to it.

    Why?

    *Harry shrugs*  Because this is what you do.  Other people do other things with their lives.  I”m sure they feel like they’re pushing boulders through mud, too.  You write stories.  If you don’t write stories, your life is going to suck.  Just like it has for this past month.

    *Betsy swirls her finger through the mud*  But…I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.

    Look at it this way.  You for sure won’t get anywhere if you stop.  And if you stop, it’s going to be that much harder to start again.  Right now you have a few people who like what you do.  If you stop, you’ll lose them, too, and have to start over from scratch.  Stopping won’t help anything.

    I guess.

    So you need to keep on keeping on.

    I guess.

    You went back to work on the book yesterday.  How did that feel?

    *Betsy thinks*  Good.  Like I was myself again.

    *Harry nods*  There you go.

    And I have some ideas for other blog posts.  And more books.  And the newsletter.

    And how will you feel if you don’t write them?

    *Betsy thinks*  Pretty much like I do now.

    Do you like feeling this way?

    No.  *Betsy stands*  *Wades into the mud*  Okay.  I’ll get going.  I just wish it was easier.

    *Harry gets up too*  If it was easier, everyone would do it.

    That’s what they say.

    *Betsy starts rolling the boulder again*  *Harry climbs up to perch on her shoulder*  *Raises fists into the air*

    Woohoo!  I feel my ears getting longer!

     

    To be continued.

    wet-mud