Alot Going on

Life as a writer, mom and wife has been really busy the last few days. I got my cover! Which I am thrilled about! I am so happy with it. Than I went to PublishAmerica's site and there my book is! Its now ready to be bought on line! I checked Amazon and Barnes&Noble today and there it was! I was so excited! I keep thinking that I am going to wake up and this is all a dream! I am glad that its all happening but its just kind of a dream! My childhood dream coming true! So now I am working on getting my book out there to more people! I cant wait until I have people coming up to me and telling me that they read my book and they loved it. Even if that doesn't happen its okay, all I care about is my book is out there for people to pick up and take it home with them. That is enough for me. Just knowing that I am a published author! I have my first interview set up for the 26th of this month I am really nervous about it! Even though I know the lady that is going to be giving me the interview. I have known her for years! Its crazy to think that all of this is happening.

My Granny!

D. Marian Long

This post is going to be about my biggest role model! My Grandmother (Granny). The first thing you need to know is that Granny hated her middle name so she went to just using her middle name Marian. She grew up as a Navy brat, she was always moving around from one base to another base. Finally they got stationed on the Oregon Coast where Granny met my grandpa. And the rest is a basic tale of romance so I wont get into that. My Grandpa joined the military, and was sent off. When my mom (the oldest of three kids) was born my Grandpa was off in Japan. He got a telegram the day before telling him that my mom was born! A little of a year later my uncle was born, then two years after that my aunt was born. Between the three kids my grandparents have 4 grandchildren. Also they have 3 great grand kids from Me. (Sadly to say my granny didn't live to see them)

Anyways back to my granny, growing up my granny was different than other grandmothers out there. My granny hated noise and crowds and heat. So you didn't really get her out of the house very often. But when we were at her house we had enough fun to last a lifetime. At my Granny's house they have wood floors. So we used to put on roller skates and skate around the house! My Granny is the reason that I started writing, my granny was always writing and it rubbed off on me. And my granny also gave me one of my other passions, Drafting. She taught me at a young age to draw floor plans to houses. Now many years later I still love to sit down and draw out my dream house. My Granny was always thinking of fun things to do while we where at her house. But there is one memory that is going to stick with me forever. I was probably about 6 or 7 years old, and my granny made goup. (which is fudge that doesn't harden) when ever she made it I would beg her to let me have some. She would always tell me the same thing, "No its my medicine for my tummy" but as a little kid I wouldn't give up! So finally at the age of 6 or 7 I found something that would change the whole thing. I walked up to my granny and told her that my tummy hurt and I needed some of her tummy medicine! Of course my Granny couldn't go back on saying that it was for the tummy, so she went into the kitchen and made some goup! Lets just say to my amazement it was candy!!!! Talk about a kids wonderful day! I was sick and my granny gave me candy! It made me feel better! :) But that was my Granny for you. She was a fighter though. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and fought it and won. The doctors said that it was gone and wouldn't ever come back. We all jumped for joy, but in 1999 the cancer did come back, it spread quickly. This is hard to even type about, the last time I saw my Granny I was helping my grandpa taking her blood sugar level. (There is one thing that I forgot to tell you, my family isn't very fond of affection so this next part might not sound like that much of a deal to some of you, but it was for me) I was holding my granny's hand up so my grandfather could poke her finger. My granny was looking at me like she didn't know what was going on (at that time the cancer had spread to her brain so at times she didn't remember any of us) than as I was looking at her it was like something connected and a look of love and caring came across her face. She smiled at me and I knew at that moment that she was letting me know that everything was going to be okay. When we were done taking her blood pressure, I set her hand back on the bed. I bent down to kiss her forehead. And she spoke, as her voice came out she sounded like an angel, "Zana, I want you to know that I'll be okay when this is over. I want you to go on in your life to do the things that you love. I want you to know that I love you." I ran from the house, I couldn't deal with sitting back and watching my Granny die. That was the last time I saw her alive. I didn't even say good bye to her! The next day my granny was gone. And right before she died, she couldn't remember anyone that was there with her, but she was asking to see me! I was only a freshman in high school! And my granny was my best friend! there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her! I know that she is smiling down on me and is so happy and proud of me! My first book "A Whirl in the Darkness" is dedicated to her! I love you Granny!

Dortha Marian Long

Born: Novemmber 14, 1928

Died: November 02, 1999

I have come to terms!

Hello everyone!

I have now come to terms with something in my life! It is marketing my book! I thought that marketing my book would be simple! That I would have no problem doing it! But here I am about ready to start marketing it, and I have realized that its harder than I thought. It has nothing to do with being shy, because I am not that shy, I have always been a big people person! But its the fact that, I don't like to talk about myself! I would much rather be talking about my kids or someone else that I know! But now I have to start talking about myself! And to change how you are, and what you feel comfortable with is extremely hard! And to get my book out there and get it noticed I am going to have to change things. If I could do all my marketing online than I would be able to do that no problem! I have no problem doing that. I already have my book posted on a lot of sites. But now I have to go out into the world and talk to people about my book! And that is a little different than just typing words into a computer. I know that I can do it, I just have to work on it. The other thing that I have come to terms with is the fact that my husband is going to be a huge help through all of this. Because, as we joke about it all the time my husband has a silver tongue, he missed his calling as a used car sales man. He is going to be a big help in marketing my book! I don't know what I would do with out him! I am so glad that I have him in my life. The other thing that I have realized is the fact that I am lucky to have my friends and family to. My friends and family are already out there telling everyone they know about my book. I am glad that I have them. If I didn't have them I don't know what I would do. So one other thing is you can never have to many friends and family that care about you and your happiness! I would never ask for anything different than what I have right now! Okay maybe I would ask for a major publishing company to come and pick me up on a contract! But that is about it! But the only thing that matters is my child hood dream is coming true!!!!

Don't forget to visit my website
www.zanadibartolomeo.com

Have a good day!

I realized

On Saturday night, I realized just how important it is to have bookmarks or business cards for your book. My family and I were driving home from my brother's house we stopped at a little market on the way, my husband started talking to the owner of the market as they were pumping gas. They got to talking about me and my book. The lady wanted all the information so that she could get a copy as soon as it was available. So instead of handing her a business card or book mark, I had to write everything down on a scrap of paper. So on Sunday I went and ordered business cards online. I know that when it comes to me, I usually just throw away piece of paper I have in my purse or in my pocket. So I am hoping that she doesn't throw it away.

I also realized that my husband is going to be a big helper of selling my books, everyone he knows he tells about my book. I am glad that I have him. He is my biggest supported along with my mom. I know that without them, I wouldn't have the courage to continue to put myself out there in this giant world of writers.

For all the new writers out there! I'm telling you make sure that you get something for your book as soon as you can!!!

Story Ideas

Afternoon Everyone,
I have thought about so many story ideas. But I find myself always writing about mysteries. I think maybe its because of the fact that is the type of book that I like reading. But who knows. My husband tells me all the time that he could give me a bunch of ideas about books. For he grew up all over LA California. And I have thought maybe about writing a book about the stories that he has told me. But I cant find myself getting very far when he tells me one. I find myself turning it into a mystery. So here is a question for everyone out there, where do you get your ideas for stories? For me, I just start typing and it turns out. I have had some writers tell me that you need to have a outline already before you start writing. But for me if I start with an outline I cant write. I feel like I have to follow the outline to a tee. And my story doesn't work out like I think it should. So I sit down at my computer and just start writing. My stories start to take off all on their own. Once I have started to type I don't think about what is coming next. Some people say that isn't the way to write. But in my opinion it is, your story should be what you are feeling at that moment in time. So if you just sit down and start typing your feelings show a lot more.

That is enough for now, everyone have a good day!

A Perfect Day

Good Morning everyone, I don't even know if anyone is actually reading my blogs, since no one has left any comments about anything I have wrote down. But that's okay. Writing is a way that I let go of all of my stress in life. This post is going to be what I think would be the perfect day for me!
It would start with breakfast in bed! (French toast and Eggs) Than my husband would come in and say "Sweetheart why don't you just write for the whole day! I'll clean house, do laundry, and take care of the kids!" What a thing that would be! I would love for that to happen! For the rest of the day I would submerge myself into writing. And not have to worry about what my daughters were doing to their self's. I wouldn't have to worry about making bottles for my son. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I want every day to be like that. I love taking care of my kids and doing the things around the house that needs to be done. But everyone once in awhile I think that a stay at home mom should get a break from being a mom!

Actually I take that back, I wouldn't need to write all day long for it to be a perfect day! I would need just a few hours of not being interrupted!!! And that would be a perfect day. Just a few uninterrupted hours of writing. Forget breakfast in bed, forget the husband cleaning and doing laundry. Just a few simple hours for writing.

I am glad to say though that my husband is very supportive in my journey to make a career out of being a writer! He is always helping me out with ideas or a better way to say what I want to get across. If it wasn't for him I think I would have given up a long time ago. I am glad that he keeps pushing me to work on my dream. Him and I are a pretty good team. No only is he the man of my dreams but he is my best friend!

Okay enough of this post for now. Check back later for a new one

New Website

Hello everyone,
I realized that using a website through freewebs.com wouldnt bring the people to the site that I wanted. So I made a new site. I got my own domain! So here is my new website, please go check it out. www.zanadibartolomeo.com
I think that paying the small fee for a domain is a good idea. But thats me. This post is going to be really small since I have nothing else to write about really.

People #1

As I was writing my last blog entry, something came to me. A lot of people have their own ideas about how things should be. Like for example my downstairs neighbor and I do not get along. And the main reason for it is, she doesn't like children! And I have three! So she is always complaining about the noise that they make! Her other problem is my oldest daughter is (how to put this with out sounding mean) a brat! She likes to beat up on her younger sister, so as her punishment she has to go in her room. Once she is in her room she screams at the top of her lungs! And so of course that puts my neighbor in a bad mood. Well the other day she came up and told me that I was abusing my children. All because I put my daughter in room. Or as she puts it I "lock" her in her room. The funny thing is, when I put my daughter in room, the door is wide open. And I want to know how I lock my daughter in her room when there isn't a lock on her door! My neighbor also told my husband the other day, that all I do all day long is yell at my children! I wanted to yell at her at that moment. Because the only time I yell at my children is when they are doing something majorly wrong. And than at night when my youngest (he is 2 months old) wakes up and wants his bottle, my down stairs neighbor well scream at the top of her lungs. So one night I put a tape recorder on to see if maybe he was crying for awhile before I woke up. But no, he cried for about 30 seconds and than I woke up. And all of the sudden you hear yelling from the lady downstairs. She has even put complaints into our landlord about the kids. The funny thing about all of this is, before we even moved in here. I told her that we had 2 small children and one more on the way. And I asked her if she would have a problem with that. I told her that my three year old is a typical three year old who runs all the time, and she told me no that it wouldn't be a problem. But here she is now.... making all type of threats. She threatened to call the cops on me yesterday. For no reason, the kids and I were reading books! And she came up and started pounding on my door!! People like that just don't make sense to me! I know that she is not all there in the mind. But it still doesn't make really any sense to me! But I guess that is why we have this wonderful world we live in! To keep us always guessing about what is going to come around the next turn! And I know that this post isn't really about writing like I want this blog to be about... But I just needed to write that all.

Writers or Publishers

I was reading some posts on another page earlier and I saw something that I really liked. This author said that its not the publisher that defines our ability to write. That is all on the writer. And I agree with that. So what if we have a publisher that a lot of people don't like. That doesn't mean that we can't write or don't have the right to call ourselves writers. I was told the other day by another author that I cant call myself an author because I am getting published by Publish America. Which I do not agree with. I would tell you all to go to my website and look at my guestbook and see the comments that were left but I deleted them. I don't want negative feed back on my site. I set that website up for my book. A book that I put a lot of hard work into. But here I was getting negative feedback just because of who I was getting published by!!! I could see if they read the part of my book that I have on my site and told me that they didn't like it. I could take that. But to just sit there and talk bad about my publisher! There are a lot of people out there that really don't like Publish America, but I like them. I have no issues with them! So I really think that everyone out there needs to just let go of their "hatred" for publishers and think about the writers. Writers have talent and they need to be awarded for their talent. Not belittled because of who they are getting published by. So writers out there if you are one of the ones that criticize others because of who they are getting published by, please knock it off. We aren't little elementary school kids anymore. Its like you are saying "No, I wont talk to you because you are wearing red!" When you sit down and think about it, does it really make any sense? As writers we need to help each other out to get our book out there in the big scary world!!! And as a writer who is new to all of this, it was almost discouraging to hear all of that! If I wasn't so bull headed, than I would have just threw in the towel. Because I have heard some nasty things just because of who I am getting published by. So this message goes out to those who need to start acting their age and give the writers what they deserve!!!!

What Makes a Good Story

As a writer I always think to myself what I can do to my story to make it a little bit better. What can I do to change it to make readers get into it. And even after years of thinking about this I don't think there is really an answer. Because every reader is looking for something else in a story. Some want the character's to be stronger. Some want it to be all about romance or a pure thriller. Or some want it to be plain with nothing really there. So I have come to the conclusion that I am going to stop writing for what I think people are going to want to read. I am going to write whatever comes through my fingers. I am not saying that I am going to not add things in that make the story wanted. But I am not going to try to fit everything in that people want. Like if you take my novel that I am getting published right now, "A Whirl in the Darkness". It is a mystery that has a ghost, a murder, and also in there it has a little romance. That is the style that I like to write. Not just one genre, of writing. I like to have a little bit of everything in there. In my opinion it makes that story more fun to follow. And I know that every author out there has a different style of writing. Like if you take my two favorite authors, Patrica Cornwell and Mary Higgins Clark. They kind of have the same style of writing but not really. Patrica Cornwell always is a crime thriller. But Mary Higgins Clark is more of a suspense thriller. But both of them put a little bit of romance into their novels. And not the romance that they are all over each other through the whole book. But just enough to make you wonder and keep guessing about what is going on between the couples. Like if you take Patrica Cornwell's Scarpetta series. You have Kay Scarpetta and Benton Wesley that you never know what is going to happen between the two of them tell the next book. Than at the end of that book you start wondering again.
And what makes good characters in your story? Should they be strong willed, should they be followers? Should you only have one main character? Or should you have a group of main characters? Should you have a hero or should everyone in your story be a hero in their own way? As a writer here is another question that runs through my head quite often. And for me the answers to these questions change in every story that I write. Or here is one more question about characters in your story, should your characters have bad habits or should you make them saints? And this is a question that I can give you my oppion on, I think that at least some of your character's should have bad habits. They make them more believable. If you always make your characters to be saints, really how is a reader going to get into a caracter. Because most people out there are not saints. And I am not saying that you should make your characters to have great big bad habits but just little ones. Like smoking, drinking, something along those lines. Or maybe it is something in their personality that is out there a little bit. What I do when I am starting to write a book is I sit down and think of all the people that I saw within the last couple days and think about what made them stick out in a crowd of people. And if I can I try to put that out in their character. Like in my book "A Whirl in the Darkness". One of my characters, Nelle, is very shy and dependable on a man. And I got that idea for her character while I was walking through Wal-Mart, and saw a young girl she couldn't have been more than 25. And as she walked she stared at the floor in front of her. I never saw her lift her eyes to look at the people that were walking around her. She also staid a few feet behind her husband. So in about five minutes in a store I had one of my characters for my story! Sometimes I don't use people that I see in a store. Some times as I am writing I just let it come out and see if it fits with the way I want the story to go.
How long should you work on a novel before its done? Here is a question that has so many different ways to be answered. I have heard writers say that it takes years to finish a novel. Others say it shouldn't take you more than a year. But here is the answer that I liked the most. When you sit down and read back through your book and there is nothing that you want to change. Than that is when your book is done. I don't think there should be a time limit on how long it takes you to write. You know when your book is done, there is no one that can give you that answer.
In closing I just have one thing to say, don't let anyone tell you that you aren't a good writer. Because everyone in their own way is a good writer. We all have it in us to be a great writer. Some of us have things that we need to work on to make us better but there is nothing wrong with a little work!! Like me, I need to work on my spelling and grammar! I am horrible at it! But I work on it ever day, and I am getting a lot better. I just hope that everyone out there fallows their dreams (even if they don't have to deal with writing). I know that I have fallowed my dreams and I couldn't be happier!!! Good luck on those dreams!

Just to Say Hi

Good Morning everyone,
Its early morning and I am just starting my blog. I have never done a blog before so, give me time to get used to this all! As I was carving pumpkins with my daughters last night many things came to my mind. Mostly about my book that I am getting published. No I am not getting published with a big publishing company.... At least not yet. I am getting published by Publish America. And I know that a lot of people out there don't care for Publish America. But as a author that is getting published through them I have no regrets. I have had no problems with them. They have been more than helpful when I have questions. Eventually my goal is to send off one of my novels to a big publishing company. And the thing is, no one should sit there and put me down as an author just because of who I am getting published through. Which I have had happen within the last couple days. Us authors are supposed to help each other out. And be there to help with questions or problems but what is the point of us staying in contact with one another if we are just going to be mean to one another about who our publisher is. Like if you go to absolutewrite.com they have threads there that all they do is talk bad about Publish America. And yeah that is perfectly fine to talk bad about the publishing company but when you go into a authors web page and go to their guestbook and pretty much tell them that they aren't a real writer because they are getting published by Publish America. If you want to see what I mean go to my web site. which is www.freewebs.com/zanadib and go to my guest book. The guy that I am talking about left a couple entries there. Well I am going to end this for now.... But check back soon and I'll put up a new post. Maybe even later today I'll leave a new posting. Depends on how much time my kids give me!!!! Have a good day everyone!