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Check out the debut novel, The Last Cabbandeum, from new Science Fiction author, Jonathan Eli. You can find it at:

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Smashwords

I haven’t touched my latest project in two weeks. I’m almost afraid of it. This is the first time I’ve ever had trouble loving my characters. And I still think it’s because I haven’t tried writing from the male main character’s point of view. He’s itching to tell his side of the story. I have just never done third person omniscient before. And I’m scared. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make the transition between the two POV’s smoothly. But today, I’m going to try. It’s going to be the difference between continuing the book or putting it out to pasture. We’ll see what happens.

My book sales are down. Really down. I don’t know what’s different, but I’m trying not to get too discouraged by it. I’m still selling a lot more than I was in May. But I don’t think it’s going to hit June’s numbers. I’m NOT going to be upset! I need to release something new. That always seems to help.

Now onto that new project. I’ve been having a hard time getting into my characters. They are falling flat with not enough emotion. (There’s more action in this story.) I didn’t know what to do. But now I think I’ve figured out the problem. I’ve always written in third person limited. So the readers only know the thoughts of the main character. But through this whole story, I keep thinking about what the male character would be thinking. Suddenly, it dawned on me. That’s why I can’t “feel” the characters. The male main character wants out! So I think I’m going to go back to the beginning (I’ve only written 6 chapters) and give his point of view as well as the female main character’s. I think that’s what this story is missing. The reason I have avoided 3rd person omniscient in the past is because of the difficulty of writing a love scene. But I think I can resolve that. I may revert to only the female’s thoughts in that instance. Or not. I would say, hey I’m the writer, it’s my choice. But is it really? No, the characters make the choice. They always make the choices for me. So let’s do it.

I love the look of the Sony Ebook Store. I really do. But I’m also really, really upset that I can’t find my book under the tags they should be under. I’ve tried everything I could think of. The tags (or lack of them) have to come from Smashwords since that’s who sent them to Sony. I’m not sure what to think of that. But I did include tags for paranormal romance and vampire. My book can’t be found in any search I’ve done. Except when I searched “blood”. But that’s because that word is in my title. So did the tags just not come through? It’s extremely frustrating.

Sales have been extremely slow today. I don’t know if everyone is still at the lake enjoying their 4th of July holiday, or if something else is going on. I hope it’s just the holiday.

There are still a few sales that I don’t know whether were in June or July. With the new DTP reports, there’s no way of knowing until the June report comes out. Not happy about that!

Currently, I’m reading a book, listening to an audiobook, editing books for two other people, and trying to write one of my own. I’m beginning to feel like I might be spreading myself too thin. Ah, if only I didn’t have a full time job!