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Had a horrible dream last night and I've been trying to shake it all day and can't get rid of it! I hate that! If this is CC's way of telling me to get my butt in gear.....it ain't working!

Still Going

A friend had a funny idea; why don't you post on Craigslist? I'd never been to craigslist to tell you the truth so I went and checked it out. I opened an account and posted for "Dream Weaver" in books/southeastern, CT and for my photography in art/southeastern, CT. Admittedly, neither of those two tiny spaces seem to get many hits or ads as the case may be. I figure if it helps to generate some local interest then that's great. If it does then I'll consider posting in the more metropolitian places on that site once "Dream Weaver" has made its debut to the mass market. Also got hooked up on goodreads.com, will get the book listed there once the ISBN process is complete. I updated my listings on authorsden.com and writers.net. The authorsden page seems to get good hits though I never hear from anyone.

I now have two versions of "Dream Weaver" available, still trying to decide between the two. Both are paperback one is the larger 8.5 x 11 and the other is the standard 6x9. The price difference, after all fonts, formatting and margins are equal, is about 6.00. I'm on the fence. 6.00 is 6.00 and the difference might put a potential buyer off but 6x9 is so much more 'professional' than 8.5 x 11. I'm stuck. Thankfully I've still got time to consider it.

Still haven't heard from Cousin regarding the cover art. However, I finally came up with something I really like. In fact, I like it so much I went and changed the image on several places on my site. Also came up with a nice little header banner for the page and it's looking much more feminine now...more like me in its own way. That's good. The page should be a good representation of the owner I suppose. All in all if Cousin doesn't come up with something then I think I'm still set.

I keep plugging away!

Still Pluggin' Along

One more step down...I finished sending in my copyright application. So glad I saved 10.00 on the application by doing it online. Not to mention the cost to print the damn thing out and then to bind it properly and the postage. I should have my full-fledged copyright in about two weeks. I can't wait...sort of exciting, I guess. This will be my second 'legal' copyright. Going for the ISBN next week.

It seems funny to see the book all formatted in 6x9 standardized pages. It really looks like, well, it looks like a book! Now I know how many pages the typical Stephen King manuscript is as this one came in at 599 pages just 10 short of "Duma Key". I got to take care of a lot of little problems with the file too. The colorfont stayed but I had to change the margins on the dreams so they're closer together, without the purple font it was hard to tell where the dreams ended and reality picked up again. Also had to give CC a different font for his 'voice'....again the purple wasn't going to show up. Even took care of a few last minute spelling errors.


I had to come up with a name for the publisher....that's me by the way. I am now Moon Mistress Publishing and I suppose if this does take off I should register that with the State of Connecticut. Oh well, cross that bridge when/if we come to it. I had to have a logo for the company and I went with









Then I went over to lulu and dumped the old version of "Dream Weaver" in favor of this new almost perfect one. I needed a new cover to fit the new size and came up with this one to use in the interim while I'm waiting for my Cousin to do the cover art

Not bad, I like the photograph anyway and I suppose it will do for now. I made a new backcover for it as well.

I also went and changed the popular links like on authorsden and writersnet so that those lulu links go to the proper place people aren't getting a dead link. That would be horrible!

Spruced up the pages for the free preview--no code--and the main originals page. All in all I've been very busy today! It's a good thing my oldest is making dinner tonight (boyfriend's coming over) or we'd starve...well, you know, if it wasn't for take out! LOL!

Hope to do some writing tomorrow now that the business end is as settled as it can be for the moment.

Going Through The Steps

Getting things moving along again today. "Dream Weaver" has been available to the general public on lulu.com since early November or so. I put it up there very quickly (because if I didn't I'd chicken out!) and was able to purchase several copies to give to friends and relatives at Christmas. I also sold about 15 copies....too funny! Since then things have sort of stalled with it, I don't expect to make a million bucks off of this but I'd like to get it out there to a wider market.

I'm all set with the LOC to be a beta tester and submit for copyright online. I'm very excited about that. I had a book copyrighted a long time ago and it was a general pain not to mention the waste of paper. I should have my confirmation email soon and submit, hopefully, over the weekend. That will be taken care of. I know there are some copies out there but I'm going for a copyright for an 'unpublished' work. This saves me from having to submit two separate copies to the LOC and I don't consider friends, family and 15 risk takers to really be 'published' in the larger sense of the word. A small goof on my part but I think it will be all right.

Next week I'll submit for the ISBN...bummer there...must have different number for each medium; hard cover, paper back, audio, ebook. The price is a bit prohibitive! If I buy a lot of 10 it's 225.00 which isn't bad when you stop to consider a single ISBN is 125.00! That doesn't count the bar code at an additional 25.00. Gods forbid anyone type something into a cash register...everything must be scanned these days. I'd like to have four, one for each medium above, but what the hell am I going to do with 10? Save the other 6 'just in case'? (Not a horrible idea, I'm aware. I'm also poor.) So at this point in time I'll have to consider which way I want to go. I love hard cover and the price difference isn't all that much but I suppose people might be more willing to buy a paperback. I'll have to think about it.

In anticipation of that I've gone and reformatted the file so it will fit easily into a small hard cover or medium paperback size. I cheated, I used 10 font instead of 12 to make the page requirement and get it out of 8.5 x 11 paperback, the price of which was no doubt putting people off. I've also reformatted the file so that it conforms to 'industry standard' (wasted 7 pages in the process!) and all I have to do is add in the LOC# and ISBN when I get them on the appropriate page and I'm all set. I used "Duma Key" as a guide...LOL. That turned out to be a good thing because I totally forgot the little 'this is all fiction' disclaimer. I had to add publisher information along with publisher contact information, I used the office address.

This is definitely the suckier end of writing but in this day and age when agents are still so hard just to get your foot in the door and you can pretty much forget about a publishing house without an agent.....whatcanyado? At least I don't have to buy 500 copies and try to shuck them around to the local bookstores. That's something, isn't it?

Duma Key-A Constant Readers Review (30 Years Of A One-Sided Relationship)

I suppose firstly, I should admit that Stephen King is the man who has shared my bed the most after my husband. That got to the point where, right around "Black House" hubby made a complaint about having to share me in bed with Mr. King and I never brought a book to bed again unless I was all by my onesies. Since I was a preteen Mr. King has always been there for me in his own weird existential way. Through marriages, births, deaths, moving, depression, great highs of life and everything in between he's been right there sitting on the shelf or on my lap. The silent witness to everything I've ever experienced. Always ready and willing to offer me an escape when I needed it just like a good pal should.


The title of the book; for those of you wondering what kind of a key that is….it's one off the coast of Florida. As in the Florida Keys. Not a special key to a spooky door or something like that. It's the masterfully told story of Edgar Freemantle, one-time construction company owner turned artiste. It's also the story of Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, two very wonderful characters. Edgar and Jerome have more than just a shading of Red and Andy in them and I love that.

If you've never read a Stephen King book before start with this one, if you've read them all get this one because you'll love it even more. It's not King at his terrifying horrifying best. Not the King that keeps you up all night wondering what's going to happen and worst of all, what's that moving in the corner of the bedroom? As I said, more like the King who wrote "Shawkshank Redemption", "Green Mile" and "Stand by Me" (a/k/a "The Body" original short story title). That's not to say it doesn't have its creepy parts, most of it is pretty creepy/odd/weird but not overly so not like, say, Pennywise or Cujo. This is a really good Camp Fire Story—not that I'd know, I've never been camping, but had I at least once sat around a camp fire and heard a tale spun out for me, I imagine it would be a lot like this one…but shorter. It's like…it's like…it's like walking out a local convenience store and seeing someone you haven't seen in years sitting there smiling at you, as though they knew you were there and they were waiting for you to come out. When you do he slings an arm around your shoulders and says; hey, long time no see. How the hell are ya? I know it's been a while but look, I got something to show ya. You're gonna love it. C'mon walk with for a little bit, it's just up the road, right up there and around the corner…in the dark.

I have to say that I love him most when he tells a story that involves one of two things or both; 1- an creative person as the central character; a writer or as in Edgar's case a budding painter and 2- a child/children as main player(s). He's always good for having kids in his stories and I think he uses them masterfully because no matter how bad it gets, how scary or creepy or outright gross! That underlying air of innocence always remains it is there just as surely as the crazy clown, rabid dog, and pets raised from the dead are there. The juxtaposition is genius and he uses it better than anyone I've ever read.

Back to that first one; the writer, the artist, the creative individual. I love those characters best because I identify with them and not just because they're a writer but because he puts so much of himself and the Creative Process into the character. Only someone who truly gets way far into the Zone can know what that's like. Only they know the hunger, the absolute ravenous hunger that comes after. Only they know the bone tiredness of it that settles over you with the crash. He talks about them openly. Sort of like I do here from time to time. The Truth, my friends and neighbors, the Truth. Above everything else, no matter how hard it gets or how ugly it becomes always tell the Truth of the story or paint the Truth of the picture. You will be greatly rewarded in the end. This is a major lesson I have learned from him over the years and which was reinforced in this latest novel with such ferocity and tenderness that it often brought a tear to my eye as I read or I found myself nodding my head saying; yep, you got it, Steve, you got it. Over the years there have been many times when I swore he looked into my head, plucked something out, said; that looks interesting, and put it into a story. Then I realize I'm not unique and neither is whatever the experience was, it's probably just something we've all gone through in one way or another, something that binds us all together as human beings. Good old Common Ground. That's another he's great at finding and weaving into the tale he's telling.

There are a few things that are hard for the Reader to take in this book but then again Life is full of bitter little pills that we have to swallow, like it or not. It seems that no one is more acutely aware of this than my old buddy, my pal. With most he does a very good job of preparing the Reader beforehand…kudos, Steve especially where Ilse is concerned. Even though you know its coming and you don't have to experience it.—he's kind enough to spare you that and just tell you about it after it happens—it still stings, a lot. I kept hoping he was going to find a way to reverse it even though after all these years I know that's not really his style.

Hope is a dangerous thing, so sayeth Red, so sayeth we all.

Then, of course, there's the last little twist of the knife. It's only about six words long but I bawled my eyes out at the end of this story and I'm misting up now just thinking about it. Ah, the hallmark of a well told tale; the emotion lingers long after the second cover has been closed. I sat there with it, hugging it tightly for a while and thinking about all the characters I'd just met and the things I'd gone through with them.

As with most King stories there is also that last little ray of hope, that glimmer, that shimmer, in the dark that tells you no matter what happens, no matter how hard or how bad it gets it will get better, the sun will shine again eventually and we'll all be ok in the end.

I learned a new saying with this story and I kinda like it. Do the day and let the day do you. I might adopt that as my new attitude.

What more can I say except….read this book! Don't wait for the paperback. Go. Now. Get it. Read it. What are you waiting for?