Brain. Leaking out my ears.

What day is it? What’s my name again?

I’ve spent the last week in an intense workshop (taught by the inestimable Dean Wesley Smith and the beyond-amazing publisher of WMG Books, Allyson Longeuira) learning about independent publishing. My cover design skills have improved a thousandfold, I now have the necessary InDesign skills to do book layout (previously, I had a little bit of InDesign knowledge, enough to do short newsletters and the like), and the evening sessions on the business of publishing…oh, holy moly. Distribution, bookselling, websites, gift cards, oh my. One night the Sheldon Macarthur came in to talk about the bookstore side of things. Mind boggling.

I don’t have a five-year plan sussed out just yet, and not even quite a one-year plan, but I’m close to a three-month plan to get me through the end of the year. One step at a time.

I also had a major epiphany, and after our 101^st anniversary party for our house in December, Ken and I are going to switch offices. I love my little nook of an office downstairs (in a room with a built-in desk, meaning it always was an office), but I need publishing space as well (including a decent-sized monitor), so the home office/Ken’s office will become my workspace, and Ken’ll move downstairs. I’m not quite sure how I’ll lay it all out yet, and one corner will still need to be for home stuff (bills, personal email, etc.), but I’m really looking forward to it. Having Ken’s slovenly office visible to anyone who comes into the house is far less important than me having the workspace I need. (My bigger dream is to use the apartment over our garage as my office, but we really do adore our tenant/cat sitter…).

This week I’ll be focusing on writing, though. I plan to get a good chunk of a new novel, Seasoned With Danger (under new romantic suspense pen name Dayle St. Clair) hammered out. I’ll work on a little cover design (I’ve got the SWD cover blocked out already) because I’ll have Dean and Allyson around to give me some tips and pointers and suggestions, but the main focus will be writing. Once I get home, I’ll get several things geared up for printing, so I’ll have a few print books available by Christmas. (On the list are gothic novel Waking the Witch, gothic romance Blackwood House, short erotic romance novel In Her Hands, fantasy/SF collection Written on the Coast, and lesbian erotic romance collection Kiss Me Hello. If anyone wants to vote on which ones to do first, fire away! I might even have some done early enough to offer signed editions.)

Ken arrived last night and settled into my little cabin-away-from home at this Historic Anchor Inn here in Lincoln City. His goal this week is to write, if not all of it, then a decent chunk of his nonfiction book about the 2009 Iron Butt Rally. That’s right, Soul’s Road Press is starting a nonfiction arm (no plans to start an imprint, but possibly in the future). He’s already been asked to write some articles for the Iron Butt association magazine, and he’s thinking about some tech manuals as well. And depending on how the IBR goes next year, maybe a book will come out of that, too.  :-)

In the evenings we’ll hang out with Dean and Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Christina F. York and J. Steven York and other local authors and talk shop and listen to Dean tell stories that inevitably end with “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” And we’ll catch up on some movies; the Anchor has a nice selection of DVDs. Last night we snagged The Queen and The Hangover, because, well, we’re weird. We watched the former; tonight we’ll enjoy the latter, and then go back and grab a few more on our list.

In a few minutes we’re off for a long walk on the beach (which I’ve done almost daily since I got here—I do so love the Oregon Coast), so I’m off to get a little work done before we head out.

How are you working towards your dreams today?