poets

My First Year as an Indie (Lessons Learned)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

A blast from the past. March of 2013

Part I

Can you believe I have a solid year behind me in this adventure as an independent author/publisher?

My how time flies when you’re having fun.

So what have I learned other than how to type while holding fried chicken in one hand and a biscuit in the other?

Who doesn’t love fried chicken and a biscuit?

A lot!

Do I have any advice for beginners?

Oh yes! Indeed I do and my first pearl of wisdom is this: cut the biscuit in half, strip the chicken and make a sandwich. It will be much easier to handle.

I would also suggest turning the keyboard over and gently shaking the crumbs loose verses picking between the keys. That tip will save you time and keep your proofreader from returning your manuscript un-proofed with a note that says Get back to me when you’re sober!

I don’t have any real pearls but if you’re interested I’ll be happy to share a handful of pebbles and opinions.

#1 Support: Get some! No man is an island. Editing, proofreading and polishing don’t necessarily mean stripping away your authenticity.

Surround yourself with people you can trust, people who are willing to encourage you, offer constructive criticism and be brutally honest when necessary.

If your book is your baby, prepare it to face the world and get that baby some child support.

Lesson: Keep it real even in fiction. Find people you can trust (paid or voluntary) and listen to them.

#2 Reviews: Good reviews are fabulous but they don’t guarantee massive sales. On the other hand bad reviews definitely hurt sales.

You may cry. You may get furious. But do not respond!!

Responding to bad reviews and personal insults is a no-no.

Lighten up, insults can be funny. Learn from the constructive ones and laugh at the assholish ones.

Yes, I just made assholish a real word.

Not everyone likes spaghetti so what makes you think everyone will like what you dish out?

Lesson: There will be haters. Get used to it.

#3 Social Media: I firmly believe in building an online presence and interacting. I said in- ter-act-ing.

That means relating to people,not only networking and connecting but talking and occasionally having a conversation.

I tend to avoid a couple of the most popular media sites for that very reason.

How do you respond to “Buy my book! My book’s on sale!”

You say something like “I see you’re from Manhattan. How is the weather there?”

And they respond with “Here’s a link to Amazon. Be sure to leave a review.”

Yeah. I’m not talking to them anymore. Neither is a lot of other people.

Lesson: In-ter-act.

I like blogging. I’m not sure how many book sales it has garnered (if any) but I enjoy it.

It’s like bloggers are… wow, I don’t know… like they are real human beings or something.

Lesson: Blog away. Blogging has zero calories and you meet great people from all over the world. It’s an inexpensive means of travel and sometimes you find the inspiration needed for your next story.

While we are on the topic of blogging allow me to weave in an experience related to marketing.

I recently consulted with a couple of PR firms who shall remain nameless. One suggested I buy their book (argh). Um, no. I am looking for someone to create “the buzz” for me — just do it okay?!

The only buzz I am motivated to create comes in the aftermath of consuming liquor.

The second person (much more helpful) looked at my social media sites and informed me I was not promoting myself enough. The conversation went like this: “You’re just there” she explained while politely pointing out I was not utilizing said media properly. “I’m sorry but one more ‘buy my book-my book’s on sale’ and I may rip the arm off of this chair. I can’t do it, that’s why I contacted you special magic guru lady.”

She may be a lovely little witch, but she is not a special guru lady.

“It’s not that easy anymore. What about your blogger account?” She was scanning search results as we spoke, “Do you have one?”

“Well sure. I posted something about 2013 releases but I’m more comfortable at WordPress.”

“Let me see what you are doing on WordPress…  It seems your focus is on photography and just hanging out?”

“Yeah, it’s like a bar/library/art gallery, cool huh? Except they don’t serve drinks. It’s  BYOB.”

“That’s fine but you need to squeeze in a pitch directing readers to buy your books.”

“I have a website listing most published works. Just google Janna Hill and you’ll find me.”

“That’s not enough. You’re going to have to get more involved in promoting yourself. You have to get out of your comfort zone.”

“Oops my macaroni is burning. I’ll have to get back to you.”

Lesson: Even for a fee no one will do it all for you. I need to “get out of my comfort zone.”  

Maybe I will but if I ever respond to a greeting with “Buy my book. Leave me a review” somebody shoot me please.

*BYOB: bring your own bottle could now mean bring your own book.

Waiting ( A Poem for Friday’s Free for All)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

Waiting

For hopes that hung on a chicken bones. For hearts that lived in chains
For pods of green that died unknown. While waiting for the rain

For dreams left bare on empty prayer
For souls that wished in vain
For tears unshared in mute despair 
While waiting for a change


For you and I and all mankind
For worlds where peace was slain 
For faith and mind no man can bind
We wait and wait again.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒅 . . . Oh man, I freaking love that line.

𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮  Getting me Back (The Voices Within) 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 . 🫶🏼

Nostalgia

/ Janna Hill / 2 Comments

She would be 66 years old today. Instead, she is frozen in time at 17 and I ….

I sit with what I have left of her – a lot of cherished memories, a handful of photographs, her purse, her wallet, her 45 records and her old scrap book.

𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳. 🥂

Little Rascals (Tuesday’s Tell-All)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment
Mine’s on the right. Who’d have guessed.

I love this photo for so many reasons. I wonder what those little boys are thinking? What one said that created such an expression in the others.

My 5th grandson started playing baseball this year. He, like my other grandsons, is a rascal on the field and off.

The photo made me think of my other grandsons (their ages range from 10 months to 22 years) and some of the things they discuss/discussed.

I imagine right about now I have a grin like the little guy in the picture as I remember how I busied myself, pretending to be unaware while they talked.

Their conversations ranged from bugs to books and dinosaurs and bikes. Rocks and clouds and robots. …

When the older boys discussions evolved to automobiles and girls I busied myself out of hearing range.

And just for clarification, I don’t consider it eavesdropping if I’m in your presence.

As If #NPM

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

As If

As if your shoulder

brushing against my breast

in a crowded room

meant anything to me…

As if your smile

would thaw my frosty heart…

As if your constant assurance

could overcome my cynicism…

As if the invisible boulevard

would never rise up and beckon.

The street lamp

glows in the bleached mist

only three floors below us.

I blow streams of smoke

into the black night and hum

to the drone of the unseen road.

Be steel my bleating heart!

Be quiet! Be silent, hard steel.

As if wearing your tee-shirt made us lovers.

From Getting Me Back (The Voices Within)

Autopilot (Thankful Thursday)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

Lord!!! My mind is almost as blank as the paper in front of me. (Oh it’s worse than writers block y’all 😂.) Still, I am thankful for the coffee, the scenery and autopilot. Autopilot gets me out of bed every day.

As rust falls from the anchor (A Poem & A Picture)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

And on we roll..

Week two of NPM (A Poem & I Picture) where I share a photo taken by me and a poem by some awesome poet. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Anchor for A Poem & A Picture

 

 

By Chris Green (Poetry Soup)

Where do sandcastles go

when the tide engulfs the view and

lonely shorelines crest in tear drops

beneath white capped dream chasers,

foam laced erasers combing sanded wishes,

taking towers in the water’s rage

as moats become minor indentations

on a beach bathed in the moon light,

moving gleams in metronome tickling

as our hearts wash out to sea

drowning in the depths of forbidden love

and with my final breath,

salt water drenched I profess

that forbidden or not, I love you

and the lighthouse shines its orbiting light

as I go under for the last time

happy in my declaration

as rust falls from the anchor

and I wait until we meet again,

on the island of meant to be

 

Psst, if you want to read some of my poetry Getting Me Back (The Voices Within) released this month and is now available in digital or paperback.

Cloud- by Sandra Cisneros (A Poem & A Picture)

/ Janna Hill / 9 Comments

 “If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper.”—Thich Nhat Hanh

 Cloud

Before you became a cloud, you were an ocean, roiled and murmuring like a mouth.

You were the shadow of a cloud crossing over a field of tulips.

You were the tears of a man who cried into a plaid handkerchief.

You were a sky without a hat.

Your heart puffed and flowered like sheets drying on a line.

And when you were a tree, you listened to trees and the tree things trees told you.

You were the wind in the wheels of a red bicycle.

You were the spidery Maria tattooed on the hairless arm of a boy in downtown Houston.

You were the rain rolling off the waxy leaves of a magnolia tree.

A lock of straw-colored hair wedged between the mottled pages of a Victor Hugo novel.

A crescent of soap.

A spider the color of a finger nail.

The black nets beneath the sea of olive trees.

A skein of blue wool.

A tea saucer wrapped in newspaper.

An empty cracker tin.

A bowl of blueberries in heavy cream.

White wine in a green-stemmed glass.

 And when you opened your wings to wind, across the punched-tin sky above a prison courtyard, those condemned to death and those condemned to life watched how smooth and sweet a white cloud glides.

*Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer best known for her acclaimed first novel The House on Mango Street (1984) and her subsequent short story collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991). She is the recipient of numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and is regarded as a key figure in Chicana literature.

Oh my goodness, those final lines left me a little misty eyed. I do not recall reading Sandra Cisneros before but I certainly enjoyed Cloud and in case I haven’t told you 1000 times  Getting Me Back (The Voices Within) released this month and is now available in digital or paperback. I will be saying it again, and again… and again in case you missed it. As a matter of fact I am going to paste it on every NPM post.

P.S. If you have a recommendation for a poem (even your own) Get in Touch

We Got Goals – It’s National Poetry Month Baby!

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

Is that a lame title? I can’t help help it, it made me laugh. If you could hear the fella in my head you’d laugh too — or not.

Anywho…

It was a lovely long weekend but now I am back. You wanna see some pictures? Okay.

Pardon my wipers…
Raindrops aren’t falling on my head…
She’ll be comin’ ’round the mountain…

Starting tomorrow I will be posting A Poem & Picture. I can’t guarantee you that I will post daily throughout April but I will earnestly try for two or three a week. There, I’ve set a goal.

The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

  • highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
  • encourage the reading of poems
  • assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms
  • increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
  • encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and
  • encourage support for poets and poetry.

It is NPM, that stands for National Poetry Month baby! Ahhh, I crack me up.

And in case I haven’t told you 1000 times  Getting Me Back (The Voices Within) released this month and is now available in digital or paperback. I will be saying it again, and again… and again in case you missed it. 😉

A Poem & A Picture (A Limerick to Lighten Your Mood)

/ Janna Hill / 2 Comments

I don’t know about you guys, but I was in dire need of some humor to get me through NPM. I scrolled & scrolled through my inbox and found nothing to make me grin. 😦 But then I remembered a fella named Regis…

Molly

by Regis Auffray

 

Collie (photo provided by Regis Auffray)

Poem & Picture provided by Regis Auffray

I once met a lass named Molly,

Who made me vulnerable to folly;

I fell for her charms,

Took her in my arms,

Molly was a sweet Irish collie.