I came across SJ Rozan’s journal, From Manuscript to Bookstore: The Publishing Process, a few months ago when I was looking for publishing information for a friend. Rozan is a mystery writer with 10 published books and received the Edgar Award for her book, Winter and Night (excerpt). Her journal is written as she traverses the necessary steps in getting her last book, Absent Friends (excerpt), published.

For anyone interested in the publishing process, Rozan’s journal is a must read. I found the information insightful and revealing. Insightful in that even published authors have to edit their work and that there are more steps to the publishing process than I knew about. Revealing because Rozan writes freely about her personal frustrations as she gets her manuscript polished and ready for publication. She writes about the importance and/or benefits of having a good agent and how lucky she is for having an agent who has also been an editor. Two for one kind of thing. She also answered questions from her readers, even though some of the questions were off topic.

I enjoyed reading Rozan’s journal as would anyone interested in writing and publishing.

Well, it’s now eight days into the NaNo writing month and I have yet to write a single word. I spent too much of my free time trying to lesson the amount of comment spam I was getting and now I have a new toy; a graphic tablet. Wow, I’m loving this new toy. It’s going to take some getting used to but oh, my, what it can do! Anyone who does a lot of graphic work should invest in a tablet.

I bought a UC Logic Tablet on eBay for $69 dollars and that included shipping and tax. What a deal and it works! There is so much it can do that it will take me weeks to figure it all out. Maybe I will draw something and post it here but first I have a Web site to finish.

I also had to buy a new scanner. Windows XP does not support my old scanner and the manufacturer is not writing drivers for Windows XP. I was bummed. I really liked my scanner. I bought a scanner/printer/copier on eBay for $11 dollars. Of course that did not include shipping which was $33 dollars but I think I got a good deal. I haven’t received it yet and hope I like it. I now understand why people get addicted to eBay. It’s like gambling. All the years I’ve been online and I had never used eBay before two weeks ago when I bought my tablet. I’m trying to forget that I ever heard of eBay. I could spend a lot of money trying to save money!

Well, there you have it, all the reasons I’m not writing. I’ve gotten very skilled at avoiding writing. Maybe I really don’t want to write the next great American novel, or I haven’t found my voice, or I lost my voice a few years back. Who knows why I continue to sabotage my writing desires? While I am enjoying all the creative things I’m doing, I know that writing feeds my soul. It doesn’t matter if it’s serious writing or just playful writing, my soul sours to the music of my fingers hitting the keys or the sound of my pen scratching the papers surface. If the only kind of writing I ever do is in a private journal, my soul will be happy. I really should make a commitment to write every day in a journal. It sure would help my mind to dump all the garbage that has been decaying my creative spirit. Now there’s a novel thought.

I hope those who started the NaNo project are getting everything out of it that they hoped to get and more!

For those who happened upon my Calling All Publishers post on Amy Grhran’s article on How to Think Like A Publisher, she has finally posted the last two parts to her four part series. Here is Part 3 and Part 4. For those who might stumble onto this blog, the series is worth the time to read. It will at the very least cause you to pause and give some thought to what you are trying to accomplish with your blog and/or your writing in general.

I’d be interested in what others have to say about Grhran’s article.