PHOTOS OF IRELAND IN MARCH OF 2013 BY ROXANNE RIX.

BOOKS BY GRETCHEN RIX AT  http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:   The List by J. A. Konrath.

BUY THIS BOOK if you’re feeling charitable towards writers who need  your help. The author Dave Farland needs help right now due to an accident in his family and no insurance. See here for detailed information http://www.davidfarland.com/writing_tips/?a.  This Wednesday, April 10, has been designated Help Dave Farland day, but it doesn’t have to stop here. Anytime later in the year if you feel charitable, buy this book and it will help.  Nightingale  http://amzn.com/B006P7SEBY.

Why this book? Because it’s one of his two self-published books and he gets the lion’s share of the profits from it. The other book is basically for authors only, but here it is, too Million Dollar Outlines  http://amzn.com/B00B9JYJ6W.

And why help this particular author you’ve possibly never heard of? Help him because he stands in for one of your favorite authors who’s lucky enough right now not to need any help. I don’t know him either, but over the years I’ve tried to participate each and every time I’ve heard one of these calls for help because I love novels and you don’t get novels without the writers behind them.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Fizz & Peppers at the Bottom of the World by M.G. King.

 I recently read an article about writer’s block and how to work yourself out of it. I laughed. Some people will disagree, but there is really no such thing as writer’s block. It is many things: procrastination, laziness, being too busy, the every-day sort of depression you get when you’re sad about something, clinical depression, wanting to do something else instead, the list goes on and on. Calling any of your extended periods of not writing “writer’s block” is just romanticizing the facts. You can write if you want to. Anyone who wants to write can carve out enough time to write one hundred words a day. That’s about a paragraph. Or two. And over a year one hundred words a day equals about half of a completed book.

Many of us expect the words to flow, and often they do. But there are times you have to fight for each and every paragraph. Some writers have to fight for each sentence, and a select few do it word by word. This is not writer’s block. It’s just a hard writing day. Reading scads and scads of how-to books on writing and doing nothing else but attending writer’s meetings and conventions is not writer’s block. This is simply “not writing.” Probably because you don’t really want to write. I had a long period just like this about twenty years ago, and at one point I seriously considered giving up on my pretension of writing. This wasn’t writer’s block. It was having a lot more things I wanted to do instead.

I made a commitment instead. To write every day (well, most days) and complete whatever I started. Romance Writers of America and its local groups were a big help to me in keeping this commitment. In fact, they require a commitment, though they don’t check up on you to make sure. I completed my first novel by following their rules of membership. I finished my second novel many, many years after that when I joined Romance Writers of America for the second time. I finished my third and fourth novels because of the opportunities suddenly offered by Amazon.com and its Kindle Direct Publishing program.

Everyone using the excuse that they’ll never be published anyhow, or no one will read their books if they are published, now has had that rug pulled out from under their feet. You can be published and you can reach readers. Don’t let “writer’s block” hold you back. Finish what you start, every time. Don’t follow my example in taking a ten-year hiatus “writer’s block” vacation from writing. It was one of my biggest mistakes. And I guess I can claim it as “writer’s block” if I want to. Makes me sound more romantic.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Snowbound by Blake Crouch. Bitter Recoil by Steven F. Havill.

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix  http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix  http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  M Is For Malice by Sue Grafton.

Photos by Roxanne Rix. Books by Gretchen Rix  http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

 The Central Texas Oil Patch Museum in Luling, Texas, hosts its annual MEET THE AUTHORS event Saturday, March 23, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Come participate in a group autographing session that includes local historian and writer Donaly E. Brice and Luling resident Chuck Parsons.

Also expected to attend are Judy Barrett (Recipes From and For the Garden), Wanda Carter (United Daughters of the Confederacy Cookbook), Kemp Dixon (From Plymouth Rock to Rocky Creek), Peggy Engledow and Victoria Daywood (Bad Boys of Caldwell County), Patti Jones Morgan (Ladies About Town), Max Oliver (Next Boom), Candice Wiester (Country Proud), and Patti Shafer (the Annie the Texas Ranch Dog series).

And while you’re there, visit the museum, eat at the famous City Market bbq restaurant or the charming 1896 Tavern at the Francis-Ainsworth House. Take a peek at the San Marcos River from the Zedler Mill, and take the pump jack tour (look it up).

Spring has sprung. Bluebonnets are out (but not for long). Do something different this weekend.

Photograph by Roxanne Rix

You can see my novels and stories at

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Timecaster by J.A. Konrath. The Big Year by Mark Obmascik.

Once upon a time (except this really happened), the head librarian of the Dr. Eugene Clark Library in Lockhart, Texas, spent about a week camped out on its tiny domed roof to raise money. And many years later the daughter-in-law of one of my friends wrote a brightly illustrated picture book about it. THE LIBRARIAN ON THE ROOF. M.G. King is one of the Central Texas authors we promote on our publishing website http://rixcafetexican.com.

She’s got a new book. Right now it’s only available on Amazon.com as an e-book, and if you’re one of the subscribers to Amazon’s lending program, you can read it for free. FIZZ & PEPPERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD.

http://amzn.com/B00BQ6M7SA. If you like trolls, well, you like trolls. Give this book a look. And check out her website at http://mgking.us/

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Mystral Murder by Lee Hanson. Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Heartshot by Steven F. Havill. Final Justice by W.E.B. Griffin.

 By March 1 all my stories and novels should be on sale across all venues (Kindle, Nook, Smashwords). That means 99 cents for my short stories TRUEPENNY, THE RETURN OF TRUEPENNY, SAINTS & SINNERS, THE TAKING OF RHINOCEROS 456, and WHEN GYMKHANA SMILES (only available on Kindle) and $2.99 on the novels ARROYO, TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS, and THE COWBOY’S BABY (available everywhere).

Links:  Kindle

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

Nook

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

and Smashwords

http://smashwords.com/books/view/79235

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  Little Deadly Things by Harry Steinman. Bleed Through by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

This is one of the markets where I sell my books. Once a month (if the weather is okay, meaning not below fifty degrees or over eighty-five), my sister and I sit in a parking lot with my books piled on a table and engage in commerce. Our fellow vendors sell pottery, yard art, paintings, drawings, folk art, and small sculptures. So far. It’s a very interesting group. And we’ve got the food trailers in the next lot. And live music. If you live in Central Texas (or are driving through San Marcos one second Saturday), stop by and say hello, and eat at one of the food trailers. You’ll enjoy yourselves. And if you’re a writer in another community, look for something like this and join. You’ll sell your books and get some fresh air and sunshine in the bargain. Art Unhitched is located at 312 E. Hopkins at CM Allen Parkway in San Marcos.

WHAT I’VE READ THIS WEEK:  Haunted Tales from the Dead of Night by P.A. Peirson.

When I started this blog I meant to chronicle the writer’s life from the lower end of the scale, which is where I figured I’d be. And so far, that’s a correct assessment. Modestly successful.  But modestly successful is way better than not writing at all, or not publishing at all.

This is what you might expect from a year of publishing what you write at my modestly successful level. I’m not going to go into electronic publishing sales right now, but my success there has also been modest. Here’s what we did with the paperback books I sold in 2012. The Cowboy’s Baby was published in 2010. Arroyo in 2011 and Talking To The Dead Guys in 2012.

I sold 44 copies of Arroyo, 38 copies of The Cowboy’s Baby, and 122 of Talking to the Dead Guys. All paperback and all sold within 3 counties in 2012. The sales equalled $2633.75 which does not take into consideration the cost of printing the books (or anything else like booth costs). We sold these mostly on weekends at the local farmer’s market, and a couple of local festivals, through consignment sales at a flower and gift shop and a trophy store, at a meet-the-author’s event, at a science fiction convention, and to local women’s clubs.

Two hundred and four paperback books. If you never did any better than that would you be happy with your success? That’s 204 readers, folks. Not bad at all.

http://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix

http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix

WHAT I READ BETWEEN BLOGS:  Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. Encrypted by Lindsay Buroker. The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes. Volcano Watch by Toni Dwiggins. The Basement by Bari Wood. Dead Space by Lee Goldberg. (I see that I’m reading too much and not writing enough. That’s just about to change.)