Well...cost is the biggest issue for me.

I have to weigh what it will cost me monetarily < because the time isn't that big a deal to me because I have LOTS of that on my hands..lol > because I am barely scraping as it is. Something like this doesn't come cheap. That much I DO know.

But...more and more, I am realizing that what I have done is actually good. I tried to look at my work from the perspective of a reader...and I realized that, if I picked up the book in a store and read a little of it, I would definitely want to buy it.

So, yeah. I most definitely WANT to do whatever I can to get it published. I think, with all of the things I haven't done that I should have over the course of my lifetime, I OWE it to myself to get it published one way or another. Or at least make one HELL of an attempt.

Besides...Lex sez I should.

What more endorsement do I need??? lol

Hey, Lex. Would you be interested in writing a forward for it???

Lex, a friend suggested that I take a look at this site as a potential option for getting published.

Would you mind taking a look and giving your thoughts??

https://www.createspace.com/

Absolutely! That's sort of a "mark of distinction," isn't it? When other great authors want you to write a forward?

I have used them, and I would recommend them highly. Very little outlay up front, they're owned by Amazon, and you retain the right to shop your stuff around to other publishers. They get you the ISBN number for free (other places charge as much as $100) -- the only restriction being that you can't use their ISBN on another publisher's version if the other publisher publishes your work.

Ok. That looks like the direction I will go in then.

When I looked through the site, it definitely appeared to be a pretty good deal.

Getting your seal of approval gave it that little " push ".

Thanks, Lex. As always.

There are a few who respond steadily.

Some are more sporadic.

A couple of other writing threads have faded away completely.

Oh yeah, baby!! I can tell this is going to be fun. I love the idea of a girl who sees a color no one else can see. This is some rich material! I'd like to talk more about this one. Here's a piece of what I am working on...

Illusion Challenges Logic

There was one big problem with Phin's love of the coffee bean. They spoke to him. Every touch of his fumbling hands brought their oils oozing into his smooth skin. As they slipped through his fingers they said, "Don't drop me. I am the fragile one." And he knew from this that he had to practice his own death.

By a command, of which he was sure, the beans had instructed him to fall. Fall through the grates of the parking ramp in the next block. The same ramp where he had investigated car highjackings as a self-proclaimed citizen on patrol. He had given himself the authority, and the obligation, to personally call out to kids, warn young teens on scooters and bicycles, "Follow turns slowly, and watch out for backup lights!" They rarely listened to him, in fact more than a few laughed in his face. Now he was back at the parking ramp for a different reason. How would he fit his enormous body through the grates, as the coffee beans directed? He would have to pry them open. And so he did, easily. With the same pry bar found at the scene of Dawny Swan's near-drowning, the long metal grate in the floor had just enough weakness in the middle to bend and let Phin in. For a moment, he worried that the kids on wheels would drop in behind him.

The Conversation Within

The Coffee Bean was calling me. Not the beans, but the cafe. The Coffee Bean. Later on, I sort of figured out, it may have been the actual beans after all. They talked to Phineas, why not me? All I knew, was I had to get out of the house, per doctor's orders. This may sound silly to most people, just downright weak. I'll try to explain it to you another way, so you'll see why I actually prayed for the strength. A sick mind like mine, is telling you there is a whopping big snow storm whirling around just outside the window. One you cannot see, but you can feel it. Almost like farmers and Indians can read the weather, days or even months in advance. Have you ever seen street people dressed for Alaska in the middle of a hot summer? They're not just carrying all of their belongings on their backs. Well, they are, but it's more than that. In their heads, an icy storm is brewing. In their backpacks or stolen grocery carts are the makings of a campfire, and weapons, like kitchen knives or turkey thermometers. There is a war going on inside, projected to the outside, a famine, a plague, an end of the world. We are quite certain of disaster, and not much else. If the weather doesn't get you, a human will. And it's not even for wanting to live. Most of us would gladly take death over this kind of existence. Fear is fear, a connection in the brain that says "Panic now!"

Anyone attempting to write their first book, and if so, will you publish it anytime soon?

I'm writing my first book e-book..it's hard work

In this next section, the author, (who does know she is racked with depression and anxiety disorders) gets ready for a first encounter with Phineas, whose mother runs the Coffee Bean.

But I do wonder how many writers and/or would-be writers we actually have on the site....it wouldn't appear to be very many.

FindMe, can you give us a sample of your work? I will give both objective and subjective comments. You can do the same for me? Above. I prefer criticism to love. It's the only way to grow.

Hmm...

One thing about what I have posted in the Creative Writing thread...

I have done no rewrites at this point.

What you see there is what I have in the file I use for my writing.

The bad thing is, once I put the " The End " on it, I KNOW I'll start looking back through it and find things that I can word better or clear up.

I also know that I am going to have a bit of trouble reaching the point where I just have to put it away and call it truly finished.

***IN ADDITION*****

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have read books that I actually had to go back and re-read a paragraph or two because I didn't understand where the author was going with the visual, wording or actions.

I don't want that to happen to me!

A small excerpt from my current project...