book – Betsy Schow

Balancing Act

Something I have always struggled with is balance. Which is somewhat ironic since I have the kanji letters for it tattooed on my back.

My balance issues don’t just stop with tree pose in yoga, I have difficulty balancing all the aspects of my life. Home, school, motherhood, writing, running… sleep. I am notorious for picking one or two, and going gung ho and ignoring all the others. Lately that has been marathon training and writing. At least 5- 6 hours daily is devoted to the two. My poor children are orphans and my house is in shambles.

Next weekend I run my marathon. It’s not an exaggeration to say I feel like I’ve been running myself ragged. I’m really looking forward to the change in pace. But I have been so all involved in the running and writing, that I am losing sight of all the other things in my life that need attention. I have been killing myself and stressing to finish this new book on some arbitrary deadline that I have created for myself. It’s not much fun anymore, and I am getting too close to the story and I think it needs some breathing room. I need to spend some time on other things. In particular, I really want to walk through my house without tripping on toys and clothes. Or tools… hint hint to my hubby.

So let the great house clean up begin. For the next two weeks I am dedicating a few hours everyday to cleaning the disaster formerly known as my home. Of course, when I clean, I still have trouble with balance. I tend to go with the torch it all mentality. If it’s not necessary in my daily function, it gets donated to someone else. My husband almost hates to ask me to clean, because he loses so much stuff afterwards. But he’s a pack rat and who really needs 5 old computer monitors anyway?

So wish me luck. Hopefully I won’t fall victim to the mountain of crap in my garage, and hopefully I can still find time to get an hour a day in on the WIP. That would truly be a good sign that my balancing is improving.

B is for Birthday

B is my all time favorite letter of the alphabet. Here are a few of my favorite B things.

Obviously, B is for Betsy. But it’s also for bear, baby, baboon bums, biscuits, and best of all…. birthdays.

My Birthday is in 2 days, I will be 30…again. My favorite birthday tradition is the Happy Birthday video texts. Each of my sister’s families and my in-laws SMS me a text video of them singing Happy Birthday as a family. The kidlet ones are cute and have the little extras like “Ohh lala” and “Cha cha cha”. The in-laws video is extremely off key and it’s become a matter of pride to see who’s video is the most ear shattering.

Then there’s the Birthday dinner. The one night a year where I take off all my food restrictions ad my hubby prepares all my favorites. This year it’s Sweet corn spoon bread, sweet potato, caramel mash, and Lion House Rolls. Life doesn’t get any better– until the weigh in the next day 😉

B is also for book. As in I have a deadline to meet and a book to finish writing.

What’s your favorite B word?

En-Title-ment Issues

Here’s a word of advice for you aspiring authors. Do not get attached to your title. Because there is a decent chance you won’t get to keep it. What I mean is, you are working hard on your manuscript and it grows on you. Either like a fungus or a baby. Depends on how well its going at the time. So you give it a name or a title in your head and you fall in love. Then you submit it to agents or publishers and someone picks it up. Then their marketing team gets a hold of it. That’s when you and your beloved title might break up.

It is the marketing team’s job to make your book the most attractive package it can. That means a stellar title and cover. But hey, I thought my title was pretty catchy. Maybe to me it was, but the team seemed to differ. Right here is where you can be in trouble. If you are very attached to your newborn book, it can be hard to accept any other name than the one you’ve blessed it with.

This is my current dilemna. I had named my manuscript the Philosophy of Finishing. Cedar Fort said, “Ehh” to that name. They batted around a few options for the next two weeks, but nothing else sounded good to me. Then they picked a title and subtitle that I was not fond of. I was wondering “Oh no, did my book die? Will anyone want to pick it up.” I argued back and they put it to a vote on FaceBook. We have yet to see the results.

At this point I think I need to trust in the experts. Its true that no one will love and know your book like you do. But your marketing team should hopeful have years of experience knowing exactly how to reach your audience and bookstore buyers. I’m hoping mine does at least. So at this point I’m going to let go and let the experts. I will post soon with the results of the survey. Cross your fingers that it’s something good.

But in the meantime, for your work in progress, realize that it’s the publisher that sets the title not you. And it’s in their best interest to makeup a good one. After all they are investing in you and your book. They need it to sell too. 🙂