Back (Maybe) after a long hiatus and WOOT! a new book!

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   Lionrhodposted 8 years ago

   It's been AGES since I've been on HubPages! Miss you folks!
   
   First my computer died, leaving me without logins or access to much of my data for several months.
   
   Then my baby sister's health situation (rectal cancer) got to the point where I had to suspend most of my everyday stuff to help her and my mom through it.
   
   Living 1300 miles away where I had to hear everything going on, but couldn''t do squat about day-to-day things like housecleaning and driving my sister to appointments was absolutely maddening. During the time I devoted my writing almost exclusively to a novel of her life. (The novel is entirely depressing and will most likely never get finished or published, but it was a comfort to her in her last year.)
   
   She passed early in September. The memorial is this weekend. I'm still in mourning/coping/adjustment but grateful she's beyond pain.
   
   I'm now focusing on beginning to get my life back on track and helping Mom do the same. (Mom hasn't done anything but care for my sister almost round the clock for two years.)
   
   Meanwhile most of my Hubs have gone way quiet (not like they weren't originally) and I'm seriously debating migrating everything to my website and setting up an adwords campaign there. What's the advice on this lately?
   
   LOL my income for the month here at HP is (okay I know I'm not supposed to give a number) in the UNDER single digits. (BTW, is there a way I can access my All-Time earnings so I can see if/when they might ever owe me a payment?)
   
   On a good note, after putting it off all year (due to all the above) the 2nd Edition ebook of SpellCraft Secrets should be published in the next day or three. Cover (at least a proto-cover) got finished this morning and only 6 or so more graphics to go before I can upload and hit the publish button!  YAY! Go me! (I don't think I'm allowed to include a link, but you can probably find it via my profile.
   
   So what's new?
   
   Hugs to all my buddies!
   
   Lion

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      theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Welcome back, but so sorry to hear of your loss. I can't imagine the pain your family must be suffering right now.
      
      Good news on the book though. I love spells and stuff - where will we be able to buy it - Kindle, I hope?

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      Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Lionrhod,
      
      I'm very sorry to hear of your loss, and I think a biography is one of the most beautiful gifts a writer can give. I'm sure your sister treasured her time reading your words.
      
      You can see your earnings to date (and all-time history) by going to your My Account page, clicking the Earnings tab, then selecting the Balance History page. You will have to answer the secret question you selected when you signed up, and then you will be able to view all your balance information. Your current balance will be located at the bottom.
      
      I'd also like to offer my congratulations on your book.

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         Lionrhodposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you!
         
         I'll  check out the specs - appreciate knowing where to look,
         
         I feel bad because my sister hoped our book would be a best-seller, and might provide an income for her daughters after she passed. OMG she actually wanted to write to a doctor who provided alternate care and suggest our book WOULD be a best seller and that he could collect his (phenomenally high though potentially worthwhile) fees from that.
         
         Now that she has passed, the only outcome for the protagonist is, "she had a crappy life and she died young."  Pretty much way too depressing to finish this all.
         
         When I started the book it was my hope that it would turn the CPS (Child Protective Services) on its butt, and perhaps provide a healthy look at Borderline Personality Disorder, which my sister's daughter suffer's from. LOL I'd actually thought we could STILL have a decently happy ending because it SEEMED like my niece was getting her stuff together - until she STILL insisted (entirely NOT true) that my sister had beat her as a child. (My sister was so anit-violence, it'd make anyone who wanted the slightest bit of discipline crazy. Meanwhile my niece had to be physically restrained from harming herself and others, which is what I think she now equates to "violence."
         
         Yes, Janette did love my writing, and often told me that I'd captured her feelings with my words even when I wasn't there to witness the scenes. I am so very grateful I could give her that small gift.
         
         Thanks for your congrats!

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            Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Books about sorrow and adversity can be more powerful and meaningful to readers than you might imagine. Just look at novels like Nectar in a Sieve or The Inheritance of Loss. But even if you find your sister's story too difficult and sad to finish, I'm sure the hope of its success was a great comfort to her.

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               Lionrhodposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Haven't read any of those books, but...I'm hoping they at least shed some positive light on hard situations.
               
               With this one - she spends the 1st third of the book being physically beaten by her ex, the next third being emotionally, mentally and legally beaten by CPS and the last 3rd dying of cancer with her kids basically not giving a damn.
               
               I'm not trying to be negative here - if you can let me know where I can find a ray of sunshine, I'm totally willing to see if I can make it happen.
               
               But I suspect that both books above were not "dark upon dark upon dark" but had rays of light within them.
               
               Maybe it's too soon and I'm too close. I'm not seeing the ray of light at the moment. Maybe a couple years distance will help me find it.

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                  Christy Kirwanposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  I understand. There's nothing that makes losing a loved one easy. Especially when they deserved so much better than they got from life.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Lionrhod, it's much too soon to consider it, but I wonder if eventually, you could use the essence of your sister's story to write a fictional novel? 
            
            That way you protect your family's privacy, you can set it in a more inspirational/hopeful framework, but it can still be a wonderful tribute to your sister.

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      tsmogposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Welcome back! Thoughts and prayers with condolence.
      
      Hooray both for the book and the renewing the a quest here at HupPages. Positive energy and thoughts sent toward those new adventures. :-)

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         Lionrhodposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks so much!

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      Elsie Hagleyposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Nice to see you back. Sorry to hear about the loss of your sister.
      Wishing you all the best with your book and future writing.

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   Glenn Stokposted 8 years ago

   Lion,
   
   Sorry to hear about the loss of your sister. I'm sure she appreciated having a sister such as you by her side as she went through such as difficult time.
   
   I see Christy answered your question about where to find your accumulated earnings. As for your other question - about debating on moving your hubs elsewhere, I'd suggest you give it a chance here.
   
   HubPages has been doing a lot of work to help increase traffic across the entire site. Google continues to fine tune their methods to give users what they are searching for. And HP is always keeping up to date with their requirements. They also share with us what needs to be done, on our part, so that our hubs do better with Google search. So I hope you hang in there.
   
   Congratulations on finishing your next ebook. I see you've published many.

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   LongTimeMotherposted 8 years ago

   Welcome back, Lion.
   
   With the passing of a bit of time, you'll have a chance to reflect on Janette's life. Perhaps then you'll feel like returning to her project and change the structure of what you've written so far. While living through the problems it is natural to write chronologically.
   
   I understand your disappointment in not getting the happy ending you'd all hoped for. And good on you for seeing it would undoubtedly be disappointing for readers as well. With that in mind, if ever you decide to try working on it again I suggest you consider turning the story around.
   
   Perhaps you should begin with her passing. Her memorial. Something that makes clear to readers from the very beginning that this will be a challenging journey. Readers will know she died. Perhaps in the beginning you might even tell readers how she died.
   
   What we won't know though (and what many may be interested in hearing), is what she learned from her life. What were her biggest obstacles, challenges, successes, failures etc. What support did she receive - and what further help might have made a difference?
   
   How did she face up to problems with her health, and her daughter's health? Did she have any regrets, things she wished she'd done differently? Were there any parts of her life of which she was proud, or which made you or other members of your family proud?
   
   In other words, what can readers learn from Janette's life, death, and experiences? Is there any advice or benefits you can share from her experience that might make a similar journey a little easier for others?
   
   Then, when you've cut and pasted bits you've already written and added extra bits to them to suit the new structure, you'll finally know what your book is actually about ... and be able to choose an appropriate title. Who knows? It might actually be a best-seller.
   
   Just a few thoughts for you, Lion. One day you might want to have another go at finishing her precious book. But, if not, I don't think you should feel bad about that.
   
   It was, after all, a magnificent gift for your sister.
   
   Take care.

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