This Week's Odds and Ends

Being sick is tough. I know, I know--you're saying, "But you work from home! You get the best of both worlds!"

Okay.

Sure.

Not really.

While I may still be able to get some work done (if I have the energy to walk the five feet from my bed to my desk), I don't get sick pay. I don't get to get away from my workspace. And the whole all-day PJ thing? I wear those everyday anyway (we call them lounge pants here, not PJs). So anyway, I'm better now, which means I have a TON of stuff to catch up on.

And Then There's the Bad News...

So, as my illness was giving me one more swift kick before it left, I get an email. Kindle Scout is shutting down, effective today for new projects. Way to give us a heads up, Amazon. This is reminiscent of when Write On closed down. There's no real explanation, there's not much anyone who used the service can do. I'm assuming Amazon was simply tired of wasting time and money on something that maybe gave them ten books a year to publish. What I'm wondering now is whether their imprints (Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, Topple, etc.) will ramp up the number of submissions they consider--I'm guessing that's going to be a big fat NO. 

One little bright spot in all of this--I no longer have to agonize about which manuscript I wanted to submit to Kindle Scout. I'm not sure why the publishing industry (notably Amazon's giant footprint in the industry) seems to be closing in on indie authors and working to shut them out, but I'm sure most of us will still survive. 

Off to Camp

Camp NaNoWriMo is in full swing. I've been working on my project, but of course I keep forgetting update my word count on the site, so it looks like I'm slacking off. I know that I can hit my goal of 25k before the end of the month, so I'm not worried. If I could get a full 50k out of it, I'd be jumping for joy. 


Oh, and if you're interested (and haven't read it yet), you can download Unfolding Life for free during the month of April to help celebrate National Poetry Month. Happy reading!