"Working" from Home

I am a writer. I have written and published 5 books in 3 years, 2 of which are children's books that I fully illustrated myself...and I work from home.

People don't understand the whole working from home thing. By choice, I write late at night, when everyone else is asleep. It's quiet, the phone isn't ringing, there is nobody asking me where this is or that is, even the animals are asleep. A single chapter or illustrated page can take 7 or 8 hours to complete start to finish. 8 hours of sitting at a computer trying to get a story to meld and make sense, or drawing and re-drawing an illustration and adding layers upon layers of color and shading to make it look as perfect as possible. This makes for wonderful things like eye strain, headaches, sore muscles, (you remain hunched over a drafting table or a computer screen for hours upon hours and see if your body isn't stiff afterward, I dare you.)

And then there is sleep. Usually I fall asleep around 4 am and I get up at 6 am to get the kids off to school. Then I feed myself, catch up on the news, answer the phone that rings a thousand times and do the dishes. And then there's marketing. The UGLY side of being an author. These books don't sell themselves. Posting promos on facebook, twitter, lineked-in...giveaways, discount days, blogging. Reading and reviewing other authors so they will read and review your work, beta reading for another author, keeping up with discussions in all the writer's groups, managing your author or fan page. All this takes WORK, and EFFORT.

Now it is about 10:00 am and I'm starting to fade a bit. So I take a nap (GASP! IN THE DAYTIME?) Yes...I take a nap. Remember now, I have only had two hours sleep so far so I try to get about 3 more hours before everyone comes home from work and school. Then it's time to make dinner, do more dishes, help with homework and whatever else I can get done.

I am not looking for sympathy, here. I choose this. I sacrifice so I can do this. This is my dream. Until these books start making some consistent money, I live without certain luxuries like: dinner out, movies, decent haircuts, new shoes, vacations, a car that was built in this century...you know, all the fun stuff. I am not asking for sympathy, only that you think before you speak. Just because I work from home, doesn't mean I am sitting on my ass doing nothing.  Just because I don't punch a time-clock doesn't mean I didn't accomplish something today. Books aren't written in a day, and not everyone can do it. Everyone, whether they want to admit it or not, is looking for recognition,whether it be a raise, promotion, or a bonus. Writers are no different, we are striving to make a name for ourselves in the form of sales, reviews and fans.

So, if you have a writer in the family, don't be condescending. Don't call them "dreamers' like it's a bad thing, Don't make what you do at work everyday more important than what they do on a day-to-day basis. And for heaven's sake, don't come home from work and say "what did you do all day?" or you just might end up being the casualty in chapter 6. Woodchippers, axes, chainsaws... we dreamers have endless ways of getting even.

I write what I write because:

This is The Snake Pit. My very first novella which I self-published in October of 2010. It is a short, but powerful story about a girl who is literally bullied to death in a public school, a subject I happen to know quite a bit about. People often ask me why I write what I write. Well, I can tell you, it's not for the money, that's for sure. I am going to show you why I write what I write. It is a little long, but bear with me, it's worth reading. (I know, I have read it a hundred times...at least)

I received this in the mail just a few weeks ago:

Dear Ms. Donna L. Dillon

My name is __. I am a freshman at__ and I wanted to thank you for changing my life. I have read most of your books and been impacted in some way by all of them. My personal favorite is The Snake Pit. The book speaks to me. It made me realize that bullying is real. i am used to hearing no-bullying and zero-tolerance, but, The Snake Pit made me realize what is going on around me. After reading the Snake Pit, I realized that newspapers, magazines and TV shows are all full of bullying stories: Girl commits suicide. Boy shoots children and then himself in school. Bullies expelled. Victim of bullying tells his story; everywhere I looked someone was in danger and crying out for help. These are kids just like me who deserve a better life. Since I read your book I notice everything, the whispered words and the silent stares that hurt worse than a punch.

I have changed since reading The Snake Pit. I was not always willing to stand up and voice my opinion just to make things right. I didn't know how to sit down and help a stranger without saying a word. I didn't care about the bullying videos and posters shown at school. I couldn't even help my sister make friends. I was just like everyone else, and I was not proud of it. I was afraid. I was tired of pretending there was world pace and everyone was liked by everyone else. I couldn't ignore the pushes and shoves in the hallway; it was time to push back. I was not the person who I wanted to be, and it was up to me to change that.

Every word made me want to keep reading, even though I knew what lay ahead I had to find out. I want to thank you for influencing me through your book. It targets real life problems that apply to all ages. My sister deals with some bullying and so it's hard for me to watch her cry and stand alone. This book taught me that all she needs is a friend. It taught me to stand up and voice my thoughts I listen and I help her through the rough spots. I am there for her. I could read this book a hundred times and still cry because the pain and torture Cinda endures are almost like I am there enduring them alongside of her. Bullying is seen as a big issue and adults try as hard as they can to stop it but they are not there they don't see what happens when the teacher walks out or turns her back. They do not really dig down deep enough to uncover the secrets of their manipulative students. No one ever really knows until it is too late. This book teaches about life and what goes on underneath the glossy surface.

She stands alone and never speaks. I didn't know her name and I never made an effort to include her. She is smaller and doesn't act like the rest of the kids. She was basically ignored by everyone, seen but just not acknowledged. One day I decided to introduce myself, that was all it took. Now we are close friends, she talks and laughs with me, it's like we have been friends all along. I know I was influenced by The Snake Pit. I stopped judging people by their appearance. I learned that everyone matters and no one should be bullied. I reached out to those who needed help. I am not afraid to stand up to bullying, and am trying to change the world one step at a time.

Sincerely,

Well, I won't use her name, but you can imagine what emotions I went through when I read this. And this, my dear children, is why I write what I do. 

New Year, new goals, let's see if we can pull it together.

I will admit, I am a terrible blogger. I'm lazy. I let it go for months and months and try to forget about it. I don't market the way I should, I don't tweet every day like I should, and I wonder why my sales are less than stellar.

I don't know why I am not a good blogger. I have ideas, clear opinions on all kinds of interesting topics, and if we were sitting here face to face, I would talk your ear off. But, when it's just me this blank screen...not so much. I think most people experience the opposite: face to face they can't quite get their feelings out, but given a blog post and they all become Nicolas Sparks. I envy those people.

Well, this year I am leaving my comfort zone and I will blog, and tweet, and market. Anti-bullying is still my platform and so these two books will be my focus for 2014.

They say you should write what you know. Unfortunately, I know quite a bit about this subject. I was bullied mercilessly because of a birth defect. Basically, people didn't like my face. And what was I going to do about that? Nothing. There was nothing I could do, and they all knew it. I finally quit worrying about it and stuck with my true friends, they shielded me as best they could, and I managed to enjoy at least part of my school years. But, it hurt. I'm not going to lie about that. It got better, but now and then I still hear the voice of a particularly nasty bully in my head. In times of stress, or feelings of self-doubt, that cute little cheerleader's vicious little taunts echo in my head and will wake me from a sound sleep. All of the sudden, I am no longer a 46 year-old mother of four, published author of five books, one of which is an amazon best-seller. I am a fourteen year old ugly girl who hides in the bathroom at school because she is afraid of what the cheerleaders will say to her when she tries to walk past them in the hallway. 

The scars I carry on the outside, from all the surgery I endured growing up, are nothing compared to the emotional scars I retain at the hands of the pretty girls. We are all grown up now, me and my bully. We are both mothers, wives, professional women...but I haven't seen her in over 25 years and I doubt very much if I could be in the same room with her even today. Bullying hurts. Bullying scars. Bullying kills. And this is the message I want to hammer home in 2014. 

So, I will try my best to make these blogs at least interesting, if not amusing. This one wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but it's easy to write what you know. 

Don't Tell Anyone...

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/261263

Oh I am so excited!  I had the privilege of previewing this title while Laurie was still working on it and have been waiting anxiously for the paperback to come out. But first, I will give you the short version, so you know what I'm talking about.

Estelle Trager would rather die outright than suffer from the breast cancer that devastated her mother. So when her own tumors are revealed, she asks her daughter-in-law, Liza, to kill her. Horrified, Liza refuses, but keeps the secret, and other things, from her angry husband. Can she convince Estelle to consider other options before cancer, secrets, and Estelle’s suicidal intentions win out? 

Now I know a few of you would jump at the chance to kill your mothers-in-law. (Not me, I love my MIL.."Hi Linda, I love you, dearie.") But nobody would actually consider it...would you? Estelle, who watched her own mother suffer and die from cancer, and although she saw the signs of her own illness...she basically chose to ignore them.  By the time a diagnosis has been made, Estelle decides she wants to die on her own terms and enlists the help of her daughter-in-law Liza; the girl she once referred to as a "godless hippie."  Of course, Liza refuses to be part of such a plan, but agrees to keep the diagnoses a secret from Estelles son Adam, who is also her Type-A, anal-retentive, control freak husband who also has obvious sibling rivalry issues regarding his brother Charlie, whom Liza briefly dated before him. (Yes all this is happening, and yes, it all works.)

Well, anyway, you may think this is one of those sappy, "everyone pulls together in times of strife" lifetime movie type book, but, no.  Cancer doesn't work that way. Cancer is scary. People's feelings and wishes often get overlooked when others become hell bent on saving them. Nobody is on the same page here, just as it often is in times like this. Liza is a nutritionist and spends most of the time trying to shove wheat grass and herbal tea into Estelle, who doesn't want any part of it. Adam is hell bent on treatment no matter what, and Charlie just sits back and tries his best to put out whatever fires pop up.  Estelle just wants to live as she always has, eating what she wants, drinking what she wants, and taking care of herself. Nobody wants to listen to her and wind up treating her like a child which angers this fiesty old bird to no end. 

I got to read this wonderful novel at a time when all these things were actually happening to me. My dear Aunt Judi was diagnosed with cancer and kept it a secret from us until she had two months left. The family lost their minds. Some wanted treatment, some wanted to let her live out her life in peace, and Aunt Judi was Aunt Judi to the very end. Organized and efficient, she made sure we all got what she wanted us to have. She let us help her when she needed it, and shooed us away when she didn't. We all got to be with her when this wonderful woman left this earth and it was the most precious moment in my life, so this novel hit me extremely hard. I identified with some characters, was angry at others, developed a little crush on Charlie and loved them all, especially Estelle. The whole story is brilliantly written and woven together so well you feel like you are reading about your own family.

Don't Tell Anyone is available now on Smashwords, and will be available soon for kindle and paperback on Amazon.com. For less than the price of a latte, you can experience a story you will never forget. 

Let The Children Read

I apologize. I have been woefully negligent in my blogging as of late. I have been hard at work on my latest work, a children's book called, "Why Did It Have To Rain Today?".  It's about a little boy whose plans for a wonderful Saturday outdoors is ruined by a rainstorm. When his mom tells him to read a book and wait for the rain to pass, Jack is aghast. Read a book?? On a Saturday?? But Jack finds that reading can be an adventure and a fine way to spend a rainy day.

Now I wrote this book for a reason. I have four children. One in college, one in high school, one in jr. high and one in elementary, and I have noticed a trend over the last few years that has me a little disturbed. When I was a kid, we read books and did these things called "book reports". This is probably where I get my love of book reviews. Nowadays, books are read for "points." Each book is worth a certain amount of points depending on the reading level and length of book. All sounds pretty kosher, right? That's what I thought. Now, herein lies the problem. Teachers are not only assigning books of a certain point value, but also of certain genres. Now I can see how this could be beneficial, to a point. It is sort of like having a child try lima beans for the first time. Either they like them, and like lima beans forever, or they make the WTF face and spit them right back at you like a pez dispenser, never to touch a lima bean again.

Genres are like that. I have read science fiction, I do not like science fiction. I tried it, I don't like it, end of story. Being forced to read genres that they have tried and do not like serves no purpose but to turn kids off of reading altogether. They will read what they have to to get their "points" but if reading becomes a chore, kids will never learn to read for pleasure. And that, my dear children, is a very sad thing.

I recently picked out a book I thought my nine year old would like. She looked me in the eye and told me flat out, "I can't read that, it won't count."  It won't count?  Are you kidding me?  It wasn't in the genre she was assigned and therefore she wasn't going to read it because she would not get credit for it. I asked her, "Can't you do a book report on it?" She looked at me like I was from outer space. It was clear that she had no idea what a book report was. I am not a teacher, and I am not here to tell them how to do their jobs, but I say let the children read. If they have read at least one book in the genre assigned and finished it and have voiced their opinions that they don't like that kind of book, by all means, let them find a book that interests them. Let them read for reading's sake, and, guess what? If you let them do book reports, you'll find out exactly how they feel about a story, which is far more interesting than five questions on a standard test. Don't you agree?

Nurture a love of a good story by reading your kids "Why Did It Have To Rain Today?" Available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Have-Rain-Today-ebook/dp/B009EO6K66/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348375156&sr=1-5&keywords=donna+dillon

A sucker for a good story.

I love video games. Not just any old video games, but video games that make me THINK. I am especially fond of detective games that send me searching through haunted castles looking for clues in rooms full of hidden objects. I have been known to stare at my computer screen intently, searching for an elusive banana peel or the top half of a broken umbrella, (yes, these are the types of things they make you look for) and for what, you ask? Because, there is a mystery to be solved!

I recently played a game like this called The Mystery of The Briar Rose. If you didn't already know, Briar Rose is another name for The Sleeping Beauty. Immediately, I was intrigued. I love this story. My role, as detective, (hee hee..I'm a detective...cool!) is to search the castle and find the clues that will awaken the sleeping princess. Now, I know what you're thinking. The prince's kiss is supposed to awaken the princess, right??? Wrong. In this version, apparently the princes kiss broke the curse that caused the townspeople to fall asleep but the poor princess still lies sleeping in the castle somewhere.

The very opening scene of this game almost made me doubt my intelligence.  I came upon two statues. Fairy Godmothers I am told, except for one of the fairies doesn't have a head.  Apparently, having a head is crucial...who knew?? So, off I go in search of the head of the Sleeping Beauty's fairy godmother. I'm in good shape, I've got a fresh pot of coffee and some snacks for energy.

10:00 p.m.  2 hours and 1/2 a pot of coffee later, I still have not found the head of the fabled fairy godmother, I have, however, found a knife, a lantern and half of a sun disc that I have no idea what to do with. More coffee..onward and upward.

Midnight:  I have been at this for four hours. I'm out of coffee and haven't found this stupid head. I have found a well, and I suspect that the fairy's head has been tossed down there. But I have no bucket. I need a bucket. Where the hell am I going to find a bucket? I have now woke the dog up by yelling at the screen and he is pissed.  Oh, well...off I go to find a frigging bucket.

1:30 a.m. I have found said bucket and traipsed it all the way through the castle and out to the courtyard to the well..apparently, you can't use the bucket in the well without a rope. Are you freaking serious? If I could, I would throw the bucket down the well and hope that bitch's head shatters into a million friggin' pieces. After 5 1/2 hours I am invested and I am determined to find this lazy princess and wake her ass up...if I'm not sleeping, neither is she.

3:00 a.m.  I have an hour before my husband gets up for work and finds out I have been up all night playing a game.  I have found the rope and just as I suspected, the fairy godmother's head is down in the well. (I suspect it was thrown there by the last person to play this game.) I traipse this head back out of the courtyard, through the creepy cemetery and all the way back to the beginning of the game to give it back to the rightful owner. A little drawer appears which holds the 2nd half of the sun disc. Really?? That's all I get??? The second part of a stupid disc that I have no idea what to do with. Do I give up?? No.  Wanna know why?  Because I am brainless...that's why.  Back into the castle I go to shove this disc somewhere....anywhere.

4:00 a.m.  I have finally found the princess and the use of the sun disc.  I did it!!!  She is awake and has an important message for me! This is why I have solved all these puzzles, searched all the rooms and stayed awake until my eyes felt like they were going to jump out of my head. I press my face even closer to the computer screen because I have now lost most of my brain cells and congnitive function. The message from my beloved Briar Rose:

Thank you for awakening me. But you must hurry and find the Frog Prince before the curse floods the entire kingdom and kills us all!!

Awwww...hell no. I did my job...those bastards can fend for themselves .Looking over at the dog who is even more annoyed with me than before, I shut the lid of my computer. My husband, now awake and  ready for work gives me a funny look as he finds me still awake and trying to apologize to a dog.

"Everything okay?"

I peer at him through bloodshot eyes. My hair is standing on end from running my fingers through it in frustration. My hands are shaking from the constant infusion of coffee and my legs feel like jello.

"Yep.  The princess is awake, but the townspeople better learn to swim...fast."

He didn't even bat an eye. That's not even the strangest thing I've said to him this week.

I am an Indie Mudblood.

  I received a one-star review for Through The Gloaming not too long ago that really disturbed me. Not that it was a bad review, as an author, and an Indie author, you develop a thick skin. I don't like them, but I understand that not everyone is going to like your work. But, it was the reasons the reviewer gave that really chapped my ass. I got the distinct impression that I lost 3 stars the minute the review realized I was an Indie author.

Believe it or not, there are some reviewers out there targeting Indie authors for bad reviews. Us Indies have become the Mudbloods of the publishing world.  Much like Salazar Slytherin tried to keep the Mudbloods out of Hogwarts, some people seek to keep the publishing world pure. I only have one thing to say about that.  PFFFFFTTTTTTT!!! ( I hope I didn't get any on you....)

Listen up.  If you want to review my book...at least read it first. Don't assume that because I am an Indie author, I didn't have an editor. I did. Don't assume I self-published because I was turned down by "legitimate" publishers, I wasn't. And don't assume that because I am an Indie author, my story will be weak and full of plot holes. Give it an actual shot and read it, you might be pleasantly surprised.  

My mother used to say: "When you assume you make an "Ass" out of "U" and "Me". Don't taint the waters with undeserved bad reviews. Let the Muggles decide for themselves, us Mudbloods are here to stay.