Republished!

By way of explanation for my long absence from this blog, I offer up my newly updated, freshly re-covered, and digitally converted books as evidence. Presenting the all new works of Mary Stella:

Because this was my first venture into epublishing, I think it took me longer than I expected. I was determined to read through both books and fix some glitches. (Those of you who are supreme copy editing experts, I'm sure there are still things that I missed, so please don't hold it against me!) I enjoyed working with a talented artist to capture the beauty and sexy mood of the books. (Thanks, Carl Graves of ExtendedImagery.com.)

Realizing that I know nothing about electronic formats like .mobi or .epub, I was delighted to hear about a new company that, for a very reasonable fee, would convert my files into those formats. EBookPrep.com was easy and professional to work with and they turned out a great finished effort.

I'd heard from other friends that the actual uploading was pretty easy, so before I paid someone else to do that service, I resolved to try it myself. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised. Both Amazon and BN.com have designed their online systems to be simple, step-by-step, and very user-friendly. Without any trouble at all, I set up my accounts, linked to a bank account, and uploaded the files. There's a little bit of a wait while the companies review and queue up your books, but within 24 hours, the books were up in the Kindle Store and NookBooks! (I'm tackling Smashwords for other ereaders this weekend.)

This adventure means so much more to me than book sales. When I first saw the books with their beautiful new cover images, I nearly cried. Regaining the rights and control of my books meant the world to me. I feel like I rescued them from complete oblivion and have given them a new shot at life. Talk about empowerment. I'm rolling in it right now.

Do I also help that they sell well? Of course. I'm a working writer, so that's important. I'm not expecting to hit the bestseller lists, but every copy is one more than my books would have sold if I did not believe in them enough to take them back and invest in their future.

If you haven't read them and are interested, they're very reasonably priced at $2.99 each. Here are the links:

All Keyed Up: On Amazon On BN.com

Key of Sea: On Amazon On BN.com

If you've read them and are so inclined, would you please consider writing and posting reviews up online? Your reviews help draw attention to the books. I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Now that I've completed this project, I'm on to new writing. I promise to post more often on the blog and fill you in on more Postcards from Paradise!

Time Sinks, or not

Time is rarely on any of our sides these days, it seems. We're busier with more responsibilities, places to go, people to see, deals to make, projects to complete, you name it. As if there wasn't enough to do just doing everything, we also add the task of telling people that we're doing it via blogs, Facebook, Twitter and a dozen other social networking thingamabobs.

Remember when we were excited about simple cellular phones? Now we carry mini-computers that keep us uber-connected and, oh yeah, they even let us talk to each other. (Some let us see each other while we're gabbing.)

The flip side to having all this wonderful access to information that allegedly makes our lives easier, which should lead to us accomplishing more, is that they also open us up to endless time sucks.

Angry Birds? Time suck. My index finger is soon going to suffer a repetitive stress injury from catapulting those virtual feathered friends across my screen to explode green pigs.

Just typing that last sentence makes me laugh at myself. "So, Mary, what'd you do today?" "I worked and when I took a break, I shot cartoon birds at cartoon pigs. On a screen."

If anybody actually asks, I should cut to the chase and say, "I worked and when I didn't, I engaged in a mindless time sink."

Angry Birds, Bejeweled Blitz, Bubble Popp. Fun games but they can all take over my attention until I play them over and over and over in robotic repetition.

I have a Scrabble app on my phone. Is playing one game against the computer a time sink? I refuse to put it in the same category. Maybe that's because I love to play Scrabble and consider it a learning experience. It's not a time sink. It's helping me stave off Alzheimer's. That's my rationalization and I'm sticking to it.

I could wile away an entire day reading a great book. Is that a day wasted? Maybe on some level, in that I didn't accomplish anything else, but the pure entertainment of reading is never a waste. At least not in my opinion.

So, I ask you. When is an app or a game or some mindless activity NOT a time sink? Maybe I should develop criteria. Say, it isn't a time sink when it's helping me fill otherwise empty time --like when I waiting in a doctor's office for an appointment, or my flight's delayed and I'm bored. Ahhh, maybe that's the ticket. If the app helps me do something else, then it serves a useful purpose.

There's probably more to ponder on this topic, a lot more. I could keep writing but perhaps that would then become a time suck, too.

A New Look

Unless you usually read my blog with your eyes closed, you probably noticed the new design. Isn't it pretty? It goes with the new design for my website www.mary-stella.com. I have to thank the talented Rae Monet for designing and implementing the new sites. We're not 100% finished, but great progress has been made and I couldn't be happier.

Rae would make more progress but she's waiting on me to finish up some stuff and supply her with the information.

During the transition process, the list of blogs I used to have here disappeared. I'm slowly rebuilding. If your blog used to be here and isn't now, would you please shoot me an email at mary@mary-stella.com? Please, please, don't make me rely on my memory.

Thanks!