Best of Times/Worst of Times?

 “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

Charles Dickens wrote those words in 1859 and as far as I’m concerned, he could have been talking about life as an author at any time in history.

The Best of Times. You write a book and discover how much you love the entire process.

The Worst of Times. Publishers won’t look at your masterpiece without an agent and agents won’t consider an unpublished author.

But you keep writing, because you can’t help yourself.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century.

The Best of Times. An author no longer needs a publisher. You can upload your formatted manuscript to any of several on-line retailers as an ebook for people to purchase and read on their computer or dedicated reader.

The Worst of Times. With no gatekeepers in the industry, the marketplace quickly grows with books that never should have been published in the first place. And scammers who game the system.

The Best of Times. Gurus of indie publishing flourish, promising fame and fortune to authors who plunk down bundles of cash to take their courses or purchase their reports on everything from ads and marketing to social media to cover design and writing blurbs. They’ll even teach you how to write the books themselves, and how to buy reviews for it.

The Worst of Times. Desperate authors throw good money after bad and the gurus reap the benefits.

The Best of Times. No subject is off-limits. Publishers are no longer telling authors what to write or deciding what choices readers will have. The book world is vast, with something for everyone.

The Worst of Times. A lot of the books for sale are really quite dreadful. Poorly crafted and executed.

The Best of Times for readers. Desperate authors start giving away their books for free.

The Worst of Times for authors. Readers expect the books to be free, and most authors soon can’t make any sort of living at their craft.

An even Worse Time for authors. Computers, or Artificial Intelligence now has the capacity to write a book. It might not be good, but hey, it’s a book! And if you’re savvy at the marketing end of things, you can make some coin without actually writing a book.

The Best of Times. I just released a new title, my 52 nd, and reviewers love it.

The Worst of Times. Readers either can’t find the book because the market is glutted, or decide to wait until I put it on sale. Or better yet free.

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow I’ve come full circle, spending all my time writing without seeing any return on my investment.

Or maybe not. What if an influencer likes my book and makes a reel for Instagram or chats it up to their followers on TikTok.

Or better yet, Netflix turns my Seven Book Series into a popular television movie or series.

Frannie (Always a Bridesmaid) celebrated her book birthday yesterday. She was written by a real person who embraces everything about the industry. And really appreciates her readers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSP4MXXF

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USA Today Bestselling Author Kathleen Lawless blames a misspent youth watching Rawhide, Maverick and Bonanza for her fascination with cowboys, which doesn’t stop her from creating a wide variety of interests and occupations for her many alpha male heroes.

With over 50 published novels to her credit, she enjoys pushing the boundaries of traditional romance into historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense and women’s fiction.

She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest and loves to hear from her readers. www.kathleenlawless.com

Sign up for Kathleen’s VIP Reader Newsletter to receive a free book, updates, special giveaways and fan-priced offers.    http://eepurl.com/bV0sb1

I Do even when it's a Dont!

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

Growing up, little girls were fed this fairytale idea of what weddings should be. Weddings were a measure of your worth, and a culmination of what life was about. You'd gotten your man.

At some point, every woman expected Prince Charming to arrive on his white horse, and sweep her off her feet. At last, everything would be right in her world.  A castle awaited her, and when she said, “I do,” white doves would flutter up to the sky, and pyrotechnics would go off around her, even if those fireworks were only in her head.  Marriage meant you made it. Someone loved you.

Weddings were a celebration and it was an honor to be invited. Proud dads were glad to hand their daughters off  to the would be groom, as they would be taken care of, and there would be a forever and ever.

That was one of the reasons I fell in love with the romance genre, because of what I read, heard, and imagined.  In fact, when I first started reading romance novels, and writing them, the satisfying ending to every love story was the over the top wedding.

The above picture confirms Match.com works. But lovely as wedding ceremonies, and receptions can be, the brutal truth, is that regardless of how well planned, things go wrong. We learn to roll with it,  hopefully with humor, trusting our guests to have enough alcohol in them not to notice, or to ignore the hiccups that come with putting an expensive, orchestrated event together. 

Weddings, no matter how simple or small, can be pricey occasions.  Some are funny, some are sad, and some are downright ridiculous. Some have you remembering them for ever and ever, and not necessarily in a good way.

Over the years, I have seen and heard everything at these events. I have seen brides arrive to church by way of pick-up trucks. I have seen ornery, pet goats as part of the bridal party. Unsupervised, they've taken large chunks out of the bridal party's bouquets. I've seen in-laws who make it known loud and clear, the bride or groom would not have been their choice. I’ve experienced the cash bar, when no one tells you in advance, and you have no money. I've seen  the drunk mother of the bride, proposition the groom, and I've been where the main entertainment was the bride and groom's reenactment of  a scene from the Wild, Wild West. This was in Alaska, by the way, when I unknowingly became an extra during dinner at the hotel's restaurant.    

Several years ago, I was invited to a wedding in a state park. The groom was handsome, and a young, up and coming entrepreneur, destined for greatness. He’d just made the cover of a popular magazine. The bride was the heiress of a publishing family. The family had spent seventy five thousand dollars (which even by today’s standards is pricey,)  to reserve the park. My then husband and I were excited to be included as guests. The ceremony went off flawlessly, but the bride never made it out to cut the cake. She was way too intoxicated, and so the band played on. The disgusted groom eventually left the event and hitchhiked home. The marriage was quickly annulled.

This is just one of the many drunk wedding stories out there. We hear tales of wedding guests getting into fights, (alcohol having much to do with it.) There are stories of lost wedding bands, and former lovers storming the event, hoping to stop it, and marriages not being consummated because of some surprise issue that turned up. And we have witnessed everything from animals going wild, doing everything from defecating in the aisle to biting the crying ring-bearer.  

During my cruise industry life, I heard a story of a destination wedding gone wrong. Unfortunately, a hurricane hit the island,  and the window of the hotel room blew out.  The wedding dress was sucked out into the storm and the grooms tuxedo was so drenched, it actually shrunk. Signs of things to come, maybe?

There are stories on the Internet  of bridesmaids fired  via email, and asked to return dresses so  replacements could wear them. There’s the bride who sent her guests a misspelled list of Do’s and Don’ts at her wedding.   Please adhere to my wedding rules, or kindly don’t attend.

One of the cutest stories I’ve heard is of the seventy year grandmother who ran off to Las Vegas to get married in her granddaughter’s old prom dress. She was marrying her seventy four year old love.

The wedding stories are cute, bizarre, and at times downright ugly, yet we continue to believe in love, and marriage remains a sign that we are committed enough to a person to want to give it a try. When it works there is nothing better. 

I leave you with one of the sweetest wedding stories I’ve heard. A tale of meant to be.

They were only three years old, and served as the ring bearer and flower girl at the groom’s godmother's wedding. Soon after, they went their separate ways, until a decade or so later, their paths crossed  again. This time in high school, when the flower girl brought in a picture from that wedding. It was the same one the boy had hanging in the hallway of his home. The wedding was the only time he’d  seen her until then. They dated shortly after and ended up getting married.

It’s a beautiful story and makes you believe in fate. And that is why we continue to marry, because weddings make us happy and fill us with hope.  

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and caring for her animal family.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

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