Just when you think you know where it’s at, somebody moves it! That’s how I felt about the e-book revolution.

I had no problem with e-readers and e-books . . . as long as I had print to fall back on. The feel of a book in hand, the sight of it on the stands, the thrill of opening that box of author copies – to me, in my 25th year as an author, that’s what being published was all about.

Publishing has changed massively since I was first on the shelves in 1987. I’ve seen book distributors and wholesalers shrink for over 500 to 5 or less, bookstores and book chains closing their doors, shelf space devoured by the bestseller list and reprints, and now the Big Six condensing into the Big 5 (and perhaps shrinking as I type). More and more of the contacts and avenues I was familiar with and had used successfully were gone.

Like the vinyl platter LPs of music and bulky VHSs of movies, was the paperback becoming the next dinosaur in this digital age?

When my publisher approached me with the idea of writing two e-exclusives for my next contract, I confess, I was cautious (and alarmed!). I’m not one to leap on new technology in any shape or form . . . but the advance was a tempting carrot. I like to be gainfully employed.

But I didn’t know anything about selling e-books as a product, and the Pocket Star e-exclusive line was a new venture for my publisher as well. I’d never sold anywhere near as many e as print titles for them. Because I’m admittedly OCD it was time to weigh the pros and cons . . . and make a list.

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Getting from

 here–

 To there:

Discovered yesterday: Strange fact re air travel: Individuals fly at a cheaper price-per-head than couples.

My aim: to book a flight for two from Costa Rica to BC, via California, where we want to spend a week with our daughter in the Bay Area. I went the American Airlines page because we have miles with them, but unfortunately, not enough for this trip. The cost to San Francisco alone came in at $510.00 per person or $1,020 for the two of us–one way. Winced and booked the flight we need, but put it on 24 hour hold because maybe I could find something cheaper elsewhere.

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If you’re anything like me, that title is already killing you. You are itching to correct me.  To find a bottle of virtual white-out and make it right!  Too bad.

Generally speaking, I only torture characters, but today, I get to torture you, my fellow authors.  ‘Cause this is exactly what I want to talk about:  the compulsive grammarian.

We writers have a number of. . . quirks.  We have trouble turning off the inner editor long enough to write our own works.  We struggle to disable the inner author long enough to enjoy the works of others.

Our families d0n’t want to sit through movies with us because they know we’ll spend the drive home speculating about why they didn’t see the plot-holes in the second act, and how they missed the perfect symbolic last image.  And we have a problem with displays of poor grammar in public.

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Jim Smith, my research source from the Old Order Amish colony of Jamesport, MO, told me an interesting story last week—a glimpse into how real-life Amish perceive these Amish books so many of us are reading and writing these days.

My books have been for sale in the Christian bookstore in Jamesport, but apparently the owner, Joe Burkholder, was dissuaded from stocking any more of them because his mother found my stories upsetting. She didn’t like it that I had an unwed mother in one book, and an arrogant Bishop keeping secrets, because those kinds of folks aren’t supposed to exist among the Amish. Bishops can do no wrong. Girls don’t have sex before they get married.

Ah, you say, but they can and they do! If you’ve followed the story of the rogue bishop Sam Mullet and the hair/beard cutting attacks in Ohio, you realize just how power can corrupt any leader, and how far believers will go to stay true to their faith. The Amish, like the rest of us, are human…but they don’t want their shortcomings and sins published for the rest of the world to read about.

Joe, however, has called me to order a bunch more of my books for his store. Jim says he got around his mother’s objections by saying, “It’s a novel. Readers understand that.”

What a perfect answer!

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