NOTE: My sister CW blogger and good friend Tracy is launching a new book today and asked for some assistance in getting the word out, so I’m gladly lending her some space on Tracings.  After all, we Tracy/Traci girls have to stick together, right?

Tracy Krauss, author of ‘edgy inspirational fiction’, is launching her book  PLAY IT AGAIN today (Feb. 21). You can help her achieve ‘best seller’ status by purchasing the book at amazon.com TODAY – and receive all kinds of cool free gifts while you’re at it!

Here’s how:

1. Go to the Landing Page on Tracy’s Website

2. Buy the book at amazon.

3. Go back to the Landing Page and fill in the form with your name, email and purchase number

It’s that easy! You’ll be directed to your free gifts and all you have to do is choose which ones you want.

About the book:

An unlikely duo meet in Play It Again, a story of love, life and faith. Sparks fly when an ex-rock and roll junkie and a stuffy accountant rendezvous at a local resort, but neither are prepared for the emotional entanglements, family complications, and threat from the past that unexpectedly resurfaces. Set in the 1980s, this story brings two opposing forces together in a clash of romance and danger, while its musical undertones highlight the theme that God can turn anything into beautiful music. Play It Again is the much anticipated prequel to Tracy’s debut novel And the Beat Goes On. Find out where Mark Graham’s journey began in this, the story of his parents.

What others are saying about PLAY IT AGAIN:

“This is one of the best contemporary novels I’ve read all year. . . Not only was it well-written, but it was edgy in that the story dared to be honest. . . I can see this touching a lot of people who have thought about God but have been afraid to move forward.”

-  Michelle Sutton, author of more than a dozen inspirational novels

“This book is hot property, and grabs your interest from page one.”

-   Yvonne Pat Wright, author of From Spice to Eternity

Author bio:

Tracy Krauss is a high school teacher by profession, and a prolific author, artist, playwright and director by choice. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Saskatchewan and has gone on to teach Art, Drama and English – all the things she is passionate about. After raising four children, she and her husband now reside in beautiful Tumbler Ridge, BC where she continues to pursue all of her creative interests. Her first two books were both nominated for the ‘Indie Excellence Book Awards’ for religious fiction in 2011.

FREE STUFF:

Here’s just a sampling of the FREE e-gifts from generous supporters:

-          An e-copy of Lisa Lickel’s award winning novel Meander Scar

-          Sample chapters from The Promise of Deer Run by Elaine Cooper, Warring Spirits by April Gardner, and The Right Person by Stacy Padula

-          Beautiful downloadable art cards by author and artist Brenda Hendricks

-          A free subscription to ‘PixApple’

-          You copy of Frazzled No More by Shelley Hitz

-          A cool ‘Daily Scheduler’ developed by author Janalyn Voigt

-          And much more!

All if you buy your copy of PLAY IT AGAIN at amazon.com on Feb. 21!  All links will be operational on the ‘Landing Page’ at www.tracykrauss.com/

DISCLAIMER: This ‘Best Seller book launch’ has been coordinated with the help of the ‘John 3:16 Marketing Network’ and many other generous supporters. The free gifts are deliverable electronically over the internet or by email by individual authors and supporters. They are not in any way associated with, nor deliverable by, amazon.com  

This month we’re talking about leaps. During our discussion on topic choice, I joked that I might post on jumping through hoops. As a hoopdancer, jumping through a hoop is a literal event for me (you’ll see what I mean at 2:22, 4:12 and 4:57 in the video below).

However, considering a few recent developments, I’ve decided I’d rather talk about other types of leaps.

First, there’s my job situation. After being unemployed for three months I found a new job, but it was in an industry where I had very little experience. To make matters even more uncomfortable, it was a part-time position at about half what I’d been making before. Still, I needed something other than unemployment, so I took it and leaped into the world of store setups and large chain store retail.

I’d been at that job for less than a month when a new opportunity arose. It was full time in an office, doing similar things to what I’d been doing before the layoff, and the pay was better. So I jumped on it.

Second, my writing. During the three months of job hunting, I decided to investigate freelance writing possibilities. A client at Guru.com decided to take a chance on me, and I wrote my first short story ghostwriting project. Since then, I’ve taken on a second project with the same client and I’ve been invited to bid on several other jobs.

In that same arena, I have three novels drafted, but I have yet to release any of them for publication. Thanks to Chris Henderson at The Write Chris, I’m about to leap into self publishing. She asked me to do a blog interview on my NaNoWriMo experiences, which led to the purchase of my first cover art image. Now I have a book cover, and knowing the interview and artwork will be posted March 13 has lit the fire under my motivation to finish editing Chantal’s Call, the novel for said cover, and get it uploaded to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Finally, there’s my Etsy shop. Until this week, I’d sold only two items, both to a friend. However, today I had a sale to a young lady in Russia. Not only is this my first overseas transaction, it’s also my first sale from my recently listed vintage costume jewelry. The time-consuming but not very big leap from listing only handmade to listing vintage items has now led to a bigger leap into international shipping.

None of these changes would have happened if I hadn’t been pushed by some outside circumstance. Hence the post’s title. When you do something new, do you just leap into it, or are you usually pushed? I think human nature is to stay where we are for as long as possible, so God has to use adversity and challenges to push us into what He wants us to do. The difference is, when I leap I maintain balance and am prepared for the landing. When I’m pushed, I’m off balance and likely to land less than gracefully. Maybe I need to leap a little more often…

Not only can you buy photos there, but if you’re a shutterbug, you can also sell images. I may be uploading some pics of my own in the near future, but for now I’m really pleased to be a Dreamstime buyer.

Lessons learned from this season of unemployment/underemployment:

1. I don’t want a retail career, at least not with a large chain store. The hours are too unpredictable, and there are simply too many variables with which to contend, especially if you’re at the cash register. When any one of 50,000+ products can come across your counter on a given day and the store in question doesn’t have bar code scanners, you have to know which of the four or five possible departments the item came from and whether or not it’s on sale that week, all while politely interacting with the customer and keying in the price, department and discount. I lived in constant concern that I was going to make a mistake and either over- or undercharge someone, attribute the item to the wrong department, or give someone back the wrong change. In the week and a half I worked registers, I made all of those mistakes. Fortunately, my register seemed to balance out at the end of each day, but still, I didn’t enjoy that pressure one bit.

2. Being unemployed does not enhance productivity. I thought with all the extra time on my hands, I would get more done – finish craft projects, edit stories that need attention, launch the freelance career, hoop more, work on the Etsy shop, etc. All while hunting for that next day job, of course. Don’t get me wrong; I did do some of that. Just not as much as I thought I would. It seems the more time you have, the more time you waste.

3. I make a lousy boss. See #2 for why.

That’s not to say I could never be self-employed. I suppose I could, but it would require funds to live off while I got established, as well as better time management and discipline. And drive – more drive than I apparently have at present. It’s something I’m working on, but God made me a 5-foot tall walking paradox – shy yet outgoing, assertive yet passive, Type A yet laid back, etc. – so it takes time to negotiate the psychological and emotional maze that is me and develop the passion and drive to keep going in the face of obstacles.

Being unemployed for three months revealed much to me about myself, and if it hadn’t been for the need to pay bills, I might have actually enjoyed it and been able to focus on all the things I wanted to do. Still, I can say that the time away from a steady job was a gift from God, and this new season of having a steady job is also a gift from Him. I’m grateful for both.

I apologize for my inconsistent blogging, but I have a new job. It’s part time, but at the moment the hours are long and the work is demanding. I’m on the set-up crew for a new crafts and home decor store in my area. It’s work I’ve never done before, and while I’m enjoying learning new things – like how to build pegboard counters and glass shelves – I don’t have a lot of energy or time for much else.

Once we’re finished with the store set, I should have more time and something more interesting to share (like a review of Surprised by Laughter, my latest BookSneeze acquisition). Meanwhile, thanks for continuing to follow my blog, and have a blessed weekend.

The fact is, we’re all on multiple quests at any given point in our lives, and they all come down to the same underlying desire: the quest for better.

We want to be better, do better, look better, live better, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Really – don’t you just get sick of it sometimes? I know I do. These constant demands I put on myself are exhausting. For instance, on this Sabbath day, I have 24 commitments on my daily checklist. I’ve done two and am working on the third (this post).

Three of my daily commitments are spiritual in nature, and four fall into the Body category. The rest all involve the above mentioned quests for the job, the freelance and Etsy customer bases, and the publication of my writings beyond posting them on my blogs. The blogs are on the list too, of course.

I wrote a poem last week about being tired of making to-do lists and resolutions I don’t carry out, and then I turned around and made out a daily checklist. Guess what it’s full of? The resolutions I used to make every January. Same stuff, different wrapping paper.

Why do we do this to ourselves? I think it has something to do with being made in God’s image and likeness. He’s creative, so He made us to be creative. He’s perfect, so He made us to desire perfection.

The only problem with that is this: who is telling us what perfection is?

Ask the world what perfection means, and you’ll hear things relating to body proportions and measurements, body fat percentage or body mass index, tooth whiteness and straightness, hair length and texture, quality of wardrobe and possessions and vehicles, status and salary of job, being married (or not), vacation destinations, etc.

Look up “perfect” as it is used in the Bible, and you’ll find words like complete, sound, healthful, whole, equipped, mature.

Jesus tells us to be perfect as he is perfect, to be holy as he is holy. Does that entail tooth whitening treatments, the latest diet or the Brazilian blowout hair treatment? No.

It entails seeking God’s will and walking in it. It entails dropping the heavy burdens the world puts on us, the devil puts on us, and we put on us, and picking up the easy yoke and light burden Jesus offers us.

I’m on a quest for better – better relationship with God, better fellowship with others, and better love for myself. How about you?

I started the day as a writer for hire and ended as a freelancer of a different kind.

After an unproductive morning of staring at my laptop screen at home, I opted for a change of scenery and packed up my gear. Fifteen minutes down the road lay chocolate-flavored caffeine and creative stimulation. At least, that’s what I hoped for as I pointed my faded blue six-year-old compact car toward the interstate.

The last of my Christmas money given to the barista in exchange for a medium iced peppermint mocha latte, I claimed one of two chairs at my favorite table next to the comfy armchairs. Something about sitting in a wooden chair with comfort in sight but not underneath me usually kick-started my muse.

Not today, though. The story I was working on was set in another state, in a city I hadn’t visited for more than a decade, and the research was consuming me. I had four days to complete the project, and the looming deadline was beginning to elevate my blood pressure. Or maybe it was the latte.

Either way, I was bouncing around cyberspace, looking for the little details that would give my short story the required authenticity, when the chair opposite me attracted the attention of a newcomer. The guy was six-foot-five at least, a solid mass of muscle toting a laptop case bigger than the flat screen TV I’d been planning to buy before I was downsized out of a steady paycheck.

My standard sized computer looked like a LEGO against his cinder block of a beast, but I pulled it toward me as he eyed the available real estate at my table. “I think there’s enough space for us both,” I said while tidying a small stack of research notes.

He cast a glance backward at one of the comfy chairs. “I sat there yesterday, and it was okay, but…” He pulled the laptop out and sat across from me, fishing a power cord from the depths of his heavy duty canvas bag. He was without a beverage, but a muffin had made it over from the order counter, and he deposited it on the window sill while he got situated.

Not one to compute and ignore, I asked how his day was going. He grimaced. “I’m a bit furious at the moment.” His demeanor didn’t convey anger, but I took the bait.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m waiting on an email from a guy about a car I want to buy, and he’s dragging his heels about replying. The car is a one-of and it’s being used in a movie.”

“Really? What movie?”

It was something I hadn’t heard of, a modern-day fantasy story that was in post production. His computer was still connecting to the coffee shop’s wifi, so he handed me his smart phone after pulling up pictures of the car. It was black and low-slung and customized with the kind of detail work that would have any auto lover drooling. I could see why he wanted it.

Turned out the guy collected cars and personalized them with graphic paint jobs and custom features like retractable spoilers. A retired engineer with a military pension and a part-time job, he had the know-how to design just about anything that moved and the money to have it built.

All possibility of getting work done on my short story was history, but I was enjoying our conversation so much I didn’t mind. I knew character fodder when I saw it, so I pushed the laptop out of the way and went into interview mode, calling on skills that had been dormant since my newspaper days.

He told me about his military career, what he thought of the inflated salaries of most members of Congress, why he was glad to be retired from the armed forces, and how he loved pouring millions of dollars into the cars he collected. He pulled up his Facebook page and showed me a better photo of the movie car he was after, then a series of pictures of the cars he had amassed, several with him kissing the hoods. Seems he had a thing for tasting the paint jobs.

That’s just over half the story.  What do you think?  Should I publish it in e-reader format for, say, a dollar?  Would you pay a dollar to read the rest of it?

The question was, about what? I considered running a search for story prompts, but that would mean wading through too many websites to count. I run into that problem when looking for poetry ideas, so I know what to expect when I Google “writing prompts.”

Then I recalled an encounter I had at the local Starbucks a week or so ago. It was one of those random conversations with another laptop-toting java junkie, and it was just odd enough to be story fodder. With a few modifications, I’ll have something I could possibly sell or publish online.

Have you ever lifted something straight from your life for a story? What challenges has it presented you, beyond the obvious need to change names?

I have another matter to attend to this afternoon (read that as “I need to go hoop”), but I definitely intend to draft a short story about the consequences of talking to strangers this evening. Stay tuned for an excerpt…

Like most of us, though, I don’t stick with these lofty goals very long. For years, I didn’t even make resolutions because I knew I wouldn’t see them through; one time, I resolved not to make any more resolutions. I kept that one for years.

However, as my life is getting more filled with activities, both writing and non-, I’m increasingly sensing the need to stay organized so I accomplish things instead of just drowning in things I want to accomplish.

So, I spent a good bit of yesterday writing down things I want to commit to for 2012 and designing a daily checklist to make sure I follow those commitments.

I know – how are commitments and a checklist different from resolutions and a to-do list?

To me, resolutions are more about dreams you want to see come to pass – “publish a novel” has been on my annual to-do list for a while now, and it has yet to happen. So this year, it’s not on the written checklist, but it is on my mental projects list. It’s something I intend to make happen if possible, but for now I need to research how to go about it.

So in the meantime, I have a daily checklist. Why a checklist instead of a to-do list? Isn’t that just semantics?

Not really. In my mind, a to-do list becomes a burden all too often. A checklist, on the other hand, is a tool to keep me on track. It moves me through my day. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but the fact is, the way we frame something affects the way we view it. As writers, we’re always looking for the perfect turn of phrase, the best adjective. From that perspective, “checklist” sounds more productive to me than “to-do list.”

To read about the setup of my new checklist, go over to Circular Praise, my “life in general” blog, and check out my latest post. Perhaps you’ll see something there you want to adapt to your own checklist for 2012.

You read that right. I’m now officially launched as a freelance writer.

Wish I could share details – or the story itself – with you, but it was a ghostwriting gig, so you’ll have to wait until it sees publication. When that happens, I’ll be right there in the acknowledgements.

So, yeah, I’m a bit too tired for the whole Auld Lang Syne scene. But it’s a good tired, and I plan to do my best to ensure that it recurs on a regular basis.

Happy New Year, y’all! Be blessed and safe as you celebrate the changing of the calendar.