I can still call myself a writer

 December 9, 2025

I typed THE END in one of the three manuscripts I have on the go. I cannot tell you how good that felt! I was relieved I finished one after months of struggling with a few inner demons. And no, I don't think I'm going to whine about them. If you've been following along, I think you know losing Ron changed everything for me. 

It felt good! There's still some work to do. I need to write the blurb, add the front and end material, set up a book page here on the blog, and get the book uploaded everywhere. At least the cover is made, and I'll share that in a day or two. I'm happy that getting it finished has invigorated me, and maybe inspired me, to buckle down and finish another of the stories I've had on the go. 

I've struggled with the question of whether or not I should hang up my keyboard, but at the moment, I know it's not yet time. I've been worried about what I'm going to do this winter when I can't get outside and writing is the answer. I knew that but wondered if I could actually do it. I'm cautiously optimistic that I can. 

You wouldn't think that after twenty three years I'd still question the muse. She was asleep for a long time and I can't guarantee she won't fall back into a coma. 

Now it's time to move on and get busy with those aforementioned finishing touches. It doesn't pay to bask in a small success for too long. Building on it is a lot better.

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KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/KCKendricks

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, rural living, fiction writer, GLBT romance, Kindle romance, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook, books

Finding excuses and dragging my feet

September 20, 2023

It's been a day. Heck, it's been a month! I had a Yard Sale with my cousin, attended a baby shower for another younger cousin, met a group of classmates for dinner, contracted with a tree service to take down the leaning maple, did a rash of home canning, went on a day trip with the spousal unit, burned the brush pile, and I'm in the midst of tearing out the 2023 garden. 

Do you see writing mentioned anywhere in that mess? Nooooo. 

I need to finish Sumner's Garden, but finishing the story closes the book on Andy. I don't want that to happen. You see, Andy has been with me for a very long time. He was first brought to life in the book, Shine A Light, and I always wanted to tell his story. Now I am. But I want him to stay. 

This may be a conundrum many writers face, but what to do about it? Moving off the center means moving closer to losing Andy as he is in my mind. I know how his story completes, but getting there will be a loss, at least to me. For those readers who have been with me for years, it will be their gain. 

I've been down this road before and it's time to stop dragging my feet and give Andy his due. But here's another thing - I've been writing for a long time now. What if Andy is my swan song? Is Andy a good place to hang up the wireless keyboard? I don't want to get involved with putting my name on a story written by artificial intelligence and that is the direction fiction is moving in. I don't need to pursue the financial end of writing so I'm not pressured to produce, produce, produce the way many writers are. When I publish a book, well, if you know then you know. How's that for a bit of ego? 

There are new characters to get to know and established ones to revisit. I know this. I also know those two things won't happen until Andy gets his happy ending. And he will get it. I hope you'll be there to share in it. 

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KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at: 
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, Shine A Light, contemporary gay fiction, m/m romance, LGBT gay romance, romance books for Kindle, books, fiction romance, a writer's life, gardening, simple country pleasures

B is for Book

On Being a Published Writer
A to Z Blogging 2012
Day 2
B is for Book

Welcome to the 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge. This year I’m focusing on things I’ve learned, observed and experienced in the nine years I’ve been published. If you’re a reader, I hope to offer an inside glimpse into the writer’s world. If you’re new to writing, I hope I can provide an insight or two. If you’re an established writer, maybe you’ll see similarities to your experience. Whatever path you walk, I welcome you to mine and hope you’ll enjoy the 2012 A to Z Blogging Challenge.
* * * *


Book – noun. A set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory. -Mirriam-Webster online
From the time of Johannes Gutenberg until Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet (the first ebook I heard about) books were printed on some form of paper. Almost six hundred years is one heck of a good run, don’t you think?

The printed page was the standard, the norm, the expected. Suddenly, that one bullet changed the world (as bullets often do). Now we read media on our computers, our laptops, our tablets, our Kindles, our Nooks, our cell phones, and yes, we can still read them on good old paper.

So is it fair to continue to call all this non-papered media books? E-books have been around for over ten years now and the question persists. Those who started their careers in print and had good success are often uncomfortable with the notion of calling a story sold digitally a book. I can personally testify to this based on my experience at the Romantic Times Convention in Pittsburgh, 2007.

One of the grand dames of my mother’s style of romance was beside me in line and upon learning I was e-published admonished me to follow the guidance of the Romance Writers of America. I chose to continue to follow my heart instead – thank heavens!

I'm proud to be able to say I’ve been an e-book author for nine years now, in one incarnation or another. I see the same arguments against ebooks and epublishing presented today as I saw in 2003. I’m reminded of the wonderful Billy Preston song, “Will It Go Round in Circles.” Yes, it all goes round in circles.

Times HAVE changed. Epublishing is coming into its own, claiming a bigger percentage of the romance industry. For 2009, the RWA reported ebooks claimed $313.2 M of the romance market. I think it was a lot more because many e-publishers do not report their sales to the RWA. Why should they when the RWA has historically refused to acknowledge and support them, and the publishers have proven they can do business without the RWA? Will it go round in circles? Yes.

More and more “print” authors are finding their way into the e-publishing arena. (Why do you think that’s happening?) So are they still writing books, or are they now writing media with those they used to look down upon?

The question of why they’ve turned to ebooks has already been answered – money. Will they try to say their royalties aren’t any more real than the ebooks that earned them? Will it go round in circles? Yes.

For me, a book is a book is a book. I write the manuscript and a publisher turns it into a finished product that is marketed as a book. I don’t feel the need to split hairs or redefine the language. In our modern usage, a book is a story told by the written word regardless of the media upon which the words appear in order to be read and enjoyed.

I write books.

KC Kendricks
website at: http://www.kckendricks.com/
blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1989106.K_C_Kendricks
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