No, I Am Not Dead

I'm just resting without the internet.
As an added bonus, here is a picture of the tragicomedy that is currently passing for an office in my apartment. Yes, it IS a corner of my bedroom! You get the cookie.

On the plus side, it has given me a lot of time to finish the first alpha edit of the story and move on to the second alpha reading, in which I go through it and find all the little plot points and inconsistencies that would make someone reading it go "what?"

Other than that, not much else going on in the world of the aspiring hack. I had Kinko's bind up my alpha2 copy so I can read it, then I went back and had them bind up all my old notes and background stuff for posterity. It's much easier to find things this way. I think I'll start doing it for all my stuff.

Have also been considering the possibility of serious self-publishing. I love the idea of being able to have complete control over my own work, but I do not love the idea of having to pimp myself out. I am a very poor saleswoman. However, I could see myself going to SPX and Ladyfest and all those street fairs to sell my wares. I might even be able to convince some local merchants to sell my books on consignment for a trial run. It seems attractive when I consider that an agent or big publisher might make me change my work.

In the end, I do not write these things because I want to become famous. I have a decent job that I don't hate going to in the morning. All I want is for people to read my stories and be entertained, even if it's just for a few hours. Even if they forget about it later. I really just like making people happy. *teary*

Text from an actual review of one of my stories:
I thought that the beauty-drug-gone-wrong was a cool take on the zombie genre. This book was well put together and easy to read. Not a lot of zombie-fighting action or gore, but a really good story nonetheless. If you're a fan of zombie stories, I recommend picking this book up. The author is able to tell a good story about--let's face it--some rather cheesy subject matter, and instead of turning out like a goofy B-movie, it turns out as a well-written story.