Back in the Saddle

Working on getting back to normal is like practicing a diet—it's really a matter of just doing the work. I'm committing myself to at least a few hours every morning dedicated to computer-related work. The best part—the most fun part—is keeping my blog updated.

Today, I find myself excited about my Facebook ad campaign. I'm not a genius when it comes to this sort of thing. I've been marketing since before I sold my first novel, but have always found it difficult to promote myself. I love this Facebook option because I don't have to seek permission to spread the word about my Extreme Hauntings series—it just happens.

How well is it working? Well, as I said, I'm no genius when it comes to this stuff, but on day 2 of my campaign—targeted to Kindle and fiction readers in English-speaking countries:

After 2 days, my ad has had 80K impressions.

Original website hit counter: 12,452
2 days later: 12, 523

Original Kindle Rank for DFF: Dead Friends Forever: 331, 696
2 days later: 27,090

But even better, School's Out 4-Ever has enjoyed some effect:
Original Kindle Rank: 340, 565
2 days later: 27, 074

This may all mean nothing as I can't directly link the impressions to the sell-through at Amazon, yet even though I'm not a wiz at this sort of thing, I'm smiling this morning :) and that's pretty cool.

I hope y'all have a bunch of smiles today, too!

Warmly,
Jenny:)

Art, Poetry, and Mom

I've not been blogging for quite a while, I see. Sorry about that. Many of my readers know my mother died on June 24th. Because she passed so soon after my father (on Valentines Day) I've been an emotional wreck. My brother died in '95 and he was my only sibling, so pretty much my whole (childhood) family is gone now. This is a very strange feeling. The silver lining in my grief-cloud though, is I've re-established connections with my mom's siblings (2 aunts and an uncle) and my grandmother. I've always loved them, but now I get to tell them more often.

Today's blog is dedicated to my Mom. Below are two beautiful poems she wrote and above is a photograph of one of her many fabulous pieces of art. (If you click on the title of this blog post, you will go to her online diary.)

In the Instant of Dying
I was born in the instant of dying.
The wind came along and cut me loose.

In free-fall to the ground all the events of life
are a ripple in the wind.
I flutter here and there along my meandering course
in the process of dying.

I flutter here and there with all the fluttering beings
free-falling around me to the ground.
Free-falling to the ground I turn this way and that
and greet the brilliant multitude cluttering the sky.

The sky is God to me.
The ground is God to me.

All else is falling and dying.
In the instant of dying, I was born.
Within that instant my life is lived between the Gods of
Heaven and Earth.
Beyond that instant, I am no more.


I Lay My Hand Upon The Soil
I lay my hand upon the soil to dig
And each day I lay my hand
upon the soil anew
And each night I seek to lay
my head to rest

But my Lord calls me forth to dig in darkness
And I come forth in my
weariness and sorrow
And lay my hand upon the soil
to dig in darkness

And my Lord goes before me calling
Tears of sorrow wet the earth
Where I dig
And shore the furrow
In its depth

And my Lord calls me more to dig
In weariness I crawl forth at
His command
And all down the row behind
flowers bloom

~Audrey J. Yoeckel