Sometimes a person needs to stop and take an accurate assessment of where they are. The Litzo’s are no exception. We’re writers, but we’re ordinary people with ordinary people problems and responsibilities, too. The trick is to not let those ordinary problems get in the way of extraordinary accomplishments. It’s not easy, but it can be done.

For a while it seemed as though we weren’t making much forward progress. But, during our weekly Skype meeting, with Anne in Namibia and Nancy in Oregon (Eric started a new job so couldn’t make it this week), we took stock and were pleasantly surprised at how far we’ve come in less than a year.

Last December we started out with a bang; self-publishing three novels, Creek House, The Safe Harbor and Exiles of Gaia. It was the beginning of our fully operational literary partnership. Over the next few months, we worked out the bugs and perfected our techniques. In March, we self-published our fourth book, Cold Prairie. Not bad, we congratulated ourselves.

Then it felt as though we simply stalled out. Holly Virginia was completed in July and is still in final edits. Return to Gaia was put on temporary hold due to personal issues. Things seemed bleak. We needed to take a fresh look and change our perspective. We needed to look at what we have accomplished versus dwelling on what we haven’t.

This year so far, we have self-published a book, completed another book, have written 50,000 words on one manuscript and over 50,000 on another. Plot ideas and partial chapter maps have been created on an additional novel. We self-marketed ourselves this summer and we’ve had steady sales since March. So, if we look at it that way, not too bad at all. Time to quit beating ourselves up and give ourselves another pat on the back.

We’re definitely not quitters. Stick with us. We’ll be publishing new material soon. And the beat goes on…

Kind Regards,
Anne, Eric and Nancy