Yes, I let my Examiner credentials run out and I am no longer the Seattle Writing Examiner. If you want that position, be my guest.

But why?

Writing for Examiner was a great exercise and a way to expand my platform while showing that I possess the credentials to write web content. Unfortunately it did not bring me money for all the effort I put in. Frankly, I couldn’t think of anything else to write about Writing that hadn’t already been written. (Hehe)

Which brings me to the “new direction”:

I will now be switching gears from the carefree self-publishing-only focus. Now I plan to focus more on writing and getting paid.

I’ve sold a short story called Vampire Thrall to http://www.silkwords.com and have found a great fit there with my writing style. I have great hopes to do business with them into the future. I am scrubbing Horarium till it is nice and shiny to submit to Tor.com for their short-story feature. We’ll see.

Another biggie: I will be seeking a traditional publisher for The Stray, my second story in the ShaZha World. I had planned to finish over the summer but I had to jump on the Silkwords opportunity first. When it is done, off to publishers I go!

As for my site and what I have been doing online for the last two years, you’ll just see less. I still plan to participate in lots of online groups and push Discover Authors forward as far as I can, but I will not spend time scouring the web for self-publishing pots o’ gold. My new “gear” will focus on the changing traditional marketplace and what I find there.

Why am I switching gears like this? I really want to push my writing career into the next level. My family deserves to benefit financially from my writing and not just lose my time and gain nothing. I need to see if I can earn a living off of my writing or learn that it is just a hobby and treat it as such. Self-publishing is wonderful and my preferred method, but I have to try the other path to see if I can succeed that way.

I still plan to self-publish! I write a lot of stories and not all of them will fit the publishing world.

“What if you crash and burn, Kate?” You’re probably not thinking that because you’re too polite. But I am. If I can’t make it pay and contribute to my family finances with my writing so I can help my oldest son become a robot designer, my daughter to become an artist, and my younger son to become Spiderman, then I will write for fun, publish for fun, and give up seeking payment and promotion.

Face it: writing is one of my excretions. (EEEEWWWW!) But it is. I write and it doesn’t stop. Realizing this was the reason I published and I don’t see that stopping now that I can complete a story. Now all I need is a little Vrevzirma to see how it will turn out.

Wish me good fortune!