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I love history. Have I mentioned that before? And it’s not that I just love learning it for its own sake–I mean, that’s cool and fun, but I always have an ulterior motive. Wild guess at what that is? Ding, ding, ding! You got me–I’m always trying to figure out how to weave it into fiction.

But much as I love learning about history in general, I especially love learning about particular history, because inevitably God has given me a story that works perfectly with it. The other day I was sitting there reading a Greek history (as in, written by an ancient Greek historian) and kept entertaining my husband with cries of, “Sweet! This is perfect!!” I thought I was going to have to do some major explaining for a few plot points in Jewel of Persia, but as it happens, my premise actually HAPPENED. How cool is that? I love God! It’s all Him, to give me ideas that are actually plausible. Woo hoo!

But that’s not the only discovery I’m going to touch on today. Last night I also took a webinar by the good folks at Phenix & Phenix Publicity. It’s a prerequisite for one-on-one training they’re offering contracted authors at conference this fall, so I took it in case I decide to go that way for appointments.

What did I learn? Well, first, that I’m probably never going to run into some of the situations they touched on. Being called on by Fox News as an expert? Um, not likely. Maybe in some bizarre stretch of the imagination, but I’ll be thrilled if I ever make it on television for anything. Even locally, since we don’t have much local opportunity, LOL. But I also learned that the things I can do, I pretty much am doing.

Example? They recommend getting your name out in the right circles by reviewing other books in your genre. Um, check, says the founder of the Christian Review of Books. They recommend having a website that provides something to readers, other than just selling your book (like a blog or research stuff). Check, says Roseanna the Blogger who, at her husband’s insistence, wrote that charming Encyclopedia Roseannica. They said to never, NEVER create an online platform that you then abandon. Check, says Roseanna the Compulsive Emailer/Facebook updater.

You know what impressed me most about these people, though? When asked if someone should hire a publicist on a limited budget, he said, “No. If you only have a few thousand to spend, spend it on building your presence yourself.” I can really respect someone who says not to rush out and hire them, LOL.

And those are my discoveries this week. Hope ya’ll are having a good one!