Yes......my contract from Kensington arrived yesterday......all 17 pages of it.

I may have misunderstood my editor, but I thought she said it would be about four weeks until it arrived.  So needless to say, it was a very welcome surprise. 

And I've been very busy working on my current manuscript, novel #2. 

I wanted to address a few comments that had been left here the other day........the first one was about me sharing my work to the public and the commenter mentioned a contest I had entered where I shared my first chapter.  Yes....very true.  But sharing the chapter for a contest is a little different than putting excerpts on your blog or website.  And don't forget.....when that chapter was entered into the contest, I did not have a signed contract with my publisher.

The other item I wanted to address here was in reference to a comment about agents........First let me say, that I feel very strongly that when it comes to the profession of writing, we're all very individual.  (In such a multitude of ways, that would take a separate blog entry)  But I'm referring to the fact that some authors have agents and some don't.  Like most things in life, I feel "whatever works for you." 

But the commenter stated "Agents are also good because they handle movie rights, foreign rights, audio rights, those kinds of things that they know in and out and are confusing to just the average person.  They have lawyers in house.........."

This is all very true.  However, I wanted to clarify that all of the above is possible with a publisher without an agent.  Those words are all in my contract, about world rights, movies, etc. should this occur.  And publishing houses also have attorney's in house to handle the legality of such things.

Some of you that visit here are new writers, and I didn't want to have you confused based on the comment.  But of course, no matter if you have an agent or you don't.......the bottom line is (as with any legal document) you, as the one signing it, have the obligation to read it well and understand what you're signing.

Well, I'm taking a break tomorrow......you may recall that the Cedar Key Red Hatters are going to Orlando to see Menopause, the Musical.  Tomorrow's the day and I'm really looking forward to it.

Join me here next time and I'll tell you how it went............