I'm Getting More Serious About the Monkey

Another fruitless hour spent trying to monetize http://www.robynntolbert.com/. This time I went to Amazon Associates and tried to add a "Recommended Favorites" link. Once again, copy, paste and string of code instead of a nice, little box.

See, I know the boxes are supposed to appear magically from the code because that's what they did/do when I add them to this blog.

I'm beginning to wonder if my website doesn't support outside advertising, but that can't be possible, can it? How could it not? James Paris makes it seem so simple. I'm starting to wish I'd subscribed to his year-long tutorial with limitless personalized help.

My site does have a "store" option, but it seems to require me to stock and ship stuff, and no offense to Paul Baines, but I'm not buying copies of Alpha Redemption to have ready to ship.

There has to be a way around this, but this is exactly the kind of tinkering I suck at. The "help" options weren't all that helpful, either. I kept running into jargon that led me to another site to explain that word which brought up two other words I didn't understand. UGH!

Deep, cleansing breath.

I will conquer this mountain.

I went from struggling with my website to struggling with my proposal. I am not understanding the difference between the one-page sell sheet and the 1-3 page synopsis. And any smart aleck who points out the length may just get bitten by a turtle.

It can't be just length. The sell sheet sells the story, covering all the major plot points, I assume, in an interesting way that hints at my writing style and makes the whole thing sound exciting and page turning.

But after working on all those great sentences (pause to shake off arrogance), am I supposed to write all new great sentences for the synopsis or expand the sentences I've already written? Why would anybody want to read the same thing twice? If I'm able to boil it down to one page, why would I fluff it back out to 3 pages?

Apparently, I need a "why" here. What's my motivation? What am I trying to accomplish?

This is where a mentor would come in freaking handy, but I don't seem to have one of those up my shell. Terry Burns is trying, but he's a book. I can't whine at him, and I don't seem to understand what he's trying so calmly to explain.

TT: Hmm. While labeling this post, it occurred to me maybe I should change my labels to match the mood I'm expressing. Have you looked at my labels? They're ridiculous. My inability to "big picture" is showing.

On that off-topic note, I'll close. Elder Brother, we will be talking.