A round of words in 80 days!

Lately I have been working a lot on National Board Certification, fundraising to get my class iPads, and reading... so where am I on writing? Well my manuscript The Owens Legacy: Revelations is being read by a few fellow bloggers (thanks ladies) but lately I have a new story popping around in my head and I really need to start putting "pen to paper" or rather "fingers to keys."

Anyway, thanks to my friend Komai over at In Which I Write Nonsensically I found this blog that makes you set a goal for writing and you have to complete it in 80 days... You check in on Sundays and on Wednesdays. I don't want to say this is going to force me to write but it is going to make me step up my game on my writing, just in time for summer where I can really focus on it!!

I am going to make two separate goals. One is to write 15,000 for my sequel of TOL:R. My second goal is to write 10,000 words for my new project. So my goal 25,000 words in the next 80 days!

To focus on my current manuscript, I was wondering if anyone out there has done some investigating on ePublishing or has ePublished. I have several letters out to agents - but as you can guess, no such luck... Quereying is tough! I really want to explore my options. I have already had an editor look at it.

Anyone have some advice? And if you are a writer, sign up with me to take this challenge!

Who has the goods on ePublishing?

ePublishing... I am looking for links or people who know a lot about this world. I am going to continue looking for a literary agent, because it is my dream to walk in to a bookstore and see my book in hardcover with my name on it AND then see someone pick it up and buy it! However, I have been researching and seeing the benefits of ePublishing, such as: immediate publication (no waiting for someone to say you're good enough, NOOKs and Kindles are in, and I could start making money for writing. I feel these reasons are good enough to continue my research.

So again, who knows some stuff like: who converts manuscripts into the proper format to be a ePub file?

Anyone know who is into designing covers (sadly my ability does not run on the artistic side)

Also, (totally random) I want a button...How do I do this?

Has anyone done an independent ePub book? Want to share your experience? Or could you point me at someone who has?

Thanks everyone!

ePublishing

ePublishing is my latest branch of research that I have been exploring. I have read several blogs talking about the success and the downside of ePublishing. http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ This blog was very informative and gave me a more concrete understanding of what is the trend and what one could gain or lose from ePublishing.
An important and old fashioned thought clings to me. I would love for people to read my books and if ePublishing is the way to do it, I will gladly go that route and hope for success. However, there is an old fashion side of me that would like to see my books in hardback on my shelf. There is something very beautiful about that vision and I don’t want to completely let it go.
But from the few blogs I have read about ePublishing, I have discovered there is a lot to learn including the rights on the internet, profit of selling on the internet versus print. There is a SUBSTAINAL difference is percentage, the increase in eReaders, and the self-promoting involved with ePublishing opposed to the promoting you would get with a publisher and/or agent.

Stemming from eBooks, I found this article http://ireaderreview.com/2010/04/24/kindle-vs-nook-review-2010/ for those interested in getting either a Nook or Kindle. It is the latest comparison of the two.