The Write at Home Mom

This Blog is Moving

2012-01-24T14:48:00.003-05:00

Because of my busy life I am consolidating my blogs to one- this blog will be moving to my Creatively Green blog- which will now be The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom.

There you will now find- green product and book reviews, crafts, gardening ideas, recipes and all kinds of writing advice and guest blogs from authors.

It will have a little bit of everything.

So be sure to change yur bookmarks and follow me over to Creatively Green.

Thanks,

Wenona

Call for Submissions: Sinister Seductions-Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly

2012-01-21T20:26:00.001-05:00

“Sinister Seductions”
Open Call for Anthology Submissions
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing

Release Date: October 2012

Sinister Seductions is an anthology of paranormal romance stories edited by Roxanne Rhoads .
This collection will consist of paranormal dark desires and supernaturally seductive tales of all things sinister and scary – think vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, and ghosts.

Please no angels or anything similar, those stories will be covered in the Seraphic Encounters antho.The Anthology will be for the Paranormal Romance adult fan base, please no YA stories.
All romantic heat levels accepted from softly romantic to hot and steamy.

Roxanne is looking for unique takes and edgy twists on popular paranormal characters- give me something new, dark, delicious, and sexy. She's not looking for the common vampire meets human, bites and has sex with human and falls in love story- give her something she's not expecting, something new and delightfullydark.

Stories containing the following will NOT be considered: INCEST, BESTIALITY (SHIFTER OK), RAPE/RAPE FOR TITILLATION, PEDOPHILIA

This anthology will pay NO royalties as a contract will state.

You will retain the rights to your story. CHBB will ask for exclusivity of the story for one year. Other rights we are requiring via contract are First Publishing Rights, the right to use the story for as long as there is demand for the book, the right to edit each story for missed or grammatical errors, and the right to use parts of the book and/or the author’s name for promotion. This would only be for the anthology and not any other books we may publish of yours. The author will receive two copies of the anthology, the PDF file, as well as a discount code for personal orders via Amazon.

To Submit:
Please send submissions to RoxanneRhoads@crushingheartsandblackbutterfly.com

Send your story as an attachment with the following guidelines:
Each story will consist of a minimum of 3,000 words no more than 10k. Each work must be submitted as a .doc or .docx file.
The font must be 12pt Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing, .5 first line indents
Writers may submit more than one story but not more than one work will be included if the writer is selected.

CHBB is asking for fresh and ORIGINAL stories. Current and Previously published stories will NOT be accepted (including self-published works i.e. Smashwords, Amazon, and BN).

The deadline for submission is May 31, 2012. Please allow three to four weeks from the deadline before inquiring on your status. We will try to notify everyone promptly.

Be sure to write “Submission” in the subject line along with your title. In the body of the email, include the title of your story along with your real name, and pen name (if applicable) and your contact info.

We look forward to hearing from you and good luck!

An Excerpt from The Opera by Michelle Franklin

2011-12-12T07:02:00.000-05:00

An excerpt from The Opera

Upon reaching the keep’s kitchen, the commander found Alasdair sitting at the table with his early evening tea, reading over his proclamations for the day. He seemed equanimity itself now that his presiding in the royal courts for the day had done; leaning back in his favourite chair, with half a glance toward the yard and half toward his papers, his hand in mid-ascension, the teacup pressed against his lips, expecting to be soothed by his first sip of lemon soother, when the advertisement was thrust before him, causing him to replace his cup upon the table and investigate the announcement directly.

“Oh, this looks brilliant,” Alasdair declared smilingly. “Is this about us?”

“I daresay it is,” the commander said, pointing to the title of the opera, “although I’m hardly recognizable.”

“Well, I can tell it’s you by the . . .” Alasdair made a suggestive gesture toward her chest and left his assertion there, returning his gaze to the poster while a small blush crept up his cheek.

“Those are far too small to be mine.”

The size and shape of her magnanimous proportions could be compared, but Alasdair would not look again; he would not be suspected of gawping for pleasure nor would his gentlemanly sensibilities allow him to be baited so easily. “I suppose you’re right,” he said quickly, keeping his gaze firmly upon the advertisement. He seemed bemused, and pointing to the heroic figure in the piece said, “Is that meant to be me on that white horse?”

“And I do believe that’s meant to be Maeve.”

Alasdair raised a brow. “She would be disappointed.”

“As she should be. What chestnut mare wants to be a white stallion?”

“And she certainly isn’t that . . .” fat was what he wished to say, but at that moment, Martje had trundled in from the larder and Alasdair was forced to check himself. He said a polite hello and his features flushed with colour to think he had almost said the forbidden word in the plump cook’s presence. “I look very well, though,” he said cheerfully. “My hair is tidy and my jerkin looks very fitting. Those breeches, though, don’t go well with those boots. It would have been better to match them with calfskin boots, not these impossible things. Who would wear boots that low when riding? The fabric would chafe, surely.”

The commander laughed and shook her head. “Is that all your worry?”

“Yes, I think so,” he said with stout confidence. He took a moment to regard the remainder of the piece and then decided, “Well, Rautu looks accurate, doesn’t he.”

“You are too horrid,” she said with a sagacious smile.

“I’m allowed to say what I want when he’s not here.”

“You know that he has eyes and ears in every corner of this keep and yet you would ridicule him. You are all bravery, Alasdair.”

“If he can say whatever he wants to my face, then I think I might be allowed to admire his portrait before demands to kill the illustrator.” Alasdair made a defensive humph and began folding the poster. “Has he seen it yet?”

“No.”

“Good. I’ll send the herald to the theatre with the instruction that everyone involved with this production is to leave the capital immediately.”

“You are the epitome of charity, Alasdair, in giving them such a warning, but I daresay he shall hunt them down and skin them regardless. Will you allow this opera to be performed even though you know its content to be possibly disparaging?”

Alasdair made an abashed smile and took a last peek at the depiction of himself. “I wonder if they’ll have me kill Rautu in a terrific duel or if I’ll merely sing him to death.”

“You know the powers of the Frewyn Players and their ability to depict historical events with perfect accuracy.”

It was said with such wryness that Alasdair was forced to agree with her; the portrayal of Mad Queen Maeve, though highly entertaining, could hardly be supposed a truthful display when all of Frewyn was aware that her end came from her insanity and not from the edge of an envious lover’s knife as the play might have the uninformed believe. They laughed and sighed, both of them in equal dread and anticipation of what such a piece could depict, and stood from the kitchen table, the commander desirous of telling her mate before he could find out from another quarter and Alasdair wanting to visit the tailor.

The Opera Tales from Frewyn
By Michelle Franklin

Blurb:

When due homage is paid to the heroes of Frewyn, what could possibly go wrong?

The Frewyn Players at the Royal Theatre in Diras are looking for new material to perform when a famous director from Marridon arrives to impart a Marridon theatrical pastime that is certain to make them famous. An opera will be their new performance, one that glorifies Frewyn's greatest heroes, but what begins as homage ends as mockery, and the play that would make them the greatest exhibition in Frewyn might instead make them the Den Asaan's most merited enemy.

Book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Tales-from-Frewyn-The-Opera-ebook/dp/B005TL7QMA

Book on Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94632

Twitter: @MrsDenAsaan & @DenAsaan

Haanta Series site: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94632

2011-12-06T11:10:00.001-05:00

An Excerpt from When Copper Suns Fall: a YA Dark Urban Fantasy

By KaSonndra Leigh

Forcing my eyes to open, I found myself outside the Cradlehack. I was standing in Faris’s arms, my head against his chest, my fingers entwined in his black vest. It was a smooth fabric that felt like silk. A cloth no one had worn outside of ceremonies since before the Tidal Years. This boy was no common citizen. His earthy-sweet smell made me feel hypnotically safe, as we stood among the crowd fleeing down the hillside. He lifted my chin, stared in my eyes. But this wasn’t some dumb player’s move.

No, a mysterious thing stirred behind his silvery-gray eyes.

“Feel better, Chela?” he asked. I nodded.

“Thanks for helping me,” I said, still fighting a light head. Still afraid the dreaded black blobs lingered somewhere around us. Somewhat ashamed I’d spoken so horribly to him moments ago.

“You probably shouldn’t do that,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Thank me.”

“Why? Because I caught you using alchemy? That’s what your kind does. Make magic in the shadows, right?” I said.

His left eye ticked. The girl in the hoodie had called him a Caducean. Could it be possible? Father told me Caduceans were a mythical group—demon slayers from a time long gone. Yet, here I stood with a boy who didn’t deny my claim.

Around us, fewer people were leaving the Shack. They paid no attention to the two idiots standing and staring at each other. Did Jalen and Lexa make it out safely? They were taking forever to reach me.

Did I really want them to find me?

“They’ll call me, now, and make me a witness against you. I’m sorry, but I already have too many problems. So I—I have to tell the truth,” I said.

“That won’t be a problem.” Faris smiled, a catchy one that lit his face up. I couldn’t decide whether it was angelic or downright wicked. Just like I couldn’t remember where I’d ever heard an accent like his. What kind was it? Old southern? Old English? Irish? It sounded like a mix of all three, but with a deep timbre, making him sound god like. “In a few minutes, you won’t remember me or any of this.”

“Really? How do you figure that?” I asked, heart racing.

“Because my gift to you…” He moved his face closer to mine, pulling me into whatever was happening in his head. “My gift is to remove memories that cause you pain.”

“Okay, um, right.” Had I lost my mind? It probably wouldn’t have hurt to scream.

He held my gaze, locking me into something I couldn’t explain. A tear puckered up in his left eye, and slid down his cheek where it stopped on his top lip. Then he blinked, snapping us out of whatever place he’d taken us to, and glanced behind my head. “Here comes your dark knight,” he said, easing his arms away from me.

He strolled off into the last group of stragglers hanging around the Shack. How did he know my nickname for Jalen?

I wiped away a tear rolling down my right cheek.

“Chela, there you are. You scared me, girl.” Jalen’s voice cut into the moment. He spun me around to face him. I blinked, clearing my eyes. “What’s wrong? Did you get hurt?”

I glanced around us. The boy was gone. A dull headache joined the fuzziness in my head. Lost inside a clouded mind, I forgot what I wanted to say. The entire night’s events were hazy.

I fumbled with my thoughts.

What happened to me in there?

Mother/Game/Writer

http://www.blogger.com/www.mothergamerwriter.com

Lissette E. Manning

http://www.simplistik.org/lissetteemanning

JeanzBookReadNReview

http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.com/

Mad Moose Mama

http://www.madmoosemama.blogspot.com/

Read2Review

http://read2review.com/

Keeping Up With The Rheinlander's

http://mnmrheinlander.com/

ReaderGirls

http://www.readergirls.blogspot.com/

The Write at Home Mom

http://www.thewriteathomemom.blogspot.com/

Fang-tastic Books

http://www.blogger.com/www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com

Cece Reads and Writes

http://cecereadandwrite.blogspot.com/

Lisa’s World of Books

http://www.lisasworldofbooks.net/

When Copper Suns Fall
YA Dark Urban Fantasy
By KaSonndra Leigh

In fifteen-year-old Chela Prizeon’s city, alchemy is forbidden, and angels hide among the mortal. With a deadly virus ravaging the globe, Chela’s nightmarish memories compels her to experience a past riddled with gloom, and now her brother is infected.

Chela’s only hope is the Caduceans, slayers sworn to protect the last seven Light Keepers and the ancient memories they share. A group led by the sometimes elusive, sometimes infuriating boy who intrigues Chela. But can she trust this boy with the mysterious past, someone who can influence her memories?

With the Caduceans aid, Chela races to defeat her rivals, to unearth dark family secrets, desperate to find a cure…only to discover the glutovirus is far more than a simple disease.

In this haunting debut, KaSonndra Leigh offers an escape into a world as intriguing as The Mortal Instruments and a story as chilling as Enclave. Full of celestial creatures, fascinating villainy, high-stake choices, and a secret romance, When Copper Suns Fall, is a fresh and original urban fantasy—with a dystopian twist—that will take readers on an unforgettable adventure.

Amazon Kindle Smashwords

About the Author:

KaSonndra Leigh lives in the City of Alchemy and Medicine, North Carolina. She likes to write about teens doing fantastical things in magical worlds. Her two sons have made her promise to write a boy book next.

She holds the MFA in creative writing, and loves to play CLUE, Monopoly (the Indiana Jones version), and Pandora’s Box (good writer’s block therapy). She lives in an L-shaped house with a garden dedicated to her grandmother. It has a secret library complete with fairies, Venetian plastered walls, and a desk made out of clear blue glass.

When Copper Suns Fall is her debut novel.

http://www.kasonndraleigh.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/kasonndraleigh

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5137209.KaSonndra_Leigh

http://www.facebook.com/pages/When-Copper-Suns-Fall-by-KaSonndra-Leigh/111665822268673

Have book will travel -a guest blog by Michelle Beattie

2011-11-29T11:16:00.001-05:00

Have book will travel -a guest blog by Michelle Beattie

I don't read to "travel" to exotic or never-been-to-before places. I usually grab a book based on a) partly it's cover, b) it's back blurb and c) if it's a favorite author. Still, I have to say that if I enjoy a story AND it's taken me someplace I've never been, I feel like I've travelled, in some small way, away from home.

Through books I've been swept to a Caribbean island, a mountain ski resort and the Florida Everglades. I've "been" to Vermont, New Jersey, Texas, New Orleans, the Chesapeake Bay. I feel as though I've felt the icy chill of an Alaskan blizzard, felt the humidity of Louisiana and bounced along a rutted road in a stagecoach.

What a treat it is to lose yourself in a book, to be taken on an emotional as well as a physical journey.

I live in Alberta, Canada. I have two daughters and my husband has his own business. We don't travel much and, frankly, some of the settings I've read about aren't really on my radar anytime soon. However, BECAUSE I've read about them, I am now more interested in seeing them than I was before.

So, readers, is there a book/location that so captivated you in a book you've since gone there yourself or are planning a trip to go see?

I don't read to "travel" to exotic or never-been-to-before places. I usually grab a book based on a) partly it's cover, b) it's back blurb and c) if it's a favorite author. Still, I have to say that if I enjoy a story AND it's taken me someplace I've never been, I feel like I've travelled, in some small way, away from home.

Through books I've been swept to a Caribbean island, a mountain ski resort and the Florida Everglades. I've "been" to Vermont, New Jersey, Texas, New Orleans, the Chesapeake Bay. I feel as though I've felt the icy chill of an Alaskan blizzard, felt the humidity of Louisiana and bounced along a rutted road in a stagecoach.

What a treat it is to lose yourself in a book, to be taken on an emotional as well as a physical journey.

I live in Alberta, Canada. I have two daughters and my husband has his own business. We don't travel much and, frankly, some of the settings I've read about aren't really on my radar anytime soon. However, BECAUSE I've read about them, I am now more interested in seeing them than I was before.

So, readers, is there a book/location that so captivated you in a book you've since gone there yourself or are planning a trip to go see?

Nov 28 Tour Kick Off- Guest Blog

Roxanne’s Realm

http://www.roxannesrealm.blogspot.com/

Nov 28 Promo

All the days of

http://allthedaysof.blogspot.com/

Nov 29 Guest Blog

The Write at Home Mom

http://www.thewriteathomemom.blogspot.com/

Nov 30 Guest Blog

Flutey Words

http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com/

Dec 1 Guest Blog

Mila Ramos

http://jademystique.blogspot.com/

Dec 2 Guest Blog and review

A Chick Who Reads

http://achickwhoreads.blogspot.com/

Dec 3 promo

Fang-tastic Books

http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/

Dec 3 Interview and review

http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com/

Dec 4 Guest blog and review

For The Love of Reading

http://niinas-reading-and-reviewing.blogspot.com/

Dec 5 Promo

Cocktails and Books

http://www.cocktailsandbooks.com/

Dec 6 Promo Spot

DEEP IN THE HEART ROMANCE

http://www.deepintheheartromance.com/

Another Chance
By Michelle Beatti

Being a veterinarian in the late 1800’s is difficult enough, but for Jillian Matthews it’s impossible. Not allowed in the vet schools, she trained at her father’s side until she had the skills needed to move west. Jillian accepts an advertisement for a position in Montana, using only her initials which happen to be same as her father’s. Convinced that in the untamed west, her skills will be valued and appreciated, regardless of her gender, she’s quickly proved wrong.

Wade Parker is sure the pretty redhead claiming to be the vet he sent for is one of his ranch hands’ practical jokes but the fiery woman very quickly puts him in his place and proves him wrong. His impression, however, turns south when the animal she operated on later dies. With a ranch on the verge of bankruptcy, losing an animal was the last thing he could afford and he can’t help thinking the old vet, the male doctor, wouldn’t have let his animal die.

With Wade’s initial reaction guiding them, the town is quick to want Jillian out. But the more Wade gets to know Jillian, the more he sees her grit and compassion, the harder he falls for her. When Wade realizes he was too hasty in his judgment and urges the town to give Jillian another chance, he makes more than few enemies. Enemies that would do almost anything to get her out, and to make sure Wade doesn’t take her side again.

Soon threats turn to violence and both Wade and Jillian must make a stand. The problem is, at what cost?

About the Author:

Michelle Beattie has been writing for 16 years. Her first pirate novel was released in December 2008 under the title, What a Pirate Desires. Since then she added two more to her series, Romancing the Pirate and A Pirate's Possession.

Changing gears a bit, Michelle has decided to follow the growing trend of published authors independently publishing their own books. She released her first independent title, a contemporary light paranormal, Love By Accident, in October and is following it up with a historical western, Another Chance.

Her pirate books have received wonderful praise from publisher's weekly, Romantic Times and several on-line review sites as well as have been published in several languages. Love By Accident hit #14 in ghosts on Amazon's site on its release day.

Michelle lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband, two daughters and a rabbit.

twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/M_Beattie

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Beattie-Romance-Author/100613946697175

website: http://www.michellebeattie.com/

Cyber Monday Giveaway

2011-11-28T06:33:00.001-05:00

In the prize packs:

A print copy of 2MOS

A canvas bag

A Pavarti T-Shirt

A copy of Hush Hush in one Fallen in the other

Shadow on the Wall Collectible Magnet

Shadow on the Wall Note Cards

Fighting Monkey Press Note Pad

Shadow on the Wall promotional post card

2 prize packs (photos above) and 5 ebook copies of Two Moons of Sera are being given away

Physical prize packs open to US Shipping Only

Fill out the form here or below

show your support by following Pavarti at her Blog FaceBook and Twitter

Two Moons of SeraBy Pavarti K Tyler

Two Moons of Sera Synopsis:

In a world where water and earth teem with life, Serafay is an anomaly. The result of genetic experiments on her mother's water-borne line Serafay will have to face the very people responsible to discover who she really is.

But is she the only one?

YouTube Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/24coIZ96Qlg

Get the book at Amazon and Smashwords

Two Moons Music Playlist:

http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Two+Moons+Of+Sera/58380416

About the Author:

Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number-cruncher who has been committed to causing trouble since her first moment on this Earth. Her eclectic career has flirted with Broadway, Teaching, Law Firms and the IRS. Author of many short stories, Pavarti spans genres from Horror and Erotica all the way to Fantasy. Currently Pavarti is hard at work establishing her Indie Publishing Company Fighting Monkey Press.

Pavarti K Tyler's novel Two Moons of Sera is a Fantasy/Romance and will be released in a serial format beginning this fall. Her next novel Shadow on the Wall is scheduled for release in early 2012. Shadow on the Wall is Book One of The SandStorm Chronicles, the saga of Recai Osman — businessman, philosopher, Muslim and . . . superhero.

Find Pavarti at: Blog FaceBook Twitter Tumblr GoodReads G+

Guest Blog and $50 Gift Card Giveaway with Natasha Larry

2011-11-12T03:44:00.000-05:00

How I Write Young Adult-Paranormal Fiction
Sharpies, Fumes and Silly Typos

All writers have some weird writing quirk they can’t build their world without. I mentioned recently in an interview that I happen to write my first draft in sharpie marker. I won’t mention a fellow young adult/paranormal author that makes front of me for doing this. I mean, is writing in sharpie marker really so much different than writing with scissors and note cards K.C. Neal? ;) Tee hee.

Anyway, I do write in sharpie markers and I can’t seem to stop myself. My publisher learned this and told me I should probably find a method of writing that would avoid as many typos as possible. Oh, did I fail to mention that I also write all of my books out on paper first? Yes, without an outline. I don’t always do it in chronological order either.

I tried to stop! To be a big girl author, sit down at my computer and write books like serious writers should. Yeah, it was an epic fail. I can’t see the world I’m trying to put down on paper while looking at a computer screen. I’m writing the first draft of this guest blog on a computer, and you can see… there are no dangerous telekinetics or anything else made up. So, I use my sharpie method to write the Darwin’s Children books. What is the sharpie method, you ask?

Well, sometimes if I’m writing out a nice action scene I do so in red. I also tend to forget I can’t draw and write out words like, BOOM and POW. For most other things my choice of sharpie color is green or dark blue. For the scenes I hate writing- the ones that rip your heart out like the Haylee scene in the first book, or the emotional scene with Matt and his mother in the second book, I use black. It’s a big black marker of shame, and the fumes tend to make me dizzy. When Alonzo Sanchez was added to the series I happened to be writing in a violet marker.

Is it a little stupid? Yes, but it works for me. Am I a little nutty? Clearly. I don’t know much about the best way to go about writing a novel other than this. I do take it very seriously. As seriously as any writer with an outline and software. Whether you write in sharpie or hammer into rocks, I think the goal is the same: to get the story out of your head and onto paper, and to do so in a way that the final product will be more than words on paper. I write in sharpie to make this world real to the reader.

Ssssh, don’t tell my publisher. Now, I do have issues with typos and, sometimes, they are actually quite funny. It happens a lot when sharpies bleed through paper and your handwriting is already atrocious. Enjoy!

Three of the Best Typos from the Darwin’s Children Series

From Unnatural Law: Matt heard her shark intake of breathe. Hmmm….

From Unnatural Law: Allison got up quickly and dressed slowly.

And the best, from the third book- not yet titled, and undergoing violent revision. This is my favorite because I have no idea what happened here.

“All of the grew skin pale their eyes. Washed in silver light, their hair grew long and became as white as their skin.”

Yeah, maybe the fumes are an issue.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11691084-darwin-s-children

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12941973-unnatural-law

Unnatural Law Blurb
by Natasha Larry
Fantasy / Young-Adult
Book 2 Darwin’s Children Series

Seventeen-year-old Jaycie Lerner’s psycho-kinetic power surge is over, and her astounding powers are under control for the time being – sort of. As she struggles to maintain her humanity in the face of the awesome terror and responsibility of her abilities, she also yearns for the chance at a normal life – and a relationship with Matt Carter, the best friend she had to leave behind. But Matt’s got a few tricks up his sleeve, and he’s not about to give up on his feelings for Jaycie.

As Jaycie and her family grapple with the day-to-day routine of trying to keep their world together, Jaycie’s mother figure, Allison Young, endures a personal crisis of her own. The superhuman blonde possesses the physical equivalent of Jaycie’s awesome psychic power.

So evolved, at ninety-two she still looks twenty. But what good is extended life when everyone else around her is so fragile? With no one to share her unusual life, she’s a uniquely lonely woman yearning for the romantic love she sees all around her. But in a dream she gets her wish – and it quickly turns to a nightmare for everyone else in her life. The memory of a rose is all she can hold onto in the storm of obsession that nearly sweeps her away.

Things quickly turn deadly for the vampires, but the Dey-Vah Guard fairies refuse to acknowledge there’s an imbalance in the nature they protect. As the danger gets ever closer to Jaycie and her family, the race is on to find answers before a secret plot can destroy them

Author Bio

Natasha Larry resides in Huntsville, Alabama with her daughter and fiancé. She graduated from Tusculum College with a B.A. in History and is currently working on getting her certificate in education. Apart from writing, she is a self-proclaimed comic book nerd and urban fantasy junkie. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in publications such as Writing Edge magazine and Escaping Elsewhere. Darwin’s Children is her first work of novel length fiction.

Author Web Site:
http://www.paranormalwire.blogspot.com/
http://natashalarrybooks.com/

Books by Natasha Larry

Darwin's Children ( Book 1 of Series: Darwin's Children )

Unnatural Law Book 2 Darwin’s Children Series

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darwins-Children-Series/145755472156223

Twitter: @natashalarry

Giveaway Time

one grand prize winner at the end of the Unnatural Law tour will win a $50 Gift card to the retailer of their choice and a signed print set of both books- Darwin's Children Children and Unnatural Law

Open to US residents only

Void where prohibited

To enter fill out this form

In Leah's Wake Virtual Book Tour Stop

2011-11-07T02:42:00.000-05:00

Just Do It

September

Zoe and Will Tyler sat at the dining room table, playing poker. The table, a nineteenth-century, hand-carved mahogany, faced the bay window overlooking their sprawling front yard. Husband and wife sat facing one another, a bowl of Tostitos and a half-empty bottle of port positioned between them. Their favorite Van Morrison disc—Tupelo Honey—spun on the player in the family room, the music drifting out of speakers built into the dining room walls.

Dog, their old yellow Lab, lay on a ratty pink baby blanket, under the window.

Zoe plucked the Queen of Hearts from the outside of her hand, and tucked it center. She was holding a straight. If she laid it down, she would win the hand, third in a row, and her husband would quit. If she didn’t, she would be cheating herself.

The moon was full tonight, its light casting a ghostly shadow across the yard. The full moon made Zoe anxious. For one of her internships in grad school, she’d worked on the psych ward at City Hospital, in Boston. On nights when the moon was full, the floor erupted, the patients noisy, agitated. Zoe’s superiors had pooh-poohed the lunar effect, chalked it up to irrationality, superstition. But Zoe had witnessed the flaring tempers, seen the commotion with her own two eyes, and found the effect impossible to deny—and nearly all the nurses concurred.

“Full moon,” she said. “I hadn’t noticed. No wonder I had trouble sleeping last night.”

Will set his empty glass on the table. With his fingers, he drummed an impatient tattoo. “You planning to take your turn any time soon? Be nice if we ended this game before midnight.”

“For Pete’s sake, Will.” Her husband had the attention span of a titmouse. He reminded her of Mick, a six year-old ADD patient she counseled—sweet kid, when he wasn’t ransacking her office, tossing the sand out of the turtle-shaped box, tweaking her African violets.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, sulking.

She shook her head—nothing, Mick—and forced a straight face.

“You’re laughing at me.”

“Don’t be silly. Why would I be laughing at you?”

He peered at his reflection in the window. Smirking, he finger-combed his baby-fine hair, pale, graying at the temples, carving a mini-pyramid at his crown.

“Nice do. Could use a little more gel,” she said, feeling mean-spirited the instant the words slipped out of her mouth. The poor guy was exhausted. He’d spent the week in California, on business, had flown into Logan this morning, on the red-eye. Though he had yet to fill her in on the details, it was obvious to her that his trip had not gone well. “Sorry,” she said. “Just kidding.” She fanned out her cards, hesitated for an instant, and laid down the straight.

“Congratulations.” Scowling, he pushed away from the table. “You win again.”

“Way to go, grumpy. Quit.”

“I’m getting water,” he said, tamping his hair. “Want some?”

Dog lifted her head, her gaze following Will to the door, yawned, and settled back down.

Her husband stomped across the kitchen, his footfall moving in the direction of the family room. The music stopped abruptly, and the opening chords of a Robbie Robertson tune belted out of the speakers. Zoe loved Robbie Robertson, “Showdown at Big Sky” one of her favorite songs.

That didn’t mean that the entire state of Massachusetts wanted to hear it.

“Will,” she said, gesturing from the kitchen. “Turn it down. You’ll wake Justine.”

She waited a few seconds, caught his eye, gestured again. The third time was the charm.

Exasperated, she returned to the dining room, bundled the cards, put them away in the sideboard, and gathered the dishes. The toilet flushed in the half-bath off the back hall. Seconds later, she heard her husband rattling around the kitchen, slamming the cabinet doors. Last spring, Will had won a major contract for his company, North American Construction. Since then, he’d been back and forth nonstop to the West Coast, spending two weeks a month in San Francisco, servicing the client. Zoe hadn’t minded his traveling, at first. Over the past two years, with the glut of office and manufacturing space in the northeast, construction starts had dropped, and his sales had taken a serious hit, his commissions steadily dwindling. To compensate, initially they’d relied on their savings. In January, they’d remortgaged the house. When the California job arose, Will had jumped on the opportunity. He had no choice, especially with Leah headed to college next year. But the situation, lately, was brutal. Will hated traveling, hated flying, hated living out of a suitcase. And he resented missing Leah’s soccer games. Last November, as a sophomore, their daughter had been named Player of the Year on the Boston Globe All-Scholastic team. A week later, in his year-end summary, the sports reporter from the Cortland Gazette had called Leah the “best soccer player in the state.” The head coaches from the top colleges in the area—Harvard, Dartmouth, Boston College, BU—had sent congratulatory letters, expressing their interest. Will wanted to be home to guide her, meet the prospective coaches, help her sort through her options. Zoe didn’t blame her husband a bit. But it didn’t seem to occur to Will that his traveling disrupted her life, too. Last year, she’d developed a motivational seminar, called “Success Skills for Women on the Move.” Now that the girls were practically grown, the workshops were her babies. The extra workload at home, added to the demands of her fulltime job at the counseling center, left her with no time for marketing or promotion, and the workshops had stagnated. Zoe understood her husband’s frustration. It irked her when he minimized hers.

Will appeared in the doorway, a few minutes later, empty-handed. Will was tall, a hair shy of six-one. He’d played football in college, and, at forty-five, still had the broad shoulders and narrow waist of an athlete. Amazing, really: after eighteen years of marriage, she still found him achingly sexy. Crow’s feet creased the corners of his intelligent blue eyes and fine lines etched his cheekbones, giving his boyish features a look of intensity and purpose, qualities Zoe had recognized from the start but that only now, as he was aging, showed on his face.

After work, he’d changed into a pair of stonewashed jeans and a gray sweatshirt, worn soft, the words “Harvard Soccer Camp” screened in maroon lettering across the chest. Absently, he pushed up his sleeves, and peered around the room as though looking for something. “Zoe—”

Normally, he called her Honey or Zo.

“I put the cards away.” She thumbed the sideboard. “You quit, remember?”

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

She glanced at the cuckoo clock on the far wall. “Ten past eleven. So?”

“Where’s Leah?”

At the football game, with Cissy. “They’ve been going every week. Did you forget?”

“She ought to be home by now.”

“She’s only ten minutes late.” Their daughter was a junior in high school. They’d agreed, before school started this year, to extend her weekend curfew to eleven. “She’ll be here soon.”

Will stalked to the window, grumbling. Dog rose, and pressed her nose to the glass.

Their driveway, half the length of a soccer field, sloped down from the cul-de-sac, arced around the lawn, and straightened, ending in a turnaround at the foot of their three-car garage. In summer, the oak and birch trees bordering the property obscured their view. Now that most of the leaves had fallen, the headlights were visible as vehicles entered the circle.

“She has a game in the morning.” Will stretched his neck . His upper back had been bothering him lately, residual pain from an old football injury he’d suffered in college.

Zoe came up behind him, pushing Dog’s blanket aside with her foot, and squeezed his shoulders.

“You’re tight.”

He dropped his chin. “From sleeping on the plane. Got to get one of those donut pillows.”

“You know Leah. She has no sense of time. I’ll bet they stopped for something to eat.”

“I can’t see why Hillary won’t set a curfew. Every other coach has one.”

“Relax, Will. It’s not that late. You’re blowing this out of proportion. Don’t you think?”

A flash of headlights caught their attention. An SUV entered the cul-de-sac, rounded the circle, its lights sweeping over the drive and across their lawn, and headed down the street.

Bending, Will ruffled Dog’s ears. “Reardon’s coming tomorrow, specifically to watch her. She plays like crap when she’s tired.”

The Harvard coach. She should have known. “So she doesn’t go to Harvard,” she said, a tired remark, fully aware of the comeback her words would elicit, “she’ll go someplace else.”

“There is no place else.”

No place that would give her the opportunities, the connections… blah, blah, blah. They’d been over this a million times. If their daughter had the slightest aspiration of going to Harvard, Zoe would do everything in her power to support her. As far as she could tell, the name Harvard had never graced Leah’s wish-list. It was a moot point, anyway. For the last two terms, Leah’s grades had been dropping. If she did apply for admission, she would probably be denied.

“Reardon has pull,” he offered, a weak rebuttal in Zoe’s opinion. “He’s been talking to Hillary about her. She can’t afford to blow this opportunity.”

Opportunity? What opportunity? “Face it, Will. She doesn’t want to go to Harvard.”

“If she plays her cards right, she can probably get a boat.”

Zoe opened her mouth, ready to blast him. He’d received a full football scholarship from Penn State, and dropped out of college. Was that what he wanted? A college drop-out in a couple years? Noticing the purple rings under his eyes, she held back. “You’re exhausted.” His plane had barely touched ground at Logan Airport when he was ordered to NAC’s corporate office in Waltham, for a marketing meeting. He hadn’t had time to stop home to change his clothes, never mind take a short nap. “Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll wait up.”

The look he returned implied that she’d lost it. “You think I could sleep?”

“For all we know, they had a flat.”

“She would have called.”

“So call her.” Duh.

“I did. I got voice mail.”

Shoot. “You know Leah. Her battery probably died.” She was grasping at straws. Leah was sixteen years old. That phone was her lifeline. Still, it could be true. It was possible. Right?

Leah had totally lost track of time. She and Todd had been hanging out at the water tower for hours, perched on the hood of Todd’s Jeep, drinking Vodka and OJ, admiring the beautiful night.

This place was perfect, the most perfect place in the universe, maybe. Big sky, lots of trees.

From here, they could see the whole town, just about—the river, the railroad tracks. An orchard. In the valley, lights began to blink out. Leaning back on her elbows, she gazed up at the heavens. “Look,” she said, mesmerized by the inky black sky, the billions and billions of stars.

“The Big Dipper.” As she stared into space, time fell away, the past merging seamlessly with the future, this moment, up here, with Todd, the only reality there ever was or ever could be.

Todd took her hand, drawing her close, so close she could smell the spicy deodorant under his armpits. Just being with Todd Corbett made her feel dizzy all over. Todd was, by far, the most beautiful boy she had ever laid eyes on. His hair was long on top, short on the sides. He had full lips, and the most fabulous blue eyes, like, like crystals or something. A Romanesque nose, the exact nose she’d once told Cissy she’d die for, only now that she’d seen it on Todd, she realized that that particular nose was meant for a boy. Best of all, he had this incredible aura, all purple and blue, like James Dean or Curt Cobain.

She curled her legs under her, laid her head on Todd’s chest.

They met at a party, the Friday before school started. Todd had been on tour for the past two years, working as a roadie for a heavy metal band called “Cobra.” Leah knew he was back—that was all anybody was talking about—had recognized him instantly, from all the descriptions.
She couldn’t believe her luck. Todd Corbett! And alone! She’d heard he was hot. He was even better looking in person. Looking back, she couldn’t believe she’d been so brazen. She left Cissy in the lurch, sashayed right over to him, took a seat beside him, on the living room floor.

The movie he was watching was stupid. People clopping across a field like zombies, their arms outstretched. They reminded her of herself and Justine when they were little, playing blind.

Even the makeup looked phony.

“What are you watching?” she asked.

“Night of the Living Dead. Flick’s a classic. Hey, haven’t I seen you someplace before?”

Maybe, though she couldn’t imagine where. Todd couldn’t possibly have remembered her from high school. She was only a freshman when he dropped out.

“Leah Tyler, right? You’re that soccer chick.”

The wind swished through the trees. Leah shivered and Todd shrugged out of his worn leather bomber, draped his jacket over her shoulders. He reached into the pocket of his jeans, retrieved a small plastic bag half-full of weed, began rolling a joint. He licked the edge of the paper, lit the joint, inhaling deeply, and handed it to her, the smell rich and exotic and sweet.

Leah had never smoked marijuana until she met Todd. She used to be scared, which was dumb: weed was totally harmless. (The first few times she smoked, she had to admit, she’d been disappointed.) She pulled, her chest searing, struggled to hold the ice-hot smoke in her lungs.
Suddenly, she was coughing, waving her arms.

“You OK, babe?” Todd rescued the joint. With the other hand, he patted her back.

Once she was breathing easily again, he laughed, a sweet laugh that left her feeling dignified, rather than cheesy or stupid. He pinched the joint between his index finger and thumb, took a hit to demonstrate, and brought it to her lips, holding it for her. “That’s it, babe. Good.”

They smoked the joint to its stub, and he showed her how to fashion a roach clip from twigs. Afterward, he offered to drive her home. “Don’t want you getting in trouble or nothing.”

“That’s OK,” Leah said dreamily. “I don’t have to go yet.”

Todd hopped off the hood of the Jeep, pulled a flannel blanket from the back of the truck, and spread the blanket on the grass, under a giant oak tree. Leah watched him smooth it out, his hands dancing, the whole world intensely colored, brilliantly alive. She heard the lonely trill of a cricket, calling from deep in the valley, smelled the damp autumn earth, felt the cool blue breeze on her face. Todd was gliding toward her now, floating on air. He scooped her into his arms, lifting her from the hood of his Jeep, and laid her on the blanket. And kissed her.

At eleven thirty, Zoe dialed Leah’s cell phone again. When Leah didn’t pick up, she tried Cissy, both times reaching voice mail. “I don’t believe those two,” Zoe said, infuriated. “I’ll bet they changed their ringers. The little devils probably know it’s us.”

“That’s your daughter for you,” Will huffed.

“She’s my daughter now?”

By eleven forty-five, Zoe was chewing her cuticles. And Will was pacing.

“This is it,” Will announced. “I’m calling the cops.”

“You can’t be serious. What do you plan to tell them?”

He opened his cell phone. “I can’t sit here, doing nothing.” He glared at the screen.

“You can’t call the cops. She’s forty-five minutes late. They’ll think we’re crazy.”

He clicked his cell shut, dug his keys out of his pocket. “Fine. I’ll find her myself.”

Find her? Where on earth did he plan to look?

“I’ll start at the high school.”

“The game was over hours ago.”

“I’ll drive by the Hanson’s.” He headed for the garage, Dog at his heels.

“And do what?” Cissy’s mom, a nurse, worked the early shift at St. John’s. Judi was probably in bed by now. He would frighten her if he knocked on the door. “Will? Answer me.”

He swiveled to face her. “Look for the car,” he snapped, and ushered Dog out the door.

Zoe stood in the mudroom, at a loss, staring blankly at the door her husband had closed. The house, she realized when she came to, was an icebox. She rooted through the hall closet, found a fleece jacket of Will’s, and pulled it on, kicked off her shoes, the ceramic tile cool under her bare feet, went to the bathroom, crossed the hall to the laundry, tossed a load of clean clothes into the dryer, and wandered back to the kitchen. She poured a glass of water, gathered the dishes they’d left on the dining room table, and emptied the uneaten chips into the compactor. She loaded the dishwasher. After she finished washing the counter, she flung the rag into the sink, and grabbed the cordless phone, so she would have a phone handy if Will or Leah tried to call.
A family portrait, commissioned last year, hung over the stone fireplace in the family room. For the photograph, the four of them had dressed in blue; their blue period, they’d joked when the photographer showed them the proofs. In the photo, Zoe is sitting on a stool, leaning toward the camera, Will standing behind her, flanked by the girls. Looking at the portrait, you’d never guess how hard it had been for the photographer to capture the shot, the kids squabbling, Will impatient, Zoe frustrated, both parents clenching their teeth. Restless, Zoe stepped down into the family room, sank into the oversized chair next to the fireplace, and curled her legs under her, clutching the phone.

Waiting, she tried to think positive thoughts. Leah’s responsible. She can handle herself. If the girls had been in a car accident, the police would have contacted them by now. As usual, her effort to avoid negative thoughts conjured them up. Something wasn’t right. Leah had been late a few times before, never like this. A half hour was one thing. Zoe often lost track of time herself. She would be at her office, transcribing her notes, look up, notice the clock, and realize she was supposed to have picked up one of the girls—at school, at the mall, at a friend’s—fifteen, twenty minutes before. She would rush around her office in a tizzy, collecting her folders and purse, cursing herself for being a neglectful mother, and drive like a madwoman to her destination. But an hour? She checked her watch. And fifteen minutes? This wasn’t like Leah.

She wondered if she had missed something. A signal. A hint. This morning, Leah, out of bed by seven, had moseyed into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. Spotting the sauce pan on the front burner, she’d whined about having to eat oatmeal again. But she always whined when Zoe made oatmeal, which on certain days she found “revolting,” on others “disgusting” or “gross.” Zoe set the bowl in front of her. “Quit bellyaching,” she said. “Oatmeal is good for you.”

They were running late. So the girls wouldn’t have to rush to catch the bus, Zoe offered to drive them to school. Justine rode shotgun, while Leah dozed in the backseat. At two, Leah called Zoe at work to remind her that she and Cissy planned to go to the game. She was headed directly home after practice, Leah had said; she would fix dinner. At six thirty, when Zoe opened the back door, she smelled Leah’s spicy, cumin-laced chili. On the island counter, Zoe found place settings for her, for Will, for Justine, three glasses filled with ice water and lemon. Justine was upstairs in her room, doing her geometry homework. Leah had already left for the game.

Zoe closed her eyes, breathing deeply, attempting to center herself, and, counting backward from ten. . . eight, seven, six. . . summoned an image of her daughter. Leah’s face materialized, and her body slowly came into focus. Directing her energy outward, Zoe enclosed her daughter in a protective circle of light. Be safe, baby, she whispered. Be safe.

IN LEAH’S WAKE
By Terri Giuliano Long
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback, Kindle
ISBN: 1456310542
Publisher: CreateSpace
Website: www.tglong.com

BOOK BLURB

The Tyler family had the perfect life - until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn't want to be perfect anymore.

While her parents fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah's younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake.

Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn't enough?

Jodi Picoult fans will love this beautifully written and absorbing novel.

DESCRIPTION

Protecting their children comes naturally for Zoe and Will Tyler—until their daughter Leah decides to actively destroy her own future.

Leah grew up in a privileged upper-middle class world. Her parents spared no expense for her happiness; she had all-but secured an Ivy League scholarship and a future as a star athlete. Then she met Todd.

Leah’s parents watch helplessly as their daughter falls into a world of drugs, sex, and wild parties. While Will attempts to control his daughter’s every move to prevent her from falling deeper into this dangerous new life, Zoe prefers to give Leah slack in the hope that she may learn from her mistakes. Their divided approach drives their daughter out of their home and a wedge into their marriage.

Twelve-year-old Justine observes Leah’s rebellion from the shadows of their fragmented family. She desperately seeks her big sister’s approval and will do whatever it takes to obtain it. Meanwhile she is left to question whether her parents love her and whether God even knows she exists.

What happens when love just isn’t enough? Who will pay the consequences of Leah’s vagrant lifestyle? Can this broken family survive the destruction left in Leah’s wake?

This mesmerizing debut novel tells the tale of a contemporary American family caught in the throes of adolescent rebellion - a heartbreaking, funny, ultimately redemptive quest for love, independence, connection and grace.

SALES LINKS Amazon Print , Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound

AUTHOR BIO

Terri Giuliano Long is the bestselling author of the award-winning novel In Leah’s Wake. Books offer her a zest for life’s highs and comfort in its lows. She’s all-too-happy to share this love with others as a novelist and a writing teacher at Boston College. She was grateful and thrilled beyond words when In Leah’s Wake hit the Barnes & Noble and Amazon bestseller lists in August. She owes a lot of wonderful people – big time! – for any success she’s enjoyed!

Website: http://www.tglong.com/
Blog: www.tglong.com/blog
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tglong
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tglongwrites

Red Winter Book Tour Stop and $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

2011-11-05T06:17:00.000-04:00

Nov 1 Guest Blog

Pocket After Dark

Nov 3 interview and review

For The Love of Reading!

http://niinas-reading-and-reviewing.blogspot.com/

Nov 5 Promo Spot

The Write at Home Mom

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Nov 6 Promo

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Nov 6 Promo

The Ramblings of Amy –

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Nov 7 Interview and Promo

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Nov 7 Promo

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Red Winter
By Clark Hays
Pumpjack Press, 2011

How do you kill someone who just won’t stay dead? It will take more than a steady hand filled with a blazing six shooter if anyone in LonePine lives through the “Red Winter.”
Sheriff Early Hardiman has seen a lot of bad things in his life, but nothing could have prepared him for the first Vampire to visit the Old West.

The year is 1890 and winter is closing like a noose around tiny LonePine, Wyoming. When the snows come and the mountain passes are buried and the train stops running, there’s only one way to leave LonePine — boots up in a pine box. For Sheriff Hardiman, once one of the fastest guns in the West, it’s another four months of watching over the foolish and the foolhardy and praying for the arrival of spring. At least he has the lovely Miss Grace, his new wife and former madam of the infamous Pearl brothel, to keep him company.

But then a murderer turns up out of the cold and dark. People are being killed and not in the usual way, either — they are dying hard, tortured and drained of their blood. Worse, it appears Miss Grace may be next on the list.

Fans of “The Cowboy and the Vampire” (Midnight Ink, 2010) know that LonePine will see plenty of Vampires in another 120 years. But in 1890, no one had yet even imagined the kind of terror Jericho Whistler brings with him to the isolated little town when he hunkers down for a long winter of feasting on the terrified and trapped residents of LonePine.

Buy it: Amazon Smashwords

Excerpt
“Want to tell me what the hell’s got you all shook up?” he asked Avery.

“It’s awful Sheriff, one them old gals.” His face turned green as he conjured up the image. “Someone cut her all to hell. Dammit Early, there’s blood everywhere.”

They stalked on, Early feeling a cold ball of dread in his stomach. His fists clenched unconsciously. Out past the railroad station they crossed the rough-hewn bridge spanning the dark rush of Wet River, boots crunching on the frozen ground. Lights were burning around the peeling exterior of the Hog Ranch, lanterns setting on the porch and people standing close together shivering from the cold but unwilling to go in.

As they walked up and those gathered recognized Early, they clustered around him and all began talking at once, a knot of pale, worried faces. One of the whores was holding the edge of the porch rail, wiping vomit from the corners of her painted mouth.

“Quiet,” he bellowed. “Somebody tell me what the hell’s going on here,” he shouted, cutting through the questions and clamor.

“Go see for yourself,” a man said weakly, pointing through the door. “It’s like a goddamn slaughterhouse.”

He stepped into the front room, lit by candles and guttering oil lamps. The smell of sex and smoke hung heavy in the air. “Where?” he asked Avery, standing in the door.

“Upstairs and down the hall.”

Senses straining, he walked slowly up to the second story and the row of doors standing open, the empty rooms silent and accusing. The familiar scent of sin and body odor was overpowered by something else. Fear. And death. He looked into each room as he passed, cataloging the contents in his mind. The last door on the right was closed. He turned the knob and jerked it open, felt bile rising in his throat and sagged against the frame.

“Sweet Holy Jesus,” he muttered. He had always considered himself a hard man, one accustomed to death, but the scene that lay before him shook him to the core. What had once been a woman lay tied to the bed with rawhide cords, dead eyes open and frozen wide with fear, a bloody rag stuffed in her mouth.

A fresh wave of nausea washed over him and he choked it back, tearing his gaze away to look at the familiar objects in the room: a dirty wash basin, cracked mirror, an expensive brush with a bone handle, a few dresses. Not much to live for, nothing at all to die for.

About the author

Clark Hays is a writer, poet and lapsed cowboy living in Portland, Oregon, with writing partner Kathleen McFall. Their first book, The Cowboy and the Vampire, was re-released October 2010 by Midnight Ink. They are hard at work on a sequel, Blood and Whiskey, which will be released in early 2012.

In the meantime, Red Winter, edited by Kathleen, is available as an eBook.

Web: www.cowboyandvampire.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cowboyandvampire
Twitter: @cowboyvamp

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Guest Blog and Giveaway with Kerri Nelson

2011-11-01T04:35:00.001-04:00

Peanut Butter Love Scenes & My “In A Minute” Mantra

In an ideal world, I’d have my own wife. I mean, I’m not into this multiple wives thing but wouldn’t it be cool if I had an organized, nifty woman about who could help me with all the little things around the house while I leisurely lounged about and wrote my novels?

Someone who would help with the gigantic piles of laundry that never seem to get caught up. Someone would do a load or two of dishes, is that really asking too much? And someone who could merrily entertain my children while I struggle to get down just…a…few…more…words…on my current manuscript.

And the best part…she’d do all of this for FREE! Just because she loves me.

Well, I don’t see that happening any time soon. I mean, cause then she’d probably want time alone with my husband (which is a real deal breaker for me) and then…what if the children started calling her “Momma”? Hmmm…doesn’t sound like a winner for me.

So, I guess I’ll just have to find a way to do it all. And I do this daily with two little methods I’ve lovingly created called: Peanut Butter Love Scenes & My “In A Minute” Mantra.

Unfortunately, for those of you who like the kinky stuff…Peanut Butter Love Scenes does not refer to mixing food with sexual escapades. However, it does refer to the times when I must craft a sexy, thrilling, sensual love scene whilst my two toddlers are finger painting their peanut butter and jelly sandwich filling all over the table, their clothes and my son’s favorite place---a thorough smearing into his cleanly washed hair.

Despite my urge to jump up and clean their sticky mess with a cleaning that would pass any white glove test, I must push through the scene until I reach that all important climax. Sounds tough? Oh, that’s nothing compared to the sheer overload of verbal requests and altercations my three children battle through daily.

For these, I’ve developed my “In A Minute Mantra”. What is this, you say? Some sort of time management solution that will help all working mothers succeed?

Sadly, no.

It is what I say at least one hundred times per day (I’ve really lost count and a hundred is probably low). It goes something like this…

3 year old: “Momma, I’m hungry.”

Me: “In a minute.”

10 year old: “Mom, when are we going to Target?”

Me: “In a minute.”

3 year old: “Momma, can you change the channel?”

Me: “In…a…minute…”

1 year old throwing a tantrum in the den.

Me (without looking up from the keyboard): “Leave your brother alone!”

3 year old: “In a minute, Momma.”

So, as you can see…I’ve taught my children this valuable mantra. Does it work? Not really.

But sometimes we just need one more minute or two or three or fifty. Then again, to meet all my writing, editing, teaching, volunteering, promotional and other deadlines…maybe I need more than a minute. Maybe I do need that wife after all.

Thanks for hosting me today.

Giveaway for the day:

Leave a question or comment to be entered to win today’s prize: A choice of e-books from my back list!

And to everyone who drops by, don’t forget to enter my Kindle contest no later than November 7th! The grand prize winner will be announced at my Twitter Party on November 8th.

© Kerri Nelson 2011

Nov 1 Guest Blog

The Write at Home Mom

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Nov 2 Promo Spot

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Nov 3 Interview

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GraveTells -

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Nov 5 Promo

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Nov 6 Promo

Roxanne’s Realm

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November 8 Twitter Party

1 pm EST

Courting Demons
By Kerri Nelson

Blurb:

Paisley Barton was already having a bad day before she turned her husband into a rat.

First, she was fired by her boss and then came home to find hubby in the shower with a naked blonde chick.

They say that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned but this break-up may just unleash hell on Earth when Paisley casts a spell of vengeance against her philandering husband.

After her spell casting inadvertently opens a portal between dimensions, Paisley finds her family home transformed into a nightly courtroom for settling disputes between demons of the underworld and she’s the judge! If that’s not enough, she’s got to deal with a charming, ancient demon named Camden who wants to be her personal bodyguard while trying to explain her husband’s sudden, mysterious disappearance to sexy police Detective Dalton Briggs.

But Paisley will show them all that an everyday working mom is better equipped than most to deal with the mystical mayhem…and with a tempting demon hottie and a flirtatious young detective vying for her affection, she soon learns that being single again isn’t so bad after all.

“When a wronged wife turns her cheating husband into a rat, you know you have to keep reading! Kerri Nelson offers up a lot of fun and wild magic in Courting Demons!” --Bestselling author, Linda Wisdom, Demons are a Girl’s Best Friend

http://jupitergardens.com/Courting-Demons-by-Kerri-Nelson-print.html

In print and for the Kindle at Amazon.com

Author Bio:

Kerri Nelson discovered her love of writing at an early age and soon became a columnist for her local newspaper winning the Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year Award for her efforts.

After a fifteen year career in the legal field, Kerri fulfilled her lifelong dream of publication and is now an award winning multi-published author of nearly every genre under the sun (and moon) and also writes young adult fiction under the penname K.G. Summers.

A true southern belle, she comes complete with a dashing southern gentleman and three adorable children for whom she often bakes many homemade treats.

Kerri is an active member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America as well as numerous chapters including Futuristic Fantasy & Paranormal Writers and her Presidency of Celtic Hearts Romance Writers.

Read more about Kerri’s books at her website: www.kerrinelson.com
Follow her on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/kerribookwriter
Visit her author blog here: http://www.kerribookwriter.blogspot.com/
Visit her industry blog here: http://www.thebookboost.blogspot.com/

Details on how to enter to win the GRAND PRIZE Kindle at the end of the “Dark Days of Demons Tour” located here:
http://kerribookwriter.blogspot.com/2011/09/courting-demons-blog-tour-win-kindle.html

Don’t forget to enter Kerri's Kindle contest no later than November 7th!

The grand prize winner will be announced at the Twitter Party on November 8th #courtingdemons

History of Halloween Guest Blog with Jacqueline Paige

2011-10-31T00:26:00.000-04:00

How long has Halloween been around?
By Jacqueline Paige

If you know me at all you know that Halloween is a big event in my world.

I go ‘boxing day’ shopping on November 1st and from September until October 31st everyone in my house is discussing how we’re going to set our haunted yard/house up this year.

Have you ever wondered how long Halloween has been around?

Historians have found evidence that is goes back at least 2000 years, maybe longer.

It has roots from many origins and has had many names along the way as well.

The Celtic festival of Samhain, Roman feast of Pomona, festival of the dead called
Parentalia, All Saints Day, All-Hallows-Even, Hallowe'en and of course Halloween.

There are many more different variations in history, but this is after all a guest blog and not a history paper.
The actual act of dressing up and going out for Halloween has been dated back as far as 1593 and in another part of the world 1895. The first record of it happening in North America is 1911, not becoming more popular until the 1930’s.

Regardless of whether this night has spiritual foundations in your beliefs or you’re just happy to have one night a year to be who or whatever you want to be, it’s definitely a night that has grown in leaps and bounds in popularity in my area of the world (if the specialized stores out there are any indication).

Small towns have bonfires and large gathering areas for parents and children to stop and socialize and warm up before continue their trek around the town.

Halloween is something I wish could be more than just a day, maybe we could have a whole week of eventsthat culminate on the night of trick-or-treating. Then again if I had my way it would be recognized as a national holiday and everyone would get a paid day off from work as well!

I know, I’m only dreaming. But I am after all a writer that writes fiction for a reason.

Here’s an excerpt from my Halloween tale Behind the Mask in my newest release Curses:

Evan smiled a huge fake grin at the nurse in a too-tight costume as he worked his way back toward the bar. He stopped and watched his, what would he call him? He was an employee, but he handled everything from Evan’s cars to calling the pool cleaners. He was also the only employee who knew of his magical abilities and had no problems with it. Whatever his title was, he was having a blast playing bartender at the party. Dressed as a Chippendale, and not the chipmunk kind, he flirted with an Egyptian princess that was waiting for her drinks. He waited until Teddy had struck out before leaning on the bar.

“How’s the king of the jungle?” Teddy leaned on the other side of the counter.

Evan hissed out a long breath. “Bored silly.” He glanced around the candle lit room at the too many costumed people acting like kids. “Did I invite this many?” And where was Arianna? It was past nine, and he’d started to feel like everyone was noticing he was watching the door more than the people talking to him.

Teddy looked around the room and shrugged his naked shoulders. “I don’t know when you consider each invite bringing a date . . .” He nodded. “Yeah probably.” He poured a rum and Coke and handed it to Evan. “You could select some sexy demon or angel to cosy up to.”

Evan sighed and fiddled with the napkins stacked neatly on the bar. “And how do I know which of them I’m boss to and which I’m not? I can’t go to work on Monday and find out I was seducing my own assistant or one of the secretaries.” He sipped the drink. “Tell me again why I wanted masks only.”

Teddy wiggled his dark eyebrows at him. “For the intrigue and mystery.”

Evan laughed. “Next time I want intrigue and mystery, tell me to go buy a book or watch a movie, okay?”

Teddy nodded. “Okay.” He glanced toward the entrance and then snapped his neck back to look at the door again. “Wow,” he whispered. “That’s several steps beyond intrigue and moving right into hot!”

Evan chuckled at the description and turned to look over his shoulder. Very nice, he thought at first glance. A witch stood in the entranceway looking around. She had passed on the typical witch portrayal and had gone for sexy instead. Her auburn hair hung just past her shoulders and framed her masked face. He ran his eyes down her curved shape to her black heels, and she pulled off sexy exquisitely. He was about to turn back to Teddy when she turned and a slender, very nicely shaped leg peaked out of the slit in black skirt. Black fishnet stockings lovingly wrapped that leg.

He turned more in the direction of the entranceway and took his fill of observing each inch of that leg. Every man has one weakness, he thought, and his just happened to be fishnet stockings. Maybe it was odd, but still the truth. She had gone from mildly interesting to extremely appealing with one move of a leg. He shook his head and reached back to quickly down the rest of his drink. Setting the glass on the bar, he gave the grinning bar tender a shrug. “As the host, it would be rude to not go over and greet her.”

Teddy nodded and made a serious face. “Very rude indeed.” He looked back at the woman. “If her taste doesn’t run to lord of the jungle, send her this way.”

“Uh-huh.” He didn’t take his eyes off her as he walked away.

Evan dodged having to stop and chat with the vampire and pink princess as he headed on the most direct path to the woman who still hadn’t moved from the door. He wished for a moment that he could growl like the lion he was portraying when a doctor in surgical scrubs moved in on the witch. The doctor got shot down rather quickly as the witch glared at him.

Oct 19 Guest Blog Roxanne’s Realm

http://www.roxannesrealm.blogspot.com/

Oct 21 Guest Blog

Lisa’s World of Books

http://www.lisasworldofbooks.net/

Oct 23 Guest Blog and review

http://donnasbloghome.blogspot.com/

Oct 26 Interview and Review

Rage, Sex and Teddy bears

http://www.ragesexandteddybears.blogspot.com/

Oct 31 The Write at Home Mom

Halloween Theme Post

http://www.thewriteathomemom.blogspot.com/

Nov 2 Promo

http://www.sithereandread.com/

Nov 4 Interview

JeanzBookReadNReview

http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.com/

Nov 7th Highlighted Author and interview

http://haurbanstars.com/for a spotlight

Nov 9th interview

http://ravencraftrealm.blogspot.com/

Nov 11th interview

http://charleneawilsonblog.blogspot.com/

Nov 12 Interview

Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess

http://wowfromthescarfprincess.blogspot.com/

Nov 14 Guest Post and review

Cocktails and Books

http://www.cocktailsandbooks.com/

Nov 17 Guest Blog

All the days of

http://allthedaysof.blogspot.com/

Nov 20 Review of Dreams

Reviews By Molly

http://reviewsbymolly.com/

Nov 20 Interview

Lissette E. Manning

http://www.simplistik.org/lissetteemanning

Nov 22 Guest Blog

Fang-tastic Books

http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/

Nov 22 interview and excerpt

Laurie's Thoughts & Reviews

http://lauriethoughts-reviews.blogspot.com/

DREAMS
By Jacqueline Paige

A Dream series - three steamy tales of romance, suspense with unexpected paranormal flares

ISBN/EAN13: 9781463685331

Page Count: 326

Binding Type: US Trade Paper 5" x 8"

Genre: Fiction / Romance / Paranormal

Amazon

IN OUR DREAM

She’s a small town cop. He’s an inmate undercover. They meet in a dream.

Blurb

Jennah Best left the adrenaline packed life of being a cop on the edge for a more peaceful place. She escaped a marriage that almost destroyed her and now lives her life working for a small police station in the town of Ridge. At her age, she’s accepted that it’s too late and too much work to start all over again, until she meets a man in a dream...

While young, Dominic Palmer has always proven he can get the job done. Or at least, that was the case before he accepted a job and agreed to go undercover as an inmate. When months go by and there’s no word from his outside contact he wonders if he’s been left on the inside for good. He’s fighting to stay alive and keep his sanity, but finds himself completely distracted by a mysterious woman he met in a dream...

FROM A DREAM

She wakes up in a dark hole, alone. He’ll stop at nothing to find her.

Blurb:

Jennah has found happiness. She wasn’t looking for it but isn’t about to give it up now that she has it. Everything she craved for years was now right in front of her--a man that makes her feel cherished, a peaceful life, and a job she enjoys. It all changes when she wakes up in a dark hole, alone, unarmed and unable to connect with the one man she’s grown to need.

Dominic realizes he is one of those men that wants the whole package of marriage and a family, and he’s found the woman to have that with. He’s going stir crazy having to stay hidden until the leader of a criminal organization is caught, but he’s more than willing to stay right here with her.

All of his plans evaporate when a vindictive criminal takes her from him as a hostage. He won’t rest until she’s in his arms again.

AFTER THE DREAM
Brody believes he’s a normal man. Tess has felt like a freak most of her life- except when she’s around one man.
Blurb AFTER THE DREAM

Feeling less then worthy as a normal man surrounded by a team with special skills, Brody has to wonder why he’s a part of it. If it weren’t for one team mate being there, he’d transfer back to normalcy.

Tess has always felt like a freak, even surrounded by others that are different she still feels like an outsider. Only one of her team mates make her feel like an everyday person.

CURSES

By Jacqueline Paige

Release date scheduled for October 18
ISBN-13: 978-1466335509

BEHIND THE MASK

A TOP PICK at NIGHT OWL REVIEWS

Her world is calm and predictable until one night, one costume party and one sexy masked man happen.

Blurb for Behind the Mask

In a fit of temper, Gracelyn’s only sister curses her so she’s forgotten the moment anyone turns away from her. Only one thing, at an exact moment, can break the curse. After years of failed attempts, she is forced to accept living her life completely alone. Her world becomes calm and predictable —until one Halloween night … one costume party … and one masquerading man change everything.
THIS RING

From a curse four decades old comes love and trust.

BLURB for This Ring:

Devastated Emma flees to a cabin on an isolated lake to attempt putting her life back together. How she’s going to accomplish this she has no idea— the only thing she knows is she can’t go back and will never be able to trust again.

Bryce spent forty years trying to figure out how he ended up in the strange situation of not being alive or visible—it’s when he stops trying to find the answer he discovers the reason. Feeling that deep in your soul connection with another was what he was lacking all along. Now if he can convince the woman he feels it for, he may have a chance at living once more.

About the Author:

Jacqueline Paige is a world class multi-tasker being a mother to five adventurous and unpredictable children, a cafe manager and having a colossal imagination that allows her to step outside of reality into a world of paranormal romance —with just a touch of suspense.

Jacqueline lives in Ontario, Canada and avoids the ever changing weather of the region she lives in by creating other worlds to fall into in her stories of all things paranormal.

Her first book was published in 2009 and since then has published ten. She is always writing and currently has more than a dozen stories in one stage or another of the writing process.

You can find all of Jacqueline’s books at: www.jacqpaige.webs.com

Jacqueline is giving away 1 signed copy

(winner’s choice Dreams or Curses)

from whole tour and one pdf per week (winner’s choice) from all stops

To enter please

fill out the form

Receive a bonus entry for leaving

a comment on the post where you entered

BALANCING FAMILY AND WRITING A guest blog by Craig Hansen

2011-10-30T08:44:00.000-04:00

Around noon, I boot up my computer, fire up Word 2007 and settle in to work. I'm not in the right mindset right away, so I hop onto Kindleboards, then check out Facebook and Twitter, just to get a lay of the land. I flip back over to Word and start to read through my last couple days' worth of progress to get back into the flow of the story.

Knock, knock.

It's my dad, who lives with my wife and me. He's 89, has Alzheimer's and dementia, but is still usually coherent.

"Hey Craig," Dad asks, "wanna make me some popcorn?"

I glance at the clock. It's only one in the afternoon.

"Let's hold off until after dinner tonight," I tell him. "Have a Three Musketeers."

That makes him happy. I start re-reading my recent progress again.

Knock, knock.

"Hey honey." It's my wife. "What time do you want to go for our walk today?"

We go for a health walk once a day, mostly for my benefit. I need to drop weight to stay healthy long-term. In the early months of working at home, I worked too much and became overly sedentary; my weight skyrocketed by over twenty pounds … and I was already carrying around more weight than I should.

"I just got started," I reply. "How about six?"

"It's getting dark earlier now."

"Then how does four sound?"

"That'll work."

After she goes back to her homework, I realize I'm discombobulated, so I work on a contract editorial assignment; I do this on the side to bring in money. It's a short bit of work this time and then I flip back to MS Word. I skim the last couple pages I completed and feel ready to get back into the flow of the story.

Knock, knock.

Dad again.

"I need to use your bathroom."

We have two; but with his condition, Dad usually remembers he needs to go when he sees one of us head for a bathroom. I wave him in and wait for him to be done and leave. We talk a bit. He doesn't fully understand how I make money as a full-time writer. Sometimes, I'm not so sure myself.

Once he leaves to watch television again, I turn back to my PC and start writing. I compose 100 words; then 200, then 300. I'm starting to feel like I'm in the flow now. Sweet!

Knock, knock.

It's my wife again. "Honey, it's almost four. Time for our walk."

Oh well.

~ * * * ~

The above scene isn't an exact snapshot of any one day, but is meant to be representative of one of my typical afternoon shifts since I began working as a full-time writer. While taking care of an elderly parent represents a different set of challenges than, say, raising a child, or several children, the struggle that unites all full-time writers is how to divide work-time from family time in a way that works for everyone.

One universal struggle is gaining respect for one's "work time" when working from home. Family members generally understand work time when work is performed outside of the house. But once the home office becomes the only office one has, the boundaries become fuzzy.

Often, one's work time can be seen as easily interrupted, simply due to convenience; I'm only a knock on the door away, after all, and sometimes even the knock is cast aside. Family members breeze in and out as needed, often not even intending to interrupt, even though that's the result.
Also, one's work time can be mischaracterized or misunderstood. If I disappear from the living room for several hours, I might hear phrases drifting in like, "Craig's hiding in his room," rather than, "Craig's working right now." Ugh.

While these sorts of minor interruptions can seem like sources of irritation at times, however, it's important to keep things in perspective. Before writing full-time, I worked in several jobs outside of the home, usually in an office environment.

And what happens in an office environment?

One must field phone calls, socialize with coworkers, talk to one's supervisor, and deal with other interruptions like packages being delivered, customers dropping by, and so forth. It can become a madhouse.

By comparison, the minor interruptions one endures while working from home are infrequent and minor. One could even argue that one has more time to work from home than at an office outside the home.

And when it comes down to it, who would you rather be interrupted by? The UPS guy, supervisors, coworkers and customers? Or family members you love? Seems like a no-brainer.
That said, to work efficiently one must at least have a plan that works for them if they expect to stay focused enough to make real progress each day. Here's the plan I've formulated since beginning my full-time, at-home writing career.

I tend to be a terrible night-owl, so my day begins around noon. After freshening up, I go straight to work and generally work until sometime between four and six in the afternoon, depending on when my wife and I go on our health walk.

Since I'm likely to experience more interruptions during my afternoon shift, I don't often do a lot of writing then. I mostly save that time for my contract work, paid blogging, or doing small tasks related to my writing career overall, such as logging some social media time, blogging, or working on other promotional efforts. If I feel inspired, however, sometimes I will write during the afternoon.

After taking our health walk, I generally shift into family time mode. This lasts usually until ten in the evening or later. Then, once everyone else is in bed, I start my evening shift. This is when I do the bulk of my writing. Sometimes I'll wind down around three in the morning; sometimes, if I really get into the flow of a story, the breaking dawn is my clue that I need to stop for the night and get at least six hours of sleep.

It's not a perfect system, and I don't necessarily recommend it to others. But since using this schedule, I've published two novels and am working on a third, all in far less than a year. So it works for me.

While several hours of family time might seem excessive to some, it's an important component of balancing work needs and family needs. When one is working at home, the biggest danger is spending too much time working and inaccessible to family members, making them feel ignored or neglected. I structure my second shift while they are asleep to also reduce those potential pitfalls.

Every writer will formulate their own solution that fits their family dynamic and personality. The important thing is to make sure you take your writing seriously enough to make time for it, however you carve that time out of your day. My method is merely one example of how to accomplish that.

SHADA
By Craig Hansen

Book 1 of the Ember Cole series.

Genre: young adult paranormal suspense

Word Count: approximately 32,500 words.

SHADA Book Blurb:

"If you could talk to a dead person, anyone at all, who would it be?"

A year ago, Ember Cole witnessed the death of her grandfather. Now, with her grandmother slipping away into dementia, she seeks answers from the only person who loved her grandmother more than her, even if he is dead: Grandpa Normie.

Joined by three of her closest friends, Ember treks deep into the woods of northwestern Wisconsin, seeking the advice of a dead man on how to save the living. But sometimes, the dead have their own agenda.
AUTHOR BIO:

Craig Hansen wrote stories from an early age, but when his SF short story, "The S.S. Nova," was published in the Minnesota Writers In the School COMPAS program's 1981 anthology of student writing, When It Grows Up, You Say Goodbye To It, he decided to dedicate himself to writing. Several unpublished novels and short stories followed.

Hansen earned two degrees at Minnesota State University at Mankato under the mentorship of young adult novelist Terry Davis. In the years that followed, Hansen worked a variety of jobs related to writing, including editorial work at a small publishing house, holding a position as a Web site editor, and five years in journalism in northwestern Wisconsin, where he earned several state awards for his writing and editing.

His work has appeared in the Meadowbrook Press anthology, Girls to the Rescue, Book 1, as well as the true crime journal, Ripper Notes, in volume 28.

His first novel, Most Likely, was released in May. Shada is the first installment of the Ember Cole series of young adult paranormal suspense books. Hansen is hard at work on the next installment in the series, the novel-length book, Ember.

Hansen recently moved to Oregon with his wife, a dog, a cat, and his 89-year-old father, a World War II veteran.

Craig's interests include the music of Johnny Cash, reading the novels of other independent authors, blogging, and the study of Messianic theology. On his Web site, you can sign up to receive a periodic email newsletter that will notify you when he releases new novels.

Connect With Craig Online At:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/craigahansen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Craig-Hansen-Author/
Blog and Web site: http://www.craig-hansen.com/

Guest Blog and Giveaway with Gregory Marshall Smith

2011-10-13T06:11:00.000-04:00

What to Write, What to Write, What to Write...

It’s kind of ironic that I’m guest blogging for Wenona today. She is, after all, the write-at-home mom, which gave me pause with today’s writing subject.

What to write?

Sounds confusing, I know, but bear with me.

I believe all of us, to some degree, have a book, short story or poem just itching to be freed. The biggest headache is, as I said, what to write.

But, more often than not, another question rears its ugly head -- should I write it?

I have a good friend named C.J. Ellisson, who is currently writing the VV Inn series. So far, she’s penned Vampire Vacation and The Hunt, with a third book in the works. The story revolves around an age-old vampire named Vivian and her human husband, Rafe, who run a vacation inn out in the wilds of Alaska. As expected, the inn caters to vampires, though humans who are part of the vampires’ seethes or clans are also welcome.

After some issues, she began writing as a version of therapy. If you read her work, you’ll see the warning notice about intense sexuality. C.J. is a mom. It’s going to be a while before her kids will be mature enough to get through one of her books. She might have to pen a Disney script to compensate.

Would C.J. have benefited from waiting a few years until her kids were older or is a dream deferred a dream denied?

Sometimes, something needs to be written because no one will do it. Case in point is Father Andrew Greeley. Some of us remember the brouhaha that arose within the Catholic Church when Father Andrew Greeley began publishing a series of novels with titles like The Cardinal Sins and Lord of the Dance.

Greeley kept at it and also published a series of very informative non-fiction books that were widely acclaimed and well-received. The Catholic Church didn’t toss him out. He took a chance, but one based on faith. That allowed him to go one step further in 2004 with the novel The Priestly Sins. That one was a direct jab at the Catholic Church and its habit of reassigning pedophile priests rather than excommunicating them.

Should you have this desire to defy your character or the personality and reputation your friends and family know you for, you might try a pen name or pseudonym. Many times a pseudonym is used by writers to go outside of their traditional genre, like when Nora Roberts (nee Eleanor Marie Robertson) created J.D. Robb to pen romantic thrillers when her agent wanted her to stick to contemporary romance.

In our case, however, we must look at Marayat Andriane. She had this intense desire to write a certain kind of novel but one that would run afoul of family’s heavily conservative and Catholic values. In fact, this desire might have had the effect of ruining the family name.

Andriane is a retired actress best known for playing the naive bar hostess Mai Ling in the classic The Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen, Mako, Candice Bergen and Sir Richard Attenborough.

However, Andriane is also Emmanuelle Arsan. Yes, that Emmanuelle, of the French soft-core erotic novels that became a bunch of cheesy movies with Sylvia Kristel. The first book, The Joys of A Woman, appeared in 1957 and was immediately banned in France. But, it was a smash hit and the subsequent film made from it has been seen by more than 300 million people. On stage, it ran in France for 11 years. To date, the book and movie have grossed about $650 million!

However, in 1957, when the book first came out, I can’t imagine sweet, innocent Marayat Andriane explaining it to her mother, much less just about all of her native Bangkok (which, in 1957, was not the raging sex capital it is now).

Personally, I don’t use a pen name, primarily because I’ve used my given name as my byline for the past 30 years. I may have extended it to first-middle-last because of other writers or actors with the same name, but then again, I haven’t written any work or done any movie so controversial that I didn’t want my name attached to it. I happen to think my work, including Hunters (my current novel about vampire hunters), Land of the Blind (due this winter) and others, can stand on its own. I just haven’t felt the need to inject controversy. That’s me, however, and my genres -- Golden Age science fiction and traditional horror -- tend to be more straightforward.

When and if you do finally put pen to paper or fingers to keyboards, be sure you want to write it and, very importantly, the implications.

That said, by all means write something. If it means using a pen name to avoid scandal or hurt feelings or awkward situations, my advice is to err on the side of caution.

Just write.

Free book giveaway.

Please leave a comment or two and be entered to win a free copy of Hunters.

* * * * * * * *

Hunters
By Gregory Marshall Smith

For centuries, vampires have owned the night. And in Fort Worth, Texas, master vampire, Louis Riordan, aims to keep it that way. With the help of Lin Tang, his lethal enforcer, he will unite sixteen of the continent’s top master vampires into the most powerful undead alliance the world has ever seen.

Rumors abound that Lin Tang’s most hated enemy, Cantrell Ryker, has returned from the grave and there are hunters in town, ready to take back the twilight. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, with dissension in the ranks and a traitor in their midst, these hunters fight for humanity side by side. They now have a weapon that could turn the tide of the age-old war between man and vampire once and for all.

Author Bio

Gregory Marshall Smith, born in Somerville, Massachusetts and raised in historic Medford, is a decorated Navy veteran. Though sports writing is his profession, in his career, he has been, among other things, a national columnist, playwright, engineer, asset protection agent, editor, safety auditor, fingerprinter, training instructor and sometime actor (Heiju trilogy; Life As We Know It; The Odd Life of Timothy Green; Detroit 1-8-7; Contagion; Walker, Texas Ranger).

He is the author of the novellas Crawl and They Call the Wind Muryah, along with two anthologies (Dark Tidings Vol. I & II). He has had numerous award-winning short stories appear in Farspace 2, Writer’s Bump, Far Side of Midnight, Spectacular Speculations and SFH Dominion, among others. Hunters is his first full-length novel.

Ever restless, he currently resides somewhere in America.

Guest Blog and GIveaway with Eri Nelson

2011-10-10T04:10:00.000-04:00

An Indie author is a journey of amazing starts and of fears to conquer. Two things I have learned quite quickly as I have started down my road to discovery.

It’s not just the path followed by those who could not get a publishing house to represent them. Perhaps this can be a factor but it’s also about taking hold of a dream and learning how to make it happen. However even dreams will be laced at times with setbacks.

Your story only starts a small part of an upcoming adventure and at times will be the highlight to everything you thought about when becoming a writer. Everyone’s exploration is different and based solely on their daily in and outs of life. As for me, I chose to start after my daughter, Katie, graduated high school.

I had always done some sort of storytelling. Gaining pleasure from creating children stories for my daughter when she was very young was not beyond my happier times. Even dabbling at the illustrations became part of the experience.

When I was not just being Mom I would write short stories. These at the time were merely a page or two. So they were very brief. However they were perfect for my purposes of them. Those functions became sharing them with a variations of groups I had the privilege of being a part of. Then they carried over into the 300 Christmas Cards I would share each year. (lol) I know what you’re thinking… 300??? Yes, I carried it over board (lol). Everyone from mail carrier to second cousins twice removed found themselves in possession of my holiday cheer (lol). They were my audience of a sort and reveled in their approval.

As the years dwindled and Katie grew beyond child I question what was next for me. This I am sure many of us do as parents. When the queries came they brought the one thing I thought I could never do, write a book. Something more than a page or two? I was nuts for even daring to think beyond those single to a braver pair of paper baring words.

Nevertheless, I questioned it and when I did found myself writing my first ever novella. This wasn’t the Dearhart Clan Series. No this was one I hadn’t dared to publish. Two hundred and thirty nine pages of fear lay at my back. Oh it pushed me on to smaller goals. Such as the Dearhart Clan Series volume one “The Call From Within”.

Volume one of the Dearhart Clan gave me a net that in turn braced me for any falls. It is what has allowed me this audience today. Ultimately the series has become a passion for me. They are quick not only in read but in the writing. This series allows me to turn over a book every six months and help me keep cost at $.99. The cost helps me insure non-expensive books for many a reader. However these volumes are not just staying at a seventy-four page stance. They are growing in length but will stay at one sales price. Till the completion, that is a guarantee.

What about my first attempt at a novella? Well, it was the Dearhart Clan and the courage it has given me to go back and finish it. As well as pushing me to start a volume two to follow in the wake of the first.

Interested in learning more about the Indie author journey? Then I hope you will continue to follow all the amazing blogs that have allowed me to post my single adventure into the world of writing.

Thank you so much The Write At Home Mom It has be a defining privilege to be here and be able to share just a part of my path to writing here.

Best Wishes
Eri Nelson

Dearhart Clan is a series of fast paced books that dabble in the world of paranormal and remain in the erotic pulse of what can only be classified as a primal fantasy. If it’s a typical romance you’re looking for you won’t find it in this series.

Eri Nelson writes in a darker world where heat and need are the forefront for a slipping existence. There is not time for all the tenderness love deserves but if you’re imprinted to another you are far beyond those mortal requirements.

Our author is driven by swift action packed intrigues that often leave you wanting more. As she writes each new book into the series the number of pages might increase but the action never lets you feel the increasing distance to the final page.

The Call From Within is Eri Nelson’s first look into this series. It is here that we meet Owen our Pack’s clan leader. He has been driven by what is expected of an alpha. Facts that were told through the decades all but look like fiction to him now. So he never dared to believe in fate and only let duty push him forth. Although now his resolves make no sense and it took little to no time at all in showing him through the lust he feels for another.

Kristen Still bares the imprinted mark to our handsome alpha. However he wasn’t the first to notice what she was and it’s that bedding of prior passions that control her new weakness. Yes, Owen is pushed by jealousy to possess what his four footed insight tells him is his.

A former distraction wanted more than heated moments with Kristen. In her he saw a stronger life force for his young and if Brinston Drake must he would take what he needs from her. He just did not foresee another finding her as well.

While the rest of Eri Nelson’s cast of characters find their selves caught up in furthering personal existences. Another by the name of Wash seeks to use their distractions as his gain. A rogue sent to track and update, Wash is tested by his hatred and desire for revenge. He’ll have it but not as quickly as he would like. But soon enough Owen will slip farther into his madness over a bitch in heat. Then Wash perhaps can use the heated vixen to distract both her and the alpha into their future demise.

Available on Amazon in print and for the Kindle

Teaser Excerpt: "To sink his teeth in that ivory clad hide and nibble on her most womanly parts. Her moistened heat to be lavished under the weight of his tongue. She smelled and looked better for breakfast than any food the diner had to offer. He knew nothing about her outside the fact that she was his and he had to have her."

Meet the Author

Hi, my name is Eri Nelson or as I rather like to call myself an Ohioan Hermit (lol). Life is pretty simple for me. I like being home where my family is. This family also includes are far too many pets. Although I try to put limits on our personal zoo we are hard to pass off a stray.
I have always enjoyed writing but never feeling that the patience was within me to write a book. So on a whim I wrote my first book of forty thousand words in the fall of 2010.

Quickly following that up with a sequel in hopes to make a series of it.

However these were not the series I chose to put out for readers….. That is, not just yet.

Loving challenges as I do, the call out for a paranormal romance caught my eye. So in my haste I threw out a fifteen thousand word book in hope that it could find its way into becoming an eBook. But alas this was turned down. However, like myself I did not write a series that was solely a romance. More what I think of as primal fantasies. Course I did not let the denial of what was not classed as their type of romance stop me. With the story still raging in my head my fingers typed off another round, making my one into two books. This one verging on a little over twenty-four thousand words. Well as it usually does in my case, the story line would not leave my head so now I am working on book three in the Dearhart Clan Series.

Now I must say that it was not just my love of writing that pushed me into looking for alternate publishing paths. No that honor goes to my husband, Jeff Nelson. He truly has been my most honest critic. It was not easy at first for me to concede to his thoughts. In fact it was every curse word I could think of stating how wrong his views were (lol). Nevertheless we came to a few resolutions and became a team in the editing process (so any errors in my books we blame him, ok….lol…just joking …wink wink).

You will never hear me claim to be this glorious fantastic writer. For I am just pleased when another simply enjoys the read. It truly amazes me when someone likes my writing style. I hope with all my heart, you dear reader will be one of those who do.

http://www.dearharts.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Eri-Nelson/119732781417072

5 signed copies of The Call from Within are being given away tour wide

Open to US Shipping Only

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My Poem Nightmare is in Candle in the Attic Window

2011-10-05T15:10:00.002-04:00

I am honored that my work appears in a colelction with the likes of Leanna Renee Hieber and amny other amazing authors of horror and gothic fiction.

Book Description:

Gothic fiction is neither dead nor musty. Twenty-seven poems and stories bring fresh blood to the genre, while drawing from old tropes.

Welcome to our little house of horrors, where a movie crew searches for a legendary missing film, a woman seeks to reunite with her dead lover, a lodger discovers something peculiar about the landlady, a tarot deck brings death, and ghosts may be cruel or benevolent.

The power has gone out and all that remains is the glow of a flickering candle. Come up into the attic and uncover some secrets.

Stories and poems by: Don D’Ammassa, Jesse Bullington, James S. Dorr, Leanna Renee Hieber, Paul Jessup, Ann K. Schwader, E. Catherine Tobler, Colleen Anderson, and many more.

Promotion and Authors Guest Blog by Roxanne Rhoads

2011-10-02T16:54:00.002-04:00

Promotion- it’s a bad word for many authors…downright evil… but a necessary evil.

A small percentage of authors revel in the spotlight and have no problem talking, promoting, and selling.

But most of us…well we’d rather be writing. And not writing about our books or ourselves, just writing the books.

What happened to the days when the reclusive author typed away in their little hermit like abode, sent the manuscript off to a publisher who handled everything and the author sat back and got rich while writing more books?

I think that image is a fairy tale, I’m not sure if that was ever a reality at all but when I was young that’s how I envisioned the author’s world. Then I started writing books- and thought that once a publisher accepted and published my work the hard part was over.

Boy was I wrong.

Thanks to the internet and technology more books than ever are being published every day- and it’s very easy to get loss in the ever growing a sea of pages and book covers.

What can an author do to stand out from the crowd?

Promotion.

Yes, there’s that damn word again but honestly it’s what can make or break your book. The other, I swear, is simply luck, and maybe a pact with the devil.

I’ve seen amazing books totally tank in sales and crap books, poorly written with sentences that run on and are hard to read, make the bestseller list on Amazon, repeatedly.

Why? Promotion.

For the past several years I have been on a quest to learn everything I can about the book business and book world, from all angles- author, editor, publicist, reviewer, book blogger, even publisher (I self-published a short story collection this year)- and I’ve learned a lot.

So what words of wisdom can I share with authors who are looking for the secrets to book success?

First of all- web presence.

What’s the first thing many people do when they hear about something- whether it’s a book, business, or new product?

They Google it.

That’s why an author should have a website- a good one, a professional one that showcases their author/book brand. If you write paranormal books your website should have a hint of the paranormal in it- should it showcase screaming skulls and blood dripping fangs? Probably not.

Keep it tasteful and professional while making it clear you are a paranormal author, or romance author, or whatever.

Your website can sell you and your books 24 hours a day, 7 days a week all over the world. Nothing else can reach as wide an audience 24/7.

The author website should have 6 key things to be successful- a way to contact you, your bio, your bookshelf (if you write in different genres or have a couple different series then you should have separate pages for each genre or series), a calendar or schedule of author appearances whether in the real world or online, a page of fun stuff and/or links that relate to your books, and your media page which should contain an author photo, media ready bio, sample author Q and A, and your most recent book cover and blurb.

I also suggest having a regularly updated blog and newsletter that readers can subscribe to.
Also be sure to utilize Author Central at Amazon, you can add your links and blog feed to your author page.

Which brings me to the next thing an author needs to utilize…social media- Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads- these are some of the most popular social media outlets for connecting with readers and other authors.

The idea is to build is solid foundation of reader and author followers. Do this by posting fun and informative tweets and updates- not just promo. And you can link all your accounts together through apps at Twitter and Facebook or through outside apps like HootSuite.

An author should also stay up to date on what’s popular and working in the online book world- for example: book trailers, book soundtracks, Twitter parties, virtual book tours.

Do book trailers or soundtracks sell books? In my opinion no, but they are great tools for sharing your book (these would fall under that fun stuff category above to include on your website).

Virtual book tours, however, are one of the best ways to spread the word about your book. You can reach a worldwide audience without ever leaving your home at a tiny fraction of the cost of a real world book tour.

The goal is not just book sales but reaching out and gaining new followers. After a book tour you should see the subscribers list to your newsletter has grown, you have more Twitter and Facebook followers, and the number of blog followers you have has increased- and hopefully your book sales have skyrocketed.

So what do you do during a book tour? You’ll write guest posts, fill out and interviews, and sometimes participate in live chats and podcast and radio interviews at different blogs and sites around the web. The book tour company will schedule everything.

The key is choosing the best company for your book- find a company that has handled many books in your genre and that shows a good track record. If you only see one or two previous tours done by this company perhaps you should move on to the next book tour company- and new ones pop up every day. Do your homework before laying down the cash. While no book tour business can guarantee sales or great reviews they should be able to provide you with proven capability, organization and a certain amount of tour stops based on what you paid for.

Are real live book events things of the past? No, not at all.

By all means go out to local book stores, libraries, seasonal and holiday events and set up signings, schedule fun events that will bring people in- work with other authors to create group things that draw a crowd.

For instance if you write paranormal books- get out there at Halloween events and sell your stuff. Set up tables for sales and signings at Halloween reading and parties at local libraries, (schools too if your book is kid oriented), hayrides, even haunted houses. Work with your community to promote your book. You might be surprised at how many local businesses and event planners will be thrilled to have something unique and special (like an author) be a guest at their holiday event.

And be sure to bring business cards, bookmarks or even the hot new thing in real world book promo- book trading cards, to all your live book promotions. Pass them out at local libraries and bookstores too.

The key is- get out and promote. You are not going to get anywhere as an author being a hermit and hiding in your house tapping away at the keys of your computer.

Publication is only the beginning of the process…promotion is the road to success.

~Roxanne Rhoads is a publicist for Entangled Publishing, the owner of Bewitching Book Tours and is a paranormal romance author, book blogger, and book reviewer.

Natasha Larry Guest Blog and Darwin's Children Giveaway

2011-09-05T05:16:00.003-04:00

Please welcome author and mother Natasha Larry to the blog today as she shares a little about her writing/mothering life.

Doing anything and keeping up with a three year old is a challenge. Being a writer and keeping up with a three year old is no different, especially when one considers that writing requires the one thing that all three year olds seem to be against. Silence. As an Indie author, I’ve had to come up with some pretty creative ways to manage my time in order to be there for my little one and get all of my writing, editing, and revising done. Sometimes this has been easy, as family and friends are often willing to take my little monster off my hands every so often. However, on occasions when this was not the case, I’ve found myself in some very ridiculous situations. Remember, the only important rule when it comes to being a mother and a writer is that sanity is no longer an option for you.

There was a moment during the writing of my first novel, Darwin’s Children when I was in the zone. If you’ve ever written anything you were really excited about, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. The world fades away and it’s just you and the world you are creating. Only, if you’re a mother with a crazed two year old running around you also have to deal with someone who doesn’t give a crap that you just need ten more minutes to think.

Like I said, I was in the zone trying to block out the, “Mommy, will you play with me? Mommy, will you play. MOMMY, PLAY WITH MEEEE.”

“Uh huh, sweetie…just give mommy a second,” I muttered, bent over my notebook like a crazy person.

“No, mooommmmmmy. NOW,” she informs me, climbing onto my back.

“Just ten minutes, let me get through this vampire scene.”

“Ugh, mommy! Can we play macaroni glue?”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” I agreed impatiently. Keep in mind, I had no idea at the time what I was agreeing to, nor did I care because after making this agreement I soon got what all writers crave on a constant basis. Silence. I grabbed a hold of this precious silence and allowed myself to slip further into the zone.

Unfortunately, you always have to come too. As the world of Darwin’s Children slipped away I became aware that a small body was perched on top of my back. I also felt something sticky oozing through the cotton fibers of my favorite Superman shirt.

“Jordan?” I asked with dread as I eyed a growing pile of macaroni on the carpet beside me.

“Mommy! Look what I did! I made you a pretty picture!”

It was in that moment that I realized my daughter decided to make her macaroni collages on the back of my t-shirt. There was glue all over my back. Glue in my hair. Glue all over her… but hey, at least I got that scene written.

Like I said, there is little room for sanity when you’re a writer anyway, being a mother takes that rule and magnifies it three fold. Ideally, you want to write when you have some alone time. Realistically, mothers rarely get alone time so I would advise you be prepared to sacrifice a few precious articles of clothing. Hey, you may even find yourself framing them.

Darwin's Children

(Book 1 in Series)

by Natasha Larry
Fantasy / Young-Adult

A black teen in a small Tennessee town finds more than the usual challenges growing up as she tries to master her telekinesis and help a kindred spirit.

Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening – especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts!

Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything.

As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and she doesn’t really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there’s one thing she can’t control – and that’s her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of...

Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!

Book Link: http://www.penumbrapublishing.com/php/genre.php?gtype=young

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28W1Irt4dc0&feature=player_embedded

Book Excerpt

PROLOGUE

From the other side of the glass, Mason Lerner watched Haylee Mitchell circle the monster like an aerial hunter while Sasha Gray stood like a statue, waiting. The revulsion Haylee felt was visible in the air around her. Mason had to stop himself from going in there and killing the man himself – his perverted and cowardly thoughts were sickening.

Mason watched Haylee’s mouth move. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. She leaned over the man who’d stolen her very soul and whispered something that filled his face and thoughts with terror. Then silence filled the room. Mason could tell that Haylee had said everything she needed to say. He stuck his head in and met her eyes. There was something there he couldn’t place ... something that worried him. “Haylee,” he entreated, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. “I don’t think...”

Haylee glared him to silence. He already knew she wanted to be there in the room when it happened. He hesitated until he saw the need in her mind. She had to do this her way. It was her battle to fight.

He nodded to Sasha Gray and retreated from the room, closing the door behind her. He watched her move with an unsettling grace, like an undead ballerina preparing for the hunt. Her alien blue eyes flashed with thirst.

Sasha gave Haylee one last questioning look. Haylee nodded, and Sasha went to her victim. It looked as if the vampire was simply giving him an intimate kiss, but Mason could hear her razor-sharp teeth ripping the flesh away from his neck. Mason had deliberately shut himself off from the man’s mind, but he could still see the utter agony in his eyes. Being burned alive by his own daughter would have been a serene death compared to this. Mason knew the pain accompanying a vampire’s bite was so incomprehensible that the living world held no equivalent to it. No one had even given voice to it. It was the physical equivalent to Haylee’s internal pain. Possibly even worse.

The man’s face twisted in agony and, despite his psychic defense, Mason still heard a whisper of the scream inside his head that never escaped his lips. His body offered no relief. The pain was trapped inside. He couldn’t go into shock or pass out. He felt every ounce of his blood being sucked out of him. His organs gave out, one by one, and he quickly went mad from the pain.

The dying man looked up at Haylee smiling down at him sadistically. As his body fell to the floor with a dull thud, he finally understood Haylee’s pain. His body was drained, and his life was over.

CHAPTER 1

Edenvale Academy

Jaycie Lerner sat on a high stool at the marble counter that stood in the middle of the modern kitchen. Her elbows rested on the counter’s cool surface as she glumly shoved small spoonfuls of cereal into her mouth.

“Hey, kiddo.”

She looked up when her father’s rich, resonate voice filled the kitchen. Wearing his favorite Calvin Kline khakis paired with a plain white button-down shirt tucked in, he stood six-foot-two, with his dark, kinky hair shaved very close to his scalp. His deep dark brown eyes were the same shade as Jaycie’s.

“I thought you were gone already,” she answered in a moody monotone.

He poured himself a cup of black coffee. “Having a bad day already, bonehead?” he asked, trying unsuccessfully to keep the sarcastic grin off of his face.

“I don’t understand why you’re still insisting on this school thing,” she objected, suddenly angry.

“Well, then, it’s a good thing you’re not the one doing the parenting around here.” He filled up a silver thermos with black coffee for his short ride to work.

Jaycie narrowed her eyes and frowned petulantly. “I’ve been home schooled since I was eight. Why would you throw me into high school now? Last year was horrible!”

“Learning some social skills won’t kill you,” he told her, his expression serious.

Jaycie rolled her eyes and snorted. “It’s unnecessary.”

“Edenvale is the best school in the South. It’s one of the best schools in the country. You should feel honored to attend. All of their graduates go on to Ivy League schools.”

Jaycie rolled her eyes again. He’d told her this so many times, all she heard now when he gave her this speech was unintelligible mumbling that sounded just like all the adult characters in the Charlie Brown cartoons. She huffed. “You know I won’t have any problems getting into a good school, Dad.”

As soon as she told him this, she felt a familiar tingling at the back of her neck, followed by a warm pinch that radiated down her spine. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. He met her glare with perfect composure as he warned her in a stern voice. “The phone will be next.”

“What?” Jaycie asked innocently.

“If you decide to skip school today. I would change that plan, if you want your truck back.”

“It’s not fair when you do that,” Jaycie whined, turning her head away from him dramatically. This was her way of telling her father how indignant she felt about his intrusive behavior. For a teenage girl, it could be a real pain having a telepath for a father.

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby.” His tone made it very clear he didn’t mean it. As he made his way to the back door, he said, “I have to get to work now. Remember, tonight we’re going out to dinner to celebrate Allison’s birthday.”

Jaycie’s mood improved slightly at the reminder.

“She’s been wanting to go to Five Corners Grill,” he said.

“Really? Did she tell you that, or did you rudely read it in her thoughts?” Jaycie scowled at her father in reprimand.

He winked at her with infuriating calm. “Gotta get going, kiddo – I’ve got some early patient appointments this morning. And keep in mind that I have no qualms about calling your teachers this afternoon, to make sure you were in class.”

With this last comment, he was out the door, leaving Jaycie alone with her annoyance and a soggy bowl of cereal.

Author Bio:

Natasha Larry resides in Huntsville, Alabama, with her daughter and fiancé. She graduated from Tusculum College with a B.A. in History and is currently working on getting her certificate in education. She is a self-proclaimed comic-book nerd and urban-fantasy junkie. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in publications such as Writing Edge magazine and Escaping Elsewhere.

Darwin’s Children is her first work of novel-length fiction.

To find out more about Natasha Larry and her books, please visit...

http://natashalarrybooks.blogspot.com/

www.paranormalwire.blogspot.com

Twitter: @natashalarry

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darwins-Children-Natasha-Larry/145755472156223

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Vampires and Children Guest Blog with Bertena Varney

2011-08-27T03:19:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. My name is Bertena Varney and I am the author of Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites and Very Personal Essays.

Thanks for having me here today. I am so excited to talk about being a mother and how I found the vampire to be perfect for children. Yes I said it. These creatures of the night are safe for children. I will wait for all the moms and teachers out there to be shocked….. ok ready for it?

Vampires and children are not always something that I saw as a matching pair until I began researching for my third master’s paper on the Search for the Lure of the Vampire, which eventually became my book, Lure of the Vampire.

I began researching why we liked vampires as an adult but that just seemed obvious so I began looking at when both my son and I learned about vampire. I thought back to my childhood and remember eating Count Chocula, reading Bunnicula and watching the Count on Sesame Street. I found my first introduction to vampires and realized that I had introduced my son to these same monsters.

I am a single mother and realized that I not only introduced my son to children’s books and shows but also to my college and research findings. How many times did I read to him from my history books when he was a baby because I had a test the next day? How many documentaries has he sat and watched?

So, I began my paper looking at children and vampires. I wasn’t expecting to find a whole lot.

Heck, most of the adult culture finds the vampire too scary or taboo for them let along for children. And yes even with the rise of the popularity of vampire, the majority of the people still see them as too scary. But, I digress and will leave that for another blog topic.

What I found when researching the relationship between vampires and children I found that children are open to all differences, cultures, people, etc. Children are open at looking at things from an accepting and innocent point of view and yes vampires can be innocent.

Just think about Bunnicula, one of the easy reader books that I gave my son to learn how to read. It tells a story of Bunnicula a little bunny who is new in the family. The family dog and cat think that Bunnicula is weird. They don’t like him and he feels out of place with his new family much like a lot of kids during that time that was experiencing divorce and mixed families. It was a scary time for kids and this book was used to help kids of the 70’s understand that being new and different is ok and that if you try and let people know you then you will be accepted as family like Bunnicula eventually did.

This is a great lesson for all kids to learn. As is the counting lessons from a cute little vampire name Count von Count and his Countess on Sesame Street. Did you notice how Sesame Street included so many of the myths of vampires especially the one that says that if you drop seeds or whatever in front of a vampire that they have to count it before they can move on? Thus the birth of the Count.

In my findings that I titled in my book as “The Monster becomes a Friend: The Vampire’s Influence on Children” , I state that because children learn about vampires in a safe environment and via life lessons then they see them more as a friend and usually are more accepting of the monster as they grow into adulthood because they are most accepting of people in general.

In the Children and Vampires section of my book I list age appropriate vampire books, television shows and movies that children and their family can enjoy together. As a former teacher and as a parent I have read and can recommend these but always suggest that parents read these books and watch these shows with their children to explain any questions that they may have or to monitor anything that you feel as a parent that is too “much” for your child. You know your child better than anyone and you know what you feel comfortable with your child reading or viewing.
A few of my favorite books are Bunnicula, Dick and Jane and Vampires, My Sister is a Vampire, and The Young Vampire Adventures. The television shows I recommend are Sesame Street, Scooby Doo, and Little Vampire.

So, if you are a parent and love vampires please don’t feel as if you have to hide your favorite monster from your child. All you have to do is check out my book, Lure of the Vampire and find a vampire that is appropriate for everyone in your family- pre school child, primary school child, teen, and even you and your husband.

Lure of the Vampire started out as an academic study and became a book that I can share as a resource to families. My son, who is now in college, uses this book as a check list of movies and books that he and his friends have seen or read. It was really a great project that helped bring me and my son together and holds great memories of the interest that we share of the vampire.
So, what is your first childhood memory of the vampire? Have you read any of these books to your children? Why or why not?

Thank you for having me today and I look forward to your comments.

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites and Very Personal Essays
By Bertena Varney, M.A.
Paperback: 176 pages
Also available as an ebook
Publisher: Search for the Lure
Published: June 22, 2011
ISBN-10: 0615501567
ISBN-13: 978-0615501567

Lure of the Vampire is a pop culture reference book that begins with history and mythology and ends with modern living vampires. The author has provided "fun" lists like the Powers of Dracula, Real Live Vampire Murders, Television Shows and African Americans who have Played Vampires.

There are also websites in each section that show the most popular vampire books and even children's shows and books. But, there is a personal twist when it comes to Lure of the Vampire. The author has provided personal essays from national and international vampire authors as well as her own. They range from a personal look at vampires in mythology to the romantic lust filled vampire. There are also interviews with various groups and individuals involved in the vampire community. Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Refence Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It is concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.

Lure of the Vampire contains essays from authors: Denise Verrico - David MacDowell Blue - Charles E. Butler - C.J. Ellisson – BittenTwice – Elizabeth Loraine

Interviews with: Vampiric Council of New England, Vlad the Gothic Vampire Magician , Audrey Koogler, Vampire Priestess , and Hugo Pecos, creator of The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency

Lure of the Vampire is great for any writer who would like to find fun facts to give their vampires in their story. For example, what powers have vampires in mythology possessed or the first literary vampires? There’s a section for that.

What if you are a vampire fan who is looking for new YA or adult authors- there is a section with titles, authors and their websites.

What about vampire games? There’s a section for that too.

Sections include: Mythology, History, Literature, Movies, Television, Recreation, Children’s Vampires, On the Web, Education, and Real Life Vampires. There are lists, websites, essays, and interviews included in throughout the book.

Lure of the Vampire: A Pop Culture Reference Book of Lists, Websites, and "Very Telling" Personal Essays is a perfect quick to grab reference book for the vampire fan or author. It's concise enough to assist you in finding links to what you are looking for without our being too cumbersome and confusing.

You can buy Lure of the Vampire at Amazon.com in print here- http://amzn.to/nwifDw.

About the Author

Bertena Varney is from Winchester, KY and currently resides in Bowling Green, KY. She attended Morehead State University where she received the following degrees:

- B.A. in Social Science and Education - M.A. in Social Science and Education
- M.A. in Sociology and Criminology - Rank 2 Secondary Education Certification

While in college She used all of her extra essays, projects and independent study classes to study vampires in pop culture….thus the creation of Lure of the Vampire.

She has been employed as a middle and high school as well as college instructor. Here past employers include Morehead State University She has been employed Morehead State University, Eastern Kentucky University and National College and will be lecturing at Bowling Green Community College in the fall.

Currently she is planning her lecture tour schedule. In the past she has presented papers at conference such as Sirens in Vail, Colorado and The Harry Potter Witching Hour in Salem, Mass. Currently she is scheduled for ScareFest, Dance on the Dark Side and A Day of Mystical Blood Lust.

She is also planning to begin a vampirology course based upon her studies of vampires in pop culture.

Find Bertena on the web:

Facebook- http://on.fb.me/g8C0Zr
Her writing website is www.bertenavarney.com
Her vampire research website http://searchforthelure.webs.com
Twitter @tenavarney
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4837666.Bertena_Varney
To sign up for her newsletter go here. http://eepurl.com/exZYQ
Book Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPMyiYjS6Y0

Guest Blog with Lucianne Rivers

2011-08-01T06:17:00.001-04:00

New Year's Resolutions 2011:
1. Join a gym
2. Get published
3. Put Lily in day care

Check, check, and…still avoiding number three.

My daughter was born in November of 2009. Now twenty months old, Lily is almost talking, definitely walking, and the light of my life. Giving birth was a milestone in my thirty-year-old existence. With her arrival came the need to create. Writing had never been my artistic outlet; instead, I had a background in acting and performing arts. However, when she was a couple of months old (and sleeping through the night) I took a local community college class in screenwriting, and penned my first feature, TWI-HARD, which placed in the top ten of the Golden Brad Awards Movie Script Contest.

That summer I took a vacation on the Olympic Peninsula, WA, and visited the Mecca of Forks, home to Twilight (and TWI-HARD). On my return, I turned the screenplay in a single title novel, which I had edited by a friend of a friend at Little Brown United Kingdom.

Sigh. TWI-HARD had a ways to go before it could ever be published. And I had a lot of work to do in order to be good enough.

That's when I became a member of www.savvyauthors.com, and took online classes on technique, plotting, and craft. In February of 2011, I received three contracts spanning four new projects and accepted two. HOLD ME, and its sequels, THRILL ME and KISS ME KILL ME will be released this fall from Entangled Publishing, and my novella, THE KISS TEST, comes out this year from Cobblestone Press.

I have Savvy Authors to thank for my three-book deal with Entangled, since I participated in a pitch session there with Entangled's Managing Editor, Heather Howland, and soon after received the offer for HOLD ME.

Weirdly, although I'd never had a sport in my life, or been inside the door of a gym, I started to workout in February of 2011, right before my breakthrough into publishing. I'm now addicted to Olympic style weightlifting, competed at state level in June, and (because I was the only one lifting in my weight class) became State Champion in the 53 kilo category. I kid you not.

Freakishly into exercise (this from a former couch potato), I've lost all the pregnancy weight and then some. Lifting and writing have become part of who I am, and they come as naturally as being a Mom.

Luckily I work part-time, from home, and have official child-minding duties every second day. Time to work, workout, write, and to watch my toddler grow. 2011 will be a year to remember for me, that's for sure.

I feel lucky.

Lucianne writes romantic suspense for Entangled Publishing and Cobblestone Press. Born and raised in Ireland, she currently lives in New Mexico with her young daughter.

Formerly a stage and television actress, she now manages a non-profit and is NM State Champion in her weight class for Olympic style weightlifting. Long story.

Title: Hold Me
Author: Lucianne Rivers
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: August 2011
ISBN: 978-1-937044-16-9

HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME KILL ME - Book One by Lucianne Rivers

Still reeling from her mother’s death, news anchor Jane Caldwell’s life is upended further when she learns the father she lost twenty years ago is still alive. Her mother’s will unleashes a manhunt—the Caldwell sisters must find their father, or their mother’s estate will not be settled, and their questions about his disappearance will remain unanswered.

Jane’s search leads her to Guatemala to investigate a man who claims to be her father and heir to the family fortune. Needing a translator, she enlists enigmatic Harrison DeNeuve, a sexy ex-patriot with a penchant for wearing dark sunglasses in public.

As Jane struggles to reunite with her would-be father, Harrison fights to suppress his desire for Jane. He has a secret—one he’s sequestered himself in a third-world jungle hideaway to keep safe—and falling for Jane puts more than his heart at risk.

Jane finds two men in Guatemala—a father and a lover—but can she trust either of them?

http://www.entangledpublishing.com/hold-me/

Beginning the Writing Process

2011-07-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

Beginning the Writing Process

There are few things as rewarding as writing. Why is this?

There’s something about putting an emotion or story down into permanence that is incredibly therapeutic and useful. This gives us the ability to examine our thoughts and words from more than just the immediate perspective. We can pick them up and read them at any point and reinterpret ourselves, and see ourselves the same way we can see and experience our favorite authors.

In this way, writing can teach us a lot about ourselves. Sometimes, however, we can have the desire to write, but have no idea what to do next! Getting started can be an incredibly frustrating experience without any clear direction. I have countless memories of sitting and staring at an empty piece of paper or computer screen, feeling this deep impulsive desire to scratch my thoughts (my priceless and universally important thoughts) onto paper to save them forever. But, in the process of trying to write down thoughts, all my thoughts were focused on trying to conjure up some thoughts.

Which is the worst thing you can do, because then all your thoughts become centered on your thoughts, which are about trying to have thoughts. So basically, you have no thoughts. Here are a few ideas for how to get started as a writer.

One popular thing you can do is take up journaling. This is definitely the easiest because it revolves around a skeleton of your schedule. From just listing facts, you have the ability to elaborate on whatever interested you the most. If you had a particularly interesting episode in your day, chronicle it. Talk about how it made you feel. Then think, “Why did this event make me feel this way?” Then write about that.

As you write about some of the events of the day that really impacted you, you may notice some patterns. What types of things really get you? Why? As you answer these questions, you may see that you have some pretty strong feelings about different things. These strong feelings probably stem from really strong values that you either consciously or unconsciously possess. If you can identify these values, then focus your energy there. Maybe there are some burning issues out there that involve a serious debate within the field of your particular interest. Write about your opinions on the issue.

If you have no problem identifying your passions, then start there. Ask your friends about what questions they have about the thing you’re passionate about. Start with just answering those questions. If your passions lend to more of a fictional expression, then consider which stories most captivate you. What do you think it is about those stories that makes them so appealing to you? What time periods interest you the most? Rewrite the basic plots of your favorite stories in your favorite time period, with your own characters and personal touches. Who knows, maybe this will progress into something unique that you would be proud of.

All in all, we need writing. It allows us to remember who we were yesterday, the day before, and 10 years ago. When we have direct access to our own thoughts outside of the context of now, we have the ability to see ourselves in a new light. The more we write, the more we can know ourselves because we have more evidence. At the heart of writing is a decision: you can only write about one thing at a time. What will it be? And what does that say about you?

~Author Bio: Ethan S. writes on behalf of Design55, a UK-based designer furniture shop, and have been an avid writer for more than half his life.

Deciding to Self Publish Guest Blog with David M Brown

2011-07-22T03:51:00.000-04:00

I’ve been writing since 1999 and in that time have completed five
novels, several short stories and a detailed world history for
Elenchera. My experience of publishing began with my first three novels
which, looking back, were not properly edited or prepared for
publication but that didn’t stop me getting a positive response, or so
I thought.

My first book, The Anglo-Asininity Chronicle, was offered a publishing
contract in exchange for £4,000 from me. As much as I wanted to write
for a living, I wasn’t prepared to pay such a substantial amount of
money. My next novel, Amarstrea, was also offered a contract in
exchange for £1,500 this time. It was a smaller amount but still far
too much for me to even consider. Instead of a firm refusal I offered
the publisher my third novel, Endeavour, which had taken four years to
write and I believed it was a great story.

The response for Endeavour was the closest I came to publication. I was
told that although it was a good story and very imaginative, the novel
was too long to take a gamble on, what with me being an unknown author.
From that point I withdrew into the history of Elenchera for a few
years. I did write my fourth novel, The Voice of Elenchera, but became
so fixated on editing it into the perfect manuscript that eventually it
was shelved and never even sent to a publisher.

A lot of time passed writing about Elenchera but eventually I reached
the point where it was time to start a new novel. I’d met my future
wife, Donna, at this stage and she took to the idea of Fezariu’s
Epiphany as much as I did. As I neared the end of editing the novel,
Donna and I discussed what to do about publication and we decided to
try self-publishing.

There seems to be a stigma attached to self-publishing with many
dismissing writers that go down this path. While anyone can be
published these days self-publishing allows potentially great writers
that may never be discovered to share their work. While publishers and
agents take on what are considered the best books they don’t always get
things right. I know Richard Adams, for instance, didn’t initially fare
well when trying to get Watership Down published which says a lot.

My wife and I decided to self-publish Fezariu’s Epiphany not because we
felt it was too good for publishers and agents but more to gauge how
readers would respond. I’m trying to do something a little different
with fantasy, after all, and by self-publishing I felt I could test the
water and see if my hopes of making fantasy more accessible are indeed
possible. Self-publishing is far from straightforward of course. I
couldn’t have started this journey without Donna by my side and she’s
been instrumental in helping Fezariu’s Epiphany getting mentioned on
many sites and blogs. So far the response has been generally positive
so perhaps self-publishing was the correct decision after all.

Book Blurb:

"The White Oak, Clarendon’s oldest brothel, lured and destroyed men by the thousands. Fezariu was different. He had never been drawn by the White Oak’s vices but the brothel had still ruined him when he was just a boy.

Salvation came in the form of the Merelax Mercenaries – Elenchera’s most prestigious hired hands. They gave Fezariu the chance to escape from his past. Immersed in the world of dangerous assignments in the colonies Fezariu longed to forget everything about his childhood but only in facing the past would he ever be free of it."

Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgcNNLMBvY

Podcasts http://elenchera.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-11T10_19_08-07_00

Author bio:

"David Brown was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and first conceived the idea of the Elencheran Chronicles at college in 1999. He spent ten years compiling the history of Elenchera, resulting in 47,000+ years of events, 500+ maps, 2000+ pages, several short stories and many much-needed acquaintances with Jack Daniels.

David also has a blog, The World According to Dave (http://www.elenchera.com/blog), which features reviews, stories and dramatic tales of the horrors of owning cats.

David now lives in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with his wife, Donna, and their six cats.
Fezariu's Epiphany is his first novel."

David's Twitter profile: http://www.twitter.com/elenchera

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4878327.David_M_Brown

Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgcNNLMBvY

http://www.elenchera.com/

Balancing Writing and Motherhood with the Authors of Dark Magick

2011-07-14T00:06:00.000-04:00

How Do You Balance Writing and Motherhood?

This is the first time I have been asked this actually. I have been asked how I can write with someone, or how I ever find time with everything I have going on.

The answer is: with a miracle.

I write a lot when the kids are in bed. It really doesn't effect my parenting. My kids are the number one focus in my life, so for me it isn't so hard to balance, As I said I save a lot of my writing for when they are asleep, Or I plan on writing on days when I have off of work and the kids are in school. I wish that I could always get away with this, but unfortunately sometimes I have to write when they are home, like a lot of other moms, and with the summer months it can be very hard. Like this blog right now, everyone is awake in my house. My boys are reading to one another and my daughter is reading to me, as I sit here writing. I make sure I stop to talk about the book she is reading to me. I pause in my writing to listen to the boys and interact with them. This is how I balance it. I make the effort to be a mom first. Unfortunately while balancing all of this out I burnt breakfast! LOL

-Stevie Trinity

I don't know that I do all the time. There are some days I feel like I'm being pulled in different directions. I have my kids commitments to take care of and I also work online still in the freelance market. Sometimes, I find that trying to do both at the same time is just not working. This is when I usually take a little time and just try to figure out what I need to do right now. Sometimes I don't write for a week and other times I'm able to write a night when the kids go to sleep.When you're working a lot, it really is hard to find the time to write and then when you add a family into it, it makes it 10 times harder. I guess if you really want to write something, you will make time. I know that sometimes my kids have gone with just eating sandwiches for supper because I'm so into a story. They usually complain a little bit but understand that this is what I want to do with my life.

~Stacey

Book Description:

The world has changed, we have changed. The world we once knew has fallen away and left us in a wasteland of Magick. Powerful witches and underworld gods control our lives. The past comes back in ways we are not prepared for. The Gatekeepers are our only hope. The question is if we can get to them first.

http://thegatekeeperseries.info

http://wickednightspublishing.info/?p=158

Author Bios:

Stevie Trinity

Stevie lives in Wyoming with her family. She loves the wide open space There is nothing better than sitting out on the prairie looking out at the stars, or driving less than an hour to the Mountains and climbing trees, and yes she still climbs trees! :)

Stevie started to write short stories when she was 12. She loves poetry and started to write poems when she was 13. She then stopped writing in her early 20s, due to raising a family and focusing her attention elsewhere. When she was 30 she started to write again.

A couple of years later the Gatekeeper series emerged. She and her co author spent many hours talking about and discussing the world they created. Stacey really encouraged Stevie to write again.

Currently Stevie is working on a historical romance about the old west in a time of amazing change! She is also working on the second book to the Gatekeeper Series.

Stacey Thompson-Geer

Stacey is a wife and mother of three. She started writing in High School with horror short stories. One of her first is now published through the kindle - Silver Bullet. When she's not dreaming up her next story or novel, she can be found hanging out with her kids or reading one of her favorite authors. She is also an avid Facebooker and Twitter user. Stop by her website to see what she's working on and any of her backlist work.

Making Time to Write Despite the Never Ending To Do List

2011-07-08T06:20:00.001-04:00

To Do Lists:

Natalie
Synchronized Swimming
Cello lessons
Karate
Mom to doctor's appts.
Care of chickens/bunnies

Charlotte
Fencing
SAT Prep Class
Cross Country/Track
Bell Choir Practice
Robotics Team Meetings

Natalie & Charlotte
Critique group
SCBWI conferences
Doctors, dentists, orthodontists
Grocery and kids’ stuff shopping
Errands for husband/family
House/yard work

Are you getting a picture here? Do you see all the things we have to do? Who the heck has time for writing when you have three kids, a husband, house and so many other things screaming for your attention?

We do.

What’s the secret?

It’s very simple…

We MAKE time.

Being too busy is probably the #1 reason most writers—moms or not—never finish a novel. But looking at our list should prove that it can be done. (Our lists were worse last year—this year we'll both have one son away at college.)

So far we've managed to keep on top of things (most of the time!) by being organized, and, God help us, a bit disciplined. This allotting of time and sticking to it is probably one of the most challenging aspects of being a writer. At different points in our lives, each of us had 9-5 jobs.

There's something to be said for being time-boxed; knowing that you HAVE to be at a certain place at a certain time or having a deadline or any specific time limits gives you a framework to operate in. Not so with writing—you have to make your own schedule.

Difficult though it may be, it's completely doable. The first thing you need to do is look at your life and the things that are set in it: Is your family on a schedule? When are they out of the house? When are you alone? Then you plan. What's the best way to use your alone time? If you have everyone out of the house for four hours a day, you don't want to give those four hours to housework that can be done just as easily as when they're home—you might even get some extra hands to help you out! Here's what a typical day looks like for us:

9 a.m.
All the kids are at school, husbands at work, we’re at the computer. First thing is to do a run down of the social networking sites we've chosen to be active in. For us it's Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. We also each have blogs. There are so many social networking sites that to try to be a part of them all would be overwhelming—but being active in the online community is absolutely necessary. Through social networking we keep in touch with other writers, bloggers, readers, agents, editors and industry professionals. We get to see interest in our books (some interest—you never get a total picture from just one site), and keep people up to date on our doings. It also helps us support other authors and their projects. The thing is to limit the time you spend on the site. What we usually do is hit the sites first thing in the morning for an hour max—then keep the site in an open tab to check back if there's a lull during the day.

10-ish
Eat, maybe make a bed (we've disagreed about the importance of this item) while you wait for the tea kettle to scream—caffeine is a necessity. Then back at the computer. Work on blog, publicity, interviews, SIRENZ chapters, chapters or research for other projects, emails to editor, agent, bloggers, yada. The trick here is a) DO NOT neglect yourself—if you need a clean workspace/house to be able to concentrate, do it. And for goodness sake, MAKE SURE YOU EAT AND DRINK. Soooooo many times have we put off eating or getting a cup of tea (many's the stale cup that's been left on the kitchen counter) for just one more chapter, one more task. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. And then b), PRIORITIZE. Do things in the order they need to be done—what's due first? Contractual deadlines are always given first priority. Interviews? Put them in date order. Taking a little time to get organized will save a lot of stress later on.

Noonish
Sometimes we meet for lunch while we work—usually a simple sandwich at the house, discuss new contract to come from editor/agent, publicity plans, ideas for next books, plans for new projects, review PR letters, put together give-aways, contests, events, etc. Again—take care of self, and prioritize. One advantage we have in writing as a team is one always has the other to remind her to eat or put a certain task aside to take up another one. If there is no meeting, then
it's more of the above (10-ish) until the kids come home.

3-ish
Make sure we are home when the kids get home. And while we always keep notebooks at the ready to jot down some brilliant idea, this time belongs to family—homework, chauffeuring, cooking, etc. NOW is the time to do the vacuuming, errands, all those things that you shouldn’t waste your time on when THERE IS NO ONE HOME. If you have little, little ones, work when they nap, put them in a playgroup for an hour or so, trade time with a friend with a little one; be creative to steal time.

10 p.m.
Everyone’s fed, in bed, doing homework, or snoring on the couch. We hit the computer again, either writing or editing, beta reading (yeah, we squeeze that in too), outlining our own projects, or other WRITING things.

Weekends are almost always a total bust for us. Everyone is home, demanding clean underwear, or dragging you to basketball practice, or making you visit sickly auntie.

But there’s still time… Long car ride to auntie’s? Tell everyone to put in their iPods, (or put on yours if you can write with music blasting in your ears; Nat can, Char can’t) and write away. Tell hubby to take everyone for ice cream—and bring you back something. That’s probably half an hour of quiet time—write! Doctor’s visit? They always keep you waiting—write! Char used to write with her feet in the sandbox while her two little ones played. Nat writes or edits at the YMCA during the three hours her daughter is at synchro practice, There are golden nuggets of time that you spend just waiting. If you carry a notebook, or can manage your laptop, you can write. Hey, John Grisham took ten years to write his first novel while riding the NYC subway. He got it done, right? And the success allowed him to quit his job and write full time. It happens, but not without a lot of hard work and determination in the beginning.

Just note that it doesn’t get easier with the publication of your book; if anything, we have less time to write and spend more time doing publicity. Even close-by events can take up an entire day—but while we’re waiting for the next presentation, or driving to the gig, or eating, we brainstorm. By yourself, you can write, make notes, talk to other authors for how they do PR, or time manage.

There IS time to write. For those people who tell us “When I have the time…” we know they’ll never write that novel. It’s not about having the time, it’s about making the time. And if we can do it with three kids apiece, and all the same responsibilities as you, and working not only on a series but our individual projects, you can too!

Uh... the end.

Go write!

Author Bios:

Natalie Zaman is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. Her work has appeared in various magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies for adults and children.

She's currently plotting disasters for the characters of Sirenz and working on a Victorian steampunk fantasy for teens. Natalie lives in central New Jersey with her family and several fine looking chickens.

http://nataliezaman.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/Natalie_Zaman

http://www.facebook.com/natalie.zaman

Charlotte Bennardo is the co-author of Sirenz, the first in a YA contemporary fantasy series published by Flux. When not contemplating embarrassing situations for the characters in the sequels, she works on her own YA, MG and adult level novels. She has been published in magazines, newspapers, e-zines and anthologies. She is held captive in New Jersey by three sons, husband, cat and friends.

http://charlotteebennardo.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/charbennardo

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1665283912

Sirenz
EAN: 9780738723198
Trade Paperback
Young Adult/Fiction
Price: $9.95

Available: June 2011

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when they find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes—with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades—the god of the underworld—himself. To make them atone for what they’ve done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld any individual whose unholy contract is up.

But just because they have an otherworldly part-time job now doesn’t mean Meg and Shar can ignore life’s drudgeries (work) or pleasures (fashion!). Finding that delicate balance between their old and new responsibilities turns out to be harder than they expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there’s the matter of the fine print in their contracts . . .

Embraced by Blood Review and Giveaway

2011-07-05T12:25:00.004-04:00

My Review:

I love the newness London has brought to the vampire novel. She throws in new traits- like being attracted to a certain kind of blood, Sweetblood- and the way she pits differnt types of vampires against each other.

Her description are phenomenal- you actually feel like you;re there in the book seeing and smelling what's going on.

The characters are interesting and the story sucks you in. It's a good read and if you're a vampire fan- add it to your to-read list.

Now that I've read Embraced by Blood I am going back and reading the other book and novella in this series so I can catch up on all the characters and be ready for the next book.

Back cover copy of EMBRACED BY BLOOD

Deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest, two vampire coalitions battle for supremacy—Guardian enforcers who safeguard humanity and Darkblood rogues who kill like their ancient ancestors.

Alfonso Serrano is a hunted man. For months he’s managed to elude the Darkbloods, vengeful foes who won’t rest until he’s dead. But he still craves one dangerous temptation: Lily DeGraff, the sexy Guardian agent he’ll risk anything to protect.

Lily is a wanted woman. Her talent for tracking Sweet-a rare blood type that’s addictive to vampires-makes her a prime target for enemy capture. Her only hope is the stealthy vampire operative who stole into her bed...then left her in despair. Danger aside-Lily won’t let Alfonso near her heart again-until an irresistible hunger draws them back together...and into an assassin’s snare.

Author Bio

A graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in Business Administration and a former tester/programmer for a Fortune 500 company, Laurie London writes from her home near Seattle where she lives with her husband and two children.

She is a member of Romance Writers of America®, Greater Seattle Area RWA, RWAOnline, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, FF&P (RWA chapter devoted to all things paranormal), and two book clubs.

When not writing, she can be found running, reading, or riding and showing her horse. Someday she hopes to qualify for the Quarter Horse World Show – that is, if her horse doesn’t get hurt again.

Ready for the giveaway?

Laurie is ioffering a signed copy of Embraced by Blood and a set of Sweetblood trading cards

Want them

Open to US Shipping

Leave a comment to win

Winner chosen and announced next week, Wednesday

5x7 Folded Card

2011-06-29T13:18:00.001-04:00

Picture More Noir 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly cards for Mother's Day, Valentines Day, Birthdays & more.

View the entire collection of cards.

Gabrielle Bisset Guest Blog

2011-06-27T00:51:00.000-04:00

Writing and Parenting

As I sit at my computer typing this guest post, my son’s desk is right behind me in our combination office/classroom. You see, I home school my son, who’s 15 and a freshman in high school. When I’m not teaching him, I also have a full time job teaching other people’s children history at a local campus of a major university. As many writers can attest to, sometimes life is a very careful juggling act.

When I began to seriously write, I knew it would have to fit in with the rest of my life. Years earlier, I committed to teaching my son through his senior year in high school, and if there were negotiable parts of my life, that wasn’t one of them. So there would be no writing during the morning hours, so popular for many writers. I would not be the modern Edith Wharton.

I also had to keep my full time position at the university. This is what pays the bills and allows me to eat. I like eating, so teaching had to stay. Fortunately, I have a very flexible position and can schedule my teaching whenever I prefer, so that meant the afternoons weren’t available for writing either.

This left nighttime. I was okay with that since I tend to be a night owl anyway, but as anyone who has school age children can tell you, the time after dinner is often homework time. As a home schooled student, my son has less homework since he gets more done during his school day, but after he spends his time with this math and science teachers while I’m at school teaching, there are sometimes questions about the day’s work. Plus I make sure I always eat dinner with my son. Even if we sit in silence and simply eat, it’s time spent with one another.

So when do I write, you ask? You can usually find me upstairs in my room, sitting on my bed, writing by eight o’clock. I hand write everything, no matter if it’s a novella or novel length story, so from around eight to midnight every night, I sit cross legged on my bed and write. A good night sees me write five or six pages. A night of writer’s block may only see a few paragraphs. But I’m writing. And on Saturdays, my son and I have a deal that I write all day. He enjoys his weekend, and I enjoy mine. By Sunday, we’re together again for a family dinner and the week begins all over again.

For anyone who has a story to tell but thinks they don’t have the time, you do. You just may have less time than you’d prefer. But whatever time you have, use it to put your words down on paper. Then one day, when you see your book up on Amazon, with its wonderful cover and your name on it, you can know that you don’t have to have all the time in the world to write. You just have to have some time and the patience to know that it will happen in the end.

Gabrielle Bisset’s novella, Vampire Dreams, can be found at Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. Readers can contact Gabrielle at gabriellebisset@gmail.com and visit her blog at http://gbisset.blogspot.com/ /

Guest Blog by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

2011-06-23T05:19:00.000-04:00

Facing “The Bob”

Speaking in front of more than half-a-dozen people used to terrify me — probably still does when I’m not talking about the mysteries I write. I’m not sure what makes public speaking about books different than public speaking generally but it’s definitely easier. Book crowds are mostly friendly — perhaps that explains it. Yesterday I spoke at a retirement community.

People who come to a book talk at a retirement community may be a little hard-of-hearing but they are usually the nicest of all book event attendees. They ask good questions, too.

I anticipated difficulty finding where I was to speak, but the room was easy to spot so I wound up with dawdle time. A nice woman joined me and offered to give me hints about the expected crowd. My biggest concern was being heard; I have a soft voice and they didn’t have a PA system. She assured me the acoustics in the room were excellent and said I shouldn’t worry. She advised me to start late because most people arrived after the posted start time. “Some of us move more slowly than we used to but don’t realize it,” she chuckled, “and don’t start out soon enough.” She reassured me everything would be great unless Bob showed up and was about to tell me more when the first attendees arrived.

People straggled in late just like my friendly advisor warned, so I held off starting. I was just about to introduce myself when a large man on a riding chair rapidly motored into the room. Ladies with walkers parted for him so quickly I feared one or two might fall. “You’re late’” he snapped as he parked at the edge of the assembly and crossed his arms across his ample stomach. My advisor-friend rolled her eyes, pointed at him, and silently mouthed one easily lip-read word. Bob. My mouth went dry.

As I spoke I tried to make regular eye contact with him. I thought that maybe I could win him over by paying him enough attention. He never smiled or nodded. He certainly never laughed at any of my attempts at humor, although others did.

When I finished my talk and asked for questions he didn’t need encouragement. “Why do so many mysteries have circular staircases in them?” he demanded. I had no idea and told him so. “Why do so many writers use wind and storms in their books?” was his next question. I told him movies often subliminally signal a mood with music and guessed writers did the same thing with storms and other weather. “Humph,” was all he said. “And what would you do if someone wanted one-hundred of your books,” he asked in a confrontational tone.

“He’d become one of my best friends,” I blurted out. “Do you want to buy one-hundred books, dear friend,” I asked. He laughed and said, “No, but I will buy one if you’ll wait till I go get some money.”

I waited and he returned, a man of his word. I was told Bob always came to book talks but never purchased a book. Usually when he left it was because he made a writer cry, not because he needed to get money. When Bob came back we had a nice chat. I like him. He invited me back. I hope he enjoys my book.

Guest Blog and Giveaway with Erin Jamison

2011-06-22T01:25:00.000-04:00

Follow Your Dreams

Have you ever felt like there was something you were supposed to do in life
.... and you weren't doing it? That is how I've felt for the last twenty years.
Then life happened. I became a mom and had responsibilities. Being a mom is a
job that gives you unexpected rewards, many challenges but is so worth it.

If you had asked me twenty years ago what I wanted to do in life, I would have
told you everything up under the sun except the fact that I wanted to see my
name in print. I would have told you that I wanted to be an executive with a
huge office, or that I wanted to be an entertainer. I wouldn't have told you
that I kept books of journals. I would have also failed to mention that I
dreamed of having a book of my very own on a bookstore shelf.

My problem was that I wasn't certain of my ability. I didn't think I could
write something that someone would be interested in what I had to say. Turns out
if was something not to be denied. The stories came out anyway. I was just
better at communicating in written form more than verbal. Instead of telling
stories verbally, I started writing stories and emailing friends. They thought I
had talent. I had a few false starts. My first story that I tried to sit down
and write is still in my work in progress file. When I acknowledged that I was a
writer, the flood gates opened and ideas poured out.

Among the ideas I had for a book was one about online dating. That idea became
my debut novella, "Better Than 8 Fantasy." The book is out as an ebook now and
will be available as a print on demand book at Amazon on 6/30. If you could
follow your dreams, which one would it be?

~Erin Jamison
Author of Better Than 8: Fantasy
http://www.erinjamison.com
Follow me on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/erin-jamison-author
Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/erinjamison_
Blog: http://erinjamison.wordpress.com

Giveaway Time

Erin has offered to give away a couple ebook copies of Better Than 8 Fantasy

Here's the blurb:

Amara Simmons has always fantasized about having two lovers but believes it is just that: a fantasy. She likes her men “gifted”, if you know what I mean. At the suggestion of a friend she registers for an online dating website for well-endowed men called www.betterthan8.com She believes nothing will come of her site membership but after months of flirting online via email and instant messaging, she’s shocked to discover that she’s fallen for a gorgeous Latin man that has the potential to be her everything – except he never calls and she has no idea why. Nursing a broken heart she is totally unprepared to meet her would-be Latin lover in person much less at the negotiation table of a multi million-dollar real estate deal. In Puerto Rico, passion ignites. Promises are finally fulfilled and the lines of reality blur when her fantasy finally blooms to life. Can Amara have it all: the deal, the man, and the fantasy?

Want to win?

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Guest Blog- Never Time to Write by PL Blair

2011-06-21T05:00:00.000-04:00

Some days the hardest part of writing is … making time to do it.

Forget about “finding” time. Most of us have a problem “finding” time to do anything these days.

And it gets worse as we take on more obligations, and our lives become more complicated with families, jobs, all the stuff we have to do, all the stuff that happens that isn't in our plans at all …

If we're ever going to become writers, we have to make time – somehow squeeze it out of hours already full of what we have to do, need to do, hope to do … someday.

So where does “becoming a writer” or “writing” fit on your list of priorities? That's the first decision you have to make. How driven are you to write?

Or, as my mentors Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear would say … What are you willing to give up to become a writer?

This leads to the next step: Setting a goal that's practical and fits your – and your family's – lives. How much time do you need, and how much can you squeeze out of an already busy day? A half hour? One hour? Two?

My solution – because I'm a day person and could do it – was to get up an hour earlier each morning when I started writing Shadow Path. Five in the morning instead of six. That habit carried over for subsequent books as well; now I routinely start my day at 5 a.m.

If you're an owl rather than a lark, you might want to do your writing in the evening. Give up a TV show or two, especially now during summer rerun season. Or take extra time at lunch – or in the afternoon. The objective is to find a time that's comfortable for you.

Maybe you don't want to set a certain amount of time but rather a goal such as writing half a page or a page each day. If you can write a page a day, at the end of a year – 352 days – you'll have a novel of around 80,000 words. That's fairly respectable.

Enlist your family on your side if you can. It isn't unreasonable to ask for a few minutes, or a couple of hours, of time for yourself. Or choose those times when the spouse is at work and the children are at school – or napping.

The flip side of that coin is: Expect the unexpected. There's a saying, “Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.” Weekends and holidays disrupt my writing time. So, on thankfully rare occasions, have illnesses and family emergencies. Life happens.

Think of writing as a career – because it is. And we can take vacations from our careers – weekends, holidays, a few days to go camping or go someplace special with the family – then come home and get right back to work. Those occasional times off can be renewing. I've found that after a few days away, I look at my writing almost as though I'm seeing it for the first time.
I start getting new ideas, start getting excited about the project all over again.

Writing can be a balancing act, but if you really want to write, you will – you can – find a way. It goes back to the priorities.

Somehow, it's part of human nature, we always manage to clear our schedules for that which is truly important to us.

~PL Blair is currently touring her book Shadow Path through Bewitching Book Tours.

Blurb:

The Ogre is dead, what's left of the murder weapon - a rune-inscribed sword - still in his liquefying remains.

That's just the beginning for Kat Morales, a Human detective with the Corpus Christi, Texas, police department and her Elf partner, Tevis. The two soon find themselves awash in Pixies, Magic of the Blackest kind, and a trail theat leads into Tevis' past, to a former lover, now a necromancer, who wants to extinguish her old flame - permanently.

This first book in P.L. Blair's "Portals" fantasy adventure series begins at a time in Earth's not-too-distant future when magical portals are opened between the world we now know and the "otherside," a parallel world filled with magic and all manner of magical creatures and beings. The "Portals" series will launch you on a wonderous journey of imagining what it would be like if magic and creatures of myth and legend were to suddenly step into our world for real.

Guest Blog and Giveaway with Katie Salidas

2011-06-20T01:47:00.004-04:00

Balancing the writer, the mom, & the wife.

I am Super Mom!

Endowed with special powers and abilities, beyond those of mortal women, I can get the munchkin off to gymnastics, cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and swim lessons. I can put hot food on the table for dinner while assisting with homework, baths, and bedtime... And, I still find time to keep the hubby happy (nudge nudge wink wink). I can do all of this and still have time to write my novels.

Sorry… I can't even write that with a straight face.

Lies all lies.

Here’s the reality. I’m a sleep-deprived, overworked, Write-at-Home-Mom who just doesn’t know the meaning of the word balance. I wish I were super mom. I wish I were super author, and I’m sure my hubby wishes I were super wife (though I dare him to say otherwise LoL). I try so hard to do it all, and at the end of the day I fall face forward into the couch.

Yes, you read that right, I tend to sleep on the couch. It’s a point of frustration for my hubby and a thing of comedy for my daughter. There are many mornings where I wake up to the sound of my 7 year old daughter yelling, “Mom slept on the couch again!!!” (She thinks it’s hilarious)

Because being supermom (or trying to) means a lot of time devoted to family, writing is often done when said family is peacefully snoozing away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep with my laptop, on the couch. It just happens. Then, bright and early at 7am either my hubby (on his way to work) or my daughter (getting ready for school) wakes me up. Thank God for alarm clocks!

Writing is my passion. It’s a part of me. More than just a hobby, it’s a compulsion. I have to do it. If I don’t do at least one writing related thing each day I get cranky. But to be able to write, I need a certain type of quiet. Hence the dilemma.

For my family’s sake, it gives the illusion of balance. While the family is home, they have 100% of my attention. I’m there ready and willing to take care of the things they need. Daytime is family time. There are meals to make, errands to run, Girl Scouts, swimming, karate, homework, school projects, Movie night, Game night, etc… Then, once I have tucked them into bed my real work begins. And, as many of you writers know, once you have the muse working, it can mean hours upon hours of writing time. Which is why I said that “balance” is illusion. Sometimes those bouts of inspiration and writing turn into an all-nighters. That leaves me so spent that if I don’t end up sleeping on the couch, I end up crashing shortly after I drop my daughter off at school.

We all have to sleep sometime.

Not every night goes this way, but many of them do while I’m feverously working on a project. So far, I’ve been able to write and publish 5 titles in the last few years. I write a mix of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Surprise, surprise, all of my titles involve vampires. There must be some connection there between writing about those creatures of the night and the time of day I use for writing.

If you’re interested in checking out my special brand of vampires, feel free to stop by my website http:///www.katiesalidas.com

Kendra used to spend her days organizing events for Café Enigma while daydreaming about Marcus, the sexy lead singer of Normal Paradox. But all those dreams of becoming Mrs. Rock Star died, along with her mortality, the moment Hector entered her life and turned her into a vampire.

Ten torturous years later, Kendra finally escapes Hector and runs straight into Marcus. (Well, actually, he hit her with his car, but that's beside the point.) The accident leaves Marcus concussed and a few pints too low, forcing Kendra to share her blood to save him.

Sharing her blood doesn’t just heal Marcus’s wounds; it bonds him to Kendra in a magical “can’t live without you” sort of way. Now he’s professing his undying love to her, and Kendra’s not sure if he’s for real or just experiencing the side effects of their new blood bond. Either way, the two of them can’t be separated without suffering suicidal levels of depression, and the band needs to hit the road for the rest of their cross-country tour.

Kendra’s content to travel with the band and explore her new-found relationship, until whispered threats from her master, Hector, start invading her dreams. He’s tracking her down, and she can feel it. She knows the horrors he’s capable of, and if he finds out about Marcus, Hector will do everything in his power to destroy him.

If she stays, Marcus is doomed to Hector’s wrath. If she goes, the repercussions of their bond might kill Marcus. Both options will break Kendra’s heart. If they’re truly meant for each other, they’ll have to find another way....

Katie Salidas is a Super Woman! Endowed with special powers and abilities, beyond those of mortal women, She can get the munchkin off to gymnastics, cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and swim lessons. She can put hot food on the table for dinner while assisting with homework, baths, and bedtime… And, She still finds the time to keep the hubby happy (nudge nudge wink wink). She can do all of this and still have time to write.

And if you can believe all of those lies, there is some beautiful swamp land in Florida for sale…
Katie Salidas resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mother, wife, and author, she does try to do it all, often causing sleep deprivation and many nights passed out at the computer. Writing books is her passion, and she hopes that her passion will bring you hours of entertainment. http://www.katiesalidas.com/

Would you like to win an ecopy of Karma and Melodies

Leave a comment on this spot with your email address

One winner will be chosen next Wednesday

Nancy Lynn Jarvis: Realtor Turned Serial Killer

2011-06-19T05:15:00.001-04:00

Guest Blog by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

My husband and I owned a small real estate company which we wound down beginning in 2008 because it was costing us more to be in business than we were netting. Our plan was to declare ourselves retired and travel, but while we were fine for day to day expenses, our investments weren’t generating enough income to let us do what we planned, and we found ourselves stuck at home.

I had way too much time on my hands. I got bored. It was clear I needed a new career, so at age 60, I decided to start killing people.

Everyone who has earned a living as a Realtor says they could tell you stories. I took my twenty-plus years of real estate experiences, used them for background, and began writing a mystery with a Realtor protagonist. Ironically I get comments from people who tell me, while the murders are believable; they’re sure I made up the real estate parts of the books — are they ever wrong.

Writing my first book, “The Death Contingency” quite literally began as a time filling game, a mental exercise like playing Sudoku. I had a beginning and an ending in mind for the book and absolutely no idea how to connect the two. It took a great deal of fumbling and learning for both me as a writer and for Regan McHenry, the amateur sleuth protagonist, to solve the mystery. It was fun, though — more fun than anything I had ever done before — so much fun that I immediately started on a second book, “Backyard Bones.”

But writing, you’ll remember, was a game for me; I never intended to do anything with what I wrote. That changed when our friend Charlotte Bridges, a woman who always wanted to see her name in print, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor.

Possibly because my husband and I had a long history of being small business owners and weren’t daunted by the idea of doing so, we set up a micro publishing company, dedicated “The Death Contingency” to her, printed some books, and got a copy to her so she could have her wish fulfilled before she died.

Our new business was what you would call, "very carefully" self-funded. Initial costs were $35 to copyright a company name and logo and $35 for a printer set-up fee. I could have purchased an ISBN number for one book for $55, but they are cheaper in bulk so I splurged and purchased a bank of them for $275 —just in case.

That purchase meant we had to find ways to save money elsewhere. I scoured the web and discovered photo sites that sold cheap graphics. The skeleton hand on the book cover started out as a full body skeleton that my husband borrowed from a chiropractic website and cropped until only the hand remained.

I discovered print-on-demand as a way of producing books inexpensively and in small quantities. Our first run was 100 books, about ninety more than I thought we would ever need. The books sold out in a day and we ordered more.

My writing-as-a-game has become a book series: the third book, “Buying Murder” is out and “The Widow’s Walk League” will be released in July. Right now I may be the world’s only real estate agent who writes real estate mysteries. This newly discovered passion is something I will do as I age, in retirement, and as long as it's fun and I sell books.

Writing hasn't produced an income anything like being a Realtor in the good times and I don't expect this adventure will ever make us rich, but we are making money and I wake up every morning excited about what the day may bring. I've had adventures I would never have had otherwise and met people from all over the world I would never have known without promoting the books.

Promoting is something else I’ve discovered can be done largely for free. I've managed to get an article in Realtor Magazine which goes to every Realtor in the country, get a mention in Costco's Connection Magazine which goes to most Costco members, and get interviewed for CNN/Money which then made it to CNN.com and YahooFinance.com, all for free.

Social media such as Goodreads, LinkedIn, Library Thing, Eons ,and Facebook have all been helpful. Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries have their own page on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ReganMcHenryRealEstateMysteries?ref=ts and I made an appearance on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7LrBRZ3sk0 , doing a Christine O’Donnell impression during the height of the 2010 political season. If you’re willing to be silly and have fun, publicity follows.

We still use print-on-demand so we never have storage issues and no wasted books (I’m a tree hugger who doesn’t want to cut down trees needlessly.) We've learned to take advantage of Amazon for book distribution and for e-books (which outsell tree books.) Getting reviews and having books tagged by search topic takes work but produces sales on Amazon. Since we are officially publishers, it's possible to make more money by selling through them than through bookstores. Of course we let readers sample opening chapters at our website http://www.goodreadmysteries.com/ and sell books from there, too.

The actual writing of a book is a kick. So is doing psychological profiles of the characters and researching how to dispatch victims before I begin writing — I dare you to ask me about death by hypothermia, ligature strangulations, accidental mummification, Albanian mobster hits, and how to make a person bleed out in minutes from a stab wound.

Getting a story I want to tell on paper is entertaining, but so is cover designing, getting publicity, and talking at book signings. The fact that I enjoy speaking at book signings and on the radio is a real surprise to me because when I don’t have a book in my hand to promote, I’d rather die than open my mouth in public.

Our investments are doing better and we are talking about traveling again, but now we'll be taking books on the road and doing a book tour. It's going to be fun to have a focus for traveling and as an added bonus, if we schedule properly, the trips will be tax deductable in part.
Several older writers have approached us about publishing their books. We just reserved the URL http://www.geezerwriters.com/ ; it might be fun to help them get started.

Find ing Your Voice with Author Joyce Oroz

2011-06-18T05:10:00.001-04:00

Finding Your Voice

So you want to write a book. If you’re looking for fame and glory, get over it. Writing is hard work with little or no monetary reward, unless you’re in the one percentile who do get noticed. On the other hand, writing a novel is a hoot … and the biggest high you’ll ever earn. Once you make the trip from beginning to middle pages to finale, you’re hooked. I’m betting you’ll start a second book right away, hoping to repeat that wonderful, agonizing, mind-blowing trip.

There are two kinds of writers, those who want to write and those who do. There are those who attend writing classes, read about writing, know everything there is to know about writing, dabble with writing, but never actually finish anything.

The real writer learns the “rules” about writing and learns how to write by writing. She isn’t afraid to break a few rules as long as it helps her to find her voice and tell her story. She looks forward to writing sessions even though they are not always productive or easy. She does what she does because it’s so much fun. The fun out-weighs the frustration. If it’s not fun for you, or at least satisfying in some way, why do it? Life is too short to be doing things you don’t enjoy. That’s my best advice and I’m sticking to it. Oh, yes, and don’t use clichés.

How do I know that loving what you do is important? Here is a brief biography to explain how I came to this conclusion.

Life’s flow pushed me forward, from mother to grandmother, painter to writer, contented to jubilant. I enjoyed a long career as a professional muralist, painting walls in cities and towns across California. The day came when tall ladders, long hours and smelly paint did not agree with me. I turned to my love of writing, took classes and jumped right into writing 26 children’s stories. When that was out of my system, I wrote my first mystery novel, Secure the Ranch. What a wonderful experience—I was hooked. At present, I am a novelist and freelance journalist and I owe it all to spell-check.

Secure the Ranch is the first novel in the Josephine Stuart Mystery Series. Read My Lipstick is the second and more are coming. Even though I took classes, learned about writing an outline, etc., it never worked for me. My style is: Sit in front of the computer and write down the first thing that comes to mind and then expand on it. If it was a good first sentence, more information will come. If not, shelf it and try another first sentence.

Be open. Discover your own style. But most importantly, you must find your voice. Keep writing and reading what you have written. One day you will discover that wonderful voice that belongs to only you.

I didn’t understand my protagonist, Josephine Stuart, very well until half the book was written. Turns out, she is a grizzly when it comes to injustice, she’s an accomplished painter, drives like a maniac (when necessary) and adores her basset—and the guy next door. People say Josephine is a lot like me, but I know she is younger, taller, smarter, prettier and braver than I will ever be. She happens to drive a red pickup just like mine, she paints murals for a living, but unlike me, she finds trouble where ever she goes.

http://authorjoyceoroz.blogspot.com/

Winner Winner Winner

2011-06-14T16:16:00.002-04:00

And the winners are:

Mindy has won The Vampire Who Loved Me by Theresa Meyers

Lacey Reah has won Eternal Hearts by Jennifer Turner (Lacey I need your email)

Loony Linh won Maid for Master by Nina Pierce

Congrats- Happy Reading Everyone!

Theresa Meyers' Secrets to Writing with Children Guest Blog and Giveaway

2011-06-10T05:46:00.001-04:00

Secrets to Writing with Children

By Theresa Meyers

Being a writer is no easy feat. Being a mother is even harder. You love both. You need both. So how do you strike a balance? You learn through trial and error. And while I don’t claim to have all the secrets of how to write with children, I’ve learned a few I’d like to share with you.

Let’s start at the beginning. In my case, I was writing before I even had children. But once I got pregnant, we started having serious discussions about what our fondest memories of childhood had been and realized that one of us was going to be staying home with the kids, which since I was going to be breast-feeding was going to be me. I changed my routine to writing freelance for magazines for income and writing on the books for myself (still working seriously at getting published). I even tried to schedule my deadlines around my due date so I’d have time to recover and be with the baby. Yeah. Like that worked. She arrived seven days early and we missed her baby shower because she was born around 3 am that morning. I ended up finishing the last of my deadlines (which was supposed to be completed before she was born) with her breast feeding in one arm while I typed the article with the one hand.

Secret one: Have a backup plan. No matter what you think you can accomplish while they are napping, when you think they are going to be in school, or perhaps playing with friends, have a backup plan for how you want to accomplish your deadlines and goals. Your backup plan may not be as ambitious, but it can still get the job done. Don’t be afraid to have others be part of your backup plans. Even an hour or two with grandma, auntie, or a best friend, can make all the difference. For fiction writing, train yourself to do compression writing – where you write with a timer as fast as you can for a set period of time. This will help you in writing quickly when naps happen spontaneously. (I don’t know about you, but getting both of them to take a nap at the same time was a near miracle.)

When they are toddlers (mine are eighteen months apart) it was a challenge to get them to understand that mommy at the keyboard meant she was actually working. Since I was doing high-profile interviews for the articles I was writing I tried to work out a schedule with fifteen minutes at a time to do the interviews. Writing could be done at night, weekends or evenings around their sleep schedule. But how did I keep them out of the office so there wasn’t screaming/chaos/mayhem in the background?

Secret two: Learn to speak their language. Since by then we’d moved to a new state where I had no family and didn’t know anyone, I had to schedule the fifteen minute interviews around their naps or favorite shows. We had favorites on video tape that I knew I could count on them to watch for at least fifteen minutes before they lost interest. Neither of them were old enough to read, but they knew colors. I found taping a red piece of construction paper on the outside of my door at about their eye level worked really well. Red was like stop signs. It also meant don’t come in unless there is blood, fire, or other red things happening. It also meant we were playing the super silent game where everyone in the house tried to make as little noise as possible. I played this game with them at least once a week as practice, doing exaggerated tip-toe to walk, speaking with gestures instead of words, drawing pictures to talk, etc. to get them into it. And of course there were always rewards for being so good at the super silent game. Make it fun for them to participate. Also realize there are days were they don’t feel good, or are just plain off, and you might need to reschedule the interviews/writing.

As they grew older and got into grade school, the challenge shifted. Instead of carving out time here and threre, I needed to retool my work day to get everything I could done in a half-day of kindergarten. It meant waking up before they got up to work and knowing ahead of time what I was going to need to have done. Once they were both in school, I set up the schedule so I could still volunteer in each of their classes and get the writing done.

Secret three: Carry a pocket calendar and learn to love a schedule. Scheduling becomes all important as they grow older into how efficient you become at getting your writing done. I don’t have a fancy phone or PDA. I find a small, week-at-a-glance calendar small enough to fit in my purse is cheap, works, and is invaluable. I make sure at the beginning of the school year I know which day I can volunteer in the class for a specific period of time. I know when music and sports activities are. It just becomes part of the routine. I’ve found that as long as I know when things are coming up in the schedule, I can adjust around it and still get the writing done.

Which brings me to the actual writing. Right now I’m currently writing about four books a year. I still write magazine articles and columns, but far less than I use to. I’m also doing the marketing and promotion for those books, have one child in elementary and one in junior high meaning I have to make time for marching band, regular band, choir, safety patrol, track, dance team, science fairs, learning projects presentations, science cell model creation, awards banquets, concerts, working in the junior high student store every other week and teaching art on alternate Fridays to an elementary class. It can be done. Ask yourself how bad do you want it and what kind of mom do you want to be? What are you willing to give up? (Because you will be giving up something.) For me it was giving up going to as many conferences and not making every chapter meeting of my local writers groups. I’m not super-mom, but I do have priorities and one of them is my kids and the other is my writing.

Secret four: Set priorities and goals often. I’ve found that keeping track of my writing in a three-ring binder (with monthly calendar printed off of Outlook) is an easy means of knowing how much longer I’ve got until a book is due. When I sign a contract and we’re talking due dates, I can look back at my progress for books from before and know that five pages a day is doable even when I’m crazy with the kids’ schedules. I can estimate based on the word count of the book about how many days it’ll take me to do a draft and edit a book, then add at least a week of sick days, back out all the weekends, birthdays, family holidays and trips, etc. to know about when a comfortable due date will be for me. It doesn’t always work out the way I plan, but it certainly helps! Even if you don’t have a contract yet, set your own due dates and stick by them. Doing it now will help you prepare that skill for later when it becomes a necessity. I also have a career plan written out so I know where I want to go and what I have to do to get there. Having the goal firmly written down makes a huge psychological difference to getting yourself in gear.

Secret five: Be ready to write anywhere, anytime. I’ve learned that even though I detest writing long hand, sometimes bringing a cheap spiral notebook (which I buy in bulk when they are on sale before school starts along with the kids other supplies) is usually easy to carry and a great backup for when I’m waiting to pick someone up from band or sitting at a practice or the dentist’s office. It needs no batteries, no back-up and it's always available. You can tell yourself you need a laptop or a pda or an i-Pad, but the truth is you just need to write. Is it too noisy? Bring along headphones. You don’t even have to listen to music. Don’t make excuses. Hold yourself accountable to getting your work done and become an example for your kids of hard work, determination and effort to achieve your goals. You want success for them; show them how to achieve it.

Like I said earlier, it’s not all the secrets of writing with children, but a few I’ve learned practically along the way. Is it always easy? NO. Is it completely worth it? YES. This year I’ll have four books on the shelves, in fact one is out right now, The Vampire Who Loved Me, from Harlequin Nocturne. You can have a writing career with children. In fact, in many ways it’s the best career because you have the flexibility of fitting your work around their schedule. But make no mistake, just like raising children, writing is the hardest job you’ll ever love.

Thanks for the great advice Theresa and thanks for sharing it with us here at The Write at Home Mom.

Theresa's newest release is The Vampire Who Loved Me, Book #2 in the Sons of Midnight mini-series from Harlequin Nocturne- which she is currently touring right now through Bewitching Book Tours.

FROM SWORN ENEMIES…

Dr. Rebecca Chamberlin hated nothing more than the vampires who had turned her loved ones into creatures of the night…until she became one herself. Now her experimental vaccine has become more urgent than ever, and has made her the target of vampire security chief Achilles Stefanos.

TO FORBIDDEN LOVERS.

Built like a god with golden hair and an irresistible allure, Achilles made her feel passion the way no mortal man had before. Beck could no more deny her craving for him than she could the hated bloodlust in her veins. But when her vaccine fell into the wrong hands, Beck has a difficult choice to make—one that challenged everything she’d always believed…..

Dark and dangerous, the Sons of Midnight are a temptation that few can resist!

Theresa Meyers Bio:

Raised by a bibliophile who made the dining room into a library, Theresa has always been a lover of books and stories. First a writer for newspapers, then for national magazines, she started her first novel in high school, eventually enrolling in a Writer's Digest course and putting the book under the bed until she joined Romance Writers of America in 1993. In 2005 she was selected as one of eleven finalists for the American Title II contest, the American Idol of books.

She is married to the first man she ever went on a real date with (to their high school prom), who she knew was hero material when he suffered through having to let her parents drive, and her brother sit between them in the backseat of the car. They currently live in a Victorian house on a mini farm in the Pacific Northwest with their two children, three cats, an old chestnut Arabian gelding, an energetic mini-Aussie shepherd puppy, several rabbits, a dozen chickens and an out-of-control herb garden. You can find her online on Twitter, Facebook, at her Web site or blogging with the other Lolitas of STEAMED!

http://www.theresameyers.com/

http://www.theresameyers.com/blog/

http://twitter.com/Theresa_Meyers

http://www.facebook.com/TheresaMeyersAuthor

http://www.ageofsteam.wordpress.com/

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What I know about being a Mom who writes romance novels…Guest Blog and Giveaway with Jennifer Turner

2011-06-06T06:11:00.002-04:00

When I received word from Roxanne of Bewitching Book Tours that she’d scheduled a guest post for me, I immediately cringed. I’ve never been good at guest posts, mainly because I can never think of anything interesting to talk about. However, when I saw the name of the blog, and then Roxanne’s suggestions for a possible topic – I immediately thought…hey, I write and I have a kid! I can do this! :)

When I began writing back in 2005, my daughter, Kaelyn, had just started kindergarten. I was still working a full-time day job, so the only time I really had to write was late at night, after Kaelyn went to bed and my husband went to work (he worked third shift at the time). I tried to write on the weekends every now and then, but as all of you moms know too well…when a five year old wants your attention, they will get your attention. ;) So that’s really how my first year or so as a writer began, tapping away at the keyboard late at night, sometimes all night, or here and there on the weekends.

Then, as I believe happens to even the best of us, over the next few years life really intervened. Jobs were lost and new ones were found. Bills stacked up and we slowly whittled the pile down. Kaelyn excelled in Reading but struggled desperately with Math. The late night/weekend writing sessions happened less and less frequently, and eventually ended all together because each time I sat down in my office chair…I realized, once again, it was actually a rather comfortable place to sleep. My dreams of being a published author dimmed, only to be replaced by a burning need to be the one who finally helped the numbers on Kaelyn’s papers make sense to her. For me, the words mother and teacher have always gone together. I couldn’t be any good at the former if I didn’t make time for the latter. At that particular point in time – I wasn’t sure I’d ever write again.

It was early 2008 when I finally found my way back to the keyboard with any kind of regularity. And by regularity, I mean once or twice a week, very late at night…there I was, huddled in my office, typing in the dark because I didn’t want to risk waking anyone up. I finished within a few months what would later become the first novel in a dark paranormal romance series. Then…then I began querying agents. I cheered over frequent partial requests. I celebrated full requests. I squealed when my favorite agents said they loved my story. But then I cried as each agent explained they didn’t think they could sell such a dark romance series. It was shortly after the fifth agent offered many compliments but stopped short of offering me representation that I swore off writing for good.

A few months later, I started thinking about self-publishing. A few months after that, my husband and my mom were fully on board and pushing me to take the last steps. Eternal Seduction finally released in late October of 2008. My sales were slow, and very few review sites would accept a self-published novel back then. I broke the 100 copies sold milestone in December of 2008. And then life intervened yet again…barely a month before I was scheduled to release the second book in the series. My husband made a rather bold decision to become a full-time college student while still working 50 hours a week. Kaelyn’s grades started to slip, and this time she needed me to help more than just the numbers make sense. I had to postpone the release of book two.

By June of 2009, Eternal Seduction had sold just over 1,000 copies. By May of 2010, I was nearing the 5,000 copies sold milestone, life had slowed down a bit, and I was finally ready to set a late June 2010 release date for the second book. And then one morning in May, just a few days after I’d shared the release date news with my readers, I opened my e-mail to find a note from some guy I’d never heard of before. The subject line of the e-mail simply read: Representation. He introduced himself as Robert Gottlieb, Chairman of Trident Media Group. He explained that he felt my Darkness Within series had great potential to be successful in not only the US market, but in the foreign market as well. And then he proceeded to share his credentials, and asked if I’d be willing to discuss career options with him…

It took me two phone conversations with Robert and roughly three weeks of freaking out before I was finally convinced he had the right Jennifer Turner. ;) And if I’m being honest, I still have those moments of doubt every now and then.

I officially signed a three-year contract with Robert and Trident Media Group in June of 2010.

Over a nerve-wracking span of seven months (from September 2010 to April 2011), five editors from major publishing houses read Eternal Hearts and had fantastic things to say about the story and my writing abilities. However, not one of those five editors was able to make an offer. It’s now June of 2011, Eternal Seduction has sold over 7,000 copies to date, and Eternal Hearts officially released just a few days ago. Eternal Hearts is self-published. My readers don’t care how the story made it to the market, and are already asking about the release date for book three. Robert is the one who told me to release Eternal Hearts so my fans wouldn’t have to wait any longer, he also helped with editing…and he’s still my agent.

I have no idea what will happen between now and October 2011, which is when I’ve scheduled the release date for Eternal Embrace, book three in my series. I don’t know if my series will sell to a major publisher in that time, I don’t know if Eternal Hearts will sell better than my first book, and I have no idea where my career as an author will go from here. But what I do know is that my husband is still working 50+ hours a week, and he just started his third year of college with a cumulative GPA of 3.94. What I do know is that Kaelyn spent the entire 2010-2011 school year on the honor roll, and not once did she bring home anything lower than a B+ in Math. And what I do know is…wherever this writing thing takes me, whether I hit the NYT Bestsellers list someday or if I just cruise along for the rest of my career as a mildly successful self-published author…life will always find me.

But I also know that we’ll work through the hard times, do whatever needs to be done, and then I’ll eventually find my way back to the keyboard. Because that’s what Romance authors do. We paint our character’s lives with vivid dreams and possibilities, we make them fight for what they want while their world comes crashing down, and then we leave them doing what they love – with the people they love most.

Eternal Hearts blurb

Toni Tutoro just wants to go home. Banned from Chicago’s vampiric society after cutting a swath of violence through the city, she must now successfully complete an investigation for the Lord of Chicago to regain the right to live in her hometown again.

To ensure Toni’s safety during her probationary period, Drake Black, a feared assassin, is secretly contracted to protect her. Even with direct orders to keep his relationship professional, and his own personal vow to never get involved with a female vampire again, Drake finds himself drawn to Toni in ways he can’t explain. But unbeknownst to him, he’s tied to one of the people who drove Toni to her night of destruction.

Drake’s legendary heritage holds the key to Toni’s survival and success, but will she be able to forgive his connection to the brutal night that robbed her of those she loved most? Will Drake be able to forget the betrayals in his past and risk taking one more chance? But most of all, can they find a way to reach each other in the darkness?

Today Jennifer is offering one lucky reader an ebook copy of Eternal Hearts

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Breaking Down the Blockade Guest Blog & Giveaway with Nina Pierce

2011-06-03T03:39:00.001-04:00

Today author Nina Pierce is here as part of her Bewitching Book Tour for her newest release Blind Love.

Keep reading for a chance to win an ebook from her backlist

So you’re trying to write a book and sometimes the words just aren’t there. Of course the baby’s been teething and keeping your up nights, your teenager has enough social obligations and sports activities to make the Queen’s calendar look relaxing, and your husband’s been moping around because you haven’t had a spare minute for him in the last two weeks and you wonder why when your character’s are screaming at you and the story seems alive in your head you can’t seem to write anything! The cursor blinks tauntingly on the blank page, daring you to fill the emptiness. All your wonderful prose and pithy dialogue that came to you while you were bathing the baby or watching the seventh inning have gone out the proverbial window and now you’re a has-been before you’ve even had a chance to enjoy the success of your first sale.

Not to worry. You’re not alone.

Writer’s block happens to many writers. The first solid advice I can give you is to cut yourself some slack. Though you may not believe it to be possible, it will pass. There are several tricks of the trade that may help you through this time.

~ Don’t think so hard. I’ve found often times when I am stuck it has to do with a problem I haven’t yet resolved in the plot. Instead of worrying about it, I take my handy notebook and pen and keep it handy while I’m doing other things. While I’m doing something else, my mind wonders and I often stumble upon a solution to a problem I didn’t conscientiously know existed.

~ Try some free writing. I often write short snippets of stories called “flashes”. These are 100 word stories of varying subjects. Creative writing inspired by a theme or a picture. Since they require no plot and are simply disjointed scenes it often is enough to release my creativity and I find I can go back to my book with a fresh eye.

~ Character sketches. If you haven’t done it already (some people do these before writing a story) sit down and do a detailed description of your character. Who they are, what they want, hurts in their lives that have brought them to this point. If you’ve already done character sketches try writing a diary entry. Sometimes thinking in the first person gives you enough insight to help you through this difficult piece of writing.

~ Skip a scene or two or simply go to the next chapter. Start at the next point in your story where you know what’s happening. Often this will trigger the missing scene(s) and you can go back and fill in the blanks.

~ Write just the dialogue. What are your characters saying to each other? Write the dialogue and go back and fill in the actions and prose to make the scene complete.

~ Write the end of the book. Some writers write completely out of order. The first three chapters then the last three chapters, then a couple more at the beginning and a couple at the end. Writing out of order may help you through the difficulty of a complicated scene.

~ Switch point of view. Perhaps the character you want to experience the scene isn’t the one with the most at stake or the most information to share with the reader. Try writing from someone else’s perspective.

These are only a few of the tools I have found that work for me. I hope you never experience writer’s block, but if you do. Stay calm and know that soon those words will once again be flowing.

Author Bio:

Award-winning erotic romance author, Nina Pierce, grew up in a house full of readers. So becoming enamored with books was only natural. She discovered romance stories in her early teens, falling hopelessly in love with knights in shining armor and the damsels who saved them.
Eventually, reading about alpha males and the journey to find their happy-ever-after endings wasn’t enough. She needed to pen her own stories of fated loves and soul mates. Nina’s discovered the passionate side of romance with her sexy stories. For her, it’s all about the sweet scent of seduction mixed with the heart warming aroma of romance.

Nina resides in the northeast with her high school sweetheart and soul mate of twenty-seven years, their three grown children and several very spoiled cats who consider her “staff”.

Website: http://www.ninapierce.com/
Blog: http://www.NinaPierce.com/blog
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NinaPierce

Giveaway Time!

One lucky winner will get to choose any of the above titles from Nina's ebook backlist

(except Blind Love)

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Blind Love Excerpt

2011-06-03T00:52:00.001-04:00

BLIND LOVE
He’s a shock jock looking to reform. She’s an accountant hoping to cut loose.Can love open their eyes to forever?
(Tilling Passions Book 1)ISBN: 978-1-4524-1519-2
April 2011

Uptight CPA, JULIE TILLING is tired of doing the right thing. When her friend from high school dies and Julie is the only one who believes he didn’t commit suicide, she takes it upon herself to explore the circumstances surrounding his death. When the investigation takes her into a world of sexy nightclubs and a one night stand that has her heart melting, Julie finds a naughty side of herself she didn’t know existed.

DAMON COREY didn’t come to Maine to become a shock jock. But when his dream of becoming a concert pianist seems unobtainable, the radio station’s offer is too good to pass up. Unfortunately, the one night stands and empty relationships are getting old—that is until a mysterious brunette falls into his arms and wraps around his heart making him believe in love.
With their passion overheating and their sexual encounters exploding, Damon and Julie work to see beyond the masks that have protected them from the world. But will Damon’s enigmatic shock jock persona become Julie’s sexual undoing and reveal Damon as the missing piece that solves the puzzling questions surrounding her friend’s death?

Learn more about Nina's Blind Love Bewitching Book Tour

Excerpt:

“You ever ride a motorcycle, Julie?”

She pulled off the helmet and fluffed her hair. The corkscrew curls of copper fit her cute features much better than the black wig that had overpowered them.

“Not one this fast,”

He bit back a smile. “No, I meant any motorcycle.”

“Was it that obvious?” Color rose from her chest and deepened her already flushed cheeks.
“I like to be a woman’s first.” Shit. Even clean shaven and wearing his glasses, Demon’s persona had a bad habit of popping up at inopportune moments.

Julie stopped contemplating her toes and stared straight at him. Emotions moved over her face and clouded her eyes, but he didn’t know her well enough to read between the lines. He’d just met this wonderful woman. He hadn’t intended to scare her off.

“Julie, I—”

“No, Damon. You don’t have to apologize. I get it.”

He hadn’t thought her cheeks could become redder, but he was wrong.

“You have a lot of women available to you,” she said, quietly. “I’m sure they’re much more experienced than me.” She shrugged and fiddled with the strap of the helmet. “I’m sure you realize I don’t usually let go the way I did last night. And I know you weren’t really expecting the person you found at the family homestead?” She emphasized the last two words as if they were obscenities. “The Jewel of last night was more your speed. I get that.”

Oh, hell no. “No, Julie, I—”

Her hand flew up between them. “No, Damon, seriously, you don’t owe me anything. Obviously my father dragged you into an uncomfortable situation. Well, you’ve done your social obligation. I’m home safe and sound. I didn’t mean to disappoint, but I have a hard time living up to everyone’s expectations of who I should be. So, thanks. I get it. Good night.” The helmet landed in his lap.

“No, Julie, really, you don’t understand.” He yelled at her retreating back. “Julie, wait.” Damon attempted to jump from the bike, but the stand wasn’t down, and he had to juggle the extra helmet. “Damn it all to hell. Julie…” He finally managed to extricate himself from the bike and the helmets and caught her just as she pushed open the front door. “Please. I think you’ve misunderstood. Just give me a minute to explain. Then I’ll leave.”

Her arms knotted across her chest for protection. A wounded heart? He’d have to tread carefully. The emerald eyes shimmering in the waning light telegraphed her pain and embarrassment, but her lips were pursed thin with determination. The woman was a walking enigma. Damon suspected she had no idea how damn sexy she looked standing there, inviting him to explain himself—daring him to breach her defenses.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Online Networking

2011-06-02T14:43:00.001-04:00

The 7 Deadly Sins of Online Networking

by Dana Lynn Smith

Online networking is a wonderful way to meet people who share your interests, develop relationships with peers and potential customers, and ultimately increase book sales.

But there's sometimes a fine line between letting your contacts know about your book and being overly promotional. If you're too passive, you may not get much benefit from networking, but if you're too aggressive you may turn people off.

Here are seven common mistakes that authors make in online networking, along with tips on how to avoid them:

1. No book information or website links on social network profiles.

I'm amazed at how many authors don't even mention their books on their social profiles, or make it easy for people to find information about the book.

On your Facebook profile and fan page, include information about your book and a link to your book sales page and websites on the Info section. You can also list yourself as an author in the current employer section of your personal profile, which will make your author status show up at the very top of your profile.

On Twitter, be sure to mention your book in the description on your profile page. You only have 160 characters to work with, so if you have several books you could say something like "author of four romantic suspense novels."

On LinkedIn, take full advantage of the Title field. This space is designed for job titles, but you can use it to showcase your expertise and status as an author. For example: "Parenting expert and author of "Raising Happy Kids in a Crazy World." Your title will appear along with your photo any place that you interact on LinkedIn. Be sure to include a link to your book's sales page and your website in the Websites section of your profile, and also list your books in the Publications section.

2. Not mentioning your book in your status updates.

It's fine to talk about your book in the status updates that you post on social networks, as long as that's not your main focus and you're not too pushy. Be sure to intersperse your book messages with other types of messages (personal notes, tips, links to helpful resources, thoughts on a new book you just read, etc.)

I recommend that no more than 10% to 20% of your status updates be promotional or self-serving. No one wants to read a constant stream of "buy my book" messages.

One way to talk about your book without seeming too promotional is to discuss your marketing activities. Here are some examples:

I just received the preliminary cover designs for my new book – what do you think of these?
Today I'm contacting bookstores about setting up signings for my new novel, BOOKTITLE. It's available at www.booktitle.com.
I'm so excited! Just received word that my book, BOOKTITLE, has received an award . . .
I just scheduled a radio interview on KWTX to discuss tips from my book, BOOKTITLE. www.booktitle.com
Today I launched the redesign of my website for BOOKTITLE – what do you think? www.booktitle.com
And you can always mention events and special promotions:

If you're in the Seattle area, please join me at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday at . . . for a free presentation based on my book, BOOKTITLE. www.booktitle.com
The Kindle version of BOOKTITLE has just been released! You can find it at www.booktitle.com. If you don't have a Kindle, remember you can download the Kindle app and read ebooks right from your computer.
Monday Madness Sale! Spread the word -- today only, all of my parenting books are on sale for 30% off. Go to www.booktitle.com to order.
3. Sending blank friend requests on social networks.

More than 90% of the network friend requests that I receive have no introduction at all, and most of the others have generic notes like "let's be friends." The trouble is, I don't know who most of these people are.

Don't make this mistake when you send friend invitations. Be sure to introduce yourself—tell the other person who you are and why you want to connect. What interests do you share in common? If you know something specific about the person, say so. On Facebook and many other networks, you can click the "add a personal message" button in the "add as a friend" box, and type in a personalized greeting.

4. Posting promotional messages on other people's profiles or pages.

It's just bad manners to post promotional messages on other people's social network profiles or pages, especially those of your competitors. I delete any such posts from my own pages.

You usually have more leeway in posting messages on group pages. You can get a feel for the group's etiquette by observing that others are doing, but usually it's acceptable to make a wall post introducing yourself and your book, and also to share good news or resources with the group occasionally (see #2 above for ideas).

5. Getting too personal.

It's great to tell your online friends something about your interests, but if you're using social networks for business, you probably shouldn't be discussing your health issues, your mother-in-law, or your kid's problems. (Too much information!) It's also a good idea to be cautious about posting things like the dates you are gone on vacation.

If you actively use your Facebook profile to network with family and friends, you might want to reserve your profile for personal use and use your fan page for business.

6. Sending sales pitches to new people that you meet.

It's nice to do a wall post or send a message to new friends with a greeting (great to meet you, have a wonderful day), a compliment (your website is really terrific) or a note about something that you have in common. You can even invite them to visit your website, if you're subtle about it and include other things in the message. Just be careful that your message doesn't come across as a sales pitch – that's not the way to make a good impression on a new contact.

7. Abusing direct messages.

Many social networks let you send messages to your contacts or members of groups that you belong to. Unfortunately, some people abuse this feature.

On Facebook, the use of direct messages to send promotional pitches has become so prevalent that many people simply tune out their messages. On LinkedIn, someone in a group that I belong to sent me several sales pitches for her products by direct message. I've never heard of this woman and she's not even on my list of connections.

If you use direct messages, do so sparingly and be cautious about annoying people – remember that they can "unfriend" you if they get tired of hearing from you. One way to use direct messages is to send a newsletter type of message that contains some helpful tips or resources, along with a link to your book at the end. You can also use direct messages occasionally to announce "news" such as your book launch.

Remember the golden rule of networking: treat others as you would like to be treated.

About the Author

Learn more about promoting through social networks in The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing by Dana Lynn Smith. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana's blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free newsletter at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com.

Your Author Photo – How to Project the Right Image

2011-06-02T14:43:00.000-04:00

Your Author Photo – How to Project the Right Image

by Dana Lynn Smith

Some authors write for personal fulfillment or to share with friends and family, but if you want to make money from your book you need to treat it like a business. That means (among other things) that you need to project a professional image.

Your author photo is part of your image and brand. A fuzzy shot of you cropped out of a group photo, with someone's arm draped over your shoulder, just isn't the right image if you want people to take you seriously as a professional author.

An author photo doesn't necessarily have to be shot by a professional photographer in a studio. In fact, some studio portraits tend to look overly formal. In deciding on the setting, pose and clothing for your author photo, think about your personality, the type of books you write, and the brand or image that you're trying to project.

If you write gardening books, an outdoor shot with plants in the background is appropriate. If you write about business topics, you might want a studio portrait in business attire. Some authors take a photo in front of a bookshelf or holding their book, while others use a plain white background. You can get ideas by looking at photos on author websites or on book covers in the bookstore. See what others who write the same type of books you write are doing.

If you hire a photographer, explain that you are using the photos for business and you will need to receive digital files and the right to use them for promotional purposes. If you would rather do it yourself, find a good location and ask a friend to shoot photos with a digital camera. Take lots of shots so you can choose the best one. Just make sure the photo is in focus and free of distracting objects in the background.

Solid colored clothing usually looks best in photos, and bright colors can my eye-catching. For my own photo, I wore a blue blouse to coordinate with the color scheme of my website. My photographer took several studio poses, but I liked the outdoor shots better because they were less formal and more colorful.

You will need several versions of your photo for promotional purposes. For printed materials like book covers, sell sheets, and magazine features, you need a high-resolution image (300dpi). For online use, it's best to use a low-resolution image (usually 72dpi). Low-resolution files are much smaller, so they are faster to upload, open faster as Web pages load, and take up less space on servers. In your online media room, I recommend offering both high-res and low-res versions of your photo and your book cover.

It's a good idea to use the same photo everywhere, so people will begin to recognize you. You may need to experiment a bit to get the best version of your photo for use on social networks. For example, on Twitter it's best to upload a square headshot, cropped fairly tightly around your face. On Facebook, you want to upload a photo that's not cropped so tightly. Facebook will display your original photo on your profile, but reduce it to a square thumbnail to display in other places on the site. See this example:

Most computers come with simple photo editing software. To crop a photo in Windows, double click on the file to open it in Windows Photo Viewer, then click the Open button at the top of the screen and select Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Click on Edit Pictures, click on the Crop tool, then drag the black lines inward until you've captured the portion of the photo you want. Try the Auto Correct button to improve the color and lighting. Click on the Compress tool to create a low-resolution file for use online. Be sure to save each version with a new file name.

Some authors use their book cover or logo as their image on their social network personal profiles, but people are there to network with people, not with a book. I recommend using your author photo most of the time, but you might want to use your book cover on certain occasions, such as during your book launch. On a Facebook Fan Page you can use your photo or book cover, or create a "badge" that's like a mini-ad for your books or business.

You may want to update your photo every couple of years to keep it fresh. Whatever setting or look you choose, just make sure it projects the right image of you as a professional author!

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com, visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer.

The Secret to Successful Book Marketing

2011-06-01T02:38:00.000-04:00

The Secret to Successful Book Marketing

by Dana Lynn Smith

When someone asked me the secret to successful book marketing, my immediate response was "lots of hard work." While that's true, a better answer to this question is "good planning and lots of hard work." In addition to making your marketing more effective, good planning will save you time and make the task more enjoyable.

Here are five keys to planning for successful book marketing:

1. Educate yourself about book marketing.

It's important to understand the principles of book marketing. We are fortunate in the publishing business to have many experts who share their wealth of knowledge and ideas through books, teleseminars, conferences, networks, articles, forums, blogs, ezines, and other venues.

Take advantage of these resources to shorten your learning curve and get great ideas for book promotion. Many of these resources are free, but I recommend budgeting some money to purchase books and courses that will give you a more in-depth education in planning and executing your book marketing.

2. Understand your market.

To successfully sell any product, you need to understand your market. Who is your ideal customer? Who are your secondary market? What are their characteristics, interests, fears, and motivations? Who else reaches these same audiences? How is your book different from those of your competitors? Ideally, these questions are answered before the book is written.

3. Have a written marketing and promotion plan.

Some people tend to jump from one promotional activity to another, without any clear strategy. A written book marketing and promotion plan will give you a blueprint for promoting your book and keep you focused on what's important. It will also guide you in how best to spend your marketing budget.

Creating a book marketing plan involves big picture planning, like defining target audiences, understanding reader benefits, studying the competition, determining what channels you will sell through (online stores, retail bookstores, distributors, corporate customers, libraries, specialty retailers, foreign markets), and setting the price and wholesale discount, and determining how you will promote the book.

A promotional plan includes strategies and tactics for reaching your target audiences. Popular book promotion activities include article writing, social marketing, book signings, email promotions, media releases, book reviews, speaking, joint ventures, ezines, virtual book tours, videos, blogging, teleseminars, affiliate programs, Amazon.com promotions, advertising, radio and television interviews, book fairs, and more.

4. Get organized.

You'll save time and be more effective if you have a convenient way to keep track of everything you need to execute your marketing plan and track results.

Devote a day to organizing all of your data and files so you can find things quickly. Set up logical folders to store your computer files and emails. Organize your paper files with folders and three-ring binders. Set up automatic backups for your computer. Make a list of all of your websites, user names, and passwords.

Create a database of all your contacts. Set up an electronic or paper system for keeping track of your marketing and article ideas. Create a system to track your monthly progress for metrics such as book sales, number of website visitors, number of articles submitted, number of Facebook friends, etc.

Also, look into time-saving software and services. Spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel are ideal for creating lists, budgets, schedules, and databases. If you aren't familiar with spreadsheets, learn the basics (how to add and delete rows and columns, how to sort data, and basic math formulas) by reading a "dummies" book or using the help menu.

5. Budget your time and money wisely.

With so many book promotion options available, and a limited number of hours in the day, it's important to prioritize your promotional ideas and focus your time and money on those tasks that are most likely to produce results. Budget funds for book marketing, even if it's only a modest amount, and block out time on your calendar each day or week to devote to marketing.

Consider hiring a virtual assistant or intern if your budget permits. There are a number of author assistants who specialize in working with authors and publishers, but many of them require a minimum monthly fee.

Don't be overwhelmed by the myriad of options for marketing your book. Devote some time to learning, develop a plan, get organized, prioritize your promotional ideas, and then implement one thing at a time. You can do it!

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com, visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer.

Promote Your Book With Printed Marketing Materials

2011-05-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

Promote Your Book With Printed Marketing Materials

by Dana Lynn Smith

Many authors and indie publishers rely on online book marketing tools like websites, blogs, email and social media to promote their books. But you may also need some printed materials such as bookmarks, business cards, postcards, sell sheets, and posters.

Designing and printing marketing materials can be costly, so make sure you have a clear need and purpose for these items in your book marketing plan before you purchase them.

Bookmarks are great for distributing at book fairs and events and to bookstores that stock your book. Posters may also be useful for events and bookstores. Libraries like to receive posters and bookmarks for children's books. If you do a lot of speaking or other events where you're selling books, consider having a retractable banner made.

If you meet people at speaking engagements, networking events, or other venues, you'll need business cards. Two-sided business cards cost a little more, but you can showcase your book on one side and your contact information on the other. If you need business cards only occasionally, you might include your contact information on your bookmarks so they can double as business cards.

Postcards are especially effective for announcing the publication of a new book, but make sure you have a good mailing list before ordering them. You can send postcards to friends, family, and business contacts, and you may also be able to rent mailing lists for your specific target market or exchange lists with a colleague.

Postage is expensive, so if your mailing is more than 200 pieces you may benefit from using bulk mail rates. Check with a local mailhouse for pricing. If you aren't using bulk mail, you can save by printing your postcard at 4x6 inches and mailing it at postcard rate instead of first class.

Most correspondence is done by email these days, so it's likely that you won't need any printed letterhead. But you might design a letterhead in Word to use for formal correspondence that you send as an email attachment. If you ship books to customers, you may want to buy mailing labels or return address labels.

A sell sheet is a flyer that's used to promote books to libraries and bookstores and can also be included in press kits or distributed online in PDF format. It's important to include the ISBN and other vital statistics and a list of wholesalers where the book is available. Here's an example of a sell sheet.

If you're a nonfiction author with other products and services to sell, you might benefit from using promotional items like custom printed pens or sticky notes.

Your book cover designer may be able to design coordinating marketing materials for you.

Many subsidy publishing companies offer book marketing materials such as postcards and business cards. Before purchasing these products, have a plan for using them and find out how much input you will have in the copy and design. You can probably get these pieces printed at a lower cost elsewhere, but be sure to factor in the cost of graphic design.

Here are some more tips for producing book marketing materials to promote your book:

Make sure there's a sales message on your printed materials, not just a book cover and title, and always include your website address.

Brand your printed materials to coordinate with your book cover, website, and other marketing items.

Items like bookmarks and postcards are much cheaper per unit when ordered in larger quantity. Think about all the ways you can use these items and consider ordering in quantity.

Compare prices with local printers as well as online printers such as PrintRunner.com and www.PrintingForLess.com, but don't forget to factor in shipping costs. Local printers may be more economical for smaller quantities and they may also have graphic artists available to prepare the artwork.

Printed materials can be very effective in promoting your book, but you'll get the most benefit from your investment when use them strategically

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com, visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer.

Book marketing plan: http://www.createyourbookmarketingplan.com

tabletop display http://www.postupstand.com/products/tabletop_retractable_banners.htm

sell sheet:

http://conquerprostatecancernow.typepad.com/CPC_Sell_Sheet_10%20High-Resolution%20version%20Jan%2009.pdf

printrunner: http://www.printrunner.com/All-Print-Products.aspx?src=130

printingforless: http://www.printingforless.com

Newsletter: www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com

Blog: www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BookMarketer

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer

3 Steps to Building Your Author Platform

2011-05-30T14:35:00.000-04:00

3 Steps to Building Your Author Platform

by Dana Lynn Smith

As a book author, you've probably seen the term author platform used a lot, but you may be wondering: what is a platform, how do I get one, and when should I begin?

Your author platform determines your reach in the marketplace and it's important to your book promotion success. There are lots of definitions for author platform, but it basically boils down to three things:

Brand
Reputation
Connections

If you're hoping to land a book deal with a traditional commercial publisher, a strong author platform is critical. When publishers evaluate book proposals, they want an idea of how well known you are and how successful you will be at promoting your book once it's published. A platform is just as important for authors who publish independently.

The best time to start building your author platform is before you write your book or book proposal, because it takes time to build your platform. But regardless of where you are in your publishing journey, you can continue to strengthen your author platform. Let's take a look at the elements of a platform.

Branding

Branding helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace and makes you memorable. One of the most important parts of your brand is your author tagline – a concise and catchy description of what you do. Use your tagline after your name in your promotional materials and signature, like a title. Here are some examples of author taglines:

Bill Wilson, The Productivity Pro
Susan James, The Risque Romance Writer
Walter Jones, Author of the Detective McGee series
Beth Morton, Writer of educational children's books
Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer

Your author photo is another important branding tool. Be sure to get a professional looking photo and use it everywhere, to build recognition of you. Professional doesn't necessarily mean a studio portrait – think about how the background, pose and clothing in your author photo can be a reflection of your brand and the type of books you write. See this article for more tips on author photos.

Author branding can also include your logo, book covers, the color scheme you use, your distinctive style of writing or speaking, and your academic qualifications. All of these elements together constitute a recognizable brand that makes you makes you memorable and builds credibility as part of your author platform.

Take a look at your own branding and think about what you can do to strengthen it.

Reputation

Your author reputation is a factor of how well known you are, what you are known for, and how credible you are. Consider these questions:

Do you have a degree, special training or extensive experience in the topic that you're writing about and/or in the craft of writing?

Do you have (or can you obtain) a professional certification in your area of expertise?

What awards or other recognition have you received?

What kind of media experience do you have?

How many people do you reach each month through speaking or interviews?

How many people read your blog?

How many articles have you written and posted or published in the past month?

How well known are you and how much name recognition do you have?

What leadership positions do you hold?

Why should people listen to you or read your books?

Nonfiction authors can gain a reputation as an expert in their topic through such activities as writing books and articles, speaking and teaching, appearing on talk shows, being quoted in other people's articles, and writing the foreword for other books.

Fiction authors may become known for their writing style and their expertise in writing in a specific genre (such as children's, sci-fi, romance, or mystery) or for their niche within a particular genre (vampire stories, romantic adventure).

Your reputation and author platform can be enhanced by winning awards, receiving excellent book reviews, and getting testimonials and endorsements from celebrities and experts in your field.

What can you do to boost your author reputation and expert status and increase the number of people you reach? How can you highlight your credentials in your marketing materials?

Connections

When selling your book, it's not just what you know, it's who you know!

To sell books in today's marketplace, you need to be connected. Here are some examples of the type of connections that are valuable to authors in promoting their books and themselves:

Contact Database – Clients, prospects, colleagues, friends, and family.

Opt-in Mailing List – People who have given you permission to contact them.

Influencers – Well-known people in your field, book reviewers, celebrities, media, and bloggers. These folks can help spread the word about your book.

Online Networks – Connections on Facebook, Twitter and other online networks, groups and forums.

Blog Readers – People who read your blog or subscribe to the blog's feed.

Professional Associations – Fellow association members and leaders. Serving in a leadership position enhances your visibility within the organization.

Other Groups – Alumni associations, civic and service organizations, hobby clubs, etc.

What can you do to increase your connections and leverage the connections that you have? How can you partner with others to extend your reach?

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com, visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer.

Author photos article: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/book_marketing_maven/2010/03/your-author-photo-how-to-project-the-right-image.html

Newsletter: www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com

Blog: www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BookMarketer

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer

10 Ways to Promote Your Book in Your Own Backyard

2011-05-29T14:33:00.001-04:00

10 Ways to Promote Your Book in Your Own Backyard

by Dana Lynn Smith

Online marketing is a wonderful way to reach a worldwide audience, but sometimes authors overlook book marketing opportunities in their own backyard.

In your local area and region, you have the opportunity to stand out as a bigger fish in a smaller pond. Below are ten tips for promoting locally. If you have a publisher, remember to coordinate these activities with your publisher or publicist in advance.

1. Always carry books and literature with you. Keep a case of books, some flyers and bookmarks in the trunk of your car, and business cards in your wallet. You never know when you will run across a potential customer or marketing contact.

2. Look for opportunities across your area. Headed out for a weekend getaway or off to visit grandma? Do a little research ahead of time to identify bookstores, retailers and libraries in the area that you can call on. Or plan your own book tour, staying with friends and relatives along the way.

3. Promote yourself as a local author to bookstores and libraries. Many bookstores and libraries have a special section where they showcase the books of local or regional authors.

4. Look for other retailers that are a good fit. Think about what type of retailers relate to the topic of your book, and promote yourself as a local author.

5. Put "local author" stickers on the books that you sell in your area.

6. Speak at libraries. Contact libraries about doing a presentation on your book's topic. This can be especially effective for children's books and for nonfiction titles that have a broad appeal (such as travel, business, or fitness). Many libraries will let you sell your books at your presentation, and some have a budget for paying speakers.

7. Find other speaking opportunities. Speaking is a great way to sell books, and you may even get paid to speak once you get some experience. There are lots of organizations looking for interesting speakers for their meetings, including business and civic organizations, church groups, schools and universities, trade associations, and more.

8. Seek publicity through local and regional media. Send a book announcement press release to media in the town where you grew up and where you live now. The "local girl makes good" angle works especially well in smaller towns. Create press releases based on local tie-ins, such as a novel set in the region, and on current news events. Don't forget your college alumni newsletter and any civic or professional associations you belong to. Nonfiction authors should consider radio and television talk shows.

9. Exhibit at book fairs and festivals. These usually work best if your book is related to the theme of the event, or if the book has appeal to a broad audience.

10. Market children's book through schools and youth organizations. School visits are a great way to reach kids.

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com , visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer .

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Comment on Blogs

2011-05-29T14:33:00.000-04:00

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Comment on Blogs

by Dana Lynn Smith

Commenting on other people's blogs is a great way to get visibility, build relationships with bloggers, subtly promote your book, and get links back to your site (if the site gives "do-follow" links). But you can hurt your credibility if you go about it the wrong way. Here are some tips for successful blog commenting:

1. Actively look for relevant blogs to comment on. Subscribe to the feed of the most important blogs in your area of interest, and use tools like Google Alerts to keep an eye out for relevant posts on other blogs. You can also use Google Blog Search or blog directories like My Blog Log to find blogs that are a good fit.

2. Contribute to the conversation. Don't just drop by and say "great post." Instead, make a thoughtful comment that contributes something. You might offer an additional tip or real-life example, or expand on a point the blogger made. If you're commenting on a book review, explain why you enjoyed reading the book. Your comment doesn't have to be long, but you do need to say something useful and relevant. Do not give the impression that you are just there to promote your book or leave a link to your site.

3. Don't make inappropriate comments. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with a point that someone has made (and many bloggers encourage disparate views), but do so in a polite, respectful way. I'm amazed at some of the rude and tacky things people say on blogs and in online forums.

4. Don't be overtly promotional. Commenting on someone else's blog is not the place to blatantly promote your book or services. However, there are subtle ways to convey that you are an expert on the topic being discussed and encourage people to click on your name to visit your website.

You might work in a reference to your book related to the comment you are making. Here are some examples:

"Twitter is such an important tool for authors that I devoted an entire chapter in my book to promoting through Twitter."

"In researching my book, Selling Your Book to Libraries, I discovered that . . ."

"Because I write mystery novels myself, I really appreciated the way that the author . . ."

Depending on the topic under discussion, I sometimes sign my name with a tag line such as "Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer" or "Dana Lynn Smith, author of Facebook Guide for Authors." Some people include their website address in their signature, but most bloggers frown on this. Creating a signature that's several lines long and blatantly promotional is not appropriate. Some people think that including any type of signature or reference to your book is too promotional.

5. Play nice.You will have to use your judgment to determine what is appropriate, but you might look at what other commenters on the blog are doing as a guideline. Just remember that you are a guest on someone else's site and mind your manners. Comments, anyone?

About the Author

Drawing on her 16 years of publishing experience and degree in marketing, Dana Lynn Smith helps authors learn how to promote their books through her how-to guides, one-on-one coaching, blog, and newsletter. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and also get a free copy of her latest ebook, Savvy Book Marketing Secrets: 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books.

Guides: http://www.SavvyBookMarketer.com

Blog: http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

Newsletter: http://www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com

Free ebook: http://bookmarketingmaven.typepad.com/resources/free-book-marketing-ebook.html

5 Easy Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts and Articles With Social Media

2011-05-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

5 Easy Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts and Articles With Social Media

by Dana Lynn Smith

Once you have taken the time to write and post a good quality article online, the next step is to encourage people to read it and to share it with others. Promoting through social media not only draws readers to your article, but it has the potential to multiply your audience as those readers share your article with their own friends and followers. Here are five easy ways to promote your online articles:

1. Set up your blog posts to flow automatically to social networks.

There are several ways to do this. First, check on your blog platform to see what type of widgets or tools are available to flow your posts directly to social networks. If that doesn't work, search for apps on each network that can import blog posts. On Facebook there are several apps available, including the Notes app. Do a search on Facebook and on a search engine to look for popular apps blog sharing apps for your networks.

2. Manually post links to your online articles on your social network status updates.

There is some debate about how many times it's cool to post a link to your own articles. Some people post several links when an article appears, posting on several networks at once and even posting it several times that same day on Twitter. Personally, I find that excessive because so many people follow me in multiple places and I don't want to annoy my followers.

My blog articles automatically appear on my Facebook Profile and on Twitter. Then I use HootSuite to schedule additional announcements of the post. For example, I might schedule a link to appear onLinkedIn next week, on Twitter the following week, my Facebook Fan Page the following week, and then on Twitter once a month for the next several months. I also schedule these posts at various times of day.

3. Ask for help in spreading the word.

If you have written an important article, one that you think will be quite popular, don't be afraid to ask some of your peers to share it with their followers. For example, send an email or direct message to people that you know well enough to ask a for a favor, asking them to share your article on their social networks and also promote on StumbleUpon or similar services that they use. Make it easy by including the exact text you want the person to share, including a shortned link to the article. Be sure to offer to promote one of their articles in return.

You an also add "Please RT" to the end of a message that you post on Twitter, to encourge re-tweeting. Just don't over use this tactic.

4. Add buttons on your blog to make instant sharing easy.

There are several ways to add social sharing buttons to your blog, enabling readers to click the button to share the blog, or a specific article, with their friends and follows.

First, check to see what widgets are available from your blogging platform. On my blog (hosted by TypePad) I simply checked a box in the footer formatting area to make a Tweet This button and a Facebook "like" button appear in the footer of each blog post. When someone clicks the Facebook button, it posts a link to my article in their status update on Facebook, which then flows to their News Feed, visible to their friends.

You can also add external widgets. For example, you can get a Facebook "like" button to place in your blog's sidebar on the Facebook PlugIns page. When readers click on that button it shares the home page of your blog on their Facebook status update.

I also have a sharing button near the top of my blog's sidebar from AddThis.com (it shares the blog home page) and another button beneath each blog post from ShareThis.com (to share individual articles). These buttons allow readers to share my blog and posts through a variety social media and even by email.

Also, consider adding a sentence to the end of your most important articles, encouraging sharing. Something like, "If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and followers by clicking the buttons below."

5. Use social bookmarking and social sharing sites.

There are a number of social sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious that let people "vote" for Web pages that they like and share them with other users of these sites. It's not a good idea to just promote your own articles – if you're going to use these sites be sure to promote other people's content as well. You can install buttons in your browser's tool bar to make it easy to share articles as you are reading them.

There you have it – five easy ways to promote your articles online. Invest a little time to automate these processes as much as possible, and you can promote your articles with very little effort and reap the benefits of viral marketing.

Learn more about promoting through social media in The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing at http://bit.ly/AuthorSocialMarketing.

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith, The Savvy Book Marketer, helps authors and indie publishers learn how to sell more books through her how-to guides, blog, newsletter, and private coaching. Get her free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook at www.BookMarketingNewsletter.com , visit her blog at www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, and connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SavvyBookMarketer .

8 Ways to Use Blogging as an Interactive Marketing Tool

2011-05-27T14:29:00.000-04:00

8 Ways to Use Blogging as an Interactive Marketing Tool
by Dana Lynn Smith

Here are some ideas for using blogging in social and interactive ways:

1. Encourage your readers to share your content with others.

Make it easy for readers to share your content by adding "share" buttons from Share This or Add This. Then ask readers to share by including text at the end of your best posts such as: "Do you know someone who might benefit from these tips? Just click the Share This button below to send a link by email or recommend this post on your favorite social site."

2. Actively solicit comments.

Get readers engaged by including a sentence at the end of some posts inviting comments. You can even write a post designed to elicit comments. Thank each commenter and make a further comment based on what they said.

3. Make comments on other blogs.

Making insightful comments on related blogs is a terrific way to boost your visibility and create links and traffic to your site. Subscribe to the top blogs related to your book's topic or audience and watch for posts that you can comment on. Comments should be helpful and relevant, not self-promotional.

4. Write guest posts for other blogs.

Contact other bloggers that cater to your audience and offer to write a guest article. Include a brief bio and a low-resolution photo. Google Blog Search is a good place to search for relevant blogs.

5. Create a feed for your blog.

RSS feeds allow your blog posts to be automatically delivered to your subscribers by email or through a feed reader. Receiving your blog posts regularly engages readers more. To create a feed for your blog, go Feedburner.

6. Do a virtual book tour

Make guest appearances on blogs, ezines, podcasts or other forums to promote your book. Provide unique content to each host on your tour. Content can include interviews, how-to articles, book excerpts, videos, book reviews, or an article about how you developed the plot or characters for a novel.

7. Join a blog carnival.

Blog carnivals are a collection of links pointing to blog posts on a particular topic, or topics of interest to a particular group of people. Learn more and search for relevant carnivals Blog Carnival.

8. Hold a contest or drawing on your blog.

Use the blog comment feature to hold contests. For example, post a question and award a prize to the first person who leaves a comment with the correct answer. Or, write a blog post stating that everyone who leaves a comment on the post by a specific date (allow five to seven days) will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of your book. Promote the contest on your social networks.

~Excerpted from The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing, by book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith. For free book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and get your free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook on Dana's blog.

Share This: http://sharethis.com

Add This: http://www.addthis.com

Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com

Feedburner. http://www.FeedBurner.com

Blog Carnival: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/faq.html

Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing: http://www.SavvyBookMarketer.com

Top Book Marketing Tips: http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com

How to Promote Your Book by Writing Effective Titles for Your Articles and Blog Posts

2011-05-26T14:25:00.000-04:00

How to Promote Your Book by Writing Effective Titles for Your Articles and Blog Posts

by Dana Lynn Smith

The title of an online article affects its ranking in search engines and influences how many people click through to the article from a search engine results page or take time to read a post on your blog. Here are some tips for creating great titles that will reel in readers:

1. Do your keyword research first. Keywords are the words and phrases that people use to search for your topic on a search engine like Google. I use the Google Keyword Tool to create keyword lists for topics that I write about. For example, I have lists of keywords related to book marketing, book promotion, authors, book publishing, etc.

It's tempting to select the most popular keywords, but you may be better off selecting keywords with less competition (fewer searches and fewer competing pages.) One easy way to find out how many other Web pages are using a particular keyword is to type the keyword (in "quotes") into a search engine and see how many pages it brings up. For example, "book promotion" gets 118,800 annual searches, but there are 876,000 competing pages (seven pages for every search) while "promoting your book" gets 15,600 searches but has only 31,500 competing pages (two pages for every search.)

2. Determine the primary keyword phrase for your article and use it in the title of the article, and then use it again several times in the body of the article. You may want to select a secondary keyword to use in the article as well. For maximum search engine optimization value, use the primary keyword at the beginning of the title. The first three to five words are most important. Here is an example for the "promote your book" keyword:

Promote Your Book With Facebook Groups

3. Consider using a compound title, containing two different phrases. This lets you get your most important keyword up front and perhaps repeat certain words. The experts at ezinearticles.com recommend longer article titles, with 50 characters or more. If you need to use punctuation in the title, use a hyphen rather than a colon. For example:

Promote Your Book in Your Own Backyard - 10 Strategies for Success

4. Many people use the words "how to" when searching on search engines. Capitalize on those searches with a how to title.

How to Promote Your Book and Yourself on Facebook

5. Use the magic of numbers combined with keywords.

Top 10 Book Promotion Strategies for Fiction Authors
7 Secrets to Successful Book Marketing

6. State the benefit to the reader.

Sell More Books on Amazon by Increasing Your Book's Visibility in the Search Results

7. Identify your audience.

Top 10 Platform Building Tactics for Authors

8. Be clear rather than cute. It's important that your title convey what the article is actually about, and sometimes it's more important to appeal to your audience than to search engines. For example, instead of "The Magic of Twitter" or "Promote Your Book with Twitter," this title is more appealing:

5 Easy Ways for Authors to Build Their Twitter Network

Or, you could make this into a longer, compound title with keywords:

Promote Your Book with Twitter - 5 Easy Ways to Build Your Twitter Network

Next time you write an article or blog post, take a little extra time to craft a title that will appeal to search engines and to readers.

About the Author

Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides. For more book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter and get Dana's free Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you visit her book marketing blog.

Google Keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Guides: http://www.SavvyBookMarketer.com

Blog: http://www.TheSavvyBookMarketer.com