The Power of Mentors – Regan Black @ReganBlack

The Power of Mentors

Thanks for hosting me here today! It’s a pleasure to be here and connect with your readers by way of Orangeberry Book Tours. As a paranormal romance and romantic suspense author, much of my day is spent in relative solitude – when two retired greyhounds and two cats with inflated egos are hanging out in the office it’s hard to be lonely.

And yet…

While my pets have plenty of personality and aren’t afraid to interrupt me or even ‘talk back’ during my writing time, they aren’t as helpful at identifying a story problem or resolving a marketing question as a human.

Mentors are the people we look up to and admire for their various skills or accomplishments. They are the people we’d like to resemble when we grow up. Debra Webb, one of the top names in romantic suspense, has been that person for me for the majority of my career.

Since our first meeting at a writer’s conference, I’ve leaned on the advice Debra offered in those sessions and during more casual chats afterward. She gave me an outstanding cover quote for my first novel (Justice Incarnate) and she did the same recently for Bulletproof, calling the book “Dark, gritty, sexy suspense with one hell of a hot hero.”

Oh, yeah, I did backflips when I saw that!

I’ve been fortunate to enjoy a close friendship with my mentor through the years and without Debra, I can say Bulletproof  and the Unknown Identities series would still be a strong idea languishing in the ‘to be developed’ file. You see, I was spinning my wheels with several options and no confidence to choose a direction. It took my mentor’s intervention to push me out of my own way.

About a year ago, when Debra’s acclaimed Faces of Evil series was soaring to amazing heights, she called to check on me. Suffice it to say my year wasn’t going nearly as well as hers. In fact, I was sure my career was going down in flames. I had the obituary written (it was some of my best work), but Deb refused to believe it.

More importantly, she refused to let me believe it.

Our friendly phone call quickly shifted into a serious business meeting. I took pages of notes while she dissected my career, listened to my goals and ideas, assessed my strengths and productivity, and laid out a plan to move me forward.

Bulletproof is the next step in that plan:

A soldier is nothing without his honor.

To avoid a dishonorable end to his decorated military career, John Noble made a deal with the devil. He gave up his name, endured harrowing training, and accepted every mission thrown at him for one purpose: redemption.

An ambitious reporter, Amelia Bennett, is about to break the story of her career, if she lives long enough to tell it. Caving to her boss’s demand, she hires a bodyguard and soon it is obvious John Noble is the only obstacle standing between her and certain death.

Debra’s expert guidance gave me confidence as these characters moved from concept to three-dimensional people. With in-depth brainstorming and “Oh! What if…?” phone sessions the story came alive on the page. She kept me motivated with hard release dates, editing, and even advice for the cover art concepts.

The past year has been a productive adventure for me, and I hope readers will enjoy the results with Bulletproof and the subsequent stories in the Unknown Identities series.

Live the adventure,

Regan

“Dark, gritty, sexy suspense with one hell of a hot hero.” -USA Today bestseller Debra Webb

A soldier is nothing without his honor.

To avoid a dishonorable end to his decorated military career, John Noble made a deal with the devil. He gave up his name, endured harrowing training, and accepted every mission thrown at him for one purpose: redemption.

When he accepts his latest orders, providing personal security for a reporter in trouble, he bargains hard to guarantee it will be his last job for the shadow agency he knows only Unknown Identities (UI).

An ambitious reporter, Amelia Bennett, is about to break the story of her career, if she lives long enough to tell it. Caving to her boss’s demand, she hires a bodyguard and soon it is obvious John Noble is the only obstacle standing between her and certain death.

Just when John believes he has found someone he can trust and love, who loves him unconditionally for who and what he has become, his orders are amended: Amelia Bennett is to be terminated.

Introducing Unknown Identities: an alternative for elite soldiers and spies facing criminal charges… if they can survive the program.

Don’t miss Double Vision, the next installment of this sizzling, action-packed series.

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Genre - Romantic Suspense

Rating – R

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Connect with  Regan Black on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.reganblack.com

Whitley & Austin, Where Truth and Fiction Meet by Parker Paige @parkerpaige86

While Charlie listened to the mellow sounds of Alana Davis from her desk radio, she made changes to the heavily marked-up Asset Purchase Agreement. From the corner of her eye, she saw Camina coming towards her desk, carrying a bagel on a paper plate. Irrespective of their animosity, Charlie's professionalism forced her to always speak, even if Camina didn't.

Camina stood an inch taller than Charlie. She was nearly anorexic, with curly red hair to her shoulders, which seemed to add a glow to her painted-on, narrow eyebrows. Not only was Camina close to the same height as Charlie but they were both super slim as well. Easily, they could pass as twin sisters.

"Good morning," Charlie said, keeping her eyes on the computer screen in front of her.

Instead of returning the greeting, Camina chuckled. "Nice dress," she said to Charlie.

Charlie felt the sting of Camina's ridicule, having become intimately accustomed to her insensitive remarks. The animosity between the two stemmed from their high school days together. Not only was Camina petty enough to resent Charlie because Charlie received better grades than Camina did, but it didn't stop there. It was Camina's grudge against Charlie's late sister, Sandy, that Camina mostly hung over Charlie's head. Camina's almost fatal accident left her almost bald and Charlie's sister would always tease Camina about the shortness of her hair. Although Charlie never participated in such crass behavior, Camina seemed to resent her the same as if Charlie condoned her sister's behavior. Her nasty and well-rehearsed words of mockery were Camina's way of reminding Charlie that she had not forgotten and probably never would.

Many times, Charlie considered apologizing to Camina for her sister's behavior, but it was too late. Camina was past the point of forgiveness. This was an unsalvageable relationship, and all Charlie could do was accept it for what it was.

THREE beautiful redheads – THREE Motives – ONE Murder

Tapping into the common wish to be someone else, if only for a short time, this suspense drama explores what happens when a woman, bored with her humdrum existence dyes her hair red and takes on the persona of her late sister.

After the murder of her beloved sister, a quiet and warmhearted legal secretary, Charlie Weiss, who works for the prestigious Whitley & Austin, is in search of an escape. A few sessions with her psychologist propel her to the realization that the excitement that she seeks is in a new life, the life of her late sister.

With a daring wish to continue the wild life of her late sister, she colors her hair red and dares to reinvent herself. And with this new persona comes a different type of experience, including becoming one of three redhead suspects to a murder.

“This whodunit suspense drama will keep you guessing until the last page.”–Elance book editor

Parker Paige has been writing fiction for several years with a passion for creating eccentric characters. She is fascinated with true stories and for that reason, she is drawn to the network Investigation Discovery like a drug. She is the author of “The Color Pink” and “Whitley and Austin.” She is not completely insane, maybe just a little bit crazy. She lives in Los Angeles.

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Genre - Romantic Suspense

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with  Parker Paige on Twitter

Website parkerpaige.wordpress.com

A Day in the Life of Regan Black – Regan Black

A Day in the Life of Regan Black

Thanks so much to Orangeberry Book Tours for arranging this visit today. It’s a pleasure to be here! I heard you might be intrigued by a typical day in my world. Hold on to your hats, because my life is almost more glam than I can stand.

As much as I like to wing it when it comes to writing my action-packed paranormal romantic suspense stories, I’m a real creature of habit when it comes to the day to day stuff.

After being awakened to the gentle sounds of a waterfall my live-in masseuse, Sven, gives me a quick massage to help loosen up my back… oh wait… you didn’t want the fictional rendition? Fine… reality is much different:

Morning still starts early in our house, no matter that both of our children are away at school now. Our pets still like breakfast early. So after one cat walks across my hair once or twice and the other cat punches me in the side or chases my toes out from under the covers, I’m mostly awake enough to roll out of bed safely.

Naturally, as I’m grumbling dire warnings at felines, the greyhounds start to get restless and join the morning entertainment with a squeaky toy serenade. Somehow, my husband dozes through all of this until his alarm actually goes off. His ability to tune stuff out used to irritate me, now I admire his tenacity.

But deep down, grumbling or not, I’m the sort of person who is always looking for the positive side of things. So the best part of getting downstairs and dealing with breakfast for two greyhounds, two cats, and two finches, is getting first dibs on the coffee. Anyone with a passing acquaintance of me (in person or on social media) knows just how much I treasure my coffee.

After the pets settle down with full bellies and my husband heads out to work, I aim for my grandmother’s desk to write. She was an accomplished author and playwright and there is such good energy at her desk. It’s one of my favorite places to draft my novels.

The morning hours usually speed away, full of new story developments broken up by social media, coffee refills, and yoga breaks (since, you know Sven is fictional). Or, if a character or scene is being particularly stubborn, vacuuming, laundry, or other household chores get accomplished while my brain dukes it out with the characters.

By afternoon, I usually put myself through a real workout while I mull over the next stage in the story. Or prep dinner. But usually it’s the story. Thank goodness my husband is an excellent cook. Now that it’s just the two of us most days, we’ve been having fun cooking again and experimenting with different dishes.

It’s kind of cool with just the two of us at the table again. This empty nest thing is almost a romantic renaissance. Dinner conversation covers our respective days, any word from the kids, business news from his world (at least the stuff he can share) and usually a rundown of my story-in-progress or publishing news stuff. (He considers that the ‘fair warning’ segment of the program and takes it as a general indicator of my mood).

If I’m on a deadline, I’ll go back to the story, but if I’m not, we usually chill out with a movie, a favorite television show, or some sort of sporting event while we alternate who entertains the greyhound puppy or the cats.

Then it’s rinse and repeat for the next day…

Live the adventure!

Regan

Whoever said, “You only live once” didn’t know Jaden Michaels.

The year is 2096 and evil is running rampant in Chicago. As the police chief, Brian Thomas has seen it all, until he runs into a would-be thief on her way to the museum.

In every life Jaden has chased down a predatory demon, exacting her fatal brand of justice, only to lose her own life in the process. This time, as she searches for the weapon that will banish the demon forever, she must also fight for the love that has always managed to slip through her grasp.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

Rating – PG-13

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Connect with  Regan Black on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.reganblack.com

Lori Ryan – A few things you need to know before you become a writer @loriryanauthor

A few things you need to know before you become a writer
I knew zip about being a writer before I entered this field last year. I had a bunch of ideas for books and a few friends had read my work and thought it was good. So, I ran out and found an editor and began my journey as a writer. I’d say I’m getting pretty good at it. I’m growing and that’s the important thing.
So, are there things you should know before you go into this field? You bet!
First, a lot of what you’ll need to do is marketing. If you self-publish, you need to market your work. If you don’t self-publish, you’ll basically be marketing anyway because you need to sell it to an agent or a publisher first and then after being published, you’ll need to do a lot of the marketing yourself, too.
Second, you’ll need to network. You need to connect yourself with other authors for joint projects and joint marketing efforts and to help spread the word about your books.
Third, you don’t get time between books to relax and recoup. Your readers want the next book and you need to publish again and again to stay at the top. In fact, if you’re self-publishing, I strongly encourage you to have at least three books completed before you publish and then begin writing the fourth one as soon as your first three are out there.
Last, the thrill you get from opening that first reader email telling you how much someone loves your work or reading the first five star review of your work or seeing your name in one of Amazon’s Top 100 lists cannot be beat! It’s worth every drop of sweat and every minute of wringing your hands wondering if someone will like your work.
So, don’t procrastinate. Get out there and write. Show your work to friends and get feedback. Get help and accept criticism gracefully. Rewrite, edit, and rework. And, someday, send your baby out into the world. It’s worth it.
Lori Ryan writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She is frequently ranked in the top 100 romantic suspense authors on Amazon.com. To find her work, visit http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00CFUKD1E.

Jennie Evan’s heart broke when she lost her high school sweetheart and husband just after college graduation. She’s found some semblance of a new life with good friends and a job she loves at Sutton Capital, but she knows she’ll never love again. That part of her died with Kyle.

Chad Thompson sees the heartache Jennie hides from the world. Despite the chemistry he and Jennie always fight against, Chad vows to keep their relationship friendly. Anything more would hurt Jennie and Chad knows he can’t cause her more pain.

When their well-meaning friends throw Jennie and Chad together in a plot designed to push their comfort zone, Jennie ends up in more danger than anyone could have foreseen. Chad knows he can protect her, but he isn’t able to protect his own heart in the process.

Fans of Sutton Capital have been waiting for Jennie and Chad’s story. Dive in and fall in love right along with them!

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre –  Romantic Suspense

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Lori Ryan on Facebook & Twitter

Bio:

Lori Ryan is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes contemporary romance with a twist of suspense. She lives with an extremely understanding husband, two wonderful children, two mostly-behaved dogs, and a lone little cat in Austin, Texas. It’s a bit of a zoo, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

Lori published her first novel in April of 2013 and has written three more books since then. Each of Lori’s books have made their way to the Amazon bestseller list and she quickly climbed the Amazon bestselling author list, as well. In November, 2013, Lori and a group of romantic suspense authors landed on the USA Today and NY Times bestseller lists with an anthology only eight months after the release of Lori’s first book. Lori loves to connect with her readers. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter or subscribe to her blog. Oh, and if you’ve read Lori’s books and loved them, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com. Writers live and die by their reviews and Lori promises to do a happy dance around her office every time you write one!

How Did I Launch My First Book? by Bobbie Cole @cole_bobbie

Choosing the Date

My personal faith memoir, She Does Not Fear the Snow, launched September 6, 2013, the 5^th anniversary of my wedding to husband, Butch.

Since the book deals with how I came to meet and marry him, it was an appropriate date for the launch.

I would recommend linking a book launch to a significant date. It gives you one more thing to talk about. I celebrated with a photo montage of our five years and a huge cake.

Local Launch

My marketing for my launch was to my local audience, here in Fredericton, NB, Canada, and to my potential Kindle audience, worldwide but primarily in the USA.

The first was a traditional campaign. It involved a bookstore signing and leading an evening service at my church, to which approximately 100 people came.

I announced these events through local press and radio and postcards, distributed to local churches. My church also promoted it.

I communicated repeatedly to Facebook and Linked In connections in the local area, posting short extracts from the book and photos of people my circles would recognise, holding a copy of the book.

I asked everyone to share the news and many did.

Wherever I was dealing with people who wouldn’t know what my book was about, I added a byline in my communications: A trail of miracles led her from a Jerusalem church to love in Atlantic Canada.

I also created a countdown Facebook tile that I posted on my own pages, groups I belonged to and my Linked In profile, as well as on Pinterest.

This tile counted down the days to launch and directed everyone to the book page, where a free sample chapter was available for download, along with my promo video.

I took some trouble over the video. Sitting, surrounded by snow, I summarize my story – (It was minus 20 degrees on the day of the shoot!) – with sweet piano music in the background.

I created additional tiles in respect of the book signing and the evening service I was leading and posted these in all media, splashed ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Today’, across them, in the run-up to these events.

About three weeks before the launch, I had a guest post on well-known Christian author, Mary de Muth’s blog (http://www.marydemuth.com/god-sent-me-a-crab-awesome-guest-post/). I sent everyone I knew to read it.

This post got good traction from her own audience and ended up with over 40 comments. Some of her readers spontaneously tweeted about it.

The Kindle Promo

My Kindle promo was over 3 free download days, Sept 6-8. I also created a tile about this and posted it widely, adding Today / Ends Tomorrow and Ends Midnight Pacific splashes, as the campaign unfolded.

I requested a listing for the Kindle promotion on every Christian and non-Christian book promotion site that I could find. In some cases, I made small ‘donations’ . Mostly, they were free.

I tweeted about each of these events as they were coming up and requested retweets, which many people did.

Personal Email List

I emailed my own personal email list, dividing it into local to Fredericton and non-local. The local people were told about the signing and evening service events, as well as the free Kindle promo.

The non-local people were only told about the Kindle.

Reviews

I sought reviews from everyone who had already read the book, having made it available as a pdf on a closed Facebook site several months prior to the launch, to whom I invited readers. I also sought reviews from volunteer readers on writing sites and professional readers.

My Blog

I have a blog, http://testimonytrain.com, a hub for honing and sharing our Christian testimonies. It’s brand new and has few followers at present. Nevertheless, the pages from my book I posted there, as well as testimonies of others, were mentioned on my Facebook page and in Linked In messages. Next time around, I know this blog will reach many people in its own right.

What has been the result of all this?

I had about 650 free downloads of the Kindle version and sold nearly 50 books during the weekend events.

This is very encouraging. Reviews will start to grow. The book will become established.

At this stage, it’s not about the sales but about the buzz.

I’m pleased and confident.

What would I do differently next time?

I’d get way more guest posts set up. I should have been on this three months ahead of time.

I’d have all my tiles prepared for my countdowns etc. three months ahead of launch date also.

I totally underestimated the amount of time required in engaging with others. Being prepared would have made this less hectic.

And I’d find some methods for working out what worked and what didn’t. This campaign was a battery of shots that has left me not knowing what worked best.

Bio:

Bobbie Ann Cole is author of her faith memoir, She Does Not Fear the Snow. A trail of miracles led her from a Jerusalem church, where she wasn’t supposed to be, to meet and marry her Boaz in Atlantic Canada. Free sample chapter and promo video: www.shedoesnotfearthesnow.com. Bobbie, AKA The Testimony Lady, will help you write your testimony, too.  Download her free workbook, Start Writing Your Christian Testimony: http://testimonytrain.com.

Bobbie Ann Cole’s inspirational memoir charts her personal journey to faith and redemption. Broken by cancer and the failure of her marriage, she visits Israel, seeking direction and new meaning for her life. She has a profound spiritual experience in a Jerusalem church, where, as a Jew, she’s not supposed to be. Her experience there marks the start of a chain of supernatural events, through which God reveals His purposes to her. This transformational story of love, set on three continents, echoes that of biblical Ruth, who accepts faith in the Land of Israel and receives God’s blessing in the shape of a new husband of faith, a Canadian.

‘Filled with humor, warmth and love, She Does Not Fear the Snow is the promise of love after a battle with cancer and the sting of divorce. Bobbie Ann Cole has written an honest, touching memoir which permits the reader to accompany her through a time of healing, self-discovery and faith. Bobbie’s transparency makes it hard to put down. A great read for those healing from their own journey. You will find encouragement here.’ Kim de Blecourt, Author of Until We All Come Home: A Harrowing Journey, a Mother’s Courage, a Race to Freedom (FaithWords, November, 2012)

‘This book will inspire you to look for God’s voice in everyday events of life. It will cause you to reflect on past experiences and see how God’s hand led you in the right path. It’s a beautiful story full of romance, forgiveness and coming to faith.’ Evangeline Inman, Author of The Divine Heartmender and Extreme Worship for Songwriters

‘Bobbie’s story greatly encourages us that life is not to be lived or viewed through the lens of chance. Open your heart as you read, and embrace the personal truth that God in His providence will direct our steps and bring us to our destiny.’ Pastor Wayne Flowers, Smythe Street Cathedral, Fredericton, NB, Canada

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre –  Faith Memoir

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Bobbie Ann Cole on Facebook

Website www.shedoesnotfearthesnow.com

5 Writing Tips by Ben Galley @BenGalley

Tip 1: Write a great book

The future of any author rests on none other than a great book, as it always has.

Of course – ‘great’ means many different things to many different people. Not every bestseller is a work of genius, but they sell because they are popular with masses of readers. They could be popular great because they engage, or challenge, or cross boundaries, or inspire. That is the mark of a great book – not just its literary quality, but what it does to the reader. Great books make people talk, and those are the books that sell and will keep selling.

So how exactly do we write a great book? Well, that’s the hard part. Firstly, through practice. Even the best writers on the planet are still writing and practicing, every day. And when you write, you should always strive for the best quality of writing that you can, and strive to engage the reader. Aim high. Do something different. Have a solid and airtight plot. Create deep and varied characters and worlds. Spend time thinking about what you want your book to do and say.

Tip 2: Get a great cover:

So once you’ve finished your book, it’s time to start polishing it – making it into a professional and sellable product.

The cover is the packaging of your book, and therefore the first point of contact for a reader. Contrary to the old adage, readers will judge books by their cover. They make up their minds about a book’s genre, price, quality, and therefore whether they want to buy it, in the first few seconds. This is why it is important to get not just a good cover, but a great one. You want it to match all the effort you’ve put into its contents.

Cover design is an area where many indie, or self-publishing, authors fall down, mainly due to the fact that good graphic design costs money, and also due to the fact that people assume they can DIY it. Unfortunately, unless you are a professional designer, this simply isn’t true.

I always recommend outsourcing a professional. Anything less simply won’t cut the mustard. In today’s market, indie books need to be indistinguishable from traditional books, both to shrug off any preconceptions and also to rise above the huge volume of poor-quality books now on the market.

Tip 3: Editing it to perfection:

Editing is as important as cover design, and another area that a huge amount of indies get wrong. What’s vital about editing is that it affects your marketing.

Unfortunately, there’s a certain stigma about indie books. A large amount of readers expect them to be full of errors and mistakes, due to the fact they haven’t been through a publishing house. We need to shrug off that stigma. Bad editing can mean bad reviews, scuppering your sales. As with cover design, we should be aiming for a professional standard. You need to do that great book of yours justice.

There are two ways to edit your books – either hire a freelance editor, or DIY. The first is expensive, while the second is difficult, as few authors are professional editors. I would always recommend the first – shelling out for a good editor. Or, like me, if you don’t want to shell out for an editor, you can use beta readers.

Beta reading, or crowd-editing as it is sometimes known, is a way of using multiple semi-pro editors. You ask a number of people (I recommend avid readers, honest fans, English teachers, professionals etc) to proofread and give detailed feedback on your manuscript. You get your book edited to a professional standard, and in return your betas get a sneak peek of your book, a free copy, perhaps even a mention in the dedication – whatever you want to offer!

Tip 4: Market it, and then market it again:

So, you’ve published yourself a great product, now you need to sell it. How? Well, gone are the days (if they even existed!) when simple availability resulted in sales. Due to the sheer volume of books now in the market, a book (even a great book!) that isn’t being marketed will be drowned out and make few, if any, sales. Marketing is a must for today’s indie author.

As we discussed, people spread the word about a good book, and this is the biggest key to marketing – Word of mouth.

A good website is paramount, followed closely by good blurbs, bios, and a professional appearance. Next up is getting readers. Social media is a good place to start. Twitter and Facebook, don’t convert very well into sales but are good for being, you guessed it - social. By following and engaging with people on a social level they will be more likely to read and recommend your books.

Customer reviews are also very important. Readers put a lot of stock in reviews, so having a lot of positive reviews will really help sales. Source as many as you can from the readers you meet on Twitter on Facebook, and also contact book blogs and ask for reviews. Comments from respected and well-known sites will also add a little validity to your book.

Basically, get talking!

Tip 5: Give it time and effort:

Lastly, you need to give it time and effort.

Simply having a book on a shelf will not make you millions overnight. Skill can gain you some success and income, but effort and time is also needed, as we’ve seen above.

Perseverance is needed too, and I urge everyone to keep working and keep trying. It will seem like you’re getting nowhere fast at first. It may seem overwhelming, but marketing is a day by day, reader by reader process. Keep at it, attack from every angle, and trust me, you will have a shot at success.

Good luck out there.

Ben Galley is a young indie author from sunny England. The author of the epic and dark fantasy series – The Emaneska Series, he has published five books so far, and has many more on the way. Ben is very zealous about helping other indie authors, and provides self-publishing advice and services via his website Shelf Help, which can be found at www.bengalley.com.

His name is Farden.
They whisper that he’s dangerous.
Dangerous is only the half of it.

Something has gone missing from the libraries of Arfell. Something very old, and something very powerful. Five scholars are now dead, a country is once again on the brink of war, and the magick council is running out of time and options.

Entangled in a web of lies and politics and dragged halfway across icy Emaneska and back, Farden must unearth a secret even he doesn’t want to know, a secret that will shake the foundations of his world. Dragons, drugs, magick, death, and the deepest of betrayals await.

Welcome to Emaneska.

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Genre –  Epic Fantasy

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Ben Galley on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.bengalley.com

Author Interview – Elena Aitken @elenaaitken

Q: Are you a city slicker or a country lover?

A: I love the country and if I had my way, I’d very happily move out to the mountains to live beside the lake. However, my husband works downtown in a major city, and he would go absolutely crazy if he didn’t have the stimulation and challenge of his job. So we compromise by living in a small town outside of the city and he commutes. We also take off to the mountains whenever we can. In fact, I take the kids and more or less move out to our summer home for the months of July and August. He knows that I need the quiet and the inspiration to recharge my batteries.

Q: How do you think people perceive writers?

A: I think some people have a very romanticized view of what it is to be a writer. They think we sit at these beautiful oversized oak desks, with a steaming cup of coffee, quill in hand and we spend our days with the sun shining through the window, creating beautiful prose that flows from our imaginations. Um…that’s not totally how it works. Being a writer is far less glamorous than people think and for me at least, it usually involves a dark office with a cluttered desk, a cup of coffee that’s grown cold, and a laptop that hopefully doesn’t crash before I’ve saved a particularly crucial scene.

Seriously though, I love being a writer and I think I have the coolest job in the world. I’m thankful everyday that I’m able to play with my imaginary friends for a living.

Q: How important are friends in your life??

A: Friends are, and have always been an essential part of my life. I love to surround myself with people who share the same interests and values that I do. Friends are the family you choose for yourself. I have been friends with some of the same people since I was a toddler and we still enjoy each others company and have a great time together!

Q: How many friends does a person need?

A: When it comes to friends, quantity is not nearly as important as quality. If you have people in your life that you can trust, that care about you and you know will have your back, you only need a few. You’re a very lucky person and truly blessed indeed if you have these kinds of people in your life.

Q: Can you share a little of your current work with us?

A: I’m SO excited about my new book. It was released on May 1. It’s called Composing Myself and addresses the complexity of mother and daughter relationships, through three generations. Whitney (the main character) is struggling to accept where she comes from and who she is as well as finding the strength to be who she really is.

This book was inspired in part by my Grandmother and my relationship with her. I lost her around this time last year, so it’s strangely fitting that the book was released around the same time. There’s a lot of my heart in this book.

Q: How did you come up with the title?

A: I always have a hard time coming up with titles and truthfully, I usually have a lot of help in this area. For this book I had a brainstorming session with my writing group where we came up with a full page of possibilities, but none of them really jumped out. It was the next day when I was alone in my office, that I thought of, Composing Myself. Because the story is about a woman who is trying to find herself, and in the book there is a focus on songwriting, it seemed like the perfect blend.

Q: Why did you choose to write this particular book?

A: I actually took the opening scene of a story I wrote years ago, and took a look at it. I really like it, but I didn’t like how the rest of the story played out. It was much darker and sadder than I wanted to work with. So, I decided to take the opening scene and turn it into something much different. From there, I used a situation that had occurred in my own life and wove them together.

Q: What was the hardest part about writing the book?

A: In the book, the main character and her grandmother are very close and together they have to deal with a devastating diagnosis. This was a situation inspired by my own grandmother and I wrote those scenes with tears streaming down my face. It was very difficult for me to deal with some of those feelings.

Samples to Savor: Book Club Picks, presented by Her Books:

Discover your book club’s next page-turner and spark fascinating conversations with your friends in this free sampling from eight bestselling authors. You’ll find rich prose, evocative plots, compelling characters and surprising twists from:

Finding Emma by Steena Holmes
Composing Myself by Elena Aitken
Spare Change by Bette Lee Crosby
The Scandalous Ward by Karla Darcy
The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge by Christine Nolfi
The Promise of Provence by Patricia Sands
Broken Pieces by Rachel Thompson
Depraved Heart by Kathleen Valentine

About the Author(s):
Bestselling authors Steena Holmes, Elena Aitken, Rachel Thompson, Patricia Sands, Christine Nolfi, Kathleen Valentine, Bette Lee Crosby and Karla Darcy provide readers worldwide with contemporary fiction and nonfiction releases ranging from historical romance to literary.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre –  Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG

Connect with the authors on Faceboook

Website http://herbestbooks.com/

Sonja Hegman – 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before @ChiefWordsmith

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before

By Sonja Hegman

Being an author is not filled will all the glitz and glam you might think. It’s hard work. You can’t just write your book, send it off and be done. The before and after prep for a book become a full-time job after writing itself.

1. I’ll admit, I was a little blind-sided by everything indie authors must accomplish just to make themselves known. It’s not easy task. And so, here are a few things I wish I’d known about being author before I ever typed my first word.Marketing would become my full-time job. Once your book is written, you must become a full-time marketer and sales person. No one else is going to do this for you, not even your publisher. You must be on Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads and possibly a few other social networking sites to generate sales for yourself. If you have the money, you can always hire someone (like me) to perform these tasks for you. But when you’re first starting, you’ll most likely be on your own.

2. Your first royalty check might be $1,000 … or $12. As long as you understand this up front, you won’t be disappointed when you get your first royalty check of twelve whole dollars.

3. Some people care too much that you wrote a book. These people are whom I like to call “leeches.” After I wrote my first book, friends I hadn’t heard from in years suddenly came out of the woodwork. If you write a book, you’re automatically rich, right? Refer back to No. 2.

4. Some people won’t care you wrote a book. I never thought everyone would jump for joy because I achieved my author dream. I was extremely excited so I somehow thought everyone else would be too. Now, I actually prefer it when people don’t make a big deal about it.

5. Writing a book might not change your life. I assumed that becoming an author would change my life quickly and significantly. Gobs of money would fall from the sky and Hollywood would come knocking. See, I know that my book is amazing and others should recognize it too. Sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

6. Start promoting your book as soon as the idea is solid. For Trials of an Entrepreneurial Virgin, I began heavy promotion in July 2012 for my book’s October 2012 release. This was not even close to enough time to generate a real conversation about the book. It took until April 2013 (nine months after I first started to promote and six months after my book’s release) for things to finally start happening with sales.

7. Think of yourself as a brand. What do I mean by this? You are not just a person any longer; you are a product — just like Nike and Coca Cola. I know that you don’t like to think of yourself this way. But, you can’t expect to sell thousands of books during your first week in print if no one has an inkling of who you are or that you’ve written a book.

8. Online relationships will make or break your book. Social media is an awesome tool for authors today. I’ve chatted with people all over the world who otherwise might have never heard of me. Just be sure to reciprocate when someone does you a solid. One-sided relationships never work out.

9. Virtual Book Tours are a thing. When I used to think of book tours, like most people, I thought of a physical tour. Doing readings and signings in physical, brick and mortar bookstores. How cool is it that book tours now happen virtually? We authors can now travel the world without even getting off the couch.

10. Book trailers aren’t widely used yet. I’ve always been a fan of video and to me it just seems logical to use video to promote a book. I first heard of book trailers a few years ago so I assumed every author probably had one. They are apparently just on a cusp of becoming a big thing. Get on that wagon if you can.

Have you always dreamed of earning your living as a full time writer?

Sonja Hegman has made that dream work for her. Now she tells other writers and “virgin” business owners how to do it, too. In Trials of an Entrepreneurial Virgin Hegman explains how to:

• Choose a business structure
• Write a client contract
• Handle those “clients from hell”
• Develop your marketing materials
• And of course, the ins and outs of networking—both online and in-person

From working at a small town Minnesota newspaper to taking on The Big Apple and finally discovering her niche as a business writer and social media consultant, Hegman tells us about her triumphs and her trials—and offers us the “virgin writing professional’s” practical advice along the way.

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Genre – Non-fiction

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Sonja Hegman on Facebook, Google+ & Twitter

Website http://www.writerschatstew.com/

A Day in the Life of Rachel Hanna @RachelHannaBook

I always laugh when someone asks me what my day is like as an author because it’s never the same. I’m well aware that some authors do the exact same routine every day, but that would drive me crazy. I’m way too creative and distractible to be able to do the exact same routine every day. But, I’m going to try to give you an example of what my typical day might be like anyway.

Since I’m a night owl and rarely go to bed before about 1:30 in the morning, I usually don’t get up and around until at least 9 AM. The first thing I do these days is make a green drink. I used to eat breakfast, but it seemed to weigh me down and make me more tired early in the day. Now, I make a green drink with a little protein in it and that lasts me until lunchtime.

My kids are usually up and already doing their school by then. They use a distance-learning program on the Internet that is beamed in from a college, so they know how to get started on their day without my input. Throughout the day, I end up grading some papers and tests and recording their grades as well.

Before lunch, I usually spend my time checking emails, responding to Facebook posts and doing any kind of marketing that needs to be done for my books. I like to get that done early in the day so that it frees my mind up for more creative pursuits. Usually, that takes me all the way until lunchtime, and my brain is just starting to wake up.

After lunch, I usually do my writing or editing. If I’m working on a book, I will often go back and edit it in pieces so that I don’t have to edit the whole thing at the end. This also reminds me where my story is going and allows me to read it just like a reader would. I usually spend my time from lunch until early afternoon doing my writing for the day.

Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, my kids’ activities begin. At that point, we’re usually on the road back-and-forth between activities until almost 8 o’clock at night. That means that we are often eating dinner very late.

Once we get home and eat dinner, we usually watch some TV together as a family and then the kids go to bed. Often, I will spend my quiet night time hours writing or maybe reading. I consider reading to be part of my research and development as an author.

There you have it! My day as an author! Not all days look like this, but many do. Either way, my goal is always to get some kind of writing done during the day.

Ruined is a New Adult novel full of romance, angst and tons of emotion!

Willow Blake has a secret. A big one. And when she and her mother move cross country to protect that secret, her guard is up to protect her heart.

When she meets handsome Reed Miller, she feels her walls start tumbling down and the fear is overwhelming. If he finds out her secret, will he hate her forever?

Just when she thinks things are settling down, a new house guest makes her second guess everything she knows to be true about who she is and what she wants.

Caught between her past life and her new one – and two sexy men – will choose to be alone or fight for her own happiness?

Buy Now @ Amazon @ Barnes & Noble @ Kobo

Genre - New  Adult Romance

Rating – R

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Rachel Hanna on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://rachelhannaromance.com/

Claire Charlins – Why Social Networks are the Keys to Good Networking @ClaireCharlins

Why Social Networks are the Keys to Good Networking
by: Claire Charlins
Social networks and social media have become a crucial part of being a writer. It doesn’t matter if you’re an independent author or a traditionally published author, social networks and media are becoming more and more important to gain a fan base and keep that fan base.
For me, I only use Facebook and Twitter. Now I do have a blog and I do post on that blog, but when it comes to actual interactions with readers and fans of my books I find more activity on Facebook and Twitter. The great part about social networking and media is that it’s something that occurs 24 hours a day. I don’t need to be at my computer to be on Facebook or be on Twitter. I have my Facebook page set up and established and I have my Twitter account set up and established. This also allows me to take time during my day to see what readers fans are talking about. I’m able to communicate and interact with them whenever I want, but it’s also a place for readers reach out to me. I always promised myself that when the time came and I was a published author I would do everything in my power to keep myself open and talk to readers. I make sure that my email is widely available. I make sure anyone that posts on my Facebook page or messages me through Facebook I try to answer personally. Even Twitter, I always reply to anyone follows me or retweets me or just writes to me to say hello or say they’re reading one of my books. And that is probably the greatest part of social media and what makes it so important… The readers can get in touch with their favorite authors now the click of a button.
The purpose of networking is to meet people. Besides readers, I’m also able to meet and network with other writers. I don’t have to go to writing conventions all the time. I don’t have to go to writers groups all the time. I’m able to communicate and interact with writers across the country or even across the world. That allows me to be able to build a behind-the-scenes kind of network where I may be able to help support other authors I like to read and other authors do the same for me.
Now, social networking does come with a lot of responsibility and it’s very important for an author to understand the point of social networking. That means you have to look at what you want to share with your readers and with the world as a writer. It also means you have to be able to control your emotions in the event something negative is posted about yourself. There have been plenty of times in recent years where an author has tried to respond and attack a bad review or comment made which in turn can really damage an author’s reputation. Aside from that, a writer’s job is to write. Very important that as a writer you make sure you don’t get lost social networking social, which can be very easy to do!
But in today’s publishing world social networking probably the most form of communication and marketing author can do.

Shamed for not birthing a child with her wealthy husband, Anna Stewbren can no longer face her family and the disappointment that they wear on their faces daily. After her husband forces her into divorce, Anna travels to town and reads a heartbreaking letter from a wet nurse in Kansas, seeking a mail order bride for the widower she works for. She instantly knows it is the answer to her prayers…

*

Josephine has a God given gift to nurture the infants of widowers and the wealthy who would rather not feed their own children. Never before has she met a man like Thomas who so deserves a second chance at love. When she pens a letter to a newspaper in Massachusetts, she does so without permission…

*

Thomas Calhor is a hardworking man, generous to those around him, and a loving father. However, he is broken and lost without his wife, who did not survive childbirth. His reaction to Josephine’s letter even surprises himself and begins a journey that will forever change many lives…

*

Arriving in Kansas brings Anna more challenges than she ever expected to find, but through love, honor, marriage, and a shocking secret that will forever keep her with Thomas proves that in romance, anything can happen…

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Genre – Western / Christian Romance

Rating – PG

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Claire Charlins on Twitter

Website http://clairecharlins.wordpress.com/

Ana Fawkes – Inside the Mind of the Author @AnaFawkes

Inside the Mind of the Author

by: Ana Fawkes

I always get asked what it’s like to be an author. Or where the stories come from. Or what’s actually going inside my mind. Well, since I write only erotic romance, you can imagine what goes through my head! All the scenes I have to write, how to make them work, how to build up to those very sensual moments, and then what happens after everything climaxes.

Not to mention the really interesting stuff like adding handcuffs to mix…

But in reality, my mind is pretty fun. I look at the story I’m writing and try to find ways to challenge the characters. When I was writing One Night Stand with the Rockstar, I didn’t want them to just jump into bed together. That’s not fun… well, okay, jumping into bed with Alex Slader IS fun… but I want more to it. I wanted to show how innocent Jessica really was. I pictured in my mind a scene where she’s at a piano and Alex Slader seduces her with the piano. It’s silent and sexy. They’re not even touching yet and he’s already got her where he wants her. And just as the scene climaxes, I saw Jessica walking away.

All this happened while I was unloading the dishwasher!

I saw Jessica leave and then I saw her contemplate on what to do. She decides to go back to Alex Slader for just one night though. Just one night.

Inside my mind I’m always searching for characters, plots, and settings. Even if I’m out in public – the grocery store, nail salon – I look at how people act and interact with each other and let my mind run with that to see where it ends up going. Of course, writing in erotic romance, my mind can get a little wild and a little steamy, but that’s okay… it’s all for the love the readers, right?

Welcome to world of billionaire rockstar, Alex Slader…

Just one night.

That’s all Jessica Harpmae is looking for when she gets a chance to meet billionaire rockstar, Alex Slader.

Just one night.

Alex Slader isn’t just a rockstar, he is the rockstar… a complicated man, a suffering man, a man who savers life through submission. And when he meets innocent Jessica, listening to her generic questions about his band and his life, his mind travels elsewhere… he wants Jessica.

Just one night.

Jessica must confront her deepest sexual desires and fears as she stares at the most powerful and sexiest rockstar in the world. Add to that her seemingly innocent roommate, Carrie, who is secretly locked into a sexual contract of her own, and Jessica’s life soon becomes a twisted mix of reality, fantasy, and past memories that place her in Alex Slader’s bed and heart…

But, remember, it’s only a one night stand…

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - New Adult Romance

Rating – PG13

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Ana W. Fawkes on Facebook &  Twitter

Website http://anafawkes.com/

London Casey – Why Choosing Your Setting is Important @london_casey

Why Choosing Your Setting is Important

by: London Casey

It would be very hard to convince a reader that the main character is a surfer who practices every morning at the ocean if the setting is in Colorado. The setting sets the story. For the DownCrash series, I chose to develop a college town and went basic with a garage for their practice space. They aren’t rockstars yet, so they probably would not be in a studio messing around. The idea of a smelly, grungy garage being the place where dreams come true is metaphoric for hopeful futures healing broken pasts.

The setting should reflect the mood of the book too. If you’re ready something that had some dark undertones to it, then it should be in a setting that touches on that. Just put yourself in everyday life for a second. When it’s raining, we often feel a little down. A little tired. We reflect on life a little more. We stand at the window and watch the rain gently fall down the window. When it’s summer and it’s beautiful out, we get outside and we get absorbed by the sun. We’re in a better mood. We’re happier. We’re thinking bigger. This is all part of our own setting. That’s why as a writer, we need to create our own personal setting. Meaning where we write. Some write in the dark. Some write in silence. Some write with music. This is all setting.

But, in the books, the setting is the background. For The Boys of DownCrash, like I said, I chose the garage band setting in the small college town because it worked. Everything about the setting screamed potential and that’s what the characters and the stories really offered. They offered potential… potential to deal with broken pasts. The potential for romance. For life. For fun. And even for the parts where things took place out of the garage, they all had meaning. The intense shows with DownCrash, showing how popular they were. In the first book in the series (The Stronger, Safer Kind) Tripp takes Scarlett to a secret place on the edge of a lake. It’s dark and it’s romantic. Of course, things get steamy there, but that’s the setting where they really begin to fall for each other. The setting creates the mood for the book – or for a scene. When I’m writing and indulging in my new adult romance love, I always make sure the setting plays into everything happening.

***The final book in The Boys of DownCrash trilogy!***

Some Kind of Hell (The Boys of DownCrash #3)

In the trilogy finale, shy DownCrash bassist, Logan, has his sexy eyes on Maggie’s best friend, Annie. But Annie is still reeling from the way her relationship ended. She’s hurt, angry, jealous, and the last thing she wants is some wannabe rockstar looking for his next hookup… although it may just be what she needs.

Logan wants more for his life. The past is living in his apartment, which forces him to spend nights in his car to avoid reliving the nightmare over and over again.

When Annie’s guard comes down, tragedy strikes and their lives will be changed forever. Determined to win Annie over and help DownCrash get signed to a record deal, Logan has his work cut out for him. His gorgeous body and no-bullshit personality may just be the key to both…

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - New Adult Romance

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with  London Casey on Facebook &  Twitter

Website http://www.londonatcasey.blogspot.com/

Elyse Douglas – Best & Worst Memories @douglaselyse

What are your best and worst memories from adolescence?
by Elyse Douglas
Elyse: My best memories from adolescence involve high school. I started off in ninth grade as a tall, gangly “four eyed” kid with braces, painfully shy and insecure. I would half-run, half-walk down the hallway, with my head down, eyes lowered, in the hopes that no one would notice me. I attended a Catholic, co-ed school, staffed primarily by Sisters of Mercy, but there were a few lay teachers. One was my freshman year history teacher, a single young man right out of college. I developed a huge crush on him and learned to type just so I could type up his world history outline. (My typing skills helped me much more in life than learning world history, although I did remember some facts about English kings and queens for a while.)
Things started to turn around when I convinced my parents to let me get contact lenses (which I paid for by having a small paper route – throwing papers onto doorstops from my bicycle every morning). Then the boys started getting taller, my braces came off, and suddenly, in eleventh grade, I was considered desirable! The high point of the year was when I was in a production of Camelot, in the chorus.
How I loved the make-up, the make-believe, and the costumes… and I know I looked stunning as a siren in King Arthur’s Court because one of the Sisters told me that a Father who came to see the show actually singled me out as the prettiest girl in the show. Then the boy who played King Pellinore asked me out on a date. He was a great actor, and finally, finally, I had a boyfriend. We danced close at the junior prom, even in a Catholic high school auditorium, and made out in his father’s car until the wee hours of the morning.
By senior year, I had learned to play the guitar so I could lead a hootenanny, I was on the student council, I accompanied the Christmas chorus on the piano, I was named valedictorian, and I lost Pellinore. I dated a few other guys, but it took me until the end of senior year to catch another star, one of the best athletes in the school, who took me to the senior reception. More close dancing and lots more necking. Those were great memories.
My worst memories involve my home life. My parents fought continuously. My sister and brother left for college, leaving me alone in the war zone. I developed an ulcer. I wrote furiously in my journal every night; I wrote poems; I walked the beach – and then my parents sold our beach house, and I was devastated. But you know, we all survive adolescence and crazy home lives. And I have to agree with what one of my boyfriends said: My parents must have done something right, because I turned out to be a pretty nice person.
Douglas: My best memories are of baseball summer days under high blue skies, scooping up baseballs off the fat bats of opposing players who were bigger and richer than I. My best memories are also of falling in love every month with a new girl – and then some of the worst memories are of being too shy to ever let them know it. And then there was the pain and confusion of crashing adolescent emotions – as well as utter shock when I realized that adults were nearly as confused as I was. I thought they had figured life out. Seeing that they hadn’t was very discouraging. Very early on, I knew I had a long, rough road ahead of me.

After Juliet Sinclair divorces her unfaithful husband, she expects to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. When Juliet sees her much-loved father waving to her on a New York City street, she’s astonished. Her father and mother live in Ohio. At that same moment, she receives a call from her mother telling her that her father has died from a heart attack.

Juliet quits her job and moves back to Ohio, determined to investigate a substantial loss of money, and find a mysterious woman who had close ties with her father, Juliet’s mother knew nothing about.

While on her journey, Juliet has a serious accident and is saved from near death by a handsome ex-soldier with a tragic past. He falls in love with her, even though his past still haunts him. Christmas is approaching, and Juliet works to uncover her father’s secrets while falling in love, struggling to find the courage to forgive and to love again.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Romance

Rating – PG

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  Elyse Douglas on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.elysedouglas.com/

Suzanne Anderson – Fame or Fortune?

Fame or fortune, which would you prefer?

by Suzanne Anderson

Both, of course!

This question reminds me of the old: ‘what would you wish for, if you had three wishes?’ Well, I’d wish for three more wishes.

Fame and fortune for a writer are both good things, I’d argue.

Fame means the fulfillment of every writer’s greatest desire, to not only see their work in print, but to know that many readers are not only reading the story, but by inference of its popularity, enjoying it and recommending it to others. (I’m assuming you’ve attained fame via your book’s popularity, not through other, perhaps less savory means.)

Knowing what great pleasure reading a really good book brings me, and wishing to achieve the same in my own writing has been one of my great motivators. Writing a book that gains popularity and is enjoyed by readers would be a wonderful indication that I’ve achieved my goal. And of course, that is the caveat of the quest for fame. One would want to achieve it as evidence of a book’s positive impact on the reader.

The flip side, becoming infamous for something I’ve written such as James Frey’s evisceration after the revealing of A Million Little Pieces, is a much less appealing way to enjoy fame. Although one could argue that Mr. Frey’s fortune from the same book went miles to assuage his discomfort.

Which brings us to fortune.

Wild riches, perhaps on par with J.K. Rowling, or on a lesser scale, with a New York Times best-selling thriller writer, might bring a lot of time-consuming duties that would cut into one’s writing time. After all, someone has to be found to manage all that money. But, the greatest gift of fortune, or let’s call it ‘financial independence’ is: freedom.

Financial independence allows the writer the time to write without the burden of simultaneously carrying a full-time job, while keeping the house clean, and being the primary caretaker of children or aging parents. It truly makes ‘a room of one’s own’ possible. It provides the writer with the psychological and physical space to breathe and think and dream and create new stories.

I have never wanted to be rich, but I will always strive to create enough monetary wealth to provide freedom. As for fame…only if it comes from readers who love my books. As an avid reader myself, that would be the nicest gift of all.

When you feel as if you’ve been abandoned in God’s Waiting Room, this 31-day devotional will provide comfort. Each day features Bible verses for meditation and a short essay for your personal reflection and prayer.

If you’ve ever cried out in desperation, “Help me, Jesus!” You will find comfort in this 31-day devotional for women as we walk together through God’s Word. By the end of our month together, you’ll find Jesus calling you into a relationship that will be a lifelong source of comfort and strength.

Waiting is often when God draws us closest to Him, to receive the gift of His companionship. Instead of waiting on God to fix your life, you’ll find that you are working with God to create the life He’s planned for you all along.

God is with you. God loves you. God will never abandon you.

Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink,

He will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with

your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him.

Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,”

whether to the right or to the left. ~ Isaiah 30:20 -22

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Genre - Inspirational Devotional

Rating – G

More details about the author & the book

Connect with  Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson on Facebook &  Twitter

Website http://www.suzanneelizabethanderson.com/

Frank Hawthorn Is Blindsided by James M. Copeland

4

Frank jerked the phonebook out of his desk drawer and went to the marina section. There was no coast guard listed. He flipped to the Federal section of the white pages, found the listing, and dialed the number. When the clerk answered, Frank asked, “Hi, could you tell me how I could find a loose boat?”

The clerk replied, “Is this some kind of prank, mister?”

“I sure wish it was. This is Detective Frank Hawthorn. I’ve physically seen with my own two eyes a thirty-two-foot cabin cruiser parked at the granary docks. The boat is no longer there. This incident was reported by the owner’s father this morning. I met him there and saw for myself what he was talking about. It was the scene of some kind of altercation. The cabin was filled with splattered blood on everything. It’s gone now, and no one seems to know where it went. I was hoping you might help me find the boat.”

“Well, yes, ah, Mr. Hawthorn. Sorry about the confrontation at first. We get ’em, pranks I mean. I’ll let you talk to Post Commander Chuck Rogers. He might be of service to you.”

Frank sat waiting for almost a full minute.

“Hello, Mr. Hawthorn. My clerk said you have a problem with a missing boat?”

“Yes, sir down by the granary docks on the Mississippi River. I think the location is called . . . the Fisher granary. Mr. Fisher says his son’s boat was there last night and now it’s gone. I also found some bloodstains on the planking of the dock beside where the boat supposedly was moored.”

Frank told Chuck that he needed the expertise of the coast guard to help find the boat. The commander reluctantly agreed to help him and asked Frank to come to the compound so they could go downriver together.

After asking for directions, Frank locked up the office and headed that way. When he arrived at the coast guard gate, he found the clerk he had talked to. The clerk introduced him to Commander Rogers. After they talked for a minute, Commander Rogers picked up the phone and contacted someone located inside his facility to get the coast guard cutter ready for a river trip at once.

He said, “Come with me, Mr. Hawthorn. We’ll board the cutter out at the dock.”

Frank had always wanted to experience the ride of the big cutters. He had seen them many times when he was near the Mississippi, but he’d never been on one before. The commander told him all about the craft as they walked to the dock, where they waited for the captain to bring the cutter around.

The commander said it was constructed in 1955. It had a keel laid fifty-five feet from bow to stern, and was nine-and-a-half-feet wide. The craft was propelled by two Chrysler diesel engines, producing one thousand pounds of thrust and rated at six hundred horse power. It generated power for the light beams capable of reaching one thousand feet out into the blackness of the night to spot another craft either fleeing or in distress. It would sleep six crew members for rotating shifts on an all-night mission or provide shelter for rescued survivors as they hauled them in.

After an admiring look at the craft, they boarded the vessel just before the other four young officers climbed aboard and went to their duty stations. Frank found a position to sit comfortably, and the captain shoved off. When the way was clear, he shoved the throttle full ahead. The big cutter was flying down the river with water spraying off the bow, almost reaching the banks at some narrow points.

Detective FRANK HAWTHORN receives a call from W.J. FISHER. He said that his son Milford Fisher had disappeared. He found his boat near the Memphis, Tennessee branch of the Fisher Granary Corp covered in blood. Later that day the boat disappears as well.

Hawthorn is told that young Fisher discovered someone was stealing millions from the company and now he is missing. Everyone believes him dead except Hawthorn who has a premonition that maybe…he’s still alive.

Detective Hawthorn works his magic to solve the crime. After several incidents and mishaps, he discovers the truth and finds the guilty individuals. There is an important twist in the story and Frank Hawthorn uncovers a plot that will keep you on your toes. Frank wears his heart on his sleeve and is BLINDSIDED when he discovered the truth about the woman he loves while he searches for the truth. You’ll never guess what happens in this riveting tale.

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Genre - Crime Mystery

Rating – PG

More details about the author and the book

Connect with  James M. Copeland on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://jamesmcopelandnoveli.wix.com/

Filipa Fonseca Silva – How to Make Your Characters Believable

How to Make Your Characters Believable

by Filipa Fonseca Silva

On both my books readers said that my characters were so real that they know people like them. My “secret” is simple: I imagine every detail in their lives.

If my story is about 40 year-old man, I try to imagine what he was like growing up, what kind of relations he had with his family, who were his friends, his pets, his favorite band. All this stuff defines people’s personality and future decisions.

I addition to that, I try to imagine the characters physiognomy – even if I don’t want to describe the character to the readers in detail, I must have that information in the back of my mind. I give the characters traces of people I know or I’ve seen, so that they become more alive in my head. If it’s hard for you to mix fiction and reality, look for a stranger in a magazine and clip that image.

Bottom line: you must know your characters as well as you know a good old friend.

When Vanessa got into her car that winter’s afternoon, she had no idea she was setting off on a journey with no return. An inner journey that would call into question a whole life spent living up to other people’s expectations.

With tragic and comic episodes that bring together a domineering mother, a hippie aunt, a boring marriage, an insufferable boss and a friend who never knows when to shut up, “The Strange year of Vanessa M.” shares Vanessa’s voyage of self-discovery with us. And it makes us marvel at the power we have to question things, because there’s no end to the pursuit of happiness.

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Genre - Contemporary Fiction  

Rating – PG13

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Connect with Filipa Fonseca Silva on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://pipaswonderland.blogspot.com

Dermot Davis – How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No? @dermotdavis1

How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No?

by Dermot Davis

Whereas most writers I know favor one form of writing preparation to another, I tend to differ my approach each time, depending on the project. If I was to do a quick survey of writers I know, however, most, if not all would tell me that they definitely – will always – outline a story before they begin to write the first line of the story. To write without outline, some will tell me, is akin to flying in the dark without radar or any navigable aids to assist you. Not only have you no idea where you are heading – and hence, you could end up anywhere – but you also, just might crash!

Whereas I agree that crashing (presumably, getting so stuck in the story that it becomes impossible to complete) does not sound like a good thing, ending up somewhere that you never intended to go may not be such a bad thing, at all. In fact, it may turn out to be a very good thing. Ending up in some place that you never knew even existed could be downright magical!

Admittedly, sometimes I may just be just being lazy by not outlining a story before I begin and in fairness, I find a lot of pre-preparation of writing a book to be downright boring but that doesn’t take away from extolling the virtues of not outlining a story before you begin to write, proper. Many authors I know will “beat outline” a story in depth and write full biographies of each of the characters that inhabit the story, perhaps even including where they went to kindergarten and what their favorite color is. The beat outline chronicles every scene and twist and turn in the story, right down to length of scene or set piece and covers how each character will change and grow, resulting in their overall “arc” or their final growth resolution.

Whereas I may not go into such detail before every project, I have deeply outlined a story in great detail. Doing so, to me, feels like telling a story with a safety harness attached. It gives a great sense of purpose and direction to the writing and I know that if at any point of the way I may get stuck, I simply study my outline again and I’m back on track. Another wonderful feature of the detailed outline is the fact that you know whether the story you’re going to write works, before you even write it. That’s worth the price of admission, right there. In fact, by outlining the story before you begin is almost like doing the hard work; doing all the heavy lifting first so that the actual writing of the story becomes a breeze. You’ve already figured out the kinks and problems with plot, so you know you’re not wasting any time by writing yourself into any troublesome corners that you can’t get yourself out of.

Writing without an outline – or working with only a very general outline – is a different form of writing that I reserve to the stories that I only have a loose idea about and I want to explore them while I’m writing it. Sometimes I like to surprise myself and in the act of writing itself, I surprise myself often. Many writers have expressed that sometimes the story “writes itself” or characters become almost real and seem to generate their own ideas about where they think the story ought to go. Whereas I might describe outlining as “imposing” personality traits and motives upon my characters, when writing them without outline, they can “come alive” and tell me what their motives are and seem to develop personality traits, all of their own.

In this form of writing, yes, very much you are writing by the seat of your pants and just like the opening analogy of the airplane pilot, you could end up somewhere you didn’t even know you were headed. I have to admonish that writing without outline is a risky proposition and like most risky propositions, you could end up lucky or just plain broke. I have written stories in this way that turned out magical and beyond my own initial creative impulses but I have also ended up with unusable stories that have so much problems with them, it’s not worth my investment in time to fix them and they end up in the proverbial bottom drawer.

How do you decide to outline first or not outline? I would suggest trying it both ways and seeing where your aptitude lies. Only you can answer for sure if flying by the seat of the pants is a worthwhile thrill ride for you. Or not.

This novel explores the role that dreams play in the healing of the body/mind/spirit.

Robert Munro, a therapist specializing in dream interpretation, awoke one morning to find himself in a dream from which he could not awaken. Experiencing first hand the limitations of his own training and theories, he must solve the puzzle of his own dream in order to break free from its bondage. In the process, he’ll better understand himself, other people, and the nature of consciousness itself.

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Genre - Literary Fiction

Rating – PG

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Website www.dermotdavis.com

Dana Hui Lim – Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy

Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy

by: Dana Hui Lim

How do you deal with the loss of a loved one? How would you mourn for the loss of your family? Who do you talk to when you have been lost in the depths of madness so complete, that it took over your entire country? You can quote the figures: two million people, a quarter of the population fell victim to starvation or outright murder. The numbers are awful, but you know that only another survivor could possibly understand.

And they’re not talking.

Everyone I knew until I was 18 went through the same ordeal, and to an outsider it is like it never happened. You can sit down to dinner with my entire family, and by the time dessert is served you will be none the wiser. When we found each other amidst the ashes of the Khmer Rouge, we said virtually nothing about what we had been through. Even my brother Huor, who is never without a story, gave us only the barest outline. I was married for nine years and my ex-husband is also a Khmer Rouge survivor. We never spoke about what had happened to us before we came to Australia, so an entire decade of our lives was not gone or forgotten, just ignored.

How then to deal with the memories? I could continue to shy away from them as I had for 25 years, or I could drag them out and hold them up to the light, examine them one by one and pour them out onto the page for all to see. My family avoids dwelling on the past, and I don’t blame them for that in the least. I couldn’t let it lie though, and so I chose to talk to anyone who might listen. If no one wanted to hear then that would be okay; at least I would not leave it all bottled up inside me, scratching at the corners of my mind.

It was once dangerous for me to speak but I am free now, and in the act of writing I have been able to say things that I wanted to for years, for decades in fact. It was as if I was able to let loose a scream of outrage for what happened to me, my family, and for anyone else who has not had the means to voice their pain. I would like to be a catalyst for conversation and that may cause tears to be shed, but that is not so bad. Some things are worth crying over, some things should be cried over. Forgetting the past would just add insult to injury, particularly when it is your own.

I have to live with the images of my past now. They are out in the open and I have sorted through them far too thoroughly for them to be quietly shut away again. I think I am the better for having written my book, but only time will tell.

In 1969 the small Asian nation of Cambodia was under attack: first by US bombers as the Vietnam war spilled over the border, and then by the Khmer Rouge as they began their brutal reign of terror. Under the rule of Pol Pot, ordinary city folk were driven from their homes and banished to labour camps that eventually saw two million people die. Darkness descended and “Year Zero” had begun.

Mother and the Tiger is the story of one small girl, who struggled to survive one of the most ruthless regimes in human history. Six-year-old Hui Lim was trapped by the madness around her and cast into a seemingly endless nightmare. Her family was cursed as a member of a hated ethnic minority and targeted by the murderous Khmer Rouge. To survive where so many others died, Hui had to tap an inner strength that she never knew she possessed. Despite her youth she was determined to find her scattered family, no matter the odds.

Her memoir of that brutal regime proves that even amidst the blackest depths of human depravity, hope can endure.

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Genre – Memoir

Rating – PG13

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Website http://odysseybooks.com.au/

Indiestructible: Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle by Jessica Bell, Melissa Foster, Susan Kaye Quinn, Leigh Talbert Moore, Anne R. Allen, Cindy M. Hogan, Dawn Ius, Michelle Davidson Argyle, Roz Morris

Need motivation and inspiration to self-publish, or sign that contract with an interested small press? Have you done all the research you can, but still feel ambivalent about the idea? “Indiestructible: Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle” brings you the experiences of 29 indie authors—their passions, their insights, their successes—to help you make the leap into indie publishing.

This is not a how-to guide. This is the best of the indie tradition of experienced authors paying forward what they’ve learned, giving you information to help you on your journey. The personal essays in this book will leave you itching to get your work into the hands of readers and experience, first-hand, all the rewards indie publishing has to offer.

100% of proceeds from “Indiestructible” purchases will be donated to BUILDON.org

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Genre –  Non-fiction

Rating – G

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Connect with Jessica Bell on Facebook &  Twitter

Blog http://thealliterativeallomorph.blogspot.com/