The Year in Review

It's always nice to look back at what I've accomplished over the year, much more heartening than resolutions that won't be/weren't kept. It's a "look what I've done!" instead of a "look what I didn't get to."

In 2015, I published two new novels. GATHERING MIST and RISING MIST to complete the trilogy, and put together a bundle of all three of the Mist books (in one handy-dandy package). I completed the first draft of the next book (another in the Northwest Suburbs series featuring Matt, the paramedic), so I have the first one for 2016 in the wings.

I met my Goodreads reading goal, in fact I DOUBLED it. A good mix of "new to me" authors, authors I know and love and reads by fellow authors I'm getting to know. I left reviews for most of those books (all authors need love!).

I caught up with old friends, renewed old acquaintances, am spending regularly scheduled time with my aging parents.

Tried new recipes to add to the dinner menu instead of the same old thing every week (even though DH LIKES the same old things).

Saw another part of the world. Seattle, Mount Ranier, Juneau, Alaska, Western Canada.

I'd like to count off my accomplishments at the day job, but those are often counterbalanced with bureaucratic red tape or "enhancements" that actually made the job more difficult. It has been a year of change there, but the positive spin is that we've survived yet another reorg, and while there are things to fix, I can be proud of my contributions.

2016 promises to be filled with more challenges, and isn't that what makes life interesting?

So here's to you and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Aspiring Authors - Part 3, The Final Product

3) how do you get the final product (meaning the final version of the completed book)

You want to deliver the best quality product you can. Readers have very little patience for reading books filled with mistakes. Quick story. I met a woman and we really hit it off. Then I read her book. She gave credit to an editor, but there were so many mistakes in it, things like "enuff" or "ruff" (has she never encountered -ough words?). The story was good, but the editing was horrendous. I'm inclined to think her editor was a friend... I am a copyeditor by day. That means I have wicked grammar skills, but I have learned that editing my own work is nearly impossible. 

I have an excellent critique group, and they serve as my first editors, catching style and usage. By the time I think I'm done, I read it through for mistakes, and then I have a checklist of overused words and phrases that I cull out. I use a professional editor who doesn't want to see it until I've done my checklist. When I think it's perfect, I send it through to my editor, who looks it over for flow, logic, and how well it adheres to market rules (and yes, rules can sometimes be broken). She also points out anything I missed along the way. My crit group often find the same things my editor does, but I rely on my editor to be my pro. She's my definitive answer when I disagree with comments my crit partners might have made. 

That final product... I generally have read mine - ad nauseum - upwords of ten times. The good news is that if I still like the story after ten times, its worth sticking with it (I have a couple of duds that didn't make the cut). I read it as I write the first draft. I go back and fill in the missing details, reading it as I go along those subsequent drafts. When I feel I have a finished product, I read through it for flow. Does it follow logically? Then I start the culling process. Get rid of the crutch words, the overused phrases, the unnecessary details that slow down the pace. Then I read it for mistakes (and somehow I ALWAYS find mistakes, no matter what stage I'm at). Then I read it out loud, to make sure it sounds as good as it reads (that's usually the final read). - You get the picture.

Next week - Copyrighting 

With that, I with you all a Happy New Year!

Aspiring Authors - Part 2 - Cover Art

The second question I received from an aspiring author:

2) who to go to to design the cover art

This is dependent on your genre, but there are lots of cover artists out there if you're willing to spend some money for a quality cover. If you have some decent creative ability, you can design your own using a good photo design program (PhotoShop or PaintShopPro or something like that). You can buy stock art from places like Dreamstime or Shutterstock (and there are others) and add your own fonts and cover copy, etc. I've used Adobe Indesign (if you plan to put it out in paperback) to design some of my covers, but the last several books I put out were done by The Killion Group, which specializes in romance novels. A mystery author friend of mine uses Dave Fymbo and there are forums, like the one at Goodreads, as well, where you can find cover artists.

Cover artists will charge you anywhere from $50 to $200 (and some go much higher) depending on if you only want a thumbnail for an e-book or an e-book and print cover, etc.

Keys are to make sure it is readable at thumbprint size - You want people to see/recognize your name and be able to read the title, and you want it to look professional and provocative, something that makes a reader want to pick up the book, and that speaks to the genre represented. Covers distributed by the major publishers are more genre-driven than they are story-driven. They want the first impression to speak to what type of story lies inside rather than a true representation of the characters (although in my mind, its nice when you can match both).

Go to your favorite book seller and research the covers in your genre. See what they look like so you have a good idea of what the market is showing today and how you can adapt your cover to fit in (while standing out!).

As mentioned last week, I've taken what I've learned at conferences and inside the industry, but authors tend to fly by the seat of our pants. There are rules to follow, and guidance on genres and what works and what doesn't, but at the end of the day, you need to appeal to an audience.

Next week's question - how to get to the final product.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas! And if you want to know the background of my Christmas story, MIST ON THE MEADOW, I'm guest blogging over at Long and Short Reviews Winter Blogfest. Stop by for a chance to win! 



(oh, and I designed this cover, with a photograph from a friend!)

Aspiring Authors, Part 1 - Promo

I had a unique experience this summer - a grade school reunion! I went to a small grade school, our graduating class was probably less than 20, and a core group of us went through all eight grades together. Recently, one of my classmate's son's approached me about a project he's working on, asking me for advice.

If you know anything about authors, it's that we are flying by the seat of our pants. There are rules to follow, and guidance on genres and what works and what doesn't, but at the end of the day, you need to appeal to an audience. Take 50 Shades. I haven't read the book, but I've heard some terrible things about the writing, about the "fast and loose with the facts." But it reached an audience. Jane Eyre, a classic book which I love, isn't exactly the best written book, but the deep point of view grabs you, nonetheless.

I thought I'd share some of the answers I gave to the questions he asked.

1) best ways to advertise/make your book well known and how to sell it

Okay, let me start with know your market. Make sure you know the "rules" for that genre. Some genres provide more leeway than others in different areas. For instance, you may be familiar with the term "Info Dumping." When you write sci-fi, you are building a world, so you necessarily have to include more detail, more info. Dumping is still frowned upon, but the amount of information is necessary. In other genres, there are "As You Know Bob" details (most people are familiar, you don't need to spell it out). Bottom line, make sure the writing is strong and focused on the requirements for your market/genre.

Marketing is a challenge, especially right now. I'm hearing from all my indie author friends that sales are down across the board. With that being said, here are some of the things that have worked for me. There are book newsletters who will promote you, some of them fairly inexpensively and others for a bit more money. Fussy Librarian is a good one, and BargainBooksy/FreeBooksy. Bookbub is a bigger player in the field, but also costs quite a bit more to run with, and there are pre-requisites. A certain number of good reviews. In addition to the newsletters, pop around to "real world" places that might be relevant to your story. An example would be if your book featured a bed and breakfast. Organize an event at a bed and breakfast, or ask them to sell your books on consignment. It never hurts to contact your local bookstores, too. They like to help authors, although B&N is a little harder to get into these days. They often do local author nights, but the ones in my area are store by store (i.e., corporate B&N doesn't support the expense so much anymore). Blog tours are big, or Facebook parties. Find Facebook groups or book blogs. There are bunches of them that do group events and it's only a matter of signing up. The tricky part is to find readers, not just a bunch of authors pitching to each other (although authors are also readers). Lots of authors do blog tours. I recommend the tours. 

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

A moment to brag - I took time off from the day job last week and actually made it through a workable first draft of the new book. Lots of holes to fill, details to add, chapters to finish, but thinking of it as a details outline, I'm pretty pleased with myself! Need a title, however. Calling it Matt's Book will only go so far. Matt the cheating paramedic (he had his reasons, and he didn't make excuses for his bad behavior) and Elizabeth, a woman touched by more than a little of trauma of her own. Cameos by Audrey, Sue, Cinda and Mary Ellen.

Which means now I have time to relax and enjoy the holidays just a little bit more, not driven by daily word counts and trying to balance work at the day job with work on the writing front, although both are still front and center.

So I'm going to make cookies! It's part of the holidays. It's part of what centers me and I don't allow myself the luxury very often anymore. Feel free to stop over at my Cookies link (top of the page) to see some of the recipes I love, some of the recipes that look yummy enough to try. And feel free to share your recipes with me! Always love new ideas.

And if you have any great ideas for a title for this book that I'm cleaning up, please share those, too. Trouble or Klutz don't seem like the best ideas, but maybe I can work with those as key words while I'm entertaining ideas.

Cookie of the day:  I'm going to make Chocolate Cherry Shortbread cookies. I made them last year for the first time and discovered DH loves shortbread. My ice cream loving husband actually has a favorite type of cookie! (and they're pretty darn good!)

Inspiring Architecture

So while I've been doing the legwork for the new work in progress, I was chatting with an indie bookstore owner who mentioned a local castle to me.

Wait.

What?

Turns out I live less than three miles from a castle and I never knew it! Nestled in along the river, next to the bike path, there's an honest-to-goodness castle with a drawbridge and a moat ... And why am I surprised? Granted it isn't inhabited, but it's right there!

Two towns over there is another castle, this one on a well-traveled road and inhabited. (I knew about that one...)

The city I live in is rich with architecture. So many different styles are represented, from bungalows, to Victorians, to Edwardians, to stone cottages. You name it, we got it. I love driving down the side streets looking at other people's homes. One of the houses down the street looks right out of a fairy tale, and they've landscaped and decorated it that way.

Once upon a time, while driving to the day job, I drove past a house surrounded by an iron fence, set off the road, looking very mysterious and potentially haunted. I'd hoped to photograph that place, knowing it would show up in one of my stories. Wouldn't you know it, I didn't make it in time. That house has been replaced by a strip mall. What a shame. So I had to improvise with "this" picture when I finally wrote "Harper Manor." It isn't what I'd pictured, but it works.

The city does a historic house tour every Labor Day, and I've had the privilege to tour some of the grander abodes about town.

There are mansions and manor homes all throughout my city, most of them on main thoroughfares. Since Labor Day has come and gone this year, DH and I went out on Sunday, creeping down the side streets well below the speed limit admiring the interesting houses. Don't worry, he pulled over to the side when cars got close enough to follow us. My favorites are still the stone cottages by the river - I wrote one of those into HEART FOR RENT, with an Option.

Back when houses were being built everywhere, DH and I used to tour them - not so much to buy as to see some of the new ideas in home layouts and decorating. All of these things help when I write my sense of "place."

I'm always moved by a unique setting, interesting architecture or where a place is situated. Something tells me that castle in the neighborhood may show up in a story somewhere down the road. The legends that go with it are very interesting...

Cyber Monday

Do you do your Christmas shopping online? I know I do. I've always hated shopping, to the shock and amazement of some of my male friends. Yes, there are times when it is necessary to step inside a store to buy things, but those occasions are few and far between.

Begin the sales pitch.  Ahem....

To add to your cyber shopping fun, now that the Mist trilogy is completed, I've bundled them all together in one neat package. So if you're behind and want to catch up, or if you just want them all in one place, check out THE MIST TRILOGY. It's less expensive together than buying them each individually. If you loved them, maybe you'd like to gift them to a friend, but they're only available for your e-reader.  Find out why "Rosa" calls them "Freakin' Awesome!"

End the sales pitch.

Stay tuned for my regularly scheduled Wednesday blog post, free of sales pitches or promotion :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, Sweetheart

Today, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Today is a time to set aside everything else, all the insecurities and unhappiness and look at the plus side, the silver lining.

I am thankful for my family.

• My parents, who have been blessed with long life.
• My husband, who regularly "shows" his love through all the little things he does, in addition to "telling" me.
• My children, who I am so darned proud of each and every day.
• My grandchildren.
• Sisters and nieces and nephews and cousins and all the extended family who mean so much to me.
• And let's not forget pets ...

I am thankful for friends, especially new/old friendships that have included me or have "come around again" 

I am thankful for excellent critique partners, who make my writing better.

I am thankful for my faith, which has gotten me through more difficult times than I'd care to admit. 

I am thankful for the job I often complain about, for the house that I live in, for the food on my table.

I am thankful for fans who love my books!

As I spend the next couple of days making the rounds, I wish for all of you the gift of "seeing" your blessings and remembering those who you hold dear.

Sharing my husband's favorite Thanksgiving dish with you today - Sweetheart Salad

2 cups crushed pineapple                        
2 tbsps lemon juice

½ cup sugar                                             
2 tbsps maraschino cherry juice

1 ½ tbsps unflavored gelatin                   
¼ cup water                                             
2 packages cream cheese

12 marachino cherries

½ pint whipping cream

Heat pineapple with sugar.  Soften gelatin in ¼ cup cold water; stir into pineapple mixture.  Add lemon and cherry juices.  Cool.  Mash cream cheese;  add cherries which have been cut fine; mix with pineapple, adding a small amount of pineapple mixture to cheese at a time.  Chill until slightly thickened.  Whip cream and blend with pineapple mixture.  Mold and set.  Makes 12 small servings.

As an alternative, you can substitute the whipping cream by omitting the sugar and using 2 cups of cool whip.

True confessions of an introvert

A shout out to Firefighter Mike, who has so graciously answered my questions, pointing me in the right direction, given me ideas in previous books. His lovely wife is my pet sitter for those occasions when I take The Big Guy and run away from home.

I'm not always comfortable talking to new people, am not naturally outgoing by nature. As I work on this next book, I need more firefighter/paramedic information (I may have mentioned that last week), and I asked FF Mike's lovely wife if I could bother him with more ridiculous author-type questions.

True confessions. I'd feel comfortable chatting with Mike after past communications, but I always worry, as an author, if I'm "bothering" people, and I understand he is currently indisposed, so I'm even more apprehensive to bother him. Options? I have two fire stations very close to where I live and I've considered stopping in and making a nuisance of myself.

I was in the grocery store over the weekend and saw a contingent of firemen doing the shopping for the firehouse. But did I walk up to them and say, "Hey, can I pop over and ask some questions for this project I'm working on?"

No.

Why not?

Enter Writers' Angst. What if the story I'm writing sucks? What if I make an idiot of myself in front of these guys asking stupid questions and I never go anywhere with them? Have I wasted their time? After all, they have more important things to do than talk to a "romance author." (Imagining male eye-rolls.) Then there's the whole "talking to strangers" thing, even though they are "good" strangers. (Have I convinced you that I'm a nutcase yet?)

Plan B. There is an internet loop of just these sorts of people who are willing to answer author questions. Yes, I'm going to tap them, too. Why not stick with them? Then I lose the personal touch, the same personal touch that scares me in the first place!

I follow another highly successful author's blog, an author who is painfully awkward with people, horribly introverted. I hate to think I'm like that, but on days like this, I can completely empathize with her. Fortunately, there are many days where I actually enjoy stepping out and meeting new people. Different personalities, different stories that feed my imagination.

Just not when I'm in the throes of writers' angst...

On Tuesday I went back to the grocery store (Thanksgiving is just around the corner, you know) and wouldn't you know it? Another batch of fireguys were also doing shopping. You'd be very proud of me. I went up to them and talked to them and everything! Made my trip to the station to fill in the details so I get it right...

Writing to Distraction

Plugging away on the new story. I may have mentioned this one is about Matt, the Paramedic from LIVING CANVAS and RETURN TO HOFFMAN GROVE. As such, I reached out to my firefighter/EMT friend for more information, and I'm considering a field trip to the firehouse to chat with everybody. Add a little realism to the story, doncha know.

Matt's counterpart in this one is taking over a family-run indie bookstore, and in line with that, I'm planning a field trip to visit my favorite local indie bookseller, +Judi Brownfield @Books at Sunset.

There are days when I can write all day and never leave my chair, and there are days when every word is a struggle. At the development stage, I'm hopelessly distracted by the details. I know what comes next, I know what I want to write, but I'm missing the authenticity. I need those field trips to fill in the blanks, and while I would not describe this as writer's block, it certainly does stall me out. The funny part is that a lot of the details end up on the cutting room floor. So what might be critical to me at the moment, getting something right for the sake of realism, might have little or nothing to do with the story, but it is ALWAYS helpful in rounding out the personalities of my characters. Part of what makes them relatable is seeing them in their everyday lives. What they do. Unlike a Regency romance, where the ton make a living at being idle, most of us get up and go to a job every day.

So I'm stuck. Because I'm distracted. I want to get the details to fill in the blanks, but because I, too, work a day job, popping over to chat with people (who also have work to do, by the way) isn't always so easy.

The good news? This story, while almost 1/3 written, is still technically in the development stage. A first draft. That means I can fudge it and fill in the details on the next go 'round. The same cure applies to writer's block. You can't fix what you don't write, and even if I don't have all the details yet, I can keep writing and fix them later.

At least that's what I tell myself.

Women Drivers

I'm currently writing an accident prone heroine - not unlike my own self. Seems as if I could come up with LOTS of trouble for her to get into.

The other day I went to visit my parents. They live in a retirement community, and the "regular" visitor parking lot was full, so I had to drive around to the side lot and parked in front of one of those cement stops (rather than in front of a small hill). When it came time for me to go, there was no one parked in front of me (you can see where this is going, right?), so I pulled forward.

Right over the cement stop.

Now I have a smaller car (on the outside, it's actually fairly roomy on the inside, but I digress). The good news, everything "seems" to be okay. I'm taking it in for my regularly scheduled oil change this week or next, and I'll ask them to check the undercarriage for me to see if I did any damage. I can already imagine the rolling eyes and the look that says "women drivers...."

Anyone else?

Oh, hey. Did you know the new book is out? Early reviews say people are linking it (just sayin', in case you haven't bought a copy/read it yet)

Contest Winners

Good morning! And how is everyone this fine Monday Morning?

Thanks to everyone who helped me make the release of RISING MIST a success, and for those of you playing along, here are the winners from the newsletter contest:

Congratulations to Rhonda Forbes, who wins The RISING MIST coffee mug,

To Rachel B who wins postcards, bookmarks, and a lighted key ring,

To Karen Dieffenbaugher, who won a copy of MIST ON THE MEADOW

And to Sharon Sommer, who won the $10 Amazon gift certificate.

Thanks for helping me celebrate my new release!

Premier Week

I'm really excited about the new release! You can buy the paperback now, but the e-book won't release until Friday. It's still discounted until then (links to the right).

I've scheduled snippets on my Facebook page all week if you want to read some of the highlights. Let me know which one is your favorite!

Standing out in a crowd of new releases

Congratulations to giveaway winners, Vera Carter, Nancy Little, and Nichole Nace

Ahem. Standing on my soapbox, pulling out my bullhorn.

“Welcome ladies and gentlemen! I’m very excited to announce the release of my latest book, RISING MIST. This third in the “Mist” series (which each stand independently) follows social worker Max Maitland, who is trained to help people, not leave them vulnerable to evil. His unexpected and unwanted legacy bestows upon him a spirit beast—a cougar—to help protect him and his sister. Bound to his sister by their legacy, Max is frustrated at the prospect of sacrificing his own goals and dreams like his bachelor uncle before him.

Robin Chandler’s reputation as a mural artist allows her temporary escape from her native Sedona, Arizona, away from the ex-fiancé who cheated on her and where she suffered the horror of a cougar attack. After four months on the road, she’s ready to return to the desert landscape close to her heart, but meeting Max Maitland is a potent diversion.  When Max tells her his sister is fighting evil spirits, Robin questions her choices. This otherwise irresistible guy can’t really believe in the “woo-woo” can he?”

The paperback is available for sale NOW, but you can still pre-order the e-book (due out a week from Friday) for just $0.99! Hurry, before the price goes up!

Stepping down off my soapbox, putting aside my bullhorn.

Authors are finding it increasingly difficult to be heard in the commotion that has become the publishing industry. Why? Borrowing from a blog I read recently:

“The competition. As of this writing, 11,667 new romance Kindle books released in the last 30 days, or around 400 per day. There are 326,894 romance e-books to choose from. What's a newer author to do to compete in fields with so many flowers?”

 – RuthKaufman, Gainfully Unemployed

I no longer qualify as a “new author,” My first book was published in 2002, and my new release is number 8 (there was a break in time while I had to reorganize my life somewhere between books 2 and 3). I have been releasing two books a year for the last couple, while balancing a day job, but that isn’t always enough for voracious readers. Some of MY favorite authors are putting out three and four and SIX novels per year (without the interference of a “second” job). It’s hard to keep pace with the heavy hitters, and yet I’m seeing THEM struggling to hold onto their readers, even on the best-seller's list.

The industry has undergone numerous changes in the past years, with the advent of e-books and more authors choosing the independent route. As a reader, I’m finding it more difficult to select new books to read. My mailbox is inundated with newsletters hawking discounted and free e-books, and even many of those don’t appeal to me. Knowing that, how can I, as the author, lure a new reader to pick up one of my books when even discounting isn’t enough reason to pick up a book?

There are times when my fellow authors and I threaten to throw in the towel. It’s a challenge to write for an increasingly selective audience and to tap new readers who we hope will find we are their “new favorite author.” We all strive to write a quality product. We hire out professionals to improve our presentation and to check over our final products for errors. At the end of the day, we don’t do this for the money, we write because it is a part of who we are, so when sales lag or we get discouraged that people aren’t finding us, we continue with the next book. Because this is what we love to do. This is what we are passionate about.

So I hope you’ll consider my newest release, and maybe some of my backlist if you are new to my writing. And recommend me to a friend. If I’m not your “cup of tea,” I hope you’ll recommend the books that you have read and enjoyed to your friends to support my fellow authors who are also struggling in an extremely competitive environment. Make sure you spread the word and leave a review for the books you’ve read.

Normally, I do a Goodreads giveaway when I release a new book to give *new* readers a chance to test run my writing. This time, I'm trying something different. Three of the first fifteen people who Click here to enter have a chance to win a paperback version of RISING MIST at Amazon.com. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends when all prizes are claimed. See Official Rules.

Requirements for participation:

·         Resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia

·         18+ years of age (or legal age)

Oh, and I hope if you are one of the lucky ones, you'll let me know what you think and leave me a review after you've read it!