Quiz time. Who knows what SEO means? Ten points if you said Search Engine Optimization. Hundred points if you know what the heck that means.
I’ve heard the term bounced around quite a few times, but mostly by social media experts. All the writers I know just shrug their shoulders, having no clue what it is. It’s important, that’s all I know. The higher you’re ranked by some obscure and highly secretive mathematical equation, the better. If you google your name and it shows up on the first page, you’re doing great. If you google your name and it shows up on page twenty, then you’ve got some work to do.
Last week I pointed out a benefit of blogging. Frequent blogging helps your SEO ranking. Blogging once a month doesn’t. Another thing I discovered last week in my social media workshop has to do with links in your posts. You see, if you have dysfunctional links, it hurts your ranking. The more bad links there are, the worse your ranking. I checked my blog using Broken Link Checkand discovered I had well over 100 broken links. It didn’t take long to discover most of them were from my Cool Links Friday posts. They used to work but not anymore.
Because it would have taken more hours than I care to think about to fix the problem, I deleted all my Cool Links posts. I then went back and cleaned up as many of the remaining posts as possible that had broken links.
This took me over two hours, but at least I’ve made the SEO gods happier. In fact they were so happy, when I entered ‘New Adult damaged characters’, my blog is on the first page, right above the reviews for some of my favorite NA novels. Exactly where I want to be, especially when my books are released.
Have you done anything to increase your SEO ranking? Or is this the first time you’ve heard the term?
My CP and I discovered a cool feature over Christmas. You can lend your Kindle books to friends and family. So I thought I’d share some tips we discovered, some the hard way (see #4).
1. Not all Kindle books can be loaned out. To find out if the one you want to loan can be loaded out, look on its Amazon page and scroll down the Product Description. Next to ‘Lending,’ it needs to say ‘Enabled’.
2. You can only loan out the book ONCE. So save that special book for that special person. Of course, if you’re sending a book on how to be a better person to someone you consider to be a major jerk, loan away.
3. How many times have you lent a book to someone and never saw it again? *raises hand* Not a problem with the Kindle lending system. The person who borrows the book from you only gets it for FOURTEEN DAYS, before it vanishes from their Kindle or Kindle app. How cool is that?
4. DO NOT lend a book you are still reading, especially if it’s at a good part (like a very steamy make out scene). Like with a real book, when you loan it out, it’s no longer in your possession. You can’t open it on your Kindle until the loan period is over or the borrower sends it back to you. Wait until you’ve read the book BEFORE you loan it to your friend.
5. If you want to loan the book to a friend, check with them first to make sure they have time to read it now. Nothing is worse than getting to the climax and having the book vanished because your fourteen days is up.
Has anyone else tried the lending system through Kindle? Do you lend your books to friends and family (ebooks or hardcopies)?
* * *
I forgot to mention in my final Cool Links Post last week that The Adventures in YA & Children’s Publishing blog has brought back the popular weekly links post. It is now on Saturdays. They always have great links.
And because I can’t totally abandoned the great links I find, I will be tweeting them on Twitter during the week. You can find them at @StinaLL.
Are you hot? Not right now. It’s kind of chilly in my room. Oh, you mean the other kind of hot? Nah. I’ve never been hot. Cute maybe, but never hot. (My hubby burst out laughing when I asked him. Hmmm)
Upload a picture or wallpaper you are using at the moment. Until I got tagged, I had the most unimaginative wallpaper available on my computer. So I changed it to this . . .
. . . which I took on vacation in SF last year. My husband and kids love the new wallpaper, so I guess it’s staying. When was the last time you ate chicken meat? I can’t remember. Maybe a few weeks ago (we don’t eat a lot of meat). I made spicy chicken breasts with mangos and coconut milk. It’s yummy. The Song(s) you listened to recently? What the Hell by Avril Lavigne Born This Way by Lady GaGa Just Can’t Get Enough by The Black Eye Peas My eleven-year-old thinks I’m the coolest mom because I listen to the same music as him (which means I buy the music without complaint). What were you thinking as you were doing this? I was thinking about an email that I need to send after dinner. One which I’ll be blogging about on Wednesday (not to keep you in suspense or anything). Do you have nicknames? Technically, Stina is my nickname. It’s short for Kristina. Apparently my parents were going to call me Stina but forgot. Seriously? How can you forget what name you were going to call your first born?
Tag eight Blogger friends. (You are it!)
1. Lenny Lee 2. Matt MacNish 3. Christina Lee 4. Laura Pauling 5. Heather McCorkle 6. Steena Holmes (writes erotica romance short stories as Anya Winter) 7. Angela Ackerman (from the awesome Bookshelf Muse) 8. Deb Marshall
Who's listed as number one? Lenny Lee is the coolest kid in the blogosphere, who has the heart and strength to rival most adults. Not to mention, he comes with an awesome fan club. :) (Hugs, Lenny. We're all cheering for you!)
Say something about number 5. Heather posts cool Twitter publishing industry links on Tuesdays, and describes a mythological creature every Friday.
How did you get to know number 3? Christina and I got to know each to know each through blogging, and quickly became friends. She’s an awesome friend, CP, and jewellery designer, and I feel extremely lucky to call her my friend. Plus, her writing seriously rocks.
How about number 4? Like Christina, I meet Laura through blogging. Her posts frequently makes it to Cool Links Friday, for good reason. And she’s one helluva great beta reader and writer.
Leave a message for number 6. I can’t wait to read your upcoming guest post. ;)
Leave a lovey-dovey message for number 2. ROFL. I don’t know how to write lovey-dovey messages (and my hubby might get jealous if I sent one to Matt). So I’ll just say, “Hi!” Do number 7 and number 8 have any similarities? Angela and Deb both live in Calgary (like me), and they both crack me up (usually while I’m eating). And if that’s not enough, we love hanging out together (with a group of other kidlit writers) at The Cheesecake Café.
(Dear Taggees: You're under no obligation to play the tag game, but I just wanted people to know just how awesomesauce you are.)
As promised, I’m continuing with my tips on making the most of your point & shoot camera. For this week’s tip, you'll need a camera that allows you to adjust the shutter speed. This is a feature of the SLR camera, but some point & shot cameras enable you to do the same thing, only not to the same degree.
For these cool night picture of the moving car (those are the car’s tail lights you see), I set the camera speed to 1.5 seconds. Fortunately, unlike my SLR camera, my point & shoot camera has image stabilization. Without this, I would have to either mount the camera on a tripod, or rest it on a sturdy surface, like a rock. I just aimed the camera and took the picture. The camera figured out what aperture (size of the lens opening ) to use. Simple, huh?
Experiment to figure out what length of time gives the effect you’re looking for. And don’t forget to take tons of shots, and from different locations to see what works best.
Next week’s tip (May 3rd) is postponed for Hug an Author Day. I’ll be reviewing a book I love, plus I’ll be giving away a copy to some lucky follower who leaves a comment on the review next week. Oh, by the way, I’m not the only blogger participating in this event. Hopefully, I can give you more details on this week’s Cool Links Friday.
When creating your characters, consider their humor. I’m not talking about their sense of humor. I’m referring to the concept Hippocrates (the father of medicine) came up with. He claimed the humor was responsible for each person’s typical mood. In Breathing Life into Your Characters, Rachel Ballon described these moods as temperaments and each temperament is made up of various traits. The four temperaments are:
Sanugine (cheerful and optimistic)
source
Melancholic (depressed)
source
Choleric (too aggressive and impulsive)
source unknown
Phlegmatic (Cold-hearted)
source
For a complete list of traits for each temperament, check out this brilliant post by Misha Gericke (it’s the same one from Cool Links last Friday).
Depending on the situation, a different combination of traits will be expressed. This reveals characterization. If you know your characters’ temperaments and traits, it will make writing the scene so much easier. And when you pit two characters together with contrasting temperaments, you create conflict.
Here’s an exercise you can try when creating characters (main and secondary):
1. Select several characters from the story and assign each a temperament and several traits.
2. Come up with an idea for a scene. It doesn’t have to be from your story, but do keep to something similar to what you would find in your book. For example, if you’re writing YA contemporary and your characters’ lives are never at risk, you might not want to do this exercise with a life of death situation. Or maybe you do.
3. Now write the scene, but write it from each character’s point of view. No, I don’t mean you can go head hoping. If you have three characters, write the scene three times, each time from a different character’s point of view. (Hint: Identify the Goal, Motivation, and Conflict for each character first).
Not only will you get to know your characters better, and how they would deal with a situation similar to what’s in your story, it will help you develop each character’s voice for their dialogue. If you’re having trouble getting the emotion right in a scene, you can always try this exercise, too. It will help put you in the secondary character’s head.
(Note: this exercise isn’t the same one in Rachel’s book. Her exercise inspired this one.)
When creating your characters, have you consider their temperaments?
I know, I said I wasn't going to blog this week, but I really did miss you guys. My inbox has been lonely without your heartwarming comments. *wipes away tear*
Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm doing today's FRIDAY FIVE on Cassandra Marshall's blog. Cassandra's a fellow YA writer, a freelance editor, and an intern at a literary agency. AND until midnight tonight (Friday July 2nd), you can enter for a chance to win a substantial edit (up to 100 K). Now who wouldn't want that?
Have a great weekend! Cool Links Friday will be back next week.
Several months ago, I read a post that caused a lot of controversy within the writing community. I’m not going to mention the individual’s name since she left a not-so-nice comment on one of my friend’s posts, and I don’t want to deal with that attitude here. Blogger Alert, anyone?
So what was this controversial topic? This individual felt that non-published writers shouldn’t write about, well, writing. In her view, only those who are published are qualified to talk about it. Apparently the rest of us, because we aren’t authors, don’t know how to write.
I disagree.
I don’t follow author blogs, with a few exceptions. At this point, the only way authors can grab my loyalty is to write kickass novels. Do that, and I’m all yours. I don’t care if your blog is the most awesome thing on this planet. If your book doesn’t meet my expectation, I’m not buying the next one.
The blogs I do follow are by unpublished writers. These are the individuals whose books I hope to see on my bookhelf one day. Many of them are agented. Others aren’t. A number of them have something in common. They blog about writing. They blog about tricks they’ve picked up in how-to books on writing (and give credit where credit is due). They blog about things they’ve learned through critiques and from conferences. And they share their advice in bite-sized pieces.
To those of you who blog about writing, I applaud you. My writing is a hundred fold better because of you. Although I showcase a lot of great blogs during my Cool Links Friday, I wanted to give a shout out to the following blogs/bloggers:
The Bookshelf Muse Christina Lee Laura Pauling Creepy Query Girl (Katie Mills) Paranormal Point of View (Lisa Gail Green. She’s published but I’m still including her here.) Adventures in Children’s Publishing Operation Awesome YA Stands Oasis for YA Lydia Sharp
Question: Do you feel that only published authors can blog about writing? Have you ever shared writing tips on your blog?
And the winners of the Stina portion of Stina and Steena’s OMG! contest (as selected by random.org) are . . .
*drum roll in the background*
Shannon O’Donnell who gets a $20 gift card from her choice of Barnes & Noble or Borders.
and
Courtney Barr who gets a $15 gift card.
Congratulations winners!
And thanks everyone for making the contest such a huge success.
I’m going unplugged today since my six year old has a performance this afternoon, and I really really have to finish editing my wip by the end of the month. I’ll return tomorrow with Cool Links Friday and the winner of the novel, Twenty Boy Summer.
If you read this link from Cool Links Friday last week, you’ve already had a taste of what you can expect in Rivet Your Readers With Deep POV by Jill Elizabeth Nelson. No matter what your skill level, you’ll benefit from the book, even if it’s just a reminder of the rules we quickly forget. These are the rules you don’t want to break, unless you want weak writing.
If you struggle with telling, this book will also help. For each topic, Jill gives examples of shallow POV, then shows how to make each sentence stronger. You might be surprised at how often you are inadvertently telling. Topics include (note: these are not the chapter titles):
POV basics
What deep POV is and what it isn’t
The dangers of thinking and feeling
The horrors of prepositional telling
It’s ABC not BCA: Are you writing out of order?
First person deep POV (because you can screw up here, too)
I give this book 5 stars. Best of all, it’s only $2.99 for Kindle (or Kindle apps). And it’s short. About ninety pages short.
The book also explains how to show emotion beyond the typical clichés (e.g. pounding heart). TheEmotions Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi will help take your writing one step further. It’s the perfect accompanying book to Rivet Your Readers. It will give you ideas for showing emotion that you might not have otherwise thought of, both viscerally and externally. It’s the most used writing resource I own and also worthy of a 5 star rating.
Have you read either of these books? Have you read any books on POV?
A year ago, I received a rejection on my full in which the agent suggested I hone my writing skills some more (okay, more like a lot more). Within 24 hours, I had signed up for two writing courses (one focused specifically on YA) from a reputable online organization.
The advantage was that the instructor in each (along with my fellow students) would provide feedback on the assignments. While I did learn a few things I didn’t know, most of what I learned wasn’t new to me. Actually, I learned a helluva more by reading blogs—for free.
So what about the feedback? Wasn’t that worth it?
Let’s just say I’ve had way better crits from beta readers than I got from my instructors and classmates. Again, for free. After receiving feedback on my first chapter during the class, I sent it in for the critique at the LA SCBWI conference last year. Shortly afterwards, several beta readers read it and gave me much better feedback (especially on how I could tighten my writing). Even Ellen Hopkins had a lot to say about it. Things the instructor should have pointed out. #epicwritingcoursefail
Recently I took an online workshop for writing love scenes. Too bad I’d already read Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance. The class would have be great if we could have had feedback on our work (or at least on some students' work), but that didn’t happened.
Fortunately not all workshops I’ve attended have been a complete flop. A lot of the workshops at the LA SCBWI conferences have been awesome, and I’ve heard great things about the workshops/conferences held through my local RWA chapter (which I’ll be going to this year). And WriteOnCon (the free online conference) is awesome. If you haven’t already, check it out from last year. The organizers will be announcing the 2011 conference dates soon.
If you’re looking at taking an online writing course, here are some things to consider:
Who’s teaching the course? Have you read any of the author’s books? Some instructors (like in my ‘writing love scenes’ class) spend more time patting themselves on the back than teaching you anything. Warning: This happens at conferences, too.
Will there be an opportunity for feedback?
How many people are in the class?
Is the class for beginners? (This might affect the level of feedback you get or the level of information you’ll receive.)
What kind of time commitment is expected from you?
Is the class being held by a reputable organization? (Not that it helped me.)
For those of you who want to take your writing to the next level, my suggestion is to read as much as you can. This includes blog posts (hence why I do Cool Links Friday) and non-fiction books on writing fiction. Adventures in Children’s Publishing compiles an extensive list each week on blog posts pertaining to writing and publishing. It’s a must read, no matter what genre you write.
For feedback, check out forums such as Absolute Write, the Query Tracker Forum, and Verla Kay’s blue boards (for kidlit and YA writers). They are all free.
Has anyone else had good/bad experience with writing courses? Any other recommendations to help a writer hone his skill?
As promised, today is SPREADING THE AWESOME. Over 60 writers are reviewing books they love so much, they gave them a 10 star rating. So here’s my review for the YA contemporary novel, Twenty Boy Summer, by debut author Sarah Ockler.
Book blurb: According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna light-heartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie—she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.
First line: Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day.
Anna had been in love with Matt since she was ten and he was twelve, though no one knew that, including her best friend, Frankie. But on Anna’s fifteenth birthday, her birthday wish finally came true, and Matt moved from being her best-friend-that’s-a-boy to something more special. Because he wasn’t sure how his sister, Frankie, would take the news. He asked Anna not to say anything. He would tell Frankie during the annual family trip to Zanzibar Bay, the following month. But he never had the chance. He died in a car accident.
Anna is left grieving, and unable to tell anyone the truth. Instead, she writes in her journal letters to Matt even though she knows he’ll never read them, and relieves the memories of the month before he died.
Twenty Boy Summer is a beautifully written story, which I had a hard time putting down. It’s a great example of how to write emotions that leave the reader feeling the joy and pain of the main character. How does Sarah do it? She frequently juxtaposes sadness against humor, a technique that works extremely well. When Anna blinks back the tears, so do I. The characterization is strong, and the ways the different characters deal with their grief is believable.
While there are places where you feel Anna’s pain, not to mention her frustration at keeping the secret from her best friend, it really isn’t a sad story. (Okay, I did go through a number of Kleenexes, but there was no major sobbing involved.) Anna wants to move on and help Frankie move on, too. And although she harbors a fear that she’ll forget Matt, something she never wants to do, a romance does develop between her a local boy. And yes, the romance is so worth it. I mean, really, who wouldn’t want to date Sam?
For those of you who aren’t into books loaded with diary entries, this book’s for you. We only see a few of the letters Anna writes to Matt. Most of the details about the month before he dies comes from Anna’s memories . . . including the delicious kiss. Trust me, it was really delicious. Blue-frosting delicious.
The paperback version came out this weekend. I have a copy for some lucky follower who lets me know in the comments that they want to win it. You get an extra entry if you tweet about the contest (please include your Twitter @). You have until Thursday May 6th at 11:59 pm EST. I'll announce the winner during this week's Cool Links Friday.
The next stop on the SPREADING THE AWESOME tour is Janna Qualman’s blog. Check out her review for Second Honeymoon (adult) by Joanna Trollope. For you YA lovers, there’re still plenty more novels being reviewed today. And more chances to win great books. I’m off now to check out some more reviews. *winks*
For the next two weeks, I’m focusing (excuse the pun) on composition. All you have to do is choose the one(s) that emphasizes the subject or theme of the picture. That’s right, short stories and novels aren’t the only things with themes.
Rule of Thirds
Many amateur photographers tend to take photos with their subject smack bang in the middle of the picture. Ho hum! To avoid this, divide your frame into thirds—as in the above picture—and try to place your subject on one of the imaginary lines.
Selective Focus
By using a shallow depth-of-field, the background is blurred, which emphasizes the subject. This technique is only possible if you have a camera that allows you to adjust the aperture (AV). OR you can try fooling your camera into narrowing the depth-of-field by taking pictures in dimmer light. The camera will widen the lens opening to let in more light, thus blurring the background.
Size does count
When you look at the above photo, where is your eye instantly drawn to? More than likely the teen on the left. Why? Because she’s the largest thing in the photo.
I emphasized her by moving closer in and by having her stand away from her friends—thus making her look bigger. Of course, other principles you’ve learnt so far also helped draw your attention to her. Her friends are slightly out of focus (shallow depth of field), they’re looking at her, and she’s standing to the side (rule of thirds).
Lighting for Emphasis
The contrast between light and dark is another way to emphasize your subject.
When you look at the photo on the center, the first thing you notice is the boy’s face. The distance of the window from the floor threw the dim north light predominantly on his face. For this picture, I underexposed it slightly to deepen the shadows. You can only do this trick if you can manually adjust the aperture (AV) and speed (TV) on your camera. Otherwise, your camera might try to compensate, and lighten the picture.
In the picture on the right, the little pumpkin pops out at you first. This was achieved by placing it in direct sunlight. The dark shadow on the pumpkin behind it also serves to emphasize it, as does curved pattern of light.
I’m going to LA later this week for the SCBWI conference. Part 2 of this post will be available August 9th. Also, there won't be a Cool Links Friday this week.
Have a great week, and I can't wait to meet some of you in LA.
I'm so excited to have Jennifer Comeaux here today and learn about the second in her Edge novels, Edge of the Past (Astraea Press, Nov. 2012) Edge of the Past is the sequel to Life on the Edge-- I'll give you the book covers to see if you can figure out what these books are about...
BUY LINKS FOR EDGE OF THE PAST: AMAZON BARNES AND NOBLE SMASHWORDS
Hmmm... do you sense the theme?
(And aren't these AWESOME book covers! Seriously, gorgeous!)
Life on the Edge and Edge of the Past are New Adult novels, a very big upcoming genre in literature between young adult (12ish-18ish) and adult (over college age... ish).
And do you have to like skating to like these books? Well, did you have to know how to do surgery to watch ER or drink blood to watch the Vampire Diaries (ewwww)?
So, what is Edge of the Past about...
Emily’s skating career and personal life have never been more golden. She and her partner Chris have won every competition they’ve entered this season, and she’s found the man of her dreams in her coach Sergei. But when one of the biggest competitions of the year takes Emily and Sergei to Russia, Sergei’s past explodes into the present and makes Emily doubt everything in their future.
And what's reading the second book before you read the first one? It's like watching The Bourne Legacy without seeing the Bourne Identity or Return of the Jedi before they ever went away... FREE BOOK ALERT!!!! Jennifer wants to help you with that. She has agreed to give away 1 ebook copy of LIFE ON THE EDGE (Edge, #1) to a reader of this blog (You my friends... you! And is there anything better than free??????) All you have to do to win is leave a blog comment telling me which book cover you like the best: Life on the the Edge or Edge of the Past.
Personally, I'm all about the second one because purple is my favorite color... I need to make this blog purple (but I digress)
THE WINNER WILL BE RANDOMLY CHOSEN FROM THE BLOG COMMENT PARTICIPANTS. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. CONTEST ENDS AT 7 AM MONDAY, FEB. 18th.
GOOD LUCK!!! This is definitely a book you want to win!
Wanna know what book 1 is about????
Nineteen-year-old Emily is new to pairs skating, but she and her partner Chris have a big dream–to be the first American team to win Olympic gold. Their young coach Sergei, who left Russia after a mysterious end to his skating career, believes they can break through and make history. Emily and Chris are on track to be top contenders at the 2002 Winter Games. But when forbidden feelings spark between Emily and Sergei, broken trust and an unexpected enemy threaten to derail Emily’s dreams of gold.
And here is an excerpt from EDGE OF THE PAST...
Excerpt Sergei pressed me up into the star lift, and I noticed some of the other skaters idling and watching us. We sped past them, and Sergei set me down, preparing for the closing seconds of the program. In time with the final piano notes, I edged away from Sergei, and he rushed toward me, trapping me in his arms for the ending pose. I gasped at the passion with which he grabbed me. His eyes held my gaze then slowly drifted down to my mouth, and my body hummed from the fiery energy between us. I leaned into his chest and squeezed my fingers harder around his biceps. A few of my training mates erupted with applause and whistles, and Sergei jerked backward. He didn’t say anything as he took off to cool down, leaving me alone in the middle of the ice with more than my muscles burning.
About the Author Jennifer Comeaux earned a Master of Accounting from Tulane University and is a Certified Public Accountant in south Louisiana. While working in the corporate world, she sought a creative outlet and decided to put on paper a story that had played in her head for years. That story became Life on the Edge, her first published novel. When not working or writing, she is an avid follower of the sport of figure skating, travelling to competitions around the country. Those experiences allow her to see a different side of the sport and serve as an inspiration for her writing. Jennifer is blessed with a wonderful family and friends who have encouraged her to pursue her dream of being a published author. Author social media links: Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
When you are pregnant or getting married (or anything really) and you look forward to a date, that date seems like it's never going to come. Oct. 9th has been that date for me since July. It's here... and I'm celebrating!!! :) (there may be some cake in my future).
I want to celebrate with you too! This week, I have a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card or a $10 Barnes and Noble Gift Card. You can enter HERE.
Also, I'm on a a 2 week blog book tour (I still think that's cool :)). Today I'm at:
Walking in Faith 4 Him One of the hardest things in the world to do is forgive someone. I, personally, have a hard time not holding a grudge. Take my husband for example: I’m one of those people who will bring something up from five years ago if it makes my point in an argument, “Do you remember when blah blah blah blah…”. CLICK TO READ MORE
A Word of Encouragement I love the title of this blog, A Word of Encouragement. I have an ‘encouragement’ blog as well: Encourage 365. I firmly believe that encouragement is needed in this life to build people up and just plan keep them going. CLICK TO READ MORE
Shakin' the Foundation
Have you ever had a situation arise that made you question your faith? In different ways, Rachel and Asher (the characters in the new book CROSSING THE DEEP, Astraea Press) have that happen to them. A death she feels responsible for has rocked Rachel’s world for years. She believes in God but doesn’t understand why He does the things He does sometimes. When Asher was nine, an event during a camping trip makes him believe that if there is a God, He has turned His back on him. CLICK TO READ MORE I want to thank these wonderful blogs (and all of the others) for being so kind and accommodating for this tour. I also want to thank God. There is no way a book can be written and published in as short of a time as this one has if God wasn't involved! I don't want to let Him down. Don't forget to register for the giveaway!! There are lots of ways to enter :) Much love, Kelly
Last week, I was blissfully on Fall Break. I slept later than usual (well, as late as the 2 year old would let me). I ate what I wanted. I laid around in my pajamas. I played with my kids. I stayed up late.
I released a book and was on two Amazon Best Seller lists :)
This Monday, I'm back up early, fixing to get the girls up and showered, and try to keep my sleepy eyes open.
I'm also still on the book tour :) Today, I'm at Undivided talking about when you see no way out.
I'm also part of a big giveaway. Several authors have gotten together to giveaway a KINDLE FIRE! (How cool is that! If you have one already, it would make a good Christmas present to someone else).)
Interested? Click HERE for details.
If you haven't bought CROSSING THE DEEP (my debut novel), I encourage you to head over to Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com and read the free sample and what others are saying about the book (links are on the sidebar). I'm actually pretty humbled and excited about the response.
Well, it's time to get back in the groove again. Have a great day! ~Kelly
The final installment of 'How I Find Time to Write' is written by the wonderful Zanna Mackenzie! I'm so excited to have her tell you the tricks she uses to write her novels. She also has some excerpts from her new book How Do You Spell Love?
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Finding the time to escape into whatever book you’re currently writing can be a tricky business for an author. I’m fortunate in being self-employed, though contracted to work a set amount of hours per week I have plenty of flexibility re when I do work those hours. My day job is also writing related – another plus – as I’m the editor of some business publications for a chamber of commerce. I work from home too, which I love and which saves me having to spend time doing lengthy commutes each day – another positive! I’ve recently had two novels published by different publishers within the space of a month and have quickly discovered that all of the required promotional activity and social media ‘presence’ is very time consuming, far more than I had anticipated. All of which means finding the time to edit my next book (I’ve recently completed the first draft of it) and working on the scenes/plot/characters of the book I have outlined for after that is becoming more and more of a challenge. Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to have my work published and relish learning all about the promotional aspects of being an author, but as my writing time has now been squeezed considerably I’m having to be more creative about finding time to write and my solution is – write in bed!! My husband is one of those people who is always awake at about 5am and gets up to do the ‘early morning shift’ in our household - so I have a notebook by the bed and let my mind start working on scenes and dialogue as soon as I wake up and then I start writing them all up ready to be typed onto the computer in the appropriate slot in the working manuscript document whenever I get chance. I’ve found that I prefer writing in this way rather than sitting in front of the computer and writing straight onto it whilst in ‘the creative zone’. As the ‘boss’ at my day job doesn’t work on Fridays I try as much as I can to make Fridays my writing day – providing I don’t have design or proof reading deadlines for the business publications – and aim to keep promotion and social media to a minimum then as well so that I can get typing up all those scene notes. I currently have about 50 pages of notes to type up though – so this plan doesn’t always work!
Many thanks for hosting me on your blog today Kelly! My latest novel, published by Crooked Cat, is called How Do You Spell Love? Here’s the details:
Make A Wish… Kat can’t help wishing there was more to life than this. What happened to her dream job? What happened with Nathan? Summer is wondering where her life is going too… battling the developers of a controversial housing estate and working out why boyfriend Rob is increasingly distant. When the developers win the battle and move into town everyone’s life is turned upside down. Kat meets building site project manager Alex. She enjoys his company far too much, even though he’s on the town’s most hated list. Summer meets Tom who has plenty of relationship troubles of his own, so things could get really complicated. Soon everyone is keeping secrets, lives change and hearts are broken. Is everything falling apart, or does life just work in mysterious ways…
There’s a sneak peak of the book below and it can be purchased in paperback and ebook formats now on: *Crooked Cat Publishing http://www.crookedcatbooks.com/ *Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Do-You-Spell-Love/dp/1908910771/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361800360&sr=8-2 *Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/How-Do-You-Spell-Love/dp/1908910771/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361800417&sr=1-3&keywords=zanna+mackenzie
Extract from How Do You Spell Love? Kat pushed the last of the cottage cheese and shrimp sandwiches into the cool box and slammed the van door shut. As if her life wasn’t enough of a disaster zone as it was – no money, lousy job, losing Nathan, having to move back home to live with her parents – now this had to go and happen. Plus, of course, it didn’t help that today she was feeling shattered after spending half the night chanting some ridiculous protection spell in the middle of the allotments with Summer. Cringing as a van full of builders stopped at the nearby traffic lights, Kat braced herself for the inevitable. After the standard-issue wolf whistles had drifted across from their van, next came the leered, “Wouldn’t argue with that, love!” as one of them nodded towards her sparkling clean van, parked neatly at the curb. The words “A Bit of Crumpet on the Road” emblazoned down the side in deep purple, glittery lettering. Not for the first time Kat cursed her boss Janice for calling her bakery-cum-deli that name. Kat sighed, well it certainly drew comments from the public and from their customers, not always welcome ones, but as Janice was always keen to point out, any kind of publicity and attention was, in her eyes, good publicity and attention. Pulling her navy and white striped apron more tightly around her T-shirt and shorts, Kat ignored the builders and climbed into her van to begin that morning’s deliveries. As she indicated to pull out into the busy street in Luisborough, she mulled over the bad news – that she was to add the controversial Netherton Meadows housing development to her daily sandwich round. Netherton Meadows. Yippee. If Summer found out, she’d surely be ostracised for fraternising with the environmental enemy. This was a development that pretty much everyone in Luisborough had fought against for getting on towards a year. It had been the focus of STW campaigns. It went against everything that Kat believed in environmental-wise. Everyone hated the Netherton Meadows developers. Except, it seemed, Janice, who was perfectly happy to, in her words, ‘supply yummy builders with yummy sandwiches.’ Lost in thought, Kat just managed to spot the approaching traffic lights had turned to red and hastily slammed a foot on the brake. The van lurched to a halt and several boxes of crisps and one of the cool boxes in the back tipped over. Damn. It was shaping up to be one of those days. Ten minutes later she pulled into the car park of Printing Phenomenon, hauled some baskets and a box from the van and headed for the reception area. It was getting towards late July and was another one of those blazing hot days that made every little thing feel as though it required a huge amount of effort. The kind of day the people of the UK are so unaccustomed to, where all you want to do is get a large, cool drink and collapse into a deckchair for a long snooze. Two hours later Kat had visited all her usual drops, was extremely hot and bothered, and could put off going to Netherton Meadows no longer. Driving through the assorted vans, machinery and portacabins Kat parked next to a building marked as being the Site Office and hit the button on the dashboard. Tinkling chimes filled the air as Kat climbed from the driver’s seat and made to open the back doors of the vehicle. It was embarrassing enough that the van had the company name in large lettering along its side but, just to make sure that it received maximum exposure – and achieved maximum embarrassment – Janice had had some irritating chimes fitted to the vehicle too. Kat was under strict instructions to sound the chimes when she called at all of the sites where people came out to the van; such as they were about to at Netherton Meadows. A man came down the steps of the office with a grin on his face and walked towards her. “Hi, you must be Kat.” He wedged a clipboard under his left arm and offered a hand to shake. “I’m Alex. Project manager for the site.” “Hi,” mumbled Kat, spotting a group of hard-hat-clad builders advancing towards her with hungry expressions on their faces. “Right, lads,” Alex turned towards the men. “This is Kat and she’s very kindly agreed to venture onto this site to bring you all your lunch. Don’t give her any hassle, OK?” The men laughed and then nodded. “Sure, Alex. You’re the boss.” Fifteen minutes later it seemed that all of the team at the development had made their sandwich, crisp and drink selections and sloped off to devour them in the sunshine. Only one of the builders, a portly man who must have been twenty years Kat’s senior, had pushed the boundaries a little, despite Alex’s earlier warning. As he’d selected a smoked salmon and cream cheese roll – a choice that had surprised Kat somewhat, having pegged him as a ham and cheese kind of guy – he’d asked Kat if she’d fancy joining him for a drink sometime. She’d politely declined his offer, saying that she had a boyfriend. No need to tell him that, technically, she and Nathan were no longer an item. No need to tell him why either. Just as Kat slammed the van doors shut, Alex re-appeared from his office. “Thanks, Kat. I hope none of them caused any trouble?” he asked, taking off his yellow hard hat and running a hand through cropped dark brown hair in an agitated fashion. “No, they were all fine.” Kat forced a smile, struggling to tuck an escaped tendril of curly blond hair back into her ponytail. God, it was hot today. “Thanks for being so gentlemanly about their behaviour.” He grinned back at her. “No problem. I know what they can be like and as soon as I saw you getting out of the van I thought I’d better intervene. I’ve had enough problems getting a company to even contemplate coming to this site without them scaring you off on the first day.” “Problems? Why do you think that is?” asked Kat, sensing an opportunity to make sure this man was fully aware just how much the people of Luisborough were still against the development. “Because they hate us around here,” he said, shrugging matter-of-factly. “And that doesn’t bother you?” Kat was now leaning against the van, noting that Alex seemed, somehow, a bit different to the rest of the team on the site. He had a jaded air about him despite the fact that he was clearly much younger than most of the others. Kat couldn’t help noticing that he was also extremely good looking. “Yes, it bothers me but what can you do?” He sighed. “A job’s a job in this day and age. We all have to make a living, don’t we?” Softening a little towards him, Kat nodded and rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.” He moved to stand next to her, propping himself against the van. Kat hadn’t realised until that moment just how tall he was. “Take you, for instance. I can’t imagine it was your lifelong ambition to drive around in a van with that name on the side of it. You must get no end of grief.” “I do but I need to earn some money to get my life back on track, so here I am.” “Is this your first job?” he asked, setting his hat and clipboard on the roof of the van and looking at her intently. “Pretty much. I recently finished a degree in environmental science and geography at university.” She added, trying to sound optimistic, “I’m waiting for my dream job to come along. In the meantime I work at the deli for a pittance and spend the rest of my time volunteering in a charity shop in town.” “Dream job, eh?” He turned towards her, brown eyes looking at her in a genuinely interested way. “What would your dream job be, then?” Kat smiled. “That’s easy. I’d love to work on a project like a nature reserve. Helping to preserve the environment, look after the wildlife. The charity shop where I volunteer is the Save the World one. My boss there, Summer, is a good friend and a great campaigner against developments like this.” Aware that she was telling him things that she hadn’t really spoken to anyone about since Nathan, she quickly turned away. He was a complete stranger. A stranger who stood for everything she was against. He was the enemy, supervising the building of a development that she, and many others, had fought to try to prevent. Reaching onto the van roof to hand the hat and clipboard back to Alex, she said, “I’d better be going.” “Sure. Thanks for coming out here.” He started to walk away but then paused, turned back towards her and added, “See you tomorrow, then?” Kat nodded. As she drove off, she felt more flustered than when she’d arrived. Unfortunately she had a growing suspicion that it had nothing to do with the hot weather or having to bring food to the development against her will. Rather, she suspected, it had much more to do with meeting Alex the site manager. Not a good sign at all.
Author Bio and links Author bio Zanna Mackenzie lives in the East Midlands in the UK with her husband, 4 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an ever expanding library of books waiting to be read. Being a freelance writer and editor of business publications is her ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, she can be found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel she’s working on. She loves it when the characters in her novels take on minds of their own and start deviating from the original plot! Formerly a travel agent and therapist (she has qualifications in clinical aromatherapy, crystal healing, naturopathic nutrition and herbalism) she loves walking the dogs and gardening – that’s when she’s not writing or reading! Zanna has written two novels, The Love Programme and How Do You Spell Love?
Find out more about Zanna at: www.zannamackenzie.blogspot.co.uk www.zannamackenzie.co.uk Twitter: @ZannaMacKenzie Facebook: www.facebook.com/zanna. mackenzie Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10703273-zanna-mackenzie
Today is a real treat :) I have Marsha Ward here today to talk a little about herself, how she writes, why she writes, and if she's a pantser or a planner... How did you become interested in the Civil War? Author Robert Newton Peck once said that every historical writer has their favorite war. While his was the French and Indian War, mine turned out to be the Civil War. I don’t know what sparked my passion for it. It could have been reading some of historian Bruce Catton’s work, or Gone With the Wind, during high school. My interest certainly did not stem from a personal or family issue, since none of my relatives fought on either side. If they had, they’ve have been Union soldiers, and my characters fought for the South. That said, my current novels actually have post-Civil War settings, dealing with the aftermath of that great struggle, so they fit more in the classification of Western Migration novels, or Settling of the West. Very cool. Tell us about your novels. The Man from Shenandoahbegins as Carl Owen returns from the Civil War to find the family farm destroyed, his favorite brother dead, food scarce, and his father determined to leave the Shenandoah Valley to build a cattle empire in Colorado Territory. Crossing the continent, Carl falls in love with his brother's fiancée while set to wed another girl, but he might lose everything if the murderous outlaw Berto Acosta has his way. Carl battles a band of outlaws, a prairie fire, blizzards, a trackless waterless desert, and his own brother-all for the hand of feisty Ellen Bates. Ride to Ratoncontinues from there: after losing the heart of his fiancée to his brother, James Owen leaves home to make a new life for himself. The turbulent world of post-Civil War Colorado Territoryis fraught with danger and prejudice that increase his bitter loneliness as personal setbacks threaten to break him. Then James's journey brings him into contact with another wayfarer, beautiful young Amparo Garcés, who has come from Santa Fe to Colorado to marry a stranger. Through a twist of fate, their futures are changed forever when their lives are merged in a marriage of convenience. James and Amparo undertake a hazardous horseback trek over Raton Passto Santa Fe, battling their personal demons, a challenging language barrier, and winter's raging storms. My third novel, Trail of Storms, goes back to tell the tale of a peripheral character from the first novel. Jessie Bingham and her family flee post-Civil War Virginia after her sister suffers a brutal attack, and together endure a perilous trek to New Mexico Territory. When she hears her former sweetheart, James Owen, has taken a wife, Jessie accepts Ned Heizer’s marriage proposal on the condition they wait until journey’s end to wed. But then Jessie encounters James again... and he isn’t married now! Spinster’s Follyis the fourth book in the series, and tells Marie Owen’s story. Marie lives in a land that is long on rough characters and short on fitting suitors. Her desire to get married before she winds up a spinster propels her into making hasty decisions that drive her into the arms of a sweet-talking predator, landing her in unimaginable dangers. Wow, all of those books sound like they would be great reads. How much research was necessary to make your books so historically believable and where did you conduct most of your research? Did you visit the locations where you set your novels? I read 150 books to research my first novel. Some I bought, but most came from the library. Over the years that I’ve been writing the series, I have been able to do some on-the-ground research, and I recently took a trip back East to visit Civil War battlefields and other areas in preparation to write my next book. I’ve also been amassing books on the Civil War in the last year. Lots of books! In the earlier years, I conducted several interviews with people familiar with the areas I wanted to learn about. Photographs were also helpful, as were the state guides produced as WPA projects during the Great Depression. I’ve found several very good online sources for research on my later books. Are you a pantser or a planner when you write? I definitely write by the seat of my pants, once I have an idea for a story and know who my characters will be. I’m doing more planning now than I used to, though, so I don’t spend way too much time rewriting. However, I’ll never again write a complete synopsis early-on. That doesn’t work for me, because my brain then thinks I’ve already written the book. While I’m writing, I make various charts and spreadsheets to help me analyze the number of occurrances of different points-of-view, and events within scenes. This helps the revision process goes faster. I now use a great writing software program called yWriter5, which allows me to focus on one scene at a time. This is important, so that I don’t become daunted by the vastness of the project. A huge upside to using it is that the software is free! I'm a writer too, so I like to ask other writers. 'What's your writing schedule like?' Very fragmented. I’m easily distracted, but when I’m white-hot in the initial draft, I can write for up to eight hours, broken up by short breaks. This is only possible because I live alone. I wish I had a better schedule. Almost every writer I know wishes the same thing!
I know I do lol... actually, I wish my fingers and eyelids kept up with my brain lol. Have you held a "day job" in addition to your writing? Yes. Through the years I mothered my children, and then worked as a journalist, an educator, and in a retail store. I’ve also volunteered with several organizations, doing websites, newsletters, and a multitude of other chores.
Something I'm always curious about... How do you promote your books? I have a website and a couple of blogs, I’m active on Facebook and other social media venues, and I’m always looking for ways to let people know I’m an author, such as giving talks and networking with various groups. I find that word of mouth from enthusiastic readers drives the most sales, though.
Advice to anyone contemplating writing a Civil War novel? Do thorough research, keep accessible notes, then let the fingers loose.
Finally, How would you like to be remembered? As a kind person who could write a little. Thank you so much, Marsha, for being on my blog today... and HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!!!!!
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(I love that book cover!!) What exactly is Spinster's Folly? Marie Owen yearns for a loving husband, but Colorado Territory is long on rough characters and short on fitting suitors, so a future of spinsterhood seems more likely than wedded bliss. Her best friend says cowboy Bill Henry is a likely candidate, but Marie knows her class-conscious father would not allow such a pairing. When she challenges her father to find her a suitable husband before she becomes a spinster, he arranges a match with a neighbor's son. Then Marie discovers Tom Morgan would be an unloving, abusive mate and his mother holds a grudge against the Owen family. Marie's mounting despair at the prospect of being trapped in such a dismal marriage drives her into the arms of a sweet-talking predator, landing her in unimaginable dangers. This fourth book in the Owen Family Saga is infused with potent heart and intense grit.
Marsha Ward is an award-winning writer and editor who has published over 900 pieces of work, including three previous novels in the Owen Family Saga, numerous newspaper articles, and sections in books on the craft of writing. She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and American Night Writers Association. Born a while ago in the sleepy little town of Phoenix, Arizona, Marsha grew up with chickens, citrus trees, and lots of room to roam. She began telling stories at a very early age, regaling neighborhood chums with her tales as they snacked on her homemade sugar cookies and drank cold milk. Visiting her cousins on their ranch and listening to her father's stories of homesteading in Old Mexico and in the Tucson area reinforced Marsha's love of 19th Century Western history. After many years in the big city, Marsha now makes her home in a tiny hamlet under Central Arizona's magnificent Mogollon Rim. When she is not writing, she loves to spoil her grandchildren, travel, give talks, meet readers, and sign books. Here are links to my author pages at Smashwords and Amazon: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/marshaward http://www.amazon.com/Marsha-Ward/e/B003RB9P9Q/ And links to my Social Media sites: Website: http://marshaward.com Author Blog: http://marshaward.blogspot.com Character Blog: http://charactersinmarshashead.blogspot.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authormarshaward Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarshaWard Online Book Release Event at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/333393153425853/
Today is the big 13 stop (you read that right. I added another stop!) blog tour. It has been an ambition undertaking to be sure (13 blogs in one day required a LOT of writing lol).
On the tour, I have a lot of cool snippets:
Want to know how Aaron and Sloan met? It has to do with a party, a mustang, and the side of the road. READ ABOUT IT HERE...
Want to know how the brother's Ray and Aaron get along? Hint: They have a bit of the same love/hate relationship as Damon and Stefan on The Vampire Diaries-- without the killing ;) READ ABOUT IT HERE and HERE (this scene is too good not to have added twice :) )...
Want to read about Sloan and Aaron's first little flirt fest (it's at a four way stop... ) READ HERE...
Want to get the 'gossip' in Chapel Hill about the Hunter brothers? (It's not gossip if it's true ;) ) READ this SNIPPET
Want to read about how to write 'clean' fiction (even if it's darker fiction)? Read HERE...
Want to read about Sloan and her mom having the 'talk' (not 'that' talk)? READ HERE..
Want to have the best conversation in the comments section EVER? READ HERE...
Not sure you'll like the novel? Read the full synopsis HERE.
Want to read an author interview with me? Click HERE and HERE
Want to talk about reading or writing 'hard' topics in fiction? CLICK HERE...
What mysteries are in SAINT SLOAN? Find out HERE
Still not sure? Read the BACK COVER BLURB HERE
(IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING SAINT SLOAN, SEE THE LINKS ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THIS BLOG :) )
THIRTEEN STOPS. THIRTEEN PLACES TO READ ABOUT the Amazon Bestselling novel, SAINT SLOAN. I'd appreciate the support, the opportunity to be on all of these blogs, and especially all of you readers! You make this all worth it :) I truly hope you enjoy my novels, get something out of them, enjoy the romance, suspense, and mystery. If you do, tell you friends and neighbors. Word of mouth is still the best way to get the word out :)
CHECK OUT MY FACEBOOK PAGE TONIGHT AT 7 pm CENTRAL TIME FOR A GIVEAWAY CELEBRATING TODAY! YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT! https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kelly-Martin-Author/136506059763138
BIG thanks to all these blogs who have allowed me to take over for today!!
J. Andersen: http://www.readbetweenthelinesbookclub.blogspot.com/2013/03/kelly-martin-saint-sloan.html
