SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING IS...?

Well busy, hot, and sweaty. I swear there are times there isn’t enough hours in the day to get what has to be done finished. At least the hay is cut. The garden is alive, despite the lack of normal rain and relatively weed free. I have a list of things to do and have enjoyed ticking off the completed items.

But the sad truth is we tend to focus on the things we have to do. Those are the things that weigh on a person. We’re adults and we have responsibilities. But summer isn’t just about the must do things. Isn’t also about fun? We need to take time to find the fun and joy of being.

Being a person who needs balance in my life, I realize I also need fun things to do. Things I enjoy. The quiet time sitting outside of a morning with a fresh cup of coffee and listening to the birds sing up the sun. The quiet chuckle over silly hummingbirds arguing over who owns the feeder—or the flowers. I have a pair of nesting swallows that have a nest every year in the eaves of my breezeway/patio. It’s always fun to watch them raise up their babies. My horses, cats, and Danes—all give me joy and I do spend a lot of time with them.


Laughter is one of life’s joys.

I've also had a chance to go to the theater and see some good movies. So far my favorite has been The Avengers. Visits to my family are always something I enjoy and in the summer I try to get down to visit every other week. Two weeks ago I took a day and just visited family. My mom and I had a great time laughing and joking and sharing life’s moments. My great uncle Buddy sent my mom a small book he put together of the fox ranch my grandfather had back in the 40’s and he raised mink in the 50’s. She grew up in the Hayward area of Wisconsin and the ranch was at Lands End. Very remote and still is.  Lots of pictures of the house he built for my grandmother, pictures of my mother as a girl, my great uncles and aunt. Some pictures I hadn’t seen of my great-grandmother and grandfather Adams. Weddings, holidays, and family parties. He did it in story form and my mom loves it. He’s a published author and a retired (well mostly) wildlife biologist. He written and co-authored quite a few non-fiction books on the subject.

Later that afternoon I spent time with my brothers sharing a few beers around the pool and talking kids, jobs, and the vagaries of life after forty. Damn those body parts anyway.

I’ve visited with a nearby friend; I call her the goddess of the woods. She’s full of laughter and fun. She is a fascinating conversationalist and natural healing practitioner. 

And I’ve read quite a bit. Currently I’m reading a really good thriller called 72 Hours by William Casey Moreton (and will be reading more of his work). Other excellent books I’ve enjoyed; I Own The Dawn The Night Stalkers, ML Buchman, The Flower Reader, Elizabeth Loupas, Midnight’s Master, Donna Grant. A non-fiction, You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One) Jeff Goins. I’ve read other good books but these are in the excellent category for me.

And writing. I’m having fun with my current story and characters. I’m writing slower than I normally do but it’s steady progress.

• What have you done to balance out all the Must Do things? 
• What are some things you enjoy doing away from the computer and internet?
• Any fun vacation plans?

Making a living is not the same as making a life.

THE FIRE AND PASSION FOR GENRE FICTION

Coffee is fresh and hot! Grab a cup.

My guest today is award winning paranormal romance writer, Tamara Hogan. She found her path to writing genre fiction by way of being a "good little" English major in college and a case of knowing what she didn't want to write. And talks about how she found her way to writing paranormal romance served with a twist of sci-fi on the side. 

I'm one of those writers who came out of a university creative writing program feeling more beat up than energized. I knew, even way back then, that I wanted to write genre fiction instead of literary fiction.  But like a good little English major who wanted a good grade, I spent my university years writing poetry (which I loved, and was pretty good at), reading literature (which I loved as well), but writing the type of fiction that met professors’ and classmates’ expectations rather than had any sense of real passion or authenticity. When I graduated, I felt like a poser. My enthusiasm was dampened, my voice felt compromised, and I needed to take a serious break from writing.

I never dreamed that the break would be over twenty years long.

That's totally on me. Life got in the way, as it often does. I built a technology career, got married and divorced, got sick, fell in love again. Over the years, I took the occasional writing class to keep my hand in—finishing nothing, but rediscovering my love of genre writing. Taking workshops for pleasure rather than for a grade, and from working writers, was an utterly liberating experience for me. Over the years, I'd also gained enough confidence to simply not care what other people thought about what I liked to read or write.

One night, watching Motley Crue with a friend, inspiration hit. I was watching all of these middle-aged women lifting their shirts, flashing their middle-aged boobs at drummer Tommy Lee. I remember thinking to myself, "Why are these women behaving this way? Is he half incubus, or what?” (Incubi are mythological sex demons.)

What if he was?

That sole thought set my imagination on fire, and led to the creation of the world that I built for the Underbelly Chronicles series. Screw the rules, I wrote a book I wanted to read: a love story with mystery and science fiction elements, with naughty language and love scenes and a (gulp) rather sympathetic villain. I reveled in the writing, rediscovered my joy—especially when the manuscript was named a 2009 Golden Heart finalist and a Daphne du Maurier paranormal winner, and sold in a three-book deal to Sourcebooks.

I tell myself that things happen for a reason, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have regrets. I grieve for that young writer, for books not written, for the career that might have been. But what would that career have looked like had I embarked upon it right out of school? Would there have been any fire, any authenticity, in my work whatsoever? Any spark at all? And coincidentally, during those years I didn't write, when my energy was going toward other things, look what happened to the romance genre, particularly in the paranormal realm. I couldn't have written these books twenty five years ago, and there certainly wasn’t a market for them.

So…maybe I lost some time, but I'm trying like hell to make up for it now. Maybe things do happen for a reason. ;-)

CHASE ME BY TAMARA HOGAN – IN STORES JUNE 2012

(Amz | BN | Sourcebooks | Powell’s
| BAM | Sony | Kobo)

THE SECRETS SHE'S UNCOVERING WILL BE HIS TO KEEP...

Centuries ago, when their ship crashed to Earth, paranormals of all types settled secretly into our world, quietly going about their business with humans none the wiser. Self–ruling and careful to stay below the radar, all is threatened when Valkyrie archaeologist Lorin Schlessinger and her werewolf geologist partner Gabe Lupinsky inadvertently draw evil attention to Earth and its treasured natural resources.

As the threat intensifies, Lorin and Gabe struggle to contain the chaos they've unleashed, and to resist their explosive mutual attraction...Read an excerpt here.

“Hogan’s sharp, funny dialogue and strong but subtle character development elevate both the story and the fierce chemistry between insecure, bespectacled Gabe and lusty, aggressive Lorin. Paranormal fans will enjoy this fresh take on the genre.” — Publishers Weekly

Tamara Hogan loathes cold and snow, but nonetheless lives near Minneapolis with her partner Mark and two naughty cats. When she's not telecommuting as a quality and process engineer for a global networking company, she enjoys writing edgy urban fantasy romance with a sci-fi twist. A feral reader with an unapologetic television addiction, Tammy is forever on the lookout for the perfect black boots. Her debut, Taste Me, was a 2009 Daphne Paranormal Winner and 2009 Golden Heart Finalist.  For more information, please visit  www.TamaraHogan.com or follow her on Twitter, @TamaraHogan1.

Website       

Facebook     

Twitter          

Goodreads   

GIRDING THE LOINS

               

My guest today is debut historical author, Jayne Fresina. Her topic is timely for writers. When you write for yourself it's different than the courage needed to share that writing with others. Jayne calls it girding her loins.  


An appropriate term, if an old fashioned one, because the loins are vulnerable to injury. Taking on a physical task or going to war, one girded, or wore a protective belt to protect the loin area and sword. Or in the case of the biblical use, meant tying (or belting) up your loose clothes for ease of movement and generally meant preparing to use all resources for a difficult task. I would say a writer preparing for having their work published would qualify.

I started writing stories in my head when I was a girl walking to school each day. I vividly remember foggy autumn mornings, dawdling along, crunching fallen berries under my shoes. Often I stopped to collect beautiful gold and burgundy leaves that would not look half so impressive by the end of the school day, crushed into my satchel with the balsa wood airplane I made in woodwork, or my sweaty socks from hockey.

Unlike the fallen berries and dry leaves, my stories lived on. Each day I wrote a new chapter.

In the beginning I kept those stories in my head, because I feared other people would laugh at me. Certainly, I never had thoughts of becoming a published writer or letting anyone else know about the stories I thought up. It wasn't until I became an adult, that I started writing them down—in a notebook at first and then on a computer. Even then, I wrote them for my own satisfaction, not planning to share them with anyone else. Ever.

But one day I got up the courage to show a friend. I had mentioned to her, quite by chance, that I'd been working on a book. Immediately she was curious —as in What on earth are you doing writing a book? It must have been a surprise to a lot of people, since I'd kept my passion secret all those years. For some weeks I put her off, changed the subject, politely evaded talking about the book I was writing. It became a bit of a joke to some people. Oh, Jayne's writing a book, poor thing.

Eventually it was done, I felt an immense sense of pride and achievement and suddenly I wanted to show someone. Suddenly I was unaccountably vain. I was so proud, so in love with my characters. I wanted other readers to enjoy them as much as I did. It takes a pretty swelled head to take a manuscript that's never been professionally edited and give it to a friend to read. How did I ever get to that point? I laugh about it now, the hours I sweated over my decision to show other people what I'd written. I was taking a huge chance. They might never stop laughing at me.

Well, I'd better pull up my big girl panties or - as my heroine Sophie Valentine would say, I'd better learn how to Gird my Loins.

Looking back, I suppose that was the point when writing changed from hobby to purpose. My friend showed the manuscript to her husband and then to other friends. Soon I was being persuaded to try publication. Before I really knew what had happened, writing became not just a pleasant past-time but a driving need. Every morning I got up a few hours early just to write before leaving for work. At night I sat up in bed reading books for research or making notes on the pages I'd printed out. At that point I knew I had to find a way to get published. Whatever it took, no matter how many rejections from agents and publishers—and there were hundreds of those!

Sometimes I stop and look back. I wonder what I would have done with all those hours if writing had not become such an all consuming passion. What would I have found to do? Occasionally, when I finish another book and I'm about to release it out into the world to be judged, I think back to that first time I ever showed another human being my work. And I wonder how I got so brave.

No, the fear never goes away, never fades.

I write stories that I would like to read. It's all I know how to do. It's all I want to do. That is, after all, why I started, as a schoolgirl, trampling berries and fallen leaves on her way to class. It still feels incredibly good to know there are folk out there who get as much pleasure from reading these stories as I get from writing them.

Frankly, it amazes me that the stories coming out of my head can entertain other people, because inside I'm still the same girl with scabby knees, a lot of geekiness, hair that will never lay flat and a very, very good imagination.

And a great deal of fear as I send my precious characters off into the world for the first time. 

Like Sophie Valentine I had to learn how to "gird my loins" and take a leap of faith.

• What has had you girding your loins and taking a leap of faith?

THE MOST IMPROPER MISS SOPHIE VALENTINE BY JAYNE FRESINA – IN STORES JUNE 2012

"Wanted: one husband, not too particular. Small dowry, several books, sundry furnishings, and elderly aunt included. Idlers, time-wasters, and gentleman without other attachments need not apply."

—Miss Sophie Valentine

AMAZON, B&N, B.A.M

A SCANDALOUS LADY…

Sophie Valentine knew placing an ad for a husband in the Farmers Gazette would bring her trouble-and she was right. When the darkly handsome, arrogantly charming Lazarus Kane shows up on her doorstep, the nosy residents of Sydney Dovedale are thrown into a gossiping tizzy. After all, it's common knowledge that Sophie is a young lady In Need of Firmer Direction. But even Sophie isn't so scandalous as to marry a complete stranger…is she?

SEEKS HANDSOME STRANGER…

Lazarus Kane has been searching for Sophie half of his life. She may not remember him, but he could never forget her. But the past is a dangerous thing, and it's best if his remains secret if he wants to tempt Sophie with...

A MOST IMPROPER PROPOSAL…

Excerpt

~*~*~*~

Jayne Fresina sprouted up in England, the youngest in a family of four girls.  Entertained by her father’s colorful tales of growing up in the countryside, and surrounded by opinionated sisters— all with far more exciting lives than hers— she’s always had inspiration for her beleaguered heroes and unstoppable heroines. Visit www.jaynefresina.com for more information. 

MONDAY MUSINGS: The Art Of Relaxing

Coffee on the porch

It was a quiet day around the McKye homestead for Father’s day. Hubs had the early morning to do edits on his manuscript and I got to sleep in. Not that this was hard to do since I had stayed up late the night before doing my own writing and keeping an eye out on progress of the thunderstorm. Just in case.

A bit later we had a chance to sit around and drink some coffee outside and catch up on our week before it got too hot and muggy. Chatted about all sorts of things and, of course, the latest changes in stories and publishing. He deplores the need these days of stories having to be nonstop action from the get-go. God forbid that the reader might have to wade through any narrative before someone dies or is kidnapped or some danger rears its head. The need to grab your audience but still do a good set up of a suspense story is a fine balance, I agree. He does make a good point about Michael Crichton, Patterson, Dan Brown, and even Robert B Parker’s books. There is a lot of descriptive narrative, but the point I made was these authors were established long before this new style came into play. I bet if they were debut authors submitting, there would be chunks of that narrative cut. But because these authors are well-established moneymakers who’s going to tell them they can’t? They’re bestsellers. Their name alone sells books.

        

Hubs is an early bird. He should have a lifetime supply of worms by now. The day doesn’t matter because he’s usually up by four or four-thirty a.m. everyday. Sleeping in late for him is the very rare six. Of course the poor dear generally falls asleep in his chair before nine in the evenings. I finally had to order the HD recorder because he can’t seem to stay awake for his shows, which frustrated him to no end. So now he records them. I’m telling you, that recliner is like a lullaby for him.  

I’m not, by nature, a night owl, although I did go through my phase of it many years ago. But with my blog and getting that ready tends to keep me up a bit late—especially when the stoopid formatting issues start to rear it’s ugly head. I make sure I have a good nap to handle that and those are the days I sleep in until eight, otherwise I’m up by six-thirty because that’s prime writing time for me. It's quiet, I'm fresh, and there are no distractions (the internet is off).

I treated hubs to dinner Saturday night at his favorite steak house and plied him with his preferred top shelf margaritas on the rocks with salt. He enjoyed that. Son got his dad Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and I was able to get him some of his most wanted goodies from Cabellas. I even found the perfect card, featuring a recliner type chair on it and all the sweet mushy stuff. I saw it and laughed. It suits him so well. Then I left the room and shut my office door because he wanted to watch golf. I’m a player not a watcher and televised games tend to drive me bonkers. Tonight we had a nice dinner and watched the, oh so excellent, Game of Shadows.

It was a nice relaxing weekend for the both of us as we’ve been running way too much of late—Hubs with his job as a community Outreach Coordinator for the army, and me running around doctor's offices and getting things in order for Son and college. Some how I don’t remember preparation for college being quite so onerous and time consuming. Just a few more things and we’re done. Good thing. I’m about done in after all this. Last week was hard and I was run ragged by Friday and so practicing the art of relaxation was nice.

• How did you spend Father’s day? Do anything special?

MONDAY MUSINGS: Insecurities Of Rebuilding

~Start where you are because yesterday is gone and tomorrow hasn't happened.~

Writing is something I've always done both in the work force and for pleasure.
Each is in its own compartment. Both come from a different mindset. Writing is something I do and for me it’s always been relatively easy—depending upon the purpose. I can create a conversational tone in my writing or generate a very specific piece in formal or business English.

IWSG Articles and Participants

I approach writing for business and pleasure in different ways.

I’m very focused and disciplined when working. Most of my professional writing came with deadlines. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with deadlines. I very rarely missed a one. Working to deadlines doesn’t give you time to be stuck. You have to find a way through whatever block there is.

Writing for pleasure has been a different kettle of fish. I’m a bit more freeform—whatever catches my fancy would go on paper. A wisp of a dream I’d developed into a story, something I observed and it created a story in my mind, and what I call my, what would happen if…? When I’d get stuck I’d step away and mull it all over. Sometimes I’d come back to it and write what’s perked in my mind. Other times I’d get bored or lose interest and put it away. Not as disciplined as my professional writing.

Publishing deadlines require focus and discipline. I’ve been a contributor in several essay projects. I've written non-fiction industry oriented manuals. Teaching manuals or creative brochures. Most of these were procedural or writing to capture the attention with a set purpose in mind. Fiction publications were anthologies. Again, I had a deadline. I’ve always found that writing comes with roadblocks and corners to get stuck in. When it’s to deadline my mind finds a way around it.

A few years ago I decided to take my creative writing more seriously and work toward publication. I’ve written several novels. I also have quite a few unfinished manuscripts. Some of the unfinished are experiments in different genres and some are those I lost interest in finishing. I didn’t have a deadline on them so I could play a bit; try different things.

I queried some of the finished work and got some positives back. I had a good writing routine down. I was focused. I had some editing that needed to be done—I hate taking my creative work apart and putting back together.

I had my blog which falls into professional writing, I was attending writing conferences and enjoying the whole learning process. Hey, I even tried an elevator pitch on a story not yet written but I had a preliminary sketch on and the editor said she’d like to see it first before I queried it. That floored me. I was on the top of the world in the beginning of 2010.

Then life went to hell. I mean like a fiery comet zooming for impact. Everything changed in the wake of the crash. Things do come in threes—the tragedy of losing my brother at thirty-nine, my son and his difficulties, then my health self-destructing. Crash and burn, baby. Big time. And there was almost no Phoenix to be reborn.

Some writers are able to write through chaos. I’m not one of them. 
In the beginning of my illness, I would try to write. I’d get so frustrated when the words wouldn’t come. It got to the point that as soon I met with any frustration I’d quit. That became a disturbing pattern.

When writing is something you do without thought, when it comes easy; not being able to write is tough. I’m used to words flowing not hiding like shadows in my mind—you see them, they look real, until you try to touch them and they disappear. Having to stretch or reach for words for even a simple paragraph? You feel like you’ve been amputated.

Things are better. I’m better. But I’ve lost time. I’ve lost focus. The only thing that remains of that positive time is my blog and finished and unfinished manuscripts. Contacts.

I’m working at rebuilding the focus and the writing routine. It’s not easy. The burn of determination hasn’t quite returned but I do see the new growth in development.

I set goals. Baby steps where I was once running. Days of two or three thousand words are replaced with a measly five hundred and some days I celebrate when I accomplish two hundred. I remind myself of those in sports that have suffered a serious accident and what they have to go through to regain lost ground. They have to know how hard to push themselves and that’s a fine line.

Insecurities? You bet I have them. Can I break the pattern of quitting when I get frustrated? Will I be able to regain my joy, focus, and self-discipline? Do I want to? There are days I would tell you no. I don’t want to. Those are the weak days.

One thing I have found is feeling sorry for myself, looking behind rather than forward doesn't get me anywhere good. There is always a choice. I can sit in a huddle and whine or I can work through it and celebrate the success I have. Positive or negative. 

I've always chosen positive.

• How do you handle life's setbacks?  

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH

My guest is western romance author Joanne Kennedy. She shares with us her recent battle with Chronic Pain—how she's coped with it and distractions that have helped.

Sometimes when the going gets tough, the tough need a little escape from reality. That’s why I love romance novels. There’s nothing like plunging into the glittering world of the Regency era, joining hunky Navy S.E.A.L.s on a stateside mission, or riding the range with a hot hunky cowboy to take your mind off your troubles.

Once in a while, I hear from a reader who says my books helped them through a difficult time. Writing stories that offer solace when someone is ill or dealing with loss gives my work a whole new purpose.

But this year, the roles were reversed: It was knowing that there were readers out there waiting for my stories that kept me going through my own tough times. Because last year I joined the estimated 35 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain. 

It’s not easy to admit to this. I feel like I’m coming out of some dark closet, or admitting to alcoholism. Though there shouldn’t be a stigma surrounding something you can’t help, we instinctively keep pain hidden, like an injured animal who crawls off and hides so no one will see his vulnerability. We don’t want to risk being dismissed as neurotics or hypochondriacs. Besides, we all know the surest way to end a conversation is to answer the question “how are you” honestly.

In some ways, I was lucky. The source of my pain was obvious—jaw joints severely degenerated from arthritis, and two discs in my neck that protruded into my spinal cord. So nobody dismissed my pain, and there were concrete solutions. But millions of people, especially women, suffer from illnesses like fibromyalgia that are more or less invisible. In addition to being in pain, they have to deal with the fact that some folks—sometimes family and friends, and even doctors—don’t believe their suffering is real.

That’s why those of us who deal with chronic pain need to talk, not about the problem but about the solution. And the first solution is the talking itself, because it’s hard to solve a secret.

The best solution I’ve found is distraction, and the best distraction is creativity. The only really bad days were the days when I couldn’t perform the physical task of writing. For two weeks after my neck surgery, I couldn’t type; I could barely hold up a paperback book and read. All I can say is thank God for podcasts and audio books! They kept me sane.

Once I could write again, I could escape reality and lose myself in my characters and their world. My heroine in Cowboy Crazy is a little troubled and angsty, probably because of how I was feeling when I wrote the book. But rodeo cowboy Lane Carrigan helped her through her tough times, and he helped me, too.

All things happen for a reason, and I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that it’s important to have balance in your life—to get up and walk rather than spending eight straight hours at the computer. I learned that it’s important to listen to your body, and make adjustments when it gives you a little twinge to remind you you’re not taking care of it. I learned to keep trying, to persevere and never give up. Recently I found a doctor who’s able to help me, and I feel like I’m finally on the road to recovery.

Most of all, I learned to appreciate what I do and the people who allow me to do it. Thank you to all my readers for keeping me going. You have no idea how much it means to know you care about my stories. Because of you, the characters I love actually live out there in hearts and minds, and bringing them alive for you is what kept me going through some very difficult days.

• What keeps you going through the hard times? Do you treat yourself to something special, lose yourself in a good book, or take off on flights of creativity? 

COWBOY CRAZY BY JOANNE KENNEDY

 IN STORES JUNE 2012

Sparks fly when sexy cowboys collide with determined heroines in a West filled with quirky characters and sizzling romance. Acclaimed for delivering “a fresh take on the traditional contemporary Western“ Joanne Kennedy’s books might just be your next great discovery!

From stable to boardroom…

Sarah Landon’s Ivy League scholarship transforms her from a wide-eyed country girl into a poised professional. Until she’s assigned to do damage control with the boss’s rebellious brother Lane, who’s the burr in everybody’s saddle. He’s determined to save his community from oil drilling, and she’s not going back to the ranch she left forever. Spurs will shine in this saucy romp about ranchers and roots, redemption and second chances.  EXCERPT

To purchase Joanne’s latest release, Cowboy Crazy, please visit ganxy.com/p/62834.

Joanne Kennedy is the author of four contemporary Western romances for Sourcebooks: Cowboy Trouble One Fine Cowboy, Cowboy Fever, and Tall, Dark and Cowboy. She brings a wide variety of experience, ranging from chicken farming to horse training, to her sexy, spicy cowboy stories. She is a 2011 finalist in the prestigious Romance Writers of American RITA© Awards, for One Fine Cowboy. Joanne lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she is working on her next book, Cowboy Tough (Fall 2012). 
For more information, please visit http://joannekennedybooks.com/. 

BREAKING CODES

It's my pleasure to welcome back Donna MacMeans to Over Coffee. I thought it quite interesting to find that there were personal ads for finding companions and mates as early as the 1800's. Precursor to dating sites in our day. A lesson in the more things change the more they stay the same.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code. 

A few years back, a friend sent me an article about Victorian personal ads:  man seeks woman, woman seeks man...yes, they had those sort of things back then, only they were more eloquent in their phrasing.  Here’s an example:

B.78 Middlesex – Age 25; fair, slight, fond of music, and a lively temperament; would like to make the acquaintance of an educated, refined man not under 30; not necessarily for marriage; wishes to correspond with a gentleman who is cultured and of a sympathetic disposition, either a business or professional man, but must be at least 30, and not more than 50; not a clergyman; a man of broad views and fond of music.July 1898

The ads make perfect sense when you think about it.  The industrial revolution brought people into the cities, expanding the population and changing the methods used to find a life partner.  Personal ads came into being about fifty years after newspapers began to widely circulate, but it wasn’t until the Victorian period that the ads became common.

Which got me thinking...(always a dangerous development)...what if someone knew that a notorious rogue was behind the placement of an ad for a quiet, unassuming female, and what if that someone felt obligated to warn any respondents of the danger they faced.  Thus my group of women determined to save other women from unscrupulous men was born - The Rake Patrol.

I discovered something interesting in my research of personal ads that helped shape the first book in my Rake Patrol series.  Sometimes the personal ads were written in code because the two correspondents didn’t want others “eavesdropping” on their otherwise public conversations. I gave my heroine, Edwina Hargrove, the ability to break code and read some of those secret conversations.  That particular talent gets her in more trouble than she ever imagined possible.

 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, BAM

THE CASANOVA CODE:

“A refined gentleman, age 25, of wealth and education, seeks the acquaintance, with a view to matrimony, of a high-minded, kind-hearted lady who prefers an evening of quiet conversation to the lively demands of society.”

Edwina Hargrove knows that this “gentleman” was, in fact, Ashton Trewelyn, a rake notorious for seducing the young and naive. In fact, five decent women have already been tricked and bundled off to the continent for scandalous purposes. There was a way to thwart his scheme though—by shadowing this devilishly handsome Casanova and warning his prey.  If only it were that simple.

Wounded and weary, Ashton Trewelyn returns home to London from the King’s Royal Rifles but soon discovers a coded message that has implications for the Crown and his family.  His only hope to unravel the mystery lies in the enigmatic Edwina’s ability to recognize patterns.  Even as he leads her on a path of secret societies and risque temptations, he discovers she arouses his jaded soul with temptations of her own.  Must they risk everything to decipher Casanova’s Code? EXCERPT

Secret Codes, secret societies, sexy heroes - what more could you want in a romance?  I had a great time writing THE CASANOVA CODE and I’m hoping your readers will enjoy it as well.  Someone leaving a comment on the blog today will win an autographed copy.

I suppose the modern equivalent of personal ads are the online dating services.  

• Have you ever tried one?  Would you ever try one?  What attributes would you advertise for in a partner?  Would you be honest about yourself or take creative license (grin)?  Let’s chat!

(BTW, the first personal ad came from a book called “Classified, The secret history of the personal column”  written by H.G. Cocks, which according to the copyright page, stands for Harry Cocks  - Yup, you read that right.  Poor man!)

Before beginning her writing career in earnest, Donna MacMeans kept books of a different nature. A certified public accountant, she recently abandoned the exciting world of debits and credits to return to her passion: writing witty and sensuous romances. Her debut novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, won the 2006 Golden Heart for Best Long Historical. Her second book, The Trouble with Moonlight, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for historical love and laughter. Originally from Towson, Maryland, she now resides in central Ohio with my husband, two adult children and her kitty keyboard companion, Shadow.

Visit her website 

or Facebook, Twitter

DIVING INTO SELF PUBLISHING—Part II

If you missed Part One, you can read it here.

One of my pet peeves is an author putting out a product that isn’t professional. Your name is your reputation and it’s hard to build a name and brand that represents good quality and all too easy to damage with shoddy work. 


There should be certain expectations that come with the name on the cover of the book. The reader has the right to expect to get as good a story as they would if the book was traditionally published in both content, copy, and cover art. Content editing: does the story work, does it start in the right place, is the POV correct, is there enough tension, conflict, and motivation to carry the story? A good story is so much more than having a manuscript written without errors and in perfect English (copy editing). It’s about writing to entertain a reader and that’s much more difficult. Content is everything and that’s true whether you’re a small indie publisher or self-publishing a book.

In part One, Judi spoke about the whys of self-publishing and the need for self-published authors to put out a professional story and some of the downside.

 “self-publishing isn’t all wine and roses. Self-published authors now take on the role of publisher as well as author. That means no advances and all the up-front costs: Editing (story, copy, line…), a cover, formatting, ISBN, copyright, marketing. You have to be your own editor, art department, publicist, and marketer in addition to being a writer and businessperson.”  

Judi Fennell continues her thoughts on producing a professional looking product. Especially when it comes to the cover art and the technology of producing a high quality book to sell. 

Covers are arguably the best marketing tool you have after word-of-mouth. If the cover is appealing, people will “pick it up.” How many times have authors complained that their cover looks nothing like the book? I actually had to change my heroine’s hair color based on a cover because the Marketing Department loved the image they’d selected for the cover. Okay, I went with it (heck, she was a genie—she could change her hair color at will if she wanted), but guess what?

They changed the cover.

Luckily, they used another model with the same colored hair, but there you go. My vision altered. (I do love the cover, though, don’t get me wrong. And I’m fine with the hair color change; it’s just part and parcel of the TP business.)

BUY KINDLE ADDITION

But when I set out to do my cover for Beauty and The Best I knew there were elements I wanted on there. Definitely the hot guy. He’s headless because, sadly the face doesn’t always match the body… But I got to choose him. (And, yes, it was tough. Seriously. Think about all the hours I spent scrolling through pictures of half-naked guys. It was rough.)

I wanted to show the humor and the guardian angel element. That would be the cat with the cockeyed halo.

I wanted a white background. My work has been compared to a lot of contemporary authors whose TP covers are white, and even though this book has the guardian angel slant to it, it’s essentially a contemporary romance.

I wanted to capture Todd’s art and the paint-splattered drop cloth that plays a nice part in the story. But I couldn’t put all of these elements together.

Enter my cover artist, Kim Van Meter.

I’d done research, looked at different cover artists’ work and their turnaround times, and Kim was the one I went with, but there are others out there who do work that is just as amazing. I love the cover and have gotten awesome feedback from readers.

And it looks FABULOUS in print.

Print, you ask? How do you print books if you’re self-publishing? Doesn’t that cost an arm and a leg? Don’t you need to store thousands of books in a warehouse somewhere?

No. You don’t.

I use Createspace for my print versions and, while the books are a little more expensive than TP print books, readers who want the books in physical form are getting an awesome product (if I do say so myself). It’s gorgeous.

So how does one actually self-publish?

Write the story. I can’t stress that enough. You can spend hours, days, weeks, on the other aspects, but if you don’t have the story, you’re wasting your time. Use beta readers to get the story as best as it can be. Then hire an editor. Edit your book. Make it the best it can be. Those people who do no promoting and their books skyrocket? That’s because they’ve done their homework on the most important aspect of this business: they wrote the best book they could.

Get a cover. Whether you do it yourself or you hire someone, make this cover PROFESSIONAL looking. I can’t stress that enough. Nothing says “cheap product” than a sub-par cover. Research other books in the genre you’re writing. Take a look at the best sellers. What is it about their covers that grab your attention? Who are the cover artists? What elements do you want on your book?

Deal with the technology. Or, if you don’t want to figure out formatting and uploading and ISBNs and Bowker’s site, and whether to do KDP Select or Nook First, or free books, or giveaways… hire someone.

*** Full disclaimer: I have a formatting site: http://www.formatting4U.com. Check me out. Many satisfied REPEAT clients and reasonable prices. Referrals for other services. Excellent turnaround time. And hand-holding all the way. ***

Self-publishing is a business all on its own in addition to the writing business. That’s very important to remember. You have to switch hats from the comfortable creative author hat to something that’s maybe outside your comfort zone. Join some indie and self-pub loops; the information you can find there FOR FREE is priceless.

But most of all, write. Having one book up is nice, but it’s the multiplier factor of having more than one, especially if it’s a series, that will bump up your sales to where you might be able to leave the Day Job and focus solely on your writing. I’m not there yet, but I’m hopeful.

Am I still pursuing TP? Yes. Why, if self-publishing can be the way to Day Job and artistic freedom? Because, as with anything else, having all your eggs in one basket might not be the best thing. Publishing is constantly changing; no one knows what will happen next. I’d hate to ditch the security of a Day Job for the Wild West of Publishing only to have a tornado come along and turn that Wild West into a dustbowl. But that’s my path; it might not be yours. I know other authors who say they’ll never traditionally publish again. Why give away 64% of their royalties? It’s a compelling argument and may change my mind as I bring the next books to market. (Look for If The Shoe Fits, book #2 in the Once-Upon-A-Time Romance series after Beauty and The Best, and Through The Leaded Glass, a RenFaire time travel romance coming soon!)

And a peek at Magic Gone Wild which comes out August first: 

You can read a short excerpt Here.

Judi Fennell has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to "get outside!" instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did--right into Dad's hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she's more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite bookstore, but she's still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends' books.

PRISM and Golden Leaf Award winner and ARe best-selling author, Judi loves to hear from her readers. Check out her website (www.JudiFennell.com) for excerpts, reviews, contests and pictures from reader and writer conferences, as well as the chance to "dive in" to her stories.