Romance Weekly: #LoveWriteChat

Love reading sinfully delicious romance novels? Want to know more about how those novels come to life and wind up in your hands? Each Tuesday, a merry band of romance writers spill the beans on all their trade secrets. To join the fun, simply blog hop from one author to the next. And if that's not enough excitement for you, Romance Weekly has a new website to explore, Twitter feed to follow, Pinterest page, Google+ page, and newsletter to sign up for. We've got exciting stuff going on around here! 

Romance Weekly

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If you found me by way of Fiona Riplee's fabulous blog, welcome! This week's questions come from Vicki Mixon. Let's jump right in.

Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew you were going to become a writer? If so, what was it?

I don't there was ever one single moment when I knew that I would wind up as a published writer. I've always tinkered around with writing, using it as an outlet for my emotions, but dipping a toe into the publishing world was not initially an ambition I'd aspired to. I've always viewed myself as a teacher first, and a writer in my spare time. Someday that might change. 

When you write a story do you see it unfold as one big picture, or do you add layering in subsequent drafts?

Usually the story unfolds for me as I write. I may not always see the entire big picture when I first begin writing the story, but eventually I get small snippets of the storyline, enough to keep me going. Sometimes, the story stalls while I ponder the dilemma my characters find themselves in. That's when I get really good at procrastinating and my house gets uber clean. 

How many drafts do you usually write before you send your work to your editor?

Too many to count! Once the first draft is done, I play around with my story, adding more setting details, and tightening up the plot. As I finish up my first draft of Assassin P.I., I've kept a separate document with revision notes to myself. Stuff like, use Jack's hat as a symbol of his vulnerability, or mention his love of comic books again. The document gets pretty long by the time I'm done with the story. The way I see it? I'm still learning how to write novels, so I can forgive myself for writing a lousy first draft, but I can't forgive myself for publishing a subpar novel. Revision and rewrites are a vital part of the process . . . and kinda fun! 

Next up? Vicki Mixon http://vickimixon.com. See you next week! 

Thursday Talent: Souls Entwined by Anne B. Cole

Today's Thursday Talent is a little different. Instead of revealing a new book cover, or celebrating a new release, I'll be interviewing a fellow writer. This week, my friend Anne B. Cole is joining me again to chat about her experience breaking into the publishing world. 

Meet Anne. That's her below. She's a fellow Soulmate Publishing author, a preschool teacher, and she's pretty darn awesome! 

EJ:  Hi Anne, I'm so glad you could be here with me today. The last time we chatted, you're book, Souls Entwined, was just hitting Amazon. Here's what I want to know today. What was it like when you finally received an offer on your book? Who did you tell first?

AC:  It was July 29, 2013, and I was in the family room opening up my email on my laptop. I noted an email from Soul Mate Publishing and expected a rejection letter. When I realized it was an offer, I simply said, "Oh, my God!"

Two of my kids were in the same room. Like typical teens, they ignored me. On my second or third, "Oh, my God!" they asked me what was wrong. I didn't respond because I was trying to read more. After "No freaking way!", "Holy Crap!", and a few other responses, my husband came downstairs from his office (he works at home) and my third teenager took the laptop from me to see what was going on. My husband wanted to know who died. 

My oldest daughter explained to him that my book was going to be published and that she was going to star in the future movie. (She is jumping to conclusions here.) It took over a week for it to sink in that I had an offer, and to this day, my daughter claims she is going to be "Gretta". She just cannot decide who she wants "Sam" to be.


EJ:  I love that your oldest daughter wants to be in the future movie adaptation. Sounds like your family is very supportive. 

Ready for question number two? Every author I've met is an avid reader. Which authors do you enjoy reading?

AC: Ooo...that is easy, but could take up an entire page because I love to read and there are so many great authors out there! Here's my condensed list:

John Grisham
Rick Riordan
Dana Stabenow
Colleen Hoover
Kristin Hannah
Dan Brown

I also enjoy reading from these new authors:

Deborah Kreiser
Peter Darley
Anna Bloom

EJ: I've read Dan Brown and John Grisham, but I don't think I've read any of the other authors. Guess I better go check them out! 

Thanks Anne for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me today. 

ANNE B. COLE

Souls Entwined is Anne B. Cole’s debut release, combining sweet romantic suspense, time travel, and paranormal elements in a New Adult novel attractive to a wide range of readers.

In addition to writing, Anne teaches preschool and is raising three very active teenagers with her husband of twenty-two years. Her love for making fresh baked goodies, running, hiking, historical fiction, and her three pet cats continue to be her inspiration while she pens the sequel to Souls Entwined.

(See? I told you she was awesome!)

Book Blurb

When a cursed family heirloom sends Gretta Dobbs back in time, a hunky construction worker, Sam Daggett, suddenly finds himself love struck and joins her adventure. Their souls entwine within the bodies of young lovers on a Greek island in 1829, where they begin to unravel the mysteries behind Gretta’s ring all while avoiding a bloodthirsty pirate who is determined to seek revenge. Gretta and Sam must find the secrets needed to save her and her relatives from an afterlife in purgatory and return to their own lives---or risk becoming prisoners of the past, continuing the evil cycle of the ring’s curse.

To Connect With Anne
To follow Anne’s publishing journey and connect with her, check out her blog site and find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Blog      *       Twitter       *      Facebook

To purchase Souls Entwined, click here: http://amzn.com/B00K0W80JQ 

Cover Reveal: The Bride Gift by Sarah Hegger

Today I have the distinct pleasure of unveiling the stunning cover for THE BRIDE GIFT, the upcoming debut from fellow Soul Mate author Sarah Hegger. You may recognize her from the Romance Weekly blog chats. Without further adieu, I'll let Sarah tell you all about her new book! 

Coming Soon: May 14th, 2014

Book Blurb

It’s 1153 in the period dubbed ‘The Anarchy’, King Stephen and Empress Maud are not the only ones embroiled in a fierce battle of the sexes.

Determined to control her own destiny, wilful Helena of Lystanwold has chosen just the husband to suit her purposes. But, when her banished guardian uncle attempts to secure her future and climbs through her bedroom window with a new husband by a proxy marriage, she understandably balks. Notorious warrior Guy of Helston is everything Helena swore she would never marry; a man who lives by the sword, like the man who murdered her sister.

This marriage finally brings Guy close to his lifetime dream of gaining lands and a title. He is not about to let his feisty bride stand in his way. A master strategist, Guy sets out to woo and conquer his lady.

Against a backdrop of vengeance, war and betrayal, Guy and Helena must learn to forge a united front or risk losing everything.

This is my very first cover and it marks one of those milestones for me as a writer. I’m still struggling to get past my name on the cover. Feel free to tell me what you think. Or drop by and see me on:  

Website     Facebook     Twitter

About Sarah Hegger: Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.

Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.

She currently lives in Salt Lake City with her teenage daughters, two Golden Retrievers and aforementioned husband. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.

Thanks, Sarah! Please come back to visit us when your book is released. We'd love to help you celebrate!  The Bride Gift is set to hit Amazon on May 14th, 2014. 

Romance Weekly - #lovewritechat

Welcome back for another fun edition of Romance Weekly! If you've visiting by way of author Kim Handysides, thanks for popping in. I hope you'll enjoy this stop on the tour. For those who don't know how this works, each Tuesday I'll answer three questions about my writing life. At the end of my post, I'll add a link to the next author on the tour. Follow the links to meet lots of new authors. You've finished the tour when you wind up back on my website. If you like to tweet, you can use the hashtag: #lovewritechat.

This week's questions come from author Shannon Kennedy. You can check out her books for young adults at: www.shannonkennedybooks.com or her mainstream cowboy romance books at: www.josiemalone.com.

Photo courtesy of Natural Kid Pix

How do you find the appropriate setting for the story or does it find you?
Good question. I'm not really sure. Redemption For Liars is set in a small town similar to the one I grew up in, or the one where my father grew up. Assassin, P.I. is set in a larger city filled with corruption, ala 1940's Chicago style. The settings just seemed to fit for the stories I was trying to tell. Since I've lived in the same city my entire life - in a whopping total of 4 houses - developing a strong setting can be difficult for me. You would think, based on how obsessed I am with taking photos of gorgeous landscapes, I would use my own photos for inspiration, but I haven't yet. I'd love to travel more, to experience new locales, so I have a richer base of knowledge to draw upon for future stories.

What is your support system for your writing, family, friends, other writers?
In the beginning, my mom was my biggest supporter. She endured hours on end of brainstorming
sessions, slashed away at my typos with her handy red pen, and encouraged me to keep going despite all those pesky rejection notices. Now that mom is gone, my family and co-workers have picked up where she left off, acting as my sounding boards, whether they want to or not.

Along the way to publication, I've met several fabulous writers who've been kind enough to lend their support and expertise. Among them are Dianne Gardner, Rebekah R. Ganiere, and my teacher-writer peeps from the Inland Area Writing Projects: Sharon, David, and Cindy.

More recently, I've joined Rom-Critters, an online critique group for romance writers, and Romance Writer's Weekly, a co-op of writers working together to build up their online reputations and inspire each other to greatness.  I also have a wonderful support system built in with my Soul Mate Publishing authors. My Soul Matey's graciously share advice and help each other with promotion.

P.S. I love you all! 

What is the worst writing advice you ever received and how did you deal with it?

I don't think I've ever received any bad writing advice, however I've been told:

"Your storyline sounds just like this movie I watched last night."

It drives me CRAZY! (You know I'm talking about you, sis. Love ya anyways.)

I try to smile, thank the person, and then go right back to writing. Even if my storyline is slightly reminiscent of a movie or book, I'm confident that my stories are strong enough to stand on their own. After all, it's about the unique spin you put on the tried-and-true. Just look at all the famous Romeo & Juliet remakes. Grease and West Side Story both tell the same basic storyline, yet they were very successful in their own right. I try to remind myself that my story is unique, despite a few general similarities.

Well, that's it for this week's installment of Romance Weekly. Let me direction your attention to the ever lovely, Sarah Hegger. http://sarahhegger.wordpress.com. Sarah writes both medieval romance and contemporary romance. Her debut novel hits Amazon this May. Enjoy the rest of your tour!

Tools of the Trade

Well, Spring break is almost over and what do I have to show for it? Nada.
Zip.
Zilch.
0 words written.

My best laid plans clashed with my husband's. As I write this, stretched out on my bed, laptop open, headphones in, I can still hear the tree trimmers lopping off years worth of Eucalyptus tree overgrowth right outside my bedroom window. The sound of a half dozen or so chainsaws mingles with the soundtrack from "Wicked", which one of my darling children is blaring as they shower. In retrospect, perhaps I should have taken my husband up on his offer to buy noise-cancelling headphones. Right now, $300 seems like a pretty good deal to me. Lord knows I can't do much writing in such a noisy environment and my self-imposed deadline won't be met if I don't spend at least a little bit of time caressing my laptop's keys. GRRR.

Every profession has their tools of the trade. Tools, which are so vital to the job, you can't do without them. But what tools do writers need other than a pencil and paper?

Here are a few of the tools I need:

laptop (obviously! My hubby bought me a Macbook Pro for Christmas.)

Scrivener (the writing program I use)

headphones (preferably the noise-cancelling kind)

Lots of music to listen to (check out the Sherlock Season 3 soundtrack)

index cards & post-it notes (for plotting)

an endless supply of writing utensils (highlighters & mechanical pencils)

journal to record ideas in

hot tea and/or coffee (would it be too much to ask to have my caffeine mainlined?)

favorite aromatic scent in my Sentsy warmer (spiced apple wreath)

junk food - preferably Cheese-It's, and every kind of candy known to man

comfy chair, couch, or bed to sit on

Yoga pants to lounge in

Critique partners on speed dial or accessible at a moment's notice by email

a thick skin to handle the endless cycle of rejection that invariably comes with the job

in hand or online dictionary & thesaurus

Google and YouTube for conducting research

maps detailing the setting of the story

timeline of events

an overactive imagination (which I have in spades)

photos of the setting or characters to inspire me

a chef to keep me fed

a maid to keep the house up while I neglect all my duties (or just a really understanding spouse)

my muse chained to a chair where she can't escape! 

Hey, I never said I had all these tools. But I sure do need them! 

I also need to watch where I'm going. Mid-post, in my effort to provide you with an accurate list of tools, I went to a cabinet where I was sure I would find my Sentsy wax. While trying to find it, I walked headfirst into the corner of the open cabinet door. Thankfully I have a thick skull. I'd post the photo of my battle wound, but it's too embarrassing. Maybe I'll post the scar once it's all healed up. 

Ok, Writers - What other tools do you need? Did I forget anything? 

Romance Weekly

Love romance? Me, too. I love experiencing romance, reading about someone else's romance, and, most importantly, I adore writing about hot, steamy romances. Each week, I'll be bringing you the Romance Weekly chat, where romance writers answer all sorts of questions. At the end of my post, I'll link to the next author on the list, who will answer the questions and link to the next writer, and so on. You'll know you've finished the blog tour when you wind up right back here on my blog.

So let's dig in. This week's questions come from author Nina Mason. When you're done with the blog tour, be sure to hit Amazon and pick up Nina's debut novel, The Queen of Swords: A Paranormal Tale of Undying Love.

How does your writing impact your inner life?
Writing has always been a creative outlet for me to explore and deal with my feelings and overactive imagination. As a child, making up my own stories and songs was a good way to overcome my fears. As an adult, I get to enjoy falling in love over and over again each time I start a new story. When I write, I sprinkle bits of myself in each character and storyline. For example, Maya, from Redemption For Liars, is a roller skating waitress because I used to competitively roller skate. Jack's mom, from Assassin P.I., has suffered a stroke, just like my father. Through these characters, I can deal with complex emotions. Think of it as my version of free counseling.

How do you hope your books affect your readers?
Honestly, I just want to entertain people. When you turn that last page and put down my book, I hope you've enjoyed spending time in the towns I've created, with the crazy people who've occupied my mind for so long. I want people to be surprised at each plot twist, laugh out loud at the inappropriate things my characters tend to blurt out, and root for the happy ending that is just out of reach.

Has anyone ever told you your book changed their life? If so, how?
Haha. No. Nor should it. But when my mother died last year, I found out that my poem, Walk Amongst Angels, is our local funeral home's second most popular poem. On a whim, I'd given permission to add my poem to their selection nearly twenty years ago. Periodically, someone will return from a funeral, memorial booklet in hand, and ask if the poem inscribed there is mine. I love knowing that a poem I wrote when I was eighteen has the power to give someone comfort in their time of grief. According to my students, I'm popular with dead people.

Next up on this week's blog tour, Nina Mason. Click on over to her website and show her some love!   Don't forget to pick up her new release, The Queen of Swords: A Paranormal Tale of Undying Love.

See y'all next week! 

Release Date Set

Just got the news tonight. Redemption For Liars is slated for release on November 13th, 2013. That's only 6 days away! YAY!

Of course, I still haven't seen my cover art yet. Nor have I taken an author photo for my website. Oh gosh, do I even have my back blurb written? Oh wait. Do ebooks even have back blurbs? Heck, who cares?!

6 days and counting. Hmm . . . should I throw a release party? Maybe skip hula for the night and go out for dinner and drinks.

Any ideas?

Oh, The Little Things

What makes me a happy writer? Other than when a writing session goes well and actually results in a few thousand new words being added to my word count, I mean.

When I open my door and discover a small package on my stoop. You know, the best gifts really do come in small packages. My new business cards came in! Never mind the fact that exactly half of the 100 cards I ordered were flawed in a multitude of ways. The half that were right are gorgeous and I love them. 

Can't wait to start passing them out at the next conference I go to! Does a teaching conference count? Oh, who cares! 

Update #1 - The company reprinted the cards for free (as they should) and they are gorgeous! 

Update #2 - Networking at a conference is a total blast! People love the cards. Let's hope that translates to sales in November. #keepingmyfingerscrossed

Tiptoeing Down the Path to Publication

Now that I have successfully landed a publisher and have a tentative release date, I'm starting to look at ways author's promote their books. And let me tell ya, it's all just a little bit daunting right now. According to all the websites and books I've read, here's what I know.

Establish A Social Media Presence
It's all about being accessible to your readers. Authors today absolutely have to have a website, preferably one that's easy to find and user friendly. I finally settled on a webpage name (using my pen name) and design. After half a day, my brand spanking new website was up and running. I have no idea if I'm getting hits yet, or how to increase my search engine visibility yet, but at least my site is awfully pretty!

Since most of the people I know are on FaceBook, it made sense to also create an author page on FB. Creating the page wasn't too difficult. Figuring out how to make my page look nifty and neat is going to take an act of God. Or at least someone with better computer skills than I have.

And then there's this blog. I have one. You're reading it, though for the life of me, I can't figure out how you actually found it. Actually, to be truthful, I have three blogs, but I'm a terrible blogger. I blog a lot during the summer months when I'm not teaching. But then school starts again and I fall off the blogging wagon. I tend to go months on end without writing a single post. *holds up three fingers and says solemnly* I promise to be a better blogger in the future. Starting now.

There are dozens of other ways I can connect with my future and current readers as well as other writers, but for the moment, I think it might be best if I just try to juggle the plates I already have up in the air. Twitter can wait.

Purchase business cards and give out to random readers
I gotta say, I love designing things. Creating cute business cards is right up my ally. Actually passing them out, not so much.

So a month or so ago, I started looking into business card designs. It's easy to get overwhelmed in the thousands of designs I found online. Should I go simple with a black card? Or should I go with something sensual to show that I write romance? It's all very confusing. And then it occurred to me. What in the world should I put on these new cards I was expected to pass out to every person I passed? I don't have a book cover to proudly display just yet. Until yesterday, I didn't even have an author website, email, or FB page to announce.

So what did I do? Created a business card . . . for my teaching career.

Buy Swag for Readers
Here's the part that makes me all tingly inside. Swag. I get to create bookmarks and postcards and . . . and . . . actually I'm not sure what readers enjoy getting from their authors.

Last Spring I attended the SoCalRWA Writer's Conference. Every writer I met had a business card to pass out and some sort of swag to give. Bookmarks and postcards were the most popular items, however I did snag a compact mirror, pens, booklets, and a cloth to buff my glasses with. Did any of those novelty items encourage me to buy a book? Nope.

What do you think? What swag items should I purchase to give to my readers? Or should I save my money and instead invest my time on building a strong web presence?