Welcome YA Author M. Lathan

Today’s guest is YA Author, M. Lathan. M. lives in San Antonio with her husband and mini-schnauzer. She enjoys writing and has a B.S. in Psych and a Masters in Counseling. Her passion is a blend of her two interests – creating new worlds and stocking them with crazy people. She enjoys reading anything with interesting characters and writing in front of a window while asking rhetorical questions … like her idol Carrie Bradshaw.

Welcome to the Scribes, M. I’m so glad you could join us. Tell us about you and your book.

Thank you for having me, PJ. HIDDEN is book one in a YA fantasy/paranormal series. In the first installment, sixteen-year-old Leah Grant has given up on being normal. She’d settle for stopping the voices in her head, intrusive visions of the future, and better odds of making it to her seventeenth birthday.

That’s the thing about pretending to be human in a world where magic used to exist – at any moment, her cover could be blown and she’ll be burned to death like the rest of the witches.

Everything changes when she loses control of her powers and flees the orphanage she grew up in. She desperately wants to be invisible but finds her face plastered on every news channel as humans panic over the possible resurgence of her kind. And now the hunters won’t give up until they find her.
Making friends for the first time in her life and falling in love with one of them drives her to discover why she is unlike any being she’s ever met – human or otherwise. The dangerous powers inside of her that would repel Nathan, her new, handsome reason for living, are priceless to some. The locked up forever kind of priceless. And to others, they are too dangerous to allow her to live.

Let’s hope she can stay hidden.

EXCERPT:

A far second to oranges, the song I sang in the shower every night had a way of soothing me. More than anything, it made me tired enough to fall asleep. With Whitney gone, I didn’t have to whisper it.
The stars are out,
It’s time for bed.
Now close your eyes,
And rest your head.
May angels shield you with their wings,
As you dream your little angel dreams.
I didn’t recall composing that song, but apparently, I used to think I was good and perfect like the angels. I knew better now.
I stepped out of the shower and tugged a brush through my unruly brown tangles. I stared into the mirror over the sink as I started the song again. My skin screamed winter. I should be a warmer tan; I looked less creepy in the summer. Maybe that was why the girls had been digging into me so hard. I looked rather witchy. The unease that made them mock me was probably their souls warning them, urging them to notice I was different and dangerous.
At my worst, it feels like the fire that could easily shoot from my palm is raging inside of me. My heart picks up, more than when I’m scared. It pounds, I can’t hear. My blood dances, taunting me, begging me to hurt whoever’s hurt me. And I know that I can. I feel that I can.
But I don’t. I breathe and pray and let the magic cool.

Wow, cool excerpt, M. I can’t wait to dig into this series!

I asked M. a few silly–and not-so-silly questions. Here were her answers:

1. Do you ever read your stories out loud?
I didn’t know this was weird. It’s the only way I read when I’m at home. I hate reading in my head. There’s too much happening up there.

2. What are your future ambitions?
I want to be a wife and mother. I want to write every single day of the rest of my life. I don’t know what about, just that I will be doing that.

3. What have you got coming soon for us to look out for?
Hidden Book Two, Lost. There’s a new challenge for Christine that could end life on Earth she knows it. Wish her luck.

4. First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.
I remember reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as I child. I couldn’t put it down. I read it in my closet and prayed for the back of it to open to Narnia.

5. If you were a shifter, what animal would you like to be?
A cat. I would still want to live in a house, and I think it would be my best bet. If I were a dog, I’d have to be too energetic. I’d be an aloof, cool, creepy house cat.

Yikes! I knew there was a reason I wasn’t a “cat person,” LOL. Thanks so much for entertaining us today.

Goddess Fish Promotions organized this Virtual Book Tour for HIDDEN by M. Lathan. If you’d like to check out her other appearances, you can find her tour schedule here. During this tour, the author will be giving away a $50 Amazon or BN gift card to one randomly chosen commenter. To enter, please use this Rafflecopter link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4343/

If you want to follow M. or buy her book (only .99 cents right now!), check out the information below. Please make her feel welcomed and leave a comment, ask a question or enter to win that whopper of a gift card!

Author Information:
Website: mlathan.com
Twitter: @hiddenseries
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hiddenseries/
Buy link: Amazon

Unlocked secret: Spread the word–we’re having a party–Scribe’s style! Please join me next Tuesday, June 25th as I launch WESTERN DESERT, book two in the Chronicles of Lily Carmichael trilogy. There will be prizes–including a NOOK Simple Touch, signed copies of a few of my other books, and a swag bag for one lucky winner. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating! I look forward to seeing you there.

Are You a Confident Writer?

When I first sat down to write the book that was to become DANGEROUS CURVES AHEAD I told myself that that was the book I was going to get published. Come hell or high water. I had been writing for five years at that point. I went from sucktastic to pretty good. I had written enough practice books to know my major flaws. And when I first set my fingers to the keys I wrote with wild abandon. I didn’t think about all the rules so many us think about. Am I showing, not tell? Will people get this joke? Will anybody like it? I just wrote. I threw it up so to speak. I wrote the hero I wanted to date. I wrote the heroine I wanted to be friends with. I wrote a story I wanted to read.  And for the first time I wrote without the worry.

I look at some writers, and it doesn’t matter how long they have been at it, two weeks or twenty years, and I see fear. Will my critique group like this? Is this good enough to snag an agent? Will people understand me? And then they go back and rewrite and doubt and go back some more and get themselves stuck. Crippled almost. And they never finish the damn book. Or if they do finish it, part of it always plagues them. In the back of their minds they never think it’s good enough. They aren’t confident in their voice.

You always hear editors and agents talk about finding writers with a great voice. You know, that unique style that makes your writing stand out from all the other writers. Writing without confidence is like writing without voice. Think of your writing almost like you think about public speaking. Is anybody going to get your message if they can’t hear your voice?

Good public speakers, they know their audience, they never let their fear show, they are not afraid to inject who they are into what they are saying, they get to the point. And if they aren’t confident they fake it like they are. And when they’re finished they leave their audience wanting more.

Isn’t that a lot like writing?

Just like an audience listening to a speech, a reader can tell when when a writer has lost their voice.

We all have self-doubt. We all have those moments when we want to chuck our computers out of the window. We all have moments when we get stuck, when we think it would be easier just to quit.  But confident writers don’t let a little case of the doubty blues  get in the way of the stories they want to tell. A confident writer doesn’t lose the essence of who they are.

So how to become confident? That’s a good question. I think some people are born with it. For others it’s a process. But here’s my advice.

1.  Write what you know.  Not what’s hot. I’ve seen so many authors jump on the New Adult trend because they heard it was selling. That rarely works out for anybody.
2. Don’t let too many people read what you’re working on. It’s like my mother always says “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and everybody thinks everybody else’s stinks.” I find too many opinions on my work confusing and annoying.
3.  Don’t let others opinions of your work affect how you feel about it. Constructive criticism is needed and often times it’s crucial, but nobody knows it all. If you think you wrote a good story then you probably wrote a good story. I  personally hate them little whiny sparkly TWILIGHT kids. You think Stephanie Meyer cares? She would be dumb if she did.
4. Write with conviction. When you write don’t go into wishing and hoping and praying that it’s going to sell. Write like you know it’s going to sell, like it’s the most kickass thing anybody has ever written. (Even if it’s not.) I believe that good things come to people who expect good things to come to them.
5. Like what you write. If you hate the story you’re telling then it’s probably not the story you should tell. It’s okay to hop around until you find your voice. Because if you keep trying one day you’ll find it.

So, who else has advice to share on building confidence? Any and all comment are welcome. 

Cliffhanger or happy ending?

PJ Sharon, here to hang with you on a rainy Tuesday morning. And speaking of hanging…I thought I would pose a question to you, my faithful readers, writers, and book connoisseurs.

When reading a trilogy, do you like the second book to end on a happy note, satisfying our endless appetite for romance, or do you prefer the cliffhanger ending that leaves you breathlessly awaiting the next book?

For me, a good cliffhanger gets me every time. Don’t get me wrong. I love romance and I live for the HEA endings that are a hallmark of all my favorite books. With a trilogy, however, I expect my HEA to make its appearance in the final installment. In books one and two, I want to be led on the merry chase. I want suspense! Will they get together, or won’t they? Will everyone survive, or will someone be killed off? I think there can be–and should be–a complete story arc in each book, but the over arcing theme of the trilogy requires phases that bring your characters one step closer to their happy ending–just not too soon. Each book in a trilogy needs its own goal, motivation, and conflict, and we expect some resolution to come at the end of each book, but how much resolution is enough to be satisfying, and how much should be left open for book three? These questions are for professional research, of course. I’ve rewritten the ending of WESTERN DESERT, book two in The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael, four times! I so want to get it just right before I release it on the 24th of this month and dive into book three.

The word famous novelist hard at work on his next bestseller!

How do you all feel about it?

Writing Short: A lesson on novella writing

Hello there, Sugar here. I recently finished writing my first holiday novella. (Look out for Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas sometime in the late fall.) After the initial excitement of being asked to write for my publisher again, I panicked a little. I write single titles. Long single titles. Dangerous Curves Ahead weighs in at over one hundred thousand words. I’ve never written anything under ninety thousand words.

But they were asking me to tell a story in twenty-five thousand words. TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND WORDS. Gulp. How the hell was I going to pull that off? But you know what? I did. Okay so maybe I went over by a few thousand, but I manage to tell a story using a quarter of the words I normally do.

How did I do it? I kept these five things in mind when I was writing.

1. KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid. Your idea should be simple and solid.

SIMPLE: A man reunites with the woman who left him at the alter. Together they rediscover their love for each other and learn to put the past behind them.

NOT SIMPLE : A man reunites with the woman who left him at the alter. He learns she was abducted by aliens who plan to take over the world by impregnating all brunettes under the age of forty. Only to find that her pregnancy didn’t take because she half mutant.   Together they travel through time and space in an effort to stop the world from being taken over and to learn more about her secret origins.

2. Cut out all the descriptive stuff.

Yes, please do give us a clue to the setting, but don’t describe the lushness of the trees and the greenness of the grass and how the hot summer wind blows across the field and gently rustles the curtains.

In other words tell the damn story.

3. The less subplot the better.

You really don’t need to introduce us to a cast of thousands. We don’t need to know all the townspeople and their historys, foibles and quirks. We don’t need to know that Mrs. Peasly, your hero’s favorite teacher, is going to lose her house and needs a million dollars to save it. Focus on the main conflict at hand.

4. Limit backstory.

Backstory can be an important tool to let the reader know your hero’s motivation, but don’t overdo it. Sprinkle, don’t dump.  

5. Cut. Cut. Cut.

Don’t be afraid to chop out passages or entire scenes. Think about every word you write. Ask yourself, “Is this necessary to tell my story?” And if the answer is no get rid of it.

That’s all I’ve got, so I’m turning it over to you, my writer friends. What advice would you give on how to write short? Any and all comments are welcome! 

Country of the Mind

Thea Devine today. On this past Monday morning, around 11am, we drove into town for the annual Memorial Day parade. Perfect day: bright sun, blue sky, warm weather, fresh breeze — and people. Town was jam-packed with people all along Main Street, two, three, five deep, and there wasn’t a place to park anywhere near. We finally got a spot in a little field about a quarter mile from Main Street and joined a crowd hiking toward to the main event.

It hadn’t started yet, but the staggering number of people lining the street was an event in itself. Kids, parents, teens, tweens, boyfriends, girlfriends, dogs, grandparents, town officials all merging and mingling, looking for friends, space, refreshments, for the parade to begin.

This, I thought, was the essence of why hearth and home books resonate so vibrantly in romance. This is the country of the mind; it is a Norman Rockwell painting come to life, a place that exists in the imagination, in the heart, and sometimes in life.

A place, perhaps, one has been seeking without even knowing it. The place you know is home in a deep visceral way, even if you don’t want to admit it.

In fiction, it takes a good three hundred pages for the heroine to come to terms and admit it. The reader is already there, because those tropes tap into our deepest desire for community and acceptance in a place where everybody knows who you are. Your family, as it were.

Standing on the sidelines and watching the parade — the bands, the old timey cars, the re-enactors, the antique fire trucks, the members of the Service clubs, the staff of the Library, everyone who marched — I turned to John and whispered, I love this place.

I do … love this place. I feel like the heroine who has finally found her home. I’ve had deep yearnings to gather my cousins here, in my place, so we can be as close as our families were when I was growing up in Brooklyn and Sunday was mandatory visit grandma day.

But a visit or an email isn’t quite the same as noisy family dinner on a Saturday night. Like any beleaguered heroine, I never thought I’d miss that after all these years, or wish I could recreate those times. I’m sad my sons will never experience them too.

After the parade was over, everyone poured into the street which had turned into a traffic-free plaza — either to meet friends, or see who was there, or to wend their way to where they’d parked, stopping to chat with neighbors, friends, parade participants, along the way.

I took lots of pictures, grateful this wasn’t the small town of my imagination, or a small fictional town in a future novel I might write. It was my town, here and now, my place, my home.

Did you go to your Memorial Day Parade? Do you feel like you’ve found your place, your home? Is it what or where you thought it would be?

PS re: RT. I’m pleased to say I was one of the thirty- year “pioneer” authors honored by RT at this year’s convention in Kansas City. It was a well attended convention, I heard estimates of as many as 1500-2000 attendees, and there was a spectacular number of workshops to suit every taste, every genre and every level of experience, plus receptions, parties, meet and greets and a special fan event.

The big booksigning was HUGE and swarming with avid readers. The hotel was lovely with lots of places to sit and chat. The 30th Anniversary Gala was fun; we were all asked to say a few words to the attendees after Kathryn Falk spoke about the thirty years that Romantic Times had been a force in the industry.. You might have heard EL James was there — she was, but I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her. I had a wonderful time.

Progress…not perfection

I hope you all had some much needed R&R this weekend. Needless to say, time flew and I barely saw the light of day beyond my computer. Fortunately, I’ve got some time off coming up to spend with my son who will be visiting next week from California. We’ll be attending the wedding of one of his cousins–who I can still remember being a bit of a terror. My sisters and I had a gaggle of boys all about the same age and trust me; they were all terrors in their own rite. What I’d like to know, is how did all our boys grow up so fast, and how have they survived to become adults? And not just adults, but men who have the courage to walk down an aisle ready to say “I do”. I guess it happened one step at a time…like everything else with forward momentum.

Phil, AJ, and Jay

The groom is on the left, his big brother is on the right, and my younger son is in the middle. California boy is missing from this shot, but I’ll have new pics with everyone looking clean shaven and dapper, I suspect.

Simpler days and wonderful memories aside, time waits for no man…or woman. In the mad rush toward my next book launch in…um…less than four weeks, I came to all of you in need of some help and advice last week. I’d like to thank you all for your enthusiastic responses! Your support and suggestions helped more than you know.

PJ Sharon here, and if you click on the link to my name, you’ll find a new website–sort of. Don’t go yet, though…let’s savor the big reveal for the end of this post, shall we? The new website is almost-but-not-quite-done. I’ll be working out a few kinks–like how to create a drop down menu so my books can be listed under one heading, how to find my HOME page in my menus since it isn’t there anywhere, and how to change the blogging link from my ABOUT page to my BLOG page. I’m still not sure I chose the theme I really want, and may make some changes there as well. I did choose the WordPress.com basic Responsive template so it would show up on all devices–a problem I was having with my other site that was “flash based” (who knew?)

In spite of entertaining his mom this weekend, my rocket scientist husband was kind enough to help me set up the web-hosting and get the site up and running. I used Go Daddy since that’s where I got my domain name. Hosting was reasonable at less than $40 a year. The site has some limitations–such as not being able to change the font without using Java Script, I believe…or it just might be me. There is a learning curve. Thankfully, I had step-by-step instructions from a YouTube video guru by the name of Tyler Moore. What a God-send! In a couple of hours, he talked me through designing and creating a decent website, including a new logo. I’ve still got some work to do, but it’s coming together and I am past the procrastination and freaking out stage–classic symptoms of fear of failure. It comes with the territory of being a perfectionist. As hard as I’ve worked to eradicate those tendencies, they still sneak up on me and tend to hold me back from achieving the next step toward meeting my goals.

The second issue I asked your help with in my last week’s post was coming up with a new tagline. I think I found one that works for me! Here’s what I came up with:

As for titles for Book Three in the Chronicles of Lily Carmichael trilogy, I’m still pondering. With all of the wonderful suggestions I received last week, I’m narrowing it down to several possibilities and will get back to you once I’ve made a decision. For now at least, I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. The really good news is that I’m not the one walking down that aisle next week. I love weddings, but…talk about stress. Eeek! What big stuff do you have in the works?

I’d love for you to share your progress toward one of your big goals with us. How is it coming on those manuscripts? Anyone submitting? Have a book coming out? Building a website, FB page, Goodreads, Author Central pages? There never seems to be a shortage of things to do.

TODAY’S UNLOCKED SECRET: If we expect perfection, we’ll never finish. And like me with the website, you may never have the courage to start. As with the rest of life, if we take it one step forward at a time–eventually we’ll get to the prize.

Once More, with Feeling by Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday Scribesters! Casey here.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading again lately. Frankly, my brain needs it. I have to gorge on other people’s stories so I can approach my own with a clear and joyful mind. Or maybe I’m just avoiding writing!

One of my favorite blogs is The Passive Voice blog (I highly recommend it for all writers or anyone interested in what’s happening in publishing). This post caught my eye – Good Writing vs. Talented Writing (the link is included at the end because I want you to finish my post first!)

The concept kind of struck me between the eyes: Writing can be technically good – excellent grammar, well-constructed sentences and still be lackluster. Or the writing can be good, but it’s missing that zing – the energy and zest that makes a story great.

Like many writers, I’ve read a lot of fiction. Some of it memorable. You know, the kind that gets under your skin and sticks with you a long time? More often than not, the stories are like chocolate: enjoyable at the time, but totally forgotten once the last page is read.

Sadly, I can tell (usually when the series goes beyond a couple of books or into the double digits) when the author and the storyline have lost their joie de vivre. Their enjoyment of each other has entered the toxic phase.

Why does this happen?  For a lot of reasons. But I think one culprit is that the author starts phoning it in either due to fatigue or even boredom. I recently read the conclusion of a very popular vampire series. I’ve been following it since the beginning, long before it made the leap into pop culture.

I’m sure some of you know what series I mean and the author. Now, I’m not going to mention names or anything because I’m not going to trash talk the writer or her work. And I would appreciate it, if no one else did in their comments either (and I will zap it, if I see it).

No, no, no. That is not the reason for this post. Instead, I’m going to make an observation. Writers are people. Like anything in life, we can get sick of too much of anything – even a good thing. I imagine the lure of a popular series is too good for publishers to pass up so they keep contracting more and more books. Even when it’s clear to the reader that it’s time to wrap it up.

This happens a lot. Especially with paranormal and mysteries series. In fact, you can often see the “fall” coming when you see comments (on Amazon, Goodreads, forums, take your pick) like – “I’ve read every single book, but… (insert reason here) and I won’t be reading these anymore because (litany of complaints).”

You get the gist right? My other observation is that this is not always because the quality of story or writing slips, sometimes fans just feel like they “own” your world and characters and don’t like the decisions you made.

Back in 2007, I remember a lot of anger and outcry in my reading circle about the death of numerous characters in a certain series about a boy wizard.

Why did she have to kill off (insert names here)? She didn’t need to do that.

Since I sit on both sides of the fence, as a reader and a writer, my view has always been, it’s the writer’s world. They can kill off who they like. Or in the case of the recently departed vampire series, pair off the love interest however they want.

But, conversely, as a reader -  if I really don’t like your stories anymore or I find that I don’t care about what happens to the characters or if I feel like I am reading the same story over and over, I won’t buy any more of your books.

Writers – all I can suggest is write every book like you mean it. With energy, with love and heart. If you don’t feel the love anymore, it’s time to say goodbye and let your characters go with dignity.

As Forest Gump famously said, “that’s all I have to say about that.”

The promised link: Good Writing Vs. Talented Writing from Brain Pickings

What say you all? Do you sometimes wish your favorite author would move on to something new? Or do you have a different take? Please share (remember, be nice!)

Billionaire Brides–An Interview With Ana E Ross

Hello, loves! Suze here. I’ve got an extra yummy treat for you–no, no more cookies like last week!  But something just as good, and not at all fattening. The fabulous Ana E Ross is with us today, and I can’t wait to introduce you if you’re not familiar with her work. The second book in her Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls series, THE MOGUL’S RELUCTANT BRIDE, just released and it is selling like crazy. I’ve read book 1 (THE DOCTOR’S SECRET BRIDE), and I’ve got THE MOGUL queued up on my Nook to read over the upcoming long weekend. 

I hear there might be a giveaway, so be sure to leave a comment! Here’s what Ana has to say:

Tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Nevis—which also happens to be the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton.  I come from a large family of ten boys and two girls, so you can just imagine how crowded and loud it was on a daily basis.  Anyway, an aunt—with whom I lived for some time started me reading at a very early age—3 years to be exact—and I used reading as a way of escape from my rowdy brothers.  I grew up on Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, Hans Christian Andersen, and many of the other children’s story authors. When I was a teenager, I fell in love with romances.

More recently:  After teaching English Literature and Writing for several years, I quit teaching in January to write full-time. I felt as if it was something I needed to do.  I cashed in my retirement and that’s what I’ve been living off of for the past few months.  I had to take a chance on me.  If it turns out that writing is not as financially rewarding as I hope, I’ll return to the classroom.  Time will tell.  But at least when I lie on my deathbed, I will be able to say that I took a chance on me, followed my dream, and die without regrets.

What was the first romance novel you ever read?

Wow, I wish my memory extended that far back, but unfortunately it doesn’t.  However, the first romances I read were Regencies and Mills & Boons, Harlequins, Silhouettes, and a vast number of historicals.

Did you sneak it out of your mother’s underwear drawer, like I did (SHANNA, by Kathleen Woodiwiss, for me)? 

This question made me chuckle, because I know my mother never read a romance in her entire life.  My parents were very religious and the only material they read were the Holy Bible and Christian related material.  Actually, I had to hide my romances from my mother; my aunt didn’t care though, which was a blessing since I spent a lot of time at her house.

How long have you been writing?

I started writing in high school—short stories mostly, and then I transitioned into poems—many of them obviously on the theme of love.  I didn’t start writing romances until about twenty years ago. I’d just finished a romance and didn’t like the ending and thought I could write a story with a much happier ending.  And thus my writing career began with The Doctor’s Secret Bride.  The title has been changed several times over the years, but the premise of the story is the same.

Your newest release, THE MOGUL’S RELUCTANT BRIDE, is selling like hotcakes and has gone as high as number 245 on the Kindle paid list and is holding at number 1 on several sublists. As of today, it’s at number 341, and the first book in the series, THE DOCTOR’S SECRET BRIDE, is at number  924. Other than the fact that these are beautifully written, wonderfully hot reads, why do you think they are so popular?

I would like to think that those two titles are doing well because of the high level of sensuality and hot sex.  Seriously though, probably because of the themes of the stories—forgiveness, redemption, closure, healing, and definitely the strong bond of love and passion between the main characters.  Also, I love to torture my heroes, put them through the ringer—make them earn the heroines’ love.  The fact that they have to fight hard for their HEA make them more appealing it seems.  Readers have commented that they like the roller-coaster rides and that they feel the myriad of emotions the characters go through. They laugh, cry, scream, and cheer along with them.  So strong emotions must play an integral part in the success of the series.

How many books do you have planned for the Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls series?

There are four books in the series.  But since many readers have enquired about a story featuring Robert and Yasmine—Michelle’s brother and her best friend—I’m thinking of writing a spinoff of The Doctor’s Secret Bride where Robert goes off to investigate their father’s story.

Do you keep a series bible to keep the characters and the details straight?

Oh, yes, I definitely have to do that, especially since the characters make appearances in each other’s stories.  Granite Falls is a small town and they are bound to run into each other.  Also because of the bond of brotherhood between the heroes, I have to keep their physical and emotional characteristics straight.

What form is that in? (electronic, 3-ring notebook, index card box?) 

I keep electronic bibles with timelines, first meetings, birthdays, marriages, dates of conception, births, etc.  The four books take place over a four-year period, so I have to pay attention to the details, or my readers will call me out on inconsistencies.  I also created a map—both electronically and poster-size—of the town of Granite Falls with specific landmarks, streets, etc., and since the heroes are billionaires, I make plans of their homes as well.  I keep the poster-size plans and maps on the wall over my desk and I consult them while writing.  They keep me focused and help me to bring my characters to life.  I can really see them interacting with each other.

What type of marketing and publicity have you done/are you doing for your books?

Other than enrolling Book One into Amazon’s Select program, I didn’t do any marketing or publicity when it was first released.  I was just blessed I guess, and I didn’t worry about it so much since I had a full-time job.  However because I had a lot to lose with Book Two, (my retirement was running out), I had to get a marketing plan in place.  I advertised on numerous promotion sites, some free, some paid.  In addition, I re-enrolled Book One into Amazon’s Select program and used my free days before, during, and after the release day of Book Two.  During 3 free days, I had 27k downloads of Book One, and it’s still selling well.  The freebies definitely helped with the blowout sale of Book Two.  I hope that most of the 27K downloads for the first book will generate into sales for the second.  Again, only time will tell.

Why did you decide to indie publish?  

After umpteen years of trying to sell these two titles the traditional way with the big six—well big five now, I finally decided that enough was enough.  I had to make my own dream come true.  I was inspired by Ruthie Cordello’s success as an indie publisher.  Ruth and I met in 2010 at another romance author’s summer garden party and we were in the same boat with trying to sell to Harlequin.  She went indie the next year and made the NY Times Bestseller List in months.  We wrote similar books, so I thought I’d try my own hand at indie publishing, as well.  I’m so happy for all those wonderful rejections from New York.

Other than the actual writing, what parts of the process do you do yourself, and what parts do you hire out?

I hire out the cover design, editing, and formatting portions.  But I just enlisted the help of my twenty-three-year-old daughter who just graduated from college and moved back home to help with finding free promotion sites and handling my newsletters.  She did a great newsletter to announce the launch of Book Two, so we entered a kind of quid pro quo—as long as she continues to help, I make her car payments until she finds a job.

How long does it take you to finish a book? 

It depends.  I’ve written a book in three months, but I think if I want a book to be great, I need about five to six months to fully develop the characters and strong emotions that a lot of readers say they love in my stories.

Do you reward yourself when you type “The End” or put a book up for sale?  Yes.  I take myself, and my daughter out to a nice dinner.  I do indulge with a nice bottle of wine and some chocolate, too.

What are you working on now?  When can we expect it?

I’m working on The Playboy’s Fugitive Bride  – Book Three in the series. I hope to have it on the selves in September 2013.

What’s your junk food of choice?

I love strawberry cheesecake and buffalo chicken wings.

Any pets?

No pets at the moment.  I used to have a cat, but she died of old age a few years ago.  I plan to get another in the future.  I love cats and watch “The Big Cat Dairies” over and over again.  Actually, Massimo, the hero in Book Three owns a big cat named Jabari.

You can connect with Ana here:

www.anaeross.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ana-E-Ross/221431434575148?fref=ts

https://twitter.com/anaeross: @anaeross

Here’s Ana’s Amazon page where you can buy her books: http://www.amazon.com/Ana-E-Ross/e/B006UNSSD2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1369273073&sr=1-2-ent

Who’s got questions for Ana? She’s giving away copies of her book to 3 randomly chosen commenters, so don’t be shy!

Candy Crush–Cereal Killer Cookies

Hey, all, Suze here. As some of you may know, I write mysteries. Culinary cozy mysteries. I can’t talk much about my own current project just yet, but I can talk about other writers in the genre. So I’ve decided to start a new feature here at the Scribes.  Once a month or so I will introduce you to a cozy mystery author and prepare a recipe (or craft project) from one of her books. Sound like fun?

Book 17, coming in August

I’m starting off with one of my all-time faves, the Queen of the Culinary Cozies, Diane Mott Davidson. (Click here for a Wiki link) Diane’s series stars an espresso-swilling Colorado caterer named Gertrude “Goldy” Bear Schultz. Like her fairy tale namesake Goldilocks, she just can’t seem to keep her nose out of the business of the inhabitants of the upscale mountain town of Aspen Meadow. In each book she is called upon to cater an affair for the town’s snooty rich contingent, somebody gets killed, and Goldy finds a reason to get involved–even though her husband, Tom, a big yummy hunk of a local cop, repeatedly tells her to stay out of it. With the help of her zaftig moneybags BFF, Marla, and her assistant, aspiring chef Julian, Goldy always solves the mystery and delivers some of the most luscious recipes out there. Here’s one, from The Cereal Murders, book 3 in this long-running series:

Cereal Killer Cookies

2¼ cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 6-ounce packages almond brickle chips (Bits O’ Brickle or Heath Toffee chips)
1 2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the oats with the brickle chips. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. In a food processor mix the sugars until blended, then gradually add butter. Continue to process until creamy and smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and process until blended. Add the flour mixture and process just until combined. Pour this mixture over the oats and brickle chips and stir until well combined. Using a 2-tablespoon measure, measure out scoops of dough and place at least 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on racks.
Makes 4 to 5 dozen

Suze’s Notes: The one tablespoon of vanilla is not a mistake. For me, this recipe made four dozen chewy cookies, plus one, not counting the raw cookie dough I ate. I used a silicone baking mat and left the cookies in for about 9 minutes because I was using the convection feature on my oven. I took them out when they were browned around the edges but still slightly gooey in the center, then left them on the cookie tray to set up before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This recipe is a delicious twist on the classic oatmeal scotchie. Even the non-oatmeal-cookie-loving Crown Prince of Hardydom conceded that they were “pretty good,” as he grabbed another off the plate. Consensus around the Hardy house is that this recipe is a keeper!

Have you tried any new recipes lately? Do you have a series you’d like to see me feature?

#amediting

Good morning Scribes and Scribettes. PJ Sharon here, writing from deep in the edit cave. I thought it might be useful to share an Indie’s perspective on the editing process. It’s about seven weeks until the launch of my next book and the pressure is on.

Coming June 24, 2013!

I received my final set of edits from Carol, my super-editor who looks at everything from plot holes, inconsistencies, and characterization, to misplaced modifiers, repetitive sentence structure and comma placement. She is very thorough and brutally honest. She gives me fantastic feedback that at first makes me grumble and sometimes even cry in frustration at my own lameness as a writer. But then I realize that her suggestions are right on the money and that I would do well to listen.

Her best advice in the end for WESTERN DESERT: “Paula, if you can learn to write sentences that do not rely on “this” and “that” but are specific and vivid, your writing will improve enormously!”

You’ve got to love English teachers!

Carol’s straightforward approach makes me continue to grow as a writer and I am eternally grateful for her as a resource and a friend. But everyone’s view point is limited so I am going through another round of edits on my own, employing her suggestions, layering in details that will enrich the story, and developing more deeply, the character arcs. By this point, I’ve also run the entire manuscript through an editing program called Auto-crit which gives me reports about overused words, repetitive phrases, clichés, and much more. I could make myself crazy with it, but I’ve learned to use it to catch those pesky bad habits we all have (55 occurrences of the word “that” in one chapter, please remove about 34 occurrences). Eeek! Using the program helps me to see where stronger verbs and more vivid language are needed.

Next–as in today–I’ll hand the book over to editor #2, Jane. I feel like this round of edits is what fine-tunes the story, bringing it to life on the page and cleaning house on all the picky details like grammar, punctuation, and overall flow. Don’t get me wrong; Jane will also catch me on plot points that need clarifying, missed opportunities to deepen character, and stilted dialogue. She, too, is extremely thorough and honest—two necessary traits for a great editor.

When Carol and Jane are done red-penning my baby to death, and I’ve done my level best to write a compelling and entertaining tale, I’ll send the manuscript to Createspace for print copies.This step takes a week to ten days (usually less), so I use this time to work on marketing and promo plans. Initially, I can only buy four copies since I haven’t approved the final at that point. I give two of these copies to Beta readers (avid readers with a keen eye for what works in a story and what doesn’t), and send the other two copies to reviewers. Most of the big review sites require copies several months in advance of release, but it won’t hurt to send one to Publisher’s Weekly and hope for the best. This is also the time I will send the e-version in PDF format to on-line review sites. I have a yearly subscription to Author EMS, a website that pre-filters a list of reviewers perfect for my book. It’s a lot of work querying and sending out requested material, but I think it’s worthwhile. (I’d love to find an assistant to do these types of tasks for me).

Once I receive all the feedback from my Beta readers, (I usually give them a week or so), I make one more pass, considering their suggestions as I go. I’m usually still adding layers, sharpening dialogue, and looking for ways to weave the underlying themes throughout the story—basically putting the fine brush strokes on the final picture. Then it goes back to Createspace and I get a few more copies. I give one to a Proof reader, and the others I use as review copies. After the final proof read and final corrections, it goes to my husband for formatting. Although I’ve gotten pretty good at it myself, he is much more patient than I am and is meticulous with all of that awful detail and computer savviness. I approve it on Createsapce and order print copies, 30-50 to start, and upload to Amazon, BN, and Smashwords.

Viola! We have a book. The hardest part of this entire process is all of the other work that is supposed to happen simultaneously, such as planning a launch party, marketing the other books, and preparing my social media strategy for getting the word out. Obviously, I need to get back to work!

Any questions? What’s your process like?