Sunday, July 31, 2016

Writers Just Want to Write


How dare they! The world, life and business has interfered with my Work In Progress, aka working title The Bride's Basket, Book 3 in my Basket Series.

>>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

>>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

I'm headed for The Bride's Basket last quarter, the windup--until I add more onto the series. :) But amid this last slide into home, I need to work with the cover artist. (I'm hoping for a November release.)

I've just spent an entire morning--with my story calling me--cruising through stock photos. Since I'm loving what artist NajlaQamber has done on the first 2 books, I'm hoping for an appropriate match. Or killer cover. I love these covers! Tip: The more ideas you can give a cover artists, the better.

Holing up while writing this book hasn't been possible and you'll see the stuff below that has interfered during The Bride's Basket's creation. I'm still hoping for November publication. :) During this book, running on a parallel timeline I've:

  •  traveled/visited family
  • took care of a sick relative
  • learned a whole lot* from Joanna Penn/TheCreativePenn *Priceless info for the business side of writing, which most of us do not totally enjoy. However, to save our dimes, a lot of us do our own slave labor.
  • dug in and learned basic WordPress enough to re-establish my actual website. During a stressful family time, I had to transfer my name domain to my blog. Time-saving, you know.
  • worked more with Dragon and a podcasting microphone, recommended by JoAnna Penn, and excellent interviewer and podcaster. Excellent. I have the recommended mic, so therefore I must also be excellent--right? :). I had Dragon on my PC, but shifting to Mac, had to relearn some stuff. Mac has a good built in mic, but this mic helps a lot. I'd used a headset before and if I purchase another mic, it will be a headset. It's what you're used to using.
  • Purchased and fully love Vellum, software that does amazing things. It takes a Word file and formats it for all different major ebook sellers. It also does epub, so useful with SmashWords and others. I love VELLUM! It truly is gorgeous! It is only for Mac at this pt--or so I understand--however, TheBookDesigner (Joel Friedlander) offers packages that do both ebook and paper layouts. If you want to learn more about Fonts, do check out Joel's blog. (I prefer to handcraft my paperbooks. I'm just that way. :))
  • Worked more with Scrivener--no simplistic software, but excellent organization and story-ware. If you're writing series, the hottest thing going now, you need an organizer. But it does a whole lot more and formats. Try the trial version. Got one for my Mac and just now IOS came through for one for iPad. Haven't tried the iPad version yet. I am truly hoping to do more with Scrivener in a new series I'm laying out now. Yep. Western guys again. I hope. :)
  • Then the everlasting downsizing--not fun, people. Sorting, packing, selling equals a big UGH!
  • One of the best experiences recently was working with Ryan Zee to promote my enewsletter subscription. If you're not on my enewsletter, you should be.:) I'm learning more of shipping free books to contest winners via BookFunnel and other ways.
NOTE: I wish I could run away from DOWNSIZING, but I guess it's my monster to tame. I'm skipping canning and making jams this year, but I may freeze zucchinis/summer squash for stews and for zucchini breads.

Please do join my enewsletter for more? The Egg Basket's beta readers came from my enews contact and I truly love those 6. I hope they have time to read my other work. :)


>>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK
>>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

Friday, July 22, 2016

Nice Guy Short Story #1

SAM'S STORY

I'm currently working with my Good Guy short stories, featuring the Knight family.

Sam Knight is a remodeler. Divorced and not looking, he works, comes home, spends time with his parents/siblings and that's it. Then, one day on his way home, he sees this redhead and her little boy....

Author's Note: Sam's Story is told from the male point of view, and an interesting journey for me. Luke is already married to Cindy, but Jon and Ryan and Rose are in the wings.

Sam's Story is not for sale just yet. I'll probably gift it to my enewsletter subscribers soon. You might want to subscribe. :)


Monday, July 04, 2016

Gimme Giveaways!

Have a great summer and 4th of July!!! I'm enjoying a bit of quiet now, listening to the fireworks blast off in my street. The big boomer shows are around, too. So is rain and mosquitos, which I learned last night when standing outside and gawking at the fireworks.

Please Share these great GIVEAWAYS with your friends?

1. 40+ Multi-author #Giveaway! 7/4-11 With others, I’m giving away my book The Basket Maker's Wife (book 1)
Enter the #contest by clicking here: 

2. SUB to my newsletter for my new contest giveaway/ a chance to win The Egg Basket (book 2) Details for contest after subbing. Ends 7/15

OR...
Get the books :)

>>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

>>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK