Music to Write By

I've started a new book recently and everytime I start a new book, I need music to write by.

This time I'm writing an historical set during the Great War. While I bought some vintage music,my last   shopping spree  saw me purchase 3 albums-one by Irving Berlin, one by George Gershwin, and the last by Cole Porter.

My friend says they're jazz albums. I thought they were show tunes. I love show tunes, an entire story in a few stanzas.

The best part was that when I bought them from amazon they allowed me to download the albums as soon as they shipped. No waiting!

So now I can write, I just need to find the time.

A Season of Love-October 2013

Kim Watters here.  I can only think of a few things for an author that are better than getting your author copies in the mail. No, make that one. I think getting "The Call" tops the list, but after that, it would be the box filled with copies of your baby to cradle and hold and cherish. Then of course the next best thing is seeing your book on the shelf. Hmmm...... Maybe that is better.......I may have to rethink this. What do you other authors think? What about you readers?

The Soldier’s Gift

Just in time for Christmas, a tall, dark and handsome Scrooge visits Holly Stanwyck’s holiday shop, threatening eviction. But once landlord Ethan Pellegrino sees the single mom’s plight, the former soldier becomes her protector instead. Suddenly he’s helping her with her struggling business and bounding with her troubled son. A wounded veteran come home to heal, Ethan is no stranger to sorrow. But something about the pretty widow fills him with hope. Will Holly be able to let go of her own painful past to see her future by his side?

Excerpt:

Ethan momentarily lost himself in Holly’s presence. Her swept back locks exposed her long, elegant neck and straight, slightly upturned nose. But it was her vulnerability that got to him.

Despite her attempts to keep it all together, he sensed just below the surface she suffered and struggled with her son, the shop, everyday life. 

He should step away. Instead, when she turned her head toward him, he found himself staring into her deep green eyes that had seen so much pain. A pain he could identify with. He’d lost his father at a young age, and several of his friends in Afghanistan. But even that couldn’t compare to losing one’s partner, one’s soul mate. 

He had no experience with that sort of loss, yet he felt the need to comfort. Protect. He wanted to draw Holly into his arms and absorb her pain and blend it with his own.

Life Is Stranger Than Fiction

You would think that anything that happened in real life could be written about and accepted by a New York publisher in a fiction novel. There are so many strange news reports that you would think the field of fiction would be wider, but it isn't the case.

For example, my family has recently suffered one blow after another. Last April may Uncle John died of cancer. He wasn't even 60 years old yet. The next month my cousin's grandson was born and immediately taken to Phoenix Children's Hospital. His fight for life was featured on several news channels in Phoenix. Trenton has had two heart surgeries and twenty-nine blood transfusions to top the list of treatments. A week ago last Sunday, I gave blood at one of the blood drives sponsored in his name. The next day, my cousin Jeff Randall, died in a small plane crash while working for First Solar. There were a couple of articles written about that tragedy. Five days later, my grandmother, Paula, pictured above, passed away. We held her memorial yesterday,

All of this happened within a five month period. If I created a heroine and she had to face these tragedies, an editor would probably tell me it felt contrived. As writers, we are supposed to create tragic circumstances for our characters to face and endure; but keep in mind, reality is stranger than fiction. If your gut tells you your heroine is facing too many, your editor might think so too. On the other hand, we can do anything we like to our characters if we ;publish the book ourselves. In self-publishing fiction can always be stranger than reality.

Until next week,
happy reading and writing.
Tina Swayzee McCright

Author Spotlight: Candice Stauffer, by Caris Roane

Hi, Everyone!
Today, I'm spotlighting fellow Indie Romance Convention Author, Candice Stauffer!  We're both attending the convention in early October and look forward to seeing some of our wonderful fans there.  For more information:  INDIE ROMANCE CONVENTION!!!

 

AND NOW, MEET CANDICE!

I live in Zeeland, Michigan where half of the year is winter and the other, much shorter half, is summer. Yippy summer! It’s a wonderful place to live as long as you own a four wheel drive vehicle and you happen to get a kick out of measuring the snow fall in feet rather than inches.

I write paranormal romance because I love to explore and manipulate the limitless possibilities of the genre. To be completely honest, I’m also very fond of taking a totally hot, powerful immortal hero and using a strong, confident, beautiful heroine to turn his world upside down and make him fight like hell for a victory that seems impossible to achieve. Some might call it torture. I call it entertainment and character building. Regardless, it’s great fun!  read more...

LATEST RELEASE:  EXQUISITE BREATH OF DARKNESS

Being a nearly invincible immortal warrior, Joseph Payne had never paid attention to time, but now time consumes his every thought because he is running out of it.

Fate is about to rip Mia Harte, the only woman he will ever love, out of his arms because she belongs to Eli Thomas, the relentless alpha male of one of the strongest lycan packs in the Pacific Northwest.

* * *   * * *   * * *   * * *   * * *

Excerpt from EXQUISITE BREATH OF DARKNESS...

...She rushed him and, with a burst of lycan strength, took him down onto the floor.

For a few seconds, she sat motionless, her gaze not once wavering from his. He’d never even imagined a more exquisite woman. From the moment he’d first taken her hand at the cemetery six months ago, she’d become as essential to him as the air he breathed. For many years he thought he would never find a love as strong and as pure as her love. Now, he couldn’t fathom a life without her. He never wanted to try.

Too afraid to move, to touch her, to do anything that might stop her, he kept his fists clenched as his sides. He watched. He waited. He hoped for more. The sight of her on top of him, looking down at him with so much love and lust in her eyes, stole his breath away. It was his perfect fantasy made reality. He’d never experienced anything nearly as glorious until she reached down to touch him.

read more...

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at author Candice Stauffer and if you can join us at the Indie Romance Convention, we'll see you there!!!  more info...

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Caris Roane is the author of thirteen paranormal novels.  Writing as Valerie King, she has published fifty novels and novellas in Regency Romance.  She has also launched her first contemporary romance, A SEDUCTIVE PROPOSITION.  Caris lives in Phoenix, Arizona, really doesn’t like scorpions, and has two cats, Gizzy and Sebastien.


Now Available:  EMBRACE THE MAGIC
 

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Time's Enduring Love by Tia Dani

Time's Enduring Love

Libby Strammon believed her life was on track. A young woman of the tumultuous 1960's, she worked hard to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor so she could open a practice in the small Kansas farming community where she was raised. But when a perilous storm sweeps her back a hundred years into the past she is forced to rely on her instincts while navigating the changed world that a hundred years difference has wrought.

Kansas Volunteer, Lieutenant Matthew Dome's magnetic attraction to the slightly odd woman who appeared out of nowhere wars with past promises made—promises he'd failed to keep. He yearns to have the fascinating spitfire by his side, but can't let go of the past and his guilt long enough to convince himself she belongs in his life.

When circumstances send Libby and Matthew into danger, and a buried secret is revealed, Libby races against time to choose between returning to the 20th century she is familiar with or remain with Matthew who loves her but failed her once before?

http://www.amazon.com/Times-Enduring-Love-ebook/dp/B00EVXABV0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1378345765&sr=8-2&keywords=Time%27s+Enduring+love


We hope you enjoy reading our latest release.  As you know we write in various genres, but it seems like time travel/paranormal and fantasy is our favorite.
We've been thinking about promo ideas so if any of you readers have an idea about what you'd like to see from us, please let us know.  Tia (Chris) makes some lovely jewelry and greeting cards.  We will be having some contests very soon and we're happy to offer either as gifts.

Check back often because we are planning some fun events.

Have a great week,
Tia Dani

Tia Dani is a multi-published writing team made up of good friends, Christine E Jones (Tia) and Beverly (Dani) Petrone. Together they create endearing and realistic characters, humorous dialogue, and unusual settings, and, best of all…they’re having the time of their lives.

Find us at Amazon, The Wild Rose Press, Breathless Press, and Books We Love







   





 

4 Myths That Stop You From Effectively Using Twitter

by Connie Flynn

Myth #1 - Twitter is About Building Relationships
If you've bought into that myth, you also bought into the Twitterland delusion. So what is that delusion?

It's the silly idea that twitter is about relationships.

Am I saying it isn't? Yes, and beyond that I'm repeating that it's delusional. Think about it. Do you really care if a stranger is having a relaxing moment on his beautiful patio or that a woman just found a cool place to get a manicure or even that a casual twitter acquaintance has finally broken away from his writing to jump into a long-neglected shower (eewe) Nope,  you really don't, do you? If you want relationships you go to Facebook.

Twitter is a marketplace, not unlike a bazaar. It's about SEE AND BE SEEN. The most valuable part of tweeting is that it lets you become visible in the vast sea of the Internet. So dress up the twitter site. Give it a pretty background. Make sure your picture is flattering and welcoming. In time, you become familiar to other users in your stream. People on Twitter don't want to be your best friend. They just want to know you've been around a while and will probably stick around. They do this by seeing your tweets.

Myth #2 Twitter is Confusing and Makes No Sense
It's no secret that I love this media or that I fully understand why many people don't. After all, you can only use 140 characters, and you have to count the spaces between words, too? Whose crazy idea was that?

A brilliant marketer, is my guess and the main reason it's confusing you probably came from the same marketer, who convinced you that conversation was possible in  140 characters or less. Talk about sound bites. Again, Facebook and other such sites are much better at conversing than twitter. That leaves twitter as the most effective and inexpensive method of getting your name out there. If you're a writer who wants to actually be able to afford food, you'll need to get known, so read on.

Myth #3 - Tweeting is a Waste of Time
Yes, it takes time, but it also lets people know what you have to offer. Don't be shy. Just be willing to retweet and engage in brief twitter conversations because that helps the other tweeter be seen. Trust me, they'll do the same for you. Don't let tweets devolve into deeply personal matters. Keep them focused on your brand image. While some people do use Twitter entirely for personal reasons, most of them won't stick around because they, unlike you, are not there to do business. But that doesn't mean they won't buy your book before they drift away.

Many of you, I know, would prefer going into a cave to write your books, coming out only for a few autographings and to take that above mentioned shower. Not going to happen. So unless you have unlimited funds to pay someone else to do these tasks, you'll eventually surrender to the idea that you need to tweet.  When you do, plan on doing at least ten marketing tweets each day. Yes, I know, I know, that's totally against everything you've read but most of that advice came from the twitterland delusion, and in a few secs I'll tell you why that many tweets are not a problem. The real problem is that, unless you're a tweet-a-holic, that many tweets require you to go into twitter ten times a day. What a pain.

That's why you need HootSuite or TweetDeck or some such service that lets you schedule your tweets. I know and understand Hootsuite better than TweetDeck but I got it mainly because TweetDeck has to be loaded on your computer and Hootsuite is stored on the web. The basic service is free and I have been toying with subscribing to its upgraded service, but so far basic HootSuite has filled my needs.

The best thing about a tweet manager programs is it lets you go in each day, schedule your tweets, then forget them to some degree. You should still go in now and then and retweet your buddies and engage in a bit of brief conversations.

Myth #4 - Tweeting Doesn't Sell Books or Products
I agree. Tweeting doesn't sell books. It's the content of the tweets that does the selling and seldom does a tweet say 'buy my book.' It tells what the book has to offer in slogan jargon and sound bites. Others are straight-forward — book and author name, price if it's on sale, link to a site where it can be bought — and are more like a billboard than a slogan. To repeat, tweeting doesn't sell books, it gets your name or title or series title out there, makes it  familiar, so one day the reader will click on the link, saying to themselves, 'who is this Connie Flynn person? I should try one of her books.'  And so the sales happen and as my name and book title gets more familiar, sales go up.

Launching a book? Schedule a tweet every hour for 24 hours (remember Twitter never sleeps) and see what happens

Myth #5 - Tweet Too Often and You Tick People Off
Here's the deal about heavy tweeting. Somewhere, some place people are quoting an arbitrary rule like saying you should do about four content tweets for every sales pitch.  That's delusional.

Come on now! Are these people paying any attention to how the twitter stream works? It's a chronological scrolling of every tweet put out on a given day that somehow includes your address. You have little control over what goes in that stream, other than knowing it will only contain tweets from people you follow and also follow you.  The likelihood is that the same person  will not see every tweet unless it is retweeted within your twitter stream. This is a good thing. An endorsement that comes from others. Respond in kind even if you haven't read their book. Remember, it's about seeing and being seen.One to two content tweets a day are enough. Content tweets are hard, which is why so many of them are a bit inane. Quotes are good, but if you can come up with something original that's even better. Personally, I like to promote other authors and author venues —  conferences, appearances, things like that. I occasionally talk about my tai chi classes, mostly because the positions have such intriguing names. I could never come up with White Swan Spreads its Wings on my own. But I do this generally through Facebook, which automatically sends it to my twitter account.

One thing that might be stopping you from using Twitter is the learning curve. It's a bit steep but it was even steeper at the beginning. I had no idea how HootSuite worked or how to set it up and how to follow my followers . . . or even how to write an effective tweet (which is always an ongoing challenge), but it got easier, and a task that once took me a couple of hours I now generally deal with in under a half hour.  Now there is no doubt that twitter is more effective for eBook sales than print because these readers tend to be more impulsive in their buying habits and are also generally heavier readers. Still print books can also benefit from twitter, especially when they have an eBook version as well.

Hot Prospects Contest - Final Day to Enter!

TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY TO ENTER!!!

2013 Hot Prospects Contest
Sponsor: Valley of the Sun Romance Writers

****Permission to forward****

GRAND PRIZE: The grand prize winner of the contest will have their entire manuscript (400 pages, Courier, 12pt, Double spaced) reviewed by two professional editors at The Author's Red Room. TheAuthorsRedRoom.com

Final round judges

1) Historical/Regency

Editor - Holly Blanck, St. Martins
Senior Editor - Esi Sogah, Kensington

2) Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal

Assistant Editor - Kelly Quinn, Tor
Editor –Kristine Swartz, Assistant Editor, The Berkley Publishing Group 

3) Romantic Suspense

Editorial Assistant- Lauren Plude, Grand Central Publishing
Editor Samhain -Tera Kleinfelter

4) Contemporary Long/Single Title

Editor –Deborah Werksman, Sourcebooks, Inc
Editor at large, Sue Grimshaw, Random House

5) Series Contemporary
Associate Editor – Johanna Raisanen, Harlequin
Senior Editor Sweetheart Rose – Leanne Morgena, The Wild Rose Press

For More Information, entry form, and rules, see website at
www.valleyofthesunrw.com For questions please email Voshotprospects@yahoo.com

Those entries that do not final will be returned approximately October 30th,
2013 to help those who plan to enter RWA's Golden Heart.

Linda Andrews
Valley of the Sun Hot Prospects Chair