Word Witch Wednesday - writing and marketing potpourri

I'm so close to finishing the final book of the Totem series. I still do not know exactly how the final twist will work, though. The thrills of being a pantser! Next time, I'll have an end in mind before I start a series. (I've said this to myself every single time I write a series!)

Pantser tip: Don't let not knowing what happens next slow you down. Let the story take you there. It has never failed me yet. Some plots just take longer than others!

 

I've written a few short stories recently. A couple of them were horrible. I reworked a third one and hopefully it reads better now. I sent it into my local critique group for this month's meeting.

 

Writer tip: Not everything you write is going to be awesome. Sometimes when we write, it's just for practice. Any writing, brilliant or not, is important for improving your craft.

I've been busy critiquing for my local group and my critique partners. Such awesome stories! I love getting a sneak peek at these tales before anyone else does.

Critiquing tip: Make sure to add comments in about how parts made you feel. Say you laughed at this part or got angry or sad. The author wants to know what kind of emotions they're evoking.

I offered Dark Dawning (Totem #1) for free for the last five days. This time around, I didn't do any promoting apart from my newsletter, blog, and other social media. I had half as many downloads as when I used paid ads.

Freebie marketing tip: Freebooksy is a fantastic place to advertise. It's not the cheapest, but it is where I always go as a reader to look for free reads. Asking other authors and readers, most look to Freebooksy first as well.

Friday Five for January 22, 2016

1. It's Friday already? Where did my week go? I had two days to myself this week between MLK Day and snow days. I haven't been that productive, but I do have some big news... which I'll share soon. Subscribers to my newsletter will hear it first. So if you aren't already a subscriber, all you have to do is put your email address into that little widget on the right and click!

2. I haven't managed to get more than a few hundred words of writing done, but I've been keeping up on my critiquing for one of my critique partners. I do love getting to read new awesome stories before everyone else!

3. The Paramours Tour is just over a week away, but I'm going to do less touring this year with my books. What I want to try to do is have guest posts on blogs more often. Spread out the dates throughout the year. Keep myself out there without the fuss and stress of touring. I also wish to welcome other authors to guest post on my blog. I'll host them on Mondays, and I'm open to a variety of topics. If you'd like to write a guest post for me, please email me and we can work out the details. As you might have noticed, my most popular posts on my blog are guest posts.

4. Adorable kid moment of the week: My son had his 100th Day of School yesterday, and he wanted to dress up for it. He wore a button up shirt and tie with a Superman t-shirt underneath.

5. Finally, an awesome and easy Meme Blog Hop! I'm happy to host this with the terrific Tara Tyler and C. Lee McKenzie. We're giving away ebooks and gift cards. The rules are simple: post your meme and visit others and smile. I'll be reminding you of this again very soon! Sign up here.

Friday Five for October 2, 2015

1. The edits for Poltergeist's Pleasure (The Paramours #2) are finished. I'm having a great time working with my new editor. She's quick and efficient. That means I have a release date: October 23rd. Just in time for Halloween!

2. I've been editing and critiquing this week, but I managed to get started on the second novella in my Totem series. Totem. Yes, I really like it. The more I type it, the better it feels. It's the same way I felt about the 13th Floor, and I'm still in love with that series.

3. Next week I'll be absent from the internet. It's my son's fall break and my mother will be visiting. We'll be doing lots of fun fall activities which include celebrating my birthday! We'll be going to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner one night. Mmmm... I'm already drooling thinking about the desserts. I do have a book review for Monday and my IWSG post for Wednesday all ready to go.

4. Tomorrow my family and I will be going to a nearby Renaissance Faire with friends. A way to warm up for the Realms Faire festivities coming next month! Keep your fingers crossed that it won't rain.

5. Last but not least, the Realms Faire Thunderclap has been fixed. Huzzah! Please lend your support on social media to help promote this fantastic event. Just click HERE and pick how you'd like to help out.

Have a wonderful week!

Friday Five for September 26, 2014

1. Less than one week until I have my cast removed! I will be in a brace or splint, but it will be nice to have it gone. I'm still not feeling energetic, but I'm slowly getting back into the groove.

2. I've been critiquing and catching up on little things this week. There have been lots of things going on with Untethered Realms. October will be a BIG month. Don't forget to preorder our anthology, Twisted Earths, and you can choose one ebook from any of the authors for free.

3. It's the start of the new season of TV shows. I've been watching Doctor Who, The Big Bang Theory, and Modern Family. Gotham is a new one on FOX. It has potential if it doesn't overdo it with the kids. I can't wait for The Walking Dead and Supernatural. And finally there's the new sci-fi series, Ascension. My fingers are crossed it will be good. What are you watching?

4. I've no plans for the weekend, but we're coming up on my favorite month of the year. Autumn leaves, pumpkin patches, apple picking, and Halloween. I can't wait!

5. Have you taken your Shelfie yet?

When: From Now until October 6th, 2014

What: Take a picture of your favorite book(s), your bookshelves, or you with your favorite book(s). We understand if you're shy and don't want to be in the picture, but you get bonus points if you are. Then share it on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter. It's as quick and easy as that!

I'm excited to co-host this blog hop with seven amazing authors: Tara Tyler, Heather Gardner, CD Coffelt, M.J. Fifield, Elizabeth Seckman, Rena Rocford, and Vikki Biram. We'll be offering prizes for various categories. The grand prize winner will win $40! I'll be giving away a digital copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection for the geekiest Shelfie.

Here is another one of my bookshelves. A lot of hardcovers here and my old university textbooks. I find it very difficult to part with any sort of book!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Elven Obsession cover reveal and Friday Five for August 1, 2014

1. Last week I mentioned I was stressed out by my son's preschool relocation. Thankfully, the school has been allowed to finish out its lease, and so we can stay this school year. Yay! I've been helping clean up the playground and getting things ready for the children. 17 days until school starts!

2. Click on over to Untethered Realms for a review written by me. Also find out who won the huge giveaway! Thank you so much to everyone who entered and followed our blog.

3. I've been reading and critiquing a lot this week. I haven't gotten any writing done, but these are some darn good reads! I'm immensely lucky to have such talented CPs and beta readers, so when I read their stuff, I'm blown away.

4. My website is coming together. My husband has all the basics done. I aimed for minimalistic, and it turned out very... bare. We discussed what things we could add without making it crowded. One thing I'm adding is a background, and I had a few amazing images I picked for it. If people visiting the site can tear their eyes from my shirtless dragonslayer to see it! Keep your fingers crossed that the site will be live very soon.

5. I'm excited to help the tantalizing Decadent Kane reveal the cover for the Trouble With Elves series. This is my favorite one yet!

 Elven Obsession is coming August 29th.

You can find Decadent Kane here:

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Friday Five for February 14th, 2014

1. Happy Valentine's Day! And it's Friday! Yippee! You have a few hours still to enter to win books from 21 authors in this great giveaway. I'm giving away a digital copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection. Don't miss out on this chance to treat yourself.

2. As another treat, an interview with my handsome dragonslayer, Xan (from 1303 - THE DRAGONSLAYER) was reposted on Cover Girls yesterday. Go on over for a laugh and some eye candy!

3. I managed to get through critiquing 3 short stories this week. I'm getting nitpickier as I grow as a writer. Am I more so with myself? I think so, but I know I'm still biased at times. Thankfully I have such wonderful CPs and betas to help me. I also made the halfway point on my second draft with my #2 WIP. (#1 WIP is with CPs and betas right now.) I might be able to keep on track with my goals and finish the third draft of #2 by the end of the month.

4. I cut up a ton of strawberries for my son's preschool class today. They're having a little Valentine's Day party. He's not quite so excited about today. More often he asks if he's four yet. He knows he turns four in April, and he really wants to be four!

5. I have my local critique group meeting tomorrow. I sent in my first chapter from #2 WIP. I do wonder what they'll think of my superheroes. That's the only plan I have for the weekend. What about you?

Wicked Wednesday - Critiques (part 2)

This is the second part of my Critique series. On how I do critiques. It may not be the way anyone else goes about it, but hopefully I can offer a few tips that you might find helpful. You can read the first part of this series here.

After the initial read and the narrowing of the genre, I start a second read and focus on the first chapter. This is the most important chapter. If you can't keep your readers' interest, they aren't going to keep reading. I look for the hook, the setting, the backstory, the inciting incident, and the overall story problem.

Hook: hopefully it's right in the first line or at least in the first paragraph. This grabs the reader's attention with usually a dramatic action, thought, or desire. It sets the mood for the entire book. (Example: the opening line to THE DRAGONSLAYER: Xan missed the shot.)

Setting: the reader must know when and where they are. Not the exact time and date, unless it's key to the plot. But if we're in modern times, the past or future. If it's a fantasy world, it could start off in a barn or a cave. Don't leave the reader in limbo.

Backstory: You want enough to get the story going, but not too much to overload the reader. People are tempted to tell a lot in the beginning of the story, but readers only need to know enough to support what's happening in that moment.

Inciting incident: This is the event that turns the protagonist's life upside-down, or at the very least, the incident that leads to the chaos. It could be a letter from a distant relative or an assassination attempt. Big or little, it must propel the plot forward from chapter one.

Overall story problem: This isn't the hero's goal of killing the monster. What I'm looking for here is the protagonist's key internal problem. A flaw or weakness, something that she struggles with and that she needs to overcome in order to be victorious. Even if it's not obvious in the first chapter, I need to see a sign of it.

The first chapter is usually where I end up making the most changes in my manuscripts.

What do you look for when critiquing a first chapter?

Wicked Wednesday - Critiques (part 1): the beginning

In case you haven't heard yet, the lovely Cecilia Robert and I have revealed our surprise blogfest: MORE THAN JUST A KISS. Sign up and share with us a kissing scene. Along with two marvelous guest judges - Kyra Lennon and Laurelin Paige - we'll be judging the scenes and picking three to win. We will then critique a kissing scene from your latest WIP.

No one does a critique the same way. There are those that pick up on details that others do not, and critics that manage to find plot holes where everything seemed tied together so nicely. Some have a system and order to their critique, and others just dive right in with everything. This is why it's important to have more than one critique partner.

I've learned a lot from my critique partners and from critiquing other writers' stories. I have a system of sorts. I always read it first as a reader. Just for the pure enjoyment of the tale. That way I won't get distracted by the story as I'm critiquing.

The first thing I keep in mind when I'm starting a critique is the specific genre. All romances must have the relationship central to the plot. I'm going to use various sub-genres of romance as examples:

Paranormal romance - must have elements of the paranormal central to the plot

Romantic suspense - the mystery must drive the plot along with the romance

Historical romance - the accuracy of the historical setting and how it affects the romance

Contemporary romance - the romance and how it's affected by the other modern issues the author weaves into the plot

The genre identifies your target audience. You don't need to stick to a specific formula, but if the story is lacking in the key elements of its intended genre, it will fail. If I'm critiquing a romantic suspense, and the mystery limps along as a subplot, I'm going to suggest ways to bring it to the forefront, make it stronger, and integrate it into the central plot. In another manuscript, the mystery of how the hero traveled back in time might not be as important as what's happening in the time period he did end up in, and I won't suggest spending time on something that's mysterious yet not integral to the central plot.

Over the next month, I'll be talking about various parts of my critiquing process. Please feel free to tell us how you go about critiquing in the comment section below. I'd love to hear if you have any tips or tricks!

How do you begin the critiquing process?

Saturday Six for August 25th

1. What a busy week! My son started preschool and it went wonderfully. He walked in like he owned the school at orientation, and then was very eager to return the first official day of school. It just so happened to be my day as teacher's helper (it's a co-op school and so I have to do that once a month), and so I could be there with him his first day. I was pleased he wasn't clingy nor did he protest when I played with other children. I was so proud of him. Isn't he adorable?

2. I rewrote the ending to my steampunk short story and did a bit of tweaking. I submitted it to REAL GIRLS DON'T RUST yesterday. I love the title for that anthology!

3. I received two books in the mail that I won as prizes. The first is from Cherie Reich. I picked Break Out by Nina Croft. I also won Demon Hunting in Dixie by Lexi George in another giveaway. Kensington Publishing sent a bunch of swag with it too! I love free books.

4. Even though I didn't get a chance to attend my local writers' group meeting last Saturday, I critiqued the submissions for it. That took up a little more time than I expected, but I consider critiquing an excellent exercise in improving your craft.

5. FEARLESS has had over 1200 downloads now. It definitely helped that it went free on Amazon for the Kindle. It makes my stomach flutter when I hear how much people love it. I need to get writing and put something new out there for you wonderful readers!

6. No plans for this weekend. Maybe we'll get to the pool one last time before it closes for the season. Next week will be another busy week. I'll have another first: my first parents' meeting at school. Eek!

Have an awesome weekend!

Dark and cloudy Monday

It's dark and cloudy outside. A perfect day for writing. Now if only my son decides that a dark and cloudy day is good for a long nap.

S.C.I.F.I. (my writer's group) met on Saturday afternoon. Only three of us attended and we critiqued each other's stories. I learn so much about critiquing from them. I submitted a short noir piece for them to read. I had edited it to the best of my abilities. I couldn't think of anything that needed to be changed. Yet, wow. The things I didn't even think about. The main one being the physical choreography of the climax. Physically, it doesn't work. In my head, I had imagined one thing. On paper, it's impossible. It needs to be rewritten. Otherwise, they really liked the story.

I like to listen to them critique other stories too. I realized that I'm willing to suspend my belief of certain technical aspects for the sake of the overall story. Seeing the overall story has always been my strength in critiquing, but these folks are about details. I need to learn to critique as well on the micro level as I do on the macro one. There will be readers out there like me who will focus on the overall story, but there are readers who love the little details. They will be turned off if something isn't right. I know you can't please everyone, but I'm eager learn how to improve the quality of my writing to please some of the nitpickers.

I saw the new Harry Potter film on Friday night. Oh yeah. It's an awesome ending to the series. And no, sorry, I didn't cry.