Monday Mentionables: After the Fourth

Happy Monday, everyone! What's worth mentioning today? Let's see...

I finally finished the sequel to Beacon of Love, another contemporary romance set in the coastal town of Lindsey Point, Connecticut - called Inferno of Love. If you've read Beacon of Love, I can tell you that this book is Finn the bartender's story. Here's part of the blurb/query, to give you an idea:

Aubrey Anderson is a pediatric occupational therapist from Boston who’s spent the last twelve years rebuilding her life, after a horrific car accident near Lindsey Point killed her boyfriend and crushed her legs. A series of strokes on the way to the hospital left her with no memory of either the accident or the days leading up to it, so when she starts having nightmares she can’t explain, she decides to return to the scene of the accident to see if she can piece together her past.

Finn Cavallo is Lindsey Point’s resident playboy, owner of the popular bar the Great White, and hero of the Cove Fire twelve years earlier, when he pulled seven people from a burning building. But Finn’s laidback, flirtatious personality hides the heart of a man who lost his soul mate the night of the fire. When Aubrey walks into his bar with no memory of who he is or what they had, he’s stunned – and it takes everything he has not to tell her about the summer they spent falling in love.

 

As the days unfold, others in town start remembering Aubrey as well, including Finn’s brother-in-law, who has a connection to the Cove Fire that no one suspects. While Finn struggles with how much to tell Aubrey, and how soon, she finds herself inexplicably attracted to him, and it’s only a matter of time before bar conversation turns to passion on the beach and more. But when a series of events raises suspicion that Finn himself might have started the Cove Fire, Aubrey is forced to do whatever she can to discover the truth about both their pasts, including going back to the spot where it all began and confronting the one man who wants her out of the way for good...

I leave for vacation tomorrow BUT I will be blogging the rest of this week, so make sure to stop in for Writers' Wednesday and Friday Fun Facts! I'm also blogging on Thursday this week over at The Romance Studio, all about ebooks vs. print books - and I'd love your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Writers' Wednesday: All About Promotion

Hellloooo writers! Today's post is all about YOU. You know you have to promote yourself and your books, right? You know that even if you write the best story in the world, if people aren't reading and talking about it, then you won't sell more than a handful of copies, right? I'm sure you already do a lot of the typical: a Facebook and Twitter presence, blogging, maybe taking out ads on various sites. But check out these helpful links as well:

The Romance Studio is having a fantastic sale through July 7th: Buy 1, Get 9 Free. Yes, a total of 10 ads for the price of only 1! If you write in the romance genre, this is a great deal for you.

(I also want to mention that The Romance Studio is a great place for members to post news, because members' posts go straight onto the main page, which means as soon as you post, anyone clicking on TRS will see your news at once. That's great bang for your buck, esp. when membership costs only $15/year. Even if you only paid for that, and not a single other ad through them, you could still post announcements on their main page whenever you wanted to and hit a great target audience.)

Hercules Editing and Consulting will produce trailers for anything you want to sell, for only $35! That's a huge bargain - and you don't even have to do any of the work. They'll look over your product/book/blurb and reviews and then make the trailer for you. Any genre, any length - actually, any product at all. It doesn't even have to be a book you're selling! Check out their sample work right here.

Pay With a Tweet looks to be an interesting, non-traditional way of marketing your work. Using social media is a huge YES in today's world, and this website lets you "sell" your book to any consumer who tweets about it. Considering many people have Twitter followers numbering in the 1000s, news about your book could exponentially reach 10s of 1000s of people.

There are many other ways to promote yourself, but keep in mind to do what you're comfortable with and what you can afford. And always remember, above all, to keep writing! The best promotion of all is talking about your next book :)

Monday Mentionables: Celebrating Digital Books!

Happy Monday, and happy July 1st! Can't believe we're already well into summer (it doesn't seem like it with all that rain out there, at least in our neck of the woods!).

Had a lovely vacation in Bermuda last week with hubby. We had gorgeous weather and ate and drank like kings, so now it's back to the gym and the diet for me! We took a cruise ship out of Cape Liberty, NJ, which gave us a day and a half of sailing time on either side of visiting Bermuda...and I finally got a chance to catch up on my reading!

Even better, I loved seeing that so many other people were doing the same, and in a variety of genres (yes I peeked at book covers when I could - wouldn't you?) I saw everything from romance to biography to suspense to horror to young adult to military. And interestingly, readers were about evenly split between those who were reading actual paper books, and those who were reading on an eReader or tablet.

Which brings me to my big mention of the day: it's time to celebrate digital books! Yes, I know many of you still prefer to have a book in hand when you read. Many times, so do I (and so did I, on the ship!...because I forgot to charge my Nook before we left. But anyway...). But it's worth mentioning a couple of things today:

1. More books than ever are released in digital format first, before they go to print. Sometimes they're released in digital format only.

2. It's super convenient to load your digital reading device with 100s of books and carry around something that weighs, oh, less than a pound. Think about how much 100 books would weigh if you tried to bring them all to the beach!

3. Digital books almost always cost less to purchase than paper books (and many of them are also available for lending through your local library, if you're not a book buyer at all)/

4. Some presses contract that books will go to print depending on digital sales...which means if you really, really want to see your favorite authors' books on your shelves, go ahead and buy their digital book when it comes out first, to help boost sales and make it to print. (I say this in shameless self-promotion because Beacon of Love is contracted this way. I have a sales threshold to meet before it will be released in print. So can you help me out?)

5. July is officially being heralded as Digital First Read-a-Thon Month by The Book Binge and some of its fellow blogs. What does this mean? The folks over there are encouraging readers to try and read as many digital-first books (see #4, above) as they can during this month, to raise awareness about all those great books and authors who are digitally published but perhaps not yet print published. And what's even better? Every single day, you have multiple chances to win books and prizes!!! The link is right at the beginning here of #5, but I'll try to repost it on a regular basis so you can remember to stop by.

And...I'm the featured author TOMORROW at Tracy's Place, so please stop by, check out my excerpt, leave a comment, and generally support this great effort, would you?

Thanks and have a great Monday!

I'm On Vacation!!

Hi, everyone! I'm on vacation this week, so no blogging :)

See you next Monday!

Friday Fun Facts: Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Friday, everyone! It's the official first day of summer - what a great day! Even better, it's my last day of teaching school for this year. Hubby and I will be going on vacation tomorrow to celebrate and start our vacation right :)

It's kind of neat to think about today as the longest day of the year and what the summer solstice has meant over the centuries to cultures who celebrate it. For example:

 The ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramids so that the sun, when viewed from the Sphinx, sets precisely between two of the pyramids on the summer solstice.

The Inca of South America celebrated the corresponding winter solstice with a ceremony called Inti Raymi, which included food offerings and sacrifices of animals, and maybe even people.

 Recently, archaeologists discovered the remains of an astronomical observatory in a long-buried Maya city in Guatemala in which the buildings were designed to align with the sun during the solstices. During such times, the city's populace gathered at the observatory to watch as their king appeared to command the heavens.

 And perhaps most famously, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom has been associated with the winter and summer solstices for about 5,000 years.

So...what are YOU doing with the longest day of your year?

Writers' Wednesday: Libba Bray on Writing - No Holds Barred

Had to share this blog post with you all today. Writers especially will (should?) appreciate this, though it's worth reading no matter who you are, just to have a glimpse into a writer's world. Because it's, like, completely true. At least from my perspective. I told one of my writing friends the other day that I really needed to finish Inferno of Love because I was on the 5th draft and she said, "Oh, you have so much patience!" I don't know if it's patience or insanity, but I'll tell you what, author Libba Bray hits it squarely on the head here. Fair warning: it's long, so fill up your coffee and get comfortable!

Monday Mentionables: In Person Appearances!

Happy Monday, everyone! Just wanted to mention that I'll be at the Holiday in Homer (NY) Craft Fair on Saturday, July 20, all day, and would love to see you. I'll have copies of my re-release, The Promise of Paradise, as well as my older titles AND a few other goodies for you to choose from. So find my booth & stop by and say hi :)

I'll also be at the Indie Romance Convention in Lebanon, TN, October 4-5, chatting with other romance authors, selling and signing books, and generally trying to learn more about the ins, outs, pros, and cons of independent publishing through Amazon and other sites. Haven't decided yet whether I'll go that route again, but I figured it would be helpful to hear others' journeys.

So...if you live in or near either area, maybe we'll see each other in the next couple of months. Happy reading!

Friday Fun Facts: Random Comments, Random Videos, Random Thoughts...

TGIF! I know, I know - I missed my Wednesday blog. And I have no good excuse except that I'm fighting an end-of-year cold and am trying to pack up my entire classroom and 8 years of teaching since I'm moving to a brand new building next year and, well........Oh, and trying to finish up Inferno of Love as well. Want to see my favorite line from the section I'm working on right now?

In front of the window, in plain view of the cop standing outside, he grabbed her and kissed her. She winced at the contact, her bottom lip still swollen and sore, but the pain made it real, and she loved the sensation of touching him. Of tasting him. Long and hard he kissed her, hands in her hair and tongue inside her mouth, without words and without breath, desperation and passion mixing until she couldn't tell one from the other. I want this. I want you. I've waited for so long. She could hear the words as clearly as if he were speaking them aloud.

Last night I watched the "Master of My Domain" episode on Seinfeld. And still laughed. That is one of the best written episodes on one of the best-written shows. And one of my favorite scenes? This one:



Finally, I love the fact that Darius Rucker, who I loved when he was in Hootie and the Blowfish in the 90s, is now making a name for himself as a country star. I don't listen to a lot of country music, but I do tune in every now and then, and I love his sound (and his look, too...sexy!). An older song but one I love:




Enjoy your weekend!

Monday Mentionables: Truth is Stranger than Fiction

Happy Monday, everyone! I had a crazy busy weekend, which actually started last Thursday, as I went on a road trip and visited 3 good girlfriends from my past. They all live within 2 hours of each other, though they're all from different points in my past. I decided to take a few days and make a long overdue trip to see them all. Breakfast with one, lunch with another, dinner with a third. Whew!! I'm exhausted now...

I loved catching up with them all, talking about the good old days and also filling each other in on all the new developments in our lives, but I was also left with the striking thought that truth really is stranger than fiction. Each friend has her own path, her own life, all very different (one's a single mom of 2 who lives with her parents; one's a married mom of 3 who's lived in 5 different states over the last 10 years; and one's a never-married Shakespeare professor). And yet they all had these fantastic stories. You want to know why writers never have a lack of story ideas? Here, in no particular order, are real-life plots and characters taken from my girlfriends' lives...

~Next-door neighbor invites all the neighborhood kids (sans parents) on a limo ride which ends up including the  neighbor's impromptu wedding before the ride

~Husband and father of 7+ years turns out to be gay and having an affair

~Child returns from a visit to her father's house with an evil spirit attached, which prompts the need for an exorcism to get rid of said spirit

~Independently wealthy man moves in next door, turns out to have Aspergers Syndrome, but is also one of the city's most philanthropic men and thus has women wondering how manageable a marriage to him would be

~Local midwife is pregnant and prescribed a "potato-only" diet, which leads to her husband calling various people in the neighborhood whenever they run out of potatoes

~Former lover who now lives on the other side of the globe proposes an affair of convenience whenever the two of them are in the same country

And believe me, the list goes on. Great fodder for books, right? How nice when catching up with friends can also inspire my Muse LOL :)

Friday Fun Facts: Writing Spaces and Flashbacks to the Past...

Happy Friday, writers! I forgot to mention one of my fun blog stops earlier this week, over at Welcome to my World of Dreams. I'm talking about one of my favorite writing spaces in the house - picture included!

This weekend, I'm on a road trip, reuniting with 3 good friends from wayyyy in the past. One I haven't seen in 18 years, one in 12 years, and the other - well, the other is one of my best friends from high school, so I do see her just about every year, even though we live far apart. Can't wait to find out what they've been up to :)

I'll share reunion pictures next week!

Writers' Wednesday: Welcome Debut Author Marianne Sciucco!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm super-excited to welcome author and friend Marianne Sciucco to my blog today for Writers' Wednesday. She's talking all about her brand new 5-star Amazon rated women's fiction title, Blue Hydrangeas. Isn't the cover beautiful??

A nursing facility is everyone's solution for what to do about Sara, but her husband, Jack, can't bear to live without her. He is committed to saving his marriage, his wife, and their life together from the devastation of Alzheimer’s disease. He and Sara retired years ago to the house of their dreams, and operated it as a Cape Cod bed and breakfast named Blue Hydrangeas. Jack has made an impossible promise: He and Sara will stay together in their beautiful home no matter what the disease brings. However, after nine years of selfless caregiving, complicated by her progressing Alzheimer’s and his own failing heart, he finally admits he can no longer care for her at home. With reluctance, he arranges to admit her to an assisted living facility. But, on the day of admission, Sara is having one of her few good days, and he is unable to follow through. Instead, he takes them on an impulsive journey to confront their past and reclaim their future. In the end, he realizes that staying together at any cost is what truly matters.

And here's an excerpt to whet your appetite even more:

Sara, an amateur photographer, had chronicled her children’s lives with an old 35-mm camera she’d picked up at a flea market. In the photos, David and Lisa were young teenagers, gangly, smiling, and full of life. Sara sorted through pictures of them playing on the beach, building sandcastles, flying kites. She rummaged aimlessly through the stacks of photos, but one in particular captivated her and she studied it for some time.

Lisa sat on the beach, her long auburn hair floating in the breeze, her bright eyes and glowing skin forever sixteen. She wore a flowered bikini. Her lanky legs were lean and tanned. Sara rifled through the pile of pictures but kept returning to this one. She laid it down and picked it up again several times, struggling to find the right words to express her thoughts. Her facial expressions changed rapidly, showing a spark of recognition, replaced by bewilderment, and then the thread was lost. She held the picture up to the light and spoke with trepidation.

“Do I know this girl?”

“Of course you know her –” Jack started to explain, but stopped, tripping over his words. He took the picture from her and cradled it in his palm, gazing at the girl who was once his greatest joy. He glanced up at the mantel over the fireplace where pictures of Lisa blended in with the family photos. Choked with emotion, he turned away to catch his breath and pondered how to respond. Had Sara forgotten this girl was their daughter? Had her illness robbed her of even this most treasured memory? It was unthinkable, unbearable. He debated telling her the truth, but, uncertain of her reaction, simply said, “She’s a girl we used to know.”

“At Corn Hill?” Sara asked, still staring at the picture.

“At Corn Hill,” he replied. “We have lots of pictures of her, see?” He pointed to the photographs scattered across the table.

She gave no sign of recognition. A moment passed, and she yawned. “Put all this away.” She rose from the sofa and stretched her arms high over her head. “I want to go to bed.”

Jack left the photographs where they lay and escorted her upstairs to their bedroom. After tucking her in, he headed back down and gathered the pictures into neat piles, storing them in their boxes. His hands shook as the boxes filled.

He went to the mantel and removed the pictures of Lisa, hiding them away in a cabinet. Better to keep them out of sight in case Sara noticed them and started asking more questions, or, even worse, stumbled on the truth. A sudden revelation might be devastating, and he was determined to spare her any angst.

He turned out the light in the living room and made for the stairs, but overcome with emotion, he dropped into an armchair and let out a strangled sob. The clock struck midnight as he mourned their daughter in isolation, crying in the dark for Lisa, his wife, and himself. Gone was any possibility they might speak of her, recalling the good times and special memories, or comfort one another as they grieved. It was as if she had never existed.

Jack sat up deep into the night, and wondered how much time remained before Sara forgot him as well.

***********************

Marianne Sciucco is not a nurse who writes but a writer who happens to be a nurse, using her skills and experience to create stories that bear witness to the humanity in all of us.  A lover of words and books, she studied the craft of writing as an English major at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and worked for a time as a newspaper reporter in New England.  She later became a nurse.  In 2002, she put the two together and began writing about the intricate lives of people struggling with health and family issues.  When not writing she works as a school nurse at a community college in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, where she lives with her husband, Lou, and daughter, Allison. To follow her visit:

Marianne's Blog  

Marianne's TOS Life Blog 

You can also find her on Facebook or Twitter, or drop her a line at MarianneSciucco@gmail.com

***********************
And go buy a copy of Blue Hydrangeas!!

Monday Mentionables: Last Stops on the Blog Tours!

Hi folks - I'm a little late posting today, but better than not at all, right? Two last blog posts on my virtual tours for The Promise of Paradise and Beacon of Love - which means two more choices to win Amazon gift cards!

Long and Short Reviews is featuring what I've learned about publishing, my tips to you :) Stop by and visit!

And Read Your Writes is featuring a character interview with Sophie and Lucas, the heroine and hero from Beacon of Love. I love writing character interviews just because it's fun to let them take over :) Join me...and them!

Friday Fun Facts: Two Websites You Must See!

Happy Friday, everyone! Can you believe tomorrow is the first of June? Where did the spring go?? Here in the lower part of New York, it's been hot and steamy weather, with more promised today and over the weekend. I do love all the green leaves, but WOW! Have to get used to sleeping with the air conditioning on at night...

First website you must visit today: Brenda Novak's Online Auction for Diabetes Research. Today's the very last day that you can bid on items, so take some time and browse...there are a lot to choose from! And there aren't just items for writers or readers, but things like vacations and handmade jewelry and ties and even life coaching sessions. Check it out - all the proceeds go to an awesome cause!

Second website you must visit today: Teaching the Hudson Valley Blog. Featured right now is one of my students and the winning essay he wrote as part of a contest earlier this year. We worked through so many drafts of his work, and I was thrilled when he won. The writing isn't perfect, but the voice is great and really conveys the picture of his favorite spot and why it's "home" to him.

Read, enjoy, bid on auction items, and have a fantastic weekend. And stay cool!

Writers' Wednesday: A Run-Down of the Latest Writer's Digest

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Time for my run-down of the July/August issue of Writer's Digest. I love this magazine, folks, and if you're a writer, it's worth the annual subscription. It has content for writers of all kinds, all genres, at all steps of the publishing journey. Definitely worth its weight in information!

5 Things Novelists Can Learn From Screenwriters talks about focusing on dialogue, tension, and cutting out the non-necessities - this from the screenwriter of Life of Pi whose first job was reading books & then abridging them for audio.

What "High Concept" Means in Any Genre dissects 7 key qualities that make a book that elusive "high concept" that editors and agents are looking for. Among them: high entertainment value, originality, highly visual, highly emotional, and possessive of mass market appeal. (Sure. Easy, right?)

"New Adult": The Next Big Thing looks at this new YA+ genre, what it includes plot and character-wise (18-24 year olds and their dating/first jobs/first apartments/money issues/identity/self-sufficiency issues), why readers like it, and why it's more than just sexually amped-up YA. The article also mentions 4 agencies currently seeking NA works (check the websites first to see which agents to target!):

Foreword Literary Agency
Nelson Literary Agency
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
New Leaf Literary & Media

How to Write and Sell the Cross-Genre Novel is a great look at how many successful authors are blending genres and targeting multiple audiences, following their own hearts and interests in doing so. Charlaine Harris's best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels (inspiration for the TV series "True Blood") combine paranormal with traditional romance and mystery. Advice from agents in this article included focusing on your strong genre first, and then adding in a second and creating characters that don't fit the typical genre stereotypes. Sounds interesting but challenging...but filled with potential, right?

Be inspired, folks - and write on!

Monday Mentionables: The Next Three Big Things

Happy Memorial Day, for everyone observing it in the U.S. It is certainly a day worth honoring :)

In other thoughts, the next book I want to read is And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both of which I loved).

The next movie I want to see is Before Midnight (did anyone see the first two in the trilogy, Before Sunrise (18 years ago) and Before Sunset (9 years ago)? I love the concept of following love in "real time" over 2 decades...




And the next TV show I want to try is Mistresses on ABC, just because it looks dishy and dirty and perfect for summer. Anyone else??

Friday Fun Facts: Reasons to Smile

Happy Friday, everyone! It's the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S., and while that usually means days off from school and pools opening and backyard get-togethers, it also means that it's time for us to remember why we have a Memorial Day, to honor and remember those who have served and lost their lives for our country:

 

While you're taking some time to relax and reflect this weekend, here are a couple of videos that are well worth watching, if you haven't seen them already. We love our animals and the way they make us smile, don't we?

 



Monday Mentionables: A Litte Catching Up to Do...

Happy Monday, everyone! First off, congrats to winners of two recent giveaways:

Karen H from NC won the $50 Barnes & Noble gift card for commenting during my Beacon of Love review tour!

And Sherry Strode won the $10 Amazon gift card from The Romance Studio's Release Party on May 9th!

Congrats to both readers - and thanks, as always, for following along on my cyber world adventures. If you haven't yet entered my latest giveaway through Black Lion Tours, another $10 Amazon gift card PLUS any of my back ebooks, make sure to click on this link right here and do so before the end of the day today: Allie's Black Lion Tour Book Blast

In other news, it was a rough weekend here, as one of our beloved cats passed away unexpectedly :( It's always tough to lose a pet, and she was young, only 4 years old. I do find comfort in the Rainbow Bridge poem - have you read it? It's worth posting here, if only for my own solace.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....  Author unknown...

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Friday Fun Facts: In-Person Appearances Coming Up!!

Happy Friday, everyone! There's still another week left to enter my Black Lion Tour giveaway of a $10 Amazon gift card + your choice of any ebook from my backlist, so here's a link if you haven't entered yet: Love in a Book

I'm happy to welcome a whole bunch of new followers on my author Facebook page, so THANKS if you're one of them! I admit to still favoring Facebook over Twitter when it comes social media - it just seems more personal and manageable. Whenever I check into Twitter, I'm instantly overwhelmed by the news feed there. I know other people - other authors - who love it, but I've never warmed up to it the same way. Do I use it? Yep. I figure it's yet another way to reach out and connect with people, but it's not my favorite. What about you? Do you have a preference?

I do believe writers should use the medium that feels best to them, whether it's blogging or FB or Twitter or their website or (gasp!) in person. And speaking of in person connections, I have a couple appearances coming up in the next few months. I hope you'll be able to join me, if you're in the area(s)!

July 20, Holiday in Homer - Homer, NY -This one's definite

These next 2 are tentative:
September 20-21, SOAR Conference - Vernon, NJ
October 4-5, Indie Romance Convention - Lebanon, TN

Monday Mentionables: Lookie! More Blog Stops!

Happy Monday, everyone! Yes, yes, I know you've been following me all over cyber-space the last few weeks, helping me celebrate the release of my books - and I really appreciate it! First off today, congrats to blog commented Karen H in NC who won the $50 B&N gift card last week. Hope she enjoys shopping with it!

I do have a few additional blog stops today to mention...and you can win gift cards by commenting at any or all of them! Some are excerpts, and some are original chatty posts by Yours Truly, so do take a peek if you have a few minutes :)

Krystal Shannan
Ms. Romantic Reads
Lindsay's Scribblings

I also wanted to mention that The Promise of Paradise will be releasing in audio book this summer! And I'm thrilled to announce that the narrator will be professional actress and voice-over artist Teri Schnaubelt. I think you'll love her voice! 

Friday Fun Facts: Don't Forget to Enter for that $50 Gift Card!

TGIF, everyone!
Don't forget, any comment on a blog post this week wins you another chance for the $50 Barnes & Noble gift card I'm giving away at the end of this weekend. yesterday Romance Addict posted a lovely review of Beacon of Love, and today Queen of the Night is hosting me.

Please drop by and thank them for having me! Oh, and if you've read Beacon of Love and wouldn't mind leaving a review, I'd be forever grateful! Thanks so much, readers. And a Happy (early) Mother's Day to all mothers out there, especially mine!

Writers' Wednesday: More Blog Posts!

Hi, everyone! Yesterday I blogged over at The Romance Studio about where some of the ideas behind Beacon of Love came from. I always think it's fun to see (and share) how authors develop their story ideas :)

And don't forget that you can win a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card this week just by commenting on any of the blogs that are hosting me during my review tour! Yesterday All in One Place hosted me, and today it's Teena in Toronto! Please drop by, visit, and thank those lovely hosts for having me :)

Monday Mentionables: A New Release and a $50 Giveaway!!

Happy Monday!! It's the official release day of my new contemporary romance, Beacon of Love!

I'm thrilled to share my "baby" with the world and hope you'll love it as much as I do. And to help celebrate, you can follow my review tour this week for multiple chances to win a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card!!

All you have to do is leave a comment on any blog post along the tour - I'll update this blog with the links each day, as well as add them to my sidebar. Today, Kaisy Daisy's Corner is hosting me...please drop by and say hello!

TGIF: The Promise of Paradise is FREE Through the Weekend!

Happy Friday, everyone! Through the weekend, The Promise of Paradise is FREE over at Amazon - grab yourself a copy if you don't already have one. It's been doing well on the Free Lists, too - as of last night, it was #47 on Contemporary Romance and #261 overall. Not bad, considering all the free Kindle books advertised every day :)

So please spread the word - and don't forget that I and some fellow romance authors will be reading, speaking, selling, and signing tomorrow, Saturday May 4th, from 2-4 pm at the Newburgh Free Library in Newburgh, NY (the Town Branch, which is located in the Newburgh Mall at 1401 Rte 300). Love to see you there!

Beacon of Love is Now Available!!

Well, I'm super-excited to announce that my BRAND NEW contemporary romance, Beacon of Love, is available a whole week early!! Here's the cover and blurb; if you want to read more, click the cover to go straight to Amazon and take a peek inside!

Welcome to Lindsey Point, Connecticut: suspicious of outsiders, loyal to tradition, and absolutely devoted to its local legends.

Enter Sophie Smithwaite, travel show host, in town to film an episode about Lindsey Point’s haunted lighthouse. But digging into the story of a tragic murder-suicide and love gone wrong reveals startling connections to Sophie’s own past. When a gorgeous local handyman fills in behind the camera, Sophie’s life gets complicated by more than just her family history.

Part-time paramedic, handyman, seasonal Santa-Lucas Oakes does it all--except get attached. He’s still reeling from the death of his best friend ten years ago and the more recent infidelity of his ex-fiancee. Yet despite Sophie’s big-city nosiness and her insistence on chasing long-dead ghosts, he’s drawn to her.

But mixing with an outsider means questioning people and traditions Lucas has always defended. When a series of attacks seem to be connected to Sophie’s investigation, both Sophie and Lucas must decide if they are willing to risk everything to uncover the town’s secrets...and their own. 

Monday Mentionables: New Blog Posts, New Releases, Newburgh Library Here I Come!

Happy Monday, everyone! Just a few quick things to mention today: first off, last Monday the hero and heroine of The Promise of Paradise were chatting it up over at Read Your Writes Book Reviews. If you missed it, here's the link. (And P.S. authors - this is a fun way to promote your books that's a little bit different than the average blog post).

Also, my long-time writing friend Marianne Sciucco has just released her first novel, Blue Hydrangeas, about an elderly couple dealing with the wife's descent into Alzheimer's. Not a light subject, but certainly one worth giving attention to. You can check out the beautiful cover and read more about it right here.

And finally, just a reminder that I and some of my fellow romance authors will be reading, talking about romance, and selling & signing books this-coming Saturday, May 4th, from 2-4 pm at the Newburgh (Town Branch) Library in Newburgh, NY. This branch is located right inside the Newburgh Mall, which means you can do a little shopping before or after you visit us! (Just a heads-up for anyone on a tight schedule: I'm the last reader of the group, which means I'll be up around 2:45). Address: 1401 Route 300, Newburgh, NY 12550 Hope to see some local fans there!

Monday Mentionables: A Sneak Peek at my WIP

I've been taking a break from revising the sequel to Beacon of Love and revisiting the Young Adult book I drafted last summer. It's funny - people ask where story ideas come from, and here's the truth about this one: I was sitting in the hair salon trying to think of the oddest combination of story ideas I could come up with. I knew I wanted to write a YA, but I wanted it to be different. I thought, OK, what about Shakespeare set it in an alternate universe? That's different, right?

And that was how What You Will was born. I'm calling it "Twelfth Night meets Fringe," because that's as much of a description as I can manage right now. I wrote about 50K words over the summer and then left it alone. When I opened the file again about a month ago, I was happy to see that I actually had something to work with, and I didn't hate everything on the page (LOL). It's been really refreshing to look at a new project, especially one so different from the contemporary romances I've written the last few years. I like writing in first person present tense, and I like trying to capture the teenage voice.

It's fun and different and we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, here's a blurb and the opening scene. What do you think?

When seventeen-year-old Shane is transported to an alternate universe as the result of the September 11^th attacks, she decides to either find a way back to Earth or, failing that, a way to transport her twin brother to join her. But part of Shane's plot involves disguising herself as a male and taking an internship with a powerful young politician she soon develops a crush on. When he asks Shane to send romantic messages to a gorgeous entrepreneur, she must decide whether she’ll reveal her true identity to the guy she's falling for, despite the risk of losing her internship and her chance to investigate the innermost workings of her new world – and any chance of finding home or her brother again.

September 11, 2001

 Every single part of me hurts.

My arms, my legs, my back, my feet, my head. My toes. The hollows in my ankles. Nerve endings in my earlobes I didn’t know I had. I have this weird feeling like I’ve been broken apart and put back together again, but wrong. I try to open my eyes, but all I see is black. All I can remember is a few fragments of color. A clear morning. The bluest sky. My cigarette burning down to my fingertips because I’m staring above me and thinking I’ve never seen a plane fly so close to the earth.

Then nothing except this God-awful pain. What happened?

The plane hit me.

That makes sense. I saw it above me. I saw it turn over and then nose-dive toward the ground.  I should be dead, fried into a million tiny pieces. Or if I'm not dead, then I'm so badly injured I’m in shock. I blink once, twice, look at my fingers and wiggle them in front of my eyes. I press two of them to the soft spot of my neck and wait to feel a pulse. My tongue darts out and licks my bottom lip. I don't feel dead. I move one leg, then the other, then all ten of my toes, and glance down to realize my leather boots are gone.

Someone touches me, and I flinch.

 “Hey.” The voice is gravelly, almost not a voice at all. But when I turn my head to the left, I see a man lying next to me on the ground. His face is covered with ash and blood and I wonder if I look the same.

 “Hey,” I croak in response.

 His fingers clutch my arm, and I flinch again. Where are we?

Friday Fun Facts: Pre-Order Beacon of Love!

Hey, check it out! You can pre-order my new book, Beacon of Love, over at iTunes!!!

Oh, in case you missed it, I blogged this week with both Christy McKee and Rachel Brimble - love for you to stop by :)

And my writing friend Liz Matis blogged about using the promotional emailer service BookBub - a good read for anyone who's self-publishing and exploring different marketing avenues.

Have a great weekend!

Writers' Wednesday: In Honor of Boston

I'm blogging today not as a writer, but as a runner. And, to be honest, as a member of the human race whose heart is broken after the attacks on the Boston Marathon Monday.

I have been running, and racing, for almost 20 years. When I write that, it's hard to believe. I'm not as fast as I used to be (not that I was ever that fast), and I don't run as many 5Ks and 10Ks as I used to, but I still lace up my running shoes and head outside a couple of times a week.

I've run in about every kind of weather imaginable, on every terrain imaginable, in a variety of cities and towns and states and races everywhere from 1 mile to 26.2 miles. I know what it means to struggle through the last few hundred yards to the finish line, and I know how it feels to stand on that finish line and cheer for the runners crossing it, because I've done both well over a hundred times in the last 2 decades.

I think part of the horror that comes from Monday's attack is not only knowing that it can happen anywhere, to anyone, when we're least expecting it, but that this one happened in a place that is meant to celebrate life and health and activity. There is no protection when you're running, no umbrella or sunshade or wheels or anything at all to ease the motion of simply putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward. It is you and the road. That's it. You are vulnerable to wind, rain, traffic, other runners, your own pain, blisters, sun, and yes, bombs planted by people who have hate in their hearts the likes of which we cannot imagine.

I weep for those lost and injured on Monday. I also am eternally grateful for those who stepped in and comforted, healed, and helped in the moments and hours and days following the crisis. That is, after all, what you do when someone falls, when someone stumbles as they're running - you steer them back or pick them up and help them cross the finish line or hold them when they need you.

I hope that - I know that - those in Boston and around the country will continue to move forward, put one foot in front of the other with the strength and determination and optimism that comes from living in this country and from belonging to a fiercely determined and proud community that calls itself runners. I am sad, but I went out yesterday to run and I will continue to run, to race, to travel to big cities and small towns and foreign countries because I will not live, or run, in fear.

Run. Walk. Pray. Love. Connect. We need to remind each other, not only in these moments of sadness and loss, that we are there for each other, always, cheering and pulling each other to the finish line.

Monday Mentionables: Congrats to the Winner!

Happy Monday, everyone! First off, a great big congratulations to CatherineLee, who won a $25 iTunes gift card just by following and commenting on my blog tour for The Promise of Paradise over the last 2 weeks. Thank you Catherine for all your great comments and questions - much appreciated!

There are more chances to follow and win coming up in the next couple of months as well, and I'll make sure to share those links with you all :)

One of those opportunities will be on my Book Blast Tour hosted by Black Lion Tours. They've created a fantastic page and banner for Beacon of Love, which you can see right here (and sign up to host, if you have a blog and are interested!). While I find their tour packages a little pricy for my budget, their "Blast," which I'm doing, is totally reasonable AND includes that gorgeous banner they made for me! So if you're an author looking for some publicity, give them a try. So far, they've been lovely and professional to work with.

On another note, has anyone read Amanda Hocking's YA trilogy? I'm thinking of getting the first book in the series. Thoughts? Reviews?

Writers' Wednesday: Pitch Your Book at Savvy Authors!

Hey writers, just a quick mention today:

Savvy Authors is hosting a slew of agents and editors this week over at their website, all of whom are taking pitches for material!

Click here to find out more. 

Monday Mentionables: Learning to Take a Deep Breath from Hugh Howey

I read a terrific article over the weekend in Writers Digest, about self-published success story Hugh Howey. I hadn't heard of him, but apparently he writes sci-fi and had a breakout with his novella (series) Wool. Long story short, he ended up winning agent Kristin Nelson and signing a contract with Simon & Schuster for print rights only, while keeping his right to self-publish digitally. This is a huge deal because it's almost unheard of. Big New York publishers traditionally want all the rights they can get: digital, print, audio, movie, foreign...

But apparently Howey held out because he didn't feel a burning need to grant those rights (he was making upwards of $150K a month in royalties from his self-pubbed works, so I guess he could afford to be choosy). He wanted to secure a "hybrid" deal for himself in part to break ground for other authors to do the same - which I think is oh so cool.

That's not the part of the article I liked the most, though. This is the paragraph that stood out for me:

"...maybe you're earning $20 or $50 a month with the six or seven titles you have out there, and you're busy writing your next work. You're not thinking about landing an agent. You're not writing query letters, you're writing stories. And meanwhile, your ebook sales might be paying your cable bill...Instead of having your manuscripts in a drawer or in self-addressed, stamped envelopes, you have them out there where readers can find them, and maybe one of them will take off..."

Something clicked for me when I read that, a reminder that we should be writing because we love it, not because we need to pay bills with it or because a contract/editor/agent is breathing down our necks for the next manuscript or because a genre is bursting with new works and if we don't keep up then we'll somehow lose our chance to publish...well, ever.

His words reminded me that I need to take a deep breath and worry a little less about when my books are coming out, when I'm finishing the next one, whether anyone will want to sign it, how I'll promote the backlist along with the new release and...

Yeah. Deep breaths. And remembering why I love to write. Thanks, Hugh Howey. I needed that.

Friday Fun Facts: Covers, Covers Everywhere!

Got a "Favorite Cover Alert" for The Promise of Paradise (a nice review, too!) at my blog stop today, Flirting with Romance Reviews:

And my writing friend Liz Matis just released her new novella, Real Men Don't Drink Appletinis. It's a steal at $.99. Check it out!!

Happy weekend, all :)

Wrtier's Wednesday: A Little Scandal Here, a Little Rogue There...

Did you get a peek at yesterday's blog stop over at Crazy Four Books? We had a great discussion about whether or not you would stand by a loved one involved in a scandal. Would you lend support no matter what? Would you try to escape it all? Would it matter if the person was innocent or guilty? Check it out and share your thoughts!

Also wanted to give a shout-out to a brand new published author from my local RWA group, Elf Ahearn, whose Regency romance A Rogue in Sheep's Clothing, released this week. Check out this yummy blurb and cover:

In Lord Hugh Davenport’s opinion, women of the ton perpetually hide behind a mask of deception. That’s hard for Ellie Albright, the daughter of an earl, to swallow – especially since she’s disguised herself as a stable hand to get back the prized stallion her father sold to Hugh to pay a debt. If Hugh learns her true identity she’ll lose the horse and her family will go bankrupt. Somehow, though, losing Hugh’s affection is beginning to seem even worse.

Already only a step away from being snagged in her own web of lies, Ellie’s deceit threatens to spin out of control when Hugh’s mother invites Ellie and her sisters to a house party. Now Ellie has to scramble to keep Hugh from knowing she’s the stable girl he wants to marry, while simultaneously trying to win his trust as herself. Can she keep her costumes straight long enough to save her family? And even if she does, will it be worth losing his love?

Monday Mentionables: A Vacation and Blog Tour in Review...

I'm back from vacation! And yes, it was just what I needed: sun, sand, and time away from it all. Even better, in Key West I had a chance to see Robert Frost's cottage and Ernest Hemingway's house - all I needed for some new writing inspiration :) I didn't DO any writing, though, just some reading and relaxing. Here are 2 of my favorite pictures from the week:

Giving love to one of the 45 cats living in the Hemingway House (all 6-toed, all descended from Hemingway's original pets) 

My side of the family together for my husband's birthday - while on vacation!!

Also...I just finished up a blog tour with Reading Addiction Blog Tours, and if you followed along with me, you know I was talking all about "5 Things" in many of my guest posts. In case you missed some of them, though. here were a couple of my favorites:

5 Favorite Vacation Spots

5 Favorite Hero-Heroine Moments in my Books

I got some fabulous reviews along the way, so I want to give a shout-out to everyone who hosted me and read The Promise of Paradise and took the time to write kind words about it. Among my favorites:

"This book was an unexpected gem...I connected with the characters and even the minor ones were deep enough to be memorable." (T's Bookish Moments)

"Both characters come alive and leap off the pages with witty dialogue and interactions, you can feel the electricity in the air as the sparks of attraction for each other simmers below the surface...With drama, twists and turns, and quirky secondary characters, The Promise of Paradise is an enjoyable romance story that will leave you satisfied." (Jersey Girl Book Reviews)

Believe it or not, Goddess Fish is hosting another tour for me starting today, but this one's strictly reviews, no guest posts or wise or witty (or otherwise) words from Yours Truly. I'll  post the tour stops over on my sidebar later on today, so you can visit with me and see what others have to say. The grand prize for this one is a $25 iTunes gift card to one random commenter, so check in and chat with me!

Friday Fun Facts: Spring Break!!

Happy Friday! I only have one Fun Fact to share today, and that's the fact that today (well, tomorrow) officially begins my Spring Break! Ooh, it's been a rough winter, both with the weather and the workload at school, and I am soooooo ready to relax and escape!

P.S. - Don't forget that my blog tour continues through next week - follow, comment, and earn chances to win a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Writers' Wednesday: Links for Writers & A Lovely Review

Happy Wednesday, everyone! First off, just a reminder that my blog tour for The Promise of Paradise is going on right now, and yesterday featured 2 fun stops: the first, at Gimme the Scoop, was all about 5 quirky things about Yours Truly - and the other, at Readholic's Reviews, was a lovely review that called the book "a sweet wonderful romance."

Follow along with me - all my stops are linked on the sidebar, and every time you leave a comment, you're entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. How can you go wrong?

Writers, here's a heads-up for you: first, there's a Free Webinar offered by author Gary Kawasaki titled "How To Become a Best-Selling Author" TONIGHT from 6-7 pm EST. (This info was sent to me from Women-on-Writing, a website I trust and visit regularly.) Might be worth checking out. Click here to register.

Second, BookBub is a marketing service that indie-published authors might want to take advantage of. A fellow author recently took out an ad with them and saw TREMENDOUS sales as a result. Worth a look, in my opinion.

Happy writing!

Monday Mentionables: Blog Tour Starts Today!

Happy Monday! I'm sooooo excited because my first blog tour for The Promise of Paradise starts TODAY! And this is a fun one for a couple of reasons: first, the theme is "5 Things..." which means every stop that isn't a review or an interview is a post where I'll talk about 5 Things About My Life. What things? You'll have to visit me to see! And second, I'm giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one commenter from all the comments left on this tour. Visit me at each stop, leave a comment, and each one earns you another entry!

Come and join me, starting today, over at Reading Addiction Blog Tours for a Meet and Greet. The next 10 days of tour stops are listed over there on the right sidebar. See you on tour!

Writers' Wednesday: Talking All About Blog Tours!

Welcome writers! Today I want to chat (briefly) about blog tours. They are definitely one of the popular ways for writers to talk about and promote their books, especially new releases. They can consist of anywhere from 5 - 50 blog stops, over the course of a few days or a few weeks, where an author chats about her book, or provides excerpts, or answers interview questions, or provides her book for a review for said blog.

Lots of work, yes, but it can pay off with sales in the long run. Wondering where to start? One of my local RWA chapter members, Wendy S. Marcus, presented on this very topic last weekend, and rather than summarize her many helpful points, I'll give you her link to a blog post she wrote about it.

A couple of things to keep in mind, if you're thinking about a blog tour:

1. Organization is key! You'll need to keep track of the blogs you're visiting, the posts you're writing, when they'll be posted, and whether you'll be stopping in that day to respond to comments.

2. It's time-consuming. Blog posts are typically anywhere from 300 -1000 words or more. That's a lot of time to write an original, witty, reader-catching posts (and you don't want to reuse posts, because many readers will follow you from stop to stop).

3. Consider hiring a person or organization to help you. There are many virtual assistants who can help plan a blog tour for you, as well as blog tour companies who will take care of every last detail. They vary in cost, and I make no claims about any of these (except the first, as noted), but here are some places to start looking around:

Goddess Fish Promotions - This site is owned by the folks who also run The Long and the Short of It, and they are also personal friends of mine. Having given that disclaimer, I find them professional and very, very organized in their tour offerings. They work hard to target blogs that will appeal to your genre of reader, and they check their blog partners regularly to make sure posts are up and people are commenting.

Reading Addiction Blog Tours

Black Lion Tours

Virtual Book Tour Cafe

Jar o' Marbles (this one's a virtual assistant rather than a blog tour company)

OK folks, happy writing and happy touring! And don't forget, I have not one but TWO tours coming up in the very near future...and I'll be giving away goodies on both of them. Hope to see you on tour!

Monday Mentionables: Check Out All These Links!

Happy Monday, everyone! Just a few things I'm mentioning today:

1. Tomorrow's a double-header day for blogging: I'll be at both The Romance Studio AND at fellow author Mae Clair's blog. Please drop by and visit with me if you can!

2. Interesting links & articles from this month's Romance Writers Report:
~If you're an author, are you making the most of your Author Central Page at Amazon? It's a free service and a great place and way to showcase not only your books, but your reviews, your Facebook or blog links, and more!
~A few up-and-coming websites that writers can use to promote themselves include Togather, Libboo, and Writer.ly (on a side note, I'm interested to hear from anyone who's used them - I have yet to check them out in detail)
~Using the in-house publicist at your publishing house is a great (free!) way to build buzz about your name and reach out to partner with someone to market yourself even more. Don't be afraid to ask for the publicist's name and contact info, if you don't already have it, and send an email to find out how the two of you can work together.

3. Interesting links & articles from this month's Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators issue:
~Animoto is a web application that can help you produce your very own book trailer!
~Smilebox is a fun way to create photo collages, release announcements, and more, that uses videos, photos, music, etc. to appeal to your computer-based crowd of readers.
~Swoon Reads is a brand new YA romance imprint from the Macmillan Publishing Group that will be soliciting manuscripts and then using a reader recommendation system to choose which get put through for actual publishing consideration (side note: I tried signing up yesterday and had trouble submitting the form. If you're successful, let me know).

I'll be talking about blog tours on Wednesday, sharing info from our local writers' group meeting over the weekend as well as some of my own experiences, so stop by if you're a blogger or a reader or a writer who's interested in hearing more. See you then!

Friday Fun Facts: March Came in Like a Lion...I Think

Well, this is the view outside my window this morning. Looks like March isn't giving up without a fight! And in our part of the county (lower Hudson Valley), we were spared the worst. Lots more east and south of us. I don't know...do we still say March "came in" like a lion? I mean, we're already one week into the month. And yet we haven't had particularly warm days...more like chilly, cloudy, flirting with snow (although my daffodils were trying valiantly to push their way through, a couple of weeks ago). Yeah, I'm going with the lion analogy.

Be safe, everyone! Dream of the "going out like a lamb" side of this month, of sun and warm weather...I know it's out there somewhere!

Writers' Wednesdays: Here's What's Happening...

Hi writers! Next week I'll post a summary to all the good stuff in this month's issue of Romance Writers Report - it just came in my mail, and I haven't had a chance to go through it.

But here's a link you might want to check out: Digital Book Today has some great promo opportunities for writers, including their Top Free Books, Guest Blog Posts, and New Releases sections. What I like about this site is that for almost all their promo spots, your book needs to have a minimum 4-star review rating on Amazon. Yes, I know reviews are subjective, but a minimum rating (and a minimum number of reviews, which they require too) can help sort out the really-avoidable-at-all-costs books from the good-ones-you-havent-heard-about-but-should-try ones. Check it out!

And this weekend, I'll be heading to my local RWA chapter for our monthly meeting AND a special lecture by Harlequin author Wendy S. Marcus about blog tours for your ebooks. Since I have a couple coming up in the spring, I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I'll share all the good tips with you next week - stop back and see me!

Monday Mentionables: Reading, Writing, Reviewing...

Happy Monday, everyone! What am I mentioning today?

First, a lovely 4-star Amazon review over the weekend: "Nice story, well written and kept my interest to the end. A story about discovering what you have in life."

Short and sweet, right? If you enjoyed The Promise of Paradise too and feel like leaving a review, I'll be eternally grateful!

Digital Book Today has some great features for both readers and writers. One fun one is their 100 Top Free Books - a listing of the best free books available each day on Amazon's Kindle Store. They rank by number of reviews and the average review, too, so you can see exactly what others have thought.

Don't forget that I'm the Featured Author over at The Romance Studio all month long. Lots of trivia about The Promise of Paradise - and a peek into the soon-releasing Beacon of Love!