What I Learned at a Book Signing

Hi All,

How many of your have gone to a book signing to meet their favorite author? My hand is raised. I love meeting new authors and learning about their next project. When I was recently at a signing a fan came up to me and said she'd been looking all over for me. She wanted to not only buy my book, but learn more about me as a person and a writer.

Need I say I was delighted!

Fans are wonderful for a writer's ego, but they're also great inspiration. Their loyalty keeps us at the computer long into the night. They make us want to write better stories and deeper plots. That's why I'm a fan girl. I'm still in awe of my favorite authors and I know many of them personally. They're my friends and critique partners.

I'm always in awe of how they come up with different plots, characters I know intimately and words that invoke emotions. I am a writer, but first I am a reader. I love having a book, or kindle in my hands. It's like your favorite teddy bear when you were young. I take comfort in knowing the minute I turn that page, a whole new world opens for me.

I hope you all continue to read your whole life. And I hope, when you have the opportunity, you will go to a book signing to meet your favorite author.

She'll appreciate it very much.

Happy Endings,
Geri Foster

Don't Worry; Be Happy by Joan Reeves

eBook only 99cents

I create characters in romance novels that have been popular with readers. By the end of each book, my characters have learned how to be happy. Notice I say learned because for many people, happiness is a learned skill.

I spend a lot of time thinking about human nature. One thing that's true for fiction and real life is that most of us seem to make the same mistakes as we bumble our way along the road of life.

Want to be happier? Here are some "rules" I came up with that might help. See what you think of them.

1. Don't take advice from anyone who's more screwed up than you.
Everyone likes to give advice, but always ask yourself if the person dishing out the advice is living life more effectively with less hiccups than you. If not, smile and nod and feel free to ignore what they say. Unless what they tell you is based upon what they learned from their own bad experience of doing the opposite.

2. Do learn from others who have been where you want to go.
Model their behavior. Find out how they did it and adapt their method to your efforts.Unless the way they achieved it was dishonest and goes against your own beliefs and integrity. You can't model negative behavior without far-reaching consequences.

3. Do stop working so hard; instead, learn how to work more effectively.
Unless you assess your efforts and realize you really aren't working hard - you're just giving lip service to the idea of working hard.

4. Do enjoy yourself more.
Unless you're already spending way too much time in the pursuit of pleasure. You have to have a good balance between hard, effective work and play.

5. Do change your attitude about work.
Sometimes when we describe an activity as work -- even though it's something we truly adore doing -- the activity, in our mind, becomes linked to work equals unpleasantness. The more you enjoy something; the less it should seem like work. Unless you already view your work as play so much so that you have a slipshod attitude about what you do. Never forget you want to achieve something with the investment of your time, energy, and brain power.

Post Script

To feel like a success, figure out what success means to you.

(Joan Reeves writes funny, sexy Contemporary Romance. Her books are available at all major ebook sellers with audio editions available at Amazon, Audible.com, and iTunes. Joan publishes Writing Hacks, a free subscription newsletter for writers, and I LUV Books, a free subscription newsletter for readers. Find Joan at her Blog: SlingWords.

The Problem with Intentional Series by Paty Jager

When I wrote my first published historical western romance, Marshal in Petticoats, I didn’t write it with the intention of writing four more, and eventually three more, books about the Halsey family. Back in those days, all I knew about a story when I started writing it was the hero, heroine, where the book was located, and that I needed to have a climactic ending.

 

I didn’t even know Gil had four brothers when I started the book. I just knew he was hiding from his past. When his past smacked me upside of the head and I discovered he had four brothers and then they each one came on the scene, I played with the idea of them each having a book, but still didn’t think too much about it. Then Marshal in Petticoats was picked up by a publisher and readers started asking for another Halsey Brother book. I decided which brother would have the next book as I finished one and came up with a (for the time period) manly occupation to give each of the heroines. And that was as far ahead as I thought about the series.

Now, when readers wanted more of the Halseys, I came up with the idea I could write a book about each of the young men who became a part of the Halsey family’s life. I thought about the three young men and having left an opening in the last “Petticoat” book, Logger in Petticoats, to have Jeremy, from Marshal in Petticoats, in Alaska that book idea started taking root. I made him coming home and decided to title the trilogy, Halsey Homecoming, to one: show it was part of the Halsey Brother Series, and two: the Homecoming decided the next two books would have to deal with the other two characters coming home or back to the Halsey family in some way.  

Wow, that was more than I’d thought about a series before.

Because, in this day and age, people want to see what is coming…I came up with titles Laying Claim, Staking Claim, and Claiming a Heart. And we have the cover of the second book even though the story is only in the infant stages. I’m still trying to figure out what to put on the cover of the third book.

I decided knowing the books in a series ahead of time was a good plan. That brought to fruition the Isabella Mumphrey Action Adventure books. I came up with where I wanted the books set and came up with titles that dealt with Native American people in those areas. Secrets of a Mayan Moon, set in Guatemala; Secrets of an Aztec Temple, set in Mexico City; and now Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star, set in Arizona, starting on the Hopi Reservation and traveling to the southern end of Arizona. 

The problem with coming up with titles ahead of time, is I had an idea of what I wanted to put in the book, but then incorporating that as I wrote was more mind-bending than I’d thought it would be.

I’m thinking my original organic growth of a series was easier, but I think being ahead of the game and knowing the series evolution helps to put in snippets that can carry over into the next book.

Secrets of a Hopi Blue Star released this week. 

Here is the blurb:

The truth doesn’t always set you free…

Landing in the underground world of human trafficking, anthropologist Isabella Mumphrey learns her own past is as sordid as the predicament she’s uncovered.

No one is who she’d believed them to be—not her parents, her cousin, her aunt. The only constant in her life is her fiancé, Tino Constantine, and now their enemy is using her to lure Tino to his death.

Buy links:  Kobo / Nook / Kindle / Windtree Press

You can learn more about Paty at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com  her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager , Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager  and twitter;  @patyjag.

HELP! I'M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Readers, please welcome our newest blogger, author Kathy Shaw. Kathy writes funny, sexy romantic comedy.

HELP! I'M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

By Kathy Shaw

            Probably the second most asked question I get (behind where do you come up with your ideas?) is: What’s the hardest part of the book to write?

            Hands down, it’s the middle.

            I’m not sure if it’s the adrenaline of starting a new project or getting to amuse myself by writing two people’s highly-volatile emotional dislike of each other, but I love to write the first third of the book. Yes, not all romances start with the hero and/or heroine in-hate with each other. There are stories of friends falling in love or non-combative competitors falling in love or maybe a dozen other scenarios where emotional aversion is not the jumping off point. But not in my books. Where’s the fun in that?

            And then, there’s the last third of the book. This is the section where they know they love the other (although they probably haven’t admitted it yet) but there is too much “stuff" between them to over-come. I could go on, but that’s for another blog.

            So let’s get down to business. The Middle!

            Or more importantly “being stuck in the middle.”

            This is where the hero and heroine fall in love. But what makes them fall in love? What makes them fall off the deep end?

            Well, heck if I know!

            Over the years, friends and family have shared their stories about how they fell in love. The sagas all go about the same way.

            The couples meet. This is where I always get a lot of endearing details. (First third of book)

            Then, they say, “We fell in love,” and sigh. Just that one line—no details, no particulars, no how-to-pamphlets. Nada! This is where I want to tear my hair out. (The dreaded middle)

            Next, they wax on about their happily-ever-after or lack there of. Yea, we’re back on the research trek. (Last third of book) Remember, I’m saving my creative anxiety concerning a book’s ending for a future blog.

            So, here’s what I’m hoping will happen. Share with me how you fell in love or how/when you realized you were in love. Please, please! Because…

HELP! I’M STUCK IN THE MIDDLE!

FROM AUTHENTIC LEGENDS TO ROMANTIC MEDIEVAL SERIES

by Vijaya Schartz, Guest Author

Vijaya Schartz, Author

In the French countryside where my father was born, the birth place of Merlin, near Broceliande, legends of Melusine the Fae abound. She lived notoriously in Lusignan in the 12^th Century, built the tower of Vouvant in one night to save the villagers from the invaders. Wherever you turn, you see the legendary ondine gracing the signs of the local taverns, the bakery, the museum. There, Melusine is alive, and part of history as well as legend. But very few are familiar with the entire scope of her story.

While visiting the Melusine Museum in Vouvant, years ago, I came upon a special exhibit that included a puzzling tapestry. It depicted the wedding of Sigefroi of Luxembourg with Melusine, in 963 AD. 963? The Melusine I had come to know had lived centuries later. How was this possible? Then I discovered many more legends of Melusine, her mother, and her two sisters, in the local folklore of various European localities at different times in history. As if the same family of Fae, immortal by nature, had survived through the centuries, each time with the same personality, each time afflicted by the same curse, for abusing their supernatural powers in childhood...

Excited by that discovery, I set upon a decade of research to connect all the dots. Yes an entire decade. While writing other books, I actively pored over ancient translations, old texts, I traveled to France to tiny libraries and museums holding on to their local legendary roots... until I put together the many pieces of that incredible puzzle, to uncover the entire picture. Only then did I understand what I had... enough fantastic material to write the most exciting medieval fantasy series.

My agent was very excited and prompted me to write the series. But publishers at the time did not receive it well. They thought the readers would not buy medieval fantasy... unless it was vampires. Well, my immortals are not vampires. Finally, a Canadian publisher, Books We Love, gave this series a chance last year, and I am grateful. Four books are out right now, with a fifth to be released around the holidays. More will follow as the tapestry of the entire legend unfolds.

The Curse of the Lost Isle series starts in the early 800s with Pressine the Fae, in PRINCESS OF BRETAGNE, during the Viking invasions in Scotland. In Book 2, PAGAN QUEEN, she defies the Goddess and gives birth to three daughters, Melusine, Meliora, and Palatina.

SEDUCING SIGEFROI, Book 3, and LADY OF LUXEMBOURG, Book 4, are set at the foundation of Luxembourg as a country. CHATELAINE OF FOREZ, Book 5, is set in what is now France, and was just released this year.

There is also a box set of the first three novels in the series… a true bargain. The rest of the series sweeps Spain, Aquitaine, and the Middle East during the Crusades, an exciting and dangerous time to be alive... especially for Pagan immortals. See an overview of the entire series on my website under Medieval Series.

CHATELAINE OF FOREZ
Curse of the Lost Isle Book 5
Medieval Fantasy Romance
by Vijaya Schartz

1028 AD - Afflicted by the ondine curse, Melusine seeks the soul of her lost beloved in the young Artaud of Forez, who reigns over the verdant hills south of Burgundy, on the road of pilgrims, troubadours and merchants. But this dark and brooding Pagan lord is not at all what she expected or even hoped. He knows nothing of their past love, her Fae nature, or her secret curse. Must Melusine seduce and betroth this cold stranger to satisfy the Goddess and redeem her curse?


The gold in the rivers instills greed in the powerful, and many envy the rich Lord of Forez, including his most trusted vassals... even the Bishop of Lyon. When Artaud’s attraction to Melusine makes them the target of a holy hunt, will she find redemption from the curse, or will they burn at the stake?

This series already gathered many five-star reviews, with titles like "Edgy Medieval, Yeah!" or "Wow!" or "Fantastic!" But be warned, I do not sugarcoat the middle ages, and some scenes are bloody and realistic. I hope you will try it and enjoy it. At this time this series is only available in kindle on Amazon. Follow the links below to find all my books.

Vijaya Schartz

Find Vijaya on her WEBSITE, and her books on AMAZON - B&N - ARE and other major eBook retailers on the web.

Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick
http://www.vijayaschartz.com 
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/vijayaschartz  
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/vijaya-schartz
FB: https://www.facebook.com/vijaya.schartz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vijayaschartz  

Getting Through Revisions Without Slashing Your Wrists

The Trials and Tribulations of Creating a Masterpiece

or

Getting Through Revisions Without Slashing Your Wrists

by Jacquie Rogers

The world of publishing is huge and dinky all at the same time. Authors know a lot of people — both online associations and in-person. Lots of us are friends because, well, we don’t question each other if, at dinner, someone asks about poisoning a rich relative or the proper way to garrote a man. It’s just normal conversation. (Note: we do get occasional questioning looks from restaurant patrons and waiters.)

We critique with each other — delving into character, continuity, and plot holes. We go back to our writing hidey holes and fix everything, then, because we’re apparently masochistic, we let our critique partners read it again. You have to have a tough skin to get through this process.

After you’ve satisfied your critique partners and polished the story as best you can, off it goes to the editor.

Then you hold your breath.

I don’t have anything in the editing process right now but one of my critique partners does. She just got back her edits and a revision letter, and we’re trying to sort it all out. Her job is to forge on and make this story the best it can be. My job is to keep her from slitting her wrists in the process.

One of the hardest parts of writing a story is to put your vision of the scene and your notion of the character on the page. That sounds simple enough and it is in theory — in practice, though, it’s hard to accomplish.

The author and the critique partners have discussed the characters, the situation, and the setting. While these characters all come from the author’s imagination, the critiquers are often involved in every stage of development. When they read a scene, they already know what’s supposed to be there, which means it’s very easy to understand a character’s motivation even if it’s not on the page.

However, the editor hasn’t been involved at all, and is a fresh pair of eyes. She only sees what’s written, and sometimes gets the complete wrong impression of a character. So the editor writes: “Is your heroine really this naïve?” And you mutter, “Why on earth would she think that?” The editor thinks that because the heroine’s motivation or circumstance is not on the page! Simple enough.

Usually simple enough to fix, too, if the author can figure out how.

The hardest part of it all is coming to terms that her masterpiece is, in fact, not. It’s very much akin to having someone tell you your new baby is ugly. Must of us write from the heart and our stories are part of us. We don’t want the evil editor to tell us our babies are ugly. But to deliver the best book we can, we must hear the truth and embrace it.

The irony is, we love our editors even if we’d like to fit them with concrete boots. That sounds crazy, but every author I know would go to the end of the earth, including pulverizing our own egos, to make our stories come alive. You see, we really get a kick out of creating these characters and worlds, and we want our readers to enjoy them as much as we do.

Good editors love books. There has to be a special place in Heaven for editors who know that their comments will cause untold misery. Still, they write the revision letter, shut their eyes, and click Send in spite of it, because they really do want to help. The easy way out would be for an editor to fix a few things so the author knows the manuscript was read, collect the fee, and be done with it. But no. A good editor puts the story first, before the author’s ego. Gulp.

Once the revisions are done and accepted, we all go out and party together. Yep, we all survived to write another day.

Jacquie Rogers

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pickle Barrel Bar & Books | Pickle Barrel Gazette 

♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ series, ♦♣ Sleight of Heart ♠♥

'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (Wolf Creek, Book 9: A Wolf Creek Christmas)

A Gift for Rhoda (Wishing for a Cowboy) | A Flare of the Heart (Hearts and Spurs)

CRAZY LIFE OF A MOSTLY SANE WRITER

By Caroline Clemmons

Non-writer friends often ask me how I think up all the stuff in my books. I wish I knew a clever comeback. My friend Bobby Terry tells people she gets her ideas from a small factory in Ohio. What really happens is our crazy brains conjure all these characters and situations. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. And we’re not really insane, either. Well, most of us aren’t. I’m not naming names, but there are a few people on my Probably Certifiable List.

And there are those (lazy?) people who say, “I’ll feed you ideas, you write the book, and we’ll split the royalties.” Uh, no. Not happening. Ever. The idea is the easy part. In fact, I have more than I can list. Writing a cohesive book with a credible story line is the hard part.

I’m fortunate enough to have three great critique partners who help me plot my books and who are members of this blog: Geri Foster, Brenda Daniels, and Carra Copelin. Sometimes Hero helps me over a sticky plot problem. I can plot by myself, of course, but an exchange of ideas spurs creativity. Even if I don’t like their suggestions, hearing them helps me formulate my own. And if I lose my way writing, they help steer me back on course. (Plan to join Geri Foster and me for our BAD BOYS AND COWBOYS Facebook Launch Party on April 18th.) 

Then comes the hard part. Some parts of writing become easier with each book. One part that does not is making basic plots fresh, giving a tried and true idea a new twist. People argue over how many basic plots there are. The number varies from nine to twenty-seven. Supposedly, any book is a variation of one of those few basic plots. And the more books an author has written, the harder that new variation becomes. Yeah, bummer.

How to make feisty, spunky heroines differ from those in past books? How different is one handsome cowboy from another?  How many ways can Tab A insert into Slot B? You get the idea, right?

Hero and I used to joke about a favorite author who repeated her basic plots. We would say, “This one is plot A.” Or plot B. She only had two. The city and names varied, but little else. At the time, we had no notion of the difficulty of a fresh plot. And, hey, she sold a gazillion books and is still even though she’s passed away.

The main problem I encounter is that life keeps slapping me upside the head. Literally, if you count the fall I had last August. You know the usual: dental appointments, doctor visits (or your prescriptions won’t be refilled), and all the errands and social stuff necessary to function. Plus, we’re still recovering from our move, the deaths of friends and family members, and all the other stuff that hinders everyone everywhere.

Many people think that if you work from home, you can stop and do this or that because, after all, you don’t have a “real” job. Sigh. This is why Debbie Macomber has an office away from her home, by the way. If we stop writing, we lose our concentration, our “groove”, and have to reread the last portion we wrote to get back into the zone. Fortunately, Hero understands this. Full time authors have to set goals in order to stay on target and publish frequently enough to stay in readers' minds.

I try to vary settings and events so that my books appear fresh, even though they are always in my style and voice. Whether contemporary or historical, with the exception of one novella set in Georgia, they’re always set primarily in Texas. They’re the same, but different. Each main character has a journey, both external and internal. The same, but different.

So, now that I’ve finished GABE KINCAID (which will launch April 18th please remember) and it’s off to my editor, I’m taking a few days off to clean house. Yeah, it’s way past time—even the dust bunnies are writing “help me” on the furniture. While I clean, I’m mulling over my next book or two.  

I’m sure you’ve heard that writers are either writing or thinking about writing. It’s true. We can’t help ourselves. For the next few days, I’ll be thinking about writing. And cleaning. Ah-choo.  

P.S. Did you see Geri Foster's and my ad in InD'Tale E-zine? The e-zine is free. We're on page 37 of the April issue. 

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