What Can Happen In One Year? by DL Larson

My book, Promises My Love, has just celebrated its first birthday! My book launch happened June 22, 2013, at the Book Mouse, Ottawa IL.  Promises My Love was the top seller at the store that week!

It's been an interesting year, a strange one too, branching out on my own as an indie. I miss the security of having a publisher to help set up outings. At the same time, I learned much. Promises My Love had a 12 week blog tour, something my other books never had.  I found a place to launch my book, an independent book store close to home. My previous launchings were quite different. My first, I hosted in my home and over 200 folks attended. It was fabulous and fun. My second, I held in a restaurant and hosted a dinner later. Not much money stayed in my pocket from that adventure. Again, it was a great time to celebrate with my family and friends. 

I've only entered my book in a few contests this time, due mostly to not staying on task. I wanted to send it to many contests, but failed to follow through when the time came. I have no one to blame but myself for those failed opportunities. My library director encouraged me to send Promises My Love into the state wide contest held by the Illinois Library Association. I was happy it finalled.  

Promises My Love received some great reviews ... 

from Devotional Thoughts: "life is precious, and nothing is too dark to make the conscious decision to end it all... The author does an excellent job at illustrating her point through an amazing story of family, tragedy, and true love."

from Reader Views: "... the author takes you inside the mind of each character so you can see the world through their eyes and experience what they are feeling ... I truly enjoyed reading this novel, inspite of the pain of what the characters were experiencing, the strength of the love from others around them felt very heartwarming. While this is not a light story, it is definitely one that will leave you thinking about it long after you have finished."

Those few reviews and others like it, propelled me to continue into the next book. My next installment is in its final revision stages. It should be further down the avenue toward publishing, but again I am the only one at fault for that. My editor waits for my revisions. In the last few months I realized I've stopped doing one very important thing in my writing. I haven't set deadlines or goals for completion. I have always been a goal setter and can't say why I lapsed so badly this time. This one misstep has hindered my progress. I have to readjust my priorities. I must set a deadline for completion.

This blog will serve to remind me to stay on track. I'm excited to tell the rest of the story in my next book. My goal is to finish my revisions by the end of July. This may prove to push me over the edge since I have too many things going on right now. I must set my goals and stick to them. I need to finish this project and move it into the next phase. Until then, please consider reading, Promises My Love this summer! It's available in paperback or in e-book form.

Promises My Love is available on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Promises-My-Love-DL-Larson/dp/1457519410/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403797170&sr=1-1&keywords=Promises+My+Love%2C+DL+Larson

Happy Birthday, Promises My Love!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

http://www.DLLARSON.com

Just Do It

I woke up with a summer cold today. I didn't feel like getting up, but knew eating breakfast would be best for me.

Then there was the matter of Rascal, my dog. I could throw her into the fenced yard and let her do her thing, but she looked forward to her walks and I knew one would be good for both of us.

I was right on both counts. Rascal ran around the house in jubilation afterward, and my head actually felt clearer. To make things even better, I took a cough drop.

The same is true about writing. It's so easy to play on the Internet or decide to tackle jobs around the house instead, but if you're a writer like me, the best medicine is to start or finish a book. Sometimes it's hard. You might have an idea for a book, but don't know how to start it. Or, you might be stuck somewhere in between and can't seem to get the right words out.

Just do it. If not, it'll never get done, and you'll feel worse for not having made the effort. And, after you've finished writing your book, get an editor for that extra help to make sure it's polished.

Find all of Morgan Mandel's romances and
mysteries at her Amazon Author Page:
http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Excerpts are at:
http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Five Character and Book Facts

I'm playing a blog game over at my other blog today that I thought I'd share.

The Fives - share five facts about your current work-in-progress, then tag five friends to do the same. Link to the previous person's post also.  A  fun way to share about your work and learn about other author's works.

Please take a look --- as some of you are tagged! :)

Procrastination by Margot Justes

Editing a manuscript is not for the faint of heart.  I've been working on my novella for far too long and have barely made any headway.

This weekend is free and I planned to spend it in my office, but I decided to bake bread  instead. Anything to delay the editing. It's called procrastination and I'm really, really good at it.

Next, laundry beckons, maybe pasta sauce is on the agenda today, grating cheese to go with the pasta, have to go food shopping to get the ingredients, and in the process I had a few cups of coffee already, and cleaned my office. You get the drift, anything else but writing.

Now I'm tired and out of things I'm willing to do, and it’s still morning. Novella awaits,  and I’m looking for other things to do. Anything to postpone sitting down at my desk and staring down a blank page. The sheer terror of silent characters.

I’m going through a dry spell, writer’s block, whatever you call it, I’m in it.

The next step for me that usually works is re-reading the manuscript, and get back into the story and the characters, and catch up with their lives. That is what I intend to do after I have a couple more cups of coffee. The other option that sometimes works, is to start another project, and set aside the silent ‘family feud’ in my current WIP.

As a writer, I should be used to this, it has happened before, and will happen again-yet it is something that I have never quite gotten used to.

I have dust bunnies in my living room, time to go downstairs and dust...I never thought cleaning would be preferable to writing...wait, it isn’t.  On the other hand, I usually come up with some terrific dialog while cleaning.

Procrastination is an effective tool to a clean house.

Cheers,

Margot  Justes

A Hotel in Paris

A Hotel in Bath

Blood Art

A Fire Within

Hot Crimes Cool Chicks

www.mjustes.com

What Are Your 'Crutch Words?' by DL Larson

            I'm in the midst of having my next book edited. Well, I use that term loosely. My editor waits for my revisions. She has done her part and now I need to do mine. I procrastinate not because I dread doing the revisions, okay, maybe a little. But the fact is she's found my 'crutch words.' The words I over-use when writing my draft. Most writers do this, it's nothing new. I knew what my 'crutch words' were before she began her process of editing. It didn't stop me from using them again, over and over.

When I edit another person's work, I find their 'crutch words.' Usually I smile, thinking I'm pretty good at this editing thing. By the fifth chapter I want to pull my hair out for discovering another nest of over-used words. I think, how could the writer NOT SEE THIS??????

I know the answer. My brain, and yours too if you're a writer, likes to keep going, staying in the flow of words to create a new page, a new chapter and finally a new book. Or rather ... a draft of a new book. The simple words splash across the page as I spin the plot, forming words on paper before the thoughts disappear or slide away. I'm not interested in exact descriptions at this point. That will come later in my revisions. If a big powerful word comes to me, I'm elated, if not, I use a simple word and keep going.

What I find humbling and humorous is my inability to see all my crutch words. I labor over my revisions, until finally, I think - there! That's what I meant all along. That descriptive word is so much better. I continue on, believing I've found all my crutch words. I let things rest awhile and attack it again a week or so later. I'm appalled at what I've missed. I revise again, and again. There! That should do it. I'm ready for an editor.

I'm sure I've found all the little mistakes. I'm pretty good with grammar, typos and such. But I still slide right over my crutch words. Somehow, I don't SEE them. It's a mystery to me. I'm looking for them and still don't find all of them. How can this possibly be?

So, you guessed it, my editor found several over-used words in my manuscript. LOOK seems to be a favorite of mine. My characters look up, look down, look all around. They look in, they look out, they look like fools looking all about!! One would think I would have noticed this foible. After all, I was LOOKING for them!

So, my point is, never, never, miss this needed step in your writing process. Let a professional edit your manuscript before you call it finished!

And if you're feeling brave today, share one of your crutch words with us!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

www.DLLARSON.com

Amazon Only by Margot Justes

My books were out on Amazon, KOBO, Barnes & Noble, and all the other available venues. It was easy since my formatter did everything for me, but last week I switched to Amazon only.

I started paying attention to the e-mails I received from the other companies, advertising books for sale, and I noticed it was the same everywhere, all the bestsellers were being promoted, not a midlist author among them.

It was the same everywhere except on Amazon. I saw my books being advertised along with others. That is a brilliant and savvy move on Amazon’s part, because among those lesser names could be the next huge bestseller. Why is it that only Amazon recognizes that possibility? Where are the others? Why is Amazon the only one giving midlist authors a chance to build their readership?

I fully recognize that bestsellers make money, they sell large numbers of books, and this is a business, and as such must turn a profit to survive. But surely there is room for a different voice, a new breath, those writers that aren’t main stream but have something to say that may not be quite middle of the road, but may succeed beyond expectations. Surely that is how a business grows, and markets expand.

Amazon recognizes the value of smart advertising, and in reality it costs them little to add a few new writers to their ad campaigns. Why can’t the others do the same?

They made the decision for me, I have more to gain when I give Amazon my exclusive rights. Amazon offers KDP Select, Paid Library Lending, discounted or free promotion days; it’s up to me to decide how to market my books. I have plenty of opportunities to promote within Amazon, and with their resources I’m better off.

The issues about market and pricing control are complex, and many claim Amazon wants to control the market, currently the battle with Hachette is an example. In reality what company wouldn’t want to be in Amazon’s shoes?

From my perspective, as a small midlist author, I’ll stay with Amazon only, for growth and potential new readership, at least they give me a chance.

Cheers

Margot  Justes

Blood Art

A Hotel in Paris

A Hotel in Bath

A Fire Within

www.mjustes.com

Illinois Authors Showcase! by DL Larson

The Illinois Library Association (ILA) has extended an invitation to Illinois authors to participate in the upcoming Annual Conference, October 14-16, 2014. The conference is back in Springfield, at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center.

This is a time for authors to mingle with librarians and to showcase their published books. Promotional material will be very important as well. The committee suggests each author bring 10-15 books to sell.

Each author must complete a submission form and send it on to the state. From there, an ILA representative will extend an invitation to the authors of their choice. I do not know how they will determine who will be invited to attend, but the invitation is open to all Illinois authors at this time. Authors will not have to attend the entire convention. Each may designate one day of preference.

As an Illinois author, stop by your local library and ask to be nominated. A simple form must be filled out and sent to the state. Follow this link to the submission form.



www.ila.org/conference-and-events/illinois-authors-showcase

The theme this year is "Kickstarting Connections, Creativity & Community!"
Maybe this event will help kickstart your career as a writer.

Good Luck!

Til next time ~

DL Larson
www.DLLARSON.com

A Perfect Angel Is Almost Ready

A Perfect Angel is in the hands of my beta readers and editor, and inching very close to publication. I hope to make that happen mid July, after all the 4th of July hoopla here in the United States.

When that happens, I'll have a surprise promotion to spring on everyone as well.

In the meantime, I've got to get working on Always Young, the last of the trilogy about people taking the Always Young pill.

Morgan Mandel

Catch all my romances and mysteries at
my Amazon Author Central Page
http://www.amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Welcome to Kat de Falla!

"Angels and demons walk among us.” – Calise Rowe in The Seer’s Lover by Kat de Falla

Blurb:

For years, Calise Rowe has been able to sense unusual energy from certain people, making her believe she's different. She's about to find out she's right.
After an elderly Latino man is murdered outside her pharmacy, Calise takes his last words to heart. "Find Mary. Mal Pais."
In the sultry Costa Rican jungles, her search for the truth leads her to Lucas Rojas, a seer of the angels and demons who walk among us. After hiding from his gift for years, he refuses to bring Calise into his dangerous world. Calise falls for the reclusive Lucas who agrees to help her. But unwittingly, he draws her into an ancient war between demons and seers.
Calise's biggest danger comes from her her ex-boyfriend, a fallen angel, or transitor, who will do anything, including consort with demons, to get rid of Lucas and win her back.



When I first picked up Kat de Falla’s The Seer’s Lover, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The cover alone gave me pause, as my reading tastes don’t generally run toward the thriller/horror genre, and it looks a little, ah, creepy. Action. Adventure. Romance. Mystery. All are way more in my comfort zone. Add to that, another reviewer said the book wasn’t one to read at bedtime, so I must admit I dove in with no small amount of trepidation.

What I found was a well-written book, that soon had me sucked into the lives of Calise and Lucas, as well as a host of secondary characters, about which the author left enough clues and tantalizing hints to have me awaiting their stories in the promised follow up books in this series.

Was there a bit of gore? Yes, at times, but the scenes fit the story and served the purpose of world and character building integral to the development of the plot.

What I really enjoyed were the tie-ins to Biblical times, and I found myself eagerly anticipating the scenes that took us back to Christ’s tomb at the time of the Resurrection.

This book also has the unique feature of an accompanying soundtrack, with music available to accompany certain scenes and chapters. The first song is called "Anna's Dance" - it is a jazzy bossa nova meant to accompany chapter two. The second song is called "Shane's Torment" - it is a churning sound scape of despair meant to accompany chapter six. The third song is called "Cali and Lucas First Dance" - it is a Latin fusion instrumental love song meant to accompany chapter twelve. Visit www.bayafaya.com for the FREE music downloads that accompany this book.

If you enjoy a well-written, action-packed story with more than a touch of the paranormal/supernatural in it, you’ll certainly enjoy this book.

Watch the trailer here!


Author Links:
Website
Quill or Pill Blog
Facebook
Amazon


Thanks to Debra's fellow TWRP author, Kat de Falla, for sharing The Seer’s Lover with us here today at Book Beat Babes.

Bio:

Author Kat de Falla was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she learned to roller skate, ride a banana seat bike, and love Shakespeare thanks to her high school English teacher.
Four years at the UW-Madison wasn’t enough, so she returned to her beloved college town for her Doctor of Pharmacy degree and is happily employed as a retail pharmacist where she fills prescriptions and chats with her patients.
She is married to her soul mate, classical guitarist, Lee de Falla and raising four kids together ala the Brady Bunch.

Audio Books by Niki Danforth

I’d like to welcome and introduce Niki Danforth to BBB. She carefully and painstakingly walked me through the process of producing an audio book.
Margot

Niki Danforth, daughter of a Cold War covert intelligence officer, has the "thriller/adventure" gene in her DNA. After a career as a successful TV/video producer and director in New York, this empty-nester is picking up her first love of mystery books and recreating herself as an author in the genre. Danforth lives in the New Jersey countryside with her husband and two drama-queen dogs. She is hard at work writing the next Ronnie Lake book.

http://www.amazon.com/Stunner-Ronnie-Lake-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00F029810/ref=sr_1_1

Recently Margot and I spent some time talking about audio books.  Not long ago, I had finished turning my novel into an audio book on Audible, specifically at ACX.com, and Margot had just started the process. 

I’m a huge fan of audio books, and listen to them whenever I get in my car and drive somewhere. So I encouraged Margot to go for it.

As Margot and I continued talking, our conversation evolved into what I hope are some helpful tips for getting started producing an audio book, and she asked me to share them with those who follow her blog.

1. When you first open up an account and fill out the information for your profile, describe your social media activity in detail as both an author and for the book you wish to produce. When I hoped to attract narrator-producers, a number of candidates cited the description of my social media efforts as a motivator to audition.
2. Do not wait for narrator-producers to come to you. Be proactive and go into the ACX data base of narrators.  Set the parameters of what kind of voice and interpretation you are looking for and start listening to auditions.
3. When you hear a specific clip on a narrator’s page that you think matches the sound you would like for your book, be specific when you reach out to that narrator. Let her or him know the approach that you would like used when reading the sample from your manuscript for the audition.
4. If a narrator doesn’t come close in matching what you cited as the example on the clips-page, move on to the next candidate.
5. If the narrator does come close, you will now have an opportunity to give comments, before you make an offer and he or she does the 15-minute sample audition.  If you feel the person is receptive, then make the offer.  If you are not happy with the 15-minute audition, and the narrator is not open to redoing it, then now is the time for both of you to walk away with no hard feelings.  That is how ACX has set it up. I was fortunate to find narrator-producer Judith West, because not only is she a talented reader and actress, but she’s a first-rate producer, as well.
6. A lot of work is required up front on the author’s part to get on same page with narrator. You need to communicate with each other in a friendly, positive manner so that you and the narrator can make sure she or he is a good fit for your book.  The more work you do ahead of time, the fewer misunderstandings and hassles later.
7. If you know there are words with uncommon pronunciations, try to create a guide to help the narrator ahead of time.  It can mean fewer changes down the road. Judith kept track of any pronunciation questions and shared that document with me, which made the entire process much more organized than I could have anticipated.
8. Expect to set aside listening time once the narrator has completed recording.  My novel is between ten and eleven hours long as an audio book.  I listened and read along with a copy of my novel. I tried to complete at least one finished hour every day, so it took me two weeks to complete that task.  There were some minor fixes, and after Judith completed those edits, we were ready to send the audio book to ACX, where they ran it through their quality control.
9. While this was going on, my cover designer adjusted my book cover to fit the parameters of an audio book cover and uploaded it to the ACX site.
10. It’s important to note an extra incentive. If your novel attracts the attention of ACX by virtue of sales, reviews, and/or social media efforts, and you choose to do a royalty-split deal with a narrator rather than pay production costs, ACX may award your book a stipend.  In that case, ACX pays the narrator an additional $100 per finished hour.  The strategy is that the stipend will attract more auditions to your book.

Finally, it’s exciting to listen to your book on audio. Even better, only a small percentage of books are ever produced for audio, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to stand out in a fast-growing marketplace.

What's In a Name? by DL Larson

Each generation bestows their children with favorite names of the times. When I grew up, Debbie was much too popular, due mostly to Debbie Reynolds, a beauty queen type movie star from the 1950s. In my tiny class of twenty-four, we had three Debbies. We also had three Jimmys, probably due to the movie star, Jimmy Stewart. Now, many think of those as old-fashioned names.

The name Jennifer hit the top of the list when my kids were small. I read an article that Jennifer will soon be "dated" and fall off the popular name list. It will sound as antiquated as Mabel or Fred.

A study from the University of Illinois in Champaign discovered the names given to hurricanes have a direct effect on people too. Folks tend to fear male names over female names, even though history, in its quirky way, has had more severe female-named storms than male ones. On some level in one's mind, a female name seems less threatening than a male name. Victor or Victoria? Christopher or Christina?

A writer needs to consider a character's name with care. Will the name reflect the era of the book? If the name is too odd, will it affect the story's flow as the reader stumbles over the name each time it is used? If the name is too well known, it might comprise the story. For example, many writers won't use the name Hans, at least in my generation;it conjures up the Star Wars Trilogy with Hans Solo. I certainly don't want my readers thinking of another book while reading mine!

Sometimes a character will name him/herself. I find this disturbing and fascinating at the same time. My recent character, Francis, was not my pick. I wanted something more alluring. But Francis would not budge. He quit talking to me - I sure hope other writers understand what I mean by this! So, with much deliberation, I came back to Francis and I had a happy character once more. I've had two other characters tell me their names as well. I know, deep down somewhere, that voice in my head is my own, but gosh darn, it's stubborn. Crystal, a little girl, refused to be anything but Crystal. She will allow her daddy (Francis) to call her Crissy. Weird, I know.

I have another character who declared to be Tristen. I don't find Tristen to be particularly appealing or worthy of being an alpha male. But I've given up on trying to change his name.

My son and daughter-in-law are expecting a baby this summer. They have a name picked out and it's adorable. They are 99% sure they will call her their favored name, but they have reserved the right to change it if she doesn't 'look' like the name they've chosen. I understand their philosophy. Names are important.

At the library, we have a Parents Section, where many baby naming books are shelved. Dozens of times I've heard an expectant parent say, "I was thumbing through the book and the name jumped out at me. It's perfect!"

Once again, my two worlds collide, as I offer this advice: stop by your local library and browse through the baby naming books. Finding the perfect name for your character is nearly as important as naming a real-life child. The books usually describe the meaning of each name and their origin. That's important to know as well.

Til next time ~

DL Larson
www.DLLARSON.com

Working on my Book and Catching Up

Seems it takes forever to get ready for a vacation, then recover from one. Since I'm working on A Perfect Angel again today, I'll just share a few pics from the NorthWoods.

Morgan Mandel

Find all of my mysteries & romances on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/author/morganmandel

Twitter: @MorganMandel

Facebook://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel