Fun factoid Friday...

And so another week bites the dust. Red Rocket is getting ready start summer vacation in 2 weeks and I've got a massive amount of edits to hit on Hatter. I'm hoping to get that well under way today, so without further ado:

1. Cherophobia is a fear of fun.
(Wow, really?! People are afraid to have fun... how sad.)

2. A donkey will sink in quicksand, but a mule won't.
(Hmm...)

3. Worms reportedly taste like bacon
(Mmm...)

LOL....that last one is so gross. :p Ya'll have a great weekend!

The reality of the harsh critique...

They exist. Yup, if you're a writer- and no matter how many fans you might have, the old adage is very true: Can't please them all.

First off, let me start this by saying I'm not thinking of anyone in particular. But I've had my share of them, I've been around for 10 years. It happens.

In the beginning those things used to get me so low I'd literally go weeks before I could write anything. I'd question everything I wrote, would start to listen to every negative comment and let it dictate to me what type of writer I was. But I've learned... and it's taken me a while to understand this... I am not what I write!

So what if someone doesn't love your work? 

They are every bit entitled to their opinion and you just have to live with it. That's what this business is all about. Harsh but true.

For an example: Stephanie Meyer has sold like gangbusters, her books have been turned into films and yet there's plenty of people who HATE her stuff. So what you think.. she's just a flash in the pan. Fine, let's look at a writer of classic literature, taught in schools, colleges, MOST readers would tell you she is their favorite author of all time. Jane Austen, author of such notable classics as P&P, (that's Pride and Prejudice for the few of you still living under a rock *wink*) Sense and Sensibility, and my personal favorite- Northanger Abbey. But go on to Amazon reviews, there's at least 100 people who would rather burn it than read it. 

So what's my point with this post? Just this. Learn. Learn from them. Listen, I never send my stuff out to get read with the need to be told, this was divine, an instant classic, you write sooooo much better than me, I'm not worthy... while those things are nice, you cannot learn from them. In fact, once the dust settles and you can sort out the feelings from the critique, it's often the really harsh critique from the person (who you know HATED it) that will give you some great insight. Something obviously turned them way off, try to find what that is, stew on it... and you might be surprised to find it's got merit. 

Besides, writing is all about drawing out emotion from the reader. I'll take hate over antipathy any day of the week. ;) Just means I'm getting closer.

Hi guys

For the two people that read this! LOL...Sorry I've not updated in a while. I've been BUSY. Completely and totally. My internship has kept me unbelievably busy, not to mention my own writing. I've recently completed another book! Yay me. :D Entitled: Her Mad Hatter. Based loosely off Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland. It's the grown up version. ;) It's in the beta/editing phase and I'm feeling really good about it. Working on book 2 in my kingdom series. Will post book cover photos and a blurb soon, I hope!

I'll write more later...!

Six Sentence Sunday

So I guess I'll be jumping on the bandwagon! My C.P. and good friend suggested I join in on the fun. So six sentence Sunday from my current wip: Gaston's Beauty

The books had it all wrong. Shifters never turned human with clothes on. They returned to human form as nude as the day they were born. His muscles, like thick ropes, flexed as he strode back out. She fanned her flushed face, entranced by his predatory loping grace, even on two feet, he walked like a beast.

My, but her boys were pretty. 


There ya go!


Have a great Sunday :D

Have to do this

Instead of Fun Factoid, today I'll be doing something I rarely do. Write a review!

I don't normally write them. And most especially not for a superhero romance. I've not found one yet I love. Well, that all changed last night. In fact, I loved this so much I'm blogging about it. The author is clearly a skilled writer, all sex scenes are fade to black (normally that's how I prefer it) and yet, I found myself almost wishing there was one, that's how hot the chemistry was between the two.



Cover is super cheese as  you can see, but this is a prime example of don't judge a book by it's cover! You absolutely must go download it, it's free...honestly, no reason not to try it. This book rocked my socks off. An adult version of Sky High, campy, cheesy goodness!

Just do yourself a favor, DON'T start reading this right before bed! It's highly addictive!

Premonitions

Premonition: Anticipation of an event without conscious reason
(Merriam-Webster Definition)

So to tell this story properly, I have to back track a little.

Last night, right before bed my husband started prowling the house. He checked the doors, then rechecked them. And then again, about an hour before bed, he rechecked them. Locked. But he was paranoid because the back door was open earlier in the evening. The only one who would have opened it would have been either myself or him, he asked me when he noticed if I'd done it. Honestly, I can't say that I didn't. But...I don't remember doing it. I would have had no reason. I didn't go into my garden yesterday, which is the only reason why I'd do it.

Anyway..after that, he was paranoid the rest of the night. So much so, that when we went to bed, he shot straight up thirty minutes later, grabbed my son's baseball bat and said he was going to check the doors again. He also walked the perimeter of the house. When I say he's not normally like this, I mean it. It was strange enough behavior that I started to get a little nervous. What was he doing?

When he finally came to bed, he didn't sleep well. He had so many bad dreams, it kept waking  me up. I'd have to literally slap him to get him to wake up and stop screaming. Needless to say, I did not sleep well last night. Before he went to work this morning he told he kept having these dreams that someone was breaking into our house and had hurt Bean.

I shrugged it off, it was only a dream. Right?

This morning when I walk Red Rocket to school I see cop cars at the neighbor's house. I really don't think much about it, this is a military base, it's not that uncommon. But when I'm coming home my neighbor is outside, she's got a ginormous suburban. We call it big blue, this thing is like a house it's so big. Hard to miss.

It was stolen last night. Not only that, she tells me the robbers hit most of the houses on the street. They jacked open garages, were stealing motorcycles, breaking into homes...last night my street got hit!

But not my house. Not only that, I left my car door unlocked. There was even cash in the ash tray. We have a classic Harley in the garage. Nothing got taken!! OMGosh!

Premonition?

You decide.

The trials of fabulousness...

While I know it might be hard to imagine, my being anything less than completely and totally awesome...it is true that I'm a human too. I'm completely and utterly helpless when it comes to technology of any sort. In fact, it's a minor miracle I was able to boot up this laptop today. I know, shocking right.

Point is, I'm entering a very scary phase of my writing life. Promotions. I don't have a clue where to start, how to do it, et cetera. I've always left that up to my publishing houses before, would go to chats they scheduled for me, would go to the website where they'd put up ads for my books...yeah, I did nothing. Bit of a pampered doll I was.

But...

Now, it's all on me and I don't know where to start. I hear so many conflicting reports. This works, no it doesn't. You must do this, I did that and not only did I waste 400 bucks...I didn't generate not one sale. So what does a girl like me do? I'm really not great at searching the web, mainly because I'm too lazy to learn. I'd rather write. That's why I go the easy route, blogger instead of word press as a point in case.

I thought, wrongly I'm guessing, that when you upload your stuff to amazon they did a certain part of the marketing for you. Like for instance, if I signed up for KDP select program..they'd circulate my book in all the appropriate venues, get some buzz going and I could sit back and see the magic happen.

I'm thinking however, that's just not the case. I blame stories like the Mill River Recluse for making me think this way. Darcy Chan (?) the author, plunked her book onto amazon for .99 cents, did zero advertising and it's now sold well over 300,000 copies. Granted .99 cents is a very low price point and maybe that enticed buyers to give it a go. But, there's many books marked down that low that get nowhere near that amount of sales.

So if anyone could give me a very basic, rudimentary plan for marketing that doesn't involve spending a fortune, in fact..free would be best, I'm a struggling writer *eye roll*, I'd be forever indebted to you and would definitely be willing to share some of my awesomeness with you! :)