Saturday, July 25, 2015

Music for my brain

Happy Saturday! Another week gone by and the characters in my head haven't driven me insane. I call that a good week.

This week has been focused on a contemporary romance (cr) that I've had playing out in my head for a while. I've dabbled in cr once before, and have a book that had about six chapters written before one of my other books took over and it went on the back burner. Note to self: Get back to that book one of these days.

As I'm listening to Bruno Mars this morning while working on the current cr, I'm considering pen names to use for it. Since it's nothing like my paranormal/sci-fi books, I'd like to write it under a different name. Which more than likely means a new website and social identity to go along with it. That terrifies me to no end. I have trouble keeping up with the accounts I already have.

What are your feelings about authors writing under different names? Do you think different genres should have that kind of division? Authors out there, do you have more than one name you write under?

As far as my two latest paranormal books, they'll be coming out in the next week or so. I wanted to take a little break and then read them over again. I usually get too excited and publish things immediately. This time I'm taking things slow.

As I mentioned in my last note, I'm thinking about doing something with social media to gain more followers. So, anyone who follows me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or this blog will have the ability to download a free book. Each follow equals a book, so up to four free books.

If you already follow, you aren't left out. Just contact me via personal/direct message on any of those platforms and let me know what book(s) you'd like. I'll send you a Smashwords coupon code(s) for the book(s) and it's(their) yours. Like I said, the new books will be out within two weeks, so you may have a little wait if you want those, but they are included in the available for free pile.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Summer of yardwork

I've lived in my house for eleven years now. The first couple of those years my husband and I played around with landscaping and general beautifying of our yard. For the last eight or so years it's been nothing but mowing the yard. This summer evidently is the year that all changes.

For weeks now our weekends have been spent in the backyard. First it was putting up a little fence for the dogs to keep them from running around the neighborhood. Then it progressed to trying to clear out a massive brush pile that had accumulated behind our garage, which had become a home for the neighborhood groundhog. We also built a compost area to deal with the many leaves in the yard.

Things are coming along great. Today we cleaned out a tree ring and reserved a quarter of it for our wood pile. The rest of it was filled with flowers - the first in our backyard for many years. I can't wait for there to be grass in what is now mostly just a dirt yard, so I can sit outside on my lounger and write.

As far as my last post, about submitting one of my boos to Kindle Scout, that didn't work out, which is fine. I was able to finish the sequel tothat book while I waited to hear back and I'm happy that I remain in control of the first book. That's one of my biggest reasons to keep things all self-published - I hate giving up control. I also hate marketing and self-promotion, which is why I still work a 9-5 job and only write as a hobby.

One of these days I'll feel confident enough to push my stories more. Until then, I'll probably be doing more things on social media. I'm thinking about offering a free copy of one of my books (the follower's choice) for anyone who follows me on Facebook to help boost followers. I think I'll figure out the details and post information about the giveaway when I get The Call and The Pull published in the next week or so.

I don't think I have anymore updates right now. I'm trying to figure out which project to work on next. It's between circling back to the Nightwalker, Argonauts and Daughter of Gaia series or maybe writing a story that isn't paranormal that I've had in my head for a while. I can be swayed in certain directions, so if you have a preference, let me know.