Tag: what do writers think

Choosing a Pen Name

Published by stella on April 14, 2017

To Be (someone else) or Not to Be

Thanks for that, Will.

So.

Do I make a new pen name for my more erotic books or not?

In my case, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune have to do with basic math. If I make a new personna, I have less time to write.

So I wonder, will this piss off my fans?

But making a new author name takes time. It’ll need a Facebook Page, a Twitter account, a webpage, an Amazon author page, a Goodreads page… Do I need go on?

I have a four wonderful Historic Romance novels, full of passion, history and sex, just a bit more sedate.

There’s three paranormals, co-written with the now famous C.M. Seabrook that are fun-filled with wicked-witchy sex.

And now, I have written a modern thriller… and a soon to be released sports-hero novella.

I see what some very successful authors have done. For each genre, they have a different pen name so as not to confuse the reader or God forbid, cross promote to the wrong genre.

Wow.

I’m just going to have to trust that I have intelligent readers who can pick and chose the genre that feels right for them.

Then I can spend more time doing what I love.

Writing.

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Dangerous Code, The Writer Reflects

Published by stella on April 4, 2017

I wrote the first draft of Dangerous Code over four years ago but put it aside. At that time, it would’ve been considered science fiction. Now, not so much.

Detective Colin O’Brien? Let’s just say he’s my dream guy. He can tell what you’re feeling by reading the tiny tics in your expression. An alpha male, he takes charge and is not intimidated by a brilliant woman. However, under that tough exterior, he’s wounded from a really bad first marriage. It’s so rotten he hasn’t wanted to talk about it. Don’t worry. I’ll get it out of him in my next book.

I want it

I love Megan, AKA Jenna Jones. I guess there’s a lot of me in her. I was heavy as a kid, but she’s a lot smarter and richer.

LOL. I also have a tendency to mix metaphors and can be slow at telling what people are really saying. Under it all, my feelings are hurt easily and more than anything, I want people to like me but I hide it well.

My altar ego has a day job. She writes software and technically manages multi-million dollar projects. My company is on the leading edge of everything to do with speech. It isn’t that much of a reach to know where software is heading.

Jason, the story’s artificial app, is a mere stone’s throw into the future. Because it can code itself, it has unlimited potential. But just like a human, it needs to weigh out the junk from the real when it searches the internet. Sometimes it works and sometimes, well, let’s just say that can be bad.

Are you interested in more stories with this couple? I have so many ideas… What if Jason finds out there’s a plot to kill the president. What if the CIA is involved? Who would believe an AI application?

I think Colin and Jenna have a rocky road ahead of them. Two people so dissimilar are bound to have a lot of fights. Don’t worry though, I’m sure they’ll find their HEA… hee hee, eventually.

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Dangerous Code… LOL… How to Write a Blurb

Published by stella on March 31, 2017

LOL! One of my dearest writer friends set me straight yesterday. I was feeling a bit down. I know this latest book is one of my best and the cover is awesome so what was I doing wrong?

She suggested I emphasize the sex. The story is secondary.

Sex sells.

Okay then. Here is my latest attempt at ‘How to write a blurb’

Let me know what you think.

“Great read! I really enjoyed this suspenseful, erotic romance by Stella! I’ve read all her other books and loved each one. Can’t wait to read more contemporary romance by this author. Well done!”

Is it possible that little Meggie’s turned terrorist? I haven’t seen her since I was a lifeguard and she at that awkward age between kid and woman. Now she’s drop dead gorgeous and my suspect. I knew I was in trouble when she glared at me with those big green eyes. And when we kissed? Holy shit, I wasn’t prepared for the hottest sex of my life. Now she’s on the run and it’s my job to find her and keep her safe or maybe even arrest her. Either way I’m screwed because I’ve fallen hard and that just can’t happen, not with the city under attack.

***

I want it

I’d tried to be gentle. Hadn’t I watched her every sweet expression, made her explode and scream out my name? More than once? But then again, there was that one moment, right as I entered, where her body had stiffened.

“Do you want me to go?” I hold my breath, awkwardly leaning against the door frame while she puts our leftovers in the microwave as if we just hadn’t had mind-blowing sex.

“No.” She says it so quietly I can barely make it out.

My gut wrenches. Somehow, I’d made her feel bad.

Escaping my self-made exile, I walk across the room, wrap her into my arms and whisper in her ear, “Did I hurt you?”

She twists around in a flash. “No, no. I just don’t want you to think… Oh, I don’t know what to say. I’ve never ever done something like this before.”

She’s telling the truth and Neanderthal-man is thrilled but there’s a twisting in my gut that I haven’t felt for years. Meggie is obviously one of those good girls. The kind that save themselves for marriage. So why did she come on so strong?

And more importantly, why did I respond?

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What’s Inside a Writer’s Brain.

Published by stella on March 31, 2017

It’s 2017 and I am determined to share more of who I am and what it’s like to be me.

I’m a writer stuck in the body of a software architect. I read somewhere I should always introduce myself as a writer.

Let’s see how that pans out.
“Hi, I’m Stella Marie Alden, Best Selling Romance Author”

“Hi, I’m Susan Hammond, I work for Nuance. The company that makes Siri? Those phone programs that talk to you? Press one for one. Two for three? Or you can press operator, but no one competent will help you so best to stay with the automated system.”
I shouldn’t joke, that’s what pays my bills.

But sometimes, when I am in my day job, it doesn’t feel real. What feels real are the stories in my head. And there’s always stories. Even though I choose just one to focus on, there’re many clamoring in my brain.

People always ask me, where do your stories come from?

I say, how the hell do you guys shut them down?

I mean, how can you just watch people ahead of you in the grocery store, and NOT make up their life’s story? The handsome young man with potato chips, frozen meals, and razor blades. No ring on his finger, a cute dimple, nice leather jacket. Was he married? Did he leave a relationship?

What about the woman who’s dressed in high heels, designer jeans, diamonds? And buys Suave shampoo, hamburgers, and pita bread. Who’s she trying to impress?
It goes on and on. Because once I have the character, there’s no turning back. They live in my head, fermenting, waiting for me to say, “What should I write next?”

Me! Me! Me! They clamor.

SHUSH!

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Just Hi!

Published by stella on March 28, 2017

I just wanted to say hi and thank GOD last week is over. I won’t go into details but suffice it to say I had enough bad luck piled into one week that I probably will only have good for many weeks to come.

Needless to say it’s nothing like the week that Jenna Jones has in my latest book, Dangerous Code.

First three chapters are on Instafreebie, if you’d like to start now.

It’s 5:30AM and as always I am up and writing! I had to pause today to send an Amazon gift card to my daughter Sarah, in Italy. Her birthday is March 30th. Last week we visited my other daughter, in Queens. I love how diverse they are and yet, in ways. very similar.

My husband finished my taxes for last year and woo hoo! I actually made money as a writer!!! My goal is to double my income every year… starting this year (ah.. I don’t want to double a negative number, right?) Anyhow, I have high hopes!

In April, BookBub has agreed to a promotion of ‘How to Seduce a Queen,’ perhaps one of my favorite books! Soul Mates is asking for me to write another Medieval. I would love to bring back Marcus and Ann. I’m thinking they’ll be quite different when their kids become rebellious teenagers. And as king Edward ages, he becomes more difficult to stay allied with. Surely there’s a tale to be told.

So many stories dancing in my head, so little time.

Dangerous Code is just the beginning of the crime solving trio of Dr. Jones, her AI unit, and Detective O’Brien.

So, bye for now.. I have to get writing!

Fondly,

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Happy St. Patty’s Day

Published by stella on March 17, 2017

OMG!

I can’t believe there’s two feet of snow on the ground and Spring is right around the corner.
I only have a moment to write a few thoughts.

Of course, I’m thinking about my release day for Dangerous Code. Early reviewers are liking it a lot.

And I’m trying to remember my only Irish ancestor.

Unlike those that came in the 1800’s mine was here almost a century earlier. He lived in Vermont, a wealthy landowner.

She was very young French girl, an indentured servant who had come to the new world with nothing but hope. There is no record of the French girl after she leaves Vermont. I suspect she changed her name and started over. A young unmarried woman in the colonies would be unwelcome in all but a brothel.

I feel for her, poor dear.

Her Vermont family must have loved her very much because when she ran off, they treated the resulting babe, my great, great, great, as their own.

Would the Irishman have provided for the child? No one knows because he was found face down in flooded waters the very next spring.

If the bastard raped the young woman, good on him for ending up dead.

I would rewrite history. Our heroine finds another Irishman, a kind man with a gentle smile, who has need of someone to take care of his two children…

Of course they fall in love and have the mandatory HEA.

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Where did Stella find her heroine?

Published by stella on March 6, 2017

I am Gemini. A twin. Two people in one. A strange and odd mix.

At work, I am an extrovert; a cog in a huge cube farm where my job is to make order out of chaos. I am an interface between developers and conglomerates. If I don’t get a project into the hands of a client in the time promised by sales, my company could lose millions.

However, I am happiest curled up with a book under a thick down comforter or in front of the fire. I think I started to write because I couldn’t find enough novels that I wanted to read.

I like an occasional domineering male with a wimpy virgin, but not always. I like a regency romance with a dashingly dark duke and debutante but it’s like always eating maple walnut ice cream. Which, by the way, is yummy.

Sometimes, I want another flavor.

I have to admit, I love when a gorgeous genius with a clever mind attracts the hero.

A man who’s not intimidated by a keen mind with a bold spirit is the alpha I need. I met him in my latest book, Dangerous Code.

Detective Colin O’Brien is street smart and able to detect a lie a mile away.

Our heroine, however, can’t read people worth a damn.

Its a fun match.

I spoke with a fan on Facebook yesterday who read the Beta copy and she loved the interaction between the two. She says her daughter is similar to the heroine. If you ask for an opinion, brace for impact. She also said it was awesome to speak to a writer who understands that personality type and how good my book made her feel.

Doing the happy dance.

She asked me where I got my idea. Usually the stuff in my head is pure imagination but I thought real hard. I got 99% on my SAT scores, I am overly-opinionated, and blind to many facial expressions.

In this case, maybe I do have a clue.

On pre-order now:

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Marketing, Conquering my Fear of Failure

Marketing, Conquering my Fear of Failure

Published by stella on March 1, 2017

Do me a favor? Put this on your wishlist?

My first three chapters are here: Instafreebie

My last post was all about how I had stopped all social media marketing, discouraged and disheartened.

Today, I am happy to say, I am back at it.

As I listen and dance to ‘The Greatest’ by Sia, I am inspired.

I’m free to be the greatest, I’m alive
I’m free to be the greatest here tonight, the greatest
The greatest, the greatest alive
The greatest, the greatest alive

I truly am good at project management in my day job. One of the things I’ve learned is you need to create an end date and then put all of the tasks you want to do in front of it. If there isn’t enough time, move it back.

So here is what I did. I started with a date. I needed two weeks to ask ARC readers to review. That means my book had to be finalized two weeks before go-live.

Got it.

But I wanted to get some feedback from a few folks I know will be honest with me.

That’s another two weeks.

Now, what tasks can I do in those four weeks?

Go to Canva.com and make Twitter ads, Facebook ads, Google Ads,
Using my ‘Mass Planner’ app, schedule my ads
Schedule a newsletter and do swaps
Define a Facebook audience, and take out some ads, see if any hit.
Schedule my sale for one week before go live and one week after for .99
Go to all the free sites or almost-free sites and schedule
Pick paid promotions within those days
Revise my blog daily, using key words
Put first three chapters on Instafreebie

MARKET EVERY DAY FOR 30 DAYS BEFORE GO LIVE!!!!

Okay. The above may not be perfect, but I am not afraid and

I won’t give up, no, no, no.

If you like these posts…. you probably like my writing and might like to try a sample here http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B06XBCZGXL

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Marketing, My Fear of Failure

Published by stella on February 10, 2017

After the unremarkable sales of my last book, I dead-stopped marketing. The thought of updating my blog made me freeze, I couldn’t find anything worthwhile to post on Facebook and my newsletter went silent.

What the hell was wrong with me?

At first I was convinced that I wanted to focus on my writing, then I was tired, then my day-job was overwhelming. Yada, yada, yada.

While all these things are true, they’re not the root cause of why I stopped. I think I have atychiphobia, fear of failure, in particular fear of failing at selling my books.

Yikes.

I looked it up on line and have all the symptoms. For me, it boils down to this. What if I put myself out there and people don’t like me?

ARGH!

My persona is that of a successful, positive, outgoing woman. However, my abused inner child sabotages me. I know this and yet when it happens, I’m blind-sided. Growing up, I never experienced unconditional love.

Dammit. That isn’t me. Not now.

I need to ask her to step back and let me try my hand at marketing again. Sure, I may fail but eventually, with enough practice, I’ll get better. While I’m learning, it doesn’t change who I am or my value as a writer or as a human being.

Starting at lunch time, here is what I am going to do:

~~Write this blog.~~ Woo hoo. Mark this one done!

Write a marketing plan, complete with due dates.

Schedule no-excuse marking time into every week.

Break the to-do list down into small tasks

Create a new mantra! Repeat after me, “I am successful at marketing.”

Face your fear head on.

Picture yourself as a marketing maven. What does it feel like? Live there in your imagination. Write about her.

Define Milestones and rewards. Maybe that trip to a warm island surrounded by sand?

I must thank this website for helping me to define my problem.

http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/marketingfear.htm

More to come… please leave a comment with your own struggles!

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The Sign

Published by stella on December 14, 2016

The hail stung my face and my feet burned, wet and cold in my second-hand boots. The last storm of the season was brutal. In a way, I was glad for the ice, because it disguised the tears streaming down my face.

This was my first day back to work in the city. I’d secretly hoped to stay home with my first born, at least for a few more months, but it was not to be.

You see, my husband quit his job in order to have more time to devote to being a recording engineer. “This is my last chance to make it, honey. For you. For the baby.”

Who could argue with that?

Our brand new car was gone. Stolen. Probably by the guys who installed the alarm. Brought up in Vermont, I was pretty naïve, even at thirty.

My parents refused to help, not even twenty bucks for some groceries and a bag of diapers.

God? I just don’t think I can believe in you anymore.

My normal subway stop was blocked because of the weather, so I had about a mile to walk. The despair of leaving my baby, of wanting more from my spouse, of just wanting, was so great I don’t know how I took another step.

I would’ve ended it all if it weren’t for my little Emily.

There was no God. There was no greater plan for me. There was just nothing.

Then I saw it! It was sitting on top of an icy garbage bucket in front of a brownstone. A plastic Santa from the 50’s. The white electric cord is wrapped around the base.

Santy?

My mother put out two when I was growing up. My older sister was given one, my brother, being number two in birth order, was given the other.

I loved those damn things.

Wow. Suddenly it dawned on me that I’d been given something that very few experience.

A sign. God was watching. He heard me that day.

And with faith and hope, all things are possible.

Many years have gone by since then. I have a great job, am still happily married to my dreamer, and my two girls are off on their own, successful entrepreneurs.

And I still believe.

Merry Christmas.

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