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Tag: what is a writer

THE BLOG EXTRAVAGANZA CONTINUES! $25 RAFFLE!

Published by stella on November 23, 2015

Hi to All of You AWESOME folks who landed here today!!!
 99CentsAndNever

First of all, I say Good luck on the $25 Raffle.

 

HERE IS THE LINK!!!
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f34356f18/

Secondly, I’ve had so many friends and new authors ask me these few questions.

What is a Blog Tour?
It’s a whole lot of websites who’ve agreed to host your content for a day, or a few days.

How can I get myself one of those?
I thank likeabossbookpromotionsblog@gmail.com for arranging this second of two wonderful tours.

I can get over forty folks to blog for me?
Well, it isn’t quite that easy. If you want to be successful, you should help promote the promoter! To do that, I suggest that you think to ‘give back.’ Create safe places where romance writers can post. You can make a Facebook page or a Goodreads group or a Pinterest board. Or find some new way! Tweet your favorite authors!

 

Medieval has never been better

 

Here is a list of bloggers who’ve agreed to share in my release day!! I have posted their Facebook and their Blog sites. I’ve also made sure to ‘tweet’ them all at least once today!

I’ve made sure they have a ‘never seen before’ excerpt!!!

You can catch us on FACEBOOK as well!!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/494523867375360/

THANK YOU ALL!!!

  • http://www.sugarandspicesmuttyandnice.com/ https://m.facebook.com/morrisonmagee?ref=bookmarks
    http://romancenovelgiveaways.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/RomanceNovelGiveaways
    http://jjbookbangers.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/jjbookbangers/
    Readinginsarahscorner.blogspot.com Https://www.facebook.com/readinginsarahscorner
    http://sweet-n-sassy-book-a-holics.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/sweetnsassybookaholics
    https://m.facebook.com/ThePowerofThreeReaders?_rdr
    http://jodieswinelist.blogspot.com http://www.facebook.com/JodiesWINEListReviews
    http://hereiswhatireadblog.wordpress.com http://facebook.com/hereiswhatiread
    https://www.facebook.com/thecatsmeowbookstop/
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Books-Reviews-Virginia-Lee/650529651718400
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Books-Reviews-Virginia-Lee/650529651718400
    https://m.facebook.com/badboysandbedtimestories/…
    http://sinfullysweetpromotions.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/SinfullySweetPromotions/
    http://fictionalrendezvousbookblog.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fictionalrendezvousbookblog/
    https://www.facebook.com/sharingmybookboyfriends
    https://www.facebook.com/myreadingreality
    http://readingdrinkingandrelaxing.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/readingdrinkingandrelaxing?ref=hl
    http://mbrennanbrokensisters.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/MaureenBrennan.Author/
    http://lynnsloveofbooks.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/lynnsbookblog/
    agirlandherbooksblog.wordpress.com https://www.facebook.com/LoverOfAllBooks
    www.facebook.com/groups/bookdreams
    http://shoutoutreads.wordpress.com https://www.facebook.com/shoutoutreads/
    http://2gbgw.com/ https://www.facebook.com/2girlsabookandaglassofwine
    http://jazzyworldofebookshelf.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/Jazzyworldofebookshelf/
    Http://www.blowpopsbooks.wordpress.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/blowpopsbookreviews/
    http://fromchikawithlove.blogspot.co.il/ https://www.facebook.com/From-Chika-With-Love-184821012873…/
    http://twoangelsandadevil.com/ https://www.facebook.com/2FeistyAngelsandaDevil/
    http://anythingbutvanillablog.blogspot.com/ and http://digitaldirtygirlbookblog.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/AnythingButVanillaBookBlog/ and https://www.facebook.com/DigitalDirtyGirlBookBlog/
    https://book-loverblog14.blogspot.co.uk https://facebook.com/bookloverblog2014
    Http://www.SassyMomsSayReadRomance.com Https://www.facebook.com/SassyMomsSayReadRomance
    www.danisbookreviewblog.wordpress.com www.facebook.com/danisbookreviews
    http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/fangirlmomentsandmytwocents
    http://fabulousladiesbookblog.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fabulousladiesbookblog/
    http://nicolesbookmusings.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/nicolebookmusings
    http://www.facebook.com/outrageousheroes
    http://nicelyphrasedbookblog.com/ https://www.facebook.com/NicelyPhrasedBookBlog/
    http://love2readblog.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/love2readblog/
    http://dusgadh.weebly.com/my-book-blog www.facebook.com/bargain4books
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Writing a Novel

Writing a Novel

Published by stella on September 28, 2015

k10ALAS!

Sometimes writing wrings my soul dry. More than an actor I must become my characters. I share their desires. I feel their pain. I cry. I want to help but like a good and gracious god, I know they must go through these chapters in order to be happy and productive, post-novel. It’s hard to explain but in my mind’s eye, these people are real. I’m just documenting a segment of their lives.

As heroine, I have survived much trauma. As I fall in love I begin to remember why I don’t want a man to touch me. I am torn and tormented. I shed tears as the memories of my attack begin so seep into my consciousness.

As the hero, I am living a lie. I either get the heroine to fall in love with me or die. The more attracted I become to her, the more I detest myself. I can find no way out. Until I am knighted, my life is little more than that of a slave. Even then, I will be underneath my grandfather’s powerful rule. If he wants her pregnant with my child, so be it.

Oh dear hearts. Worry not. We are but on the fifth chapter. It seems bleak now, but we will prevail.

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Where do Writer’s Get Ideas for Their Novels?

Published by stella on July 27, 2015

Where do Writer’s Get Ideas for Their Novels?

I just finished my final change before my second book goes to my publisher and I’m already considering the plot for the next.
I would guess every author’s brain is different, but this is how mine works.

First, and foremost, my books start with “What-If”. Let me try to explain this odd phenomenon. It’s a thread that’s constantly running in the background of my consciousness; it never sleeps, it never turns off, and it never “blocks.” It’s a funny little troll that has always spoken at will in my mind’s eye.

It goes like this:

Example. What if one day I walk by the creepy house on the hill next door, a cardboard box is dropped onto their driveway during a UPS delivery, and hundreds of bottles of prescription drugs roll down to my feet?

Example. What if I’m sitting at my cube, writing software, and I’m called to the front office to receive delivery of a computer. I turn it on for the first time and a video plays that says to hide it and tell no one or die.

Example. What if I’m a scientist studying the effect of comforting sounds on the human psyche and place a microphone over a gurgling stream deep in the woods, and that night, overhear two guys burying a body? When I check it out with the cops the next day, there’s nothing there and I lose my credibility. I continue to listen in and hear much more than I should…

Example. What if I’m a Renaissance-thinking lady, leading a Medieval village into prosperity, and suddenly am forced to marry a hard-headed Templar knight?

Example. What if I have a five year old son, and his father, who I think is dead, shows up on my doorstep near London Towne? What if the year is 1278 and I’m forced to marry him and he lives miles away at the border with Scotland?

Look into your pocket or purse. Find an object. Make up your own What If.

Try it out. I’ll give you a start.

What if last night, at the bar, you picked up the wrong cell phone? It rings and you hear a recorded message not intended for you.

What if…a key…

What if…a receipt…

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Lady Ann Defends Damaged Heroines

Published by stella on June 23, 2015

As a dutiful author, this morning I did a Google search using the key words: ‘Romance Novel Review Requests 2015.’ ‘How to Train Your Knight’ needs to get to fifty reviews to gain in the Amazon rankings.

I read through one reviewer’s likes and dislikes, and she fumed inside my head. “What does that mean, she doesn’t like damaged heroines?”
I tried to calm her down and stopped typing. “I’m sure she meant no offense. There’s lots of other-”

“Stop right there, Stella, Put me down for review. I am not damaged.”

I sighed and went to make my oatmeal. This could be a long conversation. “Technically, getting abused by your first husband, almost to the point of death, counts as damaged.”

“Not so. I am completely healed. And happily married with two children and one on the way.”

“Yes, yes. I agree, but not at the start of the book. Don’t you remember?”

“Well I think that’s just wrong. Characters who grow strong through the course of a novel should not be called damaged.“

“I agree.” I read forward a bit on that same page, glad we’d settled the issue

“Wait a second… She likes damaged heroes? How in God’s Blood is that fair?” She virtually screeched inside my brain.

“Listen, everyone’s entitled to an opinion.” I quickly went to the next site and began the process of filling in a form.

“But it’s downright insulting. She allows Marcus his bad dreams but not me?”

“Now, now. You’ve got lots of excellent reviews, Ann. Many women applaud your endless energy, devotion to your town, and the way you handle Sir Marcus. We’ll find some more accommodating and understanding reviewers, okay? Some people just don’t get the courage it takes to be truly happy and content despite adversity in the past, but I do.”

I looked at the clock. I still had to get dressed and ready for work.She snorted and left my head.

Thank God.

Read about Ann in ‘How To Train Your Knight’

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Writing and Yoga

Published by stella on May 29, 2015

Yoga becomes art.

 

My good friend, Jennifer, is a yoga instructor, we’re both about the same age, and have a lot in common. She stopped me as I walked by her cube, and said, “I was just talking about you.”

“Oh yea?” I raised my eyebrows and smiled. “All good I hope.”

“I was remarking with Jean how much we admire you.” Her eyes were direct as always, unashamed to be sincere.

I tried to be the same, but blushed. “Thank you. Truly? But why?”

“We were talking how dedicated you are…getting up every day at five thirty to write, entering contests, and finally getting published.” She knows of my yoga journey. How when I started, my toes were so far away, I thought them another universe. Now I can put my hands flat to the floor, even after recovering from a herniated disc.

“What is harder, to do your first backbend in your forties or write a book?”

“Some would argue the latter.” She swiveled in her chair so as to turn and face me more.

“But it is the mindset. The idea of change, of growth that yoga brings that is so important. Yoga has taught me that all things are possible with practice, and belief, and incremental change; to try new things, whether watercolor painting, or replacing windows in my house, or writing. Our possibilities are unbounded. How can you know what you might be good at if you never attempt new things?”

She laughed. “So many people practice yoga for the exercise, or to relax, or for a myriad of other reasons. But you know? It doesn’t matter. Because eventually, if they stick with it, they will reap that benefit, whether they intend to or not.”

“So true.” I walked back to my cube, my day job, and dreamed of more possibilities.”

 

yoga

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Writers must write

Published by stella on May 25, 2015

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Oh my God. What have I gotten myself into?

I started writing a novel about three years ago for my own amusement. I didn’t want to be rich, well-known or famous. I just wanted to have a little fun in my mind’s eye; a challenge, if you will.

When I let my husband read what I was doing, he encouraged me to do more. What more? At one point in my life I had written several small things and sent away to editors in high hopes only to be dashed by hundreds of rejections. I remember thinking I would never go to that place again; slush pile hell. The place where all manuscripts go to die and egos get crushed into tiny bits of dust.
But, it would be nice to have someone besides a few friends to read my work. But how? I certainly didn’t know any writers. Contests. Hmmm… Sounds kind of fishy, doesn’t it? You pay some money and win? Big deal. That was how my thought process went. No insult intended. My mind runs with constant conspiracies.

I don’t know where or how I came across the RWA,(Romance Writers of America), contests online. Well that looked more interesting. Critical reviews that came as a result of entering the contest. Makes sense. I could get someone to read my work, and tell me if I was full of sh*t or if I might be a writer. Thus my thoughts ran. I really didn’t believe I had the right to call myself a writer. I still have a hard time with it. Even after being an Amazon bestseller.

I placed in two out of three of my first contests. Wow. Talk about validation. I did everything that the contest people recommended, ruined my writing, and stunk big time for almost a year. It didn’t really matter, though because I was having lots of fun and little by little figured out what happened to my voice.

By year three, I had three manuscripts that were pretty solid, and another on the way. On my summer vacation, I entered perhaps ten contests, with my two best works. One was a winner. It won the molly, the show me the spark, and was a finalist in three others.
Several editors asked for full manuscripts, but none more serious than Cindy Brannam with Soul Mate Publishing. She got back to me in less than two weeks and I had a contract.

I have to say, I was more frightened than ecstatic. I have a fulltime job. What do I know of marketing? Now my playing at writing was going to be real. Would it ruin everything? Would fun turn into work? What if no one liked it or bought it? Jeesh, and I didn’t know a tweet from post.

Fast forward to May 25th. My book has been on Amazon for almost three weeks. I did make the Best Seller lists for about two weeks, and its ranking is still in the top ten percent of all books. Not bad for a first book.
Do you know what the hardest thing is? To focus on book two. Not Facebook, Not twitter, Not Pinterest, Not Tumbler Not to a myriad of posting on blogs. To write. Because that is what I love to do. That’s how all this started. I’m not a rock star. I’m not a marketing genius. I am a writer.

And writers write.

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