Down Time: What To Do?

As an author, like many of the other authors out there, there really isn't a day when I don't write. Even if I'm on vacation I'm still writing notes for scenes, or just writing the whole scene. So when I do take time off like this past weekend and the up coming weekend what am I doing? Well I'm people watching, making notes on areas I visit just in case I ever want to put them in a book. And if you follow me on FB you'll see I take lots of pictures. 

My hubby works a lot and we recently decided to stop putting off getting away. While we're not ready for any huge trips, Ireland and Scotland are both tops on that dream list, we're exploring our own area of the New England on the Northeast Coast and then we're going to branch out.

We've done Vermont and New Hampshire. Our next trip is Maine. This one is going to be fun and sad at the same time. Why?

Years back we bought a house and 24 acres up north on the Canadian border. We lived there for about four years. When we came back to Massachusetts we planned on going up to vacation and decompress. That hasn't happened. So next weekend we're going up the organize and close up the house. Yes it's sad, but we've decided it's time to sell the place and buy a house down here somewhere. (Connecticut is possible if we can find what we're looking for) 

But this trip is going to be one last bash! We're taking two of our nieces up with us. It's their first time so hubby is going to make sure they see it all. Hopefully we'll come across a moose (they've been seen walking down Main Street in Fort Kent) and maybe even a bear. He's planning on taking them fishing too.

So here's to making changes and hoping for the best. More picture to come on FaceBook and maybe I'll get some loaded here too.

New Release!

Faking It For A Friend 
Book 5 in the Heiresses In Aprons Series

Gina Foster was working damn hard to put her wild woman ways behind her. Getting involved with playboy business man Wes Moreland might look like a big slip backwards to everyone, but Gina doesn’t care. She’s willing to risk her reputation to keep her friend Michelle’s elopement a secret until she’s ready to tell everyone herself. She needed Wes to help her do that.

Wes was seriously on the spot thanks to his best friend JP Abbott asking him to be his best man. Now Wes has to do whatever he can to keep things under wraps until JP gets back from his honeymoon and breaks the news.  Pretending to be engaged to Gina is the best plan. Spending time with her would be a hardship, or hurt his image any. As long as she understood that it was over when Wes said it was. Even if that meant it never ended.

Get your copy at  Amazon, BN, ARe, Smashwords 

When To Announce A New Release

If your publisher gives you a date then it should be okay to shout it out to everyone. When it comes to putting out your own books this can be a little more difficult. You upload the books at retailers and wait for them to go live.

Amazon and NookPress have a 12-48 hour window.

Smashwords and D2D distribute to retailers for you. I haven't used D2D, so I don't really know how they work. With Smashwords you go live on their site right away, but it can take a few days for it to show at the other online retailers.

ARe goes live right away too.

My plan is to load at Amazon, Nook, and Smashwords at the same time. Once I get word that the book is live at Amazon and Barnes and Noble I'll upload to ARe.

I'm guessing if you do pre-orders the files would all be there and ready to go. I haven't tried pre-orders so maybe someday I'll figure that out.

Before I focus on pre-orders I'm going to spend my time deciding how I want to set up my first box set. I'm going to be doing the first three books in the Heiresses In Aprons Series. I'll post more about this experiment over the next week.

Never Say Never...When Goals and Plans Change

Plans change and goals shift. Sometimes for the better. Last night I was talking with another writer about some plans I made that I thought were solid. Ending a series and putting a few book into a box set had been one of my goals. After talking it out I realized it wasn't really what I wanted to do.

Just like reading you story saying stuff out loud, whether someone is listening or not, can help you decide if you're going in the right direction. I count typing it out here and on a forum I belong to as talking out loud. Basically seeing the words and hearing them can push away all the distractions and make you take stock in what your real goals are.

So in this case it has pushed me to make some changes. I've decided to add a novella to one of my series as a wrap it all up with a bow story. It's a slight change to the schedule I had planned, but it'll be better in the long run.

Along with changes I've made I was going to release the first book in a new series, but I decided to see if a certain publisher was interested in it first. I'm currently working on book 2 in the series so eventually it will be released, just not sure with who.

I've also started a project that sounds great, out loud and on paper. So plans for that sexy fun series are in the works. Hopefully it will start off with a dozy of a holiday story. 

All in all I'm going to be pretty busy over the next few months, which makes me happy. Hopefully it'll make readers happy too.

Going Out With A Bang

Well with my new release next week
and my plans for the next few weekends my summer is going out with a bang.

I've been working on edits, and now finalizing formatting of Faking It For A Friend. This book wasn't planned when I started the series, but the characters wormed their way into getting their story written.

If I wasn't busy enough with getting everything ready for this release my hubby decided we need to get a way. So we're taking a trip up to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire with my two nieces. this little vacation is hopefully going to help us relax for what's in store the following weekend.

We haven't been up to the house in Maine in over a year. The kids have visited their friends up there and checked on the house. It's still standing, but some spiders have taken up residence. Well hubby and I talked and decided it's time to clean it up and get it sold.

This makes me sad, but at the same time I know it's the right thing to do. It's a waste to have the house and 24 acres not being used. Still I guess a pat of me always thought at some point we'd use it for a vacation retreat of sorts.

Anyway hubby, me, kids, and nieces are going up for Labor Day long weekend to clean and pack stuff up. I guess the good thing I wont be able to worry about sales stats for the new release. 

Editing Process

Do I need edits? Yes. You know what you meant to write, but that doesn't mean you wrote it. A good editor will find your weak spots. For me that's commas. They'll also point out typos, flow issues and anything else they think you might want to  know. Like when your hero is being a jerk. ;)

So how does the editing process work?
This is something that is different for every writer. Sometimes it can be months between when you submit a book and when you actually start edits. That can make it a little difficult if you've moved on to a new story and you head is in a different place. But that is also a good thing. You'll be looking at the story from a new perspective. 

So here's a basic layout of how I handle things.

Step 1: Write and submit book, either to publisher or directly to editor if I'm putting the book out on my own.

Step 2: Work on something else until you get the edits back. For me this isn't a problem. I usually have 2 projects going at once. Still sometimes the waiting with have you checking you email a couple of times a day.

Step 3: Edits arrive. Do you just dive in? I read all the comments first the start at the beginning. Sometimes, if you're lucky, along with all the requested or advised changes you'll find little positive comments. 

Step 4: Okay you've done all the hard work and hopefully you story is better for it. Those red pen marks and comments are supposed to be there to do that. But what's next?

Step 5: You've just finished you edits and you're back to knowing what you wrote. You could just send it back if it with a publisher and be done. You could start getting that baby ready for release. I do neither. I put it aside for a day or two. This time I don't work on anything else. That doesn't mean I do nothing. I read. Not my own stuff. I choose a couple of books, I'm a very fast reader, and for the 24-48 hours I dive in. Reading will get your head out of your world and into someone else's.

Step 6: Final read through. I read my book straight through. Sure I stop to fix little things here and there, but hopefully there's no big glaring mistakes. Reading out loud helps with this. Now it's done!

Step 7: Now it's back to the publisher, or off to formatting. 

So there you have it. Like I said before every writer has there own way of doing it, but that's mine. Now I'm off to format so I can have this book out on time.

My Summer Bucket List

When thinking about a bucket list what comes to mind? For me it's a few things.

1st: Crazy impossible stuff I'd like to see happen.
2nd: Stuff I can actually make happen.
3rd: Stuff that needs to happen.

So here is the list I made at the end of May (~ means I've either done it or am doing it)

Summer Bucket List

Crazy: 
Get 30 Celebrities to take their picture with my book. Who wants to be first?

I Can Do:
Take day trips. ~

Find a waterfall. ~
Join Instagram ~
Start a #. (I have one in mind, but need to start using it)
Submit to a big name publisher. ~

Needs To Happen:
Release book 5 in Heiresses In Aprons.
Clean and Organize my office. ~
Start using my planner to focus on what needs to be done. ~
Establish a new schedule for myself so people know when not to bother me.

See I don't have that much I wanted to do, but I only have like 16 days to finish it all!

Summer Coming To An End

I had a lot of plans for this summer. Even started a bucket list of sorts. Some things I have accomplished...other not so much. We've taken a few trips. Gotten some culture and had some fun. Officially summer doesn't end until September 23rd here. That's roughly 17 days, so I can still get some stuff done.

I'm going to start today!!!!!!

So here's the thing, I am a writer. This is my job and I

 it. My days consist of sitting at my desk in front of my computer and thinking about what it would be like to be someone else, or how people would react in different situations. I also have admin type stuff to do. Figuring out promo and production schedules.

Along with this fabulous profession I also have a family that enjoys spending time with me, well most of the time. They understand that my mind wanders and don't make fun of me too much.

I've tried to find a way to make this blog work of me. By that I mean I've tried different types of schedules. Certain topics on certain days. Talking about my writing journey. Those things haven't really worked for me. In fact they kind of bogged down my thoughts. So as one of my Summer Bucket List items I had listed 'Find a way to enjoy using my blog'. 

Side note: I love making list. Sticking to them is like a personal challenge.

I think I have come up with a way to do that. In utter randomness like the way the rest of my mind works. I'm not going to schedule or focus on any one topic. What that means is I'm going to pop in and say whatever's on my mind. Yeah that's it. Okay so (WOW, I use the words so a lot) starting tomorrow I will post my Rest of Summer Bucket List. I may also play around with my blog layout a bit.

That's all for now. Hope everyone is having a great summer.