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My inspiration…

It’s already Wednesday! This week is flying by.

A week or two ago, I shared the symbol for the new series that I’m working on, ‘Wishful Harbor’. Several people have asked how a Georgia girl gets inspired to write a series based in a small New England seaside town, well, here’s the story.

In June of 1993, I took a tour of the New England states with my parents and their friends. It was exciting and I saw so many places that could inspire, but the little seaside town that we encountered has never left my mind or heart. I don’t remember the name, but I remember every detail of the little town.

It was situated off the main road and as we drove down a tree lined lane, it appeared. I remember the minute I saw the little town, my heart skipped a beat. I actually told everyone in the van we’d rented that when I grew up, LOL, I was already, well, let’s not go there. But, when I grew up, I wanted to live in this little seaside town. It was on the backside of an inlet and from the edge of town, you could see the sailboats in the inlet and the little marina where they served the most delicious clam chowder.

To say it was magical doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling I had. The little shops were owned by locals and they were so quaint. I fell in love. My writer’s brain was spinning even back then. As I walked up the sidewalk, looking up into the tree branches that spilled over the road and partially shaded the little shops, I took in the salty air. Yep, this was a little piece of Heaven.

This little town has always pulled at me, but when I decided to write ‘Wishful Harbor’, I decided to design it around that little town that made such an impact on me back then. Every detail in the descriptions for the book is based on that little town. So, as time goes on until the release of the first book, I’ll be sending out little tidbits of inspiration from my little New England town that still holds my heart to this day.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

wishful harbor design

Hashtags – Useful or not???

#23173416364_e8f8ee489e_sGood morning! Hope all is well with all of you.

Hashtags, do you use them or not? Well, I’ve been in and out on this subject, so I did several posts on Instagram and Twitter, using popular hashtags and the response was surprising. I started gaining followers and the retweets, likes and even comments went up in numbers. Not to mention my sales did a nice run up the scale.

Now, is this coincidence? Could be, but I think not. The reasoning behind this comment is that I have over thirty published titles and I did the test on only a couple of them. One was a back stock title.

I used the promotional methods that I learned in one of my latest promotional studies. Everything pointed at using hashtags that were similar to your book.  For example, I promoted Tuscany with #Italy #Tuscany #Oliveoil #amreading #truelove and I had several followers from the tourism industry and even some from the olive oil industry. (If you have read Tuscany, then you know why I hashtagged olive oil).

I even went one step further with the test, just to have a random selection. I used pictures from my personal everyday life and hashtagged the different things pertaining to the picture. Like our bbq chicken on the grill. My husband laughed at this one because, within minutes of posting it, I received several likes and comments from grillers, bbq restaurants and the like. It was great. Now I had my answer.

So, do hashtags work? Well, according to my little study they do. Have you had success with hashtags? Either way, let us know.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Happy 5th Birthday to Ghost Lover!

It’s hard to believe that the very first book I published is five years old today! On May 12, 2012, I took a leap of faith and I’ve never looked back. It was the hardest step I think I’ve taken in my life.

I remember the first time I worked on this manuscript which was eighteen years ago. I had a new baby, accounting business, house, hubby, and life going on all around me, but I needed an out. I’d worked on writing since I was a teenager, but this story pulled at me, even that long ago. I wrote at least two thirds of it, then put it in a file as my son got older and my business grew. All of a sudden, I didn’t have the time to work on it. Then my assistant (Now my editor and one of my cover designers) pulled the file from the back of my desk drawer and fell in love with the story.

Within a week, Ghost Lover had cover. LOL! Let’s look at that first cover:

book cover

Needless to say, that cover didn’t last long. As I went through and searched, I knew this cover was lacking, really lacking. I have to laugh as I look at it, but hey, I was a newbie. Of course, my assistant quickly threw this one out and designed the first awesome cover of my writing career. Here’s what she came up with and I’ve received several great reviews on this cover, even from the cover model that sent me a message. He told me he was the one on my cover, which thrilled me. So, here’s the 2nd cover for Ghost Lover:

Ghost Lover Final

This is one of my favorite covers. And it was my first real attempt at making something out of my writing and taking it seriously. This book took me to the bestsellers list within six months, which really excited me. But, as my writing advanced and I learned more about the world of grammar and writing, I knew that my baby needed a makeover, so in amongst all of my works in progress, I began the process of overhauling my work.

The newest edition of Ghost Lover has astounded me in it’s depth of love, romance, suspense and other emotions that I can’t exactly explain. Here’s the newest cover, which I’m totally in love with.

Ghost Lover 2 full cover

So, as you can tell, Ghost Lover has been through many changes over the last five years, but the heart of the story has never changed. When true love is there, nothing can tear you apart.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

 

Writing changes your life…

Ok, so it’s Thursday and the weekend is right around the corner… With that being said, what’s changed in your life since becoming a writer? A lot if it’s anything like mine. So, without any further rambling, here are some of the things that have changed…

  1. I now have a blog… The funny thing is, I used to just think of blogs as something other people did to pass the time. Now I blog almost daily and it’s so enlightening and helps promote my books, along with helping other writers.
  2. I’ve met so many wonderful people from all over the world. So many new friends…
  3. Now I have a major stress reliever. Writing helps to clear my head, literally. With all the stories and characters running through my head, I can let them out.
  4. I now have an extra income coming in, which is helpful.
  5. My writing has opened doors that had been closed before.

This is only a small number of ways my life has changed, but there are so many more.

What are some things that have changed for you?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Finding your audience…

Good morning! How do you figure out your audience? What am I talking about? Well, who reads your books? What age group? What demographic? How do I know this stuff? LOL! It’s called search and figure out.

The reason I know this is that I’ve been looking into promoting books. This is one of the questions asked: “Who is your audience?” It makes sense. So here is what my new series ‘Wishful Harbor’ brought to mind.

  1. Age group: 18 – 25 (This is just a start, but…)
  2. Loves Small Town life
  3. Loves sweet romance with a Happily Ever After
  4. Hallmark movie lover (So far we’re describing me… except the age group ;))
  5. Needs to get lost for a moment or two

Ok, so this is just a sampling, but you get the idea. The point is to steer the advertising in the direction of the above people. In other words, I’ll focus on hashtags that steer my tweets, promotions, and advertising toward this focus group.

Have you tried this concept? If so, how did it work?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…wishful harbor design

Monday Morning…Not Ready Yet!

Good morning… Wow, 6:15 came early this morning. I had a busy weekend and that makes for a groggy Monday morning. But, I still plan on getting in at least 2000 words before I go to my day job.

I worked on three of my manuscripts yesterday, getting ahead on one that I’d been stumped on. Thankfully I rounded the corner and the story opened up in my mind. So, Highlander’s Son will be out soon. Of course, it is a novella to finish out the series, but for those that have been asking, yes, it’s coming before the end of May!

As for my other works in progress, they’re coming soon also. Lacey’s Choice is coming along great,  and Promises Forgotten is totally outlined and ready to get going. As for the others in process, I’ve put them on the back burner until these three are completed and in my editor’s hands.

So, what are you working on this morning?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

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When the story is clear as the blue sky…

IMG_2903

It’s a beautiful Sunday afternoon! The sky is clear and brilliant blue.

That’s the way I feel about my writing today. All five of the books I’m working on are coming in very clear, might I say, loud and clear. To get my mind in writing, after Church I went outside and cleaned in the yard. This helped because now I want to write on all five, but as you know, that can’t happen all at one time, but I can try to get in a little on each, I hope.

So, how’s your writing going? Do you have a clear mind? If not, I’ll suggest going outside and breathing the fresh air. It will do wonders, I promise.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Series Emblem Reveal…

It’s Wednesday and I feel alive! What about you? Have you smiled this morning? As I write this, I can’t help but smile. Why you might ask? Well, I’m doing a small reveal today, which is exciting.

When you create a series, sometimes you create an emblem that represents that series. Well, when I created the Wishful Harbor Series, I wanted a special emblem and my awesome design team went to work to make sure that the dream I had for this series came to life. Of course, I’m not revealing the covers yet, just the emblem, for now…

So, I’d like to introduce you to the Wishful Harbor Series!

wishful harbor design

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Romance – The Classics…

Good morning everyone!

Ok, so you know I’m a romance author and that I love everything romance. That includes the Bronte’ sisters and Austen. Yes, I love Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and Wuthering Heights.

Some romance lovers say they don’t like these classics, but they were the first romance authors. Yes, they’re different from what we read today, but not by much. The main difference being the setting and the era that they wrote in. But the story is the same, guy and girl meet, they’re pulled apart, then they fall in love.  It’s epic, really.

Out of these three, it would be hard to say which is my favorite. I love Jane Eyre for the dark era in time, then Pride and Prejudice for Elizabeth’s spirit and Wuthering Heights for the drama.

The adaptations of these stories on the big screen are good too. So, if you’re not into reading these long novels, then check out the movies. But, know this, the novels are the real deal.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…