Solution?

I may have a solution to the blog/hunk dilemma--actually, there are two possibilities. I could start a Yahoo group and we could do the hunk ogling via email. Or, I can start another blog and restrict who can see it. I would need to compile a list of email addresses to add to the list of "approved" readers. That way no one but those Yah Yahs on the list could see it. I could post the hunks and you all could let loose with whatever you want to say because it would be private. It would require an extra log-in step. Any thoughts?

I'm heading to Fishers for the IRWA meeting today. Will check in when I get back home, but in the meantime....

Nancy Bristow is the winner 
of a free copy of 
Unrivaled!!!!

Email me (you know the address!) and let me know what format you would like and where to send it!

Brain-fried Friday Fun and a Giveaway!

I've spent the past couple of days working on getting Unrivaled published, then I decided to republish everything else I had on Amazon to include the new links. In the process, I thought I might've uploaded the wrong manuscript for Undeniable. These "Un" titles can be confusing, and you can't just edit the Kindle manuscripts like you can on Nook, you have to upload it all over again. They all finally went live at about 10pm, and they turned out okay. Whew! Seems like there should be a way to stop the process if you do something stupid like put the wrong book in the wrong cover. Anyway, it's all good now.

At the time I'm writing this post, Unrivaled is live on ARE, Nook, and Amazon. The others are still processing. Kobo gave me some trouble this time. I tried to edit the chapters in the table of contents because there was one page that didn't have anything on it, and two that had gibberish for the chapter titles. I finally gave up and started over and just left it the way it was. All of my other books on Kobo may have the same problem, but I never noticed it before. I gotta tell ya, this self-publishing thing can be a bit nerve-racking at times.

Since this is Unrivaled's release week, I guess I should be having a contest, huh? Without a hunk pic to caption, I'll just have to ask a question:

If you were a fifty-year-old single woman, what would you do with this guy?

The commenter who makes me laugh loudest wins a free copy of Unrivaled! 
And Nancy, feel free to discuss his equipment!!!!

This and that...

Yesterday, I did a read-through of Unrivaled before I sent it off to my beta reader Mellanie Szereto for her careful scrutiny, and I was surprised at how many tiny little errors I found. Nothing major--an extra space here, a missing word there--but those are things that used to annoy me as a reader. Not wanting those mistakes to annoy anyone else, I'm doing the best I can to weed them out.

After that, I critiqued two chapters for Nan and a synopsis for Sandy. Guess I've done everything I can to avoid judging those contest entries. Must bite the bullet and start on them. Soon. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, but most of the time, I'm not. The trouble with contest entries is that you don't get to choose what you read. I found that out when I had to read a stack of books for RWA's Rita awards this year. When you get a book to judge that isn't the sort of book you normally read or enjoy, it's tough to be impartial--or even read it through to the end. I had to make myself sit down and read them.

Next weekend, I'll be attending the IRWA meeting and will get my goody bag back from our wonderful chaptermate who drove to the conference and offered to take stuff back home for those of us who flew. I'll be doing a giveaway (maybe two) in the weeks to come, but I want to make sure I have everything before I run a contest. By that time, Unrivaled will probably be available for sale, and I'll do some giveaways of that too. Just wish I had some good pics for you to caption. Not sure how I'm gonna do it. Those Rafflecopter things confuse the hell out of me.

Speaking of things that confuse me, here are some statistics that I find very interesting. Book sales seem to drop off at the end of the month, then pick up again on the first--even if the first is in the middle of the week. I was shooting for 100 net sales of Undeniable on Amazon for July. I sold 105, but had seven returns, which left me with 98. I tweeted and posted links on Facebook for a couple of days, but no dice. Then yesterday, August 1st, I sold two copies. I hadn't sold anything on Nook for three days, then on the first of the month, I sold four. I'm guessing it has to do with the way people are paid or budget their money, or the fact that most new books are released early in the month, so that's when people go book shopping. I've also noticed that I sell the most books late at night on weekends.
Nothing too surprising about that, now, is there?

Finished!

I wrote the final chapter of Unrivaled yesterday--actually, I finished it Tuesday night--but until my critique partners (Sandy James and Nan Reinhardt) have seen it, I don't consider a chapter finished. I began another read-through of the manuscript, after which I'll send it to my beta reader, Mellanie Szereto. Then I'll give it another read or two before I start formatting it for the various ebook outlets.

That's one of the nicer things about self-publishing. My books go through this same process, whether they're traditionally published or not. The difference is, when I send a manuscript off to my traditional editor, I lose control of it--and I like having control. I like knowing that if there's a mistake, I'm the one who made it, and I can fix it. Once a book goes to press, it's done. A self pub can be continually tweaked. I often wish I could go back and rewrite my early Cat Star books. If I ever get the rights back to them, I may do that, but I'm not holding my breath in the meantime.

There was some discussion among the Casablanca authors as to what the magic number of books published was that would justify quitting the day job. Mine was a night job, of course, but the same rules apply. So often you hear people say that you have to spend money to make money. Well...I gave up money in the hope of making money. Might not have been my best move, but hey, you only live once. No magic number was ever arrived at, but I've heard twenty bandied about. With the publication of Unrivaled, my total will stand at twenty-four, if you include all the short stories, novellas, and the Cat Star bundle. Rebel will make it twenty-five--and I think that sounds like a nice, magical number. Don't you?

Went out for a dinner with my hospital buddies last evening. It was wonderful to see everyone again. Not quite like spending twelve quiet hours together--restaurants are always so noisy!--but it's better than nothing! Willy came with me! Can you spot him?

The end is near!

No, not the end of the world. I'm talking about Unrivaled, book 4 of the Unlikely Lovers series. I'm about forty pages from the end of the book as it now stands. Of course, there's no telling what I'll do with those forty pages. I might even trim it down to thirty.

A rewrite of an early work is ongoing proof that my writing skills have improved since I first wrote this story about seven years ago. It's always been one of my favorites, and it's also the place where I left every inhibition in my writing behind. Some of my friends didn't like the hero. Others didn't like the premise. But there are still others who get all dreamy-eyed whenever the original title (The Boy at the Bar) is mentioned. It is for those people that I'm putting in so much time on the rewrite.

But they aren't the only ones I'm writing it for. Perhaps the best advice I took away from RWA Nationals was that you have to write to please yourself. I have always written what I wanted to read, and if it didn't fall within the mainstream, well, that's just too freakin' bad. I grew up reading Mary Stewart's romantic suspense novels and Georgette Heyer's Regencies. After I'd read them so many times I had to buy new copies, I began branching out. I tried some of what a friend called her "Lust in the Dust" books. They left me thirsty for something better. I tried various Harlequin lines and found a few keepers, but most were exactly like the one that came before it. Many of the heroes were so unlikeable, I couldn't help labeling the heroine as too stupid to live for falling in love with such a jerk. I read a bajillion Regency romances and never found another Georgette Heyer. Many came close, but although her writing stands the test of time, nobody writes like that anymore--not with the humor and flair for the period that she possessed.

It's been said that I created my own genre when I wrote the Cat Star books. Maybe I did, and it struck a chord with a lot of readers. My readers have been loyal throughout a very long series. They've watched me change from first person to third, from rookie author to someone with a bit more experience under her belt, and now, from paranormal to contemporary.

I hope you're all enjoying that last change, but after Unrivaled is finished, I'm heading back to the stars.

Back Home Again in Indiana...

Sunday, 7:54PM.
At the moment, my feet are killing me, but it's still good to be home. The guys ordered pizza  so I wouldn't have to cook when I got home from the airport. I must've talked nonstop while I unpacked all my stuff. It's amazing how much there is to tell after a conference. I'm sure more stories will occur to me in the coming days, but for now, I'm talked out.

So much new information gets thrown at you over a short period of time, it takes a while to digest it. I went to workshops on marketing (which, as Lynne will tell you, I really suck at) and other workshops on self-publishing that confirmed that I'm doing most things correctly. Even so, what works for one writer may not work for another. Take the old blog for example. It was working for me, but I'm not so sure about the new incarnation. I'm still mulling over the idea of contacting a photographer to get permission to use hunk pics. At the moment, my brain is too fried to make any major decisions, so I'll leave that for when I'm feeling more energetic.

I'll be giving away two goody bags over the next few weeks that will contain free books from the past two RWA conferences. Suzy seemed to have fun with Lori Foster RAGT swag, but the RWA goody bags are mostly books--although I doubt that anyone will complain about receiving free books! I'll keep you posted on the details.

Now I just have to restock the fridge and maybe get the grass cut if the weather cooperates. *sigh* Alas, no one mowed while I was gone--not that I expected them to. I'm just happy to be able to get back to writing. Today was the day I'd hoped to publish Unrivaled. I'd been banking on the good karma of it being my grandmother's birthday, but it ain't gonna happen. Sorry!

Try to enjoy your Monday anyway!

Monday, Monday...

Alas, there are no moons to shine upon us on this first Monday since "The Change." I've been focusing on other things, like recipes. I've reposted several, but when you consider that I posted a recipe every Tuesday for at least the past two years, I'm wondering if I shouldn't call this blog "Recipes From the CatMaster."

We saw "Despicable Me 2" on Saturday night. Absolutely hilarious, although I'm sure the kids didn't get the significance of some of the funniest stuff. I love it when they put humor in for the parents. Having a good laugh makes sitting in a theater while the kid behind you does a tap dance on the back of your seat a little more tolerable. I actually had tears in my eyes from laughing at the last scene. I won't spoil it for you, but trust me, if you lived through the seventies, you'll laugh.

I've been harvesting a few herbs, which is most of what my garden consists of these days. That reminds me. I need to get some pine nuts for making pesto. Anyway, I picked basil, thyme, and parsley in addition to a whole lot of lettuce. These herbs are hanging from a rack Mikey made for me one Christmas--I'm assuming it was done in shop class, but I really don't remember. He likes having the herbs there and doesn't like it when I take them down to crumble them up and put them in jars. He says it adds a rustic atmosphere to the kitchen. I have to agree. It also shades some of the sunlight that the poplar tree used to block.

Speaking of that tree, Budley moved most of the wood out of the yard yesterday. Now we have two big muddy spots, but with all the rain, I'm sure grass seed would sprout quickly, even in mid-July. He found some termites under the first pile he moved, which kinda freaked him out. They were a good distance from the house, though. I think our termite treatment should keep them at bay. I'd be surprised if there weren't termites a lot closer that he doesn't know about. Yet another drawback to living in the woods.

I've been critiquing some chapters for Sandy and Nancy, and I'm up to Chapter 22 on Unrivaled. Still hoping to get it done by the 22nd. Wish me luck!

And by the way, Donna, you're the winner. 

My, my, my....

I see the number of hits on the blog are way, way down. Clearly many of my viewers were only here for the hunks, either that or people aren't coming back to look at the pics of my flowers as often as they did the dicks. Ah, well. Can't blame anyone for that.

Since my blog posts were still feeding into that adult bookmark site, despite my takedown request, I changed to a new url. Sorry if it's caused any confusion. This new blog address isn't showing up on the search engines yet. I'm hoping that will change soon.

My fellow Sextet author and cover artist, Bethany Michaels ( http://www.dragonflypressdesign.com/ ) sent me the final versions of the Unrivaled cover yesterday. Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have already seen the bookmark she designed for me, and I've also added it to the banner at the top of the blog--yet another painstaking process I didn't have time for. Writing blogs and taking my own pics eats up a lot of time. Posting hunks was quicker!

Here's the bookmark.

I thought it turned out rather well, except that the printer put a white border around it. I'd have liked it better without that, but these DYI printers are particular about keeping stuff inside the dotted lines.

I'm about two thirds of the way through Unrivaled. I keep getting bogged down over a few sentences, trying to get them just right. My blurb writing experience helps when it comes to whittling them down, but even that takes time.

However, I did take a break long enough to watch The Big Lebowski last night. I'd never seen it before, and since my son considered that to be horrific omission in my cultural education, Budley rented it from Netflix.

While it was entertaining, one vital point bugged me throughout the entire film, even distracting me from the humor at times. The question in my mind was this:

Where did he get the money to live on????? 

I mean, even unemployment runs out after a while, and I got the distinct impression that he hadn't worked in years. If anyone can answer that question, please post a comment. Whoever makes me laugh the loudest will win the Unlikely Lovers ebook of their choice!

Thursday Thoughts

I met with my critique partners Sandy James and Nan Reinhardt yesterday. It was so nice to see them and have the chance to talk and brainstorm in a relaxed atmosphere of Sandy's new house, which is quite lovely! I was having issues with the revisions to Unrivaled, and they helped confirm my reasons for changes I wanted to make to the story.

By the way...here's a first look at the cover!

Sure, we can discuss storylines in emails, but there's nothing quite like a face to face conversation--especially with other writers. I guess it's like any other occupation in that the people who understand your dilemmas best are those who also face them on a daily basis.

And yes, there was originally a hunk pic here. Sorry!