Sorry I've been AWOL for a while, but it is with good reason. I currently have three books under contract for publication in the coming year--two with Champagne Books and one scheduled for September release with Wings ePress. In addition, I recently signed with an agent to handle my contemporary romance novel, Wake-up Call. And my goal between now and Wednesday is to write four to six chapters to get my current work in progress near completion.
In the midst of all of this, I adopted a cat, and we're getting to know one another and finding the way to share my apartment. She's a sweetie, but it's been a long time since I shared my space with a pet. Olivia is getting me trained, though. :)
From the replies here, it looks as though everyone been working hard. I hope you all have a fantastic Fourth.
I just finished reading The Fiction Class. I absolutely loved it. I've recommended it to several of my friends. Not only did I enjoy a well-crafter story with engaging characters, but I learned a bit about writing!
Hey, everyone--heads up. The Fiction Class is a fantastic read.
My latest book, The Departing Spirits, is a fifteen story collection of romance, mass murder, humor, mystery, deceit and downright fun. In the story, The Stalker, country singer Sonny Sinclair and his band members feel threatened by the mysterious, unknown red haired woman who follows their shows from town to town. Caleb’s Journey tells of little Caleb who escapes from his abductor and sets out across the farm fields and small towns of Alabama and Georgia to find his home and family in Florida. The Landing is a story of two teenage cousins who take their dads’ small plane for a joy ride and learn the folly of such an act. Sacred Turkeys is a humorous story about an unemployed Arkansas bootlegger who tries to become honest by raising turkeys for the troops during World War I. Until Proven Guilty is a nail biter. Rusty Carver is arrested for mass murder when twenty-four bodies are found buried on his farm. I hope you’ll enjoy these stories and ten others in my latest book, The Departing Spirits, due for release in August.
My second cozy mystery novel, Safe House, is coming out in print this month! It's been out in electronic form (available at Amazon for the Kindle and at Fictionwise for everyone else) for months now so it's been a long wait. Short Synopsis: Thanksgiving is just days away, snow is falling and Christmas lights are starting to appear all over Colorado. But the holidays are the last thing from the mind of Kaye Berreano a battered women’s shelter counselor. In this second book of the series, she is adjusting to life as a newly divorced women with two teens and a new relationship with police investigator, Pete Farrell. But when her son RJ becomes a suspect in a murder investigation, and somehow seems to be involved with the drug selling son of a shelter resident, Kaye’s adjustments are falling apart.
I've been busy with weeds in my garden and the channels of work that keep the cash flow going.
Marketing my books and speaking are also demanding.
My printer said that anything under 500 copies is better digitally printed so my third self help memoir Questing Home is only digitally printed so far. Sure helps with the investment of money and not having to store books is great. I won't worry about these things when the sales get to the point that I need more than 500 copies.
I've been doing quite a bit of newsletter writing. I'm a contributing editor to two and editor of a third, so deadlines are always on my mind.
I'm also working on another book, The Intercessor Manual, which I hope to get out sometime next year.
I self-publish my books, taking care of the whole layout and design process, walking through things with my local printer, marketing, shipping, and customer service. Self-publishing has been a good fit for me. I enjoy all the one-on-one contact with my readers.
I'm finishing up a whirlwind promotion blitz for the second book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, which was released in late May. I had a month-long blog book tour in May, followed by my book launch in Colorado Springs, a 2-week northwest book tour, and local Colorado signings, culminating in a July 4th signing in Breckenridge, CO, the setting for the book. I'm conducting research now and hope to finish the outline for my next novel project by the end of the month. I'm looking forward to getting back into writing.