SOPHY GOES TO THE DOGGY DOCTOR

It's out! The 3rd book in the Sophy series has just been released. In this one, Sophy gets her annual checkup. I'm hoping readers will laugh and perhaps see themselves in Sophy's impatience and reactions to the whole process. In other words, as always, I hope this book will bring comfort as well as smiles to everyone who reads it.

SOPHY GOES TO THE DOGGY DOCTOR is available both as an e-book and in print. You can find it here:

Kindle        Nook        iBooks        Kobo       Google Play      Print 

Free Excerpt Booklet!

I'm part of a group of authors who have put together a booklet of excerpts from some of our work. An excerpt from Dangerous Masquerade is included! I hope you enjoy this.  See the announcement below for where and how you can get it.

The authors with excerpts in the booklet include:
Amylynn Bright, Collette Cameron, Louise Clark, Manda Collins, Tracey Devlyn, Tina Gabrielle, Cindy Holby Books, Madeline Hunter, Callie Hutton, April Kihlstrom, Vanessa Kelly, Kris Kennedy Author, Anna Markland, Miranda Neville, Patricia Rice, Amara Royce, and Joanna Shupe!

Here is the announcement:

Historical Romance Network has a gift for you: our first excerpt booklet!  Seventeen HRN members have included excerpts of First Meet scenes from their historical romances.  They range from Viking era to the American West, and include newer authors and New York Times & USA Today bestsellers.  Download the booklet in your preferred format (mobi or epub), and find some new books to love!

Don't have an e-reader? No problem! You can download Adobe Digital Edition to your desktop computer and use the epub version or download the Amazon Kindle App to your desktop and use the mobi version.

This booklet is the first of what we hope to be many such projects hosted by the Historical Romance Network, an informal group of over two hundred historical romance authors looking to understand what romance readers want, and expand the historical romance market.

Createspace Basics

I'm delighted that this Saturday I will be doing a workshop on the basics of using Createspace at the Pflugerville library (1008 W. Pfluger St.,Pflugerville, TX 78660)!

Details here: Self-publishing with Createspace Workshop
Here are some previous blog posts I've done about working with Createspace:

Createspace--a lesson in humility

Createsapce--more lessons in humility

Createspace--lesson 3 in humility

Thoughts On Being A Writer

I was asked some questions by Bob Clary at the Webucator.com blog. Here are some thoughts I shared with him about why I write, what keeps me going, etc.:

I wrote my first book when I was in 7^th grade. That book has never been published. I wrote it for the sheer joy of writing. When I began my actual writing career, it was in the late 70s. I wrote what I wrote because I wanted an alternative to what was already out there. Not that the romance novels I was reading were badly written, but as a feminist, I wanted role models of older, stronger and more career oriented heroines than I was seeing at the time. I never expected to actually be able to sell that first romance, but I did and it began a writing career that has spanned decades.

I kept writing, even though my degrees were in honors math and operations research, when my son was born with Down syndrome. I knew I wanted to give him as much time and attention as possible and writing would let me do that. Same when my daughter was born a few years later. By that time, I knew I could sell what I wrote. Even better, I could write stories about issues and emotions and challenges that mattered to me—and to a great many other women. It was the best of all possible worlds.

I'll admit my writing faltered after my divorce. There were a number of years after that when I didn't feel like writing romance—and my publisher had ended the line I wrote for anyway. Instead I focused on teaching writing classes and coaching fellow writers and wrote only for myself.

A little over a year ago, I was lucky enough to get back the rights to my back list books and I have been working on making those available again as both e-books and print on demand. I've also self-published April Kihlstrom's Book in a Week workbook (one of the classes I teach) and begun a series of books (Sophy's Story and Sophy Goes to Doggy Camp) for children, dog lovers and especially people like my 37 year old son who has Down syndrome

These self-published projects are dear to my heart and I wrote them because I care passionately about helping other writers find joy in writing and because I believe everyone—even those with special needs, like my son—ought to be able to have books they love and can read themselves.

In other words, my goal now is what it has always been—to help shape the world in which I live by what I choose to write. By that definition, I succeed whenever anyone reads any of my books—regardless of the level of financial success I may or may not have in any given year.

Writing is not a quick way to become rich—though for some authors it may work out that way. It is often hard work and requires persistence and a thick skin because there will ALWAYS be someone out there who doesn't like one's work. But I still love writing. I love knowing that what I say can touch hearts and open minds to new possibilities. I write because I have stories to tell and ideas I want to share with the world.

I would encourage anyone who wants to be a writer to write. At the same time, I would encourage them to know how they will support themselves in lean times—should those occur. There is no shame in doing other things to pay the bills—when that's what we need to do.

I would tell them to always, always, always focus on what they care about—to write what matters to them, to keep in mind what they want readers to walk away feeling and/or thinking and who they are trying to reach with their words.

I would encourage writers to understand this business requires persistence. Overnight success can take years or decades to achieve. Educate yourself about the business—there is more to know than ever before! If you go with a traditional publisher, read contracts carefully and understand what rights you are signing away. This is true even if you have an agent. Research publishers and agents carefully before you go with one. If you decide to self-publish, make sure you hire a good content editor and copyeditor and proofreader. Odds are you'll also need to hire someone to do covers for your book and perhaps to format it as well.

I believe that we writers create magic with the words we write. We touch hearts and open minds and some will make money—perhaps good money—doing so. IF we keep writing. IF we hold onto the joy we felt when we first began writing. IF we keep going even when it sometimes feels pointless. IF we hold onto what made us want to become writers in the first place. If we do all that, we can create magic.

Local Author Event Pflugerville Public Library

I and a number of other local authors will be featured at the Pflugerville Public Library Monday, November 3, 2014. Hope to see as many of you as possible there!

Note: I'm pasting in below information from the library's listing.

Local Author Showcase

Monday, November 3

Come celebrate the kickoff of National Novel Writing Month with Central Texas authors! Authors that represent a variety of genres will be joining us. Support local authors and get your writing questions answered if you are a NaNoWriMo participant. Enjoy refreshments and enter for a chance to win one of two $25.00 Half Price Books gift cards. Event is free and open to the public. Our guest authors and their websites are listed below. 

---

Visit our authors at the links below:

Russ Hall
JW Petermann
Claire Ashby
WC Jameson
April Kihlstrom
Kathy & Bob Wernly (aka BobKat/Kathy Clark)
Colleen Shannon
Dorothy Martin
Anna Castle
Angela Smith

Date:

November 3, 2014

Time:

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Location:

Poppy/Cosmos/Lantana rooms

Address:

1008 W. Pfluger St.
Pflugerville, TX 78660

Contact:

(512) 990-6375

Email:

E-mail for more information.

Cost:

Free

Links:

Visit the Library.

ADA:

Yes