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Showing posts from August, 2014

New Release! Perfectly Ernest by E.J. Wesley

I'm happy-dancing today because one of my favorite writer friends, E.J. Wesley, released his first full-length novel. Way to go, E.J.!!! :D From the very first Moonsongs serial, I fell in love with E.J.'s writing, and I've been reading everything he writes ever since. His clever descriptions make you feel like you're there. His characters are interesting, flawed, and loveable. And his sense of humor is a perfect balance for the darker and heartrending parts of his stories.   If you've never read anything of E.J.'s, you're missing out . :) From a distance, Ernie’s life seems perfect—he’s a star college baseball player adored by the student body and coveted by professional teams. Up close, he is a disaster. Since the death of his mother, he’s been trapped by a promise he made and forced to live her dream instead of his own. He reaches his breaking point in the biggest game of his young career and sets off a chain of events that will either defin

What a loss

We've lost a friend in the writing world.  Yesterday evening, Tina Downey succumbed to complications while battling chronic health problems. I hadn't known Tina long, but I liked her from the beginning. She was funny, kind, talented, generous, and encouraging of others, despite the many challenges she faced in her personal life.  Tina was roughly my age, and that has made her death an even more sober reminder. Hug the people you love and spend time with them. None of us knows how long we have.

How NOT to get scadalized on Amazon

I've been running into the topic of discerning story content a lot lately, from blog posts about it to complaint-filled reviews. I decided to sound off on the issue, in hopes people will pass the information on.  Because books don't have a rating system like movies, readers have difficulty gauging content. This is a problem for people who like 'clean' books and unknowingly get one that has explicit content. It can also be a problem for people who prefer explicit content or don't like a heavy religious theme, but I'm going to focus on the former for this post. Let me pause to say, I'm not labeling specific content as good or bad, and I'm not promoting one genre or category over another. I'm simply educating folks so they can be better informed consumers. Let's assume the reader wants 'clean' books with zero-to-minimal language, violence, and sex. How do they find books that suit? The best way is to stick with Christian F

Promo Friday - August

It's time for the first Promo Friday. Yea!!! I'd hoped to have more content for PF's maiden voyage, but you guys are being shy. Don't be shy! The next deadline for content submission is Wednesday, September 10th for the Sept. 12th post. C'mon. Send me your stuff. :) David Powers King recently revealed the cover of his and Michael Jensen's book, Woven . It's a YA fantasy set to be released by Scholastic Press in late January. Congratulations, guys! Charlie Holmberg's book, The Paper Magician , was chosen for Kindle First . Only four books per month get this honor. It's been hanging out at the top of the list in the whole Kindle store! Congratulations, Charlie!!! :D  The Paper Magician is $1.99 for a limited time. You can find it here .  Upcoming debut release ! Demetria Foster Gray's debut novel, Sifting Through Mud , is set to be released in a mere ten days. Woot! Congratulations, Demetria!!! The death of

IWSG - August

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for August. For more information about the group, see the bottom of this post. Alex's awesome co-hosts for August are : Sarah Foster, Joylene Nowell Butler,   Lily Eva, and Rhonda Albom! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you . I wasn't sure what to write about this time. The way things are going for me right now, I could give some rousing encouragement AND I could list a host of worries. So... why not do both? Worries first. I just announced a decision I made to reduce my time on social media. I worry I might have offended some of my friends. I hope not. But (there's always a but) I'm an author. If I don't make time to write, what's the point? Sales of my book have finally dwindled. This really is a marathon and not a sprint. Joining KDP Select has helped, but what if the figures don't ever recover? What if readers don't like the next book? What if? What if? (The 'wh