It’s Hump Day! I’m in a good mood now that I have sent off Caged Magic to the proofreader. I worked four straight days on that puppy and was getting a tad obsession…making changes here and there…

Here and there? <<Wizard shouts in the background.>> You wouldn’t stop rewriting every damned word!

Ignore him, he’s cranky because I refused to make the brownie mix in the cupboard. I told him I was already too fat for my dress and frankly, he didn’t try hard enough to disagree.

So what was I talking about? OH! So, yeah, I finally realized that I’m was incapable of doing a straight read through of the manuscript to make sure nothing weird worked it’s way into the pages because I kept revising. So…I pried if out of my slightly resistant hands…

Slightly???? <<Wizard yells helpfully>> It took the freaking jaws of life!  

Yeah, see if I make him brownies now. Men! Anyway after much careful thought and consideration…okay fine! I gave in, realized the book will never be perfect and sent it off to the proofreader before I rewrote the entire thing again. But if she finds a disaster in there (trust me–it’s possible with all the revising and reformatting things because Microsoft word can be annoying at times), Wizard will NEVER get brownies, that’s all I’m saying

So enough of all that. Let’s move on to our Hump Day Hunk! What do you think of this candidate?

Is he worthy?

A working weekend for me, but a good one! My final edits came back from my editor on Friday and she was very pleased. The best part is when she said working on Caged Magic made her want to read the rest of the Wing Slayer Hunter series . I have a professional proofreader and formatting all lined up, I just need to finished the edits, do a last read through to get the book as clean as possible, then it’s off to the proofreader.

After all this time and worry, and the whining, LOL! It’s really going to happen, Linc and Risa story will be released to the world…or at least whoever buys the book.

Should I mention how crazy it is to have back-to-back releases? It’s going to be a wild summer! Even better, Caged Magic will be released July 20th and I’ll  flying to NY July 22nd. I won’t have much internet access on my flying days right in the middle of the blog tour, but Anna’s going to help me out there (plus she’s arranging the blog tour) and we’ll figure it out. Then I’ll catch up once I’m in my hotel. That conference will be a whirlwind.

I fly home the 26th, then on August 4th, Exposing the Heiress will release with more promo and blog tours. Bwhahaha!! It’ll be fun and crazy but these are some pretty good problems to have so I’m not complaining

Okay enough about all that. I’m just a little excited and a lot scared, hoping readers like Caged Magic and Exposing the Heiress.

Shifting subjects, here’s a snapshot of the dress I’m wearing for the RITA’s. It looks tiny here because of the way it’s hanging, but trust me I don’t look tiny in it. I wish I did! The color looks a little prettier in person.

Here’s the shoes. I kept it simple and they were on sale:

Ok your turn! How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

I had the chance to reader COWGIRL’S LITTLE SECRET by our own Silver James, and really enjoyed the secret baby plot. It was the perfect book to read as I was decompressing from deadline craziness.

I have so many books I want to read, I’m like a deer in the headlights and freeze when I try to pick one.

But I heard about a just released book and had read it. I bought it and started it, and wow, I LOVED that book…right up until the big reveal in about the last 5% and all of a sudden I’m like:

and my brain is screaming:

and it took me a whole day to recover:

So…first I want to say this again, I really loved this book up to this point, and I think I’ll be preordering the next book once I fully recover.

But.

This is a dark, erotic and often psychological book about a rape survivor who is struggling with her rape fantasies. So yeah…not for everyone. I had no problem with that, I liked the heroine and her journey, and the romance — and I loved the hero Jonah. Until the moment the author took his backstory one step too far for me.  As an author I know how hard it is to find that right balance, and I know some of my books have crossed that line for some readers. This book really served to remind me how emotionally involved we readers can get, and how important that line is.

The last book that did that to me at this level was MISERY by Stephen King. If you’ve read it or seen the movie (I so did NOT see that movie!) it’s the hobbling scene. That was the one step too far for me, but I could NOT stop reading.

So has a book ever done this to any of you?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

So since I missed posting on Monday, this is a 2-in-1 blog. If you don’t want to read it all, you can skip down to the bottom for the Wednesday Worthy Hunk.

I sat down yesterday for two hours and read something that was written by another author! It was glorious! LOLOL!! Also wonderful is that I got the revisions of CAGED MAGIC in by my self-imposed deadline. Yay!!  As revisions go, this wasn’t hard, just intense due to my own crazy ass internal drive to get the story right. But there comes a point where I have to let it go…so now the editor is doing her second read and I’m feeling…mostly confident, while knowing there will be a few more edits

Now before I move to the hunk portion of this blog, I also wanted to say something. What brought this to mind is I came a across a social media type of communication (I’m being purposely vague) from an author upset about the lackluster sales of her most recent book.

Believe me, I’ve been there. Most authors have been there.

But here’s my take on that:

1) Readers do NOT owe authors anything, not reviews (though I so appreciate it!). And they don’t owe the author the automatic purchase the author’s next (or any) book. Readers make their own choices. This is something I truly try to remember each and every day that I show up to the computer to write.

2) When a book does not perform to expectations, suck it up. It’s like a bad review. Bad reviews are not fun, but they are part of the job. Low sales also happen, and lately, the tide has shifted and many authors are seeing fewer sales. I can get into a whole blog about why, but basically after the big self publishing boom, along with the plethora of free books, readers have become more discriminating. It’s their right.

3) Write another book, and make it the best book you can. Looking at what’s selling in the market is good research, but my personal feeling is write a book that says something important to you. This is also a subject I can go on and on about. What’s hot in the market is important, and often key to getting noticed when a book is release. But a passionate, well-constructed story with interesting, well-rounded characters will give the book “word of mouth” which means getting readers talking and igniting real, lasting momentum that translates into sales. Well-constructed means hiring the best editor you can afford, one who will make you work your ass off and kind of hate her/him, and then fall crazy in love with him/her once you see exactly how all that painful but pointed criticism strengthens your story, characters and construction of the book.

4) Take another look at your marketing, things like cover, blurbs, promo etc. Understand what your tropes are and use it in your marketing. Understand that readers won’t buy and read your book if they don’t know about it.  I don’t excel at promoting, but I understand it’s value. Also, try NOT to annoy the crap out of readers by over-promoting.

5) And lastly, refer back to #1. Readers are NOT obligated to buy our books. Ever. For me personally, I try to always respect and appreciate my readers. (Please note that respecting readers does not mean I’d let anyone take advantage of me, or cross a line. But that has only happened a very few times in my career. However it’s still worth mentioning — respect the reader AND yourself.)

Okay enough of that.  Let’s move onto Wednesday Worthy! So after last week or two of working so hard, I think this guy totally has the right idea in kicking back on the floor:

Who by the way, is our Wednesday Worthy Hunk Candidate. What do you think is he worthy?