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Sunday Snippet: The Yup, It’s a Real Snippet Edition
We’ve been yard focused this weekend–weeding, cutting back old fall stuff, etc. You know, spring cleaning the yard. Son and Grandboy came over and helped us out with edging and weeding and checking gutters because I’ve declared a moratorium on Husband being on ladders. Grandboy even reset some of the garden edging blocks for me–freezing and thawing cause them to get out of alignment. He also helped me put the hoops around the peonies, which is a study in frustration for one person, but he zipped right through it. We haven’t done everything–there’s still mulching to do, and today, Husband and I will do the weed-and-feed–a lot of walking back…
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Author Spotlight: Welcome, Best-Selling Author Anna J. Stewart
Welcome to one of my favorite authors, the prolific and gifted Anna J. Stewart! I couldn’t be more pleased that she’s joined the Tule Publishing family of authors! Anna J. Stewart is a National and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty emotionally layered romances, ranging from sweet to suspenseful. A Maggie and Holt Medallion winner, Anna’s work has also been recognized as a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier and the National Readers’ Choice Awards and one of her novels, Recipe for Redemption, was optioned for a TV movie. At the heart of every story Anna tells is family—the kind you’re born into, and the kind you fight…
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Sunday Snippet: The Velveteen Rabbit & Memories Edition
Right off, happy Easter and happy Passover to all who celebrate. Yesterday, when Mary and I went for our daily walk, we headed north toward the pool and clubhouse of our neighborhood. We have a great pool and really nice clubhouse–it’s where we do yoga every Wednesday evening and where we spend summer afternoons after I’m done writing and working. It’s truly one of the best blessings of living in “The Nest.” Anyway, to add to our step count, we walked, as we always do, around the parking lot to the tennis/basketball courts and then back out to the street. On the way, we stopped for a moment at the…
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Author Spotlight: Welcome Back, Janine Amesta!
Kate Sparks, you are Janine’s e-book winner! She will be in touch! I’ve really enjoyed fellow Tule author Janine Amesta’s Love Is In the Air series. Going up in a hot air balloon is on my bucket list, along with another trip to France, and parasailing. I’m so pleased to have Janine here today with the third book in the series–The Love Feud, which released March 26 and is available wherever you get your ebooks. Janine Amesta has loved reading kissing stories most of her life. She currently resides in Oregon with her husband and their pets, Hitchcock and Pippin. She studied screenwriting in college and her banter is influenced…
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Author Spotlight: Welcome Debut Author Jacinta Peachey!
What’s more fun than introducing y’all to a new romance author? Not much. Today, I had a chance to chat with fellow Tule author Jacinta Peachey, a sparkling new voice on the Australian rural romance scene. Her debut novel, A Little Bit Country released March 23 and is available wherever ebooks are sold. Jacinta Peachey is an international award-winning contemporary romance author. Her writing is the creative outpouring of a fertile imagination stifled by her first career as a dentist. With a ‘do as I say not as I do’ attitude, coffee, red wine, and chocolate fuel her writing passion. Her stories focus on strong, independent, yet mixed-up women as…
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Sunday Snippet: The Writer as Procrastinator Edition
I think I’ve mentioned it before but in case you don’t know, I’ve become a world-class procrastinator—I can do something else better than anyone anywhere. I’ve passed amateur status and have just recently gotten my professional standing. Don’t even try to take me on this one, I’ll beat the socks off you every time. For instance, yesterday, after we drove home from the lake, I procrastinated beautifully about cutting back the last of the pampas grass. I found something more important to do (read “sat on the sofa reading for pleasure” here) until it was time to start supper. The to-do list I made while we drove home was really…
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Author Spotlight: Mystery Writer Christopher Seto Is Here!
We have a winner! Latesha B, you were randomly selected to received a signed copy of The Vanishing Stone. Chris will be in touch with you! Thanks to Latesha and everyone who stopped by! Christopher Seto had me at chocolate. The Chocolatier’s Curse, the first book in his Tule Mystery series, Notes on a Murder, drew me in, and I knew I wanted a chance to chat with him. We had a ball, particularly when we discovered that we were both Purdue Boilermakers. I’m so glad to introduce him to you today! He’s here with book 2 in the Notes on a Murder series, The Vanishing Stone, which releases…
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Sunday Snippet: The And We’re Off… Edition
Liz and I are headed out this morning for our twice yearly writing retreat. She’s allergy sniffly, I’m at the end of a wicked sinus infection that still shows up as a headache now and again. We should be delightful company for one another. Fortunately, we’re both pretty hardy souls and we’ll make it just fine. Retreats are our time for writing, processing out loud, sharing story, and giving opinions. I can count on Liz to tell me if something is going to work or if I’ve gotten completely off-track. I do the same for her. It’s our sister-writer time and we’re pretty protective of it. This spring we’re going…
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Author Spotlight: Romance Author Jana Richards Is Here!
I’m so happy to welcome my fellow Word Wrangler, Jana Richards to the Spotlight today! When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily-ever-after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since then she’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the…
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Wednesday Drop-In: Results of the Cover Survey
Bonjour, Mes Amis, Just dropping in real quick to let you know the results of the cover survey that I sent out to folks a few weeks ago. My friend who put the survey together sent the results of the data she collected. Here’s what the data tells us about the ideal book cover to appeal to the broadest possible audience: The winning formula: A photographic or richly illustrated cover, dominated by bright and vibrant colors, featuring compelling imagery that’s clearly related to the story — with mostly visuals and minimal text. Breaking it down by category: Style: The top three (photographic, illustrated, bold & graphic) are nearly tied, all hovering around…