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Monday Morning Quarterbacking…
Last week I did my first real book promotion by making Book 1 in the Women of Willow Bay series, Once More From the Top, a freebie on Amazon. Just over 14,000 readers downloaded the book, a number that feels really huge to me. Now I told myself I wasn’t going to do the math to figure out how much that would’ve been in sales. My friends, mentors, editors, book designers, etc., Lani and Alastair from StoryWonk, warned me not to do that. But of course, I did it. Yes, guys, I’m confessing to you here in this semi-public forum. I did the math! I thought the dollar numbers would…
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A Touching Review
I’m always so excited when someone reads my books and loves them. It’s an author’s greatest wish to touch readers on a visceral level. I don’t have have to tell you that in the romance genre, that’s sometimes difficult to accomplish. We’re entertaining our readers, taking them into a fantasy for a short time, and always, always giving them a happily-ever-after. Yesterday, Becky Condit of Mrs. Condit and Friends Read Books reviewed Sex and the Widow Miles, the second book in my Women of Willow Bay series. Her review included a personal story about how she related to the heroine, Julie Miles, because she too lost her husband to a…
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8-Sentence Sunday
Here we go, kids…still in the beginning of Novel 3 in the Women of Willow Bay series (this book seriously needs a title!), and still in Captain McGuire’s POV… Three years later, multimillionaire Salvatore “Sonny” Todaro salvaged the boat, towed it to Chicago, and had it refitted as his own personal yacht. He renamed her Caroline Howe to honor his mother. Now, she was luxurious again, with staterooms outfitted for the ultimate comfort of Todaro and his friends and family. But the Caroline Howe had another mission—the refit had included state-of-the-art diesel engines that sent the boat moving swiftly over the Great Lakes, and for several years, she’d carried an…
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8-Sentence Sunday
Weekend Writing Warriors are busy on new stories and because I am a warrior, here’s another snippet from Novel 4 in the Women of Willow Bay series. Continuing from where we left off last week, we’re still in 1933 with Captain Frank McGuire… It’s not like an extra day or two was going to make or break Todaro. Hell, the man had more money that he could ever spend in several lifetimes. Besides, it was probably the last trip he’d ever make if Roosevelt did as he promised and signed the Twenty-First Amendment next month. Maybe Todaro was worrying about losing this source of income, trying to get in a…
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8-Sentence Sunday
It’s time again for a snippet from my current WIP. This time I’m switching to a scene from the fourth Women of Willow Bay book–yeah, I’m working on two at once and no, neither one has a title yet. This one is a little different in that it contains a bit of suspense. Setup is 46-year-old Sophie Russo has always been a summer resident of Willow Bay, coming up every summer of her life with her grandfather who owned two cottages on the Lake Michigan shore. Sophie is a quiet, shy freelance editor, who has been caring for her sick grandfather for the last two years. Her beloved Papa Leo…
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8-Sentence Sunday
Annnndddd…we’re back with a new Weekend Writing Warrior’s 8-Sentence Sunday post. I’ve decided to take you all along as I start my new Women of Willow Bay novel, so who knows where we’ll end up. This week, I’m giving you the first 8 sentences of the new book. So here’s the setup: We met our heroine in Sex and the Widow Miles–she’s Sarah Everett, the woman who ran the Chicago resale shop in the battered women’s shelter where Julie volunteered. Remember tough little red-headed Sarah, who went toe-to-toe with a gun-toting abuser? Six years ago, she escaped her abusive husband and ran away to Chicago, where she now manages the…
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Butterflies and Nervous Knots…and Fair Warning
It’s less than a week now before the first two new novels in the Women of Willow Bay series release, and do I need to tell you I’m a basket case? My heart is in my throat and in my socks and then in my throat again. I’m not sleeping much as my brain races through all the things on my list. This feels completely different from how I felt when Rule Number One released, probably because this time, it’s all on me. Indie publishing is uncharted and very scary territory, but it’s exciting and challenging. I’m terrified, yet truly confident that this is the right path for me and…
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Fine Wine Romances Presents…
Two new romances by…me! Here are the covers for the first two novels in the new Women of Willow Bay series. Both are releasing on September 26, which also happens to be my 60th birthday. I figure, what better way to celebrate turning a fabulous 60 than by putting out two new books. Here’s the first one--Once More From the Top. What do you do when the one who got away comes back? And here’s the second one–Sex and the Widow Miles. His life ended. Hers didn’t. ** My covers were created by the incredible team at StoryWonk. They nailed it, didn’t they? Couldn’t be…
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Procrastination, Anyone?
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, today, I procrastinated beautifully about doing the rest of the weeding and cutting back the flowers. I found something more important to do (read “work on my novel” here) until it was time to start supper. The to-do list was really pretty short today—yard work, cleaning the two and half bathrooms in my house, doing the last load of laundry, and ironing. Did any of those…
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Overdrive…and Memos
I feel like I”m in overdrive and actually, there’s no reason for me to be. I think it’s mostly left over from the chaos of having the renovation work done and then the kids coming right after and being on deadline for work projects and creating deadlines for my own books. I need to chill out. It’s summer, life is supposed to be slower. The lake calls and all I want to do is swim and boat and visit with my friends there. My editor keeps telling me, “You’re rushing. Just breathe…” and I think it may apply to more than writing my novels. I think I need to heed…