Merry Christmas to all!

Ritual and writing

It's important to write every day if you are serious about writing. It doesn't matter what you write, only that you do. I have developed a ritual around that. I prefer doing my creative writing on my laptop on the living room sofa. I associate my office with work [my businesses] and my writing is not work - it's a love. So, I crave a different location for that.
So, I sit on the sofa, laptop on my lap [where else?]. From my sofa I can look out onto the patio and the hummingbird feeder. I can watch the birds and listen to the wind drift through the palm tree fronds on days when I can open the patio doors. And I burn my favorite candle. It's African Amber, a musky scent that I love and because of this daily ritual, just the scent of it makes me feel inspired.
BUT - I just found out today that the store that stocked it is no longer in business and I cannot buy the candle anywhere else. I immediately felt panic.
But do we need ritual to produce?
Can we be just as productive even if we have been conditioned to need certain talismans to trigger our creativity?
I admit I have a certain fear about what will happen when my reserve of African Amber is truly gone. I am sure I will go to every candle shop I can find in search of something similar.
But I am also going to try to wing it alone and see what happens. I know my talent [if I truly have any] does not need a candle to produce. But setting the mood is important. I just need to be a little flexible about it.
And if anyone knows where I can get African Amber candles, email me. :>)

So you think it's the ultimate goal to see your book in a bookstore

Read this for an eye opener on how it all works.

Second Chance

As of today, the rights to SECOND CHANCE, my first novel revert back to me. I am going to republish it with its original cover under my own imprint. I can't wait.

Books make wonderful Christmas presents

This year give the gift of romance, travel, adventure....give books!
Don't know what books to give?
Know a second wife? Give Second Chance, a story about a second marriage, a second wife, and a love tested.
Know someone who would love to read a romance set against the backdrop of exotic Rio de Janiero? Give COMING TOGETHER.
Want to give an historical novel - the story of Noah's Wife as told by her? NOAH'S WIFE is your answer.
How about a love story set in the exciting world of radio? Then you must read RED WINE FOR BREAKFAST.
And finally, if you know a child whose parent has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or any serious illness, MOM'S STORY will help.
All are available and can be ordered to arrive in time for Christmas.
Enjoy!

The need to write

Do you ever feel like your day just isn't right unless you get some pages in? It's amazing to me how I can almost go for weeks without writing in my current work in progress and feel fine about it but then once I start up again, I feel wrong if I don't write every day. It's like getting reacquainted with some old friends and then letting them down if I don't visit with them every morning. So, off I go.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful to all my readers and I wish everyone a happy and blessed day!

Harlequin angers the esteemed RWA

I say this with tongue planted firmly in cheek because I think RWA is wrong. To sum up - Harlequin has teamed up with Author Solutions [who now owns many self-publishing companies like iUniverse] and they are offering a self-publishing service to authors who do not meet the criteria to be published by Harlequin but still want that imprint. Yes, it might be a tad misleading but at least they are recognizing that there might be some merit out there to many more authors than those few they are willing to offer contracts to.
Well, RWA, who has long refused to acknowledge self-published authors at all, has now rescinded Harlequin's admission into their esteemed fold. MWA and SFWA have also joined in.
In response, Harlequin has decided to remove the name Harlequin from this new company. It is not apparent yet if this will appease RWA. So far, it seems not, from what I have read.
Yes, there is some junk out there in the self-pubbed world. But there is also a lot of good. I'm sure the general public is not aware but many now well-known authors started out as self-published. If these books had not started out that way, we would have been deprived of some wonderful reading.
I wish Harlequin had not caved in like that. RWA needs to get over itself.

The play's the thing

Last night hubby and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera. We had seen it years ago on Broadway and now the touring company brought it to AZ. I have never been fond of this play in terms of characters or storyline but I love the music.
And I was not disappointed. The female lead's voice was beyond magnificent. Can't say as much for her character's mentality or that of most of the characters in the play but the house was packed as I'm sure it was every night.
So, then, this begs the question if the story line is silly [a deranged malformed man influences an impressionable young girl and throws an opera house into turmoil] what drives the audience to flock to it day after day, year after year?
Pathos, pageantry, beautiful, angelic voices singing haunting melodies.
Can anything be derived from this and applied to modern fiction?
I think so. Make your characters memorable, be they good or bad, smart or vapid. Make them real, make your audience have a gut reaction to them and them hive the audience something else besides.

Writing a book

I have been hearing more and more in the last week about a certain someone and her soon to be released book. She has a well known name. She got a huge advance. She had a ghost writer. She has a built-in following. Her book, while not for sale yet, is already a best seller.
This may sound like sour grapes but this really upsets me. Someone writing and selling a book in this manner makes it harder for the real writers of the world. You know, the ones who write their own books. The ones who don't have a sensationalistic platform and don't command the huge advances. The ones who get ignored by the traditional houses because the money is being spent on people like this author.
It's frustrating but we can work around this. We just have to work harder. If you can't attract the attention of a large house, court one of the many small independent presses that are out there. Of course, make sure your book is the best it can be. This goes without saying. And then market the heck out of that book.
Tell everyone you know. Speak. Send it away for reviews. It can be done.
The flash in the pans will always be there and the large houses will always go for the big names because they are driven by their bottom line but it doesn't mean your book won't see the light of day. You will just have to be more creative.

Smashwords

Smashwords is a great new site where you can publish e-versions of your books. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend it. Ebooks are the wave of the future. It's important to be able to offer your readers this great option. This site makes it easy to publish in all the possible formats.

Coming Together by Joyce Norman and Joy Collins

New book trailer for COMING TOGETHER

Our 4th book is in production

This lovely children's book by Mary Nickum helps parents explain MS. Not only is it a story that parets can share with their family but there are many helpful resources contained in it as well.

We're giving away free copies of COMING TOGETHER

Giveaway has ended.

Geat marketing

If you are an author, you must follow Seth Godin, marketing guru.

What a day

Yesterday was a lost day and I am trying to catch up. One of the fans in my computer has been breaking over the last few weeks. yesterday it went bonkers and was driving me crazy - which these days is really a short putt [work related]. but the noise was unbearable. I suspect it's one of the noises they use to torture prisoners at Guantanamo. anyway, I whined until John gave in and decided to fix it for me. Of course, Murphy's law kicked in and the local store in FH didn't have the part and then the computer store in Scottsdale didn't have the part but they recommended the store in Tempe. So off John went with the old fan to see if he could find a match. that meant I had no computer of course.

he came back over an hour later with a part that "might" fit. it didn't. but John being the electrical engineer [he really has a degree in electrical engineering, among others] decided he could "make it fit". that took over an hour. so then we booted up. the computer decided it didn't like someone messing with its innards so it decided to run check disk. that took 20 minutes. then everything came back - or did it? nope, the second monitor wouldn't come on. I played with it. I rebooted. I went into the software cave and looked around. nothing. so I called my computer guru Gus. he had no idea what it was but suspected something went awry when John put the new fan in because it was the video fan. I didn't even know the video card had its own fan. so he told me to reload the software for the video card and see if that worked. if not he would come out tomorrow. so I rummaged around and lo and behold I actually found the software disc. I figured I'd better restart the computer before loading the disk so I rebooted. GUESS WHAT! - both monitors were now working. I have no idea why but I'm not going to question it. But, as you probably already guessed, yesterday was all shot to heck in a handbasket. I had a splitting headache.

So I called it quits for the day.

Figured I'd go to bed early.

But then I started reading Homer's Odyssey [the story of a blind cat] and couldn't put it down. It's an excellent book. I recommend it.

Stayed up until 4 AM with that book.

And the boys woke me up at 7:30 this morning.

The coffee needs to kick in very soon.

Time for me

I just read a fellow writers blog and something she wrote clicked with me.
Writers write.
She's right.
I am a publisher but I am a writer first. My characters are calling me. I have neglected them long enough. It's time I made that second cup of coffee and sat with them a while. They have been busy while I was gone and have a lot to say.

NOAH'S WIFE

Our next book is ready for the printer.
Noah's Wife by TK Thorne is the story of Na-amah, a beautiful young girl with Asperger Syndrome who wishes only to be a shepherdess on her beloved hills in ancient Turkey, a desire shattered by the hatred of her powerful brother, the love of two men, and a looming disaster that threatens humanity’s survival.
The Biblical account of Noah's wife only gives us a nameless woman who bears Noah's children and is with him in the ark but T.K.Thorne, an award winning author, has filled in the story based on geological and archeological evidence of a culture that existed during a great flood in the Black Sea region 7,000 years ago.
Noah's Wife will be available for sale in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Red Wine For Breakfast

Red Wine For Breakfast is now uploaded and ready for production on Ingram's service [Lightning Source].

Red Wine For Breakfast stars Jenny Reed, the star of the #1 morning radio show in Los Angeles.

Her career was all she needed. Success was all she ever wanted until Johnny King became her on-air partner and challenged her to play his own game.

Real life radio personalities and actual events bring realism to a fictional behind- the- scenes novel set in Los Angeles, where radio stations change formats like socks, and jobs are as secure as houses built on the San Andreas Fault.

In a business drowning in testosterone, Red Wine for Breakfast is the story of strong, determined ex-New Yorker who has to shake off the laid-back attitude of L.A. to overcome the challenges of an industry that threatens to turn her off, and a man who only wants to turn her on.

It will be available for order taking very soon.
Congratulations to Raven West on a great book!