The Season Of Love

I love to write stories. Especially on days when words flow faster than I can type. What I don’t like is marketing. Maybe it’s because I was raised in an era where it was considered bad manners to ‘toot your own horn’. Or in more modern day terms proclaim your own success or accomplishments.  And yet now, to successfully sell something you have to market it. And more and more, that is expected of the author or an artist. Even successful stars are promoting their own movies. At least they are good, even great, at being in the public eye.

I finished “The Season Of Love” late last year. Too late to do much more than get it out there. So this year I’m going to try to educate myself on Marketing/Promoting.  The time is right for a Christmas Anthology, and this blog is hopefully the first in what I hope will be a successful promotion campaign.

The Season Of Love is a collection of five short stories.

Bahama Christmas – Alone on a Christmas cruise, Santa or maybe the Christmas Angel has a gift in store for Maddie

A Divorce for Christmas – It’s a gift that doesn’t need to be wrapped with a bow

The Age Of Love – Ariana, and Joel find meaning in Cougar Love

No Perfect Marriage – Separated parents need to provide a united front. Is the house big enough for both of them and can they live together until after the holidays?

Spontaneous Love – Perfect isn’t the way to a loving happy married life.

If you have suggestions on marketing I would love to hear from you in a comment or email me at LavadaDee@gmail.com  I’m thinking I can use all the help I can get.

 

Cracks In The Sidewalk

First of all I owe an apology.  Looking at my blog I realized that it has been over a year since I’ve posted anything.  Every time I’ve done this I swear that I will post on a regular schedule.  I love writing especially the creative side when the story comes together. I hate marketing and promoting, no wonder I’m horrible at it.

With that said, this blog isn’t about me. In fact I’m cheating a little in that it is a cross post. I am a member of the Over The Backyard Fence bloggers group where almost all of the blog members are authors.

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Cracks In The Sidewalk is a story based on true life. The author, Bette Lee Crosby interviewed the Grandparents extensively.  It’s an amazing story of courage, love and forgiveness.  It might not be an inspirational genre, but it was for me as in the end I found myself thinking, “God is Good.”

It’s a story that was thought provoking. For one thing I’m afraid I wouldn’t or couldn’t be so forgiving.  And, yet you could see how the mother and grandparents always put the children first. It was unselfishly never about them.

I hate to risk putting in spoilers but nothing I can say takes away from the impact of the story.  When the daughter, Elizabeth, is pregnant with her third child she is diagnosed with a terminal cancer.  Instead of supporting and caring for her, her husband uses the children to extract financial funds from her father. The grandfather, after financing the son-in-laws failing business for over $100,000 finally says enough.

Elizabeth is forced to move in with her parents when her husband refuses to let her come back home and eventually stops bringing the kids to see their mother and grandparents.

Elizabeth is fully aware that her condition is terminal and wants more than anything to instill in her children that they are loved. She wants to leave them with memories that will insure they never feel abandoned. The bravery of Elizabeth is amazing. As she fights to stay alive and see her children, her parents are right there with her.  Finally with no other recourse they take the fight to court where Elizabeth’s husband is ordered to comply to visitation.

You see the best and worse of humanity in this story. Sometimes it’s so horrible on the ugliness of the husband that it’s hard to believe it isn’t fiction. Can people really be so cruel?  The husband with a failed business and unpaid bills disappears with the children and for years the grandparents don’t know where they are. Not only have they lost their beloved daughter, her children are lost to them too.

This story ends well.  It brings tears, but also in the end you regain faith in humanity.

This is the first time I have read a story from this author and I might have missed it if not for Bookbub.  I joined a few months back and would highly recommend it. I get a list of books everyday. Some are free and others at discounted prices. There is nothing I’d rather shop for than books so I start my day with a cup of coffee and Bookbub selections for the day.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’d love to hear from you. If you have a minute leave a comment or drop me an email.

Lavada 

 

 

 

Indie Author Fringe

I know those of you who follow this blog are both writers and readers and I try to do posts that speak to both. However this one is for authors or those who might be entertaining the idea of writing.

Indie Author Fringe is an online workshop put on by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). They are putting on the next event this coming Saturday, June 3. It starts at 10:00am Eastern time. But the good thing about Fringe is that you can view the workshop sessions anytime. And you can pick which ones you want to do. I usually try to do one session a day sometimes skipping a day.

There is a wealth of information in the Fringe sessions and on the ALLI website itself. I can’t say enough about the value to Indie authors this group provides.

I will look forward to hearing from anyone who attends. If you have time please get back to us with your comments.

Getting Started — Again

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a blog. This time it wasn’t so much neglect as a conscious decision to take a year off from writing. In fact, at the beginning of 2016 I was seriously thinking of retiring from it. Then after a year off I needed the creative outlet so this year I’ve set some goals. Not real ambitious goals, but at least ones that will move me forward on the writing journey.

1^st, I received my rights back for 4 books published by Bookstrand. “For Love Or Money” was re-released as an Indie last year. “Open House On Murder” has just been released in ebook and will shortly be available in print.

For all you authors out there, my experience with Bookstrand has been wonderful. They support my books when they come out and have worked with me all the way through. When the contract ran out I couldn’t have asked for better people in getting the rights back.

Back when I started writing I though all you had to do was write the story. Hah, there is so much more. And, I am behind in just about every facet. So another goal is to redo my websites. The year’s goals are looking like this:

1.re-release the last two books

2.redo the website

3.finished a couple more Holiday short stories and put the collection into an anthology that will be in both e-book and print format.

Wish me luck. I’ll try to keep you posted on how I’m doing.

And now, how about you? Have any goals for the year? Let me know and I’ll root you along.

Until next time, keep reading there are bunch of stories to enjoy out there in every genre imaginable.

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th of July

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted a blog. I know I’m horrible at promoting but not every post is a promotion, or it shouldn’t be.

So a new non-New Year resolution ––– “Stay in touch.”

I wrote a blog on Over The Backyard Fence for the 4th. I’d love for you to pop over and maybe comment. OTBF is eclectic blog by a small blog community. We have a lot of fun and would love to have you join us.

Here in the Pacific NW (known for it’s abundance of rain), we have been having record-breaking temps. As you might guess a lot of us don’t have A/C. So right now I’m trying to get one asap. I’m regressing. Must be the story teller in me.  🙂

Anyway, I recently purchased a plant  that like me droops in this weather. It looks about ready to gasp its last breath, I water it, and it comes back to life. Yesterday I finally took a bucket and a bit of yarn and helped the poor thing out. I’m thinking some containers like this might help some of the other plants that want more water.

I know this doesn’t take a rocket scientist so why did it take me weeks to do it.    🙂

Have a Happy Safe 4th and stay cool.

Good Morning

Brrr, cold outside this morning.  But the sun is shining.

 Just a quick note to let you know that I’m the featured author on the Snow Globe Contest today. If you have a second pop over for a visit. The site is at http://snowglobeawardcontest.vpweb.ca/contest-participants

A Warrior’s Love

A Warrior’s Love is offered at a 10% discount at Bookstrand. Offer ends midnight CST, December 2nd.

Buy Link 

November has been a busy month with a short Christmas story release and now I’m so happy to say the release of the 3^rd book in the Blackhawk Brothers series.

A Warrior’s Love is Tyrell’s story. I wasn’t sure when I started if it would be Devon’s, Tyrell’s or maybe even both of their stories combined. But, as has always happened, as soon as the characters step out they take over. They come to life and the story unfolds in their point of view.

Bookstrand will keep exclusive rights for a few weeks and then the book will become available on other outlets like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and hopefully your favorite store. Available in e-book immediately it will also be offered in print in a few months.

Excerpt:

Tyrell’s eyes narrowed as he watched the woman. Along with a distinct dislike, there was something else. Something as familiar to him as breathing asserted itself, making him catch his breath. Tamping down a growl, he willed his totem, the wolf that lived within him, to be still. Two months ago, he’d lived more in his wolf form than his human one. The whole team had. Wolves didn’t need a fire at night to keep them from freezing. They could blend into the terrain. It was the defining factor of their team, what made them able to carry out rescue missions that were all but impossible. That was then, and this was now. It was his and his team’s decision to change their course. Living a domestic life meant he would have to let his wolf form sleep. No more shifting, no more letting instincts dominate.

He took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I see you brought company.”

Devon motioned for the woman to slide into the booth beside Tyrell and then took the seat next to Page. “Page, Tyrell, this is Nadia. She is on the way to New York with her grandmother.”

That figures. She looks like New York. Tyrell barely kept himself from speaking his thoughts out loud. He glanced over at Devon, who looked a little uncomfortable. To bad they hadn’t had time to finish their breakfast because if they had, they could have gracefully vacated the booth and left Devon to it. As it was, he could envision some indigestion. He again fought against the wolf as he picked up her scent. Damn, why did Devon seat her beside him.