Carrying On with Favorite Characters

As a fan of Star Wars, I was excited to see this article over on i09: http://io9.com/princess-leia-stands-alone-in-this-new-star-wars-novel-481329813

I've actually read some of the Star Wars books that are threaded through the first three movies (yes, I know they're technically Episodes 4, 5 & 6, but I grew up in a time where those other movies didn't exist, so there) and even  out past where Return of the Jedi ended. One of my favorites is Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly, which actually part of a three part mini-series with Darksaber (by Kevin J Anderson) & Planet of the Twilight (Barbara Hambly). The books play heavily toward Luke falling in love with Callista, a Jedi warrior who died years ago to help thwart the Empire's plan to destroy a sanctuary for Jedi Knight's wives and children.

I haven't yet decided if I'll pick up this new mini-series with Luke, Han and Leia, but it is certainly tempting.

It's All About the Swag

I spent most of my day yesterday making promotional swag for upcoming conferences. Each time I attend a conference, I like to change up what I take with me a little. To the last conference I attended, I had shot glasses made with the logo for a chopper shop from one of my books. Luckily I knew someone that was driving to the conference and I was able to ship them to her in order to get them to the conference. No way would I have taken those on a plane with me. Or tried to pack them in my checked luggage.

For the upcoming conference I'll be attending (RT Con in Kansas City), everyone I know will be flying. So, I needed to come up with a few things that I could pack in my luggage that wouldn't weight a ton. This time I'll be bringing buttons, travel mugs and booklets. Luckily I've some design skills and I can make the graphics myself (thereby cutting down on the cost of paying someone else) and just find a place to upload my artwork onto the item, print and ship to me. It's actually fun working on the graphics to come up with something to have available to readers. It's easy to get caught up in it however and forget that I have edits waiting for me to handle!

Still looking for that one special thing to bring, though. Hailey Edwards posted yesterday about her fabulous swag she had made up for series that's really unique. Such an inventive idea.

In Your Face Promotion

It's that time of year where authors are frantically ordering promotional items to get ready for conventions. So, continuing my post last month about promotion online - this time I'm talking about physical promotion. Bookmarks, free books, shot glasses, cozies, t-shirts, coffee mugs, lip balm, pen, etc... I know I have a personal preference about what kind of promotion that I like as a reader. During a convention, I like bookmarks and coverflats because I can snag them to look into the book when I have time to sit down at my computer. I can back from the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago last year with a stack of paper promotional items that I set on my desk so I could go through them at my leisure.

During the Ellora's Cave Romanticon in Akron last year, I handed out cozies and shot glasses. Once I put the cozies out on the promo table, they were going faster than I could re-stock. As far as the shot glasses, I was skeptical about how they would be received because, while I've seen authors give out the cozies, the shot glasses were something new But I was pleasantly surprised to find they went like hot cakes! The fact I only gave them out during the book signing (meaning someone had to actually come SEE me in order to get one) made them "special".

I won't be carting shotglasses to the RT convention in Kansas City this year because I'm flying, so I'm trying to figure out something else "special" to give out during the book signings. I have a few ideas, but I can't seem to settle on one particular thing that I can carry with me.

What kind of promotional items would like to see authors give out during conventions, or even during special promotions?

The Fine Line of Promotion

Before I start my post today I want to preface this with the disclaimer that this is simply my opinion in regards to this topic, don't take it as rule.

Last week (I think) I sent out a long string of messages on Twitter/Facebook about promotion in regards to books. Mostly because no one has yet to convince me that posting streams and streams of promotional tweets and/or Facebook works in regards to sales. IMHO, it's actually off-putting and would seem as if an author would lose sales. And I'm looking at it from a reader's perspective because, let's face it, I don't write books solely because I love to write. My love of books started at a very young age and grows almost daily.

Social media is designed to be just that: social. It's supposed to be for social interaction. Not constantpimpingofmybooks media. The only thing that you have to talk about as an author can't be your books. Don't get me wrong, I understand privacy. I have certain things I absolutely refuse to talk about in a public forum (seriously, you really don't need to know my teenage daughter's name unless you know me personally). But I can still chat about daily things completely unrelated to writing without compromising my ideals on those things.

There is a fine line when it comes to promotion and its hard to tell sometimes what is too much or too little. I will, from time to time, tweet or post a Facebook message about a book release. Pretty much always on a release day, 'cause let's face it, its release day. But, really, I'm a firm believer that the best bit of promotion you can do for yourself is writing a good book. And then another good book. And another good book. And, wait for it...wait for it!...write another good book. Word of mouth is still one of the best promotional tools out there. And it's free free free. Yippee!

So, do you agree or disagree? What do you think is the most valuable tool in the promotional arsenal?

New Year's in August

The new year is always the time I see people talking about what they're going to do for the year. For me, I do this around August. I set goals then for the following year and see how I did the goals I set the previous year.

I didn't write as much as I would have liked in 2012. But that's mostly due to dealing with an illness that took a large chunk of my time in the summer. It's not an excuse, it's simply a fact. Am I beating myself up because I didn't write as much? No. I wrote in the first place and that's what counts. I'm healthier because of that illness, and really, my health is way more important than writing. I mean, I need to be healthy in order to continue writing.

I foresee 2013 being a little chaotic. I have a book due next week, another due next month and another due in September. All full lengths. Which is one of the goals I set back in August. I wanted to get back into writing full-length novels again because I love writing them.

Available May 1, 2013 from Ellora's Cave

 Pre-order now:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

The last thing Korene needs in her life is a former Master who abandoned her ten years ago. But when her employees are taken hostage on Mars, she’s forced to work with Roland whether she likes it or not. Sparks fly the moment the perfectly chiseled man saunters into her conference room; a sign their incredible chemistry is still just as potent.

Roland has a job to do, but he struggles with his unrelenting desire for the only woman he ever loved. Seeing the strong-willed Korene on her knees again is enough to shatter Roland’s willpower. And give him a raging hard-on.

Their distracting lust could flame out of control if they aren’t careful.


Sara Brookes is an award-winning author who has always been fascinated by the strange, the unusual, the twisted and the lost (tortured heroes are her personal favorite). She is an action movie junkie, addicted to coffee and has been known to stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing RPG video games. Despite all this, she is a romantic at heart and is always a sucker for an excellent love story. Born and bred in Virginia, Sara still lives there with her husband and daughter.

Breathing

Even with the holidays, and deadlines, fast approaching, I've managed to visit a place that I've been neglecting quite a bit: my TBR pile. Oddly enough, I'm surprised every time I rediscover that reading actually helps me write.

I forget that it takes me mind off my own works and allows me to spend an hour or so (though, to be honest, I'm lucky to get in a 1/2 hour of reading a day with the desk job and family stuff happening) in someone else's world.

I forget that it gives me a break on my stuff and allows plot points that I may be stuck on to just magically fall into place.You're probably wondering how I can forget something like this, right? Well, it's easy to get wrapped up in getting words down on paper, sorting out character details/flaws, etc.

Sometimes it's important to remember that you have to take a step back and just...breathe.

National Novel Writing Month - Revisited

So, last time I blogged here at PR, I talked about National Novel Writing Month. (post is here, in case you're interested). For anyone following along, I didn't hit the 50K word count goal. But I have a really good reason. That I can't talk about yet. LOL

But, really, it's okay that I didn't hit the 50K word count goal. I did add 20K words to the work-in-progress that I was working on. That's more wordage than I'd added to the book this entire year. So, to me, that was a huge win itself.

How about any of you that participated in NaNoWriMo--how did you do?

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month. I've known about NaNoWriMo for a years, but I've never participated. I have been lax in my writing duties, mostly because there's simply been a lot going on. So I decided to partake in NaNo this year. Here, around the mid-point, I've made some decent progress on a work-in-progress I've had sitting around for a bit. 20,000 words worth, which is a sizable chunk, but still a long way from finishing the book (final word count goal is around 80,000 words, it's sitting just under 60K right now). 

Those 20K words seems to have purged a good amount of the story that I've been trying to hammer out. But it also means that I've hit a point where I hate the book. This happens with me, and it's mainly from looking at the words on the screen for too long and constantly thinking about the characters and plot. I have yet to be able to start a book and work on it until the first draft is finished without wandering off to work on something else. 

I'd hoped NaNoWriMo with help with this, but alas, this hasn't been the case. While this point may frustrate other writers, I know myself well enough to back away from the project and work on something else. Nothing really says you can't work on multiple projects for NaNoWriMo, just that the word count is important. Yes, I know you're supposed to verify your word count at the end of the month, but, overall, that really wasn't the reason I participated. 

Are you participating in NaNo this month? If so, how is your progress? 

A Public Service

Did you remember to turn your clock back 1 hour today?

First Paperback Release

Please forgive me if I seem a little excited today. Why? Well, today is the official release of Ragged Edge in paperback. It's also my very first paperback!! *tosses confetti*

Ellora's Cave 

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

And for a bonus, tomorrow is the release of the uber-sexy follow-up to the triad from Ragged Edge in Reclaiming the Edge.

To celebrate, I thought I would share a NSFW excerpt Erin gets a little more of an eyeful of Dalton and Cade together than she bargained for. Yet, when she finally looks away, she can't escape the sounds of their desperate passion for one another...

Excerpt from Ragged Edge Copyright © SARA BROOKES, 2011 All Rights Reserved,
Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

Erin watched as Dalton shoved Cade up against the bay door. A voice in her mind screamed for her to look away. She had no business watching the two lovers kiss good night. That same voice gave a quiet sigh seconds later when Dalton’s mouth angled against Cade’s lips.

She managed to close her eyes to the sight, but it did nothing to erase the vivid, tender moment in front of her. In fact, it just made it worse. Her imagination was a wicked thing and carried her back to the night she’d first encountered them together here. Only this time she was between them. She sat on the motorcycle, Cade’s chest supporting her body as Dalton held her thighs open so he could slide the thick length of his cock inside her pussy.

A deep groan made her eyes pop just in time to watch one of Cade’s hands slide around the other man’s narrow waist. His thumb hooked through one of the belt loops just above Dalton’s ass and his other hand slid up, threading through Dalton’s mane of inky black hair.

Muscles moved under that fitted shirt and though Erin couldn’t see what Dalton was doing, Cade’s hand tightened against the back of his lover’s jeans. A soft groan split the early morning air and Cade’s head fell back against the aluminum door.

Oh dear God. He’s giving Cade a handjob.

Now aware of what took place just a few steps away, she turned and forced herself to keep her eyes forward. It didn’t help. In fact, it made it worse as it made her more acutely aware of the sounds they made. Dalton had cracked the window during the drive back to town and she clearly heard the satisfied groans the two men gave in response to each other.

Those sounds gathered and pooled in her gut, swelling with each passing second until it was hard to think straight because the throbbing need between her thighs overwhelmed her.

The First Day

In many parts of the country, today is the first day of school. It's been a while since my daughter had her first very first day of kindergarten as she's starting her sophomore year. Though my daughter insists she has enough stuff on her plate to deal with without adding further complications (such a relationships), I wonder what the future holds for her. Recalling her school memories: driving her to her first day of kindergarten, putting her on the bus for the first time in middle school and the subsequent phone call later that afternoon that she'd taken the wrong bus home, and even attending her first high school orientation. It causes me to recall some of my own school memories.

See, right now, my daughter is just a few short months younger than I was when I met my husband. Yep. We met midway through my sophomore year, which was his senior year. I was 15, he was 17. We were friends at first, then good friends. Then he surprised me with a kiss in the quad area of our school during lunch. Two months later, fresh from his 18th birthday and graduation from high school,  he shipped off to Parris Island for basic training for the United States Marine Corps. Everyone said we'd never last, yet over twenty years later here we sit getting ready to send our daughter off for her own sophomore year.

Making Time to Do What You Love

Unfortunately, there is no fool-proof method to writing. I'm of the "when I can" variety. Simply meaning I take advantage of little windows when I get them in between my other responsibilities (aka my desk job, daughter's competition schedule, husband's golf games, etc). For instance, I'm standing up writing this post in my kitchen while breakfast is in the oven (I found a new recipe earlier in the week for bacon, egg and toast cups that I've been wanting to try). Nearly every day during my lunch break at work, you're likely to see me with paper and pen in hand scribbling away on whatever WIP I'm working at the time. This usually results in many, many scraps of paper littering a notebook or a folder and I'm left to piece everything together when I have a moment to sit down at the computer and start transferring longhand to the computer.

Why do I do this?

The answers easy: See, I learned a while ago that if I wanted to do something, it wasn't that I didn't have the time, it was that I had to MAKE the time. Instead of sitting in front of the television at night mindlessly watching sitcoms, I could transfer anything I'd written on paper during the day. I could eat my lunch while staring at my cubicle wall or have a pen and paper handy to write ideas and thoughts down. I've installed an app on my phone and my computer and seamlessly syncs together so something I jot down in my phone will appear on my computer the next time I power it up (fantastic time-saver!)

The technique has been a wonderful lifesaver for me as most of my books wouldn't have gotten written without it. So, authors/writers: how do you make time to do something you really want to do? Readers: how do you make the time to read the books & stories that you love?

Chicks Who Aren't Afraid to Kick a Little Butt

I tend to talk a lot about loving anti-heroes, but I'm also a huge fan of female characters who aren't afraid to kick a little ass. Ones like: Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, Terminator movies), Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ellen Ripley (Sigorney Weaver, the Alien movies), The Bride (Uma Thurman, the Kill Bill films), Selene (Kate Beckingsale, the Underworld movies), River (Summer Glau, Firefly/Serenity), Alice (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil movies), Syndey Bristow (Jennifer Garner, Alias) -- just to name a few. ;^)

My love tends to come through in some of my characters. Evande & Ana from the Rebirth series. Taran from the Star Runner Series. And the latest entry? Sway in Lethal Beauty.

An Excerpt From: LETHAL BEAUTYCopyright © SARA BROOKES, 2012All Rights Reserved, Decedent Publishing

“Last time I checked, I’m not a babysitter.” Sway scowled at her commander and wondered what bug had crawled up his ass. It had to be the only explanation for the utter bullshit spewing from his lips.
His bushy black eyebrows drew together, merging to become one. There were countless jokes about those eyebrows, and she tried to think of them to ease some of her anger.
“Then I suggest you start acting like one.” His stern tone erased her efforts.
Tired of being forced into situations simply so she could atone for her past, she wondered why everyone couldn’t just get over it by now. She certainly had.
“This isn’t in my job description.”
Major Connor MacGrady shifted forward, folding his large hands together as he leaned on his elbows. “Lieutenant Commander Waybourne, you are a highly decorated covert operative. Your title alone makes you more than qualified for this job.”
“Which is babysitting.”
“You’re playing escort to Emperor Dason Cavaletti.” His finger tapped against the bright blue minnica inlay on his desk. “There have been five assassination attempts on his life in the past three days and we’ve been asked to help because our resources are the best. Since you’re on administrative leave, you’re the best selection for the job.”
“And you know that leave assignment is a complete fabrication.”
He nodded. “I do. But you know I have to follow procedures.”
More than annoyed now, she closed the space between them. “Screw the procedures, Mac. Put me back out on an op. You and I both know I belong there instead of a fluffy assignment more suited for a cadet in the academy.”
“As much as I would like to do just that, I can’t. You violated ten direct orders because you thought you knew better.”
“I do.”
“And three men on our side died because of your ego. Don’t screw up your career and let your talents go to waste because you let your mouth think for you. Get out of my sight before I discharge you completely from the Elatian Army.” When Sway continued to stand there glaring, Mac sighed heavily. “Look, just do whatever you have to do to keep him alive, safe, and happy.”
Sway lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Anything?”
Mac lowered his voice. “As long as he stays in one piece once he’s handed over to us, I don’t care. Dismissed.”

~*~

Buy Links (all links non-affiliate)

Decadent Publishing || Amazon || All Romance eBooks || Barnes & Noble

~*~

As a covert operative in Elatia’s elite military, Sway Waybourne is used to fending for herself. But a powerful uprising means she’s now responsible for guarding the leader of a neighboring planet. Within seconds of meeting Dason Cavaletti, sparks fly and Sway realizes she’s gotten more than she bargained for.

Dason is curious about the arousal taking over his mind, body, and soul. When he can no longer stand the overwhelming desire, he confronts Sway. But the disturbing news she delivers isn’t at all what he expected. Mating with the gorgeous woman could kill him….

WARNING: Sarcasm galore from a fiery heroine who can take care of herself thank-you-very-much. She won’t take anyone’s guff—even from the leader of the free universe no matter how handsome he is. A unique genetic quirk leads to inventive foreplay, one blazing hot hands-on session in the bathtub and a gender bending encounter that signals this ain’t your father’s Star Trek.
No redshirts were harmed while writing this novel. 

I'm Late for a Very Important Date

So sorry I'm late!

Since today is a holiday for most Americans, I took advantage of my day off by having breakfast with my husband before his tee time. Then I came home, fired up the computer and started working on a story that grabbed me by the horns late last week. In the home stretch, I knew if I could push through, dig down and just *write* I could get the story finished today. 

And I did! But nothing else got done. LOL

Happy Birthday, America!

The Matrix Has You...

A few months ago, my daughter sat down to watch Inception. It was the second viewing for me (watching movies several times over is nothing new in our household) and I enjoyed it from the different aspect that I knew what was going on. I understood the very beginning of the movie when Cobb washed up on the beach. In the end, she loved it. She even wanted to watch it again so she could watch it from a different perspective.

Now that's movie love.

Because she loved Inception, I knew she would love The Matrix. Only problem there is the movie is R-rated. My kid is on the cusp of 15, she'll be a sophomore in the fall. I'm a firm believer R-rated movies are for more mature audiences. Nothing get my blood pumping more than sitting in a theater and seeing a parent bring their young children. Yeah, that actually happened. Hubs and I were waiting for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans to start and in walks this woman with two small children. Not babies. I'm talking 7 or 8 years old. There's some pretty gory stuff in that movie and it made me uncomfortable for them. But I digress.

The Matrix.

Fabulous movie. I still remember sitting in the theater opening weekend watching it, then walking out with my mind just blown to pieces. Given the fact my daughter is very much into computers and computer games, I knew she'd love it. But there was that pesky rating thing. So I broke out my disc one night and watched it with my husband. After it was over, I asked why it was R-rated again. I mean, sure there's foul language, but it's no worse than shit or goddamn. Words I'm pretty sure she hears on a daily basis at school. Hell, I know she's hear shit from me more than once because that's my swear word of choice. The f-bomb was nowhere to be seen. Okay, gun violence. I get that. No worse than a video game really, the blood was scarce in The Matrix. And I like to think I've raised a pretty level-headed kid. She knows the difference between reality and books/movies/video game violence.

So I thew caution to the wind and sat down to watch it with her. Afterward, I was glad I did. She loved it. It was a perfect movie for a geeky teenager who loves all the variations of sci-fi that are cropping up (The Matrix being cyberpunk). And I have to confess, I love sharing movies with her where there's a strong female lead character. Trinity in The Matrix is a wonderful example of just that.

Psssttt, Hollywood, we need more of them.

Seducing The Reader

Today's post is inspired by a tweet I fired off last week: Promo is about seducing a reader, not slapping them in the face. As a confession, I had to edit the tweet a few times before I finally sent it because what I said originally wasn't...ladylike.

The undeniable fact of the matter is, there comes a point in every reader's life they will encounter author promotion. With the tough economy and even tougher publishing atmosphere in today's market they're even more likely to get bashed over the head with it. Add in the popularity of social media growing by leaps and bounds every day, and author promotion saturates the interwebs.

This seems to breed the idea that authors have to work even harder, saturating social media by blasting out propaganda to brainwash the masses to buy their books. As a reader, this completely and totally turns me off. So it has the opposite effect the author intended. Instead of having me remember an author's name positively when I go book shopping (be it in a brick n mortar store or online) I'll see the name and remember negative things. In turn, I would not buy their book.

The trick, as always, is finding a balance where you're not screaming in the reader's face, but you're also not wilting away in the darkness because you do nothing at all. It's a precarious tightrope to walk and usually you can only find that balance when you experiment and figure out what works. It doesn't help, of course, that what works for one person, doesn't work for another. Though, IMHO, constant tweets/posts/blogs where it's all promo, all the time, no matter the book, doesn't work for anyone. Social media is SOCIAL for a reason and it's not to saturate your tweetstream or Facebook timeline with 90% promo. Really, you're not doing yourself any favors by abusing a free avenue of promotion this way.

Chatting about everyday things with readers in those places is promo. It's subtle and it works. Sometimes more effectively than any promotion an author pays for. That bit of personal contact can mean the world to a reader (and hint: it usually means a lot to the author as well).

Guest Post - Kerrianne Coombes

Fellow paranormal author, Kerrianne Coombes is guesting here for me today, celebrating her newest paranormal release!


Sara


~*~

Beauty and the Beast Demon Tales book 1

Action

In Beauty and the Beast there are quite a few action packed scenes. Each one an absolute thrill for me to write. I adore writing the ‘fun’ scenes as I call them. And I wanted to share with you my favourite one.

Cally’s mother is a complete bitch, and I just loved writing her. She is nasty, cold and utterly vicious. I think I smiled the entire time I wrote her scenes. evil laugh I think I have an inner evil queen. ;-) Anyway, in this scene, Cally has finally found her voice and is trying—for the first time ever—to tell her mother what she truly thinks of her…It doesn’t exactly go as planned. ...

Excerpt.

“To whom do you speak with that tone, daughter dear?” The sweet slide to her mother’s voice sent spiders crawling throughout Cally’s blood. Her mother took a slow step in Cally’s direction, and a smile tracked across her painted mouth. “How dare you tell me what to do?”
Cally forced her feet to stay still. Her mind screamed for her to flee, the little terrified girl inside her, begger her to apologize and to back away. But she steeled herself against her mother’s cruel smile and fought the almost uncontrollable urge to cower. This was what she had wanted—a moment alone with her mother—a moment to mete out all of the violence that clogged up her heart. But as she stared at the advancing woman all of her violent plans fell from her mind, leaving her blank and fearful.
“Please don’t make me marry him!” The words tumbled from her mouth. Her heart thudded heavily when she heard herself begging. She took a step back and hated her weakness, so much for forcing herself to stay still.
Her mother smiled, and this time Cally saw genuine enjoyment in her mother’s expression. Cold, hard dread sat suddenly in Cally’s stomach.
“You will do what is good for you, Callindra,” her mother replied. She stopped advancing and flicked her gaze to Cally’s head. The pain from the newly removed horns suddenly returned, making Cally gasp. She raised her hands to her raw scalp and winced as the nerves began to jangle anew. “You will do as I say.” Her mother laughed a cackling sound and Cally knew her mother was using magic to cause her pain. A wind began to swirl within the sealed room, papers flew around, and the curtains framing the window flapped frantically. Cally staggered backwards, still gripped by pain. The hot stabs of agony ripped into her mind, causing Cally’s legs to buckle.
Her mother laughed, throwing her head back, clearly amused by Cally’s distress. “You are an abomination!” she roared over the swirling wind. “You are a worthless runt—a mistake. You have earned me nothing but headache. But now, for once, you will be useful. You will be the perfect tool to get me a larger castle—more lands—more wealth.” The wind suddenly stopped, and silence fell. Cally leant against the oak desk, still clenching her teeth against the agony ripping through her skull. Her breaths sawed from her lungs as the pain stole her control. She gripped the edge of the desk and suppressed the need to cry. This time there was no stopping her mother.

Blurb;

When Princess Callindra of Tempath, wakes up hog-tied and bruised in the bowels of hell, she realizes that her plan to escape her up-coming marriage has gone horribly wrong. Her only hope of escape comes in the form of Brigg, cursed Rain Demon and bitter, human hating bastard. But beggars can’t be choosers.

When Brigg finds himself in possession of a human and a horde of angry demons desperate to get her back, he flees. When he realizes that she is the daughter of the witch that cursed him and his family, he believes that he has finally got the opportunity he has been hoping for. The only thing he must decide now is what is more important to him, the reversal of the curse, or revenge?

Neither one are prepared for the flame that ignites between them. But will the spark be enough to break to the curse that holds them apart

Buy link Secret cravings  http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&products_id=314&zenid=c1a8b12b56329a20e1117c8d6140aa4e

Amazon’ http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Demon-Tales-ebook/dp/B00816NFJ8/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337321093&sr=8-1-fkmr3

You can also find it on Barnes and Noble, AllRomance.

You can find me on twitter; Kerrianne_xx

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kerrianne-Coombes/148877721876528

And on my blog. www.kerriannecoombes.wordpress.com

Get the Funk Out

I've been in a funk lately.

Whether it's the letdown after a recent release or just in general, I don't know. I just know I need to do something to get out of it. I have work to do. Though I don't have deadlines (aside from personal ones) I do have work that needs to be done, words that need to be written.

So a few days ago, I thought about how far away I'd veered from my usual routine. Sitting on the couch balancing the laptop and mindlessly staring at the TV had become status quo. For some people, that works. They can still write and be effective at it.

I can't.

So I grabbed a trash bag and headed up to my office. Spent the next few hours cleaning, dusting and reorganizing my desk and office space. I'm one of those people who hate, hate, hate housework but I absolutely must have a clean desk. Clean being a relative term - it doesn't have to spotless. But I do need to be able to work.

So last night, house quiet as the rest of the family was off, I sat down at my desk and worked. It wasn't completely interruption free. I'd still pop on the 'net or TweetDeck from time to time. It's a practice that I need to get out of as well. I used to shut off the 'net on my computer and work for several hours without interruption. While I only worked on revisions for a work-in-progress last night, it was still work. More than I did in the entire month of April.

It's a start.

Anyone else find they have similar situations? How do you get out of it? Or do you?

To celebrate Paranormal Romantics new digs, I'll give away a copy of my backlist (2011 releases and older) to one lucky commenter today! Winner will be drawing Monday, April 7th.

Convention Time

I'm heading out tomorrow on a road trip, with a final destination of Chicago. It's time for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention!

Handling Edits/Revisions

I turned in my latest book yesterday to my editor and it got me thinking about edits. Every author's process is different and I can only speak to what I do personally. I know my goal is to submit the cleanest manuscript I can at the time. Does that mean it is free of errors? No. I'm not perfect. And I doubt editors expect us to be perfect in the first place.

When I initially submit a book to one of my editors, I've been over the thing so many times I'm sick of looking at it. Typically, I write a first draft and put the book aside for around a month. When I take it back out again, the book is printed out and I attack it with a red pen. I'm mostly looking for misspelled words. Continuity errors. Missing punctuation. And generally anything that doesn't look right. When everything's transferred to the computer, my CP and beta readers get a crack at it. When I've gotten it back from everyone, I go through the book again fixing things they've pointed out, looking at their suggestions and deciding what needs to change, if that's the case. Then I go back over it again - twice (as I said, by the time I submit the book, I'm sick of looking at it).

Sure, this a lot of tedious work, but it sure does make for an extremely clean manuscript that gets subbed to my editor. It also means, if the book is accepted, edits are pretty painless and I could feasibly get through them in a day. Do I? Nope. I go through the book again, aside from my editors comments and look for things.

And this doesn't mean I haven't had to do revisions. I have. I've gotten revision letters before. In fact, I had one where I ended up adding 10K words by the time I handed the book back in. Revisions are handled the same way as if the book were fresh out of the gate. I just attack each item one at a time. Usually the important thing to remember for revisions is something you change is going to effect something down the line in your story, so it's really a matter of being conscious about everything that happens. Again, turning in revisions is the same as turning in the manuscript initially for me: Turn in the cleanest book you can at the time.

I've had people ask why I go through all of that. Why I go over and over the book numerous times such as I do. The answer is simple: It's my name on the cover of that book...

Writers, do you have a process that you follow when it comes to edits (even just personal ones)?

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Also, time is winding down on The Romance Reviews Book of the Year votes (ends Mar 31--this weekend!). While you don't have to vote for my books that are nominated (PERFECT LIMIT for Best Erotic Romantic Science Fiction / Futuristic and RAGGED EDGE for Best GLBT Menage a Trois (or more) Romance) I would sure appreciate it!

Click here to see the entire list.