Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' Open Arms

La La is on a roll so forgive me for bragging. I just published Dragon a week ago and now I'm nearly finished with Used. Aces, baby. At this rate, I can start Bulldog next week. Heck, I might finally get started on Blue Awakening after a year of saying I would.

While I'm still behind on my publishing schedule, I should hit my goal of ten books for the year. This is what I must write this year:

1) Used (next week)

2) Bulldog (July)

3) Blue Awakening

4) Little Memphis

5) Saint (final Damaged book)

6) Broken Memphis

7) The Moon Burns

I'm also hoping to begin the new Bijou series Lush Gardens and Coliseum by the end of the year. Might even get a few standalone novellas published too. My hope is to finish at least two of the open Angela series ~ Blue Davison and Gigi Monroe. That'll leave Vivi Rios's final book. I also have the three books for the Dakota Shepherd Angelic Redemption series, but it'll likely take two years to finish them.

Dragon has sold well and readers seem happy with the book that took me forever to give them. I also had a pretty successful free weekend for Gator a.k.a. the little novella that could.

In more good news, the day Dragon went live, Ammy agreed to make Beast permafree in the US. I'm already seeing an uptick in the sales for Knight and it's been less than a week. I'm planning to set up The Fallen as permafree, assuming Ammy is willing. Making the first book free for these longer series is a great marketing tool that many authors on Kboards have talked up. Miranda was a godsend by pointing me to the awesome threads there.

Speaking of Candy Girl, she's turning her creativity towards writing a book. Oh, it's a doozy too. Here's the link to her GR page. How badass is she? Blogger, Whisperer, illustrator, she's now working on adding author to her resume. I'm not worthy...

Unfortunately, Pooh remains ill. In the last week, we've changed his medications and hope to see an improvement soon. I'm also happy to report Lil Sis learned her son's tumor was benign! What a blessing for Marcy's family.

In BBA news, STGRB decided to institute a new commenting policy on May 24th. This respectful version of the hate site lasted until May 27th when they posted comments like this one. Charming, huh?

 

In happier news, June 2014 looks to be an exciting month in indie publishing. Books by S.N. Garza, C.M. Lema, Ember Casey, and Laramie Briscoe will be released. Oh, and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. Even though summer is known for slower sales, many great authors will soon deliver awesome reads. I'm excited to read them all.

 

In honor of the great Steve Perry's first public performance in decades, my songs are Journey classics.

Tuesday's Gone

High five for book three in 2014! Damaged and the Dragon is also my seventeenth release since I first published  2012. Hot damn! Cool beans! Fan-fudging-tastic!!! Too much?

There were many times during the last few months when I believed I would never ever in a million years finish Dragon. I last published a Damaged book in late November. Six frigging months passed and I just couldn’t seem to get Dragon written. Then wham bam thank you Candy Girl and Mustang Sally, I finished. Sarah and Patty were great beta readers as always.

Today, I'm already focused on the next project. Pooh’s health issues and my short attention span (squirrel) have put me behind on my publishing schedule. I had hoped the books set for May releases would be Damaged and the Bulldog and Blue Awakening. Nope.

Used is the next book I’m planning to publish. The standalone novella is scheduled for release on lovely Miranda’s birthday. Even though June 3^rd is right around the corner, the book is already half written. As soon as it’s published, I am on to Bulldog, Blue, and the Cooper novelette.

As busy as I’ll be with Used, I have two interviews I need to post on Indie Angie. One is with new romance author and super sweet chickadee Sera Bright. The other is with Trevor Tomlin who I interviewed on When Zombies Come to Read. These days, he’s writing urban fantasy using a second pen name. We all know how I love authors who cross genres.

The BBA continue to be butthurt. No big shock. Nothing new to report besides they continue to suck. However, there's no denying the dorks are entertaining when I’m bored.

Pooh remains in poor health, but we keep chugging along and hoping for him to make a turnaround. Faith is a big part of my life and I trust in God’s plan.

My Lil Sis Marcy has struggled this month too. Her ten year old was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Henrik’s already gone through two surgeries. The kid is a trooper, still enjoying his life even through the fear and pain. Marcy is an amazing mommy and her family remains strong with the help of family, friends, and prayers.

The songs this week are by Skynyrd. In Dragon, I added the Free Bird shout out as a tribute to sweet Candy Girl. Using a quote from the book, she created the cool bear teaser above. The other song is perfect since it mirrors my mood. Oh, and I’m posting this on a Tuesday and everything…

Happy Birthday, Pooh!

My middle boy turns seventeen today. Unfortunately, Pooh remains sick even after returning home from the hospital. He's never had an easy life and the last few months have been especially tough. However, we're beginning to see the old sparks in his big brown eyes. Soon, we might enjoy a smile on his freckled face again.

I am still working on Dragon. The finish line is in sight finally. Next week, I plan to have the book in the hands of Sally and Candy Girl. Once that happens, I can work on Used. The standalone novella is already half finished, but I put the book aside to work on Dragon.

My recent real life issues have slowed down my writing, so my goals for this year are up in the air. I do know I'll finish the Damaged series by autumn. I have a few new romance series I'm sketching out. The Memphis duology will likely be next, but I'm unsure whether I'll also work on Lush Gardens (four books) or Coliseum (three books). I also have a number of novellas on my to-do list.

Candy Girl redesigned the covers for most of my Angela books. I love seeing them with a fresh look. It's exciting to see Miranda learning lots of new design tricks. I can't wait to unveil the Used cover she designed.

April was a long stressful month, but May had already shown blessings. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and finds many reasons to smile.

FYI, the songs on this post are two of Pooh's favorites.

Everybody Wants You

Oh, boy, it's been awhile since I blogged, but things have been hectic.

Last month, my family marked the twenty-first year since Freckles joined our Lord in Heaven. March is always a difficult month for us and my son Pooh's worsening health made this year even trickier. I'm actually typing this blog from the hospital where he's been since Wednesday.

I've also been struggling with writing the last month for obvious reasons. And not so obvious ones. Nick from Damaged and the Dragon was giving me fits. The guy felt like a stranger, yet I needed to get into his head. Finally, he opened up to me and I was able to get into a writing groove. I'm still expecting to finish both Dragon and Used this month.

After hitting the best ranking of my short career, Gator continues to sell better than I expected from a standalone novella. There are so many unknown factors about why one book gains attention and another book never does. Whenever new indies get frdustrated, I tell them I published nine books before one sold well. If you love writing, don't give up.

Once again I'm running behind, but I still have high hopes for 2014's publishing schedule. My goal is to finish the open Angela series (Gigi, Vivi, and Blue) this year. I have over a dozen ideas for Bijou alone, so I need to prioritize what I'll focus on in the future.

This last week, Miranda worked her sweet ass off designing a teaser for Dragon. I just have no talent for marketing. If it was left to me, I would take a picture and stick words next to it. Bam! Done! Candy Girl is a godsend when visuals are needed. She's also helping design the cover for Used.

The last week hasn't been all stress and work. I also enjoyed lots of laughs at the expense of the asshats. Namely Mel from STGRB. In a nutshell, she accused me of creating a rival hate site plus she thinks I'm Miranda. I won't go into the specifics. Let's just say she's obsessed and clueless.

Mel learned the truth the hard way and now has egg all over her face. All last week, she kept mocking how I didn't respond to her allegations. Why would I remain silent if I was innocent of her lies?

After years of working and living around jayholes, I've learned sometimes silence is golden. When I was young, I thought I needed the last word to win. The reality is silence or carefully worded non-answers hurt idiots more. Why? With time, they will bury themselves in their lies and paranoia. It's all about the slow sell.

So I refrained from rolling my eyes publicly at Mel and she doubled down on her dumb. Works for me. I support the jerks in the indie publishing world attacking each other rather than readers.

This is the first year I've done taxes since I've had substantial sales to report. Eek! People kept warning me to squirrel away money for taxes, but I didn't listen. It wasn't awful, but a little startling nonetheless. Squirreling for next year is my new hobby.

Well, I better get back to Dragon and Used if I ever plan to publish them this month.

Sometimes and maybe...

Crazy week. Published two books. Helped get a BBA booted from GR. Discovered and tossed aside a wannabe Melissa D. Promoted a lot of great indie authors with new releases.

First, there was Gator. The feedback has been mostly positive. Sales are solid especially over the weekend. It became my fifth book to rank under a thousand on Amazon. Gator even reached the four hundreds. Not bad for a novella about a bi-racial assassin and his intellectually challenged prostitute love.

Scattered was a day late on my publishing goal, but extra proofing is always worth the wait. Once again, Sally and Candy Girl did brilliant work with both books. They're both partial to the Angelic Redemption series. Even loving it too, I took months to edit the book. The old Angie wrote very differently than the new one.

With Scattered, I got the idea to format a second version as a Large Print edition. Along with the Christian fantasy series, I plan to create LP versions for my romances too. I think a lot of authors would be smart to open up their books to another demographic by formatting for LP.

Asshat drama doesn't stop just because the Whisperer blog is on vacation. The fact is too many indie authors are embracing whining as their marketing plans. Every negative review is a personal attack.

They hate readers to the point of wanting to end anonymous reviewing on Amazon. How many reviews will indie authors lose in the future because of a change like they suggest? In the end, Amazon will do what's best for Amazon.

It wasn't all whiny whiners the last week. There were a lot of new releases by great authors.

Emilia Winters ~ Connections

Ember Casey ~ Her Wicked Heart

V.J. Chambers ~ Out of Heaven's Grasp

Laramie Briscoe ~ Worth the Battle

My focus for the upcoming week is working on Damaged and the Dragon. Used and Damaged and the Bulldog are my backup books. With so many big publishing goals for this year, I better get back to writing.

Hey, hey, jealous Bertha!

Why would anyone be jealous of little old me? Could it be that I have such awesome readers? Yeah, I think so. Sarah and Patty gave me great feedback for Gator and the romance is in its final proofing.

I'm really excited to try something different in the romance genre. Gator is what I'm calling a Bijou Bullet book or Miranda's cool idea of a "romance noir." Shorter, darker romances with bad guys who fall hard for damaged girls. I know, I know. It sounds like the Damaged books except most of the dudes in that series aren't really bad. They're simply young. Judd and Vaughn are enforcers, but nowhere as dark as Jake "Gator" James.

Along with Gator, I am planning to publish Scattered this Tuesday. The third book in my Christian romantic fantasy series is also in its final proofing phase. These books are so different from each other, but that's what I love about indie publishing. There are no rules dictating what I can write. As long as I can imagine it, I can publish it.

I'm already working on Damaged novels, Dragon and Bulldog, plus another Bijou Bullet book. Used is a romance between a dude just out of prison and a MC whore paying off her dying father's debt. Two broken people finding love is fun to write and hopefully fun to read.

The weather is still wacky and I'm still wishing for Houston. This winter has sucked so thoroughly that the whole family is looking forward to a new start. The move can't happen this year, but 2015 might be when we become Texans.

The next few months, I'll be busy with writing. Plus, I have a few "projects" with Miranda related to BBA. Since our free time will be limited, we're taking a break from the Whisperer blog. I have a few interviews set up for my Indie Angie blog and others for Where Zombies Come to Read. Yeah, we'll keep busy.

Congratulations to Lil Sis who published her first New Adult romance this week. This Side of the Sun is at Amazon for an introductory price of .99. Now, Marcy is hot in two genres. Pretty badass.

On BL, people were listing random things about themselves. I'll finish this post with ten about me.

1) If I was a dude, I'd sport a mustache. Despite what chicks say about 'staches, I have no doubt I'd get plenty of play.

2) If I lived alone, my whole house would be painted lavender.

3) I'd also have six cats and likely die from them tripping me near the stairs.

4) My fantasy US vacation would be to Disneyworld.

5) My fantasy overseas vacation would be to Japan. Or the Netherlands to harass Candy Girl. I might just have her meet me in Japan, so we can get lost together.

6) Prepping for the zombie apocalypse, I've planned my family's last stand in the house. We'd last two weeks tops.

7) Speaking of zombies, I hate Rick Grimes from TWD and hope he gets eaten one day. Seriously, I hate that guy!!! Can't Carl shoot him already?

8) The Axe "Peace" commercial is freakishly stupid and I hurt myself rolling my eyes each time it comes on.

9) Whenever I'm tempted to feel pity for whining asshats, I read something nonfiction that details real human suffering. Currently, I'm learning about the horrors that occurred under the former Soviet Union.

10) Finally, I don't watch the Olympics. Too much filler and I avoid NBC whenever possible. Community is my one exception.

Later, gator!!! Get it? Even Bertha would approve.

Hurry up and...what was my point?

Arg! The flu keeps on giving. Plus, the weather remains brutal here in Indianapolis. The only time the temps aren't around zero is when more snow shows up. With the crazy weather, it's taking forever to get over the flu.

Even feeling like crap, I finished the rough draft of Gator on Friday. It turned out pretty badass. I'm currently reading through it, adding details and deleting stupid stuff. In a few days, I hope to have the next draft ready for Sally. Then, it'll go to Miranda and finally Sarah. Whenever they're happy with it, I'll hit publish.

I decided this week that publishing under a new pen name will be a pain in the ass. Duh, right? Actually publishing under another name is easy peasy on Amazon. It's the social media aspects (Twitter, FB, blog, etc) that will take up a lot of time I just don't have. So I'll publish the standalone Gator under Bijou.

This week, after I finish my edit of Gator, I'll work on Scattered. I've been messing with the Dakota book since December. I get distracted so easily. My plan is to publish Gator and Scattered in February. Once I have my edits done and the books are in the hands of my beta readers, I'll focus on Damaged and the Dragon.

As my Bijou readers know, each book is a standalone romance. However, the world of Ellsberg expands and prior couples continue their journeys in the new books. So as I'm writing Dragon, I'll be prepping for both Bulldog and Saint. I also plan to write Dragon and Bulldog back-to-back. Finally, I'm working on a Cooper POV novelette as a treat for fans.

This last week involved a lot of drama as particular people caught up with the obvious. No big surprise on my side. Miranda is my BFF. Marcy is my Lil Sis. All is right in the world.

I blogged a little bit during the last week. We posted the 22 Faces of Athena on the Whisperer and have a fun new series planned for the blog. The first installment is now posted.

On Indie Angie, I posted two interviews with romance author Laramie Briscoe (Main and Shooting the Shit). This weekend, I was contacted by Permuted Press to showcase their awesome horror authors on Where Zombies Come to Read. Blogging apparently won't be taking a backseat as soon as I planned.

January was a crazy month with the road trip/vacation/book signing along with catching the flu. February looks like it'll be more relaxed. Hopefully, it'll be productive too, since readers are getting restless for Bailey's book. I guess I better hit publish on this blog post and get back to work.