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.

A Winter of Chills and Deadlines

No doubt about it...winter is here and I want to move to a warmer climate. Maybe next year. Until then, I'll hide inside working on several books. Sounds all multitasking impressive, but I'm actually horribly behind.

Let's see Scattered is still in the editing phase. I have eighty pages to go before I can FINALLY give it to Sally then Candy Girl. I was hoping to have Blue Awakening completed last year. Yeah, that happened.

So what am I doing then? My goal right now is to finish Gator's rough draft by next weekend then I'll finish editing Scattered. Next, it's Ellsberg for the long haul.

I decided I would write a book about Dylan and Winona. After some back and forth with Candy Girl, we decided on Damaged and the Bulldog. Freckles used to wear tees with bulldogs on them. Now, Dylan will.

I plan to go straight from working on Dragon to Bulldog. I also have plans for a special treat for fans.

Why Gator now? Sometimes, an idea demands to be written. I just needed to get this book out before my brain would focus on Ellsberg. It's very different from my other books. Written in present tense and mainly from the male POV, I decided to use a different pen name for the book. Ilaria Regan already has a blog and her first post. Aww, welcome to the pen drawer.

One thing slowing me down is the cold/flu I picked up. Initially, I assumed it was merely sinuses because of the crazy weather. Soon, the chills, aches and pains, and fever kicked in. I've been pretty useless the last few days. While I've slowed down, I still have plans for the rest of the week.

For Indie Angie, I'm preparing an interview with romance author Laramie Briscoe. As you remember, she was my table buddy at the Houston signing. Sweet, funny, and talented, Laramie has TWO new books coming out in the next few months.

Before I got sick, I posted Deadly Dee's raving review for Robert Kent's novel All Together Now: A Zombie Story on Where Zombies Come to Read. Finally, we responded to the butthurt battles on BBA Whisperer.

January has been a busy month and thrown me off my groove. The next few months will allow me to get a few books published. Plus, I'm going to try that marketing thing Candy Girl and Lil Sis are always talking about. I have big goals for the next six months and plans to travel to Houston again this summer. You know, to see if I burst into flames from the heat.

Houston, Bikers, Babes, and BBA

Sigh. What a week. I know I say that a lot, but this last week was stressful, yet awesome. As you know, Tigger and Roo drove with me to Houston for my first book signing. We made the trip into a vacation. Don’t even know where to begin on the amazing week spent away from home.

I’ll start by saying we loved Houston. My cousin (who I hadn't seen in a few decades) lives on the north side of the city, so I found us a hotel nearby. I chose a new La Quinta with an indoor pool since the boys love to swim. What I didn’t know was the hotel was in The Woodlands area. We scored on the location. The Woodlands is filled with restaurants and stores. We ate Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and barbecue. We also visited the downtown aquarium with my cousin and her girls.

The book signing was crazy awesome. It was a weird feeling to meet readers who know my books better than I do. One of them, a sweet chickadee named Natalie, said she’d read anything I wrote. I’m just warning everyone that my ego is huge now.

Lucking out, I was seated next to awesome author Laramie Briscoe and her friend, and soon-to-be author, April. I also met Damaged series fan and fellow author Stephanie Garza who I interviewed on Indie Angie after she published her first romance. Between those three and the readers, I smiled and laughed so much that my face hurt afterward.

I'm hoping to return to Houston for another signing, preferably one in the summer. I’d been considering moving to Texas for a while (the no income tax thing is a nice carrot). Every time I told a local this fact, they said I needed to visit during the summer first. You know, to see if I could tolerate the heat. Of course, I would handle the heat there in the same way I handle it here. Hide inside with the air conditioning. While we were visiting, the weather was in the sixties. Yeah, I’m a little in lust with Houston.

The trip was also a creative boon. From the Illinois interstate adjacent strip clubs to “Little Memphis” to the hitchhiker on the long stretch of nothing in Arkansas, the drive inspired a million new ideas. In fact, I've added a few new books to my 2014 schedule. Who knows when they’ll be written?

Overall, the trip turned out better than I hoped. Take that, jealous anon F&G poster who misuses quotation marks. 

Back to non-freaky stalkers, I missed Pooh more than I can express and am relieved to be home. Sally did a great job watching him and he did a job great watching her. The cats did a great job trashing the house because they felt ignored. The dog did a great job pretending to be a pissed off cat.

Normally, I’d list off a bunch of blog posts I’d worked on or books I’m churning out. While technically a business trip, I was really on vacation and did nothing blog or writing-wise. Thankfully, Agent M was on the job and smacked around (figuratively) more than one BBA. Giggles.

This month on Where Zombies Come to Read, I’m focusing on All Together Now: A Zombie Story. After the scarecase, I posted an interview with the author Robert Kent. He also provided an excerpt that I'll post next week. Finally, Deadly Dee is working on the review for the book. I’m thrilled to profile a fellow Hoosier author.

In a few days, I’ll have the blogs running especially Whisperer. We have a few ideas to help new authors avoid turning into asshats. Plus, everyone in the know is well aware of the Titty Twisting Trifecta happening between Rick Carufel, Melissa Douthit, and Asshole92X (the BBA who equates bigotry towards the disabled with negatively shelving rude authors). While I had hoped F&G going into retirement would mean we’d have less reason to blog, BBA never rest. If they didn’t have something negative and whiny to say, these numbnuts would say nothing at all. With other asshats pointing out her bad behavior, Melissa is in overdrive trying to find something positive for her hate blog.

Soon, I’ll get back into the swing of things here in Indy. Books and blogs need writing. Laundry needs washing. Best of all, kids need cuddling. So far, 2014 is turning out to be one hell of a year.

Happy New Year!!!

Well, 2013 was beyond awesome. I grew a lot as an author and person. At the start of the year, I couldn't figure out the whole blogging thing. Now, I run a half dozen. Back in the winter, I was lucky to sell fifteen books a month. Now, I average a few thousand. Over the year, I made a few great friends and ditched some crappy ones. Allow me to get nostalgic about 2013...

BBA, F&G, and Cliques

In January 2013, I only knew the very basics of the BBA bullshit stinking up the indie author scene. I had never read F&G. I didn't know who Vanity was or why many BBA were shelved. What I did know was a small subset of authors were attacking readers and staining the image of the rest of us.

In the beginning, I was a follower. I joined the BBA group and lurked as they collected their info. The first time F&G attacked me, I was a little shocked by their OTT bullshit. Looking back, it seems quaint for them to simply say I was a failed author (Jealous of PP? Really?) and a bad mother.

I eventually severed ties with the BBA group when they played favorites and protected Ederyn while shelving authors for the same behavior. Sick of the clique shit, I ditched them, started the BBA Whisperer group, and created the blog. No more pretending F&G was a scary hate site to be "ignored." Candy Girl and I took on the BBA publicly.

Of course, the BBA attacked and tried to intimidate us. What they underestimated was how we were part of a cause, not a clique. We didn't care about kissing ass or playing favorites. These days, the BBA hide away, only occasionally voicing their bigotry and hate. They still claim I'm jealous, but they also avoid adding the Bijou Hunter pen name to my "Worst Offenders" section on F&G. Jealous, my ass. 

Friends and Foes

Meeting Candy Girl was a boon. No getting around it. She's my best friend. My beta reader. My co-blogger. If nothing else good ever came from writing the BBA blogs and despite all the lies F&G spread because of them, they were how I met Miranda. Nuff said.

Lauryl and I started as foes, now she's my sister from another mister. It's freaky how much we have in common. We both started the year struggling to find readers. By the end of the year, we had built fan bases and enjoyed increased sales. Also, we've both quit our regular jobs to write full time. Like I said, it's freaky how similar we are.

As for foes, a half dozen people I considered friends turned into jerks. No need to point them out. If you know them, you understand. If you don't know them, it's not worth rehashing their stupid. No loss in having fewer lame people in my life.

Sales? What are sales?

In 2012, I published seven books. From July to December, I sold a little over a hundred. I know there are authors who never sell that many while others sell that many an hour. This year with seven new books published, I've sold thirty thousand. While this is a drop in the bucket compared to many authors, it's a step in the right direction. I managed to sell them, despite my horrible marketing skills (see below on my resolutions). If anything, I'm proof it's possible to make a living as an indie author, even if you never hit Colleen Hoover level success.

Kids and Sally

We gave homeschooling a try this year and it's been a success. Kids like Roo need the kind of attention a teacher can't provide. I know homeschooling gets mocked, but it allows children to learn at their pace. With Roo, repetition is the key. Every kid learns differently, but a classroom teacher can't change their plans to fit each student. I can and Roo has really excelled.

Having teenagers isn't nearly as horrifying as many people make it out to be. My boys are pretty mellow. Whenever they get moody, I remind myself how stubborn I could be at their ages. It's a little weird to write romances about guys Tigger's age, but he's nothing like the alphas in my books.

Sally had a great year. Like most people, when my family is happy then I'm happy. We were healthy too. Another benefit to homeschooling is less flus and colds to bring home. A great year all around.

Here are a few resolutions for the next year...

Resolution #1: Work on my marketing skills

I admittedly hate marketing. Damaged and the Beast was published in April. Before December, I'd only requested a single review. With all the blogs dedicated to romance, I was simply being lazy. I've learned a lot about marketing from Lauryl and Candy Girl. In 2014, I'll market my books consistently (without becoming a spammer or obnoxious) and strengthen my relationships with bloggers.

Resolution #2: Prioritize Books

Even if I could write a book a month, I still couldn't publish everything I want this year. As such, I've reorganized my publishing schedule. As much as I love my Angela and Dakota books, I need to focus on Bijou and new romance pen names. I have two or three more Damaged books scheduled plus the new Lush Gardens series for Bijou. I want to publish Gator and Sing for Me under two different pen names. Plus, Rebound Biker for Etta and Dmitri for Carys. I'm sure there are more, so I need to organize and prioritize. I'm writing for a living now and not simply for pleasure.

Resolution #3: Blog Less

I have a lot of blogs. Duh, right? This year, as with my publishing schedule, I need to prioritize. With F&G's surrender, we shouldn't need to blog as often about asshats. I'll also cut back my interviews with authors and reviews. I enjoy blogging and promoting good authors, but there are only so many hours in the day.

I guess 2014 will be all about prioritizing. This month, I attend my first book signing. It'll be a great chance to meet readers and others authors. Plus, I'll learn more about marketing. Already putting those resolutions into action.