I've Been a Bad, Bad Girl

How does one keep blogging whilst doing book signings, making book trailers, marketing one's new book, writing new books, helping coach a 5th and 6th grade boys Parks & Rec Basketball team, and raising three boys?  Plain and simple, one doesn't.  Well, at least this one doesn't.  There's always lots of stuff going on in my life but the time to write about it has waned lately, probably because my spare moments seem to have disappeared like the hair on my hubby's head - slow but sure.  Sorry to all.  I've been a bad, bad girl.

If you're at all interested in keeping up to date on my writing life, I suggest fanning up on my Facebook Fan Page, or following me on Twitter.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be writing much here.  I've been working on a new series that I love and I want to keep writing while that passion is still alive and kicking.  I can't wait to send out the first book in the series, which I plan to do in the new year.

Publishing my book, The Chronicles of Anaedor:  The Prophecies, has been an up and down experience and I've been learning a lot...like how frustrating publishing a book can be (administrative/technical problems have been my biggest hurdle).  But also, how great it can be.  My best experiences have come from participating in several book signings and book fairs and meeting fellow authors and avid readers.  People are so supportive and have made this adventure much more interesting and fun for me than I thought possible.  Without them, I'd be a quivering puddle of a mess from dealing with all the things that have gone wrong (anywhere from my book cover looking weird on amazon's site, to my books going missing just prior to a signing, to my books selling out but my publisher not being ready with more).

I will say that one big thing went right.  YA Book Reads reviewed The Chronicles of Anaedor:  The Prophecies and really liked it!  See their review as well as my interview with them.  They gave me 4 1/2 Snitches out of 5!  I'm so psyched and honored.

Anyway, I'm sorry to be so remiss in my blog.  Please forgive me and maybe follow me on Facebook instead!

Do the Monster Smash: Yet Another Cool Marketing Tool for Authors!

My publishers, Variance, who have published my book, The Chronicles of Anaedor:  The Prophecies, through their imprint, BLiP, have put my book on Smashwords.  Smashwords, I have found, is a great place to go for all your e-book needs.  Why?  Because they make your book available via a crazy number of formats.  Take a look:

That's hard to beat when you want your book to be accessible to as many people in as many ways as possible.  It's also hard to beat the name:  Smashwords.  I just like saying it.

So do the Monster Smash and get your book out there!

Spread the Wordle: Another Cool Marketing Tool for Authors!

I'm back with another really awesome marketing tool for authors. It's called a wordle and can be found at Wordle.com. You can create your own wordle, using your own words, colors, and configurations. It's very simple. Here's the one I did for The Chronicles of Anaedor: The Prophecies.



The process takes very little time - all you have to do is type in the words, pick a font, pick a color and play around with the configurations (all horizontal, all vertical, some of both, etc). Once you are finished, you can save the product to the wordle site. This makes your wordle public, so anyone can view it. You can also take a screen shot (the FAQ provides a link that will guide you on how to do this) and save it for display on your website. You can use your creation to make t-shirts or posters or bookmarks. Whatever you want!

Wordle is fun and it's free! So get out there and spread the wordle. Your wordle!