Tag Archives: Editing

Delayed Post, Christmas Prep, Editing:Monday Blog Post

Posted on by

Newest News:

You may have heard about this from other bloggers you follow. I was caught up in the WordPress (my blog host) upgrade. They upgraded to 3.0, then a few dayslater, 3.1, and when I tried to schedule last Monday’s post, I couldn’t get the post to schedule, or even publish. I waited, hoping that all of the other bloggers calling into their web host support companies would generate the upgrades fixing all the bugs, to create another upgrade. It did.  Create another update. And I tried again. But nope. No go for scheduling the now way past due blog post. So, I called Go Daddy, my provider and the nice tech figured out what the issue was and fixed it. So you got the post on Saturday, only six days late. Sigh. Hopefully today’s post pops up in your feed at the regular time.

Christmas is ready at my house! Candy is made. I cheated. I only made chocolate truffles. Cookies are made. I made sugar cookies this year as my mom has difficulty with nuts. And boxes were sent to my daughter, her ex-husband, and my brother. Little packages are ready to hand to my mail delivery person, my newspaper carrier and the trash man. Presents are under the tree. Now I’m free to enjoy the rest of the month. I hope your preparations are moving along.

https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/australian_gold_nugget_by_nerodesign.jpg

I mentioned in what is now Saturday’s post that my story, Gold Dreams, is at the editor. He emailed me to say he was working on it. And I reformatted Slave Elf so that another editor can do a theme/content edit on it. So, two stories in editing at the same time. A first for me. I have a front cover for Slave Elf. I’ll expand that to a full cover over the next two weeks. Gold Dreams is at the cover designers. She needs to know the page length before she can develop all of the covers. I’m so looking forward to her design. She did the cover for my award-winning story, Tested, so I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic.

Giveaways:

There’s still time to get in on the Christmas Giveaway! We have $120 in PayPal cash as the Grand Prize and from the individual authors, 81 books and 81 prizes. Hoo! Get in on it quickly! You can go here to check it out. https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books arecoming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. It is finally up on all of my other retailers in ebook format. You can buy it at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo,and Smashwords today.You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

A Writer’s Job: Monday Blog Post

Posted on by

Newest News:

It’s possible that you wonder why, as a writer, I cannot get stories to you faster. I understand. It seems to take a really long time for me to produce and publish your next favorite series book. To be honest, it feels like a long time for me, as well.

A look at my current to do list might let you in on what’s going on. These are not in any kind of order. Just how they occurred to me as I was making the list.

AuthorShow.com – a note to myself to apply to the audio and visual podcast program that provides some exposure for authors. (Marketing)

Brown Rain Covers – I have them done, just want to update the interiors to match Tested’s interior. (Marketing)

Brown Rain Interiors – Yep, see above. (Marketing)

Gulliver Box Sets – What I’m currently working on. (Marketing)

Pre-Order Slave Elf – Get the story Slave Elf up on multiple platforms/sites as a pre-order. (Advertising)

Edit Slave Elf – (Editing)

Amazon Affiliate – Re-apply to Amazon for affiliate status. That way people coming to my author page or a book page, can continue their other Amazon shopping and I get a tiny cut at no additional expense to my readers. (Cross-Promotion)

Set up Amazon AUS, NZ, CAN – Officially set up my author page and books on these country sites for more exposure to English speaking readers. (Marketing)

Set up Optimize Press – This is a site that gives me assistance in setting up my marketing pages. (Marketing)

Pinterest Class – This is a Mark Dawson beta class that I have not been able to access despite the fact it appears on my class page. I’ll have to contact someone to get it to open for me. I’d love to learn how to use Pinterest to expand my reader base. (Marketing)

SAM – this is actually a book festival reminder that as a non-profit organization I have to annually re-certify that our organization is tax-exempt. (Volunteer)

Post Review – I had a nice review of Tested from Reader’s Favorite. I need to post it on my Tested pages (Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords) (Advertising)

You may notice there’s no reminder to write. I don’t need a reminder to write, it’s always in the back of my mind. I need to write a flash fiction to post every Friday and current writing projects include finishing It’s All About the Music, (plus 2 more to make 5 in that series), a horror story for December deadline, and edits for both Mystery at the Reunion and the 2nd Zoe Ohale story, Troubled Campus.

I’m also scheduled for a book selling/signing on September 15th, October 13 – 14th, and December 8th. So I need to inventory my on-hand books to see what needs to be ordered. I sold quite a few at the Payson Book Festival and need to re-supply.

It’s obvious I do a lot of tasks that are marketing oriented. I need to if I want my reader numbers to grow.

And that’s it! Lots to do and all of it needs time and energy. Some days I just want to play games on Facebook.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Diet, Meetings and Editing: Monday Blog Post

Posted on by

Newest News:

How’s your January going? Anyone else still on their after-Christmas diet? I felt so sluggish and horrible I started the Whole 30 diet. It calls for giving up sugar, alcohol, grains and dairy, and legumes, for 30 days. I know it sounds radical but really, I just felt all crappy and just needed to de-tox for a few days. It’s been 16 days, as of this post, and I feel so much better. I miss my wine in the evenings and I’ve had to change out a few of my go-to recipes for dinner but it hasn’t been all that bad. I have a breakfast hash instead of eggs and toast, salad for lunch (for the most part) and grilled lean meat and 2 veggies for supper. If I still feel like a nosh, those Cuties, mandarin easy peel oranges or an apple are my after-dinner snacks. I will stay on this till the end of January then begin to slowly add back the grains and dairy. Try it! You’ll feel better.

Unfortunately my Thunderclap failed. I was certain I had enough followers to make it work. Oh well.

My Kindle Publishing for Blogs is still not active. Probably because it’s in beta. The blog has to be approved by the Kindle folks and that hasn’t happened yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Meetings this week are with my writer’s group from Four Carat Press. https://fourcaratpress.com/ We’re working on a journal to put up on Amazon. It will have short essays from each contributing author and writing prompts. We hope to have it out soon. The other meeting is with the Arizona Professional Writers at our local, Rim Country Chapter. I’m the program manager for the chapter and this month we’re bringing in a local accountant experienced in small business. Writers are a small business and it just seemed perfect to have this program in January to explain how to handle reporting from last year and how to set up our books for this year. I’m looking forward to it.

I have printed off Mystery at the Book Festival and am beginning the edits. So, all of you Jean Hays fans, it’s coming. Really it is.

 

Giveaways:

The newest giveaway is called For the Love of Books, Valentines Giveaway. The link is https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. Click on the Rafflecopter link. This is a short giveaway because we’re lining up one for St. Patrick’s Day. So get in on the opportunity to win $135 in Paypal cash plus prizes from over 40 authors, that’s over 80 prizes! Hurry!

 

Shout Out:

This week’s shout out is for Lyndsey Cole. Lyndsey is my author interview this week and you don’t want to miss it. If you can’t wait, check out her website at http://lyndseycolebooks.com/. If you like culinary cozy mysteries, check out Lyndsey’s titles!

 

Where Will I Be?

I participated in the local Payson Library’s January Book Blitz last week. I had a great time reading from two of my books and talking to the visitors who came. Does your library do author presentations or book signings? You should certainly go and support your local authors.

No appearances in the short-range future. Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements. I have contacted both the Phoenix ComiCon (http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/) and the Tucson ComiCon (https://www.facebook.com/TucsonComicCon/) for information about attending their events. It’s still early, they’re not working yet. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

 

Newest Book Release:

Mystery in the Woods released on December 24th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Special News! How To Revise Your Novel!

Posted on by

Well, National Novel Writing Month is over. Whew! Due to travel, I missed several days and it took me just about down to the wire to make my fifty-thousand words. How about you? How did you do? Did you finish your novel? Have you read through it yet?

I know when I finished my first one, way back in November 2011, I was so excited. I’d actually written a whole book. While I was writing it, I was seeing the whole thing up on the big screen. I could see me on the red carpet on opening night dressed to the nines and waving to adoring fans. I imagined opening up the New York Times and seeing my name on the top ten list. Writing that book was an amazing accomplishment and I took December off to celebrate.

When I returned to my manuscript in January and read through it, I liked what I had done but it was rough, gangly, moving in fits and starts and jumping from one plot hole to the next. I knew something else had to be done with it. But what? I’d heard that editing was required before a manuscript could be published, but I didn’t know how to go about it.

I started to look around. Soon I found this author’s site that offered a class that would help me, step-by-step, revise my novel. The author is Holly Lisle and she’s doing it again. She’s offering a newly revised How to Revise Your Novel workshop.

If you’re interested in a step-by-step approach to making your novel the best it can be, consider taking this class. It opened today! If you’re ready now, you’ll get 3 free mini-classes! This offer closes on December 14th. Follow my link to https://hollyswritingclasses.com/index.php?page=home&aid=10009