June 30th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Not really my kitchen

Good Morning! Today is my last day before insanity starts, so I am going to spend it getting my house organized. A bomb blew up in the kitchen, the waste baskets are overflowing, and I have a boatload of laundry to do… to name just a few. I also need to go grocery shopping, and I need to go back to Costco because when I got there yesterday, the pharmacy was already closed, and I needed to pick up a prescription.

I’m in a bit of a quandary. When I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, I said I was going to be working on a new story, Taming Tate, but I still haven’t finished Faerie Tale Queen. I’m thinking one last run through NaNo and FTQ will be finished, but I feel guilty working on the same book for three consecutive NaNos.

However, I do have some extra incentive to finish FTQ. Remember the NYC publisher, who wanted Corporate Blues, but I rejected the contracts he offered? Well, he came back again with a contract I would have accepted, but I had already published Corporate Blues. I told him I was working on FTQ, and I would give him first swing at it. If he accepts it, we’ll go forward; but here’s the catch, I have to have it to him before the end of July. If I spend July on Taming Tate, I won’t have time to finish FTQ.

I know this probably sounds like a no-brainer, but here’s the catch. Just like with Corporate Blues, Faerie Tale Queen already has a cover I love, and I assigned it ISBN#s. If I go with the publisher, my cover will change, and I have wasted the two ISBN#s because they will have to be reassigned. Am I being short sighted? Should I just suck up the money I spent already and go the traditional publishing route again? Hah, I’m getting ahead of myself. I don’t even know if they will accept FTQ. What do y’all think? I’d really like to know.

On another topic, my $0.99 Sale went well, but I fell shy of my goal of selling a hundred books, by eight books. I really thought the sale didn’t end until midnight tonight, but when I checked Amazon this morning, the price was back up to $2.99 (I lowered the price from $4.95 to $2.99 a little over a month ago). I know there are still several hours left before the end of the month, but I doubt I’ll sell eight books today. I did break the top 10K mark overall on the Amazon ranking list, and the top 500 mark for historical romances, so that’s something.

I can run another sale for Amazon.uk, but I think I will hold off until September so I can run the sale for both UK & US at the same time. Also, if I don’t go the traditional publishing route, I can include FTQ in the promotion.

What I’m really hoping for is that one of the fifty-tree copies of A Second Chance that sold will generate two more reviews so I can qualify for a different type of promotion. A friend of mine told me about it, and he sold over five hundred books during the promotion, and has been selling several books daily since the promotion.

Unfortunately for me, they won’t even consider promoting a book until it has ten reviews, and I have been stuck at eight for quite some time now. I don’t understand it. Why don’t folks review books after they have read them? It takes less than five minutes, and the reviews don’t need to be anything elaborate. A few sentences and you’re done. Yet less than 2% of the people who have read A Second Chance, have written a review for it. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of being a writer, because I have absolutely no control over it. Sometimes this whole marketing thing makes my head spin.

Enough! I babbled so much yesterday, we never got to the challenge, and I don’t want to do that again today. I hope you have a marvelous day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

There was this one time…

There was this one time, many years ago, when I had wanted to pack everything up and move to Florida. I was working for a company which had offices in Jacksonville, and I would have been able to transfer. I would have had to pay my own moving expenses, but I didn’t care.

For months I poured over real estate listings, maps and school reports. I researched and carefully put together my pitch so I could sell my husband on the idea. I narrowed the list down to three possibilities. Each of the houses was in the best rated school district. Each home had five bedrooms, one for us, one for each of our children and a guest room. Every house had a pool, and one even had a dock for my husband’s fishing boat.

I got comps for our house here in New Jersey so we could get a good idea of how much it would sell for. Between the sale of our house here and the new one in Florida, our mortgage would have been less than $50K. The taxes for a year on the Florida home were the same as one month’s taxes on our New Jersey home. I would have been able to afford all the bills on my salary alone, and my husband would have been able to start his own business.

I had all my ducks in a row. The children were all behind me on the move. I was excited. I presented everything, full color photos of the property and all, to my husband, and he wouldn’t even look at it. There was no way he was going to move away from his family. It didn’t matter that I had made sure each of the houses would accommodate for an extended stay from them, or even my offer, that when the time came, they could move in with us. He wouldn’t budge.

This is a true story, and as you can probably tell from my tone, it is one that still bothers me. Instead of having a nice new home in Florida, my husband having his own business, and our kids being able to go to college at greatly reduced rates, we are still here in New Jersey, in our fifty year old little ranch which does not have the same property value as it did ten years ago, paying exorbitant amounts on mortgage, taxes and college. I love the man dearly, but sometimes his shortsightedness makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

Your Next Challenge is:

You visit some place you have not seen since you were a child.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

June 13th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Good Grief, I had to go back a week to find the last challenge. YIKES! I’m such a slacker.

Honestly, I’m not. I have been working on a new marketing project for the past two weeks or so. I found this Indie Author support group and they give you ideas on how to promote your books in various ways. I decided to pick one and focus on it for a little while.

The one I chose was Goodreads. Goodreads is a site for avid readers, but it also has a section for authors as well. I have been an author on Goodreads for over a year now, but I really did not know how to utilize the site to help me promote my own books. This group has showed me how.

Goodreads has a feature called Listopia, which is a place where you can list books which fit a certain criteria. For example, Taking Chances went on the “Napoleonic War Fiction” list, because a good chunk of it featured the Battle of Trafalgar and Lord Nelson. I then let people who have read Taking Chances know it was on the list, and I asked them to vote for my book (and to join Goodreads if they hadn’t already). Several people did as I asked, and now Taking Chances is rated #1 in that category. Hopefully, now that it is #1, more people will see the book and want to read it.

It’s really a simple process and hopefully it will bump up my sales. If any of you are interested in checking out (and voting for) any of my books that you have read, please sign up for (or in to) Goodreads. Go to my author’s page; scroll down to where my books are listed; click on the book you’ve read; scroll down to where it says “List with this book”; click “more lists with this book”, and that will bring up all the lists that particular book is on and where it is ranked on the list. You can click on each individual list and vote for my book.

While you are there, if you can give my book(s) a star rating, and if you have time a review, that would be WONDERFUL. Now, if you have not read one of my books yet, you can add it to your “want to read” list, and that would help my rankings as well. The publishing world is a harsh and difficult world to survive in, so I am not above begging for ratings and reviews. Every little bit helps, and I would welcome all the help I can get.

Not only have I added my own books to lists, I have gone in and made sure all the indie books I have read have reviews, ratings and votes. I have also found a TON of books which looked really interesting and I have added them to my “want to read” list. I figure I’ll be busy until 2025 provided I don’t add any more books to my list. LOL. (I did not take the time to review or vote on books like The Hunger Games, even though I gave it a 5 star rating, because let’s face it, it doesn’t need my help in the ratings where Indie authors do.)

It’s funny, because I added my books to the list, but then I needed to “check out the competition”, so I took a look at other books on the list. Yeah, you guessed it, several are now on my “want to read” list. It’s all good though. Occasionally I stumbled across a list which fit a book which wasn’t mine, so I added it (ie: Keith’s book Man Hunt was placed on a Horror list, and Linda’s book The Bench was placed on the Cozy Mystery list, or Julien’s Flower of Heaven which went on a Paris Mystery list). I also actively sought out other book lists to add Cherrye’s Teacher, Teacher, and Heidi’s Elements of a Broken Mind (books I edited). I’m all for spreading the love. J

Okay, it’s time to get to the long overdue challenge. I hope you have a fabulous Friday, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

“Curtains Emma. I said please hang the curtains out on the line, not the kittens out on the line! Lord child, sometimes I just don’t know where your head is.”

“I was just playin’ Mamma. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t hurt those poor babies did you?”

“Oh no Mamma, I could never do that. In fact, I think they kinda liked it. They all crawled into little balls and settled down for a nap in the stockings. Look Mamma, they’re all asleep.”

Mamma shook her head. “You are going to be the death of me yet child. Where do you come up with these things?” Emma shrugged her shoulders but did not offer an explanation. “Come on Sweetheart, take the kittens down off the line and I’ll help you get the curtains up. We have to hurry or they’ll never be dry before sundown, and I don’t want to have to wash them again.”

“Okay Mamma, I’ll hurry.”

Your Next Challenge is (from the writing group):

A Game of “Follow the Leader” gone awry.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

June 10th

Hi, It’s Christina –

Today’s blog is going to be completely different than any other blog I’ve done before. This morning, before I even took my second swallow of coffee, I was issued a challenge, a gauntlet was thrown and crazy me picked it up.

The challenge was issued by my friend Keith, better known in the writing world as K. Edwin Fritz, author of stories which will keep you up at night. He just published the second installment in his Man Hunt trilogy. Keith is an amazing writer, and even though I tend to avoid horror at all cost, he has such a way with words, I tolerate being terrified so I can read his work.

Well, here’s what my friend got me into:

Meet My Main Character Blog Tour

1) What is the name of your main character? Is he/ she fictional or a historic person?

The main characters in A Second Chance are Kathryn and Graydon. They are both fictional characters in a historical setting.

2) When and where is the story set?

The story is split between rural England and London in 1804.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Kathryn is a young widow with two grown sons. Graydon is a widower, and he also has a grown son. Oh, did I mention, Graydon is an operative for the Crown?

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

The main conflict in the story is Graydon’s niece is kidnapped. During his initial attempt to rescue her, he is shot. Kathryn’s quiet life is turned upside down when she finds him and nurses him back to health.

5) What is his/her personal goal?

Graydon’s goal is to get his niece back from a ruthless unknown assailant, hell bent on revenge; and Kathryn’s goal… well she didn’t really have one. She was quite content, living her boring existence, in her tranquil country estate with her smart-alecky butler.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Excerpts from all of my books can be found on my website: ChristinaPaul.webs.com

7) When can we expect the book(s) to be published?

A Second Chance, the first in my Bradford Series, was published in 2012. It, as well as the second book in the series, Taking Chances, published in 2013, are available on Amazon.com, in both hard copy and on Kindle. Simply By Chance, the third in the series, will hopefully be finished by the end of the year.

And now it's my turn to pass the challenge along!

It was difficult to choose, but the following are five fabulous books by five incredible authors I have met since I embarked on this insane profession of being an author. The links will take you to their books.

Dorothy May Mercer

Linda Rawlins

Julien Ayotte

Jan Raymond

Heidi Angell

Authors, friends, tag, your it (photo stolen from Keith, but I loved it).

Okay folks, tomorrow’s blog will be back to normal. Hopefully by then, my sister in law will send over pictures from this crazy weekend we just had, and I’ll be able to get you updated. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

June 4th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry about the screw-up with yesterday’s blog. I had everything prepped and I was ready to do my final read through, and I got distracted. It wasn’t until I pulled up my computer this morning when I realized I never hit the submit buttons on any of the sites. UGH!!

Yesterday I mentioned a new marketing thingy I’m involved in; this time it has to do with Goodreads Listopia. This is a pretty neat thing. On Goodreads (a site for book lovers – both readers and authors – you should check it out), there are literally thousands of lists of books, in various categories and genres. You can either vote for books already on the list, or you can add books yourself which you think fit the list’s criteria, and then people vote on the books. For example: A Second Chance is on the “Debut Novels of 2013” list (in the romance category); and both A Second Chance and Corporate Blues are on the “Romance Heroes and Heroines over 35” list.

Look, I'm # 3!!!!

By people either voting for your book, marking it as “I want to read”, or rating your book (if they read it), the book moves up in the rankings. On the Debut list, A Second Chance was #325 when it started, but as of this morning, after a few folks marked it as “I want to read”, it’s now ranked #92. The theory is, the book will get noticed if it is in the top 100 on these lists.

So basically, the event is a list of all the Listopia entries. You go through the list, find books you have either already read or that you feel you would enjoy reading, and you go and vote for them. It’s simple, but time consuming. I’ll probably be going through the lists for the rest of the month; voting for books I’ve read or want to read, and adding my own books to the various lists.

Speaking of time consuming, I’m going to be late for work if I don’t end this blog now and get to the writing challenge.

I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

That sure went to hell in a hand basket in a hurry.

I should have known better. Things were running just a little too smoothly. All the adult guests were milling around, chatting, and enjoying not having to supervise their children. The presents were all stacked beautifully upon the table. The masterpiece of a cake was proudly displayed upon another table. The various games for the children were met with enthusiasm and squeals of joy. It was now time for the piñata.

A large circle of onlookers formed. As is only right, the birthday boy was the first to be blindfolded. We spun him around and around, then pointed him in the general direction of the papier-mâché dinosaur. Words of direction and encouragement were shouted from the crowd. He swayed like a drunk as he stumbled and

bumbled his way, swinging his bat wildly as he went.

One forceful swing knocked him off balance and into a bystander. The person fell backward, clipping the edge of a protruding gift on the table. The gift worked as a seesaw, and catapulted another present high into the air. The partygoers gasped and I closed my eyes. I knew exactly where that present would land.

Your Next Challenge is:

Scenario: At the zoo. A young woman. There is music. Add surprise.

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

February 19th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Well, it took until almost the end of February, but I’ve finally caught a cold. I should have known I wouldn’t make it through the season unscathed. Sneezing my head off, scratchy throat, itchy ears, the works. Glad I bought some OJ when I was at the store. I also have lots of tea and honey, so I should be good. However, you should consider this my disclaimer if I produce sub-par challenges and responses for the next couple of days. LOL.

The other day I saw something interesting another author was doing on their Facebook page, and I think I may give it a whirl on my own page. She posted a picture and asked her readers to describe the scene in three words or less. It really made you think, and some of the responses were amazing. Since so many of you are still too shy to take up one of my ten minute challenges, this may be the perfect way for you to participate (although I am still holding out hope that more of you will reply to the challenges – especially with all the new authors who are following my page).

The Valentine’s sale of A Second Chance & Taking Chances went really well. February’s book sales have been the best ever, and it did boost my ranking for a few days. However, now that the sale is over, the rankings are slipping a little again. If you were one of the folks who took advantage of the sale, thank you, and if you have read the book(s) and have a few minutes to post a review, it would be greatly appreciated.

Since the sale was a hit, I think I will be doing one for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, etc. I need to read the rules again for the new KDP program to see how often I am allowed to run a sale. I think offering the books at a sale price yields better results than offering the book for free. Folks tend to think if the product is free, then it can’t be of very high quality, and that is DEFINITELY not the image I want to portray.

What are your thoughts? Are you more likely to pick something up if it’s on sale for 60% or 80% off, or if it’s offered for free? Do you think “free” must have some kind of catch? Do you automatically think if it’s free, then there must be something wrong with it? Do you feel more obligated to read the books you actually paid for, and chose them first over the ones you downloaded for free? Are you more likely to post a review for a book you paid for? I really hope some of you chime in here, because I’d love to hear your opinion.

Oh well, I’m running out of steam, and writing when you’re sneezing every ten seconds is not fun, so I’m going to sign off. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you’ll have good luck…

Old habits die hard, and some will never go away. I brought my teenager to the mall the other day, and she damn near had a heart attack when I stopped to pick up a penny off the ground. At her horrified expression, I recited, “Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you’ll have good luck.”

To which she replied, “God Mom, I’ll give you a penny if you want one so bad.”

“Ah, but if I simply took a penny from you, it wouldn’t be lucky.” That got me an eye roll and me walking about five paces behind her as she tried to disassociate herself from me. I just smiled, chuckled and tried to keep up.

At fifteen all she could see was her old mom embarrassing her in public. She wouldn’t be receptive to the story of how my grandfather and I would go for walks, and if we ever found a penny, he would stop, pick it up, polish it on his sleeve, hand it to me and recite the same words. True, way back then, a penny meant I could get a piece of gum or candy from the candy store, so finding one had a direct and immediate impact. She wouldn’t find it amusing that we always seemed to find a penny during our walks or that one time I caught my grandfather purposely dropping a penny so we could “find” it.

No sweet girl, it’s not the penny I want so bad, it’s to remember my special times with my grandfather. So sweetheart, I’m sorry if it embarrasses you, but your old mom will never stop picking up pennies she finds.

Your Next Challenge is:

Write a story containing the following: The moon, a telescope, crickets

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

December 26th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Happy Boxing Day! So have any of you actually received a gift from your employer today or has that tradition completely gone by the wayside? Since I’m from the US, we don’t celebrate Boxing Day. But because I write historical fiction, I’m pretty good on what went on two hundred years ago; however, I’m a little foggy on the modern traditions. If any of you would like to chime in on your Boxing Day traditions, I would love to hear about them.

Perhaps next year I should run my book promo through December 26^th. What do you think? Would a book be an appropriate gift to give/receive on Boxing Day? This year’s promo went well. There were over 400 people who took me up on my free book offer for Taking Chances, and seven of those folks also downloaded A Second Chance as well. Now if just 2% of them would post a review, I’d be over the moon.

My Twitter account is buzzing again. I have eighteen new followers in the past few days. I really wish I could figure out what causes these spikes in followers so I could continue to cause them, but I still haven’t a clue.

Although I am very happy I did not wake up at 4:30 again this morning, I was still up at 6:30, and after a second late night in a row, I am seriously dragging this morning. Since the girls are spending the day with their cousins, I think I will straighten up the kitchen, throw in a load of laundry, and then settle down for a long winter’s nap. I can tell I’m getting run down, so if I want to avoid getting sick, I think a day of rest is in good order.

On that note, I shall bid you a fond farewell until tomorrow. Wish you a glorious day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Okay, I have been pondering this photo since I posted it as a challenge four days ago; and to be honest, I still have no clue what this creature is, but I have narrowed it down to three possibilities. Because of the nose and mouth, I thought it might be a cat, but then, although they are not really long, the ears made me think it could be some type of bunny. As an afterthought, I thought it could be a camera trick and the animal is not really as large as it appears, so maybe it is some type of guinea pig.

The intent of this challenge was to give you a photo of some real, but unusual, animal and for you to make up a story about a unique pet you have or gift you gave/received, something, and I was going to do the same; but I got so distracted by trying to figure out what this thing is, I can’t even think of a story to tell. So if any of you out there has a clue as to what this thing is, please enlighten me.

Your Next Challenge is:

 Write a story containing the following three words: brush, mirror, shadow.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 12th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

It’s snowing! It’s only flurries. Well maybe not flurries, more like mixed in with the rain, but nonetheless, it is snowing and I am so not ready for snow!

If we go by my an old wives tale, or maybe an old farmer’s tale, my grandmother told me, then we will see snow, flurries count, fifty times this season. Today is the 12^th, and the winter solstice is 38 days away – 12+38=50. Although the prediction has been fairly accurate in the past, within a few occurrences, I really pray it does not come to pass this year. Who the heck needs to see snow fifty times in one season?

Yesterday was a productive day even though I did not quite hit my 18K mark. I had an awful lot of words to catch up on, but I’m hoping in the next day or so I will be at the correct mark for the month. The story is coming along nicely – you’ll be getting the next chapter in a few hours. It’s finished, but I want to give my blog post a few hours to circulate before I put up a new post.

I did change the name from Rathlin Island to Tallymore Island. By making the place fictional, it gives me a whole lot more leeway. When and if my characters travel to Ballycastle or to any other larger city, the information (streets, landmarks, etc,) will be accurate. I am a few chapters ahead of what I’ll be posting today, and I’m really excited because Kieren will be meeting Caleb, the lead male character, for the first time. Do you like the name Caleb or is the “K” sound too much with the female lead being Kieren? If so, I am open for suggestions. (Christopher, Douglas, Milton, Patrick and Thomas are already taken.)

Its small details like this a writer debates over, or in my case frets over, while writing a story. Avoiding similar sounding names becomes a real challenge when doing a series. The Bradford Series literally requires a spreadsheet of who’s who – you can’t have the villain’s name in book four sound like one of the main character’s names in book two. If you’ve read either A Second Chance or Taking Chances, you’ll know there are a lot of characters in my stories, so you will understand my need for an elaborate spreadsheet to keep them all straight.

In Corporate Blues I must have changed the name of Madison’s son at least half a dozen times before I settled on Scott. A couple of weeks ago I was doing a preliminary edit and I came across the name Jack in one of the earlier chapters and I couldn’t recall who Jack was, then I remembered it was Scott’s original name. I had forgotten to change his name in one place.

Okay, on to the challenges, then off to Ireland. I hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge:

 

Write a story containing the following three words: Gate, Strange & Butter.

 

“Hey Nick, could you come here for a second?”

Nick placed the box he had been carrying on a shelf, walked over to Krista, slid his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, “Plans on christening this part of the house?”

She swatted her husband’s arm, “Behave. The movers will be here with the furniture soon.” She turned in his arms and kissed him. “Maybe later, but that’s not why I called you over.”

“You sure I can’t do something to persuade you?”

Krista held firm, “Later.” She pointed to the wall, “Do you remember seeing this when we bought the house?”

Nick followed Krista’s gaze and was surprised to see a stone archway, barred with a wrought iron gate, set into the far back wall. He released her, walked over to the gate and gave it a tug, “It’s stuck.”

“Is it locked?”

“No, there’s no lock on the door, I think it’s just rusted. I doubt it’s been opened in years.”

Krista peered into the darkness beyond the gate, “What do you think is back there?”

“The bones of a hundred tortured men. Their souls doomed to roam the Earth until they are given a proper burial.”

Krista swatted his arm again, “Will you stop, I’m serious.”

Nick laughed, “Well there’s only one way to find out. You go try and find some flashlights and I’ll see what I can find to loosen up these hinges.”

It took Krista a while to find the boxes marked “Kitchen” and then several more minutes to locate the one containing the flashlight, so by the time she returned to the basement, Nick was already working on getting the gate opened.

“What are you putting on the hinges?” She wrinkled her nose at the greasy globs covering Nick’s hands and the gate’s hinges.

“Butter.”

“Butter?”

 “My choices were rather limited. Don’t laugh, it seems to be working.”

 

Out of time. I had planned for Nick and Krista to uncover an old wine cellar.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.