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.

September 15th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

If today isn’t the epitome of a fall morning, I don’t know what is!

 

As promised yesterday, I said I would be giving you a review of a book I just finished and information on a blog hop I was participating in for the book. Well, I went on the author’s site and she is WAY more technologically savvy than I am, so I am going to give you the link to her site. The reason I’m doing this is because she has a raffle going on where you can receive some pretty cool prizes and I don’t want you to miss out because I can’t figure out how to do the same thing on my site. Here it is:

 

http://anangellslife.blogspot.com/2013/09/elements-of-broken-mind-blog-hop.html

 

The book I read was Elements of a Broken Mind and I loved it, but again, it is another book which doesn’t fit neatly into one specific genre. Perhaps if I describe the story a little, you will be able to form your own opinion as to where you would categorize it.

 

There are two main characters Grant and Clear. Yes, the woman’s name is Clear, the unfortunate product of hippy parents (the name, not the character). Grant is a detective who moved to a small town from Chicago after his divorce. He’s lonely, misses his daughter terribly, and is determined not to have a drinking problem. When dead bodies of young women start turning up and Grant is frustrated at the lack of tangible leads, in walks Clear stating she “knows” what happened and she wants to help. But how can she know? The information on the case was being held close to the vest.

 

It takes a little while for Grant to believe that Clear is a true psychic and not just a charlatan and Grant reluctantly agrees to let Clear help him catch what now appeared to be a serial killer. Things get really amped up when the Sherriff’s daughter’s best friend is kidnapped. They fight against time and their growing attraction to each other.

 

That’s all I’m going to tell you. You’ll need to wind your own way through all the twists and turns of this psychic rollercoaster yourself. The story draws you in and tosses you around with the characters, and at the end you are left wanting more.

 

 

I hope you have a wonderful day. Happy writing and maybe happy reading!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

You are driving when something off the side of the road catches your eye and intrigues you enough you feel compelled to stop.

 

What the heck was that? Jenna wondered as she slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the road and exited her car. As she jogged closer to the object which caught her eye, she paused when she thought she saw it move ever so slightly. Cautiously she approached the gaily wrapped package and removed the note tucked inside the bow.

 

            Dear kindhearted stranger –

             Thank you for stopping. It is with a heavy heart I need to abandon my babies. Please take care of them and love them as I did.

                                                Signed,

                                                Heartbroken Mamma

 

Jenna couldn’t breathe, horrified what the note implied. She shoved the note into her pocket and looked for the safest way to open the box without jostling its inhabitants. How could anyone do this to their children? As quickly as she could, she examined the package and found what appeared to be hinges. On the other side she found a clasp, flipped it up and slowly lifted the lid, afraid at what she might find.

What she found were three sets of sparkling blue eyes staring at her. One occupant meowed Jenna a greeting. Inside the box were three identical grey striped kittens.

 

If I had more time, I would have went into how their was food and water in the box and big cut in the back and how the wrapping was actually made out of cloth not paper so the kitties could breathe…

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

The fever was so high…

 

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.