Nicole E. Woolaston's Blog

This Friday is Black Friday: that wonderful day of the year when we break down the doors of local stores in search of sales, and flood Amazon’s site in search of great deals. I once went to Macy’s 24-hour sale during Black Friday, and all I can say is DON’T DO IT!!!! I can’t believe I lived to tell the tale! Madness! Sheer madness! Anyway, this weekend shoppers will be encouraged to shop small. This simply means showing some love to smaller stores who are not owned by corporate chains. You can also shop on Etsy and support an artist or jewelry maker. I have a different approach: shop small by supporting an indie author.

Yes, James Patterson and Danielle Steel are published by well-known presses and will make tons of money (they’re probably made a couple of grand from my library’s book orders alone). But lesser known indie authors need support too! This weekend, you can purchase a book by an indie author? Need help finding some titles? Check out this list on Good Reads. If you’re in the Hampton Roads area, you can also check of Dead Petals Press, a mobile bookstore which caters to indie authors and small press publishers. Need more? You can also buy a book from Woolaston Entertainment! June Parris and I are indie authors with books and journals for you to choose from. You can purchase books directly from W.E. on the Store page or via Amazon by clicking on our names: June E. Parris or Nicole E. Woolaston.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Hello everyone. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I hope everyone had a great November. If you’re working on a book, I hope everything is going well for you. I hope you didn’t stress yourself out too much with word counts and maintaining productivity. Afterall writing should be fun. Have a wonderful holiday, try not to eat too much, and I’ll see you in December.

Some time ago, when I decided to start publishing journals via Amazon’s KDP, my mother took one look at the selection and told me she wanted one. She chose the blue Our Lady of Righteous Rage journal. I figured she wanted it because she’s my mother and she’s supporting what I do. But as it turns out, she really liked the journal! She liked it so much, she wrote on every single page and asked me for a second one. This time she chose my Plans For World Domination journal, and she’s already using it.

I was glad she liked the journals, and I was also happy about getting to see them in person. They’re pretty nice, and I’m not just saying that because I created them. I had never thought about publishing low content books before, but I’m happy I did it and they turned out well. All of my journals can be found on Amazon in the Woolaston Entertainment Stationery Collection. There are 100 page journals and 250 page journals, paperbacks and hardcovers. Plus, they’re reasonably priced: the paperbacks are $4.99 to $6.99 and the hardcovers are $15. You can see the entire collection on Amazon or at a glance on the Home Page of this site. They make great gifts and ’tis the season!

I’m reposting this from the Woolaston Writing Workshop blog.

When you write nonfiction, you’re writing about the truth…or at least, you should be. Memoirs and biographies are going to tell the stories of real people: their real personalities, their real struggles and triumphs, etc. This is what makes characters in fiction so interesting and challenging. It’s fiction, so the characters are not real. The writer has to create them. As a writer you can create a character completely off the top of your head. Or, you can weave a bit of reality into them, and base your characters on real people.

Turning Yourself Into A Character

I always tell people start with what you know. Who knows you better than you? You and one of your characters can share a few traits. Maybe you both like loud music. Maybe you’re both down on your luck and looking for something better. Its much easier to write about a feeling or an experience when it’s your feeling or your experience. You can give your character a dysfunctional family, and if you happen to come from a dysfunctional family, you have a resource to draw from. Are you a smoker? Your character will know what it feels like to take that first puff of a cigarette first thing in the morning, because you do. Are you a girl dad? Is your character a girl dad? Your experiences can become your character’s experiences, and you’ll be able to write a more realistic and relatable character.

Turning Others Into Characters

Ah, now here’s the tricky part. Turning someone you know into a character in your book is something that must be approached with caution. You’re basically saying to that person, ‘This is how I see you’, whether you realize it or not. A character doesn’t need to be 100% based on someone you know; they can just have a few traits or behaviors in common. Perhaps you have a friend named Lyn who constantly interrupts people, and you create a character named Linda who constantly cuts people off mid sentence. Your friend Mike is an absolute gym-rat and your character Devon is obsessed with his body image. Of course, I’m sure you’re not trying to offend Lyn or Mike, but maybe you really needed your characters to have certain traits, and since you happen to know real people with those traits, you used them as source material. Are Lyn and Mike going to be okay with this? They’ll probably wonder if they really do carry those traits, and they find themselves practicing the art of self reflection. It could make for some interesting conversations.

Maurice Tillet vs Shrek: real person on the left, fictional character on the right. Plus, there’s a list of characters based on real people HERE.

There’s a lot of me in many of my characters. Why does Val from Valentine like Green Day? Because I do. Dylan from The Witch of Fulton Lane reads tarot cards and drinks tea because I do. I’m not crazy about the idea of using people I know as source material simply because I know it will lead to a conversation I don’t feel like having.: “Oh my God do you really think I act like that?” There are some exceptions. My mother has no trouble voicing her opinion, and that’s a trait I gave to Amy, Dee and Nyda in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. I have used my relationships with certain members of my family in my writing as well.

When creating characters based on real people, you’ll need to choose how you want to depict them. People may or may not be flattered by how you present them in your writing. I think if you stay true to how you really see them, you’ll be able to create a memorable and relatable character. At some point, the world you’ve created on the page and the world you actually live in are going to meet up, but if you can stand by what you have created, you’ll be just fine.

Keep writing, everyone.

This Friday November 14 is Indie Author Day. This is a day for readers to connect with authors and libraries. Normally, I would have been better prepared for this event, but circumstances surrounding my own library and other factors became a distraction. However, you can still participate in Indie Author Day. Check with your local pubic library to see if they are participating in any of the virtual or in-person events. Or, you can borrow a book from your local library; preferably one that was published by a small press or self-published. If you would like more information about Indie Author day, please visit their website HERE.

I just wanted to check in with all of you and make sure you’re doing okay. I know we’re going through a very difficult time. Some of you may be federal workers who aren’t getting paid right now. Some of you may still be waiting on your SNAP benefits. Some of you may just be in a rough spot. If any of this applies to you, I sincerely hope you’re okay. I hope you ate this morning. I hope you’re not cold. Believe me I’ve been in a position where I’ve had to make a choice between putting my last few dollars in my gas tank so I could get to work and keep my job, or eating. It’s a crappy position to be in.

Take care of yourselves, everyone.

Everything has an ending.

This is the opening quote to Valentine R Book Three, the last book in the Valentine R series and the very last Valentine book I will ever write. Between 2010 and 2025, I have published nineteen Valentine books across four series. I introduced readers to Valorie Entienne, aka Val Entienne, aka Valentine when she took a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles to find her missing father. From there readers met Val’s cousin Veronica, Melinda St. James, the orphan Val takes under her wing and Vincent Entienne, Val’s father. Val’s painful past was slowly introduced, along with a cast of hitmen and hitwomen, and members of a mob outfit that refers to itself as The Syndicate. Readers even had a chance to see how EVERYTHING began, before Val, before Veronica, even before the Syndicate. The original five book series gave birth to a spin-off series, a prequel series and a sequel series. This is much more than I had planned to write, but when you feel like you have a good idea, you have to go with it.

It’s funny to think this whole thing started with an accident. I was working on an illustration for another book, in which my character would have a pink stripe in her hair. I colored all of her hair pink by accident, and decided to keep the illustration. After looking at it, I came up with the character of Valentine, and then the first story. My two handwritten versions were later combined into the first book published by Xlibris, and republished via Amazon’s KDP.

I wanted to write a story about a girl everyone was afraid of. I wanted Val to be someone who struck fear into the hearts of grown men at the mere mention of her name. I wanted her to have a reputation that was strong and fierce, but also one that was misunderstood, even by Val herself. I wanted Val herself to be strong, but also vulnerable. She can pick up a gun and shoot, but every now and then she has a moment where she needs to break down. And, I wanted her to be surrounded by people who were the same way: incredibly strong on the outside but just a little bit broken on the inside.

“All my friends are killers! How did that happen?”

If you’re unfamiliar with the Valentine books, here they are by series.

Valentine: the original series

These are known as the “books in pink”. This series consists of five books and is the original series, where Val and her family are introduced, along with John Rafferty, the head of the Syndicate and the primary villain. Val’s father is asked by Rafferty to offer something that he simply refuses to hand over, and when he tries to quit, Rafferty won’t let him leave. It’s up to his daughter Val to drive out to L.A. to find him. She’s prepared to fight for him, and if he’s already dead, she’s also prepared to avenge his death. What she isn’t prepared for, is all the lives she ends up changing along the way.

Valentine Apart: the spin-off series

These are the stories of characters in the Valentine series, apart from Valentine herself. They are origin stories that lead into a Valentine book from the original series; there are even overlapping scenes and dialogue. This series came about when I wrote a scene between hitman Allan Avery and his sister, Mac. The scene was so good, I thought it deserved to have it’s own book. Then I thought, I want readers to know more about Lola Vencent, so I gave her a book as well. Along cam Jo Fuentes, who definitely needed a back story, and so did Kelly McCormick. The fifth and final book was the closer, which led to Valentine R.

Lucia and the Saints: the prequel series

In order to know where you’re going, you have to understand where you came from. This prequel series offers insight into Rafferty’s beginnings, along with a glance at Vincent Entienne and his brother Victor, Jacob Price, and the woman who started it all, Lucia Milazzo, aka Lucia Calderon. Lucia introduces Rafferty to Edwin Faulkner, the former head of the Syndicate, and helps him get started in his businesses. It’s later revealed, Lucia is link between all of the other characters in all the series.

Valentine R: the sequel series to the original

The ending of Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep leads into the opening of Valentine R Book One. The R stands for Return. Val and company have moved on with their lives, but things within the Syndicate are very unsettled and Val may be the only one who can make things right. This three book series brings together all of the characters across the other sixteen books.

With prequels and sequels and spin-offs, you may be wondering which order to read the books in. Here you go:

Valentine (original series)Valentine ApartLucia and the SaintsValentine R

Reading them in order will make the flow of the story make more sense to you.

The Theme In Valentine

You may have noticed a common theme in these books: playing cards. Each member of the Syndicate has a nickname and it’s playing card related. Valentine is known as the Queen of Hearts, and Rafferty is Ace of Spades. This wasn’t something I planned from the very beginning, but it seemed to have developed on its own.

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading these books as much as I enjoyed writing them. If Valentine is new to you, I hope you’ll read my books and follow Val’s adventures from beginning to end.

Oh, sure: it sounds like a fantastic place to live. Clean streets and neighborhoods. Good schools to educate your children. And who wouldn’t want to be part of an HOA? That watches your every move? Every…single…move?

I came up with the idea behind my latest book in 2020, and I started working on the draft in 2021. I have set this book aside off and on since then, and I finally finished it this past month. I didn’t realize how old the draft really was until I went back to reread it, and I realized I needed to change a few things. For instance, Skype was still a thing when I started writing this book. Skype is gone, now. So, I had to give two of my characters a different platform to communicate through, because it couldn’t be Skype. We pulled out of Afghanistan, so it didn’t make sense for one of my characters to be stationed there. I needed to make a few updates.

I wanted this to be one of those stories you didn’t want to put down. I wanted readers to keep asking, “What’s going to happen next? What is Lena going to do? What are they going to do to her?” My mother recently read my author’s proof copy and she thinks its one of the best things I written (but she is my mother so she might be a bit biased, but you’re welcome to grab a copy and see if you agree with her).

“What kind of Stepford Wives bullshit is this?“

One of my favorite attributes of this story is that it is completely unrelated to anything else I’ve published so far. It’s not part of the Valentine series or the Fortune’s Wing series, and its not part of the Our Lady of Righteous Rage universe. It felt good to step away from everything else I’ve ever worked on and create a brand new set of characters in a brand new setting. While I’m sorry it took so long to complete, everything happens when its supposed to, and I think this book turned out very well.

Barrin Heights is available on Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardcover form, and I hope you’ll get a copy.

“If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise”

Well, I’ll get more work done “If the hotspot is working and da church ain’t cold”. I never thought I’d miss good ole fashioned Wi-Fi, but I guess I’m just spoiled. I’m coming from you live from the church my department moved to until our library gets rid of its mold problem. I’ve got a hotspot that quits on me three to four times a day, and a bit of a draft in my makeshift office. But, it could be worse. Anyway, just rambling. Have a good day, everyone.

I’ve been writing books since I knew how to write. It was a childhood hobby, that blossomed into an obsession: a need to put my thoughts down on paper. I published my first book in 2009, and I’ve been self-publishing ever since. Here we are, 16 years later, and I just published my 46th book, and Woolaston Entertainment’s 50th book.

Fifty books. That’s 5,660 pages (paperback versions). Hours and hours of writing and editing, drawing images for the covers or finding images via Canva. Sharing links on social media. Fifty books: four from my mother June E. Parris and forty-six from me, Nicole E. Woolaston. It started out kind of shaky, but I like to think the writing improved with each new book. I made mistakes along the way: working with a Print-On-Demand company that overcharged for their services, working with a publisher that ended up going out of business before business even started, and not taking enough time to edit my books to the fullest. I’ve learned from every mistake and I’m glad I made them; mistakes are a fantastic teaching tool. Now, I have a grip on what to do and how to do it, and things are so much better. Woolaston Entertainment has come a long, long way since the first Fortune’s Wing book.

While fifty is a great number, I’m not finished yet. I don’t have a particular number I’m aiming for. I only realized I was about to publish WE’s 50th book because I maintain a spreadsheet with information about each book(publication date, number of pages, etc.). I looked at the total and it hit me: I’m about to publish my 46th book! Then another thought hit me: combined with my mother’s current four books, that makes fifty!

If you’ve never read a book from Woolaston Entertainment, you’re coming in at a great time. There are plenty of stories to choose from.

A young man and his friends who try to shape the fate of the world by battling sorcerers and the monsters they conjure.

A girl armed with a pair of guns and an attitude who goes up against the mob in order to protect her family and friends.

A group of anthropomorphic cats from New York who start a band and a business, and experience the ups and downs of adulthood, fame, and life in general.

The spirit of a young slave girl who was left behind.

A woman seeking redemption for the things she did for the mob by rescuing troubled young girls.

A tale of jealousy that leads to a murder.

A misunderstood witch who uses her power to save an unlikely friend.

A young teacher and her nephew find themselves in over their heads in what seems to be a nice new town with too many rules that must be followed, or else.

And that’s only part of what’s available. I hope you find a WE book you like. If nothing else, I hope this inspires you to publish your own books, be it through traditional means or self-publishing. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished with Woolaston Entertainment and I intend to keep writing and publishing.

Have a great week everyone.