Kallypso Masters's Blog
March 4, 2016
Read Along with the Masters on Facebook!
Today I’m launching the first group in my Read Along with the Masters series of discussions about the Rescue Me Saga over on Facebook! Join me! (See, this is me re-reading the books so they'll be fresh in my mind for these read alongs!)
Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms)!
Here's how it works. Each book will have its own Closed (but not secret!) group where we will discuss it one section at a time. You can post any questions you may have, share favorite quotes, participate in lively discussions, share your thoughts, inspiration photos, or anything else about that particular section of the book during the appropriate week. Our schedule for MASTERS AT ARMS starts Saturday, March 5 (each new week starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern US Time (New York City Time).
Each of the five sections of the introduction to the series will be given a whole week for focused discussion and we’ll conclude this book on April 8. Here's the scheudle for our first book:
March 6-11: Section 1 (Adam)
March 12-18: Section 2 (Damian)March 19-25: Section 3 (Marc)
March 26-April 1: Section 4 (The Unbreakable Bond Forms)
April 2-8: Section 5 (The Masters at Arms Club)
For each subsequent book (in order, of course, starting with NOBODY'S ANGEL), we’ll set up a new Facebook discussion group and divide the book into a random section of chapters according to the scenes. Be sure to check my Facebook Author Page on or after April 6 for information about the next Read Along group which will begin on April 9. (We'll start each group a couple of days before actual discussion begins to give everyone a chance to join and get ready.)
If you don’t have the latest updates of the books (make sure MASTERS AT ARMS is at least the April 2014 revision or later by checking the revision date on the copyright page!). You can download MASTERS AT ARMS & NOBODY’S ANGEL (Book 1) at any of the vendors that sell my books. It's still free! Find all of the links at http://kallypsomasters.com/master-at-arms-nobodys-angel/).
If you’re interested in joining the first read-along, just click the link below and my assistant Charlotte or I will add you. Discussions on Section 1 (Adam!) start at 12:01 a.m. EST Saturday, March 5 and go until 12 midnight EST Friday, March 11! See you there!Join Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms) now!
Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms)!Here's how it works. Each book will have its own Closed (but not secret!) group where we will discuss it one section at a time. You can post any questions you may have, share favorite quotes, participate in lively discussions, share your thoughts, inspiration photos, or anything else about that particular section of the book during the appropriate week. Our schedule for MASTERS AT ARMS starts Saturday, March 5 (each new week starts at 12:01 a.m. Eastern US Time (New York City Time).
Each of the five sections of the introduction to the series will be given a whole week for focused discussion and we’ll conclude this book on April 8. Here's the scheudle for our first book:
March 6-11: Section 1 (Adam)
March 12-18: Section 2 (Damian)March 19-25: Section 3 (Marc)
March 26-April 1: Section 4 (The Unbreakable Bond Forms)
April 2-8: Section 5 (The Masters at Arms Club)
For each subsequent book (in order, of course, starting with NOBODY'S ANGEL), we’ll set up a new Facebook discussion group and divide the book into a random section of chapters according to the scenes. Be sure to check my Facebook Author Page on or after April 6 for information about the next Read Along group which will begin on April 9. (We'll start each group a couple of days before actual discussion begins to give everyone a chance to join and get ready.)
If you don’t have the latest updates of the books (make sure MASTERS AT ARMS is at least the April 2014 revision or later by checking the revision date on the copyright page!). You can download MASTERS AT ARMS & NOBODY’S ANGEL (Book 1) at any of the vendors that sell my books. It's still free! Find all of the links at http://kallypsomasters.com/master-at-arms-nobodys-angel/).
If you’re interested in joining the first read-along, just click the link below and my assistant Charlotte or I will add you. Discussions on Section 1 (Adam!) start at 12:01 a.m. EST Saturday, March 5 and go until 12 midnight EST Friday, March 11! See you there!Join Read Along with Kallypso Masters (Masters at Arms) now!
August 31, 2015
Publish or Perish in the Romance-Writing World, too?
(Reposted from my Facebook Author Page)
I worked 20 years in academia as an admin assistant and editor and this had a whole different meaning then. But in the past few weeks, I've had a number of conversations with my author friends about stress, poor health, and other problems arising from the publish-or-perish mentality that's pervaded publishing for the past year when Amazon introduced KU and visibility for those of us refusing to be exclusive had our sales go down the tubes as far as finding new readers.
In writing circles, the pervading wisdom is that you have to put something out every 2-3 months or readers will dump you like a hot potato and move on. This is a phenomenon found mainly in the Romance genre. Other genres allow authors a year to publish a major-length book. Twice a year at the most. In today's world, if you can "only" put out three titles a year, you're a slacker. Seeing friends practically burning out from writing because of this constant "When's the next book?" pressure or from committing to more than a human being can do with all the marketing demands to try and stay visible in this new market really upsets me for them and for the readers. We can't churn out books like a machine. We need time between releases to refill the well of creativity.
Now, you all know I've tested the limits to the max on how long a writer can go between releases (with as much as 15 months between two of my 500-page releases in 2012-2013, but I can easily go 9-12 months between two, regardless of length). Those putting out rapid-fire releases tend to write a lot shorter or are really driven to produce (more so than I am!). And I don't think the fault lies with readers. It's something we authors have done to ourselves in that effort to return to the glory days of 2013. And changes at Amazon didn't help any, either.
But I'm going to be honest here:
1) I won't write every day. I just plod along (with my new book, I'm averaging 900 words a day--including all the days I didn't write a single word--and about 1500 a day on the days I actually worked on ROAR).
2) I don't feel a need to be in anthologies, box sets with multiple authors, Kindle Worlds, and other schemes to get my name out there on a more regular basis. (Of course, you all know I can't write short anyway!)
3) I'll publish when *I* decide my book is ready, even if it means pushing back release dates (which I did in March and landed in Amazon preorder jail for a year because I made you wait 3 more weeks to get a better book). I try very hard not to announce release dates, although I sometimes *think* I can't possibly miss and then let it slip. So far, only my team knows what I'm thinking and they also know I've already pushed it back a month.
4) I'm not going to try to chase after new readers. You all share your love of this series and those new readers find me on a slower scale than if I poured a ton of money into advertising cold to an unknown group of readers. Marketing is stressful and expensive. I don't think anything can beat word-of-mouth, though, so you all just keep talking!
I'll also admit that, since KU rolled out last summer, I bought into the notion that if I pushed myself harder, I'd get back to where I once was in rankings or sales. But I've come to realize the rankings don't matter and are so skewed now to titles in KU or Montlake or other exclusive Amazon titles that I'll never make it back into the rankings there. I'm going to try to build audiences who shop elsewhere (and just did an exclusive preorder with Apple with my box set to start).
Can I write shorter and faster? Well, while still recovering from my hysterectomy last fall, I wrote and published a 71k book in six weeks. (Possibly because I'd stopped marketing, which was a colossal waste of time and focused on writing.) And it was a book I could be proud of, too, because I'll never put out a book that isn't worth the hard-earned money you'll pay for it. Then I dove right back into finishing Nobody's Dream because you all had been waiting for Luke and Cassie's story since September 2012 and I'd put two other couples' stories ahead of them. Of course, in retrospect, those who read them can see why it had to be that way, but I took a lot of grief from upset readers during those 2.5 years demanding I drop Somebody's Angel and Nobody's Lost and get back to Dream. (I'll guess those are among the readers long gone from my reader base now. But you know what? That's fine. Hopefully they've found authors better able to give them what they want and to meet their expectations. Less stress for us all. And I'd much rather blow readers' expectations out of the water than to give them what they want or expect.
Yes, I have lost readers since 2013. Tens of thousands of them. Not even because I'm not in your face with a new release every few months, but probably more so because I chose to let my characters dictate when their story would be told and how. Different heat levels caused the erotic-only readers to drop. Even different subgenres from psychological drama/trauma to a downright Sweet Romance (well, until about page 500 when they finally exploded from all that sexual tension in DREAM). And all this in a series where the first three books are being marketed (and rightly so) as erotic romance in a box set right now. The next box set in the same series (whenever I choose to do another) will probably be eligible for steamy Contemporary Romance status.
I'd be as bored as my readers if my series had books that followed a formula and were jammed into a one-size-fits-all series box the way traditional publishers made authors write over the last 30 years. I don't plot, so if they're not talking to me, I just sit and wait. Patiently. Sometimes for days or weeks! I know the pervading wisdom for writers is to write even when you don't feel like it. Well, I may read a few chapters of a how-to-write book or do research or simply watch a movie for inspiration on those non "writing" days--but all of those activities are part of MY writing process. But to sit and force words onto the page because of an arbitrary deadline is counterproductive for me.
Despite my not dancing to the beat of the loudest drums in this business, you know what? I'm blessed with a core readership of 25k strong (based on the sales of my last two books, the least popular in a series that used to sell four times as many books).
Why the rant today? (Not ranting at you, but at this notion that we publish or perish that pervades our business right now.) I have heard from a handful of writer friends who are struggling against burning out. They're so stressed trying to keep up with writing and marketing and all the other demands that they're on the verge of making themselves sick. Seriously sick. And I know most would love to be blessed with a readership as strong as mine, even after that many readers moved on.And you know what else? I did give it a try to push harder and I will be ahead of my past few years in the number of books I'll put out in a 12-month period starting last December and until ROAR is released with three new titles and a box set with bonus materials as well. (That set kept me from working on ROAR for two weeks, but I'm glad my readership is enjoying the bonus materials I included! So much so that I'm extending the sale until Sept. 7!)
But yesterday as I realized how much more work I have to do on ROAR to meet my self-imposed deadline, I was cranky and making myself sick. I know you're going to flood this thread with lots of support because if you're still reading my posts and books, you've definitely learned to be patient with me. <smile> Still, I put more pressure on myself than my readers ever will.
So, I'm very stressed right now because I'm further behind than I want to be on ROAR. But since I haven't given you any clue when I intended to release it, I'm just doing that to myself. I have 7 intense weeks of travel coming up and rarely do well writing/editing while on the road. But I'm hoping to change that. I have a lot of appearances planned, too, thinking I'd be done with the book by then. But meeting readers energizes me so I won't back down on any of those. But I will stick to my guns and carve out writing time and not be as accessible as I've been at previous cons. I'll say good-night promptly at the end of a planned dinner and go write or edit.
And over the next three weeks before I hit the road, I'm going to bust my ass to get this story whipped into shape so that my editorial and beta teams can be working on them when I can't!
Now I'm off to hit 100k today. (I'm 5,838 words short of this arbitrary deadline.) So if I don't make it, at least I hope the story will be that much closer to a cohesive one, since it's still got a lot of holes to fill and bridges to be built (written).
But I hope my rant will give other stressed-out authors a little solidarity in making healthier choices for both their careers and their lives. I have a lot of books I want to write, but if I have a stroke or heart attack making myself sick in the process, well, where would we all be then? Thanks for your continued support and patience over these past four years! I hope I have another 24 good years to bring you more stories! And I'll do my best to stay healthy and energized to give them to you!
I worked 20 years in academia as an admin assistant and editor and this had a whole different meaning then. But in the past few weeks, I've had a number of conversations with my author friends about stress, poor health, and other problems arising from the publish-or-perish mentality that's pervaded publishing for the past year when Amazon introduced KU and visibility for those of us refusing to be exclusive had our sales go down the tubes as far as finding new readers.
In writing circles, the pervading wisdom is that you have to put something out every 2-3 months or readers will dump you like a hot potato and move on. This is a phenomenon found mainly in the Romance genre. Other genres allow authors a year to publish a major-length book. Twice a year at the most. In today's world, if you can "only" put out three titles a year, you're a slacker. Seeing friends practically burning out from writing because of this constant "When's the next book?" pressure or from committing to more than a human being can do with all the marketing demands to try and stay visible in this new market really upsets me for them and for the readers. We can't churn out books like a machine. We need time between releases to refill the well of creativity.
Now, you all know I've tested the limits to the max on how long a writer can go between releases (with as much as 15 months between two of my 500-page releases in 2012-2013, but I can easily go 9-12 months between two, regardless of length). Those putting out rapid-fire releases tend to write a lot shorter or are really driven to produce (more so than I am!). And I don't think the fault lies with readers. It's something we authors have done to ourselves in that effort to return to the glory days of 2013. And changes at Amazon didn't help any, either.
But I'm going to be honest here:
1) I won't write every day. I just plod along (with my new book, I'm averaging 900 words a day--including all the days I didn't write a single word--and about 1500 a day on the days I actually worked on ROAR).
2) I don't feel a need to be in anthologies, box sets with multiple authors, Kindle Worlds, and other schemes to get my name out there on a more regular basis. (Of course, you all know I can't write short anyway!)
3) I'll publish when *I* decide my book is ready, even if it means pushing back release dates (which I did in March and landed in Amazon preorder jail for a year because I made you wait 3 more weeks to get a better book). I try very hard not to announce release dates, although I sometimes *think* I can't possibly miss and then let it slip. So far, only my team knows what I'm thinking and they also know I've already pushed it back a month.
4) I'm not going to try to chase after new readers. You all share your love of this series and those new readers find me on a slower scale than if I poured a ton of money into advertising cold to an unknown group of readers. Marketing is stressful and expensive. I don't think anything can beat word-of-mouth, though, so you all just keep talking!
I'll also admit that, since KU rolled out last summer, I bought into the notion that if I pushed myself harder, I'd get back to where I once was in rankings or sales. But I've come to realize the rankings don't matter and are so skewed now to titles in KU or Montlake or other exclusive Amazon titles that I'll never make it back into the rankings there. I'm going to try to build audiences who shop elsewhere (and just did an exclusive preorder with Apple with my box set to start).
Can I write shorter and faster? Well, while still recovering from my hysterectomy last fall, I wrote and published a 71k book in six weeks. (Possibly because I'd stopped marketing, which was a colossal waste of time and focused on writing.) And it was a book I could be proud of, too, because I'll never put out a book that isn't worth the hard-earned money you'll pay for it. Then I dove right back into finishing Nobody's Dream because you all had been waiting for Luke and Cassie's story since September 2012 and I'd put two other couples' stories ahead of them. Of course, in retrospect, those who read them can see why it had to be that way, but I took a lot of grief from upset readers during those 2.5 years demanding I drop Somebody's Angel and Nobody's Lost and get back to Dream. (I'll guess those are among the readers long gone from my reader base now. But you know what? That's fine. Hopefully they've found authors better able to give them what they want and to meet their expectations. Less stress for us all. And I'd much rather blow readers' expectations out of the water than to give them what they want or expect.
Yes, I have lost readers since 2013. Tens of thousands of them. Not even because I'm not in your face with a new release every few months, but probably more so because I chose to let my characters dictate when their story would be told and how. Different heat levels caused the erotic-only readers to drop. Even different subgenres from psychological drama/trauma to a downright Sweet Romance (well, until about page 500 when they finally exploded from all that sexual tension in DREAM). And all this in a series where the first three books are being marketed (and rightly so) as erotic romance in a box set right now. The next box set in the same series (whenever I choose to do another) will probably be eligible for steamy Contemporary Romance status.
I'd be as bored as my readers if my series had books that followed a formula and were jammed into a one-size-fits-all series box the way traditional publishers made authors write over the last 30 years. I don't plot, so if they're not talking to me, I just sit and wait. Patiently. Sometimes for days or weeks! I know the pervading wisdom for writers is to write even when you don't feel like it. Well, I may read a few chapters of a how-to-write book or do research or simply watch a movie for inspiration on those non "writing" days--but all of those activities are part of MY writing process. But to sit and force words onto the page because of an arbitrary deadline is counterproductive for me.
Despite my not dancing to the beat of the loudest drums in this business, you know what? I'm blessed with a core readership of 25k strong (based on the sales of my last two books, the least popular in a series that used to sell four times as many books).
Why the rant today? (Not ranting at you, but at this notion that we publish or perish that pervades our business right now.) I have heard from a handful of writer friends who are struggling against burning out. They're so stressed trying to keep up with writing and marketing and all the other demands that they're on the verge of making themselves sick. Seriously sick. And I know most would love to be blessed with a readership as strong as mine, even after that many readers moved on.And you know what else? I did give it a try to push harder and I will be ahead of my past few years in the number of books I'll put out in a 12-month period starting last December and until ROAR is released with three new titles and a box set with bonus materials as well. (That set kept me from working on ROAR for two weeks, but I'm glad my readership is enjoying the bonus materials I included! So much so that I'm extending the sale until Sept. 7!)
But yesterday as I realized how much more work I have to do on ROAR to meet my self-imposed deadline, I was cranky and making myself sick. I know you're going to flood this thread with lots of support because if you're still reading my posts and books, you've definitely learned to be patient with me. <smile> Still, I put more pressure on myself than my readers ever will.
So, I'm very stressed right now because I'm further behind than I want to be on ROAR. But since I haven't given you any clue when I intended to release it, I'm just doing that to myself. I have 7 intense weeks of travel coming up and rarely do well writing/editing while on the road. But I'm hoping to change that. I have a lot of appearances planned, too, thinking I'd be done with the book by then. But meeting readers energizes me so I won't back down on any of those. But I will stick to my guns and carve out writing time and not be as accessible as I've been at previous cons. I'll say good-night promptly at the end of a planned dinner and go write or edit.
And over the next three weeks before I hit the road, I'm going to bust my ass to get this story whipped into shape so that my editorial and beta teams can be working on them when I can't!
Now I'm off to hit 100k today. (I'm 5,838 words short of this arbitrary deadline.) So if I don't make it, at least I hope the story will be that much closer to a cohesive one, since it's still got a lot of holes to fill and bridges to be built (written).
But I hope my rant will give other stressed-out authors a little solidarity in making healthier choices for both their careers and their lives. I have a lot of books I want to write, but if I have a stroke or heart attack making myself sick in the process, well, where would we all be then? Thanks for your continued support and patience over these past four years! I hope I have another 24 good years to bring you more stories! And I'll do my best to stay healthy and energized to give them to you!
May 18, 2015
Two Up Close and Personal Gatherings for Readers!
Two Opportunities to Get Up Close and Personal with Kally This Year!
You know how much I love to hang out with readers. Yes, I'll be doing some of the big conferences (including Lori Foster's Reader And Author Get-Together in June, which is sold out, but there are two public signings, including one Friday afternoon, June 5, which I'll be at, and one Saturday afternoon with other authors) and RomCon (not to late to register for this one in September!).
But I want MORE! More what? More face time with my readers where we can just hang out and enjoy each other's company without too many distractions and overbooked programs.
So I have two events planned this year where we can do just that!
First Up:the Rescue Me Saga
Sightseeing Tour of Colorado!
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From Sept. 21-24, I'm taking a very small group of readers (limit 25, including Charlotte and me!) on a tour of the places in Colorado that will have you feeling as if you walked into the pages of my books. This tour will take place in the days leading up to RomCon (a reader-author conference in Denver Sept. 25-27). We won't spend a lot of time in Denver, but will take a bus to the Breckenridge, Park County, and Beaver Creek areas so I can show you some of my inspiration sights, talk with you about the books and characters, and just hang out for a few days in an amazing place. Of course, I'll have a few places to show you in Denver, too!
We're still planning the trip's itinerary and, honestly, when we created our Google interest form, we didn't quite know what the plan would be. We'll know more after we find out just how many readers are interested in hopping on the bus and what type of lodging we can book! (We could go with hotels or rent a huge vacation house to accommodate one helluva slumber party!) Soon, we'll be asking for a non-refundable $100 deposit at which point we can gauge who is seriously planning to join us. The cut-off to register will be in the next month or so so that we can book the bus and make lodging arrangements. If you'd like to be in on the planning discussions (no need to pay anything at this point), express your interest level for the Rescue Me Saga 2015 Sightseeing Tour of Colorado here. Most likely we'll set up a Facebook group, but if anyone can't be on Facebook, then we can attempt another way of discussing the trip!
Among some of the places we'll visit on the tour are The Pines resort in Beaver Creek (inspiration for the D'Alessio family's lodge/resort), Hoosier Pass (inspiration for Iron Horse Pass, where Cassie's cabin is located), and Alma and Fairplay in Park County (inspiration for Aspen Corners and Fairchance, respectively, in my saga). We'll also visit Mount Evans AND the house in Denver that inspired me as the location for the Masters at Arms Club. (No, you can't go to the door and ask if you can play with Adam, Marc, or Damian! The owners have NO idea how their house was immortalized in the pages of my books!)
I'm so looking forward to sharing these special places with you and just spending a few days hanging out in gorgeous Colorado! This trip will be one-of-a-kind! Do NOT miss the bus! Here are a couple pics of some of the readers who took the first sightseeing tour (in Southern California back in 2013). I promise we'll explore some exciting places, then relax over dinners and other meals as we talk about the books! Cost is all-inclusive (meals, lodging, transportation) but we're still calculating costs until we know how many days we need the bus, how many nights lodging (we counted on two so far in our $400 estimate with double occupancy, but single occupancy would be more, adding Monday night more, or we could make out better by renting a big vacation home--so until I know who wants to go and what we're going to do, I can't set the final price. Hoping to do that by later this month, tho! Definitely before asking anyone to sign up and put down a deposit!)
(Touring the Thousand Steps Beach, site of two hot beach cave scenes)
(Touring La Valencia in La Jolla, inspiration for where Damian and Savannah met)But that's not all!
I've invited six special author friends who all write Military Romance (and sometimes in other subgenres) to the second annual KallypsoCon! Joining me this year are New York Times and/or USA Today bestselling authors Sharon Hamilton, Cristin Harber, Elle James, Kennedy Layne, J.M. Madden, and Teresa Reasor. These award-winning authors and I will be gathering for one very special Halloween weekend in New England at Nashua, N.H. Join us, too! The $200 registration fee includes two buffet dinners with drinks, open bar at the Halloween Party, Saturday breakfast, Sunday champagne brunch, presentation and ad-lib sessions with the authors, plus Top Griz (who has helped a number of us with our military and weapons facts!), a two-hour Q&A session with all 7 authors where you can ask anything (and will be surprised at how honest we'll be in our responses!), fun and games, a chance to have a meal with a different author each time, a bag filled with premium swag goodies from each of the authors, and lots of opportunities to hang out in between programmed events for some awesome Military Romance authors.
Here's what readers from all over the United States, Canada, and the world (we had readers from the UK and Australia there!) said about the first KallypsoCon:
“The whole weekend was so much fun and meeting you all was so great. Often times you meet celebrities (please know I am a dork and authors are celebrity in my little world ) and they aren't as great as you thought they would be but you guys were all so lovely and flipping hysterical.” (Deana)
“A HUGE shout out to Kallypso Masters for bringing together some of the loveliest ladies, readers, and like-minded thinkers for a more than memorable weekend at Kallypsocon 2014!! We laughed til we cried, and we have stories to tell! (Boy oh boy...!) And a special thanks to each of the amazing authors who made this weekend ROCK!” (Annalise)
“I loved the whole weekend and it was well worth the long flights thank you, Kallypso and Charlotte, for organising it all!” (Ruth)
“I was lucky to be able to attend. All of you who wished you could have been there missed getting to really know all these great ladies. Keep watching for announcement when the next one will be so you have more time to make your dream come true.” (Sabrina)
Don't miss out on the 2015 KallypsoCon (click this link to learn more)! Register TODAY before we fill up the 100 reader spots! I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at this year's events!
Here are some photos from last year's event:
Readers playing Cards Against Humanity with Annabel Joseph
Discussion during the panel session.
Kennedy Layne will be returning for KallypsoCon 2015 and bringing Hubby Griz (Top Griz to me!) with her this time!
March 6, 2015
Read a long excerpt of NOBODY'S DREAM (releasing March 31!)
I know some of you did not get the announcements via social media last month that the release date of NOBODY'S DREAM has been moved to March 31. As you know, I will not release a book to you before I know it's the best it can be. It simply was not ready. However, it's very close to being ready now and WILL be released March 31. Anyone who preordered it at Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks, or Barnes & Noble, you WILL receive it on that date without doing anything further.
So who wants an excerpt? If you missed it via my newsletter or social media, I shared the Prologue and Chapter One via my newsletter two days ago. DISCLAIMER: My editors, betas, and proofreaders are still going over it for the final time, so there might still be some typos or things that will change in the final.
Of course, if you have read SOMEBODY'S ANGEL and the post-avalanche scene with Cassie and Luke in it, there are no spoilers in this excerpt. This is the very opening of NOBODY'S DREAM as you will read it when the book is released later this month. (Parts of NOBODY'S LOST will be important in DREAM later, too, so if you haven't had a chance to read that one, do so. Ryder and Megan's journey will continue in NOBODY'S DREAM and there will be spoilers if you don't read LOST first.)
Enjoy!
Click here to read the excerpt
in my newsletter (web version)!
NOBODY'S DREAM Order Links
You can preorder (or order if you are reading this March 31 or later) NOBODY'S DREAM at the following book retailers:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Mb2945
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/16PblKp
Amazon Australia: http://bit.ly/1KKvZc1
Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/1AbGofd
Barnes & Noble NOOK: http://bit.ly/1LjoevV
Kobo: http://bit.ly/17yj7ZF
Coming to other retailers (including Google Play and All Romance eBooks) after March 31!
Not caught up with the First "Five" Books?
And if you need to catch up on the earlier books in the series, you will find ALL buy links and the reading order (as listed on this page) on my web site's Rescue Me Saga page! Please read all in order! (Yes, NOBODY'S LOST provided a new entry point for NEW readers and can stand alone, but the hope is they then go back to the beginning and read through. You definitely wouldn't want to read DREAM until after reading LOST, though, or you are going to have chapters and scenes with characters you haven't met yet--Ryder and Megan! (Ryder has even replaced some of the other guys as readers' all-time favorite book boyfriend. Find out why in NOBODY'S LOST. While it's a short novel, it's longer than MASTERS AT ARMS, so only short by MY standards!)
December 9, 2014
NOBODY'S LOST is LIVE!!!Purchase NOBODY'S LOST (Rescue Me...
NOBODY'S LOST is LIVE!!!Purchase NOBODY'S LOST (Rescue Me Saga #5) NOW via Amazon, Apple iBOOKS, Barnes & Noble NOOK, or Kobo at the buy links below. (Coming on Dec. 15 to All Romance eBooks and Google Play. Print version will be published in a couple of months.)
URGENT! If you preordered or downloaded NOBODY'S LOST from Amazon and opened it to find only the cover for LOST and then the entire content of NOBODY'S HERO, this obviously was an error. Please follow these instructions to update to the correct book! My apologies for the mixup!
UPDATE: PROBLEM HAS BEEN CORRECTED, but the fix isn't automatic.THIS IS FOR AMAZON SHOPPERS ONLY--both those who pre-ordered and anyone who bought the book when it goes live.If your e-copy of NOBODY’S LOST was actually filled with NOBODY’S HERO content, the UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! Please contact Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us via Live Chat or Phone and let them know you want the updated version. Thanks so much for your patience!
A standalone novel about two characters with very minor mentions in the earlier books.
Ryder Wilson returned from serving multiple deployments but can't leave the hell of combat behind him. Frustrated and ashamed of his inability to function in the world as well as the veterans he served with, he retreated, choosing to engage only with those he trusted. When retired Master Sergeant Adam Montague sends him on a mission to protect his sister from some unknown danger, Ryder's days of hiding out may be over. Can he fulfill his mission without failing again?
Megan Gallagher has two big-brother Marines bent on protecting her from the evils of the world, but she's tougher than they think. When her older brother sends Ryder, one of his recon Marines, to her doorstep in the wee hours one night following a break-in, she realizes he needs rescuing more than she does. A friendship forms quickly, but unexpected passions run hot and complicate her resolve never to have a romantic relationship, much less marriage. So why are her body and her heart betraying her every time he comes near?
Can these two wounded people lower their defenses long enough to allow love to grow?
Buy today at:Apple iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/nobodys-lost/id940259903NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nobodys-lost-kal…/1120730866Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nobody-s-lostAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PHUL0WK
URGENT! If you preordered or downloaded NOBODY'S LOST from Amazon and opened it to find only the cover for LOST and then the entire content of NOBODY'S HERO, this obviously was an error. Please follow these instructions to update to the correct book! My apologies for the mixup!
UPDATE: PROBLEM HAS BEEN CORRECTED, but the fix isn't automatic.THIS IS FOR AMAZON SHOPPERS ONLY--both those who pre-ordered and anyone who bought the book when it goes live.If your e-copy of NOBODY’S LOST was actually filled with NOBODY’S HERO content, the UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! Please contact Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us via Live Chat or Phone and let them know you want the updated version. Thanks so much for your patience!
A standalone novel about two characters with very minor mentions in the earlier books.
Ryder Wilson returned from serving multiple deployments but can't leave the hell of combat behind him. Frustrated and ashamed of his inability to function in the world as well as the veterans he served with, he retreated, choosing to engage only with those he trusted. When retired Master Sergeant Adam Montague sends him on a mission to protect his sister from some unknown danger, Ryder's days of hiding out may be over. Can he fulfill his mission without failing again?
Megan Gallagher has two big-brother Marines bent on protecting her from the evils of the world, but she's tougher than they think. When her older brother sends Ryder, one of his recon Marines, to her doorstep in the wee hours one night following a break-in, she realizes he needs rescuing more than she does. A friendship forms quickly, but unexpected passions run hot and complicate her resolve never to have a romantic relationship, much less marriage. So why are her body and her heart betraying her every time he comes near?
Can these two wounded people lower their defenses long enough to allow love to grow?
Buy today at:Apple iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/nobodys-lost/id940259903NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nobodys-lost-kal…/1120730866Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nobody-s-lostAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PHUL0WK
NOBODY'S LOST is LIVE!!!Purchase NOBODY'S LOST (Resc...
NOBODY'S LOST is LIVE!!!Purchase NOBODY'S LOST (Rescue Me Saga #5) NOW via Amazon, Apple iBOOKS, Barnes & Noble NOOK, or Kobo at the buy links below. (Coming on Dec. 15 to All Romance eBooks and Google Play. Print version will be published in a couple of months.)
URGENT! If you preordered or downloaded NOBODY'S LOST from Amazon and opened it to find only the cover for LOST and then the entire content of NOBODY'S HERO, this obviously was an error. Please follow these instructions to update to the correct book! My apologies for the mixup!
UPDATE: PROBLEM HAS BEEN CORRECTED, but the fix isn't automatic.THIS IS FOR AMAZON SHOPPERS ONLY--both those who pre-ordered and anyone who bought the book when it goes live.If your e-copy of NOBODY’S LOST was actually filled with NOBODY’S HERO content, the UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! Please contact Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us via Live Chat or Phone and let them know you want the updated version. Thanks so much for your patience!
A standalone novel about two characters with very minor mentions in the earlier books.
Ryder Wilson returned from serving multiple deployments but can't leave the hell of combat behind him. Frustrated and ashamed of his inability to function in the world as well as the veterans he served with, he retreated, choosing to engage only with those he trusted. When retired Master Sergeant Adam Montague sends him on a mission to protect his sister from some unknown danger, Ryder's days of hiding out may be over. Can he fulfill his mission without failing again?
Megan Gallagher has two big-brother Marines bent on protecting her from the evils of the world, but she's tougher than they think. When her older brother sends Ryder, one of his recon Marines, to her doorstep in the wee hours one night following a break-in, she realizes he needs rescuing more than she does. A friendship forms quickly, but unexpected passions run hot and complicate her resolve never to have a romantic relationship, much less marriage. So why are her body and her heart betraying her every time he comes near?
Can these two wounded people lower their defenses long enough to allow love to grow?
Buy today at:Apple iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/nobodys-lost/id940259903NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nobodys-lost-kal…/1120730866Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nobody-s-lostAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PHUL0WK
URGENT! If you preordered or downloaded NOBODY'S LOST from Amazon and opened it to find only the cover for LOST and then the entire content of NOBODY'S HERO, this obviously was an error. Please follow these instructions to update to the correct book! My apologies for the mixup!
UPDATE: PROBLEM HAS BEEN CORRECTED, but the fix isn't automatic.THIS IS FOR AMAZON SHOPPERS ONLY--both those who pre-ordered and anyone who bought the book when it goes live.If your e-copy of NOBODY’S LOST was actually filled with NOBODY’S HERO content, the UPDATE IS NOW AVAILABLE! Please contact Amazon athttps://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us via Live Chat or Phone and let them know you want the updated version. Thanks so much for your patience!
A standalone novel about two characters with very minor mentions in the earlier books.
Ryder Wilson returned from serving multiple deployments but can't leave the hell of combat behind him. Frustrated and ashamed of his inability to function in the world as well as the veterans he served with, he retreated, choosing to engage only with those he trusted. When retired Master Sergeant Adam Montague sends him on a mission to protect his sister from some unknown danger, Ryder's days of hiding out may be over. Can he fulfill his mission without failing again?
Megan Gallagher has two big-brother Marines bent on protecting her from the evils of the world, but she's tougher than they think. When her older brother sends Ryder, one of his recon Marines, to her doorstep in the wee hours one night following a break-in, she realizes he needs rescuing more than she does. A friendship forms quickly, but unexpected passions run hot and complicate her resolve never to have a romantic relationship, much less marriage. So why are her body and her heart betraying her every time he comes near?
Can these two wounded people lower their defenses long enough to allow love to grow?
Buy today at:Apple iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/nobodys-lost/id940259903NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nobodys-lost-kal…/1120730866Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/nobody-s-lostAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PHUL0WK
Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00PHUL0WK
October 2, 2014
Kally is Cancer Free and Charging Full Steam Ahead!
I know my diehard fans have been keeping up with my postings on my Facebook timeline during this whirlwind last four weeks. For those who aren't on Facebook (and for those reading this via Goodreads), it's been two weeks since my surgery and I just wanted to report that I am cancer free and recovering slowly.
To update those not aware of the situation, over the summer, I noticed some irregular spotting. I've been in menopause for several years and learned there is NO reason to be spotting at this point in life, so I hightailed it to my gynecologist in August. She ordered an ultrasound the same day which showed abnormalities in the size of the lining of my uterus and scheduled me for the D&C, which was done Sept. 4. On Sept. 13, I got the news that it was uterine cancer and I was sent to the state's research hospital to meet my gynecological oncologist Sept. 17.
I had hoped to postpone surgery until after KallypsoCon (Oct. 10-12 in the Seattle area), but my surgeon and my hubby decided that was too long a wait. When the poor surgeon came back in the examination room to find me in tears, he offered to do the surgery the next day if he could get an operating room, then I would have three full weeks to recover before KallypsoCon. He told me I'd be sore, but that it was do-able as long as I followed his orders (basically walking up and down the aisle of the plane and taking my nightly anti-blood-clotting shots.) I think he also could see my healing would be faster if I wasn't depressed about missing my first KallypsoCon!
Tomorrow (Oct. 3), we will give final counts to the hotel for the meals. If you want to join us in Everett (it's about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle) for this special weekend, here's the info page: KallypsoCon 2014. (NOTE: We are now serving two dinners and two breakfasts instead of what was listed as meals on the Web site originally. I figured I'm already in the hole, so why pay the hotel for ballroom/meeting fees when we can get some nice meals for that money instead <g>).
Today it has been two full weeks since my total abdominal hysterectomy. Still sore. Still tired. Situation normal, I am told. I'm thrilled to know that all of the cancer that attacked my body is now gone. I truly am blessed and urge you all to PAY ATTENTION to your body's signs and to your intuition. It was a combination of those factors that saved me from having to undergo more extensive treatments than having a hysterectomy. My cancer was contained in my uterus and the surgeon said it hadn't traveled from anywhere else. (Oncologists have ways of determining that. I just trust them.) So, I can truly say I am a Uterine Cancer Survivor!
Tonight I'm going to book flights for my hubby and me so that we will be in Everett, Wash., a couple days before the conference is scheduled to begin. I'm so fortunate to have an awesome personal assistant, Charlotte Oliver, handling almost everything for me regarding this conference (among other things). I also chose some really awesome authors to be there with me (Lexi Blake / Sophie Oak, Eliza Gayle, Annabel Joseph, Kennedy Layne, Red Phoenix, and Cherise Sinclair). They and their entourages will also be a great help to make sure all goes smoothly so that I can disappear for naps when needed and to make sure I don't life more than 10 pounds, per surgeon's orders.
Even if you don't want to do the full weekend, consider coming to the public signing 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Holiday Inn Downtown Everett. Lots of cool swag to give away, as well as some door prizes. If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at this event site. Otherwise, just comment below and we'll be watching for you!
My husband, who will accompany me at KallypsoCon--only to be there for me. He REALLY doesn't want to be around for BDSM demos and such. But I think the Dom who will be doing the demos will do such a fabulous job. Luckily, that's only one evening out of the whole weekend, so mostly it will be book talk, games, a book signing, and just readers and authors hanging out and enjoying each other's company.
I've been home about 9 days now and have just been lazing around, popping pain killers, watching TV (I discovered Once Upon a Time!), and reading both for fun and to learn some new tricks for marketing.
Now for an update on Nobody's Dream (Luke & Cassie's story). Book five in the Rescue Me Saga was in the hands of beta readers and five of my editors these past two weeks (while I was incapacitated physically and mentally) but the files have been coming back and Charlotte has been putting beta suggestions into a master file for me that I plan to open up tomorrow. Then I'll start going through my editor's files. Not sure how this will go. I get tired very easily still, but I'm anxious to get back to work. As long as I don't overdo it, I think it can't hurt anything.
I still have some unwritten chapters and scenes to do, too. That will be harder than incorporating minor changes. While I had a target publication date in mind before all of this cancer stuff, that date seems daunting right now. So I am just going to take it one day at a time and see how quickly I can get the book into line edits and then proofreading. I still want to do a preorder for it, as well. I am still expecting a fall release date, just not as early as once anticipated maybe. To make sure you don't miss out on announcements, you can sign up for my newsletter OR my phone text alert (US cell phones only):
NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION
TEXT ALERT SUBSCRIPTION
Newsletters will be used to impart much more news than the text alerts. The latter will be used to announce preorder status, then the actual release when it goes live, but nothing else.
Before I go take a nap, I just want to thank everyone who sent prayers, healing thoughts/energy, and virtual hugs to me while I went through this unexpected ordeal. I know I had it easier than most cancer survivors (surgery alone and my fucking cancer was gone). My thoughts and prayers are with all who are still in the trenches kicking their own cancer's ass.
To update those not aware of the situation, over the summer, I noticed some irregular spotting. I've been in menopause for several years and learned there is NO reason to be spotting at this point in life, so I hightailed it to my gynecologist in August. She ordered an ultrasound the same day which showed abnormalities in the size of the lining of my uterus and scheduled me for the D&C, which was done Sept. 4. On Sept. 13, I got the news that it was uterine cancer and I was sent to the state's research hospital to meet my gynecological oncologist Sept. 17.
I had hoped to postpone surgery until after KallypsoCon (Oct. 10-12 in the Seattle area), but my surgeon and my hubby decided that was too long a wait. When the poor surgeon came back in the examination room to find me in tears, he offered to do the surgery the next day if he could get an operating room, then I would have three full weeks to recover before KallypsoCon. He told me I'd be sore, but that it was do-able as long as I followed his orders (basically walking up and down the aisle of the plane and taking my nightly anti-blood-clotting shots.) I think he also could see my healing would be faster if I wasn't depressed about missing my first KallypsoCon!
Tomorrow (Oct. 3), we will give final counts to the hotel for the meals. If you want to join us in Everett (it's about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle) for this special weekend, here's the info page: KallypsoCon 2014. (NOTE: We are now serving two dinners and two breakfasts instead of what was listed as meals on the Web site originally. I figured I'm already in the hole, so why pay the hotel for ballroom/meeting fees when we can get some nice meals for that money instead <g>).
Today it has been two full weeks since my total abdominal hysterectomy. Still sore. Still tired. Situation normal, I am told. I'm thrilled to know that all of the cancer that attacked my body is now gone. I truly am blessed and urge you all to PAY ATTENTION to your body's signs and to your intuition. It was a combination of those factors that saved me from having to undergo more extensive treatments than having a hysterectomy. My cancer was contained in my uterus and the surgeon said it hadn't traveled from anywhere else. (Oncologists have ways of determining that. I just trust them.) So, I can truly say I am a Uterine Cancer Survivor!
Tonight I'm going to book flights for my hubby and me so that we will be in Everett, Wash., a couple days before the conference is scheduled to begin. I'm so fortunate to have an awesome personal assistant, Charlotte Oliver, handling almost everything for me regarding this conference (among other things). I also chose some really awesome authors to be there with me (Lexi Blake / Sophie Oak, Eliza Gayle, Annabel Joseph, Kennedy Layne, Red Phoenix, and Cherise Sinclair). They and their entourages will also be a great help to make sure all goes smoothly so that I can disappear for naps when needed and to make sure I don't life more than 10 pounds, per surgeon's orders.
Even if you don't want to do the full weekend, consider coming to the public signing 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Holiday Inn Downtown Everett. Lots of cool swag to give away, as well as some door prizes. If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at this event site. Otherwise, just comment below and we'll be watching for you!
My husband, who will accompany me at KallypsoCon--only to be there for me. He REALLY doesn't want to be around for BDSM demos and such. But I think the Dom who will be doing the demos will do such a fabulous job. Luckily, that's only one evening out of the whole weekend, so mostly it will be book talk, games, a book signing, and just readers and authors hanging out and enjoying each other's company.
I've been home about 9 days now and have just been lazing around, popping pain killers, watching TV (I discovered Once Upon a Time!), and reading both for fun and to learn some new tricks for marketing.
Now for an update on Nobody's Dream (Luke & Cassie's story). Book five in the Rescue Me Saga was in the hands of beta readers and five of my editors these past two weeks (while I was incapacitated physically and mentally) but the files have been coming back and Charlotte has been putting beta suggestions into a master file for me that I plan to open up tomorrow. Then I'll start going through my editor's files. Not sure how this will go. I get tired very easily still, but I'm anxious to get back to work. As long as I don't overdo it, I think it can't hurt anything.
I still have some unwritten chapters and scenes to do, too. That will be harder than incorporating minor changes. While I had a target publication date in mind before all of this cancer stuff, that date seems daunting right now. So I am just going to take it one day at a time and see how quickly I can get the book into line edits and then proofreading. I still want to do a preorder for it, as well. I am still expecting a fall release date, just not as early as once anticipated maybe. To make sure you don't miss out on announcements, you can sign up for my newsletter OR my phone text alert (US cell phones only):
NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION
TEXT ALERT SUBSCRIPTION
Newsletters will be used to impart much more news than the text alerts. The latter will be used to announce preorder status, then the actual release when it goes live, but nothing else.
Before I go take a nap, I just want to thank everyone who sent prayers, healing thoughts/energy, and virtual hugs to me while I went through this unexpected ordeal. I know I had it easier than most cancer survivors (surgery alone and my fucking cancer was gone). My thoughts and prayers are with all who are still in the trenches kicking their own cancer's ass.
May 2, 2014
"The Artist's Way" Rescues Me Again
Just wanted to say how much I adore Julia Cameron for writing and sharing "The Artist's Way." I've never actually read and done the whole program (I always got stuck about Chapter Four), but twice she's saved my creative life. The first time was when I quit my job (three years ago April 15). In fact, this book helped me make the decision to leave my job. I had attended a weekend workshop on The Artist's Way and realized my job was a Crazymaker in my life and I was a Shadow Artist. (Go to Julia's web site to learn more about the terms in the book and this blog post. You can find The Artist's Way in any used bookstore.
Crazymaker and Shadow Artist are two of the buzz words used in the original "The Artist's Way," but it became clear to me in that workshop that my purpose in life wasn't to be a part-time editor on a technical publication (college catalog). The Universe, God, or Whomever keeps things going had been very clear when I was about to graduate from college back in 2001 that I was supposed "to give a voice to the voiceless." I was so far off my life's purpose that I had become stressed and depressed and hadn't written a word in two years. (Looking back, I've discovered that I always get depressed when I'm not going in the direction I should be. You'd think I'd figure this out more quickly, but usually not.)
The day after that weekend workshop ended, I turned in my resignation with three weeks' notice and then kept writing my Morning Pages faithfully every morning. You'll learn more in online sites (there are tons of them if you don't want to find the books!), but these are three stream-of-consciousness pages, handwritten in a notebook, journal, scraps of paper (I suggest something bound, tho, that you can flip back through later when looking for inspiration) where you just write the first thing that comes to mind. Don't type them. There is something about that connection of pen and paper that makes them even more powerful.
Most of my early entries were anything but creative. I hadn't written a creative thing for two years, too stressed out with my Crazymaker job. So it became a diary at first. What I did yesterday. What I planned to do today. A list of to-do items.
I left my job thinking I would find a new job, but in retrospect, I realize I was just applying for more jobs that turn into new Shadow Artist ones. I knew from hanging out with members of the Romance Writers of America that making a living as a novelist would take years, though, and I didn't have that much savings to hang out that long. But my husband agreed to give me a year off to regroup and figure out what I want to do in life. I went into super-homemaker mode a while (still no creativity) and tried to find ways to cut costs so we wouldn't deplete our savings.
And every morning, I wrote three pages of this random stuff in my journal.
About two weeks after the end of the day job, characters began showing up on the page. I'd written Nobody's Angel two years before (to the month) and Marc, Luke, and Angelina were among the characters who popped in. I'd learned at my Kentucky RWA chapter meeting that erotic romance was popular and authors in that genre actually were making a living at writing. So I had written another book, enjoyed the writing of erotic romance, and then wrote Angel. Then the job exploded and I didn't do anything with it, even though Samhain had asked me to send it to them. (I had submitted the first ER novella to them for an anthology it wasn't right for, but apparently they saw something they liked in my style.)
And then life exploded (three years ago this weekend). My sister's cancer metastasized and I was at the oncology visit with her when she got the devastating news. When I came home that night, I was drained and the thought of writing anything escaped me, but my friends in the Naughty Romance Writers secret group on Facebook told me I should write to express my emotion about it. So, sitting at my dining room table, with NCIS on the TV in the next room (it's almost always on in the next room <g>), I decided to write a scene that would put all the worst that could happen into it so that then I could get that fear out and would be more helpful to my sister as she fought the fight of her life.
Enter Adam. Sitting at a bus station in Chicago, devastated that his wife of 20 years had lost her battle with cancer. Not wanting to continue his own life. Not knowing how to go back to Camp Pendleton to be there for his Marines when he didn't know whether he wanted to dive into the bottle again or pull the trigger. With NCIS on, his voice and face were very much Leroy Jethro Gibbs's. <g> I can't tell you if Karla showed up that night or not. I doubt I really got that far. But this scene, with all it's back-story telling, becomes the opening scene of my free introduction, Masters at Arms. (See book list and reading order for the Rescue Me Saga here.)
The next morning, I pulled out my notebook again and wrote my mandatory three Morning Pages. I tried to figure out how to save this man from himself. Now enters Karla. Working with Phil Gigante as he interprets that scene for the audiobook version opened my eyes to some things that hadn't occurred to me. Adam's very voice changes in that scene as he is slowly pulled back to life by the young, vibrant Karla. He goes from a gruff, surly, near-dead man to the reluctant hero to someone who can laugh again for the first time in...well, forever.
I'm convinced that doing my Morning Pages for the five weeks preceding that event is what opened up my creativity again and made writing that scene possible. Now fast forward three years. I'm working on book five in the series (Nobody's Dream, due out later this year if I can finish it by then). But connecting with the characters this spring has become a daily chore. They just aren't speaking to me the way they did when I wrote the first 60,000 words of the book (mostly in the first half of the book).
In one of those moments of clarity, yesterday it occurred to me that these two are very private loners. They just aren't as open to sharing their story as say Adam and Karla or Damian and Savannah. Marc, on the other hand, is much like Luke and Cassie and I remembered that my Morning Pages had helped me connect with him and take him from the cardboard-character stud he was in the original draft of Nobody's Angel to the more fleshed-out character he was when that book finally was published in September 2011 after two MAJOR rewrites (including gutting all but 35,000 words at one point and adding 85,000 new ones).
When it came time to further delve into Marc's psyche in the writing of Somebody's Angel (Rescue Me Saga #4), the MPs helped me free him.
Once again, I made the decision that I needed to do Morning Pages. But it was late in the afternoon--as I posted on my Facebook Author Page--and I am impulsive and impatient, so I took a nap. I didn't want to wait until morning to start! I woke up three hours later and wrote my first three pages in the remnants of a notebook from my college years 13 years ago with homework assignments and notes ripped out. Had to find something quick! No time to go buy a shiny new one at the store (but I can see I need to hit the school supply sales this summer to stock up because I need to keep doing these!).
In my entry last night, I spelled out to the Universe what I was struggling with in the story. I didn't find any answers, although I did make some notes about how to tweak some existing scenes. I just asked what I needed to do to help these two find their happiness together. I threw in a few to-do items, as well. When you write Morning Pages, the point is to declutter your mind from extraneous information and worries as much as it is to tap into your muse or creativity. So I got those out of the way and wrote in the margins "Do--Bus" (for to-do and business) and then kept writing.
After a two-hour phone call with a reader turned friend who made it clear that my writing these stories isn't about achieving fame and fortune, but meeting my purpose in life--to give a voice to the voiceless. I wrote a couple hundred more words last night (well, early this morning), and then went back to bed. Six hours later, I got up, picked up the notebook (even before my bagel, but with my Diet Coke with Lime at my side), and wrote my second batch of three pages.
Holy shit! Not only did I get answers to where Luke & Cassie needed to go in Nobody's Dream, but Adam & Karla and Marc & Angelina, as well! There are multiple scenes I can write, so I am now going to dive into writing again--and I'm going to kick some serious word-count ass today! Hopefully that means not a lot of Facebook time, but I wrote this blog to inform my readers of my whereabouts (just where they want me to be--butt planted in chair and writing)--and to help other writers who might benefit from the miracle of the Morning Pages!
To learn more, I just found this companion booklet at Amazon for only $2.99. (It's not an e-book.) Probably also available at Apple and Barnes & Noble Nook. It's called The Miracle of the Morning Pages--and the author answers frequently asked questions about the MPs. I firmly believe MPs do bring miracles to our writing!
Crazymaker and Shadow Artist are two of the buzz words used in the original "The Artist's Way," but it became clear to me in that workshop that my purpose in life wasn't to be a part-time editor on a technical publication (college catalog). The Universe, God, or Whomever keeps things going had been very clear when I was about to graduate from college back in 2001 that I was supposed "to give a voice to the voiceless." I was so far off my life's purpose that I had become stressed and depressed and hadn't written a word in two years. (Looking back, I've discovered that I always get depressed when I'm not going in the direction I should be. You'd think I'd figure this out more quickly, but usually not.)
The day after that weekend workshop ended, I turned in my resignation with three weeks' notice and then kept writing my Morning Pages faithfully every morning. You'll learn more in online sites (there are tons of them if you don't want to find the books!), but these are three stream-of-consciousness pages, handwritten in a notebook, journal, scraps of paper (I suggest something bound, tho, that you can flip back through later when looking for inspiration) where you just write the first thing that comes to mind. Don't type them. There is something about that connection of pen and paper that makes them even more powerful.
Most of my early entries were anything but creative. I hadn't written a creative thing for two years, too stressed out with my Crazymaker job. So it became a diary at first. What I did yesterday. What I planned to do today. A list of to-do items.
I left my job thinking I would find a new job, but in retrospect, I realize I was just applying for more jobs that turn into new Shadow Artist ones. I knew from hanging out with members of the Romance Writers of America that making a living as a novelist would take years, though, and I didn't have that much savings to hang out that long. But my husband agreed to give me a year off to regroup and figure out what I want to do in life. I went into super-homemaker mode a while (still no creativity) and tried to find ways to cut costs so we wouldn't deplete our savings.
And every morning, I wrote three pages of this random stuff in my journal.
About two weeks after the end of the day job, characters began showing up on the page. I'd written Nobody's Angel two years before (to the month) and Marc, Luke, and Angelina were among the characters who popped in. I'd learned at my Kentucky RWA chapter meeting that erotic romance was popular and authors in that genre actually were making a living at writing. So I had written another book, enjoyed the writing of erotic romance, and then wrote Angel. Then the job exploded and I didn't do anything with it, even though Samhain had asked me to send it to them. (I had submitted the first ER novella to them for an anthology it wasn't right for, but apparently they saw something they liked in my style.)
And then life exploded (three years ago this weekend). My sister's cancer metastasized and I was at the oncology visit with her when she got the devastating news. When I came home that night, I was drained and the thought of writing anything escaped me, but my friends in the Naughty Romance Writers secret group on Facebook told me I should write to express my emotion about it. So, sitting at my dining room table, with NCIS on the TV in the next room (it's almost always on in the next room <g>), I decided to write a scene that would put all the worst that could happen into it so that then I could get that fear out and would be more helpful to my sister as she fought the fight of her life.
Enter Adam. Sitting at a bus station in Chicago, devastated that his wife of 20 years had lost her battle with cancer. Not wanting to continue his own life. Not knowing how to go back to Camp Pendleton to be there for his Marines when he didn't know whether he wanted to dive into the bottle again or pull the trigger. With NCIS on, his voice and face were very much Leroy Jethro Gibbs's. <g> I can't tell you if Karla showed up that night or not. I doubt I really got that far. But this scene, with all it's back-story telling, becomes the opening scene of my free introduction, Masters at Arms. (See book list and reading order for the Rescue Me Saga here.)
The next morning, I pulled out my notebook again and wrote my mandatory three Morning Pages. I tried to figure out how to save this man from himself. Now enters Karla. Working with Phil Gigante as he interprets that scene for the audiobook version opened my eyes to some things that hadn't occurred to me. Adam's very voice changes in that scene as he is slowly pulled back to life by the young, vibrant Karla. He goes from a gruff, surly, near-dead man to the reluctant hero to someone who can laugh again for the first time in...well, forever.
I'm convinced that doing my Morning Pages for the five weeks preceding that event is what opened up my creativity again and made writing that scene possible. Now fast forward three years. I'm working on book five in the series (Nobody's Dream, due out later this year if I can finish it by then). But connecting with the characters this spring has become a daily chore. They just aren't speaking to me the way they did when I wrote the first 60,000 words of the book (mostly in the first half of the book).
In one of those moments of clarity, yesterday it occurred to me that these two are very private loners. They just aren't as open to sharing their story as say Adam and Karla or Damian and Savannah. Marc, on the other hand, is much like Luke and Cassie and I remembered that my Morning Pages had helped me connect with him and take him from the cardboard-character stud he was in the original draft of Nobody's Angel to the more fleshed-out character he was when that book finally was published in September 2011 after two MAJOR rewrites (including gutting all but 35,000 words at one point and adding 85,000 new ones).
When it came time to further delve into Marc's psyche in the writing of Somebody's Angel (Rescue Me Saga #4), the MPs helped me free him.
Once again, I made the decision that I needed to do Morning Pages. But it was late in the afternoon--as I posted on my Facebook Author Page--and I am impulsive and impatient, so I took a nap. I didn't want to wait until morning to start! I woke up three hours later and wrote my first three pages in the remnants of a notebook from my college years 13 years ago with homework assignments and notes ripped out. Had to find something quick! No time to go buy a shiny new one at the store (but I can see I need to hit the school supply sales this summer to stock up because I need to keep doing these!).
In my entry last night, I spelled out to the Universe what I was struggling with in the story. I didn't find any answers, although I did make some notes about how to tweak some existing scenes. I just asked what I needed to do to help these two find their happiness together. I threw in a few to-do items, as well. When you write Morning Pages, the point is to declutter your mind from extraneous information and worries as much as it is to tap into your muse or creativity. So I got those out of the way and wrote in the margins "Do--Bus" (for to-do and business) and then kept writing.
After a two-hour phone call with a reader turned friend who made it clear that my writing these stories isn't about achieving fame and fortune, but meeting my purpose in life--to give a voice to the voiceless. I wrote a couple hundred more words last night (well, early this morning), and then went back to bed. Six hours later, I got up, picked up the notebook (even before my bagel, but with my Diet Coke with Lime at my side), and wrote my second batch of three pages.
Holy shit! Not only did I get answers to where Luke & Cassie needed to go in Nobody's Dream, but Adam & Karla and Marc & Angelina, as well! There are multiple scenes I can write, so I am now going to dive into writing again--and I'm going to kick some serious word-count ass today! Hopefully that means not a lot of Facebook time, but I wrote this blog to inform my readers of my whereabouts (just where they want me to be--butt planted in chair and writing)--and to help other writers who might benefit from the miracle of the Morning Pages!
To learn more, I just found this companion booklet at Amazon for only $2.99. (It's not an e-book.) Probably also available at Apple and Barnes & Noble Nook. It's called The Miracle of the Morning Pages--and the author answers frequently asked questions about the MPs. I firmly believe MPs do bring miracles to our writing!
April 26, 2014
Virtual Signing Ends Soon--and a Peek at One of the New Rescue Me Saga Covers
SOMEBODY'S ANGEL (the newest paperback in this saga) looks fabulous! It's 508 pages long and includes some noticeable changes from the original e-book, so it's time for a re-read! (See below for info on ordering updates--don't pay for updated ebooks of the books you have purchased.)
You still have a few more days to place your order for all four paperbacks with THESE covers (the originals) at Romance Novel Promotions's Virtual Signing Page before I switch over to the new covers in mid May! The ones with these kinky/sexy covers will be guaranteed available if you order by April 30 (and they may continue to be ordered until the cut-off in May, but I don't know what date that will be)! Each book will be signed and personalized as you indicate in your order form.
If you can't pay until May, just e-mail Charlotte@kallypsomasters.com and she'll invoice you. The main thing is that we need to be sure to order and hold your copies with these covers while we can.
Books with both the old and the new covers will have new bonus material that was added in April--a playlist for the first three couples in the saga, and a unique cast of characters and glossary of terms for each of the first four books. But the stories haven't changed substantially since they were first released in paperback (December 2012 through Nobody's Hero and January 2013 for Nobody's Perfect). Of course, I'm always tweaking here and there, but mostly minor word choice. Once a book comes out in paperback, there are no more substantial changes.
Even if you don't want paperbacks, be sure to get your e-books updated. NEVER PAY FOR AN UPDATE! Work with customer service at Amazon, or ask Charlotte (e-mail above) how to get updates where you bought the book originally. If you ask here how to do it, I'm sure people will know. At Amazon, where most of you bought or receive them, just contact Customer Service. DO NOT WAIT for them to tell you there's an update. That can take months (if it ever happens). These books haven't been added to Amazon's update list, so don't wait, especially if you want your copy to have these covers. (And if you don't want to have them automatically update to the new covers when it happens, be sure to turn off automatic updates.)
And if you want to see what the new covers are going to look like, here's a peek at the first of the new ones. (We're still working on fine-tuning the others!) I've decided to go with this more romantic look in part to make the books appeal to a larger reading audience, because many readers do still judge a book by its cover. While I started out thinking I would be writing erotic romance, it seems that my characters have had other ideas in the last couple books (and the one I'm working on), so these covers are much more in keeping with the overall series. While there will always be hot sex scenes and the use of erotic terms, I just don't provide enough of those to label the books as erotic romance (not since Nobody's Hero, anyway). They always have been much more focused on the romance and life issues than the kink. So the new covers will appeal to readers of other Romance genres, and possibly even mainstream fiction. But the stories within will not change!
Here's what the audiobook cover for book one (Masters at Arms & Nobody's Angel) looks like. I absolutely LOVE the new covers (I've seen drafts of all but Somebody's Angel so far) and hope you will love them, too!
And sometime this summer, I'll be revealing the latest--NOBODY'S DREAM, which will be only available in the new style (because it's much more a steamy/sweet Romance than a kinky one about halfway through the first draft).
Again, you can order signed, personalized copies directly from me athttp://romancenovelpromotions.blogspot.com/p/authors-virtual-signings.html and I will sign them to you or whomever you ask me to if you want to give gifts! Thanks!
You still have a few more days to place your order for all four paperbacks with THESE covers (the originals) at Romance Novel Promotions's Virtual Signing Page before I switch over to the new covers in mid May! The ones with these kinky/sexy covers will be guaranteed available if you order by April 30 (and they may continue to be ordered until the cut-off in May, but I don't know what date that will be)! Each book will be signed and personalized as you indicate in your order form.
If you can't pay until May, just e-mail Charlotte@kallypsomasters.com and she'll invoice you. The main thing is that we need to be sure to order and hold your copies with these covers while we can.
Books with both the old and the new covers will have new bonus material that was added in April--a playlist for the first three couples in the saga, and a unique cast of characters and glossary of terms for each of the first four books. But the stories haven't changed substantially since they were first released in paperback (December 2012 through Nobody's Hero and January 2013 for Nobody's Perfect). Of course, I'm always tweaking here and there, but mostly minor word choice. Once a book comes out in paperback, there are no more substantial changes.
Even if you don't want paperbacks, be sure to get your e-books updated. NEVER PAY FOR AN UPDATE! Work with customer service at Amazon, or ask Charlotte (e-mail above) how to get updates where you bought the book originally. If you ask here how to do it, I'm sure people will know. At Amazon, where most of you bought or receive them, just contact Customer Service. DO NOT WAIT for them to tell you there's an update. That can take months (if it ever happens). These books haven't been added to Amazon's update list, so don't wait, especially if you want your copy to have these covers. (And if you don't want to have them automatically update to the new covers when it happens, be sure to turn off automatic updates.)
And if you want to see what the new covers are going to look like, here's a peek at the first of the new ones. (We're still working on fine-tuning the others!) I've decided to go with this more romantic look in part to make the books appeal to a larger reading audience, because many readers do still judge a book by its cover. While I started out thinking I would be writing erotic romance, it seems that my characters have had other ideas in the last couple books (and the one I'm working on), so these covers are much more in keeping with the overall series. While there will always be hot sex scenes and the use of erotic terms, I just don't provide enough of those to label the books as erotic romance (not since Nobody's Hero, anyway). They always have been much more focused on the romance and life issues than the kink. So the new covers will appeal to readers of other Romance genres, and possibly even mainstream fiction. But the stories within will not change!
Here's what the audiobook cover for book one (Masters at Arms & Nobody's Angel) looks like. I absolutely LOVE the new covers (I've seen drafts of all but Somebody's Angel so far) and hope you will love them, too!
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And sometime this summer, I'll be revealing the latest--NOBODY'S DREAM, which will be only available in the new style (because it's much more a steamy/sweet Romance than a kinky one about halfway through the first draft).
Again, you can order signed, personalized copies directly from me athttp://romancenovelpromotions.blogspot.com/p/authors-virtual-signings.html and I will sign them to you or whomever you ask me to if you want to give gifts! Thanks!
March 26, 2014
Change in a Romance Series--Good, Bad, or Thrilling?
What happens when the series you are writing or reading changes in unexpected ways? As a reader, do you stop reading that series or author because it no longer meets your expectations of what should have happened? Or perhaps you continue to follow the stories of the author a little longer to see if perhaps you are being nudged in a new direction that isn't as bad as you once thought, only different than what you thought you wanted?
Authors, do you stick to telling the stories the way the characters bring them to you, or do you try to force them to conform to the plot or style of the way things used to be? Do you wrap up the series abruptly and start a new one in the style you want to write in and hope to find a new audience?
I know these questions are worded to my particular bias, although I would welcome other responses to the initial question about change in a series of books you've enjoyed reading--up until the author surprises you in ways you didn't want to be surprised.
Yes, you know where I'm going to come out on this debate because I've written five books to date, none of which is the same as any other one in the series. Hell, I write about very different characters period, so how can any two stories be expected to be the same? That's the greatest beauty of being an independent (self-published) author. My stories don't have to conform to the dictates of a publishing house. For instance, I can have vastly different levels of heat in them. Nobody's Hero is probably my highest heat level overall--Adam was humping like a teenager most of the book. But that doesn't mean every other couple in the series will be that sexually active (and given the direction that couple's story has taken in this saga, maybe Adam knew something I didn't back then).
Sex and even BDSM won't take place in every chapter in a Kallypso Masters epic-length novel. In one of my books, the main couple doesn't have a sexual encounter (not intercourse even) until the last chapter. In the latest, Somebody's Angel, there are a number of sex and BDSM scenes (some of them kinkier than anything I've written before--Marc and Angelina are my more sexually adventure couple), but reviewers looking for erotic reads seem not to have even noticed there was sex in the book.
In the beginning when I wrote Nobody's Angel, I planned to make this a BDSM series with lots of sex--heck, I even tried for menage, but then I wrote Masters at Arms and realized that just isn't what this series was going to be about. It's about wounded characters seeking a familial connection that was missing in their lives, whether because of combat, abuse, or some emotional disconnect. I've since stopped referring to it strictly as a BDSM series, although each book does have some degree of BDSM in it. But each couple approaches BDSM in a vastly different way from the other couples. They're all very individualistic and realistic--human, if you will. (They're certainly real to me!)
I love my readers dearly. I will go out of my way to spend time with them virtually or in person, but I can't compromise my writing to please them. Even though my last book sold far fewer copies than the one before, which sold fewer than the one before that, I'm never going to be a hack. I can't spit out formulaic books in rapid succession because my writing process isn't linear and I don't plot. I have to wait for inspiration and for the characters to tell me their stories.
And the story Luke and Cassie are telling me for the next installment in my saga borders on a sweet romance at the point I am in the writing. I'm sure that will change, but what if it didn't? What if Cassie just isn't ready to have an intimate relationship with Luke yet? I suppose I could postpone the book until they were ready, but I absolutely love where they are going with this relationship and plan to see it through to the end--which, of course, isn't the end at all in a Kallypso Masters book. You all know they will be back in other books because all of my characters are family and they just have to have that connection. I can't write a one-couple romance and leave everyone else at arm's length, even if they'd let me.
I used to be the Queen of Tease, but I think I'm becoming the Queen of the Slow Burn since Nobody's Perfect and Somebody's Angel were written. I don't write the wildly dramatic openings and then drift off. Masters at Arms's opening should have made that very evident. (While listening to the first 15 minutes of audio, I thanked God Phil Gigante was narrating, otherwise, I'd put you to sleep with all of Adam's introspection and backstory in the opening pages of that book in the bus station.)
I'm working on having new covers designed for when I hit the convention circuit this summer and am rebranding myself to be more than a pigeon-holed author who writes only one type of story. The heat level will be more realistic on the covers--altho I have no intension of changing the previous stories. I write about Marines and when they have sex, they're going to use erotic terms, not romantic fluffery.
Perhaps so many other authors (especially traditional ones) write separate series in multiple genres, so they don't trounce on reader expectations. Well, readers of indie authors need to be aware that we don't play by the rules. We don't have a marketing department telling us they can't publish our awesome story because they don't know where to shelve it. Maybe some authors want to be "shelved," but I'd much rather be read--and by readers who appreciate indie voices.
As much as I love my readers and hate the thought of any of them refusing to read further in this series, I can't compromise my writing to please readers. I write for myself and to tell the stories my characters demand. Some of the complaints I've heard about Somebody's Angel make it clear that a number of readers aren't going to have their expectations met with Nobody's Dream either. I hopeI will be able to attract an audience of readers that is open-minded (in more than just BDSM and sex) and willing to see where this saga will go as it progresses. I know I have tens of thousands of fans who will be there with me for every book I release and that they will welcome the detours and surprises--and I just want you to know I love you for letting me explore my talent as a writer and to try new things rather than become stale by giving you what you THINK you want. You are the audience I have sought from the very beginning.
One of the things I love about the way I've chosen to share these stories is that you don't lose the other characters just because they reached their happy ending. They come back--some of them come back with a vengeance, like Marc and Angelina, and need an entire new book. Lately it's become clear to me that Adam is harboring all kinds of things from his past that I didn't even know about until that scene in Somebody's Angel made it clear to me that I need to dig deeper. So I'm planning to follow Nobody's Dream with Somebody's Hero so that I can explore the depths of that man's soul. (Of course, I knew at the ending of Nobody's Hero that he hadn't really dealt with the issues of his childhood. I knew he'd have to deal with that and expected to do it in a subplot. But I've learned that when there are issues as deep as Adam's--and the man was in the Marine Corps for 25 years and in many areas of Marine responsibility, so you can bet there are things he's experienced that have only been hinted at in the past books. As his life evolves, triggers we never even imagined before are going to explode and he's going to have a hard time keeping it together for himself and Karla, much less his extended family. But he's not the only one who will have to face the past in that book. Marc, Damian, probably even Luke and Savannah all have similar issues that need to be looked at more closely. So, like Somebody's Angel, I see Somebody's Hero being a bit of a roundup of the usual characters--but taking them to places you will find anything but unusual. Readers only wanting to explore new couples in every book are going to be left in the dust, I'm afraid, because that's not where this saga is going.
I also want to point out that I am writing the "Rescue Me" series (although many readers refer to it as the "Masters at Arms" series). The series is first and foremost about wounded people in need of emotional, physical, or psychological rescue--and sometimes all three. I refuse to put bandaids on their issues and pronounce them cured before their happily ever after. I prefer to write from a realistic approach to past traumas and I speak from experience when I tell you that the romances you've read where that happens are fairy tales--and not like the realistic fairy tale I told in Nobody's Perfect, either.
Some of my characters will choose to find answers and healing in BDSM, but I'm not longer even calling it a BDSM series, because I don't see that as the major focus of this saga. I have chosen to tell the stories that fit my characters. Luke, for instance, is dabbling in rope work and throwing butterfly kisses with a single-tail whip--but Cassie is far from being where she would let him anywhere near her with rope or a whip. I refuse to force her go there just to meet reader expectations for a hot BDSM scene. Of course, Luke can be patient and powerfully persuasive at the same time, so he may break down those defenses and they might very well have a light BDSM relationship. The thing is, at only 48,005 words into the manuscript, I have not effing clue where their relationship will go. I get surprised just the same as you do--and just ask my editors how I agonized over Somebody's Angel and where it took readers. Not what any of us expected, I assure you! But they told me to listen to my characters and that they would lead me where the story needs to go. I did just that, even knowing some readers wouldn't be happy about it.
I write about a "family" of imperfect, human characters. Never a dull moment, I assure you! If you'd like to read something a little different now and then, I invite you to take a chance on my books and see what you think. Just keep your expectations out of the equation and see where the Rescue Me saga takes us both!
If you are new to my books, you can download Masters at Arms, the introduction, for FREE or splurge and get the combo with the introduction and first book for only 99 cents. Buy links are on this page of my blog.The reading order for the rest of the saga to date is:
1. Masters at Arms & Nobody's Angel (these are permanently combined for only 99 cents)
2. Nobody's Hero
3. Nobody's Perfect
4. Somebody's Angel
And with luck and inspiration, Nobody's Dream will be the next book in the saga and (with even more hope) released later this year. (I told you I don't rush the books!)
