#WriteWed One Million Books Sold!

I’ve been nearing a milestone for several months and I still have to tally some numbers, but even without them, I’ve hit a very special milestone: ONE MILLION BOOKS SOLD.

Wow. Now I know there are people who have hit that number and more. There are people who hit that number in a really fast time. I’ve kind of been like the tortoise and not the hare, but despite that, it’s reason to celebrate a milestone that many writers may never reach.

So, WOO HOO! I’m still in a little shock about it and deciding how to celebrate since it’s truly something to celebrate. I think we’ll have a giveaway for starters. Maybe even a little get together at a conference. I’d love to hear from you about how to share this very special moment with you!

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#ThrowbackThursday Lucky 7 Bad Boys

Good morning! Hard to believe it’s Thursday already and time for a throwback! This one is not that far a throw since it’s from the 2014 RT Conference in New Orleans. Check out some of the Lucky 7 Bad Boys authors enjoying breakfast at the awesome Cafe du Monde. It was such a treat for us to get together to celebrate making the NY Times and USA Today lists with our Lucky 7 Bad Boys box set. Guess what? We’re doing another set for you in March of 2015! I won’t spill the beans about the theme just yet, but I promise you will enjoy the seven stories in the set.
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Winners of Lisa Renee Jones’ #Giveaway

Thank you all for dropping by last week to leave comments on the two blogs to help Lisa celebrate her new release, IF I WERE YOU.

I’ve selected two winners from the blogs. One will receive a copy of Lisa’s IF I WERE YOU and the second will receive a very rare print edition of my THE FIFTH KINGDOM (one of my fav books!).

So now, a little drum roll . . .

The winner of IF I WERE YOU is Pam Howell.

The winner of THE FIFTH KINGDOM is Michelle Harlan.

Thank you ladies for coming by! Please e-mail me so we can get out your prizes!

Wife by Wednesday Free Read & #giveaway

Please welcome today my friend and fellow author, Catherine Bybee! I am so excited to have her here today to chat about her latest release. If you’re like me and your guilty pleasure is plunking down with a stack of Silhouette Desire novels, then Catherine’s book is one you are sure to love and since it’s an Amazon bestseller, I think others also agree.

Without further ado, here’s Catherine!

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Thanks so much Caridad for having me here today.
It’s stupid, crazy time of year… the holidays are here. It’s time to start baking, cooking turkeys and drinking wine. Not necessarily in that order. LOL

In the giving spirit, I’m going to offer a copy of Wife by Wednesday to a random person who leaves a comment on your blog today. All they half to do is answer one question. What do you think about authors self publishing their work?

My very first Indie published book, Wife by Wednesday has been out less than two months and already I’ve reached so many new readers. I think people need a light contemporary read this time of year. Something to help them escape for a few hours. Wife is #2 in Contemporary Romance one Amazon Kindle this week. I couldn’t be happier with my reviews.

Here is an exclusive excerpt of Wife by Wednesday:

Blurb:

A Contemporary Romance with a dash of humor and a whole lotta sexy…

Blake Harrison:

Rich, titled, and charming… And in need of a wife by Wednesday so he turns to Sam Elliot who isn’t the business man he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, engaging and spunky with a voice men call 900 numbers to hear.

Samantha Elliot:

Owner of Alliance, her matchmaking firm, and not on the marital menu… That is until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. All she needs to do is keep her attraction to her husband to herself and avoid his bed. But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and charm prove too difficult to combat. Now she needs to protect her heart so she can walk away when their mercenary life together is over.

Excerpt:

Contemporary RomanceAfter several minutes of packing, Samantha forgot all about the cameras and found her head deep inside her dresser. She grabbed a simple band and tied her hair back out of the way.

“Should I be worried about all these shoes in here?” Blake asked from her closet.

She laughed. “You’re the one who told me to go shopping,” she teased.
“Looks like I’ll be hiring a handyman to build another walk-in just for you.” There was laughter in his voice.

“Women love clothes.”

“And shoes, apparently. God, I didn’t think anyone needed this many.”

Samantha tucked her panties into a box and reached for more. “I’m short, in case you haven’t noticed. I need heels to see how the rest of you live.”

Blake’s voice moved closer. “You’re not short,” he said.

She turned to see him holding a pair of four-inch pumps.

“Vertically challenged, then.” She stood to prove her point. “See?” Beside him, the top of her head met his chin. “Short!”

His eyes seemed to drag her into his frame. “I wouldn’t change anything about you,” he told her. Blake reached out and tugged the band from her hair. His fingers brushed over the ends and Samantha forgot to breathe. The closer he moved into her personal space, the less air was available for her lungs. She tilted her head as he moved in and allowed his mouth to move over hers.

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To order WIFE BY WEDNESDAY, just follow any of these links:

Amazon Download:
http://amzn.to/pus1jM

Smashwords:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94015

Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wife-by-wednesday-catherine-bybee/1106329395?ean=2940013652019&itm=6&usri=catherine%2bbybee

For more information on Catherine and her novels (did I mention she also does time travel stories?), check out Catherine at www.catherinebybee.com.

Naughty or Nice? Alone or with a Partner?

Now I know that woke you up this morning, but ladies, go get another cup of coffee while we chat a little about tonight’s live video event with Aimee and David Thurlo, the husband and wife writing team responsible for the wonderful Ella Clah suspense series. Did I mention that Aimee is also a writer for Harlequin Intrigue and that her latest release, WINTER HAWK’S LEGEND, is currently a bestselling Intrigue on Amazon?

So you’re probably wondering what that has to do with being naughty or nice/alone or with a partner. Well, tonight at 9 pm EST, we’ll be chatting about romance through the decades and how it’s changed. I think back to some of the old stories where non-consensual sex was quite common and even back to my old contemporaries which were spicy back then, but now barely raise an eyebrow. I’d love to hear your thoughts tonight on all that!

We’ll also be talking about how it is to write with a partner, especially if that writing partner is also your hubby! I so can’t imagine. My hubby has only read two of my books and says he skipped through all those scenes. It’ll be great to hear how David and Aimee do that balancing act in their writing partnership.

So please drop by tonight at 9 pm EST for this live video event. Bring your questions and your comments.

Did I mention there would be giveaways? Yep, I’ll be giving away a copy of A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS, a LOST T-shirt as well as an Audible gift card for you to download AZTEC GOLD and one other audio book!

If you can’t see the widget below you can also use this link: http://t.wbx.me/f8qgs

Promoting Yourself Using Social Bookmarking

If you’re a published author and you want to learn about how to promote your book, I highly recommend that you sign up for the Author and Marketing Experts newsletter. The newsletter is chock full of tips and tricks for how to publicize your book. You can also check out their free online courses and podcasts at Publishing Insiders.

One of the tips in a recent newsletter was about social bookmarking and you can also click here to read an article on maximizing book reviews by using social bookmarking.

Of course by now some of you may be wondering, “What the heck is social bookmarking?”

Social bookmarking lets you share your favorite websites, pages, etc. with others. Sites such as Delicious, Digg and Stumbleupon are just some of the sites which store your bookmarks and share them with others.

If you’ve got the Google Toolbar, you can also post your content to Blogger, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Yahoo and a number of other services with just the click of a button.

What can you share? Articles or blogs that you’ve written, reviews for your books, videos, contests and basically anything that you have online and that you want to share.

These bookmarks are great tools for having people discover you and your work and will help drive people to your website.

You can also make it easy for others to share information you’ve created by using buttons such as these in your posts and on your website! You can get this simple social bookmark widget at Addthis.com.


Bookmark and Share

I hope you enjoyed today’s Tuesday Tip.

Also, many thanks for all your help last Tuesday when I asked for suggestions for some upcoming contest. The lucky winner of the Valere! Please e-mail me your postal address so I can send your prize.

Stopping Your Internal Editor

There are a lot of things that can drain your creativity as a writer, but one of the worst is trying to edit while you are writing.

One of the important things to learn in writing quickly as well as writing effectively is not stopping and second guessing yourself about choices of words, sentence structure, spelling or grammar. Those are all things that can be fixed after the fact.

When you are writing your first draft, let yourself run free. Put down what comes out of your brain immediately. It’s always possible to go back and fix whatever it is that you think is wrong.

If you stop yourself from running free, you may miss creating something really different and interesting.

I will often write vital scenes without stopping (or stopping only a little). I want to get that rush of fresh thoughts down on the paper, especially when it comes to dialogue. Having the right pacing and words in dialogue often come easier when you just let it flow. It’s easy to go back and fill in what may be missing if you’ve got a good rhythm to your dialogue.

So – shut down your internal editor for that first draft. Let yourself explore new things and pour your heart out onto the paper. There will be time enough to fix things once you’ve finished the scene.