Friday, November 02, 2012

OCTOBER WINNER!!!


CONGRATULATIONS Laurie Cooper! You’re the October winner. To receive your free autographed books please contact Ann Roth and Linda Warren through their Web sites.

 

To enter the contest simply leave a blog comment and your name will go into the drawing. Simple and painless. And FREE BOOKS.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Notes from an author's month


While my life is rather low key—no jumping out of supersonic airplanes, no paparazzi chasing me on the freeways, no glamorous appearances at Fashion Week—I’ve had a lot going on lately, so I thought I’d share.

Being an author means juggling a lot of balls. Usually, I’m publicizing the current book in my Safe Harbor Medical miniseries, reading proofs or making revisions on the last manuscript, and starting work on the next book. That’s certainly been the case recently.

This past month, I started on book number 12 in the series. That’s a lot of characters to track, including their marriages and the upcoming births of their babies. I have to update the ages of their children from past books, as well. Those kids grow way too fast, just like real kids.

So it was good news when my editor emailed to say book number 11, His Baby Dream, doesn’t need revisions (it’s due out next June, following The Baby Jackpot in March). That would mean stopping for a few days or more, which breaks the momentum. Instead, I can go full speed ahead.

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping up to date with posts on my Facebook fan page, JacquelineDiamondAuthor. While I feel rather obscure as I sit at my computer, I’m attracting Likes from around the globe. I’m astonished at how many people, men as well as women, read my books as far away as India, Turkey, Egypt and even the Republic of Mauritius, which in case you’re wondering is an island 500 miles east of Madagascar (I looked it up).

Then there’s my “other” publishing job, revising and updating older books to which I’ve regained the rights, and posting them as ebooks. I’m working hard on my Photoshop skills, since I enjoy creating my own covers. I’m now on the third cover for my revised Old Dreams, New Dreams, and I like this one the best.

In fact, Old Dreams, New Dreams is my November 99-cent special on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I decided to start offering a different book for 99 cents each month. That way, hopefully, readers, will visit my website or Facebook page regularly to discover the latest bargain. Plus at that price, people might try a mystery or science fiction novel or offbeat romance that they wouldn’t sample otherwise.

One more piece of news: an editor for an upcoming anthology, The Mammoth Book of Medical Romances, emailed and invited me to write a short story. The book will be published next year, and I’ve decided to do it. What better way to reach new readers?

And so, as November starts, I have a long list of projects to tackle. But there’s nothing I’d rather be doing!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Five Things That Distracted Me From Writing Last Week

I have a book due to my editor on November 1st. It's the last book of my Coffee Creek, Montana series and it's a story I've been dieing to write. So why, last week, did I get only one measly chapter written? I blame many things/people/events, but here are the top five:

1. My daughter brought her new kitten home for a visit.

Isn't she sweet? Irresistable, too!

2. We were hosting pianist Avan Yu for the Honen's Competition which entailed cooking meals, chauffeuring, attending musical events and discussing music and the artistic life until the wee hours of most nights.

Tough job, but someone has to do it!

3. The weather. We are used to crazy weather in Calgary but snow (the kind that stays for more than a day), fog and ice before Halloween is just too much. You'd think with this view to look at,

I'd be inspired to stay inside and write, but you'd be wrong. It just made me cranky.

4.I volunteer for a local charity that supports women dealing with breast cancer. Wings of Hope is there to help with the nitty gritty of paying rent and putting food on the table when you can't work because you're being treated for breast cancer. Our main fundraiser is a luncheon and raffle we put on every October. It fell on Friday October 26 this year and I'm pleased to say was a great success by every measure except my word count for the day...

5. And the last reason I wrote so little last week is...my daughter brought home a new kitten! Okay, I've used this one already, but gosh that kitten is cute!

Here's hoping this week will be more productive...for all of us!