Debra L. Martin's Blog, page 340

HAPPY EASTER!

A little something for everyone.

I've received an Inspiration Award

Suzanne Tyrpak has awarded me an Inspiration Award.  Thank you so much.  I'm honored to be included in your list of awardees!

Need Suggestions for more Panel Discussions

The panel discussions that I've done in the past are extremely popular with my followers.  They get hits everyday which is awesome.  It's time to set up a few more!



So, I like to put out a call for suggestions for some new topics for panel discussions.  If you suggest a topic and want to comment on it as well, be sure to let me know in the comments section.  You don't have to comment, just make a suggestion, if there is a writing topic you'd like to see discussed.  I'll find the authors to comment on the topic, no problem.



You can see the full list of discussions I've already done in the side bar.



What topic do you want to see discussed?

Interview with Linda Prather

Briefly describe your journey in writing your first book.  How long did it take you to finish that manuscript?I started my first book at a writer's retreat.  I finished the first draft in a week, but it took nearly a year to research and hone it to what I thought was a good book.

Did you try the traditional route to publishing, i.e. querying agents/publishers?Actually at the end of the writer's retreat the next year we had an opportunity to meet with publishers and editors and I pitched my novel to a publisher who asked for the manuscript.  I published my first novel with a small press.

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish to Amazon?Basically I wasn't happy with everything related to my published work, my second novel was almost ready to publish, and I had received my rights back from the first book.  Having read success stories such as J. A. Konrath's and Karen McQuestion I decided to give it a go and see what happened.

Did you design your cover art?  If not, would you care to share your graphic designer's information? How involved were you during the creative process for your cover?The original cover for The Gifts was designed by the publisher.  The new covers on the ebooks were designed by me.

What is the biggest thing you've learned during your self-publishing journey?It's a very satisfying journey, but also a lot of work.  I've made some really wonderful friends in the Indie network, and I've discovered some great writers.  I guess the greatest lesson in the self-publishing journey is the same with the traditionally published journey--it takes time to get noticed.  Be patient, promote your work and keep writing.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?Just about everywhere that ebooks are available.  Smashwords, B & N, Sony and Apple just to name a few.

What kinds of social media [twitter, facebook, webpage, blog, forums] are you involved with for promoting your book(s)?All of them.  I spend time each day on Facebook, twitter, Kindleboards, MySpace and other less known areas.  I also blog at least three times a week, and I do author interviews and book reviews.   I'm also on Goodreads and several author forums.

What's next for you?More books.  I'm currently working on a psychic thriller that I love.  I also have a satire work I've been playing with, and it seems the imagination just keeps going like the Energizer Bunny.  If I just had loads of money and lots of time I could keep churning them out.

  

Blog Streaking with Thea Atkinson

For the month of April, fellow author, Thea Atkinson is streaking through 30 blogs and flashing us a piece of fiction. I generously offered her a space today so she could expose a piece. My blog will be back to normal tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy and follow the links at the end to see who she flashed yesterday and who she will flash tomorrow. Feel free to leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed the streak, and you are welcome to tweet it or share it on Facebook. You can also follow the chain through twitter with the hashtag #blogstreak

Rosary BraidsBy Thea Atkinsonhttp://theaatkinson.wordpress.com

Seven months ago I had hair. They tell me it'll grow back eventually, although it might curl like licks of flame around a dried out log of pine. It might even come back in patches. I don't care if it ever grows back. He liked my hair, and now that the chemo has devoured it like a hungry Labrador retriever, he finds other ways to amuse himself and leaves me alone.

Last time I entertained him, months ago, before I got the cancer, he had cursed at me. All I'd said to him was that he looked like a woman with that one fingernail he kept long on his right hand: the pinky. It was white and ridged because of his thyroid trouble -- overactive, like most of him -- and he used that nail, I knew, to scoop cocaine and press it delicately to his nostrils. Like a snuff sniffer from the 1800s except there was no way he could be a gentleman. Not by a long shot.

Like a woman, I'd said to him, because he had grown soft in the chest over the years. His breasts sagged. I chuckled, thinking he'd enjoy the joke, and he seemed to at first, reached out to me as we lay together on our bed, nude, both of us. He ringed my nipple with that nail. Smiled. Three seconds later my nipple hurt. Three after that, my scalp did. He so loved my hair, he took it in fistfuls. Handfuls that he yanked hard when he beat me, or wrenched when he made love to me. My hair was always in his hands, heated in passion or in anger.

He said hair made a woman beautiful. Any woman. And every one of them should wear it long. He has no patience for short, manly styles, although even with my hair long, I still couldn't escape having to fight back like one.

So it was no good to me, hair. It attracted him because it reached my waist. At first he treated me as beautifully as he said my hair looked. He touched me as softly as it felt. But that was years ago.

Sometimes now I wonder what the neighbours think when they hear him yelling at me in the middle of the afternoon. His voice makes the glasses rattle in the cupboards, his language so foul it would taste like rotten meat if it were a meal. Doesn't matter what starts the discussion, could be a simple question about what he wants for dinner. He calls me names.

I wonder if the spinster next door rocks in her chair when she hears him yell, spilling her rosary down her chest through her fingers, thanking God with each bead that she never married. I see her walking to church in the evenings. I'm careful to keep a kerchief over my head when I peek through the curtains so she doesn't catch my scalp winking in the waning light. She always scurries past my house, afraid I suppose, my cancer is catching.

I wonder, too, if he can be heard three blocks down where the pert 20 year-old waits for him with a negligee made of lemon silk. She has black hair. Curls. He comes home now and then with strands in his collar; the smell of her perfume creeps ahead of him when he opens the door. He doesn't see me sitting in the chair watching him, praying like that spinster from next door.

I'm invisible to him now, hailing Mary quietly, but fervently for that naive brunette, with each remembered lock. I pray she catches the cancer too.

april 20 jennifer lanehttp://jenniferlanebooks.blogspot.com

april 21 deb martinhttp://twoendsofthepen.blogspot.comRosary Braids

April 22 leah petersenhttp://www.leahpetersen.com/




  

Guest Post: Zombies Are Distracting!

Zombies Are Very DistractingBy Syria Evans of Syria Says Reviews

http://syriasays.com/

I probably have over 125 books in my queue and I'm still not anywhere close to being caught up on them. The response to Syria Says has been both overwhelming and awesome and for that, I am eternally grateful. It's been wonderful, y'all!

But, of the five or six people that I actually know - not counting my family (which I have yet to meet my actual family as the people that raised me claim that I was left on their doorstep by gypsies) – I would say that I read quite fast and am even able to comprehend most of what I ingest (literarily speaking, of course). But, I feel like I'm not making a dent in the growing list and here I sit…still not reading. But, this bloggins is important too. So, I give myself a pass. So there.

My days usually follow this kind of a pattern:READ. KINDLE BOARD. READ. DISTRACTION. GIGGLE. SNORT. (work.) READ. RESPOND TO EMAILS. READ. (work.) DISTRACTION. HYDRATE. RINSE. REPEAT.

Basically, if a book catches my attention in the first, let's say 2 or 3 paragraphs, I can power through one 280-page book in an average 8 hour work day. (I tend to try to stretch it out over 2 days because I don't want to give the impression that I'm a slacker at work.) I know that may not seem like a great accomplishment, but given that I suffer from some srrss ADD and actually work at least 3 to 4 hours of said workday, it gets a little bit more srrss, doesn't it? And I do mean "srrss" like as in: "That chick can SRRSSLY read with the quickness!"

But, the problem is that every book I read and review may not grab me like a hungry zombie in a cemetery on Halloween; I may end up languishing somewhere between, "Well, it's goooood…? It doesn't make me feel like running to the nearest living thing and killing it? It's a slow starter? It gets better?" and "OH. MI. GOD! WILL THIS WORD CIRCUS OF A BOOK NEVER END?! *sets self on fire*"

Normally, I push through them. I try to read them for what they are: labors of love full of the author's blood, sweat and tears. I try to tell myself that just because I didn't get it or enjoy it, doesn't mean that another person won't love it. I also try to remind myself that, "No, the author is NOT trying to bore or offend or depress me. They just chose a topic and/or a style that isn't my cup of tea."

(Now, I know what you're thinking: you're probably wondering if I haven't been all that honest with my reviews given that none of them are below a 3 star rating on my site, but if you paid any attention to how I rolled, you would know that I don't post any reviews below a 3 star…so BAM! The moral integrity of SyriaSays.com remains uncompromised.)

At any rate, I have had only a couple books that have not struck my fancy and those I have handled in the best way I know how: avoidance. No. I'm kidding. Actually, I try to read through them, find some positive aspects and attempt writing a review. Then I try to email the author.

Full disclosure: I have not yet actually emailed any authors because I worry about rejection.

Not me rejecting them, but them rejecting me and my silly "opinion." I know that a lot of authors stoically say that, "Reviews aren't for the authors; they're for other readers." And I applaud them for that. But, I'm going to be honest: they still hurt. Even when they come from a positive place or someone as sweet, kind, benevolent, generous, tall, awesome and modest as myself. (One or more of those adjectives may not be entirely accurate.)

I have come close; I've even typed up a few of the emails. But, I haven't sent them yet. I guess I lack the cojones that the Internetz can provide for some people. I guess the ultimate question for me would be: if I did send these emails, would the author hate me forever?

Or if they didn't hate me, would I actually make a positive impact on their writing and their future in the literary world?

Would you hate me?

Does it always matter what one person writes?

It mattered to you when you wrote your book.

New Release: DANCE OF BLADES by David Dalglish

I'm happy to showcase the new book by David Dalglish, an author friend I met last year on Kindleboards.  





Here's David's newest book, the highly anticipated sequel to DANCE OF CLOAKS.  We have a running joke that my blog is his "unofficial" website because he has been such a regular visitor.  So, without further adieu!









"Veldaren aches for a purge, and I will be the one to deliver it. Cry out at me if you wish, but it will change nothing. The gold is spent, the orders are given. Let the blood flow."

----

It's been five years since Haern faked his death to escape the tyranny of his father. He has become the Watcher, a vicious killer who knows no limits, and whose hatred of the thief guilds is unrivaled. But when the son of Alyssa Gemcroft, one of the three leaders of the powerful Trifect, is believed murdered, the slaughter begins anew. Mercenaries flood the streets, with one goal in mind: find and kill the Watcher.



A DANCE OF BLADES by David Dalglish

Peace or destruction; every war must have its end.



------

About the Author:



David Dalglish currently lives in rural Missouri with his wife Samantha, daughter Morgan, and snake, Velixar. He graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 2006 with a degree in Mathematics and currently spends his free time watching Spongebob Squarepants with his daughter.

Victorine Lieski, A Year Later & the NYT's bestseller list!

How have things changed for you in the past year?

Things have changed tremendously for me.  Last year I had a novel sitting on my hard drive, and no one knew my name.  Since I self-published last year I've sold 90,000 books and I get fan emails.  My book made it on the USA Today and NYT's best seller lists.  People around town stop me and ask me how my book is doing because they've seen me on the news or read about me in the newspaper.  Quite a few literary agents have contacted me, and I have signed with Rachel Vogel of Movable Type Literary Group.  I got an email from an editor at New American Library, a division of Penguin, who asked about my next book.  I'm just finishing up my second book which my agent will shop to NY.  I could never have imagined these things one year ago.  It's amazing.

What kind of marketing did you do to get your book in front of readers?

I've done quite a few things to get the word out about my book.  I joined forums like kindleboards.com and got to know the people there.  I've networked with other authors to do giveaways and promotions.  I've posted on Facebook and Twitter.  I started a blog and I submitted my book to book bloggers.

Do you have a publishing contract for your current book?  Will you consider one? 

I do not currently have a publishing contract, but yes I am considering all options.  I think having options is the best place for any author.  There's no reason to say no to something that hasn't been presented to me yet.

Any foreign rights sold?

I have had inquires but nothing sold yet.

Do you have plans for any more books?

I am just finishing up my second book and I have already started on a third.  If you would have told me that a year ago I wouldn't have believed you, because my rubber stamp business and four kids keep me on my toes.  But with the money that is coming in from my book sales we have been able to ease off the marketing of my rubber stamp business, thus giving me more time to write.

Any advice for newbie authors?

I'm a huge supporter of self-publishing.  My advice would be to join a critique group, polish up your book until it shines, and then put it out there for sale on the Kindle and Nook.  Join Kindleboards and begin reading all you can in the Writer's Cafe.  Network with the other authors and promote as best you can to your audience.  Send your book out to as many book bloggers as you can find, and be professional in all you do.









Victorine and her husband live in Nebraska where they manufacture rubber stamps for the craft industry. They own and operate Victorine Originals Rubber Stamps from their home, where they raise their four children. Victorine has a degree in Art from BYU Idaho, and designs many of the rubber stamps they sell. She has always loved to read, and in her spare time she writes. 

Review of SHOW NO MERCY by Brian Drake

 3 of 5 stars



I was excited to read this book by Brian Drake because I had read Justified Sins by this author and enjoyed it.  His portrayal of one of the characters, Mr. Pierce, captivated me.  It was masterful writing.



SHOW NO MERCY is a classic spy story.  We have the good agents, a rogue agent and, of course, the bad guys -- terrorists who want to blow up the world. Unfortunately, the main character, Michael Dodge, doesn't show the depth I expected. I wanted to know what made Michael tick. The author gives up snippets, but for me, they were not enough to let me truly understand Michael and his motivations.



Michael Dodge has been assigned to find out what's the story with Harry Ames, a respected CIA agent, who appears to have gone rogue. Complicating the story is Tracy Ames, Harry's daughter, also an agent, and assigned with Michael to find Harry. Further, Harry seems to have been a somewhat surrogate father to Michael.  With such conflicting emotions, I wanted to know how Michael felt.  How would you feel if you had orders to kill the only father you've ever known?  I was also disappointed that the author did not define Michael and Tracy's relationship.  Were they more like brother and sister or was there something more there?  Tidbits throughout the book didn't clarify their relationship.



Don't get me wrong, the story is not all bad.  Michael and Tracy's globe hopping trying to find Harry is thrilling and there are enough twists and turns thrown into the story, that you will want to know what happens.  Will Michael get to the terrorists in time before they blow up an American city?  Will he find Harry?  And what's with Harry?  Is he deep undercover or has he had enough of rules and regulations and joined the terrorists for the chance at a bucket load of money?  Read the story and find out!

New Interview for me!

Today, I'm being featured over at JE Taylor's blog, Musings & Rants.  Thanks so much JE!  It was a fun interview.  I talk about the Otharia books, but the best part was JE's top ten:



JET:All right - now that I've hammered you with the big questions, let's tackle my favorite (and geeky) quick ten. . . starting with: Paper or Plastic?

Debra: Reusable canvas



JET:Steak or Tofu?

Debra: Is fish an option? 



JET:Beach or Mountains? 

Debra: Definitely the Beach.



JET:Country or Rock-n-Roll? 

Debra: Rick-n-Roll for sure.



JET:Leather or Lace?

Debra: Lace



JET:Angels or Demons?

Debra: Demons, they're much more interesting



JET:Paper or Digital?

Debra: Paper to edit, digital to write



JET: Silent Film Classics or Cheesy B Rated Horror?

Debra: Neither



JET:Twilight or True Blood

Debra: True Blood rules!



JET:Coffee or Tea?

Debra: Definitely coffee – can I throw in a latte as well.



You can read the full interview here: http://jetaylor75.blogspot.com/2011/04/dishing-it-up-with-debra-l-martin.html