Penelope Peters's Blog

King of Hearts

King of Hearts

by Penelope Peters  | Format: mobi, epub, pdf

Just like the books you might remember reading as a kid…

You’re a seasoned blackjack player. He’s a naïve rookie. Will he lose it all? Or will you lose your heart?

You’re a seasoned blackjack player when you find yourself at a table in a Vegas casino with a naïve young man who clearly is out of his depth. You have your own fish to fry… but if you don’t help this guy, it’s his goose that will end up cooked!

It’s your call what happens next!

Will you end up caught in a Vegas magician’s stage show – or will you run for your life down the Strip? Will you be abducted by aliens – or in a cab driven by a guy who looks an awful lot like The King himself?

The choice is yours – and you can make it again, and again, and again!

There’s over 20 different endings, with varying levels of fun surprises and more twists and turns than a game of Texas Hold ‘Em. One thing’s for sure – every ending will leave you grinning – and ready to play the House again.

Product Details
File Size : 375kb mobi, 900kb epub, 1mb pdf
Publication Date : October 2020
Length in Microsoft Word : 190 Pages 
Language: : English
Number of Endings : A Bunch
Number of Endings that Involve Werewolves : 1
Number of Pop Culture References Only Pen Will Get: ~5
Number of Times You’ll Probably Die : 1.5
Number of Times You’ll Laugh Out Loud : 627


Customer Reviews:

(Psst… it’s the comments below! Pretend it’s Amazon or GoodReads, I don’t mind. *wink*)

Is There Such a Thing as Autumn Resolutions?

Maybe there should be! I’m lucky enough that my boys are in school this fall – though with cases in Poland rising, that might be the case for much longer. I take every day as it comes – what else can you do? – and keep a plan in my pocket for the inevitable days they’ll be virtual schooling instead. It hasn’t happened yet – but I have no doubt it will.

But back to my point: I’m trying to get better about newsletters. Until now, I’ve been very low-key about my newsletters, sending only a few a year, when there are things going on. I’ve started rethinking this strategy – because really, it’s not much of a strategy at all. I want to be better about communication on the whole – and having a more robust newsletter game seems to be tied into that.

So I’ve been plotting to revitalize my newsletter strategy.

Part One of my plan has been to add a Reader Magnet. At one point, I thought to use the various short stories and free reads as a reader magnet – have them all located behind a lock that only newsletter subscribers could access. But trying to set that up proved to be far more trouble than it was worth (at the time, anyway), and I hate the idea of having so many things behind a lock. Besides, I don’t have short stories or freebies associated with every book, and I couldn’t see why someone would register for a newsletter to get a freebie for a book they hadn’t read.

Of course, that meant I had to write something specifically as a reader magnet. It took a while – and I won’t lie, a website with a bunch of ideas about possible reader magnets – but then I stumbled upon the idea of writing a gamebook.

Even if you don’t recognize the term, you probably know what a gamebook is. When I was a kid back in the 1980s, there was a series of books written in 2nd person POV. Each book focused on a specific setting, or historical event, or fantastical adventure. You’d be reading along, happily pretending you were in the action, when on the second or third page, you’d be faced with a choice. Turn left or right? Trust the alien or not? Jump from the plane or roll under the desk?

And depending on what you chose – you’d turn to a different page and continue the story, with different things happening based on your choice. Sometimes you’d succeed, sometimes you’d fail, sometimes you’d turn into a vampire, sometimes you were killed by aliens or a runaway train or dysentery. It was a huge amount of fun – and when you were done, you could go back and try again.

That’s a gamebook – essentially, you’re playing a game. I can’t use the name we all knew those books by, though, since the term is under copyright protection and the owners are way protective of it.

The original suggestion was to use an existing book and write a gamebook based on that. But I’ve had the start of a story sitting on my hard drive for a while now, and didn’t know where to go with it. Amazingly, once I decided to go everywhere with it, writing was a snap. I wrote a 50,000 word game book in about three weeks. Which is just ridiculous.

(Then again – so’s the gamebook. Hopefully it’s more ridiculous fun than just plain ridiculous.)

[image error] The Twitter ad for the book. There’s an animated version of it that just cracks me up.

With my Reader Magnet in hand (and waiting to be downloaded – if you’re a current subscriber, check your email for the link, or shoot me a line and I’ll help you out), now I’m ready to move on to Part Two:

Actually make sure I produce newsletters.

Obviously, I subscribe to newsletters myself, both from other authors and other subjects. I’ve noticed that everyone approaches them differently. One newsletter I follow is weekly, a lengthy email of funny stories about parenting fails and successes, and always ends with a “buy my book!” One is monthly, and basically rounds up a month’s worth of best-in-show of various recipes. One is more like my old standard: I only get this newsletter when there’s something to purchase.

I know I can’t do a weekly newsletter. Given that I went almost a whole year without any kind of newsletter, doing something that often seems like too much of a leap.

But I also know that I can’t keep doing the old version – only when I have something to sell – and expect anyone to remember I exist. Or want to buy my books when they do.

So I’m thinking to try something in the middle. Monthly, or maybe mostly monthly. I have a few ideas for what I can include (sneak peaks, sale info, talking about the marketing side of self-publishing, I even saw a suggestion to record myself reading portions of my book, which is intriguing).

The idea, as I understand it, is to make readers used to getting my newsletters. Even excited about them – so that when I do put out that call for a new book, or a new sale – they are already set to open the email announcing it, and eager to click that link to buy.

From a pure marketing standpoint – it makes all the sense. It’s free ad space to a receptive and willing audience. What could possibly go wrong?!?!

(Never say that to someone with an imagination, by the way.)

I used to blog all the time. Before the kids, even when my oldest was small. I was always writing journal entries, on at least a weekly basis.

It shouldn’t be… but even this much feels a little bit daunting. What if there’s a month when I can’t think of what to say? (Or worse: what if I think all the things to say, and no one wants to hear them?)

Nope! Positive thoughts only. My kids are in school, my grocery delivery arrived on time, my house is clean, and my cat has forgiven me most of my transgressions.

And besides – I have a whole month to figure out what to put in the next newsletter anyway. Scads of time, right? Right.

Three Big Announcements!

School started here two weeks ago – thankfully, in-person, since the viral counts are so much lower here in Poland – and it’s been absolutely glorious finding my groove again. I’ve known for ages that I need to write every day in order for my mood to be at its best – and it was nearly impossible to write with both kids and the husband underfoot all the time. (Even with Hubby’s best of intentions in giving me that space. Still didn’t happen more than once or twice.)

Better still: the 5yo is attending kindergarten now, which means he gets on the bus with his older brother. No more preschool runs! Suddenly I’ve got about two hours more to my day – and it feels like so much more time than just two hours. The first couple of days, I would be at a loss for what to do with myself by mid-afternoon. NO MORE.

(The first day, I maaaaayyyyy have watched The Old Guard on Netflix, and promptly gotten hooked. Feed me all the Nicky/Joe you possibly can, please and thank you.)

But before I tell you what I’ve been up to: three big announcements!

.widget.widget_media_image img { height: auto; max-width: 100%; } [image error] The Omega’s Missing Mate is now available on Kindle or in paperback!

Eric Calhoun was just looking for a date.

Eric Calhoun defies all omega stereotypes – most of the time. He’s adventurous, determined, independent… and desperate for a date that will actually go somewhere. When he meets Rashad Abboud, he immediately falls for Rashad’s dark good looks and sweet, considerate behavior. It’s obvious that Rashad likes Eric just as much – at least, if their short and probably ill-advised liaison in the back alley is any indication.

But fast forward one month – and Rashad’s not only ghosted Eric, but he’s left him a souvenir. Newly pregnant and determined to the right thing, Eric gives Rashad one more chance – only to discover that Rashad hasn’t just stopped returning his texts. He’s disappeared.

And after Eric asks the right questions in the wrong places – he’s about to disappear, too.

Rashad Abboud was just looking for answers.

Rashad Abboud isn’t the macho, unattached alpha he might seem. And he definitely didn’t mean to ghost Eric. He only wanted to follow the latest lead on his missing mother, who fled the country after her husband’s death when Rashad was just a toddler. Rashad’s questions clearly have caught someone’s attention, though: one minute he’s walking down a D.C. street, and the next he’s waking up on the other side of the world.

Maybe for some people, finding his family would be a dream come true: but for Rashad, the combination of family politics and leaving Eric behind is a personal nightmare! And just when he’s convinced the only way out is to accept it – he finds the surprise of a lifetime waiting for him in the next bedroom over…

Neither of them were looking for an international adventure.

Eric never wanted an adventure quite this big – and Rashad never wanted to find family this cloying. There’s no reason in the world why they should trust each other – but it might just be the only way they’ll ever make it home.

The Omega’s Missing Mate is a stand-alone m/m mpreg romance with an HEA ending. It features over-the-top bedrooms, the slowest car chase ever, and family members who really need to learn the definition of “boundaries”.

The Country Omega is now FREE on all platforms!

My first book is now free on all platforms!

(It’s been free almost everywhere – it’s just taken a while to convince Amazon to price-match.)

Omega Ethan Downing doesn’t want a mate. He wants to play his piano and travel the world. But with his acceptance to a prestigious musical conservatory hanging in the balance – and an ex who won’t take “no” for a hint – Ethan’s father arranges a bonding with an alpha neither of them have ever met.

Alpha Antonio Valdez’s life is perfect. He has the career, the money, the looks. In fact, he’d be perfectly happy never to bond at all. When his overbearing father arranges a bonding for him, he’s ready to find every excuse in the world not to go through with it.

One meeting changes both Ethan’s and Antonio’s minds.

Too bad their fathers have also changed theirs.

Now Ethan and Antonio have to fight for something they never even dreamed they wanted: each other.

The Country Omega is the first book in a three-part series set in the Omegaverse. It is a non-shifter, paranormal world in which mpreg is a possibility (but does not occur in this story).

 

.widget.widget_media_image img { height: auto; max-width: 100%; } [image error] I’m on Facebook!

I finally gave in and started a Penelope Peters Author Page. I know, I’m very late to the party! Truth is, I had a personal FB ages ago – and hated it, so I figured I’d never be able to keep up a FB page properly – and if you can’t keep one up, what’s the point?

But over the summer, when I couldn’t write, one of the things I could do was Tweet. And I worked hard at upping my social media presence, and I think I’ve been doing a much better job of it.

Besides – a FB page is just another way of reaching readers – and that’s my ultimate goal.

So if you don’t like Twitter or Tumblr – and if you don’t want to follow a blog – and you DO like FB – please be sure to check out my Page. Don’t forget to Follow and click that Like button! You’ll be more likely to see my posts on your timeline – and you won’t miss a thing.

(Such as next week’s announcement about upcoming sales and promotions!)

What Else I’ve Been Doing
I’ve finished a third round of edits on The Omega School Part One. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that some of those edits may have been inspired by the pandemic – in that having a pandemic be part of the worldbuilding’s backstory actually helped solve some plot elements for me. Don’t worry – the book’s pandemic is ancient history when we enter the story, so it doesn’t come up directly.
I’ve restarted work on the first draft of Omega School Part Two. Past!Me was super clever and wrote up a really good synopsis of what happens in each chapter, so it’s going very quickly!
I’ve written synopses for a holiday book and Omega School Part Three. Hopefully I’ll get to work on that holiday book soon – since the holidays are fast approaching! Plus, it’ll be meeting my goal of writing more stories outside the omegaverse, with older characters!

 

Whew… that’s a lot for just a couple of weeks… do I get chocolate cake as reward? Excellent.

Decisions

I have been doing a lot of thinking over the last month. In fact, I’ve got a Word doc on my computer that is basically 2,000 words of me thinking out loud (well, typing), trying to work my way through the quagmire of issues that 2020 seems to have brought to the light.

 

(Which is not to say the issues are a quagmire – they’re difficult, heavy issues, but they are definitely worthy of examination. Especially as I’m a straight CIS female white author who writes guys who have sex and babies together (and are often BIPOC to boot). I am probably at or near the top of the list of authors who require self-examination.)

 

I won’t bore anyone with my thoughts – but I think it’s worth sharing what I have decided, especially since it’s largely going to affect what I write and how I share it in the future.

 

So here goes:

1. I’m going to keep writing BIPOC characters. I live in a diverse household. Diversity in my books is extremely important to me. I don’t want to stop writing diversity, or start writing only white MCs.

But I’m going to ensure that I’m not doing it just to tick off a box, because as much as I hate to admit it, I have definitely done that in the past. (Did I realize I was ticking a box? Maybe. Did I realize how terrible that was? No. Do I regret it now? Oh, yeah. Worst part is, I still like the book itself, I think it’s a good story. But the box I ticked isn’t justified in the story in the slightest – it doesn’t add a thing, and therefore, it’s just a box ticked. I’m ashamed that I did it. I’m not sure what to do with it, either – do I remove the book? Do I let it remain out there? I don’t think it’s harmful, as it is – just not helpful.)

I promise I won’t write a character merely to tick a box anymore. If a character is POC, it’ll be because it’s appropriate to the setting or premise of the plot. It’ll be an intrinsic part of that character, and not just a side note. I don’t want to be ashamed of my books, or the characterizations within them.

That means there are some ethnicities that I will probably never write. And that’s okay. I’m not in it to tick boxes.

 

2. I will promote own-voices as much as I possibly can. I can do the research, hire the sensitivity readers, pay attention to every detail as closely and carefully as I can – but I cannot recreate the experience in the same way as someone writing about their own experience can. I believe the table is big enough for everyone – and I’m going to help make sure that there’s enough room for anyone who wants to be there by making sure their voices are heard and their books are visible. I’ve only got my one vote – but it might be the one vote that ends up mattering.

3. I’m not going to make my fanfic a secret any longer. I’ve never really linked to my fanfic from this website, but I’ve talked about my professional writing in my fandom spaces – and it’s only now that I realize how much of a relief that has been for me. I’m tired of being secretive on Twitter – and to pretend that part of my writing life doesn’t exist.

I started writing as azriona in the Harry Potter fandom in 2004. Since then, I’ve written in Doctor Who, Sherlock BBC, Check Please!, Yuri on Ice, and a bunch of shorter stories in varied fandoms. I’ve written Omegaverse and non-Omegaverse, slash and het, romance and humor and parody and horror and mystery. I’ve written AUs and canon-compliant and everything in between. I had a blast, and there’s a lot of stories in there of which I am immensely proud – and always will be.

And I think the writing world has come to a point where my experience in fandom isn’t a reason to dismiss my current work. If you want to see it – by all means, there’s a link on the menu above under Free Reads – it’ll take you to the main three fanfiction archives that house my work. I hope you find something you enjoy.

 

(And as a side-note: one of the things I’ve done the last few weeks was to look through my fanfic folders on my computer. I’ve found some fanfics I never finished, but in reading them, I started to think of how I could. One might be scrubbed and turned into a novel – I haven’t quite decided how to work it yet. But I’ll be adding to those archives again, very soon, hopefully before the end of the year. Fanfic was one of my favorite pasttimes, and I loved writing for the sheer joy of it. I need to have that again in my life, beyond what I write for publication.)

4. I’m going to continue to expand beyond the Omegaverse. I still love the Omegaverse, controversy and problematic issues and all. I still think it’s a great way to examine society and how certain members of it are treated. But there’s other stories I want to tell, too – and there are definitely stories I want to tell that don’t really fit in the Omegaverse world.

 

I’ve written previously about how I don’t plan to use a different pen name for my non-Omegaverse stories. I still think it’s possible to cross those genres under the same pen name, and be successful. Especially if I can bulk up my non-Omegaverse reading list with additional non-Omegaverse stories. So expect more stories without the mpreg implications from me in the future – perhaps not immediately, but they’re coming.

 

5. I want to write more stories about older people, not just young ones. The bulk of my MCs have been in their 20s – which is great. But it’s been a long time since I’ve been in my 20s, if we’re going to be honest, and more and more, I find stories about people in their 30s and 40s and even 50s just as interesting. Ageism is something that’s always been present in Romancelandia, though it’s never been a focus. (And that’s fine, there’s other issues much larger at stake.) But it’s something I can help to fix, and it’s something I can do now.

6. I’m going to take my books wide. This is something I’ve considered for a while. I know that the omegaverse is mostly centered on Amazon, and specifically within Amazon Kindle – but it does exist in other locations, too. I’m also tired of dancing to KU’s tune. I really wanted to make my entire catalog free for a longer period of time than KU was willing to let me do. Taking the books wide lets me do that much easier.

I’ve already begun the process of pulling the books out of KU. In fact, Country Omega, Omega Nanny, and Camp Lake Omega are all wide as of this past Wednesday, and there will be four more books out of KU by the end of the month. The entire list will be out of KU by the end of the year.

(The Omega’s Missing Mate, which comes out next month, is already registered for KU, and I can’t pull it out until it’s published. But it will only have one run in KU to start, and should be done by December.)

Additionally, The Country Omega is in the process of going PermaFree. It’s already free on Smashwords, and will hopefully be free on most other platforms by next week. Convincing Amazon to price match is always a waiting game, but it’ll get there in the end, I’m sure. I also plan to take some other books to PermaFree status, though I haven’t decided which. I’m currently examining the options. (Which is a fancy way of saying, I haven’t decided!)

 

So there it is. I don’t know if these are the right decisions, or the wrong ones – but they’re they ones I believe I should make, and hopefully they’re ones you support. Please feel free to let me know what you think of them – even if it’s to disagree.

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The good, the bad, and the thoughtful.

With Bonded Beach out in the world, I’m starting to focus on the next book. The first draft is done, and I’m going to be feeling out for sensitivity readers for it soon – but first, the good and the bad.

 

Bad news first: Hanukkah Miracles will not be released until December. It’s a holiday-themed book (specially, Hanukkah), so waiting until then just makes sense. Plus that gives me plenty of time for editing and maybe setting up the marketing a little more thoroughly than I have recently. Two years ago, I was able to get slots for reviews and release notifications for my books with only about a month’s head start. Guess those days are over – a lot of places are now booked for their promotional activities six months in advance, which is why Bonded Beach hasn’t had much promotion going for it, poor book.

But this is good, especially for the good news: I plan to go wide with Hanukkah Miracles. In other words – it’s not going to be on just Amazon Kindle. I’m going to also release it on a few other platforms, too, and in multiple formats. I’m still looking into how best to do this, but I’m kind of excited about it. It does mean I won’t be able to submit the ebook into Kindle Unlimited, but it won’t be priced out of the market, either.

Why, you might ask, am I doing this? A couple of reasons. The first is that Hanukkah Miracles isn’t set in the Omegaverse. Yup, you read that right: no alphas or omegas, no heats or raging pheromones. (Raging hormones it will have aplenty, I assure you.) I don’t really have a concrete reason why, except that I was two or three chapters in when I realized, “Oh, wait, I forgot to talk about that part of it.” And then decided, “Eh! Whatever.” And kept on as I had begun.

And you know, I don’t think you’re going to miss it one bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Omegaverse, and I plan to keep on writing it. But it was a lot of fun to write without it, too.

I know there’s a theory that anytime an author changes genre, they should also use another pen name. (See Stephen King, see JK Rowling, see about half the romance authors out there, honestly.) And I get that, I truly do… but I’m not sure that’s the right move for me. For one thing, I’m not Stephen King or JK Rowling. I don’t have an incredible following for one specific thing. Also, I’m not shifting genres so drastically as they tend to do. I’m still writing M/M romance… just without the mpreg added in.

 

I’d also like to think the people who are reading my Omegaverse mpreg adventures are also out there reading regular m/m romance, too. Why change my name and make it more difficult for them to find me?

 

(And if I pick up any extra readers with a more generalized story… well. Maybe when they look at my back catalog, they’ll find a new genre they might enjoy.)

 

Now available, your next favorite beach read!

Looking for something to read while sitting comfortably near large bodies of water? Look no further! My newest release features a gorgeous beach-side resort, a sunset boat ride under the stars, and just in time to cool your fevered brow, a rainy day in Paris. Throw in two hot and sexy guys who think they’ve got this love-game conquered – and you’re in for a heck of a treat.

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What Happens at Bonded Beach

Now Available on Amazon Kindle

$2.99 or free for KU subscribers

 

 

 

JAMAL PATTERSON WANTS TO FOCUS ON HIS CAREER.

Alpha Jamal Patterson hasn’t had a steady relationship in his entire life, and he’s never wanted one, either. When his next job involves photographing his favorite model at the infamous Bondell Beach Resort – known for allowing bonded couples only – that lifestyle proves to be a snag. His boss has a solution in mind – but Jamal takes one look at her “solution” and knows his heart is in big trouble.

BRYCE FULTON WANTS A CHANCE TO HAVE A CAREER.

Maybe secretarial work isn’t quite Omega Bryce Fulton’s childhood dream, but at least it’s in the fashion industry. Photo shoots in Paris aren’t meant for guys like him – especially with the secret he’s sure would get him fired. But when a cute photographer needs Bryce’s help to access an exclusive beach resort, Bryce gets the chance to have everything his heart – and his ambition – have always wanted.

ONCE THEY’VE WORKED TOGETHER – WILL THEY EVER BE ABLE TO WORK APART?

It’s the perfect plan: pretend to be a couple for two days. Jamal gets his photos, and Bryce gets to prove he can handle more responsibility. But Bonded Beach didn’t get its nickname for nothing. Now Bryce and Jamal are going to have to decide what’s really important: their careers, or each other.

It was such a trip writing this story – literally! I got to revisit a whole bunch of old loves of mine, from photography to the city of Paris to living in the big city. (The Parisian B&B I talk about in the book actually exists, and I’m more than happy to direct you to it if you’re looking for an adorable and convenient place to stay in that city.)

Plus I got to play with one of the most popular tropes: the fake relationship. I’ve never actually written this one before, but it was so much fun to do, I’m planning to write more.

Enough of that, though – what are you still doing here? Go! Get your copy! Don’t forget to apply sunscreen! And enjoy!

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Summertime Reading!

For the second summer in a row, the boys and I have headed back to Arizona to stay with my parents. Partially this is because it’s too blistering hot in our current country of residence to remain for the summer months. My joke is that we’re trading heat for heat – except believe it or not, it’s actually cooler in Arizona than it is where we are the rest of the year. I grew up hearing people talk about how it’s a “dry heat”… I don’t think I truly understood until I stepped outside my house in the Middle East and experience 120F with 90% humidity. Blech.

It’s amazing how much the town I grew up in has grown since I lived here some twenty years ago, though. When I was a kid, the library was all the way across town, and the kid’s section was in the basement. It wasn’t a bad kid’s section, despite the yellowing lights and threadbare carpets. There were always plenty of books I hadn’t read yet, friendly librarians to help find things, and best of all, a dollhouse with some seriously amazing dolls and teeny tiny furniture and paintings and everything one could want in a dollhouse. You couldn’t play with the dollhouse – it was an antique – but I loved looking at it, and probably spent far too long staring past the Plexi-glass while my mother tapped her foot and waited for me to finish.

Twenty years later, the library is still there across town: but it’s no longer the only branch, let alone the main branch. The new location is much, much closer to my parents’ house, and it’s gorgeous. The kids section, instead of being in the dark and windowless basement, is bright and airy and features no less than five storytimes a week. There’s no dollhouse (I have no idea what happened to the one in my memory) but there’s a cave with benches and a Lego table, both of which fascinate my 3-year-old son.

This summer, like last summer, I signed the boys up for the summer reading program. Isn’t it funny how summer just seems to go with reading? The whole concept of summer reading lists and swinging in a hammock in the backyard with a book and a glass of lemonade. Or sitting on a beach under an umbrella, reading some deliciously silly book with scantily clad people on the cover, the trashier the better.

(True for most people, anyway. I once won a contest for correctly remembering that the last book my husband had read on a beach was Stalin and the Bomb.)

In keeping with tradition, my newest release features sunsets and warm air, scantily-clad cover models and ice cream cones. There’s even a rainy day in Paris to soothe your sunburnt skin! (And no mentions of Stalin or bombs, I promise!)

 

 

What Happens at Bonded Beach:

JAMAL PATTERSON WANTS TO FOCUS ON HIS CAREER.

Alpha Jamal Patterson hasn’t had a steady relationship in his entire life, and he’s never wanted one, either. When his next job involves photographing his favorite model at the infamous Bondell Beach Resort – known for allowing bonded couples only – that lifestyle proves to be a snag. His boss has a solution in mind – but Jamal takes one look at her “solution” and knows his heart is in big trouble.

BRYCE FULTON WANTS A CHANCE TO HAVE A CAREER.

Maybe secretarial work isn’t quite Omega Bryce Fulton’s childhood dream, but at least it’s in the fashion industry. Photo shoots in Paris aren’t meant for guys like him – especially with the secret he’s sure would get him fired. But when a cute photographer needs Bryce’s help to access an exclusive beach resort, Bryce gets the chance to have everything his heart – and his ambition – have always wanted.

ONCE THEY’VE WORKED TOGETHER – WILL THEY EVER BE ABLE TO WORK APART?

It’s the perfect plan: pretend to be a couple for two days. Jamal gets his photos, and Bryce gets to prove he can handle more responsibility. But Bonded Beach didn’t get its nickname for nothing. Now Bryce and Jamal are going to have to decide what’s really important: their careers, or each other.

For release on July 10, 2018

Pre-orders available now!

$2.99 or Free on Kindle Unlimited

 

This is what I did yesterday in lieu of writing an epilogue.

In case you’re wondering about the recent influx of emails in your inbox from your favorite authors, there’s a new EU law that is effecting everyone’s mailing lists. It’s not a bad law – it’s designed to keep everyone’s personal information safer. In light of recent Facebook scandals and whatnot, I don’t think anyone’s going to argue increased safety regarding personal information is a bad thing.[image error]

 

It does, however, mean that those of us who operate mailing lists – such as newsletters – are subject to consequences if we have any EU residents on our mailing lists and don’t comply with the laws – whether or not we’re EU residents ourselves. I’m not an EU citizen, nor do I live in the EU, but I’m absolutely certain that some of my readers are. (After all, Amazon does tell me when my books are purchased/borrowed from the French, Italian, or German versions of their website. One can easily surmise those books are purchased by EU citizens.)

And since the fines involved run up into the millions of euros… yeah. I’m damn sure gonna comply.

 

Luckily, it wasn’t too difficult to deal with my end of the bargain. Basically I tweaked the mailing list a little bit: there should be a double opt-in now. Instead of entering your email once and done with it, new subscribers will get a confirmation email. Once they click the link in there and confirm they want in, they’re on the list and I’ve got proof they want to be on the list. For the current subscribers, I sent out an email that basically explains the new law and asks them to opt-in. Once they do, they’re fine and I’m covered.

 

But anyone who doesn’t opt-in by May 25… will be automatically removed from the list. Which is the scary part of the proposition. I know I’ve ignored newsletter emails in the past. A whole lot of them, actually. Or I don’t get to them for days or even weeks.

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Don’t we all….

I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen a bunch this month. I’ve got a plan to send out two additional reminders to people who don’t respond, so hopefully that’ll catch most of the stragglers.

 

But in the meantime… so far, so good, and I feel much better off knowing that I’m not risking millions of euro for the lack of a couple of emails.

 

But if you see an email from your favorite author over the next couple of weeks… make sure you open it, please? And if you still want to hear from them, please let them know!

Sometimes life is a Joni Mitchell song

We lost internet for a while this past weekend. Apparently someone somewhere snipped a cable they weren’t supposed to snip, and so the whole block lost internet for two days. The funny thing about losing internet access is I never realize how much of our lives we spend online. Some things are obvious: Tumblr and Twitter and Facebook and WhatsApp are part of our daily lives, but we can live without them for a while. We’ve done it before – heck, most of our lives, those things didn’t even exist.

What surprised me more was how much I’m online when I don’t even realize I’m online. I tried to open a game I play on my phone and was immediately informed that the game couldn’t connect to the server and was thus unavailable. (What? Didn’t I spend five minutes downloading that game? What do you mean I have to be online to play it?)

I wrote for a little while, and then realized I needed to research how to say Happy Hanukkah in French. Except I couldn’t – because the answer was online.

I was in the middle of making a raspberry Danish – but the recipe I printed out that morning suggested watching a video on YouTube in order to do the tricky braid part correctly. Which is online.

I thought, okay, fine. I’ll read one of the books I got off Amazon this morning. Except I couldn’t, because my Kindle hadn’t downloaded them yet and thus they weren’t available yet.

Even Microsoft Word, which I own outright – when I opened a new file to type this up, I was immediately informed that my subscription could not be verified because I was not online.

All in all, it was a really frustrating two days.

What startled me was my reaction to the lack of internet, probably more than actually losing internet in the first place. For some reason – even though my phone still sent texts and received calls and could connect to the internet if I turned on mobile data – I could feel myself growing anxious. My heart didn’t pound, but I had a strange, light-headed, other-worldly feeling. My fingers tingled, like my blood wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

I’m not usually an anxious person; I’ve gone without internet before, when traveling or when the WiFi router mysteriously goes haywire. I spent the first year here without mobile data at all, so every time I left the house, I was unable to connect to anything. And that was okay, it was just part of life, you know? It’s something I accept(ed).

We’ve dropped internet before, of course – everyone does. Sometimes it even takes more than five minutes or so to click back in. After two hours, though, I was pretty sure it was broken – and I still didn’t feel better. My fingers still tingled or felt numb. My chest still felt like I had a vice around my heart. It wasn’t until I sat down and talked myself through it: You are fine. It is fine. It’s just the stupid internet. You don’t need it. You can still call out. You can still get texts. You can access via mobile data if you need it. You can go to the consulate in the morning and talk to the guy in charge of the internet and get this straightened out. You probably just hit the cut-off, and all you have to do is pay and you’ll get it back. No big deal. And maybe find out what the upper limit is so you can avoid this in the future!

And after that rousing pep-talk… I felt a lot better.

I don’t wonder if I’m addicted to the internet; I know for a fact I am. I’m online almost all the time. I like to look things up as I think of questions. I like being able to send a photo of the kids to my mom within seconds of me taking it – and having her respond before the end of the day. My camera talks to my phone; my phone talks to my computer; my computer talks to my Kindle. The only device not talking to anything is the DVD player and that’s mostly because I haven’t had the need to set it up yet.

And yeah, okay, maybe I could spend a little less time online and more time doing other things, like baking or brushing the cat or going to the gym. Or (God help me) reading the three-year-old The Monster at the End of this Book for the five-thousandth time.

Or writing the stories I post online. Tweaking the photos I’ve taken of the boys, to post online. Commenting on the stories I’ve been reading, obtained online. Reading the news of the world… online.

I can’t say that everything I need is online. My kids aren’t, my husband isn’t, my cat’s not. But so much of what I do that I enjoy – and the people I enjoy sharing those things with – are online, that I find it very difficult to face a world where I can’t immediately access it.

No wonder I felt like I was trapped, when without warning, it was taken away. (I can even pinpoint the twenty-minute period in which it happened.) It wasn’t that I was trapped – but I was very much cut off from many of the things on which I’ve come to rely. I’m not used to such isolation anymore, not in the same way I was twenty or ten or even five years ago, before I even owned a smartphone.

I think that’s probably true of most of us. Even my husband has a smartphone now – his work forced him to get one. He resisted for years, saying he didn’t need it. And he didn’t.

But when he upgraded his personal phone over the summer, he got a smartphone. He uses it every day to listen to NPR podcasts.

About a year ago, I read a book called Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It’s one of those apocalypse novels, where rocks fall and everyone dies, and then we get to see what happens afterwards. In this book’s case, there’s a pandemic that kills something like 90% of the world population within about a week. The majority of the book takes place 20 years later. It’s a scary, frightening, fantastically imaginative world, and I was completely captivated it – but one of the things that frightened me the most was those weeks after the pandemic swept through the world.

It wasn’t the sudden loss of life. It was that one of the first things to break down was the lines of communication. No electricity, no phones, no internet, no nothing. Everything was gone. Everyone was isolated from everyone else.

I won’t give away more of the story, not really – but the part I loved best about the ending, was the tiny note of hope at the end: the rumor that there was a community that had figured out how to turn on the power again. And with that… the possibility of reaching out to someone else.

The idea of suddenly disappearing… and never finding out the end of anyone else’s stories – it scares me. Mostly because I think in a lot of ways, it’s also inevitable. I’ve been online in some form for over fifteen years now. There’s already people who I talked and interacted with every day who just don’t go online anymore. I have no idea what’s happened to them, how they’re doing, where they are, what their lives are like – and all too often, no way to reconnect, since even the platforms we used to interact are no longer in operation.

I remember when my grandparents were in their 90s, and it seemed like every day, another one of their friends passed away. At some point, that’s going to be us. Times however many followers we have, because of course my grandparents didn’t have a virtual set of friends. They had the people in their real lives. We have so many more.

Grim thoughts for a sunny day – and I’m not quite sure how to end my musings, except that the internet returned with as much fanfare as it disappeared, and sure enough, everyone was waiting exactly where I left off. Which is comforting, in its own way.

Joni may have sung it first, but this is the version I like the best..widget.widget_media_video iframe { margin: 0; }https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvtJPs8IDgU

On Editing

I’ve been waist-deep in editing the last few weeks, trying to get not only the next book to a stage where it’s ready for other eyes, but also a few other projects that needed intense editing before completion. I used to hate the editing process, because it seemed so tedious – delete a comma here, fix punctuation there, rephrase a sentence until it’s clear. To a younger me, it was mostly busy work.

I don’t feel that way anymore – editing is one of my favorite stages of the writing process. I love getting feedback, hearing what works and what doesn’t, what makes people laugh and what makes people cry. I even like hearing what’s confusing or unclear, because a lot of the times, I already felt the same way and just need confirmation, and maybe another point of view to figure out why so I can fix it.

[image error]What changed? I found a couple of really fantastic editors, who not only pointed out the incorrect comma placements, the clunky sentences, and the slightly off characterization – but they also questioned why I’d done things. They pushed back, they pointed out logical leaps, they said things that made me want to explore my plot a bit deeper.

In short, they turned editing from a chore to an absolute delight. Now, when I read through my drafts, I’m trying to emulate them. I ask myself the same questions: not just “Is this where the comma goes?” but also, “Is this where this scene goes? Is this what the character needs to ask right now? Am I missing some important piece of information in their backstory that will make it click?”

I always see posts online about how important it is to get the first draft down: that it’s okay if the words are terrible, because no one expects a first draft to be fantastic. It occurred to me, while I was in the middle of editing, that being a writer isn’t the ability to write a story. Anyone can write a story: that’s the whole point about programs like NaNoWriMo and websites like fanfiction.net. It’s the first draft that turns a daydream into a story.

But it’s the second draft that turns a story-teller into a writer.

Writers don’t stop at a first draft. They sit down and edit the complete drivel they’ve just written. Anyone can write a first draft. Not everyone has the patience to turn those first drafts into middling second, decent third, and fabulous fourth drafts. (Not to mention the fifth, sixth, and even seventh drafts.)[image error]

Really, I’d venture to say that the best writers are also the best self-editors. They recognize that first drafts are usually complete and total crap, and then have the patience and self-awareness to fix them.

I’ve always written stories – but I think it’s only in the last few years that I’ve been comfortable calling myself a writer. I think perhaps this different approach to the process is probably key to why.