Marie Force's Blog, page 9
March 7, 2014
Romance Isn't Just for Women
It’s Never Too Late to Fall in Love: Eshel Travis
“I have fallen in love with you,” begins a letter 68-year-old Eshel Travis wrote to Marie. “Let me diagnose my condition.”
Mr. Travis goes on to explain that he used to watch four or five movies a day. During his 46 years of marriage, including several years or retirement, his wife, Pam, has unsuccessfully attempted to encourage him to read a book. “Any book,” as he says. Prior to falling in love (with Marie), it had been more than 30 years sinc...
“I have fallen in love with you,” begins a letter 68-year-old Eshel Travis wrote to Marie. “Let me diagnose my condition.”
Mr. Travis goes on to explain that he used to watch four or five movies a day. During his 46 years of marriage, including several years or retirement, his wife, Pam, has unsuccessfully attempted to encourage him to read a book. “Any book,” as he says. Prior to falling in love (with Marie), it had been more than 30 years sinc...
February 20, 2014
***All New Selfie Contest!***
The publisher of ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE soooo loved the selfie contest, they asked us to do it again! Fun fun FUN! We have all new FABULOUS prizes up for grabs! Here’s how it’s going to work and please make sureyou read ALL the way to the end so you can see the many ways to WIN!Starting TODAY, get back out there and find ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE in your local bookstore or order your copy from an online retailer and take a picture of yourself holding the book. We want to see you WITH the print copy...
February 2, 2014
Why the Beatles? And other things you need to know about the Abbotts of Vermont!
I’m so excited that it’s finally February and the the release week for ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! I thought it would be fun to help prepare for release week by telling you some more about my new family as well as what inspired the titles for the series. What I didn’t know when I picked Beatles song titles for my new Green Mountain Series is that the week the first book came out would also mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the U.S. for the first time. What a happy little coincidence! ...
January 30, 2014
Meet the Abbotts of Vermont!
For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself looking forward to freezing cold February! That’s because ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, the first book in my new Green Mountain Series, is out this month after a rather long incubation period that began all the way back in 2011 with a spot on the NBC Nightly News. I’m a tad bit addicted to Brian Williams and his nightly broadcast—okay, I TiVo it, don’t judge me. A story about the Vermont Country Store and the hunky brothers who run it with their dad ca...
January 28, 2014
One Week from Today! A New Family & A New Series!
Are you ready for the Abbotts of Vermont? I’m very excited for next Tuesday when All You Need Is Love, Book 1 in my new Green Mountain Series, becomes available everywhere e-books, print and audio books are sold. This release is different from most of my others because there’s a publisher involved—Berkley Publishing, a division of Penguin-Random House. I’ve had a great time working with the team at Berkley to bring the Abbott family to you. I wanted to make you aware of a few things about the...
January 12, 2014
SURPRISE! A New Gansett Island Novella On Sale NOW!
SURPRISE!!!!! Wondering how I spent my Christmas vacation? Wonder no more! I spent it on Gansett Island, writing CHANCE FOR LOVE, a novella featuring our heartbroken billionaire, Jared James! CHANCE FOR LOVE is now LIVE for Kindle, Nook and Kobo, and coming at midnight to iBooks! I’m so excited to surprise readers with this new Gansett Island novella that’s been a top-secret, hush-hush project for the last couple of weeks. Keep in mind that a novella is much shorter than a regular book. This...
December 17, 2013
I'm Getting Tired of Talking About Self-Publishing.... And This Is Why...
Remember WAY back in 2010, when self-publishing e-books was still new to everyone, and some of us were beginning to dabble and experiment? Remember when there were only a few brave, hearty souls out there trying this previously lambasted way to get our books to readers? Remember when it was weird and scary and we didn't know if the traditional publishers we were still working with would sue us for taking this new path? Yeah, that was sooooo three years ago. As we close in on the end of 2013,...
November 18, 2013
Meant for Love, On Sale Today!
Release day celebration! MEANT FOR LOVE, McCarthys of Gansett Island Book 10, is now ON SALE! Jenny the lighthouse keeper finally gets her happily ever after with Alex Martinez in this latest installment from Gansett Island, which features some of your favorite characters from past books too!AND SPECIAL BONUS! At the back of Meant for Love, get the FIRST EVER sneak preview of ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, Book 1 in my NEW Green Mountain Series, coming February 4, 2014!
Get MEANT FOR LOVE this week to...
November 6, 2013
My Favorite McCarthy Book: Meant for Love, out Nov. 18!
Only 12 more days until MEANT FOR LOVE, Book 10 in the McCarthy Series, hits e-readers! I'm sooo excited for this book, which is now my personal favorite of the McCarthy series. Why? I've loved Jenny since we first met her in Book 6, and learned that she lost her fiancé on 9/11. Her life since then has been a difficult journey that led her to Gansett Island and a job as the lighthouse keeper. I've found her to be an interesting character from the beginning, and I've enjoyed watching...
May 18, 2013
Eight Years Ago Today
Many of the most important things in my life have occurred on the 18th of the month, which has made 18 my lucky number. Both my kids were born on the 18th, and on this day in May 2005, another of my "kids" was officially born when I wrote the words THE END for the very first time in TREADING WATER. Little did I know then, during this moment of tremendous personal satisfaction and achievement, that Treading Water was an overwritten, 150,000-word, self-indulgent DISASTER. I also didn't know then that Treading Water would mark the start of the most incredible journey, filled with many soaring highs and just as many crushing lows.Treading Water took me on a roller coaster ride of edits and revisions and rewrites and critiques and soul searching and questions for the ages: What would I do if I was in Jack's situation? Several of my late mother's friends read it, told me it kept them up all night and demanded I write a follow-on story for one of the characters whose story was left unfinished in Treading Water. I had many deep conversations with friends who'd read the book and found themselves questioning their own belief systems.
I began to think... If this book had affected the people in my life so profoundly, maybe, just maybe it would strike the hearts of others, too. I worked on that book for YEARS after I wrote THE END. Even as I wrote a bunch of other books, I returned over and over again to Treading Water, applying everything new that I learned to that first book. Traditional publishers, however, had absolutely no interest in my square peg book, which was heartbreaking at the time. I'm skipping a huge chunk of my writing career story as I jump forward to the fall of 2011 when I self-published Treading Water at a lean, mean 92,000 words. Over six years, I cut 58,000 words (!! almost another full book !!) from that first version. Talk about killing your darlings!
Taking the advice of my mother's friends, I wrote book 2, Marking Time, in three months, and have hardly changed a word since I finished it in early 2006. I learned all the most important lessons about storytelling, pacing, character development, point of view and over-writing from Treading Water. It was then and remains today the ultimate book of my heart. My company is named for Jack, the architect in Treading Water: HTJB, Inc. The House That Jack Built. Everything goes back to Jack and Treading Water.
Almost eight years after I wrote THE END that first time, I got to see my name on the New York Times bestseller list. And then it happened again, with a different book, three weeks later. I have thousands of readers who wait with anticipation for my next book, which is the absolute dream come true times a million because I never dreamed it would be as amazing as it is to have such incredible readers. I have a career I could've only imagined on that day eight years ago today. As a very special thank you to all the friends and readers I've met along the way on this amazing ride, Treading Water is currently free in e-book format. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you all.
xoxo
Marie
Kindle: http://amzn.to/10ugEpi
iBookstore: http://bit.ly/WA9Cwb
Kobo: http://bit.ly/11BZKJN
**We are waiting on Nook to make it free at http://bit.ly/WNAs3R. It's been submitted and is in the queue! So check back frequently.** In the meantime, you can get it for free in ePub format for the Nook at Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98722
