Cindy Dees's Blog, page 9
August 1, 2015
Great reviews for UNDERCOVER WITH A SEAL!
A well-crafted plot with plenty of action, love and danger set within the intriguing city of New Orleans make this a must-read romance.
Reviewed by: Melanie Bates
– See more at: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-rev...
From Merryreader at Amazon:
i wont rehash the story line, get that from book description. The book is GREAT, will hold your attention and you can’t put it down until completing it. The characters have hot chemistry and the suspense is chilling. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND. I very rarely give 5 star reviews, those are for PERFECT books. I gave this one 5 stars.
A well-crafted plot with plenty of action, love and danger set within the intriguing city of New Orleans make this a must-read romance.
Reviewed by:
Melanie Bates
– See more at: http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-SEAL...
WEBSITE INTERACTIVITY MATTERS
Here’s the next piece in the publicity plan for our epic fantasy book coming out in six weeks. A good discussion forum tool is not cheap, but it makes for a GREAT reader experience when your fans visit the website associated with the books.
Remember, the idea is to give away lots of free content and fun in return for brand loyalty, a review now and then, and some word of mouth recommendations. Super fans don’t just appear. You have to find them, woo them, court them, and make the relationship well worth their while.
Just went live with the AWESOME new discussion forum on the Dragon Crest website. Super excited…it’s got all the bells and whistles you could imagine. Stop by and say hi. The live link is on the GO TO FORUM page at www.dragoncrest.com
WEBSITE IINTERACTIVITY MATTERS
Remember, the idea is to give away lots of free content and fun in return for brand loyalty, a review now and then, and some word of mouth recommendations. Super fans don't just appear. You have to find them, woo them, court them, and make the relationship well worth their while.
Just went live with the AWESOME new discussion forum on the Dragon Crest website. Super excited...it's got all the bells and whistles you could imagine. Stop by and say hi.
The live link is on the GO TO FORUM page at www.dragoncrest.com
July 6, 2015
UNDERCOVER WITH A SEAL on sale now!
He’s a burned out SEAL on his way off the teams and making one last ditch effort to pull himself together. She’s desperately searching for her disappeared brother and posing as a waitress in a seedy strip club. Both have secrets they dare not reveal in spite of the smoking hot attraction between them. Will they save each other before the mob can destroy them both?
June 6, 2015
THE DREAMING HUNT release date
We have a release date for THE DREAMING HUNT, book two in the Dragon Crest saga. Sept 2016 it is! The train’s starting to roll at long last and this is gonna be a fun ride…
June 1, 2015
DREAMING HUNT release date!
A tentative release date for the second Dragon Crest novel, THE DREAMING HUNT, was announced by Tor this week. Mark your calendar for September 2016! A sneak peek excerpt is posted in the book section of www.dragoncrest.com
April 13, 2015
HOW DOES WRITING MAKE YOU FEEL?
We get so wrapped up in giving ourselves minimum daily word counts, deadlines in which to finish a manuscript, and other self-imposed homework-like writing assignments that we often lose sight of why we started writing in the first place.
I'd venture to guess that most writers start writing for the sheer love of it. For the rush of writing down that story racing around in our brain demanding to get out. Sure, it would be great to pay off the house or be famous, and that's a draw, too. But the writing itself--ahh, that's sheer joy.
After you've been writing for a while, learned a bunch of technical stuff (that ought to guarantee your success if you master it, right?), and you've gotten a few manuscripts under your belt, are you still writing because you love it? I'm continually surprised by how complicated the reasons become to keep a person writing.
So here's a thought. What if, before you sit down to write tomorrow, you take a moment and ask yourself, "How do I want to feel when I'm done writing today?"
What if your goal, instead of being x number of words written, is "I want to feel productive, or creative, or clever?" Or maybe if you're on deadline, your goal is, "I want to be less panicked and feel like I made progress today?"
How will that shift your outlook while you're in the act of writing? When you get stuck in a scene, will you be more inclined to stay in your chair and struggle through it, knowing that the reward of feeling good about your writing awaits you?
I have to wonder if a good portion of writer's block isn't caused by feeling bad about our writing. If you have a crappy writing day and feel unproductive and worthless and terrible at writing, how much less likely are you to subject yourself to that torture tomorrow? And the next day and the next day as all the negatives stack up?
It's undoubtedly the topic of another post to consider how to feel good about our writing. But it's probably enough for now to ask you to be aware of how you feel after you're finished writing each day and how you WANT to feel after you're finished writing for the day.
HOW DOES WRITING MAKE YOU FEEL?
Seems like a no brainer question, doesn’t it? And yet, you’d be amazed at how many writers I run into who love the idea of having written but don’t like to write at all.
We get so wrapped up in giving ourselves minimum daily word counts, deadlines in which to finish a manuscript, and other self-imposed homework-like writing assignments that we often lose sight of why we started writing in the first place.
I’d venture to guess that most writers start writing for the sheer love of it. For the rush of writing down that story racing around in our brain demanding to get out. Sure, it would be great to pay off the house or be famous, and that’s a draw, too. But the writing itself–ahh, that’s sheer joy.
After you’ve been writing for a while, learned a bunch of technical stuff (that ought to guarantee your success if you master it, right?), and you’ve gotten a few manuscripts under your belt, are you still writing because you love it? I’m continually surprised by how complicated the reasons become to keep a person writing.
So here’s a thought. What if, before you sit down to write tomorrow, you take a moment and ask yourself, “How do I want to feel when I’m done writing today?”
What if your goal, instead of being x number of words written, is “I want to feel productive, or creative, or clever?” Or maybe if you’re on deadline, your goal is, “I want to be less panicked and feel like I made progress today?”
How will that shift your outlook while you’re in the act of writing? When you get stuck in a scene, will you be more inclined to stay in your chair and struggle through it, knowing that the reward of feeling good about your writing awaits you?
I have to wonder if a good portion of writer’s block isn’t caused by feeling bad about our writing. If you have a crappy writing day and feel unproductive and worthless and terrible at writing, how much less likely are you to subject yourself to that torture tomorrow? And the next day and the next day as all the negatives stack up?
It’s undoubtedly the topic of another post to consider how to feel good about our writing. But it’s probably enough for now to ask you to be aware of how you feel after you’re finished writing each day and how you WANT to feel after you’re finished writing for the day.
March 25, 2015
THE PROS AND CONS OF CONFIDENCE
This speaker does a lot of work with salespeople, and I can see the point of needing to project confidence whether you have it or not. There was even a reference to the importance of faking it if and until you have it for real.
But it got me thinking about how this applies to writers and other creative artists.
Certainly, there is huge value in believing in your writing and loving the stories you create. I expect it's helpful to your self-promotion and marketing to project confidence, or at least to infuse confidence into your sales efforts and reader interactions.
However, I also think there's a potentially deadly downside of confidence in writers. And that would be when it becomes over-confidence or false confidence.
Being convinced that you're a fantastic writer to the exclusion of being able to take an honest critique is a problem. (I'm being polite here. In reality, this one is an epidemic among first-time authors.)
Being convinced you're so good that you do not need to learn and grow...big problem.
Being so confident that your book will be the one to break out big that you spend money you don't have to produce it or quit a job that you'd otherwise need or spending promotion money that you can't reasonably expect to make back...yikes! The more insidious manifestation of this one is when a writer is so convinced their book is the next big thing that they invest their entire ego and sense of self-worth in how the book performs.
I'm not trying to say to anyone that you suck as a writer. I love you all and think everyone has a fantastic story locked away inside them trying to get out. But I am saying two things:
1) The publishing industry is NOT logical. Great books often flounder and horrible books occasionally sell millions of copies. You may be absolutely correct to be confident that your book is outstanding. But that's no guarantee of success. In simple terms, confidence does not necessarily equal success in the publishing business.
My January release, FEVER ZONE, is by far the best book I've ever written--this book kicks butt and takes names. It ROCKS. But it's not selling well and nobody's reviewing it. The few reviews it has are raves, but for some reason, this terrific story is not gaining traction. I have huge confidence in the book. But that does not automatically translate to success.
2) Being an artist is an ever-evolving process. Confidence is not a steady state of existence for a creative personality. It is not something you can "be" or "not be."
I find that my confidence is tied to periods when I am being highly productive, when I know where my story is going, and when I have learned something new about my craft that I feel like I have mastered and am being able to apply to my work. I am less confident in periods when I'm struggling to produce pages, don't know where I'm going with a story, or I feel like I'm stagnating or have some aspect of my work that I need to improve.
At the end of the day, you need to believe that a) you do have a story to tell, that b) you are the right person to tell your story, and c) you can work hard and tell your story in the best way you know how.
You cannot control your sales, your reviews, your financial success, or your fame. You can have all of the confidence in the world and never achieve tangible goals that equate to success (as measured in traditional business models).
Confidence matters. It can help you finish your book or, maybe, help you achieve your goals. But do not let yourself become a slave to any false promises of "having confidence."
Do not let confidence blind you to your flaws as an artist. Believe me, we all have them. Do not mistake having confidence for being blind to the areas in your creative expression that need improvement, growth, and old-fashioned hard work.
Use confidence as a tool to help you be productive and to help you put yourself out there in front of the world with your story. Make it work for you and not against you.
THE PROS AND CONS OF CONFIDENCE
I had the opportunity to hear a business coach talk about the mental aspects of success recently, and the speaker talked at length about the importance of being confident in yourself and your work and believing that you are the absolute best at what you do. Cue the mental cringe from me.
This speaker does a lot of work with salespeople, and I can see the point of needing to project confidence whether you have it or not. There was even a reference to the importance of faking it if and until you have it for real.
But it got me thinking about how this applies to writers and other creative artists.
Certainly, there is huge value in believing in your writing and loving the stories you create. I expect it’s helpful to your self-promotion and marketing to project confidence, or at least to infuse confidence into your sales efforts and reader interactions.
However, I also think there’s a potentially deadly downside of confidence in writers. And that would be when it becomes over-confidence or false confidence.
Being convinced that you’re a fantastic writer to the exclusion of being able to take an honest critique is a problem. (I’m being polite here. In reality, this one is an epidemic among first-time authors.)
Being convinced you’re so good that you do not need to learn and grow…big problem.
Being so confident that your book will be the one to break out big that you spend money you don’t have to produce it or quit a job that you’d otherwise need or spending promotion money that you can’t reasonably expect to make back…yikes! The more insidious manifestation of this one is when a writer is so convinced their book is the next big thing that they invest their entire ego and sense of self-worth in how the book performs.
I’m not trying to say to anyone that you suck as a writer. I love you all and think everyone has a fantastic story locked away inside them trying to get out. But I am saying two things:
1) The publishing industry is NOT logical. Great books often flounder and horrible books occasionally sell millions of copies. You may be absolutely correct to be confident that your book is outstanding. But that’s no guarantee of success. In simple terms, confidence does not necessarily equal success in the publishing business.
My January release, FEVER ZONE, is by far the best book I’ve ever written–this book kicks butt and takes names. It ROCKS. But it’s not selling well and nobody’s reviewing it. The few reviews it has are raves, but for some reason, this terrific story is not gaining traction. I have huge confidence in the book. But that does not automatically translate to success.
2) Being an artist is an ever-evolving process. Confidence is not a steady state of existence for a creative personality. It is not something you can “be” or “not be.”
I find that my confidence is tied to periods when I am being highly productive, when I know where my story is going, and when I have learned something new about my craft that I feel like I have mastered and am being able to apply to my work. I am less confident in periods when I’m struggling to produce pages, don’t know where I’m going with a story, or I feel like I’m stagnating or have some aspect of my work that I need to improve.
At the end of the day, you need to believe that a) you do have a story to tell, that b) you are the right person to tell your story, and c) you can work hard and tell your story in the best way you know how.
You cannot control your sales, your reviews, your financial success, or your fame. You can have all of the confidence in the world and never achieve tangible goals that equate to success (as measured in traditional business models).
Confidence matters. It can help you finish your book or, maybe, help you achieve your goals. But do not let yourself become a slave to any false promises of “having confidence.”
Do not let confidence blind you to your flaws as an artist. Believe me, we all have them. Do not mistake having confidence for being blind to the areas in your creative expression that need improvement, growth, and old-fashioned hard work.
Use confidence as a tool to help you be productive and to help you put yourself out there in front of the world with your story. Make it work for you and not against you.
