Jennifer Probst's Blog, page 23

Issue Date for The Marriage Trap Has Been Changed!

First off, I am really sorry I have to make this announcement last minute, since everyone has been incredible about the lead up to the second in the Marriage to a Billionaire series, The Marriage Trap.

But, due to WONDERFUL reasons I can’t announce just yet, we are moving the issue date and I promise it will be worth it!

Stay tuned for official news next week, and thanks to everyone for hanging in a bit longer for the wait!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Big News and A Love Letter

Big News and A Love Letter

The last few months have been a wild ride, with my little romance novel I adored so much, finally finding its way to readers who love it as much as I do. I am consistently humbled and honored by the fan mail I’ve been receiving regarding my characters, Nick and Alexa, and how they touched readers. Simply put, you have made my life dream come true.

I’m thrilled to announce the next step – the launch of the mass market paperback by Barnes and Noble on July 17th!

To celebrate this milestone, Barnes and Noble is offering a wonderful deal for pre-order. Only $4.88 and you can have the paperback version in your hand.

Buy your copy here and save!

 

Now, I’d like to share an older post I entitled Love Letters back in April 2011. I think you’ll enjoy the post, and I challenge you if you’re a writer to pen a love letter from either your hero or heroine. You may find out a lot about your character you never knew.

What would Alexa write to Nick in her love letter? Drop by and give me your feedback, and maybe I’ll draft a letter to post in a future blog!

Hope everyone is doing well! Enjoy the post!

I was cleaning out some drawers the other day and my hands closed around a worn envelope. When I dragged it out, I saw a familiar old scrawl and my heart did an actual pitter patter. I slowly pulled out the white paper. Unfolded it carefully. The rustle rose up to my ears as sweet as Beethoven. Then read it.

My dearest love…

And so it began.

An old lover who’d made an impression on my life but was not meant to be my soul-mate. Writing his feelings, stark, and haunted, and passionate, in a bold blue scrawl. It was poetry, and a romance novel, and a symphony in one hard twist. His words carried me back to the precise moment I opened his letter; my uncertainty about our relationship, my trembling fingers as he poured out his heart, the patter of rain against the windowsill in the background as I read his words.

Ahhh, the love letter.

Is there anything as romantic and passionate in its simplicity as words written on a plain piece of paper from someone we love? For a lover of words, or someone who is good at expressing his or her feelings but can’t handle the verbal exchange, the love letter is the savior and the last stand of romantic love.

Words are still just as powerful today. We may write them on Twitter and email and Facebook, but we are still writing to express humor, frustration, passion, or love. A friend of mine once had a boyfriend who sent note cards in the mail with one mysterious sentence such as, Thinking of tonight….I caught your scent and looked for you today….You are my heart…

Those note cards were more exciting than receiving a text or email. Something about a letter received through the mail makes the exchange seem extra special.

So, my old lover got me thinking about the history of love letters. I perused one of my favorite books (citation below) which details actual love letters throughout history. I posted some excerpts below:

“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever precious – your heart, your soul. Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul one must learn to know. Believe me, nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings.” –Count Leo Tolstoi, Russian writer, to Valeria Arsenev, his fiancée. November 2nd 1856/

“Carry me off into the blue skies of tender loves, roll me in dark clouds, trample me with your thunderstorms, break me in your angry rages. But love me, my adored lover.” Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, to Jean Richepin, French writer, in 1883

“Sometimes I have a rush of feeling, that seems like the passage of a spirit through me, and ought to flow to you like blessing. This is the most beautiful feeling I ever experienced; it is indeed divine, and too much for mortal force: there is no music for it; it can never, I fear me, be expressed…Like sunset it cannot be remembered.” Margaret Fuller, American writer and critic, to James Nathan, April 22nd 1845.

“I lie awake the greatest part of the night in thinking of you…my feet carry me of their own accord to your apartment at those hours I used to visit you; but not finding you there, I return with as much sorrow and disappointment as an excluded lover.” Pliny the Younger, Roman writer, to Calpurnia, his third wife 1st century AD.

My husband never wrote me a love letter and would probably laugh out loud at the idea of trying to come up with one. But one afternoon, I was searching for my husband’s birth certificate in the drawer he keeps his important papers. My fingers closed around a napkin. I cursed under my breath at finding garbage in his bureau, and pulled it out. Carefully folded, I opened the napkin and found my own handwriting. With sheer astonishment, I realized my husband had kept the cocktail napkin where I wrote my name and phone number on the night we met at a bar. Nine years ago.

My heart light, a smile on my lips, I folded the napkin and tucked it back in. That was my own love letter to him. And he has kept it.

Writers are lovers of words. Romance novelists are in the profession of love and happily ever afters. A love letter is a tool for our profession.

Imagine your hero sitting down and writing out a letter to the heroine. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, or a page. It can be sarcastic, passionate, humorous, or confused. What he says in the letter can give you an insight into his character and how he expresses himself with the heroine.

I now find myself the writer of another type of love letter. Each morning I tuck a simple note in my son’s lunchbox. He is learning to read, and is delighted by these surprise notes which help him discover words and lets him know every day that I love him. You are my best friend…I love you sooooo much…Have a wonderful day my big boy….

I complete these love notes with suns and happy faces in magic marker. I treasure these letters and his eagerness to revel in my feelings and words. He tries his own hand at one and surprises me at odd times during the week…I Luv You Mom…You r the best…with little hearts drawn and his signature in large awkward letters adorning the page like the sweetest of perfumes.

One day, I hope he will write his own love letter to a very lucky lady. But until then, his words and letters belong to me. They are tucked away in the back of my bureau in a neat pile where they will remain until one day, I will reach in the drawer when my son is older, and reread them, and remember…

Stop by and share your experience with love letters – receiving, writing, or just appreciating your favorite.

Lovric, Michelle. Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion. Shooting Star Press, NY 1994.

 

 

 

#WW – Writer’s Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

I love to mix up #WW with different genres and various authors so I’m so happy to announce the wonderful Cindi Madsen is visiting today! She’s talking about her exciting new YA coming out this year. Give her a big welcome!

While I do enjoy and sometimes write adult romance, my first book that will be out is a young adult gothic mystery (with plenty of romance thrown in, of course). ALL THE BROKEN PIECES comes out with Entangled in December.

When I first started writing this book, I wanted it to be about two broken characters who come together, and sort of become unbroken together. I’m used to writing heroines who don’t take crap from anyone and hold everything in, so it was hard at first to write one who’d just come out of a coma and was so vulnerable. On top of healing from the car wreck that almost ended her life, she’s got two voices in her head who constantly argue. Spencer’s had some things in his past that keep him on the fringe, too. He tries to avoid Liv, but he finds himself more and more drawn to her. I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs and rewrites with this book, but every time I tried to give up, it was like the characters were whispering to me, telling me their story needed to be out there. Apparently, I have arguing voices in my head, too J

One of my biggest inspirations is music. I love the way it can transport you and make you feel emotions with the lyrics. When I write, I try to put that kind of emotion into my books and hope that readers will feel them, too, especially that tingly butterfly feeling you get when you’re falling in love alongside the characters.

So here’s the blurb:

What if your life wasn’t your own?

Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past and two distinct, warring voices inside her head. Nothing, not even her reflection, seems familiar. As she stumbles through her junior year, the voices get louder, insisting she please the popular group while simultaneously despising them. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, whose own mysterious past also has him on the fringe, life feels complete for the first time in, well, as long as she can remember.

Liv knows the details of the car accident that put her in the coma, but as the voices invade her dreams, and her dreams start feeling like memories, she and Spencer seek out answers. Yet the deeper they dig, the less things make sense. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?

You can learn more on Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13425135-all-the-broken-pieces  Or at: http://cindimadsen.com

Random Acts of Kindness

The lovely Angela Ackerman began a movement entitled Random Acts of Kindness for Writers to celebrate her new release, The Emotion Thesaurus.

In a week long event, writers post in their blog a shout-out to someone they want to celebrate who have helped in their writing journey.

I didn’t want to miss out on this special event for many reasons.

I’m a huge proponent of random acts of kindness. When I first discovered the movement years ago, I made sure to practice what was preached because I know how one tiny gesture can make a huge difference. I know this because it happened to me.

When I had completed my first full length novel, I received some rejections that could have either broken my spirit or strengthened my character. The road ahead was long and torturous and I became concerned I didn’t have enough to keep going. I sunk into a bit of a depression as I struggled.

A few days later, I received a beautiful bouqut of red roses. No note. No signature. Nothing. There was no man in my life at the time, and I called the flower shop to see who would have sent me such expensive flowers. They said it was a man, but they couldn’t tell me who. Now, of course to my romantic soul, I spun a tale of a secret admirer, and my imagination went full bloom.

And I started my second novel. It began with a flower delivery with no card. It is still one of my favorite manuscripts today, but was never published. But receiving those roses helped me turn a corner. I committed myself and found in some way, it was the universe telling me not to give up.

Years later, I found out my best friend’s husband sent me those roses. He heard from his wife that I was going through a rough time, and had read a little book called Random Acts of Kindness. So he decided to send my flowers.

And that could have made all the difference.

So, on the final day of writing acts of kindness, I want to give a shout out to two special writing friends in my life. Wendy S. Marcus and Aimee Carson.

They both write for Harlequin and are amazing writers. I adore their books so much and wish they could write faster. But my shout out has nothing to do with their talent.

I met both of them and bonded at the RWA conference in Orlando almost three years ago. Wendy had been in the Hudson Valley Writer’s chapter with me, but we had only been able to exchange some casual conversation. During that conference, we clicked in a special way, and couldn’t stop talking. At the same time, we met Aimee Carson, and as we went from workshop to workshop, we spent most of the time whispering furiously and laughing our asses off. It was like discovering two long sought out writing soul sisters. I felt complete.

We decided to work on a special project together and put together an email loop. Throughout the last few years, whenever I needed a quick opinion on a cover, a critique, or a pick me up, they respond immediately. When I hit the USA Today bestselling list, they sent me a bottle of pink champagne to celebrate, and it meant as much to me as my own family celebration. We share problems in and out of writing, twitter, and see each other at conferences. It is the type of relationship that doesns’t need constant contact because the seeds have been planted and taken root. I can pick up the phone and know they are there if I need them. They have made my writing journey a better place.

So thank you. Thanks for inspiring me with your talent and good heartedness and character.

Visit the Bookshelf Muse and celebrate Writing Random Acts of Kindness.

Friday Celebration with Tina Vaughn

When I heard the fabulous Tina Vaughn had our debut book released, I knew we had to host her over here! She is a wonderful, talented author and I can’t wait to get my hands on her new book…take it away Tina!

My first real book and a fake bio by Tina Vaughn

I’m not so great at talking or writing about myself. I mean, really, it took me days to write a five-sentence author bio.

It’s not that I can’t write. As a journalist and newspaper editor, I write about people all the time. Shoot. As a romance writer, I create fictional characters and write about them.

So why is it so hard to tell you a little about myself?

Mostly, I fear I’m boring. There it is. I said it.

And maybe I’m a little bit of an introvert.

And, well, it feels weird to write about myself in third-person, almost like writing an obituary or something. Creepy.

A couple days ago, I delved into the limitless possibilities of the “fake bio.”

Now this was fun.

Here’s an excerpt: “After her voice talents were no longer needed for Jem and the Holograms, Tina joined the circus where she performed until a tight-rope-walking injury resulted in an early retirement. Alone and bored, she invented the travel mug.”

I love it.

Here’s my cousin’s version. “If not for Tina’s voice, the Four Nonblondes karaoke sing-a-long during road trips would not happen. Tina would have made a great Pizazz if not a Hologram. Also, travel mugs are overrated…everyone knows she invented the koozie.”

I love it.

So, do you have trouble writing or telling people about yourself? How do you overcome your insecurities? How do you break the ice?

Oh, and just in case you’re still interested, here’s the real bio. Not nearly as fun or interesting, but it’s true, at least.

Tina Vaughn is an award-winning journalist and romance author who’s always dreamed of being a writer. As a toddler, she pretended to be Lois Lane. While in elementary school, she wrote her friends’ love letters to their boyfriends in exchange for Mickey Mouse ice cream bars. In high school, she scribbled her first romance in a spiral notebook. Fast forward fifteen years… Tina is the editor of a community newspaper, which provides plenty of inspiration for the “small town, big scandal” romances she loves to write. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband and daughter, and is known for commemorating milestones with silver jewelry, tattoos and/or ice cream.

 Thank so much for joining me today. And a huge thank you, Jennifer, for your support and encouragement.

My debut release, No Sweeter Love, is available now from Ellora’s Cave. You can read the blurb and excerpt here:

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10018-no-sweeter-love.aspx

For more information about me and what I’m doing, or probably not doing, find me here:

Website:  www.tinaevaughn.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5838046.Tina_Vaughn

Twitter: @tinaevaughn

#WW – Writer’s Wednesday

Hump Day! You know what that means – time to check out some fabulous writers and new works.

I am thrilled to welcome the talented, fantastic Alison Kent to my blog today! Let me wipe the saliva off my mouth after drooling over this cover…take it away Alison!

I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of TV. Lots of writers give up watching television to have more time to write, but well-written television inspires me. I’m lucky that writing is my full-time gig. I do my pages during the day and get to unwind at night with stories on the screen. But I’ve noticed lately that I enjoy shows a lot better when I watch episodes back to back, either streaming or on DVD.

My favorite shows are ones with story arcs that last a full season, or most of a season, with maybe the occasional standalone episode. And I think I like watching this way because it’s more like reading a book. I can move from one episode to another, find a stopping place just as I’d bookmark the end of a chapter when reading.

 

I only started watching this way in the last year or two when deadlines meant saving shows until I had time to get involved. The first show I watched was Breaking Bad. The first three seasons were available on Netflix, then I bought a pass to the fourth. I bought the first two seasons of Justified on DVD, bought a pass to the most recent, then watched several episodes at a time. I streamed Sons of Anarchy and Mad Men. I’ve even gone back and watched the early episodes of Law & Order SVU.

Watching one show after another drops me deeper into the characters’ lives, lets me follow the arc without losing threads (which I often do when watching episodes week to week). Sometimes I’ll wait till I can watch several episodes of network TV on Hulu, like I did with the last season of Friday Night Lights, just to have the same sort of immersion I get in a book. I did the same after missing the first few of Once Upon A Time.

I think this is the same reason I love writing connected books that share characters. Building fictional communities allows me to really get to know my characters as both the stars of their own romance, but also as friends and relatives of other heroes and heroines. The first book is like the first season of a TV series. The second takes us back to that world, already familiar with many of the characters, the locations, the tone, but also introduces us to new story people and situations. It’s why I’m so excited to be writing two series for two publishers (Berkley & Amazon Montlake), both with ongoing casts of characters and story arcs. It’s like being Shonda Rhimes and having my own shows!

My next release, an erotic romance coming from Berkley Heat, introduces the residents of Crow Hill, Texas. The stories revolve primarily around the Dalton Gang, three cowboys who growing up were friends as well as enemies. They drank too much, took half the care shooting off their mouths they took with their guns, and never met a saddle they couldn’t talk their way into. And now they’re back in town.

You can read an excerpt of the first book, UNDENIABLE, here: http://www.alisonkent.com/blog/2012/04/04/d-is-for-dalton-gang/

and pre-order the print copy at these stories (digital copy coming soon!):

http://www.amazon.com/Undeniable-A-Dalton-Gang-Novel/dp/0425253260/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undeniable-alison-kent/1108473219?ean=9780425253267

What about the rest of you? Do you like watching full seasons of TV rather than weekly episodes? Or do you prefer to fall into a book instead?

Follow Alison here!

twitter.com/alisonkent

facebook.com/author.alisonkent

alisonkent.com/blog

New Release, Blog Tour, and a Surprise

First off, I wanted to celebrate my newest release – the third in the Steele Brothers series with Decadent – Dare Me.

This one is firmly in the naughty camp! If you like burning hot, edgy, short erotic romance with BDSM elements, grab your e-reader because this one is for you!

Hop over to Amazon or AllRomance and leave a review!

Here’s the blurb:

As a military leader back from the war, and the youngest of his two dominant older brothers, Rafe Steele struggles with a secret. He craves surrender in the bedroom under the controlled hands of a Dominatrix. When his brothers offer him a one-night stand through Madame Eve’s dating service, he jumps at the chance to enact his fantasy. After one experiment, he’s sure he’ll be able to move on. But he never counted on Summer Preston to strip down his walls and make him want more than one night…

An elementary school teacher with a girl next door, fresh face, Summer is constantly barraged by men who want to take care of her, but she longs to meet a strong man who can handle her dominant ways in the bedroom. Trapped in her own storybook life, she books a one-night stand with Madame Eve to finally experience her fantasy. But she never counted on Rafe Steele to push her boundaries in both the bedroom…and her heart.

For my other fans, stay put for The Marriage Trap coming June 15th.

I’ll be at the following stops on my continued blog tour for Play Me, #2 in the series. Stop by and say hi, and enter to win free swag and ebooks!

Friday, May 11th – For the Love of Reading http://niinas-reading-and-reviewing.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 15th - Close Encounters with the Night Kind http://closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 17th Books are Magic http://vidya-booksaremagic.blogspot.com/

Finally, I’ve got a surprise for my loyal, wonderful, die hard fans! I am going to include two deleted scenes from The Marriage Bargain that never made the cut! One has the wonderfully sarcastic Maggie Ryan – my new heroine from The Marriage Trap.

But here’s the catch.

You have to sign up for my newsletter. Only  my newsletter subscribers will get a peek! So click the button (trust me, I send them out quarterly at the most so you won’t get bombarded!) and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

 

Writer’s Wednesday – #WW

I am thrilled to welcome the amazing Diane Alberts to my blog for Writer’s Wednesday. I was honored to do the cover quote for Divinely Ruined, and I adored this book – a must read for everyone. Take it away, Diane!

When I started writing DIVINELY RUINED, my latest release from Entangled Publishing, I had this vision of a sweet, perfect, pious angel in my head. Then Rebecca, the heroine, snorted, rolled her eyes, and took over. If you can’t tell from the cover…she’s got a bit of attitude. Especially considering…she’s an angel. Ha! I know!

She curses, fights, and has a temper as fiery as her hair…but she’s got a heart of gold. When she meets Tony, a hurting single father to a precocious little girl named Miranda, she doesn’t know what to do with the feelings he arouses in her. Longing, desire, a need to belong…

This story holds a near and dear place to my heart, because not only is Rebecca an aspiring angel…she’s human. No matter what we all strive to be, deep down…we all have goals. Feelings. Hurt.

And, if we’re honest, attitude.

Want to hear a bit more about my newest release? First, let’s drool over the cover. Isn’t it amazing? Like, really amazing? I adore it.

 

Okay, now that we’ve done that, here’s a blurb about DIVINELY RUINED:

 

She finally meets a decent man–after she’s oath-bound never to touch men again!

 

Rebecca’s life sucked before she became an angel. Crappy apartment, awful jobs, abusive boyfriends–it was no wonder she jumped at the chance to escape it all and become a real live angel. The problem is Rebecca’s not very angelic, and she’ll have to do more to earn her wings than end her love affair with the word f–er, frick.

Especially when she’s assigned to save single father Tony Weis, whose less-than-pure thoughts wreak hell on a telepathic angel’s nerves. It’s all Rebecca can do to keep her hands off him…but when she loses her memory injuring herself to save Tony’s daughter, now it’s Tony’s turn to be her angel and care for her. But will Tony’s devotion tempt her from her angelic path, even if it means being human again?

…To learn more about the author and her other projects, go to: www.dianealberts.com

Buy links:

Barnes and Noble

 Amazon

Books on Board

The Good, The Bad, and The Very Ugly…Let’s Talk Reviews

I find in this lifetime there are lessons lurking around every corner—and I learn most of them by being a parent and a writer.

A while ago, I picked my son up from an after school event and asked my usual question of how did things go, and waited while he said his normal standard, “Ok.” I am used to gaining no information from my son and have learned to pick my battles. Imagine my surprise when he said, “Mommy, you won’t believe it. This little boy pushed me.”

I stopped and got my mama bear expression on my face. The type that says I will go after anyone or anything that hurts my son. “What? Why? Who was it? What happened? Tell me everything!”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. We had to pick teams, and he pushed me and said he didn’t want me on my team. Said he didn’t like me.”

I gasped with horror. “Why would someone say that? Did you do anything? Tell me everything!”

He sighed with exaggerated patience. “I didn’t do anything, I don’t even really know him.”

I chattered on, but my son waved my dramatics aside.  And then said something that struck me hard with his ability to imitate an old soul. “Don’t worry about it, Mommy. He just doesn’t like me. No big deal.”

No. Big. Deal.

I was awestruck. I was the type of person who needed everyone to like me. When someone didn’t like me, the fact haunted me for days, while I struggled to do whatever possible to make them like me. Yet, here my six year old calmly acknowledged a simple fact in life.

Not everyone is going to like you.

Light bulb moment.

Once the simple fact is admitted, measured, and accepted, there is a whole lot of freedom to be gained. It just took me a while to learn it.

So, now let’s talk reviews.

If everyone can’t like us personally, of course everyone can’t like our books. And how boring that would be! (OK, I am totally lying here, because if everyone loved my book I’d be one happy person). But that’s just not logical. We all have unique tastes, preferences, and views on life.

As a writer, our job is to please readers, and we hope reviews reflect that satisfaction so we can go to our next book. But as we grow in our career, I think it’s vitally important to accept certain facts in this career.

We are going to get crappy reviews.

Actually, if you are doing your job correctly, you will want crappy reviews. Because that means your book is being read by a wide audience, and not just a tiny circle of romance authors who support each other. It’s a scary world out there, and if we meet new readers, not all of them are going to like us. But if we play the law of averages, we will gain a healthy percentage of wins and new readers.

There are all types of reviews writers suffer through. Our fellow community of authors. Professional review sites. And readers. Plenty of land mines to tiptoe through. Some will explode. Others won’t. But we need to open ourselves up to the experience or we will never grow.

Each writer has different outlooks on reviews. Some read them, and some don’t. Some are obsessed with Goodreads like watching a train wreck. Some read every one of them, and others just concentrate on the good.

I like to read them in small doses. I carefully scroll and read some good, read some bad, then make myself stop. Sometimes I learn from a review, and other times I shudder in horror at the sheer fierceness of emotion –usually dislike. OUCH.

So, as I wrap up, let me share some things I’ve learned about reviews.

1. Bad reviews are going to hurt. And that’s ok. I mean, come on, strangers are basically telling us they hate our newborn baby and that’ s not easy to take. But you also have to learn to accept the pain, and shake it off. If we don’t get bruised along the way, the wins won’t feel as sweet. Fact of life. So when I’m shuddering over a vicious review, I take what I can to learn from the experience, give myself 24 hours to feel really badly, and the next day it’s over. I usually reach out to only my close friends to help me through and after my 24 hours have passed, I don’t go back and read it or obsess. Of course, within those 24 hours I may read and dissect it over a million times.

2. I save good reviews. I receive fan mail, and many of them tell me how my book made them happy. I save all my good fan letters or links to really positive reviews and that is my go to happy place, just like Happy Gilmore. If I need a boost, I read one of them. It makes me realize I gave someone the gift of entertainment, and I did my job.  This will help balance me out if I am having  a rough day.

3. Don’t take it personally. Honestly, I know writing a book is personal but reviewers and readers don’t think like that. They are judging the WORK. To them, it is a separate entity, and many would probably be shocked how personally we take our reviews. Again, much easier said than done but practice. It’s a job, a career, and it’s not supposed to all roses and wine.  I now try to put some humor into the really awful ones – it’s so much easier to laugh than it is to cry! And please God, if there is one thing not to do it’s contact the reader or reviewers and defend or explain. LET. IT. GO.

4. Don’t obsess. Constantly stalking reviews just isn’t healthy. You should read some to get an idea of what’s working and what’s not, but we need to concentrate on writing our next book. Having other people’s voices in our heads other than our characters is just plain dangerous.

5. Make note of the reviewers/readers who love your book. I try to keep a list, leave them a comment thanking them, and make note for my next book. This is a great group to target because they already admitted they like your voice. They will probably want to buy your next book. Your newsletter list is gold and an untapped source. Instead of running after the masses, you have a core group of followers so treat them well.

That’s it. I’m sure there’s more, but five is enough to think about.

Oh, and to wrap it up, weeks later I was asking my son how things were and he told me he was now friends with the boy who had pushed him. I stared speechless and in shock. “How did that happen?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess he likes me now.”

Once we get to know someone, maybe we will change his or her opinion. Maybe not. Either way, life is full of possibilities, isn’t it?

Drop me a comment and share your review experiences.

Happy Writing!

#WW – Writer’s Wednesday

It’s a pleasure to introduce fellow author Olivia Starke to the blog today. Olivia writes wonderful, erotic romances with Decadent Publishing, and is going to share a bit of book blurbs, cooking and fun! Take it away, Olivia!

Let’s

Celebrate!

 We are just days away from Cinco de Mayo, a huge celebration for those of Mexican heritage and for those of us who like a good reason to party and celebrate. While I lived in Colorado there were lots of festivities to be found, but not so much here in Missouri. I’m a huge fan of both Tex Mex food as well as authentic Mexican cuisine. I dug up some fun recipes at AllRecipes.com, including a video on how to make homemade tortillas (omg soooo good!) and wanted to share !

Homemade

Tortillas

http://allrecipes.com/video/659/homemade-flour-tortillas/detail.aspx?src=mer1013

Jalapeno

Salsa

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jalapeno...

Ingredients

10

fresh jalapeno peppers
2

tomatoes
1

white onion,

quartered
1/4

cup chopped fresh cilantro, or more to taste
2

cloves garlic, smashed
1

lime, juiced
1

teaspoon salt
1

teaspoon ground

black pepper

Directions

Place jalapenos in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil.

Simmer until jalapenos soften and begin to lose their shine, about 10 to

12 minutes. Remove the jalapenos with a slotted spoon, chop off the stem,

and place them in a blender. Add the tomatoes and boil for 2 to 3 minutes

to loosen the skin. Peel the skin from the tomatoes and add tomatoes to

the blender.
Place the onion, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, salt, and black

pepper in the blender with the jalapenos

and tomatoes. Blend to desired consistency.

Serves 25.

 Flan

Mexicano

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/flan-mexicano-mexican-flan/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=flan&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

Ingredients

1

cup white sugar
1

cup whole milk
1

(14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
3

eggs
3

egg yolks
1/4

cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1

tablespoon grated orange peel
1

tablespoon vanilla extract
1

tablespoon cornstarch
1

cup heavy

cream

Directions

Place

sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly,

until the sugar melts and turns a golden amber color, about 10 minutes.

Watch carefully once syrup begins to change color, because it burns

easily. Carefully pour the melted sugar syrup into a flan mold. Let cool.
Preheat

oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Pour

whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, egg yolks, orange juice,

orange peel, vanilla extract, and cornstarch into a blender, and blend for

a minute or so, until the mixture is smooth. Pour in the cream,

and pulse several times to incorporate the cream. Pour the mixture over

the cooled caramel syrup in the flan mold.
Line

a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the flan mold on the

towel, inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill

roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the

baking dish.
Bake

in the preheated oven until the center of the flan is set but still

slightly jiggly when moved, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let the flan cool, then

refrigerate for at least 4 hours. To serve, run a sharp paring knife

around the inside of the mold to release the flan. Invert a plate on the mold,

flip the mold over, and gently remove the mold to unmold the flan and

reveal the syrupy caramel topping.

Serves 8

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