Sarah Scheele's Blog, page 3
November 11, 2021
Fall Into Training Mode
Last month I listened to a couple of free webinars taught by New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Alessandra Torre. She is also the founder of an online writer’s conference called Inkers Con which features specialized classes on many topics. I’d seen some ads for her teaching on FB and I thought “What the heck? Why not give it a try?” Although her genre isn’t the same as mine, most of the topics she covered are applicable to every fiction author because they are basics: how to find an audience, how to promote a book, and how to use Goodreads. It was great to see not only an insight into the industry (she is both traditionally and independently published, so she has knowledge about many aspects of publishing) but also the comments from other authors in the thread below the videos. Many had the same questions I did, such as if her tips would work for children’s authors too and whether Goodreads is even worth it because of all the trash reviews.
The three things I really liked after taking 2 hour-long video classes with her were:1: The feeling I was not alone. Not only did many of the other authors voice my concerns or questions, as I mentioned above, but Alessandra shared a lot of her publishing journey. It seems it was perfectly normal to rebrand, republish, or even rewrite my books. She did this herself and she actually recommended making changes until the book finds its rhythm. I’d thought it was just me, but apparently I’ve been doing the right thing these last few years! 😊 2: The recommended review policy for authors on Goodreads. She gave more negative reviews in the past, but now she only gives positive ones. Not even neutral or goodish, a 4-star, but very positive. I’ve been doing the same thing myself when I review (although I usually review outside of Goodreads.) I wasn’t conscious of a reason for doing this, but I also moved away from more negative reviews, which I used to give say, 6 years ago. Now I have just kept to not speaking about books unless I can be positive and it seems that’s a good idea. Again, I was doing the right thing! 😊3: The choice of which book to promote lies with the author, not the readers. She chose which books to push forward and would casually mention that they went much flatter if she hadn’t promoted them recently. This decision is the author's, really. It’s not the reader’s decision, since they will generally gravitate towards books that are talked about more, and that frees me up to make independent decisions when promoting instead of relying on reader interactions to guide the way.😊
So yes, as you can see by all the smiley faces I went into this webinar sure I’d hear only a thousand and one ways I was behind the curve. (Or I'd hear only tailored, specific advice for her genre which wouldn't help me.) And I certainly heard a lot of things that made me feel like I had a long way to go. But I would wholeheartedly recommend Alessandra’s webinars if you can catch them because I also went away feeling increasingly confident.
On a side note, fall has actually come here! I woke up a few mornings ago to this wonderful foggy mist covering our orchard and the remains of our garden. (Need to get to work preparing it for fall, I realize looking at this picture. Summer went by so fast. It’s time to dig up those old plants and get the strawberries ready for winter.) In the front you can see a little planter of red flowers. Another memento from my sister’s birthday, this chrysanthemum adds some bright color just as the year is starting to get chillier and grayer. Very cute, I think.
Review copies for the new two weeks are The Test of Devotion and This Merry Summertime. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (MerrySummer is a good sampler to read if you're just getting started on my work because it contains funny, pint-sized miniatures of every genre I've written except sci-fi. Be aware these stories are meant to be funny! Don't be one of those readers, and I've had several of them, who missed the point of something I wrote or even got anxious and offended because they didn't understand it was meant to be comedy. Not that any of you are that dumb, I'm sure--but anyway, you are duly warned!)
The Test of Devotion Review Copy
This Merry Summertime Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
The three things I really liked after taking 2 hour-long video classes with her were:1: The feeling I was not alone. Not only did many of the other authors voice my concerns or questions, as I mentioned above, but Alessandra shared a lot of her publishing journey. It seems it was perfectly normal to rebrand, republish, or even rewrite my books. She did this herself and she actually recommended making changes until the book finds its rhythm. I’d thought it was just me, but apparently I’ve been doing the right thing these last few years! 😊 2: The recommended review policy for authors on Goodreads. She gave more negative reviews in the past, but now she only gives positive ones. Not even neutral or goodish, a 4-star, but very positive. I’ve been doing the same thing myself when I review (although I usually review outside of Goodreads.) I wasn’t conscious of a reason for doing this, but I also moved away from more negative reviews, which I used to give say, 6 years ago. Now I have just kept to not speaking about books unless I can be positive and it seems that’s a good idea. Again, I was doing the right thing! 😊3: The choice of which book to promote lies with the author, not the readers. She chose which books to push forward and would casually mention that they went much flatter if she hadn’t promoted them recently. This decision is the author's, really. It’s not the reader’s decision, since they will generally gravitate towards books that are talked about more, and that frees me up to make independent decisions when promoting instead of relying on reader interactions to guide the way.😊
So yes, as you can see by all the smiley faces I went into this webinar sure I’d hear only a thousand and one ways I was behind the curve. (Or I'd hear only tailored, specific advice for her genre which wouldn't help me.) And I certainly heard a lot of things that made me feel like I had a long way to go. But I would wholeheartedly recommend Alessandra’s webinars if you can catch them because I also went away feeling increasingly confident.
On a side note, fall has actually come here! I woke up a few mornings ago to this wonderful foggy mist covering our orchard and the remains of our garden. (Need to get to work preparing it for fall, I realize looking at this picture. Summer went by so fast. It’s time to dig up those old plants and get the strawberries ready for winter.) In the front you can see a little planter of red flowers. Another memento from my sister’s birthday, this chrysanthemum adds some bright color just as the year is starting to get chillier and grayer. Very cute, I think.
Review copies for the new two weeks are The Test of Devotion and This Merry Summertime. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (MerrySummer is a good sampler to read if you're just getting started on my work because it contains funny, pint-sized miniatures of every genre I've written except sci-fi. Be aware these stories are meant to be funny! Don't be one of those readers, and I've had several of them, who missed the point of something I wrote or even got anxious and offended because they didn't understand it was meant to be comedy. Not that any of you are that dumb, I'm sure--but anyway, you are duly warned!)The Test of Devotion Review Copy
This Merry Summertime Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
October 28, 2021
Book Recommendations
My list of recommended children's and YA adventure books is up on Shepherd.com! After reading my list you can navigate the site to find a page about submissions if you'd like to create a list of your own. It's open to authors who can create a 5-book showcase centered around a theme that ties into one of their own published books. (Does that sound wordy and clunky? Well, I'm probably not good at explaining it. Just click on the link and read my list and once you have seen it, everything will be clear.)
The best amazing children's adventure books about family and exploring.
I've read a lot of wonderful books that couldn't make it onto the list. For one thing, because the list allows only 5 books on it--that one is pretty obvious. If you've read more than 5 books in your life, which I hope describes all of you, then some will have to be left out of such a small, to-the-point list. But also I've read a number of books that aren't in the same genre as mine and the point of the list is to line up some books that resembles one of yours, so you can both praise other authors who have done good work and give readers an anchor for defining what sort of book you've written. I don't have any nonfiction or fiction for adults in my repertoire, but I have written lots of young adult books and books that walk the murky tightrope between children's and young adult.
Since I've read many juvenile fantasy books, I chose one for each of the last 5 years and linked one of my younger, more MG titles (Ryan and Essie) into the theme. So the first book on the list was my top children's book pick from 2017; the next one is my top pick from 2018; and so on. The last book is my favorite of books I've read so far this year. I know I still have a couple months before the years ends--but I'm pretty sure this book will stay near the top no matter what else I read this year. My goal was also to include an example of every age division in the kid's fiction I've read, from picture book to lower YA. (So you can actually get a feel for what I've been reading.) I really should create some recommended lists for the other genres I've read. But that will be for another day.
Review copies for this week are Ryan and Essie and The Birthday Present. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (It's great that Ryan and Essie is one of the books for this newsletter, because it is also the book that is featured with my recommendations list. I've just been doing the review copies in alphabetical order and the list publication coincided with it this week. Nice!)
Ryan and Essie Review Copy
The Birthday Present Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
The best amazing children's adventure books about family and exploring.
I've read a lot of wonderful books that couldn't make it onto the list. For one thing, because the list allows only 5 books on it--that one is pretty obvious. If you've read more than 5 books in your life, which I hope describes all of you, then some will have to be left out of such a small, to-the-point list. But also I've read a number of books that aren't in the same genre as mine and the point of the list is to line up some books that resembles one of yours, so you can both praise other authors who have done good work and give readers an anchor for defining what sort of book you've written. I don't have any nonfiction or fiction for adults in my repertoire, but I have written lots of young adult books and books that walk the murky tightrope between children's and young adult.
Since I've read many juvenile fantasy books, I chose one for each of the last 5 years and linked one of my younger, more MG titles (Ryan and Essie) into the theme. So the first book on the list was my top children's book pick from 2017; the next one is my top pick from 2018; and so on. The last book is my favorite of books I've read so far this year. I know I still have a couple months before the years ends--but I'm pretty sure this book will stay near the top no matter what else I read this year. My goal was also to include an example of every age division in the kid's fiction I've read, from picture book to lower YA. (So you can actually get a feel for what I've been reading.) I really should create some recommended lists for the other genres I've read. But that will be for another day.
Review copies for this week are Ryan and Essie and The Birthday Present. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (It's great that Ryan and Essie is one of the books for this newsletter, because it is also the book that is featured with my recommendations list. I've just been doing the review copies in alphabetical order and the list publication coincided with it this week. Nice!) Ryan and Essie Review Copy
The Birthday Present Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
October 14, 2021
A Family Episode
This week was my youngest sister’s birthday. Like Hobbits, we are very fond of birthdays in my family and we celebrate everyone’s no matter what their age. My father had a little birthday party in the summer as he turned 69 and for my youngest sister’s birthday in October, my next-youngest sister (I have 3 sisters) took her on a day of shopping around Waco. They visited consignment stores, flea markets, and boutiques, picking up an assortment of small gifts as well as random purchases. It was a very fun day for both of them and it was a lot more about the bonding and friendship than about the gifts. Additionally, they brought back some munchables like good old-fashioned licorice all-sorts and homemade wild plum jam. They remembered reading about how children in the vintage era would have licorice all-sorts. I’m not sure if the candies of that time tasted like the ones we had—which varied from great licorice flavored ones to strange ones that tasted like a collision of laundry detergent and anise. 😊 But we had fun trying them!
My gift to her was a multi-screen (including digital edition) of Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent and some earrings. She recently got her ears pierced so earrings were actually a necessary purchase as she has to wear them 24/7 for 6 months and I chose ones that were understated and elegant to match the DVD. We’ve recently almost doubled our digital movie collection by using an inexpensive program called Disc to Digital. We were slow to use digital at first and lethargically redeemed codes that tagged along with DVDs, rarely watching the digital. But once everyone in the family upgraded some of their DVDs, a great variety of movies started to pop up in our phone app and the app was suddenly more interesting. I didn’t know we had even owned some of these movies before! However, Sleeping Beauty is not available via the program we’ve been using and it’s one of my sister’s all-time favorite movies. So of course—I was really glad we do birthdays in our family.
Review copies for the next 2 weeks are Consuela and Facets of Fantasy. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Consuela is one of the most light-hearted and family-friendly of my books. Facets, on the other hand, has only mild content but heavy undertones that deal with death, grief, and anger. So if you are triggered by any of those things—they are usually listed as options for trigger warnings—be aware of that before taking the book.)
Consuela Review Copy
Facets of Fantasy Review Copy
And there will be more updates
My gift to her was a multi-screen (including digital edition) of Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent and some earrings. She recently got her ears pierced so earrings were actually a necessary purchase as she has to wear them 24/7 for 6 months and I chose ones that were understated and elegant to match the DVD. We’ve recently almost doubled our digital movie collection by using an inexpensive program called Disc to Digital. We were slow to use digital at first and lethargically redeemed codes that tagged along with DVDs, rarely watching the digital. But once everyone in the family upgraded some of their DVDs, a great variety of movies started to pop up in our phone app and the app was suddenly more interesting. I didn’t know we had even owned some of these movies before! However, Sleeping Beauty is not available via the program we’ve been using and it’s one of my sister’s all-time favorite movies. So of course—I was really glad we do birthdays in our family.
Review copies for the next 2 weeks are Consuela and Facets of Fantasy. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Consuela is one of the most light-hearted and family-friendly of my books. Facets, on the other hand, has only mild content but heavy undertones that deal with death, grief, and anger. So if you are triggered by any of those things—they are usually listed as options for trigger warnings—be aware of that before taking the book.)Consuela Review Copy
Facets of Fantasy Review Copy
And there will be more updates
September 30, 2021
The Updated But Very Similar Me
I have always disliked having my picture taken. Everyone most likely has some kind of quirk or characteristic that’s specific to them. (I also dislike talking on the phone, which I think is a pretty rare characteristic.) We are all different and that’s something to be unapologetic about. After all, who wants to know a robot woman with no individuality, no personal traits--a manufactured person without their little surprises? If there is such a robot out there, I don’t know her and I don’t want to know her.
However, I've found it's really valuable to learn to do things that are not 100% my favorite. And even people who normally enjoy dressing up and smiling vacantly into a camera (as I do not) don’t like photographs of them in all circumstances. For instance, the picture on their driver’s license. I’ve never met someone who told me they like the way they look on their driver’s license. I have often met people who said they distinctly hated that picture and that it barely even looks like them. I sometimes wonder if the people who actually take the driver’s license pictures enjoy doing it, but I have never asked about it.
So I woke up about a week ago and realized my author photo is almost 5 years old. I remember the day it was taken—a nice warm afternoon in late February, in 2017. I was sitting on our porch. At that time our little dog was still alive and she featured in a lot of the pictures because she loved accompanying us to do anything. This picture has served me pretty well, but maybe it was time for a new one. So I put on something green, to try a new look because I have been wearing pink in the previous snapshot. I wore tall heels just for fun because I rarely wear them and I have never practiced keeping my balance in that type of shoe. It wasn’t easy! 😊 And I ended up wrecking the heels as I walked all over our yard taking pics, but I enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would. We went out into the orchard to a big old mulberry tree we have. It's huge and its branches trail on the ground and have to be tied up with ropes, but the ropes blend into the foliage so you hardly notice them. Autumn leaves littered the ground while we took pictures. I haven’t been out to this tree in the autumn before—I go out to help in the summer when there are mulberries.
Here’s a pic of me in the branches along with my updated author pic. In fact, I am sitting on the same porch in almost just the way I did for my last pic. I just often choose pics taken on the porch because they have good lighting.
Review copies for the next 2 weeks are Celestine Princess and City of the Invaders. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Celestine Princess content is Moderate for violence, including an area where a prisoner is partially undressed while she talks with a man--the scene is not sexual--and later she is forcibly costumed by other women while she’s subjected to a ritual. However, this does not really count as “sexual violence” and is not mentioned in the content rating on the download page.)
Celestine Princess Review Copy
City of the Invaders Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
However, I've found it's really valuable to learn to do things that are not 100% my favorite. And even people who normally enjoy dressing up and smiling vacantly into a camera (as I do not) don’t like photographs of them in all circumstances. For instance, the picture on their driver’s license. I’ve never met someone who told me they like the way they look on their driver’s license. I have often met people who said they distinctly hated that picture and that it barely even looks like them. I sometimes wonder if the people who actually take the driver’s license pictures enjoy doing it, but I have never asked about it.
So I woke up about a week ago and realized my author photo is almost 5 years old. I remember the day it was taken—a nice warm afternoon in late February, in 2017. I was sitting on our porch. At that time our little dog was still alive and she featured in a lot of the pictures because she loved accompanying us to do anything. This picture has served me pretty well, but maybe it was time for a new one. So I put on something green, to try a new look because I have been wearing pink in the previous snapshot. I wore tall heels just for fun because I rarely wear them and I have never practiced keeping my balance in that type of shoe. It wasn’t easy! 😊 And I ended up wrecking the heels as I walked all over our yard taking pics, but I enjoyed myself a lot more than I thought I would. We went out into the orchard to a big old mulberry tree we have. It's huge and its branches trail on the ground and have to be tied up with ropes, but the ropes blend into the foliage so you hardly notice them. Autumn leaves littered the ground while we took pictures. I haven’t been out to this tree in the autumn before—I go out to help in the summer when there are mulberries.
Here’s a pic of me in the branches along with my updated author pic. In fact, I am sitting on the same porch in almost just the way I did for my last pic. I just often choose pics taken on the porch because they have good lighting.
Review copies for the next 2 weeks are Celestine Princess and City of the Invaders. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Celestine Princess content is Moderate for violence, including an area where a prisoner is partially undressed while she talks with a man--the scene is not sexual--and later she is forcibly costumed by other women while she’s subjected to a ritual. However, this does not really count as “sexual violence” and is not mentioned in the content rating on the download page.)Celestine Princess Review Copy
City of the Invaders Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
September 16, 2021
Worth Somewhere In Between Five Hundred and A Thousand Words
Whenever I poke into a resale shop, I find lots of stuff that costs literally pennies. Pennies are my favorite type of money to hand over to sales clerks. So I pick up a DVD here, a candle there, a wall hanging for a few dollars more but still very nice price, and CDs for a few per dollar. It’s mostly old stuff, of course, but I’ve never exactly courted high fashion so that doesn’t bother me at all. 😊 While sorting through lots of things that are old and look it, I stumble sometimes on something that faintly brings back memories and one of those is Point of Grace. This Christian quartet recorded CDs for about 25 years, becoming a trio towards the end. I remember people often complained about their sticky sound and feel-goody message, but I didn’t listen to them much because they seemed to be for middle-aged women.
However, with just a few cents per CD I took a chance on some of their albums. Maybe because I actually AM a middle-aged woman now or maybe because it’s time to give the group a reevaluation, I found I actually enjoyed some of their music. There are lots of frontrunner tracks that live up to their sugary reputation, like “Day by Day” and “Circle of Friends,” but tucked behind them I was surprised to find a few good tracks in the corners. I looked up the albums I didn’t have on YouTube and put 1 track per album I’d listened to into a YouTube playlist. It’s nice to listen to while I’m dealing with my books because I correlated the songs to go with a particular book in my mind. They appear in the playlist in the order books appear on the website (Track 4 “Love Like No Other” goes with my Scotland book which I will put at the top of the General Fiction category when it’s written) and at the end there are a couple of POG Christmas songs that I simply put in because I liked these 2 songs.
When our cars had lots and lots of trouble this week, I had the adventure of driving my sister to work in an unfamiliar area of town which has been tormented by massive construction around the interstate highway for 3 years. It wasn’t easy to figure out how to get there and back when she wasn’t directing me because the GPS was not working and I ended up having a near wreck at one point. But while I hung around the store waiting for her to close up, I got this lovely framed picture and at home I placed it near the portrait of our special friend, our Pomeranian dog, who passed away in June. The framed pic is a little hard to see from this angle, but it’s a painting of an enchanted-looking house just visible at the end of a moonlit lane surrounded by mysterious woods. I just liked it so much.
Review copies for next 2 weeks are A Year with the Harrisons and Bellevere House. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Don't be fooled: I've listed Bellevere as Young Adult and Literary Fiction on the hosting site, but the review download page calls it "Chapter Books and Middle-Grade" for some reason. This is not a chapter book or MG fiction title, so you should be aware of that.)
A Year with the Harrisons Review Copy
Bellevere House Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
However, with just a few cents per CD I took a chance on some of their albums. Maybe because I actually AM a middle-aged woman now or maybe because it’s time to give the group a reevaluation, I found I actually enjoyed some of their music. There are lots of frontrunner tracks that live up to their sugary reputation, like “Day by Day” and “Circle of Friends,” but tucked behind them I was surprised to find a few good tracks in the corners. I looked up the albums I didn’t have on YouTube and put 1 track per album I’d listened to into a YouTube playlist. It’s nice to listen to while I’m dealing with my books because I correlated the songs to go with a particular book in my mind. They appear in the playlist in the order books appear on the website (Track 4 “Love Like No Other” goes with my Scotland book which I will put at the top of the General Fiction category when it’s written) and at the end there are a couple of POG Christmas songs that I simply put in because I liked these 2 songs.
When our cars had lots and lots of trouble this week, I had the adventure of driving my sister to work in an unfamiliar area of town which has been tormented by massive construction around the interstate highway for 3 years. It wasn’t easy to figure out how to get there and back when she wasn’t directing me because the GPS was not working and I ended up having a near wreck at one point. But while I hung around the store waiting for her to close up, I got this lovely framed picture and at home I placed it near the portrait of our special friend, our Pomeranian dog, who passed away in June. The framed pic is a little hard to see from this angle, but it’s a painting of an enchanted-looking house just visible at the end of a moonlit lane surrounded by mysterious woods. I just liked it so much.
Review copies for next 2 weeks are A Year with the Harrisons and Bellevere House. If you complete a 5-star review and put it on 3 or more retailers, you can email me with your mailing address and links to the reviews and I will mail you a complimentary signed paperback copy of the book you reviewed. This isn’t an “incentive” just a thank you, and should not encourage you to put up a favorable review unless it is your real opinion. (Don't be fooled: I've listed Bellevere as Young Adult and Literary Fiction on the hosting site, but the review download page calls it "Chapter Books and Middle-Grade" for some reason. This is not a chapter book or MG fiction title, so you should be aware of that.)
A Year with the Harrisons Review Copy
Bellevere House Review Copy
And there will be more updates.
September 2, 2021
A Nice List of Things to Look at This September
I have done a lot of reading over the past few years and recently the staff of a site called Shepherd.com asked me to create a list of top 5 books I’ve read. They have lots of lists by authors who each briefly describe what they love about 5 books that have a unified theme (such as the history of the American West.) While I’ve read some great nonfiction and women’s fiction books, I have specialized in reading children’s and YA because that’s what I write. So I put together a list of 5 children’s adventure books I’d recommend and when it is available on the site I’ll share a link for you to read. The hard part was choosing just 5 books! I thought my heart was going to break with some of the choices I had to make. 😉
To solve the problem of review requests taking time out of my life, I plan to put review copies for my books on a recurring basis with copies available for 2 week at a time. That way I can cycle through all my publications with minimum effort while I get on with writing new books. Books will appear in pairs in each newsletter, correlating to roughly 1 book per week over a 2-week period, gradually repeating over time. BookSprout will only let me seek reviews once for each book on its free program, so I made a quick ARC there for Celestine Princess, since I've never run it through the site before. After that I will send direct download links from StoryOrigin for my recurring requests and will send the books in alphabetical order to keep me from losing track of when they should be posted again. StoryOrigin's paid option got too expensive so I no longer use it, but there's actually little difference between the free direct downloads and the review program in terms of convenience for me.
Celestine Princess Request
Now remember the giant zucchini I mentioned last week? Well, a logical question might be “what did you DO with all that zucchini?” It’s a good question. 😊 When dealing with zucchini there’s only one recipe that’s our go-to and that’s Zucchini Pancakes. You can put zucchini in everything from soups to breads, but we don’t make a lot of those recipes because the zucchini easily gets squishy and we don’t prefer the taste. These pancakes are the only thing we really make with zucchini. They were the reason we grew the zucchini in the first place, although we didn’t plan for them to get so big! So I’ll put the recipe right here if you want to try it yourself. It can be cut in half if you want to serve fewer people. This recipe will make a nice side accompaniment to a main course for five people.
Zucchini Pancakes
2/3 cup biscuit/baking mix
½ cup Parmesan cheese
½ tsp pepper
4 cups fresh grated zucchini
4 eggs
½ cup oil or butter for frying
Mix all together until blended. Heat some of the oil in a saute pan or small skillet (works better than a big one.) Pour spoonfuls of batter onto the hot oil. Turn when brown on the bottom. Might need to turn a couple of times until fully cooked on all sides. These can heat quickly and easily burn, so watch them carefully and don’t let oil get too hot. They should be golden brown, but not black. Replenish oil if needed for second batch. Serves 5 as a side dish.
And there will be more updates.
To solve the problem of review requests taking time out of my life, I plan to put review copies for my books on a recurring basis with copies available for 2 week at a time. That way I can cycle through all my publications with minimum effort while I get on with writing new books. Books will appear in pairs in each newsletter, correlating to roughly 1 book per week over a 2-week period, gradually repeating over time. BookSprout will only let me seek reviews once for each book on its free program, so I made a quick ARC there for Celestine Princess, since I've never run it through the site before. After that I will send direct download links from StoryOrigin for my recurring requests and will send the books in alphabetical order to keep me from losing track of when they should be posted again. StoryOrigin's paid option got too expensive so I no longer use it, but there's actually little difference between the free direct downloads and the review program in terms of convenience for me.
Celestine Princess Request
Now remember the giant zucchini I mentioned last week? Well, a logical question might be “what did you DO with all that zucchini?” It’s a good question. 😊 When dealing with zucchini there’s only one recipe that’s our go-to and that’s Zucchini Pancakes. You can put zucchini in everything from soups to breads, but we don’t make a lot of those recipes because the zucchini easily gets squishy and we don’t prefer the taste. These pancakes are the only thing we really make with zucchini. They were the reason we grew the zucchini in the first place, although we didn’t plan for them to get so big! So I’ll put the recipe right here if you want to try it yourself. It can be cut in half if you want to serve fewer people. This recipe will make a nice side accompaniment to a main course for five people.
Zucchini Pancakes
2/3 cup biscuit/baking mix
½ cup Parmesan cheese
½ tsp pepper
4 cups fresh grated zucchini
4 eggs
½ cup oil or butter for frying
Mix all together until blended. Heat some of the oil in a saute pan or small skillet (works better than a big one.) Pour spoonfuls of batter onto the hot oil. Turn when brown on the bottom. Might need to turn a couple of times until fully cooked on all sides. These can heat quickly and easily burn, so watch them carefully and don’t let oil get too hot. They should be golden brown, but not black. Replenish oil if needed for second batch. Serves 5 as a side dish.
And there will be more updates.
August 19, 2021
Celestine Princess is Here
Celestine Princess (Palladia Series #3) has arrived.I've spoken before about the challenges of putting another book into this series. It's been a rewarding story to write as well. It's live in nine stores and should be available from libraries in about a week. Paperback and ebook were released simultaneously, a break with my usual publishing trend of delays on one or the other. This title is not on a preorder or an Amazon exclusive so it can be read immediately from any store.
Opening lines for the book are below:
"The sun was just dawning and eagles were flying high in the east. The day they came."
To read a complete description, visit Celestine Princess's website page.
After sending out a post with signup for my street team, I thought about something that (slaps forehead) hadn't occurred to me before. Managing 2 separate lists will be tough with everything I'm doing right now. It was interesting to see the reaction I got, but I'm going to just send out general requests to the whole mailing list for now. Sheerly, honestly, because it's easier and I don't want to pour a lot of time into begging for reviews. Lots of authors go all out with swag, reader bundles, little gifts, etc. I'd love to give back to my readers, but I also need, right now, to minimize effort that takes me away from writing.
Once Celestine is up and running, I'll put a review copy somewhere for people to get and then tell you about it. I'm not impatient if books have no reviews after a while (MerrySummer has been published for a year and still has 0.) They'll come when you don't expect them--I've routinely found that to be true of reviews. And basically, of anything. I am already planning my Scotland book. Talked about it last year, I believe, but I'm having trouble remembering. This book will be funnnnnn. So fun.
Now to throw in something personal--here's a pic of our Very Large Zucchini. Our gardening this year resulted in a few jumbo zucchini instead of the usual smaller ones. Seriously, the biggest one weighed 4 pounds, which is simply enormous for a zucchini. I think we unintentionally grew a prizewinner!
And there will be more updates.
August 5, 2021
Following the Rules To Bend Things Your Way
In the movie Twitches, which usually runs on Disney channel every Halloween, the sisters Alex and Camryn are told by their guardians, Ileana and Karsh, that the girls are from another dimension called Coventry and were sent to our world to hide until they were grown-up. They are completely skeptical and Alex calls the new dimension imaginary. Ileana patiently tries to explain to her “Oh, the universe has infinite dimensions. Well, 9 . . . maybe 9 and a half. But none is more real than another.”
The same is true of entertainment. There are, as I said in my last post, 22 different audience types—well, maybe 22 and a half! —and not one of them is more REAL than the others. Nor are any of them less worth writing about. Unlike the fantasy worlds Ileana and Karsh describe, there’s really no excuse to deny their reality even for a minute. They are not bizarre planes accessed through magic. They are simply groups of people who also inhabit the Earth with us. I’ve never felt that any of them are more important or deserve VIP attention. An attitude of “Well, the first thing I have to do is write such and such book to get my career off to a good start because it’s about the important people. Then the rest can follow.” This way of writing might appeal to someone who is simply self-aggrandizing—but not to someone who actually wants to tell a story. I have not prioritized one audience over another. I just write about whichever one comes next.
I wanted to write stories like the ones I grew up reading, books that had endured the test of time. But modern books are not put together like older fiction. It was common for older novels to contain multiple audiences within one work. They would shift back and forth in intricate subplots that entertained an entirely different audience from the main plot and often introduce a third and fourth angle (occupying almost the length of an entire novella) before cycling back. Modern fiction is linear and tailored, regardless of its word or page count. The majority of books describe only one audience, primarily a projection of the reader, and lack even a basic conflict within the story because conflict occurs when another person is introduced. At least 2 audiences are needed to create some type of tension. Books based on self-centeredness fall thin very quickly.
Other authors rise above this syndrome of excessive tailoring, but while their work is well-crafted, they usually address the same couple of audiences over and over. Readers have grown to expect that authors will write for only one audience or perhaps show two in symbiosis (a better approach) for their whole careers. But there is no rule that authors must always do this. As I analyzed my work more, I found that I had included many different audiences instead of sticking to an audience base of one or two. This stemmed from my original goal—to write stories that had a wide range of audiences. Two is the minimum to create necessary depth, but it’s also the maximum allowed in one book in modern fiction. So I adjusted by writing about a couple of audiences in each book and adding different audiences in later books until I’d covered almost all of them.
This means my readers have the option to head for the book in their audience bracket, tailored in a way they are accustomed to reading—while I still have the ability to show as many audiences as I want. Yes, I will exclude readers whose motive is an exhibition of neurotic self-absorption, because those books don’t constitute a real story! With a few books still to publish, I’m well on my way to achieving the goal I set for myself all those years ago—and to achieve it within the expectations of what a modern writer should do.
And there will be more updates.
The same is true of entertainment. There are, as I said in my last post, 22 different audience types—well, maybe 22 and a half! —and not one of them is more REAL than the others. Nor are any of them less worth writing about. Unlike the fantasy worlds Ileana and Karsh describe, there’s really no excuse to deny their reality even for a minute. They are not bizarre planes accessed through magic. They are simply groups of people who also inhabit the Earth with us. I’ve never felt that any of them are more important or deserve VIP attention. An attitude of “Well, the first thing I have to do is write such and such book to get my career off to a good start because it’s about the important people. Then the rest can follow.” This way of writing might appeal to someone who is simply self-aggrandizing—but not to someone who actually wants to tell a story. I have not prioritized one audience over another. I just write about whichever one comes next.
I wanted to write stories like the ones I grew up reading, books that had endured the test of time. But modern books are not put together like older fiction. It was common for older novels to contain multiple audiences within one work. They would shift back and forth in intricate subplots that entertained an entirely different audience from the main plot and often introduce a third and fourth angle (occupying almost the length of an entire novella) before cycling back. Modern fiction is linear and tailored, regardless of its word or page count. The majority of books describe only one audience, primarily a projection of the reader, and lack even a basic conflict within the story because conflict occurs when another person is introduced. At least 2 audiences are needed to create some type of tension. Books based on self-centeredness fall thin very quickly.
Other authors rise above this syndrome of excessive tailoring, but while their work is well-crafted, they usually address the same couple of audiences over and over. Readers have grown to expect that authors will write for only one audience or perhaps show two in symbiosis (a better approach) for their whole careers. But there is no rule that authors must always do this. As I analyzed my work more, I found that I had included many different audiences instead of sticking to an audience base of one or two. This stemmed from my original goal—to write stories that had a wide range of audiences. Two is the minimum to create necessary depth, but it’s also the maximum allowed in one book in modern fiction. So I adjusted by writing about a couple of audiences in each book and adding different audiences in later books until I’d covered almost all of them.
This means my readers have the option to head for the book in their audience bracket, tailored in a way they are accustomed to reading—while I still have the ability to show as many audiences as I want. Yes, I will exclude readers whose motive is an exhibition of neurotic self-absorption, because those books don’t constitute a real story! With a few books still to publish, I’m well on my way to achieving the goal I set for myself all those years ago—and to achieve it within the expectations of what a modern writer should do.
And there will be more updates.
July 22, 2021
When You're 85% There.
Oh, how times have changed. When I started publishing 13 years ago, my hope was that each new book I presented was “the one”—the perfect book. The success. The book that sang and resonated with readers. I often discarded and unpublished them altogether or tried to rewrite and re-present them. But the new rewrites were doomed to the same failures as the first drafts and it was back to the drawing board. During this time people often encouraged me—italics are mine and intentional—by saying they were benevolent towards my work but couldn’t pay it any real attention. I should just keep writing and eventually, I’d produce a readable book.
But as the years went on and I turned out more and more books, I started to wonder if this “perfect” book really existed. It appeared to me that I’d never write it. The benevolent onlookers started to urge me to be realistic. After over a decade, I clearly wasn’t cut out to be a writer. I’d had chance after chance and failed every time. Then I remembered what I believe as a religious person, specifically a Christian—that nobody is perfect. It’s an error to even attempt such a standard. Perfection belongs to God only. Everything that I had been raised to believe said that people are actually irredeemably faulty without the help of God, the perfect deity. Not everyone today believes that, but it is what I believed.
I suddenly looked at my work through an entirely different lens. Why was I chasing perfection? Instead, I should examine the books for what they were. And I saw each book was actually a success. I’d become more analytical about audiences and found 22 core audience types that appeared consistently throughout every book and movie I saw. I never viewed myself as in the shadow of pop culture and desperately trying to get the attention of people who would rather plug in something audiovisual instead of reading. I loved books, which was why I wrote them. But I noticed that the exact same underlying audiences appear throughout any type of storytelling.
I also realized that my books held those same audiences inside them. In fact, now that I have 10 books + #11 (Celestine) to be published this year, I have included all but 3 of the audiences in my work! I was embarrassed I’d given up on these books so quickly. And I started to wonder about those benevolent onlookers throughout the years. They were merely rejecting each book because it did not contain them as an audience. The problem was not my failure to reach an audience, it was a failure to reach them. They apparently suffered from severe ego issues. To say a book written for you is “better” and shows the author finally has some talent directly implies books written for other audiences are inferior! 😊 That is so self-important it really merits a trip to a therapist.
Since you are following me because you are interested in one of my books, this doesn’t actually apply to you. You must be one of the 19—check it, 19!—types of people who find resonance with my work. (And I intend to address the remaining 3 audiences in future projects.) But I thought you might find this helpful if you’re ever feeling a need, an urge, to chase the unreasonable goal of perfection. Just back off from it and look closely at the work you've achieved. You’ll find that you’re doing just fine. Not perfect. But for a human being, you’re all that you can be.
And there will be more updates.
But as the years went on and I turned out more and more books, I started to wonder if this “perfect” book really existed. It appeared to me that I’d never write it. The benevolent onlookers started to urge me to be realistic. After over a decade, I clearly wasn’t cut out to be a writer. I’d had chance after chance and failed every time. Then I remembered what I believe as a religious person, specifically a Christian—that nobody is perfect. It’s an error to even attempt such a standard. Perfection belongs to God only. Everything that I had been raised to believe said that people are actually irredeemably faulty without the help of God, the perfect deity. Not everyone today believes that, but it is what I believed.
I suddenly looked at my work through an entirely different lens. Why was I chasing perfection? Instead, I should examine the books for what they were. And I saw each book was actually a success. I’d become more analytical about audiences and found 22 core audience types that appeared consistently throughout every book and movie I saw. I never viewed myself as in the shadow of pop culture and desperately trying to get the attention of people who would rather plug in something audiovisual instead of reading. I loved books, which was why I wrote them. But I noticed that the exact same underlying audiences appear throughout any type of storytelling.
I also realized that my books held those same audiences inside them. In fact, now that I have 10 books + #11 (Celestine) to be published this year, I have included all but 3 of the audiences in my work! I was embarrassed I’d given up on these books so quickly. And I started to wonder about those benevolent onlookers throughout the years. They were merely rejecting each book because it did not contain them as an audience. The problem was not my failure to reach an audience, it was a failure to reach them. They apparently suffered from severe ego issues. To say a book written for you is “better” and shows the author finally has some talent directly implies books written for other audiences are inferior! 😊 That is so self-important it really merits a trip to a therapist.
Since you are following me because you are interested in one of my books, this doesn’t actually apply to you. You must be one of the 19—check it, 19!—types of people who find resonance with my work. (And I intend to address the remaining 3 audiences in future projects.) But I thought you might find this helpful if you’re ever feeling a need, an urge, to chase the unreasonable goal of perfection. Just back off from it and look closely at the work you've achieved. You’ll find that you’re doing just fine. Not perfect. But for a human being, you’re all that you can be.
And there will be more updates.
July 8, 2021
The Personal Opinion Roundup (Part 2)
Last week I posted personal opinions about five of my books—in the midst of conversations about everything else, my thoughts on my own work had gotten a little lost in the crowd. The earlier post is immediately below this one and you can click on it if you want to hear about the first five books (The Birthday Present; A Year with the Harrisons; Facets of Fantasy; This Merry Summertime; and City of the Invaders.) Here's the next five:
Consuela—This book has become sinister. It started as an unnecessary development within a now-defunct series and then moved rather awkwardly into another series. But it has slipped into a dark horse position behind my other books and now sports a serious presence that is a surprise considering its fluffy past.Victoria: A Tale of Spain—This book is unfinished. I had assumed it was complete, but I've come to realize it's not and reader reviews have suggested that for a long time. The two pieces that came together to form the book can be called Part 1 and Part 2--so I am going to need Part 3 sometime.Ryan and Essie—This book is rather flimsy. A genuine malevolence underpins the planet the children stray into and in flashes you can still see the intent of the characters they meet. But the concepts are kept in the background and the book has a “for the whole family” popcorn flick tone.The Test of Devotion—This book is pretty good. It's a likable story with complexity, adventure, and a positive message about courage. There turned out to be a hidden layer of value beneath its initial concept and it really deserved the second chance it got. If Jonah could get another opportunity, this book certainly can! Bellevere House—This book is a thing of the past. It has some sophistication, gained under Austen’s tutelage, but people mostly saw it as an endgame, my final book, and it represented my failure as an author. This conversation is obsolete as I move on with my career and the actual story was never much looked at aside from it.
And there will be more updates.
Consuela—This book has become sinister. It started as an unnecessary development within a now-defunct series and then moved rather awkwardly into another series. But it has slipped into a dark horse position behind my other books and now sports a serious presence that is a surprise considering its fluffy past.Victoria: A Tale of Spain—This book is unfinished. I had assumed it was complete, but I've come to realize it's not and reader reviews have suggested that for a long time. The two pieces that came together to form the book can be called Part 1 and Part 2--so I am going to need Part 3 sometime.Ryan and Essie—This book is rather flimsy. A genuine malevolence underpins the planet the children stray into and in flashes you can still see the intent of the characters they meet. But the concepts are kept in the background and the book has a “for the whole family” popcorn flick tone.The Test of Devotion—This book is pretty good. It's a likable story with complexity, adventure, and a positive message about courage. There turned out to be a hidden layer of value beneath its initial concept and it really deserved the second chance it got. If Jonah could get another opportunity, this book certainly can! Bellevere House—This book is a thing of the past. It has some sophistication, gained under Austen’s tutelage, but people mostly saw it as an endgame, my final book, and it represented my failure as an author. This conversation is obsolete as I move on with my career and the actual story was never much looked at aside from it.
And there will be more updates.
