Christine M. Butler's Blog, page 3

My Writing Process

Wait... There's a process?

This is probably the biggest thing that makes writers think they're doing something wrong. X Author has their shit together and puts out twenty books a year and they outline everything. Y Author only puts out four titles a year and they just sit down and write the book as they come. Both are successful, and from a new author's perspective, they wonder which way they should go.

Start here: THERE IS NO PROCESS! It is whatever works for YOU! Stop comparing yourself to everyone else and figure out how you work best.

If you're anything like me (I'm sorry if you are because my brain is a hot mess on a good day), then your "process" will be very fluid. I learned a long time ago that hard and fast rules are the bane of my writing. If I'm told that I absolutely HAVE TO do it THIS WAY, then my creative side just stops flowing. She's a rebel like that.

So, if chaos rules my brain, how do I accommodate that to make sure I'm working?

I go with what feels right for each book!

1) I always have notes. Sometimes, they're only one sentence long, but that's my starting point. I'm usually in the middle of several other projects when an idea hits, and I will write down everything that comes to mind immediately, so I don't forget later. I have notebooks, phone notes, & voice notes hanging around to go back to later.

2) I don't always use my notes. Wild, right? Sometimes, I start writing down those nagging ideas for a new story, and a week later, I have an entire first draft of a book that was written start to finish without the first note involved beyond a blip of a blur/idea I started with.

3) Sometimes, I take notes as I write (or after I finish writing one book in what will now become a series). See example below.

If, after writing a stand alone, I think it could be a series, I will go through during initial edits/re-writes and clip notes to my story everywhere a new character showed up, a new setting was introduced, or any major event. (I try to do this as I go, but sometimes it kills the writing flow to stop and add comments, so it's possible that I add the comments during the first editing/re-write stage) That way, I can keep all the information straight, be able to double-check appearances, backstory info, etc. when I'm editing or moving forward with another book in the series. (Example above is from one of my WIPs, Waging War).

4) In the event of a large WORLD of books (multiple series), I have my Series Bible that I can drag out. I've shown off my Aces High MC World Bible to readers before, but here is a glimpse...

Some books are planned and plotted while others are a fly by the seat of my pants endeavor that ends when I type the final words. There is no ONE way for me to write a book. Some people are comfortable finding the one that works for them. Others try to emulate their favorite authors and the process they state they use. If it works for you - GREAT! If it doesn't, don't be afraid to experiment and don't be afraid to change things up per book, if that's what is necessary to make your literary magic!

Coming Soon!

BAD AT LOVE By: Christine Michelle An unrequited, family drama, later-in-life chance love story

ABOUT THE BOOK:

POSIE

I fell in love with the idea of Maxwell Carter when I was too young to understand just how that beautiful boy would break my heart one day.

I was never his best friend.

Never a girlfriend.

We were strangers turned pen pals.

Through those letters, we each grew more complicated feelings, especially since he never actually came home to see me in person.

By the time he admitted his feelings, events had already been put into motion that would keep us apart.

By then, he realized he was bad at love, and I decided that he was no longer worthy of my time.

Unbeknownst to us both, the man who tried to push us both together when we were teens, was still hard at work, trying to make it happen, long after he was gone.

MAX

Pops used to give me what he called “woman advice”.

When I was younger, I blew it all off, thinking I knew everything there was to know about the opposite sex.

Failed relationship after failed relationship just proved I should have listened to the old coot before it was too late.

It wasn’t until I came back to my hometown at thirty-three that I realized the most important thing he tried to convey to me, the love of a good woman – the perfect woman for me – had been in my grasp all that time, only I’d failed to see her. And when I had, I had failed to act soon enough to keep circumstances from blocking our path.

I was finally coming home, and she was free once more. Both of us were a little worse for the wear, but I wouldn’t stop trying this time until I finally made her mine.*Note: The Bad at Love Series is only a series of stand-alone novels grouped together for convenience. There are no continuing storylines. Each book can be read on its own merit with no order necessary.

Surprise!

Surprise!

There is a new book available in the Savage Vipers MC by Anne Storm!

Surprise Me (Savage Vipers MC #3) by Anne StormKimI was a stranger to him, but I knew exactly who he was. My brother’s friend.When I saw the opportunity to have him, I took it, even knowing the consequences could ruin us both. It was a decision I’d never regret.JuneI left on a family vacation the summer before senior year with an ache in my heart. Tripp couldn’t come with us. He had to stay behind because if he gave up his prospect position with the Savage Vipers, he would never have another chance. I understood, but I also felt like maybe my leaving for the summer would be the end of us.TrippI reassured June that her trip abroad wouldn’t ruin us. In fact, I was planning on making her my old lady once she got back. By then, I hoped to have my patch and it would be nothing to make it official.Then, I met Kim.It was one night.One mistake.It changed everything. The entire course of my life that I once saw with June fell away in an instant.*Note: This bonus book dives into the past of the MC President's life, when Tripp was just a prospect. The timing of the storyline in this book is important to things that will happen in Book 4, Baby Me (which focuses on Tripp's life in the present timeline). While you can dive into book 4 without reading about his past with Kim and June, you will get much more out of that book if you read Surprise Me first.

Paperback and other digital retail links coming soon for Surprise Me!

Currently available via Moonlit Dreams Publications (link below).

Due to Series listings on some retailer websites, Surprise Me was changed from being numbered as #2.5 to #3 in the series.

It is the only book in the series that does not occur during the same timeline, and takes place about 23 years in the past (when Tripp - the current MC President - was just a prospect).

Check out the rest of the Savage Vipers MC Series Here:

Savage Vipers MC Book Order

SAVAGE VIPERS MC SERIES BY ANNE STORM

1) When will each book be released?2) Which characters are getting their books now?I've been asked those two questions a lot over the past couple weeks.ANSWER: After going back and correcting timeline and story continuity issues that were written into the books accidentally when I worked on devastate Me while sick (and after popping it in out of order to get it to people quicker)... I had to change a couple things and I added one book to the mix (plus a special edition). Below is the new order of release, though dates are not yet available for some, I can tell you they will all be coming relatively quickly.BOOK 1 - Wait for Me (released on Feb 28, 2022) Star and BaggerBOOK 2 - Devastate Me (released on March 2, 2023) Nova and BreakneckBOOK 2 - Devastate Me Special Edition (released on March 2, 2023) Nova and BreakneckBOOK 2.5 - Surprise Me (Releases March 10-11, 2023) Tripp, June, and Kim (young Tripp when he prospected)BOOK 3 - Baby Me (coming soon) Tripp, June, and Davina (Prez during current time period)BOOK 4 - Patch Me (coming soon) Scout and KipBOOK 5 - Share Me (coming soon) Mitzi, Skully, and Trench*NOTE: Seeing three names does not mean that all three of those people get a happily ever after. It just means that there were multiple relationships during the course of their story in some cases. (a third party played an important part).**ALSO OF NOTE - SURPRISE ME - was meant to be Trip's extended prologue for Baby Me. I originally wanted to write a novella because a prologue didn't do enough justice to Kim's story and I felt she deserved her happy ending. She gets one in Surprise Me. While this book became a full-length novel, it remains listed as book 2.5 because it was only meant to enhance your experience with book three and not the series overall. Surprise Me is a look into Tripp's past (outside of the timeline for the other books). I absolutely loved writing Kim's story, though, so I hope everyone takes the time to read it.

Delays, Catching Up, and Audio

Hello everyone,

I wanted to take a minute to post an update on books and what's going on in my life.

I started off 2022 with the flu and then worked my way into COVID a few weeks later. It took a good long while to recover from that, as I did not have a mild case. I wish I had.

I also had a son go off to the Marines and come home again with injuries and my editor and assistant has had some major medical issues that has kept her from being able to work for a while. All of this has been a perfect storm to put me behind with work.

Life waits for no one, and certainly doesn't care that I had deadlines.

So, Devastate Me is woefully behind and Evermore is as well. Evermore will release on June 23rd as a result, and we hope to have Devastate Me available on May 19, 2022.

Apologies for the delays. Patch Me will probably also be delayed by about three-four weeks as well and then we'll be back on track.

During the mess of the past few months we have also been getting books ready to go back into audiobook production. Some older titles are finding new life via AI narration, while newer books are going into production with voice actors. Hopefully, we'll have some of those ready by August.

And one final note - The website's branded app still has not been accepted by Apple for release on their app store. There is one tiny thing that needs to be corrected before that can happen, but with everything that has been happening, our focus has been on healing so that everyone is healthy enough to work without any further delays. We are now working on the issue and hope to have the app ready for Apple users very soon!

Thank you for your patience.

Christine Michelle (aka Anne Storm).

New Audiobooks!

One question I am asked often is about audiobooks.

This post is simply to address older book titles and the possibility of making audiobooks available for backlist titles. As many of you know, it is quite expensive to produce an audiobook with a human production team/narrator(s). This tends to make production of backlist titles impractical, as the sales aren't expected to be high enough to cover the cost of production, since that initial "new release" push is long over, and word of mouth has died off.

Christine Michelle was recently invited to the beta for Google's auto-narrated audiobooks. These books are narrated by AI (artificial intelligence) rather than humans. This has been an idea that was nixed in the past because the robotic voices tend to turn people off. However, after recent experimentation with producing an audiobook in this manner, the results exceeded expectations!

Google technology has come a long way in creating believable sounding voices, and they've managed to give publishers and authors quite a bit of creative control so that they can ensure proper pronunciation of words and names that wasn't possible just a few years ago.

In an effort to bring more books to readers who are sight-impaired, and for those readers who prefer to listen to audiobooks so they can multitask, we are going to produce more backlist titles (books published before 2019) as audiobooks using this method. Newer books that haven't performed well enough to take the gamble on audiobook costs may also end up having this type of audiobook available.

The first book produced this way was Shadows of the Ancients (The Ancients Series book 1) by Christine M. Butler. It is currently only available via Google Play (Google Books) but will be added to other retailers soon. It will not be added to Amazon or Audible as they do not currently accept audiobooks that aren't narrated by humans.

For those of you who are curious about the sound quality of the auto-narrated audiobooks produced with Google Technology, you can test it out with this link to Shadows of the Ancients. A promo code to get the audiobook for free is included! There are only 50 available, so get yours while you can! If you listen to the sample (if you didn't manage to get one of the free copies), the initially "Front matter" that includes the title page, copyright information, and dedication sound slightly choppy in comparison to the rest of the sample. You won't get a true feel for how the audiobook will read until the story starts.

This audiobook was produced using the "Melissa" voice, as it had a younger sound to it that matched the characters. In the next few days, The Infinite Something (T.I.E. Book 1) by Christine Michelle will also be available in this format using the Michelle voice, which has a more mature tone.

Click here to redeem your free copy of Shadows of the Ancients!

PROS to this type of audiobook:

Fast production (It takes 1-3 days to produce) as opposed to human-narrated audiobooks which can take 3 weeks to 6 months to produce. No scheduling conflicts! Sometimes human narrators over book or life becomes an obstacle to work and deadlines have to be pushed back. This is not a problem with auto-narrated books. When a release timetable is given, you can count on it being ready in time! Cheap. While in beta testing, Google is not charging for this service. The only stipulation given to authors/publishers is that the audiobook produced with Google must be available via Google Play. Low to no production cost (other than the author/publisher's time) means that we can pass on much cheaper prices to readers too! A normal audiobook might retail for $15-30. The auto narrated audiobooks (that we produce here) are being sold for $4.99. More audiobook options - since older and underperforming titles don't have to worry about covering the high cost of narration, we can offer more titles in audio for the people who need them and want to enjoy the books but can't via a traditional reading experience.

CONS to this type of audiobook:

While Google technology has come a long way with making these voices sound human, there are things it can't do. Some inflection won't be as dramatic. You won't have different tones being used to differentiate between characters the way human narrators are able to do. As of right now, we can only use ONE voice for the whole book. That means no swapping between male and female voices. I'm hoping that is something Google will offer for a more dynamic experience later down the road (and if it is, then we will update books that swap between male and female point of views). A con that becomes a pro - Google's technology is evolving. That means some of the things that might keep you from testing the waters with auto narrated audiobooks may change and updates for the audiobooks' sound and voice qualities will only improve right along with it.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and encourage you to come back here and let us know if you checked out the audiobook, what your thoughts are, and of course we always encourage you to leave reviews on the sites where you purchase/download books and audiobooks as well!

How to Download a Mobi File (Kindle) to your Kindle App

THIS IS SPECIFIC TO iPhone/APPLE DEVICE USERS WHO RUN THE KINDLE APP.

There is another option where you can simply e-mail a copy of the book file to your kindle specific email address (if you know how to do this - we will add another blog to explain how to send gifted/Arc/Beta copies of e-books. Those same directions will apply to sending a file to yourself, if it seems easier than the below option).

STEP ONE:

Download the purchased file directly to your device! You can do this with the download button immediately after purchase or via the e-mail with a download that will be sent to you after purchase.

STEP TWO:

Find your file on your device! This step tells you to click on the search in app option. EASIER STEP TWO:

You can also simply hold on the file name and then click the "Share" option that pops up and choose to share to your Kindle App. If you use the latter option (not pictured), then skip straight to step FIVE! ;)

STEP THREE:

As the image says, just click once!

STEP FOUR:

Use the "upload" or "share" button at the top righthand side of your screen and choose the Kindle app as the place you want to share the file with. (If you already completed this step then move on to the next).

STEP FIVE:

You can change the file name to match that of the book title. While the image below states that you can add an author name if you wish, I believe the app makes you enter an author name before you can continue.

Make sure your "save in Kindle Library" is toggled on (white dot to the right).

Then click send.

STEP SIX:

Open your Kindle App on your iPhone (or Apple Device). Open your library and make sure you have "All" toggled at the top, not "Downloaded".

Your book will initially appear as a generic DOC image.

Click on that image to download your book file to the Kindle App.

STEP SEVEN:

Now that you've downloaded your book to the app, you will see the book cover instead of the generic DOC image shown previously. You may click to read the book now!

EXTRA INSIGHT:

If you ever "lose" a book file that you know was manually uploaded, sent as a gift, etc. and not a book purchased directly from Amazon, you can use the filter option in your library to check out DOCS. Docs are books that were emailed direct to your kindle as a gift, ARC, or BETA edition, or book files that you uploaded yourself.

If a book is not currently downloaded to your app on that device, it will show as a generic DOC image. If you have the book downloaded and readable, it will show as the book cover.

New E-book Sales!

Hey everybody!

We are working diligently to make e-books available by the Moonlit Dreams Publication website again. We are looking forward to adding more as older titles are updated and newer titles become available!

These e-books are e-pub files only (for now). They are compatible with most e-readers, but do NOT work with the Kindle app (currently). We will let you know if/when that changes and we are able to offer Kindle compatible files here on the website.

Once all the titles are uploaded to the new Merchandise/Books for Sale page, we will remove the Book List page from the site! Don't worry, you won't lose the links used to purchase via other platforms, those will be available on each book (product) page in the book description.

Titles added today (4-11-2022):

Dancing with Danger (Aces High MC - Dakotas Book 1) Redemption Weather (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 1) Smoke and the Flame (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 2) Proven (Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Book 3) [image error][image error][image error][image error]

Busy Times, Release Dates, and New Covers

A quick update on Christine Michelle/Anne Storm

1) Devastate Me will release on April 19th now.

2) Christine has glasses again and can see to do her work properly.

3) There are family things going on with her children (military and medical issues) that are taking more of her time right now, and they are the priority.

4) Christine just bought her retirement "home" (retirement meaning the kids are all (almost) grown up and the last couple are moving out - not that she's retiring from writing) and immediately had some problems with it after finalizing the sale, so it has also taken up time that hasn't been available for work over the past couple weeks. This situation is mostly resolved now, and she is back to work.

What's coming up:

Devastate Me (Anne Storm) - April 19th.

Evermore (Christine Michelle) - May 10th.

Patch Me (Anne Storm) - May 24th.

NEW BOOK COVERS:

There are new book covers releasing for some older books to make sure current series have a more cohesive look (people were confused by which books belonged to which series for some reason in the MC World). Here is a quick peek at what those new covers will look like as they release.

Aces High MC - Dakotas (New covers will appear before May 1st for existing books and will continue for new releases that are coming). Only the first three books in the AHMC - Dakotas Series are currently available, so this is also a sneak peek at the covers for the last three books in the series (Spinner's book - Cherries and Cream, Whiskey and Fox's book - Learning to Bend, and Iceman's book - Promises We Make).

Aces High MC - Cedar Falls New Covers Are already available in ebook format and will soon be available via paperback and hardback as well. The same goes for the S.H.E. MC Series.

New Covers & Orders for 2022

New book covers for the Aces High MC - Cedar Falls Series

The AHMC Cedar Fall Series received a makeover to give the series a more cohesive look. They were also reordered.

Publication order of the books currently available was:

1 - Redemption Weather

2 - Proven

3 - Smoke and the Flame

4 - Evermore (preorder for May)

However, Redemption Weather and Smoke and the Flame act as a duology, and not many people realized they went together. So, I moved Smoke and the Flame to the second position to help clear up any confusion for newer readers. Each book in the AHMC - Cedar Falls Series can be read as a standalone, but they are more enjoyable when read in order.

The other books to get a slight makeover for 2022 are the S.H.E. MC Series.

The new paperback covers for each series are not available just yet, but they (along with the hardback editions) should be available by the end of April.