Brenda Whiteside's Blog, page 105

UGH! PROMOTION

MUSE MONDAY There are a few authors that actually like promotion, but most of us would rather get our hair styled by Donald Trump’s barber. Well, maybe not, but the point is we’re writers not promoters, and it’s so hard to figure out the what, when and where of promoting our books. Try to find stats on what works and what doesn’t work. Nada.
So take heart in that because you can do whatever feels comfortable and what works for you. No wrong or right. Here’s my list of the top ten do’s and don’t’s of promotion. Not necessarily in order of importance.
Don’t try to do it all. Pick and choose because if you try to join every loop, every social site, print every form of promo – guess what – not only will you never write your next book, you’ll go broke both financially and mentally. Do join Facebook. This is my personal social media favorite. Some authors prefer Twitter. Some do both. Do blog. You don’t have to have your own blog. Find some blogs to guest on a couple of times a month. The best ones are not all in-your-face promo, but they invite readers to enjoy the banter or subjects of interest.Do/Don’t be active on loops. Okay, I’m on the fence here. I belong to several loops and all I do a great deal of monitoring. I’ll occasionally comment and I like to support other authors when they ask. But if I spent my time commenting on all of them, my next book would not get written. So I monitor, have them on digest and I learn so much.Do network. Join RWA, your local RWA or any of the other groups for writers. I know there are mystery groups and children’s lit groups. These groups keep you in the know and will offer more info on promotion and learning your craft.Do be part of a critique group. I don’t believe I’d ever have gotten published without my critique partners input. This isn’t really marketing but then again, it’s a form of networking.Don’t quiet your mother when she wants to tell everyone including the grocery store checkout lady that you’re an author. My mom has sold a good number of books for me. I did have to stop her when she found out Barnes & Noble by her house didn’t carry my book – she was going to buy some and put them on the shelf herself. My point is, encourage friends and family to talk you up.Do have some bookmarks or post cards/business cards. If you haven’t published yet, have business cards anyway. Don’t get carried away – just a few. And get them from others in the business. Networking can never start too soon and these contacts may come in handy when you’re ready to publish. If you’ve published, get those bookmarks or post cards out there. I’m not a fan of spending money on any other kind of promo items. But this one is useful and sought after by readers.Do have a professional looking web site, even before you’re published. If you have the time and no money, do it yourself. I’ve seen many good ones that authors have designed themselves. First study what’s out there so you know what works. Do write your next book and the next and the next. The more you have published, the more you sell. One book is the best promo for the next one.Speaking of promotion, would love you to join my site as a follower so I know I'm reaching you! Just click on follow me. If you haven't liked my page on Facebook, hope you do soon. www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor AND Don't forget to join my Quarterly Newsletter Group for a chance to win some gift cards! Here:
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Look What Happened While I Was Gone!

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
While we were in Laughlin, NV enjoying spring in the desert, things were happening on Tortilla Flats.
Tiller is kaput! It will cost more to fix than buy a new used one. Apparently, it had damage when we got it but no one saw that. Luckily we don’t need another until next year. Yea!
Greenhouse constructionGreenhouse is nearly done. The door has to be finished and the exhaust fans installed. Can’t wait to see it operational.
The plants on the tables in the house are getting big – at least I can see them now. In a few weeks they’ll go out to the greenhouse.
The first tulips opened. Always a good sign. I just wish they would last longer.
We have a couple of fig trees – we think. A neighbor told us that’s what they are. Last year they didn’t bloom and in fact were barely hanging on Fig bloomingfor dear life after the neglect they’d had from the house being empty for a year. This year we have flowers starting! Hopefully they aren’t blooming too early. 

Which is what the pear trees could Bartlett Pear treebe doing. Last year we didn’t have any pears or peaches because they bloomed in April. We had a freeze in May. It isn’t unusual for a mid May freeze here. Our plum tree last year had ONE plum. This year it already bloomed and died because of cold nights. So sad.
That’s a quick update. I’m off to the doctor at the Indian Hospital in Phoenix. My knee continues to give me problems and I better find out what’s wrong before I have to spend a lot of time stooping and bending to weed.
Baby Ambrosia PearP.S. Sadi is really growing leaps and bounds. I sold a Rosette to The Wild Rose Press. Satisfactory news all way round. And if I don't respond to your comments right away, I'm on the road headed back from Phoenix.

The Loudest Yell Gets a Story First

MUSE MONDAY
Today, I'm thinking about secondary characters - the supporting cast. What usually happens to me when I'm writing is that I form attachments to the people who populate the world of my primary characters. They have entire lives that my readers know nothing about. But I do. I'm wondering if when you read a book do the secondary characters ever interest you to the point you wish the author would tell their stories?

The only problem when this happens to me is that I might not have time to get into their story right away. I've decided (just today - you're the first to know) that I'm going to start making time. I might have other stories in my head that I need to tell, but I also owe it to my supporting cast members to not ignore them too long. Or at the very least, I will put them on my "To Be Written" list.

My partial TBW list to date:
Paulie - Remember Claire's best friend in Honey On White Bread, my1945 historical romance? Paulie was flighty, hard to please and had a huge crush on the guy that had a huge crush on Claire. All it got her was the loss of her virginity and a slap in the face with the knowledge she was nothing more than a stand-in for Claire. There is something brewing with the return of her father that left the family years ago, and there's a guy who worships the ground she walks on. Paulie has her flaws so I'm not too sure about telling her story - even though she's demanding I unleash her on paper.

Ruth - Ruth had a bit part in Honey On White Bread as the wise older sister of Paulie and Benjamin. She had short, bleached hair and smoked unfiltered cigarettes. Ahead of her time, she believed women could work at whatever they wanted and deserved equal pay. She was a waitress but intended on owning a restaurant some day. Sassy lady. Her story should be fun to write.

Phoebe - She's the best friend of the heroine, Lacy Dahl, in The Art of Love and Murder. This is kind of unfair to mention since this is an unpublished book and I've already started writing Phoebe's story, Southwest of Love and Murder. Phoebe murdered her first husband - on paper - but now he's actually been murdered, exactly as she wrote it. She's an artsy, free spirited writer and she's falling for an uptight, playboy rancher named Mason. There's lightening between them while they deal with a murderer.

Penny - Or The Black Fairy, as Lacy named her because of her goth attire. Penny is a very minor character in The Art of Love and Murder. Penny mans the front desk of the haunted hotel where Lacy stays in Flagstaff. We don't know a lot about Penny except she's likeable. She has told me about a man who comes to stay at the hotel who is down on his luck, a drifter. There's a mystery our little goth fairy gets deep into.

Dirk and Margie - I have to include both because I'm not sure who will take the lead. These are older characters, even for me to write about. I like older characters with all their history and experience. Dirk made a brief appearance in The Art of Love and Murder and has a bigger role in Southwest of Love and Murder. He's the father of Mason and Lacy's husband, Chance. He's a rough, tough ranch owner who has a sweet spot for Margie, who is a petite, spitfire of a rancher. They're in their early sixties, long time friends but ready for some romance - if they can avoid the dangers they face.

There are more but you get the picture. Lots of characters vying for attention in my head. I wonder who will yell the loudest once I have the two books I'm working on right now finished?

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No Dining at a Farmer's Table

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
To tell the truth it's not been a week since my last Tortuga Thursday update. I'm writing this one early since we're headed out of town tomorrow for the river and three free hotel nights in Laughlin, Nevada. I'll have limited Internet access. And I'll be oblivious to what's happening on the farm anyway so may as well log my update today.

The tiller broke. Not everything that's been happening is good. This refurbished tiller was a happily received wedding present for Lance and Christie. It's seen a few hours here but gave out on the last pass through the fourth quadrant. Hopefully, a friend Lance knows in Flagstaff can repair it. We have a great neighbor that will loan us his to finish up.

That same neighbor has the tractor attachment he borrowed to run over all the land again. Not only do we have some veggies sprouting inside in trays but the weeds are sprouting at a faster rate outside. Good neighbor.

Frank got the pump house built. Not really a house. More of a cover. But much needed.

The trays covering the dining table and the table behind the couch are showing signs of green. They are such tiny little things. No wonder last year we had trouble with some of them. Lance has rigged some lighting over the trays. No big dinner parties for us for awhile. This year, everything will start in trays in the house then get moved to the greenhouse next month.

The sweet potato slips will arrive late May and will go directly in the ground. Last year we had a late frost that really damaged our potato growth. Keeping fingers crossed that isn't the case this year.

Speaking of the greenhouse, the plastic that will be the cover is due to arrive on Thursday while we are gone. Frank will have a project to help with when we return. The watering system will arrive also while we are gone. Frank is going to have plenty to keep him busy when we return.

Sleeping with the Lights On

MUSE MONDAY Today, on Muse Monday, I want to do a little plug for my very first published book, Sleeping with the Lights On . The Wild Rose Press has reduced the eBook price to $2.99, and I'm excited that some readers might take advantage of a fun read. It's pure entertainment. 
When I wrote Sleeping, I did what the sages tell you to do - write what you know. So I looked to people I knew for inspiration, and I came up with my sister. She was single and at a turning point in her life. And she approached her situation with a good dose of humor, like Sandra. In Sleeping, Sandra is single, her career is stalled and she is still searching for her niche even after years of experience and two marriages. Women like Sandra are inspiring. We’ve all known people who have gotten to a certain point in their lives and realized they aren’t really where they want to be, whether in love or career or experience. This is my favorite kind of discovery story. Sandra figures it out.
Sandra isn’t the typical romance heroine. She’s fifty, twice divorced, but still looking for Mr. Right. And a career. She sees humor in most situations, even when being stalked by a tall, vamp-like redhead. Talk about an optimist!
 
People often say, if I only knew then what I know now. I say, if I’d known as much then, I would’ve avoided way too much and wouldn’t know now what I know. Nor would I have been where I found myself that morning—the object of affection by a man I’d yet to fully discover on a lazy spring morning. I had to believe my future held some good possibilities.
And then there's Carson, the hero of this romance. Who wouldn’t lust over a Las Vegas country crooner with swoon-inducing good looks? Add a Texas drawl and, well, let’s say he knows how to fill out his jeans!

His jeans, tight cowboy style, hugged nice thighs and hips I remembered all too well. I avoided looking at my favorite part. I hoped my face didn’t twitch like my insides. 
And he certainly knows how to sweet-talk a lady, even one like Sandra who was once married to him.
When he lowered his voice, I lost my peripheral vision to the point that we were the only two people in the restaurant. “Sandra, when a gal’s figure fills in the spaces to make it a woman’s body, a man can lose all common sense just lookin’.”
Buy Link for eBook 
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Year Two Begins

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Pounding rebarMonths pass with short daylight hours. Everything is dormant and the garden is nothing but dirt. I thought about when the farming would all begin again and the time seemed so far away. Then...bam! There's no easing into it. We're way ahead of last year, but we'd only moved in and hardly knew where to begin.

The greenhouse is nearly done. We're waiting for the plastic covering to arrive. I can't believe how fast Frank and Lance got the frame up - one day. It looked like the most difficult part was pounding the rebar into the ground to attach the PVC pipes.

Lance has trays and trays of seeds planted. They cover our dining room table and another table in front of the living room window. In a month, they go to the greenhouse. They'll spend time there until the danger of last frost has passed for most of them. Some vegetable seeds will be direct sowed into the ground but not for another month.

Garlic planted in the fall is up Cucumber trellisMeanwhile, the ground is getting tilled and compost added. We started a compost pile when we first moved in a year ago. Composting is not an entirely pleasant process but the garden is going to love it. The trellis system for the cucumbers is in the process also. We didn't do this last year so I'm excited to see how it will work.

I did manage to get all the blackberries trimmed and watered in between welcome spells of minding Sadi. Yes, twist my arm to hold my darling granddaughter!

I cleaned out the front flower garden and planted some flower seeds. Last years perennials are already peeking through. The early ones even have flowers. What we aren't happy to see are the peach and apricot trees already sending out buds. I haven't even gotten into the orchard to trim and clean out the tree wells. Frank put the tree food spikes in and noticed the buds. Bad news. We lost them last year with a late frost. A frost in May is not unusual. I suspect peaches and apricots are not a good choice for the orchard on this prairie. Not sure why the previous owner planted them. They're two of my favorites but wonder if we'll ever get any since they are so early to bloom.

Grandpa amuses SadiI have the trees to get in shape and the patio to clean up and then I'll get back to writing. Caring for Christie and Sadi comes first. Christie will be on her way to doing a lot more in another couple of weeks. I'll just keep the stories going in my head until I get it all down on paper.



We already have a rabbit problem this year. I'll leave that story for next time.

Insecure? Who Me?

MUSE MONDAY A JOURNEY FROM “THE END” TO THE BEGINNING
There’s a fine line between confidence and abject insecurity. For an author, the abject insecurity can sneak up at anytime and stall you, or at least convince you every word going from head to paper has bypassed the creative juice chamber coming out dry and tasteless. Such is the journey. And we all travel this road differently.
I love to write about characters on a journey, traveling both the physical and the mental roads. Along the fictional journey I create pitfalls and summits, conflicts and resolutions. The road to publication is no different, although as authors we’d like to skip the pitfalls and conflicts.
The abject insecurity I mentioned earlier usually hits me three times when I’m writing a book:  two chapters short of completion, while I’m writing the synopsis, and again right after I type “the end”.  I always manage to muddle through the last two chapters, a whip in one hand holding off my negative inner critic. I wring those chapters out, a word, no a syllable at a time. I won’t even go into the torture of writing a synopsis. But the final phase, the now-I’m-finished-and-who-will-publish-this-inadequate-book is the hardest to overcome.So far, I’ve been lucky. I’ve published most of what I’ve written. Now I’m writing a three book series. Not only do I have to sell a publisher on one story, but I have to convince them to take all three. I’d hate to break a set.
Rejection is hard to take regardless of how thick your hide. Rejection is no easier to take once you’re published. I haven’t received a no on my series yet. I’m still waiting to hear. Personally, I think it’s my best work ever – positive thinking helps. 
I haven’t found a cure for conquering the insecurities, but perseverance gets me over the crest. The journey has to have a happily ever after ending, and the trick is to not stop until you arrive.
No two people look at a book exactly the same. Is there a book you’ve read and raved about that a friend found dull or boring?

The Baby Arrives: A Story of Heaven and Hell

 2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

The last time I posted was March 4th. On March 5th all hell broke loose, with a big piece of heaven to balance it. According to the birthday book we have, March 5th is the day of heaven and hell. Our sweet Sadi Belle Whiteside, my first grandchild, entered our lives that day, and her birth date lived up to the hype.

All farm matters went on hold. All writing projects were suspended.

My daughter-in-law started labor at 6:00 am, March 4th. They admitted her into the birthing center that night about 10:30. We hung by the phone, but the night passed. On March 5th, we joined her parents in the waiting room vigil at the birthing center.

Proud Daddy wheels Sadi outA little background: this had been one of the easiest pregnancies I'd ever witnessed. But then Christie is in amazing shape. She is a yoga practitioner, walks every day and eats incredibly healthy. She was bound and determined to have a total, no drug, natural delivery. Every indication was that she would.



Lance got zzz's while Grandpa rocked First bottle during Mom's surgeryOkay - so - by the afternoon she was not progressing. Her back pain was so great she couldn't relax enough. She and my son finally agreed to an epidural. She quickly went from four to ten. Labor continued with my son coaching and Christie pushing. Then the contractions lessened, a side affect of the epidural. Unhappily, they consented to an inducing drug. But after over three hours of pushing, Sadi was stuck. The doctor rushed her in for an emergency C-section. At 5:24 pm, we had a beautiful granddaughter. The doctor said he'd never encountered this problem before. Christie has an odd shaped bone which turns in instead of out restricting the birth canal. Sadi's head stuck and she had the bump to prove it afterwards. Once they had her out, all seemed well. She immediately nursed, and Mom was beaming. An hour later, hell broke loose. By the time Christie made it back into surgery, she'd lost half her blood. It took eight units to get her through this. She'd pushed so hard she'd torn her cervix in two places. The surgeon did an amazing job of saving her and her chances for future children. We nearly lost her, and each day one off us tears up with the memory.

After several days in the hospital, Mom and daughter are home and doing fine. Christie has many weeks of recuperating to get through, but she's looking stronger each day. Sadi is a happy baby who is gaining weight and already has grandma and grandpa wrapped around her finger.

Yesterday was the first day we'd been able to turn some attention to the farm and me to my writing. I've just about finished trimming the blackberry rows. Frank and Lance got the supplies to build the green house. The watering system is on order. We couldn't wait any longer so we're funding it with credit. We hope to have two commercial crops, and I'll elaborate on that in future blogs.

For sure, life on Tortuga Flats Farm will never be the same!

Hook Me, Excite Me

Muse Monday
The first few lines of a novel are the most important in the book. For a reader that isn't necessarily the case. It's highly unlikely you would throw away a book you'd paid for or delete it from your eReader if the first paragraph doesn't totally knock your socks off.

But for an author, the first sentence or two can make or break your book. I might be overstating this slightly, but if an author can't rope in an editor that quickly, her book may never make it to print. Editors are very busy people with hundreds of manuscripts to read. They need to be convinced quickly that their time will not be wasted by investing an hour in reading further.

As an experiment, I pulled some of my favorite books. I tested the rule to see how impressive these published, successful authors did with their first couple of lines.

Diana Gabaldon, Outlander
"It wasn't a very likely place for disappearances, at least at first glance."

Maeve Binchy, Circle of Friends
"The kitchen was full of the smells of baking. Benny put down her school bag and went on a tour of inspection."

Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
"On the morning of August 8, 1965, Robert Kincaid locked the door to his small two-room apartment on the third floor of a rambling house in Bellingham, Washington."

Nora Roberts, Angels Fall
"Reece Gilmore smoked through the tough knuckles of Angel's Fist in an overheating Chevy Cavalier."

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury."

Hmmm...A couple might pass the test, but all in all, I should've given them the first page to hook me. More than likely an editor will at least give you that much - that is if the synopsis doesn't kill your chances. A couple of these do rope me in after the first page, but a couple of others took even more reading to make me want to turn the next page.

In the end, I'll keep doing as they say and not as they do. Trying to hook a reader on the first page is a good model to follow.

I'll end with the first lines of a few of my stories. When I separate them away from the rest of the text, it's easy to see which have "oomph" and which do not.


"I woke before Wesley that morning, the first morning waking up next to him. I silently yawned, stretching my feet against the cowboy sheets tucked tight at the foot of his bed."
"The throb behind Abigail’s eyes scraped at her temples like chiseled fingernails. She squeezed her lids tight. Was the sheet twisted around her?"
"The cheap chenille could have been angel hair as I smoothed the spread over the bed, my mood sunnier than the faded yellow walls of the room. For most of my life, I'd never had my own room."
"Phoebe awakened sudden and breathless. Not slow like when the sheet tangled around her legs or when she needed a trip to the toilet in the gray fog of near-sleep. What noise had she heard that now wasn’t there?"  "Lacy quickened her pace. The footsteps behind her did the same. As fast as her feet touched the bricks, her heart beat twice that speed. If only she could clear the narrow alley, step onto the lit sidewalk…" 

Some Veggies Might Taste Austrian?

2012 On the plains in Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.
Last of the butternutButternut squash is an amazing vegetable. Our garden put out enough to last us most of the winter. Until a couple of days ago, we were still eating fresh butternut. They last for ages. The last five in the pantry were beginning to get brown spots so I peeled and canned them. We'll either make soup, Christie makes fabulous butternut squash soup, or we can steam and mash with butter.

Butternut cannedSpaghetti squash has the same lasting power as butternut, but we don't seem to be quite as enamored by it. I find it kind of tasteless. This variety depends more on sauces where butternut is tasty without anything on it.

Garlic shootsThe garlic has punched through the cold earth. We didn't have garlic last year because we didn't move in until after Christmas. This last October, no one else seemed to be thinking about planting. But we use a lot of garlic, I love garlic and so I took the lead on this crop. I used gloves of garlic - yep, regular old garlic from the store. I did a minimal amount of research - not exactly the farmer lady - and this was the easiest route to go. They've popped up. I put mulch around them. A hard freeze will probably kill them back and in the spring they are supposed to send up more shoots. Keep your fingers crossed.

Flower garden surpriseIn the front flower garden there are green shoots. Most of what is out there came with the house. I did plant some seeds of various flowers but without success last summer. I'm not sure if what is coming up is from before or what I planted. There's no way for me to tell at this point as they're not recognizable, to me anyway. I love surprises!

StrawberryThe other early green is on the strawberry plants. I haven't taken the time yet to read up on them. We planted a few late in the year and only got a handful of fruit. I planted two out front in my flower garden that would produce one or two berries at a time. It was a game to see if I could get to them before Xena when they came ripe. I didn't know dogs liked strawberries.

Some of the work is starting soon. The blackberry bushes need cutting back in the next couple of weeks. Truthfully, not looking forward to it. They are tangled and stickery (no such word but really says it). I sort of took the lead on them last year so I'm afraid I set a precedent. I'm working on some sort of blackmail to get a few more hands tackling the thorny bushes.

I've mentioned the seeds we've purchased, but forgot to mention we have seeds from Austria. Our friends in Austria, Harte and Uli, sent Lance and Christie a box of seed packets for a wedding gift. What a fun gift. Maybe seeds are seeds, but I find this a fascinating concept.  How cool to think about something growing in Paulden, Arizona that came from another continent.