Laina Turner's Blog, page 17

How I Get My Writing Done

It’s summer! Yay! My favorite time of year. Then fall and spring. Winter is my least favorite because I hate the cold.

I know you don’t care about my seasonal preference so on to more important topics.

I get asked a lot about what my typical writing day looks like. I wish it were more glamorous, but it’s not. It’s also hard to define because there isn’t a typical day. I wish my days had more of a routine to them, but they don’t. Especially when the kids are out of school.

I don’t have a consistent routine, but one thing I do feel is important for any writers career is writing every day. Writing every day is my goal but life happens, and there are some days when I don’t write. However, I can’t skip more than one, or it throws me off. I get out of the creative groove, and it takes me an entire day to get back on track.

I’m most creative in the morning before the craziness of the day starts my mind going in fifty million directions. I love nothing more than sitting on my deck (or couch in the winter) with my coffee enjoying distraction-free writing time.

That time does, however, compete with my workout time. I’ve learned if I don’t work out in the morning I won’t do it. I’ve had a hard time these last few years finding a way to juggle both. I’m sure you can guess which I give up – haha.

At a minimum, I try and get in 2 hours of writing done on whatever book I’m working on each day. Ideally, I’d like 4 hours, but marketing takes up a lot of time, and so do these darn kids. Plus I have other things I do to earn income that need my time and attention.

When scheduling my day, I plug in my writing time first. This is work I need to do in longer stretches without a ton of interruptions for me to be productive. I can work on marketing in 20-30 minutes stretches sitting in my car if need be. I try and fit most of my marketing activities in those shorter time spans while waiting at cheer practice or in between the uber shifts for my kids.

There are times where I don’t want to write, and that’s not unusual for any writer. People often think that because I love writing I’m motivated to do it every day.

Well, I’m not.

There are days where I’d rather do anything else because I’m not “feeling it.” But you can’t make a living, or progress at anything you’re attempting if you only do it when you feel it. I’ve found that on those days when I’m not in the mood to right after I force myself and get going I get in the groove and it’s fine.

If only I could force myself to exercise the same way.

When I’m in the home stretch of a book, like I am now with Diamonds & Disguises, I find myself pushing everything else to the side to focus on making sure the book is perfect before releasing it. Plus, my mind is so consumed with the upcoming release I can’t concentrate on anything else.

The life of an author is a constant cycle or write, publish, repeat. It can sometimes be tiring, but the rewards are worth it.

I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Happy reading!

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Why I Updated My Book Covers (for the millionth time)

You may, or may not, be familiar with my Presley Thurman cozy mystery series. If not, please check them out here. I currently have 12 in the series with a #13 planned for release in July. I started this series back in 2009. I released the 12th book January of 2017 before taking a short break from fiction to focus on building my Writing Warriors Collective membership site.

This site is designed to help other authors. I’m passionate about helping others, and while I love writing fiction, I needed to focus on one thing at a time.

When I made my business plan for 2018 one of the many things I realized I needed to do to hit my goals for the year was to update the covers in my Presley Thurman series. I felt they needed to reflect a more current cozy mystery look.

Best decision ever! My cover designer, Molly with Breezy Reads, and I have been working on them since the beginning the year. She just delivered the final ones, and I couldn’t be happier. You can see them all here.

Now I’ll admit this is the 4th time the cover of my 1st book has been redone, the 3rd for several, and the 2nd for the rest. Obviously, the older ones have had more cover changes because they’ve been around longer.

You might be thinking this is a little excessive. Trust me it’s not. Don’t get me wrong. I liked all my book covers when they were made. But I know so much more about book marketing now than I did then that it’s made sense to evolve my covers as my brand has evolved.

When I started, my series didn’t have a continuity to the covers which is really important to catch the readers eye. The first time I had them redone, it was to achieve that continuity. After that, it was about the appeal to the reader. I don’t think my first few cover iterations were genre specific. They didn’t scream fun, flirty cozy mystery. This most recent cover update has already spiked my sales even without much advertising. Because they do a great job at positioning my books in the right market.

And that’s key. A book cover is your calling card. Your first impression. It’s important to connect with your readers at first glance.

I also plan on updating the Trixie Pristine series covers this year as well. But first I need to finish writing Diamonds & Disguises!

Until next time.

Happy Reading!

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Help Me Pick a Title

Hi Friends!

In the re-write of the Athena series, I’ve changed so much they are essentially new books. New plot ideas, new storylines, new character names so now I need new titles and a series name to go along with them.

This series is not a cozy. I would classify this more romantic suspense. But it’s not steamy hot romance or graphic suspense.

I’ve always struggled with where my books fit within genre because my cozies don’t strictly follow cozy guidelines either.

In searching for a definition of a genre for these books to fall into I found this.

Lisa Gardner writes, “Personally, I consider a romantic suspense novel to be a book that focuses on developing key relationships as well as advancing some kind of intrigue.”

This new series falls into THAT. For whatever it’s worth.

Here are the blurbs for book 1 and 2. Book 2 is vague as it’s not finished yet and things can also change.

SOME GENERAL POINTS

Addison Parks is the main character.

She’s an attorney.

Mid-thirties, never married.

In book 2 she dabbles in teaching law and book 3 I think she’s going to come back to Chicago to practice law.

Chicago is the main setting for book 1. She heads to Ohio for book 2 but will be back to Chicago after that.

If you have any ideas for a series name and/or book names for book 1 & 2, please fill out this form. On April 3rd I will compile my favorite ideas into a voting format and then give it back to you all for voting.

The winning vote will get a mention in the acknowledgments, can pick the name for Addisons best friend, and a $20 Amazon gift card!

BOOK 1 BLURB

Addison Parks thinks she’s found THE ONE. The guy she can take home to mom and have her happily ever after. Until she sees him marched out of the airport by the FBI and thrown in jail.

Can you say a change of plans?

Can Addison face her fears and come out of self-imposed retirement to defend her boyfriend Ethan who’s accused of embezzling? And what will she do when she realizes he’s not what he seems to be.

She seeks help from Alex, who has legal issues of his own but can also get the information she needs to help Ethan. Unfortunately, he also has the ability to make her forget she has a boyfriend.

Addison is torn professionally and personally. Should she listen to her gut or will it lead her down the wrong path?

BOOK 2 BLURB

To escape the drama of what happened in Chicago Addison takes a temporary teaching position at a law school in Ohio. When her predecessor turns up dead before she even starts, she is drawn into finding out what happened.

Against the wishes of handsome detective Rodriguez.

It’s a good distraction, but at some point, she will have to go back and face what she left behind.

Share your ideas here!

 

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How to Develop Your Blogging Voice

One of the things that kids have over adults is a genuine voice. They are true to their passions and desires, and they are confident enough to tell you exactly what they love, what they want, and who they are.

We tend to lose that as adults and become more tentative in being our true self. Exposing all our hopes and dreams to the world is scary. As a blogger, you have to do that to some extent.

People often ask me why I read certain blogs or what it is I write about that is so fascinating that makes people want to read mine (I have such blunt friends), and I say because we all find other peoples live interesting.

It’s why reality TV has become so popular. We like to see how the other half lives.

However, if you’re like me and like a lot of different things, it can sometimes be hard to know what to write about. As I mentioned in a previous post, it is very important to have yourself an Editorial Calendar. Even if you can’t put exact post topics in there it allows you to brainstorm and have a place to organize your ideas.

Even if you can’t put exact post topics in there it allows you to brainstorm and have a place to organize your ideas.

Which brings us to your blogging voice. How you convey your ideas to your audience is your voice.

For example, you might want to post a recipe about oatmeal because you love it, and your kids love it. You think oatmeal that’s not a super cool thing to write about. All sorts of people have already written about oatmeal recipes much fancier than mine. Who cares? Think about why YOU and YOUR kids like it. Is it a family tradition to have on Sundays or is it what you serve your children when they don’t feel well? THAT is your voice. People will be drawn to your oatmeal because of the story behind it. They will want to create their story with their oatmeal and now they can because you’ve given them the inspiration.

Someone might share my passion for purple unicorns, but our thoughts and feelings, and the story behind why I came to love purple unicorns is never going to be the same as anyone else’s.

Be YOU…because YOU’RE unique and people want to read that!

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5 Tips to Beat Blog Burnout

I’ve been blogging since 2008, which honestly is hard to believe. It doesn’t seem like 8 years has passed since I started this journey. Though by the number of old websites Matt (my soon to be husband and web developer) has in his “way back” machine it would look more like 16 years have gone by.

Now, of course, it’s not liked I’ve blogged every day for the last 8 years, and when I first started I was a small business consultant, and I only blogged every once in a while about business stuff. I look back at some of those posts (yea they are still archived), and I just have to laugh. Pinterest didn’t exist then so there were no cute images, I hadn’t heard of SEO, my posts were so BORING. And to be honest, I remember when I first started blogging, I looked at it as a chore rather than a fun, creative outlet as I do now.

In the last 8 years, there have been so many times I’ve thought about quitting. I started this for fun and then because I was spending so much time doing it wanted also to make some money at it. And as you fellow bloggers out there know monetization is freakin hard.

There have been days where I wondered why I was spending hours on writing the perfect post, or $600 on a “real” camera (not my iPhone) to try and get just the right image when I might make $2 this month. Or I’m just exhausted and want to want Netflix on the couch instead of commenting on other blogs trying to build a community (though truthfully those 2 things can be multi-tasked).

But at the end of the day, I know what I want from my life, and it’s to do this hard, crazy blogging/writing thing as a J.O.B. So to keep me motivated to push through those tough times here are 5 ways to beat blog burnout.

1. Realize how far you’ve come on your journey. Whether you’re like me and have been blogging for years, or you’ve just started you should be proud of where you’re at. Too many times we are more worried about what we haven’t accomplished and don’t focus on where we are at. As long as you’re one step closer to where you want to be, then celebrate. You’re much farther ahead than those who still are in the thinking about it stage.

2. Look back at some of your first posts or photography and then look at today. Enjoy even the smallest improvements. You’re moving in the right direction.

3. List all the things you love about blogging or what you get from it. Sometimes we need to be reminded of why we started in the first place.

4. Make sure you’re writing about what moves you. If you’re posting about recipes and you hate cooking you need to make a move. I know a lot of people, myself included, who have blogged what they should be blogging about not what they wanted to be blogging about. Follow your heart.

5. Take a break. Sometimes we just need to walk away and recharge. I don’t me give up and quit but take a vacation. Let your mind rest and rejuvenate so you can be at your best creative self. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all need a break at times.

Being an entrepreneur is hard and often thankless. We work tons of hours for little pay. Taking care of our inner selves is important to our overall happiness and sanity.

What do you do to avoid burnout?

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3 Tips To Make Your Blog Posts Sizzle

I recently read somewhere that people only read about 20% of your blog post. That was no big surprise to me because we all know people surf and skim. I sure do. There is so much information coming at me day and night that it would be impossible to read every word of everything I come across.

Even though I’d like too.

As bloggers (writers in general), the goal is to get people to read what we write, and there’s a lot of competition out there.

To set your blog post apart it needs to sizzle and catch the eyes of the reader and compel them to keep reading.

How can you do that?

 

1. Headlines 

The title of your post needs to grab the reader. One of my best posts in terms of traffic was titled Green Bean Delivery has Sexy Rutabega (it’s no longer up for sponsor reasons). Now a vegetable isn’t sexy but it was intriguing enough to enough readers that they had to find out why I thought rutabaga was sexy.

I know that “sex sells” and thought it would be funny to use it with vegetables. Think about news headlines and movie trailers. The little snippets they let us read, hear, or see are all designed to get us to want the full story, not just a piece.

Look at the magazines next time you’re waiting to check out of the grocery store. Why do you think the Enquirer still sells after all these years? Because we want to see where Elvis has been spotted of course.

 

2. Pique the reader’s interest

Use an interesting fact or anecdote to interest the reader. One that’s related to your post in some way of course, but there are a lot of ways to relate a funny or interesting fact back to your post. Something memorable.

Most of us mom’s probably have an oatmeal recipe. Even if it’s the open packet of Quaker instant oatmeal and mix in boiling water variety.

But we don’t have the same story around our oatmeal. Is it a warm breakfast that reminds us of childhood?

Is it a warm breakfast that reminds us of childhood?

Is it something we make when we’re feeling sad?

Does it remind us of great grandma Sally?

People read blog posts to learn something AND to find out about YOU. The person behind the tip you’re giving. You want to connect with your reader.

And last but not least….

 

3. Be REAL

Let your personality shine through. I’m not a very funny person, but I do have my moments and I try to capture those in my writing. I also capture the not so funny life moments. Life isn’t all a bowl of cherries no matter what Erma Bombeck said about being in the pits (I loved her wit).

I want people to know me. To think of me as a friend. Don’t I look friendly?

 

I’ve been looking at some of my old blog posts to see if they have enough sizzle to make someone read more than 20%, and I must admit while some do there are more that don’t. I need to take some of my own advice and go back through them.

What about you?

 

 

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What it takes to be a lifestyle blogger.

I blogged off and on for a long time before I really decided it was a passion and not just a fun hobby, and I wanted to build a sustainable business from my fiction writing and blogging that would support my family.

To build a sustainable business you need to create a brand.

A trusted source people looked up too.

I’ve spent years in the business world {I have a Ph.D. in business and also try to inspire minds at the college level}, and I realized I wasn’t using that business mind of mine toward this business venture. I’ve approached things willy-nilly over the years {very technical wording here} and without a business plan. I‘ve told business owners I’ve worked with who didn’t have a solid business plan that they consistently reviewed, revised and updated that they were cra-cra. So why didn’t I have one? I thought of my blog {and fiction writing} as the creative me and separate from the business me.

Silly, silly me right? Well, I may be slow, but I learn from my mistakes.

In a previous blog post, I talked about focus and how hard it can be to really define the niche we see ourselves in as bloggers. At least it has been for me. This week I thought I would talk about how I see myself as a lifestyle blogger.

Lifestyle blogger, what the heck does that mean anyway? Isn’t it kind of a catch-all for those who aren’t 100% food bloggers, or fashion bloggers, or tech bloggers? For a while, I almost felt guilty saying I was a lifestyle blogger because it felt so vague to me. Like I was trying to keep from taking a stand about who I was and what I stood for.

In my research, I found that many people defined a lifestyle blog as one that blogged more about life than products. And that’s how I feel I am. Of course, I sell things, it is a business, but that’s secondary.

I write about my life because I enjoy it. I don’t want JUST to write about food, or fashion, or DIY (ok, I never write about that because that skill NOT in my wheelhouse). I have fun sharing with others what I’m doing, and I’m just lucky people like to read what I write. There are several lifestyle blogs I read daily for the same reason. I enjoy getting a small glimpse into their life and how they do things. I am a big believer that we can all learn from one another.

I want to write about what inspires me on that day.

But then I ran across this article that talked about how blogs were bad for women. Setting unrealistic expectations women tried to emulate. And that I don’t agree with. I’m a lifestyle blogger because I want to share. Not because I’m trying to create some crazy cult of women who want to be like me. I realize as a society we tend to want what others have or think someone else’s life is better but it’s not. We ALL have issues and problems. Trust me, you don’t want to trade yours for mine because no matter how good the icing on the cake looks. It’s all plain vanilla cake underneath.

The beauty of being human is that we’re all different. Do we all sometimes think the grass is greener and want to have someone else’s life…well, yeah. Of course, we have those moments. Do I think that women who read blogs are immediately drawn to try and be just like the person in the blog they are reading like a bunch of Stepford Wives?

No. They just want to be entertained or to maybe learn something new.

What do you think? Do we set up expectations that are unattainable with our blogs about how women should be?

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My Glamorous Life as an Author

Being an author is the best job in the world. Private jets and chauffeured limos. People waiting on my every whim. Everywhere you go fans want your autograph. They are lining up in droves to wait for your next release. You can’t even go out for Starbucks without people mobbing you.

Hence the sunglasses and hat.

BEST. JOB. EVER.

There are so many perks to being an author that it was hard to narrow them down for this little blog post. Luckily, I could in-between spa treatments and champagne tasting.

In all seriousness, though being an indie author isn’t all that glamorous.

Unless you’re Stephen King.

If you’re Laina Turner. Not so much.

But being an author is still the BEST. JOB. EVER. And totally glamorous in my eyes.

Why?

Here are the top 6 reasons why I have a glamorous life as an author and blogger.

1. Yoga pants are my dress code. I have at least 20 pairs of black yoga pants. And no two are alike. Ok, maybe I do have 3 pairs of the exact same pants but the other 17 are different. I swear.

2. I can consider playing on social media “working.” My kids don’t think I have a “real” job. It supports the myth that money grows on trees in their eyes. I’m sure they also still believe in unicorns. But then again who doesn’t.

3. I can be completely narcissistic under the guise of “I must take a selfie to promote myself.” Which is awesome when I’m with my kids since they’re completely embarrassed yelling “mom, not mother selfie” which is much more embarrassing (for them) then the actual selfie taking.

4. I can take naps. I’ve always said naps got wasted on kids. They don’t appreciate them and don’t realize how wonderful it is to be able to take one. In fact, I prefer a nap over sleeping at night. Which can be a problem.

5. I get to make shit up all day. I live my life in my own fantasy land. It’s awesome. If I don’t like something I can hit delete and make it different. POWER!

And finally…

6. My daughter thinks I’m famous (she’s 11 so it won’t last forever). Do I perpetuate this myth? Sure as hell I do. Listen, if even if you don’t have kids, you were one at one time and there comes a point where most kids hate their parents. She might as well thank I’m famous and awesome for a few years before she turns into a teen and hates my guts. It’s only fair.

When you get to do what you love every day, like I do, it’s glamorous. Hard work without all the fan perks but glamorous the same.

You know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. It’s all about perspective.

I am a big believer in the power of positive thinking, mind over matter, putting good out in the universe and getting back. Which is why I do think of my writing career as glamorous because if I think it, it will be.

Right?

What is glamorous is I get to meet people from all over who read my books, and like them. I’ve met many amazing authors, I get to go to conferences where I meet new people and see new places.

I get to do what I love. That makes anything I must do that I don’t like (and there is plenty) worth it.

That’s all for now. My private plane is idling by to take me to Belize!

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Making a Marriage Work in 5 Minutes a Day

I recently had my 1st wedding anniversary (2nd marriage). While I am older and wiser this time around marriage still isn’t easy by any means.

I think it’s actually harder because I am older and wiser.

Ignorance is sometimes bliss.

There’s no big secret to a successful marriage. Since so many end in divorce, you’d think there would be.

Successful marriages are built on strong communication, trust, and respect. All those things we already know. But for me, I feel the biggest key are those things AND quality time. Note I didn’t say quantity time but quality time.

That’s why Matt (my husband) and I have instituted the 5-minute rule. We spend at least 5 minutes a day talking either in person or on text/phone if I’m traveling for work and not home.

I know you’re probably thinking WHAT? 5 minutes?

You can’t possibly be serious.

A strong marriage needs more than 5 minutes a day to be, well, strong.

How can you build a strong marriage in 5 minutes?

How can you only have 5 minutes to spend with each other?

Though if you have kids you probably aren’t asking me that last question. Between work, the kids, traveling for work and pleasure, I kid you not we don’t have much more than 5 minutes a night to spend together. And sometimes its hard to find that amount of time.

It actually started as a joke. Because we had an increasingly difficult time finding a chance to talk about logistics of the day, much less have couples time. We started putting 5 minutes blocks on our calendars, stretching it to 7 if there was something really important to talk about. But then we realized all joking aside, we looked forward to getting at that 5 minutes together.

It became exciting to know we would have 5 uninterrupted minutes to chat (and again if you have kids you know that’s a huge accomplishment). Neither of us felt guilty telling the kids it was our 5-minute time slot and not to bother us.

What the time constraints have done for us as a couple is force us to be more purposeful with our time. Not that we don’t love to sit on the couch, hang out, and enjoy each others company but when our days are crazy we work as a team and communicate in that time frame. Figure out who has to do what. That means when we do have the chance to spend more time together we don’t have to spend it talking about boring stuff. We can use it for fun.

My point is you may not have hours on end to spend with your significant other. But you can have a strong relationship if you are purposeful with your time.

I hear a lot of my friends (and I’m guilty of this too) complain about relationships (and not just married ones) blaming lack of time on this issue or that issue. I say that’s a cop-out.

We only have a certain amount of time each day. It is OUR choice how we spend it. We can spend it complaining about how we don’t have enough time or we can make the best use out of the time we have.

What’s your choice?

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Why You Must Believe in Yourself

Negative self-talk creeps into everyone’s head at some point. No matter how positive we are on a day to day basis. It takes effort to believe in yourself all the time.

I attended a yoga workshop this past weekend, and the focus was on self-love. One of the things the yoga instructor said was no one can be 100% in all areas all the time.

The people who we look at and think have it all.

They don’t.

They are struggling like everyone else but what they do is love themselves anyways. They don’t berate themselves for not being perfect.

What she said really stuck with me. I am mostly a positive person, but I have days where doubts creep in, and I find myself feeling like a total screw up.

Does this ever happen to you?

For example…

You know you need to get up early, and workout before the rest of the world is up because that’s your only time. But how often does your alarm go off at 5 am, and you immediately think of all the reasons why it’s a bad idea to get up.

You do well eating healthy for a week. Then one day you have a mini Kit Kat your daughter gives you from her Halloween candy, and you figure you just ruined all your progress and might as well eat all her candy.

You didn’t have time to interact on social media the way you wanted today, and your page views tanked. You may never get them back up ever, ever again. You’re finished.

You had a bad sales day, and you know this is it. The death spiral. Life as you know it. Over!

This is just a sample of the things I know my friends, and I struggle with on a daily basis. It’s so easy to let this head trash occupy your thoughts and make you feel defeated.

You can’t let your mind get the best of you by thinking that one small lack of action on your part has thrown your entire life off track.

Because it hasn’t.

It’s the continued spiral out of control that comes with the little slip-up. It’s when you no longer believe in yourself at that moment that hurts your progress.

If instead of focusing on how you screwed up you need to focus instead on how much success you’ve had. Remind yourself that one tiny bump in the road isn’t going to undo all your hard work.

Forgive yourself when you slip up. Love yourself no matter what happens. You’re only human.

Believe in yourself ALL THE TIME. Not just when you do well.

Celebrate little successes that will snowball into big ones. Have faith in yourself and your ability.

Believe in YOU!

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