Kelly Hashway's Blog, page 47

Writer Wednesday: Setbacks

I feel like this industry has been quite grim lately. Writers are experiencing setbacks all over the place. I'm sure this has always been the case, but it's being publicized more now than ever, and maybe that's a good thing because it shows others that a writer's life isn't all fun and games. It's tough!
But here's the thing. Setbacks are just that. They set you back a bit, but they aren't the end. I firmly believe that when things come too easily, we take them for granted. But when we have to work hard, we are more likely to appreciate the success we find. 
So to you writers out there who are feeling down because of setbacks, I challenge you to do this. Push forward and show the industry and the world that you're meant to do this. You are a writer and you WILL write. And remember that you have others like you to lean on. Let's all lift each other up and do what we're meant to do: write books!
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 8/15/16

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:After Loving You Cover Reveal Sign-up  In case you missed it last week and would like to participate, sign-ups are still open for the cover reveal of After Loving You, my Ashelyn Drake NA romance. This is a social media cover reveal, so you don't need a blog to participate. Just post to any social media outlet between August 26-28. It's that easy! Sign up here.Revising  I'm revising a book I haven't looked at in well over a year. Now that's what I call fresh eyes after time away! I love having multiple drafts on my flash drive that I can return to much later like this.Getting Organized  I'm trying to get organized for my upcoming releases, which means I'm breaking out the cork board and Post-it notes. :) Yes, this makes me happy.Humidity  The humidity where I live has been well over 90%, so you can imagine how awful and unproductive it's made me feel. I can't wait for the weather to break. I'm a fall/spring girl at heart. Back-to-School Countdown  I'm one of those parents who dreads the first day of school. My daughter has two weeks of summer break left, and I miss her already. :(That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: Flashpoint by Adam Quinn

Today I'm happy to share Adam Quinn's new release Flashpoint!

What is the cost of peace?

Guilt-ridden over her role in the cataclysmic Order War, Taylor Ghatzi

decided to retire from galactic politics and dedicate her life to the

Emergency Service---until a deadly terror attack strikes her home world,
and she may be the only one able to unravel the mystery behind it. Meanwhile, Cherran DeGuavra, the son of the most important statesman in the past century, gave up on trying to reunite the galaxy frayed by his late father's greatest mistake, but now must call upon all of his diplomatic powers to prevent it from tearing itself even further apart. With the galaxy's powers on a war footing and their own governmentobstructing them, Taylor and Cherran may need to start a fight to prevent one.
Grab it on Amazon.
Sign up for Adam's newsletter here and win a free story in the Drive Maker universe. Adam Quinn is a Chicago-based author of science fiction and space opera. When he’s not writing about the technology of the future, he’s studying engineering so that one day he can help create it.


*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Writer Wednesday: Self-doubt

Right now I'm revising a book that might be my favorite book I've written to date. I haven't revised it in a while, and that distance made me fall in love with the story and characters all over again. Great, right?
Yes and no. If you're like me, when you read a manuscript you truly love, you get that "Oh no! What if I never write another book as good as this one?" feeling. Self-doubt is awful, but we all experience it. After I got my first book deal, I felt unable to write another book. I thought that was it. One book and my career is finished. Of course it wasn't, but that fear can be crippling.
As I revise, I keep trying to tell myself that it's a good thing that I love this book so much and that I should ride this writer's high and work on the next one immediately. Still, doubt keeps creeping in. It's sort of like being on a roller coaster—feeling great one minute and like a failure the next.
How do you deal with self-doubt? Do you push through and hope the next manuscript surprises you?
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 8/8/16

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:After Loving You Cover Reveal Sign-Ups  Inkslinger PR is hosting a Social Media Cover Reveal for my upcoming Ashelyn Drake NA romance, After Loving You. The cover reveal will take place on any social media site (August 26-28), so you don't need a blog to sign up. If you're interested, sign up here.Touch of Death Series FREE Novella and Short Story  Some of you may know that Spencer Hill Press was bought out. As a result, they've updated the website and are no longer hosting our free novellas and short stories. But don't worry! Kiss of Death (a prequel novella from Alex's POV) and Curse of Death (the myth behind the Medusa legend) are now available as free downloads on my website here, along with my other free titles.  Kelly's Coven Perks  I have a giveaway going on right now in my street team and another coming up very soon. I do a lot of giveaways exclusive to my street team because I believe in rewarding those who support me. If you're interested in joining and getting in on these perks, click here.  Editing  No surprise I'm editing this week. :)Revising  Now that After Loving You is off to be formatted for e-ARCs, I'm revising another book and it might be my all-time favorite. Stay tuned for more info on this book.That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: Her Black Heart Cover Reveal

HER BLACK HEART by A.J. Norris
The Dark Amulet Series, Book #2
Genre: Paranormal
Tagline: “Redemption is worth the fight. Even if it means risking her heart.”
Cover Designer: DERANGED DOCTOR DESIGNS
—— SYNOPSIS ——
Julia Dunham is a monster. Her heart has been consumed by an amulet meant to create terror…

As a young girl, Julia received an amulet tainted by Abaddon, the Supreme Demon of the Netherworld, and the sigil slowly corrupts her heart. The power of the deceptive pendant gains the attention of her former employer, Maurice. He sends thugs to murder Julia and steal the amulet.

Immediately upon her death, Abaddon traps her on Earth, leaving her obsessed with retrieving the amulet. Julia must find a way to overcome her deadly obsession or be responsible for unleashing thousands of demons on humanity.

Ra’zael the Guardian fell for the wrong girl and lost his wings. He isn’t about to let it happen again…

Ra’zael is tasked with the mission of helping Julia overcome her compulsion to locate the amulet, though he’s reluctant to get involved. But as a fallen angel, he doesn’t have much choice—it’s the only way to earn back his wings. His fall from grace is still fresh in his mind, but despite his best effort, his passion for Julia can’t be ignored. He has to save her from herself.

Julia must make her own choices. Redeem herself or condemn Earth and her soul forever…

Despite Ra’zael’s warnings, Julia tracks Maurice and the amulet to Chicago. She has every reason to kill Maurice. He murdered her. He stole from her. Spending eternity in the Netherworld might be worth watching him die.

Ra’zael knows she still has goodness left inside her…he’s seen it. Julia just has to find it and fight the evil of…
Her Black Heart.

—— MEET THE AUTHOR ——A.J. Norris is a lover of all books but her loyalty remains with her first crush; romance. She graduated from a mid-western college with a degree in absolutely nothing to do with writing whatsoever. It wasn’t until well after college when the build-up of voices inside her head became too overwhelming and needed to be let out, that she began to write. She isn’t following a family legacy of writers, only a need to put words on a piece of paper.
A.J. is a movie buff, especially book adaptations, loves watching her son play baseball and communing with other writers. She lives with her family who are extremely tolerant (at least most of the time) of all her late nights behind the computer, clack clacking away.
Limitless Publishing: http://www.limitlesspublishing.net/authors/a-j-norris/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisajnorrisTwitter: https://twitter.com/AJNorris_AuthorWebsite: https://ajnorris.com/

Writer Wednesday: Cover Clones

Today's topic comes from Sheena-Kay, who posed the question:
How do you avoid ending up with duplicate covers to other authors? Especially with use of stock photo images? Is digital manipulation enough and is going custom always viable with meager pockets?
Duplicate or similar covers happen more than we'd like. There's even a list on Goodreads called cover clones. And I have books on that list. It happens because of stock images. Those images are bought countless times. In fact, my cover for Touch of Death even appears on a slot machine! So how do you avoid this?
The only way to be absolutely sure your cover image won't appear anywhere else is to have it custom made, either by means of a photo shoot or illustrator (who promises not to sell that image to anyone else). That can be costly though. So if you have to use stock images, you want to make sure that the image is manipulated enough to make it unique. 
Filters, layers, zoom, and rotation can all be used to help. Filters will create a different effect on the photo, playing with lighting and contrast. Layers are wonderful because it means you are using other images and layering them together to create a new image. Zooming in on a photo will remove background and can sometimes make the original image hard to recognize if it's an extreme close-up. Rotation is good, but it doesn't change the image much. Using a combination of all of these would yield the most results.
So if you want a unique cover, you can accomplish that with stock photos as long as you do enough manipulation. But keep in mind that your cover model WILL appear on other covers. It's going to happen if you use stock photos. But you can change that model's hair color, eye color, clothing color, etc to make her slightly different.
Do any of you have books with cover clones?
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.

Monday Mishmash 8/1/16

Happy Monday! Monday Mishmash is a weekly meme dedicated to sharing what's on your mind. Feel free to grab the button and post your own Mishmash.
Here's what's on my mind today:It's August Already?  Where does the time go? My daughter got out of school at the end of May and she's going back at the end of August. I can't believe it's August already. The summer flew by!After Loving You  My social media manager and I have a lot of awesome things in the works for my upcoming Ashelyn Drake NA romance. I have two really cool giveaways planned. The bigger one will be exclusive to my street team Kelly's Coven, but the good news is you can still join here.Back-To-School Sales!  Is it just me or does every writer get giddy browsing the back-to-school bins? I bought flash drives in every color available and was practically squealing in Walmart over the price.Editing  I'm editing for a client this week, so that will keep me busy.Reading  I've been struggling to find reading time lately. I did just finish one mystery, but I still am working through a thriller and a suspense. I need a day to just read.That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

Friday Feature: If It Walks Like a Killer

A perfect family living a perfect lie...

IF IT WALKS LIKE A KILLER by Kiersten ModglinSeries: The Caroline Killer Files #1Genres: Thriller | Crime | Suspense Release Date: August 16, 2016Publisher: Limitless PublishingCover Designer: Deranged Doctor Designs
SYNOPSIS :
What Caide and Rachael Abbott want you to believe…

They are happily married college sweethearts, parents to two beautiful children, and they lead a perfect, quiet little life.

What you should believe…

Nothing.

Nothing they tell you.

Nothing you hear.

In fact, nothing in the Abbotts’ picture-perfect world is what it seems.

But when their small town of La Rue, North Carolina is rocked by the brutal murder of a beloved member of the community, a manhunt begins, and neither Caide nor Rachael thought they would become prime suspects.

Every belief Caide and Rachael have about their lives is thrown out the window…

With mounting evidence and lives on the line, the Abbotts are forced to uncover what mysteries are hiding behind closed doors. When old wounds are torn open, secrets are revealed, and their sanity is put to the ultimate test, even memories can’t be trusted in their quest to find the truth. And when the community rallies for justice, suspicions of one another rise, leaving one question begging to be answered...

If it walks like a killer, will the small town of La Rue ever know who the real murderer is?
Watch the BOOK TRAILER! https://youtu.be/4yBc5pmN_ss 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kiersten Modglin lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and their two Boston Terriers, Cedric and Chloe. A psychology fanatic, lover of Netflix, coffee and all things Harry Potter, Kiersten can almost always be found curled up in her favorite writing chair with a good book. Kiersten writes psychological suspense novels that explore the darkest parts of human nature and the inner workings of twisted minds. Writing has always been an important part of Kiersten’s life; for her, this is just the beginning.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/45409837-kiersten-modglinPublisher: http://www.limitlesspublishing.net/authors/kiersten-modglin/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kierstenmodglinauthorWebsite: http://www.kierstenmodglinauthor.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kjanaealways
*Want your YA, NA, or MG book featured on my blog? Contact me here and we'll set it up.

Writer Wednesday: Were Writers Ever Just Writers?

Lately I've been wondering if writers were ever just writers. Sure, I guess we could just write books, send them to our agent, who submits to publishers, and let the chips fall where they may while we write the next book. But would we really find success if we ignored all the other jobs writers have?
Today more than ever, writers have to be great at marketing. I'm talking getting your books out there by identifying who your fans are and making sure your book is seen by those fans. Everything from interacting on social media, joining Goodreads and FB groups, setting up book signings, creating teaser images, maintaining a website, blogging, offering free content... The list goes on and on. 
Sometimes I'm left wondering when I'm supposed to write. I'm getting one book ready for production and another ready for my editor, and what I noticed is that some parts of these books are foreign to me. I'm so far removed from when I drafted them that I don't remember writing certain parts. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Distance gives you perspective and can really help during the revision process. But I actually have to schedule writing time. Part of me finds that crazy. I used to just write. Nothing else. Now I'm writing, editing, marketing, and self-publishing. I feel like I wear a thousand hats each day.
So I'm wondering, was it always this way? Or has it gotten worse with time? What do you think?
*If you have a question you'd like me to answer from the other side of the editor's desk, feel free to leave it in the comments and I'll schedule it for a future post.