Lisa Olsen's Blog, page 14

Happy Anniversary to me!

Bring on the hearts and flowers! It’s been exactly one year since I took the plunge and decided to self publish Angel of Mercy instead of waiting on my literary agent who was pretty unresponsive in her efforts to try and sell Pretty Witches All in a Row. Since then I’ve published six more books, fired my agent, and couldn’t be happier with the self publishing experience! In the past year I’ve sold over 6700 books (most of that in the past three months), and I’m still learning every day what does and doesn’t work in marketing my own books. Sadly there is no magic ticket to runaway sales, but I’m still hopeful I’ll be able to support myself with my writing at some point.

Nine Steps to Sara should be available in a couple of weeks and I’ve got two other books planned for this year (sequels to Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down and the next Mercy book), so here’s to more success in the year to come!

New Cover for Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down

Despite the recent success from the last Pretty Witches All in a Row giveaway, Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down

has continued to sell the least out of my books, despite the fact that I get the most fan mail about that one.

So, we’ve decided to try and shake things up a little and redesign the cover. What do you guys think?

In other news, I finished my first draft of Nine Steps to Sara and have just started the editing process! Woot!

Sneak Peek of Nine Steps to Sara

Nine Steps to Sara is coming along well, and I’ve only got one more scene to write before the grand finale. Here is the proposed cover art (thanks Cap’n for the design!) for the book. I thought I’d share a little taste from chapter one. Please keep in mind that this is a rough draft and not the polished final version.

*****

“Repeat after me, I am Sara J Darling; millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht.”

The corner of Sara’s mouth tilted up into a faint smile as she conjured images of Elmer Fudd going through psychoanalysis to cure him of his rabbitosis. “I don’t own a yacht.”

“You could own a yacht…” Joanie’s green eyes darted to the dark window for a brief squint before they returned to regard Sara steadily. “You don’t know.”

“That’s true, I suppose,” Sara allowed, leaning back against the supple leather seats of the chauffeured Mercedes. Despite the fact that the car was at least thirty years old by the body style, it’d obviously been kept in mint condition and still impressed the hell out of her. It was the first time she’d ridden in a car that cost more than her college education and for sure was the first time she’d been driven around in the back seat unless she counted the time she took a cab to the hospital on the night Jack was born (but somehow, she didn’t think that fell into quite the same category).

Joanie had a good point though, she had very little understanding of her inheritance so far, only that it was big enough to earn her a plane ride and an all expense paid trip to England in style, and there was a manor house somewhere in the countryside with a family history she knew nothing about. After the year she’d had, it hadn’t taken more than thirty seconds to decide to go check it out, especially when her best friend offered to come along for the ride. Still, Joanie’s excited speculation had spilled into the ridiculous after so many hours spent traveling.

“Why would I have a yacht? It’s a land locked estate.” Probably. There could be a lake, she supposed. If she hadn’t been so excited to get the heck out of town, she might have asked a few more questions. As it was, she had a vague sense that the estate was somewhere in the south, but that was about it.

Joanie waved her hand back and forth, unconcerned with logic. “So? England is basically an island. It’s like a nothing commute to get to the water.”

A snort came from the front seat, and Sara looked up to catch a flash of the driver’s grin. “I’m not too sure about that,” she murmured, looking out the window, but she couldn’t penetrate the gloomy fog apart from the occasional glimpse of an empty paddock or a copse of dark trees. “We’ve been driving an awful long time.”

“You’re telling me, I shouldn’t have had those drinks on the train,” Joanie muttered, shifting in her seat. “Excuse me, driver?” she leaned forward, bright auburn hair glowing as it caught in the dashboard lights. “How much longer is this gonna take?”

“Just until we arrive, Miss.”

“Okay, thanks,” Joanie slumped back against the seat and Sara looked up again, teeth pressed against the inside of her lips to keep from laughing as she caught his wink in the rearview mirror. Had he introduced himself? Sara couldn’t be sure with all the rigmarole to get their luggage to the car and make sure Jack didn’t go wandering off on his own. What he must think of them… Sara wasn’t sure what to expect from the locals yet. Would they accept her as the new heir or did they have their hopes set on a different disposition for the estate? Would they even care? It wasn’t clear just how much her family’s estate was tied up in the local community, but for a town called Darlington, she imagined it was close.

Incapable of maintaining silence for more than a few minutes, Joanie snuck her way back onto Sara’s train of thought. “Thank God you got the call after your divorce came through,” she said, out of the blue.

“What?” Sara blinked, not tracking the change in subject right away. “Oh I don’t know, I could have used the luck a little earlier in the game.” When she thought of the tiny little apartment they’d been crammed into for the past six months… the call couldn’t have come soon enough.

“Are you kidding me? Peter would have pissed it all away inside of a year.”

“Joanie!” she exclaimed, somewhere between a whisper and a hiss.

“What?”

“Shh, I don’t want him to hear you,” Sara scowled, even if it was true.

“Oh please, you know Jack can sleep through a hurricane,” Joanie demonstrated by poking the boy in the ribs with no response. But for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Jackson appeared dead to the world.

“Still…” Sara looked down at her sleeping son, slumped over on the seat between them. Small for a boy of eight, his dark brown hair was the exact shade as hers, blue eyes hidden behind round glasses that slipped low on his nose in his present position. Despite the fact that she knew he wasn’t listening, it didn’t feel right to talk about his father with him right there, even if she did agree with her friend’s opinion of the guy.

“I’m just saying, it gives me a happy to think he won’t get his hands on all your money. Can you imagine Peter with some serious cash behind him?” a roll of the eyes was given.

“I’m having a hard enough time picturing me with money,” Sara answered diplomatically, hoping to change the subject. For the next twenty minutes they chatted about what might be waiting for them at the end of their journey. Joanie seemed to think they’d land in an episode of Downton Abbey; the liveried servants lined up in front of the building, neatly dressed and pressed to greet her. Sara couldn’t imaging owning something so large; she was convinced it’s be more along the lines of a cottage with some pretty gardens. At least she hoped so; gardening was one of the few things she missed about the three bedroom split level home in LA.

A crunch of gravel alerted them as the car pulled onto the private road. “This is it, we’re almost there,” Sara breathed in excitement, wondering if she should wake Jack or let him keep sleeping. As they drew closer to the hulking shadow of the building, she decided to go with the latter; for the moment there was nothing to see. The house was completely dark, no signs of life to be found as they approached.

“Are you sure you have the right place?” Joanie frowned, leaning forward with a squint that couldn’t penetrate the darkness.

“This is Darling Park right enough,” the driver spoke, the lilt of his accent reminding Sara of the brief wink she’d seen in the mirror. “Don’t worry; I’m sure they’re about somewhere. Hold on a tick, I’ll get things sorted out. I’ll leave the engine running to keep the car warm for you.” Before either of them could so much as blink, he was out the driver’s side door and bounding into the fog that closed ranks behind him, enveloping him into the velvet murkiness.

“See, I told you it wouldn’t be like in the movies,” Sara’s voice fell to a whisper as she focused her attention on the stone steps.

“Sure it is; it’s just the type of movie where we get murdered in our beds before sunrise,” Joanie replied sourly and Sara gave her a playful shove.

It was pretty creepy out there, the fog encasing them in a cocoon of silver mist, completely obscuring the house from view. She got the sense it was big, bigger than she’d thought, but that was about it. “At least we’re warm enough.” No sooner had she made the pronouncement, than the fates intervened, the car engine dying with a sputter. “I’m sure he’ll be back in a minute,” Sara added, unsure which one of them she was trying to convince more.

“This is stupid; why don’t we just get out and go up to the front door?” Joanie muttered, unbuckling her seat belt.

“Yeah, okay,” Sara nodded, preparing to do the same. All at once, the mist swirled higher, cloaking the car in darkness. Sara shivered as the temperature plummeted, her breath visible in the sudden chill. “On second thought…”

Joanie pulled up the fur collar of her coat, bringing her hands up to blow on them. “Did I say murdered in our beds?”

“It’s just fog,” the words full of false bravado, Sara leaned against the window, desperate to find anything in the swirling fog to give her a point of reference. They could be completely cast adrift at sea for all she could tell; even the hulking shadow of the house was entirely hidden. Another shiver went through Sara as her fingertips pressed against the frigid glass; the sudden crunch of gravel the only warning before the door flew open and she nearly tumbled out, if not for the strong arms of the driver.

“Careful, my Lady,” he smiled, restoring her balance. Behind him, she could just make out the entrance of the house and then the fog seemed to dissipate, the porch lights dispelling the gloom with warm, yellow light.

June Resolution Time!

Okay, so far this year I’ve given up fried foods, baked desserts, fast food, and started exercising 5 days a week and tracking everything I eat. It’s June, so that means it’s time to give up something else and this one is going to hurt rolling into the summer months – no more ice cream!

I went back and forth on whether it was a better idea to wait until after summer to give this one up, but in the end decided that it would be healthier to give it up now.

Let’s see… what else is going on… Nine Steps to Sara is coming along great! I’m in the home stretch now, just a few major scenes to get to, and I’ll be done with my first draft. We’ve found a great cover idea, so that’s progressing well too.

Also, my oldest is graduating high school in a few days!!! Man, I’m old…

Vacation Days Four and Five

This is the last day of our trip to Olympia and the motel is serving little sausage patties so I make myself an english muffin, sausage and egg sandwich even though I know it’ll blow my sodium levels through the roof! Not much to do this morning but pack up and head for home, but on the way out of town, we cruise by the police station, for a quick look; research for a future book.

Beautiful, gorgeous, sunny day today and the drive back is smooth as silk. We stop for gas and a coffee (and bathroom break of course) and once more at a rest stop before stopping for lunch at Wienerschnitzel’s for a last chance to break the diet while on vacation.

The house is nice and quiet when we get home as the youngest is at school and the oldest is completely nocturnal, guaranteeing us a nice quiet afternoon to decompress. I manage to make my 2k of writing and I’m back on the horse with my daily writing quota for Nine Steps to Sara, (it feels good to be back on track!).

This gives us all day Tuesday to relax and veg out before returning to the stack of work we both know has piled up in our absence.

A nice vacation over all, can’t wait to do it all again in October!

Vacation Day Three – Avengers Assemble!

We’re reminded at about midnight as we get ready to go to sleep that the club across the street from the motel likes to play loud music on Sat and Sun nights until 2am. No worries, the TV has music channels, so we put some music on and drift off to sleep like babes (which means we wake up every two hours).

Sunday morning breakfast is a repeat of the day before, but we’re eager to get outside before the worst of the heat settles in for the day. Another stop at Target and we pick up a figure of Thor and I get a Captain America dogtag necklace, woot!

Today we decide we are going to drive around looking for houses, which is ridiculous because our house isn’t remotely ready for sale, but we can’t resist because we’d love to move to Olympia. We have no real plan, so we drive around looking at signs for new construction until we find a development we fall in love with and spend an hour drooling over show models. This one is called the Wellington, sells for only $235k and has a perfect office downstairs for me for writing!

By the time we’re done, I need a pitstop, so we go to Fred Meyer and pick up more figures, this time of Skrull – boring!

As we’re both pretty hungry, we pull into a mexican restaurant called Plaza Jalisco and sadly the food is salty, but otherwise completely devoid of flavor. Even the salsa tastes tomatoes, but no heat to it, which is a huge disappointment. It’s been a week since we’ve seen The Avengers, and we decide to escape the heat of the afternoon with a matinee showing. It’s the 2nd week, middle of a Sunday afternoon and the theater completely sells out. Not a single space is left… this movie is Awesome!

After the movie, we head back to the motel and there is thankfully parking as the boat festival has started to pack up. We’ve been gone all day and decide to order from PizzaTime and watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on Blu-Ray hooked up to the TV. Jeremy Renner is awesome as usual, and I take another nice relaxing back after dinner.

Not a single word of writing done today and I am completely guilt free!

Vacation Day Two – Electric Boogaloo

Because everything is better when you put Electric Boogaloo, right?

We wake up bright and early, as always it’s a little bit strange sleeping away from home, but a nice hot shower cures the aches and pains of getting older. The Phoenix Inn boasts a free breakfast, but on weekends they never have any meat unless you like biscuits and sausage gravy (I don’t, but the Captain does), so it’s a bagel with cream cheese and some crumbly scrambled eggs for me. I’m reminded that Washington’s water tastes blecchy unless it’s filtered (but not as bad as California’s, double blecch) and decide to stick to the bottled water in the room.

Then it’s on to the wooden boat fair!

The booths have all kinds of wares from blown glass sculptures to honeycrafts to insurance. (Yep, there is seriously a booth for selling insurance. Just when I thought I could escape work!) We find the cutest dress for my 13 year old and after some furious texting (because I don’t pretend to know what she actually likes anymore), we confirm she likes it and buy it for her along with some flavored honey sticks.

After lunch at the Black Bear Diner again, It’s starting to get hot out, so we head to the mall in search of air conditioning, more retail therapy and maybe a movie. Bummer for us, it’s not all that cool in the mall, but chocolate peanutbutter ice cream helps.

Back to Target to buy more figures and we get Hawkeye (yippee!). We also discover that they sell Avengers dogtag necklaces too, so we try our luck and end up with Black Widow, which the Captain promptly claims as his own.

Because we’re on vacation, we decide to throw resolutions out the window and pick up Taco Bell for dinner back in the room. I’ve only written 36 words today and I decide that I’ve earned a couple of days off, even though I’m right in the middle of Nine Steps to Sara. I take a nice relaxing bath, and we chill out in the room all evening.

Moonsong is out in Print!

After a bit of a technical glitch, Moonsong, (my werewolf paranormal romance) is available in print through Amazon.com!

Thanks to everyone who helped vote on the cover choice, it came out sooooooo pretty!

Here is a little sample to whet your appetite:

Amelia has just come to live with her Grandmother and cousins, Scarlett and Chase after finding out her family is descended from a long line of werewolves (or shifters, as they like to call it). She’s looking for some answers on the upcoming gathering she’ll be expected to attend that night.

“Chase?” Amelia stepped out into the back yard, not quite sure how to find him.

“Did you have a nice time shopping?”

It took her a moment to find the source of the voice, but she finally located him around the corner, leaning against the side of the house. There was a swimming pool set into a natural rock formation she’d missed on her first look at the grounds that morning. “Apparently I needed a party dress, so…”

“You bought a party dress?” he started laughing, nearly losing his balance as he fought to catch his breath.

“What’s so funny about me buying a party dress?” she frowned; not liking being the butt of whatever joke tickled him so much.

“Nothing… it’s just ah… you’ll be a little overdressed,” he straightened, still chuckling.

“What do you mean overdressed? I thought there was a party going on tonight?”

“There’s a gathering, not exactly your chips and dip kind of affair. It’s a little more… au naturale if you catch my drift,” he gave her a pointed look.

“You mean…”

“It’s not like wolves wear a lot of clothing. Unless you count a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but then again wool gets kind of scratchy,” he pretended to consider.

“Are you seriously telling me this will be a ‘clothing optional’ get together?” Amelia’s voice rose an octave. That was so not happening… There was no way she was going to strip down and be presented to the pack like a piece of meat.

Chase stared at her gravely before his smile broke through again. “It’s just so easy…”

Realization dawned on her; he was pulling her leg! “You bastard! It’s all bullshit!” She smacked him across the abs in indignation, cheeks growing hot with embarrassment over how gullible she’d been. “And to think I was actually coming out here to get some straight answers out of you!” She turned on her heel and started back to the house with long angry strides.

“Wait, wait, wait…” It took mere seconds for him to catch hold of her arm and insinuating himself between her and the house. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” The amusement remained in his face but there was a contrite note to his voice.

“Next time try,” Amelia grumbled.

“You’re so adorable when you get all flustered like that.” His voice dropped, low and intimate, as he stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. “Red is definitely your color.”

“I’m glad you find me amusing,” she muttered, swiping his hand away.

“Hey, I’ll be good, I promise. Ask me anything you want, scout’s honor.” Chase caught up the hand that swatted him away and pressed a kiss to the base of her thumb.

The intimate gesture caught her off guard, and she lost track of what she was going to say next, tongue darting out to moisten her lips. “You were a boy scout?” slipped out, not what she’d intended to ask at all.

“Well… no, but you catch my drift,” he grinned back at her, thumb tracing little circles over the back of her hand.

Amelia found it oddly disconcerting, he wasn’t acting much like a cousin… well there was such a thing as kissing cousins wasn’t there? That thought was quickly shoved away. “So, what will happen tonight?”

“No secret pagan rites, no dancing naked under the pale moonlight if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Oh… good,” Amelia breathed a little easier.

“You’re not allowed to come to those.”

“Beg your pardon?” she squeaked. Was he teasing her again?

“Oh we have ‘em right enough, but not just anybody can attend. You my sweet… you would definitely not be allowed to come, you’d prove much too much of a distraction,” his smile turned predatory again.

Amelia felt that smile right down to her toes. Had he edged closer to her than he’d been a moment ago? She took a half step backwards, needing that space between them to keep her wits about her. “What happens at those gatherings?”

“Oh no… I can’t tell you, we have our secrets after all.” He took a step closer to her, closing the distance between them almost as soon as she opened it up.

“Now you’ve got me curious… I might have to try and sneak a peek at your secret gatherings sometime,” Amelia teased, and the smile dissolved from Chase’s face.

“You have to promise me never to go into the woods at night, Millie.”

“Oh, stop being melodramatic,” she tried to pull her hand away but he held it fast.

“There are dangerous things in the woods, things that wouldn’t hesitate to gobble up a tasty morsel like you. Promise me, Millie, you will never venture into the woods at night without my protection,” he insisted, his voice grim.

Millie stared up at him, not sure whether to take his warning at face value or if he was messing with her again. “Alright, I promise,” she agreed. It wasn’t like she made a habit of wandering through the woods at night anyway.

“Good.” Loosening his hold on her hand again, he brought it up to his lips and kissed her fingertips.

Snatching her hand away, she took another step backwards again. “Um, about tonight…”

Chase let out a long, drawn out sigh. “You’re not going to let this go are you? It’s nothing sinister, I promise. Pretty much we’ll all gather in a clearing, you’ll sit up by Gran so everyone can get a good look at you. Gran will make a flowery speech about fate and the future of the pack, and then there will be food. If we’re lucky, not too many toasts and then probably some dancing, I swear. No virgin sacrifices,” he grinned.

“Oh, I’m not worried about that, I’m not a virgin,” Amelia replied glibly.

“Don’t let Adele hear you say that, she’ll make you go through a purification ritual. I don’t recommend it,” he wrinkled his nose with distaste and she laughed.

“She can’t possibly think I’m still a virgin, I’m almost twenty-two years old!”

“I’m just saying… I wouldn’t volunteer that little tidbit,” he shrugged. “But seeing as how you’re not saving yourself…” he took another step closer to her until she was backed up against the side of the house.

Her hand came up to rest against his chest again, pushing back firmly, for all the good it seemed to do her; he was solid as an oak and just as immovable. “Last time I checked this wasn’t Alabama…”

“Huh?” his head cocked to one side in confusion.

“Cousins? This sort of contact leads to offspring with webbed toes and low IQ’s,” she arched a delicate brow at him.

“Oh right…” he nodded, “Is that the only objection you have towards that sort of… contact?” Fingers rose to tuck an errant wisp of dark hair back, caressing the curve of her ear in the process.

A shiver of delight passed through her at the touch, but Millie tried her hardest not to let it show on her face. “It’s a pretty big objection,” she managed to get out fairly evenly, but she couldn’t help but notice the feel of his chest beneath her hand, the heat seemed to seep right out of his clothes and envelop her.

“Still, if I wasn’t your cousin?” he pressed, and her lips curved into a mischievous smile.

“Too bad we won’t ever find out.”

“Too bad,” Chase sighed dramatically, leaning in close, his lips brushing the outer whorl of her ear. “You know… I’m not actually your cousin,” he breathed, drawing back to catch the widening of her eyes with a smile of pure pleasure. “Adele adopted us when our parents died. See you tonight.” With a slow wink he pressed another kiss to the center of her palm and released her, heading back into the house without a backwards glance.

Trip to Olympia

We take one or two short vacations a year because I hate to travel and don’t like to go too far from home. Here is a recap of our recent trip to Olympia, WA.

Day One – It’s a bright, sunny day, perfect for a road trip. After an unscheduled trip to the dr’s office, we’re on the road only about a half hour behind schedule, not too shabby. We’re off on the road to Olympia with a tank full of gas, and I’m excited to see the miles per gallon gauge go up as soon as we hit the freeway.

1st stop – we’re completely derailed from our careful schedule by the lure of chilidogs at Wienerschnitzel, not even an hour into the trip. Neither one of us is particularly hungry, but we agree, it’s worth the stop since it’s a rare treat.

2nd stop – it’s a well known fact that I have a bladder the size of a thimble. So even though I went at the last stop, we stop again in Kelso at a Target and a new theme is born. This is the week of the Avengers mini action figures. You know those little mystery figures you can buy at the store for $2.99 and you have no idea which figure you get until you open it? We decide that every time we stop at a store that carries them we’re going to buy one until we get the complete set, or get bored with the premise. This stop gives us:

3rd stop – rest area. I just can’t resist these stops. They’re clean, there’s lots of nice green grass and trees to look at if you want to stretch your legs and best of all, easy to get in and out of. Two minutes later we’re back on the road.

Olympia here we are!!!

It’s still about three hours before we can check in to the hotel, so we stop off for a look at Danger Room, the coolest comic book shop in town. Besides the two Serenity books we get, they have a bunch of free comic books left from Free Comic Day and we load up. Now it’s on to Cascadia, where they have milkshakes so good, we have been drooling over them for a whole year since we were last there. We step up to the door and see a sign – new ownership – uh oh. It all looks the same when we get inside, but opening the menu we find there has been a complete overhaul. No more 6 kinds of french fries (the spicy fries and garlic fries were the best!) and no more specialty burgers (I liked the Sarape one which had guacamole, pepper jack cheese and enchilada sauce). Instead there are different burgers and you can even get some rare ones like buffalo burgers (as in the animal, not the hot wings sauce). The milkshakes are still fantastic, but overall, it’s a disappointing trip.

Still can’t check into the hotel so we stop off at Burial Grounds coffee for a mocha.

We pull into The Phoenix Inn about a half hour before check in time, but they let us in anyway with some very friendly service. We get the same room we always get, mostly because I love the bathtub out in the middle of the room. A little bit of a rest and about 1000 words for Nine Steps to Sara written and we’re out to the Black Bear Diner and the tri-tip steak is so good!

After dinner it’s on to Target for another mystery figure, this time it’s Tony Stark:

Then it’s back to the room to rest and relax and unfortunately not get any more writing done. Tomorrow is the old fashioned wooden boat festival, and we’re looking forward to exploring all the tents and wares!

Pretty Witches Promo

The continuing saga of my promotional trail continues! I have to say, trying to run a free promotion on Barnes & Noble and Amazon through setting a book to free on Smashwords was a total bust. Angel of Mercyhas been available for free there for over a month, and the other two sites have not picked up the promo at all. The websites says it can take a while for it to catch up and reflect the lower price, and chatter on the net says it takes about three weeks, but it’s been well over that, and no change. So I’m figuring the only way to do the free giveaways is through KDP select and only for 5 days in a 90 day period. Still don’t have a clue how to do a free giveaway on Barnes & Noble now. The last couple of free giveaways were hella smaller than the first one, (which was tough to top at over 22,000 books given away), so I’m not convinced that’s the way to go anymore. The exclusivity that Amazon demands for 90 days makes it a tough decision.

That brings us to my upcoming paid promotion through Kindle Nation Daily. Tomorrow an email blast goes out for Pretty Witches All in a Rowthat will hopefully generate a few sales. In anticipation of that, I’ve lowered the price temporarily to $.99 to maximize the promotion, we’ll see what happens. When I did the promotion for both Angel of Mercy and The Touch I got between 30 to 40 sales the day the email blast went out, so I’m hoping Pretty Witches does well, considering it’s my best seller.

Nine Steps to Sara is coming along well, though I always lose my perspective in the middle of it. It’s only when I get to the first read through that I have any sense of whether or not it makes sense and flows well. That said, I’m on vacation, and it was hard to stay on target yesterday! I only got about 1k of writing done instead of the 2k per day minimum, but I’m okay with that. We only take a few days off like this twice a year, so it’ll be okay if the book gets finished a few days behind schedule.

In the meantime, I’m having a wonderful time on vacation, and taking lots of pics, so I’ll be posting a blog on that later on. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there, I hope you have a fantastic weekend!