Shel Delisle's Blog, page 9

Belated Milestones

The tenth of January seems ridiculously late to still be talking about 2011, but maybe I'm nostalgic.  Or maybe we move too fast these days.  Then again, maybe I'm just late.

Anyway…

I always enjoy watching the network's year-in-review coverage when we all reflect on the milestones we experienced collectively. For me 2011 will always be the year of the Arab Spring, the royal wedding of Kate and William, the passing Steve Jobs. Those milestones   make me think about what I did or didn't accomplish, what I'd still like to do.

Last year was a very big year for me.  An incredible year really.  To speak of last year's personal milestones is to think in terms of Stonehenge.  At least,  it felt that big to me.

The beginning of the year was fairly quiet until March. Using e-cigarettes, I quit smoking after almost thirty years. Big stone, right?

In April I began toying with the idea of indie publishing. I spent a lot of time reading popular blogs about it, including those written by Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith.  Sheesh, there was a lot of catching up to do.  Not only had people been doing this for a while, but it seemed like every day there was some new twist.  When I wasn't reading blogs, I lurked on the Kindle Boards, where I found an incredibly supportive community of authors who share their self-publishing experiences.

By June, I decided I would try indie publishing.  This was another huge milestone for me as I'd already spent the last eight years of my life in pursuit of a traditional publishing deal.  What if I was close and a contract was right around the corner?  I decided, "Oh well, what if it isn't?"

In July, we took a family vacation.  This might not seem like a milestone (and we do take one every year), but it feels like such a major production to get ready for it and then it's such a wonderful time when we're actually on it.  So, my 2011 memory bank is filled with images from a week on the beach and the cute little downtown of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.

Along comes August with a meteor-sized stone.  My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  Anyone who is married, or has been married, or hopes to be married  knows that's a big one.  Typically, I wouldn't call myself a lucky person, but meeting him was one of the luckier moments of my life.

I spent September getting ready for the last three months of the year.  Those months were crazy, exhausting and fun.  In October, I launched Dolphin Girl as an e-book, following up in November with the paperback.  Sales were small, slow, and steady and I was just thrilled to have any sales at all.  Then, the most amazing thing happened. A complete stranger read my book. And enjoyed it. A lot.

Then another and another. And some more.

To me, this is the milestone. Sure, holding the book in my hands like a baby was thrilling, but more than anything complete strangers reading my writing  meant I was real. Turns out readers were the validation I'd sought for eight years and now that I'd gotten it, I have to say I can't imagine a contract would ever be more satisfying. Of course, that's only one writer's view. Mileage may vary.

Another November milestone was redecorating my living room – yay! The couches we had were almost as old as our marriage.  Yes, I am kinda' sentimental.  But not about those old couches.  So, I was thrilled that with everything else going on I was able to squeeze in a little home improvement and – whoosh – to get those peach and aqua monstrosities out the door!

Finally December.  It'd already been an amazing year, so I planned on finishing out the book blog tour and then get ready for the holidays.  I'd signed up to participate in a joint IBC promotion where Dolphin Girl would go on sale starting December 12th.  Right before the start of the promotion, Amazon launched a program for self-published authors where they could be included in Prime and could be compensated through the Lending Library for borrows.  I decided to put Dolphin Girl into the program despite the fact that the royalties from the program were an unknown quantity.

Somehow, I got lucky.  It's bound to happen every twenty-five years or so.  Between the blog tour, the joint promotion and Amazon's Prime program, it created the perfect storm and my sales started to increase. Like really increase.  Not at some crazy Amanda Hocking level mind you, but two digit sales and borrows every day. It peaked on Christmas Day, when people bought 259 copies of Dolphin Girl.  Crazy.  And I gotta say, that was one wild, unexpected and completely exhilarating ride!

So that's my 2011.  Which, by the way, is so ten days ago.

Now 2012.

Quitting smoking and reaching a certain age and writing means I need to keep a much closer eye on diet and exercise.  So, I hope to take care of that this year.  And to end up looking more like the people in the front row, instead of the people in the back row of the picture at the right.  The 2012 home improvement list is long – some painting, a new kitchen table, some work on the patio.  I don't expect complete all of it – although that would be awesome – but I do expect to do some of it. We're already tossing around and debating vacation destinations.

As for my indie publishing experience, Dolphin Girl continues to sell.  This morning's numbers put me over 400 books year to date, so I'm averaging over 40 sales/borrows per day.  With those results, I plan to do more.  How much more? No idea, but more.

So I'd love to hear about your year.  How was it?  What was your biggest milestone?  And what do you have planned for this one?

Music Monday — Charlie Brown

There are a couple Christmas songs that evoke clear memories from my childhood.  Wayne Newton's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"  and Burl Ives "Holly Jolly Christmas" — you know the version from Rudolph.  But none are as palpable as this one.

My parents loved this TV special.  They made sure to sit down and watch it with us, and I did the same with my children so we're in the third generation of love for this music.  In fact, to make sure we can do the dance on any given day, I purchased The Vince Guaraldi's Trio Charlie Brown Christmas on CD.  That way, I don't have to wait for the special to come on TV.  Or buy the DVD and wait for this scene to play.  I can listen, and bake cookies, and dance like the twin girls whenever I want.  I might even do a little of that today.

It'll make me feel like a child again, which is nice when you write for them.  So, what reminds you of Christmas as a child? Is it music?  Or a decoration? A tradition?  Or a scent?  Let me know.

 

The last leg of the tour

I've just about wrapped up the blog tour.  This is how I'm feeling.

Thank God for coffee.

Okay, so back on November 4th, I posted about my first three stops.  This feels like it was a year ago.

Then on November 21st, I posted about stops #5, 6, 7 and 8.  That was, y'know, a couple months ago.

So, here's a confession:  I missed #4, which was when the lovely Kai Strand hosted me for a Three Times A Charm post where I blab about some favorite books, favorite fun things to do, and, um, music.  (sorry Kai)

Fast forward to today:

This week, #9 I'm at Marie Symeou's blog as part of a series of author interviews she's running.  Coming up are stops #10 through #15. Or maybe #16, I'm not sure which.   I've also lost track of the exact dates for some, but here are the links and I'll update this post as the details come.

Heidi Hall, aka WriterGurl1, is running a flirty, fun, fantastic series of author interviews where we all answer important questions, especially one about sunglasses.  Please look for my interview and be sure to check out the others, too.  Especially if you like chick-lit!

Kate Ellison is running an incredible promotion from December 12th – December 20th at her Southern Scrawl blog where she's giving away books and more books.  I've donated an e-book and paperback of Dolphin Girl and will be revealing my favorite secondary character.  (Hint:  it's not who you think.)

On December 13th,  My indie, my tea and me is posting a review of Dolphin Girl. I have no idea what they're going to say.  LOL.  So, it might seem like I'm taking a huge risk to post the link to their review and, well honestly, I am.  But I've said to everyone that it's an honor for someone to invest their time to read my book.  I'm also grateful for bloggers who think critically about their reviews and this blog does.  So, that's why the link, before the rating.  Besides, deciding to indie pub was a much scarier risk, so you already know I'm a little like five-year-old Jane — either really brave or really stupid.

The Indie Book Collective is running  a Blowout for the Twelve Days of Christmas (December 12-24).  I'm one of the featured books on December 15th.  There's no interview or post with this stop, but if you visit their site any time during the promo you can enter to win a  gift cards, gift baskets and a Kindle!  PLUS, you'll find lots of e-books on sale.

Home.  On December 3oth.  I'm doing a Five in Five  interview with Whatcha' Reading Now? which was a lot of fun because I got to answer silly, random questions! Plus as a bonus I got to hang with writer-pal Kerry Cerra. Plus, I'm giving away a signed book to someone who is randomly drawn from Kerry's magic coffee mug.

Then after the first of the year — January 10-15 to be precise — I'll be at the Great Minds Read Aloud Literary community, which is sorta like a book club, sorta like a review blog, has a forum and is pretty cool.  But wait!  That's 2012 and I'll post again before then.  Also, I'm pretty sure (but not completely sure) that there will be another stop or two mixed in there, but I'll catch you up on those later.

Next week, I promise to post on something random.  In fact, it'll be so random that I still have no idea what it'll be about.

Cyber Music Monday — Talking Heads

This Monday post is under the wire since Cyber Monday was crazy busy.  And, this past weekend I got to play with a Kindle Fire, which is very, very cool.  Or very, very hot.

Whatever.  This is definitely the song for it.

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Music Monday — Foo Fighters

This weekend my To Do list was outta control.  The blog tour, along with other newly-released-book stuff, along with NaNo, along with youth soccer, along with "Fall Cleaning", which is the Florida version of "Spring Cleaning", because we can finally open up our houses and air them out.

So, here are a few updates on the blog tour.  Last week I visited Ashley Paternostro's La Bella Novella blog to yak a little about my foray into NaNoWriMo land.  Also, there were a few updates to the ongoing Ultimate YA Reading Group tumblr where I'm the Featured Author for November, namely some Fun Facts and Part 1 of an interview.  This week, I'll be at Meredith McCardle's very smart and stylish blog, where I ramble on and on about jobs.  Yeah, I wonder why I'd have that on the brain. *smirks*

And, I'm pretty sure, though not 100% positive, that Part Two of the interview will be up at The Ultimate YA Reading Group.  Next week I visit with Kristina Miranda and Mindy Alyse Weiss at their thought-provoking blogs.

Needless to say – it's been busy.

To top it off, I needed a Music Monday, but what would reflect my current frame of mind?  Then, I was running an errand when my eleven-year-old decided we should listen to the Foo Fighters "All My Life".  YES!  Yes, yes, yes!  This was the song. He and I screamed along with "Done. Done.  On to the next one." in what was truly an awesome mother/son moment.

So, kick back, listen and yell with me, "On to the next!"

There, I feel much better now.

I hope all this rambling about my to-do list doesn't make me seem ungrateful. It probably does.  But really, really, really I am so thankful to be able to do the blog tour. In fact, it's been a year of reasons to be thankful.  One more thing on my to do list this week is to have a heap of turkey, mashed potatoes, meat pie and cranberry.  Then I can sing again: done. done.

Music Monday — RHCP's Give It Away

I'm a huge fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers because their music is uniquely theirs and soulful and…interesting.  "Give It Away" is the first thing I ever heard by them it astounded me.  The song was completely different from anything else being played at the time.  I watched the video again yesterday when I was mulling over this post and it still stuns.  It's so raw.

So, why this song?  Now?

Because I'm Giving It Away.  Now.

Over at Goodreads, I'm giving away five paperback copies of Dolphin Girl.  The giveaway has been up for a couple weeks and already more than 300 people have entered to win, which is pretty exciting to me.  Every time I stop by the page to see how it's going , more people have entered or added Dolphin Girl to their bookshelves.  It's as shocking as the song!  :)

As I write this post, there are precisely 15 days, 21 hours, 14 minutes and 21 seconds, 20, 19, 18 left before Goodreads does some kind of random selection (it's not me) and they send me the five winners.  It could be you.  So, if you haven't entered and you'd like to, click here. 

If you don't want to enter, then you can just listen to some RHCP.

Here. There. And Everywhere.

Okay, maybe not everywhere.  But I am kicking off a book tour for Dolphin Girl this week along with the release of the paperback.  I'll be popping in at different blogs for the next two months talking about the book and writing and other junk.  After that, I'll probably be ready to head home and take a well-deserved nap.

In the unlikely event that you're having breakfast or playing a game of Angry Birds and you ask yourself, "Hmmm…I wonder where Shel Delisle is on her blog tour today?"  you can always find out by clicking on the Events page.  It has the same picture as this post, so if you click over don't freak out or anything.  You're not having a Twilight Zone moment.  I'm just messing with your head.

I'll try to keep the listing up-to-date, but it's already missing a few stops and this is the beginning. Like the first day.  And I'm behind.

Yeah, I know.  Slacker.

I'll also tweet, Facebook message and drop details into my posts, while trying very, very hard to avoid becoming annoying about it!

So, are you a little curious about my stops?  It was a busy week.  Below are my visits and while the Internet isn't really anywhere, it's also everywhere.  This lets me pretend that I'm really travelling, so I'll note where my hosts reside, because that's kinda interesting.  At least to geeky me it is.  And, we're off!

First stop:  Austin, Texas.  The Ultimate YA Reading Group made me their Featured Author for the month of November, which is an incredible, unbelievable  honor. This is a group of fabulous teen bookworms who run a Facebook community and a tumblr.   Throughout the month, they'll  post bits and pieces about me or Dolphin Girl and it can all be found right here! Thanks so much for having me guys!

Second stop:  Coral Springs, Florida.  J.P. Taravella High school librarian Cathy Castelli hosted me for a talk as part of her series about author's purpose.  The video (and Cathy's channel!) can be found here on YouTube.  If you head over to watch it, be sure to turn up the volume.  I'm not as loud as needed to be.  Or, if you prefer, leave the volume off and watch me wave my hands around.  A lot.

Third stop:  North Carolina.  Shana Norris hosts me on her blog where she asked a lot of interesting questions and I attempted to answer them without using too many run-on sentences.  I recently finished reading Shana's popular e-book The Boyfriend Thief and I loved it!  I also felt like Dolphin Girl might appeal to the same kind of readers.  So check her out.  Or check me out.  Or check the both of us out.

Okay, that's it for this week!  Next week, I'll be back blogging about random stuff again but I'll have brief commercial messages for where you can find me.

Oh, and one more thing!  My husband wants me to mention that the e-book is on sale at  Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords.  And, the paperback is available at Amazon.  There, done.  Happy, hon?

Music Monday with Author Shana Norris

I'm thrilled to have Shana Norris, author of  Something to Blog About, Troy High, The Boyfriend Thief and the soon-to-be- released Surfacing here for Music Monday.  Like me, Shana links her writing with music and I'm curious to see what song she's going to pick for our listening pleasure. Take it away, Shana:

I'm one of those writers who can't actually listen to music while writing. I need quiet so I can focus, yet music is still an important part of my writing. When I'm working on a new idea, one of the first things I do is create a playlist for the book that I use during brainstorming. The playlist may change over time as I get to know the characters better, but I always have a group of songs that help me get into the mood of the story.

My newest ebook release Surfacing, a YA paranormal which will be available on November 15, takes place on an isolated island along North Carolina's Outer Banks. The book has a very quiet, lonely feel and I wanted that to be reflected in the playlist. Most of the songs are soft and quiet, except one: "Santa Monica" by Everclear. It was the first song I added to the playlist and I knew it had to be there. It was one of the original inspirations for Surfacing, the song that helped put images in my head before I ever started writing the story. I can still see my main character Mara whenever I listen to it. It may seem a bit odd next to the quiet songs in the rest of the playlist, but "Santa Monica" is the perfect depiction of Mara's feelings in the book.

The video for this song looks like it would make an awesome story!  Here, everyone, check it out:

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Yep, that definitely makes me want to read the book!  If you'd like more info about Shana or her books, here ya go:

Shana Norris lives in North Carolina and likes to imagine all the secret things living in the ocean. You can visit her online at www.shananorris.com.

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Swan Part 2 — The Big Reveal

So, here's The Big Reveal.  You already knew it wasn't a swan, right?

The paperback will be on sale November 1, 2011 at Amazon for $9.99.

The e-book is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, and Amazon FR, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords for $2.99 or a comparable amount in euros/pounds.

Through November 3, 2011 I am giving away 150 copies of the e-book for Free at LibraryThing.  Yes, free.

So, I hope you'll stop by and pick up a free book or sample at one of the on-line retailers and if you like what you read, purchase a copy for yourself.  Or a teen girl in your life.  Or your next door neighbor. Or a cousin or something.  *grins*

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Music Monday — Taylor Swift

So this might seem really, really, really different than  the songs I ordinarily feature on Music Mondays.  But, I love the high school first love feel of this song.  I blogged here about how Linkin Park's song Numb feels a lot like the story I tell in Dolphin Girl.  But if that song tells the story of Jane's family and her struggle with isolation, this song tells the story of the romance with Sam.

One is edgy, one is sweet.  Smoosh 'em together and you'll get Jane's vibe.

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