L.A. Sartor's Blog, page 19

Class Flash ~ Last Quarter Class List for Laurie Schnebly Campbell

 Want an early Holiday Present?  Gift yourself a Laurie Class!!
online: MASTER CLASS: YOUR COMPLETE SYNOPSIS
(Oct. 8-19)
writeruniv.com/classes
No wonder so many writers have a tough time with the synopsis -- books and synopses require completely different skills! This limited-enrollment, hands-on class takes the techniques used by advertising copywriters (like Laurie) to sell ANY product, whether it's a bicycle or burger or book, and shows how those tools apply to presenting your work in a way that'll make readers want to buy.
online: CHALLENGING COUPLES IN LOVE
(Nov. 5-16)
https://www.rwa.org/e/in/eid=801
While it's easy to create conflict between characters whose kingdoms are at war, everyday life can be equally full of conflicts... even when everyone in the situation is an inherently likable, decent person. But the same conflicts that often trouble fictional couples -- plus the same solutions recommended by counselors -- can work equally well for writers and their mates, not to mention other people in their lives.
online: CREATING YOUR HERO'S FATAL FLAW
(Jan. 7-2/1, 2019)
heartsthroughhistory. com
The ideal flaw isn't totally random, tossed in at the last minute to keep a character from being Too Perfect. Instead, it's built right into their personality -- which means it's guaranteed to create turmoil that'll keep the plot moving, along with a flip-side asset that'll enable your character to triumph in the end. See what kind will work best for your people, whether they're starring in a current story or taking the lead in another to come.



Laurie's Bio:
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves giving workshops for writer groups about "Psychology for Creating Characters," "Making Rejection WORK For You," "Building A Happy Relationship For Your Characters (And Yourself)" and other issues that draw on her background as a counseling therapist and romance writer.

In fact, she chose her website (www.BookLaurie.com) so people would find it easy to Book Laurie for programs.

But giving workshops -- for students from London and Los Angeles to New Zealand and New York -- is just one of her interests. During weekdays, she writes and produces videos, brochures and commercials (some of which feature her voice) for a Phoenix advertising agency. For several years she would turn off her computer every day at five o'clock, wait thirty seconds, turn it on again and start writing romance.

It finally paid off. Her first novel was nominated by Romantic Times as the year's "Best First Series Romance," and her second beat out Nora Roberts for "Best Special Edition of the Year." But between those two successes came a three-year dry spell, during which Laurie discovered that selling a first book doesn't guarantee ongoing success.

"What got me through that period," she says, "was realizing that the real fun of writing a romance is the actual writing. Selling is wonderful, sure, but nothing compares to the absolute, primal joy of sitting at the computer and making a scene unfold and thinking 'Wow! Yes! This is great!'"

After six books for Special Edition, she turned her attention to writing non-fiction -- using her research into the nine personality types to help writers create plausible, likable people with realistic flaws. Her other favorite activities include playing with her husband and son, recording for the blind, counseling at a mental health center, traveling to Sedona (the Arizona red-rock town named for her great-grandmother, Sedona Schnebly) and working with other writers.

"People ask how I find time to do all that," Laurie says, "and I tell them it's easy. I never clean my house!"

Laurie welcomes email from readers—send her a "Hello!"






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New Partnership To Announce ~ Digital Scrapper Classes For Photoshop/Photoshop Elements & More

I've given all you creatives lots of new resources and even a great way to save your life (read computer) with Backblaze, writing software with Scrivener, and digital art, patterns, fonts, and images with The Hungry Jpeg, and DesignCuts. Even coffee from Hawaii Coffee Company.  

Today I'm giving you a resource to learn how to use all these lovely digital art resources so you can make compelling social media memes, book covers, anything where you need to create artwork.


Welcome Digital Scrapper
I started using Digital Scrapper years ago as a resource for scrapbook elements, then I started taking their classes, and today I'm an affiliate partner for all their classes.

Don't let the name fool you it's far more than digital scrapbooking. These folks know Photoshop Elements and Photoshop and can help you learn to create memes, book covers, all sorts of digital artwork, and scrapbook pages (which is how I started). 

Here's what Jen White, owner of Digital Scrapper, says:


Digital Scrapper is about helping each one another advance in the knowledge of digital techniques using Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

 Photoshop Elements Course


Photoshop Course

All Courses
"Don’t waste another minute.
Skip the frustration
And feel like a pro in just a few hours!"
I hope you all find this useful.  I'll post new classes and sale classes here.  Be sure and sign up for my Facebook page so you can find out about all the newest tutorials and blogs from Digital Scrapper.

~L.A.





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Happy Birthday DesignCuts!! Best 100 Products For $5 Each

WOW, what a 5th birthday celebration from DesignCuts. DO. NOT. MISS. THIS.Two weeks of celebrating and we get the gifts.

Click on the Find Out More to take you to the site. DO. NOT. MISS. THIS.


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Five Secrets Revealed By Author Alanna Lucas

It's a pleasure to have as a return guest, Alanna Lucas. Wait until you read her revealed secrets. 
And wait until you read the blurb for her latest book!!Hello!
Thank you for joining me today and thanks, L.A. for hosting me again.
I’m Alanna Lucas. I write mostly Regency-set historical romance—every once in a while, a western gets lassoed into the oeuvre.
Most days I can be found researching for my next story, desperately trying to get through my email inbox (I don’t like the pile up), attempting to coordinate my kids schedules, and sneaking off to read. Although if you ask my husband, he would add plotting my next travel destination—usually Holland to see my family—to the list. And just for the record, you can never have too many shoes, handbags, or books.
Hi, Alanna, please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about When the Marquess Returns or you, but will after today!
1)  I was bitten by a spider when I was five and had to go the emergency room. Sadly, I did not transform into Spidergirl and have no superpowers, or do I?  ;-)   2) I have a master’s degree in Art History. I even studied art history in Paris, France for a semester *mumbles into her hand* years ago.  3) One of the twins in When a Marquess Returns kept trying to steal the show-and not stay out of my head- so I killed him off, but promised that if he behaved and let me write the story, I would bring him back to life.  4) I don’t listen to music while I write, but it is a must when I develop the story. The playlist for When the Marquess Returns included Imagine Dragons, Bishop Briggs, Black Veil Brides, and Beethoven (who’s always on the list!).
5) The first book I read—and continues to be one of my favorites—is Go, dog. Go! Perhaps my love for driving first developed with that book ;-)
Blurb : A Marquess in Waiting and the Cursed Heiress… The ton is abuzz and mamas are lining up their daughters; identical twins Maximus and Lucius St. Albans are making their entry into society. But they’re not just eligible―they’re the missing grandsons of the Duke of Warrington, stolen as infants.
However, Maximus doesn’t relish the battle with his cocky, reprobate brother to be the next Marquess.  And he has no time for the simpering misses now vying for his attention. Only Miss Sabina Teverton has his interest. 
She was resigned to life as a spinster but from the moment Sabina meets Lord Maximus, her heart is torn. She dreams of a match with him―but how can that be when she’s been branded as cursed…and she knows secrets of that night long ago when Maximus and his twin were snatched from their cradles?

Buy:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
Find Alanna: Website  |  Facebook | Twitter | Alanna’s Amazon Page |  Follow Alanna on BookBub









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DesignCuts Tutorial and Freebies

Here is a tutorial which will work with any patterns you own, but don't forget this amazing bundle is only available until Monday, Oct 1st. 
Brought to you by:










Free: Textures, Patterns, Illustrations and Coffee Mockup ElementsDOWNLOAD FREEBIES
START TUTORIAL


AND THEIR 5TH BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP STAY TUNED!!


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Author Spotlight With McKenna Dean & Her Latest Book ~ Ghost Of A Chance

 I met McKenna when I was a guest on her blog. She's smart and sassy, and her blog was wonderful. I'm happy to have her as a guest today spotlighting her newest release, Ghost Of A Chance
Hi Leslie, Thank you for hosting me today. 
I’ve always been a horse-crazy girl. I grew up reading every horse story I could get my hands on, and when my parents vetoed buying a horse, I caged rides wherever I could. I was the one they’d put on the nutty Thoroughbred to see if he was safe enough for students to ride. I was the one who mucked stalls and did scut work just so I could ride. I bought my first horse off a slaughter truck, and hid his existence from my parents for years. When I was injured in a car accident, I was told to give up riding—but I didn’t. That first horse? I had him for 35 years. And I am still riding horses today.
So when it came to writing Ghost of a Chance, I was struck by the idea: what would make someone who lived for riding walk away from it? What would it take for them to come back? Hence Sarah Atwell was born. I drew a lot from personal experience to create this character, with a couple of major differences. She’s a fangirl with a HUGE secret, and she’s spent most of her adult life denying her true self in order to be ‘normal.’ I think there are a lot of us that can identify with that, don’t you?
Excerpt: For some reason, he glanced back at Sarah where she waited by the door. The backlight of falling snow through the glass in the shadowed hallway created the suggestion of a black-and-white photograph. The only spot of color was the bright red scarf at the collar of her coat and the wine-dark lipstick she wore. She leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. Something inside him clicked, as though recognizing a scene from a movie. His heart stopped a beat, flipped over, and thudded again with increased intensity.
No. It couldn’t be. Not her.
He hurried away, head still reeling at his reaction.
When he returned with an armload of clothing, she was nowhere to be seen. Her laptop sat by her shoes, one pretty little pump turned over on its side. As expected, he discovered her in the living room, staring at the pictures on the wall. “There you are.”
She jumped at the sound of his voice.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He adjusted the heap of clothing piled over one arm and held out a pair of snow boots.
“She had so many photographs of me.” Sarah took the boots almost automatically, and indicated the walls covered with pictures, ones Casey had seen many times.
That had to be it. Why she felt so familiar. Why she seemed to be the one. Relief washed over him. Obviously he’d spent too much time alone if he thought Sarah Atwell was his destined mate.
Sarah spoke quietly, as though she felt a sense of reverence as well. “So different from my own place. My walls are largely bare.” She turned in a slow circle, taking in everything in the room.
“Why is that?”
Her shrug seemed self-deprecating. “Less to dust, according to Simon. I got rid of most of my furniture when I moved in with him. It made sense at the time. His place was small and there wasn’t room for all my clutter.”
“I’m not much of a house-keeper myself.” There was no way he’d ever let someone as classy as Sarah into his ramshackle single-wide trailer. “But if something makes you happy, I think you should keep it.”
She smiled, though not at him. At his words perhaps. “This room is a shrine to a life well-lived. A love letter to the beauty Gran found in the little things around her.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
On the wall facing the door was a large dramatic shot of a bay horse jumping down from an impossibly huge obstacle into a body of water. Where her forelegs struck the surface, the spray shot up into the air, beading in the sunlight like tiny prisms. It was Casey’s favorite photograph of Athena, one of the best horses June had ever bred. Taken at one of Sarah’s last competitions as a teenager, Sarah was rocked back in the saddle, the reins looking dangerously long to the untrained eye. Of course, she had let them slip to allow Athena to drop down into the water. Seeing Sarah standing in front of the photograph now sent a weird jolt of recognition combined with dissonance through him. It was hard to believe she was the girl riding that mare. The look on her teenaged face in the photo had always captivated him. It was one of sheer joy, the thrill of the ride itself.
That girl had not only found life worth living, but had taken it by the reins as its master. The woman standing beside him looked closed off from joy, shielded.
What had happened to her?

Buy: Amazon | B&N | Kobo
Blurb: At sixteen, Sarah Atwell walked away from her love of horses and a promising career as a competitive rider after discovering she’d inherited the family curse. Years later, her grandmother stunned everyone by leaving Sarah her horse farm—worth millions—but with conditions Sarah might not be able to meet.

A former Redclaw agent, Casey Barnes retired when a security assignment went bad, killing his partner and leaving him as a partial amputee. His inner wolf is in hiding. He’s been living quietly as a horse trainer, but June Atwell’s death now pits him against her granddaughter for rights to the stable.

With both of them snowed in at the farm, a series of increasingly serious accidents draws Sarah and Casey closer together, but they each harbor secrets that might tear them apart.
Bio: McKenna Dean has been an actress, a vet tech, a singer, a teacher, a biologist, and a dog trainer. She’s worked in a genetics lab, at the stockyard, behind the scenes as a props manager, and at a pizza parlor slinging dough. Finally she realized all these jobs were just a preparation for what she really wanted to be: a writer.
She lives on a small farm in North Carolina with her family, as well as the assorted dogs, cats, and various livestock.
She likes putting her characters in hot water to see how strong they are. Like tea bags, only sexier.
Find McKenna: Website  | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | AmazonSign up for my newsletter!






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Take Five And Meet Author Cassandra Ulrich & Her Latest Release ~ Adelle & Brandon: Friends for Life.

Today we are fortunate to meet Cassandra Ulrich. As you know I love finding new-to-me authors and introducing them to you.

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Cassandra.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Adelle & Brandon: Friends for Life?
Hi L.A. Thanks for having me as a guest on your blog. 

I gave myself homework after attending a class at a South Jersey Writers’ Group meeting. The teacher for the evening explained that it’s better to describe the surroundings in a scene interspersed with action rather than bore the reader up front with all that detail. I’d already been toying with the friends for life (friends forever is a bit too long for me) idea, so I went for it. What did I have to lose?
How do you use setting to further your story?
I started with a small apartment, figuring I’d use a limited amount of space to grow my craft. I wanted to catch all the nuances and details we may take for granted on a daily basis. The living room and bedroom were popular spots. However, in the second half of the story, my descriptions ventured outside. That was a bit scary at first, but I kept reminding myself that this was all a part of learning to be a better writer.

How do you construct your characters?
All my characters are based on people I’ve met or a combination of characteristics based on my observations. I enjoy writing characters that affect me emotionally. Either I wish I could hang with them or I’d avoid them like the plague. But, they must interest me enough for me to spend time creating them for others to meet.

How is your main character completely different than you?
Oh, my. Adelle wasted too much time pining over Brandon and his breakups. I’d have gotten to the point. There is too much to enjoy in life. And spending hours getting ready for a date? That is so not me. <laughs>

Tell us something about yourself we might not expect!
I once had aspirations of being a backup singer in a band. In fact, we had many practice sessions and a photo shoot to launch the group. But, alas, tragedy struck our group before we got any further.
How do you create internal and external conflict in your characters?  I find conflict often the hardest to create when I start planning a book. I experience some kind of conflict on a weekly if not daily basis. I just pull from the memory archives. If that’s too personal or painful, I tap into the news. There’s no lack of conflict, internal or otherwise, in our world. It’s a matter of choosing the right combination of opposition to create something worth reading. I experiment and take note of how others respond after they’ve heard or read a scene. Open mic events are a great venue for testing the waters.
Give us a brief summary of Adelle and Brandon: Friends for Life :Adelle answered yet another phone call from Brandon about his latest breakup. After all, what're friends for, right? During their last stint at Coney Island, they'd pinky sworn to be friends for life. At twelve, that's great, but at twenty-four, not so much. Will Adelle succeed at keeping her true feelings for Brandon hidden...again?
Buy:  Paperback Kindle
Bio:Cassandra Ulrich was born on the beautiful island of St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, located east of Puerto Rico.  Living in the tropics fueled her imagination and daydreams.  For years, she wrote poetry and entered competitions.  However, only many years later did she discover joy in writing stories longer than a few pages.
She published her first young adult novel, “A Beautiful Girl”, in April 2011.  The inspirational novel has already touched many hearts ranging from teens to adults. Her second novel, “Love’s Intensity”, is a teen paranormal romance and was released on July 11, 2013. Her third, “Billiard Buddies”, a New Adult romance novella, was released on May 24, 2014, with Keith Publications. 
On June 25, 2014, she published/released “Real Purpose: You Are Special”, poetry written while in high school and college. She released “Life Experienced” later that summer. On June 25, 2016, she published/released two more poetical compilations: “Encouraging Through Sharing: A Christian’s Perspective” and “A Love Gift”. "I Exist. Hear Me." won first place in the South Jersey Writers’ Group 2018 Poetry Contest, and her short story, “Adelle and Brandon” was released on August 29, 2018.
She also has one manuscript, "If It Kills Me", in contract with Keith Publications, and her short story "Zale’s Tale" won a spot in “Beach Fun” to be released by Cat & Mouse Press in October 2018.
Find Cassandra:Author Website | Journey Blog | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter | Amazon Author Page




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Recommendations ~ Newsletter Ninja Book by Tammi Labrecque

Today we're talking newsletters.
Newsletters? Yep. We want to deliver a strong, vibrant newsletter to our actively involved list. The bad news is that so does everyone else who sends out a newsletter.  So how do you stand out in the “inbox crowd”?
Well, I’ve been to countless seminars, webinars and read endless books on the subject.  But recently I purchased a book that resonated so strongly with me that I decided to share my secret weapon with you and post about it.

Newsletter Ninja: How To Become An Author Mailing List Expert by Tammi Labrecque.
It’s a quick read because it's interesting and informative, and I encourage you to highlight passages you find intriguing. THEN take the time to go back and reread the parts you’ve highlighted. For me, that was a slew of pages, and I know that’s where my answers will found.
It was nice to see that according to her thinking, I was doing many things correctly, and a few things not so right.  Again, this book is a guide, not a strict recipe for success because it may not tick all your boxes.  There were a few items she suggested that made me wince, but I’m going to reread them because wincing means either I should do this and don’t want to, like cull your mailing list !!, or I’m just not comfortable with that specific idea. 

And that’s okay.
That means I can take the idea or philosophy as Tammi calls it, and make it work for me another way, or not.  And isn’t that what we want, a guidebook to help us see new things in new ways?
Here are a few of lines that grabbed me:
“First, you are not selling what you think you are. Second, if all you’re using your list for is selling, you’re doing everything wrong.”
WOW. I read on and realized I’m not doing everything wrong, but I was using my mailing list for selling.  I admit this publicly.
“Do not make business decisions based on your own consumer behavior.”
Another wow.  
“You are not your reader.”
I agree, but had not seen it put forth in the context she used.
“But you are a Rockstar.”
Really?  Okay, maybe I can buy into that. Watch out Elton John, your high heels got nothing on mine

New Fabulous Partner ~ The Hungry Jpeg

We all need design partners, from graphics to fonts to help.  That's why I've been cultivating partnerships with companies I use and believe they offer the best selections with a more than fair price and great licensing.
Today I'm proud to announce I've been accepted as a  partner for The Hungry Jpeg!!
You'll see announcements on specials and freebies here or on my  facebook  or facebook author page 

Here are a couple of fun and well-priced collections to browse through 

Pink Autumn $3

Comes as an.SVG DXF EPS and PNG cutting file. $2

Autumn Bundle 138 pieces of clipart and papers $8

And these are but a teeny tiny selection that I chose to show you. And don't forget to check out their freebie pages!!

Please welcome The Hungry Jpeg mascot, Jeffrey!!

And as always, yes I do receive a small commission if you buy from my blog, my sidebar or from Facebook.  There is no additional costs to you. 
I hope you love The Hungry Jpeg as much as I do.~L.A.



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Latest DesignCuts Bundle~It’s A Doozy!!

Okay, I just got word of this new bundle and had to pass it on. 
I may use the word amazing too often, but as I scrolled through the designs I mentally designed all sorts of new things.  
This bundle has tons to offer every designer and I highly recommend that you scroll through all the designs.
Then tell me if you drooled as much as I did.  
Which one is your favorite(s)?


Have fun~L.A.

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