Dani Collins's Blog, page 52

September 20, 2014

#SampleSunday - Hometown Hero (3)

Good morning!

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I'll get to the excerpt in a minute (you can scroll down to it, it's marked) but first I wanted to answer a question I often hear. Where can I buy your books?

What most people are really asking is, Why can't I get [insert title] where I prefer to buy books?

The short answer is, Because publishing has changed. I won't give you a history lesson, but we all know that e-books have caused the status quo to stop and cough.

Basically authors have three choices these days:

Traditional print publishers who release it in print and digital with standing orders for mass distribution to book stores, drug stores, Target, Walmart, etc. Harlequin does this with my Presents/Moderns. The books are also translated for internations markets. Note that 'Trad Pubs' (I'm teaching you the lingo) might go digital only, or digital first, as Harlequin did with my erotic romances.
Small, mostly-digital press who may or may not release it in print and would have limited distribution via online ordering or a book store placing an order for that book. Some of these small press outfits have connections overseas, but their bread and butter is digital books within North America.
Publish it yourself which means eating the cost of the editing, cover and formating, learning to publish, but you have more control in all aspects of the book and reap the bulk of the royalties.

Here's another fancy phrase: Hybrid Author. That's what I am. I have books in all those streams. I'm not saying every author should, but it works for me and I'm happy to share my reasons and experiences in a workshop. Email me.

The bottom line is, some of my books are digital only or exclusive to Amazon because of the publisher I've chosen to work with. (And who has accepted my manuscript and chosen to work with me.) This is how the publishing landscape has really changed. Authors have choices these days. It's quite empowering.

What does that mean for you, Dear Reader? It means that if you are die-hard paper book lover, you will miss out on a few of my titles. If you don't mind reading digital, but don't have a Kindle, no problem! There's an app for that. Go to the app store of whichever device you like and download the Kindle app. Voila! All of my books are now available to you.

Most of them are also available on Kobo and the other platforms. A few are exclusive to Amazon because Amazon offers specific promotional opportunities when you make your book exclusive to them. Many authors choose to 'enroll in KDP' and similar programs with Amazon because it improves their chances of being discovered there. Remember, authors have to think like publishers, which means they have to consider the best marketing strategies for each book.

This is the long way of explaining why Blame The Mistletoe is already available for pre-order on Amazon even though it doesn't release until Oct 13th while Hometown Hero comes out first (Sept 29th). It has to do with the marketing decisions made by my publisher, Tule, and me. I had input, which is a huge reason why I'm happy working with them and I'm already writing a third book for them before knowing how the first two will do.

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You see, in order to offer Hometown Hero at 99c for Sept 29th & 30th, we couldn't put it in the pre-order program. Honestly, there are so many factors to juggle, it's a full-time job in itself. But I believe they will all come out in print anthologies that will be available through Amazon so paper-book lovers stay tuned.

Ready for #SampleSunday? Here's what's happened so far:

Chase caught an eyeful of Skye. Then he said something stupid.
Skye gives Chase an earful. Then she feels stupid.

Prepare for agony, Dear Reader...

~ * ~

Skye woke to the buzz of her mobile on the bedside. She was just hung over enough to consider calling in sick, but she couldn’t. It would be bad enough facing the students and teachers snickering behind her back. She’d learned through the scandal-heavy months of her divorce that the first day after each horrid revelation was always the worst so she ought to just get it over with. Face the music.

But honestly, that tinkling ringtone was more than she could stand at the moment. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, wanted to pull the blankets over her head and die. What had possessed her to lose it like that? Wolcotts were good, solid, normal people with manners. If they had a complaint about something, they wrote a polite letter and requested a refund. When they had a disagreement with someone, they were the first to make apologies and amends. They didn’t pitch a scene in a public place.

The phone stopped and started again.

Snaking a hand from beneath the quilt, she snagged it and glanced at the face. Her brother’s photo glared at her. Sliding her thumb across the strip, she brought it to her ear. “Hey, Stan.”

“Why are you on the internet calling a major league pitcher a homophobe?”

“Whaaaat?” Her heart stopped. “That’s not funny.”

“Some kid posted it last night. It’s gone viral.”

“Noooo,” she cried softly, the sting of humiliation bleeding into her veins as she realized how easily that could have happened. Every second day, there was a new workshop or bulletin about kids and technology and cyber threats.

Still, she tried to will reality from manifesting.

Squinching her eyes shut, she curled deeper under the blankets. “Please tell me you’re joking,” she whimpered.

“Someone from Channel Nine’s news desk just called the house.”

“Stan—”

“I’m not kidding. Mom just got off the phone. I looked it up. It’s you and Chase Goodwin.”

“Oh Ga-awd. Remind Mom I love her, would you? Because I have to go throw myself off the back of Copper Mountain now.” She curled tight as a pill bug into the space under her blankets. “I hate my life, Stan. Why does it keep getting worse?”

He sighed, both sweetly protective and impatient at the same time. He hadn’t wanted her to marry Terry, especially so young. He hadn’t wanted her to stand by Terry while he sorted out his life, then keep living in this big, empty house. After their father died, he’d begged her to move back to the ranch. I’m not squeezing you out of your share, he had insisted a million times. This will always be your home, too.

But this house was her dream home, the one piece she had left of the Happily Ever After pie she’d been baking when she’d married Terry. Terry had felt guilty enough to sign it over to her, so why should she sell it?

“Goodwin’s a big deal,” Stan said. “You might wind up with quite a bit of attention. Come out here for a week or so until it blows over.”

Tempting, but along with everything else, she and his wife lived better apart. And if growing up on a ranch had taught her nothing else, it was that you didn’t let a bit of hardship defeat you. When you landed in the dirt, you got on your feet and back in the saddle before fear had a chance to take hold. It sucked. It meant feeling the bruises while you rode out the pain, but it had to be done.

“No, I’ll...figure it out,” she murmured, not even trying to imagine how. Get out of bed, shower, dress, drive to the school. Pretend everything was normal and fine.

Seriously? The internet? Why did God hate her?

“You know, you’re allowed to be angry, Skye, but you should take it out on Terry. He’s the one who cut you the raw deal.”

She was angry with Terry, but not enough to hurt him. He was her best friend. She loved him. Not as a husband, but as much as she loved Stan. Terry had tried so hard to be what everyone wanted him to be, to give Skye her dream—which hadn’t seemed like a big ask at the time, but it had turned out to be impossible.

Which was why she was so angry, she supposed. She came from simple folk and her dream hadn’t been far-fetched. All she’d asked for was a steady man who wanted to make a family and a good life. If things hadn’t worked out, it should have been due to a normal problem like money or cheating. She didn’t understand why her marriage had had to explode in such an extraordinary and public way. Wolcotts weren’t flashy. They didn’t demand attention. Why did her private business have to wind up in the spotlight?

On social media, for heaven’s sake. Really?

Her phone buzzed with a second call. Terry.

This was going to be a long, hard day in the saddle.

~ * ~

Quick reminder - This book is part of a five book series collaboration with the following books releasing on these dates by these authors:

Sept 22 - Sing Me Back Home, by Eve Gaddy
Sept 25 - Finding Home, by Roxanne Snopek
Sept 29 - Hometown Hero, by Dani Collins
Oct 2 - Long Way Home, by Kathleen O’Brien
Oct 6 - Home For Good, by Terri Reed

Do you want to know the minute my books come out, so you can take advantage of that 99c intro price? Join my newsletter! I always draw for a signed copy of my next print book from my subscriber list so you could win a copy of The Russian's Acquisition, my November Harlequin Presents.

You could also enter this Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition, which opens Sept 23rd. I'm including the widget for those visiting from the future:

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Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Russian's Acquisition

by Dani Collins

Giveaway ends October 23, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Okay, must get back to making up stories. Further to above about where to get my books...

All my Harlequin titles are available on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.

Want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc? Click here for Dani's Social Media links and take your pick.

Please check in for #TeaserTuesday. I'll be starting excerpts from Blame The Mistletoe. Oh! #SpoilerAlert. I didn't think ahead to this--Blame the Mistletoe opens at a cocktail party hosted by Skye & Chase. If you feel strongly about reading books in order, you might want to skip these #TeaserTuesday excerpts until you've read Hometown Hero.

Enjoy your weekend.

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 20, 2014 10:00

September 18, 2014

#Thursday13 - Random Notes From Conference

Okay, I'll just come out and admit that I did a terrible job of taking notes at conference.

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I've been promising and promising that I'd share some of my notes from various workshops and I have now reviewed my notebooks and half the time I didn't even write down which workshop I was in or who was speaking.

Occasionally--I remember this much--I would drift off into my own genius thoughts about what might make a good blog topic, or how to resolve an issue in my WIP, or an epiphany would strike that was vaguely connected to whatever was being said, but it was my own interpretation that made sense only to me.

I think 1 & 2 are Hugh Howey. I know the next few were from a workshop on emotion that I entered late. The last three are from a workshop on writing a series. Here ya go:

The authors making six figures a month are outliers. Most writers are never going to make a living at it.
Writers who give themselves a break between books just have more time off to hate themselves.
Stories are about people being uncomfortable.
Readers come to story for what's below the surface.
Story = what we say aloud vs. what we're really thinking.
Inside I'm a raging mess and I'm trying to keep you from seeing it. (Where does the mess come from?)
"...the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." ~ TS Eliott
What does our specific past teach us will happen? This forms a misbelief that helps us for a while, but now it no longer does. Write the scene where the misbelief took hold.
Be Specific
Readers turn to story to be vulnerable with the characters because they don't want to be that vulnerable in real life.
Release on a consistent schedule as quickly as possible.
Build a rich world with layers and compelling problems. Build a website for it. (hahahaha.)
Love your characters.

Honestly, I expected more from myself too. I missed a couple of workshops I really wanted to attend. No, I wasn't drinking. Conflict of commitments. It happens.

My next assignment for myself, and this one genuinely is more detailed, is to transcribe my notes for the various proposals I sketched out while I was away. Sorry, but those will have to go through due process before you see them. By that I mean, you'll have to wait for the book(s).

But believe it or not, I'm really pleased to have gone through my notes at all. It's one more thing off my To Do list and that stuff on emotion was really interesting. I was peeved that I arrived late and missed her lead-in. And no, I can't figure out what it was called. I just spent five minutes looking through the whole schedule.

And it's late and I'm tired and just remembered as I was shutting down my computer that I hadn't posted today and didn't want to blow it off.

But the rest is all about reruns on excerpts so if you've read them all, you can close out and come back for #SampleSunday this weekend.

~ Excerpt Links ~

Want a sneak peek at my next book? Here's a #SampleSunday for Hometown Hero. It releases Sept 29th at 99c for the first two days, then it goes up to $2.99. These excerpts will continue until Sept 28th.

Want more? I got more:

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - final instalment from my August Harlequin Presents, includes links to previous.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - the first book in my 2in1 Erotic Romance Collection. Post includes links to previous.
#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master - the second book in my 2in1 Erotic Romance Collection. This post includes links to all the previous.

I have a Goodreads giveaway starting Sep 23rd, but if you like free books, please join my newsletter for a chance to win a copy of my next print release The Russian's Acquisition. I always draw from my subscriber list.

Want to just buy one of my books?

For earliest delivery on my Harlequin titles, buy from Mills & Boon UK site, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus as they appear there soonest.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Have a great evening.

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 18, 2014 21:00

September 16, 2014

#TeaserTuesday - The Russian's Acquisition

Since I just received a review on this one, I thought I'd offer up a taste from the actual book. This review is from RT Book Reviews (4 1/2 Stars!):

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And for those of you reviewing my blog, in which I have countless times promised to review my conference notes and organize the tips for my writer friends, here is a little something from Protecting Your Joy, a workshop given by Maisey Yates and Jackie Ashenden.

"Reviews are not for the author. They're for other readers." ~ Maisey Yates

Maisey also said:

"Writing is my job and if I had a hobby, it would be writing."

Which I include because I love it and feel the same way.

Going back to reviews, I agree with her there, too. I recently read a comment from a reader that said she likes to see negative reviews because that helps her decide if she can live with that particular flaw. For eg. if one reader says, "I hate Marriage of Convenience stories," but another reader loves them, this comment actually sells the book to her. So negative reviews are in the eye of the beholder.

I still dislike beholding negative reviews, however. I'm much more tickled with ones like the above. So, because I'm in such a great mood now, I will give you this quickie from The Russian's Acquisition.

~ * ~

“Did you travel with him?” he asked with exaggerated patience.

“I was supposed to, but he died before I went anywhere. Go back to that bit about why you…” She couldn’t bring herself to say “want” when it sounded as though the sexual attraction drowning her wasn’t affecting him. She shivered in a hot-cold shudder of uneasiness while blood rushed under her skin, flushing warmth into her chest, making her breasts feel swollen and sensitized. Her hips longed to press into his, seeking the hard length that had nudged her when they kissed.

He knew what he was doing to her. A smug gleam lit his narrowed eyes as his gaze dropped to her lips. He started to lower his head.

Jerking hers back, she gasped, “I haven’t agreed.” But did she really want to step onto the street at midnight with her meager possessions and become one of the homeless? Her few shallow friendships were all with people she worked with. They wouldn’t take her in for fear of losing their jobs. She didn’t have a cushion of savings, just a credit card she couldn’t pay off if she didn’t have an income.

The direness of her situation began to hit home. At least this afternoon she’d been sure she could find some kind of menial work, but not now. Any character reference out of the firm after today would be career-stoppingly negative. Flicking a look from his set jaw to his penetrating eyes, she whispered, “You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

“I lost my redeeming qualities years ago,” he agreed, something dark flickering in his gaze. “Which means there’s no appealing to my better nature. Make this easy on both of us and give in, Clair.”

She was tempted to. She didn’t have anything to lose and no one to answer to while he was dangling—what? A night? A reprieve at any rate, one that advertised a fringe benefit of physical satiation she had never expected to want. The emptiness of a one-night stand was, well, empty enough to make her ache, but she wasn’t in the market for a real relationship, so…

“Why extend your takeover to include me?” she asked in a voice more husky than the disparagement she was aiming for. “Didn’t you get enough out of scooping up the firm from a dead man?”

“He was still alive when I started proceedings and no, I didn’t get anything near what I wanted. Don’t make out like you’re some kind of prey just because you’re used to being the predator. You get to keep the money,” he taunted softly.

“No matter what?” The jerky toss of her head was supposed to convey brash confidence. The question was real, though. She couldn’t help being seduced by the prospect of running the foundation her way, without needing approval on every detail. Without having to reveal that each of those details touched her personally and that was why she was fighting so hard for them. “I’m not into anything kinky,” she warned. “If you’re looking for someone to spank you, move along to the next girl in the secretarial pool.”

“I’m not the submissive in any relationship,” he assured her dryly. “I like straight sex and lots of it. I don’t hurt women, ever, if that’s what you’re dancing around asking. I might play with dominating one, controlling her…” He flexed his hands on her elbows, making her breasts press into his chest.

Excitement returned with a spear of pleasure straight into her loins. She gasped.

“If she likes it,” he murmured.

~ * ~

Like it? Preorder The Russian's Acquisition here.

You can tune in for proper #SampleSunday excerpts from The Russian's Acquisition starting Oct 5th.

Next week's #TeaserTuesday (Sept 23rd) will start a four week series from my Montana Born Christmas book, Blame The Mistletoe.

I'll continue with the Hometown Hero #SampleSundays until it releases Sept 29th.

Hometown Hero is one of five in a series set during Homecoming in Marietta, Montana. Here's the line-up of authors who collaborated on this series along with the release dates for their titles:

Do you want to know the minute my books become available? You will when I tell you that Hometown Hero will have a special introductory release price of 99c!

Join my newsletter to be notified when it goes on sale. I also draw for a signed copy of my next print book from my subscriber list so you could also win a copy of The Russian's Acquisition or get an advance copy of one of my future books.

I've set up a Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition. It doesn't start until Sept 23rd, but here's the widget, in case you stumble across this post while the contest is live:

The Russian's Acquisition

by Dani Collins

Giveaway ends October 23, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I must get back to work. I put down one thousand fresh words today on my spring book for Montana Born, which is not great output, but the first thirty pages are always a bit slow as I try to get a handle on the characters. Now I have a few more marketing tasks and hopefully a few more hundred words ahead of me before I have to cook supper.

Need something to read while you wait for my new releases? Harlequin has marked down the digital copy of More Than A Convenient Marriage? by $2.00 until the end of September (I think! They said 2 weeks from Monday the 15th.)

Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk also have it knocked down to almost half price.

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Note that the N.American version is a 2in1. Those are the first two books in my Makricosta series. If you haven't read them yet, this is a great time to start since I just turned in Book Four. (Like to read in order? Start with No Longer Forbidden? then More Than A Convenient Marriage? Book Three is An Heir To Bind Them.)

I'm insanely delighted to say that my erotic romance collection has been ranked #1 in romance, erotica for over a week. I keep taking screenshots, figuring there must be some error somewhere. Note that it's been marked down a little bit, too. Buy Dani's Erotic Romance Collection on Kobo here.

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Here are some of my other recent releases. As mentioned above, An Heir To Bind Them is Book Three in the Makricosta series. The Ultimate Seduction is a sex with a stranger story--reader reviews give top marks to Tiffany. If you like the erotic reads, The Secret in Room 823 is for you. Lady Hamilton Smythe has a thing for bondage.

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All my Harlequin titles are available on Mills & Boon UK, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus.

Want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest...etc? Click here for Dani's Social Media links and take your pick.

I expect to post on Thursday, unless I completely zone out. Not sure what you'll see yet, though. Have a great week.

Cheers,

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 16, 2014 15:31

September 13, 2014

#SampleSunday - Hometown Hero (2)

September 11, 2014

#Thursday13 - Ways To Make Promoting On Social Media Easier

If you're not a natural narcissist like me, you might find the online promoting thing a bit of a pain. To be honest, I have my moments. On the one hand I enjoy being artsy (note that that does not mean I have any skill at art, I merely enjoy messing around with artsy stuff like Photoshop.) On the other hand, I don't make money from creating stuff like this banner:

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Which I'm only claiming responsibility for so you'll see why I write for a living instead of doing this sort of thing. (#StarvingArtist #Don'tQuitYourDayJobAsAStarvingWriter.) FYI, I've been waiting impatiently for my thirteenth cover so I could make this banner for my #Thursday13 posts.

Honestly, I could probably fritter away all sorts of time on the promoting side of writing. I don't hate it. There. I've come out of the closet and said it. I find tweeting and Facebook posts and blogging a nice cross-training break from the marathon that is the writing of a novel. You exercise different muscles. You can experiment without (hopefully) doing too much damage. Every little bit of promo helps whether it's great or so-so. You will benefit in some way, even if you're learning what you like and what you hate.

At least, that's what I tell myself to justify killing an hour on something that is not word-count.

But for new authors, or old-hats who shudder at the thought of tweeting, but are being press-ganged into it by their publisher, I thought I'd offer a few tips on how to streamline and make it less burdensome.

Surgeon General's Warning: This is strictly my experience. I am not a Twitter Doctor, nor a Facebook Expert. I know very little about algorithms or the best time to post or how to drive traffic to your website. I'm talking to the writer who has set up some social media accounts, knows they have to do something and feels like they're spinning their wheels. I hope this helps:

Don't Try To Do It All. Figure out the one or two you can do well. Facebook and Twitter have the most reach. Your blog gives you the most space and freedom. Instagram and Pinterest are visual. What do you like? How much time are you willing to spend daily? Weekly? I found that after I concentrated on building my skills with Facebook and Twitter, it became easier to coast and maybe spend fifteen minutes a couple of times a day on them. Now I have time to develop some facility with Instagram. My goal is to develop my presence on Pinterest and Google+, but I'm not there yet. Which leads me to:

Do Claim Your Name. At least take the time to make an account in as many places as you can. Claim the name you intend to write under, direct traffic to your website, and upload a photo and short bio. Which means you should:

Write Some Bios of various lengths. Write three or four and update them with your current titles and any awards on a regular basis. Have a couple in first person, a couple in third. If you write for different publishers, slant them to focus on those titles or genres. Take a day to prep these and you will thank yourself forever. Which is one way to:

Automate Repetitive Tasks. I would like to say I'm super good at this. I'm not, but when I do take the time to, for instance, setup a blog tour template, I am grateful down the road. Another example would be to pre-write tweets. I'm going to talk more in a minute about content and when to reuse tweets, but for now, just trust me. Pre-write some with hashtags and links then learn to cut and paste (right-click, Copy, right-click, Paste OR Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V. Mac users: Cmd-C, Cmd-V) You are so welcome.

Content: This is a #Thursday13 post in itself and I think I might make it into one. Look for that in a future post. For now I'll just mention that there is a golden rule that you should entertain, inform and reciprocate more often than you sell. This is pretty self explanatory, but I'll add that no matter what you do, you should:

Be Authentic. Publicity specialists will talk about brand here. ie: Post content that reflects your brand. I struggle with this. My tagline is Author of Sexy, Witty, Vibrant Romance. When I was working on this, I was thinking of going with Sexy, Witty, Edgy. I asked my daughter for her opinion. She said, "Witty is good. Can you maintain the rest?" Thanks, darling. But it was good feedback and the reason I say I write Sexy, Witty, Vibrant romance. Am I vibrant? So freaking vibrant it's blinding. Are all my posts Sexy, Witty, Vibrant? No. I hit share on things that make me laugh or think. My personal belief--experts may barf on this opinion--is that readers want to know who the author is. I try to be me. That's my real brand. Dani Collins. Experts can lump it.

Re-purpose Content. Or, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But not quite the way it sounds. Note: I had a website professional tell me to repost Facebook content every week to reach different segments of your followers, but I don't personally do this. What I'm talking about is quoting your own work and referencing past blog posts (as I did above with the link to setup a blog tour template. A lot of my tweets and Facebook posts are quotes from my books. I've already written those words. Why not use 'em? Eg. Good girl, Tiff. Keep biting back what you really want to say. It's not like that got you into these skin grafts. ~ The Ultimate Seduction. Every week when I write this #Thursday13 post, I cut and paste a bunch of stuff from recent posts about my contests and links to other excerpts. I review it before I hit 'send', often rewrite bits, but this allows me to Automate the inclusion of links and Reuse posts I've already written. (By that I mean I'm directing new visitors to content they may not have seen yet.)

Schedule Your Posts. This advice seems to fly in the face of being authentic, doesn't it? Many experts will call you a lying whore for showing up on Twitter when you are not really there. Here is the primary reason I use it: Time Zones. I schedule tweets to hit the airwaves so my Aussie and UK fans see my Mills & Boon links during their midday and my US fans get the ones with Harlequin and Amazon.com links. I schedule (Automate) posts like funny or inspirational quotes in the same way. Then I tweet and posts in real life about my day when something interesting happens to me. Like a mammogram. And by that I mean, I'm very boring which is why I post funny and inspirational quotes and not so much personal stuff.

Integrate Your Social Media Accounts. This is a bit of an advanced move, but it can be a huge timesaver and really help you Repurpose Content. Eg. One Instagram photo of my Author copies goes to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (I suck at Tumblr. Do not be impressed that I just name-dropped it.) I also then upload the photo to Pinterest. That sounds impressive, but it's not. It's also not hard once you set it up. The hardest part is remembering to do it. So look into this, talk to some experts (by that I mean teenagers), read some books. Here's my golden tip from what I've learned about integration: link Facebook posts to automatically post to Twitter, but Do Not automatically post your Twitter feed to Facebook. Clogs up the newsfeed. Facebook people hate that and will sent Sam and Dean after you with holy water and the special knife.

Post Regularly. This is where a lot of people whimper and scurry away. This does not mean you have to post every fifteen minutes. It means form a few social media posting habits. One of my first was #SampleSundays. I didn't have a lot of time for blogging when I was working full time and launching my writing career. I made a commitment to get something up on Sundays and it's usually an excerpt from an upcoming book. Yes, I repurpose content that's already written. Since it's a series of posts, I link to previous ones (cut/paste - it's not hard) and since it's regular, people know to check in for it. Go back up to the first item on this list if you're getting hives from the word 'regular.'

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words.

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A few weeks ago, my daughter baked a strawberry-rhubarb pie. I sent out a photo to the family to show off her skills. My dad responded with, "Remember when we brought you cake?" (Because they had showed up with some a few nights before and left it with us.)

Today, my mom sent through this photo of a peach pie she had baked. She's feeling competitive, I guess.

Photos are fun and colorful and if they have a cute story, they're a super-easy post. I've already Repurposed both of these into Facebook posts for a Facebook party being hosted by one of my publishers, Tule, for their Montana Born Fall Fair Series. I dropped the first one on Instagram and Pinterest and will likely follow up with the peach pie. Not sure if either of these pies is Sexy, Witty or Vibrant. They're personal, though. They are authentically mine via DNA. (Kind of. Pie-baking is one of those skills that skips a generation in our family.) I hope you are entertained. Or maybe inspired. I'm gonna bet, if nothing else, you're hungry.

BLOGGER IS EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

This blogging platform, Ghost, is really great until it's not. It just freaked out that I interruped my list with photos and a story. In order to get the #'s 12 & 13, I've had to change my formatting. tsk Bonus lesson with Social Media promoting: be flexible.

12 - Spend Some Time, Not All Your Time. I'll admit it. This post has taken longer than I meant it to. That's because I'm trying to be authentic and offer genuine tips. Sometimes you can get lost in the online wormhole. Expect that quality can take time--just like real writing!--but you will get faster the more you practice. Everyone hates doing something if they feel like they're bad at it. Be willing to do the work to learn and improve.

13 - Have Fun! Social media platforms are the online equivalent of church, the community hall and the grocery store. Sometimes you bump into people you know. Sometimes you talk to strangers. If you're troubled, it's fair to share your angst and ask for advice. But walking around saying, "I hate the world and everything in it" will get you about as many online friends as it does in real life. If you truly, madly, deeply hate posting online, then don't! Somewhere up there I mentioned experimenting without doing too much damage. If you are an authentic crabby-cakes then I give you permission to keep that off the air-waves.

Note: I pre-wrote this post before I went away. For some reason I didn't post it and I just started a different #Thursday13 today that began to look like A Lot Of Work. In an effort to manage my time better, I'm reviewing this and posting it. It's better now than it was. You're welcome.

Want a sneak peek at my next book? Here's a #SampleSunday for Hometown Hero. It releases Sept 29th at 99c for the first two days, then it goes up to $2.99.

Like free excerpts? You can find a snippet from my August novella, The Secret In Room 823 here. (Until recently, it was available in the UK as a lone title. In N.America it had to be purchased as one of five in The Chatsfield Boxed Set, Vol 2.

If you'd like a further demonstration of my cutting, pasting, and repurposing abilities, along with links to even more excerpts you might not have read yet, or information on how to win a signed copy of my print books and buy links for all my titles, please continue to read.

Book Blurbs - for all five of my summer titles
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Six consecutive excerpts from my June Harlequin Presents. Post includes links to the previous five.
#SampleSunday - The Ultimate Seduction - fifth instalment from my August Harlequin Presents, includes links to previous. One more to go.
#Thursday13 - The Secret In Room 823 (part of
Mills & Boon's The Chatsfield series).
#TeaserTuesday - Mastering Her Role - the first book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Includes links to previous.
#TeaserTuesday - Playing The Master - the second book in this Erotic 2in1 Collection. Click on the #SampleSunday tag in this post and it should give you all the posts in that series.

Want to just buy one of my books?

For earliest delivery on my Harlequin titles, buy from Mills & Boon UK site, eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus as they appear there soonest.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

I hope I've helped a few people. Please do check back for another #SampleSunday from Hometown Hero this weekend. Cheers,

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 11, 2014 11:26

September 10, 2014

#WhatTheWednesday

I missed #TeaserTuesday because I had to take my car for a service. This is a bit of a big deal, driving all the way to the Big Smoke, three hours away.

However, sitting in dealerships, bored enough to stalk myself, has turned out well for me. Yesterday I happened upon this. Note the cute little #1 next to in Romance, Erotica.

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That's out of more than 87000 titles. I'm pretty stoked. Back in the spring, when I was buying this vehicle, I got this:

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I rather like Amazon's pretty tag. It kind of blows your mind when you come across it attached you your own book. Of course, seeing books with my name on them is pretty mind-blowing. Not that I can really appreciate it, here in my office:

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Yes, it's out of control over there. Bad Feng Shui, I'm sure. Organizing all of that into giveaways is on the top of my To Do List. Also, as it happens, on the top of my Nice Problems To Have list.

I want to get a start on my third Montana Born book today, but I do have a lot of housekeeping to get out of the way so I can concentrate, including making some promo decisions and arrangements on the first two Marietta stories.

I tell you this so you know that I'm not completely slacking off over here, when I miss my blog posts. Today was going to be a head-down, plow through my admin tasks day. Then I got a special invite to a shop in our local town. One of the stores is closing. I should say, the last decent clothing shop is closing. Which makes me super sad.

We've had a difficult run in our little town. In the last year, we've lost a drug store, a clothing store, this second clothing store, and this morning the cable guy told me the gadget store (like Radio Shack) is also shutting down. A woman at the gym mentioned there are 150 real estate listings. Lots of retirees down-sizing, I guess.

So I was tempted to shop for conference clothes at a discount, but my son wanted to go with me--they also carry a lot of hip, surfy brands like Ripcurl. But he got called into work, then the cable guy showed up. (And informed me we need a new router, which I will buy where?)

Honestly, my brain looks like that picture above. Tons of boxes open with stuff that should be looked at, labeled, sorted and shelved. Side note: I was also going to buy a new vacuum while we were in the Big Smoke yesterday. You know how to save 100% on the cost of a new vacuum? Forget your purse at home.

I remembered about ninety minutes into our drive. Kinda too late to turn back. Thankfully, when I called the dealership, they said they'd float me a twenty-four-hour loan on that oil change. My son had to buy me lunch.

But this is what I'm getting at. My mind is scattered all over the place lately. I really need to do some mental and physical housekeeping before I start another book (at which point it will all go to heck again.)

So please bear with me on the blog posts that aren't. According to my horoscope, this is a great time for behind-the-scenes work before the sun comes into my sign on the 21st. I'll make that my goal: Be so on top of myself by the first day of Fall.

But since I've missed my #TeaserTuesday, here are some links that I dug up for the Makricosta series. If you've missed some of these excerpts, you can catch up here:

#SampleSunday - No Longer Forbidden - Book One, Nic & Rowan. This manuscript was my First Sale, but it didn't come out in North America until it was paired in a 2in1 with More Than A Convenient Marriage in December 2013. This post is the opening pages to this book and has a link to a prequel kiss and an excerpt from Chapter Five. I hadn't really found my feet with #SampleSunday yet so there isn't a series of six like I usually do for my Presents titles.
#SampleSunday - More Than A Convenient Marriage - Book Two, Gideon & Adara. This post gives you links to the previous five in the series.
#SampleSunday - An Heir To Bind Them - Book Three, Theo & Jaya. This post links to the previous five.

My next Harlequin Presents, The Russian's Acquisition, is coming November 1st and is available for pre-order now.

My Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition starts Sept 24th, but I'll drop the widget in here, in case you're visiting from the future.

The Russian's Acquisition

by Dani Collins

Giveaway ends October 23, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Does it say 'Embedded Javascript' in big bold letters below that widget? I don't know why. I write and I copy and paste. I don't code, so occasionally weird stuff shows up where I don't want it. Apologies.

Here are my most current titles in case you've missed some. Scroll down for the buy links and Thank you for being such an awesome fan.

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All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Please keep checking back. I will post often, if not predictably. Cheers,

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 10, 2014 10:53

September 6, 2014

#SampleSunday - Hometown Hero

Welcome to Marietta!

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The cover of my new book is gorgeous, right? I wish I was as talented as the amazing staff at Tule Publishing. Alas, no. It took me all morning to craft this banner from a photo I'd taken a few years ago. MrC and I were celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary (we're actually high school sweethearts) and we took off to Halcyon Hot Springs in Nakusp. Here's another photo from that very relaxing weekend.

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Wish you were there? Me, too.

But enough nostalgia. I'm introducing my upcoming book to be published by Tule's Montana Born imprint. The stories in the various series are written by a number of award winning authors and are set in the fictional town of Marietta, Montana, full of ranchers, cowboys, bad boys and good girls.

I have two Marietta books coming this fall and a third planned for the spring. They're all linked, so once you meet Skye and Chase in Hometown Hero, you can visit them again in my Christmas book, Blame The Mistletoe, and then again in early 2015. Trust me, Marietta is a place you want to come back to.

Note: My Marietta stories are novellas so they're shorter than my Harlequin Presents. (HPs usually weigh in at around 180 printed pages. These novellas are more like 100 pages and yes, you'll be able to get a print copy via Print On Demand. I'll have more info on that soon and will share it in a later post.)

Hometown Hero will have an introductory price, one day only of ninety-nine cents ($0.99)! Sometimes Amazon doesn't make the switch right away and you can squeak that discounted price a day before or after the sale date, but if you want to be sure to get this at $0.99 then plan to grab it on September 29th. And sometimes those discounts aren't available outside the US. These are things beyond my control. I'm sorry.

So what's this story about? Here's the back cover blurb:

Skye Wolcott planned to marry, have children, and live happy ever after in her hometown of Marietta, Montana. Then her marriage imploded in a cloud of scandal. Now she’d be happy if people would just stop talking about her.

Chase Goodwin worked hard to get away from Marietta, where poverty colored his past. Living his dream as a major league baseball player, he has no reason to return beyond helping his half-brother escape as successfully. The last thing Chase would consider is staying.

Then he sees Skye Wolcott, a girl he always had a thing for in high school. They get off to a rough start, but are soon carrying on like high schoolers. Chase wants her to join his fast-paced, larger than life world, but Skye’s a small town girl at heart. Can she convince him that Homecoming is more than a game, and he’s back where he belongs?

Want more? Here's the opening few pages:

~ * ~

Chase Goodwin was in the one place he had never wanted to come back to, especially in September: Marietta Senior Secondary.

At least he was in the gymnasium, the part of the school he could tolerate if he wasn’t on the field. Watching a basketball game would have been his preference, but it was a school dance complete with the kind of club music he hated. Not that he’d minded the dances so much ten years ago. The girls were as giddy and nubile as he remembered, but so young. They nearly leapt out of their skin to land on a boy. The boys were all limbs and pimples. Had he overflowed with that much fascination coupled with terror back then?

“It’s like watching kittens and puppies,” he said to Max beside him, one- time catcher to his pitch when it wasn’t football season. Max was a good four inches taller than his own six two and was twice as wide. He’d taken over Mr. Kelton’s job running the P.E. department and watched the poorly lit, gamboling teenagers like he was watching the progress of a game, ready to shout orders to pass.

Max flashed a grin. “You said you wanted to know what your brother was up to.”

No, what he’d said was, If you want some help with the teams, I’d love to keep busy while I keep an eye on my brother. Max had put in a good word for him with the new football coach, Mitch Holden. In exchange, Max had roped Chase into chaperone duty. So here he was, suckered into reffing body contact at a dance to raise money for the homecoming float.

Another slender, ripening body swished across his field of vision. Don’t look, he reminded himself, but—hold the phone. He recognized that ass.

Deep in the back of his brain, where a crew was supposed to be working to retrieve her name, every single cell dropped his tools to take a long drink of the female that had paused about ten feet away to talk to his old classmate, Chelsea Collier.

The woman was a knockout, athletic and tight beneath a red plaid shirt knotted at her waist. Faded blue jeans hugged her firm round ass and were painted against long thighs before they disappeared into sassy red cowboy boots. Her shiny brown hair cut a precise line across her shoulder blades, held off her face by a headband like Alice in Wonderland’s—exactly the way she’d always worn it and it was still too innocent a look for a body like that.

He couldn’t hear her over the music, but the way she leaned close to Chelsea and gestured gave an impression of animation and humor. From her profile, he could see pale, clear skin without so much as a freckle to mar it. Her cheek rounded and he glimpsed perfect teeth, braces gone. She smiled and nodded.

Brown eyes, he recalled, even though he couldn’t see them. She had melty brown eyes like a baby animal. The kind that made you want to cuddle her to your chest so she wouldn’t get stepped on. She used to look at him like that when he came up to his locker and she was already at hers. She’d hide behind her door and watch him like she didn’t quite trust him.

Maybe she’d known she made him hard.

Skye Wolcott.

God, he hadn’t thought about her in years. He’d made a concerted effort to forget everything about this town except to send money home and check in with his brother as often as possible. His reaction to Skye was as strong as he remembered, though. He tried to turn it off, exactly the way he had intentionally resisted the lure of her then. She’d been taken and so had he. She’d also been a lifer, obviously intending to die here in Marietta. He’d been determined to get a scholarship, preferably baseball, and leave. He’d set her on the out-of-bounds shelf and barely chucked her a Hey when he saw her.

He was ready to talk now. Hey girl. Damn.

“You’re staring, dude,” Max said, keeping his own eyes forward.

“That Skye Wolcott?” he asked, pretending he wasn’t sure. Pretending that was the only reason he was asking. Pretending he wasn’t blindsided by old lust that threatened his well-developed, no distractions, determination.

A blank pause before Max gave a jerky nod. “Yeah. She goes by her married name, Mrs. Baynard. It took me a sec to remember that’s who she used to be.”

Married? Fuck.

Oops. Where the hell had that come from?

Wait, “Terry Baynard? She married him?” Dusty pieces of history fell together, reminding him of the other reason he’d held off pursuing her.

“Yeah. People are saying she turned him gay.” Max rolled his eyes at the small-minded concept. “They’re divorced now. He moved to San Francisco, but she still uses his name. I don’t get how they’re still friends when he lied to her all that time and she was as shocked as anyone when he came out, but I guess they are.”

Chase stared at Skye’s back, dumbfounded. And a tiny bit uncomfortable. She must have known Terry was gay. Maybe the guy had been deep in the closet, but he’d known Terry was gay. He’d honest-to-God believed she was Terry’s beard. He had thought she was being nice to a guy who was obviously terrified of being found out, which had made him like her even though he barely knew her. He hadn’t totally understood why a girl like Skye Wolcott, with so much to offer, would tie herself up like that, but he hadn’t seen the point in going after her, wrecking Terry’s setup, when he wasn’t sticking around.

“So she’s not married,” he said, grasping at the most important detail.

“Yeah, but she’s not interested,” Max said matter-of-factly. He was married with two kids so his dismissive warning wasn’t male possessiveness. It was the tone they used to take when out-of-town players thought they could hit on the local girls. Small town wasn’t all small minds. There were things about it, people here that were nice. They were a community, a team. They looked out for each other.
Chase knew that and respected it.

“I’m not interested either,” he drawled. “Especially if she has the power to turn men gay—”

Oh shit. The music stopped. His voice, pitched to carry over the pulsing beat, came out nice and loud and hit Skye right between the shoulder blades. He saw her back jerk like an arrow had struck the middle of her spine. She turned and her vulnerable brown eyes weren’t the least bit soft and helpless.

Her eyes narrowed, dark and ferocious, wounded and angry. They fixed on him like the dark spiral of a tornado seeking its touchdown point.

Oh hell.

~ * ~

What do you think? I hope you liked it, but if small town's not your thing, don't worry. My next Harlequin Presents, The Russian's Acquisition, is coming November 1st and that one is available for pre-order.

I'll also have a Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition starting in a couple of weeks.

If you're a fan of my Makricosta Series, you'll be thrilled to know I've turned in Demitri's story. I'm awaiting revisions and don't want to jinx anything, but I expect him to come out sometime mid-2015.

I have another Presents to write by the end of the year and that third Marietta story. While I was away I did make notes on what I want to accomplish next year. It's typically ambitious. We'll see how I go.

I'm starting to concentrate on my fall titles, but here's a last look at my summer books, which are still available:

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All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Thanks so much for continuing to visit. Now that Demitri has been delivered, I'm taking a few days to catch up on things and hope to be finally, finally back to a regular posting schedule. Have a great weekend.

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on September 06, 2014 11:28

August 28, 2014

#Thursday13 - Things I Did Today

Pretty much a big #Fail on getting a decent #Thursday13 posted today. But I did have a reasonably productive day otherwise.

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To preface, I'll quote an actual conversation that took place between myself and MrC today:

Me: I know the house is a mess. Believe me, I know. I keep thinking I'll catch up when I'm not on deadline, but I'm always on deadline.

Him: I'm aiming for mid-September. Both kids will be back in school. We'll catch up then.

Note: I am driving our daughter back to university tomorrow, losing three days doing so. Thus, no progress on housekeeping. We live in BC. Still waiting to hear if son actually does have school come Tuesday. Le sigh.

Basically, I left mid July, came home sick as a dog, had houseguests for four nights, and I have been trying desperately to finish a manuscript for the end of August. Technically I have eight thousand words to go, but see above about being in a car all day tomorrow and you'll begin to see why a decent #Thursday13 post is beyond me.

However, in an attempt to feed myself a sense of success, I'll enumerate what I have accomplished today:

Two thousand words. This is a huge goal considering I was dead in the water two days ago, had to go back to about page fifty and figure out where I went wrong. Some fairly serious surgery later and my manuscript is back on its feet, proceeding slowly down the antiseptic smelling hall.
Author copies of The Russian's Acquisition received. You might say this has nothing to do with me, especially since my husband answered the door, but hello, I wrote the darned thing!
Three signed books sent, one to Marcy who won The Ultimate Seduction from my guest blog with iHeartPresents, one as a thank-you to the classmate who organized our high school reunion in July (which was a smashing success!) and one to a reviewer.
Gym. Yes, I worked out. Go me.
Purchased envelopes for mailing of signed copies. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is to me. I don't get into town much these days and I would have thrown myself in the river if I'd got all the way back home without them.
Beach! Again, doesn't sound like an accomplishment, but I hadn't been on the sand since before I left in July. My daughter and I love to go together as we have the same lifestyle on the beach, which is to say we like to read a book and ignore each other, then swim laps between the buoys. This was our last chance this summer so even though the sun was coming and going, we got an hour in.
Supper. Again, you would think this was a no-brainer in most households, but I avoid the making of a decent meal for my children like you wouldn't believe. This was not a fancy one, but it was healthy and somewhat home-made.
Cleaned the kitchen. I know, I know. Pedestrian. You don't know me. This can be a huge challenge so I give myself snaps when it's done.
Ordered something on Amazon for my father. For the third time. Long story, but we hope this is the charm.
Watched two episodes of Sherlock, the BBC version with Benedict Cumberbach. My sister got me hooked last weekend while she was in residence and I'm loving it. Could this be the reason I'm having trouble finding time for other, more important, things? Shhh.
Raised two great kids who love each other. I'll admit this wasn't just today, but when my son left his beloved computer to come down special and ask his older sister, "Since you're leaving tomorrow, do you want to play Mario Cart?" I got a little misty. I should mention that he called her by her nickname, which isn't flattering, but shows true fraternal love.
Wrote a blog post. Last minute, totally true, but it has happened.
Banking. Not my favorite thing, but a necessary evil. Will get to it right after I hit 'publish' here.

Watch for a Goodreads Giveaway for The Russian's Acquisition, which is the book I received today. Watch for The Russian's Acquisition to show up on my Books page, details of which I still have to send to my computer guy (hi Zak!). Also watch for my Sept/Oct releases from Tule's Montana Born imprint.

There's other stuff, but I just want to get Demitri's story finished. He's giving me grief, which is to be expected. The man is...sigh.

Want to be notified when Demitri (and all my other titles) become available? Join Dani's newsletter! If you'd like to see a sample of it read Dani's latest newsletter here.

Want to actually buy my books?

All my August Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

Not sure if I'll have something on Sunday. I'd like to, but I'll be traveling again. Might just be photos. We'll see.

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on August 28, 2014 21:02

August 26, 2014

#TeacherTuesday - Manage Your Time

As is often the case, I have spent the morning spinning my wheels. Sure I'm having fun and the view is nice, but I'm getting nothing accomplished, not even a decent blog post title.

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I wanted to start a series of posts on the conferences I attended during my Big Adventure. It's Back To School season, so it seems appropriate. I even had a great opener from Crucial Conversations. This is a book that was recommended to me by a friend who coaches high-level executives.

I haven't finished it, but yesterday I got to the part where the authors explain that any conversation can become crucial (emotionally charged with greater stakes, and thus more likely to derail) when one of the parties begins to feel fear.

Generally, we start to feel fear when we think we're about to be bullied or humiliated. (Haven't we all been there with a snarky boss or a cranky neighbor or even our partner?) The book breaks down the dynamics of conversations and offers tools to keep them from devolving into silence or animosity.

So there. After an hour of meandering around a point, talking about my technological problems, erasing and rewriting this post, I finally have a concrete point made.

And I have just changed the title of this post from Don't Be Afraid to Manage Your Time.

I'm a big believer in the Universe giving us what we ask for. You just have to be very careful what you're asking for, and recognize that it doesn't always sound like an 'ask.' For instance, my first draft of this post went on at length about my inability to manage time.

Dani, Dani, Dani, said I to myself. You know better. Manifest a reality where you learn to manage time. So here I am, trying to stay on point and get this post written so I can get back to writing manuscript words.

This time management scold also leads nicely into a quick recap of one of the first workshops I attended in San Antonio, which talked about utilizing Pinterest to:

Plan a book
Grow your fanbase
Sell direct

We writers all feel like social media takes away from writing real words so I went into the workshop looking for the magic bullet to make 'pinning' easy and effective without taking up my precious time.

And I won't plagiarize all of Kathy Wheeler, I have linked to her YouTube tutorials so you can follow up for more info. It's like repinning, but different and she really does know her stuff so check her out.

Now I'm going to marry the Don't Be Afraid theme to the Manage Your Time title, because fear really is the biggest waste of time imaginable. It stops us in our tracks. Fear of wasting time is probably the worst one, but if I hadn't messed up with this blog post on the first draft, I wouldn't have learned the lessons I've learned here today. As Bob Ross would say, there are no mistakes, only happy accidents. Pretty chill guy, that Bob Ross.

Here's the Footnote:

Ironically, I hadn't yet read to the part in Crucial Conversations when I sat in on the Pinterest workshop. I became very defensive and freaked out because I felt like I was doing Pinterest wrong. I felt I was being set up for failure when she suggested I create new content. I'm only one person!

You'll see my defensiveness in my holier-than-thou You Don't Have To Do This response in my blog post. I'm leaving that in for two reasons:

It demonstrates how we react emotionally and thereby screw up a simple message
I'm trying to manage my time by not rewriting this post again

The Crucial Conversation book stresses that if you can step out of the emotional vortex, you can engage your thinking brain--which immediately defuses your emotions--and actually find a solution to the problem that has arisen.

To that end, I have now recognized that I personally prefer to create my original content here, on my blog, rather than over there, on Pinterest.

I'll pin this, though. wink

Now I'll plug my summer titles, which are still available:

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All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

My intention is to post Sun/Tue/Thu, but I am on the road again this weekend. Seriously, it's a good thing I love my sisters because after spending three weeks with my youngest in Brisbane, I came home and had my middle sister camp in our yard for four days.

She left this morning and on Friday, I'm going to follow her and stay at her house for four days while I drop my daughter back at University. This is why I start to hyperventilate at how I'm using my time. I was supposed to finish a manuscript by the end of August and I'm never in my chair!

But family is important and that's another blog post so I'll end here. Have a great week.

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on August 26, 2014 11:07

August 23, 2014

#SweepUpSunday - Still Catching Up

This isn't a real #SampleSunday, but there is a sneak peek at my WIP if you scroll down.

For those of you who haven't seen it announced elsewhere, the winners of my Masked Desires contest are:

1) Ashley (His & Hers Masks)

2) Cherri-Anne (Tiffany Mask)

3) Catherine (signed copy of The Ultimate Seduction)

(Winners have been notified and prizes sent.)

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The contest is over, I'm home from my big adventure, I'm finally recovering from my cold, and summer is winding down. All of my summer titles are still available electronically, but the print copies of my August book, The Ultimate Seduction, are disappearing from shelves. (Hopefully in a good way.)

I didn't have much luck posting while I was away, mostly because I was completely enamored with my niece and nephew. Here's a photo from our walk along the river at Southbank in Brisbane:

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Now I've come home to the typical chores that have backed up while I was away. Dentist, laundry, dusting etc. My daughter is readying to return to university so I'll be out of town again before I've properly unpacked. I have to get her a new phone before she leaves too. So not excited about going through that process.

All I want to do is write. And I know you're as anxious for Demitri's story to be completed and on the shelves as I am! As of this writing I have roughly twenty-thousand words to go. It hasn't been seen by my editor at all, so things may change, but I wanted to share a snippet. Here's Demitri's first exchange with Natalie, the heroine:

~ * ~

“I need to speak to you,” Demitri said.

Natalie glanced up and felt the full impact of Demitri Makricosta, the youngest brother of the family that employed her. The one with the scandalously disreputable reputation. She’d seen him in person before, but always from a distance. Never like this, with his dark brown eyes pushing her back into her chair then making a proprietary inspection of her buttons.

He was incredibly attractive. That fact was legendary across the hotel chain and impossible to ignore when he was barely ten feet away.

She tried comparing him to his older brother, Theo, who bore a resemblance but was more polished, kept a low profile, was excruciatingly polite, and remembered every name and number he came across.

But there was no minimizing this man. All she could think was how Demitri was known for the wicked streak that was evident in his winged eyebrows and distant smile. Also for the women he picked up effortlessly and his utter disregard for little things like policies and procedures. Greek by birth, but raised in America, he had the Mediterranean warmth to his skin tone under a shadow of stubble. He dressed like a citizen of the world in tailored pants and a suit vest buttoned over his shirt that accented his very fine shoulders and trim waist. He looked like the hottest of the nineteen-twenties gangsters.

Bad. He looked very, very bad. Full to the brim with sin.

She glanced up from taking him in and her gaze tangled with his. One of his superior brows went up in challenge of her checking him out. This was definitely a different kind of man from any she’d ever known. Sharp and far too knowing. How mortifying to be so obvious.

Swallowing her discomfiture, she glanced at Monsieur Renault as she rose.

“I’ll go back to my office and you can call me when you’re done. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Makricosta,” she said as she approached the door, expecting him to move aside and give her a dismissive nod.

“It’s you I want to talk to, Miss...?” He held out a hand.

Shock made her hesitate before she placed her hand in his and was jolted by the warm grip that enclosed hers. “Adams,” she provided in a jagged, baffled voice. “Me? Are you sure?” Who did he think she was?

“I’m sure. Show me to your office.” He released her and waved her into the hall.

Brushing past him, cooking in self-conscious warmth, she walked ahead of him down the narrow hall to her shared office. Her co-workers were absent from their desks, leaving an isolated mood in the small, musty smelling room with its rain blurred windows.

When he closed the door behind them, she felt like all the oxygen was pulled out. “I’m not sure—?”

“Leave my brother-in-law alone,” he said flatly.

~ * ~

Natalie is not the least bit guilty of even flirting with a married man, don't worry! But Demitri's suspicions come around to boot him in the butt later. What do you think so far?

I have one more blog post to write for my blog tour, this one for my 2in1 Erotic Romances. This is the point in my post where I should offer a round-up but I've had family here the last few nights, spent the morning writing, and have to get off this computer and do something productive like wash dishes. Or clean my office. Or make my bed.

Has your summer left your house looking like it was rented out to raccoons like mine has?

I'll be honest and admit that I'm relieved to have the summer promotion blitz behind me. I have some time to finish up Demitri before I start promoting my next batch of new releases which are a pair of novellas from Tule Publishing coming late September and early October. I'm super excited to get those out to you and see what you think of my contribution to the wonderful town of Marietta.

I mentioned the titles and shared one of the covers in my last blog post, but I should have clarified that the October Montana Born (set in Marietta) book, Blame The Mistletoe, is a Christmas story.

Then I have a November Presents, The Russian's Acquisition, which looks like this:

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Super hot, eh?

So I have two Tule Montana Borns coming in September and October, a Presents in November, then another Montana Born (which I still have to write) that will come out in February, then a March Presents.

Want to be notified when my titles become available? Join Dani's newsletter!

Given this schedule, I should quit droning on here and do some real work, right? Sometimes these posts help me clarify where I'm really at, though, so I appreciate your patience in letting me drone.

I'll close with my buy links, in case you missed any of these awesome summer titles (or any of my others.) I'll also promise to look at my conference notes with an eye to offering some Tuesday and Thursday posts. Reviewing my notes is something I want to do anyway and turning them into a blog post helps me sort through them, so I really will try to get to that.

Finishing Demitri is my priority, though. My secret goal is to complete the draft by end of August. You'll be the first to know if I make it. Well, the second. I usually tell my husband when I've completed a manuscript so he knows I'll cook that night. That's a joke. But not entirely.

Have a great weekend.

All my Harlequin titles are available on the Mills & Boon UK site. eHarlequin and Mills & Boon Aus have them too.

These other fine retailers have my books too:

View more on Dani Collins's website »

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Published on August 23, 2014 15:26

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