Dani Collins's Blog, page 71
October 18, 2012
Not Ready For PrimeTime
Or
This is why it was a soft launch.
I discovered some problems so I have pulled Hustled To The Altar. It should be available again in a few weeks, but still only on Kindle.
This is why I didn't make a big splash with it. I'm testing the waters and, in this case, got as far as my belly button and had to run back to shore.
Stay tuned. (Brrr)
This is why it was a soft launch.
I discovered some problems so I have pulled Hustled To The Altar. It should be available again in a few weeks, but still only on Kindle.
This is why I didn't make a big splash with it. I'm testing the waters and, in this case, got as far as my belly button and had to run back to shore.
Stay tuned. (Brrr)
October 16, 2012
Oh Yeah, that’s me
You can buy it here: (Link Removed – Sorry. Will restore shortly.) Paper copy still coming soon (I’m only one person) then all the other devices next year.
Meanwhile, here’s the back cover blurb:
One con-artist bride…
The last thing Renny O’Laughlin wants to do on the day before her wedding is see her eccentric ex-boyfriend—the one with more dollars than sense who provokes the thrill-seeker inside her. But his grandmother just got duped. Renny has to tell Con before she marries another man and leaves forever.
One innovative ex-boyfriend…
Games-inventor Conroy Burke won’t buckle to convention, especially marriage. He’s crazy about Renny though. She’s the only woman able to keep up with him. When she explains how his Gran was tricked, Con sees an opportunity to convince his Wildcard she doesn’t really want to settle down.
One chance to sting a thief…
Renny agrees to identify the swindler to police, not expecting a caper with inept kidnappers, an ambitious reporter chasing the story—or her old feelings for Con to resurface. Marriage will make an honest woman of her, but getting Gran’s money back would prove it too, making it…
One hectic day before a wedding.
This is what’s called a ‘soft’ launch. Can you tell?
The post Oh Yeah, that’s me appeared first on Dani Collins.
Oh Yeah, that's me
You can buy it here: (Link Removed - Sorry. Will restore shortly.) Paper copy still coming soon (I'm only one person) then all the other devices next year.
Meanwhile, here's the back cover blurb:
One con-artist bride...
The last thing Renny O'Laughlin wants to do on the day before her wedding is see her eccentric ex-boyfriend—the one with more dollars than sense who provokes the thrill-seeker inside her. But his grandmother just got duped. Renny has to tell Con before she marries another man and leaves forever.
One innovative ex-boyfriend...
Games-inventor Conroy Burke won’t buckle to convention, especially marriage. He’s crazy about Renny though. She's the only woman able to keep up with him. When she explains how his Gran was tricked, Con sees an opportunity to convince his Wildcard she doesn't really want to settle down.
One chance to sting a thief...
Renny agrees to identify the swindler to police, not expecting a caper with inept kidnappers, an ambitious reporter chasing the story—or her old feelings for Con to resurface. Marriage will make an honest woman of her, but getting Gran's money back would prove it too, making it...
One hectic day before a wedding.
This is what's called a 'soft' launch. Can you tell?
October 10, 2012
October 5, 2012
Only in Canada, you say?
I'll come out and admit that I'm a bad Canadian in one particular respect. I don't care for Maple Syrup. I don't like maple-flavored anything.
But everything else about maple, I love. Our flag, the amazing colours of the leaves at this time of year, even the town I grew up in was named after these beautiful trees.
(photo courtesty of Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers)
I love the idea of tapping maple trees for their sap and making something yummy out of it. I love that my grandmother nursed a sugar maple for years, from one farm to another, hoping that one day it would be big enough to produce a few table spoons of sap. I love that Canada accounts for more than 80% of the world's supply of maple syrup. (The US supplies the remaining 20%, give or take.)
I was recently so taken with the idea, I have a heroine in an upcoming book with Harlequin Mills & Boon who grew up on an estate that produces the stuff.
That's why I was so aghast, aghast I tell you, to hear that more than 16,000 barrels (street value approx $20 million) was recently syphoned from the maple syrup reserves and stolen. This is the global strategic reserve, people. Canada is a Superpower of maple syrup production.
What I really appreciate about this story is its hallmarks of a truly Canadian story. I can see this as a movie starring Paul Gross. I mean, it's a Big Deal. It's a theft on a huge scale since we're talking about 16 tanker trucks worth, yet so quirky. Who decides this is a good idea and who thinks they can sell it? Who acts as a fence for 16,000 barrels of syrup? What kind of toque and mack-jacket wearing lumberjacks crept into the warehouse to accomplish this theft? (Can't you just see these MacKenzie Brothers alternately starting the syphon hose and smoking up, going into a sugar high fit of giggles?)
Fortunately, the police have tracked at least some of the stolen syrup to an export company in New Brunswick. They're sending it back to Quebec under guard. The export company thought the search was a joke at first. They bought the syrup in good faith--of course. They're Canadian! We're innocents. Yes, perhaps we'd be suspicious of someone trying to sell us a bridge or even question whether that really was a Hutterite chicken we just bought, but our beloved maple syrup?
The plot thickens as you read further into the Press Release at the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers website. The seizure is only a portion of what has gone missing and the Federation has accused this New Brunswick company in the past of buying from unauthorized syrup producers. Is this yet another anglo/franco conflict? Something motivated by revenge? Are we talking about industrial espionage?
We're talking about Canada, a big country capable of massive undertakings that ultimately result in kitchen table conversation. Want to educate the kids on our patriotic product while you enjoy your Saturday morning pancakes? Check out this link: Agriculture Canada - Maple Syrup.
But everything else about maple, I love. Our flag, the amazing colours of the leaves at this time of year, even the town I grew up in was named after these beautiful trees.
(photo courtesty of Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers)I love the idea of tapping maple trees for their sap and making something yummy out of it. I love that my grandmother nursed a sugar maple for years, from one farm to another, hoping that one day it would be big enough to produce a few table spoons of sap. I love that Canada accounts for more than 80% of the world's supply of maple syrup. (The US supplies the remaining 20%, give or take.)
I was recently so taken with the idea, I have a heroine in an upcoming book with Harlequin Mills & Boon who grew up on an estate that produces the stuff.
That's why I was so aghast, aghast I tell you, to hear that more than 16,000 barrels (street value approx $20 million) was recently syphoned from the maple syrup reserves and stolen. This is the global strategic reserve, people. Canada is a Superpower of maple syrup production.
What I really appreciate about this story is its hallmarks of a truly Canadian story. I can see this as a movie starring Paul Gross. I mean, it's a Big Deal. It's a theft on a huge scale since we're talking about 16 tanker trucks worth, yet so quirky. Who decides this is a good idea and who thinks they can sell it? Who acts as a fence for 16,000 barrels of syrup? What kind of toque and mack-jacket wearing lumberjacks crept into the warehouse to accomplish this theft? (Can't you just see these MacKenzie Brothers alternately starting the syphon hose and smoking up, going into a sugar high fit of giggles?)
Fortunately, the police have tracked at least some of the stolen syrup to an export company in New Brunswick. They're sending it back to Quebec under guard. The export company thought the search was a joke at first. They bought the syrup in good faith--of course. They're Canadian! We're innocents. Yes, perhaps we'd be suspicious of someone trying to sell us a bridge or even question whether that really was a Hutterite chicken we just bought, but our beloved maple syrup?
The plot thickens as you read further into the Press Release at the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers website. The seizure is only a portion of what has gone missing and the Federation has accused this New Brunswick company in the past of buying from unauthorized syrup producers. Is this yet another anglo/franco conflict? Something motivated by revenge? Are we talking about industrial espionage?
We're talking about Canada, a big country capable of massive undertakings that ultimately result in kitchen table conversation. Want to educate the kids on our patriotic product while you enjoy your Saturday morning pancakes? Check out this link: Agriculture Canada - Maple Syrup.
September 30, 2012
Fifty Shades of Fifty Shades
Or
Yeah, I'm gonna talk about that too.
I will start with the spoiler alert, which is hysterical because I haven't read the book(s). I read to the first sex scene in a borrowed copy while on vacation in July. (Funny story about that: I read it while floating in the pool and got a very stripey sunburn across my stomach. That's the problem with reading Fifty Shades of Grey, you turn Fifty Shades of Red, har har.)
A few weeks later, I saw the three books in the local Pharmasave and had twenty minutes to kill while waiting for a prescription. I read the end of the first book. Yes, you read that correctly. I totally did that. Then I read the end of the third book. Completely skipped the second.
How can I do that? Easy. I write sex scenes. I don't need to read anyone else's and I was more interested in how the relationship is resolved. When I saw that at the end of the first they were (again, Spoiler Alert!!) not together, I wrote off the series as not for me. This is my own personal preference. I have a thing about trilogies and series. I'm great when the second book has new characters and visits the couple who are living happily ever after from the first book, but do not make me buy three books to find out that these people live happily ever after. And don't even get me started on the wonderful ending of the first Outlander only to have their happily ever after crushed by future books. That is another day's rant.
Today's rant isn't meant to turn into one. I gave the books a shrug and a miss and would have forgotten all about them except I came across a blog which I now cannot find again. Basically the writer said that Fifty Shades had turned her off reading romance novels forever. That made me sad and made me feel a need to weigh in.
First of all, read what you want people. I don't judge. If you don't want to read romance, that's cool. But if you're writing off a whole genre because one writer put out a book that didn't agree with you, I feel a need to question that. Do you think we all got together and voted that romance should become graphic BDSM? Because there's still plenty of great romance that doesn't include duct tape and belts and hard limits. Turning your back on romance because of one book (okay three) is a little like refusing to eat Italian because you got a bad clam in your spaghetti marinara.
Secondly, I don't consider Fifty Shades a romance. Not the first one, anyway. Ana left Grey. She realized she was in an unhealthy relationship and she walked away.
See, fiction is generally about universal themes: birth, coming of age, courtship and marriage (hello romance), leadership, war, spiritual awakening... You get the picture. I contend that Fifty Shades is a coming of age story. Ana discovers something about herself and matures as a result. If you walked into it expecting a courtship and romance with a happy ending (ahem!) then I can see where you are feeling betrayed by the book. The story didn't satisfy, it let you down, but that doesn't mean all writers of all romance let you down.
The writer of The Blog I Can't Find (I just tried again and lost half this post. Argh) opened her post with a confession that she used to love trashy books, but because of her experience with Fifty Shades, she was never going to read another romance. There's so much other fiction out there, good fiction, she called it. Why was she wasting her time with... I'm trying to remember exactly what she likened romance novels to. Cotton candy, maybe? Something not in the four food groups anyway. Not even dark chocolate and wine, which ticked me off because romance writers have feelings too, you know. We're use the freshest ingredients we can find, organic even, and we work hard to bring you a rich experience.
But there is such a snobbery surrounding romances novels and I don't get why making something easy to read, that delivers an uplifting emotional experience is 'bad.' What exactly is a 'good' book, then? Something with lots of big words and heavy emotions and an ending that is poignant at best? (I like to call these Oprah picks.) I'm not saying those aren't 'good' books, but why the labels, people?
Reading, like most things, is a realm of personal taste. I happen to like spicy foods; my husband not so much. He likes heavy metal; I'm acoustic. I recently discovered weight lifting and after a mentally taxing day at work, I love the physical challenge of pull-downs and leg presses. For about ten years after leaving university, my husband didn't read anything but a newspaper. Reading a novel felt too much like work.
Sometimes we like to be challenged by our reading and sometimes we don't. Liking a 'trashy' book isn't something to be ashamed of and disliking one doesn't have to change your life. If you think that reading romance novels is not a healthy choice for you, in the same way that I know I should cut back on caffeine, then great. Swear off of romance novels. But I'm not going to quit coffee just because the stuff at work is ghastly. I'll just be more choosey about where I source it and how much I consume.
You could try that too.
Yeah, I'm gonna talk about that too.
I will start with the spoiler alert, which is hysterical because I haven't read the book(s). I read to the first sex scene in a borrowed copy while on vacation in July. (Funny story about that: I read it while floating in the pool and got a very stripey sunburn across my stomach. That's the problem with reading Fifty Shades of Grey, you turn Fifty Shades of Red, har har.)
A few weeks later, I saw the three books in the local Pharmasave and had twenty minutes to kill while waiting for a prescription. I read the end of the first book. Yes, you read that correctly. I totally did that. Then I read the end of the third book. Completely skipped the second.
How can I do that? Easy. I write sex scenes. I don't need to read anyone else's and I was more interested in how the relationship is resolved. When I saw that at the end of the first they were (again, Spoiler Alert!!) not together, I wrote off the series as not for me. This is my own personal preference. I have a thing about trilogies and series. I'm great when the second book has new characters and visits the couple who are living happily ever after from the first book, but do not make me buy three books to find out that these people live happily ever after. And don't even get me started on the wonderful ending of the first Outlander only to have their happily ever after crushed by future books. That is another day's rant.
Today's rant isn't meant to turn into one. I gave the books a shrug and a miss and would have forgotten all about them except I came across a blog which I now cannot find again. Basically the writer said that Fifty Shades had turned her off reading romance novels forever. That made me sad and made me feel a need to weigh in.
First of all, read what you want people. I don't judge. If you don't want to read romance, that's cool. But if you're writing off a whole genre because one writer put out a book that didn't agree with you, I feel a need to question that. Do you think we all got together and voted that romance should become graphic BDSM? Because there's still plenty of great romance that doesn't include duct tape and belts and hard limits. Turning your back on romance because of one book (okay three) is a little like refusing to eat Italian because you got a bad clam in your spaghetti marinara.
Secondly, I don't consider Fifty Shades a romance. Not the first one, anyway. Ana left Grey. She realized she was in an unhealthy relationship and she walked away.
See, fiction is generally about universal themes: birth, coming of age, courtship and marriage (hello romance), leadership, war, spiritual awakening... You get the picture. I contend that Fifty Shades is a coming of age story. Ana discovers something about herself and matures as a result. If you walked into it expecting a courtship and romance with a happy ending (ahem!) then I can see where you are feeling betrayed by the book. The story didn't satisfy, it let you down, but that doesn't mean all writers of all romance let you down.
The writer of The Blog I Can't Find (I just tried again and lost half this post. Argh) opened her post with a confession that she used to love trashy books, but because of her experience with Fifty Shades, she was never going to read another romance. There's so much other fiction out there, good fiction, she called it. Why was she wasting her time with... I'm trying to remember exactly what she likened romance novels to. Cotton candy, maybe? Something not in the four food groups anyway. Not even dark chocolate and wine, which ticked me off because romance writers have feelings too, you know. We're use the freshest ingredients we can find, organic even, and we work hard to bring you a rich experience.
But there is such a snobbery surrounding romances novels and I don't get why making something easy to read, that delivers an uplifting emotional experience is 'bad.' What exactly is a 'good' book, then? Something with lots of big words and heavy emotions and an ending that is poignant at best? (I like to call these Oprah picks.) I'm not saying those aren't 'good' books, but why the labels, people?
Reading, like most things, is a realm of personal taste. I happen to like spicy foods; my husband not so much. He likes heavy metal; I'm acoustic. I recently discovered weight lifting and after a mentally taxing day at work, I love the physical challenge of pull-downs and leg presses. For about ten years after leaving university, my husband didn't read anything but a newspaper. Reading a novel felt too much like work.
Sometimes we like to be challenged by our reading and sometimes we don't. Liking a 'trashy' book isn't something to be ashamed of and disliking one doesn't have to change your life. If you think that reading romance novels is not a healthy choice for you, in the same way that I know I should cut back on caffeine, then great. Swear off of romance novels. But I'm not going to quit coffee just because the stuff at work is ghastly. I'll just be more choosey about where I source it and how much I consume.
You could try that too.
September 20, 2012
Quick Update
Just a quick update to say I'm still plodding along.
Along with working to fulfill my contract with Harlequin and planning future books with them, I've looked into indie-publishing some of my 'trunk' books. Yes, Virginia, back in the days before hard-drives, manuscripts were physical stacks of papers stored in bins or 'trunks.'
Actually, mine aren't quite that old, but I've made inquiries as to the process and am developing quite a Why Not attitude about it giving it a shot. Will keep you posted.
Other news is just the same old news: Wait and See. Yes, I thought I had arrived, but I've just transferred to a different train that makes as many stops as the unpublished one, just in different stations that are unfamiliar to me so I'm stumbling around, feeling a bit of a fool as I try to navigate the new world of marketing and self-promotion and huh? Twitter?
But please catch up to me there--I do tweet! Usually in the evenings. @DaniCollinsBook.
And I have a fan page on Facebook: DaniCollinsAuthor. I do post! (Every couple of days.)
Why is one 'Book' and one 'Author'? See above about how I'm still trying to figure all this out. I think I chose Author first then found out Book doesn't fit the Twitter username thingy. And you can't change the FB thing after you get out your chisel and carve it in stone.
Catch ya later...
Along with working to fulfill my contract with Harlequin and planning future books with them, I've looked into indie-publishing some of my 'trunk' books. Yes, Virginia, back in the days before hard-drives, manuscripts were physical stacks of papers stored in bins or 'trunks.'
Actually, mine aren't quite that old, but I've made inquiries as to the process and am developing quite a Why Not attitude about it giving it a shot. Will keep you posted.
Other news is just the same old news: Wait and See. Yes, I thought I had arrived, but I've just transferred to a different train that makes as many stops as the unpublished one, just in different stations that are unfamiliar to me so I'm stumbling around, feeling a bit of a fool as I try to navigate the new world of marketing and self-promotion and huh? Twitter?
But please catch up to me there--I do tweet! Usually in the evenings. @DaniCollinsBook.
And I have a fan page on Facebook: DaniCollinsAuthor. I do post! (Every couple of days.)
Why is one 'Book' and one 'Author'? See above about how I'm still trying to figure all this out. I think I chose Author first then found out Book doesn't fit the Twitter username thingy. And you can't change the FB thing after you get out your chisel and carve it in stone.
Catch ya later...
August 31, 2012
Finding Balance
Or
It's Friday Night and I'm Working
First a big thank you to Kristen Lamb for her blog today.
Maturity–The Difference Between the Amateur and the Professional
I was planning to come home and write anyway since I have mondo-goals (including finishing Kristen's We Are Not Alone - A Writer's Guide To Social Media) and finally a long weekend where I might actually accomplish something. Hubby is working so no distraction there. Kids are ready for school. We might hit the lake one afternoon because, well, look at it:
Bluer than blue and it's supposed to be sunny for the next two weeks. Who could resist, right?
But first Kristen's Blog not only reminded me, but inspired me to get my butt in the chair (and also to honour my commitment to blog.)
I have to admit, my first thought was that she was taking on Sue Grafton for her remarks about indie-publishers being lazy. See here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/29/self-published-laziness-charge-sue-grafton
Au contraire, Kristen is reminding us to show up and do the work, something that Sue Grafton admits she hadn't realized many indie-published writers are doing.
I like Kristen's point that rather than whine about day jobs, we should look to what they are teaching us and how they contribute and prepare us for the hard work of becoming a professional writer. I can say that along with teaching me hard skills like accounting principles etc., my day job has taught me to write even when most people are taking the night off. Yes, it's Friday Night from the day job, but it's Monday Morning for the Dream Job. (I'm okay with that because my boss is very forgiving and will probably let me either drink a glass of wine at my desk or let me off early or both.)
However, the one thing Kristen only addresses peripherally is balance. She states right up front that she's taking the weekend off (well, Monday) and that she's badly in need of this break, but her blog doesn't stress Rest for the Wicked and I have learned the hard way that rest is not a privilege or a treat, but a must.
See, I am all for putting in the hours and doing your homework and honing your craft and doing all the ancillary things that aren't writing but are necessary for building your career. It's absolutely true that this does not write books:
This, in fact, does hardly anything except commit acts that would have him tried for war crimes if he were human. Do not let his cuddly pose fool you. He is a killing machine.
No, this writes books:
(Note: Glass of water - boss not yet lightening up on poor hard-done-by employee, probably because workspace is so unkempt.)
However, one of the reasons I'm slave-driving myself tonight is because I goofed off last night. (Dinner with a rock star no less--Tavis Stanley from Art of Dying is a friend of a friend and we got to hear him play. You can get to know him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W04p2piIRmU.)
For a long time, especially when the kids were little, every spare second had to be devoted to the writing and I started hearing myself say "No" to a lot of fun things. I started to realize I was missing out on time with people I care about, but also that I was getting burnt out. I mean, crisp.
So even though I have real deadlines now, when my girlfriend was in town we sat on the beach for a couple of hours because sometimes Now is all you've got. Sometimes you need to reconnect with your best gal pal and let the body and mind recharge. Even professionals are entitled to a day off.
What I'm saying is, Kristen is totally right, but I would add that another Mark of Maturity is looking after yourself so you can face your personal Monday Mornings with a fresh attitude and energy for the work required.
Hope your boo-boo is all better, Kristen.
It's Friday Night and I'm Working
First a big thank you to Kristen Lamb for her blog today.
Maturity–The Difference Between the Amateur and the Professional
I was planning to come home and write anyway since I have mondo-goals (including finishing Kristen's We Are Not Alone - A Writer's Guide To Social Media) and finally a long weekend where I might actually accomplish something. Hubby is working so no distraction there. Kids are ready for school. We might hit the lake one afternoon because, well, look at it:
Bluer than blue and it's supposed to be sunny for the next two weeks. Who could resist, right?
But first Kristen's Blog not only reminded me, but inspired me to get my butt in the chair (and also to honour my commitment to blog.)
I have to admit, my first thought was that she was taking on Sue Grafton for her remarks about indie-publishers being lazy. See here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/29/self-published-laziness-charge-sue-grafton
Au contraire, Kristen is reminding us to show up and do the work, something that Sue Grafton admits she hadn't realized many indie-published writers are doing.
I like Kristen's point that rather than whine about day jobs, we should look to what they are teaching us and how they contribute and prepare us for the hard work of becoming a professional writer. I can say that along with teaching me hard skills like accounting principles etc., my day job has taught me to write even when most people are taking the night off. Yes, it's Friday Night from the day job, but it's Monday Morning for the Dream Job. (I'm okay with that because my boss is very forgiving and will probably let me either drink a glass of wine at my desk or let me off early or both.)
However, the one thing Kristen only addresses peripherally is balance. She states right up front that she's taking the weekend off (well, Monday) and that she's badly in need of this break, but her blog doesn't stress Rest for the Wicked and I have learned the hard way that rest is not a privilege or a treat, but a must.
See, I am all for putting in the hours and doing your homework and honing your craft and doing all the ancillary things that aren't writing but are necessary for building your career. It's absolutely true that this does not write books:
This, in fact, does hardly anything except commit acts that would have him tried for war crimes if he were human. Do not let his cuddly pose fool you. He is a killing machine.No, this writes books:
(Note: Glass of water - boss not yet lightening up on poor hard-done-by employee, probably because workspace is so unkempt.)However, one of the reasons I'm slave-driving myself tonight is because I goofed off last night. (Dinner with a rock star no less--Tavis Stanley from Art of Dying is a friend of a friend and we got to hear him play. You can get to know him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W04p2piIRmU.)
For a long time, especially when the kids were little, every spare second had to be devoted to the writing and I started hearing myself say "No" to a lot of fun things. I started to realize I was missing out on time with people I care about, but also that I was getting burnt out. I mean, crisp.
So even though I have real deadlines now, when my girlfriend was in town we sat on the beach for a couple of hours because sometimes Now is all you've got. Sometimes you need to reconnect with your best gal pal and let the body and mind recharge. Even professionals are entitled to a day off.
What I'm saying is, Kristen is totally right, but I would add that another Mark of Maturity is looking after yourself so you can face your personal Monday Mornings with a fresh attitude and energy for the work required.
Hope your boo-boo is all better, Kristen.
