Liz Lee's Blog, page 6

TV Time Suck: I LOVE Grey's Anatomy

School started, lesson plans commenced, sore feet were back and I sat at the computer to write but got distracted. After months of carefully planning weeks of Wednesday TV only or West Wing on Netflix, I saw the teaser for Grey's Anatomy and thought...Yeah. I liked that show. Until they killed off George.
I made a deal with myself: A day of writing goals met=an episode of Grey's.
AHAHAHAHAHA.
A month later I've watched the entire series. I'm ready for season 11. But it's on Thursday. And I already watch two shows religiously. Survivor and Nashville aren't going anywhere.
Last year's incredible writing success was possible for one reason only. The two shows rule.
I can't get sucked in by Meredith and Derrick...even though it looks rocky for them right now (COME ON, Meredith. It's the POTUS!!!) and Kepner (I love her and Avery!) and Miranda and Owen and Alex and Webber and the new sister and the rest of the gang. If I watch Thursday, I will get sucked in.
Is there an answer other than nope?
I'm tossing around thoughts.
I could wake up early on Thursdays and write before school. Okay, let's be real here. The chances of this happening are slim to none. I wake up at 5 a.m. now. I know the efficiency experts recommend waking earlier to get work done, but my brain doesn't work earlier than 5. It usually doesn't work until around 9 even when I wake up at 5.
I could watch on the ABC Go app on the weekend if I make my predetermined page count. This is a good option.
I could wait until this summer and re-subscribe to HULU+ to catch up on Season 11. This is another good option.
There are probably other options I haven't thought of yet. I have a day to decide what to do.
ACK.
<3

It's Book Birthday Week for The Real Deal, book 4 of the It Started in Texas series. This is a second chance romance starring Sam and Patty Jackson.
TODAY is the last day to get my steamy romantic suspense To Risk a Heart for FREE!
All the It Started in Texas books are .99 this week to celebrate the new release. :)
My books are kindle exclusives for now so you can always borrow them for free if you're a Prime or Kindle Unlimited customer.

Why I Use KDP Select

If you've read this blog for long, you know I'm an indie author. I self-publish my romance novels, and I've had a blast the last couple years introducing readers to new stories and characters.
Last year I pulled my romance novels from KDP Select and made them available everywhere...then I got sick and quit paying attention to my sales.
In June I examined my sales from the first time I hit publish with KDP. I figured in my Nook, KOBO and Smashwords sales and realized I made more off the borrowed KDP books than I did from the other publishers combined. I had my answer.
For me KDP makes sense. The borrowed books pay the difference. I think I'll continue to see even bigger borrows with Kindle Unlimited.
Amazon is easy to format for (Thank you, Scrivener!) and most of my readers find me on kindle. I hope to have all my books available in print by January for those without either a kindle or the app.
Will I always use KDP Select? I don't know. For now, it's the right answer for me.
<3

If you have a kindle or the kindle app, you can get my steamy contemporary romance To Risk a Heart FREE through Wednesday!

The Real Deal debuts today! Sneak Peek

Second chance romance or no way, no how?
Sam Jackson has a plan. Winning his ex-wife Patty back, whatever it takes. Unfortunately Patty isn’t exactly on the same page. Convincing her to give him a second chance won’t be easy, but it will be fun.
Divorcing Sam Jackson was the toughest thing Patty Jackson had ever done. She’d loved Sam almost from the time they met as teenagers the same age as their daughter now. But sometimes love isn’t enough. Lust is never enough. If it were, they wouldn’t be divorced. Now Sam’s back in town and intent on reminding Patty how attracted they are to each other. He’s right, but attraction isn’t enough.
Falling in love with Sam the first time ended in disaster. Is it worth taking a chance that this time it’s the real deal?

The Real Deal debuts on kindle today!

Here's a sneak peek:



Be the adult. Be the adult. Be…“Cadyn Marie Jackson, we’re leaving the house in twenty minutes whether you’re ready or not. You know the schedule.”Patty Jackson waited three seconds before knocking three times. Not too hard, not too soft. Just right. No caving in to the desire to scream or pull the door off the hinges and throw it in the dumpster out back.No. None of that. She was the adult. “I’m up already, Mom. Geez.” A dresser drawer slammed and Patty held back a victorious grin as she padded down the carpeted hallway, past the used-to-be-family photos she’d left up to give Cadyn some semblance of normalcy and into her bedroom at the back of the house. The one room she’d changed. The bed was the same but the grey and silver motif and funky patterned carpet were all hers. Here, she could escape Sam. Liar.Ignoring the thought she headed through the double doors and into the bathroom then blew out a long breath as she looked at her gray roots in the mirror. When she’d first started coloring her brown hair, it was for fun, then it was an every once in a while thing. Now she had to stay on top of it or she looked more like a grandmother than the 40 year old she was. The lines around her eyes bothered her almost as much as the hair.Damn Sam Jackson. He’d done this to her. He and their teenaged daughter who’d morphed from quiet and studious to all sass in the three months since the knock on the door that told them US special forces had rescued Sam.She blew out a long breath and focused on the positives in her life. She would not think about Sam and stress and heartbreak and anger and fear or the psychological torment that might be behind Cadyn’s personality shift. She slicked on petal pink lipstick and puckered her lips. Other than the few imperfections she looked better than she had in her life. She felt better, too. She was happy. Content. And she had a new man in her life if she wanted him.Maybe she and Jason didn’t have the white hot passion she’d shared with Sam, but they didn’t have the anger either. She’d take content over volatile any day. And Cadyn…she blew out a long breath. Cadyn would be fine, too. Consistent discipline would fix her sudden teen rebellion.“Moooooom, where’s the milk?”Cadyn’s voice boomed down the hall and through both doors into the bathroom. Patty grabbed her new leather purse, a burnt orange bag she would have never bought herself since it cost roughly a quarter of her monthly salary, then repeated her mantra as she headed down the hall and into the kitchen. Be the adult. Be the…“Moooooom,” Cadyn called again this time to the beat of an opening and closing pantry door. The early fall light flowed in through the window over the sink making the white cabinets even brighter than normal. The pale blue curtains moved gently with the breeze. Cadyn stood in the open pantry looking like an avenging angel as she held a box of Cap’n Crunch in one hand and an empty bowl in the other. She’d pulled her platinum blonde hair back in a ponytail and thrown on her royal blue and white cheer sweats. Twin spots of color marked her cheeks.Patty thanked God every day for that color. Even though it was accompanied by the attitude from hell.“Milk?” Cadyn spat the single-word question out like a curse.Do not react. Do not let her see you lose your temper.Patty set her purse on the gold flecked granite bar as she opened the calendar on her phone to make sure she had Cadyn’s contact information just in case the literacy lessons ran over.Be the adult. Be the adult.“I believe I told you if you left the milk out, it would be gone,” she said matter of factly. “And I believe you left the milk out yesterday.”“Mooooooom,” Cadyn started.Patty snapped her eyes up and sent Cadyn the look that had made linebackers, gangsters and wise ass students across the city cry.Cadyn didn’t finish whatever it was she’d started to say. Instead with a huff she put the empty bowl in the dishwasher then poured the cereal in a baggy and brushed past Patty to sit at the table that still had a wobbly leg even though Sam had promised….Hah. Sam had promised a lot of things.Cadyn purposefully crunched the cereal with the art of a teenager who knew how to aggravate without crossing the line. Patty grabbed the to-go cup of coffee she’d started before knocking on Cadyn’s door and put her phone back in its pocket then grabbed her keys.“I’m dropping you off at Shelby’s. Her mother is bringing you home. Your calendar is synched with mine. Your inhaler is…”“Mother. I knoooow.” Cadyn stood and grabbed a napkin from the holder on the bar then stuffed it in her backpack. “I’ve got you programmed in my phone for ICE and Dad…”Patty’s heart skipped a beat. “You know he might not be available.”“He is. I talk to him every day.” Cadyn slung her floral backpack over her shoulder. “But I’ve got you first anyway because if I didn’t you’d have a cow. I hope you’re going to at least eat some toast or yogurt or a cookie. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, you know.”Patty grabbed a protein bar in concession and pointed to the door. “We’re out of time.”Cadyn rolled her eyes and headed out to the garage.Until recently Saturday mornings had been Patty’s favorites. Library literacy with children who wanted so desperately to read but couldn’t yet. They’d get there, though. Years of experience proved that.But these days Saturdays meant one more moment of contention with Cadyn.When they drove out of the garage, Patty stopped the car to make sure the door made it all the way down. Cadyn turned the radio to Top 40 and started singing along.Patty checked the rearview mirror and her heart stuttered like it did so often in the last three months. Sam. Everything in her ached to run to him outside this house that once was theirs, where the ghost of his presence played tricks on her mind on a regular basis. Sometimes she wondered if it would have been easier if he had died. And then she hated herself for such horrible thoughts. She shook her head and closed her eyes, told herself to quit seeing him where he wasn’t. He’d rejected her, rejected them. She’d hurt enough over Sam Jackson.
Sam Jackson took the steps to his new apartment on the north side of Fort Worth like a broken octogenarian instead of the 40 year old he was. His back, legs and shoulder still hurt like hell. The bare apartment felt more like one of those vacation timeshares hawked at tourist destinations around the world than a home, which made sense. He’d thrown the home away when he’d answered the call that changed everything, the call that nearly killed him.He’d made himself a promise in those moments he thought he was going to die, though. And after the rescue and the rehab, he’d committed. He was back. And he was going to reclaim his home and his family.He sat at the folding table in the empty kitchen and unwrapped the breakfast sandwich then swilled the now lukewarm coffee. The answering machine light blinked. The network news director had already called to let him know he was welcome back any time. He’d made it clear those days were over. They’d ended when the terrorists had broken his shoulder and shattered his kneecap. Should’ve ended a long time before that. But he’d been stupid. Stupid had nearly cost him his life. It had cost him his wife. The woman he loved.Last Sunday’s paper sat open where it had been for six days, taunting him. He could count on one hand how many times he’d bothered looking at the society section. Once for his wedding, once for Cadyn’s birth announcement, once for Donovan and Kacie Jo Nelson’s charity event raising money for soldiers who returned home from war with PTSD, once to check out Prince Ali and Sarah Sahrain’s true love story planted by Ali’s mother. And now this.His ex-wife Patty and her fancy shmancy boyfriend at a swanky fundraiser with professional athletes and tech gurus and Junior League mamas. Cadyn surrounded by prep school debutants looking like one of them in a blue party dress with a sparkly headband and manicured fingernails.Damn.Patty had always hated that kind of thing.Truth was she didn’t look like she hated it these days. She looked like she was having the time of her life in the black gown that hugged her every bless-ed curve. With her hair cut short in that way that screamed elegance and sex all at the same time. All on display for Jason Adams of the oil and gas boomtown family. Probably a perfectly nice guy. But he'd picked the wrong girl. Sam had learned his lesson.You didn’t quit on people you loved. You didn’t walk away without a fight. He'd win Patty back, whatever the cost. He’d waited long enough. Today was the day.
<3
To Risk a Heart, Book 3 in the series is free the next three days. Check it out!

The Great Expectations Contest

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I spent time on the romance writing contest circuit. Back then I was always thrilled to final in a contest, more thrilled to win, but always a little confused about WHY I'd finaled or not.
The NTRWA Great Expectations Contest was not like the others. The detailed feedback I got back from the editor who judged the finalists changed my writing! (THANKS GE and Harlequin editor Susan Litman.)
Here's the link to my GE contest post.

To Trust a Prince is a better book now because of the GE. :)

Hallelujah!

NOTHING...okay ALMOST NOTHING beats Friday during the school year for a teacher. Nothing. I mean, it's like I hear angels singing a hallelujah chorus when I wake up on a Friday.
I love my job, but man, I love weekends when it's early enough in the year that I get to sit out on the patio and drink my coffee.
In another month it might be too cold for that. But for now, the weather is perfect and Friday is a glorious day because it's a day of hope and planning for the perfect weekend.
This weekend I'll be writing. I'm scheduled to go to the NT meeting, but that might change. Going to the meeting takes a little over five hours driving time, so I need to have met my writing goals. If I haven't, I have to write instead. I hope I get to go. The NT meeting is invigorating and inspiring. It makes me WANT to write more.
If you're a writer, find a writing group. It's invaluable.
Enjoy your Friday! I'm enjoying mine.
Happy reading! <3

Benadryl, I love you

Sick is never good. I figured I'd be seeing this when the temp dropped from 103 one day to 59 the next. I live in bi-polar weather North Texas. This is the story of my life. Usually, when I'm religious about drinking my Zeal, I don't get sick. BUT I haven't been religious about the Zeal. In fact, I haven't been religious about much more than Grey's Anatomy. Way, way back when George died I quit watching the show. But then I re-discovered it on Netflix. OHMYGOD, it is so good. I love it so much.
Too much. It's a sickness, I think. A sickness Benadryl can't help me with.
I decided to watch a season as a reward for finishing a book. 9 seasons later, I suddenly have a subscription to HULU Plus just so I can catch up on season 10.
Here's the deal: I can't watch this much TV and get anything done. I'm going to have to cut myself off cold turkey. Like I did with sugar. Grey's has to go. It has to wait until next summer. I watch two shows during the school year. TWO. Survivor, which I will watch until I die or it stops, and Nashville. If I watch more, I won't write. If I don't write, I'll make myself crazy. It's a vicious cycle. A cycle of television addiction. An addiction made worse by Netflix and now HULU. Hulu was just a fling, though. A seven-day free trial. I'm going to give it up. I have to. If I don't I'll be that girl who used to write books. I don't want to be her. I want to be me. The girl on benadryl who really needs to stop writing this blog now.
Happy Reading!

Back again

I shouldn't get on here and make excuses. BUT I'm going to.
The day job is kicking my butt. I love it...I will ALWAYS love it, but MAN, the hours I've spent on it this year rival those of my early years.
Things are settling now, though, and I hope to get back in the swing of things here.
The next It Started in Texas book, The Real Deal, debuts next week. It's a second chance at love story, and I think it might be my favorite.
I love second chance stories. Sam Jackson stole my heart when he showed up in Close to Home and To Trust a Prince. I figured he needed a true love forever story, too.
I didn't know his story would start a whole new chapter of It Started in Texas books. YAY!

This week I have a plan. EDIT, edit, edit. Not The Real Deal, it's done, thank goodness, but another story. A story that's been waiting for me to get back to it for the last few weeks while I focused my attention elsewhere.

I'll keep readers posted on that as I go.

Happy reading!
<3

New Liz Lee Steamy Suspense Out Today!

It Started in Texas Celebration!
Book 3 of the series, To Risk a Heart (steamy suspense), is out today and all three books are specially priced.
The new book is $0.99 this week.
Book 2, To Trust a Prince (steamy suspense), is on a Kindle Countdown deal starting tomorrow at $0.99. The price will increase to $2.99 over the next two weeks.
Book 1, Close to Home (steamy romance) is FREE today and tomorrow.

Now is a great time to start reading the series if you haven't yet. <3

FROM my newsletter: It Started With Pinterest.

I knew Eliza Jane and Grady belonged together from the moment they both appeared in Close to Home. What I didn't know is how much Eliza Jane would change in the time it took me to write three other books. WOW! When she left Caldale, she was set on becoming a new person, and she sure did.

Pinterest helped in her transformation. Actually, because of Eliza Jane and Grady, I've started using Pinterest for all my books. If you like Pinterest, you can follow me here.

To Risk a Heart definitely had a soundtrack. I listened to country throughout the creation of the book. Trisha Yearwood, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and the recommendations on Spotify got me through the first draft.

I hope readers enjoy To Risk a Heart. It's steamy and dangerous, and that tends to be fun. :)

To celebrate the debut ALL of the It Started in Texas books are on sale. Close to Home is free today and tomorrow. To Trust a Prince is on a countdown deal starting at .99 tomorrow. To Risk a Heart is also on a countdown deal this week. If you haven't read the series, now is a great time to start!

The 4th book in the series debuts in September and will be available for pre-order soon. The 5th book debuts in October and the 6th in November. All of the It Started in Texas books are Amazon exclusives.

It's been an amazing summer, and I'm excited to end it with a steamy novel debut. If you would like to join my beta reading/ e-ARC review team, simply reply to this email. I will send you the application link via email. Those of you who are already on my team SMOOCHES! Seriously, I could not do this without you.

Whether or not you join the team, I hope you'll leave a review on Amazon and GoodReads for the Liz Lee titles you've enjoyed. I'm an indie author, so reviews are my only way to get the word out on my books. 
Happy Reading!

Cover reveal for To Risk a Heart!

I'm so excited to share the cover and the back cover copy for To Risk a Heart!I LOVE the cover. I hope you guys enjoy the book blurb:
Starting over has never been so much fun.Eliza Jane Miller left Caldale, Texas and her sexy jerk of a boss Grady Jenkins with a plan—a life makeover. Now she’s a big city girl with a whole new look and a job she adores. The last thing on her mind is Grady. What she doesn’t know could kill her.When Grady sees Eliza Jane’s name on the suspect list in a money laundering case he has been tapped to investigate, he knows what he must do: Whatever it takes to keep Eliza Jane safe.The last thing Grady expects is his instant attraction to his former friend. The last thing Eliza Jane expects is for Grady to act on the attraction she has felt forever.Starting over might be fun, but sometimes looking back is even better.To Risk a Heart–A steamy story of love and danger. It started in Texas 3.
The book debuts for the week-long intro price of .99 Monday, AUGUST 25.
Books in the series:Close to Home (free today!) *Contemporary Romance, Kacie Jo and DonovanTo Trust a Prince *Romantic Suspense, Sarah and AliTo Risk a Heart *Romantic Suspense (Aug. 25), Eliza Jane and GradyThe Real Deal *Contemporary Romance (Sept. 22), Patty and Sam*Untitled right now Contemporary Romance (Oct. 20), Jeremiah and BeckyThe Truth About Romance *Contemporary Romance (Nov. 17), Meg

Trust the Muse

So yesterday my brain kept trying to wrap itself around this subplot that came out of nowhere and MADE me write it. Okay, so it wasn't out of nowhere. It was there from the very beginning, and it was even mentioned at the top, but I didn't plan it that way...exactly. I mean I meant to do something with it, but not this.
And all day I wasted time cleaned house, walked the dog, watched Grey's Anatomy, counted calories on Spark People's recipe builder because I was avoiding the story line that I really wanted to erase but I made myself promise to keep everything and write through the tough times and do all the clean up on the next draft, the crappy first draft surgery that sometimes is more rewrite than revision.
Finally I sat down at the computer AND I still nearly dumped the words because they just felt wrong.
But I saw my crappy first draft pledge through and just started writing. No delete key. Not yet anyway.
And tonight I wrote the most powerful scene of the entire book maybe even the entire series.
Will it survive revisions? I don't know.
But MAN am I glad I write it.
Lesson learned. Trust the muse.
<3

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It's August! That means the first new Liz Lee romance in a year. AND there are three more ready to go, so no more lag times. YAY!
Cover reveal coming soon.