Regina Cole's Blog, page 6

Enough Coffee in the World?!?!?

I’m finding myself in a position that I’ve wanted for a while, but now that I’m here, I don’t know what to do with myself!

I’m two people. Both of me have deadlines, books to finish, proposals to complete, marketing to do.

It’s time to chug the coffee, knuckle down and get things done.

What do YOU do when you get what you wanted, only to find out its a lot more work than you’d anticipated? Give me ideas below!

A WIP haiku

Deadlines are looming.

“Caught in Crimson” must be done,

Or Carrie kills me.

(Carrie’s my kickass editor.)

Friday Realizations

Indelibly Intimate is doing well.

Much better than either of my other releases.

I certainly don’t bear any responsibility for the increase in attention. I’ve been so caught up in my personal life issues lately that I’ve barely participated in any of the things I should have for II’s release.

I wrote the book, but there are people who’ve worked way harder than me to ensure that it sells well.

First of all, Sidney Bristol. This woman masterminded the Pricked party, and mobilized a group of otherwise unrelated authors to blog, tweet, and chat together for our mutual benefit. She’s been amazing, and I wish I could kiss her cute little toes.

Then my other fellow authors in the Pricked theme series. These ladies have tweeted, reviewed, and otherwise pimped the hell out of Indelibly Intimate. I’m humbled by their generosity, especially since I’ve been such a space cadet for the last couple of months.

Then, you guys. The readers.

I don’t know if any of you actually read my blog. But I do know that you read my books. And for someone who’s favorite dream is to share her characters with others who’ll love them like I do, that’s something I can’t repay.

But I’d like to try.

If you’ve read and enjoyed any of my books, please comment. I can’t give a lot, but I’d like to give you something.

The universe is very good to me, and so are you.

Sucks, but whatcha gonna do?

So in case you’ve been hiding from the internet, you might not know that a blogger got sued for using an image on her blog. Even though she immediately took it down when asked, even though she was unaware it was copyrighted. She still got sued.

Gulp.

As an author, of course I’m sensitive to the idea of copyright law, and stuff like that. But with Google Images, it’s so easy to find the perfect image to go along with the blog. I guess I figured that I don’t post my books so people can easily grab it online without paying for it, and so I figured photographers would do the same to protect their work.

Apparently not.

So, if you wander through my older posts, you’ll notice that several of them don’t make sense any more, because the images are gone. It makes me sad, but what can I do? I don’t want a silly LOLcat to hurl me into a lawsuit that I can’t afford.

So from now on, my posts may look a little more “bland”.

Sucks, but I’m not willing to risk it anymore.

The Reviews, and ManCandy!

Wow, has it been an AWESOME couple of days!

First of all, INDELIBLY INTIMATE released on Thursday, and has been getting some pretty nice reviews! Check out Belle’s Book Blog and the 5-star review they gave! Click the logo below for the whole review.

Don’t have a copy yet? Swing by the Ellora’s Cave website and snag one!

 

 

THEN, I got an email from The Romance Reviews that DEAR ADDI has been chosen as a Top Pick!! Woohoo! Two five-star reviews in two days??? What the heck have I done lately??

Click the logo below to read THAT one.

 

So what can I do, I thought, to share with the wonderful universe? Repay a little of that great karma?

Why, ManCandy, of course.

 

 

Yes. You’re welcome.

The Pricked Party Blog!

I’m over at the beauteous Sidney Bristol’s blog today, telling the story of my first tattoo and giving away a copy of INDELIBLY INTIMATE!!

Come see me over there.

Sidney’s Place

Support Authors. A rant.

There’s a large-ish trend on twitter that has slowly acted like ground glass against my corneas.

“Support Indie Authors” (they mean self-published.)

Now before your hackles get raised, lemme ‘splain something to you. I have NO PROBLEM with self-published authors. None. Some people that I think are entirely kick-ass have self published, or are planning to. I think it takes tremendous time, dedication, and talent to pull off the work of a publishing company yourself, and do it well.

I’m published with Independent presses. I am an “indie author.” I have not the time, money, or inclination to self pub. But, agree with the label or disagree, I don’t really care. What causes me issue are tweets like this.

“Teach your kids to read, because then someday they might support indie authors.” (they mean self-published)

ZOMGWTFAREYOUKIDDING???? That’s why we want kids to read, to waste three bucks on your unedited poorly-plotted tripe?? (Yes, some self-published authors are awesome. But a lot of them aren’t.) Seriously, tho, my kids can’t read any of the classics I loved as a child because the author wasn’t “indie?”

At that point, the trend began to stick out. I saw more and more promotional material that begs others to buy their books, NOT because they’re good, they’re gripping, emotional tales, but because the author is “indie.”

So I ask you, my blog followers. WHY should we support one breed of author over another? Why should THEIR words be of any more value than yours? Than hers? Than mine?

Why can’t we just support authors? Why can’t we just enjoy stories? Why can’t we teach our kids to read so they’re informed, well rounded people who want to learn, to explore the literary wilderness like we did?

I’m over the publishing debate. I love my publishers, and I think they’re doing a great job. I love my friends that self-publish. I love my traditionally published friends. I love those pen-weilders, scribblers, lovers of the page, the print, the ebook screen.

But I don’t love the idea of pitting authors against authors. We all love stories. Let’s find the commonalities instead of the differences.

SUPPORT AUTHORS. PERIOD.

/rant over

Strip Naked

I live in North Carolina, otherwise known as the tobacco, possum, and humidity capital of the South. So far this year, we’ve had a mild winter, and an excellent spring. So imagine my groan when I saw this forecast:

Yeah. Today? Heat index is supposed to be 115.

To quote Troy from Swamp people, MUDDA-FRICKA.

So here are my top suggestions for beating the ridonkulous heat.

1. Strip. It’s too damn hot for clothes.

2. Collapse over the air conditioner. Punch anyone that tries to stop you. Self-preservation at its finest.

3. I’d say run through a lawn sprinkler, but any H20 that hits the air will be immediately vaporized into soul-sucking humidity.

4. Pack yourself in ice. Literally. A bathtub full. Or actually, ice cream would be even better. Have a straw handy.

5. Avoid reading DEAR ADDI or SINFUL TRUTH. Getting that hot on your insides while being that hot on the outside? Spontaneous combustion. Then again, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go.

How are you going to beat this heat?????

Tek-no-lojikul Ignoramus

I’m not the computer geek in my family. That honor goes to my elder sister, Mac-phile and tech support genius. However, I know enough to get by. Usually.

Until I’m faced with the honor of a World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria beta key.

This little gem brightened my geeky little heart, and as soon as I limped home yesterday, (sprained my ankle over the weekend), I tried to figure out how this twenty digit number series would turn into a cute, curvy furry Pandarian chick.

After lots of google searching which told me Nothing, I figured it out on my own. I got just enough downloaded to log in and create a character. Isn’t she cute???

But the download made it hard to enjoy playing, so I logged out and let it work all night. This morning, no more progress was made.

Grrrrrrr.

So I tinkered with it some more. We’ll soon see if that helped.

Between that, the fact that I couldn’t figure out FOR THE LIFE OF ME how to send email from my iPhone from this one particular account, and the whole “your iPhone has not backed up since the stone age because your cheap ass hasn’t bought more iCloud storage”, I’m about ready to pitch all my technology at the wall.

Anyone feel my pain?

Didn’t Pan Out like I thought

I started practicing my autograph when I was a kid. I think it really cranked into high gear when I was about twelve years old. I’d say, “why yes, darling, of course I’ll sign your album!” and scribble my name with a flourish on my notebook.

I didn’t really think much about how I’d get “famous”. I just thought maybe someday someone would hear me sing and just plop a billion dollar recording contract in my lap. I certainly didn’t think about writing novels at that age. Books were too much fun. Why make them a job?

When we were about 15, my best friend and I decided we were going to have a band. We’d be called “Angelic Vixen.” We never wrote any songs, or picked up any instruments, but we had a bitchin CD cover planned.

In retrospect, I’m glad that didn’t happen. For one, I’m a mediocre singer at best. For another, while I love to travel, I dont think I’m cut out for life on concert tour. And I adore writing. So signing my first, real autograph will be the result of a lot of hard work instead of luck and happenstance.

Other things in life haven’t been as easy as I expected either. But you know what? It makes me appreciate it more. As I embark on the next chapter of my life, I know the value of striving for something. And that’s something that you can’t learn from anyone except life.