D. Thrush's Blog, page 7

Holiday jokes

How was Santa’s helper able to stop eating Christmas cookies?
He used elf control!

Why shouldn’t a snowman get angry?
He might have a meltdown!

Ha! Ha!

Let the sales begin!

The Daughter Claus is on sale for .99 starting today thru Monday, December 10. The rest of the series will be on sale later this month. I’ll let you know! I recently lowered the price of all my books but most of them will be discounted further this month or in January. (All my books are available in Kindle Unlimited.) Books also make great gifts!

I’d also like to say Happy Hanukkah! Happy Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! Whatever you celebrate, may it be safe and as stress-free as possible. This is such a busy time of year, I hope you take some time for yourself. Treat yourself. Spend time with people who make you happy. Or curl up with a good book and a mug of coffee or hot chocolate!

Busy month

My mother turned 85 and two days later, my granddaughter turned 7!

Then, of course, we had a tense election day in the U.S. with some votes still being counted. However you identify, red, blue, rainbow, we're all united in books here!

Speaking of that, I've passed my goal of reading 45 books this year! And still going strong.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. I'll be having a non-turkey day. It's about family, not turkeys!

Happy Halloween

What do you call zombies in pajamas?
The sleep walking dead. Ha!

I've got all my little toys ready to give out on Halloween. I go to the $1 store and buy party favors to give to the kids. Just something different besides candy. The kids like it for a change.

I'm just getting over a cold. I hardly ever get sick but this is hanging on. It's amazing how much phlegm (I didn't even look up how to spell that!) your body can produce. Hope you're all well!

Where did the year go?

Is it that time of year again? Fall always seems to sneak up on me. So now is the time to gear up for December. I have a series of Christmas books (thanks to my mother's insistence that I write her story idea) and I'm offering The Daughter Claus (the first book) free in pdf, mobi, or epub to anyone who wants to read it and hopefully review it. Pleeeeeease! Message me if you're interested. The other books in the series will be on sale within the next few months and I'll let you know here. This fun series will get you in the mood for the holidays.

To contest or not to contest

I decided to enter some of my books in writing contests this year. Entry fees and awards vary. But I wanted to see how my books measure up when people actually read them. "Guardian of the Light" earned a B.R.A.G. Medallion award and the book my mother badgered me to write, "The Daughter Claus" was a finalist in two contests. Great!

But now the question is: should I persist and continue to enter the contests I didn't try yet? I've narrowed my interest to a manageable list of 9 contests of which I've tried 5. But I have 8 books published. Three are the next ones in my Santina Series, so I probably won't enter those. Also, some contests require more recently published books so time is running out for some of my books.

And another question: does winning an award help sell books? Do readers pay more attention when a book has won an award?

B.R.A.G. Medallion

I'm happy to announce that "Guardian of the Light" has been awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion! This was the first book I published in 2013. It's difficult to be objective about your own books, so I'm always interested in reader reviews and the type of assessment the B.R.A.G. readers provided. This shows me where I need to improve, but also lets me know that readers enjoyed this book which means so much to me!

Although, the award is in the Literary Fiction category, this book is more Inspirational/Visionary/Spiritual. My other books are quite different as I'm interested in a variety of genres as a reader and writer. I entered my books in quite a few contests this year. "The Daughter Claus" was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards. I'm so happy readers are enjoying my little books!

Five year anniversary

My birthday was on Wed. which turned out to be a comedy of errors. But that's another story. Today is my five year anniversary as a published writer. It's been a much more difficult journey than I first imagined but I've also learned so much. I'm not one of those lucky indie writers who managed to hit the motherlode with one of my books, yet it's extremely gratifying to know that there are readers out there enjoying my stories. And some of my books have received glowing reviews that warm my heart. But it's always an uphill battle. There's so much competition these days, it's hard to know what to do to make my little books stand out. I've given away more eBooks than I've sold. But one of the best things is connecting with readers and other writers who have been wonderfully supportive. I try to do the same. Thanks to all of you who have read my books, done reviews, and communicated your support to me. I appreciate you!

Reading two books at once

I've started doing something I've never done before - read two books at once. I find two fiction books at the same time too confusing to follow, but it seems to work well for a non-fiction book and a novel. This only works with a how-to or recipe book, something like that, not a biography. I'm not always in the mood for non-fiction or sometimes don't have the focus, so then it's the novel. I have a need to read!

Why don't readers do reviews?

I can't find an answer to this one. Even when a review is requested in the back matter or readers are getting a free book.

I rely on reviews to give me a sense of whether I'll enjoy a book. I've also discovered some great books from reading friend's reviews on GR.

So why don't people do reviews? In this world of constant sharing and social media, why not share your reaction to a book? Even a simple "it was good" is great. I don't get it!

So why don't readers do reviews?