M.J. Greenway's Blog, page 4

Greyson Starting Over Cover Reveal

Sarah Starting Over(novella #1) ends with some unanswered questions for a P.I. and a windowed mom.
Greyson Starting Overis novella #2. It takes place one year later in the sleepy seaside town of Siletz Bay. Greyson and Sarah’s wedding planning come to a halt when they must find a missing girl.
Given their dire circumstances, will Greyson get a chance to start over with Sarah after all they’ve been through?
This book is in the final stages of editing and will be released soon. Meanwhile, it's time to reveal the cover. Here it is: 

New Cover for Sarah Starting Over

The sequel to Sarah Starting Over will release in September. The title of the follow up story is Greyson Starting Over. It will be told in alternating POV's from
both Sarah and Greyson's perspectives.

In the meantime, I'm introducing a new design for book one that will pair nicely with book two. These are romantic mystery novellas, so I went with more of a cozy mystery cover this time around.

Hopefully readers will dig it:)

3 Beach Reads in my TBR Pile

With my six year old in tow, I've spent a good amount of time at the library this summer. Here are three books on my to-be-read list. There's a mystery, a nonfiction and middle grade book, something for everyone:)

Recently I finished Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye. It's a cozy mystery with a bit of romance told from the POV of a professional psychic. I found it entertaining and plan to read one of the books from her ghost hunter series at some point.

I've also been yearning for some good nonfiction books to read. So I plan on reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. This book has been out awhile, but my husband recommended I check it out.

I've checked out a few middle grade books to read to my kiddo. One is a classic written in the sixties that I'd heard was timeless. I've never read it before. We've just started it and are already enjoying seeing how this adventure in New York City turns out. It's titled: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

Happy Summer/Beach Reading!

Last Day to Enter Dating Maggie Paperback Giveaway

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Giveaway ends July 04, 2016.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Cool Orlando Rock Art on the Beach

I stumbled on this when I was at Lincoln City. It's a nice sentiment and won't easily be washed away by the changing tides.

FREE e-book of Sarah Starting Over SAT 6/25

Click here to download from Amazon

My Sizzling Hot Vacation

We took our family to Laughlin to celebrate my mom's sixtieth birthday. She loves the place. It's not really my scene but for a special birthday, sometimes you have to endure temps in the hundreds, a little smoke, booze and some late nights. Since she gave birth to me and raised me, I figure it was the least I could do, but we're happy to be home in the Pacific Northwest where it's cool. What are your vacation plans this summer?

Sequel to Sarah Starting Over

Some readers have mentioned wanting to read a sequel to Sarah Starting Over. Well, I'm happy to say that I have started writing a book #2 so that readers can see what happens with Greyson and Sarah one year later. Here's a tiny sneak peak. We will see the story through Greyson and Sarah's eyes in this story:

Greyson
My size thirteen wingtips kicked a couple of oval pebbles until they were sucked into a crack in the sidewalk. Other indentations in the walkway were overgrown with green things. The near constant rain made living in Siletz Bay like taking up residence on the surface of a Chia Pet. I’d been advised to wear more comfortable footwear by the prosthetic experts. But I had an image to maintain, leg or no leg.
The Canon camera I’d inherited from my mom after her passing hung around my neck most days. Clicking pics of married men sharing their beds with their assistants had become my bread and butter. 

Cake By the Ocean

Today a stocker at the grocery store asked me if I ever got a song stuck in my head. His was Van Morrison's Moonlight. Mine has been Cake By the Ocean. It's catchy but also makes me want to spend a day eating cake by the ocean:) I'd also settle for a pina colada by the ocean! What song gets stuck in your head?
P.S. Why are the bikini-clad models in this video throwing cake at each other instead of eating it? What a waste of good cake...IMHO.

Nonfiction vs. Fiction...What to Write Next

My computer at my new writing desk.Over the past few weeks I have been typing out every book idea that pops into my head. There have been some fiction ideas, a premise for a sequel to Sarah Starting Over, some nonfiction pitches and a few log-lines for memoirs. They are currently living on a word document called "book ideas." It's been a struggle choosing just one idea to develop right now.

I've recently finished a romance that I co-wrote with my writing partner Amber Roshay. That will make three romances written in just over a year. It's been a whirlwind of learning to craft love stories. And I have a lot more to learn about writing good fiction.

Joanna Penn is an author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her assertion is that writing nonfiction is a palette cleanser after writing fiction, and that notion really clicked with me.

I've also been inspired because I am reading a memoir, Meghan Daum's "Life Would Be Perfect if I Lived in That House." It's a terrific read. She chronicles her life through her obsession with finding just the right place to live. Her journey takes her from multiple dorm rooms and later to a variety of cities in her search for a perfect home. Her writing is so smart, it inspires me to elevate my own prose further. I look forward to checking out her other books.

I've always read a fair amount of nonfiction and memoir and maybe as a result, have felt pangs of wanting to write something of the nonfiction variety. It's hard to make a decision because the marketing wisdom is that a writer should stick with one genre and keep doing that to build an audience and a profitable business.

Anyhow, it's time to choose a book idea and move forward before my writing fingers get stuck in the mud. Maybe I don't have to choose. Perhaps the solution will be to work on a nonfiction and fiction project at the same time. Well, it looks like writing this blog post has helped me solve my own problem:) Feel free to comment with your ideas on the subject.