Kate Padilla's Blog, page 10

INDIE FEATURE: HAPPYLAND

HAPPYLAND: A FAIRY TALE IN TWO PARTS, BY TES MEKONNEN AND ANTHONY RESTO
Fiction: Young Adult. Self-published
BUY HAPPYLAND ON AMAZON THE STORY "Would you like to court me to Happyland?"

Prince Gobbledygook asks Lily Marshmallow and himself. Therein the journey begins to find Happyland. Follow him as he tries to define happiness with a little help from his friends, Big Wig Sophisticated Pig, Brutus Beaujolais and Cornelius Wordbook, a book-for-a-head English gentleman....

THREE LIES WE TELL ABOUT NOT WRITING OUR NOVEL, AND THE TRUTH OF WHY WE HAVEN'T YET STARTED

If I'm being honest (and I am) I'd tell you I'm a writer. I write this blog. I wrote a book and published it three years ago, and I spent about five years as a journalist and book reviewer for both my local newspaper and a regional magazine near my hometown. I have a double English degree and I've spent my entire life sandwiched between half-filled notebooks and books. I'm a writer.

And yet, it's been three years since my last book. (I wasn't sure I could handle a novel straight out of the gat...

NEW RELEASES: FEBRUARY 25 - MARCH 3

FEBRUARY 27 SECRET TRYST (HOUSE OF MORGAN, 7), BY VICTORIA PINDER
Fiction: Romance. Love in a Book. 174 pp. Damien Morgan learned a long time ago that love was just a figment of someone's warped imagination and good girls simply didn't exist because women were master manipulators. Nonetheless, he's happy to wish his brother well when he decides to take the plunge. Serenity Hanscom is shocked that she's been invited to the wedding a year after her sister played matchmaker for the groom and had...

THE RULES OF THE GAME HAVE CHANGED

It's no secret that self-publishing is hard. Instead of four or five other major competitors, we have thousands. And it's completely on our shoulders to get our book in front of readers. But, there are two misconceptions about self-publishing that I believe are holding us back. The first is that we see ourselves first as artists and second (if at all) as businesspeople; and the second is that self-publishing is just like traditional publishing -- you just do it on your own.

According to the ol...

NEW RELEASES: FEBRUARY 11-17

FEBRUARY 13 ARCHER'S VOICE, BY MIA SHERIDAN
Fiction: Romance. Forever. 384 pp.

This instant New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller is now available for the first time in print!

ARROGANT BASTARD, BY ZARA COX
Fiction: Romance. Forever. 320 pp

The next installment of Zara Cox's sexy Dark Desires series.

BLOOD OF ASSASSINS, BY R.J. BARKER
Fiction: Fantasy. Orbit. 416 pp.

The sequel to Age of Assassins -- in a world scarred by magic and the ambitions of powerful men, Girton Clu...

FEATURE: KEEPER OF THE WATCH

KEEPER OF THE WATCH, BY KRISTEN L. JACKSON
Fiction: YA. Black Rose Writing: February 2018. 206 pp. Buy Keeper of the Watch on Amazon Visit Kristen L. Jackson's website THE STORY Chase Walker is beginning to doubt his own sanity. From the moment he turned eighteen, a strange paranoia has taken over his mind. It all started the moment he discovered his uncle's old watch. The watch calls to him. Through it beckons, he resists. His body strains toward it, blood pulsing, h...

HOW TO START WRITING

Part of being a blogger -- especially a blogger focused on writing and publishing -- is that I find myself joining various social media communities on writing and publishing. In part, I join because I'm a writer and I take away resources and advice to help in my own writing. But also, I join because the other writers are part of my audience and community, and joining these groups allows me to reach them most effectively.

One question that comes up quite frequently in these groups is this: "I w...

NEW RELEASES: FEBRUARY 4-10

FEBRUARY 6 BACK TALK: STORIES, BY DANIELLE LAZARIN
Fiction: Short Stories. Penguin Books. 256 pp.

From an award-winning debut writer, a beautiful and unapologetic collection of stories about women's unexpressed desires and needs, and the unexpected ways they resurface.

BY THE BOOK, BY JULIA SONNEBORN
Fiction. Gallery. 384 pp.

An English professor struggling for tenure discovers that her ex-fiance has just become the president of her college -- and her new boss -- in this whip-smart modern retel...

GUEST POST: DRAMA FREE DATING

Camie Vincent is a psychotherapist licensed in Georgia and Florida, currently working in private practice in the Atlanta area. She is a member of Psi Chi -- the International Honor Society in Psychology and is listed under the National Crime Victim's Research & Treatment Center of South Carolina. She is a world traveler and appreciates the little things in life. She writes an advice column for dating and relationships, is a romantic at heart, and wholeheartedly believes in love....

HOW TO SAY 'I LOVE YOU' WITHOUT SAYING 'I LOVE YOU'

We're getting into the time of the year when people start thinking about love. Right around now you start to see the romance novels and romantic movies hit the bookshelves and movie theaters, because who doesn't love love, especially on Valentine's Day?

And while it's easy to see one of these movies or read one of these books and think of how easy it must be to write a romance novel (rather than, say, "literary fiction") I would argue that romance -- good romance -- is hard to write. And most...