Little Red Writing Hood
Hello everyone!
It has been a long time since I have written you all a nice, full-fledged blog post, but in my defense, I have been very busy! (Which, for an author, is always a good sign!)
Over the past few months, I have been working with the head of the PR department of Black Rose Writing to find new and different ways to market my book and reach out to potential readers. I am finding new markets every day, and I am hoping that this will increase my readership and lead to more book sales.
In addition to marketing Chase and Charlie, I have also been searching for an agent for a previous novel I wrote, a book that is very near and dear to my heart. I just wrote a dynamite new query letter, so if things go well (cross your fingers for me!) you’ll be reading that book in no time!
But that’s not all!
For the past few months, I have been writing a new book, this one a mystery novel: the first in a series. It is a departure from my normal genres of thriller and romantic suspense, but I had a lot of fun working on it. If you have read any of my interviews, you know that I am one of those “eccentric” writers that just can’t seem to do things in the easier, more convenient way, so you know that I always write my stories out by hand first, and then type them on the computer. It takes months, but it is worth it in the end (even if that is hard to believe now that I am in the seemingly endless typing stage of this book…). So, once that is typed and proofed and edited, you’ll be seeing that too!
My last piece of news is a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. Since Chase and Charlie was published, I have been getting some nice reviews for it on Amazon, and some small bits of press locally. Yesterday morning, though, I received an email from a storybook-making website that I wrote a children’s book for over five years ago. I had written the story, a retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale, for them, and had been paid, but after months of frequent checking, I never saw my story on their website. I decided to just be happy I got paid for it anyway, and move on with my life.
Apparently, though, I was the only one who moved on.
The email I received said that someone had commented, “Excellent story. I love it!” Intrigued, I clicked on the link… only to find that over 1300 people had read my story, making it one of the most popular books on the site. I was shocked! I hadn’t been aware the story had even been posted, let alone enjoyed by so many people! This discovery could not have come at a more perfect time. Marketing and querying agents are both arduous tasks that are beyond discouraging ninety percent of the time. To see that so many people are not only interested in reading a children’s book I wrote as a sample for a website long before my first “real” novel was published, but are actually LIKING said story (It has been favorited by hundreds of people) gives me confidence that maybe my author dreams aren’t so far-fetched after all. Maybe one day thousands (or tens of thousands, if I’m lucky) of people will be reading my novels as well!
Until then, I’ll keep writing, keep querying, keep marketing, and keep hoping that my readers will find me and enjoy what I have written for them. 
Look forward to some big changes to this site and to my marketing methods over the coming months, and in the meantime, I will try to keep you updated on what’s going on in my neck of the woods!
If you would like to read my apparently famous version of Little Red Writing Hood, written for StoryJumper.com, you can find it here. http://www.storyjumper.com/book/index/5694/Little-Red-Riding-Hood
If you like it, leave me a comment! I always love to hear from you.
