Write, Write, Write Some More...and then Keep Writing

This past Wednesday was the 11-year anniversary of this blog/site, which is kind of crazy to think about. I definitely had no idea what I was doing back then (not that I have much of a better idea now), and while there have been times when I was only posting here sporadically, I do love having this record of my writing journey. I've met so many great people along the way, which I'm thankful for, but these anniversaries also remind me how some of my fellow writers who I respected and admired decided this wasn't for them and decided to leave writing with the goal of publication behind. It's tough. It really is.

Despite me doing this for over a decade now (which, like I said: CRAZY), I wouldn't say I started gaining much traction until about late 2019 or so. That was when I started reaching my pre-childrearing levels of momentum and had a slightly better idea of how to market my books to readers who were looking for the specific genres I was writing in. In a weird way, I think the lockdown of 2020 helped a bit, as people were reading more and I also had the time to dedicate to building more of an online presence. (Okay, Twitter. I'm talking about Twitter.)

After all this time, I'm finally coming to terms with something I've known deep down for many years: to be more successful, I have to produce more. Now, we can have the "quality vs. quantity" argument until we're blue in the face, but while my backlog is pretty big at this point, I know I need to write and release faster to keep building my audience. Part of finally accepting this is how, at this stage in my life, I WANT to do it. Some of my hobbies have fallen by the wayside (I haven't watched much TV or even touched my knitting in well over a year now), but writing is becoming my priority in my down time and I'm okay with it.

I don't have a firm release schedule for the rest of the year yet, but I have a lot—a LOT—planned. It's almost to the point where I'm so excited, I'm getting impatient and I have to resist the urge to publish a lot of books and stories all at once, but I've been doing this long enough that I can make myself be methodical about it. As always, make sure you're subscribed to my newsletter and following me on social media for the latest details!

Even More Disintegration News/Updates

Firstly, while I have your attention, go vote for Disintegration over at Cover Wars! I know I'm biased, but really, there aren't enough words for how much I LOVE this cover.

Okay, now that that's out of the way...actually, there isn't a ton to report from my writing world that hasn't already been covered. Just the other day on Twitter I was lamenting how time-consuming marketing is. I've said it for years: writing the damn book is not the hard part, getting people to read it is the hard part. I feel like I've just been going nonstop lately, to the point where I haven't written a whole lot of new words in other projects.

But! While I'm not a world-famous bestseller (yet?), at least I can say I'm getting some results. People are, in fact, reading what I'm writing, reviews are trickling in, and my sneaky ploy to include the pre-order link to The Fall of the Midnight Scorpions at the end of Disintegration is also paying off. And speaking of TFotMS, in case you haven't seen that spectacular cover yet, take a look!

So, I'm still plugging away at...well, everything. Marketing my existing books, writing the new ones, keeping up with the day job, and being present for my family. Outside of writing, we've been having a crazy couple of weeks in the Landen household, but I'm hoping things will level off soon.

I did notice that this blog went untouched for almost a month. Honestly, there was a time where I was thinking of switching my entire website over to a different format, one without a blog, but for now, I'm staying put. I do like to have a place for my "writing about writing" ramblings, whenever they're longer than a tweet or a Facebook post, and while the layout isn't perfect, I think it's easy enough to find the information about my published works. These days, though, I've been focusing on Twitter and my newsletter, so if you're not already following me in those places, click those links!

Summer!

I'm too lazy to look, but I'm pretty sure I make a post every year about how I usually don't get a lot of writing done during the summer. I am still plotting my next project, I'm getting The Edge of the Sphere ready for re-release by the end of August, and I'm also working on some website/marketing/behind-the-scenes stuff that is either boring or not ready to be unveiled yet. So, while I guess that all counts as being productive, I haven't written any new words since the short fanfic I finished at the beginning of the month.

We did make it up to Cape Cod last week, which turned out to be great. I was worried about how the trip would go, both due to the virus and my mom not being there, but overall, everything went well. One of my biggest concerns was stopping at the rest areas on the travel days, since it's too long of a trip to make without stopping at least once. I intentionally picked the smaller ones, though even the big ones looked less crowded than normal, and everything was fine. I wouldn't want to travel anywhere outside the northeast right now, but as our neighbor who lives up there full-time told us, everyone's pretty much been behaving themselves in our town. We usually ate the vast majority of our meals at the house anyway, and we're lucky enough to have a small private beach at the end of the street.

To be fair, our house isn't in one of the super-touristy areas, and we've decided not to do activities like mini golf and go karts. We did, however, drag the kids out hiking with us, and while there was some whining, they did well for the most part. We'll investigate some new trails next time we're up, especially since the ones we went on were not crowded AT ALL in the morning.

Yeah, I'm not stepping on those wooden planks again.

We could definitely tell there's fewer people around than is typical for this time of year, but hey, I'm not complaining. I know of at least three families who canceled their rentals up there because they're "restaurant people", which is fair. (Or, as one of them told me, she wasn't going to pay a lot of money to listen to her family whine about not being able to do anything they wanted for a week. You can get that at home for free!) I wouldn't say it's completely empty up there, but there's definitely a decrease in traffic.

The reviews for this trail said it looked like something out of The Hobbit. I wouldn't know firsthand, but sure!

I kept saying that we'd see how the first week went and then make our decisions for the rest of the summer. When I was stressed out up there last year, one of my coworkers/friends summed it up perfectly: when the kids are young, it's not a "vacation", it's a "family trip". This was probably the first time in a long time I was really sad to leave. The current plan is to go up again on Sunday, stay for two weeks, come home for a week, and then go up for one more. I'll be bringing my work equipment to work remotely if necessary, and if school is going to be mostly virtual, we might even stay a little longer.

No one else was here when we visited. NO ONE.

I might as well mention that I finally read two books last week I'd been meaning to get to for a while and liked them both, so that was another plus. There are quite a few ebooks on my to-read list that have no waiting list at my library at the moment, so I'm hoping I'll be equally lucky this trip. I also picked up my knitting project I'd abandoned around February in favor of the baby blanket, made a big mistake, but then managed to fix it without having to rip it out. Everything seems to be going so relatively well, maybe I should attempt to write a few words!

As always, I hope everyone's staying safe and healthy. Enjoy your summer as best you can, and be sure to take care of yourselves, too.

A Statement, and a "Coming Soon!" Announcement

It seems strange to write about my writing life without mentioning current events, so I'm going to fumble my way through that first. Saying "oh, I don't discuss politics on my writing website!" is taking the easy way out, and I need to do better than that. I'll keep it brief, because 1) there are others who are far more eloquent and inspirational than I am, and 2) as an upper middle class white woman, I need to listen more than I talk right now. But I will say Black Lives Matter, I support the demilitarization of the police and want to see their funding appropriated in a better way, and I am using my time and money (so, privilege) to support those causes as best I can. If any of that makes you want to unfollow me or burn my e-books, you can see yourself out. I won't miss you. I won't chastise you either, but I will toss out the reminder that history skews liberal for a reason, because people never, ever stop fighting for their rights, and I would like to one day say I was on the right side of history.

It also feels strange to segue from that right into some self-promotion, but it's Pride month, and I've got a kickass lesbian romance to announce. I just signed the contracts for Hunting Astrid, so I'm super-excited, because this one is just FUN. You know the drill by now: blurb, excerpt, stay tuned for further announcements, etc.

And if I haven't lost you yet: wear your damn masks, we're still in the middle of a pandemic.

Blurby McBlurbface:

Astrid Carlisle enjoys her job at Satera Industries, the massive interplanetary organization whose enigmatic leader is concerned with profits first and legalities second. Stationed at company headquarters, she can stay out of harm’s way while making good use of her programming skills and keen eye for talent acquisition. Unfortunately, both the busy nature of her work and her office’s remote location leave her feeling dissatisfied with her personal life.

Fresh out of the Central United Space Marines, Tabitha Knox is ready for change, hoping the next stage in her career can take place in the private sector. Employment with Satera Industries would offer her the exciting, fast-paced work she craves, with generous financial compensation to match. All she has to do is get through the rigorous screening process and prove her worth.

The two women meet during the early stages of Tabitha’s application, and their mutual attraction is instant. However, Astrid has been hurt in the past and is cautious about moving too quickly, leading her to devise a plan. She suggests the pair enter the simulations used to test applicants and fight their way through the various environments. If Tabitha can successfully track her down in each phase, she’ll win the ultimate prize: a lucrative job, plus Astrid’s trust and submission. Everything she wants is within reach, but will she be able to achieve her dreams while hunting Astrid?

Excerpt McExc—oh, never mind:

A new idea began to take shape in Astrid’s mind. “If you’re so confident—which I do like about you, don’t get me wrong—do you want to make it interesting?”

Tabitha leaned forward, bracing her hands on the inside of her legs. “I live for interesting.”

“Then I think you’ll like my suggestion of what we should do the next time we get together.”

“Do share.”

Swiveling on the grass, Astrid turned to face her. “I’ll check our master calendar, and on a quiet day, how about you and I go back to headquarters and run through a couple of missions in the simulator? A little friendly competition, if you will.”

“Huh.” Tabitha tapped her fingers together in front of her. “I thought you just helped design the simulations. I didn’t know you actually went in and played around in them.”

“Somebody’s got to test everything out.”

“Right. But I didn’t think you were—” She shook her head. “Never mind. You’re right, your plan does sound interesting. But if you’ve worked with the simulations so many times before, won’t it give you an unfair advantage?”

“I won’t have any of my monitoring tools inside, and I’ll make sure we have all the same equipment. No cheating, I promise.” Lifting her chin, Astrid pretended to look her up and down, her lashes fluttering. “But if you don’t think you can beat me….”

Tabitha let out a loud laugh, a genuine smile lighting up her face. “Very cute attempt at baiting me, though I would have agreed to it, anyway.” Her hair tumbled over her shoulders as she leaned forward again. “So, what’s the prize if I win?”

Astrid straightened and held her arms out. “Me.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Please elaborate.”

The familiar heat rose in her cheeks, and she hoped the effects of her throbbing heartbeat weren’t noticeable. “I’ll make a better effort to not overthink things and go with what feels right. Whatever you want to do afterwards, I’ll be your willing participant.”

The hunger in Tabitha’s stare did little to slow her pulse, and she struggled not to squirm. “All right. I accept all your terms and conditions.” Pursing her lips, she gave Astrid a sly wink. “Game on.”

Makeover!

Some bandwagons I jump on. (Though I still haven't seen "Tiger King." But maybe soon.) Everyone else seemed to be giving their sites/blogs/whatever makeovers, and I figured it was time to do some updating here as well. Quite a bit of the previous version was a lot of placeholders and "eh, good enough," but I think this is much more reflective of my personal aesthetic. Whatever that may be.

I've been futzing around with the header for a while and I'm still mulling it over. I may still tweak it a bit, but it'll be close to what's up now. (Or I may stick with my usual "eh, good enough.")

I also debated for quite a while about whether to keep the dark text on a light background or make the switch to the reverse. Ultimately, I like the light-on-dark better, but it became apparent that that affects the legibility of some past posts, as I manually changed the text color for things like blurbs and excerpts. As of right now, I'm going to make that sacrifice, but who knows—I may just eventually get bored enough that I go back through and fix it.

Everything else is basically the same, and of course, there's a new sidebar over there. I'll probably play around with it a little more here and there, but for now, I like it, and I hope you do too!

Happy Anniversary to Me

Searching the Skies, my first book, was published four years ago this week. (I started this blog/site a couple months later.) Looking back, I can't believe how I was stumbling around the e-publishing world in so many aspects. How much I've learned since then is arguable.

I like to half-joke that back then, I thought writing the damn book was the hardest part. Hahaha nope. There's promotion. Networking. Building a social media presence. Media kits. Getting people (other than family and friends) to READ the damn book. That one's still a struggle, not gonna lie.

Overall, I'd like to think my writing has improved since then. It's not that StS is *bad*. I've gone back a couple times to reread (though not recently), and there's nothing in there that makes me cringe in embarrassment. For the most part, it's light and fluffy, which also isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There are still a few bad habits I haven't completely shaken in four years. For example, look how many adverbs I've used in just this post. :P (Not to mention words like "still" and "just", which also need to go most of the time.) Today I was editing some chapters for Out of Orbit, and I did a "that" check. It wasn't pretty. I cut out about a fifth of them, but one would think I'd know better by now.

There have been some major lifestyle changes between the release of StS and today. When I wrote it, I was newly married, living in a shitty apartment (that didn't come with the marriage, we'd had it for a couple years by then), and back in school to change careers after I couldn't find a full-time teaching job. Now I have a new job, nice house, two kids, and quite a few more publications to my [pen] name. Writing, and everything that goes with it, has been frustrating at times, but I'm glad I've stuck with it. I don't know if I'll ever make it onto the NYT bestsellers list, or even make enough in royalties in one year to pay taxes on them, but it's a fun hobby that usually makes me feel accomplished.

Enough navel-gazing. Let's have some fun and revisit Searching the Skies!

Blurb: Brilliant military commander Geneva Greyson finds herself forced to choose between the excitement and adventure of her career and the aristocratic life she once left behind. In addition to a strained relationship with her parents, her decision is made more difficult by the attentions of two very different men who each have the ability to warm her heart and bring her great pleasure. As she struggles to find her place in the universe, she can’t help but wonder if there’s a way to make everyone around her happy while still satisfying her own wants and needs.

Excerpt:
“I’m sorry if I made you a little homesick,” he said softly.
 
She tore her attention away from the dancing flames, startled by both the sound of his voice and his seeming ability to read her mind. “It’s okay. I probably needed a little vacation anyway.”
 
“From everything you’ve told me, I can tell you work very hard, though I wouldn’t have expected anything less.” He leaned back against the chair. “I can also tell that you love it and you can’t wait to get back.”

Geneva felt a slight pang of guilt over the idea that she could have made him think she didn’t want to be there. “I know the remaining week or so that I have left here will fly by, and though I didn’t want it at first, I guess it’s good that I have this time to slow down and relax a little.” She looked over at him and tried to smile, still fervently hoping that she hadn’t hurt his feelings. “And I’m glad that I’ve been able to spend this time catching up with you.”
 
“As long as you’re happy, Geneva.” He stared down at the deep red liquid in his glass. “You know, I was devastated when you disappeared so suddenly. I know we weren’t as close as we once had been, but I woke up one morning, and you were gone, gone completely from my life. I almost hated you for it, but then I realized that you must have had a reason for leaving. And wherever you were, whatever you were doing, as long as you were happy, then I was happy for you.”

His words to her were honest and pure and for the first time, she realized that no matter how far she tried to run, a tiny piece of her would always belong to the home planet for which she had shown so much disdain. She didn’t know whether to thank him, apologize to him, or pretend that nothing had ever happened, so they sat in silence for several awkward minutes, wrapped in their own personal reflections and the shadows of the darkening room.
 
Marcus suddenly jumped to his feet, disrupting the nervous tension that had settled around them. “Can I, uh, get you anything else from the kitchen?” he stammered.

Geneva did the same. “Marcus, I....” She continued to struggle to find the right words. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize what a good friend I had here until now. I know we can never make up for lost time, but I’m willing to start over again.”
 
The light from the flickering fire reflected in his soulful eyes as he nodded a tacit acknowledgment. She suddenly had the urge to hug him, and she took a step closer in order to do so. As he was considerably taller than her, she cautiously slid her arms around his waist, and he reciprocated the gesture. The crisp fabric of his shirt was warm from his body as she leaned her cheek against his chest, the aroma of red wine and expensive cologne mingling at her nose.
 
She didn’t have more than a few moments to rest comfortably before he moved back to look down at her. With one finger, he gently tilted her chin up towards his face and brought his mouth down to meet hers. Geneva almost felt strange at first as she remembered the boy she once knew, but she soon relaxed into kissing the man he had become. Their lips separated, and she tasted the sweet velvet of his tongue, no longer thinking about past missed opportunities, but future possibilities. She felt her knees grow weak as he kissed her unrelentingly and tightened her embrace, not wanting to let him go. 

Buy Links: Amazon  B&N  All Romance

Oh, Right, I Have a Blog, Don't I

Eeesh, I've neglected this thing lately. Truth be told, I just don't have a lot to blog about. I'm still in submissions limbo: one manuscript has to be revised and resubmitted, while there was a perfect storm of miscommunication with another that I think is all hammered out now, but I'm still playing the waiting game there. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer, right? ;)

I'm still taking a mini-break from writing, though I knocked out a quick Dragon Age 2 fanfic (BECAUSE I CAN) and have plans for two more short fanfics. I've got some original ideas bouncing around in my head, but I haven't decided what my next major project is going to be yet. I've come across some interesting submission calls for anthologies and I have solid plans for one of them, but I haven't figured out my writing life beyond that point.

Work got crazy for a while, as it tends to do, and I felt like I was drowning for about a week. That stress has passed for now, but between that and the summer/holiday, I've just been chilling out for a bit and regrouping. I shouldn't ignore this blog, though, and I'll make more of an effort to keep it updated. Who knows, maybe next time I'll even have something interesting to say!

Cross Post - What NOT to do when writing romance

I'll write a real post one of these days, but for now I'll be lazy and link to my guest post over at Alisha Robinson's blog. She's featuring a different author every day during her Romance in June event, and I popped over to share my advice for what NOT to do in my usual snarky, self-deprecating way.

Read what I have to say about vowels and the Cirque du Soleil!

Follow Me!

I'm just popping in to say I'm hitting the promo trail for Second Skin and I have a bunch of guest appearances scheduled at the sites of some of my fabulous fellow authors. I'm not going to spam my own blog every day with links, so if you want to tag along on this adventure, make sure you're following me on Facebook and/or Twitter! (Links are over there in the right column.)

I'll also be tweaking the artwork section here sometime soon and making it a bit more organized. (I hope. Fingers crossed.) I won't give away too many details now, but there's a super-fun art project in the works, so stay tuned!

A Few Little Tweaks

If this is your first time clicking through in a while (which it probably is since I've been lazy when it comes to new posts), you've likely noticed that things look a little different around here. The new banner is an updated version of the artwork Boobulon did for me when I ordered some magnets a while back; in preparation for some upcoming events, I ordered some more promotional materials with the new image, and I figured I might as well tie everything together.

In my promotional plannings, I decided I needed a [new] tagline. The old one was sort of done as a quick joke when I first started this blog/site, but now it's time for SERIOUS BUSINESS. (Or as serious as I get, anyway...which regular readers will know isn't that serious at all.) Boobulon and I brainstormed for a long time one recent night, trying to come up with something creative and punchy that would let readers know exactly what they're in for if they picked up something I've written. And then after all that brainstorming and polling a couple other friends...I wound up going with what I pulled out of my butt to use as placeholder text when designing the new materials.

I really shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, how often does that happen while writing? You slave over a certain sentence/paragraph/scene/chapter making sure everything is exactly perfectly right and then stuff you whip out at the speed of light without thinking about it later turns out to be brilliant. Is this the greatest tagline there ever was and ever will be? No, but it gets the job done and I have other things to spend my brainpower on (like getting that sentence/paragraph/scene/chapter exactly perfectly right).

So hopefully things look a little more updated and polished around here. I seriously doubt these minor tweaks to the hub of my online presence will suddenly turn me into a best-selling author, but it was time for a change and I like consistency. And when playing around with colors, I realized I also like and have a special fondness for the dark purple script, so assume that's staying around FOREVER.