EVERNIGHT BIRTHDAY BASH

I'm super excited to participate in my first ever blog hop. Don't know what I'm doing but I'll just wing it. It's what I do best, ask anyone who knows me lol

Evernight's 5th Birthday Blog Celebration Evernight Celebrates 5 Years of Publishing!

Thanks to readers like you, Evernight Publishing has grown by leaps and bounds in five years so they’re pulling out all the stops and throwing an extreme BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BLOG HOP in your honor!
That’s right! It’s Evernight’s birthday but YOU get the presents… Prizes include: 

Apple Watch Sport 

NEW Kindle Paperwhite 

Fitbit Flex Evernight, 

Amazon, and

ARe Gift Certificates 

Plus, each author on the hop will offer his/her own special prize! As my special pressie to Evernight readers, I'll give away not one, BUT two ecopies of Freefall (when it's available of course. Did I mention its coming out on Oct 8th!! YEW!! ***COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AT RANDOM AND NOTIFIED BY EMAIL. JENNY SCHABER AND KAISQUARED CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR DETAILS***

   

BONUS ENTRIES: Be sure to comment at EVERY stop! The more comments you post, the more entries you will receive for our GRAND PRIZES (limit one bonus comment entry per stop).

It’s a great time for an Evernight shopping spree because all Evernight titles are 25% off through October 9th at AllRomance eBooks!

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/fdb586fd60/

TWO RELEASES IN ONE PERECT MONTH

This month is a busy one for me, even busier than the last which was taken up edits and rewrites for my two MS. October, will see me become, not once, but a dual published author!!

Freefall, with Evernight Publishing, (if you follow me on Facebook you would have noticed that Freefall was signed to this amazing publisher a couple of months back. God knows I neglect this blog) is out on October 8th 2015, and Illuminated Darkness is finally back on October 17th 2015 with a new and improved but slightly similar cover. The story is the same, but only better!!

Keep an eye out for my buy links. I can wait to share my work with you. xx

FREEFALL

This past long weekend has given me the opportunity get reacquainted with a manuscript I've had on the go for the past 12 months or so. If you've read my blogs in the past, then you know how easily I'm distracted, so this writing time frame should not come as a shock! In my own defense, I have been writing other stuff :) Anyway, it's really not far from being finished and I thought it was about time it was, as I have a whole series planned ahead...and another one waiting in the wings! Hopefully, I'll have this one published by the end of the year. I can't wait for you to read it. It's a New Adult Contemporary Romance titled Freefall, and it's everything I love to read. I hope you'll feel the same.

So... let me introduce you to Levi and Andi: Levi is a twenty-five year old skydiver, and the illegitimate son of an Australian publishing magnate. He has a troubled past and is struggling to come to grips with his father's unwanted presence in his life. He wants nothing more to get him out of his life, and will do almost anything to achieve it. Andi is a twenty-one year old Costco cashier, and comes from a loving, somewhat suffocating, traditional Italian American family. She feels lost in life and has no direction, and unbeknownst to her family and friends is in a deep depression and often seeks solace in the bottom of a Vodka bottle. That is until she meets Levi, and she falls instantly for his Aussie charm. He makes her feel alive. But can their fledgling relationship survive their different backgrounds, and the meddling of Levi's father, who refuses to let his son go?

Read on for an excerpt of Chapter One from Freefall:

LEVI

My head was pounding. Actually pounding wasn't exactly the most accurate word I could use. There was also: throbbing, pulsating, thudding, thumping. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to my skull in the middle of the night and it was split in two. It was all self inflicted of course, so I couldn't even afford myself some pity. In two words: Excruciating hangover. My eyes were glued shut tight and my mouth felt like I had chowed down on a bucket of sawdust. I couldn't even be sure I had a good night. My memory of the night was very, very hazy. All things considered though, if my head was this sore, it must have been legendary.

I needed water. Maybe I could do without it and just rollover and go back to sleep this almighty hangover off. Unfortunately my dry foul tasting mouth had other ideas. It felt like I was breathing out deadly toxic fumes. Perhaps if I just cracked one eye, enough to see where I was going, I could get to my bathroom to brush my teeth. I gave myself a pep talk in preparation for the big move; You can do this, and I practically dragged my sorry naked ass to my bathroom. My head felt like it was about to cave in. I needed something to take the edge of this headache. While gripping the basin with one hand for support I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth, and after relieving myself, I then shuffled my way into the kitchen for some life saving fluids and some ibuprofen.

Fuck. It must have been one hell of a party. The condo was trashed. Empty bottles of beer and tequila were strewn from one end to the other. The place smelt like bar and stale cigarette smoke. An unknown semi naked male and female couple were still passed out on my couch. I didn’t smoke but judging by the unsmoked joints lined up on the coffee table, my guests liked to light up more than just camels. I spied a pair of black Calvin Klein boxer briefs on the floor and recognized them as my own. I hadn’t remembered whipping them off during the night and slipped them back on in case my guests happened to wake up. Party rule 101: It’s one thing to show your junk during the festivities while under the influence, but it’s never acceptable to release the dragon the morning after. Unless of course you happen to be in bed with a member of the opposite sex who is also naked and willing to partake in a morning after sex session. And seeing as I woke up alone, the boxers had to go on. I squinted at the couple that were passed out on top of each other on my couch. Damn who were these people? It appears I had found a rent a crowd in my travels last night. Screw it. I’d deal with them later.

I continued to the kitchen and guzzled two large glasses of water and threw down a couple of ibuprofen tablets to take the edge off this headache. Food would also go down a treat right now. What I would have given for a dish of greasy bacon and eggs. Unfortunately I had no food in my condo and even if I did, I doubted I had the energy to cook. I looked in the refrigerator just in case a magic food fairy had come during the night and left me a gift. Nope, empty. Not even any beer was left. It appears my guests had thoroughly enjoyed my hospitality.

What a hell of a housewarming. Mission accomplished. Trash my asshole father’s condo. Next stage, make him pissed. With my ibuprofen yet to start to kick in, I went back into my room and dialed my father’s number. 

 

NEW YEAR NEW ME AND ALL THAT JAZZ

2014 has left the building so to speak. For me 2014 was a big year of learning about the writing and publishing business. I never thought it was going to be such an eye opening journey of ups and downs. I started the year as Just Another Self Published Author with the dream of being signed by a publishing house, and ended the year with a signed contract with a small boutique Indie publishing house based in the US called Black Opal Books (BOB). 

Yes you heard correctly. I am officially a contracted author! Now that everything has been signed sealed and delivered I feel I can finally announce the news and the name of my publisher. Time to break out the champagne and celebrate. I have been hesitant in sharing my news, as a small part of me has been thinking that at anytime BOB will have realized they made a mistake and rescind their offer. Too late now, they've invited me to their Yahoo Group Boards! So what does this contract mean? It means another year of edits, hopefully less, as I had Stephen Ormsby, an awesome editor and owner of Australian publishing house Satalyte Publishing do a complete re-haul of Illuminated Darkness. Same story, same plot, there have just been a few tweaks to my writing that I'm confident makes the story all that much more better. However BOB need to have their edit team go over it as well. Soooo, I'm super excited for you to read the new version, but you will have to wait! Once my edits arrive it will be a rather long process, but I'm hoping it will be ready by the end of 2015 for publishing.

Now that I am Not Just Another Self Published Author, I just want to say that I'm not opposed to self publishing. Without self publishing Illuminated Darkness first, I would not have had the journey I had last year. I have learnt some very valuable lessons and have gained some great advice. Will I self publish again? Yes without a doubt, I would do it in a heart beat. 

Now my initial dream of signing a contract has come to fruition, it's time for a new goal, a new book and new ideas.

Stay tuned, 2015 is the year of me :)

SECOND CHANCES ARE TIED IN PINK. DEDICATIONS FOR A BREAST CANCER ANTHOLOGY

Recently a very close friend of mine underwent some serious breast cancer surgery. One minute she was healthy, holidaying with her family and enjoying what her life and future had to offer, then the next minute, after a routine scan, she heard those words: "I'm sorry, but you have cancer." A few short weeks later, she was in hospital having life saving surgery, and Boxing Day saw her start months of chemo and radiation treatment. But not once did she complain and ask "why me?" She is one tough chick! Even when 'the red devil' was burning it's way through her veins, killing all the cancer cells in it's wake, she didn't complain. It was merely a means to the end. And then there were the days after chemo, when she couldn't lift her head off the pillow. But still she didn't complain. Not to mention when she couldn't eat because of mouth and stomach ulcers from the treatment, or the hot flushes she was experiencing because of the hormone therapy. And in her true spirit and nature, it was only when coffee started to taste different, that she cursed cancer, and was concerned that she would never be able to enjoy coffee again. Not the fact that she was now wearing scarves because she was bald, or all her eyebrows and eyelashes had fallen out and chemo was leaking from her eyes, but that coffee no longer tasted good! (fear not, we experimented and found that week two after chemo was the best time for coffee and burgers. And didn't we take advantage of it!)

Through the whole ordeal, she stayed strong. It was only part way through her chemo that I saw a glimpse of her true suffering. And even then, all she said to me was: "I'm sick of having to be strong." I couldn't even go to her and see her that day, as I was sick with a head cold. Not that I was being pitiful, 'wah wah I'm sick', but, I had to stay away. The risk of her catching my cold was too great.

To her very credit and strength, the next day, she picked herself up and dusted herself off, and said, "Let's get on with it." And that she did. She came out the otherside. Her hair has returned, and thankfully, her tastebuds have too! She is back into coffee and chocolate with avengence. She is also back running and swimming, but in someone that has only truely been in her place can understand, life looks all that bit different. Trivial things that would have once been a priority, now take a back burner.

She has been given a second chance, and that is why I wrote my short story 'Second Chance' for 'Tied In Pink' a breast cancer anthology. My story was written for you Shaz. Now is your time, to do what YOU want to do but never had the courage.

I implore everyone to go buy 'Tied In Pink', because every time someone buys it, funds are donated, and it gives someone else with breast cancer the opportunity to have their second chance.

'Tied In Pink' is available for purchase on Amazon.

BEST SELLER AND BAD REVIEWS

So, I had my first one star review this week. Probably couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm really hormonal today! I've actually written and rewritten this blog about ten times, not wanting to come across as too soft or too thin skinned. Take a deep breath Jo, it's not personal. After all she said she wanted to like your book, she just couldn't, because well...she thought it sucked! I thought I was prepared for this, I really did, but obviously I'm not. Or maybe it is just my raging female hormones.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and certainly free to speak their own minds. I mean, we are all different, and if we all liked the same thing wouldn't life be boring? Illuminated Darkness might not be for everyone, and I'm certainly not going to judge you if you don't like my style of writing, my characters or can't read it because you think it has no value. Hell, my own family (except my mother) haven't even read it. So don't read it if you don't like YA Paranormal Romance. I've never marketed it as anything else other than romance fiction.

But I have to thank my blogger friend. After me bitching and whining to anyone that will listen to me today, (thank you friends and family and online support groups for thin skinned authors) I have more drive to succeed and more determination than before. My blogger friend compared Illuminated Darkness to Twilight. WOW! I could only hope to be as half as successful as Stephenie Meyer. What a comparison! If you know me, then you will know how much I loved these books (pre movie, lets always remember that I was on board BEFORE the hype).

So, instead of focusing on one bad review, I will focus on the fact that I have sold enough copies of Illuminated Darkness for it to be a best seller on AmazonAU Childrens & Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. I will focus on at least twenty other people I know, asking when the sequel will be finished (soon, it's my next project. Promise). I will focus on that fact I actually wrote a book! I accomplished something that I had been wanting to do for 20 years.

I love to write, and I will continue to write, because I love to write for me!

BLOGGER WRITERS BLOCK AND THE ART OF SELF PROMOTION

I have a confession. It's been over a month since my last blog. I didn't mean for it to be so long in between blogs, but it kinda just happened. I swore to myself that when I started this page it wouldn't be just a couple of blogs and then left to waste with no updates. But this, sadly is what has happened to me. It's not that I haven't wanted to blog, I have, I just wanted to make sure what I wrote was worthwhile and meaningful. After all, as an author, I need to ensure that what I write is always engaging and entertaining. Anything less than that I would be doing a disservice to myself and my readers. In order to create an entertaining blog, I need an entertaining topic. One that I think will engage readers and promote awareness of myself and my book. Finding a topic is harder than it sounds. It's not like when I write fiction. As a dreamer, pictures and words are always flowing through my mind. In fact I currently have four manuscripts on the go, all partially written, ranging from 16,000 words to 1600 words, and at least three other story ideas written down. Each and every single story line is different, ranging from Contemporary Adult, New Adult, Young Adult Contemporary and even a couple of Middle School ideas. So story ideas aren't the problem (finishing them is, but I might leave that one until the next blog. That way I have a new topic).
I subscribe to a number of different author pages, and to be honest they love to self promote and will blog so much that it kinda gets monotonous. Blog tours, blog hosting, guest blogger etc etc. Is there such a thing as too much?  I've even unsubscribed from some pages because of their over sharing. Would worthwhile sporadic blogs and updates be more effective than posting blogs every week and Facebook updates three to four times a day about word count or who they have been signed to this week? I know it's important to self promote, but where is the happy medium? Is market saturation a good thing? I've read so many articles in pro blogging and just as many anti. Is blogging even necessary when we have other forms of media such as Facebook or Twitter? So many questions, that I'm sure through time I will learn.
Promotion for a newly self published author is a full time gig, especially when said author (me) has another job, a family and a time consuming past time. I forget how many times I've stumbled onto a new author and fell in love with their work and then went to their webpage, or blog page to find out more about them and their work, but then was greatly disappointed when their page hadn't been updated for one to two months, or on the flip side, they have blogged so much I haven't wanted to read past the first couple of entries. But every person is different in what they want and expect from their online experience. So I guess for now, I'll continue on my road of self promotion, which means I'll see you in another month when hopefully I have something important and engaging to discuss.
In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on blogging and posting.