Category: Dark Tide Rising

Dark Tide Rising Nomination!

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I have UNBELIEVABLY great news!

DARK TIDE RISING was nominated for Best Action-Adventure/Romantic Suspense novel of 2011 over at The Romance Reviews!

I’m THRILLED to be nominated. It was a Top Pick when it was reviewed there in February of last year, and at the time I thought it couldn’t get better than that. I was wrong. 🙂

Honestly, I’m so proud of Dark Tide Rising. I call it my “little book” and by that I mean it represents my dream of wanting to be a “real writer”. It was the first book I finished that I sought publication for. I remember sitting up late at night writing it thinking this could really make it.

It was the first time I thought my dream could become my reality.

And now my “little book” has made me prouder than I could’ve dreamed. If you’re interested in voting (you don’t have to though I’d LOVE it if you did) you can click the link below this logo…

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

…and log in with your Facebook account. It takes two seconds and you’d make my YEAR.

xo

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Kindlegraph!

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Talks of e-books and the e-revolution buzzed around RWA national this year. Everywhere you turned, people were talking about the “future of publishing” and what that meant.

No one had any solid answers.

BUT one very valid concern did grind my brain more than others: What will happen to book signings and author autographed copies of books once the world turns digital?

Kindlegraph has answered the question.

www.Kindlegraph.com allows authors to electronically sign kindle copies of their books! How cool is that?!?

I’ve already signed up both Dark Tide Rising and InterVamption. I’ve already had a few requests for both books–even before I signed up. Aww, shucks, you guys. Nothing like making a girl blush.

Now, I guess, the only question is how this process is going to work when readers want the same experience of waiting in line to meet their favorite authors and get that coveted autograph. Will it be the same? No. Probably not. I think Kindlegraph is simply the first phase of many…one part of the transition of the e-revolution…but what a great one it is!

It’s also super easy to sign up. All you need is your kindle/amazon email. I’ll be checking my Kindlegraph account regularly…hope to see your request there! 😀

People Searching Your Characters

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Quick post this morning in between church and a friend’s baptism.

I was Googling recent reviews for Dark Tide Rising the other night and happened upon a People Finder type of service that popped up near the top. I thought it was odd that something like that would show above the links to reviews the book already has.

You’ll never guess whose profile was there, registered as if he actually existed…that’s right…Mark Thurgood, the hero in my story. My blurb from the book is on his page, the profile picture is blank, but his age and physical description are there and spot-on with how I wrote them. It shows he lives in northern California and has some likes and dislikes that are oddly similar to the story.

Either someone read Dark Tide Rising and created a profile using my hero (which I think is the most likely) or I happened to write a character based on someone from real life whom I’ve never met. (Okay, if the latter is true, I should start a career as a kick-ass psychic. Bet I could make pretty good money.)

This whole thing makes me think of the T-shirt slogan, “Be nice or I’ll kill you off in one of my books.” Yeah. Now I mean it. Heh.

Signing!

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I had a great time at my first book signing on Saturday! Sincere heartfelt thanks to those of you who came and to those of you who didn’t, perhaps you can make it to the next one!

By the end of the hour-long event, my stack had dwindled down to nothing!

My wonderfully talented sister-in-law, Laura, baked this celebratory cake. Isn’t it amazing?!? Yes, that mock book is edible too! She’s got mad skills…but I’ve mentioned that before.

I answered some great questions–including one from Husband that he’d never asked before. I wonder if he was waiting until this very moment to make me blush. He asked why I get most of my inspiration during church sermons. I don’t have a clue, but it’s the truth.

I read a bit from the book. I had to force myself to sloooow way down. It’s a harder task than you realize…unless you’ve actually heard me read aloud (sooo sorry former students).

The one above isn’t the greatest picture, but it caught the warm ambiance just right.

I signed books and had an absolute blast! Very surreal.

Afterwards, we went to lunch and I de-stressed with the ones I love the most. I don’t post pictures of Husband and munchkins often. It’s a writing blog about my writing journey, so I hardly feel pictures of my children apply…but none of this would have been possible without their support. So a family picture can fly here, I think.

Dark Tide Rising WINNERS!

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I always love giveaway days, but today is super duper especially special. I get to announce the winners of the giveaway of MY book. *Sigh*. I’m a happy girl. I chose the winners by giving each commenter of the giveaway posts a number. Then I went to random.org and let the numbers roll.

The winners are…(drumroll, please!!!)

ADUB

and

AUBREE!

YAY! I’m super excited! I’ll be contacting you both via email shortly to get your mailing addresses. Thanks for entering everyone!

Also, in other news, I’m having a signing, Q&A, and reading tomorrow morning at 10am at Main Street Cafe in Manteca, CA. I’ll have books on hand (what an ordeal it was to get them delivered here through all the storms, let me tell you) and I would absolutely, positively love to see you there!

Dark Tide Rising Giveaway!

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I’m giving away two signed copies of Dark Tide Rising! I’ll also be throwing in a few Dark Tide Rising bookmarks courtesy of Brenda Pandos.

Rules to enter:

~Contest open to US Residents only
~Be a Follower of my blog (All you’ve got to do is click Follow on the right sidebar and enter your email address. I’ll never spam you–promise.)
~Comment this post answering the following question:

In Dark Tide Rising, police sergeant Mark Thurgood is deathly afraid of the ocean. What are you deathly afraid of?

~Winner will be selected using Random.org
~Contest ends one month from today: February 24th at 9pm. Winner to be contacted via email then announced through a subsequent blog post.

Also, today’s Monday! Know what that means? It’s time to meet other authors and writers!

It’s Meet an Author Monday!

READERS:

Follow as many authors as you like. Just follow the Linky list and hop from author to author. The idea is to find as many “new to you” authors as you can, and hopefully some great new reading material as well. Leave a comment as you hop from blog to blog! We’d love to chat with you!

AUTHORS:

Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list.
You will need to enter your name and blog url into the Linky tool.
Grab our super cute button and place it in a post. (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) If you don’t create a post for the hop, your readers won’t have a place to comment, and the hop will stop with you. So create a post, paste in the Linky code and start hopping!
The purpose of the hop is to meet “new to you” authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself!
If you’d like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog ( Please do!) just follow the link and grab the code.

Just. Hit. Send.

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I know sometimes it can be terrifying. You just finished writing your query. You’ve pasted the whole thing into an email. You’ve addressed it to your dream agent. You’ve read the email a dozen times, skimming for errors, rewording things you know worked to begin with. Your finger hesitates over the SEND button…

And you re-read it again. Or SAVE DRAFT for later.

I went through something like that yesterday. I’m “finished” with Immortal, Beloved. I attached it to an email to my agent, said a prayer (PLEASE OH PLEASE LET HER LOVE IT AS MUCH AS ENEMY, BELOVED), or…okay, maybe I said two prayers (PLEASE DON’T LET IT SUCK) and STILL I hesitated over the SEND button.

It’s just so…so…definite.

Once you push that button there’s no going back. There’s no changing something you noticed wrong later. A lot of the pressure from the writing/publishing industry stems from the feeling that you get one chance to make it happen. One chance to make it or break it–publish your work or bury it beneath your bed. Or at least that’s how it feels to me.

I think Eminem said it best in “Lose Yourself”:
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment-
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

You have one first impression with your dream agent. Once you have a Fantabulous agent who loves your first work, you have to impress them time and time again with each manuscript you write after the first. Mr. or Mrs. Dream Agent could easily say “No, this sequel isn’t for me. Go back to the drawing board, keep the characters, and write me another.” Listen, I just spent one month plotting Immortal, Beloved, four months writing that 350 page book and another month editing it.

I. Feel. Pressure.

As I hesitated over the SEND button, I thought back to when I was querying agents with Enemy, Beloved. It felt darn near close to the same feeling. Did I get everything right? Did I cross every T and dot every I? Did I close up every single thread? Did the characters arc as they should’ve?

Then I did it. I hit send.

You should to. What are you waiting for? Take the time to make your manuscript as good as you can get it, then send that puppy. You’ll never get an agent/editor/critique partner if your computer mouse keeps hovering over the same email.

As for me, another waiting game has begun. (Did I mention I’m still on submission with Enemy?) The publishing industry is a s..l…o…w… road to walk folks. But that’s okay because the people you meet along the way are happy-writer-lovers, supportive and make the steep legs of the trip not seem as daunting.

Speaking of supportive happy-writer-lovers (I love that phrase–sums everyone I’ve met in this industry *perfectly*)…I did an interview with Kaitlyn over at Nocturnal Readings. She’s also posting a review of Dark Tide Rising tomorrow. So if you’ve got the time, between hitting that send button, stop on by!

Early release and giveaway and squealage!

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GET READY FOR GREAT AND UNEXPECTED NEWS AND SCREAMING AND STUFF!!!!

Dark Tide Rising is available NOW in print format! The digital version still won’t be available until February 2nd, but The Wild Rose Press pushed print production ahead! Yahoo!!

You can find it here. Once at TWRP website, scroll down to “Latest in Paperback” and you’ll see it.

You can also find it here, which is still from The Wild Rose Press website, but copied directly from the order page.

And here, which is Dark Tide Rising’s site on Amazon.

The price for print is the same, no matter where you order from, however you might want to play around with shipping costs from each site to find the best deal.

Also, once I get my author copies I’m going to be giving away a signed copy–watch for the easy-to-enter, easy-to-win giveaway.

If you’re one of the lucky ones to have read Dark Tide Rising early, and you post a review on Amazon…well…I’d love you forever. That’s what. And if that’s not good enough then I guess I’ll have to figure out other cool stuff to giveaway.

Dark Tide Rising is out there in the world. Hope you all enjoy it.

Dark Tide Rising Listed on Amazon!

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Want to see something really awesome? Ahem. Let me rephrase. DO YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE I STARTED WRITING?!? SOMETHING THAT ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF?!?

GO HERE TO SCREAM WITH ME!

That’s right…Dark Tide Rising (although not available for purchase until February 2,2011) is cited on AMAZON!

NOW PARDON ME WHILE I RUN CIRCLES AROUND MY HOUSE AND STRAIN SOME EARDRUMS.