Author… Artist… Amateur Photographer… Book Reviewer… Mom
This applies to all authors, traditionally published, indie or any other type that might be out there. It could just as easily apply in the basic context to all kinds of areas, not just authors, but authors and books are my focus for this list. You would think some of these would be common sense things, but, apparently not always, so I thought I’d highlight them.
Do’s: Things You Can Do To Support An Author Or A Book Continue reading “PSA: Do’s And Don’ts Of Supporting Authors”
On to the part of the book process that I dislike with a flaming passion. Pretty much begging for help. As a raging introvert that struggles with most any communication, this part is excruciating, but necessary. That said, I do need some help from anyone that is willing to step forward and volunteer to read my little baby and give me a review. Ideally, I’d like to see reviews spread out in various different places like Goodreads, Amazon, B&N and blogs, but I’m not going to be picky.
I am looking to get between 3 and 5 people willing to write up a review in exchange for a copy of my book. I’ll provide their preferred format, ebook for any platform I’ve published on or a print copy that I can mail to you. If you are posting to a blog, I’ll add a copy or snippet of your review to my AUT page with a link back to your blog as an additional thanks. (unless you don’t want that, then that’s okay too!)
If you are awesome enough to volunteer, please drop me a note through my contact page, letting me know your interest and the platforms you would normally post reviews along with your format preference. This isn’t a contest, but more along the lines of “if you send me a message you will get a copy” unless I’ve hit my limit. If I see a lot of interest, then I may rethink the numbers, but I’d prefer to keep it small to start.
Massive thank you in advance to those that volunteer! I will update this post when/if I hit my numbers.
For those that haven’t seen it… the blurb… (oh, and I thought I’d mention that this falls into the women’s fiction and family life/drama genres)
“When I take a good look at my reflection, I’m surprised that the face looking back at me in the mirror doesn’t look different than the one I’ve seen staring back at me for the last 27 years. I see the same brown hair and brown eyes, the same heart-shaped face, the same upturned nose. I feel like I should look different. That my face should show the upheaval and the weight of the last day, that it should somehow show how much has happened, how the course of my life has changed, but everything is still the same.”
Life is rarely ever predictable. It is rarely even kind. But… sometimes… just sometimes, those unexpected turns that throw you into the chaos and upheaval of loss lead you to the exact place you need to be.
This is a story about love, but it isn’t a romance. It is about holding on when it would be easier to let go, about fighting for those that can’t fight for themselves. It is about finding and creating family through the unpredictable, beautiful mess that is life.
Normally I’d say you can’t get much better than publishing and releasing a book, but… getting to celebrate 18 years with an awesome man ranks right the hell up there. And for that 18th milestone, that amazing, awesome man got me an upgrade for my camera that I’ve had for over 10 years.
For anyone that is on Goodreads, I have an author profile page! Feel free to follow, leave reviews or just drop by and say “Hi!”
I am officially live on Amazon with the Kindle version! Happy Book Birthday to me! Please take a few to check it out. The blurb is below. Even if it isn’t a genre you normally read, maybe you have a friend that does and you’d be willing to slide this under their nose. If you are amazing enough to read it, please leave a review! Every tiny bit helps me to get this out there.
Other versions are slowly going live and a paperback version will be available soon! I’ll be keeping track and adding links on my AUT page.
Author: TJ Fox (ME!!)
Book Name: An Unexpected Turn
Series: *
Order: *
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Family Life
Rating: Excellent/Favorite (because of course it is!)
Blurb: “When I take a good look at my reflection, I’m surprised that the face looking back at me in the mirror doesn’t look different than the one I’ve seen staring back at me for the last 27 years. I see the same brown hair and brown eyes, the same heart-shaped face, the same upturned nose. I feel like I should look different. That my face should show the upheaval and the weight of the last day, that it should somehow show how much has happened, how the course of my life has changed, but everything is still the same.”
Life is rarely ever predictable. It is rarely even kind. But… sometimes… just sometimes, those unexpected turns that throw you into the chaos and upheaval of loss lead you to the exact place you need to be.
This is a story about love, but it isn’t a romance. It is about holding on when it would be easier to let go, about fighting for those that can’t fight for themselves. It is about finding and creating family through the unpredictable, beautiful mess that is life.
When I first looked into the possibility of self-publishing, most all of the steps looked pretty easy. At its base, you write a book then find a platform and hit publish. While you can do it that way, chances are it won’t really go that well for you because a few critical steps have most likely been missed along the way. That is unless you are also an artist, cover designer, interior book designer*, editor and/or have friends and family willing to do those things for you.
Some people are just assholes. If you are a reader and follow authors, especially those in the romance genre, you may have already seen the current uproar regarding blatant plagiarism. If not, I’ll summarize.
I have officially completed all edits and proofreading corrections on my book. Now I’m just waiting for my cover designer to request my files and get started. I will announce a release date as soon as I have a more solid confirmation as to when this will be ready.
The snow we got the other day was so perfect. It was crazy cold and the snow wasn’t heavy and wet, so what fell was full of perfect snow crystals. This is one of several crazy cool shots that show the intricacies of snowflakes. The shot itself isn’t perfect, but I adore that snowflake in the middle. I kind of kicked myself for taking time out of working on edits to take photos, but… worth it! And… I GOT MY EDITS DONE!
I am supposed to be working on my last big round of edits. I’ve managed to get the first half done and was just starting on the second half on Friday when I got a rather distressing text from BG saying that she needs to talk to me about something really important, that she is probably going to be in trouble and I’m most likely going to get a call from the school. This from the girl that is obsessiveness about following rules and doing the right thing. Both her and MC are straight A students and just NEVER get into any trouble. The most I’ve had to do is yell at them for pestering each other. To say I was stunned is a massive understatement.
Between working on my edits and dealing with both myself and MC being sick, the last several days have been… fun. The whole not feeling great thing had me taking meds that wouldn’t let me sleep. As is so typical for me, my brain simply would NOT shut up in that situation. So, sitting there at 3 or 4 am wanting desperately to sleep, my crazy Muse pops her head up and points out that BG’s point costume this year (a romantic length for the first time ever instead of a stiff, flat tutu design) would make a stunning cake.
As has been the pattern since I started my book project, everything is hitting all at once again. I got my final round of edits back from my editor the night before a family outing to celebrate MC’s birthday (not on the actual day). I still have the actual day to work on, which means making a batch of Death By Chocolate, again, along with fixing a massive pile of chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. That pretty much wipes out any time I’d have to work on edits that day. I also have MC’s appointment to get stitches out and his post-surgery check up later in the week along with a couple of other appointments.
So, I’m over the moon excited about getting my edits back, but beyond frustrated that I’m going to have very little time to actually sit down and work on them this week. I WILL make time to work on them though because this pushes me really close to being ready to work on the cover design and being done. I’m so close!
I’m trying really hard to stay focused on those things and not the fact that this is birthday #17 for MC. When the hell did that happen?! Or the fact that I’ll be adding another year to my age only a week later. But hey! Great birthday present, though!
I didn’t set any reading goals for 2018. Not really. If anything, I wanted to cut back on the amount of books I read because I wanted to make sure I did other things besides just read. Based on my total numbers for the year, I think I did just that.
I just hit send on my first round of revisions back to my editor! Now I’m back in sit and wait mode for round 2.
I apparently can’t get my head into my book today even though I KNOW I should be finishing up on my edits. Instead, I’m finding way too many distractions in music. Apparently I’m grooving instead of writing today. These are just a few in the current rotation.
I just finished up the final edits from my editor for this round. I still have another full read through I need to do to make sure all my changes work and that I didn’t break anything. I’m still feeling a little iffy at the moment because this ended up being such a choppy, broken up process with some rather big time gaps between when I was able to sit down and work that I’m not sure it all works like I think it should. At one point, I started second guessing the way I was writing certain things (more of a stylistic thing than anything), even going so far as to change how I was doing it, only to realize I was being stupid and had to go back and fix it.
There were so many parts moved around, added and removed that I’m worried I missed something and broke something in the timeline (a huge peeve of mine is to have those kinds of things messed up even if it is a tiny little element). That is one of my biggest reasons for the additional read through, but I’m worried that I’ve looked at this so much that I’ll still miss something. It is a little frustrating because I was so incredibly conscious of this as I was writing originally, I KNOW I didn’t miss anything. Now, I’m just not sure. Hopefully my read through will make me feel better about it.
Hubby is on standby ready to do yet another read for me. Can I just say how crazy awesome he is that he is willing to do this for me even though he kinda hates to read? I’m even more grateful because he is most likely going to be the only one putting eyes on this besides me before it goes back to my editor this time since my other beta reader is in no position to be able to read again with her still unable to return to her home after the fires. It makes me nervous, but I have to work with what I have.
Once I do finish and Hubby has added his dime to the mix, it goes back for another round, so I’ve still got lots of work ahead, but I’m almost over this bump.
My maple is hanging in there, still full of leaves and color, with the core still being pretty green. I’m expecting that to change rapidly over the next few days with the crazy cold heading our way. One of the things I love about this tree is the range of colors we get from it throughout the season. Bright, vivid reds, deeper burgundies, oranges, all set against the darker looking branches and the central green (at least for a chunk of the time until we hit complete color). Maples are one of my top favorites for that very reason.
I didn’t get a chance to work on my revisions yesterday, but I spent close to 9 hours working on Monday and only got through the first two chapters. I’m not even completely certain I’m done with those. It isn’t flowing like it did when I sat down the first time to write. Or even when I did my first round of my own edits before sending it off. I’m still hoping that changes some when I get a little deeper into it, but I’m not expecting it to be easy. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m slowly chipping away at it. Progress, that is what’s important.
I had a nearly three hour call with my editor last week. It was majorly productive, but it left me at a point where I have a LOT of work ahead of me. I’m grateful because I know that this process will make this better when it is all said and done, but… it is still a lot. It’s a little ridiculous how not prepared for that I was. I KNOW on every level that this isn’t an easy process just from what I’ve read about it from authors I read, but it still came as a surprise just how much work I have left to do.
Today is insane. I had a nearly 3 hour call with my editor (notes on that to come). Now I have to deal with the aftermath of having a haunted garage for Halloween and still wanting to put the cars in after it is all over (and that is only a small portion of what I still have to pack up). Having spent 2 days going in and out, then up and down on a ladder, my body is trying to revolt, but I still have to get everything packed up. So… I’m off to get busy. Then crash.
I am almost always an emotional person first. My initial reactions to things come from an emotional point rather than a logical one. I am also very logical, but that isn’t usually the basis for my reactions unless whatever situation is in play isn’t an emotional one for me. So, having my initial reaction to the first round of feedback I got from my editor be very emotional should have been expected. It still kinda wasn’t and, for a little bit, I felt a wave of not so great things.
Sorry! No image for this one, just needed to have a little moment. I heard from my editor today and I’ll have my first round of feedback and suggested edits ready by the first of next week. So crazy excited right now!
