tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81194907604454341842024-03-13T10:26:53.247-07:00Skim Decaf Mocha With WhipMaking my writing dreams come true with a little bit of work and a whole lot of coffee.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-78444681772205717982015-04-27T17:57:00.002-07:002015-04-27T17:57:38.471-07:00The PlanMy current plan is this: every day, I either write or I exercise. I figure this way, either I have books or I have buns of steel. Both seem to be healthy activities for me.<div>
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I've been on this plan for most of this year, though I hesitated to call it a New Years resolution. Not even a birthday resolution (I frequently save my new-years list for March and force myself to confront those ideas along with the hard evidence of a passing year).</div>
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I have not had a great year so far. On the surface, it all looks pretty good. I've been working a lot at the day job, which for once I love. That makes it harder to find the time and energy to write. Writing has always been a sort of emotional outlet for me, and it's been rough not being able to channel that into words lately. </div>
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I am writing. Slowly. I am making forward progress on The Vegas Affair--a follow up to The Paris Affair that follows Helmut's impulsive little sister Kelsie (who's not exactly a kid) as she confronts her familly's ongoing issues and gets herself in hot water. Or maybe not water? Vegas is a desert. Anyway, I'm happy with the story that I'm writing, but I just need to keep my energy up to write it.</div>
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That, and I"m going to the RWA conference in July. I am looking forward to seeing New York City for the first time, to spending the week hanging with my critique partners, and to the crazy motivation that the conference always is.</div>
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But for tonight, I wrote. And now, to sleep.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-85788750851256123962014-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:002014-10-28T08:00:05.297-07:00Getting Ready for #NaNoWriMo<div class="MsoNormal">
I might have a chance of succeeding at NaNoWriMo this year.
I have successfully cleared my writing plate, so to speak. My next novel,
Accomplice, is edited and formatted and sitting in Amazon waiting for the magic
go-date. And for once, I don’t have three other projects that are begging my
attention. Well, actually I have exactly three other projects, but all of them
are prime NaNo candidates and not mostly-done works in progress that I’ve been
procrastinating on.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I logged into my account just now, I reviewed what I
have set up the past two years, where I participated but then failed
miserably. 2012 I said I was writing The Vegas Affair. 2013 I said
I was writing Take Me Down. So now it’s 2014, and those are two of the three
contenders for my NaNo book. Because, you know, I never wrote them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Take Me Down is the prequel (or really, just book 1 of the
series) of the sci fi romance I wrote in 2009’s NaNoWriMo called Leap. I
have never sold or published Leap because after querying and revising it for a
year or two, I realized that I really needed to introduce the world and some of
the side characters in a different spot. I already have about a chapter
of Take Me Down written, but I’ve been dragging my feet about working on the
rest of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Vegas Affair is a sequel to The Paris Affair, which was
my first published novel. The Vegas Affair will pick up with the story of
Kelsey, the sister of The Paris Affair’s hero Helmut. Kelsey is the baby
of the family and used to being coddled (and rescued) by her two older
brothers. She’s also pissed at both of them, who have refused to talk to each
other for over a decade. Fed up, she comes up with a plan to get them
into the same room—or at least the same city: she is going to elope to Las
Vegas with the one man that both brothers can agree to hate, in the hopes that
they will work together to save her from certain disaster. But, of course,
things don’t go quite as she plans.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My third option is Steal the Sun, the next installment to
Call the Rain, my fantasy novella. Steal the Sun will also be a novella
or short novel (short for the fantasy genre). Trapped in the equivalent
of an ivory tower by a ruthless dictator, my heroine will enlist the help of a
criminal to escape the only world she has ever known. But the hero has
reasons of his own for helping the runaway princess. He believes that
sacrificing her is the key to saving his own people from certain doom. The
fantasy world for this story has been floating around in my head for three or
four years now. I have been reluctant to really start writing on this
one, and I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t have the story line solidified
yet, or if it’s because I’m having too much fun musing over all of the possible
directions I could take it. Once I start writing, I lock things down and
the playground in my head loses some of its adventuresome qualities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So now, I need to decide what to write. And then strategize
my November. It looks like I will have a week of business travel to work
around. That week should include two travel days where, battery
permitting, I can write many words on the plane. But the rest of the week
may be a wash depending on how stressful my days become. Plus
Thanksgiving. It can be done. I’ve done it before. The travel may end up
boosting my writing, because I won’t be bogged down by housework and the
distractions of the real world.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-43150614570068471002014-10-23T16:50:00.000-07:002014-10-23T16:50:05.299-07:00New Release!!<a href="http://kristilea.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/AccompliceSmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://kristilea.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/AccompliceSmall.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a>So, after way too much procrastination and foot dragging and other assorted delaying tactics, I have a new release. Accomplice, which I know I've mentioned on the blog before (I have tags to prove it!) is up on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Accomplice-Kristi-Lea-ebook/dp/B00OGTYE0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414108022&sr=8-1&keywords=Accomplice+Kristi+Lea" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br />
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It can be pre-ordered now, and will be released as an ebook on November 25th.<br />
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Here's the official verbiage:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All the new widow Jessica Kingsbury wants is a quiet new life away from the Hollywood spotlight that made her infamous. But the paparazzi aren't the only ones interested in dredging every sordid secret they can from her past. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All FBI agent Noah Grayson wants is to uncover the mastermind of a blackmail plot that touches the nation's highest ranking politicians. All the clues lead straight to Jessica's late husband, who died under suspicious circumstances. Though his instincts tell him that that the beautiful model is no criminal, he can't help but wonder how much she knew about her dead husband's business dealings. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Then a diamond necklace with ties to the blackmailer is stolen from the Kingsbury mansion, and Jessica begins receiving death threats. She must decide whether she can trust the handsome agent with her secrets and her life, not to mention her heart.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-4057177437529248932013-08-20T13:22:00.003-07:002013-08-20T13:22:37.378-07:00Missouri Sales Tax and Amazon Associates and MeLast week I received a fun little notice from Amazon.com. It reads:<br />
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Greetings from the Amazon Associates Program.<br /><br />We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account will be closed and your Amazon Services LLC Associates Program Operating Agreement will be terminated effective August 27, 2013. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Missouri state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Nixon on July 5, 2013, with an effective date of August 28, 2013. As a result, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after August 27 nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Missouri residents.<br /><br />Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to August 28, 2013 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with your regular advertising fee schedule. Based on your account closure date of August 27, 2013, any final payments will be paid by October 31, 2013.<br /><br />While we oppose this unconstitutional state legislation, we strongly support the federal Marketplace Fairness Act now pending before Congress. Congressional legislation is the only way to create a simplified, constitutional framework to resolve interstate sales tax issues and it would allow us to re-open our Associates program to Missouri residents.<br /><br />We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates Program, and look forward to re-opening our program when Congress passes the Marketplace Fairness Act.<br /><br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br />The Amazon Associates Team</blockquote>
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In case you've never noticed, or never cared, all of my book links and some of the ads that I keep on my blog (and all the booklinks I use on my author website) have my Amazon Associate id embedded in them. It's a feature that ought to mean nothing to the few people who click on those links, but that adds up to a few cents here and there in my pocket. Up until next week, if you click on one of my links and actually buy something, then Amazon pays me a small referral fee--a percentage of around 4%-7% (depending on what the link is and how many folks have bought stuff with my links recently)<br />
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It's not a lot. I'm not a high-traffic site. I just don't get that many clicks or purchases. But it's not nothing. <br />
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So here's the deal as far as I understand it (keep in mind, I'm not a lawyer or tax expert or anything similar): because I'm a resident of Missouri, if Amazon were to continue paying me advertising revenue on those clicks, then they would have to collect Missouri sales tax on all the items that get sold as a result of those clicks. They don't want to do that. Therefore they are yanking my Amazon Associates account (along with all the rest of Missouri resident accounts) and not allowing any other Show-Me's the opportunity to make a few bucks by referring folks to their site.<br />
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Joy.<br />
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I'm not really sure what to think. I'm not really mad at Amazon--they are clearly making a decision that is best for their business going forward. I'm not entirely sure I understand all the ins and outs of sales tax calculations. I'm definitely not against sales taxes, so I'm not sure I'm mad at Missouri. I live here and benefit from the services that all that tax money buys.<br />
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I am peeved that Missouri was already taxing my Amazon Associated referrals as income. But since that wasn't enough, they also want to collect sales tax from Amazon because they see me as a physical presence where Amazon is doing business. Or I was adding to their "nexus" helping bolster their bottom line. I suppose in a very tiny way, I was helping bolster Amazon's bottom line. But moreso, I think I was addinag to my own bottom line, and helping to promote individual items that Amazon sells--aka books. And I've long been peeved at the stupidly complex layers of sales taxes that states, municipalities, towns, taxing districts, etc apply. Sheesh, come up with a singular number and go with it, people. You shouldn't need degrees in math and law to understand a sales receipt.<br />
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Now the fun starts. I'm pretty sure that my e-book of Call the Rain has a link to The Paris Affair (note how I'm not including links, LOL). And my website and blogs are littered with my associates ID. And Facebook. And who knows where else I've managed to post links. I assume they'll still work with the associates account going away, but I have a few hours of cleanup to do.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-26739678181260344732013-07-12T10:29:00.001-07:002013-07-12T10:29:12.512-07:00Carpe Libro<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent years thinking that some day I wanted to
write a book. Some day I would have time to go do research. Some day I
would carefully plot a story. Before I had children, I was frequently
bored. Once or twice I did pull out a laptop or
a pad of paper and start scribbling sentences. I never made it very far
before I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing, or before that
mean little voice in my head would remind me that I was an engineer, not
an English major. Surely I lacked some critical
knowledge needed to write. Surely if I was meant to be a writer, then a
novel would simply flow out of me in a shower of sparkles and wonder.</div>
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Ironically, I didn’t write my first book until
after my second child was born. Not just after the second child, but
after my maternity leave was over and I was back at work. I did have a
shorter schedule—only three days a week down from
full time—but any woman who’s tried to juggle a career and a family
knows that working fewer hours does not make the day job easier. If
anything, it ups the pressure because you have to prove to your
60-hour-a-week-married-to-the-job colleagues that your 24
work week is as valuable as theirs. </div>
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Oh yeah, and baby number two had some major birth defects requiring multiple surgeries.</div>
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Sometimes I wonder whether I ever would have had
the courage to write without my son’s health struggles. Back in those
early days I really did wonder whether he would make it, and for how
long. There were so many unknowns and wait-and-sees
about his development. We didn’t know if he would walk. If he would
ever achieve bladder and bowel control. If he would struggle for energy
and breath.
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I finished my first NaNoWriMo, writing The End on
the first draft of my first ever novel, from my son’s hospital room for
surgery number four. He was eight months old at the time.</div>
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I’m still writing. Have finished a total of six
manuscripts, and have published two so far. Some day I may even publish
that first book (it probably needs a few more edits, though I swear it
isn’t all bad). I’m not a NYT bestseller. I’m
not a Kindle millionaire. I try hard to ignore reviews and to not
obsessively check author rankings (hint, bigger is not always better,
and I’d love to swap my rank and my sales figures). I may never achieve
any of those things. But if I quit now, I definitely
won’t. </div>
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My son continues to inspire me. He learned to roll
over the day after we came home from surgery number two (while he still
had the glue-type stitches in his belly). He pulled himself to standing
for the first time in the hospital crib while
waiting for that fourth surgery. He is now six, and spending this week
at soccer camp. He’s got some of the quickest feet on the field, and
routinely runs circles around kids who are quite a bit taller than he is
(alas, he has inherited my family’s lack of
height). He is in many ways a miracle baby. He still has health
issues, though you couldn’t tell just by meeting him. He will have
challenges in his life, and there is still a potential for big problems
some day. His diagnosis casts a little shadow over us
still. He gets a lot of hugs.</div>
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This week at the day job, a coworker passed away
unexpectedly. I had just talked to him the afternoon before. He didn’t
look like a man with less than twenty-four hours of life left. We
weren’t close, and hadn’t even worked together very
long, but he was very nice and very fair-minded and very good at his
job. His sudden absence has left a hole in our work group. I can only imagine what his wife and children must be experiencing.
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Life is unpredictable. You never know what is
coming tomorrow, good or bad. When my son was a newborn with an
uncertain future, I realized suddenly that all the reasons I’d never
written a book don’t matter so much. Who cares if it sucks.
Who cares if no one ever reads it. If I never write, then I will never
find out. And if I wait for “later”, “later” may not come. I’m writing
because this is what I’ve always wanted to do.</div>
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Seize the day. Write the book.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-74768513283580820212013-06-27T05:00:00.000-07:002013-06-27T05:00:13.942-07:00#Free #Kindle #Romance<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OfP0RO1eFgE/Ts6zyfrxAtI/AAAAAAAAA_c/eY-xaUmtB6A/s1600/TheParisAffair_Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OfP0RO1eFgE/Ts6zyfrxAtI/AAAAAAAAA_c/eY-xaUmtB6A/s1600/TheParisAffair_Small.jpg" /></a>Did you get yours yet? <span id="goog_1427952949"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1619351498/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1619351498&linkCode=as2&tag=kristilea-20" target="_blank">The Paris Affair<span id="goog_1427952950"></span></a> is free on Kindle now through June 27th.
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<br />
And,you can read about the real <a href="http://www.paris-air-show.com/" target="_blank">2013 Paris Air Show</a>, which was probably far less exciting without Claire and Helmut.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-13334306793555027752013-06-20T08:32:00.001-07:002013-06-20T08:32:39.165-07:00Slowly WritingI'm not very talkative lately, am I?<br />
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I hit one major milestone this week--I finished a complete draft of my biggest work-in-progress, a full-length romantic suspense. Right now, the story is fermenting (aka, I am not opening it for a few
weeks to allow my brain a chance to read it objectively and not just
fall back into the love-hate pattern I had while writing the end).<br />
<br />
I don't have any firm release plans yet. I haven't even read the thing start-to-finish, let alone decided on my approaches for editing and all that. I can self-pub it, self-edit or pay an editor, I could shop it around to a variety of e-presses, I could shop it to agents in the hopes of snagging a print press. I could stuff it under my bed and pretend I didn't spend a year and a half on the dumb thing. (wait, did I call it dumb? By "dumb" I meant "brilliant", "engaging", "evocative"....ahem...) . I do have a potential cover photo picked out and paid for that I bought as an incentive to finish the story. So if I do self-pub, I've got step 1 (of like 50) checked off.<br />
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Next up is a re-write/edit job on a short story called The Christmas Affair that is a tie-in to The Paris Affair. No specific release plans there either, except to say that I'll try to have it available by some method or other around Christmas. This is another sexy story, similar heat level to <a href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=kristilea-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1619351498" target="_blank">The Paris Affair</a>, featuring a minor character from that first novel. My initial draft of it, according to my critique partners, lacked conflict. Oops. This is why you have critique partners. (Also, The Paris Affair has a new price over at Amazon--$2.99 for the Kindle edition. If you are looking for a steamy beach read, go download a copy).<br />
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<a href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=kristilea-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00CKFHC86" target="_blank">Call the Rain</a> has been enjoying a slow but decent little career. I've got a few good reviews here and there. I'd love more, but that's not up to me, really. Short of whining and begging, there's not much else I can do except to remind folks that if you read it and liked it, then give it a few stars (and maybe a few kind words) :)<br />
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And lastly, I have a new laptop. Not that it's really writing news, except setting it up did suck several days of my time by the time I installed Office, Adobe CS4, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc. The old one was making a disturbing clicking noise and occasionally refused to wake up from hibernation. It also was barely powerful enough to run Word on Windows 7--Skype continually complained that that the video wasn't fast enough, and the built-in wifi adapter would drop connections from all but the oldest routers. I never could install Photoshop on it because it simply couldn't handle the pressure. Also, you can now buy micro SD cards with more storage space than it's harddrive (all of 60 gig...which was huge when I bought it). The old laptop and I have been through a lot together--8 years and 4+ manuscripts. It's not dead yet, but shall enjoy a slow slide into retirement with a much lighter workload. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-25574825087187695872013-05-10T17:00:00.000-07:002013-05-10T17:00:00.619-07:00Free Book for Mother's Day WeekendCall the Rain will be free on May 11th and 12th! Download! Read! (Maybe even rate it!).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-gNkYdDX4c/UYByH8AeTMI/AAAAAAAABPg/6Ix0hCuIb1I/s1600/Cover1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-gNkYdDX4c/UYByH8AeTMI/AAAAAAAABPg/6Ix0hCuIb1I/s320/Cover1000.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=kristilea-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00CKFHC86" target="_blank">Free on Kindle May 11 and 12, 2013</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-18068169942743665562013-05-08T07:14:00.000-07:002013-05-08T07:14:11.338-07:00What's next after Call the RainA downside of my shameless genre hopping is that, so far, I haven't really written two books in a row that are similar to each other. It's not that I can't write a follow-up, but over several years of shopping manuscripts, I was afraid to spend too much time working on a follow-up to something that might never sell. Throwing good money after bad (or, really, throwing good time after bad).<br />
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So, if you've read either of my published books (or even if you haven't), you might be wondering what I'll publish next. People like series, and if anyone happened to like what they read, they might want more of the same. The good news is that everything I have written will (eventually) have related follow-ups. The bad news is that I have yet to write most of those follow-ups.<br />
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Here's the plan (chronologically):<br />
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Near-Term:<br />
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Accomplice. Fall 2013 A sexy romantic suspense. Novel-length (around 65000 words). I'm a handful of scenes from the end, plus I have the post-draft work to do (lots of edits, formatting, cover art, etc).<br />
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Holiday 2013 I will be release a short (about 7500 words, or about 50 pages) tie-in called The Christmas Affair, featuring a character who only had a brief moment of screen time (Harriet, the disgruntled engineer). I have a draft of this done, but edits remain.<br />
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Longer Term:<br />
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Follow up to Call the Rain. Alas, I have not #2 in this series. And this will be a series made up of more novellas and some novel-length works. I have two competing ideas for the next installment. One is Quarie's story, the sister of the heroine from Call the Rain. The second is a different part of the same overall world, but all new characters. Quarie may appeal to readers of Call the Rain, but the second idea has been floating around my brain longer. I also have the beginning 1/4 of a longer, also-related work set in the same overall world. (Did I mention that this is Epic Fantasy with a ginormous world in which I shall slowly begin unveiling a rather large problem that affects every one of these disparate peoples that I'm going to be writing about...)<br />
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The Vegas Affair. This will be a novel-length direct sequel to The Paris Affair. It is the story of Kelsie, Helmut's sister. I am aiming for a 2014 release, but no promises because all I have written now is a short synopsis and some character notes. <br />
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Sci-Fi Romance series. I have been sitting on Leap for a couple of years (title is subject to change), but it is really book two of a series. I have the opening chapters to Take Me Down, book 1. But an opening does not a whole novel make. I have a whole series name and follow-ups planned.<br />
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The Wild Card:<br />
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And last, but not least, I have yet another contemporary (with series potential). I've been sitting on Hold on to the Knight for several years now. It's a sweet contemporary--another PG-type rated story. I didn't want to release it back-to-back with uber-sexy Paris Affair. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-11652468147420956712013-04-30T18:45:00.002-07:002013-04-30T18:45:22.580-07:00Release Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-gNkYdDX4c/UYByH8AeTMI/AAAAAAAABPg/6Ix0hCuIb1I/s1600/Cover1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-gNkYdDX4c/UYByH8AeTMI/AAAAAAAABPg/6Ix0hCuIb1I/s320/Cover1000.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Pssst...did I mention I released another book? <br />
<br />
This one is traditional fantasy with a (sweet) romance. It's novella length, clocking in just over 30,000 words. So about a third of a full-length print book.<br />
<br />
Yes, yes, I know. A little different than The Paris Affair. If you've been around this blog a while, you're probably not surprised in the least. I'm a shameless genre hopper.*<br />
<br />
Anywho, here's the cover, the blurb, and the link to buy on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CKFHC86/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00CKFHC86&linkCode=as2&tag=kristilea-20">Kindle</a> (hint: Prime members can borrow it for free!). <br />
<br />
Blurb:<br />
<br />
<em>The water beckons…</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Illista and her sister fled their homeland when invaders killed their parents and tried to enslave the girls’ innate water magic. Now disguised as servile Waki, Illista serves the Segra people on the dusty high plains, far from the warm oceans of her childhood.</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>One night, lured by the siren song of the Segra’s sacred lake waters, Illista sheds her Waki disguise for a swim and becomes witness to a murder attempt on the Segra chief’s only son and heir.</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>War looms…</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>Joral’s marriage to the daughter of another tribe will seal the peace between the warring nations and strengthen both halves of the Segra people against invaders from the West. When he is poisoned and nearly drowned on the night of his betrothal, a mysterious sprite of a woman saves his life.</em><br />
<em>Was the attempt on his life the workings of a rival, or was it tied to the sudden arrival of Western mercenaries who seek the missing water witches?</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>A secret revealed…</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<em>When Joral discovers Illista’s secret, will he sacrifice her to secure peace for his people? Or will he follow his heart for the sake of a water sprite who may be the Segra’s only hope for restoring the rains to the drought-ridden land?</em><br />
<br />
*FYI, I do have a follow-up or two to The Paris Affair in the works, including a holiday-themed short that is in work, and a sequel on the drafting board. Did I mention genre-hopping? Because in the middle of the Paris sequels, I'm planning a little romantic suspense and maybe some sci fi. And I have a sequel or three to Call the Rain also on the drafting board. It's a big board, ok?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-38975524065956173842013-03-14T08:01:00.002-07:002013-03-14T08:01:44.610-07:00Google Reader Blues<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A friend and crit partner of mine, <a href="http://www.jeannielin.com/" target="_blank">Jeannie Lin</a>, has been saying for a while now that blogging is dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the sheer number of posts I see in my collection of RSS feeds, I’m not so sure I believe her. Except that today, I got a message from my beloved Google Reader that they are shutting the service down as of July.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am, obviously, disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Google Reader has been the best choice for me for a long time for catching up on local news, Woot deals, friends and authors, new releases, etc. It syncs my topics between my android phone, my tablet, and multiple computers (my work laptop, my home laptop, the family desktop).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boo to Google for taking it away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I cannot visit every site directly--I have no time, no way to track so many shortcuts across so many different devices, and a lot of authors’s websites are marked as 18-and-over, which results in nastygrams at work (and probably an email to some IT guy who will then believe I am surfing porn sites).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">So I’m in the market for a replacement tool for reading news, and I’d love to see some suggestions, or reviews. I’d especially love to hear about any services that work fine in multiple webbrowsers AND an Android phone AND a Kindle Fire all at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are a few options I’ve found that I intend to check into:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Newsblur - </span><a href="http://www.newsblur.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.newsblur.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> - There is a monthly fee if you have too many subscriptions. This might be a problem for me…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Skimr - </span><a href="http://skimr.co/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://skimr.co/</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fever - </span><a href="http://feedafever.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://feedafever.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> - I’d have to self-host this on <a href="http://www.kristilea.com/" target="_blank">kristilea.com</a> in addition to paying a $30 fee, but at least no one will take it away from me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Feedly - <a href="http://feedly.com/" target="_blank">http://feedly.com/</a> - Free and they might be able to automatically suck in my Google Reader subscriptions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Old Reader - </span><a href="http://theoldreader.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://theoldreader.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Flipboard - </span><a href="http://flipboard.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://flipboard.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> - I had seen this “suggested” by Amazon for my Kindle, so I know that it would work there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tiny Tiny RSS - </span><a href="http://tt-rss.org/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://tt-rss.org/index.html</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> - Another self-hosted option<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Prismatic - </span><a href="http://getprismatic.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://getprismatic.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Google+ - </span><a href="http://plus.google.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://plus.google.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have set up a profile. But unlike Facebook, there were no other people on so I’ve basically given up on the service. I don’t have any circles. It does have an Android app. I have no idea what it does for RSS, just several vague online mentions that Google may consider it to be a sufficient replacement for Reader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">**<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">P.S. Now that Google is taking away my blog READER, I’m a little concerned that it may also take away my blog WRITER. Surely not, as I add content and also run ads which should be generating them a little income. (Ok, my blog isn’t exactly bankrolling the company, but still…) The thought worries me enough that I may look into exporting my existing blogs and doing more with my own self-hosted Wordpress site over at <a href="http://www.kristilea.com/" target="_blank">www.kristilea.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-51695616064438379122013-02-25T05:50:00.000-08:002013-02-25T05:50:00.259-08:00Me and my KindleI have owned a Sony eReader for a few years, and though I love the eInk display, my reader was pre-WiFi. Buying books for it was a multi-step process that involved hooking up to a computer. I really like the stylus and the ability to easily load rtf documents and annotate them paperlessly (can you say "editing"). I seriously looked at simply upgrading to a newer Sony. <br />
<br />
In the end, it was the lure of Downton Abbey that pushed me to Amazon. (Cue the collective gasp from the Amazon-fearing masses). I don't work for Amazon, but I don't hate them either. I've been a Prime member since the beginning of Prime. I've been buying books off Amazon since the late 90's. Amazon is a service that I am happy to use. <br />
<br />
So, Merry Christmas to Me. I bought a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRE5A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008GFRE5A&linkCode=as2&tag=yeaofthepan-20" target="_blank">Kindle Fire HD 8.9".</a> <br />
<br />
I also bought a nice (but not too expense) stand <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AC8R1FM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AC8R1FM&linkCode=as2&tag=yeaofthepan-20" target="_blank">cover</a> (in pink, since I cover all of my gadgets in pink--yes, really).<br />
<br />
My review so far? A solid B+<br />
<br />
<strong>Pros:</strong><br />
The screen is pretty. Shows and movies display beautifully. The audio is crisp (though I'm usually in headphones to keep from waking kids).<br />
<br />
I was skeptical that I would really like it for e-books, but I'm coming around. I don't much care for reading on my phone or laptop because the screen size (and overall machine size) aren't ideal for me. I do most of my reading before I fall asleep for the night, when my eyes are tired. With my phone, I have to set the font size big enough that I get like four lines of text at a time, and all the scrolling bugs me. <br />
<br />
The Kindle is easy to hold, either in a chair, sitting up in bed, or sitting on the floor while supervising the kids' cleaning their rooms. It is big enough that you see an entire page or two at once--far better than the 2-3 lines I can get on my phone. My eyes aren't complaining, and I've read several full-length books.<br />
<br />
Access to Amazon Prime material is heavenly. Seriously, I can watch TV shows again! I'm loving Downton Abbey and Falling Skies right now--Firefly and Army Wives are also in my watch list. The price is right, too. We also have a lot of content availalbe on-demand through our cable provider, though I'm seriously considering cutting back on our channels there because we just aren't using them (and probably upping our internet connection speed to compensate for the services we are using).<br />
<br />
We also recently set up an <a href="http://www.uvvu.com/" target="_blank">Ultraviolet</a> account to collect the "digital copies" that come with some of our disc movies. That plus the Flixter app means I can watch non-Prime movies that we own on my Kindle when I'm not at home.<br />
<br />
I can easily check out books from my public library. They use Overdrive, and there are quite a few books that come through in Kindle format. The library website goes through Overdrive which then sends you to Amazon to finalize the download. It sounds more complicated than it really is on-screen. The Amazon portion of the process is really smooth, though I have a few gripes with my library's website (but its free to me and taxpayer/donation-supported, so I really can't complain too much). <br />
<br />
I should be able to check out ePub books from my library and use a different reader app, though I haven't actually done that yet. Maybe I will report-back on that aspect later.<br />
<br />
<strong>Cons:</strong><br />
The app store is not that great. After owning an Android phone for years, I'm disappointed to see how few options are in the Amazon market. Out of the box, the Kindle doesn't work with the Google Play store, which has a lot more apps. I have "side-loaded" a few APK's direct from other websites (like DropBox), so I'm not completely limited.<br />
<br />
The newer Kindle has a front-facing camera. Great, except that there is no camera app (without doing some goofy workarounds, or buying something). A special offer I claimed shortly after Christmas did provide a few bucks of app market credit, which I used to buy a camera app. But it takes pictures in mirror-image (because it's front-facing). And it doesn't work well with bar-scanning (which I'm used to using inside GoodReads for adding books) because it reverses the image so the barscanner can't decode them (maybe there's a workaround?)<br />
<br />
The on-screen keyboard and I don't get along well. I cannot hit the spacebar with any reliability, making it a pain to type much. This is probably a user-problem. And I might just go buy a bluetooth keyboard.<br />
<br />
The Silk browser crashes on me a LOT. Maybe it's the websites I'm surfing? I don't know. But it is really really annoying. I haven't yet tried to find a different browser (I don't know if there's one in the app store or not...I thought not). Also, I did have to configure the settings to always load the full version of websites--otherwise most sites know you're running a Kindle and/or Android and shuffle you to their mobile versions (which never look right on such a big screen). But there are some components on full-featured sites that just don't work on the Kindle (Flash seems to be fine, but some other components, possibly ActiveX?, show up as a puzzle piece instead of content).<br />
<br />
Magazine subscriptions are not quite "there" yet on the Kindle: <br />
<br />
Several of my print magazines come with free tablet editions, so of course I tried those out. I have gripes about specific implementations of several of these (e.g. Better Homes and Gardens app makes me continually re-login to see new editions, even when I check the "remember me" box). I do have one magazine that gets auto-delivered via Kindle's whispersync, and I can manage the downloads the same way I do ebooks. I vastly prefer that method to the custom apps.<br />
<br />
Next, each issue is huge and slow to download--like 300-500 MB PER ISSUE (yes, I buy mainly magazines full of glossy color photos--but I have a tablet with a beautiful color screen). That's almost a whole movie. Also, I can't find cut-and-paste or screen capture features. I would love to be able to scrap-book decorating or craft ideas, or recipes, individual articles, etc. But I can't figure out how. My only option seems to be filling my entire (non-upgradeable) drive space with whole magazines and then hunting through entire issues. Unless this gets improved, I'm probably sticking with print magazines for the ones I really truly want to keep reading--I can take scissors to them and only save what I really want and recycle all the junk. <br />
<br />
BTW, Print Magazine Publishers, if you are listening: I am also buying fewer print magazines than I did a few years ago...I don't like all the paper hanging around my house, and I can find plenty of content on a variety of interactive websites (where I can get screen captures, at least on the PC, for things I want to keep). Unless you want to lose me as a subscriber to both print and tablet, please work on your delivery method and options to get at the parts of your content I want.<br />
<br />
<strong>Summary:</strong><br />
<br />
I love the Kindle. I do not regret the purchase. I wish there were a few more features (a rear-facing camera, more app choices, microSD card slot, etc). I seriously debated a non-Amazon Android tablet for the features that the Kindle lacks, but Amazon doesn't allow for Prime video streaming to non-Kindle Android tablets (which is dumb as I can watch videos on my XP-based netbook, but not my husband's Galaxy Tab). My Kindle has Special Offers, and I'm fine with seeing those--have even taken advantage of a couple of them. Usually I ignore them :) I did not get the 4G version, though I could see some definite advantages to not being tied to WiFi (I could be boob-tube-ing it anywhere, not just at home! Probably best that I can't...). We have not tried the Free Time (my kids have plenty of electronic devices of their own, so I haven't needed to share My Precious Kindle).<br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-74465055294251532252013-02-22T05:30:00.001-08:002013-02-22T05:30:07.009-08:00Ebb and FlowThe other day, my husband commented that something was wrong with my blog feed. He hadn't seen a single update in his RSS reader in nearly six months.<br />
<br />
Oh. <br />
<br />
No, honey. It's not your reader. It's not Blogger. Its the blogger. Its me.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time I was full of writing advice and encouragement in the way that childless folk are full of parenting advice. I would see other writers--some multi-published authors, some just starting, like me, who complained about not getting the writing done. They blame it on the muse. On being sick. On being busy.<br />
<br />
And I thought: Surely it's not that hard. Surely if you just keep writing, then, well, you won't ever get stuck and give it up. Surely these people are just lazy whiners.<br />
<br />
And, like many previously childless folk who eventually have children, I did indeed discover that writing, like parenting, is not always straightforward. Writing doesn't always go "by the book".<br />
<br />
I've got plenty of excuses. Plenty of rationales. Plenty people who regularly ask me "What are you working on?". Critique partners who ask, weekly, where my pages are. I am capable of setting measurable goals. I have a Dedicated Office Space (a very pretty one at that). And yet, I have accomplished very very little in over a year.<br />
<br />
By "very little", I don't actually mean that I haven't written words. I have actually mostly finished a romantic suspense (The big bad guy has my hero and heroine at gunpoint right now...so the end is in sight!). I have written a short story to tie into The Paris Affair (with no conflict, apparently, according to my critique partners). I have a fantasy novella that I am hemming and hawing over (do I try subbing it to one of many publishers and hope that an odd-length, sweet-romance, traditional fantasy story will intrigue someone, or make it my self-publishing trial run?). I have ten pages of a sci-fi I've been kicking around for like five years, and a fairly fleshed-out plotline (well, fairly fleshed-out compared to my usual Dora-The-Explorer pantser plotting) for yet another sci-fi that I've also been kicking around forever.<br />
<br />
I have written.<br />
<br />But I haven't really accomplished much. And I'm not writing regularly.<br />
<br />
It's that last part that's the problem. I'm "writing" for about twenty minutes a week. If that. And sometimes "writing" means reading emails related to my writing, or, like I did this week, updating my website to add a buy link for Kobo. <br />
<br />
I know what happened. I had a few years of being absolutely driven to write. I won two NaNoWriMo's in a year, and got about halfway through two more. I am sitting on two completed full-lenght manuscripts, my 95% one, my novella, and my short. I queried, did the RWA contest thing, went to RWA nationals twice and pitched and subbed. I have a critique group. We met in person weekly for like two years and now meet weekly by Skype.<br />
<br />
But at the same time, I have two kids and a full-time day job (a career-type job, not something to occupy lonely hours while the kids are at school--and its been a stressful few years at work). We moved, and subsequently owned and paid for two houses at the same time for fifteen months (more stress). <br />
<br />
And I sold a book! (Well, sold the manuscript, and then sold, ahem, some number of e- and print-books). There were facebook ads and Google ads and a few blog posts. Social networking and Goodreads giveaways.<br />
<br />
In short, I drove myself crazy and then needed a break. Something had to give, and since I can't ship the kids away for a few months (LOL, tempting though it seems somedays...), and since I can't/won't give up the day job, then writing is what gives.<br />
<br />
Am I done writing? Giving up? No.<br />
<br />
Am I going to promise, here and now, to write every day? To write three manuscripts a year? To do something else huge and magnificent and inspiring? No.<br />
<br />
I am not a balance kind of gal. I don't peanut-butter spread my activities. I can't sign up for writing 100 words, or 500 words, or even 50 every day. For me, the "balance" is more of an ebb and flow. At some points, I will get driven to write and pump out 25 or 50k in a month or two, with one or more stories running through my head as I drive in the car and as I fall asleep every night. And at some points I will be driven at work and find the day job running through my head as I fall asleep. At some points I just need to tune out, read some books, watch some TV, play games with the kids, laugh with my husband, and accomplish very little. Eventually, all that mind-numbing will quit actually numbing my mind and I will feel like I have to do something different.<br />
<br />
The ebb will flow again. It always does.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-70804264969052904242012-08-16T20:16:00.000-07:002012-08-16T20:16:47.891-07:00Cliches and What I Think When I Hear Them"It will be a cake walk"<br />
<br />
A coworker told me this recently about a task he was trying to complete. I, being the smarty pants that I am, proceeded to laugh at his choice of phrases. He meant to say that the task would be easy. I mean, cake walks are easy. The few that I've done at church and school fairs are basically a glorified musical chairs where the winner gets a baked good (frequently a cake). The problem is, you don't always win.<br />
<br />
"A good moral compass"<br />
<br />
This is the phrase of the year, what with the election and all. But did you know that a compass does not point "true" north, to the one-and-only X on the ground that the world has decided is (0,0), aka the North Pole? Nope. A compass points to the Magnetic North Pole which is a spot somewhere up in the arctic circle where the earth's magnetic field points down. Magnetic North is <b>not </b>True North. And what's even better, Magnetic North moves over time (the difference between True North and Magnetic North is called Magnetic Variance, and it changes significantly from year to year). Maybe politicians <i>aren't</i> exaggerating when they use the word "moral compass". Because some of them have morals that drift.<br />
<br />
"Press the flesh"<br />
<br />
While I'm on politics and politicians...I am thankful this silly phrase is not as widely used at the moment. Very. Thankful. Because it always sounds vaguely dirty, and frankly, I don't want most politicians anywhere near <i>my </i>flesh. <br />
<br />
"Put on your big girl panties"<br />
<br />
<br />
It wasn't until I started potty training my daughter that I
figured out that this phrase was NOT related to jokes about "granny
panties". Seriously. And even then, it made me wonder. See, my daughter
was one of those children who, when so inclined, would just wet her way
through whatever she was wearing--big girl panties, plastic pants,
diaper, whatever. I still think that people use this phrase wrong. Women
talk about putting on their own big girl panties in order to face some
challenge the way a knight would put on armor to protect themselves in
battle, or perhaps take the armor off in order to trust in their own
innate abilities. The problem is, the metaphorical wearer of the
metaphorical big girl panties is not the one in this scenario who
requires faith and trust...its the owner of the upholstery on which she
sits.<br />
<br />
"Pound the table"<br />
<br />
People think this means to strongly support an idea. I dunno. I always get the image of a toddler throwing a tantrum. Or some kind of medieval guy with turkey leg grease dripping down his huge bushy beard, who has just slammed down his goblet of glug in anger and is now motioning for his beefcake of a bodyguard to literally shoot the messenger (or else press his flesh into a squishy mess?) <br />
<br />
"Put it to bed"<br />
<br />
As in, lets finish up this task or settle this conflict for good. But when you put a kid to bed, you expect them to wake up the next morning, revived. Right???<br />
<br />
"As you sow, so shall you reap"<br />
<br />
Except during a drought. In that case, you better irrigate.<br />
<br />
"Walking on eggshells"<br />
<br />
My beef (hah! cow vs chicken joke) with this one is that people are always "walking on eggshells around " somebody. I don't get it. Wouldn't it hurt my feet if I walk on eggshells? If that somebody is uber-sensitive, and I'm either making crunching noises or else hopping from bare foot to bare foot and crying out in pain, wouldn't that make the situation worse?<br />
<br />
"Two wrongs don't make a right"<br />
<br />
But three lefts do... (or just make a legal U-turn, as my GPS is always demanding)<br />
<br />"A piece of cake"<br />
<br />
This is kind of like that first one, only it makes me hungrier. Cakes aren't easy. Even cake mixes frequently go awry. And then there are the fillings. And the frosting. And the decorating. And have you ever had the pleasure of cutting a large wedding cake? There are diagrams, people. Is cake easy to digest? if you don't have gall bladder problems. And I suppose it doesn't take much chewing. But its hard to stop at just one piece. And now I'm craving chocolate, darnit.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-6604527968510505092012-06-01T18:45:00.001-07:002012-06-01T18:45:42.195-07:00Official BusinessThere is a lot of business to this writing business. This week's new thing: a business license. I was informed by my local city treasurer that I am required to pay for a business license and apply for a home business occupancy permit. It made me grumpy.<br />
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I'm not averse to paying taxes that I owe or to following rules. So in that spirit I have dutifully filled out paperwork and enclosed a check. I'm not entirely sure what this license is going to buy me--I don't exactly have a steady stream of clientele visiting my office (except the fictional people in my head, but they don't need parking spaces or bother the neighbors. Usually.). I won't have any undue number of packages being delivered or picked up. No crazy additions to the house.<br />
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Heck, when I was asked to specify how many square feet of my house I intended to use for the business, I almost answered "2" (one for the laptop, one for the netbook...some nights its just more comfortable to write from the couch than the desk). Instead, I played nice and estimated the square footage of my office at an overly generous 150 (its probably closer to 120). I didn't even claim my home office on my taxes because the IRS has a lot of stringent rules about it having to be purely business and never personal, and how on earth do I explain that to the cats who like to nap in my chair? (and the printer gets used by the entire household even though it resides in my office).<br />
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Amusingly, in this town, "professional engineers" are exempt from the business license requirement (as are priests, teachers, and auctioneers. Why auctioneers and not writers?). As I am an engineer by day, I could have pleaded exemption, but I was kind afraid that the all-knowing city would google me and decide that engineers don't generally include hot steam-room sex scenes in their technical documentation. Though that might encourage end users to actually read online help.<br />
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Writers: be aware of local ordinances. If you open a post office box (which I did), or if you claim business expenses on your taxes (which I also did), then some nice local official may decide that you are, indeed, a business and request to know the names of your employees (I judiciously decided against mentioning the cats, the kids, my current hero/heroine, or my husband-aka-Director-of-Research-slash-Facilties-Manager). <br />
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For next year, I am seriously considering re-locating the family printer and putting the furballs on my payroll. If I have to pay for a license to play make-believe in my own private library, I may as well get a tax break for my trouble.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-55926838555053066962012-05-15T17:34:00.001-07:002012-05-15T17:34:40.613-07:00Goodies for a Cause: Brenda Novak AuctionIf you haven't already gone browsing over at Brenda Novak's Auction site, you really should. There are tons of goodies up for sale for writers, readers, and even a few for non-readers. Proceeds benefit diabetes research.<br />
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A few near and dear to my heart:<br />
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<a href="http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2514730" target="_blank">Set of 3 E-books from Megan Connors, Angela Scavone, and Myself, plus a Paris Affair Mug</a><br />
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<a href="http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2523327" target="_blank">Soul Mate Publishing gift basket</a> including a pre-loaded Kindle with 15 SMP books (including The Paris Affair), Godiva chocolates, and other goodies<br />
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<a href="http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=2492759" target="_blank">Pre-Loaded Kindle Fire with 25 ebooks</a> (also including The Paris Affair)<br />
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Go. Go on. Go browse. Don't worry about me. I'll be here when you get back.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-9932431777323368622012-04-13T07:12:00.000-07:002012-04-13T07:12:51.805-07:00Ode to Breakfast(To the tune of Do-Re-Me from Sound of Music)<br />
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Do, a treat, a breakfast treat<br />
Nut, the word to follow Do<br />
Coffee, a drink, I feed myself<br />
Cream, to put in my coffee<br />
So, I think I need caffeine<br />
La, I'm starting to feel buzzed,<br />
Tea, to drink with my donut,<br />
And that will bring us back to Do, Do, Do, Do..Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-5773087486951232722012-03-31T06:51:00.000-07:002012-03-31T06:51:54.618-07:00Like Chocolate Pudding Scraped Across Too Much Ham*<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There was a time last year where I was totally driven. I was actively running a food blog, drafting a new novella, submitting work to publishers, spit-polishing my house in preparation to sell, exercising regularly (and purchasing a new bikini to celebrate my efforts!). </span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now? Not so much. Granted, I’ve had a busy year. I sold a book and got massively distracted by attempts at promotion and bookkeeping. I moved and got massively distracted by packing and unpacking our junk. The day job has been getting busier—instead of working four days a week and leading a team of 2-4 people (of which I was one), I’ve been averaging five days a week (frequently more than 40 hours) and leading a team of ten people. </span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We have a house still on the market, which saps my energy just thinking about the mortgage payments, the constant pressure to make sure it is perfect, the constant feedback detailing all of the house’s flaws. We have a new house that is not completely set up the way I want it—mostly because we are spending every spare dimes (and a few that shouldn’t be spared) to pay the mortgage on the old one. That leaves nothing left for landscaping or a few pieces of badly needed furniture (oh how I miss having actual dressers in the master bedroom), or even for contemplating use of the basement.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I think the biggest culprit in the whole litany is that extra day of work. Yes, I know that many people work over forty hours per week, every week. I think the pool of them that do that with two school-age children (who get way too many days off school, IMHO) might be smaller—especially as I have no close-by family to help out in a pinch. The number who work that much, with children, without near family support, and with a second whole job (i.e. writing)—I think I’m in a minority. My particular combination of jobs doesn’t help—engineering and writing are both very cerebral involving lots of logic, scheduling, problem solving, recall of facts, etc. You know, all the same skills I also have to employ at home to help solve the financial puzzle, scheduling nightmare that children-with-extra-curriculars create, help with homework and answer my youngest’s endless stream of why’s. Some days I wish I were a janitor or a gardener instead.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It is amazing how much saner I used to feel having a dedicated day per week, without people around to distract me (i.e. no husband or kids), where I can run errands or do complex tasks in peace, where I have no one’s schedule but my own to meet. I have given up way too much time--time I used to be able to count on for making phone calls (away from the giant, open cube farm at work where my coworkers can hear every last word), time I used to be able to use for house cleaning, or squeezing in a Zumba class, or pounding out a thousand words on a manuscript, or just staring numbly at the TV to give my brain a break from the constant stress and problem solving of the day job + the mom job + the writing job.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I want to set a deadline for myself. To sign up to finish my current work in progress, to edit last year’s novella, to submit more work to publishers, to do more marketing and attend more meetings and generally feel human again. I also kinda want to crawl under the covers and sleep for another month or two, then spend a couple of months watching dozens of movies, then start running five days a week until I feel physically fit again. But I hate to set goals that I know I can’t meet.</span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Instead, I think I need a break from goals. </span></div><div><br />
</div><div><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* My title is a quote is from Lord of the Beans, one of our family’s favorite Veggie Tales movies. It’s a hilarious spoof of the first Lord of the Rings and full of literary gems like the appetizing image I have borrowed to describe my current state of mind.</span></div><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-35386986701922720852012-02-19T14:06:00.000-08:002012-06-01T18:46:09.377-07:00The Business of WritingLearning to run a writing business is fun in a totally geeky sort of way. Since getting The Call last September, I've dealt with contracts, promotion, taxes, accounting, graphic design, web design, networking....and a little writing also. Each new challenge is scary. Fun-scary. And I have no idea whether I'm doing anything right.<br />
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This is the second year that I have claimed writing expenses on our tax return, with no income to go with it :) My first royalty check from The Paris Affair is coming sometime later this winter or early spring. So, I got a nice little warning from TurboTax (our accountant of choice until taxes get too complicated) saying that our audit risk is high. Oops :) <br />
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One of my resolutions for this year is to be better organized about tracking income and expenses, so I bought a copy of Peachtree Accounting software. Before you jump on the bandwagon, I will warn you: for my purposes, so far I think it's like hiring a master carpenter to hang some pictures on the wall. Totally overkill as a spreadsheet would be sufficient. But, I found a 2010 version for under $5 on clearance, so the worst I've done is waste my time. And it has a ton of online help that walks you through accounting principles, so I think I"m actually getting a bit of an education. Not bad for the money :)<br />
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On the promotion front, I've been trying a variety of approaches while trying to stay in line with my projected income (aka: promoting on the cheap). I've done a handful of blogs (here, on the Soul Mate Authors group, and a couple of guest blogs elsewhere). I've given away a couple of copies of my book. (I have a giveaway running this week over on <a href="http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/a-giveaway-and-its-not-even-christmas/" target="_blank">the SMP Authors site</a>). I've tried to be on twitter and facebook, but my playtime there has been limited by the day job (where I've been working longer hours than normal) and the night job (where my munchkins deserve better than to see me over the top of my phone or laptop screen).<br />
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Also for promotion, I am playing with online ads. My web hosting service had a bunch of ad credits that I could use, so I've been playing with Facebook and Google ads. I might have Yahoo credit I could claim as well. It's a bit difficult to see how useful the advertising really is. Authors get a small amount of visibility into Amazon rankings of their books, and my publisher can share stats if I ask. But though I am attempting a few tricks to track which clicks result in sales, I don't know if the ads are helping much. So far, I would bet that if I were paying the ad money out of my own pocket instead of a free promotional credit, that I would probably spend more than I am earning from it. I am treating this as on-the-job-training :)<br />
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For online ads, you can either use ugly-looking text-only ads, or come up with fancy-looking graphics. Hiring a graphic designer's not in the budget (though I know a couple of them who would be awesome), so I'm polishing up my Photoshop skills. And contemplating making <a href="http://www.romancetradingcards.com/" target="_blank">Romance Trading Cards</a>. A lot of authors I know also print bookmarks, and though I'd love to do that (I can never get enough bookmarks), they seem like a strange kind of promo item for a digital release. I might do them anyway, as time permits (maybe with a QR code with the digital buy link?) Hmmm...<br />
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The only bad part about all this is that I'm not spending a lot of time writing. My "season" is coming up, though. I typically pump out a lot of words in November, and then again during Lent. No religious association here, but for some reason the mid Feb-mid April timeframe has worked well for me to really get writing. Late spring and summer have been good times for me to revise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-43191781477604960572012-01-19T08:15:00.000-08:002012-01-19T08:15:00.556-08:00Bits and Bytes<span id="sample-permalink">Today I'm blogging with my fellow Soul Mate authors over at our blog. Stop by and share your thoughts about what writing sounds like to you: </span><br />
<a href="http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/what-does-writing-sound-like/"><span id="sample-permalink">http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/<span id="editable-post-name" title="Temporary permalink. Click to edit this part.">what-does-writing-sound-like</span>/</span></a><br />
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<span id="sample-permalink">Also today, over on my website I'm encouraging all readers to come over to Goodreads. Its a great place to share what you're reading and see recommendations from others.<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5393917.Kristi_Lea" target="_blank"> Send me a friend request</a>! I love getting a peek into everyone else's bookshelves. </span><br />
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<span id="sample-permalink">Or join the Goodreads 2012 writing challenge. I'm attempting to read 25 books this year. Shameful admission: Last year I said I'd read 50. I didn't claim half that many, although I think I forgot to mark a bunch. But I also packed and purged during the great house move, so I cannot prove my claim. This year, I pledge to do better. (And I installed their android app on my phone--scanning book bar codes can keep me amused for a good long time...)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-22844460956619456322012-01-16T19:19:00.000-08:002012-01-16T19:19:02.588-08:00Mulligan? (Contest!)One of the silly things I keep fighting lately is technology. Ironic, huh. I'm a software engineer! For real! They pay me like money and stuff! Except, not to administer websites.<br />
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So, I tried to be smart and set up a giveaway. I found a snippet of my book, set up a post on my website, scheduled the post....and....I forgot to allow users to actually comment on it. Oops. Well, technically, any registered user could post a comment, but since I'm the only registered user and I don't think the login page was set to allow new registered users, that was kind of useless.<br />
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But! I think I'm all fixed. Er, my site is. For now :) Want to win an Amazon Gift card? Click over here and leave a comment. That's it. Your comment can be "enter me in the contest."<br />
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<a href="http://kristilea.com/WordPress/?p=115" target="_blank">Teaser and a $10 Amazon giftcard giveaway</a><br />
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(Maybe I should just switch it to a nice static set of html pages and a link to Blogger. I'm more comfortable over here. But, you know, having my name in the domain is kind of cool, right?)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-82801459518039959122012-01-06T17:19:00.000-08:002012-01-06T17:19:00.765-08:00Interview and Giveaway on Warm Days, Cool Nights and Hot Guys....: Friday Fun- Meet Author Kristi Lea!Check out my interview on my fellow RWA chapter-mate, author Jennifer Jake's, blog. Comment for a chance to win a copy of The Paris Affair!<br /><br /><a href="http://authorjenniferjakes.blogspot.com/2012/01/friday-fun-meet-author-kristi-lea.html?spref=bl">Warm Days, Cool Nights and Hot Guys....: Friday Fun- Meet Author Kristi Lea!</a>: I'm so excited to host debut author, my friend and fellow RWA chapter mate, KRISTI LEA! Kristi brought her brand new release, THE PAR...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-46015584741434990622012-01-01T08:33:00.000-08:002012-01-01T08:33:02.697-08:002012 Writing GoalsI set goals for this past year and didn't quite make them :) My post was <a href="http://skimdecafmochawithwhip.blogspot.com/2011/01/goals-for-2011.html">here</a>.<br />
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Of the five items I had scribbled on the restaurant table cover with my crit partners, I made two of the five: I finished a rough draft on a fantasy novella (as yet unshopped and thus unpublished), and I didn't enter any contests on any unfinished novels :) The rest of the writing ended up on the backburner with a house move (man those things are time-sucks), plus the sale and release of <a href="http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/the-paris-affair/">The Paris Affair</a>. Advertising and networking (aka dinking around on twitter and facebook and the like) are also time-sucks :)<br />
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For 2012, here are my goals. Maybe this time I should <br />
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<b>New Words:</b><br />
I am 21,xxx words into a re-write of my (never-previously-finished) sexy romantic suspense (Accomplice). I'm shooting for 50-60,000 words, so I'm about 1/3 of the way there. I need to finish this sucker. Jessica and Noah have been twiddling their thumbs for like 3 years now, waiting for me to get my act together.<br />
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I have too many ideas, and not enough time (or focus maybe). I have about 20k good words on a full-length (90-120k) fantasay novel that I would love to finish writing. And a few pages on another sci fi. After Accomplice, I need to work one of these.<br />
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<b>Editing:</b><br />
I need to thoroughly re-read and edit my fantasy novella (currently titled Call the Rain). And probably shop it around.<br />
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I also have some re-work to do on my sci fi romance Leap, plus its prequel Take Me Down (which as of today numbers about 10 pages of an eventual 300). Note to other authors: when writing a series you will do much less re-work if you start with book one and progress sequentially. Since I started with book two before I knew what happened in book one, I must now make book two follow book one in a logical fashion. And maybe try to sell them both.<br />
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<b>Publishing Goals:</b><br />
I would love to have published or at least contracted a minimum of one additional manuscript for 2012. Potential publishing houses have a variety to choose from: romantic suspense, contemporaries, sci fi, fantasy...I'm sure they'll be banging down my door any minute now. Ahem. Moving right along.<br />
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<b>Improving my Craft:</b><br />
I set a goal on GoodReads to read 25 books this year, which should be a Very Do-able Goal. Want to sign yourself up? <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/kristilea%20">www.Goodreads.com</a>. While you're there, send me a friend request :). I love seeing what everyone else is reading.<br />
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I would love to attend a conference this year. Maybe RWA nationals, maybe something closer to home. I have learned so much from the conferences and workshops I've attended the past few years, and I totally missed going to RWA last summer.<br />
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What about you? Any goals? Feel free to share (or link!) I'd love to see what everyone else is doing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-378937597654455112011-12-17T11:57:00.000-08:002011-12-17T11:57:31.088-08:00Links and Links to LinksThere are a lot of social media sites these days. I am attempting to get set up on some of them as Writer-Kristi. I'm sure there are more, but here is my list so far:<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/kristilea">Amazon Author Page</a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/KristiLea">Goodreads</a><br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristi-Lea/173053482777999">Facebook Page</a><br />
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/elitsirk">Twitter</a><br />
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At some point, I should probably quit playing with websites and start writing again. Right?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8119490760445434184.post-32061028404510905242011-12-16T05:46:00.000-08:002011-12-16T05:46:36.158-08:00The Paris Affair Now on Amazon DirectlyThe Paris Affair has been available<a href="http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/the-paris-affair/"> from the publisher's website</a> since Wednesday. From there, the "buy" links will download straight onto your Kindle or Nook (or allow you to save a file for loading separately, for folks like me who have non-wifi enabled e-reader...).<br />
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But as of this morning, my book is also for sale directly on Amazon's website! Discoverability is a good thing! The image below is the buy link.<br />
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B&N should be coming soon.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=yeaofthepan-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B006MN85VU" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0