Book Feature: Gather Sticks Along the Way; G. Tyler Mills

Amazon listing - Gather Sticks Along the Way: A Novel http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QRGVF4

Author website - www.gtylermills.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/gtylermills

Charles is an average man. He has a loving family and is solid in his own beliefs. But his faith is soon tested with the loss of his son and Charles becomes a man driven by the need for answers. He needs to know what happened to his child and is prepared to do anything to find out. As simple actions by multiple individuals begin to unfold, a tragedy is formed and Charles is caught in the middle. Throughout it all he knows he is not alone. He knows God is with him. As Charles begins to see signs of what he believes to be the truth behind his son’s disappearance, he’s unsure if these come from God or if they are just coincidences? Is it his vengeance that propels him or is he just doing God’s plan? His faith will either see him through this catastrophe or cause him to lose all he has left.

Excerpts from Book:

“As the sun began to set on the home Charles sat quietly in the front foyer looking out the window. Ann sat on the front porch looking right and left still half expecting to see small feet carry a little boy around the corner. One phone was clutched in her left hand and her cell phone rested in the other. Charles looked through the window at his wife. Images and thoughts raced through his mind as to what or where the boy could be. He pushed the thoughts aside, bowed his head, and prayed to God that solace would be swiftly found. It never came.”

 –excerpt from Chapter 10

“He took a shower, longer than his normal scrubbing and slid into his side of the bed. He thought for only a moment about how he could have carried out such malicious acts and have the ability to close his eyes, but as soon as he tried his exhaustion took hold. His mind quickly began to shut down and his last attempt at consciousness was the annoyance of the quill from the feather pillow piercing into his cheek.” 

–excerpt from Chapter 23

Blatant Promo - Anthologies

Hello Readers,

I've got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero, zilch. The Occupy jackasses stole it. In light of that, I'm doing a blatant promo post for the book just released last week at Amazon! Bound for Love is an anthology consisting of ten authors each giving us stories of love, lust, bondage and hopefully, a happily ever after.

Authors ask me a lot why they should submit to anthologies when they're only getting a flat rate for a story. My answer is usually this: "Are you a big enough name that you can live off your royalties currently?" They usually say no.

"Are you okay with your current audience?" I then ask.

Again, no. They'd like to reach more people.

So why not give me a story?

They're looking only at the money. The big picture is not being factored into their career. Author and editor M. Christian started out editing anthologies and because he started out with those credits, he's able to speak anywhere (which means prospect of being paid to talk as an "expert" increases" because he'd edited and been in several anthologies.

I've been in fewer anthologies for a variety of reasons but creating them with publisher Jean Marie Stine at Sizzler Editions has given me an opportunity to correct that and show for the record that I'm a beast when it comes to writing hot erotica and erotic romance.

Coming up with the ideas for anthologies does several things for my platform, but for authors the bigger picture is exposure. Bound for Love contains ten stories by eleven authors (Margie split her personality with a guy named KB Cutter) and if you're a fan of Margie's work, you'll likely read her story and skim through to the other stories to see if there is something you'd like. Gianna Simone has a certain flair for the realist in BDSM as does Marianne LaCroix. In fact, having Marianne in the anthology serves more than one purpose. She's old guard, she's Lifestyle, she's a friend, she's run a publishing house, she's a damn clean writer and the story is HILARIOUS, if not arousing for those who like her version of reality.

The fact that authors get in through the front gate (editor) of an anthology and may end up paired in a book with bigger names is really the point I believe, of anthologies. Sure someone will take a chance on you as a new author but if you're good enough to be in the same book as Angela Knight or Rebecca York, your chances of being read increase THAT much. It means the editor in charge of the anthology liked your work enough for it to stand next to a big name and that they believed in you. You can have one without the other but let's be honest, this is a tough business and you'll need all the friends you can get.

Pick up BOUND FOR LOVE at Sizzler Editions
Buy SURRENDER TO LOVE from Decadent Publishing

Whimsical Friday: What else can go wrong?

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong? I mean one of those days where you ask yourself why you got up.  You get out of bed and as you rest you feet on the floor you discover the cats have left you a prize of the vomiting kind.  And while hoping to the washroom to clean it, you lose your balance and smack your shoulder into the wall. Ouch! Then you run the shower and as you climb under the nice hot water, someone flushes the toilet in another bathroom and your nice hot water instantly turns into an ice shower cold enough to freeze your nipples.  You think to yourself, what else can go wrong.  That is a statement one should never speak. Or at least knock on wood when you do. You know damn well you’ve just jinxed yourself.

Coffee in hand you sit down at your desk and boot up the computer. Lifting your cup you take a sip and burn your lips. Damn! And as you set it back down on the desk you place it on a pencil and the cup wobbles and falls over. Hot coffee all over your lap. Fuck!! This would be a cue to step away from the computer and crawl back in bed. But no, you are determined to plug on despite the horrible day you’re having.

You wipe up the spilled coffee, decide you really don’t need a refill and instead get to work. You open your email to find your latest novel, the one you worked your ass off, was rejected. Sigh. Back to the drawing board.  Closing your email, deciding you don’t want more bad news right now, you open your work in progress and stretching your arms, begin.  This is the one, you tell yourself. The one to push you to the top.  Feeling hyped up and eager to finish your story you type like a mad person. You’re on a roll when suddenly your computer pops up a warning that it’s about to install updates. Okay, fine, great. You hit save on your document and wait for the updates to finish. While waiting you get up and grab more coffee only this time you make sure to be careful when sipping.  Out of the blue two cats come running into the kitchen and decide that you make a great obstacle to play through. One in the front, one behind you.  You try to step over them only to have the one in front rake you over with its claws. Sonofabitch!

Once again, you spill your coffee. Ahhhhh!!! The cats run off, and you’re pretty sure they’re laughing as they do, and you mop up the spilled coffee.

Okay, back to work. You sit down at the computer, boot it up again and go into your documents to find your work in progress. What? Its not there. It has to be there. So you scramble and search and as you do so you’re getting more and more frustrated. You know you saved it yet it’s nowhere in your documents. You search your entire computer, but still come up empty.  Ten thousand words, gone! All that hard work, vanished. This can’t be happening!!!!

Oh yes it is and you should have known this would happen because you jinxed yourself by saying what else could go wrong. Your eyes fill with tears. Your temper flares. You want to scream and throw things, but you know that won’t accomplish anything. So you sit there crying. Why? Why? Why?

You have just entered my day of hell. Did I find that document? Nope. Am I still crying? Damn straight. And now I am going back to bed, and pull the covers up over my head.

Come Again?

I am a voracious reader. Simply unstoppable, and I read really fast as my mum used me as a guinea pig when I was four years old for her Education master's degree project and taught me to read using the Montessori Method whatever the f$#@ that is.  As a result, I read in "chunks" best I can tell, and can take in many lines at once somehow.  Don't know how, but it means I can read a lot of books in a year. And I never, ever read a book more than once.

Now that my time is ever more limited between managing a brewery and beer bar full of staff, handling marketing and promotions for my growing small business (see above) plus writing (I have 5 novels slated for 2012 alone and have a major new WIP in my head for my new publisher Ellora's Cave), posting blogs, arguing with various commenters, and so on I don't get to read as much as I'd like to.

My same mum who gave me the early life skills however, is an equally voracious reader (and an editor--so she's bloody picky) and is constantly handing me library books and her kindle encouraging me to try this or that.  I rarely take her up on it anymore, having about enough energy by midnight to glare blearily at Time Magazine or something similarly liberal before passing out.

However, I grabbed a book this weekend that I want to tell you about.

What Alice Forgot, by Liane Moriarty is one of the books that allowed me to devour, savor, laugh, cry, gasp and cheer as I read it cover to cover this past Saturday.  I connected with it on many levels.  The main character, Alice is a happy go lucky, newly pregnant homeowner and spouse of a rising star at some vague retail department store in Sydney, Australia.  Liane made me fall hard in love with her husband too.  Nick is gentle, funny, madly in love with his wife and their unborn baby, but driven to succeed.

Then, suddenly she wakes up on the floor of a gym having fallen off her spinning bike (what the hell is a spinning bike? she asks herself in just one of MANY hilarious yet painful questions she must ask over the course of the next few weeks). It's ten years later.  She has absolutely no memory of getting from "newly pregnant and ecstatically married" to mother of 3, too thin with worry lines and an obsession with making perfect muffins and being an over-the-top organized "class mum".  And very separated, on the verge of acrimonious divorce.  

Let me just preface this by saying the What Alice Forgot is a love story.  

But it's a REAL love story...about a man and woman who go through life's wringer, including over-identifying with a neighbor couple, having a "surprise" third baby, handling the exhaustion of combining a quick new family with a corresponding quick rise for the husband in his job.  

The way your life changes in 10 years...that's just part of it.  The way you love, hate, then love again--and not just your spouse but yourself...that's the real story. The extreme disconnect that occurs between parents as one is "left at home" and other is pressured to perform outside the home is so real, it made me wince and want to go hug my spouse. The beauty of "forgetting" then "remembering" for Alice is that she sees it HIS way (when she flat out asks him why they are getting a divorce because she honestly does not remember) and then remembering it her way once her memory comes rushing back...incredible and affecting.

Defining yourself as Just a Mum is both freeing and setting yourself into a prison of your own making at the same time. I know. I've done it.  Alice did it, with the help of a new friend, but when that friend's life falls apart, she lets hers go too.  Until she wakes up on that gym floor and gets a second chance at it.

I am rarely (well hardly ever, okay never) gripped this hard by a book. I like to read 'em, love some hot steamy sexiness, will tolerate the occasional vampire (but am getting a jumped the shark feeling about a certain set of brothers so I've moved onto a different set of fallen angels if you don't know what I'm talking about never mind), but truly prefer my fiction sans fake happy endings.

What Alice Forgot has one, but it's not fake. It's earned.  Perhaps it's because many of my books have been labeled "very realistic" and "emotionally raw" or whatever but there are a couple of incredible moments in this book that literally made me gasp, and tear up. And honest to God people I am a real cynic when it comes to being manipulated by fiction writers.  It just doesn't happen to me that much.  But Liane has such a facile, humorous touch with words, using just the right amount of present-day cynicism combined with wide-eyed honest WTF moments for Alice AND had me so convinced that Nick Love was an fabulous, and entirely HUMAN man I ached for these two to make it work.

And re-learning how to be that super mum, driving a "terrifyingly huge" SUV, keeping up with 3 kids' overcommitted schedules and remembering how to be the over caffeinated "bitch" she had become to her husband is handled with humor, humility, anger, frustration and sheer genius.

Whew.  It wore me out this book.  You will do it all: laugh (see "sex god on the motorcycle"), cry (see the amazing line "You owe me twenty bucks" near the end), and everything in between.  Go read it.  

NOTE: I am little ill to learn that the movie rights have been sold.  Some books are better off just read, thanks to the Major Talent of the author.  The Time Travelers' Wife was such a book. Seriously.

SECOND NOTE: while I am gushing over this book I am also insanely jealous that I can't write like Liane Moriarity, HOWEVER I am re-inspired to pull out my more mainstream WIP and inject a little life into it..."The Journal of a Trailing Spouse" is getting a bit of spit and polish, less anger, a bit more humor--thanks Liane.

Liz 

Let the commenting fun begin.  What is the last book you read that gripped you hard, made you wish you hadn't read it just so you could pick it up and read it all over again?

Have a great week.

Book Feature: InSyte, Greg Kiser

InSyte is a paranormal-thriller that according to Perry Crowe of Kirkus Reviews, "is equal parts Crichton, Clancy and King."


It’s Tampa Bay and the year is 2020. Ex-Navy SEAL Mitch “Double” Downing discovers how to tap into the internet with his mind. His new inSyte provides transparent access to the sum of all human knowledge recorded since hieroglyphics. More than mere information – Mitch can see into men’s hearts and be all places at all times (easy in an ‘always on’ surveillance society with fourth generation tweets). Sort of like God.
If  knowledge is power, Mitch just became the strongest man in the world. 
But inSyte has ideas of its own as the software exposes a politician’s “divine” plan that will unwittingly slaughter millions of people. Is killing the man the only way to prevent Armageddon? The politician’s daughter would probably disagree. And she happens to be the love of Mitch’s life. Losing Kate would be too damn much collateral damage.


At the center of the conflict is a wolf-like killer who will stop at nothing to murder the ex-Navy SEAL. And Mitch must come to grips with inSyte’s dark side – a dominating addiction that soon controls his thoughts and places him on a steep slide to self destruction. 


To learn more about Author Greg Kiser, please visit: 

http://gregkiserinsyte.blogspot.com/

Buy From Amazon

Greg and InSyte are currently on tour with the Virtual Book Tour Cafe

Whimsical Friday: Come and get your freebie

Who doesn’t like free stuff? Seriously, name one person who doesn’t like to get a freebie now and then. I know no matter how small the gift may be, I’m thrilled. I didn’t have to pay for it. Yah!!!

You’re walking through the mall and a beautiful woman stops you and hands you a small box containing a new lipstick shade. “Please try our new line of sunscreen lipstick. We’re calling it Heat.” You take the box, baffled and walk off. Or are you the type of person to wave them off and say no thank you. It’s free, right, so why walk away. This is the company’s way of drawing new clients in to buy their products. It’s called promotion and every business how ever big or small has to do it to keep afloat. Even authors need to promote to get their work out into a vast world of authors. It’s a crazy world and everyone has something they want you to buy.

Okay, so you’re the one who took the lipstick and as soon as you get it home, you rip the box open to have a look at your prize. Sure, it’s just a tiny little lip applicator, probably good for ten application, but hey, it’s free and it’s a product you’ve never tried before.  You put it on, discover you love it and whamo! The company now has a new client.   But that’s not the end. You tell your friends who tell their friends and so on and so on. That tiny tube of lipstick could possibly bring in millions for the company. Hot damn!

Everyone knows you have to pay money to make money. If you want to succeed, you need to get the word out about your product any way you can.  Free lipstick, free bookmarks, free mouse pads, free coffee cups, free books. Free Free Free! That word alone is going to draw a huge crowd to your product. As an author I know how hard it is to get the world out about your book and yourself. I learned early on that if I wanted to get people to read my books, I needed to give some away.  Ebooks are easy to use as giveaways because you don’t have to pay shipping and handling to send it. Simply contact the winner and email them the copy of your book. Done! Easy Peasy. 

With my print books, I give out free copies to a friend, to a colleague and ask that they pass it on to a friend or family member when they are done with it. Sure, I’m not getting sales for how ever many people that book passes on to but it may lead to a new reader buying my other books. Occasionally I’ll take a print book with me to the doctor’s office, dentist or even restaurant and leave it on the table after I leave.  Someone is bound to see it and curiosity will get the best of them and they’ll start to read it.  Another possible sale. How ca you lose?

Contests and free items are the way to go these days when so many people are struggling to make ends meet. And like I said, who doesn’t like getting free stuff.

Check out the contest Authors Promoting Authors is running right now and you could be the lucky owner of not one book but three wonderfully written novels by three very talented authors (Me included)   http://authorspromotingauthors.blogspot.com/2012/02/books-from-our-contributors-contest.html

Books from Our Contributors Contest

Books from Our Contributors Contest: 
I am giving-a-way each book that is featured in this post to one winner (that is three books to one person)
 How to enter:

Comment on this post.
Share this post on Facebook.
Tweet about this contest on Twitter (On Twitter we are: @APABlog , @SaschaIllyvich , @ShielaSue , @beerwencha2)

For each method that you use (comment, share, or tweet) you'll receive a single point to a maximum of three.  A winner will be selected at random from the top point earners, unless only one person has the most points - in which case they'll be the winner. Contest will close on March 14th, 2012 at 4:00pm EST

            

Books from Our Contributors

Surrender to Love 

A 1Night Stand Story 

In order to cure the dreaded creative rut she’s in, Livia ends up in Las Vegas by suggestion from her therapist. Oh and there’s a catch. 

Livia‘s been set up to have a one night stand with a very handsome man who promises her freedom through submission. Can she surrender to more than just passion? 

Sascha wrote about this new release here

Visit his website 

 Floor Time 

Jack Gordon is Ann Arbor’s most delectable bachelor.  At age thirty-five, he’s made millions as a top-selling Ann Arbor real estate broker and has the right connections to close a deal by any means necessary. With his rugged good looks and compelling personality, he has a virtual black book most men would kill for and he uses it often, never settling for one woman for very long.

While his D/s past remains buried, exactly where he wants it, an undercurrent of boredom and dissatisfaction runs through his life now.  A disastrous experience years earlier made him swear off the whole scene, but the more Jack suppresses his natural Dom, the more his frustration grows.

Sara Thornton, a rookie in the real estate game, has fast-tracked herself to the top of the Ann Arbor market. Her life reflects a disciplined and focused routine, exactly the way she wants it.  However, as her career takes off, the fulfillment she seeks remains inexplicably out of reach.  The one thing she knows for sure, she will not join the Jack Gordon groupies in her company, no matter how tempting that might seem.

A chance encounter, then a difficult transaction, throw Jack and Sara together and the sparks fly high and hot and often. Forced to confront the compulsions that gain momentum with each sizzling encounter, their relationship seems to spiral out of control until Jack finally admits what he needs, and shows Sara what she’s been missing.
  Liz wrote about this new release, here 
  Visit her website 

Offer the Demon

Twenty-one years ago was the beginning of the end.

Born to serve Satan, Aurora Starr wishes she could lead a normal life. 

Being a demon, that’s not so easy to do. By night she takes the lives 

of those Satan chooses. Despite her hatred for her job, she knows she 

must continue, but all she wants is to live like a normal human.

Enter Scott Monroe.

Tall, blond, and gorgeous, he is more than Aurora can resist. 

Although mating with a human is taboo, Aurora throws caution to 

the wind and begins seeing Scott.

 But when Satan makes her choose 

between her family or the man she loves, Aurora has had enough.

          Will love win in the end, or will Satan damn them all?

Shiela wrote about this new release here 

 Visit her website 

Erotic Corner - New Releases and A bit about Erotic Story Fodder

Tina's post last week was great, hm? I don't actually know, I didn't have a chance to stop by and see. Instead I was in the BEER HALL with Liz Crowe having a hell of a time being the Bad Boy of Romance. Ya'll can see that interview here


We did the DragonCON promotions from our panels last year and hopefully you the author gained something from all three. Our panelists did an excellent job. I was on an agent/editor panel on the Writer's Track but that was not recorded, nor was the BDSM 101 panel I did the previous night, for liability reasons.

The erotic writer truly doesn't spend all their time having white hot racy steamy sex with whoever captures their fancy, then writing about it in a drunken euphoric state. Most of us frequently lack inspiration, because the job is so difficult, yet we find ourselves pulling inspiration from that Grand Muse (in my case her name was Redemption Rye Bourbon last week) known as reality meets what if.

Starting off the year on the best foot I could, Decadent Publishing helped me with a release called "The Playground," a story I wrote based partially on experience, partially on "what if." Some of the folks in my world need an extra bit of education but currently make for great characters in erotic romance because of their flaws, perceived or otherwise. Shelly, from "The Playground" has class and trust issues. Growing up poor gave her a real eye opening view of the world until she met the Dominant of her life, Devon. Devon had his struggles too but different experiences made him rich, her presence made him wealthy. Yet she fought to understand the need for his guidance through her submission.

This month, Decadent released another 1Night Stand from yours truly. "Surrender to Love." The heroine in this story is based on a loved one who fears a lot of the world but slowly is coming out of her shell. In the story, Livia is an artist who creates beautiful artwork, yet currently suffers a block. Her therapist suggests she stop living vicariously through others and get out to see the world for what it is.

A torrid, sordid yet strangely beautiful mess. When she goes through with her therapists further suggestion for a 1 Night Stand, she's shocked to find Bruce, a drop dead gorgeous man who towers over her, yet is submissive. Through light bondage, he shows her that her true power is within her and has always been.

And for those who saw the new release "Bound for Love" my story in that anthology dealt with a woman who yearned for submission through a strong master, much like the woman said heroine was based on. In reality, said loved one IS the dominant in all aspects of her life but one.

Those, I control. For now. Valerie needs to lose control and Prince Ronan makes that happen in a seemingly unsafe, yet controlled manner and environment where she not only feels the loss of control, but the true gift of his love and her submission. Since the anthology centered around love and bondage in a true romance form, I figured using that from my story "Gift of Her Submission" was an appropriate way to promote myself amongst the other talents in the book. Ten authors, tales of ties that bind, ranging from super hardcore to silly sweet. Male sissy bitches in panties, anyone? (Thanks to Marianne LaCroix for both story and cover!)

Fodder comes from all sources, experiences and things in a writer's existence. Most of my characters share traits due to where I go in San Francisco, or have lived in Dallas, Houston or even Albuquerque. Remember however, just as the sword can cut one way and have two or three of your mothers naked on my lap, it can also have you dead in a ditch.

Promotion Sucks!

No one told me being an author would involve so much work. Sheesh, all I wanted to do was tell a tale and have others read it. Boy was I wrong.  Writing is the easy part. Promoting it…well that’s pure hell. I kid you not. Its hell! Okay so maybe I’m exaggerating, but not by much. What the hell do I do to promote my book?  Well, there are interviews, blog spots, commenting on other blog pots (to get your name out there) put your book cover on other websites. Buy ad space on high traffic sites and so on and so on. Makes your head spin.

The inner child in me is screaming, “I don’t wanna do it and you can’t make me. I don’t wanna don’t wanna, no no no!!”

Okay, tantrum done…mostly. It has a tendency to pop up now and then.

So where was I? Ah yes, promoting. “Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!”  Breathe, just breathe.  

I’m not a people person. I like to keep to myself, hide in my little authors cave and write about love, lust, murder and mayhem. That’s my world. I live with Vampires, demons, ghosts and crazy people who are willing to do anything for love. The world outside is scary.

 In the six years since I was first published a novel, I’ve done more interviews than I care to remember. So many guest blog spots that it makes my head spin. But the ultimate worst was being interviewed on TV and radio. The book signing wasn’t too bad. Probably helped that my hubby sat with me….or tied me to the chair so I couldn’t run, but I got through the three hours I was under the spotlight. My book was the highest purchased trade paper back novel for three weeks straight. I was so thrilled. Then my second book was released and there I was, having to promote it all over again. Yep, same deal. Did the book signing, smiled though inside I was jelly.  The instant it was over I retreated to my cave where m y characters welcomed me with open arms. What a relief.

But, despite my hating to promote myself and my books, it is a necessary evil. And I do mean evil.  If I’m scaring any would be authors out there…that’s good. You should be scared. Run now while you still can. Okay, okay, I’m joking. It’s not that bad. **cough**

The trick is staying on the ball. Keep up with the trends and never stop trying. Go with the flow. Don’t let it drag you down…into the muddy waters of hell. **cough cough**

Happy Promoting!! :D

Comment and leave your email on todays post and you could win a free copy of A Taste Of Humanity.

Popular places to promote.

All Romance eBooks. www.allromanceebooks.com  If you can get into one of their author co-op spots they provide in the Romantic Time Magazine it is ell worth the money you spend.

Coffee Time Romance.  http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/ Chats and guest spots as well as ads on their website.

Romance Junkies. http://www.romancejunkies.com/  Chats, interviews and ads on their website.

Whipped Cream and Long and Short of it. http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/index.htm  Guest spots on their blog, interviews and chats.

Oh Hell NO it is NOT Valentine's Day Again!

Because by this time NEXT week, my regular Wednesday for harassing, haranguing, bitching, whining, moaning and otherwise being a Writer, the Big Day will be Past, please consider this my Official Valentine's Day Post.

Ahem.

Skip it.

No. really.

I'm having one of the cynical years (okay, decades) wherein stuff like making me feel guilty because I don't arrange a romantic date with my spouse is just one more thing I'm managing to do wrong. And I do not need to add to that list.

I've never been one for small gestures though. Not sure why. I'm more impressed by the day-to-day putting up with me and my newly strange habits. The kind wherein the laundry is never done, the dishes pile up and the general disorganization level in the Crowe household reaches True Chaos Levels.  Because I have this new thing, you see.  I write.

I also love and appreciate how he can sit and listen patiently while I describe some scene or another and make one or maybe two suggestions that utterly change my perspective on a story, or a male character for the good.  Amazing that.

Plus he can pretty much fix anything that breaks in the house.  That rocks.

He himself lucked into something too, I'd say. I love pretty much all sports, will watch them on TV and in person. I own a brewery. I write erotic stories that many times require an, ah, outlet shall we say for my, um, excess creative energy.  And I do not get bent out of shape when I don't get flowers on Valentine's Day.

This year he will actually be on a business trip to he west coast and since I have finally let Hans out of the corner and untied his ball gag, I'm likely gonna spend the night of Feb. 14 writing.  I have a killer WIP that I started today...Man On. A Soccer Love Story slated for Decadent Publishing's popular 1NightStand series.

Hope you have a swell VD, no matter how sappy, hokey, flowery, sexy, or sloppy it may be!
cheers
Liz

Book Blitz: LIGHT UNDER THE HOUSE, Aaron Drew

 For TODAY ONLY, when you purchase Light Under the House by Aaron Drew for just $.99 on Amazon.com, with your proof of purchase, Aaron will gift you another book of your choice valued at the same price of $.99, (exluding Erotica). That's 2 books for the price of 1! So jump on the bandwagon and go get yourself some awesome books!

Send Proof of Purchase to bkwalkerbooks@comcast.net with your Amazon receipt and the book of your choice (title and link) and preferred email. Once it's been verified, Aaron will gift you your book and send you a personal note of thanks.

From Author Aaron L Drew 

I think I heard somewhere that life is pain. I beg to differ. Life is the ability to survive the pain.
When I began my journey into creating my novel Light Under the House, I only had a germ of a plot and not much else. I was a college drop out at the time and didn't have much going for me. I had also sown a lot of seeds into endeavors that turned out to be useless. I had a mountain of wasted opportunity and regrets piled up. I wasn't a trained expert in any field. What did I know? Then again, I did know a few things I knew about rejection. I knew about the loss of friendship. I knew about living with frustration, anger, and fear. I knew those things. I knew I had a story to tell. 
So I asked myself, what does it look like to overcome the wounds I've been dealt? What does it look likeil and come back again? What does faith in action look like? As I started to ask myself these questions, the novel grew and so did I. In the process I learned some key things:

If you want to challenge the reader, you have to challenge yourself. Light Under the House is a novel about character. I knew I wanted to be better. A better brother, son, friend, a better man. If I didn't find it challenging, I was certain no one else would.
Don't be afraid to be open and generous. I've learned not be afraid to talk about issues through my story and its characters that are personal me and my struggles. Our scars are just proof that we're still alive; we can show them.
Everyone has a strength; let yours shine. Don't get me wrong; it's not all pain. I've lived a very blessed life. While it was true that I didn't have any technical expertise, I did have life experience. By the time fifteen I had lived in numerous places in the U.S. and abroad. I had been around the world. I had diverse experiences to draw upon in dealing with people and life. It also helped to hone a unique perspective. What are your strengths?
So can the worst of times make for the best of lines? I think it can. If not, I'm sure I'll survive it.

Aaron L might be a newcomer to the creation of fiction but is not one when it comes to the arts and all things creative. Growing up in places from Seattle to South Africa, he spent a lot of his time drawing. Aaron always knew that his future lay in a creative field. In 2010, he graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in graphic design. Although the usual application of this degree is in the creation of different types of art and design, Aaron chose instead to focus his creative skills on the task of storytelling. He lives near Chicago, Illinois.

Book Publicist, Facebook Contest, Books on Tour, Be Our Guest

Need A Publicist?

I am currently open to taking new author clients. With a wealth of experience and a great track record of increasing authors book sales, raising profiles and the incredible ability to blend the old methods with the new, if you want to work one-on-one with someone who will work their tail off, I could be the right book publicist for you. Especially interested in books that are literary in nature, lifestyle and spiritual books. Contact me here: apasuggestions@gmail.com

Facebook Fan Page Contest

Through the month of February, share with us stories about you as a writer or about your books (post to our page; please put "Contest Entry" in the post). Did you win an award? Get interesting media attention? Overcome obstacles or challenges to have your book published? Find an agent? (how did you?)
Contest closes March 1st and winners will be chosen by March 5th, 2012.
Contest open to all Facebook fans who "Like" our page.

First Place: Weekend Promotion on the Authors Promoting Authors blog.
Second Place: Your book cover, badge, logo with link on the APA Blog for a month.
Third Place: Your link first in our new Link List (on the APA Blog, coming in March) 

The Virtual Book Tour Cafe

On February 6^th, we will be taking Aaron Drew's book LIGHT UNDER THE HOUSE on a Book Blitz. If you'd like to help us Blitz this Book, please see: http://www.virtualbooktourcafe.com/3/post/2012/01/light-under-the-house-by-aaron-drew.html

Teaming up with the Virtual Book Tour Cafe and working on promoting REAL MOMS LOVE TO EAT....By Beth Aldrich. We're looking for hosts. Interested?
Here's the link for more information:http://www.virtualbooktourcafe.com/3/post/2012/01/real-moms-love-to-eat-how-to-conduct-a-love-affair-with-food-lose-weight-and-feel-fabulous-by-beth-aldrich.html

We are also touring Greg Kiser's InSYTE and information on the tour and author can be found here:
http://www.virtualbooktourcafe.com/3/post/2012/01/insyte-by-greg-kiser.html

I work with the Virtual Book Tour Care because of all the Book Tour sites out there, this truly is one of the best. Their audience and reach is distinct and the incentives for bloggers and authors to host a tour are great!

Authors Promoting Authors

We are now open to and taking requests for Book Features, Conversation with A Book and Be Our Guest (guest blogging) and the information on all of that can be found here
Please feel free to share it with other author friends!

The End.

The day comes when you write those words and you think some variation of: Thank God/Goddess/Satan/Joseph Smith/My Alien Landlord.

You hit send, submit, re-send, or whatever at whichever stage of the writing/publishing game you are at, breathe a sigh of relief and rejoin the world around you.

You pull up Facebook and twitter which you've been scrupulously ignoring in favor of the Real Work of Being an Author. And you peruse the various Squee-ing, Snoopy dancing folks who spend their days recording their every move on line, noting with interest how many folks have received a coveted "best seller" honor or are up for yet another "best of the month/year/week/hour/second" award you are implored to go vote for, and you stop, scratch your head and think: now where did I go wrong?

You comb through your own emails, note with satisfaction the various "yes we want to publish" notifications and "here are your first edits" emails and think "Yes, I am okay at this."

Then, you make the horrendous and nearly irreversible mistake of "checking Goodreads and Amazon for your reader reviews." Holy Sh*t. You suck.

Au contraire, you cry to yourself, as you pour your first glass of alcohol.  "I have been published. I continue to be published. Publishers want me."  You check your PayPal account and note the smallish but growing deposits made by said publishers through the months. You ask your editors for some props. They give them, then scurry off to wherever it is editors go at night, author ego stroked.

Maybe there is something to be learned from the many and various blogs. You log into your groups account, start clicking through and find amongst the columns on guerrilla knitting, nom-noming hamsters and not-so-subtle allusions to "size mattering" in our Alpha heroes, you find a few nuggets of reality, a few small gems of the real work of being a writer amongst all the others. You make your comments, get caught up in looping arguments that inevitably degenerate into the "occupy wall streeters" vs. "get a grippers" ( I won't tell you what side I fall down on). So you stop, pour more alcohol and stare at the cursor, blinking like a neon sign of your failure.

Write More.
Write More.
Write More.

What do YOU do when it all feels futile? We've all been there. No matter how successful you are, how hard you work to achieve the small iota of fame you've achieved, sometimes all it takes is 30 minutes online to bring it all crashing down around your ears and send you scurrying for the nearest bottle of Beam.

When will you know you've made it in your own mind? Do you have to be a JR Ward level cult hero? A Stephen King-like urban legend (You know, "Carrie" got rejected a zillion times first)? A self-pub phonon like Konrath? Or does the fact that you took a set of characters, gave them a story, a setting, a conflict and a resolution, put on paper with enough clarity that people who sell books for a living see promise?
Yeah.
What does it take to make you feel successful as a writer?
I open the floor, and back away slowly.....