Awwkkk! What happened to summer? By Barbara Edwards

On Sept. 2 my #new #holiday romance, Journey of the Magi came out on #kindle and my carefully thought out schedule blew out of the water.

I sent my husband out to get one of those big school calendars so I could block out what I needed to do. It didn’t look too busy in those big squares.

I love September. The nights get cool and I air out the house when the breezes pick up. The smell of new mown grass hangs longer in the air. The early chrysanthemums start blooming in a thousand different colors. We store away the air conditioners.  I look for the autumn leaves on the trees and buy hot chocolate for the evenings. But stuff happened. 

To make you laugh, I’m listing my schedule for this month.

Over the weekend my grand-daughter left for freshman year at college

Sept 2. Journey of the Magi released http://amzn.com/B00ES5DZEQ  and on Nia Simone’s blog

Thanks for the wonderful review on Amazon and Goodreads, Nia.
Sept 3. Outpatient surgery- Oops. Had a lump removed from my breast.
Sept 5 Tina Gayle my guest

My grandson joined the National Guard
Sept 7 Mackenzie Crowne my guest and Roses of Prose blog
Sept 9 On Marie Tuhart’s blog
Sept 10 Happy Birthday party for my Grand-daughter

Sept 16 blog with Selena Fulton

Sept 19 Happy Birthday party-another grand-daughter and on Coffee Time Romance blog

Sept 21 Roses of Prose blog

Sept 25 Marie Tuhart my guest

Sept 27 Stephanie Burkhart’s blog

Sept 30 Anya’s blog

Plus two more Doctor appointments. And the edits for my next book should be back from my editor.
That’s the bare bones. I also need to plan tweets, Facebook posts, and post info to free sites that will promo my book. I’m not complaining. Having another title released is exciting and satisfying.
I’m still planning to find those autumn trees. A drive up Route 8 through the Naugatuck River Valley should give me some fine photos.

Here’s a peek at the cover of Journey for the Magi and the blurb: Widow Noel Martin never breaks promises, and she promised her kids they’d have Christmas at her childhood home in Connecticut. But driving across country takes money. Noel is broke when a snowstorm blows them into a tiny Minnesota café owned by a man who can change her mind. She accepts his offer of a job. Despite her attraction to him, she makes it clear she is only temporary help.

Dan Longstreet isn’t adopting any more strays, but he needs a waitress. Dan works so hard to make his café a success, he doesn't have time for love. Though Noel’s slender blonde beauty stuns him and her two adorable children tug at his heart, he denies how they threaten to change his life.

When tragedy strikes, their new-found love is the first victim. Noel can't stay and Dan can't leave. Will their journey be the gift that reunites them?
Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00ES5DZEQ

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Three Simple Promotional Goals for 2013 by Vonnie Davis

Some experts say blogging is passé. Gone with the wind. Old hat. I don't know that I agree. Or maybe it’s just that I don't want to think the method I love of connecting with others is going out of style. Especially since I've joined two group blogs this month--Tempting Romance and Chick Swagger. Wouldn’t that be just my luck? It would be like saving to buy a new pair of sexy red stilettos only to find pink flats were all the rage. Nonetheless, I plan on blogging my little heart out for as long as I can. I've met many lovely ladies via blogging, and I cherish them all.

I try to keep up with all the latest media trends. Well, to a degree. I learn a good teaspoonful of knowledge about every social media form. Too bad you  need a strong pint to make it all productive—and I’m talking knowledge here, ladies, not a pint of booze. My problem is I don't utilize things to their full potential. You see, beyond blogging, I dabble.

Take Facebook for example. I dabble at posting when I think of it, not on a regular basis like so many. I try to adhere to posting in thirds. One third of the time I promote other writers or their books. Another third is about me as a person, a grandma, a woman less than over-joyed about turning sixty-five in May. The last third is self-promotion. Sounds easy enough. Right? If only I could schedule it better, rather than doing it in fits and starts. I  have a page for my debut book with a handlflul of followers. I forget to post on it. I also have an author's page and, yeah, I forget about it, too. I invested in sticky "to do list" pads to slap onto my monitor. And I've forgotten where I put them. So all my posts seem to land on my personal Facebook account. Not the best, huh?

Twitter is like a racing, roaring beast to me. It goes too darn fast. Reminds me of a recurring dream where I'm on rollerblades going downhill the wrong way in one-way traffic. I can't seem to slow things down. I've been blessed by many invitations to join tribes on Triberr, so I'm 80% faithful in retweeting to promote other peoples' blogs, but I rarely take the time to go to Twitter to tweat in a personal manner. The whole twitter thing makes my facial tic do bizarre things to my vision. I can't quite grasp Twitter. I mean, who reads tweets? I can't. They fly into the stream too fast. Do I know the nearly thousand people on my stream? No. So why would anything they have to say interst me? I can't see how it all helps. I know. I know. I'm showing my age here. I'll have to learn this beast.

 

So, these three forms of social media--blogging, Facebook and Twitter--are on my "learn to live-by routine" for 2013. I'm going to continue to enjoy my blogging. I'm also going to try to post to my Facebook pages at least twice a day. And, by golly, I'm going to tackle that Twitter Beast. No matter how it makes that tic in my face twitch until my eye waters.

 

What about you? What promotional tools are you planning on using in 2013?

 

Vonnie Davis blogs at http://www.vintagevonnie.blogspot.com. Her website is http://www.vonniedavis.com. Follow her on Facebook at Vonnie Davis, Author or tweet her @VonnieWrites. Maybe the Indianapolis Speedway Twitterverse will allow her addled mind to see it.

Planning Ahead Can Be A Great Way To Organize

Planning ahead is easy. Make a check list and stick to it. Mark things on your calendar--doctor visits, editing deadlines, family events. Oh, and blogging dates, too.  One musn't forget those.  I post regularly at four blogs: Vintage Vonnie, Voices of the Heart, Seven Night Writers and here at The Roses of Prose. Now, if I were truly a planner, I'd write my posts early and schedule them to self-publish on the specified date. Many do that, but not I. No, I don't plan ahead that well. You see, this post should have gone up at midnight, not at ten-twenty in the morning.

If I were such a planner, then at times like this when I'm not at my best, I could merely roll over and try to go back to sleep, knowing my post was already up. But I'm not. So after a night of coughing, hacking and sniffling, when I shuffle into the bathroom for more decongestant and something niggles at my cottony mind--like, what day is it???--I wouldn't go into an OMG panic.

It's just a bug of some kind, nothing earth-shattering, but I'm useless right now just the same. I see the doctor at three-thirty today, and he'll tell me what I already know: I have a virus. But thanks to the cancer scare I had three months ago, I now have a hovering husband who is calling the doctor every time I sneeze or get a headache. Pass me that box of tissues, would you, please?

Of course, if I'd only get in the habit of posting and scheduling my blogs a few days in advance, I wouldn't be in this "egg on face" predicament, stumbling and fumbling, trying to think of something witty to say. Perhaps that should be my goal for 2012. Post blogs early and schedule them to self-publish on time!!!

I do have something great to share. My cover for my novella, part of the Honky Tonk Hearts series is in. Somehow the artist was able to capture Evie's dose of attitude, but then I shouldn't be surprised. The Wild Rose Press has the best graphic artists.

Evie Caldwell hates her life. Five years ago, she gave up college and her dream of teaching to care for her ailing mother. Now, she’s trapped taking care of her worthless brother and the family ranch. Waiting tables to earn her way out of Texas, the last thing she wants is a muscleman with a macho Marine attitude complicating her life. But, oh, how that man makes her insides melt.

Wounded vet Win Fairchild returns to Texas to heal, find a piece of his soul, and open a ranch for amputee children. Finding someone to love is not on his agenda. But when he starts work at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, a spitfire with violet eyes and a major attitude instantly captures his heart.

Evie just wants to escape, but now that Win knows what he wants, can he convince Evie to stay in Texas—and his bed?

My final galleys for Those Violet Eyes are in. As soon as my eyes stop watering enough so I can see the computer screen clearly, I'll get started on those. Until then, it's orange juice and hot tea for me. Let's add another thought to the list of things to do in 2012, shall we? STAY HEALTHY, EVERYONE. 

ORGANIZING...Blog...Blog...Blog....

by Jerri Hines

Happy New Year! May 2012 hold all yours dreams! I like the sound of 20-12. 

So...this blog is supposed to be about organization. I have a confession. I haven't been organized since I had children. My files are kept in such a fashion only I could ever make heads or tails about them. My husband calls it Jerri's World. Oh, don't get me wrong. I understand the method to my madness, but I doubt many others would.

What can I help you with? How about thoughts? Reflecting on 2011. I believe it's important to remember the year we have left behind. So many things happen over the course of a year. Many things we will forget or it goes into the far reaches of our mind. Little things. It's one of the reasons I love writing on my blog. A little history in the making.

Looking back over my blog I remembered...

THE JUDAS KISS

Last January, I signed the contract on The Judas Kiss with Whiskey Creek Press.  Also, my middle daughter who plays hockey at her college suffered a major concussion. Today, thankfully she has recovered; still not back fully playing since in April she had ACL surgery.

In February, I wrote a prayer for my mother who didn't consider ebooks real books...

Lord help me, please! I pray I don't need a national best seller. I can live with the fact and accept it even though I will continue to strive to do so. Just please help my mother to understand that my books are real...  I solved that problem. I gave her a kindle for her birthday.

In March, my husband went with his father and brothers down to Red Sox's spring training. My doggies were getting itchy to get outside more. In April I went to NEC Romance Writer's Conference. For some unknown reason, I let my daughter spend $200 dollars on tanning for her prom. In May my daughter went to her prom (she looked beautiful), but went through some scares with people I love. My husband's aunt, who I lived with before I got married, had a stroke and a friend of mine at work suffered a major infection. Both almost died, but thank the Good Lord, lived.

In June, we vacationed in Charleston. I have written about Charleston but had never visited. Loved it! More than I imagined. July brought on a new look to the Roses of Prose blog. Laura began the process of enlarging our blog to include 14 authors. August brought the first look at the new format. A great decision on Laura's part.

THE PATH NOW TURNED

September was the for Alzheimer's Walk. Octoberfest With Books was next. Books, books, and more books. Then a major decision on my part...after Ruth Cardello's guest blog on Roses of Prose I decided to take a leap into Indie under my pen name, Carrie James Haynes. Whispers of a Legend,Part One- Shadows of the Past was published in October. Followed by Whispers of a Legend, Part Two- The Path Now Turned at the end of November. December held our progressive story here on Roses of Prose, A Holiday to Remember.

Reflections. Times that need not to be forgotten. A year in review. Good and bad. Mostly good. A reminder to be thankful for all that I have. A reminder of what was lost also... I lost my doggie, Max, a few weeks ago. Fourteen and a half years old, but it broke my heart. So much so, I haven't been able to write about him, but in time I will. He was my little writing partner.

So looking to 2012 I have so much planned. With the Whiskey Creek Press, I have The Judas Kiss being released January 15th, the first in the Tides of Charleston series. The Promise is set to be released in May; followed by Another Night Falls in September. 

My Indie venture will see the third installment, Vision of Destiny. I'm also pulling the first three together for an anthology, Whispers of a Legend, Volume I. I'm also releasing a historical/paranormal romance, Daughter of Deceit,  under Carrie James Haynes. On a personal note, my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up in July. So much to look forward to this year.

How on earth will I keep up with it all? I'm not certain yet, but I know I'll be blogging about it.

Happy 2012!