Save the Date, Book Binge Weekend, May 2, 3, 4!
April 10, 2025 by Tari Jewett in category Writing tagged as book party, books, event, Garry Gooding, Jaylee Austin, Kristine Dickson Tate, Lisa Kessler, Marianne Hebert, reading, Rebecca Forster
As you know, Consistency is my ‘word’ for 2025. And so far, while I’m still working on it in other areas, I’ve written my blog posts consistently…but I almost blew it today. It’s been a busy week, and I woke up this morning, checked my messages, and facebook. In my notifications was a post from last year of a blog I had shared. Wait, blog? Today’s the 10th? So here I am at my desk, making sure that I don’t miss this post, because CONSISTENCY!
What I really want to talk to you about is the Book Binge Weekend that we’ll be having in our reader group, The Charmed Connection on Facebook. If you love books, and face it, if you’re hanging out at A Slice or Orange, you do, you’ll want to join us May 2, 3, and 4th for a weekend of great authors, book talk, games, prizes and just plain bookish fun! You can join The Charmed Connection by clicking this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/316100615817145
For a little background, we have a Facebook writer group, Charmed Writers, that started because a few of us were sitting at home, while our friends were attending the 2016 Romantic Times convention. We decided to see how productive we could be while our writer friends were having fun connecting with readers and other authors. We spent 5 days writing and getting in as many words as we could. I wanted to make it special, so I gave out charms for achieving different goals.
When it was over, we didn’t want it to end, and we formed a little writer group, Charmed Writers. So, The Charmed Connection, is our reader group, where we share all things books with readers. If you’re an author and interested in joining Charmed Writers, you can email me at tarilynnjewett@gmail.com.
At our Book Binge Weekend, we’ll be joined by authors in a variety of genres. Our current author list includes:
Joe Addams
Jaylee Austin
Marla Brotherton
Kristine Dickson Tate
Brad Elward
Alina K. Field
Rebecca Forster
Garry Gooding
Jenny Hansen
Marianne Hebert Donley
Lisa Kessler
Denise Marsh Colby
Molly Neely
Linda O. Johnston
Joe Petty
Mark Rosendorf
Alexa Santi
Sandy Stuckless
Tari Lynn Jewett
Connie Vines
Jennifer Weil
And we are still scheduling!
So, if you’re looking for some new reads to add to your TBR…and maybe free books and charms!
Please join us in The Charmed Connection May 2, 3 and 4…and everyday!
As you know, Consistency is my ‘word’ for 2025. And so far, while I’m still working on it in other areas, I’ve written my blog posts consistently…but I almost blew it today. It’s been a busy week, and I woke up this morning, checked my messages, and facebook. In my notifications was a post from last year of a blog I had shared. Wait, blog? Today’s the 10th? So here I am at my desk, making sure that I don’t miss this post, because CONSISTENCY!
What I really want to talk to you about is the Book Binge Weekend that we’ll be having in our reader group, The Charmed Connection on Facebook. If you love books, and face it, if you’re hanging out at A Slice or Orange, you do, you’ll want to join us May 2, 3, and 4th for a weekend of great authors, book talk, games, prizes and just plain bookish fun! You can join The Charmed Connection by clicking this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/316100615817145
For a little background, we have a Facebook writer group, Charmed Writers, that started because a few of us were sitting at home, while our friends were attending the 2016 Romantic Times convention. We decided to see how productive we could be while our writer friends were having fun connecting with readers and other authors. We spent 5 days writing and getting in as many words as we could. I wanted to make it special, so I gave out charms for achieving different goals.
When it was over, we didn’t want it to end, and we formed a little writer group, Charmed Writers. So, The Charmed Connection, is our reader group, where we share all things books with readers. If you’re an author and interested in joining Charmed Writers, you can email me at tarilynnjewett@gmail.com.
At our Book Binge Weekend, we’ll be joined by authors in a variety of genres. Our current author list includes:
Joe Addams
Jaylee Austin
Marla Brotherton
Kristine Dickson Tate
Brad Elward
Alina K. Field
Rebecca Forster
Garry Gooding
Jenny Hansen
Marianne Hebert Donley
Lisa Kessler
Denise Marsh Colby
Molly Neely
Linda O. Johnston
Joe Petty
Mark Rosendorf
Alexa Santi
Sandy Stuckless
Tari Lynn Jewett
Connie Vines
Jennifer Weil
And we are still scheduling!
So, if you’re looking for some new reads to add to your TBR…and maybe even free books…Please join us in The Charmed Connection May 2, 3 and 4…and everyday! https://www.facebook.com/groups/316100615817145
Whew! Consistency. I think I made it.
Let’s Start/Finish Your Book in May! by Kitty Bucholtz
April 9, 2025 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as Classes, finish your book, finishing the book, It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, Workshop, workshops, writing
You may know that it’s been a rough few years for me. First burnout (long story) and then perimenopause – the monster in my body! But I am cautiously optimistic that I’m finally coming out the other side. Yay! For the last two months, I feel like the real Kitty. I’m happy and my brain works and my body is less tired and I just plain feel good. Thank God!
So even though I have 8 titles out (books and shorter stories), in some ways I feel like I’m starting over again. All of my ideas have been piling up, waiting for this day, and now I have four novels (in four series!) and three nonfiction books of encouragement in three different topics. I want to write them all! Now!
And that makes me laugh because a lot of people feel that way, including many of my clients. Our brains get so full of interesting things we want to explore or share and we think we’re going to explode if we don’t get it all out. Haha!
Just in case this hits a nerve with you, let me share some ideas on how to choose.
First of all, it’s not a rule that you can only write one book at a time. If you want to work on more than one at once, go for it. Just know there are pros and cons. One, it will probably take longer to finish any of them. If you work on two books over the course of a year, it will take you a year to get one finished. On the other hand, you may have two finished books at the end of the year. Or you may find that the distraction of going back and forth is actually making you take longer to finish either one. If you’re having fun, I say ignore the cons! But if you’re getting frustrated, it may be time to focus on one book at a time.
Two, you may confuse yourself sometimes when brainstorming. This happened to me a few months ago. My menopausal brain fog was in full swing and it was all I could do to get just one task done for this book here and one task for that book there. Not even the same tasks. So I was prompting Midjourney to create some images for me for Little Miss Lovesick…and didn’t realize for weeks that some of the images I’d created were based on Love at the Fluff and Fold! It’s funny now, but it sure wasn’t back then.
So suppose you’re thinking, okay, I want to choose one book to work on right now, but which one? Here are some ideas.
Write a paragraph description of each book. Which one grabs your attention more? Which is most interesting?
Set a timer for 30 minutes and start writing on the first idea. Do it again for each book you’re thinking about. Now compare the drafts. Which one did you get the most words written? Which one flowed the best? Which was the most fun to write? Which one makes you want to give up another half hour of doing something you love to write some more?
You’ll probably have decided at this point. But what if you’re still unsure?
For instance, I have a nonfiction book and a full-length novel that I already have a finished draft for. Why, oh, why are these books not published already? (The answer to that is another story entirely.) Since I am writing to make a living, these two books automatically get preference, no matter how much I also want to write and finish the others. So now I’ve narrowed it down to two.
Personally, I find it easier to choose between two rather than seven!
Now I can look at a couple more questions.
- Which book is shorter and can be finished quicker?
- Which book needs less editing and can be finished quicker? (I personally can’t know that without reading/skimming them both, but you may already know.)
- Which book has a larger potential market within the readership already following me? Hence, more income potential.
- Do I feel simply driven to get one of them out first?
I hope this has helped you make a final decision! For me, I still have to read/skim both to see which one is closest to being finished, and I will likely choose that one to give me a needed boost of confidence.
If you have been in a bit of a downturn or you know someone trying to start or restart a book and you need to find a way to just get going again, consider joining my 30-day group coaching workshop starting May 19, 2025. I’ll post a link to the web page this week here at the bottom of this post, and the page will be on the kittybucholtz.com website. I’d love to help you and/or your friends start/finish a book!
Tari Lynn Jewett: Featured Author
April 1, 2025 by Tari Jewett in category Charmed Writer by Tari Lynn Jewett, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #Charmed Writers, #FireworksintheFog, #HeromsaForTheHolidays, #PleaseSayYes, Love and Mud Puddles, romantic comedy, Tari Lynn Jewett
Tari Lynn Jewett lives with her husband of nearly thirty years (also known as Hunky Hubby). They have three amazing sons, a board game designer, a sound engineer and a musician, all who live nearby. For over fifteen years she wrote freelance for magazines and newspapers, wrote television commercials, radio spots, numerous press releases, and many, MANY PTA newsletters. As much as she loved writing those things, she always wanted to write fiction . . . and now she is.
She also believes in happily ever after . . . because she’s living hers.
Tari’s newest title is Love and Mud Puddles, available now.
Hannah loves her accounting job, the condo that she purchased herself, and her best friend Melinda. What she doesn’t love is baking. To be fair, she’s never tried. But when her cousin shames her into bringing homemade cookies to the family Christmas Eve celebration, she begins a quest to make the perfect holiday cookie.
Paramedic Josh also occasionally teaches kids’ cookie baking classes at his family’s bakery. When a beautiful accountant mistakenly signs up for a children’s holiday baking class, he realizes immediately that she’s in the right place.
Can this local hero help to save Hannah’s Christmas? Or will it all go up in smoke?
Tari’s other Books
Plans Best Laid
March 30, 2025 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as crime fiction, short fiction
The conversations murmuring around her provided white noise for Erica as she sat at her laptop in the busy coffeeshop. One more chapter to finish. Then a scrap of an exchange broke through her deep concentration.
“He’d kill us if he had the chance.”
She glanced up, her eyes focusing on the photo of a sailboat framed on the wall, trying to hear what the couple said. From their voices, it was a man and a woman. They were at the table immediately behind her.
“We’ve got to do it.” The woman spoke calmly, as though they were discussing vacation get-away plans.
“When?”
The roar of the latte-maker drowned out any response from the woman. Erica shifted in her seat, feigning a look in her backpack in order to see the couple. Just a quick glance, nothing to let them know she’d overheard. Both in their mid-thirties. The woman pretty in an old-fashioned way, with dark, sculpted curls that tucked under at her neck. The man with a hint of chisel in his features, white-blond, short-cropped hair.
Erica pulled out a notebook she didn’t need to make it clear she had purpose to dig into her bag. The machine noise stopped abruptly, leaving only the gentle background jazz piped over the shop’s speakers.
With her back once again to the couple, she pretended to write.
“Do you think he knows we’re here?”
The man laughed. “Almost certainly.”
“But he can’t hear us—” The woman sounded alarmed.
“No, of course not.” The man seemed to realize his seatmate’s concern. “That’s why we chose this place. You can relax.” Erica imagined him patting the woman’s hand to comfort her.
The counter machine again kicked into action, once more damping all conversations. Squealing, a tot ran past the table, with the mother close behind.
Erica chewed on her lip. Were they planning a crime? Or just kvetching over the woman’s ex, who just happened to be violent? What should she do?
Slipping out her wallet, she rose to order another espresso. That would give her a chance to see them clearly, to make a mental note of their appearance in case she needed to report them … later.
On the way back to her table, she scrutinized the couple but kept her gaze wandering, as though she were lost in her thoughts. Which was why she failed to see the tot’s small toy on the floor. Tripping on it, Erica threw up her hands and the coffee splashed on the man’s face and down his blue polo.
“Gah,” he said, reaching for napkins to dry himself. The woman dabbed at his shirt with more napkins.
“I’m so sorry,” Erica said. So much for stealth. “I’ll go get paper towels.”
“We’re fine,” the man said. “Don’t worry about it. We were just leaving.”
They both stood. A shop server arrived with more towels and sopped up some of the liquid from the tabletop.
“Sure I can’t buy you another round?” Erica said, searching for something more to say.
The woman shook her head. “We’ve been here too long, I think.” She was studying Erica’s face. Perhaps to memorize it for later retribution.
“Well, if you change your mind …” Erica left the words hanging. “About your plans,” she wanted to add.
The man stopped his turn toward the exit and looked back at her. “We won’t.”
[Inspired by the 1974 film The Conversation]
Stories by Dianna Sinovic
Featured Author: Denise M. Colby
March 29, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Author of the Month, Christian Historical Fiction, Denise M Colby, Marketing, Social Media, writing
Denise M. Colby loves to write words that encourage, enrich, and engage whether it’s in her blog, social media, magazine articles, or devotions. With over 20+ years’ experience in marketing, she enjoys using her skills to help other authors.
She treasures the written word and the messages that can be conveyed when certain words are strung together. She, being an avid journal writer, is often seen with a pen and notepad whenever she reads God’s word. Denise is writing her first Christian Historical Romance Series, and you can find her at www.denisemcolby.com
Denise is a member of OCRW, Faith, Hope & Love Christian Writers, ACFW (where she was a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest Historical Romance Category), OC Chapter of ACFW, and Novel Academy.
You can read Denise’s column The Writing Journey on A Slice of Orange, or follow her on Facebook or Instagram. You can also sign-up for her newsletter.
Big news for Denise!
Denise’s debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, won the Grand Prize in the Scrivenings Press #GetPubbed Contest for 2023, placing 1st place in the Historical category. It is the first of four books in this series being published by Scrivenings Press.
When Plans Go Awry
Denise M. Colby
ISBN: 978-1-64917-391-1
June 4, 2024
Olivia Carmichael escapes her past to become the next schoolmarm in the small ranching community of Washton, California. Her plan? Live a quiet spinster life alone, never to depend on anyone again.
Luke Taylor selected a mail-order bride to help raise his two younger sisters and protect his broken heart. His plans don’t include being responsible for the beautiful new schoolmarm, who threatens his resolve between his need to stay away and his need to ensure her safety.
Along the way, Olivia’s carefully laid-out plans are challenged at every turn, and Luke’s mail-order bride is not what he expected.
With the help of the entire town and its wily rooster, can Luke and Olivia learn to trust again?
Denise M. Colby’s Books
Featured Books
LOST IN THE LIGHT
One October morning in 1932, Vicente Sorolla entered the white house on the hill and was never seen again. Now, Detective Dori Orihuela witnesses his brutal murder in her nightmares.
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