Happy New Year. I thought that title would capture your attention.
I ended 2015 on a high. YEAH!! Not to sound preachy, but my getting a BookBub ad, truly was a blessing from God. I was hoping to share the details, but the ad didn’t end until January first and I’m still sorting through the “tails” or results. I’m truly amazed at the effect a BookBub ad can have for an author. I hope to be able to share the details with you next month.
Back to that extremely long and strange title. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions or Intention Lists or Promises. I tried to be diligent in creating a list, but failed to follow through beyond making the list. What does that say about me? I have my hands full with my daily To Do List. It’s funny, a vast majority of people spend the last week of the old year or the first week of the new year, scripting these elaborate lists. For those that are dedicated to this ritual and sticking to the lists, I say congratulations.
As it is, I’m wondering if I over shot the rainbow when I made my production schedule for 2016. We are only five days into the new year and I’m already starting to second guess my ability to complete the schedule.
See, I decided to finally be pragmatic and craft a detailed chart of my proposed titles for 2016. When I made the chart a few months ago, it seemed logical that I would be able to put a title out every month. What the crap was I thinking? And to make things worse, I scheduled January’s title to release two days before going out of town. I have been so tempted to push the release date, but if I do, my entire production schedule gets shattered. So, I “m going to muddle through and hope to stay on track.
In spite of me not having a sacred New Year’s Resolution List, there are a few things I hope to get accomplished this year.
That third thing on my list is huge and is full of innuendo and really only makes sense to me. Hey, it’s the first of the year and I’m allowed to be a little deep, strange or still high from sugar. Smile. Besides, I think my daily To Do List, would be a little jealous if it wasn’t the center of attention.
Since I don’t have a Resolution, Intention, Promise or Whatever List, I want to share something I read on Heather Clawson’s HabituallyChic.luxury blog.
It’s a list of 45 Life Lessons by Regina Brett, the New York Times bestselling author of God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours. I highlighted the ones I really like and might add to my DAILY To Do List.
45 Life Lessons:
If I was going to make a New Year’s Resolution, Intention, Promise, Goal or Whatever list, it might look a little like this one.
Here’s hoping you plan your year wisely and don’t over shoot the rainbow, but shoot higher than you did last year.
Happy 2016!!!!!
Tracy
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
Happy Holidays to everyone. It’s that time of the year when we get a little confused as to how to greet people or be sociable.
The month of December is special to me for a couple of reasons. One it’s the time of year that I celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior and it’s the anniversary of my novel writing career. I say novel, because the first things I had published where a couple of short shorties. Those were toe dabblers. But my official writing career began with my book, GENERATIONAL CURSE, last December.
In this first year of adding author to my resume, I’ve had a few firsts:
1st full-length book GENERATIONAL CURSE
1st novella THE GOOD GIRL
1st box set FLING NEW ADULT FICTION BOX SET [w/THE GOOD GIRL]
1st novelette THE ALEX CHRONICLES: GIRLFRIENDS & SECRETS
1st book signing at THE LOS ANGELES TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS
In honor of my first anniversary, here’s the first chapter of my first published book.
GENERATIONAL CURSE
On the heels of celebrating the one year anniversary of my first published, book, I’m happy to announce the next installment of Generational Curse [currently titled “Intentional Curse], is scheduled for summer 2016…hopefully.
It’s been a fun 2015. I’m excited to see what happens in 2016. I pray everyone has a blessed and prosperous 2016 packed with great stories to share.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Tracy
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
Available at
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
I have come to a crossroads with a set of characters and I can’t believe the angst I’m feeling or maybe it’s heart break?
This past summer, I had the privilege of being in my first box set. YEAH! My contribution to the Fling box set was The Good Girl novella. I wrote this book knowing there would be more to the story. However, I didn’t expect to become as attached to the characters as I am. That fondness is supposed to be reserved for my characters in The Alex Chronicles. After all, we’ve been together for years…that’s not an exaggeration. [Read my previous posts for details on that series. And for the record, The Alex Chronicles is still my baby.]
Gabriella and Phillippe, my heroine and protagonist from The Good Girl, are infants compared to Alexandra [Alex] and Moses, the stars of The Alex Chronicles series. Alex and Moses and I have been through a lot. That’s not an exaggeration. I wrote three books, well four if you count the prequel that can testify to the longevity of our relationship.
When it came time to cause havoc between Alex and Moses, I had no problem doing it…yes, I cried inside when he…okay, I can’t tell you anymore because it might spoil it for you. But it was a difficult breakup. However, the possibility of Gabriella and Phillippe breaking up, is causing me great consternation and I don’t know why.
The difference in this proposed breakup might have something to do with the fact that I don’t know what will happen next. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a pantser. Maybe if I was a plotter, I’d feel different. In that respect, I’m like my readers, excited about the surprise outcome, sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what will happen next. Wondering if an HEA will exist for these two. If or when you read part two, an HEA seems inevitable. I think a breakup would be a shock to some readers and a given to others. Either way. I need a major shake up, otherwise the series will become a two hit wonder.
To prepare myself for the inevitable, I’ve started a new playlist complete with sad love songs. I’ve got some wine and popcorn, even reading books with devastating, heartbroken heroines, to get me in the right frame of mind. So far, I just can’t bring myself to break Gabriella and Phillippe up. I could write the breakup, but what if they don’t find their way back to each other. Yes, it would open the door to another book or would it? Another strike against being a pantser…know it all characters. It’s all Gabriella and Phillippe’s fault. Why can’t they be like Alex and Moses. Those two made it perfectly clear how their relationship was going to play out from the moment they met.
I’ve trusted Gabriella and Phillippe through two books. I have to admit, I was surprised at the story they told in Part Two. Trust is the key word here. I have to trust my ability to tell a story that will engage my readers, yet not be boring or predictable. Talk about a challenge. Like Carrie Underwood said, “Jesus take the wheel.â€
In my quest to over think, I came up with a few reasons why they would breakup.
Have Phillippe realize he really can’t deal with a non sexual relationship. Which makes him look like the typical self-absorbed Alpha Billionaire in training with a slight French accent.
Then there’s the shocker that she doesn’t want to get married and she just considers this a great first love. Sounds good, but makes her look like a gold-digging whore, I mean tramp.
Or, I could go with the classic, she loses her virginity to him, gets pregnant and he doesn’t want to have anything to do with her or the baby. This would paint her as a naive single mother, with an uncertain future and a whole lot of anger.
Last but not least, a dreaded family secret preventing him from continuing the relationship. Problem with that one is it makes him look a little weak and that goes against the image I’ve created of him.
I would love to see a HEA, but these characters may not. Unlike Alex and Moses, I broke them up a couple of times. Oh crap! I wasn’t supposed to tell you that, but I didn’t tell you how their story plays out. I’ll just say this, I have a playlist loaded with sad love songs.
I also don’t think this angst would be such a big deal if the book hadn’t been as successful as it has. I’ll rephrase that. I hoped it would do well, but this is a surprise blessing. Yes, I called my book that’s packed with a few steamy innuendoes and a blessing.
About a month before the free promotion, while it was still at regular price, it got to #167 without any promotion. When I did my first KDP Five Free Days, it made it all the way to #2 in one of my categories on Amazon. I stopped trying to figure out why it’s being received so well. And to be honest, I don’t care. I’m just grateful and thankful to God that it is doing well. This little book, is a great gateway to my other books.
Back to my problem, how to deal with my broken heart. Sunday or maybe it was late Saturday night. Anyway, I really started feeling a sense of loss towards this book. Sunday I picked up The Good Girl Part Two and started on the revisions and the more I read, the clearer it became that I needed to do something drastic. I kicked around ideas, all of which caused me more grief than relief. It was well around one in the morning when I gave up fighting. prayed and went to sleep.
Later, when I woke up, during my prayer time, I got a revelation for a possible plot idea. I’m not going to share it, in case those two bossy characters decide they want to go in another direction. I will say this, it will be emotionally painful to write, however, I think it’s going to lead to the perfect next step.
Funny thing, long before the dread of the breakup popped up, another scene began to bounce around my head…and it’s good. At least I think it is. Only problem, once I write it, I think that’s when the real heart break will come, because it will be the end of Gabriella and Phillippe’s story as I see it. As writers you know a series never really ends, it just gives birth to a another baby.
So I have a few questions for you. How do you handle the breakup of your characters? Do you find it difficult to breakup your characters perfect relationship? Is the road to HEA easy or painful for you?
Tracy Reed
http://readtracyreed.com/
I have been researching marketing ideas as I prepare to release my next couple of books. I’ve talked about my series The Alex Chronicles in past posts. As I prepare to launch the prequel and the first full-length book in the series, I’m thinking about the marketing plan. Ask any writer and they’ll tell you, writing the book was easy…promoting it is something altogether different.
I’m finishing up minor edits on Alex one and decided to start researching the follow up to Generational Curse, which means I’ve been reading, a lot. I got the first book in Pepper Winter’s series, Indebted for free and got hooked. It’s a romantic suspense with a lot of heat. Anyway, I wanted to know more about the series and visited her website and Pinterest page. What I found on Pinterest was rather intriguing. There seemed to be these cards or images with dialogue dropped on top. The images were meant to represent the hero and heroine of the series.
This marketing concept may not seem new to everyone, but to me, it was a brilliant way to market a book or anything for that matter. Use basic stock images that represent scenes, characters, locations, objects or whatever and drop dialogue on top. You can take it one step further and add an excerpt for a pin or blog post. It’s an easy way to grab readers attention on a book or series.
This simple idea really stuck with me, so I made a few Promo Cards for my books Generational Curse and The Good Girl. These promo cards come in handy. If I’m stuck or behind on posting on my blog, I post one of these cards along with an excerpt. Or if I’m running a special price on a book, these are great for posting about a special price without being too pushy. Plus, they’re perfect for my social media outlets. It’s a great way to get the word out for your book when you have limited space.
The good thing about this marketing idea, is all you need is a stock image and an excerpt or a couple of lines from your book. These are definitely my favorite digital marketing tool. If you want to go old school, print them and use as post cards or book markers. I also use mine for the home page flash on my website. The possibilities for use are unlimited.
Here are some of the promo cards I did for my books.
GENERATIONAL CURSE PROMO CARDS
THE GOOD GIRL PROMO CARDS
Tracy Reed
readtracyreed@me.com
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
Available at
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
All Romance eBooks
Part Two: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To My First Book..sort of
I’m about to launch the prequel to my first born, The Alex Chronicles…Girlfriends & Secrets. I talked about this little novelette last month in my post, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To My First Book. You can sort of say this is part two to that post.
As I mentioned last month, this is the first book I wrote. When I wrote the book, I had aspirations of book tours, radio interviews and a fantasy of being on The View. Hey, if you don’t dream big, you’ll never get any where.
However, after I wrote the first three books in the series, it seemed the entire dynamic of the romance genre shifted. I credit or blame Fifty Shades of Grey. The protagonists or heroes were no longer just good looking men. They were now these incredible, super sexy males. Really, have you ever really seen a man with thighs that could bust a watermelon…that’s a line from one of my upcoming books. Or what about a man with hair like flaxen gold and a behind so tight a quarter could bounce off of it. I’ve been to the gym okay, I’ve been to a gym and around construction sites and I’ve yet to see a behind that tight. Take that back, I did see the season finale of “Ballers†and got a good look at The Rock’s behind. Not to mention John Cena in “Trainwreckâ€, I think that tight-quarter-bouncing behind title could legitimately be applied to both of them.
As I was saying, the dynamic had changed. When I wrote the first draft of The Alex Chronicles, my protagonist was my version of very handsome. Did you catch that phrase, my version. See one of the things that tripped me up about the new descriptions in romance fiction, was taste. Every one has their version of what’s hot, sexy, handsome, unattractive [I didn’t want to say ugly], cute, and the list goes on. This was a dilemma for me. What I liked physically, didn’t always match up with what some of my readers liked.
I’ve read a lot of books the past couple of years. compared to the past, I’m breaking my own reading records. Apart from being very tall, most of the protagonists had large…body parts and mesmerizing eyes, but it was their character that stood out. No matter how roguish, devious, freaking, sadistic, crazy or stupid, they are, deep down, they all have big hearts. And very, very, very, big wallets.
I had dinner with a friend and told her, I had to re-write The Alex Chronicles, because the protagonist wasn’t rich enough. Let me clarify. When I wrote him, it was with the intention that he was rich. Well in the new romance world, it wasn’t good enough for him to just be rich or a millionaire, he needed to be a billionaire. And he has to have a private plane, luxury yacht, mansion and penthouse apartment on top of his own building…is the new normal. When did this happen? And to make it worse, I saw a book that was touting the word Trillionaire. Come on people, let me catch up.
Which brings me to my series. When it was first written, the heroine’s ex-husband was a decent level millionaire, but her new love interest was richer than the ex. When I did the rewrite, I made it a point not to mention how much he’s worth. Instead, I elude to it by the gifts and things he does for her. Welcome to the new contemporary romance protagonist. Is it even possible that such a man exists? I choose to believe that somewhere there’s a woman living out one of my books. I’m open to living out my own romance novel. If anyone knows a tall dark chocolate billionaire in search of a petite curvy mocha wife, send him my way. Really, who better to live out one of my books then me.
So what’s The Alex Chronicles about? It’s the story of five best friends and a pact they made in college. It seems kind of childish that five grown women would still be beholden to something so silly. That’s what one of their boyfriends said later in the series. But it’s something that worked for them…when they were in college. Now that they’re adults and dealing with the day to day things of life, it’s not so easy.
The Alex Chronicles: Girlfriends & Secrets will be out in October. It’s also my first perma free book. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, “I’m glad have a free book.†I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. Offering this book free, is my major marketing step for this series. I’ll keep you posted on how my first born does. In the meantime, here’s the first chapter in the prequel:
who are we…
ALEX
MY NAME IS ALEXANDRA SIMONE Miller and I am a fashion addict. Isn’t that how they make you introduce yourself at those addiction anonymous support group meetings? At least that’s what I’ve heard. I tried kicking the fashion habit, but it’s a little difficult when there are so many talented dealers, I mean designers tempting me. I know somewhere there has to be a support group for people like me. I think it meets at Neiman’s or Barneys. I heard a rumor that if you’re really bad they sentence you to aversion therapy at Bergdorf’s…I wish.
If my girlfriends knew about my plans to elope with Jonathan they wouldn’t be too surprised.
The Alex Chronicles Series will be starting in October
Tracy Reed
readtracyreed@me.com
www.readtracyreed.com
Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys
Available at
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
All Romance eBooks
A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
With another body turning up, one woman is hot on the trail of a killer . . .
More info →Far from a domestic goddess, Sarah Blair would rather catch bad guys than slave over a hot stove. But when a dangerous murder boils over in Wheaton, Alabama, catching the killer means leaving her comfort zone …
More info →Enjoy historical fiction? Like short stories? Then dive into this collection of historical shorts by an award-winning author.
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
Copyright ©2017 A Slice of Orange. All Rights Reserved. ~PROUDLY POWERED BY WORDPRESS ~ CREATED BY ISHYOBOY.COM