Archives

Home > Archives

Romance Novel Convention – and Free Book

August 9, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Adventures in Vegas
Today I’m at the Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas. It’s been an exciting adventure so far! But not necessarily all good. To start out, our poor little car died four miles from the hotel. FOUR MILES! See the picture on my Facebook Author Page.
By the time I realized that it didn’t just need to cool down, it needed professional help (no comments on that, please!), the local garages had all closed. I’ve been a AAA member since I got my driver’s license, and for the first time in 27 years, they couldn’t help me. I was shocked and starting to get a little panicky because I came to town alone.
But God, my awesome personal superhero, came to my rescue! A couple of friends helped me figure out a game plan and I got to my hotel with a change of clothes and my laptop, leaving the car and all my belongings where they were. The next morning, my brother called me out of the blue (anyone want to rent a Wyndham timeshare in Vegas for Labor Day weekend? He’s got one available that they can’t use) and suddenly my big brother was at my rescue again. I felt like I was 16! It was wonderful!

Rescued!
Several of my friends were praying hard for everything to turn out okay and it did! One sent money to take care of unexpected expenses. My brother told the auto repair facility that he wanted to pay for the car repairs. (I should get the fixed car back any moment! Woo-hoo!!) The AAA guys were super friendly and unloaded all my stuff into their courtesy shuttle and got me and all my boxes of books to my hotel.
And then when the convention started, I immediately met several people that I’m so glad I found! Another Christian woman who is also trying to entertain her readers while keeping her stories in her own world view; a sweet model with the nicest smile who I hope to work with on my next book cover; a really nice, smart woman who started up her own marketing firm for writers; and a woman who makes covers I adore! Plus I’m finally able to take time to get to know another friend a lot better. I’m so excited!
Saturday is the book signing, so if you’ll be in Vegas, stop by the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino on Fremont Street from 11am to 2pm. Then I’ll be at the Author/Reader Meet and Greet from 3 to 5.

Book Signing in Traverse City
I’m excited to announce that I’ve confirmed another book signing! This one will be Saturday, September 7th from 3 to 4pm at Horizon Books in Traverse City, Michigan. This signing will be particularly special because I grew up with my mom taking us to Horizon Books every time we went to town, whether we needed something or not. This is practically a childhood dream come true! (I’d never dared to dream as a child that I could grow up to be an author one day.)

Unexpected Superhero is Free
Remember – and tell all your friends – that Unexpected Superhero will be available for free for five days starting this Saturday, August 10! Woo-hooo!!!
It’s a Kindle exclusive now, so you need a Kindle or a Kindle app. (I found out the new Nook now has a Kindle app on it! And you can download one for your iPad or smart phone as well as your computer.) I hope to have the book loaded up on all the other ebook vendor sites (Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Sony, iTunes, Kobo, etc.) on Labor Day weekend. It may show up a few days (or weeks, for Apple) later, but keep an eye out for it.
Happy Reading!

Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, came out in 2011. Her new novel, Unexpected Superhero, book one in The Adventures of Lewis & Clarke humorous urban fantasy series, is now available in print and ebook format. Love at the Fluff and Fold, book one in The Strays of Loon Lake romantic comedy series, will be released later this summer. Her short stories can be found in the anthologies Romancing the Pages and Moonlit Encounters, available in both print and ebook formats.
0 0 Read more

August Already

August 6, 2013 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as , ,
Is it really August already? Every year goes fast, but this one seems to be particularly quick!

I want to thank our delightful prez, Louisa Bacio, AKA Marie Loggia-Kee, for putting my picture up on her blog post this month on A Slice of Orange. Yes, I was at RWA National in Atlanta and had a wonderful time. I came back inspired, with a whole lot to do, and I’ve dug into it with gusto!

I’m really excited about this month’s meeting, too. If it wasn’t enough to see some of the outstanding Harlequin editors at the national conference, we get to see two of them right here, at OCC, next Saturday. They’ll be discussing Publishing Strategy and Digital Publishing for You–both topics in which I’ve got a lot of interest, and I’m sure many of you do, too.

So… think about how you’re going to spend the rest of this year, and I hope to see you on Saturday!

Linda O. Johnston
http://www.lindaojohnston.com/

0 0 Read more

OCCRWA August 2013 Online Class: Symbols with Marcy Weydemuller

July 26, 2013 by in category Archives

OCCRWA Proudly Presents: header

August 12 – September 9, 2013

SYMBOLS

with Marcy Weydemuller

About the Class:
Many symbols are universal but can be interpreted in different ways. In one culture white is considered virginal and pure, and in another it represents death. We’ll examine ways we can discover the concepts inherent in our stories and look at how to develop them to bridge divides, or explore the confrontations when they can add depth to our characters or plots. What mythic metaphors resonant like music? What symbolic language do they share? How do they weave their magic into our stories and how can we use them to highlight magical elements in ours?

About the Instructor:
Marcy Weydemuller has twenty years experience writing, mentoring and teaching, both in fiction and non-fiction. She has a BA in History and Sociology, and an MFA in Writing, with a special focus on fantasy and poetry. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, the Christian Editor Network and Christian Manuscript Critique Service. Her freelance edit services include as a reader feedback, a substantive editor, and as a manuscript analyst. Projects have included historical fiction, YA contemporary, middle-readers—historical and contemporary, suspense-mystery, woman’s romance and memoir.
For enrollment information, please click the link here.



0 0 Read more

A Thought or two on Loglines and Mission Statements

July 19, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Now how in the world do loglines relate to mission statements?  It kind of surprised me when I realized the connection.
For a bit of background, I was participating in and helping with MFRW‘s great Summer Camp (check out Linda Mc Laughlin’s Blog for more information) Kayelle Allen asked me to take on a logline forum, since I do enjoy distilling a book down to twenty five words or less. On the same weekend I was working with a club on their ByLaws, starting with the Mission Statement.
A Mission Statement is a declaration of an organization’s purpose. Some are complex, conveying many thoughts; the best are direct and simple, describing the organization so clearly one has no doubt of their place in the world. Even better, these simple statements stick with us, and when we’re asked what that organization is all about, we have a clear answer.
What was that? A clear description. Direct. Simple. Something that will stick with us? Sounds like something else I’ve read about recently. 
What do you think? Could the logline be the mission statement of our book?

When not pondering esoteric concepts, Monica writes and reads romance in various genres while living in the high desert wondering when or if it will rain.
http://mona-karel.com/

0 0 Read more

emaginings: Buffer for Writers

July 17, 2013 by in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as , , , , , , , ,

While most everyone else was getting ready for this week’s RWA Conference in Atlanta, I went to camp instead. Well, MFRW (Marketing For Romance Writers) online Summer Camp.

If you’re not familiar with MFRW, I recommend checking it out. We have a dynamic group of writers led by the amazing Kayelle Allen, and ably assisted by Paloma Beck, Karen Cote, Kristyn Phipps, OCC’s own Monica Stoner, and a host of other generous volunteers. I’ve learned a lot from reading the MFRW Digests that come into my inbox.

At camp, I focused mostly on the social media classes, since I’ve been taking baby steps into that arena for over a year now. One of the classes was Buffer for the Hard-Pressed Writer, taught by Kristyn Phipps. I’ve had a Twitter account for over a year now, but hadn’t gone so far as to sign up for HootSuite or TweetDeck to manage my tweets, though there were times when I wished I had a way to space them out more. So I figured why not give Buffer a try, esp. since it’s also available as a smart phone app. It seemed like a good solution: a simple app that lets a user schedule tweets and FaceBook shares for release at specified times of the day.

You can sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, then add a Buffer email and password. You have to authorize Buffer to access your Twitter, FB, Linked In or App.net account.

Buffer also has a section called Analytics that shows you the number of times someone Retweets, Favorites, Mentions, or Clicks your message and the Potential number of users that could be reached.

The Buffer staff is good at answering question via Twitter and the app will also email you to let you know when your buffer is empty. I haven’t had much time to play with it yet, but expect it will be quite useful.

Have you ever tried Buffer, and if so, what was your impression? Or do you use a different program to schedule your social media?

To those who are traveling to Atlanta, be safe and have a wonderful conference!

Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont
Websites: http://www.lindamclaughlin.com
http://www.lyndilamont.com
Blogs:
Flights of Fancy
Lyndi’s Love Notes
Facebook
Twitter

0 0 Read more

Copyright ©2017 A Slice of Orange. All Rights Reserved. ~PROUDLY POWERED BY WORDPRESS ~ CREATED BY ISHYOBOY.COM

>