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Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

April 6, 2014 by Linda O. Johnston in category Events, Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as A Superstition Mystery, Harlequin Nocturne. Linda O. Johnston, Midnight Ink, Pet Rescue Mysteries

by Linda O. Johnston

I’m sorry to say I won’t be at the OCC meeting this month. But I’m happy to say that the reason is an event I really enjoy: the L.A. Times Festival of Books.

The LATFOB is a two-day event. This year, those two days are Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13. I’ll be there both days, which means no OCC meeting, and, as it turns out, no Los Angeles Romance Authors meeting either, since it was changed to the second Sunday of the month rather than its usual third Sunday, which this month happens to be Easter.

I often try to schedule everything I want to do at the LATFOB on the same day, but that didn’t work out this year. I’ll be signing at two mystery booths and helping to staff the Mystery Writers of America booth, and the schedule worked best for me to do some on Saturday and some on Sunday.

Fortunately, I live not far from a Metro stop, so I can take the subway and train to the USC campus, where the festival is now held. It was at the UCLA campus for many years but that changed a few years ago.

I keep hoping for more of a romance presence there, too, but sponsoring booths is expensive. Harlequin had a presence last year but I don’t see them on the list of exhibitors this year. I know there was some talk of a bunch of us contributing to sponsor a booth, but I don’t think that materialized, at least not this year.

Even if you’ll be at OCC this month, come to the USC campus on Sunday and say hi and check out the many wonderful booths. There are also speakers, although you generally have to sign up in advance for those programs. But why not plan ahead? And, yes, there is a romance panel on Saturday that includes some OCC members!

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Convesations with Barb and Jann

April 2, 2014 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Barb Delong, Jann Ryan, Jann Says...

Au naturel

Most of you probably don’t have this issue, but I know many do. We will not go out in public without makeup, perfect hair and the right clothes. Now, I’ve been known to occasionally leave the house to pick up a quick item hiding under big sunglasses, my Sedona hat and wearing a pair of slightly worn sweats, but today I woke up with a different attitude.

After over forty years of avoiding au naturel in public, I decided to do the unthinkable. I got up, showered, dressed in yoga pants and T-shirt, tossed my hair around, grabbed my laptop and headed to Corner Bakery to write. I didn’t want to stop the freeing feeling I was experiencing of just get up and go. I didn’t want to take an hour to get ready, read emails or answer questions from family that would start a “to do list” and clutter my mind before I even got out the door.

So, I arrived, no sunglasses or hat, casually dressed. People in the parking lot and patio area outside CB didnâ€™t turn into stone, leaving a garden of statues in my wake, as I made my way to the entrance. I was shocked. Customers inside didn’t gather together to point and whisper. The girl at the counter didn’t look at me with sympathy wondering why I didn’t look in the mirror before I left home. Instead, I ordered my coffee, found my perfect place to settle in (with electrical plug close by) and got started. My mind free and clear – open for inspiration. It was a beautiful day outside and I felt the same way myself.

Have a beautiful day,

Jann Ryan

Jann Ryan grew up with the smell of orange blossoms in Orange County in sunny Southern California, where she has lived her entire life and dreamed up stories since she was a young girl. Never an avid reader, she was in her thirties when she picked up her first romance quite by accident. She fell in love with happily ever after and has been reading romances ever since.

Wanting to put pen to paper, Jann joined Romance Writers of America. Currently, she is working on a romantic suspense series set in Stellar Bay, a fictitious town along the California central coast to fulfill her publishing dream.

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emaginings: To Blog or Not To Blog? @LyndiLamont

March 16, 2014 by Lyndi Lamont in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as #RLFblog, blogging, emaginings, Kayelle Allen, Kristen Lamb, Marketing For Romance Writers, Rise of the Machines, Triberr, Twitter

To Blog or Not To Blog? That is one question every writer must ponder.

I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. It’s not that I mind doing it, but I resent the time involved that takes me away from writing, and I’m not sure blogging has been worth my while. What I am sure is that I haven’t gone about it in a very systematic or effective way, though I try.

My big project for this year is to launch a new website and blog combining both of my writing names into one site, for easier maintenance. In the meantime, I’m still learning as much as I can about author branding, platforms and the use of blogs.

In January, I read Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World by Kristen Lamb, the well-known blogger and social media maven. The first chapter, The Changing Paradigm, was fascinating. She talks a lot about technological change in general, often quoting from Neil Postman, author of several books, including Technopoly. His contention was that technological change isn’t “addictive or subtractive but ecological”. Advances in technology change everything, including the way humans think, certainly changes the way we talk and write. Hashtags, emoticons, text speak… You all know what I’m talking about, like the changes or not.

Lamb is a big proponent of blogging, and while I value her advice, I’m not sure I can manage to do everything she recommends. But after reading her book, I think I have a better notion of what to do and, perhaps more importantly, what not to do. Some of her advice includes:

Be present on social media, at least some of the time; don’t automate everything.

Your name is your brand; use it in some version. Don’t tweet with a silly handle that no one will recognize.

Be careful what you share, esp. where politics and religion are concerned.

I wish her book had been available eight years ago when I started blogging, but as Kitty Bucholtz said in her time management class, it’s never too late to hit the Restart button. I’m hoping to do better when I get the new, better blog later this year, and I’d love to take a branding class from her some day.

In the meantime I have finally joined Triberr, the “Home of Influencers.” If you’re not familiar with Triberr, it’s a blog amplifier. Bloggers ban together in tribes and tweet each other’s blog posts, giving everyone an enhanced range. Since I joined, my blogs are getting tweeted more often, my page stats have shot up, and I’ve picked up new followers at Twitter. I’m still not getting a lot of comments, but I think that’s somewhat normal. Unless there’s a giveaway or a controversy, people are not inclined to comment a lot, esp. where the dreaded Capcha is involved. Personally, I hate those things. So does Kristen Lamb.

For more information on Triberr and how it interacts with Twitter, check out this post by Kayelle Allen, founder of Marketing For Romance Writers and another Social Media maven:

Blog Titles Matter in Triberr: Tips for Authors by Kayelle Allen #RLFblog #author

So to blog or not to blog? What is your answer. Leave a comment if you can get past the Capcha!

And if social media generally has you befuddled, OCC’s own Elena Dillon will be teaching an online class on Social Media for the Confused and Terrified from April 14 â€“ May 11, 2014. I’m not terrified, but I often find myself confused, so I’ll be taking the class.

Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont

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Conversations with Jann and Barb

February 2, 2014 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as Barb Delong, Conversations with Barb and Jann, Jann Audiss, movies, texting

A couple of weeks ago, Barb and I decided to take in a movie, so off we went to our local theater. We grabbed some popcorn and found our seats. We like to sit in the middle about halfway up. There were only about eight people scattered around. I love it when itâ€™s not crowded. The lights dimmed. When the camel came on the screen reminding us to turn off our phones (Barb loves that camel), we checked our phones and settled back to be taken on a wild ride of action and adventure with the new Jack Ryan movie.

Now, I know all of us have had the experience of people who talk and text during the previews, occasionally you might hear a tune playing. But usually you get through a movie with little disturbance. Well, that wasnâ€™t to be the case for us this time.

The movie started and the guy sitting down a few rows and to the right obviously didnâ€™t listen to the camel. He was texting. Since the theater wasnâ€™t full, the light from his phone really reflected. I moved my head just a little so as not to be distracted, but the older guy sitting behind and to the right of him had full view. I felt really sorry for him, but figured Jerk would finish and turn it off. That didnâ€™t happen. Over the next thirty or more minutes he texted constantly. How do you follow a movie if you are texting all the time? He was a texting ABUSER! The guy behind him got up and left, but came back to his seat. I figured he went to tell theater management to come in and tell Jerk to stop. But no one came. About ten minutes later, the older guy did what most people would do â€“ he asked him to turn it off.

Well holy moly, all hell broke loose.

Jerk jumped up, called the old guy names and threatened him. Then he came at the guy still calling him names. A man sitting with the woman in front of us got up and tried to get Jerk to settle down. It didnâ€™t work. One woman ran out to get help, another man sitting with his family also got up to help. Jerk came at the old guy again and this time threw punches. Barb and I called out for Jerk to stop. I tried to find my phone to call 911, but couldnâ€™t get it turned on. My heart raced. I wondered what to do next. The two men who intervened got Jerk off the old guy. Jerk and one man left the theater; the old guy got up and went out the exit. Barb and I sat there wondering what was going to happen next. Meanwhile the movie had been rolling along and Jack Ryan was in a high speed car racing scene on the big screen.

The movie stopped playing, the manager arrived and we gave her the details of the altercation. We each received a free movie ticket and a full refund. They started the movie again, taking it back to the point when the disturbance began.

Later that day I thought about what happened and how texting has gotten out of control. How lucky we had been. We hear about the situations in movie theaters, texting and driving, and the lives destroyed by it. But then I thought about other times people text (myself included) and wondered how it affects others. You know what itâ€™s like to be with family and friends having a conversation and they pick up their phone to either send or answer a text while youâ€™re talking. Or at a meeting, have you ever wondered what the speaker is thinking when they look out over the audience and see people with their heads down tapping away on their phones? They could hope weâ€™re tweeting about what a great speaker they are. Or do we consider if weâ€™re annoying the people around us and being rude to the speaker?

All I know is that after my experience, I think twice now before I take my phone out to text in public and when Iâ€™m with my friends and family.

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Getting Organized in Digital Age: Mission Impossible? @LyndiLamont

January 16, 2014 by Lyndi Lamont in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as Linda McLaughlin

Another January, another set of resolutions some of us will never keep. Is it futile?

I wish I knew the answer to that age-old question. I suspect resolutions and/or yearly goals work for some people but not others. Or maybe they work some years but not others. There are organizing methods that work for some people, but not everyone. All I do know is that I have to try doing something different this year to make some sense out of my messed up schedule. That won’t eliminate the chaos in my creatively messy mind though.

In the interests of organization, I signed up for the current OCC/RWA online class Going the Distance: Time Management for the Writer taught by our own Kitty Bucholtz. The class has just started but I’m hopeful of learning new techniques to use my precious time more productively. Goal setting will be part of the process. I’ve had good luck with that technique before, when I’ve paid attention to my goals and taken steps to meet them. Goals somehow seem more serious than “New Year’s Resolutions” which have a bad track record, plus goals can be revised or abandoned in favor of something better. Once a New Year’s resolution is abandoned, it’s all over until the next year. Right?

Here’s a blog article by James Clear (recommended by Alina K. Field) that I found interesting:

Why Trying to Be Perfect Wonâ€™t Help You Achieve Your Goals (And What Will)

Rather than worrying about goals and resolutions he recommends focusing on repetitive behavior, i.e. creating habits that will keep you moving towards whatever it is you want to accomplish.

Author P. J. Sharon wrote a blog this week on sticking to your plan that you may find interesting.

Tough Love

I swear this was all easier in the 20thy century. Nowadays social media is such a distraction. I set out to read my email in the morning, but keep finding interesting links to click on, or something that cries out to be tweeted, and before I know it, I have seven or eight tabs open in Firefox and two hours have disappeared, never to be seen again.

In the cause of taming the social media monster, here are links to a couple of blog posts you may find helpful. Don’t be put off by the title of the first. It’s a pretty good beginner’s guide to Twitter, and I found some helpful ideas in it.

The Ultimate Twitter Guide to Crush Your Competition

Infographic: The Secrets of a Killer Blog Post

At the Marketing for Romance Writers blog, Erin Moore asks: Newbie World: Do I Really Need Social Media? Good advice for the new author.

Middle Grade author Chris Eboch on A Year of Success contains more links to older blog posts on the subject.

If anyone reading this post has any brilliant ideas or getting or staying organized, please let me know. Will you be setting goals? How did you do in 2013? I’d love to hear about your successes.

Hope to have some progress to share next month.

Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont

Linda McLaughlin grew up with a love of books and history, so it’s only natural she prefers writing historical romance. She loves transporting her readers into the past where her characters learn that, in the journey of life, love is the sweetest reward.

She also writes erotic romance under the name Lyndi Lamont, and is one half of the writing team of Lyn O’Farrell.

You can find her online at http://www.lindamclaughlin.com or http://www.lyndilamont.com.
Blog: http://flightsafancy.blogspot.com/
Facebook:
Linda McLaughlin Author http://www.facebook.com/LindaMcLaughlinAuthor
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Twitter: @LyndiLamont