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More Variety

April 16, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as ChildrensLit, macandcheese, Variety, Writer, writerslife, writing

I am happy to report that our Girl Scout cookie hustle has wrapped up for season. Hopefully now I can stop giving mental space to Thin Mints and Lemonades.

Unfortunately, Sprinter continues in Minnesota. Actually, we’ve experienced all four seasons this weekend. On Friday, we had 83 degrees and sunny. Today we have 30 degrees and snowing.

Sometimes variety isn’t such a great thing.

I had a bout of sneaky creativity recently. I sat down to work on Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please the Sequel (working title) and I ended up finishing a completely different children’s book that I started years ago. Like, M&CPPP it’s a rhyming story about food.

As a children’s book author, I wish that rhyming came a lot easier to me. The truth is that I struggle when I’m trying to rhyme. My best rhymes come to me usually when I’m not trying or even writing for that matter. It’s typically when I’m crawling into bed after staying up waaaaay too late binging Love is Blind on Netflix, or when I’m mid-shampoo in the shower. So frustrating!

Anyways, I finished a book! Yay! Now I get to start the wonderful journey of editing and self-doubt. So fun! I also need to find an illustrator – Hoping to collaborate with a fellow Minnesotan on this. The topic is very niche to Minnesota (hint, hint). Good vibes are welcomed!

Here’s a text that my husband received this week from a close friend of ours:

He’ll be happy to know that more variety is on the way. 🙂

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Titanic Trivia Quiz: How many can you get right? by Jina Bacarr

April 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Belfast, Cherbourg, historical romance, iceberg, romance, ship of dreams, Southhampton, Titanic, Titanic111, women's fiction

Meet Ava O’Reilly, the Irish heroine in ‘The Runaway Girl’ who boards the Titanic at Queenstown

THE RUNAWAY GIRL. was a special challenge to write because of the importance to ‘get it right’ re: every moment aboard the ship since the ship of dreams set sail on April 10, 1912.

It’s all in the details, they say…

But how many details do you know about the TITANIC?

Check your Titanic knowledge with:

A Titanic Trivia Quiz

We’ve seen the films, read the books, but what do you know about the Titanic, really?

Take the quiz and find out!

(answers at the bottom of the page)

================

Titanic Trivia Questions:

You’ve just spent your honeymoon in Paris with your handsome husband and it’s time to return to America. He surprises you with first class tickets on the Titanic. From what French port do you sail?

Marseilles
Cherbourg
Calais

The Titanic has just arrived in Queenstown and you see several bumboats with vendors hawking their wares. They come aboard ship with their Irish souvenirs. When John Jacob Astor buys his new bride a souvenir, your husband buys you one, too. What did Colonel Astor buy his bride?

a set of china
a Celtic brooch
a lace shawl

You’re thrilled to find fresh flowers in your cabin when you and your new hubby come on board the ship of dreams. You’re also excited to find out you’re one of several honeymoon couples sailing to New York. According to reliable sources, how many honeymoon couples were there on the Titanic?

You hear heated whispers in the first class dining saloon when American millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim arrives with his latest mistress. Everyone’s curious, who is she? And where is she from?

Mlle. Aubart, a Parisian entertainer
Madame de Villiers, a Belgian cabaret singer
Miss Annabelle Pearl, a British fashion designer

You’re late for dinner in the first class dining saloon and lost in the maze of dead end corridors when you run into that handsome gentleman you met last night. He shows you the way to the dining room, then sneaks a kiss in the elevator. How many first class elevators are there on Titanic?

one
two
three

While you were waiting to board the ship at Queenstown, Ireland, you couldn’t resist flirting with the handsome lad who helped you carry your traveling bag. He whispered in your ear he’ll sneak into the single women’s 3rd class quarters to see you later. Where are the women’s steerage cabins on the ship?

fore
aft
amidships

You want to look alluring when you meet that handsome gentleman for dinner later in the first class dining saloon on D deck, so you pamper yourself in the Turkish baths. The bath stewardess insists you try out the latest beauty treatment:

an electric bath which tans your skin with ultraviolet lights
a face peel
an exercise machine where you walk in one place

Tonight you’re dining in the exclusive À La Carte Restaurant some first class passengers call the Ritz when you hear the ship’s musicians playing a lovely waltz. Later you hear them playing that same musical piece when you’re getting into a lifeboat. Some say it may have been the last song the musicians played as the Titanic foundered. What was the name of that waltz?

Autumn
Emperor
Vienna

It’s 10 p.m. on Sunday night, April 14th, and you can’t resist a stroll up on deck with your husband. It’s misty and getting colder. Even with his strong arms wrapped around you, you can’t stop shivering. How cold is it?

45 degrees F
29 degrees F
32 degrees F

It’s 11:40 p.m. and you’re in bed with your husband enjoying a night of wedded bliss when the ship hits an iceberg. You want to cuddle up next to him in your warm bed, but he insists you get dressed and get into a lifeboat. How long do you have before the ship sinks?

1 hour and 45 minutes
2 hours and 40 minutes
2 hours and 10 minutes

Answers:

(Answer: B Cherbourg)

(Answer: C a lace shawl)

(Answer: C 13)

(Answer: A Mlle Aubart)

(Answer: C three)

(Answer: B aft)

(Answer: A an electric bath)

(Answer: A Autumn)

(Answer: C 32 degrees F)

(Answer: B 2 hours and 40 minutes)

THE RUNAWAY GIRL:

US Amazon

UK Amazon

———–

US:

Barnes & Noble

Kobo.

Apple Books

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Are Lacy Panties Holy Underwear? by Kitty Bucholtz

April 9, 2023 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as Funny stories, It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz

I’m not being blasphemous. It’s actually a funny story from earlier this week. I was in a Zoom Bible study and we were talking about the body of Christ, and how we make up all the parts of the body, and I was super tired and blurted out — “Yeah, even the underwear!”

Hahaha!!! Then I tried to explain — “You know, when I’m thinking too highly of myself I remind myself that I might only be the underwear.”

My friend Charlotte said, “But you’d be the lacy underwear, Kitty.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” I said. “The bride of Christ isn’t wearing granny undies. She’d be wearing lace. So she’s probably wearing Victory’s Secret lace underwear.”

Hahaha!!!! It took a minute for us to get back on track after that!

Then I was thinking that’s probably true. As much as we try to be “good,” we don’t always succeed. Sometimes there are holes in our faith. And lace has holes. So our faith — my faith, for sure — is probably more like lace underwear than sturdy granny undies. Hahaha! Of course, that analogy only goes so far since sturdy cotton lasts a long time, longer than lace. But you see where I was going with it! Haha! Sometimes I blurt out the strangest things when I’m tired! (And guess what conversation is going to find its way into this book or the next one!)

Whatever your views on cotton vs. lace 😉 I hope you have a beautiful Holy Week and a blessed Easter!

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First Quarter List Building Results

April 5, 2023 by Tracy Reed in category Writing

Happy Spring.

This is a special week for me. It’s Easter and my birthday.

Let’s get to this month’s post. I just finished the first quarter of my newsletter building project. As of this post, my efforts have netted 2365 new subscribers. I am beyond excited about this number. As I mentioned before, whenever I send an email, I lose a few. My current loss number is 65…less than 3% of the new subs. I can live with that. Right now, I’m averaging approximately 17 new subs per day. I can live with that as well. If I stay on tract, I’ll reach my goal of 10,000 subscribers.

If you’re looking to build your newsletter list, I highly recommend using Book Funnel group promotions. They’re free, easy to set up, offer multiple genres with minimal effort.

The only thing I haven’t done, is check for duplicate email subscribers. I know that’s a possibility, because each download requires an email sign up. Once I export all the lists, I’ll get the answer to the question of possible duplicates.

While the email sign up promos are doing well, the sales promotions aren’t going as well. I’m not sure why, but once I do I think it will be good for sales. I’ve read a few articles or posts about the success authors are having direct selling ebooks. Direct sales don’t allow refunds. YEAH!. I don’t about you, but I’m tired of readers binge reading and then returning the books. I’ve gotten to the point when I see a series has been ordered, I cringe waiting to see if the books will be returned or not.

In a nutshell, I’m about to join the ranks of authors direct selling ebooks. I believe this is the answer to dealing with Amazon’s read and return game. Sure, I can’t stop Amazon from allowing people to read and return, but I can offer another ebook option that will work to my benefit. It may take me a little while to set up my books and get readers used to this option, but I believe it will work.

One of the reasons why I think I’m tanking on direct sales at Book Funnel, is incorrect sign up. Once I get that fixed, I expect see a vast difference in my direct sales numbers. As well as studying authors who are doing this successfully.

Speaking of new sales options, I was reviewing my Kobo sales and discovered I’ve been earning sales with Kobo Plus. I completely forgot I had put some of my books in this lending program. So while I was a little disappointed in my sales, I’d actually been earning money. The reason I didn’t know about the Kobo sales is because Kobo Plus sales don’t show up on the Kobo sales dashboard.

Have a wonderful Easter and see you next month.

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1950s Life & Times of the Rich and Famous in Los Angeles

April 3, 2023 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger, Writing tagged as 1950s, hard-boiled mysteries, history, Hollywood, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series

While researching the 1950s, we came across memoirs of Los Angeles. Since our Private Eye character, Skylar Drake, moonlights as a stuntman for the movie industry, the Hollywood scene during that time is an intricate part of each book.

The regular family life of the rich and famous was not at all typical of everyday life. In fact, it was pretty exhausting! The executives were in constant fear of making the wrong decisions and losing their position (lots of backbiting). There were endless days of being “on” for the public. They were forever giving lunches, dinners, and cocktail parties at their homes for celebrities or visiting dignitaries. Their dinners were lavish and beautiful, as were their homes. Entertaining was constant with little private time.

The regular family life of the rich and famous was not at all typical of everyday life. In fact, it was pretty exhausting! The executives were in constant fear of making the wrong decisions and losing their position (lots of backbiting). There were endless days of being “on” for the public. They were forever giving lunches, dinners and cocktail parties at their homes for celebrities or visiting dignitaries. Their dinners were lavish and beautiful, as well as their homes. Entertaining was constant with little private time.

I found stories of lunch with Barbara Hutton (heiress of the Woolworth’s chain) at the lavish garden of Merle Oberon, or a candle light dinner at the home of Edie Goetz, (daughter of Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of MGM.) And don’t forget entertaining royalty, moguls, and titans of the day. You couldn’t just throw hamburgers on the BBQ, whip up a potato salad and lounge by the pool!Tent parties in which the pool was covered to create a dance floor were a regular Saturday night event in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. On Sundays,

Tent parties in which the pool was covered to create a dance floor were a regular Saturday night event in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. On Sundays, church was not like your typical worship services. The Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills was nicknamed Our Lady of the Cadillacs due to the expensive cars that filled the parking lot for 10 am Mass.

Incorporating Skylar Drake’s assigned visits by his agent or the studio or working security into the stories has been fun. We’ve enjoyed dressing the characters, describing the gardens and homes, and the food served by the rich and famous of Los Angeles, 1950s.