Flight Pattern by Dianna Sinovic
December 30, 2019 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as fiction, Flight Pattern
Flight Pattern
Joe cradled the cockatiel in his hands, then extended one of the bird’s wings to trim the flight feathers. His flock of birds now numbered eight, and one pair had three eggs incubating. The birds shrieked and twittered around him as the morning sun though the skylights lit up the aviary.
“Easy there,” he said softly, gently turning the bird and trimming the other wing. The bird’s mate was preening on a nearby branch.
After releasing the cockatiel, he surveyed the aviary. Carey was coming by in twenty minutes, expecting a tour. Would she like it? It was important to him that she understand his passion. These birds were precious to him—they kept him sane. He walked with effort to the doorway and looked back one more time.
He had met Carey a month ago, when she sat next to him at a township meeting. He had come to make a statement about the pending municipal budget. She was there to see her friend’s grandson get a community award. They got to talking and discovered that they had both lost spouses. They both read voraciously, he about the Civil War and she about women’s history. And she loved birds. Joe had vowed to himself that no one would ever replaced Amelia, but he was drawn to Carey’s joie de vivre. She wasn’t pretentious, and she seemed genuinely interested in him.
Joe’s arthritic hip wouldn’t let him go birding with her, but she said she was intrigued by his cockatiels.
But now he was nervous. Twice he checked his reflection in the hall mirror, smoothing his thinning hair. When he saw her drive up, he felt as he had all those years ago, when he and Amelia were on their first date. Could love happen twice in one life?
“Joe, you look pale. Are feeling alright?” Carey wore a peach scoop-necked shirt and tan capris. She looked lovely.
“I’m fine, fine.” He ushered her in the door and accepted her gift of freshly baked bread.
“I thought we might have a slice or two after we look at the birds.” She looked around at the modest living room, and Joe was pleased to see her nod in approval.
The aviary was at the back of the house, in a room that had once been the den. He had built a screened foyer that allowed him to look into the aviary before entering it. Most guests got only that far—a chance to see the birds but not handle them. Joe took Carey into the room itself. When a bird landed on his shoulder, he transferred it to her hand. He pointed out the markings that made cockatiels unique. He told her about building his flock after Amelia’s death. He showed her the nest with the three perfect eggs.
“Would you like one of the hatchlings?”
Carey shook her head. “Thank you, Joe, but I think the baby birds belong here, with your flock.” She seemed to sense his disappointment. “Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the offer.” Her eyes twinkled. “In fact, I will take one of the hatchlings—as long as it stays in the aviary. That will give me an excuse to come here as often as you’ll have me.”
1 0 Read more‘Once Upon a Christmastime with the Oprah Show’ and how it inspired CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN… by Jina Bacarr
December 11, 2019 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as books, Christmas, holiday, piano, tradition, treeOnce upon a Christmastime, I had a fun experience with the Oprah Show that has remained a fond memory… even if it took a different path than the show planned…
==============
‘Ring… ring… ’
I was halfway out the door when the telephone rang. I slammed to a halt, clutching my car keys, my purse slung over my shoulder. Who could be calling me this early in the morning?
It was 8 a.m.
I was running late for a meeting and the last thing I needed was another telemarketer trying to sell me carpet cleaning for Christmas.
Then it hit me. I remembered the Christmas tradition story I wrote about my mom and her old piano and sent to the Oprah Show.
I swallowed hard. It was 10 a.m. in Chicago. Oprah Time.
I grabbed the phone and mumbled a breathless, ‘Hello… ’
‘Hi, this is the Oprah Show calling.’
‘Did you say Oprah?’ I gulped, my heart pounding like a million elves working overtime.
“Do you have time to talk?” the producer asked, hopeful.
I cleared my throat. ‘Yeah, sure… no problem.’
Wait till I tell my boss why I’m late today.
‘Awesome. We received your story about your Christmas tradition… ’
I tossed my purse and car keys onto a chair, my pulse racing out of control. ‘Yes?’
‘We’d like to use it for a segment on our holiday show.’
‘You do?’ I said, my voice squeaking like a little kid seeing Santa Claus.
The producer chuckled. ‘Yes… now here’s what we need from you.’
Knees wobbly, I fumbled in my purse for a pencil while the producer give me instructions on what happened next. Tears misted in my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. My Christmas tradition was going to be on Oprah.
I let out a deep sigh. If only my mom could see this, praying somehow she did know.
My mother loved to play the piano, especially at Christmastime. She knew every holiday carol by heart and every year, she’d sit down at our old studio upright piano and take us on a musical trip to Bethlehem or a journey with the Three Wise Men or rock ‘n roll with Jingle Bell Rock.
We lived in the Pennsylvania woods when I was a kid and one Christmas we were snowed in and couldn’t get into town to buy a tree. So my mom decorated our old piano with shiny, silver tinsel and red and blue and green balls with a gold star on top.
After all, a piano is made out of wood, and that wood was once a tree.
So why not a Christmas Piano Tree?
My mother passed away a few days before Christmas many years ago. I didn’t have the heart to trim a tree that year. Then I remembered her Christmas piano tree. I decorated that same old, wonderful studio upright with Christmas ornaments that year and I do so every Christmas since then as a tribute to my mom.
It was an exciting time after the Oprah Show producer called. They asked for photos of my Christmas piano tree, then we taped the segment for my holiday tradition with me reading what I wrote about my mom. The sound crew added holiday music and I got all ready to watch the show when it aired…
But the show ran overtime, so my segment didn’t make the national broadcast. I was devastated, but the Oprah producer promised she’d do something for me.
She did. The next year the Oprah Show ran my old home Christmas movies and used them as part of their promo for their holiday show.
So here’s my pretty young mom at Christmastime hanging up Christmas stockings.
Awesome…
When I wanted to write a Christmas time travel story, I thought about how much I missed my mom every year and those wonderful holidays when I was a kid in Pennsylvania. If only I could go back in time and see her again and tell her how much I loved her…
I dedicated CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN to my mom. It’s the story of the Arden Family during World War 2 on the home front with Kate, the older daughter, as the heroine sending the man she loves off to war in 1943… she never sees him again.
Then years later she has the chance to go back in time and warn him about a secret mission gone wrong in France. Will he believe her?
All she wants for Christmas is to save the man she loves…
Christmas Once Again is available at e-tailers everywhere, print, and audio book, too!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Jina
PS – some of my favorite scenes in Christmas Once Again are when Kate reconnects with Ma…and their wonderful moments together.
———–
CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN is on sale for 99 cents for a limited time!
US Amazon https://amzn.to/2pcz2eN
UK Amazon https://amzn.to/31rF4pZ
Audio US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YL6KG3W
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2 0 Read moreEncouragement to Take a Leap – by Kitty Bucholtz
December 9, 2019 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as Goal Setting, It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, new beginnings
I’ve been attending the Malmö International Rotary Club for the last few months, and in November I gave an “ego speech.” It sounds a little too self-centered to be comfortable 🙂 but it’s basically a “getting to know you” speech.
I wanted to share the real Kitty, but I still didn’t want it to center on me. Then I realized I could do with the speech what I try to do with my podcast episodes, and even in my fiction: encourage the audience in their own lives. Interestingly, I found myself veering slightly from my notes in the end and telling the club that I was thinking about starting a new project to better use my gifts…but it would be scary and I hadn’t had the courage to take the leap yet.
Here’s the speech. If you’re thinking about starting something new, or even if you’re just planning your work for next year, I hope it encourages you. Let me know what you think.
On the Home Front and Overseas during World War 2 for this Veterans Day by Jina Bacarr
November 11, 2019 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Christmas, historical romance, Italy, romance novels, time travel
Happy Veterans Day!
First Launch in a Year Results
November 5, 2019 by Tracy Reed in category WritingHappy November.
I apologize in advance for the long post.
Last month I shared about my first release in over a year. I was very nervous. So much so, I thought I’d broken out with a case of hives on release day. Only to discover it was an infection. The medical drama is a couple of posts on its own. Bottom line, I just finished my second round of meds. Thank God, it wasn’t anything serious, but could have been.
So how was my release for A Southern Gentleman Vol 2? AMAZING! Did I hit the numbers I wanted? No. But that was okay, because I got something better. But first let me explain the slight glitch I encountered.
I rarely do pre-order on Amazon. Committing to a date without the option of last minute changes, isn’t something I like. However, I thought I’d try it this time. After all the book had been on pre-order on all of the other platforms, so I thought. Turns out when I loaded the book to Kobo, it was as a pre-order. At least looking at the dashboard, it wasn’t. I’m pretty sure, there was a glitch because every time I made a change, it kept indicating that it was a live book.
Back over at KDP and the pre-order, I loaded a placeholder file…my ARC. However, I wasn’t familiar with the countdown clock. I received an email that said “Thank You for the file” or something to that effect. I misread the email. I thought it was reminding me, when in fact it was telling me the file was set and no changes could be made until after it was live. Insert panicked face here. I freaked out and started praying and searching the blogs for an answer. I found a post in one of my Facebook groups, that mentioned a window to make changes. Apparently, there’s a small window before pre-orders are delivered when you might, be able to go in and make changes before the file is delivered.
I was prepping for release day and this little voice said to check the locked file. I did and it was open. The pre-orders hadn’t been delivered yet. I hurried about and got the correct file loaded. Hallelujah! I also had a problem with how I loaded the file to Apple Books. The opposite was happening at Apple Books. I had put the incorrect date in, which meant the file probably never would have dropped.
On to the results. The Saturday before release[book launch date 10.08.19], my Sweet & Sexy romance was #8 on Amazon.co.uk in African American Fiction. I was over the moon. Then on release day in the US, ASGV2 spent it in the top 100 African American Christian Fiction. Both are very good. What really had me bouncing off the walls, was where A Southern Gentleman Vol 2 was it’s first weekend…#21 in African American Christian Fiction [Kindle Store] and #22 African American Christian Fiction [Books] in the US. YEAH!!! I almost passed out. The book stayed in these spots for a few days.
You may be wondering about the category placement. I did a little research and found some more books similar to mine and noticed they were positioned in that category. I have never wanted my books to be pigeon holed as Christian Fiction or Romance. However, there are enough of those elements to put them in that category. Last week, I moved ASGV1 to that same category and have notice a big shift. I also put another couple books in that category as well. I’m experimenting with category placement, but that’s the subject for a different post.
So what did I do differently this time?
I hired a publicist – It was time to get help. I used Honey Magnolia PR. Tia Kelly is amazing. She helped me formulate a plan that was right for me and this book. We did a Book Blitz, Blog Tour and Social Media Blast. I was very hesitant to do a blog tour, because the first and last couple of times I did, I didn’t get very good results. This time, I saw social media results as well as a bump in my BookBub followers. I also got an amazing review.
ARC Team – This is an area where I am still having a challenge. I get people to signup yet they won’t post reviews. If anyone has tips on how to get your ARC Team to cooperate I’d appreciate it. However, the reviews I have are great, but I really want to get in the double digits.
Facebook Ads – I did three test ads and eventually nailed it down to one. It is so true about FB Ads. For me, as long as I’m running an ad, I see sales. I started the ads late [a few days before release day and as of the post, I’m still running it. From the looks of it, the ad is beginning to pay for itself.
BookBub Ads – I can’t say for sure, but I think these are responsible for my amazing sales with Draft Two Digital.
Newsletter Ad – I’m not quite sure of the results and that’s my fault because I should have done a better job of tracking.
Facebook Party – This was a first for me. I never hosted a FB party. I have a small reader group, but not enough for a party. So I asked a friend A M Roak to help me. She was awesome and connected me with The New Romance Cafe. This was so much fun. I put a call out and Christina Alexander, A M Roak, Saharra Sandhu, Kelly Violet, Cass Ford, Naomi Springthorp, and Dee J Holmes, all jumped in and helped me.
There were a few ads I wanted to run, but I let time get away from me. And I really wanted to give Facebook another shot. I have spent a lot of money on courses and now need to make them work for me.
On to phase two of the release. More Facebook ads and there are a couple of newsletter ads I’d like to try. I also would love to apply for a BookBub on book one in the duet. The other thing I’m going to do is a special giveaway for my list. I did two giveaways at the beginning, one for the Blitz and one for the tour.
So am I excited about this release? Yes. I’m also a little sad, because that means I have to put Jeremiah to the side while I give another book boyfriend my attention. Next up on my computer is Ty from Unexpected Love. I was inspired during a holiday and re-read my book Unexpected Love. When I finished I decided it was time to tell the next part of this story. And to make sure I do, it’s my NANO project. So far I’m behind, but I’m sure I’ll get my writing wings any day. As of writing, I’m 3872 words in. We’ll see what happens.
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy NANO to all.
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