Tracy Reed: November Featured Author
November 7, 2020 by A Slice of Orange in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Beautiful Men, fashion, Sophisticated Romance, the Big Apple, Tracy Reed
Author: Tracy Reed
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
Books by Tracy Reed
Crosswords by Linda O. Johnston
November 6, 2020 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston
November? Already? This year is nearly over. Where did it go?
Well, we still have over a month to go. Then what?
Who knows?
One thing, though, is that I think we all need to relax. There’s a lot of stress in our lives because of the pandemic, its health and economic results, politics lately, and more.
So how to handle it?
Well, when I first started trying to come up with a topic for my post this time, I wanted to use a theme of fun in writing but relaxation, if possible. So what did I come up with?
Crossword puzzles!
Oh, they’re not for everyone. But they’re definitely for me. I like to do at least two daily, the first online, and the next after dinner while watching TV–print versions, often in various newspapers.
I feel like they keep my mind active in similar but different ways from my writing. Love to keep up with, and increase, my vocabulary! And of course anything I learn in a crossword might be usable in a story somehow. Plus, yes, I find them relaxing.
I also enjoy doing other kinds of word puzzles, particularly acrostics. They’re crosswords in a way, using definitions, but you then plug parts into a grid and come up with a saying or message. Fun!
So, okay. I don’t really have anything else to say about crosswords right now, but I’d be delighted to hear your opinion. And me? Time for me to do my next online crossword!
~Linda
Some of Linda’s books
LET’S NANO
November 5, 2020 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Making time to write, NaNoWriMo, Prepping for Nano, Writing Goals
I did it. I officially jumped into the NANO pool.
I don’t know what it is about this year and the desire and excitement to participate in NANO. Maybe it’s the unusualness of 2020 or maybe it was just this was the year I was supposed to do it. I have attempted to participate in NANO in the past, but never followed through. Technically, I can say I did NANO in 2016 when I wrote and published a book a month, but I won’t because that was a different writing schedule. By that I mean, some of those books had been written over a period of months. The ones written in a month were less than fifty thousand words.
I am a proud pantser, but I am also a planner. I spend about an hour on Sunday or Monday planning my weekly schedule. NANO is the perfect opportunity for me to combine the two. I also research things I’m not familiar with or need direction on how to do.
Knowing I was going to do NANO I went to YouTube and a few AuthorTubers. The amount of information out there was overwhelming. I heard everything from stockpile your favorite snacks, stay hydrated, don’t forget the wine and coffee, meal prep, hire a housekeeper if a messy space is a pet peeve, post “do not disturb” or other threatening signs on your office door for annoying family, join a NANO community, exercise, have your favorite music and get plenty of rest. Oh yeah, and make a writing plan.
I thought my head was going to explode. I took a step back and reminded myself of one simple fact. I wrote a novelette in three days with about six hours of sleep, coffee and a couple of meals a day. I’m pretty sure I can handle fifty thousand words in a month.
How did I prep for NANO? I created a plan that was right for me.
Commit to NANO
Don’t just say you want to do it, but tell someone. When you give life to the task becomes a reality.
Join a group for accountability
This is one of the areas where I messed up in my previous NANO attempts. Having an accountability group encourages me to stick to my plan and make attainable goals. Thanks Charmed Writers.
Get snacks
I liked the suggestion to have snacks at the ready. However, prior to NANO, I was diagnosed as being wheat, soy, almond, cow’s milk and egg white sensitive. Some of my favorite snacks include those things. However, I found a couple of things that work, plus I have plenty of water, coffee and red wine.
Keep a journal
I decided to keep a journal of my daily progress. I also use it to keep notes about my book.
Set a daily word count
The other prep tip I liked was setting a realistic daily word count. I knew I wasn’t likely to write on Sundays, Thanksgiving and I needed a little flexibility for BFCM [Black Friday Cyber Monday] sales for my lingerie business. Exceeding my daily writing goal will allow me to skip a couple of days if I want to.
Figure out what to write
When I was toying with the idea of NANO, I had an idea of what I wanted to write…the follow up to my 2019 NANO book.
As I said, I’m a pantser so when it comes to writing, I plop my butt in the chair and let the characters tell their story. Last year I selected a book I wanted to write, but for some reason I never connected with the story. It was like the characters had gone silent. I switched books and the story practically wrote itself. I didn’t complete the book, but I did write fifty thousand words during NANO.
I completed my 2019 NANO book in February of this year and as of this post, it’s with my beta reader and headed to my editor this weekend.
I wanted to release the book earlier, but with the strangeness of 2020, I decided to push it back to February 2021. When I completed the book, I had no intention of continuing the series. But the characters said something different. I deleted the last chapter and made part of it the first chapter of book four, the book I’m writing during NANO. My plan is to release the books back to back next year.
I just completed NANO day four and I feel good about my progress. As of this post, I’m at 9002 words. My daily goal is 2084 words, but I’ve been exceeding it.
Here is the best advice I have for anyone wanting to do NANO…just write. Whether the words make it to the final draft, it doesn’t matter. The goal is write a book with at least fifty thousand words. It doesn’t have to be good, it just needs to be completed.
Happy NANO and Thanksgiving.
Sophie Barnes’ The Formidable Earl
November 4, 2020 by A Slice of Orange in category Rabt Book Tours tagged as #RegencyRomance
Regency Romance
Release Date: November 17, 2020
He’s breaking the rules for one woman, and coming dangerously close to falling in love…
Simon Nugent, Earl of Fielding, knows he’s flawed. He’s arrogant, possessive, and haunted by a terrible choice he made long ago. So when a former friend’s daughter gives him the chance to do a good deed, he grabs it. Except he’d like to grab her as well and teach her a thing or two about kissing. If only she weren’t so damn stubborn.
Ida Strong wants one thing – justice on behalf of her father. She has no room for anything else, in spite of her growing and (at times) inexplicable attraction toward a certain earl. But for a woman who knows what betrayal tastes like, placing her trust in others is hard. Risking her heart, would be downright foolish. Until it’s the only thing that seems to make sense.
Other Books in the Diamonds In The Rough Series:
A Most Unlikely Duke
Diamonds in the Rough, Book 1
The Duke of Her Desire
Diamonds in the Rough, Book 2
The Illegitimate Duke
Diamonds in the Rough, Book 3
The Infamous Duchess
Diamonds in the Rough, Book 4
The Forgotten Duke
Diamonds In The Rough, Book 5
About the Author
Born in Denmark, USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish, and Romanian. But, most impressive of all, she’s been married to the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses.
When she’s not busy dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
How to Finish Your Book and Keep Your Day Job: Protect your writing time like a mother protecting her young
November 3, 2020 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as How to finish your book and keep your day job?, Planning, Writing Advice, writing time
How to finish your book and keep your day job?
Protect your writing time like a mother protecting her young
Writing a book is a work of love. However, things get in the way, i.e. work. We all dream of the day when we can make enough money to survive by writing. Until that day comes (if it ever does), we need to keep our full time jobs. We wrote and published our first five books working full time.
Time management is nothing to joke about when trying to write and support yourself or family with a full time job. Find the gaps in your schedule or day and use them to the fullest. Guard them and don’t let anything get in the way of your writing time. This is why scheduling writing time works so well. You can plan around the time.
We write between 6:00- 8:00 every morning. The only thing that keeps us from not writing is a fever of over 102. For us this is the best time because our day has not yet begun and we can focus on writing after a good night’s sleep. Pick a time of day where interruptions are at its minimum and plan it. We also clear our desks and have everything we need to write (on the desk) so we don’t need to get up. So just plan ahead.
Keep up the good writing.
Janet and Will
Chatting with Authors
Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn created “Chatting With Authors.” This channel features informal interviews with authors of varied genres, produced via Zoom, and aired every Friday. Head over to YouTube and listen.
Featured Books
THE REDEMPTION OF HEATHCLIFF
✧༺♥༻∞Retelling of a classic with a Happily Ever After! ∞༺♥༻✧
More info →
