Deadlines and Books, the Life of an Author
March 12, 2025 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as books, deadlines, Denise M. Colby, readingWith the deadline approaching for my third book in my Best-laid Plans series, I’m deep in my writing cave and not thinking about much else except exploring the California countryside with a peddler in 1867. And when I’m not thinking about that, I’m reviewing the edits on book two. Or working through my next read. Whatever it is, it’s all about books.
So I thought I would share some highlights from each of these areas.
What I’m Revealing – A Slight Change of Plans Releases May 27th
I will be revealing my book cover for A Slight Change of Plans in my newsletter that goes out on March 15. This is the second book in the Best-laid plans series. If you want to be the first to see it, sign up for my newsletter right now.
Deadlines on multiple books this month, which included edits on this beauty. I can’t believe that in a few months I get to say I’ve published books (plural)! I can’t wait for people to meet Ren and Jenny when it releases on May 27, 2025.
Here’s the back cover blurb.
A Slight Change of Plans – Book 2 in the Best-laid Plans series by Denise M. Colby
She believes she doesn’t matter.
Jenny Millard’s hopes for security and stability as a schoolmarm out west are dashed when her schoolhouse closes and no positions are available nearby. With only enough money for a one-way train fare, Jenny heads to her friend’s home uncertain of her next step.
His scars have made him an unlovable outcast
Newcomer Ren Lyman prefers to keep to himself, hiding in the back of the blacksmith shop to avoid the stares at the scars left by a childhood accident. When he comes across a lost stranger, he’s surprised when she doesn’t recoil at his appearance, and even more so at his eagerness to assist her.
As Jenny settles into the welcoming, but small, town of Washton, she can’t help but come across Ren, especially since his daily constitutional takes him along the same path. It doesn’t take long for them to form a connection that breaks down the walls erected by years of hurt. But when strange occurrences unsettle the townspeople, it seems their chance at happiness might be at risk.
Will Jenny and Ren discover that they’re enough—for God, and each other?
What I’m Reading – Readers Comfy Porch Book Club
I’m participating with eleven other authors in the Comfy Porch Book Club. I posted about this in my January post. This month we are reading EV Sparrow’s Muldoon’s Misfortunes. Anyone can join us at any time. There’s daily conversation in a facebook group page, and a monthly zoom call to discuss the book.
Back cover copy: A cursed widower forsakes his faith to ensure his hope.
On a verdant island beset by poverty and death, Mick Muldoon dares to escape his misfortunes. Is working a farm and raising a family such an impossible thing to ask? Wasn’t God supposed to answer prayers—not turn a deaf ear?
After surviving the treacherous voyage to America, Mick discovers the rumors of ample opportunity aren’t exactly true. His defective body hampers employment and keeps him dependent upon his peculiar sister. However, an unexpected invitation to move to the heartland guarantees his dreams.
Mick’s own dreadful choices hamper his hopes when he accepts work as a widow’s farmhand. Unbeknownst to him, there’s deception afoot. Mick’s inattention to love causes catastrophe as single fatherhood cruelly shatters his family. Will God miraculously hear his prayers this time?
In Book 1 of Those Resilient Muldoons series, this misguided, wayward widower encounters God’s unexpected presence.
What I’m Giving Away
I’ve joined a group of authors in a newsletter round robin and each month I will feature a different author in my newsletter and my subscribers can download their book for free. I thought I would start out with the first one here. All That Glistens by Marie Wells Coutu
When the bright lights of Broadway dim, the warm glow of home beckons to Delia. Delia left her tiny Kentucky hometown to make her mark on a Broadway stage in the 1930s. But when her success proves fleeting, will she be welcomed home or will her older sister’s jealousy tarnish the homecoming?
This short story was originally published in Best Short Stories from The Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest 2023.
Get your FREE copy of All That Glistens
Hope you have a wonderful week
Blessings,
Denise
0 0 Read moreI GET To Say I Have Deadlines
February 12, 2024 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as A Writer's Life, deadlines, Denise M ColbyI’m in a fun new season of my writing journey. One where I truly get to say I have deadlines. Those deadlines include turning back in my corrected edits that are due on the nineteenth of this month.
Pulling together a blog post for this month completely skipped my mind because my focus has been on my edits as well as working on book two, which is due later this year.
I Get to do this
This is the phrase that I feel every day. I get to do this! And I’m so excited. I still feel as if I’m in a dream state that my first book will be published this year and that others will be reading my stories.
I’m also excited to be learning and GROWing (my focus word this year) on how to work full-time, manage family responsibilities, and build my writing career. And I know I’m not the only one. Every writer I know does this. Happy to be joining them.
I have attended many workshop sessions related to time management and scheduling. It’s now time to apply the lessons learned from them.
So this post will be super short because I need to get to the other things us writers do.
Happy February, everyone. And Happy Writing.
Denise chooses a focus word every year. GROW is her word for 2024. You can learn about focus words on her website, where she’s building separate pages on each word she chooses.
0 0 Read moreWhat to Do with Unwanted Collaboration Offers
December 31, 2019 by The Extra Squeeze in category The Extra Squeeze by The Extra Squeeze Team tagged as annoying relatives, brother-in-laws, collaboration, deadlines
Dear Extra Squeeze Team,
My brother-in-law keeps sending me ideas for books.
He thinks I should write them and then share the profit with him (60% for him-40% for me—because he could crank them out if he just had the time, but he has a real job).
I’m so NOT interested.
I have tons of my own ideas and deadlines breathing down my neck. How to I get the jerk to leave me alone—besides skipping Thanksgiving and Christmas with the fam?
Rebecca Forster
USA Today Bestselling author of 35 books, including the Witness series and the new Finn O’Brien series.
Been there done that! High five! Here are my go-to favs.
A) My attorney has advised me not to listen to anyone else’s story ideas to protect the both of us.
B) MY real job – writing – just doesn’t leave time for anything else. AND IF THAT DOESN’T WORK…
C) I’d love to talk about it. The minimum fee for ghostwriting is $25,000 but you’re family. I’ll do it for $20,000. He should let you know when the check is in the mail.
Jenny Jensen
Developmental editor who has worked for twenty plus years with new and established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, traditional and indie.
60/40?! His ideas are mostly in the fantasy realm, right?
What’s a ‘cool idea’ and what’s a ‘premise’? There’s a world of difference between those two and the success of each depends on how well a writer spins them into a story. Your bro-in-law needs a reality check. As Thomas Mann said, “The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.”
I’m not much help with family advice but perhaps you could counter-challenge him. Offer a 70/30 split – with you at 70% – if he can flesh out one of his brilliant ideas to include plot details, dramatic arc, characterizations, atmosphere and killer resolution; say, 25 or 35 pages of concise, workable outline. If you feel what he offers is something you can work with it’s a possibility you may ‘write it’.
Perhaps that might help him understand where the lion’s share of work is in creating a novel. And it’s possible he’ll even learn that the original idea often morphs beyond recognition once the world building begins. Otherwise, maybe you just smile sweetly, remind him the world is full of grand ideas – remember Google Glass? – and pass him the sweet potatoes.
H.O. Charles
Cover designer and author of the fantasy series, The Fireblade Array
Hahaha! Your brother-in-law sounds like the kind of person I cannot stand. There’s always one in the workplace (usually a boss) – the one who takes all the credit while the rest of us sweat and toil away. My advice is never allow yourself to be the swan’s feet unless you can guarantee recognition (advice you have already self-issued, anyway. Phew!). The best way to get him to leave you alone is to tell him someone else came up with a better story idea/better financial split, and that you are collaborating on a book with them instead.
Robin Blakely
PR/Business Development coach for writers and artists; CEO, Creative Center of America; member, Forbes Coaches Council.
Oh dear. Something is terribly awry here. Perhaps it would help to re-frame the situation and look at it again from other angles.
Angle One: Maybe your brother-in-law is not quite as big a jerk as you imagine. Maybe he knows you are highly creative. Maybe you are the most creative person he has ever met. Perhaps he realizes you could spin his big ideas into bankable gold….and truth be told, you probably could, if you wanted to. Let’s be grateful that he sees some of your amazing potential. But, why does he only offer you 40%? Maybe he fully expects you to negotiate with him and he has established some wiggle room for himself.
Hey, anything is possible…sometimes we jump to conclusions about people before we consider all the possibilities. And, then too, sometimes we know a jerk when we see one.
Angle Two: Maybe your brother-in-law is an even bigger jerk than you imagine. Seriously, if he low balls members of his own family in business deals, imagine how he treats the rest of the world. Not likely fabulous. Entitled and exploitative are never a good mix…they are toxic.
Soooo… what would I do if I were in your shoes?
I personally would consider skipping Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seems to me that you need some time and space. The situation you described is less about the brother-in-law and more about you. It sounds like you are feeling resentful and stressed, under-valued and pushed beyond your comfort level. Forget about the the brother-in-law (jerk or not), focus on putting yourself front and center. It seems to me that you need a chance to get ahead of all those deadlines breathing down your neck and focus on your own valuable ideas. Let your brother-in-law’s wife figure him out.
Ever wonder what industry professionals think about the issues that can really impact our careers? Each month The Extra Squeeze features a fresh topic related to books and publishing.
Amazon mover and shaker Rebecca Forster and her handpicked team of book professionals offer frank responses from the POV of each of their specialties — Writing, Editing, PR/Biz Development, and Cover Design.
Have you a question for The Extra Squeeze Team? Send them to us by using this handy link.
And Happy September by Linda O. Johnston
September 6, 2019 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as deadlines, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, romantic suspense
Last month, I wished you all a happy August, the eighth month of the year. Guess what! It’s a month later.
And those deadlines I mentioned? I had to ask for an extension.
That’s a hard thing for me to do, although this time I perhaps could have anticipated it since the deadline for the book I’m working on now was a bit shorter than I usually agree to. I thought, at the time, that I’d be able to meet it. But as September 1 grew closer, I realized I needed more time—which, fortunately, I got.
I’m certainly making progress, but I feel bad that more time was needed. How about you? Do you meet all your deadlines, for writing or anything else? Do you ever ask for extensions? If so, how do you feel about it?
Anyway, time marches on in other ways, too. It’s now closer to the release of my next book, the first of my Colton continuity series books for Harlequin Romantic Suspense.
Colton 911: Caught in the Crossfire is a November release. Looking forward to it!
~Linda
Books by Linda O. Johnston
I Came Up Blank
September 5, 2018 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as AutoCrit, deadlines, Self-editing, SWAG
Happy September. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
I am stumped. I’m in the middle of cleaning up a book which is due in to my editor by Saturday morning. I thought I had a post I could replay, but when I checked my archive, I came up blank.
I couldn’t believe I didn’t have a post I could use. Of course, I’m kicking myself, because it’s almost midnight and this will be going live in a few hours. I could panic, but what would that accomplish…nothing.
So what should I talk about? I could talk about the book I’m working on, but that could stress me out. Although, I am very excited about this story. I’m working on A Southern Gentleman Book Two. It seems like the past couple of days I’ve been hit with quite a few interruptions or divine distractions as I like to call them.
I could talk about AutoCrit.com, but would anyone really want to read how excited I am about using it? Elena Dillon told me about this software. I was a little hesitant at first, but now it’s my new best friend. [I probably should have used it for this post].
When I did the test, I was very impressed. Then after my trial period, I went all in. Wow. It is something. There were a few times when I wanted to scream, because some of the parts I liked, AutoCrit deemed as repetitious. Those were some good lines, so I thought.
Using AutoCrit.com has pointed out things I hadn’t noticed. I get pissed with some of the suggestions, and then I implement them. I have to admit the book reads better. Let’s hope my editor agrees with me.
How am I using AutoCrit? Elena mentioned that she used it to polish her manuscript before sending it to the editor. I opted to use it the same way this first time. It takes a while to sift through the suggestions. However, as much as I don’t want to admit it, my book does read better. I’m seeing things I don’t think I would have in the past.
I could also talk about Swag. The subject of swag is almost a cuss word in my house. I am about to dip my toe in the swag pool and I’m overwhelmed. Apart for bookmarks, lip balm, business cards and postcards? What to get?
I have a couple of events coming up and I haven’t got a clue what to giveaway. These swag items are different from what’s in my store. In between edits, I’ve been reviewing swag. Talk about overload and I like shopping and work in retail. I’ve looked at everything from mints to pens to notepads to bags to mugs to door hangers. And lest I not forget the infamous refrigerator magnet and button.
I feel confident sharing that after reviewing swag for the past several months, I really haven’t made a decision.
What do you do for event swag?
Back to AutoCrit.
Au revoir
Tracy
2 0 Read more
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