I'm not very good with this blogging gig, am I? I do have great intentions of posting a few times a week but at the moment I seem to be lucky if I remember to post a few times a month. It's not that I don't have anything to say or that my life is too boring to write about, quite the opposite actually. My life is so busy and hectic that the days, weeks and sadly yes, even the months slip by without me noticing.
Book wise I am happy to be at the editing stage of Book Two. I have yet to select a title, but more about that later. I needed to ask my editor for an extension and she has been very lovely by giving me a couple more weeks. Did you know that if a book is not about Christmas (a romance novel anyways, I can't speak for other genres) you might as well not publish it between October and January? No one (or very few) will purchase it. This means I need to have book 2 to Victoria by the end of this month so she can publish it in September. At the moment there are holes in the manuscript that need filling. I can then concentrate on punctuation and spelling...my favourite things (insert sarcastic smile here). While I was supposed to be editing this morning, I found a website that allows authors to sign e-books. I must admit, it was not something I expected to find, but I'm so happy I did. If I could figure out how to attach the widget to my website (technology is not always my friend) it would be easy for everyone who comes to my webpage to request an autograph, or in this case an 'authorgraph'. If you are interested in having your e-book signed, please take a look at this website Authorgraph there are other authors there too so if you have other e-books you'd like signed, please have a look. So back to the missing title of book two... I'm not sure exactly how much I should tell you, so I'll give you my pitch line and a small excerpt. Baron Eaglestone, Philip Blade, finds a mystery woman battered and on the edge of death on his way home from a night out. Together they must unlock her memory to discover who she is and why someone wants her dead. This is another Regency Time Travel novel. Philip Blade, Baron Eaglestone, regretted his moment of weakness last night when he paid a visit to his mistress. He had already bade farewell to her for good last month. Veronica was a passionate lady and as such was hard to let go, even if she was a candidate for Bedlam. Last night's episode proved his theory correct. Next time he wouldn't be swayed! He might also decide to stay off the drink...or at least champagne as it tended to make him forget his resolve to stay clear of her. Yes, he'd stick to brandy from now on. That was a much better idea. A thundering of hooves broke his reflections. "Who in their right minds, would be out riding at this hour?" He muttered to himself. "They'll kill themselves running their horse at that speed in the dark." He climbed a small rise and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him. So there you have it. The title I'm using at the moment is Finding Harriet, but I am open to suggestions for something better. If I get a few suggestions we can have a vote for the best one. A personally signed book cover to the winner. One last thing, I would like to draw attention to the lovely persons who have taken the time to review Debutantes Don't Date. Every time a review pops up on Amazon, my ratings jump, the reason for this I have been told is that when a book is reviewed it comes up as a suggested read. Therefore the more reviews, the more purchases. So I would encourage you to review books you like, as it helps authors tremendously, especially new authors who have not established a name for themselves yet. I will admit that it wasn't until I became an author myself that I started reviewing books. It just never occurred to me to do so. Now I try to review the ones I liked and follow 'Thumper's advice' and if I have nothing nice to say, I don't say anything at all, about the books I don't. Until next time, Kristina
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Fellow Carina UK author, Rebecca Raisin is releasing a book today, so I thought I would host her here on my blog. She has kindly provided a blurb and an excerpt of her new release. On a side note, she has placed today as a RWA (Romance Writer's of Australia) Ella Finalist for her novella Christmas at the Gingerbread Cafe. Well done Rebecca! Please welcome Rebecca Raisin! The Bookshop on the Corner Release day! Who said that only real heroes could be found in fiction? Sarah Smith had an addiction – she was addicted to romance novels. The meet-cute, the passion, the drama and the gorgeous men! Now this wouldn’t have been such an issue if she hadn’t been the owner of the only bookshop in Ashford, Connecticut. Ever since her close friend Lil, from The Gingerbread Café, had become engaged she had been yearning for a little love to turn up in her life. Except Sarah knew a good man was hard to find – especially in a tiny town like Ashford. That was until New York journalist, Ridge Warner stepped into her bookshop… Love could be just around the corner for Sarah, but will she be able to truly believe that happy-ever-after can happen in real-life too! Praise from Mia March, author of The Meryl Streep Movie Club, and Finding Colin Firth. "How I wish this magical little bookshop was around the corner from my house! Brimming with heart, hope, and wisdom, THE BOOKSHOP ON THE CORNER is a wonderful novel about love, life, friendship, romance, books galore, and finding that happy ending." --Mia March. Excerpt Chapter One Snuggled in the cozy bay window of the bookshop, I looked up from my novel as the first golden rays of sunshine brightened the sky. Resting my head against the cool glass, I watched the light spill, as though it had leaked, like the yellows of a watercolor painting. Almost dawn, it would soon be time to switch on, and get organized for another day at The Bookshop on the Corner. Every day I arrived at work a few hours prior to opening to read in the quiet, before customers would trickle in. I loved these magical mornings, time stolen from slumber, where I’d curl up with a book and get lost inside someone else’s world before dog-earing the page and getting lost in mine. Sure, I could have stayed in bed at home and read, but the bookshop had a dream-like quality about it before dawn that was hard to resist. I turned back to the inside of the shop to watch shards of muted sunlight settle on piles of books, as if it were slowly waking them. The haphazard stacks seemed straighter, as if they’d decided when I wasn’t looking to neaten themselves up, dust their jackets off, and stand to attention. Maybe a customer would stumble across one of them today, run a hand lovingly across their covers, before selecting a book that caught their attention. Though my theory was books chose us, and not the other way around. The bookshop was silent, bar a faint hum — were the books muttering to each other about what today would bring? Smiling to myself, I went back to my novel, promising myself just one more chapter. When I looked up again the sun was high in the sky, and I’d read a much bigger chunk than I’d meant to. Some stories consumed you, they made time stop, your worries float into the ether, and when it came to my reading habits I chose romance over any other genre. The appeal of the happy ever after, the winsome heroine being adored for who she was, and the devastatingly handsome hero with more to him than met the eye tugged at my heart. And I’d read about them all: from dashing dukes, to cocksure cowboys, I never met one I didn’t fall for. The sounds of the street coming alive filtered in, roller shutters retreating upwards, cheery shop owners whistling as they swept their front stoops. Lil, the owner of the Gingerbread Café across the road, arrived, hand in hand with her fiancé, Damon. They stood on the pavement in front of her café, and kissed goodbye, spending an age whispering and canoodling. I tried to focus on my book, but couldn’t help darting a glance their way every now and then. Each morning they embraced almost as though they’d never see each other again, yet they worked only a few short steps away. It was as if they were magnetically drawn to each other; one step backwards would draw the other person forwards. I bet they couldn’t hear the sound of shops opening or cars tooting hello. They had their own kind of sweet music that swirled around them as if they were in some kind of love bubble. Feeling as though I was intruding on a private moment, I swiveled away from the window and padded bare foot down to the back of the bookshop to make more coffee. My feet found the familiar groove in the wood; the path was so well trodden it was bowed. The feel of the polished oak underfoot with its labyrinth-type trails exposed around stacks of books was comforting. It’d weathered traffic for so long it was indelibly changed by it. Taking the pot of coffee to the counter, I poured a cup, and sipped gingerly. Lately, I’d felt a little as though I was at a crossroads. You know that frustrating feeling of losing the page in your book? You didn’t want to go too far forward and spoil the surprise, and you didn’t want to go too far back, so you kind of stagnated and started from a page that didn’t seem quite right, but you read it a few times just to convince yourself…that was how I felt about my life. A little lost, I guess you could say. Ashford was buzzing with good news recently, love affairs, weddings, babies, but I was still the same old Sarah, nose pressed in a book, living out fictional relationships as if they were my own. I was waiting for something to find me. But what if that something never came? What did heroines do when they felt like that? Broaden their horizons? I imagined myself swapping Ashford for Paris, because of the bookshops and the rich literary history. But really, I’d never ventured far from my small town, and probably never would. My bookshop was a living, breathing thing to me, and there was no one to look after it even if I did want to do something spontaneous. Should I take up a hobby? I’d be the girl stuck line dancing with the octogenarian. Instead of dreaming of the impossible, I set about opening the shop, and shelved that line of thought for another time. Find The Bookshop on the Corner here: US Amazon http://amzn.to/1jMmIWA UK Amazon http://amzn.to/1lGBvED AUST Amazon http://bit.ly/1fTDwWW iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/bookshop-on-corner-gingerbread/id850630026?mt=11 Kobo http://goo.gl/PjVtr1 Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/rebeccaraisin/the-bookshop-on-the-corner-by-rebecca-raisin/ Find Rebecca here: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaRaisinAuthor http://rebeccaraisin.wordpress.com www.twitter.com/jaxandwillsmum The Bookshop on The Corner blog: http://thecornerbookshop.wordpress.com/ Thank you Rebecca for sharing your book with us today. I can't wait until it's time for bed so I can read more of Sarah and Ridge's story. All the best!
If you have been following me on Facebook or Twitter you will be aware my first ever book, Debutantes Don't Date was released on April 30th. I can't describe the feeling of seeing my name in print or in type as the case may be, since it is an e-book. I am so immensely proud of accomplishing one of my life goals. I still can't believe it is real and this all is not a dream but actually reality. As much as I wanted this I'm not sure if I truly believed I could do it.
The thing that's humbled me the most is the fact that there are a lot of people out there who are really excited for me. Of course I should be excited, it is my book after all, but to have others just as or more so excited than I am is so um...humbling. So thank you for all your well wishes. I really appreciate it, you have no idea how much. Because Debutantes Don't Date is my first book I really wanted to celebrate it releasing, so what better way than a book launch? How do you have a book launch if there is no actual physical book? Well i have been asked about that a lot and I would have loved to be able to print on demand (POD), it is not the case. So instead, I have printed a cover with the blurb and links on the back in compensation. I will be giving a little talk about what started me writing and how I was 'discovered'. I will also be reading a excerpt from the book. Because I'm living between two towns and because I know people in both places and because the towns are too far apart for people to want to travel, I decided to have two book launches. My mom and her sister have travelled all the way from Canada to celebrate with me. It is fantastic to have them here and I was so excited when they told me they were really coming. They are not staying long but to have them here makes it that much more special. The first launch was last Friday at a great little book store called Beattie and Forbes Booksellers in Napier and the other one will be this Saturday May 10th in Wairoa in the upstairs function room of the Wairoa Community Centre from 4 to 6 pm. If you are around come and check it out. There will be nibbles and wine too, so in case you don't like books, you can at least have a drink! Last week I received an email from Harlequin (Carina UK's parent company) informing me that they will be merging with Harper Collins. What this means for the authors like me I'm not sure, but we have been assured everything, at least for the moment, is business as usual. I have been in contact with my editor and as far as I can tell, nothing has changed as of yet. Of course the merger doesn't take affect until September so we'll see what happens then. After Debutantes Don't Date was released I spent the next few days checking my standings on Amazon and Kobo. When I came home from my first book launch I was so excited to see that Debutantes Don't Date was #1 at Kobo under Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy. How cool is that? I totally didn't expect that to happen! While I was spying on how my standing at Amazon was doing (I never did as well there) I noticed I had a five star review! I was even more over the moon when I realised it is from someone I don't even know! Not only did I not have to bribe someone to say something nice about my writing, but it also means there is at least one person out there reading Debutantes Don't Date that's not my friend or family. Ya! If you would like to read Debutantes Don't Date, please see my Home page http://www.kristinaogrady.com, for links to Amazon in the States, Canada and UK and iTunes and Kobo. They are all located at the bottom of the page so make sure you scroll to the end. Next post I will have pictures of the launches. Today's post is going to be short. My cover has arrived and I'm finally able to share it! Have a look below and let me know what you think. I absolutely love it! (although I am biased since it is my book). The links to pre-order will be available soon and I'll be sure to post those as soon as I receive them.
On a side note, I have now joined Twitter. At the moment I am able to tell you that I have no idea what I am doing, but I have followers! If you use Twitter, come over and have a look and I'll try to figure out how to follow you ;) http://twitter.com/KristinaOGrady Have a great weekend! I lit my fire for the first time of the year this morning and boy am I glad I did. It was sure chilly in the house when I got up! No frost outside that I can see though, so maybe I should just 'harden up'. But I did it for the kids :), I wouldn't want them catching a cold now, would I? As for the book? Well first things first; it has a new name...Debutantes Don't Date. And it now also has a release date which is April 30th, 2014. If you have been following me on Facebook, you will of course already know this. What you won't know, however is that yesterday I received the cover of my book. Well, not the actual cover of the book since it is an e-book after all, but the virtual cover of my book. And it is awesome! Unfortunately for you, I can't show it to you yet. ;) You will have to wait until my publisher 'releases' it to the world. Hopefully this will be soon because I can hardly wait to share it. Even my dear husband has said it looks like and I quote, 'a proper book'. I'm not exactly sure what he was expecting...
Last week while I was talking to my editor, she offered me another contract. This time for another three books! I never in my wildest dreams imagined this. I would have thought that any new contract would be offered after the first book was released to see how well it sold. But since I am new to all of this, maybe this is normal procedure; I'm not sure, but it doesn't take away from the fact that I am over the moon. I have been flying high all week! To top things off, this morning I found out that there are quite a few New Zealand authors that are taking the world by storm. Vanessa Barneveld is a Golden Heart Finalist and the following authors are RITA finalists, Anne Gracie, Frances Housden, Anna Campbell, Nalini Singh and Leah Ashton. Congratulations to all of these fantastic, talented women. I encourage all of you to check out their books. The list of things to do is getting shorter...and longer.
First on my list was to sign my contract. Tick! I am pleased to say that I am now an official author of Carina UK. Carina UK is a subsidiary company of Harlequin. Check out their websites to see what kind of company I'm keeping. http://www.carinauk.com and http://www.harlequin.com I think a lot of people will be surprised to learn what else they publish. There are even man authors...that write man books. (no I do't mean that kind...although there is probably a few of those as well!), I mean books about cars and stuff. Man stuff. I must admit I was surprised to find out that Harlequin published something other than romance. Not that there is anything wrong with romance, I write it, but Harlequin is synonymous with romance. I mean, who hasn't heard of Mills and Boon? Second on the list was my copy edit. Tick! A 'copy editor' went through my manuscript word for word, line by line and made changes and/or suggestions. Did you know you can track your changes in a word document? I didn't. It's very cool. I was able to see who made what changes, whether is was me, the copy editor or my editor. This was all relatively painless and I even managed to get my changes back to Victoria before she needed them. It was after I sent back my changes that I found out the copy editor was a man. I was hoping I didn't embarrass him with the more, shall we say, intimate scenes. Little did I know he wrote a manual on how to write erotica. Now who's embarrassed? Third on the list? Tick! I have sent my editor my plan for a series and hopefully she likes it, especially book 2 I'm currently writing is number two of the series. :) I should also be sent the cover art for my book, and find out what title they've decided to go with very soon. I'm so excited! I can hardly wait to share it with everyone. So book 1 is now complete and out of my hands. The next time I see it, it'll be on an e-reader as a proper book. Number four on the list. Added. When I find out the publication date I will be planning along with my good, and very helpful friends at Beattie and Forbes Booksellers in Napier (www.beattieandforbes.co.nz) a book launch. I am will be hosting one in Wairoa as well. I'll let you know the details as they come to hand. Number five on the list is perhaps the most important. It seems like the house cleaner we were looking for may be closer than I thought and hopefully she wants to start soon...my place is still a mess! Please check out the Home Page of my website (link at the top of this page) to see the updated blurb for my upcoming book. And we're off!
Holy Cow, things have been moving very quickly in my world lately. Since my last blog (my apologizes for the long break in-between) so much has happened! If I remember correctly my last blog was just before my husband and I went to a wedding (without the kids) which means that just before we left for the weekend, I received my revisions from my editor. For those of you who, like me before I received said revisions, didn't know what they involve, I'll try my best to explain. I can only speak from my experience and how my editor did them and I can only assume every editor is different, so please don't take my word as this is how it has to be done. My editor, let's call her Victoria, sent me a two and half page revision letter. Upon opening it, I gave a nervous squeak and then started reading. It wasn't so bad. I have heard of horror stories where editors rip apart a manuscript and want the whole story changed, but Victoria didn't do that. She was very gentle for my first time (hee hee, don't mind the pun). The letter wasn't full of demands or even requests, but questions to make me think and dig deeper into my characters and my story. I absolutely loved it. I had so much fun 'working' on my revisions. Granted, I only had 15 days to complete all the changes...and I made a lot of changes, but I still loved it. In the meantime, my house was a complete disaster and the only thing I managed to do other than write and do the school run was make lunch and dinner and I must say, that was a near thing some days too. Don't let anyone tell you that writing Romance is romantic. 'Cause it's not. It has taken me four days to catch up on laundry and dishes alone. Thank goodness my kids finally cleaned up their mess in the living room (it only took the threat of me burning all of their Lego they left on the floor for me to step on, to get them moving), but the rest of the house is still not company proof. Actually, after tonight, no one's allowed in...the dishes are starting to pile up again. A friend and I have started looking for a OCD house cleaner to share between our two places; someone who will make the place shine while I'm holed up in my fantasy land. Where was I? Oh yes, revisions. I had my revisions to Victoria on the 24th, as requested. On the 19th I received my contract. In a word? Confusing! The actual contract itself is quite straight forward, but the terms and conditions are very 'legal' and long winded, as most legal things are. I have just had time to read them all the way through tonight, and hopefully will be signing them very soon...and then I can tell you who is publishing my book! Which is a good thing, because I was told today that they are hoping to publish my book at the end of April. Like I said, things are moving very fast. Especially since my contract said it would be 18 months before publication. Also in my contract it has the delivery date (sounds like I'm pregnant, doesn't it? (I'm so Not!)) of my second book. It is due to the publisher on July 14th...of this year. Did I mention it took me three years to write my first book? However, I was writing my first book as a hobby. This one I will be writing as work. Time to pull the finger out, so to speak. I feel as though I am on a rocket ship, off to see the stars. Part of me can hardly wait to get there, but another part of me just wants to enjoy the ride. Welcome to a special edition of my blog. If you followed me last week, you might remember that I am involved in a group of writers that are doing a rolling blog. The topic of our posts is "Getting Inside the Writer's Mind". Scary place, my mind...
But first, let me please give a very big Thank You to my good friend, Kris Pearson who invited me to take part in this blog hop. I absolutely love your books, as you well know, and I'm looking forward to reading your work in progress, More Than Money when it's released. You can find out more about Kris and her writing on her website http://www.krispearson.com Back to my mind and what you will find in it. Mostly, you'll find a multitude of characters, mostly fictional, some real. They all have their own little space and only get together if I tell them to (ya, right). I will admit that I often catch myself talking to them (sometimes out loud, but that doesn't often happen in public!). I will also admit that if you have ever had a conversation with me, at some point I have totally not been paying any attention to what you are saying (sometimes not even to what I am saying; not something I recommend), however I'm sure most of you already figured this out by the glazed look in my eyes and my repeated 'uh, huh' and 'oh really, that's nice' and the vague nodding of my head. Sorry. But don't take it personal, I do it EVERYONE. And I must say that it's not always because the people in my head are more exciting than what you are saying, it's just that I'm trying to figure out an important plot point or how to get myself or my characters out of some horrible situation I've written them into. And I love to figure out the seemingly impossible. I absolutely love having the light bulb moment that not only is a surprise to me but hopefully to my readers. But talking to these characters does exactly get a novel written. Since I consider myself a new writer, I'm still trying to figure out my 'method' to writing a novel. So I've taken a bunch of different methods and gelled them into something that works for me. In the writing world, I'm what you call a 'pantser'. No, this doesn't mean I go around and pull down unsuspecting peoples pants, but rather I 'write by the seat of my pants'. I find that too much planning kills my creativity. However, I do need to plan something, otherwise I write and write and nothing happens...or everything happens. Either way, it doesn't work very well, so I use a few things to get the gist of my story line before I put pen to paper...or fingers to keyboard as the case my be. I ask myself questions about my characters to learn more about them. Obvious questions like name, hair and eye colour, body type and height, but also questions like 'What is their biggest fear?', 'When is the character most at ease?', 'When are they most ill at ease?', What is the character's biggest accomplishments?' and my personal favourite, 'What is the character's darkest secret? and does anyone know about it?'. I've found these questions and many more in various writing books and on the internet and I've even managed to come up with a few of my own. I've discovered I learn an awful lot from these questions and by asking them, I get great ideas about what could happen in the story. I then jot down bullet points for the ideas that come to me and use mind maps for working through problems that arise. By the time I sit down to write, I have a pretty good idea as to what will happen, but I'm also open to any ideas that come up while I write the story. Like I said, I'm still new at this and I love hearing about how other writer's write/plan their books. Kris Pearson has a fantastic way of planning, featuring a piece of paper, a curtain and a calender. Be sure to check out her method. Here's the link to her blog http://krispearson.com/blog/2014/01/the-one-piece-of-paper-method Next week, Annie Seaton will let us into her mind. Annie lives on the edge of the South Pacific Ocean on the east coast of Australia and she is fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing, and is delighted to discover that readers lover reading her stories as much as she loves writing them. Annie lives with her own hero of many years. Their two children are now grown up and married, and two beautiful grandchildren have arrived. Now they share their home with "Bob" the dog and two white cats. Her debut full length novel, Holiday Affair, a contemporary romance set in the South Pacific was released as part of Entangled Publishing’s Indulgence line in March 2012 and was an Amazon, and Barnes and Noble bestseller. Since then Italian Affair, Outback Affair, Dangerous Desire and Tangling with the CEO have been published by Entangled in 2013. Annie has more books lined up for 2014. When she is not writing she can be found in her garden or walking on the beach... or most likely on her deck overlooking the ocean, a chilled glass of wine in hand as the sun sets. I look forward to 'listening' in on Annie's secrets. You can find them at http://annieseatonromance.com I've come to the conclusion that the holiday is over. You know the one between Christmas and New Years? I know, it's actually January 28th today, but I've enjoyed having my kids around, I haven't really seen the point in getting stuck into it yet. There's always tomorrow, I say. Tomorrow I'll get those character sketches done for my next book, tomorrow I'll do the GST for the farm, tomorrow I'll wash the dishes ;). Well, I think that today, Tomorrow has arrived. I actually washed the dishes yesterday, not that you can tell by looking at my kitchen bench at the moment! I think I'll stop using plates and we can eat directly from the pots and pans. (see picture below)
Today I am writing. I find it super fascinating when things come together. For example, I've been working on book number two or at least what I thought was book number two, when I had a scene flash into my mind and I realised as I frantically wrote it down, that the book I was working on needed to be bumped to number three or maybe even number four. Another story needed to be told first. I needed to figure out a plot point and although I knew what the end was, I needed to figure out how to get there. After throwing ideas around with a friend something magical happened and the stars aligned to reveal the perfect situation that answered all the questions. I love my job. Do you ever have days like these? Days you never want to end because all is flowing as it should? I love these days and as I write, I find more and more of them. My editor sent me an email the a couple of days ago letting me know that my contract was coming along and I should have it in my hot little hands in a few weeks. She also told me she will have my revision letter to me soon. I'm strangely looking forward to that. At least I assume it's strange. What I hear from other writers is the revision letter is something to be dreaded because of all the work it represents. There will be things I need to fix and some of those things I may not be happy about. But I am looking forward to it. I really want to see what I did right and what I can improve. I look at this as a learning experience and I'm sucking up all the knowledge I can. If I can learn something from the revision letter that will help me with my writing, well bring it on! Enjoy your day and be sure to include something in it that you love to do. This weekend I am taking part in a rolling blog with some fellow writers. Our topic is 'Getting Inside The Writer's Head', so stay tuned. I've got pictures! My fantastic friend, John Ireland has taken some pictures of me. He's even worked miracles and made me look good. So, I have a job for you. I need help deciding which picture will grace my book, and my website and Facebook and anything else that needs my picture. Option number one is my 'serious' face. Actually, it is me trying not to smile. Option number two is me with my super cheesy grin. My sister has the very same one and for those of you who know me, this is often the expression you will find on my face...unless you find me with option number three... Okay, actually option number three is not an option. This is so not going to be my cover shot. I believe this is the result of John saying after the last picture, 'maybe not so big' and right before I doubled over in mirth. I just can't pull off the 'small smile'. So there you have it kids, three, I mean two options. Please let me know what you think. Once we pick a picture I'll send the chosen one off to my editor, set up my Facebook fan page and maybe even try to figure out Twitter.
Things are starting to come together. Thanks for your help guys. |
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