My Books Are Available On The NOOK!!!

Have a NOOK?

Go to www.barnesandnoble.com and download.....

Hannah: A Fictional Account of the Youngest Child Executed in US History

Diary of A Sick Chick: A Year in The Life of A Chronically Ill Woman

Sex Therapy

Nowhere and The Teacher's Pet coming in January 2013

The Teacher's Pet--Amazon Standings

I'm number one in sexual abuse.

Spread the word. You or someone you know has a life that has been touched by sexual assault or rape. 

Download this book for free today.

Bad Writing When You're Not A Writer

You want to know the wonderful thing about self publishing?

Non-writers can now be writers! First, let me clarify.

I was browsing on the Kindle store for books that I might have been interested in when I came across a book written by an undertaker. One review that was posted gave the book one star for bad writing.

The authors tried to make an entertaining compilation of stories covering the entire mortuary process (removal through funeral), but the stories are rather dull and filled with impertinent information (e.g., long background histories of some of the writers, and extraneous details regarding the setting or unimportant background characters). I can only assume it is because the people who wrote them are not writers, they are undertakers....

She pretty much answered her own question with this one. Not everyone can be a writer, but does that mean that we silence the voices of those who aren't? I've read books from people of all walks of life. Sometimes, it's not about brilliant writing, flowing prose, and a gigantic vocabulary.

It's about the life experience that they are sharing. Reading about other people's life experiences can make your own very rich. Could some people benefit from an editor or even another writer to help the? Sure they could. But many people aren't really concerned about a few typos or a comma splice here and there.

I feel as if my life has truly been enriched by reading the stories of cancer patients, the Amish, Loyalists in the American Revolution, slaves in the Civil War, paramedics, doctors, lawyers, police officers, fireman, people with Lupus, serial killers, dentists, stockbrokers, people sold into sexual slavery, drug addicts, white supremacists, black supremacists, prisoners on Death Row, celebrities, etc.

Some of these stories were full of errors, but I didn't let that stop me from receiving the message. What we don't understand, we fear. What we fear, we destroy. Learning about other lives will make yours much richer.

Writing Historical Fiction: An Inside Look To Writing Hannah

Authenticity!!!!!! That's the number one thing that authors obsess about when writing historical fiction. If someone asked you to write a historical fiction piece about the year 2012, well, I'd doubt that you would have a problem with that....provided that you're reading this relatively recently.

Now try writing about Medieval France. Unless you have an obsession with that period of time and know everything about it (which would really work in your favor) you'd have to do research....and lots of it.

Research? What language did they use when they spoke? Murder will out is a phrase used in Shakespeare's time but your character stating Blessings in disguise will cause your readers to scratch their heads. Unless your book is centered around the American Revolution.

What type of clothing did they wear? Food? Children drinking small beer in Colonial America would be considered the norm but would be frowned on in 2012. The water wasn't all that great and only a fool would sit there and drink it. Great way to get sick, I might add.

All of that must be taken in consideration. I did a great deal of research for this time period and I only pray that Hannah feels authentic to the reader. What I would highly recommend is to read plenty of books from that time period to get a feel for the time period that you're writing for. There are also great websites out there that help you with clothing, speaking phrases, and daily activities in the time periods that you're writing about.

It also helps to use a great note taking application to keep track of all the websites and notes that you're going to take. My favorite application is EVERNOTE ! I use it to clip websites, links, pictures, etc. that I will need to work.

Hannah is coming soon to amazon.com!

Almost Finished With Second Drafts

I am almost done with my third book, "Nowhere"and hopefully it will be available in September in this year.

One thing I would stress to new authors is this is the time to go over your book with a fine toothed comb. This is the time that you need to catch errors and grammatical issues. Don't be so in love with your words and the story that your mind will overlook the imperfections.

Your readers will take you to task over such issues. While you may not think that its a big thing, it is to your readers. There are lots of voracious readers out there and they feel cheated if you don't give it every thing you've got. They are out there spending their hard earned money on your books.

I ran across an Amazon forum one day where the authors were complaining about Amazon and how it was taking too long to update and publish their titles. It was taking 48 hours or more when normally it is 75 percent less of that time.

Many authors, including myself, would upload a manuscript, notice a mistake in it later, then try to upload a new one. Because of this glitch, people were buying the wrong book instead of the one with the errors fixed.

This led to horrible reviews of readers complaining that the book had many spelling errors and typos. My thing? GET IT FREAKING RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

Read your book over and over again like a person looking at the book with fresh eyes. Put it down for a week and then read every single word again before you hit that PUBLISH button.

Get it right the first time and correct those errors before your readers string you up by the neck.






Tea of the day: Acai Berry and Blueberry Tea

What's Next?

Currently, I'm working on so many projects that I want to eventually publish, it's making my head spin. But I take it all in stride. Writing is what I love to do. Reading comes second to that. I try to write something every day but I get so distracted by things that don't matter. Sometimes I wonder if I didn't get so distracted by the television or my obsession with Googling.

I can google all day long before I realize that the day is now over. Hopefully I can finish these projects. Stay tuned, got some great stories coming up.


Tea of the Day: NONE..

Went Into Respiratory Failure A Few Days Ago

Haven't been doing much writing here because I went into respiratory failure on Tuesday of this week. I stopped breathing in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. It is now Thursday and I'm still here. I'm trying to write while I'm in here but the flare ups and fatigue makes it harder.

Looking for prayers and positive energy. Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Pulling Your Hair Out Is Part of The Writing Process

For some reason the picture won't show up larger than this. But if you zoom the screen out, you will see the numbers pouring in for my new debut, Sex Therapy. Just to show you how all this works with Amazon, it shows you to the right how many actual books you sold that you're going to get paid for. Or not get paid for if someone refunded your book. (Yikes)

The numbers to the left deal with your Free Promotions. Or other words, not going to get paid for. Amazon gives you the opportunity to give your book for free to garner reviews and get your name out there. Cool huh?

The numbers towards the middle (Borrows) tells you that you're going to get paid for books that others lend or read for free with the Prime program. That money is coming from Amazon itself. That's ONLY if you enroll in the KDP program. That just means you promise to exclusively publish with them. If you don't, well tough cookies...LOL!

Since this is my first fiction short story out there, I'm incredibly nervous. I have been trying to perfect the novel the best way I know how. Yeah...I guess you could say that I'm terrified of the horrible reviews. But it's the only way I'm going to know I'm good. Yes, it is true that not everyone is going to like you. You could give this book out with million dollar checks, and I would bet all the money in my bank account (you're welcome to $39.17 right now) that you will still get negative reviews. Probably because you wrote paper checks and you didn't overnight the cash you little, silly, naive author, you!!!!

Or it's just your book really sucks but they wanted to thank you for the million bucks anyway.

I just placed my book for a free promotion last night and the reviews will be coming in shortly. I'm very ill right now and can barely move without chest pain. In fact, I should be writing this in a hospital bed instead of my own bed but what are you going to do, huh? I would just ask reviewers to be fair, not name call such as garbage, or filth, rubbish for my British readers. If you didn't like the novel, just state the reasons why and move on, especially if you're just looking for the free million dollar check that comes along with the book.

Look out for that in the eight edition. ; )

My new book Sex Therapy is now on sale on Amazon.com!!! Be sure to check it out!!!!

Life in the Windy City is pretty monotonous for Ronald Carrington. As a successful fund manager for a mutual fund company, he is clearly a man that lives life to the fullest.

After receiving a life changing phone call one day, he decides to live life on the edge and on his terms. After falling for a stripper named Smokey, he finds himself caught up in a world of drugs, addiction, and sex.

Things continue to spiral out of control when three female college students go missing, including the sister of Ronald's co-worker. Ronald finds himself searching for the truth but he's he has no time to spare.

Can Ronald's search for answers cost him his life?

1. How does it feel to complete another book?

I am very excited to have completed my first novella and have it published! It started off as an idea about a successful man falling in love with a stripper and it kind of went along from there.

2. What genre does the book fit best?

Suspense/Mystery/Drama.

3. Would you consider yourself as a mystery writer now?

Not really. I consider myself to be a story teller. I like to tell stories. One day I'm writing a comedic piece and the next day my characters can be in tears. I personally think that a writer should write for a specific genre first, especially if first starting off. Define your voice up front and your fans will recognize and appreciate your work.

The next project that I'm working on is a dramedy. You really don't see that term much when it comes to novels. That's a TV thing, but when I began to write seriously, I wrote screenplays. I completed three screenplays so far and two television series.

Even though I'm not taking my own advice, I can't help it at times. I get an idea for a story and just go with it. I don't know what else I can say. 

4. Was it hard to make that transition?

In the beginning, yes. Screenplays and teleplays are written in a very specific format. It's totally different from writing prose. It took months before I felt comfortable writing with my "fiction" voice. But writing as a screenwriter for so long, helped me tell a story better. Hollywood can be harsh at times, but you have to take the criticism with a grain of salt.

5. What advice would you give up and coming writers?

You have to write everyday to perfect your craft. I punish my family members and friends and have them read my stuff. The more I write, the better my writing got. I'm serious people, if you want to be a writer, you've got to practice your craft. Lots of people dream of that writer lifestyle. Getting up in the morning with a cup of tea and sitting down in front of your computer, pounding out manuscript after manuscript. Some writers never really leave their houses.

I wouldn't call writing a glamorous job or anything, but it takes dedication and practice!!!

6. What's the worse thing you hate about writing?

The criticism....the unfair criticism. Writers become very attached to their work. To criticize it could be akin to slapping someone's child across the face in the grocery store. You have these unknown people making personal attacks against you.

It is MORE than fair to criticize someone's work but passing judgment on people is unacceptable. I totally get that I can read a story and get something good out of while the person next to me totally hates the book. My fiance and I go back and forth over things like that all the time. Not everyone is going to like you. But please keep your criticism to the work at hand. Not the author personally.

So I Drink A Lot of Tea

I have somewhere around thirty boxes of any kind of tea that you can think of. Since I have plenty of health issues, I had to forgo most writers drink of choice; wine. So I drink tea and lots of it.

My favorite is Ginger Peach tea that you can find at pretty much any Panera Bread. I like fruity flavors, which is what my mother mostly drank when I was a little girl. There are times when I spice things up with a rare brand of Chai or one of my other favorites, Morning Thunder. Wakes me up in the morning.

I'm running out of space in my cupboard for all my teas so.....I better get to this writing thing, huh? TEA OF THE DAY: GINGER PEACH TEA