How to Enjoy the Holiday Season by Christine Rains

Please welcome one of my long time blogging friends and chase away those shopping and entertaining blues.

PREPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Thanks so much to Susan for having me on her blog today. It’s that exciting time of year with lots of holiday events with family and friends. Even more exciting for me because I finished my shopping last month and don’t have to deal with the insanity of crowded stores!

For some people, they don’t get a chance to do their shopping until the last minute. My sympathies to you. All that noise, the rude people, crazy parking lots, the stress of finding what you need. The best way to deal with getting ready for the fun part of the holidays is to have a book with you all the time. As a voracious reader, I carry my Kindle with me everywhere. Waiting in line, I read. Waiting for a parking spot to open up, I read. There are also audiobooks if you want your hands free. Wrapping, cleaning, baking. You can get through a lot of books this month!

As an author, I lose writing time with the running around and visiting. While some writers love their little notebooks, I have an app on my cell phone where I can jot down ideas, or, if you’re really quick at typing, you can compose a poem or work on your current story. (It’s a free app called Writer Plus!) I usually retire early in the evenings when we have visitors, so I squeeze in a bit of writing time as I’m sitting in bed. If you’re an early bird, getting up before everyone else and putting on the coffee works as you’re sneaking in some words.

Enjoy yourself this holiday season. Savor the time spent with good friends and family, and give yourself the gift of not missing out on writing or a good book. You’ll be happier and that joy will carry through to everything else.

Of Gods and Sorrow (Of Blood and Sorrow, Book #2)

Stopping the undead will seem like child's play when the Cult of Ammut comes calling.

Even after losing most of her adopted family, Erin Driscol continues to console clients at Putzkammer & Sons Funeral Home. Keeping the funeral business working smoothly is no longer the walk in the graveyard it used to be. Grieving demons are fighting in the halls. Eyeballs are showing up in teapots. And a so-called psychic and member of the Cult of Ammut claims Erin's boss Cort is a god. All Erin wants is a friend to lean on and a sense of normalcy. But as the cult kills people and repeatedly attacks the funeral home, she must stand strong or lose Cort to the Lake of Fire.

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JGDPLFC/

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42349008-of-gods-and-sorrow

Author bio: Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She decorated for the holidays way too early this year, but it did make everyone smile. She’s a jolly member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. She has two novels and several novellas and short stories published.

Website: http://christinerains.net/

Blog:  http://christinerains-writer.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CRainsWriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorchristinerains

Did you get your shopping done early like Christine? Do you always carry a book with you? How do you squeeze in come writing time over the busy season?

Rolling Onward, July Style

What a weekend and start to the week. The terrible heat has lifted for the short term, and the relief is so welcome. It's so nice to sleep with the windows open at night. I know it's only the beginning of July and it will return, but it feels like lovely June weather today and for a few more days to come.

Today I'm guest posting on Christine Rains' blog. I'll hope you'll stop by while I talk a little more about putting the science in science fiction. Much thanks to Christine for letting me take over her blog while she's suffering on the beach! LOL. I'm sure she's having a great time.

Spent a lot of time reading over the past week as well as writing. I dove into Justin Cronin's trilogy that started with The Passage. I had only read the first when it first came out in 2010. Not sure why I didn't finish it before but I'm glad I finally did. It is a horror-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it kind of series so a lot of people die. A lot of people step up and become heroes too. In case you haven't heard, one of the networks is making The Passage into a series. I think for this fall. Hopefully, this link will take you to the trailer. Right now, this is the fall show I'm most excited about.

Despite all the writing I'm getting done, I'm still spending some time working on my craft. My local writers' group had a writer of cozy mysteries give an hour workshop on putting mystery into your story. It was very interesting. Next weekend, I'm taking an online course on making your characters come to life.

Still keeping up with my 1,000 words per day though I missed three days in a row on the elliptical. Too many visitors to the homestead. Lots of deer in the backyard. The fawns are really growing fast. Sometimes they walk right by the porch when I'm sitting there reading.

Could you stop over at Christine's blog for me? Any new fall shows you're looking forward to? (The return of Football doesn't count.) Have you done anything lately to work on your writing craft? Has the infernal heat let up for you?

Christine Rains: Marketing Different Genres

I'm so thrilled to have Christine Rains here today to talk about marketing. Every writer wants to know more about that. If you been any where in the blogosphere the last few weeks, you're run into her Dice & Debauchery tour. Christine is not only a writer, she's a very busy mother and an amazing time management person. I'm not getting the day off. Please check out my post about planning for April Madness over at the A to Z Blogging Challenge Home. How does she get so much done? Here's Christine:

Thank you for hosting me today, Susan. It's a pleasure to be here.

Marketing is one of the most difficult tasks as an author. But marketing several books from different genres? It can be overwhelming. Some days there isn't enough ice cream in the world to make it bearable.

Over the past several weeks, I've been touring for my contemporary erotic romance series, Dice & Debauchery. This is my first adventure with this genre, and I've had to learn new marketing tactics along the way. At the same time, I've had to continue marketing for my other books.

Two different genres with two different audiences.

There are two ways to do this successfully:

1. Use a pen name. Separate your different genre books with distinct identities. Create independent websites, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages. It's double the work, but it will allow you to build a solid readership in each genre. This is good to do because sometimes when an author crosses genres, she turns some readers off.

I debated using a pen name when I wrote my Dice & Debauchery series. I went back and forth about it for a few months before I decided to take a chance and use my real name. This is why I went with the second marketing strategy.

2. Market the author instead of the books. What do you do best as a writer? Do you have lovely prose with flowing descriptions or are you clever with twisting the plot? Find that one thing that applies to all your stories and use it as a base for your marketing.

My author tagline is: “Twisting the tropes.” In all my stories, I take popular literary devices and themes and turn them on their heads. I love to surprise readers with these unusual twists and turns.

All my books are character focused and contain romances too. So when I went from urban fantasy and paranormal romance to the Dice & Debauchery series, I still was in a similar realm. I understand that not all my readers will want to read erotica, but there are those that do enjoy my stories from both genres. They're all just different aspects of me as a writer.

If you write in different genres, what type of marketing strategy have you employed?

Blurb:

Geek girl Morgan Reid has been to many conventions, but none that had her wishing it would never end.

 Dressed as their characters from the online game Steampunk Quest, Morgan and her best friend meet the other players for the first time in real life. Morgan's attraction to the gorgeous Dean Bradley is immediate, making it difficult to breathe in her tight corset. Even after a few dice shattering orgasms, she doesn't believe this can be anything more than a con fling. But Dean is making her feel things she's only read about in books. Can Morgan let go of her cool-headed logic and allow herself to fall completely for the perfect geek guy?

 About the author:

Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She's married to her best friend and fellow geek living in south-central Indiana. They have one son who is too smart for his parents' own good and loves to pretend he's Batman. Christine has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not reading or writing, she's going on adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. (South Central Indiana Fiction Interface). She has several short stories and novellas published. The Dice & Debauchery series is her first contemporary erotic romance.

Please visit her website  and blog

You can also find Christine on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

 Purchase links:

Amazon    B&N   Ellora's Cave 

Thanks, Christine. There's always a lot of discussion about whether to use a pen name or not. You have the best reasons for not that I've heard. What does everyone else think? With all the social media insights, can a writer hide behind a pen name any more? What is a good reason to use one?

Isn't It Romantic?

I'm excited today to be a guest on Christine Rains' blog. I'll be discussing how I walk that line between pure science fiction and pure romance in my novels. How I try to capture readers of science fiction and readers of romance without turning them off by leaning too far toward one genre of the other. I've had great cross-genre success with my last two series including the latest release, The Warrior and the Governor. Hope you'll stop and visit.

This is a great week to be a romance writer. Love is the name of the game for the next few days with lots of events going on both online and in stores. At my very first writers' conference, a very successful writer told our group that all good stories were actually love stories. He didn't mean romantic love alone, but all kinds of love. Love of family, country, ideals or religion. Not sure if that statement is totally true, but most books that I would rank as the best had love as one of its basic plot drivers.

On Saturday, February 14th, I'll be participating in a book signing event with numerous other authors at Ashcombe's Farm and Greenhouses. It is a terrific venue. We set up in the greenhouse among the houseplants and right beside the awesome gift shop. It was terrific fun last year and I'm thrilled to be part of it again.

Take a minute today to visit the IWSG blog where Alex J. Cavanaugh will be discussing pros and cons of small presses. Would love for you to share your opinion and maybe you'll learn something interesting too.

A to Z Blogging Challenge signups are chugging along. I really would like a few helpers to help me get through all my April responsibilities. And the theme reveal will be coming up soon so I hope you're all ready for that. And you don't have to wait until April to visit people on the list. You can make friends before then.

Do you think most stories have a 'love' theme driving the plot? Are you doing something special for Valentine's Day or are you saving your money? Are you doing some early visits on the A to Z list? Ever do a book signing in a venue other than a bookstore? Did you stop over at Christine's Blog?

By the Numbers

In an earlier part of my life, I was a real math and science geek. Numbers interest me and stats about anything just beg me to read them. Like most readers, I enjoy print and ebooks. I love my Kindle Fire and read on it a lot. But I also read lots of hardback books that I usually get from the library. I've never thought the ebook surge would drown traditional books or at least wouldn't during my lifetime.

Recent numbers seem to agree with my view. In the numbers from 2014, it seems that ebook sales have leveled off some and traditional books are now holding their sales stats from the past few years. Huffington Post shares some figures that suggest Print books may once again be outselling ebooks. Publisher's Weekly also uses recent counts to propose the two forms of books can coexist and share the market.

Some of the more interesting stuff I read while researching this topic is the small percentage of Amazon's income that actually comes from book sales. Only 7% of their total revenue. Not sure what to even think about that. Then again, I've bought a number of video games and movies from Amazon and my daughter watches for their deals on Crest White Strips and gets them a lot cheaper than she can in a store even with a coupon. This same article in Forbes blames B&N and Borders as much for the decline in independent books stores as it did Amazon.

Those big stores like Borders, B&N, and BAM are struggling even after pushing half the independent booksellers in the country out of business. Why? My local B&N is usually so crowded it's difficult to browse and forget about getting a seat in the cafe. Borders already closed shop. In a few years, perhaps the indies that managed to hang on will be the last booksellers standing.

Not being self-published, I have no personal knowledge of how those sales are going but I've read enough on my friends' blogs and listened at my writers' meetings to know income for indie authors isn't making many people rich. Is it because ebooks sales have evened out?

Don't forget to take advantage of the Goodreads Giveaway chance to win a copy of Alex J. Cavanaugh's upcoming release of Dragon of the Stars.

Christine Rains' newest book, Loose Corset, is now available at all ebook retailers. You can enter a cool contest on her blog

Do you think the indie bookstores will outlast the big box stores? Do you see Amazon as the big bad wolf like discussed in the Forbes article? Did you know how little of their revenue Amazon makes on book sales even though that's how most people think of them? Do you buy anything other than books from Amazon?

Dog Days of Summer

It is the month for very clever blogfests. You can still visit Christina Raines for her Childhood Monster blogfest fun. Lots of interesting stories and I met some even more interesting new bloggers

But today is brand new. Jeremy Bates, author of the suspense novel, White Lies, is currently on my TBR pile. Jeremy has put together The Dog Days of Summer Blogfest in which we are supposed to answer three questions.

1. Describe your favorite summer activity so far.

Tough pick for me so I'm mentioning two. In June my husband and I celebrated our anniversary by visiting our college age son who is doing an internship at a resort in the Poconos. We stayed two days and had great fun. The next week, my daughter and I traveled the seven hours to Boston for her three day orientation at Boston University. Beautiful city and hours in the car with my baby girl. What's not to love?

2. What activities do you plan before the summer ends?

I had three writing goals this summer and expect to meet them all by the end of August. I found a publishing home for my second epic fantasy series. I will have the third book in my first epic fantasy series on Amazon and everywhere else before September first. And I have completed a romance novel for my romance publisher. On a personal front, my oldest son bought his own home so I'm painting cleaning, rearranging and thinking about downsizing in the future.

3. If you could have the ultimate, dream vacation, what would it be?

Big question, but the answer is simple for me. I have two stepsons, married and in their own homes and four children of my own. All six kids were active in sports and all kinds of other things when growing up. As some of you know when you have multiple children, it's very difficult to schedule vacations without someone missing something. It's been years since we've all vacationed together. My dream is to somehow have everyone workout how we could spend a week together somewhere. All of us together.

Thank you, Jeremy for putting this together. I hope the days haven't been too doggy for everyone though I know large parts of the world are unusually dry and hot. Please visit some of the other participants and tells us how your summer is going.

Childhood Monster?

Today, Christine Rains hosts 'What Was Your Childhood Monster?' blogfest. What a super idea. Visit her blog and find links to all sort of childhood nightmares. This will also help celebrate the release of Christine's book, Fearless.

I grew up in a big family. I didn't have a bedroom to myself until my junior year in high school and being one of the youngest children, I always shared a room with an older sister. So I seldom had to face my monsters alone. Now we also lived on a farm out in the country, surrounded by fields that were surrounded by woods. Though I never saw one, I was scared to death of BEARS. I was sure they could somehow climb up the windows to my second story bedroom and burst through the glass in the middle of the night. I would stare at those dark windows until I fell asleep. I didn't believe in ghosts, vampires, demons or any kind of hobgoblin, only those durn bears.

Now that I'm grown and moved from that part of the state, the bears have made a comeback. My brother, who was also afraid of bears as a child, shot a bear in his back yard. It was during hunting season when the large black boar strolled into his yard while his young boys were playing outside. Talk about nightmares coming true.

Now if you want to hear about more childhood monsters, perhaps more creative than mine, visit Christine's blog and follow some links. Did something special frighten you as child? Does that monster appear anywhere in your writing?