Week12 WRITING PROMPT: #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge

It's WEEK 12 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "My Greatest Strength"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

If any MFRW author participating in the challenge is interested in taking on the role of coordinating the weekly post, please let me know in the comments. The blog is seeking experienced blogger users to assist in the management of our blogs.

Sign Up Now.

SIGN UP NOW! Week 11 of #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge

It's WEEK 11 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "Plot Away... My Writing Process"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

#WWoW Building an Author Platform @GingerMonette #MFRWauthor #marketing

Your manuscript is in the hands of your editor, and you've got the big release day circled on your calendar...

What now? Should you start advertising? Tweeting?

It's little early to alert the media, but there are a host of pre-launch “foundations” new authors need to put into place before they release their baby to the world. Let's get right to the checklist.

-Create a new email address to use exclusively for your writing/marketing correspondence. It will keep your emails from bloggers and fans separate from your emails from Aunt Eleanor and Old Navy. With all of your author emails in a separate mailbox, you can see at a glance any unopened correspondence and remind you of emails needing immediate attention.

I suggest using a form of your name or something that identifies your brand. For example, my author email name is SperoBooks. Keep it short, professional, and preferably something that has nothing odd like an underscore. Don't make the mistake of using the title of your book as your email name. It will be passe' when you publish your second book.

-Create a signature line and maybe a ‘one-liner’ that describes in a nutshell what type of romance you write (“Romance with a touch of mystery,” “Broken hearts finding love,” “Romance for the modern girl,” etc). Begin using it on all your emails so your friends, business associates, and writing contacts will know you're an author.

-Research web hosts and build a website. If you're not sure you want to make a long-term financial commitment, choose a free hosting service that has the option to upgrade later. I chose Wix.com as their customer service is pretty good and their site building tools are mostly intuitive.

Before you start designing, look at other authors' websites and take advice from experts like Tim Grahl and Jane Friedman. Make a list of what you like, then make a plan.

-Research which social media platforms will best reach your target audience and start getting active there.

-Develop a bio—a short, middle length, and long one.

-Create an author page on Goodreads and post your bio and headshot there. (When your book goes live, add your bio to your Amazon author pages in ALL the countries where you will be selling.)

-Get a headshot. Add it to your website and to your Amazon and Goodreads author pages. Use it as part of the header of any newsletters as well. Readers are more likely to remember your name if they can attach a face to it.

-Decide if you want to make a video or audio trailer for your book. If so, start working on it. I have one here.

-Will you do a blog tour? If so, research blogs that could be a good fit. Don’t contact yet, just make a spreadsheet that includes blog address, contact email, number of followers, and a few sentences about why it made your list.

-Subscribe to book marketing experts like Nick Stephenson, Tim Grahl, and Chandler Bolt. Take notes from what you read/watch.

-Subscribe to Yahoo groups that focus on marketing for your genre. Two excellent Yahoo groups for romance authors are Marketing for Romance Writers and Indie Romance. (If you simply don't have the time to learn from the experts previously noted, the topics covered on these e-loops will give you an excellent education.)

-Make a list of potential people to be on your launch team who will be willing to leave a review of your book on launch day and share it on their social media. Friends and family are fine if that's all you have, but readers who love your genre are MUCH better.

-Start formulating a long-term (written) marketing plan: Who specifically is your audience? How will you reach them? Will you offer your book for pre-order? What pricing strategies/sales might work well? What book marketing services/promotors look like good fits? What’s your marketing budget? What are good places to advertise?

-Will you need a book cover? If so, what ideas do you have how it should look? Browse stock image sites to find appropriate images. If you are self-publishing, research designers, or choose a service like 99Designs, Upwork.com, Reedsy, or even Fiverr.com if your budget is bare-bones.

-Will you offer some sort of freebie to entice people to sign up for your newsletter or pre-order your book? If so, create it now. For my novel written in an unfamiliar era (WW1), I offer access to an online scrapbook to those who subscribe to my newsletter. (If you have a look, give it a minute or two to load.) Other authors commonly offer a short story, additional chapters, or some other exclusive bonus.

-Will you offer some sort of give-away in conjunction with your book launch? If so, research items that are a good fit (i.e. a tin of Scottish shortbread if you write Scottish Romance)

-Search for images that you could use to create graphic teasers for your book. These sites have free public domain images: Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, and Wiki Commons. (Not all Wiki Commons images are licensed for commercial use, but they have oddball stuff you may not find anywhere else.)

-Compile a media kit to have all the necessary advertising elements in one place: Blurb, bio, excerpt, book info, images, etc. Mine is here.

-Choose quotes and excerpts from your book that would make good teasers. Maybe even play around with Canva.com to learn how to make the teasers, Twitter banners, FB headers, etc. (All the graphics in my media kit were created at Canva.com.)

Feeling overwhelmed?

It is a LOT of work, and most of these tasks take an ENORMOUS amount of time. If you have deep pockets, you can hire experts to do many of these tasks for you, but they will still require your input. So start early and give yourself plenty of time. I spent nearly three months just educating myself on current trends in book marketing. (Yeah, I believe in being thorough.) But when I launched my book with a 23-day blog tour, I was able to do it with confidence as I had my marketing foundation firmly in place.

How long did these tasks take you? Did I leave anything out?

I’d love to hear your comments.

THIS POST SUBMITTED BY Ginger Monette

Winner of Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's 2015 “Picture This” grand prize, Ginger currently writes romances set in the era of Downton Abbey and WW1. She lives with her family in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she enjoys dancing on the treadmill, watching period dramas, public speaking, and reading—a full-length novel every Sunday afternoon.

It's Week 10 of #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge!

It's WEEK 10 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "Seven Guilty Pleasures"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

Discover New #Romance Novels from an #MFRWauthor #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

SIGN UP! It's #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge Week 9!

It's WEEK 9 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "Words that make me go Ick!"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

It's Week 8! SIGN UP for #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge

It's WEEK 8 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "How I Choose a Book Title"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

Time to Sign Up! #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge Week 7 Prompt

It's WEEK 7 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "Music To Write By"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

#MFRWAuthor-to-Author: Research... Necessary but Time Consuming @DMBurton72

Have you ever started researching a topic only to discover you’ve spent the better part of an hour going from one site to another to another? Those pesky side links.

In a HubSpot (a marketing site) article about bad habits, the author wrote about Black Hole Browsing. Although I’d never heard of that term, I knew exactly what it meant. I’ve fallen victim to that bad habit more than once. For example, while researching the topic of cryo-sleep for my novella MISION TO NEW EARTH, I visited way too many sites.

I knew about the body being put into hibernation for long-distance space travel from movies like Avatar, Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey. But I wanted to know more, and before I knew it—Wham!—I’d fallen into that Black Hole.

As a sci-fi writer, I’m not concerned with the mechanics of cryosleep or hibernation. I compare it to an automobile. I don’t know (don’t need to know) how my car works. I just need to know that when I put the key in the ignition, that car will take me where I want to go.

From what I’d read, seen in movies, and researched, I gathered enough info to make the scene of my astronauts going into cryosleep believable. At least, I hope so. Or that the reader can suspend disbelief. I was more concerned with the emotions experienced by the astronauts. Their excitement on being pioneers to a new planet warred with fear of dying in flight. Or, as in the movie Passengers, they could wake up too soon then use too much fuel (for life support, artificial gravity, food, etc.) and not be able to get to the new planet.

For me as a reader, emotions carry more weight than scientific facts. Not to be sexist, but generally men like more facts and science in their stories, while women tend to enjoy the emotional journey the characters go on. My target audience are women who like adventure along with romance. Whether my stories take them to small towns in west Michigan or on a starship into deep space, I need to make sure my facts are straight. Nothing tears me away from a story than one that has inaccurate facts. Hence, my need to research. I just wish I could avoid those pesky side links that take me from one interesting article to another and then to another.

It takes discipline to avoid falling into the Black Hole of browsing. Why? Because when we’re researching we’re not writing.

How about you? Have you ever fallen into the Black Hole of research?

COMMENT BELOW & TALK WITH DIANE.

THIS POST SUBMITTED BY Diane Burton
Diane combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and the Alex O’Hara PI mystery series. She is also a contributor to two anthologies: Portals, Volume 2 and How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two children and three grandchildren. 

Diane's newest book is Mission to New Earth, a Science Fiction novel.

Would you go on a one-way trip to explore a new planet? Would you do it to save humankind?

Earth’s overpopulation and dwindling resources force the United Earth Space Agency to expedite exploration of new planets for a possible new home. When new crises ensue—a giant tsunami and the threat of nuclear winter—the timeline changes. Eight years of training crammed into four. Sara Grenard and her team prepare for launch, but are they ready for the one-way trip? Will the Goldilocks planet prove just right for Earth’s inhabitants? Before time runs out.

AMAZON Buy Link!

EXCERPT

As I waited for confirmation from the director, seconds ticked by slower than a melting glacier. The question kept running through my mind. Are we prepared? They shortened our training. Four years instead of eight. My God, what did they leave out?
“Commander Grenard.” Director Ashcroft rose stiffly. “Your team passed the landing simulation.”
I slowly released a breath, when I really wanted to jump up, hug everyone in the booth, and do a happy dance. Instead, I nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’ll share your words with the team.”
As I got up, the technician winked. “Nice job, Sara.”
I smiled. Of all the techs, Roland was the most supportive. He’d been with our team all four years, starting in New Mexico. Back then, we thought we had eight years to prepare. Four years at White Sands before moving to Ares Station on Mars. But a catastrophe prompted the move to Ares two years sooner. We spent a year there instead of two before moving to Titan. Despite Director Ashcroft’s reassurance, I worried. I feared for my team.
We were about to leave on an adventure of a lifetime. Just thinking about how fortunate we were to explore possible new homes for Earth’s inhabitants, I was still awestruck. Giddiness raced through me and with it the ever-present trepidation. What could go wrong? Were we prepared for all eventualities? What if—
I had to stop speculating on the dangers of our mission. My fear could easily infect my team and spread worse than the bout of influenza that devastated three teams before we left Ares. I was certain the other commanders didn’t have my fears. I bet they didn’t have a swarm of bees roiling around in their stomachs.

CONNECT With Diane
Website: http://www.dianeburton.com
Blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72
Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

#MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge... Week 6 Writing Prompt

It's WEEK 6 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's writing prompt is "My Hobbies"

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

Join us at #MFRWauthor and share Author Retweet Day #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Is it ever too early to market a book? @kayelleallen #MFRWauthor

Should you wait until a book is finished and sold before you try to market it? No. Here's why.

When a new movie comes out, do studios wait until the day it opens to begin telling people about it? No. How many months did people see info about the last Star Wars movie before it came out? Star Wars is a brand stamped across everything associated with the series of films.

Likewise, your brand is something you should always be marketing. What is your brand? Your name. Readers should get to know you by name and associate you with good things. You can't get that by remaining in the shadows.

Overnight success takes a long time.

It's never too early to market a book because the best marketing is developing relationships. Look online for people who have interests similar to yours. For example, I love the Hobbit films, especially the Elven King, Thranduil. I discovered a group on Twitter who regularly share fanart and fanfiction around this character. I've gotten to know them and have added my own fanart to the group. One of the group who features fanart on her site showcased my DeviantArt account where I have the art. That means people can also see my other work, including book covers, banners, and other art related to my story world. You might not have artwork that you can share, but do you have research images? Create a board on your Pinterest account to share them.

Did you ever bookmark articles that helped you make your story more realistic? Did you

read any books that helped you write better? What was the thinking behind the plot of your books? Who are your characters? What is the theme of the story? Blog about the above.

I get thousands of views on my site because I blog. I use the topics above plus others. I don't talk writing on my blog very often, because I'm trying to pull in readers as well as authors (who are also readers, btw). Blog posts are fresh content that keep readers interested in you and your story world. I discovered recently that the largest views of my site are on my blog posts. Only about 8% of visitors go to the other pages. You can bet I changed my blogging strategy!

Do you have a blurb and tagline? If not, write them now. You will use them endlessly. Likewise with your bio. Write it in 4 sizes: twitter bio (160 characters) to use on blog posts, 200 words for your official website and author bio, and one that's about 75-80 to share in interviews. You want a short one (30 words or less) that captures your writing style or tag (I use the one below). You want to say who you are, what you write, a fact about yourself as a person, and optionally, a general idea of your whereabouts (I say the Atlanta GA area). This helps people place you, not pinpoint you. Reuse your basic wording in each version.

Here's my short bio:

Kayelle Allen is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Longer bio:

Science Fiction and Fantasy author Kayelle Allen is the winner of the 2010 EPIC award for Science Fiction, and the 2008 Honorable Mention for Science Fiction Fantasy. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr. Kayelle is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers, a peer-mentoring group, and the owner of The Author's Secret, a support company for writers. She is married, has three grown children, and five grandchildren. She and her husband met and married while they were both on active duty in US Navy.

Marketing isn't saying "buy my book" over and over.

The best marketing is sharing, talking, listening. Pick some social media sites you love and get good at them. I love Twitter and do ok on Facebook, and spend lots of time on Pinterest. Build a following now. When you release your book it will be to people who are following because they already like you.

It's never too early to make friends.
----
This post began as a discussion on Marketing for Romance Writers. I invite you to join us. Was this helpful to you? If so, please leave a note in the comments.

Kayelle Allen Social Media

Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Join the Romance Lives Forever Reader Group Download three free books and get news about books coming soon. One book downloads immediately and two full-color illustrated books arrive the next day. You can unsubscribe at any time.

At the Mercy of Her Pleasure (Available at Amazon, free on Kindle Unlimited)

Ready to SIGN UP for #MFRWauthor Blog Challenge?

It's WEEK 5 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge!
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's prompt is "Meet My Best Friend".

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

SIGN UP for Week4 of the #MFRWauthor 52-week Blog Challenge!

It's WEEK 4 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge.
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose. Anyone can join at any point in the challenge...  FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

This week's prompt is "Sorry Editor! My Common Writing Mistakes".

Are You Ready?

1. Create your post using the weekly writing prompt. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title.
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below.
4. Include the linky list code in your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Sign Up Now.

#MFRWauthor 52-Week #Blog Challenge: Week 3 Writing Prompt... Have you signed up?

It's WEEK 3 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge.
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

This week's prompt is TV Shows I Binge.

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE CHALLENGE.

Are You Ready?

1. Use the weekly writing prompt to create your post. Include this challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title, and be original - don't use "week #1 of 52-week challenge" because that's not unique and won't drive readers to your post. Be creative!
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below. Be sure to use the post's direct link - not your blog home page.
4. Include the linky list code to the top of your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration. Also take a moment to share them on social media through the links right on the author's post. It increases visibility!

Do You Have a Buddy Yet?
If you haven't already been assigned a buddy, comment below and we can match you up.

VERY IMPORTANT: check in with your buddy... encourage them to post, read their blog post (even if you don't get to any others), and share it on social media.

Sign Up Now.

Join Us! It's Week 2! #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge

It's WEEK 2 of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge.
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

This week's prompt is HOW MY FAMILY SURVIVES MY WRITING.

It's not too late to join the challenge! FOLLOW THIS LINK to read the original
challenge post to get details.

Are You Ready?

1. Use the weekly writing prompt to create your post. Include the challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title, and be original - don't use "week #1 of 52-week challenge" because that's not unique and won't drive readers to your post. Be creative!
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below. Be sure to use the post's direct link - not your blog home page.
4. Include the linky list code to the top of your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration!

Celebrate the New Year with #MFRWauthor and #MFRW_Org Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or MFRW_Org

Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it clean for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Anymore than this and Twitter believes it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

#MFRWauthor Blog Challenge Week1 Theme: A Few of my Favorite Things

It's WEEK ONE of the MFRW 52-week blog challenge.
Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being fiction writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. Our challenge is designed to help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose.

This week's prompt is A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.

All authors with blogs can participate. It's very simple! FOLLOW THIS LINK to read the original challenge post to get details.

Are You Ready?

1. Use the weekly writing prompt to create your post. Include the challenge badge in your post.
2. Use #MFRWauthor in your title, and be original - don't use "week #1 of 52-week challenge" because that's not unique and won't drive readers to your post. Be creative!
3. Add your post's direct link to the linky list below. Be sure to use the post's direct link - not your blog home page.
4. Include the linky list code to the top of your post.
5. On Friday, read a few of the other authors' blog posts. Reading other posts gives you great ideas and inspiration!

Why We Read (and Write) Romance @kayelleallen #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Writing is not simply an act. It's a passion. For writers of Romance, it's even more than that. Romance an escapist story and a momentary thrill - yes. But it's also structure for plot and character development, theme, setting, and social commentary.

Here's my personal list of reasons to read (and write) Romance.

• Falling in love is a wonderful feeling, and watching someone fall in love is the next best thing.
• Seeing a hero and heroine overcome conflict and end up together at the end of a story makes me feel good.
• The world is full of sad stories and disappointments, but the happy ending of a Romance book is something I can count on.
• There is a subgenre within Romance for any kind of book I want to read, from Science Fiction to historical, paranormal to suspense, and everything in between.
• I like reading about wounded alpha heroes whose heroines help them get back on the horse and get going again.
• Tough and sassy heroines who kick ass and take names make my day, and my favorite Romances always feature them.
• What could be finer than a Romance set in the Highlands of Scotland?
• I grew up reading Science Fiction, and never understood why the book stopped just when the story got to the sexy part -- SciFi Romance is one of my favorite genres.
• Romances are often part of a bigger story -- battling a monster, saving the world, defeating prejudice, healing a family -- and they make the bigger picture worth more because they showcase true love.
• A romantic heroine who realizes her own worth, power, and strength, and who finds herself working side by side with a man she trusts are priceless.
• One of the most intriguing subgenres of Romance is called M/M, or male male, and features two heroes. I think if a little testosterone is good, a lot must be awesome.
• Is there anything sexier than a vampire who falls in love, and must overcome his clawing, innate hungers in order to woo the mortal he loves?
• The heat level of a Romance can be whatever I want it to be, because within all those varying subgenres is a level of sensuality that is right for me. They can be as sweet -- or as hot -- as I want to read. 

Why do you read and/or write Romance? Please share in the comments.

About the Author
Kayelle Allen is a best-selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr. She is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author

JOIN The 2017 #MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge!

Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. To help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose, Marketing for Romance Writers is announcing the 2017 Blog Challenge. Each week, authors use our writing prompt to create a meaningful blog post. We'll be posting every Friday... join us as often as possible.

All authors with blogs are welcome to participate. It's very simple!

1. Sign up in the comments below to commit to the challenge. You will be "buddied" up with another author for support.
2. Copy the badge onto your blog's sidebar. Share it on your social media networks. Be sure to link it back to this page.
3. Write your weekly blog post based on the given prompt. Use #MFRWauthor in your title, and be original - don't use "week 2 of 52-week challenge" because that is not unique and won't drive readers to your post.
4. Return to the MFRW Marketing Blog weekly to add your blog post to the linky list. This will be available each Tuesday for that week's posts. When adding your link, use the post's direct link - not your blog home page.

Celebrate the Holidays with #RomanceNovels from #MFRWauthor @MFRW_Org

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or MFRW_Org

Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on November 9 and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it clean for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Anymore than this and Twitter believes it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

YAHOO...You've Got This Covered...December Quickie #MFRWAuthor

I think we all agree Yahoo isn't the most perfect method of group discussion. It's just the one we're all using. We can complain, rail against the restrictions, search out our inner diva. But if we want to join and post to groups, for now it's Yahoo.

Most complaints have to do with "How can I get OUT of this group?" Generally accompanied by tremendous angst. The answer is simple enough since Yahoo is designed for self control. Scroll down to the bottom of your most current Yahoo message. You'll see, in blue,Visit Your Group. Look over to the right of the screen and you'll see, in even tinier letters:

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

Click on that middle word "Unsuscribe" and follow the prompts. Easy-Peasy, isn't it? Took me a while to find it, I was visiting the group and flailing around for a while, until...huh, lookie there!

If you want to stay in a Yahoo Group and reduce the number of daily messages you can "Visit Your Group" and set your message delivery to "digest only." Please, if you do this, and choose to answer an e-mail, be VERY sure to delete that loooong trail of messages following your reply. Your fellow group members will appreciate this and no doubt share good wishes.

I send those Good Wishes in your direction, along with expectations of many wonderful words written in the new year.

Mona Karel is the writing alter ego of Monica Stoner, who can be found running her Salukis around
the dog show ring, or elbows deep in garden soil, and not often enough in front of her computer, searching for that perfect phrase to convey deep emotions. Her recent books include the Stormhaven Love Stories, Romance with a bit of suspense, a bit of humor, and a lot of love.

 She helps out MFRW by moderating posts and answering how to questions. 

Creating Conflict in Novels @kayelleallen #amediting #MFRWauthor

According to Wordweb, conflict has many shades of meaning, including a disagreement or argument about something important; opposition between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings; a state of opposition between persons, ideas, or interests; and opposition in a work of drama or fiction between characters or forces (especially one that motivates the development of the plot). The point being that conflict involves problems. No problems, no conflict.

No conflict, no story.

But what type of conflict works best for a solid story? Let's look at three major types: internal, external, and romantic.

Internal Conflict

An internal conflict often revolves around an emotional struggle. Generally, an internal conflict arises from a character's backstory. Something has occurred that threatens their ideal mental/emotional state. What they believe does not go along with their physical reality. Suppose your story was a romance set in a time when marriages were arranged. Your hero has no intention of being "married off" to a rich woman who does not respect him, or that he could not respect. However, his family fortune has been lost (not through his fault) and if he doesn't solve his immediate problem of finances in order to care for his younger siblings, they will all end up on the street. He must marry a woman of means, and fast. While he does have an external conflict (the threat of homelessness) his major conflict is internal (marrying someone he does not love and respect). How he behaves in this situation is driven by how he overcomes or resolves his internal conflict. It is not necessarily a direct solution to his inner conflict that ends the problem. He might find another way around the issue. In a gay romance, the internal conflict might be fear of rejection, facing reality as a gay person, or being ostracized from family. Overcoming the internal problem drives the resolution of the conflict. Therefore, it drives the plot.

External Conflict

For an external conflict, a force or problem exists outside the character. In the example above, the hero faced homelessness. A heroine might be in a situation where she must rescue someone. External conflicts mean that situations and/or physical threats or needs cause a problem. To solve it, the character must find a physical solution. A thriller or suspense might involve a race against the clock before a killer strikes again. A scifi might include an alien invasion threatening to decimate the planet. A medical thriller involves doctors racing to find a cure for a horrific virus, and so on. All these conflicts erupt due to an external cause. External conflict requires a threat from outside the main character(s). In a well written, multi-layered story, internal conflict exists as well, but the external problem drives the action.

Romantic Conflict

A romantic conflict involves struggle between the main characters. A strong external (physical) conflict collides with an equally strong internal conflict. The immovable object meets the irresistible force. Something must give or there will be no end of the conflict (and no romance).

Solving one conflict often still leaves the other, keeping the couple apart. Finding a reason to let down inner walls and trust the other person requires character growth and change. This leads to a resolution of the conflict.

Plot Forces Conflict

Plot is a scheme or plan. In a story, plot escalates the problems between the characters' internal and external conflicts. The situation of the hero needing a rich wife to provide for his siblings is made worse by the requirements of society. He must court the bride-to-be and appear to enjoy it. He must tread the tricky waters of a society ball and not allow his family's name to be sullied. He must hold up his head when hints of his lost fortune surface. The plot escalates when the youngest sister falls ill and needs medical attention, or the bank demands money, or the landlord begins showing the house before the family has moved out. Things are getting worse. The plot is what forces the hero into an external action despite his internal conflict. He must handle the situation and take care of the problem.

In a romance, finding an equitable end of the conflicts, internal and external, results in a love match that solves the problems brought up during the story.

When I wrote Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, I had a huge challenge on my hands. I wasn't writing my usual genre, which is romance. This story is pure science fiction. Using a strong conflict helped me create a platform on which to layer the characterization and thereby create the conflict. Here's the plot:

Pietas is an Ultra, an all-but-immortal warrior who leads the fight against the oppressive human race that created his people. But when he's captured and exiled to an alien world, his only ally is Six, a human who's been as betrayed as he was. To cross the continent and rejoin the other Ultras, Pietas must overcome his distrust of humans, and rely on the mortal.

Simple, right? One would think. But I had to get two enemy warriors to depend on each other to cross half a planet on foot. To do that, I had to put them on an equal basis. When one character is a human (albeit a six-feet tall special ops soldier) and the other a seven-feet tall immortal best-of-the-best warrior, that's not easy. I had to amp up Six's abilities, and somehow reduce those of Pietas. How does one trap an immortal with unmeasurable strength, an eidetic memory, and a sixth sense for trouble? Solving that enabled me to spring the plot into action.

Conflict is Muscle

Plot is the spine, the various settings are its bones, characters are its flesh and beauty, and conflict is its muscle. When you end the conflict, you end the story. And your readers will live happily ever after.

About Kayelle Allen

Kayelle Allen is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers, and author of the conflict-driven military scifi Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
Amazon http://amazon.com/author/kayelleallen
Romance Lives Forever Reader Group https://kayelleallen.com/bro

#MFRWauthor-to-author: Benefits of Self Publishing @gemwriter Claire Gem

Why Claire Gem Chose Self Publishing
I began my published author career with not one, not two, but three small publishers. My experience with them taught me many things, the least of which was patience. Which I don't have a lot of.

The first publisher did an awesome job editing, gave me the cover I asked for, and then nothing else.

The second did a crappy editing job but gave me a wonderful cover.

The third did outstanding edits, but forced me to change the title and sprung a cover on me I still have nightmares about.

Which is why I created Erato Publishing, published HEARTS UNLOCHED in eBook, Paperback, and Audiobook, and will never, ever look back. I am a control freak who also happens to be lucky enough to have a sister who is a graphic designer (and loves designing book covers) and a husband who is patient (and smart) enough to stay out of my way when I'm struggling with formatting issues.

My new release, HEARTS UNLOCHED, is a story that came to me, quite literally, already written. My husband grew up in the area of the Catskills in New York where the book is set: Sullivan County. We were visiting the area last fall when he began reiterating the urban legend about Loch Sheldrake—a lake so deep nobody has ever found the bottom.

So deep, it was the perfect place for the mob to dump bodies back in the day.

Sullivan County is littered with abandoned hotels, resorts, and convention centers. Back in the 50s and up until about 1970, the area enjoyed a prolific tourist trade from folks who lived in nearby NYC, only about two hours away. But after plane travel became more affordable, the tourist trade dried up and died. Many of the hotels were taken over by Jewish religious organizations, burned to the ground, or still stand forgotten and rotting.

As we drove around the lake, I began a ""what if"" conversation with myself. What if there was an abandoned hotel on the shores of the ill-rumored lake? What if there was a Jewish interior designer from Manhattan who owned a weekend house on the lake? Who was also psychic?

What if a sexy Italian investor bought a crumbling hotel on the shores of Loch Sheldrake? What if, after bumping into each other and producing some rather impressive sexual sparks, the investor hires the designer to renovate his hotel? But what if there's a ghost—a poltergeist—connected with the property who has a very personal interest in the psychic designer? Kate's aunt disappeared from the place fifty years ago.

Hearts Unloched

Interior designer Kate Bardach loves her single girl’s lifestyle—living in Manhattan and spending weekends at her lake house. She’s passionate about her career, reinventing old buildings. But there are some projects she can’t take on because of the spirits trapped there. Kate is psychic—she sees dead people.

Marco Lareci is one of Wall Street’s most successful investment brokers who’s achieved all of his life’s goals—except for finding his soulmate.  His latest project, an abandoned resort on Loch Sheldrake, needs a savvy designer to transform the crumbling complex into a boutique hotel. When Marco meets Kate, he can’t believe his luck. She’s the perfect match for his business and his heart.
Marco’s body excites Kate even more than does his renovation project. But the haunting there, a bonafide poltergeist, affects her on an intensely personal level. Kate’s aunt disappeared from the place fifty years ago.

Will the spirit doom Kate and Marco’s love, or drive them closer together?

BUY LINK

ABOUT Claire Gem
Claire turns the paranormal romance genre on its ear by combining the elements of gothic horror, mystery/thriller, and romantic suspense—in present-day settings. It’s a genre she calls New Gothic.

She also writes intensely emotional contemporary romance with a touch of humor under the Claire Gem Contemporary line.

website  |  blog  |  facebook  |  pinterest  |  amazon  |  goodreads

#MFRWauthor-to-author Tips: Writing Resources @ColleenSMyers

Writing Resources I Found Helpful
I  thought about all the things I ended up stumbling onto as a new writer and decided to try to make a decisive -yet somewhat short- list of things I found useful as I was getting started.
If anyone has any resources they want to share, please add in the COMMENTS.

Books:
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
William Strunk and E.B. White,  The Elements of Style
Debra Dixon, GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict

Websites:
Writers Digest – It really is the one stop shop for classes and information.
Romance Writers of America – Membership, contests, and writing groups support. Truly amazing. This is romance specific.
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America -- Organization that supports Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers.
National Novel Writing Month--- Sign up and write a novel each November.

Agent Querying Resources:
Query 101: The Basics: Where Do I Begin -- A nice article to get you started.
AgentQueryConnect.com-- Resources for writers.
Query Sharkor Nathan Bransford’s Query Forum -- Both let you post queries, get feedback.
Twitter – I’m serious, there are a bazillion places to connect and get critiques.

Twitter hashtags:
#amwriting,  #askagent,  #tenqueries,  #querytip,  #pubtip
#MSWL (manuscript wish list)
Contests:  #pitmad,  #pitchmadness,  #qeurykombat,  #pitcharama
#writeclub – someone always doing word sprints here -- or #1k1hr

Twitter peeps to follow:
@brendadrake – She runs pitmad/pitchmadness – Awesome lady
@MKDB – Margaret Bail, literary agent, queen of tenqueries
@michelle4laughs -- Michelle Hauck, author and host of Query Kombat
@sc_author -- Blogger, founder of #WriteInclusively.

Special mention to Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction where there are unlimited donated treats for authors for a good cause!

Critique groups:
Yes, you do need one. There is #cpmatch done about every 6 months. Always get a second pair of eyes looking at your MS. My group is full of awesome people: @patchi_writes, @earthrelic,  @chellewrites,  @ainsleywynter
Facebook also has a lot of resources for this. Check it out.
Go local. Yahoo has lots of groups where you can find local groups or meet ups. I moderate my local RWA chapter Three Rivers Romance Writers.

Editors:
When writing your first novel, I recommend you get an editor. Mine was Mary Harris.
Another editor I had look at my query letter and synopsis was @Cslakin

And, of course, all things MFRW are a necessity!

This is a work in progress as I learn more. I deliberately kept it short so it would one page anyone can reference but if you have anything to add, please contact me.
Happy writing!

ABOUT Colleen S. Myers
Colleen plays many roles. Not only is she a veteran, a mother, and a practicing physician, but she is a writer of science fiction and contemporary romances. Colleen’s dreams include surviving her son’s teenage years, exploring every continent on this planet, except Antartica, cause that’s way too cold, and winning the Nobel peace prize. Dream BIG! Currently she is working on Whole Again, a contemporary romance that she hopes to see published in the future.

Colleen's latest book is Can't Forget with Champagne Books.

Is it better to be safe or loved?

BUY LINK

Winner of the New England Readers Award!

Four months have passed since the E’mani—those pale alien freaks—destroyed the Earth and scooped up the remains. Elizabeth “Beta” Camden was one of those taken. But she escapes and confronts her prior captors successfully with the help of their enemies. Yet she knows the Imani won’t forget about her. She should stay vigilant and ready. Her heart refuses to listen. Beta falls in love with Marin—he of the hot hands and slit eyes.

Too bad she was right.

This time the E’mani don’t come in force. This time the E’mani slip in silently. And any hope she had of a peaceful life is lost. Beta knows what she has to do and it isn’t play house. She leaves in the dead of night to find the E’mani stronghold and end them once and for all. But love is a tricky bitch. And Marin refuses to let her throw her life away. It takes a threat to his safety to make her realize, if she can’t forget her past, she won’t have a future.

Connect with Colleen
https://twitter.com/ColleenSMyers
https://www.facebook.com/ColleenSMyers/
https://www.instagram.com/csmyers3637/
https://www.pinterest.com/csmyers3637/

A Quickie...No Not THAT Kind #MFRWAuthor

 Do we ever have enough time? I sure don't. So sometimes I put off posting to some blog sites or other promo opportunities because I needed to set up my link. Or else I used the link itself, like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Question-Faith-Stormhaven-Story-Stories-ebook/dp/B01LXFP9DN/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1478755044&sr=1-2&keywords=a+question+of+faith
And isn't that pretty much icky? I found out I could remove a lot of the link, like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Question-Faith-Stormhaven-Story-Stories-ebook/dp/B01LXFP9DN

But still it just didn't give the impression I knew what I was doing.  Well, because I didn't. The nice people at Exquisite Quills had directions on how to make that link look a lot more professional. So every time I put in the link I very carefully typed in or copied all the HREFs and <> a and so on. Again, time consuming and way too easy to mess up. Especially when I redid it every time. Yikes.

Then an ah-ha moment. Why not...set up those links ONE TIME and save them. Like this:

<a href="https://mona-karel.com/">Mona's Fun Place</a>
<a href="http://https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Karel/e/B0052GL1R8">Amazon Author Page</a>
<a href="http://www.blackopalbooks.com/author-bios/bio-mona-karel">Black Opal Books Author Page</a>

so they look like this: https:Mona's Fun Place and so on. This is obviously not necessary everywhere but when you need it often, it's so much easier to have it ready to go

Sadly, it took me a while to figure out how to set this up and save it instead of redoing it. Hey, I was in the middle of a romance...vicariously, of course. It might be almost everyone who reads this post has already figured out this shortcut. But if only one person is helped...it was worth the time it took to share this month's quickie.

Mona Karel is the writing alter ego of Monica Stoner, who can be found running her Salukis around the dog show ring, elbows deep in garden soil, and not often enough in front of her computer, searching for that perfect phrase to convey deep emotions. Her recent books include the Stormhaven Love Stories, Romance with a bit of suspense, a bit of humor, and a lot of love.
She helps out MFRW by moderating posts and answering how to questions. 

Find A New #Author To Love on #MFRWauthor @MFRW_Org Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet . Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or MFRW_Org

Once the tweet has been posted. Click on the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy this link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on November 9 and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ...(three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you a count of how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it clean for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net

#WWoW 1% Inspiration/ 99% Perspiration @Jill_Blake_ #MFRWauthor

I’m a planner. With a full-time job and three small kids, I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t plan ahead. This approach carries over to my writing: what I call the 1% inspiration/99% perspiration model.

The inspiration comes from fragments of real life and issues that would otherwise keep me up at night. Since I really need my sleep, I transform these "problems" into fodder for my books.

The 99% perspiration starts with carving out dedicated time for writing. That’s when I do the "foundational work" of research and outlining. I prepare character sketches, chapter-by-chapter outlines, timelines (on an actual calendar!), and individual files for background information (aka research)–all before I even begin chapter one.

My latest book, A Matter of Trust, is the third book of my Silicon Beach Trilogy. I wanted to tell a story about the younger siblings of characters from the previous two books. The problem was that my hero, Vlad, was kind of a jerk when he first appeared in book two. The need to rehabilitate him led to the central conflict of the story. Klara witnesses Vlad’s bad behavior, and this makes her doubt his integrity. Layer on a murder in which he becomes a suspect, and all of a sudden it becomes quite interesting…

I write romance because I enjoy exploring the relationships between people. I love throwing together seemingly incompatible characters and making them work through their differences. In my books, nothing comes easily, but the happy ending makes it all worthwhile—for me, and hopefully for my readers as well.

A Matter of Trust

(The Silicon Beach Trilogy, Book 3)
by Jill Blake

Venture capitalist Vlad Snezhinsky excels at two things: making money and being a dad. Still struggling to get over a disastrous marriage, he has zero interest in starting a new relationship. That is, until he meets Klara Lazarev.

Klara’s done living in her older sister’s shadow. Determined to forge her own path, she completes a prestigious fellowship program before returning to college. Now scrambling to fulfill her graduation requirements, she has no time for distractions like Vlad and his daughter. Especially after an unfortunate first encounter leaves Klara doubting Vlad’s integrity.

But when a shocking murder throws their world into chaos, can they trust each other enough to uncover the truth and embrace the possibility of love?

BUY LINK

Excerpt

Vlad hunkered down at the edge of the mat. "Okay, let's try this again," he said, stretching out his hand. "My name is Vlad. And you are…?"

"Klara. Anna's sister." She withdrew her fingers as quickly as possible, but not before he felt the slight tremor.

Nerves? Attraction? She averted her eyes, focusing on the baby. The pulse at the base of her neck fluttered.

He swallowed a smile. "So, Klara. Why haven't we met before?"

That got her attention. And not in a good way. Her brows drew together and she narrowed her eyes. "We have. A couple years ago, at your brother's wedding."

"Oh." He blinked away the unpleasant memories that threatened to swamp him. It was unfortunate that he'd forever associate Leo's wedding with the beginning of the end. That's when Vlad and Oksana started on a long downward spiral, culminating in an acrimonious divorce that was still dragging on today.

He studied Klara more closely. Something stirred at the back of his mind.

A brief impression of thick black curls swept up in an elegant twist, the body poured into some barely-there excuse for a dress, the lips smiling at him. And then—

Oh, God.

The red lipstick smeared, the eyes dripping mascara-tinged tears, his cheek stinging from the impression of her hand.

And then—nothing.

He couldn't recall a goddamn thing until he woke up the next morning, head pounding like an entire battalion of jackhammers doing demolition work.

 
ABOUT Jill Blake
A native of Philadelphia, Jill Blake now lives in southern California with her husband and three children. By day, she works as a physician in a busy medical practice. By night, she pens steamy romances.

Blog http://jillblake.blogspot.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/Jill_Blake_

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jill.blake.3386

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6899971.Jill_Blake