Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, Guatemala

Monday, February 25, 2013

Writing and Marketing

Once I got online I never looked back. I wouldn't dream of not being here, not blogging, not being active on social media, which is my chosen way to promote myself as a writer and part of the job.

However, finding balance is difficult because of the tempting nature of the beast. One can easily spend every second of free time online, feeling like important marketing is being accomplished as the seductive Internet eats up our precious creativity.

Regarding marketing, I feel that once published, writers need to spend more time writing and improving our craft than talking about our books. Get the word out then back off and write the next book, while still doing enough to maintain a website/blog geared toward your demographic.

Regarding social media, I think it's important to develop an online presence to make connections with other writers, the publishing industry, and with your readers. Online is where the news hits first and where trends are started. Stay in touch with the writing, publishing trends but don't fritter away precious creative time overdosing on social media.

That's the basis of my philosophy about writers and marketing. I don't always follow it. But I believe it. And I keep trying for that elusive balance. Which is why I'm posting less often and commenting less frequently, try to control myself on Twitter, don't do much on Facebook, and why I am assiduously avoiding Pinterest.

Have you found an agreeable balance between writing and marketing?

Monday, February 18, 2013

Counting the Tender Mercies

Last week my husband suggested an idea. He said, “How about every day we talk about God’s tender mercies that come to us.” So we began. And we couldn’t think of anything. It was a stressful day at work and neither of us felt particularly good or energetic or joyful. Tender mercies? Couldn’t name a single one.... continue reading.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Romance-- Iced or Hot?

Kennedy Carter has the perfect life. It includes an engagement to an NHL celebrity all-star, a Vera Wang wedding dress, and more money than she could ever spend. But when Kennedy learns that her fiance Todd is cheating on her, she's ready to leave the glamour and glitz behind.

She escapes to Orlando, Florida with a plan to rebuild her life while staying hidden from a country obsessed with celebrity scandals. The real world however, is tougher than she expected. Suddenly Kennedy has to deal with cockroaches, creepy alarm salesmen, and waiting tables... along with David, a gorgeous new love interest.

But what happens when the past refuses to stay hidden? When the truth of her background catches up to her, Kennedy must finally decide who she is, what she wants and where she really belongs.


Whitney Boyd's new novel is HOT. Now free on the Kindle for Valentine's Day, it shot up the Amazon Bestseller Lists:  #1 in Teen Fiction, #3 in Women's Fiction and #40 on the Top Bestsellers. You can get it here. 

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your romance today is just the way you like it.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Coming Full Circle

I set this blog up four years ago as Coming Down the Mountain: From Reclusive Writer to Published Author. Because that's what I was. I'd been hiding in my upstairs room like Emily Dickinson, and it was time to come down from the mountain and into the world.

My first book surprised friends and neighbors because they didn't even know I was writing. When my second was released, I decided to escape my reclusive shell and go online.

The blog went through various transitions, from practically anonymous to having my full name on it, which to me never felt right for this particular site. So I've changed the title back to what it was originally, because it's always been about the writer's journey.

It is my story of how I went from reclusive writer to published author. Which is every writer's story once you get that first idea-- how you take the idea from its hidden place to shape and polish and then finally share with the world, no matter how small that world might be.

And as you do so, you leave the isolation of creation to put your work out there, hoping that someone somewhere finds it worth the time to read through to the very last page and be glad they did. Because that is who you are writing for.

I also like to share the stories of others-- how you went from reclusive writer to published author. If you're interested in doing a guest post, please email me!

Friday, February 1, 2013

And who doesn't love the Brontes?

A haunted family of writers, living far out on the foggy, craggy moor-- People have been obsessed with the Brontes for years, and time doesn't seem to dim the attraction.

WiDo Publishing recently released an amazing novel by debut author Aviva Orr, The Mist on Bronte Moor: a YA time travel about a London girl who finds herself house guest of the Bronte family.

And check out this intriguing cover! So yummy! Makes me want to curl up by the fire with a cup of tea and plate of scones. And when I finish Aviva's book, I'll go bake some more scones and dig into Wuthering Heights!



When fifteen-year-old Heather Jane Bell is diagnosed with alopecia and her hair starts falling out in clumps, she wants nothing more than to escape her home in London and disappear off the face of the earth.

Heather gets her wish when her concerned parents send her to stay with a great-aunt in West Yorkshire. But shortly after she arrives, Heather becomes lost on the moors and is swept through the mist back to the year 1833. There she encounters fifteen-year-old Emily Bronte and is given refuge in the Bronte Parsonage.

Unaware of her host family’s genius and future fame, Heather struggles to cope with alopecia amongst strangers in a world foreign to her. While Heather finds comfort and strength in her growing friendship with Emily and in the embrace of the close-knit Bronte family, her emotions are stretched to the limit when she falls for Emily’s brilliant but troubled brother, Branwell.

Will Heather find her way back to the comforts and conveniences of the twenty-first century? Or will destiny keep her in the harsh world of nineteenth-century Haworth?

The Mist on Bronte Moor is available at the following locations:

WiDo Publishing website
Amazon
Barnes and Noble 
Powell's Books
IndieBound
The Book Depository

And for more Bronte love and information, visit Aviva Orr at her website avivaorr.com, where she posts regularly about all things Bronte.