Living the Dream

Here we are again, with Mother Nature having a hot flash, but I’ll take it. Today’s Did You Know seals with series. Did you know that according to a number of promotion websites, books in a series sell better than standalone books?

When I first started writing, all of my books were standalone. Since I couldn’t imagine writing one book let alone others, that made sense.

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that there are different types of series out there.

For example, four of my series are linked by theme rather than character. In the Mystic Adventures series, as Shakespeare once said, there are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. The Mythic Adventures series is a blend of paranormal suspense and psychic romance. Walk through stories filled with myths, ghosts, gods and goddesses, reincarnation, and past life experiences, as our heroes and heroines battle unknown forces to find love and their happily ever after.

In my All for Love book series, falling in love isn’t always easy, and for the couples in these books, the road to happiness is often complicated and filled with misunderstanding that can last days, weeks, months, years, or even decades. But in the end, love triumphs.

Some of my Cocktails for You series books are shorter than others. It’s Happy Hour! Cocktails for You are romantic comedies, limited to a moment in time for our heroes and heroines, designed to make you laugh and brighten your day.

My Winter Weddings series combines the Christmas holidays and winter where couples overcome difficulties to fall in love and eventually wed at the most magical time of the year.

Finally, my Vengeance is Mine series is a series of fast paced suspense thrillers where heroes and heroines fight to save lives and put an end to those who seek revenge, not justice.

Another type of series is one that has recurring characters. I have three such series. In the first, The Punishers: There are two worlds in New Orleans, the mortal realm and the underworld populated by immortals, the undead, and other preternatural characters. The detectives of NOPD’s Paranormal Investigative Squad follow up on crimes involving the underworld, and when those crimes spill over into the mortal one, look out!

My second series featuring some of the same characters is The Canadiana Series is a two book series loosely based on my own ancestry that deals with the early settlement on New France and the difficulties encountered by those who chose to make Canada home.

By far my best selling series in one name The Harvester Files. Top investigators try to stop a madman and his followers from murdering millions and imposing their fanatic beliefs on others. Just when you think it can’t get worse, it does. There’s always a new Harvester waiting to pick up where the other left off!

Why not look at the sample from Book one, The White Carnation

He’s watching, waiting…
The last person disgraced reporter Faye Lewis wants back in her life is Detective Rob Halliday, her former fiancé, the man she blames for ruining her career and breaking her heart. But when she discovers her best friend’s mother murdered, she doesn’t hesitate to call him.
Breaking up with Faye after she unjustly accused him of sabotaging her career was a crippling personal blow for Rob, but he coped by burying himself in his work. For the past year, his team has been hunting the Harvester, a serial killer who ritualistically murders new mothers and vanishes with their infants. What Rob doesn’t need is another case, especially one involving his ex-fiancée. But, when the killer’s newest victim resembles Faye, all bets are off.
When Faye is assaulted in her own apartment, Rob realizes that not only are these cases connected, Faye may be the key to finding the elusive killer, providing Rob can keep her out of the maniac’s hands.
Realizing her vulnerability, Faye agrees to set aside their past to work the case together, but the more they investigate, the more complex the situation becomes. The mad man has an agenda, one that involves Faye. Can they catch the Harvester before he finds Faye and reaps another prize?

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back Monday when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter T. Enjoy your day.

Here we are again, slowly wending our way through the last nine letters of the alphabet, some of them the least used letters of all. Today, the focus is on the letter R. Did you know that getting reviews is one of the biggest challenge an author faces these days?

Writing and editing a book has always been the most intriguing part of my career as an author. Once the book is finished and formatted, it goes to be published. Then comes my least favorite job, promoting it. I suck at promotion. I’ve tried several different things, but inevitably, they fall short of the mark.

The one aspect of promotion though that is completely out of my hands is getting a reader to review the book once they’ve finished it.

Reviews don’t have to be complicated. If you like a book, say so. Even if you didn’t like it, say so. Bad publicity is better than none at all. But don’t just say, this is crap. Explain yourself. An author can’t fix an issue if they don’t know it exists.

Giving a book one star without leaving a review is like going to a doctor and being told you’re going to die without an explanation.

If you’re going to take the time to review, please don’t spoil it for other readers by giving away too much of the plot or the ending. As a writer, I strive to keep the reader guessing. Saying something like I knew the butler did it from page one, ruins the story for potential readers.

But the absolute worst are, you guessed it, fake reviews. Those reviews are usually posted by trolls, people with nothing better to do than create havoc and try to ruin an author for God alone knows the reason.

The next time you read a book, please consider taking a few minutes to review. The more reviews a book has, the better its chances of getting noticed by readers and Amazon.

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter S. Enjoy your day.

I’m back in the groove. I finished Finding Melinda yesterday, making the deadline with a day to spare. LOL Today’s letter is Q and I’ve chosen to do my Did You Know about Quitting.

Sooner or later, we are all quitters. Not me, you say? Then you are indeed rare. I can honestly say, I’ve quit lots of things in my life, some I regret, others I don’t. The first thing I recall quitting was a job as a chambermaid in a hotel. That’s when I learned that people could be pigs–those renting the rooms as well as the touchy-feely guy who was my boss. I lasted one day.

Over the years I started and quit several hobbies and sports, some because my interest waned, or they became too expensive to maintain, others because my body failed me. Arthritis can be a terrible thing. I had to stop Curling and scrapbooking because of sore, swollen Joints. There may be many more things old age will force me to quit, but until I have to, I intend to keep going.

The one thing I haven’t quit, despite disappointment at times, is writing. As long as I have ideas, I’ll continue., I may slow down a little, but as long as I can do it, I intend to persevere.

What about you? What’s the one thing you do that you won’t quit?

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter R. Enjoy your day.

I knew it would happen eventually. I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. Would you believe I got my days of the week mixed up? I have a calendar of activities on my desk, but for some reason, my brain was stuck on Monday when it was actually Tuesday. One of the biggest hurdles I face as a full-time author these days is the opportunity to write what I want to write when I want to write it.

Yesterday’s letter was O and for me, O stands for all of the opportunities that I’ve had as a writer, those that have worked for me and those I’ve lost.

It seems to me that these days, time goes by so much faster than it used to, and I accomplish much less each day than I want to. I’m not a young woman and my body isn’t as strong and flexible as it should be. The only one to blame for that, is me since I didn’t take the best care of myself when I should have. I lost opportunities to stay strong and healthy.

Opportunity knocks for everyone, but if you don’t answer in time, you lose the chance to do whatever was best for you. Sometimes, you make a mistake and choose the answer the wrong door, wasting time on something that will never turn out the way you hoped it would. We’ve all had jobs that weren’t what we expected, taken trips that were disappointing, met people who failed to live up to their reputations, and in my case, invested time and effort into books that failed to reach their potential and my expectations. In racing language, I backed the wrong horse.

And that brings me to today’s letter P. Did you know that in life, perception is everything? Perception is the ability to give meaning to something though your senses and your mind, specifically cognition, understanding, recognition, and appreciation of something based on moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities. Synonyms include insight, intuition, and discernment.

As an author, perception is also the ability to select ideas and create plots that have meaning and value, that will entertain and satisfy the needs and wants of the reading audience. And therein lies my problem. My perception of things is based on my life experiences, my moral beliefs and upbringing, my social conventions and responsibilities, and these days, those seem far away from what society perceives, wants, and expects. When I started writing, I was instructed to write what I knew. Had I done that, the book would’ve been short and boring. Instead, I chose to use my imagination, do some research and then, use the memories I had of the places I’d been to create my works, but I still have my high hurdles and limitations.

The downside of perception is that we often see what we want to see and not what is really there in front of us. We see ourselves differently from the way we are. We fail to see the goodness in us and focus on our shortcomings. This year, my goal is to try to be less judgmental of myself. To value what I’ve done and what I hope to do, but mostly to see myself as a winner, not an also-ran.

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter Q. Enjoy your day.

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales the blog where a select group of authors share their works in progress with you. This week our word is DIRT and the scenes are limited to 400 words.

I’m continuing with my romance suspense, Finding Melinda. Good news, folks. We have a cover.

“This is amazing.” Marc leaned against the fence that kept the visitors safely away from the rushing waters.

Melinda nodded. “Essentially, this marks the spot where the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal diverge. The Hog’s Back was created when they built the canal, back in the early nineteenth century. Back then, there were rapids in this area that were about two thousand feet long with a six-foot drop. They were actually navigable by canoe, but Colonel By, the canal’s architect, needed to damn the river to divert water into the canal. You can imagine how much dirt and stone he needed to move to accomplish that. The original rapids are actually pretty much under the dam, and when he diverted the water, the amount left for the river created this.”

He chuckled. “Beautiful and smart.”

She laughed. “You said that last night.”

His gaze found hers. “I meant it then, and I mean it now.”

She swallowed, uncomfortable with the smoldering admiration in his eyes.

“You don’t have to flatter me. You’re my twin brother’s best friend. That makes you mine, too.”

Marc turned and pulled her into his arms. “I’m kind of hoping I can be more to you than I am to him.” He bent his head and kissed her, but this kiss wasn’t the innocent one he’d given her last night. She gasped, and he took advantage of her mouth’s slight opening to slip his tongue into it, filling her with sensations unlike any she’d felt before. She could stay like this for the rest of her life.

“Ouch.” She pulled away and jerked around, the sizeable stone that had struck her in the back just below her neck now lying at her feet.

“My God, are you okay?” Marc reached for her once more, turning her away from him. “At least, you aren’t bleeding.”

The sound of children giggling drifted over to them.

“Peter, that’s enough. Now, get up here,” the woman called.

No doubt the boy had been tossing stones into the water, and one had gone amiss.

Mark released her and bent down to pick up the rock about the size of a baseball. “I have half a mind to go after Peter and give him a damn good lecture on the danger of throwing rocks.”

“Don’t! I’m fine. I’ll probably have another bruise,” she joked, “but I’m resilient. Can I see that?”

That’s it. Stay safe, and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.

Welcome back to the letter N. In my writing, length has always been an issue because I like complicated plots. Did you know what the difference between a novel and a novella is?

Both are works of fiction with developed characters, a plot, and action with some degree of realism. While a novella is longer than a short story, typically is short than a novel, which usually contains about 200 pages. Novella’s average thirty to fifty thousand words.

I don’t write many novellas although I do have a couple in my Cocktails for You series.

Tequila Sunrise and Buck’s Fizz are novellas. Short books that can be read quickly.

Unlike most of my novels, these are written in the first person.

My longest books tend to be my historical romances or my paranormal and suspense novels. Atonement due out next Monday is my longest book to date. I envy authors who can crank out 50 k novels withyout blinking an eye, but sadly, that doesn’t seem to be my style.

You can check out novels and novellas in this boxset.

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter O. Enjoy your day.

Spring is an interesting season here. Supposedly, it starts March 21 or thereabouts and ends June 21 with the onset of summer. The truth is that it’s starts when it wants to and incorporates all four seasons in one. We have winter almost over, followed by winter might be over, followed by winter not over yet, and then we’re plunged into this might be spring, followed by OMG it’s summer, then what happened to spring? and finally this is it, spring I think.

Last week we were in OMG, this is summer, not that I complained. It was nice to see the sunshine and feel the heat after the long winter we’ve had, but I got a vivid reminder of the dangers of spring and our other temperamental season, fall, this week when I went to see my mother the other day. We live in an area with a lot of moose and deer. The signs for deer crossings and moose crossings or deer danger and moose danger ae everywhere. Sadly, the deer and moose can’t read, so they don’t always cross the highway where one expects them to.

As I was driving along the highway, I came across the remnants of several raccoon that didn’t make it as well as the large sploshes on the road indicating the demise of a deer. I saw one on the side of the road, its head crushed, but what kept me on alert was seeing the doe standing on the side of the road as if waiting to cross. Usually, I don’t see them mid-morning like I did. They tend to come out of the bush at twilight or during the early evening hours, occasionally in the early morning, but mid-morning? Heavy traffic? And yet, there she was. Keep an eye out for them, please. Hitting an animal can do a lot of damage to both it and you.

In my novel, Trouble with Eden, an unexpected encounter with a moose derails all of my heroes plans. Read the free preview to learn more.

Hope you have a wonderful day and a great weekend.

Welcome back. We’re on a three-day roll of absolutely awesome weather here, although it will all come to an end on Monday, and we’ll be plunged back into regular spring, complete with April showers and single digit temperatures. In some ways, I don’t mind it, since it does make it easier to sit at the computer and work.

Today, we are at the mid-point in the challenge with the letter M. For my Did You Know? this morning I’m going to talk about memories and motivation. What motivated me to write, and how do memories come into it?

When I first started my career as an author, my motivation was actually quite simple. I was bored. I’d retired from education after 35 years in the classroom, most of it spent as a secondary school English teacher. My days had been full, many of my evenings too, with marking and lesson planning. I’d spent weekends doing laundry and housework, and suddenly I had long empty days ahead of me. Since my husband wasn’t retired and had no plans to do so, I couldn’t even travel.

Cooking really isn’t my thing, I tried crafts. I did some scrapbooking, but the arthritis in my hands made it hard to use scissors properly. I could only do so much housework, especially with my knees, hips, and wrists getting so much worse. I spent my afternoons reading or reading Facebook posts.

One day, I happened upon a post from Harlequin, a chat room where unpublished authors could post their writing each week. I found that the editor of one of their lines was running a contest, looking for new authors. Since writing a book had always been one of those bucket list items, one I never expected to tick off the list, I figured, why not? I had a computer … wasn’t that really all it took? After all, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried and failed before.

Long story short, I wrote the book, didn’t win the contest but made some incredible friends that I still have today. Those friends encouraged me to submit my book to a pitch fest. I did and got a request from another editor for the book. The novel was Fire Angel, and the publisher was Crimson Romance. After copious editing that changed a significant portion of the book, they published it. From them, I learned the importance of POV, the need to avoid head hopping, the importance of a well-thought out plot, without holes, the need for a strong vocabulary, without repetition, the difference between my English spelling and word use, which as a Canadian differs from that of my American readers, and how to write a synopsis. I also learned to forget my vision of the story and accept theirs because as a publisher, they knew best, right?

Over the next three years, I wrote more books for them, as well as for four other small publishing houses. Sadly, this is where the memories come in and where I learned a valuable lesson as an author. Publishers don’t give a damn about you. You are only a means to make money for them, and the more they can make the better. So, when Crimson decided to sell to a bigger company, all of its authors got the shaft. The new company wasn’t interested in us. They simply wanted to eliminate the competition, which they did within two years. The other small houses I wrote for didn’t make it. For a couple, the competition was too stiff, for a couple more, it was a case of take the money and run, screw the authors in the process.

Rather than quit, my motivation switched to “prove you have what it takes to be a successful author.” I opted to get back all of my rights to my books–some took longer than others– and then, wiser in the ways of the world, I decided to look into self-publishing. During my early years, I’d made friends with other authors who’d also been shafted by the publishers. They helped me learn to format my work, designed covers for me, and encouraged me to continue writing. I began the long journey toward re-establishing myself as a writer. It hasn’t been without tears, but I’m slowly climbing out of obscurity and getting noticed.

When I got my rights back, the first thing I did was got back into the books and edit them. On My Watch had been a good seller for me as had most of the Romance Suspense novels I’d sold through Crimson. It required very little editing, so it got a shiny new cover, one that spoke to the story, and was released on my own through Amazon, making it eligible for Kindle Unlimited.

Here’s the blurb.

A helpless victim with amnesia. A jaded FBI agent sworn to protect her. A killer for hire out for blood.

After an incident that leaves him questioning his worth as an FBI Special Agent, Jason Spark fills in for his brother at the local sheriff’s office. He’s sent to check out an odd 9 1 1 call, unwittingly stepping into a horrifying bloodbath straight out of a Hollywood slasher movie, complete with cryptic clues scrawled on the wall.
The investigation turns up one suspect: The Butcher, an elusive killer for hire linked to the Sicilian mob. What can the mob want with a doctor and his family? The answers lie with the wife, clinging to life.
When survivor Nikki Hart awakens, her memory is a blank slate. She doesn’t know her name, can’t recall anything about herself, or what happened to her. Even her young daughter is a stranger. Terrified, she clings to the memory of the angel who comforted her in her darkest moments. Was he real or just a figment of her imagination?
As the news of Nikki’s recovery spreads, Jason fears they’ve put her in the ruthless killer’s sights once more. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect her and her daughter, the family he wishes were his.
In protective custody, love grows, but danger lingers. The assassin won’t quit until he fulfills the contract. When Nikki learns the truth about the worst night of her life, she’s horrified. Will she make the right decision or put herself and her daughter in danger once more?

Read the free preview for more.

Now, what motivates me? It’s wanting to share the products of my imagination with others. It’s hearing from readers how much they enjoy my books, reading reviews, and most of all, it’s knowing that I may have brightened someone’s day.

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back Monday when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter N. Enjoy your day.

Welcome back. We’re flirting with summer here, with temperatures expected in the low 70’s F. It won’t last, but it’s nice while it’s here. I hope the truly nasty weather everyone experienced at the end of March and the beginning of April is well and truly gone.

Today is dedicated to the letter L which stands for love. There are several different kinds of love. Love of country which we call patriotism, love for our neighbors and those around us, which is Agape love, familial love which includes our family–parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. and romantic love which is the one that draws us to a specific person, the one we want to spend the rest of our lives with, raise families together, and includes erotic love, which is more than sex for the sake of sex.

As a romance writer, love is my bread and butter. It’s the one element embedded in every one of my novels, regardless of sub-genre. While I don’t devote a great deal of my writing to sex, I’ll include it IF it is necessary to the story and moves the plot along. I’m a prude. I’ll say it front and center, so I have trouble with strangers meeting and jumping right into bed. I need some emotional foreplay before I can get to that scene. Sex for the sake of sex just doesn’t do it for me.

I’ve written a number of books that have dealt with familiar love, where children or brothers and sisters are an element of the greater love story. For example, in His Christmas Family a single mother puts it all on the line for her children. Here’s the blurb.

Since losing his wife, children, and parents six years ago to a drunk driver, Lee Ostler stopped celebrating the holidays, especially Christmas. But he isn’t a modern-day Scrooge by any means. Because his parents would’ve wanted it, he does his duty by his employees at Ostler Construction, the Payton Falls community, and his sister and her family, but that’s it.
When Sonia has to leave the country for a few weeks before Christmas, she begs him to watch the twins for her. Even if it means, parades, pageants, and fairs, how can he refuse? But things get complicated when the twins accidentally injure one of his employees, who turns out to be the shy girl he admired years ago in high school.
Life has dealt Jennifer Wilson a lot of blows, but this year, the widowed mother of four has hit rock bottom. How will she give her children a magical Christmas when the cupboard’s bare, her wallet’s empty, she can’t work, and may well lose the roof over their heads? She needs a miracle, and if he happens to be her boss and the former high school quarterback, she was too terrified to even speak to back then, how can she say no?
Can Christmas magic bring two broken souls together?

In Forever in my Heart, I deal with the pain of a child growing up feeling unloved as well as the devastation that comes when siblings lose one of their own. Here’s that blurb.

All Callista Hayworth has ever wanted was to be loved. Callie’s heart was crushed six years ago when she walked in on her twin sister in the arms of her fiancé. She fled Timberton and cut all ties with the last member of her family. She’s rebuilt her life, but some things can never be fixed. When she learns of the tragic accident that has orphaned her infant nieces, she sets aside her anger and returns to the scene of her greatest heartache. What she doesn’t expect is her reaction to the twins’ uncle and his proposition.
Michael Branscomb swore off women years ago, after the woman he loved left him for his best friend. A deathbed promise to his twin brother has to be honored. The last thing the confirmed bachelor wants or needs is a wife and children, but you don’t always get what you want. He’ll do almost anything for his twin, but can he marry a stranger?
When he meets Callie, commonsense goes out the window, and he proposes a marriage of convenience, offering each of them an end to loneliness and a promise at the future they want.
Will the spirit of Christmas convince Callie to give him a chance, especially when there’s a Grinch in the works determined to see the past repeat itself?

I have a series of books dedicated specifically to romantic love. My All for Love series. Falling in love isn’t always easy, and for the couples in these books, the road to happiness is often complicated and filled with misunderstanding that can last days, weeks, months, years, or even decades. But in the end, love triumphs.

The series includes Just for the Weekend Wedding Bell Blues Royal Flush The Blue Dragon Forever and Always Same Time Next Year The Trouble with Eden The Regal Rose and Finding Melinda

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter M. Enjoy your day.

Good morning. Here we are again, nearly halfway through the challenge for this year. Mother Nature seems to have gotten the memo, and after dumping that nasty ice storm on us last week, we can expect sunshine and 60 F this afternoon. Too early to work in the yard, but I can see time outside later today for me.

Today, we pay homage to the letter K and to do that, I’m going to talk about Kindle Unlimited. Rather than repeat everything I know about KU, I’ll provide you with this link that covers every possible aspect of the topic. https://forevershereads.com/guide-to-kindle-unlimited

As a reader, KU is a great way to read a lot of books for a low price since you can have up to 20 books in your bookcase. As a writer, it’s a great way to not only get your books in front of a reading audience, but to get paid for your hard work. KU pays me less than a cent per page read, but when the book is 300 pages long, that adds up. In many cases it’s far preferable to having someone read the e-book and then return it for a full refund, leaving me with zip.

The disadvantage to Kindle Unlimited is that the author has to be exclusive to Amazon, which means readers must download an app if they aren;t using a Kindle, but the app is free, and since lots of people read on their phones as well as on tablets and e-readers, that really isn’t an issue. While I do publish my books in print, I don’t sell from a brick-and-mortar bookstore, but all of my print books are also available on Amazon.

If you are a voracious reader and you travel, by now you’ve realized how inconvenient it is to take paperbacks with you. Having to pay for your luggage, especially when it’s overweight isn’t any fun. If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can download a bunch of books prior to your departure and there they are, weightless, but just as engrossing–just don’t forget to bring your cable to rechange your phone or tablet.

As a writer, I can put a book up for pre-sale on KU before it’s finished. That KU deadline for completion becomes my Holy Grail. It’s the goal I strive for each day, needing so many thousand words to finish on time. KU also gives me the option of making changes to the keywords, book description, even the content without any additional expenditure on my part. If I decide the book needs a new cover, once I have one, I can change that, too.

On average, more than half my income each month comes from KU. It’s the main reason I choose to publish through Amazon. At the moment, I have 42 books available on KU and 2 books on pre-order. I’m not getting rich–few independent authors do these days, but the more people find my work and read it, come back for other books, then, the happier I am. Here’s my Amazon profile that includes not only my books, but those published with the ABB. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susanne-Matthews/author/B00DJCKRP4

That’s it for me today. Find other bloggers and their posts here. https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84

Come back tomorrow when I’ll give you a Did You Know? for the letter L. Enjoy your day.