Summer Fun Romance Giveaway: A Waterproof Kindle Paperwhite!

Oh, boy, I almost forgot to post this, and the giveaway ends tomorrow, June 20. Never fear, there's still plenty of time to enter!

Find your next favorite author (hopefully, I'm your first! lol). See all of the fabulous covers by award-winning and best selling authors. There's also a fun blurb contest. The giveaway is a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite by Night Owl Reviews!!! Hello? Waterproof? How perfect for the pool, lake, or beach.  This is for US only. BUT. Wait. There's more. There will also be 119 $5 Amazon gift cards given away worldwide. I hope you are one of the 120 winners. Good luck!

Here's the link to enter.

https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Summer-Fun-2019-by-Night-Owl-Romance

Pre-order Available for BABIES AT COCONUTS

I'm thrilled to announce the third book in my Coconuts series, BABIES AT COCONUTS, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! I had a blast writing this book, which is my most multi-cultural, head-butting yet, and there's even a trip to Paris, as well as a baby shocker!

The first two books in my series, THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS and CHAOS AT COCONUTS (Book 2) are romantic women's fiction. However, BABIES AT COCONUTS turned out to be a romantic comedy. Remember, I'm a pantser and my characters take over!

I adore the expressive cover and especially the violet hue and Bird of Paradise flowers. Both have special meaning in my book. You'll have to read it to find out why! Special thanks to my cover designer.

Here's the blurb:

For Fans of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Italian-style!)

A clash of cultures.

A chaotic wedding.

A surprise baby.

Just another day at Coconuts.

Coordinating the most joyous day of her son’s life should be easy. After all, Suzy is a wedding planner. But a meddling future mother-in-law wasn't on the checklist. A wacky rehearsal dinner, beach wedding, and a baby—not necessarily in that order—ensures bedlam, if not hilarity, among the two head-butting moms. The show must go on, with or without the wedding party.

Hope is adept at counseling students but has given up on dieting and having sleek hair. She has even gotten used to the fact that her adopted father no longer remembers her—until a surprise engagement and a newspaper article leave her in shambles.

Sexy banker Alex conveys totally in control while ignoring the simmering boil of her disastrous relationship. Her marketing rival is her kryptonite, but a disastrous bank event may spell her downfall.

Socialite Cheri Van Buren seems to have the perfect life. The New Yorker deftly juggles celebrity events but is growing concerned about her jet-setting parents’ strained marriage. After competing in a cake-decorating contest, another chef leaves her speechless.

More than a Happy Hour haven, Coconuts is the unknowing guardian of shared secrets, bombshell revelations, a few tears, and joy. Will the best friends ever find happiness? It doesn’t look good.

 
NOTE: Even though this is Book 3 of my Coconuts series, it may be read as a standalone. I sprinkle in enough backstory to ensure readers won't be lost.

Ready to preorder? Here's the link on Amazon, and as always, a huge thank you for your ongoing support. I love my readers!!!


Mybook.to/BabiesAtCoconuts
 

SLEEPING WITH ELVIS Memes

I'm enjoying the positive reviews for my newest contemporary romance novel, SLEEPING WITH ELVIS. Thank you. I thought it would be fun to share a few memes that illustrate the romance, humor, and adventure. Aren't memes fun? Happy reading!

Where to Begin?

This is downright embarrassing. I haven't updated my blog since last fall. FALL. I'm surprised I remember how. What in the world have I been doing? A LOT.

Since I can't possibly write about every single item that has occurred, let me give you a quick rundown:

• My daughter and son-in-law had their first child--a boy--right before Thanksgiving. Joy!! This, of course, entailed many trips to L.A. beforehand and my throwing a baby shower. Maybe that's why I was so busy.
• My novelette, SANTA BABY, appeared in an eight-author Christmas anthology, SIZZLE IN THE SNOW.
• I went to Florida and had three book signings in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Sanibel. Great fun. I love Floridians. They're so welcoming and THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS is a great fit for the Sunshine State.
• I penned my newest novel, SLEEPING WITH ELVIS over the past several months. More about that in another post. I am a HUGE Elvis fan. I had an epiphany about a plot including an Elvis impersonator and my novel was born. I was busy all winter and spring writing this novel and will share details soon. I promise!
• I received "Best Debut Author" from BTS Books in April at TNEE (The Novel Experience Event) in Atlanta. I was bowled over. This was after six months receiving a 2015 RONE AWARD at the InD'Scribe Conference in Palm Springs. Sigh. Pinch me! Seriously, I could not be more humbled or happy to see my work recognized.
• I've been writing like crazy on my Coconuts sequel. I know. I know. I should have had it out by now. The good news is I have enough ideas for at least two more books! Yippee. More of Hope, Suzy, and Alex--as well as several new characters.
• We had a big family vacation the first week of June. There were 21 of us. Try getting a table for that size group every night for dinner! It's a challenge.
• Now, I'm FINALLY updating my website. I'm only three books behind. Good grief.

I'm sure there's more to add, but I have to get back to updating my site. I wish the summer would slow down but I"m looking at edits the entire month of July for SLEEPING WITH ELVIS before it releases on August 10! Stay tuned for details about a launch party, the cover, blurb, excerpts, swag, and more.

I hope you've had a wonderful time since we last chatted in October. I'll do better with my blogging. :)

A Laborious Summer

Since it's Labor Day weekend, (and since I haven't posted in way too long), I thought I'd tell you about my laborious summer. Actually, it has been a lovely, albeit extremely busy summer. Let me explain the play on words for "labor."

A few months ago, I wrote a novelette (10,000-word story) entitled "Santa Baby" for possible inclusion in the Soul Mate Publishing Christmas anthology. And I was thrilled to learn my story was one of seven that was selected. Funny thing is, I wrote about a woman in labor on December 23. She's all alone. No boyfriend. No father. Until... Well, you'll find out soon enough. Look forward to many blogs, prizes, and parties from all of the authors this November!

Interestingly, the month after I wrote "Santa Baby," my daughter told me she's going to have her first baby! Pretty amazing timing, right? We're very excited and are in full tilt mode for the upcoming baby shower, planning, and the precious bundle.

I also started a new novel a few months ago, currently titled STRANDED IN PARADISE. The title will most likely change. I have a really good one in mind if my publisher will let me use it!! I really love the hero, Ty, who has a very cool profession! I can't wait to tell you about it. And the villain, Derek, is a total jerk. I love creating nasty people, it seems. The heroine is Pepper who is an unemployed, unlucky-in-love daycare worker.  I'm about 85 percent finished with the first draft, then I'll tackle edits and the dreaded synopsis. My novel is set on a beautiful, serene island in Florida that I want to visit and hope you will as well.

We went on a two-week vacation with three sets of family members in Arizona and California and saw the famed "Standin' On the Corner" in Winslow, Arizona (by the Eagles), the Lowell Observatory, the infamous Meteor Crater, and of course, Hollywood! At the observatory, we were able to view Venus during the day and learned a maintenance guy who loved astronomy took tons of photos and was the one who discovered Pluto. A young girl from England entered a contest and named Pluto. Fun facts.

In honor of my one-year novel anniversary, I held an online Reader Appreciation Event for fans of THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS. We had a fun, three-hour party and I gave away tons of swag. Readers are why authors write and I love giving back to them.


Finally, I'll be attending the InD'Scribe Reader & Author Con in Palm Springs, California Sept. 17-20. I'll be signing books with about 100 authors, meeting readers, and attending the RONE awards gala. I'd love to see you there! And for those of you who voted for THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, I'm beyond humbled. Thank you.

It has been a frenzy of a spring and summer. I think I'll take a nap.

Choosing Novel Settings

It's Tuesday which means the Romance Writers' Weekly blog hop is hopping away. This week's question was posed by the lovely and talented Brenda Margriet.  http://www.brendamargriet.com/blog/romance-writers-weekly-whats-up-with-settings-lovewritechat 
Brenda asked her fellow writers how we choose our settings and whether they are real or fictional, no matter the genre. I hope you made it over here from Elizabeth's blog http://elizabeth-janette.blogspot.com

In THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS, my characters live in a town called Crystal City (fictional) and is set in Missouri (real). Crystal City is mid-sized and loosely based on my home-town of Springfield. Side note: Since I have cops in my novel, I tried out different names to make sure the abbreviated version of Crystal City Police Department (CCPD) would sound okay over a police scanner! I do enjoy the familiarity of writing about places I know but also like the challenge of creating entirely new worlds, people, and places.

As far as my three main characters' job settings, they're all very different and only one is similar to my real-life experience.

Alexandra (Alex) is a bank marketer who gets involved with a sexy bad-boy cop who may be stalking her. I was a bank marketer and did date a cop (cough, cough). Many of her duties such as creating branding campaigns, chairing 8 o'clock Monday morning marketing meetings, writing television scripts, and getting promoted to VP all happened to me.

Hope is a high school counselor. Of course, we ALL went to high school but I've never been a teacher nor a counselor, so Hope is completely fictional. She has hippie parents (I didn't have those either) but I loved the seventies and wanted to incorporate that decade. Hope also hates her looks, hair, and compares herself to her gorgeous girlfriends. Who doesn't do that?!

Suzy is a single mom who is a wedding planner. I, too, was a single mom for many years. As far as Suzy's company, Weddings By Suzanne, I've never been a wedding planner but discovered I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with themed weddings--and creating neurotic brides and a nasty, pretentious mother of the bride was icing on the ol' wedding cake.

So, the long answer to the question posed is a little of both--I used a few real-life experiences and settings but the vast majority of my novel is fictional. I hope you'll comment and then head over to Gemma's blog at http://gemmabrocato.com/blog I was lucky enough to meet Gemma/Heidi when we both went to Kansas City to hear Stephen King talk. What a great time. Meeting the fun, sweet, prolific Gemma and hearing SK on the same day! Wow. It's not often that authors who live in other cities, states, and countries get to meet, so this was a big deal. I'll never forget her first words when I walked into the B&N coffee shop. "I'd know you anywhere." Sweet.

Please follow the fun, quirky, talented RWW writers on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly?ref=bookmarks or Twitter at #lovewritechat.

Two-Line Promotional Hooks

My editor at Soul Mate Publishing asked me to write a two-line hook for THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS. She'll use this for promoting my novel online. I'm not sure why but this is really HARD--almost as difficult as writing the back cover blurb but not nearly as bad as the dreaded synopsis.

Still, I could use your input. I thought we could have a little fun. How about helping me with this? Let me know which hook "grabs" you. Which one would entice you to know more about (or hopefully purchase) my novel? I've written five hooks below. They are in no particular order. Please vote for your favorite in the comments.

#1 
Best friends, hippies, neurotic brides, and sexy cops.
What could go wrong?

#2
Best friends. Sexy cops. Hippies. Neurotic brides.
It’s complicated.
 
#3
A wedding planner, bad-boy cop, neurotic brides, and hippies.
Not your everyday romance.

#4 

A wedding planner who can’t find wedded bliss. A banker involved with a bad-boy cop.
A counselor who enables her hippie parents. It’s complicated.

#5 

Best friends and wine solve everything—bad-boy cops, bitter betrayals, hippie parents, and neurotic brides. Bring it on.

I'll be eager to see which one comes out on top. Thanks for your input!

 

#AmEditing

#AmEditing takes on a whole new meaning after you've gone through your 400-page manuscript a gazillion times. It feels like the editing process will never end. My back is killing me, my eyes are bloodshot, and I keep forgetting to eat. Sound familiar?

 I am now working on the final galley for THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS so this is the LAST go-around before the ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). I'm very nervous about this process. I hate typos but we're human and they're inevitable. I decided to have a print copy made and bound but the print is so light I am straining my eyes. I don't have time to have it redone and didn't bother looking at my printed masterpiece(!!) at the store. Oy.

I've learned many things from my talented Soul Mate Publishing senior editor, Debby, and will share those with you after I'm finished editing. Don't let me forget. It's good stuff. For now, I'm finding errors since my editor asked me to change a couple of small plot points and they were woven throughout. I thought I had found them all on the second major edit but I didn't. Scary. I'm going underground Jack Bauer style until I've tackled my 400 pages. I can do this. That's what I keep telling myself. That said, it's a dream come true. I'm not complaining. It's an incredible whirlwind of a process and I'm thrilled to be in this position, bloodshot eyes and all.


Side note: Please mark Aug. 14, 3-6 p.m., on your calendar. That's the date for my online launch party on Facebook. It's going to be fun!. I'll give away tons of prizes/swag, gift cards and books. More about that later, too. I may have an in-person launch party later in the fall after my print books are available.

I also have a couple of other BIG announcements in the wings. So, stay tuned. A new website will be launched next week as well.

Whew! When is a writer supposed to sleep?! How do you like the editing process?