The LOVE NOTES Tour Continues! Plus, Life Imitating Book

The LOVE NOTES tour is still going strong -- and will be until the end of the month! Today REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is featured on the blogs Teen Hoot Books and Book Groupies. You can read all about LOVE NOTES on these sites and can pre-order it at Amazon! Thanks again to the bloggers for hosting and to fellow authors Kira Adams (PIECES OF ME), Breigh Forstner (STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART) and Shane Morgan (THE RIGHT SONG). Make sure you check into the tour and get the chance to win some cool freebies!

In other news, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my second novel. I'd really like to get it out there by March. I just want this one to be great, even better than the first.

What's funny is that I feel as if I've stepped into the life of my latest novel's narrator, Sadie. Overweight, out-of-shape Sadie makes a life-changing decision when she decides to walk a marathon -- and spends the rest of her freshman year of college training for this event.

Well, for the past year, I've been walking, too. In 2014, I completed my goal of walking 1000 miles (1058 altogether). This October, I'll be participating in Avon's 39.3 mile Walk To End Breast Cancer.

Walking may not seem like a hard-core activity, but let me tell you, training to walk long distances takes work. Over the last year I went from barely being able to walk a mile without stopping to walking 7, 8, 9. 10 miles. This past weekend, my husband and I actually did 12 miles and are working our way up to longer and longer workouts in preparation for the event. I'm hoping to actually run a marathon in the future, but for now, I'll take walking.

The other day a friend commented that I'm following in my character's footsteps and you know what? Sadie has inspired me. There have been days when I haven't felt like getting out and doing those 5 miles I'm scheduled to do, but I thought of Sadie's training schedule and went for it. Maybe it's silly to draw inspiration from a character I wrote, but hey, it works for me, LOL!

I hope to have Sadie's full story out this spring so stay tuned. Meantime, enjoy LOVE NOTES, the perfect read for Valentine's Day.

LOVE NOTES Blog Tour In Progress!

Our Book Blitz Blog Tour for LOVE NOTES kicked off this week! What's really great is that a few dozen book blogs have agreed to host us and promote our novels REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, THE RIGHT SONG (Shane Morgan), PIECES OF ME (Kira Adams) and STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART (Breigh Forstner). Make sure you check out the blogs so you can learn more about our novels and sign up for some fantastic prizes! The full list of blogs can be found at Itching For Books.

Because there are so many blogs involved, we're splitting the tour between the four books and are featuring a different work each day. Today is BAND GEEK's day and you can read more about it (and the rest of LOVE NOTES) on four blogs:

Desert Rose Reviews

Life, Books And More

Feed Me In Books

Cosying Up With Books

For my last blog tour, I wrote a few guest posts about writing YA fiction. This time, I went with a few fun "list" posts: there's a playlist to go along with the novel, detailed descriptions of the major characters and a list of "Easter eggs" within the book. Take a look because this will only add to your reading experience.

Thank you to all the blogs who are participating in our tour! Your help is much appreciated. And be sure to check out our boxed set, LOVE NOTES!

Last Day Of My Blog Tour!

It's the final day of my blog tour and it's ending with a nice review of BAND GEEK up at Sweet Southern Home. Thank you, Carrie, for hosting me! Readers, be sure to comment on her post so you can have a chance to win a prize of a CD and earrings!

To be honest, this all-review book tour has had mixed results for me. On the one hand, it's been GREAT because BAND GEEK has gotten so many wonderful reviews and I've enjoyed getting that feedback. I now have more reviews up on Amazon and Goodreads, which will only help me in the longrun, and the positive comments have bolstered my confidence in my writing. I truly, truly appreciate these bloggers for taking the time to read and then write about my book (some even posted reviews on multiple sites for me). Indie authors need all the help they can get when it comes to marketing and I think it's great that these bloggers are doing so much to help writers. At the end of this post I'll again link to all of the sites that hosted me; I encourage all of my readers to check out these blogs because they're written by some very thoughtful and intelligent people. A BIG THANKS once again to Goddess Fish and everyone involved!!!

Unfortunately, sales of my book are still slow. I've blogged about it, posted links on Twitter and Facebook, and have even included links on sites like Stumbleupon. And yet it's been kind of dead this month and I'm not sure why. I'm wondering if perhaps I needed to offer a different kind of prize in my blog tour, maybe something other than a CD and earrings? I thought that my gift is cool -- something handmade and different, but I see that a lot of other authors on blog tours are offering things like Amazon gift cards. Perhaps the next time I should follow the pack a bit more and do something that will encourage more people to check in and comment on the blog posts -- even if I am using some bribery, LOL. Oh well, live and learn, I guess. What do you guys think? What sort of author "prize" makes you want to participate in a tour?

The good news is that these bloggers' reviews will be up on their sites and Amazon for the longhaul so this can only help my book. It's helping me as a writer, too, because I've gotten many different perspectives on BAND GEEK. It sort of felt as if we were part of a round-table discussion! So while an all-review blog tour may not guarantee sales for an author, it certainly offers many other positives.

Once again, here's a list of the blogs who participated in my tour:

YA Book Addict

Unabridged Andra

Andi's Young Adult Books

My Neurotic Book Affair

Buried In Books

Musings From An Addicted Reader

Sweet Southern Home

Long And Short Reviews

Rogue's Angels

The Life (and lies) Of An Inanimate Flying Object

Paranormal Book Club

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, 4.6 stars on Amazon!

More Reviews Of BAND GEEK -- And A Defense Of A Character

Got two more great reviews of BAND GEEK from bloggers! You can read YA Book Addict's take and the one written by Unabridged Audra. Thanks again, ladies, for your support -- it's much appreciated. And readers, again, make sure you check out their posts and comment on them so that you can have a chance to win my special giveaway package.

It really means a lot to me to know that so many people are enjoying my writing and characters. I try to have faith in myself as a writer and to not put too much stock in reviews because I don't want the negative ones to bring me down, and I don't want to get too caught up in "believing my own press." But let's face it, I think I can speak for most authors when I say that we definitely care what others think, good or bad. Getting a really positive review makes my day and boosts my confidence in my abilities.

But it seems as if even the readers who adore BAND GEEK still dislike Mel's mom, Lydia. Poor Lydia; that character is misunderstood, I guess, LOL. It's funny, because when I wrote Mel's nemesis, Kathy, I wrote her with the INTENT for her to be the villain. She's the leader of the "mean girls" who taunt my narrator and has many unlikeable moments. However, some have commented that they actually came to hate and like Kathy in some scenes; she's turned out to be that girl whom you "love to hate." Lydia hasn't quite garnered that respect, maybe because she's a mother and should know better? I don't know. Truth be told, though, I didn't write her to be the bad guy. I wrote her to be a very stressed and hypercritical parent who wants what's best for her daughter and goes about dealing with Mel in the absolute wrong way. She does try ... and seems to have failed, even if she does get redeemed. I suppose that it's good that I created a character who's geting such a strong reaction! The good news is that the mom in my latest novel is the complete opposite; she's very laid back and sweet -- to a fault, actually -- and dotes on her daughter. Like I said in my last post, there is no right or wrong way to react to my book, but I wanted to share my perspective and the thoughts that went behind creating this woman.

I'm not a parent, but I do have a niece and a honorary nephew, and have many friends who are new parents. It's interesting to see different parenting styles. Not all adults handle their children in the same way. Some are awful and abusive (I'm not referring to any of my friends here; just parents in general). Some are firm and loving. Some, like Lydia, love their kids but let their own issues affect their relationships. I wrote this story with my teen years in mind, but now that I'm an adult, I can understand the parents' side a little, too. Just because you're a grownup and have children doesn't mean that you have all of the answers. In BAND GEEK, the adults are as a flawed as the teens, if not more.

One of the things that I like the best about writing is exploring the idea of different types of real-life relationships -- for better or for worse. I hope that the characters in my next book make as much as an impression as Lydia, Mel and Josh are for readers of BAND GEEK.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, currently 4.6 stars on Amazon and 4.09 stars on Goodreads!

Writing A Novel: Making Characters Different And Interesting

Woo hoo, BAND GEEK got another great review today! This one is from Shari at My Neurotic Book Affair. Make sure you comment on her post so that you can get a chance to win my CD and handmade wire wrapped music earrings.

So far, almost every reviewer -- even the ones who haven't cared for my book so much -- have mentioned how much they like and relate to my narrator, Melinda. This makes me so happy because while writing her, I came to love her (and Josh) almost as if they were real people and put a lot of work into making them come alive. I'm pleased that others are enjoying them as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Now that I'm working on my next book, I'm still trying to get to know these two main characters, Sadie and Griffin. One of my biggest challenges is writing a narrator who's interesting and relatable -- but has a different voice from Melinda. It's taking some work because the girls have some similarites: like Mel, Sadie is overweight (though much more so), is reserved and a bit of a loner, hasn't had much experience with dating, and has musical talents (in Sadie's case, she sings). I put a bit of myself into my characters so it's not surprising that all will pick up some of my real-life traits. But being a writer means you have to "write what you know" and then expand upon that. Sadie's background and homelife isn't at all like Mel's; plus, Sadie is experiencing her first year of college, so the setting is shaping this newer character. I'm still finding her voice, but it'll happen soon enough.

I think it's common for an author's characters to take on certain similarities because they're all coming from the same place: from that author's imagination. My favorite writers have managed to share their voices through their creations -- and mix things up just enough to keep me guessing and wanting more.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

A Writer's Dreams (And Nightmares)

My blog tour continues today with an awesome review of BAND GEEK at Andi's Young Adult Books. Thanks again, Andi, for saying such wonderful things about my novel! Make sure you check in and comment on her post so that you can have a chance at winning a copy of my CD and my handmade music earrings, which are silver wire wrapped earrings with Swarovski crystal hearts:

Most of these reviews have been posted very early in the morning, so I've been feeling a little anxious as I've gone to bed. Needless to say, I've been having some odd dreams about writing. I had one the other night where someone left a one-star review on Amazon complaining that my portrayal of a flute player was offensive to all of the flute players of the world. I then had another dream where I was trying to write, but my fingers refused to type the actual words. It felt as if my hands were stuck to the keys ... and of course, I was on deadline. I was very relieved when I awoke and realized that my fingers and typing skills are fine!

Obviously, this book is the big thing on my mind right now. I'm trying to relax and enjoy the ride, but I still worry about getting my work out there, finishing my second book ... and then I worry if I can really make it as a novelist. Then again, how does one decide if she's "made it?" Is it when I'm a best selling author? When I reach a certain number of four and five-star reviews on Amazon? I'm not sure. This is something that I'm still working out.

I'm supposed to have TWO blogs review BAND GEEK tomorrow, so that's twice the anxiety! But for today, I'm pleased that the blogger enjoyed my book ... and I'll hopefully get a good night's sleep tonight.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Marketing An Indie Book: Blog Tour Disappointment

Part of being an indie author means that you have to do your own marketing of your book -- and in most cases, this means putting money into some things.

I don't mind making an investment if I feel as if the cost will be worth it and I realize that with marketing, as with selling most things online, it's kind of a crap shoot. You can pay to have the most popular blog in the world review your work, but that doesn't necessarily mean that people will buy your book. Still, I at least want the services for which I paid to be carried out.

Sadly, this does not seem to be happening with my latest blog tour, which is supposed to be an all-review tour. The first two days went as planned; both blogs had reviews posted right on time. One review wasn't as positive as I'd hoped, but she was what I asked for. That blogger did her job.

Unfortunately, the tour has since fallen apart. One blogger had to postpone her review due to illness. That's fine. I don't expect anyone to work while they are sick and she gave me a new post date well ahead of schedule. But the other two blogs just sort of flaked. One still hasn't posted a review; the other posted a blurb and excerpt, but no review ... which is well, specifically what I paid for.

I want to make it clear that none of my annoyance has to do with the host company. They've been great. They've kept me posted on my tour schedule and have sent me continual alerts about the review (or lack thereof) situation. I know that they've contacted the bloggers to find out what's up.

But I am upset with people for not honoring their commitment and not meeting deadlines. I understand that life can get in the way, that people have jobs, kids, doctor's appointments and a number of other things that can make a schedule crazy. But if you can't get something done on time -- something for which I PAID MONEY -- at least have the courtesy to tell me that you can't do the job.

I do want to say that I'm grateful to the bloggers who've hosted me or have posted reviews of BAND GEEK. Blogging does take a lot of time and it was generous of them to feature me on their sites. I hope that these other bloggers come through in the end and that the rest of this tour goes smoothly. I just want my money's worth and don't think that this is asking for too much.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, 4.5 stars on Amazon, now just 99 cents!

New Book Tour Kicks Off Today -- New Review Of BAND GEEK!

Since my last blog tour was reasonably successful, I signed on for another one with the promotional company Goddess Fish. This particular tour is an all-review tour, meaning that the bloggers simply read and review my book. I'm not writing any guest blog posts or doing any interviews; I'm just commenting on posts that readers write in response to the reviews.

This morning, my tour kicked off with a critique from Long And Short Reviews. Overall, she really liked BAND GEEK. She related to Melinda and appreciated the growth that Josh goes through during the story. I'm glad that she "got" him as a character because I really worked hard to not make him a straight-up hero; I wanted him to be flawed with a chance to make some changes about himself. She said that she really got into the story and was anxious to find out what would happen.

She does take off some points for typos. She's not the only person who's commented on this so I'm wondering if perhaps I should hire a professional editor. I've read my work so many times at this point that I think my edits would be useless and I'd probably miss typos. I thought that I got them all, but you reach a point where your eye automatically corrects them in your head because you know your work so well. I had several writer/editor friends do reads ... but all have their own jobs, kids, etc. If this book were produced by a large publishing house, I'd have an editor on hand who'd spend months going over every sentence. So perhaps it's time for me to invest. In general, I've gotten very positive comments about the story and if this will take it to the next level, it could be worth it.

For now, I'm going to wait to see what the other bloggers on the tour have to say. I'm just glad that people are enjoying BAND GEEK and getting so into the story. I really do appreciate every reader and reviewer that I have!

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just 99 cents!

Publishing A Novel: The Thrill Of Doing Promotional Interviews

The latest stop on my Virtual Book Tour is my interview with Lisa Haselton on her blog Reviews And Interviews.

I've done a few interviews for this book tour and did a couple back when I was promoting my CD, but the process still feels a little surreal to me. I don't mind being asked questions; in fact, it's kind of fun and flattering to have such an interest taken in me, but for most of my life as a writer, I've een the one who's asked the questions! It's weird to be on the other side of things and to be the subject for a change.

I don't mind talking about myself, but I am grateful that so far, the questions haven't been too personal. I loved interviewing actors, but had to ask some very personal things at times, and for me, that was always awkward. I always felt uncomfortable when I questioned a star about his or her love life, his or her recent arrest or drug problem, or whether said actor ever planned to have children. These are questions that I'd never ask a mere acquaintance in my non-work life and I often had to push against a lot of personal fears to get the job done.

The good news is that most of the actors with whom I spoke were quite open about their lives -- sometimes to the point where they'd overshare and tell me stuff about their love life or bodily functions that I just didn't want to hear about. I always tried to be respectful and steer them back to the topic at hand; I also always made sure that everything said was on the record. I was never the type of journalist who was out to "get" a subject. I just wanted to share their story. Perhaps I would've moved through the ranks more quickly had I had that hunger, but I had no interest in humiliating a person just to get a scoop.

As for how I conducted my interviews, I tried to make them feel like regular conversations. I never fired off a list of questions for the actor to answer; we'd make small talk, chat about their kids, politics... and while we were talking, we'd eventually get to the topic at hand. I found that this method worked well and got good results because I made the actor feel comfortable. One actress once told me that talking to me felt as if she were chatting with an old friend, which I took as a huge compliment.

Sometimes actors would note that certain questions were hard, especially when I'd ask them something random, i.e. "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" for one of our fun columns. I'd laugh about this, but you know what? A lot of those questions were difficult to answer -- and answering interview questions so that you come out sounding good in print or on radio is a skill! It took me a long time to answer those questions for Lisa's blog; a lot of thought was put into them.

I've always respected the actors whom I dealt with, but now I have a much better understanding of what it was like to be questioned about your work. And if anyone asks me what kind of tree I'd want to be, I'll have my response ready!

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Kindle Book Review Feature

As part of my publicity campaign for BAND GEEK, I'm having it featured in The Kindle Book Review site. It seems to be working so far because I've had decent sales today after a bit of a slow-down. Moreover, I love the way the sensationalist tabloid-like headline that they gave to my blurb: "Mel Just Lost First Chair -- And She Wants Revenge!" I'm picturing Zombie Mel coming after Kathy with a chainsaw. It's certainly an attention-grabbing way to advertise my book!

As a journalist, I appreciate that they took the time to come up with a catchy header. I also like that the person who put this together obviously spent a lot of time reading through my blurb, bio and Amazon page to come up with an appropriate ad for me. Thirdly, they link to my purchase page several times throughout the ad. Overall, I'd say that I got my money's worth.

Meanwhile, my blog tour is going strong -- or at least it's supposed to be. So far, a couple of sites have yet to post my guest blog entries on deadline. But I also understand that life sometimes happens and that sometimes people can't get to their computers for reasons beyond their control (massive hurricanes, for instance). So I'm trying to be patient and hope that my posts will appear soon enough. (Update: it was indeed a power outage that prevented my post from going up. But it's up now and I will link tomorrow).

Some people are questioning my decision to pay for publicity, but I believe in that old adage, "You need to spend money to make money." I believe in it to a point, anyway. Obviously, you don't want to go into debt or to spend money on things that won't help your business. But I've learned through my jewelry businesses that you do need to spend at least a little cash to get results. This is why I don't mind too much if I have to pay the registration fee for a craft fair or for some book advertising. I've set a budget for both and see these as worthy investments.

My main goal, of course, is to get my book out there. Slowly, but surely, the word is spreading. I know that it will take time and patience -- and I'm TRYING to be patient, though it isn't always easy!

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Next Stop On My Blog Tour

First things first: I am now back in New York City and am happy and grateful to report that we have power, food, WiFi, heat and water in our home. A lot are less fortunate and believe me, I don't take this for granted. I love my city and it hurts my heart to see it in such bad shape.

Still, we're slowly coming back to life. We managed to get a direct flight to JFK today and I was surprised by how, well, normal everything was. We landed on time. The runways were dry and not flooded at all. I expected chaos when we left, but there were plenty of taxis. Someone -- city workers and whomever else -- really did a great job in getting our area of Queens in shape. Now if we can start to rebuild those areas hardest hit...

Though Sandy is on my mind, I'm determined to get on with my life. So the next leg of my blog tour is at A BOOK SO FATHOMLESS. My post is about the challenges that come with writing teen characters when an author, like me, is pushing 40. Be sure to check it out and see how you can qualify for my special giveaway!

Meantime, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Join Me On My Virtual Book Tour!

It's the first day of my book tour for REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD! Sorry I haven't posted as much as I'd promised; Hurricane Sandy did some damage on my family's home and we're still in California due to canceled flights. Needless to say, my mind has been elsewhere. But I'm trying to get back into gear (especially since I'm not sure if I'll have Internet or power when we return to New York)so let's get this thing started!

Today, my tour begins at the prime hosting site Virtual Book Cafe. Head over to this link and you can sign up to win that grand prize giveaway that I previously wrote about: one winner selected will get a free copy of BAND GEEK, a free autographed FLUTE PATH CD and a free pair of handmade G clef music earrings. Meanwhile, I'll also be giving away more free copies of my book. So head over there or to their Facebook page and sign up. All you need to do is click and add your name; it's that easy.

Tomorrow, my tour heads to Cindy Vine's Blog, where I'll be writing a guest post. Make sure you follow me there and check it out!

Meanwhile, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!