Sick time

I know I post often, so I figure no one really missed me, but I have been so sick this week with Gastroenteritis. I'm finally on the mend, but I'm so closed to finishing my current manuscript and I wasn't able to get anything written this week. I came down with it on Tuesday morning. Hopefully, I can get caught up once I am feeling back to normal.

I missed doing an interview on a blog, so hopefully they'll invite me back again. I missed my local writers meeting this week and I love going to those. I guess even writer's get to take some sick days every once in a while.

Carol

Links of the Week, Chocolate, Coffee & Tea

Chocolate, Coffee, and Tea. Three of my "must-haves" when I write. Not only are these three things a necessity for a writer, but you can also incorporate them in your writing. In Love, Lies & Deceit, I had the CIA officers drinking a lot of coffee. My editor hated it, but that's what law enforcement people do. Below are three links to learn more about chocolate, coffee, and tea.


Understanding Chocolate

Coffee Research

Tea Laden

Slow progress

Things have slowed down in my world and my writing has suffered. I blame it on the heat. We've had heat indexes of over 100° f. here lately. When it's hot, even in with the air conditioner, I slow down and my motivation is practically nil. I was able to finish writing chapter 12 on my current manuscript, but that was several days ago and I haven't picked it back up yet. Hopefully, today over my lunch hour at work, I can motivate myself to start writing my last chapter.

Finally, please take a moment and visit some of my fellow author's blogs listed on the right side of my page. They do a wonderful job and are definitely worth the read.

I'll be back this weekend with my Link of the Week.

Carol

FBI Surveillance Tricks and more

Welcome to my Link of the Week. Again, I have two to share today. The first one is a NPR article from July 5, 2008 and it's titled:

FBI Surveillance Team Reveals Tricks Of the Trade

The second link is a blog by Lee Lofland, a veteran police officer and author. He blogs about anything that has to do with police work.

The Graveyard Shift

Today, I am still working on that same manuscript. Chapter 12 is outlined and almost finished. I should have only one chapter left after this and my goal is to get this manuscript finished before the end of this month. We'll see how it goes.
Carol

Research Link of the Week

Actually, it's two links for this week. I use both of these when I am stumped for a character name.

Behind the Name

Seventh Sanctum

Good luck with your writing,
Carol

I'm on a roll...

I wrote about five pages today and can see the light at the end of the long tunnel. I can almost see the words The End forming. I can't wait.

I'm going to try something new on here for my writer friends. Each weekend, if I don't forget, I will post the url for a web site that I use for research in my writing. I'm looking forward to sharing sites that I have found with fellow writers and most are sites that a reader of romance might find interesting, too.

I've also added several links to blogs and web sites of writers that I find interesting to read. Please take a few moments and visit them.

Carol

Marketing and an Award

In the ten years that I have been writing seriously, the one thing that I never expected was marketing. When I started, the only thing I thought about was writing the best manuscript that I could. It took me nine years to get a book published and I thought, "Wow, I did it. Now what?"

I learned quickly that the easy part was done, now the real work was to begin. I had to actually sell my book, as in advertise and market that darn thing. That has become a very eye opening experience. You'd think with the internet that advertising would be easy, but I have found that it could be a full time job if you let it.

So, how do I market my novel? I started off with the simple things: bookmarks, business cards, and a web site. Then, I found that I needed to do much more. I belong to several email lists of writers and readers of romance. Most of those lists set aside a day each week for posting promo emails for your books. I try not to miss a day for those special promotions on those lists. I know for one particular week, I worked every night online promoting my book and it worked. I saw my book move up to #6 on my publishers' Romantic Suspense Best Sellers List for that week.

My next step in promotion was to search out blogs that offered author interviews and I found several. They sent me questions and I submitted my answers, along with the offer of a free book for anyone that posted a comment. Then, I was able to do a BlogTalkRadio interview. That was a very nervous experience for me because it was live, but I survived. Finally, I started this blog. It's in the early stages, but I am noticing more hits each week. My other blog, Carols Food Bites started out slowly, but after a couple years the readership has really grown. I plan to repay those who helped me with their blog interviews and hope to have a few interviews on here soon. If you would like to read any of my interviews, you can visit my web site at http://CarolPre.webs.com

The thing to remember is that marketing is a never ending task. My novel has been out for months, but I still post every week on those lists and I'm always hunting out new blogs I can be on. In the meantime, I have to make time to work on my next manuscript. Like I said, it's a never ending task. Stay turned here for updates on any new interviews.

Now, for my award announcement. One of the email lists that I am on hold annual awards to list members to celebrate the anniversary of the list's existence. I am very pleased and proud to announce that this year my fellow list members voted me two awards: The Indy 500 Award, for the list member that has come the farthest in their writing career since joining the list; and the Share the Wealth Award, for the writer who so generously shares their wealth of experience to other list members. I want to say thank you to those members of the list that voted for me. I am humbled by the awards.

Thank you,
Carol