February Message

I know I'm a bit late with this.  It's the same message I sent out in my monthly newsletter so in case you missed it, here it is.

February Newsletter Hi, readers!  To kick-start our monthly newsletters, I'd like to tell you a bit about what's happened to me so far.  As you probably already know, Upon Your Return was released through the Summer Solstice division of Solstice Publishing in February 2013.  The print version came out in May.  Upon Your Return did very well, earning bestseller status on Amazon.  As part of my launch of the book, I began to focus more on blogging and in that time, I maintained two blogs, Marie Lavender's Books! and Writing in the Modern Age.  In March, I began to accept guest authors on Writing in the Modern Age.  It's been quite a fascinating journey, helping other writers promote their articles and books.  In June, we started accepting poetry on the blog.  It has been so rewarding to meet new authors this way and see how talented they all are.  We have had writers from different walks of life and it has been very exciting to read about their journeys.  At the end of March, I also had my first author interview on RC Bonitz's site and I have had many more author interviews and character interviews on other sites since then.  I have also done guest blogging. During the promotion of Upon Your Return, I began to do more blogging of my own on the Marie Lavender's Books! blog.  If you check the archives of the blog, you can see my past articles.  You will also find that I noted official book reviews and promos for Upon Your Return.  In May and June, I updated all of the covers on my self-published novels.  I have published 17 books to date.  In that time, I received some new reviews for those books.  I also moderated three discussion groups on LinkedIn and Facebook during that time.  I am still a moderator, but since then, I have formed a partnership with the moderator of the Eat Sleep Write site to help other authors promote their books better in one of the groups.  I also began writing more love poems, a long time hobby of mine.  Though I can't claim to be an official poet, I do it for fun.  You can see some of them listed on the Marie Lavender's Books! blog, and some I have published in my anthologies.  In September, I experimented with creating my own book trailer, and that was certainly an experience.  It is available for viewing on Youtube. In October of 2013, I was the featured author of the week on Maurice Tudor's blog and in the same month, I made the top 50 on Authors Database.  In November, I received a contract with my publisher for a paranormal romance.  It should be out soon.  In the same month, I released a new book, a romantic suspense called Leather and Lace.  In December, I received the Liebster Blogger Award for Marie Lavender's Books! blog.  Leather and Lace also received its first review that month, and it was a five star review.  In December, I also entered the MARSocial's Author of the Year Competition.  Upon Your Return was the book I entered.  In January, I discovered I was a finalist in the competition.  At the end of the month, I learned I was a runner-up in the book competition.  Recently, I also found out I earned Honorable Mention in the January Readers' Choice Award on the Time for Love blog.  So...it's been busy so far.  LOL. What are my future plans?  Well, as aforementioned, my paranormal romance Magick & Moonlight will be out soon.  I also have an anthology lined up to be released.  I plan to re-release all of my books under Marie Lavender eventually, as they are all penned under different names.  You can still find them all on my website though.  I am always working on something, as my family, friends and writer pals can attest to, and currently I am editing the sequel to Upon Your Return for submission.  It is titled Upon Your Honor, and I am quite proud of how it's turned out.  Chloe Waverly and Gabriel Hill, the main characters, will wow you, especially if you liked the first book.  I plan to write another sequel, thereby making the Heiresses in Love series a trilogy.  You might ask, "What else does Marie have in the works?"  Well, I am also writing a sequel to Perfect Game, one of my self-published books.  It is called A Game of Love, and Haley Stewart, the main character, gets into more trouble this time.  I have tons of works in progress, and you can see them all listed on my website in the Projects and Writing section.   Love Considering what month it is, I'd like to give some thought to the subject of love.  I know I've probably already bored you to death with my rant, but I'll try to be quick about this.  Valentine's Day is a time for love in all forms, either familial love or romantic love.  And we love our friends too, right?  "Love" is my favorite subject as I'm a romance author.  All of my books cover the topic in some form or other.  But, as we are thankful for what we have around Thanksgiving and Christmas, let's think about what we are grateful for at Valentine's Day.  Who do you have in your life that you are thankful for?  A loved one, probably.  Is it your family?  Your spouse?  A boyfriend or girlfriend?  A close friend?  Several pals who surround you?  Who is that person in your life that you cannot imagine doing without?  I know I can list mine easily, but everyone has someone to be thankful for.  Maybe it's a pet or a neighbor, or just someone you can count on.  But, as Valentine's Day approaches, let's just be grateful to those we love.  That's what the season of love is about really, recognizing those who mean the most to us. With that said, thank you for reading my newsletter.  If you want to learn more about me and my books, please feel free to visit my website or my aforementioned blogs.  I love my fans!  Have a good month, and I'll catch you next time.  :)