2016 Reflections
With the holidays wrapping up and a new year just on
the rise, it’s a good time to look back on all the things that happened this
year.
As is my habit, I’ll do a brief overview of some
events that occurred in 2016, offering highlights month by month. Because of
space and time constraints, I won’t be able to tell you everything, however. For
more details you can check my author newsletter archives here, subscribe to upcoming issues, and
you’ll also find more information by following my website and other two blogs, Writing in the Modern Age and the
I Love Romance Blog
(ILRB).
Well, shall we get started?
The
Year 2016
January
On January 2nd, I received awesome news
from WordPress about ILRB. In 2015, the blog had 64,000 total views! So, that was very cool! Two
days later, I visited Gloria Weber’s blog in a fun,
superhero themed interview. On January 8th, Second Chance
Heart (SCH),
my short
contemporary romance, got a spotlight on Bernard Foong’s blog. You
can see some excerpts from the book here! The following day, I wrote a love poem
titled “Yearning”, which was inspired by my fiancé. You can view the poem here on the I Love Romance Blog.
On January 12th, I had an author
interview on Dan Buri’s blog, Nothing Any Good. It was a pleasure to visit!
The following day brought a spotlight for SCH on Frederick H. Crook’s blog.
Check out some teasers here! On January 15th, I learned
that I made the TOP 25 Authors List for the week on Author Database!
How exciting! :) From January 15th to the 22nd, I hosted
a fun, multi-author book giveaway on the Writing in the Modern Age blog (#WritModAge). We had 62 participating authors,
107 titles and over 200 chances to win, all from various genres! I was not only
a host, but I also offered a few of my books as donations. Check out the cool
details for the mega book giveaway here! On January 20th, Second Chance Heart had a spotlight on
Diana Rubino’s blog, and she interviewed me there as well. Find out what makes
me tick in the feature here. Also in January of 2016, I received some
wonderful news. A Little Magick (ALM) made the TOP 5 in the P&E Reader’s Poll for Children’s
Books published in the year 2015!
February
The first of February brought an author timeslot at the Dangerous Ties Release Party on
Facebook, which was so much fun. I love meeting new readers! On
February 2nd, fans got a chance to win a copy of SCH during the Mega
Anniversary & Valentine’s Party on The Romance Reviews’ site. In
February, I found out that during the week of February 6th, I made
the TOP 10 Authors List on Authors Database. So
exciting! On February 6th, Upon Your Honor (UYH), book two of the
Heiresses in Love Series as well as my second published historical romance,
received an awesome new review on Amazon. Thank you for
your kind words, Joanne! On February 12th, I had an author interview
on Penny Estelle’s blog. See the details here! The following day, SCH, my contemporary
romance, earned a four star review on the Lost in Sweet Words blog.
Thank you for your kind words, Nikki! On February 15th, I had a fun author
interview on Meglena Ivanova’s blog. Find out more about me and my writing
process in the interview here. February 20th brought a detailed
interview with yours truly on Dante Craddock’s site. Check it out here. You’ll learn some fun facts about
me, my writing and publishing journey, and a little more about SCH! Two days
later, my lighthearted romantic fantasy, Magick & Moonlight
(M&M), received a nice book review on the Online Book Club. You can view it
here! Also on February 22nd, I found out I’d won the ‘Broken
Heart’ themed poetry contest for Poetry Universe. What an honor! You can
see the winning poem in this
post.
March
On March 2nd, official reviewer Don Sloan
was kind enough to leave some wonderful feedback on Amazon for Second
Chance Heart (SCH) in the form of a five star review. Wow! He also posted it here
on his blog. Thank you for your generous words, Don! Two days later, I wrote an
article for the Writing in the Modern Age blog about the romance genre and how
to better understand it. I also hosted a small giveaway on there. Check it out! You may learn something new
about romance novels! On March 6th, I discovered I won the ‘I Love
You’ themed poetry contest on Poetry Universe. Yeah! Double awesome! I landed
the title ‘Empress of the Universe’ twice. So, that was pretty cool! Check out
the poems that won those titles here and here. On March 11th,
SCH got a spotlight on Stefan Vucak’s blog here. On the same day, Second Nature, book one of the Blood at First Sight
Series, received a pleasant review. Thank you so much, Amorina!
Four days later, I was finally able to give readers access
to the radio interview I had on February 26th. This was hosted
by Carol Graham on her show, Never Ever Give Up Hope. On March 18th,
I had a children’s author interview on Karen King’s blog. Check it out here, and get a glimpse of my children’s
fantasy, A Little Magick!
March 22nd brought a cool book cover competition on Ultimate
Fantasy Books. SCH was in the running as number 56 on the list. Check out more
details about the competition here, and find out who the winner was
for 2016! On the 29th, I hosted a mega romance giveaway on Facebook, with 84
prizes and about 47 participating authors who donated lots of cool book prizes
and swag! Also, during the week of March 25th, I made the TOP
10 Authors List on Authors Database! How exciting! The following
day, I had a guest article on Diana Rubino’s blog, and it was titled “A Writing Community is a Godsend!” Also on
the 30th, I had an
interview on Tina Donahue’s blog. Check it out, and learn a little more
about my writing process, some writing tips, and other miscellaneous
information.
April
In April, I participated in a large-scale blog event
on the I Love Romance Blog (ILRB). This was a blogging challenge using the
alphabet and specific themes. For the April A to Z Challenge, I chose a mild form of
book reviews or ratings for certain romance books. Here is the “reflection” post for the blog
challenge, which explains a bit more about it and offers links to posts from
the beginning to the end of the month. Yeah, I totally survived this challenge!
At the end of the month, I had an author timeslot at the book release party for Diana Wojdacz’s new contemporary romance, Faith Provides. I got to meet new people and chat about my books, which is always fun!
May
On May 1st, I wrote an article for
Writing in the Modern, entitled “Readers
Need A Say Too”, invoking the idea that drawing readers into the writing
process can be a valuable tool and highly rewarding. Five days later, the Blood
at First Sight Series, my paranormal romance trilogy, got a cool feature on Bernard Foong’s blog.
Starting on May 18th, I had a temporary hiatus. Sometimes a writer
needs a break from everything. The month of June brought some events trickling
back in, though.
June
In June, I launched a company called Ambrosia
Innovations, which offers premade and custom book covers for
authors, logos, graphic teasers and other promotional materials, as well as book
trailers and marketing videos for any company.
On June 12th, Second Nature received an excellent
five star review. So, thank you for your kind words, Karen! At the end of
June, I completed final edits on Blue Vision, my new sci-fi romance
and book one of the Code of Endhivar Series, and sent it to my publisher. Yay!
And on June 24th, I wrote a love poem titled “The Other Side of Our Dreams”. That posted on
the I Love Romance Blog.
July
I just have a couple of things to mention for July,
but I think they’re pretty noteworthy. On July 2nd, I officially hit
the ‘submit’ button for Upon Your Love,
a historical romance as well as book three of the Heiresses in Love Series, and
it was sent to the publisher. And on July 18th, I learned my publisher
accepted
both of my manuscripts, including the science fiction romance. Woo
hoo!
August
On August 23rd, I had a fun radio interview on Writer Groupie Podcast.
This was hosted by Kim Smith. In this interview, I talked about my writing and
some books coming out soon. Three days later, I wrote an article titled “When the Voices Talk Back”, and it was
featured on Writing in the Modern Age. In the post, I target what writers can
do when a character isn’t cooperating. On August 30th, I had an
author interview on Natalie Silk’s website. Check it out for some
exclusive teasers from my sci-fi romance, Blue Vision, and learn more
about me as writer!
September
On September 6th, I had an author interview on
Uvi Poznansky’s blog. In the interview, we focused on Upon Your Return,
book one of the Heiresses in Love Series, how I came up with the titles for the
series, as well as the character names in the first novel. You’ll see a short
excerpt there too. It looks like she has reshuffled things since then, so you
might not find it there. If you’d like to see the interview in full detail,
please contact me @ marieannlavender@gmail.com
and I’ll send you a copy. On September 13th, I was interviewed by
A.B. Funkhauser. In the
interview, she asked me about a few of my recent awards, my efforts with Writing
in the Modern Age, the release of my sci-fi romance, Blue Vision,
as well as some information about my new graphic design company, Ambrosia
Innovations. It’s always fun to talk to A.B.! She’s a fascinating,
generous person with a couple of humorous horror books out. Three days later, I had an interview
on Laura Ranger’s blog. You’ll need to scroll down the page about halfway in
order to locate the Q&A, but you’ll see my author name in big letters in an
aqua hue. Among a few books featured, Laura asked me about Blue Vision,
as well as my favorite book characters, the writing process, some of my hidden
talents, and a few miscellaneous questions!
October
On October 2nd, I wrote a 450th
post on the MLB blog about my book release, a reveal for the cover of Upon
Your Love, a historical romance/family saga novel which should be out next
year, a cover makeover for Upon Your Return, the first book in the
series, and a cool book giveaway of paranormal romance, Second Nature.
So, check it out!
Three days later, I had an interview on Margaret Egrot’s Writing and Breathing blog. In the
interview, she asked me about my sci-fi book, Blue Vision, some of my
reading preferences, as well as a couple of questions about writing. I was
honored to be featured there. Also in
October, Jannette Fuller interviewed me on her site. Check out the Q&A here to learn a bit
about my writing, and a few miscellaneous facts. On October 30th,
Belinda Y. Hughes was kind enough to offer a
stellar book review for Magick &
Moonlight, my romantic fantasy, on both her blog and Amazon.
And
the following day, I had an interview
on the Literature and Lamp Posts blog.
November
On November 1st, I had interview
on author David Ellis’ Too Full to Write blog. It was very fun! Also in
November, the Magick Series was featured on the Winsome books site. Check out
this page and scroll down a bit here,
and you’ll see a wonderful feature for A Little Magick, my children’s
fantasy novella. The first book in the series, as well as an adult romantic
fantasy, Magick & Moonlight, is on the front page in
the sidebar. You’ll see it as the ads change. This is so exciting!
On
November 6th, Blue Vision had a book feature on
Bernard Foong’s blog. Three days later, the book was also spotlighted
on C.L. Bush’s site, as well as a brief Q&A. The following day, Debbie
De Louise interviewed me on her site, and it was quite enjoyable! Also on
the 10th, Blue Vision had a
little spotlight on Belinda Y. Hughes’ blog. The following day, a very cool
event occurred on Writing in the Modern Age. I was able to participate with 44
other authors in a big
writing process post. On November 13th, Blue Vision, my
science fiction romance, officially released and on the 15th, we had
a cool release
party for it.
Also that day, it was featured
on Linda Lee Williams’ blog. November 15th brought some very
cool reviews for Blue Vision, one
on Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews blog and one on Amazon. Thanks,
Amy and JoAnne! Three days later, the book also had an
official review on Hines and Bigham’s Literary Tryst. Thanks for your
beautiful words, Jennifer! Also on the 18th, the same book was featured
on K.C. Sprayberry’s blog. The same day brought a guest article from yours
truly on the Writing Greyhound blog, titled “Writing
Out of Your Comfort Zone”. The following day, official reviewer Sara
offered an
amazing review for Blue Vision on her
blog and Amazon. As
well November 19th, I had an
interview on Amy Shannon’s site. It was fun! Check it out and get to know a
little more about me! Eight days later, Maighread
MacKay was kind enough to interview me on her blog.
December
During this lovely month of December, some things
happened too. On December 5th, I wrote a love poem, titled “You
and the Muse”, and it was featured on the I Love Romance Blog. Four days
later, Blue Vision was featured on Susanne
Matthews’ blog. On December 16th, the book got a decent review
on the Reading
Room, as well as on Amazon.
Eight days later, it also got a pretty good review on
Amazon. So, thank you, J.C.! A few days ago, I found out Blue Vision was
nominated in two categories in the P&E Readers’ Poll! Wow! Check out this
post here,
and cast your votes in either the romance or sci-fi/fantasy category
to keep the book at the top of the list in the poll!
Updates
With regards to books coming out in 2017, Upon Your Love, the third and final book
of the Heiresses in Love Series, will definitely be released in the new year.
Final edits at the publisher are done and I’m just waiting on a scheduled
release date. But it will most likely be as early as possible. You’ll see more
updates on that here
on my website, and also in my monthly
newsletter.
On February 14th, a new adult romance
short story, titled The Missing Piece,
will be published in a cool Valentine’s anthology, Cupid’s Arrow. Also coming soon is a contemporary romance/romantic
drama collection, Directions of the Heart.
I’m wrapping up edits on this book and it should be ready for beta readers and
critique partners soon.
Additionally, I’m almost finished writing Blood Instincts, a futuristic paranormal
romance/urban fantasy and book two of the Blood at First Sight Series. So we
should all see that out in the coming year. These are my character muses...
I hope to work on and release Awakening, a paranormal romantic
thriller collection too.
Those are the book projects planned this year, but
as you all know very well by now, the muse has a way of surprising me. :) Feel free to follow
not only my website and blogs for
further updates, but also my
personal Facebook profile, Facebook author page, my Twitter handle and my Google+ page for
other news.
One more thing I’d like to add here is an extra
special thank you to all of my guest authors on my blogs, specifically here on
the MLB blog.
We had 55 guest authors on this blog alone in 2016.
You can check out my end of year posts for my other blogs here
and here.
I appreciate all of our guests, as well as our blog readers, for visiting and
making this blog spectacular! Here is a brief listing of our guest author posts
categorized by each type of format. Hey, maybe you’ll find some you missed!
Interviews
Book
Spotlights
New
Releases and Blog Tours
Readers, thank you all so much for being a great
part of my author journey this year!
Here’s to an awesome 2017! Happy New Year, everyone!
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