Echoes from 2017
With the holidays wrapping up and a new year just on
the horizon, 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 2017, 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 out 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 2017
January
On January 17th, I had an author
interview/book spotlight on the ‘Meet Me Monday’ feature on the Eating Between the Lines blog. You can learn about some authors
who inspired me on my journey, as well as some other interesting writing
tidbits. Actually, it looks like her blog has closed down since then, so I’ve
included the gist of the interview in my linked repost. Last January, I also found out
about some great book reviews for my science fiction romance, Blue Vision, which actually posted in
December. You can check them out here,
here
and here.
February
On February 9th, I had a guest post,
titled “A Labor of Love”, on Natasha Murray’s blog. The article detailed my
journey from writer to author, while also highlighting the development of the
Heiresses in Love Series. Since then, it seems Natasha’s site has closed, so
I’ve taken the liberty of posting the article here.
Two days later, I was interviewed by Fiona McVie on her blog. Take a look here to learn about me as a writer, as well
as how UYL came into being. On February 13th, ILRB
and the MLB blog both hosted a new release feature about Cupid’s Arrow, a Valentine’s anthology
released through Solstice Publishing the previous day. Quite a nice set of romantic
tales, plus one of my own stories was in there! Three days later, UYL had a
book feature on Bernard Foong’s blog. Check out an exclusive excerpt from the
book here!
On February 17th, Blue Vision
got a decent official review on the Knockin’ Books blog.
February 20th brought a new release, The Missing Piece, my new adult romance
story, as the story officially released on its own! Woo hoo! :) Check out the
details in this post.
Also on the 22nd, I had a guest post on Nina Soden’s blog. The
article was titled “The Process: A Writer’s Perspective”, and it provides a
little insight into the way the writing process works.
On February 24th, there was a
UYL feature on the Smile Somebody Loves You blog. Get a deeper look at the book
here, and you’ll
even find the book trailer in this spotlight. On February 26th, Upon Your Return, book one of the Heiresses in Love Series, got a great five star review on Amazon. Thank you for your kind words, R.R.!
Also on the 26th, the same day the final book in the series, Upon Your Love, released, I had an
interview on Carl R. Brush’s blog. Find out more about my writing quirks here. The following day, I was interviewed on Malay Upadhyay’s FlyZpeak blog. Learn some interesting facts
about how historical romance/family saga new release, Upon Your Love, was developed, and watch how the host inspires me
to write a quick horror tale. February 28th not only brought the official book release party for UYL on Facebook, but also many other spots on
various blogs, including a guest post of mine on Fiona Tarr’s site about conquering fear as a writer. Also on
the 28th, UYL received its first official review when Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews had
some great words to say about the full-length novel. Yay! Thanks, Amy! ♥♥♥
March
On March 1st, UYL had a spotlight on Fiona Tarr’s blog. Check out the link to the book
trailer in the post! Also, during the same week, Fiona hosted a giveaway of UYR, the first book in
the series, on her site, plus I received a book contract renewal for book two
and UYH got a new cover! So, essentially the whole series had a makeover in
2017, as the cover for UYR was changed recently. I think they turned out
beautifully!
The same day brought a feature for UYL on the Reading Renee site, and then one on Linda Lee Williams’ blog. On March
2nd, I wrote a guest post about writing a series for Tony Riches’
The Writing Desk blog. See my unique take on what the Heiresses in Love Series came to mean for me. On March 3rd, I visited Stefan Vucak’s site in an author interview. Learn some tidbits about me as a writer, plus a
little about my historical romance! Three days later, readers had the chance to
win a free ebook copy of UYL by
heading over to the 6th Anniversary Party at The Romance Reviews.
Fun! Additionally, March 6th brought an official five star review for my new adult romance new release, The Missing Piece, on Readers’ Favorite. Thanks so much, Rosie!
During the week of March 6th, The Missing Piece, my new adult romance which was released in
February, was voted book of the week on book reviewer Rosie Malezer’s Facebook page. Thank you so much, Rosie! :) On
March 7th, I wrote a short post about the Heiresses in Love Series for Olga Núñez Miret’s blog. Check out more information about
UYL too! The same day brought another guest post, this time providing tips about doing historical research for book writing, on Nancy Christie’s site. The next day, character Adrienne from Upon Your Love was interviewed on Devika Fernando’s blog. Check out this untamed woman straight from the
Victorian era! Also on March 8th, I turned the tables around and
wrote a guest post, focusing on villains and anti-heroes for Reading Between the Wines Book Club. Also check
out an excerpt detailing a confrontation between the hero and villain in UYL!
Two days later, The Missing Piece had another official review on the Ethereal Pages blog. Thanks for your kind
words, Catherine! On March 13th, I wrote a guest post about how the Heiresses in Love Series developed on Michael J. Sahno’s site.
On March 20th, I penned a love poem titled “Dream with Me” for ILRB.
Also on the same day, Second Chance Heart,
a contemporary romance, received a great five star review on Amazon. Thank you for your kind words, Azia! Two days
later, character Alyssa, or Aly, from The
Missing Piece, visited Devika Fernando’s blog in a cool interview. Find out
all about this college character here. Also on
the 23rd, I was interviewed on A.B. Funkhauser’s site. Get a
little more info about UYL in this fun Q&A! Closer to the end of the month,
I wrote an article for Dan Buri’s Nothing Any Good blog. It details questions writers can ask themselves
before they dive into their first book project.
April
On April 4th, I had an interview on The
Indie View. Check it out here, and learn some background into
how I wrote Victorian maritime romance, UYL! April 5th brought an
author interview on Reading Nook. Check it out here, and learn a little more about me
as a writer, as well as a few things about The
Missing Piece, my new adult romance short story. In the evening on the 6th,
I participated in a fun radio interview on Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross’s
HAUNTED NIGHTS LIVE! show. I love talking to team Thorne & Cross. :) As
readers, you can listen in here and get a sneak peek at future
works, Awakening and Blood Instincts. Woo hoo!
April 15th brought a feature for Magick & Moonlight and A Little Magick on Susanne Matthews’ blog. Check out the M&M book trailer on the post! I
am so honored to have made it on her M feature for the A to Z Challenge for
April. ;) On the same day, an official review for The Missing Piece appeared on Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews. Thanks,
Amy, for your awesome words about my new adult romance! The next day brought a
great character interview with Christian du Plessis from Upon Your Love. This
is part two of the previous character interview with his female interest,
Adrienne. Check out what this cocky hero has to say here!
On April 20th, The Missing Piece got an official review on Feathered Quill Reviews. Thanks for your kind words,
Ellen! Four days later, I received quite a surprise, as one of the beta readers
for Directions of the Heart went
ahead and wrote an early review on Goodreads. Thanks for your
wonderful commentary, JoAnne!
May
On May 3rd, character Claudette Giroux from my historical
romance/family saga, Upon Your Love,
book three of the Heiresses in Love Series, visited Devika Fernando’s blog in
an exclusive interview. Discover what she has to say! On May 5th, my new adult
romance story, The Missing Piece, received a lovely, official four star review on Sandra’s BookClub blog. On the 10th, character Eric Caron (also in his fifties) from Upon Your Love, was interviewed on Devika Fernando’s blog. Hey,
he’s quite the looker!
Also on the same day, a fun interview centered on my sci-fi romance, Blue Vision, popped up on the Shh, I Am Reading blog. Check
out how the book came about, and some insider secrets! On
the 17th, I found an awesome five star review for UYL on Amazon. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, David! Check out this post on the MLB blog, as I explain some background on the
Heiresses in Love Series. On the 18th, I posted some romantic food for thought that, I believe, may
help everyone no matter what stage they’re at in the quest for romance. The
following day brought something interesting into my author realm. Carol
Balawyder mentioned me in her post about pen names. Check it out here!
Two days later, I was actually nominated by Juneta Key for the Mystery Blogger
Award. So exciting! Discover my post,
in which I answered her questions and continued the chain of nominations.
You’ll find the award listed on my author website on the right hand side.
On May 25th, The Magick Series was featured on Susanne Matthews’ blog.
Don’t miss a sneak peek from book three of the trilogy, lighthearted romantic
fantasy Magick Sunrise! The next day
I had the awesome honor of finding a great review for The Missing Piece on Crystal’s Many Reviewers site.
Also on the 26th, I provided an exclusive teaser to readers from my
current romantic comedy work in progress, Chasing Ginger, featured on the I Love Romance Blog. Yay! The following day,
character Annabelle D’Aubigne visited Devika Fernando’s blog in a cool interview
about her journey.
June
On June 4th, The
Missing Piece, my new adult romance, received a five star review on Amazon.
Thank you for your kind words, Linda! Two days later, The Missing Piece got an official four star book review on Crystal’s Many Reviewers blog. Thanks, Kim,
for your commentary! June 7th
brought a fun character interview with André from historical romance/family
saga novel, Upon Your Love, featured
on Devika Fernando’s blog.
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| Created by Javi_indy - Freepik.com |
I love these types of interviews, because my
characters really get to shine! June 13th brought a brief Q&A
with yours truly on Angela J. Shirley’s Networking for Authors blog. Check it
out here! The same day brought a great five star review for Upon Your Love on Amazon. Thank you
so much for your
awesome words! Such a humbling experience to know I made a difference in a
romance reader’s life. :)
On June 18th, I got to
participate in a really fun blog hop/book tag on ILRB. Find out about some of
my reading quirks here! Two days passed, and
readers had a chance to win a free copy of The
Missing Piece, through a great month-long summer celebration that The
Romance Reviews was hosting! Yay! Here are two posts about it, one on ILRB and the
other on the MLB blog. On the
27th, I discovered that the I Love Romance Blog landed on two major
blogger directories on
Feedspot.
One was the TOP 100 Novel Blogs
list (#57), and the other was the TOP 100 Romance Book Blogs list (#32). Awesome!
:) The following day, I wrote an article of my own for Writing in the Modern Age, providing some insight for readers if
their favorite author gets too silent on social media and such.
July
This was a very busy month. On July 4th,
I had an author interview featured on the Home of a Book Lover site. In this
Q&A session, you can learn some background about me, as well as my latest
release, Directions of the Heart.
You’ll also catch an excerpt during the feature! Two days later, the I Love
Romance Blog had a nice 400th anniversary post, featuring my new
book. On July 9th, Directions
of the Heart (or DoH, as I affectionately term it) was featured on the Reviews by Crystal Blog. July 11th brought
another spotlight for the book on Christi Williams’ Some like It Hotter blog.
Check out a dramatic, yet sexy excerpt here! Three days later, Mark Giglio’s Alchemist Gift blog was kind enough to
let me provide a guest article about my journey as an author and some of the
obstacles I’ve encountered. At the end, I include some advice for fellow
writers. See my ‘Follow the Story’ post here. On July 18th, I had a blast while doing a takeover slot
during Diana Nixon’s In A Whisper release party on Facebook. I love meeting new people!
Olga Núñez Miret was kind enough to feature DoH on
July 24th on her awesome blog. Check out some teasers here! The following day was the official release for the
book, and I hosted a book release party for it on Facebook here. It was so much fun! On the same day, Directions of the Heart received its first review, and it was five stars! Thank you so much, Amy, for
your awesome words! Also during that week, I learned that DoH was the TOP 10
Book of 2017 and I made the TOP 20 Authors of 2017 on the same blog. You can
see the badge awards here and here on my author website.
July 25th also brought another great five star review for Directions
of the Heart, which I found on Amazon. Oh, thank you for your kind words!
On the following day, I had a guest post on Margaret Egrot’s Writing and
Breathing blog. Check out this article about my blogging journey, as well as
some tips for beginning bloggers, here. Also on the 26th, readers got to see the first character
interview from DoH on Devika Fernando’s blog. Check out cool Jenna here!
During the same day, I stumbled across this awesome five star review for the same book. Thank you so
much for your sweet words, Debbie!
On July 27th, I had a very cool interview on the Forward Scribes blog. Check out these fun facts about
me as person, and learn all about my writing process! On the same day, Directions of the Heart got a feature on
Susanne Matthews’ blog. Read some teasers in the spotlight here! Also on the 27th, I had an interview on Tina Holland’s blog. During the same week, I found
out that a DoH book review made it into that month's issue (page 111) of Uncaged Book Reviews Magazine! So exciting!
August
August was quite busy too. On the first of the
month, character
Reece showed up for an exclusive interview on Devika Fernando’s blog. Check out
his and Jenna’s story here.
The
next day I discovered a four star book review for Directions of the Heart on Amazon. Thank
you for your kind words, Leigh! :) August 6th brought an interesting
occasion in the form of a Cover Wars contest, in which DoH (Directions of the Heart) was featured for a week, on Author Shout. The next
day, the book was offered in a contest during Mark Giglio’s Facebook release party for his
supernatural romantic thriller, The
Patron’s Wife. Additionally, I had a brief radio interview featured during
Mark’s event. You can listen to the full radio spot here, where
Mary Ellen Wilson asks me some interesting questions.
On August 7th, Cindy Tomamichel was kind enough to interview
me on her blog. Check it out, and you
will not only discover some of my favorite characters, but also a little more
about my three blogs. On the 9th, Victoria, a character from Directions of the Heart, was interviewed
on Devika Fernando’s blog. See what she has to say here! Did I
mention I looovee character
interviews? So much fun. ;) Also on the same day, one of my cats, Emma, was
interviewed on Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog. Check out this feisty feline here!
August 11th brought an interview with yours truly on the Bookish Michelle blog. If you scroll down the page,
you’ll discover all the fun questions she asks. Additionally, two of my books
received five star reviews on the same day, The Missing Piece and Second Chance Heart.
Woo hoo!
Thanks so much!
Two days later, kitty character Ivy from Directions of the Heart was interviewed on Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog. See what she has to say!
The following day brought a character interview with Rick from Directions of the Heart, when Devika Fernando invited him on her blog.
(Panting over here…) He’s such a hottie! ;)
Also on the 16th, my cat Kit (short for Katerina) was interviewed on Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog. Debbie
De Louise is a genius; I love these feline interviews. Anyway, check out Kit’s
sweet personality! Sadie, a character from DoH, visited Devika Fernando’s blog
on August 18th. See what she has to say here! On August 20th, I had a brief interview on the Bound to Be
Me blog. Check it out here!
August 21st brought several events in a row. First of all, I was
interviewed on Yecheilyah
Ysrayl’s PBS blog. Read
it here, and learn more about me as a writer, plus a few
things I really love. Secondly, a new four star book review for The Missing Piece popped up on the Reading Nook blog. Thank you for your insight into this new adult romance, Sarah! :) On
August 22nd, I wrote a guest post for the Just Contemporary Romance
site, covering a little about post-traumatic stress disorder, and how it fits into modern romantic drama collection, Directions of the Heart. On the
following day, Matt, a character from DoH, had an interview on Devika
Fernando’s blog. It was blast to have all of my characters from the book
featured! In any case, you can learn more about Matt here.
On August 24th, I had an interview on BooksGoSocial. It was
a lot of fun! The following day paranormal romance and book one of the Blood at First
Sight Series, Second Nature, received a five star book review, on Amazon. Wow! Thank you
so much for your lovely words! Also on the same day, my article appeared on Writing in the Modern Age. This offers
some tips to writers of all stages on how to cope with that dreaded situation –
writer’s block. On August 30th, Jack, another favorite character from Directions of the Heart, was interviewed on Devika Fernando’s blog. Discover what makes him tick!
Thank you, Devika, for featuring all my characters! You’re awesome! ♥♥♥
Also on the 30th, Smokey, one of my kitties, had an interview
on Sneaky the Library Cat’s blog. Find out more about this sweet guy here, and
check out a sneak peek from a work in progress that he somehow got his paws on!
And to top off the end of the month, both books from the Magick Series received
five star reviews! Yay! Here is the
one for Magick & Moonlight (a
lighthearted contemporary romantic fantasy), and here’s the one for A Little Magick (a children’s fantasy).
Thanks for your amazing commentary! :)
September
On September 6th, my sci-fi romance, Blue Vision, received a cool five star review on Amazon. Thanks for your kind words! Two days
later, I was interviewed on Cynthia Ley’s blog. Learn more about me as a writer in the interview!
On September 14th, I got to participate in a fun author chat on
Facebook when I donated two fantasy books to the Circle of Friends Harvey
Relief Book Auction, and one of the hosts Belinda Hughes interviewed me on the
spot. You can still check out the details here. The
following day was pretty significant. What occurred was a HUGE multi-author book giveaway, over at the Writing in the Modern Age blog. The contest lasted for a week, and marked a real
milestone for us, the blog’s 400th post. I hope you didn’t miss out!
On September 20th, Directions
of the Heart received a great book review on Sandra’s Book Club blog. Thanks for your kind commentary,
Sandra!
Sandra once again blessed one of my books with a book review the
following day, when she offered some kind words regarding my lighthearted romantic fantasy, Magick & Moonlight, in a review on Amazon. Thank you! September 28th
was National Poetry. Check out my post about it here on the
MLB blog, and discover some of my poems with different themes! On September 29th,
I wrote an article about the importance of editing one’s manuscript for
Writing in the Modern Age. Check it out if you need help answering the big
question, either as a writer, or even as a reader, you can learn why your
favorite author might be taking time to publish their next book!)
October
With October 17th came the start date for voting on a cool
cover contest involving two of my books. That’s right. Directions of the Heart and UYL, book three
of the Heiresses in Love Series, were both nominated for this contest on
Authors Database. Recently, I adjusted the eye color for Adrienne’s character
on the cover for Upon Your Love, to
honor her unique, violet eyes.
I did the same for the cover on Second Nature, for Desiree’s character.
You’ll see blog posts about the voting process on ILRB and the MLB blog. This
contest is still going. So have at it, and choose the one you like
best! ;) On
the 28th, a new five star review popped up on Amazon for Second Nature,
my paranormal romance and book one of the Blood at First Sight Series.
Wow!
Thanks, Rachael, for your kind words! :)
November
In November, I discovered that Directions of the Heart was nominated for the Reader’s Choice Awards on the TCK Publishing site. So
exciting!
The voting ran until December 10th. You
can see my posts about it on all three of my sites and blogs here,
here
and here.
December
A few things happened in December...well, other than Christmas! ;) On the 6th,
I wrote a romance post for the I Love Romance Blog, urging people to stay
kind during the holidays and to keep an open mind about finding their soul
mates! Plus, December 18th brought some very exciting news. I received a book contract for Blood Instincts, my futuristic paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel and book two of the Blood at First Sight Series, which was accepted by Solstice! Yay! The book will likely be released in the new year. A cover should be assigned soon, as well as an editor with my publisher. You’ll see more updates on that here
on my website, and also in my monthly newsletter.
On Christmas Eve, I discovered that three of my books were nominated for the Annual P&E Readers' Poll; The Missing Piece for the short romance category; Upon Your Love for the romance novel category, and Directions of the Heart in the anthology category. Wow! ♥
Vote for the one you like in each category! You can also vote for me as author on this page, or choose whoever. To participate in all the voting categories, here is the main site.
In any case, I hope you had a great holiday season this year!
Vote for the one you like in each category! You can also vote for me as author on this page, or choose whoever. To participate in all the voting categories, here is the main site.
In any case, I hope you had a great holiday season this year!
Updates
With regards to other books coming out in 2018, I am writing a romantic comedy titled Chasing Ginger, book one of The Misfits
Series. Barring any sudden delays, I hope to see that one out in the new year as well.
I’d also like to tackle a few new projects, namely
the third book of The Magick Series. Magick
Sunrise would finish out Rosie’s story, but tell her tale as an adult.
Additionally, I may find time to work on polishing Awakening, a paranormal romantic thriller collection. Beyond that,
I’m considering the idea of another historical romance. I have many works in
progress in that realm. So perhaps a western romance or a good Regency, hmm?
Or
even a historical romantic fantasy might suffice.
Those are the book projects
planned this year, but as you all know, 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, official 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 the guest authors on my blogs, specifically here on
the MLB blog.
We had 20 guest authors on this blog alone in 2017.
You can check out the end of year posts for my other blogs here
and here.
I appreciate all of our guests, as well as our readers, for visiting and
making this blog spectacular! Here is a brief listing of our guest author posts
categorized by each type of format. Plus, our new feline-related guest posts
and takeovers. Hey, maybe you’ll find some posts you missed!
Book
Spotlights
New
Releases, Blog Tours and Sales
Emma’s
Corner Blog Takeovers
http://marielavenderbooks.blogspot.com/2017/09/emmas-corner-on-being-queen-and-stuff.html
http://marielavenderbooks.blogspot.com/2017/12/merry-meow-mas.html
http://marielavenderbooks.blogspot.com/2017/12/merry-meow-mas.html
Guest
Kitty Posts
Readers, thank you all so much for being a great
part of my author journey this year!
Here’s to an awesome 2018! Happy New Year, everyone!
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