2019
Memories and What to Look Forward to in 2020
I hope you’re
having a wonderful New Year’s celebration. With the holidays wrapping up and an
all new year just ahead, it’s a good time to review the things that happened
this year.
I’ll do a brief
look at some events that occurred in 2018, offering highlights month by month.
Because of space and time constraints, I won’t be able to go over everything,
however. For more details you can check out my author newsletter archives here, join our mailing
list, and you’ll also find more information by following my website and alternate blogs, Writing in the Modern Age and the I Love Romance Blog (ILRB).
Let’s get started…
Author News from 2019
January
On January 1st, I discovered
that I had one of the top ten posts of the year on the Romance Lives Forever blog. Thanks for the mention,
Kayelle Allen! Also, my science fiction romance, Blue Vision, was specially selected to
participate in the AllAuthor Cover of the Month Contest! Check out the winners here! Additionally, Linda Lingle interviewed me on
her site on the 13th…what a fun Q&A!
Two days later,
I found out my paranormal
romance, Blood Instincts, and my historical
romance boxed set, the Heiresses in Love
Trilogy, both earned the TOP 10 status for the 21st Annual Preditors and Editors Critters’ Readers
Poll. Woo hoo!
An author interview of mine was
featured in Womelle Magazine. To view the January
2019 issue for free, just click ‘view online’ to the right side of the page,
and you’ll find my interview on page 32. ;)
On the 20th, I had a fun
radio interview by host Sarah on Golden State Media Concepts’ Book Review
Podcast. Listen in here
and find out more about Blood Instincts!
What a great experience! You can also
check out Sarah’s book review of Blood Instincts on Amazon. ;)
February
In February, readers could catch a
spotlight for the Heiresses in Love
Trilogy, among other books, during Valentine’s week on Elle Marlow’s blog. Also, I
wrote an article specifically to commemorate the romantic holiday. Check out my
prescription for a good romantic relationship with this A to
Z’s of Romance ILRB post from last Valentine’s Day.
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| Created by Freepik |
On February 19th, I
had two guest posts on K.T. Rose’s site, one a brief
article about what drives me as a writer, as well as a feature for my sci-fi
romance, Blue Vision. And with this
next post on her blog, you can get a feel for a psychological thriller project
I have in the works. The 21st brought a couple
excerpts from two major projects coming in 2020, featured on the MLB blog.
March
In March, I participated in a group
romance author interview hosted by International Book Promotion. This began
with author bios (here’s the
one for yours
truly), then individual posts with each of the twelve Q&As. Here are the
topics and links included: “What is
your favorite trope in romance?”, “Traditional
publishing or self-publishing?”, “When did
you start writing?”, “How do you
find the time to write while also working full time and handling family?”, “How do you
feel about workplace romance?”, “Do you
think friends make the best lovers?”, “How do you
know when to end a relationship?”, “Can dating
kill romance?”, “Who are
the best three romance/erotica authors whose works you’ve enjoyed the most?”, “What do
you hope your fans would say about your work?”, “Name one
character you like the most from your books”, and “Who
supports you the most when you’re writing?”. Or, to simplify the
situation, here’s
a link to all twelve interviews, counting backwards.
April
From April 1st to the 6th, readers had the
opportunity to vote for the cool book cover for Blood Instincts in the Cover of the Month
Contest on AllAuthor. You can see my post about it here. Check
out the winners too! On April
3rd was my contribution to National Poetry Month, when I
wrote a poem dedicated to my connection with my fiancé. It was featured
on the I Love Romance Blog here. The 5th of April offered something
different, an article
of mine on Writing in the Modern Age, in which I listed several great writing
tips I found on Twitter, and went into a little detail about how they were
helpful for writers at any stage of their careers. On the 12th, I
wrote an article for the same blog, pertaining to different
ways writers can approach naming their characters. Additionally, the 14th
brought a guest
post of mine on Kris Francoeur’s site about my writing journey. The next
day you could catch my article on ILRB about the typical romance novel myths; watch me
disprove every single one! ;)
In April, I
discovered two great new reviews for my books; one for my
historical romance boxed set, the Heiresses
in Love Trilogy, and another for Blood
Instincts, a paranormal romance with a futuristic angle.
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| https://books2read.com/u/4XaA7g |
Yay! April 30th
brought a feline
guest post on the MLB blog, when Emma the cat told readers about a very
special occasion.
May
May 1st to the 7th launched official voting for the
wonderful Directions of the Heart
book cover in the AllAuthor Cover of the Month Contest.
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| https://books2read.com/u/mY15jG |
Check out the
winners here! One of
my own articles popped up on Writing in the Modern Age on May 3rd.
Discover ‘25
Pieces of Advice from Famous Authors That Are Actually Useful’. Three days later, I hosted a poll on my author
website about our romance reading origins. You can
still participate! ;) Also on the same day, an
official book review for Blood Instincts landed on the Totally Addicted
to Reading blog. Thanks for your kind comments, Nadene!
On the 15th, I wrote an article
for the romance blog, about how shopping relates to dating and relationships. Check it out!
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| https://books2read.com/u/mg0eMv |
On May 22nd, I had an
interview and a feature for my children’s fantasy, A Little Magick, on the When Angels Fly site. Two days
later, I answered some interview questions for AllAuthor. View it here…just keep
scrolling down on the page.
June
On June 7th, I had two features. One was a spotlight for my
Writing in the Modern Age blog, featured on the Personalized Marketing, Inc site and blog. Also that day, my
contemporary romance story, Second Chance
Heart, had a spotlight on the Romance Novel Giveaways, to celebrate its free
promo.
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| https://books2read.com/secondchanceheart/ |
In other news, a rare
giveaway ran on that blog from the 8th to the 23rd, for the
boxed set of the Heiresses in Love Series. On the following day, a five star book review
materialized on BookBub for futuristic paranormal romance, Blood Instincts. Yay! Thank you so much, Sandy! :)
Three days later, a cool event occurred on Writing
in the Modern Age. I got the chance to interview eighty-six authors about some
of their reading and writing habits. This was to celebrate our 500th
Anniversary post. You should really check this
out!
On June 15th,
a nice
review for Second Chance Heart, book one of the Eternal Hearts Series, popped up on Amazon. Thanks
for your kind words, DAA! :)
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| https://books2read.com/secondchanceheart/ |
July
Not much happened in July, except a lot of work with
my blogs. Check out the month's archives for Writing in the Modern Age
and ILRB! ♥
August
In August, readers had the chance to
vote for Magick & Moonlight in
the Cover of the Month Contest on AllAuthor! You can find all the winners here.
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| https://books2read.com/u/47zqKA |
And on the
6th, I wrote an
article about my top dream wedding locations and posted it on the I Love
Romance Blog.
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| Sweet Ice Cream Photography, Unsplash |
September
September 9th brought a cool book review from that month
for Blood Instincts. Thanks for your kind words,
Allison! :) Around mid-September, on the 12th, I did a book lovers tag post on the I
Love Romance Blog. Learn
about my reading preferences with all twenty questions, and please participate
in the reader poll. Feel free to join in, and create your own post on your
blog!
The 18th brought a new author listing for me on Booksradar.com. I wrote
an article on for Writing in the Modern Age as well. Read about my impression thus far of the
traditional publishing industry, with some pros and cons listed.
October
On October 3rd,
readers had a chance to win a copy of my first science fiction romance novel, Blue Vision, on The TBR Pile's 'I
Heart Romance Week'. Here are two posts about it, one
on MLB and the
other on ILRB. The 7th brought another
opportunity to win, when I
offered some cool swag as the final prize in the event! :)
There were tons of other prizes as well. On the 14th, I found a
wonderful new book review on Amazon for my paranormal romance, Blood Instincts. Thanks
for your lovely comments, Brandy! Four days later, D.G. interviewed me on her
awesome blog. Take
a look!
December
Nope, I didn’t forget a month! ;) In November, I was
actually busy prepping my sci-fi romance, Blue
Vision, for re-release, as I just got the rights back from my publisher.
Around December 1st, however, the book was published again. Yay! ♥ ♥ ♥
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Universal Reader Link:
And…that
brings us to the present. Let’s glance
over some
spotlights for other authors’ books and such, which were featured here on the MLB blog.
Features
for Other Authors & Books on MLB/Guest Posts
News
on Other Blogs
If you’ve followed this site thus far, then you
probably know I moderate other blogs. We had 104 authors featured in 2019 on
Writing in the Modern Age. As for the I Love Romance Blog, there were 84 authors and content writers this year. Wow! :)
Here are the two New Year's posts for those blogs...
https://marielavender.blogspot.com/2019/12/writmodage-blog-year-in-review-big-reflections-past-and-present.html
Here are the two New Year's posts for those blogs...
https://marielavender.blogspot.com/2019/12/writmodage-blog-year-in-review-big-reflections-past-and-present.html
I also tried my hand at writing some book reviews,
both on Goodreads and through my romance blog. Kevin Ethan, my former book
reviewer for ILRB, wrote eleven for the blog. But here are several of mine worth
mentioning.
Book
Reviews I Wrote This Year
I have a long book review list to tackle still, and it’s
why I’ve taken a hiatus from them on ILRB. But I will get through it! ;)
Coming
in 2020
In other news, the romantic comedy novel I’ve been
working on for the last while, Chasing
Ginger, is set to have an initial release date around Valentine’s Day. So,
definitely look for it in February! ♥
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| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43184542-chasing-ginger |
#romcom #billionaireromance #curvy #BBWlovers #bodypositivity
Also, First
Target, a romantic mystery collection, should be ready for release sometime
in 2020. I already have the book cover for it.
Additionally, I have a young adult mystery story in
the works, which I intend to submit to a literary journal. That’s a little
different from my usual projects! ;)
After that, I’ll set to resume work on Magick
Sunrise, a contemporary romantic fantasy, which is also book three of the Magick Series.
This will finish out the trilogy with Rosie’s grown-up tale, and at some point, I
plan to merge the two adult stories into a romantic fantasy boxed set.
Further out, I’d like to get back to a historical
romance project. I have so many works in progress in that regard. I do miss
writing that type of manuscript. I would also enjoy writing book two of the
Code of Endhivar Series. I have a cover for that one too! :)
Don’t forget that right now, you have a chance to
review my futuristic paranormal romance/urban fantasy, Blood Instincts, over on Book Sirens.
And Second Chance Heart, a
contemporary romance story and book one of the Eternal Hearts Series, is permafree everywhere!
♥♥♥
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| https://books2read.com/secondchanceheart/ |
Plus, if you’ve been wondering that part of the Heiresses in Love Series
has gone MIA, then don’t worry too much. At the end of June, I received the
rights back for Upon Your Return, as
well as the boxed set, and in August after final proofreading, I started query
submissions to literary agents and publishers. I’m still looking for a home for
book one. Just be patient with me while I see if another publisher would be
interested in it, or I might publish it on my own when I find the perfect book
cover. It shouldn’t be much longer, though!
There’s one last thing I want to mention, a cool event coming up at the
end of January. From January 20th to the 27th, we’re
having a huge multi-author book giveaway over on Writing in the Modern Age. So, mark
your calendars and don’t miss out! Join us at this cool celebration, and win
some awesome prizes! ;)
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| http://marielavender.blogspot.com/ |
Have a wonderful week, and Happy New Year!
