okay… I got a little side tracked, but finally, there is a new book coming out… book three in my Finder’s Keepers series will be out Sept 21st … but is currently up for pre-order…
for you amazon fans, go Here, to get your copy…
if you prefer Kobo, B&N, google, or apple… go Here
sorry for disappearing for so long… 😛 hopefully, I will be back at the posting soon… Happy wordage, Tracey
After two nights in a row, staying up to the wee hours of the morning, and growling at my computer as I fought to figure out how to format Southern Discoveries into an ebook, the pain, sweet, and swearing finally paid off…. muhahaahahahahaha…. I did it… take that MS….
Okay, so thanks to Pronoun.com it was pretty easy… the difficult part had more to do with my uncooperative brain than my formatting task…
Sooooooo….. about three in the morning last night, I looked at my screen and realized I was ready to hit the publish button… the ebook version was ready to go… now I only had to wait for the woman that created my book covers to finish with the spine and back cover so that I could set up the paperback format on createspace.com … and this left me with an opportunity that I hadn’t thought of before…
For the next week, I am offering FREE ecopies to anyone willing to leave a review… (Reviews really are the devil to get, but oh so important) … just drop me a line and I will make sure that you get your copy … even if it means I have to swear at my computer some more… 😛 … I already have the Mobi & Epub versions, and will have the PDF version later today…
And truthfully, it would be an enormous help if y’all could stop in at amazon, goodreads, or one of the other retailers, blogs, etc and drop a line or two one what you thought of Southern Discoveries… as the pre-order links go up, I will post them so that you know where to find the book in order to give a review, or you can wait until after it is out, and easy to find…
Most books are set up for pre-order months before the release date, but Southern Discoveries grew a mind of its own and took longer than I expected to finish… (and I might be a bit impatient) But its all good… because you guys get it now, and not months from now…. wooo whooo…
and lastly, I decided to set up a newsletter… you can get Finder’s Keepers & Skymann (coming soon) series info delivered to your email… this email list will hopefully allow me to offer more pre-releases, monthly updates, and other book related goodies… just head HERE and leave your info…
I didn’t think I would need an email list, not when I could just use Facebook, Twitter, this blog, etc. to send out updates… but I’ve found that there are certain sites that ask you to use something along the lines of MailChimp …. sooo take a moment and sign up to get your Newsletter…
happy wordage everyone, Tracey
From Mr. Bean and Hitchcock … to Rearview Window and A Beautiful Mind… Mystery plays a big part in our entertainment… so for today’s writing prompt we are going with Mystery… even if you don’t consider yourself a mystery writer, there is a lot to be said for adding just a touch to your normal genre…
do you need a death scene that isn’t immediately solved… here are a Murder riddles that should be easy to work into your novel…
After you have brushed up on mystery elements and vocabulary… I have found this helpful worksheet, your own personal cheat sheet to writing your mystery… one thing that I heard over and over when I first started writing… ‘try what you think you will enjoy, and then try genres outside your comfort zone’… because you never know what you will like… and if you try multiple genres in short story format, you’ve lost nothing… and very little time… consider these shorts appetizers that have to the ability to wet the palate of potential readers…
and as always… read, read, read… so that you can get a feel for what works in the community of reader for that genre… most writers will tell you that they accumulated a stack of rejections before they managed to start to gain readers/an agents/or a publisher… today it is insanely easy to publish what you write… but we still need to find people willing to read our work.. no matter if you are an indie writer, a traditional writer, a self-published writer, or a hybrid author… we need readers… I don’t know near enough about PR but I do know one thing… your book must be worthy of the genre, otherwise no one will get past the first few pages… so find your style, try different things, and then get someone that has been in the game a while to help you label your genre… (Omg… do I hate picking the exact genre and sub-genre for my novels…) there are a number of choices out there these days, and that is great for readers, but my head hurts just thinking about typing… grrr…
alright, alright… I am being less than helpful… maybe a couple of you guys can write in and tell me what genre you think I write (if you’ve read one of my books… Shocking Finds, or an ARC for one of my upcoming novels)… I could soooo use the help peeps… but back to our Mystery Prompt… though reading the genres you enjoy writing is important in my book, I also think that you should check out movies from mystery genres… sometimes the visual can be even more helpful than the written…
and my final mystery suggestion… have fun with your learning… throw a murder mystery party… or go online and play one of the many mystery hunt games… soon they will be nicknaming you Sherlock… muahahahaha
and here is a pinterest writing prompt to kick off your mystery writing… start you story with a misunderstanding that leads to the unknown… happy wordage, tracey
muhahahaha… will your villain get away with murder??? today’s writing prompt is Alibi… if your story contains a crime, especially murder… be sure to add in a few of the fun facts that will help to make your story believable…
I’m not suggesting that you overload your story with facts… unless you’re writing for CSI fans, you might lose readers…
but if you come across a fact or two that make you stop and think “wow… cool…” then definitely add it to your novel… then drop in a few of the other facts that will help to move the story from ‘oh, crap… a murder…’ to ‘you’ll never get away with this sucker’
your MC might focus on one piece of evidence while others gather the rest… but that one piece, maybe something that seems unrelated, will play a part in catching your bad guys, or stopping the villain from getting away… or maybe it will be something that they notice and focus on while thinking/talking about something else… then, bam, they remember and save the day…
maybe your MC is new to crime scenes, shocked by the wounds to the body… or in paranormal, shocked to see something that doesn’t make sense… or maybe they are really good at figuring out the crime, but the crime scene is something they can never get used to…
but if you add a fact to your story, make sure that it is correct… I love learning something fascinating from my stories, from a fact about car safety to the number of cave systems in the state of Kentucky… but we’re talking about alibis here… and your villain can’t have a false alibi you break down if you have your facts wrong… and discovering a fact like DNA or a blade wound that matches a purchase made by the bad guy can force your MC to take another look at them, despite their alibi… and then they can work to break it…
I haven’t checked out this checklist yet, but it sounds interesting…
you can find facts, then find ways to screw with them… like how could a bite mark mislead an investigation??? or you could look at the ways a crime scene can be delayed, so that the time of death is off… something the villain could do to have time to set up his alibi… play with your crime and have some fun with it…
alright… that’s it for today… here is your pinterest writing prompt… something that has nothing to do with crimes/alibis… does your MC have a routine they go through every day, or once a year before swimsuit time??? does it make them happy/full of energy, or crabby/full of complaints…Â happy wordage, tracey
another day, another excerpt… woo who… today it is all about Kasia Radzka…Â
I have to thank all the authors participating in this Exchange… personally, I have enjoyed finding out about all these new novels coming out… not all of them have been in my preferred genre, but seeing the large number of books being created humbles me… I am very proud to be a part of this growing community, and I hope you guys find a book or two to add to your TBR list (to be read list)
Blurb – less than 300 words
Lexi Ryder vowed to never return to the Gold Coast, but after a desperate phone call from an old friend, she returns only to learn her friend is dead.
Was it murder or an accident?
Lexi finds herself embroiled in a game of politics, assassinations and secrets. A world where people are not who they seem.
Detective Matthew Ryan wants Lexi as far away as possible from him and the case. But Lexi knows too much. After a public assassination they discover that whoever is responsible is willing to go to great lengths to dispose of those who get in the way of their plans.
Is Lexi willing to risk her own life to seek the truth?
Money, status, and power. Some people will do anything to get it, others will do whatever it takes to keep it.
Excerpt – less than 500 words
He pushed her hard and she slammed into the wall of the building, the rugged bricks cutting her palms as she tried to protect herself from the impact. This couldn’t be the end. She turned to face her attacker. She didn’t recognise him. In the darkness she could just make out his features. He had a face that could easily get lost in a crowd, olive skin, a freckle beside his eye, and brown hair. It’s funny the details you notice when you face your killer.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, please, take my keys, my wallet, there’s two hundred dollars in there, just don’t hurt me, please,” Lexi pleaded as he pushed her against the wall.
He stared at her. No smile. No reaction. Then she noticed the glimmer of a gun in his hand.
He pushed even closer until she felt his lips against her ear. “You’ve been asking too many questions.”
Lexi squeezed her eyes shut and pushed him away with all the strength that she could muster as pain seared through her body. She kicked him but he grabbed her by the neck and pulled her towards him pressing the cold metal barrel against the flesh of her lower back. This was it. She was about to die. And all for nothing. She wondered if Dana had known she was going to die at the exact moment her car had veered off the road and slammed into the tree.
Purchase links not more than 5
author short bio – 100 words or less
Kasia Radzka is an author, athlete wannabe, food & wine lover, and blogger,　living　with her husband and son on the Gold Coast, Australia. A run along the coastline generally gets her muse buzzing. You can contact her at kasiajradzka@gmail.com　or stop by her website　www.kasiaradzka.com.
author links – no more than 5
answer to character’s questions
Nickname –
Lexi
2. Job –
Freelance Investigative Journalist3. Level of schooling, or self-taught – University Degree and the school of life4. Birthdate –
5 May5. Birthplace –
Melbourne, Australia6. Currently residing in…
Gold Coast, Australia7. Favorite type of pet –
Dog, but she has no room for one in her life at the moment8. Favorite place to visit –
Europe9. Significant other –
It’s complicated10. Most important goal –
To figure out who killed her friend11. Worst fear or nightmare -Failing the people she promises to help 12. Favorite food – Wine, burgers, and rockmelon – not necessarily in that order.13. Wealthy, poor, or somewhere in between? Wealthy, but doesn’t like to advertise it. 14. Secret desire or fantasy – If she told you it wouldn’t be a secret. 15. What would you do if you won the lottery? Give half to charity, invest the other half and continue investigating stories.
Rants and Raves
Pritkin… soooo dreamy… I waited with barely contained impatience for Reap the Wind to be released… I reread the excerpt chapters, and stalked the internet for any tidbits that Karen Chance would drop…
It was torture… lol… This book in the Cassie Palmer series ended up being too long (according to Chance) and that meant that she had to either edit out or find a break in the story that allowed her to turn one book into two… She decided to go with the two book option, but that meant that we were forced to wait for her to find that break, and then go back into editing mode…
Personally, I am glad that she went with the two book option… there is so much information and potential for future twists and turns packed into Reap the Wind… information that could have been benched and then forgotten… At least if I was in her shoes… I know that when I make chances, I always save the scenes that I cut out, but as I move forward my brain comes up with all these new ways to progress the story… it is really hard for me to find a way to fit those scenes that I loved back into the world I have created…
This isn’t exactly a bad thing, but there are possibilities in Reap the Wind that I, for one, would hate to see lost to the side lines… information about Pritkin, and how he could evolve… not just as Cassie’s friend, but also as a character… I also enjoyed seeing Cassie dropping into scenes already played out in the Dorina Basarab series… even though Cassie still doesn’t know about Dory, I can see the potential for future interaction between the two characters… and lets not forget Mircea…
Mircea’s character could go in so many ways… Chance could build a whole new series with him, she could continue as is and possible have a Pritkin vs Mircea triangle with Cassie being pulled between the two, she could go into a poly relationship type storyline… Hey… I am up for anything, especially if Pritkin gets lots of scene time… lol… did I mention that I love that character… And although Reap the Wind didn’t tie up the issues we have been waiting for answers to, it did wet my appetite for the next novel… Ride the Storm…. so now the wait continues… grrr… man do I hate waiting… how am I supposed to procrastinate my own editing if my favorite authors don’t publish stories faster… hehehe…
okay… enough of that for now… until next month, happy wordage everyone… hopefully I will be ranting and raving about the upcoming Sherlock movie next month… I spotting the poster for the upcoming release… two days only…
Now this says Jan 1st but my theater said the 5th and 6th… I’m pretty sure… but I may have to miss the theater goodies, and instead watch just the show … I usually buy it on amazon video and watch it that way… I rarely get to go out to the movies with my MS hating the theater seats, but if you guys get out see the special, feel free to rant and rave for us… everyone should love Sherlock… muhahahaha… he is my favorite sociopath!!!
ranting and raving 4th Fridays!!!
Finder's Keepers - Author Tracey Clark 