Love a bargain? Get 350 Great Romances for Just $1.99 each!

Yes, for just $1.99 you can enjoy one or more – lots more – of these great romances from Crimson Romance.  The sale includes my romantic suspense with a touch of paranormal: Saving Maggie, sensuality rating: Sensual. .

Here’s the blurb:

Newspaper reporter Maggie Kendall has a psychic gift - or a curse: The missing violently dead call for her to find them. Her ability incites a serial killer to play games with her, sending her an invitation in a pink envelope every time he kills and daring her to find his victims. But when the killer moves the bodies without leaving a trace, Maggie is denounced as the worse kind of charlatan - a psychic fake who feeds off the pain of other peoples' tragedies. Just the sort of person that Detective Joshua Tyler hates the most. He's been hounded by reporters and fake psychics since his emotionally disturbed wife disappeared two years earlier. He reacts angrily when Maggie offers a message from his wife. But he can't help being attracted to her even as she infuriates him. The killer believes that Maggie is that one special person he's been searching for - someone who can read his mind. Only her death can bind them together forever. Maggie knows he's going to kill her, and she knows why. But how can she make Tyler believe her? She needs him to join her in a race against an experienced and determined killer to save her life . . .

Here’s an excerpt:

. Maggie had lain awake, becoming hyper conscious of her attraction to the detective whose tall frame was pretzeled on her living room sofa. She fantasized about going to him, feathering kisses on his face, brushing that dark hair back off his deep, intelligent forehead…and the lonely ache that welled up in her left her further sleepless.

Dawn came dulled with the promised spring rain, and Maggie heard Tyler up and moving around long before her own normal rising time. A gentle knock at her door made her grab for the sheets to cover herself—she always slept in the nude but there was no need for Tyler to know that.

At her invitation, Tyler came in to the bedroom carrying two mugs of tea. His eyes widened at Maggie’s tousled state, and she knew he had guessed she was naked beneath the sheets.

“I have to leave for an early meeting at the O.P.P. detachment,” he said, his voice unsteady as he tried not to stare at her so openly. Maggie knew she’d turned a delicate color of pink—probably all over—at his glance. “I’ll lock the door when I leave. If anyone comes to the door, check them out through the upstairs window so they can’t see you—don’t answer to anyone you don’t know. And be careful when you leave the house—check that there’s no one hiding in the bushes or in your car…”

“Yes, Mother,” Maggie said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Has it occurred to you that I’ve been living with this for years and been able to take care of myself?”

“Has it occurred to you that, if you’re correct and there’s a serial killer murdering people for you, that he may just have got impatient and be ready to kill you, too, now that he’s found you again?”

Maggie drew in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry. I guess I’d begun to feel safe here, and now I know I’m not. I’m going over to the vet’s this morning to see how Killer is, then on to my office. I’ll probably be there all day.”

There’s something for everyone, so don’t delay – get yours while the sale lasts! Click here for the full list.

Add Photos to Your Freelance Articles & Ramp Up Your Acceptance Rates–And Profits

By Glenys O’Connell @GlenysOConnell

 

Even the greenest freelancer knows that they should follow the publishers' guidelines to stand a chance of having work accepted. So, because many publications state they will use their own photographic contacts to illustrate an article if they decide to purchase, many writers don't send photos with their work.

That's a mistake.

The old adage that 'A picture is worth a thousand words' holds very true in the case of space conscious print media. Photos are important, but must be of the best quality, serve to illustrate a point in the article and attract a reader's attention, and must be used sparingly because they add to production costs and take valuable space. But if you are submitting a text piece that has photo potential, don’t hesitate to send some good shots along with the copy.

There are two reasons for this: 1) your pictures will add an extra dimension to your writing, enabling the editor to visualize your subject more clearly, and 2) The reason magazines and newspapers send out their own photographic staff, or hire professional photographic stringers, is that they need quality, professional pictures. No family snapshot type deals; your editor is looking for clear, well focused, well-thought out scenes that will complement the written article. You have the advantage of knowing your story and subject matter, so if you can provide top-quality photographs to go with your work, why should the editor look elsewhere?

This is a lesson I learned some years ago when I got the go-ahead for an article for Physicians' Management Manuals, a Canadian journal for medical doctors. They said they would send out a photographer to the rural home of my subject, but I sent in a few photographs with the text to illustrate the work he was doing. My pix were intended just to give the editor an idea of the wild, rugged area and the impact of my subject's work, but they were as professional and focussed as I could make them. They used my pictures, saved the cost of sending out another photographer, and I got the photo-credit, the extra bucks, and another assignment. Nice lesson.

Whether the editor decides to buy the article and photographs, or to use their own photographic staff’s work to enhance your article, you are still ahead in sending your own pix because photographs add a whole new dimension to the written article. They say a picture says a thousand words – including pixto illustrate your article, even if they aren’t used in the final publication, could be the make-or-break factor in the decision to purchase your work. After all, this extra dimension is the reason photographs are used in publications, right?

It goes without saying, of course, that you can't just send in snapshots. Photographs must be good, clear, well focused, well-composed and thoughtful. Here are a few 'flexible' rules to getting maximum mileage from your photo submissions:

1) Study your target publication and learn how they use photographs. You'll find that, due to layout considerations – most print publications do their layout on a column basis – that vertical photographs that will go across one or two columns are the most popular.

2) Don't try to cram too much into a single shot. If you're doing a travel piece about a village, for example, home in on a single house or building with special architectural features that illustrates a point in your article.

3) Head and shoulders is generally the norm for a photograph of a person, but if your subject is being featured because of a special skill, try to get a clear shot that illustrates his work. For example, a potter sitting at a potter's wheel, or a sculptor up to her elbows in clay.

4) Take the time to focus and frame your photographs. Use natural framing in your composition – doorways, archways, trees and shrubs, etc., make a natural frame that draws the viewer's eye to your central subject. And watch out for extraneous objects. I once took a photograph of an anti-hunt protest leader, using the setting of a rustic log cabin restaurant. My subject was standing in a casual shot with one elbow resting on the heavy log lintel of a fireplace. It was only later when developing the prints that I noticed that all but two of the shots showed the man with moose antlers sticking out from his head. I'd completely failed to notice the set of antlers from some long-ago hunting trip that decorated the lodge chimney breast!

5) Your photos must be technically good. If you have camera shake, invest in a tripod. And you must have a good-quality camera – sometimes you can get marvellous artistic shots with a cheap camera, but the quality simply isn't there. Remember the quality demands of newspaper or magazine print reproduction. Good equipment is worth the investment – I used a glorious second-hand Pentax for about 20 years and that camera paid for itself many, many times over in published pix and accepted articles. Now I use a Canon digital camera, and love the convenience of the screen which allows for seeing the ‘framing’, lighting, angle, etc. before you take the shot.

6) Even if you’ve always used a film camera and delight in the effects you can get using different settings, etc, it’s still time – or long overdue – for you to go digital! Learn about pixels, etc., and update yourself on the language and settings for digital pix. The age of digital photography is here. Most publications will now accept digital submissions online, so learn to use a digital camera, and I can’t stress enough the need to invest time and money in a good digital camera and a photo program – although I’ve seen really great pix taken with an iPad or iPhone, or good quality phone & table equivalents. Learn how to scan your stock of hard copy photos into your computer, enhance them, and send them over the ether.

7) Don’t forget there are lots of photo competitions. These can be a great way to find a home for that quirky, unusual, or very artistic photo that doesn’t seem to belong in an article but you love, anyway. And you can make a few extra dollars while adding to your list of accomplishments, too.

The last word: make sure you label your prints, whether hardcopy or digital, with your name, article sub line, and short identifying caption. Mark for the attention of the relevant editor, cross your fingers, and send!

The Road to Hell…….

@GlenysOConnell

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

At least, that’s what my Welsh Grannie used to say. She didn’t add that the same road is also the one that leads to failure, guilt, stress, anxiety attacks and self-loathing. Or, depending on your personality,loathing others who you are sure stood in the way of your achieving success with your good intentions.

Any excuse will do! But eventually you have to own your own failure, and it hurts.

This is really the time of year when we should take this lesson to heart. For ‘good intentions’ read ‘resolutions’. I’m not even going to tell you the percentage of people who actually make something of their resolutions, it would just depress you.

(If you’re really riddled with the need to know, I saw an estimate in an article by Mindy McHorse on the American Writers & Artists Inc newsletter that said only 8 per cent of people follow through on their New Year’s Resolutions   http://www.awaionline.com/ or sign up here for their newsletter http://www.awaionline.com/signup/the-writers-life/ )

So, instead of resolutions, let’s sit down and consider what we really want to achieve, check out the possibilities, set the goal, then break it down into baby steps and maybe, just maybe, we can make some real progress this year.

For example, you need a proper goal. “I want to write a book” or “I want to lose weight” are not proper goals. They’re ideas, thoughts, dreams.

A goal is concrete. “I am going to write a book about my experiences as a relief worker in the Sudan” or “I am going to write a mystery novel based on (insert your story idea here)……” OR – “I am going to join Weightwatchers and stick with it until I have lost 25 pounds before the summer” – these are goals. See that difference? The first is airy fairy, the second is a concrete idea with actions already defined..

So, next step, get your diary and a fresh notebook. At the top of the pages in the notebook, write the goal/goals, in big capital letters using separate pages. Stick in pictures that remind you of your goal, articles you may have read that inspire you, etc.

Use coloured pens if you’re feeling artistic. You can also start a journal on your computer and do the same thing, but it’s not as easy to flip through, paste pictures in, or carry around with you. There’s something about a notebook, with those lovely clean pages just waiting to be filled, that lifts the spirit.

Okay, so maybe I'm a bit of a dinosaur there – my kids do this sort of thing on the tiny screens of their smart phones….

Next, break the goal down into baby steps. What is the first thing you need to do? Take a creative writing class? Make notes, dig out your diary from that Sudanese experience? Write an outline?

Contact weightwatchers or a similar organization in your area, and sign up? Choose a diet plan that will suit your lifestyle? Put an unflattering photo of yourself highlighting those extra pounds on the door of the refrigerator to act as a snacking deterrent?

Don’t forget to make allowances for the unavoidable but predictable obstacles that may come up -  including attempts by your nearest & dearest to undermine your plans for their own insecure reasons…Have a plan in place to deal with these before they happen. We can easily become prisoners of our own psyches.

Now, the diary: You know the steps you need to take (and you’ve left space in your notebook for extra notes/steps that you may discover you need to add as you go along) so now you set a timetable. How many weeks do you have to carry out this plan? Warning: set a reasonable amount of time – if you finish earlier, wow! If you fall behind, you’ll get depressed and trip over one of those good intentions on that road to You Know Where….

So, instead of scribbling down your resolutions for 2014, make concrete, defined goals. Write each step and when it should be done in your diary, like making a date with yourself so things are not forgotten.

And a note of warning: I have worked with clients who started out by setting so many lofty goals that they set themselves up for failure. They start out all gung-ho – and in very little time sink into depression and quit, saying that it’s just too hard.We use that excuse to turn chicken…

That’s why we use baby steps, concrete goals, and a plan.

So, wishing you all a Happy, Healthy & Productive New Year! See you again in 2014  

How Not To Do Christmas…….@GlenysOConnell

 

Can I blame the Second Worst Ice Storm Ever? No, my Christmas Disaster Record started before the storm hit.

I decided not to put up a big tree this year. The reasons will probably make you smile:

1) We have a new kitten (now an adolescent with more energy than he deserves) and he'd have the tree undressed as quick as I could dress it - and would probably end up stuck on the top. A Kitty Tree Ornament!

2) I can't find the damn tree! We have a really elderly fake tree I bought in Ireland from a second hand store. It's basically a broomstick handle with wire brush things you stick in the holes. The first year we were in this house, year one, we found the tree 'cos we were still unpacking. But ornaments? None to be found. The 'grown up' kids enjoyed making paper ornaments. The second year (last year) we found the ornaments but no tree anywhere. I mean, how on earth can something the size of a tree disappear?

I intended to buy a live tree to be planted in the spring, but the only ones Canadian Tire and Walmart had were really small....so I stuck up the two feet tall fake tree instead..

Then  I went to put the little crib up, have had it for years. Baby Jesus and the Cow are MIA. Probably He rode off on the cow to somewhere warmer and less icy......

So, no crib, no big tree. Next year, I swear, I will get organised sooner!

Now, I wanted to make some chocolate covered peanut butter balls, but I've never done it before and I'm almost afraid to try - my track record hasn't been too successful this Xmas!

Oh, and I was so proud of myself, getting cards made well before Xmas. Guess what is still sitting on my desk????? <sigh>

Where does all the time go???

Oh, and the oil delivery truck just backed up our driveway, skidded, and ended up on the lawn. Very large backhoe pulling him out. I'm beginning to feel like the Typhoid Annie of Christmas!

If you hear of a Christmas turkey blowing up in the oven on Christmas Day or some similar disaster, you'll know the likely location. Maybe I should just go for a long winter's nap....

Starting Over....

It's been quite a while since I posted on this blog site, but I'm back.
Real Life has recently taken a delight in chewing me up and spitting out the traumatised bits of me that are left....I know this happens to most people and, like so many of my fellow writers, I'm picking myself up, dusting myself off, and opening my ideas file to start over.
Starting over seems to be such a feature of life for so many of us. Good thing we humans are resilient creatures, eh?
It's not that I haven't been writing - I have. Non-fiction stuff - a couple of bopoks on mental health issues, which fit well with my professionmal field. And a novel that has somehow refused to come into the light until now. Now it's ready to go off to one of my 'A-List' publishers.
Which meansd I'm ready to start over with a new one.
And in one of those little 'God Breeze' type messages that are part of seredipity, I came across the Round of Words in 80 Days blog....and was hooked.
I've done NanoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for about seven years, completing a (very) rough draft the first few years, flunking out due to other demands the last two or three.And I love the Book-in-a-Week challenges but so often have been away and missed them. But the concepts behind this Round of Words makes much more sense to me right now. Here's the link: http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/ so go and take a peek. The new round starts today, but they say you can jump in after the start date,
I need to get the hang of posting regularly - and my goal is to be simple and modest: submit a ms to three different agents; write one page per day of a new work. It might sound like very little, but the way life has been going, it's a lot!

Another Day, Another Deadline

I'm busy doing the final edits on a novel I ghostwrote for someone else. Ghostwriting is a whole different field of writing, one that can be fascinating if you're lucky enough to get the good assignments, mind numbingly boring if you don't. And the clients make such a difference - I've been lucky enough in all my projects to have wonderful clients to work with.
For example, my latest is a kind of chicklit style novelised autobiography for a lovely lady who wants to tell her story as an inspiration for others who are looking for love and beginning to think it will never happen to them. Given the miracle of the Internet, we've worked together to create a 90,000 plus novel that is ready to be polished and then she's going to look for a publisher - she's already made great plans for her work and I sincerely hope that her dreams come true. I'll let you know how that developes!
Meanwhile, I need to finish the final polish. I edited nearly 100 pages today and I'm a little cross-eyed now...I'd hoped to have the whole thing finished and send off to my client, who's quite excited about the whole thing, by Monday but it's not going to happen. I have a family and must keep a promise to go and spend the weekend with one of my beautiful daughters. I'm looking forward to her company, and to the break.
And I have other work, as well - including a non-fiction book that really has my interest, something like Depression: The Essential Guide that I wrote last year for a UK company. So, time to shut down the computer, pack a bag, and get a night's sleep before the big drive tomorrow.
So, goodnight, and happy reading/writing to you all!

Writing Contests: For Winners or a Waste of Time?

As writers our main aim is to get our work accepted by a publisher, right? And it’s hard enough sending out all those query letters and neat little packages of partials and synopses, without being bothered sending stuff off to some group with an odd-sounding name who’ll take a look at your work and — gulp! — maybe tell you it’s no good. Heavens, after all, we can get letters from publishers telling us the same thing, and less publicly!
If we get a nice letter praising our work from these contest judges, or better yet, our names appear as finalists or winners, so what? I mean, it’s not like being published, is it?
And contests cost you money, too. So why bother?
Now, gather round, all you ambitious writers, and listen up.
Contests can provide you with a showcase for your work, a chance to bring your work before judges who are also editors, agents, or published writers in their other incarnations. And you don’t have to win the contests to be a winner, either. Many writers will tell about their experiences of being contacted by editors or agents who read their contest submissions and were impressed enough to ask to see the whole manuscript.
So, is it really worth going to the trouble of seeking out contests, packaging up your precious work and sending it off? Many writers think so. Here are some positive viewpoints:
“I entered the Iowa Romance Novelists’ Query and Synopsis contest last year and was a finalist. It was advantageous in many aspects and I’m going to enter a few more this year as a result of my experience with the contest,” says writer Dawn Tomasko, “Contests can open doors for writers. It’s a tight, competitive market and if an editor or agent notices your work through a contest so much the better. It’s one way to get a foot in the door. I very much liked reading the different judges’ responses to my work (I had included the first 30 pages as requested) and not only was the feedback helpful to point out good and bad things in my work, but the differences in their opinions underlined the fact that fiction is SO subjective.”
Dawn is now on her third novel, and adds the contest final as a credit in her query letters alongside her publication credits. “I advocate contests wholeheartedly,” she said.
Author Laurie Alice Eakes is a first-rate example of how a contest can boost a writer into committing to her craft — and the successes that follow. “In 1993, I won my first writing contest,” Laurie Alice said. “After that, with the encouragement of writer friends and business associates, I got serious and finished my first true attempt at a readable novel. My first sale was actually a nonfiction book entitled Virginia Wine, A Tasteful Guide, published in 1997. In 1999, while I was in grad school at Virginia Tech, I contracted my first novel with Awe-Struck E-Books.”
That first novel, The Widow’s Secret, was nominated for best e-book of 1999 and the Frankfurt E-Book awards, and remained high on the Barnes and Noble best selling e-books list for several months. “When some unfortunate circumstances compelled me to take a leave of absence from graduate school, I began writing again. December 2001 marks the release of the paperback version of The Widow’s Secret. In February 2002, my Regency historical, Married by Mistake, will be published by Novel Books Inc., in both trade paperback and electronic format. Awe-Struck E-Books will publish my Regency suspense novel, Unmarriageable, in April 2002, and Novel Books Inc., will publish my first contemporary romance, Lessons in Love, in August 2002. “Under the Mistletoe,” my Regency Mystery short story, is still available as part of A Winter Holiday Sampler, in trade paperback and electronic formats from Regency Press.”
To emphasize the value of contests further, she adds: ” I have out three books now, two in print, which is nice. I just won a scholarship for my writing, a nicely large one. So that contest paid off, too.”
So, contests are well worth your consideration. Not only can you get valuable credits to add to your writers’ resume, but the judges often offer the sort of constructive criticism that some professionals charge a fortune for — giving you a chance to review their advice and revamp your MS, and all for the entry fee. If you’re not sure whether a certain contest fits with your career plan as a writer, ask. Ask the organizers — most have email contact addresses now. Ask other writers — often contest news is announced on Internet writers’ lists and so other list members may be able to give fast answers to your queries. And if there’s no email contact, then write for more details. After all, you are a writer, aren’t you?
(This article was first published several years ago; it's still popping up all over the Net, so I thought I'd get some extra mileage out of it, too)