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Archive for 2013

Do Free Books Boost Your Sales?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 24, 2013| 19 Comments »

Can anyone even answer that question? I’m not sure I can. I know a lot of authors give away free books in order to get readers interested in buying their other books. This sounds like a sound strategy, right? But does it work? I’ve tried it a few times, and honestly, I haven’t seen much of a surge in sales. Even giving away for free the first in a series doesn’t always mean a boost in sales of the others in the series. Not for every author, anyway. And I think I know the reason for this. I’ll have to admit, I’m one of the guilty readers. Here’s what happens with me. I find all these free books, enough of them that it’s overwhelming. Some of these books are beginnings of series. If I do ever get around to reading the first in a series, that doesn’t always mean I read the NEXT book. Why? I think it’s mostly because I have, you know, all those other free books on my Kindle. So by the time I’ve read some of those, I’ve forgotten about that other book and that other author. Occasionally, there is an author that just blows me away, and I have to get more and more of his or her books. That’s happened to me with a couple of free books I’ve gotten in the past year, and I’m going to post about that author later, but this is the exception to the rule. Bad me.

So what’s the answer? Everyone always says “write a good book and they’ll come”. Well, the problem is, there are a bunch of books out there. And many of them are good. How does a reader slog through them? How can you get YOUR book in front of people for them to even decide if they like it? So you HAVE to do some marketing. So what’s the best way to do this without being obnoxious (like constant blasts on FB or Twitter)? I don’t know the answer.

So what do you all think? Have “free” promotions boosted your sales? I’m thinking about a giveaway on my blog in the near future involving free ebooks and something cute that would go along with the book. But will it help with sales? Although I love giving away freebies and interacting with other authors and readers, the bottom line is…well…the bottom line. If I want to make a living at this some day, things are going to have to change. But how? Only the Shadow knows. (Some of you may be too young to understand that last statement. LOL)

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Air Plants

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on January 21, 2013| 14 Comments »

I posted (on Facebook, I think) the other day that I was excited because I had ordered some air plants and couldn’t wait to get them. I know, it doesn’t take much to excite me, right? They arrived Saturday, and I gave them a good soak. And this is what I did with them. 🙂

airplants

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Sunday Update (Where there’s not much to update)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 20, 2013| 13 Comments »

I’m not sure why I’m even posting today. There’s really not much to tell. Between being sick and having company every evening, I just haven’t gotten anything done with my WIP. But I feel better now, and the company will be less frequent, so it’s time to get back to work tomorrow. And back to exercise if I can work out without coughing.

Btw, I lost another pound. 🙂

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Fitness Fridays???

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 18, 2013| 12 Comments »

I’m sitting here seriously thinking about participating in #aHeartFitFriday which was started by Erika. I learned about this from my friend, Amber West in THIS post. I actually mentioned my weight on her blog, which was exactly the same as HER current weight, but putting that kind of info on my blog…well, it’s scary. Amber does measurements, too, but I think if I do this, I’ll just stick with the weight info.

I keep thinking, who in the world even wants to hear about this? Then I realized it’s MY blog. I know it’s great to have readers and commenters, but it’s also important to blog about what I want to on my own blog. Right? So, next Friday, you MIGHT start seeing a health related post. You can choose to read it or not. I hope you will, because I know there are a lot of writers and readers out there who neglect their health. I’m trying to really work on improving mine, so if just a tiny bit of inspiration comes through, then that’s great. But, if you choose not to read, then maybe I’ll have something more interesting on other days. LOL

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Rain, Rain, Rain

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 15, 2013| 13 Comments »

It’s been raining for three days straight, and it’s supposed to continue into tomorrow. We are under a flood watch, and some schools in the area are closed today because of flooding. Here is a picture of the creek behind my office. I took this pic from the window at the back of my office. If there’s much more rain, I might have to evacuate. LOL

Creek behind my office

Creek behind my office

By the way, it’s my birthday. 🙂

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Sunday Update 1/13/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 13, 2013| 17 Comments »

Well, as I mentioned Wednesday, I had a couple of good writing days. However, I woke up Wednesday with a sore throat and was kind of miserable traveling back from Baltimore, a ten hour drive. I’ve been sick since then, so I haven’t really felt like writing. I did go out for dinner last night for my birthday (a few days early) with family and a couple of friends, but I coughed so much last night I couldn’t sleep. I seem to feel better during the day and miserable at night. I’m not going to beat myself up over the lack of writing because I know what crap I would have written while I was feeling so bleh.

On the health front, my blood sugar is doing great on the 24 hour insulin. I SO hope I can get off of it or at least cut down the dosage. I’ve lost about 10 lbs. in the last month, so I’m happy with that. I didn’t walk on the treadmill on Friday because I felt so bad, and I really missed it. So exercise has become a habit that I miss when I don’t do it. That’s a good thing. I want to keep up with the treadmill through the month of January, then add back the weight work in February.

Okay, enough talk. I’m going to rest for awhile now….

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Wednesday Update 1/10/13 & Eyeballs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 10, 2013| 13 Comments »

I know I’m a day late, but I was traveling yesterday. My word counts were pretty good considering I’m trying to jump back into a project I haven’t worked on in a while. Monday, word count was 772. I’m not sure about Tuesday because my dropbox folder wouldn’t sync due to a connection at the hotel that wasn’t secure, and now my computer at home is turned off. But I know it was about 650. So I’m pleased.

I know this is supposed to be a post about ROW80, but I can’t resist posting something else. The picture below shows what happens when you leave your car at a friend’s house while you’re out of town. Beware of friends with strange intentions. This is just a small sample of all the eyeballs I found in my car.

eyeballs

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My Snarky Voice

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 8, 2013| 14 Comments »

So here I am trying to write the story that started in my husband’s head. This started out as a really dark story. There wasn’t supposed to be any humor or light-heartedness. But I just can’t help myself. Although the story is a tragic one in many ways, I just can’t keep my remarks to myself. Well, my characters’ remarks. I’m already writing banter between the reaper demon and the guardian angel. They are at odds with each other, but it wasn’t supposed to be snarky. But it is. I guess that’s how it’s going to be. I really hope my husband isn’t disappointed at how the story is going. But I have to write in my own voice. and it’s sometimes a little snarky, even in the darker books. So that’s how it is.

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Goals for ROW80 Round 1 2013

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| 18 Comments »

The last round ended up during a time that was very difficult for me in many ways. I won’t go into all of that since most of you know what all happened. But it’s time to move on and get my writing mojo back. 🙂

This round starts at kind of a hard time since I’m out of town on business for the next three days. But there’s absolutely no reason I can’t write at night after all the lectures and receptions and networking. I have nights to myself here in my room, so there’s no excuse not to write.

My main goal is to write one hour per day, five days a week. Some days that might be 250 words, some days it might be 1,000. I’ve worked better with time goals rather than word count goals, although I will be keeping up with word count on a spreadsheet. I would really like to finish my WIP during this round.

My secondary goal is to get Soul of a Vampire out in print. This should have been done already. I think I already have it formatted (it’s been so long, I forgot if it’s finished), and Anya already has my cover ready. So this goal should be easy to achieve. I don’t rush the print versions because they don’t sell nearly as well as the ebooks, but I do have one reader that always waits on the print version. I would put it out in print for that person alone.

My non-writing goal is to keep my blood sugar at the proper levels through diet and exercise. My MAJOR goal would be to no longer require insulin shots, but that might possibly be out of my control. My doctor says it doesn’t happen often, but it DOES happen. We shall see.

I wish all of you a GREAT Round One and hope you all meet your goals. 🙂

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Whinefest

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on January 4, 2013| 25 Comments »

Okay, this post is going to be all about the whining. So read no further if you’re not in the mood for it.

Most of you know that I was diagnosed with diabetes. This means insulin shots, oral medication, AND cutting back on sugar and carbs. Sweets aren’t my big weakness, so that wasn’t much of a problem. And I realized I wasn’t eating as many carbs as the maximum for diabetics. I can deal with that, right? I was doing fine. However, I did notice I was eating more fats than I should, which I was really going to try to cut down on. So, yesterday, I got a phone call from a nurse at my doctor’s office. My cholesterol and triglycerides are too high. This means cholesterol medication (which means more money out of my pocket). But here’s the kicker. “You need to cut down on fats, red meat, and dairy.” What the CRAP can I eat now??? I think the biggest problem for me is that I don’t really like chicken. I like fish, but I’m really picky about how it’s prepared and how it tastes. And I really, really like cheese better than anything. You know, cheese that’s full of fat and happens to be a dairy product. So now, Miss Lauralynn, who never gets depressed, has to hop off her high horse and admit that depression is only a heartbeat away. Or maybe it’s just frustration and anger, because I want to hit something. Do I know how to eat properly? Of course I do. I worked for Weight Watchers for 15 years.

I need a plan. I need to suck it up and take what life has given me. But I don’t want to, darn it. I will, though. If I want to avoid health issues, I have to. My plan right now is to stop eating out for lunch. I can control what I cook, and I can take leftovers for lunch. At least, when I eat red meat at home, it’s really lean. And if I eat fish, I can control how it’s cooked. I can do this. If I’m really good five days a week, I can allow a little splurge on the weekends. I don’t have to give up enjoying food. I just need to rethink things. Yeah, I just need to do the best I can. Okay, depression, out of my way! I have no room for you in my life! 🙂

Funny how talking things out changes one’s attitude….

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