Jaime Jo Wright | Author Chat

Professional coffee drinker & ECPA/Publisher's Weekly best-selling author, Jaime Jo Wright resides in the hills of Wisconsin writing spirited romantic suspense stained with the shadows of history. Coffee fuels her snarky personality. She lives in Neverland with her Cap’n Hook who stole her heart and will not give it back, their little fairy Tinkerbell, and a very mischievous Peter Pan. The foursome embark on scores of adventure that only make her fall more wildly in love with romance and intrigue. Jaime lives in dreamland, exists in reality, and invites you to join her adventures at jaimejowright.com

Books Worth Reading

I decided to do a fun little list in place of the "new novel news" Monday because, while these may not be new, they are worth reading. They are in no particular order - in fact, if they are in "any" order it's due to the time that I read them since I went through my Goodreads list. Rather than add a ton more here, I've given you three words for each book/series.  You can read more of my thoughts in Goodreads about these books.

Book Review Pet Peeves

I've got to be honest here. I am all about book reviews. Obviously, I write them--you see them here and on my Goodreads all the time--but I also read them pretty consistently.

Confession...

I go straight to 1& 2 star reviews ALL the time. Maybe that's weird...but I find them to be (at times) hilarious, entertaining, and to sometimes contain nuggets of helpful truth. There have been many that I've read that are complete junk and you can tell they were either written by someone who never read the book or someone who's carrying some sort of odd grudge against books of a certain type or something.

But, there are a few things I can say for a fact that really really bother me when it comes to reviews...

Writing When the Sprinkler Goes Off by Beth K. Vogt | Guest Post

“People think authors sit outside on the lawn all day, relaxing. Writing. What they don’t realize is there are sprinklers going off.”

Taylor Bennett | Author Chat

Homeschooled since kindergarten, Taylor Bennett is the seventeen-year-old author of Porch Swing Girl, which will be released by Mountain Brook Ink on May 1st. When she’s not reading or writing, Taylor can be found playing her violin or taking walks in the beautiful Oregon countryside. She loves to connect with readers via her author website, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (her favorite!), Pinterest, and Goodreads.

Novel News with Sara Ella and Amanda G. Stevens

My oh my, it's been ages since I've done a "New Novel News" post so I thought I'd start with a bit of catch up. These LOVELY novels are out now--so no delay in gettin them (see what I did there?).

Things No One Told Me About Freelancing

I've been a freelancer for over six years, and for about four of them I've been fully self-employed. I do a range of things, but as of right now I freelance in these areas: photography, writing, graphic design, social media coaching. Each area comes with its own unique aspects (and challenges) but there are a few things I wish I would have known before I stepped into them.

Not all of them are negative - thank goodness - but some are. I don't share these to warn you away from freelancing in any of these ares, but I hope this post could be informative and helpful for those looking to freelance.

6 Tips to being Genuine Online by Becky Wade | Guest Post

Striving to be genuine online? Here are 6 tips from author Becky Wade!

It's challenging to be genuine online, isn't it? When we interact via cyberspace, we're robbed of several aspects of face-to-face communication. We can't read the other person's body language and they can't read ours. We can't hear their tone and they can't hear ours. Often, we're not communicating in real time.

We can respond to the strangeness of online communication by saying nothing because we're too shy to put ourselves out there. We can post about the mundane because we have no idea what else to say. We can beautify our lives so much that the things we present via our feeds don't resemble our reality at all. Or we can make an effort to communicate our genuine selves and begin to establish real connections as a result.

I entered the world of social media in 2011. Since then I've observed (because I follow numerous people) and experienced firsthand (through my own posts) a few things that seem to lead to greater authenticity....

Stop thinking you aren't good enough

Stop thinking you aren't good enough...

This could have several different meanings, but the one I'm addressing specifically is to The Writer. You probably know (or are) the person I'm talking about. If so, listen up because I'm you too. (Um, yeah, just go with me on this).