April Altitudes

Flying High

I’m still on a high after participating in such an awesome author event, Authors in the Park: Spring into Art. There were eleven other authors in the event held in the Renaissance Building in Mt. Dora, Florida. I was able to get acquainted with some wonderful authors as well as introduce new readers to my books.

A big highlight was a local book reviewer offered to review my books. Just check out the video below for all the wordtastic fun we had. If you’re a Central Florida author you should definitely look into Authors in the Park sponsored by JLB Creatives and MillerWords.com you can find them on Facebook at Authors in the Park.

Reaching High

April 1^st is the begging of Round 2 for A Roundof Words in 80 Days. This round has some lofty goals considering I signed up for both Camp NaNo and The Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Both these events start today as well and If you’re interested sign ups are still open on all three! I’ve also been diving back into my studies for a degree in Hospitality Management.

I’m going to reach high with all of these goals and other projects dropped in along the way, but I’m not going to be ridged when things get shaky. With that many clouds in the sky turbulence is to be expected and course adjustments made along the way. With that in mind here are my goal lists.

Round 2 Goals

1. Finish the Blogging from A to Z challenge (Made it so close last year!)

2. Make my 25k word count set for Camp NaNo (awesome feature setting your own word count goals this year.) That should give this novel a good kick-start.

3. Complete the above mentioned novel rough draft by the end of Round 

4. Complete 2 classes in school

5. Clean out my bedroom closet. (Goodwill is gonna love me :)

Goals for Round 2 Week 1

1. Post daily for A to Z

2. Make daily word count of 834 words for Camp NaNo

3. Take next exam this week for studies.

4. Work 20 minutes at least 3 days this week on the dark pit closet.

I hope I don’t pull an Icarus and fly too close to the sun with everything I’ve packed into April. Regardless, I’m heading for high altitudes thinking about how satisfying it will be crossing bits of this list off. I did pack my parachute just in case though. :)

What have you packed into your April? How do you handle lofty goals?

Embarking on Adventure

This update is filled with news! Last week was full of new adventures and there are more on the horizon just waiting for me to get there. Now where to start….

Don’t Touch Re-launch

Don’t Touch has an official re-release date… March 25^th. So mark your calendar and be on the look out for more coming about the characters and locations in this exciting psychic thriller.

Due to a lovely migraine I didn’t get as much editing as I would have liked done but we’re on the tail end yay! So, my goal to start formatting didn’t get met but that’s okay, there’s time yet to panic get it done.

Authors in the Park March 30^th!

I have my box and filling it with what I need for this awesome event. I have books to sell and some goodies to give away. If your in Florida mark your calendar to come and see me in Mt. Dora you can get more info on Authors in the Park on my website HERE.

AIP was also responsible for some of my adventure last week. I took part in a live Authors in the Park Panel on The G-Zone on Blog Talk Radio. My first radio appearance! I felt like a stumblin' bumblin' fool, but it was great fun. You can listen to the show below.

            

Write one article

Check! Another adventure undertaken was a visit to the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Florida. I love art and could spend hours looking at the beautiful creations and bits of history. Instead of telling you about it go here and check out my article WorldPremiere of De Soto’s Florida Expedition Artifacts. If you like travel and reading about unique places please subscribe!

Awesome new adventure

This adventure will be continuing on for a long time to come I hope. I was invited by the fab Karen Cote and Coffee Time Romance mistress Karenne McConkie to become a member of the Coffee Time Crew!

I’ve been blessed to find and become part of some awesome groups and organizations. Coffee Time Romance is a fantastic place for both authors and readers. There are so many ways to get great book news plus contests (I’ll be working on a super fun contest with Lady Karen so keep an eye out for that news!)  and giveaways, free classes and books! Who doesn’t love coffee and books! So go to Coffee Time Romance and check out all the awesomeness.

Goals for this week

1. Finish editing Don’t Touch and start e formatting before I gain 10lbs on all this chocolate.

2. Write one article

3. Get more prep done for Authors in the Park. Holy cow, March 30^th keeps getting closer!

4. Get more dark chocolate for desk drawer. I see a chocolate intervention in my future…

5. Find more adventure last week was crazy but fun!

How about you? Did you have accomplish your goals or have any new adventures?

Editing and chocolate, lots of chocolate

I have been hard at work on the last edit of Don’t Touch in preparation for its March ebook re-launch. Editing for me is hellish. I’ve never been very grammatical, it just doesn’t come naturally to me. So, some days it’s a struggle as to which tense is proper or is that a hanging practiciple on the end of that sentence? *pulls out hair and grabs some dark chocolate to sooth the nerves.

Thank goodness for the discovery of a few awesome helpers along the way to boost my weak spot, and dark chocolate to ease the fried nerves.

Ginger
My Sis found this one while working on a research paper. Thank you Sis!!! Ginger is useable online or you can download it onto your system. It has a spell and grammar check. The grammar check is a bit more detailed than the one that comes in Word. Ginger works directly from your document you don’t have to open and import into an external program. Best of all it’s free!

This is the diagnosis for HALF. 

The Writer's Diet Test 
This handy site lets you see where you need to do some tightening on your manuscripts. Your novels fitness depends on the amount of adverbs, adjectives.. etc… that the writing contains.

Copy pasting a few thousand words into this online tool lets you know where you need to do some tightening and shaving pounds off your book. If only it was that easy to that chocolate cake off my hips.

Hopefully with the aid of my handy author tool box and a bag of dark chocolate edits will soon be at an end and the final formatting can begin so Don’t Touch can get its tush on the virtual shelves.

My ROW80 goals for this week are focused on getting her done and getting ready for my big event Authors in the Park.
1. Finish the re-edits on Don’t Touch
2. Start on e formatting of Don’t Touch
3. Start on preparations for materials for AIP on March 30^th. (OMG That’s less than 30 days away!!!!)
4. Write one article
5. Take a breath, have a chocolate and try not to panic 


For more details about the March 30^th festival of books and art go here Authors in the Park.

How are your goals shaping up? Do you have any editing tricks or tips you like to use? 

Don't Touch the Author in the Park

Don’t Touch is in its final stretch on it’s journey being revamped for re-release. At the time of this books original release I was still new to this publishing world. Now that I’ve got a few notches in my belt of knowledge I decided to go back and give my beloved stories a fresh polish and new life.

It’s given me a chance to fall in love with the story and characters all over again. Don’t Touch will relaunch the first week of March! So keep an eye out for the big release announcement. Here’s a the blurb and revamped cover!

Blurb:

Detective Jackson Prince has to find a serial killer before he strikes again. Reclusive ex- forensic pathologist Ryan Reign is the only one who can help him. One problem, she can’t touch without experiencing sometimes frightening visions. Can Jackson find a way to touch her heart so they can stop the killer? 

You’ll be able to find both Don’t Touch and myself at the Authors In the Park event on March 30^th in Mt. Dora, Florida from 2:30pm until 8pm selling and signing books. I’ll be joined by 11 other Lake County authors. There will be free appetizers of wine and cheese from One Flight Up Café, live entertainment and a gallery walk of local artists.

It’s going to be a fantastic day so mark your calendar to come and join us!

Now for my ROW80 goals.With the preparation for this event and working to get Don’t Touch I’m making a few revisions to the goal list. I have to say ROW80 has been an awesome and encouraging experience to share and see other's posting about their own goals and progress. Okay here we go new goals for this week...

Goals for week 5:
Edit like mad
Work on getting promo and table items for event

Start putting together flash collection number one! That’s right keep your eyes peeled for two upcoming collections of flash stories on Smashwords and Amazon!

For more about Authors in the Park and the other authors attending with me check out their FB page: Authors in the Park on Twitter you can look for #AIP and #DontTouch for release news.  

Whew, I’m worn out from just thinking of all that. Are you making progress on your goals?