Skullhaven is coming...

I've just uploaded the converted .mobi files to KDP for my new middle-grade paranormal novel, SKULLHAVEN. I will be offering free gift copies for anyone willing to read it and do a review on Amazon.

Here's a blurb to give you a bit more info. 

Lilly was only four years old when her mother kissed her goodbye and told her she would be right back. And after seven years, Lilly still wonders what happened to her. For the last seven years, Lilly has been living at the Sacred Heart Orphanage across the highway from Skullhaven Cemetery. It’s a spooky place for a timid girl. Especially at night.

Sister Carmen understands Lilly's fears, and she gives Lily a necklace with an ancient cross and tells her it will protect her. But it does more than that! Its mysterious power allows Lilly to see spirits who haven’t crossed over.

When the wealthy and ruthless Egyptian antiquities dealer Horus Hawass visits the Sacred Heart Orphanage and sees Lilly’s necklace, he recognizes it immediately as the priceless Golden Ankh of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The greedy Horus Hawass quickly hatches a plan to acquire it for himself, and he calls in a few of his seedy associates.

After kidnapping Lilly, he gives her an ultimatum: She can either give him the Golden Ankh, or she can join her mother in Skullhaven Cemetery—forever.

Skullhaven is a fun adventure with a hint of history, a bit of mystery, and a lot of complexity that will keep the middle-grade reader wondering what's going to happen next!

Two new designs...

 

Thanks to my dear friend, the great author Joe Perrone, Jr., I did a bit more work. He suggested using a three-dimensional gold typeface, which I think works great for this cover. Here are a couple of more entries. Your opinions would be helpful. I'm not sure which typeface I prefer. And, I've decided to nix the ankh. Just too many elements if I include it.

You can click on each one to get a larger image.

I would love your opinions and your input on these. A big thanks to Joe. Check out his books on Amazon. He's a great mystery writer!

Skullhaven is coming soon...

I'm currently in the final stages of editing and formatting this spooky middle grade novel. I have decided to take a break and work on the cover design. Here are three that I'm considering.

I would love your input on these. If you want to click on each one, it will open in a larger size. Let me know which would attract you the most? We can name them 1, 2, and 3. (How clever is that?)

Thanks so much for your comments!

Ready to Publish?

If you've been patiently waiting for the right time to publish your own eBook, but weren't quite sure how to do it, here's a new manual that will answer all those questions that have been nagging you and put to rest all the uncertainty about how to go about it.

Just follow step-by-step instructions and your book can be listed on the world's largest shopping center by the time you're having your coffee tomorrow morning. Check it out!

Here's a LINK.

Back to Beginnings

We've touched on beginnings and opening lines in previous posts, but it's so important that I wanted to devote this post to that very same topic.

I've decided to put the opening paragraphs of my YA thriller, Lost in the Bayou, here as an example. I'd like you to include your opening in a comment so we can all benefit from the input each of us has to offer. So, with that said, here it is...


In Louisiana, summer wraps around you like molasses. Thick and sticky. July is hot and humid. Always. August is worse. And the summer of 1963 has been a record breaker so far.

This morning, the sky is cloudless. It's muggy, and there's no hint of a breeze to blow away the pestering flies or the lingering stench of whatever crawled under the porch and died a few days ago. The only possible relief in sight is a dark bank of clouds in the south over the bayou. If it holds together, we may get a storm later tonight to cool things off. I hope so.

The rhythmic buzz of locusts fills the air, but it stops suddenly as the deep rumble comes up the road. My heart races as the sound rolls across the terrace and toward the covered veranda where we're waiting.

There's an uncertain look in Andy's eyes when he glances up at me, and his voice is thin as water when he speaks. "He's coming."


In fiction, an arrival or a departure is a good way to start out. I decided to use the arrival of Uncle Conrad as a starting point in order to introduce him to the reader, along with Robin and her little brother, Andy.

As mentioned, I would love your comments, and I'm certain the rest of us would enjoy reading a sample of your opening if you'd like to share it with us. As always, keep writing.

Branding yourself and your product

Obviously, marketing is a huge subject and way too large to cover in one session. So, we're going to drill down a little and pick out one particular area of interest to discuss, i.e., branding.

Is it important to brand yourself or your products? That's like asking if it's important to have a period at the end of a sentence. Everything you do in your marketing program should be related to the image you're trying to create. But before doing anything, and perhaps having to undo it later, you need to decide what that image is, or will be.

The image you create may be centered around your main character (Harry Potter) or yourself as the creator of that character or work (Stephen King). Keep in mind that everything you do, every email, every Facebook post, every Tweet, every query—everything—is a reflection of your image or your brand. Keep in mind that, as your visibility grows, more and more people are watching and listening to what you say and do. Make sure your actions and words reflect the image you're trying to create.

Image retention is a product of words and graphics. And repetition. When you begin thinking about creating your brand, there are three things you need to consider in order to produce something that will be memorable. If you decide to produce a logo, keep those things in mind, and use that visual image at every opportunity. We could do a very lengthy post here on image creation and how the words, letters, typeface, arrangement, color, space, etc., all play a part in the feeling or mood that image creates. But this isn't the place for that much information. At least not today.

Let's continue and define the three primary elements required to create a unique brand or image. These are not the visual elements involved, but the base elements and essential parts that need to be included in the initial creation stage.

HONEST: First, the image or brand you create must be honest. It must be aligned with your beliefs about who you are or who your characters are.

MEANINGFUL: The brand or vision you create for yourself or your work must be relevant to the targeted customer, the reader of your works. If not, they will have difficulty relating and sales will not be as high as they could be if you build a bridge to connect.

DIFFERENT: There must be something uncommon, something significantly different between your image and all the others that are out there competing for attention. In business this is sometimes referred to as the USP or the Unique Selling Proposition.

So there you have a basic narrative on branding. It isn't a high-tech or an in-depth study by any means. But it may be enough to get you started in the right direction. As always, if you'd like to leave a comment on the subject, please feel free to do so. I like knowing there's someone out there reading this.

Finding your voice

Voice can be a stumbling block for many writers. It’s a concept that’s somewhat difficult to describe, but it’s easy to see when a piece of writing has it, or doesn’t. Voice is the way writing sounds on the page. It's comprised of several aspects: word choice, sentence structure, rhythm, etc. One of these aspects involves being able to connect with the reader's emotions through the words you write. Today we’re going to talk about this aspect of voice and practice injecting it into your writing.

We can’t all be Stephen King or Harper Lee, so don't try to be a carbon copy. You have your own voice. You just need to let it out. Here's one way to begin: Write something. Read it aloud. Listen to how it sounds. Can you feel the tone, the mood, the emotion in the words? Does it have a rhythm or a flow to it? If it seems wooden or stilted, try writing it again. Have someone else read it to you. Keep doing it until you find the right combination. Think about the feeling, the emotion you’re trying to convey. If you can find that aspect, the words will practically write themselves.

There's much more that can be said on this subject, but learning by doing may provide more value in this case. So, let's do an exercise. I’d like you to write a paragraph for the story I’m about to describe. One paragraph. Try to keep it under 150 words. Get that inner voice speaking and make your words powerful enough to convey what’s going on. I’m not going to play Big Brother on this one, so if you go over 150 words, well, you go over. But aim for 150 or less. Your first draft may contain a lot more than that. If so, pare it down to its essence. Start off with an attention-getting first sentence and go from there.

You will write your paragraph in first person POV. And just for kicks, let's write it in the present tense. If you're not certain about the conventions of that style, check out The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, or Lost in the Bayou, by Cornell DeVille (shameless plug). If you've never written in present tense, you might find it enjoyable and fun.

The setting is a small chapel. The sky is dark. Thunder is rumbling. It's raining. You are twelve years old, sitting on a wooden pew. At the front of the room is a casket containing the body of your mother. Or your father. Or your grandmother or grandfather. Or your brother or sister. Or your best friend. You decide.

What I'd like you to do is put us inside that twelve-year-old's head. What thoughts and emotions are filling your mind and heart? Memories? Sadness? Anger? Shock? Numbness? Confusion? Relief that the suffering is over? Are there other people in the chapel? What are they doing? Is your hair wet from the rain? Can you feel a water droplet trickling down your neck? Are you cold? Is someone playing the organ? Are there flowers? Can you smell them? Use whatever words you wish to convey the emotions you’re feeling, but keep in mind that a ten-year-old isn’t going to use the same words or speech patterns an adult would. And those questions above are just ideas to spark your imagination. You don't necessarily need to address those.

Your objective is to connect the reader to this situation by the words you choose and the way you arrange them. Draw the reader in so they’re experiencing it with you as they read it. The words should go into their head and straight down to their heart. Make them feel, really feel, what you’re feeling. Use your imagination on this one, and get that voice of yours into it. I know it’s inside you. Let it out. When you finish, if it doesn't make you cry when you read it, rewrite it. Keep revising until your heart breaks and your voice cracks when you try to read it aloud. When that happens, that's the voice you've been keeping inside. That's the voice that will connect with the reader.

In order to keep things organized, when you post your comment, start out with a TITLE. If you don’t wish to participate, feel free to comment on any of the other examples, and use the title so the writers will know which one you’re commenting on. This subject may be too emotional to get a lot of participants, but I hope you’ll give it a try. It's a great exercise, and you may be surprised by the results.

The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt with the heart — Helen Keller.