Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: 2016

In most blog tours, a single author appears on a variety of blogs, moving around the Internet and allowing the readers of those blogs get to know the author.

In the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, the authors stay on their blogs and it's you, the reader, who takes the tour.

Each month, our participating authors from around the world agree to blog on a single topic throughout the month. By following the links in each month's post, you'll discover a whole bunch of new authors in a variety of genres, levels of experience, and styles of writing.

We hope you enjoy the trip and come back each month for a new spin around the globe.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

We All Have to Start Somewhere: May Merry-Go-Round Blog Post

Whoa! Interesting topic. I published my first book, The Bad Seed, in 2012 and I haven’t gone back to look at it since. I’m a little nervous. Here’s the first page.

The front and back doors burst open in an explosion of sound. Willa turned to look, her eyes wide and mouth open, knife still in hand, as men in black burst into the kitchen from the back hallway and from the living room.

In shock and hardly breathing, she stood in front of the stove with the knife in the air. They were all shouting, “Drop the knife! Drop the knife! Drop it!” She finally regained enough presence of mind to drop the knife. One of the men came rushing at her from the morning room, around the kitchen island and pushed her to the floor. Before she knew it, he had a knee in her back and both hands pulled painfully behind her. The handcuffs were tight and cold.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Favorite Conventions or Events: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

Payson Book Festival 2015

I was about to say I've only ever been to one convention but then re-read the rest of the prompt. I can include National Novel Writing Month (NaNo). Not mentioned might also be Book Festivals. Well now, I think I have something to talk about.

Let me talk about my only convention. That was the In'DTale convention in September 2015. I went with a Romance author friend and I had a blast. First of all, there's all the excitement of talking to other authors. They get it when you say you're worried you can't figure out the ending. They also have all kinds of great tips and tricks for writing, for marketing and promotion, and for, well, everything. There's a lot of learning going on as well. There were workshops scheduled all day. I went to one titled How to put more Sex in your Book. It was a romance convention after all.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Cover Art Inspirations: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

Cover art is such a personal thing, isn't it? For me, cover art that screams SciFi will draw me in any time. Spaceships seeming to scream through space, exploding planets, people adrift in space in space suits. Oh yeah, that's the stuff. But what about other genre's. I read widely, what attracts me to those other stories?

I'm not sure I can answer that. I'd off-handedly say the covers have nothing to do with it but marketers will statistically prove me wrong. I like adventure, spy stories, mysteries, even the odd western will catch my eye. Was it the cover or the back cover blurb? Many will say I was drawn in by the cover art.

But cover art, now that's an arcane wizardry. Last year I wrote my first cozy mystery. I mostly do my own covers so I did a search on Amazon for cozy mysteries and found a mix of cartoon characters and English cottage gardens as covers. I shrugged. Neither of those were what I wanted for a cover that evoked Arizona, serious, or murder. The book was called Mystery at the Fair.

To read more click here.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, traveling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com! Up next: L.C. Aisling.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

My Writing Origin: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

Owl Using Computer by Red_Pigeon via DeviantArt.com

This month's topic is an origin story. How did I start writing? I've always written. Stories for school, a play when I was 13 that the school actually let me produce, fits and starts at books as an adult. The problem was I never knew how to get past the first couple of chapters.

That all changed in 2011. My daughter Elizabeth had moved in with us while she re-evaluated her life, and made friends with a lovely young woman, Jaime Raintree. Jamie is an author and she told Elizabeth about this writing challenge called National Novel Writing Month. She was going to participate and encouraged Elizabeth to do so as well.

Elizabeth told us about this challenge. "Write everyday, 1667 words a day, and you'll win the challenge. I'm going to do it."

"How hard can that be," I asked. I should have realized right then that karma was about to give me a boot.

"Hard, mom. If you think it's so easy you should do it."

Well, challenge issued and accepted.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

An origin story over the years

I didn't really think I had an origin story, a single moment I could point to and say, "This is when I became a writer." To see why that is my origin story, check out the full post on my blog.

Monday, January 18, 2016

January: Time to set some goals

Goals! Of course. It's the start of the year and yep, I do have a list of things in mind to help guide myself along my writer's course in 2016. You'll note that I'm only talking about writing goals. I could put a lot of other goals in here but that would lead to chaos. Let's just stick to the writing goals.

1. Goal: Start an author interview post on my website for 2X per month.

Note: I began this process in November when I put out a call for authors who'd like to be interviewed. I posted the first interview on January 13th, one of our own Forward Motion authors, B. C. Mathews. I loved how she answered the interview questions. You can see that interview here.

2. Goal: Submit stories to newspapers/magazines about my appearances before and after each appearance.

The thinking here is that this goal is one of several to help me increase my readers. It's hard for most readers to find new authors. This is one way I can help increase my visibility.

3. Goal: Publish 6 books in 2016: See the rest here.

How about you? Do you have a few goals for 2016? What's driving them? I'd love to hear your comments.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, traveling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com! Up next: Jean Schara.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Goals to Start the New Year: 2016 Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour

Goals are interesting things with a mutable nature. When I first set out goals for myself each year, it was easy. Whether I made them or not, I had something to strive for and I could always tweak them as needed.

All that changed when I gained readers.

Trust me, I'm not complaining one bit. I love having readers. Knowing someone is waiting for the next in each series is better motivation than a random, mutable goal.

However, it also means my goals have more weight, and I have to think about them a lot more. I can't just toss some ideas into the air and run with it. My goals have to line up with the expectations of my readers and my long-term plans as an indie author.

Read more on Tales to Tide You Over