Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: Connie Cockrell

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.

Showing posts with label Connie Cockrell. Show all posts

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.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: Conclusions

Goals? Arrggh, I haven't looked at my goals since May, I think. Let's see what I've accomplished and what I haven't.

So much has happened to me this year I really need to think about what is new and what isn't. I'm including May's status first, then my current status.

Status:

1. Goal: Upgrade my blog site to a real website

MAY: The blog is half transformed. If you look for www.conniesrandomthoughts.com, you'll find it but I'm having trouble getting into it from the Wordpress side. I also want to dress it up better. Many of the cool things I had on my blog did not transfer over to the web site. I have to figure all of that out. Stay tuned.

DECEMBER: The blog is now a website. I seemed to have lost all of the wordpress followers, maybe not but I am signing up new followers so that's a good thing. Goal achieved.

Read more here.

For me, 2015 was a year mostly successes! Three goals were not achieved but progress was made on them so I don't feel too bad. How about you? Did you have a few goals for 2015? How did you do? What would you do differently? 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

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Merry Go Round Blog Spot for November: What's New in 2015?

Nettle Pod 2015 by Randy Cockrell

Oh my! New stuff!

So much has happened to me this year I really need to think about what is new and what isn't.

One thing that is new is my love of a new to me author, Nevada Barr. I started writing cozy fiction last year and published my first work this year. See the subtle nudge at the end of this post. Anyway, my brother-in-law lent me his collection of Nevada Barr stories set around her protagonist Anna Pigeon. I love this series. First of all Anna Pigeon is my kind of gal. She loves the outdoors, fancy dress is not for her and to be honest, she likes her cat better than most people. What is not to love? I've read mystery stories for years, starting with Miss Marple stories by Agatha Christie. Anyway, I thought it was time to read some newer stuff. There is SO much out there and to be honest, I love it all. Anyway. If you're looking for some new mystery fiction, check out Nevada Barr.

Other new stuff? I don't know. I rarely listen to music anywhere. If I do, it's in the car and I live in a remote area. The local stations play oldies. When in the car, we have satellite radio and listen to, wait for it, oldies. Actually channel 32, soft rock. Of every station available on the satellite radio, what we ended up listening to was channel 32. Sigh. Sometimes you just have to go with your favs.

Food. I'm a food adventurer. I love trying all sorts of food. Unfortunately, I haven't been anywhere that's offered me a new taste sensation.

On a positive note I do try new blogs all the time. I have my favs and many of them are industry favorites. However, I do read some that are unique and interesting to me.

One is https://talainsphotographyblog.wordpress.com/ I love the simplicity of this blog. He posts pictures. Birds, butterflies, flowers. Restful and peaceful. This is a wonderful blog.

Another blog, one that may be considered an industry fav is http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/. Kristine Rusch publishes a lot of stuff, free fiction, this business blog, all sorts of other things. What I love is how wide ranging her blogs are. Business, art, personal, there is a blog for everything. Especially the business blog posts. If you are serious about becoming the writer you've always wanted to be, this is just one of the blogs you need to follow.

Another is http://goanwiki.com/. I love this blog. The food from a specific part of India and with a family story with each recipe. How awesome is that? For me the major draw is that many of the recipes are naturally gluten-free and those that aren't can be made so quite easily. This is a wonderful blog for me.

For me, 2015 was a year of discovery and adventure. I hope it was for you, too. Let me know in the comments what was a discovery for you. A new recipe? A new favorite vacation spot? A new band? Shout it out. I'd love to hear about it and try it out for myself.

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

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: How my Favorite Authors Have Influenced Me

Last month, we talked about my favorite genre being Science Fiction. I read a lot before then but other than Gone With the Wind, which I first read at twelve, I don't remember any of the stories. I was a regular at the classroom library and the school library, but there was no lasting impression.

What did impress me was that box of books I mentioned last month. Notable in there were books of short stories by Robert Heinlein and Issac Asimov. I fell in love with Heinlein's, Podkayne of Mars, and Asimov's robot stories. In high school, I dove into the much larger science fiction section. There I found Arthur C. Clarke and Ursula LeGuin. As a young adult, I found C.J. Cherryh and Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: What Genres do I like to Read and Write?

My very favorite genre is Science Fiction. When I was a young teen my friend received a whole box of SciFi books from someone who gave them away for a paper drive. I spent the whole summer with my nose in those books. I found the worlds fantastic and the ability of Science Fiction to explore an alternate way of life has not lost its charm for me yet.

I also like mystery stories. Click here to read more.

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling 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, August 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: What have I learned from other story-telling genres?

I'm an eclectic writer. While I love SciFi and write in that genre often, I don't limit myself to just that form. What that means is, I need to be consciously aware of the tropes, the expectations, if you will, of every genre I write in.

A good example is my latest book, Mystery at the Fair. I've been reading mysteries and thrillers since I was a teen, right along with my SciFi and Fantasy. But I was never conscious of what it was about those stories that made them a mystery, rather than a SciFi or a Fantasy.

Of course, there's the mystery. That much is obvious. But what makes it a mystery? See more at ConniesRandomThoughts.com.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: July - Mid-Year Check-In - how you're doing on your January goals

Picture is Goal by oscarsnapshotter via www.DeviantArt.com

I haven't checked on my annual goals for awhile so this is a great chance for me to check out where I am!

1. Upgrade my blog site to a real website: I've been poking at this for awhile but at the end of June I went into WordPress and poked around until I figured out I needed to do a domain mapping to make everything work correctly. This $13 dollar per year fix seems to have been the final step. Yay. Up to this point I'd been double posting my posts on both the Wordpress site and the GoDaddy site. Not convenient at all. I'm so happy!

2. Research the pros and cons of selling my books from my own website. If it seems good, get that page set up: Umm, nope. Nothing done on that but, to be honest, just got the website going. I still have some time before the end of the year.

Click here to read the rest!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: June - Beach reads (aka, what's on your TBR pile?)

Photo: Books by Connie Cockrell

So I had this written but for some reason it wasn't posted. Well, June isn't over yet so here it is. A little late, OK, ten days late, but better late than never.

I'll have to admit. My To Be Read (TBR) pile is full of adventure stories. I like adventure, always have. These are the easy Clive Cussler, James Patterson, stories that just take you from scene to scene, leaving you breathless at the end. Then there's the pile of cozy mysteries by Nevada Barr. I've read the first one and loved it. They're as much research into the current cozy mystery scene as they are pleasure reading.

To read more, click here.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: May - In Memoriam or My Favorite Books

I was a pre-teen when I discovered science fiction. I was a reader before then and not the easy stuff either. I read Gone With the Wind when I was twelve. I wonder now what the librarian who checked out the book for me thought but she never said a word about the appropriateness of that title for a 12-year-old.

My first SciFi authors? E.E. "Doc" Smith, Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke, all sadly gone now. No one told me that those books were for boys. I read through them avidly and reread them over and over. If you haven't read Doc Smith's the Lensman, it can be kind of dated but the last book in the series really shows women in a strong light and the ultimate conclusion must have been controversial at the time. Probably still is. No spoilers, read the series.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Writing Platform? Do I have One?

When I saw this month's topic, to be honest, I was baffled. I didn't know what that meant. So, being a modern woman I went to the internet to get some help. I stumbled on http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/writing-platform.html and checked out the definition there. Here's the first paragraph on their page.

"Having a writing platform means that you have an audience, and that you have some vehicle in place to reach that audience when you have books to sell. This platform is as important to those not yet published as it is to established writers."

Oh! Yeah, how am I contacting people, selling books, putting my name out there? Good question. The site offers thirteen things you should or could do to create a rounded "platform". If you're interested in what they suggest, check out the site. However, we get all of this same information right here on Forward Motion. Here are a few of the things I do. Click here to see the whole post.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour July: Mid-Year Goals Check-In

Six months worth of goals. Ack! It has been a whirlwind year for me in my writing world, to be sure. I completed all of the goals for January, February and March which to be honest, was a struggle. I just felt behind the whole time. April was tough, though I did get the cover for Hard Choices done and revealed in April. Hard Choices finalized in May right on schedule and was published. It's always pretty exciting to send another book out into the world. Read more here.