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Category: My Books

The novels I’ve written and/or the characters in them.

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It's July - so y'all know what that means, right?  Yep.  It's time for the annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale.

Books by many of your favorite authors are available at SW this month at discounted prices varying from 25% off all the way to free.  ALL OF MY BOOKS ARE 50% OFF for the promo.

As SW owner and all-around ebook Guru, Mark Coker says, "It's that time of year again for our annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale promotion, running July 1 through July 31!  It's summer here in the northern hemisphere, and winter for our reader friends south of the equator. The promotion's cheeky "Summer/Winter" name acknowledges the fact that there's a global market for ebooks..."

This year, there's a special reason for everyone to LOAD UP on all my books at Smashwords -- SW and Publisher's Weekly just launched a monthly bestseller list. It will feature the top 25  highest grossing SW ebooks for each month and the top 10 from the list will appear in the print issue of Publisher's Weekly.  The first month's list rated the top 25 ebooks based on May sales.

I'm very proud to note that 16 of the top 25 on the list are romance novels.  A big congrats to the SW authors who made the first list.  HOWEVER, ahm,  **clears throat**  I must note that unfortunately -- none of my books made the debut list.  And all of you know what that means, right?

It means you should rush over to the Summer/Winter sale and buy all my books - and if you own them already, buy several dozen copies of each book and give them to your friends as either Beach or Snuggle Under the Comforter reads, depending on your hemisphere, of course.

There are enough quackers out there to waddle at least a couple of my books onto next month's list!  So head on over to Smashwords and be sure your button finger is nimble enough to set new speed records.

This sale is the best way to fill up your ereader with great books at prices that will smash your budget barrier.

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Published on 2 Comments on There’s a 10-Step Plan for Writing Superstardom?

Why am I the last to know these things?

There seems to be a 10-step plan for everything these days, but somehow, I thought the eternal quest for writing the Great American Novel was above and beyond all that.  Not so, according to a new piece from Huffpo by Ester Bloom, entitled:  "Write the Great American Novel in 10 Easy Steps."

And they're EASY steps?  Geez!  Just think of all the time I've been wasting behind my keyboard.  Worse- think of all that stress and strain on my wee, already-stressed and strained brain.  Come on Ms. Bloom - give a girl a clue, why don't you?  OH, that's right - she just did.

Let's see - step one is to be a dead dude like Mark Twain, William Faulkner or Nathaniel Hawthorne.   Well, that doesn't sound so easy.  It sounds pretty impossible.  Wait - there is a sub-choice!  If I'm not a dead dude, it'll work if I'm Toni Morrison, a one-book wonder like Margaret Mitchell or Harper Lee, or a privileged, white drunk like Fitzgerald or Hemingway.  Well, I'm white - but I'm pretty much out of luck on the other qualifications for the first step.

I have more luck with step 2.  Reclusive I can do.  I can't do masculine seclusion but feminine seclusion - that's my natural state.  So I can be the female Pynchon or Salinger.

Step 3 is to tell a violent story set in rural America's Southern or Western regions.  Well, most of my contemporary romances  are set along the coast of South Carolina and this is a pretty darned rural area.  And love is the ultimate violence, isn't it?  Besides, in most of my contemporaries someone dies - which is a double whammy for violence.  I guess that equates me with Penn Warren, McCarthy and McMurtry.

Then I'm supposed to center my tale around a white male hero who wrestles with diversity - preferably involving brown people -  while he travels.  Well, in "A Magical Forever" the hero has to overcome his prejudices against love and magic and he takes a trip that's literally out of this world.  I'll count that.

Next, I have to title my book something with particular keywords like "Great," "Wrath," "Love," "Fury" or "Death."  Woah, Nelly - Eden is on the list.  Hot dog - "The Duke of Eden" fits that one.  We're making progress!

Uh Oh - there are questions.

...continue reading "There’s a 10-Step Plan for Writing Superstardom?"

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I've been doing a lot of reading lately.  I've also been writing - 2 works at once.  I'll write about the writing later.  This post is about the reading.  For a writer, reading is part of the job.  To stay involved and current, I've got to stay abreast of the trends and immersed in my genre, my only genre - ROMANCE. (Is there another one?)

My budget doesn't stretch to pricey books these days, which is a big part of the reason that none of my books are pricey.  I'd never ask a reader to pay something for a book that I won't pay myself.  While life on the short-end of the money line is never fun, there's never been a better time to be a budget-conscious reader.  I get an email from Kindle Daily Deals and always check the romance deal.  I get an email from BookBub, only about romance deals - because that's what I chose when I signed up - and I always check that one.  I check in with Dear Author and Smart Biches because both sites focus on romance and feature deals every day.

I ask for Amazon gift cards for every gift-receiving occasion, and thanks to the sites I mentioned above, a $50 gift card can stretch a looooooong way.  If you're not signed up for emails from both Kindle Daily Deals and Bookbub you should stop right now and sign up.  Seriously.  And, Great Gorgeous Ducks - what kind of romance reader are you if you don't check in with Dear Author and Smart Bitches every day?  If you do all of this for deals and pay attention, you'll fill up your e-reader in no time flat and you'll never be without a lovely love story to brighten your day!

But I boogled away from the point.  Y'all know - I tend to do that.  I'm headed back there now.  The point is that all those lovely love stories are NOT created equal.  Some have been amazing reads that kept me away from writing for periods that stretched much too long.  Others have been books that make me look at my Kindle, shrug, and turn back to my laptop.  All have been romances - because that's not just what I write.  It's also what I read.  It's ALL I read, except for the occasional book by John Grisham. (My day job is practicing law and John does great legal thrillers.)

Why do some romances grab my attention - keep it - and make me sad to have finished the books while others I can take or leave?  It's all about the SAP.

...continue reading "Hit Me With Your Sappiest Shot"

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QA fans - get ready.  We're only a week away from spreading some magic.

Yes, peeps, "A Magical Forever" -the sequel to my "Forever Series" - Peter's story,  will be available everywhere on Easter Sunday, March 31st.  I enrolled the book in KDP Select, mainly to try the program for myself, and see if I could benefit from some of those paid "borrows."  In Select, whenever a Kindle Prime member borrows your book, the reader gets to read it free and the writer gets paid for the borrow.  In exchange for participating, the writer has to make the book free for the 90-day term.  My term is up 3/30 and I'll start uploading the book to all the other retailers.

So, was it worth it?  Would I do it again?  No.

Don't get me wrong, I love Amazon and the Kindle.  I'm a dedicated owner of the first version of the device - haven't sprung for the new one yet.  I may let them get down the road another generation or so before I do that.  But I do love my Kindle.  And I'm a Prime member - but - you know what?  I rarely "borrow" a book.  At first, I used my borrow every month but then life - and my writing - got in the way.  Perhaps the same is true for other Kindle owners, because I had many, many more sales than borrows.

Of course, I do price my work to be affordable.  "Magical" is priced at only $3.99.   At that price, all my readers can pick up the book for less than they'd spend for a burger combo at most fast food joints.  And the love and joy of "Magic" will warm your soul for a lot longer than that Big Mac will fill your tummy.

Y'all get your buying fingers ready -- next week a big ole dose of magic is headed your way!!

 

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Read an e-book week is Sunday, March 3rd through Saturday, March 9th.  Smashwords is celebrating with its annual INSANE promo.  And trust the crazy duck lady - you don't want to miss the deals!!

All the QA romances on Smashwords will be 50% off via a special coupon deal during the RAEW promo.

That's CRAZY, right?  Not as crazy as you'd be to miss this chance to snag a deal on all our books AND on all the other amazing romances available from great indie SW authors.

So, be sure to boogle by SW between March 3-9 and fill up your e-reader!!

 

 

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My new book - as yet untitled - is a Highland Romance.  It will be the first of a trio - my "lovely lairds" series.  I enjoyed writing about the Highlands in "A Faerie Fated Forever" and I'm enjoying spending keyboard time there again. But there is a challenge.  It's one that I - a born and bred Southerner - know all too well.

Dialect.

Regions where there is a well-known accent present a real challenge for everyone involved in the creative process - writers, actors, directors - everyone.  It particularly presents a challenge for readers and that increases the challenge for writers.   As readers, we all have our ideas about the vernacular of our home area or of a beloved romance novel region.   When the writer presents phrases differently, it challenges preconceptions in a way that births the reader reaction that writers hate -- "You got it wrong. You made a mistake."

It isn't possible to get it wrong.  It isn't possible to make a mistake with dialect.  Well, it is and it isn't.

You can't get dialect wrong because it's not like spelling.  There's not a "right" way to express how a region expresses itself.  However, there is a "wrong" way for a writer to do it.  The "wrong" way is the way that tears the reader out of the book.  And the bad part of writing dialect?  There is no way that any writer, now matter how great or gifted, will ever write dialect to suit every reader.  It's like my day job - I practice law in an office where it seems that no matter what we do, we didn't do it exactly the way the boss wanted.  It's very liberating once you accept that you won't get it right.  It means you do what you think best and let the chips fall as they will anyway.

Writing dialect is exactly that way.  I throw in some Highland Scottish dialect at points where I think it suits the story and I write it as it suits my ear and my sensibility.  It may not suit yours.  Like I said above, I'm Southern and Lord Knows, when I read books set in the South or watch a TV show or movie with Southern characters - they never get it right!!  Of course, they never get it wrong either.

Dialect helps set the mood and makes the actions of some of the characters make sense.  A laird might not act or react in a way that other people from other areas would act or react.  That's part of what makes the story, after all.  As readers we all enjoy visiting places defined by other senses and sensibilities.  I live with that because Southerners won't act or react the way people from any other part of the USA will act or react to many, many things.  We enjoy our differences and we celebrate them.  We don't mind seeing them explored; we just don't want to see them exploited.

To me, that's the delicate balance of dialect.  I want it in my story.  I want the characters to occasionally say ye, aye, lass, lad, and sassenach.  It kindles the mood, keeps the magic alive, and reminds the reader that the story is set in a different place.  But I don't want to use dialect in a way that offends Highlanders who read the story.  (I've had reviews on the UK Amazon site from Scots for A Faerie Fated Forever complimenting this.)  I also don't want to use so much dialect that reading the story becomes a chore, rather than a pleasure.

So, I'm presently writing the first of my "lovely lairds" trilogy and trying to toss in enough dialect to season it properly, but not so much it overwhelms.  Like seasoning, dialect will make or break a story and I'm trying to get it right, even though I can't get it wrong.  Do ye ken?

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This is just a brief note to let my readers know that I'm hard at work again on my next historical romance. This one is set in the Scottish Highlands. I do love a good laird, don't you?

Or is that a bad laird? Or is it three bad lairds?

And they're lovely -- the lovely lairds - or so all the lasses say, anyway.

It's the lasses that are Ram's problem. He's presently blessed with an overabundance of betrotheds. Yes, they should be one to a customer but somehow Laird Ram Sutherland finds himself betrothed to two women at the same time. What's a laird to do?

As soon as my muse fills me in on that -- and I finish the book -- readers of this blog will be the first to know.

Stay tuned, because Mary Anne Graham and Quacking Alone Romance is about to take you over the top of one of the highest, most ruggedly beautiful spots on the planet. The view is bound to be as grand as the journey is giddy. While you await my new Highland historical, be sure and pick up Peter's story - "A Magical Forever." It's exclusive to Amazon until March 30th but then it will be available everywhere.

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Big news from the QA Romances front - "A Magical Forever" - the newest in the "Forever Series" is available NOW.

The book is exclusive to Amazon via the KDP Select program until March 30th.  That means, if you're an Amazon "Prime" customer, you can borrow the book FREE.  And who doesn't love free, right?  Or, because you'll want to own it forever, you might prefer to hit the "buy" button instead.  It's only $3.99 - which is less than a fast food meal from Burger King or Wendy's.

However, these days, almost everyone has a Kindle App, right?  Even if you use a "Nook" an i-anything, a tablet or a smartphone, you either have or should have a Kindle App.  If you don't have it yet, go to Amazon, search the term and download it.  Even if you have a Nook, a little help from a computer savvy pal should get you in a position to get the Kindle app.

This is Peter's story - fans of the series will recall that Peter is Vivian's brother.  Viv hooked up with Colt in "A Golden Forever."  Peter has a magical encounter with a blue-eyed diamond-backed rattler which changes his life.

If you've never read a "Forever Series" book, you can dive right in with any of them, and "A Magical Forever" is a good place to start.  All books in the series stand alone, so you can read them in any order - I'd say you could even read just one, but who wants to do that?

Put some magic in your New Year and make 2013 the start of  "A Magical Forever"!!!

 

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Yes, the holidays hold their own magic.  The warmth of Christmas and the hope of a New Year concoct a special spell that graces us all each year.  But - there's even MORE magic than usual in the air just now.

That extra - oompf.  That hotter than normal sizzle?  I can explain it, romance fans.  "A Magical Forever" is coming very, very soon.

Yes, Virginia - I have finally finished the newest in my Forever Series.  Peter's story will be available in all your favorite ebook stores within the very immediate future.  As we speak, I am editing and the talented Mr. Duck is working his graphical wizardry on a new cover.

Will we beat the New Year?  It'll be close -- but if we don't beat "Auld Lang Syne" and Mr. Duck's New Year's smooch, magic will definitely be hitting your favorite e-shelves while 2013 is still an infant.

So, QA Romance fans, keep those fingers on the "buy" button because "A Magical Forever" will be taking you over the top really, really soon.

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Published on 1 Comment on A Mini Rant –

Just got a review on Amazon for Dangerous Relations:  Griffin's Law that called the book a poor copy of "Fifty Shades of Grey."   It noted that the main character's name is even Grey.

First, if Griffin's copied "Fifty Shades of Grey" then my E.S.P. was really working overtime when I wrote the book. Griffin's was published BEFORE Fifty Shades.....  So if I copied Ms. James work before she published it then -- DAMN, I"M GOOD.  Hey, maybe Miss James book was a poor copy of Griffin's?  (Just kidding, of course.  It's a ridiculous claim - all the way around.)

Anyone who reads this blog knows that Griffin's is my TRIBUTE TO GREY'S ANATOMY.  It  doesn't copy the characters or the settings and is sort of like Grey's Anatomy in a Law School - so it has some "Paper Chase" thrown in as well.  The book is intended to have the spirit and the ambiance of Grey's Anatomy.

And yes, you guessed it,  the main character of Griffin's -- GREY Griffin -- is named "Grey" as a tribute to the show.  Mind you, I love me some Fifty and Christian rocks -- but,  like my book,  the TV show existed long before EL James (Erika Leonard) blessed the world with her great story.

I'm sorry that particular reader didn't like Griffin's.  My work is - as I've often said - a love it or hate it thing and it wasn't to that reader's taste.  She has a right to her opinion ---- but the part about me copying "Fifty Shades" is just flat out wrong.

Yeah, I could've responded to the review on Amazon, but I feel that reviews are a reader's right and are not the proper place for an author to intervene.  When I first published, I'd once in the bluest of moons try to explain something or make a helpful comment, but I only did that once or twice - a long time ago.  I appreciate reviews.  I adore my readers - even when they don't love me back - but I had to protest the charge of "copying."

I didn't even copy Grey's Anatomy in Griffin's.  It's not much of a tribute if it's just a copy now, is it?  Griffin's is MY SPIN on Grey's Anatomy so yeah - it's a lot like me:  different, very, very, different.

But hey, on the bright side, if people think Griffin's is like "Fifty Shades" - that can't be a totally bad thing...