Costa Rica – the trip that inspired my novel

by Kristen James

I realized I went to Costa Rica before I began blogging so I’m not sure if I’ve ever shared any photos. I did write about getting the idea while on the trip, actually while walking on the beach. I wrote a summary in my journal then and even started the story after we returned, but it would be three years later when I finished the project. There were all kinds of little details that I incorporated into the book–I’m finding more and more that I love to use a real setting so I can find little things to make the story come to life.

We stayed by Playa Flamingo, just like my characters, and walked or rode bikes around the area for ten days, through warm rainstorms and sunshine. We went in July, the wet season, and I set the book around the same time so I could describe the area as I experienced it. My characters went to the same restaurants and beaches we did, although I made up the resort at the end to make the plot work. Annalisa and Drew even rented bicycles from Claudia as we did. We were riding along on a muddy road in our swim suits, barefoot, when a Tico waved and called “hello,” and I used that in the book too.

While the book is filled with tension and conflict, along with high moments and the beauty of Costa Rica, our trip was all fun. My husband has an uncle living in Costa Rica, and we ate a few authentic meals with his tios and got advice on navigating the area and culture. We also went fishing off the beach for rooster fish…and I ended up catching  sting ray. We took turns fighting what we thought was a fish for forty minutes while a crowd gathered, but when we got it in closer we realized what it was. Luckily for us, the line snapped and we didn’t have it free it by hand.

We spent our time walking or riding all over the place, to different beaches and places to eat. Getting away from our normal lives gave us space and time to think, and that sparked my creativity and my new story idea.

When it was time to return home, we rode the local bus back to Liberia and the airport, which was a fun experience in itself. A man stood up during the ride to play a guitar and sing. Then we stayed in an ancient motel–the building was 200 years old. We just don’t see that in Oregon. I think we spent something like fifteen bucks for the room.

Here’s a few of my pictures:

 

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A few fun little things. Whenever we were out walking, we would hear or see big iguanas fall out of the palm trees. It didn’t seem to hurt them. There were also little geckos everywhere that chirped at night. We spotted glowing fish in the waves. While walking through the jungle to the beach, we saw hundreds of tiny bright orange crabs. There was color everywhere and new things to see. Of course I’m dying to go back!

Because I live close to the Oregon coast, it was hard not to contrast the two places. I hinted at that in the book, too. The rugged and wild Oregon coast, where the book begins, captures how the characters feel. Then, in peaceful and tropical Costa Rica, they begin to work through their problems and discover what’s important to them.

I want to share a sneak peak from the book too, but I’ll make a separate post for that.

My 100th Blog Post!

by Kristen James

It was almost three years ago (and 100 posts!) when I started this blog/website. That was right after I had launched my author page on Facebook. It’s been an amazing three years with my professional life centered around what I love to do. And oddly enough, I’m most thankful that I can see lots of ways to grow as an author. It really is about the journey and not the destination! I like to think I’m still in the beginning of a fulfilling and exciting adventure, one with lots of twists and turns and milestones to celebrate, and more importantly, people to share it with. 🙂

I’ve shared about quite a few hikes over the last couple of years, but I have so many more places to go. Of course I want to revisit all my favorite places in Oregon. That’s one thing I love about where I live: all the hiking and wild areas to explore in the mountains and on the coast. I’ve started visiting Eastern Oregon more and finding a different kind of beauty there. I recently learned there’s a small number of moose living in the North Eastern corner of Oregon, and I’ve been dreaming about exploring there in the summer and seeing if we can spot them. They’re some of the smallest moose and have little antlers. So here’s to new horizons and more writing!

I thought I’d celebrate my 100th blog by adding another freebie to my list – this one is free today and tomorrow. If you haven’t read The Cowboy Kiss, now’s the time! It’s short, fun and flirty. This joins my two perma free books, Embers of Hope and The Fairy and Her Giant.

Here’s a view back at my house (somewhere out there) from a hike to a mountain top.

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A Change of Pace, new work in progress, and a few updates

by Kristen James

There’s reasons to love every season, but it seems most people like the feeling of change that comes with autumn and spring. Changing things up is exciting. I was looking back to last year, and remembered writing Point Hope in January and February. That story was a change from romance to married romance and family drama. It kicked off a phase, I guess, because Costa Rica also features a married couple, and then In a Field of Oranges is an emotional romance but with heavy undertones.

So far this year, I’ve been busy publishing Costa Rica and In a Field of Oranges, and starting a new project. It’s a very different kind of story for me, but it’s one of those that began with a sudden spark. I’m writing in first person, with a new genre of New Adult, and with a somewhat unique format with two main characters sharing thoughts. While I’m a bit nervous about how my readers will react to something so different from my previous books, I’m always happiest with these ideas that come on in a flash. Point Hope started that way: a big figurative boom went off and a story exploded into existence, then I raced to write it.

I’ll share the blurb and a sneak peek below. First, some news on More Than Memories – the audiobook is in the final stages of production, so I hope it’ll go live in March. I also recently sold the German rights to AmazonCrossing, and they’re producing that version for release later this year. I’m excited about my first book in German! I still get excited about Trent and Molly’s story; they were such great characters to work with.

So, here’s more info on my work in progress.

Star Struck – working title.

Avery Waldorf wakes up from a concussion to find a voice inside her head. An oversexed male voice belonging to Marcus, who doesn’t know where he came from, but has an opinion on everything about her life. She just wants quiet so she can read, go to her English classes and flirt with the guy of her dreams, Nash, who is finally noticing her that way. Marcus wants to get up at dawn, run, snowboard, hike and basically take over her life. She can’t tell anyone without sounding like she’s lost it. Meanwhile Marcus doesn’t know where he’ll go if he leaves her mind. Maybe she is losing it…

A Tiny Teaser:  (This is close to the opening, when she first finds this strange man in her head.)

“Morning.” The voice belonged to a fifty-or-so doctor in a white coat, salt and pepper hair, and a kind smile, and he was sitting on a stool or something right next to my bed. His square jaw and warm brown eyes projected safety and serenity. Encouraged, I tried to take in my settings. The room around him was painted cream but the light was too bright.

“Hi…” My voice came out like everything was okay. Maybe it was.

“You took quite the tumble yesterday.” He gave me a fatherly smile. “So I’m very happy to see you’re awake and alert. I’m Dr. Hartley. Can you tell me your name?”

Marcus.

What? I glanced around but didn’t see anyone else.

The doctor’s head shifted to the side, just slightly, and one eyebrow moved. My hesitation worried him. But I knew my name. Duh. “Avery Waldorf.”

Marcus. My name is Marcus.

Dr. Hartley relaxed. “Oh, good, Avery. Do you know what day it is?”

“It was Saturday when I crashed down the mountain. February second.” Why, oh, why did I go with them? I could have stayed home, read my book, drank cocoa and pretended it was snowing outside.

“Ah, yes. Now it’s Sunday morning. It sounds like you’re doing great. We ran a scan yesterday, and everything looked good to go.”

I tried to smile, and even that sent a whiplash of pain through my head.

He stood and went to the bag up on a pole, checking the level I guess. After making a note on the chart in his hand, he smiled at me again. “I’ll send a nurse for your morphine. The pain should clear up shortly. We’ll probably keep you for the day, just as a precaution. Your scans were fine. You’re alert. It’s just a good idea to keep you here.”

I managed to keep a straight face until he walked out the door. I would have been best to tell him, a doctor after all, that I was hearing some weird guy. I glanced around, something I had been afraid to do in front of the doctor, and confirmed the room was empty. None of my friends were standing behind the hospital bed, suppressing a laugh at their joking around. Where were they? They left me at the hospital?

What the hell is this?

The voice was definitely in my head. I must have hit it hard…so why didn’t something show up in my scans?

Hello? I hit my head?

No, I hit my head trying to freaking snowboard.

I looked around again, even knowing I wouldn’t see anyone there. How could a concussion make me hear voices?

You’re not hearing voices. What the heck is wrong with you? Why am I in the hospital?

He didn’t sound worried. I could hear, by my heartbeat, that I was. The day before was clear in my head, from driving up to the sky resort, playing around on the flats for a while, and then letting Kristina talk me into going up the hill with her. There wasn’t anything that unusual, not anything that should cause something like this. I closed my eyes, trying to relax my body, and breathed in and out. Just in and out. In and out.

Still here, babe. And still not sure what’s going on.

Who was this guy? Okay… so I can hear you talk but can’t see you…but you don’t know what’s going on?

~  ~  ~

Updates to come!

New Release: In A Field of Oranges

by Kristen James

In a Field of Oranges

It’s finally here!

Sergeant Lance Smith lost his men in Afghanistan, lost his wife to divorce, and came home to an empty life. He expected to come home with his best friend, Jared. That didn’t happen either. There is one thing he needs to do. He’d promised Jared he would visit his sister if anything happened to him. It doesn’t seem like much, but Lance needs something to keep him moving forward. He just needs to track her down first.

Once a nurturing heart and a competent psychiatrist, Sierra Thomas is now hiding from the world. She tried to make a difference and failed. She couldn’t stop her brother—the brother she’d raised—from enlisting in the Marines. Then she failed her patients, ending her career. She retreated to her family’s orange groves, hoping to forget the pain of her past.

In a world where you can lose everything in any given second, it’s dangerous to open your heart. But giving up and living “dead” isn’t what life is about.

~ ~ ~

Teaser:

Inside, Sierra still sat on the sofa, looking sleepy. She watched Lance walk in and stood up, reaching for the tray.

“No, let me do that.” He lifted it before she had a chance. “I’ll take this to the kitchen.”

She nodded, and that’s when he noticed she was unsteady on her feet. He dropped the tray back on the coffee table and gently took her by the arms. “Maybe you should sit down.”

She didn’t, though. She looked up at him with deep, needy eyes and a face that clearly said, “Kiss me.”

She’s high on that pain pill.

But knowing that didn’t stop the desire rushing through him or keep him from running his hands up the bare skin of her arms. She let her gaze drop to his mouth, and that sent him over the edge. Pure, hot lust spiked right through to his groin. Fighting and losing, he brought a hand to her chin and slowly, thoroughly kissed her. Her lips felt soft and pliant, and her body leaned into his. She was kissing him too, the kiss growing deeper, her body pressing even closer. A pleasurable haze had descended on him, so he almost didn’t feel her stiffen.

She pulled back and looked at him. “That’s why you can’t stay long.”

Preview the first chapter or buy on Kindle  (Prime members can borrow for free.)

New books and free books oh my

by Kristen James

I love sending new books out into the world. It’s such a privilege to create something and share it with others. Of course, I get a little nervous too, but mostly excited.

Costa Rica has been out a few weeks and In a Field of Oranges will be going out very soon too. Yea! It seems like I’ve been writing and writing, so it’s thrilling to see these two stories come to completion and ready to share. Then I’ll actually be caught up on my works in progress and ready to start a brand new story. It’s one that’s been swirling around in my head for months and months, but I forced myself to hold off on writing it so I could finish my current project list. It’s in the early, can’t-share-or-I’ll-jinx-it stage, but I’ll say the story revolves around two sisters.

And just an update: I’ve added a new “Free Ebooks” tab to my site! Currently, Embers of Hope is free on Smashwords and Kobo, and will probably be free in Kindle too. I still get excited over each and every one of my novels, and I just adore Savanna’s story. It’s about being a mom, a friend and falling in love.

The Fairy and Her Giant is free on Kindle, Smashwords, Kobo and other places. I really can’t say where I got the idea for that story, but it was a blast to write–it has a fairy and pirates!

Well, back to writing I go. Take care!

Promise of The Open Road

by Kristen James

Do you ever need to just get out of town? Change your perspective? Leave your normal life behind for a day? I absolutely love the feeling of heading out on a trip. I don’t think I can describe it any better than I did in More Than a Promise, when Cassie left Eugene for Ocean View Stables:

Despite the circumstances, Cassie felt the heady freedom of the open road, adventure, and possibility. When you’re driving out of town, it’s not about anything behind you. It’s all about the road ahead. A tiny part of her thought about what she wanted, where she was headed in life, and not just this trip. The bigger part of her wanted to take a deep breath and simply live.

I know that feeling too: when you have things to stress over, but you’re taking the day off from thinking about everything you need to do. It’s healthy to get away from the laptop, thinking about work, and even the everyday responsibilities of home–since I work at home, my job and housework can blend together.

amberbeadsI’ve been hiking lately but the weather turned, and it’s completely soggy outside. So yesterday, despite the pouring rain and winds, I decided to take off for Crater Rock Museum, about an hour and a half down the freeway. (I know, not a long trip, but enough to clear our heads!)  My youngest son is turning into a real rock hound. He has boxes of rocks, drawers of rocks and even boulders outside. He was rocks of all colors from clear, to smokey, to bright red, to some with ten colors all dotted or swirled together. One clear-to-milky rock looks like it has an ancient bug in it, which could actually be a mineral or maybe a bug. Who knows? I suppose we could cut it open, but that would ruin the mystery. He’s found quite a few, bought some, and received others as gifts.  I enjoy looking at the different colors and crystals, and learning how they’re formed–I have a lot to learn still, which keeps things fun.

At the museum, we saw hundreds of rocks, minerals, seashells, fossils, scrimshaw (carved ivory), arrowheads, masks and a few other artifacts from Native Americans. The day actually began with a talk about garnets, and there was local sand for all of the kids to shift through.  As interesting as the museum was, it was made even more fascinating by the people we met. It’s really something to learn about a topic from someone passionately interested in it.

The museum allows people to visit the rock workshop, and on kids’ day, kids can go out back to a rock pile to find their own treasures. It’s 25 cents a pound, and we found quite a few cool rocks, including one that might be a thunder egg. We’ll cut it soon to see! A man in the workshop had to take us around to different exhibits and show us his favorites.

After three hours at the museum, we headed to a pizza place, and I have to give a shout out to Wild River Brewing and Pizza in Medford, Oregon. Talk about fantastic pizza! If you like beer, I’m sure that’s great too. But the highlight was, for me at least, they had gluten free pizza crust so my son could have pizza too.

Every time I drive anywhere, I’m struck by all the places I could visit–a park, a trail, little shops, new spots on the river, new towns, new countries, new oceans. It’s a wonderful feeling to know I’ll never run out of new places to visit!

Goodreads Giveaway!

by Kristen James

Most of the country seems to be talking about very cold weather… meanwhile it’s not that cold here but I’m fighting a cold. It hit suddenly last night, seemingly a product of staying up way too late the night before, except that it’s still here a bit today. So I’m sitting by the fire and writing, working on the last 1/3 of In a Field of Oranges. (I like feeling the different tones in my different works. It’s even more apparent when I’m promoting one book while writing on another.)

My Costa Rica Goodreads giveaway went live today, so I wanted to share that. Enter here!  There’s 10 signed copies up for grabs. While we’re on the topic of Goodreads, did you know you can friend me there, mark me as a favorite author, add my books, review my books, add my books to your favorite lists…just saying, you can do all that and probably more. It’s a fun site for book lovers.

And here’s a fun little teaser from the book, when Drew and Annalisa rent bikes to explore the area:

They splashed through a few big puddles when they couldn’t navigate around them, and dirt and sand caked to her feet and legs, but she didn’t care. Because she was wet and dirty, and hot from the humidity, she pulled her shirt off. At some point, Drew pulled off his tank top and tied it around his head, making her laugh.

They came across a small farm house, way up on the hill to their right. Two men were sitting in chairs at the bottom of a long set of stairs. One raised a bottle as they passed and called, “Mis amigos!”

Annalisa waved before she looked back to Drew’s grinning face. They were zinging through sun spots, making it look like they were going much faster than they actually were. It seemed the road did turn back toward the highway and their destination. Drew pointed up ahead. Another creek crossed the road, but this one wasn’t dry like the other ones they’d rode across.

She slowed down. “How are we going to cross that?”

“It’s the tide making it higher. Look. That must be close to Playa Brasilito.”

Where he pointed, the dirt turned to sand and, beyond that, the beach and ocean. They watched the ocean water rush in for a full minute before Drew turned to her with a crazy light in his eyes.

“Come on, we can make it across,” he said.

“What?” She gave him a no-way-in-hell look. She didn’t want to die on vacation.

“I’ll go first to make sure it’s safe.” He flashed his I-can-do-anything smile, picked up his bike, and began wading across.

“Drew!”

“I got this. The current isn’t strong. It just looks fast.” He went step-by-step into deeper water. She held her breath as the water went up to his shorts and then over.

“You’re all wet now!” But he was making progress and stepped safely on the other side. Okay, she could do this, too. It wasn’t that deep. Just a warm creek. Preparing, she dropped her shorts and put them in the bike’s basket. They’d been getting their flip flops wet so she kept them on and began across, holding the bike up out of the water as much as she could. The bottom half still got wet. The ground felt steady, and the sand provided traction. Just before she hit the halfway point, the bike lifted up.

Drew stood right in front of her, taking the bike.

“Thanks.”

It only took a minute or two to walk across, and only so long because they were stepping carefully. “I can’t believe we did that!”

“Guess you’re dressed for the beach already.” His gaze traveled down her body and back up, and his expression changed…to desire. She didn’t think of a decent reply in time and turned away, embarrassed.

“Guess we need to lock up the bikes.” Drew picked an almond tree to park the bikes under, and secured them both with the cable and padlock, his bare back to her. He really had been working out. She had noticed before, but not noticed.

Get it now on Kindle  

New Year, New Book, and a Treasure Hunting Story!

by Kristen James

It’s 2014, and Costa Rica is out! It’s available in Kindle, Smashwords, and Kobo, with print and other ebook retailers coming soon. A funny thing happened the day before I launched it…

We kicked off the new year with a family hiking trip on the 1st. It was clear and fairly warm here for January, especially after the icy weather we’ve had the last two months. Our hike included many steep hills, and a giant tree sat on top of one of them, with wide, spreading branches that made perfect seats. (I must keep the type of tree secret so I don’t give away too many hints.) The boys and I climbed up the tree’s fat branches, and I looked around us and spotted a yellow tackle box in an old, hollowed out tree trunk. So of course I scrambled down my tree to go investigate.

I LOVE finding things. Don’t you? I’ve always kept an eye out for interesting little treasures out in the woods, and I’ve found mushrooms, flowers, berries, an elk shed, unique rocks, and other little things in the forest floor. Many people watch for arrowheads. It just always feels like I’ll find something cool.

So this time I actually found a treasure. Well, a geocache treasure. Normally you get the coordinates from a club or website like geocaching.com and then hike out to look for the cache. We happened to stumble upon it.

fishThis cache had a bag full of things: ping pong balls, sharpie markers, bug repellent, coins, tiny notebooks with pretty pictures, and other little trinkets. One trinket was a little beaded fish on a keyring. How cool is that? I totally fell in love with it, so we traded a pair of batman sunglasses for it.

So does that relate in any way to my new release? Well, in my world, everything is somehow related. Call it writer’s brain or something, but that’s just how it works around here. I found this tropical fish on the 1st and launched my new book, Costa Rica, on the 2nd. I couldn’t wish for a better lucky charm!

So here’s my new book, a romantic family drama set in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the west side of Costa Rica:

Costa Rica by Kristen James     Costa Rica – Kindle Link            Preview the First Chapter on my website

Annalisa and Drew have always dreamed of going to Play Flamingo, Costa Rica, with their best friends, Vincent and Melinda. But now they’re out of time.

Annalisa feels their marriage is just a shell for others to see–there’s nothing left inside. She wonders if they can rekindle their love in paradise, but there’s so little left. They gave up on their marriage along with their dream of having children.

Time is literally slipping away from Vince and Mel. Vincent’s cancer is back–his tumor is inoperable and he won’t do chemo again. This trip is now or never.

 

***

I’m releasing this one across multiple ebook retailers to reach more readers. In fact, I’ll be releasing some of my backlist across various retailers throughout this coming year, and posting the links on my Novels page. (While you’re there, check out the new cover for More Than a Promise!)

I pushed things with this story; it’s literary/women’s fiction/romance/travel and looks at several emotionally charged issues. It’s Annalisa’s story, but also a romance between her and Drew. Their best friends, Melinda and Vince, have a storyline too. Costa Rica is similar to Point Hope (with Trey and Rosette), but I wanted to lighten the mood just a bit. It was also fun contrasting the coasts from Oregon and Costa Rica. I always get giddy excited about sharing a new book, and I hope you enjoy it.   🙂

Happy Friday and weekend!   XXOO ~Kristen

The Need to Start Anew – Happy New Year!

by Kristen James

“Don’t look down! Don’t do it!”   Have you ever felt that way when climbing a steep hill? But if you don’t look down, you won’t know how far you’ve gone. That’s why we look down, even if we’re afraid to.

Life seems to be the opposite. Everywhere I look, I’m encouraged to measure, compare, evaluate and redirect, especially this time of year. We have a drive to track how we’re doing, evaluate the results and plan bigger goals. We want to start fresh. Do better. Do more. It can be invigorating, actually.   A new start!  A new chance!

The beginning of a new year isn’t a magical point in time that changes everything, but we use it that way. We treasure that yearly gift of hope and renewal. We look at any hardships in the old year and say, “So long suckers!”

I’m looking at the new year as a new chance to enjoy life, learn new things and look for beauty. And of course I’m planning to write more stories.  🙂

I wanted to say Happy New Year to all of you and wish you the best on your goals. I’d also like to wish you peace in this coming year–in this busy, interconnected world, remember to take some time for yourself. We don’t have to be the best at everything. It’s okay to relax sometimes! It’s okay to “Don’t Worry, be Happy!”   Go ahead, click the link, listen to the song and watch the video. 🙂 It’s fun.  Cheers!

jumping dolphin

2.5 Years, 20 books, and 100k sales later–What I’ve learned

by Kristen James

I had some thoughts this month stemming from my writing journey and what is happening in publishing, and I thought it might interest other writers. I often read the advice to stop checking sales, ranks, reviews, web hits, and focus on writing. It’s some of the best advice out there, and advice I try to follow. On the other hand, sometimes it’s  healthy to pause and evaluate how you’re doing. (Seems to be a trend at the end of the year!) It can also show you that you really have built something.

I have 10 novels, 7 novellas and 3 nonfiction books, and reached 1,000 reviews on Amazon this month. I don’t think it’s bad to check in on sales and reviews, if you keep it under control. I used to read reviews and see if I could learn anything from them–and reviews used to be longer and more detailed. I often get short reviews these days, especially for my novellas. Still, I like to glance through once in a while to see what readers are saying. Amazon Central puts them all in one place so it’s easy. It’s fine to have good and bad reviews; it shows that your book is selling.

On ranking: I used to check my book ranks, but now I mainly check the rank for my most recent book, or a book that I’m running a promotion on. I look at my author rank in Author Central to see the overall trend. (But in general, I’m trying to check less and write more.)

On predicting: I’ve had some awesome months when I had a new release or a promotion went really well, but I’ve learned that I can’t take that and make a monthly prediction of steady growth. Sales go up and down. I put my sales into Excell and then create a month by month chart showing book sales and income. I have another chart that shows yearly book sales and income, so I can see the upward progress every year. It’s the big picture that matters.

On Changing Amazon: In 2011 and 12, it seemed most of my books would sell and have different seasons and spikes. Since this summer, however, it seems Amazon promotes new books, giving them a chance to succeed at first, but sales for my older books have slowed down. (That follows a more traditional model than what I’ve seen on Amazon since 2011, and it might change again in a few months.)

On crazy ebook growth in 2012–there were some blockbuster books the last couple of years that really drove sales. That can happen again. A book or series will come out that will be different, and it’ll see sales like 50 Shades, Twilight, Hunger Games, Wimpy Kid and Wool. There’s been huge bestsellers from both traditional and author published books.

That naturally leads into my next observation: things change constantly. In the last two years, we’ve had all kinds of storms. The huge ebook growth, then people crying that the sky was falling, then people saying Indie stores are making a comeback, and even times when people said books are on the way out. I know better than that one. But things do change, and they don’t follow our predictions. The steady reality is that we keep getting surprised. I just have to focus on improving my writing. (I’ve been working on bigger story lines and deeper themes.)

Another change: I had a sales curve every year that dipped in the summer, but this last summer was more like my typical Decembers. I released a book that I really believed in, but I was surprised at how well it did. Of course, releasing new books has always been the best promotion, and I regret that I didn’t have another one ready to release this fall or winter. Montlake Romance re-released Point Hope in late October, and I relied on that as my ‘new book.’ My next book is coming out in January, and I plan to write and publish 3-5 books this coming year.

With all the changes on Amazon, the US book market, and publishing in general, I’m going to expand into other retailers with some of my books. I’m very pro Amazon and feel extremely thankful to the company for opening the door to so many authors. I’ve built an audience and got a traditional publishing deal for one of my books that I published through Kindle. Because it’s about my readers and reaching more readers, so I’m going to experiment with other retailers.

My biggest lesson: many of the promotional activities we’re encouraged to do don’t get the results we want. I used to advise people to build their “snowball,” and I still believe in this idea, but there is also an 20/80 rule. 20% of what we do will get 80% of the results. In terms that I understand better, focus on the things that make big results. I experiment, and learn from other authors, and I focus on writing.  Maybe I’m stating the same lesson over and over! It’s about the writing. When I launch a book now, I basically publish it and post it here, on my FB page and Twitter. I also did a Goodreads giveaway with Point Hope and plan to do more of those.

Preview on Kindle (also available in print)
Newly updated for 2014 – insight and advice for all the phases of Indie Publishing

 

The big things I’ve learned pertain to writing and storytelling, which of course is the whole point of all of this. I write, read novels, read books on writing, learn from podcasts and videos, write some more, repeat… and it’s thrilling, challenging and fulfilling. I’m putting together a workbook on novel writing for a class I’m going to teach this coming year. I’m really excited about it. I keep files on everything I learn about writing, and now I get to put it all together with diagrams. 🙂  I had some huge breakthroughs in structure this year, especially about how to up the tension and drama in a novel’s middle, and I’m eager to share that. I’m going to publish the book so people who aren’t local to take the class can also buy it.

One thing I keep in mind is that learning is a continuous, life long process. I have a thick journal where I record notes on useful writing books, videos, etc, and new things I learn. I write life posts and encouraging quotes too. It’s a fantastic way to keep all my writing notes in one place, and I can look through it to refresh what I’ve learned. It’s been one of the best things I’ve done for my writing career. Well, time to wrap up this monster post. I hope you enjoyed it and found something useful. 🙂

~Best wishes to all the authors out there, and thank you for blogging, sharing and encouraging other writers!

P.S. I’m a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors, which runs a series called “How I Did It,” featuring posts from many successful Indie authors. Here’s my interview:  How I Do It: Kristen James Shares The Secrets of Her Self-Publishing Success.    This group is a great resource!