Betrayed by an Angel on Amazon

My book, Betrayed by an Angel is now Available on Amazon!

When an angel appears to tell Shay Deville she can’t marry her fiancé because she will forever alter his destiny, she thinks she is going crazy. Shay learns she was supposed to die seven months ago, but Merrick, her own guardian angel, broke angelic law and saved her. Now she is a woman without a future – or a guardian.

In spite of the angel’s warning Shay refuses to give up her dreams. She hunts down Merrick, her renegade angel, and demands he help her.

Guardian Angel Merrick knows the Heavenly Handbook better than anyone, but when the time came to help Shay Deville cross over, he just couldn't do it. Now Merrick is stripped of his wings and banished to the earthly realm until he corrects his mistakes and completes the destiny of his charge. But how can Merrick arrange to take Shay’s life when he has fallen in love with her? How can he not?

Will Merrick give up his wings and forever be cast to Earth for the woman he loves?

Can a woman without a destiny ever find happiness, or true love?

COVER ISSUES: 
The cover is from a photo I took in Key West last year. I really wanted a winged (Angel) man on the cover but all the cover shots available that I saw on various websites either had goofy wings or, when searched for angels on Amazon, were already being used on other books.  Short of dressing up one one of the guys I know in a pair of wings...I wasn't going to get a cover I'd absolutely love. So I liked this one next. When I tried to photo shop wings onto something ...well, they never felt good enough. 

Soon this book, and Soul Mates, will also be available in paperback. 
I'm also working on torturing my characters in my next book; No Apologies. 

Writing is Easy

I'm beginning to think writing is the easiest part, because doing a book cover is frying my brain. I'm fairly artistic but really more of a painter than graphic computer artist. I have all the tools; Photoshop, Publisher, Microsoft Picture editor and stuff like that. I'm not great at making them work but I can usually get these programs to do what I want.

Now I'm considering paying for a book cover because I'm really not happy with what I got now. However my first book has made peanuts, mostly I think because I've ignored the little dear, but I'd kind of like to get to the place where my earnings could pay for things like book covers.

And how important is the cover when we're looking at Amazon on the computer? I mean the covers are like an inch big. Of course book blasts do give the cover more exposure but still...how good is good enough?
I think I've been a writer for so long, I've forgotten how to be an average reader. I mean, title and back blurb are what I look for. Am I seeing the cover and just not registering it?

Each day I change my mind. I make covers, remake covers, scrap covers and the frustration grows.
One of my pet-peeves is when a book cover does not match the story. Like there's a dark haired guy on the cover and the main character has blond hair. It messes with the image in my head and I want to scream at the publisher. Am I going to be the customer from hell if I try to buy a cover?

Do you buy covers? From where? Were you happy with your cover? Do you make your own?

Sing who contest- Jacqadactle

I am taking this intermission from writing posts to support a shameless plug for my daughter's singing contest on Sing Who. This is a place on the net where people compete for prizes by singing. This contest is Rihanna's song, "Stay".
Stop by and vote for my daughter, screen name; Jacqadactle!
http://beta.singwho.com/contests/watch/Rihanna_Stay/921#!id=921
http://beta.singwho.com/contests/watch/Rihanna_Stay/921#!id=921
Sign me,
Proud Mama

Amazon Ranking for Writers

I'm not understanding Amazon's ranking system. I check my rank (probably too much) but it fluctuates constantly. What's up with that?

Its never great..ever. But I watch it anyway. You know, average day...check Amazon rank, think about blogs, page views, check Amazon rank, check for new reviews, maybe open latest WIP, check Amazon rank before starting. Coffee break, check rank again.

The rank is constantly going up and down by thousands. What does this mean? Does it rise and fall by page views? It certainly can't be for sales. At least not with this book so far.

Can we improve it? Am I doing something to wreck it that I don't know about?

Okay, now someone tell me how to stop watching it. Its almost as addictive as facebook.

A Writer's Block Kind of Week

Absolutely no writing this week and I'm feeling really bad about that fact. When I step away from a story too long I feel a bit of a disconnect somewhere in my ...well, not my brain really...more like my soul, that inner emotional connection that helps me to live and breathe the characters.

Last Sunday my credit card got hacked and I guess I went a little nutzo. I think it was such a shock since I always guard my card super uber carefully. I double check every time I put it in my purse, never use it on shady sites or places. I think it was the guy in that little liquor store I stopped in on Saturday night but the bank is investigating. Kudos to my bank for catching this so fast. They were great. They asked if we catch who did this would I prosecute? HELL YES!

Last Saturday the groomer found a lump on Gracie's (my Shih Tzu) paw. Vet visit on Monday.  She went for surgery on Friday. She's home now and limping but should get better. We're just waiting on the biopsy.

Then we see the horrible things that happened in Boston. I have friends who are avid runners, luckily, after a few calls we find out everyone is safe. But the images of this tragedy have a way of staying with us.
My daughter used to live in Watertown, its a beautiful little community and we spent the week sending prayers up to the people there.

We're still reeling from Boston and that big explosion happens in Texas. Something that didn't get enough press this week. So many dead and injured. I still haven't heard how it happened. Our healing thoughts and prayers go out to them too.

Too much on my mind to write. Every time I'd steal a few minutes to write I just couldn't concentrate. My mind was going in a million different directions. I'd turn the T.V. off, sit and wonder what was going on in the world. Get nothing done. Turn T.V. back on. Get nothing done.

Discipline!

Read through the pages. Try to write.Try to get my head back into the story.

Get nothing done. Give up. Go cuddle dog.

Let's hope the planets align, the world calms and peace and healing descends on our little planet. Let's have a good week peeps.

You're Not Jesse James

        
No one’s going to remember you. They won’t think you were cool or something special. History might to say you were mentally ill or just something to be pitied and punished. You bombed the Boston Marathon but you’re not what we’ll remember. You’re already yesterday’s news.

We’ll remember the survivors for their fortitude and courage. We’ll remember the heroes who responded with compassion and guts to run into the chaos and save lives.

           You bombed the Boston Marathon and now the world thinks you’re a jerk. Something found smushed and smelly on the bottom of a shoe. They won’t remember you as an outlaw or an amazing human that you could do such a thing. They’ll think you’re just a bad person, someone no one wants to know or deal with in life. They’ll want you flushed down a toilet because that’s what your actions showed you are, just a living turd.

           What we will remember is those who ran toward the blast to help. We’ll remember the police, the FBI, and paramedics and doctors who ran to the rescue. These people became heroes that day and will forever go down in history as loving, good human beings who went the extra mile to save lives. They showed courage beyond imagination. From the brave people in the media who stayed to help and share the story, to Google who was one of the first to set up a link to find loved ones, to the city officials in Boston who jumped into action, these people are all heroes. These are the ones with stories to tell and to whom we’ll give our hearts, praise and thanks.

           You’re not Jesse James or any other kind of famous outlaw. Soon we will forget your name and your life and know you only as the asshole who tried to hurt people. Whatever your reason for doing this, we don’t care. We only save caring for those who deserve it. You’ll be caught and soon. You’re trial will be a joke because there’s not a jury in America that won’t throw the book at you. 

         The only question left; Does Massachusetts have the death penalty? 

Writing 556 Pages

Writing sometimes comes easy. I have one story I wrote a few years ago that's 556 pages. I don't know why this story went on for so long, I guess it just had a lot to say.

After I send No Apologies out the door, Threshold of Midnight is up next. This 556 page moose does need some reworking but the story line is pretty solid. But who the heck will commit to read 556 pages? I think the size of this book might be a turn off so I'm thinking of breaking it in half and do a "Book One" and "Book Two" thing with it.

Which brings a whole lot of other issues in because I believe both books should be stand alone. I wouldn't want someone grabbing book two and spending 225 pages lost in space.

This is going to require some thinking. I have to let it settle in my brain a bit before I get started. But I still have to finish No Apologies and I have about 50 pages to go in the final draft. In this book I changed the story line about half way though so I had to rewrite it all the way through. I almost didn't. I just wanted to put No Apologies on the shelf and move on. The only thing that stopped me was that I liked my main character and wanted to breathe life into her. And I liked her quirky little dog.

Have you ever had a manuscript so long that you feared its marketability? What did you do?