The Inside Story -- Audiobooks

Do you like audiobooks? It seems they are the most popular thing in publishing at this time.

Some authors and publishers are bypassing ebooks and paperbacks in order to go straight to the Audiobook.

Audible and Itunes are the two best selling applications for Audios. 

Audiobooks are convenient. The reader can listen while as he drives, does chores or gardens. It is a great tool for the multitasker.

So who reads your book? My first audiobook is for sale. Audible lets you pick the producer. For my novel Tattered Wings, I chose William Reese. 

Bill has been in radio for years and knows how to make a character come to life.

His voice is rich and inviting. I closed my eyes and listened to him read. 

To hold the attention of the author is no easy task. We have already read our work many times.There is when we write it, rewrites, (at least two, but more likely three), then it reaches the editor to go through first, second, third edits as well as line edits, and last but not least, it must be proofread.

Such is the way it was with Tattered Wings. I put my headphones on and prayed I could keep my mind on this story I knew so well.

By the end of the first chapter, I was drawn into my own novel.

Thanks to William Reese, it was easy. Bill has done five books for Audible this year, and I look for him to do many more including any adventure I have that calls for a male reader.

Did I mention I feel like I've made a new friend?

Anyone can download a book from Audible free. I did, and I can see how it could be addicting.

. To learn more about the talented Mr. Reese, drop by his website http://reesevoices.com 

Watch for the rest of my list to reach Audible in the near future.

The Inside Story Part One

I began writing a new book. I'm about 17,000 words into it. It's about an eighteen-year-old who has been living alone in the National Forest.

The working title is Murder in Madison Woods. I might change it.

I don't know anyone else's writing process, but mine starts with a small idea. Sometimes I can write the idea down in one sentence or a couple of words.Then it festers and grows. People walk through my mind. Some I keep and some I tuck away for another novel.

I go to my writing space and write until what has brewed and materializes is gone, then I do other tasks writers must do.

Believe me, If writers only had to write, I would be prolific. The problem is, they want you to have a Twitter account, an Instagram page, and a blog. Did I forget the newsletter and the Author pages on Amazon, Audible, and maybe iTunes; I'm not there yet?

I forgot my Website.

During the afternoon and evening, more of the story presents itself to me and I write it down the next day.

Meanwhile, other stories fill my head and I have a dozen or so notebooks I make notes in to keep it all straight.
We will talk more about this in the days and weeks to come. If you are a writer, tell me your writing process. If you are a reader, what draws you to the book? Is it the cover or the blurb on the back? Something else maybe?

Let me know. It is very easy to leave a comment here. If you are shy and don't want anyone else to read what you have to say, send it to my email

susankeeenebooks@gmail.com

Have a wonderful day.

Some facts about Kate Nash

A Visit With Tierney James and The Dark Side of Morning.

Today I am honored to have Tierney James as my guest. Tierney writes those books you stay up late to read. Take a few minutes and learn about the lady behind Lipstick and Danger.

I love museums, especially those dedicated natural history. One of my favorite subjects concerns Native Americans. That’s probably because my parents and grandparents took me to the Smokey Mountains when I was thirteen. Having grown up in Illinois I’d never seen the mountains and certainly never any Native Americans. Once on the Qualla Reservation of the Cherokee People, among the beautiful mountains and streams, I felt I had been transported to Nirvana. It was then that my grandfather led me to speak to an elderly Cherokee man that spoke little English. I was introduced to him and I swear his warm smile touched me all the way to my bones. He spoke in their native tongue as he laid a hand on my shoulder. Something magical happened inside me. My whole being changed in a flash. 

Years later I student taught on that same reservation in a fourth grade classroom. I lived in a Cherokee Children’s Home and had nine little sisters, that to this day, I love very much. Some I’ve managed to stay in touch with over the years. My life turned yet another corner. I didn’t have a car so I rode the bus with the students each day. There are a lot of funny stories about a mid-western white girl plunged into an amazing culture that enriched my life.

Which brings me to writing. Dark Side of Morning involves a Pawnee culture from 200 years ago. The twist is that it comes knocking on 2017 with some disastrous results. Can you imagine stepping through a portal into another universe? What would be different? Here is a snippet of what to expect.

Dark Side of Morning by Tierney James http://amzn.to/2ieQx6x

Dr. Cleopatra Sommers never came to terms with her father’s disappearance at the Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He had been a Native American scholar that explored avenues of unexplained spiritual paths in their cultures.  The museum had been her home and playground growing up where her father spent long hours working. She was always drawn to one display case holding a mannequin of a Pawnee Indian. There was no way she could know he watched her all those years until the night he crossed over to find her.

Detective Jacque Marquette suspected the beautiful doctor of stealing priceless artifacts from a Native American exhibit. He realized after meeting his identical twin from another time and place, Dr. Sommers might not be as crazy as he initially thought. The layers of concern for his city begin to stack up as he is caught between culture and the Pentagon. Only with the help of a Pawnee warrior from two hundred years ago, can save his city from a deadly disease brought in from a parallel universe.

Wind Dancer had loved the little girl who grew up before him for years. When he decided to cross over to prevent his enemy from finding Dr. Sommers, the bombardment of changes forced him to rely on the ways of the past to survive. Navigating the future proves to be complicated as he teams up with a grumpy detective to hunt down a common enemy. No one expected the price to be sacrificing Dr. Sommers to the Morning Star in order to avert disaster.

You can find out more!

http://www.tierneyjames.com

http://www.facebook.com/TierneyJamesAction

Twitter: @TierneyJames1

Let"s Create

Since I was a small child, I was told we are put on this world to create, or to love one another , or to take care of things and people who cannot take care of themselves.

It depends on what you believe as to which of these things is the most important. In a perfect world, it would all be relevant.

Today I want to talk about creating. Everyday someone says to me, "I could never write a book," how do you do it? Then they look at me in disbelief when I tell them, "I'm not quite sure."

It's true. Most of my ideas come from a snippet of a recurring dream, a piece of a conversation, or a thought I can't get out of my head. Usually, for sanity's sake, I write it down.

The funny thing is, once I write it down, it goes away. I don't have the dream anymore. I can think about other things and I can't always remember the way the conversation, I obsessed about only moments before, actually went.

Now here is the odd part, (if that isn't odd enough). I have absolutely no idea who will be in the book, what the plot is or how it will end. I sit down at my computer with a cup of coffee (decaf, I am hyper enough) and begin to type. To get started, I read the last paragraph I wrote the day before. Then my mind is off  and running. People pop into my imagination and I see them with great detail, even down to the mole on their cheek.

If I stick to it, no one gets sick, the dogs don't have to go outside, the room isn't too hot or cold or a dozen other things to interrupt my train of thought, I spew out a story. Sometimes stories take weeks, others take months and one even took a year.

Enter, my friends and family and even my families friends. I need readers. At this point, I am convinced the reader thinks I am illiterate. My work needs comma's, periods, quotation marks, different paragraph breaks and on and on. I only want to know about the content. Is this a story line you could get into.

I mostly get, "Wow,you're weird!"  "Whose brain  comes up with this stuff.?" 

The Springfield area has several writers groups, Sleuth's, Ink Mystery Writers, Ozark Romance Authors,and The Writer's Guild to name a few. Believe me, these people are as weird as I am. Maybe they are a little more mainstream weird ( yes, it is possible).
Wanda Fittro wrote about an abusive relationship and I swear, you would think you were in the room.
Tierney James writes  (among other things) a series about a housewife turned spy. It is so believable, you wonder what the lady next door did last night. Lisa Medley writes of Space Cowboys, Alien love, and Reapers, (the grim kind). Beth Carter writes romance novels that are raising in the ranks.
VJ Shultz will surprise you every time with her short stories, password journals and coloring books. Shirley McCann will scare the beegeebees out of you. Before you know it you are sitting with your back to the wall so no one can walk up behind you. (I wanted to say McCann can, but thought better of it.)

If you paint, draw, care for the sick or elderly, cook, garden, or a thousand other things , you are a creator.

Stop by and tell me about your passion.

http://susankeeneauthor.com                    https://www.facebook.com/susanskeene1/

Tierney James talks about her career and writing.

Tierney James is a talented author and speaker. I had the opportunity to interview her. If you have not had the chance to read Unlikely Hero, take the time to do so today.

You write some fast moving spy thrillers, what led you in that direction?

I was the kid who liked dinosaur movies, westerns, Tarzan and Mighty Mouse. Maybe my shyness made me want to act brave and fearless, I never talked to a shrink.  Later it was action movies like Indiana Jones, The Wind and the Lion and so on. I liked dangerous and exciting. Then one day I read The Judas Strain by James Rollins. I fell in love with thrillers. He taught me so much about writing and soon I had read all his books. Writing thrillers makes me tingle with excitement. Conspiracy, cliff hangers, mysterious strangers, all get my heart pumping and my adrenaline flowing. Most people when they first meet me think I'm a sweet, tea drinking Baptist with not one spark of courage. When I write-well, watch out!

Is Tessa based on a real person? Of course we don't expect you to reveal secrets but hints are always nice.

Tessa came to be because of some unusual incidents that happened to me when I lived in Northern California. People were always mistaking me for someone named "Melanie". I would be stopped on the street, pulled aside at the DMV for questioning and once someone called me at home. I started to wonder who this Melanie could be; was she in trouble, honest, dangerous, a criminal or someone in the witness protection program. After all the DMV didn't believe I'd just moved there from Missouri. Someone with my information lived in Santa Barbara. My family didn't believe me at first until months later a strange man approached me, whirled me around and started talking. He also called me "Melanie".  Needless to say, I started getting a little more respect after that encounter.  In my first novel, An Unlikely Hero, the house and town where the action takes place is real. I lived there. 

How did you research your novels?

My research, for the most part, takes place on the internet. It is so much easier than going to library these days. I get a story idea from a picture, a song or place I visit then the research starts. A year ahttp://amzn.to/1gh7WIhgo I read an article about the Wahkan Valley in Northern Afghanistan. I've been collecting information about the area to weave into my third novel, Rooftop Angels.

Do you have a set writing schedule?

No. I do try and write or edit each day. I do writing things like research, read or study writing books. But I believe you must do this each day. It's like practicing the piano. Skip a couple of days, weeks or months and the music suffers. Write. Write. Write.

How important is social media in your marketing and writing process?

It is becoming more of what I do because it is demanded from publishers. I don't like promoting myself because it isn't something that comes easy for me. I'm learning by compiling a notebook of ideas, formats and websites that give me more confidence in this area. I also have taken a few webinars to educate myself. Social media is a real inspiration killer. It just takes a great deal of time in which I'd rather be writing. I'm trying to discover ways to circumvent that so I can get on with the business of writing. I would much rather be a guest speaker than recruit on social media. But I do it anyway. You just have to jump in and make yourself known.

I have found that most writers are avid readers, who are your favorite authors?

James Rollins, Steve Berry, Brad Thor, David Baldacci, Daniel Silva, Clive Cussler, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, Sandra Brown and Terry Brooks.

Take a little time here and tell us about yourself. Getting to know the author is fasinating.

Besides being an educator of World Geography, I've been a Solar System Ambassador for NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, worked and lived on an Indian Reservation and traveled in Africa, Asia and Europe. All these places and activities are fodder for storytelling. My family is the most important thing to me on this earth. Some of the hobbies I enjoy are gardening, writing, traveling, reading and I love music. I'm a life long learner so I'm always on the lookout for new information.

Novels: An Unlikely Hero (#1) Winds of Deception (#2 editing) Rooftop Angels (#3 editing) The Rescued Heart (under     contract with Black Opal Books)  

Children's Books: There's a Superhero in the Library & Zombie Meatloaf.

Thanks for inviting me to your blog. I hope your readers will check out my work. 

 

Lisa Medley shares her new book

Today I have asked fellow author Lisa Medley to be a guest on my blog. I think you will be intrigued and entertained by our interview.

You picked an unusual genre, Reapers and Reaper love. What led you in that direction?

 

Lisa: I’ve been in love with monsters for a long time, since I first started reading Stephen King ages ago. But it was J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover which made me realize monsters in LOVE were even better. That book sent my imagination reeling. I don’t discriminate. I want love for vampires, shifters, witches and of course, reapers.

The dark hero speaks to me, and when I find him in the shadows, it’s my job to bring him into the light, sometimes kicking and screaming. Reading urban fantasy and paranormal romance makes me crave contact with the things that go bump in the night.  I wanted to write about an underserved monster. That’s when I hit upon the idea of reapers. Not the skeletal creatures of ghost stories past, but soldiers in the field, leading souls to the afterlife. Don’t fear the reaper, because reapers need love too.

 

I love romance and thrillers, is your series something I could read late at night, alone?

 

Lisa: I think so. I’ve been told it’s suspenseful in places and will keep you turning pages. I don’t think you’ll be too afraid to read it alone in the dark. Unless of course you have a fireplace. You’ll find out why and what steps to take to avoid the problem Ruth encounters.

 

Where does one learn and research about Reapers?

 

Lisa: The internet of course! Seriously, I Googled ‘reapers’ and it was all downhill from there. One paragraph, story or drawing led to the next and it wasn’t long before my imagination was going wild asking “What if…?” and “What then…?”  I built my world in the way that seemed most logical to me. For a few hours each night, I was Goddess of the Universe…at least of MY Universe.

 

Do you have a set writing schedule? I know you also work at another profession. Does finding time to write become a problem for you?

 

Lisa: You don’t FIND time to write. You have to MAKE time to write. I write late at night after my husband and daughter have both gone to bed. I need quiet and solitude for the words to come. When I’m in the groove, I can write 500-1000 words an hour. On a normal writing night, I might write from 8:30 or 9 p.m. until Midnight. Occasionally I’ll get a free weekend to spend writing. Oh, how glorious that is!

 

How important is social media in your marketing and writing process?

 

Lisa: I focus on Facebook, Twitter, and my website. I dabble in Pinterest for inspiration boards for each of my novels and I’ve only recently began interacting on Google+. Ultimately the goal would be to drive everyone to my website because that’s where as an author you have the most control over connecting with your audience. That being said, you have to go to wherever your audience hangs out as well. I think this is especially true as a beginning author. Fans of established authors will seek them out. Newbies have to build a solid platform and home base (website) before fans will come.

 

I have found that most writers are avid readers, who are your favorite authors?

 

J.R. Ward and Charlaine Harris are my current favorites. I also enjoy Patricia Briggs, Michele Hauf and Janet Evanovich. Then of course, Stephen King.

 

Take a little time here and tell us about yourself. Getting to know the author is fascinating.

 

 

            

 

Lisa Medley writes reapers. The grim kind. Her urban fantasy romance, Reap & Repent is available now in a Harlequin E Box Set with three other Harlequin debut authors. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SW MO home including:  one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.

 

 

Reap & Repent Blurb:

Deacon Walker is a burned out loner, whose two hundred years as a reaper have left him empty inside. But when he meets Ruth Scott, a gorgeous shut-in with unusual gifts, he’s forced to set his career complacency aside to train her for a destiny she never knew existed. Soon the two will face the ultimate test: a battle against demons determined to destroy humanity, one soul at a time.

 

Prologue from Reap & Repent:

Prologue

 

What does a guy have to do around here to get some service? Deacon Walker marveled as he glared at the undulating queue of grotesque reapers in front of him. 

 

For all that’s holy, move the hell along already.

 

It had been a long week, and it wasn’t over yet. He needed to make at least one more pass through the hospital circuit before he could call it a day. He could already feel the tug of a freshly departed soul. Again. People were dropping like flies lately.

 

He massaged his brow, trying to soothe his exhausted patience as the line inched forward at a snail’s pace.

 

He was worn thin. Over the past few weeks, three demon soul poachers had popped up in his fair city of Meridian like poisonous mushrooms after a hard rain. While it wasn’t unheard of for one to slip out from Hell every now and then, three was a nightmare.

 

When it got topside, a demon’s M.O. was to steal a human body, poach a few souls from the dead and dying, and then make its merry way back to Hell, taking its host’s soul along for the ride. The only way to save the souls a poacher was carrying was to behead the host with a scythe. Not a pretty thing to do, but the poor suckers were too far gone by then to survive anyway. No human could withstand the pressures of being ridden by a demon. And it was worth it to save a handful of souls, not to mention inconveniencing the demon.

 

Deacon refused to lose any souls from his territory. At all.

 

So far the score was Deacon, 3. Demons, 0.

 

As a reaper, carrying souls to Purgatory for judgment was his job and he wasn’t about to cede his territory to poachers who used up their hosts like they were disposable Tupperware. So now, in addition to his normal day job, he also had to keep an eye out for more demon invaders.

 

While demons burned through most human hosts in a matter of days, some in a matter of hours, they had discovered long ago that under the right circumstances they could ride a reaper. Of course, they couldn’t just worm their way in like they did with humans—they had to be invited. But once a deal was struck? They were in.

 

And reapers? Yeah, they could hang on for decades inside a reaper. Deacon knew that fact firsthand.

 

His stomach twisted at the thought, but he shook it off, looking ahead with a heavy sigh.

 

Seriously, this line? Still. Not. Moving?

 

God, he needed a freakin’ vacation. Extended. He dragged a hand through his hair in frustration as his mind flipped through postcard-esque locations of reapings past. He snarled at the thought of New Orleans in summer. He would definitely want to go someplace cool—cool as in frigid, not hip. He was sick of the heat, and it was only the beginning of summer in the semitropical Midwest.

 

Come to think of it, he was sick of a lot of things.

 

This place was high on the list. It was as hot as…well, Hell actually. Or at least what he imagined Hell to be, although he’d never actually been there. Thank God.

 

Steam rose from random cracks in the stone floor of the underground station, veiling the place in a humid sulfur stench.

 

He pushed forward, finally making his way to the front to deposit his cargo of souls. He didn’t bother chatting. In. Out. Move on. It was a motto that served him well.

 

Mission completed, he hustled through the crowd, forgoing the bar-side frivolity of some of the more socially inclined reapers and their small talk about their glory days in the field or—even better—the missteps of the newest reapers. Newbies often tested their limits to humorous if not disastrous effect at least once in their early careers. That was exactly why new reapers had mentors or at least worked in teams. From all the laughter, he could tell that the stories were good ones. It didn’t tempt him.

 

He slapped his palm against the black granite monolith and flashed out of Purgatory to what he prayed was his last stop of the day.

 

 

 

BUY LINKS: Reap & Repent is available until June 1, 2014 in a Harlequin E Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Box Set with the works of three other amazing new Harlequin authors! Reap & Repent will be available for single-title release June 2, 2014.

 

AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1gF6Q98

B&N: http://bit.ly/1gz4x7M

KOBO: http://bit.ly/1cSZBam

ITUNES: http://bit.ly/1njOngj

HARLEQUIN: http://bit.ly/1gf0Cbs

 

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