When I heard the fabulous Tina Vaughn had our debut book released, I knew we had to host her over here! She is a wonderful, talented author and I can’t wait to get my hands on her new book…take it away Tina!

My first real book and a fake bio by Tina Vaughn

I’m not so great at talking or writing about myself. I mean, really, it took me days to write a five-sentence author bio.

It’s not that I can’t write. As a journalist and newspaper editor, I write about people all the time. Shoot. As a romance writer, I create fictional characters and write about them.

So why is it so hard to tell you a little about myself?

Mostly, I fear I’m boring. There it is. I said it.

And maybe I’m a little bit of an introvert.

And, well, it feels weird to write about myself in third-person, almost like writing an obituary or something. Creepy.

A couple days ago, I delved into the limitless possibilities of the “fake bio.”

Now this was fun.

Here’s an excerpt: “After her voice talents were no longer needed for Jem and the Holograms, Tina joined the circus where she performed until a tight-rope-walking injury resulted in an early retirement. Alone and bored, she invented the travel mug.”

I love it.

Here’s my cousin’s version. “If not for Tina’s voice, the Four Nonblondes karaoke sing-a-long during road trips would not happen. Tina would have made a great Pizazz if not a Hologram. Also, travel mugs are overrated…everyone knows she invented the koozie.”

I love it.

So, do you have trouble writing or telling people about yourself? How do you overcome your insecurities? How do you break the ice?

Oh, and just in case you’re still interested, here’s the real bio. Not nearly as fun or interesting, but it’s true, at least.

Tina Vaughn is an award-winning journalist and romance author who’s always dreamed of being a writer. As a toddler, she pretended to be Lois Lane. While in elementary school, she wrote her friends’ love letters to their boyfriends in exchange for Mickey Mouse ice cream bars. In high school, she scribbled her first romance in a spiral notebook. Fast forward fifteen years… Tina is the editor of a community newspaper, which provides plenty of inspiration for the “small town, big scandal” romances she loves to write. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with her husband and daughter, and is known for commemorating milestones with silver jewelry, tattoos and/or ice cream.

 Thank so much for joining me today. And a huge thank you, Jennifer, for your support and encouragement.

My debut release, No Sweeter Love, is available now from Ellora’s Cave. You can read the blurb and excerpt here:

http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10018-no-sweeter-love.aspx

For more information about me and what I’m doing, or probably not doing, find me here:

Website:  www.tinaevaughn.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5838046.Tina_Vaughn

Twitter: @tinaevaughn

I am thrilled to welcome the talented, fantastic Alison Kent to my blog today! Let me wipe the saliva off my mouth after drooling over this cover…take it away Alison!

I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of TV. Lots of writers give up watching television to have more time to write, but well-written television inspires me. I’m lucky that writing is my full-time gig. I do my pages during the day and get to unwind at night with stories on the screen. But I’ve noticed lately that I enjoy shows a lot better when I watch episodes back to back, either streaming or on DVD.

My favorite shows are ones with story arcs that last a full season, or most of a season, with maybe the occasional standalone episode. And I think I like watching this way because it’s more like reading a book. I can move from one episode to another, find a stopping place just as I’d bookmark the end of a chapter when reading.

I only started watching this way in the last year or two when deadlines meant saving shows until I had time to get involved. The first show I watched was Breaking Bad. The first three seasons were available on Netflix, then I bought a pass to the fourth. I bought the first two seasons of Justified on DVD, bought a pass to the most recent, then watched several episodes at a time. I streamed Sons of Anarchy and Mad Men. I’ve even gone back and watched the early episodes of Law & Order SVU.

Watching one show after another drops me deeper into the characters’ lives, lets me follow the arc without losing threads (which I often do when watching episodes week to week). Sometimes I’ll wait till I can watch several episodes of network TV on Hulu, like I did with the last season of Friday Night Lights, just to have the same sort of immersion I get in a book. I did the same after missing the first few of Once Upon A Time.

I think this is the same reason I love writing connected books that share characters. Building fictional communities allows me to really get to know my characters as both the stars of their own romance, but also as friends and relatives of other heroes and heroines. The first book is like the first season of a TV series. The second takes us back to that world, already familiar with many of the characters, the locations, the tone, but also introduces us to new story people and situations. It’s why I’m so excited to be writing two series for two publishers (Berkley & Amazon Montlake), both with ongoing casts of characters and story arcs. It’s like being Shonda Rhimes and having my own shows!

My next release, an erotic romance coming from Berkley Heat, introduces the residents of Crow Hill, Texas. The stories revolve primarily around the Dalton Gang, three cowboys who growing up were friends as well as enemies. They drank too much, took half the care shooting off their mouths they took with their guns, and never met a saddle they couldn’t talk their way into. And now they’re back in town.

You can read an excerpt of the first book, UNDENIABLE, here: http://www.alisonkent.com/blog/2012/04/04/d-is-for-dalton-gang/

and pre-order the print copy at these stories (digital copy coming soon!):

http://www.amazon.com/Undeniable-A-Dalton-Gang-Novel/dp/0425253260/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/undeniable-alison-kent/1108473219?ean=9780425253267

What about the rest of you? Do you like watching full seasons of TV rather than weekly episodes? Or do you prefer to fall into a book instead?

Follow Alison here!

twitter.com/alisonkent

facebook.com/author.alisonkent

alisonkent.com/blog

This one is firmly in the naughty camp! If you like burning hot, edgy, short erotic romance with BDSM elements, grab your e-reader because this one is for you!

Hop over to Amazon or AllRomance and leave a review!

Here’s the blurb:

As a military leader back from the war, and the youngest of his two dominant older brothers, Rafe Steele struggles with a secret. He craves surrender in the bedroom under the controlled hands of a Dominatrix. When his brothers offer him a one-night stand through Madame Eve’s dating service, he jumps at the chance to enact his fantasy. After one experiment, he’s sure he’ll be able to move on. But he never counted on Summer Preston to strip down his walls and make him want more than one night…
An elementary school teacher with a girl next door, fresh face, Summer is constantly barraged by men who want to take care of her, but she longs to meet a strong man who can handle her dominant ways in the bedroom. Trapped in her own storybook life, she books a one-night stand with Madame Eve to finally experience her fantasy. But she never counted on Rafe Steele to push her boundaries in both the bedroom…and her heart.

For my other fans, stay put for The Marriage Trap coming June 15th.

I’ll be at the following stops on my continued blog tour for Play Me, #2 in the series. Stop by and say hi, and enter to win free swag and ebooks!

Friday, May 11th – For the Love of Reading http://niinas-reading-and-reviewing.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 15th - Close Encounters with the Night Kind http://closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 17th Books are Magic http://vidya-booksaremagic.blogspot.com/

Finally, I’ve got a surprise for my loyal, wonderful, die hard fans! I am going to include two deleted scenes from The Marriage Bargain that never made the cut! One has the wonderfully sarcastic Maggie Ryan – my new heroine from The Marriage Trap.

But here’s the catch.

You have to sign up for my newsletter. Only  my newsletter subscribers will get a peek! So click the button (trust me, I send them out quarterly at the most so you won’t get bombarded!) and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

I am thrilled to welcome the amazing Diane Alberts to my blog for Writer’s Wednesday. I was honored to do the cover quote for Divinely Ruined, and I adored this book – a must read for everyone. Take it away, Diane!

When I started writing DIVINELY RUINED, my latest release from Entangled Publishing, I had this vision of a sweet, perfect, pious angel in my head. Then Rebecca, the heroine, snorted, rolled her eyes, and took over. If you can’t tell from the cover…she’s got a bit of attitude. Especially considering…she’s an angel. Ha! I know!

She curses, fights, and has a temper as fiery as her hair…but she’s got a heart of gold. When she meets Tony, a hurting single father to a precocious little girl named Miranda, she doesn’t know what to do with the feelings he arouses in her. Longing, desire, a need to belong…

This story holds a near and dear place to my heart, because not only is Rebecca an aspiring angel…she’s human. No matter what we all strive to be, deep down…we all have goals. Feelings. Hurt.

And, if we’re honest, attitude.

Want to hear a bit more about my newest release? First, let’s drool over the cover. Isn’t it amazing? Like, really amazing? I adore it.

Okay, now that we’ve done that, here’s a blurb about DIVINELY RUINED:

She finally meets a decent man–after she’s oath-bound never to touch men again!

Rebecca’s life sucked before she became an angel. Crappy apartment, awful jobs, abusive boyfriends–it was no wonder she jumped at the chance to escape it all and become a real live angel. The problem is Rebecca’s not very angelic, and she’ll have to do more to earn her wings than end her love affair with the word f–er, frick.

Especially when she’s assigned to save single father Tony Weis, whose less-than-pure thoughts wreak hell on a telepathic angel’s nerves. It’s all Rebecca can do to keep her hands off him…but when she loses her memory injuring herself to save Tony’s daughter, now it’s Tony’s turn to be her angel and care for her. But will Tony’s devotion tempt her from her angelic path, even if it means being human again?

…To learn more about the author and her other projects, go to: www.dianealberts.com

Buy links:

Barnes and Noble

 Amazon

Books on Board

Read the first chapter here:

http://www.entangledpublishing.com/divinely-ruined/

I find in this lifetime there are lessons lurking around every corner—and I learn most of them by being a parent and a writer.

A while ago, I picked my son up from an after school event and asked my usual question of how did things go, and waited while he said his normal standard, “Ok.” I am used to gaining no information from my son and have learned to pick my battles. Imagine my surprise when he said, “Mommy, you won’t believe it. This little boy pushed me.”

I stopped and got my mama bear expression on my face. The type that says I will go after anyone or anything that hurts my son. “What? Why? Who was it? What happened? Tell me everything!”

He shrugged. “Don’t know. We had to pick teams, and he pushed me and said he didn’t want me on my team. Said he didn’t like me.”

I gasped with horror. “Why would someone say that? Did you do anything? Tell me everything!”

He sighed with exaggerated patience. “I didn’t do anything, I don’t even really know him.”

I chattered on, but my son waved my dramatics aside.  And then said something that struck me hard with his ability to imitate an old soul. “Don’t worry about it, Mommy. He just doesn’t like me. No big deal.”

No. Big. Deal.

I was awestruck. I was the type of person who needed everyone to like me. When someone didn’t like me, the fact haunted me for days, while I struggled to do whatever possible to make them like me. Yet, here my six year old calmly acknowledged a simple fact in life.

Not everyone is going to like you.

Light bulb moment.

Once the simple fact is admitted, measured, and accepted, there is a whole lot of freedom to be gained. It just took me a while to learn it.

So, now let’s talk reviews.

If everyone can’t like us personally, of course everyone can’t like our books. And how boring that would be! (OK, I am totally lying here, because if everyone loved my book I’d be one happy person). But that’s just not logical. We all have unique tastes, preferences, and views on life.

As a writer, our job is to please readers, and we hope reviews reflect that satisfaction so we can go to our next book. But as we grow in our career, I think it’s vitally important to accept certain facts in this career.

We are going to get crappy reviews.

Actually, if you are doing your job correctly, you will want crappy reviews. Because that means your book is being read by a wide audience, and not just a tiny circle of romance authors who support each other. It’s a scary world out there, and if we meet new readers, not all of them are going to like us. But if we play the law of averages, we will gain a healthy percentage of wins and new readers.

There are all types of reviews writers suffer through. Our fellow community of authors. Professional review sites. And readers. Plenty of land mines to tiptoe through. Some will explode. Others won’t. But we need to open ourselves up to the experience or we will never grow.

Each writer has different outlooks on reviews. Some read them, and some don’t. Some are obsessed with Goodreads like watching a train wreck. Some read every one of them, and others just concentrate on the good.

I like to read them in small doses. I carefully scroll and read some good, read some bad, then make myself stop. Sometimes I learn from a review, and other times I shudder in horror at the sheer fierceness of emotion –usually dislike. OUCH.

So, as I wrap up, let me share some things I’ve learned about reviews.

1. Bad reviews are going to hurt. And that’s ok. I mean, come on, strangers are basically telling us they hate our newborn baby and that’ s not easy to take. But you also have to learn to accept the pain, and shake it off. If we don’t get bruised along the way, the wins won’t feel as sweet. Fact of life. So when I’m shuddering over a vicious review, I take what I can to learn from the experience, give myself 24 hours to feel really badly, and the next day it’s over. I usually reach out to only my close friends to help me through and after my 24 hours have passed, I don’t go back and read it or obsess. Of course, within those 24 hours I may read and dissect it over a million times.

2. I save good reviews. I receive fan mail, and many of them tell me how my book made them happy. I save all my good fan letters or links to really positive reviews and that is my go to happy place, just like Happy Gilmore. If I need a boost, I read one of them. It makes me realize I gave someone the gift of entertainment, and I did my job.  This will help balance me out if I am having  a rough day.

3. Don’t take it personally. Honestly, I know writing a book is personal but reviewers and readers don’t think like that. They are judging the WORK. To them, it is a separate entity, and many would probably be shocked how personally we take our reviews. Again, much easier said than done but practice. It’s a job, a career, and it’s not supposed to all roses and wine.  I now try to put some humor into the really awful ones – it’s so much easier to laugh than it is to cry! And please God, if there is one thing not to do it’s contact the reader or reviewers and defend or explain. LET. IT. GO.

4. Don’t obsess. Constantly stalking reviews just isn’t healthy. You should read some to get an idea of what’s working and what’s not, but we need to concentrate on writing our next book. Having other people’s voices in our heads other than our characters is just plain dangerous.

5. Make note of the reviewers/readers who love your book. I try to keep a list, leave them a comment thanking them, and make note for my next book. This is a great group to target because they already admitted they like your voice. They will probably want to buy your next book. Your newsletter list is gold and an untapped source. Instead of running after the masses, you have a core group of followers so treat them well.

That’s it. I’m sure there’s more, but five is enough to think about.

Oh, and to wrap it up, weeks later I was asking my son how things were and he told me he was now friends with the boy who had pushed him. I stared speechless and in shock. “How did that happen?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess he likes me now.”

Once we get to know someone, maybe we will change his or her opinion. Maybe not. Either way, life is full of possibilities, isn’t it?

Drop me a comment and share your review experiences.

Happy Writing!