Why you should read more books by local authors...

I completely forgot about my Goodreads Giveaway! There is only 9 days left to enter to win one of 3 copies of Altering Authority. I'll even sign it for you! The link is here for you to enter.

With that I will give you my list of why you should read my book, Altering Authority (or any book by a local author for that matter).

1. Each time you purchase a book, Amazon bumps it up a little bit on a list. When it gets so far, they will help you promote for free.
2. Authors make very little commission from books. Its not glamorous. It doesn't make us more successful. What it does do is give us a little extra income (In the long run) for the little things like helping out with my daughters braces or going toward the cover for book two.
3. We work REALLY hard writing that book. The road to publishing is a long one. There is the jot notes, the writing, the editing (So much editing), the proof reading, the cover designing, the formatting (So much formatting) and then the publishing. Don't even get me started on promoting!
4. Publishing It's scary! Putting yourself out there in the world for EVERYONE to criticize is daunting and there is always going to be someone to criticize. I know that Altering Authority is far from grammatically correct but nonetheless, there it is. It kind of feels like you've just eaten an amazing turkey dinner, stuffed yourself silly with it because you've been waiting all year for it and then you were forced to go stand outside naked and let everyone discuss your girth. Sometimes people are nice and they will see only the good in you (Thank God this seems to be the case so far with my book). Lots of the time people will see where you are lacking and feel obligated to comment on it. Shitty, right? 
5. Reading is fun! You get to imagine your own world, put yourself in someone else's shoes. Like George R.R. Martin said, "A reader lives a thousand lives. The man who never reads lives only one."
6. There's nothing good on TV right now anyways. Sons of Anarchy is over, Game of Thrones, The Originals, Agents of Shield are all done for the season. What else is there?
7. Positive reviews are AMAZING! Imagine giving birth to a baby. Taking said baby out into the world  to show off because you are so proud of this thing you've created, this part of you that you worked so hard to conceive and everyone grimacing at it, telling you its not good enough. You'd be crushed! Now, imagine people telling you how exceptional, fun, beautiful and amazing this baby is. Its a high unlike no other! The same goes for reviews.
8. Walmart, Chapters and Indigo make loads of money! Buy from amazon and, like I said in number two, you're helping out a person directly.
9. You could learn something new! Like how to have sex in a bathtub or prison cell! How long it would take someone to pass out after having their fingers cut off or what color scrubs inmates wear in California. Truly invaluable information.
10. You get to have an affair, without having an affair. Lets be honest. You've thought about Charlie Hunnam, Travis Fimmel and Jason Momoa doing filthy things to you. Now imagine those images in your head, already thought out for you! It's the guilt-free, lazy way to cheat, without the guilt. Aside from that, you're husband will love you more for it because at the end of each of those steamy chapters, you'll need somewhere to take out your... frustration? Elation?

 

 

 



You're welcome ladies, but don't touch. They're mine... All three of them. Buy my book and I'll share... Maybe.

 

How I write books

Writing for me is cathartic. It's my 'me' time. I don't think I 'll ever be able to look at it as a job. It will always and forever be a hobby, regardless of my success. I like writing. It doesn't feel like work. I think that helps to fuel my desire to get things out there and published. I don't need to be motivated to do it. I just do it.

Stories however are a process. I can never understand how some authors can just start typing and within a few weeks, they have a completed story. I start with an idea, and then before that gets put to paper, I need to have a beginning, middle and an end. If I can't come up with an ending, I can't write a story.

The jot notes are next. I write out each part of the book in scenes, like a movie. I will include the dialogue, the setting, the characters, what everyone is saying, wearing, thinking. It's essentially a chopped up version of the book and probably takes more time than actually writing it. If I get toward the end and want to add a scene but didn't build up to it in the beginning, I am able to go back , add things in without ruining the whole story. There is nothing worse than reading a book where you can tell the author just dropped a paragraph in the middle of a page just for a higher word count. This process, for me, is crucial in having a steady flow. If I know something important is going to happen later on in the book, I can foreshadow it early on, build pages on it.

Once the jot notes are completed, I start the writing process. This is probably the easiest part. The only thing I try to be aware of as I'm writing, before the editing comes around, is that I don't repeat words too often, if I can help it. Thesaurus.com is my best friend. There is only so many times you can say, 'Great' or 'Flirtatious'. Sometimes, its intended, most times its not.

A friend of mine commented once about 50 shades of grey and Ana's use of the term 'Oh My'. Sarah Seltzer wrote a post solely based on this (Thank God for me) ( http://flavorwire.com/503325/holy-moses-oh-jeez-parsing-the-erotic-vocabulary-of-fifty-shades-of-grey)

 

Apparently E.L. James needed thesaurus.com. I can think of at least a dozen words that could replace 'oh my'. That being said, I did use the word 'club' 67 times in Altering Authority however in my defence, the only other words I found in my handy thesaurus were words like honky-tonk, dice joint and saloon.

 

Once the rough draft is typed up, then I have to read it. Multiple times. I get my husband to read it. My sister. My closest friends. They pick out any spelling errors, sentences that sound stupid... Word repetitions. Criticism is tough. Especially for someone like me who cries over EVERYTHING but, if you're going to share your stuff with the world, you kind of have to toughen up. What helps me is knowing that authors like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King and  George R. R. Martin have critics as well. That's life and people are assholes.

 

Do you write? What does your process look like?