Six Sentence Sunday and Denny's Eye Candy Week 19

Six Sentence Sunday - here you go! This is from my contemporary multicultural romance called The Fixer. The heroine is having a problem making up her mind.

She leaned forward, afraid that her demeanor had something to do with his behavior. She didn’t want to mess this up. She didn’t want to jump into bed with him, although that was a lie, she did, but she knew better. There was nothing good that could come from having sex with him, except maybe the best time she’d had in months. She put the snifter on the coffee table. “Maybe I should go.”

An Author's Journal: Why I HATE Marketing - Entry 1

Image snagged from the Internet by Denny S. Bryce

My hatred of marketing has nothing to do with the fact that I've been in the business of marketing for the past 20 plus (cough, cough) years. Nope. Not it. And honestly, you know I don't really hate it, but it does seem to be the popular reaction of many authors I've talked to when it comes to all the work they need to do to sell their books, or create a dynamic web presence these days.

Yes, the marketing of authors and their books has changed dramatically over the past decade (or less) for a number of reasons I will mention in more detail in future  journal entries, but today we are just getting our feet wet.

The first steps in developing a marketing strategy are easier than you may think, and whether you're published or not (I'm not - yet:), you must be willing to put your hatred (fear, excuses, whatever) aside and step into the fray. You want to compete? You want to sell books? You've got to have a plan.

BRANDING - Who am I and why do you want to be my friend? 

Author marketing includes branding, and building awareness of your brand through traditional and non-traditional communication vehicles. Anytime I walk into a meeting and hear this gobblely-goop, I cringe - but it ain't wrong.

It means getting to know the strengths of your brand and promoting those strengths. For authors, I think this part is fun, and here's a way to get started with branding--conduct an interview with the author-you. There are a bunch of these character questionnaires on the web or in craft books, but go here for one I've used.  If you've already got a strong brand identity - this is way to dig deeper and maybe unearth some additional ideas for blogging, twitter posts, new features on your website, etc.

Part of the reason I wanted to start this journal and make it a regular feature on my blog is that I'm working on a new website. Why? Because I want to develop my brand, although as of yet, I'm not published (I know I keep mentioning that), but I don't see being unpublished as a reason not to establish an Internet presence. I don't however recommend starting a website if you haven't finished writing one book (or written at least a few hundred thousand words of several books:). You need a frame of reference, an understanding of who the author-you is before you start developing your initial brand identity.

Next jot down some keywords. Think about what you write (the genre, sub-genres, or whatever) and the themes you like to play with in your stories. Those keywords are important bits of information you will find useful when you start laying out your website (and yes, we will be talking websites very soon). Here are a few of my keywords and phrases:

• Urban Fantasy
• YA Paranormal
• Multicultural Contemporary Romance
• The Science of Romance
• Mine, Yours and Ours
• Edgy, Sexy, Laughter, Revenge
• Light and Dark, Death and Life

You can also find a bit more about websites in my blog post today at Waterworld Mermaids. Check it out!

In the meantime, if you have questions about marketing, or want to discuss anything I've written here, please comment below.

Six Sentence Sunday & Denny's Eye Candy - Week 18

Yes, my OTP is BACK! Leverage on TNT winter season returned with "The Experimental Job" last weekend. Yes, there were many Hardison/Parker moments, but also Eliot (Christian Kane) rocked it. Snagged from Tumblr by Denny S. Bryce.

Six Sentence Sunday - here goes...this is from a story I may re-edit one day:)...it's a space opera, I think, but the characters are loads of fun (at least to me:). This is a scene early in the novella when the hero and heroine are faced with something new.

“Hey, guess what?” Brian was suddenly next to her naked and tugging the rubber band from his ponytail as he ducked his head under a rush of falling water. “I’ve been reassigned.”

The bar of soap slipped from Newton’s hands and slid across the wet tile floor. “Where to?” The hitch in her voice surprised her.

Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to go and read more Six Sentence Sunday contributions. Have a great day!

I'm Freaking DONE!

Click Here!

I did it. I'm done with NaNoWriMo 2011! Two days early! I wish I could be more excited, but I'm pooped. Seriously, my back and my fingers are freaking out with the pain and the cramping. I'm going to have a drink and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, I begin revisions, but tonight, I'm chilling.

(An hour ago, I decided to see if my count was off - to see how much more I had to write - I figured I needed another 2,000 words, but I discovered I already had 53,326)!

Six Sentence Sunday - Week 17

Hello, it's Six Sentence Sunday, and I'm ready to go! Hope you all  had a great Thanksgiving. As mentioned, I'm using another WIP this week. It's a contemporary romance about a super-woman business executive who inherits a small town and a small town deputy sheriff:). Early in the story, she's stuck in her car, and taking stock...

Shayna moistened her lips as she gave her image a quick once-over in the rearview mirror. A little disheveled, sweat dotted her upper lip and forehead. Her hair, shoulder-length and wavy, had spiraled into a jigsaw of damp curls. She ran her fingers through it, trying to sort out the mess, but gave up with a sigh. She was a sea of brown, sweat-soaked brown hair and brown skin with smudges of black mascara added for drama.  

She glanced down at her scoop-necked T-shirt, still stretched smoothly over her Double-D breasts, and tucked it quickly into the waistband of her jeans.  

Thank you God, she thought, at least something about her was in place.

Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to read more Six Sentence Sunday by visiting the website here. 

Six Sentence Sunday & Denny's Eye Candy - Week 16

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Actor Alex O'Loughlin played a vampire on "Moonlight" a few years back, and was one of the inspirations for Gideon. Photo snagged from Internet by Denny S. Bryce

Six Sentence Sunday sure comes around fast. But I'm sticking with my current WIP for one last week...then we must move on:)...It's about a vampire FBI agent struggling to keep his promise to a witch.

Gideon gulped down his drink and walked over to the wall of windows. Stretching from corner to corner, floor to ceiling, they faced east, overlooking Lake Michigan. He loved watching the water strike the shoreline in the moonlight. The black waves surged with gray and white sprays that shot high into the air before vanishing into the night. He could see well in the dark, his eyesight keen in the shadows, too. And since the water at night was mostly shadows and white foam, he could watch the lake until dawn.

There it is! Now go and read more Six Sentence Sunday!

Six Sentence Sunday & Denny's Eye Candy - Week 15

Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge play Parker and Hardison on "Leverage". Yep, went for a silly photo of my OTP because they are 'eye candy' to me:)

Good Sunday morning, and welcome to Six Sentence Sunday. I'm running late, so here goes. Same WIP, a vampire FBI agent struggling to keep a promise to a witch, but this is the heroine, Macy's POV in a scene with her best friend.

Macy opened her mouth to curse Darla out but she was so angry her chest hurt and she didn't think she could breathe. Rising to her feet, she walked to the window. The snow fell thickly from the sky, but she could see lights flickering and a few cars and people struggling through the streets and sidewalks below. She watched them for a long moment before she turned to Darla and said, “I want a meeting with Gideon Russell Smyth and I want you to set it up so he understands he has to answer my questions about the serial murder case." Her voice trembled, but she didn't care. "You owe me big time for this screw up and I want my payoff now."

I'll be back later with eye candy! In the meantime, go visit and comment on more Six Sentence Sunday entries.