What I'm Thankful for...

Check out all the stops on the first half of my tour. I have learned so much about myself and my characters just by answering the thoughtful questions. Thanks to everyone who has commented and to the tour guides who have been very insightful in their reviews and posts! 

• Nov 11 - melissa walker Cover Story
• Nov 13 - Readinista (Exciting YA books of Nov 2011)
• Nov 14th - Lori Lee on (What makes a good book signing) and Kriston Johnson (Getting to know the author/ Review)
• Nov 15th - Kelly Polark (The Beats of Writing - using music)
• Nov 16th - Karly Kirkpatrick (Guest post on Author Journey)
• Nov 17th - *Once Upon a Twilight (Book Review)
• Nov 18th - DL Hammons (Talking about marketing over Cyber-Coffee), Unicorn Bell (Book Review), Meradeth (Review)
• Nov 21st - Ashley Christiano (An Interview with Characters), Elizabeth's Review.
• Nov 22nd - Shannon O'Donnell (An Author's Journey from A to Z and back again), Nicole's review.
• Nov 23rd - Refracted Light/Dani (Changing the stigma of indie publishing)

I have so many things to be thankful for this year - as in past years.


Here are my top few this year:


This: ( I know shallow right - wait there's more :)

And this:

Oh and this NEW interesting development today in the Kirkus Newsletter - Untraceable was listed in the Top New Books to Order! I know crazy right?

And of course all the bloggers and writer friends that are involved in this:

And of course this - (Grace wanted me to add that :)

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. 


I will leave you with this until I return on Monday.


"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Thanksgiving Meme

If you want to enter the "Thanks for Following This Turkey" contest for some free marketing stuff, be sure you are a follower and that you comment on the official Contest post.

I was looking through last year's Thanksgiving Day post and decided to do something different this year.

If you decide to do this, let me know and I will create a link of Thanksgiving Day posts at the bottom.

1. How will you be spending your Thanksgiving this year?
We are going to my mom's house.

2. Will you be cooking or are you just an eater?
I am in charge of dessert and entertainment (JK on the entertainment!)

3. Do you watch the parade every year or football!!
We watch star wars or Indiana Jones - dont ask me why!

4. Whats your favorite float?
I like the santa float b/c it reminds me of xmas coming.

5. Dark meat or white meat? Dark

6. What is your favorite dish besides the turkey?
Duh Dessert! who ever says green beans is totally lying!

7. Homemade cranberry sauce or cranberry sauce from the can?
My mom's only

8. Do you decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving day?
No we start xmas stuff on Dec 1st. I need to breathe in between holidays.

9. What are some special family traditions?
So we dont argue with inlaws about who goes where when - we do Thanksgiving together. That means, we trade off every year between my sister-in-law's mom and my mom. That way we only travel every other year.

10. Pumpkin pie or pecan?
Pecan and pumpkin please. Twice! :)

11. What is your favorite thing to do with the leftovers?
What else is there to do but eat them! Wear them?

12. How long will you spend eating your thanksgiving meal?
Probably 30 minutes (what can I say - we have 6 kids under age of 6 between the families so dinners dont last too long) ...but we try to spend hours talking after the meal.

13. Are you worried about putting on weight this Thanksgiving?
I expect to put on weight over the holidays and then make a resolution to take it off in the new year. It's the American way!

14. What do you normally eat at Thanksgiving?
Turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, rolls & pie. Lots of pie!

15. What will you be thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Oh gosh, where do i begin. My family and my renewed health. My agent. My friends. My writing. I'm grateful for every thing I come across, including all of you.

16. What is your best Thanksgiving memory?
The Thanksgiving before I got married. Our wedding was on Nov 30th. So my husband's family came over from UK for 2 weeks. It was nice to have all the families together and it was exciting knowing I was only a week away from marrying my man. :)

17. Will you be waking up early to hit the sales?
Yes, budget is tight this year.

18. Are you planning on going shopping the day after Thanksgiving?
Yes! We are n a budget so this year I am dragging my butt out of bed for Black Friday. It better be worth it b/c I am not a morning person.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Other Thanksgiving Day Memes! (please put your link in the comments and I will create a list)

Lisa Owens

Catherine Denton

"Thanks for following this Turkey" Contest!

I've changed it up a bit this week. Tricky right?

The "Marvelous Marketer" series will start up again next Monday after the holiday.

Why? Because today is my "Thanks for following this Turkey" Day.

In honor of Thanksgiving week, I wanted to thank each of you for reading my blog, commenting, giving me encouragement, and for actually coming back :) My blog has evolved over this past year and would not be what it is - without all of you.

But for some reason just saying "thank you" didn't feel thankful enough. It didnt seem to capture how much you all mean to me.

So... I wanted to thank you by offering something. Something more personal. Maybe send out some more of that positive Karma LILA forked out a while back. :)

Yes it my "Thank you for following this Turkey" Contest!!

To win, you must do 2 things:

1. You must be an official follower of my blog. Sorry but only loyal followers are eligible. If you are just stopping by, you can sign up on the left hand side. I do have a 30 day guarantee. If I dont' make you laugh or smile in 30 days - you can unfollow me.

2. You must add a comment to this post telling me one thing you are grateful for that relates to writing. yes it has to be about writing. Maybe a rejection, a critique partner, a book you just read. Its time we show thanks for one good thing that has happened in our writing process. W all have at least one! So Share it!That's it!

I will leave the contest open until midnight Pacific time on Wed night. I will draw a name on Thanksgiving Day and post the winner next Monday.

The winner will get a one hour free marketing consulting session and a book. Now, I want to do something that appeals to unpublished and published writers to be sure everyone is included.

• If you win and are an unpublished writer - You will get an hour with me to brainstorm on pre-published branding, creating a platform, or get a query letter review on how to better market your book to agents. You will also get a copy of Christina Katz's book: Getting known before the book deal."

• If you win and are a published writer (have a book out or coming out) - You can get advice on branding, marketing, social networking, marketing plans. You will get a copy of The Complete Guide to Book Marketing

Thank again and good luck :)

Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!

A "Thank You for following" surprise!

Special shout out to all my FOLLOWERS!

I was looking through all my follower's blogs this week and catching up on their lives before I dive back into edits this weekend.

I wanted to do something special for my FOLLOWERS to show how much I adore you for signing up and listening to me ramble.

So today, I have a small present. It's not much but it's something a lot of people want/need and something I can give.

At midnight (I'll even do WEST COAST time so everyone gets a shot!) tonight, I am going to draw a name of a follower .

The only rule is that you must comment on this post AND you must be an official "FOLLOWER" of my BLOG (This prize is for my followers. It's OK if you sign up today. I just want a Follower to win.)

The follower/name I draw will get a free one hour marketing consulting session with me over the phone to brainstorm anything from marketing your book to agents and editors (query letter review) or getting ready to launch a book, or those who want to come up with a creative way to market their book already on the market. (Good for up to 6 months). In addition, I will summarize what we discuss and give you a one or two page summary with suggestion and ideas on how to move forward (this is about a 500$ value to my business clients)

PS: If you are an editor or agent, you can win this for one of your authors!

Depending on where you are in the process, this prize can benefit you.

All you have to do is follow and hello today. Then I can shout back a, "Thank you for coming to visit me and taking time out of your precious day to listen to me rant and rave." I also hope to find more bloggy friends this way :)

I appreciate all of you more than you know!!!!! Because I never feel alone. (aw! *sniff* Kum Bah Yah right?)

Marketing Round up

Now for my favorite posts of the week:

Author/Publisher gives new meaning to handselling - Christopher Herz quit his advertising job to walk the streets of Manhattan literally selling copies of his first novel, The Last Block in Harlem.

This week Pub Rants had a great posts about marketing. Why we have a Marketing Director? which talks about the newest marketing addition to their team.

I found a blog that did a great round up of some marketing posts. Of course, my interview with Molly was one of them. Am I biased? Maybe :) Book Trailers and More.

For those of you who make up excuses as to why you do not have time to focus on marketing, Jane over at Writers Digest has a few questions for you.

Greg Pincus over at the Happy Accident pointed me to this great Social Media Guide outlining tons of great Twitter Tips.

Learn how to promote your blog like the Big Boys do.

Do you know who is on Twitter? Do more men tweet than women or vice versa? Find out!

Have a great week!

Don't forget to say hello! :)

Dear Grace, Thanks for the Good times

Marketing ReMinder:

Don't forget tomorrow marks the first interview in the Marvelous Marketer feature for Mondays.

Lisa Schroeder - author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me is up first.

See you then!


Dear Grace

Dear Grace,

We have been together almost 2 years now and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time together. We have captured your story and I hope to share it with the world soon. On this long journey together we have shared tears, laughter, frustration, fear, worry, and secrets. You have made me a better writer and I appreciate everything you have given me. You will forever and always be a great friend.

Now that I am sending you out into the world, I must get a little space. This does not mean we cannot be friends or hang out. I just need to take a little time away so that I may recoop and regroup for our next adventure together. In the meantime, I have to help another friend, Gabriella (Gabby) and tell a different story.

Without you, I would never be where I am today. I would never have learned to love flyfishing, about the true beauty of the North Carolina Mountains, the history of Cherokee Indians, nor the true of pain of losing a family member. Throughout the process, you have never wavered in your strength, humor, trust, loyalty and grace :).

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you again soon
Love Shelli.

Somebody Stop Me, I'm Smokin' :)

5 Marketing Tips For Bloggers

1. Post regularly. If it’s a news oriented blog, 3-5 times per day. If it’s an authoritative blog, 3-5 times per week, but each post must be unique and high value.
2. Use social networking services, forums and discussion threads to connect with other bloggers. If they like your stuff, they will link to you.
3. Request feedback or reviews of your blog in relevant forums, discussion threads. If you have a resourceful post that will help others, point to it.
4. Build out your online networks through services such as MyBlogLog, Twitter and Facebook and leverage them to promote particularly useful content on your blog.
5. Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post.

Somebody Stop Me, I'm Smokin' :)

• Please come see my interview over at Chandler Craig fabulous blog, Fumbling with Fiction.

• Also I got my first blog award from the wonderful Lindsey Leavitt at I Blog Therefore I Am.

(sniff sniff)

So since I definitely I am not up for an Oscar this year, here I go....

I'd think to thank Lindsey for the award and let her know that if I had not met her and hung out this past Oct - I may not have pushed forward with my writing. She inspired me to get back on my blog and have hope that moms like me can be published authors. Thanks Lindsey, this story is really true - I am not just saying it because you gave me an award (BTW - you owe me some change on that bribe - I mean donation - I sent you. :)

I'd like to thank the 3 people who follow me :) Or at least admit to. Sometimes it's hard admitting to total insanity but you 3 people aren't afraid to stick your necks out for what you believe in. This award is for you (Oh sorry - you cant have it - but you can admire it :) If others are thinking of joining, I'll try and tap into your ego...your competitive nature...and say something I know most of you cannot refuse. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU! (can you see why I write for kids - oi!)

Id like to thank my first boyfriend for making me so crazy and codependent (we'll call him anonymous but he knows who he is....My IP address #%&$*^$#% ) . If it was not for him, I wouldn't have quit my first job making 25,000 a year, left Atlanta, moved to Auburn and pay 20,000 a year for out of state tuition to study MARKETING. Without your spell, I would not have had to knowledge to start this blog.

Id like to thank my hubby and my mom for being my first readers in the beginning and for the countless other things you do for me on a daily basis. (fist bumps to you! and a woot woot!)

I'd like to thank all 1,000 visitors I've had just since Nov. I would list all your IP addresses (since that is how I know - "oh its IPXXXXX from UK again! great!" I am sure you found me by accident but at least 1/2 of you come back regularly :) If you told me who you were - I'd visit you too but I can't so I won't. *SIGH* (unless you add a comment and stop lurking/blog stalking me ;)

I'd like to thank Brad Pitt for....oh sorry Brad, I forgot I promised not to tell anyone about THAT night - my apologies. (Hey do any of you think this will drive up my blog hits from Google?. He is most Googled person right now. Hmmmm I'll let you know if it worked.)

I'd like to thank in advance all the fabulous agents, authors, editors that have been gracious enough to do my new marketing interviews. I have had a great response and am already booked through Spring. I may have to start it 2 times a week - Somebody Stop Me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with a peon like me :) (and I am not brown-nosing....OK I am but I'm sure you all know you are too fabulous to need it - oops there I go again)

I would like to thank Jessica DeHart (and my critique group) for always helping me believe in my passion and future as a writer. Without her, I may not be still pushing forward through this very difficult, ego-busting, tearful, hopeful, joyous, frustrating, passionate, friend-making, and rewarding process called Writing. She also has a great heart so here's a plug for her charity work, A Brilliant Life - check it out. She is always looking for donations :)

So if I had a theme song for the day or my life was a musical.....this would be my song. Enjoy!