Angel Sometimes Speaks Up

  I started writing Angel Sometimes a couple of years ago. She came into my head and wouldn't leave.  I had finished the first of many drafts of her story when I was awarded a four-week scholarship to the Vermont Studio Center.

For four weeks, I wrote, walked, met other authors, wrote, listened to lectures, wrote…. Did I mention that I wrote? Then I came home and edited and wrote some more. I gave Angel the job of swimming as a mermaid because I knew she could do it. I swam for four years as a mermaid while I was getting my B.A. and M.A. 

It took a while before I felt the book was done. Not long after it was published, Angel Sometimes was awarded a USA Best Book Award.  As you might guess, I was hop-around-the-office happy. But what was even more fun was talking with readers who emailed me.

I can't speak for other authors, but for me, my days are mostly spent typing on the computer, re-reading what I typed, catching grammar mistakes, and re-reading some more. An email from a reader or a "hi" on my Author Facebook Page is great. For a few minutes, I'm connected to a reader.

What this all boils down to is: listen to the voices in your head. Write down what they say. If it's a character talking to you, pay attention. 

Shelby O'Neill

If you have time, zip over to Bookworm Reviews on Chicksters. Shelby O'Neill wrote a review of Angel Sometimes. Thank you Shelby for the review.

Shelby is a great writer and editor. The local chapter of Sisters in Crime does a Mentor/Mentee event each year. Those more established in publishing mentor up-and-coming authors. This year, Shelby was my mentee. Not that she needed much advice from me.

Shelby's first novel is currently a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. And she's already hard at work on her next book.

Keep an eye on Shelby, 'cause I think she'll be big.

Best Book Award

Just found out that Angel Sometimes won the 2013 USA Best Book Award for Fiction: New Age. Stunned and very excited.

Here's the cover blurb for Angel Sometimes:
Just before her thirteenth birthday, Angel's aunt took her 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma, gave her $50 and left her on South Padre Island, Texas. Four years later, Angel hitchhiked to Austin and got a job swimming as a mermaid in a bar in the music district. At twenty-two, she has friends and a place to live, but she realizes she will never be whole until she confronts her parents. To do that, she needs three things: a car, her high school diploma, and a gun. And she knows where to get one.

Thanks to all of you who have read Angel Sometimes and to those who have given it great reviews. I love you all.

October Writers for Writers

Today is W4WS (Writers For Writers) here on Straight From Hel (and on other blogs around the blog-o-sphere).

Writers have joined together to get the word out about our books via our blogs and Facebook pages. We're hoping you'll support us by joining us in getting the word out to the Twittersphere and Facebook.

I've tried to make it simple easy for you by providing tweets for you to tweet. They're all quotes from my book, Angel Sometimes.

Tweets:

Long ago she'd decided God was a woman. http://amzn.to/KWl2eV 

Her arms lay palms up, out to her side, like a child asking forgiveness. http://amzn.to/KWl2eV 

"My parents are not dead. I am." http://amzn.to/KWl2eV 

Even when she was the age of a child, she hadn't been one. http://amzn.to/KWl2eV 

Facebook:

If you're not a tweeter, stop by one of my Facebook pages and leave a comment, or share my tweets and/or blurb and links on your own Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/HelenGinger1 

https://www.facebook.com/authorhelenginger  

Here's a blurb about Angel Sometimes:

Just before her thirteenth birthday, Angel's aunt took her 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma, gave her $50 and left her on South Padre Island, Texas. Four years later, Angel hitchhiked to Austin and got a job swimming as a mermaid in a bar in the music district. At twenty-two, she has friends and a place to live, but she realizes she will never be whole until she confronts her parents. To do that, she needs three things: a car, her high school diploma, and a gun.

Angel Sometimes is available from bookstores. Or over at Amazon you can find it in print or e-book. 

Thank you everyone!

To find other writers participating in Writers for Writers, visit the W4WS headquarters.

Writers For Writers

Today is W4WS (Writers For Writers) here on Straight From Hel.

A group of writers have joined together to get the word out about our books via our blogs and Facebook pages. We're hoping you'll support us by joining us in getting the word out to the Twittersphere and Facebook.

I'm making it simple easy for you by providing tweets for you to tweet. They're all quotes from my book, Angel Sometimes.

Tweets:

"Oh, come on, Xavier, this indoor/outdoor grass is about to rip off my nipples. Just sit on my butt and yank." http://amzn.to/KWl2eV

"I'll tell you a secret. When you're a mermaid, no one can tell when you're crying." http://amzn.to/KWl2eV

"In the jungle, the strong eat the weak. It's the same with teenage girls." http://amzn.to/KWl2eV

"Before you point this gun at anyone, you ask yourself if you're ready to kill." http://amzn.to/KWl2eV

Here's a blurb about Angel Sometimes:

Just before her thirteenth birthday, Angel's aunt took her 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma, gave her $50 and left her on South Padre Island, Texas. Four years later, Angel hitchhiked to Austin and got a job swimming as a mermaid in a bar in the music district. At twenty-two, she has friends and a place to live, but she realizes she will never be whole until she confronts her parents. To do that, she needs three things: a car, her high school diploma, and a gun.

Angel Sometimes is available from bookstores. Or over at Amazon you can find it in print or e-book.

Facebook:

If you're not a tweeter, stop by one of my Facebook pages and leave a comment, or share my tweets and/or blurb and links on your own Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/HelenGinger1
https://www.facebook.com/authorhelenginger

Thank you everyone!

To find other writers participating in Writers for Writers, visit the W4WS headquarters.

Your Character's Character

When you write, do you put snippets of yourself into your book or story? Is that a good idea? Would you give one of your characters aspects of your life or your own viewpoints?

Personally, I think most writers put bits and pieces of themselves into their books. Some do that purposely and some do it without consciously meaning to do so. For example, a lawyer writing a legal thriller puts himself, his knowledge, his experiences in his writing. The same could be said for a doctor writing a medical mystery.

This past Sunday, I spoke at the Heart of Texas Sisters in Crime meeting about this very subject. I chose the topic because I put "pieces" of myself into my latest book, Angel Sometimes. Probably the biggest "chunk" of me in Angel Sometimes was that I gave the protagonist the job of swimming as a mermaid. Partly, I gave her that job because I know it since I swam as a mermaid for three years while I earned my BA and MA. But mostly I did it since it was a job that she could do without having a high school diploma. (Angel was abandoned to the streets when she was twelve.)

Do you write what you know? Or do you create characters totally different from you? Or do you do both?

Read Angel Sometimes for Free

Today, Angel Sometimes is free to read for all Amazon Prime members. If you're not a Prime member, it's still only $3.99 to download to your Kindle or Kindle app. 

Free is a pretty good deal! I'd love for all of you who are Amazon Prime members to download it. 

Just before her thirteenth birthday, Angel Sometimes' aunt took her 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma, gave her $50 and left Angel on South Padre Island, Texas. Four years later, Angel hitchhiked to Austin and got a job swimming as a mermaid in a bar in the music district. At twenty-two, she has friends and a place to live. When a homeless girl is beaten and a waitress killed, Angel realizes she will never be whole until she confronts her parents. To do that, she needs three things: her high school diploma, a car and a gun. She has a car. She's finished her final test for her GED. The only thing she needs is the gun and she knows where to get one.

Today, I'm posting at The Blood-Red Pencil about the evolution of the book cover for my book Angel Sometimes.

How much say-so do you have on the cover for your books? Did you know exactly how you wanted the cover to look? How did it turn out?

Link over and tell me which cover picture you like the best. Did I make the right final decision?

Angel Sometimes Giveaway

The fabulous author, Diane Fanning, is doing a giveaway on her Facebook page. She's giving away a copy of my book, Angel Sometimes! (That's not why she's fabulous -- she's fabulous because she's a great writer.

If you want to join in and have a chance of winning a copy of Angel Sometimes, just link over and leave your guess of how many goldfish are in the container.

Business Cards or Bookmarks?

Lately, I've been letting y'all know about things I'm doing. Hopefully, it'll be insight into the process. I hope it helps.

Today, the topic is bookmark or business card?

I've chosen business card. I know a lot of authors create (or their publisher creates) bookmarks to give out to readers and buyers of their books. At this point, I've decided to go with business cards.

Since my first fiction book is now available in print, I took the digital file for the front cover to my local office supply store to get business cards created.

One side will be the book cover for AngelSometimes. The other side will have info about me: my name, book name, email address, blog site, etc. You can choose to put whatever you want on the back side.

When I autograph books, I'll put a business card inside.

When my next book comes out, I'll create another business card with that book's cover and my info on the back.

Once I have two fiction books to promote, I'll put the Angel Sometimes card in the Dismembering the Past book when someone buys it. And will do the reverse when someone buys Angel Sometimes.

Although...I may change things up when the second (or third) fiction book comes out. I may at that point create a bookmark with the cover for each book on one bookmark, along with contact information. That way, I'll have one bookmark with multiple books on it.

The main idea is to give something to the reader so that if they like the book they bought, they will be reminded that you have other books they can look for.

Publicists

This past Sunday I had a two hour lunch meeting with my publicist. The ideas she comes up with are fascinating to me. Things that never would have crossed my mind.

Some of them are quite doable. Others are, in my mind, a bit far fetched. (I asked myself, sheesh, could I do that?)

The answer to that inner question is, well, I'll never know until I give it a try. The most important thing is that she has ideas and she knows how to set things up.

Have any of you used a publicist before? If so, what did she or he do for you? Were the results worth the cost? Could s/he make things happen that you could not? Or you would not have had time to do?

I think these are things to consider before you partner with a publicist. Is s/he experienced? Is s/he experienced in promoting an author? Does s/he have the time to devote to you and your book? Does s/he believe in you and your book?

And, of course, what will this cost you? What if, in the end, hiring a publicist costs more than you make off the book? Is it still a good idea because you got a lot more exposure than you could have arranged on your own? Will that make a difference when the next book comes out?

So many questions. And you probably won't have answers until after the campaign.

As I begin to do things to promote Angel Sometimes and Dismembering the Past, I'll try to keep you up on what my results are. At this point, my first speaking event is October 25. When the date gets closer, I'll remind you of the date, if any of you would like to come. And when it's over, I'll let you know how it went.

Also, I'm looking for someone who is not a member of the Heart of Texas chapter of Sisters in Crime who would like to read Angel Sometimes and write a review. HoTSinC has a monthly newsletter which goes out to members and is posted online. They will accept a review of a book by a HoTSinC member (me), but it needs to be done by someone outside of the group. Email me if you're interested.

Genres and Titles

If you're a writer, what genre do you write? Do you write in only one genre? Or do you cross lines, maybe writing a horror book, then switching to a comedy? Or perhaps you tend to write scary Romances, combining Horror with Romance.

As most of you already know, I've published a Women's Fiction with a bit of suspense. My next book, which I'm in the process of editing will be Suspense. The lead character is a woman, but this one will be suspense from beginning to end.

Different genres have different paces, different topics, different types of covers, even different titles.

My Women's Fiction is titled Angel Sometimes. In my mind, that's a "soft" title. In this case, it's the protagonist's name.

While Angel Sometimes has suspense, my next book, Dismembering the Past will be a total suspense, from beginning to end. On the title alone, you could probably have guessed it was Suspense, although that could possibly have been the title of a Horror.

Think about your title. Does it fit the genre?

The cover for the e-version of Angel Sometimes is a picture of a flower garden. The garden is significant to the story. It's also "soft". It probably wouldn't appeal to men, but then, it's Women's Fiction.

The cover for the print version of Angel Sometimes will  not be a flower garden. It will be, I'm thinking, a water scene since Angel is a mermaid at a bar/restaurant. That will still "say" Women's Fiction.

I don't yet know what the cover will be for Dismembering the Past, but it won't be "soft".

Spend time deciding what your cover will look like and what it will convey to a possible reader.

Does your title fit the book and the genre?

Ahhh, September

September is here. Fall will soon arrive, although it shows up later here in Texas than elsewhere.

Happy Birthday to my sister Molly -- and to anyone else who has a birthday this month.

My September plan is to see Angel Sometimes in print. And to have another book out. I'm really close. This one is suspense -- and I'm thinking of getting High Canyon Books to put it in print before it becomes an e-book. It's title is Dismembering the Past.

Do you have any big plans for September? What are they?

Talking to Characters

I'm over at Sylvia Dickey Smith's blog, Writing Strong Women. I hope you'll link over and leave comments about the strong characters you write.

I'm not only talking about the strength in Angel Sometimes, but about how I wrote her tale as a twelve year old that was book length, then set it aside and started over with her at 22.

Would love to hear your stories!

Marian Allen and Hooked

Marian Allen wrote a short story about a mermaid. (A real mermaid, not a swimmer in a mermaid tail, like Angel Sometimes.)

She's posting it on her blog today. I hope you'll link over and read her story called Hooked. I thought it was really fun. If you're like me, you'll want her to write more about this mermaid. She definitely has personality.

Tell Marian "hi" for me!

Stats for Angel Sometimes

I'm not a Math person, I admit. But here are the stats for the recent 3 day giveaway of Angel Sometimes. Angel was free for three days, July 27^th, 28^th and 29^th.

Somehow, I'm not sure how, Angel Sometimes always seems to be listed with these category/tag words:

Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

So…with those tag words, here are the stats:

7/27/12:

About 2 p.m.: #73

About 6 p.m.: #43

About 10:30 p.m.: #36

7/28/12:

About 5:30 p.m.: #25

About 7 p.m.: #22

About 8 p.m.: #21

7/29/12:

About 7:30 a.m.: #17

About 1 p.m.: #18

As far as I can tell, it never made the Top 100 Free in Kindle Store.

Frankly, I'm not sure how important it is to know the stats. Interesting, though. One thing you can deduce from these stats is that I'm not real good at remembering to check them.