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Hold on, it’s gonna be a crazy week!! :)
This next week is going to be a whirlwind… 
I remember this from the past Spring, when THE REASON IS YOU was about to launch. The week before is a blur of blog posts and tours and giveaways and never-ending anxiety. LOL. Well, that’s about to start again.
When JUST ONE DAY released recently, (my e-novella) I didn’t have time for anxiety…. It was so fast and spur of the moment, I didn’t get a chance to obsess over its entry into the world. Hmmm, that may be the way to go.
Now… BEFORE AND EVER SINCE is about to step out there.
Just 11 days away. *nail chewing and pacing commences* And with that, I wanted to let my wonderful readers know what fun is coming this next week. Here goes…
- I’m starting a virtual blog tour on Monday, and I’ll post that starting link here on Monday. This tour will be at different sites and will post on M-W-F through Nov 22nd. Great giveaways on this tour, including free books from myself and other authors, swag, totebags, and gift cards! All the tour stops are also listed on my event page.
- Also kicking off on Monday are the 8 Life Lessons Learned via Emily Lockwood of BEFORE AND EVER SINCE. These are fun little daily lessons that come with exclusive excerpts from the book that you’ll only get here on this blog! These have their own perk, as one commenter from all eight posts will be chosen to have a significant character named after them in my next novella, which will be done in Spring 2013.
- Like your men handy? All this week, in honor of the hot tool guy, Ben, in BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, there will a “Hot Tool Man of the Day” posted here and on Facebook and Pinterest. Just because. Be sure to follow my Facebook Author Page and Pinterest page!
- ON RELEASE DAY! Now, this isn’t technically this week, but I want to give you a heads up… I’m having a Facebook party from 10am to 5pm CST on Nov 6th. This is piled with goodies and giveaways that all you have to do to win is register! Click here for all the details! After that…whew….is a Twitter Launch Party from 6pm to 7pm CST–an action packed hour of giveaways! Click here to go register for that!! I’ll post more on these during the week, but go ahead and register…it’s free!
*sitting down to rest*
I think that about covers things for now. I can’t wait for everything to rev up on Monday, so I hope to see you back here!
Countdown: Two Weeks!
That’s right. Just two weeks from today, on Nov 6th, BEFORE AND EVER SINCE will be officially out in the world.
It will be floating around cyberspace in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, The Book Depository, and any other online book sites, and nestled in all its paper glory on the shelves next to THE REASON IS YOU. And if I’m really lucky, it will be placed on the New Releases table as well.
If you’ve preordered it, it will come singing (I believe it, so it’s so) to your house that day, or download right into your Nook or Kindle, waiting for you to open it.
And there are some events to come starting next Monday, launching the book buzz into the world. There will be a virtual blog tour with giveaways (stops on my event page), Excerpt teasers with life lessons from the main character (fun!), and a Facebook party all day that day with a Twitter party that evening. Craziness! Fun! Freebies! What could be better?
Cookies!! I’m even making cookies. Or my daughter will. So that I have something to graze on during all these parties.
If you haven’t preordered BEFORE AND EVER SINCE yet, and plan to buy it, please consider preordering! (You can use any of those ebook links above and click on ‘paperback’ if that’s your preference) It makes my first week’s sales look good, which makes my editor happy. LOL.
Thanks to you all and have a fabulous Tuesday!
If you could only…
Short and sweet, but something to get you thinking today….
If you could choose one day in your life to go back and revisit…what would it be?
Any day…at any point in your life… And push yourself. We all have the easy picks. Children’s births, obviously. Try to think outside the box.
And would you change anything, or just want to watch again?
Share!
Let the lunacy commence!
I’ve been very lax of late on my blogging, and I apologize. Deep, scraping bow kind of apologize. Everything is about to explode in my world–in a good way–but explosions nonetheless.
But first I want to put a shout out for my Off The Beaten Path blog feature tomorrow! This month I have RWA-WF chapter’s very own Pam Morsi! SO excited, and you will love her wit and charm. She’s giving away a signed copy of her latest book THE LOVESICK CURE to a random commenter, so be sure to come play with us!!
JUST ONE DAY, my first time writing a novella, started with Nook First last week, which runs for 30 days before it goes out to the rest of the big bad world. In three days, it hit #4 on Barnes & Noble Nook Books Bestseller list, and this week it’s holding steady in the 20′s, so if you didn’t hear me scream, suffice it to say there was noise. It made me an official National Bestselling Author, which is mega-cool to stick by my name. And it kicked off more sales for my first and upcoming books, which is even better.
Speaking of upcoming….. BEFORE AND EVER SINCE is a month away! You know there’s a hot carpenter guy in it, right? He can come to your house. You can preorder him here. And here. And probably other places too, but you get the point.
And….something I’m jumping up and down about today. You know who Kathryn Stockett is, right? (ducking as you throw things) Yeah….we ALL know who she is. We all want to BE her. And I get to sign books with her!!!!!!!! Okay not like–sitting next to her, being her BFF or anything (although I would love to be her bff, and send funny text msgs back and forth) but signing at the same event!
I was chosen for the John Cooper School’s annual Signature Author Series event in The Woodlands, TX (Houston area) as one of about 10 authors to do a book signing event. Kathryn Stockett is the keynote speaker, and she’s bringing the director of THE HELP movie with her. There’s a big luncheon, and video presentation of all the authors, and massive publicity. And….it’s three days after BEFORE AND EVER SINCE comes out….so hello…great timing!
So so so so excited about that. If you are in the Houston area on November 9th, this is an event to put on your calendar!
Okayyyyyyyy….I think that about covers things for right now. Oh, and I wrote a 4 page synopsis last night in an hour…which could mean that the world really is ending in a couple of months. Or just that angels rained down good juu juu on me for once.
Everyone have a fabulous day, and come back tomorrow to talk to Pam!!
Off The Beaten Path – with Claire Cook!
Here we are again at Off The Beaten Path! A once-a-month opportunity to get to know a very special romance or women’s fiction author, in a fun and hopefully interactive way. We all like to get to know our favorite authors a little better, and I want to make that fun for everyone.
This month, I’m so excited to introduce the fabulous Claire Cook!!
So pretty in pink!!!
I fell madly in love with Claire’s writing back in the day when Must Love Dogs first came out. I owned a little bookstore back then, and ran a small bookclub out of it. Must Love Dogs was one of our picks, and I was in awe. And I knew I wanted to write like THAT. So Claire is one of my major writing inspirations!
Claire, I’m so happy you are visiting today. I know everyone here is anxious to talk to you so let’s get started!
Claire, how would you describe your life in only 8 words?
Totally thrilled to finally be living my dream.
That’s awesome! So in that vein of thought, what is your definition of perfect happiness?
Perfectly fleeting.
We all have those niggling terrors that gnaw at us…or give us story ideas. What’s your greatest fear?
That I’m still a bartender and I can’t remember where this drink should go. Oh, wait, that’s the recurring nightmare.
What is your biggest pet peeve?
Mean people.
Do you have a favorite saying?
Midlife rocks!
Yes it does! As much as we all get caught up in these crazy schedules and deadlines, balance is important. What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?
Walk the beach.
What’s your fantasy profession?
Being a novelist. It’s the career I almost didn’t have, and nine books in, it still feels like a fantasy.
What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
Humor, honesty, and kindness.
Okay, this one’s important. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
Trader Joe’s organic popcorn with olive oil.
What are your 5 favorite songs?
I never play favorites. I just can’t. I’d feel too sorry for the songs I didn’t pick.
You and I have something in common. We both published our first novel at the age of 45. You have now surpassed what most of us only dream of, by walking the red carpet at the premier of the movie adaptation of your second novel, Must Love Dogs, at 50. What advice do you have for women who haven’t yet realized their own buried dreams?
Rise above the negativity. Whatever the motive, lots of people will tell you why you can’t or shouldn’t do whatever it is you want to do. You just have to decide to do it anyway. You might want to protect yourself a bit in the beginning too. I didn’t tell anyone about my first novel until it was finished. You don’t need anyone’s permission — just do it!
Be who you really are. The big buzz word these days is branding, but I think of it as authenticity. This is the first job I’ve ever had where I wasn’t pretending, or at least trying to pretend, to be a slightly different person. Who I am and what I write are totally in synch. There’s tremendous power in that.
Confound expectations. If everybody’s doing it, it’s already been done. Put a little surprise in everything you do. Originality counts!
Do something nice for someone. It’s easy to get needy when you’re struggling to figure out what’s next, but many of the great things that have happened to me (including a Today Show feature!) were triggered by something nice I did for someone else. People talk — your actions determine what they say. As one of my characters once said, karma is a boomerang.
Get your tech together. Everything you need to know about the world you want to conquer can be found online. Get your computer skills up to speed — fast! Research. Network. Create an online presence on Facebook and Twitter. The internet is a great equalizer — and there are so many opportunities out there just waiting for you to take advantage of them! And while you’re online, make sure you check out the writing and reinvention pages at ClaireCook.com where I share everything I’ve learned so far.
Your ninth novel, WALLFLOWER IN BLOOM, was just published in June. Where did you get the idea for it?
Wallflower in Bloom began in kind of a crazy way. The publishing blog GalleyCat asked its Facebook readers which author they’d most like to see on Dancing With the Stars. Amazingly, I was one of the 10 authors nominated, along with Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, Harlan Coban, Ally Carter, David Sedaris, Andy Borowitz, Tatjana Soli, Tishani Dosh and Kathy Patrick.
I have such true blue, incredibly supportive readers, and they got all excited and started voting like crazy – and I won the popular vote! GalleyCat sent the petition off the DWTS producers. Everyone started asking me if I’d really do it. “Of course, I would,” I said, my knees shaking. “Not just for me, but for midlife women everywhere.”
I totally would have done it, shaky knees and all, if Dancing With the Stars had ever called, which they haven’t – yet! But I have to admit it was a lot less stressful to turn the experience into the jumping off point for Wallflower in Bloom.
What was intriguing to me was the thought of a non-celebrity suddenly dropped into a celebrity world. And then I started thinking what if the heroine was the personal assistant to her famous brother, who was the family star. And what if she somehow used his connections to find her own fifteen minutes of fame?
And somehow into all this, my new novel, Wallflower in Bloom, was born.
Absolutely love that cover SO much!! What’s up next for you?
Simon & Schuster Touchstone will publish my next novel, Time Flies, in June 2013. We’ll be doing lots of fun promotions as things get closer, so head over to ClaireCook.com and sign up for my newsletter to stay in the loop.
We are SO fortunate to have Claire here today…
*cue applause and fangirl squeals*
She was kind enough to offer a signed giveaway of that awesome book mentioned above, WALLFLOWER IN BLOOM to one of you lucky lucky commenters! Woot!
So leave your comments, feel free to chat with Claire today, and a winner will be chosen tonight!
Good luck and have fun!!
Claire Cook was born in Virginia, and lived for many years in Scituate, Massachusetts, a beach town between Boston and Cape Cod. She and her husband have recently moved to the suburbs of Atlanta to be closer to family, including their two adult kids. She shares writing and reinvention tips at ClaireCook.com and loves connecting with readers on Facebook (ClaireCookauthorpage) and Twitter (@ClaireCookwrite). She resisted joining Pinterest as long as she could, but now she’s there, too, pinning away.
Where’s The Beef?
Today I want to talk about meat.
Yep.
My daughter and I were talking about whether we, at this point in our lives, could become vegetarians. See, I’ve never been one that had to have meat with every meal. Don’t gasp and throw your hands up, you carnivores out there. I do love a good steak here and there.
I’m from the south so fried chicken is a staple.
And a big juicy burger is one of my favorite foods.
But before I met my now husband, my daughter and I lived on mostly pasta, veggies, and turkey, with the occasional chicken and ground beef. Very occasional. He and his son lived on mostly meat with an occasional vegetable. Very occasional.
When we blended our two families, it began to meld. He and his son learned to appreciate a green bean. I, in turn, learned to come up with a meat dish every night.
Every night.
So what are your feelings on the subject? I think I could be a vegetarian…as long as I could take a sabbatical once a year…like a weekend of burgers…but the rest of the time I think I could do it.
You?
Why coffee is my BFF
I wasn’t even going to post anything today…it being an official Be Lazy Day and all. It’s not that at your house? Sorry about that!
But anyway…I was flipping through my email and got the automatic feed from Jenny Hansen’s blog about So Much Coffee, So Little Time and I just couldn’t stand to not do something. She talks about her love for the brew…even posts pictures of her favorite mugs. I can’t lie down on this. I have to join in the crazies.
Coffee…I’ve decided…was Heaven sent. I mean, God put those wonderful little beans on bushes for a reason! Now, I guess you could say the same thing for tobacco leaves and …ahem…another funny little leaf… and poppy seeds… but HANG ON! Okay, maybe not everything He put down here is something we have used to our greater good, but coffee is just a cup full of wonderful.
Do you hear the angels? No? That was just me?
Here are six reasons coffee works for me, along with some pics of my favorite all time mugs that the rest of my family knows to back away from.
1) It turns my brain on in the morning after I stumble around with all systems decidedly OFF.
2) It makes the house smell good.
3) It makes that little gurgling sound that gets my birds to chirping…see it makes them happy too.
4) It WAKES ME UP, and more importantly, gives me a good attitude.
5) It can be straight, flavored, creamed, whatever. You can customize it to your liking!!
6) Without it, I’m not a good person.
Like Jenny, I’m trying to drink more water although I’m not a fan. I do drink alot of sweet tea at night…more than I should…but this is the South and I’m pretty sure it’s required. On the weekends, coffee is only a morning thing because I can switch over to that, but on weekdays at the day job, coffee flows like…well…like how water probably should.
What are your thoughts on it? Are you a coffee drinker? Tea? Soda? What’s your weakness?
And feel free to share pics of your favorite mugs, either in the comments if you can, or tweet them to me at @sharlalovelace.
Okay, Jenny, you made me be all productive today. Had to actually get up off the couch and go take pictures of mugs. See the power you yield? LOL!
Back To School…
This is a big year in our house. The last of our little birds has started her senior year. That pic up there is her first day of Kindergarten, and her first day of 12th grade.
Click here to read the rest of this post at Women Unplugged…
A Day in the Life…
Three times this week, I had the question posed to me asking how I have time to write with a full time job, so I thought I’d shed some light. It’s no big deal, not shocking. I’m far from the only one that has to juggle a day job and whatever else our calling might be. But it is a little fun to lay it out, in a way.
So here’s my very not-exciting day in the life…
5:00am alarm goes off…I either stumble to the coffee pot or hit snooze.
5:09am alarm again if snooze…let’s face it, I hit the snooze. NOW the coffeepot
5:15am shower
5:30am coffee…sit with my old lady dog and check Twitter and email.
5:45am reluctantly drag my butt off the couch and fix hub’s lunch, feed cockatiels in the aviary
6:00am go stare at myself in the mirror & decide if I can get away with no makeup for work (I have chosen that route more than once…)
6:15am wake up hubs for work and go back to stare some more. get disgusted at my lack of natural beauty and go for another cup of coffee
6:30am kiss hubby goodbye…wake up daughter for school…listen to her stumble and grumble for coffee (mini-me)
6:35am give in and put on a face, dry and straighten swamp-girl hair, find something to throw on. Luckily I work in a refinery and this consists of a t-shirt and jeans most days.
7:00am hug grumpy teenager goodbye, give old lady dog a belly scratch, drive to work plotting out my next scene.
7:15-3:30pm sit in a void, crunching numbers, occasionally checking my phone for email. Plotting…always plotting… Of course every time I get a good thought the damn phone rings.
3:30pm LEAVE WORK !!!!
3:30-4:30pm errands, groceries, bank runs, pick up dinner if I’m not cooking, anything else mundane.
4:30-5:30pm say hello to family, do laundry, cook supper unless I was lazy and picked up fried chicken.
5:30-7:30pm My Writing Time. This is a loose term, since it’s in the living room, and people come and go as they please or need something. “Need” is another loose term, since it can be as simple as “Do you know if it’s going to rain tomorrow?”
8:00-10:30pm TV with hubby and daughter. Sometimes also writing, but hard to focus with things blowing up in surround sound. Or if it’s Hell’s Kitchen. Or White Collar. Because I’m a slut for both of those.
Anything after that…. bed.
Weekends… that’s a little different. It’s a free-for-all. I get up early before anyone else is moving, and write when I can around chores and life and family and whatever needs to be done.
So tell me YOUR schedule. And non-writers, how do you plan your days around the things you love the most?
Everybody share!!
Stealth mission needed…
I have to ‘fess up. I love dogs and like cats, and am basically an animal lover in general. Rarely will I pass up a chance to pet something furry, and baby-anythings just do me in completely.
My old lady dog, Ruby…proof of my love…
However…
I’ll refrain from posting a picture of what has become the bain of my existence lately. …. read more of this post at Women Unplugged.
