For authors only: want book sales? Have you thought of writing a guest post? #bloggers #bookpromo #wip

Here's an author secret for you: I'm cruel to my characters!

I can't help it, but it's true. I'm evil!

I start off loving my characters, their flaws, hopes, dreams and their entire journey. As their creator I know them inside out, but after a while they get me down. In short, by the end of the rewrites and edits, and more rewrites and edits, and reading the same scene and/or dialogue over and over, and over and over some more I'm more than fed up with them. So much so I have to seek my revenge!

So, I write alternate endings to my otherwise happy ever afters and KILL my characters!

But I can't be the only one to do this? So someone please tell me that they also write alternative endings for their beloved characters!

Mine have a grisly death each time. I suppose it's a type of therapy that allows me to move on to my next book and new characters; a type of closure.

It works for me, anyway.

If anyone wants to reveal their author secret/s here on this blog like the one above (send me your book link/details in return for a byline) for WWBB's JUNE theme: Authors' Secrets.

Email me!

A time-travel romance - Wide Awake Asleep

Sci-fi Romance - Eden (book 1) |

Hunted (book 2)

Sci-fi Romance - Eden (book 1) |

Hunted (book 2)

Romantic Comedy - Oh no, I've Fallen in Love!  |  A Proper Charlie

Why Book Blogs Matter, And Why They Should Matter to More People by Ellen Rhudy

Why Book Blogs Matter, And Why They Should Matter to More People 

by Ellen Rhudy

Every few months an article comes along about book blogs: about the influence blogs and bloggers can exert over internet-addicted book lovers, about the ways in which book blogs can’t meet up to the standards of ever-dwindling newspaper books pages, about the relationships between bloggers and authors and publishers. Attempts to fit book blogs into some standard narrative of bookish publicity never works, though, because book blogs are so different from (so much better than, I’d say) “traditional” venues for book publicity.

More often than there are articles and attempts to somehow chart book blogs, what they mean and what they’ll be for readers in the future, there are articles about the decline of reading: men don’t read, children don’t read, no one reads “good” books, ebooks are destroying books as we know and love them.

What book blogs show, in this age of cancelled book review sections in newspaper after newspaper, is that people do read, and that readers are increasingly passionate about sharing their reading with others. Sure, there are book clubs and there are literature courses, but only the luckiest reader has a group of friends he or she can discuss literature with on a regular basis. Book blogs, though, give a voice to the reader who before responded to books more privately, giving your average reader of literary fiction or science fiction the chance to expound on the qualities of a novel, how it fits into genre conventions or the conventions of their own reading habits (if not both).

For more go to:

Why Book Blogs Matter, And Why They Should Matter to More People by Ellen Rhudy

Free paranormal novel by Lisa Graves.

What would you do if you thought your boyfriend were a figment of your imagination? That is Lilly’s problem. 

YA Paranormal Romance / Mystery
 by Lisa Graves

Sure he randomly seems to appear and disappear out of nowhere.  

Perhaps he is cryptic and evasive when it comes to details of his past?

But what if you can feel in your soul that you are meant to be together?  

Would that tiny detail matter?

Buy Atlantis FREE from Smashwords using this coupon: XR67Y coupon expires 31st January.

Excerpt from Atlantis:

My eyes looked at the ground. I didn’t want to, but I made myself say it. “You’re not real.”

Elliott was quiet. I looked up to see what he was doing. He continued to sit on the grass but he looked shocked. “What do you mean by that?” I noticed a cautious tone in his voice.

I dove into my brain trying to find the right words to use when breaking up with yourself. I came up empty handed. The fact that I desperately wanted to stay and live in my fantasy land didn’t make it any easier. My torrent stream of emotions was giving me away. I bit my lip, trying to keep my face from exposing all of my secrets. Strangely, he did the same.

“What do you mean, I’m not real?” Elliott asked again. He gently placed his hand on mine. The usual sensation of electricity flowing through him to me, pricked my mind and made me doubt my hallucination theory. He wasn’t helping me.

It was probably a combination of my emotions keeping me an inch from tears, and his penetrating eyes bearing down on my soul, but I had overflowed. I couldn’t stop the words from pouring out.

“YOU ARE NOT REAL!” I yelled, more at myself than at Elliott.

I stood up. His mouth gapped open at me as I paced the cove and continued.

“You are too perfect. And good looking. And sweet...”

He looked as though he was going to argue, but I went on.

“No one has seen you but me.”

He whispered something to himself and shook his head.

“You appear and disappear out of nowhere.”

I turned again at the edge of the cove, racking my brain for more proof of my theory. When I resumed my pacing, he spoke.

“I know,” he said in a soft, apologetic purr and looked straight at me.

Elliott caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected my hallucination to agree with me. “What do you mean you know?"

Find out more from Lisa Graves at: http://www.lisagravesbooks.com/

52 Wonderful Twitter Chats for Writers

Writing is often a lonely endeavor for professionals and college students alike, but it doesn't have to be. There are many places for writers to find help and inspiration for every part of the writing process. One of the newest sources of support is on Twitter, through a wide variety of writing chats. Writers on Twitter only need to use and search for a given hashtag to participate, and most groups are very welcoming to those with different interests and levels of experience. Here, we've listed some of the most popular and potentially valuable chats on Twitter. Covering a wide range of topics, you're bound to find a chat that meets your personal needs as a writer, and you may just make a few new friends in the process.

Slow Chats

These chats don't always have a set time or day that they meet. Writers and readers simply post to them whenever they come across something they'd like to share with the community.

1. #litchat: This group is not only a great place to get inspired to write, it can also help hook you up with some great books to read. Chats are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but if you miss a meeting there are transcripts on the group's blog.
2. Click below for more from this wonderful blog:

52 Wonderful Twitter Chats for Writers | Online College Tips - Online Colleges