11 Saturday Nov 2017
Posted in Marketing, Self-publishing
I’m trying another marketing channel. My books are now posted on Readers Review Room (RRR), a site for readers and authors. Mission statement: “To become the ultimate resource to help readers find their next great book, and to provide unparalleled support and exposure for indie authors.”
Take a look at the RRR site. You might find some great books. You can also become a reviewer. Readers Review Room.
02 Sunday Apr 2017
Posted in Marketing, Self-publishing
Kate Johnson has made it to mid-level management in the IT group of a pharmaceutical company. Her intelligence, technical competence and easy-going personality are among the keys to her success. When Kate watches a television interview of one of her ex-boyfriends, her demons of over 30 years ago are awakened. Over the coming weeks, she cannot shake the resurrected feelings of betrayal and injustice, and vows to confront the men she once loved. She methodically conceives and carries out her ingenious, and illegal, plan. As the two men, her family and friends seek to understand her actions, Kate accepts her punishment.
28 Tuesday Mar 2017
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
Kate Johnson has made it to mid-level management in the IT group of a pharmaceutical company. Her intelligence, technical competence and easy-going personality are among the keys to her success. When Kate watches a television interview of one of her ex-boyfriends, her demons of over 30 years ago are awakened. Over the coming weeks, she cannot shake the resurrected feelings of betrayal and injustice, and vows to confront the men she once loved. She methodically conceives and carries out her ingenious, and illegal, plan. As the two men, her family and friends seek to understand her actions, Kate accepts her punishment.
01 Thursday Sep 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
The Cruelty of Love is listed under the Contemporary category. Take a moment and vote!
If you’ve read A Woman’s Weakness by Molly Gambiza you can also vote for her book, also listed under Contemporary. And if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do so.
21 Thursday Jul 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing, Uncategorized
30 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
Max is Kate’s longtime colleague/friend and an important element of the story. Including Max came naturally, and the development of his character evolved as the story headed toward its climax. It was only when I finished writing did I realize that his character serves a dual purpose.
First, Max provides a current love interest for Kate, the protagonist, boosting her lovability in spite of her actions. Max is one of Kate’s colleagues, and he is in love with her. He vowed never to reveal this to Kate. They’ve been colleagues for years and never once before the events of the novel did Kate ever suspect Max’s feeling.
When she finally realizes Max is in love with her, she is both flattered and embarrassed. Embarrassed because she is not in love with him, embarrassed because he is much younger, and embarrassed because she’s never gone out with a white man. For Kate, their friendship is professional and nothing else. For Max, these things are not important and he sticks by her. Unrequited love is a bore, but love can be cruel.
Second, Max provides the reader with an anchor in so-called sensible behavior should the protagonist’s behavior seem over the top. Max’s questions about Kate’s out-of-character behavior may mirror their own thoughts. Why is Kate asking about guns and hunting lodges, when she’s shown no previous interest in either? Why does she leave work a couple of days a week earlier than usual? Why has she suddenly taken a vacation without informing him?
Max’s character may be a means to affirm that no one would go to such extreme measures to confront their ex-boy or girlfriends. In spite of his moral support, Max certainly wouldn’t. He confronts Kate with what he thinks he knows in an attempt to make her come to her senses, and is genuinely shocked, as most of us would be.
12 Sunday Jun 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
Opportunité de gagner une de 4 copies – “Il Molo – version française”
D’habitude Martha Nathan est un modèle de tranquillité. En tant que professionnelle dévouée et épouse d’un artiste suisse reconnu, Martha mène une agréable vie d’expatriée à Genève et passe chaque année ses vacances d’été sur la côte italienne. Lorsqu’une année plus tard, une série de rêves prémonitoires semble devenir réalité, Martha se sent profondément ébranlée. En tentant de comprendre ses sentiments à l’égard d’une connaissance perdue de vue depuis longtemps – ainsi que le rôle joué par ce dernier dans une mort mystérieuse – Martha doit se confronter à la manière dont des évènements tragiques et inattendus peuvent changer une vie pour toujours.
12 Sunday Jun 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
07 Tuesday Jun 2016
Posted in Promotions, Self-publishing
Opportunité de gagner une de 4 copies – “Il Molo – version française”
D’habitude Martha Nathan est un modèle de tranquillité. En tant que professionnelle dévouée et épouse d’un artiste suisse reconnu, Martha mène une agréable vie d’expatriée à Genève et passe chaque année ses vacances d’été sur la côte italienne. Lorsqu’une année plus tard, une série de rêves prémonitoires semble devenir réalité, Martha se sent profondément ébranlée. En tentant de comprendre ses sentiments à l’égard d’une connaissance perdue de vue depuis longtemps – ainsi que le rôle joué par ce dernier dans une mort mystérieuse – Martha doit se confronter à la manière dont des évènements tragiques et inattendus peuvent changer une vie pour toujours.
27 Friday May 2016
Posted in Self-publishing
“The Cruelty of Love” prefaces with a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson: “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Kate Johnson, the protagonist of the novel, should have read this before she began her campaign to confront her ex-boyfriends. Her ex-loves haunt her life and she acts.
Kate denies she’s seeking revenge. She justifies her drastic actions by rationalizing that her exes need to be made aware of the self-doubt they awoke in her and the pain they inflicted on her. At the time of the actual break-ups Kate was too young, too inexperienced and too hurt to be able to explain her feelings in an intelligible manner. It wasn’t until many years later, and after time in therapy, that she understood and could actually verbalize what had gone wrong and why she had such a sense of betrayal and injustice.
Why would Kate – a successful career woman, admired and loved by her family and friends, respected by her colleagues, and seemingly happy with her life – risk so much? Did she get satisfaction from her illegal undertaking? Normal people don’t do such things. Or do they?
I’m sure that a lot of you have thought about confronting an ex about a heart-rending break-up, one that left you miserable and shedding tears for a long time – you’d finally get the chance to tell them what you think. I have, but would never have the courage to go to such lengths as did Kate. Everyone says “get over it,” “there are other fish in the sea,” or “move on.” I would agree with them. But if I had written the book that way it wouldn’t be very interesting.
That’s one of the beauties of writing fiction – I can make my characters do what the ‘darker’ side of me would like to do. After reading “The Cruelty of Love” a friend wrote to me “That ‘darker’ side that you keep hidden away, should be allowed to flourish, be exposed to all and sundry, and let out of the closet!!!”
Fiction lets me expose my ‘darker’ side. So, I let Kate’s feelings stir up her darker side and let her set in motion an ingenious yet dangerous and illegal plan to confront Earl and Charles.
#crueltyoflove smarturl.it/tclo
