Times, they are a changin'...*

Hi, everyone! A lot is happening in my world these days. One such thing is that the purpose of this blog is changing. You may (or may not) notice content disappear. That is because the author associated with this account will soon not exist as you've always known her.

The blog, however, will continue to be a place which supports authors, especially Indies and those who need it most. We'll be working with tour organizers as well as posting reviews on our own. It seemed a shame to terminate the relationships I've built over the last year as a blogger just because my writing career is coming to a close. As a reader, I love to support the authors whose books I enjoy and those new to the scene who need some extra help spreading the word about their work.

Another thing that will be different? Did you notice I said 'we'll'? That's because this is no longer a writing blog, but is a book blog. Leanne Smith Coulson, Anita Biškup and Connie McElfresh will be joining Patti Korbet here as bloggers/reviewers. We're hoping to gain a few more reviewers eventually, but for now, the four of us will post reviews on the blog.

Each day, the sun sets and it ushers in a brief period of darkness before a new morning. My career as author Patti Korbet it setting, but In Patti's Imagination is getting ready to break a new dawn. Join us, won't you?

*Edited to include our additional bloggers, who joined the team shortly after I posted this.

Another Milestone on the Horizon

Just under two weeks ago, I hit a big milestone. A year ago, I was chewing my nails and editing frantically, trying to make the goal of getting Back to December out to the world on August 5th. I say that I was birthing my third child (not to be confused with the large, Alpha man who lives with me), my self-publishing career. The metaphor, it turns out, extends beyond just the birthing stage. Much like having a human baby, a writing career goes through changes. Just as it was with my children, the last year brought so many things into my life, some of which I could not have expected. I took a marketing class last fall that helped me focus on my goals. Now that we're at the 1-year mark, it will be interesting to see how my goals compared to reality.

I've made new writer friends, many of whom have been instrumental in growing my brand and helping me improve as a writer. This happened in a variety of ways. Some, like Marie Hall, Brenda Rothert and Minx Malone, I friended on Facebook and followed on Twitter just because I loved their work. They have all given me great advice and in turn, I've done my best to help spread the word about their talent.

Others, like Bethany Averie (who has become a great friend) and Danael McGuire, I actually met through Marie's Facebook page. Danael, in turn, brought me on board a group that connects authors and reviewers. Through that I met some really wonderful people: Ella Medler, who gave me the best review I've ever had (I swear, I will get to your books!); Rene Folsom, who has taught me so much about graphic design (she's an extremely talented graphic artist as well as a great writer!); and up-and-coming author, Avery Hale, who impressed me with her debut novel and has a similar work ethic to my own. Rene introduced me to amazing writer SL Dearing, who is also a fantastic maker of book swag. I found Clarissa Wild via one of the first book blogs I followed on Facebook, and we've been helping each other grow ever since.

I also met my superfan, Mandy through Marie's page, and I met another new fan, Connie, through the reviewers group. And just like that, networking expands, the brand grows, fans are found and they help spread the word. One day, you have a personal Facebook page and you realize you need a professional page instead. The ten followers who are family turn to fifty and before you know it, you've got 1,425 people who have liked your page. I've expanded this blog to encompass blog tours and reviews, cover reveals and promotion - all for other people. I've done blog takeovers on Facebook and held many giveaways on my page as well as in conjunction with others. And I now have a fan page - Christopher's Minions - where I'm rewarding the big fans with all the latest info first. Guerrilla marketing at its finest.

So, where are we at? My Ward Sisters series now has four books complete, and by the end of the month, I will be publishing a boxed set with all four of those books as well as some bonus content in the form of deleted scenes from each novel. I'll also include a teaser from my next book, Time to Begin - and not the one that appears in the back of This Year's Love.  Here's the cover for the boxed set - the 3D image with the 2D cover on the front.

In 2014, I'm hoping to get both Time to Begin (Ward Sisters, #5, launch date of September 15, 2014) and Just Realized (Ward Sisters, #6, tentatively Christmas 2014) published. When those are done, I'll launch my first spinoff series, Vega Brothers, probably next spring. Then, the pre-quel book in my other spinoff, Deacon Security, will come in the form of Ward Sisters, #7, Think of Me. That should take us through just about this time next year - I'm aiming for a book out every 3-4 months. My personal situation has changed, so we'll see how that impacts my writing - it may be that things move faster, it may mean they move slower. But, now you know my plans. If things change, I'll be sure to post an update.

The last bit I wanted to share is that I'm splitting the final book in Ward Sisters into two separate volumes. No, they will not be half as long. The decision has been made because I think that it best serves the story I was ultimately telling to break it into two pieces, as each segment is capable of sustaining a full-length novel by itself. I've said before that I didn't envision writing a his/hers story and telling the same tale in two separate books. This won't really be that, because the story of Dan Williams and Charlie Ward Williams is not one of just two people. Yes, I'll give you a major spoiler, this story will follow Dan and Charlie as their marriage hits a crater and that story will involve two other people you will have met earlier in the series. Currently, I plan to write the two stories together - I have been all along and will actually separate the parts that are Dan's point-of-view like a conjoined twin surgery. I'll publish them back-to-back and might offer them as a two-book set, at least initially.

Once I've launched Time to Begin, I'll have new cover material to show for the final two books, which will now be #9 and #10. The changes in how the story is being told means that what was originally the last book will still be that and will be Charlie Ward's story, book #10. I'm separating Dan's part of the story and calling that book #9. I've also decided that Better Be Home Soon isn't a good title for either of the final two stories now that I've split the narrative into two separate pieces, so when I do the cover reveals, I'll also be sharing the new story titles.

Thanks for taking this journey with me! I hope you'll stay on the ride!

Much love,

Patti Korbet

SYNOPSIS for TIME TO BEGIN

For the launch of my next book, Time to Begin (Ward Sisters, #5), I'm doing a blog tour with My Family's Heart Book Reviews and Tours. To prep for it, Tonya needed the cover and synopsis, which I sent her this morning. That's mostly so that the reviewers and bloggers know what they're getting into if they sign up for the tour. It's not top-secret, so, I'm going to share with my blog because I can. Tentative release date is August 29. In case you forgot, here's the cover:

Synopsis

She'd been dealt too many blows to count. He'd always lived life on easy street. Are they Yin and Yang or a mistake of epic proportions?

Makeup artist Reggie Reynolds has endured a life as colorful as her ever-changing hair. After a painful childhood and a tragic adolescence, by sheer force of will, she found success – first in Hollywood, then on Broadway. Returning to her hometown offers a chance to help her aging grandfather and realize her dreams, not to mention soothe a broken heart. But even her storied past won't prepare Reggie for what happens in her next chapter.

When reporter Eddie Besson meets Reggie on a flight to New York City, he thinks he's at an all-time high-point in his cushy, perpetual-youth life. Twenty-four hours with Reggie changes Eddie's perspective. Despite the fact that she doesn't want anything to do with him when he leaves, Eddie can't stop thinking about the girl from New York City long after he's gone from the Big Apple.

As Eddie's perfectly-orchestrated life falls apart, he has some tough decisions to make, with only one thing certain: there will be consequences to pay for his lackadaisical approach to adulthood. Reggie's own soul-searching reveals some painful truths, including guilt about passing judgment on the guy from Maine. When she runs into Eddie again – this time on his home turf – sparks fly and decisions must be made, choices that aren't universally well-received. Will this unlikely pair go all-in, find a way to balance the scales and live life on their own terms? Or will tragedy tear them apart?

Final Covers for Ward Sisters Series!

That's right! You did read that correctly - this post will have all the official covers for all the books. I've been chatting with my friend and fellow author, Rene Folsom, who is also a very talented graphic designer. Check out her work at Phycel Designs. I asked her a design question one day, and that got us on a roll about little things I could do to tweak my covers and improve them. Well, I'm one of those people who likes to learn new things and loves to get better and better at them. Of course I had to go back and futz with the previous covers, as Rene had suggested, but I also felt a need to keep going. I have NINE books in the Ward Sisters Series, after all!

So, without further ado, here they are...you'll notice that Book 5, which used to be called Buying the Cow, is now called Time to Begin. I know. SO much better!

Cover Reveal: THIS YEAR'S LOVE, Ward Sisters Series, #4

I didn't reveal the cover for This Year's Love over here because I wanted to keep the Meghan Miles' Mother's Day Giveaway as the top post on my blog for the duration of its run. That ended last night, winners have been notified, so I decided now was the time to post the cover over here. Without further ado, here's the cover for This Year's Love, Book 4 in the Ward Sisters Series.

So, there you have it! Josh and Annie's story will be coming soon - if I can get it out to beta readers in the next week or so, we might actually be able to push it ahead of my current planned release date of June 20th. Soon enough, I'll reveal my cover for Buying the Cow. Yep, I'm sticking with that title. I've yet to find another that I think tells the story in a few short words (which is what I like my titles to do). But I found a great image today of a girl I think speaks to who I see as Reggie Reynolds, and given how much of a challenge the cover concept was for the story - with two main characters who are NOT going to be found in a photo together that isn't staged for that purpose - I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Be on the lookout!

Titles and Main Characters: The Lists

It's fitting that today is one year since I wrote the final words for my first draft of Back to December, and I'm posting about the rest of the books in my Ward Sisters Series as well as the two spin-off series. Granted, Back to December went through some major revisions after that, but the day was monumental because I'd fully completed a manuscript. So, without further ado, here are the books I have planned. And when I say planned, that means I've plotted them in my head, may have started the stories and in some cases, have complete or nearly-complete manuscripts at the ready for editing. If a book is currently available, I've linked to the Amazon page and posted the date it was first published. If I know a planned publication date for a future story, I've included it. Listed are the main characters, but there are NO plot details.

Ward Sisters Series

WS #1 - Back to December, Emily Ward and Rob Deacon (August 5, 2013)
WS #2 - Only One, Liam Neely and Jenna Ackerman (December 21, 2013)
WS #3 - Right Here Waiting, Meghan Miles and Captain Neil Murphy (March 17, 2014)
WS #4 - This Year's Love, Annie Ward and Josh Ricker (late June, 2014)
WS #4.5 - Buying the Cow, Eddie Besson and Reggie Reynolds
WS #5 - Just Realized, Nina Jacobs and Sergeant Owen Nichols
WS #6 - Think of Me, Noah Adams and Mary Cate 'Catie' Neely
WS #6.5 - Tell Me What It Takes, Dr. Aaron Wallace and Ally Carmichael
WS #7 - Better Be Home Soon, Charlie Ward Williams, Dan Williams and Jack Armstrong

Vega Brothers

VB #1, Steal Your Heart, Nico Vega and Sarah Neely
VB #2, You Got Me, Carlos Johnson-Vega and Christopher Pilling

Deacon Security

DS #1 - Even Now, Nate Hogan and Olivia Deacon
DS #2 - Far From Ordinary, David Magnusson and Jessica 'Mase' Nichols
DS #3 - The Way I Loved You, Eric Brady and Isabel Neely Davies

Nine months later...

Yes, about nine months have passed since I started my blog. It was my return foray into the digital world prior to publishing my first novel. If you go back to that first blog post, you'll get a sense of where I started. We're nearly 60 blog posts in at this point, which is an average of about 1.5/week. Pretty good, considering that I don't post every day or even every week. Sometimes, I'm just too busy writing, editing, promoting or doing my other job (the one where they call me 'mom').

So, after nine months and three novels, I thought it was time to do another update. Oddly enough, it was about 6 months ago when I did the last update.

First, I took a marketing class last fall, which anyone who follows my blog, Twitter or Facebook pages might remember. My professor was great - very supportive and fully embraced my desire to create a marketing plan for my writing. Did you know that self-published authors are responsible for all their own marketing? Either you do it yourself or you pay someone else to do it. One way or another, you have to understand your intentions, and the marketing plan required as part of my grade was a huge help in not only giving me marketing goals, but also giving me publication goals.

With that said, six months ago, when the only book I'd published was Back to December, I had one novel under my belt and one book complete in my Ward Sisters series. I was in process on Ward Sisters Book 2, Only One. Since then, Only One went live on December 21, 2013 (and had a HUGE revision between the update and publication time). Book 3, Right Here Waiting, went live this past Monday, March 17, 2014. I've learned so much in the past year, past nine months, past six months, past four months. It's run the gamut from improving my storytelling skills to finding new ways to guerrilla market my books. So, let's get to the update of future plans. Rather than give you detailed word counts like I did before, I'm going for the overview here.

Ward Sisters Series

Book 4, This Year's Love, was my NaNoWriMo project. It stars oncology nurse Annie Ward, Emily's younger sister, and park ranger Josh Ricker, Em's ex-boyfriend. My muse is refusing to speak about it for the moment, but suffice to say that I know she will talk before it needs to be completed. I'm planning for a June 2014 publication, probably at the end of the month.

Book 4.5, Buying the Cow. I'm still not sold on the title, but until I find an alternative, that's the Work In Progress (WIP) name. This story centers around  Rob's former makeup artist Reggie Reynolds, and reporter Eddie Besson, Josh Ricker's best friend from childhood. It will pick up right where Book 4 leaves off. I hadn't been sure before if it would be book 3.5 or 4.5. Now, I've decided and it follows Josh and Annie's story, is almost a continuation of that from two other points of view (POV), but it will expand into a separate story, too. Probably an early fall release, around late September/early October 2014.

Book 5, Just Realized. This story focuses on Realtor Nina Jacobs and Army Sergeant Owen Nichols. Nina appeared briefly in Back to December and she played an important role in Only One. She's also Charlie Ward's best friend and Meghan Miles' cousin. For anyone who wanted a Happily Ever After (HEA) for Nina, this will be where you hear it. We meet Owen in Right Here Waiting. He's one of two soldiers who Captain Neil Murphy considers to be his best friends in the service. Their story is mostly written and I expect that it will be published sometime in late 2014 or early 2015, depending on how quickly Book 4.5 comes together and how other things gel. I'm currently planning for February 6, 2015, but it might come earlier.

Book 6, Think of Me. Bodyguard and former FBI agent, Noah Adams gets his turn, along with Mary Cate Neely, Liam's twin sister. My marketing plan didn't include this book's release date, but I'd come up with a schedule that had a new book in the series every 4 months. If we push Book 5 ahead, this will get pushed ahead. If not, we're looking at August, 2015, which will be 2 years post-Back to December publication. I'd like to get it out sooner.

Book 6.5 Tell Me What it Takes. This one focuses on Dr. Aaron Wallace, who you'll meet in This Year's Love along with his high school flame (and Liam's ex), pharmaceutical rep Ally Carmichael. Again, depending upon everything else, this might come earlier, but expect it by Christmas 2015.

Book 7, Better Be Home Soon. Right now, this story has three POV and involved Charlie (Ward) and Dan Williams, as well as Neil Murphy's Army buddy, Jack Armstrong. That could change as time progresses. For now, while I'd love to get this book out sooner, it looks like we're at March 2016 for a current date on the schedule as it stands. The thing with this schedule is that it was originally generated when I was still writing/editing Only One, and between late last fall and now, I've changed a lot about how I approach my work. Suffice to say, I can't see it taking longer than two years from now to get this part of the series wrapped up, but it could always happen sooner. I'll keep you posted.

Deacon Security and Vega Brothers

As part of the process of finishing Right Here Waiting, I met two new characters whose stories I wanted to write. Rather than folding them directly into the Ward Sisters Series, I'm going to given them an offshoot series. It will be called Vega Brothers and for now, will include Meghan Miles' college best friend, Carlos Johnson-Vega and his older brother (and Meg's ex), Nico Vega. I imagine as I delve into their story, I'll find more characters who want to be heard, but for now, this will be a two-book minimum series.

I was musing recently and realized that a lot of potential existed to explore the men of Deacon Security. This is the company that guards Rob Deacon and his family, the security firm started by Rob's brother, Rick, when he became his younger brother's bodyguard. I'm currently writing a transition story, called Even Now, that will bridge between Ward Sisters and Deacon Security. The idea is that Rick's company, which is based in Minneapolis, will branch out to the East Coast when Rob permanently relocates his home base. They'll need a whole new crop of talent, and some of those guys will come from the men that Neil Murphy and Owen Nichols led in the Army. So, the series will still visit our Ward Sisters friends, but we won't focus on them specifically. I'm envisioning, so far, three stories beyond Even Now, so at least 4 books. But given the focus of the series, there is always a possibility that more could follow.

Warwick, Maine

The book I'd originally thought I would publish first will be part of this new series. It will be completely unrelated to Ward Sisters. I have a first-person, New Adult-oriented novel that's basically complete and needs to be edited, which I will use as a prequel for this series. The current title is Closer to Fine, so we'll see if that survives the editing stage, because this one will get a little bit of an overhaul. It's an existing story I wrote that I'm folding into this series. I'm hoping to have that ready in the next couple months. Then, in late summer, I'll be revealing more about the first regular book in the series, called The Piece I Don't Need. That will likely release between Book 4.5 and Book 5 of Ward Sisters, tentatively in November. After that, I have at least 5 other books planned or in process, I'll Be, In Another Life, Beneath the Stars and two that are thus far untitled, plus a shorter story that might make it into that set.


So, you can see I have a LOT of things coming down the pike. I'm getting quicker with my drafts - for Back to December, I wrote a first draft and went through 5 revisions (and Laurie edited 5 versions) before publication. Only One had as many versions (or more, possibly), but it only got the full editing treatment for 4 of them. With Right Here Waiting, I'd learned so much from the first two processes that it only went through 2 edits with my editor - one for content, the other for the nitty-gritty stuff, like grammar, missed punctuation, typos, etc. But I sought beta readers this last time around (super readers who review like my editor, for content and if they see technical errors, they can mention them), and I liked how the new process improved the flow for me and for everyone else. I anticipate more of that in the future and hopefully, it will streamline things so that I can get more out quicker.

That's the update on where things are currently at and where they're headed in the future. Thanks for continuing to take this ride with me!

Right Here Waiting is finally LIVE!!

Right Here Waiting is finally LIVE on Amazon! I'd planned to talk about it on publication day, which was Monday, but it took forever for it to show as cleared on my KDP dashboard. From clicking publish to it being 100% live, it took 15 or so hours. That's the longest I'd seen KDP take to publish a manuscript. Oh well, it's up now! Here's the link at Amazon, where you can snag a copy for yourself.

The good news about waiting to post on the blog? Well, I just clicked publish on Nook, so that should be live soon enough. My CreateSpace file is ready except for the cover. For whatever reason, I can't seem to use the cover I've been using at a high enough resolution. Makes no sense. I'm debating using the image anyway and ordering my own proof copy, then deciding if it looks okay. I haven't exactly flooded the paperback market; that's really about pleasing a few people close to me who'd like to have hard copy versions instead of e-books. So, I think it's worth going the proof route this time around. Worst case, I have a hard copy of my original concept and I have to choose a new image to create the cover for the paperback version. Best case, CreateSpace is being anal retentive and it's fine. Win-win, I guess.

Anyway, I'm so excited to share Right Here Waiting with all of you! I loved writing it and I adore these two characters. I knew when I wrote Meg into Back to December that she'd get her own story. I thought it was going to be Eddie Besson (best friend of Emily Ward's ex, Josh Ricker) who swept her off her feet, but I couldn't figure out how that would happen. And then I wrote a scene that takes place the morning after Charlie and Dan get married, and Neil wandered onto the page. After that, there was no question that Neil was the man for Meg. Eddie? Eddie who? In the midst of writing Captain Neil Murphy, I fell head over heels for him.

So, enjoy! Pick up the book - or all three, if you haven't read Back to December and Only One. If you read Right Here Waiting first, you won't be completely lost, but your enjoyment of the story will be greater if you read books 1 & 2 beforehand.

Coming next, I'll write an update post that will give you an idea of the publication schedule and what I'm planning for the future! Thanks to everyone who participated in my contest the past two weeks. I'll do more in the future, but for now, I need to promote a bit and write a lot. My muse has been busy inside my head for days! In fact, one reason I didn't post this until Thursday was because I've been writing. I'll tell you more about that in the next post. Time to get back to it!

Giveaway Post and bonus content...

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I'm running a contest from March 2-March 16 to promote my next book, Right Here Waiting, which will be published on March 17, 2014. The contest will require each entrant to answer a question related to one of my books, an answer which can be found among the posts in this blog or on my Facebook Author page. I'm going to make this first answer very easy to find, since it'll be in this post.

We're starting with Oscar Sunday for a special reason. If you've read Back to December, you know that Rob Deacon, aka Deac Roberts, is nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, an honor that happens quite unexpectedly.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes an appearance in all of the first three Ward Sisters series books, including Right Here Waiting, where it has a surprisingly pivotal role.

As an added bonus, today's contest answer will come, not from the book itself, but from a segment of the original epilogue, which wasn't published. Do you know what that means? Bonus content! That's right, this can only be seen here. The scene ties directly into the first day of the contest, since it takes place at the Oscars. Which Oscars? Well, you'll have to read the series to know for sure. And for anyone who wished that Emily got her chance to give Rachel a piece of her mind again, she did. Potential SPOILERS AHEAD!! Here it is:

Em waited until the next commercial break, then she headed backstage, both use the bathroom and to find Rob. It had been their ritual this awards season, for her to sneak away and find him as he answered questions after his win. She stopped at the bathroom first, glad for Christopher's genius. Her dress, a flowing, Empire-waist custom Valentino gown in the same hue as her dress for the Fluxus Gala, was both gorgeous and comfortable.

As she checked her makeup in the mirror and reapplied lipstick, Rachel walked into the ladies room.

“Oh, look who's here. If it isn't Mrs. Deac Roberts,” she said with saccharine in her voice.

“Actually, it's Mrs. Robert Deacon. I'm not married to the movie star. That's just some costume he puts on when he steps onto the film set. Not that you ever really understood that about him. How is it that you're here tonight? I thought you got divorced. And I know you didn't get nominated for anything.”

Rachel seethed. “I'm here with Ronin Edgars as his date, if you must know.”

Emily laughed. Of course she was. “Lucky Ronin.” She shook her head and the baby kicked. She flinched a little and put her hand on her belly. “I hear you, honey.”

“What did you say?” Rachel asked.

“I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the baby.”

Rachel scoffed, “Yes, that was quite a coup for you, to get pregnant so he'd marry you.”

Emily laughed. “Oh, Rachel. Will you never learn? I don't know why I let you convince me that he wanted you back. You're pathetic, you know that? Unlike you, I was there when this baby was conceived and when he proposed. What order that happened is really none of your business. But don't think, ever again, that you'll make me doubt him. I know better, now. I wouldn't have taken you for a hockey fan.”

“Did Liam tell you about that?”

Emily shook her head. “No. Rob did. Yes, Rachel, that's right. Liam told him the minute you walked out of his life on your own. You're lucky Liam is a good person and didn't tell me before. I'd never have believed Rob would go back to you knowing what you did to his best friend and to him. So I suggest you give up on ever stealing him from me. He loves me. He has only ever really loved me. And there is no way I will ever again think he has any interest in you. Enjoy Ronin. I'm sure he'll like you at least until his star rises.”

Rachel's mouth hung open and Emily turned on her sparkly black Louboutins without a backwards glance.

One of those (good) days...

Writers always have good days and bad. Today, I haven't written much yet on my current Work In Progress (WIP). We had dental appointments mid-morning, and so instead of writing, I finished reading Jill Shalvis' latest book, Once in a Lifetime. Then, I got involved with responding to an email from my critique partner/mentor/editor, Laurie. The thing is, when I'm involved in these activities, they seem completely irrelevant to the process, and yet, today, they were anything but.

On route to the dentist, I was thinking about another of the stories in the Ward Sisters Series and had an epiphany. Not just about my current WIP, This Year's Love, but about my writing in general. Over the course of the past year, I've grown and changed, improved my skills, yes, but also found my voice strengthening. Last month, while completing Right Here Waiting, I had a breakthrough in my editing/storytelling when I realized the 10k I'd recently written wasn't going to make it to the final manuscript. Instead of feeling frustrated, I was elated! I'd come to the same conclusion I would have after Laurie read the manuscript, but I did it on my own, before she'd ever seen the material. It was emotionally akin to my son reading his little numbers book to me earlier and saying, "I'm learning!"

The process taught me to see that not everything I write has to make it into the final manuscript, but that doesn't mean some of those details aren't important. Like I just said to Laurie, if I don't write it, I can't decide which bits make it in, which bits will be glossed over and which bits will be ignored. I'd decided I didn't think I needed to write the history of the main characters into This Year's Love the way I have in the past. But for one, that might not be the best way to approach the story. And for another, even if the reader doesn't need to know the details, I do.

When I meet a character for the first time or as a secondary character in another story, I don't know everything about them. It's no different for me than it is when I meet new friends or acquaintances. The longer I know someone, the more I learn about them, the clearer the picture in my head. My characters are no different. So, whether or not I structure This Year's Love in any way similar to the last two stories I wrote or I take a completely different approach, I still need to write their histories, separately and together. Then, when I edit, I can decide if things are necessary for the reader to know and in how much detail. Why is this so exciting to me? Because now, when I write a story, any story, I'll automatically want to learn the history of a character, even if it's only for my information, and for someone like me, that means I've streamlined my process.

It's so funny that I've come to this conclusion, because I wrote a post early in my blogging about my sophomore year English teacher, who I resented at the time, but whose assignment to do a dossier on the characters of Oliver Twist informed my writing. Now, I'm realizing that process of putting together a 'file' - in my head and, more importantly, in writing - about a character is what helps me shape the story I'm telling. And none of it is pointless, even if I don't use it. The exercise serves many purposes, some of which help me be a better writer/editor, and some of which help create the story.

So, trip to the dentist, helpful and made my teeth sparkle. Reading another author's work? Seems completely relevant, right? Well, sure. Every writer is a reader. And in this case, I love Jill Shalvis' work. But more importantly, the last book in the Lucky Harbor series, Always On My Mind, was a friends-to-lovers story. This Year's Love is also one of those stories. And in Once in a Lifetime, we catch up a little with the previous characters, post HEA (Happily Ever After). They're doing great, but it cemented my conviction that I wanted This Year's Love to be different from your typical friends-to-lovers with a HEA ending. What happens after the HEA? What if the road to becoming more than friends was easy, but the 'after' was the hard part? That's what this story will be, and I'm very glad that I took this route. I'm really excited to get back to it with a new perspective in my head. As a writer, I enjoy generating ideas. But as a reader, I want those ideas to be interesting to other readers. That's the only reason to pick up a book, right? If it will engage you in some way? And what better way to engage the readers than to tell a story that's been told, but in a new way?

Which leads me to the third activity of the day, emailing my writing guru. We talk, back and forth, about our work, writing in general, life, how our stories are progressing, how sales are going, you name it. Any one of our emails could run the gamut. And sometimes, while I'm writing to her, I end up actually writing what is a plot/character development email to myself. I did that today on This Year's Love. Score one for character development! Other times, I'm writing to her and, though I do want to share what I'm typing with her, I'm also talking to myself. I had another one of those moments today. While sharing my excitement about the epiphany I detailed above, I came to the conclusion that my 4-month window between books in the series might be more than I need, now that my writing has evolved. And that sparked an exciting idea in my head.

So, I don't want to get too excited about this prospect, because I have a long way to go to finish This Year's Love for its late-June publication, and I have no idea what might happen with that. But, as of now, I'm thrilled to reveal that I'm planning a pre-quel story for my second series, Warwick, Maine. It'll be set in my college years of the 90's. The story will be a New Adult-genre narrative and will tie into the Warwick series by introducing some of the characters who'll appear later, in their older versions. The manuscript first draft is complete - it's a story I wrote previously that will be worked into the Warwick series - so provided I don't have a hard time with This Year's Love, it's reasonable to anticipate finishing this story for publication long before the November launch of Warwick. Current plans have me hoping for a mid-May release (between books 3 and 4 of Ward Sisters), but I might push it out to July (between 4 and 4.5 of Ward Sisters) if that seems more reasonable. Stay tuned. The current story title is Closer to Fine. Unlike most of my work, it's written in first-person, so it'll be an interesting adventure to bring it to life for my readers!

Back to work! Thanks for listening to me ramble today, and I can't wait to share more stories with all of you!

New covers for Ward Sisters Series

One of the things I didn't have time to contemplate when I first published Back to December last summer was learning a new software. Between regular life stuff and the fact that I'd been editing it for 5 months, I was ready to be done and get the story out there. So, I found an image that worked for me, created a quick and dirty cover that I liked well enough, and then called it good. When it came time to create the cover for Only One, I was in a similar predicament. I wanted to make a specific sales deadline (and was insanely busy at the time) and rather than trying to reinvent the wheel for both books, I stuck with the look I'd created for Back to December (with a new image, naturally).

So, earlier, I posted the cover I made for Right Here Waiting. Unlike the last two times, I haven't been editing this book for months and I'm not within a few days of my deadline. I changed my tactic and have learned a lot from the last two books, so this manuscript is in a much better place than the last two were at this stage. Which left me more time to play with the cover, and I took advantage. I had previously played with an earlier version of GIMP, so I downloaded some more fonts and started playing this morning.

Now, lots of people say you should use professional cover designers, and if I had an unlimited budget, I'd consider that. But for one, I don't have that kind of budget. And for another, I actually enjoy doing this stuff. I mean, really, truly enjoy it. I learn software quickly and have played with photo manipulating for years. Frankly, I'm excited about what I can do with GIMP to improve my digitally-created photo books - I've made one every year for the past three years - to give them more of a scrapbooking look. And I'm not a total novice - I've done this stuff in the past here and there for a variety of reasons (jobs, volunteer work) and I took a course in document design and presentation a few years ago. It also doesn't hurt that I have a creative person for a critique partner - she's not only a writer, but a painter and a photographer - and she can give me great feedback on my covers, too.

Anyway, long story short, I here are the new covers for the Ward Sisters Series. Yes, I posted the Right Here Waiting cover earlier, but I tweaked it a little to add the series information. Now, we have a cohesive series. :) I hope you love it as much as I do!

Right Here Waiting - official cover reveal

We have a winner! After literally months of searching for the perfect cover image for Right Here Waiting, I finally found one yesterday. Spent some time creating the official cover this morning, and here it is! Meet Lieutenant Neil Murphy.

Later today, I'll be sharing the new cover images for Back to December and Only One. Now that I've found a look that I like for this book, I'm re-branding a bit for the other two books to create a consistent image. Actually, the final, printed version will probably include the series name, too. Otherwise, it'll be exactly the same. I'm very excited about this story, so I hope you're now excited, too!

Hello, Google+ and Pinterest, but...

So, I was thinking I'd dump my blog and switch over to Google+ instead, but I'm not really ready for that yet. I'd have to move all the existing blog entries, and I don't want to take the time at the moment. I'll explore other options later. For now, the blog stays as is. However, I've officially joined the Google+ circles, so if you're on Google+ or gmail, you can probably find me - same name as Facebook, Patti Korbet.

Pinterest was a fun, new addition. Check out my new Pinterest page when you have a chance. I've set up 8 boards thus far, one for each of the full-length novels planned for the Ward Sisters Series and one for the first novella, Buying the Cow. Lots of yummy pics (for the guys, too; there are female leads in all my stories, after all!) and hopefully, it'll provide some visuals for all of you. If you'd rather imagine on your own, go for it. If not, and you want to see what I see in my head (or a close approximation thereof), the images are available for your enjoyment. All the boards are public, so you don't need a Pinterest account, or to follow me on Pinterest, to see them.

As for progress on Right Here Waiting, I'm getting there! I've tried, really hard this time, to send along work to Laurie that is a lot closer to the 3rd or 4th draft version - in other words, a lot more like a finished product - than I've ever sent before. Until I sent along the first 150 pages last night, she'd only seen it in bits and pieces, and even that was occasionally. But we're getting there! And I'm loving where it's going, so I hope you all do, too.

Between Pinterest and life stuff, today was a bit of a bust in the normal working hours segment, so we'll see what I get done tonight for edits. Wish me luck!

What's next...

With Only One complete and out there for the world to judge, what's next on the horizon? It's that time of year, so let's get to the goals/plans. I like putting them out there - it holds me accountable.

One of the things I had to do for my marketing class this fall was create an action items list for the first year. I went a step further and looked at the first two years. It made me think about my writing goals, my publishing goals AND my marketing plans. I won't throw it all out here right now, but I have some upcoming goals I wanted to share.

First of all, Book #3 of the Ward Sisters Series is nearly done its first draft. My plan is to publish that on St. Patrick's Day. There are a few reasons for that - for one, lead male, Neil Murphy, is Irish. For another, that's just after the Oscars telecast and I'm planning a pre-publication promotion/giveaway to coincide with the Oscars. Anyone who has read Back to December and/or Only One will know that the Oscars play a little role in the series, at least this part of it. Oscar night is a big night for several people and my giveaway will capitalize on that. The winner of the giveaway will receive, among other things, a copy of book #3, Right Here Waiting. Lastly, St. Patrick's Day is about 4 months after the publication of Only One, and I'm aiming for about 4 months between book publications. I think it's a reasonable goal; we were about 4 months between books 1 and 2.

Further ahead, I'm anticipating that the next book will be published around the end of June, to celebrate my 40th birthday. Right now, I'm expecting Reggie and Eddie's story to be book #3.5, but if, as I complete the first draft on that or on This Year's Love it looks better as book #4.5, then so be it. In which case, Josh and Annie's story, This Year's Love, will be published at the end of June, with Buying the Cow (Reggie and Eddie) coming in the fall.

I have a second series in the works. Book 1 of that series, The Piece I Don't Need, is planned for November 2014. The series will be called Warwick, Maine, and is set in a fictional town. It has a stronger social bent and I'm hoping will be well-received. I'll start promoting that this summer.

So, those are some of the upcoming things from me. I also have a Pinterest board and a Google+ profile that will be launched in January. And you'll see more contests/giveaways as the year progresses. I'm happy you're taking this journey with me!

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

Today, I'm gearing up for NaNo, which starts tomorrow. I decided that I'm going to focus on completing Book #4 of the Ward Sisters Series, Annie and Josh's story, This Year's Love. It's about halfway to where I like to be for word count. Yes, I know I'm verbose. I like to write and then cut, so with This Year's Love at ~60k, I've still got at least 50k left. The purpose of NaNo is to just get it all out there, so my goal is to have this story 100% drafted by the end of November.

Strangely enough, though this is Book #4, I realized that I need to write it before I write Book #3.5, Buying the Cow, which is a novella about Josh's best friend, Eddie Besson. The timeline actually overlaps This Year's Love, and I know where it starts and where it ends, but I have to fill in the middle. Well, the middle will be impacted by what happens in This Year's Love, so it just makes more sense to write that now. And Book #3, Right Here Waiting, is too close to completion for NaNo.

I've been reading Kristen Lamb's Blog entries about getting ready for NaNo, and one of the things she talks about is feeding your muse. With this book, I've already written part of it, so I've done a fair bit of research. It's also part of a series, so there is connection to the other stories. And then there is my writing method, which, when I'm in the zone and writing 8-10k words each day (yes, I can do that, I really can! I type faster than I write and talk), I work best if I've got a soundtrack playing. Not in my head, literally in my ears. So, one thing I'll do today is beef up the This Year's Love playlist on Spotify. One of the things I love about using Spotify is that I can go from my desktop to my laptop and I don't have to do anything special to access the playlist. Love it. Anyway, this book hasn't been a priority, so its playlist is pretty shallow. That'll have to change.

As I said in yesterday's post, NaNo sets the writer up to average about 1,700 words/day to meet the goal. Since I have this marketing class and I'm editing Only One and I need to polish something for Pitch Wars and oh, yeah, I have kids and a husband and a job as caregiver/housekeeper/cook/CFO, I probably can't devote all my time to banging out This Year's Love in just a few short days, thus, completing NaNo in a week. Which is fine; I'm not doing this because I haven't disciplined myself to write every day. I write. Every day. Not always on any one thing, but I do it every.single.day. I have to write. It drives me nuts if I don't and the days we went camping this summer and I had to be unplugged, I wanted to tear my hair out because I couldn't sit with a cup of coffee and write first thing. I won't have trouble meeting the goal. But I'll need to be more rigid about my non-writing activities. Priorities, people.

Thus, I might be a little less present on Facebook and Twitter (I know, you're all so sad). And I'm thinking I need to examine what's on my DVR and decide what can be ditched or watched online instead. Writing, class and my family will have to take precedence over reading, TV and social networking this month. It's all good; I'm sure I won't be 100% absent from any one thing, but you have to do what it takes!

NaNoWriMo and Pitch Wars

I just officially signed up to do NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. You can do it independently (I basically did last year), but if you go to their site and sign up, you're tasked to write 50k words between November 1-30. To give you an idea of what that is, it's ~1,667 words/day. Final word count for Back to December was around 138k words, so it's actually a small volume for me. In the last year, I think I counted and just in my novels/fanfic, I wrote over 1 Million words. That doesn't include emails, blog entries, or the stuff I wrote for my class so far this semester. What can I say? I'm verbose. Or prolific. Take your pick.

During NaNo (as it's called for shorthand), there are people who can give you feedback and encouragement at their website. I'd wanted to do it before, but I guess I was afraid. Now that I have a novel out there for public consumption, it's a little late for the fear stuff. At least in my mind, it is. I'm really looking forward to interacting with other authors.

If anyone else out there is doing NaNo and wants to come along for the ride with me, let me know! My handle over there is PKorbetAuthor (same as my Twitter handle). I'm not sure if I'm going to task myself to complete one of the works I already have started or if I'm going to start something new. The only stipulation is that you have to write 50k words. I've got Book #4 in the Ward Sisters Series, This Year's Love, that still has a long, long way to go before it's done. I could probably write 50k on that. Same with Book 3.5, Buying the Cow - 50k might actually complete that book (it's at about 12k now), since it's a novella. I've got a couple days to decide. I think I'll let my muse speak to me and see what she says.

Regardless, I'm really excited about this project and another one I'm planning to undertake, Pitch Wars. My marketing class has me creating a Marketing Plan, as I've said. One of the things I had to do for the Plan was set objectives for my first two years. Then I need to come up with strategies to meet those goals. I set my goals in my most recent Plan assignment and one of them was to network with other authors. It just so happens that the timing for some of these things is perfect. What better way to do that than a writing contest or two? Pitch Wars involves submitting a manuscript to mentors - authors who have agents and who are often published or about to be. The mentor chooses an author to work with them, critiques their work and readies it for submission to agents. If I get nothing out of it other than exposure to other authors and get someone else to check out my work (and even better, encourage others to do the same), then I'll have won, even if I don't 'win'.

So, that's what I'm doing over the course of the next month. I'll be participating in NaNo and hopefully completing an official first draft of something. I'll be readying a manuscript for Pitch Wars (has to be submitted by 12/2) and then, of course, I'll be completing my final draft for Only One. Oh, and working on my marketing class, but that almost feels like part of my job as a writer, so it's all good. I'll keep you all posted!!

New Facebook Author Page

So, when I dove back into social media, specifically Facebook, I guess I did it wrong. I thought I was such a smarty pants, creating a personal page that said, 'author' on it and assuming that worked best.

Yeah, not so much.

Thing is, my writing is my 'business'. I'm learning that in great detail by taking a marketing class this semester. As part of the course, I have to create a marketing plan (might have mentioned this), and I decided to focus on my writing. For one, it's a practical use of my time; I'm learning how to best market my work. For another, it's a tangible way to learn how to do this stuff and I'll be able to see real-world results. Win-win.

As part of this plan, I have to come up with strategies to improve my exposure, etc. One of the things I noted when I was doing the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis was that my original Facebook page had 237 friends - all people I knew personally, either from high school, college, work, family or my real-world social circles. This was in the earlier days of Facebook, before everyone I knew and their brother (and every business out there) was on the social network. Now, some of my original friends have hundreds of friends of their own. I hadn't intentionally sought out many of them, in part because the word 'author' was attached to my profile. I didn't want people to think the only reason I was friending them was to promote my writing, thus, making me a spammer.

That brings us to now. I decided to create a business page for my work so that anyone interested in following my writing career can do so. I have dropped 'author' from my personal profile handle and noted my maiden name (it appears parenthetical). Now, for the most part, my 'friends' will be people I know and if anyone who is just interested in my work wants to follow me, they can LIKE my author page. Of course, I'd love for every single one of my current friends to LIKE my page. Naturally. If they spread the word, even better. But this way, I can promote my work and still stay in touch with old friends. Because I realized just how much I missed that in the time I was away.

Meanwhile, I'm still on Twitter (@PKorbetAuthor) and have author pages on Goodreads and Amazon's Author Central. In the next week, I'll migrate to Google+. It's yet another suggestion in the articles I've been reading on marketing strategies for authors, and I need to work with what I've got. I'll need to be thoughtful there - my Google info has been relatively private up until now. But if I want to make this author thing successful, I need to put myself out there. After all, that's why I jumped back into the deep end of this pool in June, right?

So, come join me at my new author page, Author Patti Korbet on Facebook. I'm excited to take things into the next phase, and I hope you'll all be along for the ride!

Back to December is LIVE!

It's official! Back to December is now LIVE on Amazon! I'm ecstatic. So, head over there and make an author feel good about herself. Tell your friends, tweet it to the world, spread the news. And I'll sit here and try not to think too hard about the fact that now my writing is no longer just for me. It's thrilling and terrifying all at the same time!

Meanwhile, I thought we were going to the beach today, but that's not happening. For one, the temps are supposed to hover around 70 - not exactly ocean weather. For another, my husband called and informed me that a whale carcass is being devoured by Great White Sharks off the coast of Boothbay. Say what? Yeah, don't think we want to give the kids a fear of the water when that's a very, very rare occurrence. Jaws wasn't real, people! But damn if that's not freaky. Aaaand now I'm reading that this isn't as unlikely as I thought. Lovely. Jawswasn'treal. Jawswasn'treal. Jawswasn'treal. If I say it three times fast, it makes it true, right?

With the beach and even the lake not in the cards (too breezy), that means I'm going to be painting. It's good painting weather. And now that the book is out there, I need to work on some other things for a bit. I want to whine and say, Do I have to? But if I'm going to get my husband to let me be a writer without the look of disdain, I need to pull my weight. And I've been skimming the surface as I made the push to get this first book published. The first time you do anything new is always the hardest. I learned so much over the past nine months. Now I can take those lessons and get the next story out there more efficiently.

I've set up an author page over at Amazon: amazon.com/author/pattikorbet (this link won't be live for a bit). And I'll have one at Goodreads soon, too. If you were already my friend on Goodreads, my page will merge with my author page so you'll automatically be friends with my author page. If not, you can find me there - my profile name has been changed to Patti Korbet (it used to just be my first name), so just look for me and friend me now. I added Back to December on Goodreads this morning.

I hope you all enjoy Back to December! Stay tuned for teasers and updates about Book 2.