Guest Blog: Six Train Q&A on Kayti's Blog

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Today, I’m over on Kayti’s blog for a Q&A. Kayti reviewed Six Train for Readers’ Favorites and gave it 5 stars.

Then she reached out to me to do an interview on her blog, KNR Writes.  I am sharing my writing schedule and revealing my writerly crushes…

http://knrwrites.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/interview-time-kourtney-hientz/

Stop by to chat!

I’m closing comments here so you can comment over there. She’s got a WordPress blog so commenting should be a breeze! 🙂

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Author Note: I’m up to 39 reviews on Amazon. When I reach 50 reviews, I’m going to reveal 3 things about Six Train’s sequel.

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Guest Blog: Four Things A Good Query Does

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I’m guest blogging over at the Third Story Writers Guild. They are a fabulous group of writers who live in the Butternut/Park Falls area of Wisconsin. They hosted me for an author talk when I visited Butternut last summer.

I’m sharing the Four Things A Good Query Does. If you’ve ever wanted to pick my brain on what I learned from 7 years of querying, stop by and ask a question. I’ll be answering them all day.

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Quick reminder:

Upcoming Author Event

If anyone in the Boston area wants to meet me, I’ll be at Arisia 2014 on January 19th at 11:30 am on a panel about fortune telling methods. I’m happy to sign books before and after.

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Blog Break Experiment

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The blog break yielded unexpected results. I read more novels. I focused more on my outline of Six Train’s sequel (it’s 60 pages and a scene by scene outline).  I worked on two workshops for January. So yay to productivity gains!

But I felt a bit out of sorts after the first week. I think the holidays threw my schedule into enough chaos. I missed blogging. I missed  hearing from you and reading about what you were up to. I felt like something was off. So I’m glad to be back in the blogosphere again!

December sales were rather sluggish which caused me to have several fits of anxiety. I’ve realized I can only promote so much and hope it generates sales.

And if sales continue to be slow, well I just have to take frugal to a new, exciting level. I’m scaling back on conferences and traveling for promotional events. I’m only doing free things for entertainment. And I’m going to lose weight to fit into my old clothes.

Six Train is my only source of income right now. I have broken even on the book creation costs. But I’m still pretty far away from breaking even on all the promo costs of last year. This is to be expected with a new business venture. I’m trying to take a long term view on the promo stuff as building my readership.

It’s just scary when you’re watching your savings dwindle and you don’t know when or if that investment will pay off.

I got a blucky sinus infection over the holidays that left me in bed for a few days. I celebrated New Years watching The Vampire Diaries with Emerson and rereading Six Train so I could make sure the sequel’s outline doesn’t have continuity issues. Weirdly, this was exactly what I wanted to do so I enjoyed my quiet New Years.

Hope yours was exactly what you wanted it to be too. 🙂

Poor Grandma H broke her collarbone when a deer decided to take on the car she was riding in over the holidays. Grandma H is stuck home healing for 8 weeks and miserable about missing her outings to the mall and the casino.

Lastly, a big thank you to my biggest commenters in 2013: Carrie Rubin, jmmcdowell, EllaDee, Pete Denton, and Cat Forsley!

Posted in Personal, Promotion, Self-publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 42 Comments

Readers Favorites + Upcoming Stuff

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This post is lots of odds and ends. Sorry about the lack of focus. Just little tidbits that I wanted to share before the year ends.

Readers’ Favorites 5 star:

Six Train received a 5 star review from Readers’ Favorites!

November sales:

My total sales for November were 45. Considering I didn’t have any events, I’m very happy with this number.

Blog Schedule for the Holidays:

I’m going to take Carrie Rubin’s advice and take a blogging break  from Dec 24-January 3.

Upcoming 2014 Author Events:

Boston, MA: If anyone in the Boston area wants to meet me, I’ll be at Arisia 2014 on January 19th at 11:30 am on a panel about fortune telling methods. I’m happy to sign books before and after.

Tucson, AZ: I will be at the Tucson Festival of Books in March signing books in the author pavilion. I just found out I was accepted last night! I’ll let you know when the time is confirmed. The festival is March 15-16 in Tucson, Arizona.

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Book Reviews: Merry Market Murder + How to Write A Novel

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Merry Market Murder

Terrific setting, lovable characters, and a great mystery all come together in this fabulous book.

This cozy mystery is the fifth installment of Paige Shelton’s Farmers’ Market Mystery series. I love returning to Monson, South Carolina and hanging out with Becca Robins. She’s a delightful protagonist and it’s like getting to spend time with an old friend. In Merry Market Murder, we meet a few new characters with ties to the market and Monson. It fun to go somewhere familiar and still discover something new.

Becca’s relationship with Sam heats up and the addition of a Christmas tree vendor at Bailey’s leads to a murder. The murderer wasn’t clear to me until the last few pages and I really liked how it all played out. It was a quick, fun read and the last 70 pages flew by!

I admire how Ms. Shelton makes the setting so vivid. After reading certain scenes, I’d swear I just walked through a pine tree farm or an apple orchard. She does a wonderful job blending the farmers’ market and the mystery while still find time to deepen the romance between Sam and Becca.

Merry Market Murder is the perfect holiday gift! I loved all the Christmas holiday stuff going on in Monson. Especially the holiday tree with all the gold fish decorations. The recipes sound scrumptious and I’m definitely going to try out the pumpkin cream pie recipe and the gingerbread biscuits.

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How to Write a Novel:

47 Rules for Writing a Stupendously Awesome Novel That You Will Love Forever

Nathan Bransford’s How to Write A Novel is one of the best writing books I’ve read. He lays out 47 steps for writing “a stupendously awesome novel that you will love forever”. It will be my writing bible going forward.

Bransford’s writing style makes you feel like he’s your mentor imparting morsels of genius over salted caramel hot chocolate at your favorite Brooklyn coffeehouse.

Right now, I’m in outlining mode. I spend the majority of my time in revision mode, so I was experiencing all the issues associated with drafting. But it felt like Bransford was there to remind me we’d been through this before and we could do it again.

There is something about Bransford’s voice that makes you trust in what he says. Maybe it’s the confidential tone or the way he breaks it down. He doesn’t just tell you what to do, he tells you how to do it. His genuine love of writing shines through and his words got lodged in my brain and sunk deeper than other writing books had.

Every single rule in this book will make you a better writer. I went highlighter crazy on my Kindle. So much brilliance to be absorbed and applied.

This book focuses on drafting but also has a really useful section on revising.

Rule #3 really resonated with me: “Find the writing style that works for you.”

The big takeaway: “There isn’t one way to write a novel. There isn’t a formula…as long as you’re getting words on the page you’re doing fine.”

Thanks Mr. Bransford! This is a book that needed to be written for first time writers and those of us a few books in.

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Book Reviews: Twelfth Sun & The Graveyard Book+Six Train Giveaway

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Ms. Clair has a knack for creating characters you enjoy hanging out with in Twelfth Sun. You find yourself giggling, laughing and groaning at their shenanigans.

Cassidy and Elijah are not just gifted with amazing names and the looks to match. They are interesting characters and their chemistry is undeniable from page one. Well except for Cassidy. She’s happy to deny it for a while. And it adds to their sexual tension.

Ms. Clair makes the setting come to life. I felt like I was on the beach in this quaint New England town. And slurping grape soda at the Soda Shack.

This fun, fast read is a nice blend of romance and treasure hunt with a dash of mystery.

The riddles of the treasure hunt were well crafted. And I wasn’t able to unlock them on my own.

The romance and the treasure hunt move along at a good pace and I kept coming back to the story, finishing the book in 3 days.

Great work Ms. Clair! I’ll definitely keep an eye out for your next book.

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Neil Gaiman is an undeniable genius. He never has to explain why or what. He tells you and you believe. Sight unseen. You follow him through ghoul gates or meet the Sleer.

Given that I tend to read lots of plot-driven books, The Graveyard Book was not my ordinary read. It feels more like vignettes from a life. The setting is the same and the cast of characters remain, but each chapter is a slice of the boy ‘s journey to adulthood.

There are many lines that are so beautiful I stopped to reread and highlight.

“His knife was in his pocket, safe and dry inside its sheath, protected from the misery of the elements.”

“You’re always you, and that don’t change, and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.”

My Kindle tells me hundreds of other readers highlighted these same lines. Probably because they resonated so much and felt like something we wanted to carry from the book and into our own lives.

Gaiman’s writing is an absolute pleasure to read. Smooth and elegant. Moving and evocative. You feel you are in the hands of a master craftsman.

I almost didn’t care where the story took me as long as he kept telling it.

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Lastly, this week I am giving away 5 free signed copies of Six Train over on Free Book Friday. Please make sure you stop by before Thursday to enter to win.

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Shop Small–Support Indie Authors

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I’ve been reading EllaDee’s posts on shopping locally and it got my mind churning. Then last Saturday was the shop small initiative where you go to local small businesses in your community and show your support by shopping there.

A lightbulb flared in my mind. It would be great to extend it to your favorite indie authors, who are all running small businesses.

I work out of my parent’s dining room, where I keep copies of my book and all the shipping stuff, and my bedroom, where I have a postal scale, my laptop and printer to create stamps for shipping.

When you buy directly from me, I earn the best royalties too. So you are making sure more money goes to the author.

From now until December 21st, I will gift wrap each signed copy of Six Train and include a holiday card with your personalized message to the recipient. You can place an order with me by following these instructions for Paypal. If you don’t use Paypal, email me at kourtney(dot)heintz(at)yahoo.com and we can work out a payment method.

If you have a favorite indie author, please check out their website and consider gifting a signed copy of their book to friends or family too.

If you are an indie author selling personalized copies of your book, please leave the title, a one sentence summary of your book, and the ordering info in the comments and I will add it to this post so people will know what authors are hand selling signed paperbacks this holiday season.

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Reblog: Carrie Rubin’s First Year as a Published Author

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I read Carrie Rubin’s post about what she learned in her first year as an author back in September and filed it away under a terrific blog to link to. She shares so many insights and tidbits that a newbie author needs to know. Hope you enjoy it!

I’ve closed comments so you can chat with Mrs. Rubin about her first year as a published author over on her blog.

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The Ultimate Six Train Book Club Experience

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This week’s book club dinner party for The Six Train to Wisconsin was a smashing success thanks to Shannan’s intricate planning.

She enlisted an Austrian friend to help prepare Wiener Schnitzel and Wiener Apfelstrudel. Shannan made Butternut soup too! Perfect foods to accompany Six Train.

She hosted a lovely dinner.

I FaceTimed in for the post-dinner and pre-dessert book discussion. It was so fun to talk about how my trip to Austria in 2009 inspired the food in the book and swayed Oliver’s heritage from German to Austrian.

The ladies had terrific questions and it was a blast to chat about my characters and my story with readers who enjoyed it. They really wanted to dig into the how and why of the story. And I loved every second of it.

Their suggestion of Amanda Seyfried to play Kai in the movie was brilliant. I still haven’t found an actor who screams Oliver to me. But for Mickey I always picture Katie McGrath. And Alexander Skarsgard immediately jumps to mind for Alex.

I sent Shannan some party favors–signed bookmarks, swag bags, and a set of color photos from the book. Just little touches to let her know how much I appreciated her book club picking my book and inviting me to join in their discussion.

I was so excited when the call ended that I was up 3 more hours smiling and wishing I could do it all over again.

Many many thanks to Shannan for hosting such a lovely night!

Posted in author appearance, Promotion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments