LYNNSPLANET

Pajama Party

2012-01-16T11:38:00.000-06:00

This is a small part of my TNBC Team. We had a wonderful time. Lots of laughs. We ate and watched Mama Mia then the hair cutting began. My boys had their hair cut earlier in the day, but the pink ribbons were a surprise - a nice one. One is off, but it's going to be fixed.

Kau is in most pictures, he's definitely someone who belongs on the team. He makes me laugh and feel special. You'd think he was my doggie instead of my granddoggie.

Granddoggie doesn't know it yet, but he's going to have a human sibling in September. I'm so excited. I'm going to be a grandma!

Hugs,

Bekki

Taking a Hiatus

2011-11-23T18:32:00.000-06:00

I'm taking time off from writing and work as I recover from breast cancer surgery. Do the fact that I have Triple Negative Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma along with a heavy family history of breast cancer and other types, I'm having a double masectomy Friday afternoon.

If you want to know more about Triple Negative, visit the Triple Negative Breast Cancer website. Breast cancer in itself is hard enough to deal with but having Triple Negative is bit more daunting.

Have a fantastic Holiday Season!

Bekki

Surgery Date Been Set

2011-11-04T19:06:00.001-05:00

I feel calmer now. Yeah, maybe it's because I'm on Ativan now, but it's really because I have a surgery date. It's far enough away that I feel like I can get the fall cleaning done and house decorated for the holidays. I'm thrilled about that. I love the holidays. Yes, I still worry about the growth and spread, but...

For those who didn't catch the last post, I have Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma - common and fast growing. I'm obsessive about checking myself, so one week it wasn't there and the next it was. My last annual mammogram was March 2011 and it showed nothing which has everyone baffled. The breast tumor is 2.5cm and lymph node tumor is 3.9cm.

I had an MRI done on Monday and it showed possibly more cancer in the same breast, but cancer free in the left. The surgeon opted not to do an MRI biopsy much to my relief.

Due to my family history, I qualify for a double masectomy and that's what I wanted anyway.

Before I can have surgery, I have to have a genetics test which will determine whether or not the lymph nodes of my left breast will be left behind.

I also have to have a Pet Scan. This test must come up with no further indication of cancer. If it doesn't cooperate, then surgery has to be put off and chemo will begin. What this means is that they will not be able to accurately stage me or know how many lymph nodes are involved as the chemo will kill off evidence. I prefer the accurate diagnoses. I have this test as well as other pre-op testing on Novembe 17.

I'm so fortunate that everything, except the meetings today were able to be done on my normal days off.

My surgery date is December 14. I'll be taking eight weeks off work. Which also means I'll be taking time off from the writing world for at least a month. I'm having a radical masectomy on the right and a simple masectomy on the right, unless the genetics test comes out positive then it'll be two radicals. I'll have to work at getting my arm strength back.

If you'd all like to pray for me, I'd like you to also pray for my cousins. Bev was diagnosed with breast cancer October 6. She is having surgery November 28. She opted for reconstruction. She's 40. I've also another cousin, Susan, who has been battling breast cancer for two years. She was first diagnosed at the age of 49. She's had surgery and treatment, but her mom says they don't know if they got it all. She's still undergoing treatment.

Have a great Holiday Season!

I plan on it.

Bekki

My story and sticking to it - lol

2011-10-30T23:30:00.003-05:00

Six days ago I was told I have breast cancer.

I know I already knew I had cancer, but hearing someone tell you that you do puts a whole other light on it. It makes it official.

It was suggested I start a blog and let others follow my journey and let others share their stories and we could support one another. I'm not going to do that. It's not me. I'm not a terribly social person and I definitely have a different view on things. I will post this message and possibly a couple of updates, maybe pics.

This is my story so far.

There we were sitting around this table in a small room, the doctor and a nurse along with my husband. The doctor, a pathologist, is talking to me about what I can't recall right now, then she blurts out in this quiet voice that suddenly sounded distant. "You have cancer." I honestly felt like my head spun around and did a double take, but I think I started to look at my husband, then didn't. He didn't touch me, didn't say anything. The doctor went on and on and all I wanted to do was to go for a walk. She apologized for not giving me better news, then left the room. That's when the tears came.

As an after thought, I think they'd already told my husband prior to my arrival. He'd come out from their area after I checked and they called back to let the nurse know I'd arrived. The fact that he waited for me to reach out for him leads me to believe he was instructed to hold back. For that I'm thankful, I probably would have shrugged him off and shot him unintentional daggers. That would have hurt him and that's the last thing I want to do.

And yes, they can tell my husband without me - I gave permission for them to give any and all information to him and our sons as well my mother-in-law. All of my doctor offices have this on file. And because he's over there working on equipment all the time, they know him and like him.

Once the doctor left, the nurse moved to her chair with this thick folder and a manual. I don't know why, but she made be feel crowded. She started going through the information in the folder and then the manual. All the while, I'm thinking she's crazy. This woman is sitting here telling me all about various things I'll have questions about and support groups -- I wasn't going to remember anything she said. Nor did I care to hear about support groups.

And guess what, I had no questions then and have none now. I read through the manual a couple nights later all because after hours of not being able to sleep but for minutes at a time. I gave up. Anyway, I ended up throwing the book. Overwhelmed, not so much. I have a strong family history of cancer and I've had lots of conversations with my mother-in-law. A lot of people have died from cancer on my husband's adopted dad's side of the family. I think it more of too much information at once. The reconstruction chapter is what got to me. Too many choices with not one better than the other. Especially when you're sleep deprieved. I told my husband to read it later, because I wasn't making these decisions alone. However, I found I already had made the decision and he's on board all the way.

After a few nights of this not being able to sleep more than ten or fifteen minutes at a time, I bought sleeping pills. I take half a dose and sleep two hours at a time now. A full dose doesn't wear off until the next afternoon and that doesn't fly when I have to be to work at 9 or 10:30 in the morning.

Working hasn't been a picnic this week. The biopsies did a number on me. The swelling still hasn't completely gone away. The bruising is going away, but it's the soreness that is made worse by all the movement involved in my job. I come home and swallow more Tylenol and hug an ice pack. At night, I can only sleep on one side with a hand pressing in on the poor abused breast. Oh, the joy. I do it with the help of a little blue pill.

I've no desire to spend next Friday with the surgeon, plastic surgeon and other members of the team and listen to options I'm not remotely interested in. I'm losing six hours of work that day - that's $50, because I'd be on production instead of serving. I simply want them to stop pussy-footin' aorund and just do the surgery. I'm not comfortable being left in limbo while my cancer could be spreading. I have Infiltrating/Invasive Ductal Carcinoma - a common, but fast growing cancer. And the fact the doctor told us that time was of the essence sticks in my crawl. I want to scream 'then do the damn surgery and get it over with.'

No one really cares what I want. That angers me. It's already been a month since I found the lump.

Yes, I found the lump. One week it wasn't there, the next week it was. I'm obessive about checking myself with my family history. I know the size, the shape and the texture of it. It's large. At first, I thought maybe it was the result of being elbowed although I'd been elbowed many times and never got so much as a bruise much less a lump. So, I was going to wait until I saw my primary to have it checked out - my appointment was just two weeks away. I figure it would give me time to tell my husband. I was chicken. I didn't want to add on another set of medical bills, because we just paid off the last set. I had a couple of scares back the end of Feb. and first part of March. But mostly, I didn't want my husband to feel like he had to cancel his plans for this hunting season. It's the highlight of his year, every year. And it fills our freezer for a year.

A week passed and I knew I couldn't wait. The thought of my doctor yelling at me for doing so didn't sit well. And I was litterally running into the lump with my arm and had some swelling in my pit area. So, I broke down and called my GYN office and they got me in the same morning. Instead of my doctor doing her job I was pawned off [yet again] onto a nurse-midwife. When I was told this, I worried. Would she even be qualified to handle this kind of case? She came in all bubbly and full of life -- I liked that. She asked two totally stupid questions, then checked the lump. "I'm pretty sure it's just a cyst, it's soft, round, smooth and pliable - it moves, but we'll schedule a mammomgram just to make sure." I'm thinking, "what the hell did she just feel to come up with that description?" The lump is not soft, it's not pliable, and it does not move. Most of all it's not round and smooth, it's hard, long and has bumps and ridges. As she's walking out the door, she adds, "I'll go ahead and order a sonogram just in case they want to do one." Ya think?

I really hate my GYN office, but no one is taking new patients and I had a long wait to get into this one.

I leave thankful at least someone else will be looking at it.

Still, knowing what I did, I hoped it was just a cyst.

The next evening, after I had the appointment for the mammogram on my calendar, I told my husband. He was very supportive and comfortable with the idea that a nurse said it was a cyst. On the following Monday, he met me at the Cancer Treatment Center just down the road from where he works. He told me he was there earlier working on a printer and he told the head of the department he'd be back with me. So, they discussed my case and she brought up my file. She promised I'd have the best care. So when the tech assigned to me came out, he knew her and she promised not to hurt me.

I was upbeat. There was no time wasted. She did the pics - no pain like she promised my husband. The tech who did my annual back in March was horrid. However, the doctor wanted one more pic. The view he asked for meant she had to squish the lump and as much of the lymph nodes as she could get while I stood with my side facing the plates.I nearly passed out from the pain, but since the doctor made her do it, my husband didn't hold it against her.

I saw the pics for the first time just before the doctor came in to do the sonogram. A large dark stormy mass. Totally different than what they looked at with the other breast last March. He spent a while looking at it and my lymph nodes via the sonogram When I was allowed to sit up, I saw the pics he took and worry on his face when I looked at him. The only thing he admitted to at that point was that the lump was solid and he was concerned about the lymph node. He ordered biopsies on both. I had to wait a week, because they were trying to stick to my days off. I wasn't ready to tell me boss.

We went in for the biopsies. My husband met with the doctor beforehand, I didn't know this until afterward. Once I was taken back, the department head took him back to see her. I had another doctor doing these tests. I was scheduled to get the results by phone the next afternoon, but the doctor said no - she had to see me. The panic in her voice set off alarms in my head. She expressed her concern over the lymph node, however those results wouldn't be in until later in the week.

I don't know why they can't be straight forward with you. That frustrates me and makes me angry. Obviously, both of these doctors had enough experience to know they were looking at cancer.

I spent the day, trying to talk myself into being told it was just a cyst and they would remove it and I'd only miss a week of work while I stained wood with my left hand. That I could handle. The following day on the drive in - cancer kept flashing through my mind, but I kept chasing it away by telling myself that they were going to tell me it was just a cyst.

Being positive didn't help and giving myself pep talks didn't help. I hate it when the gut is right and I don't want it to be.

I remember most of what she told me after she broke the news to me. I should have had genetic testing long ago with my family history. I have a good chance for ovarian cancer. I'm a candidate for a double masectomy. All of this will be discussed with the surgeon and a whole team of people I meet with on November 4th. I was assigned to one of the two top breast surgeons in the area.

I was numb, stunned and all that when I had to face the reality of it. I cried, my husband cried when I finally reached for him.

People told me to be angry at the cancer not my family and friends. I'm thinking, what kind of planet did you people come from. I'm not angry at the cancer, I'm not angry at anyone or anything.

Everyone has a chance for cancer if they have the right trigger. Some of us have more of a push by genetics I knew at some point I would have breast cancer. There's no avoiding it. My dad's side of the family is full of breast cancer and other types. Yesterday, I was talking to one of my aunts - the only one who hasn't been stricken yet. She's had three lumps removed which caused my dad to think she had cancer. Two years ago her youngest daughter was diagnosed with it and just recently another cousin was as well.

I did feel betrayed by all the websites I looked at. They all said the most important thing is 'don't panic', the second thing 'get checked out' - 4 out of 5 lumps are just a cyst of some kind and 85% are benign. Not a single site prepares you for the possibility of you being that 5th that isn't a cyst or that 15% that isn't benign.

I don't know how others feel, but having survival stories thrown at you does not help. Oh, so and so went through and they are doing great. Yeah, I know people who went through it and are doing fine, too. But did they have the family history I do? No. The fact my doctors are floored by my family history and the concerns they're expressing over it is enough to cause anyone to worry. Reoccurances of the cancer is high in my family and people die from it.

I was upset about this happening during the holidays - I don't want to ruin it for the kids. I've told my husband that it doesn't matter when they schedule the surgery, he's not to change his plans. If he's not here, so what. I have other people. He's leaving for South Dakota November 11th for a week.

I'm not happy about the idea of losing my hair, but I've figured out a way to deal with that. I told the kids they could do artwork on my baldness after I go to a former place of employment and let my friends autograph it.

I'm not normal and I know it and don't care. I don't worry about not having boobs - I celebrate it. I hate wearing bras period. I will not have rescontructive surgery and I will not wear fake ones nor will I wear a wig.

They say the sooner your husband sees your scar the better. I'm not one of those who worries about how I'll look with no boobs, he's not one who cares either. I actually cracked myself up yesterday while I was making a pizza delivery. I could have my sister-in-law tattoo nipples on me and do a flower garden around the scars. I told my husband and he loves the idea.

I had pain before the biopsies and I have more pain now. That makes me testy. I don't do pain well, but I don't complain and whine about it either.

Oh, I didn't mention the results of the lymph node biopsy - the nurse called me the next day to tell me the cancer has spread to the lymph node they tested. So we know I'm at least stage 2. I have to wait for surgery to find out more.

Tomorrow, I go in to see my primary. I had to reschedule my appointment I had with him due the mammogram and sonogram testing. I'm his first patient of the day. Not a way to start the week for him. I had all the information sent to him in addition to my GYN. Since I see him on a regular basis and he's downstairs from the treatment center, he's being brought in as part of the team. I was hoping to walk in and give him good news - I made it through three weddings, I've lost a few pounds and my blood pressure is down. Ha! I can still tell him I survived the weddings without his help and well, the weight loss will be for not. I'm told I'll gain weight during chemo. As for my blood pressure, well, it's doubtful it's down now. We shall see. He's really been watching me for depression. I was depressed and he was leaving it up to me about whether or not I go on meds. I was depressed because I was only working one day a week and home the rest. I can't sit at home. I need to be working. I just went back to work full time back in August.

Although my boss says to take all the time I need to heal, the job will still be mine and the management position I'm being trained for will still be mine. I don't know how long I'll be out yet. The law is not on my side due the fact that I've not been there a year. It's going to hard for him not to hire someone to work days in my place. He can't afford to always pull someone off nights to cover days every day. I know this and understand this. So, this has been a worry.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have a breast MRI scheduled. I'll get the results from it on Tuesday. They said quite possibly they'll do more testing before Friday.

Over all, I'm in great spirits, as long as I get some sleep. I'm scared, but that's normal. I'll feel better once they do the pre-op tests on my liver, lungs, bones and brain and tell me there's no sign of cancer there.

How all this will affect my writing, I don't know. Right now, the very idea of getting back to the Christmas story was I was working seems unimportant. That's not to say in a week I won't get back at it. I could just need time to absorb all the stuff I'll be put through.

I do know my sissy will be with me most of the time. She's been awesome. Technically, she's not my sister, but just because we're not blood doesn't make her any less my sister.

This is my life right now.

Bekki

Shadow Love - A Ghost Hunter Romance

2011-10-03T18:20:00.001-05:00

What a fun short story to write!

When I volunteered to write a strange story for an anthology, I had no clue what I was going to do. I sat down and played around with a couple of ideas and Shadow Love evolved from those. And maybe the fact that at the time I was watching Ghost Hunter shows on television, so that probably gave the story a boost in the making.

I still may work one of the initial ideas into something, who knows. I like ghosts and believe in them.

I hope you'll check out the story. If I had to pick a secondary character who deserved honorary mention, Zack would be it. I think he gave the story life.

Blurb:

Carla Kingston claimed to have been accosted by a ghost when she was seventeen years old. In confidence, she told her best friend, who dropped her like hot coals. Ten years later, Bobby Whitten returns with a change of heart, but can he handle watching her enjoy being made love to by a shadow of a person who was murdered more than a hundred years ago?

Small Excerpt:

“Maybe. Zack, I have a strange feel about what's to come.”

“I told you, it’s the two of you together that is stirring them up,” Zack told her.

“You’re being redundant.”

“Stop sucking face and things will quiet.”

“Ha, ha.”

“What?” Bobby asked.

“Zack says they’re jealous and trying to get my attention, so we need to stop sucking face.” His eyes narrowed, and she found it amusing to watch him look around the place. “He can’t see us.” She tapped the headset. “Hearing.”

“Oh,” he said before a grin crept across his face.

“Zack, while the troops feel they need to gather, I’m going in to do some fishing.”

“Not a good idea. Too many.”

“I’ll be fine. They love me, you said so yourself.”

“Right now, it may not be unanimous if you get my drift.”

“Yeah, I get it.” It would definitely be worth it if her infatuated ghost was jealous enough to take things to a new level.

“I think it’d be interesting to take Bobby in the house with you and see what happens.”

She laughed. “You’re ornery.”

“Well, go have fun. I’ve got your back.”

“Appreciated. Switching to wireless.” She set the headset down and turned it off. “Remember what I said. Don’t interfere,” she reminded Bobby while putting on a wireless headset and attached the battery pack to the back of her jeans.

“What’re you doing?”

“My job. You can watch and listen, but you won’t be able to talk to me. Nor will I be able to hear you.” Flipping on the speaker nestled between the monitors near a receiver, she informed him, “Only Zack will be able to talk to me.” Carla pulled a jacket on, grabbed her kit, put the file of photos in it and turned at the door. “I’ll be back,” she said in the gruffest tone she could manage. He didn’t smile. She walked up to him and kissed him. “Relax.”

Carla left and crossed the street to enter the property. Her heart pounded against her chest cavity. She latched the gate behind her, took out her handheld thermal meter along with the K2 meter, turned them on and went up the walk to the porch steps and up to the front door. She shivered when she entered a cold spot. “I’ve entered coldness, fifty-one degrees.”

“Daybreak temps been steady at fifty-seven.”

“No visuals, but you,” Bobby added.

She pulled the keys from her pocket. “Going in.”

Available at Smashwords and Amazon

I'm hoping by Halloween, the story will be up at other venues.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Men! Love Them Anyway.

2011-10-02T15:34:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder if I talk just to irritate myself.

We've had a beautiful weekend, perfect for working outside and getting things ready for winter. I've had to work all weekend - I'm on break right now. I came home to an empty house. Normally, I'd bask and maybe...well, I won't say. Instead, someone cooked and didn't clean up after themselves.

I spoke at length with my husband about what needed done this weekend, on Friday before I went to work. Two tasks - that's all I put on him and what did he do on Saturday? He went squirrel hunting, but he was home by noon. I know this, because I had to make a delivery in the neighborhood. Where was he when I came home some three or four hours later - napping in his recliner with the remote in his hand. Where is he today? He left for church before I went to work. Now, he's at Bass Pro Shop with a friend. They headed there right after church.

What was so monumental he couldn't bring himself to do what I asked of him? Dig a narrow hole about eighteen inches down, stick a pole in it and pour concrete around it. Oh, and mount my squirrel feeder to it that he made me months ago. I even bought a post hole digger.

And then, I had the gull to ask that he clean out the yard tool shed so things could be rearranged to include the camping/metal detecting/hunting gear until we get a hobby shed.

All I asked of Jesse was to clean off the patio - there's stuff that either goes out for trash pickup or to the dump. Some of the stuff is his. What he did on Saturday, I have no idea. Where he's at right now? He's at the orchard with his wife and friends.

An hours worth of work between them.

Jeff on the other hand, jumped on his task. It was to weed the rose beds. He did a fantastic job and was rewarded for it. He always does an awesome job with them. Now, I get to cut the roses back for the winter and cover them as soon as leaves fall.

I'm off tomorrow, I have my own chore list. At least when I do other people's work at work, I get thanked for it.

Now, in walks hubby with a big boyish grin on his cute and loveable face. OMG! He and the boys know how to get around me. It's not fair. He goes, "guess what I bought?" I could see the box behind his back, so I knew it wasn't the big cuddly sweater I drooled on a couple of weeks ago. It was the clock I was going to buy him for Christmas. Not just a clock - a pheasant clock. It's gorgeous!

In all fairness, he did do a task I've been wanting done, but wasn't on the agenda this weekend. It was on his agenda. That was to replace the front screen door. He was mowing and something flew and broke the glass. He did that Friday while I was at work, although the hardware didn't get put on until he returned from hunting on Saturday.

Men! Can't help but love them in spite of themselves.

Well, almost time to head back to work.

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

It's Officially the Holiday Season

2011-09-26T20:30:00.001-05:00

I love this time of year. All sort of cute fall decor is put out and Christmas decorations are hitting the floor.

Yesterday, we were at our favorite orchard and while I resisted many many items this trip, I did not try to resist my little acorn people with their very special friend.

My husband says the one squirrel is larger, because he ate the cookies.

I think they are the cutest!

This monring I ran out of cookies for my squirrels, so I ran to the dollar store. I wanted to replace some bowls anyway. Well, I can't pass an isle filled with Christmas stuff if you paid me, to. I bought my first ornaments of the year - I have a thing for snowmen. So, I nabbed a sitter snowman and a Santa, another snowman and a cute Santa.

Aren't they a great start to the season?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

They Came in Threes

2011-09-15T22:17:00.000-05:00

I'm so glad Christmas is coming, because I haven't had enough excitement. LMBO.

Today, we added another daughter to our family. Hurray!

In the last four months, we've had our three older sons marry their soulmates. How awesome is that?

Jon and Dawn - September 15, 2011

Jarrod and April - September 3, 2011 Jesse and Kara - June 17, 2011

It's been a great time!

Bekki

Reviewfest at Lindsay's Romantics

2011-09-12T21:19:00.000-05:00

My friend, Lindsay, is having a reviewfest this week. Check out Lindsay's Romantics and see who is coming out with their reviews.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Budget Priced

2011-08-23T22:30:00.001-05:00

New Lower Prices

SONY AMAZON SMASHWORDS BARNES & NOBLE

.99 Absentee Love Returns - Gail Green's world is turned upside down when an alleged mobster gives her an ultimatum; lose her newborn son or follow orders. The choice she chooses puts both of them in danger she had never believed possible. When they are kidnapped, she has no idea which of the Galletti’s enemies is behind it, if any. That is until Rico Galletti turns up with a wild story of working with a covert organization that works in conjunction with military field operations. Before she can comprehend the whole sordid story, he's shot. [mainstream/contemporary, non-erotic]

.99 Cornflower - Max and Erin escape to their cabin for a weekend of fun and games. While in the midst of heated passion, a rope slips and she's injured. Max insists they take a break, but when games resume, the out of control fire within her disallows her to use the safe word. When he sees the pain etched in her face, off comes mask, the restraints and slave jewelry. Will they be able to get past the betrayal of trust? [BDSM]

.99 Jackie’s Boys - Jackie's used to the antics of her husband, Lenny, and his twin brother, Randy, but this time they decided to include her in their latest bet. She had forty-eight hours to figure out which one of them she was married to. However, she decides to turn the game around on them by following through on a long-time fantasy to have both brothers at the same time. [menage a trios]

.99 Annie and the Young Master - Banished from her home, Lillian Basford picked herself up and set out to start a new life. When Samuel Wadkins came along and gave her a real-life taste of what her dreams with him had teased her with, she became torn between her life as it was and what it’d now become. [erotic historical]

2.99 Jewel of Sun's BLOOD DESTINY – Cassandra Jones' nights become filled with realistic exploits of passion with a man she's barely met. It all began the night she dumped her two-timing fiancée and Elan Takoda accused her of a federal offense when she had open a package of peridot gems intended for him. Months later, miserable, and clueless as to how to stop fantasies, she went along with a plan he had to free them both. When it didn't work, what she then learned would bring her both uncertainty and sorrow.

Elan Takoda recognized his grandfather's hand when he began to envision himself with the granddaughter of his friend. He searched for an end to nightly hours of scorching sex, because he wanted no woman in his life. A shaman told him he must spend a night with her and part when morning came to break the ritual. When the opportunity landed in his lap, he convinced her it was the only way to free them. That is, until they learned the rest of the story. [erotic paranormal]

Enjoy!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

It's That Time of Year Again. My Happy Birthday Gift to You.

2011-08-12T00:11:00.002-05:00

It's my birthday, so leave a comment, today only, if you'd like to have one of my books in .pdf format. Leave your email and which book you'd like.

Absentee Love Returns - Gail Green's world is turned upside down when an alleged mobster gives her an ultimatum; lose her newborn son or follow orders. The choice she chooses puts both of them in danger she had never believed possible. When they are kidnapped, she has no idea which of the Galletti’s enemies is behind it, if any. That is until Rico Galletti turns up with a wild story of working with a covert organization that works in conjunction with military field operations. Before she can comprehend the whole sordid story, he's shot. [mainstream/contemporary, non-erotic]

Cornflower, - Max and Erin escape to their cabin for a weekend of fun and games. While in the midst of heated passion, a rope slips and she's injured. Max insists they take a break, but when games resume, the out of control fire within her disallows her to use the safe word. When he sees the pain etched in her face, off comes mask, the restraints and slave jewelry. Will they be able to get past the betrayal of trust? [BDSM]

Jackie’s Boys - Jackie's used to the antics of her husband, Lenny, and his twin brother, Randy, but this time they decided to include her in their latest bet. She had forty-eight hours to figure out which one of them she was married to. However, she decides to turn the game around on them by following through on a long-time fantasy to have both brothers at the same time.[menage a trios]

Annie and the Young Master - Banished from her home, Lillian Basford picked herself up and set out to start a new life. When Samuel Wadkins came along and gave her a real-life taste of what her dreams with him had teased her with, she became torn between her life as it was and what it’d now become. [erotic historical]

Jewel of Sun's BLOOD DESTINY – Cassandra Jones' nights become filled with realistic exploits of passion with a man she's barely met. It all began the night she dumped her two-timing fiancée and Elan Takoda accused her of a federal offense when she had open a package of peridot gems intended for him. Months later, miserable, and clueless as to how to stop fantasies, she went along with a plan he had to free them both. When it didn't work, what she then learned would bring her both uncertainty and sorrow.

Enjoy!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

New Cover for Jewel - Is it hot enough?

2011-08-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

Word is the covers I've had up for Jewel of the Sun's Blood Destiny isn't hot enough. And despite what many say about reviews being a selling point for your books, the awesome ones this book has received isn't convincing the browsers to purchase.

For me the cover has been a hard one since day one. It not easy to find hot Native American photos to reflect the hero. I'm also not all that crazy to have nudity on my covers no matter how hot the story is. I'm not selling porn, I'm selling romance.

The other aspect is the genre. It's paranormal and compared to the current trend I'd call it a sweet or tame paranormal in the respect the story has no vampires or shapeshifters. It has ghostly apparitions, visions, and so forth. It also has a tad bit of a sci-fi influence. And the story centers around the gem, peridot.

So, with this in mind, a couple days ago, I went looking around at photos in hopes newer Native American photos had been added to the various sites I purchase from. There was a couple, but he was with a woman who wasn't a blond. And they are posed in such a way that cutting one or the other out will not work. Figures, right?

If you do your own covers, then you know it's not always a picnic to find the right photo. My husband looks at my covers and thinks I simply put a single photo up and slap the title as well as my name on it and wa-la. He has no idea that I use two and three different photos to put the covers together. I guess that's a good thing.

Anyways, Tuesday, I was thinking about some of the suggestions I'd received and well, I went in search of naked photos. This wasn't a new idea, but back then there wasn't any of a couple who could pass off as a Native American with a fair skinned blond. And more specificially an Apache. I must have gone through thousands of photos before one clicked. I took it and messed around with different overlay photos and different ranges of opacity.

My daughter-in-law was on her computer over on the loveseat and she probably thought I'd lost my mind. I sat here mumbling and cursing.

I must have put together four or five covers and rejected them all. They lacked that something-something. So, I decided to wait until my son came over, he has an awesome mind and eye when it comes to things like this. However, I became impatient waiting on him. I went back at it, scraping the overlay photos I was trying to use. I went back to the camera lens, but knew the one I had used on the second cover wouldn't work and nor did the others I had stored in my files. I went searching and grabbed like four more. It took a good two hours before I found the right camera lens, but it still lacked that special look.

Something clicked and I couldn't even tell you what caused it. I don't mess around with paint fills or brushes much, but I picked up the paint fill and started playing with it on different areas of the lens photo. I redid it at least three times before I got that 'oh, yeah' feeling. Then I clicked it one more time and you know when you get that satisfied high feeling and you know something is perfection - I got that.

I won't bore you with the font and size details, but I must have changed them four or five times before I was happy with it as well.

So, what do you think? Does it clue in the reader that it's a hot story with something more going on?

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

Rambling, Life is Good

2011-08-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Well, my garage isn't finished, my patio is still cluttered and so is my house. I ran out of room in my book shed so I must clean out the yard tool shed and move the camping and hunting gear over to it. I just haven't informed my husband of this. It's either that or buy a new shed - which isn't a bad idea now that I think about it. Maybe next year.

But alas, I have a new job which is awesome. I don't know how retirees do it with so much time on their hands. I was going insane. So, in between work, writing and sleep, I need to finish my spring tasks.

I really need cloned.

Over the next couple of months, my calendar is busy. I love it! Jeff goes back to school in two weeks, I have a baby shower, bridal shower, Jarrod's wedding, and my husband's 35th class reunion. And upteen birthdays, one of which is mine. Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that among all this stuff, my husband and I will be celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary and Jeff will turn 18. Fun stuff!

I found the perfect mother of the groom's dress last weekend. The color is called eggplant otherwise known as purple, plum, and David's Bridal calls it Lapis.. They can't keep it simple can they? It was on sale and the cashier had a coupon she added to it. We saved $50. Awesome!

And did I mention that Christmas is 145 days away. Yeppers, putting on my Santa hat and making my list so I can keep an eye out for good deals. I'm excited. It's my favorite time of year.

I'm off to read some books I picked up during the Summer/Winter sale at Smashwords last month. Wasn't that an awesome sale? Did you pick any up?

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

Kicking off Christmas in July

2011-07-08T10:26:00.000-05:00

Come on by Happily Ever After and cool off with a white Christmas.

We're starting off with a contest from Rebecca Vickery of Victory Tales Press.

Bekki

Summer/Winter Book Sale 50% Off

2011-07-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

For the month of July, Smashwords is running a Summer/Winter book sale. Use code SSW50

Cornflower - [NEW RELEASE] - Max and Erin escape to their cabin for a weekend of fun and games. While in the midst of she's injured. Max insists they take a break, but when games resume, the out of control fire within her disallows her to use the safe word. When he sees the tears, off comes mask, the restraints and slave jewelry. Will they be able to get past the betrayal of trust? [BDSM] reg price 1.99 sale price .99

Absentee Love Returns - Gail Green's world is turned upside down when an alleged mobster gives her an ultimatum, lose her newborn son or follow orders. When they are kidnapped, she has no idea which of the Galletti’s enemies is behind it. [contemporary] reg. price .99 sale price free

Annie and the Young Master - Banished from her home, Lillian Basford picked herself up and set out to start a new life. When Samuel Wadkins came along and gave her a real-life taste of what her dreams with him had teased her with, she became torn between her life as it was and what it’d now become. [spicy historical] reg. price 1.99 sale price .99

Jackie's Boys - Jackie's used to the antics of her husband, Lenny, and his twin brother, Randy, but this time they decided to include her in their latest bet. She had forty-eight hours to figure out which one of them she was married to. However, she decides to turn the game around on them by following through on a long-time fantasy to have both brothers at the same time. [menage a trios] reg. price 1.99 sale price .99

Jewel of the Sun's Blood Destiny - Elan Takoda convinces Cassandra Jones that one night, living the vision they’d both had would rid them of the erotic realism of dreams. But does it? [erotic paranormal]
reg. price 3.99 sale price 2.00

LOVE, Stalker of the Heart - poetry collection - Unrequited love is a timeless expression of soulful love. In this collection of 43 poems, I've written variations of emotions drawn from witnessing the drama. reg. price 1.99 sale price .99

Happy Reading!

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Invitation to check out Absentee Love Returns

2011-06-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

As an erotic author, I tried to force eroticism on this story. It went against my belief in letting the characters determine what their story is. So, I've revised it allowing for them to have their way. I like to refer to it as a mainstream, but Amazon and Smashwords do not give you this option. It's contemporary. I'm pleased I had the opportunity to right things and give it a good edit while I was at it. I hope you'll give it a try.

Ready to fight, she found Rico on the front porch and walked up to him, poking his chest. “You had us brought here!” she said with her voice raised a hair below yelling. “Do you know how frightened I was? How I feared we were a pawn in a war between your father and one of his adversaries?” She backed him up against the wall of the building. “How is what you’ve done different than him?”

“Kitten, if you’d—”

“No! Men came here with guns last night. They could have killed my son.”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Gail,—”

“No! Too late. Answers should have come months ago.”

“I couldn’t.”

“That’s crap!” She poked him harder.

Rico grabbed her head and planted his mouth on hers, ignoring her struggle to get away. She didn’t want to taste him, to let him melt her anger and bring back the heat. But he made her succumb all too easily. She slipped her hands up his chest and wound her arms around his neck, letting him bring their bodies closer.

He lifted her into his arms, mumbling, “Harriet, keep an ear for my son. We have talkin’ to do.” He took her down to the beach and planted her on a rock amongst bamboo and palm trees.

“Don’t think you can waltz in here and the last twelve months disappears.”

“I don’t.” He hung his head for several seconds, and then looked up at her, fatigue lacing his eyes.
“Had I known, I could have done something.”

“Would it have really mattered? Or would it have been the fact that your father staked claim over something of yours?”

He raked his fingers through his hair as he turned toward the ocean, but not before she saw the flash of pain. Once, she thought she understood him and as much of the rift between him and his father as he’d told her, but she didn’t know him as well as she thought. And no longer wanted to, she had a life to return to and a son to raise.

“Rico, I’m returning home and to my job; and give Enrico a normal life.”

The End

Available for .99 at Smashwords, Amazon, and Kobo. Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Diesel haven't updated the page yet so it still carries the raunchy version at the old price of 1.99.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

A Growing Interest in Self-Published Books

2011-06-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

From the Smashwords Blog

Last month we celebrated our three year anniversary.

I thought it would be fun to share some traffic data in the form of a picture that tells 2.2 billion words.

At left is a chart showing weekly traffic to the Smashwords.com web site since May 2008.

If you look carefully (click to expand the image), you'll see it's tough to discern the blips for most of 2008. Those were the early days when we were little more than a curiosity.

Back in 2008, self-publishing didn't command much respect. It was seen as the publishing option of last resort for failed authors. It wasn't uncommon back then for me to receive emails from previously print-published authors who'd write, "Do you think I'm nuts? There's no way I'm going to allow my work to appear alongside these amateurs." I don't receive those emails anymore.

I founded Smashwords with the firm conviction there's a vast human potential trapped inside the minds and fingertips of unpublished writers. I thought if we could provide the enabling tools to help writers unleash their potential upon the world - to be judged by readers - that great things could happen.

Today, great things are happening. Indie authors are inching up the best-seller lists, and their success inspires the next wave to go indie. Yet commercial success and the promise or potential thereof is not the primary driver for the indie revolution. Writers write for reasons different than publishers publish.

More writers will write, more will publish, and more will bypass publishers to connect directly to readers. Big Publishers will become an afterthought in the minds of tomorrow's indie author.

The publishing industry has no clue what's about to happen. Talk to any Smashwords author or publisher, especially those who were once worked with New York, and they'll tell you where things are headed.

A forest fire is about to consume the dead wood, and out of the ashes will spring forth a new and vibrant publishing ecosystem offering unprecedented diversity of literary riches more magnificent than anything ever imagined. This is inevitable. In fact, it's already happening at Smashwords and our retail distribution partners Apple, Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Diesel.

It's what happens when writers are given the freedom to publish on their own terms, and readers are given the freedom to read what they like. It represents the inevitable progression of human intention enabled by the Internet revolution.

The genie of human potential has escaped the bottle. You, my dear indie author or publisher, will write the next chapter.

___________________

I'm proud to part of it.

Bekki Lynn
http://bekkilynn.net/

New Pet Peeve - Poor Blog Etiquette

2011-05-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

I was doing some research this morning and every single thing I read was a blog. The posts were interesting and helped me out tremendously. However, in the comments were some really great questions which were never answered. In all cases, the person who posted the blog never bothered to return to respond to comments.

How rude!

For this reason, I didn't feel inclined to follow or add them to my blog list.

A while back, I read a blog post that was enlightening and I had a question. The post was a few years old, but I still posted my question. I received a response. I was tickled.

If you're going to post, have the decency and respect to return and attend to comments whether it's your blog or not.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

What Makes a Website Work - What doesn't

2011-04-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

People, people, people. I don't know whether to be appalled or to think I'm rather narrow minded.

I'm adding massive author links to my website as part of a 'helping hand promotion' and while I understand you all are entitled to your own style and styles are dependent on genres or whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction. Even your age and life style factor into your decisions and all these are right. Still there are basic requirements that are needed.

1. Introduction -- the first page should give the reader an idea of what your site is all about. One shouldn't have to search to find out that you're an author, much less what genre you write or even your name.

2. People like to know a little about you and how it relates to what you write. Give a biography of yourself, but not your life history from birth on nor your exact location - you're inviting trouble. Stalkers are no fun.

3. Make it easy to find a little bit about your books - where to purchase them - what people are saying about them.

4. Share where you can be found. Such as where you regularly chat or blog. Are you on Twitter, Facebook, other social networds where you regularly post updates?

5. How can people contact you aside from leaving comments.

These are the very least you should have on your website. Rather, I'm finding websites that only contain one page of nothing but book blurbs -- this is nothing more than advertisement floating out of a package that I'm guessing doesn't exist as I saw no links to at least a home page. And I couldn't even begin to guess the genre of the books.

Some are blogs that as far as I could tell were personal and had nothing to do with your writing. Sorry - won't get put on my website. Your writing is a business venture so the website you share with the writing community should reflect your writing most of all.

Websites geared toward a single book sends out a messge that you don't plan on writing more. Readers tend to want more books from a writer before making a decision or especially if they should like your 'one and only'. The website base should be about you, the writer. If you want to do a special book feature on your site, wonderful, but don't send readers packing before they have a chance to like you.

This is a first for me - coming across sites which does not give the author name, some even on the book covers. How do these books get published? Even self-publishing sites require title and author on the cover.

Sites that are set up like a magazine ad section are a major turn-off. My eyes are going squiggly trying to locate the information that's supposed to be there and by the time I find it half way down the page, I'm no longer interested. This may just be me, but hey - I'm a potential customer.

I'm sure this is simply one of my pet peeves, but if you are writing under a pen name, your website address, nor email addresses should be under any other name. Yes, you may not care who knows that you write under this or that name, but it looks unprofessional. Customer perception is a major. Also, what if you were searching for an author and all you could find was a website which mentioned the name. I know I don't have the time to spend figuring out if this is really a site for this person or if this person simply likes this person enough to promote him/her.

Fonts -- some fancy fonts are hard to read. They may be pretty to you, but to someone else, they may be illegible, especially now that many are reading on ereaders, phones and netbooks. I'm guilty of this and this is why I'm mentioning it. Publishers aren't trying to limit our creativity by limiting which fonts and sizes can be used there is a legit purpose behind the demand. Use that same guide for all of your websites.

Sound effects on websites - really! A major turn-off as are videos that automatically play. Have some respect for those who might me taking a moment while kids are napping or in a classroom situation that might be finished with a test, but others aren't. All sorts of reasons not to impose these features on others.

Photos -- keep them small sized .jpg's -- believe it or not, some are still using dial-up networks. Photos and music will cost you potential customers as these take forever to load.

And believe it or not - Facebook is not considered a website. It's a social networking site.

For the most part, the hundred plus websites I've looked at today haven't been all that bad. However, one was ghastly. It appears the person responsible has no idea there are free templates and other componets to put together a professional looking website. This site reminded me of when I first built websites back in the 90's when all the background choices were solid colors and navigation links were large ugly buttons. We've come a long way baby - catch up or it will cost you in more than sales -- you have a reputation to consider. And keep in mind, the background should never distract from the content.

Have a great week!

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Social Networks Can Be A Downer

2011-04-21T10:38:00.003-05:00

I had an interesting thing happen the other day and I've been thinking about in terms of "what is the point?" Bad attitude, I know. I get in moods where I think I'll just shut down all the social networks and save myself some stress and headache. Then I talk myself out of it by reminding myself that I'm not in a good place right now to be making decisions that could be detrimental, or maybe not. I have too much time on my hands - you can read the previous post to find out more. ;)

Recently, I posted a spur of the moment blog post over at Happily Ever After about how can we make our social sites more interactive. I still don't have an answer for that. However, on my personal Facebook an issue posed a 'raised eyebrow' for me. I had posted a comment about an old, old movie I finally sat and watched though I'd been present many times while the kids watched it when they were little. A friend wrote back and said she watched it, too. I told her how funny it is when you're a mom and writer you miss so much for being split-focused. I figure having a young cutie, she'd totally understand. She came back and said she had no idea I was a writer.

Mmmm! I post comments about my writing, new covers, new releases and have gotten quite frustrated at the lack of support from family and friends. I've struck up various conversations trying to get a fix on them and what I've learned is that they don't read romance, they 'won't' read ebooks. Most are 'christians' and I put that in quotes, because, hey - that doesn't keep you having sex, proof is in the kids they have, so what's wrong with reading about it - it's in the Bible, do they skip over it? It's a part of life. Anyways, the real dilema comes back to my post on lack of social interaction on social networks. People aren't reading peoples posts.

Do people simply go in and post a quickie and leave without reading what anyone else might have posted? I know this isn't always the case since some of my other posts are liked and commented on. Are there so many game posts preventing them from seeing real posts? Possibly. I know when I log into my author account there are 300 posts waiting and those messages can be sprinkled throughout several pages. I'm not going to go back more than five or six pages, so yeah, I can see how things get missed when you have four hundred plus people doing various things. On my family site though, I keep my friend list way down to friends and family so many of the daily messages waiting are game related since we are neighbors on so many of them. Some days, I can have two hundred messages and hundred can be games and ninety messages from 'liked' pages. I have my sports, my radio stations, my stores, favorite artists. So, when I want to make sure I don't miss a message, I go to peoples actual walls or profile pages. Not a hard concept, not a task that has to be daunting in this realm. In a professional realm, yeah, I can see issues. Probably 430 out of the 449 people on my Facebook friend list doesn't have a clue who I am, they just friended me because I popped up in the right column and it said this many people on their friend list had friended me. Seriously, isn't that how it really goes? Out of those 449, I probably friended less than thirty of them myself. I prefer others to friend me so I'm not pushing myself on them. Yeah, in my mind it can be that way since I really don't know the people. I write sex and some might actually be offended by that so let it be their choice to have my posts show up on their wall.

So, how do you get on the radar of others and get them to check out your wall or profile for interesting posts? Yeah, common sense is to write news worthy and interesting posts. And if you already do, how do you get them read so people know how wonderful you are? Ok, that just made me laugh. I'm the least conceited person I know. I want to be acknowledged, but don't like being center of attention or praised [fake or otherwise]. Yeah, tell me if you like my books or not, but only if you honestly read them, but then move on. I like talking about kids, animals, gardening and so on, you know things I know about. I won't talk about politics, nor religion simply because those are too personal and arguments can ensue too easily.

I try to engage people on my fan page, but so far all topics have been a bust.

I'm a socially inept person -- no secret about that. It's the way I was raised and you can't change the training - playing catch-up does not work. Been there done that, however, when I try and I feel like I have something to say -- it's a real downer to have it ignored. I'm not referring to comments I make on blogs or comments to comments on other people's posts in Facebook -- I usually look at those as 'I said my piece, it's my opinion or thought' that's the end of it, but sometimes I find people liking my comment and it makes me smile. Or, at times a response will come and I smile - most often than not, though - the person who posted the comment never responds to comments left on their posts.

So, have you found a key to getting your posts read? Are the commenters limited to people you personally know or have earned a repoire with?

Any suggestions to me and others who haven't found the right path yet?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Life and Life - What makes it work, what doesn't?

2011-04-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

I was sitting here attempting to play a new card game at mindjolt via Facebook. The small screen of the netbook doesn't make some games easy to do and it's worse on a computer with a mind of its own. My husband noticed my frustration with the machines habit of scrolling up and down on its own and looked over when I smacked it. He saw I couldn't see the whole game and was moving up and down to see the cards. So, my sweetheart apologized for not being able to get me a full size laptop.

I wish he wouldn't do that. It's not because he can't afford it or doesn't just go do it. It's because I keep talking him out of spending money. If he had his way, he'd have a new truck and I'd have a new car, a new laptop, the roof would be done and the house would have new siding. It's crazy to go into debt for no real reason. I mean seriously, the roof doesn't leak, the siding still protects the wood beneath it - I just wish people would stop stealing our corner pieces, I'm tired of replacing them. Granted there are some things I have to have a larger screen for, but I have access to his laptop when he's not home or gone to bed. And even the server monitor to check bookcovers or add links to updates on my website. I manage to get things done.

We remodeled our living room last year and I told him we should pay off the flooring and furniture before we tackle another large project. Common sense. We keep each other in check. If we didn't, I'd have a new kitchen appliance set and frankly, it'd be stupid to do that right now. We need to wait until we're ready to remodel the kitchen. Gas lines, electrical and plumbing has to be moved. Patience.

I know we're creeping up on sixty and our youngest graduates from high school in a year, and that urge to get things done the way we want them before we face retirement can be overwhelming. But everything in moderation.

I'm so, so lucky he thinks to do things for me and wants to do them. So, I told him I'd been thinking about putting a laptop on layaway at one of the few stores who still allow it. He grinned from ear-to-ear and told me after property taxes are paid to let him do that for me.

My reasoning for wanting to do it is because I'm going back to school and I need larger computer compacity to use the programs I need to purchase for classes. His reasoning is love. He loves me.

[Ha! I hit enter to start a new paragraph and the dang computer posted the unfinished post.]

Sometimes I don't know why he loves me much less puts up with me.

The other day, I visited him at work after my doctor's appointment at his invite. He was busy and so I hung out at his desk watching him from across the room. I could hear him talking to this lady on the phone as he and this other tech were working out kinks in a program for her. You have to know him to understand his sense of humor, but I enjoyed hearing him banter with her all the while wondering if he'd get into trouble for sexual harrassment. I mean, he wasn't quiet and I know their policy. On the other hand, I loved it. My definition of sexual harrassment and what most corporations consider are way different. They take the fun out of the work place. So, while all this is going through my mind, a lady walks up to me and asked if I was waiting for him and offered to find him for me. I had a badge on, so she assumed I was a customer. I introduced myself and she became less business-like and friendlier. She told me how he sings my praises and so on. I commented on how I didn't know how he put up with me. She told me he says the same about me. Kind of cool, I thought. We have our quirks and have come a long way in thirty-four years. I remember when he'd get mad at me and go running off to his friends house.

I guess this is what we do when we hit a certian age and have too much time on our hands. We reflect on years gone by. We've come a long way, baby. lol

I have way too much time on my hands. Fortunately, that will end come mid August. Jeff will be a senior in high school and I'll be a freshman in college. I'm going into Graphic Art and Desktop Publishing. I hope to design web sites and book covers when I'm finished. Or I should say be more knowledgable in doing them. I've been dabbling with website design for years and of late, doing my own book covers. I've technically designed them all.

And by filling some of my extra hours, I'm hoping I find my way back to the joy of writing. There was just something about having a limited number of hours to write before I had to go to work that seems to have worked for me. Without it, I don't function right. Some habits should never be broken.

My ramblings - I could go on, I'm sure. I won't. I love you too much. lol

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

New Release - Absentee Love Returns

2011-04-01T11:50:00.002-05:00

Blurb:
Gail Green's world is turned upside down when an alleged mobster gives her an ultimatum, lose her newborn son or follow orders. When they are kidnapped, she has no idea which of the Galletti’s enemies is behind it. [Contemporary, mildly erotic]

EXCERPT:

“You’re under contract. Don’t forget it!” Vincent Galletti ordered.

“How the hell can I?” Gail swung around to face the horrid man who headed the family. “You people remind me every minute of every day.” He turned and left the room after a long, stare of superiority.

Gail refrained from throwing the glass across the room, drinking from it instead. Yes, she had to honor all parts of the contract forced on her despite the fact Rico could care less about her. Proof of that came months ago when she’d awakened to find him gone from her bed, and no word thereafter despite his professed love.

She walked to the window. The warm rays of the sun of the summer day didn’t penetrate the chill she felt. Ever since Vincent Galletti had walked into her hospital room with a court order to take her son in one hand and an ultimatum in the other, she’d lived with an abnormal since of coldness.

The click of the door caused her back to stiffen in preparation for more hurling words, demands, and threats that she had to bear if she wanted to remain in her son’s life.

Hands came down on her shoulder, and she cringed. He wouldn’t dare try anything here, not in the room next to where his mother lay and his family gathered. The fingers gripped her, but didn’t dig in as she was turned around. A hand slid down her arms while she registered it wasn’t Vicenzo. Lips touched her head, her forehead before she registered the danger and tried to push him away.

Rico’s mouth closed over hers as she opened to protest. Her need for love and comfort won out over the consequences. She gripped his biceps and moved her mouth with his, drowning in the heady scent of soap and peppermint. Tongues danced and she ached to return to the nights where passion drove them into the wee hours of the morning.

He broke the connection, but didn’t move away. “I had to know.”

“What?”

“We’ll talk.” he whispered then brushed her lips again.

“No…Rico…” She heard the music signaling the start of the service. Panic began to rise, knowing someone would come for her if she didn’t appear. “I must go as you should. I can’t be caught with you.”

“Trust grandmother, no one else,” he whispered, kissed her again and she watched him walk from the room.
Her shoulders slumped. She wanted answers, but was more afraid of them. The confirmation of his running from her bed, to another woman's would be throwing gas on simmering coals of squelched anger and sadness. He needed to keep his secrets.

Secrets, her life had become trapped in them and she couldn’t tell him hers. What his family did was backed by the court system, by money, power, and threats. Not to speak of their disownment of Rico.

“The family has sat,” Vicenzo announced from the doorway.

Gail clenched her jaw and tried to pass by him, but he grabbed her arm. “Don’t do anything foolish.”

She glared at him for several seconds, and then told him, “Don’t touch me.”

“Oh, I will. I’ll do more than touch.”

“And die prematurely?”

He dropped his hand. “Mind your mouth.”

“Go to hell.”

Available at: Smashwords, Lulu, Soon: Sony, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Apple

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

New Cover-New Venue Links - Happy March!

2011-03-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Due to downsizing at eXcessica Publishing I, along with others, were let go. Therefore Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY has been given back to me and I've set it up with Smashwords who will distribute it back to the venues it once was - Sony, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Diesel. For now, it's available at Smashwords.

I've also given it a new cover though as the designer and provider of the original cover I could have stayed with it. I just thought maybe a fresh look would be a great new start for it.

Blurb - Cassandra Jones' nights become filled with realistic exploits of passion with a man she's barely met.

It all began the night she dumped her two-timing fiancée and Elan Takoda accused her of a federal offense when she had opened a package of peridot gems intended for him.

Months later, miserable, and clueless as to how to stop fantasies, she went along with a plan he had to free them both. When it didn't work, what she then learned would bring her both uncertainty and sorrow.

Elan Takoda recognized his grandfather's hand when he began to envision himself with the granddaughter of his friend. He searched for an end to nightly hours of scorching sex, because he wanted no woman in his life.

A shaman told him he must spend a night with her and part when morning came to break the ritual. When the opportunity landed in his lap, he convinced her it was the only way to free them. That is, until they learned the rest of the story.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Forced Termination

2011-03-10T18:57:00.000-06:00

Due to a new law signed by Illinois Governor Quinn, I can no longer be an Amazon Assoicate.

This is what I was sent via email:

Today I have signed House Bill 3659, which requires all companies doing business in Illinois to collect and remit legally required sales taxes.

House Bill 3659, The Main Street Fairness Bill, was a bipartisan initiative that passed both houses of the General Assembly with overwhelming support. This law will require all online retailers who connect with an affiliate in Illinois to collect sales tax on customer purchases and remit it to the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR). Illinois currently collects sales tax revenue from the more than 20,000 retailers with physical locations in the state, including online and catalog sales from these vendors.

Illinois’ main street businesses are critical to ensuring our long-term economic stability, which is why they must be able to compete with every company doing business online in Illinois. This law will put Illinois-based businesses on a level playing field, protect and create jobs and help us continue to grow in the global marketplace.

Per my request, the Alliance of Main Street Fairness (AMSF) has begun a website (www.standwithmainstreet.com) to help Illinois affiliates expand their customer bases. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) will partner with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and AMSF to provide growth opportunities, foster an environment to create more Illinois jobs and provide online shopping consumers with greater opportunities to save money.

It's all hogwash.

Amazon followed by sending me a notification of cancelation of my account. I, however, can be reinstated if I should move out of Illinois.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Read An Ebook Week Deals

2011-03-09T14:54:00.000-06:00

The following books are discounted for this fun week of reading. I hope you'll take advantage of the deals.

Jackie's Boys - 50% off use code RAE50 at checkout - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20019 [must be at least 18]

Annie and the Young Master - 50% off use code RAE50 at checkout - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20351 [must be at least 18]

Jewel of the Sun's Blood Destiny - 50% off use code RAE50 at checkout - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13666

LOVE, Stalker of the Heart - free use code RAE75 - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20492 [more for teen girls]

The site might be running a little slow, so be patient. Mark Coker says he's had over a thousand new people register yesterday alone and sales are way up over last years for read an ebook week.

Thanks!

Bekki

What Mothers Never Talk To Their Daughters About

2011-02-17T12:02:00.000-06:00

That time in your life when you lose control over life.

Menopause!

Some breeze through it, some do not. I'm one of those latter women.

Many women start perimenopause in their 30's and don't know it. I didn't know it. I thought I was just over worked and tired with raising four boys, being both mother and father when my husband was off doing military things. As the 40's hit, I saw changes in what we claimed was PMS. As I hit the late 40's and nearing 50, I was a case for either the mental ward or something was seriously wrong with. By the time I was 50, I could barely function. I couldn't work, couldn't do much of anything. I was literally sick three weeks of the month. I finally got into a doctor who had opened to new patients and was reccomended to me. I didn't have to finish telling her what was going when she me I was menopausal. Everything that was wrong with me was caused by an imbalance of hormones. The headaches, the sinus issues, nausea - she put me on birth control pills. Fixed me right up. I was able to return to work and resume a normal life.

I wish I could say that's it.

The past few months, I've been extremely forgetful, distracted, incapable of concentrating, flitting from one activity to another and never finishing most things. Or I simply sit here in a funk. Most of the time, I don't even know what day it is. I have to rely on others to help me with these things, or look at my phone if I can remember where I put it. We joke about it, laugh it off, but inside I'm scared and worried. Alzhiemer does run in my family. Some days I wonder if I've had a stroke, other days, I wonder if I'm going senial. The worst things that I've done is over flow the bathtub and kitchen sink, and burned dinner a few times.

Yesterday, I had a wonderful talk with a beautiful woman of 75. Well, she really talked to me and we cried, laughed and wished for all this knowledge before it hit me, before it hit her when she went through it.

When she left, I looked up concentration related to menopause, because I was most concerned with how when I'm in the middle of writing, I simply get up and go do something else and I don't know why. I have commitments to finish, I can't be doing this. I found several sites that said the same thing she did. I need to eat different now, get more exercise, more sleep and slow down. I should no longer, stick with one thing at a time. I've never done that before. Oh, the sleep factor. I'm not used to sleeping more than five hours, but my body has taken control of that. I've been going to bed and sleeping 8-10 hours.

I have to prepare for a different stage in my life. Wow! I never wanted to get old, but I'm told I have to accept the things I can't control and only worry about the things I can. My doctor says she'll take the pill away from me next Feb. and see how I do. As long as I don't get sick again, I'm all good with it.

My point in sharing this is to tell you all you moms with daughters, don't let them go through all this alone and unprepared. Talk to them about it.

Here's one of the links I read and said basically what I was told. Maybe it will be for you as well.

http://www.perimenopausesymptoms.org/symptoms/menopause-memory-loss-concentration

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Kudos For the Right Reason

2011-02-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

I received an email today - Breakfast at McDonald's and quite frankly I found what the lady said to the homeless man unfriendly and insulting. "I did not do this for you.. God is here working through me to give you hope." The story goes on and she's not a church goer, just a believer, but basically she was only following through on an assignment for a college class, sort of. Everyone, even her husband, thought she was heroic in this so-called good deed. I find it selfish.

Where is the simple act of caring and having compassion for another human being? You know, people do things for the right reason all the time, but it's those people who are like this woman who gets the reconigtion for the wrong reasons.

KUDOS to those who do good deeds for the right reasons, because you honestly care about the human being.

I have a friend like this person. She did something wrong in the eyes of her husband. And now she is doing penance by doing this and that for other people as well as the church. She's doing these things for all the wrong reasons. And she boasts about them saying she's doing God's work. And no, they're not Catholic, but they do go to church and he's an elder. And no, she did nothing wrong.

I'm not against church or the people going, I'm against religion as man wants people to believe.

My peeve for the day. I haven't had a peeve day in a while.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Came Out Unscathed

2011-02-03T21:19:00.000-06:00

This pic above is the path junction between the path from our back door, to our neighbors front door and down our drive between the cars. The path across our front yard hadn't been dug out yet - it's really for the mail carrier.

This was our fun spot during the storm. It's our doggie door which the snow kept drifting over and when the dogs tried to go out the snow fell in. It was really halarious when Jesse's pup tried it. He's a Yorkipoo. He did love playing in the snow. The platform under it is for the dogs to step out onto. It's a foot off the ground, so you can see there's at least another foot of snow over it.

Our back yard is a mix of level snow and drifts. In the bench area, you can see the snow is up onto the grate area of the fireplace. I figure it makes it ten inches deep in that area while the winds kept it from piling on the tables or roofs.

This is our front yard. It's hard to tell, but behind the mailbox, the snow left a dip in the yard as the snow drifted around it. I found it interesting. The bush sticking out of the snow is my dwarf lilac and it's about four feet tall.

We faired the storm well. No power outage which wouldn't have bothered us - we have a gas stove, gas water heater, gas fireplace and oil lamps. All but our outdoor faucet and it's pipe is in the center of our house above the floor. We've been through real blizzards before - the kind where you can't see the tip of your nose much less the hand in front of your face and when it ended, the snow was roof high all over.

The largest drifts we had were the three footers my husband dug through for the path from the back door and the driveway. Our youngest and the neighbor to the south helped him dig out the vehicles.

I think our entire area handled the storm pretty well. My brother lives about an hour south of us and they were hit worse. He said vehicles were buried. My dad was able to get in and dig him and my step-brother out and he lives a bit south of of where they are. North of us got a bit more snow than we did as well. We're in a valley and most storms skirt around us, so what we got is about all we ever get out of a large snowstorm.

Stats say our area got 13-20inches of snow with the higher amounts at a town about forty-five minutes west of us - they are out in the boonies. The stats are a bit low from what people are saying about their own areas.

All in all -- I'm proud of everyone in the area, from the road crews to the National Guard who helped rescue stranded motorists to the police and fire who all banded together and was prepared.

The other day one weather man said winter's not over and if the groundhog says we're having an early spring, get a new groundhog. I'd rather believe the groundhog, or maybe I want the groundhog to be right and spring will come early.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

What Do You Think?

2011-01-25T10:11:00.001-06:00

You think the economy was hurting before it began to rebound. Guess what? Predictions are saying things will get much worse. It's not only going to affect the rising gas prices, but groceries, too. Here in my area, businesses are closing left and right.

How will this affect authors?

Budget cuts will have to come from somewhere. I know for my husband alone, it's costing him twice as much in gas as it did this time last year and he has to fork it out. He's a computer tech who is outsourced to OSF and they often require him to travel which in turn requires him to fill his little S10 tank twice a week and often three times. It once cost him $30 to fill up, right now it's $50. That extra $240 a pay period has to come from somewhere.

Cuts have to be made to accomodate the necessary.

Last night, I ran to the store for bread and bunny greens. I stopped by the books and well, walked away when I normally would buy one or two or maybe a magazine. At the checkout counters where they sell those recipe booklets - I love buying those, too. Books, magazines, booklets all add up and can provide a couple of meals for a small family. This is how my mind works.

You're probably thinking, so what. You shouldn't be buying paperbacks anyway, you're an ebook author. Um, so! My favorite passion is to read in the bathtub - can't with an ebook.

This business of cutting costs is going to affect the sales of ebooks as well. Entertainment is often the first place looked at to make budget cuts. People are going to be going out to eat less, or at least not hitting their favorite restaurant as often. A little $30 dinner out for my husband and myself can provide meat for a week.

Movie goers are going to buy or rent movies rather than going to a theatre to save a few dollars. Every dollar amount is going to be viewed with stricter responsibility.

Readers are going to be more selective about the books they purchase. Most will be less apt to take a chance on authors they don't know. More are apt to purchase only the authors they really like. Some are going for the most they can get for the money allowed which means the $2 and less books have more of a chance of selling than a 5.99 book.

A few weeks ago, one of my muscian friends sent me a message. He was going to have to turn off his internet. Even though his wife had returned to work, things were still so tight it wasn't an option. If this is something readers are going to have to let go of as well, they aren't going to be able to purchase ebooks.

Last night, I got a message from a dear friend and mother of two awesome daughters. Things have gotten so tight for them they are having to move into a trailer and camp on land they own and have been clearing. They will have to depend on their closest neighbors to allow them to share electric as their land has no utilities as yet. Both of them work, but it's not enough.

You don't think about how bad it can really get until it starts to affect people you know.

I always thought there'd come a day when we'd have to do away with cable/satellite and so that's always behind my splurges on movies. I buy from the $5 bin at Walmart and pick up $1 movies at the dollar stores. I buy cartoons, dramas, westerns, horror, mystery/suspense, comedys, actions and even b-movies. I have old tv shows of Red Skelton, Blondie, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Adams Family, I Love Lucy, etc. Things we love watching over and over. In my mind when the day would come and we'd have to pull the plug, I always thought it'd be because we'd be retired and living on a fixed income - not because the gas grubbers wanted to pad their pockets at the expense of the American people's livelihoods.

So, is all this going to affect my writing or how I promote it. Of course not though I fear sales will become much tougher to get.

Is there a solution? There is always a solution. Though I think James Patterson writes like a fourth grader, but his books sell. Why? It's in the manner of the way he sells them. He believes so much in his books that he does a small little commercial for each new one he puts out. And quite frankly, he's a man. Nora tried the commercials and stopped - I don't think they saw an increase in sales from her bits. Why? People have this inherrent need to give to a man who is in relm typically thought of as to belong to a woman. I've seen this in waiting tables - the guys always get bigger tips. Sexist, yes, but reality. Mmm, wonder if I should enlist one of my handsome sons to do a spot for me?

I realise the content of most e-authors prevents the books from being advertised on television, but there are ways of doing it. Sell yourself, the author. If a few went in together to do a paid programming show explaining digital publishing, various ereaders and their books - after all there are shows on late at night that show and sell sex toys. All it'd take is one show which would be repeated. Or a talk show format could be done with different genre authors discussing their books. There are ways to follow FCC regulations and sell your erotic books as well as non-erotic.

We need to hit the general public rather than constantly selling to the same groups and readers day in and day out. All this will do is provide a stagnant market for your books.

What do you think?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Adam has a New Home

2011-01-24T11:29:00.000-06:00

It's his very first. When we brought Adam home five years ago in March, he used Faith's first home, a small animal cage as did Natalie when we brought her home. He graduated to using Faith's condo all the while I was planning his new condo. It's not a project I wanted to tackle myself this time since I wanted it done a bit differently. I'd decided to use plex-glass around the bottom three sides not only to keep the hay from falling through the mesh wire, but also keep the cold air from filtering up around the baseboards as it does. Drilling through plexi-glass was a daunting and frightening idea for me, so I wanted my husband to have that pleasure.

Pheasant season begins in November and doesn't end until mid January, so now that it's over, my husband has free weekends again. Saturday, he cut wood for me and I was able to get the vinyl flooring attached to the plywood before I went off to work. Sunday morning, I dismantled Adam's condo much to his dismay. Poor thing. He must have thought he was being booted. He got this look on his face and ran behind the couch where he stayed most of the day no matter how much I talked to him and told him what I was doing. It took me three hours to dismantle - I'd finished just minutes before my husband returned from church.

From the framework to the finish, the new condo came together like a dream. It took us nine hours to put it together with only a couple noticeable cracks in the plexi-glass. Once we had the framework together and the floors laid in, Adam did come check it out. He was a bit put off that he couldn't get up to the second floor to check it out, but he sure stretched his body to try. He seemed to understand and pretty much supervised from then on as did Buster. We installed the landing for the ramp and the ramp therefore that seemed to be an invitation for Buster to supervise from the upper floor. And even hid bolts and washers from me. lol

Once it was finished and I had Adam's litter box and water bottle installed, he came to check it out. He was hesitant, but he finally went inside. After a few moments, he came out, checked out the outside, went back inside and repeated this inspection a few times before settling in. He sniffed around and found I did use some pieces from his old place - the same door, legs on the landing and the ramp. I thought that would make him more at ease as well as give him a sense that I wasn't totally getting rid of scents of Faith and Natalie. He seemed to appreciate that by rubbing his chin against the pieces.

So, here is a look at Adam's New Home. It's beautiful thanks to my husband. The wire is wrapped all the way around rather than cut in sections. He has the hand strength to form fit it around the metal corners.

It will fit through doorways now. The old one was 3'x3', this one is 2'x4'. As soon as our new television arrives, we'll move him and myself back to the new living room.

It's funny how things come together, his flooring is green and will match the living room with it's sunporch yellow and green trim. I've had the flooring for four years, having found it at Family Dollar one day and thought it'd be perfect for the condo floors. Our green trim in the living room wasn't planned. It was actually my oldest sons suggestion while we were painting the walls.

Next project - VCR-DVD/Satellite Box/Blu-ray shelf and a DVD/VHS shelf unit. I like having things to do and knowing we use solid wood, I know things will last much longer.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Website is Down

2011-01-14T23:24:00.000-06:00

I check on my website daily - tonight it didn't come up on two different computers. I logged into the site to remove a couple of contest icons - when I reached the page where I needed to remove the first one, my template did not show up, nor could I make edits.

I don't know what the problem is. I've heard rumors that free webs is shutting down erotic author sites left and right due to content that violates their policy. No warning email, nothing.

To my knowledge, there is no content on my website to warrant a take-down. I have no erotic excerpts, only the first chapters of the three novels. There are no copyrighted photos I don't have the right or license to use. No nude photos. When a photo is posted that violates their policy, they block it replacing it with a message to let us know. I've only had that happen once and that was with one of the videos. I fixed it.

I've contacted them and am waiting for an explanation. Last time I had an issue, they were quick to respond, let's hope they are with this matter as well.

Bekki

They're Finally Admitting It!

2011-01-07T14:23:00.000-06:00

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/us_med_fluoride_levels

I and other parents have known this years. I'm so furious. How about some funding to help repair the damage.

I have a son with minor damage and a son with major damage. The doctors and dentists told us it was too much fluoride. The town and city we lived in, however, claimed the water was tested on a regular basis and the levels were normal. Yes, they probably were.

So, why was one baby's teeth damaged so much worse. I wasn't able to nurse him. He had health issues and required a special formula. Formula is made with water. And I had to water down all juices, because they were too strong for him.

He's been living with the damage that has grown progressively worse year by year. We were sent to one dentist who supposedly could whiten them. No. She, however, was going to take a class on putting a cover on them. Six months later, she put the cover on -- it looked like bad patch job. Six months later, she tells it she has to remove it on the next visit as it causes the teeth behind them to rot, but it would be out of pocket expense as the insurance would not cover it nor additional treatment to repair the damage. Rot and she wanted us to wait six more months! The stuff fell off on its own within a week of her telling us this and one tooth had begun to rot. I never returned.

Since then we've looked at lumineers -- expensive, but rotting teeth isn't the ideal surface for obvious reasons. We found a dentist who was willing to do crowns - all others told us no crowns, some even lied and said crowns were no longer done. He wanted to try and save the rotting teeth. While lumineers would have cost us around $6,000, crowns were going to cost at least twice that. And I wondered, if the rotting teeth would have fell out with the crowns attached. Not cost effective.

But guess what? The new and improved insurance my husband's company went with - while the medical is awesome, the dental stinks! It only covers impacted wisdom teeth and broken teeth within 90 days of an accident. Just wait until I see the owner on the 15th.

Here in Illinois, we have a state medical plan for kids that include dental. I've filled out applications and sent emails -- no response whatsoever. Phone calls get shuffled around until I get disconnected.

My son will be 18 in September. If my husband's company doesn't fix the dental issue, I'm going to have to take him to the dental school in Chicago when he turns 18. I don't know if they can help. We've decided it'd probably be best to pull the damaged teeth and put in a partial. They are all front teeth across the top.

So, all of my royalties for 2011 will go specifically to help fix my sons teeth. This is not a ploy to get anyone to purchase my books. It's fact. He's going to be a senior next year and I want to do this for him. He's lived with this long enough. While it's not hurt his psyche or his popularity - it's still been an issue for him to have to deal with those can't say something nice. Not to speak of the smile factor.

Damn people who think they know best. It always comes back to haunt us.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Shoddy Business Practices?

2011-01-05T15:46:00.000-06:00

I know I've talked about this before, but it seems to be a reoccurring problem that no one is interested in fixing.

Businesses set up websites and advertise it. You click on their link which takes you to their website. They have the usual navigation buttons - home, services, about us, etc. You click on services and you get to read what they will do for you. Some might list actual services and packages, but the one most important item is missing. PRICING Rather, they want you to contact them for further information.

NO!

You just lost my potential business.

The whole point of the internet is for people to read and decide if what you have to offer is for them or within their budget. I don't want to start up a conversation with you and waste both our time or share my email so I'll receive constant emails from you offering me new services or discounts. I don't want a hard sale. Put the numbers on your website and let me mull them over, then if I want to take the step and hire you or advertise with you, I will contact you.

Is this so unreasonable?

It must be since most are doing business this way. The way I see it, you're hindering your own business.

I won't purchase an item in a store no matter how much I might want it if there is no price.

As authors, we're expected to provide the information for people so people can consider purchasing our product.. Depending on the site, they want ISBN #'s, Buy Links, cover photos, website links, genre, heat level, blurbs, excerpts, and sometimes pricing in order to advertise our books. We lay it out and this is how we sell the product of our business.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

To Staying Out of Trouble

2011-01-03T00:04:00.000-06:00

It's a new year. What will 2011 bring?

I haven't a clue. lol

I had thought I'd set up a new routine, see if maybe I could be more productive. I'm not good with goals, organization or schedules. It's like saying I'll never do something, saying never ensures you will do it. The opposite happens.

The thing I know I plan on doing is looking for a new job. In fact, I'm already looking though food service generally doesn't start hiring around here until March. And finsihing the living room - the fun stuff begins; choosing window treatments and decorating.

There are things I'd love to do and accomplish. Finish projects in the works, learn more secrets to the graphics programs I have.

There's a new hobby I wanted to start a year ago, but lack of health and no job prevented it. I wanted to make earrings out of real pheasant feathers which are easy to come by since my husband is an avid pheasant hunter.

Let's say 2011 will be the year of endless tasks to keep me out of trouble.

Lifting my wine glass - to staying out of trouble.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Oh, and I do have three short stories coming out:

Absentee Love Returns included in Happy Endings Anthology, April - Gail Green's world is turned upside down when an alleged mobster gives her an ultimatum; lose her newborn son or follow orders. The choice she chooses puts both of them in danger she had never believed possible. When they are kidnapped, she has no idea which of the Galletti’s enemies is behind it, if any. That is until Rico Galletti turns up with a wild story of working with a covert organization that works in conjunction with military field operations. Before she can comprehend the whole sordid story, he's shot. [Contemporary]

Cornflower included in Love Bound Anthology, July - Max and Eryn escape to their cabin for a weekend of fun and games. While in the midst of heated passion, a rope slips and she's injured. Max insists they take a break, but when games resume, the out of control fire within her disallows her to use the safe word. When he sees the pain etched in her face, off comes mask, the restraints and slave jewelry. Will they be able to get past the betrayal of trust? [BDSM]

Shadow Love included in Strange Love Anthology, October - Carla Kingston claimed to have been accosted by a ghost when she was seventeen years old. In confidence, she told her best friend, who dropped her like hot coals. Ten years later, Bobby Whitten returns with a change of heart, but can he handle watching her enjoy being made love to by a shadow of a person who was murdered more than a hundred years ago? (Paranormal)

All from eXcessica Publishing

2011 Predictions for Book Publishing

2010-12-29T00:01:00.001-06:00

It's annual prognostication time when folks like me stick out their necks and try to predict the future. I invite you to join in the fun. Brush up your crystal ball and share your publishing predictions for 2011 in the comments field below.

Earlier today, Jeff Rivera over at MediaBistro interviewed me for my ten book publishing predictions for 2011.

I'll list five below, and then I encourage you to click over to Mediabistro for the full ten in his interview, Publishing Predictions for 2011 from Smashwords.

If 2010 was the year ebooks went mainstream in the U.S., 2011 will be the year indie ebook authors go mainstream. We've already seen this start to happen with some tremendous indie ebook author breakouts in 2010. I wrote about Smashwords author Brian S. Pratt a few weeks ago.

So here are five predictions for 2011:

1. Ebook sales rise, unit consumption surprises – Ebooks sales will approach 20% of trade book revenues on a monthly basis by the end of 2011 in the US, yet the bigger surprise is that ebooks will account for one third or more of unit consumption. Why? Ebooks cost less and early ebook adopters read more.

2. Agents write the next chapter of the ebook revolution – Agents, serving the economic best interests of the best-selling authors, will bring new credibility to self publishing by encouraging authors to proactively bypass publishers and work directly with ebook distribution platforms. Agents will use these publishing platforms for negotiating leverage against large publishers. The conversation will go something like this: “You’re offering my author only 15-20% list on ebooks when I can get them 60-70% list working direct with an ebook distributor like Smashwords or a retailer like Amazon?”

3. More big authors reluctant to part with digital rights – Indie ebook publishing offers compelling advantages to the author. The economics are better (see #2) and the publishing cycle times are faster (an ebook manuscript can be uploaded today and achieve worldwide distribution in minutes or days, not years). Ebooks also offer greater publishing flexibility (shorts, full length, bundles, free books), and the opportunity to reach more readers with lower cost (yet still higher-profit) books. The advantages will entice more professional authors to self-publish some or all of their future catalog, and all of their reverted-rights catalog.

4. Self Publishing goes from option of last resort to option of first resort among unpublished authors – Most unpublished authors today still aspire to achieve the perceived credibility and blessing that comes with a professional book deal. Yet the cachet of traditional publishing is fading fast. Authors with finished manuscripts will grow impatient and resentful as they wait to be discovered by big publishers otherwise preoccupied with publishing celebrity drivel from Snooki, Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. Meanwhile, the break-out success of multiple indie author stars will grab headlines in 2011, forcing many unpublished authors off the sidelines. As unpublished authors bypass the slush pile, publishers lose first dibs on tomorrow’s future stars.

5. Ebook prices to fall – It’s all about supply and demand. Demand is surging, but supply will overwhelm demand. Average ebook prices will decline, despite attempts by Agency 5 publishers to hold the line. The drop will be fueled by the oversupply of books, abundance of low-cost or free non-book content, influx of ultra-price-sensitive readers who read free first, fierce competition for readership, and digitization of reverted-rights and out-of-print books. Indie authors, since they earn 60-70% retail price, can compete at price points big publishers can’t touch.

Read all ten of my predictions in the full interview over at Mediabistro, and please share your own predictions in the comments below.

**Post has been reposted from the Smashwords Blog with permission from Mark Coker.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

How to have a Long Lasting Relationship

2010-12-28T00:01:00.001-06:00

I love yahoo for my home page as it gives me plenty to look at. I get headlines, I get local news and I gets hot topic searches. Sunday, one of the headlines was: What make a man fall in love {5 Secrets to Making a Man Love You}

1. Share an activity
2. Cheer him on
3. Let him be himself
4. Tell him what you think
5. Give him his space

Often my husband and I find we're asked, how have we managed to stay married so long. This article tells why. We're friends. We love to do things together, shopping, movies, dinner - in fact, I prefer to do these things with him. It seems only he appreciates the humor I find in some things as well as why I like or dislike something. I've shopped with friends and alone -- it never fails that I wish he were there. I also give him his space to do the things enjoys and I don't. He hunts and metal detects while I often prefer to sit at home to write, read or do nothing.

When we were young, he was a show-off when it came to entertaining my younger siblings and other family members with his karate moves. Sometimes it was disruptive and embarrassing during family gatherings, but it was a part of who he was. He grew out of it. I wasn't outgoing and he was so I think that was the biggest reason I felt as I did.

Honesty is all apart of a relationship. If you can't dislike something, because you fear you'll lose him. You're on the wrong foot. Sometimes I wouldn't tell him things he needed to know all because I was afraid of hurting his feelings - it usually showed on my face or by the fact I avoided it. It's endearing when he says, "You can tell me you don't like it. It's not going to hurt my feelings. I'll just get you something you do like."

We also believe one of the reasons we have become such great friends and endured all that we have over the past 33+ years is because not long after we were married, we moved away from family. They couldn't simply drop in unannounced, they couldn't interfere. I was 18 and he was 19 - we took the bull my the horn and wrangled it ourselves through most of our time. There were times when we did require help from the family and they were always there for us. I think they respected what we did and how we handled it.

And:

His mom told him he could never come home without me.

My dad told him if he ever laid a hand on me, he'd live to regret it.

I wish what we have on our sons and their mates.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Semper Fi Christmas - An Awesome 'Christmas Carol' take by Kent Faus

2010-12-27T09:01:00.000-06:00

Gunnery Sergeant Robert Christmas, career Marine and hard corps patriot finds himself disgruntled during the holiday season. To bury his disgust he escapes from the hype and commercialization by drinking alone in the only saloon he can find open on Christmas Eve, the Ebenezer Inn. The holiday season is always the most difficult time for Gunny Christmas, not only due to past events, but because of the name he shares with the most celebrated season in the world.

However, this holiday season is different as men and women visit Gunny from his past bringing painful memories to light.

It takes the wise words of a wily old bartender to bring Gunny Christmas’ chaos full circle. He warns the gray haired Marine of his ultimate end if he didn’t change his ways.

Buy Now

I'm so glad Kent finally put this story out. You won't be disappointed. This is my favorite story of his.I met Kent several years ago during NANO.

Bekki

Blue Christmas

2010-12-25T21:14:00.006-06:00

I have this urge to post the video of Elvis singing Blue Christmas, but I really don't want to hear Christmas music. I must be sick. Yeah, in the worst way.

For the first time ever, I've lost my Christmas spirit.

Thursday night, I was in the living room fighting with the 3M hooks that refused to stay up, much less hold lighted garland or an empty stocking. They will be hearing from me.

Every few minutes I'd come into the make shift living room and check on my bunbuns. I'd spent so little time in here with them this week that they missed me and I missed them. Natalie was becoming a cuddle bunny. She started wanting to be on the couch with me and in my lap. Adam simply likes me around.

The last time I came to check on them, I found Natalie laying on her belly unable to stand. OMG! My heart broke. She was healthy, happy and I loved her so much. What the hell happened! Jeff got a hold of Jesse who was at his girlfriend's house. He raced home. The three of us sobbed as she died in my arms at 11:39pm. When I could let her go, he buried her next to Faith under the lone pine tree at the back of our property with her Christmas stocking tucked in with her.

I was amazed he could dig up the ground, but thankful.

None of us got much sleep. My husband awakened about 1am and came looking for me. I told him what happened and he sat with me for a while as I couldn't control the tears. He told me we'll have to get another bunny for Adam. He talked about going down to the hardware store and I told him they haven't been carrying bunnies for which I'm thankful. I suggested we either get one at the community auction where we purchased Faith and Adam or do a rescue. The auction is in March.

I have mixed feelings about getting another bunny. Adam will be five next month, how will he take to a new bunny? The bunnies we normally purchase are two months old; if we do a rescue, the bunny will be older. In either case, bonding could be difficult or not happen at all. According to some bunny owners, I've broken all the rules by allowing my does and my buck to be together. I'm risking their lives they claim. Well, we've never had a problem, so maybe we'll get lucky again if I choose to bring home another bunbun.

Part of me just wants to see how Adam gets along on his own. When I let him out of his condo Friday morning, he went and laid down next to the couch. That isn't normal for him. He knew. I think he knew the night before when I only fixed one bowl of greens and closed him up for the night when I usually let him run for hours after getting his greens. However, first thing in the morning, he normally runs to Natalie's condo and says good morning to her and they spend time together before he runs around the room.

I put new boxes behind the couch and that helped keep Adam busy while I dismantled Natalie's condo, however he came out and sniffed the parts then went into his condo where he looked on with sadness in his eyes.

Dismantling her condo was one of the hardest things I had to do. I balled while doing it. I thought when I do it, it would be when I moved her to her new one.

Natalie loved this bunny key ring with two little carrots on it - I had gotten one for her stocking this year. I went ahead and gave it to Adam Christmas Eve morning. He tossed it aside as if to tell me it's not really his. He won't touch it, but I have it in his condo just in case he changes his mind.

This morning, I gave him his own Christmas present - it's a carrot chew toy. He went to town on it. A little while ago, I was talking to him and I picked up the carrot toy. He snatched it from me. He's so darn cute.

Adam has looked for Natalie tonight. She liked to lay in front of the heater and he went there and she wasn't there, he stood up on his hind legs and looked around. Then he came over and put his paws on my chair and looked to see if she was in my lap. It's heartbreaking. He and Natalie did this same thing after Faith passed a year ago last month.

I've read sites where it talks about how bunnies don't grieve. I beg to differ. I saw it in both of them after Faith passed. And I see it in Adam now.

Losing Natalie took the joy out of Christmas for me, but I went through the motions for the family. However, they may not realise it themselves, but my kids and my husband were my rock; they got me through last night and today.

I still haven't made the sugar cookies that I planned on baking Christmas Eve, maybe in a few days.

Maybe in a few days, I'll see the pictures of the day in my mind and gain pleasure from them and share. I mean after all -- all four of my sons and my three future daughter-in-laws was here. My heart normally would have been overwhelmed with happiness. I'd be giddy, I'd be driving my husband crazy with it.

Bekki

Christmas without the Kids - Panic Ahead!

2010-12-22T20:30:00.006-06:00

Many moons ago when my husband and I were married, holidays were a mass of scurrying from one side of the family to the other. I can recall my mother-in-law trying very hard not to be upset, because we either had to arrive at the start of a function and leave early, or come later when most of the fizz had gone out of it. However, I couldn't disappoint my family either.

Now I'm in the same spot she was in. I know I must share my sons with their future inlaws, and I thought I was really all right with that. I was proud of myself for being mature about it. Tonight, I don't feel very mature. I want to say no, stomp my feet and demand they be here, be selfish, but I can't. That would be foolish. I suddenly realized two of my sons definitely won't be here for dinner. It will be about eight for one to arrive and nine-thirty for the other. One son hasn't given me any idea of their plans yet. At least I can count on my youngest - he lives here. lol

It was bound to happen. I can't keep my boys - boys forever. They are young men with lives and responsibilites to their wonderful mates. And I am so proud of them. I need to suck it up and enjoy the time I do get with them.

This gives me an eye into the future when the time will come when tradition will change to become only my husband and myself for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. The boys will have families of their own and start traditions of their own and it will be there turn to be pulled in three different directions.

I think I need to have a heart-to-heart with my mother-in-law and find out how she dealt with it. How did she survive the first years of not getting up early on Christmas morning to kids all excited about opening gifts, or teens humoring mom. The very thought brings on the tears. I hope I don't become of those who use their pets as replacements.

I guess as long as they don't forget me and include me in some part of their holiday, I'll adjust. It's the way it is. Millions of moms have survived it.

I wonder, will I get a survivor pin if I make it five years after I'm dumped?

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net

Need a Last Minute Gift

2010-12-21T09:04:00.004-06:00

Well, Lulu is making it easy for you. Each day until Christmas day, they are providing a daily sale coupon code. Today's coupon code is Dec21 - simply put it in at checkout.

Why am I suggesting a self-publisher? It's the new wave and you can and will find some fabulous books for those you love or if you simply can't find anything else that would do. Or maybe you need a last minute gift and don't have time to get out there and shop.

And, yes, I happen to have three fabulous choices for consideration:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3243294

Annie and the Young Master - a spicy historical fairy tale
Jackie's Boys - a comical menage a trios
LOVE, Stalker of the Heart - a collection of poetry for the poetry lover - more for the teen.

Happy Holidays!

Bekki

Reader Review for Annie and the Young Master - 4 Stars

2010-12-16T15:03:00.004-06:00

Review by: Stephanie Burkhart on Dec. 16, 2010 :

Lynn pens a heartwarming tale of the power of love with "Annie and the Young Master." Lillian Basford comes from a well off family, but her father casts her out after a slight with nothing but the clothes on her back. Lillian encounters Samuel Wadkins as she walks away from her home and two share a powerful lovemaking encounter. Lillian tells him her name is Annie. Samuel departs.

Lillian soon finds employment as a servant for the Hammond family. The Wadkins host a local ball. Despite Lillian's love for Samuel, she's hesitant to attend not wanting Samuel to discover she's a servant. Can Samuel's patience and determination help the couple find happy ever after?

Lynn intrigues the reader right from the start with Lillian's plight. Lillian is full of resolve, determined to find her way despite the challenges she faces. Samuel knows his heart and won't give up until he gets what he wants.

The love scenes paint a highly charged erotic connection between Lillian and Samuel that will leave the reader wanting more.

Annie and the Young Master is a sinfully delicious Cinderella story.

Excerpt:

She scanned the room, taking in the gowns of reds, greens and blues, even gold, silver and purples. They made her pastel pink dress feel drab. Stepping back to take her leave, her eyes landed on his. He came toward her and she froze. How was she going to escape?

He stopped before her and bowed. “May I make your acquaintance?” he asked. “My name is Samuel Wadkins.”

Manners led her to curtsy. “Excuse me. I can not stay.”

He held his hand out to her. “I’d be pleased if you danced with me.”

His eyes held hers when they met. Lillian could not deny him. With her hand in his, he led her to the dance floor and laid a hand on her waist. She followed his lead easy enough, having danced with her father many times around the house.

“I’ve not seen you before, have I?” he asked.

“Would it matter?” she asked, her eyes lowered, voice quiet.

“Who’s your family?”

“Many questions. Am I to believe you’re in training for service?” she asked, tilting her head to look up at him.

“Forgive me.”

Samuel’s hand tightened on her waist as he whirled her around the floor, stopping to twirl and dip her. He held left her bent over his arm longer than necessary, his eyes penetrating hers. She worried he might see familiarity in her depths. Part of her wished not, part of her was glad to be near him even if she suffered another cold dip in the water to cool her wanting of his body. His eyes began to darken with desire and she shivered. If he laid her out now on the floor and loved her, the onlookers would be forgotten.

He drew her up, saying, “I feel I’ve seen into your eyes before. They’re such a unique blue, between the sky and the night.”

“It’s the lighting, maybe the event,” she murmured. Her heart pounded from both the dance and the desire steadily rising from being near him and remembering what it had felt like to have her body with his.

“I shall like to dance with you all night.”

She didn’t know what to say, but the change in the music temple set them off on a waltz. They glided around the floor as if they were alone. For her it seemed so. Their eyes watched one another as they whirled among others. If his could be trusted, he saw into her soul, the depths of heart. No laughter came from what he saw, but rather his eyes darkened with the same need she'd seen that morning too many fortnights ago.

When the music ended, he drew her close to him. She felt his breathlessness equal hers, from activity she would have believed had she not seen the growing need spread over his face. Was he so easily taken he couldn’t control himself? This thought pricked her heart, but she wanted to believe somewhere deep within him, a particle of him knew she to be Annie. It could wishful thinking or a way to save her heart for the moment, maybe.
He led her toward a table and handed her a glass of punch before guiding her through the nearest open door. She found herself in the night air, welcoming the breeze.

“I used to wonder about these affairs, but then I was sent off to school before I could attend.”

“Is it everything you imagined?”

“Yes, and no,” he said, closing the respectable distance between them. With a finger, he tipped her chin up. “There’s something about you, familiar.” His head bent near her ear and he whispered, “My body claims to know you in ways it desires.”

She swallowed and took a step backward. “Did your school teach you to be so forward?”

“Pardon my bluntness. I’m not normally brash.” He took her glass and set it down on the nearby table. “Shall we?” he asked, extending his arm.

Relieved to return to the dance floor, she wished for the normalcy the night should have had. Maybe know Samuel in an accepted sense of what's proper.

The chimes of a clock reached her. She listened and knew it to be the hour of ten. She must hurry home. Before the music began once more, she reached up on her toes and whispered in his ear. “Blessings to you, Samuel.” Then she turned to leave, but he pulled her back, holding her to his body.

His mouth claimed hers, releasing a hunger she should have kept back. Rather she drank and gave as she’d done that morning many weeks ago. The quiet of the room disturbed her and she pushed at him to let her go. “I have to go.” She ran from the room.

“Annie, wait!”

She heard him, but went for the buggy sitting beside the nearest carriage rather than wait for it brought up.

“Annie!” he called after her again.

If you'd like to read more, Annie and the Young Master can be purchased at the following links.

ISBN: 978-1-4524-3636-4 Purchase at: Smashwords - [Holiday sale, 50% off if you use code phrase MK54K] , Kobo, Lulu, Diesel, Sony, and Barnes & Noble.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Sharing the Joy of Christmas

2010-12-07T19:12:00.004-06:00

I love the holidays. My greatest joy is watching the kids open gifts Christmas morning. I listen to hints all through the year and most often they've forgotten they wanted it until they see it in their hands. Their smiles and joy is my gift.

So, I thought this year, I'd share some of my joy with readers. You can purchase Jackie's Boys 50% off.

BLURB: Jackie's used to the antics of her husband, Lenny, and his twin brother, Randy, but this time they decided to include her in their latest bet. She had forty-eight hours to figure out which one of them she was married to. However, she decides to turn the game around on them by following through on a long-time fantasy to have both brothers at the same time. [Menage a trios]

Reviews:
3 Cups - Coffee Time Romance, Regina - Jackie’s boys is a very sexy, but sweet ménage a trois love story. It is very erotic, and I liked how Ms. Lynn set up the encounter between Jackie and Randy. Ms. Lynn also did a great job of showing how while the two brothers may look alike, they each have their own different personalities. This is a very hot and enjoyable read that is worth adding to anyone’s book collection.

EXCERPT
Jackie looked up when the guys came into the living room. Letting her eyes roam over one, then the other, she grinned. "A wet t-shirt contest? Why wasn’t I invited?" Sauntering across the room, she said, "Guess, I'll be the judge." She ran a finger up their chests, flicked viewable nipples as she began to put her plan in motion. "Mmm, I think this shirt is wetter." Digging her nails into the material, she ripped it open, giving the chest an appreciative look. "Yum!" She looked over at the other twin and winked. "I think this is going to take some real studying, some hands on for me to know absolutely who is who." She pulled the man with the ripped shirt closer and kissed the parted lips, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He tangled with her until she pulled away.

Bringing Randy’s lips to hers, she ran her tongue over them. They both tasted alike–dinner. She lingered before slipping into his mouth to give her husband a moment to grasp where she was going with this. Randy sucked on her tongue, pulling on a nerve deep within her bringing hot need straight down into her clit. She pushed him away before she ruined her own intention. He certainly hadn’t lost his touch, nor had her body forgotten how he commanded it. She eyed Lenny, who watched her with no obvious clue to give away who he was. But, she knew. Looking from his glazed eyes to the matching set of his brother, she took a step back.

Smiling, she rested the tip of her tongue on the roof of her mouth, studying the speechless boys. "I’ll be waiting." Without hurry, she went down the hall to the bedroom, stripped, then stretched out on her stomach. Shame she didn’t have a camera recording their reaction.

With raised eyebrows Jackie watched the doorway, wondering where they were. Had she ruined their plan, and hers? Or, were they in the mist of their infamous rock-paper-scissor game to see who came first. If they tied as they often did, she hoped they’d say to hell with it and both come. "Please, please, please, let both of them come," she prayed as she dropped her chin on the bed.

Purchase Jackie's Boys at Smashwords for 99cents, use code word, ZA77P.

Merry Christmas!

Bekki
Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality
http://bekkilynn.net/.
http://bekkilynnsplanet.blogspot.com/

My Holiday Gift To You

2010-12-01T00:01:00.001-06:00

My gift to you this year is 50% off my books through Smashwords during the month of December. Simply use the following codes and pay only 99cents.

Jackie's Boys - ZA77P
Annie and the Young Master - MK54K
LOVE, Stalker of the Heart - EE85K

This does not include books published by eXcessica Publishing, only those published by myself.

Happy Holidays!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

Wonder How It Might Have Been?

2010-11-03T23:26:00.004-05:00

I was watching a show on the History channel when my son came home from the skatepark. After a while, he asked what it was. I clicked on the remote so he could see the title and read any information it had. He thought it odd I'd be watching a show called 'Hippies'. I told him it sounded interesting and reminded him I was only seven when the this era started, so I don't really know much about it. Around where we live, if you ask about the 60's the response all depends on if the person was a 'hippie' or not. If not, the response is usually, there are more important things to know. If they were a part of it, they look at you and shake their heads -- you're supposed to already know.

Anyways, after a while he asked about John F Kennedy, "Didn't he die one hundred years after Lincoln?" I told him I don't think so, I thought he was assassinated in 1963. So, we looked it up and it was 1963. Lincoln was 1865. This sparked a look at his brother, Robert F Kennedy. I'd always been fascinated with him, but I learned something I didn't know. You see, I always thought it was organized crime that had him assassinated, and maybe it was, but the timing leads to other thoughts. I had no idea that he was killed the morning after winning the democratic party's presidential candidacy.

Can you imagine if he'd become the president, how different things would be today? What path the United States would be on now? No Nixon, no Watergate, possibly our entire list of Presidents may be totally different. The wars we've had may not have been; 911 may not have happened.

It kind of makes me feel cheated not knowing what could have been. Yeah, they could be worse, but they could be better. ;)

As for the 'Hippies' show, it was fascinating. My husband came home and the three of us finished watching it. I enjoyed seeing Janis Joplin; learned "The Warlords" was the previous name of 'Greatful Dead'; the history of LSD and so many thing about the society back then. I can't wait to see it again and pick up on things I missed. And just maybe, Jeff will have more questions. This is the way to learn about history, not in a high school classroom.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Awesome Review for Jackie's Boys

2010-10-30T08:46:00.003-05:00

Don't let the 3 Cups fool you -- this is a top notch review. Thanks so much, Regina.

Jackie’s boys is a very sexy, but sweet ménage a trois love story. It is very erotic, and I liked how Ms. Lynn set up the encounter between Jackie and Randy. Ms. Lynn also did a great job of showing how while the two brothers may look alike, they each have their own different personalities. This is a very hot and enjoyable read that is worth adding to anyone’s book collection.

Regina
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/jackiesboysbybekkilynn.html

Note: The web page says eXcessica -- you won't find this story at eXcessica. It was published originally by eXcessica within an anthology, but buying it will not get you the story reviewed which is so much better.

I self-published this story through Smashwords who then distributed to Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel and waiting on Amazon.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Remodeling the Romance Writer

2010-10-26T08:02:00.005-05:00

I've been going through a process where I've been looking back on what I wrote before I was published and what I wrote to get published. Yep, there is a difference and it wasn't deliberate. I'm at a crossroad where I need to rethink my path.

I simply loved to write and I thought challengling myself to write not only genres I'm unfamiliar with in the writing compacity, but short stories as well would help me grow as a writer. How wrong I was. It's done the opposite. It's been frustrating to come up with story ideas and make them into a great read. It's caused me to ignore my longer works. It's drained me of all desire to write.

Writing stories for me has to be driven by the deep need a character has to have his or her story told. Forcing stories that don't have that drive hinders my writing ability.

So, I have a plan. I hope it works.

National Writer's Month starts next week. I've done this before, it's not hard to get 50,000 words out even when work sucks the life out of you, you have the flu and your harddrive dies. ;) This past weekend, I still had no idea what I was writing for this 30-day period. Then it hit me.

I have four short stories I've committed to, all due a few months apart next year, starting with January. So, why not try to get the first drafts done during NANO? Sounds good, doesn't it? Oh, my no. Ok, so I have the first one started and I know the ins and outs in my head, but it's stuck there. There is a May/December story, shouldn't be hard, I've written a few of those. So, I made notes on an idea for that story. Another is interracial, again, a familiar genre of which I've written, but I have no clue what to write. The final one is a horror story. You should have seen the HORROR on my face when I realized I'd committed to that. What the hell was I thinking? I guess with all the ghosts I've lived with, the stored horror in my mental files from books from the past, and the movies I've watched all my life, how could it possibly be hard to write must have been what I was thinking. I have no idea what it will be about. I suppose...oh, my gosh. I think I just got an idea for it.

I can see the confusion on your faces. What has all this have to do with Remodeling the Romance Writer? A lot. Remodeling you, the writer, for whatever reason isn't something we should be doing. Leave it to the rooms of your house. In other words, stay with what you love writing. Let your heart guide you, your characters guide you. Your stories will be so much better for it.

I know it's not New Year's Resolution time, but I have one. Once these shorts are out of the way, back to what I love. I'm excited about that. And anxious. I have a lot of work to do make them publish-worthy.

So, encourage me. Push me. Help me stay on track.

I could use a critique partner who writes similar contemporary works. I'm not up on fantasy or sci-fi.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

As for house remodeling, I best get back to painting the living room. Must be done today. The new floor gets laid tomorrow night.

4 Cups for Annie and the Young Master

2010-10-07T20:28:00.003-05:00

I just came across an awesome 4 Cup review for Annie and the Young Master. Thanks so much LeeAnn!

This is a sweet erotic tale of love and hope. If you believe in fairytales and happily ever after, this is the story for you. It takes a well known tale, puts a new spin on it, and gives it enough steamy romance to make it an adult love story. Bekki Lynn knows how to write erotic fairytales that will have you wishing for your very own prince.

LeeAnn
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

New Interview at Fallen Angel Reviews

2010-09-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/Interviews/2010/September-Tammy-BekkiLynn.htm

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Lost -- My Will To Write -- Reward - 10,000 Word Story if Found

2010-09-27T14:01:00.007-05:00

I have absolutely no desire to sit and write. It wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't have a short due in January. I open it, work on it for a couple of minutes, then I'm up doing something else or like now, whining about it here. lol What's really off is that I know how the story goes, it's all in my head. Even the next one is floating on the patches sensors.

I seriously don't know what is going on. Should I be worried, probably not. It's just wierd.

Today, I went shopping again; fourth time in the last week. It's not energized me like it used to. I mean really - the little breaks used to rev me up.

I did get something I've been wanting for months. Don't laugh, but I love household appliances. I bought the Bissell Stick Broom. It's also a hand held so I can vacuum the furniture or steps, if we had any. It was a breeze to put together - no tools required and cleaned wonderfully. I wanted it so I didn't have to get the big one out every day; or go a day without vacuuming while the filters dry. A day without vacuuming is not a pleasant picture when you have two dogs, two cats, and two bunnies. The bunnies don't make messes, but the dogs get in their hay and drag it throughout the room; one of our dogs has long hair and he sheds something awful.

I really do like Bissell - it's the best brand as far vacuums go. I've used Eureka - the worst ever, Rainbow - a pain to clean up, shop vacs - they clog at the end of the tube where it meets the inner lip, electrolux, Dirt Devil, and Kirby. I have a Bissell bagless, bag-in and now this. I need a small upholstery cleaner - I've not looked to see if Bissell has one, but I bet they do. I have a Dirt Devil carpet shampooer and it does well, but we've gone carpetless. I think I'm going to get mom a Bissell Stick Broom for her little appartment; it's all carpet.

HA! How'd you like that little spiel on my view of vacuums?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

How You Lose My Business

2010-09-21T23:42:00.003-05:00

This will be short.

How many of you refuse to purchase an item in the store if there is no price posted? I know I do.

So, why is it that authors receive numerous emails from various sites wanting us to buy ad space for our books, yet they give no prices? If you can't give me a price to consider budgeting for, you've lost my business.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

No One Hears My Screams

2010-09-16T15:09:00.003-05:00

Ever been through a period where life seems to go on, but you don't? It would be fantastic if this happened in a mode where I was being productive as a writer. Oh, I have spurts, but those do not complete a project.

I've had a lot of moments where I wonder if it's worth it and think about throwing in the towel. Usually, I'm smart enough to notice when it's PMS talking or a really bad time, but the wondering never goes away. Today, however, I'm all good and the very idea of stepping out of the publishing world feels damn good. Seriously, I loved writing more when I wasn't published. I enjoyed reading more when I wasn't published.

There are moments when I want to scream, even though I know no one would hear. My scream is as quiet as my talking voice. Believe me, it's been proven.

Still, I want to know why people who've purchased my books don't rate them. Have they purchased and not read them; read them and didn't deem them worthy of a rating? And why aren't they buying Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY? It's probably my best work.

Why no one talks to me in chats, comments on my blog posts, etc? I'm a shy person, but I've tried to put myself out there.

It's not that I need praise, or need validation that someone cared to bother with something I wrote. Well, maybe in a way. If the ratings are high, then I know people might be interested in reading more of my work. If no one is, it's a waste of my time and publishers which goes on down the line to the reviewers who take the time to read and give their opinion.

As it stands right now, I don't know if I should continue promoting my books. It feels like a running joke to do so.

Maybe I should hang it up and go back to making myself happy.

I guess there are probably a lot of authors out there who feel this way now and again, but I'm seriously considering finishing out my obligations and just running my blogs and groups for as long as anyone is interested in them.

I don't know for sure, but I felt it time to be honest. I'm not happy.

Bekki

LMAO - New Review for Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY

2010-09-12T21:23:00.002-05:00

I love it when a reviewer is so predictible all you can do is laugh at their
review of your story. Especially while they're making an ass of themself by not
only getting the title wrong, but the facts of the story. L T Blue of JERR did
not disppoint me with her consistency in this matter - she doesn't like anything
she reads of mine - or I really should say skims, because it's the only way she
could have come up with what she did. Probably why 95% of scores she gives are
2.5.

She renamed by book to Blood Destiny: Jewel of the Sun.

I'm glad to have a 2.5 added to my 2-5's, 4 and 3.5 -- it makes people more
curious to read a story when the review range is from one extreme to the other.

Full Review:

Title: Blood Destiny: Jewel of the Sun
Author: Bekki Lynn
Publisher: eXcessica
Reviewer: L.T. Blue
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Heat Level: H

Cassandra Jones is momentarily stunned when she walks into her boss and fiancé’s office to see another woman giving him a blowjob. This isn't something that Cassandra is willing to overlook, and she immediately leaves and breaks off the engagement. Still stung from the events of the day, Cassandra makes her way to her grandfather's pawn shop to take care of the paperwork, never understanding why a package would be addressed to her. When Cassandra opens the package, she is swept into a vision that is so real that she swears she can feel all of the sexual sensations. Elan Takoda instantly recognizes the woman whose tire he changed earlier when he goes to the pawn shop to pick up the package of peridot gems his grandfather sent. When Elan gets the gems home, he experiences a vision so intense he knows that his grandfather had something to do with it. No way would he envision making exquisite love to someone he doesn't know. Elan and Cassandra will have to come together to break the curse without losing their hearts.

As paranormal stories go I had a difficult time following along with the story line of Blood Destiny: Jewel of the Sun. Elan is a very strong man of few words, and he reminds me a little of a grunting caveman. Cassandra is hard to describe, and she isn't someone I think I would like very much, she comes across as very needy but determined to be independent. I didn't find there to be any sexual chemistry between Elan and Cassandra. The sex while hot was constantly mixed with reality and vision and after a while I had a hard time keeping up with what was real. The sexual heat was only felt during the first real encounter while the others were very mild in comparison. While most of the sex is rather tame, there are a few instances of anal play that reaches a fire zone. There are plenty of secondary characters in this story with just one or two that didn't seem to fit. Overall I didn't care for this paranormal story as much as I wanted.

Bekki

Other Places to Promote Yourself

2010-09-08T19:44:00.005-05:00

I started a new blog, Romances For More which coincides with the yahoo group . It's a place for m/m, f/f, menage, multiple parnter stories and the like. Interested in booking a date or becoming a regular contributor, email: romancesformore@gmail.com

Happily Ever After is also booking guest bloggers for general or theme weeks. Next week, we have Interracial week with a couple open spots. In October, we have readers week where we'd like readers who are not authors to give us their take on what they like, look for and how the changing market affects them if at all. Also, in October we have Paranormal week. In November, Inspirational week; December, Holiday week. All keeping within the male-female premise of the blog and this includes secondary characters as well. Interested, email: heaauthors@yahoo.com HEA also coincides with a yahoo group.

You can also add either blog to your blog tour if you like.

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

http://bekkilynnsplanet.blogspot.com/

eXcessica Scavenger Hunt - Win a Kindle 3 Opportunity

2010-09-01T07:34:00.003-05:00

EXCESSICA SCAVENGER HUNT

SEPT 1 – SEPT 30

eXcessica is giving away TWO Kindle 3 eBook Readers with wi-fi AND they will be already pre-loaded with dozens (75+!) of eXcessica eBooks (Scroll to the bottom for a list of erotic books that will come with the Kindle 3).

Our scavenger hunt runs from Sept 1 – Sept 30, 2010 and each “found” icon earns you an entry!

To earn entries, simply click through on the author links below and find this graphic:

Once you’ve located it, fill out this form to enter

To access the form and where to find the icon, go to the eXcessica Scavenger Hunt page.

Happy Hunting!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net

http://bekki-lynn.webs.com

Are we all supposed to be stupid?

2010-08-26T16:37:00.003-05:00

Repeatedly, in movies, sitcoms, and yeah, I've seen it in romances, too.

Man is supposed to get vasectomy. Man doesn't want it, doesn't get it.

Wife gets pregnant, or otherwise learns he didn't do it and is furious.

People, people, people.

How could she not know her husband didn't get the procedure done?

Vasectomy's are not something a man can go into an office and have done and go back to work like they'd gone in for a mere physical. There is pain, swelling, warm baths, ice packs and lots of laying around on the couch whinning. They can't wear underwear or jeans without excruciating pain.

And after a period, they have to have a sperm count done to make sure he's not producing.

I'm no doctor, but my husband has been through this as has several of my male friends.

I can't say it enough - RESEARCH - the internet makes it so easy. There's no excuse.

Back in 1989, I read a romance novel where the author had put in that once a woman has a tubaligation, it's permanent, can't be undone. I was in my third trimester with my third son after having my tubaligation reversed six months before I conceived him. The misinformation the author put out there made me mad.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Even NY Bestsellers Need to do Research

2010-08-24T08:17:00.006-05:00

You know, as writers, research is important. I always say that you never know when someone of the area will read the book and know that you've not done it, or done it well enough.

Even New York Bestsellers need to do their research.

I started reading Nora Roberts 'Black Hills' the other day and right off the bat, new she hadn't done proper research.

There are no Moose in the Black Hills. At first, I thought maybe she meant Elk, but then she refers to both.

I was astonished that there's no mention of pronghorn, commonly known as antelope. This book starts out in 1989, we lived there from 1986-1994 - antelope was everywhere and in great numbers. As they were when we returned for a visit a few years ago.

I love Nora, she's been my inspiration for so long. I am rather disappointed with her books of late - even the JD Robb books, but this mishap of information isn't detouring me from the story. What's catching me is something I learned from an editor before I was ever published and it actually took me a few months after she told me twice.

Awkward scenes -- scenes that aren't complete, finished, can make the transition to the next one rough. I'm seeing this a-plenty so far. I'm wondering why a seasoned author would do this.

I know she once told me to 'never let anyone tell me I can't write the way I do' and that holds for her as well. However, she's changed her writing after all these years. Why?

I can't begin to answer that question and I won't stop reading her books, but please Nora, return to the writing power you once held.

Private Scandals is my all time favorite. I own nearly every book she's ever written.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Rant Over Emails

2010-08-18T11:39:00.004-05:00

I received an email today that is sparking this little rant.

Press photos.

People take a photo and write up a little spiel to make it out to be what it's not, usually giving it a bad turn. It's passed around to their contact list, then around the contact lists of those people and so on. Soon, it's all the rage on the net.

People, these photos are staged and could very well be photoshopped. Get over yourselves and stop passing them around with the negative spiels. No wonder this country is so full of hatred and intollerance.

Many moons ago, I did something that caused press interest and rather than snap photos during the interview, they took me and my family outside, had us hold hands and walk down the sidewalk with the parents gazing adoringly at the kids. Everyone who knew us knew immediately the photo was faked. They had a child between the parents. Mom and dad always walked along holding hands.

In a restaurant where I once worked, they were taking photos of the staff doing their job. Only they didn't walk through the restaurant and take photos at random. They staged the customers, told the server how to stand and what kind of look to wear on their face. The photos looked candid, but they weren't. Other times, yes, photos were taken at random, but generally for menu use and not by the press.

You can like or dislike the person in the photos all you want, but know by passing the spiel around, chances are, you're promoting a lie. Lies hurt people.

I certainly don't want my kids basing their opinions on such people due to these types of emails.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

It's My Party - Win a Present

2010-08-12T11:12:00.004-05:00

It's my birthday, so leave a comment, today only, if you'd like to win one of my books in .pdf format. Leave your email and which book you'd like.

Annie and the Young Master - historical fairy tale - not too erotic

Jackie's Boys - menage a trios

Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY - erotic paranormal

Last Glass of Wine - erotic contemporary

A Psychic Hitch - erotic contemporary

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

New Release - Jackie's Boys

2010-07-28T16:51:00.003-05:00

Blurb:

Jackie's used to the antics of her husband, Lenny, and his twin brother, Randy, but this time they decided to include her in their lastest bet. She had forty-eight hours to figure out which one of them she was married to. However, she decides to turn the game around on them by following through on a long-time fantasy to have both brothers at the same time. [menage a trios]

PG Excerpt:

She was picking beans to can and freeze when chatter had her looking over her shoulder. "Morning, lazy-butts!" she called out.

"You’re the farmer."

"You were raised in the country." They stood barefoot, wearing identical black shorts, not that it mattered. She wouldn’t know who she was bantering with if they wore different colors.

"Can we help?"

All right, what were they up to now? "Sure, you can." She looked around to see what would be safest for her vegetables. "You can pull weeds in the corn rows. You know, the dirt path between those rows of tall green stalks."

"Ha ha."

"I’d put shoes and shirt on, gloves wouldn’t hurt."

They came down the row behind her and picked her up by her underarms, letting her feet dangle.

"Hey, guys! I’ve work to do if you want to eat this winter. Len, don’t you have to work today."

They set her down on the patio sandwiched between them. The one behind her moved the lose strands of the hair and started kissing her neck. "I wouldn’t do that if I were you," she said about the time he started sputtering.

"Damn it tastes like—"

"Bug spray. Part of my gardening attire.

"Ok, fine. How long before you wash it off?" The man in front of her asked.

"When the work is done." She walked over to the ledge near the kitchen window and picked up her gardening cologne. "I’ll be done sooner if you help." They held out their arms, allowing her to spray them down.

She watched them approach the corn, eye it, look at one another then they took opposite ends of the twenty twelve-foot rows she planted. They got down on their hands and knees and started pulling. It was all she could do not laugh her ass off at the site of two grown men crawling around in the corn. They didn’t have to, but she decided to let them punish themselves for a bit. She returned to the beans, listening for grumbles.

"This is going to take a week."

"Yeah, well, you have the softer end."

"No, you do. Let’s switch."

She smirked and watched them trade places, not ready to end their suffering.

"Man, the weeds are cemented in."

"Told you."

"Trade back."

"No"

Jackie rolled her eyes and relented. She stood and went over to the shed where she pulled out two hoes. Walking over to the corn, she stood for a moment eyeing their asses. She whistled and they both looked around at her. "Nice view, sexy, I call a tie at ten." She tapped the tools on the ground. "This is what I use to weed. I’m pretty sure you were brought up to use them, too." They all but ran to her.
Each man grabbed one, kissed her on the mouth and muttered, "Ten and a half," as they walked away.

Laughing, she returned to the beans to finish her last row for the day.

When she reached the end of the row, she realized she hadn’t heard a peep from the guys in a while. She went along the corn until she saw them. They worked fast having done a little over half between them and the work was passable. Satisfied, she hauled the bushel of beans to her outdoor sink, uncovered it and started filling it with water before dumping the beans in to wash them. As it filled, she did what she often did on bean pickin’ day, she stripped out of the clothes and stood under the outdoor shower to wash the sweat, repellant and itch away. The cold water felt wonderful on her heated skin, caused as much from the guys’ near nakedness then sun beating down on her. Without drying, she pulled on a smock top which once belonged to her mother-in-law. It covered her ass and that was all she needed as she washed the beans and picked off the ends. She had two tubs to put them in as she did. One for the ones she snapped for canning, the other for ones she left whole for the freezer.

"Hey, tryin’ to distract us?"

She grinned. "Get back to work."

"I did my half." He stood under the shower with his shorts on. "You always run around naked."

"We’re in the country, no two-legged neighbors," she said, watching the water run down his chest. "You’re distracting me. Why don’t you go in and turn the burner on under the black kettle?"

He came over to her, dripping and put his arms around her. "Since we're distracted, I think we should do something about it."

_____________

Enoy!

Available at Smashwords, other venues coming.

Cover Design by Bekki Lynn

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net

Booksigning - Fun Outside the Box

2010-07-26T12:01:00.000-05:00

For the last two years, I've come across e-authors discussing book signings.

Cant it be done? How?

Also thrown about was pros and cons, more cons than pros from those who've done them.

It's always disheartening to hear marketing options don't bring sales or don't work, or can't work for e-authors. Are we in this business to admit defeat? No. I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'Where there's will, there's a way'. Sometimes it takes brainstorming with others to find the way, but isn't the 'will' always there?

I'm no expert, but while most if not all of us have written several books before we actually learned how to write them are doing the same thing with marketing. Jumping in without the knowledge of what we're attempting. So, yes, failure comes or if luck is with you, you don't.

Marketing takes knowledge and a willingness to fail as long as you're determined to get back on that horse.

Yes - major guts, too. The mere thought of putting myself out there and stumbling terrifies the skin right off me. And for the record, I don't have much skin left. I've been scared a lot.

I think most of us are inherently shy and afraid of getting out from behind our computers and coming face-to-face with public.

It's amazing how I've managed to be in a people business for nearly thirty-four years. I never really thought about it until we moved back home and I was faced with people who knew the real me, the shy girl who became distraught at the mere request to stand before my peers and spew words. Everyone knows how intimidating and cruel school-age peers can be.

But then I realized when I'm at work I put on a persona much like an actor does when he's playing a character. I'm still me, but not the real me. The personality that remains behind the shield steps out and is able to chat, flirt and laugh with the customers. I recall one evening I was waiting on a older couple. He was primed and ready for a good time. So, he asked me what my name was. I pointed to my name tag and said, "Well, some days I go by what's on my name tag, but tonight, I feel like a Cindy." He laughed. Later, one of my co-workers came up to me and said my table was asking for their server, a girl names Cindy. I laughed went to tend his need.

You can be whoever you need to be to get the job done. The key is to have fun doing it. A work place without fun is not a place where I want to spend my time.

So, put on your fun cap and put all you've ever heard about book signings away.

Ok, with me so far. ;)

The first thing we must decide is "Yes, I'm doing. I'm taking the plunge."

That was easy, wasn't it?

Now get out that calendar or date book and thumb through three months from now - choose a date, one that's hopefully around a holiday of some kind, but keep in mind Monday-Fridays are usually not busy days for businesses where you'll want to consider. Got one? All right, now skip to the next month and choose another date. It's always best to have another in mind in case you can't have the first one.

So, now you've decided to do it and you have dates in mind. Now here's the biggy. Where are you going to set up your book signing event?

Bookstore, of course. Not necessarily. This is where I'm going to throw a wrench into traditional thinking. Ha - have you ever known me to be traditional?

The places for book signings are as endless as the roots of a hundred year old oak tree.

When it comes to the business end of planning, my mind works it. Executing - me usually gets in the way.

So, while me is in a time out, I've thought about many places where it's possible to do signings.

Summer Activities:

Flea Markets - we have a centralized location in the city that has indoor and outdoor sales. When we lived in Georgia, Smiley's Market was huge and a fun place to spend a few hours on a Saturday. You could find everything under the sun.

Community Sales - these are fairly common just about anywhere. Whether or not it's held in a centralized location such as a city park or if the whole town sets up tables in their driveways.

Festivals - it seems every small community has one throughout late spring.

Fundraisers - donate a portion or all of your profits to the cause.

These are all things I've come up with, but in my research of book signing how-to's, I came across Lulu University in one of my newsletter. It was fate I found it when I did, because the next two classes were about doing book signing and thinking outside the box. Can you see me smiling?

In these two classes, I heard about 'tying your book to a theme' -- while it's easier to tie non-fiction to these, it's so doable to fiction.

For instance, my first two books are set around a restaurant, so it's possible to do book signings at restaurants and coffee shops. My first three books are set in the same locale for the most part. Who doesn't like read stories set in a land they live in?

For historical authors, why not do Renaissance Fairs, Historical Societies as well as the above.

If your hero is a techno geek, hit up electronic stores.

If you write children's books -- Chuck E Cheese.

Horror, Mystery and the like -- what about Haunted Houses around Halloween?

Movie stores -- this is something I could also do with my books -- there are many wonderful movies with a restaurant setting. Pair your books with movies.

Card shops - especially around Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day -- people love special gifts, especially if they were acquired straight from the author and signed.

Let your mind fly and run with it.

Now, you have the will-to, the dates, places lined up. How do you get them to agree?

This is where the work begins. You need to realize one thing about book signings. It's not about sales. It's about what your presence will do for the venue and why should the reader be interested in your books.

Figure these two things out and you're on your way to success. Once you've secured the date, find out what they'll do, which usually isn't as much as you will do. Yeah, it figures. lol This is the time to find out if the bookstore will order books or not, chances are if they are POD, they won't order them. That's ok, you can order them via your publisher. I'd order no less than fifty. It's never wise to be caught without books.

Next:

Marketing the Event

Have some bag stuffers made up with your logo or a book cover with the event information - these can be placed at various businesses to be placed in the bags during checkout.

Posters with your book covers and event information to hang in the venues window and possibly other places.

Send notices out radio and newspaper - they should advertise your event for free.

Take advantage of freebie papers. Many are on stands inside of the door of businesses, or outside. While you may think no one reads these, they often have a larger readership than your daily paper.

Day of Event:

Always arrive at least forty-five minutes early to set-up and hand out 'event today' cards. Unless of course, it's a community event where you're surrounded by other vendors then you can forgo the 'event today' cards.

Go in with no less than twenty-five books, but have a stash in your car in case you sell-out. It's never good to be caught without books.

Have freebies on the table - a dish of wrapped candy, magnets, bookmarks, pamphlets about your books, etc. Even have give away bags with promo items from various authors in them. People love free stuff - give until it hurts.

Do have a email sign up sheet even if you don't have a newsletter as yet.

Also, if your rights are not tied up with your contract, have your book turned into audio or place it on a CD and have them out on the table.

Something I thought would be nice and for me though with a little expense, but I think quite worth it. Since I have candles made for each of my books, I could have them on display with their respective book and have some on hand to sell. Also, for my latest book, a man's fragrance was made available with the same scent as the candle. So, if you have anything like that - display it.

Last but not least - at the end of your signing -- never pack up your books and take them with you unless it's a community sale or similar. If it's a business, discuss leaving your books on consignment. Now, the standard rate for consignment is the venue gets 40% of the retail price.

I'd heard about consignments a couple of weeks ago from another author and thought, wow - books on consignment. I'd heard of jewelry and clothing. I have a friend who has jewelry in three local shops on consignment and she mentioned I should put my books there as well -- I honestly didn't think it was possible. See, you learn something every day.

One biggy before I leave the consignment bit - NEVER LEAVE UNSIGNED BOOKS -- sign and date them before you leave them with the venue. Signed books cannot be returned, if the venue had purchased them for the event.

What to do during event? This is important. I've seriously avoided author signings in bookstores because they look unapproachable. Don't sit at the table unless you do have people there and you're signing book after book. Get up, move around, talk to people. People are generally interested in how why you write and how did you become published. Be interesting, not boring. Don't look bored even if you are.

How's that? Have I got you all excited to get out and try it?

I have the excitement, the will, but me is in the way. So, a while back, I thought maybe I'd like to do it with another author. Chicken, oh yeah. I was thrilled to hear it recommended. It could be fun. And the other author doesn't have to be of the same genre. The two of you could have some interesting conversation that could draw people over -- talking about the differences of our genres, why you love the genre you write and so on. My dilemma has been finding local published fiction authors. I know some who live more than an hour away. Like your states, I'm sure, mine is full of published writers. However, the key is being local - the media loves the local author angle.

I have a press release I've been holding onto, basically because I want to have my ducks in a row. They say a these can lead to an interview and the type of release I want to put it isn't necessarily about me or my books, but to educate my locals on digital publishing. Then I saw the Lulu classes and thought, this is what I need to build my knowledge.

I really recommend everyone check out Lulu University. It's really simple to sit and listen to the classes. They are jam packed full of information. This years can be found on their blog.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these? Other venues? Share your experiences with us.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Talk Radio - Another Promotional Avenue

2010-07-21T18:00:00.000-05:00

Talk Radio isn’t really a new concept. Many have been doing it for years. What’s changed is the way it’s done and who’s doing it. Businesses and non-business people are doing it. All it requires is a phone and computer.

There are different aspects when it comes to choosing the podcast format for you. Blog Talk Radio is one of the largest, if not the largest site for resting your laurels. Here, you can sign up as a listener or a host. Of course like everything else, you can upgrade to a paid account and have access to features to enhance your ability to reach listeners.

As authors, we’re always hearing, find your target audience. Talk radio gives authors an opportunity to reach an audience of your genre; have guests and take calls from listeners. It’s a real way to interact with people and let them get to know you.

Currently, they have over three hundred episodes in the Book category alone from authors, editors, reviewers, publishers and promotion gurus. Promotion is how I actually came upon Blog Talk Radio. I was doing some research and one of the pages had a link. I listened and was impressed with what I heard and thought, ok, this can be an avenue for promotion.

Like some of us, ideas are great, but implementing them isn’t always so easy. Breaking down the barrier of introverted authors is one of the biggest challenges. Almost as difficult as finding an interesting topic to talk about don’t you think?

If you look through the different podcasts, you’ll see some names I think many of us know – Phoebe Jordan, Nikki Leigh, Rachelle Chase, and maybe some others.

What I didn’t see which leaves a niche wide open is no podcasts on specific genres. I would think having those would not only help authors and readers find a commonality, but allow for a wide range of interviewees within the genre.

Still afraid of taking the step? I am – it’s something new to learn and changes aren’t really my cup of tea. However, in their drop-down menu under Home, click on help and let them take away your fears. They give you the low-down and how to in what appears to be a simple manner.

I know this may not be conducive to dial-up internet, but for those maybe doing an interview would be ideal.

I’m pondering and will look into things a bit deeper

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Rizzoli & Isles

2010-07-19T21:48:00.003-05:00

Anyone else watching it?

Do you get the feeling that the creator of the storyline watched a lot of Bones and The Closer? Tonight, more than last week, I'm seeing too much similarity in the way the ladies protray their characters. Or try to.

I don't have a real issue with Angie Harmon's role, yet, but Sasha Alexander is sorly miscasted. She'd do better casted as a snobbish wife to a prominent businessman.

I don't know if it's because I watched her on a couple of seasons with NCIS and of course catch the reruns, but half the time, her lines in this new show are forced and fake. And what a bad imitation of Bones. You'd think she would have learned something from Ducky's role and a cast that works so well together.

Someone needs to tell her she needs to become the character she's playing rather than simply reciting the scripted lines?

And her characters friendship with Rizzoli is just as forced half the time. I'm not feeling a real connection between the cast.

I know the show did well the first week, but can it hold its audience past the first few episodes?

Bekki

Turn-offs or Turn-ons?

2010-07-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

I recently read a post where input was acquired as to what readers found as a turn-off in erotic stories.

While the list contained what most publishers list as absolutely nots, there were two things that are not on any taboo lists, but these readers don't want them.

So, are these readers the minority?

The first that bothered me was that under the topic of incest, step-siblings were included - it's sick they say. WHAT! Do they not know that step excludes the bloodline therefore it is not incest? Having three step-sisters, a step-brother, a half-sister, a half- brother as well as a brother and sister, I'm well aware of the differences. Next thing you know, siblings who marry siblings will be considered taboo. My brother and sister married siblings. My two older step-sisters married guys who are cousins. Would that be ick to these readers?

What about Fisting? Why would that be a turnoff and barely tollerated in BDSM, and only accepted if it's part of the warning? I personally find fisting hot and exciting if done correctly.

But then, I guess if you're writing a larger than life hero, his hands might be uncommonly large and uncomfortable when he folds his fingers over his thumb, I however do not write those types.

I have to believe these readers are the minority as I am when I say I find muscle-bound alpha males a turnoff. I rarely consider a story which presents one on the cover. I would throw a hissy fit if one was ever put on one of my books, especially since it would be a major misconception of my hero.

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. That's what keeps authors and publishers in the business to provide a variety of books.

Would I cater my stories to a group of readers such as this? NOPE! I write first and foremost for me. Secondly, I tell the stories the characters want you to read. Pure and simple.

Catering to an audience can destroy your voice, ruin your style of writing, and most all, ruin your love of writing. Stay true to the author you are and your audience will come.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Taglines and Booktrailers - The Similarities

2010-07-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

Taglines are used for many reasons, but what is their purpose?

A person's time and attention span these days is so short that you have to get their attention and then hold it. A Tagline about your book must convey the heart of the story -- a dramatic, but basic overview. Taglines are also used to give people an insight into what you write. My tagline is 'Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality' -- this should tell the author exactly what kind of stories I write in a nutshell. Coming up with one for your story may take a few more words, but keep it short and always one sentence. For A Psychic Hitch, I use 'Cheri London wants a baby, but not the man.' This should give the jist of the storyline, but also leave unanswered questions -- make them curious.

Book trailers are no more than a teaser -- a venue to entice the viewer to buy the book. You think writing a synopsis for a 50,000 book in less than five pages is hard, well, it's nothing compared to this.

The reader needs to feel the emotional tug, they want to know more, and a reason to rush off to buy it. How do you do this? Use the emotions -- reach right out and twist the heart just enough to hook them.

Find the scene which stands out as an emotional kicker and choose snippets, no more than six words. Or you can write snippets which coincide. Find music at royalty free site and carefully choose a piece to reflect the story and the scene. Gather up photos at royalty free sites, keeping in mind the characters, what they look like - color of hair and so on.

Now you have everything for the video in one place. I use Windows Movie Maker, so then I upload the photos and music to it. It's time to make a masterpiece.

Blending images and text to the music, hitting the right tempo at the height of the scene is important. I find my program easy to work with. You simply place the images and text in the timeline bar in the order they should appear and choose the pacing - how fast it changes from one image to another. It's important they glide from one to another rather than come off choppy.

With A Psychic Hitch, I used music to tell the story. The lyrics are perfect while the photos give the gist of Cheri's conflict and that is 'the man'. This was my first attempt two years ago, so yeah, if I did it again, I'd do it different. I'd use text and maybe focus more on the hooking with a teaser; draw on the emotions. I might yet redo it, and make one for the other two books.

Since I ventured out in the book trailer world, Windows has improved the functions of Movie Maker. This helped making the second video so much easier. Also, I have a graphics program in which I can add text to anything. I did this with my second video where I used text from my brochures to introduce to people what kind of an author to expect from me. What I don't like about the video is the sharp end of the music. I had shortened it to meet the images. When I go to redo it in order to incorporate a review for my new book, I'll have to figure out what to do about it.

Do you have a tagline? For you as an author? For each of your books?

Bekki
Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality
Jewel of the Sun's Blood Destiny - paperback
Last Glass of Wine
A Psychic Hitch
Servin' It Up
Love, Stalker of the Heart
http://bekkilynn.net/
http://bekkilynnsplanet.blogspot.com/

Vendors and Publishers -- Give Authors Sales Access

2010-07-14T09:42:00.005-05:00

You know -- there are a lot of disgruntled authors out there.

We're all wondering what is going on with sales and who is to blame.

I don't have an answer for that. If I did, I'd know why my latest book isn't selling.

What I do think should be done to lower our stress level and eliminate some worrisome thoughts, is that vendors and publishers need to make some changes.

I propose that vendors and all publishers revamp their systems to allow for this. Some publishers are already doing this. It's not hard and the money involved will be worth it for all. Allow authors access to their sales numbers on their books.

When a author's initial book goes up, an automated email is sent to the author giving them instructions on how to set up a password to access their sales numbers. This would only need done once. Each time after, every time one of their books is added to the database, it shows up in their sales listing. If there is multiple names, put a dash 1 after one of them or something like that.

Don't say it's costly, don't say it isn't doable, I know it is and the cost will far be less than the time the staff spends shooting down emails from authors requesting this information.

This should have been a consideration from the start.

Get on it!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net

Ten Steps for New Authors

2010-07-12T00:27:00.006-05:00

Have you found yourself in a panic once you've signed the contract, approved a cover, finished the edits? Of course you have. None of us go into this business knowing what to do. Not exactly.

Here are a few tips.

1. Put together a website. Generally, it's a good idea to do so before you receive the first contract offer. It will be one thing you don't have to worry about. There are some free web sites available, but read the rules carefully, espeically if you're an erotic writer. Some have rules against it on their freebies, but can do with paid service. I use http://www.webs.com/ - I think you can have about a dozen pages before you have to upgrade.

Get a domain name, it's more professional. My Domain is what we use in this house. It will run you about $12 a year - they just raised the prices.

It should contain a short bio written in third person. Keep it short and business oriented.

Readers and other look for Bookshelves, however you wish to label it. It should list your books whether they are available now or upcoming with at least one purchase link if it's available.

Have a link to an excerpt or first chapter. People want to find out what your books are about.

A 'brag' page where you list accomplishments and reviews. If you're a social creature and attend lots of writing events, have a photo page sharing your experience.

Links are appreciated if they are relevant to your writing life. This can include interviews, press releases, book trailers, etc. You can also do banner sharing with other authors.

Press Kits are a take or leave for most authors. If you choose to do this, they often would like to read past interviews, have a short bio, and a professional head shot photo.

2. Join yahoo groups for writers and readers. There are lots of them out there, so don't let yourself become overwhelmed. Start with a few and move on when you're comfortable. In these groups, you can interact with other members who are of a variety of genres and publishers, or simply readers. For most of these groups you can promote your work. Carefully read the rules sent to you upon joining. I've found it's easier to list groups according to what day of the week promos or excerpts are allowed.

Unfortunately, you'll find some groups use promo interchangably with excerts. This can be confusing. If in doubt ask. Promos are posts that list snippets of things you have going on with links taking the reader to another site. Mine are commonly filled with my books with blurbs, buy links and review rankings. When I have news to share, I top the promo post with it. Usually news contains new book releases, new reviews, new interviews, chatting somewhere, etc.

Excerpts are a 1000 word or less section from your book - an interactive scene between the hero and heroine. It must contain a buy link and publisher info. Often you can have a blurb ahead of the excerpt. Excerpts, like your chapters, should leave the reader hanging. My excerpts usually don't have the blurb, but after the excerpt I have buy links, review ratings then I include blurbs and links for my other books.

3. As soon as you receive your ARC [advanced readers copy], send it out to review sites. Your publisher should have a list of who they send to and who you can send to. If not, look around see where other people who are posting reviews are getting them from. Or you can email me. I have a list of about twenty-five review sites. Not all sites will review your book, so send out as many as you can; you can stagger them by doing a few now, a few next month and so on.

4. If you feel confident and ready start putting in requests for interviews. A few of the review sites do these as well as other sites and even authors. When answering these interview questions, be yourself. Relax and take your time. Answer the questions, then wait a day, go back through them and improve or proofread and be sure it's putting across the image you want to have out there. This interview will forever be on the internet. Don't give short and sweet responses, but don't be so wordy that one answer takes up half a web page.

5. Guest Blog. Sometimes you can choose the topic or the blog owner will ask you to talk about an area they've learned you have a high interest in and knowledge about. If you're asked for a themed post, don't skimp. Have fun with it. Introduce yourself, tell everyone why you write what you write and where some of your ideas come from. If you're promoting a new book, talk about how the book came to you and if there's a special story behind he premise, share it. Then give a short excerpt which is usually the excerpt you'll use to promote your book. Always include a book cover and buy links. If you like, a photo of yourself. And also important, be around on the day your blog post goes up. It's vital to respond to comments people have made.

6. If you love to be socialable, a lot of yahoo groups will be glad to schedule an author day or a couple of hours where you can meet and greet with your fingers. This time will be all about you and your books. You can invite others to join and share excerpts or you can brave it alone.

7. Find out if your publisher has monthly author chats anywhere. Many do. These aren't mandatory and you don't have to stay all day. It'd be nice to drop by, say hi and introduce yourself, leave a promo and it's a good idea to check back later in case someone responded to your post. Most chats are scheduled when people have to work. And there are always lurkers -- people who sit and watch, but never talk.

8. The day your book is released, often, if your publisher has a reader/author group, you can spend the day promoting your book there, or you can schedule a release party in another group or a blog. The parties often include contests where you can give away copies of your new book or an online gift card to your publishers site. Most important - have fun.

9. Have some promo items made up. Most of us use Vistaprint for things like business cards, postcards, magnets, t-shirts, mugs, etc. Magnets and bookmarks are popular items. Some review sites take promo items to use as giveaway prizes for contests; authors take them to put in bags they'll give away at conferences, book signings, contests, etc. I recently learned from author Molly Daniels, that you can have bookmarks done at Office Max.

10. Don't stop writing. It's extremely important that you don't let promotion take up all of your time.

If you have any questions, anything to add, please leave a comment.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Paperbacks Are Golden

2010-07-06T00:01:00.002-05:00

My birthstone is Peridot. I love the color and the stories behind it. Its about the only jewelry I wear aside from my wedding ring set. A few years ago, a publisher announced a theme using the birthstones. I never wanted to write anything specifically for someone elses specifications, but this enticed me. I wrote a story titled Evening Sun. I subbed it and it came close to being accepted. After I subbed it, I hoped for a rejection. I think, like most writers, we get feelings about our stories. I had a strong feeling about this one. A short line wasn't what it needed.

When the rejection came, I was so relieved.

I set about making it the story the characters and I believed it should be and I renamed it. Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY. Following my gut paid off. It's received amazing reviews: 5 Cups, 5 Stars, 4 Stars, and 3.5 Stars.

Jewel is an interracial paranormal with sizzling hot sex. My hero is an Apache Indian who was raised on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona where Peridot is mined. The story revolves a triad of spiritual matchmakers who have, in life and death, sealed the destiny of their descendents, Elan Takoda and Cassandra Jones, with the use of a spell on the Peridot gems.

Chapter One and Reviews

It's available in paperback as well as ebooks. I like to make sure people know about the paperback because they are real item that can be held, read and no chance of getting lost in fried harddrives or accidentially deleted. Recently, I found ebooks from my ebook file missing. How, I have no idea. I don't even delete the suckie reads. Besides, I find it comforting to lay in bed or the bath and turn the pages of a good book. I don't know how to describe the feeling, but simply, comforting and cozy.

Unlike the Servin' It Up series, both the ebook version and paperback version of Jewel are identical.

The paperback form is available at Amazon, while the ebook format is available at Amazon, Bookstrand and eXcessica as well as other venues.

Happy Reading!

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Happy Fourth of July

2010-07-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Drive safe - Party safe!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net

Servin' It Up

2010-06-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

What could be better than sex and food, sex and food service employees. Ha! I just came up with that. Kind of lame, huh?

Having more than thirty years in the business, I never intended to write stories about it, but it happened. In this business, you meet all kinds of people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles. Never a dull moment. Never a lack of drama. Never a lack of ideas. So, it was destined.

It's a series set with four stories though only two are available right now.

A Psychic Hitch is a story about the genreal manager of Rogan's Steakhouse who wants to have a baby, but not the man. Cheri London looks at her options and decides to find a donor via the internet. After a few failed attempts, she finds herself at the mercy of a good samaritin who is too good to be true.

Chapter One and Reviews

Last Glass of Wine is a little diffient romance where I don't show the perfect male. The assistant manager is head over heels in love with a woman company policy says he can't get involved with. Cole Evans takes his frustrations out on her in typical male fashion.,unsusspecting she's wanting him as badly. Until he makes a move that could cost him his job.

Chapter One and Reviews

Every author has books which are their favorites and generally, it's their current one as each and every story grabs our heartstrings. Last Glass of Wine will always hold that speical spot, I believe. This story poured from me out of the blue. It was an emotional roller coaster from the get-go.

I know most blog readers are ebook readers, but many still like books you can lay back and hold in your hands. A Psychic Hitch and Last Glass of Wine are compiled into one paperback. I think it's an awesome deal. Not just because you get two reads that are part of a series, but because the stories in this format are cleaner and about two thousands words longer than each of their ebook versions.

Servin' It Up is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers. Or you can take the ISBN number [1606012924 ] into your local bookstore and have them order it for you.

Or if you prefer the ebook format, they're available at Amazon - APH; LGOW, Barnes & Noble - APH; LGOW, and Bookstrand - APH; LGOW as well as other venues.

Happy Reading!

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

Braving the Interview

2010-06-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

Whether it's your first interview or your tenth, do they really get any easier? I've only been on one side of the fence and I found it nerve racking.

Like anything else, I think you need to have confidence in yourself, believe in yourself in order to answer the questions. I, too, think you need to research and see how others handle interviews. My first three interviews I did my first year as an author were scary and turned out dull and lame; immature as far as the business goes. It didn't help that I was able to answer the questions at my leisure. This year, I have two scheduled and have yet to receive the questions, so I thought I'd research and glean advice. See if I could find help on maybe fixing my mindset. You know, see if I can stay out of that 'test freeze' mode.

There is no right or wrong answer, but still what you say and how you say it is judged. People weigh it and decide if you're interesting enough to bother with. If the interview is dull, then you're writing must be. After all, this is how publishers, agents and editors judge if you're worth considering.

The first place I stopped enlightened me. It indicated it wasn't so much me as it was the wrong questions being asked. Were they emailed pat questions given to all interviewees? Were the questions general? Yes, to both. Now, I understand the purpose of this so not all the blame can be given to the interviewer. Some authors answer these questions with poise and humor and it's a joy to read.

So, what is being suggested is that interviewers take the time to read an authors books, their blog, even reviews and form questions from there. While this can be time consuming, I can see how it can be helpful. But what about reading the authors website where most have excerpts, a first chapter and their bio. Between these and blurbs, you pretty much get a gist of the story and can form questions to ask.

It's also suggested questions should never be emailed -- phone interviews and even instant messaging is preferable, but if email is the only option to pass questions and answers back and forth, to limit the number to no more than five.

I raised two eyebrows about phone interviews. Like live interviews, I'm not ready for those, nor do I want to be put on the spot.

A year ago, I did decline an interview. I found the questions completely inaapropriate for the genre I write. That's my right as it's my reputation. Sometime, someone could come upon the interview and I could be deemed something I'm not. My work could be misjudged; ill-gotten rumors making the circuit could hurt sales.

Another important issue that was raised in many of the sites. Have you ever read an interview where the response to questions lead to other questions, only they're never asked. Interviewers should go back through the questions and answers and see if their are any responses which warrant a follow up question. Often there is. Ask them. Also, before you post the interview, send it back to the author for a final run-through. Often the author will improve responses, because they had already thought of ways they could have been more interesting, more clear, more anything right after that clicked that send button.

I have read recent interviews where the interview was more personalized, as if the interviewer and interviewee were friends. The questions were pertinent, fun and personalized. Those are the type of interviews which will draw interest in the author.

I never did find information to help authors get on the right thinking cap for answering author interview questions, maybe there are no answers. Maybe it has to come within your self. For me, I think I need to stop doubting myself and what I know. Trust in me; be me. I'm always going to be growing as an author, as a woman, and as a knowledgeable person in the business.

Weigh in and share your thoughts; you're experiences. How do you handle interviews? What things do you wish were asked, not asked?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Legacies Live On

2010-06-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

Some celebrities hold a piece of us because of who they were and what they gave us. And like a lot of people my age, we can say we knew Michael when he a was cute, shy little tike singing with his brothers on television while we sat on the living room floor watching. It's funny, at the time, I think many of us were unaware he was our own ages. We viewed celebrities different back then.

Still, they earned our hearts, our love, and our respect. I don't think it's wrong to mourn their loss in manner different from their families. I'm sentimentist and Michael is one of many I've grown up with and lost way too soon. I loved his music, his dancing, but most of all his heart and respected the pain he felt at what a rotten world this planet has become. He saw much of it with his own eyes which brought it home for him in ways most of us will never know. He was one man who did everything he could in every way he could and never felt he did enough. The least we can do is honor him today. Show some love for one another and the planet. I'm going to plant an oak tree for strength, hope and to one day proide food the squirrels.

What are you going to do?

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Market, Market, Market

2010-06-23T17:40:00.002-05:00

Trickle, trickle, trickle.

To different people this more than likely means something different.

To a plumber, it means a faucet needs a new washer.

To a mother in a public restroom with a toddler, the child obviously didn't have to go as bad as they whined about, delaying the dreaded shopping with child in tow.

To a teenager, it means 'Mom! We're out of milk.'

For me, this is in reference to sales of my books. The lack of, actually. From talk around, I'm not alone.

Lately, there's been a lot of discussions on what promotions work, what doesn't. But is it really about your promotional efforts? I haven't a clue. We all give advice and suggestions, because that's all we can do. Brainstorming in a volatile market is great, but there are no guarrantees.

So, what makes one book sale over another? The genre? Cover? Being in the right place at the right time? Catching the reader who had once thought of purchasing your book, but another sounded better that time and they just happen to say, 'what the hell' and buy it now. We don't want a reader to choose another over our babies, but it's reality. It's all a mystery of the ages.

Everything is based on timing, luck and budgets. What worked last year, last month may not be working now. Heck, what worked last week may not work this week.

If I don't know the answers, why am I posting? I'm searching for answers.

I blog on three blogs, comment on others. I leave excerpts everywhere and whenever allowed. I let the world know when my books have been reviewed. My blog posts automatically on twitter and facebook. What more can I do? Honestly, I'm doing my job. The rest is up to readers, fate, luck whatever. The competition is fierce and growing every single day.

This month, I ran a special - buy two or more of my books, forward your confirmed purchase order along with snail mail address and I'd send you a promo packet containing a t-shirt or hat along with other items from my arsenal and other authors. No one has taken me up on this. I've done chat contests and blog contests - no real luck there. Is it timing, or me?

Yes, some genre's sale hard and fast over others, still there are oodles of readers for every genre. How do we find them; help them find us? This question has been raised. They say to market to your niche -- the niche is there somewhere. The readers are searching for us, while we're searching for them. When shall the two meet?

Covers have been mentioned as one facet of the marketing tool. Put a half naked man on the cover and you should sell, coz' sex sells. Well, most of us aren't interested in selling sex, especially when we're offering up a story full of romance not just sex.

Something I've been seeing of late which defies some thinking is that there's a pretty even matchup where covers are sporting; only a female; only a male; only a couple; and even in some case, neither one. Also of late, I'm seeing darker covers. Personally, I find darker covers more attractive than brighter ones. I probably browse hundreds of covers a week both online and in the grocery store.

I'm puzzled by my new book not selling. I was told the more books you have out, the more sales not only of the new book, but the old books as well. I've not seen this. Others are confused by the same lack of results.

So, what is it am I doing to try to find something new and different to bring in sales?

I've signed up for classes via Lulu University. This year, the classes are geared toward book signings and marketing. June's class was on Book Signings and I was very impressed by the knowledge and information given. I will have to listen a few more times to glean it all and take notes. One thing that stuck with me is 'think outside the box'. This is something I'm always attempting.

Marketing is something I've been looking at on a broader scale than yahoo groups and blogs for a while now. Right now, I'm doing a series of marketing ideas at Lindsay's Romantics and Happily Ever After. Today, I posted a blog about 'Braving the Interview' at Lindsay's; next month I'll be doing a post on Talk Radio; later I'll be doing Press Releases and others. I'm interested in local marketing for e-authors. If your community is like mine, many aren't aware of digital publishing much less ebooks unless they're of the techincal or how-to fields.

My head tends to fill up with thoughts and ideas, but putting them into action is still a mystery.

What are you doing locally? Any tips you care to share about your marketing successes and woes

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

4 Stars from Book Junkie for Jewel

2010-06-21T14:36:00.002-05:00

In Bekki Lynn's Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY the reader is swept away into the world of Cassandra and Elan. Two of the most unlikely of characters to have an attraction are destined to meet and fall in love. Unbeknownst to them their grandfathers have set in motion events that will change both of their lives forever bonding the two together with passion, erotic love and a little intrigue. One thing that I loved is that Elan was so determined not to fall in love with Cassandra, thinking that he would be able to break the curse by just one night making love to her. And by the way, the intensity of experience is highly erotic and not for the faint of heart.

The plot is entertaining and gripping as well as the cast of supporting characters. They are soul mates, two halves of one and can only be fully complete with they are together. Connected by the spirits and a power beyond their control. Cassandra's ex-fiance plays an important part that I will hold back from any details as I don't want to give away any spoilers! But I wish I could have kicked the man in the skins! He was a bully and a cheater to boot!

There are some really sad events that happen in the story that bummed me out, but I feel that there story wouldn't have been complete without them as well. And the connection between Elan and Cassandra and those beautiful jewels from Elan's grandfather hold the secrets to their future that will bond their souls together for an eternity. If only they would believe and not fight destiny.

Bekki Lynn will leave you leaving them breathless and longing for more. It will seriously steam up your windows, so turn on the AC for this hot, sexy and sweet story of love and destiny.

http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/06/jewel-of-suns-blood-destiny-by-bekki.html

Thanks, Brande.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T07:28:00.001-05:00

And this goes out to all you moms who fill the role as well.

Bekki

3.5 Star Review for Jewel

2010-06-15T17:58:00.002-05:00

Reviewed: Jun 15, 2010

"Great spicy quick read. I liked the idea behind the story and the involvement of the grandparents. The chemistry between Elan and Cassandra is hot and can be felt blazing off the pages. If your looking for a quick read to get lost in for a while, than this is something I would recommend." by Heathermh - Night Owl Reviews

Thanks, Heather.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

5 Stars for Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY

2010-06-15T08:30:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited. Part of my morning routine is to check reveiw sites, drop promos and check a few blogs before I move on to writing or other matters.

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to find I have a new review at Sensual Reads.

"Sizzling yet thoroughly enticing, Jewel Of The Sun’s Blood Destiny by Bekki Lynn left this reader craving for more. I loved this book and all of its’ characters from the first page and as I traveled more into it I fell in love with this mystical yet sensually tantalizing story. Envisioning your dream lover is an ability any woman would love to experience and for Cassandra she not only dreamt it but also experienced it first hand. This book is a happily-ever-after that conquers uncertainty and heartache to discover the strength it takes to hold on to your wildest dreams and Ms Lynn has been able to do just that. Kudos Ms Lynn on your fantastic tale." by Sheryl

Thank you so much Sheryl! I'm tickled beyond pink.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Rainy Days & Mondays...Just not on Mondays

2010-06-14T09:54:00.005-05:00

Can you believe the rain?

Yes, it's great for the crops and around here. The corn is looking fantastic, some are already past the 'knee-high by the 4th of July' way we measure a good crop by. I'm so ready for our annual corn boil we have the end of July. It's held in our city park and you pay a price for the dinner and eat all the corn on the cob you want. YUM!

My flower gardens are loving it not only because it helps feed them, but keeps unwanted pests away. My unwanted pest of last year have returned, so I've been agressive in fighting them. The downside is that I no more then spray them and the rain comes and washes it away. Fortunately, I have the time to get back out there when it stops.

We have Claud-Elen days every spring. It's quite comical for us who have noticed and that's most of us who grew up here. It used to be we had the celebration in May, but it never failed to rain from opening night through closing night. Yes, we all still went and sat on wet seats and pigged out on corn dogs and funnel cakes. So, a few years ago, they decided to move it to June. Ha, the joke was on them. The rain still showed up. This year, no rain on opening night, no rain on Thursday night and Friday night, still no rain. We're all looking at one another wondering what's going on.

Well, Saturday - oh my gosh. As the people lined up downtown, I can imagine they're thrilled and amazed at the sunshine and looking forward to enjoying the Claud-Elen parade. I'm inside where I work which is along part of the parade line-up route and we're packed with the people as they wait to line up. Some are eating, some are drinking, but the chatter and laughter was fun. At one forty-five, they start heading out to get in there various parade mobiles and with the flick of a finger the sky darkens. Totally dark enough you would have thought it was nearing nine at night. Right at two o'clock, parade start time, the rain came. I'm not talking a gentle downpour, I'm talking a monsoon. I could see the rain go up the side of a house and over the roofs it had from three different directions. It was the oddest sight ever.

In my mind I could see the rush of the crowd lining the streets downtown looking for shelter, running to their cars, and fortunately no reported injuries. Our place filled back up with dripping wet people. Out came the wet floor signs, but the people weren't down about the sudden cancelation of the parade. They drank, they ate, they bowled. Part of town lost power due to a downed powerline which brought in people who wasn't able to cook. For me as the only waitress on the floor from noon-five, I was in my zone. The more the merrier. I was thankful to have the help of the boss, her husband and son. Without them manning the bar, the counter and phone as well as doing food prep, I don't think I would have been able to give customer service its due. And a lot of the credit goes to the two-man kitchen team I had. They were amazing, and only high school kids.

I do love my town and am so glad I decided to come back to work here rather than the city.

Yesterday, we had sunshine, clouds, more sunshine. My youngest son and I went grocery shopping. We'd finished with the bakery, produce and was about four isles in when thunder boomed over head. We continued shopping and about an hour later, we exited the store to find everything soaked, puddles everywhere and my car clean. Yay! The birds had nailed it good after the ran the day before, which is their habit no matter where I park it. We had sun and clounds the rest of the day.

Today, I woke up and thought maybe it was only four, four-thirty. I looked at the clock and saw it was five-ten. Mmm, meant it was cloudy outside. Normally, at that hour the bright light of the new day is pouring into the room. I went back to sleep and woke at my normal time between seven and seven-thirty. The pitter-patter of rain was pelting the air conditioner. Another Rainy Day Monday.

Don't let Rainy Days & Mondays get you down. Cuddle up with a good romance. Don't have one, click on the Amazon icon and order a few.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Senior Romance

2010-06-09T15:25:00.007-05:00

I just saw something that hit a chord with me.

I have Everybody Loves Raymond, episode "Frank's Tribute". This is about Frank winning 'man of the year' but feels unappreciated by his boys because the celebration less than a friend of his had.

So, the show goes on where Marie is trying to make him see that he's a 'butt' and people don't have good things to say about him.

I was distracted with a phone call, so I missed what was said after Frank crawls into bed and Marie says, 'we're going to finish this." And he settles in then says, "Oh, crap."

When I hung up and looked back at the tv, Frank was cradling Marie's head and wiping the cold cream from her face with a gentleness that brought tears to my eyes. Then he says something to the fact that he likes her without the crap on his face.

That's love, senior love maybe, but that's what a man and a woman have to look forward to when they're kids are grown and have lives of their own again. They start out just the two of them, end up the two of them. So why shouldn't they have more than what most of us see, or want to see of our own parents.

Growing up, I saw my grandparents sit at the dining table day in and day out - from there they could see the grandkids playing out back - what the garage didn't hinder, watch television and talk to whoever might be in the living room. I think I knew then they had a special relationship, it was there in the way he teased her and she scolded him. You could feel it.

I see the same romance in my dad and step-mom, it doesn't gross me out, didn't even as a kid. They married when I was like nine and my dad is around 78.

Love like that is beautiful. It's a testiment to all the struggles they've endured over the years.

After so many years together, couples aren't about setting the mood, buying flowers and candy, they just do it. They do little things, say little things and snatch a moment here then there - it's those moments that prove romance exists after 30, 40, or even 50 years of marriage.

I guess I'm beginning to see that in my own marriage. I've had a hard time seeing myself as anything but an old, gray-haired woman who's losing her looks and putting on weight. A woman in my own mind who's only going to get uglier. Unpleasant thoughts and realizations that make me withdraw.

On another realm, I look out through my eyes and forget I'm as old as I am and no longer a size 10. I'll see something totally cool and think it would look good on me, but then I recall things I've heard younger people say about women my age wearing certian clothes, hairstyles, or even on the dance floor. We shouldn't do it period. It's embarrassing to see. To certian degrees they have a point. But why aren't seniors allowed have fun. After all they were having fun before you came along.

The other night, my husband did something that made me feel great, erased doubts and took an easy five years off what I thought about myself. I needed punished for something silly - a game I play with him, so he took me to Dairy Queen. I sat with a banana split blizzard, which I don't recommend - rather boring. The Buster Bar blizzard is the tops. Anyway, he had a strawberry banana blizzard, equally boring and so unlike us. We sat in silence enjoying our choices, though I occasionally fed him a strawberry from mine. They were huge chunks and he so loves strawberries.

Out of the blue, he says, "You're pretty." I litterally felt myself straighten, my eyes brighten and I looked at him a little embarrassed. My mind raced with all these reasons of why he had to be lying. Still it was hot that he said it.

Later, I realized that there are many evenings, I sit across the room and look at him and think how better looking he is today than he was 33 years ago. So, if I can think that, why couldn't he?

So, I perked up and am going to try and not be so hard on myself.

Senior romance is great, it's relaxed and it's honest. I'm looking forward to years of it.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Spring Roses

2010-06-08T20:42:00.013-05:00

Meet Georgie as I call him. This is my George Burns rose and he's magnificient. Every year he blesses me with the most beautiful roses. And mega thorns as well.

This Double Delight has a scent I can only describe as 'pink'. Others have come to this conclusion as well, so I'm not totally out of my mind. In honor of my grandmother who loved everything pink, I've dubbed it Berniece.

I'm not sure what this one is, but I'm thinking it's Chryler Imperial. I had tried growing it at the other end of the bed and it didn't like it there, so I'm pretty sure I put it between Georgie and

Berniece. Somewhere I have a sheet telling me. lol

I love roses and enjoy growing them. Last year was a very rough year as the Japanese Beetles loved them too much. So far so good this year.

I had ferns growing in another flower bed and I have no idea where they came from. Last year, I transplaneted half of them into my south rose bed and part of a window bed. With all the rain we've had this year, they've overpowered the roses, so I'll need to thin them out. But don't they look great accenting the roses? This year, I transferred the rest of the ferns to the north rose bed, so I'm hoping next year, they'll be as lush as the others.

I have twelve different rose bushes and the four new ones I planted this year are right up there with the older bushes. Nothing could thrill me more.

A couple years ago, I lost my climbing blaze and peace, so I'm looking forward to starting all over with them.

Hopefully soon, I'll more photos of the others. My son took shots of all of them, but he was a bit too close and they are blurred. There were some beautiful buds in the mix, too.

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

I'm weak, I looked

2010-06-04T09:12:00.005-05:00

After making the rounds of checking review sites in hopes someone decided my new book was worth reviewing, checking book sales, and dropping promos, I finally get around to checking my numerous email accounts. In the last account I checked, which is literally the last account, there amongst all the emails waiting for my attention was one that stood out like a neon sign flashing. Ha, no neon and no flashing, but did that matter?

75% off jewelry sale

I'm not a jewelry person, I'm not into diamonds and glitz though I have some for special occasions. However, I am into Peridot. Surely a jewelry sale had to include gems.

I deliberately left the email untouched as I went about taking care of business mail.

Finally, I opened it. I went to the shop now button. I found the listing for gems and went to Peridot. Now, I don't pounce on everything Peridot. I'm not fond of white gold, sterling silver and fake gold. I am, however, allergic to too much gold. While I can't wear 14k, I do fine with 10k. So, weeding out the can't dos, I found there was a ring and a set of earrings to choose from. I really didn't like the ring, but the earrings -- love at first site. I don't have a set of fish hook hoops and so this perfect. I printed it out for future consideration - pay day is next week.

As usual, my mind turns around to my guys - Father's Day is just around the corner and I have plans and then there's the fact that where I work will be closed June 20-July 5 for remodeling, so I should set money back. And the original price isn't out of the realm of what I'd pay.

Then of course, August is only two months away and Peridot goes on sale mid-month and it's possible I could get a better deal on a similar pair.

Once again, I talked myself out of what I want.

I wonder if I could talk my sister-in-law into tattooing a Peridot anklet on my ankle?

Bekki

Book Sale - June Special

2010-06-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

There's an ongoing sale going on at Barnes & Noble and Fictionwise. How much longer, who knows? For the duration of the sale, and the month of June, I've decided to do something special.

Fictionwise -

A Psychic Hitch - reg. price 3.99 sale price 2.39
Last Glass of Wine - reg. price 3.99 sale price 2.39
Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY - reg. price 5.99 sale price 3.59

Bekki's Fictionwise Book Page

Barnes & Noble

A Psychic Hitch - reg. price 3.99 sale price 1.42
Last Glass of Wine - reg. price 3.99 sale price 1.42

Bekki's Barnes & Noble Book Page

Amazon

A Psychic Hitch - reg. price 3.99 sale price 3.19
Last Glass of Wine - reg. price 3.99 sale price 3.19
Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY

Bekki's Amazon Book Page

Bekki's Bookstrand Page

Bekki's All Romance Ebooks Page

Buy two or all three ebooks and send me a copy of the completed sale dated June 1-30 and your mailing address. In return, I'll send you a promo packet which contains a hat or t-shirt. bekkilynn2006@yahoo.com

Happy reading!

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net
Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

The Rabbit's Bill of Rights

2010-06-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

Seven or eight years ago, Jesse began asking for a pet bunny. I repeatedly said no. Pets are a responsibility and because he was my third son, I'd had enough experiences with his older siblings to know that the care would really fall to me. That part, I never minded. It was my work schedule and their sports schedules which said we didn't have time for more than the dogs and cats we already had.

However, in 2004, we went to one of many community auctions. We let him roam around to check things out. I parked my butt near items I wanted to bid on, so when he found me, I must have been in such a relaxed state, none of my earlier arguments spewed forth. He asked, yet again, if he could have a bunny. I told him, yes, but no more than ten dollars. I love auctions.

As time went on, I worried he may actually get one for the amount I set. I mean seriously, the week before I purchased 17 boxes of romance novels for a buck a box, and I'm not talking small boxes either. We literally filled up the back of a Chevy S-10 with books out of the boxes and my dad still had to take two or three boxes in his van.

Anyway, about a half hour later, here comes Jesse with a box and a huge grin. He'd gotten a bunny for $9. I immediately became a bunny sitter while he looked around some more. Finally, a few hours later, car loaded down and bunny in box on his lap, we made the hour trek home.

I immediately went down to our hardware store and purchased a large small pet cage, food bowl, little corner litter box, water bottle, hay, pellets, and cedar bedding. I get home and Jesse was on my computer instead of playing with his new friend. I went about setting up the house and placed our new roommate inside. Jesse waved me over and I found he'd done the most responsible thing he could have. He was reading The House Rabbit's Society's website about caring for bunnies.

On this site, we learned what to feed them, and what endangered them. I panicked and ran to his room, removed the bunny from its new home and placed it back in the box. Cedar bedding is harmful to bunnies. I ran back down to the store and picked up the recommended bedding.

LOL -- that lasted all of about four hours. Our little munchkin pushed and shoved the bedding aside and preferred to lay directly on the bottom of the cage, which was a green tray and not wire. I depise wire floored cages, I think they are cruel.

Choosing a name was much like choosing one for my son's when they were on the way. We didn't know the sex, but we decided the bunny looked like a girl. Jesse and I threw names back and forth, then decided Faith was the perfect name.

As time went on, we learned so much about caring for our little joy. And she taught us. We have a way with our animals that amaze people, so we expected no different from Faith. I was home a lot and she was kept in Jesse's room. I didn't think it was fair for her to be isolated if I was home. So, I bunny proofed the living room and gave her the freedom to run it. My husband gave me my first laptop so I could be in the room with her. She had a blast racing around the furniture, jumping on furniture and doing bunny binkies. The dogs and cats didn't scare her in the least and they never looked at her as prey. In fact, Ace, my oldest son's cat loved to roll around the floor and play with her. I'd lay on the floor and she'd climb all over me. She had a favorite sweater of mine she loved to chew on.

And the cutest thing she got in the habit of doing was in the evening when my husband would come home from work. She'd run up to him and put her paws on his leg. He'd then sit down in his chair and she'd jump up on his lap and get some lovin'.

I did become her primary caretaker, but I never regretted a day of it. Later that year, we decided she needed a playmate. We bought Natalie from our local hardware store. It has a nice sized pet shop where a vet comes in to make sure the animals are cared for and well. A year later, we purchased Adam at the same auction where we'd gotten Faith. We didn't know about bunnies in shelters -- we just assumed they took only dogs and cats. Now, I wish I had the room and funds to take in more bunnies - I'd get them from the shelter. I get so angry at people for being so uncaring, unloving and just plain mean.

So, today, when I went into my facebook, I saw the post about The Rabbit's Bill of Rights and I was so very pleased. This should be posted in every pet shop and vet.

What is the bill of rights?

1 - Get to know about Rabbits before you bring me home
2 - Give me the largest home possible inside your home
3 - Give me a nutritious diet
4 - Let me have a social life
5 - Let me be clean
6 - I need my own doctor
7 - Please don't punish me
8 - Speak 'my' language
9 - See me as an individual
10 - Share your love with me
11 - Your rights

To read in detail of each of these, check out the website - http://brighteyessanctuary.org/rights.html

To people like me, all these are common sense, but to most people - not so much.

I have a bunny vet and he's always amazed at my knowledge and my treatment of my bunnies. He's also always in awe that I don't feed them pellets -- the primary food of bunnies is hay and giving adult bunnies pellets is harmful to their health. He's always having to tell bunny owners, no pellets. And what's even more important aside from the fact, he's qualified to care for my bunbuns -- the bunbuns love him.

What isn't covered here, but is covered on the House Rabbit Society site is toys. What bunnies can play with. They love toys, they love change as they do get bored. I buy wood chews and toy carrots, I also keep boxes lined up behind my couch for them to play in and chew up -- chewing is good for their teeth, it keeps over growth down. They also like to scratch it, and that can help keep their nails down. I normally cut their nails, but when I tried to do Natalie's, I hit the quick. That hurt her which made me feel lousy. So, this last time when I took them in for their checkups, I had the vet do it.

Baby toys is good -- key rings and the connecting rings. They love to pick things up and toss them. Natalie's favorite is the hay cage ball. She loves tossing that around and just recently started allowing Adam to play with it. They love toliet paper rolls and the like. When they were small, they loved running through large oatmeal barrels.

We're in the middle of remodeling our living room, so we turned the den into the living room. They have access to the bathroom and bedrooms if we don't shut the doors. Adam loves the new areas. He's turned it into a game where he'll go into our room and sit on the far side of the bed and wait for me. My bunbuns are never unsupervised. So, when I show up, he runs under the corner of the bed to the door and waits again. Then when I approach, he runs into the living room and does bunny binkies. It's quite fun. Other times, I just stand watch and let him explore.

Natalie hasn't ventured so far, but she will. Right now, her thing is to come up and ask for a snack. The vet gave the go ahead for me to give them dandelions. We put no chemicals on our yard. She's skittish and not one to be cuddled, though here of late, she's let me and Jesse handle her more. She's five and Adam is four. Faith would have been six. Now, she was a people bunny all the way. She and I had what I called 'Bunny and Me' time. Every night, she'd come to me and I'd massage her, brush her and talk to her. She wouldn't even leave me if Natalie came up and nudged her. That was our thing for almost six years.

I built bunny condos for them. They have a lower level as well as an upper level - the cost was about the same as a hutch in the pet store, but sturdier and much roomier. This year, I'm making them new ones, but not much different in style since they do prefer their homes not to be messed with too much. Just kept clean and if you don't get to it fast enough, Adam who was taught by Faith, will simply push it out onto the floor. Bunnies are clean animals, it's the owners who don't clean up after them that cause the odor many speak of.

Oh, and something else that is important is bunnies need sunlight. This is good for their body and to help prevent over growth of their back teeth. If there teeth grow over their tongue, not only can't they eat, but they can suffocate. I used to take my buns outside and let Adam and Natalie run around in a large play area surrounded by fence my husband made for them. Faith always had the run of the yard, because she wasn't a runner. Now, I rarely take them outside. We have a hawk problem. The last thing I want to happen is to have one swoop in and scoop up one of my bunnies. The very thought threatens my sanity. So, the next best thing is to put plant light bulbs in your lamps of the room where the bunnies live.

Another thing I learned a few years ago with Natalie. I thought she might have a bladder infection, so she spent three days at the vet. She didn't have one, but what they found was a deformed bladder full of sludge. This was caused from too much calcium. I was giving my buns broccoli every night and she preferred the stem over the florets so she was getting more calcium than the others. While broccoli is on the list of good foods, too much calcium is not good for them which is the problem with alfapha pellets. So, I had to take it away. To clean the sludge out, she had to drink more water. For a week, the vets office called and checked on her. She's been fine and dandy ever since.

So, be a good bunny parent. Learn all you can and educate others.

Bekki

Creative Blogger 'Liar' Award Winners

2010-05-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations!

Anna Shah Hoque

and

Sharon Baker

They were correct with their response of #4 and received a copy of my new book, Jewel of the Sun's Blood Destiny.

1. I had my first job at fourteen.

2. I believe in ghosts.

3. I love coney dogs and root beer.

4. Take me on the highest roller coaster.

5. I want my ashes strewn about second base at Wrigley Field.

6. I started my first restaurnat job when I was eighteen.

7. I'm a complicated person.

Thanks for playing everyone.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

I have a Facebook Fan Page

2010-05-24T21:55:00.003-05:00

So, come on over and 'like' me.

Don't be afraid to speak up and have some fun. Share some stories; tell us what you're reading; and what you're going to do this summer. I'm going to try and come up with fun contests once a month, so stayed turned for those.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bekki-Lynn/128687440476387

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Promoting A Different Kind of Paranormal

2010-05-21T08:00:00.006-05:00

Jewel is a different kind of paranormal. Most of you are used to paranormals being vampires, werewolves and shapeshifters. I wondered if the world was ready for stories along the lines of what I used to read growing up. Stories with spirits and ghosts. Recall the Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew stories, even the Hardy Boys and the things that spooked them - while those were written for kids, some of the elements which gave me pleasure and joy stayed with me. Between those and romance novels, I read werewolf stories and Phyllis Whitney, her book The Haunted Pool was one of my favorites. So, somewhere in my mental files they've conjoined and given me stories I love writing. Not that I don't like straight contemporary, I do. I like trying to new things and who knows, a true love may come out and really shine one day.

A few years ago, when I started Jewel, I wasn't really sure how it was going to come out. I wasn't sure if what I was penning was doable, believeable or would be accepted. I hoped so, because from somewhere deep inside me, I was meant to write it.

While I was still ironing out the story Cassandra and Elan laid out before me, I found myself in the midst of another type of character who was an unsettled spirit. I found I really enjoy writing these types of stories. eXcessica Publishing has an anothology coming out in October - it's called Wonder and my contribution is Shadow Love. The story is one where I started one way and decided it wasn't right for a short, so I went a different direction. The heroine was fascinated with a haunted house in her hometown, more so after she experienced her first ghost sex.

So, now, having the three different paranormals under my belt, I'm searching for the niche of how to promote them - even though I've not finished the second novel yet. I ask myself, what will intrigue the reader amongst all the current interest? How can I get their attention?

With my first two books, I had three excerpts chosen and over a few months time, I learned which excerpt actually brought in sales and I can say, it wasn't the erotic ones.

Jewel hasn't been out quite a month yet and the sales don't seem to be up to par - that's my gut from seeing rankings. I mean seriously, no sales at Amazon -- that's unheard of. Granted, too, reviews aren't coming in like they did for the first two books either. And I'm a bit concerned considering most of the review sites I've submitted to have had the book about four months - some places scrap books if they've sat in the queue longer than three or four months. Let's hope this doesn't happen, because I really want them - good or bad. What I get from them is so helpful.

Anyway, in promoting this different kind of paranormal, I've tried two different excerpts so far - one PG, one R with little or no sales movement -- so I chose one with more of a paranormal element to it as well as more sexual. I posted it in a few groups this morning and by Monday, I should know if it helped. I will, though, give it a few weeks as I know the reading of group mail takes time. I'll post it below and you can let me know what you think. It could very well be, I haven't found the right niche to promote this type of story, or people aren't ready for it.

Adult Excerpt

He halted when he heard Sassy hissing at Cassandra. She stood on the couch, her back arched and fur spiked. The cup of his special tea he’d made to calm her started to slip from his hand, but he caught it, ignoring the heat of the liquid spilling over his hand. Swirls of gray and white floated around her. It would have frightened him if he hadn’t become accustomed to the invasion. He moved forward, unsure what might happen. They moved, turning toward him. The cup fell to the floor as the face of his aunt grinned at him. Then they were gone.

“I have this insatiable hunger for you.”

Cassandra’s words registered as did the way she pulled on the sheet, causing it to fall open, but what he’d seen interested him, too. “Could you sense them, feel them?”

“Who?”

“The hovering spirits.” He shook his head and watched the corners of her mouth turn up while her fingers caressed the necklace. The Sterling Silver did nothing for the gem, but against her flesh she was a goddess.

“Come to me,” she whispered.

His erection hardened beyond comfort. He moved to her, yanking her up against him, devouring her mouth, plunging his tongue deep into her mouth. She wound her arms around his neck as she pressed into his aching hardness. She rose on her tiptoes and he lifted her, setting her down on his ridged length, moaning in the depths of her throat. Her cavern was hot, wet and flexing around him, urging him to move, to thrust, to fulfill the desire.

She pulled from his mouth, tipping her head back as she grasped his shoulders. “He’s home. He’s real.” He reached for her breast with his mouth and latched onto the hard tip, nipping before he suckled. “Oh, my Apache Love,” she moaned. Her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him to her breast as he lowered them to the floor.

Read Chapter One

Purchase at:
eXcessica – Also available at All Romance Ebooks, Amazon, Fictionwise and Bookstrand

Reviews:
5 Cups - Coffee Time Romance & More

Bekki
Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality
Jewel of the Sun’s BLOOD DESTINY – eXcesscia and Bookstrand
LOVE, Stalker of the Heart – available now
A Psychic Hitch available nowLast Glass of Wine available nowServin' It Up available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble http://bekkilynn.net/
www.myspace.com/bekki_lynn
http://bekkilynnsplanet.blogspot.com/

Workin' the WIP

2010-05-20T08:00:00.006-05:00

You know as writers, we have deadlines whether they are self-made or for an editor or publisher. Sometimes things disrupt the flow, whether it be family obligations or work. There are even times when it's simply characters from stories who are tired of waiting for us to return and get them before readers. That's what happens to me.

For the last couple of weeks, I set aside a couple of short stories I'm working on, with July deadlines, to run back through a story I finished early last year. It's a multiple partner story (m/f/m), my first, and the third in my Servin' It Up series which starts with A Psychic Hitch and Last Glass of Wine.

I finished the run through Monday night, but I wasn't quite satisfied with the last couple of chapters. My gut said it came off a little rushed. So, I went through it again after a night of rest. While I touched up a few areas, I still wasn't happy. Yet, I had to put it off and go to work. As I set the dining room to my liking, I think I figured out what was really bothering me and it went further back into the story. I mulled it over while I fussed and cleaned, waiting for the dinner crowd. I sat down with it last night and worked on it all day. I think by George I got it. Another full run through will make sure I didn't leave holes with the touch-ups.

Contemptible Service is a story of lust, trust, adjustment, and attemtped murder not only for Beth Jarvis, but for Tyler Tyree when he returns to stake claim to Lucas Davison.

I really get bothered when blurbs end with a question leading you to wonder if all is going to work out -- it's romance, of course it's going to work out. :) It's the roller coaster ride getting there I want to enjoy. And I hope you do, too. I think that's what I've provided in this story.

Next up is to write the dreaded synopsis and find a home for my darling.

Bekki
Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality
http://bekkilynn.net/

My Favorite Vacation Spot

2010-05-18T08:00:00.002-05:00

When I was a teen, we were gathered up along my two oldest step-sisters and headed out on vacation. Us kids really didn't know where we were going which was the norm.

We ended up at a place called Beech Bend Amusement Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We camped on the property which gave us easy access to the park and also had us so excited, we didn't want to wait for the parents, we wanted to get inside and have fun.

Well, us four girls were allowed to go off on our own once inside. Safety in numbers, ha. What a myth. Four teenage girls who had one thing on their minds - boys.

My youngest sister was horse crazy, so of course we ended up at the horse stables. Every single morning, afternoon and every single evening. Our guides were none too shabby, and not much older than we were - two of them and four of us. However, a horse person I am not, so I couldn't wait to get on the fairway. I often slipped away from them and set out on my own to do the things I enjoyed. The place wasn't huge like Six Flags, it was perfect. You couldn't get lost. I did a few rides, but my hang out was a one of the small stages where a band played a few sets a day. The best way to describe them is to classify what they played as classic country. They were fantastic and yeah, I formed a crush on the drummer who flirted back. I was their groupie for the week we were there. I've always had a relationship with music.

This was all back in the mid seventies when Charles Garvin owned it. The one ride that stuck with me all these years was called Wild Mouse. That ride, as much as it nearly gave me a heart attack every time I went on it was my favorite. It was a roller coaster ride that went as roller coasters do, but the entire ride was square and maybe three or four stories high. When you'd come to a corner and you were convinced the car was going to fly off, it'd whip you around. Today, Wild Mouse is modernized and not so scary. In the photo above, if you look a tad over half way down the left side, you'll see a spot of yellow, that's The Mouse. It's actually green and yellow.

I wish my photos were available on the computer. I actually used a 35mm camera when we were there. We lived in the water park and on the bumper cars. They have the best bumper cars ever.

I still can't believe they got me to go through these tubes. Can't wait to see Wave when we return.

The campground was home -- we were relaxed and comfortable, even when we had an uninvited guest. A raccoon visited us. Since we'd grown up camping we knew the rules of putting food away and all, so nothing was out by the time he braved our company. He was so darn cute. He came right up where we sat around the campfire and stood on his hind legs next to my chair. I didn't have anything to feed him, but I bet he would have taken it from my hand.

The only thing that disappointed me in 2005 was the Barren River - it was dried up. Not this year, though. Unfortunately it flooded the area and delayed the season opener. When I was a child, they did tours on the river, which we never went on, why I don't recall. We did get to watch them from the river bank though.

Over the years, the place fell on hard times due to Charles aging - he died in 1979. The place was sold to Ronnie Milsap who couldn't make a go of it and was sold back to David Garvin who ended up selling it to the current owners. The place was allowed to litterally go to waste and that broke my heart.

Well, not too many years ago, well, ok, I really don't want to think of it as such because it makes me feel old, but back in the 80's the Jones' bought it and started with the racetrack area, then slowly started to clear out the old amusement area and begin bringing in rides, I think this was in the 90's.

I took my husband and two youngest boys back in 2005 and they still haven't stopped talking about it. We're looking forward to returning and hoping to take our older boys. We're hoping schedules can jive in 2012.

The year after we were there, the new wooden roller coaster opened and was rated in the top five roller coasters the first year it was open. They've also added many more rides and this year major plans are underway. By the time we return it will be three times the size it was back in 2005. In 2007, 2008, and 2009 it was voted the 5th friendilest park in the world.

I can attest to it. The staff is amazing, friendly and helpful. One lady I spoke with comes down from Ohio every year to spend her summer working there. I was even able to share some of the memories and experiences I had back when, where the stables had been, stage shows and so forth. They didn't know much of it and was especially shocked to hear they'd had stables and trail rides.

A few years before I could take the family down, I had corresponded with the park, looking for information on the country group I'd been enamoured with back in the 70's. They were kind enough to give me contact with Mr. Garvin's son, but I believe the information I wanted is unable to be found. I keep thinking the drummer's name was Jamie. It'd be nice to know what they went to do and if they'd produced records.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the racetrack has a dragstrip and stock cars which is shown in the photo. The year we were there, it was Harley Davidson racing -- they were every where. Not too different than the Sturgis ralley, if you've ever been to it.

And the best for last -- for all the MJ fans. Last year, they debuted the Chance Sea Dragon ride purchased from Neverland.

You can learn more about my favorite vacation spot here - http://www.beechbend.com/

http://www.beechbend.com/amusementpark.htm scroll to the bottom of the page to click on this image for a better view of the park layout.

If you like amusement parks, I hope you check this one out.

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/

Creative Blogger Award

2010-05-13T10:17:00.010-05:00

Many thanks to Lindsay Townsend for nominating me for a Creative Blogger Award! Here, chosen utterly at random, are my seven choices for the award:

And here are seven statements. Six are true and one is false. If you can pick the false statement, then you will be eligible for my prize draw, the winner of which will receive a copy of my latest release - Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY. So good luck and here goes!

1. I had my first job at fourteen .

2. I believe in ghosts.

3. I love coney dogs and root beer.

4. Take me on the highest roller coaster.

5. I want my ashes strewn about second base at Wrigley Field.

6. I started my first restaurnat job when I was eighteen.

7. I'm a complicated person.

OK, guess away, good luck and email me with the false statement.

Bekki

Contemporary romance with sizzling sensuality

Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY

Last Glass of Wine

A Psychic Hitch

http://bekkilynn.net/

A Piddly Pet Peeve

2010-05-12T07:57:00.004-05:00

Writer groups have rules. They are often sent to you upon joining; posted in their files; posted on the home page of the group. When in doubt, inquire.

Does this sound hard? I don't think so.

And guess what -- the calendar button is made available on most groups for the sole purpose of members checking to see what is going on. You don't post promos when there is an event scheduled - period.

What brought on this mini-rant? The endless promo posts I see showing up in groups when it's not promo day; and showing up during scheduled chats which they are not part of.

Yeah, so you may belong to fifty-sixty groups, how are you supposed to remember what is what with each one? It's part of your job, it's your responsibility. Sending messages from your email and some other format to help expedite your posts and save time is no excuse. This is a business, not a careless pasttime.

Organize your groups, keep it in a excel form, your favorites, even a handy reference notebook.

This is how I keep myself from posting when I shouldn't. First -- I go straight to the groups. I have an email account strictly for groups and this is where my digests and other group related messages go.

My groups are set up in my favorites; Heading - Groups; under this I have it catagorized: group-promo Monday, group-authors, group-any day excerpts, group-workshop, group-no promo, group - research --- get the drift. It's not hard.

So, please - take the time to show respect.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Never Too Late To Learn How To Critique

2010-05-11T18:14:00.005-05:00

I'm looking for a critique partner and in my search for how to find one that fits my needs, I found a great site that breaks down the process of critiquing which would be perfect for all.

I thought I'd share it. http://marilynnbyerly.com/marilynnbyerly/page9l.html

Of course, if you're in a group where you have to earn the right to post a chapter or have an allowance of five pages -- this won't work. I've been those routes and quite frankly was hopelessly frustrated. I don't see how a book can come together this way, or in a timely manner. If it works for you, great.

Something I want to stress and that is mentioned on this site is 'never use ideas or characters' you've read in work you've critiqued. While ideas can't be copyrighted, it's just plain wrong and will cost you trust and friendship.

I had a lady in group where we critiqued heavily for each other four years ago. She went on to contract one of the stories and when it came out, I bought it though I new the story by heart. Well, that is until I reached the last chapter and found during edits, she added two blatant elements from two of my stories she read and critiqued - the thing is, they stand out like a sore thumb - they don't fit her storyline or characters. I was livid and have not spoke to her since. I'm terrified to purchase other works which I critiqued for her - I'm afraid to find she used more of my work.

Trust, honor and respect is important between critique partners.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net/

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

Irked to the Hilt

2010-05-05T13:24:00.008-05:00

I'm just so irked.

I read an article that was passed on, and quite frankly I've not been able to brush it off. I don't like my work referred to as porn in print.

I work my butt off to write erotic romance; to teach others the difference between erotic romance and pornography only to have jerks like this reporter distort the genre. I can't really say whether or not the authors he chose to acuse of writing pornography really do abuse the genre, but the fact this man lumps us all into the same mode pisses me off. Obviously, his research was half-assed.

Judge for yourself:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36835812/ns/health-sexual_health/

I'm well aware that some top selling erotic authors push the limits between erotic romance and pornography - I've read stories which aren't stories at all. There is no storyline and no romance, it's all sex -- which is what pornography is. I want to tell them to stop it, you're killing the market for the rest of us -- but the bottom line is that they are selling and making the market money and it's all the industry cares about.

They need to split the erotic market up. The guy was right in saying that if some of these books were movies, they'd be rated XXX so why not give them a genre of their own -- X-treme Erotica and leave romance out of it. Separate them from the rest of us and give us a chance to make the genre right; something to be respected and we can be proud to admit we write it rather than having to constantly defend it.

Erotic romance is first and foremost supposed to adhere to the basics of romance writing. The sex is supposed to enhance the growing relationship between the people involved. This is what I write and am proud of it!

Bekki Lynn
http://bekkilynn.net/

Finally -- It's Up on Amazon

2010-04-29T13:13:00.002-05:00

Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY

I can relax now -- it feels good to have all the ducks in a row now. :) It was the final venue I was waiting on.

Don't forget to purchase via the Amazon link here on the site.

Bekki
http://bekkilynn.net

Introducing: Jewel of the Sun Candle

2010-04-28T21:02:00.006-05:00

I'm so thrilled. Tickled beyond pick.

Jfay at Wick'd Reads has done it again. She's come up with a fantastic candle to go along with my latest release - Jewel of the Sun's BLOOD DESTINY. We put together a mystical signature scent called Healing Potion - bayberry, sage, citrus and eucalyptus.

Don't they look well together?

You can buy Jewel of the Sun via Wick'd Reads.

Bekki

http://bekkilynn.net/