REMINDER: My second mystery/thriller book giveaway is open until February 20th.

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Random Thoughts

I’m working my volunteer shift at the Northern Colorado Writers Studio this afternoon, drinking cup after cup of decaf and trying to ignore the Lindt truffles someone left at the coffee bar. I’m dieting, but I have very little will power when it comes to chocolate. I can hear their sweet little voices calling: “I’m delicious, take me.” “No, no, I’m dark chocolate. I’m good for you. I’m the one you want.” Talking truffles. Who would’ve expected that?

Right after I posted the photo of tulips peeking up through the ground and mentioned snow would surely follow, it snowed. Northern Colorado is funny that way. The sun is shining today, so even though the temperature is in the 30s, it seems warmer. We have lots more sun than clouds in this neck of the woods. Even though that flower bed was briefly covered by snow, the tulips have now been joined by daffodils. They’re so hardy that they’ll keep on growing, and then they’ll bloom, no matter how many times it snows along the way.

Reminds me of some people I know. No matter how life tries to knock them down, they bounce right back up and keep growing. I think writers are like that.

An Interesting and Helpful Site for Authors

Here’s a useful site for those of you who are about to be published for the first time (or even if you’ve been out there awhile and need new ideas): 1st Turning Point: Authors Teach, Share, & Learn — All About Promotion. There’s a focus on marketing and social media, including a series on building your website, an article called “What’s Your Blog POV?“, and another called “Marketing for the Author: Keeping Track of What Works.” Some of you may also be interested in submitting articles.

I just went over and moved the Lindt Truffles out of sight, and I closed the bag to mute their tiny voices.

Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents Blog

If you aren’t a follower of Chuck’s blog, you need to check it out. There are agent interviews, guest posts from authors, and more. I especially enjoy a series called 7 Things I’ve Learned So Far “where writers at any stage of their career can talk about seven things they’ve learned along their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning.”

A Man’s View of Shopping

I got such a big kick out of Galen Kindley’s Imagineering Fiction blog post Picking on Donna… that I had to put the link here. Galen has a wonderful sense of humor, so his take on shoe shopping with Donna is priceless. I just don’t understand how she got him to go shopping with her…I’d have to hogtie my hubby and stuff him into the car (gagged, of course), and then drag him inside the store. I’m thinking Donna should start a blog of her own in self defense. I’d like to know the story behind the story…