I once had a cousin/uncle/grandparent-ish person (he was my second cousin once-removed if you want to get technical here, but the point is that he was in his eighties and I was around ten, you get the idea) who once posed the question that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear – what’s the difference between naked and nekkid? Naked is simply having no clothes on. Nekkid is naked, but with intent. In other words, the difference is subtle and mostly to do with what you intend to do about it. Which is how I feel about old and vintage.
My general preference, when given a choice, is for old things. Which is to say I like old books, old furniture, old clothes and my grumpy old dog. Although, usually I say vintage, which is the same as old, but with character. I don’t want new things (unless they’re electronics and sometimes not even then). I want the things I’ve become accustomed to and work for me. Which is why sometimes, even when something gets actually too old to use, I still hang on to it. Recently, my favorite skull-n-crossbones mug developed an unfortunate hairline crack that resulted in it weeping tea over everything. It was unusable but I hung on to it for two weeks. What was I planning on doing with this mug? It wasn’t fixable. It wasn’t art. Did I think it would magically heal itself? It wasn’t until I had resigned myself to it’s passing that I was able to let it depart into the recycling bin.
I don’t think my preference for the old and familiar is particularly unusual. I think most of us are little grumpy about being forced into new things. We’re uncomfortable with being uncomfortable. On the other hand, studies seem to indicate that actively being in a place of uncertainty and learning keeps Alzheimer’s at bay. Being used to a little discomfort makes us appreciate what we have and have grace for those who also in discomfort. And I think that if a few more people were used to being told no and being a little more uncomfortable then they wouldn’t lose their cool and have public temper-tantrums in the middle of Target (why is it always Target?). Perhaps we need new things periodically just to remind us that sometimes we don’t always get to keep our favorite mug. And sometimes we need a new mug to tell us that everything will be OK. As long as it looks vintage.
And Now…. Book News!
The Cinderella Secret is coming 10.19.20 and there are gifts, prizes, and sneak peeks for you to delve into! The Cinderella Secret is a romantic thriller that continues the Deveraux family saga, this time with Aiden Deveraux, the handsome lawyer going up against Ella Zhao who blames the Deveraux family for her father’s death. With family secrets and thrills at every turn, The Cinderella Secret delivers a one-two punch of passion and action that will keep readers turning the pages.
The Lost Heir, a Deveraux Legacy prequel novella, will be released in December, but members of the Blue Zephyr Press / Bethany Maines newsletter will receive it on October 19 with the release of The Cinderella Secret! Join here:https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/
So, I forgot that I was supposed to blog today and instead used my few minutes of writing time to write a scene where two of my characters go to a Waffle House. But as a west coast resident, I’ve never actually been to a Waffle House. As a result, I spent way too much time looking at the Waffle House menu on line and now I want hashbrowns and waffles. Sometimes we hear authors say that their characters speak to them. My characters wouldn’t deign to do that. They’re too busy talking to each other. And honestly, if I left them to their own devices they would talk until my fingers cramped up from trying to transcribe. I frequently have to cut off the conversations so that the story goes somewhere. That’s part of the editing process, but these conversations are excellent at helping me understand the characters. When I discover what they find funny, what they hate, what annoys them, and what their hard line stance is on Christmas decorations after New Years, I can plunk them down in any situation and know how they’ll react. Which is how I know that Jackson Deveraux would be quite happy at the Waffle House, but that he would be shocked that his hoity toity grandmother Eleanor Deveraux knows to order Waffle House hashbrowns scattered, smothered, and covered, but not chunked. The Deveraux family is full of secrets and surprises, but when I started writing about them I never would have thought that hashbrowns would be one of the surprises. The Deveraux family, from my Deveraux Legacy, has become one of my favorite group of characters. They’re a very fractured family that is struggling toward reconciliation while attempting to overcome the periodic interruption of mercenaries, bank robbers, and greedy CEOs.
If you want to find out what the Deveraux family thinks about Christmas décor you can check out book 1, The Second Shot, and pre-order book 2, The Cinderella Secret (both currently ¢.99). Or you can…
Enter to win a paperback copy of The Cinderella Secret on Goodreads!
Does anyone else feel like Fall just hit with a sledgehammer? The weather shifted, everything started getting colder and book release dates started cropping up faster than weeds in my lawn. My friends in the Stiletto Gang have several new releases. Debra Sennefelder put out the fashion / Halloween themed mystery What Not to Wear to a Graveyard (see her post here) and we’re still celebrating the late summer releases of Debra Goldstein’s latest Three Treats Too Many and the newest Stiletto Gang member Gay Yellen with Body Business.
My next book releases in October, but that just means that all the marketing is happening now, now, now (use your used car salesman voice for the last part). Marketing for most authors, including me, is a somewhat painful process in which we attempt to interest the greatest number of people in our precious book baby. The Cinderella Secret is book 2 (of 4) in my Deveraux Legacy series. With a series, book 1 sets the tone and while marketing can be increased for subsequent books – if an author did a terrible job on book 1 then book 2 doesn’t have much of a chance. This kind of high-stakes “hope you got it right” marketing pressure is what drives many authors to hate marketing. We’re already responsible for inventing these characters, putting them through hell, hopefully letting some of them make it out with a happy ending, and now we’re responsible for making them a success in the world? It’s too much! My poor babies deserve more! But, of course, we saddle up and go out there and do our best for our imaginary book friends because we really do love them. Fortunately, it is a bit easier with assistance from friends, marketing professionals, and having some pretty sweet giveaways and incentives in my back pocket.
The Cinderella Secret: Hot-shot lawyer Aiden Deveraux holds the key to unlocking the dark secrets of Ella Zhao’s past and Ella holds the key to Aiden’s heart. But a murderer wants to stop those secrets from ever seeing the light of day and Aiden and Ella may have to trust each other with their secrets if they want to make it out of this fight alive.
This week has been a bit of roller coaster ride for my writing.I received some very excellent news which them prompted me to move up several items on my to-do list, which further caused me to do the thing that I had been dreading… Call Apple Support to fix a problem with my Apple ID.I have had three different people on my “case” and have now been bumped up to a “Senior Advisor.”In short, my problem has been deemed an actual problem (hmm… like I said at the beginning?) and I have been moved away from the people that tell me to do things like “spell out North, instead of putting N.” and “try clicking ‘add’ 4 times really fast.”Which is probably good because I was starting to make notes for killing off a customer support specialist in my next novel.
But all of this has left me feeling more than a little bit blocked. I want to do one simple thing, but suddenly the simple thing spawned multiple problems and multiple frustrations. Usually when I’m feeling frustrated I can dive into one of my writing projects to escape, but unfortunately I’m feeling blocked on many of those as well! Book #4 of the San Juan Island series is holding until I can figure out who finds the body. I’ve got it narrowed down, but I’m not sure who would be the best person. My sci-fi version of Beauty & the Beast for the Galactic Dreams Anthology series is with my co-writers and I don’t want to write the next section without their input. And The Lost Heir, my Deveraux Legacy novella is with my beta readers. So what’s the solution to this thorny issue? Here’s what I came up with…
Step 1: Go blackberry picking
Step 2: Make pie.
Step 3: Eat pie.
It may be the long way around for pie, but it is a solution to a very thorny problem.
Comfortable Discomfort
/in Free Book, General Writing, Life, The Deveraux, The Stiletto GangI once had a cousin/uncle/grandparent-ish person (he was my second cousin once-removed if you want to get technical here, but the point is that he was in his eighties and I was around ten, you get the idea) who once posed the question that I probably wasn’t supposed to hear – what’s the difference between naked and nekkid? Naked is simply having no clothes on. Nekkid is naked, but with intent. In other words, the difference is subtle and mostly to do with what you intend to do about it. Which is how I feel about old and vintage.
My general preference, when given a choice, is for old things. Which is to say I like old books, old furniture, old clothes and my grumpy old dog. Although, usually I say vintage, which is the same as old, but with character. I don’t want new things (unless they’re electronics and sometimes not even then). I want the things I’ve become accustomed to and work for me. Which is why sometimes, even when something gets actually too old to use, I still hang on to it. Recently, my favorite skull-n-crossbones mug developed an unfortunate hairline crack that resulted in it weeping tea over everything. It was unusable but I hung on to it for two weeks. What was I planning on doing with this mug? It wasn’t fixable. It wasn’t art. Did I think it would magically heal itself? It wasn’t until I had resigned myself to it’s passing that I was able to let it depart into the recycling bin.
And Now…. Book News!
Pre-Order The Cinderella Secret on all ebook platforms: https://books2read.com/Cinderella-Secret
Bonus Gift (but just for my friends)
The Lost Heir, a Deveraux Legacy prequel novella, will be released in December, but members of the Blue Zephyr Press / Bethany Maines newsletter will receive it on October 19 with the release of The Cinderella Secret!
Join here: https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/
Giveaway
Want a chance to win a free copy of The Cinderella Secret? One lucky winner will also get a copy of Book 1 – The Second Shot. Giveaway ends 10.17, so snag your entry now!
Enter at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54817893-the-cinderella-secret
Try Before You Buy
Read Chapter 1 of The Cinderella Secret!
Read here: bethanymaines.com/cinderella-secret-chapter-1/
The Waffle House
/in General Writing, The Deveraux, The Stiletto GangSo, I forgot that I was supposed to blog today and instead used my few minutes of writing time to write a scene where two of my characters go to a Waffle House. But as a west coast resident, I’ve never actually been to a Waffle House. As a result, I spent way too much time looking at the Waffle House menu on line and now I want hashbrowns and waffles. Sometimes we hear authors say that their characters speak to them. My characters wouldn’t deign to do that. They’re too busy talking to each other. And honestly, if I left them to their own devices they would talk until my fingers cramped up from trying to transcribe. I frequently have to cut off the conversations so that the story goes somewhere. That’s part of the editing process, but these conversations are excellent at helping me understand the characters. When I discover what they find funny, what they hate, what annoys them, and what their hard line stance is on Christmas decorations after New Years, I can plunk them down in any situation and know how they’ll react. Which is how I know that Jackson Deveraux would be quite happy at the Waffle House, but that he would be shocked that his hoity toity grandmother Eleanor Deveraux knows to order Waffle House hashbrowns scattered, smothered, and covered, but not chunked. The Deveraux family is full of secrets and surprises, but when I started writing about them I never would have thought that hashbrowns would be one of the surprises. The Deveraux family, from my Deveraux Legacy, has become one of my favorite group of characters. They’re a very fractured family that is struggling toward reconciliation while attempting to overcome the periodic interruption of mercenaries, bank robbers, and greedy CEOs.
If you want to find out what the Deveraux family thinks about Christmas décor you can check out book 1, The Second Shot, and pre-order book 2, The Cinderella Secret (both currently ¢.99). Or you can…
Enter to win a paperback copy of The Cinderella Secret on Goodreads!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Cinderella Secret
by Bethany Maines
Giveaway ends October 17, 2020.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway
Or you can join the Bethany Maines / Blue Zephyr Press Newsletter mailing list and get a free copy of the prequel novella, The Lost Heir in October!
Fall! Bombs Away!
/in General Writing, The Stiletto GangDoes anyone else feel like Fall just hit with a sledgehammer? The weather shifted, everything started getting colder and book release dates started cropping up faster than weeds in my lawn. My friends in the Stiletto Gang have several new releases. Debra Sennefelder put out the fashion / Halloween themed mystery What Not to Wear to a Graveyard (see her post here) and we’re still celebrating the late summer releases of Debra Goldstein’s latest Three Treats Too Many and the newest Stiletto Gang member Gay Yellen with Body Business.
My next book releases in October, but that just means that all the marketing is happening now, now, now (use your used car salesman voice for the last part). Marketing for most authors, including me, is a somewhat painful process in which we attempt to interest the greatest number of people in our precious book baby. The Cinderella Secret is book 2 (of 4) in my Deveraux Legacy series. With a series, book 1 sets the tone and while marketing can be increased for subsequent books – if an author did a terrible job on book 1 then book 2 doesn’t have much of a chance. This kind of high-stakes “hope you got it right” marketing pressure is what drives many authors to hate marketing. We’re already responsible for inventing these characters, putting them through hell, hopefully letting some of them make it out with a happy ending, and now we’re responsible for making them a success in the world? It’s too much! My poor babies deserve more! But, of course, we saddle up and go out there and do our best for our imaginary book friends because we really do love them. Fortunately, it is a bit easier with assistance from friends, marketing professionals, and having some pretty sweet giveaways and incentives in my back pocket.
The Cinderella Secret: Hot-shot lawyer Aiden Deveraux holds the key to unlocking the dark secrets of Ella Zhao’s past and Ella holds the key to Aiden’s heart. But a murderer wants to stop those secrets from ever seeing the light of day and Aiden and Ella may have to trust each other with their secrets if they want to make it out of this fight alive.
Release Date: 10.19.20
Pre-Order now from iBooks for ¢.99! (Price goes up after release week!) Buy here → https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-cinderella-secret/id1528407978?mt=11&app=itunes
Have a netgalley account and want to get an advance copy? Blogger/Reader Sign-Up → https://bit.ly/ReleasePromotionTheCinderellaSecret
Want to win an e-copy and a $40 Amazon giftcard? Enter to win → http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2a9f3a7480/
Want to get the Deveraux Legacy prequel novella, The Lost Heir, for FREE? Learn how → https://bethanymaines.com/the-deveraux-legacy/
Play Ball!
/in General WritingThorny Problems
/in An Unseen Current, Life, The Deveraux, The Stiletto GangBut all of this has left me feeling more than a little bit blocked. I want to do one simple thing, but suddenly the simple thing spawned multiple problems and multiple frustrations. Usually when I’m feeling frustrated I can dive into one of my writing projects to escape, but unfortunately I’m feeling blocked on many of those as well! Book #4 of the San Juan Island series is holding until I can figure out who finds the body. I’ve got it narrowed down, but I’m not sure who would be the best person. My sci-fi version of Beauty & the Beast for the Galactic Dreams Anthology series is with my co-writers and I don’t want to write the next section without their input. And The Lost Heir, my Deveraux Legacy novella is with my beta readers. So what’s the solution to this thorny issue? Here’s what I came up with…
Step 1: Go blackberry picking
Step 2: Make pie.
Step 3: Eat pie.
It may be the long way around for pie, but it is a solution to a very thorny problem.