It's A Party! Put On Your Dancing Shoes & Collect Your Prizes!

Woohoo!  The party day has finally arrived and it's going to be fun because it's a huge thank you to all my readers who have made this blog something I look forward to every day.  As Ren McCormick said with much wisdom in his voice as the confetti rained down, "Let's dance!"Oh, wait.  We have some awesome prizes for you. (You can read this and dance at the same time if you want.  I know I am.)   (Also, I was trying to use...

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First Page Friday

Okay, for those of you entering the contest on Monday to have a minor character in a book named after you, here is something to think about over the weekend. The contest for that prize will be a Writing Challenge.  Here are the parameters, so you can put your thinking caps on: Write in 300 words or less, excluding the title, a post that begins with the words, "The shadow moved across the window."  It can be any genre you choose, suspense, humorous, historical, romance, whatever.  Just as long as those six words appear in the beginning. ...

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I'm So Excited For Next Week's Birthday Party!

I'm so excited (now I have that song running through my head) to tell you about the blog's birthday party next week.  It is going to be so fun and I've decided to run it all week long.  I mean, who doesn't want to party all week long, right?Here is a preview of some of the incredible prizes.  We have autographed books from Stephanie Black, Josi Kilpack, Rachelle Christensen, Fay Klingler, Monique Bucheger, Susan Denny, Shirley Bahlmann, and Jason Morgan.  We also have Robison Wells' book, Variant, some of my books, and ebooks...

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, I had critique group last night, so you know what that means.  I rolled into bed at 1 a.m. because we didn't end until after midnight.  But I have to say it was totally worth it.  We laughed so hard, ate yummy frozen yogurt, and then we got down to business.  And, even though it was tempting to just go over our comments and reviews for time's sake, we went ahead and read the chapters out loud.  Honestly, I think that is the best way to critique because we find more errors in grammar and syntax by reading aloud than...

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Book Review: Life Lessons From Mothers of Faith

As most of you know, I was privileged to have a story about my mother included in Gary Toyn's new compilation, Life Lessons From Mothers of Faith.  Of course, that makes my review a bit biased, so I'm telling you up front so you'll be aware.  Honestly, though, even though I am part of the book, I would have loved it even if I wasn't.There are so many wonderful stories of mothers from a lot of easily recognizable names.  There's a great...

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The Never-Ending To-Do List for WriterMoms

Friday marked a red-letter day for me.  The words were flowing and I finished a major revision on my chapter that really set the stage for the rest of the book.  I was feeling so motivated to work on my chapters, a feeling I haven't had in quite a while.Saturday came around and I spent the morning teaching a class for scouts (I was a merit badge counselor).  In the back of my mind my story scenes were running non-stop and I couldn't wait to get to my computer and get going.  When I got home, I took care of lunch for my kids,...

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First Page Friday

I took into account all of your suggestions yesterday and I contacted some writer friends. You will not believe the amazing prizes we will be offering for my blog's first birthday! Books, critiques, character naming, I've got it all. I'm so excited. Thank you all for your opinions.As you all know, it's First Page Friday! I just wanted to remind all of you why we only do one page. When I was at a writer's conference, there was a panel of agents and editors who all agreed that if the writing doesn't catch their attention by the first page,...

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I Need Your Opinion About Something

So my one year anniversary of having this blog is coming up on May 1st. It's hard to believe it's already been a year! I want to do something to celebrate, but I want to ask your opinion.If I were to have a blogaversary party, complete with prizes and games, what do you think would be a fun prize? Obviously since we're mostly writers and readers that gather here, I'm thinking along the lines of things like books. However, I am wondering if I did that, what would you like more? Offering my own books? A book basket with two or more books in...

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Word Count Wednesday

This very strange thing happened to me. You remember a couple of weeks ago, I was complaining about not being able to write the finale for this book and how that had never happened to me before? Then, in the comments, someone said well maybe you haven't plotted out the villain well enough so that's why you can't write the finale. And I thought, that could be true, but then I looked at my character bible and thought, no, I've plotted and think I have a pretty good villain.But I still couldn't write the dang finale. And then the very strange...

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Book Review: Espionage

I've been reading a lot of historicals lately so I jumped at the chance to be part of A.L. Sowards blog tour for her new historical, Espionage. (Isn't that a creepy looking cover? The eye is so weird and well, creepy.)We are quickly introduced to Peter Eddy who is on his first covert ops mission in 1944 France. He's crossing enemy lines, trying to steal back a code book from the Nazis that they've stolen and could compromise Allied agents. The...

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Why Our Writing is Part of Us

I think I have just lived through one of the most insane weeks of my life. I am so glad today is Monday and we are starting over.Because last week was rough.Last week was spring break for all my kids so we planned a fun trip to the zoo (hich we did but it rained on us) and other activities like that. Unfortunately, we also started out the week with my mother being in a car accident, then continued with my son being in a car accident and totaling our car, my son having an eighteenth birthday, my husband's uncle dying and us attending his funeral,...

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First Page Friday

It's Friday the 13th, but here at the blog, we're lucky because it's First Page Friday! Let's get right to it.The EntryTHE SIGHTby Melanie ConklinIt’s three weeks into my freshman year at Chester High and nobody, much less a certain best friend of my big brother, knows I exist. Except for Tammy. And Brian, of course—but middle school friends don’t count in high school!Mr. Hughes is lulling me to sleep this morning, despite my popularity retarding love for all things animal-vegetable-mineral. His voice is like a blanket. And the stuffy, sticky...

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Using Book Signings, Book Launches, and Book Bombs for Marketing Tools

Today I'd like to talk to you about three mainstays for marketing your book and what I think of them---Book Signings, Book Launches, and Book Bombs.Book SigningsAs an author, I've lost count of the number of book signings I've done. Some authors I know hate book signings because it can be uncomfortable, but I've always enjoyed them because I get to meet so many interesting people. Book signings can be a wonderful way to do some marketing (albeit...

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, despite all my best intentions, my word count this week was dismal. I still haven't finished my work in progress, (but I thought of another chapter I could add) and I sort of started another writing project that I shouldn't have. But at least starting that project gave me some word count about 1500 words). And it's so new and bright and shiny it seems easier to draft that one than slog with the manuscript I've been working on for months.Sad, but true.I don't think I'm stuck in writers' block per se, but I think I am hoping that this new...

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LDS Writers Blogfest---A Time to Prepare

Being a wife, mother, and a writer has a lot of perks and a lot of struggles that come along with it. I worry that I'm not balancing my life well and one of those areas of my life will suffer for it because in each of these small little words comes so much responsibility:WifeMotherWriterLast October, Ian S. Arden gave a talk to the members of the LDS church in our General Conference. It was called A Time to Prepare and addressed some of the things I'd been worrying about. He said, "With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our...

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Book Review: Countdown to Love

I've been getting to bed quite late these days, so I was pretty happy when I was able to get into bed at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night. (Yeah, I know, I must be getting old to make that statement.) Anyway, I thought I'd read for fifteen minutes before I turned in and I had Countdown to Love by Julie Ford on my Kindle that I'd been meaning to start. So I picked it up.That was my first mistake.Holy cow. That book sucked me in so fast before I knew...

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First Page Friday

We have gotten some wonderful submissions for First Page Friday. Today is no exception. I always learn so much from these critiques, it's like sitting in a little class each Friday. I hope they are beneficial for you as well. :)(If you would like to have your first page critiqued by a national editor, please submit it to juliecoulterbellon@gmail.com with First Page Friday in the subject line. Submissions are critiqued on a first come first served basis.)Thank you all for participating! The EntryWANNABE DEADBEAT by Spencer Phelps “Marion Tourism...

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Book Marketing--Whose Side Are You On?

There has been a lot of discussion on book marketing lately among authors. Mostly just what works and what doesn't.The standard things that work are what you've all heard before:1. Build your writing community profile by having a blog/website, Facebook fan page, Twitter accounts, Goodreads, Google+, Pinterest, or whatever venue you feel comfortable in.2. Don't go overboard in self-promotion on those sites. No one wants to feel like they're being sold to all the time. Just be yourself and let people get to know you.3. Make sure the book you...

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, the strangest thing has happened to me this week. I'm at the end of my manuscript. I just need to revise the final scene, but every time I go to do it, I just can't seem to get it done. I've thought of dozens of scenarios and none of them seem right. So instead of writing, I've been futzing around on the internet and organizing my house again. Yeah, I'm avoiding. But why?For all you armchair shrinks out there, this is the first time I've never been able to finish a project like this. Usually I'm great at endings and I look forward...

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Castle--Don't Blink Or You Miss Him

Well, I've run the gamut of emotions over the Castle last night. The talk with Laney was awesome, but we really should have gotten that about ten episodes ago. And can Kate really claim she doesn't know how Castle feels when she heard him say I love you? It was a little bit of confusion there for me.But then the confusion got deeper when we saw Castle for all of about ten minutes the entire episode. He's gone back to his playboy ways, but instead of it being like it was in the first seasons, it's just . . . well, dumb. We've spent the last...

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