Month: March 2013

Do What Makes You Money, First!

Your Book … On a Shelf … In a Bookstore

You might think that I’m writing a blog post today … but I’m not. Yeah, yeah, what are these words, right? It’s actually my mind kicking myself in the butt. Every week, we discuss the next latest and greatest; we work toward achieving higher and higher levels with our businesses. What happens if we don’t do that?

Seriously, that’s the point. As we dive into social media marketing each week and promote the you-know-what out of our books, sometimes we have to look back at our businesses.

When I was a sales manager in years past, one of my mantras was, “Do what makes you money, first.” Continue reading “Do What Makes You Money, First!”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Wing Man

Photo by K.S. Brooks

Brandon was not the only one who saw it. He was just the only one whose belief could not be shaken by the men in suits who talked to everyone who had been on the flight.

They tried to convince him he didn’t see it, or that it was some small plane with the sun glinting off the windshield, or a flock of geese.

He knew it wasn’t any of that. Still, he did as the men told him. He did not talk to anyone about it. He tried not to think about it anymore.

Strange as it may seem, he had really forgotten about the whole thing by the time he’d grown up. Then he saw it again. This time it was not alone.

In 250 words or less, tell us a story incorporating the elements in the picture. The 250 word limit will be strictly enforced.

Please keep language and subject matter to a PG-13 level.

Use the comment section below to submit your entry. Entries will be accepted until 5:00 PM Pacific Time on Tuesday, March 26th, 2013.

On Wednesday morning, we will open voting to the public with an online poll for the best writing entry accompanying the photo. Voting will be open until 5:00 PM Thursday.

On Friday morning, the winner will be recognized as we post the winning entry along with the picture as a feature. Best of luck to you all in your writing!

Entries only in the comment section. Other comments will be deleted. See HERE for additional information and terms.

Book Brief: Don’t Tell Anyone

Don’t Tell Anyone
by Laurie Boris
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Word count: Approx. 65,000

Landing in the emergency room nearly unconscious from pneumonia, sixty-five-year-old Estelle Trager is forced to admit that she’s been living with potentially malignant tumors in both breasts…for five years. Now her son Adam and his wife, Liza, know about her deadly secret. Adam is hurt and outraged to learn that his mother had intended to take this to her grave. But Estelle, who watched her mother and grandmother suffer from breast cancer in the days when no one dared speak its name, has no intention of putting her family or herself through the horrors of cancer treatment. Estelle decides there is only one solution: ask Liza, the thirty-three-year-old daughter-in-law she once called a godless hippie raised by wolves, to kill her.

A horrified Liza refuses and keeps the request—among other things—a secret from her furious husband. But she tells his charismatic younger brother, Charlie, a close friend from college with whom she shares her own confidences, despite Adam’s serious case of sibling rivalry. Armed with nutrition textbooks and her neighbor, a savvy nurse, can Liza win over her mother-in-law and convince her to consider other options before the cancer, the secrets, and Estelle’s determination to end her life win out?

This book is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble.

Continue reading “Book Brief: Don’t Tell Anyone”

Video Trailer: Heart of Humanity

Life in the peaceful, technologically advanced realm of Mediterra is all eleven year-old diabetic Noah can remember and all his sister, Nadine, has ever known. Due to the edicts of the new President of Mediterra, the family must return to their father’s homeland of Terene: a hostile, prejudiced society. Noah is told things there have supposedly changed for the better, but after standing up to the baddest bully at school, he becomes more of a target than he ever imagined possible. Are Noah’s heart and will strong enough to rise above the onslaught?

Heart of Humanity, the dystopian political thriller by S. L. Wallace, is available through Amazon.com, Smashwords, and Amazon UK.

Don’t forget, you can cast your vote for trailer of the month on March 30, 2013 at 5 p.m. Pacific time.