Mrs. Tuesday Giveway at So Simply Sara!

Sara Kovach at So Simply Sara is hosting a book review, interview, and giveaway of Mrs. Tuesday's Departure HERE. Please stop by Sara's blog and enter to win a book, or just say hi!

And thank you, Sara, for kindly hosting me!

Check Me Out At The Library - Literally!

Mrs. Tuesday's Departure can now be checked out from the Jefferson County Public Library! This is a screen shot of the library's online catalogue. And that is a catalogue listing for my book.

We have a wonderful public library system that is very supportive of its local authors, whether you are traditionally or indie-published.

Adding to the awesomeness is a certain synchronicity. If you look closely, you'll see that they ordered the books on March 19th....my birthday. Now, in more ways than one.

Thank you Jefferson County Public Library for supporting local authors.

Today I Am 50!

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes.

Here's to the start of a wonderful new year

and 

a fabulous

 ground-breaking

 show-stopping

 record-making

(so amazing, that the first 50 years look like a warm-up)

 next half-century.

Hugs and kisses,

Suzanne.

10 Questions Every Author Should Ask

Guest Post

By Jeff Bennington

 Author of The Indie Author’s Guide to the Universe

The monsters have been screaming in your head for years, scratching and clawing at your brain until you finally put pen to paper and let them out.

You had dreamed of writing a book or a series until you couldn’t take it anymore. The itch needed to be scratched, and you needed to free the creatures that had taken residence in your imagination before they consumed, devoured, or, worse, possessed you.

So, write you did. You worked for months and years perfecting not only the story but your delivery through study, peer review, and, finally, a professional edit.

You sighed, taking in a breath of fresh air when at last you had a beautiful cover that added color and vitality to your dream.

The monsters in your brain were freed.

You let Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Goodreads, and Smashwords in on your dirty little secret, a secret that only you knew until you finally revealed to the world that you were the next Stephen King, Agatha Christie, or J. K. Rowling.

Screeeeeeech … [enter the scratching record noises]

Now, you know the truth.

Writing is more than tapping your longtime dreams into your word processor; it’s also about running a business, marketing, public relations, and accounting. And much to your dismay, there are hundreds of thousands of other writers just like you with the same vision. You begin to obsess over every new sale. You run a fever at the first sign of a bad review. You notch up your social media. You pay to advertise. You lower your pricing. You write guest blogs. Pant, pant, pant.

You do everything and anything to get noticed, until finally you realize that indie publishing isn’t what you thought it would be.

You walk to your bed, lie down, and wish the monsters were back inside, safe in the cave whence they came.

Of course, you ask yourself a few questions; questions that you should’ve asked before your writing life went from big dreams to tiresome reality:

1.     Can I handle subjective opinions of my work?

2.     Do I have time to build a platform, market, engage in social media, and continue writing?

3.     Is my family prepared and willing to lose a big part of me to a second job?

4.     Can I afford to build a quality book: editing, cover, and formatting?

5.     Am I in this for the long haul, or do I expect instant success?

6.     Do I have time to read and hone my craft?

7.     Am I willing to add more friends, contacts, associates, and partners to my already hectic life?

8.     Am I ready for the publication marathon?

9.     Am I willing to support and promote other authors for my mutual benefit?

10.  Which is the true monster, my book or the business of publishing?

After asking yourself these questions, you realize your eyes must have been bigger than your stomach. Even so, you decide it’s a good idea to ponder your next move.

Will you give up? Can you continue at the pace you’re on? Do you love writing and publishing, or are you simply infatuated with the idea of being published?

After much consideration, you shake your head, a few tiny creatures fly out of your ears, and you discover that you’re not done. You seem to have a knack for breeding monsters. You smile, plug the charger into your laptop, and start another pot of coffee.

There’s still one hour left in the day to write, one more beast to command, one more book left in you. Final question: what will you do now? If you’ve read this far, I think we both know the answer.

  Jeff Bennington shared an excerpt from his must read book for all indie authors. Jeff blogs at The Writing Bomb.com   and is the author of REUNION, an Amazon #1 bestselling supernatural thriller, TWISTED VENGEANCE and CREEPY, a collection of scary stories. He is the founder of The Kindle Book Review.  When Jeff isn't writing and blogging, he's busy raising and homeschooling his four children with his wife in Indianapolis, IN.

Guest Post: MJ Rose and The Book of Lost Fragrances

Today I'm happy to happy to host MJ Rose, an author I've long followed on Facebook and who I greatly admire for her writing and her book marketing acumen, she is the author of eleven novels and the founder of AuthorBuzz. 

Today, MJ is launching The Book of Lost Fragrances and on a blog tour introducing us to her book as well as some of the fragrances that inspired the story.

Welcome MJ!

I’ve been fascinated with lost fragrances since long before I started writing The Book of Lost Fragrances… since I found a bottle of perfume on my great grandmother’s dresser that had belonged to her mother in Russia. Here is one of those lost fragrances that stirs the senses and the imagination… (reasearched and described with the help of the perfume writer Dimitrios Dimitriadis)

CHÉRIGAN - FLEURS DE TABAC

At the height of the Art Deco age, Parfums Chérigan launched Fleurs de Tabac in 1929.

Fleurs de Tabac has a brisk citrus opening over a dry, smokey vetiver heart which is imbued with tiny star-shaped jasmine blooms and sheets of pungent cured tobacco leaf. Finally, a rich amber/vanilla base and sensual muskiness reveals itself and trails off well into the drydown. A wonderful example of the European predilection towards tobacco-inspired scents in the 20's and 30's, and one that is sadly now lost to time.

Discover the perfume inspired by The Book of Lost Fragrances

Pre-order The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose and we’ll send you a free sample of Âmes Soeurs, the Scent of Soulmates. This exclusive fragrance, inspired by the novel, was created by Joya Studios and is not yet for sale.  Joya’s Âmes Sœurs hints of Frankincense, Myrrh, Orange Blossom and Jasmine. It’s smoky uncommon finish suggests the past and the future, and lost souls reunited.

Just use one of the links at http://mjrose.com/fragrances/scent.asp and follow the directions there.

About THE LOST BOOK OF FRAGRANCES:

Jac L'Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances--and of her mother's suicide--she moved to America. 

Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it's financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing--leaving a dead body in his wake--Jac is plunged into a world she thought she'd left behind.

 Back in Paris to investigate her brother's disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L'Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation - or is it just another dream infused perfume?

 The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra's Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet's battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac's quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

M.J. Rose is a skilled writer and a remarkable storyteller. Using Cleopatra’s lost book of fragrance formulas as a stepping stone, Rose spins a tale replete with stunning twists and compelling characters that will keep readers turning the pages late into the night.

About the Author:

M.J. Rose is the international bestselling author of eleven novels: Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying In Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix, The Reincarnationist, The Memorist, and The Hypnotist. The Book of Lost Fragrances will be published in March 2012.  Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of How To Publish And Promote Online, and with Doug Clegg on Buzz Your Book.

Rose is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. As well as the co-founder of Peroozal.com and the popular website BookTrib.com.

Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine.  Rose has appeared on "The Today Show," Fox News, "The Jim Lehrer News Hour" and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USA Today, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.

 

M.J. Rose lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka. To learn more about M.J. Rose and her work, visit her website at: www.mjrose.com.

More about MJ Rose:

M.J. Rose is a Renaissance woman.  She is a respected journalist and the internationally bestselling author of twelve highly acclaimed novels. She is the founder of AuthorBuzz, the first marketing firm for authors and one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers.  Rose has also co-founded Peroozal.com and the popular website BookTrib.com. She has an enduring passion for art, mythology and esoterica, as evidenced her Museum of Mysteries blog.  In essence, M.J. Rose is a force to be reckoned with.

Rose is also an impeccable researcher, often blending actual history into her spellbinding storylines.  And her latest, THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES (Atria Books; $24.00; March 13, 2012), an engrossing thriller that weaves together reincarnation, ancient Egypt, international intrigue, and a lost book of fragrances, is no exception. It’s already been chosen as an Indie Next Pick for March and was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers. Rose will also be part of Atria Great Mystery Bus Tour—In April, Atria Books will send four authors from three different countries to twelve cities.

In preparation for writing THE LOST BOOK OF FRAGRANCES, Rose spent more than two and half years researching ancient treatises on perfumery and alchemy, traveling to flower farms and conventions, as well as studying with fragrance architects, famous “noses,” and niche perfumers. Based on that research, Rose provides exclusive author notes in THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES, as well a comprehensive glossary that offers factual information about some of the topics, locations, theories and legends she vividly weaves into her plot. 

While writing, to remain in the world of the novel, she burned incense and her favorite candles created by Frederick Bouchardy under the brand name JOYA. When the novel was finished she searched out Bouchardy to give him a copy of the yet to be published novel. Bouchardy was instantly intrigued by THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES—first, as a reader, he said he was taken with the mystery and romance of the story. In Rose’s tale, scent plays a strong role as it pertains to memory. Bouchardy, who creates using oils and other classic ingredients, said this notion spoke to him as a designer and producer of fragrances. The ancient fictional fragrance at the heart of Rose’s novel is called Âmes Soeurs, which means “Soul Mates” in French. Inspired by the book, Bouchardy has brought the perfume to life with his version: Âmes Soeurs, The Scent of Soul Mates. Bouchardy interpreted Rose’s imagined fragrance with notes of Frankincense, Myrrh, Orange Blossom, and Jasmine.

It Wasn’t Always Easy—getting published has been an adventure for M.J. Rose who self-published her first novel, Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers didn't know how to position or market it since it didn't fit into any one genre. Frustrated, but curious and convinced that because of her advertising background she could figure out the marketing, Rose set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 and began to seriously market the novel on the Internet. After selling over 2,500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel discovered online. It was chosen by the Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club and published by a mainstream New York publishing house. The rest, as they say, is history… 

First Ice Cream Sandwich of the Season

The weather is unseasonably warm today. It's 60 F and sunny and there are a lot of people who are hoping that winter is behind us. Not me, of course. I'm incredibly disappointed that I'm not sitting under a blanket of four feet of snow.

However.

I thought I should make a little something to kick-off the upcoming summer season. We'll start with some ice cream that perfectly reflects my ever-changing state of mind. Can't decide whether to have vanilla or chocolate? No decision necessary! You can have both!

Then we'll take these chocolate chip cookies that I had in the freezer. It's a good idea to use them frozen so that they won't crumble when you add the scoop of ice cream.

I created a little assembly area. Place a scoop of ice cream on the inside of one cookie. Then put the tops on them to create a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.

John and Heidi are coming next weekend for a birthday visit. 

Do  you think I should put this platter of delicious cookies in the freezer for them?

Me. Neither.

Book Reviews and Book Giveaways!

Today Mrs. Tuesday is being reviewed over at Little Sprout Growing with the fabulous blogger, Elise! Please click over and check out her review and her beautiful blog.

In honor of Mrs. Tuesday remaining in the Top Ten in Religious Historical Fiction, I'd like to give away ebook versions of Mrs. Tuesday. All you have to do is click over to my author page, like and leave a comment. That's it!

Thank you!