A Day in the Life of an Indie Writer!

Today is Sunday, and even though I am watching the Chiefs beat the Eagles and will definitely watch the Cowboys play the Broncos, I'm also working. Now that I am a full-time writer, I have to use every moment I can when I'm not "momming" to work on writing and all of the other stuff that goes along with attempting to be a successful Indie author. So, here is a look at my day so far!

1) Check email--get rid of all that junk I don't need but haven't unsubscribed from. See an email from another awesome writer who wants to do an email newsletter swap, email her back, set up dates, reduce price on Cordia's Will: A Civil War Story of Love and Loss so that it's a good price for her readers on Sept. 22. (Incidentally, it's now 99 cents for you, too! You can pick it up here.)

Cordia's Will is only 99 cents for a limited time!

2) Check on my Prelude Kindle Scout campaign. See that (surprisingly!) we are still in Hot and Trending!

Nominate Prelude on Kindle Scout and you could get it for free!

3) Check in on KBoards and comment in response to a witty post by the amazing author Steve Vernon whose Kelpie Dreams is awesome, and you can find it here.

4) Check on my Facebook, Amazon Marketing Service, and Bookbub ads (no, I didn't actually get a Bookbub, but I have been approved to run ads with their peeps, so I do that a bit.)

5) Re-price 1000 keywords on an AMS ad because it's not working too well. (This takes a loooong time.)

6) Check my email subscription and the report from my last newsletter.

7) Check my Instafreebie links. (I just listed The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas for FREE last night, and you can get it here!)

Download Doll Maker on Instafreebie! Read the whole novel for free!

8) Set up a FREE promo for Transformation for Oct. 7-10.

Transformation will be free October 7-10. Read it for 99 cents today!

9) See that Illumination is now life for pre-order for only 99 cents through October 15, and post that to Facebook. Tag my incredible editor.

Pre-order Illumination while it's only 99 cents!

10) Send an email to the incredibly talented JC Clarke at The Graphics Shed about some upcoming book covers she is working on.

11) Decide that some people might not realize how hard Indie authors work so write this blog post!

This is about four hours worth of work, and I haven't written a darn word that counts! My plan is to start writing Melody's Christmas tomorrow and to have it available in November for pre-order. It's my first contemporary romance, but I'm excited about it. I am a huge fan of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, and this one will go right along with those storylines.

Melody's Christmas will be available this winter! The amazing cover is by The Graphics Shed

What are you up to on this Sunday afternoon? Whatever it is, I hope you get to spend some time with your family and friends!

How to Gift an Ebook on Amazon in 2 Simple Steps

This is the time of year when convenient shopping trumps... well, just about anything. And there's really nothing more simple than gifting an ebook to a friend or loved one, especially if you both already have an Amazon Kindle account.  I just sent my newest book to my brother-in-law in about 5 seconds. Let me show you how.
First, log in to your own Amazon Kindle account and find the book you'd like to gift.  If you're not sure what book you'd like to send, Amazon will be glad to help you via their search toolbar--or just send them one of my books. ;)
Once you've selected a book, on the right you'll see a button that says "Give as a Gift."  Click on this button.

Then, enter your loved one's email address in the box where it says, "Email address."

You will get an email that confirms your ebook was sent, which looks like this:

And that's it! Super simple! It only took me about ten seconds to send my new book, The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas, to one of my biggest fans.
If you have questions, please let me know in the comments.
And if you'd like to give a loved one a whimsical, fantasy novel, check out The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas here. It's only 99 cents through January 1st!

Cordia's Will is Free This Weekend

In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, Cordia's Will is free through Monday, May 11th!
I hope that you will download it, read it, fall in love with Cordia, Will (or even Carey!) and then leave me some feedback.  I started writing Cordia's Will over ten years ago. I never thought I would finish it. One day, on a whim, I sent the half-completed manuscript to my sister. She insisted that I finish it.  So, I thought about it--a lot. And, I just didn't know what happened next.... I hadn't written anything in ten years because I didn't want to leave Cordia sitting there, waiting on true love.  It wasn't until I decided to tell a different story (Deck of Cards) that I was able to return to Cordia and Will and finally finish their story.
Writing Cordia's Will was difficult for many reasons. Probably the most difficult part was killing off so many of the characters that I love. There were two scenes in particular that had me in tears as I wrote them. Read the story and I'm sure you'll figure out which ones.
My favorite scene happens late in the book and I won't give it away but it has to do with Cordia and Margaret sitting in the kitchen at the Adam's Farm when our heroin hears the back door open behind and realizes something is horribly wrong....
If you've read Cordia's Will, I'd love to hear from you. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? It's free this weekend! Download it here and happy reading!

Cordia loses her love and then has to choose between what her heart wants and what her family desires.
Image courtesy of Getty Images