Finding an artist for e-book cover images

You've written a book and now you need the artwork for the e-book cover done.  Where to turn? 

Here's a start:

You can send an e-mail to Mark Coker (of smashwords.com) at list@smashwords.com to request Mark's list of fellow Smashwords authors you can hire to create ebook covers.  Prices range from $40 to $100. Through this list, I found Joleene Naylor (joleene@joleenenaylor.com).  Her website is http://coverart.joleenenaylor.com/ if you'd like to take a look.  She did a fantastic job on my cover, and was easy and comfortable to work with.

I recommend you look through the list by Mark and check each person's website/portfolio then go from there.  Find your fit!

Good luck and happy hunting! ;)

Back in town!

Hi all!  Sorry to have been MIA for such a long period, but I've been doing the summer thing. I was out of town for nearly 2 weeks enjoying sun and fun with family and friends.

I wish I had some deep and insightful thing to say right now, but my brain is still in summer-jell-o-mode.  How's that for invoking an image??!

I will say, however, I've been keeping up with my reading better than my writing, and that is not something that feels good.  Like needing food or water, I need to write to feel my healthiest and to survive.  Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration with the survival statement, but I do feel at my best when I'm writing productively.  I can't wait to get back into my writing groove!! School starts in 2 weeks on my end, so kids will be off for the days and I'll be busy writing my heart out.

But back to the reading end of things for me.  Right now I'm reading a book that's based during a time period and a country I rarely ever read about. It's quite an interesting change for me, and the book is good so far. It's called The Red Scarf by Kate Furnivall, and it's a story about a young women who has lived then escaped life in a Labor camp in Siberia in 1933 (Stalin's rule).  I have a passion for stories (mostly based on true events) that rise from the concentration camps during Hitler's period.  This passion comes from my intense fascination of the story of human survival in unbelievable circumstances. I can't seem to get enough of these heartbreaking yet triumphant story lines.  Keep in mind, it's not the mistreatment of humans I like to read about, it's their triumphant survival I thrive on.

It's disgusting and surprising how many stories throughout history and the world so closely simulate the "Jewish story" of opression and survival.

Here is a description of what the Red Scarf is about:
Davinsky Labor Camp, Siberia, 1933: Only two things in this wretched place keep Sofia from giving up hope: the prospect of freedom, and the stories told by her friend and fellow prisoner Anna, of a charmed childhood in Petrograd, and her fervent girlhood love for a passionate revolutionary named Vasily.

After a perilous escape, Sofia endures months of desolation and hardship. But, clinging to a promise she made to Anna, she subsists on the belief that someday she will track down Vasily. In a remote village, she?s nursed back to health by a Gypsy family, and there she finds more than refuge?she also finds Mikhail Pashin, who, her heart tells her, is Vasily in disguise. He?s everything she has ever wanted?but he belongs to Anna.

After coming this far, Sofia is tantalizingly close to freedom, family?even a future. All that stands in her way is the secret past that could endanger everything she has come to hold dear?
I'm looking forward to reading another book from Kate Furnival called The Russian Concubine, however, for right now, I plan to read something far lighter. I like to alternate heavy and light.

What books are you reading now?  And why?  ;)

The importance of romance novels

I find it odd that so many people associate romance novels with sex, or sex scenes.  To me, that association belongs to the erotica category, romance belongs to the romance category.  Not that some romance novels don't call for some sex scenes, or provide some great ones!  I'm simply saying I have an entire different association when I hear the word romantic novel, one that can actually be accredited with being good for your health.  Why?  Happiness is very good for ones health.

I think romantic novels play an important role for most of their readers.  I believe reading a romance novel should be a heartwarming experience for the reader.  Yes, I'm talking happy endings, endorphin releasing joy that comes after the storm.

People have different ideas of what falling-in-love should look like, but the bottom line is that it should conclude with a happy ending, however you get there.  In my opinion as a reader of all categories of writing as well as an author of a romantic-suspense novel.

Yes, real life doesn't always offer happy endings, but that's exactly why I (and most readers of romance) turn to the romantic novel.  We are looking for our heartstrings to be pulled in all different directions then gently put back in place.  This leads me to my title statement.  I think romance novels are an important outlet for people to escape the sting of reality and be submerged in a world where the ending will leave us light on our feet.  An escape from reality, from daily news and all the horrors of the world.

I'm not saying a romantic novel should be, or need be, fluffy and light at all.  Personally, I love it when a story is going sour between the two lovers, my heart aches for them, but I fully expect for things to turn around before the end, so I can walk away filled with a completeness only a happy ending can provide.

People need (crave) romance and happy endings in a world filled with so many other endings.  We thrive on the feeling of fulfillment a romantic novel can provide.  So read them without guilt or embarrassment.  The classics are good, memoirs are good, and so many other categories, but if you want to rest assured your reading journey into another life, another world, will leave you with a high only happiness can provide, pick up a romantic novel now and again.  It's good for you! ;)

This is why I'm such a fan of Jane Austen.  I admit I find reading books from that time-period a little on the difficult side, but I adore her sense of what falling in love looks like in all its glory and all its pain.  I absolutely believe Ms. Austen told love stories as they should be told, for pure pleasure of the reader.

What do you think?  Do you agree? Disagree? Why?  And what are your favorite reading categories, and why? 

But whatever you read and for whatever reasons you have, happy reading!! A well-rounded reader is a healthy reader. ;)

The "high" of writing

After having a very wishy-woshy writing schedule for the last several weeks due to kids out of school for summer, I finally had a good day of writing.  Well, not exactly a full day, but for 2 1/2 uninterupted hours (that only felt like 20 minutes!), I wrote non-stop.  I feel fantastic!!!  It always amazes me how the act of writing, putting a story together, can give me such a rush.  I'm on top of the world!! ;)

I've never been more connected to any thing in my life like I am to the craft of writing.  It has such a deep and profound hold on me that it affects my moods.  I know most writers would say the same thing.  When we find what we are meant to do with our lives be it write, teach, save lives (that covers a lot of careers), or whatever, the affect it has on us is truely amazing.

But finding your "calling" is a gift, a blessing, and we all come to it at different times in our lives.  I've always enjoyed writing and telling stories, but not until I was in my mid-twenties did I listen to myself and open my life to writing for a living.  And then, not until 14 years later did I make a serious effort to follow that calling.  But it doesn't stop there.  We are constantly growing and learning about ourselves, experiencing changes in our lives and in our thoughts that lead us on a journey we call life.  I feel I'm on that journey, the one I need to be on.  I'm not saying I've reached my potential in any way, I'm just saying I know I'm on the right track.  How?  Because of how deeply I'm touched by the act of writing and on so many levels (as stated above).

If you don't know your calling, or you do and don't think you can make it happen, think again.  Keep thinking and keep your mind and heart open to the truth.  If you want it, you'll make it happen.  A cliche worth repeating.

Go for it!  One day at a time, change your life. ;)

Advanced Dictionary and Thesaurus With Spell Correction

I'm very excited about a recent purchase I made.  I've had a hand-held spelling corrector by Webster for a few years now and I love it! But my needs have expanded. While reading a book, I sometimes run across vocabulary words I'm not familiar with, or that I understand in context, but would like the specific definition. And I NEVER seem to look them up later. Solution? Franklin Merriam Webster Advanced Dictionary and Thesaurus With Spell Correction (MWD-1500) . It's fantastic!! No more 1/2 knowing a word!

When I run across a word I want a more specific definition to as I'm reading, I simply type in the word and voila! The definition is there. There are more functions (many) of this device, but for now, I simply use it for quick definitions as I go. My goal is to increase my vocabulary at a level that will translate to my own writing. Too often I know a word, but don't really know the word. That drives me crazy.

Problem solved! ;)

Hey, anything that translates to increased knowledge is a good thing. The more you learn, the more you know, right?

I recommend this device to anyone who would like to know the full definition(s) of every word they read, thus filling their own personal vocabulary bank. 

As a bonus, it also provides Punctuation & Style info., Geographical Dictionary, Biographical Dictionary, and soooo much more. 

If you want to check it out at amazon, you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Dictionary-Thesaurus-Correction-MWD-1500/dp/B001WLVHKI/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1339889276&sr=8-7&keywords=merriam-webster+dictionary+and+thesaurus

The week long blog tour was a success!!  I had a lot of great comments and two fantastic reviews! I can now say I know exactly what a blog tour is and how it works. It's a great way to get your name and your book in front of a lot of eyes you wouldn't reach otherwise.  I highly recommend it!  I used http://www.goddessfish.com/tours.htm and they were fantastic all the way through. They were the middle-man, you might say.

Here are the two reviews I had during the tour. Imagine how good it felt to read these! I was so nervous, but these reviewers quickly put my fears to rest.

Review by Liz at Novel Moments blog:

I mean it when I say that Cadence Beach is one of the best romantic thrillers I’ve read in a long time. I’m so happy to have discovered Linda Juliano and her wonderful book.

 I love thrillers that keep me awake long into the night because I just have to read one more chapter to find out what happens next.

The novel has a beginning that pushes the reader right into the story of Allan Roth, a man obsessed with his dead wife. She died in a way that sent chills down my spine. Unable to live without her, he started to believe that her soul was back and now lived inside the body of a woman called Josie Gianni. He was determined to get his wife back, determined to make Josie believe she belonged to him. He soon started stalking her and no place was too far. When Josie moved to Cadence Beach, so did he. He didn’t let her out of his sight. But then something unexpected happened. Josie started to fall in love with another man, Gordon Forrester. This drove the stalker mad, until he just couldn’t stand it any longer. His jealousy finally overwhelmed him and he stopped being just the man that watched from a distance. He became a very dangerous man, to both Josie and the people who cared about her.

 

One thing I loved about the novel is that the author also gave me a peek into the stalker’s dark, dangerous mind, allowed me to watch as he weaved his plans. But I also enjoyed following the trail that led him to the man he had become. I find that interesting because I believe that all evil has its roots somewhere.

Most of the story took place in a small, beautiful seaside town that the author brought to life with every word. I loved not only the setting but also its residents, who were very believable, interesting, and welcoming. It was a pleasure getting to know all the different characters and their surroundings.

 
Cadence Beach was so good that the story stayed with me long after I turned the last page. The ending left me really satisfied but still craving for more. I guess I’ll have to wait for Linda’s next novel. I’ll definitely buy it. She's a very talented author who will go very far. You will not be disappointed by Cadence Beach. I highly recommend it.

The second review was by Molly at Reviewsbymolly:

So, I gotta warn you. This book is addictive. I didn’t want to put this book down! From the awesome characters, to the amazing plot line, this book is filled with so much suspense and twists that you will find yourself up late at night trying to finish the story.

From page one, Ms. Juliano has this book roaring with suspense. Suzanne Roth’s husband has had to bury her, though she doesn’t have a typical grave site, nor did she die in a way that was typical. It was so much worse. Now, Allan Roth has come to believe that he can reincarnate his deceased wife and live happily again.

Josephine “Josie” Gianni is a wonderful character! Bless her heart, I felt for her so many times! She’s a young woman about to be promoted in her job, and on the day of celebration, she walks in on her boyfriend and another woman in bed. Devastation over that incident drive Josie to move to Cadence Beach and take on a new job. Once there, though, she finds her self attracted to her temporary boss, and a victim of being stalked. Everywhere she goes she sees a black Lexus, and then someone decides to invade her privacy. Things get twisty when she finds a note addressed to Suzanne…..especially when that note is full of threats.

Gordon Forrester is hiding secrets, but is growing attracted to the beautiful Josie by the minute. When someone is stalking Josie and Gordon realizes it, will it be enough to push his issues behind and save the woman he’s quickly falling for? Or will the stalker’s obsession be a cause for Gordon to lose again?

This 5 Book worthy story is absolutely high on my recommendation list! You’ll fall in love with all the twists and turns, and when you reach the end…..well, you’ll be wishing for more suspenseful, romantic, witty plots from this amazingly talented author! I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next. Wonderful job, Ms. Juliano!

Blog Tour

Well, it's day one of my week-long book tour!  Today I'm being featured at bunnysreview.com (http://bunnysreview.com/2012/06/author-interview-with-linda-juliano/#comment-785).  So far, so good. Not a lot of people commenting, but at this early stage in my career, I'm happy for the handful of people who do sit up and take notice.

I hope to generate some (good to excellent) reviews from the tour, and at the very least a few new fans.  We'll see how it all plays out, but I have to say it's fun so far.

I would love to hear from any of you about your personal experience with your own blog tours. ;)
I'll let you know how the week turns out and what I learn from the experience.