Where My Royalties Go

My husband likes to tell people I'm his 401K plan. In his mind I will one day have a book (or two or three) on the New York Times best sellers list, a screenplay in the theaters and royalties rolling in faster than we can spend them. Yes, he does live in a dream world. That's okay, I let him. Why spoil his fun? The truth is I didn't get into writing, nor do I currently write, to make money. The royalties are nice and certainly help. However, my goal to become a published author was never about how much money I could make in doing so. I write because I enjoy sharing the craziness in my imagination with others. The voices in my head truly do make me write their stories.

Now, that being said, I do still enjoy receiving royalties for my published work and don't appreciate online pirates who choose to share that work without my permission. I also enjoy creating free stories that I share with readers in various spots around the web. One such place is a new blogging venture I've joined in with other published romance authors, known as the Truly, Madly, Deeply Romance blog. My contribution, a short story titled Into the Ocean, will be available on Saturday, March 19th. Readers who leave a comment will also have the chance to win a prize from me. And this is where my royalties come into play. I LOVE giving away prizes to readers. I honestly, truly do. However, I have to be realistic about my budget and can't give away as much as I would like. Therefore, I limit myself to spending ONLY royalties on reader prizes. So, if I sell a ton of books one month the prizes get better and there are more of them.

March is looking like a great month for my readers. I'll be adding to my prize pack pickings and hopping onto a couple of blogs as a guest. Each time I make an appearance around the web I plan to give away a prize. Also, I plan to do my Birthday Blog tour again this year in June (my birthday month). Hopefully it will be as much fun as last year's turned out to be. So, are there any prize ideas you've received or seen from other authors that you would like to suggest? I'm taking notes and adding to the pile.

 

 

Spring Break Planning

February is speeding on by and Spring Break is right around the corner. What does that mean for the Missy Jane family? ROAD TRIP! My lovely little ladies and I absolutely love jumping into George (my suburban) and hitting the road for however many miles we can mosey in a day or two. We head up highway 290, stopping in Chappell Hill for lunch (mmm, sausage...) then on  to Brenham to tour the Bluebell ice cream factory. We can probably all guide the tours by now, but the free scoop of ice cream at the end makes the history talk worth it. If it's just a day trip we head back (stopping at Chappell Hill again for dinner). If we have time then a walk through Washington-on-the-Brazos Sate Park is added to the agenda. We do this every year.

Right now I'm in the planning stages of our trip and trying to decide how much time to spend on the road. I'll be on vacation from work and the temptation to just sit somewhere and read will be overwhelming. Why don't I have auto-pilot in my SUV yet? Maybe I can convince my hubby to do all the driving this year...or not. Well, they don't make audio books for nothing.

This year I think we might take a few days and stay overnight in the hill country. There are just too many photo opportunities for me to pass up while at least two of my four lovely daughters are still willing to pose.  But, don't worry my precious readers. While the girls are gallivanting through the wildflowers I'll be daydreaming of the next shape-shifter, vampire or hot-bodied hero to write up when I return.

I have a Book Trailer!!

There is an awesome author here in the Houston area named Delphine Dryden who took the time to create a video trailer for my paranormal romance, They Call me death. Check it out!

As soon as my teenagers finish teaching me to use You Tube, it will appear there as well ;-)