I am so excited! But also tired. But excited! Book 2 is coming out on September 15! To be completely honest with you, it’s already available on Amazon and Ingram Spark, but that was by mistake. I won’t begrudge you if you decide to buy one now, though. Or if you pre-order the eBook, which you will have delivered to your Kindle on September 15. It will also magically appear on Barnes and Noble on September 15.
So I get to have another launch party! The last one was a lot of fun. It seems like I just had it not that long ago. Oh, that’s right! I did! It was in March. Who knew that I would be releasing a second book in the same month? Well, me. I knew. I already have all of my book launches set for like the next 6 years. Hopefully I’ll be able to start releasing more than two per year at some point, though, since I am currently writing book 12 and I need to get these out there! It’s hard to wait! I actually have a second series, still connected to the world of the first series, going now, so maybe I can start to overlap? Oy, if only I could win the lottery, and just put them out at will! But alas, there are costs involved, so I have to plan accordingly.
But I’m psyched about the launch party next week. I did have a lot of fun last time. I gave away books, there was food, there were friends there, and everyone stayed for hours. The venue was fantastic, and they even have a few copies of my first book there for sale. This time, I will not be able to have a big expensive cake with a photo of my book on it, but I will still have cake. And I mean, cake is cake, right? And less food. And better merch to give out, because I know how to do things now. It’s not my first rodeo (it’s my second). So I’m not as nervous about it. But I just hope people come. You know that line from my all -time favorite movie, right? If you write it, they will come. Well, close enough.
So come to my launch party next week! I would write more today, but the coffee shop where I write is about to close and they will kick me out in a minute. Wish me luck on my launch, and for my author friends also launching this week, best of luck to you. You all deserve the best! I can’t wait to keep reading those indie books!
In the meantime, my first book, “May I Have Your Attention Please” is marked down to $1 for eBook until September 15th, so go and get your copy today!
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, on Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, Barnes and Noble, and Ingram Spark, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
It’s coming soon! My new book, book 2 in the series, “McKinney High Class of 1986, ” I Just Can’t Say I Love You! I’m so excited about this! Launching Book 1 was exciting and stressful. And launching Book 2 is, well, stressful and exciting! It definitely was less scary. I mean the whole process. I was so terrified to send my files to the distributors the first time, like something I did would break the whole system and steal all my money. I had to actually go to Best Buy last time to have them help me load one of my files due to the imbedded fonts. This time, everything went through almost much too easily. I’ve requested proofs to be sent to me and I just have to wait to make sure, but then I can order real copies, and start to sell them! To be honest, I love my first book, but I really feel that each of my books gets better and better than the last one. I’m writing number 11 right now. Maybe it will be a Pulitzer Prize winner! Haha.
But the struggle has been real. This whole indie scene has been a struggle. Nothing is easy about self-publishing, and the payoff, well, is not much of a payoff. I was aware that it would be slow going, but I had no idea how frustrating it would be, not being able to break through to the public. I know I have this great product, but I just can’t get it out there. I have sold a bit above 100 copies of my book. I have given away several more. I have sold a couple in bookstores, which is exciting, but there are soooo many books to compete with, including those that have become best sellers (I’m talking about you, Colleen Hoover). It doesn’t help that I have to work full time in a very stressful profession at the same time as trying to market my books. I can’t spend all day trying to push my books. So I do as much as I can on social media. I feel a bit like a telemarketer! Recently, I changed jobs, and I no longer have a commute where I can read, write, or go on social media. Sometimes, I would even market on the bus. That was fun. I would read my own book on the bus and when someone asked me what I was reading, I would tell them. And show them. And sometimes impress them. But now I have a five-block walk to work. I could try to sell to the pigeons along the way, but they like mystery books better as a group. What I need is a carrier pigeon to drop some books on the heads of random passersby.
I’m going to try to sell my new book on Kindle Unlimited. Have you tried it? I used standard Kindle for the first book. I’m not sure if it will be a different experience. I hope that doing this gives new people an opportunity to see my book who might otherwise not. I haven’t tried joining Kindle Unlimited yet. I prefer paperback books myself, although I do partake on the occasional eBook. What’s your preference? What do you like about each one? I like books because they don’t have backlighting. I like the way they feel in my hands. I like the way they smell. I like pages to turn manually. I like that they can be signed by the author. What I like about eBooks is that I can get them so quickly. If I have my Kindle in my bag, and I’m stuck somewhere, I can just order up a new book, and read it right away. Maybe some light reading or something I wouldn’t have ordered on-line and waited two days or more to receive. Right now, I’m rereading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I read it last when I was about 14 years old. I referenced it in one of my manuscripts, so I thought it was about time for me to read it again. And it’s so worth it. Such a great book. I wish I had as good marketing as that book had! 🙂
This is the last cover reveal image I’ll show you. I still have three more days to complete on social media. Maybe you can extrapolate what it looks like from what I’m giving you here. What does it look like to you? Do you judge books by their cover? I do. I know it’s not always accurate, but I’ve read a lot about the science (well, social science, I guess) of book art. You develop your cover based on your genre. So what happens if your book covers more than one genre? I guess you go for the most prevalent one. In my case, I go toward the romantic imagery. It can be stunning, and it’s really hard to make a cover around a 1980s retro high school friend/families coming-of-age love story with social issues theme. So yeah, romance seems to sell. And there is romance in my books. Quite a bit. But for those of you who don’t love romance, there is more. There is a lot of family dynamics, and function and dysfunction. There is the connection between a group of friends who have been through so much together. There is the spanning of years in the series, and the overlap of storylines. There is the fact that every one of my books in the series has a scene that takes place at the McKinney High junior prom. And stuff happens at the prom. And not all of it is sex. Some of it might be, though, so, yeah. But other stuff, too.
Here’s the book blurb:
Kim and Carl became fast friends in kindergarten, but they were struck by the cooties plague in second grade. For years, it was the boys versus the girls, but Kim has missed her first school friend. Now they are juniors, and Kim has a plan. She has gotten Carl to agree to go to the Junior Prom with her, and she has some ideas about how the evening will end. Carl won’t know what hit him. But both of these teens have no idea that their childhood traumas will affect their ability to thrive in a romantic relationship. As Kim and Carl start down a road to love, they must learn to trust each other with their lives, and their hearts. Their journey takes them through high school and across the country, into a new life that neither of them could ever have expected.
I Just Can’t Say I Love You is the second book in the McKinney High School Class of 1986 series. Learn about Kim and Carl during their early years, and well into adulthood as they explore growing up with the help of their loyal high school friends.
(For those who read May I Have Your Attention Please, you may remember that Kim is one of Sally’s friends, and Carl is one of James’s posse friends)
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
Here is it, McKinney High. It stands in the heart of Eastboro, MA, a fictional town in Central Massachusetts. The school is completely fictional, I swear! This photo was generated by Artificial Intelligence. It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but it’s close. I would hate to have to climb those stairs every morning, especially on a Monday! I imagine the parking lot is on a higher level, so the kids with cars get the advantages over the kids who have to walk to school and then hike Mt. McKinney! Sally Bachman is one of the walkers. In May I Have Your Attention Please, Sally lives about one mile away from school, and complains to her mother about having to walk, after being driven to private school every day the previous year. Granted, private school was seven miles away! Thank goodness for James Newell, with his 1973 rust colored Vista Cruiser station wagon, even if the heating fan is busted. Sally will endure the cold in order to be able to ride to school. And spend extra time with James.
Here’s a short excerpt from James’s first day of junior year at McKinney:
James slogged through History and Biology before entering English class right before lunch period. He stopped short when he saw Sally Bachman sitting in the second to last row, in the center. He realized he had taken too long to get to class, and as the second bell rang, the only seat remaining was at the back of the room, directly behind Sally. He squeezed by the student-filled desks between them and exchanged smiles with her before he fell heavily into the chair-attached-to-desk contraption which would be his home for the next hour. Their teacher, Mrs. Clark, closed the door, and a small breeze passed through the classroom, causing the smell of strawberry to waft from Sally’s hair to his nose. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the scent, before realizing what he was doing.
Poor James, having to slog through classes. But it seems like school’s about to be much more fun for our hero, as he gets to spend the whole year sitting right behind Sally Bachman and her strawberry scented hair. Let’s see how the first day went for Sally:
When lunch finally came around, Sally was starving, having thrown away most of her breakfast. She met up with Michelle in line in the cafeteria, and once they had their steaming hot square pizzas secured on their trays, they made their way to a table where three other girls were already sitting. She knew Kim Drake and Darlene Feinman from Randall, and was introduced to Traci Walsh, who had gone to Fremont Junior High. It was an easy group to talk to, and soon Sally was feeling at ease as she laughed and ate. She continued to feel conspicuous in her new surroundings, however, and at times felt people were looking at her. When she looked up and around, she realized her fears were unfounded. Everyone else was focused on their food and their friends, and they were not concerned about the new girl. She let herself relax and concentrate on the conversation.
It’s hard to be the new kid, especially in a giant school like McKinney High. But luckily, Sally had some friends she remembered from junior high, and they came to her rescue. But what if she was to figure out that someone actually was watching her? Maybe a boy she sat near in English class?
School is not always drudgery and stress, though. Sometimes you get a break. Remember how it felt when you went into class, and you saw the big cart with the TV on it, and the teacher said you were going to watch a film? Even if was a movie about mitochondria, it was still better than listening to the teacher drone on for an hour.
Ronald Reagan took his second oath of the Presidential office on Sunday, January 20th, The inauguration had not been in the public square due to record low temperatures in Washington DC, and the whole eastern half of the United States was experiencing unusually cold weather. Massachusetts, which usually had temperatures in the freezing range during the month of January, was also experiencing a deep and prolonged freeze, leaving students feeling chilled and unmotivated in school. On Monday, all of the History teachers in all of the grades at McKinney High showed their classes special educational videos about inaugurations and presidential celebrations. The students loved to watch movies in class. It meant the lights were turned out, and more mischief happened in the dark.
Mischief at school? No way! Everyone was a perfect angel at my school. Wasn’t it like that for you, too?”
“I was trying to say,” Chris went on, “that my cousin Vince might be able to hook you up with a new muffler. Your car sounds like a motor boat.”
“Vince Bishop?” Carl asked. “Uncle Frank’s son? I thought he moved to Framingham this summer.”
Chris shook his head. “No, Vince Farmer, Uncle Benny’s oldest son. He’s the one who was expelled from Murphy a few years ago for trashing a teacher’s car when he failed his class.”
OR:
Fourth period was English class. James had arrived first and was sitting at his desk. The bell was about to ring, so Sally came into the classroom hurriedly, and slipped into her seat breathing hard from exertion. She could feel James’s breath on her neck, and then she felt his hands on her shoulders as he gave them a quick massage. Mrs. Clark entered the room.
“Mr. Newell,” she called out, “hands to yourself, please.”
Everyone turned to look at them, and Sally sank slightly in her seat. It was no secret amongst the students at McKinney High that she and James were a couple. She was used to the looks when they walked through the halls holding hands. But she still felt uncomfortable with the attention.
Or even:
“Where are Kim and Darlene?” Sally asked, secretly glad Kim wasn’t there to ask her any awkward questions.
Michelle swallowed her bite of burger and washed it down with some milk. “Darlene’s out sick, and Kim has lunch detention for smoking outside on school property.”
“She needs to learn how to not get caught!” Rhonda stated, shaking her head, then scooping up a spoonful of chocolate pudding.
I clearly remember being in the girl’s room in junior high when the girls who were smoking in there got busted! But more often they didn’t get caught, and they smoked in the strangest places and situations.
When you’re a teen, most of your life happens in school. There are academic classes, electives, gym and music classes, shop, lunch, extracurricular activities, times in the hallway between classes, standing at your locker, confiding in your best friends. Then there are the extras: the after school clubs, committees, and sports, and the social events, such as homecoming, prom, and other dances.
Michelle and Darlene talked Sally into volunteering for the homecoming decorating committee with them. They were on it the previous year, which is where they had met Traci. They had fun, and thought Sally would enjoy it too. It would give her a chance to make some new friends at the same time.
And:
Sally quickly found Michelle and Carl, and together they all watched people dancing and listened to music as they chatted. Soon, their other friends filed in, and in no time, the gym was full of noise and dancing bodies. Sally and Michelle tugged their dates out to the dance floor, and they all moved awkwardly to the music, enjoying the feeling of letting loose. The place was too crowded for anyone to observe and judge their dancing, and they took full advantage of it.
And we mustn’t forget the most special day of all, junior prom:
When the first notes of “Purple Rain” came on, everyone got up to dance. It was slow even for a slow song, and James held Sally tight, only pulling away to kiss her. She rested her head contentedly on his chest. As soon as the song ended, the DJ put on Madonna’s “Crazy for You.” James knew Sally loved the song. He continued to move her around the floor, dodging other couples, as they clasped their arms around each other. Their friends were also dancing in couples around them. Kim had her head resting on Carl’s chest, and Carl was smiling his biggest, cheesiest smile. James felt it was the perfect prom moment.
So there are a few glimpses into the school lives of the main characters of May I Have Your Attention Please and their friends. McKinney High is a huge part of what goes on in my series, McKinney High Class of 1986, obviously. I imagine the members of this class looking back fondly on their classmates, their teachers, and the events at McKinney, and the music and other culture they experienced back in the mid 1980s at their huge fictional school!
I hope you decide to read the series, and you start to fall in love with the characters and their stories as much as I have. And here’s a little clue for you all. There are six books in the series. And guess what? There is more than just one high school in Eastboro, MA. There is also Murphy High. So you can guess, all the characters you love, and ones you haven’t even met yet, will show up again after book six, in a new series, yet to be named. Stay tuned!
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that eBooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
There is no end to the list of characters! Well, there is an end. I lied. But there are quite a few of them. I’ll keep them going until I exhaust them. Or you get exhausted. I’m already exhausted but that’s another story!
Tracy Walsh
Traci is a very, very minor character in “May I Have Your Attention Please.” She has one or two lines in two scenes, and if you blink, you’ll miss her. She shows up a bit more in book 2, even more in book 3, and by the time you get to book 4, she is a big time major character. She even gets her very own book down the line!
The McKinney High girls have known each other for a long time. That is, all except for Traci. Traci moved to Eastboro, MA, in ninth grade, and went to Fremont Junior High. She then transfers to McKinney Sophomore year and befriends Kim, Darlene, and Michelle. Fate, is it? Or did Traci know exactly what she was doing all along? Traci is very sweet, and she fits right in with the group, as if they have known each other forever. The group soon learns that Traci has some very special skills. She does not possess magic powers or ESP, but she is extremely intuitive. Traci has extremely sensitive, acute sense, and she has learned to interpret the input subconsciously. She can walk into a room, into an ongoing conversation, and instantly know that someone is lying. She can tell if someone has a crush, or if they are feeling poorly. Her interpretive skills are also excellent, so she can extrapolate predictions of what might happen next. Her new friends are bowled over. But there are some things, and some people, that Traci cannot sense, and it drives her crazy! She has no idea why. It could be a glitch, or it could be that they are hiding things. Traci’s parents have made some decisions for the family that Traci and her brother Bobby don’t understand, and sometimes, these choices can lead to heartbreak for their children. Traci and Bobby cling to each other for support. But soon, there will be some major changes occurring, and Traci is not sure if she can face some emotional losses that she is facing. It’s possible that her McKinney friends might be the key to her future happiness.
Darlene Feinman
Darlene and Kim Drake have known each other since they were babies. Their mothers are best friends. They were pretty much inseparable as preschoolers. They started kindergarten together, and were placed in different classes. Darlene made a new friend, Michelle, and she felt loved and accepted by Michelle. Over the years, things change between the three girls, and the power differential shifts. Darlene has to make some decisions based on loyalty and making sure that she makes everyone happy. But Darlene has a secret. Everything is really not as wonderful as she leads everyone, including her own mother, to believe. The world is wearing Darlene down, but damn if she ever lets anyone in on what’s going on inside her head. She divides her time between the homes of her mother, who is supportive and giving but oblivious to what is going on, and her father, who is demanding and critical of her every move. She is an only child, so she is often left to her own devises, with her own thoughts. She develops a set of coping skills to help her get through, but sometimes, they just make things worse. As Darlene navigates life in high school, college, and beyond, she must figure things out, and make some major changes, before things go drastically wrong.
Rhonda Jenkin
Rhonda was the prettiest, most popular girl in her junior high. She developed early, and boys started to notice her. She finally focused her attention on one lucky boy, only to find herself feeling forced to break away from him in high school. Rhonda soon finds new love with Chris Mahoney. They had flirted with each other back in junior high, but Rhonda chose someone else. Now, they are hot and heavy, and falling in love. The only problem is, Rhonda knows that their relationship is not built on honest intentions, and knowing this is killing her. She finds herself getting closer and closer to Chris, which is confusing and does not serve her true purpose. Rhonda is seeking revenge. Not on Chris. On someone in his circle. The problem? This person doesn’t even know she did anything that might have hurt Rhonda in the first place. When the quest for revenge blows up in her face, Rhonda must make a decision that will not only break her own heart, but also that of the boy she has fallen in love with. But deep down inside, she knows it’s the right thing to do. She only hopes that this decision doesn’t haunt her for the rest of her life. But it might. Rhonda has an older brother and an older stepsister. She lives with her brother, mother, and stepfather, who is basically her father. She hasn’t seen her biological father since she was three and no one knows where he is. But he has been keeping a very big secret. And it’s a secret that will lead Rhonda to a very, very dark place.
Howie Newell
Howie is the most tragic figure in the series. Howie is the older brother of James Newell, lead character in “May I Have Your Attention Please,” and also featured in every other McKinney High book. Howie is mainly featured in the first book, but does make guest appearances in others. He is three years older than James, and two years younger than their older sister, Erin. He is the middle child, and he meets all the criteria. He grows up pretty normally, with caring and loving parents, until age twelve, when something happens to change him. Howie falls in with some older kids who start him down the path to trouble. As the years go by, Howie gets in more and more trouble at school and home, much to the dismay of his family. He gets suspended from school often and for stupid reasons, but he is never expelled. He is the reason that James decides to go to McKinney High School rather than Murphy High. James doesn’t want to be classified as being just like his brother. Howie somehow graduates from high school, but no one understands how. Trouble starts again about a year later, when he gets in more trouble at home, and is told he must move out. Howie complies, but he still comes home often to visit, use the washer and dryer, and take food from the fridge. His mother worries about him. James can’t understand him.
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that ebooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
I didn’t have enough time and space to introduce all the characters from my series a few weeks ago, and since I’m so excited about them, I wanted to share more! I have my second book coming out on September 15, so it’s important for you to meet more of the main players! Book Two, I Just Can’t Say I Love You features Kim Drake and Carl Bishop, so I’ll start with them, but just remember, all of my characters are in all of my books, so pay attention to all of them. Even if they have bit parts in one book, they’ll have a lead role in another! I hope you enjoy their bios, as well as the hours I poured into developing my gorgeous AI pictures (don’t worry, I’m not going to sell anything with these images on them!)!
KIM DRAKE
Kim was born on February 28, 1986 to a single mom. She and her mother are very close. Kim was an only child until she was seven and she gained step-siblings, then baby half-siblings. Kim has a lot of confidence, and has been the leader of her friend group since second grade, when the social structure changed between boys and girls, and she lost her best friend. She can at times be bossy and directive. Kim’s greatest gift is her ability to tell a captivating story. Her friends all stop what they are doing to listen. Kim is very petite and very pretty. She is a good schemer, and knows what she wants. But sometimes, she doesn’t know what to do once she gets it. Her closest friends are Darlene Feinman, who she has known since birth, and Michelle Gorman. The three of them have been together since kindergarten, and have forged a tight bond. They become even closer after Kim experiences a tragedy at age 10. She depends on her friends and her strength to get her through. Kim wants to go places in life, and she will. She will go a lot of places, and learn a lot.
CARL BISHOP
Carl was born on September 15, 1968. He is the youngest member of all of the friends. Carl is part of a famous Eastboro, Massachusetts family, which sometimes makes things easier, sometimes harder. Carl is very close with his cousin, Chris Mahoney. They have been placed together since birth, and all of their family pictures include them both. Carl easily fits into the roll of Chris’s lieutenant in their bad boy “posse,” a role he enjoys. Carl has an older brother who he hardly sees, and a mother who is bitter and angry. His father is around sometimes. Carl learns to fend for himself and his orange tabby cat, Tiger. Carl sometimes appears helpless and dependent on his cousin, but he has a strength that no one can see, a strength that will serve him going forward in life. Carl is very close to his grandmother, Gram Missy, one of two identical twins that are a large part of his and Chris’s life. Gram Missy will help to guide him and try to make the path easier for him, since no one else seems able or up to that task. Carl will learn great lessons about love and loyalty, and about sometimes having to walk away from your old self to find your true self.
THE GRAMS
They were born Melissa and Cecelia Farmer, but now they are affectionately known as Gram Missy and Gram Cissy. They are the matriarchs of the biggest and most famous family in all of Eastboro, Massachusetts. They were the daughters of a very well-known and respected leader of the community. They are part of a family of nine children. They married into a family that was also prolific in the area, and everyone has had many children. You can’t walk down a street in town without running into one of the Grams’ nieces or nephews. The Farmer Twins are very strong and opinionated, and fiercely loyal. They look after their family members and make surethey are taken care of in every way, and that they feel as special as they should. They make a point of being present at all the milestones, and they have often been the planners of all of the family celebrations. It is unclear where they get the funds, but they never do anything half way. Their younger family members tend to come to them for advice, and the Grams have seen it all. They know how to point their kin the right direction. The Grams have led charmed lives, but they still have their lot to contend with. No matter how much love they give to their children, sometimes their children are just not open to that love. It’s a very difficult fact to accept, and the Grams will never give up trying.
CHRIS MAHONEY
Chris Mahoney was born on March 15, 1968. If you look back, you will see that Chris, grandson of Gram Cissy, and his cousin Carl look an awful lot alike. This is not by mistake. They are second cousins, but there is a good reason that they look so much alike, but not completely alike. There is one big difference. Chris was charismatic and charming at birth, and he has a tremendous memory for names and events. His extended family, which is very large, all adore him, because he takes time to get to know them, remember important details, and question them about things the next time he sees them. Chris is the natural leader of his group of friends starting in elementary school. They all follow him and respond to his commands. His bond with his “posse” grows stronger each year, and they all tend to get in trouble together all the time. But Chris can charm himself out of most situations, since everyone likes him. But the truth is, not everyone likes Chris. There is actually one person in his circle who not only dislikes him, but also blames him for everything that has gone wrong in her life for years. And this person is about to make things difficult for Chris, and change the dynamic between him and his cousin and best friend, Carl forever. When this happens, Chris will discover that maybe he hasn’t been quite as much in control of what was going on in his life for a very long time.
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that ebooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
I’ve gotten much better at this artificial intelligence thing. I don’t like saying AI because it looks too much like my husband’s name, which is Al if you haven’t guessed already. Isn’t that weird?
Anyway, a friend from Facebook turned me on to Midjourney, which is on Discord, and I’ve fallen down a proverbial rabbit hole. It’s making me late for things. But it’s SO COOL! I have made a bunch of character sketches for my, uh, characters. Which is really good, because most of them are in all of my books, so you can get a better idea of who to expect to become your best friends while reading my series. The image above is how I picture Sally and James’s first kiss. It’s not perfect. James is supposed to have blond hair, and Sally, brown. Sally’s hair should be down, and she should be wearing a navy-blue mini dress and a denim jacket. But it’s close.
So I will start with James, and then move on to Sally. I probably won’t do all the characters today because it could be a book in itself, but I’ll get to the important people.
Introducing James Newell. He was born on January 12, 1968. He is the youngest of 3 children. His sister is a genius and his brother is a major troublemaker. James is still trying to figure out where he fits in with his family. His best friend, Pete goes to a different high school, but he still has his close friends Chris and Carl, cousins from a famous Eastboro family. James, Pete, Chris, and Carl are former bad boys, but they’ve cleaned up their act. James loves to play the guitar, and enjoys being able to chill at home when he’s not with his friends. He is not expecting to see Sally Bachman at his school on the first day of junior year. He is also not expecting how he will feel when he first lays eyes on her.
Sally Bachman was born on August 1, 1968. She is the youngest of 3 children, and she has an infant niece named Josie. She is very close to her older sister but struggles with finding common ground with her brother. She loves cats, Rock and Roll, New Wave, writing, and especially the Boston Red Sox. She is majorly into all Boston sports. Sally decided to leave her friends at public school and go to a private school sophomore year. But things didn’t go too well there. She returns to public school for her junior year, much to the delight of her best friend Michelle and her other friends from Randall Junior High, Darlene and Kim. The first person she sees at McKinney High is Jamie Newell from the group of bad boys she knew back at Randall. Sally has always had a soft spot for Jamie and his friends, and is happy to see him, especially when she gets lost in the hallways of her new school. Little does she know that this chance encounter is not only going to change her expectations for her junior year, but most likely far beyond.
Michelle Gorman is Sally’s best friend. She was born on St. Patrick’s Day, and already had a full head of flaming red hair at birth. She and Sally met on the first day of junior high in art class and bonded over their love of New Wave music and camp. Michelle is very petite, and she is very self-conscious about her size. When she realized there was no magic serum to help her grow, she settled on learning to be strong in every sense of the word. She is fiercely loyal to her friends, and she loves a good tidbit of gossip, especially from her friend Darlene. Michelle is smart and clever, and she would go to the end of the world to protect her older sister, who was born with an intellectual disability.
Pete Cooper (on the left…the guy on the right doesn’t show up until book 5, and you’ll be very happy that he does!) is James’s best friend. They have lived three houses from each other since they were 3. Pete is also the most athletic and most attractive of the friend group. He’s almost 6 feet tall at the start of high school. Pete is devastated when he found out that James is transferring to McKinney High, and they’ll no longer see each other in school every day. But the two boys stay very close and confide in each other often. Pete has a younger sister that he dotes on, and a girlfriend named Carolyn. He still hangs out with his junior high friends on weekends and vacations, even as he makes new friends at Murphy High. He has a secret he needs to tell James about Sally, and although he worries it will cause issues in their relationship, it only brings them closer. Pete then becomes the voice of reason when it comes to James’s relationship struggles.
J.D. and Julia Newell are James’s parents. J.D. works as a manager at Aries Corp, where everyone’s dad seems to work. Julia is a special education aide in the public schools. They have three children, Erin, who goes to Brown University, Howie, who they had to kick out last year, and James, their baby who tries really hard to meet their expectations. Julia is Italian. Her parents were the children of immigrants. J.D.’s father was an alcoholic who died young. His mother took the kids and left him due to abuse when J.D. was young. Julia loves all of her children and worries about them constantly, especially her boys. She also makes a mean cannoli. J.D. wants to be there for James, his namesake, and gives him advice when it comes to love. Both of his parents enjoy joking around and have their own little comedy routine for Sally when they first meet.
Phyllis and Jacob “Jake” Bachman are Sally’s parents. They both work full-time. Jake works in printing, and he has to be available anytime something he’s working on goes to press, which means that he had to go out of town a lot. Phyllis works in “computers,” and she is very tech savvy. The Bachmans are Jewish, and they have raised their children with Jewish traditions. Phyllis enjoys lighting Shabbat candles with Sally every Friday night and having a special family dinner. The family celebrates all of the Jewish holidays together. Phyllis’s mother had a lot of troubles when she was a child, and Phyllis is very affected by this. She credits her father for raising her and her sister. Jake loves Boston sports and has instilled this love into his daughter. There is nothing he loves more than watching the Red Sox or Patriots with her on TV or in person. The Bachmans are very welcoming and friendly people who enjoy having intimate parties in their home.
There are a few more friends to introduce you to, but I haven’t discovered their pictures yet. Kim and Darlene are Sally’s friends from junior high, and Traci joins them in high school. They each get books of their own later but have bit parts in book 1.
Carl and Chris are second cousins, but they are as close as brothers. They are from a large family. Their grandmothers are identical twins, and their grandfathers are brothers. Chris’s mother and Carl’s father were very close growing up. Chris is famous for having a cousin for every occasion and need, and Carl does his best to be funny. James, Pete, Carl, and Chris made up the DeMarco Elementary and Randall Junior High Bad Boy Posse. But they were the type of bad boys that you can’t help but cheer for, and they’re finally trying to find their way in the world.
All of these characters have their own unique stories, and all of them will be told. One thing they all have in common is one night in April, 1985: the Junior Prom. What happens to each of them on this night changes their individual lives forever. And most of them are so caught up in their own stories, that they aren’t even aware what’s going on with everyone else. But eventually, years later, all is revealed, and sometimes, friendships are tested.
“May I Have Your Attention Please” is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and anywhere that ebooks are sold. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
I Just Can’t Say I Love You will be available on September 15, 2023, staring Carl and Kim and the usual cast of characters.
Here I am again at Prince Coffee shop in NE Portland, eating my chia pudding with granola and drinking my hibiscus tea. I took my book out of my bag earlier to show to another patron who was interested. She was very excited, and even took a picture of me with the book. The funny thing? She has a very unique, old name, and thought I had never heard of it before. But it turns out, I actually used her name in my book! I opened it to the correct page, showed her, and urged her to take a picture to show her friends. She did. But I doubt she’ll buy my book.
That’s how it’s been feeling lately. There was a lot of excitement about my book before it came out. Everyone was impressed by the fact that I wrote a whole book, and that I was going to share it with the world. They all wanted to know what it was about, how I was inspired, what my process was, etc. So I told them. And when the book came out, I sold many more than I expected in the first two weeks. I was so happy. I kept checking my sales, like all new authors do when their book comes out. In the meantime, I kept plugging away at social media. I just knew, just knew that it would only take one social media influencer to read my book and rave about it to their followers, and then I would sell many, many books. I have been keeping at it for months now, every since my book was in pre-sale. I was getting a lot of likes, and a lot of people telling me my book sounded great. So where did those people go?
Last month I sold 64 books from March 4-March 31. This month, I have sold 9. Yes, there is still more than a week to go, but I have gone several days in a row without a sale, and it’s bringing me down. I mean, it feels like it’s momentum, you know? If it slows down, it will stop. I mean, that’s not really the way it works, but it sure feels like it. And to top it all off, I got a nasty comment on a post on TikTok that was completely off about my work. I deleted it, unfollowed the person, and then blocked them, but I’m worried that maybe they reported me to the TikTok police, because now I’m getting hardly any views on TikTok.
Now, views are not the same as likes. Views mean that the video was put in front of someone on their phone or computer. They don’t have to push like if they don’t want to, but they see the video and are given an option to engage. As we all know, if people do not see something, they cannot like it or engage. For some reason, my posts are not being put in front of people. They have never gotten a ton of views, but now, it’s close to nothing. And my posts aren’t horrible. The views and likes I’m getting are from people who already follow me, or people who know me. So, maybe 35-50 per post for the last four posts. It’s so discouraging. I decided to do another add on Facebook to try to get the momentum going again. But strangely enough, for some reason, if you clicked on the ad, it called my cell phone instead of going to my website. There was no way to edit that, so I had to go back and delete the whole thing and start all over. Now I have it going to the site that has buttons that lead you to the online stores where my books are on sale. But so far, no sales have come from the ad. And it’s so hard to understand the stats they send you. What the hell is an “impression?” I seem to get a bunch of those. Does that mean view? I don’t know. Anyway, blah. Yeah, that’s the way I’m feeling. So much for all the excitement leading up to my book release.
I know there are things I need to do. I think one of them is to take an online class on Facebook ads so I understand them better. Maybe I can do them better and attract more people. I really have the feeling (and my brother backs me up) that if people would just read the book and pass on the word, the book would sell itself. That’s the frustrating part. I think most indie authors feel this way. I saw a TikTok video today about how making it big in the indie world is purely based on luck. Like, an influencer reads your book, and… like I said before. So maybe in addition to ads, I need to buy a luck amulet. I am also working on contacting local bookstores. Last weekend, I emailed my information to all the bookstores I could fine online in Portland. I have already heard back from one that is actually in North Carolina and politely declined, but I told them that my book would probably be enjoyed by their audience, too. No reply. I have two books in a local store because I know the owner. I don’t think either one of them has sold. Another thing I’m gonna do is lower the price of my first book when it gets near the time to release the second book, since it is a series. They can be read independently, but they are better in order. So maybe that will help. Or I could start promoting number two, and hope that people think, oh! I forgot to buy number one! I had better get to it before number two comes out! Huh. Maybe.
Okay, I know there are a lot of authors out there in blog land. If you are reading this, and you have some information for me, please share it in the comments. Please, I would love to hear from people who went through this and then came out on the other side. I want to know there is a chance to break through. I need to know that there are things I can do to make this NOT be only about luck. I want to have some control.
In the meantime, I’m just gonna plug along. I’m gonna do things I enjoy. I’m gonna write. I’m gonna read. I’m gonna try to teach my spell check that gonna is a real word so I have less red lines in my post. I’m not gonna eat ice cream because I’m cutting back on sugar. Oh. Maybe that’s my problems. Maybe instead of cutting back on sugar, I should increase my sugar. Yeah. That would make me feel better. I’m gonna increase my sugar, and go hang out with my good friends, Ben and Jerry.
My book, “May I Have Your Attention Please” can be found on my new universal link, in both paperback and eBook! Check it out! I plan to release my second book, “I Just Can’t Say I Love You,” in September 2023. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
This was my first attempt at making my own cover. Luckily for everyone, I decided to go with a professional cover designer. I highly recommend it!
So now I’m one month in. I published my book on March 4, and now, I’m just sitting back and watching the royalties roll in. Ha! That would be nice, wouldn’t it? No, it’s not quite that easy. I have to admit, the first few days were exciting for sales, as people I know and knew I was writing a book purchased it, all on the same day, driving up my numbers, and actually putting me in a few top 100 lists for new releases. That was really cool. I took a lot of pictures on my phone when that happened. This was about the highest I got:
Number 64. Not bad (it’s also the number of books I sold in March)! I enjoyed it, I posted it on Facebook, and texted it to my friends. I am sorry to say that a few days later I was off all of the lists, and probably about 4,000 in most categories. I didn’t expect to come out of nowhere and become an immediate best seller. I knew it would take time. People don’t know to buy your book if they don’t know about it, and really, I don’t have a publicist. I wish I did. So I have to do my own marketing. And it’s hard! I’m just not young and hip enough to advertise to the young, hip kids and young adults out there! Just ask my daughter. Apparently, I appeal to older adults, and they seem to be the ones not only buying my books, but also reviewing them, and giving them five stars! So thank you, 48–59-year-old men! Who knew you would like a coming-of-age-romance/love story taking place in the mid-1980s? I bet they didn’t even know they would. Hey, I think it’s a story everyone can enjoy. I enjoy it. Haha.
I’ve been working on finding more ways to get the word out there. I have embarrassed my teenager so much by approaching women on the street (not really on the street. Maybe in line in the grocery store where I am also in line) and asking them if they remember the 80s. Then there are the college age girls I’ve run into and asked if they like a nice love story. I thought everyone was supposed to be so into the 1980s right now?!
I did a group promotion, which was kind of cool. It finished up at the end of March, and there was a winner, and all I had to do was mail out the signed book. It went to Tennessee. That was also cool. The winner got 29 romance books. I can venture to say that my book might be a bit different. There is for sure some romance. But it is pretty tame. Tame enough to let my mother read it. I mean, I was embarrassed to have her read it, but not horrified. Had my father still been alive, I wouldn’t have let him within 15 states of my love scenes. Uh uh. No way. My brother wasn’t embarrassed, and he even told me when certain things didn’t seem realistic. Anyway, all this to say that my story is a love story, a story that tries to prove that love can last forever. So if you know a great way to get the word out there, please let me know. I really think that it would sell well if the people knew it was there. Plus, there are six more books after this one. I want them to do well.
So here is what I have done the past couple of weeks. I decided to publish on Barnes and Noble. I know some people don’t like to shop on Amazon, so I thought a choice would be good. Then, I lowered the price of my eBook. I ran an ad on Facebook letting folx know that the book was cheaper. I quickly sold three copies! A friend sent me a notice from our local library letting me know that they are taking submissions for eBooks from local indie authors for the month of April. All I had to do was put my eBook on Draft2Digital and fill in a form. I completed that today (I had to get a new library card to do it, but the new card is really cool looking!). They will select a certain number of books, and then one lucky author will actually be eligible to have their book published in print! I haven’t researched the publisher yet, but I will. But I think it’s wicked cool to have your book in the library. That’s my reader geek showing. I have also been pursuing local bookstores. I have a few books in one, but I learned from another that I didn’t have the right settings online for my distributer. I needed to give a bigger discount to retailers, and also allow returns. I went on Ingram Spark and changed my settings. I emailed a few places and told them I made the change. Now all I have to do is find a few spare hours to go to every bookstore in Portland and talk to them about carrying my book. My brother is also trying to get the book into a Massachusetts bookstore I shopped in as a kid. Maybe the promotion winner in Tennessee will get into stores there. Who knows, anything could happen.
I’m also still at it on the social media pages, trying to chip away at the folx who follow me so they will finally give in and buy the book. I think my algorithm is majorly flawed on TikTok, though. I just can seem to get my videos even seen, let alone liked. I’ll keep trying. I’ve gone headfirst into Instagram, and still plugging away at Facebook Pages. People have recommended that I do a Spotify playlist for my book, but that would mean I have to join Spotify. It might be worth it.
Here is my most recent TikTok video. It did pretty well. I think people want more smut. I might have to give in and post some. I was hoping to leave that alone so they could read about it in the book, but I guess, give the people what they want, right?
My book, “May I Have Your Attention Please” can be found on my new universal link, in both paperback and eBook! Check it out! I plan to release my second book, “I Just Can’t Say I Love You,” in September 2023. Please check it out, and if you do read my book, please leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or whatever other platform you are using. It would mean a whole lot!
Is it me writing this blog post right now? Are you sure? I mean, someone at my house might have borrowed my computer and decided to pretend to be me for a few minutes and write a blog post. That’s pretty unlikely, though, since the computer scans my face for security. My child looks kind of like me, but not enough to access my computer. And my husband would just, well, never do that. So it’s probably me, right? Sure. I assure you today that it is me. But what if someday, it’s not? I could go to an AI app and put in a few key words about what I want in my blog, and the AI would spit out a full article, most likely saying the gist of what I want it to say. Boy, that would save me time, wouldn’t it? I could be a writer, but I wouldn’t even have to write! I wish they had AI for social work, too. I could just stay in bed all day while the AI counsels people and provides them with resources. Oh, what’s that you say? You say that you can do text therapy now, and the AI therapist just responds appropriately to what you tell it? Uh…
I like the idea of AI for some things. It’s kind of fascinating. It would help for some of the drudge work of research, for one thing. I mean, do we really even need to learn how to do research anymore if there is a mechanized way to do it? It would open all sorts of time for other scientific projects and thing. But I draw the line at the AI writing up the paper after the research is done. There is, and always will be, a human side to experimentation and learning. I don’t want to read a paper that was produced by a machine. I want to know who it was that wrote it, and I want to know a bit about their background. It would be like I decided to become a writer, plugged an idea into AI, let it take off and write the story, and then let it market the story on its own, by producing ads and videos. Then all I would have to do would be to show up to book signings. Maybe. I mean, maybe the AI can somehow make that work, too. Does this sound appealing to you? Because it doesn’t to me. My brother Jonathan decided to give it a try recently. He plugged the main premise of my newly released book (May I Have Your Attention Please, found on Amazon) into an AI app and set it free. The idea was, a boy and a girl are reunited after being in different schools for a year, and they fall in love. It is 1984. They both have some issues they are dealing with at home, and they are also dealing with the ups and downs of growing up and falling in love. So my brother read me what the AI wrote. And it was pretty close to my story. Not perfect, but close. It took the story in another direction, but it probably just needed a bit more information to get it right. Ok, that scared me. Is my talent as a writer going to be obsolete in a few years? Are writers going to be a thing of the past? I can see committees sitting in a room coming up with story ideas, and then passing them off to AI. I really, really don’t like that idea.
What else can AI do? It can produce images from key words. So that means that pretty soon, once everyone has access to these resources, stock photos will be a thing of the past. We can all create our own images, and they will belong to us. So far in this post, I have shown you two pictures of girls. These are images that I produced with AI yesterday in an experiment. I plugged in a description of my main character, Sally Bachman. Here is what I asked for:
“Sixteen-year-old white, Jewish girl in 1984, pretty, full length image, blue eyes, shoulder length brown hair, solid pink button-down shirt with puffy sleeves, wearing blue jeans, 1984 style hair and makeup, 34-inch chest. Show all of the girl.” And here is what I ended up with (in addition to the two photos above):
The first girl, on top of this post, looks like a mannequin. There is no escaping that fact. The second one looks like she is at her own murder trial. The third looks like some sort of weird portrait from the 1800s, the fourth is missing a face, and the fifth is most definitely possessed by the devil. NOT ONE OF THESE GIRLS LOOKS LIKE A REAL PERSON!!!! And none of them are wearing the clothing I specified. And what is the AI definition of pretty? Apparently not the same as mine. I might have been able to be a bit more specific, but not one of these girls has a 34-inch chest, amiright?
The next picture still isn’t right, but it’s at least, right-er:
She doesn’t look like I’d imagine Sally, but she looks more in the area of what Sally would look like. And why no blue jeans??? Maybe AI just can’t make real people. I have seen some drawings and other images that were pretty cute with cartoons. I might be asking too much. Just for funsies, I’m going to show you a few I got of James. The clothing is pretty good, but, ugh, the boys:
What, may I ask, is going on with those eyes? ALL of those eyes!
These next two are pretty decent. I changed James’s age from 16 to 17 and specified wavy hair, which made it a bit longer.
But still, someone needs to work on making the AI eyes a bit more realistic. These two guys look like people I might have actually gone to junior high school with. And James’s appearance is actually based on one of those people. Okay, so one win for AI images.
So that is all I am going to show you. I also tried to make some images for my future book covers (although I have an excellent cover designer. I was just goofing around) and they weren’t bad. I am thinking, AI just not good at faces. At all. But I’m glad a had a chance to play around. With Dall-E, you can get a free account with fifteen credits and month. I used up all my credits just trying to get Sally and James right, so no more credits until a month from now. If I want more, I have to pay. That doesn’t seem right. Maybe for fifteen results. You couldn’t have to use your credits for an image that doesn’t come out anything like what you were looking for. Heavy sigh. I just hope that AI keeps having problems. I guess it will be really good for my job(s) security. Small blessings.
Debby Meltzer Quick, Author 