SMALL TOWN TEXAS

Small towns occupy much of Texas. Del Rey, population 8,000, is one such place, one-hundred miles southwest of Dallas, surrounded by small farms, family ranches, and even smaller communities. The highway by-passed the town years ago, but Del Rey still thrives with older residents and younger families moving in to escape city life in Fort Worth and Dallas.

One main street holds most of the businesses, with a few other stores and shops on side streets. A new Super Foods sits two blocks from the center of town, the old café turned into a soup, salad, and sandwich shop, the old Kress Variety store is now converted to a Pizza Parlor, complete with a room full of video games, and another with old cartoons showing, one after the other.

Del Rey, Texas is a figment of my imagination for my first women’s fiction novel titled MAKING THE TURN. Thirty-nine-year-old Sara Daniels loses her fortune and all her possessions overnight when her philandering husband dies on the Riviera in the home he shares with his mistress. Sara has no choice but to trade her BMW convertible for a used minivan, load it with the few possessions she salvages from her home, and move back to the farming community where she was born.

Welcome to Del Rey, Texas.

BLURB:
Starting over at age thirty-nine is no picnic under any circumstances, but the task is daunting for Sara Daniels. Living an affluent lifestyle her entire adulthood in Dallas does not prepare her for instant bankruptcy, especially if a philandering husband dies suddenly, leaving her penniless, debt-ridden, and homeless.

Planning on moving in temporarily with her cantankerous mother in the small town of Del Rey, Sara faces more problems than she can handle. During the long, hot summer, she and her daughter, her mother, and a handsome distraught widower and his charming young son learn they can have second chances.

EXCERPT:
After a moment of hesitation, he said very softly, “Sara. I apologize. That should never have happened.”

Shaken by the kiss, Sara turned and gripped the door handle without replying. Instead of opening it, she turned back around, holding the cake platter against her chest with crossed arms. Managing to keep her voice under control, she said, “Well, it won’t happen again, that’s for sure. You won’t be seeing me anymore anyway, probably, unless we just happen to run into each other. I start work tomorrow, and besides, I won’t be staying in Del Rey very long.”

“You’re not moving here?” he asked with some surprise.

“No, I told you from the beginning I was visiting.”

“But you have employment.”

“Yes, but, well…that’s just to help Jeff out temporarily while I’m here.”

“Jeff?”

“The golf pro. So, you see, you really don’t need to worry about my coming around anymore.”

At this juncture, Sara stood as stiffly and silently as Rick.

At last, Rick spoke softly. “It’s mainly about Aaron, Sara. Don’t you see? He needs a lot of things, but right now in his life, I’m the one to supply everything for him—physically and emotionally.”

“Oh, I understand,” she began in a low voice and leaned toward him. “Having your life change drastically is traumatic on anyone, especially a child. But we adults can just suck it up, can’t we, Rick? We carry on, no matter whom we lose, or how much the loss endangers our well-being, or how the circumstances destroy our self-concept.” She paused and looked toward the house and bit her bottom lip. “I need to go.”

Sara drove away. She looked in her rear-view mirror and could barely make out Rick through the near darkness, still standing in the driveway with his hands shoved deeply into his pockets, watching after her as she turned onto the highway.

“Damn,” she whispered to herself. “I can’t please anybody. First kiss in over ten years, and the man apologizes.”

************

BUY LINK:  http://www.wingsepress.com/  (Print and eBook)
ALSO Available at Amazon-print and Kindle

Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas
http://www.celiayeary.blogspot.com/
http://www.celiayeary.com/

New Releases
Texas Promise-eBook-Desert Breeze Publishing
Making the Turn-print & eBook-Wings ePress

NOTE: PHOTO is Lockhart, Texas 

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

Stop and think—do you sabotage your own success? This can happen on many levels, most of them subconscious, but all are self-destructive. How do I know this? I’ve done so many things to make myself fail or at least feel like a failure, I can’t even count them. We can’t address all the ways we writers knock ourselves down, but we can discuss a few. You might be able to add to this list.
Is Your Attitude Positive or Negative? Ever hear the saying: “Can’t never did anything?” I do admit I often say, “Well, I just can’t do that.” Maybe the statement is in response to rewriting a story that seriously needs an overhaul; to a ten-day blog tour; to spice up a manuscript; to take a workshop that I really need. Instead, be the Little Engine That Could and tell yourself, “I think I can.” Doesn’t that sound much better than “I can’t?”
Is Your Book The Best It Can Be? Does it have reader appeal? Pretend you’re someone else reading your book. (I pretend I’m a lady I know who is rather hard to please—will she like my book?) Does it have urgency, intensity, and enough drama to capture a reader’s heart? Does your own book interest YOU? Remember these principles, and you may just write a Best Seller.
Do You Treat Yourself As Well As You Treat Other Writers? Now, this is simple. If you have a writer friend who is faltering, what do you do? Don’t you try to bolster her confidence, telling her that she is competent, that she is as good a writer as anyone else, and that you have Confidence in her? Then, why not tell yourself these things? Then act that way.
Do You Play At Writing Instead Of Taking It Seriously? By serious, I don’t mean act that way. The one thing you DON’T want to do is lose the joy of writing. Why write if it makes you miserable? Remember how excited you were when you first realized you were a storyteller, and you wanted more than anything to succeed? We need some level of obsession to take ourselves seriously and make others believe it, too. If writing is your dream, then make it happen. Write!

Celia Yeary

Romance…and a little bit o' Texas

http://www.celiayeary.com/

TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

BLOGMANIA!

What is BLOGMANIA? It's a one day marathon celebration with a cast of thousands! Maybe not thousands, for I have lost the real count, but Lynda Coker knows. Those of us who signed up obviously love our own blogs--I know I do. My blog is my self-expression, my very own personal vehicle to tell the world about something I deem worthy. The tag line "Romance...and a little bit o' Texas" says it all. Everything I write almost always has something to do with Texas. Often, I do have guest authors, and I've learned I truly do love those days. It's like giving a little party and inviting all your friends to drop by and and visit.

Well, BLOGMANIA is patterned after a party. Each participating Blogger, on April 30, from midnight to midnight, will be on stage, waiting for visitors to pop in. If I could, I'd serve some Texas Peach Iced Tea and Texas Star Sugar Cookies. Instead, I'll have a little gift or two to give away--we'll see. Maybe they'll have something to do with Texas!! 

So, mark April 30 on your calendar with BLOGMANIA, and don't miss out on the Web Event of the Year.

See y'all then!

Celia Yeary

Romance…and a little bit o' Texas

http://www.celiayeary.com/

TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print

SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK—eBook

ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-eBook and Print

Published by: The Wild Rose Press

www.thewildrosepress.com

  

The Perfect Excerpt

At left: Possibly the World's First Excerpt!

Excerpts—we love them, don’t we? There’s no better way to sample an author’s writing style than to read an excerpt. One entire Yahoo Group is devoted to “Excerpts Only for Romance Writers and Readers,” and many authors and readers post there on a daily basis.

However, there is a right way and a wrong way to post the perfect excerpt. Many writers have their own methods, from very long, to very short, somewhere in-between, at times concise, and at others, rambling. What is the best method of selecting a sample of your writing? How can you entice a reader to read your full excerpt? Choose one that contains dialogue or action, not just narrative, and keep it short and simple.

Consider the short story. The guidelines are: limit to a specific time, place, event, interaction, or character’s evolution. It is, in fact, a mini-novel, complete with a beginning, middle, and an ending, i.e., an abbreviated novel.

Attention span is the amount of time a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Continuous involvement without any lapse at all is as short as eight seconds. The average adult who is engaged in an interesting activity or topic will remain focused for twenty seconds. People are also capable of longer periods up to two and a half hours when they are doing something enjoyable or motivating, such as watching a movie. Researchers have found that the modern adult’s attention span shortens as time goes on. The phenomenon of instant gratification in our technological world deters the attention span even more.

Now consider the excerpt. The guidelines are perhaps the same as those for a short story: one idea, one interaction, in one short time frame, wrapped up with a beginning, middle, and an ending, approximately three hundred words—a mini-short story with a hook at the end.

Here’s a test for you. How many words are in this article to this point? (310) How long did it take to read it? (Average adult-one minute.)

From a short novel for the Wayback, Texas Rodeo Series-Title: Showdown in Southfork.

Excerpt: Cody and Marla

Smiling lazily, he looked her up and down, at her short white shorts, pink stretch T, and red flip-flops. With that salacious grin, he continued back to her hair, hanging to her shoulders in a tangled mass of curls, but right now, there was no time to brush it properly. Some day she would just get it all whacked off and stop worrying about it.

“Stop staring,” she demanded.

“Well, I can hardly keep from it since you’re standing right in front of me.”

“Oh,” she muttered, straightened, and moved to the side.

Cody kept staring at her even though she’d moved out of his direct line of vision.

He drawled, “You know, if there’s anything I like in this world, it’s a woman with red hair.”

“It is not red. And if there’s anything I hate in this world, it’s a man saying my hair’s red. For your information, it’s strawberry blond.”

“Strawberry blond. Whadda you know? Now, I like that even better.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, “Well, I’m just as pleased as punch.”

***

This short excerpt has three parts: Beginning: Cody stares at Marla while she watches him. Middle: they have a short argument. Ending: She has the last word. It contains 260 words. Reading time: 20 seconds.

Celia Yeary

http://www.celiayeary.com/

Book Titles:

All My Hopes and Dreams

Showdown in Southfork

Texas Blue

The Wild Rose Press

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/all-my-hopes-and-dreams-p-1060.html

Morgan Mandel-Small Press Author Does Indie

My Take on Non-Traditional Publishing

by Morgan Mandel

Celia asked for my take on non-traditional publishing. My first two books, Two Wrongs and Girl of My Dreams, were published by a small publisher, Hard Shell Word Factory. I was allowed to give input on the covers, such as what colors I liked, but had no real say on that or other important aspects, such as price and release date.

For over a year and a half I concentrated on publicizing Girl of My Dreams and spent very little time looking for a home for Killer Career. When I realized I’d wasted valuable time, I sought to remedy the situation. The fastest way to do that was to self-publish Killer Career.

I have to say I worked harder on Killer Career than the other two books combined. Not only did I learn how to start my own company, Choice One Publishing Co., but I also had to control every aspect of getting the novel ready for printing. I chose Lightning Source, a division of Ingram, as the printing company because of their quality craftsmanship, reputation and distribution policy. I chose Helen Ginger as my editor, because I respected her abilities and wanted my book to appear as perfect as possible. Among other things such as which countries my book would be sold, I picked out a cover, the font, even the color and texture of the paper.

The process was very time consuming. Although the stigma is lessening, self-publishing in many circles is still looked down upon, even if you present a quality product. Because of that, I had to make sure my book turned out as professional as possible.

Because I have the full rights to Killer Career, with the help of a friend to whom I paid $60.00, I was able to set up a Kindle edition and name my price for the book. Lightning Source already had set up the print edition at Amazon and at a number of other venues, such as Barnes and Noble.com.

I’ve also made autographed copies of Killer Career available at Tony Burton’s Digital Bookshop at http://digital-bookshop.com , as well as e-books other than kindle. Tony charged me $30.00 to set up the e-books, which seems reasonable to me.

I may set up an account at Smashwords, but haven’t done so yet. I’ll probably offer an e-book there about my self-publishing venture at some point, but so far I’ve been busy on other projects, and I haven’t had a chance to get it ready.

CreateSpace and Lulu were considerations I rejected, since Lightning Source seemed to offer more value and distribution for the investment.

My advice is, if you want to self-publish, think it through and do it right. I’m glad I did it. I learned a lot and I’ve received some great reviews for the book. I may try it again, but first I need to finish my works-in-progress before I decide.

Morgan Mandel

          

http://www.morganmandel.com/     

   http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel  

  http://ourlittlerascal.blogspot.com/    

http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/  

LINKS:

For Killer Career - http://digital-bookshop.com/  for autographed copies of the book

Killer Career, plus Two Wrongs and Girl of My Dreams are all at Amazon.com  in print and kindle. The easiest way to find them is to go to Amazon.com and type in Morgan Mandel.

Romantic Suspense, Killer Career, gets 5 stars from The Midwest Book Review

A TALE OF TWO BOOKS

Her name was Katherine.

I am fortunate enough to have a group of long-time friends—girlfriends, if you want to call them that. But we’re not girls anymore. Our relationship goes all the way back to the early seventies, when most of us began teaching at a wonderful boarding school in Central Texas. Since then, we’ve added one friend here, one there, none of us ever knowing how this person became one of the group. Once every six weeks or so, we have a gathering, called such by one of us, and the name stuck.
The conglomeration of women constitutes as many different personalities as the number of members. None of us is alike; yet, all have and hold one firm purpose in common—to love and support each other with undying friendship. An odd thing, though—none of us becomes angry with any other. Oh, yes, we discuss, argue, and laugh with great emotion and passion, but even so, our love always comes through. We share a thousand stories, maybe more, memories from years past that cause us to laugh, and sometimes, cry.
We lost one of our friends years ago, but we all remember her as if she sat right there with us, laughing in her robust way, until tears ran down her cheeks. Her name was Katherine.
This woman acted as counselor and best friend to each of us, but as far as I know, she never asked for nor needed such from any of us—not even from other faculty members. I’ve often wondered about that. She had the blessed ability and God-given talent to make each person believe “I am her best friend.” She was a listener, and when you talked, she gave her complete undivided attention.
Last week, our group held a gathering at a member’s home. We brought our covered dishes, presents for the two who had birthdays that month, recent photos of our grandchildren or latest trip, and stories to tell.
One member brought a box. At the end of the evening, she stood and placed it in the middle of the dining table. She told us it held some of Katherine’s knick-knacks that no family member wanted. Previously, they had selected treasured items and had taken them home. But here was a small cardboard box filled with a few assorted useless items. She invited us to choose something as a remembrance.

An item caught my eye. A small book, 4 by 6 inches, a green hardback covered in a linen-like material, the edges outlined in gold, an ivory cameo outlined in gold centered on the cover. The title: Kathrina. Inside, the presenter had written, to Katherine, with love-1989.
Goosebumps skittered over my arms. You see, I own an identical book, differing only in the title and text. I bought mine several years ago in an antique bookshop somewhere in Kentucky for two dollars. My title: Reveries of a Bachelor. Both books had been published by Scribners, with first copyrights in the mid-1800s. Both have pen and ink etchings opposite the title page.
To a skeptic, this probably means nothing. But there’s more to the story. She owned this book long before I bought mine, but she did not buy it. A mutual friend, a lovely lady who once owned an antique shop herself, gave it to her in 1989. So, the three of us share the odd connection of the twin books and a wonderful, longtime friendship. Now, both books are in my care, holding a prominent place on a shelf, as if they symbolize the unbreakable bond of friendship.
How odd, how mysterious that I walked into an antique book shop, six states away, in a small town off the interstate where we pulled off to explore, and among the many antique stores, I chose the one which had this book for sale, among thousands of others, stuck in a dark corner, on a lower shelf where I barely saw it.
You tell me the meaning of this coincidence. And don’t burst my little bubble of happiness.
Celia