Saturday Seven ~ March 30th 2019

Happy Saturday, what have you been up to this week? Here is a rundown of highlights for the week. I hope you find them useful in your life! My goal as a person and a writer are to always Pay-It-Forward so please let me know how I can help you. YES, YOU!
Enjoy your weekend & this post! Amazing things to come!
~Amy

·        What am I Reading? – So very much!

The 13 Most Chilling Horror Books of 2018 – Very interesting, as someone who is releasing a horror novel in the near future I am going to try and read a lot of the books on this list ~ what makes them so chilling?

  

·        What am I Listening to? –  Awesome Podcast called Talking Messy by a friend of mine, absolutely hilarious and just amazing. New episodes every Thursday ~ Definitely check it out.

     

·        What Quote am I pondering? –  Not really a quote. I was working on interview questions for a blog post on a fellow author’s sire – Seelie Kay. The questions were really original. Made me think. One was a choice – choose one Perfect Health, revisit a day in the past or get a glimpse of heaven. I chose visit a day in the past because I realized how much I miss my Dad. He is always in the back of my mind and yet I also know I make a conscious decision to NOT think about him. Hurts to much, I think? Will need to ponder this some more…

·        What am I Researching? – Holy Prom Batman! My daughter’s prom is tomorrow night so this whole week has been about the dress, the shows, the hair, make-up and good lord $$$. It is craziness. I went to three prom’s and all of my dresses were under 50$. That is NOT the case now, holy mother of an industry! Next year we are Prom shopping in January—and by the way who has Prom in freaking March! Oklahoma, apparently.

·        Yummy Meal of the Week –  Eggbert’s Ultimate Chicken Sandwich. Greasy goodness! Fried chicken with Bacon, lettuce and tomato on a bun with mayo. OMG! So good. Takes me back my time in PA, there was a restaurant called Friendly’s and their chicken sandwiches were amazing. This is the closest I have come to finding something as good.

·         What did I Learn? –  BANG! is the new Monster and I love it (energy drink, Google it) & The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything

·         What am I Watching? –  Literally no time to watch anything this week, it has been nutzoid! Lots of shows I need to add to my list. One little thing I did watch that was very entertaining was here – There is no celebrity on earth today who would be able to get away with this in 2019 ~ Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra on the Tonight Show with Joey Bishop.

Have any thoughts on my week’s activity or want to make a recommendation? Drop me a line, or a tweet. One lucky commenter will win a free Romine book of their choice! Never want to miss a blog post or a Saturday Seven? Join my mailing list and I will be happy to send it straight to your inbox!

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Friday Food Love! ~ Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken

I LOVE my slow cooker / crock pot and this is a super-easy dish for a night when you have a little extra time. Chicken is savory and so yummy all by itself as the sauce and delish! Shown in the picture with regular noodles, I prefer egg noodles.

Ingredients

3 lbs chicken pieces
1 (2/3 ounce) package Italian salad dressing mix
4 tablespoons melted butter (divided)
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
8 ounces cream cheese
1⁄2 cup chicken broth

Preparation

Place chicken pieces in crock pot and sprinkle Italian seasoning over chicken. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons melted butter.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan and sauté onion and garlic. Add Cream of Chicken Soup, cream cheese, and chicken broth. Stir until smooth.
Add this mixture to crock pot and cook on low for an additional hour.

View on food.com

I served this with some wide egg noodles and broccoli! Yummy!

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Writing Warriors Wednesday! ~ To Blog or Not to Blog

This is a universal question and one we all struggle with when building our

empires. I have struggled with the same thing for years. Tossing and turning in conflict over how to spend my precious time. If I am blogging, I’m not writing, and I should be writing, right?

Yes and no.

This is the chicken and the egg scenario, unfortunately.

Working on your next book is KEY but you need to be able to sell your current book and the next one etc. The only way you are going to do that is to be out there. One venue is not enough! Just posting to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even just blogging is not enough. You have to link them all together and run at full force to get your name out there.

The other thing you need to remember and a friend of mine recently pointed this out to me, you are selling you. There was a time – before social media—that an author was popular because we LOVED their books. Half the time we didn’t know what they looked like, their hobbies or their political affiliations.  I mean seriously have you seen Stephen King – that mug had to be a huge debate in marketing his books early on.  

This is no longer the case. The internet, Amazon and social media have changed the landscape dramatically and thus was born the word BRAND.  Yes, I used it and I know you all cringed and looked away.

A brand is simply what pops into a person’s head when they see your name. 

Nothing?

Well, that is a problem.

That is where social media and blogging come into play. More specifically this is where content comes into play. Blogging does not have to be a full-time job. Most of us have full-time jobs already that are not writing. Two blog posts a week works. Easy-Peasy. 

Okay, Amy, I get it – but I still have no clue what to blog about?

Keep it simple. What are your passions? What are you working on? What do you do outside of writing? For example. I love television so I started a blog series of favorite television shows A to Z. This gave me a sustainable topic to blog about every week and is also something I really enjoy talking about.  The blog will attract other people who also enjoy television and will then see all of my books on the blog (you get the idea). So now when that person sees my name they will think – oh yeah, Amy Romine is a huge fan of the Dukes of Hazard. I’d completely forgotten that show until I read her blog!

There are a TON of things to blog about, you can literally Google it and get thousands of topics.

The other challenge I have heard about blogging is the length. Guess what? Length, or lack thereof, is not a problem. The entire world has ADD now so the shorter the better, right? 500 – 750 words works great. (I just hit 500 words int his post BTW)

Do you read? Write book reviews! – This is a GREAT way to give back and support your fellow authors.

Saturday Seven – This is a weekly rundown of what you did the previous week. I pick seven topics (Reading, Researching, Listening To, Yummy Food, Learned, Quote I am pondering and Watching) and I write a little one or two sentence line about each. I link to recipes, books, music, articles etc.

Crafts / Hobbies – If you are into crafts and or some kind of hobby other than writing talk about it. Give tips, how to’s, what it is about the activity that brings you joy!

Writing – Excerpts, inspiration – I am writing a romantic suspense horror novel and I post what’s called a Finder’s Bucket List (Finders is the name of the Ghost Hunting Team in my book). I blog about locations that are on their list of want to do – I give a brief overview and then link to the website of the location. These are short and sweet blog posts but will attract anyone interested in ghost hunting.

Character Blogging – This is a fun one and I have used it a few times. Blog as your character! What are their likes, obsessions, hobbies, etc. It is an interesting way to give your blog reader an alternate look at a character you are working on or have already created.  (750 words)

So, dear teammates that is my take on blogging. Obviously, I am of the opinion that for brand marketing it is a must-do. On top of that though, it is writing! 

Like it or not it counts toward your 10,000 hours to become a writing expert!

Any kind of writing is a good thing for all of us writers. Flexing muscles you do not normally use gets the blood flowing and the creative juices moving in new directions.

Don’t over complicate it or overwhelm yourself. Ask for help, set a schedule and just do it.  Using programs like Triberr will extend your blog’s reach and push your posts into the social media mix.  Lots of little things like blogging add up to more exposure, more sales and that makes us all happy writers!

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