Saturday, November 23, 2019

Author Amy Romine ~ Saturday Seven ~ November 23rd 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? -  It seems every time I make a dent in my list, I add more books! Have to say, I kinda love it! Christmas Hostages (A Mission Justice Book) by Elizabeth A.Wilson, ~ A reluctant speaker at a pre-Christmas elementary school assembly, FBI Special Agent Lucas Shaw feels the eyes of hundreds of children pleading with him for protection when South Mountain Militia storms the building. Scrambling against a ticking clock, Lucas must find a way to get the children and faculty to safety, a daunting task for a single armed federal agent against a small army of gunmen. As if the pressure of his task isn’t bad enough, his day is about to get even worse. Fighting for her life when captured by a gunman, Lexie North manages to escape only to collide with Lucas — a man who has every reason to hate her. With danger closing in on them, rescuing the hostages and ultimately their own survival depends on their ability to work together. But can they put aside their past to do it?

Rapid Release by Jewel Allen This one was recommended to me and an interesting idea if you can pull it off. - When novelist Jewel Allen's earnings tapered to a buck per month for each of her 11 books on her backlist, she knew she had to change her self-publishing model. Applying the principles of rapid release, where an author publishes fast to keep readers’ interest before the dreaded 30-day cliff, she started a to-market series and recouped five times her investment in 30 days. She repeated it, not just once, but six times on her way to energizing her publishing career.

What am I Listening to? –  To be honest, Talk Radio, I am a politics junkie. Government soap operas are so fascinating (LOVED West Wing BTW), so I have been tuning in to listen in on the rhetoric and hysteria. Very interesting.

What Quote am I pondering? –  “If someone asked me to define Hell, I would say ~ being separated from the ones you love the most.” ~ Unknown

What am I Researching? –  Publishing Houses and where I want to go with all these ideas I have. What is the end game? Do I even have one? I found out I do.
·         Develop a resource for all authors to achieve their goals.
·         Create a national support network for authors of all kinds to connect based on giving and not receiving. Reciprocity, confidence building, encouragement and real life tools to help them move forward
·         Continue writing the books I love and setting an example for my children to follow
·         Sharing what I’ve learned about balanced living, following their passions and living their best life
·         In the end, writers shape the world, past, present, and future. I am a writer.

Yummy Meal of the Week – This week had to be Chicken and Dumplings YUM!

What did I Learn? –  I am grateful for the only person or obstacle standing in my way is myself.

What am I Watching? – My son and I watched a new show on Netflix. Unfortunately, we only made it through one episode. It is called Daybreak – a biochemical weapon that turns the adult world into ghoulies (brainless human-eating monsters). All that is left is anyone under 18. Interesting premise. Watching the show, it is Ferris Bueller’s Day off meets Zombie Land (Matthew Broderick is in the show, he plays the Principle of the High School). I am not going to spoil anything, and I may just not have been in the mood, but...eh not overly impressed. I will give it three episodes, though, just to be fair.
  
That is all for this week, my lovelies!
I hope you have an amazing week, and I will talk to you all next Saturday!

*BONUS Content ~

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!

Happy Holidays! ~

The Prophet and the Snow Angel, my Christmas release is coming Dec 6th! It is available for Pre-Order Now. Pre Order a copy before Dec 6th, and I will send you a Swag Grab Bag full of goodies! Just send me an email with your name, address, and date of purchase. 😊


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Monday, November 18, 2019

NaNoWriMo Monday - The Keys to Success ~ Outline, Write, Edit, Repeat ~ November 18th 2019 (WC 9593)

This month is National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo! While NaNoWriMo is not for everyone, the novel-writing challenge is a terrific time to get organized and do some serious puking.   When I say puking, I mean words, plot, and character exploration.  The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to stop the excuses and write. Even if you don’t have the plot or characters figured out just yet, go ahead and start writing.  As the brilliant Margaret Atwood said, ~ the best way to learn how to write fiction is to write fiction. ~ Truer words have never spoken.

I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year. My current project is entitled Stupid Car, and I’m at 9,593 words (as of 11/18/19).  According to the NaNoWriMo site, I will be finished on Jan 31st, 2020! Yes, I’m a little behind, but I plan on making up the difference and hitting my 50K goal on November 30th as planned. 
UPDATE - The plan is to push out 10K a day and finish this book. There is honestly so much going on right now personally, and professionally I need to get it done. There are many advantages to typing The End or in some cases, To Be Continued…  One of them being, you can move on to the next project. 

Author Bob Mayer has a great system in place for moving through his projects. He is Outlining Book A, Writing Book B, and editing Book C-- all at the same time. He times them together so when one moves forward, they all move forward. This takes discipline, balance, and scheduling.  He is my personal writing icon as he, in my opinion, has a great working system I would love to emulate.  In the spirit of Bob’s system, I am writing Stupid Car, editing the Prophet and the Snow Angel, and, I am outlining Finders 2.

I have the plan, now I just need the drive and the discipline to make it happen. What is going on in your world? Have you met the 50K goal yet?  What happens once you cross the finish line?  If you would like to learn more about  Bob Mayer, check out his books, one, in particular, is  The Novel Writers Toolkit – From Idea to Best Seller.                                                                                                                                          
If you choose to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, feel free to send me a buddy request. I would love to see how you are progressing and be your cheerleader! Here is my information. I will be updating my progress every Monday!

Hope to see you there and good luck, Warriors!



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Saturday, November 16, 2019

Saturday Seven ~ November 16th 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? -  By TBR pile is HUGE, but I am working on it. Reading fiction, Antique Trove by Gabriella Bradley & Taryn Jameson. Reading and learning, I am engulfed in 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron in honor of NaNoWriMo (yes, I am participating this year!) and Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. (Links Below)
What am I Listening to? –  I listened to a podcast by Speaker Hub about Speakers and Podcasting. The interview was with Mary Drumond on World of Speakers. Very interesting interview. If you are thinking about becoming a speaker or a podcaster definitely worth a listen (link  below)

What Quote am I pondering? –  Everything Happens for a Reason ~ yes, I use this one a lot, but I keep coming back to it. This past week there were several experiences where outcomes would have been much worse if things had not gone wrong. Annoying cancellations turned out to be “thank God I was here,” and Laundry sucks turned into a new author coaching client. Life takes us in the direction we need if we let it.

What am I Researching? –  This week has been all about learning how to manage it all--From scheduling my life (which is very necessary) to finances and the future. Researching how to do things better, identifying what mistakes I am making and how to solve for them.

Yummy Meal of the Week – Pie Day! No, I did not make the pies, but they sure were yummy. With grown-up kids, Halloween is not as much of an event as previous years. A few years ago we decided to celebrate the holiday with pie! We all love pie, and it is euql if not a little less to a bag of Halloween candy.

What did I Learn? – I was fortunate enough to have a friend who is already using an app I am currently trying out, Google Keep. It is very cool and a great tool for people like myself and YOU to have a place to jot down ideas, take notes and get organized. You can color code or ag the topics and then search for them later. Loving it~

What am I Watching? –  This week Zack and caught up on our absolute favorite show, 9-1-1! We had four episodes to watch for this season so far, and the show always delivers. If you have not seen it yet, it is on Hulu, and I HIGHLY recommend it! ( this is NOT  Rescue 911 from the eighties, this is a current show. Mondays on FOX )

*BONUS Content ~
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!

Check out a podcast I was interviewed on ~ Write Away Podcast - https://tinyurl.com/y6e7q4d3
Special Treat! ~ If you haven’t seen it yet, please check it out my trailer for my recent release Finders! http://bit.ly/2JZQIC2

Links
Antique Trove by Gabriella Bradley & Taryn Jameson -  https://amzn.to/33ppvAg
2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron – https://amzn.to/2Np7Djm
Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss – https://amzn.to/2PRWCJc
World of Speakers Podcast w/ Mary Drummond http://bit.ly/2K0zDrv
Google Keep – https://keep.google.com
Suspense for the Romantic Heart – http://amyjromine.blogspot.com
Writing Warriors United - https://tinyurl.com/yyhcz9wg

Writing Warriors United on YouTube - https://youtu.be/WgLouBBcves

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Don't have a Kindle, no problem. I've got you covered! Read eBooks on your phone, tablet and computer no Kindle Needed!