Hello out there.
My apologies for just disappearing for almost two years. Frankly, a lot has happened in that time, and my writing has suffered. I am recommitting yet again, but it will be a while before a truly finished product other than short stories appears.
First off, as I mentioned in the last blog post from early 2021, my last publication, Drive Into My Heart, did not do well. To date, it has sold less than five copies in almost three years. This was a blow - a big one - to this author. The books in the Turn My Head series always did well in the first few weeks. DIMH took a lot of time and effort, and for the sales to go nowhere was downright demoralizing. I really did lose momentum, and last year when I tried to revive it, life interfered.
I mentioned in the last post a void in my life when a person departed it. Well, that person is back in a much more deep way, and our friendship has really helped me recover, and keep going in other parts of my life. In fact, it's a strong, inspiring friendship that I need in my life at this time. At about the same time last year, on March 24, 2021, one of my family's cute and charming tyrants crossed the Rainbow Bridge all by himself after a spiral of kidney failure. The poor little dude died on the living room floor. That took a lot out of me.
In the background, the family issues remain. My one sister-in-law is not well at all. Both of my parents are aging not so gracefully, and my mother is in need of a lot of assistance at this time. Sooner or later, they will need to be moved to another living situation. In the meantime, I'm support for them.
For the last couple of years, I also was working on an editing project that I delivered before Thanksgiving this year. Finally. God works in mysterious ways. There were a lot of changes and delays, and in the end the product was not anywhere close to what I was handed when I agreed to do it. That is actually a good thing. I did learn a lot doing it, though.
In addition to life just interfering, the distributer I use for publication, Smashwords, was acquired by Draft2Digital (D2D). After taking some time to catch up on this news, and find out what it means, essentially, the competing platforms have complimentary features and services, so eventually, I'll be publishing at D2D, and...when that comes to pass the books will be available in hard copy ay some point. When that happens, of course, I will communicate with all of my readers.
So, where do we go from here?
Well, before writing this, I did some work on the book entries in Smashwords changing categories and tags to more accurately reflect the books, and make them more findable for new readers. I was inspired to do this ahead of the annual Smashwords End of the Year Sale.
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos
The link will work beginning December 15. The sale ends January 1. All of my non-free titles will be 50% off, and Drive Into My Heart, is free at Smashwords for the duration of the sale. If anyone reads it, I would appreciate a review.
As far as I know, this sale only applies to the Smashwords site, not the retailers Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc. My books are on Amazon via another route. I do need to tend to that, and will get to it in the coming weeks.
With that in mind, I do ask that my readers stop by the Smashwords sale, as the D2D books will be added to it. There are a number of free offerings out there written by hard working authors just trying to make a living.
So, I'm starting over again, again. I do ask that my readers stick with me. Life throws curveballs and I'm trying to deal with that.
Hugs,
Patricia Holden
Also, please, consider sharing links to the Turn My Head series with other book lovers:
Apple Books links
Turn My Head
Break Through
Third Time's the Charm
Conflict of Interest
Romeo Night
Last Man Standing
Talk Dirty to Me
High Maintenance
No Turning Back
The Stork Club
Next Bride In Line
Drive Into My Heart
Amazon Links
Turn My Head
Break Through
Third Time's the Charm
Conflict of Interest
Romeo Night
Last Man Standing
Talk Dirty to Me
High Maintenance
No Turning Back
The Stork Club
Next Bride In Line
Drive Into My Heart
Barnes & Noble Links
Turn My Head
Break Through
Third Time's the Charm
Conflict of Interest
Romeo Night
Last Man Standing
Talk Dirty to Me
High Maintenance
No Turning Back
The Stork Club
Next Bride In Line
Drive Into My Heart
Smashwords Links
Turn My Head
Break Through
Third Time's the Charm
Conflict of Interest
Romeo Night
Last Man Standing
Talk Dirty to Me
High Maintenance
No Turning Back
The Stork Club
Next Bride In Line
Drive Into My Heart
