S.M. Butler's Blog, page 25

Hey guys,  the blog tour for SEALs of Summer, which is coming out next Tuesday, started yesterday! I’m going to be all over these blogs this week and next so if you want to come hang out, this is where I will be.

Not all the guest posts and excerpts will be mine. All the ladies from SEALs of Summer will be providing content for your consumption.

4/15 – 5/18 – SEALS OF SUMMER Tour

4/15 Coffee Talk (Excerpt)

4/15 For Whom The Books Toll (Excerpt)

4/15 Monlatable Books Reviews (Spotlight)

4/15 Night Owl Reviews (Excerpt)

4/15 Perusing Princesses (Spotlight)

4/15 Read More Romance (Spotlight)

4/15  Angels With Attitude Book Reviews (Spotlight Post )

4/15  Nyxx’s Nook (Spotlight Post)

4/15  Literal Hotties Naughty Book Reviews (Spotlight Post)

4/15  Sizzling Hot Books (Spotlight Post)

4/15  Mythical Books 

4/16  D’eBook Sharing Book Reviews (Excerpt)

4/16 For the Love of Bookends (Spotlight)

4/16 Inner Goddess (Guest Post)

4/16 We Love Kink (Excerpt)

4/17 Rage, Sex and Teddy Bears (Excerpt/Spotlight)

4/18  StarAngels’ Reviews  (Excerpt)

4/18  RomanceJunkies.com (Guest Post)

4/19 Manga Maniac Café (Excerpt/Spotlight)

4/21  Dirty Girl Romance (Spotlight)

4/20 The Lusty Literate (Excerpt/Spotlight)

4/22 Bookkins (Spotlight)

4/23 Fic Central (Spotlight)

4/25 The Reading Café (Guest Post)

4/25 Two Sassy Chicks (Spotlight)

4/26 Kristina’s Books & More (Excerpt/Spotlight)

4/28 More Romance Please (Spotlight)

4/29 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! (Spotlight)

4/29 Romancing the Book (Guest Post)

04/30  Snarky Mom Reads… (Excerpt, Spotlight Post )

5/2 Book Bliss (Spotlight)

5/4 Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess (Spotlight)

5/10 In The Pages of a Good Book (Guest Post)

5/12  Book Monster Reviews (Guest Post)

5/17 Book Lovin’ Mamas (Guest Post)

5/18 Josie Cara Blog (Guest Post)

 

See you guys there!!

 

Seriously… I’m going this year as a Featured Author and we’re going to have a blast. We’re trying to sell out registration this year, so make plans to be in Charlotte in August! I’ll have lots of goodies to hand out and there’s constantly awesome get togethers going on. Really, you guys should register. Come say hi when you see me.

Have you registered for Authors After Dark? 

Authors After Dark is coming QUICKLY and OMG this year is going to be INSANE!

As always AAD is about the readers, and the amount of awesome we have put together for you this year, you would be INSANE not to attend….

First, our amazing Master of Ceremonies is none other than Alexandra Ivy! She will be doing a cool little event to celebrate your favorite gargoyle, Levet on Friday! Wanna know more? Check out the FB group where Alex will be talking about the awesome that she has going on!

Torquere and authors BA Tortuga and Julia Talbot will be Sponsoring our Welcome event, the Midnight Rodeo… And it looks like We will have some VERY COOL goodies and… Riding… happening… *snicker*

How about Parties? This year we have a special event called the Leather and Lace Ball! Curious? We thought so!Take a ride on the wild side and let your inhibitions fly with five New York Times Bestselling Authors of erotic romance. Cuffs and corsets encouraged.

With:

J. Kenner, Liliana Hart, Carly Phillips, Janelle Denison, Jasinda Wilder and Lorelei James

The ladies will be talking more about this on the FB group starting soon!

New for 2014 is the Paranormal Party! Join over 20 Paranormal authors who will be giving away goodies, some books and hanging out with you to snack and chat! Wanna know what authors are involved? You will have to join the FB group to see!

And of course, we have the amazing Masquerade Ball! This year it’s the SINS AND VIRTUES BALL! Are you a sin or a virtue? Join us for a wild costumed event! Prizes for the best costumes, including a 200$ gift certificate to Lori Ann Costumes!

Your Sins and Virtues Sponsors:

Sin Lust 

Boone Brux

Opal Carew

Sin Pride 

BA Tortuga

Andrew Grey

Sin Envy 

Stella Price

TJ Michaels

Sin Gluttony 

Desiree Holt

Saranna DeWylde

Sin Greed 

Ann Mayburn

Heather Long

Sin Sloth 

Lizzie T. Leaf

Julie Morgan

Sin Wrath 

Stacey Kennedy

Marianne Morea

Virtue Charity

Kerry Adrienne

Trista Ann

Virtue Chastity 

Jenn LeBlanc

Annabel Jospeh

Virtue Humility 

Milly Taiden

Donna McDonald

Virtue Kindness 

CJ Ellisson

Alexandra Ivy

Virtue Temprance 

J. Kenner

Sidney  Bristol

Virtue Diligence 

Denise Grover Swank

Jenna McCormick

Virtue Patience 

Lousia Bacio

Kallypso masters

And if THAT isn’t enough awesome that will be going on… This year we have an amazing off site costumed event… the Ladies on the Green event sponsored by the AAD Anachronistic Society! This will be an hour and a Half on the famous GREEN in Charlotte (a half block from the hotel). It will be a Costumed event (though Costumes are not required they are encouraged!) to celebrate Gothic, Victorian, steampunk dark historical literature! Your hosts will be: Sahara Kelly, Amanda McIntyre, Leanna Renee Hieber, A.L. Davroe and S.A. Price. Prizes and readings will happen, as well as photo ops!

And NEVER forget the Amazing Open bar with Mel Schroeder and friends! They have SO MUCH awesome set up for you just before the Bookies… you do NOT wanna miss that!

Getting excited yet? How about some info on the AWESOME mini events we have going on? Ready?

On Wed. Night,  Join Sasha White and Joey W. Hill for a wild party and Q&A, Also, the Blind Date Book Party will be open to start your con right! (If you have never done a BDBP, you are MISSING out! You need to attend, Get your blind date book, find the author that wrote it, and hang out with them!)

Thursday?  Panels up the wazoo, and the Bookie Awards—– goodies and books to be given out! The hangout with The GNO girls lead by CJ Ellisson and Boone Brux for some crazy fun! And if that wasn’t enough?  Readings and a Blogger Sleepover party as well!

Friday? More panels, a games carnival with Nina Gooden and Pals, Name that Author with Cat Johnson, and some other fun surprises!

Saturday? A few panels, the Big ass booksigning with 100 authors,  the Cowboy Stampede party, the Readers Mad Tea Party with Hildie McQueen, An after the bookies event with a special publisher sponsor, And Jess Michaels’ Birthday extravaganza!

SEE? SO MUCH AWESOME! All the authors that are involved with parties will be talking about their involvement on the FB group, so join up and get ready to rock.

Oh? You say you’re not registered for AAD yet? You need to be! All registrants get put in the hat for the welcome party prizes, and these prizes are AMAZING! Breakfast with authors, Booze and Books, side trips to Carrowwinds…. We have a minimum of 90 special prizes…. So…

You need to rock this con! And as if this wasn’t enough…. AAD will be giving away something really awesome to registrants…. Wanna know what?

How about 5 VIP registrations for THE NOVEL EXPERIENCE 2015 in LAS VEGAS? YES… 5!

And…

How about this… If we hit 100 more registrations from April 10th to June 10th, we will give away 2 AAD registrations for 2015…  2!!!!! So get registered, get your room and get ready for one HELL of an amazing year with us!

 JOIN US! WE CANT WAIT TO HANGOUT WITH YOU!

AAD REGISTRATION

Here’s the thing about blogging here. I have to be in the mood for it or you guys can tell. I can’t force it. I have to feel it and I have to know that I mean what I say. But I’ve also noticed that my blogs have dwindled down to the whole “BUY MY BOOK!” thing or “LOOK AT WHAT AWESOME THING I’M DOING NOW!” posts and I kind of hate that. I thought about stopping the blog altogether, but the plain truth is that I like blogging, and invariably, when I take the blog off public view, I get like, 50 billion ideas on what to blog about… I just like to do it when I feel like it.

Of course, that’s not a best practice. People Who Are Knowledgeable say that consistency in blogging is what makes it successful. That’s great. But I’ve never been a consistent person. I’m rash, and impulsive, and I like to write out of order. That’s who I am, so it makes sense that my blogging wanes when my interest does.

I think blogging has changed a lot. A lot of people are turning blogs into their standing billboards on their websites, and that’s not what blogging is about. Blogging is about sharing a piece of yourself with the world. They started out as online journals. I still have my private LiveJournal. I’ve had it since 2003. It’s changed and grown and I don’t post as much there anymore, but it’s still there. And i still think it’s one of the best communities out there, even though a lot of people have moved on.

That’s okay. That happens with any platform. My point is I miss blogging for fun. That’s why I go so long between posts, and why sometimes, I just do updates on Sundays.  Because I know if I force blogging on myself, it will suck and you guys will hate it. So, I’m going to try some fun things, some shorter posts, maybe I’ll even try some flash fiction (which I suck at…) and hopefully, I’ll be able to find my way back to blogging here. Blogging is my therapy most days. I’d like to keep it a happy, welcoming place.

And just because I want to end on a happy note, here’s a picture of my dog.

You ever had that project that gives you fits? Whether it’s a book you’re writing, or something that work that just won’t come together… I’ve had this happen in both my day job graphic design life and more recently, my writing life. I thought I was on the homeward stretch of Murphy, just doing clean up edits… but something kept niggling at the back of my mind, because it was just falling short of where I wanted it to be.

So this weekend, I took a good, hard, long look at this book… and I’m rewriting it again. I don’t think it will be as bad as the first round rewrite was. i think most parts are solid. Mostly, I’m needing to layer in tension and more conflict. These characters are hard, because Murphy is so stoic that having him be emotional is almost out of character for him. And Addision, she’s borderline nuts, and possibly Too Stupid To Live.

This is why it needs to be fixed. These characters could be horrible people if I leave them the way they are now, and they aren’t, not the way that I’ve written them so far. So, the trick will be to continue writing them the way that I’ve written them and not veer off into bad directions.

It’s always the second book in a series that gives me issues. I don’t know why, and I know I’m not the only author this happens to.  It’s frustrating, to be sure, and a little crazy-making for my sanity. Wounded Courage is about trust, about taking the leap to trust that someone you love will be there for you. Maybe I need to trust that it will come together the way it needs to come together. It’s already longer than Killing Honor and I think this new plan will involve it getting longer.

The funny thing is that I’m kinda ahead of my deadlines right now, which is good, so I’m not too terribly worried or freaking out that I won’t get them done in time for the June release. I think I’m on track for that as long as the book’s done in the next few weeks. My only problem is that my output could be much higher, but editing is really hard for me. It requires me to give complete concentration, which is super hard because of my ADD. I have to take constant breaks on a timer so I don’t forget to come back. Getting into a routine has helped a lot, but still, editing is hard.

Your Obligatory Sales Portion of this blog post

Also, I wanted to thank my UK readers because the SEALs of Summer box set is hitting all the charts there. It’s also hitting charts in the US too, but it’s really fun to see it successful outside the US. I’m super happy about how it’s going right now. But… that’s not my reason for bringing it up. I wanted to let you guys know about how to keep up with the box set, since we’ll be loading up the other retailers in the next few days. There’s a few ways we can do that.

You can sign up for the one time notification list so you know it’s out there in the world.
You can sign up for MY mailing list, which includes a monthly newsletter and it will be going out close to release day.
You can LIKE the SEALs of Summer Facebook Page or follow it on Twitter.
You could also just go ahead an pre-order that puppy over at Amazon. Links to other retailers will be forthcoming as soon as we have them available.

I think that’s all I had on that.

It’s going to be a rough week, people.

I’m even dropping side projects to completely concentrate on Wounded Courage, and getting that ready to go. I foresee some sleep being sacrificed, since I work better at night. But you know, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. I hate edits, but I love what it does for my book, what it does for my story. Edits make everything stronger, and so while I hate them like they were the Devil Incarnate, I will do them to make sure my book goes out into the world the best that it can be.

So, tonight, I will be joining five other NA authors in a Google Hangout at 7 CDT. You can watch it over on New Adult Rockstars or you can come play on the Google Plus page or YouTube page.

We’ll be watching for comments and questions and there will be reading and wine and the possible giveaway of books and things.

Which reminds me, I need to clean my room… It’s not quite presentable… Maybe I’ll just invest in some blankets tonight.

See you guys tonight!

Cindy Dees, Clover Autrey, and the top of Joanna Grace’s head.

This weekend was the Texas Two Step writing conference, put on by NTRWA. It was a lot of fun, and I got to learn from folks like Cindy Dees (who, if you ever have the chance to talk to, is super smart and very business savvy), Amy Atwell, and Clover Autrey. So. Much. Information.

I think Cindy had my biggest takeaway, for various reasons, because I think that I’m pretty business savvy, but I’m always up for learning more about craft. Because my books only get better the more I learn, and craft talk fascinates me. I mean, I don’t think that I would be a writer if writing wasn’t something I was passionate about and willing to learn and improve on.

That’s Sophie Jordan. :)

I was also in a workshop about New Adult given by Sophie Jordan, who probably gave me the best quote over regarding what New Adult is. She talked about the differences between YA and NA, which I kind of want to discuss on New Adult Rockstars later this week, but she said, “YA is when your characters fall in love for the first time. NA is the first time that it matters.” Which I think is interesting enough that I want to do a blog post on it, so keep your eyes out for that this week.

My book display at the Friday book signing

And then I got to have lunch with Tammara Webber and Sophie Jordan. Both of them are super smart women, and I fangirled a little, luckily not in earshot or in front of them, so WIN.

I am bringing away a lot of new knowledge and new outlooks on things thanks to the conference this weekend, and I’m feeling pretty awesome that I got to go. I’m really looking forward to the Texas Two Step conference in 2016 (which I might have volunteered to organize…*cough*)

Anyway… it was a good weekend. The only hiccup was that the Sunday book signing was canceled due to a break-in at the store. Sad day.

But look! I got to see my books actually IN a Barnes and Noble!! I’m so excited by this! Oh, and people I DIDN’T KNOW actually bought my books too!

Tomorrow, it’s back to work on Murphy’s book, which is so close to being done I can taste it, and yet, it never ends…

Hope everyone else’s weekend has been awesome.

 

Killing Honor is out today! You guys… if you haven’t gotten it yet, go. Go right now. I’ll wait right here…

Got it now? Okay.

So how about 5 fun facts about KILLING HONOR?

My primary source is a former SEAL, a friend and shipmate that gave me stories to use, and only asked that I keep quiet on his identity and the specifics of each story he told me that could identify him.
Murphy is modeled after said SEAL friend. Looks and everything.
I actually cried writing parts of this book, which if you know me, is crazy not normal.
I went on a field exercise in the middle of December while I was writing this book with my unit. It was cold and wet. I was not happy. But at least I got the book written after I came back.
Brody and Devyn’s story was originally a 4500 word short story I wrote for an erotic romance anthology. It got rejected. I rewrote, expanded, and changed the names of said story to create Killing Honor.

So, how about you? What’s a fun fact that not many people know about you?

I’m also blogging over at New Adult Rockstars and Get Lost in a Story today. Stop by and say hi. Enter the Rafflecopter… Which you can also do that here, too.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The last couple weeks, I’ve kinda gotten into this rhythm of blogging about updates on Sundays. It’s weird to me, but I’m going with it. This week, I’ve got a conference and a couple signings and of course, Murphy’s book to finish.

And if you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that Murphy’s been taking over my life this week. This is another weird thing for me, because I’m writing Murphy’s book while I’m getting ready to release Brody’s book. And it always amuses me that people respond to stuff when I’m already working on the next book.  Because then I know things and can be all “haha, just wait!”

This series may be the most fun I’ve ever had writing. Just sayin.

Anyway, let’s talk events. This coming weekend, I have the Texas Two Step Conference, put on by my local RWA chapter, NTRWA. Attached to that conference, I have two book signings with some of the conference attendees. Check them out (Event links go to the corresponding events on B&N’s website):

Romance Author Extravaganza

Author Signing

Come meet romance authors: Linda Castillo, Jodi Thomas, Amy Atwell, C.A. Szarek, Lara Lacombe, Angi Morgan, Clover Autrey, Cindy Dees, Suzan Butler, Marsha West, Roni Loren, Erin Kern, JoAnna Grace, Lavender Daye and Jeanne Guzman.

Friday March 28, 2014 6:00 PM

Located in the Shops at North East Mall

861 NE Mall Blvd, Hurst, TX 76053, 817-284-1244

Romance Writers’ Day

Author Signing

Come meet romance authors: Linda Castillo, Jodi Thomas, Amy Atwell, C.A. Szarek, Lara Lacombe, Angi Morgan, Clover Autrey, Cindy Dees, Suzan Butler, Marsha West, Roni Loren, Erin Kern, JoAnna Grace and Jeanne Guzman.

Sunday March 30, 2014 2:00 PM

Located at Southlake Town Square

1430 Plaza Place, Southlake, TX 76092, 817-442-0207

Would LOVE to see you guys there at either one of those signings.

(Also, Killing Honor releases tomorrow. Just a reminder. Find your retailer link on the book page and go pre-order that sucker.)

This will be out in 6 days…

It’s weird having a book coming out in a matter of days. It’s weird that people are talking about that book, and you’re on the next book, and all these people are not. It’s weird that I’ve been publishing for over a year now. But mostly it’s just weird having any books out there at all, all these stories from my head that I think are entertaining, and interesting. And then I send them out into the world and everything changes, because sometimes people READ THEM and then they EVALUATE them. Still I can cope with all that weirdness. It’s the side of guilt that comes along with it that makes me want to run and hide.

My first book was published in November 2012, not counting the anthology I was in in May 2012. So, I’m still in the OH SHINY phase of publishing. I’m not used to seeing that my ideas and fantasies are public. I know I’m lucky, because I am able to do this full-time and not everyone is that lucky. I don’t take that for granted. It’s just made itself part of my life. I live from book to book, deadline to deadline, and sometimes think about taking a Sunday off here and there, but then I forget, because I don’t keep track of the days anymore. All that is awesome, but then a book comes out, and the panic hits. Kind of like it is now. So now I’m sitting here going OMG PEOPLE ARE READING MY BOOK AND THEY’RE GOING TO HATE IT!!! And then I feel like I’ve let people down.

This will be out in 35 days and I’m totally not worthy of all these other peeps in this bundle…

But that’s ridonkulous, because there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t like my book. Logically, I know that. There isn’t a writer in history that has ever published a book that everyone loved. So that leads me to my next point: I’m always going to be disappointing someone. So I think about the people that bought it and hated it. And there’s the guilt. That’s a chunk of change they could have used for someone else’s book they would have liked. I know what it’s like to be poor, to hang on to the last dollar as long as possible. And suddenly, I’m thinking… I let them down. They spent their hard earned money on me, and I let them down.

So then the guilt festers for weeks on end, all the while I’m gearing up for a new release. But these reviews and these emails about the book keep pouring in and there’s a point where I don’t know that I’m going to be able to stand it, and suddenly, I’m rambling in a blog post that a countless people are going to see, and suddenly realize that I’m batshit crazy and refund all their books at Amazon and unsubscribe from my newsletter and blog (not that I’ve been really good at updating my blog… see?? MORE GUILT) and are all OMG THAT LADY IS CRAY CRAY.

So in the middle of all that nuttery, my book’s going to come out, and I’m going to be going places and saying things to people I don’t know. People are going to look at me, and judge me, but I’m going to be “on” with my tiara, and my purple pen, and they aren’t going to see that I’m fucking nuts.

But… at night I sit down and write this guy’s story, and it makes all the angst worth it… but still… 76ish days before this is out…

But release day passes, and eventually, I get back to normalcy, and the demands for sequels stop, and the guilt slowly fades, ebbing away into the darkness to wait for the next release day. I grab my Moscato, and my Nerds, and sometimes a Blow Pop if I’m not on a diet, and sit down to say hello to all the voices in my head that I haven’t had time for.

I love my life, I really do, but occasionally, I break a little under pressure. And this year is scheduled to have many more releases than last year, so I fully expect there to be more flipping out and a lot more guilt and then add to it that I’m launching in a new-to-me-genre and I’m all freaking out that the regular readers of that genre won’t like my writing. One day, I will learn, and I will accept that not everyone will love the book, and flipping out will never solve my problems. But I have no idea when that’s going to happen.

For now, though? I have Moscato. No Nerds though. I’m on a diet. So I have potato chips instead. And chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Seriously you guys. It’s scary up in my brain.

By the way, did you know Killing Honor is out in EIGHT DAYS?? #shamelesspromoplug

It’s rainy here in Texas. Not that I mind, because I’m not planning on leaving the house. It’s the first weekend in a while that I don’t have any obligations, so I’m taking full advantage. Actually, that’s not true. I have dinner tonight with some really good friends, and I’m super excited about that.

I’ve noticed that when I take a break from writing, this is when I get plagued by the most ideas. I realized this is because I start engaging in other creative pursuits, whether it’s watching TV or reading a good book, or crocheting.

One of these ideas is in the form of a story I wrote for the 2008 NaNoWriMo challenge. It’s a high fantasy, written in an urban fantasy-type voice. It’s always been an odd duck, not one that traditional publishing would care about. And I’ve always loved the world I built for that story. I’ve never known what to do with that story. So it’s just sat on my hard drive in various forms. I thought about serializing it. I thought about doing another rewrite and sending it to publishers anyway. I thought about publishing it myself. I just haven’t decided what needs to be done.

Also, Killing Honor will be in this box set in April! #anothershamelesspromoplug

The Lucky Thirteen series

I love the NA romantic suspense series I’m doing this year. I’ve really found a home writing those books. And I want to keep writing them. The more I delve into their world, the more SEALs that want their story told too. So my trilogy is slowly growing beyond these three books the more I write, but I don’t want to promise anything to you guys that I don’t know if I can deliver.

And the NA bunnies are breeding like crazy too these days. I have one that I started story boarding last night that is going to be a mammoth story. But it’s going to be sooooo good. But I’m taking my time with that one, since I have all these other books to write this year. I have a book due at the end of the month, one due mid-May, and two due at the end of June.

Updates on me

Anyway, life is busy, of course, because I’m a workaholic, and that’s how it is with me. But this year has been relatively good to me, and much better than 2012 or 2013. I have awesome friends, fantastic family, and I think I finally found my writing groove. Oh, and I bought a headshot package, so I’ll have real author photos soon! I’m so excited about that. I’ve been putting it off forever. Now, I just need to figure out what I’m going to wear. Because I tell you what? A selfie in the car, as much as I love this pic, is probably not the best author photo…

The Texas Highlanders series

I know I haven’t mentioned much about the Texas Highlanders series lately. I have Scoring His Heart to get out this year, and I think that it’s going to be awesome.  I wish I could zap the story from my brain and get it straight on to the computer. It’s there, but my fingers only move so fast. But there will be hockey romance this year for sure.

Donations for charity

So I made a promise to myself to donate $5000 to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation this year, because they’re a fantastic organization that deals with veterans, it’s not a scam, and most of the money donated actually goes where it needs to go.

So, here’s the deal: A portion of the revenue from Killing Honor‘s pre-orders and the first week of release sales will be donated. BUT… I’m donating ALL of my share of the royalties from the SEALs of Summer Superbundle to the organization as well. I don’t have buy links for the bundle yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll be sending them out to the newsletter folks and eventually, they’ll make their way here on the website. In addition to that, if you pre-order Wounded Courage and Dying Commitment, a portion of the revenue from those sales will go toward the Special Operations Warrior Foundation as well.

Finally…

I’m going to stop talking now. It seems like whenever I sit down to talk about nothing on the blog, all this other stuff comes blurting out as I go along. Anyway, there’s all the news. For more (and some advance info on other things), you should sign up for my newsletter, because that’s where I really dish.

I hope everyone’s having a fantastic Sunday. I should maybe start thinking about lunch soon…