Flapper Friday: SPEAK EASY Cover Reveal & Gift Card Giveaway!

This is a really exciting day for me! And it's almost the weekend--what could be better?

For today's Flapper Friday, I'm revealing the cover for SPEAK EASY, my NA Historical coming out July 22nd.

This is my debut novel, so I'm completely giddy about this (also kinda nauseous, but I do have a bit of stage fright).

So what's SPEAK EASY about? Think NA meets Boardwalk Empire. Here's the scoop:

July, 1923. The ‘20s are roaring, and twenty-year-old Tiny O’Mara is desperate for a little anything-goes excitement. But when her father is kidnapped by a mobster in Detroit's exploding organized crime scene, she’s shocked to find herself caught up in the bootlegging wars of Prohibition—and torn between two gorgeous gangsters on opposite sides.

To save her father’s life, she’ll have to choose between them. But deciding whom to trust isn’t easy in a world where everyone wants something—be it booze, money, power, or sex—and no one cares what it takes to get it.

Temptation is everywhere.

If you drank up Anna Godbersen's BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS and LUXE series or Jillian Larkin's FLAPPERS series (but enjoy the sexytimes of NA), I think you will like this cocktail too. It's also got a shot of Stephanie Plum, because I'm a girl who loves her Ranger & Morelli!

Now the cover:

Isn't she pretty? I love her!

Click here to add to Goodreads. :)

I'm also on Facebook, and I will be posting lots of fun photos and things related to the book and the Prohibition era leading up to release day.

I'm planning lots of fun swag and book giveaways, so stay tuned!

For now, how about a gift card giveaway to kick things off?

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thank you Julie at AToMR tours--you're wonderful!

And thank you readers & writers for stopping by. Cheers!

Suddenly I Was Drunk: A Drinking Game for Self-Editing

I finished the revisions on my latest book, which is a good thing, but now I'm editing.

Which I hate.

I hate it because it reveals all my writerly tics and bad habits, all the rules I have broken. It confirms once and for all that I am unfit to write a grocery list, let alone a novel.

Yes. And I'm horrified with myself.

Why do I insist on using the word "suddenly" when I cringe even as I'm typing it?

Why are my characters always shrugging, nodding, or shaking their heads?

Why is everyone glancing at each other all the time? Or, worse, looking sharply at one another? (Kill me now.)

Why is it necessary to brush someone's teeth 25 times in 100 pages?

And why, WHY, are my characters always turning around?

I have a novel of bobble-headed people with very clean teeth who look at each other before spontaneously pirouetting every three minutes.

They’re also choking on their dialogue tags.

I need a drink. Or five.

This is me after an hour of self-editing.

So in order to make things less hellish, and incorporate a favorite activity (drinking), I came up with my own personal drinking game for editing. It goes like this:

Adverbs = 1 drink

Cliches = 1 drink

Dialogue tags other than "said" = 1 drink

Adverb used to modify "said" = 2 drinks

More than two dialogue tags in a conversation=3 drinks

Exclamation points = 1 drink

Grammatical error using any form of their/its/your = 2 drinks

"Suddenly" = 2 drinks

"And then" = 1 drink

"Glanced" = 1 drink

"Turned" = 1 drink

Any phrase that makes me smile at my cleverness = 3 drinks

Any phrase where I'm clearly trying to be Faulkner, Fitzgerald, or Franzen =3 drinks, toast author

Any scene where a character brushes his/her teeth when she has JUST brushed them on the previous page = 5 drinks

"JUST" = 1 drink

I'd go on, but it's getting depressing.

Also, I'm drunk.

("Also" = 1 drink).

Tempt Me Tuesday: THIS PICTURE

I came across this photo over the weekend.

It reminds me so much of a character in SPEAK EASY (a gorgeous Italian boy who's good in the... kitchen) I wanted to share it with you.

You're welcome.

Go enjoy the day.

Vintage Ad Fun with Listerine

One of the most popular series of posts on an old blog I had was Vintage Ad Fun, so I thought I'd resurrect it here for your amusement. The first installment is brought to you by the miracle that is Listerine.

Are you unpopular?

It might be your "unexcusable" bad breath.

But don't worry. You can instantly halt halitosis with Listerine.

In fact, the "pleasant-tasting germicide" is so powerful, it can combat a cold, dandruff, or perspiration, and it provides cool, refreshing exhilaration after a shave.

Perhaps most miraculous of all? It will help lonely women catch and keep a man!

Your foxtrot is divine, Rose. But what's that evil smell about Helen?

Although some sources claim Listerine ad men invented the term "halitosis," its origins date back to 1874, five years before a doctor from Missouri invented Listerine as a surgical antiseptic. Dentists began using it for oral care in 1895, and it was first sold over the counter in 1914.

But Listerine wasn't going to sell itself. First the company had to tell America it had a problem; only then would the cure be indispensable.

The fun really started in the 1920s with the halitosis ad campaigns.

My fave. So sad.

"How wise is the woman who realizes the importance of keeping the breath always sweet, wholesome and agreeable! After all, nothing mars a personal relationship like halitosis (bad breath) whether occasional or habitual." 

I love the word "wholesome" here, as if a woman's breath implies something about her character.

Sales of Listerine skyrocketed. And what's interesting--yet not surprising--about the halitosis angle is how all these ads appear to be aimed at women, and it's not just because women did the shopping. There were ads targeting men too, but they took a different approach.

Use Listerine after shaving. Or else.

"Feel well and keep well" is very different message than threatening a woman with everlasting loneliness due to her breath. Basically, a man might end up temporarily sick or infected if he does not use Listerine, but a woman might fail to catch and/or keep a man forever. 

Even worse, the man she thought she had might--GASP--leave her and marry her friend!

It's bad enough when you don't get asked to dance, but when your fiance of two years leaves you because of your breath...

Your mission is clear.

Gargle. The men will flock. 

Tempt Me Tuesday -- In Royal Fashion

As if I needed another reason to be distracted today, my friend Laurelin Paige discovered something fascinating.

The Prince of Sweden is a babe. 

I don't even mean a babe for a royal, like he wouldn't be hot otherwise.

I mean an honest-to-goodness, take-me-to-your-palace-NOW babe.

Just doesn't seem fair, does it? I thought handsome princes only existed in books. (And I might have to write one now. I'm feeling...inspired.)

According to Wikipedia (which is NEVER wrong), Carl Philip was born Crown Prince of Sweden, and he retained his title and first place in succession for seven months until 1 January 1980, when he was stripped of both by a change in the Act of Succession to introduce absolute primogeniture.

Yeah. I'd strip him too.

Flapper Friday -- Detroit is gonna party like it's 1920

Someone sent me this article recently, and the headline made me turn cartwheels:

Party Like it's 1920: Detroit City Distillery Opening in Eastern Market.

First because it comforts me to know that other people are interested in partying like it's 1920.

Second because Detroit needs this kind of cool new business.

Third because it involves gin. And anything involving good gin gets an automatic cartwheel from me.

Whee! Good gin!

The Prohibition-themed micro-distillery (love those words) and tasting room will be located in an old Eastern Market slaughterhouse (which is also kind of a cool old word even though I don't like thinking about its actual meaning).

The outside

The inside

Although it is not slated to open until Spring of 2014, distiller J.P. Jerome is already barrel-aging whiskey in preparation for opening.

How cool is that?

Cheers, everyone! Have a great weekend!

Thinking About Self-Publishing? THINK AHEAD! (Now I Know...)

First! I hereby admit:
I have not done it yet.
I am not an expert.
I am not saying my way is the only way/the best way/your way sucks.

I'm only a writer who wants to do things right and is willing to do research and spend time and money making sure my stories get out there the right way. With that out of the way, this is the first of a series of posts I'll call Now I Know. They are intended to help other newbies like me along the path to (hopefully) successful self-publishing.


Lesson #1? THINK AHEAD.

Publishing your beloved book yourself means you have the responsibility of not just being the writer, but being a businessperson too. I cannot emphasize this enough. When I made the decision to self-pub SPEAK EASY, one of the first things I realized was that I had not thought about the book like a businessperson.

At all.

The book was done--done, I say! It was April, and I was toasting myself in smug fashion. I'd have no problem releasing it by summer, right?

WRONG. All I'd done was write the damn story. I had not thought about the realities of cover creation, a marketing timeline, Ebook pricing, booking a release tour, or formatting/distribution. My girls over at The NAturals panicked for me and immediately told me to get moving on the business end.

One of the writers in my group was still finishing her book, but she already had a cover and reveal date, a banner, a release date, and swag! She was building buzz for her book before it was final? Gulp.

I put down my drink (this is hard for me). I dug into the research.

Here are a few resources I found help ful: The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing, BookBaby, The Creative Penn, the Ebook Formatting Fairies. I also asked fellow writers for recommendations on book tours, editors, cover design, and formatting.

When I emailed the online book promotional people I wanted (AToMR Tours), I found that the soonest they could get me in was August. And in order to decide if they'd take me on as a client, they needed to see the cover, the blurb, and the first chapter. The book (even the chapter) didn't have to be edited and the cover didn't have to be final.

Ummm...Cover? What cover?

In traditional publishing, where you're querying an agent, your ms must must be PERFECT and COMPLETE before you query. And a cover? That's done for you wayyyyy down the road. You'll be lucky to like it.

Not so in my new world, where I'm the boss.

NOW I KNOW: Book tours need to be set up months in advance. At AToMR, your cover needs to be released (public) before you can get tour sign-ups (bloggers willing to feature your book). And you need 8 weeks to properly set up a tour in order to give bloggers time to read your book--they are crazy busy and overloaded with reading. Duh!

So think ahead--If you know you want to release this fall, NOW is the time to do your research and choose your partners. Lucky for me, I found a talented graphic designer willing to take on my noob self and work fast. (More about that in the next Now I Know post.)

When my cover was done--I salivate over it daily--I finally sent the necessary materials to the goddess named Julie at AToMR, and I caught a bit of luck. She had a tour spot open up in July--and she liked my book.

I did a little of this.

Goddess Julie helped me set my cover release date in time for bloggers/reviewers to take part, and has answered all my I-know-nothing-please-help-me questions thoroughly and patiently.

Drum roll... My cover reveal for SPEAK EASY is May 31st!

I pick up my drink again to toast Julie and The NAturals for educating me one step at a time. I am completely humbled. (I owe NA writers Laurelin Paige, Alessandra Thomas, Sophia Bleu, Tamara Mataya, and Lucy Stark many cocktails for their patience, generosity, and cheerleading.)

Stay tuned for Lesson #2: THE COVER, or What do you mean, my title is too long for that font???