Combo Post! Book Notes & Author Journey: August 20, 2021

 I'm torn. On the one hand, I feel like I should apologize for the uneven schedule of posts on my blog. On the other hand, I want to rejoice because I've been posting something at least once a week for a while now. Trust me when I say that's a major victory for me. I have so much on my list of immediate goals right now and prioritizing them has been such a challenge. I want to get right to the things I've been pondering this week, but I'm also eager to share a couple of book reviews with you. So I'll tackle the latter first. 

Book Review: Little Loves (The Church Dogs of Charleston #2) by Melissa Storm

Little Loves by Melissa Storm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Sweet Inspirational Romance

Good plot, interesting characters, & nice pacing added up to a win in my book. There were a few glaring typos and a couple small parts of the story, especially toward the end seemed to drag a bit. I ended up giving it four stars for those reasons. If you enjoy sweet romance, a tad of suspense, and a strong faith element in the books you choose, you should try this one.

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This story really surprised me. I will usually turn my nose up at stories which have a focus on pets. I think part of it is I want to get so attached and having grown up on a farm with most of our 'pets' being farm animals, you have to learn how to cope with random animal deaths early on in life. For me, that meant not getting too attached. I can actually name and animal and survive relatively unscathed if it dies suddenly. Whether that's a skill to boast of or not remains to be seen, I guess. 

Anyway, this was a cute story. And while chihuahuas are not my favorite dog breed since I've rarely seen ones which are as well-behaved as those in this book, it was nice to see another possibility when it comes to those tiny dogs. (If I was to choose a dog for myself, it'd be a big one...like, Irish wolfhound or Olde English Bulldog big.)

Our youngest daughter has expressed a wish to have an emotional support animal and I do think it would be good for her. It just remains to get all the stuff on paper than we need. If you know the blessing of having one yourself, or you simply know the joy of owning a loving pet, you'll probably smile as you read this book. 

I also liked the way these characters were determined to remain faithful to God in the midst of hardship. What an inspiration! The conflict in the story is one I've seen several times but the way the author tackled it was interesting and seemed well done to me. 

Book Review: Love at Sunset Lake (Abundance #1) by Sally Bayless

Love at Sunset Lake by Sally Bayless
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Good Story That Kept Me Reading

This story was a nice romance, clean with relatable characters and a variety of feelings. I laughed and I hoped with them. I was annoyed with them at a few points, but that made them well-rounded, I think. I found the way the author wrote in the faith elements interesting. There were a few parts toward the end that seemed rushed, but I did enjoy this book. I think if you enjoy clean contemporary romance which is also inspirational, you might want to grab this book.

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This review was a little longer than the one above it. I write these so late at night. I feel like I'm doing great to get three coherent sentences. But I hate to wait to post the review until later. Like most things, if I don't tackle it while I'm thinking about it, I'll forget to do it. That's part of the reason my newsletter doesn't go out every month. 

Author Journey: Where I Am Today

My plan...Plan A, if you like...is to finalize the cover for The Tale of Outh'n Durr. Once that's done, it's getting published. It's going to be available free for my newsletter subscribers for the first month. After that, it's going to be $0.99 USD. I refuse to charge more than that for a novelette. I also feel like ebooks shouldn't cost as much as print books since they don't cost as much when it comes to the materials needed to produce it, especially when it comes to Kindle books. 

Did you know you don't actually own a Kindle book? If Kindle decides to revoke your access to a book you purchased, they can do that and not refund you the money you spent, at least the last time I checked the fine print. That's insane...and yet, I still purchase them from time to time. 

Speaking of Outh'n's tale, it's my first real short story which I'll feel good about sharing with my subscribers. When I published my first short story on the blog years ago, I didn't have the resources I have now which enable me to do a better editing job. I didn't know many fantasy readers who would both enjoy reading it /and/ give me an honest opinion on the content. Over time, I gained both. That doesn't mean my work is always going to be error-free. Goodness knows, I still miss stuff. But it does mean I'm exhausting all the avenues of proofreading and editing which are available to me on my limited budget. 

Having said that, I can't stress enough the importance of self-editing, proofreading (you & others), and beta readers in an indie author's career. If you put out a free book which is to showcase what you can do, it should be an example of your best work. 

I've seen so many cases in which all I can get from the author is that they are in a hurry. The content is good, but the technical things suffer, or vice versa. It makes for a frustrating reading experience. There have been many indie authors I've refused to keep reading because the free book they offered just wasn't on par with what I expect to get in a good book. 

So if you're an indie author and you want to put out your own free book, my advice to you is to put in that extra bit of time and effort it takes to make the book the absolute best it can possibly be before releasing to the world. Your work deserves to be seen and appreciated. But that won't happen if your free offering doesn't show potential readers what you're capable of. 

I'm so happy you stopped by today. I hope you found something interesting and/or helpful in the post. I'll do my best to get back to the regular Wednesday/Friday schedule, but I'm not making any promises. I can't. There's just so much on my plate right now. Thanks for your support and encouragement!