The heart will always guide you

We don't want to think about the mistakes we have made because we were foolishly following our head instead of our heart.

You know the heart is the most wonderful part of the body and yet we don't listen to it enough.

When that girl/guy comes into our lives, we want to follow our heart but in reality we are following our minds. Our minds tell us to overlook those little things that would otherwise bother us with any other person. Our minds will tell us that "he is just a messy person" when in our hearts we know, he just might be lazy.

When your mind tells you that you can't write that novel, what does your heart tell you.

If you have had that nagging pull, small ache in your chest whenever you think about picking up a pen or opening up your tablet/laptop and then you don't. That would be your heart telling you that you need to follow it.

Our heart will lead us to where we need to be. Our heart is the thing that will tell us to follow our dream, even when our mind and sometimes our friends, are telling us not to.

I listened to my heart about five years ago and now I have two published novels and working on numbers three and four. If I had listened to my head, I wouldn't have taken that step. Instead I followed my heart and I can say that I am so glad that I did.

I dare you to try it, with anything that you want to do. Follow your heart, you will be amazed.

What plans do you have for this week?

I used to think I was the most organized person, ever! Yep, there was never a time that I wouldn't know what my day, week or month would bring.

Now, I'm not so sure about it. All I know is now I am trying to make it through each day and remind myself to take my medications or put eye drops in my eye.

Instead of planning out my day I know try and enjoy each moment as it comes. I want to remember the day, not the 'things' that I did in the day.



Isaiah



Some days it is hard to remember my name, or to even remember the names of my children and grandchildren. Now with the addition of my newest grandson, I find myself pushing the 'planned' events out of the way, so I can spend time with Isaiah. Babies + the new baby smell= forgotten appointments, talking in a baby voice and hoping that when you burb him, the milk doesn't stain that new dress you put on.

Yes, plans are great for people that don't want to enjoy life to the fullest. For the rest of us, plans are meant to be 'adjusted' when life 'happens'.

So I ask you, what are your plans this week?

Let the fun times begin

Summer vacation....

That can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.

For me, it means, more writing and this year I am looking forward to it much more than usual.

I have been on hiatus lately. I've been doing so many things, for so many people; that I have forgotten to do the one thing that I loved.

Enter..."Shawny". She is the Stiletto Stalker and she tapped me on the shoulder. Well, not really, she kind of kicked me in the head on night and jolted me from my sleep and told me, "you better start writing my story or you will be sorry".

At first I blinked hard and then said, "really because you aren't real and you can't do anything to me." Her response...."watch me"

I tried to go back to sleep and for some reason, I couldn't. I was restless with all of the scenarios playing out in my head and before I knew it, I was up with a notebook in my hand re-writing the first scene of The Stiletto Stalker. I guess she told me, huh?

After a day of writing her, she came back and said..."let the fun times begin...now let's see if you can figure out how I killed him." What...you killed a man? Was my response and she walked off in her stylish shoes and turned to me with a wicked grin and said..."hey, it wouldn't be a murder mystery without a crime, now would it?"

I was shocked, dismayed and confused. I have never written a murder mystery and need a little help. So I guess I need to call up my good friends +Lauren Carr or +Austin Camacho and his problem solver, Hannibal Jones because this looks like it might be a problem only the three of them can help me with.

Let the fun begin....I think.

Harper Collins Presents:

Today I get the chance to sit down and interview Wendy Higgins. I found her, by accident, while stalking....I mean, trolling Twitter and I looked at her website and messaged her and she responded. I'm always surprised when authors respond to me (as I am sure people are, when I reply to them) Anyway, she agreed to do an interview with me, sight unseen. That was until I was at the Montgomery County Writers Association meeting last weekend (June 1). I was nervous but I dived in and although I don't swim, she was gracious enough to allow me to use my arm floats and answered my questions.

How did you come up with the characters in your novels?

            ~ I wrote this book for the 16-year-old me, so I thought about how I was back then—kind of naive about a lot of things. I wrote Anna, who I would have been able to be great friends with back then. And as for her counterpart, the male love interest, he was easy. I just thought of every sexy trait I could imagine—all   the attributes I lust for wrapped into one, lol. That’s Kaidan Rowe.

 <!--[endif]-->Are your books stand alone or do they have to read in order?

            ~ They definitely follow chronologically, so I do not recommend reading them out of order. The trilogy is one story following one girl, broken into three parts.

What is the biggest surprise that you have learned while being an author?

            ~ How long everything in publishing takes, and how little authors get paid.

You are with a big publisher; which is every authors dream.  What is the biggest surprise you learned while being with one of major publishers?

            ~ Publishers are a business. Yes, they make dreams come true, but they are looking at the numbers, primarily.

 <!--[endif]-->How did you come up with the concept of the cover for your first book?

            ~ The publisher came up with it. I had no hand in the covers. Thankfully, I loved it. It’s not exactly true to the events in the story, but the overall tone is spot-on.

How do you keep your audience wanting more?

            ~ It’s all about the romantic tension. ;)

 <!--[endif]-->Do you have dedicated writing time and when is it?

            ~ I write when both my kids are in school. This past year has been Mondays,       Wednesdays, and Fridays, from 9-12. It’s not very much time, but my mother-in-law and husband have set times where they keep the kids for a few      hours while I write, so I get about 15 hours a week, give or take.

 <!--[endif]-->Do you need quiet or lots of noise when you write?

            ~ I’m totally ADD.  I need to be alone with no distractions, and it needs to be silent.

Tell us about your favorite moment being an author.

            ~ My favorite moments have been when I've received touching fan letters about how my book has helped people get through a tough time, like a high-schooler who’s had her heart broken over and over by a certain boy who she now realizes is no good for her, and a female soldier who had a difficult time acclimating          back into society when she returned home from Iraq and said my book helped her. Those letters have meant the world to me, and made it all worthwhile.

Give us the links to your social media footprint.

            ~ https://twitter.com/Wendy_Higgins

            ~ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Evil-novel-by-Wendy-Higgins/118348174915427

            ~ http://www.wendyhigginswrites.com

This blog is about books and shoes and writing. Tell us what are you most beloved pair of shoes, and book.

            ~ My black, flat, flip-flops. I’m all about comfort and ease.

            ~ Some of my favorites Young Adult books are Poison Princess by Kresley Cole,  and Obsidian (the Lux series) by Jennifer Armentrout.

Thank you so much Wendy and you all need to take a look at her website, it is amazing and follow her on Twitter and Facebook. 

Hash Tag Thriller13

For the past month I have been tweeting about +Thrillerfest and I have been having a blast.

Well, it all started with the announcement that there would be a contest...now let me stop there because all I read was 'contest'. I have no idea if there is a prize, or recognition of some kind..all I know is that there is a CONTEST and I have to win it...if I don't I will be disappointed.

See for me, its all about the competition and now that the contest has started, I am obsessed with tweeting. I tweet at least 20-25 times a day, and not just about Thrillerfest. I tweet about my blog, I tweet about my job (the other one that requires I spend 8 hours of my day with middle school kids) and I tweet about upcoming events, like Thrillerfest.

Ok, well it seems I tweet about them a lot, but they are planning such great things like panel discussions on "violence in books, when is it to much" or "why did they kill of my favorite character" or "being ready for combat". See I can't listen to people talk about those things unless I go to Thrillerfest and unless I tweet about them, they (the powers that be that are planning Thrillerfest) wouldn't know how excited I am about it.

So, tweeting about Thrillerfest is such a great thing and going to Thrillerfest is right up there with buying a new pair of stilettos, that I have to do it. (side note: Yes, I have stilettos shoes packed and ready to go and I know I will be buying more before July 10th when I head to NYC.

So #Thriller13 and find me on Twitter. I'll be the one with a 'comment' every 30 minutes or so.

The Life of a Marketing Director

Ah, the life of a marketing director is never easy.

Today, I asked Sandra Bowman, Marketing Director of +Intrigue Publishing to tell you about the day in the life of...

First, thank you for allowing me to vent...oh I mean, share the joys of working with all of the authors at Intrigue Publishing.

They are much better than the other group I work with at my other full time job.

Even though at times I get emails that say..."did you get my email" or "you need to look at this''...which I probably already did. So I smile, nod and respond (sometimes)

Even with all of that, I think I work with the best group of people I work with.


Being marketing director is literally a full-time, 24 hour a day job for me. I wake up thinking about the things I need to get done during the day, I go to sleep stressing about the things that didn't get done, and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night because of things that I need to do.

I schedule book signings, (well try to anyway with the closing of Borders), set up interviews, make sure ARC copies of books are mailed to reviewers, keep all the author's on deadline, make sure that they get that friendly 'reminder/to-do' email from me at least once a week and that is on top of making sure to show up at different events to get photos, videos and making sure the authors know I'm there for support.

Take the +Gaithersburg Book Festival a couple of weeks ago. Do you know how hard it is to wrangle a working author, a television personality and the father of a famous football quarterback into the same picture, all while making sure the picture is in focus. That took three people, a little running and a little begging on my part, but I got the picture. +Leon Harris and +Robert Griffin II, were very gracious as I pulled +Austin Camacho away from his booth to get that picture. They were also gracious when I told them I needed to take it again because it wasn't in focus.

Intrigue Authors

Then there was the +Bowie Senior Center event where I had a meeting at my other job, drove for 45 minutes to get there, hoped that the authors were set up; was informed that someone never responded but that they could still read from their novel and take video and pictures before rushing out of the door an hour later for a doctors appointment, heading back to the other job until five that evening and then needing to send out some galley books for review. (which the doctors informed me that I am working to hard) Ya think?

Boy am I glad that I have an assistant now.

I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love being able to help people and I love being able to see other authors reach their potential. It doesn't hurt that I work with the best group of authors. +DB Corey, +Penny Clover Peterson and +Christine Verstraete are all Intrigue authors and I hope they feel the same way about me.

Now, my list of to-do things just got a little longer as I need to get a meeting with the people at this local station in hopes of getting more interviews, oh and there is the little matter of +Thrillerfest and a book release party for DB Corey to finalize.

But first, maybe I need to lay down, after all it is 2am in the morning and my other work day will begin at 5am.