The first of these stories was LuvU4Ever, written on a late December day when I realized I hadn't published anything that entire year.
You see, 2014 was a year of renovating the home we'd bought northwest of Houston (contractor said 3 months *ROTFL) then the unpacking.
By May, I was in the doctor's office. The rest of the year is a fog created by prescription muscle relaxers to help me deal with the pain of strained muscles in the rhomboid group of my right shoulder.
Back to My Story Reno
Writing the short story, set in December, gave me a boost. I decided if I couldn't get an actual book written, at least I could do a short story.
The story was also my way of dealing with a friend's depressing situation, kind of writing a reversal on what had happened in real life. That's what I love about writing fiction. I can wave my magic wand and make everything work out well in the end.
Time rocked along, and I wrote Last Chance New Year, my second short story.
Huh. Set at another holiday. Also, to my surprise, I found myself writing "in" the couple in the first short story. They played matchmaker for the second couple.
Plus, the new couple both worked at the company owned by the first story's hero. I hadn't planned that. It just happened.
A few months later, I wrote a third story, Blame It On Chocolate.
Geez! Another holiday and with some of the people from the other stories referenced.
Obviously, my Muse was trying to make a series out of these stories! The problem with that was her timing sucked!
A Valentine's story published in July? My Muse needs to get a calendar and/or get inspired before a holiday, not months after!
Last year, on my writing goal list, I put down "rewrite the 3 existing stories, reinforcing the links between them, and outline another 10 stories, each set during a monthly holiday celebration.
My plan was to end up with a 13 story series that began with a Christmas and ended with a Christmas.
I got to work on it this year. First I outlined all the other stories and created relationship links with everyone from the first book to the last! That was a job!
Then I had my cover artist take my original covers and incorporate the main art into a new cover. I branded better by consistently using the graphic style on each cover and also incorporated font consistency.
I've managed to get the first story, LuvU4Ever edited. The new version is on Amazon. (These short stories are wide, but I'm going to remove them from other channels until I have the other 2 edited.)
I had planned to publish a short story every month, but then I undertook the Romance Gems journey! As if that wasn't challenging enough, I accepted too many contract deadlines, and had a lot of life crap happen. *LOL* That's the way I rock and roll, it seems.
LuvU4Ever is free on Amazon and should be free on all Amazon Kindle shops, but I won't guarantee it.
Seems a reader in another country told me she had to pay whatever the equivalent of 99centts was. So if you go to grab a free copy, make sure it shows as free.
This next weekend, I'll have the other 2 short stories edited and uploaded. If you want to read them, wait until Sunday please to check them out.
So that's my Pop-Up Giveaway for you this month.
By the way, the snow scene on the cover of LuvU4Ever was taken near downtown Houston.
We've had a lot of freaky winter weather since 2013 including snow from 2013 through 2017.
Now let me tell you about our Fabulous July Giveaway.
Our Rafflecopter opens at midnight July 5 so as soon as you finish your July 4 fireworks, you can go online and enter. The Giveaway runs through July 25.
You can watch a video about our giveaway in Movie Theater or on YouTube. (I appreciate LIKEs and shares on your social media pages.)
The Monthly Giveaway page lists all the prizes. Enter often and tell your friends about Romance Gems.
You exhaust me, but good for you in all you do! I love the short stories for holidays.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. I exhaust me too. With the advent of the Kindle, many people discovered how satisfying it was to read short stories. My thinking was that I rarely found the time during the holiday rush to read a book, but a short story? That was doable and satisfied my desire to read. Apparently, a lot of other readers felt the same because short fiction sells very well on Amazon.
DeleteWow, so much goodness! Running over to get my copy now!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kari. Hope you enjoy it.
DeleteThese all sound great. I love the covers, especially the one where she is grabbing his tie. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kara. I really liked that one too. The photo of the model was from the bottom of the nose down, and looked like the lower half of Keanu Reeves's face. Unfortunately, we had to crop the photo for the cover so you don't get to see that resemblance.
DeleteLove to hear about other writer's journeys. Great covers! Grabbing mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathleen. I really like the new covers which just shows how a graphic artist can take your concept and make it brilliant.
DeleteThanks Joan! I've done some similar restructuring...but your plan is way too ambitious for this slacker. :)
ReplyDeleteBonnie, I really like what you've done with your "renovations." I have it all outlined. Just need the time to make it happen. Time is always my problem.
DeleteWhen life happens, I usually get the idea for a story. I love turning them into happily ever after.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me that I had to post a glowing review for you. Amazon might take a couple of days to approve it, but it's sent! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so young, and I can barely keep up with my life. Congrats on being so prolific, great with time management and an overachiever. I just want to take a nap on my free time (and read books, obviously).
Oh, I know that feeling of being simply overwhelmed. On July 4, I did nothing, and it was wonderful. No family this year so we hid and watched Stranger Things 3 and a few other things on Netflix/Prime. To quote the guy in Office Space: "It was everything I thought it would be." Thanks for the review. I'll look for it. Have a great week, Iris.
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