For the Criminally Inane

Did you know these awesome people created an award just for clean romance?  It's called the Swoony and now you get to voice your vote for THE SWISS MISHAP as the #1 New Adult romance. Vote here! They will ask you for your email address just to make sure there are no duplicates. I promise they won't spam you and it would really help me a lot if you'd take a few seconds to vote! Thank you! Amey ETA: I won the Best New Adult Romance for 2019!  Thank you so much for all your votes! And pick up a copy of my book here.

Every author needs reviews. It's not about ego. They don't have to be positive. They do have to be honest. They don't have to be long. Why do they need them? Reviews help promote the author's book. It's a numbers game. The more reviews an author has, good or bad, the more Amazon and other retailers promote your book. More reviews also gives readers a better idea of what kind of book this is. A book with three five-star doesn't impress me because it's not got a depth or breadth (a cross-section) of readers. READ my latest review

When I first started writing ten years ago, I was in the midst of the "baby years." I had two kids about four and two. I yearned for a time when I would be more free to write. I'm here to tell you, it just doesn't happen. Yes, now that I have three kids, two of them teenagers, and it doesn't get easier. I have play practice and sports practice and after school things and football games and their social calendar. Maybe that sounds discouraging. Maybe it gives you hope. Writing is something you have to make and take time for. It doesn't just fall in your lap. Even now that all the kids are in school and I can write all day, other things come up. I volunteer at the school, at my church and recently now the HOA. There will always be things that claim your time. It's easy to say someday I'll have more time. I'll write then. In the future, I expect to travel to see my grandkids, be there for when my kids have babies and continue my voluntee...

Happy to announce the updated cover for Baker's Dozen! My publisher was so understanding and even asked me why I hadn't asked to have it changed before. People may be asking why the change. Well, as much as I loved the first cover with the city-scape of  St. Louis, I wanted something to reflect the funny, flirty tone of the book. Other updates! I found out last week that I'm a Whitney Award nominee! Thank you to all who nominated me, who believed my book worthy of such a title. If you want to read more about what the Whitney award is, click HERE . Also, I'm trying to be more consistent with my blogging and will try to update once a week on Wednesdays!  Topics I still need to share, the LUW conference, my latest title submission and conference wins! If you'd like more up to date info, subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on social media. Anyway, sure love you all! Amey

Baker's Dozen is featured on the BookSweeps giveaway !  Win free books and download freebooks. I was a little skeptical, so I went to the site and signed up. All the books look so interesting and fun! I had to click on all the authors. So check it out! This won't last long! Be sure to sign up for author newletters and download some free books!

I'm going to share my marketing plan so that others can see what I'm doing and why. Most of your promotion should be done before your book is released. You want to build hype before the book comes out. You can also host mid-year sales, and anniversary sales.  Step one : Develop a marketing plan by asking and answering the following questions Who is your audience? Define their ages, (don’t say 18-99--the more specific the better) What other books are they reading? What hobbies do they enjoy? What do they not like? What appeals to them? What kind of images would attract their attention? Where does your audience hang out? Where do they live in cyber world? Facebook? Instagram? Twitter? Book review blogs?  What’s different about your book? Step Two : Create a brainstorm cloud with your book in the center. Now add all the ways you can reach your defined audience. Other bubbles include: Your newsletter Your blog Your Youtube channel Your Twitter account Yo...

Deep POV is one of my favorite things to write in. It's close. It's personal. It's deep. It heightens the emotion of the character and brings the reader closer. I just turned in my second romantic suspense. A sequel to my Baker's Dozen romantic suspense mystery. My editor sent me a guide of words to eliminate in my writing. Here are my top favorite to avoid. 1. Saw If your point of view character saw something, just say what he saw. Alan saw Margret brush a stray hair from her eyes. vs. Margret brushed a stray hair from her eyes. 2. Thought If you are in your character's head, you rarely need to mention he thought something. We want to stay close to the writer's sensibilities, almost mimicking his thought. Alan thought there had to be a better way than this. vs. There had to be a better way than this. 3. Felt  If you have to tell us she felt something, then it destroys the sense of closeness. Margaret felt angry. vs. Margaret beat ...

I've had this philosophy lately to give up my fear. It first started in my twenties when I served as a missionary in Switzerland and France, talking to people about their deepest fears, their hopes and dreams for the future. The President of my mission said to me, "Get rid of your stress, worry, anxiety and fear; those will keep you back." Up to that point I'd always seen stress or worry as a form of mental energy progressing me to a solution, but in reality, it was exhausting me and paralyzing me. Ten years ago, I decided to put away my fears. My fears of never becoming a writer, my fear that I would never be good enough to publish, my fear of not getting out all these wonderful stories I had tucked inside my heart. My husband told me to sit down and write something. So I did. I had this scene in my head about a girl who got poison ivy because I had just been through a rash of it. And she was a young girl, and I found out that beer can help offset the affects o...

Pinterest is a great social media tool for introverts. It's less social than many other platforms. What I love about Pinterest: Any post can be seen by all users In other social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook etc, only your followers can see your posts. Pinterest is unique because it's basically a huge search engine for pulling information. (More about "push" and "pull" later.) Posts have a long shelf life I started Pinterest years ago and people still "repin" my posts. Shelf life of Twitter is a few seconds, IG and Facebook are a little bit longer, but the staying power of Pinterest is unbeatable. Archival Everything can (must be!) be categorized and stored for Pinterest to work. That's good news for those creating pins. They last and are easy to find. Media You can use all sorts of different media: movies gifs, jpegs, images, recipes etc. in your pins Use to discover and save new ideas and link back to ...

As a writer, I often sit for long periods of time. Every once in a while, I need to stop and take a break. I do these five quick exercises and only spend about 30 seconds a piece. Even this quick little pick-me-up after sitting over the computer dreaming up sweet romances and clean romantic suspense plots. Exercise doesn't have to be lengthy to be effective, every bit of exercise is good. As with any exercise, be sure to consult your doctor to make sure it's okay for you do to any of these exercises. And make sure you follow a few tips: Lunges: keep your knees at 45 degree angles and don't let your knees go over your toes. Don't do if you have knee or hip problems. Squats: keep knees over ankles and drop your bottom. Even shallow squats will be beneficial. Don't do if you have knee problems. Arm circles: stick out your arm parallel to the floor and rotate your wrists back to rotate your arms back. Then rotate wrists forward to move arms forward. Don't tr...

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the day I received my mission call and assignment to serve in Switzerland. I was so excited. I had wanted to go to Switzerland and speak French since I was nine years old. But you don't get to pick where you go, so I felt real blessed. You are probably wondering what living in Switzerland and a sweet romance have to do with each other. While I was in Switzerland I had many choice experiences. I met so many wonderful faithful people. And I had some crazy adventures that come with living in a foreign country. It was hard to leave my friends, family and everything familiar to me, to live in a country with differing cultures, language and customs. But I learned and grew a lot and I learned to love the people, not just a country. From this love sprang this novel about Lainey Peterson who overcomes adversity and fear, perseveres through some tough situations and also manages to fall in love with a great guy. But Lainey wants to get into the ...

Need a book to read this spring? Are you having a book slump? Need to find a new author to enjoy? Looking for sassy heroines, alpha males, tissue romances, or a feel-good, funny read? Well, I have just the thing for you! Enter the Spring Break Bookapalooza. Be sure to click on this link to check it out. My romantic suspense book Baker's Dozen is being featured today! I talk about my dream spring break (hint: it's in France) and what I love about spring. And while you are there, check out many of the other authors featured on the site. You may find something that catches your eye. Leave a comment to interact with the authors and let them know what you think about their cover, their except or their dream spring break. Many of these authors are also published under my publisher, The Wild Rose Press. PLUS you can enter to win one of many Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift cards with this link to the rafflecopter contest. You can earn bonus entries by following participating aut...

Writing isn't just sitting down and letting magic slip from your head to your fingers to your keyboard. Writers do so much more than just write. Here are a few things I have done as I've written my clean romantic suspense and clean romantic comedy. 1. Attend conferences. Conferences are good for networking in your genre, honing skills, taking classes, meeting people for critique partners, writing groups, pitching, and making friends. And they are fun! I've met like-minded people who are serious in their career and writers who are more successful than I am and who can inspire me. 2. Read. This goes without saying but a lot of writers read. What are they reading? Fiction. In their genre, out of their genre, similar to their genre. I also read a lot of non-fiction, biographies, writing books, and children's books. 3. Enter contests. One of the biggest deadlines in my life right now is entering contests. I do this to get exposure, professional feedback and a chance...

I was talking to someone on the phone the other day, and they told me their book club likes to make a recipe from their book-of-the-month. And I thought, I need to include my recipe for Easy Chocolate Mousse to my clean and funny romantic comedy book. (If you haven't checked out the Villain's cookbook from Baker's Dozen, you need to.) The Swiss Mishap is a New Adult, clean and funny romantic comedy.  Lainey goes to Switzerland expecting to work as an intern in the chocolate department, but instead winds up in Pet Care. She loves chocolate and hopes to get a recommendation there. Her hot boss makes her talk to people all day about pets until she speaks with a pastry chef who gives her a recipe for chocolate mousse. Of course, she's supposed to be talking about pets, so her boss isn't happy with her, and she leaves without getting the rest of the recipe... So here I am sharing with you the recipe I brought home from Europe: Easy Chocolate Mousse for 6 people ...

Lots of people have asked me what do I do when I'm not writing clean romantic suspense novels full of martial arts, disguises, and strong female protagonists. Or other stories like my clean (sweet) chocolate rom-com set in Switzerland. Well, I thought I'd let you in on my little secret. My life is not full of writing, although some days I wish it were. First off I have a family. I am a wife to a brilliant scientist. I am a work-from-home mom to three beautiful kids who keep me humble, teach me patience, and long suffering. Second, I am active in my church. I volunteer to co-teach at religion class to 8-9 teenagers at 5:45am every day that there is high school. Third, I'm involved in my community. So what does this look like? I'm not particularly busy, thankfully. My weekday starts at 5am. I wake up, pray, mediate, and read from the scriptures. I get dressed in appropriate clothes and attend or teach the class for about fifty minutes where we try to help teenager...

I've always been one of those people who tried new things. I don't really like getting out of my comfort zone, just like the next gal, geeze, I am human, but I do like to try new things. When I was in fourth grade, my friend, Heather, urged me to try out for the community theatre production of Annie as an orphan extra. My mom let my try out only because she thought I wouldn't make it--thanks mom! She knew the commitment and time required for a production of this scale. But she let me try out and guess what! I made it! I did! *Brag time* Out of the 225 girls who auditioned, only 12 made it into the cast *Close brag time* My siblings said it was because I already looked like an orphan. Har, har! But honestly, I think I made it because my friend knew the director and she needed a ride to the rehearsals from our small town. One of the best compliments anyone has given to me was when my brother said he thought it was awesome that I tried out for plays. Then he confessed...

 I always struggle with writing something on my blog. I like journal-ing and have kept extensive journals (if you know me at all, you're probably mentioned in my journal. Isn't that a weird thought?) But for some reason, I really struggle with blog topics. I would like to be of some use to people out there. So I have a question: What do you want to hear about from me? Do you want to hear about my writing process? How to write/get published? Writing tips? Overcoming discouragement? Would you like to hear about my life? It would make a great cure for insomnia. Would you like to hear about my struggles? I have struggled with a few things and have managed to find peace. I would only do this if I felt like it would help someone else. I'm rather a private person and prefer a one-on-one method of communication. Or something else entirely?  Comment below with your suggestions.

I remember nearing the end of my mission in Europe and I was trying to decide what to study when I got home. I decided to go to the University of Arizona because they had a creative writing degree, but I wasn't sure I wanted to major in creative writing. I was single, no marriage prospects, and I worried I might have to support myself with my degree. Creative writing wouldn't get me very far and it was a limited scope of study. Both of my mission presidents worked in communication. So I thought, okay, that sounds interesting. I like people. I like to talk. Let's do it. I walked into my Comm 300 class and the professor said, "This is a class where we talk about relationships, how and why people get in them and how and why people stay. If that doesn't interest you, you'd better join another class." I couldn't tell you how much his words thrilled me! (Yes, I still have my text book from that class and many other classes.) Fiction is all about relati...