Sticky Note Fever

Goodness! It’s been over a week since I last posted, and I want to get back into the habit of returning here weekly. I’ve been working on sewing more bags, but I want to share some of the goodies I’ve sent out in some of them. These are little post-it note folders, made from scrapbooking cardstock. A friend of mind had one and showed it to us at our Crazy Crop scrapbooking club. I’m always on the lookout for unique promo items so I asked if I could make a pattern from hers and then I went home and copied it, using materials I had sitting around the house. I had stickers with my name and website, so I added those. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out! 

Materials needed: scrapbooking cardstock, 3 inch by 3 inch sticky notes

Directions: cut cardstock into strips 3.25 inches by 8.5 inches. Place the sticky note pad on the center of the strip, but don't attach yet. Trace around the note pad, remove, and then fold on the lines. Place the pad on the strip again and make another crease to make the top cover. Attach the pad to the cardstock strip (I like to use double-sided tape). Attach a velcro dot for the closure. 

It's still my plan to fill a few goodie bags and send them out, but I'll need more stuff to put in them.  Guess I'll have to keep working on swag!

What's in the Mail?

          I remember how I used to get so excited whenever there was mail addressed to me. Now, it's not so exciting, because in addition to those dreaded bills (the ones that don't come electronically), there is tons of junk mail. So yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find a small package from one of my publishers. What would she be sending me?
          It turns out I had signed up for a promotional opportunity last fall - several authors volunteered to try out a new idea called drop cards. We each pitched in money to have these plastic credit card-like things made, each printed with codes that would enable the bearer of the card to download several of our books. We could use them however we wanted - as prizes, as gifts, or simple giveaways. The start-up cost was somewhat hefty, especially since we were starting on the holiday season, but I went ahead and sent the funds, and forgot about it.
          Well, now I am SO GLAD I invested in this project! The cards arrived, and all of them include my book The Samurai's Garden as well as the others in the picture above. I've got several to start using as giveaways in the many promotional activities I'm participating in this summer, starting with the Sweet Authors Promotional Event on Facebook. This Thursday evening I'm hosting the event from 8 to 10 pm EDT. You can join me by clicking on the logo below and then clicking JOIN - Several other sweet authors are participating - Christi Corbett, author of Along the Way Home, has the same cards and will also be giving some away. This is a great chance to win not one, but SIX great books - and then you too can get excited about what's in the mail!

Where Does All My Time Go?

I haven’t been posting my craft and sewing projects lately. That’s partly because I’ve been working hard on a sequel to Christmas Wishes, (I think I’m about 75 percent done with that) and promoting both Friendship Star Quilt and Searching for Lady Luck through Facebook events and guest blogging. It seems I spend all my time online!

Still, I have been able to get a few things done. I’ve made a couple of quilts at my church, and made a bunch of promotional items. Unfortunately, I didn’t get them finished in time to send to the Romantic Times convention in New Orleans. I could have sent them along with some of the other authors who are going. Rats! But now I’ve got a bunch of stuff to send to people for other things. Not sure what. Or maybe I’ll be extra ready for next year!

Here are some little notebooks I made, using directions from the fabulous Joselyn Vaughn:

And here are some sticky note pad folders I made, inspired by a project from my scrapbooking friend Sharilyn:

So I haven't totally abandoned my crafty side! I'm hoping to finish this book in the next week or so, and then hit the crafts hard. I'm going to donate a bunch of things to Gabriel's Shoppe, a charity run by a friend of mine. I'll share more about that soon. In the meantime, here's the Facebook link where you can see what it's all about: https://www.facebook.com/gabrielsshoppe

It's All About the Log Line

Image credit: inspirestock / 123RF Stock Photo

Sometimes when I write, certain things trip me up and I get stuck. Sometimes it's how to get the heroine out of a tricky situation. Other times it's the hero's motivation in doing something. Several times I've written the entire book and not known what to call it! Fortunately, I've now got Facebook friends to help me with that.

A week ago, I got a contract for my latest novella, a regency romance about a couple who both enjoy making music. A Facebook plea resulted in a mavelous title: Love's Refrain. Along with the contract was a lot of other paperwork, and in one, I had to provide a tagline, sometimes known as a logline. It's basically a one or two sentence summary of the book's essence. For some reason, that's where I got stuck. It took two days to come up with a short (25 words or less) description of what the story is about.

Author Lynn Cahoon runs several blogs, and among them is one called The Log Line Blog. Each day she features a different book and its log line. Authors are invited to submit their books to be included in her lineup, and today she's featuring my latest release, The Calico Heart, written with my awesome writing partner Stephanie Michels.  I'd like to encourage you to look at the books she has featured and leave a comment or two. Each comment puts you in the drawing for a monthly prize: a $20 Amazon gift certificate! You can get an awful lot of ebooks for $20, so go on over and leave several comments on the books featured in May.

Here's the link: http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/

Novel Works

This week's post is up earlier in the week than usual, but I wanted to share the news that Novel Works is featuring Astraea Press books and authors this week on its facebook page. You can find the page by clicking HERE. Come and visit! You can have a chance to "visit" with other Astraea Press authors. We've been talking about books as well as movies and other forms of story-telling.


Many thanks to Jerry Hines for hosting us this week! It's been such a thrilling ride participating in these promotional activities. Things like guest blogging and designing things like postcards and bookmarks have kept me very busy in the last month. On Thursday I'll be at Joanne Troppello's blog, "The Mustard Seed". And next Monday I'll be the guest at the Astraea Press blog. I'll have notices here and on facebook.


Since I'm posting earlier, I don't have a project to share. It's been a very busy week between working and writing. Hopefully I'll have two things to show you next week!

The "I've Always Wanted to Write a Book" Conference

I am getting excited about the "I've Always Wanted to Write a Book" Conference hosted by GRRWG (that's Grand Rapids Region Writers Group) coming up in October. This is my first writers' conference since being published, so I'm going with the goal of promoting, rather than searching for a publisher. There is going to be a booksigning event, and I hope to participate (that's paperwork in my "to do" pile).

It's going to be a great time! Even though the conference is a whole 13 miles from my house, I'm spending the night at the hotel, so I can mingle with my writing friends. We'll have some great speakers, and a lot of give-aways (otherwise known as SWAG – Stuff We All Get).

I wanted to add something to the goody bag, so I made a bunch of pseudo-book thongs out of stuff I already had. I used my business cards, some ribbon, and some paper cutouts (they're cheaper and easier to handle than beads). On the back of the business cards I attached a sticker (address labels from Vista Print) featuring a picture of my book cover. I hope people like them! The picture above isn't a great shot, but you get the idea.

So anyway, if you've always wanted to write a book, go to the GRRWG blog and register online! Here's the link: