2015 Reading Goals

First and foremost, I'm a reader. A voracious reader. When I started writing, the amount of time I had to read decreased. Thank heavens for audiobooks!

In 2013, I took Goodreads Reading Challenge. I thought, if nothing else, it's a great way to keep track of the books I've read over the course of the year.

Since I've done so well, I've upped my challenge for 2015. I'm going to read (listen to) 75 books this year.

Here's what I've finished so far in January. Kind of a nice variety.

Yeah, I'm trying to beat Medeia Sharif. That woman is a reading machine! And a prolific writer as well.

And speaking of Medeia, she's got a blog tour going on right now for her newest release, 52 Likes. *shivers* I've only had a chance to read the very beginning--just to tease myself. It's a chilling premise.

Today's the last day to sign up for her giveaway, too. So drop by and congratulate her and check out the books she's read.

After a brutal rape and near-murder, Valerie wants to get past feelings of victimhood from both the assault and her history of being bullied. She’s plagued by not knowing the identity of her rapist and by the nasty rumors in school about that night. Valerie follows clues from ghostly entities, past victims of the rapist-murderer, contacting her through a social media site—why do all of their eerie photos have 52 likes under them? Their messages are leading her to the mystery man, although he’ll put up a fight to remain hidden.

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Monday Meandering - January 26th

First Meander - Marketing

I don't usually track sales on Amazon. That's not what I got into writing for. However, sometimes we need to know what's working (or not) with our marketing.

Friday started a three-day "free" marketing blitz for the Just An Old Fashioned Love Story anthology. Click here to see my post about it. We paid for some marketing that spread throughout the weekend. We topped at #2 for anthologies (#1 was an erotic series). Our highest level (that I saw) was #61 for the Kindle's Top 100 Free. I'm not sure how that equates to overall downloads. Our member over that hasn't reported.

It was an interesting experiment, and we're starting to get some reviews in.Which, of course, is kind of the point of giving the book away, that and exposure.

Second Meander - Genre

It can be your friend or your worst enemy.

I've mentioned before about struggling staying in one genre. Yes, I write romance, but I almost always like my romance served with a nice side of ... something. It's that "something" that keeps sending me into different genres. For example:

• A Change of Plans, Safe Harbors #1 is an adventure romance, though it has elements that place it in women's fiction.
• Hope's Watch, Safe Harbors #1.5 is romance but also deals with women's fiction elements.
• Torn Canvas, Safe Harbors #2 is general fiction with a strong romantic element.
• A Season of Change, Safe Harbors #2.5 is romance but there are some suspense elements.

With Swing Vote, Safe Harbors #3, I've been under the impression that it was a thriller--because it has thrillerish elements. But the more I've been researching, the more I've concluded that I can't/shouldn't write and market it as thriller.

So I did even more research. I've concluded that SV is going to be romantic suspense. And I'm good with that. I have the skeleton of the story down (that's my first draft), but I needed to KNOW for sure what approach to take before I proceeded any deeper into the edits.

Third Meander - Size

The awesome Canda Mortensen post on her blog here about the length of various categories of literature. Since I have various lengths (Hope's Watch and A Season of Change are both novelettes and Second Chances 101 is a novella), I thought I share. I found it interesting.

Did you have a good weekend? Do anything fun?