New #WritersLife Survey! What's HOT?

Summer usually mean travel and vacations...

This year we let my oldest choose the place for our family vacation, since he's graduating and all. So we are going to a lake and renting a boat - fun stuff and plenty of down time to play games, read, and write! I hope. We are also bringing the girlfriends of my older boys. That will be interesting. But I do like having more girls around--the boys actually behave a little better =)

Summer also means HOT TEMPS! Here's this month's Writer's Life Survey about Hotness!



Did you take the survey? Look for the results at the beginning of next month. 

Where in the world are you this summer? Going far or near? Or taking a Stay-cation?

PS Section...
Thanks for the offers to promote TWO PRINCESSES! (ebook) I'm still coordinating a Facebook Party with a local Signing Party for August or Sept.

Also thanks for the offers to read and review DISPOSAL! If you're interested, let me know! Release Blog Tour form coming soon.

#Writerslife lightning round results

*** Happy Independence Day! ***

4th of July selfie
with my son's American Flag sunglasses!

Well, we're smack dab in the middle of summer here in the Midwest. I must be enjoying it, because it's flying by. But I'm excited to share that I'm getting loads of writing done! (Big News at the end of the post)

For this month's IWSG post, I've been trying not to worry about my lowly writer status in the big writing world picture. Fortunately, I've had a few breadcrumbs of hope from strangers that's boosted me since I've taken the summer off from book events, painful as that's been. So, I keep pushing myself to write more and venture into more media... The only thing that will stop me from succeeding is if I give up. And I hope you all are making positive progress, no matter which phase of writing you're in.

Good luck and keep writing!

I also continue to be encouraged by more people taking my Writer's Life surveys each month - and I love the results! Here's the latest---

The red and blue seem appropriate for July. And this month, I will give my amateur statistical analysis...

• With the majority, I consider myself a multi-tasker, though I'm not sure that's a good thing. Spreading ourselves thinner over a bunch of separate projects means the projects get done at a slower rate. Hmm.
• I like the 50/50 splits - plotter v. panster, slow v. fast reader, morning v. not! - we writers can't be pigeon-holed!
• I'm one of the few who likes to write my outline/first draft in a notebook - I love scribbling and doodling and using multiple colors - and especially making maps. I feel it's easier to look back and forth... plus, I can do it anywhere. Recently, I typed a first draft on my ipad for WINDY HOLLOW. I liked knowing my word count, but I still used a notebook for the rough draft.
• Not surprised by these majorities - pen over pencil, college-ruled over wide-ruled, more righties than lefties, and coffee is awesome!
• Was surprised by paper book over ebook - I thought everyone was going digital. Nice to see we're not!
• Lastly, the social media. I will have to do a separate survey just for that. I didn't have blogging on my original form, but a friend pointed out it's a widely used social media, especially by us writers. I guess my intent was to see which other social medias float a writer's boat? And in that field, by my small survey, Twitter beat out Facebook. So is less more? Or is Twitter more of a meeting strangers in a night club and therefore more exciting, while Facebook is more of a family and friends barbecue where you go to catch up? Yes, definitely a whole set of questions needs to be asked!

And so, I hope you will look for my next survey toward the middle of the month.

Finally, I self-published the second novella in my Unconventional Princesses series...

TWO PRINCESSES!

Deja was a happy, trouble-making troll, until she was exiled from her home under the mountains for her perilous pranks. Now she must serve a frilly human, Princess Calleah who's locked in a tall tower to keep suitors away. The Two Princesses from opposite sides of the Valley become unlikely friends in their seclusion, but when the time comes for Calleah to fulfill her duty, their bond is put to the test by propriety, princes, and parents. Deja doesn't take any gruff and will give it right back to protect Calleah, no matter the cost.

Kindle *** Paperback

JOLISSA - An Anti-Princess Story is UnPrincess #1

Kindle *** Paperback

I'm planning a release party at a local children's consignment shop in August. Should be cute! Plus a Facebook party... never done one, so we'll see how that goes - you're all invited!
I'll send a free e-copy of either novella to anyone who asks in the comments. Reviews are gold coins to authors!

The self-pub process continues to evolve and I continue to learn. And Amazon continues to grow, extending it's tentacles into every aspect of life! They're making movies and shows for goodness sake! I hope to take advantage of their new ventures...

Happy July!

PS - my quarterly newsletter for the summer is out!