End of October – Play date with Shiver factor

This is the time of year when a fire warms the toes, but a Shifter guards the door.

Love the decadent romance of the season. Wondering what goes bump in the night and the howls that follow?  Yummy!!

When is it okay for an author to get her mood on and tell it like she feels it?

Is it not okay when her publisher/editor wants a major plot adjustment because, “it just doesn’t feel right”. Nor when said publishing house can’t get their work done on time and make payments when promised.

Absolutely not when a reviewer starts a review with the information that they are in a bad mood and this might get snarky. Um, NO, Author is absolutely not permitted to respond to that.

I start with all of the above because it is so easy to see things from the poor me perspective as an author. The author ALWAYS has to take the high road or be bashed.

However, the fact is, Author, YOU SIGNED UP FOR THAT.

Writing a book and getting published can’t be done by accident. So unlike Royal babies who are born into the public eye and have a right to get pissed at unfair/snarky/ignorant public comment on their activities, not one published author tripped and accidently fell into the public eye.

Speaking from experience, being a new author is traumatic. The best advice I can give a new author is write what moves you. Do that the best you can on every level. When your book is published, enjoy the positive, limit your exposure to the negative (way hard to do). Move on.

By moving on I mean write the next book. Or don’t. Whatever you do, do not make that one book the measure of your world. If your book does become the measure of someone’s world, that is their problem. Do not let it become yours.

Who writes your bliss?

I’m an avid reader and I’m always looking for a new author to consume. Knowing how long it takes to get a book out just makes me appreciate yummy reads more.

I would love to see your list of favorite authors. Yep, so using people to find reading gold.

So some of my favorites are:  And this is in NO order coz rating authors is not my thing.  Just glanced at my eReader and listed a few names that get a reread from me. 

Kristen Ashley - anything she writes

Nalini Singh - Psy-Changeling

Laurann Dohner - New Species

Lisa Marie Rice - anything she writes

So tell me who you can’t wait to read? 

I have a question

An explanation first: Writing an intense book is, intense. Sending an intense manuscript away is a moment that comes with what I’m going to call, writer letdown.  It’s feeling loss and high anxiety. The writer knows it’s going to be a long wait to hear what the editor thinks, if they even choose to accept it. To handle this anxious, unbearably long wait to discover the fate of my emotional baby, I sometimes write myself happy.  That means writing a story that just makes me happy. That is how my book Romeo came to be. I wasn’t even going to submit that one but a friend brow beat me into doing so.

So I’ve done it again. Submitted an intense Unit book and then wrote a story that just makes me happy. It is so not my usual thing that I realized it can easily be considered young adult. (Think Twilight book One level of romance) To test this theory I asked a young person to read it this weekend. Her response was overwhelmingly positive, convincing me to publish.

My question is, should I publish it under a different name? Here are the two reasons that cause my struggle.

1. Not to confuse Faithful fans expecting very explicit content.

2. Not to confuse New readers who enjoy a lighter level of content who might choose to read my other works.

What do you think? 

New Name?  OR    Publish under Gail Faulkner and let folks take thier chances?

Would love to know why you made one choice or the other, too.

Gail Faulkner Back in 2015 !!

The Unit...  Oh yes.