My book signing at New Age Concepts in Yucca Valley, CA was a huge success! I was very pleased with the turnout and books sales. Bonnie McMillan, the owner of New Age Concepts is a wonderful lady, and I am very grateful to her for her support. What I would like to mention in this blog is that there are other alternatives for book signings at locations other than book stores. My book is a historical romance/fantasy set in ancient Britain, and my main character is a faery woman. That is why I am focusing on New Age Stores that sell faery merchandise. I am not ruling out book stores. I am just widening my options. Authors need to think of the audience for their book, and come up with creative ideas for marketing and book signings. I am also looking into Celtic festivals. Just some stuff to think about when considering where to have a book signing.

Essential writing tool, Elements of Style by William Strunk & E.B. White

My Creative Writing teacher told the class about this book. I still use it as a reference along with my thesaurus and dictionary. There are no exercises in this book, only sound advice for every kind of writer. The Elements of Style is easy to understand and so small it will fit in your purse or pocket. What I really like about this book is that it doesn't blather on and on, it gets to the point quickly and efficiently. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve his or her writing style.

My other blog, Purple Haze

I have been revising my second ms, and trying to follow my own advice on self-editing. One thing that really came to mind was the opening. Basically, I thought it sucked. It needed more action to make it more compelling to the reader. If it sucked to me than what would a reader think? The number one most important rule to writing a good ms is that the opening needs to be compelling to draw the reader into the story. Have some friends or family members read your opening to see what they think if you aren't sure.

Happy writing!