I hope you’re having a great start to 2014! So far, I’ve been enjoying my family, recovering from food poisoning (a pickle, of all things), and trying to get back in the writing saddle. The end of 2013 left me a bit adrift, from the writing standpoint. But, I should have some good news to announce shortly!
In the meantime, I wanted to let you all know that IndieReader gave ALL THE DIFFERENCE a great review on their site, calling it “a quick and sexy mystery, a challenge to unravel, and proves there’s nothing humdrum about the ‘burbs.” See the whole review here. I wasn’t expecting the review and it reinvigorated me, the same way that five-star Amazon reviews can. It’s odd, but us writers are such a sensitive lot. A tiny bit of applause goes a long way.
My debut novel, HERE, HOME, HOPE, was an Amazon bestseller over the holidays and was selected to be part of the price match program. If you buy the paperback version, the eBook is free. And HHH is part of Amazon’s New Year, New You promotion which is exciting. Only books with a positive, life-change type message were selected and I’m honored that HHH is one of them. And, for a limited time this January, HHH will be 99 cents for your eReader so if you’re looking for a way to kick off your New Year with a New You (although I always say Real You because that’s what we are all shooting for, right?), please give HERE, HOME, HOPE a try.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my first baby, book-wise that is. Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs continues to make a difference in women’s lives and for me, there is nothing more gratifying. Hearing from women entrepreneurs across the country about how they’ve started a new business, or are reinventing their existing business because of what they read in RYI is amazing. I’m touched and celebrate your stories of success. But we still have a long way to go, together.
And speaking of women helping other women, have you seen the documentary Miss Representation? Or heard of the Representation Project? This group’s mission is to expose the powerful gender stereotypes that limit girls and women from achieving their full potential in our society. I have taken the pledge and encourage you to do likewise. Once you make yourself more aware of who controls the media, and the messages we are bombarded with daily, I bet you’ll want to get involved, too.
So I guess my New Year’s wish is that we all keep working toward a world where equality – in politics, in business, in the media – everywhere – is a given. Where women have an equal chance of creating (and being taken seriously) books, movies and television. Because with more female creators come more complex, interesting female characters. All of my amazing author friends already are doing this. And we need you to join us.
As Marian Wright Edelman aptly said: “You can’t be what you can’t see.”