writers

My Write Club – Sprinting Tools – Part Two

L.T. Kelly Leave a comment

 This is part two of my four part series on ‘sprinting’ sites for writers.

If you’re anything like me, you work better under a little bit of pressure, and if you’re even more like me you don’t have anyone hounding you for your next work of fiction to come to fruition.

With NaNoWriMo upon us, I decided to review handy sprinting sites, one, so you don’t have to and two, so you’re not reliant on finding another writer to sprint with!

Today, I’m bringing you something that’s completely different from anything else I going to show you in part three and four, so it’s a real contender depending on what you’d like from a sprinting application. My Write Club does not have a gaming aspect to it. I adore gaming and it spurs me to write so I can keep streaks and win items as part of a game. If you’re currently rubbing your hand together, thinking that you’ll wait for parts three and four, I urge you to at least take a peek of My Write Club, it truly is a very clean and functional site.

Click to sign up and then you can add a goal, this could be anything you like and a very nice feature is that you can choose how to measure your success in words, pages, lines and depending on how you work best! You can also set yourself a deadline, again, a great feature even if only to trick you into striving to smash it!

Note: If you’re British and you’re trying to in put a date, remember that Americans put the month first and then the day…

Okay, now onto the actual sprinting part. In the top left hand corner there is the ‘running person.’ At this point you can choose a custom or the global sprint. I think that the custom sprint maybe a private sprint between friends utilising the same site. I may be wrong and I admit I haven’t utilised this site enough to be aware of all the finer details. I have always opted for the global sprint. Sprints start every thirty minutes and last for twenty-five minutes. There is a handy timer at the top of the page so you know where you are in the sprint. Down the right hand side of the page you’re able to see the progress of your contenders. This is great, especially if you do have a real life friend to sprint with because they can’t cheat!

Please note, there is usually a list of names at the side with their live word counts, but I took the screenshot early this morning…

However, if you find the competition distracting you can hide it while you complete your sprint by clicking on the arrow on the top right hand side.

As you can see you can earn stars for your sprinting efforts, however, these don’t really do anything for you as far as I can see. I guess it’s sort of like getting a gold star when you’re at school, you don’t get a prize, only that warm fluffy feeling that you have done a job well done!

You’re words save in your account, if you move sprint, your words come with you which is a great function.

This is a great site for those who want to sprint in a more traditional sense, you, your words and a bunch of other people just trying to create. I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to do the aforementioned. However, if you love colour, flair and game playing, I think you’ll be pretty impressed with the next two sites I have to show you, so don’t forget to subscribe by e-mail!

Give My Write Club a go: https://www.mywriteclub.com

Sprinting Tools – Part One – Fighters Block

L.T. Kelly Leave a comment

As NaNoWriMo looms upon us, I’m creating a series of blogs over the next couple of weeks with a recent discovery which has helped me achieve more words in a month than I have managed to produce in a very long time.

I’m quite competitive in nature and I adore a good old sprint. If you’re anything like me, you’ve shouted out on Facebook, Twitter and whatever other forms of social media where you have good connections with other authors and asked someone to sprint with you, the highest word count wins. It truly helps me to keep focussed on that task for the agreed time, usually 30-60 minutes.

That said, I’ve found it difficult to pin down a time and a person to sprint with me.

I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a reference to sprinting websites. I honestly knew nothing about them, but there are tons! Some free and some paid for.

This is part one of four I have used. Fighters Block is by far the simplest design.

You arrive at this page…

Select your character, the monster you wish to battle and your word goal for the ‘fight.’ I think there must be a minimum amount of words you can put in the goal box, because I’ve experienced issues getting in when I’ve placed a low number in that box.

We then move into the action. I logged in from this device and the work I’d previously done was there. I haven’t found a place to sign up or had to provide any details at all.

The next screen is ‘the battle ground.’

The green bars below the ‘fighters’ slide in real time depending on how fast you’re typing. It can either be a great motivator to watch it move, or a horrendous distraction depending on works for you! But luckily you can hide it and turn the screen into a blank writing space. Personally, I’m not entirely sure what the point would be in that case!

Talking of functionality, there is plenty of them which we can see in the picture below.

This menu is accessed by the cog in the top right hand corner of the page. I haven’t managed to work out the difference between ‘monster speed’ and ‘monster attack’ though they both appear to be able to slow or speed up you progress bar depending on how quickly you type.

There are a range of fonts available, mine is set to ‘roboto’ as well as an ample plethora of text sizes and themes as well as widescreen and thin screen. The arrow pointing upward is what you would use to hide the sliding scales and characters from view.

Admittedly, this is a nice, simple and functional site. Also it’s free.

I’ll be honest and let you know that this was my least favourite out of all the sites available out there. I thought there could have been a better visual cue on how you’re getting toward the end of your goal, such as your character moving toward the monster rather than the sliding scales! I’d love to hear your comments on what you think of the site, even better if you can suggest some for me to take a look at!

I have three more sites to present to you, so if you’re interested please make sure you sign up to receive e-mails when I post.

If you want to check it out for yourself it’s here: https://cerey.github.io/fighters-block/

Thanks for looking! 🙂

***NEW RELEASE*** Drunk Boy by Aubrie Lee

L.T. Kelly 1 Comment

Drunk Boy, is LIVE and FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Buy or Borrow on Kindle Unlimited
Was it a push from above, or just too many shots? 

We were both drunk, that’s my excuse.
He had just broken up with his fiancĂ©, that’s his excuse.
But we both want to do it again.

Miguel Mancinelli isn’t anybody’s idea of a typical Daddy.
He’s twenty-two years younger than Dallas Coulter.
He’s physically bigger, but too rough around the edges to take care of anyone, but himself and his club. 
Yet, the day they meet everything changes
 can they really blame it on the drinks?

Meeting MK Meredith

L.T. Kelly 3 Comments

In a gloomy 2015 April after rather a lot of wine I came to a decision. It was something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and that moment felt like the right time.

Having had the aforementioned wine, I rose from my desk with a steely determination and swaggered into the kitchen where my husband was busy cooking dinner. Leaning precariously against the wall I took a deep breath before uttering my question. “Can I go to America?”

Of course, he realised this was more of a statement rather than a question. He heard what I meant to say, “I’m going to America, live with it.”

As soon as I got the supportive nod I was there, on Facebook, basically inserting myself into the Meredith household. I booked my flights and promptly filled Facebook with countdowns (to the second) on a regular basis.

MK and I had become great friends over the past two years or so. Apparently I replied to a mutual friends status. The subject matter I don’t recall, she heartily agreed with me by all accounts. I’d not long since penned Falling to Pieces. The first I actually remember is reading MK’s Malibu Betrayals as a beta, prior to its acceptance for publication with Entangled. Anyone who’s read a Meredith book knows what a fine, smooth, writer she is. It’s enviable. However, in that first draft of the book she wrote ‘drug’ instead of ‘dragged’ on several occasions, that caused me to threaten her with violence! That’s where the friendship began in earnest.

I touched down at Washington Dulles on the 22nd of November 2015. One would expect a slight amount of awkwardness between two people who’d never met in the flesh, but honestly, strangely there was nothing. Not an hour after arrival in VA I was sat, feet up, wine in hand, and chatting as though we’d been best buddies for years.

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The next day I embarked on a journey to see my cowriter, Matthew Peters, that’s another blog post. I suffer with driving related PTSD and took the road trip to North Carolina in a hire car under the blessing of my therapist. Well, she must have been as crazy as I was because it was awful! Of course my coauthor offered to return me to DC for Thanksgiving. However, that didn’t happen for a number of reasons, and MK was the best friend in the world ever for coming to get me!

We were upright and lofty for Thanksgiving and went around to a friends to spend the day. Brian, MK’s gorgeous husband, and his beautiful friend invited me out to the sidewalk whilst the turkey deep fried to reminisce over military days gone by. It was truly awesome :).

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They were wonderful hosts. However, I apparently said something inappropriate and fell asleep with hilarious consequences. It was over twenty-four hours later that I would find out about the pictures…

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BASTARDS! 😉 Of course, I was thinking very hard about the plot for my next book!

There is a Meredith household tradition called Finger Food Friday. I’ve been obsessed with it since the start of our friendship. I was not disappointed! FFF is amazing and was well worth the ÂŁ500 airfare! (Just in case you’re considering it!)

Talking of being inappropriate, we went to a child’s birthday party a few days later. The adults were talking about what I might take back with me. They suggested I might  smuggle wine back if I affixed ladies towels to the bottles, because no-one wants to touch them. I added, “Especially if it’s red wine and the bottles break.” To say the audience were horrified would be putting it mildly. However, MK looked as though she wanted to high five me! LOL! That was pure British humour, so forgive me for thinking she was born in the wrong country.

Later that night we frequented a gorgeous, famous DC steak restaurant, The Palm with the lovely couple, Sean and Gabriel. Again the perfect hosts and an amazing night out. I’ll look forward to my next night out in about a years time. 😉

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Days seemed to fly by so fast while I was there. It was soon a very sad Monday for different reasons than usual. It was my last whole day in the US. We decided that it was probably time to see some sights. It was raining and we decided to start with lunch at the very posh NOLA. I enjoyed a delicious burger and a glass of wine (of course). That sort of set the tone for the day. We walked over to The Whitehouse in the horrible grey drizzle. MK stopped mid-stride with a horror filled expression. I immediately asked what was wrong. “I left my umbrella at the restaurant.”

I furrowed my brow and looked up at the umbrella above our heads and back down at MK’s still horrified gaze. I raised a brow and pointed up at it. “Do you mean that umbrella?”

My cackle could probably have been heard in The Oval Office! I laughed so hard. I love that girl…

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So, I was entirely unimpressed by The Whitehouse. It’s tiny. I stated my opinion to a guy standing on guard, and said our palaces are much better. He told me that when it was built they wanted a peoples house, not a grand palace. I scoffed and walked away, feeling a little chastised. When I was ten metres away MK admitted that The Whitehouse is huge and that it goes quite far underground. I had to force myself to continue walking in the other direction so I didn’t go and tell that bad man off for spinning his lies! At least our palaces are honest! Luckily, I spotted a bar which, of course made me walk toward it.

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I was devastated to leave. I adore Target, the petrol and cigarette prices. All the laughs I shared with MK and Co were priceless memories to treasure for a long time to come. I couldn’t have had a better trip if I’d tried. I can’t believe that will be the last time we all get together. I know MK and Brian want to visit Europe! I hope they make it to Old Blighty! ❀

Make sure you check out my video interview with her HERE ❀

 

 

RELEASE DAY – Falling into You by L.T. Kelly 15th of May 2014

L.T. Kelly 1 Comment

Banner - Falling Into You by LT Kelly (1)

Release day of ‘Falling into You’ has finally come. I can honestly say that I hit a rocky road with this book. Well, I’m taking a chance…

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I was lucky enough not to receive a ‘bad’ review for ‘Falling to Pieces’. “Thank fudge for that,” you can hear me say. By ‘bad’ review I mean someone who down right hated every part of the book, or worse, did not finish it. Those three little letters pierce my heart, I have nightmares about seeing DNF in conjunction with my book. I received some constructive criticism of what they thought was wrong with the story, every author needs that whether they agree with the reviewer is a different story. However, I have respected the thoughts of everyone who took the time to read and review my book. Sure, I think I have a couple of one and two star ratings on Goodreads but there are no words to go with the reviews. So I’m unable to consider what they thought was wrong with it.

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Here are some of the reviews from the last blog tour:

‘This is L.T.Kelly’s Debut Novel and I have to say I’m very impressed, very impressed indeed.

It’s a well written book with a storyline I adored and one I read in one sitting.’

– Passionate About Books.

‘Just Wow! It is full of sensuality, Sexuality, mystery, and left you sitting at the edge of your seat. I just could not read this book fast enough. I have not read a paranormal romance that good in God knows how long. The chemistry between Marc and Teagan was off the wall.’

– Fictions Our Addiction.

‘They both have this pull and there chemistry is HOT.  Crazy sex with one another and I am completely smitten with Marc.  He is very Alpha but in a controlled manner.  He has a duty to his family and is very torn with his feelings for Teagan.  Did I mention that they have HOT sex?’

-M’s Sinful Reviews.

‘This book to me should be an over all 60 stars, but the most we can rate a book is 10.  Please go her fan site, blog site and twitter . Contact her find out how you can purchase this book ASAP!!!! Trust me You DON’T. Want. TO. Miss. This. Book.’

-Mousiey Book Reviews

The main thing I enjoyed about this book was that it wasn’t like every other book that features vampires and werewolves. Instead of a young naive woman falling for the new guy who turns out to be a vampire, the main female character is strong and fights for what she wants, for who she wants. The main male character, Marc is another hot book boyfriend, who you will instantly want to read more about after his introduction into the story. This book has a great storyline with likeable characters and well detailed descriptions, L.T Kelly has done an awesome job and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.

-AKA The Book Harlot Reviews.

 ‘Falling into You’ is where I hit a kind of wall with convention and ‘the rules of romance writing’. I’m glad that I stuck to my guns. The story went where it had to go in my mind…but be warned, this story is not your conventional romance.

“Is this erotica?” One beta, M.K. Meredith asked me. My book is not what I would deem to be true erotica, my book doesn’t use the same type of words that I associate with true erotica. It’s more like romantically erotic, plus it does have a plot that is driven by much much more than pure sex alone.

I have taken a scary path of unconventional romance…but if you read the book and you can’t understand why Teagan did all the things she did, I will be surprised. I have written, what I think is a believable story. But, is that because it all happened in my head so many times? I’m not sure, and I’m tender hooks waiting to find out.

On the flip side, although the romance side of the book has left me somewhat exposed as a writer, I think that everyone thats read it hasn’t had a bad word to say about the plot itself. I’ve had nothing but praise and applaud for the twists and turns. “I just never saw that coming!” It’s made me feel so excited about the thrills and revelations that are rich within the story.

I guess what this writer is trying to say is, “If you think you feel uncomfortable as a romance reader with where the story is going, stick with it! I bet you’ll be glad you did!” (I hope.)

I really hope that you enjoy ‘Falling into You’. I *think* this will be the last paranormal work you will see from me. I’ll never say “never” because I always said I’d never write a novel….here I am two and half down, many many more to come…

 Buy links:

Amazon.co.uk: http://goo.gl/S1Cx5V

Amazon.com: http://goo.gl/iltJFH

Current Giveaways:

Rafflecopter: http://goo.gl/x881Zc

Goodreads: http://goo.gl/RsaU0I

All the ways you can connect with me or contact me are contained within this blog. Thanks for reading!

Irresistible Reads BT

***Cover Reveal*** Unseen by Lauren Stewart

L.T. Kelly 3 Comments

Unseen, The Heights, Vol. 1

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Title: Unseen

Author: Lauren Stewart

Series info: The Heights, Volume 1

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Off the Hook Publishing

Date of Publication: May 29, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-9881701-9-3

Number of pages: ~386

Word Count: ~100,000

Cover Artist: Amanda of Pixel Mischief Design

 

Purchase Links: don’t have them yet; however, you can use my Amazon author page if you’d like: http://www.amazon.com/author/laurenstewart

I’d also love people to add Unseen to their Goodreads TBR lists: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18590199-unseen

 

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Book Blurb:

An invisible wall built from the tears of those touched by death

An impossible love as divided as the world around them.

 

After Addison finds a nearly-dusted vampire in the garbage outside her building, her ability to stay off the supernatural world’s radar is deader than the vamp. Almost as dead as she’ll be if anyone thinks she put him there. Should she finish the job somebody else screwed up or move him somewhere humans won’t find him? To keep the Heights hidden, she may have shoved a stake into her own chest. Just when she thinks life couldn’t possibly get any more dangerous, she finds out who he is.

As vampire king and Prime to all races of supernatural beings in the North American zone, Rhyse is accustomed to getting what he wants without asking. But he neither wanted nor asked to be wounded in an ambush, waking up chained to a bed with a hole in his chest. Unfortunately, he needs help to discover who tried to kill him. But worse than that, his only ally is his captor, someone unaware she has the power to destroy their entire world.

As a prophesized war brews in the Heights, Addison and Rhyse must decide which carries more risk—trusting someone who could destroy you or trusting someone who could love you?

 

Excerpt:

 Addison stumbled backwards, until the counter stopped her. It was over. It had been over ever since those chains came off. Ever since she brought him into her apartment. Into her life.

“I saved you, Rhyse. I could’ve left you outside until the sun came up.”

“I imagine you wish you had.”

“Can you
can you not kill me? Just take some, but not all?”

Rhyse brushed her hair behind her shoulder and curled his fingers around the nape of her neck, whispering, “Do you trust me that much?”

“I don’t even trust you a little.” She felt the sting of tears. “I don’t want to be turned. If you drain me, let me die.”

He ran his other hand up her shoulder, to her throat and slowly closed his fingers around it. One move and her neck would break. “To drain you I would have to drink from you. And that, my pet, I will not do.”

She didn’t know what he meant but now seemed like a bad time to argue.

“Did you know what you are? How many of you exist?”

She didn’t answer. Partially because speaking required the air he was cutting off. Then his hands were gone, just like the rest of him.

Was it over?

When one of the women behind the counter moaned, Addison went to make sure they were alright.

Rhyse was on top of one of them, his fangs obviously burrowed in her neck. The woman moaned again, her legs wrapping around him. One hand clutched his shoulder and the other slapped the wall, searching for a hold.

It had to have been shock that made it impossible to look away. Or run away. The woman’s moans got louder, then crested, and her body went limp. Not in a dead way, but in an I-just-had-the-best-orgasm-of-my-life way.

Get out of here.

“Leave and they will die.” His voice stopped her after only two steps. “Stay and they will wake up from a very pleasant, very erotic dream.”

She grinded her teeth when she heard another moan. He must have moved on to the other woman. With two to feed from, there was less of a chance he would drain them, but
 “Why should I trust you?”

The woman’s moans stopped and she whined, “No.”

“I do not care if you trust me,” he said. “Only that you obey me.”

“Fuck you.” But she didn’t move. “Are they alive?”

“Of course. It is against the law to kill humans.”

“Then let me go.”

“You are not human, Addison.” His voice came from just over her shoulder.

“I am. I promise. Totally human.” Somehow he’d missed the fact that seers were human, despite her telling him at least five times.

She heard the shuffling of fabric and looked down to see him wrapping his already-bloody shirt around the arm she’d cut. He tied a knot with the sleeves and pulled it tight. There was no part of this that she understood.

She sucked in a breath when he put his hands on her hipbones. Then another as they slid to her belly and down, pressing her back into him. She felt his heat and a vibration on her back as he made a sound similar to a cat’s purr but scarier. Clenching her eyes shut, she waited for death.

“You should thank them.” His voice was all sex. Dangerous, risky, awesome sex. “They just saved your life.”

They did? “Thank you,” she called out with a shaking voice. “Now that your belly’s full, how about you back off a little?”

“I should kill you, Addison.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with you about that.”

After a moment he stepped away, sighing as if he just made a really tough decision and wasn’t sure it was the right one.

“So,” she said, heading for the door, “it seems like you’re feeling better which is great. I’m really happy for you. Since you don’t need me anymore, I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you around.”

“Come to me, Addison.” His eyes were back to their original inhumanly beautiful color. Though he didn’t quite look calm, he looked satisfied.

“No.”

“Come to me or I will snap your neck.”

“Okay.”

“If you had simply brought a human to me, this all could have been avoided.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Total lie—she wasn’t thinking a goddamn thing besides, “Shiiiiit!”

“You and I have things to discuss, and a few memories to alter along the way back to your home.”

Damn it on many counts. “Alter or wipe?”

“Alter, of course. Although my strength has returned, wiping that many minds would still be highly taxing. I prefer to save my power for other activities.”

Like
? Nah, she didn’t want to know.

He opened the door and gestured for her to go first. Which he’d probably never done before. Minions opened doors for him and she doubted chivalry ranked high on his list of valuable traits. But she went because when you gotta go, you gotta go.

“Did you know?” he asked.

What was it with that question? “Know what? That your victims come while you feed? Yeah, I heard it happens occasionally.”

“Always. They always come while I feed. If it were possible, I would show you.”

“I just heard more proof than I wanted to, thanks.”

“I have no doubt that it would be far more enjoyable to feel you come than to hear her do it.”

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Author Bio:

Lauren Stewart lives in Northern California with two of the most amazing children that the world has ever seen. She reads almost every genre so, naturally, her writing reflects that. With every book, every story, you’ll find elements of other genres–fantasy, mystery, romance, paranormal, suspense, YA, women’s literature, all with a touch of humor because what doesn’t kill us should make us laugh.

Author web links:

            www.ReadLaurenS.com

            @ReadLaurenS

            www.facebook.com/LaurenStewartAuthor

            www.goodreads.com/LaurenStewart

            ReadLaurens@gmail.com

 

 

 

Cover reveal day for ‘Falling into You’ by L.T. Kelly (thats me by the way).

L.T. Kelly 1 Comment

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I woke up this morning and immediately thought, ‘Today is the day to show the world my new cover!’. Exciting stuff for me, seen as it’s been burning a hole in my hard drive for the past few weeks and I’m absolutely horrific at keeping secrets.

After I’d shared the cover a friend text me to say what a busy day ahead of them they had. I text them back ‘I’m busy being an international author. I just revealed the cover of my next book, I was wearing my PJ’s and had last nights make-up down my face. I’m now starting the housework whilst occasionally googling myself.’ 

That was a true story.

Here is the cover, I love it! It’s been in my head since the cover for ‘Falling to Pieces’ was made. Arijana from Cover it Designs! never fails to deliver what is wanted. She’s my ‘forever’ cover designer.

 

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I wrote some terrible blurb at least a hundred times. It just wouldn’t turn out right. In the end I did what any sane person would do, I contacted a friend of mine thats an editor and asked him to have a look at it. Matthew Price was my saviour when he transformed what I’d written into a beautiful back of the book blurb. Thanks so much Matthew.

Marc Romano disappeared without a trace into the darkness. His lover became overwhelmed with grief in her loss. But her grief takes on a much more murderous form than most, for Teagan Lewis is a vampire.

Now her heartache is driving her further from the woman she once was, and she realises she must snap out of her monstrous habits and discover the way back to her old self. But how?

Ending their trip around Europe, Teagan and her friend Alex head back to New York. Teagan has the full intention of carrying out a dangerous plan here; not just physically dangerous, but emotionally as well.

How will she be able to resist the irresistible? And what of the new rival, Ivan Lenin? He threatens her life and the lives of everyone she loves. The only people who can help her are her sworn enemy and an ancient stranger. Will they assist her?

How will Teagan Lewis face the demons of her past and try to find happiness? Will she stay and fight or will she run from the things she must face in order to finally be at peace? Mistakes will be made. People will die. The time has come…

 

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I had an amazing author friend of mine, Lauren Stewart, contacted me about the ‘spelling mistake’ in my blurb. I laughed so much before I cheekily told her that we were here first, and therefore it’s her that spells ‘realises’ wrong. I smiled at her reply that said the last thing she wanted to do was piss off a Brit.

I recently read the first part of Lauren’s series. ‘Hyde’ is the best book I’ve read in a long time, of course I contacted her and told her how much I loved it. If someone told me that the author of those books would be sharing my new book cover I would have laughed. She is amazing and I’m a total fangirl!

I’m also very lucky to call Rik Bertrand my dear friend. He waited until the release of my cover to share his poem ‘Falling into You’ with the world. Rik has been dubbed as the most prolific American poet of our time. I love his work so much, he touches my very soul with his words and I’m truly humbled that he has wrote a poem for each of my books. Thank you so much. I’ll never be able to convey how grateful I am.

Falling into You
By Rik Bertrand

I was falling to pieces,
Falling deep into despair,
Then the scent of him,
And I felt that love so rare.

We were bound as one,
With emotional bliss,
Then torn apart,
And now his love I miss.

Searching the world over,
With no clues in hand,
My world turns to dust,
From the loss of my man.

My whole life I searched,
For my darling prince true,
Many frogs I did kiss,
But none of them you.

Then you stand before me,
As you did in the past,
You confess your true love
And my heart warms at last.

I am falling into you,
Giving you my soul,
Giving you my love,
Relinquishing control.

I am falling into you,
Do not let me down.
Capture my essence,
So we can be bound.

©REB (MARCH 2014) based on new book to be released by L T Kelly

‘Falling into You’ is currently with my wonderful editor, Kim ‘Goddess’ Young. I’ve told her to let me know when she starts working on it so I can get drunk. She promises that she will so that I can have a drink for her. I told her that I’ll have at least two…she’s going to need it!

Thank you so much to the bloggers, tweeters and Facebooker’s who have helped reveal this cover. You are all amazing, your support brings a tear to my eye.

Please check out the links of those who I love-

Rik Bertrand’s FB page – https://www.facebook.com/RIKSWRITINGS

Lauren Stewarts FB Page – https://www.facebook.com/LaurenStewartAuthor

Pixies Book Review Blog – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pixies-Book-Review-Blog/188474151325629

Cover It Designs – https://www.facebook.com/CoverItDesigns

Kim’s Editing Services – https://www.facebook.com/KimsEditingServices2013

R.W. Foster – http://beginingsinwriting.wordpress.com

M.K. Meredith – http://www.mkmeredith.com

Babu’s Bookshelf – http://babusbookshelf.blogspot.co.uk

Just One More Romance – http://justonemoreromance.blogspot.co.uk

London Author Fair 2014

AsideL.T. Kelly 2 Comments

On Friday the 28th of February I took the long, grey, and drizzly journey to Covent Garden in London. After falling on top of a man on the tube (he didn’t seen to mind) I arrived at the hospital club, poised and ready to learn.

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Who did I feel the fair was aimed at?

LAF was pitched as being aimed at every author. I would say that the primary focus was new authors. Manuscript ink still wet and no idea what to do with it. That isn’t to say that the majority of attending authors fell into that category. The people I met seemed to be in the same situation as myself. A book or books already out there. They were mostly self-published as well.

Luckily, I only went to meet people and get marketing ideas. If you’re a new author and didn’t attend you almost certainly missed out on your chance to pitch to a literary agent as well garner lots of information about other routes.

I went to meet other people, network and basically have a weekend off from endless streams of washing, ironing and housework. Shush, don’t tell my husband.

That isn’t to say that I didn’t learn anything though!

What did I learn?

I learnt that there are some lovely and talented people in this industry. I was pleasantly greeted first thing in the morning by a long time Facebook follower and author, James Minter. It’s great to meet the people you interact with on-line in real life. Well
.some of them anyway. I’m happy to say he was one of them.

I learnt about a completely alien concept to me. Crowd funding. The lovely ladies at Pubslush pitched the idea to a small group at a workshop. They talked about their company and the success stories they’ve had and relevant ideas. I’m pleased to say my campaign is set up and live. Please take a look at my rewards, there’s something for everyone.

http://pubslush.com/books/id/1913

There were things I didn’t learn from, but I had fun anyway. Like attending a workshop about social media. For one, I got to watch the very handsome and gifted Ben Galley talking about tweeting as I tweeted, whilst standing next to someone tweeting.

Did I get my say?

Absolutely. I got my chance to express my annoyance towards the shipping costs for UK authors purchasing copies of there own books. I was assured that Amazon had received much of the same feedback all day.

Apparently they are looking into it.

The author sitting next to me, the very lovely Luke Talbot also expressed his annoyance that US authors can gift copies of their book whist UK authors remain powerless to gift specific titles. I agreed wholeheartedly due to the fact it leaves us open to piracy. 

How did it all end?

The day was rounded off with a panel including literary agents, founders of self-publishing platforms, independent author Polly Courtney, and traditionally published author Adele Parks.

They came up with some worrying comments, well worrying for me anyway. They agreed that the ratio of writers will be the same as the amount of readers. This inspired a comment from Adele that the reader will go back to traditionally published books due to the lack of quality in the indie book world.

If I’m honest I took offence to that. There are authors out there, such as myself who realise the importance having full structural edits and great cover design. I was glad that Polly also seemed to take offence. She pointed out that whilst, of course, there is some crap out there by way of independent authors, there are also some amazing books and writers. 

The After Party.

Possibly the best part of the day. Pubslush provided my lovely and much needed wine following the day’s events.

Luke Talbot and James Minter asked me to dinner, for want of a better offer, I accepted. (Just kidding guy’s it was a pleasure, except when you took pictures of yourselves with my phone
I trusted you.)

We had some great chats with Polly Courtney and Ben Galley (did I mention he is easy on the eye?) 

More lessons learnt


I have to admit I caused a marital dispute for a work colleague of mine that one -hundred per cent believed that her colleague would never dupe her.

I posted a picture on my FB page with Luke Talbot and a Russian author called Grigory Ryzhakov. He has an uncanny resemblance to the actor that plays spider man. I can vouch he’s a great guy! But sorry folks, the guy in the picture is not Tobey Maguire.

 Contact the people I’ve spoken about:

Ben Galley

Website: www.bengalley.com

Twitter: @BenGalley

Books: http://www.bengalley.com/#!books/cnec

Luke Talbot

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/keystonethebook

Book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keystone-Luke-Talbot/dp/0957601913/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1394178134&sr=8-1

James Minter

Website: http://www.jamesminter.com

Books: http://amzn.to/JRuxfa

Grigory Ryzhakov

Website: www.ryzhakov.co.uk

Books: www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Right-Wrong-romantic-comedy-ebook/dp/B00C76XMV4

 

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