Box Sets and Best Sellers Lists

Box Sets and Best Sellers Lists

Box sets have grown increasingly popular among Indie and Self Published authors. If you’ve been in the publishing industry for a time, I am sure you’ve heard of them, but for those that aren’t familiar with them, I will give a quick run down. Read More

Destination – New Orleans

Destination – New Orleans

New Orleans is a city steeped in mystery and rich culture. A place where signs such as this are the norm. So naturally, when I was looking for a setting for my novel about witches, New Orleans seemed a perfect choice. During the developmental phase, I scoured the internet for all I could find to get a feel for this beautiful city. But street view and Google images could only get me so far. Ultimately I decided I would get a much better feel for it if I actually went there. So, after completing my first draft of The Curse of the Bruel Coven, I set out on a research trip with two of best friends. In January of 2014, we landed at the New Orleans airport and the smell of the Louisiana Bayous quickly filled the cabin of the plane. We had arrived! We got in our rental car and crossed the Mississippi, heading for the French Quarter. The Cornstalk Hotel We stayed at the Cornstalk Hotel. Built in 1816, it’s listed on the National Historical Register. It gets its name for the cast iron fence in front of the building added in 1840 by the owner for his wife, an Iowa native who had become homesick. It is located on Royal Street, a street that certainly lives up to its name, lined with art and antique shops and is great for window shopping. The hotel is also known for being one of the most photographed hotels in the French Quarter and we soon became well aware of that during our many comings and goings. The inside of the hotel is exquisitely decorated with antique furnishings, similar to how I envision Grand’Meres house. The view from the balcony of the Cornstalk.

Tours Read More

When Inspiration Struck

When Inspiration Struck

With the writing anniversary of The Curse of the Bruel Coven approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to share a little about how the story came to be. Initially titled, Entwined, The Curse of the Bruel Coven came to me on a whim. After coming off a Twilight hangover, I’d been in search of other books to read. I devoured many during that time frame, but I still couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for. Then on March 23, 2013, while driving my oldest daughter to a birthday party an idea struck me. I recall jotting the initial concept, which focused more on Lisette and Oliver onto a scrap piece of paper I found on the floor of my minivan while stopped at a red light. I spent much of that day absorbed into daydreaming about them and thinking about whether or not I should attempt to tell their story. Later that day, I called my best friend Katie (I run all my good ideas past her) to see if she’d read a story about x,y, z, to which she replied, “Yeah! What book is that?” I told her it was an idea I’d come up with for a book. She immediately got all excited and told me I should write it. I suppose if it weren’t for her encouragement that day, the story may never had gone any further than a few words scribbled on a scrap piece of paper. That very night when I opened up MS Word on my computer, I had no idea what I was doing. I had never written anything before. All I had was the idea for Lisette’s story, but the more and I thought about her and how her story would connect to the modern day, the story began to shift in a whole new direction. Being a bit of a panster, I went with it and I couldn’t stop. Night after night, I would put my kids to bed, fire up the laptop and I would lose myself into the story. Often times the characters seemed to insert themselves with little to no warning. So the process of writing felt a whole lot like reading a book for the first time. Before long I was creating a world of magic and characters I couldn’t wait to discover more about. In honor of where it all began, here’s a mock cover for Entwined. I had a photographer friend make it for me. I know now, it’s not very good. But cover design is a whole other blog post. To celebrate the writing anniversary, I will be choosing one lucky person from my Mailing List to win a signed copy of The Curse of the Bruel Coven and some book swag. Read More