Come Join the Celebration!

I think we all could use a bit of Christmas cheer right now! And I’m going to do my part to facilitate that feeling. From now until Christmas, I will be celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving books to get you in the spirit of the holiday season.

Each blog post will feature one specific author and details about his/her holiday book(s). Each author will chat about their favorite holiday traditions and tell you about upcoming books. 

I will also post links to receive free books and options for other giveaways. 

I'll be featuring 16 authors who I hope will become some of your favorite.  So you don't miss a single update on an author or a giveaway, follow this blog! 

Here's your FIRST opportunity. You could win a Kindle Reader by following authors on social media. Sign up with the following link: 

https://authorsxp.com/win-books/win-a-kindle-reader

Challenge your Characters: Author Interview with Pam Binder

How did you come up with the idea for your book Christmas Knight? Could you give a short synopsis on the book for my readers?  

The title came first. I'm was a history major in college and although we think that all men back in the middle ages were cave dwellers, that wasn't the case. There were good men, who sought to find love and build strong families. I wanted to tell the story of just such a man. 

Here’s a short blurb… Time travel meets Romance in this tale of a high-powered lawyer traveling to the 1500's to meet her soulmate: an honorable knight fighting to break a curse on his family. 

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? 

My favorite Christmas traditions are baking cookies with our children that my mother used to bake with me. The cookies are called Spritz and are made using a cookie press. They are buttery and taste a little like shortbread. I've attached a picture of them.

What’s next?

January 29, The Inscription, a time travel set in Scotland will be released. Currently, I'm working on a novella that just might turn into a series. It's called, Mermaid Cove, and is set in Ireland, as well as Christmas Deadline, which will be released in time for Christmas 2020. I'll also be attending the BookLovers Convention in Nashville at the end of March. It's fun to be busy. :)

Wow! You are seriously involved in your writing career. What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given you’d like to share? 

The best advice for writers is to always be asking yourself, "what if?" This little phrase helps me plot my books and develop my characters. I ask myself, "what if?" my character turns left instead of right?

One piece of advice I learned from a Donald Maass workshop was: Write down the 10 things your character would never do, and make sure they do at least 3.  Another piece of advice I learned from a workshop was that the villain doesn't consider himself or herself a villain, they think they are the hero. 

What do you know now about writing and publishing you wish you had learned sooner? 

What I have learned is that each book has its own journey, no matter how many books you write. Some books are easy, and others take more time. Both are fun to write, but I have to admit, that the books that take more time, and cause me more sleepless nights, are the most fun. I like being surprised. 

Any last words or tips?  

Write what you love to read. If you can't find a story that you like, write that story. I started writing historicals because I love learning about history.

That’s all for today’s interview. If you’d like to learn more about Pam’s Christmas book or others, here are some links to get you started.

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Knight-Matchmaker-Cafe-Book-ebook/dp/B07YDYB7KZ

Book Trailer for Christmas Knight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNd4VbIACh4

PodCast interview for Christmas Knight

https://pambinder.com/podcast-interview-for-christmas-knight/

Website: https://pambinder.com/

Do Multiple Edits Before Hiring an Editor: Author Interview with Vivian Mayfair

You've written several Christmas themed books. What draws you to writing on that theme? Could you give a short synopsis on your latest book for my readers?
I’ve always been a big fan of Hallmark Christmas movies. Every year it is one of the most exciting things I look forward to, which is to see all of the new movies they will release. They always make me laugh, provide a feeling of daylight, and are a pleasure to watch. My goal was to create a book series similar to the feel and style of a Hallmark Christmas movie for those who enjoy that style of story. I’ve always been a big fan of Debbie Macomber’s Christmas novels as well.

I just released a mini Christmas novella, Alone for the Holidays, which is the first story from My Short and Sweet Holiday Reads series about a middle-aged divorced woman who is done with both love and the holidays, and lives alone as a reclusive romance author in snowy Vermont. She gets involved with a book group online under a fake name and fake photo so that nobody will know who she really is, which all backfires when one of the members from her group shows up at her doorstep for the holidays.

The problem is that she has a fondness for this man from the book group and he thinks that she is a 6-foot tall blonde bombshell who works in a bookstore instead of the complete opposite, and now she has to pull herself out of the ruse which turns into a downhill spiral fairly quickly.

How do the sales of your Christmas books compare to your non-holiday event books?
By far, the Christmas novels sell the best, even when it isn’t around Christmas. I think everybody loves Christmas all year round if they are fans of the genre. I’m currently writing another book that I will release in the spring or summer, a Christmas novel called Dreams of Mistletoe. Perhaps for my Christmas in July!

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
I would say all the majority of my favorite Christmas traditions revolve around food. Attending holiday parties, cookie exchanges, the preparation, family cooking, and family Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas morning breakfast or Christmas night dinner, and the wonderful conversations, fun, laughs, and memories that came from food bringing people together. This is one of the reasons I put in some free bonus recipes from my family in the back of my recently released Christmas novella.

Another favorite tradition is the three days of decorating beginning the day after Thanksgiving. I only have one of my kids left in the house who’s already in college and will probably move out in the next two years. That tradition could end with no more kids to assist with the decorating tradition. Some traditions have to be savored while they last.

What’s next?

I am currently on a break from writing. I just released books 1 through 3 in my Snowdrop Valley Series all at one time (One of which is a Christmas novel) along with my short Christmas novella. I had started work on a Thanksgiving novel which would be book 4 in the series, but I wasn’t able to make the deadline. I’ll save that to release next year minus the Thanksgiving theme.

I like working on multiple projects. I’m currently studying to be a holistic nutritionist practitioner and health and wellness coach and will transition some of my fiction writing into nonfiction writing to help women in my age bracket free themselves from the toxic diet culture. As much as I love my fiction, it is something that I can only do in spurts in between other tasks and projects.

What’s the best writing tip you’ve learned or been given you’d like to share?
The biggest writing tip I can give is this -- do not stop and take a break until your book is done. I’ve been writing off and on since 2011 and originally published crime drama novels. My first two books each took me three years to write because I would stop for maybe a few days then it turned into a four-month or one year break. When the momentum stops for more than a day or two, it’s harder to get back in the swing and complete the book. So, I learned with my sweet romance series to continuously write every day for a month until it’s done or write several in a row and then take the break.

Another tip is about making your character dialogue sound as realistic as possible. The best way to do that is to verbally speak your conversations through the voice of your characters into a voice recorder on your phone while you imagine the conversation happening. Then write that conversation when you’re in front of your computer while listening to it. So often dialogue doesn’t sound realistic in books and I think that’s because you have to place yourself into the head of your character and be in the conversation with the other character sort of acting it out. It has worked wonders for my dialogue.

What do you know now about writing and publishing you wish you had learned sooner?
More people buy digital e-books than print books. My first few books in 2011 - 2013 were only in print. I never put them into e-book formats and hardly sold any of them. My new series is almost 100% e-book based even though they are available in print. Also, I wish I had known sooner that you do not need to spend $2000 or more on an editor. The going rate these days for professional editing is ridiculously high and unnecessary.

There are plenty of qualified, skilled editors and proofreaders in the industry that you can find through social media, Upwork, or Fiverr, for a few hundred dollars. The truth of the matter is you need to be able to edit your own work to be successful at self-publishing.

The first several rounds of editing should be done by you, both on the screen as you read back through it and fix it, and then by printing out the entire book and line editing by hand. Don’t send it to an editor until you’ve done the steps, and if you’ve done a majority of editing yourself, it will cost you less as the editor won’t have to do as much work.

Any last words or tips?
Yes. Let go of your dreams about writing full-time and making a full-time income. Even if you can pump out books as quickly as I do, have a decent following, and get great reviews both professionally and from your readers, there are so many books out there that the competition makes it extremely difficult. Even with traditional publishers, you are expected to market yourself and sell your own books so they can earn a profit after expenses.

It’s extremely difficult, so try to keep your writing as a beloved and treasured hobby instead of turning it into a stressful full-time job that doesn’t pay the reward of the time that you are worth, no matter how much you love it. Branch out and do different things and above all else, hold onto your day job.

That’s all for today’s interview. Vivian’s current books are available on all digital platforms for any device (Kobo, Apple/iTunes, Nook, etc) and in print on Amazon. And here’s the link to her website: www.VivienMayfair.com