Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

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July 2, 2018

Pimp & Promote in the Dog Days of Summer

 
I thought of the title for this Pimp & Promote, then wondered where the term came from. So I looked it up. Here you go:

The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heatdrought, sudden thunderstormslethargyfevermad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

I don't know about you, but it's HOT where I am!

How does this work?

To quote the genie in Aladdin, “There are a few provisos, a couple of quid-pro-quos…"

  • Pimp out somebody else’s work – this can be a favorite author, blogger, post or book you’ve read, a wonderful teacher or just someone who had profound influence on you as a writer or a person. Please limit your comments to one work.
    AND
  • Promote one of your projects that you’re excited about – a hobby, a blog, a book, or a new direction your writing is taking you. You decide. Just tell us about it in the comments! (Please restrain your enthusiasm to just one of your WIPs.) The rest of us will jump in and “ooooh and ahh” at you, and likely promote your project even further because we’re just so darn excited today.

We'll start things off by doing some P&P with the gals here at WITS...

Fae Rowen launched her amazing PRISM series into the world and she's hard at work readying her Keep Sphere series. Two words: Space Battles! Find out more at her website, http://faerowen.com.

Jenny Hansen just got her world rocked by Jennie Nash's class at CreativeLive: Write Your Book - Start Strong and Get It Done. If you watch the class, you'll see Jenny in the front row of the audience!  Currently, Jenny is hard at work on a memoir she describes as "Like WILD, but with pregnancy...and funny." You can enjoy her silly fun at her personal blog, More Cowbell, or read her latest post here at WITS, Top 10 Success Tips from Cheryl Strayed.

Julie Glover recently finished draft one of a novella co-written with award-winning author Christina Delay. She's also writing a cozy mystery, and although she doubts she'll finish 50k words in July, she's throwing in with Camp NaNoWriMo for inspiration, encouragement, and accountability.

Laura Drake wants everyone to know about a fantastic retreat and coaching by the incredible wordsmith, Susan Donovan. She has a sweet little Casitas in New Mexico, and amazing coaching to whip your WIP into shape!

Laura's next novel is due out in December, but available for preorder NOW!

See? Easy-peasy. Only one of us wrote this, but all of us are represented - that's the spirit of P&P.

Don't be shy -- tell your pals! 

We are open for as many entries as you want, and you're welcome to send anyone who reads great stuff our way. We want to hear about it! Be sure to peruse the comments. You might find a few things you like in the plethora of pimping that’s about to ensue.

Thanks again for making WITS one of the top writer’s blogs. We appreciate you!

~  Fae, Jenny, Julie and Laura

51 comments on “Pimp & Promote in the Dog Days of Summer”

  1. American singer/songwriter Dayna Kurtz has some powerful things to say about love and life and a gorgeous way of dishing it all up. Go to http://daynakurtz.com/ and check out "It's How You Hold Me". I dare you to not be swept away.

    Meanwhile, my novel "Prophets Tango" is in edit/revision - the kind that guts you one moment and takes your breath away the next. Querying by October is the goal. Have a taste, I know you'll want more.
    http://cookingthehook.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-pitch-remains-same.html

  2. Waving hi, Laura!

    I just reread Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's on the slim side but a fabulous book with some laugh-out-loud moments, and every time I read it, I learn something new.

    And I'm excited to be starting a new book in The Hitching Post Hotel series, which features a grandpa who matches his granddaughters and their friends with their perfect mates - whether they want to be matched or not. More info on the Books page at my website: http://barbarawhitedaille.com/all-books.

    Looking forward to reading others' suggestions!

    1. I need to read that book again too. I just love it. And when I get stuck, I always think about her suggesting that you describe only a two inch picture frame of a setting to get that zeroed in detail that makes the scene. Such wonderful advice.

  3. In celebration of my latest release, THE SELKIE (the 5th in the Epitaph series) the first in the series, EPITAPH, is free everywhere and has gotten great reviews.

    I write "haunted" contemporary romance set in small towns. The Epitaph series is based on the two families you meet in Book Number 1, the Bensons and the McCormicks.

    https://www.karlabrandenburg.com

      1. Thanks for your pimp, Karla. Terry's new book had fallen off my radar, and I'm also ready for a fun romantic comedy.

  4. I also want to add that I met a writer in the restaurant — okay, it was a bar, but we were there to get supper — at the Chicago Spring Fling conference. Turned out she was a keynote speaker, incredibly nice, but I wasn't familiar with her books. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I pick up her first novel and think, "I'll just read a chapter before I go to bed and see what I think." One hundred pages later... I went through her first three books in short order. So if you like historical romance with an emphasis on the historical, Meredith Duran's The Duke of Shadows is where to begin. Meredith is a brilliant writer! And a great bar companion to boot. 😉

  5. PIMP: I've just finished a course on Deep 3d POV, taught by Linnea Sinclair and sponsored by the RWA Contemporary Romance Writers chapter. Wow, this lady is a helluva teacher! Much valuable insight gained. I'm looking forward to her August course on conflict.
    PROMOTE: My contemporary romance Through The Red Door is coming soon from The Wild Rose Press.

    1. Oh, Rhonda! Linnea Sinclair is one of my favorite writers. Yes, she would be a perfect teacher for deep POV. If you haven't read any of her science fiction books, they are all great.

  6. Pimp: Recently devoured Elena Hartwell's third book, Three Strikes, You're Dead, in the Eddie Shoes series. Start with One Dead, Two To Go and Two Heads Are Deader Than One to enjoy the whole series. You can find her website at http://www.elenahartwell.com.

    Promote: Although still new to writing regularly and seriously, I feel encouraged to finally have a WIP, 3500 solid words of a fiction story that is holding up well to development and revision.

  7. Pimp: Reading Life in a Jar by Jack Mayer based on the true story of Irena Sendler, a Holocaust hero and the Kansas teens who "rescued the rescuer." Inspired by Irena's life, the Kansas teens shed light on the power of one person to change the world and are models for young people everywhere. http://www.irenasendler.org/
    Promote: Writing first draft WIP, a sequel to The Winter Loon.

  8. Pimp: I'm reading Elizabeth Smart's new book, WHERE THERE'S HOPE. Very inspiring. I met her, and she is as well.

    Promote (*a chorus of heavenly harps and trumpets can be heard*). I recently published my third novel: MY FRIEND MARILYN. Kirkus Reviews calls it "An entertaining fantasy." And OnlineBookClub says it has "An incredible story and a brilliant plot...deserves a perfect score." It's a beach read you’ll still be thinking about as the leaves fall. Here's what it's about: After being named Marilyn Monroe's assistant, a big-and-bold dime-store cashier is surrounded by show-biz temptations and hidden dangers during the filming of SOME LIKE IT HOT in 1958. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0996293620/

        1. What could her better? A HAUNTED Victorian house overflowing with story-idea-sparking antiques, that's what!

      1. Thanks Laura...for the congrats...and, more importantly, for continuing to inspire me on this living-the-dream journey of being a published storyteller.

  9. PIMP: Brian Freeman's new book Marathon is out in paperback. Part of the Jonathan Stride detective series set in Duluth, it follows the aftermath of a bombing and explores the sensitive issue of how quick we can be to make assumptions about others.
    PROMOTE: My novel Traitor Kline was picked up by Unsolicited Press and will be published in mid-2019. In Traitor Kline, a firefighting helicopter pilot risks his career, his relationships, and his life to help his adult son escape from a deadly anti-government militia.

  10. PIMPING: Started one of Melinda Leigh's "Midnight" Series and stopped to buy all 4 of the books.

    PROMOTING: My new release, Falcon's Prey, is the 8th novel in my Blackthorne, Inc. covert ops/romantic suspense series. “…this thrill-ride of a book takes so many twists and turns that I could not put the book down.” https://terryodell.com/falcons-prey

    1. Thanks for the link, Terry. And that's high praise for Melinda Leigh's series. I'm going to check her out.

  11. Ooo, I've been waiting for another pimp and promote because I just read a WONDERFUL book!!!

    Pimp: My friend and fellow author, Pam Ogden, just released her debut book!! It's called "He Made Me Brave," and it's the story of her trip to Korea to adopt a little boy. The book made me cry, laugh, and then cry some more... It's a BEAUTIFUL story! Right now, her family is going through the adoption process again. Anyone who reads the book is helping to support them!

    Promote: This is about my WIP... I've been trying to write the same story for three years. (And I am NOT a slow writer. I write my first drafts NaNoWriMo style, even when it's not November.) But for some reason, this one just kept falling flat. And now, after many, many, many attempts, the first draft is finally coming together!!!

    1. Your friends story sounds like a wonderful book, Talia. Is it a memoir? And congrats on getting your own first draft on the rails.

  12. Looking for a wonderful, escapist summer read? Romy Sommer (amazing teacher) gives us Last of the Summer Vines which will transport you to Tuscany with fine wines , beautiful scenery, mouth-watering pastries, and gorgeous Italian men.

    My WIP is a chick lit about sisters whose vagabond parents named them for states where they hadn't been arrested. One thrived, the other is struggling to break family ties. Love Is a Filing Cabinet just went through a first five page revision in Laura Drake's class.

    1. Love in a Filing Cabinet is clever and funny! The other? You had me at 'states where they hadn't been arrested'!!! Now there's a tag line!

  13. PIMP: I have an Australian FB friend whose work I love and whom I one day hope to meet in person. Had we only but known, we lived within a few miles of one another long ago when she was a fabric designer living in Dalton, GA. Alas, neither of us were writing at that time in our lives. Hats off to Kathryn Gauci and her historical novels set in Greece and Turkey! Here is her Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00OPW68SM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0?redirectedFromKindleDbs=true

    Promo: I am thrilled to share that my fourth novel will release through Amazon on July 18. Miami Days, Havana Nights is a dual timeline novel featuring 1920’s – 60’s gangsters and a present day young, female history professor determined to suss out their secrets. While the novel is more historical thriller and contemporary women's fiction, a love story also winds through each timeline. After all, what would life be without someone to love?
    For a peek into the story: https://www.lindapennell.com/miami-days-havana-nights.html

  14. A pimp shout out to a book I just finished called "Gavelston" by Nick Pizzolato.
    A total must-read for crime fiction, noir, and hard-boiled fans!

    Pizzolato's prose is haunting, quick and beautiful, yet violent and soul-crushing all at the same time. His characters own their off-kilter lives completely and without apology!

    His protag, Roy Cady, is a throw-back. A noir-style hard-guy and hit-man, trying to redeem some piece of his humanity in a bleak and sorry world of his own making. And Rocky, the teen girl he accidently gets mixed up with is the same; living life in the fast-lane and trying to survive any way she can find.

    You can't help for root for them both, and want it to all turn out alright even when you know it probably won't.They're both on a downward spiral, going nowhere fast. But they both also show shining glimpses of humanity, running a million miles an hour at it's finest.

    Finished this fast! What a terrific read!

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