2013 IPPY Awards

Just taking a brief pause between stops in our travels to share some photos from the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards in NY, where I received a bronze medal for Mental Pause (Best Adult Fiction eBook category). It was a blast!

In the spotlight!

Meeting other medalists was the best! Here are co-authors of You Can't Eat Dirt, Vyola J. Ortner, Diana C. du Pont, which won a silver medal for Best Regional Non-Fiction-West Pacific 

Dick Wagner, Silver Medalist-autobiography/memoir for Not Only Women Bleed. This guy collaborated with Alice Cooper on the song Only Women Bleed and performed it at the awards. Cool!

Joining the other medalists in my category.

What do I know?

The excitement mounts as I prepare for my next stop on the virtual book tour this morning at Jeri Walker-Bickett's blog, What do I Know?... A Twisted Book Blog.

Come join us as we discuss life as a writer and self-published author and give away a couple copies of Mental Pause along the way!!!

I was also surprised and delighted to see another interview posted today on Expat Focus. Pop by and check it out and peruse the website for some great columns by expats from all over the world. I actually do a regular column on life in Thailand :)

I took a brief pause over the past couple of weeks but the momentum is gathering steam again so I'll be sharing more in the coming weeks. The champagne celebration in my last post was actually at the Moulin Rouge in Paris where I was with my mom-in-law. What a great place... and loads of inspiration for another novel I'm working on that will be set in Paris.

Happy Reading and Writing!

Mental Pause Wins Award!

Well, a couple months ago I decided, what the heck, I'll enter Mental Pause in the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) program. There were 2,500 entries so I really didn't think as a first time novelist I had a chance so I hit send and then basically forgot about it... until I got an email announcing the winners.

Time to celebrate!

I scrolled through the list and there, in the Best in Adult Fiction ebook category, in the bronze medalist position, was Mental Pause! I practically fell off my chair, until I noticed that the author's name wasn't mine. What! Could there have been two books of the same title entered in the same category? I held my breath and my excitement and fired off an email to the organizer. He replied almost immediately apologizing for the error, fixed it right away and congratulated me for my win!

I'm thrilled and just a bit incredulous but it's something like this that spurs a writer on to work even harder and produce more. I'd like to congratulate all the winners and happily share with you the announcement from Independent Publishers. There are some amazingly talented indie authors on this list and I'm humbled to be included among them. Have a look and see... you might find a couple of real gems to add to your collection!

This Week's Tour Stops

Just a reminder of the blogs I'll be visiting on the Mental Pause virtual book tour this week:


The Artist Unleashed - on the Alliterative Allomorph, guest post April 17th, 'Inspiration comes from the strangest places.

And...

Morgen Bailey's Blog - guest post, April 18th, 'Switching Genres'


See you there!

Today's Stop and Coming Soon!

Hi there,

After a couple day's break we're revving up again on this blog tour!

Today I'm thrilled to join the folks as a guest blogger on The Bookshelf Muse where we're talking about Juggling Genres.  Am I crazy?  Maybe... maybe not! Hope you can join the discussion. Mandy over at Literary R&R also did a review. Thanks Mandy!

Coming a little further down the road:

The Artist Unleashed - on the Alliterative Allomorph, guest post April 17th

Morgen Bailey's Blog - guest post, April 18th

What Do I Know?, author interview, May 17th


Rock on!!!

Today's Blog Tour Stops

Hello all!

Image courtesy of my mom!

Well, today I had a very pleasant surprise! I knew Melanie Adkins at Have You Heard My Book Review was going to review Mental Pause but I didn't know the date. I happened upon it after seeing her 5-Star Amazon review and then went to her blog and 'voila'!  It ran yesterday so feel free to visit and I'll pop back to see if anyone leaves a comment :)

The tour will stop today (the 14th) at the famous Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog for an author spotlight. Hope you can pop by. She's got an amazing collection of spotlights (author interviews) and other fantastic resources for writers. If you're a novelist, check out her online novel writing group on Facebook. There's plenty of lively discussion and writing prompts to sink your teeth into. Tell her I sent you!

So, here's the line-up of the latest and coming up:

Melanie Adkins, Have You Heard My Book Review, review March 13th
Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog, Author Spotlight, March 14th
The Bookshelf Muse, guest post on juggling genres, March 18th
The Alliterative Allomorph - The Artist Unleashed, guest post on where inspiration comes from, April 17.

I'll update the links as each post goes live and keep you posted as new ones are added. Stay tuned!

Next Stops on the Mental Pause Express!

Huge thanks to everyone who has participated in the tour so far. I had a chance to catch my breath yesterday but we're moving full steam ahead again today starting with Expat Bookshop. If you've missed any, check out the full schedule on a previous blog.

Here's where I'll be over the next few of day so feel free to pop by:

Expat Bookshop, March 11 - Guest post on switching genres

It's not all Gravy, March 13 - Guest Post on my 'change', the inspiration behind writing Mental Pause (she's already posted a teaser)

Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog, March 14 - Author Spotlight

There's more to come so stay tuned and let me know if you find any other gems on these book review blogs! I'm always looking for my next great read too :) If you've come across other book review sites that you'd like to recommend, or have one yourself and would like to review Mental Pause, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment below :)