Author of OUTBACK LOVE a contemporary romance novel set in Australia, JETTING AWAY a short story prequel to OUTBACK LOVE, MOON OVER MADNESS a paranormal romantic comedy and BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS a collection of short stories and poems about life and love. All are available online at Amazon/Kindle Unlimited.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Inspiration of Spring

Easter Lillies on my Patio
The arrival of spring and with it more inspiration than a writer can ever dream.

Florida is known for its flowers, everything imaginable from camellias, azaleas, gardenias, jasmine, so many flowers I can't even name and wild flowers everywhere.

On my patio the Easter Lillies are blooming in a wooden wine barrel. The trellised patio is laced with wisteria. Jasmine blooms opened this morning. The air is fragrant with their scent.

A night of heavy rains and now the final drip, plop, drip. The sun is just starting to peak through the clouds. Birds are singing their varied melodies. Squirrels dart across the lawn searching for fallen acorns, of which we have zillions of acorns covering the ground.

As a writer, I draw inspiration and renewal from the flowers, rain, birds. It's a sense of "hope springs eternal."

What wonderful stories will pop into my head this season? Certainly ones of love, hope and dreams.

Monday, March 26, 2012

BAYOU BLUES AND OTHER SORROWS has a New Cover

Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows has a new cover. This ebook available at both Amazon and Smashwords. Within the next few weeks it will also be available at Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Diesel, Sony and Apple.

Amazon/Kindle Edition

Smashwords Edition

Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows has gone through another edit. Only minor corrections were done. The short stories and poems are the same, but the order has been changed in this latest edition.

Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows is a collection of eight short stories and eight poems touching on issues that all may face at one time or another, from lost love to life changing crossroads to moments of pure happiness. These are heartwarming stories you won't want to miss.

"A Kiss is Just a Kiss" – People are not always who and what they appear to be. A kiss is not always just a kiss, it may have consequences.

"I Love You, Joe Montana" – Love from afar vs. love at home.

"Checking Out" – There are many crossroads in life. Sometimes we're tempted to "check out" and then realize that life really is beautiful.

"The Night of the UFO – Happiness comes at strange moments. So how many Whiskey Sours does it take to see a UFO?

"Earthquakes" – Some lives begin with a bang.

"Faded Love" – Faded love is better than no love at all.

"Harry's Garden" – How far will a woman scorned go to get even with her cheating husband?

"Old Dogs Need Love Too" – Love lost and love found.

The poems are: "Bayou Blues," "Cartwheels," "In a Café," "Sweet Lips of Time," "Barefoot," "Sunshine and Promises," "The Turtle," and "Tumbleweeds."

I hope you'll enjoy reading Bayou Blues and Other Sorrows as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please let me know what you think of the new cover. Thanks.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Celebrate Indies - Part 2

Teri Heyer, Indie Author
I keep saying we need to celebrate Indie Authors. Hey, since I am one of those Indie Authors, I need to celebrate me. Makes sense, right?

Well, here is a photo taken of me earlier this month. This is where and how I write, in a recliner with my feet up, my laptop on my lap and surrounded by books. This is in the living room. My house is tiny, so I don't have an office. The flat screened TV is in the far corner. I might be watching football, an old movie, the Top 20 Country or the news. If the TV is off I'm listening to country music. I like background noise while I write. If I was sitting in a quiet office I probably wouldn't be able to write a thing.

Most of the time my two dogs, Shani and Dude, are asleep at either side of my chair. They need their beauty sleep and don't want to be disturbed unless it's time to eat, go for a walk, or to sit outside on the patio.

I look out through two double windows that are almost floor to ceiling and that face the front yard. My view is of two old giant Naval Oaks, some native palms, colorful azaleas and lots of potted flowering plants. My neighbors have yards full of flowers and trees, including flowering magnolias, so it's a beautiful view.

The windows are open and a nice spring breeze is blowing through the house. An assortment of birds are singing out there. From time to time a squirrel sits in a flower pot and looks through the windows. I guess he or she is checking to make sure I'm still on the computer.

This is where I get my inspiration, right here in this comfy chair. Though I have to admit that some of my inspiration comes from dreams, those little elves in my head creating stories while I sleep.

I live close to the beach, only a couple miles away. So any time I feel like it I can go walk on that sugar-white sand and wade in the turquoise waters of the gulf.

Right now I'm sipping a tall Tequila Sunrise, though usually I'm drinking coffee while I write. Snack foods are a plus, crackers and cheese, celery with cream cheese or something chocolate. Yes, I love chocolate. I'm sure that chocolate keeps the inspiration going.

So yes, I'm an Indie Author and today I'm celebrating me. We Indie Authors are awesome! So please take the time to try out some of our books. We all have some great stories to tell.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Moon Over Madness has a New Cover

"Moon Over Madness," my paranormal novella, has a new cover. This cover should appear on the Amazon/Kindle edition sometime this weekend.

MOON OVER MADNESS - Amazon/Kindle

MOON OVER MADNESS - Barnes&Noble/Nook

MOON OVER MADNESS - Smashwords

The new cover will also be on the Smashwords edition of "Moon Over Madness" this weekend. However, the Smashwords editions at Barnes&Noble, Sony, Apple, Diesel and Kobo may not have the new cover until the middle or end of March.

For those of you who have already added "Moon Over Madness" to your Kindle, you should be able to request a free updated version from Amazon in a few days.

The only changes in the new version, besides the cover, are some formatting improvements, plus an Active TOC (Table of Contents). No changes have been made to the story.

"Moon Over Madness" is temporarily being offered as a free ebook at Barnes&Noble, Sony, Apple, Diesel and Kobo. At Amazon and Smashwords the price is .99 cents. By the end of March it will be back to .99 cents at all distribution sights, so get your free copy of  "Moon Over Madness" before it's too late.

I'm currently working on a short story about Jake-the-dog from "Moon Over Madness." Jake is such a cool dog and has insisted that he have his very own book. Jake's story will be available soon.

Let me know what you think of the new cover. Thanks so much.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Celebrate Indies - Part 1

Indies are books written by independent authors, those authors not published by big name publishing houses. Some are published by small, independent publishers and others, probably the majority, are self-published (ePubbed). This is a new industry of books that came about following the rise of the eReader and eBook Industry. This is an incredible innovation that has allowed previously unpublished authors to publish the books they've been writing and/or dreaming about for years.

I happen to have the good fortune to be part of this blooming Indie Industry. I only jumped on the band wagon back in August of last year when I ePubbed my debut contemporary romance novel, "Outback Love." I would like to say that "Outback Love" started out with a big fanfare and instant success, but such is not the case, as with most indie books. First off, most of us indie authors are virtual unknowns. When we ePub a book it gets slipped in there, real quiet like, amidst all those books by well-known authors. We hope and pray for that first sale to an utter stranger (a sale not to a family member or friend) and then we jump up and down and shout for joy when it happens. It is at that point that an indie book is truly born.

Most indie authors are poor, or close to it. We don't have connections with big publishing houses, agents, etc. and we don't get monetary advances for our books. The poorest of us design our own book covers and edit our books with the help of family and friends. In fact, by the time a book is ePubbed, we've pretty much driven our family and friends to utter exhaustion. Nine times out of ten they will no longer answer the door, take our phone calls or even return emails. Yes, we're really hard on our family and friends. Some of us are fortunate enough to have author friends and we drive them to distraction too. If we have enough money, we actually pay or bribe someone to edit our books and even purchase professional covers. Well, enough said about all that.

Indies can sort of be compared to those surprise babies who arrive in this world from time to time. What is this? Where did it come from? In the case of indie books, it might have been residing in someone's closet or under a bed for many many years. Or it might have been rattling around in some indie author's head for like forever. That doesn't make it inferior to a planned baby, oh, I mean a planned, pampered, traditionally published book. It just means an indie book has a rough start in life.

Suffice it to say that indies often have a tough beginning, but that doesn't mean they aren't great books. I've been reading lots of indie books and, believe me, there are some great books out there. Some are a little rough around the edges, while others are pretty much polished gems, but they all have interesting stories to tell. My hope is that you, the reader, will take a chance on indies and read some of these wonderful books.

Now here is where you might ask, how can I tell an indie from a traditionally published book? Well, in many cases there's a very fine line. A lot of traditionally published authors are ePubbing some of their books, which makes them indies too. On the other hand, some indies don't want anyone to realize they're indies and so are unwilling to speak up. So all I can tell you is to try reading some eBooks by authors you've never heard of before. 

Many indies offer one or more books at a low introductory price, or even free, so that readers can get to know them. It's a win-win situation for both the reader, who discovers new authors to fall in love with, and indie authors, who gain new readers.

I'll be blogging about "Celebrate Indies" all month long, which is why this post is only Part 1. I hope you'll revisit my blog throughout the month to discover a bunch of indie authors and their exciting, wonderful, great books. Oh, don't forget to take a look at my indie books too (hint, hint).

For those readers and writers who like to Tweet, you might want to use the hashtag #CelebrateIndies from time to time.

Celebrate Indies is about more than just celebrating the indie books, it's about celebrating the indie authors too. So I'm hoping that indie authors will comment below and include links to their books, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and tell us something about themselves and what they write. I'm hoping too that readers will comment about indie authors they've discovered, great indie books they think others would like to read or maybe just let us know what kind of indie books they'd love to read.

Thanks so much for reading this blog post. I appreciate hearing from you, so please don't hesitate to comment below.

NOTE - If you're an indie author and would like to be interviewed on my blog, please let me know. I'd like to do a variety of interviews as we celebrate indies together.