My blog post for this time is about my annual book giveaway. Read below for details...
My book giveaway will run from January 1st - 25th, 2024. Deadline is January 25th, 2024, at 8PM EST, for the US only. On January 26th, one winner will be selected from the Facebook comments and newsletter emails submitted. They may pick their choice of free book: Killer Deception, Hush Now, Don't Cry, No Good Deed, The Fatal Truth, Into the Storm, Road Less Traveled or Ruff Rewards. The winner will also receive a book lovers gift basket with their choice of free book. ** I will contact the winner privately to get their prizes to them.** Go to my author Facebook page AuthorMaggieCasteen and look for the post at the top of the page or if you don't use Facebook then send me an email with your answer to mecasteen05@gmail.com. Until next time...
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This will probably be my last post for the year, so I thought I would go ahead and do my year in review now. 2023 has definitely been eventful and I believe that I have made a lot of progress this year. I have published two books this year: The Fatal Truth and Into the Storm, I have made several upgrades to my website, I started an author Facebook page for my penname Elisabeth Casteen, and I have also added 11 people to my On-the-Scene Newsletter. I am excited for all these positive additions, and I am grateful for each one of my subscribers. My website has gone through a few necessary changes and has come a long way from when I first started. I am so proud of all the work I have done, how far I have come, and the fact that I am still writing, and people are still reading my work. I am so grateful and thankful for the opportunity to write and publish books. It sometimes still feels like a dream, I have wanted to do this ever since I was a little girl. I have always enjoyed writing and now I am a published author and readers enjoy my books. That is such a feeling of satisfaction and happiness for me...I can't really explain it. All I can say is thank you to everyone who has bought one of my books, signed up for my newsletter, left a book review, or told me how much they've enjoyed my books. Thank you to each and every one of you....I don't take any of it for granted. So, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope next year will be another positive year for me and I'll take another leap forward in my author journey.
Until next time... Just a quick update: I'm making slow progress on my Read-through-the-alphabet challenge. So, far I've crossed over the letters N, B, C, & I. On a brighter note, I've just finished writing my first draft of my first novel and I'm also drafting my next Kathy Hamilton mystery! So, lot's going on as well as all the Christmas to-dos. I can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away from Christmas. My next project is to get my first Kathy Hamilton book into an audiobook, so I'll see how that turns out. Anyway, I've taken some time off for Christmas and I can't wait to start my Christmas baking and movie marathons. So, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Until next time... It's hard to believe that December is already here. I usually do my Christmas decorating the day after Thanksgiving, but it didn't happen that way this year. However, I finally got my act together and the house is now decorated for Christmas. I am still waiting for my new Christmas tree to be delivered, and then everything will be done. I do enjoy Christmas, the music, the movies, and just having some vacation time to take it slow and enjoy the holiday. On another note, I have published my third Bible study and am now working on my first single novel, Tell Me Everything. I'm in the process of working on my first draft and it is coming along nicely. I have several writing projects that I am trying to work on and, hopefully, some of them will actually get finished. Anyway, I guess that's about it for today....I need to get back to writing.
Until next time... I wanted to share what I wrote for my Thanksgiving edition of my newsletter this time. If you haven't signed up, you're missing out. So, here's my Thanksgiving monologue:
I’ve been going back and forth about what to write for my newsletter this November. With so much going on in the world, it’s easy to focus on all the bad things and forget the good things. So, I would like to say a few things about why Thanksgiving is so important. Being thankful turns our negative attitude into a positive one. Another way of saying it would be to count your blessings, and we all have some. For me, some of my blessings are my faith, my mom, my dog Dakota, and being a writer. When I focus or reflect on these, I remember all the good memories that happened because of them, and my situation doesn’t seem so bad. Here are some quotes I found about Thanksgiving to prove my point: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.” – Melody Beattie “Be present in all things and thankful in all things.” – Maya Angelou And here’s one of my personal favorites. “What if, today, we were grateful for everything?” – Charlie Brown So, this Thanksgiving take some time to reflect on all the things you have that you’re grateful for. You might find you have more blessings than you realized, and this is definitely something to be thankful for. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I hope you have a lot to be thankful for. Until next time.. I saw this reading challenge on Goodreads, and I've always wanted to see if I could complete it: Read the alphabet challenge. This is where you read a book that starts with a letter in the alphabet until you have gone through the entire alphabet. Last time I tried this I only got halfway. This time, I am determined to complete it. I already have my first three books lined up: A- The Associate, B-Betrayed, and C-Close-Up Curtain Call. I heard from some people that it takes over a year to complete this challenge, so we'll see how long it takes me. On a different note, I received my author proof of my Bible Study, Into the Storm. I have to say that it looks pretty good. So, now begins the final read through and making sure that everything is the way it's supposed to be and to fix any last mistakes. I'm thinking that I can probably publish this one by the end of the month, which would be fantastic. Then, I can really concentrate on my novel Tell Me Everything, which I have to say, is coming along nicely. I only have maybe a week's worth of story to write and then I can start the second draft and making it legible. Ya know, just in case I want someone else to read it. Anyway, I guess that's it for now. It still amazes me how much I enjoy writing. When I pick up a pen and notebook, everything is just right with the world.
Until next time... I was checking on my Goodreads groups yesterday, and I noticed that I have a lot of messages that I just haven't been able to get to. It's not that I don't want to participate in the groups, but I just don't have the time. Anyway, I am going to try to do the October Read: The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe and Every Last Year by Alex Finlay. There's also a multiyear challenge that looks interesting...it's called read the alphabet. You start with A and read a book that begins with that letter of the alphabet. It'll probably take me more than a year, but I would like to see if I could do it. I started it once before, but I stopped at G or H. My only bright spot on Goodreads is that I'm almost done with my Reading Challenge for the year. I'm at 11 of 12 books, so at least I've got that going for me. I've only had to books that were a bit disappointing - Paris and The Irish Castle. I was hoping that they would be good, but they just let me down. It was a struggle to finish them, and I don't like that at all. The two best ones were Deja Dead and the Complete Noves of Sherlock Holmes. Anyway, I'm making a new effort to participate more in my Goodreads Groups, maybe I'll do better this time.
Until next time... I'm not sure what my post should be about today. I try to have a subject picked out, but today, my thoughts are all over the place. I have had to make some changes to my author expenses...as I'm sure everyone knows; everything keeps going up. It makes it harder, for an indie author, to keep everything moving. Somedays I feel like I'm not making any progress at all, and others it's more like one baby step at a time. I've been receiving a lot of good comments about my latest mystery, The Fatal Truth, which is always a boost. I don't think readers really understand how much your positive comments really help. It really gives that extra push when things aren't going well, and you need that little something to get you across the finish line. I'm getting close to publishing my next Bible study, which is exciting...a lot of work, but exciting. I'm also trying to write my first single novel, but lately my 9-6 job, house chores, and errands keep getting in the way. If I could get this first draft done, then at least the story would be out of my head and on paper. I've also been getting a lot of "spam" promotional calls, which do nothing but fill up my voicemail with promises that are too expensive for me to even explore. Why does promotional activity costs so much? Anyway, I guess that's enough for now.
Until next time... I've seen and read a lot about the new AI apps and ChatGPT programs, and my curiosity was peaked. I downloaded an art AI app on my tablet and decided to do some sketches for my characters in my Kathy Hamilton series. I have to say that it really made me think about what those characters really look like and trying to put in the right description to get the same result in my head was a little challenging. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the results that I got. I did a couple of variations for three of my characters (Kathy, Stacey, and Michael) and I also did an AI rendering of what the town of Rosemont might look like. Having those AI renderings in front of me really gave my characters a more 'life-like' feel and I can't wait to share them in my newsletter bonus material. I'm not sold on the idea of creating stories with ChatGPT or somehow 'filling in gaps' either because I believe there are some things or aspects of writing that only an author/writer can create. The creative and original element can only come from an author or writer because of our ability to imagine and dream something, I don't believe, a computer can duplicate. And so,
while AI may have some uses, I think the creatin of stories should be left in the hands of writers and authors where it can grow and become something magical. Until next time... My post for today is about newsletter extras. This week I've watched a few videos about how to improve my mailing list. They talked about the right way to send emails, how often you should send them, etc. However, the one thing that stuck out to me was the section on newsletter bonus material. It's something that I've given a great deal of thought because what might seem like a bonus to one person may not be to another. So, I've considered including extra material related to my books, phone wallpapers, bookmarks, and puzzle sheets. I really want to include good 'bonuses' because I do appreciate my subscribers. They have given me some of their valuable time and I would like to give them something just a valuable. I've been working on some mystery phone wallpapers that I think turned out well. There's two more that I'm working on for my bible study books...that way I cover all of my books. Anyway, it seems like everyone has an opinion about this newsletter thing and how it should be done. I think the only way to really know what works is trial and error. That's not my favorite way to do things, but in this case, I think it's the way I have to go. If you would like to sign up for my On-the-Scene newsletter, just click this link On-the-Scene Link. You'll get my FREE prequel story to my Kathy Hamilton mystery series, and I also include other "extras" along the way in the anniversary sign-up emails I send out. Every year on the month you sign-up I like to celebrate with a little extra something as a thank you to you for coming onboard. So, click the link and start your new mystery journey.
Until next time... |
AuthorA North Carolina author who published her first novel, Killer Deception, in 2020. She doesn't profess to be a professional blogger, just a writer with many thoughts. Archives
April 2024
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