For our new Villagers, a little Seekerville backstory. The Seekers all met on unpublished island in 2005 and by 2011 each one of us had sailed off the island to the publishing mainland. Now our mission is to help other writers on their journey to publication. Join us in May with our very impressive list of guest bloggers. Check out our calendar here.
We Have Winners
Giveaway rules can be found here. Please drop us a line to claim your giveaway at seekers@seekerville.net. All prizes not claimed in 8 weeks go back into the prize vault. We wish we could contact all our winners individually, but we'd rather write books! And P.S. - if we forget to send your prize DO let us know after 8 weeks per our rules.
Winners of a set of the Historical & Contemporary Collection of With This Kiss are Linda Sammaritan and Jill Weatherholt.
Love Inspired author and Seeker, Tina Radcliffe shared Tuesday, with her post, "Book Matter: What is it and Why Does it Matter?" Winners of Safe in the Fireman's Arms are: Kelly Blackwell, OhioHomeSchool & Deanne, Winner of With This Kiss Contemporary is Heidi Robbins.
Wednesday we joined Ruth Logan Herne who asked the vital question: "Have You Put Success on Your Schedule, and If Not? Why Not?" Ruthy's Win-It-Before-You-Can-Buy-It winners of her 4 1/2 Star love story Healing the Lawman's Heart are Edwina Cowgill, Kathryn Barker, Cynthia Herron, Ms. ZeyZey and Tracey Hagwood.
Author Cindy Green was our special guest today with her post, "Goodreads Marketing." Winner of a $10 Amazon Gift Card is Olivia.
Friday was the May Contest Update and we introduced Sherida Stewart, our May Contest Diva. Winner of With This Kiss, Historical & Contemporary Collection is Sandy Smith. Winners of five page critiques are Jackie, Courtney and Jeanne. Winners of Safe in the Fireman's Arms are: DebH, Tanya, LeAnne, Deanna, and Donna Philips.
Next Week In Seekerville
Monday: Mary Connealy will be here with her blog, "Oh The Places You'll Go". No calm down, it's not a tribute to Dr. Seuss. It's the places your research will take you. Wonderful places, places that inspire new books. Learn to enjoy it. Plus, Mary will have THE FIRST EVER IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE GIVEAWAY OF her June release Now and Forever.
Tuesday: We are thrilled to welcome Susanne Dietz to the other side of the podium today, with her post "Overcoming Fear in Writing." One lucky commenter will win a copy of The Most Eligible Bachelor Collection which features Susanne's novella, Love's Reward.
Wednesday: Carol Moncado joins us today for "An Indie Journey!" Stop by for a recap of her wild and epic indie year so far. Stop by for some great giveaways!
Thursday: Join Audra Harders today for a post about you-know-what and a giveaway of you-know-what as well. Yes, really. We could hardly believe it ourselves.
Friday: Today, April Erwin visits us to talk about "Finding What Drives You." April will be giving away an ebook copy of Dysfunction Junction,and a paperback copy of her latest release Justice Burning.
Seeker Sightings
Check out the With This Kiss interview over at Fresh Fiction!
Erica won a Kindle Fire HD & 13 Seeker books of her choice!
Missy Tippens new release, The Doctor's Second Chance, will be featured on Margaret Daley's blog the week of May 4th. Please drop by! She'll be offering a giveaway.
This week on Love Inspired Books FB and Twitter.
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| Tried and True on Sale |
Random News & Information
Links contributed by Seekers & Villagers
All About Bublish
JK Rowling suffering “writer’s back” (deadline.)
Forget Amazon Rankings and Just Write (Huff Post)
Publishing Facts You Probably Don’t Know (BookMarketingBuzzBlog)
Ask Bethany House: What do editors look for in a new author? Bethany House
On Changing Book Titles And Covers: My Own Experience And How You Can Do It Too (The Creative Penn)
9 Writing Productivity Mistakes to Avoid (Novel Rocket)
10 Surprising Facts About Romance Novels (HuffPost)
Cracking the Category Code – How to Write Short and Write Often with Kat Cantrell (Romance University)
Make a Living Writing From the Road: Tips for Working While Traveling (The Write Life)
#NoLimits Quote of the week...
That's it! Have a great reading and writing week.
I'm first to comment! Only because I was the last to comment on Friday's post right before midnight. :)
ReplyDeleteLots of great links I can't wait to check out!
Tina, thanks for the great inspirational quotes.
Happy Weekend, Seekerville! :)
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS to all the winners, and THANK YOU for another wonderful WE, Miss T! (yes, as Missy said those quotes are great) :)
I'm heading to bed but will set out some Georgia Peach pancakes and pecan waffles for anyone who wants breakfast Saturday morning!
Hugs, Patti Jo zzzzzzz....
What a great WE,Tina. Thank you! I'm exhausted (I just spent some time wtih my story—first time all day). I'm looking forward to checking out the links tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the critique. I'm looking forward to it.:) I really am! :)
TINA, thanks for another great WE. Saw several links I need to ck out.
ReplyDeleteIt's been so long since I had a weekend to myself that I hardly know where to start. Well, maybe sleeping in tomorrow morning will be on the list, lol.
Spent quite a few "REVERSE RUTHY HOURS" this past week. That means I stayed up all night until RUTHY showed up in the morning.
And RUTHY - Just read the line in Healing the Lawman's Heart about the Pelican's Nest. Talk about ambiance. A 'regular people' kinda joint. Loved it.
Have a wonderful weekend, all!
Thanks, Tina, for a wonderful weekend edition! And I'm thrilled to win another Ruthy book!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all winners. :)
Congratulations to all the winners.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great weekend! I hope you all have a great day!
Congratulations to all the winners.
ReplyDeletePatti Jo the pancakes sound wonderful!
It will be a busy weekend. I look forward to checking out the links later.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Congratulations all WE winners! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd way to go Erica! Enjoy your win, too!
Thanks, Tina, for another good one!
Happy weekend to all—it'll be over way to soon. :-)
I'm happy, happy, happy to win Ruthy's newest book and happy for all the other winners this week too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great start to a beautiful weekend, enjoy it everyone!
Congratulations, winners!!!! Always so fun to see who won what, and we have a new British princess on the planet, so that's a fun Saturday!
ReplyDeletePatti Jo, YES! I'm in for peach anything, dear girl!
Lyndee, we're two ships that pass in the night, darling!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so glad you love that image of The Pelican's Nest! And I love that our Tina has her own Coffee Corner/Bakery as part of the Pelican's Nest now, LOL!
I LOVE THAT STORY. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!
Tina, thank you for another wonderful WE. Bless you! I'm going back to re-writing the ending to a story, and gave myself a break to get over here... and loved it! The perfect break!
ReplyDeleteHave a really, really, really, really impressive and powerful writing and reading weekend!@
ReplyDeleteGreat pics and advice, Tina. How many times have we all adjusted our sails? So true.
ReplyDeleteLove that Erika won the ACFW raffle!
Congrats to last week's blog winners. So many. Everyone is being mucho generous with their giveaways! Very nice!
Yes, it all started in 2005! Looking back and remembering...
Good morning and CONGRATULATIONS to the winners. Thanks, TINA for a great WE. Hope everyone's weekend is great....yes authors, I hope your weekend includes writing! Mine will include reading.
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday, Seekerville ! I'm off to my monthly RWA meeting shortly. Hoping by the time I get home our cable Internet will be fixed. Bummer!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all our weekly winners!
Great photo of Erica! I want a Kindle Fire, HD.
ReplyDeleteInsanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wisdom: knowing what constitutes 'the same thing'. Are lottery losers insane for expecting to win someday? Are aspiring writers insane if they continue to enter contests in which they fair poorly? Is it the 'same thing' if time has pasted? Can you really step into the same river twice?
ReplyDeleteThe pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails; the pragmatist fires up the auxiliary engine -- or what writers call 'Plan B'.
Observation: I'm reading five books at the same time and they all have a Tina in them! It makes 'channel hopping' on my Kindle quite a challenge!
They all have TINA in them? Vince? Really?
ReplyDeleteWow. So much for just 'stopping by' to read a few links. I obviously need to make time later this afternoon and settle in for some good link-reading. Thank you, TINA!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all you winners. ERICA, that is a majorly fun prize -- wishing you lots and lots of enjoyable reading time.
Nancy C
That many Tinas, Vince????
ReplyDeleteThat is Tina-Overdrive!
That is Tina to the Nth factor!
That is Tina quintupled!
I'm impressed, big guy!
It's because we all love TEEEEEENA!
Tina was the catalyst behind our Plan B back when half of us were still unsold....
ReplyDeleteAnd she master-minded all kinds of things to prod our brains! And you can see that it worked!
:)
Oh, that Tina!
Great links! I especially loved this quote from the Bethany House editor. The article is about what editors are looking for in a new author:
ReplyDelete"Every time an aspiring fiction writer says they either don’t read fiction or don’t have time to read fiction, an angel loses his wings." Raela Schoenherr
Amen!
And happy weekend. It's summer temps up here and sunny. Woot!
Happy weekend, Seekerville folks, and congrats to all the winners. Thanks for all the inspiration, Tina. I had to share one of the quotes. Now I'm off to check out some of the links.
ReplyDeleteHey! I just found out my new book was featured on Robin Lee Hatcher's blog yesterday. I hope you'll all stop by!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.robinleehatcher.com/spotlight-the-doctors-second-chance-by-missy-tippens/
Congratulations to all the winners!
ReplyDeleteLoved the reminder of Unpublished Island. It was such fun watching Seeker after Seeker sail away from it. I won a jar of sand from that island, compliments of Seekerville. It holds a place of honor atop the hutch that's part of my desk, a reminder of my time on Unpubbed Island and the ongoing support I receive right here at Seekerville.
Hi Ruth:
ReplyDeleteYes! Five Tinas on open Kindle books I'm reading. To be fair, some are novellas in collections so it can take me a long time to read them all and finish the book. Nevertheless, I'm sure there are many more.
Here are a few:
"I heard Tina say she has 30 in already."
"Small-Town Bachelor", Jill Kemerer
"Who's Tina?" Vince asked.
"Closer than Brothers", "With this Kiss Historical" , Mary Connealy
“You look lovely tonight, Tina.” He doled out The Kiss, then he turned to Janna.
"Safe Shelter", "With this Kiss Contemporary", Mary Connealy
"But you didn't marry the frogs," Julia reminded Tina, "you waited for the prince to come along."
"Healing the Lawman's Heart", Ruth Logan Herne
Tina stood beside the stereo speakers, grinning at her.
"Second Chance Ranch" Audra Harders
If I might make a suggestion:
How about brining back the two-name heroine?
For example:
Tina Fay
Tina Louise
Tina Marie
and my favorite
Tina Katrina.
Heroines only.
I don't think 'Billy Bob' sounds very heroic -- even in an historical. A lot of my old girlfriends had twin first names. It was like having two girlfriends back then. : )
Vince
Aw, thanks for the shout out, Vince! Tina is a great name!!
DeleteIsn't that Erica so cute? She won that from Seekerville in the online Silent Auction for the ACFW Foundation.
ReplyDeleteHA!!! So many Tinas Who knew I was so popular.
ReplyDelete"Every time an aspiring fiction writer says they either don’t read fiction or don’t have time to read fiction, an angel loses his wings." Raela Schoenherr
ReplyDeleteI need to create a meme for this.
Well, Tina is a classic name.
ReplyDeleteThe letters Tina wrote to her brother Jonah in Andersonville Prison was about the funnest part of that book to write. Then that same letter writing Tina is the heroine of Stuck Together.
Happy Weekend, everyone. Hope you are enjoying. I am excited to win With this Kiss. Looking forward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteVince, it's because we love our Tina, LOL!
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny!
And of course my bossy, tough, slightly antagonistic Tina Martinelli in Kirkwood HAS NO RESEMBLANCE TO ANYONE, LIVING OR DEAD, LOL!!!!
Because that would be tacky, of course!
Vince, I have a contemporary coming up with Sophie June "For the Love of Sophie June".... :) There's a two-name for ya', and I love it! It will be in our summer contemp collection, and you might even see TINA in it, LOL!
Tina Martinelli is Tina Marie, but I only used that a couple of times, and it might have gotten cut when we killed her parents.
ReplyDeleteThey were alive in the original version.
Sorry, Tina! :)
bossy, tough, slightly antagonistic?????????????????????
ReplyDeleteCaio Tina:
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see that "Dare to Dream" picture I think it is a book and I want to buy it. Someone needs to write the book to go with that picture. That's what I call building the 'marketing' into the book before you write the first word.
Also thanks for the heads-up on Mary's "Tried & True" book on sale for just $1.99! I have the paperback but I'd rather read it on a Kindle and since I bought the Kindle I got to buy the audio version for just $3.99. (I'm sure that is normally priced over $20!) I've already listened to more of the story than I've read in the rather small type paperback version. I really enjoy the professional narrator.
I just can't understand why Seekers don't show or promote their audible books! If authors don't like the narrator because she is not what you had in mind for your heroine, don't worry about it. Promote the book anyway! (Many of those narrators are nice hard working people who work for a percentage of the audio sales).
When you go fishing, it's not important that you like to eat the bait -- what counts is that the fish like the bait.
There's a whole market of people who love audio books. Please let them know you have such books. As a Seekerville fan I should not have to find out Seekers have audio books by accident! Sandra has two excellent audible romances. I wish there was a third to complete the print book series. But does anyone know this?
Time to call a huddle! : )
Now, it is on to speech writing and prep for Monday night's talk, then swimming, then Talladega and car 20, followed by the Yankees in Beantown, ending with Doc Martin late tonight. Busy day. Sometimes all I can work in are audio romances. : )
Hi Ruth:
ReplyDelete"Sophie" means 'wisdom' and is my favorite girl's name. I'm looking forward to your Sophie June release. In my romances I have three Marys, one Sophie* and one Erica. I wonder what the choice of hero and heroine names says about an author? If anything.
Vince
P.S. "bossy, tough, slightly antagonistic…" that just sounds like any woman who can get the job done.
*Sophie is the older, plain Jane, PhD candidate, heroine who was abused as a child and who is wary of all men, while the hero, Victor, is a handsome Special Forces veteran going to the same college on the GI Bill and who is so in love with Sophie (his soulmate) that she considers him a stalker making life very hard for the hero in "The Last Romantic."
Antagonistic may be too strong a word.
ReplyDeletean·tag·o·nis·tic
anˌtaɡəˈnistik/
adjective
showing or feeling active opposition or hostility toward someone or something.
Funny you should mention that Vince. I just saw this magazine cover from Houstonia magazine. And I knew, spot on that was Sheriff Sam Lawson and it would be the cover of his book. So am writing the book around it.
ReplyDeleteBook 6. Not contracted. Paradise Series.
Hi Tina:
ReplyDelete"Antagonistic may be too strong a word."
Of course, that's why it was modified with 'slightly'. Remember that Thomas Jefferson said that 'a little rebellion is a good thing..."
You just have to have those modifiers.
Hello & congratulations to all the winners ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the book! I'm looking forward to reading it..
Deanna :)
Thank you, Vince. My hero.
ReplyDeleteHope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Great photo Erica. Love that smile.
ReplyDeleteHey Vince, LOVE"S PROMISES is in audible. I was going to promote it this month but something came up and I was unable to post. Tina to the rescue - smile.
ReplyDeleteBut it is available. There is a special of audibles being offered by Amber Stokes and Lena Goldfinch. I will contact her to get that to you. I'm such a dunce, I don't know how to get it out. sigh.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTina Radcliffe said...
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention that Vince. I just saw this magazine cover from Houstonia magazine. And I knew, spot on that was Sheriff Sam Lawson and it would be the cover of his book. So am writing the book around it.
TINA, which issue? Must see if I approve the way I do of Jake and Maggie on their cover.
Maggie is a joy to read about :-)
Nancy C
I love it when an image spawns a book... and a cover!
ReplyDeleteVince, I don't have any audible books or you'd hear about it, my friend!
And Yankees in Bean Town, I can only watch the first hour because there are stories awaiting me at 4:00 AM.... But we'll see what happens in hour 1 of the great NY/Boston rivalry!
I love Sophie, too. I have a great-niece who is a Sophie, but that's it even though it's gotten crazy popular.
And I love my Sophie June in this story. Stinkin' cute kid and a great heroine that I think is one of my favorites... which means I gentled her down a bit, NO ANTAGONISM.
:)
And Vince, thank you for explaining the purpose of modifiers.
ReplyDeleteI like them a lot. :)
I'm slightly in love with them.
Tina, thanks for the Weekend Edition. I'm late getting here but so glad I made it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links and that wonderful sailing quote!
Vince, if I had an audio book, I'd been declaring it from the rooftops. Maybe one day...
Janet
Vince, we've got NYY 5 and Red Sox 0 so far.... and I must go to bed!
ReplyDeleteKeep watching, big guy, and cheer our Bronx Bombers to victory!
#tiredauthor
Yay! I won, I won! Thanks, Seekers!!!
ReplyDeleteRuth:
ReplyDeleteI stayed up until the last out to help the Yankees win. Two outs, last of the ninth, Yankees ahead by three runs, the bases loaded, 8 to 5. A HR and Boston wins. It didn't happen. Yankees in 1st by three games.
Ruthy, finished reading Healing the Lawman's Heart last night. Loved the characters and their unique story! Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done!
ReplyDelete