The Fussy Librarian

For the past two months I’ve been working on launching a new website that I think you’ll really love. The Fussy Librarian lets you select what genres of books you read as well as your preferences on content — profanity, violence and sexual content. No other site gives you this level of personalization.

So come and visit The Fussy Librarian and sign up to get daily deals on great books!

Fifty pages in

I’m in the middle of a 15 day streak at work and, as many of you know, I get the bulk of my writing done on the weekends. So there haven’t been any “weekends” for a while.

But good news: I’m getting my Fourth of July holiday and my “weekend” on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And I’ve lined up a tour of the setting where the third Annie novel is set. Also plan to get some writing done!

The other thing is there’s a project that’s come up that I’m working on a business plan so I can get some advice on whether it’s worth the financial risk involved. If I decide to go ahead, it will definitely impact time available for writing … But it’s also something that I think you’ll really like.

Signs and Wonders free today and Tuesday

Here’s the handy link:

And as for whether Finding Grace will ever have free days, the answer is no. Too many hours devoted to it to just give it away. Besides, I need to start earning even a little money if you folks expect me to become a full time author someday 🙂

Out West Day 8: Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix

It was scorching hot but that didn’t take anything away from how beautiful this garden is. Having lived for half of my life on the East Coast and half in the Midwest, there were so many things here that I don’t normally see.

Out West Day 7: Hoover Dam, Route 66

Taken from the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge:

And a view of the bridge, the second highest in America:

The turbine room at the dam:

A little town along Route 66. The part of the road we drove is not for the faint of heart.

And another sunset. Because you can never watch too many sunsets.

Out West Day 6 — Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce is one of those other-worldly type of places. It has these totem pole like stone formations called hoodoos that look like they were planted by aliens. If you are a hiker, you really want to come here and hike to the canyon floor.

Nearby, is Valley of Fire State Park:

And last, but not least, Germans riding Harley’s. For some reason, lots of Germans like to come to the Southwest, put on their leathers, and drive around rented Harleys:

BBoS

The first of the month brings the BBoS, better known as the Brown Bar of Shame to authors who sell their books on the Amazon Kindle. That’s what you see until you sell a book.

May was a good month — 305 sales of Finding Grace and another 86 of Signs and Wonders. A good month but not a great one. There’s still 75,000+ people out there who have copies of S&W that I have yet to reach. (Amazon, unfortunately, does not automatically send emails to readers when the second book in a series is released.)

Marketing is hard and frustrating. Almost every author will tell you this. Writing and chatting with readers is a thousand times more fun.

If you have bought Finding Grace,, thank you, thank you, thank you. If you enjoyed it, please tell a friend. (Recommending it to your friends on Goodreads is VERY helpful and easy. The book has its own page and you just click the recommend button.)

In the meantime, I’m going to go start work this afternoon on Chapter 1 of the next Annie Grace book. That’s what many of you have been asking me to do. It makes me happy. It (hopefully) makes you happy. Everyone wins.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Alex

Out West Day 5: Zion National Park

Zion is a testament to what nature can do with water and wind and a few million years. It’s so amazing that it doesn’t actually look real if that makes any sense. It’s also at a much lower elevation than the Grand Canyon or Bryce NP, so it’s a good 10 to 15 degrees warmer.

Near Zion is Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park:

Out West, Day 4: Slot canyon, Kanab, Utah

It’s one of those places that’s a good half hour off the highway that you need a Jeep to reach but once you get there, oh my goodness it’s amazing.

It’s someplace you don’t want to get caught during a thunderstorm because of the flash floods. I confess I couldn’t help but imagine a chase scene in here for a screenplay — it would be quite the thrilling climax!

Out West Day 3 — Monument Valley is amazing

This is where a ton of Westerns have been filmed … As well as the snake scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” You must go there sometime — it is spectacular.