Joleene Naylor's Comments

Hey Joleene,   I added the review to Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/885076829.

Glad you are enjoying it.  My review of Shades of Gray finally posted in the i-store.  Would you like me to post it on Goodreads?  I found your novels there.

Hello Joleen.  You write for teens ?  Is that right ?  Nice to meet you.  Sorry I have taken so long - I hardly use this site, but will now make more effort.

Ha :-) thnx!

Just trying to make this a site where authors will want to be :-)

Hey Joleene,

Just wanted to let you know that John Kremer inquired about your book launch in the discussion forum 'What's Working For You?'

Maybe you can fill him in :-)

U betcha' :-)

Hope you are felling better today.

Joleene,

Wishing you all the best today :-)

Reposted my blog review of Shades of Gray and asked John Kremer to put your newest book cover up where he promotes buying books by great authors on The Book Marketing Network.

Okay, gonna get back to promoting you :-)

Your welcome ^_^. Good luck to you tomorrow.

Thank you for the welcome. 

Hi!

Interesting place they have here!

Thanks Joleene!

I have been getting some pretty good suggestions from my test readers. Please feel free to let me know what you think works and what could use a little improvement.

This version in the content section is still a rough draft. In some places my editor's notes may still be visible (though color coded). There are a couple of areas that still contain multiple versions of paragraphs. The next edit that we post will be more refined.

Oh-and finally, this is only half of the book. So, you will notice that it just kind of leaves you hanging :-(

Thanks again for taking the time to read Blood and Fire: The Vampire/Dragon Wars:-)

I look forward to your feedback.

4-LAN

Joleene,

Thought you would like to know that my review of Shades of Gray is up on my blog entitled What I Am Reading :-)

Hope you check it out :-D

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Cheers!

Wow, you do your own editing too?

Hey, aren't you a couple of hours ahead of me? You must stay up really late :-)

When I finally get the last quarter of my book done, I will have to decide if I want to try to submit it to a publisher. Your experience with that route makes it sound like self publishing is the way to go. I am surprised that they would expect you to still do all your own marketing. I would have thought that that would be the whole reason an author would like to be picked up by a big publishing company-because they will promote your book.

I guess self publishing is looking better all the time :-)

I just finished reading Shades of Gray :-)

That is why I am getting back to you after midnight. I have so much that I want to discuss with you about your book, but it is late. I guess you will just have to read the review I post up on my blog and Amazon tomorrow :-D

Let's just say I enjoyed it very much. I even read the sneak peek of chapter 1 of book 2 :-)

I love vampire stories-well, I guess you will find that out when you start reading Blood and Fire: The Vampire/Dragon Wars :-P

Okay-I took a couple of those pink benadryls to counteract the caffeine I had at our early supper(3 iced teas and a cup of coffee with dessert :-O  ).

Think I might actually be able to fall asleep before the sun comes up-so, maybe I am not turning into a creature of the night like some of the characters we write about :-)

Night, Joleene

4-LAN

I also worry that nobody will like my work and it always proves to be a groundless worry lol. I know that there are and always will be, people out there who won't like my work. I don't think I'm the GAWD of the literary world lol. But there are plenty of people who do like what I write.

There are folks that will say you should just write for yourself, that who likes your stuff doesn't matter, but I have to disagree. If you are writing just for fun, then this is a fair and correct statement. If you are hoping to become a published author with a real career, then what other people think is very important. That's not to say you shouldn't like what you write, or that you should only write what everyone thinks is popular. I just believe that if you write crap, that is what you will get paid... crap lol.

Here is my idea of what crap writing is:

1. Lots of spelling errors and typos. To me that just says this person didn't even take the time to check their work. They just wrote shit down and called it good.

2. Paragraphs or sentences that don't correlate to each other. I've read actual PUBLISHED work that has left me scratching my head in confusion and wondering what is going on. It is my opinion that this type of writing is hard for people to follow and leaves the reader with a feeling of ambiguity by the end of the book. This is assuming that they don't stop reading by the end of the first chapter. If a reader can't follow the story, then they can't get into the story.

3. A story with no plot and way too much detail. The writing just plods along describing things. There is no feeling of anything real. I feel like I'm reading a textbook on the history of the Trojan War or something. Just too boring lol.

Until I read someone's writings I never assume that they are in any of those three categories, and if they are, I would tell them so that they could fix it and have awesome stuff to share with the world.

So hold your breath Joleen, cause here I come to read your story lol :D

I am very excited. Marilyn confirmed that she got your email, so I hope to be starting Shades of Gray tonight!

Thank you for the encouragement in your last comment-I'm glad to know that I am not the only one that has to wait for the muse to whisper in my ear :-)

I was curious about whether you ever tried to submit your work to a publishing company or if you just automatically decided to go the self publishing route. I know that it can be difficult to get a publisher to even read your manuscript, much less have it chosen to be picked up by them.

I am glad you seem to be holding your own in the market and have been able to make a name for yourself. Six books in a series is pretty impressive :-D

Okay, Marilyn should be showing up to the cabin soon. I'm a little worried-I warned her about the fog around Lake Cuyamaca.

Hope you and your hubby have a good weekend. He have a favorite for Super Bowl Sunday?

4-LAN

Well don't stop writing :) sooner or later you'll get lots of fans. Vampires seem to be pretty popular these days.

I don't know if I'm prolific lol. I'm just determined. I've written my stories in the shadows for so long now that I guess I'm making up for lost time :D

You can feel free to read some of my free short stories on my website if you have the time or the interest. The link is on my profile page. :)

Where do you post your vampire stories?

Ha! You are still writing much more quickly than I. I am still trying to finish up the ending of my first one! :-(

S'ok though, I have it all outlined-I just can't force myself to write without inspiration-it comes out flat.

All that marketing that you were talking about sounds very daunting. I guess I better get used to it-unless I am lucky enough to have a publisher pick me up, Wishful thinking on my part :-D

Yes, please stop by Aidana's page and have a look around. She is very nice-and friendly :-)

Oh, I will ask Marilyn if she got your email. :-P

Thank you again. I look forward to reading it :-D

4-LAN