Vampires Next Door?

Welcome today's guest, Trinity Blacio, who just might have...well...there might be vampires next door!

You know how you’re always nervous about moving into a new home or new neighborhood? Well, I’m there. Last June my family and I moved from a bigger town to a smaller one, from an apartment to a large home. Talk about a lot of work and, of course, who had to pack and unpack everything? ME!

Finally, we are settled. The kids have now been in school for over a month, and have new friends and a new way of life. I’ve met one of my neighbor’s who is very nice person, but on the people on the other side of us... Let’s just say we’re still confused. Right now we call them The Vampires.

Oh, we’ve seen them in the daytime, but rarely and only when said teenager is having a pool party. But most of the time their house is shut up against the sun. At night the doors come open and the lights brighten their once dark home.

On many occasions I have woken to get a glass of water and saw our neighbors wide awake at three in the morning. I’ll be standing there drinking my water, gazing out my kitchen window, and their house is full of life at night. Even the children are up roaming or they would be swimming late at night.

Is there a man of the house? I think so, but so far I’ve only caught him mowing the lawn once and then one time at night when the parents threw a party. The mother is the same way; I’ve seen her mow the grass, but soon after she is in the house.

Of course being the polite person that I am, I smile and wave, but still nothing from either of them. {{Sigh}} If they are vampires, I sure wish they would come bite me. I’d love to live forever, find a cute, hunky vampire dude to cuddle up to—and let’s not forget the hot, steamy vampire sex that goes with such a man. 

We can all dream, can’t we? So what have I been up to other than moving? I’ve been trying to get back into the writing grove. So far I have one Christmas story done and sent to my new agent, and I’m halfway done with book eight of my Running In Fear Series. I’m hoping to have it out around Halloween, so stay tuned.

Christmas give away. I invite all of you to come over to my blog, on November first. I will be giving away a nice size box of Christmas gifts. I will pick the winner on December 20.

Blog: http://trinityblacio.com/blog/

Below is the blurb for After Dark on Bourbon Street. Please check out the first seven books of the series at Ravenous Romance.

http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/running-in-fear-escaped.php?keyword=Trinity+Blacio

Don’t forget to check me out on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trinity-Blacio/96394356778

Twitter: https://twitter.com/trinityblacio

Valda Sart hated being Skunk Ape, Bigfoot, Yeti, and so on. She was no ordinary Skunk Ape. Valda had gifts and kept them hidden. However, now someone was hunting her and she knew it was only a matter of time before they caught her. All six men in her pack, the one she’d been promised would not give up on her, were determined to claim her. At birth, each female was promised to another clan, and Valda was no exception.

Her only option was to use her gift and blend in with the rest of the people around her. Hiding among the humans, Valda realized how much her life sucked; that was until she forged a new life in New Orleans. Here in the city, she had friends and men actually talked to her, courted her.

For the last six years something had pulled at her. It was only a matter of time before she, too, would have to join Jaycee, Suzanne, and Lissa on the new planet. Even in her dreams she’d seen the new, beautiful world, and the wide range of beings already living there.

            How can they ask her to give up romance, love, and friends? Didn’t they know what it would mean if this group of men found her?

Slipping on My Promo Heels

I’ve blogged before about how much I detest promoting my work. Most of my online correspondence is via Facebook and Twitter. I have blogs on my websites, but it’s difficult to blog about something interesting on a regular basis, especially on three different sites; that’s why we do it here on Four Strong Women and leave links. It’s much simpler and less time-consuming.

I hate promotion, and when I post on loops and even take the time to comment on some threads, I still stumble across posts where authors grumble about their peers who they feel are promo whores. Well, the only time Author XYZ appears online is to promote h/her book!

I see their point, but publishing is a business. Sure, we make friends with editors, publishers, and fellow authors, but business is business and friendship is friendship. Over the 25+ years I've been in magazine, e-zine, and indie publishing, few people can truly mix friendship and business. In all that time, I've only been able to do this with two people.

I try to rub elbows with other authors. Yanno, the support-your-fellow-co-workers thing. However, most of my loop posting is on my publishers’ groups, and even then it’s a rare occurrence for me. I just don’t have time to constantly type something thoughtful so that I’m considered a regular poster. I reserve most of my “chatting” with readers (that’s not to say authors don’t read, because they do, but we’ll get to that in a moment). I must write to submit material. I must submit to score contracts. And then once the title is published, I must promote that work to put food on my table.

 An afternoon viewing an apartment
becomes more than Simon expected.
More info HERE

Every writer is forced to do this.

I enjoy talking with other authors, but they’re doing the same thing I am. Again, this is a business.

If you’re an author, have you ever stopped to consider how many writers are on the loops compared to dedicated readers? Sure writers read, yes, but they often have less time to read (which is a conundrum when one of the top tips for writers is read, read, read!). As a result, I feel like I'm mostly promoting my work to other authors if I hang on the loops and forums all the time.

And don’t even get me started about ads! How do you get your ad to stand out from the rest on the sites that are economically feasible? Every other author is looking for more bang for their buck, too, especially in our current economy.

The bigger sites are lovely, but who can afford the astronomical ad prices unless they’re a huge-success author, and those are few and far between, yanno?

Authors imagine, they write, they sell their work, and then they promote while they write the next story. Add a day job and managing a household and family into an author's life and any extra time is precious.

But let me return to the topic of blogging. What to blog about? When to blog? How often to blog? Will readers respond to this post better or that post better? Is my blog topic something that will urge the net surfer to click on it? And how often should I post the link to gain interest?

I blog here at Four Strong Women once a month. Each of us try to blog at least twice during our designated weeks, but I also blog at Decadent's Elatia blog on the first and third Mondays of each month. It's tough promoting a new blog so that readers *follow* it, and again, the touting a new blog is time-consuming, too.

So then I wonder...are readers even paying attention when I post my blog links?

ARGH!

But it all boils down to one ultimate question: does all of this make me a promo whore when I do appear on the loops? If it does, allow me a moment to slip on my bright red stilettos. Here’s a picture, lol. And yes, they really are mine.

Now let me get back to writing those damn promo posts! Bwahaha!