MaggieAdmin, Author at Maggie Wells-Margaret Ethridge

April 4, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Ramping up!

April is here! That means it’s almost time for FLIP THIS LOVE!

At last!

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All month long, I’ll be ramping up to release day. That means you can expect lots of blog posts, giveaways, and tidbits on social media. The fact is, writing the book doesn’t take nearly as long as the editing, packaging, and promoting does.

I received my author copies in the mail a couple weeks ago, and ordered a supply of paper books to have on hand for the book signings. Remember, I’ll be at the Chicago North RWA Spring Fling (May 21st, Hyatt Regency Schaumburg, IL 3-5pm) and the Diamond State Romance Authors 10th anniversary signing at Hastings (Benton, AR) on June 18, 2016.

In the meantime, I’m still making new words for Ransomed Heart. I’m past the 70k mark. That means I’m heading into the last quarter of play. Gotta keep moving!

How about you? How are you ramping up for Spring?

March 21, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Ten good things

Lots of good things going on. Ready for a check in?

I’m over the halfway point with drafting Ransomed Heart! Woohoo! This is the point in the story where I have no idea what my characters are doing, and I just hope they will bring it around again. You see, they’ve stopped listening to me a few thousand words back. Being a panther, I’m okay with letting them go for a little bit. I can always rein them in at revision time.
I have received and returned the first round of edits on book #3 in the Coastal Heat series, Love & Rockets! And…just one of the many cool parts about this book: it will release on my birthday! Look for it at your favorite retailer on November 16, 2016!
Speaking of Love & Rockets, the cover art fairy visited my inbox this week, and I may have squealed a bit. I’ll share the goods as soon as I get the green light.
Got an AWESOME 5 STAR early review for Flip This Love (Coastal Heat #2, April 26, 2016) at Epilogue Book Blog! From the feedback I’ve had so far, readers are loving our new hero, Harley Cade. Yay!!!!
Going Deep (Coastal Heat #1) is on sale this month for only $0.99. This is the first book in the series, so if you haven’t read it, grab it now!
Six? Funny, I have about 6 future story proposals under consideration. Cross everything!
Six must be the number of the week! It’s been just over a year since I sent a query letter off to Sara Megibow, asking her to read Full Court Press. Since then, we’ve done deals for 6 books together.
Have you tried the Buttered Toffee shakes at Sonic Drive-Ins? Yeah. Best. Shake. Ever.
Completed my 100 word/100 days challenge. Stats: Total words added to WIPs 88,446! Today, I am starting a new 100 day challenge, but this time I’m going to try to go for 500 per day.
This week, I was reminded again of how very lucky I am to have such loving and supportive friends and family. Thank you for being a part of my life. You are the very best part.

March 14, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Venturing forth

It has rained for more than a week. Not a few intermittent showers, either. We’re talking steady, pouring, sometimes torrential rains. While it wasn’t as bad here as it was in southern Arkansas and the northern part of Louisiana, the flash flooding in prone areas was bad enough to make us have to alter our usual routes for a few days.

Those of you who know me know that I’m rather like a kitten when it comes to getting wet. I don’t care much for it. Oh, I kept myself busy with writing in the evenings. Even picked up a few beach-y themed prizes for the FLIP THIS LOVE launch next month:

But by the end of the week, we were getting restless. So what did we do? We went off to the races!

It’s racing season at OakLawn track in Hot Springs, so we drove down to meet up with some friends to watch the ponies run a muddy track. It was Daffodil Day at the track, so my boyfriend bought me a crown. 🙂

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After a day of tossing $2 bets around like we were big money, we headed back to Little Rock for the real big time. A date with a 3 year-old and a giant rodent. Due to the ceaseless rain, my boy’s birthday party had to be moved from the nice little park near their house, to the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese.

We survived. A nap was procured (for him and for me), and now I am back in the chair and past the halfway point on this draft of Ransomed Heart. Oh, and the sun is supposed to make an appearance today. Keep your fingers crossed!

March 7, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Welcome March!

So glad March is here. Not only did we have a beautiful weekend, but the daffodils are blooming and a young woman’s thoughts are turning to romance. Writing romance.

I’m proud to say I managed to keep up with my 100 words/100 days through all the trauma of February. There were some days when I eked by with just over 100, but I made my goal each day. If I can make it through to the 19th, I’ll hit the 100 day mark. I’ll share my total word count when all is said and done.

I’m working on the second book in the Warrior series. I’ve also got a few proposals for future work out there, so cross your fingers. Writers are like sharks, we just have to keep moving forward.

One of the fun things I’ve been doing is participating in the Seasoned Romance group on Facebook. This group is for readers and writers who want to see more couples with a little more life experience behind them. If your’e on Facebook and want to talk about book you love, join us!

In other news: GOING DEEP is on sale this month for only $0.99!

Why, you ask? Because FLIP THIS LOVE is going to be released next month!!

I can’t wait for you to meet Harley and Laney! I think you’ll really like them!

That’s what I have going so far. What’s new with you?

February 29, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Farewell February

Okay, ‘farewell’ wasn’t my first choice of ‘F’ words to use, but I’m trying to keep things polite.

What craptastic month is has been. It may be the shortest month on the calendar, but February more than made up for its deficiencies by hitting me, my friends, and loved ones with an overabundance of deaths, illnesses, accidents, financial hurdles, as well as personal and professional disappointments.

So, yeah, buh-bye, February.

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Take your extra day and hit the road, Jack. We’ve had enough of you and your shenanigans.

Coming next week: Attitude adjustment and forward progress. Stay tuned.

February 22, 2016

It’s been mayhem

We lost my mom on February 11, 2016.

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It’s been a long couple of years for her. For all of us. And now she’s at peace.

I could write a thousand words about my thoughts, feelings, and blah blah blah, but I won’t. I can’t. It’s just not me. Let me just say I’m sad. Very sad. I’m trying to keep moving forward because that’s the way I cope. But it isn’t easy.

So my plan is to keep trying. I may spin my wheels a bit, but eventually I’ll get traction.

In the meantime, I’ll take my mommy’s advice and try not to let my ‘little heart grow weary.’

Hug your loved ones.

xoxo

Margaret

February 8, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Affairs of the Heart

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Like contemporary romance? I’m participating in the Affairs of the Heart Valentine’s giveaway February 8 – 15th, and we’ll be giving away tons of awesome books and a Kindle! This includes my book, GOING DEEP!

Enter today and tell all of your romance loving things!

It was migraine week in Magsland, which means very little got done. I did, however, finish Chapter Seven of RANSOMED HEART. That puts me at the 1/3 point. I’ve discovered a lot about my characters that I didn’t know before. That means, I’ll be spending a good chunk of this week tearing apart what I have, tightening the story arc, and exploring some of that uncharted territory.

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I’ll also be ordering a big tin of Garrett’s Mix for my beloved. How about you? Making big plans for hearts and flowers day?

February 1, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Old flames and new loves

Big news in my world this week – the Gilmore Girls revival is a go!

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The table read took place last week, filming is set to start, and my posse is starting to make plans to watch it together!

This week, I also fell in love with a new show this week. Until the People’s Choice Awards, I had never hear of Mozart in the Jungle. I just watched two seasons in 24 hours and I’m soooo in love with it.

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I don’t feel the least bit bad about the indulgence, because once again I have met my goal early. Ransomed Heart is approaching the 1/3 mark. One more chapter and I think I’ll start pulling what I have apart, trimming away the loose threads, then shoring it up so I can soar right over any threat of a saggy middle.

How about you? Run into any lost loves or new sparks this week?

January 25, 2016

Monday Mayhem – All the news

Okay! So this week’s post is all about the news. First, the big news I’ve been hinting at for a month or so:

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That’s right, the Warrior series (FULL COURT PRESS, RANSOMED HEART, and TOSSING THE PLAYBOOK) will be available in audio starting with the release of FULL COURT PRESS in December 2017! Read all about it here!

Second, as you know, I re-released the HOT NIGHTS IN ST. BLAISE novellas as a set. You can grab all 12 stories for just $3.99. If you’d like to tempt a friend into trying them out, I’m posting book #1, JUMPING MR. JANUARY on Wattpad as a free read. Chapters 1, 2, & 3 will be available as of this week. Please help me spread the word!

Third, don’t forget that GOING DEEP is on sale for only $0.99. I think the sale ends this week, so tell all of your friends to pick up a copy today. FLIP THIS LOVE will be out in April, and LOVE AND ROCKETS in October. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot – I think you’ll really love the Coastal Heat series!

Whew! That’s a lot going on, isn’t it? Well, it’s not all I have cooking. I’m over 15k into drafting RANSOMED HEART and I have to tell you, I’m loving this story! I’m using the delicious Boris Kodjoe as my inspiration for basketball coach, Ty Ransom. I’ll just leave this here for a minute:

Ty Ransom

Yeah. Uh huh.

You’ll be pleased to know that I was a good girl this past week and got ahead of my goal. Keep your fingers crossed that I can keep the streak going!

What’s new with you?

January 18, 2016

Monday Mayhem – Top 3 ways of goofing off

I’ve had a pretty high demand week in terms of the day job, which means I haven’t had a lot of energy for the night job. Oh, I’ve been making my daily word count, I barely made the loftier weekly goal I set for myself, but I did. I also found some time to goof off along the way. Here are the top three ways I avoided being productive:

3) I picked up a romance classic. I’ve never read The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, so I’m doing that now. Now, I totally get why this book drew so many authors to the genre.

2) Dating – I suckered my man into taking me out to dinner and the bookstore. We had one of these:

1) The West Wing on Netflix. I loved this show. Unfortunately, when Fodder and I started dating, our nightly phone calls preempted my viewing of shows airing at 9pm. I’m finally going to watch the last couple of episodes.

Don’t worry, little by little, I’m making progress on Ransomed Heart. I’m having a great time getting to know Ty and Millie better. I can’t wait for you to meet them!

Oh, and if you haven’t had a chance to read the Hot Nights in St. Blaise series, I’ve re-released it! Grab your copy here:

Amazon ~ Apple ~ B&N ~ Kobo ~Smashwords

Annnnnd…Going Deep is on sale for only $0.99! Tell your friends!

All Romance ~ Amazon ~ Apple ~ B&N ~ Google ~ Kensington ~ Kobo