We've had a new addition to our family. A brand new baby boy! He's as cute as his mother and father, and as bald as his grandfather! (That's him over there--->)
Needless to say, I had to put blogging, writing and reading on hold for a bit. Since I have what my husband calls, "the ultimate Grandma job".
And he's right.
I'm lucky in that I have the ability to chose my daughters' doctors, hospitals, nurses AND I get to be in the delivery room for the birth of everyone of my grandchildren. Now, before you think I get all bossy in there, my coworkers will tell you, I play the role of mom/grandmother and not nurse. I don't get in their way and I don't tell them how to do their jobs. Uhm, I shouldn't have to, I trained all but two of them! :)
So now life is getting a bit more back to normal. I have time to read and visit some of my favorite blogs, like our own Bandit Lair, The Romance Dish, The Romance Writers Revenge, etc...
I've managed to start a new project in my writing. Besides working on my next erotica, revising my western historical mail-order bride story for possible publication, I've started writing some "extras" for my website for people to read. (I had hoped to have them up by now...but that baby came four weeks early!! Impatient boy!) But let me tell you a little about these "extras".
So.....I thought it might be fun for my readers to hear each of the boys' stories about how they met Cap. The first three are up today...Quinn, Dakota and Will, with Nico and Ian's stories to follow shortly after. I'd love for y'all to take a look at them, let me know your opinion. You can read them now @ www.suzanneferrell.com
And for those of you who haunt websites, have you found any with extras or free reads you like? What did you like about them? Did they make you want to read the back list of the authors? Did they make you crave more of their series or characters?
35 comments:
Congrats on the new addition to the family, Suzanne. Looking forward to the extras.
Well done Jane have fun with him
Suz
Whoo Hoo congrats on the birth of a new grandson. Grandchildren are just so special and he is such a cutie, I have been lucky enough to be in the delivery roome when 3 of mine were born and it really is amazing to watch them come into the world. I am so happy for you and your family.
As for the stories YAY I loved The Surrender of Lacey Morgan and I am really looking forward to finding out more about the other boys. I will be dropping in to check them out.
Have Fun
Helen
Jane and Helen! Y'all are fast. I was still editing and the thing posted.
If you click on the link or just go to my website, you two can be the first to read the free reads!
So I want to give a big thank you to my website designer, Alison Marie for working on getting this page up and running. We have two more stories to write and add, Nicco and Ian, but we'll also be adding images of the guys as grown ups sometime this month.
See...teasers to get you to keep coming back!
Jane, congrats on nabbing the GR today! And thanks for the congrats. He's a real little cutie.
Hey, Suz, gorgeous picture of your new grandson. Congratulations!
Jane, the chook's coming to your place. Huzzah!
Suz, I love the idea of getting some free extras on the website. Good on you for getting the short stories up!
Hey Anna! Thanks.
All these men came to live with Cap after dangerous and/or tragic circumstances at a young age. I wanted to give the readers a look at what happened to them.
Beautiful Bub, congratulations!! I obviously don't haunt author websites enough. I will be actively seeking out these free reads you mention.
Thanks Marybelle! He's a sweet baby.
Besides the ones I just posted, I love the "Interview that never happened" on J R Ward's website.
What a cutie! My mother loves being a grandmother way more than being a mother, I think. Of course, she lets the grandbaby get away with stuff she never would have let us, her own children, get away with.
Free reads are fun, like the J. R. Ward one. I enjoy reading short stories like that online and they give me some idea of the writer's voice (like the various short stories on Joey W. Hill's site).
Hey Sheree!
Grandbabies are fun and the best part is I send them home at the end of the day! hehehe
Thanks for telling me about Joey W. Hill's site. I'll have to be checking that out later today.
Suz, this sounds like fun. I've heard several times that readers love those free reads. I want to do some of my own at some point, when things slow down a bit (ha!). :)
Congrats on the new addition!
Can't wait to see how you handle prequels to the series. I'm working on one for my upcoming Rescue Me series (to be published by August and given away free to help promote the series). I worried about being able to make it clear this is a BDSM series, especially after writing the scene where the 16-year-old runaway meets her future hero. I mean, no sex or even sex thoughts about her from him in that scene--because there's a huge age difference. But it sets up that as the conflict to come. Then one of the masters had a sexual past with his future subbie, so readers will be tipped off as to what they're getting into. LOL).
Of course, for you, it's not as important to convey that, because you already have the first book out (and a name!). Have I told you lately that I LOVED "The Surrender of Lacy Morgan"? Can't wait for Will's story--and now I'm going to go download the stories for the next time I get to read this weekend!
Kally
Kallypso Masters
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kallypsomasters@gmail.com
Hey Trish!
The extras while fun to do, were a bit time consuming. I think in the long run they will be worth the time. They show some background story I don't have to delve too deeply into the main story and yet are important to the kind of men each becomes later on.
Each one is between 2000 and 3000 words.
Hey Kally! Welcome to the Bandit Lair.
Thanks again on the loving of TSoLM. And yes, I'm still working on Will's story. I wish I was a faster writer. :)
These extras are very PG-13 as they are about when each of the boys meets Cap and they were about 10 or 11 at the time. Besides, between my website and the Bandit blog, I keep it all PG-13! :) So the extras fit right in!
You should be a proud grandma, he's a sweetie. Congrats to you whole family on the addition.
The stories about the boys are quite enjoyable (makes me want to read more about them, so feel free to keep them coming) :)
Great idea, Suz! I love reading characters' backstories, and especially like reading about how Quinn came to live with Cap. Although we got hints of it in LACY MORGAN, I liked how you filled in the details.
Very moving in its understatement.
I'll have to read the others later.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone, if you're in the States.
Ooops, forgot to congratulate you on that darling baby boy! It's so much fun to play grandma, isn't it?
Suz - Congratulations on the new addition! He's adorable.
Don't know how you find the time, Suz! I am in awe. I think free reads and shorts are a great way to let readers get a taste of your voice and want to read the book. I would love to do that myself, but I always seem to be bumping into deadlines for the next book with little room to breathe in between. Good on you for going the extra mile.
Suz:
Your grandson is beautiful!!!
I'm so looking forward to reading the extras! :-)
Addison
Congrats on your latest grandbaby, Suz! What a sweetie!
Yay on getting some free reads up there too - especially back story about the other boys on the ranch. I always like my freebies to be something different - an extra insight, backstory or a future story. I also like linked stories that revisit characters but which you don't need to read to understand a story. I hate anthologies that have one short story in a series from someone I like - I object to being forced to buy a book with other stories in it just to get the one story!
Suz Brockmann has done an excellent job with her 'shorts' - though, as she'll readily admit, her shorts are longer than most people's longs LOL.
Suz, congratulations on your new cutie-pie! What a sweetheart.
I don't do a lot of web browsing, so I can't offer any suggestions from that perspective. However, as a former writer of superhero fan fiction, I can honestly say I love getting a peek into the characters' lives beyond the pages of the books.
Hey GaMistress!
Thanks. He's slipped very easily into the family and really is as sweet as he looks! Thanks goodness.
Glad you enjoyed the boys' stories. I do have Nicco and Ian's stories in my head and just have to get them into the computer. Will let you know when they are!
Hey Jo!
Great idea, Suz! I love reading characters' backstories, and especially like reading about how Quinn came to live with Cap. Although we got hints of it in LACY MORGAN, I liked how you filled in the details.
Glad you enjoyed it. This was a great way to fill in the parts of Quinn's past that shaped him, but didn't necessarily need to be included in The Surrender of Lacy Morgan.
Jo:It's so much fun to play grandma, isn't it?
It is, isn't it? I do have to be honest though. I'm looking forward to the hot summer so we can play in the pool with the older ones!
Congratulations, Suzanne! Can't wait to zip over to your site to check out the free reads! I have to say that yes, I have added many a title to the TBB based on free reads :)
Hey Donna!
Time? What time? LOL!! Actually, the extras were written out in pen in those insomnia moments that plague me from the years of working nights. It's way more productive than watching bad B movies or informercials!
Hey Addison!! Can't wait to see you next month!
When you get them read, let me know what you think. You and I've talked about extra free reads for our readers. I think these work for what I had in mind for mine.
Hey Anna S!
I hate anthologies that have one short story in a series from someone I like - I object to being forced to buy a book with other stories in it just to get the one story! Me too! Do you notice if there are 3 stories in the anthology one is good, one is okay and one is so-so? Makes me crazy.
This has been like doing my own little anthology, except, other than Quinn's story, y'all don't know how their lives completely turn out. hmmmm...Guess I'd better get on with finishing the second book, huh?
Hey Nancy!
However, as a former writer of superhero fan fiction, I can honestly say I love getting a peek into the characters' lives beyond the pages of the books. I have a daughter who does fan-fiction art. Which is like an artists view of a free read!
Doing this has also given me a solid feel for each hero's character strength and flaws!
Hey Fedora!
Can't wait to zip over to your site to check out the free reads! Cool! Let me know what you think when you're done, okay?
Just now had a chance to read Dakota's story. I really like these little vignettes which tell us what the boys were like when they came to live with Cap. They're tender without being sentimental. Well done, Suz.
Oh, and you know I adore the babies more than the toddlers. Babies don't talk back LOL. Much!
Gorgeous little one, Suz! How amazing to be so involved in the birth of your grandchildren.
Excerpts--I tend to just look on authors' sites if I'm interested in them, but there is Heartbreakers and Heroes now, which is doing a lot of sample reads. And I think they pay for short stories, too!
Jo:Just now had a chance to read Dakota's story. I really like these little vignettes which tell us what the boys were like when they came to live with Cap. They're tender without being sentimental. Well done, Suz.
Thanks, Jo! I've been nervous as to whether they'd accomplish what I wanted or come off as crap!
Hey Christine!
Yeah, being there for my girls is one major perk of what I do for a living!! (of course the draw back is that I know every bad thing that can happen and get to spend 36-40 weeks worrying!)
Excerpts--I tend to just look on authors' sites if I'm interested in them, but there is Heartbreakers and Heroes now, which is doing a lot of sample reads. And I think they pay for short stories, too!
ooooooo I never heard of this site. Gonna have to go check it out!
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