Tag: Secret Past

Goodreads Giveaways!

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Readers are key to being a successful writer.  Readers are the ones who write reviews.  Readers spend their hard earned money to buy a book.  In recognition of this, I’m running three giveaways on Goodreads right now.

Wayfarer (click on the name to go to the giveaway)

Adara Stone youngest pilot in the Interstellar Planets Union survived one ship’s destruction only to be treated like a jinx.  Being half human and half Wayfarer, she’s always been set apart.  Adara covets being in space and the Pritchard.  She loves the feel of the ship in her hands.  Captain Decker Flannery thinks she’s too young, too solitary, and too sexy to be on his ship.  He needs a third pilot so he has no choice.  Flannery finds fault in every action Adara takes but at the same time finds himself drawn.  He doesn’t like other people touching her and he finds himself protective and attracted.  Adara’s past puts her and her crew in danger.  She fears her “jinx” will harm those she’s come to love but they love her and are willing to fight to protect her.  In the end, Adara finds a home and a family.

Secret Past  (click on the name to go to the giveaway)

Waiting in line at the bank, Nick and Dee are thrown together during a bank robbery. Instantly attracted Dee can’t resist family-oriented Nick. Dee has secrets – deadly secrets which private eye Nick stirs up.  He must know all her secrets.  To survive Dee must run but can’t leave Nick. Nick escapes with her. Nick has to earn her trust as Dee realizes she is strong enough to face her Secret Past.

Moon Affirmations (click on the name to go to the giveaway)

Moon Affirmations is a meditation self help book geared around the cycle of the moon.  Using the moon’s energy, the reader can focus on issues in their lives.  For each chapter, there is a brief description of the moon cycle along with an affirming poem and a guided meditation for each day of the phase.  

Pre-Orders and Reviews!

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Book reviews are hard to come by.  A good book review is a gem.  This week, to my surprise, I received three of them!  

On Barnes and Noble, Dragon Lord’s Mate received a five star review! You can check it out here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-lords-mate-eileen-troemel/1120825152?ean=9781503358072

On Crystals Many Reviewers, I got a five star review for both Wayfarer and
Secret Past!  In addition to the five stars she wrote a wonderful review.  I’m thrilled and excited about these reviews.  They will go on Amazon and Barnes and Noble soon.  For now you can check them out here:
http://www.crystalsmanyreviewers.com/2015/01/wayfarer-by-eileen-troemel.html

http://www.crystalsmanyreviewers.com/2014/12/secret-past-by-eileen-troemel.html

 In addition to these reviews, I got the fifth Wayfarer book – Wayfarer Wedding – out for pre-order.  Wayfarer Negotiator came out on December 31, so there will be two new installments in this series.

My writing to do list is long and complex.  I just finished the rough draft of a futuristic romance murder mystery.  I don’t have a title and it needs some serious editing but that goes in the mix next for editing.  I have the first scene for Wayfarer six done but need about 48,000 more words in that one.  Defenders of Magic (third in the defenders series) is underway.  The sequel to Dragon Lord’s Mate is percolating.  Aside from these, I have a half dozen other projects jumping up and down saying “Pick me, Pick me, work on me next.”

I’m pretty sure this list will keep me busy for a little while at the very least.

Five Star Review

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Secret Past is a book I spent a lot of years writing and perfecting.  I never thought it was good enough until my middle daughter told me to stop fussing with it and publish it.  Don’t get me wrong I love the story but I couldn’t believe other people would want to read a full length story I’d written.

With her (and my other daughters) encouragement I published.  I’ve been watching it for eight months and every time there is a sale, it’s a thrill.  There is still a part of me who is under confident and doubtful of my skills.  I think I need that doubt to make sure I’m writing to the standard I expect.

Yesterday I received a surprise in my email.  I sent a copy of Secret Past to several web sites for reviews.  I got one yesterday.  As soon as I saw it in my email, I prepared myself for a horrible review.  I don’t know what I expected the person to say but I never expected a five star review.

I love Dee and Nick.  They were my first full length characters.  My first foray into developing someone’s personality, reactions, and life.  Their story became a large part of my life.  The first time I had to cut scenes from the book, I felt like I was ripping apart their lives.

Yes, for all the therapists out there, I know they are characters.  I know they are figments of my imagination.  I also know how much they mean to me.  I never expected them to mean so much to others.

Go check out the review.

http://www.crystalsmanyreviewers.com/2014/12/secret-past-by-eileen-troemel.html 

Secret Past is available as an ebook and a paperback.  You can purchase it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and a lot of other places.

Hermit Grumbling

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Writing

Finished another student worker gift and am half done with another, as well as discovered I’m more productive listening to an audio book than I am watching tv.  This is probably due to my not having to look up to see what’s going on while I’m listening to a book.

Last night Ken and I went to supper with two of my sisters, a nephew, uncle, mom and brother-in-law.  It was a good supper and a good time with the people.  I thoroughly enjoyed being with the people.

Having said that, when I was getting ready to go all I wanted to do was stay home and keep working on my stuff.  I was grumbly about having to go outside my house and my comfort zone of being a hermit to go out to supper.

Now I do laugh at myself because we did have a good time and a good meal.  It was really nice to spend time with Aimee and Jerry because we don’t get a lot of time with them.  I enjoy their company and can have a good conversation with them.  It was just me being grumbly about going out.

Today the plan is to stay in all day.  Yes I’m going to be a hermit and work on writing and on crocheting.  I want to finish the student worker gift I’m working on and hopefully start the last one.  I have an idea in my head and I want to see if I can make it work out like I see it in my head.

I’ve been entering the Writer’s of the Future contest every quarter.  This quarter I haven’t entered because I didn’t love my choice for entering.  I have taken a lot of criticism on the piece and I’m not sure it is up to par for submitting.  Then last night I had a really good idea for a piece that might work out nicely – going to see if I can crank it out in the word limit they have.

It promises to be a full day with crocheting and writing.  There is so much I want to get done and I know I’ll be lucky to get like half of it done.  On a positive note, I’m now reading Rapture in Death and enjoying it thoroughly.

Not sure what Ken’s plans are for the day but he grumbled something about chores he wanted to get done.  I know he got out the snow blower because they were calling for six inches.  With it being weather, they have of course changed their minds on that.  But the lawn mower is put away and the snow blower is out.  We are switching gears with the season.

Come check out my web site and the books I have available at:  http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/

Crocheting to an Audio Book

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Writing

Books are amazing.  They take you to a place you can’t go on your own whether it is in the future, the past, a distant location, or some other fantasy.  I adore a well told story.

Last night I worked on crocheting again.  I spent four hours working on gifts and got two and a half gifts done.  At the same time I listened to a book.  There is something about having a book read to you that is just entrancing to me.

I find I crochet more, getting more accomplished while I listen to an audio book.  I finished off Immortal in Death and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book.  Today I want to work on more gifts.  This means I’ll be finishing the half gift from last night and then I have a larger gift to work on for a student worker who is graduating.

I’ll have one more (I think) to finish for student workers and she asked me for something warm as she hates the cold of winter.  I’ll work on something for her next.

After that I’ll be working on gifts for my faculty.  I’ve got a huge stash and I’m hoping to be able to pull out of my stash to create all sorts of goodies for them.  I’ll have to see what colors I have and such.  I also have new books that I want to try different projects so I guess they are going to be guinea pigs for my crocheting.  I hope they don’t mind.

For this weekend, I’m hoping to finish the student worker projects and maybe a little bit of writing projects.  I have to copy stuff over from my flash drive and see what the plan is for the day.  Ken has already run errands and I didn’t have to go with.

I’ve decided that at heart I must be a hermit because once I get into my house, I just want to stay in my house and not go wandering around too much.  It’s good to snuggle in – especially as we are getting colder – and just work on projects at home.

I’m going to make sure I take pictures of the projects I’m doing and I’ll post them after I’ve given the gifts.  It is definitely a colorful year for gifts.  I like almost all the colors I have been working with and when I look in the bag of gifts that are done it is great to see the rainbow.

If you’re looking for a good gift to give, check out my books at my site:  http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/

Change of Focus

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Writing

Starting tonight, I’m going to crochet instead of working on writing.  I need to get a number of gifts made in the next month. 

This weekend I’ll probably work on two manuscripts which are close to being done but during the week this week I’m going to either watch tv and crochet or listen to an audio book.  I have three Michelle Sagara books to catch up on.  I also have a ton of JD Robb and Nora Roberts audio books to read.  I’m sure there are other audio books I can listen to as well.

Interestingly, I was listening to Glory in Death and taking note of certain scenes and how she handled certain types of scenes.  I respect her as a writer so as I’m reading her books I’m also researching writing techniques. 

I guess as I’m listening to the books I’m also doing research on writing techniques.  It will be fun to read a book while I’m crocheting.  Two of my favorite activities will get done all at once. 

It is the whole NaNoWriMo but this month doesn’t work for me.  I’ll be working on crocheting this month.  I wonder if they have a craft project month?  I’m sure they do – they have a month for everything it seems. 

In all likelihood I’ll still work on writing on the weekends.  I will go stir crazy if I don’t write, especially since I’m almost done with three manuscripts.  Marketing will have to be a focus.  I need to promote more to a wider audience. 

So the plan – I’ll see how well this one works – is to crochet and listen to audio books during the week.  Work on manuscripts on the weekend as well as crocheting and listening to audio books.  In the next month I have to finish a lot of presents, three manuscripts, and keep my sanity.  Well okay – the sanity is probably too much to hope for.  I’ll have to see how the plan goes. 

Defenders of the Land

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

Book two in the Defenders series is out and available on both Amazon and Smashwords.  It will be available in paperback by Monday (I hope).

  If you read the first book – Defenders of the People – you know that Tof, Bri and the rest of the Defenders are just getting started.

The Defenders grows into a group of young adults who protect against any and all evil, including the agents of the council.  The council’s magic seekers bring perverted magic to capture and return victims – mostly children and pretty women – to the Chancellor Ravick. 
Tof with his lieutenants, Bri and Alex, work with the villagers in their province to protect against these agents.  They learn as they go.  Mistakes are made, lives lost as the group becomes a cohesive unit. 
Magic is key to their success and they don’t know enough.  The magic seekers bring perverted magic to the province with magical illnesses and a sleeping spell which holds people docile in their captivity. 
In the end, Tof and Liza must become joined with the land to complete the healing Queen Sirina did during the plagues.  As the time for the joining draws near, Tof worries he will be weak and spoiled like his father.  The land demands sovereigns.  The two suited for it are Tof and Liza.  Tof overcomes his concerns with a threat or two from his friends.  
See this book and all my other books on my web site http://eileentroemel.weebly.com/
All the books are available on Amazon and Smashwords.  Most are available on Barnes and Noble.
Coming soon – the third Wayfarer book!  

Going with the Flow

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

When I finished my degree last December, I had goals.  I had specific goals I wanted to accomplish every month.  I was going to step up my submissions.  I wanted to have five to ten submission each month.  It shouldn’t be hard to maintain that as I wouldn’t be doing school work.  I wanted to get my romance novel and my meditation book published.

Looking back at how I felt in January facing these tasks, I thought the submissions would be the easy part and the book publishing the hard part.

I’ve flip flopped.  I have almost no submissions this year, maybe four or five, and none of them went through to publication.  It’s annoying and frustrating.  However, not unusual.

On the book front, I’ve published the two I hoped to.  I also have published six more and will probably publish one more before the end of the year, possibly two more.

It seems like every time I turn around, I’m working on another manuscript of some sort.  Currently I’m actively writing in two manuscripts and editing a third.  Last night I finished a rough draft.  Today I wrote an outline for the next book in the series.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes.  I discovered that I’ve got a lot of my page numbers on the wrong side of the pages for a few of my books.  I’ll have to fix that and see if there are more fixes before I upload a new file.  I’m enjoying the process.  I love almost all aspects of it.

I freely admit I’m obsessed with checking sales and hoping that the little line is above zero.  I get a thrill when I see one of my books has sold.  It’s exciting to me to know that someone in Canada or the UK (or any of the other countries) has bought my book.  I wonder if the story will cross the culture differences and if they will enjoy it.  I hope so.

My goals have flown out the window but I don’t really care.  I’m loving what I’m doing.  I’m thrilled with the work I’m doing and loving telling a story – hopefully a good story.

Come check out my book page at:
eileentroemel.weebly.com

Wayfarer Clans

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

My new book came out!  Wayfarer Clans is the second installment in the Wayfarer series.  Adara, Decker, and more are back in this new edition.

Recovering from her ordeal with the Barions, Adara faces new challenges when her oldest brother is captured on a stolen Science Corp vessel.  He, his maite saol and son were kidnapped and forced to fly the ship.  Young girls from group homes and small children are kidnapped.  This rash of kidnappings leads Adara to suggest to Franklin that a Wayfarer clan is adding to their clan.   
Adara struggles with family relations as she meets up with her oldest sister who tells how the clan she joined treated her.  Seduction and rape, Bedelia faced hardships worse than Adara could imagine.  Adara tries to forgive and heal the family relations. 
Decker and Adara struggle to cope with her family relations when it’s discovered that three of her siblings are with the clan who is kidnapping all the children.  Wayfarer and human relations are strained between the couple and on a larger scale.  Admiral Chesnik tries to work with the clan leaders to bring the rogue clan in to justice.  
Available at:

Oh…Amazon

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

I had reviews for Secret Past and Moon Affirmations.  I worked my bum off asking everyone to please write a review.  I got an Barbara Ardinger to write one for Moon Affirmations (Thanks Barbara!) and two other people to write reviews of Secret Past.

I was on Amazon the other day (okay I admit I’m there daily) and noticed the reviews were gone.  My first reaction was that something my be wrong with my computer or something I’m doing.  I checked back regularly.  They didn’t come back.  I emailed Amazon.  Their standard response was people take their reviews down all the time.

Of course people take down their reviews.  However, I find it hard to believe that all three of the reviews I had were taken down at once.  I told them this.  They came back with, these people know you – they should post in the discussion area.  My response was to explain that while one of the people who did the review I am close with the other two were not.

I talked at length how I asked Barbara to do a review because she is known in the community that I’m targeting the book to.  While I know Barbara, she isn’t a close personal friend.  Plus she gave an honest and insightful review (which is what I asked for) not a gushing “hey read this book it is fab” review.  They finally put that review back up.

The other review for Secret Past was by someone I know but it isn’t like we are close personal friends.  She’s a librarian and friend of my daughters.  When she was done reading the book I asked her to please post a review and to be honest.  She did so.  And now Amazon has wiped it away like it meant nothing.

I get they are trying to maintain integrity in the reviews.  Here’s the thing.  I’m a newly published author.  Every positive thing – like these reviews – I worked my ass off to get.  They count.  They make a difference in whether someone will buy or not.  I need them to help encourage sales.  If Amazon takes them away, it affects my sales.

I tried calling them and got the excuse that the reviews department doesn’t have a phone line which I call shenanigans on.  I’m going to give it till Monday and if the review isn’t back for Secret Past, I will try calling again to talk to the Author’s Central department and bitch again.

Here’s the thing – if you are reading this and you’ve read my books.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords or wherever and post a review.  Please be HONEST.  If there were things you didn’t like that is okay and normal.  I expect to be criticized.  It is the nature of being an author.  Please post a review on any of my books.  I could really use them and they all help a lot.

If Amazon is being a shithead about it, please go to the discussion area at the bottom of the page for the book and start a conversation about it.  I don’t know if that will help with getting sales but at least it will get information about the book out there and people’s opinions about the book out there.