Over the Rainbow: Are You Willing as a Writer to Reach Out

Today I have a guest blog at Thoughts in Progress, come take a look and leavea  comment or a "like", it was fun.

Below is my Article published on Blogcritics, please take a moment and read it, I believe it might be quite inspiring.

 Article first published as Over the Rainbow: Are You Willing as a Writer to Reach Out? on Blogcritics.

When we hear the phrase “over the rainbow” it automatically summons the thought of somewhere unreachable, perhaps even untouchable, yet we all hope it exists, some even believe that it does. What if “over the rainbow” did exist? What if it wasn’t a mere fabrication from a song, but an inspiration for reality? If that’s true, we must look at the phrase in a completely different light.

To be able to fly, we must grow wings and to grow wings, we must listen carefully to that which can take us there – our intuition. When we’re young, we have intuition abound, then as we grow up, we’re constantly told, taught and advised to use our brain, not to listen to that little voice that has our gut rolling.

We all find contentment in our lives as time goes on, never questioning, nor doubting and settle into our lives as we know it, in other words a routine, regardless of who we are or what walk of life we come from, our lives are...our lives. However the difference between the average and the movers and shakers, is the ability to feel outside that life. The question is, are you willing?

Can you step out of that comfort zone to challenge your normal? Are you willing to take the other road to find the dream, even though at that moment, it’s the unknown to you?

If you can, I will guarantee that you'll throw your world off kilter and in a moment, it may seem dire to all who are in your life and to the ones you love. Yet if you have patience and understanding on your side, the rocks, dust and stones will slowly disappear, leaving behind a smooth path, where you can tug on the hands of those you love, enticing them to follow and eventually you won’t need to wish upon a star to fly over the rainbow.

Have a great day.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/over-the-rainbow-are-you-willing/#ixzz1cVfkb2a9

Online Tour Begins

Today my online book tour begins with Pump up Your Books. My first stop will be a review from Mad Moose Mama. It wasn't posted yet when I did this, so keep checking back. Thanks.  Fingers and toes crossed that it will be a good one.  Yikes!

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Happy Halloween

Tonight will be the night of little ghouls, ghosts, goblins, and witches, so on and so forth. My message today is simple: Be careful, watch out for all the little ones who are so excited about the candy from the house next door, that they're not paying attention to the possible cars that will be driving down the road -- Let's all have a safe and happy Halloween.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Family First

This week has been one of reflection and reconnection.  I have a blended family; step-mother, step-father, step-siblings, half-siblings, plain ole sisters, brothers, you catch my drift.  We all know what those titles mean within the family unit, however, do the people who have those titles warrant less or more of your attention?

Though we all may not keep in touch on a regular basis and we may not phone as often as we should -- I love them.  I may not like them sometimes, just as they may not like me sometimes, we may lead completely different lives -- but to me they're not step-anything, they're not half-anything, they are the true and originals -- I have three sisters and one brother.  We may not all be blood related, but they are my brother and sisters, whatever title society gives them... They're my family.

Have a great day and week-end.
C. Elizabeth

I'm Off and Running

The other day I talked about new people entering the stage and right on cue, some have.  A whole new cast of characters have stepped forward, who are loud and adamant that their story be told.  However, this bunch hadn't been waiting in the wings, they simply showed up, out of the blue and have put everyone else, including the edits on Rose and Michael, backstage.

Their voices are strong and are giving my typing fingers a run for their money while I try to keep up with them. One by one they are coming forward and telling me how each of their lives fit into the others.  That's about all I can say about it at this point, but I will tell you this:  Hang on, this bunch is going to take us another wild journey.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Amazon, Fictionwise -- Kindle, Nook...Oh my!

We as writers would love to have our novels number one and I believe I've touched on this subject before. It's human nature to watch the ratings on the websites that sell our books, like Amazon and Fictionwise.  We wait with anticipation to see where it will end up from week to week and give ourselves a big woohoo when we aren't last, sometimes our novels reach the first or second pages as bestsellers -- that deserves a huge, huge woohoo!

Yet, I wonder why we do it to ourselves, especially when there is no way to decipher how the book rankings work. Example:  Last week I was number 4 on Fictionwise, under Wings ePress Inc., Mainstream category -- an excellent number. I was also number 23, under Wings ePress Inc., Romance category and number 47 out of all books sold by Wings ePress Inc. on that site. An incredibly wonderful week.  This week, I'm number 7 under Wings ePress Inc., Mainstream category, a very good number. However I'm hovering between middle and bottom on the other two and I say hovering because if you're not in the top sellers, your book will jump around and can go from 243 to 1123 in an hour, then the next hour it can go back down to 93 (remember the lower the number the better, working its way to number 1).  It's confusing I know, but you get what I'm saying.

Watching the numbers individually all the time will drive you crazy (well crazier than we already are), wondering why one minute you can be in the top 25 and the next, your almost at the bottom -- we'll never know how they rank the books.  My advice --look at the bigger picture.  If Absolute Obsession holds its own and continues to sell one or two and doesn't drop out of the rankings completely (meaning absolute last) then I'm happy, someone is bringing Michael and Rose alive in their minds -- that was my goal and I have accomplished it. Now that doesn't mean that I won't brag and celebrate when it moves back up in the ranks, it's human nature.

Having said all that, I want to congratulate my friend, Laura Burks the author of  the YA novel, Altered, for ranking number one this week on Fictionwise, under Wings ePress Inc., Romance category and number one, under all the books Wings ePress Inc. sell there. Congrats Laura.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth

Excitement That's Sad

Well the first draft of the last novel in the Absolute Obsession series is finished, with a beginning, a middle and an end. There is still many more edits that need to be done, which I am now knee deep in making and until then, it won't be considered anywhere near a completed work.

When the last word was written, excitement was the first emotion, then sadness, making it a bitter, sweet moment. Even though I'll be revisiting them quite often doing the edits, their story is told.  What started two years ago is complete for them, their lives are now on paper as they wanted it.  And as Rose, Michael and the gang slowly leave the stage one by one, new characters are taking their place, gathering, waiting for their story to be told.

You may think it's crazy, but it's going to be difficult to say good-bye to the gang. They have become a very big part of my life, not to mention that they started me on this wonderful journey of self-discovery -- I can't help but to feel a wicked empty nest syndrome coming on.

Have a great day.
C. Elizabeth