Category Archives: Novels

Mars Madness: Meet Katrina McKenna

Francesca reached for a piece of bacon, her baby blue eyes wide. “How can you not want to go to Mars? It’s a two year adventure — the chance of a lifetime! If I was old enough to buy a ticket, I would.”

Katrina had no doubt of the truth of that statement. Francesca had been fighting Katrina’s plans for her since she popped out of the womb. And that had been way before Katrina was ready for her and the crazy thing called marriage.

Their wedding vows had not been specific enough, she realized. Where were the vows that dealt with globs of toothpaste in the sink, dirty underwear on the ceiling fan, and ancient books everywhere? Why weren’t there promises recited that dealt with “adventure” and “spontaneity” — code words Katrina now knew meant utter chaos?

The “worse” in “for better or worse” didn’t begin to cover the ways that Doug had ridiculed her for her “irrational fears,” which Katrina knew was just her ability to see coming grief and avoid it.

The whole “love and cherish” thing needed a major revamp, in her opinion, as well. How about keeping each other’s feet on the ground and heads out of the clouds? Literally. Katrina had no love for roller coasters, anti grav parks, or skycars.

Of course, there were dangers on the ground too. Spelunking was a respiratory nightmare, and the bacteria in a hot tub could change your DNA.

This was just common sense.

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2016 Recommended Books

This is usually a top ten list, but I couldn’t come up with ten books to recommend this year, so it is a Top Eight List. These are all books that I rated with 4 or 5 stars, which means the story line has a good flow, the plot and characters are believable and well-written, the quality of the dialogue and over-all writing quality is high and it has a high un-put-downability rating.

Books by Sondra Kraak and Tamara Leigh are CLEAN Romances. Books by Lisa Kleypas are NOT. Just so you know.

 

#8 One Plus One Equals Trouble by Sondra Kraak– 4 stars. Western Romance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#7 Lady at Arms by Tamera Leigh– 4 stars. Medieval Romance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#6 A Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas–4 stars. Regency Romance. Part 4 of the Wallflowers Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

#5 Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas–4.5 stars. Regency Romance Part 1 of the Wallflowers Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4 It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas–4.5 stars. Regency Romance. Part 2 of the Wallflowers Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

#3 Lady of Conquest by Tamara Leigh–5 stars. Medieval Romance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2 Rope Burn by Bruce W. Most–5 stars. A modern day western mystery set in Wyoming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1 Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold–5 stars. Fantasy. This is the hands down best book I read this year. Amazing world building. It starts out a bit slow (and I would recommend reading the first book in the series first– The Curse of Chalion), but once it gets going, you won’t want to put it down.

 

The Self-Publishing Editing Process

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So you’ve typed “The End” after months of working on your novel. You sit back, smile, and sigh, thinking you are just a few clicks away from publication. Just another time through ought to do it, right?

WRONG!!

Slow down, and let’s do this thing right, lest your first review calls you out for repetitive phrases, misspelled words, grammar errors and other typos. You can fix the book later and resubmit it, but that review will NEVER go away.

Here are the steps I go through in an attempt at perfection. (I doubt any manuscript is truly error free, but you can get darned close.)

!. Read again with an eye to your story. Does it make sense? Does it flow well in increasing hills and valleys of tension? Are story lines you started tied up somehow–even if that means hinting at more to come? Is the ending satisfying? Are your characters consistent? Do they grow and change in some way, and is that way realistic? Are there places you could tighten up so they don’t drag? If this is the 2nd or 3rd book in a series, have you put in short reminders for important plot points and characters?

2. Read again with an eye to description. Have you given the reader enough in each scene to imagine the setting? Are your characters described when each first appears?  Can the action be pictured easily from your descriptions?

3. Read again with an EAR to your words. Read it out loud, and really listen. This is where you will hear repetition you never noticed before and phrasing that sounds ridiculous or overwritten. Jot down descriptive words you are hearing a lot, so you can go back and analyze each instance to see if a different word would work just as well or better.

4. Do that word analysis on overused words and replace with alternatives.

5. Read it again with an eye toward punctuation. I think it is helpful to make your font larger for this read-through. You’ll be amazed at how many mistakes you’ll see just because it’s bigger. Force yourself to slow down and notice every bit of punctuation. Sometimes it’s even helpful to read it one sentence at a time BACKWARDS. That way, you can’t get caught up in the story.

6. Check for common mistakes. Do a search on every “there,” they’re,” and “their” to make sure you have the right one. I also check every “your” and “you’re”, “heal” and “heel”, “its” and “it’s”, “peel” and “peal”, “peek” and “peak”, “awhile” and “a while.” Yes, this is time consuming, but I ALWAYS catch mistakes this way. It’s worth your time.

7. Run your word processors spell check.

8. Turn on “non-printing characters” so you can find the extra spaces. (The new writing rule is one space between sentences, not two.)

9. Find 5-10 beta readers who will give you feed-back and check for mistakes and typos.

10. Fix those mistakes and typos, and any other story confusion they might find.

11. Format your book properly and order your proof copy. (I assume you already have a dynamite cover!)

12. Read that proof copy carefully. I GUARANTEE that even with all these read-throughs, you will still find mistakes.

13. After all this, are you happy with your book? NOW hit publish!

 

Colorado Book Festival

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There’s an unprecedented chance to meet, learn from and engage with 75 Colorado authors – New York Times bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize winners, newspaper columnists and, not least, Colorado author-in-chief John Hickenlooper at the first Colorado Book Festival. The writers will discuss their book adventures in true crime, sports, poetry, photography, fiction, history, getting published and more. Prize drawings, too. September 10, 2016. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the main Denver Public Library. Free. Join me. The schedule can be found on the CAL website at: http://coloradoauthors.org/events/colorado-book-festival-2/

I’ll be there with books to sell! Come see me!

It’s Time-Travel Romance Week!!!

Particating Author Badge

TTRW Author GraphicI’m super excited for this Time-Travel Romance Week! As one of the participating authors, I will be promoting my novel, JOLT, and I will be offering the digital version for FREE during this time.  Click here! Aug 8-12.

JOLTcover

Here’s the synopsis:

When the summit of Pikes Peak is beset with a summer storm, Lalita Torres thinks the embarrassment of trading her shorts and tank top for a touristy union suit to keep warm is the worst that could happen.

She was wrong.

A lightning strike sends her back a hundred and twenty-three years and into the care of Dr. Tate Cavanaugh.

Lalita thinks she’s in a reality TV show. Tate thinks she’s lost her mind.

To read a sample, Click Here:

Be sure and head on over to Harts Romance Pulse to find out about more time-travel authors and their books!!

Spread Some Indie Love Blog Hop!!

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Thank you Debdatta for hosting the Spread Some Indie Love Blog Hop! www.b00kr3vi3ws.in

My new release, JOLT, is a clean romance set in 1892 Manitou Springs–the little town at the base of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs.

I had so much fun researching and writing this book! I hope you enjoy reading it! Here’s the synopsis:

When the summit of Pikes Peak is beset with a summer storm, Lalita Torres thinks the embarrassment of trading her shorts and tank top for a touristy union suit to keep warm is the worst that could happen.

She was wrong.

A lightning strike sends her back a hundred and twenty-three years and into the care of Dr. Tate Cavanaugh.

Lalita thinks she’s in a reality TV show. Tate thinks she’s lost her mind.

JOLTcover

To read sample chapters, click HERE

You can also read backwards in blog posts to meet the characters in JOLT.

The book was just released Mar 19, but the first two reviews have been good!

“Jodi Bowersox is my go-to author for interesting and unique stories. There is nothing predictable about her writing and I love that! The characters in her stories become my friends and her words put me in the center of her plots, I am wrapped in the story and hate to put the book down until I’m finished and then my waiting for another story begins. Jolt does not disappoint. I didn’t realize it included time travel when I started and was a bit confused at first, but true to form her story pulled me in and was delightful, surprising and fun. I highly recommend Jolt!” –5 star Amazon review

“It’s not often a book draws me in so quickly and completely that I forget to eat and sleep, but JOLT was riveting enough to keep me glued to my chair till well past 2AM so I could finish it. I love the Colorado setting, the unique storyline, and the endearing characters.” –5 star Amazon review

Currently, JOLT is available in the Kindle store only, but should be out in paperback soon.

For the Spread Some Indie Love Blog Hope, I will do a drawing for two autographed copies of JOLT for those who comment and leave me their e-mail address, and I’ll send them out as soon as I get them!

I’ve also written six other romances and two children’s books! Feel free to look around my website and check them out!

Like my Facebook Page to stay up on the latest JB Artistry news! (I also paint watercolor pet portraits!)

Follow my Amazon Author Page and BookBub pages for updates on new releases!

Meet the characters in JOLT: Dr. Jeremiah Fischer

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“Are you sure you want to do that?”

Jeremiah Fischer looked at the chess board and saw immediately that his queen was in danger. “Ah, I see. Well, I concede the next move to you.”

Lalita took the opposing queen with her bishop. “Since I’ve never played with you before, Dr. Fischer, I don’t know whether to chalk that up to a lack of skill or a lack of mental focus.”

Fischer smiled. “Ah, I think the acceptable excuse in the presence of a lady would usually be distraction, but since I am happily married, I will have to concede to the lack of skill.”

She laughed. “You are slick. I think you left out one possibility. Distraction by vocation. I think you are trying to puzzle me out, and that leaves precious little brain power for chess.”

He couldn’t help but smile as he pondered his next move both on the chess board and in getting her to open up to him. He knew she was hiding something, but at the same time, it seemed obvious that she wasn’t used to hiding.

Her voice across the table brought his mind back to the game. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to fall asleep over here. Dr. Cavanaugh got me up rather early this morning.”

He moved a pawn forward. “Oh? Did you have plans other than jail today?”

Meet the characters in JOLT: Seth Dickson

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Pulled off balance she stumbled sideways, watching Tate and Nellie heading out without her. She looked to the one who waylaid her, already suspecting whose hand was still wrapped around her arm. Seth Dickson grinned down at her, his blue eyes shining.

“I say, Miss Torres, you’re looking prettier than a picture this morning.”

Lalita swallowed. “Mr. Dickson, if you’ll excuse me, my ride is leaving.” She pulled her arm from his grip.

He put his bowler on his head. “Aw, the doc won’t leave you. You can talk a minute with me.”

The crowd had mostly gone out the door, and Lalita turned to follow. “I’m sorry, but—”

Dickson caught her arm again. “Now hold on, there’s no reason to be afraid. I don’t hold any grudges against your people.” He grinned again. “Especially when they’re as fine as you.”

Lalita’s brows knit together as she tried without success to pull away again. “My people?” Her volume was rising. “What are you talking about?”

“Seth, I don’t believe the lady appreciates your attention.” Lalita looked to the door, so relieved to see Tate striding toward them.

Seth let loose of her arm and backed up a step.

“Now, Doc, you said she wasn’t your woman, and I don’t mind if she’s a bit addled.”

Lalita’s jaw dropped. “I am not addled, you over-bearing asshat!”

Tate’s eyes grew wide as he tried to move her toward the door. “Lita, this is a church.”

Dickson just grinned as he followed them out of the building and down the steps. “She’s got spunk. That comes from the Injuns.”