I’m not quite a Luddite, but close to it. I wasn’t always this way. Time was, I was considered a leader in computer and Internet usage. I posted on Yahoo groups with the best of them to promote my books, and could make Outlook, Word and Excel sing. Then I took a break.
When I came back into writing and using the computer had changed. I prefer email, but really, does anyone use email any more? It seems that everyone is DMing (it took me a heck of a long time to figure out what DM meant. Use your words, people!) on Twitter, Messaging on Facebook, and whatever they call it on LinkedIn. Ironically, I receive a message in my Outlook Inbox telling me I have a message on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Couldn’t people just email me to begin with??
How to receive messages was only the beginning. In order to promote our work, we now need to post daily—more often would be infinitely better, I’m told—on all of those. I don’t have Instagram or Pinterest accounts or I 
would be spending even more time at the keyboard. And that doesn’t include blogging or managing a newsletter. By the time I create blog posts, both for those appearing on the Nomad Authors blog and for when I appear on the blog sites of others, I’m pooped.
Hubby used to complain that I spent so much time posting on Yahoo that I decreased my writing time significantly. He could say the same now about social media promoting. Truthfully, I never noticed any changes in sales when I used Yahoo, and I wonder if there are sales changes with all of this other promoting. I have been told point blank that we can promote 24×7 on social media and there would be no difference in sales or exposure. But who is willing to take that chance? Not me.
So is social media a friend or foe? Like most things in life, we have to do whatever we think works as well as what we enjoy, plus a bit of what we don’t enjoy, just because…well, because. I really enjoy Twitter and I don’t mind LinkedIn. I’m not a fan of Facebook but recognize that it’s expected for us to use. And I have to admit, I really enjoy blogging and our newsletter, Aussie to Yank (subscribe here). So I will keep on and hope you will keep on reading, retweeting, commenting.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Mystic Desire: A collection of supernatural tales sure to keep you up at night, peering into the shadows! Or just wide awake, reading.
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers
When I first saw the topic for the week, writing rituals, I had to stop and think. I don’t have any writing rituals. I know that writing a book takes work—it’s not magic (darn it!). But I have trouble thinking of it as a job to do every day. I’ve let my dreams fizzle without intending to. Anyway, because I have no writing rituals of my own, I looked up the topic and found this great article in a 2015 
writing matter and then I back off. Jennifer asks in this point, if you were a bestselling author, would you put your writing “off all the time or would you site down every day and write?” Wow. I really want to follow through on this point!
The Sweetest Magic of All – Alice Renaud
uncle’s mysterious death. He knows the guilty party is there at the B&B but he doesn’t know that the inn is spelled with magic by the owner, a witch. Alice has a dream of running the B&B with rooms that treat guests to a fantasy that matches the room’s theme—adventure, spa, etc. Each night Brodie has a dream matching the room’s theme, each day he’s moved to another room. His dreams all end with a gorgeous woman, and of course, each room leads him directly to Alice. This was a cute story with an imaginative twist. And Brodie’s uncle? So many things are not what they seem!
Dream Catcher – Callie Carmen
though. Ever wonder why things don’t go perfectly in life? Why nothing seems to fit? That’s how Rachel Finlay feels until she discovers photos in the house of her recently passed aunt. Then a thought niggles and tickles. Maybe there’s a reason things don’t fit in this time. Maybe it’s because of events in a past time. Love it!!
So that’s my evaluation of 
I like epilogues. I write a lot of epilogues, too, probably because I like to read them. To me, they finish the book. It’s all well and good to have Heroine A say how much she loves Hero A and vice versa, but I like to see that Heroine A actually ends up with Hero A and not accidentally with Hero B. Did they marry? Have a passel of kids? Move to Timbuktu? Inquiring minds want to know. And that’s what an epilogue does for me.
back where two endings were written and which happened was up to the viewer. Or the kind who want to envision their own version of the castle Cinderella and Prince Charming lived in—was it a condo on the beach at Malibu or more like the Biltmore House in North Carolina? When it comes to ending a romance, I prefer to know. I do enough imagining about stuff, like what I’m making for dinner—actual food or reservations. I don’t need to wonder about Cinderella’s living conditions. Give me a good epilogue any time!
came up with what I think would be a perfect invention: the DEESKNIGHT SPACE ALIEN DETECTOR.
truly making peace in the universe. They can say, “We come in peace. Take us to your leader.” And we can say, “Welcome to our planet. Did you bring space gold?” Maybe all the strive in the world is due to innate conflict between aliens/humans that could be solved if we just knew who was who. So I’m for this invention idea. Anyone out there want to invest?
An Awareness of Evil – Dee S. Knight
Dream Catcher – Callie Carmen
Love that Binds – Carol Schoenig 
The Sweetest Magic of All – Alice Renaud
with a beautiful seductress until the British government sends him on a spying assignment. The deadly mission sees Adrian and his family running for their lives through a war-torn Europe. On the perilous road to home, a web of spies and assassins surround them on all sides. As the danger grows, Adrian finds himself more drawn to the lovely Gabrielle. A nightmare of betrayal and brutality follow them as Adrian risks everything to get his family back home.
Men and women of the armed forces deal experience desire and love pretty much like everyone else. Except, well, there is that uniform. And the hard-to-resist attraction of “duty, honor, service” as a man might apply them to a woman’s pleasure. All things considered, romance among the military is a pretty sexy, compelling force for which you’d better be armed, whether weighing anchor and moving forward into desire, dropping anchor and staying put for passion, or setting a course for renewed love with anchor home.
We all remember our firsts in life; first kiss, first love, first sexual experience. Black Velvet Seductions present a collection of eleven short stories, from eleven great writers, on the subject of First Submission within a Domination and submission relationship. The authors are from different backgrounds across the world and have written a broad spectrum of stories on such diverse themes as straight, gay, BDSM, domestic discipline, age play and multiple partners. A red hot read of wide ranging sexy stories to thrill and tantalize! Discover the authors and their stories on the 
policeman and so much more. There’s a little erotic romance for everyone, including ménage, BDSM, spanking, and… Well you’ll have to see for yourself on the 
The question this week is whether life exists outside of writing. For me, the better question is, does writing exist outside of life? Without life experiences, is there anything upon which to base a short story, novella, or novel? I doubt it. Even a splendid imagination needs some comparison in order to work. If you only know one place or one type of person, it would be much harder to develop a well-rounded story line.
cities like San Francisco and Chicago to small places like Appleton, WI and Greenwood, SC—we’ve met and made friends with people from all walks of life, helping me to give depths to my stories and characters.
There was a time in my life where I wore a dress or skirt every day and dressed up for going to the theater or out to dinner. When Jack was at VMI, we attended five formal events a year. And I loved it. Then I got real.
town either. The last time I suggested he wear a tie to an event he looked at me as though I had two heads.
wide as the church aisle, all satin and with beads and sparkly doodads. And I’d have ten bridesmaids and a groom in a tux, and the church would be full of friends and family. Wow! Cinderella would have been envious.
around to his way of thinking and each year we dated my wedding dreams became more conservative.
at Jack’s parents’ house. We went camping for our honeymoon. The whole wedding, pictures and all, cost less than $500. And it couldn’t have been more perfect. For us.