Trust newly-married Rafe to decide the only sensible thing for Ethan to do is marry Audra, a young mother of two who was recently widowed. Audra doesn’t have any place to return to or the money to get there, and she seems biddable enough. Ethan figures he might as well.

But Audra has decided it’s time she stood up for herself, and made her own decisions. So it’s not caving in (again) when she agrees to marry Ethan, right? It’s her choice, and the only chance she can think of to keep her two young daughters away from the terrible caverns on the Kincaid ranch near where she’s been living in a dilapidated shack. The caverns where Seth lost his mind years ago.

Trouble was following Audra’s late unlamented husband and it’s quite ready to follow her, too. Apparently he’d stolen a small fortune and carried it to Colorado, and its owner wants it back. Audra has no idea what it could be or where it’s hidden, but that doesn’t stop those who are desperate to regain it.

Worst of all–or is it?–Audra and Ethan are falling for each other. But they’re not sure–are they In Too Deep?

In Too Deep is the second tale in The Kincaid Brides series. I reviewed Out of Control, the story of Rafe and Julia, back in August. I’m eagerly awaiting the third book, Seth’s romance, as the author has been developing his character through the two stories thus far. Also in the third book will be (better be!) the revelation of what the outlaws following Audra’s late husband have been searching for.

I keep saying I don’t read historical novels, but I’ll make an exception any day of the week for Mary Connealy. I just love her voice and the way her characters come alive.

Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys. She wrote for ten years, with a total of twenty completed books, before she got published. She had just enough encouragement through those ten long years to keep her going. Since 2007, she’s had more than ten novels published as well as a handful of novellas. She lives in Nebraska, where she teaches GED.

“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group”.

First, toast 1/4 cup walnut pieces by placing them in an ungreased heavy skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly until lightly toasted and aromatic. Turn off heat; walnuts will toast a little more as the skillet cools. (It’s the walnuts that contribute to the ‘wal’ part of the name. Not sure what the ‘dorf’ part refers to!)


In a bowl, place:
1 stalk celery, diced (about 1/3 cup)
1 medium apple, cored and diced
2 tablespoons dry cranberries (I often use dry cherries, because I have them.)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise (I use Hellmans)
1 tablespoon vanilla yogurt

Mix, adding toasted walnuts. Yum!

When Valerie first asked if I would be interested in writing an article about StumbleUpon, I didn’t think I knew enough about it to write more than a paragraph. Then, one of our writing groups got into a lengthy discussion about it, and I hunted down more information to be helpful. I’ll share what I’ve learned so far, and encourage you to share your experiences with us so we can learn from you, too.

What is StumbleUpon?

Using StumbleUpon is like going on a road trip on the Internet – you don’t know where you’ll end up, but the fun part is the actual journey and what you find along the way. They explain themselves this way, “StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that recommends the best web and mobile content for each user.”

How does it work?

Users sign up for a free account. Depending on which browser you use, you may be able to download a special toolbar that will make using StumbleUpon easy – so easy, in fact, that I recommend switching browsers to make it possible. For years, I was a die-hard IE fan and used SU with it. But a few months ago, I changed browsers and switched to Chrome and never looked back. I soon discovered that SU LOVES Chrome, and it has made my interactions almost seamless.

Finding the toolbars for the various browsers on the SU site is rather difficult, so I’ll provide the links here:

Stumblebar for Internet Explorer – this is a plug-in, and it may or may not play nice, depending on your computer

For Firefox

For Safari

For Chrome

The general help page for StumbleUpon is here.

How can writers use it?

Once you’ve set up an account, and installed the toolbar, you can “stumble” your own blog posts, or anything that interests you on any website, using the toolbar. Here’s a great article that explains how stumbling works.

I actually don’t spend a lot of time stumbling from site to site. But I do spend time stumbling articles I read on blogs I frequent or news articles I want to share, and I make a point to stumble all my own blog posts, too. To do that, I just click the little SU logo up in my Chrome toolbar, and the SU toolbar pops down. I copy a little snippet from the blog or article I’m wanting to share – sometimes the first few sentences, sometimes a few from further in – whatever I think will capture an audience. Then I click the “I Like” button and a small window pops up. I paste the snippet into that box, add some categories and tags, and then click Submit. That sends the blog or article out into the World Wide Web so that hundreds/thousands/millions can stumble across it. You’ll have greater success if you are intentional about the keywords you choose.

One important point – when you get ready to share your blog post – make sure you are on the actual post page, not on the general blog. For example, using an example from Valerie’s blog, you’ll need to use the specific address that would look something like this:

http://valeriecomer.com/ways-authors-pinterest/

rather than just using the basic domain name, which looks something like this:

http://valeriecomer.com

To get to the exact post you want to promote, click on the title of the blog, and that will usually give you the full address. If you have a forwarded domain, you’ll have to use the host to get the full address.

Why use StumbleUpon?

Basically, it draws traffic to your blog. A quote from their own site will give you their impact, “With over 20 million users and one billion personalized recommendations per month, StumbleUpon is the leading way to discover great, peer-sourced content on the Internet. More than 60,000 marketers have used StumbleUpon to promote their products and services.”

Over 20 million users – that’s an audience I definitely want to tap into. What about you?

Tracy Ruckman wears many hats – publisher, writer, student, wife, mother, mentor, writing coach, and friend. In 2011, she opened two publishing companies, Write Integrity Press and Pix-N-Pens Publishing, and by the end of March, they will have published six books, with several others contracted through the summer. She is currently seeking manuscripts – fiction and nonfiction – for the new HOPE series in the works. Tracy is excited about a summer project she’s planning that will involve many writers, many readers, and LOTS of fun – so sign up for one of her newsletters (on any of the websites) to get all the latest updates.

Valerie here: I asked Tracy for this post after I discovered that some of my blog traffic was coming through StumbleUpon. Then I added the SU button as one of the share options under each of my posts, and have been getting a bit more that way. Since talking to Tracy, I created an SU account and have been “stumbling” my own posts both here and at the Romancing America blog. I’ve seen an uptick in traffic, so like Tracy says, why not?

A family heirloom helps tie the tales together. This brooch is of a lion’s head with topaz eyes, and was given to an ancestor 200 years earlier for service to the crown. It’s by far the most valuable item this family owns, and it’s taken on mythic proportions.

Let me introduce you to the four authors and their novellas placed within this larger sphere: “Historic North Carolina takes center stage in a new collection of novellas that follows the lives and loves of four women…and the heirloom brooch that connects them through generations. Will Seona, Fiona, Seren, and Brynna find God’s path in a new world far from their Scottish home?”

Pamela Griffin

This novella starts out in Scotland as Seona is smuggled aboard the Thistle as a stowaway, bound for North Carolina. If she’s caught–or recognized onboard–she may well be burned at the stake. A well respected agent, Colin Campbell, discovers her presence, and doesn’t turn her in because she’s a healer who can cure his younger brother of his ailments. He’s also attracted to her and sets Seona up to live with his cousin in the New Land. But if she can’t trust him with her past, how can they build a future together?

Laurie Alice Eakes

Fiona chafes at the sentence, knowing it slows down her search for her family’s treasure. But the love she sees between the members of the Cardew family, and between them and God, begins to tug at her heart. Can both she and Owain trust God to meet their needs and provide them a future filled with love?

Gina Welborn

Finley Sinclair is a broker with a dream. He only wants to make enough money to buy a farm, and the only item he can find to resell in the city are Seren’s candies. And if this should happen to endear him to their maker, that wouldn’t be all bad. He’s a man with a wee bit of self-confidence where the ladies are concerned, and Seren is not amused.

This novella is Gina Welborn’s debut and I must admit I really enjoyed Finley in particular. It’s difficult to write a character who’s convinced he’s God’s gift to women and have him come off as endearing rather than arrogant. Gina managed to pull this off.

Jennifer Hudson Taylor

Something I really enjoyed about this collection were the voices of the various authors. In general, I prefer reading contemporary romance over historical, so it takes a stronger voice to pull me into historical fiction. These gals have that voice in spades. A few times I got hung up on the Scottish lingo, but it wasn’t overdone.

If you enjoy historical and/or Scottish fiction, you’ll love this glimpse into the Campbell/Cardew family of the 1700s in North Carolina.

I received an e-copy of this collection for review from NetGalley. Opinions, as always, are mine alone.

The full recipe can be found on this website, which is also where the following YouTube video (with all the directions in it) came from.

What do you need?
A roasting chicken
A lemon
Garlic
Fresh rosemary
Olive oil
Potatoes
Salt and pepper

I hadn’t ever butterflied a chicken before, but it really did cut the roasting time in half, so I’ll probably do it again, too. So, watch the video and tell me if it’s a recipe you might want to try! So yummy.

I took a closer look recently and changed my mind. It can be a fun, visual tool for authors. Let me show you how I use it, but first, a bit about how it works.

It’s technically still by invitation only, so if you sign up here they will send you an invite. Mine took several days to arrive. Here is a great getting-started article by Author Media.

Once you have access, you check areas of interest and they recommend people for you to ‘follow’ who are popular in that area. You can uncheck them if you like, and look for your own! You can connect through Facebook or Twitter, and find people who are already your friends, or just browse. The search bar works better for items than usernames, which is too bad.

When you have your own account, you may create boards and name them anything you like. Then, when you see something someone else has pinned that you find inspiring for some reason, you can ‘repin’ it to your board. This isn’t stealing! The idea is that every image links back to its original internet debut. (Of course this doesn’t always happen, but most people put in a good effort.)

You may want to pin things that you find elsewhere on the web. Pinterest provides a little button you can bookmark–mine is on my browser bar with other sites I check often. When you’re on a website and see an image you like, click your ‘Pin It’ button and a page overlays the one you’re on, showing every image on the page. Just click ‘pin it’ on the one you want and a little box will pop up asking you which of your boards you’d like to add this image to. You also enter a word (or a few) of text, then set the pin. If you highlight some text before clicking ‘pin it,’ Pinterest will automatically add those words to your entry, though you can change them.

Nearly every time I pin something–anything!–I get an email (you can set the frequency of notification) to tell me a bunch of people have repinned or liked it. Usually these are people I don’t even know, but now they’ve seen something I like and might check out the rest of the board, or all my boards. They might choose to follow that particular board, or me (meaning all my boards).

So, what’s an author to do? Here are 4 ways to use it:

1. It’s great for co-authors, as you can share boards. Here is the board I started for Rainbow’s End. Once I had pinned a few images to the board that related to the novella collection, I invited my co-authors to be contributors to it. Now it shows up on all four profiles. Any of us can add to it, and all our followers can see it. Fun!

2. You can create a board for general inspiration. Tricia Goyer has a board for characters. Cara Putman has a board for character clothing ideas. Angie Arndt has this board for settings that inspire her. Rachel Wilder has boards for historical fashion by the decade.

3. You can create a board to give your readers more visuals for your novel. Catherine West created a board with Vietnam images for Yesterday’s Tomorrow, which is a romance novel that takes place during the war.

4. You can create a board for specific inspiration. I’m working on a story set in Victoria, BC, so I started a board on the city. Debby Mayne has a board for hairstyles in her Class Reunion series, which features a beauty salon.

Warning: Pinterest is addicting! But still, why don’t you follow me, or some of my boards? There’s a button in the sidebar!

Any other ways you can think of using this site as an author? Share in comments!

But who knew that Kyle Jacobs was back in town, and working for Heliotronics? He was the jerk who tormented her mercilessly all through high school. Worse, he was the guy she’d had a crush on. It would have been nice if his little sister–her roommate–had warned her, but no.

Can Niki ignore her revived feelings for the new-and-improved Kyle and keep the project focused on a shifting schedule? Or will the tension–and history–between them sabotage the whole thing and put lives at risk if the simulation fails?

Nickels is a contemporary romance novel set in the greater Phoenix, Arizona, area. It’s obvious the author is well acquainted with the heroine’s career. Sometimes I wanted Niki to get over herself, but I realized that was (part of) the point of the story. Kyle’s path from beginning to end was a bit more complicated and therefore seemed more understandable.

If you like Christian contemporary romance set in urban areas, you might enjoy Nickels. It’s available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions.

Karen Baney, in addition to writing Christian historical and contemporary novels, works as a Software Engineer.

When she’s not busy writing, she enjoys traveling the state of Arizona with her husband, exploring museums and the picturesque landscapes the state has to offer.

Her faith plays an important role both in her life and in her writing. Karen and her husband make their home in Gilbert, Arizona, with their two dogs. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

The author gifted me a copy of this novel for the purpose of review. Opinions, however, are mine alone.

Jim takes a thermos full to work every day, leaving just enough in the pot for me to have my one daily cup. I love my mocha fix.

I used to mix in a few tablespoons of hot chocolate mix and call it a mocha. I actually quite like the taste. However, I have a quest to go deeper into organic, fair trade cocoa, as well as reduce the number of chemicals I ingest. You can imagine how much crap is in the usual hot chocolate mix.

Here’s my current method. I take a tablespoon of honey, homegrown on our farm, and stick it in my thermal mug. The amount, of course, would vary to your personal taste. To this I add a pinch of salt and a heaping teaspoon of cocoa (organic when I can get it in my little town). I fill my thermal mug most of the way with coffee, stir until the honey and cocoa are dissolved, then add a shot of cream to top it off. Maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon if I feel like it that day.

Pop the lid on it, take it to work with me, and enjoy!

I like visuals especially in marketing because I read something and go, “Wow. That’s really good,” and ten minutes later I can’t remember what I read or how to do what I read. Sometimes I go over and over and over instructions because as words, for me, things don’t always stick. With this in mind, I want to explain something that can make or a break a marketing campaign.

I call it “The Promo Chain.”

This is the chain of events that must take place to turn a prospect into a client, a potential audience member into a reader, a visitor into a reader, or an Average Joe into Your Biggest Fan.

It’s pretty simple really, but I’ll bet you’ve never given a lot of thought to how it actually works. In fact, the crazy thing is you go through this chain thousands of times every day with other products and services that you use and buy and you don’t even know it. The trick is to know it and to use it, so you get results and not frustration.

The Promo Chain looks like this:

Let’s go through each part.

Hook — What hook do you give to the potential reader? WHY should they read this promo or content? If you don’t hook, I don’t care how good the rest is, you’ve lost them.

Info — What do they need to know to become interested, to stay interested, and to decide to “continue the relationship”?

Request — Some people have a really good hook, they give great info, and people are eager to do more, but if you don’t make a request or give them a way to continue the relationship, they are gone.

How To — Tell them HOW TO continue the relationship. You’ve gotten their attention, given them great info, you’ve asked them to continue the relationship, now you’ve got to tell them how to do that.

JUMP — This is where you’re trying to get to with all the others. You want them to take the next step and choose to continue your “conversation” or “relationship.” When you learn to do this effectively, you will begin to turn potential readers into subscribers and subscribers into readers.

Let’s look at The Promo Chain in action:

Here is a tweet. Tell me where this tweet breaks down on The Promo Chain.

#Author @StaciStallings has released a new book. It’s called DREAMS BY STARLIGHT. You should check it out!

I would tell you, it’s probably broken before you ever get started, but there are several problems.

1) Don’t START with the info. I don’t care that Staci Stalling has released a new book unless I already care WHO Staci Stallings is. And since this tweet should target NEW and previous readers, this is not very effective.

2) You should check it out! That’s our request, so check one done-well box there. But wait! How do I check it out? Am I supposed to write down the information, go to Amazon, and do a search? What if it’s not on Amazon?

Don’t give potentials roadblocks if you don’t absolutely have to. They should be able to read, click, read, click, read, click. If it’s read, click, search and search and search. Or worse, read and no click, you’ve lost them unless it’s a 100% pull message.

Let’s try another:

“I was obsessed with this book.” COWBOY by @StaciStallings Buy it NOW! via @Amazon http://ow.ly/8oyQ6

1) Hook. Pretty good hook.

2) Info. Check

3) Request. Check (although this one seems a little in your face to me

4) How To (in some venues like blogs, you might want to make it even clearer like “Click Here.” Twitter doesn’t give you that luxury as you don’t have many characters to work with. But everyone knows what a URL means.)

5) JUMP. Here’s the part that’s sometimes frustrating. It may take someone as many as 10-12 imprints to jump. Sometimes it doesn’t. If your hook and info are so good they can’t pass it up, they will click. But just know that you will go through this process thousands of times to get an audience built up. So keep writing and keep working The Promo Chain!

Staci Stallings is a contemporary Christian author and founder of Grace & Faith Author Connection, a group of Christian authors dedicated to helping each other succeed in the Social Media.

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe every week with her various Internet endeavors.

Her books can be found here, her blog is here, and the G&F Marketing blog is here.

Popular blogging trio—mother, Nicole O’Dell, along with daughters Emily and Natalie—offer trustworthy, biblically-based advice in Girl Talk.

Culled from actual questions they have encountered on their blog site, this fabulous resource offers real-life help for girls on issues including relationships, character, body image, fashion, gossip, and more. Girls will find 180 questions along with answers and related scripture selections that will both encourage and challenge them in their faith walk. Girl Talk, presented in a trendy format that reads like a magazine, is a super tool for girls’ small groups or for individual use.

Wow, Natalie and Emily! You two are published authors. Congrats!

GRIN!!!!

Whose idea was it for you to answer questions on the blog?

Natalie: My mom’s.

Emily: Yeah. My mom’s, definitely. I thought it was crazy that she’d want our answers…or that readers would. But, it sounded fun.

How long have you been doing it?

Natalie: I have no idea. Lol. I don’t remember when we started. It’s been a couple of years, though. I could probably find out by looking back at the first post. Hmm…be right back…yep. December, 2009. Wow. I’m impressed.

Emily: What she said.

What did you think when you heard your Q&A column was being turned into a book?

Natalie: I thought it was a really cool idea, and a lot of fun. I thought it would be a cool accomplishment for me, and that it would help other girls, too.

Emily: Like, in my head I was thinking, “Oh my goodness, like, I can’t believe I’m going to become a published author like my mom. Like a published person.” (Emily asked that we not edit this answer to remove the “likes”, but the book has been edited, trust us!)

What do the kids at school think of it?

Natalie: They think it’s pretty cool–my friends are proud of me.

Emily: Some of my friends are super excited and want to read it or buy it, but the boys are all like, “How stupid.” But I don’t listen to them. My friends think it’s awesome, so I’ll go with that.

What’s the hardest question you’ve ever answered?

Natalie: This one time a girl wrote in to ask about sex. She said she was confused because she didn’t know if she’d actually had it or not. It was hard for me to answer because I definitely haven’t.

Emily: Ever? Or for Girl Talk? I’m assuming you mean Girl Talk. Come to think of it, those ARE the hardest ones I’ve ever had to answer. So, hmmm, the one that comes to mind can be found on page 72 in Girl Talk. It was about why God allows bad things to happen. Why doesn’t He just prevent them, since we know He can?

UGH. That was a hard one. In fact, I still don’t know that I feel like that question can be answered good enough. I can’t wait to ask Him myself. . .well, I can wait. . .you know what I mean.

What’s the process for answering the tough questions?

Natalie: When we were faced with a tough question, we would first decide who was the most appropriate one to answer it. Then we would read it and give it a few comments, but we’d often set it aside for a while and come back to it after we had some time to think about it. Sometimes, the questions were about things neither Emily nor I had ever encountered; so Mom had to help us understand what we were being asked so we could give a logical response. It was a definite learning process.

Emily: Most of the time, if I had a really hard question, I would just sit there and think about it for a long time. When we write the column, both Natalie and I answer each one before Mom does, but in the book, it was just one of us and then Mom. So, for the column, I could just kind of jump off from what Nat said. But, for the book, I really just had to think and pray about an answer.

Nicole: Don’t forget, too, girls. We’d also pray for the girls and ask for wisdom over the questions.

Emily: Oh! Right. Forgot to say that.

Would you change any of your answers now if you could?

Natalie: I don’t think so. I wouldn’t change the answers at all—I believe they’re biblical and right, at least to the best of my ability. But, I probably would change the confidence I had when I gave them. Since I started writing this column with my mom and since we started working on the book a while back, I’ve learned full well how challenging peer pressure and temptations can be. So I wouldn’t change the answers, I just think I’ve learned a little more about grace since I gave them.

Emily: Nope. I feel pretty good about everything I said. I’ve even been put in situations where I’ve had to live out my own advice. I’m glad I was prepared.

Any plans for future writing projects, either with Mom or without?

Natalie: To be honest, writing isn’t something I plan to pursue. I more enjoyed the relational aspect of helping people with their problems. I liked being asked the tough questions and answering them, but the writing part wasn’t my favorite.

Emily: I don’t really know if I want to be a full-time author like my mom, but I do know I want to become a famous dancer or a teacher. But I’d love to do some writing in between. I do love to write and would love to publish more books if it’s what God wants me to do.

Mom, what’s been the hardest thing about working with your daughters?

Nicole: Getting them in the same place at the same time.

One challenge was realizing that they are completely different ages and have completely different viewpoints. We needed to make sure that their experiences and opinions lined up with God’s Word and ultimately gave an edifying answer to some tough dilemmas.

What’s been the high point for you in co-authoring with the girls?

Nicole: The best part of this whole project has been the opportunity it gave me to just talk to my girls. Sure, we talked all the time, but having these questions to pour over and pray over gave us a platform for a lot of deep conversations. Each one helped me to see inside their hearts and minds just a little bit more. I’m so grateful for that opportunity.

About the Authors
Nicole O’Dell is a mom of six—ranging from 20 all the way down to a set of toddler triplets. Nicole writes fiction for teens including the popular Scenarios for Girls interactive fiction series and the Diamond Estates Series. She also writes nonfiction focused on helping teens make good choices and bridging the gap in parent/teen communication. Nicole is also the host of Teen Talk Radio where she talks with teens and special guests about the real issues young people face today, and she loves getting out among teens and parents when speaking at youth groups and conferences.

Natalie is an honor student in the eighth grade at PBL Middle School in Paxton, IL. The oldest daughter of six kids, Natalie is a very loving and hands-on big sister. She’s passionate about her walk with Christ, and almost as passionate about the game of volleyball. She holds first-chair clarinet in the school band and looks forward to high school marching band. At this point, Natalie aspires to a career in the culinary arts, but is open to other possibilities.

Emily is a straight-A fifth grader at Eastlawn School in Paxton, IL. She lives with her mom, stepdad, three sisters, and two brothers. Never found without her iPod, Emily loves to dance and sing. She’s a busy girl who enjoys swimming, skateboarding, and hanging out with friends. She’s active in her community and local church, and plans to be a teacher when she grows up.