Back From My Road Trip!

Hello friends!

I've been gone almost ten days now on a road trip back east with little opportunity to write, but here I am now and can't wait to get back to it! I haven't learned how to type effectively using a smartphone and I don't own a tablet...yet. I did do a little YouTube surfing before falling asleep at the various motels and found this entertaining video I hope you will enjoy.

I was once an AOL Help Desk Techie and now I am a writer so this video REALLY got me laughing. Enjoy this and I hope to have the next segment of "The Priestess and the Ravenknight" for you soon.




It's so good to be home again!

A Tiaeran Enarch

Today I offer you my newest drawing: A Tiaeran Enarch.  These are used on Tiaera and are mentioned in our novel, Realmwalkers. 

They were created by a few of the most powerful Master Wizards ages ago. They are kept inside a warded and guarded mage tower. The mages stand watch so that the arch is always protected and available for public use. Enarchs are not very big. They are only about 10 ft. tall by 4 ft. wide. This is because they are meant to keep public threats like evil giants, oversized monsters and creatures from entering. Also, it's a fact that the smaller the portal, the better it works. Traveling from enarch to enarch takes only about a minute in travel time. If more than one traveler needs to use the enarch, they must wait about five minutes so that the enarch can get back to full power. 

Excerpt from "Realmwalkers": “This way, if you please,” said Agatha, addressing the new recruit primarily. “This is what we call an ‘Enchanted Arch’ - or ‘Enarch’ for short - and there are only three of these so far: here in Kyngeston, another in Arcwynd, Naelos and one more at Espion City, Sangrey. We are currently building one each at Moonlyte City and Summerly, but ‘twill take some time. Construction has been hindered by the lack of necessary components as well as a dispute betwixt our guild mages and the Tiaeran Shipbuilders Guild. The shipbuilders are worried that with enough enarches around, they will be put out of business."

 

Snow Birds and KABAM

With spring here, the weather has gotten warmer with only the occasional chilly morning and evening. Soon the temperatures will be up in the mid-90's and the multitude of "snow birds," we affectionately call those who come to spend the winter months here with us, will all be gone.  As a matter of fact, many have already left.

Word among my friends who have small businesses is that it's time to prepare for the fall. The crafters among them have already begun to make new items to sell.  Others who don't create their inventory will probably kick back and enjoy the season to swim, travel or whatever. Me? I continue to market and promote Realmwalkers any way I can.  Thanks to the Internet, I can do it in my air conditioned home. 
And besides, I need to start writing more again.  I am toying with the idea of writing another book. Yes, I know. I told many friends that Realmwalkers was going to be my only book, much like some women who promise that their first baby is going to be their last, I have changed my mind. So sue me.  Time passes and the mind forgets the agony, sleepless nights, moods, hassles, and worry.  Even my husband had to smile when he heard my news. In my defense though, things are going to be very different this time.  First of all, I am going to write this new book alone. 

No collaboration, no illustrations, no book design, and no bookcover and no self publishing this time (unless I decide it's only going to be an ebook). I won't be doing any of those things this time, just writing a manuscript. That's all.  I will continue to do drawings to post in my blog just for fun.

This should make the next book so much easier and painless for me. No, it's not going to be a prequel nor sequel. Yes, it will have a couple of characters you have met in Realmwalkers.  I will still need an editor, but I will worry about that later. First, I want to see if this story I am starting is even worth publishing.  I have at least two more stories inside me and the notebooks in my home wait until I am ready to use them. This will keep me busy in the next few months when the weather will be so hot I will do as all good desert dwellers here do: Swim, nap, stay indoors with the AC and work, BBQ alot in the evenings and go to the movies.

In May, I do have one last event I plan to attend along with another writer friend of mine, Kelley. Kingman is having it's KABAM Book Festival. And we are both registered to have a table there. It's so nice and cool up in Kingman and I look forward to it now that I have a book to sell there this year.  If anyone out there lives in the vicinity, please stop by and say hello!

Realmwalkers Story at Kingman's The Daily Miner

I went to Kingman last weekend for an interview at The Daily Miner, Kingman's local newpaper. Here is the article which came out in today's issue, just in time for Saturday's Book Signing. I will be at Hastings Bookstore from 11AM - 3PM.

The Daily Miner Newspaper Article

Book Marketing and Ebooks

Sorry I have been so quiet here lately. The holidays came and went and I was busy taking down decorations, storing them all for another year. January has been very cold and I find it hard to leave the comfort of  my home to go marketing, but I have been.  Excuses... excuses.. but I am BACK!!

Recently I arranged to have "Realmwalkers" available at a local store called Crystal Moon which is located at 1850 McCulloch Blvd N. After that I arranged for "Realmwalkers" to be at the Kingman Library. Some time this year, I hope to join a panel of several other local authors for an event called Kabam at Kingman.

I was also at the local Hastings promoting "Realmwalkers" and an anthology called "Offerings from the Oasis" where my artwork was selected for the front cover. Every year the Lake Havasu City Writers Group publishes an anthology and holds a book signing at Hastings. The sand castle sporting several books with a beach background was this year's cover graphic for our anthology. I also have a poem "My Typical Morning" in the book as one of the selections.

 

It was a fun event. Many members brought their own books to sell, including me. By the way, that large banner

you see in front of the table was also one of my designs. I have been designing almost all our marketing projects and enjoy doing it. We often use the banner for street fairs to promote our club. 

I just got off the phone and heard from one of the librarians in Kingman, which is about an hour's drive from Havasu, and she says the book is gaining some interest. It has been checked out three times since it was made available. Hopefully I will be seeing some of those readers later this month when I do my first book signing there at Hastings on the 23rd of this month from 11 - 3.

And lastly, I have been working away at creating my first "Realmwalkers" Kindle ebook. It's been really hard to do as I have literally had to learn how to do it. But thanks to some friends and the Internet and a very patient hubby, I am almost done with it. I hope to have it up and available for sale here at my blog and at Amazon.com. Stay tuned for my announcement in the near future.

Until my next post, take care, keep warm and healthy and KEEP WRITING!

The Gnomes of Tiaera

As promised, here is a new drawing of some gnomes. I decided to color this graphic for a change. All the illustrations I did in Realmwalkers are black & white. Tiaeran gnomes are like humans, but shorter and proportionally slender. They are usually about three and a half feet tall with large deep-set eyes, fair skin tones and in some rare cases, slightly pointed ears. Most live in the country of Vawdrey and they are often mistaken for halflings, who are slightly bigger in size. I have added these three gnomes to an image I found on the Internet (not my own) with some human dancers. This way you can see how small they are to humans.

The three gnomes are adult and yet to many they can pass off as human children, something they resent being mistaken for. Many wear wedding rings and grow facial hair to help avoid such embarrassing misunderstandings. From left to right is Tavisan and Audrey Swifter and Audrey's brother, Carlyn Brewer. They appear in Realmwalkers. Carlyn has "Mischief" perched on his shoulder, their pet dragonling.

The Hastings Book Signing Event

Well, I am pleased to say this was quite an experience. My first official book signing was a success. All my work and crafting paid off. I got to Hastings an hour early and brought the staff some fresh baked cookies. I went to each of them and introduced myself. Sadly, the table for my event was placed in front of a bunch of misc. gifts and toys as part of a display. It was distracting, but I didn't complain, just got to work decorating the table with my homemade garland. To my right, my good friend, Linda, came all the way from Parker to assist me. She was in charge of setup and having the buyers sign a raffle ticket and dropping part of it in a little card treasure chest. The raffle was for a decorated black tote bag with book cover artwork on it I had made the night before.

Although my marketing efforts (flyers, invitations, newspaper, radio, blogs, Facebook) didn't seem to do much good, the pedestrian traffic into Hasting's Book Store was plentiful. So as the customers entered, I stuck out my hand and introduced myself... rather aggressively. This was no time or place to be timid. The daydream of customers lining up at my table, waiting to buy my book was dismissed from my mind. I had work to do. Many allowed me to shake their hands and tell them about my book, but many also just rushed past my table like I was infected with the plague. To those people, I accepted their departure with a forced smile and tight stomach. I understood they weren't there to buy my book and tried not to let it affect me. Rejection, however is still rejection, something I had to accept with grace. They did what they had to do while others, at least, stopped long enough to hear what I had to say. I tried everything I could think of to make buying the book appealing, even handed copies to them to look over while they continued their shopping. Many resisted my sales pitch and politely moved on, but fourteen of them did not. =) When they bought the book and brought it to me, I signed each one with my purple feather pen.

A couple of friends came to visit and see how I was doing. I was so happy they came to show their support. When the first hour came and went without a sale, I felt nauseous. But when zero sales became two, I was relieved. When two became six sales, I was happy. But when six became ten, I was thrilled, too thrilled to stop and get something to eat or drink when lunch time came around. Then at around 3PM, an hour longer than advertised, I made my fourteenth sale to a small patient woman who was accompanied by four active kids. My perseverance paid off.

When it was all over, and Linda had packed up everything, I met with store rep to receive my cut from the sales. After I got my payment, Linda and I drove home to relax and have dinner with my husband, Lee. I felt proud and grateful over the success of my first book signing. It was hard, emotional, and stressful work and I was exhausted afterwards. I wasn't cut out to be a tough saleswoman, just an artistic and sensitive writer.  =)

Final Preparations

It's amazing how much effort can go into preparing for a book signing. It's a one woman event, but it has taken a lot of work publicizing this to the locals and on the Internet. Well, it looks like everything is coming together. I have spent the last two days working on my garland. I printed, cut, pasted and and coated a nice Realmwalkers garland to hang around the table for the book signing. I have made 80 more book markers and postcards. The books are here. Createspace got them all here on time. I also purchased some small pirate decorations and going to have a raffle for a free "Realmwalkers" tote bag. I will be decorating three of those with the book design on them later today. It's been a lot of work talking to many nice strangers for several weeks, trying to tell them about my book and event. Ironically, I have sold some books in doing so.

I know a lot of writers don't go through this much work, some are lucky enough to have an agent or publisher to assist with marketing materials or publicity. I guess you can say I am paying my dues and I am learning a lot. This is nothing special or unique. Authors have been going through this for ages.

The book industry has changed and times are hard with many Americans out of work so I am truly grateful whenever I am able to sell a book. My friends and family have been so supportive and faithful. And I can feel God's support in this also in the way things are all coming together. I often ask if this is what he wants for me. It seems his answer is yes, but I guess what will truly convince me will be the turn-out tomorrow morning at 11AM and the number of books I sell.

And I have only been doing this marketing/selling for 3 months and two weeks. And if I don't lose heart or health this may only be the beginning.

The Next Booksigning

E.V. Medina will be signing copies of "Realmwalkers."

There will be a raffle and freebies so stop by and visit.

"Realmwalkers" at the WNEA Shopping Extravaganza

I felt like a realmwalker as I arrived at the Lake Havasu City Convention Center last Saturday for the WNEA's Shopping Extravaganza. I was nervous, but enthusiastic. I only knew a few people there. I accompanied my writer friend, Sharon Poppen, author of "Abby, Finding More than Gold" and other great stories. We sat together the entire day, shaking hands with potential shoppers and signing our books. She was very kind enough to let me come along to share the table. The hall was crowded with eager shoppers and many stopped to look over my drawings and check out the various copies of Realmwalkers I had brought. I smiled a lot and answered their questions and before the event was over I had sold six books. It more than covered the price for the event space and I learned a lot about what to do next time. Some of that profit is going to go right back into buying more books and creating more promotional materials. It was a good event and a good experience overall.

If you are a writer and have any questions about doing a book signing and other promotional events, leave me a comment here. I will do my best to answer your questions. You may even have some tips on how to promote your self published book. Even those of you who have found publishers, like Sharon, may benefit as well. Sorry for the fuzziness of the photos. I guess my new phone camera is REALLY sensitive.

The Jethal Show Interview

I was interviewed last night on the Jethal Show and here is a recording
for anyone who missed it. I should warn you that there is some profanity.
Click on the graphic below to listen.