Hurricane Harvey Relief

              

Good Afternoon!

I hope you are enjoying a bit of sunshine where you are. The clouds have lifted and the sun is finally shining bright here in Houston, Texas. But it's been one crazy, unimaginable ride this past week.

My heart goes out to ALL those affected by this nasty storm.
Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers as we go forward.

Although I've lived in the Houston area for over 20 years now, Victoria,Texas will forever be my home. I've also made many wonderful lifelong memories with family and friends in Rockport, Port Aransas and Corpus Christi over the years. And there were many other beautiful cities that felt the brunt of Harvey's destruction as well. No power. No water. No homes to return to. The media may be focused on the flooding in and around Houston, which has been heartbreaking, but please don't let the other cities and small towns be forgotten. My heart aches at the pictures I've seen of Harvey's destruction. 

Not being able to be there in person to help out is so frustrating and one of the reasons I've joined this great group of writers wanting to help out.

For the next two weeks, we will all be donating our royalties to charities across the affected areas of Texas. I'll be donating all royalties from the sales of my books from September 4th - September 17th to United Way Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief.
( https://www.unitedwayvictoria.org/civi…/contribute/transact… )

Please click the link below to find out more about the participating authors and charities. Find a new author, read a great book, and help those who've lost so much due to this devastating catastrophe! Gifting the books to others works too. Thank you!

https://www.carriepulkinen.com/authorshelpinghouston/
Although only Betrayals of the Heart is listed on the Authors Helping Houston page, I will be donating the royalties from all my books during this time. Click link below to find my books and links to the different retailers. 

www.melissaohnoutka.com

Wishing you all the Best!

Goals - Why Make Them?

So, I was going though old post on Facebook and found this one from 2012.

Talk about surprise the heck out of me. Looks like I've been slacking off for a few years now. LOL Now of course two of the books were already written and only had to be edited before publishing. But I did write a short story as well as a full length novel and 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo in that same year. Sheessh...

Makes me wonder where all my time is going these days. But it also makes me want to get my bootie in gear and be more productive. So even though I might night achieve all the goals I set out to do, looking back and seeing what I did accomplish is a great motivator. So much so here's a brief summary of what I did get done for 2016. :)

** Submitted and received a contract with Entangled publishing for Sinful Secrets. (YEAH!) Finished writing the first draft of Wicked Games in June, which now sits awaiting edits. Attended the RWA National conference in San Diego. Survived the many rounds of edits on Sinful Secrets over the summer. Went on a wonderful writing retreat with three awesome writers. Wrote 50,000 words during NaNoWrio on Sam's story, the next one I'll be presenting to Entangled. Sinful Secrets was released November 16, 2016 and I learned all kinds of new promotional ideas. And then finished off the year going through some really tough health issues with hubby, but all is well now.

Looks like I did get quite a bit of writing done. Just need to tackle those pesky edits and I'll be in business again. Sigh.... Wish I knew how to like this stage more.

What about you? How did your 2016 play out?

Entangled Publishing

Wishing you all a happy and blessed weekend!

      

Giveaway Alert!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Celebrate your love of Romantic Suspense!

bit.ly/rom-suspense-feb-13

Have you read my novel BETRAYALS OF THE HEART?

For a limited time, you can enter to win my book and 40 of these Fantastic ROMANTIC SUSPENSE novels from an amazing collection of authors, PLUS a BRAND NEW KINDLE FIRE!!

...

Enter the contest by clicking here: bit.ly/rom-suspense-feb-13

Good Luck!

The Art of Craft - Characters

So it's a new year. A time to try new things. And I'm going to hit while the iron is hot! LOL You know, while I'm in the mood to change and be adventurous.

As a writer on a mission to fill those blank pages with words, I find the learning curve never stops. There will always be a better way to say something, a new and creative way to describe a scene, or action and still be true to your unique voice. This is another part of the journey I like. Watching my words turn from mediocre to gut wrenching, emotional charged prose warms my little heart. Writing is, after all, feeling on a deeper level, right?

I'm so excited! A few of my new craft books I ordered arrived today. Can't wait to get started!

First up:

Writing the intimate Character - Create Unique, Compelling Characters through the Mastery of Point of View.

Yes, please!! :)

Let me devour the knowledge within these pages and I'll get back to you!

Have a Happy Week Ya'll!

Wait! I'm not Ready!

2017 has arrived!

How did this happen? I just finished Nanowrimo, like yesterday. Seriously. I need a huge kick in the pants to jump start this year that has taken off without me. So not fair.

Wishing everyone a Wonderful New Year filled with love, laughter and many blessings!!

And in case you've been living under a rock like me, in hopes it might somehow slow down time, here's another look at my latest release from Entangled Publishing.

All Joanna McNamee wants is to make her event planning business a success, but someone keeps sabotaging her events. The last thing she expects is to see Ryker Kane, the man she’s been crushing on since college, show back up in her life. Talk about awkward. She decides acting as if they’ve never met is the best option. But when a man tries to kidnap her in order to get his hands on her father’s secret formula, she must put the past behind her and trust Ryker. Or lose everything.

Click here to read the first chapter and order your copy: Entangled Publishing - Sinful Secrets

Or visit www.melissaohnoutka.com to find out more about my other books and what's in the works.  If you've already snatched up a copy and enjoyed it, please leave a review. Not only do I love hearing from my readers, but you'll be helping me out with marketing as well. 

Thank you all so much!

      

Giveaway Alert!

Click on link to enter for your chance to win a $25 Gift card and a free ebook copy of Sinful Secrets! You can read the first chapter by clicking on the Sinful Secrets link. :)

Enter Contest Here:
Night Owl Reviews - Sinful Secrets Giveaway!

Read First Chapter

National Novel Writing Month 2016

Yep, it's that time again!!!

Halloween, you may ask? Well, yes that, too. But while all the neighborhood kiddos are running around in the dark, all decked out in costume on my front lawn, and wondering why the heck no one is answering the door, I'm getting ready for a month of awesome writing!

Of course I have candy. But it's all mine! I'm going to need every last piece to survive. And since all my kids are grown, too old to Trick or Treat, I'm giving myself permission to ignore the chaos this year. Trust me. They'll live. LOL

So who's doing NaNoWriMo?

Come on. I highly recommend it! It's fun! And any progress is well worth the time, effort and stress of trying to get that word count in. I've participated since 2007, have several published books under my belt, as well as others that will someday get the attention they deserve. (Note to self. Add this promise/goal to calendar.) In some form or fashion, NaNoWriMo helped me get on track, stay on track, and move forward. The accountability is priceless!

Join me and let's watch those word count trackers move!

My username: mdohno

Good Luck!!

It just so happens, Sinful Secrets is a NaNoWrimo creation. :) It's due to release from Entangled Publishing on November 14, but you can pre-order it today!

Pre-order Here!

Sinful Secrets Due out November 14!

So excited! Sinful Secrets is up on Goodreads and available for request on Netgalley!! Please feel free to share, add to your lists and request a copy to read from Netgalley!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32316574-sinful-secrets

As promised, here's the cover!

Blurb:

Event planner Joanna McNamee is scrambling to ensure her father’s company Christmas party goes smoothly, but one disaster after another has her convinced someone is trying to sabotage her career. With the help of a man from her past who she’s still not sure she can trust, she puts the pieces together and realizes her business is the least of her problems—a cold-blooded killer is out to destroy her father and take her as his prized possession.

     

The last thing Deputy Ryker Kane expects is for a simple truck hijacking to throw him back into the middle of the Black Widow case he’d been forced to abandon, not to mention right into the arms of the sweet woman he’d let walk away ten years earlier. When he finds Jo Jo kidnapped and drugged, he has to use all his wits and skills honed from years as a detective to save them both. Despite the secrets between them, Ryker’s bound and determined to give them a second chance at love.

Sinful Secrets Coming Soon!

 Mark those calendars for November!!

I'm over the moon excited to report I have a release date for my next book! Happy dancing all over the place. So cool!

Sinful Secrets is on track to release with Entangled Publishing on November 14, 2016!! That's two days after my birthday! Yay! What a great gift! :)

As soon as I get the cover, I'll share I promise!

Even though I've self-published four full length novels on my own and two short prequels, this has been one thrilling ride. Not having the control I'm used to was tough at times, but all in all, it has been a great experience. And I've learned so much in the process thanks to my wonderful editor, Robin. :) The story is still heavy on the suspense, but has more romantic elements than I'm used to writing. Honestly, I'm so proud of the way it turned out.

You can't beat this wonderful feeling!

Now on to the next one!! LOL

Progress is Golden!

As summer winds down, the brutal heat trying to wear me down and zap what energy I have left, I find myself scrambling to catch up and get all the things done before the kids head back to school. Surprisingly, the last two months have been quite productive and I'm happy with the tasks I've managed to accomplish despite this crazy weather and my hectic schedule.

The RWA Conference in San Diego was a blast! What a beautiful city! And the people there were all so nice. I didn't get to do much sight seeing though. And due to a mishap with my darn phone, which we will not discuss on the internet, I lost most of the pictures I'd taken. Of course I left my real camera at home. You know, because my cell phone has transformed into my everything all in one gadget and is way too attached to my hip. Talk about a great lesson! LOL I now know I can live without immediate communication with family and friends for at least four days! Ha!

Thank goodness for my great friends and the best roomies ever (for a ton of numerous reasons) for sharing and helping me salvage some of my own pictures. I'd texted them copies!!! LOL :)

Walking Our Path to the Main Hotel

RWA Awards Ceremony 

Having Way Too Much Fun!

Book Signing Madness
with some Pretty Awesome Authors!

I so needed a week to recover, but my edits for the next book came the Monday after I got home. Back to work you slacker!! No breaks for you! LOL

Finished up this last round yesterday. Shouldn't be long now. Hope to have a cover to share real soon!!

San Diego Here I Come!

Looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new ones. Oh, yes. And learning some new tricks to improve my writing and marketing strategy from all the wonderful workshops. :)

This will be my first time in San Diego, so I'm hoping to get some sight seeing in as well. So much to do, so little time. LOL

Hope to see you there!

Tricks of the Trade - Writing Locations

Never fails.

I swear the minute I reach the middle of a new book my muse becomes uncooperative and takes a vacation. I've been plugging away on this new book with little trouble for weeks and loving the way the story is playing out.

Then wham! Muse decides to play hard ball.  Almost 50,000 words in. Okay. Let's put on the breaks, shall we?! Make her work for it!

Geesh...what'd I do to piss you off this time? LOL Was it me thinking I actually might finish by June?

Well, I've learned a few tricks of my own on this oh so twisted journey. One of which is switching the locations I write in to stir things up. Sometimes more than three times in one day when times get really tough. So far, the muse appears clueless to my antics, so I'll keep using this trick till it doesn't work anymore.

This afternoon, I stepped outside into my new office. A beautiful sunny day greeted me with a cool breeze, the sound of leaves rustling peacefully overhead as the steady trickle of the pond echoed in the background. I'll be honest, all I really wanted to do was lay back in the hammock and nap the afternoon away. But wouldn't you know, the crazy muse had other ideas. Sneaky thing that muse.

Crossed the 50,000 mark and still going strong. Shhhh.... Let's keep this our little secret. :) No reason to test fate.

I also received a cool new coffee mug full of goodies from my publisher this week!

"Professional Author at Work". Love it!

My new favorite cup! :)

Yes, it was a really great day!
Here's hoping there's many more to follow.

Would love to hear how you get those creative juices flowing again. You know, in case I need a new strategy after this post. LOL

A Shot of Creativity

The weather has been really wacky here lately. Beautiful spring like weekend only to wake up this morning to a chilly 48 degrees. Of course we will be warming up to around 67 degrees later this afternoon. Texas weather! You've got to love it! :)

All these sunny days have me wanting to be outside working in the yard, when I should be cranking out words on the new manuscript as I patiently (not) await my edits on the last one.  But creativity is funny this way. At least for me. It seems like the more I get out and enjoy God's beautiful creations and discover other's masterpieces, the more ready I am to work on creating works of my own.

My youngest has started the college search. Gulp. So we've been taking fun trips to visit the different campuses. Lots of inspiration to found there. A few photos from our latest visit to the University of Texas.

Canoes all tied together.

So much history and knowledge on all of these campuses I can barely wrap my brain around it all. But it's the idea my youngest has made it to this milestone that blows my mind. Decisions, decisions...which will he choose? Hopefully one close to home so his mom won't completely lose her mind. LOL

No matter how hard we try to drag it out, ignore the reality and pretend time doesn't affect us, life moves on, doesn't it. Better not blink or we'll miss the blessings and opportunities laid out before us.

Nothing rings truer than this as I get older.  And there is nothing like a good ol' shot of creativity to help me see the meaning behind all this madness.

Life is, and will continue to be, what we make it. ;)

So Happy Spring, Ya'll!!

Get out there, create, live, love and laugh till your belly hurts! :)

New Beginnings

The sweet month of February is finally here! Yippee!

Can you tell I favor this month? LOL 

Yes, it has to do with chocolate, strawberries dipped in it, and boxes filled with the delicious morsels. But it’s also my oldest daughter’s 21 birthday. She’s my Valentine Baby, and I must say the sweetest gift I’ve ever gotten on Valentine’s Day!

This February is turning out to be a month of new starts for me, too! I’ve just signed a contract with Entangled Publishing for my newest manuscript! Yeah! And I get to work with an amazing editor, who I know will get my creative juices flowing!

So excited to see where this new path takes me. It’s a lot different from the self-publishing. And I’m still learning the ropes. But I hope this course will free me up to write more as someone else deals with the formatting, covers, blurbs and other tedious parts of the publishing process.

Not that I don’t plan to self-publish when I get the chance or have a story that won't fit their line. I love the control too much to just let it go. LOL Control issues! Big time!

So my new journey begins. And I'll keep you posted on the details as they pop up. As of now, I've already turned in my first round of revisions on the manuscript, so now I can sit back, eat chocolate, drink tequila, and wait. Right?

No! Ha! Ha!  I’m only kidding! 

Time to turn to the next project.

Going to get back into routine, meet up with special writing friends each week and crank out those new words. Accountability is a must for me. Otherwise the procrastination wins out.

So happy Birthday to my sweet first baby girl!

And Happy Writing/Creating to All! :)

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by. So many wonderful memories in 2015, along with hurdles and heartbreaks that test your sanity. But when it's all said and done, I find peace in knowing that God is still in control. His plan trumps ALL others.

So look for the positives every day!

 Enjoy the sunrises! 

And sunsets!

Make memories with family and friends and enjoy every second God has given.

And remember.

God is good! All the time!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!

Alone Time is Magical

Such a peaceful weekend.

Girls didn't come home from college this weekend since they will be home for Thanksgiving. (Miss them terribly!) And hubby and son took off on a hunting trip for the weekend. So that means I got some much needed and treasured "me" time. Magical Me Time!

Unlike most of my family, extroverts on steroids, I enjoy my alone time. Don't get me wrong. I love my family with all my heart and all the chaos we have created together. But for this introvert there is nothing like these rare moments when I have no one to answer to but myself. Well, there is still the dog and cat. But that's a different story. Another blog post maybe. LOL

During this time, I've finished reading several books I had started over the summer, revamped my newsletter, found a cool Progress Counter called NaNoWriMo Word Meter and added it to my blog, and got the Christmas tree all ready to put up after Thanksgiving. Even managed to get a few words down for NaNo. Whew...

Now I'm sitting back under a warm blanket with the puppy and enjoying the Hallmark channel and all those wonderful sappy Christmas stories I never get to watch when hubby or kids are home. I can sniffle and laugh and go awe... and no one will make fun of me. Priceless!

Gosh, I love this time of year. :) Cooler weather, spending time with family & friends, making new memories, eating good food and sharing lots of love and laughter. So much to be thankful for.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with many wonderful blessings! May you Enjoy and Cherish every single moment!

Time is All I Need

If only I could figure out how to manage my time better, I'd be on my way to a less stressful life.

Now I know adding NaNoWriMo is a decision I didn't have to include in this maddening month of mayhem. But it's actually helping me keep my stress level down.

I know, right? C R A Z Y!!

Procrastination is my worst enemy. Well, that and my non- existent organization skills and urge to check on what's new and exciting on the internet. ugh... Word of advice. Stay off Pinterest! Whatever you do!! Don't pull it up. Don't scan down the list of pretty and interesting pictures. Don't click on anything. Just don't go there! LOL

Despite it all, here are my accomplishments so far this month.

* Edits almost done on next book. Getting ready to send it off and see what happens. :)
* Cute humorous Nano story I'm working on with my daughter coming along nicely. 4K words so far. Progress is slow, but lots of brain storming going on while I'm completing other daily tasks.
* Working on finishing next thriller as well. (I know. I'm walking a fine line! But after taking Margie Lawson's workshop at a conference in October, I'm energized!)
* Started my Christmas shopping already!
* Getting ready for Thanksgiving. Might be having my family here this year. Yikes!

Looks like I'm getting quite a bit done now that I've written it down. Yeah! I think I'll celebrate! Not even going to try listing, or thinking about, the things needing attention in between all of this fun stuff. They will get done. They always do. LOL

Yes, I know! It's an addiction!! LOL

Come join me! :)

Linger Series by Edward Fallon

Looking for a great new Thriller author to add to your summer reading stash?

Well, here's a great new series I've received ARC's for: Linger by Edward Fallon. 

Edge of your seat suspense. Great characters. A story line that will have you cringing and begging for more. And guess what? You're in luck. All five novels will be released on July 1, 2015. You can pre-order them now on Amazon.com here! So you don't have to wait even a second to read the next one in the series when you finish the first. And it's a good thing too. The minute I finished the first book, I knew I was in trouble.

Sorry, hubby. Supper will have to wait. Laundry? Oh, shoot. Let me just finish this next chapter. What? It's bedtime already? Where the heck did the day go? LOL

This is one of those series that will stick with you long after you reach the last page.

Five Stars All the Way!! :)

First Book in the Series:

Linger: Dying is a Wild Night (A Linger Thriller) Kindle Edition

by Edward Fallon  (Author), Robert Gregory Browne (Editor)

The Blurb:

THEY SEE WHAT NO ONE ELSE SEES

 

Every crime scene has a smell. A look. A trail of DNA.

 

It also has a feel. An emotional residue that lingers... floating unseen, like bacteria in the air, just waiting to be absorbed. To be experienced.To be interpreted.

 

And only the man and the boy know this.

 

Veteran major crimes detective, Kate Messenger, has a problem on her hands: six bodies--father, mother, three children and the family dog--all slaughtered in their own home, with not a single clue or a shred of DNA that points to the butcher who killed them.

 

But late one night, as she's visiting what the newspapers have dubbed the House of Pain, Kate finds a couple of intruders at her crime scene: a man and a young blind boy who have no real explanation for their presence there.

 

In the hours that follow, Kate will discover that this is no ordinary boy--not by a long shot--and his ability to "read" the lingering residue left by the killer and his victims will not only open some old and very tender wounds, but may also help her find a killer who has been watching her every move...

        Amazon Link

Friday Morning Inspiration

Yosemite National Park 2013

Let go of things/people stressing you out, causing you grief—bigger and better is just over the horizon.

Forget striving for perfection.

Show your vulnerability and connect with those around you on a deeper level.

Don’t be afraid, be strong! (My Favorite!)

Even if it seems impossible, reach for your dreams—nothing makes you feel more alive!!

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Weekend!