3 Things I've Learned About Publishing (Guest Post by Eniola Prentice) | Mercy Blog Tour

The Mercy blog tour continues! Mercy is the second book in a series about four medical students who must face some very difficult challenges in their faith, relationships, and schooling. Today, author Eniola Prentice shares about her writing journey and what she's learned along the way...

3 Things I’ve Learned About Publishing

Eniola Prentice

Five years ago, I had an idea to write a series, but I had no idea how to get my novel to readers. I knew nothing about publishing. It was like finding a needle in an enormous haystack. In some ways, it still feels like finding a needle in a haystack—but now the haystack is a little smaller. Here are three things I have learnt about publishing:

1. Do your research. While preparing for publishing the first book, I did a lot of research. I found out that self-publishing is not something failed writers do. I realized the industry had changed, and self-publishing was a viable path to publishing a book. It's not easy, and the wealth of information can be overwhelming at first. But something that helped me was studying the career of a successful self-published author I admired. Joanna Penn was one of my biggest influences.

2. Community is everything. The self-publishing world is a vibrant community of writers supporting each other within and across genres. I formed connections with Christian writers, Nigerian bloggers, and medical bloggers. It made things much easier the second time around. I asked Amber to edit the first novel in the series, but she couldn’t because of her schedule. She referred me to Rachelle Rea. The second time around I reached out to Rachelle, who referred me to Amber. Amber became such a great support for me, and I gained a friend.

3. Set your goals. I think we get bogged down in defining success as being a best seller. I think setting realistic goals unique to you as a writer is important. Sometimes your definition of success is different than another writer’s. When you reach your goals, you can be content that you met your own personal expectations, not the world’s.

How is your journey going?

Eniola and I would love to hear about your own writing journey. What challenges are you currently facing? What goals have you made or met?

And don't miss the opportunity to enter Eniola's tour giveaway for a chance to win a signed copy of her new book, a $50 Amazon.com gift card, and a journal! Just fill out the form below to get your name in the drawing. (See the tour introduction post for the giveaway rules and details.)

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Embracing Faith in Medical School (Guest Post by Eniola Prentice) | Mercy Blog Tour

The Mercy blog tour continues! Mercy is the second book in a series about four medical students who must face some very difficult challenges in their faith, relationships, and schooling. Today, author Eniola Prentice shares about her own faith journey through the lows and highs of medical school...

Embracing Faith in Medical School

Eniola Prentice

My faith journey began with questions. I had questions for God right before entering medical school, so many whys I wanted answered. Why, if God loved me, had some negative things happened in my life? Why had things happened the way they had in my life? Why was I unhappy all the time? I started medical school with these burning questions in my mind.

All my questions certainly have not been answered, but I have learnt that the faith journey is a process. No matter how much I try, I can’t rush the Father through the process. Trust me, I do try to rush Him. 😊

I got answers gradually through medical school. In my first year, I struggled with who I was in the past and who I was becoming. I called all my Christian friends “aliens” because I felt I didn’t quite fit in with them, that I was different in some way. But I began to accept the picture God was painting.

My faith in God grew steadily. It wasn’t always easy, but His grace was enough for me. I held on to Him because I had no choice. I held on to His word and believed in it until it became life to me. There was a lot of pain during the journey, but His presence never left me. I always found comfort in whatever situation I was in.

Most doctors would rarely describe medical school as the most important and formative years of their lives. But God surrounded me with friends who became family. I believe the friendships God blessed me with were the second most important inspiration for writing the Still series. Of course, the first was the Holy Spirit.

I believe it is important to always grow and evolve. My faith journey will never end—until the day He welcomes me home with “Welcome, good and faithful servant.”

How is your journey going?

Eniola and I would love to hear about where you are in your faith journey or how you've been growing. If you'd like prayer for your current challenge or next step, please let me know in the comment section! ♥

And don't miss the opportunity to enter Eniola's tour giveaway for a chance to win a signed copy of her new book, a $50 Amazon.com gift card, and a journal! Just fill out the form below to get your name in the drawing. (See the tour introduction post for the giveaway rules and details.)

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Honoring Those Who Were Really There (Swell Time Blog Tour)

This tour for Swell Time for a Swing Dance has been a blast so far! Lots of fun posts about the 1940s and Cindy Vincent's newest cozy mystery. (You can catch up on the tour schedule HERE.) Today, though, we're taking a more serious turn with a post honoring those who served in World War II.

I'm so glad Cindy has a heart for our nation's veterans and has made space for us today to remember their sacrifices. I was privileged to attend a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 for a WWII flight crew that included my great-uncle (the remains of their plane went undiscovered until recent years)—and I was incredibly touched by the experience. My posts and video slideshows from the trip can be found HERE and HERE.

We'd love for you to share your own stories in the comments section! And now, here's Cindy...

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Honoring Those Who Were Really There

By Cindy Vincent

It’s time to honor the generation who lived and fought during WWII, from the frontlines to the homefront. And with this post, I’m asking for your participation. I’d like you to share the names of any family members, or other people you might know of, who served in the military or played a role in the war effort in some way. Please tell us a little bit about them. This may require a phone call or two to find out if Grandma or Grandpa, or even Great-Grandma or Great-Grandpa, played a role in fighting for freedom. Whatever they did, please honor them by sharing their stories.

Tom Brokaw referred to the WWII generation as being “The Greatest Generation.” And with good reason. So many of them sacrificed their very lives to battle the evil trying to take over the world. Much of our military at the time was comprised of “Citizen Soldiers,” people who simply gave up or took leave from their regular jobs to enlist in the military, in one form or another. But even those who stayed stateside still endured plenty.

An elderly friend of mine comes to mind. She lived on a family farm and was just fourteen years old when her brothers and her father all enlisted and went to war. That left her and her mother to run the farm when they went away. So at the tender young age of fourteen, my friend was left to run the tractor and was given the responsibility for plowing, planting, and harvesting the crops. Could you imagine doing such a thing at that age?

When I was in my twenties, I had the great privilege of working with plenty of WWII vets in a skilled care nursing home. Their stories and their attitudes have stayed with me all these years. At the time we went to war, the United States military was only ranked number eighteen in the world—not exactly a superpower. Yet from what I heard from the people I met, Americans went into the war believing that we would win. That optimism and high morale got them through a lot. I also heard the phrase, “We didn’t start this war, but we’ll put an end to it.”

Now I’d like to share the story of my husband’s Aunt Jean Hixson. She had always wanted to fly and got her pilot’s license when she was only eighteen. When the war came along, there was a shortage of male pilots, so a program was started to train women as military pilots. So Jean, along with 25,000 other women, applied to become a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot). Only 1,830 women were accepted, and Jean made the cut. She was also one of only 1,074 who completed the training. From there, she went to work with whatever assignment she was given. The WASPs were excluded from combat, but she ferried planes between manufacturers and Air Force bases, including overseas transports. And she towed targets for live gunnery practice. She was one gutsy girl!

Here’s her official WASP photo:

Remember, she was barely in her twenties at the time. And here she is doing a preflight:

And finally, here she is with some of her colleagues after flying a twin-engine B-25 bomber (far right). She was an Engineering Test Pilot for this aircraft.

So that’s my tribute to a few members of the Greatest Generation. I hope you’ll join me in sharing whatever family photos and stories you can dig up!

And my thanks go to Amber, for hosting me here today. We’ve worked on many blog tours together, and it’s always a joy to work with her! I look forward to our next one!

Amber: Thank you so much for sharing these amazing stories with us, Cindy! It's always a pleasure to host you and to tour your books together. :)

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Learn more about this book tour (and a special giveaway) HERE.

Don't forget to grab your FREE Kindle copy of Cindy's latest, 

Swell Time for a Swing Dance!

Dancing Through the Pages (Swell Time Blog Tour)

The Swell Time for a Swing Dance blog tour continues here today with a fun guest post from the author! With a title that includes the phrase "swing dance," you can bet there's some spinning and fast footwork involved in the pages of Cindy's latest mystery...and maybe in her own life too. :)

In this article, you'll get some insight into Cindy's love of swing dance, while also finding some tips on how to dress for a 1940s-style dance. Maybe you'll walk away with an extra spring in your step...and a new hobby!

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Dancing Through the Pages

By Cindy Vincent

Ever since I was a little girl growing up in the early 60s, I’ve always had a love of dancing. I think it started when I was about five or six, probably after learning how to square dance in kindergarten. As I recall, we were taught the Virginia Reel at a very early age, probably since it was simple enough that even a child could do it. Ha! From there, I had several years of ballet classes, along with the yearly recital, which always involved a satin and sequined tutu.

So naturally, when I was older and the swing dance revival of the 1990s came around, I wanted to be part of it. The only issue? I now had a husband who would rather have a root canal than go out dancing. Even so, with a lot of prodding, (and begging . . . lots and lots of begging,) he finally agreed to learn to swing dance. And while taking classes didn’t appeal to him, I bought a video (yes, an actual VHS tape), and we followed the steps and practiced in the privacy of our living room until we had the basics down pat. Then little by little, we added a few moves here and there until we were good enough to go out dancing for an evening and enjoy ourselves. (And yes, he had fun, too!) Though we weren’t exactly “Fred and Ginger” out on the dance floor, as my husband the engineer often joked, “What we lacked in talent, we made up for in g-forces.” Meaning, we danced very fast and had a lot of fun. But we certainly weren’t good enough to win any dance contests!

However, we did win another contest at a dance. Because many of the dances we went to (and there were many!) were re-creations of the WWII-era dances, dressing the part was a truly fun aspect of the evening. So we went all out. He wore a vintage 1940s tuxedo, and I usually wore an authentic 1940s dress, along with the hat and gloves and all the accessories, thus leading us to win “Best Attire” at a Fabulous Forties hangar dance at the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. I still have the plaque in my office to this day.

Attending all these dances also led us to absolutely love swing music, especially the music of Glenn Miller. And though he passed away during WWII, a version of the orchestra regrouped in 1956, and it is still touring to this day. (With ever-changing members, of course.) You can find out about their tour schedule at https://glennmillerorchestra.com, and you can even go to one of their concerts, if you’d like to experience this wonderful music from the past. We’ve heard them play “live” many times, and it’s always hard to sit still throughout the whole show! In fact, people often jump up and start swing dancing in the aisles. (Okay, us included . . .)

And if you don’t know how to swing dance yourself, these days you’ll find plenty of swing dance instructional videos on YouTube. Plus, lots of cities have their own swing dance societies, and some cities even have hangar dances, 1940s USO style.

That brings me to a final subject: How do you dress for such a dance? Of course, for women, you’ll need bright red lipstick—Victory Red, as they called it—and you’ll probably want to wear a dress. In those days, the style was generally wider at the shoulders with an A-line skirt, to give a woman an hourglass figure. Here’s a vintage 1940s dress, similar to something Tracy might have worn in my book:

I also recommend that you wear long gloves, a small hat, and plenty of sparkly jewelry. Back then, women wore full jewelry sets at once—necklace, earrings, bracelet, and brooch. And to complete your look, panty hose with seams up the back will definitely put you in that era. Men can wear a double-breasted suit or baggy pleated pants and a sweater vest and bow tie. A fedora (hat) is a nice touch if you can find one.

Now I leave you with a little “incentive” to get out there and swing dance yourself . . . Here’s one of the best swing dance songs ever written, “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller:



Once you go swing dancing, you’ll understand why I included it in my book, Swell Time for a Swing Dance. It’s just so much fun!

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Want more? Find the full schedule (and a giveaway!) for
this "swell" blog tour HERE.

You can also grab a Kindle copy of this book for FREE this week,
October 16-20! 

A Link and a License

I have some exciting news today!

A Vacation to Seekerville

I'm sure a lot of you writers/bloggers out there are already familiar with the lovely island retreat (blog) for writers known as Seekerville. (Do check out the link if you haven't had the opportunity to visit there yet!) Well, I'm thrilled to tell you that I'm going to be a guest there tomorrow (Friday)! Author Julie Lessman was sweet enough to give me the chance to write a guest post, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to share a little about this early season of my business venture and to offer some tips and encouragement for writers and small-business owners alike.

I'd love to have you stop by! Be looking for "5 Tips for Spreading the Word and Surviving in the Online World" to be posted at the Seekerville blog around 9:00 pm PST (12:00 am EST) tonight (Thursday night). And as an added incentive to drop by and say "hi," I'm offering a $10 Amazon.com gift card to one random commenter! =) Hope to see you there!

A Trip to the DMV

In other news, I had my behind-the-wheel driving test yesterday! For those of you who have been keeping up with my Driving Diary (which only has a few entries...), you might be thinking, "Finally!" After having a permit for almost 2 years (renewed once), I finally took the plunge and made the appointment.

And... *drum roll* I passed the test!! I am now licensed to drive, so consider yourself warned! ;) Huge thanks to all of you who have followed my progress and offered encouragement! I appreciated the chance to read your stories and to know I was not alone in my nervousness. Thank you for sharing the journey with me!

Of course, the journey isn't over - this is only a new chapter in my "driving diary." Driving is definitely something that can help keep me humble! I still have so very much to learn and more confidence to gain. I'm still making mistakes... But through God's grace I've made it this far, and I feel very relieved and blessed to have the driving test behind me!

What exciting things have been going on in your life?

The Writers Alley Guest Post and Giveaway!

I'm at The Writers Alley blog today, sharing some thoughts on editing and offering a HUGE giveaway! If your story is ready for some editing, I'm giving away any one of my editing packages. That's right - the winner will get a FREE editing package, up to a $550 value (according to my current prices for my freelance editing services)!!! I'm really excited to work with someone on his or her story, and to have someone try out my editing services. =)

To enter the drawing, head on over to The Writers Alley and leave a comment with your e-mail address. You'll find all the details for the drawing, as well as my thoughts about the benefits of editing (perhaps you'll be surprised!), here:

Editing the Future: Another Pair of Eyes and Unwritten Manuscripts ~ A Guest Post by Amber Stokes

I hope to see you there!!

With thanks to Casey Herringshaw for offering to host me, and for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts on editing as well as spread the word about my new business!

What I Wish Romance Writers Knew About the Military (Guest Post)

In honor of Veterans' Day, today's guest is Vince Mooney, who has some wonderful advice to share with anyone interested in writing military romance (or anyone who just wants to learn more about how the military works!).

Meet Vince: "Born in Long Island, New York, have lived in New Jersey, Connecticut, Arizona, California, and Oklahoma. Lived three years in Italy and Germany while in USAF.(Air Police: K-9 section). Now live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Married after whirlwind romance to same wife for over 30 years. Currently run my own real estate school in Oklahoma. Like to study foreign languages for a few months just to see how they work. Also like Latin and giving speeches. I’ve taught Philosophy, Advertising, Property Management, and many real estate subjects at the University, Community College, and Technical School level. Now writing non-fiction book on the Romance genre. I was trained to be a philosopher and history teacher but have worked mostly in advertising, marketing, and real estate."

You can learn more about Vince at his blog Philosophy of Romance.

Welcome, Vince!

What I Wish Romance Writers Knew About the Military

It can be very difficult for me to read a military romance because there are sometimes enough mistakes to repeatedly pull me out of the story. This does not have to be the case. I’ve read many military romances by Maureen Child with complete satisfaction. She must have a very good military fact checker. But then, even a good military fact checker will usually only catch mistakes. He won’t suggest the kind of additions that should also be in the story if it is to be true to life.

Below are ten suggestions for writing better military romances as seen from a veteran’s point of view. One caveat: veterans were in the service at different times. Things change. Ranks change. The writer should check everything out first to make sure her facts are true for the same time period she is writing about. (Ranks may have been different during WWII, for example.)

1. Get the ranks right. I read one romance where the author thought a sergeant major outranked a Captain. She had the Captain jump up and salute the sergeant. This just destroys the writer’s credibility.

Here is where you can check ranks.

2. Get the time-in-grade right. Make sure the character has a rank that is appropriate for his age and/or time in the military. I’ve seen heroes with ranks so low for their time in the service that they must have been real screw-up’s who were busted a few times. This was not the author’s intention. (I couldn’t help thinking: what a loser that hero must be.)

Here is where you can get an idea of Army time-in-grade requirements before being promoted to the next rank.

You can find other sites for Navy and Air Force. Remember: some services do not have some ranks. I only saw one Warrant Office my whole time in the Air Force. I don’t believe there are any left.

3. Put military ‘annoyances’ into the story. I’ve read a whole series of military romances where you would swear the Airman had civilian jobs. They’d go to work like they were going to a civilian office. They would take days off or afternoons off as they needed for their personal reasons. That’s not military life.

I’d like to see some things like: having to go to commander’s call once a month (this is a major meeting of the troops often in a movie theater where films are shown and the concerns of the commander are given.) If this meeting was from 9 am to 12 pm and you just worked the 11 pm to 8 am shift, you still had to go. (Make sure they are still doing this at the time your story takes place. Make sure they call it Commander’s Call in the service you are writing about. They may do it on the internet at this point.)

Troops also have to take their exercise tests each year (this could be more often now). Another ‘hot issue’ that comes up a few times a year is who is going to be promoted and how will they react? (I’ve seen airman who were so mad they were not promoted that they went around kicking holes in the walls.) I don’t think I’ve ever seen troops looking at the posted promotion lists in a romance. This is a big deal. If your story spans a full year, this would have come up in real life.

There are also medical exams and shots to take as well as qualifying on the rifle range. There are inspections and sometimes the Inspector General flies in to check the post out. These inspections are supposed to be a surprise but we always knew when it was going to happen. Air Police pretty much knew what was going on.

Don’t forget the dreaded alerts. These are mission exercises where a war situation is simulated. The whole base would be called out to battle stations. You could be asleep in the middle of the night after having worked the 4 pm to 11 pm shift and you still had to get up and put in at least another 8 hours. Alerts are a major annoyance at any time. If you were just leaving the base to start your 30-day leave they can be a disaster. Even the officers would tell the troops: “If you are off duty, get off of the base. Go somewhere. Don’t stick around here.”

4. Consider describing the colorful patches on the uniform of your hero or heroine.

For example, if you have an Air Force Pararescue member, check out what the patch looks like here.

Soldiers and airman are proud of their units. I was in the Air Police K-9 corps and we had a patch we were very proud of.

See some here.

5. Have some saluting going on every once in a while to give the story a military flavor. I’ve read military romances where I don’t believe there was even one salute in the whole story.

6. Have some complaining going on in the background. This is just normal. “There’s the right way and there’s the Army way.”

7. Remember: personnel rotate every few years. Don’t have people on the post who have had the same military position for ten years. Troops are rotated every few years so they can get a fresh start every so often. Even a bad commander, who you can’t stand, may be gone in a year or two or you might be going to a new base in a few months yourself. This rotation makes it easier to put up with things that you would otherwise consider to be intolerable if you knew things would never change.

8. Troops who vote will often use absentee ballots.

9. There is usually some talk about getting out of the service or re-upping. “He’s a lifer” is often said about a career solider. Use a little slang like, RHIP: rank has its privilege. This is used quite often.

10. Talk about benefits and education. There are bonuses to re-up and money to pay for part of college tuition. Your hero could be going to college in the military. It could be a reason why he will not leave the service.

Use only a little of the above suggestions.

In no way would I suggest that the above is a checklist a writer must compete when writing a military story. Most romance readers are woman and most women have not been in the military. A writer does not have to do any of things I recommend above. I realize that the romance is the central focus of the story. However, if some of the above items are included in the story, then the story will seem more real and the reader will get an insight into military life that she did not have before reading the story.

One more thing: being late to work is being AWOL. Don’t have your service people coming late to work like it wasn’t a big deal. This does drive me crazy.

Vince
USAF, TAC 17th AF
1963 to 1967 K-9

Amber's Parting Comments: Thank you so much for the helpful information, Vince! And thank you for your service to our country. May we honor our military men and women this day and every day for the sacrifices they make or have made on our behalf.