Guest blogger: Author Lori Avocato

Please welcome my special guest this week, author Lori Avocato. Be sure to leave her a comment or question. She has a special article for us which is just below my questions to her. Real quick, I have to make a personal shout. I just received an email that The Wild Rose Press wants to publish my novel "Always A Bridesmaid". Yay! This is a sweet romance so after checking out my blog and my other books written as "Ashley Ladd", my newest editor wants me to use a different name to publish this book. I'm not shocked and I understand. :) I'm just very happy and excited. That's two new sales in a two week period. Not bad. Not bad at all. And now, please help me make Lori feel welcome today.

What are your best promotion tips for other writers? What works best for you?—I have each of the six books of my series made into business cards, which I call little bookmarks. I then carry them with me and hand out to everyone from the laundry attendant to the waitress. I also stuff one into all my bills when I return them.

Where do you get your ideas for your stories?—A lot from my life or the news or the world or my travels or just plain old imagination.

What part of the world is your favorite? I love Europe—the countryside and not the big cities. I just came back from Matera, Italy and then Austria. Where would you like to visit that you haven’t yet?—I guess Paris and the countryside of France.

What would people be surprised to know about you that most are unaware of?—I was a nurse in the Air Force, a captain.

How do you deal with rejection?—Rejection is never easy to take. We always take it personally, but at my stage, I don’t let it eat away at me. I might allow myself a day of feeling bummed, but this is a business. I then go on to the next work. Conversely, what do you do to celebrate new contracts/contest wins/good reviews?—out to dinner where I don’t have to do dishes is usually my first celebration.

Don’t Give Up

By

Lori Avocato

I’ve been writing for eleven years now and have sold fifteen books. Nine romances (one actually is a paranormal) and six humorous mysteries. While looking through my file cabinet, I came across my folder marked “Query letters.” For the heck of it, I decided to count them. I’ve counted my rejection letters before (had 40 of those babies from agents before I was taken on by one--who then retired.)

Back to the query letters. Eighty-nine. That’s how many there were in my file. Now, to make that number have some reference value, you must realize that out of the nine years: the first one to two years I had no idea what I was doing. Didn’t even know what point of view was (until I joined CT Romance Writers--really!) so there weren’t any submissions right off the bat. In that first year, too, it took many months--about 6--to finish that first novel. Also, during the eleven years an agent represented me for a few years, so I didn’t send out my own work. In case your head is spinning, the point I’m trying to make is: I have submitted my work eighty-nine times on my own.

Moral of the article: finish your work and submit, submit, submit.

If you get rejected, submit to someone else.

That, along with a good story, will get you published.

Don’t give up on yourselves or your work.

Here's a blurb of book #6 of The Pauline Sokol Mystery Series.

Book #6 DEAD ON ARRIVAL--ambulance fraud

Normally, insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol likes to keep her feet firmly on the ground. But her latest undercover assignment has the aero-phobic ex-nurse flying high--as she takes off to ground a land-and-air ambulance company that’s been doing some rather flighty billing. Even having ER Dano, the company’s best (and hottest!) paramedic in the copter seat next to her isn’t enough to soothe her queasiness.

But her insides really start doing loop-de-loops when one of the company’s owners is brutally murdered--and Pauline starts receiving creepy phone calls…from the killer! Suddenly the air looks a lot safer than the ground. And if Pauline doesn’t crack this case soon, even mouth-to-mouth from her favorite paramedic won’t be enough to revive her.

Thank you so very much, Lori, for being my guest this week, Lori. I very much enjoyed your article and your blurb. Your book is a must read and I wish you much luck with it.

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)