Looking Back at 2016

With the end of the year fast approaching, it seems like a good time to sit back and reflect on what I’ve accomplished so far. Here we go.

I kicked off the year by releasing Taking a Risk, the third book in my Taking on Love series, in January. Taking a Risk also added another milestone to my accomplishments as it was the first male/male romance novel that I’d ever written. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how my readers would feel about a gay romance novel, but you all came through with flying colors. The book was as well received as the others in the series. The fourth book, Taking Another Shot, came out just a few months later to cap off the Taking on Love series.

In between the release of the third and fourth Taking on Love books, I released the ten year anniversary edition of Letters from Linc. This book came with added content as well as a new cover. It’s hard to believe that the first edition, which was also the first novel I published, came out ten years ago. Letters from Linc holds a special place in my heart both for its subject matter and the fact that it launched my writing career.

After finishing up the Taking on Love series, I moved on to the Kinkaid Brothers trilogy. This is actually a spinoff of the Taking on Love series. All five Kinkaid brothers made their first appearance in Taking a Risk, and they were so much fun to write that I decided to give the guys their own books. Austin Kinkaid was up first with my novel Change Up which came out in September.

Heading for Home, the second Kinkaid brothers novel, was planned for release this year. As you’re aware, that didn’t come to pass, but don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about Reese, Marc and Max. In fact, I’ve already finished the first draft of Heading for Home.

It was a trip to Sapphire Falls that delayed the release of Heading for Home. When best-selling author Erin Nicholas invited me to write a Sapphire Falls Kindle World novella to be released in October, I jumped at the chance. I love all of Erin’s books and I was honored to share my Sapphire Falls story with her amazing readers. I knew when I accepted that I would be pushing back the Kinkaid Brothers, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of the Sapphire Falls world. My novella, Going for Wilder, joined several others that came out in October.

There you have it. It’s been a fun year for my writing career, and I’m already looking forward to 2017.

This Writer's Holiday Wish List

Christmas is coming. Even though it falls on the same day every year, I have to admit that it snuck up on me this year. I’m not mentally prepared for the holiday, which means I don’t have an answer to the question of what I want for Christmas. While I can’t give my family a list of gifts they can either run out and buy or order online, I do have some things that would make this writer’s holiday merry and bright.

The one thing I want, no matter what time of year, is to be a best-selling author. That’s not something I can give to myself. I need all of you to help me make that dream come true. All you have to do is buy my books. All of them are under $5.00. I even have a few that are still priced at ninety-nine cents. That’s a pretty inexpensive gift that any writer would love.

Buying my books in general is a pretty awesome gift. I love it when people buy my books and not because I make money. Yes, it’s nice to make money, but you know what’s even better? Someone is paying me to do something I love, something I used to do for free! That in and of itself is a humbling gift.

If you have already bought my books and have done your part to make me a best seller, don’t despair. You can still give me an amazing gift. All you have to do is write a review of my book on Amazon. It doesn’t have to be a long review. A few kind words expressing your love of the book will be more than enough to get the job done. The more reviews a book gets on Amazon, the more it will be promoted by the retail giant, and I can use more promotion.

For those you who just can’t bring yourself to write a review, it would still mean a lot if you reached out to me to let me know how much you liked one of my books. You could accomplish that in any number of ways. Along with social media, there’s good old fashioned e-mail. Believe it or not, those contacts mean a great deal to me.

Speaking of social media, I would be ecstatic if I could get some more of you to follow me on Twitter and Instagram and like my Facebook author page. And when you do that, it would be great if you could like and share my photos and posts. Same goes for Twitter. I would love to see more favorites and retweets. I need all of you to help me spread the word.

Even better than liking and sharing what I post would be seeing you take the initiative to spread the word about me on your social media. I’m not just an author. I’m a reader. When I like a book, when a favorite author releases a new book, I take to my social media to share my feelings. Often, my fellow authors reply with their thanks. As a reader, that makes my day. If that happened to me as a writer, if someone was just so excited about my book that they shared it on social media, I would be on cloud nine.

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to make this writer’s holiday magical. That being said, whether I get these gifts or not, I owe you a debt of gratitude. Being one of my readers is a precious gift. It wasn’t that long ago, I was the only one reading my work.

Happy holidays, everyone!