Inspiration - Silver James...

It is with great pleasure that I welcome my friend Silver James to the Journal - and it's no coincidence that she's guest blogging here on Inspiration Wednesday. She is truly an inspiration - I look up to her with admiration and awe. She's a terrific writer, one who goes after her dreams with enthusiasm and determination. I'm pleased to announce the release of Blood Moon, the first in the Moonstruck Trilogy. Now, here's Silver James!!

Thank you, Janet, for hosting me today on Inspiration Wednesday. I’m not sure how inspirational I’ll be but I’ll try. We’ve talked, briefly, about my plunge into self-publishing and why. Many think I jumped in feet first like a kid on the first day of summer vacation hitting the neighborhood swimming hole. I didn’t. The decision to self-publish the Moonstruck series came about after months of consideration. And frustration. With a capital F.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. 　 - Anatole France

 I write romance, but I’m not really a romance writer. I know that doesn’t make sense so I’ll try to explain. The romance genre, by and large, has a formula. Since I flunked math, you can see where that’s going, right? I never learned the formula. I sat down at a computer and simply told a story. From multiple viewpoints. In the same scene. After I sold my first novel, I learned this is a Very Bad Thing™ by and large. But I don’t write that way. I struggle with it even when I set out to write a book with limited POVs. As I fought through the edits an editor made on one of my books, I realized how unhappy I was. I looked at my writing, looked at how I had changed the text, the flow, the very character of my voice to fit some preconceived notion of how it should be. While on one level I understood this was necessary, on another I rebelled.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. – Seneca

 After studying the situation, and realizing that I hadn’t sent MOONSTRUCK to my editor, I sat up wide awake in bed one night. I didn’t want to turn this book over to an editor with control over my words. I wanted to tell this story the way I wanted to tell it. I wanted to take the dare to do it "my way." Before I rolled over and went back to sleep, I knew I was going to self-publish it. Let me add a caveat here. I am "indie published" because I’m published by a small, INDEPENDENT press. I chose to SELF-PUBLISH the novellas in MOONSTRUCK. There is a big difference to my mind and I’m not going to duck the negative connotations that come with self-publishing. Attitudes change. This book was professionally edited and copy edited and I had a professional cover designer do the covers. The fact that designer is my multi-talented daughter has nothing to do with it. We made a contract and I paid her for her work. You can check my site to see them. (That’s the mom bragging!) The point is, the three novellas in the MOONSTRUCK series are self-published.

Am I going to make a fortune self-publishing? I doubt it. A steady stream of royalty payments will make me happy. After I recoup my expenses, it’s all gravy. If by some extreme fluke in the Universe I become a best-selling self-published author, I’ll be the first to fall over in a dead faint. Catching lighting in that bottle would truly be a miracle. I didn’t choose this route to get rich. I chose it to tell my story the way I wanted it told. I have one last bit of advice for writers, and I’m borrowing from Sir Winston when I say,

Never, never, never give up. - Winston Churchill

 I’m not going to. My dream is to be a writer and I believe I can, no matter how difficult. So… (please note the improper use of ellipses to denote a pause in the action) Are you curious about BLOOD MOON, the first book in the series? It’s on sale this week for a special introductory price of 99 cents. It’ll go up next week to $1.99. Here’s the blurb, and the hot cover Clary designed for it:


Army Major Hannah Jackson knows where the skeletons are hidden at the Pentagon and now she’s been tasked with keeping the secrets of Army Special Sci Ops Unit 69—the Wolves—and their secret is a doozy. That a civilian corporation wants to exploit the Wolves is a matter of pressing concern.

Sergeant Major Ian McIntire doesn’t trust Hannah as far as he can throw her—and that’s quite a ways considering he’s an alpha werewolf. The woman is a pain in his butt and with the Blood Moon coming, the unit needs to complete their mission and get home before tempers flare. While she might know most of their secrets, the one she doesn’t know about the moonstruck Wolf might just get them all killed.

When a covert operation goes wrong, Mac must trust Hannah to save his men—and his heart. Secrets, lies, and betrayals are more personal under the full moon, but when a Wolf loves a woman, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.

Warning: Pursue an alpha Wolf at your own risk. Hot sex, bad words, and action of the blood and guts kind will ensue.

Janet, thanks for letting me hang out here today. And y’all? Do me a favor? Word of mouth is the most priceless advertising an author can have. Every time you read a book, leave a rating and/or a review for it. Be honest. Share what you loved or hated, but share!

You can find Silver hanging out at Penumbra, her own blog/website: http://www.silverjames.com/
Or on Twitter: @SilverJames_
And here's the link to get your own copy of Blood Moon:
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Moon-Moonstruck-ebook/dp/B0080UST5K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336558845&sr=8-1

*And I'll let you all in on a little secret - I had the honor of reading Blood Moon and I can honestly say it was HOT, Sexy and a wonderful story of two people finding each other and their Happily-Ever-After.