Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving. – B.C. Forbes

Imagine you’re a visitor from another planet and have never heard of Christmas. The beliefs and rituals celebrated during Christmas would look very puzzling: cutting down trees to put in our living-rooms, putting an array of trinkets on them, covering everything in lights, and telling stories to our children about an absurdly generous man who uses reindeer to fly around the world in a sled. Why would any rational creature engage in the silly behavior associated with Christmas?

As a holiday rooted in religious rituals, the heart of Christmas is to the spirit of community. The purpose of evoking such a strong spirit of community around this time goes back to Christmas’ pagan roots and celebrations associated with the Winter solstice. Marking the darkest…

http://www.depositphotos.com – Picture by stockfoto-graf

I’ll start with a fact: I’m a cover junkie. Whenever I’m browsing Amazon, and my eyes fall on a great-looking cover, I find my forefinger’s pad tingling to tap the “Buy with 1-click” button. And then I have to force myself to consider my monthly book budget; if it’s the beginning of the month, I’m toast!

When I decided to go down the self-publishing route, I knew that one of the perks was that I got to decide what my cover would look like. No generic stockphoto images that screamed “hot romance” would do for me—an established practice for the majority of romance imprints. I needed the characters I created, nourished and came to love to find the perfect casting, and the Casting Director job would be mine and mine alone. Plus, having no big publisher promoting me, I needed the resulting cover to stand…

Ever wonder if people are reading your post? And if they are, do they read the entire thing? Are they just skimming? If you read last Thursday’s post (check that out here), you already know what this Tuesday’s tip is about. For those of you who didn’t read it, or just skimmed it, I’m taking a break from the editing series this week so I can talk about how to make sure your post get read. They’re called readers for a reason. Let’s get them to READ!

Why don’t people read or finish reading blog post?

1. They don’t have time
2. They got bored
3. They thought it was irrelevant
4. They didn’t see it

1. Make Your Post Quick and Easy to Read

Quick and easy: Microwave meals have been banking on this concept for a long time. Make your post the Uncle Ben’s of blog post. I’m not saying it should take less than a…