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I’m Not Dead

Yet haha. I wish I could tell everyone here about the blackhole I fell in since writing that optimistic Goals of 2020 post (a girl can dream, can’t she?).


Without specifics, I’ve had three years that will help me write about the TRIBULATION we experience on this earthly plane. I’m still going through a lot, all while running around after five crazy/amazing kids. But when my readers actually start questioning if something horrible happened to me…yeah that was time to update everyone.

(Aheem, I had to actually look up how I posted on my blog it’s been so long.)

I wanted to let everyone know I released my third audio book, INFINITE LOSS:


Click below to listen to the free audio sample:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08VD3QRC4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1676597854&sr=8-1

I LOVE how the narrator, Jessica, does all the amazing accents and sings!!! Even if you’ve read the books, I promise listening to her read them is even better!

Also, after much thought, and after consulting with my wise adviser (my sister), the evolution of this series is changing to a SIX book series. The fifth book is emerging as a whole book of it’s own. It will have a new title and a new cover that I will give a sneak peek a little later.


Book six will be the final book of the series, INFINITE SALVATION. I have great plans for it.

In a few months I will be traveling to get to know the interesting location where book five will take place. How EXCITING!!!

Now just all send good vibes that my kids will stop fighting with each other so Mama can write 🙏🏻

And with it, my long-awaited release of the fourth book of my series, Infinite Faith. I’m very proud of this book and hope you will all enjoy it.

DSC_0083

You can purchase it right now (and take advantage of the one-day $4.99 discount price of the ebook) at the following locations, simply click on the link:

Amazon
Amazon UK
Kobo
Smashwords
Amazon Print Copy ($15.99)

Nook, Googleplay, iBooks and Sony will be up shortly.

Please take the time to leave some much needed reviews on this new book. It helps me so much! Thank you so much for your patience and support. I have the BEST fans!

Happily, this is not the last book. Infinite Salvation (Book 5) is already in the works and stay tuned for updates on its progress. It will most definitely be the caboose of my series and, with a tinge of sadness but so much joy, I look forward to completing the series.

~Lauren

Hello my lovely fans,

I’m pleased to say I made the pre-order deadline by one day and Infinite Faith is up on pre-order on Amazon here.

infinitefaith- small ebookThis is the first time I’ve used pre-order so this is new to me. Self-publishing is a constantly evolving process much of time leaving me to play catch-up on the new technologies and options.Because I don’t want my fans to loose out on the one-day sale I planned on release day I’m setting the pre-order price at the release day sale price. The price will go back to $5.99 on May 2nd so grab it up before then!

~Lauren

I’m so happy to say to all my patient fans that Infinite Faith (Infinite Series Book 4) will be released May 1st!

It has taken longer than I predicted due to the ENORMOUS restoration project that I’ve taken on which I’m still slaving away at on weekends, but that is another story and another book!

Infinite Faith was originally going to include three past lives, but after much thought and feedback, the story can’t end here and a fifth book is needed to complete the story. I know that is welcome news for many of you that have begged for the Infinite Series to go on and, after writing much of the third life of Infinite Faith, I realized that as much as you might plan a book, its characters develop a life of their own and take the story in their own direction. I was going to deviate from the original story format since I thought it would be exciting, but it just didn’t feel right. Therefore, Infinite Faith will include two fantastic lives, it’s on its way to being published and I’ve got some of Book 5 (Infinite Salvation) finished already!

Enough about that, I’m sure what you really want to see is the gorgeous cover S. Frost Designs created for me. This might be my favorite cover yet!

infinitefaith- small ebook

 

I also want everyone on my website to have a heads up that the eBook will be $4.99 instead of $5.99 for the first day only, so mark that date on your calendar (but I will still send out a reminder mass email that morning). I want you all the get that deal since it’s the only time I discount the later books. In return for the discount, I would be so appreciative for honest reviews since they are so important for new releases. Thanks so much for waiting for this fourth book and for your awesome support!

 

The results of the cover updating poll were close. Even though the poll leaned more towards keeping the original covers (which makes me happy that so many people loved them!), people emailed and left blog comments who couldn’t vote through the poll that they wanted to see it updated. So I started working on the free ebook redesign I won from the amazing Sylvia Frost and here it is:
(Drum roll please…)

Old cover (I do still love you):

InfiniteSacrificeForWeb

New cover:

Ta Da!

Infinite Sacrifice 2015 cover

Of course, I couldn’t stop from doing the whole series after seeing this one. I love how it still gives me the same feeling the original did, but it just adds a little more pizzazz. Sylvia went straight to work redesigning the rest of the series (no, I’m not going to show you Infinite Faith yet, but it’s sooo pretty!) However, I will show you Infinite Devotion:

(Cue the fireworks..)

Old Cover:

InfiniteDevotionFINAL

New Cover:

infinitedevotion_1_3

And here is Infinite Loss:
(Light the cannons…)

Old Cover:

InfiniteLossCoverWeb

New Cover:

infiniteloss_1_3

Sylvia gave me three different mock ups to decide between and one of them appealed so much to me that we decided to put it on the back cover of the paperback version. I loved how they gave the ghostly impression of her past lives.

InfiniteSacrifice5_5x8_5_Cream_290_2_3

InfiniteDevotion5_5x8_5_BW_450_2-1

InfiniteLoss5_5x8_5_BW_680_2_2

Well, please let me know what you think! Do you love them or are you still attached to the old ones?

(PS-I haven’t changed them all over on my distributors yet so if you love the old ones you can go by a print copy of them still.)

Maybe one day I’ll make a special edition of the original covers, but all I want to do right now is stare at these beauties! I can’t wait to hold them all in paperback form!

And to anyone who is looking for an extremely professional (and patient) cover artist, I highly recommend S. Frost Cover Design.

I better get back to writing Infinite Faith now…

Infinite Sacrifice - L.E. Waters

I’ve been away from my blog for so long that WordPress changed on me and I had to completely relearn how to do this. Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out how to attach a poll or this post will be pointless.

InfiniteDevotionFINALAwesome news! I won a free ebook cover design from the crazy talented (check out her portfolio) Sylvia Frost from S.F. Designs. I never really won anything before (except a $25 raffle at a doll house fair) and I couldn’t believe it when I saw my name—I guess this means I won’t have much chance winning the HGTV Dreamhome sweepstakes that I’ve been signing up for everyday 😦 The strange thing is that I was seriously thinking about updating my covers lately.

InfiniteLossCoverWebI knew exactly what I wanted on my covers before I published and I just needed to find someone who could put together what I saw in my mind. I wanted that infinity sign to be my brand and I wanted it to change with my main character’s progress through the series. The background photo I found on iStock after hours of searching though images and it just spoke to me. Since my book is so complicated, I thought a simple book cover works best. When I first saw this cover in my hands, I cried. It truly meant so much to me.

Which is why it’s hard to change it, but I realize that it’s a good idea to keep updating these things in hopes of drawing a larger readership. So my dear readers/blog followers/author friends, do you think they should stay just the way they are (I haven’t even revealed Infinite Faith’s cover..it’s my favorite yet) or would you like to see what Sylvia Frost can do to jazz them up? If I hear that most of you are attached to the original then I can always make a cover for the next project that I can’t wait to write 🙂 Either way, I LOVE creating covers!

Please take a minute to vote here to decide the Infinite Series cover fate. And I won’t have any hurt feelings or I wouldn’t have asked! Thanks so much for helping me make this big decision!

I realize that guessing your blog’s password three times is a good indicator of blog neglect. I feel terrible that things have gotten so busy that I’ve had to drop updating this blog. I used to love coming here like my weekly therapy session to vent/celebrate my latest writing/publishing adventures. The support I found from other authors and readers on here truly helped me grow and I thank you all for that.

Life just sped up for me this last year. The kiddos are growing and changing almost everyday and I have to keep evolving with them in order to keep the balance of nature in our house. Yet, the thing that consumes most of my free time is a huge project we took on last Christmas that had always been a dream. It has proven to be a much bigger project than I could ever have imagined. We decided to purchase a lovely old gingerbread Victorian on the Jersey shore that needed to be restored to its former glory (I’ve been watching way too many Nicole Curtis-Rehab Addict episodes…it’s all her fault).

At first, we thought that we could purchase it and hold off on the major work for a year or two, but that was before we found knob and tube wiring 😦 Then everything had to be opened up and we found other delightful problems of course. Fast forward almost a year and not much has progressed due to many different issues I won’t go into now. But here’s a peek of what it pretty much looks like throughout the house:

kitchen pic for blog

Just like getting my books out, it is a labor of love that I take very seriously and devote most of my time to researching and planning. I’m obsessed with trying to bring this house back to 1890’s even if it means finding 1890’s salvage from Ebay and Craigslist to make it that way. I spent the last year going down for day trips—a two hour drive each way—with my infant in tow, measuring and planning what needs to be done. Not to mention finding a whole antique tin ceiling, 1920’s gas stove, old barn siding, hand-hewn beams and old plumbing fixtures to the delight of my contractor. It has truly been an adventure of a whole other kind with funny stories, treasure hunts, trial and error, and lessons learned. Halfway through all of this, I decided I needed to document everything for a different type of home improvement book, that will illustrate the changes, but will be told in a storytelling way. To combine two great passions of mine will be exciting. I strive to put books out that I would love to read and I can’t get enough of home improvement shows/books, focusing on restoring old homes and giving DIY tips along the way.

Even though the house restoration is taking up a huge part of my life right now (especially since we keep getting thrown curve balls that call for creative fixes), I have managed to carve out an hour of writing/researching a day. And I am so happy to announce that I’ve finished writing the second life of Infinite Faith. That might not sound like a lot, but at nearly 100,000 words it could easily be a novel on its own and the first life of this book clocks in around 75,000 words. This is still only a first draft and I’ll need to do the proper beta reads and revisions on it, but it’s progress and I know my loyal fans have been patiently waiting for this next installment so it might help them wait a little longer for the last life of the book to be written. I’m already cracking open my research books for this next glimpse of history and hopefully the house project issues will die down as things start to fall into place and I can get more writing time this winter.

So, please forgive me for all of my neglect and delays. I still love writing my series and promise to keep sculpting it. Can I give an exact time that it will be released? Not yet. I never expected this last life to be so long, but my stories sometimes take me in unexpected directions. This next life will most likely take me on a similar journey. I can only promise that I won’t put this fourth installment out until it is everything I’ve dreamed it to be. Thank you all for being so patient and supportive (and sending good vibes to my little gingerbread house is also greatly appreciated).

I’ll admit it, I stalk all my review sites. I can’t resist reading what readers are saying about my books. I do searches of my books every once in a while to read kind bloggers who discuss my books. Of course I fly high with favorable reviews and try to absorb any criticism as best as I can. I get such a thrill when I see that I have a new review and hold my breath as I read it. I especially like seeing which lines from my books get highlighted on Amazon. I have to say I enjoy this part of being a writer more than my sales reports. I didn’t write to make money, I wrote because I was inspired and it’s amazing to me when others have enjoyed the little world I created in my head. I don’t know if traditionally published authors follow their feedback as closely as indie authors do, but I would guess that reviews and ratings mean more to indies always in search of validation and reassurance.

There are so many things you can say to a writer that can bring tears to their eyes and make them feel like it’s all been worth while. Yet the one that fills me with so much pride is the compliment that they would read anything I write in the future.

That says to me that they didn’t just enjoy the characters, the plot, or the subject, but that they enjoyed my storytelling and style. This gives me so much confidence since sometimes I worry that I might not create such loveable characters in the next novel after my series or the subject just captivated people and if I switch to a different genre they won’t follow me. The one thing that will most likely remain constant is my storytelling style and, if they said they enjoyed that, then chances are they’ll enjoy the next book.

Thank you to those readers who have said that. It fills me with so much reassurance that I’m doing what I should be doing.

If you’re an author, what compliments have meant the most to you? If you’re a reader, what’s the best compliment that you’ve ever left a writer?

 

It’s sad to see that I’m only managing to blog on these once-a-month Indie Life occasions, but with a rambunctious seven-year old boy, an early terrible two-er, and another baby on the way, I find that I only get to write in small little spurts throughout the day. I don’t know why I keep thinking that I’ll get to write so much during the summer. Now if I was a big name, traditionally published author I could hire people to take care of my little ones so that I could finish my last book asap, but alas, this is the plight of many indie writers struggling to finish books along with another job.

So these are the stolen moments I try to grab throughout the day in order to make slow (but steady) head-way on my final book in the series:

I wake up with my laptop right beside my bed. I try to get a good fifteen minutes in before anyone is aware that I’m awake. It’s enough time to check all my accounts and answer any important emails.

I keep my laptop nearby for those rare moments the kids settle down and watch something on the TV. I try to jump right back in where I left off the night before. Even if I add only a paragraph I feel it’s progress.

When I’m driving around, taking the kids to programs, I always have my iPhone with me to jot down notes. This is a great time for brainstorming and thinking little details through. Some of my best thoughts come through in these busy moments.

When my one-and-a-half year old naps, I try to get my seven-year old occupied with a craft or book so that I can get at least an hour of writing in. Some days are more productive than others 🙂

During doctor’s appointments (and there have been a lot of them lately!), I bring my research books along with me. I always have a pen handy to write notes directly in the margins.

Unfortunately, with the late night fireworks recently, my kids’ sleep schedule has been thrown out of whack and they’ve been going to bed near the time I collapse. I’ve been trying to move it slowly back every night since that is another time I can get a good hour of writing in (if I turn the TV off that is).

The weekends can be even more chaotic since we try to get out to enjoy the east coast summer. I feel guilty staying inside while my kids are being kids. I may take a half-hour here and there, but I try to stay focused on my family.

So this is why my books take some time. Not only do I spend a lot of time researching and plotting out the whole storyline, but with only an hour here and an hour there, it’s a wonder I even get books finished at all!

The new baby will be due in the early fall and I know that even these hours will be reduced to fifteen minutes here and there, but every paragraph that’s written is progress and it will get done if I keep working on it. Of course I wish I could magically stop time to write to my heart’s content, but this is the reality of the part-time/sometimes/not-enough-time writer.

What about you? Where do you steal some time to write?

(Clothing optional)

My latest venture in self-publishing has been something I never thought I’d attempt. If you told me that I’d be creating audio books years ago I’d laugh and show you how I haven’t even figured out my iPhone yet. I first saw a discussion about creating audio books on the Kindlebord’s Writer’s Cafe forum (where I get on all my self-publishing information). I clicked on the thread only out of curiosity and was surprised to hear indie authors report how easy it was to create audio books and if you’re not putting one out you’re leaving money on the table.

My impression was that you needed to be tech savvy to create one or have a lot of money to pay someone else to make one. I knew a few indie authors that narrated their audio books themselves but knew that would never be an option for me. However, these much clever indies had found a site called ACX that helps indies produce their own audio books much like Createspace and KDP have made self-publishing ebooks and print books so simple. I decided to make an account and clicked every tab I could find to answer all my endless questions.

My biggest problem was that I worried my unusual reincarnation fantasy would not make a good audio book due to the fact that I would have to find one very talented narrator who could pull off different accents, different genders, and different ages in a believable way. Yet, what did I have to lose if I put a sample up? So I picked out a few pages of each life from my first book for folks to audition for.

A few weeks went by without any auditions, but then my project got selected for a stipend. I had no idea what that was at first but found out that it is an incentive program that ACX puts on certain books for producers and narrators. Not only will they get the 50%-50% royalty deal, they also get $100 for every finished hour of audio book paid by ACX. Well, the auditions started rolling in. The very first audition I listened to floored me. Completely not what I expected, this narrator took the book in her own direction and I loved it.

What to do now?

Well, I had to read more information on the site about how I make an offer and I was sure to read all the fine print about making an audio book with ACX. I decided I would go with the 50%-50% royalty deal, the exclusive distribution option with ACX that yields more profit for me, and had to select the date I wanted the narrator to complete the first fifteen minutes and the date the whole project should be finalized. Since there was a stipend attached, it was important to see when the stipend time was up since they grant them for only a few months at a time. I checked when mine was up and made sure I gave extra time for my narrator to complete it.

Well, she unfortunately responded that she was busy with another project at the moment and wouldn’t be able to finish it by that date. I was so disappointed and wondered if everyone would sound terrible next to her skill. I listened to a few more auditions and learned that I definitely didn’t like strong accents and glaring voice changes for different characters. The first narrator showed me that subtle was the way to go.

Finally, I got a message from a producer who was interested in my project and gave a list of narrators that worked for him with samples of audio books they’d completed. I picked Jessica Peterson out immediately since she read similarly to the first narrator that I’d heard. The producer had her read my sample and I made the offer which they quickly accepted.

He got to work right away and kept me informed of all their deadlines. It was so nice to work with such a seasoned professional. Since I was so inexperienced it was wonderful to have someone guide me through the whole process. He asked me to go through my whole book and pick out any words that might have difficult pronunciation. Usually there might only be a few words that need to be clarified, but with all my historic names, places, and things this took me a very long time.

An unexpected benefit to making an audio book was soon found out when the narrator found typos (a few missing words here and there). Which was shocking since I’ve had this darn book edited by at least six amazing editors! But since she had to read each word aloud I think it truly cleared up any of those last pesky typos.

The most important step is approving the first fifteen minutes, until then you can walk away from the deal without any penalty. Make sure you like everything: the sound quality, the vocal choices, the pronunciations before this stage since after you approve you’ll have to pay the narrator to end the project if you don’t get along. My first fifteen minutes was wonderful except for the fact that I forgot to specify that my main character begins old and at a certain phrase becomes much younger. It slipped my mind and I felt terrible to tell them that they wasted five minutes at the end since it had to be changed. They were gracious and went back to the studio to change it and I didn’t approve it until it was just the way I wanted.

Now it was definitely happening and I had faith in my producer’s and narrator’s abilities. They finished before the deadline and I listened to every word before I approved the final creation. I had to scramble to get my cover designer to make a square cover for the audition since they would not allow the cover I use for the ebook (so it’s good idea to get that done ahead of time).

It took much longer that I thought before the audio book was up for sale on Amazon (four weeks). I even sent an inquiry on why it was delayed but apparently that is the normal time it takes. I saw that the price was set at $19.95 (they set the price based on how long the audio is), but I wanted to be sure to get the Whispersync deal on there since it gives a huge discount to those who have already purchased the ebook (and since my ebook is free, I hoped it would increase sales). I wrote to ACX and requested the option and after a week the discount was available.

Infinite Sacrifice-Audio Cover(Click here for the link to the audio version)

So there you have it, an audio book was created by someone who never thought they could manage it. I’ve already had a few emails letting me know how much they enjoyed the audio book and were wondering when book number two will be out. I went to work on getting that one made and requested a stipend on that book so I could continue to use the same producer and narrator. They actually granted me the stipend and my producer is up for the project, so now I’m busy looking up all the hard to pronounce words…

Self-publishing is truly an adventure.

indielife7

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