Wednesday, January 6, 2016

New Release Promo


Targeted is not exactly a new release, but the new cover is. Targeted came out in most countries in November.

HOWEVER – I took a course at RWA National, from a UK writer, on covers. She said our American style covers with the sexy men and their six-pack abs, and the sexual women don’t always sell in the UK. She showed the covers of books that do sell there. I decided when I uploaded to Amazon not to include the UK, Australia and NZ. So it wasn't released there in November.

I found a new cover artist because the one who did the first three covers for the Hawkins Ranch series, including Targeted, is now writing full-time for one of the New York publishing houses. I explained to Kelly, my new graphic designer, what I was looking for and I think she nailed it.





What do you think?








Targeted has now been released in the UK, so it's a new book there. You can find it at


Targeted Blurb

 After and eleven-year absence Janna Kincaid inherits a ranch and is forced to return to a town she only remembers with unhappiness, a man to whom she was briefly married and never wants to see again, and someone is trying to kill her.

Kye Hawkins has loved Janna since he first met her. They were married, but a few weeks later she ran away without an explanation. He still hasn’t figured out why. Now she’s coming back. Does she still love him? Can he rekindle the romance and also prevent her from being killed?

Janna doesn’t want Kye’s help in anyway, yet he always seems to be there when she’s in trouble. Can they work together to find a killer, save the native burial ground and home of the spirits, and find romance again?

You can also find me at:
Twitter @kelownawriter
LinkedIn - babateman@shaw.ca
tsu -https://www.tsu.co/@darkwriter
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Readers! Writers! Talk to Me!


What would you like to see in the new year?
As a reader, what are looking for when you click on a blog – new books, new authors, old authors, interviews with authors? Is there anything you’d like to see in a blog? Is there a reader out there who’d like to guest on my blog?

Writers, what about you? Is there anything you like on blogs that you don’t get enough of?
At the moment I’m continuing Tuesday Tips and Tweaks with guest authors sharing a writing, publishing or marketing tip. Thursday will be a promo day for new books. The third Saturday will continue to be my group blog, where we all blog on the theme/question of the month. Other Saturdays I will post on a variety of topics, Including my own writing and books.

There are a lot of blogs out there so you can find info on almost any topic. I’m wondering if there are areas both readers and writers might want more of, or that they don’t find easily.
I look forward to any comments.
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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year!


2015 is on its way out and 2016 is creeping in.
January 1 is New Year's Day It’s the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar. In pre-Christian Rome the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named. In present day, with most countries now using the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is probably the most celebrated public holiday, often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight, or the dropping of a ball, a shoes or other devices.

So finish off your goals for next year, head for a party, or watch the ball drop on TV, pour yourself a glass of bubbly and toast the new year.
May 2016 be a good year where you and yours are healthy, happy and work toward, or reach your goals.

 Happy New Year everyone!     
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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Flu, Surgery, Illness?


Okay, I’m fighting a cold and feeling miserable right now. No, I’m not looking for sympathy. I know there are many out there far worse off than me. But it got me thinking. I’m a day late with my Tuesday Tips blog. My brain just wouldn’t work yesterday. And I should be working on edits, but again, the brain won’t focus. I should be working on my goals and business plan for 2016. You get the picture. At least I don’t have any immediate deadlines.

I tried taking cold medication. It stops the running nose, but makes me feel like my brain is wrapped in cotton wool. So I’m not doing that anymore. I decided I have to force myself to do a little bit each day so I don’t fall way behind. I can scan through my email and delete. I can cope with that. Anything that needs reading or a detailed response I’ll leave for another day.

I’m guest blogging on Lyndi Lamont’s site, at http://lindalyndi.com/welcome-beverley-bateman so I can check for comments and do some PR posts.

I’ll take a nap and then try and do a little more of the basic – not too much thinking.

What do you do when illness strikes? How do you cope if you have deadlines looming?
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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Happy Boxing Day


Boxing Day is a holiday traditionally celebrated the day following Christmas Day, when servants and tradesman would receive gifts, known as a "Christmas box", from their masters, employers or customers, in the United Kingdom, The Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Bermuda, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and other former British colonies. Today, Boxing Day is the bank holiday or public holiday that generally takes place on 26 December and when the post-Christmas sales begin.
We had a quiet Christmas Day in Tucson. I talked to family and cooked a turkey breast with fixings. No snow but the weather is getting colder. Today it goes to a whopping 46 F and down to 25F tonight. As I write this the window is rattling the doors and windows.
I'm going to start planning my goals for next year; including a budget, writing and health. I really do need to lose weight and exercise more. (No, I'm not out returning gifts or hitting the sales.)

 I've also changed covers on two books - Don't Go and Targeted. But the new cover for Targeted is only for the UK.

 I need to go through my reading pile and try to read more. Anyone got any good suggestions?

It's hard to believe it's less than a week and we're in a new year.
Thank you everyone who has supported me with blogs and tweaks, and maybe even bought a book. I appreciate you all and wish you a 2016 that meets your expectations.
Now I'm actually going to go and work on my latest book Death Southern Style. Have a great post Christmas weekend, everyone.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

A Kiss and a Promise

Sleighing and Mistletoe for an Exquisite Christmas  

My story in the Exquisite Christmas anthology, A Kiss and a Promise, takes place on a wintry Yule afternoon in Victorian times. The year is 1887 and the winter was cold and snowy, a perfect setting for a sleighing party to collect holly and mistletoe to decorate the house. And provide a chance for a kiss under the mistletoe… 

Excerpt:

Sophia gave directions to the best spot for gathering holly and mistletoe, and Harry steered the horses in that direction, bells attached to the harness jingling with each step. The weather had been beastly for the last month, but it had turned the estate into a winter fairyland. Silent snow-covered fields stretched as far as she could see, and each tree sported a layer of white, softening the stark look of the winter scene. The sky was overcast, and she suspected Harry was right to rush them along.

As soon as the sleigh stopped, Reggie jumped out, made a snowball and threw it at Cora as she exited the sleigh. She yelped and chased Reggie, Phoebe on her heels squealing with excitement. Sophia watched them with amusement. Oh, to be a child again.

But she was long past that sort of behavior. She’d had a season in London, after all. She glanced at Harry and caught a gleam in his eye. “Do not even think of joining those hooligans.”
A Kiss and a Promise is a prequel to How To Woo... a Reluctant Bride. You get a glimpse of Lydia and her brother Harry when they were young and carefree. The story also introduces two sisters, Sophia and Cora, who will have their own stories in the How To Woo series. 

The Exquisite Christmas e-book is now available at:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018F4ACSC
Barnes & Noble, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exquisite-christmas-victoria-adams/1123051071
Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/exquisite-christmas
and coming soon to  iBooks and other retailers.

Here’s a bonus recipe that doesn’t appear in the anthology.

Lyndi's Cranberry-Blueberry Delight

 Ingredients:
1 14 oz. can of Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1 package of fresh small blueberries (about 4 oz.)
1 cup of golden raisins
Mix, chill and serve. That's it!

The recipe serves 8-10 ladies. (The attached photo doesn't reflect the full recipe. It's what is left over after a couple of days of snacking on it.) I’ve also spread it on turkey sandwiches in lieu of regular cranberry sauce.
Since it's so simple, it's easy to experiment. Add nuts for crunch or sweeten to taste, if it's too tart. I'm thinking about adding some of those little marshmallows next time for color and sweetness.

Author bio:

Lyndi Lamont is the racy alter ego of author Linda McLaughlin, who writes historical and Regency Romance. Since becoming Lyndi Lamont, she has discovered that writing sexy romance is a license to be naughty, at least between the pages of a book.

You can find more about the author and her works here:

Twitter https://twitter.com/LyndiLamont
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Monday, December 21, 2015

Tuesday Tips and Tweaks


This week author Margaret Fieland, joins us with her tip. Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. She is an avid science fiction fan, and selected Robert A. Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" for her tenth birthday.
She also has a new release out today.

Margaret’s Tip on Editing

When proofreading, I always go over everything at least twice. If the piece is short enough, I go over it twice without finding an error before I pronounce it clean.

Why? Experience. I worked for many years in the computer field, starting out in the bad old days when there was nothing but mainframes and the commands needed to run a job through a computer were arcane to say the least. After a near-disaster – I left a comma out of a command line and ended up deleting all of our source code – I made it a habit to go over everything more than once. I discovered that while I might go over something once and skip over all the errors, I was unlikely to do so twice in a row.

Blurb for Rob’s Rebellion

Colonel Rob Walker always does his duty, even when it means risking shaky relationship with his family. When he's ordered to bring the treaty negotiations between the Terran Federation and the Aleyni to a successful conclusion, he's determined to do just that, even when both sides would rather he fail. How can Rob pull off a miracle and avoid a war, one where both sides could be destroyed?



Excerpt from “Rob’s Rebellion”

Colonel Robert Walker led the squad of Federation Guard soldiers as they marched down the shuttle ramp and surrounded the unfortunate Major Reynolds, who waited on the blackened surface of the spaceport landing field.

Rob gazed across the port. The sands just beyond the black-paved surface of the field glittered with reds and blues, and the mountains, five miles distant, loomed purple. A fresh breeze blew the cinnamon scent of the flowers that clustered around the buildings. The beauty of the landscape contrasted with his sour mood. He was ordered to arrest the commander of the Federation base and take control of it, here on an alien planet where the native Aleyni would just as soon see the entire base drop into a hole and disappear. "Major Reynolds, you are accused of high treason and are remanded to the planet of New Oregon for trial."

A worried frown creased Reynolds' forehead. Rob was empath enough to realize Reynolds was uneasy. But Rob's message requested Reynolds meet him when the shuttle landed, nothing more. His unease, growing since he'd accepted the assignment, increased again. Was the major guilty of treason or not?


Buy Links:






You can find Margaret at:


Thanks Margaret, for dropping by and sharing that great editing tip.


Don’t forget to check back next week for another author’s tip or tweak.
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