Deferred Consumption: Free Via #KindleUnlimited

For a limited time, all Kindle Unlimited users can get my debut novel, Deferred Consumption, free! If you can't get around to it right now, add it to your library so you can enjoy it, later!  The suspense and the steam will leave you BREATHLESS! --Shana James

Yes, You SHOULD Take Part in #NanoWriMo!

I planned to update this more often through this process, but I have so many irons in the fire on so many different projects that have absolutely nothing to do with writing, I don't know how I've managed to write 20,000+ words in two weeks! But, I have!!!  Hurray!  That's the cover for it here in the post.  I can't wait to see how well it's received.

If you're reading this, there's a big chance you've been trying to figure out whether you should take part, next year (or maybe you're feeling ambitious and trying to decide if you can do it in the next two weeks!).  The answer is a resounding, YES! I've barely taken advantage of the wonderful motivational tools available, but I've found that other participants are very supportive via social media, tremendously so, and it's really helped me stay motivated.

Not to mention, I'm competitive as hell and the last thing I want to do is leave this thing undone.  So, I've actually set a goal of finishing just over a week early.  It's ambitious, yes, but it's not impossible.  One thing that this whole process has reminded me of is the absolute necessity to MAKE time for writing.  If you're going to do it, DO IT!  The only way you're going to make any progress on finishing a book is to actually spend time writing it. I can't tell you how many people have told me, "Gosh, I would like to write a book, but I just don't know where to begin."  My answer is always, "At the beginning!"  Most of what you write in that first draft will need some pretty heavy editing anyway, so you just have to get something on the page.

Self-Publishing: My Experience as an African-American Writer

Today marks six months since I self-published my very first novel, Deferred Consumption. So, I thought I'd mark the occasion with a quick blog post about what it's been like as an African-American author.  To put it mildly, it’s been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. But, it’s also been one of the most rewarding and most exciting.  When I first set out to write Deferred Consumption, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I just assumed that everyone loved me and they would buy my book in record numbers.  Boy was I wrong.  Not that everyone doesn’t love me J, but that they cared enough to buy my book the moment I said it was available for purchase.

There I was around 11:00pm on a Sunday night, hands all shaking, as a hit "publish" at Amazon dot com, then proceeded to publish elsewhere around the internet (Barnes and Noble, Google Books, Smashwords, etc.).  Hell, I had such a high opinion of myself, I thought I’d wake up the next morning to find that hundreds, if not thousands, of random strangers who had never even heard of me had purchased my book.  I mean, why not?  I had already made a great living writing just about everything else, so why wouldn’t my books sell?  Oh, foolish, foolish girl.  I guess I figured some magical fairy was going to sprinkle some dust into the eyes and ears of every potential buyer out there and convince them that my book was the one they should get as they tinkered around on some website looking for a book to buy.