I’m so excited that spring is finally here. Yes, March 20th is the first day of spring. Can you believe it? We’ve had a pretty intense winter, here in California, which is unusual for our part of the world. Endless days of rain, floods in many areas and where I live, an exceptional amount of snow to the point where I was snowed in for a few days. To celebrate and welcome the glorious months of spring, Reckless Beginnings ebooks are on sale.
🌾💐🌷🌹🥀🌸🌼 Spring Time Sale! All ebooks are on sale for a limited time for $0.99. 🌾💐🌷🌹🥀🌸🌼
Tammy Mellows wanted to be loved. For her, love was blind and she only saw what she wanted to see until it was too late. Now she must face impossible challenges to win back her life.
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Read what people are saying about the book.
I loved this story. It was amazing!! It totally captured me from page 1. After reading the first few chapters I was addicted and couldn’t put the book down. – Stewart Book Reviews
A very good page turner. The main character of the book is very well written and I felt so connected to her life, her choices and her pain and happiness. – Dana D
Reckless Beginnings has excellent character development, and Tina Hogan Grant does a fabulous job of showing the heartbreak of being involved with a drug addict. Compelling, heart-rending read. Couldn’t put it down. – Michele I. Khoury – Author of Busted
Hogan Grant has a great sense of storytelling and she succeeds in keeping readers engaged through each page of her gripping story. – Readers’ Favorites.
What is it going to take to achieve my writing goals in 2019?
Can you believe we are already into the beginning of February 2019? Did you set goals for yourself this year? How is that going? Are you achieving them? These are questions I ask myself daily about the writing goals I have set for myself for 2019. How am I going to stay on the path I have carved out for myself and reach my goals?
Here are a few of them:
Goal #1 Finish and publish my second book, BETTER ENDINGS
My number one goal for this year is to bring my second book, BETTER ENDINGS to my readers. It is the sequel to RECKLESS BEGINNINGS with a third book to follow. I’m pleased with the progress I’m making and happy to say I’m about 50,000 words into the story. In order to reach my goal, I must set time aside strictly for writing, which in the past has been difficult to do when I work full-time at another job. Before structuring my writing time, I tended to try and fit it in wherever I could. An hour here, a couple of hours there and it was never productive and I always finished my sessions feeling disappointed.
I Now find, if I discipline myself and allocate a certain time of the day to writing and treat it like a job, the writing comes easier. Early in the morning when the house is quiet works for me. I begin my day at 5:00 am and refuse to leave my desk until I’ve written at least 1,000 words. I now find myself writing close to my goal within an hour and exceed it most days, which thrills me. No longer do I feel pressured to fit in writing time and with it being my first activity of the day, the rest of my day tends to be less stressful.
What can you expect from BETTER ENDINGS?
BETTER ENDINGS continues on where RECKLESS BEGINNINGS left off, following the path of Tammy Mellows. You’ll be reintroduced to some familiar characters, including her sister, Donna, Her best friend, Judy, her son, Matt and her father, John. You’ll also meet new characters, including a love interest called Dwayne. You’ll discover that Tammy has issues with trust and demons of her own that she must face and conquer before they destroy her.
Tammy eventually finds solace on the ocean and enters the world of commercial fishing, an industry dominated by men and hopes she can live up to their expectations and be accepted by the fleet.
Tragedy Strikes Tammy’s family not once but three times and she suffers devastating losses and while still trying to heal from the wounds, she suddenly finds herself fighting for her own life. Tammy comes to the realization, that life on this earth is short and sets out on a quest to fulfill her mother’s only wish.
Goal #2 Finish the steamy romance trilogy
I’ve also been working on a steamy romance story that will be a three book series. (You’ve been warned – it gets juicy). These will be quick, fun reads with each book having around 150 pages. I have yet to come up with a title but it will come to me. I have completed the first draft (47,000 words) of book one and currently going through revisions before it is passed on to my beta readers.
My plan is to have all three books written, edited and with covers before releasing the first one and then do a rapid release with the second and third ones being released shortly after. I hope to have all three available for purchase and in KU by the end of the year. Wish me luck!
Goal #3 Increase my knowledge and skills in marketing my books
When I told people I was writing a book, many would tell me, That’s the easy part. The hardest part is marketing it. Boy were they right! I’ve barely scratched the surface in marketing when it comes to my debut novel, RECKLESS BEGINNINGS. Even though I’ve had many interviews, radio interviews, I’ve been a guest on blogs and even had a segment on the evening news, there is still so much more to learn. Where to begin, is the overwhelming part and organizing some sort of promotional plan is a job in itself.
I’ve spent more money than I should have, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, but that’s okay. It’s all part of the learning curve and I now know where to focus my time. I’m slowly putting together a plan for each launch of a book, using social media, a few paid sites (That have positive results) and facebook ads which I am currently learning, testing and tweaking. I also plan on learning the art of AMS ads. But one step at a time.
I don’t expect success overnight. There are a million books out there and it’s not easy to get noticed but I’m enjoying the ride and I’m excited about the future. Over time as I continue to write every day and stick to my promotional plans and study hard, I believe it will get easier. My ultimate goal is to be able to write full-time. Having that dream is what keeps me going.
What are your goals this year? How are you achieving them? I would love to hear. Leave your comments below.
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New Reviews for Reckless Beginnings Since My Last Blog
I loved this book, could not put it down.😎 It shows the struggle of a very brave, strong but trusting woman who overcomes numerous hardships, but always finds a way. Cannot wait for the sequel. – Chicadeepatti
I couldn’t put it down as it piqued my curiosity. I’m looking forward to the next one. The story is tastefully done but draws the reader in as the story progresses with how Tammy can survive such an emotional roller coaster. – Deedee
I loved this book. The main character displays the kind of strength and resiliency that all women will find impressive. It is well-written and inspirational. – Avid reader
For a Limited Time, Reckless Beginnings is on sale!
I’m not sure when this crazy sale will happen again. All eBook formats of Reckless Beginnings are on sale for just $0.99.
Is there someone on your Christmas list who would love a copy of Reckless Beginnings? Grab your copy now before the sale ends. The perfect last minute Christmas gift. CLICK on a link below to purchase.
Reviews
REVIEWS
“Reckless Beginnings by Tina Hogan Grant is engaging and riveting, a well-written story injected with a lot of realism and pathos. Told in a strong and mellifluous tone, this is a story about family and a woman’s search to make sense out of the chaos of her life.” – Readers’ Favorites
“I read the book in a day and a half. A great book I couldn’t put it down. ” – Angie Hardy
“What a story to be told. Moments that are gut-wrenching, some that are comical, some moments where you just want to scream why are you doing that…. but in the end a very good page turner. The main character of the book is very well written and I felt so connected to her life, her choices and her pain and happiness” – Dana D.
Saturday, October 13th, I celebrated the release of RECKLESS BEGINNINGS with a book launch and signing party at our local library. What a fantastic time I had, shared with family and great friends. I live in a small rural town and was touched by the turnout and the support this little community has given me through this entire journey leading up to this event. I was pleasantly surprised when the local newspaper showed up to cover the event. Thank you Mountain Enterprise. It was a joyous occasion where many tears and laughter were shared.
The event lasted about two hours. During which time I gave a little history behind the book and why I wrote it, read an excerpt and talked about my next book titled BETTER ENDINGS and the prequel, titled, THE JOURNALS OF TAMMY. Here is a little snippet of the presentation.
Involving the kids
Being a family affair, my grandsons were present along with a few of their buddies. (All of which were remarkably well behaved by the way). I wanted to involve them in this special day and gave them the important job of pulling out the raffle tickets for the five prizes. They did a great job! Thank you, guys 🙂
The amazing cake
One of the highlights of the event was the amazing cake made by my daughter-in-law’s mother, Gloria. In fact, she made two of these. She did an outstanding job with decorating it and using the cover of the book. Thank you, Gloria! And it was delicious too.
I love this community.
I have lived in Frazier Park for over fifteen years and could not imagine living anywhere else. I absolutely love this town. It’s a small mountain community, about seventy-five miles north of Los Angeles at five thousand feet elevation, settled at the base of Frazier Mountain.
Here there is no fast lane. We lead a slower pace of life, breathe in only clean air and see the stars at night. It’s a place where everyone knows everybody and the people of this town will support you one hundred percent on your adventures in life. The town has proved that by following me on this amazing journey since announcing, I was writing a book. They’ve followed me on social media, offering me words of encouragement and praise and by attending the book signing. Thank you, Frazier Park!
So where can you buy Reckless Beginnings?
RECKLESS BEGINNINGS is currently available in paperback only. The Kindle/ebook edition will be available in about six weeks.
Ordering the book is easy from any of these fine online retailers.
If you prefer to shop at a brick and mortar store, you can order the book at your favorite bookstore and it will be available for pick up in a few days.
Live radio interview by KHTS Radio
Along with the Book signing event, I was also interviewed by KHTS Hometown radio last week. The interview was also videotaped so you can watch it by clicking on the link below.
Once again, thank you, everyone, for your support!
Fantastic Tuesday Giveaway
Starting Tuesday, October 16th, I will be running a ten-week giveaway from my Facebook author’s page. Each week I will be giving away a signed copy of RECKLESS BEGINNINGS. (Sorry U.S residents only). Simply, like the post, share the post and comment in order to be entered. The winner will be announced every Monday at 5:00 pm PST and a new contest will begin on Tuesday morning. You have a chance to win one of ten copies that will be given away.
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An unexpected announcement – four days early but Reckless Beginnings is available for purchase.
Available in Paperback edition.
My book went live last night on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. No need to wait until October 4th you can BUY IT RIGHT NOW! Amazon UK is showing temporarily out of stock, but you can place your order now and it will be shipped when available, which I’m assuming will be soon.
FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW TO PURCHASE
Amazon U.S.A
Amazon.co.uk
Contest – Win A FREE signed Poster of the cover
To celebrate the release of the book I want to give away a FREE signed poster.
If you purchase my book, send me a picture of yourself with my book to be entered in the drawing for a FREE signed 24 x 31 poster of the cover. (Note it will not be a hardback poster like the one in the picture, but it will be the same size. ) The little boy, by the way, is Jonathan. My best friend’s pride & joy 🙂
The contest is worldwide – Anyone can enter
You give me the right to post your picture on my site and my social media accounts when you enter this contest.