I am going to let you in on a little secret today.  I am always honored, and a bit nervous, when an author stops by my blog to visit and talk about their latest novel.  And what’s even more amazing is that two years ago, I didn’t even know what a blog was lol.  Today not only am I nervous because of today’s guest, but am star struck as well!!!

I received an email with a request to read an review this author’s book, however, being so behind, I had to say no, which is very hard for me, but offered her to come and visit so that she could tell us all about her book.  She accepted.  In her email were these words  “I’m a recovered soap star turned ghost writer,screenwriter, feral cat wrangler, and novelist.”  Me, being inquisitive, I visited her website, and couldn’t believe my eyes.  I had just booked an author, who was on a “soap” that I had watched on and off from when I was in High School, Days Of Our Lives.  So if I appear more anxious, you now know why.

So, please, help me give a warm welcome to multi talented, Staci Greason, to the CMash blog!!!

The Last Great American Housewife isn’t the first book she’s written, but it is the first one published under the name her parents gave her. Which has made them proud.
You can visit Staci at her website.
 

ABOUT THE BOOK
Kate Miller may be THE LAST GREAT AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE left in Van Nuys. But as she sails toward forty on the wave of a pretty good (albeit somewhat boring) life with a husband and two kids, the death of her dysfunctional mother sends Kate out on the ledge…and straight up a tree. Surveying her life from atop an endangered Ponderosa Pine near The Fashion Square Plaza Mall, Kate learns more than how to fight for a cause. She learns how one frightened woman can actually discover her true self, one branch at a time. And right down the street from her own backyard.

UPDATE:  THE PB EDITION WILL BE RELEASED MID SEPTEMBER!!

Kate Miller may be THE LAST GREAT AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE left in Van Nuys. But as she sails toward forty on the wave of a pretty good (albeit somewhat boring) life with a husband and two kids, the death of her dysfunctional mother sends Kate out on the ledge…and straight up a tree. Surveying her life from atop an endangered Ponderosa Pine near The Fashion Square Plaza Mall, Kate learns more than how to fight for a cause. She learns how one frightened woman can actually discover her true self, one branch at a time. And right down the street from her own backyard.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN.

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DISCLAIMER / RULES

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

  Emily Aulenbach is thirty, a lawyer working in Manhattan. She had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days talking on the phone with vic­tims of tainted bottled water. And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period.
  Emily leaves work early one day, packs her bag, and takes off. She heads north toward a New Hampshire town. During her college years, she spent a summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed


  Emily Aulenbach is thirty, a lawyer working in Manhattan. She had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days talking on the phone with vic­tims of tainted bottled water. And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period.
  Emily leaves work early one day, packs her bag, and takes off. She heads north toward a New Hampshire town. During her college years, she spent a summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed


Melissa Foster has been a guest here for her books Megan’s Way and Chasing Amanda.  Working with her during both her tours, she has also become a friend.  She is the nicest, caring, kind, and genuine person, taking time out of her busy schedule, checking in with me to see how things are going in my personal life, sending words of encouragement.  Nothing makes her happier than to know that her books brings happiness to her readers, other than her family.

Megan’s Way hit #2 on Amazon’s Top Rated Fiction list today, just below The Help. I had been flying high since I found out, which was quite by accident. I was searching Amazon to see if Chasing Amanda had climbed the ranks of Top Rated Fiction (it’s #57), when lo and behold, on page one was Megan’s Way!
Fame…debunked
I didn’t think anything could put a damper on my day, until I read a review that noted poor editing in my book. What? Megan’s Way had been edited many times. I was taken aback–surely there was an error. The reader noted missing returns between character’s sentences, which sent up a vibrant red flag. I was certain there were none of those types errors in the document. My book had won several awards, wouldn’t those reviewers have noted the alleged errors?
A search of the hard copy of Megan’s Way proved no such errors existed. No missing line breaks. My heart sped up, and my hands began to shake. My son asked me a question and I could not answer. I was in panic mode. A memory came racing back to me. I had found two errors in the Kindle version of Megan’s Way a few weeks earlier, and I had wanted to fix them. The only copy of the full manuscript that I had with the publisher’s logo on it was a PDF. I knew a PDF could not be uploaded to Amazon Kindle, so I paid someone (who came highly recommended and shall remain anonymous) to convert the PDF to a Word document and insure that the file was formatted properly for the Kindle. She did so, and the file was uploaded. Shame on me for not thinking to re-edit the document.
Truth be known, I had no idea that converting from a PDF to a Word document could cause such errors. I have no idea what that person did, or how the errors occurred, but sure enough, there were missing line breaks. I could see how the reader would misconstrue the conversion issue as an editing issue. By now, I’ve abandoned panic and I’ve accepted that I must take responsibility for these errors. After all, the book is mine. I should have had the file re-edited after the conversion was done. Live and learn…the hard way.
My editor is going through the file with a fine tooth comb. In the meantime, we’ve reuploaded the original version (minus the two errors). This is quite the learning experience. Let me clue everyone in on another conversion error which we cannot seem to fix. The Word document is perfectly formatted–no hidden page or line breaks, proper indentations are in place. When the file is uploaded to Kindle, we are able to preview the ebook. We did this with the new file. There don’t seem to be missing returns or lost capitalizations, but there are other conversion issues. Where there is heavy dialogue, the second line of the dialogue is indented to match the first line. This is not consistent, and there is no hidden HTML that is causing the issue. In this exciting new technology-driven world of ours, I’m finding that there are a few things that are out of our control. My only hope is that readers will see past these slight conversion issues and review the stories we authors write for the value of the stories themselves.
I would like to thank my author friends who have reached out to me, having undergone the same types of conversion issues, and the same slamming in reviews. I would like to thank my readers who have been kind enough to review my books, and now that I know about these errors, for looking past them and seeing the beauty in the story. I would also like to thank the reviewers who noted these items that marred my reputations, because with out those reviews, I wouldn’t have known to fix them. Thank you.
Lastly, to the 40,000+ readers who have downloaded Megan’s Way over the past week, I hope you will redownload the corrected file after 8/17/11 and read Megan’s Way without the distraction of errors. I extend my heartfelt apologies for the conversion errors.
My thoughts on all of this? Being a writer is a scary process. I’ve always said it’s like standing on a street corner naked. One never knows if they’ll be whistled at or beaned with tomatoes. I prefer the whistles, but that’s not always the case. This is a learning process for all of us. eReaders are new, conversion processes are difficult. Why, just last night I was reading a traditionally published book on my Kindle, when it ran out of batteries. I clicked on my iPad to continue reading, and words that were not bold on the regular Kindle were bold on the Kindle for iPad. This tells me that the whole ebook world is also still being figured out by the “big guys”, whoever they may be. I hope my story helps other authors, and I hope it help readers and reviewers, too. Sometimes it’s worth taking a step back and trying to determine if it’s the story that is failing or the technology, or perhaps both.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and my books.
Melissa