March Prizes and Promotions

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Amazon Giftcard, author newsletter, book review, erotic romance, joey, monthly draw, prize, writing

Congratulations to Newsletter subscriber, Beth W who’s won a $10 Amazon Gift Card in my monthly draw. If you haven’t subscribed to my Louise Cusack News author newsletter yet (some of the people receiving this are subscribed to my website blog), you’re not in the draw for next month! But don’t worry, you can easily fix that by popping over HERE to subscribe.

 

Exciting things are happening in the Erotic Romance world. Last month I shared that 3 of my Husband Series novels (above) were finalists in the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards for Best Erotic Romance of 2016. Well, the award has been presented and I was pipped at the post by Vi Keeland, who won with her book Bossman, which BTW is a fabulous read. So no hard feelings here. I’m just thrilled to have three books in the top ten, and am looking forward to publishing book #5 of the Husband Series in the next few months – look out for Cal and Rosie’s sexily-ever-after!

If you haven’t started my Husband Series yet, you can always grab book #1 for free. The list of retailers is below:

• Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AJ8YMYM
• Apple iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1115739092
• Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/husband-sit
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/husband-sit-louise-cusack/1123819136

And if you like my books well enough to recommend them to friends, I’ll be very grateful.

I hope you all have a fabulous March wherever you are in the world. Here in Australia we’re coming out of one of the hottest summers I can remember, so I’m looking forward to Autumn, cooler days and all the deliciousness of hearty soups and snuggling in front of my laptop with a coffee!

I’m sure our local wildlife will appreciate cooler weather (and rain) as well. We’ve had quite a few kangaroos coming into the yard looking for water, and earlier this week a joey just out of the pouch got separated from his mother when the mailman frightened them. He ended up in my gated backyard (still haven’t worked out how – that’s a very high fence!) and I had to enlist neighborhood friends to coax him back out and reunite him with his mother. He was one jittery little guy! I caught him briefly on video, so if you’re interested to see him in all his delicious cuteness, click HERE.

Well, that’s it for now, folks! Happy reading until we’re chatting again, and don’t forget, if you love a book, please take the time to review it!

 

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Three day sale: grab it while it’s HOT.

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99 cent kindle, amazon gift card, Amazon gift card competition, books, competition, erotic romance, erotic romance boxed set, erotic romance collection, Valentine's Day

Hello and welcome to a shiny New Year!

I’m in celebration mode this week. The first three books of my Husband Series are currently shortlisted in the ’Favourite Erotic Romance of 2016’ award by the Australian Romance Readers Association. A fabulous validation from readers – many thanks!

For those who haven’t read the series yet, I’ve created a bargain opportunity: my Kindle box set containing all four Husband Series books has been discounted to .99c USD for a limited time.

To grab your copy and see what everyone’s talking about, click here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY1TAQ8

In other news, I’m closing down this blog soon so I’m hoping you’ll switch over to my newsletter where I’m currently running a competition. Everyone who’s listed as subscribed to my newsletter on Valentine’s Day, is in the draw to win a $50 Amazon gift card. If you have a friend who likes erotic romance and you think they’d like to subscribe and be in the draw as well, please share this blog with them so they can follow this link to subscribe: http://louisecusack.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d4bd0873e9ccf2a31dd31f1c5&id=c0dfa0c583

Do have a great lead-up to the most romantic day of the year, and if you don’t have a ‘significant other’ to share romantic treats with on Valentine’s Day, can I suggest that you spoil yourself? Despite all the glamor of romance, the love you have for yourself will be the most significant love in your life, and it’s also true that you can’t give what you don’t have. So love yourself up so much you feel pampered! And then you’ll have heaps of love to overflow onto those around you.

That’s my Agony Aunt advice for the week!

Scout out the next Amazon best-seller

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amazon customer, books, DaVinci fantasy, fantasy romance, kindle scout, literature, lost world, love triangle, Medici fantasy, romance, writing, young adult

Amazon has a new website: Kindle Scout where Amazon customers can ‘scout’ through unpublished books and nominate those they like for publication. This is reader-powered publishing where you get to choose what gets published and what doesn’t…

…which brings me to SILK.

Authors will tell you they love all their “babies” equally, but most will have one project that’s the book of their heart, and this series is mine. The Florentia series began it’s life over ten years ago when I first came up with the idea for a portal that joined our world with a lost world that DaVinci had discovered. Then I imagined what would happen if DaVinci’s patrons, the Medici, stole the device from him, conquered the lost world and had been ruling it for 500 years. What sort of society would they have by now? And what would happen if someone from our world stumbled into it?

During the last decade I’ve written many iterations of this story, moving it from straight Sci fi into Fantasy and now firmly into the Fantasy Romance genre. I undertook a research trip to Rome and Florence where I met Medici scholars and even stayed in a building where lesser members of the Medici had lived during DaVinci’s lifetime. In my two decades of writing, this story is the one I’ve loved the most and had the hardest time selling (maybe there’s a correlation there!)

In any case, when Kindle Scout came along, I realized this was an opportunity to share details of the Florentia series with the public to see if it has the sort of wide appeal I’m hoping it will. That’s where you come in!

As someone who subscribes to my blog, I’d love to share this with you. If you are an Amazon customer and have time during December, please pop over to Kindle Scout here: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/GDATHRYHT8YR where you can see the cover, read the first 5000 words of the story and nominate SILK.  You can also check out other books you might like to nominate, and become part of the process of readers deciding what they want to see published. And if you want to share this blog post or the link to SILK on Kindle Scout with your social networks, you will earn my eternal gratitude!

As a reward from Amazon, if your nominated books are published, you’ll receive a free copy for taking the time to support them.

Thanks so much for reading this, and for being part of my journey. Writing is a solitary job, which I love, but it can feel lonely at times. So your interest in my career helps me with moral support to keep going through the tough times and the momentum to surge ahead when opportunities arise.  You’re much appreciated!

Husband Series book 4 is published!

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Amazon Kindle, australian setting, erotic romance, erotic romance series, husband rollover, Kindle, kindle unlimited, new release, romance

The craziest of the four girlfriends in the Husband Series has finally been pinned down by the man of her dreams in this stand-alone, full length, sexily-ever-after erotic romance. Here’s the skinny on the plot:

Fritha Wynde is a free-spirit, sleeping with whoever grabs her fancy, especially if the grab feels good! She has work that she loves, friends who let her wear rainbow-colored bridesmaid dresses, and girlfriends’ babies to cuddle. There’s not a thing about her life that she wants changed, until trouble walks into her feel-good teahouse, Bohemian Brew.

Trouble is a six foot two restaurant critic—Max—who has the audacity to ridicule the Banchee Tea, her signature brew, in his annoyingly sexy Brit accent. It’s time to retaliate and a low blow is in order—below the belt to be exact—but when Max discovers how delicious Fritha is, he’ll do anything to have her, including rolling over and playing dead.

Prude meets promiscuous in the fourth book of the Husband Series, bringing all four girlfriends together as Fritha tortures the one man who grabs her fancy along with her heart.

And if you’d like another little tease…

This series is exclusive to Amazon Kindle, which means you can download the books for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. No need to wait. You can grab HUSBAND ROLLOVER right now:

 

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Rainy weather is writing weather

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creativity, rain, rainy weather, writer's block, writing

This was my morning (thanks to Lisa at Blainey for my beautiful coffee cup).

If you’re not a writer yourself, you might not realize that writing and water are intrinsically linked. It’s one of the reasons I moved to the beach, so I’d have those crashing waves. The sound of running water (having a shower, hosing the lawn) can loosen up the most stubborn writers block. So rainy days are a gift to writers, no matter where they live.

But don’t imagine you have to be a professional to benefit. Anyone can have their creativity triggered, so if you’re stuck indoors on a rainy day, don’t mope. Pull out that journal you’ve been meaning to start, or create a blog. Rain is creativity pouring down, so don’t waste it! Tap into that abundant stream and let your own ideas flow.

Note: a dressing gown and slippers will earn you bonus points, as does a pet curled up at your feet.

Happy writing!

Fantasy inspired by an imperfect childhood

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alice in wonderland, alone, books, childhood, creative writing, fantasy, inspiration, loner, Shadow through time, writing, writing process

I was asked at a weekend workshop I was teaching, “What one thing has inspired your creative writing the most?” and it really made me think. There have been many formative books and movies: Alice in Wonderland, Edgar Rice Burroughs Princess of Mars, Frank Herbert’s Dune, but when I get right down to it, the thing that really inspired me to create fantasy worlds was wanting to escape my own. Not because my childhood was terrible, but simply because I was alone a lot, and had so much time to think about how life could be more exciting.

A rare pic of me playing with someone else – telling my cousin stories

I did read books, but instead of constantly losing myself in someone else’s created world, I fantasized about my own, inventing bizarre landscapes, allies and enemies, and most importantly, a reason to be in that world – a well motivated goal. My first fantasy (which became my Shadow Through Time trilogy) was about a girl called Catherine leaving our world behind in a quest to find her missing twin brother. That goal drove her actions for most of the story which was about love – the love of a brother, of a family, and ultimately of a kingdom.

I’m not sure if I craved love as a child, but I certainly fantasized about it, created stories about it, and later turned those fantasies into best-selling novels. Being alone so much when I was in a family of four children didn’t feel strange at the time, but I think I was considered a loner or at least a child who was happiest playing alone.

To a lot of adults, that would appear to be an imperfect childhood, and I can imagine helicopter parents wanting to ‘socialize’ a loner child, to fill their day with activities that involve other people. But now that I’m so much further along in life, I can see how unhelpful that would have been for me. The childhood I experienced, perfectly shaped my creativity. I couldn’t have asked for better.

Just wanted to share that insight, for what it’s worth! If you’re curious about that first fantasy series I wrote, the opening book Destiny of the Light is currently FREE as an ebook, courtesy of my publishers Pan Macmillan. Enjoy! And let me know in the comments below whether you’ve had insights into your childhood, especially if you’ve experienced something “‘seemingly bad” that’s turned out to be perfect for you as an adult.

Thanks for reading!

Coping with rejection

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head and heart, manuscript, manuscript submission, Marie Forleo, rejection, turning rejection around, writing

Writers submit manuscripts and get knock backs. It’s a fact of life that even multi-published authors have to deal with. Unless you’re Stephen King or JK Rowling (which I’m not) there’s a chance that your latest offering won’t be adored by the first publisher who looks at it. Intellectually I know that. But the heart and the head don’t always agree. When I started off in this business twenty years ago, rejection felt like this to me:

What? My precious baby isn’t what you’re looking for? How could you say that? I slaved over that manuscript. I poured my life-blood into it. I just offered you my heart on a platter and you stabbed it. Several times. Soon to be followed by: Does this mean I’m a crap writer? Maybe I should just stop kidding myself. Publishers know what they’re talking about. I’m just a woman sitting in her pajamas drinking too much coffee, fantasizing about worlds that don’t exist. I should get a day job. Something I’d be good at. Because I’m clearly no good at this…

Thankfully time has moved on, and many, many rejections have helped me re-frame my reaction to a “Thanks, but no thanks,” email. I’ve learned that publishers see lots of manuscripts that are of “publication standard” and from among them they have to choose something that not only suits the line of books they’re publishing, but also knocks their socks off. For most publishers, the choice to take on a book is quite subjective. I can’t have any control over that. I can only offer my best work and have faith that it will (eventually) fall into the right hands. Which of course it does.

Now I’m more likely to think this when I get a rejection email:

I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to consider my story seriously. I understand that not all publishers or even all fantasy readers will love my work. I’ve seen the different reactions to a novel at Book Clubs. So what I’m looking for is the one publisher who adores my story so much that they’ll advocate for it with their marketing department and fire them up with enthusiasm enough to spill over into their interactions with bookstores and online resources. I’m sorry you’re not that person, and that you’ll miss out on the unique opportunities my story offers. But I wish you well as I continue my search, having patience that the Universe moves in perfect timing. All is well in my world…

Yes, it’s a bit Pollyanna, but it works for me, and not only with writing, but personal relationships and other business dealings I might have. I’m not an “I’ll show those bastards!” type of girl. But if you are, you are going to love this latest offering from Marie Forleo who I thoroughly recommend as an inspiration and a resource for women in business. Her reaction to a patronizing comment is priceless:

I wonder, how do you cope with rejection in your life? Does it fire you up? Have you got any tips on how to turn it into motivation to keep going?

Snapshot Interview with Louise Cusack

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book, fantasy, interview, publishing industry, Silk, work in progress

I spilled the beans about my latest fantasy novel Silk. If you click on the image below you’ll get all the goss:

Romance Rocks Presents… Louise Cusack

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conference, getting published, romance, romance writers of Australia, workshop, writers, writing

Romance Rocks Presents….

Inspiration from magical places

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beauty and the beast, creativity, fairy tale, fairytale, fantasy, fantasy romance, inspiration, inspire, music as inspiration, romance, the voice, the voice australia, writing

It’s no secret that fairytales inspire me. They have for all of my reading life, but it never ceases to amaze me how an old fairytale that I’ve adored as a child can come back to me in a different format and engulf me in magic all over again.

Beauty and the Beast is probably my favorite fairytale, because of its darkness, its inherent romance, and the transformational quality of the character development. I was fortunate to have the latest Disney version come out when my children were young, and I can remember watching it again and again, not just because the animated character were cute and endearing, or because I couldn’t help putting myself in Belle’s shoes and wanting to tame the beast, but because the song, Beauty and the Beast made me cry, every time I heard it. Embedded within it is everything I love about that story – the prince trapped inside the body of a beast, confronted with the delicate beauty of Belle, imagining she’d never even want to look at him, let alone fall in love with him. It inspired me to imagine my own stories with tortured heroes and clever, resourceful heroines who must work with magic – dark and light – to find their happily ever after.

That one song inspired more fantasy plotlines and characterization out of me than probably any other I’ve heard.

So you can imagine how overwhelmed I felt when I was watching The Voice Australia and completely out of left field, two of my favorite competitors lined up in a battle to sing Beauty and the Beast together. It was an inspired move by their coach Ricky Martin (who I adore) and the result is stunning:

I’ve had the song in my mind ever since, playing on a loop, happily inspiring more story ideas, and who would have imagined I’d find inspiration to write fantasy novels while watching a singing competition!

If you’ve ever had inspiration delivered unexpectedly please do share in the comments below. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.