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Greer and Dustin will be here June 19th!

How’s it going? I hope everyone has been staying safe. I’ve been holed up in the house, like most people, but I’ve been making the best of it. Here’s what’s been going on with me…

Crazy for Bernadette

When Bernadette launched last month, I was bummed that we weren’t able to do our usual taco and margarita celebration.

Regardless, I’m happy to be hearing great things from some of you about the book. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, please check it out on Kindle Unlimited.

TKCherry.com Relaunches This Wednesday!

Guys, I am super pumped to announce that this website will be getting a major facelift in two days! I can’t WAIT for you to see it. Meet Cute Creative did an amazing job. In celebration of the relaunch, I’m going to be doing a giveaway. Be sure to stay tuned!

Too “Hottie” to Handle

Last night, I sent the manuscript for my next book, The Hottie in Finance, over to my proofreader. Then a week from now, my amazing formatter will take the reins. This means that ARCs are right around the corner, and so is that cover reveal!

Be on the lookout for this very unique cover on Tuesday, May 26th. If you’re in my Cherryville reader group, you will get a sneak peak the day before. You want a special cover reveal postcard (they are gorgeous!)? Join my Snail Mail List!

My Current WIP

If you’re a member of Cherryville, you know that I revealed the next four titles that follow The Hottie in Finance. The story I’m working on now is book #2 of the Nighttime Cravings collection. I’ve been freaking out over this book y’all. When I first set my 2020 release plan in motion last year, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Six books in one year?! Madness! 

Well, it’s May and I’m already wrapping up my second book of the year. The next book isn’t set to launch until late August, so I have PLENTY of time to make this one real good for you.

I’ve been having so much fun with rich boy asshole, Asher, my hero in A Young Moon. And the heroine, Laura, is a strong mature woman that knows exactly what she wants and doesn’t pull any punches. This is a multicultural reverse age gap workplace romance (say that three times fast) that will include a ton of steamy moments. Here is a sneak peak of what you have to look forward to late August. 

Preorder A Young Moon: https://bit.ly/AYoungMoon
Goodreads TBR: https://bit.ly/AYMTKC

Upcoming Events

I will be doing my first book signing next month! Well, it’s not really a signing, but that’s what we’re calling it. 

I will be live streaming on June 6th over at the Love & Devotion Facebook group and chatting up my books. I will also have a few giveaways as well as reducing the price of signed paperbacks for this event only. I will post more details as the event approaches.

I also have a bunch of takeovers coming up, including two this week. There will be an “Events” section on the new site, which will have all my dates laid out rather nicely. For now, here is where I’ll be…

That’s all for now, good people. I’ll be in touch Wednesday with giveaway news. Stay Sweet!
-TK

Disclaimer: Let me start out by saying that this blog post is going to come across as braggadocious, and maybe it is. You MUST brag on yourself, especially if nobody else will. 

Now, there are a lot of people out there, me included, who enjoy finding out how other writers tick. Writers are all very unique individuals, so no two are alike. Everyone has their own process and cadence when it comes to morphing one random idea into a full-fledged story.

Last week, I cheesed while watching bestselling romance author L.J. Shen’s Facebook Live in her reader group. She talked about not struggling writer’s block and encouraged writers to just sit down and write. She admitted to having days where she’d write four thousand words only to delete them all the next day and start over again from scratch. Her point was: just because you write it doesn’t mean you’ll keep it. Just write.

For as long as I can remember, I never had issues with writer’s block. I was one of those kids who had an extremely active imagination. I had names and made-up songs for everything. I’d even make movies with my dolls in my dollhouse. Yes, I used to make them hump each other. 😆

When I started writing papers for school, it was easy. One professor in graduate school said to me, “You really have a gift when it comes to writing papers, when most people have no idea what to say.” Someone can give me a prompt, and I’ll go on for days. 

Starting out in the world of fan fiction, it would be nothing for me to have fifteen thousand-word days. In the publishing realm, I will have five books out by the time my one year anniversary hits. 

(By the way, Bernadette comes out this Friday!)

Not counting the three books in 2020 that I’ll have out by mid-June, I have ten more stories, all with synopses written out, that are planned through 2022. All four remaining books this years have titles. I LOVE giving titles. I don’t necessarily enjoy writing blurbs, but I do them. I love writing 2k-4k word summaries and putting them on the shelf to pick up a year later. It’s always a treat to see what I was thinking a year ago. Matter of fact, all the books I have planned were in the making a long time ago, so I’m not trying to ride some waive of popularity when I put out a book. I only write what’s my heart, and hopefully it resonates with readers.

So yeah, writer’s block has never been an issue for me. What IS my problem is distraction and procrastination. I am clinically ADD, which means I take medication for it. So when I have things like Facebook and friends/family texting me in the palm of my hand every two seconds, it messes me up big time. Not to mention YouTube and podcasts. And don’t even get me started on ebooks and audiobooks! 🤦🏾‍♀️

Distraction and procrastination is something I really need to work on. In fact, I drafted up this very blog when I should have been writing the last two chapters of my book to give to my betas the next day! 🤬

I will never run out of things to write about. It’s just a matter of actually sitting my ass down and writing. This year, I’ve moved editing and formatting appointments around twice because I didn’t stay on my game. And when I move things around, it puts everyone else, including my betas, in a bad position. 

As writers, we all have our shortcomings. But hopefully as we put out each book, we learn and improve. 

If you love writing, what are some of your strengths, and what are some of the things that you can improve on?

In the meantime, I’ll definitely be working on kicking procrastination in the ass. I hope you overcome that one thing that’s really been bothering you, too, be it procrastination, lack of confidence, or writer’s block.

At the end of the day, we need to just sit down and write, because someone out there is hungry for our story. ❤️

All the best,
TK 🍒

It’s been five months since I’ve blogged. Talk about slacking. 🤨 I’m so sorry, guys. I’ve been juggling a lot since the release of On the Other Side last September/October. 2020 has been an eye-opener for many of us, and we’re just three months in. I hope and pray that things only get better from here.

At the time of this blog post, many of us are in full social-distancing mode. Personally, I’ve decided to take two PTO days from my full-time job this week in order to take a breather from all the craziness and to work on my fifth next book. Yes, I’m on book #5 right now! 🤪 Let’s talk about the next release, the one before that, and the book I’m working on right now…

Bernadette

I’m in the process of preparing for the April 24th launch of my fourth release, “Bernadette.”

I’ve already shared this collage/mood board and several teasers on my Instagram and Facebook fan page, with more to come. This story is unique, so I hope you keep an open mind going into it. I’ve received feedback from my beta readers and I can’t wait until “Bee” gets out into the world. You can preorder it here. By the way, I just realized that my crazy butt already shared the blurb 🤣! No worries, it’s a kickass blurb. I’m so proud of it. I’ll keep it on the preorder site, but won’t pimp it until the cover reveal and giveaway in two weeks.

When signed paperbacks go up for sale, here’s what you can expect along with your book: A coaster, a magnet, and two hologram stickers (which relate to the story). You’ll also be getting a TKC standard bookmark and pen (not shown). Signed paperbacks will be ready a week before launch, so be sure to check the order form around that time.

As the image shows, the cover reveal happens at the end of the month. If you are on my snail mail list as a result of signing up for a 2020 California Love calendar refrigerator magnet, you will be getting a physical copy of that reveal! Those in Cherryville will see the cover a day before everyone else. ☺️

California Love

Speaking of California Love, I failed to promote that release as I should have. Since it came out two days after Christmas, the lack of promo was intentional.

I hope you had a chance to read Quen and Drew’s story. California Love is FREE on Amazon Kindle Unlimited, as is my first release, A Nocturnal Rendezvous. I hope these reads will get you through the social distancing mandates that are widespread all over the world.

Keeping Our Heads Up

I believe we’ll get through this trying time. Things may seem crazy now, but we’ve endured through much worse (i.e. terrorism, wars, natural disasters, and deaths of loved ones). We need to keep an eye on our elderly, our very young, and those who are high risk (those with pre-existing medical issues). Keep aware of what’s going on, but don’t overwhelm yourself with all the talking heads on television. Many of them are ringing up the cash register based on how much fear they can generate. I recommend you only pay attention to reliable medical experts, many who are being shared all around on social media. I highly recommend this interview with infectious diseases expert, Michael Osterholm, which aired last week on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Also, the CDC has a site that covers symptoms and how to best prepare your family.

What’s Next For Me?

As I mentioned, I’m in the process of writing my fifth book. It’s a romcom interracial office romance. (Say that three times fast, haha!) Make sure you’re in my Cherryville reader group. I’ve already shared a short excerpt of the tale that I’m calling “THIF” for the time being. I’ll also be doling out more sneak peaks as we draw nearer to promo and release time. In addition to Cherryville, I’ll be teasing long excerpts of book #5 in my newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up for that. By the way, signing up for the Cherry Picking newsletter gets you access to a FREE copy of Nate’s Fate: An On the Other Side Novella!

Other than writing, I’ve been going through so many audiobooks. If you follow me on Goodreads, you’ll see that I’m twenty books in so far in 2020! (Btw, I will be sharing my top recommendation in the next newsletter!) Audiobooks are my crack, seriously. I even have a bluetooth speaker in my shower, smh. I had to put the Audible app and headphones down until I finish this next book. NanoWriMo camp is also coming up in April, so I’ve gotta get geared up for that.

Bernadette ARCs will be ready the second week of April. In the backmatter, you will see the list of all the releases I have planned for 2020. My lineup for 2021 is set as well. I will be a writing fool between now and the middle of next year, but things will eventually slow down. I still have so much to learn about the world of indie publishing. Once I have a solid backlist under my belt, I plan on taking my time and soaking up as much knowledge as I can—whether it’s taking classes or participating in writing contests. I am learning a lot as I go, but I really want to cool my jets after next year. Maybe I’ll put out a book or two a year until I feel that I have this idie thing licked. Or maybe that’ll never happen, haha! Regardless, I will have fun trying. I truly love telling stories, so that will never change.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day. I look forward to chatting with you in Cherryville. I’ve shared lists of free books in the group from fantastic authors such as Colleen Hoover, LJ Shen, and Meghan March—just to name a few. I get tons of free books alerts on a daily basis and I love sharing them with fellow lovers of love stories, so make sure you’re in my group!

I will do my best not to wait so long in between blog posts. It took a day off from work for me to finally get my ish together!

Stay sweet, loves! – TK🍒

What’s up, everyone! It’s been a week and four days since the launch of my second book. I’d like to thank those of you who continue to show your unwavering support of my dream to become a bonafide author. Right now, I consider myself as just a ‘writer’, and I’m so happy to be doing that. To be able to express myself through words and to have one or two people enjoy what I write is more than a girl could ask for.

Here’s what’s been going on with me since the launch of On the Other Side:

Launch Day, September 27th

On the day of launch, I treated myself to a mani/pedi. Then, I did a release day takeover at Eden’s Garden (Eden Books) that evening and had a blast. During that time, I was at the salon getting my hair done, haha! Multitasking at its finest. 😆

I left the salon much later than I anticipated. Thank goodness it was Friday and restaurants stay open much later. I was still able to take my adult son out for tacos and margaritas to celebrate the launch of my second book!

After Launch

On the Monday after launch, I mailed out the first group of signed books and swag to those who ordered, as well as those who’ve helped make this book launch possible. For each release, I have many wonderful people working with me behind the scenes. This is not a one-woman job. It literally takes a village to raise up a book, from those people who are listed in the acknowledgments, to the ride or dies who faithfully share the teasers on social media.

Above: My author photo shoot with Candice Davis.
Hair by Mecca McFadden and makeup by Crystal Jennings.

Before the turn of 2019, I set a goal to put out at least one book this year. Today, I’m holding two! The journey I’ve taken so far has invigorated me. I am now starting to dream big. Look, I’m still an introvert. I don’t desire fame or anything like that. I’m just darn happy that I’ve finally realized a lifelong dream. People don’t often get to say that they’ve turned a passion into something that they can touch with their bare hands.

And let’s be honest, I can’t be in this for profit. Indies like me just starting out don’t even know what the word “profit” is. The fact is, I’ve loved to write since I was a little girl. As an adult, I’ve used that love as an escape from the stress of the world.

Since discovering the online fanfic community, I’ve been able to escape real life off and on for the past twenty years. Four years ago, that very escape reenergized me. Seeing those who’ve “escaped” just like me turn their talent into something more has been awe inspiring. They made it easier for folks like me to take that leap as well.

Today, I am smiling at my potential, and so are my family and friends. With hard work and determination, I hope to only get better. Back in June, I joined Romance Writers of America and I’m involved with the Carolina Romance Writers group. I’m learning from one book to the next, and hopefully it shows. Look…I’m not getting any younger, so if writing is something that I hope to do full-time one day, I need to pave a way to make that happen. That’s why I have a website (which I hope to improve). That’s why I decided to do an author photo shoot last Tuesday. I’m not “there” yet by any stretch of the imagination. I only have two books under my belt. However, it doesn’t hurt to get a head start on what I hope is just the very beginning of my journey as a lifelong author.

I am beyond grateful for my faithful readers in the fanfiction community who’ve decided to follow me into indie publishing, and I hope to continue to cross paths with potential new readers. I have so much planned, including one final book in 2019 (I’ll tease that more in the coming weeks). The plan for 2020 is to complete the “Nighttime Cravings” collection, which is a part of the A Nocturnal Rendezvous universe. Also, there are two other unique stories that I can’t wait to jump into. Then, I plan to close out 2020 with the start of a new series, which my fanfic readers are very familiar with. 

What Matters Most

The day before the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I was at the radiologist getting my yearly mammogram. Ever since I’ve been getting them, my mother has been at the forefront of my mind. Ma was still with us when I had my first one of these. Today, she’s been gone for well over two years. This is a very sobering procedure for me, but I need to always keep it in perspective. Had Ma and my good friend M.F. (who passed away earlier this year) done this as frequently as I am, they’d probably still be here.

Never take life for granted, folks. We only get one. Make sure you are getting checked regularly. And if you have a family history like I do (my first cousin is currently battling the disease), you have more reason to do so.

Lessons Learned

I decided to do a wide release for On the Other Side due to the subject matter. This does not mean that I won’t pull the eBook from wide for a time and place it in Kindle Unlimited.

I am also considering an initial wide release for my third book. The benefit of working with an aggregator is that it’s a one-stop shop to get your book out to all of the ebook outlets. You don’t need eighty passwords to manage your uploads.

Working with a third party for print has also helped me to avoid the issue that I had with my first release. Last time, I didn’t have the benefit of having a Bookbub “New Release Alert” eblast since my paperback was listed on Amazon for sale before the official launch. This time around, I was able to ensure that both the paperback and the eBook came out on the same day. I was also able to have that New Release Alert, which I was happy about.

What went wrong? Well…as you can see in the image above, Apple Books did not update the cover after the reveal, nor did they update the actual eBook on their site. So, if you downloaded On the Other Side from iBooks, you did not receive the final copy of the book. My apologies to everyone who ordered the book from there. I am still working hard to resolve this issue. As a result, I’ve taken down the Apple Books link from my universal links page for the book and I am not pushing folks to go there. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play and Kobo all have the right version. I’m not sure why it’s so hard for my aggregator to work with Apple.

If you have downloaded from iBooks, please send me an email at tkcherryfiction@gmail.com, and I will personally send you the correct EPUB as a workaround until my aggregator and Apple get it together.

Next time, I’ll be sure to not upload anything wide until it’s absolutely ready to go. No more placeholders for me, unless it’s just on Amazon. A lesson learned on my part. C’est la vie!

Final Thoughts

Congratulations to the winners of my two release day raffles! They both have been contacted and their prizes have been disbursed. If you like what you see in the signed book swag pack, you too can get it by ordering it here.

Alright folks, back in the writing cave I go. It’s been a jam-packed week and a half. I have one more takeover to do over at the Dirty Moms Book Club Party Room this Thursday at 5:30 pm to celebrate Lilian Harris’ debut release. After that, I’m done with the takeover circuit until I finish this third book!

Stay sweet, everyone! – TK🍒 

It’s September, which means I haven’t blogged since completing my second book. My absence wasn’t unfruitful. My sophomore release On the Other Side has been alpha’d, beta’d, edited, re-beta’d, formatted, and proofread. I sent out the first round of ARCs yesterday, and the final ebook and paperback are locked and loaded. So yeah…a lot has happened since my last blogpost, haha!

On the Other Side is about rising action movie starlet Shae Martin who has her world rocked when she is diagnosed with breast cancer—not once, but twice. When she feels that all hope is gone, she meets two people who will change her life. One of those folks is oncology nurse, Nate Thayer.

Not only is the book done, but so is the companion to the book. I wanted to make certain that nothing interfered with Shae’s voice. However, like I told the folks over at Cherryville, there is another side to On the Other Side, and it’s Nate’s.

Enter Nate’s Fate!

When you read On the Other Side, I’m sure you’ll be curious as to what Nate’s train of thought was at a given point in time. Nate’s Fate is 20k words of just Nate.

The best part of Nate’s Fate is that I’ll be offering it for FREE starting September 27th to all my Cherry Picking subscribers! Make sure you’re all signed up for my newsletter so you can be the first to download the companion book on the day it drops! Again, this is a “companion book”, which means you’ll need to read Shae’s side before you can see where Nate’s story fits in.

By the way, a portion of sales for On the Other Side will go towards breast cancer awareness and research efforts. I carry the banner for three individuals: my beloved mom who succumbed to the illness back in 2017, my longtime friend who passed away just this year, and my first cousin who is currently a breast cancer thriver.

My yearly mammogram is scheduled the day before the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Early detection is so important, so make sure you are having regular exams. Also, encourage your loved ones to do the same.

Alright…that’s all for now. Man oh man—I needed to blog about last month’s Book Bonanza event in Dallas! You can see my pics from the event on Instagram. I had the time of my life. If you haven’t gone to Book Bonanza, and you love to read romance, you NEED to go to this, without question. It is everything and more. I’m going back next year, no doubt!

Stay Sweet! – TK🍒

Hey y’all! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.

I’ve been knee deep in this second book. I have four chapters and an epilogue to go. I’m also working on something extra special for my exclusive readers. I’ll have more details on that at a later date. 

I want to talk about life after A Nocturnal Rendezvous and how that feels. First of all, I want to thank those of you who have let me know how much you loved the book. Thanks so much for the outpouring of love on Facebook and in your reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Your kind words and support mean more to me than you know. I truly mean that.

If anyone has ever had a baby, releasing a book that you’ve poured your all into is kinda similar to that. There are the pains of carrying that child. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out after it’s born, or whether or not the world will even receive it. At the very worst, it could end up being a book that only a mother can love, haha! 

That’s the thing with me; I write for me first. I write something that I want to read over and over again. The problem with that is not too many readers necessarily like what I like. Overall, I guess it’s good to stay true to yourself and write for you first. However, if you can find that middle ground and write for both you and your audience, that’s huge. I guess that’s where I am right now…trying to find that middle ground. It will take some time for me to get there. I will continue to evolve and hopefully increase my readership with each release. I love to write more than anything and my dream is to ultimately do it full-time. 

When you’re brand new on the scene, it can be a pretty lonely place. That’s when you have to just keep your eyes on the prize and press forward. There are some days when it’s okay to feel sad, but don’t remain there. Pull yourself out of that rut and write your ass off. There’s somebody out there who’s itching to read what you wrote. 

With that, on to the next thing. In the weeks to come, I will start introducing my readers to Shae. She’s the heroine in my upcoming release that’s set to drop this fall. Make sure you’ve signed up for my newsletter and you’re a member of my Cherryville reader group in order to see news and teasers before the masses do. I just got done last night writing a chapter that literally had me in tears. This story will put you through every emotion possible, but you will still get the happy ending that you deserve!

Alright, back to the writing cave I go! Stay sweet, everyone.—TK🍒

It’s been two insane days since the launch of my debut, A Nocturnal Rendezvous, and wow. Words absolutely can’t express how much I appreciate those of you who have told me how much you enjoyed the book.

So, Friday, June 7th was launch day. That night, I had a pretty successful takeover in the Red Hatter’s Book Hangout group.

Then, Saturday was my release takeover party in The Maze of Tangled Hearts group. There were still some open giveaways as of the time of this blog posting, so get on it before they close. I’d like to thank Anjelica Grace, Michelle Karise, Mary Dean, Stephanie Nichole, Christi Whitston, Eden Books, Helen Wilder, Q.B. Tyler, Erica Marselas, Harlow Layne, and Carmel Rhodes for coming through and making it a night to remember. Please make sure you show them some love and follow (LIKE) every one of their pages. They are all fabulous women in the indie romance community.

Tonight (Sunday 6/9), I’ll be taking over for one hour beginning 7p EST at the BestSellers & BestStellars Party Room. I’m giving away another signed copy of my debut book, so make sure to stop by.

After today, my plan is to finally take a deep breath and let everything sink in. I’m officially a published author, y’all! ☺️ Now, vacation season begins. I’ll be taking off to Vegas Wednesday night for a four-day weekend, so my hope is to start to process all that has been going on, and then get right back to business. I have two books to finish writing this year, and at least six on deck for next year.

It is only just the beginning, and I very much look forward to going on this wild and crazy ride with you. ❤️ — TK🍒

I just realized that I have yet to blog in May, and the month’s almost over! Wow. So, I am completing week #4 of my “7 Days of Giveaways”. Tonight before the final episode of Game of Thrones airs (YAY!), I’ll be giving away a $30 Amazon gift card to a lucky person who is a subscriber of my Cherry Picking newsletter.

After that it’s the home stretch for me. Last week, I received my first shipment of author copies. Let me tell you, it is so surreal to be holding your hard work in your very hands. I can’t even begin to put it into words (see gallery below).

What’s left to do? Well, I just realized that I’m about a week late in offering ARCs to the reader/reviewers out there (oops!), so I’ll be doing a couple of posts about that on social today. There’s a sign-up link on the home page if you’re interested. I’ll be leaving that open for just two weeks. I’ll also be setting my social media post schedule for the seven days leading up to the June 7th launch.

I have three more giveaways left. The last one is pretty big, so you don’t want to miss it. I’ve already let my Cherry Picking folks know exactly what I’m doing as far as giveaways, with the exception of the last one. That giveaway be announced on the day that the book launches.

Also, there’s some cool things that I’d like to do to tease the book. We’ll see if I have time for it in between writing, promoting, and working my full-time job. Or perhaps it’ll be something I’ll end up doing post-launch. I do have something planned as far as swag. Hint: It’s has something to do with the company that Blake works at in the book. I’m pretty stoked about that one!

Oh, I need to post the prologue on this site! I’ll jot that on my to-do list right now. 🙃

I didn’t realize how much effort it would take to promote this thing. I know that I could be doing much more. But the cool thing of it all is that this is my very first book. And because I believe in it so much, it’s never too late to push it. I figure as soon as I have a nice back list behind me, I can increase my efforts. The reading public just needs to get to know me and my work first before they are confident enough to get behind me. 😊

Anyway, I am still living and learning. I did join RWA (Romance Writers of America) a week ago. I’ve enrolled in some classes and I look forward to meeting other writers and learning more and more about the art of writing, as well as the business side of things.

On that note, I’m signing off to set-up some social posts and to get some writing in. But before I do that, I’d like to wish my son a happy birthday today. He’s past grown, but he’ll always be my baby. ☺️

Stay sweet, folks!—TK🍒