Heather O'Brien's Blog

Nope. Not what you might think. I’m not here today to discuss the familiar “Three Rs” of education: reading, writing, and arithmetic. In fact, just the idea of including the concept of math into one of my articles is giving me hives. No, today’s blog post dives into the very heart of an author’s pool of success: the post-sales life […]

Everybody had better be on board. The ship has sailed. Readers may not yet see it, but writers are all too aware of the growing trend of seeking to ban particular topics in today’s books. In the last couple of days alone, I’ve witnessed two separate accounts of certain retailers and book distribution services issuing e-mail notices to its users, […]

Wow.

Just sent out my first newsletter (to the aforementioned 7 subscribers on my newsletter list). Let’s just be kind and say it was a “learning experience.” While I do appreciate services like Mail Chimp offering services for free, I wish it understood that when you give a customer no support with your “free” option, you might add some value by creating easily located walk-throughs and simply instructions so folks lie me can fancy up some cool piece of correspondence for our peeps!

But it’s...

So this just happened…

As the 9/1/17 release date of The Ties That Bind’s third edition draws near, I’m doing a little cyber housecleaning to make things look all clean and pretty. What I’ve found is a complete mess.

Yes, yes, it’s inconvenient and complicated to have a “third edition.” It’s hard on you and it’s hard on me. I’ve learned my lesson, I promise. But still – there should be a cohesive listing on book sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. whereby a “first edition,” “second edi...

So it’s been forever since my last blog post. Told ya so. My June 6th post warned I wasn’t good at blogging. I meant it. But I’m revisiting it to make a couple of announcements and maybe give an update to those who are interested.

While in the process of ensuring I have a nice website and a clean manuscript to re-release, I’ve been dabbling. I know, right? That’s a scary proposition for someone as un-tech-savvy as me. I’ve been trying to figure out how to set up a mailing list and newsletter...

Exposed. That’s us.

Writers live in solitude. At least I know I do. Sure, we have families, friends, pets, errands, vacations, grocery store trips, doctors…the whole nine. But really? We spend most our time in our heads. It’s a vast and often lonely place – even at its best. Still, it’s all we want to do. For the most part, we’d all say it’s worth it.

So when we put our work out there for the “real world” to see, we feel naked. Our “high definition” selves are shoved in front of a giant spotl...

So…you’re getting first dibs!

I’d sure love to keep in touch with those interested in the series. In order to do that, I’m building a subscriber list. (We’re no stranger to those, are we? They’re everywhere!)

If you’d like to be included, please click here to sign up. Truthfully? There won’t be many updates so you don’t have to worry about some constant influx of spammy e-mails. But I do have the relaunch coming up for Ties, possible promo activities, subscriber-only events, etc. Any upcoming...

So I failed. Yep, again. Woke up this morning with a headache, which I haven’t been able to shake. But I thought, “Nope, you have work to do!”

After days of falling prey to the lure of certain marketing gold, I sincerely intended to get back on track. As I mentioned in my last post, book 2 edits are waiting. They’re not going to fix themselves. And it’s not like I’m able to relaunch book 1 yet. Besides – writers write.

Instead, I spent the entire day on social media. “What fun!” you say? Oh n...

Ever since I returned from a research trip to Los Angeles last week, I’ve been exhausted. Seriously – I feel like I can’t catch up. I’ve never been a “nap” type person because of my insomnia but, for the last few days, all I’ve wanted to do between 1 and 4pm is sleep! There is much going on at this point, which I touched on in my last post. No place on the agenda for extra shut-eye.

In addition to the various stages of completion for the first three books, the website remains incomplete. My d...

I don’t do much blogging. And I’m not good at it. My thoughts seem to hover around large plot twists and diving deep into character backgrounds. The day-to-day brilliance one receives from other authors, more and less successful than I, never ceases to amaze me. They offer tips and wisdom and selfless anecdotes that inspire others. So not me. I envy them.

But here I am, attempting to dazzle folks with the sheer fact I’ve posted anything at all. Ah, well. Maybe I’ll get the hang of it eventual...