D.C. Renee's Blog

I haven't written a post in a while!
I kind of wanted to write one & figured I'd share my writing process.
Okay, here goes:

Either I or my sis get an idea (she gets ideas & makes me drop what I'm writing to work on "her" story lol). We work out the general plot points together. For example, we'll come up with things like: girl meets guy, they have a fight, he tries to win her back, the ex shows up...etc. (maybe in a bit more detail, but you get the point). I tend to write down all these major points and cross them off as they get written into the story.

Then the writing starts. I send my sis every chapter I write, and she approves or rejects (and if she rejects, I re-write until she approves). I do this after literally every chapter.

Once the story is complete, I send it over to my friend who does some minor grammar/spelling editing, but the main thing she looks for is flow issues, missing scenes, plot concerns, etc. She's really great at it too! I edit it based on her suggestions.

Then off it goes to my editor. After her first round of edits, I make my edits,and then it lands in the hands of my beta readers. They tell me their thoughts on the plot & then I edit based on their feedback & it goes back to the editor. She does another round & then I do my last round of edits.

And voila! The book is ready.

So, I've posted about my rating and reviewing style previously, but I think I've finally figured out how to go about reviewing w/out giving bad ratings ;) [because I hate giving anything less than a 3]

So, just an FYI for anyone following my ratings, this is how it goes:

5 star ratings all get reviews - and those are books that range from one I really, really liked all the way through the ones I effing loved. So, 5's pretty much cover anything good, give or take.

4 star ratings with a review mean it was not bad at all. It wasn't really good, but it's worth a read, usually if you have some time or want something to break up a series you're reading.

4 star ratings w/out a review - those are usually pity 4 stars. Like there was something about it that didn't make me hate it, but I didn't really like it all that much either.

3 star ratings - they don't get reviews - and that's bc it means I didn't like the book or I even thought it kind of sucked.

So, there you have it. If you follow my reviews, now you know :)

Woot Woot! My very first cover reveal was today and it was a success! Yippie! I got a bunch of new followers and people that added my book to their TBR list. Totally makes me giddy!

So, cover reveals...I know authors that pick their own pictures and I know authors that let the cover creator pick the picture for them. What did I do? I picked the picture. I went through hundreds of pictures on tons of sites. I also had my family and friends give their opinions on dozens of pictures, and one of my girlfriends even went and started looking for pictures for me too! I was trying to find a "sexy" picture bc 1) I love sexy pics! and 2) so does everyone else! But the sexy pic had to also make it so the girl looked vulnerable at the same time. Not very easy to find that. I found ones where she looked like a seductress, where she looked scared, where she looked dominated, but not that many where she just looked vulnerable. I also didn't want to have a picture that had faces because someone I might think looks hot might not be good looking to someone else, so I tried to avoid that.

But, I finally found the perfect pic - at least in my opinion. And then came the actual cover. I wanted something dark. I really don't know why, but I just had "dark" in mind and I wanted it to be simple and elegant. I literally went back and forth on the style a dozen times, but it was little details, like what color writing. And even when I was happy with the cover and my sister approved it (she has to approve everything lol), I still was afraid to send it out to blogs for the cover reveal. It was literally a "close your eyes and push send" type of moment when I finally sent it out.

But, it was all worth it! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in my cover reveal and for helping make it a success!

My sister LOVES to point out that I constantly make spelling errors when I write my reviews for other books. I can't help it. I thinker faster than I type and it's hard for my fingers to keep up. I also mostly review on my phone & we all know how great phones are for spelling - they auto correct the wrong things and never correct the right ones. I also suck majorly at going back and re-reading what I wrote before submitting it. I know I should, but I'm always in go-go-go mode and can't stop to re-read. So, this post is my way of 1) apologizing to the authors, readers & followers of my reviews in which I made errors, and 2) explain myself to anyone who thinks I'm a dork. (I really am a dork though, but I digress).

I dedicate this post to my sister! :) And even w/this post, I know you won't stop pointing out my errors. I love you!

I apparently got adjusted to the idea of giving 3's way before 1/1/14 because I gave one yesterday. I don't know if that is a yay for me moment or a yikes moment. I was debating on whether I should go back and update all my rating for the books I've read, but I have hundreds already read, so it ain't gonna happen. I guess I just have to come to terms with it.

I have also decided that if I rate a book a 4 or 5, I must give it a review too. I seriously think I suck at writing reviews bc I try not to give anything away, so my reviews always seem too vague to me. But, it's only fair to write reviews, so I will. There is no way I can go back and add reviews for all the books I've already read, but I'm going to slowly, but surely, add reviews to my fave books. Wish me luck!

My friends know I am literally the easiest rater ever. I never give anything below a 4. If the book is great to good, its a 5 and if it's ok to bad, it's a 4. So, why do I do that? Well, for a few reasons: 1) I know how hard it is to write a book, regardless of whether it turns out good or not and I feel bad giving them a bad rating, 2) when I first started out on goodreads, I had gotten into reading after a while of being a lazy ass, so I didn't have much to compare the books I read to. And, to me, they all seemed awesome. So, now, I sort of feel bad giving someone less than a 4 if I gave a book similar to it a 4 or 5 in the past.
But...my New Year's resolution this year (yes, I know, that's 2 months away, but I need some time to adjust) is to add in 3's to my ratings w/out feeling bad bc really, a 3 isn't so bad. And if I really didn't like a book, it shouldn't be grouped with those I liked.
So, watch out everyone, you might be seeing some 3's. :)

If you are on fb and you haven't liked my page yet, pretty please go like it :)
www.facebook.com/dcrenee

I love writing, but I haven't gotten the hang of promoting yet, but I'm starting to buckle down and this is my first post, yay!
A little birdie (Jettie-if you haven't read her books or aren't following her, go do that NOW! Jettie Woodruff), ok, so, this little birdie told me I should spruce up More Than Enough and Never Enough and turn it into 1 book and fix it up a bit, so that is exactly what I'm doing! Don't have a time frame yet, but it will be revised (not sure how much yet) and will have a much cooler, better cover!
If you'be already purchase/read them, let me know and when the new and improved brand new book is out, I'll send it to you :)
Thanks for following me!