20 Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts PLUS a Guest Post by Author M.A. Granovsky

Please welcome author M.A. Granovsky @MGranovsky to Tabor Lane.

M.A. Granovsky currently resides in New York City, but has lived in St. Petersburg, Jerusalem, Florence, and even Wilmington, DE.

As an author, she uses her background as a cancer biologist and lawyer and her international travels to craft fast-paced, intricately plotted capers. 

I was captivated by her legal thriller POISON PILL, and thought I was in the middle of 'Mission Impossible'. The descriptions of settings, particularly Istanbul, were vivid and captivating, and her legal knowledge could only come from an insider’s view.

Granovsky’s writing is influenced by her passion for observing and understanding human behavior, and she nailed it in POISON PILL. Her characters are well-developed and believable, and her writing style is engaging.

I highly recommend this book and give it five stars. It’s a winner and belongs on the same shelf with bestselling legal thrillers.  

Now, here’s M.A. talking about her creative woes and perfect endings:

Ready. Fire. Aim.

A friend's father, a psychologist, has a poster in his office: "Ready. Fire. Aim." She mentioned it to me yesterday as I was telling her about my creative woes, which seem to multiply daily: I can't write the blog posts I already promised, even though I have decided on the topics about which I'd like to write. I can't force myself to work on my novel because I don't quite know the sequence of events. I lurch from one marketing idea for my already-published novel, POISON PILL, to the next, not actually doing anything about most of them -- just adding them to my "to do" and "interesting ideas" lists.

My friend's story made me think about how I wrote POISON PILL, and how I lost weight, and I realized that I had adopted precisely this sequence without knowing it.

I was ready: I made a commitment to myself to write a novel -- not a promise, a wish, or a passing thought, but a commitment. And I couldn't stand to be my then-size any longer, worrying if I had expanded yet again into yet bigger work trousers. I had paid lip service to both goals before, but this time, doing nothing wasn't an option.

Then I fired: I powered up the computer one morning at 7 a.m., without a plot and only the vaguest of character sketches, and I began writing. I contacted a diet meal delivery service and began eating what they gave me.

Only then did I aim: POISON PILL went through more drafts than I can recall. Its story was changed from one about hedge funds to one about diet drugs. Its protagonists went through name changes and trait transplants. I learned to heed constructive criticism from both fellow writers in writers' groups and from professional editors. In short, I kept course-correcting until I got the novel of which I could be proud and which I wanted to share with the world.

As to losing weight, I fiddled with it too until I had a formula that let me keep my new, lower weight comfortably. I tweaked the delivery diet schedule, added exercise, chose to walk to my office instead of riding the bus, and bought smaller clothes that wouldn't let me cheat if the pounds came creeping back on.

In both noveling and weight loss, learning what worked and what didn't was a hands-on, practical exercise, not the theoretical study that I'm usually quite fond of.

And so, I'm going to plagiarize my friend's father's poster, print it out, and stare at it daily until I internalize once more this truth: there are no perfect starts, but there can be quite perfect endings; but there will be no endings, perfect or otherwise, if I don't pull the trigger. 

Amazon Author Page ~*~ Twitter ~*~ LinkedIn ~*~ Goodreads

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again: 

1. Closing the Gap: Moving from Notebook to Story http://ow.ly/hoOPj by Susan Jackson Rodgers
2. Should You Write That Potentially Controversial Scene? http://t.co/Sl6jqHSZ @RoniLoren RT @elizabethscraig
3. Five Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now http://ow.ly/hpm7r  via @Janice_hardy
4. Mark Coker, Founder of Smashwords, on How to Get People to Read Your Book http://ow.ly/hpBVq
5. Better Plotting: 7 Ways Your Characters Can Screw up Their Decisions by @Janice_Hardy http://t.co/bykjsdFS  RT @simone7304
6. 10 Tips to Get Blog Tours and Guest Posts Right: http://t.co/ASK8mQs5 @LyndaRYoung RT @elizabethscraig
7. What Agents Are Doing These Days http://ow.ly/hpZb  via @RachelleGardner
8. Beware Fake Accounts Promising To ‘Verify’ You On Twitter http://ow.ly/hpZt9
9. Easy Amazon Tricks for Getting More Reviews from the Top 50 Reviewers http://ow.ly/hpZEc
10. via @PassiveVoiceBlg
11. 18 Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts PLUS an Interview with Author @KLSchwengel http://ow.ly/hqI41
12. How to Style Profanity http://ow.ly/hqORj via Daily Writing Tips
13. Learning From Contests http://ow.ly/hqVqh via The Writers Alley - A great way to get feedback.
14. What Makes a Strong Author's Visit—a Teacher's Perspective: http://t.co/vlvaNv8m  @AngelaAckerman RT @elizabethscraig
15. Forcing Readers To Like Characters: Recognition http://t.co/7aGjPIt4 RT @evelyn_puerto
16. Choosing Cover Art for Your Indie Book http://t.co/3yVWNaam RT @evelyn_puerto
17. 2012′s Biggest Wins (And Fails) In Social Media Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC] http://ow.ly/hqWwL
18. Facebook Content Marketing Infographic - Facebook Post Tips - http://t.co/UsrU0yO8 #Facebook #FB RT @johnkremer
19. Rock Your Soul Marketing: The Secret to Selling More Books http://ow.ly/hqY5R via @JohnKremer 
20. Self-Publishing Now The First Choice For Some Writers http://ow.ly/hr7mI  From NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED interview with Mark Coker

I’m always looking for great content to share. If you have a writing and/or marketing blog, or have a favorite that you visit often, please leave a link in the comment section. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy writing & running, Kathy