Category: success

Woolaston Entertainment Presents 25

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Imagine putting together a book to celebrate the 25th anniversary of something you created. Sounds like it shouldn’t be too difficult, right? Now imagine most of your material is in storage…in another state. All I can say is, thank goodness for flash drives and Google Drive!

WE25

 

I’m not sure how I did it, but in nineteen days, I combed through my books and whatever images I have saved on my flash drive and in my Google Drive, and put a 112 page book together, containing the best 25 things about W.E. Plus, it’s in COLOR! This is a first for me. Not only is it in color, it’s my first nonfiction book, and it’s a bit larger than the paperbacks I’ve published in the past (this one is 7×9). This one put me through the ringer, but its finished and soon it will be available for purchase on Amazon, and then the Woolaston Entertainment website. 

If you’ve never read my other books, there will be a few spoilers, but I think I did a pretty good job keeping them to a minimum. There are a ton of facts about W.E.’s creation, and info about the books and characters I’ve never shared before. The book should be ready by this weekend, and I hope everyone enjoys it. 

Woolaston Entertainment Presents 25 retails for $14.49 UPDATE 12/13/19: Available now on Amazon

ISBN: 978-1-6724-7820-5

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Goodbye, Microsoft Word

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No one likes to see a relationship come to an end. Especially a long-standing relationship. But, you know the old saying: “All good things must come to an end”. I’ve had a relationship with Microsoft Word for YEARS. I’m pretty sure it started sometime during my middle school years. We’ve been good friends. Then, something went wrong.

My nine-year-old Dell laptop was on its last leg, in terms of battery life. The battery lost the ability to hold a charge, and the laptop would only function if it was plugged in. Plus, my version of Microsoft Word, was horribly outdated. I finally broke down and purchased a new laptop: a Chromebook, by Acer. There’s just one problem: it didn’t come with Word. Apparently, this is a trend among tech manufacturers. Laptops used to come with Word, and other Microsoft programs. Now, those programs need to be purchased separately. Plus, this is a Chromebook we’re talking about, so I understood. But, even the HP and Dell laptops I looked at, didn’t have Word. My new laptop was only $149…I wasn’t about to shell out an extra $200 for Word. The $149 had already set me back.  Instead, I did two things:

  1. Got a subscription to the Word App via Google Play, so I could continue to open my Word files at home.
  2. Forced myself to become acclimated with Google Docs.

Word cost me $7.61 a month ($6.99 plus tax). Sales from my online store were taking care of that plus the cost of hosting each month, so W.E. was basically paying for it’s own services. However, once I got into Google Docs (I mean, really got into it), I decided, maybe it was time to say goodbye to Word. So, I did. The cord has been cut. 

Of course, I still download my work from Google and save it on a flash drive, but its nice to know everything is available to me online, whether I’m at home or on a computer at work. Of course, some of the margins I use for the manuscripts of the books I publish needed to be adjusted, but hey: nothing worth having is ever easy to obtain. 

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Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale Continues!

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I had a few people email me yesterday (much obliged, btw!) about the sale on Woolaston Entertainment’s website. All W.E. books are 25% off in honor of W.E.’s 25th anniversary. While that sale was scheduled to end tonight, Cyber Monday, I’ve been asked if I can extend it. My answer: yes! Orders that were placed over the weekend will be shipped tomorrow. All other orders will be shipped by the end of the week. So, the sale will continue until Saturday, December 7. Enjoy!

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Birthday Wisdom

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My birthday was on Sunday, December 1st. In the days leading up to this joyous occasion, I began to think about my life; where I’ve been and where I’d like to go, things that have happened, etc. I suppose I should pass along some nuggets of wisdom, for people who are younger than me. So, here it goes.

When I woke up on the morning of my thirtieth birthday, I felt a mild sense of panic. I thought, “Oh God, I’m thirty! I’m single! What do I do now?” I had ended a long term relationship about a year and a half prior to this, and there weren’t any prospects on the horizon. Then I got over the shock, enjoyed my birthday, and moved on. In fact, that’s what I’ve done with every birthday since then. 

June 2018
Yes world, this is me. 

My little nugget of wisdom is simply this: live your life the way you want to live it. We set goals for ourselves, and we have such high expectations of where we’re supposed to be at certain stages of our lives. When we don’t achieve those goals or meet our own expectations, we begin to feel like failures. I had to teach myself to get over this.

live your life the way you want to live it

I don’t need to impress anyone. I don’t owe anyone an explanation of my life. All I need to do, is wake up each morning, be the best me I can be, do no harm to others, and just live my life. When I woke up yesterday on my birthday, I decided not to put any pressure on myself. I’m past that point where every birthday needs to be celebrated fabulously (thirty-seven isn’t a milestone, but forty will be). I spent the day with my mother, eating  Thanksgiving leftovers and watching football. The gifts I ordered online are on their way, and I’ll celebrate when payday rolls around again. My Patriots lost, but Julian Edelman got a touchdown, which is what I wanted, so that’s my little b-day gift. Thank you, Jules.

Aside from my birthday, it’s also Woolaston Entertainment’s birthday. My creation is twenty-five, and I’d like to think over the years, we’ve gotten better together. 

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The Finale of Lucia and the Saints

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Everything has a beginning and an ending. The same is true for my novella series, Lucia and the Saints. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but here it goes: the sixth and final volume of the series will be available next week. Yes, folks. The series is coming to an end.

The first volume was released on July 5, 2019. Readers were introduced to a young John Rafferty, when he was attempting to become a business man. This is not the John Rafferty we know (and potentially hate) from the Valentine series. Older Rafferty is cruel, vicious and uncaring. Younger Rafferty can be a bit of a wuss. 

But forget Rafferty for a moment. The main character is Lucia. Everything that happens, and every character in the world of Valentine can be traced back to Lucia. She’s bold and outspoken, and thirty times braver than Rafferty. Truthfully, between the two of them, she should be running the Syndicate.

I used to think prequels were useless. However, writing this series has given me a deeper appreciation for prequels. It’s interesting to find the connections between characters and events from the other series. With Lucia and the Saints: Volume Six, there’s a pivatol moment in which Lucia makes a decision that affects the lives of every other character in both the Valentine series and the Valentine Apart series. 

The entire series is available in ebook form. I will release the paperback versions by the end of the year. 

Woolaston Entertainment

Thank Goodness I Still Have CS5!

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I love using Amazon’s KDP. Seriously, I do. All of my books have been published (or re-published) via Amazon. However, when they combined Create Space with KDP, a terrible thing happened. Some of the templates for the cover designs, were removed. Unfortunately, this made things harder for me, because I prefer to have the books in a single series share a common cover design. But, all is not lost! I still have Adobe Photoshop CS5 on my old laptop!

I acquired CS5 when I was in art school. Becuase I was a student, I was allowed to purchase the program at a discounted price. While my old laptop nolonger runs as fast as it used to, CS5 is still installed. I have used it over the years, to create some of the images that appear on some of my book covers. With the loss of some of the templates in KDP, I turned to CS5 to create the entire cover for the upcoming The Age of the Daughter and Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep. They’re not perfect, but at least everything will still be uniformed.

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. 

Woolaston Entertainment

I’m Over My Dry Spell

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I went through a bit of a dry spell after I published my last ebook. Lucia and the Saints: Volume Four came out on August 2 of this year, and I haven’t released anything since then. My plan was, to keep on writing and publishing. But, sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. I didn’t feel like writing, even though I have a ton of material to work on, and books that I need to finish.  Experiencing a dry spell was not a good thing.

Last week, I forced myself back into writing. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is literally around the corner, and I’m hosting an event at my local library. This means, I need to get myself back in gear. I need to finish editing my mother’s latest book, A New England Serial Killer, and finish Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep and Lucia and the Saints: Volume Five and Volume Six. The good news is, I’m nearly finished with editing Mom’s book, almost ready to edit Jo Fuentes, and Lucia Five will be ready by Saturday. So, the dry spell has ended!

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June E. Parris’s Author Pages

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I recently updated my mother’s (and fellow author) author pages on Goodreads and Amazon. She just wrote her third book, A New England Serial Killer, and I’m editing it and preparing it for publication. With that being said, I wanted to be sure all of her pages are up to date. You can visit her Amazon Author Page and Goodreads Author Page to check out her books and follow her! 

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Woolaston Entertainment & The Public Library

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If you’re an avid reader, writer or publisher, chances are, you have or are currently using the resources at your local public library. However, if you’ve never visited your local library…ain’t no time like the present! Come on! Get in there! Free books and internet access? Are you kidding me ? I’m pro-library, and not because I have worked at two of them. Public libraries are a must. For writers and publishers, they are a great way to introduce your books to new readers. I’m not just a patron of the library, I’m in the library. Literally.

There is at least one Woolaston Entertainment book available in the following public library systems:

Queens Public Library in New York

Norfolk Public Library in Virginia

Newport News Public Library in Virginia

Hampton Public Library in Virginia

Patagonia Public Library in Arizona

As I continue to publish, I hope to extend my reach to other library systems (although Arizona is a pretty good stretch from New York and Virginia!). If you’re a published author (self-published or otherwise) I highly recommend working with your local public library and adding your work to their collection. It’s a great way to introduce yourself to the public and gain some new readers.

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