Kindle has just started allowing someone who has purchased a Kindle book to lend it to someone else. As a service to my loyal readers, Coyote Smart, Promises Kept and Keeping Faith are all eligible to be lent! So if you have a family member or friend to whom you would like to recommend one of my books, lending them a book is a way to do that.

Per the Kindle rules, you can lend a book for 14 days during which time you won’t have access to it. The borrower can read the book on other devices besides a Kindle (like a PC, Mac or iPad). After the 14 days, the borrower “returns” it to you automatically. You can get all the scoop at Amazon.

There are only 5 days until Christmas. The pressure is building to get those last few gifts. The stores are crowded and priority shipping makes shopping online more expensive. All is not lost. Here’s a great last minute gift idea.

Did you know that the Kindle version of Coyote Smart, Promises Kept or Keeping Faith can be given as a gift to anyone with an e-mail address? And even better, you do not need a Kindle to send or receive Kindle book gifts, and the recipient can read their gift on a registered Kindle device or any free Kindle reading application (like a Windows computer, a Mac, an iPad, an iPhone, a Blackberry or an Android).

To gift the Kindle books:

1. Browse to the Kindle page for Coyote Smart, Promises Kept or Keeping Faith.

2. Click the “Give as a Gift” button located under the Buy button on Kindle Store product detail pages (see picture to the right).

3. Enter the e-mail address for your gift recipient.

4. Enter an optional gift message.  If you’d like to preview the notification your recipient will receive, click the Preview E-mail button.

5. Click the Place your order button to finish your gift purchase using your Kindle 1-click payment method.

That’s it!  Your gift recipient will be notified of their gift at the e-mail address you provide. And imagine how excited they will be to receive such a unique gift.

Merry Christmas!

Wiley Coyote ~ Warner Bros.

My friend, the moonshiner, sent me this icon of Wiley Coyote a couple of weeks ago, and of course it was perfect since I was introducing Coyote Smart, my third book. Only trouble is, Wiley is a goofy, cartoon character, and Maxwell Collin Ridgeway III is anything but.

Yet as Mark Twain, one of my favorite authors wrote in Roughing It, the impetus for the character that animation director Chuck Jones created for Warner Bros. in 1948, the coyote is “a living, breathing allegory of WANT.” I think you will see this to be very true in Maxwell’s character.

The icon also reminded me how important it is to reach an audience, and if it takes a silly cartoon character to do this, then I’m willing. Although the third book is very different from the first two, it also has several of the same characters. Therefore, it advantageous to have read the first two in order to fully enjoy Coyote Smart.

So before this next book is released later in the fall, please put Keeping Faith and Promises Kept on your reading list. No, better yet, PLEASE READ MY BOOKS! Hey, after all, you had all summer!!

Nicole Langan’s Tribute Books was one of the stops on the virtual blog tour. Her blog also got the most comments and the winner of the blog tour contest was from her blog. Here’s a reprint of her review of Promises Kept:

Promises Kept is a fairy tale for adult women. Cindy Bradford entrances with the love story of Faith and Tyler. For any doubters who think romance is dead, this book will reclaim their belief in dreams fulfilled. The chapters relating to their relationship are filled with details that will make ladies sigh.

The narrative encompasses a split personality. The first half deals with a court case involving a pedophile priest. Faith’s father was one of the victims and Faith is an attorney on the side of the prosecution. Tyler is a fellow attorney who is assisting her on the case. From the moment the two lay eyes on each other, things quickly heat up.

The trial rapidly reaches its conclusion and the couple starts preparing for a Christmas wedding. This is where Bradford leaves law and order behind and transports the reader to Tuscan villas and secluded cabins in the wilderness. Fantasy is readily indulged on the page.

Tyler is the quintessential leading man – and he is meant to be. No man can live up to this depiction. He serves as a vehicle of escape from unfaithful boyfriends, distant husbands, unrequited love. He is too good to be true, but that doesn’t stop women from hoping deep down that he could be.

Readers will fall in love with him along with Faith. He remodels an old house with his own hands. He takes Faith with him to pick out a puppy. He asks Faith to marry him within weeks of meeting her. He gets along great with her family. He is not threatened by her successful career. He says things like, “I could look at you forever” and “I’ve never seen you be anything but good at whatever you do.” He’s extremely tidy and helps with the housework including landscaping the entire lawn. He’s thrilled when Faith goes off the pill. He has a love of good food and takes Faith to a number of delectable restaurants. He likes to go Christmas shopping.

Things take a turn when Faith has trouble getting pregnant. At first, she thinks it’s her, but an unforeseen development occurs when Tyler discloses the results of a recent medical exam. The young couple undergoes a tragedy of epic proportions. The emotion Bradford evokes is touchingly poignant. It leaves the reader wondering if is it better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all.

Overall, this is a great book to turn to when you need your faith in love to be restored.

Cindy Bradford book signing

I have a book signing tonight at Paragraphs on Padre, here on the island. This will be my second at this location, but the first for Promises Kept. As always, I’m looking forward to it, but worried about how many will attend and how it will go.

The bookstore owners, Griff and Joni, who are so supportive and special, placed a great advertisement in the local newspaper and notified folks through the Chamber of Commerce list, but lots of locals are on vacation, and visitors are too busy putting aloe on their blistered skin and tossing back a Corona to come see me. They just don’t know what they’re missing. The sun will be down, and there’s plenty of beer on the island to last—believe me!

Nonetheless, I’m always excited and greet the event with anticipation and a positive attitude; as positive as a struggling writer can. I remind myself it’s not about how many books I sell; it’s about how the book is received by those who read it.

Of course, my perfect signing would be in New York City or Paris, with people lined up out the door, clamoring to get in, fighting over the last book. Quit snickering—we all have our dreams! I’m just willing to share mine.

If you’re in the area, drop by tonight. There will be wine and cheese, and lots of good conversation. If you are miles away, just think about me—that’s what friends are for.

If you have a relationship with a bookstore in your area, I would appreciate if you could make an introduction. I may be coming to a book signing near you. You can go to BookTour.com for my schedule or other book signings in your area.

Promises Kept on Kindle

If you are following me on FaceBook you may already know that Promises Kept is now available on Kindle, but I want to remind everyone here as well. Although I love my Kindle and use it when I travel, I still like to hold those pages in my hands when I am home.

Some things are hard to give up and traditional books are one of those for me. So I will continue to down load when I have long airplane flights and prop up on the couch with my book in hand otherwise. But for those of you who are totally committed to electronics, it’s just a click away.

I hope you have already found time to order and read Promises Kept, but if not, it is a great summer read for the lake or beach. When you have finished, please take an extra minute to write a review on Amazon. Although I received some outstanding reviews by professional reviewers on the virtual book tour, those that come from you are extra special and much appreciated!

Happy summer and enjoy your vacation, but don’t stay away too long. Blogs await you.

Traveling

Settings are the easiest for me to describe in my books because I try to weave in places I have actually visited and studied. Using them in my writing allows me to mentally visit them again and again and relive my experiences. Hopefully, you are traveling with me in both Keeping Faith and Promises Kept.

The most difficult part is deciding which places to incorporate into the chapters of my novels and how the characters will relate to going there or living in a particular setting. East Texas and New England were naturals because I lived in the former for all my formative years and have traveled many times to the latter.

The places in between cause me the most deliberation. Of course, who could argue with Italy? It is a gorgeous place with boundless history and intrigue. It was so easy to write about which, of course, made Carmella and Stefano easy as well. But so was Austria and Switzerland… and the list goes on.

I am so fortunate to be able to travel to so many wonderfully interesting and beautiful places. I admit to a bit of wanderlust. I have the book, 1,000 Places to See Before I Die sitting on my desk as inspiration, but I promise not to make you pack your bags for all those. I will, however, introduce a few new destinations in book three.

So, where is your favorite vacation spot, your dream trip or the best place you have ever visited? Take a minute to describe it in the comment section. After all, the readers like to hear from others besides just me. Maybe you can suggest a scene for my next book!!

My virtual book tour will start in a week, so I have been doing some front work for it, answering all sorts of questions. One is “when did I start writing?”

I don’t ever remember not writing. When I was just a little kid I would write stories on the leftover typing paper around the house—when I wasn’t making cigarettes with the paper (I got caught early on lighting one so it was back to story writing). All during junior high and high school I wrote poetry and other miscellaneous stories, and then in college I worked for a nearby newspaper and college newspaper as well at the university public relations office.

As a journalism major, I preferred writing feature and human interest stories, and I remember one of my very liberal journalism professors telling me I didn’t have what it takes to be a journalist writing hard news. I looked him in the eye and told him “I didn’t want to have what it takes to cover hard news. I hate politics, car wrecks, and murder, besides I want to be proud of everything I write.”  I haven’t veered from that stance.

I’m proud of writing Keeping Faith and Promises Kept, but more than that I am proud of hanging in there until I had the finished product. A lot of people have told me they want to write a book and have great ideas. I believe them.  I say, just do it. It’s not just about talent; it’s about persistence, stamina, and the will to finish. It’s a manuscript in progress; it’s only a book when you finish.

Promises Kept by Cindy Bradford

Promises Kept is getting close, another couple of weeks. It is a little behind schedule because I made some last minute changes on the cover and title page, which slowed down the entire process. I guess I am a bit of a perfectionist, but I know what I want and I’m not willing to compromise. I must admit; however, I am getting excited. I hope you are as well.

If you haven’t read Keeping Faith you still have time to order and read before reading Promises Kept, and although it can stand alone, I think you will enjoy the second book much more if you have read the first.

I am excited because I have a month log virtual book tour beginning May 1. Now, if you are like me, I didn’t even know what that was until recently. Simply, a virtual tour is a cyber tour which is a super alternative to a “live” book signing tour, which can be expensive and time consuming. Although the blog tour does take time, both upfront and during the entire month, it is much easier to work from home and reach an even bigger audience.

The tour, which is being conducted by my blog tour manager, Nikki Leigh, includes blogs, websites, radio shows, newsletters, reviews and guests posts. There will be various websites that use themes from my books and host my comments. Additionally, various blog owners will feature me, “interview” me, and introduce me to their audience. This will be a great opportunity to get my name out there and be noticed, and hopefully get more people reading my books and communicating with me.

I will post the various websites and links to interviews as soon as the schedule is firm. As I said, this is new to me. I’m learning as I go, so I will keep you informed and up-to-date about the process. Wish me luck.

Devil in the Details of Editing

Novel writing to me is just like sitting down to tell a story—only on paper. I actually wrote Keeping Faith long hand, and it took just a little over a month, but editing took a year. The plot, settings, and the characters came to me as easy as grilling and then savoring a good steak, but oh, how I hate the details of editing, especially since I am a terrible speller. (I know I have spell check, but you have to get close enough so that the little guy in the computer knows what word it is!)

I wasn’t happy with the sequencing of the book, so I moved chapters around three or four times and took out one whole chapter. Honestly, I still don’t like the beginning, but I had to show Patrick as a kid, and that was the best way I knew how.

Promises Kept took about three months to write, but it flowed and gelled for me right from the beginning.  I never changed any chapters, just added some here and there in the final edit. It too was written in long hand. Now, I am much more comfortable using the computer, but it makes me nervous that I might lose something so I save continuously and back up at the end of each day. Again, I hate all that part. If I could just write and not worry about technology or details, I would be a much happier writer, but as they say, ‘the devil is in the details.” I believe it!