Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Sensual western romance. Heartwarming stories. Strong family ties.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
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  • Tag: smashwords

    • Howdy, Ma’am Bk #1 is Six Months Old

      Posted at 8:17 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on June 20, 2013

      Sensual Contemporary Western Romance

      Bull-Rope-2_thumb.jpgdreamstime_s_10837833_thumb.jpgA great time to meet Caulder and Velia

      HOWDY, MA’AM (Bull Rider Series #1)
      TEMPORARY PRICE REDUCTION!!! Kindle Edition at Amazon Only.

      Six months ago, Howdy, Ma’am was published. June is also my birthday month, but I want you to get the gift.

      Enjoy the reduced price for a short time! SALE PRICE EXTENDED FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JULY!

      Now $1.99.

      SPECIAL UPDATE

      SMASHWORDS ADDED TO THE MIX.

      July Summer/Winter Sale going on at Smashwords. Get Howdy, Ma’am for 50% off. Coupon is right on the book page below the price.

      When Italian class meets bull rider rowdy, you’re bound to get sparks…or sizzle! 

      UPDATE

      Book Two is Available

      Book Three is Available

      Posted in Bull Rider Series | 1 Comment | Tagged a walk with words, bull rider series, Full Length Novel, mary j mccoy dressel, Price Reduction Howdy Ma'am, Sensual Romance and Womens Fiction, smashwords
    • Timeline Part Two, The Journey of a Book

      Posted at 9:09 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on December 26, 2012

      After writing Part One and Part Two so many years ago, I revised and updated these two posts after noticing readers were still finding and reading them. Honestly, I don’t know why I wrote this timeline for my first self-published book. However, writing this all out and reading the journey again, I know it was therapeutic. I guess that says it all.

      Part Two – The Journey – the Howdy, Ma’am Timeline.

      Bull Rider Series #1

      Part One left off at September 2011 after I sat down to finish writing the book. Part Two covers another fifteen months. What a journey.

      Onward

      • October— On October 4th I became a widow instead of a divorcee. This news brought a deep, heart wrenching pain. To distract myself, I dove into this book and barely came up for air the rest of the month.
      • October— Somehow I kept at it. A week before NaNoWriMo 2011 began, Howdy, Ma’am was finished. I repeat, Finished. It gave me time to plot out a new story for 2011. I don’t know where the idea came from, or how I could think of creating anything new, but once again writing became my solace.
      • November — My plan was to set the manuscript aside until after Nano and give me a month away from it before tackling another revision and edit. NaNo came and went as did November.
      • December— I continued with the Nano 2011 novel, wanting to get to a certain point before setting it aside.

      Second Year

      • 2012— Then the unexpected happened—this time positive. I got the rights back to Visions of Enchantment. I was so thrilled I started revising it right away, but Howdy, Ma’am pestered me from the inner sanction of my mind. It must be where my muse lives.
      • The next thing I knew, I attempted to work on both books. Lo and behold, within a couple months I acquired the rights back to Enchantment’s Embrace, Book Two. Now what? I had three huge completed books to revise. Working on two at the same time drove me nutty, and I had to make a decision.
      • That decision was to get busy on Howdy, Ma’am and do nothing else until The End. So, I started down the path of editing and revising again. After the first run through I put it aside for a week. But the cowboy called me back in less than a week, and I diligently worked on that book. Don’t ask how many edits and revisions it went through because I don’t know, but let’s say many, and we can add a capital “M” to many. The time had come to order a different book cover.
      • By the time the story was finished and took shape, I had fallen in love with the characters and the story. UPDATE: The series now wears its third round of new covers.
      • June— I posted on Facebook that I needed an editor. I think it was fate to find a wonderful cover designer, and then a “super awesome” editor, too.
      • I couldn’t make the book any better on my own. I know the editor I chose put her heart and soul into this book to make it shine. What a journey! Do you think I knew anything about Track Changes with the first book. Hahahaha… Hardly. More learning took place. At least my editor didn’t laugh at me to my face.
      • July— I was never satisfied with chapter one, two, and three, and told my editor I wanted to rework them. She asked if I had considered a prologue. I had, but only with a brief thought. Well, I added a prologue.
      • August— I received the first thirteen chapters back from my editor. Finished them. In the last week of August, I received the rest of the edited manuscript back, worked on it, and sent it back for the second round of edits.
      • September— Started writing the second book in the series.
      • October— When the second round of edits came back for Howdy, Ma’am, I fixed editor suggestions, proofread, proofread, and proofread. I cut almost a thousand words. Oh, wait, I probably wasn’t supposed to do that.
      • October 31st— Sent back the last round of edits. Last?? Oh, look! In time for another NaNoWriMo
      • November 1st— NaNoWriMo 2012—NaNo Rebel here I come! Instead of starting something brand new, I continued working on book two.
      • November 23rd — Trip to the ER. (Another story)
      • November 25th (I think) The second book reached 50 thousand words, and I kept writing until the end of the month.
      • November 29th— Received the FINAL edits back from my wonderfully talented editor. Couldn’t open the document for a couple days because I didn’t feel well.

      Final Month

      • December 2rd— Okay, I opened the document and did what I had to do to finalize the changes. Still not feeling well.
      • December 5th— FINISHED! I said FINISHED the edits. Took a break and then started reading from the beginning.
      • December — Tweaked the Front and Back Matter. Who knew how to create back matter? Not me.
      • December 9th — Looked into ISBNs and Copyright information.
      • December — Talked to a formatter.
      • December 18 — COMPUTER CRASHED! Ekkk. No! Not now… NOT NOW! Weird, but my computer worked again. I hate that blue screen.
      • Sent the book to a formatter. Deep Breath. Okay, I need another deep breath, oh, and a couple long exhales, too.
      • December 20th — All three formats came back from the formatter. Kindle, ePub, and Smashwords.
      • December 21st — Uploaded to Smashwords first. Little did I know, I chose the most difficult retailer to upload to, but my formatter at the time was the queen of Smashwords formatting. Draft2Digital wasn’t available yet.
      • Bravery took over, and I uploaded to Amazon KDP, too!
      • YAY!
      • December 21st PUBLISHED.
      • As tough as it had been during the last year, I had finally found my niche. As Velia Armano, my feisty heroine in Howdy, Ma’am would say, “La vita e bella”. (Life is beautiful.) Honest.

      Read Part One Here

      Now, go get your copies!

      image_thumb.png

      Author Note Update:

      This book (and series) has been through many more changes and revisions since first published, which includes new book covers. Years ago, I removed the Prologue as part of a major major revision. They’re due for another updated revision. Plus, two more books have been added to the series. You may still see old covers in older posts I haven’t updated yet.

      Mary J McCoy-Dressel books, brand-new Bull Rider Series Cover banner 2021, cowboys, western setting, snow
      Bull Rider Series

      As for me? I’m still writing and reminiscing. ~MJ

      Posted in #AmWriting, #WritersLife, Bull Rider Series | 2 Comments | Tagged bull rider series, celebrate, cowboy, editor, formatter, Howdy Ma'am bk #1, mary j mccoy dressel, Published! Amazon, smashwords, upload, western romance
    • Available!

      Posted at 12:34 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on December 23, 2012

      ~AVAILABLE NOW~ PUBLISHED!

      HOWDY, MA’AM

      Book One in the Bull Rider Series

      Sensual Contemporary Romance

      You’ve heard me talk about this hunky bull rider and his feisty photographer for months. “Come along and see what happens when classy takes a ride with rowdy.” Sometimes it’s a wild ride for sure, and I don’t necessarily mean the bull riding.

      See for yourself!

      AMAZON

      <>

      SMASHWORDS

      Links will be added to the following links when I have them. Visit Smashwords for more information.

      Apple iPad/iBooks, Sony Reader, Kobo, Nook

      Posted in #AmWriting | 0 Comments | Tagged amazon, bull rider, contemporary, Howdy Ma'am, mary j dressel, mary j mccoy dressel, published, romantic fiction, sensual romance, smashwords
    • Ritualistic Book Reader

      Posted at 5:52 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on November 18, 2012

      I picked up three or four new Kindle books this weekend, and I think one at Smashwords during the week. (←Link goes to my book) When you have a lot of author friends and acquaintances, you know when their books first come out. You also know when they’re free or at a reduced price. I adore books! Being a writer, this should come as no surprise. Reading is a need I love, and I would like to do more of it. I try to make bedtime my reading time. During the day I’m busy writing and working on marketing, so in order to fit it in, I have to have my laptop off. I admit to having the TV on in the background though.

      There are more books in my Kindle then I’ll ever get to at the rate I’m going now, but I am planning on more reading time in the near future. What do you do when you get a new book? I noticed I have a ritual when I buy a new book. Right away I have to open it, scroll back to the beginning, read all the pertinent information—title page, copyright, all that good front matter stuff. I love it if there’s a cover inside on the very first page. Then, if there’s a prologue I have to read it. Sometimes I even have to read chapter one. I look at the table of contents and will check out other books by the author, if included. I may not go back to that book for awhile, so if the blurb is in there, it sure helps when I get back to it. I do this ritual with print books, too.

      If you look at my Goodreads page you’ll see I’m always reading more than one book at a time. (Don’t be afraid to add my book while you’re there.) It’s because I follow the ritual above. Sometimes I don’t stop at the prologue or chapter one. It depends on my mood. If the book is a short story or novella, I might finish it right then, depending on how long my eyes will stay open. In that case, it never gets to Goodreads, unless I rate it like I did this one.

      After reading back through this post, and thinking about it, I realize I am a book addict. As a child I didn’t start out liking to read, although I was always a good reader from an early age. My dad made me read. I remember he joined a book club and books were delivered periodically. *Children’s Classics like Hansel and Gretel, Silver Skates, and Heidi. When I didn’t want to read, these books just kept coming, and my dad insisted I read them. As if that wasn’t enough, I had to tell him what I read. Today, I thank him for teaching me to love and appreciate books and stories. He also made me do school work in the summer, but that’s a different story. And write? Yes, he made me write! Thanks, Dad.

      If you love books and reading, do you have a ritual when you first purchase a book in hard copy or eBook? Am I the only one with this quirky ritual?

      Since I am a writer, as well as a reader, I’d like to invite you to sign up via email (Sidebar) or click Follow at the top of the page to receive updates about my books. It would make me very happy if my books found their way to your library. While I’m asking, I see I’m pushing toward 999 Likes on my Facebook Author Page. One thousand is my next goal, so if you care to…  (I’ve turned into such a promoter. I hope you don’t mind.)

      *I used Amazon as an example. You can find children’s classics at many book stores, either online or brick and mortar.

      Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments | Tagged books, children's classics, Goodreads, Kindle, Reading, ritualistic, smashwords, writer
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