Lessons Learned Through Travel

It was the trip of a lifetime, the stuff dreams are made of:  My own romantic hero and I were off to visit the land of our heritage, the island that spawned most of our ancestors. For me that included Henry Gale, my model for James Martin in EASTWARD TO ZION, the new Covenant release out this month.We were going to Britain!

We scheduled a bus tour, one of those not-quite-whirlwind adventures with a bus full of strangers. The itinerary included almost all the sites we most wanted to see with a swing up the left side of the map, a turn in the Scottish Highlands, and a return down the map's right side. To counter the rigid schedule of the tour, we chose to spend a few extra days in London before the tour began and an additional week at the end, branching out to see intriguing sites the bus had missed. The combination seemed ideal.

And it was--or very nearly so. 51 of us from the U.S., Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere boarded a brand new tour bus as strangers, but soon bonded as a group with common in jokes, shared admiration for our guide, Allen, and loud appreciation for our amazing driver, David, who took that vehicular monster down roads I'd have been hesitant to challenge with a Mini-Cooper. The experience was amazing.

It was also beautiful, fascinating, and highly educational, yet not all of the lessons were fun.

We had carefully planned our schedule so we'd have time to attend the births (or at least the hospital beds) of grandbabies Joshua (April 25) and Evelyn or "Evie" (May 1). We also scheduled around problems with my husband's work and mine--or so we thought.

I had promised readers a Memorial Day sale on at least one of my books, so I planned for THE MCALLISTER MEN, which includes the first three books in the Rainbow Rock Romances, to go on sale from May 23-26. I'd be out of town then, but I had Janice to tweet it for me, Alisa to post it on other social media, and Sharon to make sure the sale showed on all available platforms. Everything would be great! With that in mind, I organized the tweets Janice would send and bought numerous ads to share the news.

The sale never happened. Call it a failure to communicate. The ads came out, the tweets appeared, but the book never went on sale. I learned about it when I got a message while checking email from a hotel room in northern England. Panicky, I dashed off an email to Sharon only to receive an "out of office" message. Her office was closed for the long weekend. There was nothing I could do from where I was, so I watched the plans go up in smoke while ads came out proclaiming my sale and the retail platforms called me a liar. Oops.

The lesson I learned was simple enough: If you want something done right, do it yourself--or at least be close enough to fix it when it goes wrong. Sharon explained the misunderstanding and we're good, but I have yet to make things right with disappointed readers. So I'm now planning a more comprehensive offer and here it is:

SALE PERIOD:  July 1-7

ITEMS ON SALE:  THE MCALLISTER MEN trilogy, the first 3 books in the Rainbow Rock series, $1.99 (reg. $4.99).

                            A LITTLE NIGHT RAINBOW, book 4, 99 cents (reg. $2.99)

                            A RAINBOW IN PARADISE, book 5, 99 cents (reg. $2.99)

                            THE TROUBLE WITH RAINBOWS, book 6, 99 cents (reg. $2.99)

                            RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK, book 7, 99 cents (reg. $2.99)

                            DANNY'S GIRL, book 8, 99 cents (reg. $2.99)

If you're counting, that's the whole series of Rainbow Rock Romances, all on sale July 1-7. I hope that makes up for the big build-up followed by disappointment. Thanks, folks! And stay tuned for more about Britain. Cheers!

Susan Aylworth is the author of 13 published novels. Her lucky 13th, EASTWARD TO ZION, is available now from Covenant Communications. Mother to seven, she is also "gramma" to 23. She lives with Roger, her husband of 44 years, and the two spoiled cats she serves in northern California. She loves to hear from readers. Contact her at www.susanaylworth.com, susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or @SusanAylworth. You can also follow her on Pinterest and Instagram. 

Wow! Two Big Months in a Row

April was an exciting month with two new e-books coming available in the same week. I was delighted to finally "give birth" to DANNY'S GIRL, Book 8 in the Rainbow Rock Romances. Then, almost before the ink could dry on that birth announcement, a trilogy went online. 

Called THE MCALLISTER MEN, this box set features the first three books in the romance series and the three McAllister brothers: Jim, Kurt, and Chris. It was a thrill to see both of these new books go live at almost the same time, and it made April a marvelous month.

May could top April. Yes, it just may.  ;-)   Even as I write, Covenant is issuing my first new book from them in about a year. EASTWARD TO ZION is a beautiful book. Covenant has prepared it carefully with an absolutely gorgeous cover that still thrills me.  See how pretty it is?

I'm thrilled too with the way they've put the whole book together. It's just beautiful and Covenant is treating it with care.

That's so important to me because this book is more than just a book. Although it's fiction, it is based on the lives of my great-great-grandparents. Henry Gale (English) and Sarah Wills (Irish) met and married in Sydney, in the colony of New South Wales. There they met Mormon missionaries, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and chose to "gather to Zion."

Unlike the majority of those who made the trip by crossing the Atlantic and the plains, Henry and Sarah crossed the Pacific and the southwestern desert. So do James and Eliza Martin, the characters in my story, and many of the incidents in their story are also taken from the lives of my ancestors.

Although the book is written for an L.D.S. audience and contains a strong conversion story, it also has romance (three, count 'em THREE) weddings; adventure (crossing the Pacific in a three-masted square-rigger; crossing the desert in a covered wagon?), and a number of challenging themes: friendship, bigotry, the push-pull of immigration, love, loss, betrayal. I found it exhilarating and soul-purging to work on this story, and it certainly drew me closer to these unknown ancestors, whom I know a bit better now.

One more thing makes May exciting: While some readers are discovering the stories of my ancestors, I will be returning to "the auld country" to find more about them. More about Great Britain when I return. Until then, happy spring and happy reading!

*     *     *     *

Susan Aylworth is the author of 13 published novels. Her lucky 13th, EASTWARD TO ZION, is available now from Covenant Communications. Mother to seven, she is also "gramma" to 23. She lives with Roger, her husband of nearly 44 years, and the two spoiled cats she serves in northern California. She loves to hear from readers. Contact her at www.susanaylworth.com, susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or @SusanAylworth. You can also follow her on Pinterest and Instagram. 

Exciting news times three

Last year was exciting for me with three new releases in a year's time. This year I may manage three in the next couple of months. Really!

I'm hyper-excited about RAINBOW ROCK ROMANCES: THE MCALLISTER MEN, which should be available within the week. It's a box set including the first three books in the eight-book romance series and featuring Jim, Kurt, and Chris McAllister. I love the cover my friend, Alisa, designed for it. See?

Nice, isn't it? The cover for DANNY'S GIRL has been available for some time. My big news is this ... (drum roll, please), the manuscript just went in for that book as well and it should be available before the end of April. Woo-hoo!

The third book is a scheduled June release from Covenant Communications. EASTWARD TO ZION is historical, based loosely on the story of my great-great-grandparents. He, an English immigrant, and she, from Ireland, met in Sydney when Australia was still a group of loosely connected British colonies. There they met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joined the "Mormons," and decided to move to be with other church members in the U.S. territory then known as Deseret.

While most European converts to the LDS church crossed the Atlantic and the plains, my Gale ancestors crossed the Pacific and the southwestern desert. In June's release, James and Eliza Martin make that same trip and do it much as Henry and Sarah did. I so enjoyed the writing and had great fun with the research. I don't have a cover for it yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing it in print. 

Stay tuned for more as information becomes available. Here's looking ahead to a great year in 2014.

Susan Aylworth is the author of 12 published novels. Her lucky 13th, EASTWARD TO ZION, is coming from Covenant Communications in June. Mother to seven, she is expecting her 23rd grandchild in May. She lives with Roger, her husband of nearly 44 years, and the two spoiled cats she serves in northern California. She loves to hear from readers. Contact her at www.susanaylworth.com, susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or @SusanAylworth. You can also follow her on Pinterest and soon, on Instagram. 

Nice to be noticed!

Some days (okay, weeks) have passed since I jotted thoughts in this blog. The reason is simple: I'm on deadline! The 8th book in the Rainbow Rock Romance series, DANNY'S GIRL, is almost finished and due to my Beta readers next week. (P.S. - Anybody out there want to be a Beta reader? Just let me know...)  Danny Sherwood has met his match in the delicate, lovely lady who practically falls into his lap, but he's going to have a battle trying to win--and keep--her.


This book is dealing with some deeper, darker themes than I've taken on before: domestic abuse, co-dependency, sociopathic behavior, criminal histories . . .  I've had my work cut out with this one. As with other books in the series, the supportive community of Rainbow Rock and the topography of the Four Corners area both play critical roles in the story. I hope to have it available by Tax Day. (Don't we all need a chance to unwind after forking it over to Uncle Sam?). Stay tuned for further notice.


And speaking of being noticed, I have just learned that RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK, Marcie's story and the seventh book in the series, has been nominated for a RONE Award. RONEs (pronounced Ro-NAY, there's an accent you can't see) are given each year at the Romance Novel
Convention sponsored by InD'Tale Magazine, the e-zine for independent authors, editors and cover designers. This year's convention is in Las Vegas from July 9-13.


If you read and loved RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK (or even liked it a little), please sign up for InD'Tale at http://www.indtale.com/. Subscription is free and you can learn much about the current field of Indie publishing (as well as meeting some fine authors and other industry professionals) when you read each monthly issue. Now here's the kicker and my personal stake in your sign-up:


When you are a subscriber to InD'Tale, you are eligible to vote for last year's nominees. Voting begins this week and my friend, Heather Moore, has a nominee in American historical, her lovely HEART OF THE OCEAN. Here's the whole voting schedule:

2014 RONE Awards Week One (March 10 - 16, 2014) American Historical, Contemporary:Cops, Jocks & Cowboys, Young Adult

2014 RONE Awards Week Two (March 17 - 23, 2014) General Contemporary, Contemporary: Artists & Writers, New Adult

2014 RONE Awards Week Three (March 24 - 30, 2014) Historical: Post Medieval, Historical: Medieval, Mystery

2014 RONE Awards Week Four (March 31 - April 6, 2014) Paranormal, Anthology, Novella

2014 RONE Awards Week Five (April 7 - 13, 2014) Suspense/Thriller, Historical Novella, Erotica

2014 RONE Awards Week Six (April 14 - 20, 2014) Inspirational, Young Adult: Paranormal, Fantasy/Sci-Fi

RETURN TO RAINBOW ROCK will be available for voting in the category Contemporary General next week from March 17-23. Please pop in to give me your check mark. Many thanks.

Susan Aylworth is the author of 11 published novels. Her 12th, EASTWARD TO ZION, is coming from Covenant Communications in June. Mother to seven, she is expecting her 23rd grandchild in May. She lives with Roger, her husband of nearly 44 years, and the two spoiled cats she serves in northern California. Contact her at www.susanaylworth.com, susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or @SusanAylworth. You can also follow her on Pinterest. She loves to hear from readers.

A little romance, a little mystery...

Wise women of past generations have always advised younger women to keep a little mystery in their romantic relationships. I thought of that recently as I observed an interesting phenomenon: Of all the genres available "out there" for the reading pleasure of the general public, the two that seem to have the most cross-over are romance and mystery. Perhaps that explains why my one foray out of relationship books (romances and family stories) is MAGGIE RISING, my first-ever mystery, also my first Young Adult, paranormal, and detective novel. Here's the blurb:
Maggie (a.k.a. Eastern Star Rising) is a 17-year-old who grew up learning the art of psychic reading from her Great Aunt Betty. Now in her senior year, she works part-time as a psychic, hoping to put herself through college, but it’s just for fun. There’s no such thing as true psychic awareness . . . or is there? When Maggie befriends a ghost and is arrested for her new friend’s murder, the two girls—one dead and the other in jail—have to solve an ugly crime and persuade the police to believe them when they discover the truth. And Maggie thought calculus would be tough! 



A paranormal mystery with sass, MAGGIE RISING asks all kinds of fascinating questions—and even answers a few.
I had great fun writing this story. I've often wished I had some sort of magic power that could help the police find missing children or bring an evildoer to justice, so putting myself into Maggie's shoes started out as a lark. Once my imagination got going, I realized there'd be problems for Maggie as well, especially if the police began feeling she knew too much . . .




MAGGIE RISING is on sale at the end of next week. Between Feb. 28 and March 6, the price drops from $3.99 to 99 cents for a digital copy. Share the info with friends; tell everyone you know! And please, if you enjoy Maggie as much as I have, give her a nice review. Thanks, friends.







Susan Aylworth is the author of 11 published novels now available for ebook readers. A 12th, titled EASTWARD TO ZION, is scheduled for publication in June 2014. She lives in northern California with her husband of 43 years, a devoted old dog and two quirky cats. Her 22nd and 23rd grandchildren are expected this spring. She loves to hear from readers. Find her at www.susanaylworth.com (sign up for the newsletter too), susan.aylworth.author@gmail.com or @SusanAylworth