Baking Contest Winners Announced

The Winners of our Baking Recipe Contest Are:

Allison Hamaker–Sarafina Sliger Old Fashioned Teacakes,

Marie Ortman–The Ultimate in Carrot Cakes, and

Jan Williamse–Gluten Free Almond Butter Bars

Congratulations! Your recipes will be published in our second book in the River Oaks Series, Leaving Lyra, along with Molly and Lyra's personal favorite recipes.

RecipeContest.jpg

Facebook Advertising

We started our first Facebook Ad campaign on March 20th, 2016. As of now we have had 287 hits on our website as a result of the ad! There have been visitors from all but 11 states in the USA, with large amounts coming from California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. We are so excited to share our book with you all! We hope to visit some of these states in the future to do book signings.

Our next book signing will be at Barnes & Noble, here in Roseville, CA. We will let all of you know the date and time when the schedule is finalized this month.

Our First Book Signing

The Taylor Sisters Had Their First Book Signing

In November, we Taylor Sisters had our first book signing at a local bakery. Our friend, Marie Ortman came and took this picture for us. Thanks Marie! And thanks so much to our dear friend Nancy Cavanaugh for setting up our first book signing. You are our greatest cheerleader and we love you! It was wonderful seeing so much interest in our book. Thanks to everyone who attended.

Other book signings are being planned in the near future. Barnes & Noble will be hosting a book signing for us in May, here is Roseville, CA. More information on dates and time to come.

Good Morning Sunrise

My sister Joanie and I are steadily working on our first edit list from our editor at iUniverse, Sarah, She has been extremely helpful.  Though we hate to do it, we are cutting out a few scenes/chapters in Molly Take the Cake.  It's a painful process removing scenes that we love, but they hinder the book's flow.  I'm sad to see them go.  Perhaps we can use them in future books, since there are six books in our River Oaks Series.  We are learning so much as publishing rookies.  It's very time consuming editing and re-editing.  Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end when we hold those books in our hands.  I'm learning a lot about letting go of the control of our book and trusting professional editors who know publishing.  

Point of view is the part we are struggling with the most.  We have a couple of scenes where we are "head hopping," as our editor calls it.  We may have to take these scenes out as well.  Sarah says that problems with the point of view is the number one reason that publishing houses reject books.  Hmmm...we love seeing into multiple peoples' heads in one scene.  For example, we see into each bridesmaid's head and what she is thinking as she is coming down the isle.  Evidently that is a total no-no in the publishing world.  What do you all think?  Please post a comment below and let us know what your personal views are.  Should we leave them in or take them out?

Thanks for reading,

Annie

The Artist's Way

As promised, the book I was talking about in my last blog post is titled, The Artist's Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron, with Mark Bryan. Though I don't agree with all the spiritual beliefs that are presented, the book is excellent and extremely effective in stimulating and refining your creativity. This method works for all types of creativity. I was amazed how well it brought to life my creative juices and got them flowing again. For those of you who want to really get a recharge, or want to start into a fresh area of creativity, The Artist's Way is definitely the book to do the job. It takes a commitment of time, but is well worth it.

Please leave me a comment if you want more info, or have read the book. Let me know what you think about it.

Thanks for reading,

Annie

Writing Daily

A good friend of mine, Laura Jensen-Walker, is an author. She has written a number of successful books.  I once asked her years ago what it took to be an author? What was the key to her success?  She told me that if you really want to be an author, you need to write...every day.  At the time I thought it was a rather obvious answer, but years later, I see the wisdom in her comment.

It is difficult to carve out time every day to write.  This is especially hard when you are a mom, working full time, or going to school, but it is extremely important.  For years I kept a diary and wrote in it daily.  It didn't always have to be eloquent, inspired, or especially exciting, I just wrote. There are some days now when there is not a minute to spare.  I wish I could say that I still write every single day, but to be honest, I usually only get to spend quantity time writing on Saturday mornings when everyone else in the house is asleep.  I do think that the years of writing every day have helped me with my writing skills though.

A couple of years ago I found a marvelous book about creativity, especially in writing, that I would love to share with you all.  It is a real treasure chest of ideas and inspiration.  It is a must have for every budding writer, artist, and creative person, or those who want to be.  I will share that book with you in my next blog.  Soon.

Thanks for Reading,

Annie

Our Interests

The Taylor Sisters, Joanie Taylor Hess and Annie Taylor Jornlin write a blog about their interests:  writing fiction books, publishing, humor, romance, and even knitting. Their faith in God is their inspiration for writing. Their books deal with such topics as depression, hoarding, pride, childhood abuse, morality, body image, and of course, every woman's favorite...shoes.

Read more