Writing a book is a lot like pregnancy. You think about having a baby for a long time, often years before making the decision. You research many aspects and even take a class or two to help prepare for the beginning nausea and exhaustion as the process starts. Then, the middle with expanding girth and files, till finally the painful labor of weaving words to reach the end. But writing those wonderful words actually mean there is some serious work to be done in the form of final tedious editing and only after that, finally, a book is born.

I just delivered my seventh book, Fatal Feast. Some people say after your first, book or baby, each one that follows is easier. I can speak to experience with birthing multiple books but only one child. I was driven to write my first three medically related science-based nonfiction books. The next four, medical thrillers, were easier. Instead of being totally fact-based and tedious, the novels were much more fun because you just make it up.

My interests in neurology and infectious diseases meshed with the outbreak of mad cow disease in Great Britain thirty years ago and evolved to the bio-thriller concept for Fatal Feast. The strange contagious protein killing cattle spread to hundreds of people who died after eating infected beef. Three decades is a very long gestation, so you can imagine, giving birth felt like a great achievement. With Chronic Wasting Disease, a frightening prion variant of mad cow disease spreading through wildlife and threatening humans, the Fatal Feast delivery is timely.

I am in a recovery phase, getting back in shape, and exercising more after book cover design and intensive weeks of editing to produce the final product. Now, I have more time to read and catch up with non-writing projects. Newborns sleep a lot but need attention and if you are going to show off your new child (or grandchild), marketing must become a prime “postpartum” focus.

Most writers are not skilled speakers, nor do they like to talk about themselves. As for me, I’d rather be writing than spending time showing off my offspring. However, like any project, marketing requires research and possibly stepping outside your comfort zone. One common method to provide books an avenue to expand visibility and generate reviews is to offer E-books free of charge for special events.

So, with this birth announcement I am also announcing a four-day free event for two of my medical thrillers, the new baby, Fatal Feast, set in Montana, and my first ER based medical thriller Deadly Pyre set in Seattle.

The event begins tomorrow January 23^rd and extends through January 26^th. Please share the event with friends.

My next blog will post with the information and hot links just after midnight tonight.

Thanks for stopping by to meet the babies.

Betty