Those of you who visit here often know that I’m big on making plans. At the first of the year, I like to update you as to what you can expect from me in the year ahead.

First, let’s talk about promotion.

• Reader Conferences
I’m booked to attend two readers’ conferences in 2015, both of which are early in the year. I haven’t been booking anything after that, and I doubt that I will—this year, I want to stay home and write more. No matter how efficiently I think I’m traveling, I don’t get any writing done for about 3 weeks when I go to a conference. There are too many characters in my office demanding that their stories be told, so 2015 is Writing Year.

Reader conferences are fun because there’s time to chat, plus there’s always a booksigning open to the public. In addition, I usually take some special goodies to these events.

I will be a featured author at the Coastal Magic Conference in Florida in February, which is a lovely small conference focused on paranormal romance and urban fantasy romance. Registration is closing soon for this wonderful event, so think about attending. You can come to the book fair on Saturday night, even if you aren’t attending the conference. I’d love to meet you in Florida, either way!

I will also be a featured author at a new conference, in April in Ottawa, called Romancing the Capital, which is being organized by Eve Langlois. I also think this will be an awesome conference and a lot of fun, so think about registering to attend, as well.

• Giveaways on the Move
I’m also switching up my giveaways this year, to make sure that my readers have a better chance of winning them. You’ve probably noticed that I’m not giving away a book every month on the blog anymore. Instead, I’m giving away prizes to readers through my newsletter: for example, in December, I gave away 25 audiobooks. Special pricing and new releases are also announced first in my newsletter. You’ll want to subscribe to the newsletter for 2015, to make sure you don’t miss out.

If you already subscribe but don’t see the newsletter in your email inbox, your ISP might think it’s spam. You can check your spam folder, or better yet, re-subscribe and add my email address to your email address book. That way, your ISP will know that you know me. The newsletter is mailed from:
chestwick@sympatico.ca

• More Bonus Content
I’ll also be offering more bonus content to you through my store. Right now, there are downloadable EPUB excerpts for both Firestorm Forever and The Crusader’s Bride. The one for The Crusader’s Bride is longer than the one posted here on the website, which is one kind of additional content you’ll be seeing in the store.

• A Monthly Guest Blog Post
I’ve also been invited to contribute each month to the Romance Canadian Style blog. (You might remember that I did a guest post there last year about using Canadian settings in romance novels.) I’ll be there on the 23rd of each month through 2015.

• Change at the Château
I have a new virtual assistant as of this week, and I’m hoping that her help allows me not only to interact more with all of you but also to get more writing done. Check out yesterday’s post or About Deborah to find out about my new social media links.

On Monday, we’ll talk about upcoming books from yours truly…