That’s pretty much how I feel right now. Took the weekend off and now have way too many things to do.

Row80 Report: I had a great week, especially since I didn’t get started until Wednesday. I managed to get in a little over 7600 words in three days – that’s huge for me. Hoping to keep up the pace this week. Grace is off school today, so I’m not sure how much I’ll manage.

All the rest: hanging in on blogs and working on a personal Thriller Thursday post. Healthy eating went really well until yesterday. Easter yummy’s just proved to be too much for me. Starting over today.

I also beefed up my Pinterest board, including some of the graphics for INTO THE DARK. Sounds like Pinterest is making some changes on the copyright issues, so it’s much less worrisome to post. I really think Pinterest is a great place to branch out to potential readers and show more of who we are as people. Feel free to check out my boards and follow me if you’d like.

Great links: lots of very good blog posts this week. Here are a few I enjoyed.

August McLaughlin: How to Pin Without Getting Arrested. Great breakdown of the Pinterest copyright issues. Must read:)

Robin LaFevers guest posting at Writer Unboxed: The Writer’s Life is Full of Second Chances (or: Abandon Despair, All Ye Who Enter Here). One of the most inspiring posts I’ve read!

Joanna Penn Interviewed on Pub Slush: Quick Tips on Publishing and Marketing.

Marcy Kennedy: How to Keep Strong Female Characters Likeable.

Catie Rhodes: A Glimmer of Red Lights. Fascinating post about New Orleans district where prostitution and all sorts of debauchery were allowed by law enforcement.

How are your Row80 Goals coming? Did you have a fantastic Easter Weekend?

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter, Twisted Minds and Dark Places, for exclusive content and fun contests during INTO THE DARK’s release month.

Still basking in the glow of signing my first book contract for INTO THE DARK, but I’ve been plotting away on the new suspense project, THE PROPHET. No matter how much I plotted ahead for this book, I’m still running into issues I need to fix before I write further. But thanks to the help of Catie Rhodes, I’m getting through the worst of it and hope to dig into writing in the next week.

Reading K.M. Weiland’s Outlining Your Novel has been a big help, and I’d rec it for anyone. She allows for all types of writing styles, and she has several different types of outlines in the book. She talks at length about developing characters as well as the plot, and her approach makes for easy reading.

Last Thursday, I took Melissa Foster’s marketing class through World Literary Cafe and learned some good strategies for Twitter, Facebook, and blog tours. If you haven’t joined WLC, I’d highly  recommend as a way to network and learn.

Pinterest. I know Marcy Kennedy has some valid concerns regarding copyright and we will all have to tread carefully, but I do feel this is a way to reach people OUTSIDE OF THIS WRITING BLOGOSPHERE. I put that in all caps because that’s my key frustration – no matter what social media forum I go to, I still run into other writers. That’s great, but there are millions of potential readers who are nowhere the places we hang out. How do we reach them? I don’t have the answers yet, but I think Pinterest might help. It’s a broad spectrum of people, and in the last two days, by just making boards of things I love (that have nothing to do with writing), I’ve met more than thirty new people. Will they check out my boards for INTO THE DARK and THE PROPHET? I don’t know, but at least I’m making the connection.

What are your thoughts on Pinterest? If you’ve got an account, please leave the link in the comments–I’d love to follow. Do you know the best place to reach the readers who are submerged in our writing world? How was your week?

P.S. If you want to follow me on Pinterest, feel free. And don’t forget, I’ve got an author page on FB. Give it a “like” if you want