This week’s question from the Marketing for Romance Writers blog challenge: Fear of Failure. Are we our own worst enemies?

This one doesn’t speak to me overmuch. I have plenty of faults, but fear of failure isn’t one of them. I jumped into the publishing pool with a messy, splashy cannonball dive. KERSPLOOSH! What’s the worst thing that can happen? Maybe only a few people will buy my books, and some won’t like them. Okay, I can still call myself a published author and keep working to improve my craft.

Hours after arriving in the Florida Keys to help her cousin Keya create a turtle preserve, Ruth discovers a washed-up body and not one, but two apparitions—Maita, the angry victim’s spirit, and Bart, a swashbuckling ghost. Ruth’s curious ability to connect with the ghosts may help them move on, but how?

Keya is in a probate battle over her turtle-nesting beach. Land-hungry relatives want it bulldozed and developed. Like Ruth, she has a special gift—she can talk to animals. Between Ruth’s help and Keya’s unique ability, they work to save the property, but is it too late?

Can Keya save her beloved turtles? Can Ruth find Maita’s murderer or help Bart solve his 400-year-old mystery? There’s more than meets the eye to Keya’s land. Add in a dashing sailor who believes in her, and Keya may have more than she bargained for…

Excerpt:

Conveying this land to the turtles would be my way of leaving the world a better place.” She turned toward Ruth. “Does that make sense?”

Ruth nodded and gazed at Keya as if for the first time. Her cousin’s intentions were clear. “But legally, how can you will the property to the turtles?”

“Easy. I leave it to the Turtle Refuge.” Keya laughed inwardly as they meandered along the beach. “And this is where you come in. When you’re writing the brochure, add a few paragraphs about planned giving and charitable bequests…” Her words broke off as Keya stared as if in a trance.

Ruth looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

Her hand shaking, Keya pointed to a shady patch of beach half hidden by sand dunes. A lifeless hand lay tangled in seaweed, its fingernails broken and bloodied.

Racing behind the sandbanks to help, Ruth skidded to a halt, her heels digging into the sand. A woman’s bloated body lay staring at the sun, her eyes opaque and unseeing. “Do you recognize her?”

“No.” Keya shook her head as the cat gingerly approached, sniffing and meowing. But Earnestine said she smells familiar.”

“Knock, knock,” called a man’s voice.

Ruth flinched at the sound.

“Who’s there?” called Keya, her tone curt.

Buy Links:

Amazon eBook: https://amzn.to/2XV2wO1  

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/2yfSB7b   

Barnes & Noble NOOK Book: https://bit.ly/2YFHWgQ  

Barnes & Noble Paperback: https://bit.ly/2yuBEWO

The Wild Rose Press: https://bit.ly/2ZsH1lm

Let’s meet the author!

Author of the Sacred Emblem, Sacred Journey, and Sacred Messenger series, Karen is a best-selling author, motivational keynote speaker, wife, and all-around pilgrim of life. She writes multicultural, offbeat love stories steeped in the supernatural that lift the spirit. Born to rolling-stone parents who moved annually, Bartell found her earliest playmates as fictional friends in books. Paperbacks became her portable pals. Ghost stories kept her up at night—reading feverishly. The paranormal was her passion. Wanderlust inherent, Karen enjoyed traveling, although loathed changing schools. Novels offered an imaginative escape. An only child, she began writing her first novel at the age of nine, learning the joy of creating her own happy endings. Professor emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin, Karen resides in the Hill Country with her husband Peter and her “mews”—three rescued cats and a rescued *Cat*ahoula Leopard dog.

A few questions for Karen:

What’s your favorite part of the writing life?

The best part of writing for me is the space to be creative, to let my imagination soar. I’m five years old again, and whatever I imagine “comes to life”—at least, on the page.

What do you do for fun when you’re not writing?

I love to travel and try new experiences. For instance, I just volunteered to harvest grapes at a local winery tomorrow. I pick grapes from six to noon, but then they give us a catered lunch and a bottle of wine for our efforts. (I’d do it just for the experience—you know this will go into a book someday.) <grin>

What does your writing space look like?

I write on a French Provincial desk I finished myself. The keyboard slides into a drawer, and the computer screen overhangs it. Two orange-striped cats are stretched out, covering half the desktop. An open travel brochure is within sight, calling to me, and the box of author books—the first copies of The Keys: Voice of the Turtle—just arrived and covers the desk’s other half.

Do you have any particular writing quirks?

I do my best writing in the early morning. I rise at 3:30 or 4:00 am because my mind is the clearest, and the thoughts come the quickest then. By the afternoon, I can only edit or work on marketing materials. The creative part is spent for the day.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Write every day. Besides instilling good habits, it keeps the storyline going in your imagination even when you’re not writing. Some of my best ideas come to me when I wake, which leads me to believe my mind has been working on the plot while I’ve slept.

I can’t abide a protagonist who keeps making dumb, self-destructive decisions. What makes you put down a book without finishing?

Nothing makes me put down a book faster than formulaic alpha males, either as the protagonist or the protagonist’s love interest. To hold my attention, I need three-dimensional characters, not cardboard stereotypes—and especially not swaggering muscles without a brain.

Connect with Karen:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenHuleneBartell   

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenHuleneBart   

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/karenhulenebartell/    

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/611950.Karen_Hulene_Bartell   

Website: http://www.KarenHuleneBartell.com/  

Email: info@KarenHuleneBartell.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/karenhulenebartell  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenhulenebartell/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/karen-hulene-bartell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenhulenebartell/