Harley Q. Turner (Author)

OK seriously, enough is enough already. I'm sick of 2015, bring on the next year. What? It's not even halfway over? Well then I think I will be hibernating the next few months, because I can't take much more of this.  In January, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage four Breast Cancer. That's no secret. I've said numerous times that her diagnosis is what made me serious about my writing.  I took her to the doctor today. Her tumor is beginning to erupt through her skin. Not a pretty sight. Definitely not anything I EVER wanted to see on my grandmother.  A few months ago, and old friend of mine took his son to the emergency room because he had broke out in hives. The cause of these hives? Neuroblastoma. Cancer. The kid is two years old! Seriously, is this not ridiculous?!? Today, a family friend took her 6 year old son to the emergency room for what she thought was appendix issues. Nope. Lymphoma. Seriously? Enough is enough already!! I can't ta...

As an author, I know first hand how difficult it is to market books. Want to know what helps? Book reviews. When you finish a book, take a few minutes of your time to post a review. Maybe your review will help that author get a sale they wouldn't have otherwise gotten. I spend a lot of my time on goodreads.com. Any book I'm currently reading is posted there (and believe me, I read A LOT). It has a place for a star ranking and a text review. If you are running low on time, at least rank what you read.  Also, while you're playing around on the site, feel free to follow me. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13645293.Harley_Turner

Earlier this week, I received an email from Dorrance Publishing. They are wanting to work with my First Love Series!  I cannot describe the excitement I felt while reading that email. Some authors spend their entire life waiting for news like that. I have only been seriously writing for about 4 months.  I'm not going to run out and say that I have a publisher picking up my work. I have to talk to them first. Honestly, if there are too many changes made to the story, I will probably refuse.  It would be nice to have a publisher standing behind me. It would be nice to not have to be responsible for my own editing. It would be nice for the marketing help. At the same time, right now, I have creative freedom that I could lose by signing with a publisher.  I'll have to wait and see how that conversation goes.... About a week ago, I took my children to the library. My 10 year old daughter told me I should start a children's series. "I want to read about a ...

When people find out that I'm a writer, the response is always the same. It's always some variation of "I wish I could just sit at home all the time." Yea, so do I. First of all, I do have a regular job. It's only seasonal, but something has to pay the bills while I'm waiting to sell books! I have been a tax professional for 10 years now. I love it. The freedom I get from only having to work January thru mid-April. I can chaperon  kids' field trips. I don't have to worry about putting my children in day care. However, I still only have that seasonal income. The rest of the year, it's strictly the minimal income I receive from unemployment. Of course, since I got married this past year, the person processing my claim earlier this year, forgot to change my name (even though I sent in a copy of my NEW license and SS card AND marriage certificate). So today, I got to spend over an hour on hold waiting to talk to someone that could fix it in their...

A few days ago, I was asked if I would ever consider writing any sequels to my novels. I didn't have an answer. My First Love Series (Summer Love and Autumn Goodbye) pretty much ended where it did, but some people might want to know how some of the characters moved on. Did Marissa really stop visiting the place she spent every childhood summer? What happened to Chris and Anthony? Did Brayden and Melanie ever get back together? I have answers to all these questions, but I'm not sure if I would ever put them into a book. I might consider some short novellas from various character point of views if I could generate enough interest. The only other book I currently have out is From the Corner of Her Eye, but the sales on that novel aren't going to great. Yes, I would love to write a sequel to that one day, but that book needs some work first. Honestly, I was in such a hurry to finish it, mainly because I already had Self Inflicted running through my head, that I didn't...

In addition to my constant writing, I'm also an avid reader. My Kindle has never left my side since I received it as a gift last Christmas.  Lately, I have been spending a lot of time reading non-fiction books that will help with the publishing and marketing of my books, but I prefer disappearing into the world of fiction. When grandma was first diagnosed, I started to reread books from an author I had loved when I was younger; Lurlene McDaniel. Most of her books involve teens dying of devastating diseases or sudden accidents. Most of them do not have a happy ending, but they are real. Her One Last Wish series always left me teary-eyed and wanting more, so I figured that was the perfect place to start. I checked out every book that I could find at my local library. There are still several that I haven't been able to get my hands on yet, but that will some day change.  I feel like I can connect with the author. She started writing when her son was diagnosed with...

So, yesterday was Mother's Day. I figured at least the older kids would acknowledge it at some point.  I was clearly wrong. Now, not everyone in my house forgot about the day. My husband, knowing that I'm not into the sappy usual gifts of flowers and things like that, bought me a beautiful Harley Quinn action figure and drinking glass. Both of them feature the "new" Harley from the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. I won't judge the new Harley until the movie actually comes out, but as of right now, I'm not impressed. First of all, SINCE WHEN DOES HARLEY WEAR BLUE????? Okay, moving on (before I get stuck in the Harley Quinn debate, which I assure you is not what this post is about, although now that I think of it, I may be writing that post). My 6 year old son spends his weekends with his father, so I knew I would not see him for Mother's Day. That didn't stop him from giving up a super cute hand made card on Friday night. He even drew Harley and Joker...

From the Corner of Her Eye is available for presale in the Kindle and Nook store! Release date is tomorrow! When I first started seriously writing in January, I never would have believed that I would already have THREE books available in just five short months. I already have a start on a brand new one! In addition to writing, most of my time is spent with my children. There are five of them, and every single one can be a handful, but put them all together and I go insane! My two year old is well into her Terrible Twos, and now has the nickname the Madi Monster. It's definitely fitting. Yesterday, I was scribbling down some ideas for Self Inflicted, and she decided to stuff a rubber duckie down the toilet. Later in the evening, I had given her a bath. While I was cleaning up the bathroom floor from her splashing mess, she decided to head out the back door of our house...butt naked.  I love her to death, but is it too much to ask to get her to take a nap so I can get some work...