Skip to content

L.J. Taylor Books

  • Home
  • About L.J.
  • L.J. Taylor Books
  • L.J.’s Writer Blog
  • Contact Us

Category: Uncategorized

Dreams Deferred Audiobook is Out!

Posted on May 20, 2017May 20, 2017 by LJ

Hi there:

I'm pleased to announce that the second book in my Brooks Sisters Dreams series – “Dreams Deferred” is now available in audiobook format.   You can get the Dreams Deferred audiobook on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon.

Dreams Deferred Audiobook

The book description:

Liking the bad boys can get you killed.  Has Ivy made that mistake again?

Ivy Brooks was always attracted to the bad boys until one day, she met the worst of them all and landed in prison as a result.  Now, three years later, more mature and the mother of a beautiful little boy, she’s determined to make a better life for herself and her son. She’s also determined to make better choices when it comes to men and she’s not sure her former cellmate’s drop dead gorgeous brother Luke – a former bad boy who professes to have turned over a new leaf – is the right choice.

Just when she believes she’s made a fresh start, her son’s father, Zeke, finds out about him and sues for full custody.  She kept her mouth shut when the police found jewelry from the heist committed by Zeke in her apartment.  But now, to save her son from a life of misery, Ivy has no choice but to testify against Zeke.  Luke is determined to protect Ivy and her son at any cost.  Will she stay alive long enough to testify? And can she trust Luke to stand by her side without being drawn back into a life of violence?

What some of the five star reviewers say about the book:

“I really loved this book! I couldn't put it down! I recommend to everyone who enjoys a good love story!”

“Loved it. Action packed. The characters were more than believable. A real case scenario that happens in everyday life. Would love to see a movie version. Waiting excitedly for the next book!”

“Love, pain, action this book keeps you reading until the end. You feel part of what's happening like your watching it live get yours today you won't regret it.”

“I loved this book . I couldn't put it down once I started it had me turning the pages well into the night.”

Since the Dreams Deferred audiobook was just released last week, it hadn't yet received reviews on Audible, but I can tell you that voice actress Suzie Althens did an outstanding job with the story.  Why don't you hop on over to Audible and pick up your copy today?

Let me know how you like it and don't forget to leave a review.

Peace

LJ

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
Posted in UncategorizedLeave a Comment on Dreams Deferred Audiobook is Out!

What I Learned from Self Publishing School

Posted on February 19, 2017May 7, 2017 by LJ

What I Learned from Self Publishing School

 

On Sunday, February 19, 2017, I was interviewed by Chandler Bolt –  bestselling author and creator of the Self Publishing School during his “Ask Me Anything” seminar. I was selected as one of six successful authors to have gone through the Self Publishing School program.  I was very flattered and excited to have been selected. My success pales in comparison to Chandler's but is definitely attributable to the things that I learned in Self Publishing School.

At the time that I enrolled in the course, I had already self-published two novels; however, my books weren't selling very well and I knew I had a lot to learn about marketing. I wondered whether or not the Self Publishing School program would be a good fit for me or if it would be too basic since it covered the entire writing and self-publishing process from coming up with a good book idea through outlining, writing, publishing, launching, and marketing the book. What I discovered is that the program has something for everyone no matter what their level of expertise.

Going through Self Publishing School helped me learn how to more effectively market the books I had already published. It taught me how to revamp and relaunch those books to give them a better chance for success. In fact, revamping and relaunching my romantic suspense novel “Just Dreams,” led to BookBub selecting the book for promotion. BookBub is extremely selective and only accepts about 5% of the books submitted to it for promotion. Any published author will tell you that getting a BookBub promotion is a very big deal.

Self Publishing School also taught me how to launch new books more effectively. In fact, my suspense novel, “The Liberian Agenda” launched so well that it reached the top of the free bestseller charts on Amazon in three different categories: World Fiction, Political Fiction and Espionage Fiction.  It even outranked books published by USA today and New York Times bestselling authors in those genres.

Self Publishing School also helped me choose a topic for, outline and begin to write a nonfiction book I'm working on. That was extremely valuable to me since I'd never written a nonfiction book before. Writing a nonfiction book is very different from writing a fiction novel – they're structured, conceived and written in entirely different ways.

So, whether you're a novice writer, a self-published author hoping to get better at marketing or to switch genres, or a traditionally published author who wants to start self-publishing your back list, Self-Publishing School would be right for you.

Chandler is offering a free video training series on how to write and publish a book in 90 days. You can access the free training here.*  Whether or not you actually enroll in Self Publishing School, you'll learn a few things from the free training. If you do decide to enroll in the free training, let me know what you think.

Peace

*This is an affiliate link.  If you click on it and later enroll in Self Publishing School, I will get a commission; however, you should know that I only promote programs and products that I really believe in.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
Posted in UncategorizedLeave a Comment on What I Learned from Self Publishing School

Figure-Friendly Lunch Ideas Part III: Eating Out

Posted on February 10, 2011 by LJ

I started to write this post several months ago and then left it on the back burner because I felt that I had not yet mastered the art of eating out without consuming way too many calories and sabotaging my weight loss efforts. In fact, I pretty much avoided the issue altogether by bringing my lunch to work every day, avoiding as many lunch meetings as possible, and then saving all of my extra Weight Watchers points for the occasional splurge on dinner and drinks with friends on the weekends. It got to the point where I was becoming downright anti-social. The mere thought of having to attend a business lunch or lunch meeting at the office and wasting my extra Weight Watchers points stressed me out and filled me with resentment.

Since I am an attorney and a writer who has to network and attend receptions, conferences, lunch meetings, etc. all the time, I realized that, if I was going to make this a lifestyle change and not a diet, then I would have to figure out how to integrate eating out into my weight loss regimen.

I do not profess to have mastered the art of eating out. Every now and then I return from a restaurant or lunch meeting unhappy because I attacked the bread basket or scarfed down cookies or a brownie out of sheer boredom or dissatisfaction with the food at a departmental meeting or drank too many margaritas and needlessly added extra PointsPlus values to what otherwise would have been a relatively healthy meal. However, I have developed a few strategies that generally keep me on track.

First, if I attack the bread basket out of starvation, I limit myself to one piece, choose high fiber bread (i.e. rye or whole wheat) and dunk it in a little bit of olive oil or butter (no more than a teaspoon). The fat from the butter or olive oil and the fiber from the whole grains smooths out the carbs and keeps the bread from turning into instant sugar and giving you massive carb cravings.

The best thing is to avoid the bread basket altogether and order a garden salad with dressing on the side or clear broth or shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. These items are low in calories and take the edge off your hunger so that you don't overeat the entrée. The best salad dressing is a tiny splash of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic or red wine vinegar. If they don't have that, then order a low-fat or fat-free vinaigrette or french dressing on the side and put no more than two tablespoons on your salad.

Grilled seafood or boneless skinless chicken breast or pork tenderloin or lean steak are your best options. Just be sure to watch your portion sizes. A lot of restaurants give you double-sized portions. A portion of meat is no larger than the palm of your hand or a deck of cards. Ask your server for a container for leftovers and pack half the entrée away. Instead of fries or white rice, ask for a baked potato or broccoli or steamed asparagus or the vegetable of the day. You might as well work on getting in your 7 to 11 daily servings of fruits and vegetables while you are at the restaurant. If you order a baked potato, don't load it up with butter and sour cream – if you do, you are defeating the purpose of choosing it over fries. Instead, use only a dollop of sour cream (the restaurant is not likely to have low-fat sour cream) and some chives if they have them.

If you order rice, make sure that it's brown or wild rice. Although brown rice has just as many calories and carbs as white rice, the fiber in the brown rice will help keep you fuller longer and won't turn into instant sugar in your body and give you carb cravings. Wild rice is actually not even rice – as a result, it doesn't have as many carbs or calories.

Try a high protein grain instead of rice like quinoa – which originated in South America. Also, I would avoid ordering pasta in restaurants since most of them don't offer whole grain pasta and they give you huge portion sizes and slather it in rich sauces. Even the marinara sauces can have lots of oil and some cream in them.

Avoid anything fried, breaded, creamed or blackened as those things tend to be ridiculously high in fat and calories. Also, be wary when ordering salads as some of them can be higher in calories than a Big Mac. A Caesar salad, for example, is never low-fat and is usually high in calories. Order a house or garden salad instead and add some protein (i.e. grilled shrimp or chicken breast or lean steak). If there are a lot of nuts or cheese in a salad, that racks up calories. If the salad has fried chicken or tons of croutons in it, you are not doing yourself any favors. If the salad is slathered in a high fat dressing, go for the petite beef filet or the grilled chicken and some garlicky green beans instead.

If possible, I like to check out the menu of the restaurant I am going to online and scope out some good food choices. If the restaurant has nutritional information online, that's a bonus. Get to know your local restaurants so that you are always able to suggest some that have figure-friendly choices on the menu (and good food and service of course). If you have a craving for dessert, share it with the rest of the table. Better yet, go for fresh berries with a dollop of whipped cream (remember those daily fruit and veggie requirements).

If you must have alcohol, limit yourself to no more than two drinks and avoid pina coladas and other high calorie concoctions. Order a glass of red wine or a light beer instead.

Finally, if you end up overindulging, it's not the end of the world. Just be super virtuous for the next few days, drink lots of water to wash out all the junk you put into your body and get in some good workouts. You'll feel better after that.

I hope I've given you some strategies for eating out without busting your diet or your waistline. Let me know how it works out.

Peace.

div>Bookmark and Share

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
Posted in Uncategorized, Weight LossTagged brown rice, eating out, figure-friendly, figure-friendly lunch ideas, PointsPlus, quinoa, weight loss regimen, Weight Watchers, white rice, wild riceLeave a Comment on Figure-Friendly Lunch Ideas Part III: Eating Out

Get Inspired

Posted on June 12, 2010 by LJ

One evening, after a particularly grueling day at work, I dragged myself home, warmed up some food and had dinner sitting on the couch in front of a TV tray while I watched cooking shows.  I wasn't in the mood to write a blog post.  I certainly was not in the mood to write fiction.  In fact, I wanted nothing more than to just mindlessly veg in front of the TV set.  There wasn't much of me left.  I was mentally exhausted from getting up early in the mornings to work out and write and then practicing law until well into the evening hours.  

I decided to check my e-mail.  There was a message there from someone I had met at the Silken Sands Writers Conference.  She had read my blog and said that it had inspired her to eat better and to start working out.   Those few words lifted my flagging spirits.  It felt so good to know that my blog was inspiring people to live a healthier life. It gave me a sense of renewed energy.  That night, I jotted down several ideas for blog posts and began thumbing through my recipe box for recipes to add to the site.  The next morning, I wrote a new blog post and started my recipes page.

Later that day, I thought about how a few kind words could inspire a person to keep going – whether it's to write, to follow a dream, or whatever.   But for that e-mail, I might have decided that I just didn't have enough time to maintain this blog in addition to working, working out and working on my fiction.  Life has a way of beating us down sometimes.  I realized then that I needed to find sources of inspiration wherever I could to deal with those times. 

As I searched for sources of inspiration, I realized that they were all around me.  For example, when I read about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America and think of my nieces (who are not obese by any means but who eat as much junk food as the typical American child), I want to set a good example for them in terms of pursuing a healthier lifestyle.  When I listen to one of them tell me that some of the kids in her class tease her because she likes to eat vegetables (and they don't), it inspires me more to show her, by example, that being an individual is a good thing – especially when it comes to one's health.  When I read about other attorneys who have written bestsellers, had their stories made into blockbuster films and are now able to pursue their dreams full-time if they should so desire, I get inspired to write fiction.

I keep a vision board – a corkboard with pictures and print cut out from magazines that represent different goals or aspirations that I have (becoming more money savvy, losing weight, etc.).  Every time I walk past it, I see a picture of a smiling woman in great shape in workout gear.  She is measuring her tiny waist with a tape measure.  Above her head is the title “Healthy Living.”  Seeing that image  day after day inspires me to  get up most mornings and work out.  You may laugh, but since I am 45 lbs lighter than I was 14 months ago, it appears to be working.

What can you do to get and stay inspired?  Well, it depends on what you want to get inspired to do.  If you want to get inspired to live a healthier lifestyle, then maybe reading blogs like this one or checking out health-related websites can help.  If you want to get inspired to write, then joining a writers group, attending a writers conference or attending a poetry reading  may be just the ticket.  If you want to get inspired to learn how to cook, check out cooking websites or take a cooking class.  If you want to get inspired to exercise, then find some sort of exercise you would likely enjoy and try it.  It may be trying out a belly dance workout in the privacy of your own home, investing in a Wii Fit, taking a Zumba class, getting a bike and going bike riding or taking a walk with your child in a park and then having a healthy picnic. 

Get out.  Live.  Try something new. Get inspired.

Peace.

Bookmark and Share

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
Posted in UncategorizedTagged belly dance, blog, blog post, childhood obesity, cooking, exercise, fiction, healthy, inspiration, inspired, recipes, work out, working out, workout1 Comment on Get Inspired

Hello world! Get ready for L. J. Taylor

Posted on February 27, 2010 by LJ

My name is L. J. Taylor.  This is my very first post on my very first blog, so bear with me.  

 Who am I do you ask?  I am a warrior who fights for a living (a commercial litigation attorney) and has a fighting spirit.  I am a poet who can express a wide range of emotions from the most tender to the most militant.  I am a novelist and a screenwriter who (I have recently realized) enjoys writing in the  suspense genre.  I am an avid learner of all sorts of interesting things like cooking, weight loss, achieving better health, dance (from bellydance to argentine tango), and writing (fiction. nonfiction and poetry).  I am a busy professional woman who is still struggling to achieve balance between my professional and personal lives.  But, first and foremost, I am a woman.  I am a daughter, a sister, an avid “Auntie” and a friend. 

When I turned forty, I decided to take some time to pursue some personal goals outside of the practice of law.  To that end, I quit smoking, lost more than 40 lbs, learned how to cook healthy meals and wrote three novels, a poem and a movie script (all while keeping my “day” job).    I struggle every day to find balance between my personal and professional lives, to pursue my dream of publishing novels and to take off the weight that I have carried for most of my adult life. 

I started this blog to share my art, some of the lessons I have learned along the way and  my journey, with you.  I hope that you enjoy the ride.

Peace

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
Posted in Uncategorized, Welcome4 Comments on Hello world! Get ready for L. J. Taylor

Get A Free Book

Subscribe to get lo get a free copy of Just Dreams and access to contests, prizes, giveaways and more

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: petals by Aurorum.