Spreading the Love around Toronto

While in Toronto I had the chance to connect with a group that’s “nuts about walls, street art, urban art, new art & graffiti.” They live in and love Toronto and the wonders of its urban geography. They launched Free Art Fridays, where each Friday they provide clues to hidden art treasures around the city.

I thought it was an innovative and worthwhile initiative, so I autographed three copies of eloves me, eloves me not and donated them to the project.

On October 25, 2013 it was our turn.

The three Toronto free ‘eloves me, eloves me not’ giveaway locations were:

Hotel Le Germain
The Drake Hotel
The Old MIll

For those of you who ‘found’ these books, I hope you enjoy them. I’d love to know who you are and what you think about the story.

And thanks to http://wllnttz.com/ for helping to spread the love throughout my favourite city.

Like you said, if only real love were this easy to find!

“A book every man should read,” says author M. Joseph Murphy

It’s reviews like this one that remind me why I love to write, why I love to tell stories, why I must continue on the author path and why I must share them with as many different people as possible.

Thank you M. Joseph Murphy for your kind and supportive words. From one author to another, it means so much to hear your feedback.

You can see the full post it all right here on his blog.

Not only does Joseph share a great review, a bit about the author, he did a quick author interview with me during The Word on the Street Festival and has included it too.

Enough about me! If you’re a reader of the urban fantasy genre, check out Joseph’s debut novel, Council of Peacocks, Book One in the Activation Series.

It’s a tale of good over evil, the evolution of the human race and saving the world. Its comes complete with a colourful cast of sorcerers, demons, humans and reptilians that move the story at a engaging pace, with many a battle for power and ultimate supremacy.

Click here for more eloves me, eloves me not reader reviews.

I’d love to hear what you think too – have you shared your review on Amazon, Goodreads, iTunes?

It’s Great to Be Nominated (but, it’s better to win!)

It’s time for The Great Dating Blog Awards 2013.

eloves me, eloves me not and I have been nominated for the following:

Best Newcomer Award http://www.greatdatingblogs.com/best-newcomer-round-one-2013/

Best Niche Blog http://www.greatdatingblogs.com/best-niche-blog-2013-nominations/

And the one I really, really, really want to win…

Best Dating Book Award http://www.greatdatingblogs.com/best-dating-book-2013-nominations/

If you feel so inclined and would like to cast a vote for any/all of my nominations, I’d be most grateful.

It’s great to be nominated (but it’s better to win) and to win you need votes!

Seriously, I am honoured to be nominated and happy to be getting a little more acknowledgement for the website, for the book and for all the activities I’ve directed promoting it through the dating world. So whatever happens, happens and I’m happy to be nominated!

Cheers,

Sharing my book and my story with the Mr n Mrs Romance Podcast

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on a fabulous new podcast called Mr n Mrs Romance. Mr Romance, known as Jack, interviewed me about eloves me, eloves me not, being an author, my experiences with online dating and finding love.

Podcast #16 – eloves me, eloves me not with LA Johannesson

Jack was a terrific host. He asked some refreshing questions and we had a few laughs while I got to share a great deal about the inspiration for the book, the story, its characters and my own views on dating and love. Any conversation that can move from Star Trek to Shakespeare covers a lot of ground as is worth a listen. You can go straight to the audio here!

Mr n Mrs Romance is a UK-based podcast with the aim of exploring the extraordinary breadth of the human condition in relation to romance, love and sex. With input from an amazing collection of individuals, they aim to compile a fascinating picture of relationship culture in the 21st century. Mr n Mrs Romance believe that in today’s society that there is no one way by which relationships are played out and as such, each podcast will aim to capture the many varied outlooks and practices of today’s relationship lifestyles.

As you’ll see from the diverse topics covered in the first 16 episodes, it is definitely delivering on its promise.

I had a blast as a guest. I’ve also learned a little from some of the other episodes (I’m just not saying which ones . I encourage you to have a listen and subscribe to it on iTunes.

Mr n Mrs Romance are bound to keep it interesting!

You can also connect with them on twitter as @mrnmrsromance and on facebook.

PS – Thanks again Jack, you give good podcast!

RIASS Interview: LA Johannesson on writing “technological romance”

Read in A Single Sitting (RIASS) gives good interview.

I recently chatted with Stephanie Campisi about eloves me, eloves me not. I was very impressed by how prepared and thoughtful her questions were. We covered a lot of ground including the book’s inspiration, my writing choices especially around featuring technology so prominently, the world of online dating and current perceptions of it, the challenges and opportunities associated with independent publishing and what’s required by an author as they move into the marketing phase.

You can find the full interview here: Interview: LA Johannesson on writing “technological romance”

Favourite interview quote: “self-published authors need to look for every opportunity to tell, and sell, their stories.”

Thank you Stephanie for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and your community!

Smarter Dating Means Doing Your Homework

One of the reasons I wrote Roman’s Rules of Online Dating as part of the ‘eloves me, eloves me not’ story was to deliver some actionable advice and some additional value to the readers of the book beyond just an entertaining story.

As I reach out and connect with the both reader and online dating communities around the world, these tips continue to come in handy.

Recently, I was asked by Smarter Dating to provide some content for their site for launch and Roman and his trusty Rules made yet another appearance. The post, Smarter Dating Means Doing Your Homework, drew upon some of his trusty tips and hopefully they’re out there helping a whole new site full of singles as they try to meet their match.

LA Johannesson interviewed by Your Dating DNA’s Nando!

Today I’m excited. I’ll be chatting on blogtalkradio about ‘eloves me, eloves me not’ with New York’s Nando. He’s energetic, engaging and just a little outrageous!

All you daters out there can find his goodness here on his Nandoism site!

Nando’s a dating/relationship coach and he’s authored the ebook Your Dating DNA!

Should be a lively chat – you can listen in at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nandoism/2013/01/20/interview-with-author-l-a-johannesson-on-her-new-book

For the official Nando post http://nandoism.com/2013/01/28/interview-with-author-l-a-johannesson-on-her-new-book-e-loves-me-e-loves-me-not/

Book’s First Review Scores an 8/10

It’s in. My very first review. I can stop gnawing my fingernails now!

The review process is very confronting especially for a new author. I submitted my novel for review by Chicklit Club, one of the pre-eminent ‘chick-lit’ blogs. These people are immersed in this genre, so understandably, I was keen to hear what they thought (okay and just a wee bit nervous, hoping they’d love my characters as my as I do).

The results are in and they thought it was literally ‘fabulous’. Here’s the full review:

With a newly broken heart, Kayte, 39, is determined to find her Mr Right. She is on the path to finding true love through the ups and downs, pleasures and dangers, of dating – blind and internet – and has to kiss a string of toads to find her prince. Together with her best friend and number one male (Dylan the dog), her happily married friend Chloe, and the mysterious Bigbadwolf (aka Roman) and his Book of RROOD (pronounced RUDE) for Roman’s Rules of Online Dating, Kayte sets off on her roller-coaster pursuit of love. Kayte is a modern, fit and healthy, IT-savvy Bridget Jones – and this romantic comedy has a chuckle or a twist on every page mixed with just the right amount of passionate liaisons. It has great one-liners, is fast moving and very entertaining. It is a fabulous debut. (AT)