Random Publicity Week

September 7, 2010 in Events | 2 comments

Author Darcy Pattison had a lovely idea, or so I learned on the Twitternets: Random Publicity Week, encouraging all of us to take the time to do that Goodreads or Amazon or B&N review to support books by our friends and fellow authors. You know how this works: you’ve been swearing up and down you’d do that, right? Now is your chance! From today until the 10th, I encourage you all to commit random acts of publicity to support other people’s books that you love!

Today, I’m going to take the time to plug a post by J.C. Hutchins, the author of 7th Son, who in turn plugged a novel that has come to life under bittersweet circumstances. He posts very eloquently over here about his close friend Zellie Blake, a young woman who’s recently lost a fight with cancer. Her friends have pooled resources to publish her novel Lightning Strikes via Lulu, to raise money for cancer research.

As many of you know, I’ve gone a few rounds with cancer myself. So this is a random act of publicity that’s actually a little less random for me personally, and more, well, y’know, meaningful. So go check out Mr. Hutchins’ post, and if you’re moved to do so, consider buying the book. Cancer fighters like me will appreciate it very much.

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General news and also, word count

September 6, 2010 in Faerie Blood, Lament of the Dove, Shadow of the Rook | No comments

I’ve finally gotten my next round of royalties for Faerie Blood and Defiance, and I’m not terribly surprised that they are tiny. To all of you out there who have bought copies of these works this year, though, as always, I thank you for your support!

Along with the royalties, though, I have also gotten the news that Drollerie’s agreement for audio versions of our works has dissolved. So, sadly, this means that there will be no audio version of Faerie Blood for now. If I get any further updates about this, I will be sure to pass the word.

Over in the land of Lament of the Dove, there are still open queries on that. A couple are to agents, but the primary one of interest remains to Carina Press. I’m not expecting pings back from the agents at this point since it’s been long enough on those queries that either they’re not getting back to me, or else they’re so backed up that they’re not going to be able to do so in a timely fashion anyway.

My strategy for querying agents is, I think, going to have to change. I’ve been focusing on querying people who accept email submissions, but since I’ve pretty much exhausted the pool of people I’m interested in, I’m going to have to branch out to sending snailmail. And if Carina says no, print partials or fulls of Lament will be going out, too. But I’ll give it a little longer before Operation Paper Querying will have to go into effect.

Shadow of the Rook is the book that has my attention at the moment, just because Lament is the thing with the biggest active query. Like Lament, Shadow is taking its time organically growing in my brain; I’m only just now inching into Chapter 4, trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to have one of the characters who made it all the way through Book 1 survive for the bulk of Book 2. And I’m pleased to note that while I didn’t write nearly as much as I should have done this weekend, I have nonetheless accomplished some word count!

Written this weekend: 538
Chapter 4 total: 831
Shadow of the Rook total (first draft): 18,259

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Print vs. digital, addendum

September 4, 2010 in Publishing | No comments

Two different people have brought up to me in the comments on my last post a point which I wished to call out and separately address. To wit, that part of the question of print vs. digital is a question of privilege.

It absolutely is, I agree. That I am able to own not one, not two, but three different devices capable of reading ebooks (my nook, my iPhone, and my computer, and yes, the computer counts) is absolutely a question of my privilege of having enough income to do so. This is me acknowledging that. Since I grew up in a family environment that had quite limited income, I daresay this went a long way towards books being the one big indulgence I generally allow myself. (I apparently lack the usual girly genes involving clothes, shoes, purses, makeup, etc. All my disposable income goes to books, electronic devices, and music.)

I very, very much respect and acknowledge the fact that even though prices on ereaders are dropping regularly, they are still very much luxury devices. Many will not be able to afford better than secondhand prices for books in general, which counts them out of buying most if not all ebooks, and never mind the expense of a device to actually read them on. This is one of the biggest reasons that people who like to read digitally really, really should never snark on people who prefer to read in print.

At the same time though let me point out that the question of privilege is not entirely one-sided here. There’s also the question of health and age privilege; consider for example the oft-quoted scenario of a nearsighted person who finds that reading on an ereading device, and therefore being able to adjust the font size to something comfortable for them, means they can suddenly read a lot more easily than they can a print book. I’ve seen countless people testify to this on various blogs and on Twitter, and a couple of people have talked about it directly to me.

This though was the point of my original post: i.e., that both print and digital readers have very good reasons for preferring to read in the formats they do, and to express the hope that each side will refrain from snarking about the other. As I said in the comments on that post, publishing is going through massive upheaval over not only the formats of books to be published in, but over its ongoing ability to make money in general. Nobody knows how things are going to shake out in ten, fifteen, or twenty years down on the line, although predictions abound. It’s very scary, all around!

One thing though I’m pretty sure we can all agree on: books will survive, in one form or another, and as long as that is the case, there will be people to read them.

P.S. Sorry about comments being disabled on the LJ and DW mirrored versions of that last post. I’d forgotten I turned those off for a previous poll post, and never turned ‘em back on! You may now comment on the original WP post as well as its LJ and DW mirrors.

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The print vs. digital divide

September 4, 2010 in Publishing | 9 comments

Y’all want to know the fastest way to get an epubbed author’s blood pressure spiking? Refer to printed books as “real” books.

This got shoved into the front of my brain yesterday when one of my favorite local bookstores linked off to an opinion article written by a twenty-something who was stridently against electronic readers–to the point that they’d confessed to having irrational hatred for seeing other people reading them. One of their primary objections to them appeared to be that they could no longer sneak peeks at what those other people are reading, if they’re reading electronically! They proceeded to wax eloquent for several following paragraphs about why they would never stoop so low as to acquire an e-reader, because they loved “real” books too much. Snarky commentary was made about how e-reader enthusiasts got on this person’s case about “what are you, a Mennonite?” And even the bookstore in question, in their linking to this article, dropped a cute little remark about how they “don’t have anything against e-readers, no wait, maybe a little”.

This makes me sad.

Part of it is of course that as an epubbed author, I’m really tired of hearing the print books getting referred to as the “real” books. This carries the automatic implication that digital books are “not real”. Imaginary. Lesser in value than books that were fortunate enough to get put into print. Which is an awfully cruel thing to say to somebody who labored just as hard to get her epubbed book written as the authors who are in print. I guarantee you, people, that to us epubbed authors, our stories are every bit as real to us as the ones that are put down on paper.

Part of it though is the bigger question of the print vs. digital argument. It’s yet another variation of the “this thing vs. that thing” debate that crops up in every single aspect of our daily lives: Coke vs. Pepsi. PC vs. Mac vs. Linux. Emacs vs. vi. Etc., etc., on and on, with each side espousing the virtues of whatever they’ve committed to and often sneering at the other side, who are clearly not clever enough or intelligent enough to realize the virtues of the Right Choice.

Don’t get me wrong. I get that the digital book is a threat to traditional bookstores, and that indie bookstores in particular, who have been struggling for ages against the bigger chains, are going to hunker down and cling to their print books for as long as possible. But I’m really tired of the print side sneering at the digital side, and vice versa. For me as both a writer and a reader, this loses sight of the most important thing: the story.

You tell me a good enough story, I’ll read it in whatever format is available–print, digital, on the back of a cereal box, in fortune cookies, in tweets, in skywriting, whatever. Seriously, I do not care about the format. I care about the story. Print has its virtues for me, such as the art of a beautifully designed book–Tolkien’s The Children of Hurin comes immediately to mind. It’s also lovely for reading if the power is out, or if you’ve left your Nook or iPhone at home and/or uncharged. And although this makes me sad too with my writer hat on, truth be told, writers still are compensated better for print than they are for digital. I’d love to see that change, but I’m not expecting it to do so quickly.

In the meantime, though, digital also has its virtues. Many folks like how a well-used book will have crinkled corners and bent pages and such, and this to them is a sign of how much the book is loved. For me, though, that’s an irritant. Because I love my books, I don’t want to damage them. And if I carry them around in my backpack on a daily basis, they will get damaged. Therefore, for me as a reading choice, a reader makes more sense because in its protective case, it’ll take a lot more abuse than a paperback or trade will. Never mind a hardback, which is often going to be too bulky to carry around easily anyway.

You tell me a good enough story, though? I will buy you in print and digital. Print to keep the archive copy around, and digital for day to day reading. I am living proof that you don’t have to choose one or the other. I long for the day that publishers will start offering sales of both print and digital for one nice premium price, because I will totally put down money for that.

In the meantime, though, print enthusiasts, I beg you, please don’t look down your noses at the digital fans. Digital fans, same goes for you in reverse. Let’s just all just agree that yeah, each of us will have our personal preferences as to how we like to read, and get back to the important thing that we all have in common: i.e., reading. Thank you!

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Word count metrics update

August 29, 2010 in Bone Walker, Mirror's Gate, Shadow of the Rook, Short Pieces | No comments

I’ve been in another prolonged writing funk, which has been frustrating–so tonight I tried another round of throwing tiny bits of words at stuff. Got up to just over 200 by throwing small words at four different things, so I’ll take that!

So we’ve got 51 words into Chapter 4 of Shadow of the Rook, which is currently in the middle of an Enverly scene–his first since the events at the end of Lament of the Dove. Let’s just say Father Enverly has had his first actual religious experience, shall we?

Mirror’s Gate is still in Chapter 2, with Yevanya going to have a friendly little chat with her dead husband’s former teacher and colleague, which should set her up nicely to learn some disturbing things about what’s going on in the city of Istra. 57 words to that, and I gotta say, I rather like this fragment:

Genrek was a great hulk of a man, towering over her by many inches, and yet she had never found him anything but amiable in his gruff fashion. She always supposed it was not because he found her fragile and dainty; next to Genrek many things were, such as carriages, hills, and the smaller varieties of bear.

Over in Bone Walker, I’m still in Chapter 11, with Kendis and Christopher about to get hugely distracted from the question of whether Christopher can, in fact, cross Lake Washington. ‘Cause something is about to give them a disturbing little phone call. 52 words there.

And last but not least, in the still untitled Warder-universe story of Elizabeth and Ross, Elizabeth is realizing that she has no business snarking on a man who’s just told her his dead sister was the magical defender of the city. Not when she is, herself, a psychic. 67 words here.

So yeah. 227 words total. Not much overall, but something!

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Saturday’s reading

August 23, 2010 in Events, Faerie Blood | 3 comments

Although my foray into Great Big Sea video fandom did not go as hoped, I can say that Saturday’s reading at the Wayward did go quite swimmingly!

I was horribly nervous, enough that when I got up to do my bit from Chapter 1, I could feel my knees loosen–and when I got done and back to my seat, my hands were shaking as I tweeted about it. userinfosolarbird says I read a bit too fast, but on the other hand, that actually kind of helped since I’m fairly verbose in style. Reading quickly helped offset that.

I was pleased, too, to note that I got giggles where I wanted them, and no giggles where I shouldn’t have. userinfojennifer_brozek kindly told me later that she enjoyed my reading, and I sold a total of four of the CD copies I’d made of the book, out of the 12 that I’d made Saturday afternoon. (One of them went to userinfotechnoshaman, finally buying a copy of the book; thanks Glenn!)

Also, I must note that I quite enjoyed several of the other stories read. userinfocatrambo had a nice one about a woman who discovers that her coffeemaker is not only sentient, it’s also neurotic, and Nate Crowder actually opened AND closed the proceedings, with two different stories. I liked his superhero one, the one with which he closed the reading. userinfokehrli read two short ones, one of which was quite moving from a genderqueer perspective; props for that. And Ms. Brozek quite aptly demonstrated that, yeah, the phrase “zombie erotica” is every bit as disturbing as you’d expect. ;)

On the whole it was a very enjoyable evening and I was very happy to get the chance to participate. And if anyone new happens by who was at the reading, I hope you enjoyed my contribution!

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More about my reading this weekend

August 16, 2010 in Events, Faerie Blood | 2 comments

Courtesy of userinfojennifer_brozek, here’s the official word on this weekend’s event at the Wayward:

An Evening of Authors, Wayward Coffeehouse, August 21, 7-10pm.
Hosted by Jennifer Brozek and Nate Crowder. Come to an evening of authors and good coffee at Wayward Coffeehouse. We will be reading from recent and forthcoming releases, answering questions and generally having a good time. Come one, come all and enjoy an evening with your local authors. Find out what’s next. Authors include: Cat Rambo, Rosemary Jones, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Alma Alexander, Nate Crowder, Jeremy Zimmerman, R. Schuyler Devin, Leah Cutter, Sunder Cameron Addams and Angela Korra’ti.

I’ll be aiming for reading an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Faerie Blood–since the whole chapter is too long to fit into a 10-minute block, I’ll be starting partway in. And geez, check out the lineup of all the other folks who’ll be there! Especially Alma Alexander. I’m thrilled to be in such august company!

I realize this won’t be nearly so overtly exciting as shows from the local filk crowd, but hey, the Wayward is awesome, and I’m hoping to find several new interesting things to read! Not to mention getting a chance to say hi to not only local authors, but local readers as well. I hope to see a few of you there!

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My very first author reading!

August 12, 2010 in Events, Faerie Blood | 4 comments

Whoa! Check out the lineup for the reading scheduled at the Wayward Coffeehouse on 8/21!

See that name at the end of that list? That would be me.

This is a gathering of Seattle-area authors arranged by , and big thanks go out to her for letting me in on the action. Also, to userinfovixyish for the initial heads up that pointed me in that direction!

Gosh. So, um, yeah, I guess I better figure out what exactly I’ll be reading. Come listen! I’ll arrange with my editor to bring a few copies of my book on CD so I can hand-sell them–and remember, y’all, I am an e-pubbed author, so so far only digital versions will be what I have available.

WHOA

WHOA

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What I’ve been doing lately instead of writing

August 11, 2010 in About Me | No comments

Anybody who knows me at all knows I am a raving fan of Great Big Sea, the folk band from Canada. And anybody who pays attention to GBS’ various official online presences will know that they have a karaoke video contest in progress for their fans!

Last night, my partner userinfosolarbird and I uploaded our entry for the contest–and its related blooper reel! I have a full post about it on my personal blog over here. And if you want to see the videos directly, you can check ‘em out here on my YouTube account!

If you read and liked Faerie Blood, please consider checking out the videos! Great Big Sea was a huge influence on the development of that book, and Christopher in particular. And stick around–’cause if we get onto the finalists list, determined by judges, then it’ll be up to popular vote to see who wins. And I’ll be calling on you all for help!

Did I mention the part where the prize for the contest is four spots on the band’s guest list to one of their forthcoming shows? Consider that mentioned! And always, folks, I thank you for your support! :D

(Not crossposted anywhere, because if you follow me elsewhere, you’ll have seen me squeeing about this already! And once the contest is over, I swear I’ll get back to working on Bone Walker!)

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Vacation Reads–Week 4

July 24, 2010 in Vacation Reads | No comments

As promised, here’s my contribution to the Vacation Reads promotion! These are this weekend’s slate of recommended titles, and again, I encourage you all to go visit the master site for leads on other things you’ll hopefully enjoy reading!

THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN by Joely Sue Burkhart


Worlds within worlds await through the Maya Bloodgate….

Dr. Jaid Merritt doesn’t do digs. The last time she ventured into the jungle, someone died. Now she’s content to decipher Maya glyphs from pictures sent to her by her famous archaeologist father. But when he goes missing while trying to perform a ritual based on her translations of an ancient codex, Jaid must put aside her fears and travel to Guatemala to find him.

After misusing the Bloodgates to bring his twin brother back from the afterlife, the Maya priest known as Ruin was cursed by the gods to stand as the guardian for all time. He was unable to stop Dr. Charles Merritt from opening the gates, and now demons roam this world. The last thing he wants to do is hurt the beautiful woman who is somehow infused with his magic, but if she uses the codex to retrieve her father, Ruin must do his duty. And this time, he won’t fail. Even if it kills him. Again.

~ * ~

I’ve always loved the idea of blood sacrifice. From vampires to the symbology of communion, I’m fascinated by the inherent power in this essence of life. Add mythology to the mix, and I’m one happy camper, so of course, the Maya have always been one of my favorites mythologies. Bonus: pyramids!

One of my inspirations for THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN is a demotivator poster (link http://www.despair.com/sacrifice1.html) that shows the famous El Castillo pyramid of Chich’en Itza that says “All we ask here is that you give us your heart.” While there’s no archeological evidence that the Maya sacrificed hundreds or thousands of victims until the pyramid steps ran red with blood as in Mel Gibson’s Apocalytpo, they did practice blood sacrifice. Most of the time, they cut their ears or (men, avert your eyes and cover yourself) penis, caught blood on special paper, and then burned it with incense to honor the gods.

And yes, occasionally people were sacrificed, especially the losers of the famous ballgame or captured kings from other villages. Sometimes people were simply tossed into the cenote—large sinkholes that form over thousands of years in the limestone, often with an extensive network of caves. If they were still alive hours later…or possibly the next day…then they might be rescued to see if they bore any messages from the gods. Sadly, children were often the victims of this type of sacrifice, inspiring a short story that I’m offering for free on my website, Well of Sky, link http://joelysueburkhart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Burkhart.Well_.of_.Sky_.pdf.

Most of the time, it was the willing sacrifice—of his own blood—that imbued so much power into the priest’s prayers and rituals. Ruin, the hero in THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN, has paid that price numerous times himself. In fact, he’s died many times in service to the Bloodgates. He willingly pays the ultimate price over and over to protect that sacred magic.

When this man falls in love, he falls hard. How many times will he die to keep her alive?

BUT CAN YOU LET HIM GO? by Cindy Lynn Speer

In this collection, Cindy Lynn Speer, author of The Chocolatier’s Wife and editor of StereoOpticon, a collection of re-told fairy tales, gives us several new stories and an interesting look at the classic ‘Cinderella’ as well. Cindy’s stories examine the roles of women, our expectations, and the aftermath of the classic happily ever after in interesting, sometimes disturbing, ways.

Every Word I Speak: Most of us know the fairy tale of the girl who, because of her kindness, was given the gift of gems and flowers that fell from her mouth with every word she spoke, but what happens afterward? Who can she trust and what will they want from her? This version of the story is a dark and troubling tale, and absolutely delicious for those of us who like our fairy tales unmarred by a Disney ending.

What Will I Do When This Dream is Over?: Matilda is a unicorn, calmly cropping the grass in Emmy’s front yard. Hank is her ex-boyfriend, who can’t see her anymore because, she’s afraid, he’s angry with her for not putting out. Emmy’s been preparing for the day Matilda would show up all her life. It’s been like a dream, always there. She’s been called upon to do a job, to save the world, and now it’s time. Emmy’s off on an adventure. She hopes she’ll win, beat the bad guys, save the day, but if she does, what happens after?

The Fortunate Ones: Once upon a time, there lived a people who were always fortunate. And then they discovered that their fortune resided in their women, so they turned them into a commodity to be bought and sold. Annabelle is living the dream with her very successful husband, except he beats her sometimes, when he’s angry, when things don’t go right. She doesn’t like knowing she’s a commodity. She doesn’t like thinking like that. But she has to, and it’s up to her to save herself. If she can. If she can take her fortune back into her own hands.

But Can You Let Him Go?: The fairy godmother who provides Cinderella with her pretty clothes and shoes and the ride to the ball is paying penance for her mistakes. When she’s not passing judgement on foolish and avaricious humans, she’s hunting for Cinderella, the Cinderella in this tale, at this time, and the handsome prince who will give Cinderella her happily ever after. She needs to get it right. She needs to save them both. If she doesn’t, she’ll never see her people again. Her sister, however, is determined to see her fail, and she’ll do all in her power to make that come to pass.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: I have way too many…I sew, garden, obsess over home improvement, read constantly…but my primary hobby is learning how to fence the way that they did in the time of Elizabeth I, through the Society for Creative Anachronism. I have a true passion for the blade…I love trying to push myself to become a better fencer.

Deadly Lucidity by Julie Achterhoff

Caught in a tangled web of dreams and nightmares, Marie Reilly is being hunted by a psychopath in the dream world she can’t escape. Her single ally, a Ranger named Murphy, may be her only hope. He must help her reach the Great Fortress, where they’ve been told there is a way back to her reality. Together, they fight their way through the twists and turns of Marie’s mind so she can have her life back. But what of their growing passion for each other? How can Marie leave the man she has come to love behind in this nightmarish world he has called home as far back as he can remember?

Q: What have you learned about being an author since you started writing professionally, Julie?

A: Gosh, I’ve learned so much! I started out reading a couple of books on how to write and taking a women’s literature class at the local community college. That was ten years ago. I started writing professionally three years ago, starting with a novella titled Native Vengeance, which was published on the Demon Minds website for their Halloween edition that year. That experience taught me that I might have what it took to write a full length novel. I started out small because I thought I’d test the waters and see if anyone thought I could write well. I was pleased to get my first acceptance letter, as well as recognition for my writing skills. Learning that someone else enjoys what you’ve written is one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever experienced!

I had some idea because I got an “A” on my class final, which was to write something. I went way overboard and wrote an entire three-act play titled Angel in the House! I wrote that in six weeks, too! So that gave me some validation about my writing. That’s when I also found out there just wasn’t enough time to write anything and homeschool my five children at the same time.

So I waited until most of them were out on their own to start writing my first novel, Quantum Earth. While writing this book, I learned all about the predictions for the year 2012 from the Mayan calendar. I also learned that I could create characters and scenes that would last through to the very end. It took me several months to write Quantum Earth. It takes up a lot of your day to day thinking to write a book. It keeps you up late at night, too.

Then I learned about writing query letters and synopsises to send out to publishers and agents. They have to really hook them from the very start. I learned that different publishers require different things from a potential author. Some want just a query at first, some want a query and a synopsis, and some want these plus some pages from your manuscript. You absolutely have to follow what they want exactly. If you don’t do this part just right, that alone will cause them to say no. I found out that some publishers are very nice, sometimes even giving you advice, but some of them aren’t very nice, and can say some rude things to you.

I had to find sources for publishers. I used Writer’s Market and Duotrope mostly. I learned to keep track of whom I sent out to so I wouldn’t duplicate myefforts. Then I learned the pretty painful feeling of being rejected over and over again. That was very hard for me because I don’t take rejection well! Those were a tough few months of sending out my work very carefully, and getting nothing back but negative replies.

I had already learned that there were people who liked my writing, so I tried not to give up hope. I tried to see every no as one step closer to that magical word, “yes.” Finally, after sending out at least fifty queries, synopsises, and/or pages, I got a very big yes from an e-book publisher. She said Quantum Earth was exactly what she was interested in and loved it from start to finish. But one thing I had learned was that e-books were just sent by email. They are not really a solid book you can hold in your hand. This put me
off a bit, so I contacted one of the publishers who said they wanted more about Quantum Earth and asked them if they were interested in publishing it. They said yes, too! Now I had a decision to make, and not much information about the pros and cons. But I knew I wanted to see my book in print as a real book, so I ended up having to be the one to say no to the first publisher. That was a twist. She was very disappointed, but understood.

So it happened that All Things That Matter Press was the one to publish my first real book. A year later they published my second book, Deadly Lucidity. For this book I learned all about lucid dreaming, among other things. During the time I’ve been with ATTM Press I’ve learned so much from Deb and Phil Harris. They run this small press, and I couldn’t be happier with them. Deb has taught me everything I could possibly want to know about editing, and Phil has taught me all about promoting books and creating a name for yourself. They are experts at what they do. An author has to learn how to sell their own books by doing interviews, blogging, publicity, creating an author platform, and many other ways to get people to buy their books. It’s not an easy process. I work on this almost every day.

I’ve also learned so much from other authors, especially the ones that are also published at ATTM Press. We have a yahoo group where we keep in close touch, sharing ideas and supporting one another. Another source for my education is my friends on facebook who are also writers. I have learned a lot from these and other sources, and continue to learn what it takes to be a writer. Now I’m at the point where I am starting to do some teaching, myself. I recently got an offer to teach at a writer’s retreat next January in Georgia. I’m very excited about that, and hope that I can help others on the path to writing.

As of this writing I am finishing up my next book, Earthwalker, which will be available by Christmas.

Link to video trailer for Deadly Lucidity: http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/687534/book_video_trailer_deadly_lucidity.html?cat=38

Link to Blog: http://earthwalkr.wordpress.com

Link to buy Deadly Lucidity: http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Lucidity-Julie-Achterhoff/dp/0984421904/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1 or http://allthingsthatmatterpress.com

Link to BookBuzzr preview of Deadly Lucidity: http://www.freado.com/book/6046/Deadly-Lucidity

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Vacation Reads!

July 24, 2010 in Drollerie Press | No comments

So I’ve been remiss in posting about this, given that things have been pretty wacky at work this month and that’s been eating my brain–but my fellow Drollerie Press author Anna Kashina has been spearheading an awesome promotion this entire month. It’s Vacation Reads, helping people spread the word not only about their own work, but about other works that are just generally fun to read.

Several of my other fellow Drollerie authors as well as fine folks from the Outer Alliance and the Vacation Reads Facebook group are participating, so check the Vacation Reads master site for more data. And watch this space for my own forthcoming post to participate in this weekend’s round of recommendations! Mad props to the other Anna K. for putting all this together!

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Ooh hey, progress

July 19, 2010 in Bone Walker, Mirror's Gate | 4 comments

Looks like I’m back to trying to lure words out of my brain a small dribble and drabble at a time.

Tonight, at least, I managed to throw words at both Mirror’s Gate and Bone Walker, though, so I’m calling that a win! Still in Chapter 2 on the one and Chapter 11 on the other, but between ‘em I got roughly 500 words tonight. So I call that a win!

Mirror’s Gate:
Written tonight: 267
Chapter 2 total: 2,231
Mirror’s Gate total (first draft): 6,014

Bone Walker:
Written tonight: 293
Chapter 11 total: 682
Bone Walker total (first draft): 30,683

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PSA: About that I Write Like meme going around

July 16, 2010 in The Internet | No comments

Y’all might want to check here and here for what seems to be going on with that. This is what you get for when bored geeks are on the case.

(I myself have been told I’m reminiscent of Esther Friesner and Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters in some ways, which means quite a bit more to me than some random meme, so hey!

But what I’d really like is to be told ‘you write like somebody we’d like to publish, here, have a contract to get you into print!’)

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Safe Upon the Shore of Faerie contest results!

July 14, 2010 in Contests | 1 comment

Right then, sorry about not posting this yesterday, y’all, but this is what I get for being smacked upside the head with a 36-or-so-hour bug. I spent most of yesterday sleeping!

But now it’s time to announce the winner of my little Safe Upon the Shore of Faerie contest! Since I had only three entries, but since all three entrants offered more than just one of the options I suggested of title, caption, and drabble, I’m actually going to offer one main prize and two backup prizes!

GutterBall, because of the line about “I have feet” and the line about the Kraken, you get the main prize of your choice: a) a copy of the shiny shiny Safe Upon the Shore goodness, from the music vendor of your choice; b) a $25 gift certificate from the book vendor of your choice; or c) a copy of either Faerie Blood or Defiance, your choice! (You can have them both, if you like, even.) Please to email me your choice!

Jess and Sticckler: because you guys also jumped in, and because I liked your entries too, I want to give you each a little something as well so I will offer you both a $10 gift certificate from the Drollerie Press bookstore OR any other book vendor of your choice! Again, please email me your request.

Thanks all for entering!

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Last call and upping the stakes for my contest!

July 11, 2010 in Contests | 2 comments

Okay folks, we’re down to the wire here. Safe Upon the Shore drops on Tuesday! So I’ll be announcing the winner of my Safe Upon the Shore of Faerie contest on Tuesday evening.

And I STILL have only two entries! This is just silly, you guys, so I really need some more people in on this action. So I’m going to up the stakes! In addition to accepting entries as per my original rules, I’ll ALSO add anybody to the drawing if I see evidence that you’ve done one of the following:

  • Tweeted about it (including any RT’s of my own tweets)
  • Posted to Facebook
  • Posted to your own blogs and journals
  • Posted anywhere else you see fit

For bonus goodness, if any efforts of yours actually bring me a new entry to the contest, I’ll note you as entered in the random draw TWICE.

Additionally, I will add one $25 gift certificate to the book vendor of your choice if the original prizes (i.e., a copy of the album or a copy of either of my Drollerie-published works) don’t work for you. This makes the final prize list as follows:

  • Gift certificate
  • Tasty shiny new Great Big Sea musics (and I still heartily, heartily encourage you all to get a copy of this album even if you don’t get it from me; Kendis would TOTALLY be buying this album)
  • Words written by me, either in Faerie Blood or Defiance! And if you choose the latter, you also get tasty words by Laura Anne Gilman or Joely Sue Burkhart!

So spread the word, you all! Get me some new folks in here and new names for the draw! You have 48 hours!

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