Category: Books

This post is chock-full of books!

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Things that gave me a good laugh this morning:

All I want is a library full of books and a prince telling me to pick one*…

*Book, that is.  Not monks.

Also:

TC: Mommy, can we go outside to play?
Me: No, it’s all mucky and gross outside.
TP: Can we sit on the porch?
Me: No, you really don’t need to be out there.

Both give me their best pout.

Me: If you really want to go outside, one of you can get the diaper bag and the other can get my computer bag and you can take them out to the van for me.
TC & TP: Okay!

Oh, kids. 🙂

Speaking of kids, Cricket’s new favorite word is book.  If all we did all day long was read Clifford’s First Halloween, I think he’d be in heaven.  I, on the other hand, have grown quite tired of reading yet again about Clifford going trick-or-treating dressed as a ghost, getting a bath after eating a candy apple, and traipsing around a haunted house stuck in a glove.  But this, too, shall pass, and I know from experience that once these days are gone, I’ll miss them terribly.  Cricket’s a boy after my own heart.  I’ve got a couple of pictures from story time a few days ago that I’ve been meaning to post on Facebook, but I haven’t done it yet.  Maybe I’ll get to it over the weekend, if I’m not buried under a mountain of laundry.  *sigh*

In other book news, you can now pre-order White Mountain, Book 1 of the Darkling Chronicles by Sophie E. Tallis.  The book is set to come out in September from Safkhet Publishing.  I predict it’ll sell faster than hot chocolate in a blizzard. 🙂

Also, I think I might have fixed a major plot problem in The Lokana Chronicles.  Some more detail was needed in one place and hopefully I’ve fixed it now.  I’ve tried twice already; I hope the third time’s the charm.  But if it’s not, well, then I’ll just have to put my stubborn nature to good use and make it bend to my will.  The Great and Powerful Seymour will yet be pleased. 🙂  I say that only because I think his crit made a lot of sense and I’m determined to tackle the problem head-on.  As it says over at der Wendighaus, “Time to load the guns, brew the ink, and get to work because I am a writer and I am done fucking around.”

I think that’s about all I’ve got this gray Friday afternoon.  Have a happy weekend!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Please, Mom? Just one more?

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My friend Tara wrote an awesome post today about her favorite childhood books after I mentioned something on Twitter about reading to my kids.  Cricket and Thumper had some lovely story time this morning while drinking their morning milk and it was so much fun.  Cricket is just beginning to get interested in books and Thumper…well, he likes to chew on them, same as his big brother. 🙂  This morning’s book of choice (and every other opportunity’s book of choice) was Clifford’s First Halloween by Norman Bridwell.  I loved the Clifford books growing up and I love the show on PBS, too.  Same with Arthur – that lovable little aardvark’s adventures with pals Binky, Muffy, and Francine entertained me through many a rainy afternoon growing up.  When I was a little older and living with my aunt, the show on PBS entertained my cousin, too.  (I, of course, was much too cool for Arthur by then – at 13, it was all about the soaps.   Eric Brady, you will forever melt my little fangirl heart.

*squee*

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The e-book version of Tuesday Daydreams is now available for Kindle!  You can find it here or by searching for it in the Kindle store.  Right now this is as far as I’ll go with the e-book version, but maybe next weekend when I will hopefully have more peace and quiet, I can get it formatted for other e-readers as well.  Gretchen, any pointers would be much appreciated!  Oh, yeah – I still have to read the Smashwords Style Guide I downloaded.  That would probably help. 🙂

Between my excitement over having finally released a title and my fatigue from driving all over two counties today and my frustration with my oldest son, I’m a bit all over the place at the moment.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see an adult beverage and a scotcheroo with my name on them.  Happy weekend!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Authors to Watch and more

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Ah, authors to watch.  There must be a jillion of them.  I, however, am referring to ten certain authors who were featured yesterday in an interview by Tricia Drammeh.  She asked the question, “Why do you write fantasy?” and received some great answers from some great authors, including yours truly (although I make no claims as to my greatness).  Check it out!  Each interviewee provided links to a variety of sites at which you can check out their work and/or learn more about them.

In other news, rumor has it that the release of Promises, the second Timeless Series novel, will be delayed.  Fans of Lisa Wiedmeier’s fantasy series will now have to wait till the end of May to continue following Cheyenne’s adventures.

I’ve almost finished the Kindle version of Tuesday Daydreams.  Learning the formatting stuff was easy enough for the most part, but I still have a couple of glitches to work out here and there.  I hope to have the Kindle version available for purchase by the end of the week (by which I mean the end of the calendar week, not tomorrow).  I had Chinese for lunch today and ate my fortune cookie on the way back to work.  I had to chuckle as I read my fortune:Channel your energy into something positive.  I’d say all this work on my writing is definitely something positive. 🙂

Last but not least, the rain has come at long last and everything is turning a lovely shade of green.  I adore spring. ♥

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Tuesday Daydreams is now on Amazon!

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That’s right, folks, you now have two places to procure my dreamy poetry anthology, Tuesday Daydreams.  It’s available at CreateSpace and now it’s available at Amazon as well!  I’m working on formatting it for e-book publication as we speak and further updates will be made when, you know, I have something new to report. 🙂

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Save the Hobbit and other odds and ends

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Once again, America’s overly-litigious nature has reared its ugly head.  The target this time is a small pub in Southampton called The Hobbit.

Lawyers representing the filmmakers in charge of the movie The Hobbit are suing a pub in Southampton that has been known as The Hobbit for the last two decades.  Evidently they’re concerned that said pub will infringe on their rights or something.  I think it’s ridiculous that they’re trying to force the pub to change its name.  For the full story, check out the pub’s Facebook page, Save the Hobbit, Southampton, and show your support of the pub by liking the page.

In other news, my good friend Lisa Wiedmeier wrote a guest post over at Aaron Patterson’s blog about the recent Amazon success of her novel, Cheyenne.  It’s a great article and one I highly recommend checking out if you’re interested in self-publishing.  Her next book, Promises, is due out in May and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

And finally, if you’re looking for a bit of fun on this lovely Friday afternoon, head on over to Rachelle Gardner’s blog and check out her St. Patrick’s Day haiku contest.  You can find my entry in her comments section.

That’s all for me today!  Time to call it quits and enjoy the afternoon. 🙂

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

It’s here! It’s finally here!

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Aaand…everything checked out with proof copy number two!  Tuesday Daydreams is now available for purchase.  Head on over to CreateSpace today (or just click on the picture to the left) to pick up your copy.  It will also be available on Amazon as soon as they update whatever it is they need to update.  In the meantime, you can read more about it here!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Newsy news

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So!  News!  If you’ve liked my Facebook page (or if you follow me on Twitter), then you know that I received the proof copy of my poetry anthology, Tuesday Daydreams: A Journal in Verse, the other day.  I was disappointed to find some errors in it, but I took the opportunity to make a couple of formatting changes and now I think it looks great.  Another proof copy will soon be winging its way toward me and I can’t wait to look it over.  Tuesday Daydreams should be available for purchase by the end of the month!

I’m terribly excited, in case you couldn’t tell. 🙂

In other news, my friend Lisa just finished up a promotion for her novel, Cheyenne, in honor of a new cover design.  Even though it’s no longer free, please click through and check it out.  At $2.99, it’s still a world-class bargain and a great book to boot.  Go on, check it out!  You know you want to.

And that’s about all the news that’s fit to print today, I think.  Conferences tonight will cap off a crazy week for me; hopefully tomorrow (TGIF, y’all!) will be a nice, peaceful day with no major hassles.  I plan to spend this weekend recovering from my week and maybe working on my synopsis for The Lokana Chronicles if I can find a few spare minutes.  I’m still collecting submission possibilities; I’d like to start submitting before summer.  I’m still keeping my fingers crossed about the Dundee International Book Prize, but I’m trying not to think about it too much lest I go crazy with the hoping.

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Well, I’ve done it…

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I entered The Lokana Chronicles in the Dundee International Book Prize last night.  Hitting ‘send’ on that email was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I did it in the end and now all I have to do is sit back and wait.  And not hold my breath.

Thus begins my (presumably) soul-sucking journey toward publication because, let’s face it, I’m not sure I really want to go to all the effort it will take to do the self-publishing thing.  I know several people who have done it and are doing so successfully, but I’m not sure that I’m cut out for it.  I’d love to sell my book to a Big 6 publisher, but I’m not holding my breath on it.  I hope I’m prepared for all the rejections I know will come, but I’m also hoping that the stars will miraculously align in my favor and my journey will be a relatively quick and painless one.

No, I’m not on drugs.  Unless sleep deprivation counts as a drug and if that’s the case, then I’ve been stoned out of my gourd for the last two years.  But I’m pretty sure that’s not the case, no matter how much it feels like it is some days.

In other news, after much time spent beating my head against a cyber-wall while trying to format with a nasty cold, my poetry anthology is coming along quite nicely.  Now I just need to get the proof copy ordered and make sure it looks okay.  Here’s hoping!

Also?  Tax season – and Monday – totally kicked my butt today.  Way to go, Monday.

And now, I think it’s time for bed.  Assuming, that is, that I can sleep.  I’ve been having trouble with that lately.  Maybe I’ll just stay up a little while longer and look up people to query…

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Friends don’t let friends eat literary puffer butt

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Yes, you read that right: Friends don’t let friends eat literary puffer butt.  I’ve been reading Kristen Lamb’s lovely blog the last couple of days and have found quite a few useful tidbits there, not to mention a couple of laughs that nearly caused me to snort my milk.  I had planned this awesome, thought-provoking post about things from her blog that I agreed with, as well as things I disagreed with, but this stupid cold I have is kicking the crap out of me.  I feel like I’m stuck in a never-ending cage match with…um…well, anyone who’s in better shape than me, to be honest.  The Rock.  Yeah, he’ll do.  He could probably beat the crap out of me with his pinky.  I mean, naturally I hope he doesn’t hit women, but my brain isn’t functioning so well right now, so just take whatever I say with a grain of salt.  Except for that first sentence.  And the second one.  And the next paragraph.  It should be funny.  Seriously, just keep reading, okay?  Okay.

I also enjoy reading Chuck “Writing is when I make the words.  Editing is when I make them not shitty.” Wendig’s blog, especially his “25 Things…” series and his “Transmissions from Baby-Town” series.  The latest transmission from Baby-Town was seriously funny.  Parts of it reminded me of my own kids.  Go.  Check it out.  Unless you are vehemently opposed to creative combinations of profane words, you will probably find it laugh-out-loud funny (yes, I’m old-school like that).

Okay, I should probably get back to editing now.  I’ve been throwing myself upon the Word altar and begging the gods of Microsoft to save my work with obsessive abandon over the last couple of weeks as I try to finish my massive revision project by the end of the month.  I’d love to be done by the end of the week, but I’m not holding my breath.  Anyway, why the rush when I’ve been trying to edit the beast for the last year?  (God, I can’t believe I’ve been editing (or rather, not editing but procrastinating) for a year already.)  Because entries for the Dundee International Book Prize close March 1 and I’ve decided to enter.  Apparently it was just the thing I needed to get my lazy butt motivated because I’ve gotten 24 of my 30 chapters edited since the first of the month.  Now if only I can get the last few chapters done by the weekend, I think I’ll be all set.  I’m not holding my breath on winning, but I’ll never know if I don’t try, and I’m determined to prove the hubby wrong (he who believes I can make a career of writing but probably won’t because I fear failure).  I’m a stubborn one, after all.

So, to recap: Must find more caffeine.  Must edit.  Y’all must read.  Go.  Read.  Report back here.  Or don’t.  Actually, don’t.  Then I won’t be tempted to further procrastinate my editing.  Or do.  Yes, do report back here.  Be my enablers.  Who needs sleep, anyway?  I can edit after the kids are asleep, right?  Right?  Zzzzz…

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.