So today was crazy! I had my first book signing at Smith’s General Store in the morning, and it was a lot of fun. I only sold three books (five if you count the two I sold on Wednesday), but it was still a lot of fun. And we’re talking about doing another one in November during the town’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, where hopefully I’ll do even better.
Mmm, reuben and chips, omnomnom!
Writing, of late, has been an odd sort of chore. I love to write – I yearn to write – but lately when I find myself alone with my thoughts and a pencil, I find that the words won’t come. They used to spill forth from my fingers like fat drops of rain from a heavy summer storm cloud. They used to burst froth from my pencil like rushing floodwaters through a broken dam.
But now?
Now, I find myself extracting each precious word like a miner with a gem. Or, more accurately, like a dentist with a particularly stubborn tooth. Bubbles’ first tooth, with its inch-long root and insistence on clinging to his lower gum, springs instantly to mind.
But that’s if the words come at all.
Today, for a change of pace…
When I’m not busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I’m still hard at work on The Lokana Chronicles and, as writing has been on my mind quite a lot lately, today’s photo features a progress update:
Do you leave notes for yourself in the margins of your WIPs? I do it all the time – if I didn’t, I’d forget everything that crossed my mind while writing. *sigh*
In other news, I’m going to be doing my first book signing next week, and I’m kind of excited about it. If you’re heading out to the Tama County Fair on Thursday the 16th, stop on over to Smith’s General Store and say hi! I’ll be there from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., signing books and chatting with anyone who wanders in. I’m planning a giveaway for those who subscribe to my mailing list (see the link in my sidebar – no spam, I promise!), and I know it’s going to be a ton of fun.
A metric ton, even. 🙂
Also, congratulations to Piper McDermott, the lucky winner of e-book copies of Tuesday Daydreams and A Song for All Seasons!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Yep, today is all about books. My books, friends’ books, ALL THE BOOKS! 😀
Today is launch day for A.F.E. Smith’s fantastic book, Darkhaven. She’s having a heck of a great party over on Facebook, where she’s been interviewing authors (including me!) and giving away books all day. The fun continues tomorrow, so be sure to check it out.
Books!
In other news, my books arrived today! After running some errands this morning, we arrived home to a big ol’ box o’ books waiting for us on the front porch. Since I wasn’t expecting them for another whole week, this was a great surprise. I’ve already donated a couple to my local library, and I have one place lined up to sell books locally. It’s been a pretty exciting day. 🙂
And if you want to win an e-copy for your very own, check out my giveaway over on Facebook! There’s still time to enter, and there are a bunch of other great giveaways so sign up for there as well.
Have a fantastic Thursday, everybody!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Today I’m interviewing A.F.E. Smith, author of Darkhaven and illustrious spymaster for the Alliance of Worldbuilders. After all, no one ever suspects the robin…
Stay tuned afterward, because I’ve got all the deets on a great Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post!
KK: To take a page from your book, tell us a bit about yourself – any illogical fears, unusual birthmarks, whether you’d rather wrestle a bear or punch a shark, that kind of thing. 🙂
A.F.E: I’m a professional editor, a whenever-I-can writer and a mother of two young children. I’m also an occasional robin.
Illogical fears I have aplenty, including moths, spiders and other assorted invertebrates. Then there’s drowning … I hate the idea of drowning … and blood and heights and being buried alive. Oh, and mould. I hate mould. But other than all that, I would make a perfectly good fantasy hero.
Rather than a lightning-shaped scar on my forehead, I have a large orbicular birthmark on my knee. In other words, I have a great big freckle. Still, that’s got to mean I have a Destiny, right?
I would never wrestle a bear, or punch a shark. I am a vegetarian and therefore coexist peacefully with all living creatures, except those that have a tendency to crawl around on my walls.
KK: What about Darkhaven? What’s it all about?
A.F.E.: The short answer: shapeshifters and murder.
To kick off this fun-filled week of fantasy goodness, I’ve got a guest post for you about fantasy and murder from A.F.E. Smith. Stay tuned afterward, because I’ve got all the deets on a great Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post!
It’s no secret that fantasy is, and always has been, my favourite genre. There are many reasons for that, but one very good one is that the sheer number of possibilities it opens up to a writer is breathtaking. Fantasy has no limitations except for your own imagination and your ability to convince your reader to suspend disbelief.
Yet for that reason, writing fantasy can feel like being handed a bottomless bucket, pointed in the direction of an infinitely wide pick’n’mix stand, and told to take as much as you want. And if you’re me, that might result in something like this.
I like birds. And unicorns. And shapeshifters. So let’s have a flying unicorn shapeshifter! Duels to the death, always good. Add them to the bloody murder and general mayhem. Airships, sure, why not? Bit of romance. Bit of mistaken identity. Swords, yes, gotta have plenty of swords … oooh, guns! Hmm, swords or guns … what? Swords AND guns? Don’t mind if I do. And a walled city. No, a double-walled city. No, a SEVEN-walled city.
Bored am I. How to tell, do you know?
Playing with Photoshop I’ve been. Practicing with selfies, too. Happy Monday! 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Lunchtime in the trenches!
I wouldn’t have it any other way. Unless, of course, that other way involved actually getting paid for writing stuff. 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
The local Kum & Go is having a summer-long special: any size fountain drink for a buck.
That’s right – 52 ounces of sweet, sweet writing fuel for $1.00.
Meanwhile, the cheapest grocery store in town is charging $1.75 (including tax and deposit) for a 20 oz. This seems like a no-brainer to me. 🙂
What’s your writing fuel of choice? Or, for the non-writers among you, what’s your caffeinated beverage of choice?
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Yesterday was a crazy day, and today wasn’t a whole lot better, which is my poor excuse for forgetting that the lovely Viv Drewa was hosting me on her blog yesterday. I feel awful that I forgot, but at least I remembered now!
She has a wonderful website full of lots of interesting things, which you should totally check out. And if the mood moves you, you can read my poem about writing poetry. 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 