FREE Graphics & Countdowns, Plus Celebrate

I'm so excited because I have the best news for you!  Nothing is more important than promotion when publishing a book  You've got to get your cover out there, not only on your site, but on friends/fans sites as well.  Now, there's a wonderful guy -- Ben Ellis -- who can take your cover art and make buttons, badges, and countdown clocks and it's ... wait for it ... FREE!!  Here are some samples (just thumbnails) of his work:

And in case you didn't know, 

finding a book countdown clock is really HARD.  

Ben made me a great one -- and he can make you one, too!

Here's a sample:

Go to Ben Ellis's website, Book Graphics & Countdowns, to see more great samples and find out how you can order your own!

CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS

I got bogged down with work this week, so my sincere apologies to blogger peeps I haven't visited recently. *blush*

This week I'm celebrating:
1) If I can crit 20k tomorrow and finish someone's ms, I'll accomplish the last of my "January To-Do" list by the actual end of January!
2) My dentist is back from vacation, which is good news for the tooth I broke over Christmas. :P
3) After all the encouragement I've gotten, I'm getting closer to being brave enough to enter the A-Z Challenge!

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! 

Featuring Kim Graff & Celebrate

I have CPs I treasure, all of whom are in a private group -- except one.  In an amazingly serendipitous star-alignment, I met a YA author online who loves Horror as much as I do.  She's so smart and talented, has helped me a lot, and has now embarked on an exciting new venture! Take it away, Kim!

First, I want to say thank you to Lexa for letting me on her blog!  Isn’t she awesome?

So I’m Kim, a freelance editor, cover designer, book swag creator, and an intern at P.S. Literary Agency.  Today I’m going to talk about five easy tips that will help anyone who plans on revising their manuscript.

Read your work aloud: Reading your work aloud actually helps a lot.  Or, better yet, having someone else read your work aloud.  You can hear how the words flow together and if there’s an awkward moment better than if you simply read it in your head.  When someone else reads it to you, you catch even more of your mistakes.

Print it out: This advice surprised me the first time I tried it.  I thought: seriously?  I was raised using a computer.  Why would I ever print something out like that?  It’s so old school!  But then I tried it and wow.  I caught so many grammatical errors and typos that I missed when I was revising on my computer.  It helps to see your work in a new way.  If you don’t print it off, I would recommend changing the font style and the size.

Step away: It can be hard to do, but you have to step away from your project for a while.  It’s hard, I know.  You want to finish it.  Maybe you’re hoping to publish your work yourself.  Maybe you just want to get to the querying stage.  The truth is, you can query too soon and you can publish too soon.  Once you start querying, you can’t take back a sent email.  When it comes to self-publishing, you can always replace an original with an updated version, but you really only have one first try.

Always give yourself time away from your project.  I recommend a few weeks, if not a month.  Work on something else in the meantime.  When you return to your work, it’ll be with a fresh eye and you’ll catch a lot more of your errors.

Cut repeat words/phrases: This is probably the number one mistake that I see when I’m working on my client’s manuscripts.  They have certain words (usually adverbs or adjectives) that they love to repeat, but can’t see it until it’s pointed out.  It’s hard for you to see your own favorite words repeated over and over.  That’s when the next tip comes in handy.

Have someone else read your work: Beta readers, critique partners, and freelance editors are great resources.  Outsiders have a way of seeing problems or plot holes in your manuscript that you never considered.  Everything makes sense in your head because you know your characters, you know your plot, and you know the world of your book, but sometimes it doesn’t make sense to the reader.  They don’t know what you know.

For the next 14 days, I’ll be giving a 10% discount on all services if you contact me and mention you were referred to me by this post!

About Kim Graff

Kim Graff is a cover designer, a writer, an intern for P.S. Literary Agency, and a book blogger.  She offers critique services and creates covers and swag for authors.  She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Horror Writers of America, Association of Writers, and Historical Novel Society.

Her short story, THE BLIGHT WITHIN, was published in the Winter 2013 edition of Under the Juniper Tree Magazine.   Another one of her short stories has been named a finalist for Project REUTSway.

CELEBRATING THE SMALL THINGS

This week I'm celebrating:  
1)  Kim's covers!  Look at those beauties!  It makes me wish I was self-pubbing just to have one of those gorgeous covers!
2)  Hubby's home but despite the distraction, I'm powering through.  I've written almost 5000 words this week.  Yippie!
3)  Regarding the April A-Z Challenge, I'm proud to announce I've graduated from 

Abject Terror

 to 

Considering the Pros and Cons:

For those who've done the A-Z Challenge, what are the pros and cons of participating?  

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! 

Road to Somewhere, Giveaways & Celebrate

Exciting stuff today!

Two of my Inklings Literary Agency sisters are revealing the cover of their novel, Road to Somewhere, coming out from Bloomsbury Spark.  They have a giveaway for an ARC of the book.  Woohoo!  I have a guest post and a giveaway of Soul Cutter at Unicorn Bell! Plus, I'm celebrating.  Read on for more!

New! From Bloomsbury Spark, a sunny heartwarming story of discovery and sisterhood. 

A road trip. A singing competition. And super-hot cowboys. 

What could be better? 

For Charlie, a post-high school road trip isn't just a vacation, it's life changing. While her parents think she's helping a friend move, a chance at fame is the real reason to grab her best friends and drive to L.A. But when her super annoying, uber-responsible, younger sister, Lucy, has to tag along, it isn't quite the summer of fun she imagined. 

Add in a detour to her grandparents' ranch in Texas, and between mucking the stalls, down-home cookin’, and drool worthy ranch hands, this could just turn into the best, and most complicated, summer of their lives.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My guest post

Getting an Agent

is up at Unicorn Bell!

Plus, there's a chance to win a free ecopy of

Soul Cutter

Leave a comment and enter the rafflecopter.

CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS

Today I'm celebrating:
1)  The tourist biz isn't going well in Egypt (no surprise, right?), and my hubby's hotel has now cut him down to part time hours.  So why am I celebrating?  I'm celebrating he still has a job at all.  Many who we know don't.
2)  An awesome post by Mooderino made me realize my new WIP's main character doesn't have urgent enough goals.  Ack! Writerly meltdown! Quick -- replot everything!  So why am I celebrating?  It's a lot better to know things like this early than late, right?  Plus, I discovered I just have to re-do the motivation, which was easy!
3)  With hubs home more (due to lay-off) and taking up more of my time, I have less time to write.  So why am I celebrating?  He's kinda sweet and has been offering to cook.  Now if I could just get him to offer to do the cleaning, since I do 95% of it...

What percentage of the cooking and cleaning do you or your significant other do around the house?

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! 

IWSG: Keep Staring

Or

If I stare at my Inbox long enough...

An agent's offer will appear.

My submission will be accepted.

My CPs will send me the critique.

Sure.  Just keep staring.

We all know what the answer to this is --> "Write something new."

But it's hard to concentrate when you have that burning itch to Go Look.  So you distract yourself by... Going to Facebook!

And everyone's like:  "I just wrote 15k in one day!!"  "I just released a novel!!"  "My editor bought my next three books!!"  "My book hit #9 bestseller on Amazon's Victorian Suspense> Twin Heroines> With Bouffant Hair> And Purple Eyes  list!!" 

Oh, look.  Everyone's doing great except for you.  Time to binge on the ice cream, crawl into bed, and pull the covers over your head.  

But there's something worse than no good news.

There's nothing.  Zip.  Nada.  Because you never asked for a critique.  Because you never sent the query/submission.  Because you got discouraged.  Got busy.  Got fed up.  And stopped trying.

I recently lost a member of my CP group.  A really talented writer.  Because this person couldn't continue to take the sting of rejection while others in the group were getting offers and pubbing.  It makes me SO SAD... But maybe it's a phase and this CP will find their way back to the group.  I really hope so.  But I know one thing for sure -- this person will never get an agent or get pubbed if they just quit.

There's only one sure way to succeed --> "Keep Trying."



Have you known anyone who quit writing?  Did they ever return to it?



This is a post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh.  It exists so the community of blogging writers can share and support each other, blog-hopping to cheerlead and commiserate.  To find out more, visit: Insecure Writer's Support Group.  Plus, check out the IWSG Website for lots of helpful info and links.

An Unstill Life Release, Winners & Celebrate

 

Available Now!

An Unstill Life

Things at home are rough for fifteen-year-old Livvie Quinn. Jules, her beloved older sister is sick again after being cancer free for almost ten years.  Her mom becomes more frantic and unapproachable every day. School isn’t much better.  Just when she needs them most, her closest friends get boyfriends and have little time for Livvie – except to set her up on a series of disastrous blind dates.

Livvie seeks refuge in the art room and finds Bianca, the school ‘freak’.  Free-spirited and confident, Bianca is everything Livvie isn’t. Shaken by her mom’s desperation, her sister’s deteriorating condition, and abandoned by her friends, Livvie finds comfort and an attraction she never felt before with Bianca.

When their relationship is discovered, Livvie and Bianca become victims of persecution and bullying. School authorities won’t help and even forbid the pair to attend the Winter Formal as a couple. If Livvie defies them and goes, she risks expulsion and further ridicule from her classmates. At home, her mother’s behavior escalates to new levels of crazy and Jules is begging for help to end the pain once and for all.

While searching for the strength to make her life her own, Livvie must decide how far she’s willing to go for the people she loves.

GLTB YA
Publisher: Musa Publishing  

About The Author

Having spent a lifetime travelling the globe, Kate Larkindale is currently residing in Wellington, New Zealand.  A cinema manager, film reviewer and mother, she’s surprised she finds any time to write, but doesn’t sleep much.  As a result, she can usually be found hanging out near the espresso machine.

Her short stories have appeared in Halfway Down The Stairs, A Fly in Amber, Daily Flash Anthology, The Barrier Islands Review, Everyday Fiction, Death Rattle, Drastic Measures, Cutlass & Musket and Residential Aliens, among others.

She has written eight contemporary YA novels, five of which other people are allowed to see.  She has also written one very bad historical romance.  She is currently working on a new YA novel that is still looking for a title other than its Twitter hashtag, #juvvielesbian.

Author Links
Website: http://katelarkindale.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vampyr14
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4086706.Kate_Larkindale


NOTE FROM LEXA: Kate is one of my awesome CPs, and her lyrical and emotionally powerful style make her the best writer I know.  Livvie, the mc of An Unstill Life, has synesthesia -- she smells colors and sees sounds, which are captured in brilliant descriptions by Kate.  An Unstill Life will sweep you off your feet with its beautiful imagery and the heartbreaking challenges Livvie faces.  I cannot recommend it enough!  <3

'TIS MORE BLESSED WINNERS!

The winners of the Christmas/New Year's Giveaway for copies of Soul Cutter are:

Jess Haight

T.B. Markinson

Congratulations!

CELEBRATE THE SMALL THINGS

This week I'm celebrating:

1)  NEW YEAR'S!  I'm so thankful for all the fabulous people I've met in 2013 as well as the friends I've grown even closer to.
2)  I threw out my last WIP (sort of a habit with me), but I have a NEW one I'm very excited about.  I'm crossing my fingers, hoping this one will stay in the "Oh!  Shiny!" stage and not graduate to the "Look!  Squirrel!" stage.

Have you had WIPs that you threw out because you lost interest?

This post is part of VikLit's blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is follow the link and put your name on the Mr.Linky list, and then be sure to post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever!