Celebrate: Respite & Giveaways!

This week I'm celebrating:
I'm giving my thanks to whoever lowered the temp on the planetary oven.  Now Egypt is only baking, not burning, and everyone's grateful for the respite!

Vacation over?  Kids back in school? Are you ready for summer to end or would you like it to last a little longer?

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then 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! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Aug 28, 2015:

A Set of 12 FREE SF/F Novels – The set of 12 novels are completely FREE to download. For more info on the authors and books plus the links to the vendors where you can download, go to Catherine Stine's Idea City blog. Go get your FREE set of 12 novels NOW – I have!! 

Free Collection of Short Stories – Celebrate’s own L.G. Keltner (Writing Off the Edge) is offering her collection of Sci-Fi stories for free. I’ve read it and was very entertained! To get your free ebook go to Smashwords.

Free YA Contemp Novel, $25 Amazon Gift Card, and Another Free eBook – Congrats to Medeia Sharif who's released a new book! It's called Hot Pink in the City. To celebrate, she’s giving away that book, a $25 Amazon card, and winner’s choice of any of her other ebooks. Enter via rafflecopter on Beverly Stowe McClure blog. (ends Sept 5)


Free With Restrictions:

Free Sci-Fi Dystopian Novella – L.G. Keltner is offering her novella, Silent Soliloquy, for free if you agree to review it and do a bit of promo for it. For the offer and her rules and restrictions go to the Writing Off the Edge blog.

Free Sci-Fi Short Story – Alex Cavanaugh is offering his new short story “Dragon’s Destiny” for free. It’s a post-quel to his novel Dragon of the Stars and is only available to those who’ve read the novel. For the offer, rules and regulations, go to Alex J. Cavanaugh blog.


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate: Heat Wave Comics & Giveaways

This week has been the hottest in Egypt this summer with temps between 105 - 112 F (40-44 C) every day. 

This week I'm celebrating:
1) Air-conditioning.
2) Air-conditioning!
3) Air-conditioning!!

How are you surviving the heat wave?

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar **

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then 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! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for , 2015:

Free Poetry Collection – Celebrate member Nissa Annakindt (My Antimatter Life Blog) is offering her poetry collection FREE! You can download your copy now on Smashwords.

Free YA Fantasy eBook – win 1 of 5 ebook copies of Strange Country Day by Charles Curtis about a boy who discovers he has superhero powers via rafflecopter on the Mythical Books blog. (ends Sept 12)

Free Paranormal eBook – win 1 of 5 ebook copies of Into the Dark by Carline T. Patti via rafflecopter on Mythical Books blog. (ends Sept 12)

Free Thriller eBook – win The Collector by Anne-Laure Thieblemont about the seamy side of the Paris art world via Entry Form on the page at the I Wish I Lived in a Library blog. (ends Aug 30)

Free Contemp Romance + $50 + $20 Amazon Gift Cards – win Nobody’s Angel by Sarah Hegger or a $50 Amazon card or a $20 Amazon card via rafflecopter on the Mythical Book blog. (ends Sept 6)



For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate: Roll Call & Giveaways!

This week I'm celebrating:

1)  I completed revising a chapter and am working on finishing another one. Yay!
2) I found a way to make visiting the members of Celebrate the Small Things easier.  I copied the blog addresses for every member on our linky and put them into a separate Blogger blog roll.  (See it at the bottom of left sidebar.)  Now I don't have to click through to the blogs of all the members to see if they've posted or not.  I can see at a glance who has a new Celebrate post up and go visit those who do.  Since we now have 52 members (WOW!!) this is a great time saver, and I suggest you make your own blog roll like I have.  :) 
3) With a little help from Megaphone Man, I'm spreading the word about others celebrations:

Celebrate's very own Tanya Miranda has something wonderful to celebrate!  Today is the release of her novel THE BOX OF SOULS!  Woohoo!

Blurb: Although Jasmyn was overlooked to inherit her grandmother's magic, she learns she has powers of her own.  Resentment and envy are a dangerous pair, but when doused with magic, the chaos it creates is unimaginable.

Buy links: Amazon  B&N  Kobo  iBooks  Smashwords

Denise Covey and Yolanda Renee have re-opened “Write…Edit…Publish!” It's an exciting monthly flash fiction challenge (1000 words or less).  This month’s challenge is called “Spectacular Settings” and takes place Aug 19-26. Read the rules and sign up on the Write Edit Publish blog.


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then 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! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Aug 14, 2015:

Free eBook – Celebrate’s own Shah Wharton is giving away one of her ebooks—a psychological horror story called “Rosa and Bella’s Journal of Decline”—as a free gift when you subscribe to her newsletter. To get your FREE copy, go to this Shah Wharton Newsletter link & subscribe!

Free eBooks and Print Books From 12 Authors – In celebration of reaching 5000 Twitter followers and 500 Facebook likes, Eileen Schuh has gotten 12 author friends to pledge their books in a giveaway.  Enter via rafflecopter on the Eileen Schuh blog. (ends Sept 4)

Free YA Fantasy Novel - Kimberley Afe is giving away one paperback copy of Fallen Grace by Katie Roman. To enter just leave a comment on the Meetings With My Muse blog. (Ends August 18th/U.S. Only)

Free Fantasy eBook – win Guarding Angel by S.L. Saboviec via rafflecopter on the My Book Addiction blog. (ends Aug 27)

Free $50 Amazon Gift Card or Cash To Paypal – To celebrate the release of the inspiration biographical book No Excuses: The Story of Elite Gymnast Aimee Walker-Pond by Adam U. Kempler, he’s giving away $50 as a Amazon card or straight to Paypal as cash via rafflecopter on Beverly Stowe McClure blog. (ends Aug 30)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

Celebrate: It's All Good & Giveaways!

My 3 week break from writing/revising has been very good for me.  I've totally de-stressed!  :) 

Since April, when I got new accounts for "L.X. Cain" on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, etc., I've been doing more than I can handle.  Besides writing/revising my novel, I got frenzied building new social media networks, and I worked on 3 short stories -- revising and updating them, creating covers, formatting, pubbing them, and doing lots of promos.  I got so busy I completely gave up TV and rarely went outside. (Don't even ask about my personal hygiene.) 

When all I do is hurry, hurry, hurry, I tend to lose perspective and start making mistakes.  One of the biggest was being determined to pub my novel in Oct, which meant I had to finish the first draft in July, leaving Aug and Sept for revisions, beta and CP feedback, and more revisions.

Although Oct is a great month to sell horror stories, I was forgetting all the work and planning that go into releases.  When MuseItUp released SOUL CUTTER in Dec 2013, I started going after book bloggers and reviewers in September.  It takes them that long to put your book in their queue and then review it.

This week I'm celebrating coming to my senses!

I want to put out a great book, not a fast book.  And that will take as long as it takes until I'm satisfied it's the very best I can do.

Do you work better under pressure -- or do you end up getting over-anxious and forgetting things?

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=79cd691b-a101-48a4-8603-4d22bb6626d8"> </script>

 Celebrate the Small Things. To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then 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! (Originated by VikLit)

Foxy's Friday Freebies!

Foxy has been nosing around the net. 

When she finds great FREE STUFF, she'll feature it on Fridays Freebies posts -

• Free short stories, novellas, and novels
• Giveaways for books and swag
• Free services for authors

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Aug 7, 2015:

Free $5 Amazon Gift Card and 5 Free Books – The fabulous TB Markinson has done it again!  She’s bringing you a new selection of awesome books to win in the month of August!  In addition to a $5 Amazon card, a lucky winner will receive In Name Only by Carol Kilgore, Dead Witness by Joylene Nowell Butler, Magno Girl by Joe Canzano, Reborn by Cherie Reich, and Necromancer by Graeme Ing.  Enter the rafflecopter link on TB Markinson’s blog. (ends Aug 31)

Free Crime/Mystery eBook – Get Girl of Great Price by Milo James Fowler FREE on all vendors. For links to vendors, go to Milo James Fowler blog.

Free GLBT Thriller Novel – Win a print copy of Ashen Rayne ~ Shadowlands Book I by Skye Knizley via rafflecopter on the Juniper Grove Book Solutions blog. (available to US residents only; ends Aug 16)

Free $10 Amazon Gift Card, Choice of Clean Teen eBook, Swag bookmarks – To celebrate the release of The Forlorned (Horror, soon to be a motion picture) by Angela Townsend, she’s giving away a $10 Amazon card, your choice of any ebook published by Clean Teen, and a swag pack of bookmarks via rafflecopter on Juniper Grove Book Solutions blog. (ends Aug 16)

Free $10 Amazon Gift Card, Paranormal Novel, Swag Pendant – Win The Soul Stone by Jamie Marchant plus a $10 Amazon card and swag (the pendant on the cover) via rafflecopter on the Juniper Grove Book Solutions blog. (ends Aug 23)



Free $50 Amazon Gift Card – to celebrate the release of Welcome to Fat Chance Texas (RomCom/Women’s fiction) by Celia Bonaduce, she’s giving away a $50 Amazon card via rafflecopter on the Juniper Grove Book Solutions blog. (ends Aug 23)


For Foxy's other Freebies, go to the Freebie page.

If anyone has a FREE short story (for download or online at a free ezine), novella, novel, special giveaway, or author service, please let Foxy know so she can plug you here!  Write to: laura.6eg(at)gmail.com

IWSG: How to Get an Agent

Do you want an agent?

I see lots of you nodding your heads.

Getting an agent isn't the huge mystery some think it is.  Yes, plain old luck -- being in the right place at the right time with the right ms --  accounts for about 40% of your chances.  However, most of it comes down to one thing.

Learn Your Craft.

About 5 years ago, I joined a small online critique group.  We wrote short stories and polished them until they sold to zines and anthologies.  Then we started writing novels.  From the original group, some people have come and gone, but about 4 of us have remained with the group all this time -- and 3 of us got agents.  Yes, that's 3 out of 4.  Coincidence?  I doubt it.

Here's how we did it.

We started a private online forum, and anytime someone found a great article on writing craft, we'd run back to the forum and post it so others could read it.  When we found writing or first page competitions that offered agent feedback, like Miss Snark's First Victim, we shared the info, joined the contests, and discussed the agent feedback we and others received.

If one of us took a class from professional authors or editors, she'd rush back to the group and share all she'd learned.  

We picked apart each others work.  We didn't get defensive or angry or have hurt feelings.  We said "Thank you," took good suggestions, and worked hard to improve our writing skills.  

We began to improve.  A lot.  

We began to win or semi-final in competitions (like ABNA or Writers Conferences).  We queried and got a few full requests.  We commiserated on our rejections and learned from them.  Then we wrote new novels and got a lot more full requests.  Then we wrote even more novels until -- suddenly -- instead of a rejection, we each got an OFFER!

*And there was much rejoicing!*

Some of you may think: 

I don't have time for a writing group.

I can't find a group I like.

The groups I find don't write in my genre.

I can't afford to buy expensive craft books.

I don't have time to go searching for articles on writing craft.

I want people who're *nice* about my work -- it's my heart and soul after all...

You have more options than you think. 

Sometimes my group goes into hibernation when we're busy with life or writing new projects.  But we eventually come back together and share crits.  We are busy people, but we are committed. And whereas local writing groups obligate you to set aside time to go to meetings, online groups just need 15 minutes for a check-in -- any free 15 minutes you can spare.

Just as reading others books is important, so is reading articles on craft.  You don't have to buy expensive books.  There are plenty of excellent online articles that are free.

You don't need to have others writing exactly your genre.  Of the three of us who got agents, one writes Paranormal Romance, one writes YA Contemp, and I write Horror (and others in our group write everything from literary to epic fantasy).  The genres are different but almost all the techniques of good writing are the same.

Be aware of agent judged competitions (like Miss Snark's First Victim, PitchWars, and SC Write Query Contest -- all free to enter and going on now), and read the feedback other readers and agents give.  Agent feedback is gold.  They rarely give it because they don't have time.  Soak up as much as you can.

If you want *nice* feedback, give your ms to your mother.  If you want to get an agent, find critique partners who know their stuff.  

You don't want an agent?  You're going indie?  Fine.

You Still Need to Learn Craft!

(If I sound unhappy, it's because I get disappointed when I pick up a book from an acquaintance on FB or wherever who has begged, "Please, please read my book," and I find things like info dumps, POV head-hopping, cliches, and no understanding of "Show Don't Tell" or basic writing craft.  It's like they don't respect their readers enough to make a serious effort.)

To help you out, here are some excellent articles on craft:

Activate Your Story by Agent Jill Corcoran -- on how to make sure you’re starting your story in the right place on Agent Jill Corcoran’s blog.

How to Open Your Story Three Dynamic Ways by Dr. John Yeoman -- on how to write openings that will make the reader keep turning pages on the Writer’s Village Wicked Blog.

Turkey City Lexicon from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) -- their list of writing "dont's," ways not to write a story, or things they've seen too much of.  (This is a great article and very funny too!)

Writing Fix: Reinvent Your Story by Linda S. Clare – on how to take a trunked novel and breathe new life into it on the Linda S. Clare blog.

Write Better: The 7 Qualities of High-Concept Stories by Jeff Lyons – on how to make sure your story premise is high concept and stands out from the crowd at Writer’s Digest blog.

How to Write Genius Characters by J.S. Morin – tips on how to write characters who are smarter than you are on the J.S. Morin blog.

Finding the Right Door to Enter Your Story by P.J. Parrish – on how to write the crucial beginning chapters to your novel at the Kill Zone blog.

10 Errors to Avoid When Writing About Guns by Benjamin Sobieck – on how to write the correct details if your characters are using guns or rifles on Jane Friedman’s blog.

Skeletons in Her Closet – The Forensics of Skeletons by Fiona Quinn – on how to correctly describe skeletonized remains at the Thrill Writing blog.

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.