Celebrate: Thanksgiving & Giveaways

For those in the US celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoyed your holiday, and here are some Thanksgiving laughs for you!

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 Friday Freebies posts -

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

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Nov 25, 2016:

Free Download of Sexy Shapeshifter Romance Novelette – FREE download of Fierce Wanderer by Liza Street, about  a woman trying to escape from her drug-dealer ex-fiance, who’s also the town sheriff, and the sexy man she meets while on the run. (For more info go the Romance Novel Giveaways blog.)
Download Fierce Wanderer FREE here: 
Amazon-- https://www.amazon.com/Fierce-Wanderer-Sierra-Pride-Book-ebook/dp/B01F3VAUD2
B&N-- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fierce-wanderer-liza-street/1124564728?ean=2940153382708
Kobo-- https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/fierce-wanderer
iTunes-- https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/fierce-wanderer/id1150836963?mt=11&at=10lMeE

Free New Book of Your Choice – Win any November release of your choice up to $20. Open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to your address. Enter the rafflecopter on the Books and Wonderful Things blog. (ends Nov 30)

Free YA Mystery Paperback – Win The Amateurs by Sara Shepard (the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Little Liars), about a Veronica Mars type and her group of friends who are determined to solve a murder cold case. Enter via rafflecopter on the YA Books Central blog. (ends Dec 4)

Free YA Signed Fantasy Paperback – Win Faete by Aimee Oswald Sellars, about fates, family secrets and magic colliding in a dark and twisting tale of love, lies, loss and obsession. Enter via rafflecopter on the YA Books Central blog. (US only; ends Dec 4)


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: Indecision & Giveaways

I sure was crowing about getting a lot done last week (working on both my WIPs and a new cover and formatting for Soul Cutter, and a bunch of stuff).  I was so busy patting myself on the back I didn't notice the hole in front of me until I fell in. 

This week's been Lexa's Productivity = 0; Confusion & Indecision = 1.

I got the book cover design finished, but I had to decide on the font for the title.  Easy, huh?  I researched the ones other dark fantasy authors were using. But who knew trying them all out would take me 5 days to see what does and doesn't work, what is free and lisensed, and that in the end I'd be satisfied with none?  Plus my CPs gave a thumbs down on my new chapters.  They're emotional ones.  I write chase scenes and plot twists like a pro. But gooey, emotional scenes? I write like a 5th grader and not one of the smart ones.

But as Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart says:

So I'll eventually decide on a title font, figure a way to weasel my way through the emotional scenes, and get more things done this coming week!

* I have an interview on Roadie Notes this week. Drop by and say "Hi" if you have time. :)

If you're a writer, are you better at writing action or emotion?  

If you're not a writer, do you ever have a project which seem simple but turns out to be anything but?


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 Friday Freebies posts -

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

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Nov 18, 2016:

Children’s Book Giveaways (‘Cause Christmas is Coming!)

Free $36 Value Children’s “Nuggies” Coloring Books – Win 1 of 5 Gift Boxes that hold 4 volumes of the Nuggies series coloring books, 24-crayon box, and a Nuggie plush toy. 20 additional winners will receive one new release Nuggies coloring book ($5.95 value). Enter via rafflecopter on the Children’s Book Review site. (ends Dec 1)

Free Non-Fiction Book for Children Ages 7-10 --  Win Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. “SOME PIG,” Charlotte the spider’s praise for Wilbur, is just one fondly remembered snippet from E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. In Some Writer!, the two-time Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet mixes White’s personal letters, photos, and family ephemera with her own exquisite artwork to tell his story, from his birth in 1899 to his death in 1985. Enter via entry form on the Children’s Book Review blog. (ends Dec 6)

Free 6 Classic Story Books – Win the Modern Master series of 6 Story Books by such authors as acclaimed American playwright Arthur Miller and Pulitzer Prize-Winning American Poet Richard Wilbur (value $60). Two additional winners get a 4 book prize pack (value $40). Enter via rafflecopter on the Children’s Book Review blog. (ends Dec 1) 

Free Children’s Books and YA Book – Win 5 books in 5 separate giveaways, including The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 1: Locker Hero by Rachel Renée Russell, Into the Lion's Den (Devlin Quick Mysteries) by Linda Fairstein,  Weird but True 8 by National Geographic Kids, Fablehaven Book of Imagination by Brandon Mull, and Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino. Enter via click-button for each book on DOGO Books. All giveaways have different expiry date between Nov 30 and Feb 15. 

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: Formatting & Giveaways

Cookie Thief!

This week I have a lot to celebrate!
1) I actually got back to writing my Alaska WIP.  I revised 4 rough-drafted chapters and put them in my CP group forum for crits. Yay!
2) I did the rough-draft outline of my Paris WIP! 
3) I got my first royalty statement from my publisher, Freedom Fox Press. It was niiiiice!
4) My first novel, Soul Cutter, now has a new cover and the ms is formatted for Kindle. I've been a busy bee! I was pretty nervous about formatting. It was easier than I expected but harder than Smashwords formatting and took longer. Luckily, I'm only doing an ebook of Soul Cutter. Now that I have the rights back from my previous agent and the publisher, it will be re-released late this month or the beginning of December.

New Release From Alexia Chamberlynn!

Huntress Found

Book #1 of The Timekeeper's War series

by A. A. Chamberlynn

Blurb:

      Evryn’s got mad skills at playing hide and seek. She can find lost children, hack the most secure databases, pretty much anything. Except for the one thing she desires most: the knowledge of who her parents are, why they abandoned her, and what her special talent means about who and what she really is.

      So, when a guy named Seeker appears quite literally out of nowhere, claiming to know about her past and offering her a job, Evryn can’t say yes fast enough. Even if it does mean following him to another realm. As in, mind-blowingly, not Earth. Apparently she’s part of an elite clan of Hunters descending from Artemis who can find just about anything in all of time and space. As the last of Artemis’ direct lineage, Evryn is her clan’s best shot at finding a lost city before rival clans do.

      Not just any city, but the flying, realm-hopping city of Skye. Aboard Skye is the Artifex, a magical device with the power to create or destroy worlds. Everyone wants the device, and with Evryn’s super-powered lineage, it means everyone wants her, too. It’s hard to decide who she can trust, even within her own clan. After she discovers a strange, alluring connection to the Artifex, she’s not even sure she can trust herself. Worse yet, the only person who may be able to help her is the Timekeeper, the sadistic ancient being who created the Artifex. An interdimensional war is brewing, and Evryn is right at the epicenter of it all. 

      Let the hunt begin.

Buy Huntress Found at:     AMAZON      B&N      iTUNES      KOBO

Contact A. A. Chamberlynn:    Website     Blog     Twitter     Facebook     Pinterest     Instagram     Goodreads Author

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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 Friday Freebies posts -

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

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Nov 11, 2016:

Free 2 YA Dystopian Signed Paperbacks & Swag – Win Awaken and Ascension (Books 1 & 2 of the New Bloods series) by Michelle Bryan, about a girl with special powers in a world that’s been taken over by aliens. The author is giving away both novels, bookmarks, and a necklace via rafflecopter on the YA Books Central blog. (ends Nov 16)

Free YA Fantasy Romance Novel – Win Moon Chosen: Tales of a New World by New York Times Bestselling Author P.C. Cast, about a girl with special abilities, her unusual familiar, and a handsome boy from a rival clan fighting to save her people. The author is giving away 5 copies of the novel via rafflecopter on YA Books Central blog. (US and Canada only; ends Nov 18)

Free Erotic Romance and pack of Delicious Almonds – Win Lily in Blue (erotic romance) by Peggy Su, about a woman’s whose anonymous one night stand gets complicated when he turns out to be her friend’s step brother and is determined to win her over. Enter via Entry Form on the Romance Novels Giveaway blog (US only; ends Nov 23). 

Free $25 Amazon Gift Card & Holiday Romance Novel – Win Remember (Holiday Romance) by Joan Carney, about a woman who loses her memory in a freak accident and the one man who can help her. The author is giving away a $25 Amazon card and an ecopy of the novella via rafflecopter on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog. (ends Nov 16)

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: Thank you & Giveaways

The Only Thing to Fear is --

Ducklings!

This week I'm celebrating:
1) My regular internet connection came back 4 days after the giant rain storm, so I won't have to go to their office and complain. Yay!
2) Even though it might seem I wasted my money paying for another connection when I only needed it for 4 days, there was no way to tell if the regular connection would come back after 4 days or 4 weeks.
3) If it would have happened on a Monday, maybe I wouldn't have freaked out. But it was on a Thursday when I write my Celebrate post! I treasure all the Celebrate The Small Things members and all those who stop by my blog.  I love reading everyone's posts, and I feel like I'd let you down if I disappeared and didn't post or visit.  In Jan 2015, when I took over hosting the Celebrate hop from VikLit, I wrote her: "Unless I'm in the hospital or dead, I promise to post every Friday and do my best to visit other participants." And I've done so every week for almost 2 years -- and no giant rain storm will ever stop me!

My sincere thanks to eveyone who visits my blog. You keep me motivated. You keep me going. You make it a pleasure to be in this blogging community! :)

There are 2 NEW RELEASES this week:

     A murder enveloped in pain and mystery...

     When Canada's retired Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner, is murdered in his home, the case is handed to Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal man tortured by his wife's unsolved murder.
     The suspect, 60-year-old Sally Warner, still grieves for the loss of her two sons, dead in a suicide/murder eighteen months earlier. Confused and damaged, she sees in Corporal Killian a friend sympathetic to her grief and suffering and wants more than anything to trust him.
     Danny finds himself with a difficult choice—indict his prime suspect, the dead minister's horribly abused wife or find a way to protect her and risk demotion. Or worse, transfer away from the scene of his wife’s murder and the guilt that haunts him...
Buy:        AMAZON    B&N    KOBO   DANCING LEMUR PRESS

Joylene Nowell Butler is the author of three suspense novels: Dead Witness, Broken But Not Dead, and the steampunk collaboration Break Time. 

She lives with her husband and their two cats Marbles and Shasta on beautiful Cluculz Lake in central British Columbia. They spend their winters in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico.
Contact:    BLOG   TWITTER   FACEBOOK    GOODREADS  

      Blake Herro is a cop in the Cleveland Police Force. Ever since he was a child he wanted to do right by the city he loved by cleaning up the streets and protecting its citizens. Red, a notorious mobster, has other plans.
      On a bitter December night, ten police officers are drawn into a trap and killed by Red’s followers. Blake wants to bring down the Mob to avenge his fallen brothers and to prevent other cops from being murdered. Except the only way he can do that is by infiltrating the Mob.
      Every minute he’s with these mobsters he’s in danger. Around every corner lies the threat of coming face to face with a gun. Will he make it out of the Mob alive or will he be their next victim?

Buy:   AMAZON     B&N     KOBO     WILD ROSE PRESS

30 Seconds, the story that follows 30 Seconds Before, is on sale for 99 Cents. Get it at this discount so you can read the entire story from start to finish!

Buy:     AMAZON     B&N     KOBO     WILD ROSE PRESS

Chrys Fey is the author of the Disaster Crimes Series (Hurricane Crimes and Seismic Crimes), as well as these releases from The Wild Rose Press: 30 Seconds, Ghost of Death, and Witch of Death. She is an administrator for the Insecure Writer's Support Group and heads their monthly newsletter.
Contact:    WEBSITE     BLOG     FACEBOOK     TWITTER   


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 Friday Freebies posts -

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

Here are Foxy's suggestions for Nov 4, 2016:

YOU CAN STILL GET THESE 2 FREE DOWNLOADS:

Free Horror Short Story Collection – LAST DAY to download your FREE copy of Celebrate’s own Tamara Narayan’s short story collection “Heart Stopper and Other Stories.” The disappearance of random household items baffles Dallas Radner and his eleven-year-old daughter, Tessa. Ten plastic bags, nine ballpoint pens...what's next? This odd countdown should end on November 1, The Day of the Dead. That's also Tessa's birthday and the one-year anniversary of her surgery, the day her heart stopped on the operating table. Dallas almost lost Tessa then. On this November 1, one thing will vanish forever. Will it be his daughter?
Download the collection FREE from Monday Oct 31 – Friday Nov 4 on Amazon.

Free Download of Time-Travel/Paranormal Romance Novel – LAST 2 DAYS to download your FREE copy of MOONLESS (1st book in the Maiden of Time series) by Crystal Collier. A girl in 1768 England is amazed by her transformation into a beauty and horrified by the arrival of murderous wraiths. She must decide whether to escape an arranged marriage and join the man she loves to fight off the dangerous threat. (MOONLESS is free to promote the release of TIMELESS, the 3rd book in the series). 
Download the book FREE from Tues Nov 1 – Saturday Nov 5 on Amazon.

Free MG Comedy/Thriller/Horror Novel – Win a copy of Monsterville by Sarah S. Reida, about a 13-yr-old girl who wants to be a filmmaker and finds a friendly monster to be the star when her sister is taken by not-so-friendly monsters that live Below, she must be brave enough to get her back. The author is giving copies to five winners via rafflecopter on the YA Book Central blog. (ends Nov 10)

Free 2 Signed Paperbacks YA SciFi/Dystopian – To celebrate the release of The Gauntlet (Book 3 in The Cage series) by Meagan Shepherd, about teens who must fight in a competition to earn their freedom from a universe taken over by corrupt humans and dangerous aliens, the author is giving away the first two books in the series, The Cage and The Hunt, via rafflecopter on the YA Books Central blog. (ends Nov 10)

Free $20 Amazon Gift Card and an MG Thriller Novel – Win Curse of the Boggin (The Library series Book 1) by D.J. MacHale, about 13-yr-old Marcus who’s having enough trouble in school without being haunted by a ghost who wants to give him a key to a mysterious library. Enter via rafflecopter on the My Book Addiction blog. (ends Nov 7)

Free $25 Amazon Gift Card – To celebrate the release of Dangerous Kiss (Erotic Romance) by Crystal Kaswell, about a woman who’s heart was broken by her rock-star ex-boyfriend who finds herself irresistibly drawn to him when he comes back to town, the author is giving away a $25 Amazon card via rafflecopter on the Romance Novel Giveaways blog. Few entries = Good chance to win! (ends Nov 9)


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: Happy Writer

Insecure Writers Support Group question for November is:

What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

Good Reviews! Praise!

It feels like hot soup on a cold winter's night.  Snuggling into freshly laundered sheets. Knowing that your favorite movie's coming on that night and getting out the popcorn popper. The beauty of the first snowfall of the year.  A hilarious LOLCat vid when you really need a laugh.

Even more than making me happy, it feels like a big relief. Whew! I worked so hard and I did it right!

I'm reminded of when Sally Field got an Oscar and she cried with happiness and said, "You like me! You really like me!"



There are a lot of things you can't control in publishing.
1) If your CPs and betas will spot everything that needs to be fixed.
2) If your publisher will do all they can to push your book and be open to change if things need to be tweaked.
3) Even if your publisher will still be in business a year from now. (Many publishers I know have gone out of business in the last 6 years.)
4) If your marketing and promotion will reach people.
5) Amazon suddenly pulling reviews because they don't understand the difference between a FB friend and a fan.
And the big one:
6) Sales.

All those things can go badly wrong and there isn't a thing you can do about it.

There's only one thing you control -- the content and quality of your writing, and there's no way to judge that until reviews start coming in.  

When the reviews are very positive, it makes me so happy!!



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.