Category: Publishing

Coffee & Ghosts: series bundle now available!

 

It’s here! The series bundle.

Get all your coffee and ghosts in one volume.

Just in time for Halloween!

Coffee & Ghosts

Coffee & Ghosts is a cozy paranormal mystery/romance serial told over five episodes.

Katy and her grandmother have always used coffee to catch ghosts. It pays the bills and keeps them in high-end beans. But after her grandmother dies and a rival ghost hunter moves to town, Katy fears things will never be the same.

She’s right.

From a beguiling and charismatic ghost whisperer to her new partner’s ghost swallowing brother and even a (short) stint behind bars, Katy navigates her new reality, uncertain her skills are equal to the tasks at hand. But are these things mere distractions—or do they hide something darker, far more sinister, something that has a long-held vendetta against Katy?

To survive, Katy must uncover an ancient secret. She must brew her very best Kona blend. She will need to rely on unexpected and unpredictable allies.

To survive, she will need to trust what’s in her heart.

Read the episodes for free with Kindle Unlimited! Or grab the series bundle and save 30%!

Episode 1: Ghost in the Coffee Machine
Episode 2: Giving Up the Ghosts
Episode 3: The Ghost Whisperer
Episode 4: Gone Ghost
Episode 5: Must Love Ghosts

Also available in print.

Weekly writing check-in: the one with more keeping time

cofee and ghosts headerThis week my story Keeping Time found a new home over at Luna Station Quarterly. This is a reprint sale, but it’s especially nice since the original journal is no longer online. So, come December, Keeping Time will again be available online.

Some rejections, some submissions, and some work on a series bible for the Coffee & Ghosts series. I have a hint of an idea for an upcoming season two, and maybe a hint of one for a holiday novella. We’ll see how that goes.

Otherwise, it was a week of wrestling with tech issues, from formatting to trying to get four Girl Scouts registered to do some online first aid training. Now, you’d think that last wouldn’t be so hard. Well? You’d be wrong. I think we’ve got it now, and by this time next week, we’ll all be certified. But keep your fingers crossed, just in case.

I’ve also been playing around with Canva (lots of fun) as illustrated above.

Writing Work:

  • Final review: Print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts
  • Revision and formatting work
  • Ghost series bible and brainstorming

Submissions:

  • The Perfect Canvas
  • Incriminating Evidence
  • Gretel and Hansel

Rejections:

  • Gretel and Hansel
  • Incriminating Evidence

Acceptances:

  • Keeping Time

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with selfies at the end of the world

So … the world ended this week, and we have the selfies to prove it. Or something like that. My short story “In a Manner of Speaking” is included in the anthology from Mad Scientist Journal.

I’m still working on the very last adjustments to Coffee & Ghosts. It would go a bit quicker if this wasn’t happening:

zon

CreateSpace is all: That’s a nice file you have there. Too bad you can’t see it.

I suspect things will be up within a few hours. I did just manage to download all the new books and files to my Kindle. I can always go read. Or write. I could always go write something.

Writing Work:

  • Final print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts (almost there)
  • Revision work
  • Proofing work

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • Incriminating Evidence

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

SelfiesAntho

Selfies from the End of the World is out in the world this week. You can see more about it in my post here.

No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end.

These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, super-viruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun.

Available in print and e-book: Kindle, Nook, Print, Kobo, iTunes

Now Available! Selfies from the End of the World: Historical Accounts of the Apocalypse

It’s here! The end of the world! Or at least twenty three stories about the end of the world, including one by me, In a Manner of Speaking.

What is it about? Well, there is a clue in the anthology description below (mine’s the story with the canned peaches).
SelfiesAntho

“It would be our duty, as citizens on this earth to document its end the best way we know and if that means a second by second update of the world going up in flames, or down in rain, or crushed under the feet of invading monsters so be it.”— Shivangi Narain

No one understands an apocalypse like the people who have experienced it. Mad Scientist Journal has brought together twenty-three tales of people who have seen the world end. These accounts range from irreverent to surreal to heartbreaking. Zombies share space with global wars, super-viruses, canned peaches, and the death of the sun.

Included in this collection are Rhoads Brazos, Samantha Bryant, Garrett Croker, Nathan Crowder, Matthew R. Davis, Kate Elizabeth, Mathew Allan Garcia, Sylvia Heike, B. T. Joy, Herb N. Legend, Samuel Marzioli, Mary Mascari, Nick Nafpliotis, Shivangi Narain, Brandon Nolta, Alexis J. Reed, Natalie Satakovski, J. C. Stearns, Charity Tahmaseb, Nicole Tanquary, Kristopher Triana, Dusty Wallace, MJ Wesolowski, and Caroline M. Yoachim. Includes art by Errow Collins, Amanda Jones, Shannon Legler, and Luke Spooner.

Available in print and e-book: Kindle, Nook, Print, Kobo, iTunes

 

Weekly writing check-in: the one with behind-the-scenes

Coffee and GhostsAnother week where I do a lot, then when I sit down to post my check-in, none of it seems all that interesting.

For instance, I completed the print and e-book layout for the Coffee & Ghosts series bundle, barring a few tweaks. But I can’t really show you that. I mean, we could sit here and watch the tracking number for the proof delivery.

But that isn’t very exciting.

Well, I guess I can show you the cover.

I also did a fair amount of revision work this week as well. That isn’t so remarkable. What is remarkable is I did half of that work at a coffee shop.

I never thought those studies–about how the noise level in coffee shops can boost creativity–would apply to me, since I’m such an introvert.

I. Was. Wrong. I am seriously pleased with the progress I’ve made, in the evenings no less, while my daughter is at her dance lessons.

I wouldn’t proofread in a coffee shop, but it’s great for coming up with creative solutions to story issues.

Lesson in all this? Even if you think you know yourself and your process, it doesn’t hurt to try something new.

Writing Work:

  • Photoshop tutorials
  • Print and e-book layout on Coffee & Ghosts
  • Revision work

Submissions:

  • None

Rejections:

  • Knight in the Royal Arms

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

  • None

Weekly writing check-in: the one with cake and ghosts

Whew. The first week of September is always so busy for us. Two birthdays. Back to school. Apartment move in. A video shoot. And somehow, in all of this, I still managed to publish the last episode of the  Coffee & Ghosts serial. Read more about that here.

I also managed to send out a brand new story into the world, along with another to a reprint market.

But now? Now it’s time to go bake a red velvet birthday cake.

Writing Work:

  • Photoshop tutorials
  • Revision work
  • Ghost series bundle formatting (e-book and print)

Submissions:

  • The God of Bright Red Things
  • Incriminating Evidence (reprint market)

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

  • None

Publications:

Must Love GhostsThe final episode in the Coffee & Ghosts series, Must Love Ghosts is out this week.

Read more about it in my post from earlier today.

 

New release: Must Love Ghosts!

And … it’s here! The fifth and final episode in the Coffee & Ghosts series.

Must Love Ghosts

Katy Lindstrom knows not all problems–supernatural or otherwise–can be solved with a good cup of coffee. But it never hurts.

When the Ghost B Gone web show arrives in town, prepared to live-stream a ghost eviction on Halloween, Katy and Malcolm are on hand–just in case.

But the quirky, seemingly harmless show and its crew are a cover for something darker, something with a vendetta against Katy, something that demands a sacrifice.

This time, Katy must uncover an ancient secret. This time, coffee alone won’t work. She will need to rely on unexpected and unpredictable allies.

This time, she will need to trust what’s in her heart.

Just 99 cents or read for free with Kindle Unlimited!

 

Weekly writing check-in: the one with the everything week

Well, if last week was quiet, then this one was more than exciting. Look below. I have something in every category I track, from submissions to publications. I love that sort of week. It’s a writer’s writer sort of week.

I also continued the Photoshop tutorials, did some revision work on a couple of stories, and started getting the last Coffee and Ghosts episode ready to publish.

All in all, not a bad way to end the summer.

Writing Work:

  • Photoshop tutorials
  • Revision work
  • Ghost publication work

Submissions:

  • Gretel and Hansel
  • A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots
  • The Perfect Canvas

Rejections:

  • A Most Marvelous Pair of Boots
  • The Perfect Canvas
  • Gretel and Hansel

Acceptances:

Publications:

CicadaStoryStraying from the Path in the September/October issue of Cicada.

Look at that gorgeous layout!

Weekly writing check-in: the one with Gone Ghost

sunriselakeI was up early enough today to snap this photo at the lake. But now? Now, I’m a little tired.

So, this week. Well, there’s that reprint sale to Evil Girlfriend Media–my second. Fabulous market with fabulous stories, and it’s nice that The Girl with the Piccolo has a new online home now that Kazka Press is offline.

I sent out a story this week, kept up with classes, and of course, launched another ghost story into the world. I also squeezed in some tutorials (I worked on InDesign last year–time to tackle another program).

Writing Work:

  • Story Focus class (second chapter of Wired for Story)
  • Lit class: The Great Gatsby essay done ~ 1,000 words
  • Tutorials: Photoshop

Submissions:

  • Knight in the Royal Arms

Rejections:

  • None

Acceptances:

Publications:

 

Gone GhostEpisode 4 of the Coffee & Ghosts serial is now available! You can buy or borrow Gone Ghost over at Amazon.

Ghost in the Coffee Machine is still free to read and includes an excerpt from the second episode, Giving up the Ghosts.

You can read more about what’s up in episode 4 in my post from yesterday.

New release: Gone Ghost!

And … it’s here! The fourth episode in the Coffee & Ghosts series is live.

Gone Ghost

 

Katy Lindstrom is pretty handy at capturing ghosts with nothing more than coffee and some Tupperware. She’s an expert at catch and release as well. She’s never once returned a ghost to a client.

Until now.

After rival ghost hunters roll through town, exorcising haunted objects, and roll out again with some of those very objects, suspicion falls on Katy. Clients stop calling. The police chief thinks she’s guilty. And a dear friend’s Purple Heart—and its ghost—goes missing.

Katy and Malcolm devise a plan to retrieve the Purple Heart—and clear Katy’s name. A plan that defies the police chief’s orders, and one that includes a whirlwind tour of Malcolm’s alma mater and haunted frat house.

But the big city offers more than bright lights and adventure. Something has lured Katy here, something dark and sinister with an agenda of its own.

This time, Katy has stepped into a trap. This time, everything she thought she knew—about ghosts, Malcolm, and herself—will change forever.

Just 99 cents or read for free with Kindle Unlimited!