(Almost) Free Fiction Friday: Frozen Fairy Tales

Winter is not coming. Winter is here.

As unique and beautifully formed as a snowflake, each of these fifteen stories spins a brand new tale or offers a fresh take on an old favorite like Jack Frost, The Snow Queen, or The Frog King.

From a drafty castle to a blustery Japanese village, from a snow-packed road to the cozy hearth of a farmhouse, from an empty coffee house in Buffalo, New York, to a cold night outside a university library, these stories fully explore the perils and possibilities of the snow, wind, ice, and bone-chilling cold that traditional fairy tale characters seldom encounter.

In the bleak midwinter, heed the irresistible call of fairy tales. Just open these pages, snuggle down, and wait for an icy blast of fantasy to carry you away.

With all new stories of love, adventure, sorrow, and triumph by Tina Anton, Amanda Bergloff, Gavin Bradley, L.A. Christensen, Steven Grimm, Christina Ruth Johnson, Rowan Lindstrom, Alison McBain, Aimee Ogden, J. Patrick Pazdziora, Lissa Marie Redmond, Anna Salonen, Lissa Sloan, Charity Tahmaseb, and David Turnbull to help you dream through the cold days and nights of this most dreaded season.

On sale until January 25th! This anthology includes my story Simon the Cold, which I wrote during one of the coldest winters ever. It seems fitting that it found a home in this anthology.

Weekly writing check-in: and that’s a (final for now) draft

I have a draft! Well, actually, I had one before. This is a draft that other people can read. Or will be as soon as I add in the chapter breaks.

But wait! Doesn’t it all ready have chapter breaks?

Um, no. About that …

This is an odd thing I do. I write in scenes. Once the story is done, I look at what I have and figure out where I want the chapter breaks to fall (usually on some sort of cliffhanger). So I need to do that, get the manuscript into the proper format, and send it off.

In other news, the Dating on the Dork Side promotion went very well. As a lovely bonus, author Allison Rhodes featured the book on her website, in a post that highlights what she loves about the first page or so. It’s a cool feature on her blog, and if you’re a writer, you might want to check it out.

And … Prolific Works saw fit to feature In a Manner of Speaking as well this week and created a spiffy graphic for it as well. If you haven’t grabbed your free copy yet, head on over. But I warn you: this is most likely the saddest story I’ve ever written.

 

Free Fiction Friday: Dating on the Dork Side (one day left!)

One day left to grab Dating on the Dork Side for free over on Amazon.

All’s fair in love, war, and hacking …

Stung by an epic betrayal, Camy Cavanaugh relies on the sure things: her best friend, her job as peer tutor, and her safe spot on the sidelines of life. But when she hacks into a secret, trash-talking website, it ignites a war between the sexes that won’t end until the whole school is turned upside down–and Camy’s world is turned inside out.

Now the hottest girls in school refuse to date the A-List boys. But with the Homecoming dance looming, everyone from the queen bee to the girl “most likely to” pushes Camy to hook them up with guys from the nerd herd.

And then there’s quarterback, A-lister–and former crush–Gavin Madison. He hasn’t spoken to Camy in three years … but he’s talking now, begging her to pair the guys on the football team with girls from the Honor Roll.

It’s a contest of wills and everything is on the line–even Camy’s heart. Will she retreat to the sidelines, or will she find the courage to get back in the game?

This contemporary young adult novel won the 2016 International Digital Awards, in the Young Adult Novel category. Read on for a tech-savvy twist to Lysistrata.

If you haven’t grabbed your Kindle copy yet, now’s the time to do so. Just click through to Amazon US or Amazon Everywhere.

Free Fiction Monday: Dating on the Dork Side (five days only)

Surprise! It’s Free Fiction Friday Monday! Between today and Friday, January 11th, Dating on the Dork Side will be absolutely free over on Amazon.

All’s fair in love, war, and hacking …

Stung by an epic betrayal, Camy Cavanaugh relies on the sure things: her best friend, her job as peer tutor, and her safe spot on the sidelines of life. But when she hacks into a secret, trash-talking website, it ignites a war between the sexes that won’t end until the whole school is turned upside down–and Camy’s world is turned inside out.

Now the hottest girls in school refuse to date the A-List boys. But with the Homecoming dance looming, everyone from the queen bee to the girl “most likely to” pushes Camy to hook them up with guys from the nerd herd.

And then there’s quarterback, A-lister–and former crush–Gavin Madison. He hasn’t spoken to Camy in three years … but he’s talking now, begging her to pair the guys on the football team with girls from the Honor Roll.

It’s a contest of wills and everything is on the line–even Camy’s heart. Will she retreat to the sidelines, or will she find the courage to get back in the game?

This contemporary young adult novel won the 2016 International Digital Awards, in the Young Adult Novel category. Read on for a tech-savvy twist to Lysistrata.

If you haven’t grabbed your Kindle copy yet, now’s the time to do so. Just click through to Amazon US or Amazon Everywhere.

Weekly writing check-in: 2018 in review

I am charging through the read-through of The Trouble with Necromancers. Once that’s done, and I do a quick check for grammar and typos, I’ll send it out for editing.

That makes now a good time to review 2018.

2018, by the numbers:

2018 was a strange year, for so many reasons. For me, one of the main ones was losing my good friend and writing BFF, Darcy Vance (you can read my tribute to her here). She died about a year ago, and navigating my creative life without her has been difficult. For a bit, I thought I would stop writing altogether.

I didn’t, obviously. Darcy wouldn’t want me to. Still, this year was full of me trying to find my way again, on my own.

Writing. Eh. Not as much as I wanted to or would have liked. That being said, I started the year with an unfinished, very thin draft of The Trouble with Necromancers, and I ended up with something I think/hope works as a series starter, along with ~six books planned.

I switched gears early in the year. I was thinking of focusing on a fairy tale series, but the world building wasn’t there. I switched to a contemporary story because that would be “easier” (ha, ha). What I think happened is I learned a lot about building a series and world from scratch.

I do plan to return to the fairy tale series, but probably not this year. (Then again, when it comes to writing, I never say never.)

I also wrote a novella (soon to be a full-fledged novel) in the Tea & Sorcery series. I also had the chance to write a story that takes place in one of my favorite series. The author extended the invitation, so essentially, it was fan fiction. It was also a lot of fun to do (and necessitated rereading the entire series, of course). I’ll let you know if/when it’s published.

Submissions. I sent out 25 submissions this year. I didn’t write any new stories for the short fiction market, so most of those were either stories I haven’t sold yet or reprints.

I made two sales:

I’m still waiting on a handful of 2018 submissions as well.

Books. I published one book, Straying from the Path. This is my fairy tale compilation, and I was so certain I’d follow it up with more fairy tales. And … someday I will.

What I did do this year is rebrand all my offerings. In doing so, I managed to snag a BookBub Featured Deal for Coffee & Ghosts 1: Must Love Ghosts. That was a big deal. That was a very big deal.

I’m pleased I took the time and effort to re-do all the covers. It really made a difference in the next category.

Money. I’m from the midwest. We don’t talk about money, at least not willingly. But in full transparency mode, how is this indie publish thing working out for me?

Pretty okay. This is the second year in a row that I’ve made five figures. Not living-wage five figures, mind you. Still. Enough that this is certainly worth my while. Plus? It’s fun.

But this whole money thing brings me to my goals for 2019:

More books, new books, new formats (audio, large print, and so on). But especially new series and new things for people to read. That’s really been my goal all along: things for people to read.

Let’s see if I’m up to the task in 2019.

Free Fiction Friday: Fantasy Firsties

Resolve to read more in the New Year!

The Fantasy Firsties giveaway has a little bit of everything: paranormal, epic fantasy, supernatural. From knights to witches and back again, you’re sure to find a new series for the new year.

Happy 2019 and happy reading!

Weekly writing check-in: third draft!

Just a quick post–and a day late–to say that I now have a third draft! I used all my free writing time this week, my blogging time, and time I’m not sure I really had to do a deep dive into the manuscript itself.

I ended up in another one of my Jo March writing tears. Although without the hat. I really need to get a hat.

More next week. I hope to recap 2018, such as it was.

Happy New Year!

Weekly writing check-in: excavating plot threads

Kitty, taking a break between reps, asks the eternal question: do you even lift?

Some progress this week. I started work on a short story. I also did some serious work on the Tea & Sorcery series. I added to my character connections chart and created a new one for plot threads. Oh, but I have a lot of plot threads. My backstory has backstory.

But it’s coming together. I discover something new each day (and that’s a lot of fun). It’s like being an archeologist on a dig, uncovering something that’s been there for ages rather than making things up in my head (although, technically, I am).

I’m pleased. I’m also relieved. There’s a reason I haven’t made a lot of progress in actual writing lately. I needed to follow all these story threads to where they begin so I can figure out how they all come together in the end.

It feels very much like a holiday gift.