Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 114

Book Festival This Weekend, Columbus, Ohio

The Faith and Fellowship Book Festival is THIS WEEKEND!Plan on attending?Hope to see YOU there!
Where is Etna? Look for Columbus, OH and then look to the right/east. Better yet, just plug the address into your map app. Check out this link and see all the authors, all the different kinds of books, the panel discussions available. Oh, yeah, and BOOKS to buy.
I mean, come on, it's time to start CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!
I'm gonna be there -- I hope to see YOU!

Book of the Week: HAVE YOURSELF A FAERIE LITTLE CHRISTMAS

This continues the feature on books set in my weird little town of NEIGHBORLEE, OHIO.
Think of a place that's part Mayberry, part Roswell, part Eureka, and part Buffy's Sunnyvale -- but without the vampires or aliens.
Yeah -- MAGIC!A little creepy at times, a lot of fun, and always something going on. For those who live there, the odd events are kind of shrugged off with a, "Ho, hum, so what ELSE is new?" attitude. And what's really odd is that newcomers don't really notice. Of course, then there's the "we don't want you here, go away" vibe that some people get, so they don't stick around long enough to notice something strange is going on.

All of this is leading up to the release of the next Neighborlee, Ohio book published by Uncial Press: DORM RATS. Otherwise known as Growing Up Neighborlee, Book 2.
HAVE YOURSELF A FAERIE LITTLE CHRISTMAS
Maurice -- the exiled, shrunken Fae with wings even Tinkerbell would scorn--has one wish: to be real for Holly, the librarian. In her dreams, they are in love, but she doesn't remember or see or hear him when she's awake. He is only allowed one day, four times a year, to be full-sized, able to talk with her and try to win her heart. Christmas is coming, and his next day as an ordinary man. As he waits impatiently for his rendezvous with Holly, life goes on in Neighborlee, Ohio. Albeit, life in Neighborlee isn't what most people would call normal. Especially when three couples come to town with various magical dilemmas to resolve.

Bethany is a local girl who became a Hollywood starlet. All she wants is an ordinary Christmas, sans paparazzi. With the help of Harry and his malfunctioning invisibility spell, she just might get it. And a lot more.

Wilfred and Philomena are best buddies, and their Fae relatives want them separated so each one can find their true love. But what happens when your true love is under your nose, and you can't convince him – or her – of that important little fact?

Lori is allergic to mistletoe, and on the run from her aristocratic relatives who want to pair her with an "appropriate" Fae man. She hides out in Neighborlee and meets Brick, who has some romantic interference problems of his own. He believes in magic – but can he believe in Fae or will he think she's insane when she tells him the truth?

Christmas is the most magical time of the year – especially for Fae in search of love in Neighborlee, Ohio.

Off the Bookshelf: HOW TO MARKET A BOOK, 3rd Edition, Joanna Penn

There's a very good reason why this is the 3rd edition of this book: Authors read it, need it, use it -- and the frightening jungle of marketing your own book keeps growing and changing and coming up with new possibilities and hurdles and traps to overcome.

The author learned everything she is passing along by DOING. By paying attention and figuring out what worked, what didn't, and why.

Of course, there's the old adage that 50% of marketing works, but no one is quite sure which 50% it is.

You have to figure out what your book needs, what the specific market and audience might be, and then what will work in those specific circumstances.

One important piece of advice the author repeats: Don't try to do it all . Depending on your progress in the whole writing-and-promoting-and-marketing journey, you won't be ready to do it all, you won't need to do it all, and trying to do it all will drive you crazy, along with using up time and energy you still need to pursue your writing career.

Starting with the basics of marketing principles and book fundamentals, then moving on to tricky things like platforms, social media, self-publishing tips, book launches, video, podcasts, advertising, and more, you can figure out exactly what you need, what you should do, and what you're able to do. Start small, start slowly, build up confidence and skill, and expand your reach when it feels right for you.

This is a book writers can keep going back to again and again, adding to their arsenal. And as the market and marketing possibilities and opportunities change, there will probably be new editions, to take it all in.

BLADE OF INNOCENCE, Highlander the TV series fan fiction

Excerpt from Chapter 6 of the fan novel now available on Wattpad:
            "Duncan MacLeod," Immerman breathed.  For two seconds he stared, then a bright smile lit his face and he held out both hands.  "I cannot tell you how grateful I am you were here to protect our Darcy."
            OurDarcy?  Duncan felt a shiver go up his spine, but he hid the sensation behind a smile and shook Immerman's hand.
            "She really didn't need much help," he said.  "Give her a length of pipe and she's a one-woman army."
            "There were three of them, Uncle Karl," Darcy said.  "Dad took one, Duncan got the other, and I got the one who did this to me."  She gestured at her bandaged arm.

            UncleKarl? Duncan had a very odd feeling about this.  It made sense, he supposed.  Immerman had probably been the one who sent Darcy to him for lessons, then.  And yet, Immerman was the last person Duncan would expect to send him students.
            "Three of them?  What have I told you about risking yourself, dear child?" Immerman shook his head. "If you can stay around for a while and teach some caution to this girl of ours, I'd appreciate it, MacLeod.  It seems that the centuries of experience her father and I share aren't enough to impress her.  Someone new might do a better job."
            "I'll try."  Duncan glanced at Darcy.  She rolled her eyes in disgust, mixed with embarrassment -- like any teen-ager.  He grinned at her.
            "While you're here, do let me show you around.  I'm rather proud of what we've accomplished so far."
            "We?"
            "Karl is our trouble-shooter and fund-raiser," Geneva said.  She nodded toward the door, pausing in throwing the scraps of bandage and dirty gauze into the covered wastebasket.  "He finds suppliers and saves us money every time we turn around.  We wouldn't be halfway where we are now without him."

Book of the Week: DIVINE'S EMPORIUM

Published by Uncial Press:

Excerpt:

"You must be Maurice," a woman said, and her voice came from high overhead.
Okay, he liked tall women, but this was ridiculous.
Before his neck could get a cramp from looking up and up and up, Maurice's perceptions changed, and he realized that this heart-shaped face and waterfall of hair in ten shades of gold and cinnamon weren't particularly tall. He was very, very short.
Unable to resist, he looked over his shoulder. Wings. Butterfly-shaped, glistening, iridescent, lacy, rainbow-streaked wings fluttering like the lashes of a coy maiden flirting with him, moving a little faster the longer he looked at them. Maybe if he turned around and pretended they weren't there, they would fade away. Fae hadn't had wings for thousands of years.
How could they do this to him?
"Cute, but not you," the woman said. That was laughter sparkling in her big blue eyes, and putting a rich tone in her voice, but she didn't smile. Somehow, her sympathy and attempt not to hurt his feelings just made the whole situation worse. "Especially not with those Italian shoes. I hope you won't end up with permanent holes in that sweater. Cashmere?"

He barely restrained his tongue and changed his words to something less offensive. "Who the heck cares?" Maurice had always been a quick study, and he put all the pieces together here within a few seconds, despite his head reeling from the utter indignity--five inches tall, and wings no self-respecting Fae would wear to a costume ball! "I suppose you're my probation officer?"

Book of the Week: DIVINE'S EMPORIUM

Excerpt:

Blackness took over. It could have lasted for a heartbeat or a year, or a decade.
That was the irritating thing about the Fae realms, and life in the Fae enclaves. Time didn't run in synch with the Human world, and other Fae didn't have the fine respect for clocks and calendars--and the baseball and television seasons--that Maurice did.
He blinked and found himself sitting on a backless wooden stool, pinned under a spotlight inside an ocean of blackness. He was in his own body--at least his captor had let him wear comfortable clothes, his favorite slate gray cashmere sweater and matching slacks and his new Italian loafers--and he had iron manacles around one wrist and both ankles, attached to iron chains. The leg chains extended into the darkness beyond the pool of silvery-blue light. The arm chain led up into the air, vanishing in the darkness just beyond the stream of the spotlight. No matter how Maurice turned, he couldn't see what it was attached to.

Common sense said not to get off the stool. It was more than possible there was no floor, no ceiling, and no walls in this room--if he was in a room at all.
"Come on, guys! Do you know how much work I put into that scheme? Let me finish the game, at least. The guy was a bully. He deserved what I was going to give him."
Maurice winced as his words seemed to hit a wall a hundred miles, or maybe a hundred years away, and were absorbed. Chances were good that whoever had yanked him away from Sunrise--just at the culmination of his game!--wasn't even listening. Or if he, she, or they were listening, they weren't going to respond.
That was what he would do, if he was on the Fae Disciplinary Council. Lock up the miscreant, leave him alone for a while to squirm and protest and sweat, and then bring him out for judgment. 
Eventually.
It was the eventuallypart of the formula that worried Maurice.

Book of the Week: DIVINE'S EMPORIUM

This week starts a long string of books set in my weird little town of NEIGHBORLEE, OHIO.

Think of a place that's part Mayberry, part Roswell, part Eureka, and part Buffy's Sunnyvale -- but without the vampires or aliens.

Yeah -- MAGIC!
A little creepy at times, a lot of fun, and always something going on. For those who live there, the odd events are kind of shrugged off with a, "Ho, hum, so what ELSE is new?" attitude. And what's really odd is that newcomers don't really notice. Of course, then there's the "we don't want you here, go away" vibe that some people get, so they don't stick around long enough to notice something strange is going on.

All of this is leading up to the release of the next Neighborlee, Ohio book published by Uncial Press: DORM RATS. Otherwise known as Growing Up Neighborlee, Book 2.

The first Neighborlee book is DIVINE'S EMPORIUM.

Maurice used his Fae magic to help the downtrodden and abused. But when he went too far, the Powers-That-Be decided he needed to learn humility, self-restraint, and mercy. They took away most of his magic, shrunk him down to 5 inches, and slapped wings on his back that no self-respecting Fae would be caught dead in. Then they exiled him to the Human realms, to work out his sentence helping Humans.

His destination: Divine's Emporium, a curiosity shop touched with magic, on the edge of the odd town of Neighborlee, Ohio.

His parole officer: Angela, the proprietress of Divine's Emporium, touched with magic and a shadowy past of her own.

His sentence: Help the Humans who come into Divine's to find answers, freedom, their own magic, and true love. Not necessarily in that order.

His problem: How does a five-inch-tall Fae, invisible to most Humans, win the heart of the ugly duckling who has caught his interest, his sympathy, and then his heart--when she can't see or hear him?

Off the Bookshelf: WRITING SUCCESS, Your Book from Start to Finish to Publication

Featuring writing advice and guidance and how-to from names in the writing business:

Karen Ball
Erin Taylor Young
James Scott Bell
Mary Demuth
Tricia Goyer
Cindy Coloma
Erin Macpherson
Allie Pleiter
Susan Mary Warren

Got some questions about a part of preparing to write your book, writing it, revising and editing it, promotion? You can probably find an answer in this book. Or what's better, ideas for how to handle your problems. One great thing about this book is the authors offering their advice are honest enough, humble enough, to tell you that just because it works for them, that doesn't mean that's the ONLY way to handle that part of the writing process. We're all different. We all have different viewpoints, different needs, different barriers. Take what you learn from this book and adapt it to suit your needs. Don't ever cripple yourself by forcing yourself to do it the way someone else does, exactly as they do it, just because that person is famous.

This is a BIG book. There is a lot of useful information in here. Take your time going through it. Even if the section you're reading doesn't deal with anything that's giving you a problem. Probably in the future you will have trouble, and you might just have an easier time because of what you read here. Of course, you'll have the book to refer to in the future. Just saying ...

BLADE OF INNOCENCE, Highlander the TV series fan fiction

Excerpt from Chapter 5 of the fan novel now available on Wattpad:

            Duncan tried three doors before he found one that was open.  The sign above it advertised the soup kitchen and the food cupboard, the latter open twenty-four hours.  He walked down a short hallway smelling of fresh paint and sawdust, which opened out into a long room filled with tables and folding chairs.  The far wall had a four-foot high gap, starting at waist height, running the entire length of the wall opening into a kitchen full of stainless steel tables and cabinets, stove and massive refrigerator.  It was also full of people, moving back and forth between the work tables and the stove.  Duncan checked his watch.  It was nearly ten in the morning.  He smelled the mixed aromas of chicken broth and tomatoes, baking bread and cinnamon.  How soon would the first hungry customers come trickling through the door behind him for their lunch?

            "Can I help you?" a woman said, pausing in the doorway, a few feet down from the serving window.  "We're not quite ready to serve lunch yet, but there's plenty of food left over from breakfast."  She was little more than a woman shape, lost in the shadows, but as she started across the long room to meet him, details became clear.
            Blue jeans, washed until they were faded almost white; a long, golden, tunic-style shirt with the sleeves rolled up and water spots down the front.  She had a red-and-white checkered cheesecloth dishtowel caught through the belt of her shirt, and she wore sandals that clicked softly across the gleaming, clean green tile floor.  Her eyes were bright blue, her face heart-shaped, with only a few wrinkles around eyes and mouth to mar her ivory and gold-toned skin.  Duncan knew those lines came from laughter, not anger or fear or pain.
            Those bright blue eyes widened.  She reached up to tuck a few platinum blonde curls behind her ears as she stared at him.
            "Duncan?" Geneva whispered.  A nervous laugh broke out of her.  "Duncan MacLeod, is that really you?"  Laughing, she spread her arms wide and hurried the last few yards to meet him.

New Book: JENNIFER, Quarry Hall 11

Excerpt:

A flash of green-tinted light startled them both. She and Su-Ma darted around the back of the truck, even as Jennifer wondered if that was smart, or she should go back for the fire extinguisher in the back of her Jeep. She skidded to a stop at the sight of Vincent and George stepping down from the open back of the truck, waving away smoke tinted gray-blue in the working lights that illuminated the narrow workbench down the middle of the truck.
"You're not gonna pass out on us, are you?" Su-Ma said, wrinkling up her nose as a dissipating tendril of smoke drifted past her face.
"If I do, I'll let you know." Vincent winked at them both.
That was encouraging, Jennifer decided.
"Is it dead?" she had to ask, and glanced at the workbench. She couldn't see the silver box or any signs of a small explosion taking place, such as a black ring burned into the surface.
"If it ain't," George said, shifting his shoulders a little, as if to straighten them, "it will be." His eyes narrowed and he stared at something inside the truck for a few seconds. Then he grunted and reached for the side of the truck to haul himself up the step.
"What happened?" Su-Ma asked, when Vincent stayed outside with them. "Do you know what it is yet?" 
"A couple steps up from all the gear they tried to sneak in on you and Haley," he said after a moment's delay, when Jennifer thought he hadn't heard them.
"So …" She wasn't ashamed when a shiver ran through her, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Puck leaned against her thigh. "Who are you calling first? McAllistair and all his sneaky connections, or Col. Sidarkis?"