Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 82

HELP WANTED: Book Launch Team Members!

I've got a busy schedule for the next YEAR (or two or three ...) with a new book coming out, or a revised book re-releasing, EVERY OTHER MONTH.

Want to be part of that?

Want to get the inside scoop on upcoming books?


Want to get Advance Review Copies of coming books?

Want a chance to be the first to post reviews?
Want a chance for fun thank-you gifts and members-only online gatherings, where we can chat and you can make suggestions for stories about favorite characters, or ask questions about people you haven't seen in stories for a while, or even make requests? 
Here's what we're doing: 
From now until the middle of 2022 (well, that's what happens when you are revising and re-releasing and writing 5 new books, for a total of 13 books, every other month!) I will be releasing a new or revised Neighborlee, Ohio fantasy novel.

I need YOU to be my launch team, my street team, to get the word out there and help the world know there's a fun, freaky little town where magic tries to seep through into our world -- where outsiders don't notice anything, but for residents it's, "Ho, hum, so what else is new?"

That's NEIGHBORLEE, OHIO.

Email me and sign up to join the team.
Please?
MichelleLevigne @ gmail.com

The Adventure: Life is What Happens (and gets in the way) When You Make Big Plans

Sorry, gang ...
You're stuck with me today because no fellow writers have sent me anything for this week.
So what do we chat about?

Okay, how about setting GOALS ....

... and what happens when you do set goals, and the universe seems to conspire to make sure you do everything BUT what you wanted to do, and stop you from accomplishing what you not only WANT, but NEED to accomplish by a certain point?

For instance: I wanted to do a first draft of a middle grade science fiction book by the end of May, because I want to pitch it at a writing conference in July. Barely got 5,000 words written by Sunday. So I'm hoping to get the first draft done by the 10th of this month, because I want to rough draft the next book in the Match Girls series by the end of the month. Rough drafts can be skimpy and pitiful, because the important thing is to get SOMETHING down on the page. Then I can go back and fix and fill in holes. You can't fix a blank page.

But I signed up for the Book Launch Blueprint course from Author Media/Novel Marketing Podcast, hosted by Thomas Umstadtt and James Rubart and ... WHEW! A lesson to listen to every day, plus homework, plus conversations with other students on the Facebook page. Homework? At MY age?

Okay, not so bad, I can still write and do lessons ... except that the "day job" threw a humongous editing job at me, a RUSH job, which means I spend 2 hours on my class every day, and try to spend 2 hours on writing every day (would prefer 4), and the rest of my day is spent editing, so I feel like I'm getting nothing done. Exercise. Errands. Housecleaning. Social life. (I know what that is in theory, anyway ... not so much in practice ...)

But I've made commitments -- to the nice publishers who give me work, to my teachers and classmates, to the publisher I want to sell to, and to my readers, who are waiting (I hope) for the next book in my snarky/humorous romance series.

So I try to get something done on ALL my obligations every day. Even if I'm not reaching my goals, I'm getting SOMETHING done, and eventually, after a lot of struggle, I will accomplish something and mark SOMETHING done on my goals list.

That's what it means to be a writer.
And yeah, that's what it means to be a grown-up.
That's the Adventure of .... life in general.
Depressed yet?

New Release Samples: FRIENDLY FIRE

Published by Ye Olde Dragon Books
www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
Available now in print and Kindle/Kindle Unlimited

"Got a problem?"
Later, Genys would swear the man's voice was just as greasy-gritty-rancid as the body odor that wafted over her left shoulder, as the speaker stepped up behind her. She met his gaze in the mirrors behind the rotating service pod in the center of Friggley's.
Gleaner. A captain, according to the garish assortment of brightly colored enameled bits of metal sewn or glued all over his long tunic. Speculation said that smell added just as much to a Gleaner's rank as the number of pilfering missions he survived, and how much profitable loot he could haul away.
"Getting there." She couldn't decide if the Gatesh Green was a good idea, or just an invitation for the Fates to open the doors of the nearest garbage chute of bad luck right on her head.
As if they hadn't already?
"Aww, the cute little captain-girlie's having a bad day, boys," the Gleaner growled, ending on a squeak. How he managed that without damaging his vocal cords, she couldn't imagine. She really wished he would. "What's your ship, sweetie?"
Genys turned on her bar stool. Friggley's was one of the few bars left in this half of the galaxy with stools that spun. If she was drunk, that might be fun. Nobody got drunk on Tullian spicewater. Maybe she could turn really fast and hold her arm out, and the Gleaners would be polite enough to run into her fist?

New Release Sample: FRIENDLY FIRE

TODAY is the print release of the first book in a new SF adventure series:

FRIENDLY FIRE
AFV Defender 
Book 1

Back Cover Blurb:


Captain Genys Arroyan has a problem with her shiny new command -- the dregs of the universe are laughing.

While the Defender is in spacedock, getting upgrades, Genys has to deal with mind-hunters and farting fur balls, merchants-of-insanity and diplomatic intrigue. Her Chief of Talents is hiding from forced matrimony and her new crewmembers aren't too happy to be transferred to the Nanny Ship.
Then she finds out that the insectoid Hivers have a taste for the brains of the children of her crew. Falling through a Chute to another galaxy might turn out to be a good thing, even if dangerous.
A rescue mission turns into a battle to save a race of miniature dragons from genocide. They might just be sentient -- but more important, dracs could turn out to be the defensive weapon the Alliance needs against the Hiver threat. Genys and her crew could end up breaking dozens of regulations in the quest to save dracs and maybe the Human race.  Just how much trouble could teleporting, fire-breathing creatures with the personalities of four-year-olds cause on board a military vessel?
The misfit luck of the AFV Defender might finally be running out.
Published by Ye Olde Dragon Bookswww.YeOldeDragonBooks.com

Update: GOALS

(The plan is to check in every Sunday and tally up what I've accomplished, and add any new goals to the list. Feel free to jeer if I don't get at least half this list done this month!)

MAY GOALS LIST as of 05/02/20:

YOUNG DEFENDERS BOOK 1: Outline, 1st draft
Done -- Outline
Started draft 1

Tweak 4 published Commonwealth Universe novels
Done -- The Lady and the Order, Fever,  University, Leap Ships, Aramar


CHECK IN NEXT SUNDAY WITH A NEW, ENORMOUS LIST OF GOALS FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE.

Off the Bookshelf: THE NAME OF THE WIND, by Patrick Rothfuss

Audio Book
Audible
Book 1 of the Kingkiller Chronicle

Okay, I just have to start with, "Wow ....."

And not just because this was over 27 hours, and because of quarantine I just wasn't out, driving around, taking 2-1/2 hour trips to meetings, so it took me a month to get this book listened to.

This is amazing world-building, incredible detail, so much thinking went into creating the time and place and characters.

And it's frustrating, because after 27 hours ... the story is just getting started.

Our hero, Kvothe, is only 16, going on 17, in the narration, when this first volume ends.
Plus it's a story-within-a-story. Kvothe has been cornered by a scribe who realizes who he is, despite being disguised as a mild-mannered innkeeper in a backwater town, and the scribe has demanded his story. So Kvothe is telling the story, with many interruptions that reveal the world is facing troubled times, and danger and evil is finding even the backwater towns and attacking.

Coming-of-age, hero's journey, whatever you want to call it, Rothfuss does an incredible job, making his flawed hero real, making the listener care. There were times I wanted to yell at my iPod, "No, don't be so stupid. Don't go there. Don't do that. You're smarter than that." But of course Kvothe didn't listen ...

What's it about? So very much. Magic and loss, danger, adolescent stupidity, grudges, injustice, the struggle for survival, the creeping approach of ultimate, world-destroying evil, people doing the best they can, friendship ...

Wow.

New Release Sample: CONFESSIONS OF A LOST KID

When the tour group of eight got to the second room off the restored lobby, which was the locker room, something weird happened. As far as I could tell, I was the only one who saw the green, glow-in-the-dark gas that seeped up through the cracks in the tile floor and streamed out through the vents in the rusty old locker doors. I watched those streamers swirl around for a few seconds. They turned into tentacles like an octopus, except without the suction cups, and reached across the room to us. Nobody reacted. Not even Mr. Wellington, when one of those tentacles curved around his shoulders and flicked at his coat.
I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen, because the greeny-glowing tentacles were transparent. Common sense said they were just gas. Except would gas act like that? There wasn't a breeze in the room to explain the movement if it was just gas.
One tentacle wrapped around Mr. Wellington's throat, and he choked. I opened my mouth to scream.
The tentacles vanished, just popping out of existence in silence. Mr. Wellington went on telling funny stories. The men and women who had used this locker room, during different phases of the factory's history. The different things that had been manufactured here, depending on the economy or what was needed in the rest of the country.

Nobody else seemed to have seen the tentacles, otherwise they would have said something, right? Of course, I saw them, and I didn't say anything, so how could I be sure? The freaky thing was that Mr. Wellington seemed to forget he was choking, the moment the tentacles vanished. As if he hadn't really felt them, or hadn't been choking at all.
So what had I seen, if what I saw didn't happen?
When in doubt, go to Mum and Pop. They investigated the really weird, after all.

The Adventure: SANDRA MERVILLE HART, The Story Behind the Story, part 2

Yesterday I shared how my Civil War romance, A Rebel in My House, was born. Today I’d love to tell you a bit about my current writing adventure with you. You’re welcome to come along, but strap in—it’s always a bumpy ride.
You see, I spend a lot of time in the Civil War era … while researching and writing my novels, that is. I have to research for months until I understand what the citizens and the soldiers endured. Then I’m ready to write the novel.
I’ve begun writing my next Civil War series. This one deals with the spying that went on during the war. My research has been a real eye-opener to these widespread and far-reaching effects of spying.
My three-book series is set in the capital cities of Washington DC (Union) and Richmond (Confederate). Book 1, Avenue of Betrayal, is set in Washington DC (commonly still called Washington City during the Civil War.) The number of Confederate sympathizers living mere blocks from President Abraham Lincoln shocked me.
Loyalties divided the best of friends—and even loving, close-knit families. My series will show the harsh realities of a country at war with its former citizens, igniting strong feelings and sparking tragedy. Historical figures will pop in here and there in these fictional stories.
I had planned a research trip to Richmond and Washington DC this spring before the country shut down. This has been postponed until the museums reopen. Though months of research have already birthed my story, this trip will add flavor and authenticity.
With a stack of research books nearby, I’ll keep writing Avenue of Betrayal. In the meantime, I invite you to read my other Civil War books—A Stranger on My Land, A Rebel in My House, and A Musket in My Hands.  

About Sandra:Connect with Sandra on her blog , Facebook, Twitter , Pinterest , Goodreads , Amazon Author Page , and BookBub .

The Adventure: SANDRA MERVILLE HART, The Story Behind the Story, part 1

Yesterday I shared how my Civil War romance, A Rebel in My House, was born. Today I’d love to tell you a bit about my current writing adventure with you. You’re welcome to come along, but strap in—it’s always a bumpy ride.
You see, I spend a lot of time in the Civil War era … while researching and writing my novels, that is. I have to research for months until I understand what the citizens and the soldiers endured. Then I’m ready to write the novel.
I’ve begun writing my next Civil War series. This one deals with the spying that went on during the war. My research has been a real eye-opener to these widespread and far-reaching effects of spying.
My three-book series is set in the capital cities of Washington DC (Union) and Richmond (Confederate). Book 1, Avenue of Betrayal, is set in Washington DC (commonly still called Washington City during the Civil War.) The number of Confederate sympathizers living mere blocks from President Abraham Lincoln shocked me.
Loyalties divided the best of friends—and even loving, close-knit families. My series will show the harsh realities of a country at war with its former citizens, igniting strong feelings and sparking tragedy. Historical figures will pop in here and there in these fictional stories.
I had planned a research trip to Richmond and Washington DC this spring before the country shut down. This has been postponed until the museums reopen. Though months of research have already birthed my story, this trip will add flavor and authenticity.
With a stack of research books nearby, I’ll keep writing Avenue of Betrayal. In the meantime, I invite you to read my other Civil War books—A Stranger on My Land, A Rebel in My House, and A Musket in My Hands.  

About Sandra:Connect with Sandra on her blog , Facebook, Twitter , Pinterest , Goodreads , Amazon Author Page , and BookBub .

The Adventure: SANDRA MERVILLE HART, The Story Behind the Story, part 1

This is the “story behind the story” of how my Civil War romance set during the Battle of Gettysburg, A Rebel in My House, was born. 
Something drew me yet again to Gettysburg. I knew a story awaited me. My husband and I walked the battlefields. Ideas stirred when I found Tennessee troops with the brigade who began the fighting on the first day. Nothing solidified so I kept digging.
I discovered fascinating history at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum. Surely my story touched this place. After spending several hours wandering the museum and surroundings … nothing. I trudged on.
I explored Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center, Gettysburg Museum of History, Gettysburg Railroad Station, General Lee’s Headquarters Museum, and The David Wills House where President Lincoln stayed. I learned intriguing facts at the Jennie Wade House, Shriver House Museum, and “The Women of Gettysburg Tour,” an evening walking tour.

Ideas strengthened. My husband and I walked the town’s streets around the “Diamond”—the town square where women and children suffered a nightmare from which they didn’t awaken for many months. Then we spent another afternoon and evening at the battlefield.
Three Tennessee regiments fought the beginning battle on July 1st. They didn’t fight again until they joined in Pickett’s Charge on the battle’s final day.  
The sun sank low on the horizon as I stood alone on Cemetery Ridge reflecting over the expansive field crossed by Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863. Though the land is peaceful once more, it still tells a story. My imagination soared while the sun disappeared.
I had to tell what the townspeople endured. What if a Gettysburg seamstress fell in love with a Confederate soldier? What if they both made promises to loved ones? Some promises are impossible to keep …
About Sandra:Connect with Sandra on her blog , Facebook, Twitter , Pinterest , Goodreads , Amazon Author Page , and BookBub .