Amanda LeMay's Blog, page 2

My Facebook Fan Page hit 200 LIKEs!!!

I am humbled.

Truly.

Inside there's this little overly excitable author doing a happy dance. You know, a humble happy dance.

Since I'm so excited, I'm giving away a couple of paperback copies of Kiss of the Winter Moon!





Click the link below to join in my celebration!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shadow of the Summer Moon is up for PRE-ORDER!!!

Trying to add a new book to bookseller sites when severely sleep deprived might not have been the wisest choice, but hey, I'll blame the anticipation of doing such a thing for my lack of sleep. In truth, my insomnia is probably caused by my new allergy meds. Or maybe a combination of both.

Anyway... Shadow of the Summer Moon is up for PRE-ORDER!! I'm so excited to share this second book in the Sakana Series! The ebook will go live on June 26, 2018. The paperback should release the same day or within a few days thereafter.






At this time, it's available here ~
Amazon ~ http://bit.ly/ShadowoftheSummerMoon
iBooks ~ http://bit.ly/iBooksShadowoftheSummer...
Kobo ~ http://bit.ly/KoboShadowoftheSummerMoon
Nook ~ http://bit.ly/nookSotSM

A little trivia here ~

This story never would've happened if not for a dream my beta reader, Janna, shared with me. (She has this thing for hijacking my stories and I don't mind at all!) I took her dream, ran with it, and had the most wonderful time letting it take me where it wanted to go. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Watch for my upcoming Goodreads Giveaway and Release Day Blog Tour!

Sakana Series Book 2 Is Done!

Yes, that's right! Shadow of the Summer Moon, my second book in the Sakana Series, is ready to upload to ebook booksellers!!

Well, that is, after I skim through it ONE LAST TIME. (Because I can't help myself!!!)

Then, YES! Ima clickin'' that 'download file' icon!

As soon as I have the paperback formatted version, I'll upload it too!

The feeling of self-publishing a book is a little hard to explain, but I'm going to try. It consists of equal parts, "OMG... I'm really doing this!!!!" and "OMG...what am I doing????" You know, kind of laughing and crying all at the same time, like what I did while watching The Avengers, Infinity Wars this last weekend. (Yep, I suffered all the feels.)

BUT...before I can do anything...I have to write a back cover blurb. Which, I did, but I'm still fretting over it as I type this blog post because...

UGH.

Write an approximately 126,000-word story? I got that. Condense that story down to something that fits on the back of a 6"x 9" cover? That's a whole other thing.

Anyway, if all goes according to plan, Shadow of the Summer Moon will go live in late June. I'm still waffling about the exact date, but because I self-publish, it can be whenever I want. And as soon as I make up my mind, I'll shout it from the roof tops!

A New Way to Get The Word Out...Possibly

With so many entries to my 100 LIKEs Celebration signed Kiss of the Winter Moon paperback book giveaway, I had Rafflecopter randomly pick 2 winners instead of just 1. Thank you to all who joined in my celebration, especially the winners, Sherrie M. and Amanda D., and yep, I've already sent off their books.

Now, with the excitement of my book giveaway over, I'm back to plotting/writing book 4 in the Sakana series, while I wait for the last and, hopefully, final edits on book 2, Shadow of the Summer Moon .

I'm also out looking for new and better ways to get my books out to 'the people' because Facebook really isn't the best vector for getting the word out, especially when they keep your followers from seeing your posts UNLESS you boost ($$$) them. I don't agree with that philosophy. When I choose to click the LIKE icon, I choose to follow posts from that person/company/organization without having to 'stalk' them to get updates. When I post an update and see only 2 people out of the over 125 who follow me have been reached, it's discouraging and somewhat depressing.

Anyway... all this leads to my ongoing search for a new and better place to connect with readers and other writers. One site I'm looking at quite seriously is Book+Main. It's social media, in a way, but only for readers and authors and books. So far, I'm liking what I'm seeing. It's a new learning thing... and you know how I am when it's a 'new learning thing'.

If this works out, me & Books+Main... we'll be best buds.

ENTER TO WIN A SIGNED BOOK!

Yes! I reached 100 LIKEs on my Facebook page so, to celebrate, I'm giving away a signed KISS OF THE WINTER MOON paperback!

*And now for the legal stuff*
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook or Goodreads. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Goodreads page and not to Goodreads.
Book will be mailed through the USPS using 'media' mail within the US, and 'international' mail anywhere outside of the US. the author cannot be held responsible for non-delivery of the book outside of the US.

The winner will be chosen at random on 4/21/18 and posted on Facebook. The posted winner must contact me within 48 hours or a new winner will be selected.

Click the link to ENTER!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mission Accomplished

I needed to give names to two characters who will be introduced in book 4 of the Sakana Series and it's really never as easy as it sounds. Whatever name jumps out at me has to fit the character description I already have in place, because yeah, I know what they look like.

Two-hours later, I have 'Albert' & 'Evelyn', formerly known only as 'dad' & 'mom'.

Mission accomplished.

I Made TheThing!

In general, Youtube is pretty dang awesome. I mean, you want to learn how to do 'the thing', it's all right there on Youtube. No kidding.

You want to learn how to play the cello... Youtube.

Learn how to crochet... Youtube.

Learn algebra... Youtube.

Learn how to make 'the thing' on Canva.com... You betcha!! It's all right there.

And I did it! Well, I didn't learn the cello, but my husband did, so there you go. But algebra...I got that down.

Anyway... I've been using another program to make banners, icons and such and suddenly, it's not compatible with Windows 10. I am so freaking tired of having to buy the 'latest updated version' of whatever... so yeah... I had to find something else, and hey... Canva.com!

But now I have to learn something NEW.

Wait. I'm still learning about all the features of my iPhone 6 Plus, (which I love), and how to update my website, and all kinds of other 'author' stuff, and now I need to learn something else?

My daughters are both super tech savvy and not afraid to click away and explore the newest 'whatever'. Me? Not so much. I'm the 'crafty' type. Put something in my hands and I can create 'the thing'. When it comes to banners/icons and such...I just want to click, click, click, make 'the thing' and get it over with. Oh, and I'm super picky so it had better look awesome or I'm not happy.

Several Youtube videos later... Me and Canva.com... we're like BFFs now.

Oh... paint.net also came in handy when I needed to make my sakana icon a transparency.

And yeah, I made 'The Thing'.

Breaking the 'Gotta Catch 'Em All' Syndrome

I turned SHADOW OF THE SUMMER MOON, the 2nd book in the Sakana Series, over to my editor for one last look through. I have no idea how many times I've read and reread and read again the first three manuscripts in my Sakana Series. Maybe I should've started keeping track way back in 2011 when I started writing these.

Then again, maybe it's better that I didn't.

The point is that no matter how many times I've gone over them, I still find little mistakes, misspellings, and just plain too many words - or not enough, (which is rare). Because I gotta catch 'em all. And, well, that's never gonna happen. One thing I've noticed is as soon as I'm finished going over a manuscript, I feel compelled to start all over again, ya know, just in case I missed something - again.

Yeah, I'm also one of those who will unravel an afghan because I found a dropped stitch 20 rows back. Luckily, for me, making a correction to a manuscript is much simpler. Still, getting to that point where I can save and close my manuscript and not obsess over it is a challenge.

Knowing I have more books to write is a great motivator. I've got a whole line up going on. I have something else to obsess over...

I mean...focus on.

What is it with Murphy's Law and who is this Murphy guy anyway?

I swear, up to the day before Kiss of the Winter Moon released to the public, I suffered every little glitch that could possible glitch!

Okay, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but only slight.

I learned a lot through all this self-publishing stuff and, hopefully, I won't make the same mistakes again. (But, hey, it's me, so yeah...I'll make mistakes...at least they'll be NEW mistakes!)

Release Day came and went and, even though there is still one little glitch that needs fixing, (somehow, the print book is in the wrong category - 'humanities'! WTF???), I am HAPPY.

I can't even begin to count how many times I've said/typed/texted "Thank You So Much!" to all those who helped/cheered/shared-crazy-book-release-day-excitement with me. I am truly grateful beyond words.

Oh, and this Murphy guy... I guess he was a real dude...

Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr. (January 11, 1918 – July 17, 1990) was an American aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems. He is best known for his namesake Murphy's law, which is said to state, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Congratulations Are in Order

My first Giveaway is over! If you were one of the TEN lucky winners...CONGRATULATIONS!!

From me to the readers,

It's been years...and I mean YEARS...since Jessy and Dain's story burst to life in my head, so sharing it with people other than my beta readers, (who were both with me every single step of the way and I can't begin to thank them enough, like, ever), and my editor, (who came into my life last year), is beyond exciting!

And freaking scary.

From me to other self-published authors,

Wow. Just wow. I bow to your diligence and perseverance. Seriously. I thought the writing was the hard part.

Hahahaha...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Wow.