Kimberly Kinrade's Blog, page 22
February 7, 2012
Two YA Paranormal Novels FREE on Amazon!
Who doesn't love FREE books?
TWO DAYS ONLY: Wednesday, February 8th and Thursday, February 9th! Come and get 'em!
Patti Larsen is not only one of my favorite authors ever, she's also one of my best friends. I'm so excited to introduce you to her work. You will LOVE both these series and enjoy the fact that if you like the first book, there are MORE! And since she writes like a book every 20 minutes or so, you will never run out of Patti Larsen books to read. I think she has a book publishing schedule for the next 300 books. I'm not even kidding about that. She's booked straight through for about 12 years. So go forth and download!
For those with a love of YA paranormal: Family Magic (The Hayle Coven novels, #1) Sixteen year old Sydlynn Hayle is the daughter of a powerful witch and a demon lord but she just wants to be ordinary. Find it HERE.
And for those who like a thrill in their YA fiction: Run (The Hunted, #1) Reid thinks life has gone back to normal when his sister rescues him from the foster system. All that changes when he is kidnapped and dumped in the wilderness, forced to run from those who want to kill him. Find it HERE.
Don't have a Kindle? No problem! Download a FREE app for your computer, iPad, smartphone and more!
Family Magic
Raising the Demon
[image error]"Haralthazar," my mother glided closer to the statue, "we summon you this third night of Power, nine days and nine nights from Samhain Eve, to tighten our bond with you and your realm." She knelt at the foot of the altar, the picture of the submissive handmaiden. Could she be any more ridiculous? Seriously. "My love, come and be welcome."
The blinding flash that leapt from her to the statue continued to pour out of her in a deep blue rush of light. I turned my head slightly to the side, squinting in the glare, grateful for the edge of the cowl and the shadow it made. The whole room started to thrum, the floor vibrating with condensed magic as Mom used the energy we had given her to make the doorway that would let my father through.
Sixteen-year-old Sydlynn Hayle is the daughter of a powerful witch and a demon lord of the seventh plane. The trouble is, she just wants to be ordinary. Syd struggles to survive the minefield of her new high school while being torn between her attraction to football hero Brad Peters and the darkly mysterious Quaid Moromond. When her coven comes under attack, Syd is forced to face the fact only her power can save her family's magic.
What readers are saying about Family Magic:
"This book has everything. Great family drama, hot boys, magic, witches, demons and difficult choices. This is one of my new favorite books of 2011 and I CANNOT WAIT to read the rest of the series."
"With a fantastic, empathetic heroine, plenty of magic, an intriguing mystery and incorporating themes involving the search of self, familial relationships, duty and free will, Family Magic is an enchanting and enjoyable read."
"I think Syd is one of my all-time favorite characters. She is funny and snarky but has a fierce love for her family. I am ready to follow Syd's journey through this series. I was hooked from the first paragraph. I thoroughly enjoyed Family Magic, and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys paranormal novels."
(You can read the full reviews on Amazon.com)
Amazon LINK
Run
Kidnapped
[image error]Alone, Reid gasps in one deep breath, another. It hurts his ribs, his lungs. He manages to roll over on his right side and regrets it. His shoulder screams in protest. Still, he is finally able to wriggle his numb hands loose from what holds him and claws at the cloth around his eyes.
Darkness. But not complete. The moon is up. Trees loom over him, the smell of spruce and fresh air so sharp it almost hurts. He jerks at the plastic ties around his ankles while. his vision swims through a veil of pain-laden tears. He manages somehow to force his screaming hands to work the ties loose and he is free.
Sixteen-year-old Reid thinks life is back to normal. His sister Lucy pulls herself together and cuts him free from a year of foster care. She promises to take care of him, that her new boss and her new life are what they both needed to start again. Until Reid is taken in the middle of the night, dumped in a wild stretch of forest far from home with no idea why he is there. Lost and afraid, he learns to run from the hunters who prowl the darkness, their only pleasure chasing down kids like him. And killing them.
What readers are saying about Run:
"The fear, the thrill, the emotion that comes through in the writing is amazing. There is never a dull moment in this story of survival."
"If you're a fan of YA books that make your heart pound with the unknown and leave you cringing at places (but in a totally cool kinda way) then Run's the book for you."
"Reid is such a great strong character and when the story ends, we are left begging for what is to come in the next of the series. This story was unique and SUPER fast-paced! It was a great festival of suspense."
(You can read the full reviews on Amazon.com)
Amazon LINK
Thank you for taking the time to check them out!
Happy reading!
[image error]About the Author: Patti Larsen is a middle grade, young adult and adult author with a passion for the paranormal. Her YA thriller series, The Hunted, is available now. The first four books of The Hayle Coven series, Family Magic, Witch Hunt, Demon Child and The Wild are also out now. Her YA paranormal novel, Best Friends Forever, and steampunk series, Blood and Gold, are due early in 2012. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her Get Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her very patient husband and four massive cats.
You can find her:
On her website
On Facebook
Her writing blog
On Twitter
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
FREE Two Days Only: A Vampire Novel with Actual Bite!
As the modern world establishes itself and pushes the supernatural into the shadows, the supernatural fights back.
The Darkening Dream is a chilling new dark fantasy novel by Andy Gavin, creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, that has received rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and is FREE for two days only on Amazon Kindle (February 7th to 8th)! Download your FREE copy here: http://amzn.to/yTvZPG
Long-time readers of dark historical fantasy (Tim Powers, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Kurtz) will appreciate the weaving together of mythology, occult, and religion, while younger readers and fans of HBO dramas (True Blood, Carnivàle) or urban fantasy (Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher) will be drawn to the twisted imagination, graphic action, and romantic tension.
About The Darkening Dream
Even as the modern world pushes the supernatural aside in favor of science and steel, the old ways remain. God, demon, monster, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs.
1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann's life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.
With the help of Alex, an attractive Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex's elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah's own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah's continuing visions reveal?
No less than Gabriel's Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be her very soul.
The Reviews Are In
"A vampire novel with actual bite." ~The Kirkus Reviews
"Mr. Gavin has brought something refreshingly new to a genre now suffused with poorly-concealed bodice-rippers which have more in common with Fabio than Bram Stoker: depth. His big baddies are scary, not romantic interests, and the added religious lore is complex and engaging. Don't expect another Twilight — the story can get downright creepy, so be prepared for a return to the old horror sensibilities of supernatural fiction." ~Amazon Review
"With Mr. Gavin's video-game pedigree, I was expecting something aimed squarely at the 18-25 year old fanboy contingent; what I got in The Darkening Dream was something wholly unexpected: A period novel with a female protagonist, a crash-course on Judaism in the colonial years, and multi-layered series of plot arcs featuring a crazy cast of natural and supernatural characters populating 18th Century Colonial America." ~Amazon Review
"…A perfect blend of mystery, magic and myth. A grown-up Grimm's fairy tale…emphasis on grim." ~Amazon Review
Read the first two sample chapters here >> http://bit.ly/xXVxXS
Get your FREE copy of The Darkening Dream for two days only on Amazon here. http://amzn.to/yTvZPG
No eReader or Kindle? No problem. Get free apps for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, or Android Phone.
January 17, 2012
FREE eBooks for 1 Day ONLY! Don't Miss Out!
[image error]Wow! This is just plain exciting. Evolved Publishing is giving away 7 eBooks, 1 Day Only, on Wednesday, January 18th. (Including my YA Paranormal and Children's Fantasy book!)
Get the details HERE.
All of my books are available FREE on Kindle, TODAY ONLY!
That's right, all of my books are available for FREE for 24 hours on Amazon's Kindle. Midnight to midnight PST Wednesday, January 18, 2012 give or take. And there's something for everyone! Children, young adults and adults.
For children 4-9 years old: Lexie World (Three Lost Kids, #1) A magical adventure to another world where one little girl learns about courage, love and caring for the planet. Amazon Link> Lexie World
For Young Adults and Adults who love YA! Forbidden Mind (Forbidden, #1) She reads minds. He controls minds. Together, they might get out alive. Amazon link> Forbidden Mind
For Adults: Bits of You & Pieces of Me A collection of short stories, poems and essays about the darker side of love and life and how one girl found the light. Amazon link> Bits of You & Pieces of Me
See below for more information on each book!
Don't have a kindle? No problem! Download a FREE app for your computer, iPad, smartphone and more! In addition to my books, my publishers, Evolved Publishing, also have a few more books for FREE on Amazon today, so it's definitely worth downloading that app!
[image error] Lexie World (Three Lost Kids, #1)
Amazon Link> Lexie World
…Each time I put my foot down, it sank deeper into trash. The crunch and grind of it all sounded like monsters coming to eat me.
Oh my goodness! The crunching and grinding got louder. So loud, I knew it couldn't be just us.
My hands shook and my feet stopped working right. I didn't want to look behind me.
Then something smacked me in the back of my head! My eyes got all cloudy with tears.
I looked behind me. Big mistake….
~~
5-year-old Lexie is tired of getting in trouble for leaving her stuff and trash outside. She doesn't mean to litter or ruin her shoes, but it's just so hard to remember sometimes.
When she, her two big sisters and their dog TayTay find a portal to Lexie World, Lexie discovers the consequence littering has had on her special world. Garbage Goblins have taken over and are destroying the Earth!
To save Lexie World, the girls (and TayTay) must travel with their new Unicorn friend through the Waters of Waste and over the Mountain of Lost Clothes to retrieve a piece of the Mirror of Ice in order to remind the Garbage Goblins of their true form and break their curse.
On this journey, Lexie learns about courage, love and the importance of taking care of her world.
With full color illustrations by Josh Evans, Lexie World bridges the gap between picture books and chapter books, offering children 4-9 years old a new, exciting reading journey.
Get free Three Lost Kids bookmarks by sharing this blog post on Twitter and Facebook and emailing me with your mailing address at kimberly.kinrade@gmail.com. Please allow a few weeks for delivery.
Want a sneak peek of the first three chapters? Read them here >> Lexie World, Chapters 1-3.
Amazon Link> Lexie World
[image error] Forbidden Mind (Forbidden, #1)
Amazon link> Forbidden Mind
Winner of the 2011 Forward National Literature Award
"…a thrilling, dark and deeply romantic read that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and eagerly awaiting the next installment." - Refracted Light Young Adult Book Reviews
She reads minds.
He controls minds.
Together, they might get out alive.
Sam thinks she's months away from freedom. After spending her life in a secret school, rented out to the rich and powerful as a paranormal spy, she is ready to head to college like any normal eighteen-year-old.
Only Sam isn't normal. She reads minds. And just before her big going-away party, she links to the mind of a young man who changes everything.
Drake wasn't raised as a 'Rent-A-Kid.' He was kidnapped and taken there by force. But his exceptional physical strength and powers of mind control make him very dangerous, especially to Sam.
When they meet, Sam is forced to face the truth of her situation, and to acknowledge that not all is as it seems in her picture-perfect world. For what awaits her on her eighteenth birthday isn't a trip to college, but an unexpected nightmare from which she may not be able to escape.
To survive, they must work together.
But will their powers be enough to save them before it's too late?
Amazon link> Forbidden Mind
[image error] Bits of You & Pieces of Me
Amazon link> Bits of You & Pieces of Me
Not an Amazon Prime member? Get this bookFREE for anyone through January 17th!
"Kimberly Kinrade is a genius. Simply put. Bits of You & Pieces of Me is a work of literary art. " ~L.M. Stull
A collection of short stories, poetry & essays on life. While each piece stands alone, together the chapters tell the story of an idealistic girl in love with love who discovers the demons of a splintered heart when that love turns violent. Through it all, she climbs her way back to Hope and finds that in the end her True Heart remained Unbreakable.
This collection includes some horror short stories, dark poetry on painful love and difficult subject matters such as domestic violence.
Download "Bits of You & Pieces of Me" Sample
Amazon link> Bits of You & Pieces of Me
This is your chance to try my books FREE! Also look the release of Bella World, book 2 of the Three Lost Kids series, next Monday! If you want to get the best deals and news fast, sign up for my newsletter.
Check out Evolved Publishing for more amazing books that are FREE on Amazon Kindle today only. Do you enjoy psychological thrillers? Native American Historical Fiction? Fantasy and short stories? Go forth and download!
I hope you enjoy my books and the books of my colleagues. If you do, we'd love to hear about it (and reviews are ALWAYS appreciated!) And share the love if you have reader friends.
Thanks so much!
January 13, 2012
All of my books now available for lending on Amazon Prime!
I'm excited to announce that all three of my books are now available for lending on Amazon Prime! This means you can borrow these books and read them for FREE if you are an Amazon Prime member. There's something for everyone here! Children, young adults and adults. Check it out!
Lexie World (Three Lost Kids, #1)
Amazon Link> Lexie World
…Each time I put my foot down, it sank deeper into trash. The crunch and grind of it all sounded like monsters coming to eat me.
Oh my goodness! The crunching and grinding got louder. So loud, I knew it couldn't be just us.
My hands shook and my feet stopped working right. I didn't want to look behind me.
Then something smacked me in the back of my head! My eyes got all cloudy with tears.
I looked behind me. Big mistake….
~~
5-year-old Lexie is tired of getting in trouble for leaving her stuff and trash outside. She doesn't mean to litter or ruin her shoes, but it's just so hard to remember sometimes.
When she, her two big sisters and their dog TayTay find a portal to Lexie World, Lexie discovers the consequence littering has had on her special world. Garbage Goblins have taken over and are destroying the Earth!
To save Lexie World, the girls (and TayTay) must travel with their new Unicorn friend through the Waters of Waste and over the Mountain of Lost Clothes to retrieve a piece of the Mirror of Ice in order to remind the Garbage Goblins of their true form and break their curse.
On this journey, Lexie learns about courage, love and the importance of taking care of her world.
With full color illustrations by Josh Evans, Lexie World bridges the gap between picture books and chapter books, offering children 4-9 years old a new, exciting reading journey.
Get free Three Lost Kids bookmarks by sharing this blog post on Twitter and Facebook and emailing me with your mailing address at kimberly.kinrade@gmail.com. Please allow a few weeks for delivery.
Want a sneak peek of the first three chapters? Read them here >> Lexie World, Chapters 1-3.
Amazon Link> Lexie World
Forbidden Mind (Forbidden, #1)
Amazon link> Forbidden Mind
Winner of the 2011 Forward National Literature Award
"…a thrilling, dark and deeply romantic read that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and eagerly awaiting the next installment." – Refracted Light Young Adult Book Reviews
She reads minds.
He controls minds.
Together, they might get out alive.
Sam thinks she's months away from freedom. After spending her life in a secret school, rented out to the rich and powerful as a paranormal spy, she is ready to head to college like any normal eighteen-year-old.
Only Sam isn't normal. She reads minds. And just before her big going-away party, she links to the mind of a young man who changes everything.
Drake wasn't raised as a 'Rent-A-Kid.' He was kidnapped and taken there by force. But his exceptional physical strength and powers of mind control make him very dangerous, especially to Sam.
When they meet, Sam is forced to face the truth of her situation, and to acknowledge that not all is as it seems in her picture-perfect world. For what awaits her on her eighteenth birthday isn't a trip to college, but an unexpected nightmare from which she may not be able to escape.
To survive, they must work together.
But will their powers be enough to save them before it's too late?
Amazon link> Forbidden Mind
[image error]
Bits of You & Pieces of Me
Amazon link> Bits of You & Pieces of Me
Not an Amazon Prime member? Get this book FREE for anyone through January 17th!
"Kimberly Kinrade is a genius. Simply put. Bits of You & Pieces of Me is a work of literary art. " ~L.M. Stull
A collection of short stories, poetry & essays on life. While each piece stands alone, together the chapters tell the story of an idealistic girl in love with love who discovers the demons of a splintered heart when that love turns violent. Through it all, she climbs her way back to Hope and finds that in the end her True Heart remained Unbreakable.
This collection includes some horror short stories, dark poetry on painful love and difficult subject matters such as domestic violence.
Download "Bits of You & Pieces of Me" Sample
Amazon link> Bits of You & Pieces of Me
This is your chance to try my books FREE! Also look for some special deals next Wednesday and the release of Bella World, book 2 of the Three Lost Kids series, a week from Monday! If you want to get the best deals and news fast, sign up for my newsletter.
Also, my publisher, Evolved Publishing, has a few other great books available for the lending program on Amazon Prime. Do you enjoy psychological thrillers? Historical Fiction? Fantasy and short stories? Check it out here > Evolved Blog.
I hope you enjoy my books and the books of my colleagues. If you do, we'd love to hear about it (and reviews are ALWAYS appreciated!) And share the love if you have reader friends.
Thanks so much!
January 12, 2012
Free Bookmarks for the Three Lost Kids series!
I'm so excited to offer, for a limited time, FREE bookmarks from the Three Lost Kids series.
How do you get them? It's so simple! All I ask is that you spread the news of the Three Lost Kid series. This series is a unique hybrid of chapter book and picture book for lower grade readers 3-9 years old. Filled with epic adventures to new worlds, magical characters including Unicorns, Dragons and Fairies and life lessons for all ages and all worlds, this series is perfect for new readers and advanced young readers alike.
The messages in these books are not heavy handed, but are layered for better understanding as the child grows older, and the illustrations by Josh Evans are AMAZING!
Lexie World, the first book in the series, became a kindle top 10 bestseller in its category its first day out. Bella World is with my publishers and will be out in the next few weeks and we are working on Maddie World now!
More About The Series
Inspired by my own three little girls with adventurous spirits, the Three Lost Kids Series takes readers to worlds unexplored and adventures untold, where they meet magical creatures, go on epic quests and learn important life lessons for their everyday world.
[image error] Lexie World (Three Lost Kids, #1)
…Each time I put my foot down, it sank deeper into trash. The crunch and grind of it all sounded like monsters coming to eat me.
Oh my goodness! The crunching and grinding got louder. So loud, I knew it couldn't be just us.
My hands shook and my feet stopped working right. I didn't want to look behind me.
Then something smacked me in the back of my head! My eyes got all cloudy with tears.
I looked behind me. Big mistake….
~~
5-year-old Lexie is tired of getting in trouble for leaving her stuff and trash outside. She doesn't mean to litter or ruin her shoes, but it's just so hard to remember sometimes.
When she, her two big sisters and their dog TayTay find a portal to Lexie World, Lexie discovers the consequence littering has had on her special world. Garbage Goblins have taken over and are destroying the Earth!
[image error]To save Lexie World, the girls (and TayTay) must travel with their new Unicorn friend through the Waters of Waste and over the Mountain of Lost Clothes to retrieve a piece of the Mirror of Ice in order to remind the Garbage Goblins of their true form and break their curse.
[image error]On this journey, Lexie learns about courage, love and the importance of taking care of her world.
Get your copy of Lexie World now on Amazon, B&N, iTunes (iBooks), & Sony Reader. (Free Kindle and Nook apps are available for PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad) or get it on Smashwords or BookieJar in any version you want, including a printable PDF.
Want a sneak peek of the first three chapters? Read them here >> Lexie World, Chapters 1-3.
Bella World (Three Lost Kids, #2)
….A large presence settled behind me. I knew without turning around what I would find, but still I turned…
…and faced the Dragon.
I screamed so loud my throat went raw. TayTay howled and barked in the distance below me. Shots of rainbow lit up the trees, and Madelynne screamed for me. But none of it helped.
The green scales and glowing green eyes of the monster the whole village feared hovered just a few inches from my head. Then its claws wrapped around me, scratching me and squishing me in painful ways, and all at once I was flying….
~~~~~~
Bella is tired of getting blamed every time her sisters lose something. It's not her fault they misplaced something important, so why does everyone assume she took it? It makes her blood boil that no one appreciates all the things does to help and protect people. Sometimes her anger makes her do things she regrets later.
When she, her two sisters and and their dog TayTay find a watery portal to Bella World, they are surprised to discover a town ravaged by Dragon attacks. But not all is as it seems, a lesson Bella learns when they are sent to stop the Dragon.
Together, Bella and Emerald the Dragon learn to control their Dragon Fire, make amends to those they have wronged and in the process find the appreciation and acceptance they[image error] sought all along.
~~~~~
With full color illustrations by Josh Evans, Bella World bridges the gap between picture books and chapter books, offering children 4-9 years old a new, exciting reading journey.
Maddie World (Three Lost Kids, #3)
When a girl at school starts bullying Madelynne, she decides she doesn't want to go to school anymore. Too scared to stand up to the bully or tell the teacher, Madelynne confides in the only one who will understand, her best four-legged friend TayTay.
After an especially bad day, Madelynne hides in her room and refuses to play with anyone. In an effort to cheer her up, her sisters accidently discover the portal to Maddie World, sweeping them all into an epic adventure!
But Maddie World is suffering from some bullying of its own. The Lava Fairies and Bubble Fairies are at war, and now even once nice Fairies have been mean bullies, locking the Three Lost Kids up in the dungeon.
Madelynne and TayTay escape, but can't free the other two until the retrieve a precious necklace that once belonged to the Bubble Fairies.
To save her sisters and make peace between the two Fairy factions, Madelynne must first face her own fears and learn to stand up for herself even when she's scared, but without becoming a bully herself.
~~~
Three Lost Kids (Three Lost Kids, #1-3)
Enjoy this full color paperback edition of Lexie World, Bella World, and Maddie World in a complete set.
These children's chapter books are great for kids 4-9 and take kids on great adventures with Unicorns, Dragons and Fairies all the while teaching them important lessons about life.
Illustrated by Josh Evans. Coming February 2012.
How to Get Your FREE Bookmarks
[image error]
The front of the bookmark
1: Cut and paste THIS tweet:
The Three Lost Kids by @KimberlyKinrade takes young readers on epic quests to magic worlds with important life lesson. http://ow.ly/8qFJe
Or something similar that directs people to that page.
2: Tweet and share via FB this post, this http://ow.ly/8qFJe page or any of the websites where Lexie World is now for sale. (See above.)
3. When you get the bookmarks, please share them with other parents, school kids, reading groups who would enjoy this series, etc.
4. If you do decide to read any of these books, I would very much appreciate if you could leave a review on any of the sites it's for sale on. I would especially LOVE if you'd include your child's reaction to the story as well!
You don't need to prove you did any of this, we're going on the honor system here. But I[image error] hope you will take a few minutes to support this series by sharing it in as many ways as you can. I will be sending 10-20 bookmarks to anyone who says have done this. Just email me at kimberly.kinrade@gmail.com with your physical address and as soon as they come in (a few weeks) I will send them out to you!
To be honest, I'm not sure if this is an effective way to promote my books or not, but these bookmarks are so cool I just have to give some out to you all! 
As an added bonus, I will send one lucky (and randomly drawn) winner a special prize of a notebook with an image from one of the Three Lost Kids books on the cover! The winner will be drawn at the close of this giveaway, which will be determined by how many entries I have. I've set aside a select number of bookmarks to giveaway, so it's first come, first win!
What do you all think? Is this something fun you'd like to get in the mail? I look forward to hearing from you!
January 6, 2012
The Shorty Awards: I've been nominated!!!
[image error]Hey everyone! Just wanted to put a quick post up to let you know that I've been nominated for a Shorty Award in the Author category. How cool is that?
If I win, I could even be invited to the award ceremony in New York. woohoo!
If you'd like to vote for me (votes go through Twitter), go to this link: http://shortyawards.com/KimberlyKinrade and add why you think I should win. I would so love to win this and appreciate your support.
Right now I am ranked number 20! But I need a LOT more to beat out the likes of J.K. Rowlings, so help me out. Between now and February 17th they will be calculating votes, so share, share, share!
I really appreciate your support so much.
You are the BEST!
A Day in the Life of a Writer
[image error]I recently wrote a post for Novel Publicity called "This is the year you publish your novel: A road map to getting it done."
I'm a Jr. Project Manager with them. I'm also the Marketing Director for Evolved Publishing and a paranormal and fantasy author for young adults and children… oh and a mother of three and planning a wedding for this year.
Someone asked me how I do it all and if I had a post that shows my average day.
As to how I do it all, I'm not sure. I just keep going until it's all done. 2011 was an exciting year for me. I published three books, took on several new clients and got engaged. This year proves to be even more amazing as I plan a wedding in a castle in Nova Scotia, publish at least 8 or 9 more books, and help my clients and the authors at Evolved rock the world with their books!
So, what my day looks like:
5 a.m. Get up, kiss Dmytry, get on my computer and check emails.
[image error]
This is Dmytry. My tall, sexy Russian fiancé. You can see why the "Kiss Dmytry" part of my day is in bold. And italics!
6 a.m. Still responding to emails, seriously? Omg.
7 a.m. The emails are multiplying like horny rabbits. I'm not even sure how to stay on top of them.
7:20 a.m. Get kids up and ready for school. Take dogs out to go potty. Deal with whiny 5 year old who's too tired to go to school because she wouldn't go to sleep when she was supposed to the night before. Find shoes the 7 year old somehow lost between last night and this morning. No you cannot take your stuffy to school. No you cannot take your DSi to school. No you cannot stay home to play on the computer.
8:20 a.m. Grab a snack before heading back to the computer. Kiss Dmytry.
8:30 a.m. Check my files for each client, start working on their projects.
12:00 p.m. Come up for air. Kiss Dmytry. Grab another bite to eat. Take dogs out again. Get on business call or attend meeting with client.
2 p.m. Meetings done (hopefully) and back to work. Kiss Dmytry. Update social media sites. Spend a totally useless hour watching random videos my friends have posted on Facebook. Thanks guys.
3:30 p.m. Crap, kids will be home in less than 30 minutes and I still haven't done any writing. But I haven't done any work for my HTML class so I can learn web design either. Open my files and work on coding.
4:00 p.m. Kids are home. Hugs and kisses for everyone. Yes, even Dmytry. Get kids snacks, take dogs out again. Check school paperwork and homework. Talk about their day.
5 p.m. Finish HTML course work while kids are playing on their Nook, DSi and Leapster.
7 p.m. Oh crap, we haven't given the kids dinner. Dmytry and I scramble to get dinner ready for them (and us, I guess.) Thank goodness for canned stew.
8 p.m. Back to the computer. Email friends who are coming to the wedding. Talk about makeup and dresses. (I know, total girl.) Kiss Dmytry, a lot!
9 p.m. Get kids ready for bed. Kisses and hugs for all (including Dmytry.) Read bedtime story. Halfway through, stop reading bedtime story because this book is really awful and who would write something like this for kids anyways? The main character is totally obnoxious and unlikable and I do not want my kids behaving that way or learning from her. Pick a new book and remind myself to finish my children's chapter book series.
10 p.m. Send out review requests to book blogger for Forbidden Mind and Lexie World while hushing kids every 10 minutes and dealing with 400 million potty breaks.
11 p.m. Kids are quiet, finally. Work on books, then spend an hour watching "How I Met Your Mother" on Netflix.
1 a.m. Take out dogs again. Crawl into bed with Dmytry. Yes, there are more kisses. No, I am not going into more detail than that!
Variations to this routine include but are not limited to: Laundry day, grocery shopping day, family night on Friday night where no work gets done past 4 p.m. until the kids are in bed, sick days where less work gets done and summer break where it's a miracle anything gets done at all. Ever.
And there you have it folks. A day in my life. Isn't it exciting?
January 4, 2012
When demons attacked my children…
Recently, in an author interview, I was asked to describe one of my scariest moments. I've been scared many times in my life. Nights that shattered my heart and soul to pieces–when I thought the fear would consume me and spit me out. Nights that left me broken and scarred.
But there's one memory that haunts me the most…
The night demons attacked my children.
The phone rang. I checked the caller I.D., shocked that my friend was calling me from Holland. I stepped out on the front porch so I could take the call without the noise of my three little girls interfering.
We only got as far as "hello" in English and Dutch when my all of my kids ran outside screaming.
"Mommy! Mommy! Something is wrong with the house. We have to move NOW!" They were hysterical. I thought for sure the house was on fire… or worse.
I ran inside, expecting a huge disaster, but didn't see anything.
My oldest pointed across the room. "Look there, Mommy. In the kitchen. I was just watering the plants. I don't know what happened!"
I looked across the living room into the kitchen, but still didn't get what the emergency was. My friend waited on hold patiently—paying a fortune for each minute my children screeched about our house.
Then I saw them. My stomach clenched in disgust and my heart tried to escape my chest and run away in fear.
We were under attack from multiple directions. Mutinous, evil and more dangerous than they looked, they infiltrated our home in small, mobile teams of soldiers.
My beautiful African plants—the only plants I'd ever been able to keep alive longer than a week—were covered in a black swarm from hell. Long lines crossed our white walls like living, moving scars.
Ants.
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Image Credit Flickr User Thirteen of Clubs
Apparently, when my daughter watered the plants it signaled an entire army of ants that it was time to come out of hiding and attack.
I feared and loathed them in equal measure, and now they were taking over my kitchen. My children began to scratch and cry from bites the demons had already managed to inflict on their innocent flesh.
I screamed and begged my friend across the world to come save us from the ants. Give me dragons, demons, blood sucking monsters—anything but ants.
Knowing that I was the only hope my children had of survival, I faced my fears and rushed the offending plant life—which had apparently been hosting entire battalions of evil—outside to the backyard. I sent the girls to the bathroom to bathe and mitigate the damage to their skin and preceded to spray every inch of my kitchen, and the plants, with every chemical I could find in my cabinets.
Our house quickly became a toxic site habitable only by those in HAZMAT suits.
My poor African plants, impervious to neglect, dehydration and abuse, finally succumbed to the tortures of poison. Once the air in the house was safe to breathe again, we were able to resume our lives. But it took many weeks to stop scratching imagined, and real, itches from the monsters that once invaded our home.
My Dutch friend mocked my fears, accusing me of overreacting. He took back his mockery when I emailed him the pictures.
Anyone would have been blind with fear had they seen what I saw that day.
January 1, 2012
Live, Laugh, Love and Write in 2012!
Kimberly & Dmytry
Last year for my New Year's post, I wrote about how Twitter changed my life, how I found my writing partner and love of my life in 2010 and how 2011 would be the year I published my first book and took my career to a whole new level.
Looking back at 2011 I can honestly say it was as epic as I'd hoped. On New Year's Eve 2010, Dmytry Karpov flew from Canada to California to be my partner and a father to our three little girls. Many people thought it wouldn't work. He is younger than me, we lived in different countries, blablabla. But I'll tell you something…
It's working people.
It's working better than I could have thought possible. We are more in love than ever, and officially became engaged to be married in April 2011. Our love grows daily and I've never known love and intimacy like this could exist in anything but storybooks and fairytales. But it's real, and I get to fall asleep with it every night and wake up with it every morning.
Not only that, but I did publish Bits of You & Pieces of Me, as I said I would in that post[image error] last year. And I published Forbidden Mind (the first of a YA paranormal series which won an award it's first month out) and Lexie World (the first of a children's fully illustrated chapter book series which hit the Kindle top #10 bestseller list in its category its first day out) and I signed with Evolved Publishing and became their Marketing Director and I started working with Novel Publicity to help other authors market their work and brand themselves.
WOW!
Talk about my dreams coming true. I work from home with the love of my life, who also published his first book, Dark Edge, this year. I also get to be home for my kids when they need me. I write and/or help writers full time. I've never been happier!
2012 promises even bigger adventures.
In 2012 we will be going to Canada and I will be teaching writing workshops there. I have two more children's books (Bella World and Maddie World) coming out through Evolved in January and the rest of my Forbidden series coming out in the first several months of 2012. I also have The Reluctant Familiar, Death by Destiny, Myths of Magic, Paths to Power and more children's books planned for the year. (Take a look at my new BOOKS drop down menu button to stay up to date on all my book releases. Also, sign up for my newsletter if you want to be notified when a new book launches. I never share your information and I don't send out newsletters a lot!)
[image error]It's such an exciting time! Not to mention I will be getting married to the love of my life in October in a castle in Nova Scotia if all goes well. Could my life be any more fairy tale wonderful? I think not.
Through all of this I have continued to build amazing friendships with some of the best people I've ever met.
I've never been happier, and my life just keeps getting better. I've never been so excited to greet a New Year.
Happy New Year everyone. Never give up on your dreams, because happily ever afters do exist and dreams do come true.
