Tam Linsey's Blog, page 6

Botanicaust Available on Nook!

I know this took a while to pull together, but Botanicaust is now available on Nook! If you’ve read it, I’ll love you forever if you post a rating and / or review.

Own a Botanicaust Proof Paperback

The book blog tour for Botanicaust begins Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012!

I’m so excited, I’d like to offer a special tour giveaway! Simply comment on one (or more) of the blog stops along the tour, plus leave a comment here, and I will enter you into a drawing for a signed paperback proof of Botanicaust. (In case you don’t know what a proof is, this is the copy used by editors to verify a book will look the way it is supposed to when the final print is run.) There are only 4 Botanicaust proofs in existence, so make sure you play along!

The tour includes some fun interview questions, book reviews, and original articles on science fiction romance, sex in science fiction, and what puts a book on someone’s “keeper” shelf.

Tour schedule:

23rd October – Book Feature at Peace from Pieces
24th October – Author Interview and Book Review at Mommy Adventures
25th October – Author Interview, Book Feature & Giveaway at Books Are Magic
26th October – Guest Post, Author Interview & Book Feature at Bunny’s Review plus a guest post at The Secrets of the Seven Scribes
27th October – Guest Post at We Fancy Books
28th October – Book Review at Fighting Monkey Press 
29th October – Author Interview at Cabin Goddess
30th October - Twitter Interview with Pandora Poikilos plus a guest post at Romancing the Genres
31st October - Twitter Blast with Pandora Poikilos

I hope to see you this week. Check back November 5th for announcement of the book proof winner.

Romance Writers at Alaska Book Week

In celebration of Alaska Book Week, I attended an author panel discussion with fellow romance authors Jackie Ivie, Jennifer Bernard, Lizbeth Selvig, and Boone Brux. We had a wonderful time, and the panel was produced into a podcast. Yep, this is your chance to hear our voices. Click here to visit the link. Have a wonderful week!

Storytelling – The Owl, The Cat, and The Hornet Nest

My stepdad is a storyteller. At least he thinks he is. He’ll tell a tale that goes something like this:

So, out on the property, there’s this owl, see. Biggest owl I ever saw. Keeps the rabbits out of the strawberry patch real good. Damn rabbits and voles were eating all my berries. So when my friend Roger comes to visit, he brings his orange cat. The cat’s a-scared to go outside, but he’s a real good mouser. After a few days, he goes outside hunting. But when Roger packs to leave, the cat’s nowhere to be found. We go looking for the cat all over. I spot this strange shape down in the woods, and I go to investigate. Turns out it’s a hornet nest big as my head! I nearly stepped on it afore I realized. You know I’m allergic to stings. We found the cat under the trailer, and Roger got to leave in time, which is good ‘cause he had to catch a flight.

The end.

Really? Are you satisfied? Didn’t think so.

My stepdad’s tale began fine. The owl hunts rabbits, so we assume a cat might also be on the menu. And the cat is a pet we can easily root for. Listeners are drawn in and ready to find out what happens. But after that, nothing is related to the implied story question; did the owl attack the cat and what happened?

Many manuscripts I critique also start well, ramble along, then the author wraps things up by getting the hero and heroine together. The problem is that “getting there” isn’t satisfying. Sometimes the journey is downright frustrating. For instance, consider the hornet’s nest; the scene had nothing to do with the owl or the cat. Every element in my stepdad’s story should ratchet up the tension about finding the cat before the owl does. If he’d spotted the cat on the other side of the hornet clearing, near the owl’s roost as night was falling, but he had to turn back because of the hornet nest, then the scene might work. But the hornets are unrelated event. The middle of a story is like the filling in a sandwich – if I get a slice of bologna with a slather of peanut butter, I’m not going to be happy. To encourage readers to take more than one bite, make sure the sandwich makings belong together.

Now consider the ending of my stepdad’s story. He found the cat, so he wrapped it up, right? Not really. The owl – the threat which drew us into the story in the first place – never appeared again. Listeners expected the cat and the owl to face off. Maybe the cat is attacked and narrowly escapes with its life. Maybe the cat takes out the owl. Maybe they fall in love and make lovely owl-kittens. But we feel dissatisfied because we never find out. A happily ever after isn’t enough.

Have you encountered a story that left you unsatisfied? Can you pinpoint why?

The Book Boost

I wanted to let everyone know I am a guest blogger at The Book Boost today, so stop on over and say hi! You may even win a copy of Botanicaust

I’ll be on the road to Fairbanks, AK much of the day, so if I don’t get back to comments right away, pray I’m not broken down somewhere in Denali. (Really. Our truck has 212K miles on it. And we’re hauling a 4-wheeler to go moose hunting.) I’ll log on and respond as soon as we have Internet again.

Oh, and if you are in the Fairbanks area on Thursday, don’t forget I’ll be at Gulliver’s Books from 6-8pm!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

School has Begun – Time to Write

Notice the new look? I’m generally not a fan of white letters on dark background, but I thought this looked pretty good. I need to figure out how to put those small button icons for Facebook and Twitter and email follows in my sidebar, so they take up less room. I might move into a premium WordPress theme to make this website look the way I envision.

I’ve been working on promotion the entire month of August – hope you’re not sick of me yet. I have a guest post with The Book Boost September 10th, a book signing at Gulliver’s Books in Fairbanks (the northernmost, full service bookstore in America!) September 13th, plans to participate in Alaska Book Week October 6-13, and a blog tour set up to begin October 23rd. I have been contacting reviewers to read Botanicaust, with several takers already. I entered one Indie author contest with plans to enter another, plus I’ve been on Facebook and Twitter.

The need to actually write is beginning to really itch.

So I’ve joined the September Writemotivation challenge. This month I had to include some real life items on the list, because, hey, it’s September, and we only have a few days of “work outside” weather left.

1. Write 15K words on next manuscript by month’s end. This is by far the most important item on the list. One reviewer is already looking forward to the sequel to Botanicaust, so I need to get cracking.

2. Contact 5 (minimum) review sites to ask for reviews of Botanicaust.  If you have a review blog or paper, feel free to contact me and we’ll work out a complimentary copy of the book.

3. Harvest the garden and shut it down for winter. Why am I so gung-ho in spring, but in autumn I barely want to look at the garden? Oh, yeah – that ugly word “cleaning” is involved. That must be it.

4. Read and critique 4 (minimum) stories on SFF.Online.com. I have developed some wonderful author relationships via this website and I’d like to maintain the relationships.

5. Hunt moose (1 week.) Like I said – it’s September.

6. Read and critique CP partner’s manuscript. My local critique group keeps me sane.

7. Butcher pigs 1 week. By October, we’ll be working in snow, which sucks for butchering.

8. Post a blog a week (minimum.) ‘Nuf said.

9. Eat lots of #writemotivation cookies. *big smile* If you would like to join us, use the hashtag #writemotivation on Twitter.

Which of these items are you most interested in being updated about? I’d like to know. That way I won’t bore you with promotion.

Goodreads Book 6iveaway – Botanicaust

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Botanicaust
by Tam Linsey

Giveaway ends October 05, 2012.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I’m trying out a promotion on Goodreads – sign up between now and October 5th for a chance to win one of three paperback copies of Botanicaust. Who’s interested!

The Library Threat

A short while ago, Smashwords began offering libraries the option to buy eBooks, and allowing authors to set a separate price for libraries. My immediate thought was, “Wow, that’s awesome!”

I made my books free to libraries on the spot.

I love the library. One of my earliest memories is of the library in the strip mall next to where my mom worked when I was in grade school. Sometimes I would have to go to work with her, and the library was a blessing during the long hours I had to entertain myself. I’ve discovered many of my favorite authors through the library. I’m thrilled that Botanicaust is offered at 3 libraries at the time of this post. I hope more will pick it up.

Smashwords also offers the option for authors to charge libraries more for their published works. Charge the library more? Our local library is struggling to maintain hours because of budget cuts as it is. Libraries are public service institutions, serving people regardless of race, income, political belief, or religion. My daughter volunteers at the library. Libraries are about community, and service, and education. I want to be a part of that.

Yet I just read this article at the Book View Cafe and learned that some publishers do want to charge more. Or not offer books at all. Or charge library users to borrow the book. Or limit downloads. Do they really fear libraries will cut into their sales? I can’t tell the number of times I’ve discovered an author through the library and then purchased several titles to call my own. Sometimes my checkout time on an eBook has expired before I could finish reading (I’m a slow reader) and I purchased the book rather than get back in the queue for a turn.

Libraries are not a threat. They allow me to discover new authors, much like Amazon is doing with their free reads and borrowing program. Amazon is smart. Pay attention, publishers. Libraries encourage me to buy books. Some may even consider them a marketing device. I plan on always offering my eBooks to libraries for free if I can. Thank you Smashwords.

Botanicaust Book Trailer

In an all-too-plausible future world where the Earth has been overrun by  invasive, genetically modified weeds, humanity has survived, but at what cost …

Feel free to give the video some likes and share it!

Botanicaust is now available at Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, and Createspace. Try it now!

GMO? OMG!

I just found these awesome tee shirts and thought I’d share. I love that Just Label It focuses on consumer information, not on banning GMO‘s. I’m not against GMO’s. I simply want to be the one to make the choice to eat it or not. To grow it or not. To wear it or not. Just Label It!