Gwen Gardner's Blog, page 15

Dog Days of Summer: A Pictograph

While I've been working like a dog this summer, Tuffy and Koko are enjoying the dog days of their ninth summer...
 Anticipation...    The chair is the first casualty...    A direct hit...    Unfair advantage...    Working hard...   Winding down...    Trying to relaxafter a hard day's work...    On Daddy's pillow...(Because Mom's is off limits!)     My dogs love to play in the hose. What do your pets like to do?      

Twisted Earths

Coming October 2014!     The Untethered Realms speculative fiction authors are releasing an anthology of short stories! We're very excited about it and can't wait to show it to the world. But that will have to wait until October 1st.

It has been a great experience working with these authors. You'd think it would be hard to corral nine authors and give them deadlines and guidelines for writing, editing, proofing, etc. But we did it and it's been a wonderful experience. These authors are pros and I'm excited to be a part of their group.

Here's a little about each of the authors and their stories:
M. Pax, author of the series, The Backworlds and The Rifters spins a tale called Patchworker 2.0. Specialists with digital interfaces are the only ones who can distinguish between biological energy and mechanical pulses, and “patch” AIs, which hold the world together. Patchworker Evalyn Shore meets up with an AI with deadly intent.

Cherie Reich, known for her epic fantasy series The Fate Challenges and The Foxwick Chronicles, presents Lady Death. Umbria, a beautiful and powerful swordsmith, is given an impossible task by her brother Leon when he asks, “You are the assassin. Are you scared to destroy Death when you are up to your elbows in it?”

Angela Brown is the author of the paranormal Shadow Jumpers and NEO Chronicles series. In her story, In The Know, Jacob, a loyal family man is struggling to stay out of debt when he’s hired to report on big plans for a future Detroit. He’s given a mysterious manila envelope with instructions to “open it alone” or pay the price. With switchback twists you won’t see coming, a debt of a much steeper cost is what he just might end up paying for his involvement.

Catherine Stine, author of the futuristic thrillers, Fireseed One and Ruby’s Fire, offers The Day of The Flying Dogs, a sinister tale of brilliant, troubled NYC high-school student, Theo. He experiences a day at Coney Island that includes drugs, delusions, a lonely capybara, Nathan’s hotdogs and a mind-bending lesson in our very twisted universe.

Christine Rains, known best for her paranormal series The Thirteenth Floor, gives us The Ole Saint, a story at once sweet, horrific and heartrending. Ezra longs to fit in and have boys stop calling him witch and freak, yet his unique supernatural skill sets him apart, and the last gift from The Ole Saint cinches the deal.

Graeme Ing, known for his young adult fantasy, Ocean of Dust presents The Malachite Mine, a gripping, scream-inducing ride. Whatever was Mary thinking when she accepted her husband’s gift of a most terrifying twenty-first birthday celebration in an abandoned Russian mine?

River Fairchild, author of the Jewels of Chandra series, presents A Grand Purpose. Rosaya and her cousin, Drianna are soon to be married off, but Rosaya is unhappy with her assigned match. She’s much more intoxicated by the older Firrandor, a wizard she hardly knows. When Rosaya is accused of killing an oracle boy, all bets are off, not only for her love, but her freedom.

Gwen Gardner, who pens the Indigo Eady "Cozy" Paranormal Mystery Series, adds to her collection with Ghostly Guardian. Indigo and her rib-tickling ghost-busters must travel to a dangerous pirate-laden past in order to unearth a curmudgeonly eighteenth century spirit that is plaguing the Blind Badger Pub.

Misha Gerrick, whose War of Six Crowns series is forthcoming, gives us a story called Red Earth and White Light. Emily, a young ghost bride has long haunted a house. She longs to cross over into the afterlife, but she’s trapped in memories of lilies and betrayal.

Have you been part of an anthology?
How did it go?
  

How Does Your Garden Grow? Cover Reveals and Other Stuff.

Open For Business

Yeah, I'm back. For reals. It's been a crazy summer in the swimming pool industry--my day job. Now that I can breathe again, I'm regrouping. My new schedule is that I'm posting every Monday. If you're having a cover reveal or doing a blog tour, let me know. I'd be glad to host you.

What else have I been doing?
Gardening

I've been gardening. I'm a great Gardner, but not a great gardener. Sometimes, it just doesn't go as planned. But I have the sweetest hubster. I really do. When my garden doesn't do well (it happens a lot, LOL), he always says the soil is bad. I love him to bits!

I do love gardening, though. Little heads popping out of the ground after a seed is planted. Then it grows into something really awesome. It's a miracle. God really knew what he was doing when he invented gardening. But I get so anxious to plant and nearly always plant too soon. I planted my sunflowers and pumpkins on April 1st. No joke. And now my garden is done and harvested. My pumpkins are 90 days premature. I'm hoping if I don't cut into them that they'll last until Halloween.

But look how lovely!





News

I got a lot done when I wasn't blogging! My Afterlife novella series has been completed and sent off to critique partners. Now I'm waiting patiently (not!) for feedback so that I can complete my edits and publish. If you have space on your blog for cover reveals and releases and want to help, please leave a comment or email me at gwenmgardner@cox.net. If you're looking for something specific, like blurb/excerpt, character based post, interview or want an arc for review, let me know. Here's the schedule:

Book I cover reveal 9/8
Book I release 9/22
Book II cover reveal 9/29
Book II release 10/6
Book III cover reveal 10/13
Book III release 10/20

Cover Reveal and Freebie

So, this is a combined cover reveal and freebie. Isn't it awesomesauce? Corona Zschusschen is a wonderful illustrator. She's done all my covers. So if you're in need, check out her website!



I published my A-Z: The Paranormal Case Files of Indigo Eady. It's from the 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge. I figured since my main character hosted, and she shared some of the stories from my books, that I'd give readers a free taste of what was to come.

At least, I'm trying to make it free. It's live on both Smashwords and Amazon. Smashwords lets me give it away free, but not Amazon. Amazon will only let me go as low as .99 cents. But they do price matching. In other words, if you tell them you saw it cheaper somewhere else, they'll match the price - at their discretion. What you do is go to the Amazon page and scroll down to Product Details to the link that says "tell us about a lower price." Then you enter 0.00 and paste in the Smashwords link.

If you want to help me make it free on Amazon:

Go to this Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-Case-Files-Indigo-Eady-ebook/dp/B00LYYSCWY
 
And paste in this Smashword link under “tell us about a lower price.”:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/459629
Easy peasy, right?

Untethered Realms

Here's another cover reveal for an Untethered Realms author, Graeme Ing, available August 23, 2014. It's pretty darn cool!



A primeval fiend is loose in the ancient metropolis of Malkandrah, intent on burning it to a wasteland. The city's leaders stand idly by and the sorcerers that once protected the people are long gone.
Maldren, a young necromancer, is the only person brave enough to stand against the creature. Instead of help from the Masters of his Guild, he is given a new apprentice. Why now, and why a girl? As they unravel the clues to defeating the fiend, they discover a secret society holding the future of the city in its grip. After betrayals and attempts on his life, Maldren has reason to suspect everyone he thought a friend, even the girl.
His last hope lies in an alliance with a depraved and murderous ghost, but how can he trust it? Its sinister past is intertwined in the lives of everyone he holds dear.
Can only evil defeat evil?
***

Our group of authors always has something interesting to say. We post every Tuesday, so if you want to stop by, go HERE . I'll be there tomorrow talking about what's on my nightstand. My tastes are pretty eclectic, as I think most writers are.


Do you like gardening?   What have you been up to?   Enjoying your summer?

IWSG: Giving It Another Try

The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer's Support Group day. Hosted by Alex Cavanaugh and his awesome minions, it's a monthly event where we post about our insecurities and problems as writers, receive positive feedback, then visit other participants to lend encouragement. Thanks so much to our host Alex Cavanaugh and co-hosts this month, Sarah Foster, Joylene Nowell Butler, Lily Eva, and Rhonda Albom!

I keep hearing about blogging being dead, that it's gone out of style, ran its course. Extinct like dinosaurs. That sort of makes me sad, really. It's been such a rich source of information, support and camaraderie to me in my writing endeavors. Even so, I've thought about giving it up, mostly because it's time-consuming and cuts into my writing time. My posts have been sporadic, about once per month. I find myself wondering if I really have anything of interest to say.

But, you know, I don't want to give it up. I love the people I've met. I like getting glimpses into your lives. It humanizes me, if that makes sense. I'm not the only one who makes mistakes, who's a bit kooky and quirky. I'm not the only one who thinks up/of weird things. And I mean that in a good way!

So I'm going to give it another shot. Once per week, every Monday. Surely I'll have something to say once per week, even if it's about my doggies and how big their vocabularies are. Which, they totally understand a lot and have a lot to say. They're way smarter than...okay, I'll save it.

But I figure, some cute or fun stuff (like my doggies) mixed in with some writing stuff and hosting other writers and cover reveals and releases--I'll try my best to find something interesting to say!

Anyone else struggling with blogging? Is blogging becoming extinct? Will you come back and visit if I have a regular blogging schedule? (Okay, I was fishing with that last one! But will you?)

Untethered Realms Giveaway!

Our group over at Untethered Realms has reached over 100 Followers! That's cause for celebration, of course. So, if you love to read, you're going to love our giveaway.

Check it out!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

IWSG: Memory Malfunction

  Today is the monthly posting date for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, where writers post their worries, concerns and insecurities about their writing endeavors. You can sign up Here or Here. Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and this month's minions, Krista McLaughlin - Kim VanSickler - HeatherGardner - Hart Johnson for all your hard work.  Since I returned to work a year ago, I've struggled a lot with finding time to write. A couple of months ago I decided to use the word count method to at least get words to screen (500/day or 2500/week). I will say that it works as far as getting the words down. It's still hard to make my weekly goal and so I use a lot of my weekend off writing in order to meet my goal. That's okay, because it works. The problem I didn't foresee is that since I'm writing in such small chunks spread out over time,  I tend to forget what I've written before! And I use an outline!  I really, really, really miss my younger brain that use to remember every detail!  Now...what did I just say?   Anyone else have this problem?   What do you do about it?   How's your writing life?
 

Summer Book Crush Time!

It's time for Summer Book Crush! We have tons of authors with tons of books for only .99 cents! June 19 - June 22, 2014  

Whether you like the boy next door or the bad boy down the street, there are lots of book boyfriends to cozy up to.
Just go to www.summerbookcrush.com and check them out. Also, we're on twitter using a few different hashtags:  #SummerBookCrush#SBCboyfriends#romance OR, Come Find Me: @LadyGwenTweets  So, what's your type?  Boy With A Bite? Boy Next Door? Sexy Foreigner? Jock? Sizzler?   

IWSG: Blogging Blues

  Welcome to June's issue of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Many thanks to Alex and his minions for taking the time to support us writers. If you'd like to join, go HERE.  I've got the Blogging Blues. I love blogging, and it makes me so sad that I can't keep up.  In fact, I haven't posted anything since last month's IWSG post. I had planned to blog once per week, but it didn't happen. To be honest, I didn't even finish visiting the people who commented on last month's post. I think I got to half of them. I apologize to all those bloggers I missed. I plan to go back this weekend and pick up the thread. I truly do want to know how you're all doing and to support you all.
Thanks for your patience. And thanks for visiting, even when I'm not pulling my own weight.

P.S. The writing is going well, though :)

How often do you blog?   Do you have trouble keeping up?

IWSG: Doing It All

Thanks, Alex Cavanaugh, for hosting the Insecure Writer's Support Group, the best go-to spot in the blogoverse for writer support. The first Wednesday of every month, we post our insecurities and concerns related to our writing endeavors. You can sign up HERE.

And now to my most recent concern: Doing It All.

What about Doing It All? I can't. Not even close. I've tried writing, editing, marketing, blogging, all while working the day job. Something always suffers or gets neglected. I've done zero marketing this year. I've barely started writing again. And blogging is suffering big time.

I think it's safe to say I'm suffering from burnout. I've considered quitting and throwing in the towel. But when you're a writer, that's not an option, is it? Besides, what about my WIP? And what about the story ideas that are running around inside my head? If I don't write them down, who will? I'd hate for Hugh Howey or Neil Gaiman to write my story because I gave up, ya know?

However I look at it, something is going to suffer. That's just a fact that I'm learning to accept.

Now that I've gotten all that out of the way...

I HAVE started writing again. I actually set a schedule of sorts that I'm sticking to. Marketing and blogging are not part of the schedule, so I will do them when I can. I had to set priorities, and writing is NUMBER ONE!

I've never been a fan of word count in my writing, but I'm learning to really respect the idea. My goal is 500 words a day, five days per week, aka 2500 words per week. I've found that it's manageable, and once I start writing, I usually write more. The minimum word count works because I work from a numbered outline, and 500 words can encompass an item from the outline and a darn good scene. It's a great starting and stopping point every day. I'm on week three of this routine, and it's working!

BUT BEST OF ALL?

I'll publish the novella series I'm working on in October if I stick to my schedule. I'm already thinking about covers and getting excited about writing again.
  What about you?    Do you use the minimum word count method?   What works for you?

My Wacky Writing Life and A-Z

I'm back! It's been a wonderful few months off, but I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned. I'm starting to figure out the best times for me to write, and that was a huge accomplishment.

I'm such a fickle creature (speaking of creatures, please see below). Once upon a time, everything had to be perfect; a whole day to write, nobody home, right mood, right background noise--or maybe that was me procrastinating.

The next obstacle I put in my own way was my fear of putting the words down on paper because they weren't good enough or perfect enough yet. Pretty much got over that, and yeah, even after editing, it's never going to be perfect.

Then, almost a year ago I went back to my day job and boy, did that throw a wrench in things. I wrote next to nothing during this time--I edited my second book, but writing? Nah, it was a no-go-lost-my-mojo.

Now I'm learning to steal minutes here and there. Mostly "there," aka Starbucks at lunchtime. There was a time when it took me an hour to even settle in, let alone write. But I've found this works better for me than evenings, because I am absolutely worthless after work--I've never been a high energy person. And I have yet to discipline myself enough to settle in at home on the weekends to get much done--way too many distractions. Still not settled in to a perfect writing routine, because that would require being a full time writer.

But I've begun to write again. Finally.

Yeah, I know I am one wacky writer!

What are your idiosyncrasies?   What works for you?

AND...     I'm doing the A-Z with Untethered Realms.
If you like spec-fic, you're going to love the creatures theme taken from the creatures in our group's books.