Loni Townsend's Blog, page 29

Follow Fest ’14 & Featured Photo Friday

The magnificent Melissa Maygrove is at it again! It’s time for (the tail end of) Follow Fest 2014. Her organizational abilities and social savvy never cease to amaze me. If you haven’t checked her out, you should. And then join Follow Fest!

Follow Fest allows writers connect with each other through blogs and other social media.

Here are my details.

Name: Loni Townsend

Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction

What genres do you write? Fantasy, though I seem to be delving into horror lately.

Are you published? Yes! Thanmir War is available on Amazon.

Do you do anything in addition to writing? That might be helpful to other authors? Probably not. I dabble in all things, including web design, e-book formatting, and photography.

I’m a computer programmer by trade, but I love front-end web design, so simple things like clean HTML or clever CSS makes me tingle. I’m also one of those weirdos who hates using WYSIWYG (pronounced wizzywig, stands for what-you-see-is-what-you-get) content editors. I prefer typing out my tags by hand.

Tell us a little about yourself. I’m a squirrel with blue hair and an addiction to Red Bull. When I’m not reigning terror on my children or tormenting my husband with more house projects, you can find me writing, coding, drawing, dancing, exercising, analyzing music with my buddy, or taking photos.

Speaking of which, today’s featured photo is abstract bubbles!

And now, back to Follow Fest.

What are you reading right now? Soulless by Crystal Collier and The Plains of Kallanash by Pauline Ross. It depends on which device I have handy at the time.

Which authors influenced you the most? Terry Brooks took my imagination on an adventure when I was younger, and Diana Gabaldon fueled my love for characters.

Where can people connect with you? You can find my follow buttons in the right side bar. But here are the links for your convenience.

Blog (You’re Here) | Twitter @LoniTownsend | Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Goodreads | Google+ | Pinterest | YouTube (It has my super cool book trailer) | Amazon Author Page

Do you have a newsletter? Nope. I can’t even remember to take my vitamins daily. A newsletter is beyond me.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know? I’ve just revised my novella (25K) called This World Bites—humor fantasy. I’d love for a couple of beta readers to see if I’ve cleared up some of the issues other betas discovered.

That’s it for me. What about you? Are you participating in Follow Fest?

The post Follow Fest ’14 & Featured Photo Friday appeared first on Squirrel Talk.

30 Seconds Blog Tour

Today on my blog, I have Chrys Fey, author of the upcoming 30 Seconds novella. While I am down and out with a cold, she will keep you entertained. Take it away, Chrys!

When Loni first asked me to create a Tens List of my favorite Martial Arts moves, I was stumped, but then I remembered a few characters I’ve written about—a wrestler, a self-defense instructor, and a kick-ass heroine with supernatural fighting abilities.

My 10 Favorite Martial Arts Moves:

1. Scorpion Kick – This is an awesome kick where the leg is like a scorpion’s tail. You bend forward, throw your leg over your head, and kick your opponent in the face.

2. Uppercut Punch

3. Scissors Kick

4. Karate Chop

5. Hurricanrana – This is more of a wrestling move, but I love it. You jump on your opponent’s shoulders, lock your ankles around his/her head, and then you pull yourself backward like with a flip to send your opponent flying.

6. Spinning Heel Kick – You turn 360 degrees before landing your heel into your target.

7. Spinning Back Fist

8. Crane Kick – Karate Kid, anyone?

9. Bear Hug – Exactly as it sounds and is finished by lifting your opponent behind you to the ground.

10. Leg Sweep

Title: 30 Seconds

Author: Chrys Fey

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Length: Novella (105 pages)

Format: eBook

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Published: September 10th, 2014

When a woman finds herself in the middle of a war between a police force and the Mob, 30 SECONDS is a long time.

When Officer Blake Herro agreed to go undercover in the Mob, he thought he understood the risks. But he’s made mistakes and now an innocent woman has become their target. He’s determined to protect her at all costs.

The Mob’s death threat turns Dr. Dani Hart’s life upside down, but there is one danger she doesn’t anticipate. As she’s dodging bullets, she’s falling in love with Blake. With danger all around them, will she and Blake survive and have a happy ending, or will the Mob make good on their threat?

Find it here: Amazon US | The Wild Rose Press | Goodreads

Excerpt:

She panted with fear. What if they see the chest? What if we get caught? What if my breath stinks and I’m breathing right into Officer Hottie’s face? She shut her mouth and let oxygen flow through her nose.

Her eyesight slowly adjusted to the darkness and she could see Officer Herro’s silhouette. His head was turned and he was listening to the thuds of heavy boots getting louder; the intruders were coming their way.

Then the thunder of footsteps sounded right next to them. “There’s no one here, Red,” someone announced.

“Look for documents,” a man ordered, who Dani could only assume was Red. “I want the name of the person I’m going to kill.”

A moment later, there was a reply. “All the mail is addressed to a Dr. Hart.”

Hearing her name said aloud by one of the men who had ransacked her place made her want to gasp. Her mouth fell open and her breath was reversing into her lungs, but before she could make a sound, Officer Herro lowered his lips to hers, silencing her. Stunned, she could only lie beneath him with her eyes wide and her body tense. She couldn’t believe he was kissing her. She wanted to push him back, but knew if she did he might hit the inside of the chest, giving away their hiding place. That was when she realized he was kissing her so she wouldn’t gasp.

She let her body relax. After her initial shock faded, she was able to feel his lips. They were comforting and caused a reaction deep inside her. She couldn’t stop her lips from reacting to his. It was an innocent connection, a soft touch of lips. Until his hand slid from her shoulder to her neck and the kiss deepened into something else.

Chrys Fey is a lover of rock music just like Dani Hart in 30 Seconds. Whenever she’s writing at her desk, headphones are always emitting the sounds of her musical muses -especially that of her favorite band, 30 Seconds to Mars, the inspiration behind the title.

30 Seconds is her second eBook with The Wild Rose Press. Her debut, Hurricane Crimes, is also available on Amazon.

Discover her writing tips on her blog, and connect with her on Facebook. She loves to get to know her readers!

Have you met Chrys before? Have you read Hurricane Crimes? Are you looking forward to 30 Seconds?

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Underrated Treasures Blogfest

Alex J. Cavanaugh is hosting a blog hop! This one is called:

Everyone has a favorite movie or band that no one else has ever heard about. For whatever reason, they remain undiscovered and underrated. Now is your chance to tell the world about this obscure treasure!

Today, September 22, post about your favorite unknown –

MOVIE – BAND/ARTIST – TV SHOW – BOOK

Post about one or all four – dealer’s choice!

I chose two songs for music, because they land on opposite sides of the spectrum.

The first is creepy, and a tad malicious.

Digital Daggers – Devil Within

The second is happy and utterly cute.

Meiko – Stuck On You

I figure not many people have heard of them, thus I added them to the list.

For TV Series, I couldn’t help but include Sliders.

I loved this show. Of course, it went downhill after season 3. But instead of dwelling on that, we’ll look at the early seasons with fondness. Sliders is one of those major influences in my life. It created endless “what if” scenarios. Each Earth they landed on was different. On one, Russia conquered the US. On another, penicillin had never been discovered.

And come on, it had in it.

I have no movies or books to add to this list.

Do you like Digital Daggers or Meiko better? Have you seen Sliders? What underrated treasures can you contribute?

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Friday Fun

With all of the commotion going on at the Town’s End lately, I haven’t been taking much in the way of pretty photos. So you get some fun ones instead.

I wanted to participate in the shelfie hop that I’ve seen on a few blogs. But due to the combination of me being strapped for cash 13 years ago, and my mother-in-law ridding her house of several books without telling her children, my husband and I don’t have a very impressive physical bookshelf. I thought about taking a picture of my sis-in-law’s bookshelf, but figured that’d be cheating. I mentioned to Elizabeth Seckman that my collection was primarily digital, and she said to use that. M.J. Fifield posted shelfies taken of her kindle, and that inspired me.

Here is my shelfie!

Like my blue hair? Some of the covers aren’t visible because they came from Smashwords.

Among other news, my son turned 1 year old yesterday! I bought him a small birthday cake, because I have no skills in the baking/decorating department.

He’s not keen on frosting, but he did like the fluffy, chocolate parts. My daughter was more than happy to help him by eating half of it.

Last tidbit for today, my state ranks #1 on the rudest driver’s scale! Unfortunately, when viewed in the light of slow-driving being the major issue, I’m not surprised. I’ve had this discussion with my co-worker before, because he’s one of those who drives 5 under. He’s figures there’s no reason to rush because it’s only makes a few minutes impact in his arrival time. I pointed out how inconsiderate it was to everyone behind him. He shrugged. I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help but share the report with him when it came out.

Have you taken a shelfie yet? Are you celebrating any birthdays lately? Is your state on the rude driver scale?

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Why I Write Blog Hop

Thank you for all the well-wishes last week. My mom had knee surgery last Friday, and returned home Monday after over a week in the hospital. I took a trip to the other side of the state to visit her this last weekend. She’s doing well, enjoyed seeing the grandbabies, and is now under the loving care of my retired dad.

The magnificent Sarah Brentyn tagged me in the Why I Write blog hop. Sarah writes because she needs to. I imagine many writers have that same need.

I don’t.

If I didn’t write, Derek would still live inside my head, smiling at me with that lopsided, boyish grin of his. He’d still go through endless trials and come out stronger for it. He’d still pine for a love he’d been denied.

If I never wrote him down, he’d still be there. So, you see, I don’t need to write.

But I do write, because he has a story and I want to share it.

I don’t talk about actual book content on my blog much. I used to, three years ago, when I blogged on Blogger under my personal email account. I rambled about my ideas and all the many changes Derek’s gone through. A lot has changed since conception. Some things haven’t. He’s still 22, works with plants, and has a way with attracting women. He took up residence in my head when I was 16 (half my lifetime ago). At the time, Derek had a younger sister who was 6 years younger than him, a model student, and a genius. Yeah… The sister got scratched.

Derek saunters into my thoughts every time I lay down to sleep, turn off the radio, or have a free moment of any kind. I have to listen to music at work, otherwise he shows up and shares another tidbit about himself I hadn’t known. Or he forces me to go over the scenes that don’t quite work. Or he’ll just smile at me from behind his coffee cup and casually ask me about my progress on book 2.

He won’t leave me alone, and I’m okay with that.

Cera, Michael, Jack—everything I’ve written thus far somehow ties back to Derek and his story, even if the other characters never mention him. His actions had a ripple effect through the world I created. Thanmir War is just the beginning. There are three more books I still need to write to tell his story completely.

I decided to tag a couple of local writers who are also part of The Seven. Sherry Briscoe, author of Mists of Garibaldi, and Marlie Harris, author of Into The Darkness. I met both of these fine ladies through my critique group, and had the pleasure of reading their work before it hit the shelves. I was going to tag Troy Lambert, another member of The Seven, but he’s a bit busy with editing the Aladdin stories. Oh, and The Seven now has a facebook page! Feel free to like it.

Why do you write? Do you have voices in your head? Do you see people who aren’t really there?

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Rifters Launch – My Summer Trip to Settler Oregon

The following story is based on my very real weekend, but I figured it could double for my submission to M Pax’s Rifters launch. I present, My Summer Trip to Settler, Oregon.

My mother broke her knee.

We were at a remote campsite, just north of Settler, Oregon, and had been there all weekend. I’d been standing by my car, checking that my daughter was properly buckled in for the return trip, when I saw it from the corner of my vision. My mom stepped down from the camper. I stood frozen for an instant as I saw her tip. And then she hit.

I ran. “MOM!”

She winced and held her leg. “I felt something snap.” She forced out the words through gritted teeth and pale lips. No tears. Fierce and fearless as usual. How could she be so composed?

I raked my hands through my hair and grabbed her beneath the arms.

“No!” Her wince morphed into a grimace. “Don’t pick me up.”

Crap. I shouted to my husband and grabbed my cell phone out of habit. No reception. Of course there was no reception! We were out in the freaking mountains. I shoved my phone back into my pocket.

“Where does it hurt?” my husband asked. At least he was able to think in a situation like this.

What was I doing? What could I do? “I…” I looked around the campsite. “I’m going to go find Dad.”

Again I ran, scrambling down the river rocks to the water. “DAD!” I waved my arms above my head. “DAD!”

He squinted at me and gathered up his gold pan. Green waders covered his legs to the the thigh and water sloshed around his feet. Good. He wouldn’t have to walk all the way around from the other campsite. As he neared, he called out, “What happened?”

“Mom fell!” I pantomimed breaking a stick and then pointed to my leg. I looked back toward the camper. Should I wait for him before going back?

I rushed back to my mom and husband. He’d gathered pillows for under her head and now prodded her leg. “Can you feel your toes still?”

She nodded, but kept her eyes clamped closed.

I licked my lips and started pacing. “What should I do?” I stalked to my car, but my daughter was drifting off into an afternoon nap, and my son was already asleep. Okay. No need to fuss over the kids.

My husband looked around. “We should splint her leg.”

I sucked in a breath. “With what?”

He waved at the campsite. “Sticks would probably work.”

By that time, my dad had made it back. He dug through his supplies, pulled out the pop-up tent for the portable toilet, and grabbed the poles. I went back to fidgeting. “I have my hand wraps, the ones I use for kickboxing.”

“Yeah, get them.”

I popped the car trunk and yanked out my bag. Front zipper? No, second zipper. I grabbed the balled-up hand wraps and left the bag lying on the ground. “Here!”

The tent poles braced my mom’s knee on either side, and we wrapped them in a folded up blue tarp that had duct tape lining the edges. I slid the first hand wrap around her calf, and winced when I saw her wince. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“No, no.” Her hand patted the air. “Make it tight. It feels better.”

I stuck the Velcro end of the hand wrap to itself and started in on the second one, on her thigh, just above the knee.

We all took a few deep breaths, and then started throwing things into the camper. It’d be a 3 hour drive to get back to someplace with a decent hospital.

And that was how our trip ended.

BTW, the area we camped in was pretty good for gold panning…

Blurb

The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.

Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.

Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.

The Rifters is available at an introductory price. The second book in the series, The Initiate, will be available October 20, 2014. It’s up for preorder for a special price at iTunes, Amazon, and B&N. Check HERE for links. Giveaways and events are ongoing through October 31, 2014. Check HERE for details.

Links: Amazon / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords /Googleplay / iTunes / Other Outlets

Author Bio

M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.

Have you picked up The Rifters yet? Have you had any traumatic camping experiences? What was your summer trip to Settler, Oregon like?

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Sunflowers for Tina – #LifeIsGood

Today, the Internet remembers Tina Downey. She was a bright spirit with the motto “Life is Good,” and she left us far too early. I didn’t meet her until this past April, when I participated in the A-to-Z Challenge. Even in that short time, I was amazed by her upbeat attitude in the midst of ongoing hardships.

We will miss you, Tina.

If you would like to donate to the Downey Education Fund for her two sons, you may use the following PayPal button to do so.

You can find the list of other people participating in this memorial and sign up here.

Let’s flood the internet with sunflowers for Tina.

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Featured Photo Friday

The grapes this season are delicious. Crisp and sweet, they give that satisfying crunch and burst of flavor when you bite into them. So when my husband and I settled down for a glass of wine, I thought I’d get creative.

So let’s raise a glass for today’s featured photo—Grapewine!

I had a vision of the California Raisins snapping their fingers and singing, “I heard it through the grape vine,” when I chose the name. Do you remember those raisins?

I hope you have a terrific weekend! I’m off to go camping in those areas that don’t have cell reception. I’m wondering how it’ll work out with a baby who isn’t quite a year old yet. But my daughter is looking forward to camping with the cousins, and I’d hate to deprive her.

Any advice for camping with a baby? Do you like grapes? Do you remember the California Raisins?

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IWSG – How long is too long?

Today is the first Wednesday of the month. That means, it’s time for Insecure Writer’s Support Group!

You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.

Do you ever get discouraged because of “rules”? This one terrifies me the most:

“The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.” —Stephen King

I’ve been working on book 2 of the Niniers (Thanmir War’s sequel) for a while now. The first draft isn’t done yet. That quote hangs over me, whispering to me that my writing is crap because it isn’t finished yet. And now that I’m working on The Seven, it’s going to take me even longer.

Do you agree that more than 3 months is too long? Do you think time spent on a first draft impacts the quality? Do you have any rules that haunt you?

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The Not-So-Accidental Blog Tourist Hop

Hey look, I plastered my face to the top of this post!

A while back, Carrie Butler tagged me in this Not-So-Accidental Blog Tourist hop. I wasn’t sure if I was going to participate, because it’s a lot like the one I did for Chrys Fey, and I wasn’t sure who to tag.

But since I’m working on a new project, I figured I’d focus on that.

1. What am I currently working on?

The project is called The Seven. Seven authors collaborating on multiple collections to bring you creepy delights. My author photo for this is the one up top. The first story focuses on Aladdin’s Lamp.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I’ve heard of anthologies, but we’re talking at least 10 books by the Seven. Not thick books, mind you. Don’t think we could do 3 a year if they were big.

3. Why do I write what I do?

For this project, the theme for each book is already set. Being a fantasy author, it’s been hard to switch gears to do supernatural/paranormal, based in the “real” world. I’ve had to think up new characters, which sucks for me. I write much more naturally in Cera’s or Derek’s voice, but neither one fit into the scope.

4. How does my writing process work?

First, I tear out my hair. Then I start with a scene, throw it away, and start again. Seven times. How appropriate, considering we’re called the Seven. I’m a pantser who leans heavily on the character I’m writing. That gets difficult when I don’t know the characters. But hopefully, you’ll like Jensen when you meet her.

I could only think of one person to tag who hasn’t yet participated and might. I met Sarah McCabe on the Mythic Scribes forum when I went hunting for other fantasy writers. She offered up her blog, and it’s been a delight to read. Hopefully she’ll be a no-so-accidental blog tourist.

Have you participated in this type of blog hop yet? If not, consider yourself tagged!

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