Loni Townsend's Blog, page 40

Cover Reveal – The Rogue King

My first ever cover reveal!

I’ve had the honor of exchanging stories with Aldrea for over a year now and I must say, she is one of my favorite writers. I’ve loved all of her stories, and The Rogue King is no exception. I look forward to release day when I can read the epic tale in its final polish.

Until that day, I’ll stare at the gorgeous cover.

The Rogue King

Title: The Rogue King

Author: Aldrea Alien

Genre: Science Fantasy

Release date: February 22nd, 2014

Blurb:

Outside is dangerous.

Such is the warning Koral has heard for twelve years. Born a product of genetic manipulation, he knows little else of the world beyond the steel walls of his home.

When fate gives him the choice between certain death and the unknown, there’s no question in what he must choose. But he’s about to find out the sands he must brave are full of more than mere monsters.

Providing the desert doesn’t kill him first.

This is a world ruled by instinct, where innocence is drowned in blood. Here, men are offered up to the great Serpent God, Lorric, only to emerge as the most feared killers on the planet: The Rogues.

With the god’s sights set on turning Koral into a legend, he must sacrifice himself to survive and be reborn as… The Rogue King.

Author Bio:

Born and raised in New Zealand, Aldrea Alien lives on a small farm with her family, including a menagerie of animals. Since discovering a love of writing at the age of twelve, she hasn’t found an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her mind.

Blog: http://thardrandia.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aldrea-Alien/262519090516776

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@AldreaAlien

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7328363.Aldrea_Alien

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Accelerator

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Check this out!

The Wrimo Accelerator

Looks like Lulu wants to be a part of the NaNoWriMo experience. CreateSpace can’t have all the fun!

I’ve been plugging away at Sovereign, book 3 of the Ninier series. My word count is at 9K so far. If you want to add me as a buddy on NaNoWriMo’s site, you can find me under hippiechos. That was the user name I signed up with, not really thinking it’d be my screen name as well. Oh well. I did register under Loni Townsend a few days ago, but I won’t be writing under that account this year, since I’ve already started.

How goes writing for all of you?

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Waiting

I had planned on releasing Thanmir War on November 5th. Well… The changes I alluded to in my post Panic have taken a little bit more time to implement than I had planned. And since I don’t want to release shoddy work, I’m pushing out the release date by two weeks.

November 19th is the new date!

Honestly, with the good work my editor is doing, I could probably still release on the 5th, but that wouldn’t give me much time to get a proof copy and comb over things one last time. Better safe than sorry.

My counters are updated (and corrected, since I realized my side widget was wrong anyways). Anyone want to help spread the word on release day?

Oh, and on a different note, Google gave me my own custom URL! http://www.google.com/+LoniTownsend. I thought that was pretty cool.

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Stoneword Press

I’m in business!

One of the recommendations for self-published authors is to create a business front to do all their publishing through. So I did just that.

Well, alright. I didn’t do *just* that.

Stoneword Press is an offshoot of a larger business: Tree City Media. Take the word larger with a grain of salt, since we’re a two-girl operation with big plans for the future. Christy, my business partner, is a marketing genius who has experience driving home sales. Me? I’m the tech support.

Now I know pretty much nothing about business, and I’ve discovered my natural mindset isn’t conducive toward making money. I use hard work to produce quality results. Christy is one of those people who knows how to work smarter, not harder. I may never catch on, but that’s why she’s the one bringing in the clients.

That’s right. Clients.

Christy is ambitious. Within the past year, she has gone from non-writing book reviewer to published author in local magazines, as well as becoming a board member of the local writer’s guild, and this year’s NaNo ML. Through her many connections, she’s discovered that several people have a need for services such as marketing, editing, formatting (that’s where I come in), and publishing.

She’s got a big plan–bigger than I had ever intended for myself. But I’m confident that where Christy is involved, things will succeed. It’s her specialty.

I need help deciding on a logo for Stoneword Press. I hadn’t really been thinking logo when I settled on the name, and have found the actual creation of one has been difficult. So give me your input! Which one do you like? And if you don’t like any, do you have suggestions as to what would make it great?

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Music and Pictures Update

Since the new addition to the family, time has been in short supply. And unfortunately, the opportunities to work on my computer are few and far between, which makes blogging a bit difficutl. But I’ve become quite adept at playing with my phone!

I’ve previously mentioned my love for Instagram and Snapseed. I’ve decided to start filling out my Flickr profile with some of the pictures I’ve taken, including this piece of awesomeness (I might be a bit biased).

If anyone wants to use any of my pictures, feel free to. I’ve changed the licenses to Creative Commons Attribution. I’ve been trying to pin them to Pinterest, and feel free to do the same if you like them.

Onto music!

I’ve added a few songs to my playlists and thought I’d share them.

Stompa by Serena Ryder

Counting Stars by OneRepublic

Applause by Lady GaGa (music video is freaking weird, so be forewarned)

Wake Me Up by Avicii

Roar by Katy Perry

What is new and inspiring with you?

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Parental Terror

1:37 A.M.

Down the hall, my daughter coughs, cries and complains as Daddy cools her skin with a damp cloth. Her temperature has risen from a balmy 97 to a scorching 103. She’d clung to me when I’d put her to bed, burying her face in my neck with sad whimpers. Now she wails.

I clutch my newborn son–minutes shy of being a week old–tighter to my breast, though he’s already fallen asleep while feeding. What if my daughter’s temperature doesn’t go down? What if he catches what she has? I hear her cry again. I want to go hold her, cradle her like I had before bedtime. But my husband is taking care of her. Still I fret.

8:45 A.M.

My son cries. I stare out the window at the overcast sky, morning light a dreary gray. The weather has plummeted, mocking me by withholding sunlight. I sit up and the epidural headache resumes its pounding behind my eyes and at the base of my skull. The pain is enough to lay a person flat. Literally, since lying down is the primary form of relief for positional headaches. The doctors say it’ll go away by the tenth day. Just need to make it until the weekend.

I fetch my son from his bassinet and he opens his eyes–the whites tinted yellow. This isn’t my first encounter with jaundice, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Two days ago, his blood test showed a decrease in bilirubin levels. He won’t have to return to the hospital like my daughter had to. I hope.

Outside, it starts to rain. How appropriate. That is how the saying goes, right? When it rains, it pours.

My daughter coughs and wanders in–smiling, giggling–reminding me that things do get better. She’s still feverish, but her mood has improved. She seems older now, my baby girl who is now a toddler. When did she get so big?

I lie back down and the pain ebbs. My daughter jabbers at me, using words strung together in not-quite-complete sentences. She’s improved with speech therapy, but I still wonder if the talking issues are my fault. I’d spent the first two and a half years of her life reading her body language and understanding what she meant through gestures. I hadn’t forced her to talk. It never occurred to me to do so. That fear of failure settles over me. How else am I hindering my child?

I suppose my experience with jaundice has given me a different perspective. I cheer every time I have to change a messy diaper. It means my son is flushing the bilirubin from his system. It uplifts me when I hear him cry for food every two hours. He’s not lethargic and I don’t have to force him to eat.

Does the terror ever go away? Maybe when they are capable adults with families of their own? Probably not.

It was my goal to dedicate this week to Melissa Maygrove’s Follow Fest. There are so many interesting and talented writers out there that I want to meet and connect with. But this pain-in-the-neck headache has kept me (lying) down, which isn’t very conducive to hopping the blogs (or socializing at all for that matter). I will find you. I will visit. As soon as this blasted pounding goes away…

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Follow Fest 2013 Blog Hop

Melissa Maygrove’s Follow Fest 2013 Blog Hop

Hey Writers! Want to connect to other writers? Well Melissa Maygrove has the system for you. The Follow Fest 2013 Blog Hop! Click the image above and scroll to the bottom to find a list of other writers. If there’s still time, sign up. Here’s my info.

Name: Loni Townsend

Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction

What genres do you write? Fantasy

Are you published? Not yet, but plan to in November.

Do you do anything in addition to writing? Not professionally. I dabble on my own work (covers, interior layout, ebook layout).

Where can people connect with you?

Blog

Loni Townsend Dot Com (Email subscribe and Feedburner RSS button located in the right side column)

Twitter

@LoniTownsend

Facebook

Personal (friend requests welcome)

Author page

Goodreads

Personal

Google+

My writerly side

Pinterest

My Pins

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

I know very few “rules” about writing, and those I know, I sometimes ignore. I’m a computer programmer, so I analyze and test things, making me more prone to do it myself until failure is my only result. Most of what you’ll find on my blog is related to thoughts on my mind, questions troubling me, or stuff I’ve tried and figured others might find useful. If you’re looking for someone to guide you in the ways of writing, I’m probably not your gal. There are a lot of people more qualified than me. But if you’d like to connect and discuss topics of mutual interest, I’d love to strike up a conversation! Drop a line and say hello. Despite being a squirrel, I don’t bite (too hard).

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He’s here

Born at 2:17 am, 6lbs 14ozs, 19.5″ long. Everyone is healthy and happy.

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Oh Boy!

I’m writing this blog post on Tuesday 9/17 while sitting in a hospital bed, chatting with my husband, pitocin pumping into my veins.

Joy.

Like my daughter, my son is getting evicted. And looking at the time, it’s going to be the wee hours of the morning before he arrives.

So until my next post, keep writing!

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The Fox

Have you ever read one of those children’s stories and found yourself mimicking the animal noises? We have a couple of those for our daughter (including Terry Pratchett’s Where’s My Cow, which I highly recommend). Well, my husband passed a YouTube video to me that I just had to share. It’s the type of video that you either chuckle and shake your head at, or you stare in utter horror (like my sister-in-law). I personally loved it and watched the entire thing with a grin on my face.

Ylvis – The Fox

Did you like it? Or did you stare, mouth agape, wondering what the heck it was you just watched?

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