Super Free Book SFF promo

So many authors! So many books! All free!

If you need something new to read, this is where you should go.

Fairy tales at Smashwords!

Smashwords has kindly included Straying from the Path as part of their Once Upon a Time promotion.

If you’re in a fairy tale sort of mood, head on over between now and February 4th.

Story Saturday: Ides of March

Need something to read for this Ides of March? Go visit the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Fair and pick up a new title or two.

Smashwords: Read an Ebook Week Sale

Do you ever buy books from the Smashwords store? If so, head on over for their Read an Ebook Week Sale.

My entire catalog is 50% off. (Well, except for the books that are already free, since 50% of free is … free).

Reading on the Weekend: Science Fiction and Fantasy

Need something to read? Want to start a new series? Visit author Patty Jansen’s science fiction and fantasy promotion for October. All books 99 cents.

Free Fiction Friday: Pikko’s House Book Lovers Box

This is a really cool idea. It’s a subscription box without any of the clutter. Sign up to receive this month’s spooky subscription box filled with spooks and ghouls (and possibly some coffee and ghosts), plenty of free books and deals on many others.

Weekly writing check-in: stepping outside your comfort zone

I have a guest blog post over at Nunum this week:

Use Flash Fiction to Step Outside your Comfort Zone (and step up your craft in the process)

In other news, I started writing the new series this week (and by “started” I mean I’m not sure I’ve even hit 1,000 words yet).

My current mood is neatly summed up by the picture to the left. I always feel this way when I start a story, whether it’s a five-hundred-word flash fiction piece or a 50,000-word novel.

But if it feels new and untested, if I’m–you know–stepping outside my comfort zone, maybe that’s a good thing.

At least, I hope it is.

Weekly writing check-in: Hello, Spring!

Blizzard last week, spring this one. We’re looking at temperatures above 60 degrees today. There’s still a bit of snow on the back deck (we got a lot of snow last weekend), and it’s weird to have the air so warm and the ground covered with snow in places.

But … we’ll take it.

In other news, you may have noticed I’ve done some spring cleaning on my covers. I did like my coffee pot covers, but they didn’t convey everything about the stories that I wanted them to.

   

 

 

 

 

I really like the update. I think the covers convey the fun, quirky, and romantic feel of the stories. And I’m not the only one who agrees. Just this week, the first in the series was selected for a BookBub featured deal (coming up on May 21st). As some of you may know, Bookbub is pretty much the premier book advertising platform. And you may also know that there’s no guarantee that you’ll get a featured deal–ever. (And I’ve been trying. Oh, how I’ve been trying.)

So … I’m pretty excited about this.

In other news, I started really digging into the fairy tale series this week, not draft writing, but lots of structure for the first story (while keeping the entire series in the back of my mind). I also turned in the article I was working on and just okayed all the edits this morning.

And that’s it for this week. Now, I think I will take a walk in this amazing weather and ponder the fairy tale series a bit more.

April (snow) showers, 99-cent sci-fi and fantasy, and some free fairy tales

So this is what it looks like right now (more or less).

I’m not sure what April (snow) showers bring. Chihuahuas, maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

So, with that, I think it’s entirely appropriate to curl up and read until spring starts in earnest. Author Patty Jansen is hosting another of her fabulous promotions this weekend. All the books are organized by category so you can jump to your favorite sub-genre.

99-cent promotion

Or if you’re in the mood for fairy tales, you can download some for free during the entire month of April.

The free and fabulous fairy-tale promotion.

Happy reading, everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly writing check-in: Cure your binge-watching

So the news this week is The Binge-Watching Cure is out in the world.

You know you want to read more. You remember once losing yourself in books. You recall how exciting the adventures were, how late you stayed up following your favorite characters, and how you cried, gasped, or bit your nails.

But how to start reading again when binge-watching TV is so easy and — let’s be honest — fun?

You start slowly, of course. Baby steps. First, with a story that’s only twitter-sized in length. Then the next, a mere 75 words. Then a few hundred words, followed by progressively longer tales until you’re reading novels without even knowing it.

That’s The Binge-Watching Cure, a collection of stories encompassing a range of genres, including mystery, romance, horror, science fiction, literary, crime and more — a little of everything for everybody.

Fun concept, right? Because you can always read just one more.

My story is The Saint of Bright Red Things. It’s my very first historical story of any length, and I’m pretty excited that it’s included in this anthology.

In Nazi-occupied France, Marigold Jenkins, the daughter of ex-patriot Americans, must keep her identities—all three of them—a secret. She navigates the streets of Paris armed with a bright red handbag, scarlet lipstick, and a compact tailor-made for her role as a courier in the resistance.

But when a train accident leaves her concussed and stranded in a provincial hospital, Mari must navigate a new reality, one that leaves her at the mercy of a German officer. She must decide whether she can trust this man—and what she must sacrifice in order to do so.

In other news, I worked a bit on the fairy tale series, and by “worked a bit” I mean I mostly pondered, did some reading and some listening to fairy tales and not a lot of actual writing. It will come.

I also spent a fair amount of time with Photoshop (yet again) this week. And that’s about it.