Only little more than a week until Stopover at the Backworlds' Edge? Wow. Time flies. I'll be uploading it to Amazon and B&N shortly. I'm having a launch party on Monday, July 23rd. I would love your help in getting the word out. If you're so inclined, you can sign up HERE.

 I'm four chapters away [maybe six] from finishing The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear. Then I immediately go into creating the polished draft to send to my very talented editor, Leigh T. Moore. We made a great team on The Backworlds, so I'm thrilled to have her talents. I had intended it to be free, as it's the first in a new series, but my critique partners are adamant that I have to charge for it. So, I'm scratching my head, mulling price over for that one. It's very different from The Backworlds, more like Plantgirl if you've read that.

I've also started on book three of The Backworlds, Boomtown Craze. Since my focus is on Hetty, it doesn't get worked on every day yet. Soon.

 

Quaint downtown Bend. Hardly this crowded on a weekend. This was a food festival a few years ago. Guess I need to go downtown with my camera sometime. 

Last Sunday, I met with my writer gal pals for tea downtown. Ten in the morning was a little early for me after a weekend working as a star guide. I think I managed some intelligible sentences though. We talk about publishing and writing. We span the spectrum from published through the big six with an agent, publishing through small presses, indie publishing, and unpublished. We talk about TV and movies and books. Had lunch at an Indian buffet, visited downtown shops, then mosied over to the library to hear Paty Jager read from her latest release, Spirit of the Sky. She did a fantastic job.

At the library, I found a book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a nonfiction on cells and medical science. The name and premise are so similar to my Hetty Locklear, that I had to check it out to read. Also bumped into CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh. It looked very well-read. I was going to take a photo for him, but my phone was dead. Next time, Alex.

Finally got hot here. We shot from the pleasant 70's straight into the 90's. Will be hot all weekend. Supposed to have clear skies, too, but there may be some thunderstorms. Moon is out of the way this weekend, too. So, I hope for some great stargazing.

That was my writing week. How was yours? 

Reminder: This blog is moving to http://mpaxauthor.com/blog/ on August 20th. You can read it there now, same posts on the same days.

Oracle Mystery Tour

The cover for JC Martin's Oracle is out and the revelation of her cover has a mystery attached to it, one that the readers can solve for a chance at a $20 Amazon voucher! For more details on the contest and how to participate, see JC's blog HERE.

Oracle

As the countdown begins, the body count rises.

With London gearing up to host the Olympics, the city doesn’t need a serial killer stalking the streets. They’ve got one anyway.

Leaving a trail of brutal and bizarre murders, the police are no closer to finding their latest murderer than Detective Inspector Kurt Lancer is in finding a solution for his daughter’s disability.

Thrust into the pressure cooker of a high profile case, the struggling single parent is wound tight as he tries to balance care of his own family with the safety of a growing population of potential next victims.

One of whom could be his own daughter.

Fingers point in every direction as the public relations nightmare grows, and Lancer’s only answer comes in the form of a single oak leaf left at each crime scene.

Lindsay Buroker has a new story out

The Assassin's Curse

When outlaws Amaranthe and Sicarius chance upon spies stealing military prototypes, they immediately give chase. Well, immediately after Amaranthe talks Sicarius, former assassin and all-around non-altruistic type, into the mission. She wants an imperial pardon, and what better way to attract the emperor’s favor than by looking after the empire’s interests? 

99 cents at Amazon / B&N / Smashwords

 

Origins Blogfest, Monday, February 13th


Hosted by DL Hammons of Cruising Altitude 2.0, and cohosts Katie Mills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish


On Monday, February 13^th, you should post your own origin story.  Tell us all where your writing dreams began.  It could be anything from how you started making up stories as a child, or writing for the school newspaper, or even what prompted you to start a blog.  How about stories about the first time somebody took an interest in your writing, or the teacher/mentor that helped nudge you along and mold your passion, or maybe the singular moment when you first started calling yourself a writer.  It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own, unique, beginnings.

Sign up at any of the four blogs.

And don't forget about the I'll Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest hosted by Nicki Elson, Suze of Analog Breakfast, and myself. You can read all about it and sign up HERE

Support JC's cover contest, sign up for festing, checkout Lindsay's books. 

Have anything to share this Monday?

A Simple Method for Creating Greater Conflict and Better Characters

This past Saturday I went to the Rose City Romance Writers monthly meeting in Portland with two of my local writing buddies. It was a great day and we had lots of fun.

There was a mini workshop during the meeting on "Five Simple Ways to Identify and Increase Character Conflict." It was really very informative, constructive and as simple as promised. It was basically doing a Glasser analysis for characters. I found it so useful, thought I'd pass it on. You can get more information and the worksheets at www.JudithAshleyRomance.com

Not only is a great method to help create more conflict and tension, it's also useful for finding common ground between characters, motivations and just generally getting to know your characters better. Also a great tool for creating depth in the story, plot and characters.

Francine Howarth is hosting the Indie-Author Tag Party on February 4th & 5th. Go HERE to sign up.

his blogfest is just a simple fun game of playing tag on Amazon to up your profile and that of your book/s.

You'll not only meet other Indie authors along the way, ones you've probably never met before, you can guarantee readers and writers who are on the cusp of going Indie will all be watching from the sidelines and taking note of books that catch their eye and its link!   

So what do you have to do?  

The Rules!?  I hate that word and prefer "Criteria required" for entry to the tag-party:

     

First off: how tagging works

a)      be prepared to tag all those who join the tag-party = fair play

b)      basically follow tag-players’ links to Amazon

c)      scroll to tag and add appropriate tags

Secondly what to do on your own blog: 

d)      post details of your Amazon link to your blog on 4-5^th Feb.

e)      copy-paste the banner (from my sidebar) to your blog's sidebar  

f)        lastly: sign-up

Stephen Tremp's--Breakthrough Blogs--new novel, Opening is out!

“A scientific breakthrough of such magnitude it could radically alter the future of humanity—for better or worse—is in the wrong hands.”


Available from Smashwords and Amazon.

Ciara Knight has a new release coming out:

The Curse of Gremdon

In a world where marriage is forbidden, sex is only granted to male warriors, and the outer realm is full of murderous creatures, Arianna fights to protect the life of her only living relative, her brother.

Tardon, an elite warrior, is granted anything he desires by the Elders, but finds little joy in the voluptuous women presented to him. Born for the bloodlust found only in battle, complicated emotions emerge when he discovers his equal in the alluring warrior, Arianna.

Charged by the Elders with saving the castle from attack, Tardon and Arianna risk the curse when they traverse the vast outer realm to retrieve serum from the Tree of Life. If successful, the Elders have promised Tardon the right to marry and Arianna the cure for her brother’s death fever. Will their love carry them through or will the discovery of a great deception be their ultimate demise? See Ciara's blog for more details.

And a new release from Li of Flash Fiction:

“Small Doses” is a collection of flash fiction built around medical themes. They are not clinical accounts, nor are they to be used as any sort of factual reference; they are pure fiction. However, several are based on existing, documented conditions. There are tales of love, loss and betrayal which examine health and illness from varying points of view; a man who is dying to sleep, a hand with a mind of its own, and an efficient if somewhat unemotional caretaker. Whether the maladies are real or imagined, they have one thing in common: the struggle which we, as humans, endure as ultimately mortal beings.

Currently available at Amazon and other outlets. See Li's site for more links. 

Have you made any great discoveries this week? On the website's blog this week: How I Miss the Observatory / tomorrow: Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair -- www.mpaxauthor.com

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Talked about The Dark Tower and Game of Thrones this week at M. Pax.

Finally saw the final Harry Potter movie last weekend. We're DVD kind of people in this household, so I'm a bit behind the curve with movies most times.

With that said, Deathly Hallows Part II was a nice conclusion to the series. I felt it could have used a bit more edge and grit. It was very good, but I was wanting a bit more spectacular.

I think I need to read the last book, because I feel as if I missed something about Snape. Probably glossed over in the film in the interests of time and drama, it seemed as if that part needed more time and attention than it got. It left questions reeling in my head. The answers I seek are probably in the book. Right? Those of you who've read it, are they?

My TBR pile is huge - both book books and ebooks. I still haven't finished Perdido Street Station and feel enormously guilty about that. Been reading a lot of ebooks though, which is noted on my website this week - www.mpaxauthor.com/blog/ - also talked about The Gunslinger series this week. I'm dying to get to Tanya Huff's new book in the Confederation series. OK, I'm anxious to get to all of the books in my growing stack.

Have a great weekend everybody.