Fiction News/ Recommendations

WOW Where has the time gone?

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Okay….

MASSIVE changes in my life.

As of August 1, 2018, I opened my own law firm in Urbana, Ohio. It’s been a wild ride. And business is going GANGBUSTERS. It’s made it hard to find time to write, but rest assured, I am making progress.

To answer some questions…

YES I am still writing the sequel to SHADES OF GRAY. (Title right now is RING OF FIRE) It’s my current WIP, and will be the next thing I finish. I’m in the middle right now. No, I don’t have a release date just yet.

YES I am still writing GIRL VERSUS DEMON; DEMON DEADLY SINS. This, however, is not under contract; it will wait until RING OF FIRE is done and turned in.

UNRELATED to that, I am putting together a collection of my short stories. My cousin, Todd Hostetler, cover artist extraordinaire (he did the original cover for SHADES OF GRAY, is working on cover art, and I’m working on collating and doing the final interior design and draft for DEMONS AND HEROES AND ROBOTS, OH MY! We are hoping to release this later this year. Some are reprinted short stories, some have never been published before, but THREE of those stories are related to GIRL VERSUS DEMON. TWO of those are set in Urbana, Ohio.

And the Boy is a junior in high school, in lots of activities. The Girl is three, and into everything. We bought a building for the law office, and are working on renovations, and I still have book events all over the place.

NEXT EVENT is WITTCON on March 23! See you there!

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Publishing News, Updatery, and Stuff and Junk and Things

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Okay…so life has pretty much jumped up and bit me. I’ve wanted to post a lot of things here lately, and I haven’t…but here we go.

FIRST of all…I announced it on Facebook and Twitter, but didn’t post it here (not sure why, just too many things going on I suspect) but I’ve signed contracts with Hydra Publications for the entire HOCHENWALT FILES trilogy. Book one is already out; book two in progress, and book three is in the planning stages. See the announcement HERE.

SECONDLY, I am still working on GIRL VS DEMON. Really. But finishing book two in the HOCHENWALT FILES is taking priority. The minute the werewolf book is in the publisher’s hands, the demon book will rise directly back to the top of the list.

I just recently appeared at Cleveland Concoction last weekend; I have to say that I truly love that convention. There’s tons of great people on wonderful panels, awesome attendees, and I actually had people who showed up for my reading time excited to hear from ME. That makes the inner author do a Snoopy dance and squee a bit! Those who showed up got to hear the first chapter of the demon book…and I’m thrilled to say that it was well received! And Author’s Alley is just so freaking awesome. I would truly love to see other conventions follow their lead. It made for a place where the authors could sit down, talk to readers, sell some books, and network with each other…which we certainly did a lot of!

NEXT UP will be a trip to the GREAT PHILADELPHIA COMIC CON April 27-29, 2018. I will be there with plenty of books for sale, Hubby in tow, and swag and promo stuff and etc. Please check it out and come see me if you’re in the area.

STAY TUNED to this page and my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Organizing a giveaway in the next month or so…YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!

 

 

Getting It All Done

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I’ve laughed a lot here lately. I’m stupidly busy. I need to learn to say no more, but life is going like gangbusters on all GOOD cylinders. I’m not someone who finds it easy to say no to good things. I also end up on a lot of panels about Time Management for Writers and about Writing with a Day Job. So what all am I doing?

I do work a full time job. I’m a lawyer for a local government agency. I’m no longer doing involved trial work, but I’m in court regularly. It’s a 40 hour a week job, but it’s not one that comes with a ton of overtime.

I also work a part time job. I’m lucky enough to have found a part time legal writing job that, while there are deadlines, it’s a very flexible schedule, and generally involves a couple of evenings and maybe a Saturday morning every week. I’m starting to move some of this work to the hours after The Girl and The Boy go to bed at night.

I’m between book contracts at the moment. THE PERRAULT VOW will be out within the week (!) then my contracts for the GRIMM series are fulfilled. I’m working on a new novel, and while my goal is to have it completed in October, if not before, I do not have a contract for it, and do not have a deadline. In fact, I don’t have any writing deadlines at the moment. I generally write on my lunch break at the moment, and after The Girl goes to bed at night.

The Boy is in high school this fall. EEEK!! He’s on the high school soccer AND cross country teams. Which means that I’ll be there cheering him on as much as humanly possible.

The Girl is crawling. She, however, seems to be unhappy that she’s not making faster progress…she wants to stand and walk and run. She can pull herself up on furniture if it’s low enough to get hold of; otherwise, she keeps doing a very frustrated baby version of downward facing dog and getting ticked off that she’s not getting what she wants.

And The Husband and I are trying to eat healthier on a regular basis, eating out less and cooking at home more. The next step will be to add in exercise, but a lot of times that’s an issue of lack of time rather than lack of desire.

So people keep asking me how I’m getting it all done. To which, depending on the day, I either want to tell them that I’ve given up sleep for Lent (since it’s not Lent at the moment it’s fun to watch their faces as they realize this), or I want to tell them that I’m not getting it all done.

Truth is falling somewhere in between.

There’s a measure of planning required to have this kind of schedule and still be Mom. There’s a whole lot of tag-teaming going on between my husband and I as to getting The Girl fed/bathed/put to bed at night/packed for morning and getting The Boy fed/to practice/to games and matches/to team meetings.

My house is nowhere near where I would like it to be; but the level of cleanliness when I lived alone with one job, the writing, and a cat, is not something I can maintain with two jobs, the writing, four people (including a very active teenager), and the cat. The home improvement projects are coming along, though much slower than either of us would like, because of the aforementioned craziness in our schedule. And fall sports have just started this week.

And the writing is happening around deadlines for my part time job, on breaks and lunch hours at work, as well as after The Girl goes to bed at night. The other night, my husband and I were hunched over my laptop kicking around ideas for upping our game for our convention displays, and coming up with a more cohesive, professional look (not that it looks BAD per se…just how can we make it look BETTER). I’ve talked marketing on a phone call with a marketing consultant while spooning strawberry peach apple baby food puree into The Girl’s mouth one evening. Email marketing will be kicking off soon.

Now you see why I find it funny to be on these panels about Time Management. I swing wildly between wanting to say that if I can find time to write, others can too, and saying that if it’s important, a writer will find the time. And then I realize how condescending that sounds, and I don’t mean it that way. The reality is, however, that there’s some truth there. If you truly want to write, you will write after the kids go to bed, on the commuter train to work, on your lunch hour, or first thing in the morning before the rest of the family gets up for work. If it’s important to you, you will treat it as something important in your life.

Or you can just be me and totally lose my mind trying to do it all…and taking my husband to the funny farm with me…

 

Guest Blog; Terry W. Ervin, II

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So, I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus lately while real world and real life stuff has been taking over. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I’ve given birth to a daughter, Olivia, and am home on maternity leave. I’m learning how to blog and type with a highly cranky infant glued to my chest (and I don’t mean just to eat, but wanting Mommy All.The.Time.) 

While I’m getting settled into the new reality of learning to be productive and a good mom (or at least a mom that gets some of it done and some of it right some of the time), I’ve got an interesting post for you from my friend, Terry Ervin. 

Terry and I live in the same area of West Central Ohio, just a few miles (about fifteen) apart, and we both enjoy science fiction and fantasy. In fact, we end up talking at different local book events all of the time about the genre, about publishing, and about a whole lot of other things. It was interesting to see his take on this topic, one we’ve discussed before. Also, Terry’s got a new book out there, so go check it out and see what he’s up to. Here’s Terry…

 

Fantasy and Science Fiction: Good for Movies but Not So Much for Books?

What got me thinking about this topic? Talking to teen readers I’ve met at libraries, book festivals and similar events.

It started a while back with conversations similar to this:

Me: “Do you like fantasy?”

Teen: Shrugs. “I liked the Lord of the Rings movies. Did you see them?”

Me: “Yes, They were pretty neat.” Smiling, I continue. “I’m an author, so I have to ask, did you read the trilogy?”

Teen: With a shake of the head, frowns. “I tried reading the first book. I couldn’t get into it. I don’t like reading fantasy.”

To tell the truth, I’ve read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There were parts that were difficult to get through. They were written for another time, possibly a different audience.

The conversation continues:

Me: “What do you think of science fiction?”

Teen: A small grin. “I like Battlestar Galactica.”

Me: “The new one, right? Not the one from the 70s.”

Teen: “Yeah, but I don’t like reading science fiction either.”

Me: “Maybe fantasy and science fiction aren’t for you. Or maybe you’ve tried the wrong books?”

Sure, fantasy has elves and orcs, dragons and wizards. But fantasy also has vampires and fairies…and superheroes and ghosts, and more. My novels? They have earth wizards battling panzers, and Stukas engaged in aerial combat with fire breathing dragons. (Yes, I’m sort of a World War II history buff)

Science fiction? It’s as varied as fantasy, if not more. It has space ships and wormholes, aliens and androids, time travel and pandemic viral diseases, dinosaurs and, well, the sky…or the rim of the galaxy is the limit. My SF novels? They have brass knuckles and shotguns mixed with magnetic pulse pistols and taskforce sized space battles, and alien species like the Umbelgarri, Chicher, Crax and V’gun.

Are you interested in reading but not sure about Fantasy and SF? Like any other novel, they can have humor and romance, mystery and revenge, horror, hate and redemption, heroines, heroes and villains, average guys and gals, treachery and…well, you name it, even talking frog princes. (aside from Addie…yes, they can! wink, wink).

My first serious dip into SF was in grade school and Jr. High, where I read “A Pail of Air” by Fritz Leiber and “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury. Through them my mind began asking questions, about the survival of humanity, and the consequences of traveling back in time.

Then, I read The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Some might say it’s sort of like ‘Lord of the Rings light.’ That opened the door to Lord Foul’s Bane and the rest of the Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever books by Stephen R. Donaldson.

Those titles just rang for me. Does that mean they’re right for you? Maybe. And maybe not. Just like The Lord of the Rings trilogy…they’re good books, ones that have withstood the test of time, but aren’t for everyone.

Teen: Holds up a copy of Flank Hawk. “So what movie is this book like?”

Me: “It’s like Lord of the Rings meets Gettysburg, meets Saving Private Ryan.”

Teen: Points to a copy of Relic Tech. “And this one?”

Me: “Babylon 5 meets Starship Troopers, meets The Rockford Files.” I smile. “You might have to look a few of those shows up. They’re good…almost as good as my novel.”

My advice? Don’t automatically turn away from fantasy and science fiction. Take a look at the cover, and read the back of the book, and maybe a few pages. Look up reviews if you’re so inclined. With the vast variety of stories fantasy and SF encompass, there’s certain to be something in there for you, something to challenge you…capture your imagination like nothing ever has before.

 

Terry W. Ervin II is an English and science teacher who enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction. His First Civilization’s Legacy Series (fantasy) includes Flank Hawk, Blood Sword, and Soul Forge.

The Crax War Chronicles, his science fiction series, includes Relic Tech and Relic Hunted (his most recent release from Gryphonwood Press).

In addition to writing novels, Terry’s short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies, magazines and ezines. Genre Shotgun is a collection containing all of his previously published short stories.

To contact Terry or learn more about his writing endeavors, visit his website at www.ervin-author.com and his blog, Up Around the Corner at uparoundthecorner.blogspot.com

Upcoming Appearance at Cleveland Concoction

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I will be at Cleveland Concoction March 13-15, 2015, which is being held at the Sheraton hotel at the Airport in Cleveland.

This is my panel schedule… (I think they rather took me seriously when I said to use and abuse me on panels. Good thing I really like doing them!) I do have one or two meetings in between all of this, but those details are still getting finalized.)

Friday 2 pm Publishing Standards Q&A

Friday 3 pm Twisted Fairy Tales

Friday 7 pm Autographing Session

Friday 10 pm Crafting Villains Readers Love to Hate

Saturday 1 pm There are No Saints in Fiction

Saturday 4 pm Writing for YA versus Adults

Saturday 9 pm Humor in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Saturday 10 pm The 10 volume Trilogy

Sunday 9:30 am Author’s Breakfast

Sunday noon Reading/Author Showcase

While I’m in Cleveland, I will be handing out promotional GOT FROG? Buttons, bookmarks, and other swag-a-licious stuff…and this sounds like a truly wonderful conference. I’m so looking forward to it! If you’re into books or writing or publishing at all, you should really considering attending.

ALSO stay tuned….publishing news coming soon with regard to THE GRIMM LEGACY series…but it’s not finalized yet, so I don’t want to start celebrating just yet.

Doors and Windows

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There’s a saying out there about “when one door closes, another opens”, or a “door closing and a window opening.”

That’s scant consolation when one is at a crossroads and trying to make decisions on what to do next.

My publisher, or rather, one of my publishers, Musa Publishing, announced last week that they would be closing their doors as of February 28, 2015.

To say that I was surprised is an understatement. I’d just recently gotten word that they were going to start releasing books in print, and so I hadn’t expected this kind of news.

There are some who might speculate as to why they are closing, and I’ll say here that I have no idea what the true, underlying reason is. I know some of the issues that have been cited to the authors, I can guess at others, but it’s not my business to guess as to why others make the business decisions they make. I’m not their lawyer, their business manager, or their accountant, and so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of any of those things. If I was, I wouldn’t be able to share them for confidentiality reasons.

Meanwhile THE GRIMM LEGACY, THE ANDERSEN ANCESTRY and THE WONDERLAND WOES are all for sale for readers through the end of the week. If you click on “Bibliography” at the top of the page, you’ll find buy links for all of my Musa books. If you buy them through the publisher’s website, (click on “Musa” link) you’ll find them at major discounts that will last until February 28, 2015.

As for me, I do not plan to have these books die. And I do not plan on leaving the series hanging. I’m still planning to edit THE BUNYAN BARTER (which is already written) and planning to write THE PERRAULT VOW (which would finish the series.)

There may be a time where they are not up for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the other sites, but please keep in mind that I am looking for a home for the books. That home may end up being self-publishing. It may be with another publisher. Please know that I am exploring options and will report more when things become more settled. I hesitate to post any plans here, because I am still working through all of that. I’m hoping that I have answers for you sooner rather than later, but I’m not going to provide answers I don’t have.

I am planning to be at all currently scheduled appearances, and have not changed those plans AT ALL.

I have to say that regardless of the reasons, I have enjoyed working with the Musa staff and employees, and have to say that they have been very responsive to all questions, concerns, and ideas I’ve had come up, not just in the last few days, but also throughout my tenure with them. I wish all of them well, and hold no ill will toward any of them. Maybe someday I will be lucky enough to cross paths with any (or all) of them again, and will happily see if our publishing interests again intersect. I am grateful for all that I have learned with the company, and I cheer them for their ethical and moral stand on transparency and responsibility to their authors.

Goals for 2015

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GOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I’ve gone to WAY too many soccer games….or, as Husband and The Boy would put it…not enough.

My point is that this post isn’t about New Year’s resolutions, but rather goals for 2015.

My thought is that if I set myself twelve goals for 2015, enough that MAYBE I could complete one each month, that it would be a really nice way to see what progress I’ve made this year. However, as some of these will take more than a single month to finish…I’d like to set them, and then keep myself honest by posting here on progress throughout the year…

Without further ado, and in no particular order…

  • Finish THE BUNYAN BARTER. This one will come up fairly quick, as the manuscript is due at the end of January to the publisher. This is my biggest priority at the moment, so if I turn down plans with someone…you know why!
  • Edit SHADES OF GRAY. Yeah, that werewolf novel I’ve been kicking around for a long time. I’ve just about decided to self-publish it, having put out some feelers about editing and cover art and etc., but it needs a heavy duty deep line edit before I do it. I’ve noticed some inconsistencies I’d want to fix before putting it out there.
  • Finish GIRL VERSUS DEMON: DEMON DEADLY SINS. It’s a third plus of the way done. Once I get contracted deadlines met, this needs to come off the back burner and get out there. I do plan to query with this one; I have a great publisher, but I do not have an agent as of yet, and I’d like to see what I can do with this one.
  • Research THE PERRAULT VOW. The final (!) book in The Grimm Legacy series needs some research foundation under it, and a loose outline finished so I’ll be ready to start writing it in the fall.
  • SEKRIT PLAN #1. I’ll tell you more when this gets started. So to speak.
  • Blog at least once a week. This will be my week one blog…so I’m keeping up already!
  • Work out on a regular basis. I don’t want to make weight loss a plan, because I don’t want this just to be about losing weight, although I’m a-okay with dropping a few pounds. I want getting healthy to be the plan, so I’m good with the idea of some kind of exercise two to three times a week.
  • Bathroom remodel. Husband and I have been stockpiling supplies to remodel our upstairs bathroom. So far, we have linoleum and laminate flooring, a vanity and vanity top, and a mirror/medicine cabinet. We’ll likely be able to reuse the existing toilet, so all we need is to save up the money for a new tub and shower surround, the materials for behind it, a new light/fan, and all the remaining hardware and supplies. Once we have the rest bought, we’ll be able to determine how much time it’ll take to do the work, which we’ll try to do a lot of ourselves.
  • Write at least two new short stories. With new characters and different worlds. I wrote two short stories in 2014; one an epic fantasy work for hire project (more on that later), and a story set in outer space. It’s my understanding that BOTH of them will be released in anthologies in 2015; time to start work on two more.
  • Plant some roses. I’ve wanted some rosebushes in my flowerbeds for YEARS. Grandma King used to have rosebushes, and I always loved them. I’ve had some luck with a rosebush in a big container on a patio in the past. Now that Husband has yanked out the ornamental grasses that I HATED in my flowerbeds, I can start thinking about putting rosebushes in. Not a ton. Thinking maybe one this year, and see how it does. Unless I get talked/tempted into more, that is.
  • SEKRIT PLAN #2. Will have to happen if #1 happens.
  • SEKRIT PUBLISHING NEWS AND THE WORK BEHIND IT. Will have to keep you updated as I can; this is not yet in stone, and is still in flux, but the work it will take to do this will be in the to do list.

Writers Have Lives Too

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I don’t care how close to me that you are. I don’t care if you are my mother, my grandmother, my siblings, my cousins, my bestest of the bestest friend, or my third cousin’s brother’s half-sister’s stepdaughter’s college roommate.

My day job is NOT as a writer. I still work a full time job, a couple of part time jobs, plus the writing.

It is wildly inappropriate to show up at my day job and expect me to drop everything to give you advice on how to get your book published.

I have a website. My email is on the website. In fact, just to be clear, I’ll list it here again…

addiejking AT gmail.com (insert @ character in appropriate place…trying not to encourage spam. We all get enough of that).

My email gets checked multiple times during the day; on breaks, at lunch, after work, and before and after I go to bed at night. I’m always available to give advice if someone contacts me in that way, but it might take a few days, depending on my schedule, the Husband’s schedule, and The Boy’s schedule. They come first,always.

My co-workers should not have to deal with this. They have plenty of other things that need to get done every day, and they are not paid to handle this kind of request. Luckily, they did not have a huge line of people at the time that this person came in.

If you are close enough to me to 1) know where I work, 2) know what I do, and 3) think I’d drop everything during the day to talk to you, then you ALSO know that I’m not a writer from 8-4 pm; I’m working the day job.

Look, guys, I love to talk writing. I really really do. I’m happy to give advice; heck I spend tons of time doing so at conferences, in emails, at writer’s workshops, etc. I LIKE helping writers…lots of them have helped me.

I mentioned on a panel at Origins that it was okay to ask a writer if they had time to read stuff from an aspiring writer. I stand by that advice. I also declined when someone in the audience asked me to do so, because my schedule does not currently permit it, but I encouraged them to keep asking. Six months from now? Who knows. And someone else might have a schedule that fits earlier than I do. I know lots and lots of writers who have taken someone under their wing. Someone did that with me. I will likely do so myself. It just isn’t going to happen at the moment.

Let me be clear…the person who asked at Origins was NOT the person who showed up at my day job.

It’s okay to ask. It’s NOT okay to show up at their day job and want to talk about publishing. Period. (Please everyone, keep in mind, that most everyone out there has rules about discussing outside work on company time. If you get a writer disciplined from their day job, or even fired, they will not be happy to give you advice.)

 

Quick Updatery

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Life is a whirlwind at the moment. Between keeping up with work stuff, keeping up with The Boy’s soccer games, and the recent round of upper respiratory crud (doctor informed me Friday that I wasn’t quite at bronchitis yet, but definitely heading in that direction), and working diligently toward hitting my deadline on THE ANDERSEN ANCESTRY, life’s been a bit goofy/crazy/all over the place.

BF and I have both had the sinus/upper respiratory crud, which meant that we had a fairly quiet Valentine’s Day, but a good day, nonetheless. We celebrated by exchanging small gifts (a necklace with a frog on it from him; a box of Marie’s Candies from me) and then dinner at the local restaurant where we had our first date. And then, home, to take more cold medicine and crash. Yeah, we are an exciting couple!

I do have a few appearances coming up. Here’s the first one…

March 5, 2013 I will be one of the local authors at the Hollenbeck Bayley Creative Arts and Conference Center in Springfield, Ohio from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Click here to see details. It’s open to the public, but they do want to know how many to expect, so RSVP on the site.

I am hoping to make several appearances at different conferences, etc. this year, and probably going to be at even more than normal, but still firming up details on all of them, so I don’t want to post until we’ve got some finality. More to come.

More to be announced as details firm up…

Author Event in Urbana

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Friends of mine have asked me to pass on this upcoming event at the Champaign County, Ohio library…

On March 19, 2013 at 7 pm,, Cara Black will be visiting our local library to talk about her upcoming release in her Aimee le Duc murder mystery series.

Put it on your calendar if you’re going to be in the area and come check it out!