Book Blog Tour – Blood to Fire

Posted by tmycann on Mar 13th, 2013 in indie, writing | 2 comments

You will very shortly be heartily sick of seeing my name around the interwebz, as I’ve signed up for a virtual book tour through Book Monster Promotions. Over the next few weeks you’ll see me at these fine locations:

3/16 – Book Monster Reviews

3/17 – Jocelyn Dex Blog

3/19 – Beach Bum Reads

3/20 – Toot’s Book Reviews

3/21 – Over The Edge

3/24 – Mad Hatter Reads

3/25 – United by Books

3/30 – Alexx Mom Cat’s Gateway

4/01 – Riverina Romantics

4/02 – Page Flipperz

4/03 – Paranormal Book Club

4/04 – Close Encounters With The Night Kind

4/05 – Cocktails and Books

4/07 – The Reading Café (3:00pm post)

4/09 – Books-n-Kisses

4/10 – Wicked Readings

4/11 – Deal Sharing Aunt

4/12 – Book Lovin’ Mamas

Thanks in advance to all the bloggers who agreed to host me! 🙂

Publication Day?

Posted by tmycann on Mar 10th, 2013 in indie, writing | 4 comments

You’d think it would be exciting: I finished all the editing and formatting and have submitted my third novel to Amazon for vetting and publishing. Instead, I feel … tired.

My class this session is heavy lifting about ethics and law and requires a 5-7 page paper on a weekly basis, on top of class participation and tests. Work has been intense, and I think the whole world is suffering under the miscommunication inherent in the Mercury Retrograde experience.

So releasing a book in the midst of that feels fraught. Especially in light of conflicting reports I’ve read about fair use of old lyrics. I’ve done my due diligence. My quotes contain key hints about character and plot development–in other words, the story doesn’t make sense without that scene (it came to me in a dream so I’m doubly loath to redact), and it doesn’t make sense with any other artist or lyrics. According to Bernard Star, this falls under fair use. Then there’s everyone else, who’ve shared horror stories about being charged thousands of dollars in licensing fees.

So I’ve tried to get in touch with the copyright owner. I’ve gone through several iterations of research. They apparently don’t want to talk to me.

I’m going to say at this point that silence is implicit approval.

😉

We’ll see whether publication changes that.

Now, it’s on to finish my formatting tasks and keep up with blogging and schoolwork, and I will have accomplished almost everything I set out to do at the beginning of this round of ROW80. Check out how my fellow ROW80 participants are keeping up with their goals.

Cover Reveal: Blood to Fire

Posted by tmycann on Feb 27th, 2013 in indie, writing | 4 comments

Tonight, despite the blizzard outside, the cockles of my heart are blazing: I Haz Cover Art!

One thing I love about indie publishing: It allows me control of imagery and branding for my books. And Gayla is awesome to collaborate with in the process of refining graphic ideas and how they might play in our target market.

The result is the beauty you see here.

I could go on about the challenge of doing photo-realistic covers in the fantasy genre, and the nature of font selection… but I’ll let that remain the mystery it should be for a reader who’s shopping for their next book and happens to stumble across what I’m sharing with you now.

So: For anyone waiting for book 2 of the Red Slaves series, or anyone who wants to try out a book that walks the line between contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance… WITH DRAGONS–your wait is almost over.

🙂

Hump Day Hook: Red Slaves 2 – Blood to Fire #HDH Take 4

Posted by tmycann on Feb 20th, 2013 in indie, writing | 2 comments

Blood to Fire is with my editor now, I’m anxiously awaiting her feedback, and I’m working on cover art development with my fabulous publisher.

So, to keep myself from bouncing off the walls too much as I complete the final steps in producing my third novel, I will share another snippet from the book.

In this scene, Anne discovers that her friends and compatriots are striving to help her feel at home–even if it’s her first Christmas apart from her family:

I’m stunned at the magnitude of the changes to this space. It had been cozy in the way of the great New York library, with conversational groups of couches and chairs at the edges of a vast cavern holding an untold number of books. The ceiling is still lost to the shadows, but with the new rock formation and the massive tree we’re facing, all of a sudden I feel like Clara in The Nutcracker: a child dwarfed by wonder.

“How did this happen?”

“Do you like it? Did we get it right?” Ivan’s anxiety is transmitting though the tense hold he has on my waist.

“This is stupendous. When did you do it? How did you have the time to get this all in place in an afternoon? Were Vasily and Fyodor faking it?” The questions tumble out of me in an urgent stream. Then I shake myself. Where are my manners? “Thank you!”

Hump Day Hook asks authors to post one paragraph (sorry, I can never leave it just at that!) of one of their stories, whether a WIP, one contracted, or already published. Please visit and comment on the participants – you might just stumble on the next great read for your library! To see more participants, click on the HDH banner.

dun, Dun, DONE

Posted by tmycann on Feb 17th, 2013 in indie, writing | 6 comments

Given how long it’s taken me (remember, I’m used to fast drafting, as a habit established during two, consecutive successes at NaNoWriMo) I’m almost surprised to finally be able to say it: Blood to Fire is now with my editor. It’s already been through two critique passes, and the tender mercies of EditMinion, (please, no more editorializing on my unfortunate writer’s tick of adding “a little” to almost every description!) so I’m feeling confident in describing it as another improvement on my novel writing capacity.

🙂

I’m also feeling confident in predicting that the editing and production will be done well before this round is done, meaning that I Will MEET my top three goals. Which calls for a happy dance. (Please, everybody join me, otherwise I’ll feel lonely bopping to silence in my office chair…)

😉

I finished the novel writing, and was promptly attacked by plot-bunnies for not one, but a trilogy of short stories for a horror anthology KKP is planning to produce later this year–and got halfway done writing the first one.

With all that fictionalizing, I even managed to complete all my school assignments again this week. So I’m feeling super-productive… except for the fact that I only posted one blog entry in the past week. I’m not feeling too badly about that, really, because out of the blue yesterday my blog had an explosion of traffic. Somebody in Ohio apparently really wanted to read every page I’ve ever produced. It was a little spooky watching Google Analytics report a ten-fold increase in my normal daily traffic, with most of it being from that one location. Maybe I need to revisit my birth state on a marketing tour, since I seem to be popular there.

😀

The most important thing I read this week: An article by the ever-pointed Chuck Wendig on his Terrible Minds blog. I suspect his reminder that to be a writer… we Must Write! was part of my inspiration to be so productive with my word production this week. It’s worth the reminder for the rest of you, if you happened to miss it when it came out on the 13th.

Meantime, here’s the link to the list of the other ROW80 participants; explore, and see whether they’re keeping up with their goals, too.