Tag Archives: writing

Sneak Peek Sunday – my new release: Silver Blade

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It’s official, my e-novella Silver Blade is now available!! At this time it is only available for Kindle via Amazon’s KDP at Silver Blade Buy link (The general release date is July 24th) So for this week and as part of Sneak Peek Sunday, I’m posting the first six paragraphs of Silver Blade…

Silver Blade

Silver Blade

Dusk was settling in. A solitary headlight approached in her rearview mirror. With a whoosh, a motorcycle passed, the single red taillight ascending the next hill. A second pair of headlights came over the rise behind Angela, advancing quickly and illuminating her mirrors. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as a massive black SUV shot out around her, its size and speed shaking the little car.

“What the…?” she exclaimed to the empty passenger seat. She witnessed the speeding monster climb the long low hill, gaining on the motorcycle. Although night was approaching fast, she could see the larger vehicle pull alongside the motorcycle, entering into the opposite lane. The two vehicles neared the top of the hill, the SUV hidden by the rise to oncoming traffic. The black mammoth swerved and sent the much smaller vehicle off the road into the grass and trees.

“Holy crap!” she cried out, removing her foot from the gas. Surely there must have been another vehicle approaching to cause the SUV to make such a drastic move. She watched the top of the hill, but no other traffic came, nor did the huge vehicle come back to check on the ill-fated bike and rider.

She returned pressure to the accelerator and followed the deserted country hill to the approximate spot where the motorcycle left the road. The pounding of her heart echoed against her temples. She closed her eyes. Deep breath. Relax.

She grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. She rooted around in the large satchel and found the rough cut of keys at the bottom. She hurried around to the back of the car and popped the trunk, then stared at its contents. A few boxes and two suitcases, one his and one hers.

Her brother, Bobby, a park ranger, had come across his share of bears and wild animals, but instead his life had been taken by a drunk driver. She was on her way back from burying him, his few items worth keeping packed away in the flimsy cardboard. She shook off the memories and yanked forward a small metal box.

Back to Sneak Peek Sunday: http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.ca/

Blog Tours

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Well, as I mentioned before, I have a release date for Silver Blade of July 24th. What I wasn’t sure of – and what has just been confirmed – is that I have an early release date with Amazon on their Kindle KDP program, and Silver Blade will be released on Wednesday April 24th.

So the question arises…do I blog tour or not blog tour? If only a select group of buyers are able to purchase my book for the first three months, is it worth it? I’m having a hard time with the whole promotion thing anyway because as an e-novella it has limit distribution and a low price, so there won’t be a lot of royalty $$ to offer prizes. (Some authors offer $25 gift certificates, and kudos to them!)

I decided, however, I would take a blog trip when one of my favorite bloggers, Melissa Snark (melissasnark.blogspot.ca) offered me the chance of appearing on her blog. So on Tuesday May 21st I’ll be on her Author Spotlight, and on Thursday May 23rd she will be reviewing my book.

Another wonderful author and blogger who has offered me the opportunity of expanding my horizons is Delilah Devlin (delilahdevlin.com), and I will be on her blog on July 25th.

I might try to squeeze another one or two in before the general release, and then a few after. I’ll post the sites and locations again as they actually occur, and I hope that you come out and visit me….not just for my own promotion, but as a way of thanking these wonderful authors who are willing to support other writers. Who knows, maybe you’ll find other authors you like through these blogs.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from writing – besides how to handle rejection letters – it is that writers are a wonderfully supportive group of people.

What kind of writer am I?

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I’m going to piggy back this week from my Toronto Romance Writers’ Group. Our discussion this week: “What Kind of Writer Are You?”
In the book “Time to Write” by Kelly L. Stone, the author lists 7 different writing schedules or categories that successful authors’ writing habits tend to fall into. The titles are Stone’s but the explanations have been changed/shortened.

1. EARLY MORNING WRITER – you get up a number of hours before the family wakes up or before you have to go to work (your day job).
2. THE AFTER HOURS WRITER – you work best after sunset or when the family is asleep.
3. OFFICE WORKER [or Workplace Worker]- You arrive at the office (or wherever your day job is) before your shift starts, to write. You write again during your regular breaks (like lunchtime). You stay an hour or two longer at the office/factory to write.
4. THE BLITZ WRITER – You write longer in one sitting but less frequently.
5. THE MINIBLOCKS-OF-TIME WRITER – You write a minimum of one sentence a day. Your writing time can be as low as several minutes. It can be as high as 30 minutes to an hour.
6. THE COMMUTING WRITER – You write while commuting on the “GO Train”, bus, subway, etc.
7. THE ANY-OPPORTUNITY OR COMBO WRITER – You write as soon as there is a spare moment so it can be a combination of the above schedules.

So What am I?

I guess I fall into the Any-Opportunity and Blitz Writer categories. Oh, I wish I could actually dedicate 30 minutes a day or a couple of hours a week, but life doesn’t work that way in this house. (That is also my excuse for not getting to the gym, too, and what makes that worse is that my husband and I own three Snap Fitness gyms!)

Our Daughters are with our respective “exes” every other weekend, and I try to schedule a few hours every other Sunday to get some writing in, but there is always so much to do and if I get 3 hours in every 2 weeks, I consider that a win. Once The Daughter goes away to university (2.5 years away) then I’ll be going crazy trying to fill up the 8 – 18 hours a week I currently spend at gyms watching volleyball. Of course, with the pile of unread print books on my shelves, 100s of e-books on my kindle, and dozens of unfinished crafts in the closet, I probably still won’t find as much time as I want for writing or getting to the gym. But one can always dream!