Writing within the fog #writerslife

I hope you're all safe and well. 2020 has been a crazy ride so far, and it's not over yet. The image of the pier reaching toward the fog is how I feel. I don't know what lies ahead of us. Some days, I can't even tell where the water is and where the fog begins. It all blurs together. I'm just taking one day at a time.

Now that my homeschooling days are done for the summer, I had hoped to watch and read a lot more. I've not been doing either. My island is getting a lot of attention on Animal Crossing, though. Barovia will rise again!

My presence online has also stumbled and gotten lost in the mist. I need to find my way back and establish a regular schedule again. Slowly but surely I'll get there.

One thing that has picked up is my writing groove. I'm actually working on two projects, and they're coming along marvelously.

Project #1 - Heirs of Blood and Feathers. First book of a post-apocalyptic paranormal romance trilogy co-written with a good friend of mine, Pixie Stormcrow. I'll be publishing it under my pen name, Morena Silver. We're moving along so well, we might go with an August 1st release date! More news next month on it.

Project #2 - Ravage of Revenants (Book #1 in the Khthonia trilogy). I might keep that name for the second book in the series and name the first book <Something> of Specters. A Shudder of Specters? I'll figure it out. This is my LitRPG novel, and I'm nearing 65,000 words. I'm so excited I'm nearly at the end! This book has been so much fun to write. It appeals to both the gamer geek and the fantasy lover in me. It's a little grim dark and has a light touch of romance.

Please leave me a little message and let me know how you're doing. And be kind not only to others, but to yourself as well.

Year of the Geek

Happy New Year! A little bit belated, but it was a busy start to the year. If that's a sign what 2020 is bringing me, I do hope it's a very productive kind of busy!

This year, I'm skipping the writing goals. I'm going to be kind to myself. I had a rough 2019. My productivity was near nil. Lots going on outside of my writing life distracted me, and my muse had dug in her heels with what I wanted to write. After a lot of inner reflection, I realized it was because of my frustrations with certain tropes and subgenres in romance that were holding me back. Yet I wanted to stick it out and push forward, but I couldn't. My muse was offended and refused to work.

So I'm stepping back from writing strictly romance. In fact, I'm going to not write to market anymore. I'm going to write the silly stories that I enjoy. Once I finally accepted this, much of my anxiety lifted and my muse started gleefully playing around with story ideas again.

I've started researching and creating ideas for a LitRPG novel. What's LitRPG? It's fiction based on a game becoming reality for the protagonist. The most popular example is Jumanji. People get sucked into a game world and must complete the objectives to be free. The game mechanics must be very clear and real life must mesh with fantasy life. My mojo is flowing again. And I'm having fun. I missed having fun when it comes to writing.

I'm also playing around with cozy mystery ideas. Something geeky. Yes, 2020 is going to be the year to celebrate the geek in me. I even got a tattoo on New Year's Eve to commemorate it!

( I do realize it's upside down!)

What will this year be for you?

Descending Moon (Totem #8) release day

Some say the moon is for lovers, but wise folks know to fear it. 

Kinley Dorn must be strong for her family in these dark times. Sometimes she feels she’s all that’s holding them together. But when the frightening Moon Man attacks and bestows a burdensome gift upon her, Kinley might have to do more than simply help her family. She will have to battle a god, but which one? If it’s the sly man hunting her in the astral plane, Kinley might not make it out alive.

Buy the book!

Add it to read on Goodreads.

Totem Tidbit: This was a tough one to write because I had to make a character who wasn't a fighter into a warrior. Kinley is a peacemaker and uses her brains over her strength. So I had to find something that really motivated her to jump into battle!

The final book in the Totem series, True Shifter, will be available on August 29th. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

Juggling - guest post by Tara Tyler

Happy Monday, folks! This week I'm excited to be a guest blogger at The Really Real Housewives. I love that blog! I'll be doing three posts about geek parenting on a budget. Even if you don't have kids, it's fun geeky stuff!

Today I'm excited to have the fabulous Tara Tyler as my guest. One lucky commenter will win a free ecopy of her newest awesome tale, Jolissa. Take it away, Tara!

* * * * *

Juggling

I cannot juggle. Juggling takes skill, balance, practice, and perseverance - you're going to drop a lot of balls before you get good!

Here's my definition:
juggling - there's something up in the air at all times

And here is my point:
Juggling life is just as difficult.
We all struggle with finding a good balance between family and work and free time. (I heard that chuckle when I said free time!)

But when all the pieces fall into place, there is peace.

The things we want to do the most, we seem to have the least time for! We work to pay bills so we can enjoy time with our families and our free time. If we don't get enough sleep, we are cranky. If we don't work enough, we fall behind on bills. If we don't keep up with our family and chores, the house falls apart. But don't sacrifice your free time to get the other stuff done!

Putting off to tomorrow things I couldn't get done today is NOT procrastination. It's underestimation of time needed.

NEVER FEEL GUILTY FOR ENJOYING YOUR FREE TIME!  We must have our time - our time to do what we enjoy plus sleep re-energizes us so we can go back to work.

And there is the circle of life, a continuous juggling of time management, trying to keep it all balanced.

Inevitably, life throws an extra ball into the mix, so we adjust. It takes a little work, but it's okay to drop the ball sometimes. And make sure you ask for help - you're not alone! Plenty of clowns trying to juggle their own balls.

Thanks for having me over Christine!



Tara's latest publication is Jolissa - An Anti-Princess Story, a novella with an on-going Youtube storybook.

A trouble-making maiden, a clumsy out-of-work squire, a loyal puppy, and a talking goat go on a quest - What could go wrong?

Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently, she has two series, Pop Travel (techno-thriller detective capers) and Broken Branch Falls (fantasy adventures). She's a commended blogger, contributed to several anthologies, and to get all these projects in, she economizes her time, aka the Lazy Housewife. Make every day an adventure!


How to find:
http://taratylertalks.blogspot.com
twitter - @taratylertalks
facebook – Tara Tyler - Author
Really Real Housewives of America

The Geeky Dice & Debauchery Tour brings you an awesome review!

Reviews are so important to authors and readers. It helps give authors important feedback and boost sales. For readers, it allows them to learn more about a book before they buy them. I always read the reviews before I purchase a book. Please consider leaving a review. Just a line or two will do.

And speaking of reviews, click on over to the awesome Cherie Reich's blog for a fantastic one about Loose Corset.

Roll (or click!) to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Second stop on the Loose Corset Goddess Fish Tour

Have you bought your copy of Loose Corset yet?

Amazon * B&N * Ellora's Cave * Kobo

Join me at Books & Other Spells today where I discuss the creation of the geeky characters in Loose Corset. I didn't have to look far for inspiration!

* * * * *

I'm over at the Untethered Realms blog today too.
The post is titled "Colors of Christine."
Test your geek skills and see if you can name the superhero in the picture at the top of the post before reading the small script!

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win dice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Five for January 2, 2015

1. Happy new year! I'm excited for 2015. I have a lot going on this year. I started off the year with a quiet new year with my husband and son. It's cold out there, but we bundled up and took a walk in the woods.

2. One week until the release of Loose Corset! You can pre-order it on Amazon and add it to your wish list at Ellora's Cave. You can also add it to read on Goodreads. I'm eager to hear what readers think of this hilarious and geeky novella. If you'd like to review the book, please email Service@ellorascave.com and request a copy.

3. I'll be running two blog tours with the release of Loose Corset. The first will start on Friday, and I'll be giving away dice, dice, and more dice. You can win your own set of gaming dice! I'm giving away personalized dice with my name on it too. My second tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions will start on the 12th. There I'm giving away a gift card and more dice! You'll have two chances to win.

4. Since I'll be touring for the next several weeks, I would love to have you as a guest on my blog. Theme: anything geeky. Short posts of between 200 and 350 words. Please email me if you'd like to write a guest post and join in on the nerdy fun.

5. I'll be posting my 2015 writing goals on Monday. Wednesday is the first IWSG of the year. And Friday is my big release day! Have a terrific weekend.

Wicked Wednesday - creating an author tagline

I once dedicated Wednesdays to topics dealing with paranormal romance. I've talked about various things that link to it too, but I wanted to keep my focus on that genre since I dubbed it part of my author brand.

Things change. I have a manuscript in consideration by one publisher and another accepted by a second press. Neither of the stories are paranormal romance. So lately, I've been working on changing my author brand. This includes changes to my blog, profile, and my website. (I finally have a new website design, and my husband is in the midst of programming it. Yay!)

One of the most important ways to establish your brand is to have an author tagline. What's this, you ask? An author tagline is a sentence or two (usually no more than 5 to 10 words) that describes who you and your books are. It must be short and attention-grabbing.

This is no easy task. I have enough trouble creating taglines for my books, but for me? Yikes. Where do I even begin?

Here are some tips to help you create your own author tagline:
- Who are you? What's important to you? Not your writing, but you.
- What is your writing like? The genre(s)? Are there any themes? What's your style?
- Focus on what makes you unique.
- Pick about a dozen words that describe you and your writing. (Or 50 like I did!)
- Ask for opinions from other writers, friends, and family. How do others see you and your writing?
- Narrow it down to a few words, play with them together, and come up with various phrases.
- Pick your favorite one, and remember, taglines aren't forever. You can change them, and you most likely will as life goes on.

What's important to me: Family, friends, creativity, and my geeky interests.
What's my writing like: supernatural, dark, witty, twisty, romantic.

I used a thesaurus to produce a bunch of words that I played around with. Here are some of my rejected taglines. Feel free to laugh all you want!
- Otherworldly flirts and courageous spooks.
- Heroes, haunts, and heart.
- Geeks, freaks, and EEKS!
- Flirting with what goes bump in the night.

Horrible, I know. And why was I so focused on alliteration? I had a lot like that.

I wasn't satisfied. So I went back to the drawing board. Or, rather, the crumpled and scribbled upon piece of paper. And I had a good brainstorming session with a fellow writer. (Thanks so much again, Graeme!) I had to accept I could not capture everything about me and my writing in one tagline. That was the hardest thing for me to accept.

What makes me unique: I'm add twists to whatever genre I'm writing, and I'm character driven.

Here is my final choice. Let me know what you think, please!

Paranormal intrigue with a twist.

The 13th Floor collection blog tour continues, Creepy Freebies, & Giveaway Winners

It's another fabulous Friday on the tour, and we've got a fun stop today. The geeky lone wolf named James from THE ALPHA has written a guest post you don't want to miss. Check it out on the wonderful Cecilia Robert's blog.

 There's a chill in the air, or is it something else?

It's Creepy Freebies time again.

Check out the treats from these talented authors on Milo James Fowler's blog:

Ellie Garratt

Jeff Chapman

Anthony Rapino
Lyndon Perry 

Now on to the giveaway winners! I had two giveaways happening this week.

The winner of the Creepy Freebies giveaway is:
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for the winners of my blog tour (week 3) giveaway

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to the winners!

Emails have been sent.