Learn Your Craft Giveaway

200 followers!

Woo-hoo!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm excited to celebrate with my new and old followers alike. You're the ones that make blogging worthwhile. This past year has been a good one for me in terms of writing. I didn't write as much as I would've liked, but I've learned a lot about the craft of writing. As my thanks to you, I'm going to give away three books about the craft.

On Writing by Stephen King. (hardcover) The best book on the craft of writing. No need to say any more.

How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. (hardcover) Another genius. 

The Art of the Book Proposal by Eric Maisel, Ph.D. (paperback) One of the hardest parts for me is creating a proposal. This book helps break it all down.

But wait! Reading books about the craft will help you, but you have to read fiction too.

My Zombie Valentine by Katie MacAlister, Angie Fox, Marianne Mancusi, and Lisa Cach. (paperback) A great collection of paranormal romance stories. Picked just because love is in the air this month!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. (paperback) For those of you who love the classics with a twist.

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin. (paperback) A great sci-fi adventure. Martin is brilliant. He's one of my idols.

There will be three winners chosen by Random.org. Each winner will get a book on the craft and a fiction book. Winner number one will get first choice.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address and your two preferences.

The winners will be picked in one week. Thank you all so much!

Squish the big ideas

It's been a productive week despite everything that has happened. I researched queries and tweaked one of mine for my paranormal romance trilogy. The query had gotten some attention and I thought I couldn't fix it up any more. I surprised myself that I managed to do so. I sent it out to an agent earlier this week. I hope it looks even more professional and, more importantly, nabs the attention of the agent.

I submitted a horror story to an anthology yesterday. An old one about a horrific fever that I edited for the anthology.

I've also been working on my new dark fantasy short story. I hoped to finish it this week, but it's turning out bigger than I planned. My muse has big ideas. She creates great worlds. Yet sometimes they're too big. It's up to me to rein her in and squish her big ideas into a smaller space. It's tough work for me, but it's also good for me. I want to write novels, but short stories are an excellent way to learn the craft of writing.

My son's hands are healing well. It's driving us both bonkers to be stuck in the house and unable to do everything we usually do, but we're surviving. We're going to get together with friends this weekend to do something even if it's just playing at a park. It will be a quiet long weekend, but that's fine. Five weeks until Gen Con.

Happy Canada Day! And Happy Fourth of July!