My Annual Shiny New Year's Post With Less Shininess

I'm not gonna lie, guys - 2013 has not been the best or most exciting year for me. It was a tough year for me as a writer. I really thought it was going to be the year I got an agent and my first pub deal, and it wasn't. But I'm not gonna whine about it beyond that - that's why writers have to be tough cookies. I'm just going to keep writing and it'll happen when it happens.

Here are some of the awesome highlights of 2013:

• I was a Pitch Wars contestant and me and my mentor won the middle grade category with my book Everdream getting the most MG agent requests. I got lots of awesome feedback on the book, even though it ultimately didn't pan out with an offer of representation.
• I did a ton of editing on two different books and wrote lots of shiny new words on some other projects.
• I queried one of the books I did a lot of editing on and got some really great feedback (your writing is wonderful, but I have something too similar; the market's not right for it but send me your next project, etc.)
• I got inspiration out of the blue (not from my existing idea list) and wrote my fourth novel in less than 6 weeks. It's an awesome concept which I love.
• I'm still in the running with one of my urban fantasies for the Harper Voyager digital submissions contest, the pool having been whittled from over 4,500 entries to less than 300.

I guess 2013 was a year of lots of agent near-misses. And I know that means I'm getting close to finding the right agent and making my break into the pub industry. So, I'll just keep on writing my ass off! I hope to query my latest WIP in the next couple of months and we'll see what happens from there. In my non-writing life, 2014 will be a year of lots of transition because I'm sad to say I'm getting a divorce. It's definitely for the best, but it's hard nonetheless. We need to sell our house, and my son and I will be moving into town and finding a place to board my horse. Lots of change on that front!

So, writer friends, what's your year been like? And what do you want to accomplish in 2014? I certainly am glad I have the support of such an awesome community of writers!

Happy New Year!

Gratitude and Other Random Introspection As the Year Draws to a Close

I've just finished probably my fifth plate over the last two days of Thanksgiving food. I LOVE TG food, especially my dear Tofurkey. It makes this vegetarian a happy girl :) Anyways, I've been remiss in blogging lately so I thought I would post some random notes/thoughts on what I've been up to and what I'm planning as the year winds down.

• The first being, how IS the year already almost over? How did it happen? Last night I saw the first Christmas lights and it was shocking, even though I know it's almost December. Time is flying.
• I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. While I'm going through a big transition in my personal life right now, there are so many things I'm grateful for. I won't bore you with them, except for one: I love my writer friends SO much. Fellow bloggers and Twitter friends, I am always astounded at your awesomeness and I've known some of you for years now, and it makes me happy.
• Speaking of bloggers, I rarely blog anymore, but am on Twitter almost daily. So, if you're one of my blog peeps that I am not following on Twitter, please send me a message and I'll add you to my daily list. My handle is @aachamberlynn (or just click to find me!).
• I am currently editing the book I got sudden and crazy inspiration for and wrote in 6 weeks. It's pretty rough. I've got a big edit to-do list. But I've been working hard and I'm hoping to have it query ready by January.
• I'm also going to submit a short story I wrote earlier in the year to some lit magazines and hope I can find a home for that. I might do that this weekend.
• I have a busy schedule of fun concerts, art shows and parties to attend in December, which is unusual for me, so I'm excited to branch out and be a butterfly for the month!

So, as the year wraps up, what are you aiming to finish up? What makes you happy and grateful? Do you find yourself gravitating more to Twitter than the blogosphere? Whatever you're up to, I hope it's awesome and makes you sparkle inside and out. TTFN, writer friends!

Soup Swap!

So, this is a random detour from my usual posts about writing, but a few days ago I got into a fun conversation on Twitter with Elizabeth Flora Ross and Jessica Sinsheimer about soup! Jessica tweeted about having a soup swap in Brooklyn, I lamented about not living in Brooklyn, and thus the conversation began. Jessica kindly offered to let us steal her idea and do an internet soup swap instead. Go visit Elizabeth's blog if you want to join in on the swapping fun!

Here is my recipe for Vegan Lentil Soup, from http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/, and adapted from Alicia Silverstone's vegetarian cookbook. This is one of the most delicious soups I have ever tasted! I am not vegan, just vegetarian, but I still love it. The seasoning is amazing.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp safflower oil (I use olive oil)
1 medium onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (I use dry ginger and it's fine)
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
Pinch of sea salt
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
7 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown lentils
1 cup baby spinach or kale

Instructions:

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat and saute onion for about 2 minutes, until soft. Stir in tomatoes and ginger, cooking an addition 3 minutes. Stir in turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne and salt and cook for 2 minutes, tasting to make sure its to your liking. Next add the sweet potatoes, broth and lentils. Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat and cover, allowing to simmer for about 30 minutes. Then add spinach (or kale) and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Eat some good soup and stay warm!

I'm in Love! Plus, a Redonkulous Development

Hi, writer friends! I've been in the glorious raptures of writing the first draft of an awesome shiny new idea after a month trying to figure out what project I wanted to work on. After playing with several of the ideas in my idea folder, I had sudden inspiration one day for a totally new idea, and it stole me away from the others.

The project is new adult fantasy, and it's a really fun, unique idea that I think is pretty rad! I'm already about a third of the way through my first draft, and I've challenged myself to write 2k words a day so I can finish the draft by 11/1. I usually aim for 1k a day, since I work full time, but I wanted to challenge myself a bit. We'll see how it goes :) Since I then would have done the equivalent of NaNoWriMo, I think I might try to do an intense editing version of NaNo in November while everyone else is drafting.

Anyways, in other news, I have a new ass. A mini ass!

 

 

I am pleased to welcome Islington the mini donkey to the family! He will keep my horse Max company. He's super cute and sweet. I named him after the angel in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

 

So, that's what I've been up to lately. How about you? Are you doing any form of NaNo?

Dr. Who Meets CassaStorm!!

This week my long-time blog friend Alex Cavanaugh is having a blog party for the release of his third book, CassaStorm. As part of this event, Alex said he'd answer one unique question for each blogger who participated. So, this was my question:

The main character of your series, space adventurer Byron, meets Dr. Who - tell us about this encounter!

 

Alex's answer: Dr. Who pulls out his screwdriver and Byron perceives it as an aggressive act. He fires the lasers and takes out the Tardis. While the Doctor is distracted, Byron jumps his Cosbolt to safety. (Don’t hate me Dr. Who fans! But blowing up the Tardis was fun.)

 

No, not the Tardis!! But we'll forgive you, Alex. Plus Alex will bribe us with swag: comment on his blog this week for a chance to win a Cassa mug, mousepad, magnet, and swag!

 

And here's all the info about CassaStorm!

 

 

 CassaStorm

By Alex J Cavanaugh

 

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

 

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

 

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

 

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

 

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

 

“Cavanaugh has created wonderfully moving moments of great poignancy… CassaStorm could have been a dark story full of hardship and angst, but instead it's a cleverly balanced story about hope and triumph.”

Lynda R. Young, author of Make Believe

"Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together."

Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

Watch the book trailer!

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera

Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019

$4.99 EBook available in all formats

 

Find CassaStorm:

 

Barnes and Noble  

 

Amazon

 

Amazon Kindle  

 

Goodreads

 

 

Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

 

Website – http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh  

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4287922.Alex_J_Cavanaugh

 

I suspect the interwebs will be aflutter with talk of CassaStorm over the next few days, so enjoy the blog party and happy writing until we chat again!

 

The Idea Carousel

I find myself in a fun and unique position the last couple of days. I've finished major edits on two different books which I've been working on for the last year and a half or so. I'd work on one and then switch to the other. And while I started drafting a new book earlier this year, I didn't get very far before I got sucked into edits on these other two, after getting some good feedback from a couple agents.

But now I'm done - I can't think of another thing I could do to either book. I'm querying the one, and it'll either get picked up by an agent or not. I've gotten some lovely feedback on it, along the lines of "your writing is wonderful, but I have something too similar". It may be that the market is just not right for it now. Time will tell. I'm going to query the other one, but I don't want to query them both at the same time.

So now I'm in the position to start something completely brand new. I thought about going back to the one I started earlier this year, but I'm not sure if I want to right now. And I thought about going back to my very first completed novel and working on a rewrite of that, but I'm not sure I want to do that, either. What I need is to just write for the love of writing and not worry about a goal. That's something I seldom do - those of you who know me well know I am extremely goal and deadline driven. But I'm going to chill out for the time being and see what happens.

Now the idea carousel spins, as I go through all the ideas I've had over the last couple years. I have 19 folders in Word for different story ideas. Some of them pull at me and are more mentally plotted out than others. So yesterday I started writing one of the ones that's tugged pretty hard at me over the last year. And after that I wrote something that had only been a tiny, random spark of an idea, and all the sudden that one has stolen my muse away; snuck up and shoved all the more planned ideas in the closet. But I'm not committing yet. I'm going to play the field, and write a little of whichever idea I feel like until one of them claims me entirely. And I'm having a great deal of fun with that.

How about you guys? Any bright, shiny ideas luring you at the moment?

A Trip to Romania - Cloaked in Fur Release Party!

I am super excited, for the second week in a row, to share my blog with another of my writer friends, T.F. Walsh! Her book Cloaked in Fur was just released by Crimson Romance a few days ago. Take it away!

 

 

Hi Alexia, thank you for having me on your blog. I wanted to chat about setting today, and why I chose Romania for Cloaked in Fur.

Cloaked in Fur is set in Romania, more specifically Braşov. Braşov is located within what is the region traditionally known as Transylvania. I was born in Romania so I have a special place in my heart for stories based there, particularly those stories set in Transylvania. The region is steeped in lore and history and is about 30km from the Bran Castle, one of the historic homes associated with Vlad Tepes. Vlad Tepes is also known as Vlad the Impaler and is often cited as the historical basis for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Whilst many people consider him a villain, the local populace generally consider him a hero. Interesting fact is that is it said Vlad the Impaler never lived in the Bran Castle, despite the Dracula stories. The region of Transylvania also contains stretches of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians spread through a number of European countries. Large tracts of forest, deep gorges, steep cliffs and cave systems make it a dangerous and beautiful area. With a large population of animals including wolves and bears it makes a wonderful setting for any story. And that’s exactly why I set Cloaked in Fur in Braşov.

So, readers, what setting would you love to see in a story?
 

 

And a little more about Cloaked in Fur:

As a moonwulf, Daciana never expected to fall in love with a human. Hell, she never imagined that she’d abandon her pack, endanger everyone around her, and break the worst rule possible. But she did.

A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s friends, and she sets on capturing the creature.  She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.

Buy Cloaked in Fur Here:

Amazon

AmazonUK

BarnesandNoble

iTunes

CrimsonRomanceBooks

About The Author

T.F. Walsh emigrated from Romania to Australia at the age of eight and now lives in a regional city south of Sydney with her husband. Growing up hearing dark fairytales, she's always had a passion for reading and writing horror, paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult stories. She balances all the dark with light fluffy stuff like baking and traveling.

Find her here!

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Goodreads

Amazon  

I love having friends over to visit! And I hope everybody has a great week. I'm on vacay starting Friday!