Thank You!!!

As of bedtime-o'clock last night, Seven Shards has hit the Quill funding goal! This means it will be published!!!!!!!!

The little bundle of nerves that has been sitting in the pit of my stomach since August has now transformed into a miniature fireworks show. And not one of those blink-and-you-miss-it fireworks shows, but a fully choreographed, big-budget fire-in-the-sky extravaganza. Coffee? Haha, who needs it!

I must extend my deepest gratitude to the members of the CEO Syndicate and John Robin's Epic Fantasy Syndicate for pushing Seven Shards over the edge. You (you beautiful people, you) surprised me and humble me and basically make me much more than a little verklempt.

There's probably more I could say, but right now the bottom line is Thank YOU!

Season’s Greetings!

There might not be any snow on the ground (at least not for most of us), but the final days of December are, in fact, here. As of today, Seven Shards has exactly ONE month to finish funding. I’m pretty confident that we’ll make it. So confident, in fact, that I’m not even going to ask for your help.

...Aw, who am I kidding? I could always use some help! If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, please do! And if you haven’t given the book a shoutout on your favorite social platform yet, well now would be a great time to do so, please and thank you!

(Or if you’ve done both of these things already, please sit tight. I continue to be tremendously thankful and couldn’t possibly ask for anything more!)

So, onto updates! Let’s see…

- This past Saturday was the Inkshares Review-a-Thon! Thanks to the enormous efforts of powerhouse A.C. Weston (author of She Is the End ), the event was a great big success. Ginormous, even!

- I’d like to give a shout-out to each of the wonderful people that left me a review on Saturday! Thank You to:

• Peter Birdsall, author of Feyside, a character-driven fantasy adventure that combines the wonder of steampunk with the magic of fairies.

• S.M. Hillman, author of The Faceless, a sci-fi tale of revenge, discovery, and difficult choices.

• Stephen Carignan, author of both The Sleeping Man (an immersive and imaginative fantasy) and Labels and Jellyspoons (a collection of poetry). Both are in the ‘Draft’ stage and well-worth following!

• Alan Tucker, author of The Devil You Know, an apocalyptic sci-fi with a heavy dose of humor.

• Andrew Wood, author of Storm of Fury, an epic fantasy with a truly unique antagonist.

• Thomas J. Arnold, author of Exile, Magus, a true epic fantasy full of adventure and exotic dangers!

• Jamison Stone, author of Rune of the Apprentice, and action-packed epic fantasy that is already attracting a huge following.

and

• Deborah L. Smith, a great family-friend-aunt and all around wonderful person!

Many, many, maaaaannnny kind words were said and I'm still buzzing from it. And blushing. Lots of blushing.

- A new Author Interview is up on Myths Mists & Musings, featuring Tony Valdez. I, of course, recommend giving it a read. 

- And to those that occasionally check my blog, you may have noticed that I never posted a NaNoWriMo: Week 4 entry. Fret not! This doesn’t mean that I bailed on NaNoWriMo, it simply means that I haven’t gotten around to blogging about it. In case it ends up on the back burner indefinitely, let me say now that words were written and it was good.

- And as of yesterday, I finished all of my Christmas shopping! Whew!

That’s all for now. I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday full of family, friends, warmth, and at least a few hours spent curled up with a book!

The Review-a-Thon is now!

Today is the day to hop on over to Inkshares, do a little reading, and write a review!

Why?

Take your pick: Prizes! Fun! Good Karma! Great reads! Discovery! Brain exercise! Procrastination!

When?

Now thru 5pm EST today

Where?

https://www.inkshares.com

How?

Visit a funding book’s project page. Scroll a bit to find the author’s writing sample. At the bottom of the writing sample click on “Read More” (in the same box, on the left). Read more of the sample and once you feel ready, click on “Leave a Review” at the very bottom of the page.

What?

Reviews! Nice ones. Ones that will help other readers know why they should give the book a shot.

So...about those prizes…

There are several prizes at stake for everyone that participates, plus several author-exclusive prizes on top of that. Everything from books, credits, gift cards, scrivener (for Inkshares authors), and artwork, even a pizza party!

What else?

If you’re on twitter, share the day’s events using the hashtag #InksharesReviews

Watch the livestream podcast tonight at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pSOpnFYGMM

Visit the Facebook page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/683611381775339

Mark your calendars!

I’m alive!

NaNoWriMo season is over, so it’s time for a much-belated update. There’s much to say, so sit back with your favorite cuppa while I run down all-the-things!

Beta Reading has commenced!

The first sixty pages of Seven Shards: The Colors of Wine is now with my fabulous and fantastic beta readers, and more are on the way!

I’ve started a Syndicate!

Speaking of betas, Inkshares is testing out a new idea called Syndicates. It’s basically a way to contribute to Inkshares projects on a monthly basis, but without having to peruse the ever-changing selection throughout the year. Instead, you simply sign up and trust your Syndicate leader to choose the books for you. 

My Syndicate is for snarky dark fantasy books, hence its name: SnarkyDarkSy - check it out here: https://www.inkshares.com/syndicates/snarkydarksy-the-snarky-dark-fantasy-syndicate

Review-a-Thon Pending!

There's a Review-a-Thon (with prizes!) coming up on December 19th. I'll send the details in a separate update since this one is already getting long. But if you're near your calendar, be sure to make a note of it now.

New blog posts!

While I may have fallen off the face of the earth for some things during the month of November, I’ve actually done a semi-decent job of posting fresh content on my blog. Most of it is NaNoWriMo related, but there’s also a new author interview with Byron Gillan (author of Children of the Forest). 

Be sure to check it all out here: http://www.mythsmistsmusings.com/#!blog/cygw

Pre-Order Madness!

Since my last update, the pre-order count has climbed past 200! The deadline has been extended to January 23rd, so Seven Shards is still right on-target to hit the light publishing goal. Much excitement!!!

Shout Outs!

• If you like sci-fi or speculative fiction, be sure to follow Earth In the Year 10,000 (https://www.inkshares.com/projects/earth-in-the-year-10-000). This is an upcoming anthology that will feature about a dozen different writers. And to the writers reading this update: This is a great opportunity to get into print! I plan on submitting a short story and encourage you to too!

• Shout Out #2 to the SWFL NaNoWriMo region for keeping me company all November long! (I would say I’ll miss you, but I’ll still be (virtually) around on a weekly basis.)

• Shout Out #3 to YOU. You are awesome. And I truly mean that. :)

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’d like to once again say Thank You to everyone that has ordered a copy of Seven Shards: The Colors of Wine, especially to those of you that have ordered in the last week. For those not keeping score, we hit 100 orders last Friday, and essentially doubled that number in the course of one week. (!!!!!) 

Seven Shards is now VERY close to reaching the light publishing goal, as you can see below:

It’s been an emotional roller coaster since the day I joined Inkshares, with highs like I’ve never seen. It will probably take me a while to fully process everything that has happened this month, but right now I’m feeling a mixture of disbelief, amazement, and deep, groveling gratitude.

I'd like to invite you to visit my latest blog post, which is far more entertaining than this update, and includes more details about the project and other fun things. (Click Here)

Happy Halloween, everyone! And goodnight!

Mini Update - Today's the last day to order before the price of the pre-order goes up. So, if you haven't ordered yet, or if your account has any free credits on it, please consider ordering today!

I also want to give a quick THANK YOUUUUUUU to everyone that ordered in the last week (there's quite a lot of you!) and let you know that there will be more gratitude, and other information, in tomorrow's update.