While window-shopping some shoes in a clothing store, a sad-looking and not-at-all-fit mannequin descends from its plinth and comes to stand next to you. It is wearing an unfashionable and worn red flannel shirt, dirty jeans, and water-stained loafers. Nobody else seems to notice what is happening, nor that the mannequin looks so out-of-place.
The mannequin sighs, then begins to speak. It sounds like it needs someone to talk to, so you let it.
"I didn’t write any of it.
Well, I did. I typed all the words. I just mean none of it was my idea. No, I’m still not being clear. I’m not saying I’m plagiarizing, I’m saying the stories were given to me.
Actually, it’s more like they were leaked to me.
Sometimes I’d dream them. Sometimes they would fall into my empty fireplace as files in manila folders. Sometimes they would beam onto my television. One time I found one as a VHS in a VCR that hadn’t been powered on in years.
I think somebody wants to sabotage The Wolf in the Woods. At first I just told myself that writing horror was making me paranoid, but the roadblocks keep escalating. So, I’m offering a reward for information on this "DOF." I have reason to believe that there is a secret messages hidden in my Inkshares About page. If you purchase the book between now and Halloween, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. When you purchase, try to guess the secret message; if you guess right, you’ll get a second entry! And if you guess what "DOF" stands for, you get a third entry, regardless of whether you’re right or not. You can send your guesses to me on Twitter, or you can just post your guess as a comment on TWITW’s Inkshares page.
Sorry it’s just a $25 card. I’m a poor writer. Also, I don’t have a lot of money."
With this, the mannequin returns to its plinth. A store associate practically yells "who put this horrid thing here?" and takes it to a dumpster outside.
Dear Readers,
Sorry it’s been awhile since my last update! To be honest, I haven’t been able to write for the past week. Up until that point, however, I was able to rework about 22,000 words, I interviewed eleven kind volunteers about their reading habits and engagement with social media, and I got my web designer (Mary Ann Aschenbrenner of WaterlinkWeb.com) started on my author page. So, progress is being made!
I expect my website, Instagram, Twitter, blog, and Facebook pages will all launch in a couple to three weeks. I also intend to compile my research on how to build an effective social media presence into an interesting and informative article so that other authors can use it to increase exposure for their creative work. Many, many thanks to my volunteers! I gathered so many valuable insights into effective marketing from you, both what works and what doesn’t. I’m now motivated to implement my ideas and see how it goes.
This week, I’m traveling for work, but my evenings are free, so I hope to get back into writing and prepare some content for my social media presence, write my research article, and finish up APEX. Next month is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those unfamiliar), and I’d like to use it for launching a new piece of writing, but if I need to use it to finish up APEX, so be it. It’s all good.
Cheers and stay tuned! Big things are underway!
Debbie
