Once upon a time there was a friend. This friend asked me to join a contest, and I didn’t think about it too much and just did it. First mistake: had I known what I was getting into, I would never have pulled the trigger on Inkshares in August ’16 and started the journey that culminated in a publication deal in March ’17.

Second mistake: She asked me to join another contest, this one a flash fiction writing contest from Sci-Fi-London (the 48hr Flash Fiction Challenge), and I did that too. On April 8th I opened the site to view my story requirements. A title, a line of dialogue, and an optional bit of science. The maximum word count was 2,000 words, and I had just two days to write it in.

Title: NOT ON MY WATCH
Dialogue: When the clouds are this low it can be a nightmare to get a clean signa
lScience (optional): Augmented reality becomes so good we neglect reality, when the system to fails, the decay is revealed.

Except I worked all day on Sunday, so I really had just one day. And then I knew that in all honesty I probably just had Saturday morning to write it. The good news was I already had a pretty good idea what I wanted to put to paper. I popped open Scrivener (worth it’s weight in gold), wrote out descriptions for about seven story points, and then just...

...wrote.

I finished up a little over 2k words before noon, trimmed it down, sent it to some friends to read, edited the mistakes, and then sent it off. I’m not sure how I got that word count done so fast, but my brain was sizzling with ideas and I just let it get on with it.

And now YOU can read it! I published the short story through Pronoun, making it available for free on all major ebook retailers’ sites, and you can access it here: NOT ON MY WATCH.  If you download it, please rate and review it! It’s only 8 pages, so it shouldn’t take you long at all. Every review or rating helps boost it’s status among other ebooks, and in return gives my author page more recognition, and all of this will help me when Fae Child comes out.

I don’t know if I’ll win the Sci-Fi-London contest, but hey, stranger things have happened? And those things I listed as mistakes at the beginning of the post? Actually they were probably the best decisions I could have made, regarding my writing. Thank you Jenny!

~ Jane-Holly
p.s. Of course, the work on Fae Child continues! We are #2 on Inkshares in Teen and Young Adult, how cool is that?

Hello readers and faithful followers! Things have been a little quiet here on my page, but I’m still here, still writing, still reading and discovering the work of other talented authors here on Inkshares. (If you would like for me to read your chapters and give you some inline comments/critiques, drop me a line. I’m more than happy to do it!)

School started this week, and as I homeschool my two older kids that means a bit of a schedule adjustment. I’m trying to find the quiet edges to my day where I can sit at the computer and give Fae Child the attention it deserves. It’s a work in progress.

I have great news that I’ll get to share officially in the middle of the month, but if you’re curious, check out the Rite of Passage Syndicate’s page. It’s a syndicate dedicated to supporting "Unpublished and Unknown Authors on Inkshares. Our ultimate goal is to lend our voice to underappreciated and unknown projects that have yet to receive exposure." And, if that interests you, I welcome you to join! There are only 8 members so far, but with more we could make a real difference to some of the new authors on Inkshares.

I am also going to Rose City Comic Con this Saturday - I will be wearing an eyecatching dress and handing out Fae Child bookmarks! IN THEORY, anyway, the bookmarks haven’t been delivered yet, and I was up until 3 am last night cutting out the fabric for the dress. Sewing is tonight after work! (This week has been a little... busy.)

ADDITIONALLY I have started a new blog, taking advantage of an old domain I’ve been sitting on for a few years. http://jainhollie.com I promise to update it at least twice...this year. Well, we’ll see what happens. You can also follow me on Twitter @hanejolly

Have a great week/weekend!

Jane-Holly

Just wanted to write a quick note to say THANK YOU to all the new readers Fae Child gained yesterday. You’re all amazing, and I’m so excited to have you on board for this journey. When we reach 20 orders I’m going to be posting up chapter four - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Please feel free to interact with the sample chapters, as well, either highlighting a passage you particularly like, or pointing out a typo. Both are equally helpful and will put Fae Child on Inkshares’ front page.

I have to run, but I’ll be in touch soon!

Jane-Holly