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Friday, January 20, 2017

Announcing Indie e-Con 2017!!



I promised you guys information about Indie e-Con, and here it is! Just go to this link right now: http://knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com/p/indie-e-con-2017.html

Games, contests, and tons of information about the Indie Publication process, this is one event that you guys won't want to miss.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday - These Books Need More Love

Hello all!

Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday, where we make lists about books. Today, we're talking about the books we read in 2016 that we feel are generally underrated and we want everyone to know about them.

Shall we begin.

1. The Forbidden Library by Django Wesker

This is a book that my mother checked out for me at random when I handed her my Overdrive account and asked her to find me something good to read. I went into it knowing very little about it beyond the fact that there was a forbidden library, and emerged quite in love with the story.

Basically, questionable book magic, warring book wizards, going INTO books, not-fairy-like fairies, half-cats, a dragon, and lots more awesome stuff in this book. The main character sometimes feels more like an observer than a participator, but she has her awesome moments, too. If you like book-related fantasy, why haven't you read this one yet?

2. Cloak by James Gough.

Now this is a story that takes mythology and completely turns it on a scientific head.

You know all of those half-human half-animal creatures in mythology? Well, turns out that they were the result of some chemical that gives people animal features. It was awesome.

The book did lag in the middle, but if you love mythology, twisty plots, and high concept worldbuilding, this is the book for you.

3. Adela's Curse by Claire M. Banschbach

This is a sweet book about a fairy cursed to do what no fairy ought to do. Kill. I read it for review, and, honestly, I think it needs more attention.

So go get it. And read it.

Not sure what else to say about it. It's short and sweet, characters are endearing.

I liked it.

4. Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. L. LaFevers

This is another book for those who love mythology. Strictly Egyptian this time, and not from a sciency angle. In this book, Egyptian curses are real, and Theodosia, an 11-year-old girl in Edwardian times who lives in a museum half of the time because her father's a curator there and her mother's an archaeologist.

Theo has the unique ability to sense Egyptian curses, and it's her self-assumed duty to remove curses. About my only annoyance in this book is that the adults are generally incompetent, but such is a common issue in Juvenile fiction.

5. Song of the Sword by Hope Ann

I love fairy tale retellings, and this retelling of Rapunzel instantly became one of my favorites. It is the second book of a series, but I read it first and it didn't cause very much confusion for me. The previous book is good too, so far as Beauty and the Beast retellings go, but I love this book more.

It is Christian Fantasy with allegory elements, but it's well done. If you like that sort of story, you'll probably love it - though there's also some pretty strong magical elements. My kind of story, basically.

Oh, and there's no romance, despite being a fairy tale retelling. Mmhm.

6. Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts

I've been on a bit of a Superhero kick for a while now. I claim that it's in research for HaV Academy, my superhero dystopia, but, eh. Anywho, my favorites in the genre are ones that take the tropes and turn them on their head.

For instance, this book is about the daughter of Superheroes who, together with her two best friends, was in the wrong place in the wrong time and the trio are labeled as supervillains. Things escalate, and Penny really should have come clean with her parents after the initial incident, but it's still terrible fun. I highly recommend.

And I need to get my hands on the next two books.

7. Joshua Dread by Lee Bacon

And while on the topic of Superheros, this one's the story of a kid who's the son of supervillains and accidentally becomes friends with the daughter of his parents' arch-rival. And then they have to band together and save his parents when they mysteriously go missing.

It's awesome. Go read it.

I, again, need to get my hands on this book's sequel. I think there's only one so far.

8. Crannig Castle by Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

Okay, yes, I do consider this author one of my best friends, but hey! That doesn't mean that my opinion about her writing is invalid. I'm a mite stingy with my praise, and if I like a book, it's because I like it.

I do recommend reading the first two books in this series and the companion novel, Espionage, first. They're all good books though, with an interesting twist on the portal fiction genre.

I might be working on a fanfic for this series, but you didn't hear that from me.

9. Dragon's Curse by H. L. Burke

Okay, yes, I like curses, apparently.

Mmm...

Anywho, I also like dragons, and this is the story of a herbalist (another thing I like) tasked with curing a king who has been poisoned by a dragon. And then a dragon moves into the mountain nearby and she befriends him.

It's awesome, and has brilliant plot twists. Go read it.

10. The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

And to end on the dragon note, I have The Dragonet Prophecy. My cousin found it in the library a few months back, fell in love, introduced it to another cousin, he fell in love, and eventually they reached a point in the series that our library didn't have.

So they went to my mom, who helped them get it through Overdrive. And she decided to read it while she was at it, and then I read it, and I rather liked it.

Awesome dragons, awesome worldbuilding, and I might have a small crush on Clay. Even though he's a dragon. And has a potential love interest who has too much fire.

I should probably back away and leave him alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that's my ten books that I think that everyone should read and love.

Oh, and I plan to release the official information for Indie e-Con tomorrow - provided I can get rid of the headache I have right now, so stay tuned for that.


Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Oh, Hello 2017

I didn't you standing there. I suppose we should get acquainted, yes?

(What I find on my Camera when I give it to my sister to take pictures at the zoo.)

What is it about years? Always sneaking up on us, then running away just when you were making progress with them. Sigh.

Well, 2016 is over, and what a year it was. I don't remember most of it. I think it was mostly work and editing. A bit of writing. I fulfilled my goal of publishing LDTD, though it was a headache and a half to pull off. I can't say that I did very well with any of my other goals. (Refers back to last year's list)

Uh ... focusing ... eheheheh. Occasionally, when the stars aligned properly.
Multitasking smarter. Try being completely insane and heaping far too many new projects on myself instead.
Meeting Goals. I released a book when I said I would. I can claim nothing more than that.
Staying Accountable. I ... tried? Well, I have a group of friends (aka, former beta readers who refuse to abandon a chat thread because I occasionally dangle snippets in front of them) who I've stayed mostly accountable, but I still hesitate to admit how much I've been playing games. I might have spent most of yesterday afternoon doing that.
Promotion. I ... entered WPFP into a contest! (Which it didn't win. Which I didn't mind so much, save for the fact that the book it lost to ... I'd read a few months before and had been very meh about.) I also ran a blog party and a blog tour. Neither were as spectacular as I had hoped.

Some highlights this year include meeting one of my beta readers in real life, finally graduating FINALLY getting behind the wheel to learn to drive (unfortunately, schedules have not been conducive to keeping my practice up, and I'm afraid that I may have forgotten half of what I learned. *growl*), and making good progress on Love and Memory, The Worth of a King, and ROCKS. Also, this year, my mom took on some friends' kids three to four days a week for homeschooling, my job drove me insane, and some personal issues led to my sister having to go live with our Grandparents. This was RIGHT after I fell and sprained my ankle. Oh, and my old computer died and I replaced it with a new one, and now I need money to pay for it.

So last year was a mixed bag. I don't hold hard feelings against it, but I hope this next year will be much better.

Speaking of which, here's my agenda!

School
Yes, I've graduated, no, I'm not done learning. In fact, I intend for this year to be pretty intense, learning-wise. I still need to finish Streams of Civilization II for history, and my parents invested in a year's subscription to Schoolhouse Teachers and I'm expected to take as many courses as I can. I'm currently working on one for Graphic Design.

Editing
Last summer, I invested in a year's subscription to Grammarly pro, and while I have it, I intend to run all of my previously-published books through it. Sew, and possibly some others, will be receiving a slightly stiffer edit as well. I'll be editing them in publication order, and as I finish them, I'll be looking for reviewers. You can probably expect a form for this later this week.

Writing:
Mostly Worth and LaM, as I need to finish both this books this year. I'd been hoping to be able to publish Worth this year, but it's not going to happen. Now I'm hoping for early next year. LaM is going to need two drafts (although it's turning out to not be as messy as I'd wanted it to be, so maybe not ...), and I'm hoping for a September/October publication following Worth. (Worth will come first, any way we slice it.)

I also plan to finish three short stories and get them published - "Poison Kiss," "Gift Exchange," and "Saffron's Even Bigger Plan."

Oh, and I have two new co-author plans on my plate, both involving Laura. No details on either, as we speak, but stay tuned.

Blogging/Promotion.
I'd like to blog here at least once a week, the AA at least once a month, and the O.Scarlett as often as I can. I have a coupld for the AA in a notebook, so all I have to do is type them up. And I'm down to only three "have to" reviews for the O.Scarlett.

With no big releases on my plate, I don't have any tours planned ... but I do have this:


I have this planned for late March. (Not April. My brain messed up. Again.) So far, only a few authors have joined, but I know of several more who hope to, once they have a better idea of their April schedules. If you're a self-publishing author and would like to join - or an editor, cover designer, indie game developer, indie musician... you can click this link.

I also intend to tweet daily and Instagram weekly. For an extrovert, I'm terrible at social media ... and I don't need to loose contanct with my readers. I just need to figure out what to say ...

Life:
With my sister out of the house, chores are a thing (ie, a bigger thing than normal). Also, I'm not working and I have a computer to pay for. I either need to find a job that is conducive to my writing/ride situation, or I need to find a way to make adequet money from home.

If everyone would just buy my books, though, that'd be awesome.

...

I think that's everything. Kendra out.

*falls off the car.*