Monthly Archives: December 2014

Mention Monday – 2014, my blog in review

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Mention Monday

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Last MM: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

It’s been a great year.  I’ve had a lot of fun writing Flash Fiction Fridays, Mention Mondays, Writing Wednesdays, and the other random things that come up.   I’ve smiled with every follow notification, and excitedly read every comment (even though I’m not always the best at knowing how to reply).   I’ve connected with some great beta and ARC readers, and I’m thankful for every single person who visits this blog or reads one of my stories.

Thank you all for being a part of this year!  With any luck, next year will be even more amazing 🙂  I hope that you stick around, visit often, and see all the exciting things that I have lined up.

WordPress decided to share my stats with me.  So, for anyone interested in the mechanics of blogging, I share them with you:

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,800 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Flash Fiction Friday – The Job

27 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Fiction

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Last Week’s FFF: We Are Young

Oregon LDO

Yes, I’m an assassin. There doesn’t tend to be many females in this job. The men that kill are looked at as soldiers in an underground war, or at least action heroes. But the women, well, there must be some tragic origin story there. Shrinks and spectators go-to explanation for my line of work is that I must have suffered some terrible trauma. They assume that I was abused, or witnessed some grizzly crime as a child. But those things didn’t happen. I was never exposed to violence, I wasn’t picked on, and my family, well, they were basically indifferent to my existence. If I had to pinpoint a cause for my specific outlook on life, I’d have to go with that. Continue reading →

Happy Holidays!

25 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Random

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I hope that you all had a great holiday.  So far, mine has been pretty uneventful.  The fella had to work today, and we both worked yesterday.  But that’s life sometimes.  We had a really nice dinner out last week, and on Black Friday we bought ourselves a Wii U for a gift to ourselves.

I got my proof copy of Otherworlders on Christmas Eve.  Merry Xmas to me 🙂  Here’s what it looked like.  There might be an unboxing video some day, but I’ve discovered that I don’t really like vlogging that much.

book

The ARC reviews are beginning to come in, and they look good.  I’ve had a few people tell me that I should make a second book in this universe, as well.  🙂  Check them out.  I also have a Goodreads Giveaway going on.  You can enter to win a signed, physical copy.

Hope you all have great holidays!

Writing Wednesday – Writing a large cast

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Writing Wednesday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Last Week’s WW: Finding A Story In A Universe

My new novel, Otherworlders, has a large cast. I’d say there are 6 main characters, 2 secondary characters, and around 5 supporting characters. I think that I executed it well. Or so I’ve been told.

A few things that I’ve learned writing ensemble casts: Continue reading →

Mention Monday – The Hobbit: The battle of five armies

23 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Mention Monday

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Last Week’s MM: Hearthstone

I recently saw The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.  It’s a strange thing to walk away from a Lord of The Rings movie feeling like it needed to be longer.  But, I found the movie to be lacking.  Not sure how to better say it.

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** Continue reading →

Writing Wednesday – Finding a story in a universe

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Writing Wednesday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Last Week’s WW: Dealing With Rejection and Looking for ARC Readers

Recently, I was writing a short story, and when I finished the first draft, I realized that I was telling the wrong story.

Continue reading →

Mention Monday – Hearthstone

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Mention Monday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

Last Week’s MM: Thirdscribe

You can’t always be productive.  Sometimes, you need a little something to let your brain melt and relax.

If you’re a big nerd like me, then you probably like Blizzard.  And maybe you’re already playing Hearthstone.  I dabbled at Magic as a kid, and loved Munchkin as an adult.  So, when this free game was released, I was intrigued.

It recently got it’s first real expansion, which freshened up the game, adding new content and changing up some of the game play.  There are also interactive environments to click around on during the game.

I really like this game, and I probably spend too much time playing it.  But hey, it’s fun and it’s free.

Looking for ARC readers

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Fiction

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

I know that this should be flash fiction friday, but I’ve been a bit busy working on several projects, and today got away from me.  Sorry.  However, in case you missed it before, I am looking for reader/reviewers for Otherworlders.  So here’s the first chapter.  If you’re interested in reading the whole book in exchange for an honest review, please email me at fictionbyangela @gmail.com

CHAPTER ONE

Kara awoke with a start, lying naked under a thin sheet. Continue reading →

Writing Wednesday – Dealing with Rejection and looking for ARC readers

11 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Writing Wednesday

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Last Week’s WW: Getting Attention

If you’re a writer, then I’m sure that you’ve heard all about the constant rejection that a writer should expect.  Maybe you’ve even experienced it.  But no matter if it’s your first rejection or your hundredth, it hurts.

If you nominated Otherworlders on Kindle Scout, then you know that they passed on it.  Couple that with my non-win of Writers of the Future (Honorable Mention, but didn’t place), and you could say that I had a bad day yesterday.

I’d heard “this isn’t what we’re looking for” before from Agents.  But the Kindle rejection felt deeper, more personal, and definitely more public.

But, after a few hours of crying on and off, and several more hours of my wonderful guy doing all he could to try to cheer me up, I knew that I had to get over it.   But as hard as it is, as much as I had gotten my hopes up that I’d win, I couldn’t wallow forever.

I looked up a few agents and sent out a few new queries.  Makes me feel better for some reason.  I also went to my network of author friends, who were very supportive, and encouraged me to self-publish.  Which is likely what I’ll do.  And of course the constant chant of: keep writing!

For me, the best way to get over bad news is by working through it.  Doing everything that I can to reshuffle the situation and make a new plan.  I like plans, even loose ones.  It helps me feel like I’m in control.

So, now I’m looking for ARC readers!  An ARC reader gets a free copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review when the book goes on sale on Amazon.

If anyone is interested, let me know by emailing me at Fictionbyangela @ gmail, and I’ll send you a copy.