Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

This is the time of year I reflect and then look forward. Usually. Last year I purposefully avoided the big think. I was in such a bad place in my writing life. I didn’t want to look back because that was what opened the dark hole in my head. I didn’t want to look forward because I really didn’t care if I ever wrote another word. So I went into 2016 without any goals. Without a plan. Without guilt. It was AMAZING! Now as we approach 2017, I’m excited to say that I’m writing again. I completed two new manuscripts in 2016 – quite surprising actually. To be honest, when I see that sentence, “I completed two new manuscripts in 2016” I think, Holy sh*t! I did?! Oddly, I now have a new set of problems. What to do with them. However, this post isn’t about my screwed up writer’s head, so I’ll simply say I keep changing my mind as to what my next path will be in the world of writing and because of that, my career is still pretty halted. As hard as it is to have two completed manuscripts d...

I'd like to welcome a writer friend of mine, Denice Hughes Lewis. She is celebrating the release of her young adult novel, Enchantress, Sacrifice.  Welcome Denice! Congrats on the release. (Throws confetti!) Tell us about the book. An invisible barrier protects an uncharted island and its natives from the world. A Beast grows deep within the island ready to destroy it. Only a baby can save the island, if she survives her forbidden birth and gains the powers of an Enchantress. Elandra, the newborn, struggles in shadow until she can breathe light instead of air. Rescued after her mother’s murder by a monster with the soul of a woman, she hides underground. A secretive healer becomes her mentor. He sends her to the surface before her sixteenth birthday to gain the power that will fulfill her destiny. He hasn’t taught her how to control her emotions--the only thing that gives her a chance of survival. A shipwrecked young man complicates her feelings making her unwilling ...

You may remember that I participated in the cover reveal for InHuman by Kama Falzoi Post. And now I’m happy to host Kama herself as she celebrates the release of her book. Welcome to Three Times A Charm, Kama. Tell us a little about you. I discovered a love of writing as a young girl and haven’t looked back since. My short stories have appeared in various online and print magazines, as well as an anthology of speculative fiction.   InHUMAN is my first young adult novel. When I’m not writing, you can find me living on the outskirts of a small city with my husband, son, step-kids, and too many cats. Congratulations on the release. There is nothing like a book release and the best part is each release is as exciting as the one before. It never gets old. Please tell us about your book. Mira’s mother sizes up bodies at the morgue like she’s rifling through the sales rack, until she finds one just right for the one they call Adam. Since Adam’s survival is the key to dra...

Are you ready for some freebies? Jen Finelli is the mastermind behind this collaborative giveaway. You can receive free chapters, a short story, a novella, and an awesome book by the awesome authors Jen, James Beamon, Ray Anyasi, and Crystal Collier. Oh and me. I’m talking scifi, historical fantasy, romance, super heroes and my very own super villains. Meet new authors, test drive their writing and be entertained all in one link! Click here to find out more: http://bit.ly/2hiU5V8 Be sure to tell your reading obsessed friends!  Happy reading. 

Three years ago we started #InkRipples with the idea that if we tossed an idea into the inkwell, it would give fellow bloggers food for thought. We love to see how many different approaches there are to a single topic. We continue that tradition with our monthly 2017 #InkRipples topics. Each of these topics can be approached with a slant toward writers or readers, from the eyes of historians or researchers, with the idea of what has happened or what you’d like to see happen next. For those of you who are always searching for topics for your blog, please consider joining us. There are no hard and fast rules on how to participate, we have the loose suggestion that you can post on the first Monday of each month, but last year Katie posted multiple Monday’s on the same topic and I think I’ll follow suit on some of these topics this year. If Monday doesn’t work because you already have a feature that day, then post another day. The only two things we’d like you to do is 1) link b...

Yesterday (December 4) was National Cookie Day. According to Punchbowl , the English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word “koekje,” which means little cake. Dutch bakers used to test oven temperatures on small amounts of batter so that they would not waste the entire cake mix if the temperature wasn’t right. It was not long before they discovered that these tiny pieces of cooked batter were actually quite tasty! Funnily enough, I didn’t know about National Cookie day, but the day before, my daughter mentioned that she wanted to celebrate by baking some cookies. I thought to myself, “Hey, I have a blog post due to post on Monday about cookies. Sweet!” So I asked her what kind of cookies she wanted to make so I could buy the ingredients. She chose chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies. Not once did I complain. When I was a tween I used to love experimenting with cookies. I would throw anything that seemed compatible into cookie dough, I’d make huge cookies and t...