Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Celebrate -verb to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities: There are plenty of things to celebrate this week, so I’m just going to take the time to do that! 1.      I Am Me is a finalist in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The organizer of this award sends the books out to an age appropriate audience to read and provide feedback. So that means teens somewhere in the UK read I Am Me and scored it high enough for it to place as a finalist. This makes me VERY happy and is most definitely something to celebrate. The award winners are announced on April 1 st (no joke). I can’t imagine I Am Me winning, because, you know - I wrote it. I’m honestly quite happy with the finalist designation. Woo hoo. 2.      A local professor contacted me about doing a presentation at the college. Plus, I’m presenting next week at the local Writers Guild meeting. Believe it or not, I love public speaking. Espec...

This month, Lightning Quick Reads is hosting a giveaway. Each comment you leave on any LQR post in May enters you to win a gift cert. Start with my may story on sexism,  You Cannot Be Serious To sign up, visit the IWSG Master,  Alex Cavanaugh Purpose:  To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting:  The first Wednesday of every month is officially  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG The awes...

click to visit the original post Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Purpose:  To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting:  The first Wednesday of every month is officially  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time. Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG The awesome co-hosts for the March 4 posting of the IWSG are  Chemist Ken, Suzanne Sapseed,  and  Shannon Lawrence! Now for my post. I’m taking a different route f...

I'm excited to announce that I have signed the contract for my seventh published book! (Faints dead away) THE LUMPY DUCKLING: Another Weaver Tale will be published by Guardian Angel Publishing (date undetermined). If you couldn't tell by the name, THE LUMPY DUCKLING was inspired by The Ugly Duckling. It is a story about best friends. Since I have the best best friend in the entire world, I know how to tell a best friend story. Though the story itself is nothing like our friendship, I did make sure to incorporate letter writing into this story, because my bestie and I live 1100 miles apart and write a lot of letters to each other. Our friendship has grown deeper because of it and I wanted kids to see that there are all sorts of ways to develop a true lasting friendship. LUMPY will be the third book in my Weaver Tales series. Each book is a stand alone. They are set in the same fictional village of The Tales. The residents of The Tales speak in story and are known as Word...

As Jeff Mean would say, "Holy crap, Batman!" My publisher, Whiskey Creek Press, was kind enough to inform me that King of Bad: Super Villain Academy Book 1 is their #1 Bestseller! A lot goes through one's mind when they learn such a thing about their book. Not one thing was coherent. I'm super... thankful excited blown away encouraged and STOKED To say THANK YOU to everyone who has or will buy a copy or three of my book, I'm going to give away a cool gift. (Sorry, has to be U.S. shipping address only.) A chalkboard mug I've always wanted one of these, but instead of buying one for myself, I'm going to order one from Upstart to be shipped directly to the winner's address of choice. It comes with chalk. And I'd TOTALLY love for the winner to supply a picture of the mug that says KING OF BAD on it! (Picture not required, just really, really desired.) To qualify to enter please help me spread the word about my BESTSELLING book! ...

Writing : A totally exciting year. I had two books published this year (Guardian Angel Publishing and Featherweight Press). My short stories were included in two anthologies this year (Wayman Publishing and Knowonder). I signed contracts for two more books to be published in 2013 (Whiskey Creek Press and MuseItUp Publishing). And expect more anthologies, the first one releasing on January 1 st , 2013!   I finished a novel at the last possible moment. Wrote loads of short stories and saw most of them published by Knowonder, Beyond Centauri, Spaceports & Spidersilk.   I thank each and every one of these publishers for taking a chance on my writing and me. I value the work you put into producing a quality product and I work hard to spread the word about it so that we can both stay in business and continue to work together into the future.   Social Media : I continued to love my weekly blog feature Three Times A Charm. I’ve met so many wonderful peo...

I’m beyond thrilled to announce the sale of my middle grade fantasy, A New Being , to MuseItUp Publishing! Facts about A New Being : 1.      First novel I ever wrote. 2.      Current version is nothing close to the original version (Duh and thank goodness!) 3.      Longest novel I’ve written. 4.      I have a crush on the main guy character, even though that isn’t really his purpose in the story. 5.      The main girl character in the book has long brown hair and lives in Wisconsin. 6.      I have long brown hair and grew up in Wisconsin (that’s where similarities end.) Blanco 7.      My lizard is named after the main villain. 8.      Tentatively scheduled for release mid 2013-ish. 9.      Title may or may not change. 10.  Book i...

So much has been happening and I want to compile all my exciting, sparkly book news into one place. Releasing in 2012: Save the Lemmings 8 th grade inventor, Natalie Isabelle Cailean Edwards is the N.I.C.E. girl who finishes last with the kids in school. Sappy inspirational phrases and monochromatic outfits have all but her best friends wrinkling their nose at her. When Natalie’s invention, the Texty-Talky, goes nationwide, she becomes an overnight sensation. Suddenly her days consist of photo shoots and interviews with little time left for her friends. A local reporter shatters her good-girl image by reporting a graffiti incident and the media launches into a smear campaign. It is so bad, even her friends start to believe the stories. How will Natalie stop the lies and win her friends back? And who will SAVE THE LEMMINGS? The Wishing Well, Another Weaver Tale Molly Minstrel is treated worse than Cinderella by her mom and sisters. When Molly meets the magical...