Fun on the net.

Like most people I get stressed out. Being stressed is not conducive to making art. So for me I turn to humor and music and other things found on the net to cheer me up.

I figured if it makes me happy then it will probably help others. 

So here is hopping some of these brighten your day.

I saw this one today and couldn't help but smile. I can just picture the happy thoughts of this bird.

Okay babies just make me happy and these are funny.

Okay here is a more inspiring vid. For anyone feeling like they are getting no where in their writing, I have post this vid before, but I always go back when I am feeling down.

And I will end this with a song I have been listening to lately. It isn't a new one and isn't necessarily happy, but I just feel in the zone when I listen to it. 

Anyway I hope these can inspire and cheer you guys up today. I am going to get back to writing. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

Don't change the channel Static is awesome!!

THE INTERVIEW!!!!

Today I get the pleasure of interviewing S K Anthony for her sequel to Kinetic, Static.

When I first talked to her about the idea for an interview she was in the full swing of her book release so I promised her to only give relatively easy questions.

So here they are.

BA - What is your favorite type of wine?

SK - I really don’t discriminate against wine. If it has grape, it’s fine :P Umm, okay, you want the serious answer? Here goes: I like Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Merlot, white Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Burgundy, Sauvignon Blanc, on and on and on . . .

BA - Hey I know what two of those are, lol. Since we are talking about drinking anyway, if you could vacation anywhere in the world where would it be?

SK - Good one there, Old Chap! I’d bloody love to travel around London! (Man, I butchered that . . . but, eh?)

BA - No we can just think of Harry Potter and the voice works well. Favorite movie?

SK - Apart from The Lord of the Ring Trilogy (can’t choose just one), my favorite is The Luminaries movie, coming soon. Not really, but it would be my favorite if I made some $$ off it, plus the honor and all that BS.

BA - Hey I would go see that, plus afterward you would want to celebrate so that leads to my next question. Favorite dessert? 

SK - Brownie a la mode! And cake. And cake. And cake.

BA - You forgot to mention cake. Also anything warm you put ice cream on is awesome...O_O. Do you have plans for books outside of The Luminaries?

SK - Well what kinda writer would I be if I didn’t? I have about six of them fighting in my head at any given time. So yes, the answer is yes. YES.

BA - I guess you would be a writer with one series, :P. I know what you mean though those ideas are always coming, if only we had clones to write them. Any other genres you might want to write in?

SK - MG and erotica, but maybe not together. Kidding! MG, YA, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal, and Dystopian . . . and yes, I have ideas written down for each.

BA - Yes together would be bad, lol. Well all the talk about ideas, but the hardest part is getting it finished and what comes after. Any advice on what people should do once they have finished a manuscript?

SK - Throw it out and start again . . . err . . . well, given you and I both had to do this with our recent manuscripts, it seems legit. But really, I think putting it aside then coming back to it refreshed after a break is a good bet. We see things from a different perspective and that can sometimes be priceless ;)

BA -Yes we both did and that is awesome advice, S. Okay folks before I set S K free again I got to give you guys some info on her newest book.

Kevin Pierce is a teleporter, a ladies’ man, and a loyal friend . . . or so he thought.



As a genetically altered Luminary, he helps the government bring down some of the most dangerous criminals. Not very challenging if you have his special abilities. But when a group of rebel Luminaries attacks his Organization the fight for survival begins.



One shattering event after another tests the depth of his relationships, his sanity, and his powers. Emotionally torn, Kevin must choose carefully where his loyalty lies. In the middle of all the unexpected chaos he gets the biggest shock of his life when he’s faced by a betrayal he never saw coming. Angry, injured, and ready to even the score, Kevin goes Static . . .

Add it to your Goodreads *here*

You can find Static here:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

Also if you have not read it yet, check out S K's first book Kinetic.

Being strong is one thing. Being an unlimited source of power is quite another.

Genetically altered by the Organization, Annie Fox takes down criminals CIA-style with her luminary strength. With nothing to mend but her broken heart, she is relentlessly pursued by her boss Derek Lake. Just when Annie is about to give him a chance, her ex-husband unexpectedly comes out of hiding.

A wanted man, Nick Logan is a cold-hearted murderer who is considered enemy number one, and orders are clear: kill on contact. He is more powerful than ever and threatens the lives of those she holds most dear. His plan? Get his hands on Annie and use her Kinetic energy to destroy them all. When Annie finds herself with an opportunity to end him, she pauses, horrified by the scars covering the face she once loved. A split second that will cost her everything… 

 Amazon

 Barnes & Noble

Can't forget the info on our lovely author!!

About the Author:

S. K. Anthony is a writer, a reader and a make-stuff-up-er who lives in New York with her husband and toddler twins. She is a wine connoisseur, which just really means she knows she loves it, and a caffeine addict. When she isn’t busy with her family, she finds herself being transported into the world of imagination. Well, either that or running away from spiders . . . she is convinced they are out to get her!

Stalk S.K. Anthony here:

Blog ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Google + ~ Pinterest

And last but certainly not least, a chance for you guys to win something.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Offspring.

(If you know the show we can be friends...if you don't we can be friends, but you got to get on watching this man!!!)

Being a parent is so rewarding. Being an uncle or aunt is similar as well. One of the best things about having that little person in your life is at some point you get to share all your nerdiness with them.

There are many things that are age gated. Like comics, as a collector I couldn't hand my five-year-olds some of my comics to read for fear they would be a crumpled mess by the end of the experience. But as they have gotten older I have been able to share that with them.

I recently sat down and watched all the seasons of Buffy with my 13-year-old daughter. It was awesome sharing that experience with her. 

I can't wait for my youngest to get a bit older so I can read the Potter series to him. 

I just got to introduce my middle child to Brandon Sanderson. 

These are things that have stuck with me and that brings me joy when I can share them with those I love. 

As I write on my third book today I can only hope to write something that one day is the subject of one of these types of encounters. 

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts today. I hope everyone is well and as always, have fun and keep writing. 

Oh yeah and since I mentioned her and she finally made it into a blog cartoon, I figured I would post a picture of my beautiful oldest child. 

Hi Everyone!!

So it has been a bit since I last wrote one of these. Five months in fact. I figure I would talk a little bit about why in this post and let everyone know a bit about what is going on. 

A little over two years ago I wrote and published Ashes. It was the second book in my Light Bringer Series. I'd given myself a super strict deadline on finishing that and even when life threw a curve ball I didn't waver on it. Needless to say after the experience I was majorly burnt out.

I have talked about this some before on the blog. The thing is I want to be an author. It is the only job I can see myself being happy at. I have worked so many types of jobs and not all of them I enjoyed. I pushed through and did them anyway because that is what is expected of me. That is what I expected of myself.

So why should writing be any different?

The answer is it shouldn't. So I went forward and pushed with the second book. Now I have to tell you the past two years have brought some incredible things into my life, I will never regret them. While they have given me some wonderful things, they have also been some of the hardest years I have endured. 

Some things that happened I have talked about here on the blog, most I have not and will not. The problem is somewhere along the way I lost focus. I started doing things because I was supposed to do them and I just pushed through. 

This was going well for a bit. I even managed to finish a draft of my third book and was ready to go forward with things. Luckily I have a beta reader that reads stuff before anyone else sees it. They gave me some hard love on the story I gave them. The sad part is I think I knew everything they told me myself before I ever gave them a copy of that story. 

So here I am still feeling the drag that comes with life, a story I am not happy with and feeling generally lost. So I made a choice. I jumped off social media. I spent a bit of time with my family and talked with my wife about the direction I wanted to go with my writing. 

It was actually a much needed thing. The problem with self publishing is it is all you. Most authors lose money with their first couple of books. I have been fortunate to make money so far on mine, but for sure I have a long road ahead of me. 

Good point Mr. Cat. So what has changed? 

The biggest thing is how I write now. I have a schedule that is respected in my house and I adhere to it like a religion. It lets me write everyday which is majorly important. I have goals and have learned to make them fluid so they can change as things around me change.

I also did something I have never done before. I threw out my entire manuscript. I still have it, but I have always been someone who tinkers and fixes problems as I go. This time i started fresh and am glad to say that I am trucking along on this new draft with a vigorous passion.  

I know this is a long post and I apologies for that, but I have missed you all and can't wait to get around and see what you have been up to. I have a few blogs already planned out and am refreshed and ready to go full force once more. 

Anyway, I hope everyone is well. As always, have fun and keep writing. 

Happy Mother's Day!!

So Amanda, the baby and I are all sick, yay, but I wanted to take a moment and wish all the moms out there a happy Mother's Day.

Hope you are all having a great one. 

IWSG

Awesome group if you want to join up, go here.

I will try to keep this short as I know many of you are fatigued from doing A-Z.

As authors we have to become many different people through the process of completing a book.

In the middle of revisions for the third time I got to thinking about these and figured I'd share my thoughts on them.

The Champion

As you are writing you have to assume or at least go into the work with the mindset that you are writing the best thing ever written in that genre. There has to be at least the idea that this is going to be good or what is the point? 

The Wise One

“We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
― Zeno of Citium

All the champion mindset can interfere when it comes time to take feedback. We trust our CPs and beta readers and editors for a reason. Though it may be hard to transition from one to the other. If we fight changes to our work, we can't grow.


The Business Person

Lately I have heard a lot about how we shouldn't market our stuff. Well I agree with letting our work speak for itself, but it can't do that if no one knows about it. 

Trying to navigate the ever-changing waters of marketing your book is a Herculean task. No one really has the answer, but everyone is trying to give one. To me this side of an author takes a little bit from both of the previous.


These are just some of my thoughts. When you take these and mix in life and procrastination and doubt, it is a wonder anyone writes at all. I think the answer is, because we have to. It is who we are.

Anyway I hope everyone is well. As always have fun and keep writing.

Fix it with FREE!!

Okay so I waited to hear back from Amazon. Since they are so far silent on my situation. I got the right file up now and everything seems fine, so I figured out my own solution.

Starting today (4/30/15) and ending Saturday(5/2/15) Elemental will be free. You can "buy" the book by clicking on the title or the picture.

So anyone who bought Elemental during the sale and received the wrong file can grab a copy. Also people who were not sure if they would like the book can now grab it for free just in case they might.

Again I want to apologize for anyone inconvenienced by the mix up. I hope anyone who gets the book enjoys it.

As always, have fun, and keep writing, and reading.

EDIT: I got an email saying that anyone who bought Elemental should get a notice to update to the current file, so that is good. 

Well, this sucks.

So my last post was a cover reveal and a book sale. The sale did great and I want to thank everyone who helped spread the word.

I wish that could be the end of this post. Unfortunately it isn't.

Somehow, and honestly I can't figure it out since the book has been up for two years now, the files got changed out. So anyone who bought Elemental actually got Ashes, the second book. Ashes itself seems to be fine. 

Luckily Jo, over at Jo On Food, Life And A Scent Of Chocolate, alerted me to the fact. I have been dealing with Amazon about it and don't have many answers. They said they are reviewing if they will send out an email to all who bought the book to let them know to update. Either way the right file is up and should be able to be updated.

If you bought a copy please let me know if you have trouble updating. I truly apologize for this inconvenience. 

Cover Reveal!!!!

THE COVER

It has been two years since the release of Elemental. In that time I have met some incredible people and gained some awesome readers.

The time has finally come for me to be able to share the cover of the third book with you all. I wanted to have book three published in April, but revisions take time. I feel very hopeful for a May release. So without further ado. Here is the cover for Light Bringer!

(Click me I get bigger)

I want to thank my cover artist, Sua Balac, for this awesome cover. It was truly fun working together to get it just right.

THE SALE

In celebration of the cover and the new book, I am doing a sale for both Elemental and Ashes. The sale starts today April 17 and ends Tuesday, April 21. I hope anyone who has not had a chance to read any of the books in the Light Bringer Saga, can catch up before book three. 

THE FAVOR

Now is the part I ask for a favor. I know this is a busy month for many bloggers and instead of sending out a bunch of e-mails I figured I would just ask here. If anyone has some free space at the bottom of an A-Z post or just a free spot and would be kind enough to share this cover and maybe mention the sale, it would be much appreciated. 

Anyway, so finally there is the cover and the sale. What do you think about it? I am extremely excited to have this book come out soon. It has been many years in the making. As always have fun and keep writing. 

Dragons first!

I know I said my next post would be my cover, but I noticed we had a release recently and I wanted to help spread the word. So here below is a new book by the great, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Dragon of the Stars 

by Alex J. Cavanaugh 

Science Fiction – Space Opera/Adventure/Military
Print ISBN 9781939844064 EBook ISBN 9781939844057

Dancing Lemur Press, LLC http://www.dancinglemurpress.com/ 

What Are the Kargrandes? http://whatarethekargrandes.com/

The ship of legends…

The future is set for Lt. Commander Aden Pendar, son of a Hyrathian Duke. Poised to secure his own command and marriage to the queen’s daughter, he’ll stop at nothing to achieve his goals. But when the Alliance denies Hyrath’s claim on the planet of Kavil and declares war on their world, Aden finds his plans in disarray. Entrenched in battle and told he won’t make captain, Aden’s world begins to collapse. How will he salvage his career and future during Hyrath’s darkest hour?

One chance remains–the Dragon. Lost many years prior, the legendary ship’s unique weapon is Hyrath’s only hope. Can Aden find the Dragon, save his people, and prove he’s capable of 

commanding his own ship?

Here are some places you can find the book.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Kobo

iTUNES

Anyway, for real next time will be my cover reveal. I promise. As always have fun and keep writing.