HOLLY JOLLY FACEBOOK PAGE HOP!

Tired of the same, old blather from me every week? Well, how about a chance to meet some new authors and enter to win fantastic prizes at every stop along the way in The Holly Jolly Facebook Page Hop?

This holiday-themed Hop invites readers to hop from page to page, entering to win an awesome prize at each stop from fantastic authors and bloggers, many of them my fellow writers at Inklings Literary Agency. We have over 60 stops scheduled with more than $1000 in prizes, including at least two Kindle eReaders, gift cards galore, jewelry, signed books, and spectacular swag! Fun scavenger hunts with extra prizes (gift cards, Harry Potter Illustrated, etc.) in the Fiction Books Group on Facebook will drive readers to visit all stops on the hop. The GRAND PRIZE Kindle Paperwhite Rafflecopter, hosted on C. M. McCoy’s The Eerie Blog rewards readers for visiting all stops on the hop as well.

You can start your trip around the Hop at any place on the loop (you’ll be directed to the next stop on each page), but why not start with my Donna S. Frelick Author Page? I’m offering a signed copy of my new release, the best-selling SFR anthology Baby It’s Cold in Space. The next stop on the tour is my Interstellar Rescue Page, with an offer of a signed copy of Fools Rush In AND a Rescue tee-shirt! 

Join in and have some fun for the holidays! And thank you, readers, for all your support throughout the year!

Next week all of our posts will be devoted to STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE, including this one. I won’t return until January 6. So I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Cheers, Donna

Pippa's Journal - MIA and What's Coming

Hi there, Pippa Jay checking in! First up, apologies for the two week absence without leave. School holidays with my three little monsters always takes a big chunk out of my online time, especially when it comes to blogging. And even worse, I decided to take on Camp NaNoWriMo this April, despite the two weeks of spring break meaning I'll only really have half the 30 days to work on my WIP. >.< Crazy, right? And boy, do I have lots to tell you about...

Status Update

ZG2 - 11776 words and counting...

Camp NaNoWriMo - This year I've decided to do both Camps (April and July) and the tradition 50K November event. After all the releases last year, I need to get some writing done, and the NaNoWriMo events are always good for giving me a much needed kick up the behind, especially since I have two remaining parts of a trilogy to write for my publisher! So, for April I'm doing Zombie Girl 2 (appropriate since part one releases this month in just over a week!), while ZG 3 is my project for the July Camp. I had planned to do a sequel to my superhero romance When Dark Falls for November, but with Tethered doing well I'm tempted to do the sequel to that instead. Decisions, decisions...

EXCERPT | GOODREADS
Available at... Breathless Press
All Romance eBooks | Bookstrand
Smashwords | Barnes&Noble
Amazon

EXCERPT |  GOODREADS
Available at... Breathless Press |
Smashwords | ARe | Bookstrand
Amazon | B&N
Print pre-order

I find the Camp versions easier since you can set your own word count (the only NaNoWriMo I've won was Camp last year by finishing off three short stories with a total word count of 20K) and I'm expecting ZG 2 and 3 to each hit the 20K mark. With my publisher now requiring a minimum 50K for all future submissions, this is the year I need to win the November NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck!

Sales and Kindle Unlimited - My March sales sucked, and so far April isn't looking much better. With a tough writing and release schedule set until August (when I plan to take the month off), I've not had time to devote purely to marketing (which isn't my favourite occupation anyway as many know). Since I'll shortly be touring for both Zombie Girl 1 and Keir, that'll have to count as most of my marketing until I can schedule time for more.

As for KU - I get paid more for borrows than for buys on my short stories. Sales of those dwindled to be replaced by the odd borrow, but overall I've had little if any benefit from being in KU. I plan to leave it at the end of the initial 90 days (which comes up in the next couple of weeks) and put my shorts back up on other venues. I will be testing it out again later in the year after Keir has been back out for a few months as I prepare for the release of the sequel.

Upcoming releases - Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened (part one of a YA dystopian romance trilogy) releases on the 22nd April. I'm also supposedly re-releasing my debut scifi romance Keir on the 7th May - my third year anniversary as a published author and what would have been Keir's third book birthday. I say 'supposedly' because right now we're still in 2nd round edits and I'm freaking out about it a LOT!

In June, the print release of When Dark Falls takes place, completing my definite releases for 2015. Phew! Since I'm taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo in July, taking a break for August (summer holidays for my monsters so a good time to do it!), then BristolCon in September and NaNoWriMo in November, I can't guarantee any other releases at this time. With ZG 2 and 3 hopefully done for the Camp NaNos, release dates for those will depend on being contracted by my publisher and their release schedule. Any self pubbed titles depend on my budget. I'm hoping to release my winter solstice SFR short for Christmas, but otherwise...

Big News
Over the spring break, I had three...no, FOUR...exciting developments. First up, my scifi romance adventure Tethered hit the number one bestseller at Breathless Press. Woot! I'm pretty excited! Not only about being a number one bestseller, but because I've done it with a science fiction romance! There are only 17 SFR titles on the BP site (Cyber), out of around 700 books, so to hit the top spot is extra awesome. And I took screen shots to preserve the moment for all eternity, lol. Tethered spent a whole week there before dropping to number 2, but is still the top seller in Cyber.

But that wasn't all for Tethered! It also got nominated for a RONE Award in the Novella category at InD'tale Magazine. Voting opens 4th-10th May. ^_^ (cute graphic made by one one of my fellow BP authors, Torie James).

And just last week, I had TWO of my titles nominated in the Love Romance Cafe's Best of Awards:
When Dark Falls for Best Fantasy Book, and my cute little teen zombie story Restless In Peaceville for Best YA/NA. Woot! Voting opens TODAY from 1pm EST and runs until the 18th. It goes without saying that I'd really appreciate your votes, but you have to be a member of the LRC yahoo loop. *flutters eyelashes* Yeah, I'm not above begging!

Events

The April Fools for Love event, sponsored by the SFR Station, is happening all month long and there are some awesome giveaways! Go take a look!

On Friday I'll be at Romancing the Genres talking about Hope for this month's blogging topic, and how it just isn't enough. Speaking of RTG, they're celebrating their 4th blogoversary with a huge Facebook party HERE. I'll be one of the hosting authors with a game, chat and a giveaway on the 30th April at 7pm BST.

The triple posting on diversity at Spacefreighters Lounge got a mention over at The Galaxy Express, where Heather Massey further adds to the discussion and gives a few basic suggestions on how to introduce a little diversity to books.

Ping Pong

My co-bloggers have pretty much summed up my thoughts and feelings on Clean Reader, and I've commented on both. At the end of the day, I put a huge amount of effort into the words I choose for my stories, and since I write for adults and YA, I feel I already cater to the need of my readers in terms of content. But my main objection was that the app creators and distributors did so WITHOUT PERMISSION from both publishers and authors. This breaches copyright as much as pirating does. I don't believe there would have been anywhere near half the outcry if they'd been upfront about the introduction of the app and at least given an opt out (better still, an opt IN, but definitely an opt out should have been offered). I hope those concerned have learnt something from the whole episode.

But even if an opt in version is brought in, I will not be making my books available through it. As a reader for more years than I've been an author, I can't even bring myself to highlight an ebook or bend over the corner pages of a print book (I can't stand watching my hubs and eldest do this to mark pages). Have I read books where some of the words make me flinch? Yes. Do I scrub them out? No. The author chose those words for a reason, and changing or obscuring them fundamentally changes the story they're trying to tell me. If I find a book especially offensive, I just don't read it. There are millions of other books out there, and the massive virtual TBR pile on my Kindle is proof that I don't need to go editing someone else's book in order to find something great to read.

Sharon, totally get you on the being a friend to yourself. Last year exhausted me with the constant releases and touring, and I resolved to get more savvy about the whole marketing thing. I've failed on that. But I've also learned that a lot of the things I spend time doing were actually a waste and didn't make any difference. I just felt I had to be doing them because everyone else did. So I've dialled back a bit, tried a few new things because I actually found them fun, and now take more time out to do the fun things and get back to writing. Because it's all about the writing at the end of the day.

Laurie, congrats on the release of the full version of Inherit the Stars, the reviews it's getting, and also on your and Greta's inclusion in the box set of Sing a Song of the Stars. I just know the good stuff will keep coming!
And re Clean Reader - I honestly feel too exhausted at the thought of providing varying versions of the same book in order to cater to everyone. I think sometimes we try too hard to please everyone - an impossible task. With YA as well as adult titles to my name, I feel I've covered enough bases, and I'm sure there will still be readers who refuse to be pleased by anything as much as there are readers who will adore everything an author produces. Somewhere we have to draw a line and say 'that's all, folks!'

Donna, loved the post on what you learned from reading other forms of fiction. I'm not a fan of advocates for 'read only in your genre' advice - I really believe that reading a wider range of fiction expands an author's mind to write better even if they stick to only writing one genre. And of course, it helps if you want to add another sub-genre to what you're writing.

Greta, on tweaking a book for re-release - I'm having to re-edit a book I got the rights back to as part of the reversion. I have to say not only am I glad to be re-editing from scratch, but to be including things that had to be cut as part of the previous publication process and building on areas I think were lacking first time around. I know I've improved in the five years since I first wrote Keir, and I wanted the re-release to reflect that too, as well as give some readers what they'd asked for - more of my villain, more of my hero...well, just more! And you're right - if film makers can do it with their extended versions and director's cuts, why not books?

I think where it becomes unfair on readers is when an author puts up a book that isn't actually finished/edited, then continually edits and reposts it based on reviews as they come in. I feel that using readers as critique partners in this way, when they have downloaded - perhaps even paid for - what they expect to be a finished product, is grossly unfair, disrespectful, and ultimately damaging both for the author concerned and all other authors. I think this is part of what has given self published books a bad reputation. Re-releases due to a need to update details about the book, change the cover, or where rights have reverted to the author or the book has been taken up by a new publisher are all perfectly fair reasons for a change.

Next week it's all about releases as I unleash Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened on the world and prepare to re-release Keir. Eeep!

Pippa's Journal - 9/11/13

What. A Week. Well, where do I start?


Mission Success!

Okay, first the big announcement. I have signed two - yes, TWO - contracts with new e-publisher Definition House. Woot! One is the long overdue sequel to Keir - Keir's Fall - and the other a one-off SFR novella called Tethered. I am sooooo excited! Not only because I love these stories and can't wait to share them - Tethered missed out on being a LERA The Rebecca finalist last year by just one point - but because I know the team behind Definition House, and I know it's going to be a blast. They do have a somewhat novel approach to publishing - they're going to use crowd-funding to produce the books. Now, while this does mean that if the funding limit isn't reached, the book doesn't get published, it does mean Definition House can offer a generous 60% royalty on ebooks, and some extra little bonuses for contributors and authors alike. You can check out some of the details on their website here. It might seem odd that I'm willing to jump onboard with a publisher yet to prove themselves (but then, they all have to start somewhere) but I have full confidence in them. To find out why, you can check out my post over on the SFR Brigade blog here.

What else? Oh, The Rebecca. Okay, again I missed out on the finals, but got some fantastic feedback from the judges on my entry - a decopunk superhero romance that I started last year as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. As always, there's comments that conflict with one another, but the overall conclusion was the world-building was great, the conflict was well-balanced with some clear from the start and more hinted at, and they all wanted to read on. I'd had some doubts on the opening of this story and whether I should swap things around, but two said it started in the right place, with one commenting that they found it a bit slow but that it picked up nicely. Now I just need to sort out the mess toward the end of the story, polish it up, check it a hundred times, find a publisher, etc etc...

So, my aims for the rest of this year are to -
Finish the decopunk.
Finish two short stories that link to Terms & Conditions Apply.
Finish the short story that jumped on me a couple of weeks ago and has now already reached novella length.
Make sure I keep my publisher supplied with all the necessary info for my two books. >.<

Discoveries

A few Brigade members picked up on the article in Amazing Stories this week, and pulled it apart. I am not going to post a link to the article because I think the best thing is just to ignore it, and Laurie has already posted her reposte. The author not only bashed romance in scifi, but even went on the rage about zombies diluting his pure science fiction. To counter that, I'd like to point out a great upcoming issue special being run by Lightspeed Magazine, and urge everyone to get involved (note, they also take story submissions, and it would be great if one or two members could submit to that), Don't be misled by the title, but you can find out more information here - http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/press/announcing-the-lightspeed-women-destroying-science-fiction-special-issue/

Plus an interesting blog post on Seven Keys to Unforgettable Characters. Whatever genre you write, it's the characters you're going to empathize with, and there's some useful tips on making them memorable.

Happenings

On Friday I'm taking part in the Fall Into Romance blog hop, and I'm promoting...gasp...someone else's book! To find out which one, come visit me here.

Ping Pong

Donna, hope you're feeling recovered now. Great post on Mundane SF.

Laurie, glad to see you back after your hell month for the traditional burning of Badjuju. And hey, funny how straight after that I got my contracts. Also, wonderful reposte on the No Romance in my SF article.

Additional

I'd like to wish friend and fellow Brigader Misa Buckley a very happy birthday. Have a good one, Misa.

Pippa's Journal - 4/24/13

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented on my Write from the Heart post last week - I was amazed by the amount of response. It made me feel a little less insane about my own thoughts on the subject. :)

 But within a few hours of my post going live, I saw tweets from a literary agent that really caught my eye. They said - "Writers, I'm going to be bluntly honest. If you write paranormal fiction, it's time to work on something else until PNR fatigue has passed. I still get queries all the time for paranormal romances. The chances of getting a book deal for PNR at an established pub is almost nil."

Really? Has the publishing world had its glut of PNR? Bearing in mind, this is only ONE literary agent that I've seen tweet this, but is it a sign that publishers and agents are finding PNR has passed its peak? Have sales stalled or dropped? And if that's the case, is it a potential opening for SFR? Or will we be overrun by another genre? Two tweets out of the thousands, maybe millions, on Twitter each day is no evidence. And I have no ill will toward PNR writers and readers. But I can't help but feel a tiny sliver of hope that maybe SFR might get its chance in the limelight. We can only wait...

 Mission Success

Last Friday I received the edits for my sfr short story Imprint, and on Saturday the final line-up for the SFR Brigade's first science fiction romance anthology was announced! I'm so excited to be a part of this project, and to be in such fine company on the author list. Here it is!

Announcing:
Tales from the SFR Brigade (Volume I)

Nine great science fiction romance stories by nine fabulous authors.
(Alphabetical by story title)

“Allure” by Amy Laurens
“Envy’s Revenge” by Berinn Rae
“Imprint” by Pippa Jay
“MISSION: Nam Selan” by Linnea Sinclair
“Nobody’s Present” by Marcella Burnard
“Sensations” by Liana Brooks
“The Stranger” by Kyndra Hatch
“Thief’s Ransom” by Jaleta Clegg
“Whisky and Starshine” by Erica Hayes

 

The expected release date is currently midsummer.

In the meantime, my sfr novella Tethered is still out on submission, as is my scifi short Flaming Angel. My cyberpunk short for another antho call is with a crit partner, and my dieselpunk superhero romance is with a beta reader.

Discoveries

If punk is your thing - steam, diesel, mitten, nano, cyber etc - then the Pen Punks are currently compiling a list of punk publishers, editors and agents - check them out here!

Events

Breathless Press are having a critique session this weekend. The first five pages get feedback and maybe a contract. Check them out here.

Next Monday there'll be an exciting announcement regarding Sharon Lynn Fisher's Ghost Planet, both here and on my blog (I won't be posting myself at SFL next week). Stay tuned!

Next month I'll be celebrating Keir's first book birthday - I've been published a whole year! To celebrate, there'll be a virtual party held across several blogs with food on a blue theme, a Goodreads giveaway of a print copy of Keir, and a beautiful blue crystal star pendant. My fellow party hosts are Misa Buckley, Jessica E Subject, Chantal Halpin, Liana Brooks and Karen Y Bynum. Want to know more? Stop by my blog here on the 1st May.

And in June, my YA scifi Gethyon releases! Yay! It's all go for me for the next couple of months. 

The sign up for the SFR Brigade's 2nd Midsummer Blog Hop is now open! Last year we only ran the event over one day - this time we're going for longer. Guidelines on what you'll need for your post are listed here and the sign up is open here. I've even set up an email just for the hop - sfrbrigadebloghop at gmail dot com. You can direct any questions or issues there. I will be asking for a small donation to a grand prize - last year we were able to give away a Kindle as first prize and a digital book bundle for 2nd. I'd love to be able to do that again this year. However, no one will be excluded for not donating, and for those not yet published, or Brigade members who prefer to read rather than write - you can still take part too! People reported a good hit rate over the event.

A Plea for Help

I'm still looking for guests to take part in the Cover Love slots, especially for May. It's soooo easy, and it's free promo for YOU. All I need is your five favourite covers, a line or two about why they caught your eye, your bio, your own latest cover and links to your media site. C'mon, you can't say no?! Can you? O.o

Ping Pong 

Laurie, I'd already half intended to see Oblivion, but your post convinced me even more that this is one I should try and catch at the cinema.

Donna, yes, even though it sounds like the same stereotypical heroines in the background and the hero does all the exciting stuff. :( Loved the post on the prologue - I've not written one to any of my stories since I was a teen, and the industry preference for not having one has added to my tendency not to prologue. But I think they can be made to work - like anything in writing, if you have the skill, you can do it.

Sharon, great to see you back! I'd never heard of the term Mary Sue before, so at least I have some idea now.

Discovering Firefly

Last week a friend loaned me the entire series of Firefly on DVD. Okay, so I'm a bit late to the Browncoat party, but with at least one of my Spacefreighter buddies being a fan, I felt I ought to look it over (and I rarely pass up the chance for scifi). I'd seen Serenity and enjoyed it. So, what did I think?
I'm disappointed there was only one series. The first season of anything generally only gives you an introduction to the characters and the universe. What I saw promised so many more storylines to come. Frankly I didn't warm to Captain Mal all that much, but compared to the film I felt his strange code of...honour?...probably had some explaining to come. The story with Simon and River had barely got started - again, I'm assuming the development of that might have appeared in summarized form in Serenity. In fact, I get the impression that Serenity was pretty much a super concentrated story arc that should have covered at least three seasons of Firefly had it got that far (Browncoats, please feel free to put me right). My impression of Firefly? Whedon took the frontier history of the US and thrust into space. That works fine for me. Breaking into new territories whether a new continent or new planets is going to follow a parallel. I liked the overall grungy, almost steampunk feel of the ship - again, like current society you'll have the rich, poor and primitive sectors same as modern cities and countries. I liked that it wasn't all high tech gadgets and laser blasters. My one issue with all the Star Trek series has been the almost utopian overall feel with sparkly smart spaceships and laserbeam phasers. Loved the galactic language, although I'd have liked a transalation. I'm guessing it was Chinese (or based on it). I've used a universal language in several stories although in my earlier works (and the UK scifi comedy series Red Dwarf) Esperanto was used. Again, ST translators always seemed too pat - anyone who has used something like Google translate will know how iffy that kind of program can be. The hospital on Ariel struck me as odd - considering they could rearrange someone's brain, why were they still conducting heart bypass and cracking open someone's chest to do cardiac massage? Some aspects of this projected future didn't quite gel for me.
Characterwise, the sexual tension between Simon and sweet, naive and yet tech savvy Kaylee, and between Mal and Inara had me screaming at the TV (and on Twitter). So I must have enjoyed it. I cannot, however - spoiler alert - forgive Whedon for killing off Wash. Him and Zoe were my fave couple in the series. And Jayne? Well. He didn't pretend to be anything he wasn't, and with that name I can understand his 'tude. Jaynestown showed he had some conscience, albeit a warped one. And being as Jayne is my middle name (that's where 'Jay' comes from) I still had a soft spot for the dude. River's chaotic nature just put an edge on the whole thing with never knowing what she might do next, although I think it was carried off better in Serenity.
Overall I enjoyed this but couldn't really invest myself in the series, knowing there's no more to come. Which is a gorram shame...

Additional - After a furore on Twitter over Kickstarter funding for a Veronica Mars film, the immediate aftermath was - why doesn't Joss do that for Firefly?! Well, you can read his response here.

Action!

Well, Entangled's new, shiny submission process did deliver on its promise of a four week response time. Unfortunately for me it was a no. However, Tethered is still with the original publisher I submitted to, although it'll be mid April at the earliest before I hear from them. In the meantime I'm researching other publishers.
Flaming Angel, a scifi short for an in-house anthology call, is still being tweaked. With the next school holiday in less than two weeks, I really want it gone, even though the final submission date has now been extended. I haven't done much on the writing front due to some real life stuff, but I'm hoping to finish my cyberpunk short for the Sword and Laser anthology before the school holidays too.

Discoveries

A great post by Allan Douglas on exotic space propulsions. It's something I've been reading up on more, to use in my books. Although I've vaguely picked up on varieties of inter- and intra-stellar transportation, I've kept the detail light because my scientific knowledge is shaky. But I want to improve it. So for anyone just starting to think about space travel for the first time, go here.
The Dee Mura Literary Agency have a new agent - Kaylee Davis - and she's looking for science fiction, among other things!Take a look here.

Happenings

The Rites of Spring Blog Hop is on, celebrating firsts. I'm sharing Keir's first kiss, with a $5 gift card and a copy of Terms & Conditions Apply as my giveaway. The Grand Prizes are a Kindle Fire and a $50 Amazon gift card!Go here!
There's no Cover Love post this week, also due to the hop, but you can still check out Jessica Subject's post here. The next post is fantasy covers with UF author Chantal Halpin.
Next week I'll start posting details for the SFR Brigade's second blog hop, with a theme suggested by Greta van der Rol - Out of this World. Watch out for the info!

Bookshelf

My review of Neal Asher's Zero Point (hard scifi) is now live on the Fantasy Book Review site here. At the moment I'm reading Revenge of the Mad Scientist by Lara Nance (steampunk). There's no Read Only Wednesday this week due to the Rites of Spring Blog Hop, but the following week will be Downside Girls by my big favourite Jaine Fenn (scifi/space opera).

DVDs

I have Space Above and Beyond as my next scifi series to catch up on.

Ping Pong

Laurie, great posts on sitting out the GH and your agent interview. Thanks to Amanda for her contributions.

Pippa's Journal - The End of the World...or just 2012?

This will be my last journal here for 2012, regardless of whether the world really does end on the 21st or not - personally I expect to wake up on the 22nd still intact but I won't be blogging for the 26th - I'll be recovering from Christmas Day! With my own blog set up with posts until the 6th January, my submission for the SFR Brigade anthology undergoing a final polish, and kids and hubs home for two weeks over Christmas, my chances of writing are small. Frankly after two attempts at NaNoWriMo this year, I think muse deserves time-out, although Christmas Day last year was when she sprang on me with a shiny new sfr, the one day I really cannot be writing. I'm hoping not to have a repeat. O.O

Action!
Neither Pitchmas or Pitchwars gained a request for Tethered, but that's not a bad thing. Both contests were an unexpected bonus, and the Pitchmas workshop for my 35 word and Twitter pitches was a genuinely useful experience. I also had good feedback from my three selected mentors in Pitchwars, even though they were all rejections. For one thing, all three gave me the same reason and a totally expected one - Tethered is too damn short. The expected industry length for scifi is 70-80K, and Tethered is just 43. What I did learn is that 70K is judged the minimum length required for decent world-building. As someone who has been complimented several times on my skill at world-building (excuse the lack of modesty on that point!), I dispute that fact. But in an industry where snagging an agent, particularly one who's heart lies in speculative fiction in the first place, is already a demanding task, do I really want to make it harder for myself by pitching something I know is under the word count required?
As someone with a tendency - a preference even - to buck the trend, it's a tough decision that leaves me with a quandary. The plan for Tethered was to submit it to my top two choices of publishers in early 2013. My number one choice of mentor paid me the highest compliment she could - that she didn't feel she could do anything to help me because I didn't appear to need it. She also, out of the blue, suggested my MS as a good fit for one of the publishers I'd already decided to submit it too. That made it seem like Fate. But do I stick with Plan A and submission, or do I look at the possibility of extending Tethered and making it my novel to pitch? I couldn't decide, although I know one area where I could add to the story without breaking it - not an extra 30K worth though. So, Tethered is now with my fabulous editor Dani to see what her feelings are on expansion. And while I fret over her findings and whether I have a 70K scifi left in me that isn't part of the Keir series already drafted, I have plenty of other things to work on.

My submission for the SFR Brigade is undergoing a final polish today. I need to have that finished and in by the 21st when my kids break up for Christmas. Edits for Gethyon will be arriving in the New Year and Tethered will either be going out on submission or being expanded. The future of Keir's Fall remains undecided. My two NaNoWriMo projects - dark superhero romance When Dark Falls and gritty space opera The Overlord's Consort - are projects for completion in 2013, and I'm hoping to finish and self-publish another short story after the good reception for Terms & Conditions Apply. And who knows what else muse might throw at me. I've also started plans for another SFR Brigade Blog Hop later in the year. The suggestion was for an Out Of This World theme, perhaps to boost the Brigade's anthology, and taking place over several days this time. Thoughts?

I'll also be doing a makeover of my blog and Facebook page, streamlining my social media platforms, and hopefully getting my website up and running. Here's a sample page of the site so far.

So what are your plans for 2013? Or do you think there's no point planning until after the 21st? :P

Happenings
The Mistletoe Madness Blog Hop is on! I want to know your favourite Christmas film to get into the spirit for your chance at a $5 gift card here, and a Kindle Fire with books. From the 21st until the end of the year, Lyrical Press Inc. has a Doomsday sale - 75% off all titles -including Keir for just $1.25. Then it's Carrie-Ann Ryan's New Year Blog Hop on the 1st January. On the 31st I'll be taking a quick look back over the past year and noting some of the landmarks. Wow, but it was a cracking year!

Six Sentence Sunday is ending! For those of you who may have missed the announcements, the last Six Sentence Sunday posting will take place on the 27th January. I owe a huge debt to the site, in terms of boosting my confidence, compelling me to blog on a more regular basis, meeting a host of new authors, genres, writing styles and techniques, but also for introducing me to Laurie A. Green. But for that, I might never have discovered the SFR Brigade and the existence of the genre, nor met so many talented and fabulous people. I'm sorry to see it go.

Discoveries
Last week I posted an article to the SFR  Brigade group about the use of male pseudonyms in order to market scifi titles - check out the full details here. I already use a pen name but since it's a derivative of my real name I still feel it's 'me'. The idea of taking a completely false name, or a male or gender neutral one - even if it sold more books - feels completely wrong for me - and that's not a judgement on anyone who does it, just the reason I wouldn't do it myself. What are your thoughts?

On a purely selfish note, I discovered I have a page with my new publisher Champagne Books, and Gethyon is already up there with the blurb. I'm so excited! You can check it out here.

Ping Pong
Laurie, your post on not knowing what to blog about certainly struck a cord. As authors, we're encouraged to be active on social media - I've even noticed more small press publishers now making an active internet presence part of the submission requirements - but deciding what to blog about, or even coming up with ideas can be a struggle. A lot of social media gurus say you should be consistent, both in schedules, themes and content. Perhaps it's part of being a panstser, but I'm much more in favour of sponteneity - it's more natural, and you can't always plan for events in the news or new announcements of your own. But sometimes even the well of creativity for a short post runs dry!

Donna, what an inspiration Vey is! But I think it's also a wonderful example of the power of books and how the reading and writing of them can do wonderful things.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Successful New Year to my fellow co-bloggers on Spacefreighters Lounge, and to you all!

Pippa's Journal - 6/27/12

Normally I try to post twice a month here, with one article and one journal. This will be a short extra. With a special event for the SFR Brigade just this weekend, I thought I'd post a few findings and results. But first...

To Infinity and Beyond.

So after 35 years the Voyager I space craft is leaving the solar system. With the space program shut down - except perhaps for commercial flights - and the shuttles sent off to new earthbound homes, it feels a little like the only extrasolar explorers are already on their way with nothing else to follow. But another lesser known space icon is also off to a new home.

The original full scale mockup of the space shuttle, seen here in 1974, will go on public display in California in July 2012.
CREDIT: NASA 

Built in 1972 and largely overlooked until recently, the model - built mostly from wood and plastic - is now set to have a permanent home thanks to the Columbia Memorial Space Center. It's also hoping to restore the model which is showing signs of degradation. Even with its later offspring now permanently grounded, it's good to know even the original model has a future. You can read the full article on it's rediscovery and history here.

The SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop took place on Friday. There were a few technical issues - mainly with the inlinkz code - but everyone (bar one) had their post up and generally got a good response. Several gained new followers and the Brigade has also gained new members. A major technical problem was the disappearance of one link which unfortunately I missed. :( Over 1000 comments were made overall, with most people getting 30-40 comments on their individual posts.There's even been a suggestion of a solstice-themed sfr anthology for the future...
All in all, it was successful and a good experience. People have asked to do another. So, if anyone has a suggestion for a date and/or event/theme for the next, please feel free to shout out.For anyone interested in doing more hops while waiting for another Brigade event, please check out Carrie Ann Ryan's blog here. She regularly hosts blog hops on various themes and dates, and even has a Facebook page set up for them now.I'm taking part in the current Angels vs Demons Blog Hop - come and meet Keir and win an entry into the grand draw here!

With the blog hop over and the Amazon tagging parties now set to a monthly instead of weekly schedule, I'm diving back into the sea of writing and editing. The next week will be spent polishing my sfr novella Tethered for the Rebecca (entries close on the 30th June if you have a hankering to enter). On the 1st July I'll learn if Keir has made it into the finals for the Readers Favourite Reviews and Award Contest, having gained a 5 star review there recently. If it has, I'll also be entering Keir into EPIC's Ebook Awards contest - entries there close on the 15th July. I have edits to complete on Keir's sequel before submission, and planning to do for my August Campnanowrimo project. Having been a lifelong pantser, I've actually outlined the nanowrimo project - an experience in itself. I put out a cry for help via Twitter, and friend and fellow Lyrical Press Inc. author Sonya Clark came to my rescue with a handy post on plotting which you can find here. Misa Buckley has also just posted on this subject here and it's worth a read if you're a confirmed pantser. My first outline is a bit rough and ready, but at least I have one. :)

I've also decided to knuckle down and seek out some more reviews for Keir. Luckily fellow author and friend Lauri J Owen and I have spent the last year compiling a comprehensive lists of book reviewers. Originally we began this as a joint project because we knew how hard it was for authors to find reviewers, and also to help generate traffic to our blogs. We currently have over 235 listed in all genres, for indie and traditionally published writers, and now I'm benefitting in a whole new way as I use the list myself. Should you need a reviewer (and many of the reviewers listed also offer to host blog tours, giveaways, advertising, interviews and other promotional avenues) the list is here.

Ping Pong

Donna - loved the list of classics. Interesting to see what other people wanted added to the list. I wonder about a list of science fiction romance classics? The post on marketing was also interesting, since I think I already cover the basics that were listed. Sometimes I wonder what more there is to do - and how to stand out when everyone else is doing the same as well.
Laurie - I love the name, the badge and the motto for your Golden Hearts Class!
Sharon - as Laurie says, time is ticking down for Ghost Planet...