Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody!!! I hope you all had a hoppy holiday. ^^ :D I’ll have some updates tomorrow, but for now, enjoy your Easter evening! ^^

Boomtown Craze Launch Party!

It's that time again ladies and gentlemen, because author Mary Pax has done it again! Craze and company are back in the third installment of the Backworlds series, Boomtown Craze. :D

 

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe.

To secure his future, Craze must propel his world into a more prosperous era. Only days away from the grand opening of his new and improved tavern, he is confronted by a loony Backworlder intent on mucking up his plans. Gaunt and trembling, she claims her spaceship is possessed. She also has a connection to the underworld that shakes loose the dark past of one of Craze’s closest friends. It all threatens to end Craze’s prosperity before it begins.

Meanwhile off world, Captain Talos works desperately to outwit the mercenary Jixes and lure them away from his and Craze’s budding prospects. The mind-control weapon Talos uses against them is wearing thin, and his next move may be his last.

Will Craze and Talos’s efforts bring about a grand new age of boom or damn them to forever struggle in the dust?

 

Paperback Available from:

Amazon / AmazonUK / AmazonDE / AmazonFR

AmazonIT / AmazonES

Ebook Available from:

Amazon / AmazonUK / KOBO / BN / Smashwords /

AmazonDE / AmazonFR / AmazonES / AmazonIT / AmazonJP / AmazonCA / AmazonBR

 

To learn more about Mary and the Backworlds series, visit M.Pax's website here.

February IWSG 2013

Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well. Happy IWSG!!! January has been a crazy month so I'm sorry I haven't been around much. My grandmother had a stroke two days before I started at a new job and in less than a month, my brother will be getting married! Lots and lots going on, which kind of brings me to this month's IWSG topic: Time. I'm finding that when I get home from work, I'm tired and mostly just want to crash and call it a night. A lady told me today that it can take some time to adjust to working full time versus part time, but my question is: what are some of the ways you balance your time when you don't have a lot of it.

I also just enrolled in another Institute of Children's Literature class on writing books for children and teens. After my first class with them, I learned a lot about short stories and articles, but I'm really looking forward to working on a good length novel one-on-one with my instructor. The way the class is structured is similar to a writer-editor relationship, so I'm very excited to get started. :) If anyone is looking for a good class on writing for children and teens, I would definitely recommend the Institute especially because you send in your assignments so it doesn't matter where you live; it's basically like an online class.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here.

I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the New Year so far. Do you have any plans for Valentine's? Tell me about them in the comments below! ^^ :D

ISWG 2013!!!

Wow! Sometimes it’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. 2012 was full of so many good and bad memories, but now 2013 stands before us like a clean slate waiting to be utilized. A lot of times when I get new journals, I hate to mar the brand new cleanly, pureness of the pristine white pages, but this year, I plan to make the most of it and so I’m going to mark those pages up until there’s no blank space left! ^^ Okay maybe there will be a little white space in there somewhere, or else I’d probably have trouble reading it, but you get the idea, right? J

Around this time of year, everyone starts making their resolutions about what they’re going to do more of, different, or better. Well…I’m not going to do that. Or rather, I’m not going to make resolutions. I was thinking this morning about resolutions and how I never seem to hear that many people doing anything to accomplish their resolutions. I always hear things like, “Oh well. It’s just a resolution, so it’s okay. At least there’s always next year!” So I’ve come up with a plan. I’m going to write down one goal and the steps it takes to reach that goal, kind of like an outline or a road map, and hang it up somewhere I can see it every day. Studies have shown that people who write down their goals are more likely to accomplish them. Even more so are the ones who put what they wrote somewhere they can see it.

With that in mind, I’d like to share one small goal I’ve set for myself.

My first goal for 2013 is: Complete a full outline for my novel.

I’ve never actually been good at outlining and as such, I’ve avoided them like the plague, but more and more I feel like I really need one. In order to accomplish this goal, I’ve started using index cards to write down scenes that are vital to the plot and organized them into the three different parts I have planned for my book. So far I’ve got a good feeling so we’ll see! ^^

Today is also the first Wednesday of the month so Happy IWSG!!! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here.

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Got goals for the New Year? Share them down below in the comments! ^^ J

Happy New Year’s everyone!!! ^^ :D

 

Fun Writing Tools

I don’t know about you, but I love finding fun and funky stuff, not to mention when it helps with my writing, so I thought I would share a few I found here with you before the new year arrives. J  A while back, I read on a newly self-published author’s site what different things got her through the writing process of her book. She listed several online critique groups, articles, and books, but she also shared a link to a particular site called the EditMinion. It sounded kind of funky so I had to check it out. As it turned out, the site was built as a sort of personalized editor. You enter a chunk of text and check the boxes above for what types of thing you want it to look for and it shows you where you’re particular bit of text could use some help in those areas. I’m not very good at explaining it, so I won’t go into too much detail, but if nothing else, check it out. I find I have a lot of trouble figuring out when I’ve lapsed into a passive voice and the EditMinion pinpoints that as one of the things it looks for.

Also by the same creator of the EditMinion, is a program called Write or Die. It sounded a little extreme to be sure, but after I tried it out, it turned out to be kind of cool. The purpose of the program is to teach you to avoid writer’s block by using negative reinforcement. You select a time and/or word limit for which to follow and type until you exceeded one or the other. If you sit idle long enough, depending on which version you’re using (you may set the forgiveness and annoyance less of the punishment), the screen may start turning redder and redder, or start emitting irritating sounds. The free online version, which is the version I tried, only turns the screen darker shades of red until you start typing again. There’s also a kamikaze mode which sounds scary. It will start to erase what you’ve already written if you aren’t careful. Yikes! He he. J

Either way, these two tools were kind of fun to play around with. Check them out and see what you think. Or if you have some cool funky tools, share them below in the comments.

EditMinion                              Write or Die

Happy New Year’s everyone!!! ^^ :D

Merry Christmas 2012!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I hope Santa brought everyone lots of great gifts, but more so, I hope everyone enjoyed spending time with their friends, family, and loved ones. ^^ This time of year is wonderful for getting together and reflecting back on the past year to look back at what we did well this year and to also figure out how we can do better next year. For a lot of people, this season can be a hard time, because they don’t have any family or friends to share with. If you know anyone that gets kind of down around the holidays, I would encourage you to give them a smile, or better yet, a hug, and wish them Merry Christmas. J Most times, it’s the small things that make our days brighter, so have a wonderful Christmas, and pass on that Holiday Spirit! ^^ :D

Merry Christmas!!!