Time's Running Out: The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk #free

The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk is free just a little longer on Amazon. Be sure to snag your copy now.

Once upon a time, in an Internet that is everywhere and nowhere, blogging writers joined keyboards and computer screens to create a blog of free short stories for the masses. Themes, ideas and morning coffee were plenty. A noisy Siamese cat was let outside. A flute trilled over young students’ heads. A library book was carefully placed in the proper shelf.

With an idea and a dream, Raven and the Writing Desk blog was born. Lisa Rusczyk, Cherie Reich, and Aubrie Dionne created these short stories and poetry within, now in book form.

We hope you enjoy them.

Wednesday's Writing Update: Three Years Ago and an Annoucement

 

My review of Beth Revis's A Million Suns is on Surrounded by Books Reviews.

After many months, The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk by Aubrie Dionne, Lisa Rusczyk, and me is now available on Amazon. Best of all, we're running a free promotion going on right now, so if you enjoyed our stories from the blog, go out and snatch you a copy.

Three years ago on January 15, 2009, I embarked on a great adventure. This adventure turned out to be my first written novel, The Phoenix Prophetess. It also was the day that marked the first time I wrote with publication in mind.

In that time, I've written 553,765 words. I've had 52 rejections and 17 acceptances, so a third of everything I've submitted has been accepted. I've written four and a third novels, numerous short stories and flash fiction, and even a poem or two. I've become a freelance editor. I've met countless of peoples and made many new friends. I've been to two writers' conferences, joined a local writer's group, and have several critique partners who've shaped me into the writer I am today.

I look back on these three years and realize despite the rejections, the anxiety of waiting, the stress-filled days, I wouldn't change these three years for the world. Becoming a writer and then an author has made me the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. I hope to have many more years writing ahead of me, no matter what happens on the publication front.

Thank you for sharing them with me.

Thank you for reading.

Promo Monday: THE MESSAGE by Lisa Rusczyk

Title: The Message 

Author: Lisa Rusczyk

Publisher: Passionate Writer Publishing

To Purchase: Passionate Writer Publishing

Description: I came to this time through a time hole and I’m told I’m always in the present. That’s what the Yar Sirray said. She also said the time holes were destroying the Yars’ lives, that their world was plagued by them. They escaped and came here. People in this time on Earth accept the Yars as companions, but I don’t trust them. It’s something about their flat black eyes and sandy, scaly skin. Their answers to my questions are half-truths. I can tell.

The people in this time have the message, so they say. It makes them happy, peaceful, all similar. They don’t know how it started. All they know is how it’s transmitted - through bodily fluids. A simple kiss can do it. Azja seems different to me. He’s not as confident, not as limited.

I want to go home, away from the people and Yars with the message. I want to go back into the past, to my time in the twentieth century. I think I found someone who can help me, Leatherwood, but he seems to have plans of his own. Azja’s not the only one who stands out from the others.

Something about the message doesn’t seem right, but I can’t figure out what it is. I need to leave this world before I give in to my desire for Azja. I can never so much as kiss him or I will be infected too, and I don’t want that. Not right now, not with what I am discovering about the Yars.

Please visit the author on her blog for further information about this and her other works.

Promo Monday: SAM THE NIGHT PERSON by Lisa Rusczyk

Title: Sam the Night Person

Series: The Night Person series, Book One

Author: Lisa Rusczyk

To Purchase: Amazon   Smashwords

Description: What is a night person? They thrive by moonlight, spreading lightening bolts and freezing the earth. They hide their powers from society.

Sam stays up all night, drinks coffee without pause, chain smokes cigarettes and secretly talks to the moon. Azzy knows it, but doesn't know why or how. Azzy has been having a series of obsessive daydreams about a young man named Sam. He seems to be a magician of sorts. All she knows is that she can't eat, sleep, drive or work. All she can do is think of Sam. She is in love, and she must find him.

She follows a daydream to a Colorado lodge where she has seen Sam in her mind. To her astonishment, he appears there the very next day. He doesn't believe her, but who would? Is she crazy? Sam and Azzy have a connection. Where did it come from? And who is behind it all?

Of course, there's always a reason for everything. Azzy's daydreams were no accident. Will they be able to withstand the man behind the torment? After years being apart, they find themselves facing the most destructive man of water magic they have ever known. He threatens their love. Together in heart and apart by necessity, they must find a way to stop him. 

Please visit the author on her blog for further information about this and her other works.

Wednesday's Writing Update: August Stats, September Goals, and a Blogger Award

Happy Wednesday!

August is finished and we're almost a full week into September. It's hard to believe this time next month I'll be in Richmond, VA for the James River Writers Conference.

So, on to August stats:

Submissions: 0

Rejections: 3

Acceptances: 0

Total Words: 15,115

Pages Edited: 601

I don't have many submissions out there, but I'm considering taking some of my shorter works and self-publishing them. In fact, I would like to write two and a half more short stories in my Foxwick land and created a small short story collection titled The Foxwick Chronicles: Women of Foxwick. So you might see this collection in December, if I can get everything together.

As for my novel Virtuoso, things aren't looking too good for it. There are major issues and I'm running out of time and energy to fix them right now. So starting last Friday, I began working on The Phoenix Prophetess. I'm completely in love with it. I've read it two times already and have started edits. It may be against my original plans, but I stand by my decision.

How is everyone else doing? Have you switched what you were working on for something you were more passionate about? How did that go?

 

Also, thank you Cher Green for giving me the Liebster Blog Award! 

The rules:

1. Thank the giver of the award and link back to them.

2. Give the Liebster to five bloggers and let them know with a comment to their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award onto your blog.

4. Have faith your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. Have blogging fun!

I would like to give this award to:

Lisa Rusczyk – She doesn't blog too much, but she's pretty awesome. She works as an editor and has some new books out on Kindle. 

LindsayDuncan – She's a sweetheart and a harpist as well as a writer. 

ChristineRains – I know she's already received this award once, but she's one of my best friends and the reason I'm a writer. 

Jenn Nixon – She's an awesome romantic suspense writer and writes in other genres too. She's all about giving back and promoting authors on her blog. 

Bill Blume – He has an awesome blog with a comic strip he creates himself. I'm loving his steampunk one. Plus, he has the coolest stuffed animals. 

Promo Monday: CHASING THE DARK by Lisa Rusczyk

Title: Chasing the Dark

Author: Lisa Rusczyk

Publisher: Passionate Writer Publishing (October 25, 2010)

Link to Purchase: Passionate Writer Publishing 

Book Description: Melanie’s a budding artist always looking for the next high. She finds it one night when Sora and Josh take her on an ambulance-chasing ride. They watch a gruesome scene as the bodies are removed from the wreckage. Melanie doesn’t know why, but she is both attracted to this new pursuit and afraid of where it will take her.

The chasing brings Melanie closer to the mysterious Sora, his secret past, and the darker things that happen in the city at night. Along the way Melanie must face her own demons while escaping the drug dealing business.

Join Melanie and her friends Shara, Manny, Max, Sora and Josh as they confront and chase away their own personal demons.

To read my review, click here. 

R is for Raven and the Writing Desk

“Once upon a time, in an Internet that is everywhere and nowhere, blogging writers joined keyboards and computer screens to create a blog of free short stories for the masses. Themes, ideas and morning coffee were plenty. A noisy Siamese cat was let outside. A flute trilled over young students' heads. A library book was carefully placed in the proper shelf.” – Lisa Rusczyk

On March 26, 2010, Lisa Rusczyk wrote those words. It was our first blog post on Raven and the Writing Desk. 

Lisa Rusczyk created the idea, and she invited me and Aubrie Dionne to blog together. We write short stories, three-part short stories, poetry, book reviews, and all things writing on the blog. We have themed months. Some of our previous themes have included: leprechauns, unicorns, horror, mother’s day, weddings, etc.

It’s so much fun working with Lisa and Aubrie on this blog.

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The first Raven and the Writing Desk 2010 collection is coming soon. 

Author Interview with Lisa Rusczyk

Today we have an interview with Lisa Rusczyk. She is the author of several books and an editor. Her book Chasing the Dark was published by Passionate Writer Publishing (PWP) yesterday. You can purchase it here and read my review of it here. 

Lisa's Blog

(I'm in bold. Lisa's answers are regular.)

 

Thank you for joining us, Lisa. Tell us a little about yourself.

 

I just moved into a new house with my soon-to-be husband and our six cats. I work two jobs, one writing for Demand Studios and the other editing and critiquing manuscripts for Passionate Writer Publishing.

How exciting about the new house and upcoming nuptials! Congrats! I just want to say I loved reading Chasing the Dark. You have a fantastic way with characters and bringing them to life. Chasing the Dark involves the darkness of humanity with drugs, rape, murder, etc. And, yet there is a light to the characters and hope. How did you come up with such a fascinating idea for this novel?

I passed an ambulance one day and wondered if there were people who chased them down to see the destruction. I wondered what kind of people would do that and why.

Lawyers do that. Well, unsavory ones. *laughs* I've read on your blog that it didn't take you long to write it. How long did it take you? Do you normally write novels so quickly?

This book took six days to write and years to edit. I usually take a whole lot longer to write a book, sometimes up to five years.

That's just amazing! I can't imagine writing a first draft of a novel in just six days. I know you're also a freelance editor right now for PWP. Do you find your editing experience helps you when you write short stories and novels? 

It definitely helps. Spending all day reading, editing and putting a lot of thought into what might make a story better helps all my writing.

What is it like to edit a novel? Do you focus on content or grammar/spelling or both?

At first, I was hired as a proofreader, so I mainly did grammar and fixed mistakes. Now I have more editing responsibilities and can make decisions on word phrasing and taking out things that aren't necessary. My editor has a lot of faith in me. She says, "Just make the book better."

I've always thought I would be a great proofreader, but I don't know if I would want the responsibilities as an editor. I'd be terrified I wouldn't know enough to make someone else's book better. It's so great you can do it, though. You're also the editor/creator of the blogzine Hazard Cat. Tell us a little about it and what do you look for in your submissions.

Anything cat-related that touches me in a personal way will always get accepted. It's been amazing how many people write so well about cats and their habits and their stories. I wish I had more money so I could post every day, but in time that might be happening.

Cats rule! I enjoy reading that blog. So, you edit and run your own blogzine. What other works do you have available for people to read that you've written?  

The Blue Pen, Sam the Night Person, Full Moon in December, A Dream of the Past, and The Message. Mixed genres. 

Oh, don't forget your 21 Lucky Shorts on Amazon! *grins* What are you working on currently?

I'm working on a few projects right now. I'm getting through a short story for an anthology that one of the other PWP writers is putting together. I also have several novels that I pick at from time to time.

That's great, Lisa! I don't know where you find the time for all you do. Do you have any other projects forthcoming?  

I have nothing to be published planned right now after this one, Chasing the Dark. Need to get crackin'.

I'm sure you'll have something else soon. Thanks so much for joining us today and the best of luck to you!

Thanks again, Cherie!!!