IWSG: Too Busy Writing to Be Insecure | Wattpad Wednesdays: Reborn Chapter 32 | Awesome Giveaway

IWSG was created by the Captain Ninja Alex J. Cavanaugh. To visit the IWSG participants, please click here. There is a big announcement today, so be sure to check out the IWSG site. The co-hosts for September are Heather M. Gardner, Christine Rains, Dolorah at Book Lover, Julie Flanders, and Murees Dupé.

Yes, it's a rare, rare occurrence, but I just don't feel insecure today. Not even the flat line of sales make me that insecure. Why? Because I've been writing, and it's just an amazing feeling to be back into creating new worlds and characters and plots and all. Since July 1, I've written every single day, which is something I haven't managed before.

On August 30, I finished the first draft of Marked (The Fate Challenges #1.5), which came in at 26,095 words (51 single-spaced pages). I'm letting it sit for a month or so before I edit and send it to my first critique partner, so I'm sure my insecurities will come back by then. *laughs* I started writing Forged (The Fate Challenges #2) on August 31. I have three chapters left to write in The Mission (The Gaia Project #1.1), which is actually going pretty well since I started the short novella with just an idea and a vague sense of scenes and characters. Of course, it'll need major plotting for the second draft and subsequent stories, but I'm having fun just seeing where things go.

Plus, I got a big boost in confidence when Reborn received a five star review at Readers' Favorite. It took over a year for a reviewer to take a chance on Reborn, and I'm relieved the reviewer loved it. You even get a lovely medal to put on websites or print it out.

I used to worry about using up creativity, but lately I found this quote to be very true.

What are your insecurities this month?

Read Reborn from the beginning or Chapter Thirty-Two.

 

Welcome to the kickoff for September's giveaway. All of the books are fab and the authors are amazing. Seriously you don't want to miss out. Here's the link to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway. And here are the books.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Falling for #SpecFic: 2015 Realms Faire | Wattpad Wednesdays: Reborn Chapter 31 | Writing Update | Awesome Giveaway

The fourth annual Realms Faire is coming up November 9-13, and we have loads of events and prizes for you to participate in. Here are a few of the events coming up during the Faire.

House MPax - The Joust

So what does becoming a knight and jousting entail?

1. Spots are limited reserve your slot today! Click HERE and check off 'joining 4th annual joust as a knight. Huzzah!' or email Mary at mpaxuathor@gmail.com.
2. When you get an email from Mary, send her the name you'll joust under and 3-5 book covers. She'll send you the nifty badge and 3 magic words. The magic words are how you'll score points during the joust.
3. Send her 2 excerpts, or 2 stories of your knightly feats, or one excerpt and one story of your feats.
4. Send your friends and followers to this blog Nov. 9-13th and tell them to leave comments using your magic words. You're allowed to post exactly what they copy and paste. You're allowed to bribe. Prizes will be awarded to commenters daily on the site.

House Immortal - Beware the Vortex

Evil is afoot. Chronos has accidentally created a vortex while cleaning his hourglass, plunging a few unfortunate souls into Lucien’s Bar, gateway to the Underworld. Now they are trapped. Lucien wants to keep them but will give each hapless victim one chance to earn their freedom. His condition? Enter a contest of skills with an Immortal opponent of his/her choosing.

Do you think you can survive a swordfight with War? How about wend your way through a carnivorous garden to get to Gaia’s treehouse? Or weave a portion of the Great Tapestry of Life while avoiding Atropos’ giant pair of life-ending scissors? Perhaps you’re brave enough to challenge Death to a peanut-eating contest? Or whip up a batch of punch with Jezebel, the Master Poisoner? Do you have what it takes to win your way out of Lucien’s grasp?

Your mission: on the day you appear in the contest you will post on your own blog or gather together your Facebook and/or Twitter friends and provide a link to this blog, pleading with your loyal supporters to come to your aid at http://riverfairchild.blogspot.com/ and cheer you on to victory. Their comments will decide your fate. River will provide you with a few magic words to bolster the power of your minions. Plead well, for you will need their strength to endure. Others might seek to cast their votes with the Immortals.

Rewards? Yes! Besides winning your freedom (hopefully), each volunteer (that would be you) who is locked in the struggle will receive an Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. In addition, a few lucky commenters will be picked at random to receive a gift card at the end of the Faire.

Interested? Sign up at http://mpaxauthor.com/realmsfaire/ or email River at RiverFairchildAuthor@gmail.com.

House Geek - Drench-a-Wench

Here at House Geek, Christine is happy to be hosting a marvelous event called Drench-a-wench or Soak-a-bloke, depending on whether our dunkee is a lovely lady or handsome lord.

The rules of this event are simple.
1. Dunkees are chosen by the Untethered Realms council. None of the dunkees know they have been picked. The fun is in the surprise, after all!
2. Christine will announce a new dunkee each day of the Faire and include a link to their blog.
3. Participants will go to the dunkee's blog and soak them with blog love in the comments of their most recent post. Anyone can participate.
4. Everyone who participates is included in the daily giveaway. Oh yes, my fine friends! There will be a new giveaway every day.
5. Visit the other esteemed hosts of Realms Faire and have fun with their games. Enter to win even more prizes.

House Waibel - Stockade Brigade

House Waibel is hosting the Stockade Brigade. Warrants of arrest have been issued for select authors accusing them of witchery and wizardry. The pillory has been erected and the trial dates set.

Good people of Realmsdom, Mary calls upon you to bear witness to these trials and offer your testimony for or against the author's crimes.

Points will be awarded for wordsmithing a comment in your best Olde English afore 8 of the clock in the Eastern time on the following scale:

5-Ye speak as one from the days of Queen Bess.
4-Ye could pass muster as a Ren Faire cast member
3-Ye could pass as a Ren Faire attendee
2-Ye wouldn't be foolin' yer mother
1-Ye stand out like the sun in a cloudless sky

An e-book will be given every day to the witness who scores the most points. Fear not, your daily score will be accumulated and the person with the highest score shall receive a special prize at the end of the week. So, brush off your Olde English and prepare to testify.

House of the Hero's Dilemma

Hero's beware! Here at the House of Hero's Dilemma, a new cliff-hanging adventure will dangle new heroes above the depths of destiny or despair. In 100 words or less, a hero will face a danger in story form.

Each day, the people of Realmsdom will decide the fate of these heroes in three sentences or less. If fateful endings are giving answer in poetic form, an extra entry for prizes will be awarded.

Daily e-book prizes will be awarded via random name-pulling from the entries. Everyone is invited to participate.

People of Realmsdom, you have the power of storytelling might to decide the fate of the would-be heroes. Will they die in glory or shame, live in victory or defeat? It is up to you.

And, after you have decided the fate of the Hero's Dilemma, try your hand at the other Realms Faire Events for more fun and prizes!

House Bookworm - Riddle Me This

I am a book so popular they made a movie of me. Within the what if realms I lie. Horror? Fantasy? Or am I Sci-Fi? A riddle every day during the Realms Faire for you to take your best guess and have a chance to win a prize most splendid.

For your guessing pleasure, visit Cherie Reich's blog (here!) every day November 9-13 to make a guess and be entered for a daily prize.

Twitter Hashtag - #RealmsFaire

http://mpaxauthor.com/realmsfaire/

Read Reborn from the beginning or Chapter Thirty-One.

Happy Wednesday! Since I'm taking a few days off next week (August 26-28), I've decided to go ahead and post my writing update and September's goals. My next post after this one will be the #IWSG post on September 2.

Writing is going well. I'm keeping to my primary and secondary goals, even if most days I only get a chance to write the bare minimum (15-20 minutes in Marked and 7-10 minutes in The Mission). I'm over 20,000 words in Marked (The Fate Challenges #1.5) and over 10,000 words in The Mission (The Gaia Project #1.1).

As for editing, I hope to start the final proofread of UR's anthology Mayhem in the Air this week.

Here are my September goals:

Primary Goal = write 20-25 minutes a day. Once I finish Marked, Forged (The Fate Challenges #2) will move into the primary spot.

Secondary Goal = write 10-12 minutes a day. The Mission is currently in this spot. Once I finish the first draft of The Mission, "On Day 168" will become my secondary goal.

Finish final proofread and formatting for Mayhem in the Air.

Edit a novel for a friend.

What are your September goals?

2015 Stats (1/1/15-8/18/15): 47,192 words written and 1,176 pages edited

 

Each month, T.B. Markinson plans to give away awesome books by wonderful authors and a $5 Amazon Gift Card. It’s her way of saying thank you to all her followers and fans. Some may wonder why she is giving books away that aren’t hers. The answer is simple: She loves to read and she loves to help fellow authors promote their books. The giveaway is easy to enter via Rafflecopter. At the end of the month, one winner will be selected randomly and will receive an e-book copy of all the books below plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card. Good luck! Here are the incredible books for August’s Giveaway. My novel Reborn is one of the awesome books in this month's giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Writing Update | Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale July 1-31 #fantasy

Happy Wednesday!

I have to admit July has been a really good goals completion month.

I have updated my social media pages, websites, and blog to their new looks. I have consolidated quite a few of my pages on my blog with pages on my author website. Doing so means I'll have to update in fewer places. I still have a couple more drawings I want to finish, but they're not needed until 2016, so I have plenty of time to draw and color them.

I've also been writing. Every. Single. Day. I wrote more this month than I wrote during the past six months combined. It's been amazing to get back in the swing of things. And I'm working on not one project but two. Yes, you read that right. Two projects.

Marked (The Fate Challenges #1.5) is my main project. So far I've written almost 10,000 words and am a third finished. If I keep this up, then I might be able to finish the first draft of Marked by late August/early September.

My second project is a new one. The series is called The Gaia Project, and the first "episode" is titled The Mission. I figure The Gaia Project will be a serial with episodes and seasons. The premise is what if a colony ship plans to colonize a super-habitable planet where alien dinosaurs live. The first season will focus on six characters and their scouting mission to discover what happened to the first team the space colony sent down to the surface. For The Mission, I have written almost 6,000 words and am on chapter three out of nine. I'll likely finish this first episode by the end of September. Maybe. I don't have a scene by scene outline yet, so I'm winging it a bit for now and will see if I continue writing this project or choose to place it on the back burner and try another one later on.

So my goals for August are:

Marked - Continue writing this novella told from Liam's point of view and in The Fate Challenges series (YA Epic Fantasy).

The Mission - Continue writing this first episode in the science fiction series The Gaia Project.

Mayhem in the Air - The stories in the UR anthology have been written and edited. We're in the proofreading stages, but as I get the final stories from their authors, I'm going to compile the collection and work on a final proofread. My urban fantasy story "Paper Lanterns" is in this anthology.

So what are your goals for August?

2015 Stats (1/1/15-7/21/15): 31,118 words written and 1,176 pages edited

The Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale runs through July 31st. You can purchase Reborn and People of Foxwick and Their Neighbors for 50% off and download A to Z Flashes of Foxwick for free with coupon code SW100. The Untethered Realms group has also placed Fantasy Uprising on sale for 75% off and our first anthology Twisted Earths for free with the SW100 code.