Archive for December, 2023

22 Dec

Happy? Holidays

Posted by Kit Campbell in Writing. Tagged: , .

Howdy howdy, squiders! How are you? Going insane? I may be. Not sure. There does seem to be an endless amount of things needing to be done that are only very slowly getting done.

(For example, tomorrow I will need to pick up the Christmas coffee cake from the bakery, get my dad’s present ready as he’s coming by, and probably I just need to wrap everything else so I can clear out the guest room for my mom to stay the night. Yay.)

I heard something on the radio last week that said that men tend to enjoy the holidays more than women, because women tend to do all the prep work and stressful things, and men just enjoy. And not to be a stereotype, but yes, absolutely. There’s got to be a better way to manage this, but I don’t know what it is.

I am managing to get some non-holiday things done, though. I’ve revised chapters 17 and 18 (which reminds me, I should email chapters out to my critique group for January’s meeting) and I got through all the other people’s mini-marathon contributions. (Only 2, but at 50+ pages each it does take a minute.) AND everyone’s done mine, and generally it sounds like no one saw anything major, so I’ve made a note to go through their comments next week and get ready for the winter marathon, which starts on Jan 3.

All in all, not terrible for December, which is notoriously one of my worst months for productivity. And I’m trying out a new To Do app on my phone, which is going rather well (for the week I’ve had it, anyway). I traditionally use Todoist, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming if things are building up. I’m trying Microsoft To Do in addition. With To Do, you only see one day and you can pick what’s on there, so I can manage my stress a little better.

I am going to take next week off the blog though–catch up on some things, spend some time with my family, read a book or two, ponder goals for 2024, that sort of thing.

Have a happy holidays, squiders, whatever you celebrate. I’ll see you in the new year.

19 Dec

Promo: A Curse of Magick by Diane Gallagher

Posted by Kit Campbell in Marketing. Tagged: , , .

Good morning, squiders! We’re less than a week out from Christmas, for those who celebrate, so hopefully your stress levels are relatively low. I’ve reached a general state of low-level panic, which is just going to be what it is.

Today I’ve got a promo for you! Take a look and see if it sounds good to you (or if it sounds like a nice present for someone on your list)!



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Diane Gallagher will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

“A desperate princess, a handsome warrior, and an ancient magick to determine their fate.”

As daughter to the High King, love doesn’t come easily to Gráinne. Having turned down hundreds of suitors, she is being forced to marry Finn, an old, ugly yet powerful general. While outside the marriage hall, Gráinne bumps into Diarmuid, Finn’s handsome foster son. From that moment, Gráinne knows if she is to have any chance at love, he is the one she must marry. She begs him to take her away from this unwanted wedding. When Diarmuid refuses, Gráinne, desperate, places a curse on him; help her or die.

Diarmuid is a warrior who only wants to serve loyally, but when the princess sets her sights on him and casts her curse, he must make the most difficult choice of his life. Does he help her, taking their chances with a vengeful Finn, or does her refuse her, leaving her to her fate, and risking his own death?

With both their lives on the line, Gráinne and Diarmuid must fight to use Ireland’s ancient magick to escape from Finn, either bringing them together in passion or in death.

A Curse of Magick is a passionate tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption. A retelling of an ancient Irish myth, A Curse of Magick takes the love and romance of Romeo and Juliet, and the exhilaration of King Arthur, and mixes it together for a satisfying adventure all will love.


Read an Excerpt

“Look, up ahead. It’s the River Shannon.” Sure enough, Gráinne had caught a glimpse of the river sparkling in the distance.

“Then, come on,” Diarmuid shouted as he galloped past her.

Without need of encouragement, Fáelán took off at a gallop close behind Diarmuid.

“Come on, Fáelán, don’t let him beat us,” Gráinne shouted. She felt Fáelán respond beneath her, and they rode as one, hoofbeats hot on the trail of Diarmuid. With each drum of the horse’s hooves on the hardpacked road, Fáelán drew closer and closer until they were even. From the corner of her eye, she saw Diarmuid glance over at her, a grin on his handsome face and one hand holding his cap tight on his head.

“Hyaa!” he shouted, urging his own horse on.

Gráinne grinned. She knew Fáelán was a match for any other beast. As if he knew her thoughts, Fáelán leapt forward in a new burst of energy at Diarmuid’s shout, and pulled ahead, leaving Diarmuid and his horse behind. They rounded a bend and came to a skidding stop right at the edge of the river, with Diarmuid close behind.

Gráinne slid from Fáelán’s back, both of them panting hard. Diarmuid jumped from his horse and landed hard on the grassy bank. He stumbled towards Gráinne, catching his footing just before knocking into her. She watched him struggle to his feet and face her, a breathless grin stretched across his face. She grinned back and they stood, face to face for a few moments, gulping at the cool morning air.

About the Author:


Diane Gallagher is a novelist and Druid priest. She is the author of three novels: A Curse of Magick, Greenwich List, and the Bastard of Saint Genevra. She has long roots stretching into her Celtic past, although she splits her life between two islands—Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada, and Sicily off the toe of Italy’s boot. She writes young adult romance based on ancient Celtic myths of the powerful women of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. She currently teaches creative writing at Cherry Hill Seminary.




See you later this week, squiders!

12 Dec

WriYe and End Times

Posted by Kit Campbell in Discussion, Writing. Tagged: , , , .

Hey ho, squiders. How are you? I’m attempting to re-upload one of my SkillShare classes, but the videos are uploading blurry and I can’t figure out why. The originals aren’t blurry, and half the ones that got uploaded are fine. Very frustrating, I don’t have time for this crap.

Working on Chapter 18 of the revision. (There’s thirty chapters, for reference, though I think I may need to add a new one in.) That’s going fine except I’m in an occasional phase I go through where all my sentences sound stupid even though they’re actually fine. Good times. Halfway through one of the other people’s critiques for the mini-marathon.

Have lost track of who I still need to get Christmas presents for, but I hope to wrap some later which should help me remember.

Anyway, let’s do our final WriYe blog prompt for the year.

Sum up your year for us.

It’s December, so it’s That Time. And it makes for easy blog topics at this point every year.

2023 has been, well, very stressful. There was the flood in May and the tornado in June, our furnace died in…Sept? We had to figure out which middle school to send the bigger, mobile one to for next year (good news–he got into the one we wanted. Bad news–no bus.) which is more difficult than usual since he’s 2e. Someone ran into my car in a parking lot two weeks ago. There’s major personnel changes happening at work, which may affect my own role. Both small, mobile ones have had two emergencies this year (one that actually required an ambulance).

I’m just…I’m tired.

Writing wise, well, I hunted down my goals for the year. I did think I was going to get completely through my Book 1 revision, and perhaps another revision, or two! Plus putting together submission materials and actually submitting them. (Here on the blog I thought three whole revisions and submission materials, plus something new for Nano. At WriYe I only committed to two, with the third optional, and then outlining a whole series, revising the first book of that, and THEN writing something new for Nano. On my spreadsheet I had four revisions in the wings.)

(Apparently I forgot how long it takes me to revise. Like, seriously, what was I thinking? Ah, the optimism of late December/early January.)

I also was going to release my novella Deep and Blue (originally released in serial installments), which I did not do but could do pretty easily. I’ll move that to early next year and hopefully remember to do it this time.

I also wrote Across Worlds with You in April, which was not on my list of goals and which has been releasing serially since June, and I sold two short stories.

As for the revisions, well, Book 1 is going well. We’re over halfway done, I’ve been getting feedback on it which is generally positive and has definitely helped me make it better (though maybe slowed the progress down a bit), and I can see the end in sight. I can’t be too sad about it not being done yet. It will be done eventually. And hopefully this is the last major revision I ever have to do on it, though that, too, is sad in its own way.

(There’s always a bit of sadness at the end of a project, a feeling of “what now?” And since I’ve been working on Book 1 on and off for twenty years, I imagine it will hit harder than usual.)

So, hoorah, 2023.

And I shall withhold judgment on 2024 until we get there. Just in case.

Because the last time I was really excited about the possibility of a new year, it was 2019, going into 2020, and we all know how that went.

All right, squiders, see you later!

7 Dec

Promo: Heart Stealer by Melody Wiklund

Posted by Kit Campbell in Marketing, Reading. Tagged: , , , .

Good morning, squiders! Today I’ve got an interesting fantasy novel for you! The concept was so intriguing I asked for and got a copy to review, so scroll to the end to see what I thought!


Fantasy

Date Published: 12-08-2023

 

 

Without a heart, death and love are equally impossible.

James’s heart has been stolen. He knows because he got stabbed in the chest and didn’t even bleed. On the plus side, he isn’t dead! On the minus side, whoever has his heart can control him, and until he gets the heart back, he is incapable of feeling love for anyone but the thief. Whoever that may be.

He has to get the heart back, and quickly. But with an assassin in the mix, and a vengeful ex-lover, and a suspicious fiancée, and no idea who to trust or where to look, the task won’t be easy. Especially when, with a stolen heart, he can’t even really trust himself.

 

 

About the Author

Melody Wiklund is a writer of fantasy and occasionally romance. In her free time, she loves knitting and watching Chinese dramas. And she’s never summoned a spirit or an assassin… or at least so she claims.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Instagram

 

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

BookShop

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Review:

I don’t tend to accept books for review when I do the promos, but I found this concept so interesting. Not sure what it was exactly–the missing heart? The assassin? The cover? (The artwork looks very similar to a friend of mine’s style but apparently is not.)

Anyway, I was interested, and then I got the book in the mail a few weeks later and had completely forgotten I asked for it, and it took me a moment to remember why I had an unexpected book.

This was a quick, interesting read! It’s not terribly plot heavy, but instead spends time exploring each of the characters involved in the interesting matter of James’s missing heart. The world-building is subtle but complex, and the world feels real and believable. Some of the concepts throughout, such as Poor Jane and Cruel Therese, are the kind of interesting mythology that I really dig.

We get to the heart (pun intended) of the matter pretty quickly. When an assassin tries to kill James, they both discover his heart no longer resides in his body. Each chapter is told in a different viewpoint, including (but not limited to): James himself, his would-be assassin Natty, his fiancée, and his jilted lover. Each character is treated as important and we get a good sense of their lives and how they’ve arrived at this place. And each character is different and varied, and each of them adds to the layers of the story.

The plot itself I found a tad predictable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing (as a writer it tends to be very hard to surprise me, and I have just gotten use to that). But it flows well and kept me engaged and entertained all the way through.

So if you’re looking for a vaguely Victorian fantasy with a hint of mystery, interesting characters, and some neat curses, I’d say take a look at this one!

See you next week, squiders!

5 Dec

Oh no, December

Posted by Kit Campbell in Discussion. Tagged: , .

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, but my month-long Nano streak has died. This happens every year.

Well, I mean, not exactly, I don’t normally work every day in November either. I did this year, but that’s the exception to the rule. But generally no matter how well (or not well) November has gone, I just can’t seem to keep going once December hits.

But anyway, I worked on my story a bit on Friday/Saturday, but not really–I re-read what I had thus far and made a list of chapter summaries, to give out to my critique groups, for people who either haven’t read the earlier chapters or have forgotten what happened. That took…longer than expected. I think I got maybe two sentences of actual progress.

Sunday I played video games all day and was generally not productive.

Yesterday I worked on a couple of side projects and other things I’ve been neglecting, and randomly possibly solved a Book 2 plot issue that has long been a problem for future!Kit. It will need to be explored further, but that is also a problem for future!Kit.

Today is just a mess, and then we’ve got to get serious on Christmas.

I mean, that really is the issue every year. Christmas just requires…so much. I’ve got to figure out presents to give everyone, but I’ve also got to figure out enough of a Christmas list for the rest of the family so I can give suggestions to other family members about what to get my family. (The old just have everyone make a Christmas list thing doesn’t work. Oh no, we can’t possibly risk people potentially buying the same things and…um, probably best to just cut this line of thought off here.) There’s decorations and Christmas cards and pageants and concerts and special events, and yet we’ve still got to bake in enough family time to make sure we’re really getting into the holiday spirit.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. Or at least the idea of Christmas. But it is exhausting.

(I’ve yet to buy stuff for my work Secret Santa but apparently everyone else has, so that’s adding stress too. I’d like to get to it today but I just really don’t see how that’s going to happen.)

The good news is I’m far enough ahead in the revision that I don’t have to worry about having stuff ready for my critique groups (my in-person one isn’t meeting til January anyway, but I do need to spend some time doing critiques for the December mini-marathon). But it is still hard when I have been on a roll to see that momentum die.

Oh well. What’s a girl to do?

There’s normally some added stress from looking back at what I wanted to get done this year vs what I actually did get done. Luckily this year I was pretty good about it, and didn’t set myself up for failure. My goal was to finish my revision, and while I’m not done, I have written 70K on it, which is more than half, and I’ve gotten good feedback, so it is going well. And progress is the most important thing. So I don’t feel the need to stuff in a couple more resolutions here at the end of the year.

Good job, past!Kit.

Anyway, I’ve just got to remember to give myself some grace, and not stress out too much, and let the month flow the way it needs to.

I’ve got a promo with a review for you on Thursday. See you then!