Midnight Trials

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and wonder what time it is?

I do. Mainly because I have to turn my alarm clock away from the bed because the light is too bright.

Normally, my guess is pretty close to the actual time, but I was seriously off my game last night. By an hour. I thought it was 3:30, but nope, it was 2:27 . . . then I managed to stay awake until 3:30 when I finally got back to sleep.

Wonder if I'm paying a penance for something . . .

Same thing happened two hours later. I thought it was 5:51, but it was 5:31. So here I am writing a fluff of a morning blog.

--gotta save my creative juices for my stories, right?

So since I failed at my game last night, I'm giving away two of my stories today:

 MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS

This little Halloween story never gets the love I wish it did. I don't know why, but that 's the way of the world. But, my friends, it's more than just a Halloween short story, it's also a prequel to book three, For Whom the Bell Trolls and it's filled with clues . . . if you pay attention to them.

and TODAY is the last day to get book two,

THE FAST AND THE FAERIEOUS

That's it for today. Tomorrow I'll post an wonderful soup recipe, Beef and Barley Soup. Well, I couldn't find any barley in three different grocery stores I tried, so I had to substitute another grain. I chose spelt, yes, spelt. It turned out pretty good. 

Later, Peeps! 

Fighting Back

It takes a concerted effort to start -- 'fill in the blank' -- again.

This has been me. 2013 was the year I allowed everything to get mired in the mud. 

• my weight loss -- I've regained more weight than I care to admit right now
• my writing -- I stopped writing. I was at a "why bother" stage in my life
• my crocheting -- in 2012 and the beginning of 2013, I crocheted over 13 afghans. Major Burnout.

I was burned out on life, so I simply gave up. I did nothing in 2013. 

Well, I did write a couple of picture books, but I have no idea how to write picture books, so they don't count.

Giving up, my friends, is the easy way out. 

I'm too hard-headed and have never been known to take the easy way . . . well, okay, sometimes when I see others make the mistakes, I'm too smart to repeat them! But, in general, I will try to forge my path. 

In honor of kicking my butt into gear, I'm offering . . . 

For FREE!

Click the book cover, or this The Fast and the FAERIEous hyperlink. 

Poor faerie is stuck in a pickle jar! How did that happen?

So what changed? 

I did. Slowly. Since the beginning of 2014, I crocheted 2 afghans and I'm working on a third. 

I wrote yesterday. Considering I've been staring at the same words for almost two years, I actually put new words on the page-- 1605 of them to be exact. It's not a huge amount, but it's a start. 

And I read one Amazon review on FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS. . . 

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved all three, but... March 1, 2014

By Mindy

Format:Kindle Edition

PLEASE tell me there is more coming! Been waiting over a year. There is so much left in the story that needs to be finished.

With that kind of patience, how can I disappoint a fan? 

It's time for me to write, DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER. . . and find a cover artist.

Later, Peeps!

FREEBIES!

Too Late! Sorry!
FREEBIES!!

 

 

In celebration of my birth month -- and my inability to write a blog this month -- I'm offering my e-books for free!

 

If you've wanted to read them, but didn't have the money, now is the chance to download them.
 

Or if you live in another country and want to practice reading English, now is your chance to download them.
 

Or if you have a friend who wants to read them, but his/her mom won't let them spend the money, now is your chance to spread the word for the free download.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS BLOG LINK AND THE INFORMATION WITH ANYONE AND EVERYONE!

 

FREE In chronological order:

 

To Gnome Me Is To Love Me -- August 5-7
 

The Fast and the FAERIEous -- August 8-10
 

A Maze of Monster Mix-Ups -- August 11-13
 

 For Whom the Bell Trolls-- August 14-16

Sugar Plum Disaster-- August 17-19 

Lost Leprechaun Loot  -- August 20-22

 

And if for some reason, you missed the free download time, I'm offering

ALL of my books for free on August 23-24!!

They are all here on my Amazon author page, M. A. Golla
 

Hints & Suggestions:

• The linked books above are for the US Amazon store. If you want the Amazon store in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, or Brazil, then click these links and it will take you to my Amazon author page for each country.
• Choose the free book and download to your Kindle or computer/phone with free Kindle app.
• Verify the free book prior to downloading! Amazon runs on Greenwich Mean Time . . . and I haven't a clue as to what that entails for other parts of the world! 
• Did you know that Amazon charges the author for every book returned? So please, make sure the book is free before you download it. I don't want to have to pay Amazon . . .

Enjoy my stories!

As always. feel free to post a review, good or not so good, on Amazon.

Thanks!

Later, Peeps!

 

 



No Clue how to Write a Picture book

While I was walking yesterday, I started thinking--yes, I know this process usually gets me into trouble--about Piper.

Piper is a faerie who is featured on the cover of The Fast and the FAERIEous, as an older version than the one I want to write about. . . in a picture book. . . . sort of, or maybe an early reader, or a chapter book, or . . . see my problem?

Here's my sitch. Years ago I wrote quite a few stories about Peter the naughty little fly. Well, I don't have a clue how to go about writing a picture book. Oh, I know some of the basics--32 pages, the art is 50% of the story so descriptors aren't needed, less than 500 words (but can go as high as 1000), and keep the language and sentence structure are simpler.

But what makes one cute anecdotal story publishable, while another is not? That is the question.

After a quick search on the Internet, I found one author who wrote her story, but then she showed the finished published story. This gave me a back-to-back comparison as to what made one story better than the other.

Of course, at this time my daughter kicked me off the computer and I didn't bother to save the author's name, so I'll have to search the Internet again to find her webpage.

But that's okay. That's part of the editing process.

When my walk was over, I jotted a couple of pages of notes down. I have the motivation and adventure, but I don't have a good conclusion.

Right now, all I need to concentrate on is putting the story onto paper . . . er, type it in the computer. Once there, I can tweak and play with it all I want . . . saving the various versions.

That's the one nice thing about writing short stories. They are easier to handle and manipulate, BUT you have to write very, very tight, choosing the best words for the story.

That's what I need right now. More focus to my writing.

But you know what's sad?

I think this one little picture book story already has too many things going on.

*sigh*

Later, Peeps!

Crisis of Faith

Last week I had one good writing day and then pffffttt! Nothing.

I was in the "why bother" mode? No one buys my books. No one reviews my books. I can't get industry professionals to read beyond my query letter. What's the point?

Why bother to write the next story? 

Therefore, I started making candy. I love making candy. It soothes my soul.

Back to my story-- Hubs has been seriously stressing over the move his office is doing. It's a big move with lots of little plates to juggle on two sticks and he's the juggler. And the kidlet has been working hard to keep A's in all her classes.

So I decided we needed a break from 'stuff', and we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City. I've written about this SDC a few times. We mostly go there to ride the rides. This time it was an off weekend and we pretty much walked onto most of the rides--especially the roller coasters.

The drive is quite long for a day trip (3.5 hours one way), and we planned to leave the house at 6 AM. Of course, we didn't pull out of the driveway to gas up the car until 6:40.

The kidlet had stuff to keep her occupied: games, books, her phone and the Kindle Fire she won in a drawing contest.

--Yes, she has a nicer Kindle than I do!

Hubs and I were talking while she was playing Temple Run and it wasn't until she blurted out, "Heebie-jeebie dance? Mom, really?" did I realize she was actually reading GNOME, book one of The Goblin's Apprentice.

Rewind here--when I celebrated my birthday, I gave away ALL of my books for free on Amazon. At the same time I loaded my Kindle (to check for boo-boos, etc) I also loaded her Kindle.

I had given up on her ever reading my stories months ago.

By the time we reached SDC, she had finished 65% of the story. And she told me she was sorry she hadn't read it before now. It was way better than she expected (high praise indeed from one's child!) She also mentioned that it didn't sound like me, though some of the phrases were definitely mine.

Sunday morning she woke up and finished reading the story . . . she also started reading FAERIE.

Huh?

This is why I write.

Not to sell stories--though it would be nice to make money at this--but to get kids reading. My daughter reads when she has to read, but she'd rather play video games or go on the computer. This was the first time she willingly read a book . . . and it happened to be mine!

It makes all the frustrations of writing worthwhile. Forget the professionals. Forget having the validation from the publishing industry. Forget not making any money at it.

I just received something far more important from one of the toughest critics in my target audience--my daughter's praise.

Maybe I should sit down to write book 4.

Later, Peeps.

Happy Birthday to ME . . . and YOU!

FREEBIE EXTRAVAGANZA!

Here's the link to my Amazon profile. For some reason, FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS doesn't show up. You will have to type in the title. sorry.

 

My birthday is August 29th, and I'll be turning the ripe old age of 51.

I told you I would be honest on this blog. And no, I don't have any problem blabbing about how old I am. Besides, I dye my hair and I certainly don't ACT old.

The only giveaway is my skin. Yep, I have old lady skin, saggy, baggy and thinning.

And wrinkles. Lots and lots of wrinkles around my eyes, most of the time successfully hidden with Ironman wrap around sunglasses. I don't do the make-up thing. It's not that I can't do it, I simply don't. I'm lazy that way. But I can clean up nicely if needed.

Anyhoo, when I decided to self-publish The Goblin's Apprentice stories, I just wanted to get these stories into the hands of kids who wanted/needed to escape the realities of their lives. If I made a buck on it, then BONUS!

Well, I'm not making money on these stories. Shoot, I think I sold only a handful of them each month--literally. When you tally the amount earned against the amount I paid on cover art, the result is still negative. Giving them away hasn't resulted in much bigger numbers.

I stink at publicity. The freebies I gave away haven't been shared with others. No one is really bothering to give me reviews on the books, good or bad. Overall, the response to The Goblin's Apprentice has been "meh".

So as my final hurrah, I am giving away ALL SIX OF THE BOOKS from August 28-30. 

Three days of freebies for six stories.

Why?

Because of Greenwich Mean Time. I mean, really?

Trying to calculate when books will be free and off free around my birthday just made my head hurt. So I decided to take three days to do it.

All of these books should be available on Amazon's various incarnations: US, UK, DE, FR, IT and ES. I will link these books to the US Amazon store, but if you live in one of these other countries you might need to dig around a little for them.

The sequence of the books is:
TO GNOME ME IS TO LOVE ME, Book 1
THE FAST AND THE FAERIEOUS, Book 2
A MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS, Halloween short story
FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS, Book 3
SUGAR PLUM DISASTER, Christmas short story
LOST LEPRECHAUN LOOT, St. Patrick's day short story

And the events of LEPRECHAUN will lead into the beginning events of book 4, tentatively titled DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER.

Enjoy my birthday, Peeps! Because I'll be at the kidlet's back-to-school night. Rah!

 

For Whom the Bell Trolls is LIVE!

***for my blog readers only***

TROLL will beFREE on July 24 for one day only!!

When I finally set a release day for TROLL, I knew I had to kick it into high gear to edit the darn thing. I might have written this story in 19 days, but it took almost 26 months until I was truly finished with it!

And I have to say that it was worth it. Out of all the stories, I've written this is the best one . . . yet.

I stayed up late last night doing one last read-thru before I uploaded it. I think I cut over 200 'that' words, added 76 missing words, and tweaked numerous confusing sentences.

With luck, I managed to fix most of the piddly little typos. I spent hours formatting this story, bookmarking and hyperlinking the chapters, blah, blah, blah, and I thought it would take 24-48 hours to be approved or it would bounce back to me because of some mistake.

Well, I was wrong. It took less than 6 hours for Amazon to wave their magic wand.

Here's TROLL's Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NZTA0A

If you are unsure about whether or not you want to buy the story, then click the picture on the Amazon page and read the first few chapters before you decide.

While you're on the page feel free to click the LIKE button or scroll down and add any 'tags' that you feel will help describe the book.

Oh, and FAERIE is still free today! Enjoy!

Thanks so much!

FREE Friday!

This week has been totally crazy!

I've been working uber hard to get TROLL edited, formatted and ready to publish by July 24.

In celebration of this event--because we both know how long it took me to get my rear-in-gear to get to this point!--

TO GNOME ME IS TO LOVE ME will be a free Amazon download Friday and Saturday, July 20-21.

 THE FAST AND THE FAERIEOUS will be a free Amazon download Sunday and Monday, July 22-23! 

I'm also featured on two blogs today:

Long and Short reviews has a post about Recycling--old manuscripts that is.

A Storybook World has an author interview, but as of this posting it isn't 'live' yet! I'll keep checking back.

On a whim, I filled out a job application to be a Weight Watcher leader, completed a survey, a phone interview, an in-person interview and was offered a job!

Feel free to share the FREEBIE links and share the love!

Weighty Wednesday -- nope got nothing

This is spring break week. Since we don't have any money to go anywhere, we are being very sloth-like and hanging around the house. Even swim practice has been cancelled for the week.

Shoot--my kidlet slept in, eventually took a shower and put on a pair of fresh jammies!

It helps that it's dark, gloomy, and rainy. Lots and lots of rain. So far six inches of rain in two days.

One day, I managed to get my walk in before the downpour started, but not yesterday. I'll get a walk in today. I really need to walk today . . . it has a WHOLE LOT TO DO WITH THOSE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES THAT I MADE!

Keep doing what you're doing: walking, drinking lots of water, tracking food, and eating lots of fruit and veg!

I'll be back next week with a regularly scheduled blog . . . now, if I can just think of something to say!

Freebie Frenzy continues this week:
THE FAST AND THE FAERIEOUS will be a free download through March 22
A MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS will be free March 22 and March 23
SUGAR PLUM DISASTER will be free March 24 and March 25

Enjoy! Spread the word and the link!

FREE BOOK!! THE FAST AND THE FAERIEous

Book two of The Goblin's Apprentice series

FREE March 20-21

The Fast and the FAERIEous

Book two, The Goblin's Apprentice

Amazon Kindle
Kyte Webber's life is turned upside down on day two of the sixth grade when she rescues a faerie princess from her nemesis, Lisa Morris. But when a water nymph nearly drowns Lisa's sister, well, everything gets complicated. It doesn't help matters when Lisa tags along with Kyte to the faerie's kingdom and nearly starts a Mythical War of the Worlds!

New Beginning

Okay, so I rewrote the first two chapters of FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS, 6000 words so far. This next week, I'll rework chapter three, blending it into the remainder of the story, which just needs basic editing, not rewriting.

I had posted a short blurb of TROLL in the back of THE FAST AND THE FAERIEOUS, but now it's different.

Do y'all think I need to put the new beginning in as a teaser? Or should I not worry about it?

I think the new beginning is better, BUT it doesn't have the immediate action from the teaser. I can still use the teaser in another section of the story, but I'm waffling.

Any input would be welcome! Writers or Readers, Please!

The Fast and The FAERIEous cover

Nuff said!
Later, Peeps!