My editor at Loose Id, Raven McKnight, is ill and is currently trying to get her health insurance to do right by her. She's a total fighter, but fighting requires being able to sit up and breathe at the same time, and she can't even get *those* meds. So Katey Hawthorne got a bunch of us together in order to raise some money that will help her do just that.
How can you help? Go to http://www.indiegogo.com/for-raven. There's different ways to donate, and each donation level gives you a chance to win a different prize. They're awesome prizes, for a very good cause.
Raven edited "One Good Hand," "One Good Year," and "One Shot." She's sharp, savvy, and not afraid to rip a manuscript apart in order to make it better. She also keeps me from losing my damned mind at the height of edits and in those tense days just after a book release. She's a great editor and a credit to writing.
Let's help her out.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Let’s ready to HOP!
I keep telling myself that I'll write better post titles. It doesn't appear to be working
I’m participating in two blog hops in May, and I’d like you to hop along with me!
The first is for Hop Against Homophobia, which runs from May 17th to 20th. May 17th marks the International Day Against Homophobia, so a lot of authors are getting together to share their thoughts and experiences. I encourage you to participate, not only to win prizes (I’ll be giving away a hardcopy of Want Me), but to share your stories with us as we share ours with you. You can find more information here.
On May 25th, Miho Li is hosting a scavenger hunt. Follow the clues to solve the puzzle, and you’ll be entered to win twenty books, including an e-copy of One Good Hand, the first book in the “One Good” series. During the search, authors Katrina Strauss, Z.A. Maxfield, Sloan Parker, and many more will be posting content exclusive to the hunt. I don’t know who I’ll draw yet, but the writer who gets me will post a sneak peek of the first chapter of One Good Verse, the third story in its series. More details can be had on Miho’s site.
It should be good. I hope to see you.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
What's it mean when you win a badge in cyberspace?
An army of cats took over deviantART for April Fool's Day. Random thumbnails were replaced propaganda posters and clicking on anything pretty much meant you were going to get some weird fact about cats. Did you know that a cat's jaw is designed in such a way that makes it physically impossible for it to grind its sharp little teeth? Well, ya do now.
When I first saw it, I was sorta meh on the whole deal. Cats? Really? Not a fan. The mudkip invasion was much better.
Then I saw The Note. And The Note said that anyone who submitted a cat picture would get a cat BADGE. Oh, and there was something about getting 15000 submissions in order to release the dA logo from captivity, but the important thing here was the BADGE.
I saw The Note late. I hadn't drawn anything in a year and I'd certainly never drawn a cat. I thought briefly about making my brother wear my neko-ear cap and taking a photo, but then realized he would have put a pox on all our houses if I posted it. So I figured I'd draw the Cheshire Cat. Pretty easy, yeah? I mean, most of the time he's all face anyway.
Drew the line art. Had fun with the eyes. Remembered that my scanner has been broken since January. Took a picture with my phone and uploaded the sucker anyway. For some reason it's on its side and I have no idea why. It's quite well-behaved on my computer. Cheshire tease.
But I got my badge! Everything I dreamed it would be -->
I love internet badges and stickers. You can tell that just looking at my stories page. Every time a reviewer awards a badge or sticker to one of my books, it is on my site as fast as I can code it. Often in varying sizes depending on the page. I make a conscious effort to not learn exactly what GetGlue is because I see all my twitter friends earning stickers there and I have a feeling I'd never leave. I would definitely never write again.
But back to the cat badge. Once I got it, I figured I should at least finish the original picture. So I did. Remembered *again* that my scanner is busted. Sighed loudly in that frequency that only moms can hear.
She asked me what was wrong. I told her about my scanner (she was there when it bit the dust so my story of yearning packed quite the angsty punch) and suggested I try it again and see if it works now.
My words were literally, "Yeah, Mom. Maybe Jesus will come down from on high just to give my scanner a sweet, gentle kiss, raising the machine from the dead because it's Easter."
I laughed. She laughed. We both laughed.
So anyway here's the scanned pic:
Cheshire by ~rpm77 on deviantART
It was, ah, posted on the day after Easter. Scanned on Sunday.
Heh heh heh.
Heh heh.
Heh.
There you have it. There is a God. Although considering the absolute creepy nature of the image, I'm sort of inclined to believe that it was the devil making sweet sweet love to my scanner. That or Holy Humor has a bit of twistyness to it. Makes for an interesting afterlife, either way. ;)
When I first saw it, I was sorta meh on the whole deal. Cats? Really? Not a fan. The mudkip invasion was much better.
Then I saw The Note. And The Note said that anyone who submitted a cat picture would get a cat BADGE. Oh, and there was something about getting 15000 submissions in order to release the dA logo from captivity, but the important thing here was the BADGE.
I saw The Note late. I hadn't drawn anything in a year and I'd certainly never drawn a cat. I thought briefly about making my brother wear my neko-ear cap and taking a photo, but then realized he would have put a pox on all our houses if I posted it. So I figured I'd draw the Cheshire Cat. Pretty easy, yeah? I mean, most of the time he's all face anyway.
Drew the line art. Had fun with the eyes. Remembered that my scanner has been broken since January. Took a picture with my phone and uploaded the sucker anyway. For some reason it's on its side and I have no idea why. It's quite well-behaved on my computer. Cheshire tease.
But I got my badge! Everything I dreamed it would be -->
I love internet badges and stickers. You can tell that just looking at my stories page. Every time a reviewer awards a badge or sticker to one of my books, it is on my site as fast as I can code it. Often in varying sizes depending on the page. I make a conscious effort to not learn exactly what GetGlue is because I see all my twitter friends earning stickers there and I have a feeling I'd never leave. I would definitely never write again.
But back to the cat badge. Once I got it, I figured I should at least finish the original picture. So I did. Remembered *again* that my scanner is busted. Sighed loudly in that frequency that only moms can hear.
She asked me what was wrong. I told her about my scanner (she was there when it bit the dust so my story of yearning packed quite the angsty punch) and suggested I try it again and see if it works now.
My words were literally, "Yeah, Mom. Maybe Jesus will come down from on high just to give my scanner a sweet, gentle kiss, raising the machine from the dead because it's Easter."
I laughed. She laughed. We both laughed.
So anyway here's the scanned pic:
Cheshire by ~rpm77 on deviantART
It was, ah, posted on the day after Easter. Scanned on Sunday.
Heh heh heh.
Heh heh.
Heh.
There you have it. There is a God. Although considering the absolute creepy nature of the image, I'm sort of inclined to believe that it was the devil making sweet sweet love to my scanner. That or Holy Humor has a bit of twistyness to it. Makes for an interesting afterlife, either way. ;)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Just Perfect story review
The first official review for Just Perfect is in! Serena Yates, of QMO Books, wrote “The characters and their roles are flipped around, turned inside out and any preconception you may have had will go out the window when you read this. … This is definitely a book worth reading for its lack of conventionalism alone.”
Pretty snazzy, yeah? She said a lot of other great things, which you can read at QMOBooks.com.
Reader reviews are also filtering in, but I don’t know what the protocol is on quoting those so I won’t post any here. Last I checked, the ratings on GoodReads have been across the board, resulting in a weird, perfect aggregate rating dead center at 3 stars. I’ve never had that before. Usually, the majority either likes or dislikes my book, so the rating is either over 3 or under it.
Another interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of readers felt Cody was cold and Just Perfect was generally unromantic, while many readers of One Good Year believe the story was too sentimental and overly romantic. So my advice to you is to read both stories simultaneously in order to achieve perfect balance. ;)
That’s it for the Zen of Rowan.
Have a good week!
Pretty snazzy, yeah? She said a lot of other great things, which you can read at QMOBooks.com.
Reader reviews are also filtering in, but I don’t know what the protocol is on quoting those so I won’t post any here. Last I checked, the ratings on GoodReads have been across the board, resulting in a weird, perfect aggregate rating dead center at 3 stars. I’ve never had that before. Usually, the majority either likes or dislikes my book, so the rating is either over 3 or under it.
Another interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of readers felt Cody was cold and Just Perfect was generally unromantic, while many readers of One Good Year believe the story was too sentimental and overly romantic. So my advice to you is to read both stories simultaneously in order to achieve perfect balance. ;)
That’s it for the Zen of Rowan.
Have a good week!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Easter Chat!
I'll be participating in an M/M chat on Easter weekend, hosted by Literary Nymphs. Some of the other writers attending are Ariel Tachna, Jaime Samms, Andrea Speed, Christiane France, Kathryn Scannell, Berengaria Brown, Sloan Parker, and Jessica Freely.
To play, you have to be a member of the Literary Nymphs Chat loop here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteraryNymphsChat/. These chats tend to be mega high traffic, so when you join I highly suggest selecting "web only" as your membership default. I've known people to wake up with a thousand emails in their inbox. lol.
The chat goes from April 7th to 8th. I'll be posting excerpts, chatting people up, and giving away an e-copy of One Good Hand. If you drop by, please give me a wave. It's my first official chat in two years, and I'd love to hear from you. :)
To play, you have to be a member of the Literary Nymphs Chat loop here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteraryNymphsChat/. These chats tend to be mega high traffic, so when you join I highly suggest selecting "web only" as your membership default. I've known people to wake up with a thousand emails in their inbox. lol.
The chat goes from April 7th to 8th. I'll be posting excerpts, chatting people up, and giving away an e-copy of One Good Hand. If you drop by, please give me a wave. It's my first official chat in two years, and I'd love to hear from you. :)
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