Wednesday for Writers #4: The Only One Destroying Publishing is You.

I am sitting here laughing while writing this post, but I know I shouldn't be. What can I say? I am that crazy chick who laughs at inappropriate times. Like right now--when all of you are destroying publishing.

That's right, every single one of you are ruining it... right now. You should be ashamed of yourself! Of course, I'm guilty too, but I don't have any shame, that's why I'm an author.

And if you're an author, you might have heard of a place known as The Kindle Boards. If you aren't an author, and don't know what I am talking about I can't tell you...I can't even be sure of its exact use. It seems to be a place where people who have published on Amazon come together and complain about things. At least, that's all I ever see them do there. I admit to mostly lurking, on account of the one time I decided to say something and this woman--who is totes a crazy cat lady in my head--HAD to tell me how wrong I was. That is right I totally magicked myself onto the best sellers list by not selling any books. That's what she claimed anyway. {Insert wild head-bob here.}

But I digress, I wanted to share with you a reoccurring theme there, and that is, as I have stated before, that you are all destroying publishing. You might not not even know it yet, but I am hear to tell you it's true!

Recent method of total destruction: FREE E-BOOKS!

This is my preferred method of roughing up publishing. The thought is, why will people buy the cow if you are giving away the milk for free? It's almost perfect! Any saying that applies to loose women can in turn be applied to loose writers. AM I RIGHT?

WRONG! These people seem to think that there are enough e-books out there for free that no one
is going to want to pay for a book ever. I guess if you are totally forgettable that might be a problem. If you are writing clone thriller and romance books and never have any type of original thought--this might get you down. But I don't want to be forgettable. I don't want to be mediocre. I plan on making myself irreplaceable--and part of doing that involves building a loyal following. It's no secret I want you guys to buy my books--but I don't want it to be a one sided relationship.

Every time someone says, "Free e-books have ruined it for the rest of us!" I think they have no idea what they are doing. I used to be a marketing manager--did you?

The Old Favorite Flavor of Destruction: .99 E-BOOKS ARE DESTROYING PUBLISHING

I saw an article recently that focused on the new found malaise of the .99 e-book price tag. My first thought was, I didn't know that was mandatory. Because damn if I am not doing it wrong. Technically, I do have two .99 e-books; but they are both novellas. I like .99 for a novel promotion. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! If someone wants something bad enough they will buy it--that is why the legacy publishers can charge their prices and not be socially executed. (Also, they have to pay a lot of people) The .99 is to allow people to find you, as an author. Don't hate.

Again, this goes back to whether or not you have a following, and if you have people beating down your doors asking for your next book. People whine about how this doesn't make for a liveable wage--but I've got bad news, if no one cares about you, pricing your book inline with traditional publishers isn't going to save you. The difference in $3.99 and .99 is not going to save you. The only life preserver an author can hope for is going to be tossed out to them by fans. Everything else just makes you a few extra bucks.

And more bad news. If you land an agent who gets you an awesome contract with Random House and they list your e-book for $9.99 you are still only going to get around a buck fifty per e-book. (In this calculation Amazon gives them 70% of list price, they give you 25%, and you give your agent 15%)

Writing isn't really a get rich quick scheme. If you are very, very lucky--and smart, you might pull it off slowly and painfully. That's my plan. Plus remembering to smile when someone calls me an over night success ;) Yes, I just put an emoticon in my blog. It's my blog, I can do what I want.

This Last Reason Gives Me Deja Vu, How About You?: .99 E-BOOKS ARE DESTROYING PUBLISHING (Still)

Before Indie Authors themselves were all bent out of shape over that whole .99 thing, there was another group sounding the alarm. That would be the traditional publishers—and their clients, “How can we complete?” they whined.

Remember where I talked about how fans where your only savior as a writer? That applies to you to genius. I won't pretend for five seconds that me or anyone I know (and I know some SUPAH-STARS) selling .99 e-books so much as gave Cassandra Clare a freaking paper cut. Because most of her fangirls are fangirls for life. She writes it, and they are lining up to buy it before they know even what it's called or what it will be covered in.

You just think about that. Because it's your fault.

Some of the best advice I ever got on writing came from a very good friend and enemy; she told me the secret was simply to outlast everyone else. I believe that is a huge part of it, I also believe that the next step is making sure no one else but you will do.

Pages of Pigments VI

As promised, Pages of Pigments VI! Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post AND if you are writing this weekend go here and sign up for #MWWM Lots of you have told me you are in on Twitter, but not all of you have made it official. 

Pages of Pigments I :: Pages of Pigments II :: Pages of Pigments III :: Pages of Pigments IV ::

Pages of Pigments V ::

It was the swan from the painting. But it was someplace different. She couldn't make out what it had been painted on. A rough paper or a think crude canvas—she couldn't be sure. It's wooden frame was splintered, and pulling apart in all the joints. It was so dark that it was almost black. Lucia touched it with slow and careful fingertips, wondering if it had always been that shade or if it had aged with time.

The swan that sat in the middle of the painting lay almost still. Gliding so slow, you could almost believe it was an ordinary motionless painting if not for the little waves that floated away from its opalescent white feathers. The swan seemed content to sit there—if not a little sad.

Only in the corner of the painting where the frame was the most damaged, it appeared that a large bit of surface of the lake had been completely torn away. The tare was all jagged edges and paper teeth.

“That's a shame,” William said, eyes taking in the same damage as Lucia.

It was a shame, but Ripley didn't say anything at all. He just stood stiff, staring at the painting until finally he mumbled something Lucia didn't catch the first time. 

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4th Installment of THE GODS OF MARKET STREET is now live!

Sorry this is a bit late. I had some disasters with JukePop, but I am happy to report they have fab customer service and took care of it like that; I just had to wait 24 hours after the solution to post a new chapter (and then I was actually asleep for once)

Don't forget, you can vote for every chapter; and you can tweet directly from there to tell your friends.

Comments here, there, and everywhere are LOVE <3

Also, it's not too late to sign up for #MWWM (Memorial Weekend Word Marathon) DO IT! You can find the info here.

Pages of Pigments 6 will up later tonight.

MWWM: MEMORIAL WEEKEND WORD MARATHON sign ups!

It's a loooonnnnggggg weekend, and you know what that means; I'm going to be writing a book! How is that different than any other time? Because I plan on finishing the book over said weekend, and you can too! If you have been stalking me on Twitter--and I mean, who ISN'T these days? *wink wink* you might have seen me chatting about organizing a little something something to help motivate others.  It has arrived! I feel like this is a bit late notice.

You might know this about me, but sometimes I like to procrastinate.

No, really.


Anyway, there are no official rules. There are no requirements. There aren't any prizes--except for bragging rights and a lot of smugness. You just have you to do your absolute best and tell everyone else about it. If you can't motivate yourself, motivate someone else. It's as easy as that, and these optional steps below:

Tell us your coming in the comments. Leave info on how to track to you down on the internets. Blog? Twitter handle?

I'll go first, this is my blog and you can find me on Twitter at @angelakulig

Snag the awesome badge below, then put it all over the internets! Facebook... webpages... etc.

Copy this code to get the badge:
<a href="http://www.angelakulig.com/2013/05/mwwm-memorial-weekend-word-marathon.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/oo87/ajkulig_bucket/mwbadge_zps52622d14.png~original" border="0" alt=" Angela Write Now"/></a> Make a goal! Stretch yourself.

I'd love to write 65,000 but that is a big goal, even for me. (I write all my first drafts by hand)

We're starting at 12:00 AM your time on Saturday 5.25. I for one, will be napping after dinner Friday night, just to ready myself--you don't have to. You can start whenever you want.

We're wrapping up this bad boy 11:59 Monday, but you can stop whenever your eyeballs start to bleed--unless you are into that (I am).

Don't forget to use the hash tag #MWWM if you are interested in running any sprinting sessions or other motivation whatevers LMK in the comments. Don't think you can't come if you can't stay the whole weekend--everyone can drop by whenever.

Pages of Pigments V

HA! I scheduled this post when I did the last one. I am ON TIME! Watch the damn thing not post when it should. Standard warnings--this is not the official edited version, it belongs to me, just because it's on the internet doesn't mean you can claim you wrote it.

     The water was rough. The tide seemed to be coming in faster than Leo could get away from it. Like an angry blood hound nipping at his heels, bits of wet drool landing all around.

     When Leo's soggy, sock covered foot his the first stair the water roared in behind him.      He scaled three, then four large steps before turning and looking back. It wasn't that Leo often found himself here this time of night, but he was almost positive there was supposed to be a beach beneath him. There was none. The dark water churned briefly before slamming into the unwavering seawall and rushing back out.

     It was too deep to see the shore as another wave came in.

     No, Leo thought, not normal. Not unless there was a storm he couldn't see or hear yet. Leo ran the rest of the way up the stairs before the sea could again claim him.

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY! 

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6,666 Twitter Followers = SKELETON LAKE for FREE (plus awesome GIVEAWAY)

I hit 6,666 Followers on Twitter this weekend, and for only moments my Twitter account was really, really evil. As promised, Skeleton Lake is now free on Amazon and I want to make it a really big thang. THUS the awesome giveaway. Spread the word, help me move it up the charts.

First things first, click the cover to get your copy.

Now deets on the giveaway. This is a really cool one, but be forwarned--I am having the stuff sent to me and then I will send it to you; I know my giveaways are normally *instant* prizes or 2 day Amazon shipping prizes so I didn't want any surprises.

 

 

 

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Do you have a blog I should be following?

I will admit, I am really AWFUL about following peoples blogs back. I tend to catch new posts via Twitter, which occasionally get lost in my insane feed. Anyway, if you have a blog I--or anyone else who reads this post should check out leave your linkage in the comments. Be forewarned though, if you post anything you shouldn't I will delete it.

PS--the monkeys are actually an old joke from a Guest Post Mike Mullin did on my blog back in the day. You can see it here. No, I don't actually have monkeys that write my books for me. That would be nice.

Pages of Pigments IV, and a HUGE POMI ANNOUNCEMENT

I forgot to post yesterdays, Pages of Pigments! It was because some creeper took a picture of my  baby in a grocery store and ran off so then I spent the rest of the day totally FREAKED OUT. But before we get to the excerpt, I have something WILD to tell you. We have been working hard to get POMI released, and after consulting the stars, and my editor we have reached a shocking conclusion!

It must be two books. 

I am as shocked as you are. When I wrote the book it was definitely a standalone. I toyed with the idea of a sudo-sequel about another character that might be a novella one day, as well as a sort of history book. But the thing is, I knew I was going to be flogged over the ending. So then I wrote an alternative ending for those of you who need the happy ending spelled out for you--but the truth of the matter is, what happens after the first ending is more important. Because it isn't bad. That is an underlying current in POMI; hope when there should be none and that is what the second book is going to help me convey  The first book will end with a question unanswered, and the sequel that will be named soon will answer that.

So POMI is coming out soon, very soon since I got to shave part of the ending off--and the other book? Looks like it will be ready this fall.

Anyway, back to Pages of Pigments
(Don't hit me) Standard warnings apply--not yet the final edited version. Also mine, but feel free to share so long as you don't claim you wrote it.

...Leo pulled a page from Lucia’s book and drew the big oak tree that stood just outside the classroom window. It danced and shook on the page just like it was really doing in the wind. For the longest time Lucia was content to just watch.

The images Leo drew were beautiful, but Lucia thought they had nothing on the artist. The setting of his jaw that was highlighted by the bouncing of his curls in the candle light.

When Lucia picked up her pencil, she had no intentions, but her fingers had a mind of their own. She sketched swans, a sky full of them. They weren’t as good as Leo’s, but they weren’t bad either. Lucia felt as though there was just something missing.

“What have you drawn Lucia?” Mr. Garcia asked from behind her.

She hadn’t heard him approach, his footsteps muffled out by the sloshing of the persistent rain.

“Lovely,” her teacher said, eyes twinkling as with a secret, “you we’re always so found of the swans.”

Lucia was growing tired of other people knowing more about her lives than she did, but she wasn’t at all surprised to hear this information. She did love swans, and she seemed to love them more when Leo was the one doing them.

“Something is wrong with them,” Lucia said flatly, “it’s like… like their soulless.”

Mr. Garcia sucked in a quick breath, as Leo mumbled something Lucia couldn’t make out. The old make recoiled, like she had reached up and struck him instead of making an observation about her own art, and for a moment, he said nothing.

“That’s an interesting choice of words Lucia.”

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

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Wednesday for Writers #2 How to NOT Publish a Novel in SEVEN COMPLICATED SCREW UPS.

I'm hiding, and I feel bad about it. People keep asking me, and I don't know why, but everyday someone asks me how to publish a story, or a novel, or poetry. It's stressing me out guys.  It's not that I don't know how to publish a book--if I didn't, none of us would be here! But that it's that I don't even know where to start explaining it. I am sure you could run out and Google how to publish a novel in 3 easy steps! But the truth of the matter is it's more like; How to Publish a Novel in 3 easy steps, and 267,000 complicated crappy ones that you are probably going to screw up the first time.

Originally, I wrote some uber boring basics post but since I am a nonconformist, I decided to go with How to Not Publish a Novel.

Screw up #1: Don't rush out and publish the first thing you have ever written. Write the book or whatever--set it aside. Read some other books in the same genre. Write something else! THEN come back to it and start the editing process--which if you're new, should be as slow an painful as possible. THEN have someone who is not a blood relative or your bff from Kindergarten read it. Someone who likes the kind of book you have written.

You have failed miserably if the person who reads the book starts with, "Well, it's not my kind of book BUT..."

Please don't ask your mother.

So am I guilty of this screw up? Absolutely not. My first book was called It Sounds Like Thunder; it was was about the Vietnam war from a child's perspective. It could have been a Pulitzer Prize winner! If, say, I had more than The Encyclopedia Britannica as reference material. Also, I was 12 when I wrote it and I am 29 now.  Just FYI--my first published novel, Skeleton Lake, originally released by Red Iris Books in 2011 was my thirty fifth book and I still didn't publish it without a hitch!

Screw up #2: Signing with some unknown or unproven publisher or e-publisher. There are so many reasons not to do this. Far too many of these places make you do all the work and still keep a cut of the money. Why have your own cover done, own editing, own formatting--and then let them put their stupid name on it? It's probably because you were so dangerously happy about getting that elusive ACCEPTANCE letter that you didn't bother to read the fine print OR you didn't care. Some snarky people that want to feel superior would rather have any publisher than say they were self published. That is so bourgeoisie! 

There of course a third group of people. The group of people who don't know better. The group of people that think when that sleaze publisher puts your eBook on their site it's worth something. But they probably get less hits a day than I do. You never want to be the person who doesn't know better in this business.

Another huge reason you don't do this is because of rights! Say you have a contract with them for 3 years (which is short in book rights land). Say they never even publish your book, but control the rights, say they go bankrupt. You can't just pack up and go somewhere else at this point, your rights would be tied up in court. You can't even publish it yourself!

Reason three this is a bad idea--you don't actually know if they are going to pay anyone. Ever. They have no proven track record, and they don't have anyone to really make them do it. Sometimes their inability to do this leads them to what happens at the end of reason 2! And it could be a long time before anyone notices--book royalty payments are a slow business.

Reason four this is bad, bad, BAD; you don't actually know what other kinds of books they are going to publish. It could be total garbage but you'd still be stuck with them.

Anyway, I'm guilty of this one. I kicked of Red Iris Books with the one other Author that runs it--and though I wasn't really screwed over and we had what ended up being an amicable split, we did break up on the day I was supposed to have a book published by them and that didn't happen.

Just say no!

Screw up #3: Publishing a book... and then not publishing another one for an extended period of time. I know Cassandra Clare and JK Rowling can go years between books but that doesn't work for indie authors. It would be like starting over. Everyone will have forgotten you.

If you want my advice, and I guess you do since you're reading this blog; I suggested you have at least 2 books ready to be published when you start and release them with in little amount of time. And of course, all this time working on the next book.

And I am guilty! Though, it wasn't by choice. You know how I said I split with my indie publisher on the day I was supposed to have a book release? Yeah I also went into labor that day and had my baby the next. I wasn't really in a place where I could publish a novel by myself. But I eventually moved on.

Screw up #4: Thinking your book will sell it's self. It doesn't matter how awesome you think your book is, no one will buy it if they haven't heard of it.

One day, I might share marketing strategies. Sometime after I convince SOMEONE (David Haviland*--I have my eye on you!) to be my lit agent. Then it will matter less, but now my future marketing strategies are locked away in a SAFE. That is how hardcore they are.

Screw up #5: Making every tweet about your book.

If you do this, I will hate you forever and ever AMEN. I unfriend these people. Everyone hates them, even if they aren't pissy enough to say so. (Don't worry, I am.)

Screw up #6: Taking on bad reviewers.

Just. Don't. It doesn't matter how wrong they might be. You can't.

Trust me on this one K?

Screw up #7: Taking bad advice from people on the internet.

I'll just let that one hang there.

Seriously I could tell you things like, not using spell check, not formatting your book properly, but everyone on the internet will tell you those things.

About the author:

Angela Kulig is 29, really! She enjoys twitter and talking about herself in the third person. She writes books and tweets, a lot.

Angela Kulig founded what was likely the first ever publishing co-op. She writes mostly paranormal romance.

*I'm not actually looking for a book agent--but David Haviland wanted to be my lit agent I'd make an exception. Because I have a serious crush on Andrew Lownie. 

It's almost embarrassing. Well... it would be if I had any shame at all. (I don't, that's why I'm an author)

Pages of Pigments Part III

I didn't forget about the third installment of Pages of Pigments! As you know, the later I blog the more trouble I'm causing. Standard warnings, this is the not the official edited version--soon though. Don't forget to enter the giveaway which is posted below the excerpt. 

Just a reminder, Heroes and Vallenez is currently FREE for Kindle. Go check it out. 

 “Wait here,” Oliver instructed.

Sure, William thought. I’ll just stand here, at the foot of the stairs in a mostly empty building. Bloody. That doesn't look suspicious at all.

Oliver ran out the door, and down the street. William watched until he was out of sight, and then heaved a large sigh, which he immediately regretted. The gash across his chest tore a little bit further at its edges, sending new little streams of blood down his chest, reminding William once again that it hurt.

William assumed Oliver had gone to get his car, though he hadn't said as much. He tried to occupy his time by tracing the wood grains of one of the large banisters; but secretly, he hoped he would slip back into the time of castles and torchlight.

Many of The Illusionists had visions of their past lives, but William never really had. He often had moments of déjà vu but those moments seemed to be growing fewer and farther between. Now William knew that was because he wasn't who he thought he was, not at all.

“Man, are you okay?” a voice asked, and William jumped.

New drops of blood appeared, and slid down to join the rest.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out or anything, but it’s not every day I meet a guy bleeding and blocking the way.”

William mumbled an apology so quiet that even he couldn't hear it before stepping away from the stairs he had forgotten he was standing in front of.

The boy that was staring at William with concerned green eyes had hair so orange it should have been on fire, and freckles like endless stars in the sky.

“No, I just mean—do you need me to call someone or something? I don’t know if you noticed, but, you’re bleeding,” he said

“I’m okay. I will be. My ride should be here anytime.”

“If you’re sure, anyway, I will be right up stairs if you change your mind.”

The red head started up the stairs, but he never took his eyes off of William’s, and he had no idea what to make of that. He was halfway up before Oliver’s black sedan pulled into the fire lane.

“I’m Ripley by the way.”

“I’m William.”

“You? Do I know y—?” Ripley started, but was cut off by the sound of Oliver’s horn.

“I’m sorry. I have to go. I’m pretty sure one of my fathers is going to kill me tonight, but if not I’d love to see you again sometime.”

And with that he ran. William thought he might have heard Ripley tell him to wait, but Oliver sped away as soon as he slammed the passenger door. 

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Heroes + Vallenez is FREE (for a limited time!)

Pages if Pigments part III is coming later today, but I did not want this to get lose in the shuffle! Heroes & Vallenez is free on Kindle right now--but it's not forever. Click the cover and go get it, I'll wait here.

Just a few notes about H+V. It is a middle grade short novella. It's also just a glimpse of The World of Barneby Knotts a series I am  releasing very soon. I know Vallenez is a bit of an ass--but he's a smart kid who's had a rough life. Give him a chance ;)

So many updates, so little time.

I hate blogging on the weekends, but here I am anyway. There is so much going on that I could probably blog everyday for the rest of the month so I am trying to combine things to keep that from happening.

First Chapter 3 of my free serial, The Gods of Market Street is up now. Thank all you wonderful people who have told me how much you enjoy it on Twitter. I smile every time I read a tweet from my readers saying they are reading my serials or books, so I feel like a bad person--but I have to ask you to please, please remember to vote for it on jukepop. It's free for you to read, but I will completely upfront with you and admit I only get paid if it is a top serial. Since I normally get paid for my writing it is almost a step in the wrong direction. BUT I love being able to let you read my books for free so I am really hoping it works out for both of us. Thank you so much for your time!

Speaking of free, my friend and Publishing partner Larry Kollar is having a huge week. He's got a New Release, Pickups and Pestilence--the Sequel to White Pickups; and his Anthology Oddities is FREEEEEEEEE go grab all of them if you are missing any! I did all three covers.

Also Larry is having a KINDLE GIVEAWAY! Run over and enter, I'll wait here.

In other news, I hit 6k Twitter followers. It was pretty shocking since wasn't I just making the 5k announcement? I wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for you.

Don't forget that awesome Pigments of My Imagination giveaway I'm having. You can also read the first three chapters for free here. It's still on schedule for release of May 27th--it was looking like it might come out early; but of course there was a set back *sighs dramatically*

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Wednesday for Writers #1 Why Your Second Book Should NOT Be How to Publish a Novel

Everyone on the Internet is a freaking expert. That is why I absolutely hate giving people advice on anything. Not a day goes by where someone with thousands of followers less than me on Twitter wants to give me advice on how to gain more followers. Because clearly, they are so much better at it than I am.

You can't make this crap up.

I am not sure it is an epidemic—yet, but I have noticed a disturbing trend as I sit back and wait for some social media website or another to do tricks. It is the number of self published authors who have decided to write books on self publishing. For laughs I decided to go check some of them out. An outrageous number of them are second books. That's right, these idiots think they are qualified to tell you how to make a life changing move after doing it exactly one time.

You want to get driving lessons from some punk with a learners permit?

You wouldn't even pay to get your haircut from someone who had only done it once, but someone has to be buying this garbage. Here is a hint, you can get it all for free. And starting today, you can even get it from me.

As a general rule, I don't really like blogging how to things for writers. There are a lot of personal reasons for this. The first is, I am not an expert. I publish my novels, I have been published by an indie press, and I have founded a publishing co-op. That isn't the same thing as having all the answers. That's never going to happen. The second reason is, most readers don't care. So many people forget that writers are not your target market. Despite what their sheer numbers on Twitter would lead you to believe, there are more non-writing readers than the other way around. Lastly, there are a ton of other resources out there already for free—which I am sure is where most of these How to Self Publish Your Novel people got their information from to begin with.

I am pretty sure it has been over a year since I had broke my how to rule. I might have slipped up—if someone was absolutely wrong on the Internet! But suddenly people care what I think. I have no idea when it happened. It just did. Randomly, I'd have some new follower ask me for some kind advice or something book related every week or so. Now I am up to like three a day. Many times they ask me the same kinds of questions. Since someone took the time to ask me, I like to take the time to give them the answer without just sending them to some other website. Thus, it was starting to take up more and more time. So I have decided to devote a day a week to helping other writers. I will even take questions. You can @ me on Twitter or leave them in the comments. I will do my best to get to all of them, but please try and be specific. I get asked how to publish, or even how to write a novel almost every day. That's like asking someone directions to a destination across the world. Every time I read a direct message like that I think about it for three seconds, wondering if maybe there is some easy, Twitter sized answer I hadn't considered. Then when I realize again that there isn't my brain melts down.  

Don't make me do that. 

Pages of Pigments. Part II

I am blogging progressively later, that's how you know I am up to something. As it is, I am up to many, many things this week. For the second installment of Pages of Pigments I am sharing something with you a little different. Something right out of London 1666. Lucky for you, I was a drama major. FYI, this bit hasn't come back from the editor yet. Sometimes, especially late at night my eyes fail me.

I. See. Commas.

If you haven't checked it out yet, here is Pages of Pigments Part I--where you can read the first 3 Chapters of the book. Make sure you enter the giveaway. It's posted here, as well at the first post. There are ways to enter everyday! I *want* you to win.

Freshly fallen leaves crunched below the toes of her cream slippers. Tufts of the crinkly foliage gathered near rocks and tree roots, but most of it still was attached to the branches overhead. Large pockets of leaves were still green, and they stood out among waves of yellow and red. The wind seemed to whistle through them like they were curved lips as they danced and shook all around her.

Lucia was lost, in her head, and in these never ending woods. There were too many sounds, too many smells. All slightly out of focus like an old photograph, like baby pictures she had forgotten were ever taken, even though they were of her. Everything was so dull, and far away, until a sharp crack sounded from behind. Her burgundy dress glimmered, catching the light as she whirled around.

“I beseech thee young miss. Do not be leery, for though I be neither friend, nor foe, I could never raise but a finger to your porcelain skin.”

It seemed hundreds of years out of place, but Lucia would know that voice anywhere. How could she have forgotten it? How had she not known him the moment she saw him again.

“Oh, I know thee well Leonardo Stone, Painter of Light, and thou hast spent many moonlights by my windowsill, singing verse to I; who was feigning sleep. Beseech me not. Though I know thou would not strike my flesh, I cannot say the same for my heart, for thou are betrothed to the fair Helena!”

It’s a very strange thing to relive your heart breaking the exact same way all over, splitting as if by old fault lines that had long healed and had since been forgotten. 

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PAGES OF PIGMENTS #1 Read 3 Chapters for Nothing of PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION

So for hitting five thousand followers on Twitter I promised my readers the first three chapters of Pigments of My Imagination for nothing, and here they are! Only a bit late because there is a ton going on behind the scenes these days--and apparently my editors are human (but I don't believe any editors are human).

Lets start with the boring stuff. I own all the rights to Pigments of My Imagination. I give you permission (and encourage you) to share what I have shared with you here, so long as you don't take credit for it. Simple stuff!

I am having a *sweet* giveaway for the rest of month to go with it. Giveaway deets are below the chapter links. I provided all of the pages in Google docs because they are long, and they were making my blog a mess yo!

AND here is the big kicker, this isn't the only excerpt that is coming for this book. I plan on doing a few more on Mondays and Fridays until release day. Check back often because there are so many chances to win I can't even remember them all! Lucky for me, Rafflecopter can!

Click here to at POMI to your Goodreads TBR list!

PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION CHAPTER LINKS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Enter to win: Bookmarks, Posters, or a giftcard!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE GODS OF MARKET STREET. See the NEW cover. Read it for nothing. Vote to keep it going.

The second chapter of THE GODS OF MARKET STREET is now LIVE. Along with this, the brand new cover. As much as I appreciated all the love the previous cover (with the same image) got it, was making me INSANE. I had to toss it together quickly to do the submission (think <5 min) so I went back and changed it up a bit.

PLEASE. Wander over to JukePop Serials and vote for it. You can vote for every chapter. As much as I love and want you guys to get to read this serial for nothing, this gig only pays if I do well. 

Provided no one dies, starting next week I hope to update it Tuesday & Thursday until it's completion. Apparently, my editors have the nerve to be human. In addition to the serial we are editing 3 full length novels--two of which are mine! I still owe you guys your 3 chapters of PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION in honor of my hitting five thousand Twitter followers BUTTTTT I decided to roll it into this awesome thing starting tomorrow called Pages of Pigments. There is going to be SO MUCH AWESOMENESS involved.