OMGOSH! *Takes deep breath* I have escaped the writing cave.

So, I finally finished Before & Ashley. Sort of. This post deserves more time than I can give it right now (seeing as it 2:50 AM and my To Do list is still super massive), so I will expand later. But here are the basics:

These last few weeks have been insane. I've been absent from my blog & Twitter, and am WAY WAY late in posting Before & Ashley for the following reasons:

Exciting News!

I feel like this woman today:

 Why? 

Because I've just had my first blog feature! Sandra at SSBookFanatics has generously hosted Words With Friends for a promo. Free, no strings attached, just a great person being really nice and sharing her resources. And she's willing to do it for you too! Find info on how to get your book promo'd here.

And check out her promo for Friends With Words here.

I'm famous! All drinks on me! (As long as you're asking for water with lemon)

;)

Cover Reveal - Before & Ashley

Dun Dun Dun! As simple as it it, it took a little while to decide on the cover image for Before & Ashley. But I figured it out and I'm really happy with it. In the final stages of editing now, but the story will be up on Amazon on May 1st.

What do you think?

 Does the cover intrigue you?

Blog Schedule

Without further ado, I present to you, my blog schedule:
(Since clearly, you've been waiting for this with bated breath all day. <- sarcasm)

Monday - Indie Spotlight
    There's a lot of self-published junk out there, but there are also some really amazing indie books. On Mondays, I'll review and link to my favorites. Feel free to send me a nomination (whether it's your book or someone else's) at gemmawritesnights@gmail.com, with the subject line "Indie Spotlight." I can't guarantee that I'll pick your suggestion, because I'm not doing normal reviews - I'm reserving this day to praise and highlight stories I loved. However, I will probably check it out.

Wednesday - Writing Rants
     On Wednesdays, I'll be sharing anecdotes, analogies, experiences, and other random thoughts on writing. There will be links to great writing related posts I've read that week, and my own reflections on whatever happens to be on my mind.

Friday - Freestyle Friday Mini Story
     Fridays are reserved for writing a very very short story (probably 500-1000 words) based on whatever pops up first on the Improv Suggestomatic. I dearly love this thing. When I opened the page to link to it, it gave me 'Elegant Jail.' It's got me thinking already.

And that, dear readers, is my blog schedule. I'll probably post on other days too, as the mood strikes me, but you can count on new material popping up here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

I don't usually post this much in one day, so don't get too excited.

Today, I'm importing posts from my old blog and transferring them to this one, so there'll be a crap ton of new content all at once. This is not my normal Friday posting schedule. At all. It's supposed to be Freestyle Friday, where I get a phrase from the Improv Suggestometer and write 1000 words about it. But I'll do that next week, because today I am posting something, much, much cooler.

Why I Left Twitter, Where I've Been, & Whatsup With My Pseudonym: In which I check my ego at the door, describe my brutal experience with the query process, revisit my close calls with agents (but no cigars), and explain why I finally bit the bullet and tried my hand at self-publishing

So people regularly ask how my writing is going. And for the last year or so, I’ve said evasive things like “Fine. So how about those Celtics?” This post is an honest answer to that question and an apology/explanation to the awesome writer friends I met through Twitter and then went all Without a Trace on. It’s more a stream of consciousness than an eloquent missive, so go ahead and lower your expectations now, lol. Here goes nothing.

Coming Soon...

Tomorrow's Post:

Why I Left Twitter, Where I've Been, & Why I've Got a Pseudonym - in which I check my ego at the door and describe my brutal experience with the query process, my close calls with agents (but no cigars), and why I finally bit the bullet and tried my hand at self-publishing

Why I write novelettes

Now I'm going to address a question which everyone (and by everyone, I mean no one), has been dying to hear my thoughts on. Why do I write novelettes?

Coming up next...

Right now I'm working on a novelette called Before & Ashley. Here's the summary:

Ashley Morrison loves bake sales, cow tipping, and country music. But after a hayride head injury knocks loose memories she didn't know she had, Ashley uncovers a secret past that could jeopardize her future.

Sounds fun, right? Here's my working cover. Far from the final product, but it's what I'm using to inspire me right now.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

I feel a bit like Dr. Frankenstein. After sitting in publishing mode for a while, my very first Cupcake Novelette is live and for sale! I've already sold two (count em! two!) copies. And I only bought one of them! LOL Thank you, mysterious buyer, whoever you are. You have made my day. (Is that you, Mom?)

Check it out HERE

What the heck is a Cupcake Novelette?

I describe my current series of writing projects as Cupcake Novelettes. What exactly does that mean? Well, a novelette is a piece of short fiction which is longer than a short story and shorter than a novella (obviously, much shorter than a novel), and falls between 7,500 and 17,499 words. Mine are always a minimum of 10,000 words. The average Young Adult novel is 40,000 to 60,000 words, so my Cupcake Novelettes are about 1/4 the size of those.

I did it!

I finally bit the bullet and put a story up on Amazon for all the world to see! (and by all the world, I mean my husband, my mother, and a few other folks who may stumble across it) It's called Friends With Words and it's a novelette. More on what that means and why I chose that format later. For now, I'm going to bask in the glory of having finally arrived. Because as far as I'm concerned, having a story for sale on Amazon makes me famous... :)