IWSG: Writing and Life

A new month means another post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. You can learn more about them on their website, Facebook page, and Twitter. Our hosts for this month are Dolorah, Christopher D. Votey, Tanya Miranda, and Chemist Ken. Our question for this month is How do major life events affect your writing? Has writing ever helped you through something?

Probably the major life event that has most affected my writing is becoming a mother. Unsurprisingly, becoming a mother ate up a lot of my time, so now I have much less time for writing than I used to. However, becoming a mother has introduced me to a lot of new activities, hobbies, and experiences that I didn't have before. Motherhood has directly inspired some of my stories, such as "The Mommy Clone" (which is set in a bouncy house). It's even inspired me to try writing for children and middle grade kids, though I haven't finished Welcome to Costume City yet. Although major life events may slow down your writing for a while, ultimately they may enrich your writing. Writing can also help you process the emotions around life events, though I'd rather not go into detail here.

If you're comfortable talking about writing and life events, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Seasons' Beginnings Cover Reveal!

As much as I admire and appreciate the covers Meghan Derico did for me (she's done Lyon's Legacy, "The Mommy Clone", Twinned Universes, and "The Book of Beasts"), I figure a new series should go in a new direction. I therefore contacted Maria Zannini, The Book Cover Diva. She's been featured on this blog before. Maria took my vague ideas and quickly transformed them into an awesome cover. Without further ado, I present to you Seasons' Beginnings, Book One of the Season Avatars Series!

 

Maria also designed a cover (front and back) for the print version, but she can't finish that until I have the final page count.

Now all I need to do is finish the next story in the Catalyst Chronicles series. Oh, and edit the next book in the Season Avatars series, and develop that idea I was toying around with earlier today, and....

It's a Summer Smashwords Sale!

If it's July, then Smashwords must be holding their annual Summer/Winter Sale. This year, I have four works enrolled in the sale:

Click here for "Letters to Psyche" and use code SW100 at checkout to get it for free.
Cupid must find a way to break a curse on love between the Montagues and Capulets. If he doesn't, he'll never see his beloved Psyche again.

Click here for "The Mommy Clone" and use code SW100 at checkout to get it for free.
Set between Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes. Bouncy houses prove to be more scary than fun when a kidnapper stalks the clone of a rock star.

Click here for Lyon's Legacy and use code SW50 at checkout (Normally $2.99, on sale for $1.50).
A geneticist who blames her rock star ancestor for ruining her life is forced to travel back in time to clone him.

Finally, click here for Twinned Universes and use code SW50 at checkout (Normally $4.99, on sale for $2.50). 
 The way to solve a murder may be in an alternate universe--but an assassin lurks there too.

If you want to sideload one of these stories to your Kindle, all you have to do is look up your Kindle e-mail address (go into "Manage Your Content and Devices" on Amazon, then click the "Your Devices" tab) and e-mail the mobi file to that address. 

This sale runs through July 31, so make sure to take advantage of it. As Shakespeare said, "Summer's lease hath all too short a date."

"The Mommy Clone," A Catalyst Chronicles Short Story, Now Available

Actually, I published this story Sunday evening, but since I already had pre-scheduled posts for the last couple of days (and I needed to tweak something), I'm making the official announcement today.

For some time, I've wanted to write something in my Catalyst Chronicles universe set between Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes. I finally got an idea and a setting for a story late last year. Since I was sick and in bed Sunday, I had enough time to revise and format the story. Anyway, here's the cover and the blurb:

All Joanna wants to do is entertain her children for a couple of hours while her husband is busy. The multi-story bouncy house promises to be fun, but someone else stalks them, someone wearing Joanna's face. Will Joanna escape with both children, or will her son fall prey to the Mommy Clone?

(The cover was done by Meghan Derico of Derico Photography. She also designed the covers for Lyon's Legacy and "The Book of Beasts.") 

The story is currently free on Smashwords and $0.99 at Amazon and B&N. Please report the lower price to Amazon so they price-match. I want to use this story as a loss leader (at least for now) to encourage readers to try my other books. I'm also going to run an experiment with this short story and the next one I publish (which will initially be in the Kindle Select program for three months): is it better to use Select or price-matching for promotion? I'll report results when I have them. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story!