Celebrate the Small Things: June 26, 2015

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  Tonja and I are her co-hosts!

My dad had to spend the night in the hospital this week for a heart-related issue.  He got to go home yesterday afternoon and he's feeling much better.  My dad hates being in the hospital with a passion (as do most of us), so he was relieved to go home.

Today is the last t-ball game of the season, so my kids are excited about that.

The release date for A Silent Soliloquy is a little over a week away now.  I'm making good progress on finishing the posts for my blog tour, and I should be sending those out early next week.  I'm excited and terrified.

Suzanne Furness gave me the Encouraging Thunder Award last week!

What you can do with Encouraging Thunder Award:

Post it on your blog.

Grant other bloggers with the award.

What you can't do with the award:

Abuse or misuse the logo.

Claim that it's your own handmade logo.

What you should do after receiving the award:

Enjoy the award!

Thank via comments or mention the blogger who gave you the award.

No questions or complicated rules. It's acknowledgement  for those who support and encourage.

I'd like to offer this award to everyone who helped me with my cover reveal and/or signed on to help me with my upcoming blog tour.  Whether you choose to pass it on or not, I just want all of you to know how much I appreciate your help!

What would you like to celebrate?

Express Yourself: Abnormal Skills

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The question for this week is: If you could learn one out-of-the-norm skill, what would you choose?

I know I've said this before, but I'd like to learn Klingon.  Learning Elvish would also be cool. The writing just looks so pretty.

What out-of-the-norm skill would you like to learn?

Celebrate the Small Things-July 19th, 2015

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  I am one of her co-hosts.  Tonja Decker of Kidbits is starting this week as a co-host as well, so let's all give her a warm welcome!

This has been another crazy week for me.  My novella A Silent Soliloquy made the Smashwords Premium Catalog, which is all kinds of awesome.  That means my book is already available for pre-order through Barnes & Noble and Kobo and other similar retailers in addition to being available through Smashwords.  It's been crazy seeing it there and knowing that people will soon be able to buy it.  You can also add it on Goodreads now too.

My blog tour is also coming together.  I still have two spots open that need to be filled: Wednesday, July 15th and Thursday, July 16th.  If you're interested in helping me out either of those days, please let me know and leave your contact information in the comments.  Thanks again to everyone who has signed up so far!  You guys are the best!

My kids are nearing the end of t-ball season.  Next week is the last, and I have the feeling they'll miss it when it's over.  The library's summer reading program started this week, though, and that runs through the end of July.  I know they'll have a good time with that.

My husband has been working on a video game related YouTube Channel.  He's excited about the project and I'm excited for him.  It's him and some friends playing video games and inserting plenty of colorful commentary.  You can check it out here, but be warned: this is only suitable for adults.

What would you like to celebrate?

Express Yourself: Secret Location

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

This week's question is: You have been blindfolded and taken to a secret place. When the blindfold is removed, where are you?

When I remove the blindfold, I'm sitting in a nice coffee shop with a steaming hot cup of dark roast coffee and a delicious side salad.  I have my laptop and notebook with me, and an entire afternoon of uninterrupted writing ahead of me.

I know, this isn't an elaborate dream, but I could really use an afternoon like this right now.

Where would you be?

Cover Reveal!

It's time!  I can hardly believe it's time for the cover reveal.  I'll probably be in pieces when release day finally gets here.  This is the cover for the e-book.  The cover for the print edition will look similar, but there are going to be a few differences.  The main image, however, is going to be the same.

Title: A Silent Soliloquy

Author: L.G. Keltner

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopian

Length: 28,000 words

Cover Art: Devross

Release Date: July 6th, 2015

Blurb:

TIPPIE was created to be a weapon.  By all appearances, she's an ordinary girl of 18, and she uses that to her advantage in her work for The Facility.  What no one sees is that there's another girl buried deep inside.  She can't speak or control the movements of the body she inhabits.  As TIPPIE's silent passenger, she can only observe.  She uses the details she learns from TIPPIE's work to reconstruct the stories of other people's lives.  It helps her feel a little more connected to the world she can only watch.

When TIPPIE's work leads her to David, a young man with a haunted past and information that The Facility wants, TIPPIE uses her skills to earn his trust.  The silent girl beneath the surface knows that TIPPIE is only going to hurt him, but she can't help but feel for him.  Those feelings only grow, but she knows all too well that TIPPIE's work will soon come to an end.

Pre-Order Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Thanks to everyone who signed up to help me with my cover reveal today!

Celebrate the Small Things and Express Yourself: June 12, 2015

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  TheCyborgMom and I are her co-hosts.

As some of you may have already read, TheCyborgMom is stepping down as a co-host.  She's been a wonderful co-host, but I understand that life makes other demands and it can be hard to keep up with blogging at times.  I'd like to wish her all the best!

This has been a tough but exciting week.  I announced earlier this week that I'm having a cover reveal for my new novella on Monday, June 15th.  If any of you would like to help me out with that, you can sign up on the following linky.  I'll get all the necessary information emailed over the weekend.

The release date is July 6th, which also happens to be my husband's birthday.  To celebrate the release, I'm going to be doing a blog tour that will run from July 6th through the 17th.  If any of you would like to host me during that time, you can sign up with this linky.

As a first time self-publisher, I'm learning a lot this week.  I learned a lot about formatting especially.  The Smashwords style guide was helpful, though the whole formatting ordeal still gave me a massive headache.  I finished formatting a print version of the book as well, and I just need to finish proofing it.  I'm also publishing on Amazon, but I've had a bit of a hiccup there.  I'm working on getting it resolved, though.  I think I should be able to get things worked out in time, but  I'm a newbie as far as these things go, so I can't say anything with absolute confidence.

Still, even with the challenges that have come up this week, I'm still more excited than anything else.

UPDATE: The issue with Amazon is now officially solved!  I'd love to thank the super helpful customer service person who helped me out.  You were awesome!

What would you like to celebrate?

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The prompt for this week is:  You have 30 seconds to change your whole name, what is it?

Perpetua Nicklefinger Gruntletoad

Why that name?  I don't know.  My brain is weird.

Announcing My Cover Reveal and Release Date!

I have the cover to my novella A Silent Soliloquy in hand (or, more accurately, in computer), and that means I can now announce my cover reveal!  Woohoo!  There are a fair few butterflies in my stomach, because everything is coming together.

Isn't it a strange but amazing feeling when that happens?  It's certainly a little terrifying.

Anyway, now that things have gotten this far, I need to start planning.  Though I'd love to throw this thing out into the world right this second, I should perhaps be a wee bit more patient than that.

I've decided that my cover reveal will be this coming Monday.  That's Monday, June 15th.  It's still pretty short notice, but I honestly don't think I can hold out any longer than that.

Interesting side note: the day of my cover reveal will also be the 10 year anniversary of the day my husband first asked me out.

If you'd like to help me out with the cover reveal, just sign up with the linky below.  I'll get you all the info you need over the weekend!

I've also decided on a release date of Monday, July 6th.  It's only a three week wait in between, but July 6th is also my husband's birthday.  I figure that will help make our day that much more festive.  We also have a tradition of taking over other people's special days in our family anyway.  My husband asked me out on my parents' anniversary, and we got married on his parents' anniversary.  Therefore, this release date makes complete sense.

And since a blog tour is one of the best ways to get the word out about the book, I decided to schedule my tour for Monday, July 6th-Friday, July 17th.  Funny, that end date would have been my great grandmother's 100th birthday.  As many of you know, she died a couple of weeks ago.  The way the dates are all coming together feels quite appropriate, really.

So, since it's all coming up close anyway, I figure I should put out a linky for people to sign up for the blog tour too.  If you have any ideas about the specific date you'd like me to stop by and the format you'd like that visit to follow (interview, details about the world/characters, new piece of flash fiction related to the story, etc.) feel free to let me know in the comments below.  If not, never fear.  I'll get a hold of everyone within the next week or two to start hashing out the details.

So, here's the blog tour linky for all those interested.



I feel like I'm rambling today, so I'll let you all go about your business now.

Celebrate the Small Things and Express Yourself: June 5, 2015

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain!  TheCyborgMom and I are her co-hosts.

This week has been big for my writing.  As I mentioned earlier this week, I made the decision to finally self-publish the novella I'd been anxious about.  The feedback I received on it was actually far better than I'd anticipated, and that gave me the confidence to move forward.  I'm still not sure when my cover will be ready (what I've seen of it so far looks great though), but when I have it and am ready to do a cover reveal, I'll let all of you know!

I've also been working on both a short story and a novel this week.  I wish my brain could focus on one thing at a time, but alas, it cannot.

My boys have a t-ball game tonight, so that should be fun.

What would you like to celebrate?

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The prompt for this week is:  Pick one of your 5 senses you find the most important to you.

I'm glad to have all 5 of my senses intact, but I think the one I'd miss most if I lost it would be my sight.  I wouldn't be able to drive anymore, and I already trip over things as it is with my sight intact.  I can only imagine how bad things would get for me if I lost the ability to see altogether.

I'd also have to deal with not being able to read or write until I managed to learn Braille.  It would be possible to learn, of course, but that period of time would be hard for me.  Frustrating.

What sense is the most important to you?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group: June 2015

Is it the first Wednesday of the month already?  Let's drag our writerly neuroses out into the sunlight at this month's meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group.  This wonderful group wouldn't exist without the brilliant mind of Alex J. Cavanaugh.  His helpers this month are M. Pax, Tracy Jo, Patricia Lynne, Rachna Chhabria, Feather Stone, and Randi Lee.

If you need additional support, you can always visit the IWSG Website.  It's a great resource!

This month I am both excited and insecure.  That's a common enough combination for a writer, I think.  I'm excited because I recently got some good feedback on the novella that I've been anxious about, and there's a promising cover design in the works.  That means that sometime in the next month or so, I should be announcing a cover reveal and release date.  Yes, I am going to publish this thing.  I don't think there's any way to rid myself of nerves entirely, but I'm not going to let them stop me.

If any of you who've been through this before have any pearls of wisdom to offer me, I'll be more than grateful to hear them.  I trust all of you here.  This is a great community, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

What are you insecure about this month?

A Change of Mind and Other Stories by Nick Wilford

Today I'm happy to host Nick Wilford on my blog.  He's promoting something pretty awesome, but I'm sure you'd rather hear about it from him. Take it away, Nick!

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Thanks for hosting me on my tour today, Laura. I’d like to offer your readers a microfiction piece inspired by my book’s cover.

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Reuben stared at his reflection, trying to find some sign of his former self that he could recognise. There was a new resolve to his stare, a cool assurance to his eyes that hadn’t been there before. But he didn’t want to fight this new incarnation. Here was a man who could do anything he wanted, with nothing holding him back. No more mistakes to blame on other people. He would be a success now. He turned away, but the piercing gaze of that man still blazed in his head like headlights on a dark road.

The old Reuben was gone for good.

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Title: A Change of Mind and Other Stories

Author: Nick Wilford

Genre: Speculative fiction

Format: Ebook only

Page/word count: 107 pages, approx. 32,000 words

Release date: 25th May 2015

Publisher: Superstar Peanut Publishing

Blurb:

A Change of Mind and Other Stories consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. This collection puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.

In A Change of Mind, Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.  

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…  

In Marissa, a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.  

The Dog God finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.  

In The Insomniac, a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.  

Hole In One sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.  

The Loner ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

Purchase Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / Smashwords 

Add it on Goodreads / B&N / Kobo

Meet the author:

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter or Goodreads.

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