Smashwords Sale!

During the week of March 6th-12th, you can get all of the books I have available on Smashwords for free.  Be sure to stop by and grab a book if you'd like!  All you have to do is use the coupon code RW100 at checkout!

For those of you who may not know, here's a list of the books you can pick up.

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A Silent Soliloquy

Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Word Count: 28,000

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.

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Self-Help 101 or: How I Learned to Take Over the World Through Tolerating My Family

Genre: Holiday/Humor
Word Count: 27,000

Dani Finklemeier has decided to write a self-help book about how to take over the world, but she’s not sure where to start. After all, she’s only seventeen and looking for a better way to make money than babysitting. She buys a self-help book that promises to teach her how to write a self-help book in the hope of getting the job done.

Not that it’ll be easy to get any work done this holiday season. Her family is staying at the house for Christmas, and fights break out almost immediately. Dani also has to deal with the fallout from an unexpected kiss with her best friend Seth and the feelings that go along with it. On edge around her family and unsure how to interact with the one person she’s trusted with everything in the past, she can only take what inspiration she can from the crazy circumstances surrounding her and see what happens.

One way or another, it should be an interesting holiday.

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And though it's always free, you can also pick up a copy of my short story collection while you're at it!

Cosmic Seasoning 

Genre: Sci-Fi/Short Stories
Word Count: 16,000

This compilation of ten short science fiction stories is sure to add a little flavor to your day. You'll get to see what happens when a universal translator malfunctions during first contact, the repercussions of a maladjusted writer making a holographic duplicate of herself, the reunion of a couple of shapeshifters that have been exiled to Earth, and more.

Some stories are funny, and others are a bit darker, but they're all short enough to read in one sitting.

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There will also be a lot of other titles available for free or with significant discounts during the next week.  You don't want to miss it!

Get a Copy of A Silent Soliloquy for Free!

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who has purchased a copy of my novella A Silent Soliloquy, read it, reviewed it, or in any way helped to promote it.  You've all been amazing!  Anyone who downloaded a copy of Cosmic Seasoning is also totally amazeballs.  Seriously.  Thank you!

This whole self-promotion thing is tricky.  I'm admittedly not the best at it.  The more I promote my work directly, the more I feel like a door-to-door salesman that no one wants to see coming.  Whether or not I appear that way to any of you is another matter. I've been trying to decide how I can keep trying to get the word out there about my work without becoming too desperate or annoying, and I've had an idea.

I'd like to thank Karen Elizabeth Brown for inspiring me on this one.  She's offering a coupon code for her book Galaxy Nomads, which means you can get a copy from Smashwords for free until August 30th!  If you'd like to get your own, check out her post for the details.  I already downloaded mine.

When I saw that post, I started thinking about doing this with A Silent Soliloquy.  A short term promotion like this might help me get my work out there, and as an indie writer, this is crucial.  Then I tried to think like an advertiser.  Again, this is not a comfortable niche for me, but I gave it my best, and here's my proposition for you.

I've created a Smashwords coupon for A Silent Soliloquy.  Anyone who takes me up on this offer can get a copy from Smashwords for free.  All you have to do is this.

-Use some form of social media (Twitter, Facebook, a blog post, etc.) to promote either A Silent Soliloquy or Cosmic Seasoning.

-Email me at laura.gene.walker@gmail.com with a link to the post/tweet/whatever so I can see that you've done it.  Please put "A Silent Soliloquy promotion" in the subject line of your email so I know what it's about.

-I will respond to that email with the Smashwords coupon code.
-You can find A Silent Soliloquy HERE.

-Use the coupon code at checkout by September 14th, 2015.

And to make your promoting easier, here are a few links to my works for you:

A Silent Soliloquy:

      Amazon

     Smashwords

     Barnes & Noble

     Kobo

Cosmic Seasoning:

     Smashwords

     Barnes & Noble

     Kobo

That's relatively simple, right?

Thanks again to all of you for being so cool.  Have a great weekend!

The Insecure Writers's Support Group: August 2015

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means!  It's time to convene another meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group!  Alex J. Cavanaugh is the brilliant mind behind this group, and this month, the following minions are assisting him: Nancy Gideon, Bob R Milne, Doreen McGettigan, Chrys Fey, Bish Denham, and Pat Garcia.

Don't forget to visit the IWSG website!

This past month has been a busy one for me.  I released my novella A Silent Soliloquy and my free short story collection Cosmic Seasoning.  If I've learned anything over the past month, marketing is one of the hardest parts about being a writer.  I've never been the best at drawing attention to myself, and repeatedly mentioning that I have a book for sale makes me feel as if I'm in the middle of a crowded dance floor waving my arms and shouting "look at me, look at me!"

That issue aside, I'm glad I put myself out there.  Now that I've done it, I feel less apprehensive about the prospect of publishing other work in the future.

I just started writing a follow-up to A Silent Soliloquy, and I'm pleased with how its going so far.  I can't say too much without spoiling things, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

So, yeah, I'm not feeling all that insecure this month.  I guess I'm keeping too busy for the insecurity to have a chance to sink in.

What are your insecurities this month?

Celebrate the Small Things-July 31, 2015

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

This has been a pretty good week.  The boys had a pizza party at the library to celebrate the end of the summer reading program.  They ate pizza (obviously) and cookies, watched a movie, and came home with candy bars.  As you can probably imagine, they were quite happy.

Mina Lobo gave my novella A Silent Soliloquy its first review on Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you!  I spent a half hour just staring at it and feeling amazed at how beautifully written it was.  She sure has a way with words.

I self-published my short story collection Cosmic Seasoning on Smashwords this week. I was kind of amazed at how much easier the task of formatting was the second time around. If anyone would like to download it, you can find it HERE.  It's free, if that helps at all.

We have some family visiting out of town this weekend, so that should be fun.

Tonight is a blue moon!  Too bad a blue moon doesn't actually look blue.  That would be cool.

Since I already indulged in a decidedly geeky moment, here's another.  Happy birthday Harry Potter!

What would you like to celebrate?

Cosmic Seasoning is Now Available!

It's crazy!  I've published two books within a month's time.  It's been a lot of work, but I think it's going to be worth it in the end.

My science fiction short story collection Cosmic Seasoning is now available at Smashwords for FREE!  Feel free to check it out and spread the word if you can.

Cosmic Seasoning Update

I promised to keep all of you updated about the progress of my upcoming short story collection Cosmic Seasoning.  I designed a cover for it using Canva, and I think it turned out well enough considering my complete lack of artistic talent.

Here it is.

Some of the stories in this collection are humorous, some serious, and I hope people will enjoy them.

There will be ten stories in all.  They're all written, and I've finished editing and revising eight of them.  I'm in the middle of revising the ninth one as I write this.  This collection should be finished, formatted, and available on Smashwords within the next week or two.  I promise I'll make an announcement as soon as it is!

Thanks to all of you for being so supportive!