Adam's Apple and the Infinite Regress is Now Available on Smashwords and Wattpad

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that my sci-fi comedy story Adam's Apple and the Infinite Regress is now available for free on Smashwords and Wattpad!

I originally wrote this story for the A to Z Challenge in 2013. I dug it up a couple weeks ago, and I decided to polish it up a bit and self-publish it.  We'll see how it does.  Here's a quick rundown on the plot.

Adam Evans has always felt like the universe was mocking him. That only gets worse when he's charged with murder under bizarre circumstances and exiled from existence. Facing a life of utter solitude, he seizes the opportunity to escape with a strange girl. He's determined to put his life back together, but he never could have guessed how crazy things were about to become.

It's still awaiting premium approval, so I don't have it available through any other retailers yet.  When it is, I'll share the links with all of you.  Happy reading!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #7

Hey everyone!  I'm over at Tonja Drecker's blog today to talk about the best way to handle setbacks as a writer.  If you're interested, please stop by and check it out!

Also, don't forget that if you want to get into the Halloween spirit, I have a couple of spooky stories available for you to read.  I wrote one of them for this month's Write Edit Publish Challenge, and I wrote the other for Spooktoberfest.

Have a great day!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #6

Hello friends!  I have a couple of things for you.  First of all, if you'd like a short little Halloween scare, my entry for Spooktoberfest is now available for your entertainment!

Secondly, Laura over at My Baffling Brain has been kind enough to host me today as part of my Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People blog tour. Today I'm talking about why I, as a writer, love Halloween.  If you're interested, please feel free to stop by!

Thanks everyone, and have a great day!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #5

Hey there!  Today I have a couple of exciting things going on. If you're interested in reading my creepy WEP entry, which uses both the constellations and Halloween prompts, you can find that HERE.

Also, I'm over at Fiction and Film with Kate Larkindale talking about my latest Self-Help 101 novella and how important it is for a writer to be open to inspiration as much as possible.  If you're interested, you can find that HERE.

Have a great day everyone!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #4

Hello!  Today I'm continuing my October blog tour for my latest Self-Help 101 novella with a stop by Lori MacLaughlin's blog.  In my post, I talk about the challenges of writing a novella series in a year and offer you an excerpt from the book.  Please stop by and check it out!

Have a great day!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #3

Hello!  I'm here to let all of you know that I'm over at Denise Covey's blog today talking about entering the IWSG Anthology Contest.  If you're a member of the IWSG, you should definitely consider entering, and if you need a pep talk, stop by Denise's and let me tell you why you should! Plus you can learn more about my latest novella in the process!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #2

Today I'm continuing my October blog tour with Tamara Narayan and a post about dealing with critique.  Some critiques are valuable and have much insight to offer, and some are simply mean-spirited and aren't worth worrying about.  How can you tell the difference?  Stop by Tamara's blog to find out!

Have a great day!

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Blog Tour Stop #1

Hello!  I'm just posting really quick to let everyone know that I'm over at Diane Burton's blog today talking about why I wrote a Self-Help 101 novella about Halloween.  Please feel free to stop by!

Have a great day everyone!

Celebrate the Small Things-September 30, 2016

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

I've been having a little trouble getting motivated to write for the last couple of weeks.  I'm not sure how much of it is due to pregnancy fatigue and how much is due to other factors, but I feel like I'm getting back on track again.  Fingers crossed!

This has been a big week for me.  I had two book releases in one week.  Whew!  Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People came out on Tuesday. Then Circuits & Slippers, the sci-fi fairy tale anthology that contains my story "Treating the Beast", came out on Thursday. Woohoo!

What would you like to celebrate?

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Release Day!

First of all, I wrote an article for StoryDam about the benefits of writing novellas.  You can check that out here.

It's here!  The third installment of the Self-Help 101 series is available now!  For those of you who don't know, here are the details!

Title: Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People

Author: L.G. Keltner

Genre: holiday/humor

Length: 29,000 words

Cover Art:  L.G. Keltner and Jamon Walker

Release Date: September 27, 2016

Blurb:

Book 3 in the Self-Help 101 series.

Dani Finklemeier is adjusting to life in college and the realities of living away from home for the first time.  She’s also learning to deal with the criticism that stems from sharing her writing with the world.  Some of the online criticism is even spelled correctly, which somehow makes it worse.

Fortunately, she has a Halloween party, a group of friends, and a supportive boyfriend to distract her from the things that are bothering her.  Of course, a holiday celebration wouldn’t be complete without something going wrong.  Between an unpleasant confrontation with an infuriating classmate, some shocking costume choices, and a bizarre fraternity stunt, the evening will be anything but dull.

Dani’s detractors may not like it, but she’ll definitely have enough material for another book.

Bio:

L.G. Keltner spends most of her time trying to write while also cleaning up after her crazy but wonderful kids and hanging out with her husband.  Her favorite genre of all time is science fiction, and she’s been trying to write novels since the age of six.  Needless to say, those earliest attempts weren’t all that good. 

Her non-writing hobbies include astronomy and playing Trivial Pursuit.

You can typically find L.G. lurking around her blog, on Twitter, or on her Facebook page.

Purchase Links:

E-book:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Print:

Amazon US

CreateSpace

Add it on Goodreads.

Celebrate the Small Things-September 23, 2016

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

I spent part of last weekend sick.  Not fun.  Still, I'm feeling much better now, so I'm definitely celebrating that.  Being seven months pregnant is uncomfortable enough without having an illness on top of it.

My oldest son Jude has been learning to do dishes all week. So far, we've only have one broken glass, and he's been doing a great job with getting everything clean.  My other son Lyle has also been doing a great job cleaning up toys this week.  I'm proud of their hard work.

I have a huge week next week.  First of all, my Halloween novella Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People comes out on Tuesday, September 27th.  I'm pretty excited about that.

Then, a mere two days later on September 29th, Circuits & Slippers comes out.  My short story "Treating the Beast" is a science fiction retelling of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. I'm definitely excited to be a part of this amazing anthology!

What would you like to celebrate?

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People Cover Reveal!

The time has come to reveal the cover to Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People.  This is the third novella in the Self-Help 101 series.  I can't believe I've made it this far!

Are you ready to see it?  Ready or not, here we go!

Title: Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People

Author: L.G. Keltner

Genre: holiday/humor

Length: 29,000 words

Cover Art:  L.G. Keltner and Jamon Walker

Release Date: September 27, 2016

Blurb:

Book 3 in the Self-Help 101 series.

Dani Finklemeier is adjusting to life in college and the realities of living away from home for the first time.  She’s also learning to deal with the criticism that stems from sharing her writing with the world.  Some of the online criticism is even spelled correctly, which somehow makes it worse.

Fortunately, she has a Halloween party, a group of friends, and a supportive boyfriend to distract her from the things that are bothering her.  Of course, a holiday celebration wouldn’t be complete without something going wrong.  Between an unpleasant confrontation with an infuriating classmate, some shocking costume choices, and a bizarre fraternity stunt, the evening will be anything but dull.

Dani’s detractors may not like it, but she’ll definitely have enough material for another book.

Pre-order Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Smashwords

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Add it on Goodreads.

Celebrate the Small Things-September 9, 2016

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

I finished formatting for Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People.  It's now ready for pre-order, and I'm looking forward to the cover reveal on Tuesday.  It feels good to get a book done and to see the final product in front of you.  It's a great feeling.

I'm making good progress on the rough draft of the final Self-Help 101 novella.  I can hardly believe I've made it this far.

It occurred to me that I'm about two and a half months from having another baby.  I mean, it's not as if I could forget the whole being pregnant thing (the mirror, scale, and my ill-fitting clothes won't let me), but it's remarkable how quickly the time is flying past.  Everything is going well, though.  My last checkup revealed that all is well with both the baby and me, so I'm definitely celebrating that.

What would you like to celebrate?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group: September 2016

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means!  Let's convene another meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group.  Our esteemed leader Alex J. Cavanaugh has gathered another horde of minion helpers for this month: C. Lee McKenzie, Rachel Pattinson, Elizabeth Seckman, Stephanie Faris, Lori L. MacLaughlin, and Elsie Amata.

Be sure to check out the IWSG website, because today is the day they announce the theme for the next anthology contest!

This month I'm in promotion mode, because I have two books coming out at the end of the month.  The first is the third novella in the Self-Help 101 series.  Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People comes out September 27th.  This one takes place during Halloween, and it was a lot of fun to write!  I'm having a cover reveal on Tuesday, September 13th, and if you'd like to help me out, please sign up below!

I'm also doing a blog tour throughout the month of October. If you'd like to host me, please let me know in the comments and I'll get in touch soon!

The second book is an anthology called Circuits & Slippers. This book features classic fairy tales that have been retold as science fiction stories.  I'm honored to be featured alongside so many great authors.  This one comes out September 29th, and if any of you would be interested in obtaining an ARC, you can do so by following this link: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZQHJG9V

So yeah, there's a lot going on, and I feel a bit insecure about that.  Promotion still is not my strong suit, but I'll certainly do what I can.  The great part about being in an anthology is that at least you have your fellow authors working on promotion too.  That certainly helps.

Now for the question of the month.

How do you find the time to write in your busy day?

I can say this much.  Since my kids started back to school, it's a lot easier to find the time.  Even so, the demands of daily life can still get in the way.

For me, it's all about goals and scheduling and making the most of the time I have.

I make weekly goals, and that helps keep me on track.  When I make these goals, I look at what else I need to do that week, and I think about what kind of writing goal seems reasonable. Setting unrealistic goals only discourages me, and that results in me accomplishing even less.  It's a lot easier to find the motivation when I see an achievable goal in front of me.

Each morning, I also look at what I have going on and make a daily goal accordingly.  By breaking things down into smaller, more achievable goals, I've managed to keep myself on track this year.  I'm hoping I can keep it up.

What is your insecurity this month?  How do you find time for your writing?

Celebrate the Small Things-September 2, 2016

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

I finished edits on the third novella in the Self-Help 101 series this week.  It's a relief to have that part of the process done.  Editing can be a rewarding but grueling process.  Now I'm looking forward to getting some work done on my newest WIP.

Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People is being released on September 27th, and I need your help.  I'll be doing a cover reveal on September 13th, and if you'd like to be a part of it, please sign up using the linky list below.

I'll also be spreading out the blog tour throughout the month of October.  If anyone is interested in being a part of that blog tour, let me know and we'll work something out!

What would you like to celebrate?

A Monday Blog Tour Stop

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Today I'm over at Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog for another blog tour stop.  Please feel free to stop by and say hello!  

Check Out Another Blog Tour Stop!

Hey everybody!  I'm over at Cathrina Constantine's blog today as part of my Self-Help 101 or: How to Survive a Bombardment With Minimal Injury blog tour!  If you want to read my tips on how to write humor, feel free to check it out!

Celebrate the Small Things-August 5, 2016

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

I've been busy with revisions.  Since I finished the first draft of Self-Help 1o1 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People, I've been deep in revision land.  It's hard work, but it's satisfying to know that I've made it this far.

I also have an idea brewing in my mind for a short story that might be interesting if I can get it down on paper.  I love having new ideas!  It's such an exciting time.

By this time next week, I should have back-to-school preparations for my boys pretty much wrapped up.  I'm looking forward to having all of those tasks done, because then I can just enjoy their excited anticipation of being back in school again.

What would you like to celebrate?

The Insecure Writer's Support Group: August 2016

It's the first Wednesday of the month again, so let's get started with another meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group!  Alex J. Cavanaugh  is our leader, and his minion helpers for this month are: Tamara Narayan, Tonja Drecker, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Lauren @ Pensuasion, Stephen Tremp, and Julie Flanders.

Be sure to check out the IWSG website!

I'm celebrating some good things this month.  On Sunday, I finished the first draft of the third novella in my Self-Help 101 series.  I'm planning on releasing Self-Help 101 or: How to Select a Costume to Help You Deal With People on September 27th.

Earlier this year I announced that I'd had a story accepted to the upcoming anthology Circuits & Slippers.  This anthology features popular fairy tales told with a science fiction twist.  It now has a Goodreads page that you can check out.  The book is due to come out the last week of September, which happens to be the same week I'm releasing my next novella. That should be a busy and exciting week indeed!

Now it's time for me to answer the question of the month!

What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now?  Collecting dust or has it been published?

I can say this much.  My first piece of writing as an aspiring writer could never be published.  Not unless I become famous someday and decide to publish it to show people how it's possible to go from having no clue about how to tell a good story to achieving success through hard work and determination.

I wrote that first story when I was in 1st grade.  It was long (120 pages, though my writing was large and I was using wide ruled paper) and rambling.  I didn't know anything about how paragraphs and and punctuation worked, so it was largely unreadable.  The story itself, from what I remember, involved hot pink snow, dinosaurs, airplanes, and flying saucers.  I can't remember much else about the story line now, as it has been sitting, gathering dust, at my parents' house.  I haven't looked at it for many years.

Though the story was terrible, I'm glad I wrote it.  I'm glad that I wrote every awful story I did as a kid, because that helped me learn and grow as a writer.  I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't written them.

What's your insecurity this month?  What happened to your first piece of writing?

A Saturday Blog Tour Stop

Hello everyone!  I'm here to let everyone know that I'm doing another blog tour stop today!  Steven Rose, Jr. is hosting me today, so if you'd like to read an interview about the Self-Help 101 series, be sure to stop by!

Have a great weekend!