Slave Elf, Promos, Book Signing: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

Slave Elf is back from it’s second round with the editor. I have some cleaning up to do and then copy/line edits, then I can publish. If you’re excited about the new version, I have it on pre-order at Amazon. You can order here. I think you’ll like the new version. It’s tightened up to make it more exciting and the inconsistencies in names, and such, are now eliminated.

Giveaways:

I now have winners for the 2018 Christmas giveaway. I did three prizes for Christmas. Kassie won a free ebook of Mystery at the Fair. Ben from the UK won an ebook copy of my Christmas Tales collection of short stories. The third gift was a $10 Amazon gift card won by Kelly. I want to thank all of the Christmas giveaways for participating. The next giveaway is listed below!

The Valentine’s day giveaway is open and there are 45 prizes to give away and 45 books. The grand prize is $135 in Paypal cash. What are you waiting for? Click here to find the free Rafflecopter.  

Woman sitting behind her laptop and dreaming about love. Vector Illustration.

In the meantime, I’m in a promotion with 19 other women writers on Book Funnel. You can check out the books here. There are romances, mysteries, shifter stories and even a non-fiction. Don’t miss out. These are all free for a short time.

Where will I be?:

I was at Black Canyon City at the Heritage Park on January 26th for their Winter and Book Fest. Even though the day had a cold wind blowing all day, those of us there had a good time. I talked to a bunch of readers, and handed out I don’t know how many heads-up flyers for July’s Payson Book festival. There were a lot of non-profit groups there. One was a wildlife rehab organization who brought owls for people to see. They were very cool!

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. It is finally up on all of my other retailers in ebook format. You can buy it at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Slave Elf, Gold Dreams, New Promo, Book Signing: Monday Blog Post


Newest News:

Slave Elf is back from it’s second round with the editor. I have some cleaning up to do and then copy/line edits, then I can publish. If you’re excited about the new version, I have it on pre-order at Amazon. You can order here. I think you’ll like the new version. It’s tightened up to make it more exciting and the inconsistencies in names, and such, are now eliminated.

My western, Gold Dreams, is back from my editor, EJ. **Waves at EJ** I’ll be getting to those edits as soon as I finish Slave Elf.  

Giveaways:

The Valentine’s day giveaway is open and there are 45 prizes to give away and 45 books. The grand prize is $135 in Paypal cash. What are you waiting for? Click here to find the free Rafflecopter.  

Woman sitting behind her laptop and dreaming about love. Vector Illustration.

In the meantime, I’m in a promotion with 19 other women writers on Book Funnel. You can check out the books here. There are romances, mysteries, shifter stories and even a non-fiction. Don’t miss out. These are all free for a short time.

Where will I be?:

I’m going to be in Black Canyon City at the Heritage Park on January 26th for their Winter and Book Fest. There is so much planned for the day you don’t want to miss any of it. You can find out more at https://blackcanyonheritagepark.org/winter-events/, for directions and the schedules of events. It’s just one day so mark your calendars!

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. It is finally up on all of my other retailers in ebook format. You can buy it at Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Happy Columbus Day, Calendar, Book Signing: Monday Blog Post

man climbing the mountain from Depositphotos_105717054_original

Newest News:

Happy Columbus Day! I love a three-day weekend and I’m retired. It’s the idea that everyone gets an extra day off of work to have a picnic or take a hike or do other family things that just makes me happy. So I hope you and your family get a chance to do whatever it is that makes you happy.

I’ve finished my 2019 calendar. Arizona is such a beautiful place and a calendar of pictures from central AZ fits in so well with my Jean Hays series, I really just can’t resist sharing. Now that it’s completed, you can find the calendar on Lulu. Just click on the link and purchase as many copies as you want for yourself, friends and family. Feel free to share the link, and this post!

This weekend, October 13th and 14th, I’ll be at the Pine/Strawberry Fall Festival. It’s a craft fair, antique show, book signing and chili cookoff all combined into one, great, two-day event. I’ll be there the whole weekend, ready to sell some books and sign them too. My hubby is entering a chili, he’s titled it Red Menace, in the chili cook-off. The cook-off starts at 11am on Saturday the 13th and the chili tasting and the chili, goes fast. So come early, try the chilis, and browse the many vendors there with great crafts, books, and antiques perfect for birthday or Christmas gift-giving. See you there.

The Gulliver Station box set still has some sort of error that’s preventing it from being distro’d to Kobo, iBooks and other places. That’s on Smashwords. I’ve tried a couple of things to fix it but it’s a no go. Over on Amazon, I’m trying to get the box set up as a paperback. For some reason the cover size isn’t doing what I want in the application. Then in the manuscript, I can’t get the pagination right. I’m about ready to pull my hair out. Still, I may have to make more phone calls to get it all put together correction.

I mentioned last week that I have my notice to transfer all of my paperback book files from Createspace to Kindle. I didn’t get that done because of the fight with the box set. Need to do that before they do it for me.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is over. One of my winners is Jodie Pagan who’s won an ebook copy of my book, First Encounter. The other person who won actually unsubscribed in March but came back this summer to try for a prize. I’m not awarding that person the prize. I’ll be drawing a new winner.

I want to take a moment here to mention that as authors, we do these giveaways to build our newsletter lists. I happen to use the service MailChimp and they charge me quite a bit a month to use their service to contact you about my new books, contests and other news. When a contest subscriber joins my list and then unsubscribes, and several do that as soon as the contest is over, I get a nasty warning from the service that because of the number of unsubscribes, they may cancel my service. I know many of you enjoy the contests and love to get the gifts. But please, if you don’t want to hear from me, I understand. Really I do. Just don’t subscribe.

The 2018 Halloween giveaway is now open. You can join in the fun at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80+ as a Grand Prize Paypal cash, plus books and other prizes.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Camp NaNo Status and Book Signing: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

April’s Camp NaNo is in its last week. I passed 43k on Sunday so I don’t anticipate any trouble reaching my goal of 50,000 words. I’m still doing well in totally pantsing this new story. (book 2 of the Zoe Ohale series, currently titled Troubled Campus.) I have to get Zoe into the final conflict then tie up all the loose ends. Perhaps another 5 – 8 chapters. We’ll see how that goes. I still have no idea how to make that happen.

I’ve been working on the edits of Mystery at the Book Festival. I’ve finished 16 chapters so far. This editing and rewriting is a totally different skill set. I have to stay focused tightly, on what has happened so far, on every question I ask that has to have an answer and continuity. It’s a lot of work and slow going. Totally unlike writing the first draft of a story. Some authors say the editing is their favorite part of producing a book. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that but it’s not too bad if I don’t hold too tight to things that need to be cut or at least, rewritten.

Malaysia Mosque with Muslim pray in Malaysia – Depositphotos_108130076_original

I went into my Elf Slave story to post part three and it’s gone. The draft has only parts 1 and 2. Ugh. Now I have to write both my Zoe story and at least part 3 of this one. Thank goodness they’re different genre’s. I don’t think I’ll get too confused.

Gardening: The roses are Blooming. Last week I talked about everything I planted. So far the only thing coming up are the flower seeds I forgot to mention. Everything else is taking it’s time popping up. I’m nervous about the bonzai seeds. Nothing seems to be happening. I’m being impatient, I know. This last week I trimmed the dead apple tree, reserving the tiny tree that’s popped up from the root stock. It’s an experiment that will take at least five years to see what kind of apple I’m going to get. I also trimmed the root stock sprouts on my D’anjou pear tree and the peach tree. One large branch seems to have bent over, the top touching the ground, in the last big storm. I’ve decided to leave it. I’ve been picking peach buds off of the tree leaving just one at intervals so they will get large. Leaving all the clusters together means the peaches stay small. Also, it thins them out so the branches don’t break under the weight of all that fruit. There are a lot of buds remaining after the thinning. I’m looking forward to having a bumper crop this year.

Giveaways:

My multi-author giveaway is called Spring into Reading: Easter Giveaway is now on. If you missed out on the last one, this is your chance to win.

Shout Out:

I know so many great authors, it’s always hard to choose who to feature. I think this time I’ll brag up the Phoenix Comicon. You can see their link below. But what’s great is that the conference features authors, writers, and creators of all kinds. SciFi, Fantasy, TV shows, Graphic Novels, Costume designers, it’s a free-for all, you people. Really! I took a look at the schedule with the fancy new PhoenixComiCon app (Google Play Store). It is just packed, every day, with presentations, demos, panels, it’s mind boggling. If you can come, you should. It’s going to be fantastic.

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

Big news! I have received a half table at the Payson Women’s Wellness Forum next Saturday, April 29th. I’ll bring a good variety of books to sell and sign. If you’re in the area, come by. I’d love to talk to you. http://www.mhafoundation.com/

I have contracted for a booth at Phoenix ComiCon with some other author friends. The ComiCon is May 25 – 28th and you can find details for tickets, events, special guests, at http://phoenixcomicon.com/. I would be so excited to see you in the Exhibits Hall in the Four Carat Press booth number 1797.

July 22nd is the Payson Book Festival. I have to say, this festival has turned into quite a thing. Over 600 people came to it last year. The tables have already been filled with authors. You can find out who is attending at www.PaysonBookFestival.org. The event is free to visitors and starts at 9am and runs until 3:30pm. Details about the location, video from last year, and more, can be found on the site.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Mystery in the Woods released on December 24th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Craft Fair Book Selling: Monday Blog Post

My Table at the Book Signing

My Table at the Book Signing

Newest News:

I spent the 8th and the 9th in Pine AZ at the Pine-Strawberry October Fall Festival. It’s the business community’s monthly craft fair and in October, they specialize in antiques, a chili cook-off, and tables for authors to sell their books. I had a table and one other author, a poet, Carena del Uno had a table. On Saturday, she shared her table with a mutual author friend, Annemarie Eveland. We had fun chatting with each other and with the attendees and all of us made sales so it turned out to be a successful weekend. A couple of people interested in being authors stopped by the tables and I invited them to attend our monthly Arizona Professional Authors meeting. The more the merrier! I hope they come.

Pat and Randy at the Chili-Cookoff

Pat and Randy at the Chili-Cookoff

Speaking of the chili cookoff. My husband and his brother, Pat, participated in that event. They had tables next to each other so they could talk. As usual they had a good time talking to friends and neighbors who came to enjoy the chili. At the end, it turned out Pat won second place in the cook-off! Hooray! That’s Pat in the red.

troubled-streets

A delay on the release of Troubled Streets. Last week my computer died so I lost two and a half days of work time to troubleshooting, then buying and setting up the new computer. Then, I totally messed up the interior file format and am having to do it all over again. Correctly this time. It will be another day or two since I spent the weekend at the craft fair. However, the cover designer, J.A. Marlow, was able to correct the cover quickly. I had the updated cover in my email this morning! The book will be out soon.

Giveaways:

spooktacular-author-giveaway

It’s the Halloween Author Group Giveaway. You can find the Rafflecopter link on my website. You do have to sign up to Rafflecopter but after that, you’re free to click away. I have links to it on my facebook and twitter pages, too. This giveaway I offer a free ebook, Recall, or for second prize, a copy of my Halloween Tales ebook. Over a hundred prizes from 30 authors plus a grand prize of $100 Paypal Cash. It’s not hard to enter, there are multiple ways to enter, and it doesn’t cost you anything. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, enter today and every day!

Shout Out:

Author Veronica Sosa McDonald

Author Veronica Sosa McDonald

Today’s shout out is to author Veronica Sosa McDonald. A mom of two and a fiction author, she’s my author interview for Wednesday. If you can’t wait, you can find her at: VeronicaMcDonaldAuthor.com

Garden News:

We’ve had some lovely weather the last week so the garden is fading but I’m still picking tomatoes and the Swiss Chard hidden by the zucchini plant. We haven’t had a frost yet so my lemon tree and bay tree are still outside. Soon though, I’ll have to bring them in for the winter, along with my Jade plant. Then it will be time to clean up the garden and put it to bed for the winter. How about you? Is your garden clean-up done or do you still have some growing season left?

Where Will I Be?:

My book at Dog-Eared Pages Used Book Store

My book at Dog-Eared Pages Used Book Store

The wonderful people at Dog-Eared Pages Book store (http://www.dogearedpagesusedbooks.com/) were nice enough to put a few of my Mystery at the Fair books on their shelves. If you’re in Phoenix, stop by the shop and say hi to the nice people there.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Newest Book Release:

Kindred Spirits Ad

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Fun at MysteryCon: Monday Blog Post

AZMysteryCon.com Friday Night Book Selling

AZMysteryCon.com Friday Night Book Selling

Newest News:

I’m back from the MysteryCon in Scottsdale. We had a good time Friday evening with an author signing. Lucky us, we were right across the lobby from the Happy Hour so a lot of people came in and talked with us and I even sold a few books! Yay!  A lovely young woman won the first bracelet on Friday night.

Saturday was more about presentations with the book selling room opening from noon to four, when the con was over. I had a lot of fun getting to know the other authors and met a few that are scheduled to come to the July Payson Book Festival. I have a lot of swag and won 2 bottles of wine! On my second bracelet? No one signed up for the giveaway. That’s okay. I have it for the book festival.

Now it’s time to get some books ordered for July.

Giveaways:

SpringIntoReadingGiveawayPromo

The Spring Into Reading giveaway closes in about 10 days. I have links to it on my facebook, twitter, and website pages. This giveaway I offer a free ebook or for second prize, a $5 Amazon card. There are other prizes as well. Over a hundred prizes plus a grand prize. It’s not hard to enter and there are multiple ways to enter. You could easily win a prize. If you haven’t entered yet, please enter today and every day.

Shout Out:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Author L. M. Hinkey

A shout-out goes to my next author interview, Lynne Hinkey. Lynne’s interview will appear on Wednesday, the 8th. Yep! This Wednesday. Don’t miss out on Lynne’s interview and a little bit about her. Can’t wait? Check out her site: http://www.lynnehinkey.com

Garden News:

Last week I bought some hot and sweet green peppers and put half in the garden the day before I left for MysteryCon. Bad time to plant, it’s been 99 – 100 degrees here (it was 115 in Phoenix!) but when I got home, the plants were mostly fine. I suspect chipmunks, one has been investigating my back yard for the last couple of weeks, ate my hot chili pepper plants! I hope they got heartburn. Anyway, the little buggers left some stem and leaves so maybe the plants will recover.

The soil was bone dry when I watered Sunday morning so I watered heavily and planted bean (pole string and yellow beans), butternut squash, and Swiss Chard. I suspect I’ll have to protect the seedlings when they pop up. Birds, especially like sprouted bean seeds.  So now the garden is fully planted. The tomatoes I bought from the garden club are doing fine, blossoms and tiny green tomatoes are evident. The zucchini I bought has lost the tiny zucchini and the original leaves but new leaves and blossoms are evident so I just have to wait a little longer.  How’s your garden doing?

Where Will I Be?:

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July 23rd is the Payson Book Festival, partly funded by the Arizona Humanities. I’ll be at my table all day, ready to talk to YOU! I hope you can make it as we will have over 70 authors attending as well as music, food, author presentations and workshops. It will be stupendous! www.paysonbookfestival.org and click on the Meet the Authors tab.

FallFest2016

9th annual Fall Festival in Pine, AZ. October 8th and 9th. http://pinestrawberrybusinesscommunityaz.com/fallapple.html. I’ll be there all weekend as part of the local author book signing. My hubby will be there as part of the chili cook-off at noon. There are also crafters and a very excellent antique show scheduled, not to mention musing and food!

Want more details about these events? Click here for more information.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up prizes on both the regular and the Brown Rain newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. My next newsletter is being drafted so sign up today. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. I’d love to see you there.

Newest Book Release:

I’m in the middle of the Zoe Ohale re-write. If you’re a Brown Rain Series fan, I think you’ll like Zoe Ohale. Just 17, Zoe has been an orphan living on the streets of Baia Mare since she was 12. Street smart and fiercely independent, Zoe has been offered the chance to move back into legal society by the police officer that arrested her a few months ago. But first, she has to help protect the little kids in her group, help her friend save her father from assassination, and find a criminal ring that just stole all of the physical credits being delivered to the Planetary Bank of Baia Mare. The book, the first of a series, should be out in August, if I can find time to work on it between the Book Festival and the Fair.

Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads  or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

 

Feel free to share this blog post with others who may be interested.

Monday Blog Post: March is Here!

InD'Scribe Conference

InD’Scribe Conference

Big news, I’ve signed up to attend my first ever writer’s conference. It’s called InD’tale Con and is being held in Palm Springs, CA on September 17 – 20, 2015. I’m pretty excited. I’m catching a ride with another author from Payson and I expect we’re going to have a lot of fun. If you’re around Palm Springs at that time, stop by my signing table and say hi!

I’ve also arranged a book signing for March 21st at the Scoops Ice Cream store here in Payson. I put info out on the radio, the newspaper and put up posters all around Rim Country. If you’re in town on the 21st between 1 and 3pm, stop by to grab an ice cream and chat. You can find both of these events and the July Book Festival on the Where Will I Be? tab on this website.

I’ve managed to create a couple more chapters in my All About Bob story. Poor Bob. I’m being pretty mean to him. I’ve also begun the planning and outlining for my next Brown Rain book, not sure what I’m calling it yet. Rest Stop, has come to mind. Anyway, in this book Alyssa will be the main character though Kyra will have a lot to do as well. I’m planning to write it during April’s Camp NaNo. I still need to edit Mystery at the Fair. I’d like to release that in May, and have it ready for the summer reading season and for the July Book Festival and the September conference.

The Payson Book Festival planning is moving right along. You can see the information on www.PaysonBookFestival.org if you’d like. Kick-off pricing on author tables, half price now ends March 15th. Hurry, sign up for a table, you can share a table, too, to make your costs even less. Fill out the Author Registration and get that in to us so we can reserve you a table. They’re going fast at this great price.

I’ve sent my short story, After Math, to my content editor. I hope I’ve rewritten it enough to change the feel of it and make my main character the girl I had in my head. I’d like to get it circulating, maybe even sold.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!