Tag Archives: Plans

200th Blog Post!

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Celebration by Star Maiden, PatriciaRodelaArtist, ©2007-2014 PatriciaRodelaArtist

Celebration by Star Maiden, PatriciaRodelaArtist, ©2007-2014 PatriciaRodelaArtist

This is my 200th blog post! I’m amazed to be honest. When I started this I never expected to have much to say. I’ve discovered I have a lot to talk about with you all. Thank you for coming back every week!

I’ve been prepping for the April Camp National Novel Writing Month, https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in . This is a writing challenge but unlike November’s 50K word in the month challenge, I can set any word goal I want. I have a novelette to finish, two short stories to write, and a novel to do. I’m going to set my goal for 50K words. Lots of writing to be done!

I’ve been doing some gardening. I had to begin watering too. We’ve only had one rain storm since December and it was barely a tenth of an inch. We still get frost in the mornings though so I can’t plant a lot yet. However, things like spinach, lettuce and other cold hardy things can be planted. I’ve been eyeing pansies for the flower tub in my front yard. They’re extremely cold hardy and will look good out there for a very long time.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Go ahead and sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here.  Use Control, Click to access the link.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here.  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

The Challenge: A Gulliver Station story released March 23rd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Kobo: Both A New Start and The Challenge are up on Kobo. I’m linking to The Challenge on this blog but you can check my author name for other books available on each of the above links.

As of this writing Apple still doesn’t have The Challenge up so I’ve linked to A New Start. It may be up by the time you try it.

Am I Hitting My Goals?

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GOAL_by_oscarsnapshotter

GOALby oscarsnapshotter

Photography / Urban & Rural / Gardens, Parks & Cemeteries

It’s been awhile since I talked about my goals for 2014 and how I’m doing reaching them. Let’s check my progress.

I have as a goal every week to post to my blog every Monday and Friday. I missed a Monday in February. Just a lot of stuff on my writing plate and forgot it. However, I haven’t missed a flash fiction story post on any Friday. That makes me happy.  I also update my Facebook author page, ConniesRandomThoughts at least twice per week. That’s good for my readers, you get the latest information. Finally there’s my goal to post something on Google+ and Twitter three times per day. That usually works out unless I’m out all day or I go to bed early. I make it most days.

Lessons are moving along. I am almost caught up with my 2YN lessons. I’m only one behind right now. I also started a new Holly Lisle course, Create a World Clinic. It’s a tough course so I’m moving through the lessons pretty slowly. On the other hand, I’m learning a lot.

As for my writing, I published A New Start on January 31st and have finished editing my draft of The Challenge. It is now with beta readers. The cover for it is finished. I just need it back from the readers so I do the final edits. I should have that ready in time for the late March release. Yay!

My Leprechaun story, Lost Rainbows went too long to be submitted to the Zoo Anthology. So I wrote another story, Color Breakdown, and submitted that. I need a couple more scenes at least to finish Lost Rainbows, one of which is a battle scene. This may take me some time but I hope to release it for the teen or pre-teen market in the fall.  Unfortunately I don’t have any short stories written that I like well enough to submit to the Writer’s of the Future. Maybe next quarter.

I still have to write an article for the Forward Motion ezine Vision For Writers. (Now available on Smashwords! Check it out here.) However, I do have several topics to research and write about. I’ll have something submitted to the ezine soon.

I have not begun outlining stories for the May Story A Day challenge or a novel for April’s Camp NaNo. I do have a couple of book ideas and a few pages of notes for each of them. I might still be able to pull off an April Camp NaNo.

So that’s it. Some wins, some losses. A pretty good record so far for 2014.

If you didn’t sign up for my newsletter this month, you missed out on a giveaway of my newest book, A New Start.  So don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here.  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

A New Start: A Gulliver Station story released January 31st! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Kobo: Not Available Yet

Blog Hop: My Writing

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What’s a blog hop you ask? It’s a journey for the reader from blog to blog. As the reader, you get to see what other authors are writing. For us authors, it’s a chance to talk about our work.

I volunteered to be in this blog hop as Power Writing Hour is a writing group I belong to and I wanted to support all of these wonderful authors and their work. I was invited to participate by Brianna Soloski. You can check out her post for this blog hop here: http://girlseeksplace.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/writing-whats-my-process/

So what am I working on? I’m editing and publishing my very first ever series called Gulliver Station. I’m publishing the first in the series, A New Start, right now! I’ll be putting out the 3 other books in the series every other month, March, May and July. The series is about the space station. Gulliver station is a chance for a fresh start. The colonists can build their own society but not everyone wants a society free from crime. Slowly, the corrupt few succeed and the station becomes a pit of corruption in the government and misery for the majority of the station residents.  A few begin the fight to reclaim the station. Can they turn around the tide of misery? The book, A New Start, is the beginning of the saga. Gulliver Station is brand new and being populated primarily with Old Earth Irish.  Fergus Boylan, the Provisional Station Manager, wants to leave the old, corrupt Ireland behind and make station life fair for all of its residents.  Conway Gillespie sees a chance to start his own crime family and rule the station like his old boss on Earth.  The new residents want a fresh start, free from corruption and violence, that’s why they volunteered to colonize the station.  Who will win this tug of wills?

How does my work differ from others in the SciFi genre? Of course it’s different just because it came from my head. Not being flippant here. While I’ve read great SciFi for decades, my stories have my own point of view and voice.

Why do I write what I do? I love SciFi and Fantasy and want to contribute to that body of work. I don’t always write that though. Sometimes I write stories set in the here and now, like my book Recall.

How does my writing process work? I’m an outliner. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I stick to the outline though. If a better ending comes up, or I get an idea for additional scenes, I’ll use them. I usually write during the afternoon when the hubby is napping but I’ve written in coffee shops, in the morning, or even late at night if an idea strikes me. Ideas come from everywhere. I did a story once that came to me because I saw an exit sign for a road named Devil Dog Road.

Many thanks to Jamie Raintree (http://jamieraintree.com/why-i-write-for-women) and E.W. Gibson (http://ewgibson.me/2014/01/13/link-by-link-chain-by-chain/) for starting the blog hop. Look for Aimie Trumbly Runyan at http://aimiekrunyan.wordpress.com/ for next week’s hop. Here’s a little bit about her.

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Aimie is a historical fiction writer from Black Forest, Colorado. She fell in love with the French and Francophone cultures at an early age and has found a way to express and explore her passion through writing. She has taught French and English for more than a decade. Beyond writing, Aimie loves travel, sewing, reading, hiking, baking, and being outdoors. She has two adorable young children, an amazingly supportive husband, and a very neurotic dog named Pippin.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0  Special this month. Sign up for the newsletter and I give you a code to get the first book of the Gulliver Station Series, A New Start, free. All I ask for is a review if you like the book.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Links to Christmas Tales will lead you to my author page on each site where my other published work is available:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/christmas-tales/id761282885?mt=11

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-tales-3

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010

A Year in Review 2013

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It feels like 2013 has been a wild ride, as far as my writing is concerned. I’ve taken several writing classes this year and I can tell my story telling has improved considerably. I’ve settled into blogging twice per week, on Monday and Friday. That rhythm works for me and I don’t feel like I’m spamming my followers. So here’s how I did.

As far as I can tell I wrote a Flash Fiction Friday story every week and updated my Blog and Facebook Fan page (both titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly.  I added a monthly blog post for the Forward Motion site called Merry-Go-Round blog. My post is the 18th of every month. I missed one of those as well.

I started the Y2N class (2 Year Novel) with Lazette Gifford and kept up the weekly lessons until November when the National Novel Writing Month and then the holidays knocked me off track. I’m behind about 8 lessons right now so it’s still possible for me to catch up.

I outlined short stories for May Story A Day challenge. The challenge for this year was to write ten short stories. I managed six last year. I finished the May Story a Day challenge with 12 stories. Not every one of them was a gem but I’ve set them aside to fix them up and publish them. On short stories, I’ve been writing them all year in addition to the Flash Fictions and novels.

In addition, I began revising my November 2012 NaNo story, TriPoint Station. I had to rename it: Gulliver Station, Hard Choices and began outlining the first book in the series, Gulliver Station: A New Start, in Scrivener. The series continues with The Challenge, drafted in July and Revolution, drafted in November.

I struggled with Scrivener. I’m still a beginner and am pretty sure I’m not using a fraction of the tools available to me in the program.  Other programs I’ve learned this year are Gimp and SketchUp. The last two I use to make my own book covers. Thank goodness my husband loves to take pictures. His pictures are used on my covers.

I also wrote, How To Design an ebook Cover. That became my Vision submission for August. My submission in December to Vision was, Gerunds, the -ing words. Funny story. The Gerund article came about through a short story critique. One critiquer mentioned that I used too many gerunds. High School English class was a long time ago. The research I did to fix that problem became the article. Thanks to the critique, my writing is now stronger.

My goal for 2013 was to publish 4 books.  I epublished, A Trio of Animal Tales in January. Recall revision was finished in February! I decided to self publish. I published it May 27th. I continued to revise stories for a collection I called Halloween Tales and wrote a fifth one so there would be 5 stories in the book. Release was the 30th of September.  I released Christmas Tales November 17th. It was a little stressful, releasing a book in the middle of NaNo but I managed to get it done.

My story After The Storm was rejected by Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show magazine so I submitted it to Asmiov’s Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine, where it was rejected also.  I entered a Scribophile contest with Generation Bug and was not selected as the winner but I had enough confidence in the story to enter it in the Writers of the World contest for the 3rd quarter. I did not win. I sent Where the Brown Things Are to WotF (World of the Future: a science fiction magazine that has a quarterly contest to select the best stories for the mag.) I wasn’t supposed to find out until January if I won but they worked fast and I found out I was not accepted in December. Sigh. I’ll try and write something to submit in January. I submitted a story, The Reunion, to a contest held by the Southwest Authors. I found out in October that I did not win that one either. I still haven’t heard back from the Tucson Festival of Books (The Reunion) or the Arizona ONE-BOOKAZ Goes Digital eBook Writing Competitions  (Generation Bug) on my submissions. I’m going to cross my fingers. I also have Someone Else is Living Here out to the Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition. I’ll hear from them in February 2014.

On a positive note, I submitted a short story, Dogs and Cats, to the Forward Motion site, http://www.fmwriters.com/zoomfm/, for their 2013 Anthology, Cats Eyes. The story was accepted and came out in September. https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/books/book-detail-page?ie=UTF8&bookASIN=1493638475&index=default

My story, Just Add Copper, was submitted to the How To Think Sideways Anthology, The Adventure of Creation, and accepted in June. The anthology was published in mid-August. Some great short stories in various genre’s by some great authors. http://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Creation-Foreword-Sideways-Anthology/dp/3956810007/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378051491&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Adventure+of+Creation

I participated in the April Camp NaNo and wrote the first draft of Gulliver Station: A New Start. I’ve signed up on a different site, http://julnowrimo.com/ for my July efforts. Several of my Forward Motion friends love the site so I thought I’d try it out for the next book in the Gulliver series. The big news in November, was of course, National Novel Writing Month (NaNo for short). I drafted out the last of the Gulliver Station series, Revolution.

I signed up for and completed a Holly Lisle Flash Fiction course. That generated 5 flash fiction stories for May Story a Day. Lazette Gifford’s SciFi Class was not announced, so that goal was deleted. I  listened to a webinar with Guy Kawasaki, hosted by CreateSpace. The seminar, How to Sell More Books with Social Media ran 1hour and 13 minutes. It’s on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=135KGCLqC6Q The third class of the year was, Mugging the Muse by Holly Lisle, https://howtothinksideways.com/. I learned a lot about myself and how to write better. If you’re a new writer or an experienced author, check out her courses. Some are even free! The fourth class was on marketing for my books. I looked at some free training video’s by Jeff Walker, recommended by Holly Lisle. I was not able to take his course. But, based on the free information he published, Holly put together an author-centric, free, self-monitored course on marketing. Which resulted in a Holly Lisle class she calls, The Ugly Baby Workshop, a marketing type course. One of the items in that challenge is to release a book. My Christmas book was that project. The course is about how to do a new product launch, so the book and the below domain name are part of that launch.

I joined the July promotion on Smashwords.com with my book, Recall. It was a month long promotion, free to download. It was downloaded a lot, which was encouraging. The hope was they’ll like the book enough to come back and buy one of my other books. At the end of December, I haven’t seen that happen. Something to consider for 2014.

Using the Guy Kawasaki information from July, I began a marketing campaign to post regularly, twice per day on Twitter (@ConnieCockrell) and Google+. That’s been going well. I find something fun or interesting or cute or about my book(s) or someone else’s book coming out and post. In December I began making a late night post, 9 or 10pm that may reach the Asian market. Who knows if getting my name out there will generate sales, but a Google+ and a tweet only take a minute or two. I’ll see over the next few months if anyone from the Asian region begins following my blog or Facebook page.

Based on the marketing classes I took some steps to improve my professional presence. I took the plunge and bought a domain name and set up my own publishing house: 2ndWindPress.com.  What was exciting was filling out the on-line form. It asked for my organization and my position. I, with more than a bit of a thrill, typed in 2ndWindPress and Publisher. I know, I’m easily entertained, but my heart actually beat faster.

I went to the local Chamber of Commerce and got my Doing Business As (DBA) form. How did this affect me? I have a nifty logo and publishing house name to add to the spine of my books. It sets me up as a professional. It confirms that I’m serious about my writing and getting my books published.

I made quite a few changes to my blog as part of my new marketing plans. I changed the background color from boring gray to a more festive Autumn color. I added some new links to friend’s blogs and a sign up for a newsletter for my fans. Followers get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. They can go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. To make that happen I had to sign up for Mail Chimp.  I also updated my Google+ page and my Twitter account. If you aren’t a follower or friend on those sites I’m looking to build my communities there as well.

Late in November I took on a Chuck Wendig challenge on his blog, www.terribleminds.com. Participants write a 200 word section of a story each week. The first week you create your own 200 word beginning and post it. The next week one or more participants pick a beginning not their own and add another 200 words. By the end of week 5, each participant will have worked on 5 different stories in 200 word increments, making a 1000 word finished story. I participated each week. I posted each story on my blog in the Friday Flash Fiction spot. I plan on going back to the Chuck Wendig site and find the completed stories I contributed to and post them on my blog in January.

This has been a long post. I’m actually surprised at the number of classes I’ve taken (5) and stories and books written and released. (1 novel and 3 collections published and over 96 stories and novels written). It’s been a full and fruitful year. I hope yours was too.

I wish you all a very happy, productive New Year!

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Links to Christmas Tales and which will lead you to my author page on each site where my other published work is available:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/christmas-tales/id761282885?mt=11Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-tales-3

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-tales-3

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010

Working, Working!

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I managed to get the garden cleaned up in time for Saturday’s birthday party for my hubby. Too bad the weather didn’t cooperate. We had 20+ people in our very small living room and kitchen. Didn’t matter. We all had fun and hubby got a great birthday party, Yay! Here’s a picture of the Santa Hat brownies I made for the event.  Image

Sunday we had a quiet day. I had a chance to start developing my book covers for the Gulliver Station series. So far I have draft pencil drawings. Don’t give me too much credit. The drawings look like a 3rd grader did them. However, I chose my font and made note of what goes where. The text, most of the back cover, title and author name is finished on the cover. I spent 3 hours on the background and it’s only partially done. I’m still learning Gimp, so everything takes forever. On the plus side, many of the elements for this book cover can and will be used on the subsequent covers. I love reusable work.

I have a Chuck Wendig challenge, number five of five to complete, and will post it on Friday, as my Friday Flash Fiction. I’m also going to try and post the completed stories I participated in. That may take a few Mondays or maybe special posts. I’m still behind on my 2 Year Novel Course. Sigh, I’ll get to it, I promise. I want that story for my 2014 Christmas book. I need to begin revision on The Challenge. This is the second of my four novel series about Gulliver Station, a SciFi series about a space station. I’m working toward an end of March release for the second book. Book 1, A New Start, was passed to my beta readers Saturday. Stay tuned. Will I make my January release date?

Finally, please have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I appreciate all of my followers for checking in with me each week. I appreciate your support and comments on my posts.

If you’re still looking for a Christmas gift, check out my Christmas Tales. Links are below. In each of those markets you can find my other books as well. Hope you enjoy.

Links:

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Links Christmas Tales:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/christmas-tales/id761282885?mt=11Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-tales-3

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-tales-3

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010

Merry Go Round Blog Tour: Favorites

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The Down the Street Art Gallery, December 2013

The Down the Street Art Gallery, December 2013    Photo by Randy Cockrell

Right off the top, Christmas is my favorite holiday. I decorate the outside and the inside of the house. I bake cookies, my favorite is called Mexican Wedding Cakes, and make candy. My favorites there are toffee, peppermint patties, and chocolate truffles. Yummy.

Pasta is a big favorite of mine. Saturday is designated Spaghetti Night at my house. I make the red sauce from scratch and cook it all afternoon. That is unless I make Spaghetti Carbonara. That is a big favorite but all of that egg, cream, cheese, and bacon make it a health hazard. So I keep that dinner offering to about four times a year.

I have a favorite genre too. That’s SciFi for sure. Fantasy runs a very close second. The ability of a book or a series to transport me to another world is the best feeling ever. I know it’s a good book or series when I reach the end and I’m flipping those last pages looking for more. The story will stick with me for days, and I wish I were in that world for real.

I like this time of year. It’s a time for reflection on what’s happened over the course of the year. Did I meet the goals I set? Have I made progress in my endeavors? Even better, it’s a time to plan for the future. What can I change to reach my goals in the new year? Should I set different goals for myself? Should I ease up a little and make more time for smelling the roses?

How about you? What are your favorite things? What are you proud of from this year’s activities? What do you plan on doing differently next year?

The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, travelling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com!  Up next: Jean Schara!

December Madness

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I finished the first pass through the first book of my Gulliver Station series. There’s a lot of changes and updates to make. In addition I still have to design the cover. I release the first book of the series at the end of January so stay tuned for the announcements. Lots and lots to do!

Christmas stuff  update. I made the fondant for my peppermint patties and made chocolate covered toffee. I cut the base of my Christmas cards. I still have to make the decorations for the cards and stamp the insides.  Then of course, there’s the addressing and mailing. Hope to get those cards in the mail by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.  Still to do for candy and cookies are truffles, roll out the fondant, cut in circles and dip in chocolate for the peppermint patties. I also make Russian Teacakes or some people call them Mexican Wedding Cakes or even Snowballs. They’re a tradition of mine and it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without them.  By December 16th that all has to be made and boxed up and boxes put together with gifts and the candy/cookies to send to my Mom and my son-in-law.

After that it’s my husband’s birthday and we’re having a host of people over for a party. Somewhere in there I have to wrap gifts. I did get the tree up and the house decorated.  Check that off of the list.

Links:

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. http://conniesrandomthoughts.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=8c24bb15bdf9245512f722298&id=0a097feea0

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Christmas Tales released November 17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/christmas-tales/id761282885?mt=11

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tales-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1494200570/ref=la_B009O6199C_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385963121&sr=1-4

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-tales-connie-cockrell/1117497310?ean=9781494200572

Kobo: Still loading.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379010

What’s going on in November

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Ten days to go until National Novel Writing Month (NaNo) begins. I’ve got a basic outline completed though I need a few more scenes planned. The challenge is to write at least 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November.

This will be my third NaNo. This year I’ll be writing the final book of my Gulliver Station series. I plan on releasing the 1st book of the series in late January. It’s titled, Gulliver Station: A New Start. The daily word count to meet the goal is about 1700 words. I’m able to get the goal. The hard part is to do it every day. It will be hard for me this year as I have a 3 day hiking trip with my hiking group planned for the middle of the month. I’ll have to write extra words every day and/or write while I’m away.

Also planned for the end of November is the release of my book of Christmas stories. I’m still looking for a good title. I may go with Christmas Tales. I’ve named my two other collections, A Trio of Animal Tales and Halloween Tales. Using Christmas Tales keeps the theme going, don’t you think? Take a look  at the draft of the book cover. What do you think?

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November is a busy month for sure.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up.

And in other news, I just finished an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/conniecockrell  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

Happy Columbus Day 2013

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It’s a 3 day weekend! Since I’m retired, that doesn’t make a huge impression on me except that there’s a lot of holiday traffic; travelers, campers, etc., running through town.

What it does mean is that I feel more relaxed. I feel like I can set my normal weekday occupations aside and work on my writing. It’s October which means I need to have my novel for November plotted out. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNo), where I again try to write a while book in 30 days. (Well, at least 50,000 words of it.)

I’m also involved in a challenge to make my writing more businesslike. And by that I mean profitable. So, I’ve promised myself to put together a book of Christmas short stories, put it out by the end of November, build a website and set it up so that I can email fans directly with the announcement of my newest book out.  Sigh.

I also have a short hiking trip in November and let’s not forget Thanksgiving.

Then I have to get my book Gulliver Station: Hard Choices, through the editing/revising process, design a cover for it (as well as the series cover ‘look’), get Gulliver Station: A New Start into revision, and publish said Christmas book. I still need to write one story for that book. A teaser for my Gulliver Station series.

None of that includes keeping up my blog posts (each Monday and Friday and one for Merry Go Round Blog Tour on the 18th of the month.) I wonder if I’ve reached my writer limit yet for a month’s work?

In other news, my short story, The Reunion, was not a winner in the Southwest Authors contest. That’s too bad because I really like that story. I’ll work on it a bit and see if I can submit it somewhere else.

Enough for today, I have to get writing and revising. And, talking about marketing; check out my latest book below.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/halloween-tales-connie-cockrell/1116995365?ean=2940045288972

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/halloween-tales-collection/id716418558?mt=11

How I did with September’s Goals

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How I did with September’s Goals

September

– Write 4 Flash Fiction Friday Stories (one per week)

Completed.

– Update my Blog and Facebook Fan page (Both are titled ConniesRandomThoughts) weekly

Completed. Did the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour too!

– Continue to revise short stories

Completed. Revised the stories for Halloween Tales and wrote a fifth one so there would be 5 stories in the book.

– Begin submitting short stories to publishers

Sent Where the Brown Things Are to WotF (World of the Future: a science fiction magazine that has a quarterly contest to select the best stories for the mag.) I won’t know until January if it is accepted.

A side note: I should find out in the next week or so if I won the contest held by the Southwest Authors. (The story is The Reunion.)

– Begin outline for November NaNo

I didn’t get the last Gulliver station book: Revolution, outlined. I’ll have to do it in October, 1st thing so I have time to let it mellow before I begin writing in November.

-Other things accomplished

– Released Halloween Tales on September 30th.

– Began planning my late November book release, a collection of Christmas stories. One story more story was written and another was planned and outlined.

– Took a mini-marketing class. The planned and outlined Christmas story is a teaser for my Gulliver Station stories. Trying to make the work do double duty here. The marketing class has also decided me that I need a web site, not just a blog. So that is planned for no later than the end of December.

– Signed up for a Holly Lisle challenge related to the mini-marketing class. Again, one of the items in that challenge is to release a book. My Christmas book is that project. The course is about how to do a new product launch, so the book and the web site are part of that launch.

Halloween Tales released September 30th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Amazon or Smashwords today!

Links:

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/halloween-tales-a-collection-of-stories

Barnes and Noble: Not showing when I looked but search on Connie Cockrell

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Tales-Collection-Connie-Cockrell/dp/1492783072/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380515780&sr=1-2&keywords=Halloween+Tales

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/359689

Apple: Not found when I looked.