Published!

Piano Poster by Elthenstorm via www.DeviantArt.com

Piano Poster by Elthenstorm via www.DeviantArt.com

I’ve been working like crazy on my books this month. Today, I got my 3rd Gulliver Station book, Hard Choices, up on Amazon (ASIN: B00KEVWYHW) and Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/439286).  Distribution to other distributors will take a week to two weeks to accomplish.  I’ve decided to give my readers a deal. Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll reward you with a free copy of Book 2, The Challenge. Sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. You all are getting this offer before even my newsletter people. Hurry, offer ends Sunday the 25th!

This month I’m continuing the writing habit with my writing site’s May Story a Day. I’ve written seven stories so far in addition to working on my 2YN novel, well on my way to 10 stories this month. In addition, I’ve challenged myself to write at least 1K of words per day in new writing five days per week. I’m doing well with both challenges.

My blog has been undergoing a makeover. My friend Brianna Jill Soloski, has given the site a face-lift and fixed my Books page. See it on www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. If you like what she did, she’s ready to hire at: (http://girlseeksplace.wordpress.com/hireme/). Blogs, Etsy pages, whatever you need in editing and a whole lot of other things.

The weather has been fine and we’re now up into the 80’s. I don’t expect any more frosts. I put in seed for Serano peppers, Rutger’s tomato, summer green and yellow squash, a bird house gourd, butternut squash, peas, green bush beans, green pole beans and yellow beans. Potatoes, herbs and swiss chard are already growing on their own. I’m going to buy more tomato, basil and pepper plants. I’m lazy and didn’t get seed started in time. I put my bay leaf tree and lemon tree out in the yard. So far they’re fine.

The town has been a hive of activity again this weekend. For the fine arts people, a classical piano recital by a 13 year-old girl was held on Saturday night. I didn’t go but friends I walked with on Sunday morning said the young lady was quite accomplished. She even threw in some Gershwin, just to keep it interesting. On the other end of the scale, the Spring Rodeo was in town on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. People both local and from far away traveled into town to see the riding, bronc bustin, and ropin’. Saturday is a big yard sale day. My hubby and I picked up a nearly new oak dining room table and six matching chairs for an amazing price. The yard sale people even delivered it. Yay! There’s something for everyone in my little town.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Please sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Want to know how to get a free copy of each new book? 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.

Hard Choices: A Gulliver Station Story, released May17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Cover Reveal for Hard Choices

Hard Choices  Cover art by Connie Cockrell

Hard Choices
Cover art by Connie Cockrell

 

Check it out! What do you think? The book itself will be out the end of May. I still have editing to do on it. Overall, it’s a very short novel and a four related short stories. It’s set in the Gulliver Station timeline between The Challenge (released end of March 2014) and Revolution, which is slated for release end of July 2014.  I’m still contemplating the arrangement of the short stories.  Here’s a blurb about the book:

A short novel with four short stories, Hard Choices looks at life on Gulliver Station in the time after The Challenge. Weather in the Biosphere is a tale about two cousins, who make an ill-timed mistake. Methane Breathers considers communications difficulties between two different species. Growing up is full of hard choices as Cassandra Madison in The Conversion discovers. Barrie has lost his job and must play the game for his family to survive as you’ll read in Dedication Day. The title story, a short novel, takes a look at life on Gulliver Station from an outsider’s point of view.  Between ships, Jolene Harris enjoys leave by herself when things go horribly wrong. Will she live to reach her new ship, The Adirondack?

April’s Camp National Novel Writing Month, https://campnanowrimo.org/sign_in  is in its third week. I’m plugging away on my novel, still unnamed. As of yesterday, I’m at 32,000 words, well on my way to my goal for 50K words. There’s still a lot of writing to be done but it looks as though I’ll meet the challenge!

My rhubarb has made it through the dry winter here in central Arizona. I think it needs at least another year before I cut any stalks.

The root canal took five shots of novocaine and two hours but the dentist was quite pleased with the results. I still have some jaw ache from the procedure but it’s slowly going away. It’s nice to take a drink of room temperature water and not wince from the pain.

My project to collect my mom’s history by using To Our Children’s Children: Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come by Bob Greene and D.G. Fulford is ongoing. Not every phone call to my mom has time or opportunity to ask questions but it is moving along. My brothers and sister are going to like this.

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!

Seleana Laurence Cover Reveal and Giveaway

New Covers, New Sales, Big Giveaways!

by Selena Laurence

I could not be more excited today because I get to reveal the cover for Lush 2 – For the Love of a Lush! This cover was designed by Cover It! Designs, who do all of the Lush and Hiding From Love covers. Take a look at Walsh and Tammy, and when you’re done, scroll down for information on the special sale we’re having for Lush 1, and your chance to enter a whole Lush giveaway!

Lush 2 smalljacket

To help celebrate the cover reveal for Lush 2, we’re putting Lush 1 – A Lush Betrayal on sale for just $.99 for a limited time. Don’t miss this chance to try out the rock star romance that NYT  and USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Blakely described as: “Delicious and intriguing”

ALB_99_web2

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Now for the Giveaway!

Go to Rafflecopter Here

Selena Laurence | April 17, 2014 at 6:00 am | Tags: A Lush BetrayalFor the Love of a Lush | Categories: NewsNewsletterThe Cover Gal | URL: http://wp.me/p3asno-r5

Blog Hop

Photo by usisl from www.deviantart.com

Photo by usisl from www.deviantart.com

Here’s another blog hop for you. I was invited to this one by the wonderful Debra Kayn.  She blogs at http://www.debrakayn.com/2014/03/baton-blog-hop.html. The link takes you to her post about this hop.

As with any blog hop, I have some questions to answer. First is what am I working on?

That’s a long list. I’m releasing my Gulliver Station books. The first one, A New Start, was released at the end of January. The next one, The Challenge, is in final editing and will be released the end of March. I have the cover done for that and have begun the process of designing the cover for the third book, Hard Choices. That one will come out the end of May. I’m also working on a story within my writing class, 2 Year Novel. It’s a two year course and there’s a lesson per week. Then there are the weekly flash fiction stories. And I’m outlining a story for the Forward Motion writer’s group’s annual anthology and the April Camp National Novel Writing Month.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I mainly write science fiction. I like to add a little romance into the story as well as the science part.  I also write contemporary stories and even the occasional western.

Why do I write what I do?

I write to topics that catch my interest. My Gulliver Station series for example looks at how people bring their past and their problems with them. Just because they live in the future on a space station doesn’t mean it’s going to be all sweetness and light in their lives. In the series I look at how bringing that emotional baggage with the original occupants of the station affects the long term life of the station. I do the same for each of my stories. I try and take a different look at the possibilities. It’s fun!

Finally, how does my writing process work?

I’m a planner. I like to have an outline of what my beginning, middle and ending will look like. That doesn’t mean I don’t deviate. Sometimes a better ending or a different middle will occur to me and I’ll use that.  I like to write in the afternoon. But if my schedule gets in the way, I’ll write any time of the day or night.

I have two other bloggers who are next on the list. Please check out their blogs. They may have just the right story for you!

Arlene Hittle: arlenehittle.com

Arlene Hittle is a Midwestern transplant who now makes her home in northern Arizona. She suffers from the well-documented Hittle family curse of being a Cubs fan but will root for the Diamondbacks until they run up against the Cubs. Longtime friends are amazed she writes books with sports in them, since she’s about as coordinated as a newborn giraffe and used to say marching band required more exertion than golf. Find her at arlenehittle.com, on Twitter or on Facebook.

Diana Rose: http://thewritersdreamwold.wordpress.com

Diana Rose is a Russian native who lives in New York. Her stories transport readers to the fantasy filled worlds where she brings royalty and magical beings to life, with colorful romantic scenes and characters that her imagination creates. She fuels her creativity while reading romantic novel. When Diana is not writing, she enjoys spending her time with her family and friends. You can find her on her blog: http://thewritersdreamwold.wordpress.com

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.

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

Odds and Ends!

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Want a free ebook? Smashwords is running a promotion through March 8th. Called Read an ebook Week, you can go to their site, https://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1/newest/1 and start browsing. I have my book up on the site so look for A New Start, the first book in my Gulliver Station series. It’s free and please feel free to pass the word. It only lasts this week, so hurry!

I have been sending my short story, Where The Brown Things Are, around to different magazines. The magazine Clarkesworld (a science fiction and fantasy magazine) rejected it Saturday morning. I immediately sent it to Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. Who knows, someone may want to publish it.

Arizona finally received some rain on Saturday.  Not as much as forecast but we were all happy to see it. It’s been so warm and dry here that my daffodils, peach, and nectarine trees are blooming.  I’m hoping we don’t get snow; that will kill the buds on the fruit trees.

My anniversary is March 8th. We’ll be married 34 years. Oh my! We’ve come a long way since then.

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.

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

Read An EBook Week

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The ebook site, Smashwords, is having a promotion. From today, March 2nd through March 8th, you can find free or steeply discounted ebooks to download. I’ve added my newest book, A New Start, to the promotion. For one week only, you can get the book FREE! Go here to see the catalog of free or nearly free books and search for A New Start by Connie Cockrell.

Feel free to pass the word on this excellent opportunity to acquire great reads for little or nothing.

Spotlight: Seleana Laurence: Hidden

I’m trying something new this week, a spotlight on another writer’s work. I haven’t done this before so let me know how you like it.

Many thanks to Brianna Soloski for this post info. Check out her blog GirlSeeksPlace at: http://girlseeksplace.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/spotlight-hidden-2/

I’ve personally read this book and it is well done. It’s on sale this week so go ahead and check it out!

HiddenTourButtonHIDDENcoverSynopsis: Nick Carlisle comes to Hawaii to hide—from what happened during his service in Afghanistan, from relationships, from his future. Lyndsey Anderson came to Hawaii to hide too—from the man who abused her, from the sacrifices she made, from her dark past. But when Nick meets Lyndsey, Hawaii gets a whole lot hotter, and they find they can’t hide their hearts. As Nick fights to come to terms with what he’s done, Lyndsey struggles to forgive herself for the choices she’s made. But when the dangerous past threatens the beautiful present, can they survive to learn how to love? And who will finally reveal what’s hidden?
Add Hidden on Goodreads.

SelenaLaurenceAuthor bio: I love to write romantic stuff that helps you get away. Life can be a grind, and things like jobs and school and dirty dishes make Jill a dull girl – and me too! So, I write Contemporary and New Adult romances about hot guys and smart girls and cool places. It’s an Escape from the Everyday.

Find Selena on:

Facebook    Goodreads     Twitter    Blog

Purchase links:

Amazon

Hidden is on sale for 99c this week only!