Dreamspinner Press -- 5th Anniversary Celebration

As part of DSP's fifth birthday, they're offering a 30 percent discount on selected authors. The first time it was authors who signed with them in their first year, the second those who signed in their second year, etc. As I was one to sign up with them in their third year, all of my ebooks are on sale. The special sale is now over for me, though DSP is still offering discounts on other fabulous authors!

I'm really sorry I haven't been around. I've been busy with my day job, which demands a lot of time and energy from me. But I'm still writing, slowly but surely, and I don't plan to stop.

Short and sweet.

Serena Yates wrote a nice little review for my novella, The Vampire Grinch. (Cool, right? I mean, this is Serena Yates we're talking about, author of the Celestial Justice series.) You can find it at Queer Magazine Online here. I wasn't expecting many (if any at all) reviews for this one, and that it's Serena Yates is pretty wicked -- I'm very grateful.

Because it's the holidays, I haven't really gotten any work done. I spent the past two weeks working on my best friend's Christmas present (remind me never to write a story for a friend, no matter how badly they beg for it). Now that I've finished, I don't really know what to do with myself. I'm back to working on a novel I started in 2009 -- it's been rewritten almost three times now and I haven't ever actually come close to finishing it. I'm still hopeful for it though. One of these days.

And I've also discovered the wonder that is litlift.com . It's a wonderful tool for keeping your story notes organized, and best of all -- it's free and you don't have to download anything. Heck, you don't even need an email address to sign up. I love it.

But that's all that's going on on my end. If I don't update this thing before the holidays are over, I hope anyone who reads this has a happy and safe holiday. :)

Yesterday, all of the stories written for the advent calendar went on sale separately. My novella, The Vampire Grinch can be purchased here for $3.99, for those interested who didn't purchase the advent calendar package as a whole. It's 80 pages long and features a very grumpy vampire, and his Christmas-loving human boyfriend.

The Vampire Grinch
Gavin’s always loved Christmas, but his boyfriend? Malcolm would rather be staked and beheaded, and since he’s a vampire, that’s saying something! Their quarrel threatens to make the holidays less than merry, but when they spend Christmas Eve apart, Malcolm starts thinking of reasons they should keep their Yule fire burning bright. 

 Buy it here on DSP! 

Or, if you're interested in buying the full advent calendar, you can pick that up here for $64.99.

Finally, an update:

I wish I could say that in the time I've spent not updating this blog, I've gotten a lot of work done. That would be a big fat lie, however. Unless, of course, you count playing video games and getting hooked on new TV shows as working.... Thought not.

Though I did spend a few days editing the short story that got accepted for Dreamspinner's advent calendar this year. I've seen a lot of writer's say that editing is their favorite thing to do when it comes to the writing process, but I find it to be a particularly grueling experience. I have a very strong personality, and I hate being shown instances where I'm wrong or need to fix something. Of course, the story ends up a lot better once my mistakes and plot holes are pointed out, but it's still exceedingly hard for me.

A few days ago, I got my galley proof. And it looks wonderful. I love the layout of the pages, and it never gets old seeing your work look all fancy and spiffed up. Now I'm just a little disappointed that it won't be out for another couple of months.

As for new stories... I'm working as hard as I can. My biggest problem is that I plot and outline a million different stories at once, and then I don't feel like writing any of them. I need to learn discipline, I suppose. I need to learn how to get rid of the distractions and get writing. I need a writer's boot camp.

Good News!

Okay, so I was without the internet for about a week, and it's amazing the things I can accomplish without the usual distractions (LiveJournal, Facebook games, anything but working). I've been doing a lot of planning and writing, and I'm pleased with the results. Maybe I'll have to start manually disabling my internet so as to get work done.

When my internet finally came back, I checked my inbox and discovered that the story I wrote for the DSP December advent calendar this year? It was accepted. I just finished signing the contract and I couldn't be happier. The story is as of yet untitled because I'm going out of my mind to try and come up with a good title, but I'm rolling ideas around. I've never been a part of an advent calendar -- I'm kind of excited.