I’m going to start this by telling you, my dear readers, what you did for me. And then I share what we did for others.
Holiday Card recap, an Advent-ure Story Calendar, and a big donation! You guys rock.
????It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….????
Well, not really. We still have Halloween and American Thanksgiving to go. But in terms of planning ahead… It’s time again!
Every year, I offer to send Christmas cards to anyone who wants one. It’s been so much fun to send cards all over the world! But we’re doing the holiday cards a little differently this year, so please read about the new options.
Last year the number of people who requested a Christmas card quadrupled from the previous year. Quadrupled. I was honestly thrilled and delighted! But on the grinch-y pragmatic side, that was hundreds of dollars in postage, not to mention printing costs or the hours of signing cards. I regret nothing! but I should consider future costs.
That said, I don’t want to stop sending Christmas cards. I’ve heard from some of you how this might be one of only a few cards or even the only card to come in, making this one important, so we’re keeping the cards.
So how could I continue offering unlimited holiday cards, and maybe also offer something else special? After consideration, I came up with this idea, and I hope you like it. This year, you have three choices:
Holiday Cards! 2023 EditionJust a quick update!
I’ve just returned from the RealmMakers conference and awards banquet. Of the five short story finalists, two were mine! They were “Neon Green in D Minor,” a cyberpunk retelling of the Pied Piper fairy tale, and “Love My Neighbor,” a contemporary fantasy.
And “Love My Neighbor” won Best Short Story!
Best Short Story!
Plural titles can be tricky, because the correct phrasing will sound wrong if the listener doesn’t know it’s a title. But, to the point, a new book is out!
D-Dames is a collection of short stories about women with elemental magic in World War 2. These stories were written originally and separately for the elemental anthology series from Tyche Books and edited by Rhonda Parrish, but now they are collected for easy enjoyment together. And I’ve also added, through the power of ebook expansion, annotated versions!
(Ebooks are cool, because they’re kind of little Bags of Holding, able to hold a great deal more without increasing your shelf footprint or carrying weight.)
D-Dames is here! D-Dames are here? The book of D-Dames is here!
I self-publish, and I publish traditionally. My work may be read by one editor or a half dozen. I’ve read it myself 5 or 25 times before it goes to press. And still somehow a typo can occasionally slip through.
It doesn’t happen a lot; I work hard to put out clean manuscripts. But I recently found an error in a story I’d sold (published elsewhere), and then this week a glitch ate some layout code and spat up paragraph break errors among hundreds of pages, all of which must be found and fixed manually.
Sometimes it’s human error. Sometimes it’s software. It’s always frustrating, even if they’re generally uncommon. But one advantage of independent publishing over traditional is the ability to correct that stray typo sooner rather than later (or not at all).
Announcing the Typo Bounty Program! /perky kazoo music/
Typo Bounty Program!
Check your machine learning licenses. Even if you didn’t know you had granted one. Especially if you didn’t know you had granted one.
I have just been alerted by my narrator to a clause tucked into my Findaway Voices distribution agreement. It was the last bit of attached Schedule D, distribution policies about things like poor recording quality, hate speech, and [highly inappropriate behavior with animals and minors], and other categories I never expected to apply to our work, so I hadn’t seen it.
Authors & Publishers, check your machine learning licenses
If you’ve been around with me before, you know Giftmas is an annual charity fundraiser, and if you’re in a big hurry today, no worries — here’s the link to do good. If you’ve got some time, you can read my musings on light in darkness, too. Thanks!
Solstice. Festivals of Lights. The Christ Mass. Holiday lights. Winterlights.
Even with so many traditions among our eight billion global citizens, light in the darkness is a universal thread in mid-winter observances. There’s a reason we drape LEDs over anything that holds still (and some things that don’t) and spread glitter and sequins to reflect every photon from every facet. In the dark of winter, we celebrate the light.
It’s Giftmas Time Again! 2022I did a lot of advance planning before I went to Japan for November — but I forgot to set up my card collection form! So now we have to move fast. If you’d like a physical Christmas card from me, please enter your mailing address in this… Want a holiday card?
So, I’m not doing National Novel Writing Month this year, but I have an excuse.
This is the first time in…I dunno, a lot of years that I have not even started NaNo. This was a bit of a tough choice, because I like having a streak, but this was a year I knew I would not have the time to dedicate to word count. Not because there’s Thanksgiving or normal stuff, but for a Legit Reason.
I’m Not Doing NaNoWriMo, but for a good reason
Remember that fundraiser for needs in Eastern Europe? It’s wrapping up now!
If you donated to the fundraiser (or if you’re a Patreon supporter, which means you indirectly donated to the fundraiser), then the ebook is already in your Bookfunnel library. Just be sure to log in with the same email address you used!
The Moonblade