Another Fate's Awakening Teaser!

Because you were all so lovely and my Facebook author page now has 300 "likes", here's the promised teaser from Fate's Awakening.  

Meet Jack.  Jack's had a rough night.  Why?  Well, that would be because of chapter one, and this teaser is from chapter two.  

I know...I'm evil.  

Insistent banging roused me from a deep sleep. As the world returned to me, I started to remember the strange dream I’d just had and sat straight up, heart pounding and head reeling. A quick look around told me I was safe in my bedroom in the apartment, fully clothed on top of my navy comforter. I glanced at my alarm clock; it was only nine in the morning, and unless I’d been in a coma, it was Saturday. Rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands, I winced when the knocking started up again. No, not even knocking. Door torture. Jesus Christ—how much had I had to drink? This was already shaping up to be one bitch of a hangover.

“Jack, are you in there?” Andy sounded like he was ready to take down the door.

Thoughts?  ;-)

xoxo Sarah

Ah, Facebook...

So, if you don't live under a rock, you know that Facebook went public.  And since they're publicly traded now, they've gone all "Oh shit, we need to get some revenue!" and started holding posts hostage for page owners.

For those who aren't familiar with how this works, if you have a Facebook page (like my author page, https://www.facebook.com/sarahallanauthor) people can "like" your page and get access to your posts and updates.  This is free, and great promotion.  I also love it because I can interact on a one-on-one level with my "fans" (it feels so weird to call them that, but whatever), and it's a lot of fun.  Please keep in mind that not everyone will see your page's posts on their newsfeed for whatever reason, be it that they simply ignore it, or it gets lost among the other posts, but on good days I reach 100+ of my 190 people's newsfeeds according to my FB stats (whether they see the post or not).  And no, I have no freaking idea how this works.  It could be magic fairies for all I know.

Anyway, Facebook decided to limit the number of people who can see your posts, which will force people to pay to have their posts reach a larger audience.  Using my page as an example, if I make a post without promoting it, only 19 of the 190 people who have "liked" the page will get the post on their newsfeed at all.  When most people don't see your post to begin with, why limit it to begin with?

Kind of a dick move if you ask me, Facebook...especially since not everyone sees my posts to begin with and your stock is tanking anyway.  But I digress.

This isn't a big deal if you're Victoria's Secret, or Wendy's, or Walmart, or any other big company starting with a letter at the end of the alphabet...they have big money to drop on promotions like this.  That's chump change for them.  But it can hurt the little guy.  I don't have the money to drop on something like this, even for big events like me promoting a book drop.

To help, make sure that if you've liked a page, make sure that the setting, "show in newsfeed" is checked off if you go under the "like" button.  It's the default setting, but it's good to make sure it's not changed.

What else can we do to take advantage of Facebook promotion without having to take out a mortgage or sacrifice a firstborn?  Any tried-and-true ideas?  Wildcards?  Anyone?

xoxo Sarah

"F" is for Facebook

Ah, Facebook.

We have a love-hate relationship, you and I.

You're a great way to stay in touch with friends and family from a distance; share photos, news, and experiences; plan trips; meet other like-minded people; and even network for business.  I've met some other amazing authors this way, and keep in touch with the writing community.

You're also a giant horrible time-suck.

This is what you do...

That black spot in the center? If you squint really hard, you can see me flailing around as I check my timeline to see what some crazy person I haven't talked to in years is complaining about (but won't unfriend because I'm a creepy stalker); sift through game requests for Blitzy Farm Mafia Words; scroll to see what my friends are doing and if it's more interesting than what I have going on; and laugh at people who forgot to log out, leave their computer on, and instead get "hacked," i.e. some enterprising friend finds their open page and and posts about their unsuspecting friend's undersized genitals.  

But, for sheer entertainment and connectivity value, you're mostly a good thing.  Like, 70%.  That's a C, Facebook.  A passing grade, at least. 

All of this said, I would be missing an opportunity to mention that I have a Facebook author fan page, and I'd love it if you'd stop on over and give me a "like."  I update on blog entries, things I'm writing, and writing news in general, and love to interact with you and read your posts.  There's a link on the right side-bar, but since I'm feeling generous today, here's the link.  https://www.facebook.com/sarahallanauthor

xoxo Sarah

I'm a lazy ass...

Well, it's almost been a month, so I figured I'd better put up an album of pictures from the RWA conference.  If anyone is interested, you can check them out on my FaceBook author's page, which can be found under the "Contact Me" section.

Or on the right side of the screen in the side bar.

Or here, because I'm feeling benevolent today.  http://www.facebook.com/sarahallanauthor 

Kindly click "like" when you check out my page, and I just might love you forever!

p.s. I promise that there is a Pt. 4 to my RWA posts...I've been a lazy ass about getting that out, too.  Keep your pants on...it'll be up this week.  I think.

xoxo Sarah

Hold on, one more...

Two posts in one day?  What's gotten into me?!

Don't get too used to it, ladies and gents.  I don't have to be Ms. Cleo to know that a move will be in my very near future, and that will become an even bigger timesuck than it has been so far.  My hope is that Husband will be back to shoulder some of the stress.  Love you, honey.

I didn't want to squash this little post in with one of my RWA conference posts which are a bit wordy on their own, so I thought I'd do a completely separate one.

My critique partner, Shelley, has a new blog up!  I'd appreciate it if you took a few minutes to check it out, and to give her a follow.

In other news, I also wanted to pimp out a giveaway by another lovely lady, author Susan Kaye Quinn.  Her first novel, Life, Liberty, and Persuit, has been out for a while, and as a thank you to people with family members in the military, she wanted to say "thank you!"  The details of the giveaway can be found here, on her guest post on Lisa Sanchez's blog.  If you qualify for the giveaway, don't forget to comment on their blog so they enter you in the random drawing.

Hmm.  I think that's almost it for now.  Two little reminders:  as of very recently, I can be found on Facebook, so please stop by and give me a "like."   It's been giving me a little trouble this afternoon, and I can't see anything I've posted, but I hope that gets corrected soon.  I also joined Goodreads, and I'd love to see what you're reading and recommend, so send me a friend request over there, too!

xoxo Sarah

WAHOO! A couple of hurdles down...

My new BFF.

Okay, I know I've been MIA, but I've had good reason.  We've (really, I've) been busy trying to sell our house (no takers yet...) and have spent my valuable free time making nice with my vacuum and Swiffer rather than blogging.  Believe me, I'd rather be blogging...cleaning is waaaay down on my list of ways I'd like to kill a few hours.

In an effort to get my act together before the RWA 2011 conference at the end of June in New York City, I've been hacking away at my writing-related "To Do" list, which included bullet points such as, "make website," and "make a Facebook author fan page".  Both of these were enough to give me hives (not really, only in the figurative sense...I remain itch-free), because I, (1), have no experience building anything web-related besides this blog, which still took me about 6 solid hours and an awful lot of loud expletives to set up in the first place, and (2) while I am not hesitant about promoting my own stories and work and have even fewer qualms about promoting other people's, I always feel weird when I'm pushing myself.  Even worse was the designation "fan page," which made me feel kind of fake, especially since I don't have anything published yet.  But, not one to turn down something to make inviting people to check out my page easier, I invited my whole FB friend list, but still felt it was like, "Hey, "LIKE" my page, even though you have no idea if I'm good at what I do!"   I mean, I'm assuming I am...I've had good feedback so far on my works in progress, but it still felt awkward.  This is something I'll definitely have to get over if I'm ever going to successfully promote both myself and my work.

So, here goes.  *Warning! Brief Shameless Self-Promotion Ahead!*

Check out my Facebook author page here, on which I will try my best to interact with you all and post updates, teasers (when I have more written), and links to these blog posts for your enjoyment.  Please click "Like" once you get on the page.  My fragile self-esteem depends on it.

Also, I did manage to make a website.  It actually came out pretty good, but it still says it's under construction because, let's face it, I probably forgot something major on there and will catch it in the next week or so.  But all the links on the left work and go somewhere, so check it out and kindly leave me some feedback on it here or on Twitter if you get a chance.

Aaaaaand for good measure, follow me on Twitter!

***End Shameless Self-Promotion***

Okay,  moving on.  One more hurdle I've jumped recently (since my last blog post, anyway) is that I crossed the 10,000 word-count mark on my novella, The Curse!  While the number itself isn't really significant and I still have at least another 10,000 words to go if the story gives me that much, just moving into the realm of five digits makes me feel better psychologically, like, "I can do this!"  When I tipped over that word count, I felt like dancing like Sue and Mr. Shue.

Well, that's about it for today.  Time to get some quality writing in.

As a side note to my American readers, please take time to enjoy your family and friends this Memorial Day weekend, but also remember the men and women in uniform who served bravely and are no longer with us.

xoxo Sarah

Titles and Such...

What's this?  A post?  Yes!  I have returned.  Sorry for my absence, even though it was only about a week.  I needed a sanity break to get myself back together after the A-Z Challenge, and I also wanted to take some time to get back into the mind of Jack, my protagonist in The Curse.  Want to know a little more?  Click above on "Novellas and Short Stories."  I'll add more in the future.  Our home is also on the market, as if I needed MORE stress.

Anyway, back to what I wanted to talk about.  Just so you know, I'll probably post something on this again when I actually have something ready to publish, but a little Amazon link recently found its way over to me on Facebook, and I couldn't stop smiling when I read the title.

Go the F**k to Sleep.


Yes, this is real.  Click on the title above for the link to the awesomeness.

A friend posted a link to this not-yet published "children's" book (I use the term very, very loosely, because it should be obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense that it's meant for the parents, not the kid) that's available for pre-order.  And, even though I don't have kids, just based on the title alone, I may be tempted to buy it.

What makes the title good?  Well, it's unexpected, for one. No one expects profanity in a "children's" book, much less the "F" word.  It also plays on the mildly taboo factor that, *gasp*, child-rearing isn't all bunnies, unicorns, rainbows and feetie pajamas.  No, sometimes parents want to have some time to themselves, and all they want is for their kid to, well, you know...this.  Just based on the title, I want to know more.  What the hell did this guy even write about?  Are the tigers on the cover going to wake up and eat the kid for breakfast?  Just from looking at the cover, I'm all kinds of curious.

Oh, and I tweeted the link out on Twitter late last week, and everyone who commented loved the title.  One writer even tweeted back that she (I'm paraphrasing), "Has said that title every single night for the past few years."  

My erotic novella is tentatively titled The Curse, but I have already resigned myself to the fact that it will likely be retitled if accepted for publication somewhere, likely by someone who knows better what will help the book sell, and hopefully to be given an awesome title like this one.  And what I mean by that is one that will grab your attention and make you want to buy the book, sight unseen (or pages unflipped.)  

Thoughts on titles? The book? Life in general? Want to buy a house?  Tell me!

xoxo Sarah

Bonus post! This rant brought to you by the letter "E"

Okay, not to go all Ranty McRantypants on you, but one thing (okay, a few things, really) that sets me off is bullying.  This is for a variety of reasons that I'm not going into, but here's what's up.

You all probably remember that my "E" entry was for "Erotica," right?  If you haven't read it, click here.  Okay, so you know writing smexy stories isn't anything to be ashamed of, but apparently, normal people aren't supposed to do that, or they get crucified in the media.

Here's the article: http://snydercounty.wnep.com/news/news/parents-english-teacher-writes-racy-novels/58743

In a nutshell, Judy Buranich has been a high school English teacher for 25 years in Pennsylvania.  She's also an author of erotic romance (again, read my "E" entry) with Ellora's Cave under the name Judy Mays.  One of her students' parents "somehow" came across her on the internet, and "outed" her to the community, calling what she does "disgusting."  This seasoned educator, who, by the way, is even called a "good teacher" in the article, could be in danger of losing her job for something that is no one's business but her own.

I am disgusted that they're even calling this news.  For one, what Judy does in her off hours and own time is her business.  She's not hurting anyone, and her ability to teach her students is unaffected.  So, where's the issue?  Are teachers supposed to be held to the ideal that they live at the school, live for their jobs, are chaste and virginal and don't have lives?  Apparently so.  It's not like she was teaching from her novels, or cranking out sex scenes on her laptop while her students were writing essays on The Scarlet Letter.  It's obvious she wanted to keep her writing separate from her school teaching, because she used a pseudonym.  Guess there's no need for that anymore.

But what I truly find "disgusting," to use the naive Ms. Apple's word, is that she and these other people have started a witch hunt and targeted a productive, well-liked member of their community.  Where I come from, that's called "bullying."  Clearly Apple and Co. want this woman out of their school system for whatever reason.  And if Ms. Apple thinks this is her 15 year old son's (I'm guessing on his age...Judy teaches 10th grade) first exposure to sex, she really needs a wake-up call.  I highly doubt he believes the stork story anymore, lady, and if he does, he's as delusional as you are.  You might want to start with, "When two people love each other very much..." and go from there.

Also, turn this around a bit.  Picture this same scenario, only the teacher is man, and he writes horror novels.  I have a feeling this news story would have been a "spotlight on a local author who also teaches at our high school" instead.  And that's sad.  

Now for what is good about the situation.  One, most of the comments in the comment section of the news article are in favor of Judy, as are the comments on WNEP 16s Facbook page.  Many comments point out common sense things that should have occurred to the people writing this drivel in the first place. Feel free to "like" them (more of a "dislike" for me, really, but there is no button for that), and comment as well.

Without good English teachers, you get shitty signs like this.

I've also heard that Judy's book sales have picked up, which is awesome, because she (possibly) might be out of a job she's had and loved for 25 years thanks to some nosy, naive busybodies.  And that's the nicest possible thing I could have called them.

If you're interested, here's the link to Judy Mays' author page.  Go buy her books and celebrate the written word, whatever its form.  http://www.jasminejade.com/m-114-judy-mays.aspx

Thoughts?

**Little extra note: I just discovered that WNEP actually DELETED all of the comments, which were mainly in support of Judy.  Interesting... **

Now, back to your regularly scheduled A-Z programming.

xoxo Sarah

"W" is for Words With Friends

Seriously?  She's writing an A-Z challenge entry about an iPhone/Android app?

Yep.

Bear with me.

Words With Friends.  After watching people tweet for the past month or so and keep mentioning this app, I had to see what it was.  From what I could gather, it was basically Scrabble, but you could play with anyone online.  I was right; you can even link the game to your Facebook profile and find friends to play with that way, too.

As a kid, I really enjoyed playing Scrabble.  Everything about it was awesome for someone who loved to read and write: I could show off my impressive vocabulary, expand said vocabulary, and even show up the adults around me.  

I think the only thing I hated was how the tiles would always be off-center whenever anyone bumped the board, setting off the OCD anal retentiveness in me that insisted that I played better when they were lined up.  This unfortunate aspect of playing was corrected in later versions of the game where the board had a grid-like pattern of ridges on it to hold the tiles in place.

Obviously you don't have to worry about your tiles being knocked all over the place with Words With Friends, but all the positives apply. As a writer, it's fun to see what you can make from the random letters you're given.  Will it be a simple word?  Something no one knows the meaning of?  For the record, the game doesn't accept proper nouns or gibberish words, and will tell you it's not valid if you try.  Strategy, too.  Will you try for more points using a small word to hit that triple word score, or use up more letters to get new ones on a longer one?

I love the connection aspect of it.  You can play with people you haven't seen in forever, or who don't live anywhere near you.  I have four games going on now, including one with a lovely writer friend who lives in Australia.  How amazing is that?  My husband compared it to when people used to play chess over the mail, sending their moves to each other.  I think that's an apt comparison, especially if you only check the game once or twice a day.

Do you play Words With Friends or Scrabble?  What are your favorite parts?

xoxo Sarah

"I" is for Internet

For my "I" post for the A-Z Blogging Challenge, I am paying homage to something I have a love/hate relationship with.

The internet.

There's a quote floating around (and an accurate one, at that) that says, "Writing is 3% talent and 97% not being distracted by the internet."  I would give credit for whoever said it, but I've seen it on Twitter from about fifteen different people, so too bad.

But it's true.  The internet is a funny thing.  It's a powerful writing tool.  I can do research, look up publishing houses and agent information, find pictures for inspiration for my characters, find a geographical location for a setting, and get the correct spelling of words I should already know.

I can also screw around on Facebook, window shop on Amazon, sell my crap on eBay, download music on iTunes, check what Kim Kardashian is up to on Perez Hilton, look up awesome pictures to use for my blog posts (c'mon, you guys have seen the hilarity), and tweet until my fingers fall off.

Yeah.

That leads to a very productive day.

*snort*

Of course I do all those things...but, I've learned that sometimes I need to remove myself.  I will often pack my work up, laptop and all, and head to the nice library in the neighboring town.  Sure, they have free WiFi, but having to keep it to a dull roar minimizes my urge to watch silly videos on YouTube and actually get writing done.  Because, quite frankly, if I didn't have some measure of self-control, I'd never get anything completed.  And my goal is to be a professional writer, not a professional internet surfer; though, if there was money in that, I might give it a shot.

I know some of you are wondering why I don't use a typewriter or hand-write more things.  The answer is that I like instant gratification, and little patience for typewriters.  Also, if you've seen my handwriting, you'd probably insist that I not be allowed to use a pen ever again.  My husband tells me I need a translator, and recently I've taken to re-tracing notes I've made to figure out what some of the words are supposed to be.  It's faster for me to use a computer, trust me on that one.

What is your strategy to avoid the distraction of the internet?

xoxo Sarah

"H" is for Homonym

My "H" for the A-Z Blogging Challenge is the incredibly frightening and often abused homonym.

Why are people afraid of them, and why are they abused?  Because a lot of people don't know what homonyms are.  So, I'll tell you.  Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings, but they can be broken down even more into two categories: Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, and homophones are words that sound the same when you pronounce them but have different meanings.

Why am I prepared to rant about homonyms?  Because Facebook is making me.  I'm totally serious.  You have no idea how many people's posts I come across who use these words incorrectly, among many, many others.  It makes me ragey.

Anyway, homonyms cause a lot of confusion, even with basic writing.  Mistakes I see often, even with adults, involve the improper use of "they're" (contraction of "they are"), "there" (shows location), and "their" (shows possession).  Or "your" (shows possession) and "you're" (contraction of "you are").  Or even "two" (the number), "to" (expressing motion or location), and "too" (in addition).

So, for the love of Jesus on a Velociraptor, don't post something like this on your friend's Facebook wall: "Is the party at you're house or there house?" **FACEPUNCH**


And the next time I see a line like, "He put his hands around my waste," I certainly hope the writer meant something like this ----->

....and NOT something that will make me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon.  Because, as this freaked-out cat will attest, what has been seen cannot be unseen.  Or unread.  And I'd tell that guy to keep his disgusting hands off of my waste.






Other popular homonyms include tail/tale, toe/tow, week/weak, reel/real, pail/pale, made/maid, bear/bare, and even right/write.  Before you leave me an awesome comment, scroll up and take a look at the title of this blog.  And yes, I did that on purpose.  I had to come up with a title and didn't have time to waste/waist.

xoxo Sarah

"B" is for Blog

Sorry for the lame title for this post, but continuing on with the A-Z Blogging Challenge, I wanted to do an entry on what I'm doing right now.

Literally.

Blogging.

It boggles my mind.

I have a blog...

And people are reading it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, cat. I'm shocked, too.

I've been blogging about my experiences as an aspiring author for less than a month, and it still seems strange to me.  I never thought I'd have a blog.  None of my hobbies are so incredibly fascinating that I needed to share them with everyone: I like to read; exercise; spend time with my husband, friends, and cats; shop.  And it seemed like all the good blog ideas were either too much trouble or already taken - I wasn't about to maroon myself on a deserted island that magically had WiFi and talk about my sunburn, and though I love to cook, I didn't have an urge to work my way through Julia Child's cookbook over the course of a year...

Anyway, it wasn't until I made the conscious decision to get myself published that I realized I had no idea how to market myself, and when I did start to give it some thought, it became clear that I didn't even know where to begin.  Part of it was that I wasn't thinking like a 21st century author.  My brain was still stuck in the literary dark ages.  Obviously, back in the day, Charles Dickens wouldn't be posting YouTube book trailers for A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist on his blog and Facebook, then taking to his Twitter account and tweeting the links so a wide a range of people could see them.  If the "greats" didn't use this newfangled "blog" thing, what good would it do me?

I had to see it in action.

The whole blogging process didn't even begin to seem like a good idea until some friends I'd met in the writing community (the lovely Jennifer DeLucy and Laura Kaye, among others) began finishing their own manuscripts and chronicling their journeys to publication on their own blogs.  I found myself reading them, and, more importantly, I found myself identifying with a lot of what they were posting about.

It was then that it hit me: Blogging would allow me to find others like myself who were in similar situations.  Other newbie word-smiths who were struggling to make their word counts, send queries to agents and publishers, getting rejections, receiving acceptances...I could learn from them, and they could learn from me.  The realization that blogging could be something other than an elaborate online diary overcame me with the fierce intensity of teenage girls chasing after Justin Bieber.


This, I could do.

Blogging about my own experiences as a fledgling writer could help me reach out to others and give them access to me as well, not to mention gaining some perspective on what was happening in my own writer-world.  I can't imagine that Charles Dickens had a large group of fellow authors he could contact and learn from, and not only because life expectancy was pretty low at the time. Distance, lack of an invention called the "telephone" (which wouldn't be around until the late 1870's), and language barriers...I'll bet Dickens had to deal with all that, just to find some like-minded souls.  Even though he lived abroad for a while and even visited America, for all intents and purposes, if a writer wasn't in England within a reasonable distance from him, he wasn't going to meet them.

I'd like to imagine that he would have blogged.

Still, I dug my heels in and didn't start one until recently.  Why?  I don't really know.  But now my eyes are open, and I'm prepared to embrace blogging for the amazing tool that it is: a record of struggles, highlights, connections, kudos, rants, promotion and information.

Because I wanted to keep this entry relatively short, I did want to mention that blogging is also a wonderful medium to use to connect to people who might be interested in your work...either future readers, agents, or even publishers.  Not to mention Twitter, Facebook, and websites, but perhaps we'll save those for another day.

xoxo Sarah