Tag: little paranoias

Books Deals for #SelfDistancing: Free and Cheap Reads from the Horror Community!

COVID-19 is on everyone’s minds. I hope that all of you are safe, healthy, and taking measures to ensure the continued health of yourself and your community!

My husband and I are self-distancing as best we can. I won’t lie, it’s been tough during the weekend. We usually like to go out at least for meals. But, we’re staying in for the near future.

Staying in means having a lot of reading time. A lot of us authors are offering discounts on our books — including freebies! Check out some deals on my books below:

Several other authors are also offering deals, and other blog posts have done a great job collecting them. So, I will link to those below:

Stay safe, everyone; and thanks for reading.

Giving Tuesday Special: Buy a Book, Give $1 to DC Central Kitchen!

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to giving to your favorite nonprofit(s). I love this day, and love the focus on charity in a week otherwise dedicated to buying and spending.

In honor of Giving Tuesday, I’m running a special promotion: for every copy of any of my books sold today, December 3, I will donate $1 to DC Central Kitchen.

DCCK is a local community kitchen which trains jobless adults in food prep and service. They hire several of their volunteers for full-time work and train many more for careers in the food service industry. They also provide meals for homeless shelters, schools, and nonprofits. Learn more about DC Central Kitchen here.

I also have an extra special component: for every copy of Please Give purchased, I will donate $2 to DCCK!

Art by Doug Puller
Purchase Please Give on Amazon.

Please Give takes place at a fictional anti-hunger nonprofit in D.C. It follows Beth Harmon, a 28-year-old woman whose dreams of working for the greater good clash with both her hectic office environment and her own struggles with anxiety. It’s my first novel, and both a funny and sobering take on what it means to follow your passion into the workforce.

While Please Give has an extra match amount, all of my books — including Without Condition and Little Paranoias: Stories — are eligible for the match.

If you want to read any of my books — or even if you just want to pick up a copy for charity — now is a great chance to do so. This donation match is only good through December 3.

Purchase a book today and $1 — or more! — will go to DC Central Kitchen.

Thanks, and happy Giving Tuesday.

A Halloween Whirlwind

A whirlwind. That’s what it’s felt like since the release of Little Paranoias: Stories. But like Pecos Bill, I’m here to ride the storm!

First, I want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who preordered, purchased, read, reviewed, and/or promoted Little Paranoias this past week. It’s been amazing and I love seeing what all of you thought!

And if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can find it in ebook and paperback on Amazon.

Within the whirlwind, though, were a few pieces that I wanted to make sure all of you saw. Check out the list below to see interviews, news, and some new stories!

As you can see, I’ve been all over the place; but it’s all been worth it. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I plan to keep at it on Book #3.

Thanks for reading!

Out Now: “Little Paranoias: Stories”

I’m excited to let you all know that Little Paranoias: Stories is now available in ebook and paperback!

little-paranoias-cover-front
Art by Doug Puller.

About the collection:

Is it a knock on the door, or a gust of wind? A trick of the light, or someone who’ll see what you’ve done?

Little Paranoias: Stories features twenty tales of the little things that drive our deepest fears. It tells the stories of terror and sorrow, lust at the end of the world and death as an unwanted second chance. It dives into the darkest corners of the minds of men, women, and children. It wanders into the forest and touches every corner of the capital. Everyone has something to fear — but after all, it’s those little paranoias that drive our day-to-day.

I’m excited to release this collection, which has been in the making for over a year. I hope you like it!

Order your copy today!

Thanks for reading, everyone.

Progress Report: Winding Down for Fall

My summer was busy. There were a few personal upheavals, and writing projects seemed to begin and end in a constant infinity loop. Fall is fast approaching, and with it is a desire to calm down a little. Let’s just hope my life gets the memo!

Most of the summer has been spent working on my next novel and putting the finishing touches on Little Paranoias: Stories. The latter seems to finally be done on my end, at least in terms of pre-release prep. Review copies are out, and I’ve made all the final corrections and gotten them back from Doug.

Little Paranoias: Stories will be out in ebook and paperback on October 22 — and you can preorder the ebook right now! Yay!

Ahead of the release, though, you’ll see ARCs (advance review copies) in the wild on social media. I’ve been loving pictures of reviewers taking selfies with the book and its amazing skull illustration. I’ve shared several on my own Instagram page (I’d embed them directly here, but WordPress isn’t reading the embed code correctly, boo).

The collection also received its first review on Goodreads: 4 out of 5 stars from reviewer Valerie Dorsey! Give her review a read, and don’t forget to shelve Little Paranoias: Stories on Goodreads if you haven’t done so.

With pre-release prep out of the way, I’m turning my focus back to Seeing Things, my third novel. As with any new writing project, I’m having to force myself to sit down and work on it, which has been hard given how hard this past summer has been. Since the end of August, though, I’ve been feeling a slow sense of calming down in the air and in my soul. While I’m hoping that extends to my sense of well-being in general, I also hope it will give me the patience to see this new story through.

Happy fall, everyone.

Preorder “Little Paranoias: Stories” Today!

My next short story collection, Little Paranoias, is now available for preorder! You can preorder the ebook on Amazon ahead of its release on October 22.

little-paranoias-cover-front

About the collection:

Is it a knock on the door, or a gust of wind? A trick of the light, or someone who’ll see what you’ve done?

Little Paranoias: Stories features twenty tales of the little things that drive our deepest fears. It tells the stories of terror and sorrow, lust at the end of the world and death as an unwanted second chance. It dives into the darkest corners of the minds of men, women, and children. It wanders into the forest and touches every corner of the capital. Everyone has something to fear — but after all, it’s those little paranoias that drive our day-to-day.

Little Paranoias features 20 short stories, flash pieces, and poems. It will be out October 22, just in time for Halloween.

Preorder your Kindle copy today!

Thanks for reading, everyone.

Progress Report: Plugging Away

If anyone’s working on their first book and wondering if each subsequent book gets easier to write, I’m here to tell you now that this is not true.

I almost couldn’t stop writing my first book, Please Give. I slowed down on Without Condition. Now, I’m on Book #3 — tentatively called Seeing Things — and I’m typing more slowly than molasses moving uphill on a cold day. Some days are faster. For instance, I wrote over 1200 words the other day (woot!). But other days, I’m lucky to write a paragraph; and I’ll only do it after I’ve exhausted my social media loop of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

But, it’s being written; which is better than the alternative. The words are coming a little faster now that I’m getting closer to the meat of the plot. I’ll be taking a break from it once I get Little Paranoias back from Evelyn with her edits, but when that happens, it’ll be good to have a nice foundation to return to and give my undivided attention.

Speaking of Little Paranoias, it’s out for edits, as I mentioned above. I’ve been working on other parts of the book, namely the back cover description. I write my own descriptions (which Evelyn reviews as well. Cardinal rule of self-publishing: always have someone else review something you’re putting together yourself, even things like the back cover description), and let me tell you, they’re hard! You don’t want to give too much away, but you also don’t want it to be too vague. Short story collections can be especially tough, since you need to pick and choose which elements you want to highlight.

I’ve been working on a few short stories as well, though I’m trying to keep my focus on Seeing Things. I submitted a poem and a short story to two different journals for consideration, and entered my Pi Day tale, “Crust,” in a contest (read it here). I also discovered a call for submission for a Penny Dreadful issue of a horror journal. Each story has to be 19 words exactly. That was a fun challenge to partake in, and I hope at least one of the five stories I submitted is accepted.

I will keep all of you posted on these pieces as they come together (heh). Have a great week!

Cover Reveal: Little Paranoias

I’m happy and proud to share the final cover for my upcoming collection, Little Paranoias: Stories!

Little Paranoias. Art by Doug Puller
Art by Doug Puller.

The cover was illustrated by Doug Puller, who drew the covers for my past four releases. Once again, he’s done an amazing job. Look closely, and you’ll spot lines from the stories within!

Little Paranoias is my third short story collection. It will feature 20 short stories, flash fiction pieces, and poems.

The collection will be out October 22, 2019 — just in time for Halloween.

Thanks for reading!

Busy Bee for Spring

One thing I don’t want this blog to ever become is a string of posts promising to write more. I figure, if there’s a prolonged period where I don’t have much to add, I’ll let the blog sit and hope that people see me tweeting or Instagramming to see what I’m up to. Of course, on Twitter and Instagram, I’m usually talking about hockey or terrifying beauty rituals if I’m not talking about writing.

That said, I realize it’s been a minute since I’ve posted; and I wanted to check in, especially since I already recapped a prolonged absence following the release of Without Condition. This time, my absence hasn’t been because of writing. I have some exciting things going on in my personal life, which I’ll talk about more once those pieces are in place; but I can assure you that they’re all good!

In between the hubbub, though, I’m doing some writing. I’m working on a piece for a food horror call for submission. Sadly, this call for submission doesn’t accept flash — otherwise, I’d totally submit Crust (which you should read if you haven’t yet!).

I’m also letting Little Paranoias sit before giving it one full read-through. I plan to send it to Evelyn for editing in June, and in the meantime, I’ve started working with Doug on what the cover will look like.

I’m a busy bee this spring, and I’m grateful for the energy warm weather gives me to juggle it all. In between new projects coming out soon, I hope you’ll pick up one or two of my books to read if you haven’t done so — I have four to choose from!

Happy reading, everyone.

Progress Report: A First Draft of “Little Paranoias” is Complete!

We have a first draft! We have a first draft! *throws confetti*

“Little Paranoias: Stories” is my next short story collection. It’s not like my previous short story collections, though; which are both very short — four stories apiece. “Little Paranoias” will have twenty pieces: five short stories, twelve flash fiction stories, and three poems.

“Little Paranoias” is also unique in that I came up with the title long before I knew which stories I wanted to write and collect for the book. I didn’t even have a story called “Little Paranoias.” The title came to me and wouldn’t go away. It ended up becoming a small, four-line poem that will open the collection.

The collection will feature a mix of both new, never-before-published stories; and pieces previously published in ezines and anthologies — including my work that has appeared in The Sirens Call, and “Hearts are Just ‘Likes,'” my short story featured in Camden Park Press’ “Quoth the Raven.”

Right now, I anticipate publishing the collection in early December. In the meantime, the book is already listed on Goodreads — please add it to your shelves!

I can’t wait to share this next collection with you. Watch this space for more updates, including the cover and a final table of contents.