The Underrated Treasures Blogfest

The day is here! The Underrated Treasures Blogfest is being hosted by Alex Cavanaugh, Tell the world about a little-known band or artist, book, movie or TV show.

As to my underrated treasure - Shinehead is an artist who was somewhat popular in the 80's. He's Jamaican by birth, but has lived in the United States for most of his life. He's quite talented—raps, sings (very well) and deejays, but never made it big over the duration of his career. Not sure what he's doing with himself now, but here are a couple of my favourites from him.

 

Which band or artist is listed among your obscure treasures?

Remember to prepare those entries for submission to the IWSG book. A word of caution—in the event that you plan to use quotes by authors, do your best to paraphrase in the interest of avoiding copyright infringement issues. Interested in submitting? Go here for the details.

 

Have fun on the hop and do have a look in the side bar. My tour and hop are mighty lonely!

IWSG Anniversary & Compilation

It's that time again when we share our insecurities and support each other through those writing blahs. Do ensure you visit writers you haven't visited before and offer support in the IWSG spirit.

To join the group, click through to this link and sign up. Posting is on the first Wednesday of every month. Try to visit as may new blogs as possible to spread some cheer and encouragement.

Captain Alex's co-hosts today are Laura at My Baffling Brain, Mark Koopmans, Shah Wharton, and Sheena-Kay Graham!

A Special Announcement

Today marks three years since the very first IWSG post. Next month marks one year since the IWSG site and Facebook group opened. And we’d like you to help us celebrate!

The IWSG Team is putting together an eBook that will benefit all writers - The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond. And we invite all IWSG members, Facebook members, and followers to contribute.

Here are the details:

The three topics will be writing, publishing, and marketing.

Each contribution needs to be between 200 and 1000 words. Focus on one of those three aspects and give us your best tip or procedure. The essay can include bullet points, top ten lists, and recommendations. (Websites, software, books, etc.)

You can either post it for your October 1 IWSG post or email it directly to TheIWSG@gmail.com or alexjcavanaugh@earthlink.net (Since the length can go over the standard IWSG post length.) Include a one sentence byline and a link to your site. Also state that you give us permission to use it in the book and which topic it falls under. (We will only edit for misspellings and grammar mistakes.)

All submissions need to be sent or posted by October 2, 2014. We will compile them into an eBook and aim for an early December release. The book will be free and available for all eReaders.

Thank you for making the IWSG such a huge success!!

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13/

As to my own insecurity, I've realized that although I've cut back on my working hours, I'm still not putting enough time into my writing. My aim for September is to be more focused and get more done. What plans do you have for September to keep the writing going?

Release Your Insecurities Through IWSG

Today is the day we share our insecurities and release our fears, knowing we have a wonderful source of support in the writing community. Yes it’s the Insecure Writer’s Support Group posting day.  See the list of bloggers here. 

Today, Captain Alex’s able assistants on tour duty will be Julie Flanders, Heather Gardner, Kim Van Sickler, and Elsie is Writing.

 

And now for my bit of insecurity...

Most of the time, my book titles come to me along with the storyline. It makes life easy since I can work around the title and accompanying theme, knowing where I’m going with the story. I’ve hit a snag though, I’ve written a story and although I’ve crafted it around the title, I’m not 100% sure the title is 100% right. Trouble is, I don’t have a lot of time to decide. What lessons have I learned from this dilemma?

1. Plan way in advance. Whatever I think is early, I should start planning before that.

2. Be organized so that I can take advantage of opportunities when they crop up.

3. Stop stressing over the things I can’t change.

4. Stop setting unrealistic deadlines.

5. Stop looking at the things I have to do as an insurmountable whole (like that business plan I’m supposed to be writing) and do a little each day.

6.  Look at promotion as an opportunity to share my work and avoid drawing the analogy of a peanut vendor at a New Year’s Eve Ball, which paralyzes me into doing and sharing nothing.

That said, having got the rights back on this one, the updated version of Contraband is here. See new cover below, complete with hottie. If you like action, adventure and romance, you should at least download a sample of Contraband from Amazon. 

Thanks so, so much to all of you who helped me decide on the cover. I have more news to come, but since I got through my shameless bit of self-promotion, I’ll save it that ’til next week. Baby steps, you know?

And now for some exciting news. Drumroll please.

There’s an IWSG contest on! All you have to do is help spread the word about the group in some way—whether by tweeting, sharing on Google+ or Facebook or via a blog post.

There are two exciting prize packages so hop on over to the main site at IWSG and get all the details. Remember to follow by GFC if you haven’t already. Let’s share the love and spread the word and make Captain Alex’s vision a wonderful reality. To hop to the site, click here.

What are your fears? Care to share and release them? Make sure to enter the contest.

Did I Notice Your Book?

Today, I’m taking part in the Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest, hosted by Ciara Knight and Alex Cavanaugh.We're supposed to highlight books that catch our eyes, and we can't tell the author we've featured their book. 

I’ve seen the book cover below a time or three on the blogging circuit and something about it draws the eye. The effect of the light and colours are fascinating and the swirls hint at magic. Can you tell I haven’t grown up yet?

When I came across it again a few days ago, I was sure I wanted to feature it as my cover of choice. It popped up today on another blog I visited, almost like a sign. 

Now all the covers on the books written by Rachel Morgan are eye-catching and there are several of them - Guardian, Labyrinth, Traitor and Masquerade. These novelettes have all been captured in The Faerie Guardian. 

The Faerie Guardian will be released on November 5, 2012. Check it out on Goodreads. 

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until a cute human boy who can somehow see through her faerie glamour follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? Not when you factor in evil faeries, long-lost family members, and inconvenient feelings of the romantic kind. Vi is about to find herself tangled up in a dangerous plot—and it’ll take all her training to get out of it alive.

Tweet this post to spread the word on Rachel's novel!