So Many Things To Tell You!!

Man - I really do have SO many things to tell you. Having been on holiday with my family, it's been challenging to stay on top of all my writing stuff. But many things have been going on in the background and I want to tell you about them.

Firstly - The Elements Trilogy is nearly complete!! This is a big month - Unleashed will be published on Thursday 8th. On Friday 23rd and there will be Facebook Party run by Mrs Potter's Publicity Services to celebrate. If you'd like to join in, you can follow this link - The Trilogy Is Complete Release Party! There will be a bunch of prizes and competitions going on.

To celebrate the completion of the trilogy this month, I am running a sale on Unknown. You can pick up a copy of the book for only 99c! Unknown on Amazon.

There is also a Blog Tour scheduled for September. If you'd like to be a part of it, you can sign up here.
ATOMR - The Elements Trilogy Blog Tour.

And if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, here is The Elements Trilogy Book Trailer.

*****

In other news, I have started work on Before (a novella prequel to Betwixt). I am having SO much fun hanging out with Dale again. I really do love him. Keep an eye out for a cover reveal later this month and an announcement of the release date.

And finally, I'd like to highlight Indies Unlimited latest book - First Chapters. For only 99c you can grab a sampler book filled with new authors to discover. I've bought myself a copy and am really enjoying reading the first few chapters off all these books and adding a bunch of new reads to my TBR list.

Good Stuff To Know

Welcome to the March edition of Good Stuff To Know.

Because I've been holed up in my writing cave over the last few weeks, I haven't found as many articles as I usually do, but I still found some I'd really like to share.

My favourite article this month is by Mark Coker. He shared his opinion on the 5 Steps to Boost E-book Sales. I totally agreed with his opinions and thought it was an excellent post... well worth reading.

In no way am I a Twitter genius, so when I found this article - Top 10 Ways To Create Hashtags on Twitter - I jumped all over it. There are some good points here. I haven't put them into practice yet, but I plan to.

I wrote an article on Indies Unlimited last month sharing about how important I think it is to write the stories inside you and not just follow the trends of publishing. Bookshelf Muse published a similar post some time ago now. Because I think theirs was far better written, I'm going to share their version of the same message :-D Lengthening the Chain

And lastly - I have just started reading an excellent book that my friend recommended to me. Thanks Leigh K. Hunt!! 2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron. I'm only half way through it, but the author is making a lot of sense. Her advice is really easy to implement and I tried out one strategy yesterday with much success. For only $0.99, I'd say this book is definitely worth having on your e-reader.

That's me for March. Do you have any helpful tips or articles you've discovered? Feel free to share them in the comments section.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Stuff To Know

Once again, I have accumulated a bunch of awesome stuff to share with you :)

I found a great post on How To Tweet So People Will Listen by Nina Badzin. It included some great, easy to follow, tips on how to use Twitter more effectively.

I read a great guest post on Morgen Bailey's Writing Blog about Why You Should Enter Writing Competitions by Ben Skinner. I thought he made some really great points.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is currently open for entries until January 14th. So if you're looking for a free competition, then this might be the one for you.

I found quite an inspiring post by Ashley Barron about following your dreams when it comes to writing. It's called: Money, Self-Publishing, and Marketing Plans. I really liked what she had to say.

Thanks to Yvonne Hertzberger's awesome Tuesday Tutorial on Indies Unlimited, I discovered a great site called, Bublish.com. It's a place where you can leave excerpts from your novels and then write a little description about why you wrote the passage or what it means to you. You can check out one of my bubbles here.

And speaking of Tuesday Tutorials - Indies Unlimited has published a book of the tutorials. It is an excellent resource and definitely worth checking out. Tutorials and Tools for Prospering in a Digital World.

I have read some great books this month, one that I loved was Valor by Taylor Longford. I rated it 5-stars. It's currently FREE on Amazon, so I thought I'd let you know about it. If you're looking for a paranormal romance with a unique twist, then this will be perfect for you.

2012 - Things I'm Grateful For

YA writers and bloggers unite each week to share their thoughts on what it's like going indie in today's publishing world.

Yay for Thanksgiving!! We don't celebrate it in NZ, but it's always so well advertised that we all know about it... and it always gets me thinking.

At Indie Carnival we thought this would be a great chance to mentions some of the highlights from our year and the things we are grateful for.

I have a wonderful life and find myself with a million things to be thankful for, so I'll just stick with the writing related ones in this post.

2012 has been an amazing year for me. I have released three books - Pure Blood (#3 Time Spirit Trilogy), Forbidden Territory (#1 Mica and Lexy Series) and Betwixt.

I am so grateful for...

- every person who has purchased these books. You guys are helping me write my next book... and my next... and my next.

- everyone who took the time to review the book or tell me what they thought about it. I so appreciate all your support, enthusiasm and honesty.

- the marketing & writing lessons I've learned throughout the year. I have come so far and learned so much. I know I have a long way to go still, but I'm definitely a better writer than I was last year. Long may I be able to say that :-)

- the fun I've had putting these books together. I love writing. I just love it!!

 - Brenda Howson, the co-author of Forbidden Territory and the YAlicious blog. Also my graphic designer. I love you, chick :-)

- ZealousDesign, the website that distributes my books for me in New Zealand.

- the schools I've been invited to visit and the awesome kids I've met. Some of them even wanted my signature. How cool is that?!

- librarians!!! I have met so many of you this year and I think you are all wonderful. Your passion for reading and sharing books with the younger generations is awesome. I have so appreciated your support and enthusiasm.

- the amazing people I've met and connected with through Twitter and Facebook. There are so many cool writers and bloggers out there who love to support indies. I have enjoyed building friendships with you and helping to support your careers as well. The writing world rocks!! Squee!

- Inklings - my writing group that I can go to about anything and they always understand. I love you girls.

- Indies Unlimited - another amazing group that has given me so many opportunities this year. I have learned so much from all of you and I love being a part of this awesome team.

- YA Indie Carnival. You guys are an amazing bunch of writers and I am so honoured to be associated with you. Tina & Laura - I have to give you special mention. You have done the most amazing job with this group and I so appreciate your time and effort.

- the coming year. I have four books planned for 2013, plus the launch of my own website. Excitement!!! There is so much to look forward to and on the days I feel low, I just need to think of all the things I mentioned above and all the cool things that await me in the future and I can do nothing but smile.

If you'd like to find out what the other carnival goers are grateful for, you can follow the link below.

And you can also check out the YA Author Club for the latest updates and news on what we're all up to.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun - YA Fantasy

NB: We are taking next week off, so there will be no Friday post from me on the 30th :-)

Good Stuff To Know

I've decided to start a monthly post about all the helpful things I've spotted or stumbled across through Facebook, Twitter and blog reading.

Sometimes it's nice to have tips condensed into one place and that's what this post is all about.

So - for the month of September, here are some of the helpful things I discovered...

Magic Monday Tip from Laura Pepper Wu. I subscribe to a weekly e-mail which delivers me a really helpful marketing tip. So far, they have been awesome. Short, sweet and easy to implement. You can sign up here, under FREE CONTENT - http://www.30daybooks.com/

Tuesday Tutorial on Indies Unlimited. Every Tuesday Indies Unlimited posts a tutorial about something useful for indie writers. The next day, they tend to hold some sort of Like-fest. I find both of these things so helpful. I have learned so many great tips that are once again easy to follow and implement. Being involved with the follow-up Like-fests has led me to some fantastic connections. You can subscribe to Indies Unlimited here, under Subscribe at the top of the page - http://www.indiesunlimited.com/

Here is a great article about Time Management when using Twitter. I have just signed up to Commun.it and I think it will be awesome. Here's the article link: Time Managing Twitter with Commun.it by Jim Devitt

I stumbled across a great book the other day and purchased it immediately, it's all about character emotions and how to portray these in a variety of ways that are unique and compelling. It's available in paperback and e-book. Here's the link: The Emotion Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman.

Melissa Maygrove does a grammar tip on her blog every Monday. I'm not the world's best at grammar so I find this kind of thing really helpful. You can check out her blog here: http://melissamaygrove.blogspot.com/

That's all from me for today. I'll be collecting articles and resources throughout the month of October and be back with more goodies in early November.

If you have any helpful tips you'd like to share, please feel free to share them in the comments section :)

Indies Unlimited Is Worth Checking Out

I have a post on Indies Unlimited today. You can check it out here. "What Makes A Good YA Novel by Melissa Pearl."

I am actually lucky enough to be a monthly contributor.

I know I have posted about these guys before, but their 1st birthday is coming up on October 6th, so I thought I'd take a moment to highlight Indies Unlimited again. I think it is an awesome site that indie authors should check out. Here are my reasons why...

- There are so many ways you can highlight your work on there - guest posts, book trailers, excerpts and announcing your latest releases.

- Every day there are five posts and usually one or two of them is a really helpful article about writing or marketing. The others are new releases or snippets from books. I have discovered some great reads.

- They also do Like-fests and Twitter-fests. I have gained some great followers by participating in these and I've also stumbled across some very cool people.

- They have a large following of a variety of authors, bloggers and readers. You never know what you might learn or who you might meet.

If you haven't flittered over to their site yet, then you may want to take a moment now. I hope it can help you as much as it's helped me.