Glistering: B's Blog: January 2014

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer! As the name implies, you don't have to follow, tweet, or otherwise jump through hoops--just leave a comment with a way to contact you in case you're a winner. (Personal info and links won't be publicly posted.)

For this giveaway I'm giving away a $15 Amazon gift card (enough for at least one book of your choice!) and a paperback copy of my YA/Lit novel Bronze. This giveaway is open through January 21st. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Hello 2014!

This is just a quick post to look ahead to some of the things I hope to accomplish this year. But first things first - the January soundtrack clue! Let's see . . . we're on number seven:

CLUE #7 Songs/bands/genres mentioned in chapters do not necessarily reflect that chapter's song.

For instance, in one chapter The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, and The Beatles are all mentioned. The chapter title is not by any of these bands, though there are two clues right there - one having to do with the chapter title and one for something else.

I realize the clues so far are a little vague, but if you've read the book, they'll make sense. I'll give more specific clues as we get closer to the contest opening.

As far as what is coming up:

My main focus as always is to write, write, write. With limited time and living with frequent interruptions, this is a continuing challenge. However, I finally feel like I'm on the downward slope. With Bronze, the first two-thirds of the book took much longer to write than the last and I'm quite sure it will be true with Book #2 as well. This is the most fun part for me to actually write (you'll have to wait to find out why) and I expect things to go relatively quickly. So, as much for myself as for anyone potentially interested, I'll let you know what stage I'm in at the end of my posts. This will also serve as a progress report toward the new cover/title release and soundtrack countdown. :D

I will be needing a couple of new beta-readers soon. I'm also seeking more reviews for Bronze. More about that in future posts. More excerpts of Bronze will be available at The Glister Journals website, and excerpts of Book 2 as soon as the cover's released.

I'll be posting as part of a giveaway hop (hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer) this month. I'll be trying to participate on a somewhat regular basis in these.

There will be more music - of course! - and I will be getting some book features of the books I do manage to get read posted and organized, though I don't plan on reviewing per se. My features will consist of book information and brief thoughts on the books, and will only be on books I can recommend. I also plan to do some indie features this year. I'm definitely going to have to get an e-reader of some sort though, as most of the indie books I have are digital and it's almost impossible to find the time to read on my computer.

New and upcoming music I'm excited about:

Toad the Wet Sprocket (first album in sixteen years!), Foster the People, Switchfoot, Broken Bells, The Fray, Elbow, Tycho. There are many others I'm interested in and I'm sure there will be plenty more!

Books on deck . . .

. . . and not necessarily new but highly anticipated (as soon as I get my hands on a copy!)

The Glister Journals #2: halfway through Chapter 19. Word count: impressive. LOL.

Reading Shadow and Bone

Listening to Malmsteen.

Reviews for The Glister Journals: Bronze

More Glister Journals info and excerpts at the book's website here: theglisterjournals.com

The Glister Journals: Bronze can be purchased through any bookseller, or purchase now at Amazon.com

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Goodbye 2013 . . .

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has a great 2014. Looking back, it was a difficult year in a lot ways from a personal perspective, but a wonderful one too. And many of you are the reason! Thank you so much for your encouragement, friendship, and support. And I'm so pumped up about it being the Year of the Horse! I hope this is a good omen for my series and especially for The Glister Journals #2 which will be released this year.

A quick look back--I had a lot of things happen this year but here's a few highlights:

The most exciting event was winning the literary category for the 2013 IndieReader Discovery Awards. The winners were announced by Hugh Howey at BEA, but unfortunately I couldn't be there. It was very exciting anyway!

Bronze had a great Book Blast and Tour with great giveaways for the Kindle edition release in October. I enjoyed it immensely and made some truly wonderful new friends. I can't wait to do it again for the release of The Glister Journals #2! Highlights of the tour, including reviews, author and character interviews, and guest posts can be found on The Glister Journals website.

To kick off the tour, I announced the Bronze Soundtrack puzzle. There is a song that accompanies every chapter of Bronze. The songs will be revealed in the countdown to TGJ #2's release. The Bronze Soundtrack Contest will be open to entries in 2014 before the release of Volume 2.

There were a lot of interviews: with Goodreads' The Young Adult Book Club, with Aside From Writing, and several during the Bronze tour.

I featured a few albums: Strangeland by Keane, El Camino by The Black Keys, the Haunt EP from Bastille, In A Tidal Wave of Mystery by Capital Cities, and Last of the Great Pretenders by Matt Nathanson.

And read quite a few books, though not as many as I would have liked and far less than most of you, I'm sure. There were a few I didn't finish, for one reason or another, but the ones I did finish and enjoy were: