Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Blog Tour Stop: J. A. Bennett...

Okay, here is the final stop of my book's blog tour! Hope on over to J. A. Bennett's blog and check things out. Don't forget to leave a comment!

Also, you have about a week and a half left to enter the drawing at Sheila's blog to win a copy of my eBook, 'Adversarius, Shadow of the Rose: Book One'.

I still have two copies left to giveaway on my 'Spot the Difference' contest. That will end on Friday, so I can remove the picture. I doubt I'll get in trouble for doing a game like this, but you can never be too careful when it is a copyright image.

Okay, that's it! Have a great rest of the week!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest...

So today you get two posts from me as I decided to join this blogfest (details are here). In the spirit of keeping things short and sweet, here we go:

Hi, I'm Mel Chesley and I write high fantasy. (I can hear the response to this as if I were at a Fantasy Addicts Anonymous meeting...)

I'm quite snarky at times, but in a good way. I don't tear people down on my blog or anywhere else on the internet. I try to support and promote my fellow author and I have fun doing it. I tend to stay away from two very important topics:

Politics.

And religion.

I don't discuss these topics in polite company (or even in biker bars) so why the heck would I discuss them here? Sitting behind a computer monitor does not make me feel bad ass. (Pardon the language. And no, I don't swear all the time... sometimes... )

You can find me on Facebook. I have an author page as well as a 'Like' page for my book, 'Adversarius, Shadow of the Rose: Book One'. You can find me on Twitter: @MLChesley, on Goodreads and of course, here.

Most of my blog posts are geared toward my writing and the processes of publishing. Fridays are usually fun posts with a new (to me) author I like to promote. I'm also a part of a group called Word Weavers and we're all about supporting authors there as well. So that's me in a nutshell. And yes, I'm a bit of a nut. ;)

Very nice to meet you, I hope you enjoy my blog and stick around. I promise, it is fun!

Blog Tour Stop: Mindy and Sheila...

Happy Monday to all! Yeah, yeah, throw rocks at me after you've had your fifth cup of coffee. Lol!

Have a cup on me. :)



So today my tour for 'Adversarius' will be two places. Mindy Holt did her review of it (found on the shared blog), as did Sheila Staley. Sheila is holding a contest for two weeks where you can win a copy of my book. They also share a book review blog and it will be posted there as well.

So drop by! I already know what Mindy's review was and thanks Mindy, for your honesty. I appreciate that more than you can imagine!

For all of you who don't read blogs on the weekends, Hydra Morningstar put my review up yesterday and I had a bit of a contest. Click here for yesterday's post. Don't wait too long, I'll be taking down the artwork soon. I know it's copyrighted, but I was just having a little fun.

So I hope you have a great day after you wake up a bit and have a great week all!

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Blog Tour Stop And Fun Contest...

Hey all! I know, odd for me to post on a Sunday, but hey, I'm unpredictable like that!

So the next stop on my blog tour is today over at Hydra Morningstar's blog. You can find it here.

Tomorrow will be with both Mindy Holt and Sheila Staley on their separate blogs as well as their combined one. I'll have links for those tomorrow.

So now for the fun contest. I did this on Facebook and didn't get very many right answers. So let's see how you all do!

Okay, spot the 8 differences in the pics below. First 3 people to comment with the correct answers will win a free copy of my e-book, 'Adversarius'. Ready? Go!

This photo is from Guild Wars and they own all CopyRights. This particular photo was pulled from FabulousSavers.com. Image will be removed once this game is over. Thank you. :)

Enjoy your Sunday and don't forget to go visit Hydra!

Friday, January 25, 2013

Blog Tour Stop: Susan Gourley...

Howdy! It's Friday, can you taste it in the air? Well, before you head off for the weekend, visit the next blog in my 'Adversarius' tour. Today the tour stops at Susan Gourley's blog: Susan Says.

It also happens to be my daughter's 20th birthday today. Happy Birthday, kiddo!

Have a great weekend and since I didn't have much time to get anything done up for today due to my dentist visit, I'll leave you with a couple of funnies:



Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Blog Tour Stop: Laura Bastian...

Hi everyone! Today's stop on my 'Adversarius' blog tour is over at Laura Bastian's blog: The Musings of a Hopeful Writer.

Drop on by and say hi!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Absence...

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know I may be offline for the rest of the week, depending. I am going in to get a tooth pulled. It's giving me fits and I'm fighting off the beginnings of an infection. Got on antibiotics right away, but the tooth needs to come out.

I'll be scheduling a couple of posts for this week with links for the next stops on my blog tour. Make sure to drop by and show some bloggy love!

I will hopefully see you all soon. Have a great rest of the week!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday Favorite, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

It's Friday! Woohoo! I have a three day weekend. I love getting the same days off as the kids. It's awesome.

So this Friday, my favorite author pick is going to be W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh. I have yet to read Walki's book, 'Outsider', but Walki also does art and music. Matter of fact when I did the book trailer for 'Outsider', Walki provided almost all the artwork and did the music. I had a ton of fun doing that trailer. I'll provide that video below.

You can find Walki's book here. And Walki's twitter account is @LordWalkiWolf. 

'Outsider' video:



Fantasy Art:



And now for the funny:


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Day Two...

Hi all, just wanted you to know that I am still over at Selah Janel's blog. I'm guest posting this time. So hop on over and read my pearls of wisdom. Ha! More like my rocks of smart aleck-ness.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How Could I Be So Daft?...

Oi! It's been one of those weeks and I've been trying to keep up with everything. I mean EVERYthing.

Blog tour, other author interviews and the like that didn't pertain to the tour necessarily, promoting and of course my own writing and work.

So I almost spaced it today and was going to blow off writing a blog post because I didn't think I had any links to share.

Yeah. Right.

I was interviewed by Selah Janel and tomorrow she will post about me again. So here is her link to her blog.

I'd love for you to stop by and read the interview and all that. Share it if you can.

I have a brand new calendar sitting on my desk and I wrote down stuff for every day this month, but made only a note of Selah's blog, then forgot to put it on the calendar. Oops! Oh well, I got it out there at least! Have a great Wednesday!

How do you stay organized? Do you write things down or do you rely on a computer program to help you with appointments?

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

What In The Word....

I have been trying to come up with some catchy titles for my blog posts recently. Half the time I never know what to title the silly things, but whatever works, right?

Before we get too involved, I want to remind you all that my blog tour is still ongoing and today the stop is over at my sister-in-law's blog. So, find Cheri here.

Okay, that's out of the way now.

So I woke up Monday morning and, before my Dr.'s appointment, logged on to check my email. Now, I have Facebook and I only get notifications when someone tags me in a post or pic. Because pics of me are super rare, I do not want to be connected in any way shape or form to some obscenity I had nothing to do with.

I had been tagged like, half a dozen times by my author buddies in Word Weavers. What the heck???

It was a silly thing of posting seven lines of something you are currently working on. Okay, cool I can do that. But I had to wait 'til later, of course.

I figured I would share that here as well, simply because I know lots of you don't do Facebook.

So here you go:

“Ah … yes,” the young man croaked. He lifted his fist to his mouth, cleared his throat and tried again. “It seems to be that Lady Kayta has suffered detrimental consequences and her memory has been completely lost with no chance of regaining it.”
“What?” Rose dropped his arms to his side, taking a step towards Trybis, who flinched instinctively. Rose fought the urge to shout. “But we haven't done anything yet!”
“You misunderstand our young Trybis,” Talroth held up a hand, smiling ever so slightly. Rose did not find anything amusing and frowned. “What he means to say is, you are all about to make a hasty decision due to the fact that none of you are able to decide the best course of action at this moment in time."


Anyway, that's all I have for today. I tried cleaning my laptop keyboard over the weekend and totally lost all function of most of my keys. The cleaning was inspired by junk getting under my keys and rendering them halfway useless as it was, but I just enhanced the issue. So I had to go borrow a regular USB keyboard. But then I slipped down the bottom step on my way into my kitchen and tweaked the whole left side of my body and was down for the count. Needless to say, I didn't feel like sitting at my desk for most of the weekend and didn't get any extra work done.

I shall remedy that this evening. So, until then, have a great week! Don't forget to stop by Cheri's blog and all that fun stuff.

How was your weekend? Do you post silly stuff like that on Facebook? Do you Twitter?

Friday, January 11, 2013

NEW Friday Favorites, Fantasy Art & A Funny...

That's right, a bit of a change up to the favorites part of this blog post. I've been reading a lot lately, mostly for reviews. I'm finding some new favorite authors. So in line with the #FF (Follow Friday) done on Twitter, I'll hook you up with some new people I'm meeting.

First new author friend I want to share: Anita Dawn Stewart. Now, I haven't read her book yet. It's on my list when I am done reviewing. (Changes to my reviews as well, I'll post that later.) But she's become a great friend and a great source for me. She lives in the UK and she's pretty cool.

You can find her here: Her website, her book, her Facebook page, her Twitter: @AncientBreeds.

So there is my first favorite new author friend.

Fantasy Art:

I got this for wallpaper the other day. I love it. :D





And of course, the funny:



Ha! Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Book Review: 'Infnity Bridge' by Ross Kitson...

Title: Infinity Bridge

Author: Ross Kitson

Publisher: Myrrdin Publishing Group

Pages: 246 (Print), File size: 499 kb

ISBN: (10) 1939296803 (13) 978-1939296801

Purchase: Amazon

Description (From Amazon):

Sam: likes loud music, wears black eye-liner... and sees monsters. Nick: wears Che Guevara knit-wear, big specs, loves sci-fi... and designs computer viruses. Annie: dresses like a Sunday evening period drama, lives with her granddad... and fights like a ninja. When Sam helps out the mysterious Annie, he and his cousin, Nick, are drawn into a world of excitement and danger. Terrifying androids roam the streets of York seeking the awesome power of the Infinity Bridge, a device that could signal the end of our world as we know it. All who stand in their way are being eliminated. The three teenagers are propelled into an action-packed race against time, involving alternate realities, airships, clockwork killers.... and Merlin. Sometimes the monsters are real.... Infinity Bridge is a brand new fast-paced sci-fi adventure suitable for teenagers and adults alike.

My thoughts:

I liked this book. Sam is your usual 'punk' boy. He wears eye liner, dyes his hair black, wears black clothing. But he's a nice boy trying to avoid being tossed into the asylum like his big brother. After his brother mentioned seeing monsters, Sam's parents admitted him to an institution. That's when Sam withdrew, not wanting to let on that he saw what his brother saw. But when a man in a pin-striped suit showed up out of the blue and lasers started flying overhead, well, who better to help Sam and Nick? You got it. Big brother to the rescue.
Annie is super sweet and super Ninja. I loved her character. She always had a good comeback. Much like Nick's mom. But I can't give too much away. The book is full of twists and turns that would keep any young adult or adult entertained. It was a fun, fast paced, epic, sci-fi frollick. (Say that five times fast!)

I give this book 5 out of 5 skull and crossbones.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Do You Love It Or Hate It...

Trying to get back into the swing of things here and as it is a new year, I want to tweak my blog just a bit.

Before I get into it,  make sure to drop by Alex's blog where he is giving me a Shout Out about my book and blog tour.

You all know I am changing up my Friday format. The only other thing I am possibly considering tossing out the window is the scroll at the top of the blog page that shows (almost) all the books I have read, reviewed or have on my TBR list.

Do you love it or hate it? Don't care either way? I'll let you all decide. The overall look of my blog is fine. I won't change that. Everyone has gotten used to it by now, I think.

Are there other aspects you are or are not fond of? I'd like to know. Call it a growing up phase or what have you, but I'm trying to look slightly more professional. I'll never get rid of the pirates, though.

EVER.

So don't even go there.

I still love you, even if you don't like pirates. They aren't for everyone. Just like fantasy isn't for everyone. But you'll still tell people about my book, right?

That's right. Because you love me.

Yeah, I went too far.

Okay just leave your comments on the overall look of the blog and that scroll up there at the top. I look forward to hearing what you think. And then don't forget to visit Alex, he's giving me a shout out on my book today.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Monday, January 7, 2013

A Tour! (Bless You)...

Yes, my modest first book is now on a bit of a blog tour. So, if you don't mind, I'd love it if you would show these wonderful people some bloggy love. Who knows, you may just win a copy of my book, should they so choose to give one away to a lucky commenter/visitor.

I made a banner for the occasion:



 and I liked it so much, it is now my blog button:



You can grab my blog button over on the right and down a bit.

So here is the list, links included:

Jan. 7th ~ Carol Marrs Phipps: She has two blogs, so here is one and the other. Take your pick.

Jan. 9th. ~ Alex J. Cavanaugh will be giving me a shout out here.

Jan. 11th ~ Angela Brown

Jan. 15th ~ Cheri Chesley

Jan. 23rd ~ Laura Bastian

Jan. 25th ~ Susan Gourley

Jan. 27th ~ Hydra M. Star

Jan. 28th ~ Mindy Holt is here and here.

Jan. 30th ~ J. A. Bennett

And that's it. I'll keep you all posted on the dates and stops as we progress along. If you'd like to read the reviews of the book so far, you can find them here on Amazon.

Have a good week everyone!

Friday, January 4, 2013

It's Friday, I'm In Love...

I love that song by The Cure. I've always been a fan.

Now, I'm still trying to figure out what my Friday format is going to be for the new year. Seriously, I ran out of favorites. I've been blogging since '09 and well, I think '10 is when I started the Friday Favorites posts. I can still keep the funnies, but what to add to it for a fun, light, Friday post?

I'm willing to take suggestions. Got any?

Starting next Monday, by blog tour will begin. I'll be posting a list for next week of links on where the tour will be. So keep an eye out for that, for sure! I'll include links.

So what do you think would be a good Friday post for me to do? Do you still want to see the funnies? Still want to see some Fantasy Art? I'd love to still share some of that.

Give me some suggestions in the comments below and have a great weekend everyone! I'll leave you with a funny. Or two.



Thursday, January 3, 2013

Is It Over?...

I had a decent holiday, but I am ready for it to be over. I have plans and things that have to get done. I feel like a huge bump on a log right now. Two weeks off sounded fantastic at first and slowly got boring as hell.

The weather was decent up until Christmas Eve and then we got about a foot or so of snow. My brother in law got about four feet of snow and was unable to come to Christmas dinner. My daughter and her fiancee have been so stressed about building their house, they were not going to budge from their place. So it was just me, my husband and my son. And we didn't have a whole lot of cash for Christmas, but we did try to get what we could for people.

Because of the paper route I had during the summer, funds were tight because of ALL the CAR REPAIRS.

I hated that paper route near the end.

It put us severely behind on bills and we're still playing catch up.

Oh, well.

You'll notice I did not post any resolutions. I feel that every time I do so, I fail and I'm tired of feeling like a failure, so I refused.

I do have goals. Mainly to get book two edited and polished. Send it off to betas, edit some more and well, you all know the process.

Book one is getting good reviews so far. I'm still waiting for that bad review to hop out of nowhere and sock me in the jaw. I think I'll handle it well, but depends on the day.

Other goals? Move to Washington and before we move, become a grandma.

Holy cow, it still gets me every time I say it. They found out it is going to be a girl.

And revenge. Will be mine. ::Cackles::

Nah, I'm sure my daughter will have a sweet, loving girl alllll the way up until she becomes a teenager. Ha!

So while I was all helpful and slightly snarky in my IWSG post, today, not so much. January 7th will kick off my blog tour. You might win a copy of my book, so be sure to visit all my sweet friends who offered up their blogs for the day.

I am wondering about book promoting and what's worked for all of you? Got any ideas? Tips? Anything will help. Have a great rest of the week!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Insecure Writer's Support Group...

Or, as we all know it, IWSG! This is THE hop for lots of us bloggers, because lots of us are writers and we're all insecure. Even though we put up a very good front. Alex J. Cavanaugh is the person responsible for this. I think it's the best thing out there! And we all post on the first Wednesday of every month. Here is a link to the list, if you'd like to join, there's no time like the present.

So this is the first post of not only a new month, but a brand, spanking New Year! Hope you have all recuperated from your party hangovers. If not, allow me to turn up the volume...

Aww, would I do that?

Well, okay. Yes. I would. But you didn't have to agree.

I suppose this time around I am going to bypass the whining and go straight for the panicking, wailing, beating the walls...

No, not really. I am going to go the direction of some advice. There are lots of authors/writers out there who have chosen to take the path of the Self Published/Indie Author route. For a myriad of reasons, of which there are far too many to list, I'm sure, this decision was made. Some were determined from the moment they typed out that first sentence to go down this path, others felt forced down it and even more had been burned far too many times.

No matter what made you move down this trepidatious (yes, I know I used a big word...I even had to look the damn thing up on the dictionary website because it's saying I spelled it wrong. Pah!) path there are still lots of things to remember.

1) HIRE AN EDITOR!!!!! Or at the very least, let others look it over for you and try to help you out. Polish that sucker up, people.

2) Which brings me to this: Make it look professional. From the inside, out, the outside, in... do the freakin' hokey pokey if you have to. Make it shine! (I've put down lots of books for these two reasons alone.)

3) Move on.

I want to focus on numero tres. Simply because it was the hardest thing for me to do after going the route of The-Publisher-Who-Will-No-Longer-Be-Named. I've posted about that nightmare before and don't want to keep hashing over it. The biggest thing I had to do was move on. I didn't even consider myself a published author because of them. But now that my book is finally out with Hellfire Publishing and I have sold 3 times as many books already (not that big a thing, trust me...) I can finally do something I've waited almost 7 years to do.

Write. Book. Two.

I can finally freakin' breathe! I can move on to the rest of the story that people have been waiting for right along with me. But even if your first book has typos or issues, the beauty of being self published is that you can go back and fix some of those issues. However, once the MAJOR bits are fixed.

Leave. It. Alone. Don't go back to it. This isn't your ex we're talking about here, you know the one you used to keep going back to only to get dumped on all over again. Make a clean break and move on. This is a book, not a friend with benefits...

Ahem.

There are some books where I wish the author would go back and fix the problems that made me chuck the book aside and never look back. But then there are some who might get hung up on fixing every little issue. Well, just make some major corrections and be done with it. Once the rest of your books are out there, people may go back to the others. But give them a reason to. Even if you offer up the first one for free all over again if they buy the next. Once all three of my books are out, I am going to work on a compilation of all three in a set. Maybe add in a few extra scenes to make it fresh and new. Who knows.

Right now, I just need to focus on selling this first one and that, my dear friends, will be the next IWSG post. If I make it 'til then!

What's made you put down a book? Does it matter if they are an indie author or traditionally published? Got any helpful advice?