Dark Masquerade Reviews and Giveaway

Just yesterday I released the third volume of my Black Earth series, Dark Masquerade. Already I've gotten some great reviews for the book, and I figured I'd share some links here to where you can find them, plus a chance to win a digital copy.

Tiffany Cole reviewed the book at her blog, Reader's Den.

Nathan James Norman reviewed the book at Eventyr and at the Spirit Blade Underground. 

Scott Poe reviewed the book at his blog, Indie Book Blogger.

And Scott is also doing a Rafflecopter giveaway of some digital copies of Black Earth: Dark Masquerade and the two books that come before it. Check it out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tired, But Productive

So I've been a little MIA from the social networks this last week. It's because I've been pouring myself into my latest novel, Black Earth: Dark Masquerade, getting it prepped to hand off to my editor next Thursday. I've been pulling late nights, surviving on coffee and black tea, and taking micro naps wherever I can get them. Although that sounds exhausting, the fact that I'm making progress actually makes it all worth while.

Progress is always good. In the past, I found I sabotaged myself one too many times by inching my way forward with book sales and social networking exposure, only to backslide when I took a few days off and essentially halted my momentum. I cannot stress how important momentum is for this mechanism called self-publishing. Lately, I've been working on becoming a bit more consistent in the many aspects of my writing career - such as the email newsletter, blog postings, and social networking interaction. Although I'm still struggling somewhat with that last one.

I am looking forward to getting the second book in my Black Earth series, The Broken Daisy, read and reviewed by Tiffany Cole in a few days. She enjoyed the first book in the series, End of the Innocence, giving it four stars, so I have high hopes for The Broken Daisy if only because I've heard other reviewers tell me they enjoyed End of the Innocence, but REALLY enjoyed The Broken Daisy. Let's hope I can keep that trend going with Dark Masquerade.

I think I may end up pausing my postings of draft excerpts of Dark Masquerade, at least until I've gotten my edits back from my editor. Once I start work on Bridge to Eternity, which I'll be chipping away at almost immediately following my hand off of Dark Masquerade, I will probably pick up the draft excerpt postings again, especially since Bridge to Eternity is set to be the last book in the Black Earth series.

Phew, I get exhausted just talking about all of this. But, hey, I couldn't ask for a more fulfilling career. Writing isn't only what I feel I'm good at, it's also a great passion of mine. When those two go hand in hand, one has the potential to become an unstoppable force.

This unstoppable force is going to go catch a few winks before starting up on Dark Masquerade again.

Check It Out...I'm Over At Reader's Den Today!

I'm guest posting over at Reader's Den today. For those that don't know, I've been taken on by the wonderful Tiffany Cole as a contributor to the blog. Head over there and read my post on Microsoft OneNote and how it can be an author's best friend - http://www.readers-den.com/2012/02/microsoft-onenote-authors-best-friend.html.

The Email Newsletter is Back!

After the off again, on again, relationship with my email newsletter, I'm finally ready to committ to this thing and keep it going on a monthly basis. For those of you who signed up for it originally, you should receive the first 'new' issue in your email inbox by the 5th of February. Each subsequent newsletter will be released by the 5th of each month thereafter.

For those of you who haven't signed up yet, I reinstalled a subscription form on my website. Just head on over, input the email address you'd like to have the newsletter sent to each month, and voila!

Each issue will focus on three main things - writing, self-publishing, and 'geeky' things like video games and comics. I'll also use a portion of the newsletter to highlight other artists/writers and link back to their creations/websites.

February's newsletter will contain information about the end of my Black Earth series, the release of Lost Birth, an article on the challenge of video games, my reading challenge for 2012, and a highlight of writer/illustrator Thomas Barczak and reviewer Tiffany Cole.