The Advent Calendar is live!

I probably should have posted this on Saturday. But it was Saturday.

I forgot.

Anyway, no harm. No foul. The Indie Author’s Advent Calendar is live, and new stories will be revealed each day until Christmas. Click the link to get the stories. And if you want the bonuses, sign up for the email reminders while you’re there. (Cat doesn’t ever spam, and that list will get you nothing but these emails. It’s a safe and very quiet list.)

Enjoy the stories!

The Advent Calendar is Coming!

I’ve done it in the past, and I’m doing it again this year. I’m going to be a part of Cat Gerlach’s Indie Author’s Advent Calendar!

Woot!

What this means is that I have a story that will appear on one of the days in December (I don’t know which day) on the Advent Calendar site. Anyone can just go click on that page starting December 1st and read anything that’s been revealed so far. But if you sign up for the Advent Calendar mailing list, you’ll get daily notifications when the new story is available, plus there will be bonus downloads for email only, including the collected stories in e-book form.

This year’s theme for the calendar is Snow. There will be a bunch of great stories, and you never know what you’re gonna get. It’s possible you’ll discover your new favorite indie author, just in time for Christmas!

So, go sign up to get alerts, and enjoy the holidays!

Indie Author’s Advent Calendar 2018

How did this happen?

blonde-1296489_1280Here it is – more than 2 weeks after the end of April.

2 weeks after completing the AtoZ Blog Challenge.

3 weeks… THREE!!!… after participating in an outstanding short story intensive.

And what have I done in the last two weeks? Not write. That’s what I’ve done.

It’s not that I didn’t have very good intentions. There are a couple of short stories that I started and want to finish. There is the novella that began on my blog. I want to keep practicing with the techniques learned in my class so my writing continues to get better and faster.

And I haven’t done any of it.

I could enumerate the reasons. Some of them are actually good.

But I won’t.

Because the reality is that no matter how good my reasons, if I want to be a writer, I need to write. It needs to take priority over Facebook and other time wasters, for starters. It needs to be at the top of my To Do list on a daily basis.

I struggled with that and (mostly) won during the blog challenge. There were days that I had a lot going on, but I’d made a commitment and I followed through.

But as soon as the challenge was over, I gave myself permission to take a couple of days off. A couple of days became a couple of weeks, and here we are, more than halfway through the month and this post is the most I’ve written.

So, effective immediately, I’m making a new commitment to myself. My commitment is to write.

  • I will work on fiction at least 5 days a week.
  • I will post on this blog at least once a week.
  • I will not allow myself to make excuses for putting off my dreams.

I might not always win the struggle… and make no mistake, for me keeping any kind of routine is a struggle. But I will continue to do this thing that gives me so much pleasure. I’ll continue to create and lose myself in interesting worlds filled with interesting characters.

I will write.

And hopefully you’ll be glad I did.

Published Flash – Full Circle

stephanie casarez / Flickr / CC 3.0

I’m thrilled to announce that a flash fiction story that I submitted to a contest was selected! I guess I could now call myself an “award winning” author… but I probably won’t. Sounds a little too pretentious for a 500 word story. 😀

My story is called Full Circle and you can read it on Reader’s Lane. Go check it out! And if you like it, please share it with others.

And if you haven’t gotten it yet, I’d also love to have you download my short story, Watch Night. To get that one for free, just sign up for my mailing list. I don’t send a lot of email, and I promise you’ll never be spammed.

Now, where was I?

Ok, so I blinked and 2 months went by.

I almost wish I could say I’d been sitting around eating bon bons and just “forgot” to be blogging, writing, and getting on with things because I was having too darn much fun.

And if wishes were pages, I’d have written a whole library by now.

The reality is that my “real job” doing desktop publishing got crazy for a while. Plus I was off the grid for a bit visiting family. Add to that some stress over how I was going to wrap up my work in progress, and you’ve got the trifecta that is the bane of every writer’s existence: unplanned busyness, personal obligations, and writers’ block.

*insert a heavy sigh here*

I do want to say, though, that I was, in fact, having fun. I mean, come on. Creative play on my laptop and a trip to California? How much more fun could I have? It’s just that those sorts of activities tend to sap all my creative energy and there’s not enough left for writing. Especially when I’m trying to figure out some piece of my story. :-/

But that, as they say, was then. This is now. And today I’m here on my blog. Today I have a finished draft for my short story. FINALLY!!! Today I’m really happy with my world. (My story world, that is. Actually, I guess I’m pretty happy with the actual, real world too.)

So yeah. Today. Today was a good day. And very soon, I will have a free story available for you to download, if you so choose. Hopefully that means today is a good day for you, too. 🙂

 

Sign up for my mailing list if you want to be the first to know when my story is finally going to be available.

Watch Night

moongirlI’m super excited about how my current writing project is coming.

I’ve been working on a short story tentatively titled Watch Night which is a fantasy story about a young girl apprenticed to the Temple of the Light. This child will have decisions to make that will affect her entire culture, her entire world. But her day starts in simple contemplation with other apprentices.

It goes to show… you never know what the day is going to bring!

When I’m done, this story will be available ONLY to those subscribed to my mailing list. Make sure you don’t miss out! Join now by clicking here.

Allow me to introduce myself…

Hi. I’m Elizabeth McCleary and I am an author.

You probably haven’t heard of me yet. That’s because I’m really not published yet. But I’m hoping that will be changing very soon.

First, I’ll be participating with some other writers in an Advent Calendar this Christmas. You’ll be able to sign up to receive free stories and other goodies from the first of December through Christmas. I should have a link for that by next week.

Next, I am working on a collection of flash fiction that I’m hoping to have out within the next couple of weeks. It’s not coming together as smoothly as I hoped, but it IS coming together. I will update as I go, and let you know AS SOON as it’s available.

In the mean while, I’d like to invite you to sign up for my mailing list. It will give you the opportunity to learn more about me, to keep up with what I’m doing, and to get some cool freebies that won’t be available anywhere else.

THIS is my year!!! I will write a book.

Photo by: Amy Padgett

I’ve mentioned it to a few people, almost in passing.

I’ve posted about it on the How To Think Sideways bootcamp forums.

I’ve thought about it quite a bit.

But I think, maybe, this is my first public declaration (such as it is with my very limited readership on this blog).

THIS IS THE YEAR
I WILL WRITE A BOOK!

  • I will develop an idea to completion
  • I will write consistently to expand my idea
  • I will create a completed manuscript
  • I will revise and edit judiciously
  • I will release my book into the wild, probably by self-publishing (although traditional publishing has not been ruled out)

I feel a little nervous about the prospect. I feel a little excited.

I’ll admit to being somewhat worried that I can’t/won’t meet my goals. Goals are hard for me and I have often been one to find convenient excuses to avoid them in the past. But NOT THIS YEAR. This year, I will achieve my goals!

Before 2013 is over, I will have written and published a book.

Work In Progress!

El cinco invertido

JOSE VICENTE JIMENEZ RIBAS via Compfight

For the first time in quite a while, I have a work in progress! I am working on a piece of fiction that is actually keeping me interested. It’s only a short story, but even as I’m writing it, I am intrigued by it. I can’t wait to find out what’s next! Is that weird coming from the author?

This particular piece is meant for the HTTS student anthology that is coming out later this year. If you are a member of any of Holly’s classes , you are eligible to submit a short story of up to 2500 words for consideration. The theme of the anthology is, “The Adventure of Creating.”

All the story rules and submission guidelines are on the forum, and you must be a verifiable member of her classes to participate, which means if you’re buying the standalone lessons from Amazon, B&N, iBooks, or in her online store, you’ll need a minimum of a general (free) membership on the forum and you’ll have to indicate which class(es) you’re taking. But if you aren’t already working on something, please note that the deadline for submission is in less than 2 weeks. If you’re going to write something, you better write fast!

And since I’m talking about it, I may as well offer a brief taste of what I’m doing. This is the freewriting snippet that came out of some mind mapping and sucked me in to the story I’m working on…

It all started in a cave, in the dark. Really, really dark. You know how the sun can make your eyes hurt on a bright day? That’s what this darkness was like. It just closed in and my eyes hurt from the strain of trying to see… something… anything….

Anyway, that’s what I’m doing right now.

What are you doing? Any works in progress? Any huge eureka moments in your writing? Inquiring minds want to know!