Grimm Grit and Gasoline

Grimm, Grit and Gasoline Table of Contents

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Two young women defy the devil with the power of friendship. The pilot of a talking plane discovers a woman who transforms into a swan every night and is pulled into a much more personal conflict than the war he’s already fighting. A pair of twins with special powers find themselves in Eva Braun’s custody and wrapped up in a nefarious plan. A team of female special agents must destroy a secret weapon–the spindle–before it can be deployed, but when they discover one of their number has betrayed them, things get messy. The daughter of a gangster is being held hostage on the top floor of a hotel and, now unbeknownst to her, the secret that had been keeping her safe has been revealed and her time is running out. These and over a dozen other dieselpunk and decopunk fairy tales can be found in this anthology.

Retellings of The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Monkey King, Swan Lake, Pinoccio and more are all showcased alongside some original fairy tale-like stories. Featuring stories by Alicia K. Anderson, Jack Bates, Patrick Bollivar, Sara Cleto, Amanda C. Davis, Jennifer R. Donohue, Juliet Harper, Blake Jessop, A.A. Medina, Lizz Donnelly, Nellie K. Neves, Wendy Nikel, Brian Trent, Alena Van Arendonk, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Sarah Van Goethem, Robert E. Vardeman and Zannier Alejandra.

That right there is the unofficial description of Grimm, Grit and Gasoline: An Anthology of Dieselpunk and Decopunk Fairy Tales. I think it does a really good job of describing what you can expect from this anthology but it’s missing one word. Awesome. Because this anthology is awesome.

Check out the Table of Contents:

Circles and Salt by Sara Cleto
Salvage by A.A. Medina
The Loch by Zannier Alejandra
Evening Chorus by Lizz Donnelly
To Go West by Laura VanArendonk Baugh
Bonne Chance Confidential by Jack Bates
늑대 – The Neugdae by Juliet Harper
The Rescue of Tresses Malone by Alena Van Arendonk
Daughters of Earth and Air by Robert E. Vardeman
Easy as Eating Pie by Amanda C. Davis
Accidents are not Possible by Sarah Van Goethem
A Princess, a Spy, and a Dwarf Walked into a Bar Full of Nazis by Patrick Bollivar
Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky by Brian Trent
Ramps and Rocket by Alicia K. Anderson
As the Spindle Burns by Nellie K. Neves
Make This Water No Deeper by Blake Jessop
One Hundred Years by Jennifer R. Donohue

If you like fairy tales, I think you’re gonna love this book. Coming in September!

Books, Editing

Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul

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Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul is out today and I am so excited about this release!

I’ve been excited about this series since the first query for it landed in the World Weaver Press inbox — in fact, I fought/made a deal with another editor in order to be the one to acquire it. I love this world that K. Bird Lincoln has created. I love the characters that inhabit it. I love her writing style. I just love it.

Especially Kwaskwi.

So maybe it seems a little odd that I’m so stoked about this book, because it is the end of the series. It means saying goodbye to all those things that I love…

But I am.

And maybe because I know those things will always be there, on my bookshelf, waiting for me to revisit them, but also because I think this book nails it. It works as a stand alone, but it also ties up the series in a really good way. A way that I can appreciate. 

Series (in books or television) which go on and on just because they can drive me a bit bonkers. I really appreciate things that have a solid arc and then end. Things that know when and how to say goodbye.

This series does that. There’s loads of room if K. Bird Lincoln ever wants to do another stand alone, or a spin-off series or whatever but this trilogy is done. And it’s done right. And that feels good.

So yes. I am ridiculously excited about this release. And I hope everyone who has read the whole trilogy will enjoy this final installment in it. And for anyone who is brand new to the series — whether you are being introduced to it via the first book or this one, you are in for a treat.

And just wait until you meet Kwaskwi!

 

Even a dream eater can’t escape the final sleep…

After her trip to Japan, the Head of Portland Kind calls Koi home to help solve a murder. The body of a powerful magical being was found in the witch’s hut in Forest Park, along with a strange, haunting quotation about dreams and death written in blood. Can Koi discover who seems to be calling out a Baku before others from her new-found family die?

Buy it Now!

World Weaver Press

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

“Koi, who can enter and manipulate other people’s dreams, comes into her own in Lincoln’s capable third urban fantasy…series fans will enjoy watching Koi learn to control her abilities and sort out her romantic life along the way.”

Publisher's Weekly

Though Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul works as a stand alone title, you will definitely get more out of it if you have read the first two books in the series as well. Check them out at your local library or pick up a copy online at all the usual suspects. 

Clicking on the cover below will take you to the book’s official page on the WWP website which will tell you all about it and give you links to purchase 🙂

Just Stuff

Quick Change

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Quick note to let you know about a quick, and hopefully short term, change to this blog.

The previous theme I was using started messing with my pages so I have temporarily switched over to this theme until I find the time and space to hire someone to do the full make-over this website needs (which requires stuff done on the back end which is beyond my abilities).

However, this theme displays things somewhat differently than the old one did so posts made before today (2/19/19) may be formatted somewhat oddly.

Cover Reveal, Editing

Cover Reveal: The Cassandra Complex

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Why restore the timeline when you can create a better one?

Cass is a 22nd century university student who – like most young adults – has always believed her parents were a bit stuck in the past. But on her eighteenth birthday she learns exactly how true this is: not only are her parents time travelers, living in an era different than either was born in, but now, to ensure that history plays out as it’s supposed to, she must travel to the year 1914 to live out her adult life.

Cass isn’t the type, though, to just sit back and watch while all the tragic events she’s learned about in her history courses play out in front of her. Not when she’s the only one in the world with the foreknowledge – and determination – to change it.

The Cassandra Complex is the third novella in the Place in Time series, which began with The Continuum and The Grandmother Paradox.

I’ve had the pleasure of editing this series and I love it. The Cassandra Complex picks up where The Grandmother Paradox left off and brings us another awesome adventure in a different time period than our main characters are from, but it also totally stands alone. So even if you haven’t read the first two books you can totally pick up this third in the series and enjoy it unreservedly. Wendy is kind of a magician in that regard 🙂

Anywho, today was cover reveal day, so I am pleased to share this gorgeous purple cover, designed by Sarena Ulibarri.

Add this book to your Goodreads shelves or pre-order your copy today. Or do both! I vote for both 😉

Cover Reveal, F is for Fairy

Cover Reveal: F is for Fairy

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Check it out!

F is for Fairy, the sixth installment in the Alphabet Anthologies series, has got a cover! Yay!

As always with this series, the cover was designed by Jonathan C. Parrish.

“Anyone who believes that faeries are wee, golden-haired creatures with dragon-fly wings and sweet intentions has never met a real faerie.” –Suzanne Willis, “A Silver Thread Between Worlds”

Retellings of familiar favourites from new perspectives, and brand new stories share the pages of this fairy-themed collection. Within these offerings you’ll find fairy music and food, contracts (making and breaking them), changelings, circles and curses–these stories deliver all the things you already love about fairies and a few new tricks as well.

A dusting of dragons, shapeshifters and ogres accompany these tales which include feminist fairies overcoming trauma, Norse fairies breaking the rules to interfere in human affairs, intergalactic fairies hitching a ride to a new home, political satire featuring an idiot king and talking animals, a new Robin Archer story, fairy run nightclubs and so, so much more.

Altogether this anthology includes twenty-six brand new tales–one for each letter of the alphabet–from contributors Pete Aldin, Steve Bornstein, Andrew Bourelle, Stephanie A. Cain, Beth Cato, Sara Cleto, Cory Cone, Danielle Davis, Megan Engelhardt, Michael Fosburg, Joseph Halden, Lynn Hardaker, L.S. Johnson, Michael M. Jones, Jeanne Kramer-Smyth, Samantha Kymmell-Harvey, C.S. MacCath, Jonathan C. Parrish, Alexandra Seidel, Michael B. Tager, Rachel M. Thompson, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Brittany Warman, Lilah Wild, Suzanne J. Willis and BD Wilson.

Though it’s not going to be available until May 7th, F is for Fairy is currently available for pre-order:

Amazon (US) (CA) (UK)

Kobo

B&N

Apple

OR

If you’d like to read a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review you can get a free review copy on BookSprout.

Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget to add it to your ‘Want to Read’ shelf on Goodreads!

Goals

Setting Goals for 2019

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At the start of each year I set goals for myself, then at the end of that year I look back at them and assess how well I’ve done at reaching those goals. In theory, throughout the year it helps me keep my magpie energy in check by showing me the things I ought to be focusing on and by sharing the goals publicly it gives me a sense of accountability as well.

Usually I mostly share my work related goals here, but in the spirit of ‘Work/life balance’ (what even IS that?) I’ve decided to put them all here. And make fewer of them, maybe? We’ll see… I’m going to start writing and you and I will find out together if I managed to cut back at all.

2019 Goals

Stuff:

  • Finish playing Divinity 2
    • I love this game but I keep taking loooooong breaks from it because reasons. Well, mostly because work reasons. I’d like to finish it so I can finally begin playing Dragon Age: Inquision in earnest… ya know, so I can maybe finish it before the next one comes out LOL
  • Get good at making chicken/chorizo gumbo
    • Like really good. I want to like, craft a master recipe for my ultimate chicken/chorizo gumbo. I’m starting by mastering stock. I’m not even joking. See? I can over-complicate anything. It’s a skill, really.
  • Have a successful ‘Depth Year’
    • Jo and I decided to have a ‘depth year‘ this year, which basically means we aren’t buying anything that isn’t consumable. There are a few additional exceptions — for example I’d really like to fix our broken-ass back fence so home maintenance things don’t count — but mostly we aren’t buying things. The idea is it will eliminate impulse buying, stop adding clutter to our home, save us some money and help us appreciate the things we already have.
  • Empty a box every month
    • We’ve spent the last couple years on a serious de-clutter and purge mission, and it’s gone very well. There are still little piles here and there, though, so Jo and I have each got a banker box in our offices and the goal of filling it with things we can get rid of and then actually getting rid of them. Every month. We’re both really good at putting things in the box, it’s the moving them from there to out of our house part that is going to be the most challenging.
  • Take a vacation
    • Every year I book the month of July off to vacation with my family, and every year I end up working… just less. This year I want the only work I even think about doing in July to be occasionally reading Swashbuckling Cats submissions. That’s it and that’s all.
  • Set up a Patreon
    • Related — sit down and schedule which promo dice I’m going to commission and when.
  • Establish and write down five and ten year goals
  • Create, schedule and effectively host the anthology book club on my Facebook group.
  • Take two walks a day
    • They don’t need to be long, but I need to get up from my desk at least twice a day for at least twenty minutes and go for a walk. Inside on the treadmill, outside running errands or catching Pokemon, it doesn’t matter. I just need to do it. The idea is that it will break up my day and also get my blood moving a wee bit.
    • Note to self: Don’t even begin to pretend these little jaunts can take the place of actual workouts. They are in addition to, not instead of.
  • Read 40 books
    • Books I begin in good faith but just can’t bring myself to finish totally count
  • Host another Giftmas Tour to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank

Releases:

  • Release Grimm, Grit and Gasoline
    • September.
    • I would like this anthology to have my best launch yet–beating all my other WWP anthology launch numbers. To pull that off I am going to need to come up with a great promo plan, and figure out how to give it an awesome launch outside of a convention setting.
  • Release F is for Fairy
    • May 7th
    • I want to feel good about this release, to feel as though I’ve given the book the time and attention that it deserves and not just sort of thrown it to the wolves. I will need to assess and set some concrete, measurable goals for this and record them in my records for the book.
  • Release Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles
    • August.
    • The timeline for this anthology is a bit shorter than usual but I want to make it work and give it a great launch, matching the success that we found with Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns
  • Release Shadows
    • Date TBD
    • Will be self-published and require production and promotion. This will need to be fitted in around other projects but I don’t want the results to feel like they’ve been fitted in around other projects.

Submission Periods:

  • Have a successful submission period for Swashbuckling Cats
    • Submissions for this one end July 31st. I would like to have a Table of Contents decided by the end of August.
  • Have a successful submission period for Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles
    • Submissions close on February 28th. I would like to have a Table of Contents by the end of March. This may be unreasonable, but that’s my goal.
  • Hear Me Roar
    • This anthology closes to submissions in September. I would like to have the Table of Contents decided by October.

Writing and Editing

  • Finish writing Eerie Edmonton
  • Complete edits on Hollow and hand those in to my publisher on time
  • Complete edits on Shadows
  • Edit the next book in E. C. Bell’s Marie Jenner series
  • Copyedit and assist in the promotion of The Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul by K. Bird Lincoln
  • Copyedit and assist in the promotion of Book #3 in the Place in Time series by Wendy Nikel
  • Outline the urban fantasy series I already have covers for
    • I don’t usually outline but for this project it just kinda feels right that I try it. So I’ll give it a whirl and we’ll see what happens.
  • Finish the NovPad poem a day project I started and failed to finish last year
  • Finish and begin querying Arcana

Deadlines:

  • Submit Eerie Edmonton on schedule
    • The manuscript is due on April 15th. I want the first draft done by my birthday (March 15th) so there’s time for polish before I hand it in
  • Submit Grimm, Grit and Gasoline on schedule
    • The manuscript is due on April 15th. I would actually like to have it handed in by the end of February in order to free up space in my brain and on my desk for other projects. This means getting my butt in gear with regard to edits.

Okay… so I know it doesn’t look like I did very well at the ‘cutting back’ thing, but honestly a lot of these points are almost repetitions. For example, having a good submission period for Earth, handing in Earth and launching Earth are all individual points up there, but they all add up to one thing — make a great anthology and share it with as many people as you can. So perhaps the format I’ve chosen this year makes it look like there’s more up there than there is.

And also, Future Self, in my defense, there were lots of things I thought about adding and then decided not to… so it’s not as much as it could have been? And I love my job. Surely there are worse things than being so excited you set a lot of goals for yourself?

It’ll be fun to look back at the end of the year and see how many of these I got to check off 🙂

Cover Reveal, Editing

Cover Reveal: Last Dream of her Mortal Soul

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Writing cover reveal posts are difficult, because you just KNOW the reader’s eye has gone to the cover before it focused on the words… or at least I assume that’s the case because that’s what always happens to me LOL So given that, there is no point in writing long introductions to the cover, or the book, and trying to be like, ‘Drum roll please…’ because everyone has already seen the cover.

Though apparently that didn’t stop me from rambling a bit just now.

But here it is! The cover for Last Dream of her Mortal Soul:

Designed by Sarena Ulibarri, I think this cover is the perfect addition to the series, and a wonderful way to end the trilogy.

What trilogy, you ask? Well, let me tell you about it 🙂

This is the third book in K. Bird Lincoln’s ‘A Novel of the Portland Hafu’ series. This is an urban fantasy series that, rather than focusing on vampires or werewolves, includes more Japanese mythological creatures. Also dragons. 🙂 The main character, Koi, is half-Baku/half-Human. She is also half-Japanese and half-American. Hence the series title. The official description for this final book is:

Even a dream eater can’t escape the final sleep…

After her trip to Japan, the Head of Portland Kind calls Koi home to help solve a murder. The body of a powerful magical being was found in the witch’s hut in Forest Park, along with a strange, haunting quotation about dreams and death written in blood. Can Koi discover who seems to be calling out a Baku before others from her new-found family die?

Dun dun dun!

The book will be available in March and you can pre-order it here:

World Weaver Press

Amazon

B&N

Kobo

It does standalone but you will definitely get the most out of it if you’ve read the previous two books as well:

Book One:

Book Two:

And in the spirit of full disclosure — I edited this series so I’m very biased when it comes to them. But I’ve been in love with them from the beginning when I had to arm wrestle another WWP editor for the privilege of acquiring and working on them 🙂

Call For Submissions, Earth: Giants

Earth Open to Submissions

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It’s today! Today is the day that Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles opens to submissions! This will be the second volume in my elemental anthologies series and I’m really looking to build on the awesome that was Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns.

Call for Submissions: Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles

Keep your feet on the ground. Sink in roots. Stay grounded. Mother Earth. We come from dust, and to dust we return…

Earth is steady. Solid. Reliable. It is the source of life and the thing which sustains it. But it’s not always serene and peaceful. It takes a lot to stir the earth but when it does, things get dramatic. Quakes swallow cities. Oceans rise. Mountains crumble. Earth is not weak, and it knows no pity.

In this, the second installment of the Elemental Anthology series, I want to explore the many facets of this often under-estimated element and the creatures associated with it so Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles will be filled with stories about every kind of earthy creature you can imagine, not only those listed in the subtitle. I’m looking for trolls, dwarves, earth dragons, goblins, ogres, orcs, grotesques and earthen beasts no one has ever heard of before. And of course this anthology will not be complete without at least one giant, golem and gargoyle!

Rights and compensation: Payment: $50 CAD flat fee and a paperback copy of the anthology. In exchange we are seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after publication date, after which publisher retains nonexclusive right to continue to publish for the life of the anthology.

Open submission period: January 1, 2019 – February 28, 2019

Length: Under 7,500 words

Submit here: https://niteblade.submittable.com/submit/131075/earth-giants-golems-and-gargoyles

No simultaneous or multiple submissions.

No reprints.

Canadian spelling, please.

Discount, Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinn

Fire Up Your New Year!

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We’re ending 2018 with a bang! Between today and January 4th you can pick up an electronic copy of Fire: Demons, Dragons & Djinns for just $0.99! At the risk of sounding like a total commercial, it’s an amazing deal. Whether you’re a reader who loves short stories, or an author who would benefit from seeing what sort of things I’ll be looking for when I read submissions for book two in the series (Earth: Giants, Golems and Gargoyles) you can’t lose when it comes to getting a copy for less than a buck. Honestly.

Get Your Copy Now!

Direct from the Publisher

 

Electronic:

Amazon (US) (CA) (UK)

Kobo

B&N

 

Paperback:

B&N

Amazon

 

And, if you have already purchased and read Fire (thank you, thank you!) please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. I would really appreciate it 🙂 Your review doesn’t need to be long or detailed, but a couple sentences and some stars could really make a difference. Thank you!

 

E is for Evil, Editing, Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinn, Tesseracts Twenty-one

Award Eligibility Post (2018 Edition)

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Woo… it’s that time again! Generally speaking I put off making these award eligibility posts because I find them a bit awkward but last year I put it off way, way too long and I just stumbled across this photo on a stock art site and I wanted to use it. So I’m actually on the ball this time. More or less. Because look at that girl? How aspirational is that?

Right. Eligibility.

Here is a quick and dirty list of work I did in 2018 which would be eligible for award nomination in 2019:

Anthologies

E is for Evil, Poise and Pen Publishing, May 15, 2018
Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinns, Tyche Publishing, August 2018
Tesseracts Twenty-one: Nevertheless (co-edited with Greg Bechtel), EDGE Publishing, September 2018

Long Form Editor

Hearing Voices by E.C. Bell, Tyche Books
The Continuum by Wendy Nikel, World Weaver Press
The Grandmother Paradox by Wendy Nikel, World Weaver Press
Black Pearl Dreaming by K. Bird Lincoln

I am also eligible for short form editor for my work in the aforementioned anthologies.

If you are nominating for any major awards (and I count the Auroras among those) and would like to read any of my eligible works, just get in touch and we’ll make it happen.

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Books, Editing, Eerie Edmonton, F is for Fairy, Fire: Demons, Dragons and Djinn, Goals, Grimm Grit and Gasoline, NaNoWriMo, The Other Side of the Door

Looking Back at My 2018 Goals

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Because I have an awful lot of things on the go at any one time and generally lack focus in general, I set goals for myself each year to try and provide a sort of framework to work within. And then at the end of each year I look back over those goals and assess how well I did at achieving them.

It’s that time of year again…

Goals I feel I’ve accomplished will be in bold.

  • Write a book
    • I know this is super vague and that’s intentional. I have several ideas tumbling about in my mind and I haven’t settled on one yet.

Huh. I don’t know if I should bold this or not. I’m going to though… because I really turned up the amount of writing I was doing. Also, though I didn’t write a single book from start to finish I did write 20k ish words on a new book I sold to Dundurn Press (Eerie Edmonton) and wrote 50,000 words of a NaNoWriMo novel. I feel like that’s close enough to count.

  • Make at least one blog post a week

Uh… I don’t know if I did this, to be honest, but I don’t want to go back through my archives to count and see. If I didn’t actually write a post a week I definitely wrote more than 52 posts altogether and surely that’s good enough? Really, I question the judgement of Past Me in picking this as a goal because it’s definitely better to not blog on any given week than it is to blog about nothing, right?

Well, nailed the first half — I read over fifty books so far this year. I didn’t finish reading all the ones from my partial reading list, however. I guess that goal will get bumped to 2019 LOL

  • Increase the number of my books available in libraries
    • I wish I had a more concrete goal to go here, but I still need to figure out what my system is going to be (Am I going to focus on a specific book? If so, which one? Am I going to focus on a specific library location? Where? How much time am I going to dedicate to this?). As I figure out the details I will share them on this blog.

So technically this goal was achieved, but not through any effort on my part. Really what happened is D2D started distributing to Overdrive and a couple other places where libraries get books and a handful of libraries acquired some of my titles. I didn’t spend any time on this, though, which may be a thing for 2019 or may be a thing to put on a shelf for a wee bit longer. We’ll have to wait and see, I think.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage this. I planned to. I bought tickets, booked a hotel room, hell, I even had plane tickets, but I was just too sick to go. That’s twice in a row I’ve had to cancel. Both times were for good reasons, but, bleh…

However, I did participate in STARFest in St. Albert, Alberta and CoCoKon in Phoenix, Arizona this year and I hadn’t planned to do either of those things. So hopefully that will make up for the convention I had planned to attend but couldn’t.

Done and done. It was a good one this year. I felt like I had just the right amount of programming and a happy amount of social time too. Win/win!

  • Successfully participate in NovPAD
    • NovPAD is November Poem-A-Day. I haven’t successfully pulled this off in ages, and I miss it.

Narp. Sadly. I tried. I even picked a theme and bought a premade cover to use as inspiration and everything, but by the end of November I did not have thirty poems. I am still working on this though, I want to finish that chapbook and put it out… maybe 2019? Maybe 2020?

It was a busy year 🙂

  • Have a successful submissions window for Grimm, Grit and Gasoline
    • Have a Table of Contents decided by the end of the year.

Whoot! That TOC was tricksy, but I finalized it just this month. Edits will begin in January and then contracts which means I’ll probably be able to announce it in February or March 🙂

  • Continue in my role as Assistant Editor for World Weaver Press
    • At present this looks like it will include acquiring and/or editing at least three titles.

I edited some of these WWP titles in 2017 for a 2018 release. Some I edited in 2018 for a 2019 release. To be fair, the bulk of my work ends once edits are complete, but not all, so I’ve included all of the titles. I didn’t list those I copy edited though, so it seems balanced to me 😉

The Continuum by Wendy Nikel (Edited in 2017 but released in 2018)

The Grandmother Paradox by Wendy Nikel (Edited in 2018 for a 2018 release)

Book #3 in the Place in Time Series by Wendy Nikel (Edited in 2018 for a 2019 release)

Black Pearl Dreaming by K. Bird Lincoln (Edited in 2017 for a 2018 release)

Book #3 in the Portland Hafu Series by K. Bird Lincoln (Edited in 2018 for a 2019 release)

  • Edit the next book in E.C. Bell’s Marie Jenner series

Hearing Voices is out in the world and I’m ridiculously proud to say that I’m its editor. The previous book I edited in this series, Dying on Second, also won the Bony Blithe award this year. Of course, Eileen did all the work for that, but I get to brag about it a bit too 😉

  • Work on putting together TOC for [Top Sekkrit] anthology

So close to done on this. Close, but not quite.

  • Organise a Giftmas Blog Tour

Done and done. At the time of my writing this post we had exceeded our goal and still had several days to go. I am very proud 🙂

  • Increase my mailing list subscribers by 20%

I actually increased my numbers by significantly more than that — like closer to 30x at its peek. I used a couple builders to do that, however, so after the cycle of unsubscribers leaving and purging zombie members my subscriber numbers are much lower than that peek but those who are on the list really seem to want to be there. And even my current numbers are significantly higher than they were last year. About 9k at last count (because why am I being vague?)

  • Increase my BookBub followers by 20%

LoL Well, Past Me. It would be easier to know how I’d done in regard to this goal if I had written down my current number of BookBub followers somewhere memorable at the begining of the year. Alas, I did not. I wrote it down. I remember that much, but I can’t remember where… so I guess this one will have to remain a mystery. However… I think my ultimate goal was 1,000 BookBub followers (because that would open up tools to me) and I currently have just over 800. So probably this goal wasn’t nailed. Yet.

Not listed as goals but other things I accomplished this year include editing F is for Fairy (forthcoming), pitching and selling Eerie Edmonton to Dundurn Press and doing loads of research for it, sold an anthology about swashbuckling cats that was wholly conceived of on Twitter, and successfully completing NaNoWriMo.

I spent a good part of this year quite unwell so I was nervous about looking back at these goals but overall? I’m pretty pleased with how I did. I’d also set a fitness goal for myself that I totally failed to hit, but given how sick I was for over half of this year I’m going to cut myself a whole bunch of slack on that one.

Looking forward to seeing what 2019 will bring!

I write, I edit and I take a lot of naps.

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