Pumpkin Pie, Cocoa, And A Good Book

Isn't this cozy?

Here's wishing you time to spend doing this over this weekend.  :)

P.S.  She's also entered in my winter giveaways.  Click here to see how you can enter.

Liz Reads On Her Laptop

My cyberbuddy Liz sent me this photo of herself ready to read Becoming Brigid.

This gives her one entry into my winter giveaways, meaning she stays entered until she wins or until I run out of prizes, whichever comes first.
Here's November's book swag prize:

a Becoming Brigid totebag.

If you'd like to enter, click here for all the details.

Help Me Decide On A Title -- Please?

Oh, for heaven's sakes!
So, I've put together a boxed set of my two Half-Vampire novels for e-book release for Christmas.  Everything's all ready to roll except the cover.
Tonight I chose the background pic variation and went to put the type on it.
And....
And I can't decide on a title.
Help!

So, if book one is Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire,

and book two is All in the Half-Vampire Family,

and the background pic for the cover is a variation on that same blood splatter and will use the same font, what do I call the boxed set?

Here are my ideas so far:
1) Half-Vampire: the boxed set
2) The Half-Vampire Boxed Set
3) It's In The Blood: the Half-Vampire boxed set
4) It's a Half-Vampire Thing: boxed set
5) some other less lame title ?????


Please, please, please tell me what you think!  I can't even make the cover until I have a title that doesn't suck.  (Uh, poor choice of words there.  Unless I can use THAT for a title: Life Sucks: the Half-Vampire boxed set.)

Too Busy Reading

She's too busy reading Becoming Brigid to perform.  ;)

(OK, well, we staged it that way.  Thanks to Max for taking the photo.)

Sending me a photo of yourself reading Becoming Brigid counts as an entry into my November contest.  Check out the details here.

P.S. The costumes are Russian; the location was the Jordan Peace Park in Salt Lake City.  No, I'm not in the picture.
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

My First Teenage Fan Gushing Over A "Hot" Character I've Created

This afternoon I raced (literally) across the valley to get from the school where I teach to a high school across town to meet with their creative writing club, mentored by a friend of mine who used to teach at my school.  It was a ton of fun (meeting with the club, not the racing across town).
Since I'm a teacher, I had none of the jitters about which I've heard many authors complain.  I don't fear public speaking, for one thing.  And I certainly have no fear of teenagers.  (Geez, these kids were older and better behaved than what I normally face anyway.  They were highly amused that my first words to them were, "Thank you for not being 7th graders.")
I began with a bit of background on how/when I started writing, then talked to them a bit about why I self-publish -- and HOW.  They wanted the HOW part.  And that was fine.  I thought they would.  We talked about formatting and making covers and advertising.  I let them know the harsh realities of how self-published authors don't really make much money, that one does this because one likes it.
They also got a BIG talking-to on revision, on how a first draft is NOT a final product.  I told them that NaNoWriMO is fine, but that they should put that finished first draft away for a month -- at least -- afterwards and let it "ripen" while they write something else.  I told them that first draft will look a LOT less perfect when they see it with fresh eyes.
They ate this up.  And that's a good thing.
We talked about POV and intended audience.
They wanted to know where I got my ideas for each book.  They were enthralled as I talked about authors I'd met; Neil Gaiman, of course, was an impressive name to drop.
One of the girls had borrowed the teacher's copy of Becoming Brigid and read it.  She was an avid reader; she told me she'd read over 200 books this year.  (No one contradicted her; apparently, she is well-known for constant reading.)  She went on for 2 or 3 minutes about how she loved the multiple plots and parallel times going on in Brigid.  She said it was the best she'd ever read like that.  (I basked in my warm, fuzzy moment while she talked.)
And, at the end of the meeting, as 4 or 5 kids hung around to tell me shyly what they were writing and/or ask more questions, she began gushing over Dougal.
"I LOVE Dougal!" she half-shouted.  Then she went on and on to 2 other girls who hadn't read the book yet, telling them how intriguing he was.  I was SO pleased.
Yes, I now have a teenage girl in love with my fictional character.  Once again, I have passed another milestone as an author. :D
I didn't sell any books (but maybe some of them will buy the e-book -- I hope), but I did rally them up to convince their school librarian to buy a copy.  I told them about my current contest, and one girl got very excited about writing a book review (so I hope she really will read the book and review it).
I gave away a Half-Vampire tee shirt and lots of bookmarks.  And I got about 15 volunteers to beta read The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay.  In fact, there was much disappointment that I only had 3 copies -- until I pointed out that it's only a novella and they could pass  it around to more people at their next writers' club meeting in 2 weeks.
So, overall, I'd say it was a huge success.
Plus, I get to come back and do a workshop with them in a month or so.  :)

Becoming Brigid Book Swag Giveaway #1!

Tomorrow I get to do a school visit to talk to a creative writing club (Note: not the school where I teach -- wow!), so in honor of that, let's have my first swag giveaway!

Here's what I'll give away to a lucky winner on December 1:

It's a tote bag with the Becoming Brigid book cover on it.
The bag is medium-sized, and it makes a great library bag (that's how I'm using mine).  It would also be great for groceries, hobby stuff, etc.  It's pretty sturdy, and the handles fit nicely over the shoulder.

Want it?  Good.  :)
Here's how you can enter:
1) Buy a copy of Becoming Brigid and read it.  Or else convince your local library to purchase a copy and then read it.
Afterwards, post a review of the book on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog (or all of the above for multiple entries).
Tweet or DM me a link (@lisamshafer) to the review, or post a comment on this post or on my Current Contests page with a link to the review.
I'll list your name on the Current Contests page, and you'll be entered.
2) You may also enter (instead of or in addition to the reviews) by photographing yourself reading/holding a copy of Becoming Brigid (the cover must be showing).

Then instagram the jpg to me OR pin the jpg to an appropriate board (books, Celts, mythology, self-publishing, etc.) and post the link in the comment section here or tweet/DM it to me (@lisamshafer) OR post a comment her or on my Current Contests page with your e-mail address (and I'll contact you to get the jpg).  The photo will be used for publicity; thus, if you are not yet 18 years old, you MUST be photographed WITH YOUR PARENT to prove you have permission to do this.

Your name will then be added to the list of entrants on the Current Contests page.

On December 1, the winner will be announced, and I will contact the winner for a mailing address.
This contest is open in the US and Canada.  You must be 13 or older to enter. You may enter multiple times.   I am not responsible for loss or damage of prizes during shipping.  I promise not to share your contact info with anyone.  Your entries WILL be made public.
For a list of entrants, go to the Current Contests page.  Click here.

So, What's Happening Now?

1) My goodreads contest ended on Halloween.  There were 389 entries (significantly fewer than for any Half-Vampire goodreads contest I've done), and 180 people added Becoming Brigid to their TBR list.  A girl named Hannah won, and I mailed off the book Friday.  (I hope she likes it and gives it a positive review somewhere.)
2) This Thursday I'm scheduled to meet with the creative writing club of a high school across town from where I teach.  This should be fun, as they're older kids and I don't know any of them -- for a change. :)
3) Yes, I'm aware that NaNoWriMo is starting.  I don't do NaNoWriMo.  I believe that writing is a craft which takes time.  I suspect that it is extremely unlikely that anyone could write a whole novel from outline to finished first draft in thirty days and have anything that wasn't 90% crap.  (And I read LOTS of self-published fiction which came from NaNoWriMos past and backs up my suspicions here.)
4) I am working on several things right now.
4a) One of them is a 2-book set of Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire and All in the Half-Vampire Family.

(Max in stereo with both HV books.)
I've finished putting them together -- and putting BACK all the italics which inconveniently disappear when I copy and paste.  But I've got to decide on and put in the "extras" at the back of the book and fix up a new cover.  I've been tinkering with variations on that original blood splatter, but nothing is jumping out at me as a good choice just yet.  (Yeah, I have about 15 photo aps on my iPad.)  At any rate, I hope to have this e-book only set ready to roll for Christmas sales.  :)

(A teaching colleague with both HV books.)
4b) I've had The (Dis)Appearance of Nerissa MacKay on hold for months now, as I've been so busy with finalizing Becoming Brigid and working on the first draft of The Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook.  But I hope to have some of these high school creative writing kids beta read if for me.  (I'm also still struggling with the cover of this one.)

4c) I've been pecking away at Chocolate Smuggler's Notebook, but I got stagnated and disappointed for a few days.  I then went back to my idea from last year of writing some short story prequels to introduce the world of the book, and I got another idea.  I decided I'd write a set of short stories as prequels to the prequels -- but Christmas stories!

I have 4 mapped out, and one and 3/4 of them written.  And tonight, I had Dad look over the covers I'd created.  He picked out the one he thinks is best, praised my color choice (usually very good), font choice, and letter placement (often where I have trouble).  Thus, the cover is set.  (Uh, I might add here that Dad spent his entire career as a commercial artist, the forerunner to today's graphic artists, so he knows what he's talking about.)
I hope to have a 99¢ story collection ready by Cyber Monday (e-book only).
5) I do have more contests planned and prizes sitting on my craft desk, ready to be sent out to winners.  I just keep hoping to get some more book reviews for Becoming Brigid, but they're not coming in very fast.  Perhaps I need to start the contest and see if that generates some interest????

6) I've certainly learned that posting photos on this blog (and on Pinterest and Twitter) REALLY increases my blog traffic.  I don't know that it's really increased book sales, but it certainly brings folks to the blog!