All posts by Lilycat

blog, Book planning, Convention Report, NaNoWriMo, Research

In the throes of NaNo & other news

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First off, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since August before I went to the World Science Fiction Convention! Well, I have been busy, but most of it has been catching up after that incredible trip.

Photo: Lily on bus tour
My first day in Dublin included a High Tea Bus Tour of the city. Isn’t this a clever idea?

World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin

Photo: Dublin Liffey riverside
The tilted building is the Dublin Exposition Hall where the main convention was held. My hotel room was about six blocks away on the east side of the Liffey River.

The convention was great although somewhat exhausting. So many panels and things to do. I loved the concert featuring music from various science fiction films. Awesome musicians. Costume contest was amazing. Dublin fandom outdid themselves to make this a fantastic convention. The biggest drawback was that the art show and a few other things, including George R.R. Martin signing autographs, were in a different building several blocks away. I never made it down there. With so many people and multiple panels at the same time, you had to choose wisely.

Photo: Poulnabrone portal tomb in the Burren of Ireland.
Poulnabrone is an amazing Neolithic portal tomb situated on the Burren in western Ireland. It is smaller than I imagined it as the location makes it look huge in photographs. Still very impressive.

I spent an additional two weeks  in Ireland, rented a car – will not do that again – and drove to the west coast where I did a little research and enjoyed the beauty of the country. This was my fourth trip to Eire over the past forty years. The last time I’d been over was in 1989, and I can say the place has changed considerably. Many more people, cities growing bigger, but at the heart of the towns, it is still the same Ireland.  Unfortunately, it was also the wettest August they’d experienced in many years, or so the locals told me.  I was rained on most every day and the Galway area experienced heavy rains. And cold… it was cold!

An amazing experience over all and I had a grand time. I enjoyed the welcome of several bed and breakfast places and renewed my spirit while I was there.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Starting in late October, I attempted to plot the second book in my Time Threads series with an eye to having it out in late Spring. It didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped, so I leaped into NaNoWriMo with a poor plan. In spite of that, I did complete the challenge of 50 thousand words on November 15th, so that is true to form for the past few years I’ve been doing it. I am still working on the book and hope to complete the first draft by the end of the month.

I have three other novels that are drafts that I need to either rewrite or edit before I can publish them, so I hope to focus on one of them over the next couple of months before I begin editing the book I’m working on now. I will be busy, busy.

Book Giveaway

I am thrilled to be part of another great Science Fiction and Fantasy Giveaway on Prolific Works that will begin on November 21st and run through January 22nd. This is a great opportunity to pick up some terrific science fiction and fantasy novels, including Time Walker, the first book of my Time Threads trilogy.  I’ll send out a blast when the giveaway goes live so you can go check out the 40+ books available.  I also have my short story, The Wizard’s Gift in the giveaway, so if you haven’t read it yet, you can grab it then.

I’m looking forward to the holidays and I’ll tell you all about my Game of Thrones tour that I did in Ireland. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and a very merry holiday season. Winter is definitely coming.

 

blog, Convention Report

Off to the World Science Fiction Convention

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Map highlighting interesting places in Ireland. Think I got it from the Tourist Bureau.

Back in the previous century, 1979 to be precise, my friend Patricia and I flew to the UK to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton, England. This was my first time at the world level as well as the first time in the UK. Both proved to be great fun although quite a bit different from the American conventions we’d been to before that. World Con isn’t a media con like WesterCon or ComicCon, but focuses more on books, the writers, and illustrators. While there was a bit of movie promotion, it wasn’t something supported by the film studios or as likely to have an actor appearing.

While I went to a couple of more World Cons over the years, this August I am going to the one in Dublin, Ireland … 40 years after that first convention in 1979. So many panels on the schedule and so many of them in the same time slots. I fear many more attendees as well, so I don’t know how many I might actually see, but I am excited to be going.

If I have access to the internet from my little computer, I will send back a con report or two, especially if I hear any interesting news. And I am going on a Game of Thrones tour of filming locations so I will have some photos from that also.

Since I am at World Con, I sent over a stack of postcards for my latest book, Time Walker, offering a free download e-book to the convention attendees. Not wanting to shortchange my followers, you, too, can download a free copy by clicking on the link below and then clicking on the link for Prolific Works. The link will take you to the book download page. This will be free until the end of August, so be sure to grab your copy before then.

http://lillianwolfe.me/time-walker-free-book/

Look for my reports from Ireland along with pictures. I expect to be taking tons of them as I tour western Ireland after the convention.

If any of you will be at the Dublin World Con and spot me there, please say hello and introduce yourself. I’d like to meet you.

blog, Book Launch, Book Releases, Convention Report

Book Lovers Convention and New Release

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I just got back from the Book Lovers’ Convention in New Orleans. What a fabulous week that was! I enjoyed going to a couple of really informative panels on writing and marketing that energized me, especially after I’d attended a Story Grid workshop here in Reno with my writers’ group. I am always trying to grow as a storyteller, so I enjoy these opportunities to learn more.

I was fighting a cold on one day of the event so I missed two more great workshops plus a pajama party with Meg Tilly. I was so disappointed. She is just a darling, sweet person. Saw my last year’s workshop maven, Cherry Adair  and caught up with her again. I took Cherry’s plotting workshop at the convention here in Reno.

Last year, the convention was a Romance Times event, but RT made that their last one, so this is the start of the new convention and not necessarily limited to romance. So, I promoted my new release, Time Walker, at the event and hope to get some new readers from the event.

The fairy dinner on Friday night was completely magical. Wonderful decorations, lots of people in costume and some delicious food. My table was hosted by author Karen Rose, who was not the wicked fae she’d dressed as. Charming lady.

Time Walker is releasing May 31st!

The first of the Time Threads series is now in per-order on Amazon and on other e-book distributors.

Meet Mali Harper,  a novice in the Time Travel division on the moon space station. Her job is to monitor the timeline and alert her boss if an anomaly shows up on it.  Boring job for the most part until an incident occurs. Then her whole world is turned upside down.

The book is a time travel, alternate history tale with a touch of steampunk.

For more information and a teaser from the book, go to the launch page.

Book Promotion, Book Releases

Urban Fantasy Giveaway & Cover Reveal

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Here we are at the end of March. The month came in like a lion and today is lamb-like calm and sunny for the most part. The past few days are suggesting that spring has finally arrived in my part of the world (Reno, Nevada) but I know as soon as my pear tree blooms another freezing, windy storm will be along. Never fails.

But I am here to let you know that I am doing another book giveaway!

Giveaway!

I am thrilled to have one of my novels, Funeral Singer: A Song for Marielle, be part of a month-long giveaway for paranormal and urban fantasy starter books in a series. This begins tomorrow,  April 1st, and runs until April 30th. That means you have the whole month to check out the link (click on the picture above) and choose as many of the books offered as you’d like to read. We have 32 books in the giveaway, so hop over there and pick out a few to read…or take all of them!

Of course, I hope you will download and read my book, A Song for Marielle, which is the first book of my five-book series. The series is complete, so if you like it, you can find the other four on all the major stores.

Meet Gillian Foster–

A struggling musician, Gillian hopes to parlay her talent into a successful career. But a blow to the head, throws a wrinkle in her plans. A request to play for a funeral leads to a starling discovery. She can talk to the dearly departed while singing.

As she sings, she is spiritually transported to an ethereal graveyard where she finds a confused spirit who needs guidance. She can speak with the man and can even guide him to the next level. Okay, no problem. But this odd ability can also lead her to more trouble than she could have imagined as one of her spirit clients demands her assistance in locating the person who killed her.

Gillian draws the interest of a sheriff’s detective, who thinks she may be connected to the case. If that’s not enough, she also draws the murderer’s interest. Will she be able to fulfill her promise to the spirit and save her own life?

Reader comments for this book:

“I must say, it’s been a while since I’ve had a book keep me up at night. I read this book in three days. It’s a well-written tale and has an unusual plot. The main character is relatable and likable. The secondary characters are well drawn as well. It did get scary so…” J. Turner

” I once read that a good book or movie is defined by the ending whether one cares about what will happen to the characters when it’s done. “Funeral Singer: A Song for Marielle…” gave me that feeling and therefore I recommend this book to anyone and everyone and can’t wait for the next installment!!!”

Warning, this book does contain some sexual abuse, so take that into consideration.

Click on the image above for my universal link to the second book, “A Song for Menafee” at Draft2Digital.

For the entire month, I am lowering my price for the digital books in the series by $1.00, so it’s a great time to buy them. They are all available on Amazon as well as Nook, Apple, Kobo and other formats. The first book will not be free on Amazon, so use the link for the giveaway to download it.

New Book Cover Reveal

I am also revealing the cover of my new book that will be coming out in early May, Time Walker. Isn’t that cover gorgeous? The incredibly-talented Barb Hoeter at Coverinked.com created it. I absolutely love it. My novel is a time travel fantasy with a touch of steampunk. More on that when I’m ready to release it.

 

Hope it’s looking sunny where you are. Be sure to check out the Urban Fantasy Series Starters giveaway.

Book Promotion

FREE Giveaway is counting down…

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Happy cold February. It seems like just about everywhere is getting hit with winter storms. Even Las Vegas is shimmering under a pretty decent dusting of snow. When I lived there, I think I only experienced one dusting of it. Reno, on the other hand, has been getting pretty good snowfall this month. We’ve had nine storms come in although the first two were heavy rain in the city while the mountains took the brunt of it. The Sierras are entirely coated with the white stuff and look gorgeous.

Postcard imageBut I digress… I am actually wanting to remind you that the Light Up the Galaxy free science fiction and fantasy giveaway only has five days left for you to go check out the books offered and grab yourself a free copy of a few of them. My book, O’Ceagan’s Legacy, the full novel, is available for free.

One of the hardest things for a writer to do is get noticed amid the tremendous number of authors publishing now. So, this giveaway is a way to combine the power of all the participating authors to try to reach more readers, so we invite all of our readers to explore the books offered. No obligations, but if you do read and enjoy the books, a review would be greatly appreciated. It really does help others to connect with the books.

So, please, before this promotion ends on February 26th, go out and download a few books that sound interesting to you.