I'm Alive (and have a guest post)

Hi, all!

Sorry for the long silence (I'll probably have a blog post about that, one of these weeks or months, but I've at least partially adapted to allergens here), but I'm alive! (Those of you on my newsletter should have an e-mail in your inbox.)

Today I pipe up to announce that Jami Gold has hosted me on her blog: When Is a Good Editor Not Good for Your Story?

Also have some more announcements, such as two nonfiction books available for preorder on Amazon (and if you want them on another vendor, let me know, else they'll be Amazon-only for the first 90 days after release).

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Coming 10/13/15:
The 5 Pillars of Point of View
Special preorder price: $0.99!

Not sure how to develop your own "style"? Can't figure out why a lot of readers can't understand what your character's doing or why? Wondering how to make your story "deeper" or more poignant?

Point of view the way to go.

If you understand point of view, you can also intentionally write stories that use points of view that focus on your strengths as a writer and use less of your weak points.

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Coming 11/10/15:
Efficient Essay Writing
Special preorder price: $0.99!

Tired of spending so much time on your essays, muddling through the steps? This book gives you guidelines to help you organize the process and to figure out what works for you and your situation, rather than giving you some kind of road map that only works with a specific type of essay and teacher. It includes some worksheets designed to help you keep all you need for your essay in one place.

I can't promise this'll be out until November, but I am trying to get it to you sooner, so it'll help with this semester rather than next one.

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/announcements

Does nonfiction like this interest you? What's new with y'all?

—Misti

Now Out: Know Thy Frienemy (and what that has to do with a new blog I've started)

"Know Thy Frienemy" by Misti Wolanski on Ganxy

I am so glad to finally have this book out there. Now to get to working on book 3, which is about 10% written, mostly because it opens with a scene I'd originally written while working on Destiny's Kiss, thinking it would open book 2, but no, not time for that yet.

Interested in the prequel, Destiny's Kiss? It's just started going up on Wattpad. Plan is for one chapter every Tuesday. If my math's right, the last post will go up the last week of January.

If you want to go ahead and get a copy of Destiny's Kiss, good for this week only, use the coupon code PU99L on Smashwords to get for $2.99 instead of $4.99 for this week only. (Sorry if that's not your preferred vendor, but the other major vendors don't make it easy to set up a coupon.)

The paperbacks for both books will soon be available, hopefully this month.

And then I'll be all done with Kickstarter fulfillments (assuming I get the last person's address), except for the item that can't be done until I write book 3.

Oh, that's going to be fun. Research-heavy, like these books tend to be, but fun.

Anybody know of any good resources on yurei mythology? I have a general overview of what they are, but I'll need more for book 3. Which is all the spoilers I'll give for that. ^_^

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So… What does the release of Know Thy Frienemy have to do with the new blog I've started?

The blog is www.aboutthatherb.com. Visit it now for the full story of how I accidentally cured my own lung infection, a few years back.

Destiny of the Destiny Walker series works at an herb store, and she does things like chew on a willow twig for the painkiller. (Willow bark reputably has the same chemical in it as aspirin, albeit not nearly as distilled.)

In person, I frequently get told to start a blog to share what I know about kitchen remedies, so here we are. Shiny new blog, an as-yet undecided update schedule—every two weeks, maybe—which includes a "Recommendations" page for where you can get bulk ingredients, based on suppliers I've either used or chatted with those who use it.

Eventually, I'll get to putting together a blogroll for the site that includes such sites as Crunchy Betty. And the site appearance will get a makeover at some point, but it's functional for now.

And I think my readers will enjoy where I'm headed*.

*Speaking of where I'm headed, I've not forgotten about my question regarding free will. It's just taking me a while to mold my thoughts on the matter into something coherent, because there seem to be some differing definitions of terms involved.

Are you interested in the Destiny Walker series or in the herb blog? Both? Why or why not? Have any pertinent links/stories/anecdotes to share?

—Misti

News: A Fistful of Earth + CreateSpace Editions Are Here!

At long last (and as some have already discovered), A Fistful of Earth is here—and so is the print edition for A Fistful of Fire (with the print version of A Fistful of Earth in the final stage before release)! (Er, a print version is also available for "PRIMpriety", if you're interested in that one.)

And as a bonus for my blog readers, use the coupon code G55ELYAK to get a discount on any of the CreateSpace titles. (Note that this code will not last forever, so get the discount while you can!)

The e-book versions of A Fistful of Fire and A Fistful of Earth cost $4.99—a price that won't last forever. In a few weeks, I'll be raising the price to $6.99 per e-book, which is still a deal compared to the costs of what publishers like Ace charge for the genre ($7.99+), and compared to the cost of the print version.

Enough said on that front, methinks. Wouldn't want to start sounding whiny or apologetic. ^_^

So, if you want the books (and remember to use the coupon code G55ELYAK if getting the print version):

Print Versions:

• A Fistful of Fire
• A Fistful of Earth – ETA live link @ 11:06 AM EST.
• PRIMpriety plus bonus stories

A Fistful of Earth E-Versions:

• Amazon US | UK | DE | ES | FR | IT | JP
• Barnes & Noble*
• DriveThru Fiction
• Kobo
• Omnilit | ARE
• Smashwords
• XinXii

*The Barnes & Noble website seems to be having some trouble, due to Hurricane Sandy. So if you want to buy the book from the B&N store, I would recommend waiting at least a few more days, first. The cover's gone AWOL and the EPUB file seems corrupted, and the system won't accept my re-upload.

So. Here we are: All caught up (finally!) from that Kickstarter thing. (Well, except for two donors who won't give me the info I need to give them their particular bonuses, but that's not my fault. You two know whom you are. *poke*)

If I hit my writing goals for NaNoWriMo*, we'll see about either audio versions (or a Kickstart for audio) being next… Assuming anyone's interested in audio? I've already been chatting with some narrators and running the numbers for it, and audio is a whole lot cheaper than translation (which is…expensive).

*For anyone who doesn't know: NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month, wherein a bunch of masochists get together and seek to write 50k words in the month of November and often discover how doable it is.

Not that I always write 50k words per month—yeah, I suck at those goals—but I'm going to try setting it as a time goal, this coming month. I suspect that might work better.

What do you most want to see from me next (on the blog, as a released story, etc.)? Would you be interested in audio versions for my fiction?

What will you be writing or reading, this month?

—Misti

Plans for December 2011

#1:

I won't be intentionally releasing a short story for December. I have a reason for that.

…Because I've already had a story come out, in the first Saffina Desforges Presents anthology: "Primpriety", an urban fantasy novelette featuring a girl whose day's sleep gets interrupted by a murder outside her apartment that she can't stop, and things go downhill from there after she's bribed into tracking the murderer for the cops. And no, she isn't exactly what you're thinking. It's a completely different "world" from my Darkworld series.

The anthology is currently $0.99 US on Amazon.com. I'm not sure of its price elsewhere. I know there are plans to release it on other vendors, as well, but for now, all I have are the Amazon URLs:

• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Amazon DE
• Amazon FR

#2:

I'm working my butt off trying to get A Fistful of Earth done, like I promised. I had "writer's block"* for too long, because I wasn't firmly enough in the narrator's head, but… Well, that writer's block lingered for longer than it needed to, because I had some personal problems get in the way of addressing it.

At any rate, it's flowing now. Even if I don't get done for NaNoWriMo, I should at least have a working draft done by the end of next week.

That means…

#3:

I'll be trying to get A Fistful of Earth out when promised ("late 2011"), but that promised release might not be the final polished version. I have some ideas for how to work that, but we'll see how necessary they are.

#4:

I've commissioned a new cover for Destiny's Kiss. It's gorgeous and fits the genre. I look forward to revealing it (and my cover artist) to you.

But I can't. Not yet. Because…

#5:

I'm working on some stuff to coincide with the new cover's release. That's as detailed as I'll get on that right now.

#6:

Write 30k words in the month of December, finishing the first draft of the sequel for Destiny's Kiss. (See my nice little progress bar in the sidebar? I can't promise that I'll keep it 100% up-to-date, but I'll do my best to keep it close.)

#7:

I owe some of you folks reviews of your stories. (And then there are the folks who I've promised to read and review… You know who you are.) I'm hoping to do that this December.

What are your plans for reading and writing in December?

—Misti

*Just FYI, I consider "writer's block" to be the subconscious's last desperate attempt to nab my attention when I'm not hearing it scream "Something's wrong!" at me.

New Release: November 2011

I like all my stories, but this one marks a special time for me. I wrote it in-between wondering why I couldn't get A Fistful of Earth to work. Something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what, because the main plot points were holding up no longer how I looked at them.

I decided to poke at how Lallie Nonsire, a probably baseborn girl raised in an orphanage, met her rulers and became friends with Silva Feyim, a girl who was daughter to the Prophet of the King and cousin of the ruling family. I figured there was a short story in there.

There was: a short story of 2,600 or 11 pages, entitled "Of Her Own". Writing the short story was the first time I felt myself completely in Lallie's head. Extrapolating from there helped me enter the head of the adult Lallie.

"Of Her Own" is available for $0.99 US from the "big 3" vendors (Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, & Amazon), and it'll reach other ones like Apple and Kobo over the next few weeks.

"Of Her Own"

All young Lallie Nonsire wanted was a quiet life, minding her own business and ignoring what she was by birth.

After her magic betrays her by saving a friend's life, she'll settle for escaping Saf before she's turned into a live torch.

But where can the child of a despised race go?

***A short story of 2,600 words or 11 pages.***

CONTAINS: Some violence.

You can find it at the following vendors:

• Smashwords (My own vendor of choice for buying e-books; get DRM-free files in multiple formats.)
• Barnes & Noble
• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Amazon DE
• Amazon FR

I hope you enjoy!

—Misti

ETA: I have no idea where my post title or labels went. I had them in here when I started the post. *scratches head*

October's Story Release

This month's story release is another short story, "A Blackmail and a Birthday". (If you know me from the Hurog forums, this is a slightly revised version of "A Summer Birthday".)

It's set in the Darkworld, the same urban fantasy world as Destiny's Kiss, "The Corpse Cat", and "Romeo & Jillian", but it's a stand-alone.

While waiting for her boyfriend to treat her to her first drink, Ember hears a gun. Her 21st birthday’s about to get a bit more eventful than she expected.

***A short story of 3600 words/14 pages***

CONTENT ALERT: Contains mild language, violence, and drunkenness.

It's currently up on Smashwords, in processing on B&N, and still in formatting for Amazon. (Sorry. That takes longest.)

Usually this short story will cost $0.99 US, but for today only, you can head over to Smashwords and use coupon code WU65C to get the story free. (Okay, the coupon might work tomorrow, too; I'm not quite sure how Smashwords handles the expiration date.)

I've listened to folks I've seen online and added an approximate page count with the word count, as well as a basic content advisory in the product description. While I doubt any urban fantasy fans are going to have a problem with the content, I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. Doesn't hurt me any to add that info.

I hope you enjoy this release, and I'd appreciate it if readers would leave a comment about how/if they liked it, either here on the blog or as a review. That way, I know if I'm duly confident or utterly delusional, and readers can find stories they like.

Thanks!

—Misti

New Free Short Story Release!

I know, it's past the first week of September—but I did in fact release another short story at the start of this month! (I just forgot to put up the announcement when I meant to, sorry!) It's even set in Aleyi, the same world as A Fistful of Fire.

"Driven by the Deadline" is about Fael Honovi and why she tied herself to the felven royal family, anyway.

Honovi knows she's going crazy. It's only a matter of time, since she's stuck in a monochromatic land of creepy.

She's a shade, stuck in a plane of reality separate from the primary one—and completely incapable of manifesting a body in the primary plane. With someone killing off the felven royal heirs, Honovi's been asked to play godparent. She'd love it, a distraction from the grayscale monotony that's her life.

But can she get there without her own plane of existence stopping her?

***A short story of 2,300 words.***

ALERT:
This title's on the creepy side.

"Driven by the Deadline" is a short short, hitting about 2300 words, so I have it up for free on Smashwords, who will distribute it to other vendors. It's currently $0.99 US on Amazon.com.

I'm still working out what next month's release will be. A Fistful of Earth is more difficult to write than I expected. Lallie's… not the easiest character to convey. I'm still aiming for "late 2011" release, but it may end up in December. (I hope not.)

In the meantime, please enjoy "Driven by the Deadline"!

And reviews would be appreciated. ^_^

—Misti

New Short Story Release! & more news

"Romeo & Jillian"

13th century Italy: A mysterious sorceress meets a werewolf who'll change her life. (A short story of 3,300 words plus an excerpt from the novel Destiny's Kiss.)

Yes! I got it out, yes I did!

I decided to put the excerpt from Destiny's Kiss in this story, too, because Romeo and Jillian do appear in that book, and Jillian mentions the time she set Romeo's cousin's tail on fire.

Because "Romeo & Jillian" is short—even shorter than "The Corpse Cat"—I decided to release it for "Set your own price" on Smashwords, which means you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to. I have to price it at $0.99 US on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (ETA links.)

But if you use Smashwords, you can get "Romeo & Jillian" free! Go on!

I'm a bit confused because the cover turns blurrier when the image gets smaller, but I'm living and learning.

I'm also way behind where I wanted to be on A Fistful of Fire, at this point, but oh, well. I've done another one of those back-up-and-change-plot things that I'd hoped to do after I had the first draft done, but my brain really doesn't work that way.

Oh, well.

As a side note, I have a completely unrelated novelette sitting on my computer that I'm trying to submit to Kindle Singles, but they e-mailed me back that I would have to self-publish it for Kindle myself before I could submit it to them—even though their information page says you can submit unpublished material.

If I do decide that I want to continue submitting to Kindle Singles, I will not be announcing this particular work's release, and I may not leave it up if Kindle Singles rejects it, so fair warning to all.

—Misti

When Different Isn't Different

I'm a fan of urban fantasy. I was an adult before I discovered the genre in the form of the first Underworld movie. I'm still fond of that one—it's an urban fantasy action movie with a plot that actually makes sense—an actual blend of genres.

That genre-mixing a complaint I've heard about several movies Kate Beckinsale has starred in, actually.

A particular friend introduced me to Underworld. When Moni realized how much I liked the movie, she pointed me to the few urban fantasy authors that she knew.

From there, it didn't take long for me to realize that urban fantasy often… sounded the same. Characters would curse and often have sex on-screen. Heroines had smart mouths and kicked others' butts. Even "devout" characters wouldn't have their lives affected by their faith at all—never attended church, or thought about the theological implications of what they did beyond the occasional "Woe is me—I'm damned" character. Really old (vampire) guys would romantically interested much younger human women for no apparent reason.

Then there's young adult "urban fantasy", which is mostly all paranormal romance and has similar tropes. That really old supernatural guy will fall in love with the young narrator. Oh, and the love triangle? The "nice" guy will be the odd one out.

It's… boring.

It got old years ago.

But I keep reading urban fantasy. I enjoy the various reinterpretations of myth and lore. I like seeing effective uses of "fade to black." I want to find the devout ancient beings plagued by "Thou shalt not bear false witness" and "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (Those are Biblical quotes, by the way: Exodus 20:16, 20:13, and 22:18.) I know other fans of the genre who like the same thing I do.

I like discovering stories that don't feel like they're following someone else's mould. But I still haven't found a series that's exactly what I want to read. I've spoken to others who feel the same way.

We discuss those clichés, those things we keep seeing in book after book after book…

I'm kinda tired of those debates, too.

I finally sat down and wrote a book that's young adult, that's urban fantasy, and that isn't "different" the same way as everyone else.

Destiny's Kiss is the politics, magic, and culture of your standard urban fantasy novel, with the teenage worries of the average young adult paranormal… and a bad boy you don't want to win.

All the early readers have told me that they love it. More than one beta has called it "unique" and said that they've "never read anything like it".

Does that mean I've succeeded in making something truly "different"? I hope so. What tropes are you tired of seeing in YA paranormal and adult "chicks in leather"?

Destiny's Kiss is currently available for $2.99 US—but it won't be at that price forever. Buy it now or try the sample before you buy it: Amazon.com, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, or XinXii. (Are you outside the US? I recommend using Smashwords or XinXii.)

—Misti

• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Amazon DE
• Barnes & Noble
• Smashwords
• XinXii (PDF)

Destiny Walker is an exceptional student despite her youth, sullenness, and the werewolf baby she left on a stranger's doorstep. Across the Atlantic, Kismet Baros was a rare mutt of a Magik—essentially immune to magic but nonetheless able to magically modify scents and heal herself—who was under the protection of the vampire court. Only Destiny and the judge who emancipated her know why Kismet no longer exists.

When powerful Magiks from Kismet's past come into town to celebrate a classmate's coming of age, Destiny must face her demons. She must decide what she is—person or property—and if she'll sacrifice the few friends she has to save the many. If she doesn't, she'll be the next face to launch a thousand ships.