Category Archives: Candice Marley Conner

Online Event!

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In celebration of my critique partner’s debut novel that releases tomorrow, June 15, I’m participating in my first official event in over a year. WooHoo!

The event is a Zoom conversation all about Southern Gothic, with just a few highlights about each of our new releases. It’s FREE and hosted by The Haunted Book Shop here in downtown Mobile, Alabama, but everyone is welcome to join us–even if you aren’t local.

Register here to receive the link and come hang out with us for an hour. Candice Marley Conner‘s Southern Gothic YA mystery The Existence of Bea Pearl is the main release we’re celebrating. Besides me and Candice, author Jodi Cain Smith is joining us. She is the founder of the Mobile Literary Festival, which I’ve been lucky enough to work on with her from the beginning. Besides that connection, all of us (including Angela from The Haunted Book Shop) are Mobile Writers Guild members, so it will be like a literary family reunion.

If you have any interest in Southern Gothic or want to learn what it’s all about, join us. There will be a Q&A at the end too.

And, one more time, in case you missed the embedded hyper-link above. Here’s the registration information.

Register on Eventbrite

Release Day–Times Two

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To close out 2019, I’m happy to report that two books I had a part in release into the wild today.

First up is Finally Home: A Christmas Anthology.

The anthology is a collection of romance short stories featuring rescued animals, compiled by Bienvenue Press and proceeds benefit animal rescue charities. “Grace Shadowed” is Possession Chronicles #3.5, but can be read alone. It’s available in print and ebook.

Also out today is Finder’s Keepers. For this book, I was interviewed (along with Candice Marley Conner) about my experience with a critique partner. I also served as a beta reader for the full manuscript and recommend it for writers of all experience levels, with or without an active critique partner. Find more information about the book here.That’s it from me for 2019. There are plenty of books to keep you reading into 2020–both mine and otherwise. This Christmas, and always, please consider leaving book reviews. It’s the perfect gift for authors. Until next year…

Book Signing, New Release, and More

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First up, on Small Business Saturday (November 30), I’ll be at The Haunted Book Shop in downtown Mobile, Alabama, from 11 am until 1 pm, signing books and chatting with those who stop by. I’ll have a few freebies and fun visuals, so if you’re in the area, come say hello. The Haunted Book Shop, Mobile’s biggest and best indie bookstore, is two floors of literary finds in all genres–new and used. The first three Possession Chronicles novels (including this month’s release, Tendrils of Passion), as well as Fortitude and a couple anthology collections I have short stories in, will be available for purchase. And if you can’t make it in person, shop the online store–they ship!
On December 10, my next release hits the shelves. “Grace Shadowed” is a Possession Chronicles short story (Possession Chronicles #3.5, for those reading the series) that is included in Finally Home: A Christmas Anthology by Bienvenue Press.

The collection features animal rescue themed romances, so my offering is a bit fluffier  than my typical stories (pun intended.) I did manage to add in a few Gothic nods and dropped a truth bomb about one of the characters in the series (Ruth Melling) that you won’t find anywhere else. Pre-orders will be available soon. I’ll include the link in my December newsletter.

Also on December 10 is a release that will interest the writers out there. One of my critique partners and I were interviewed for Finders Keepers: A Practical Approach to Find and Keep Your Writing Critique Partner. I was able to beta read it and can say it covers everything about how to handle a critique partnership–and I’ve come to understand how good I have it with my situation. (Thanks, Candice, and members of Write Club!)

Happy reading–and Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating this week.

March Madness

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There’s some catching up to do! This month’s been a productive time, and I still haven’t shared some fun news from February. Seeing how I labeled this post with the current month’s name, I’ll stick with the newest information this time around.

Last Saturday I crossed Mobile Bay and did a presentation for Baldwin Writers Group titled “Kid Lit 101”, in which I discussed what differentiates children book categories including board books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult novels. It was my second time doing the presentation (the first was in December 2015 with my “home” crew at Mobile Writers Guild) and I enjoyed it just as much. If there’s one thing I can geek out about (other than my favorite musicians) it’s children’s literature. I converted at least one person to the Kid Lit side, so hooray!

Kid Lit 101

The first slide on my KID LIT 101 Power Point.

Then, on Monday four of my fabulously creative friends and I held a panel discussion on writing and illustrating with a local 4-H Arts group in an amazing meeting room in a contemporary art gallery downtown.

 

4-H presentation

Thanks to Candice and Robina for the picture.

After a short introduction we fielded questions ranging from research to plotting. It was energetic and fun, just like the original work created by Steven Moore for the event: The Inscribables. (Can you guess which one is me?)

4H_postcard_front

Original art by Steven Moore. Find him at http://www.grimtrojan.com

The past several days have been a great transition for me in my roll change from writer to author. I can’t imagine more supportive people to start my journey with than these two welcoming groups and my friends.

Bonus: I’ve kept my writing cap on, managing to add well over seven thousand words to my current project, plus completing final line edits on Corroded, out April 12, 2016. March/Spring is definitely going great here—I hope it’s shiny for you as well.

 

Nurturing Talent

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Last Saturday, I participated in the Metro Mobile Reading Council’s Young Authors’ Conference and Teen Writing Fair. Besides it giving me a chance to hang out in the library for seven hours, I had the pleasure of working alongside some fabulous book lovers as we inspired the next generation of creative talent. Teachers, librarians, as well as local authors and illustrators pulled their resources together to present an informative and motivational day.

Photo by Candice Conner

Photo by Candice Conner

The morning began with the Young Authors’ Conference for third through sixth grade students. After a keynote speech from guest illustrator R. Gregory Christie (all the way from Georgia), the students split into groups for one of thirteen mini-workshops.
I was blessed to be able to run a “Visual Inspiration” workshop with fellow author and friend, Joyce Scarbrough. After sharing my own collection of maps, locations, and characters for my soon-to-be published novel and work-in-progress, I showed examples of visuals that make it into middle grade novels—using a few books as examples. 100_7046
Then, our plucky group of students set to work scouring magazines and catalogs for their own story prompts. They clipped and glued gardens, building, pets, and people. 100_7053Some even started character worksheets complete with backstories. It was awesome to be a part of, and better still, to see their excitement when they shared their work with other nearby workshop groups. (Yes, one lucky group had a crime scene as a story prompt. So cool!) 100_7055

After a brief lunch break and room reset, we went back to work with the Teen Writing Fair. I acted as MC for the event, and started the meeting by announcing the winners of the Fourth Annual Tracy Hurley Memorial Writing Contest, which was hosted by Mobile Writers’ Guild. As the Young Author Committee Chair for MWG, I worked alongside Joyce Scarbrough and Candice Marley Conner to read and score the middle and high school entries. The finalists received cash prizes, journals/pens, and a hand written critique of their short stories.

Joyce TWF 2015

Photo by Candice Conner

The seventh through twelve graders were then graced with fun and inspiring keynote addresses by Ms. Scarbrough and Mr. Christie. Following that, they students were free to meet and mingle among all ten guests at their tables, including authors, illustrators, poets, and biographers. The activity concluded with an open mic for the teens to share their stories and poems—a great way to close the event.

Whatever you do, be sure to take time to give of your talents to others. The experience has the ability to enrich all aspects of your life.