“The Birth of Jaiden,” an intriguing first book by Jennifer Malone-Wright, is released this weekend at a special price for the ebook version. It is also available for Kindle and in paperback. You can find the official blurb and an excerpt from the novel on Jennifer’s website. It definitely has this vampire fan interested! Vampires, prophecies, the possible destruction of the world? I’m buying my copy today.

Not only is Jennifer offering a special deal on price during this weekend, she has a contest running on her site starting Monday. Birth of Jaiden Contest

Off to buy my copy…

Bought! I’m getting an autographed copy so I can say, “I knew you when…” I can’t wait to start reading it. It sounds like a very intriguing twist on vampire books today.

A full reviews will be coming as soon as I get the book.

Ray Bradbury inspires enough writers, I would think, with his worldwide success and proliferation of short stories and novels. The people over at Write 1 Sub 1 grabbed hold of his idea about how to get published frequently and ran with it.

Write one story in a week, and sub one story in that same week. (Most likely not the same story!) Crazy? You can watch Ray Bradbury side-stepping blow-up godzillas as he wanders around his house wearing white shorts (at least I hope they’re shorts) on Youtube and think… well… yes, a little bit crazy.

But writers are supposed to be a bit crazy, aren’t we? Something enters our mind and it sinks it’s gleaming, scythe-like claws into whatever bit of gray stuff that controls creativity and doesn’t let go until we type it out. Bradbury started writing young, got rejected plenty of times, and went on to publish sometimes more than forty shorts in a year. That is simply awesome, stupendous, uber :P

Writing a short story each week for the rest of the year seems rather daunting, but I know I can do it because I used to do it. I used to whip out a new short story every week, then set it aside and let it molder. Most of them are trunked now. Some of them have been tweaked and polished.

Those are the ones I will start submitting.

I’m coming late to the game on this “Write 1 Sub 1″ blog plan. Many other writers started at the beginning of the year. There is no catching up, but there is catching the wave. Starting Monday, I will dust off a completed story, send it out somewhere appropriate and start work on another.

My biggest problem now is that many of my short stories end up as novels. I can’t deal with another novel right now.

I’ve been lucky enough to be reviewed by my friend, Joan the Shark, on her awesome story review blog. She reviewed my story “Flood of Tears” from the “Elements of the Soul” book.

Head over there and check it out. Stay to read more of her reviews and find new things to read.

It’s a thrill to receive a book you are published in. Squealing like a school girl when the box thumped on the porch. Rushing outside to grab it fast enough to make the postman chuckle. “My book!” I exclaimed, waving it in his direction. He just smiled and plodded back to his truck.

“Elements of Dimension” is the third anthology of themes short stories and poetry from the Accentuate Writer short story contest, published by Twin Trinity Media. Included among the other excellent stories and poems are two of my pieces:

“Death Obeyed” is a classic fantasy tale of immortality, spells gone wrong, monstrous mishaps and revenge. My poem, “Tale of a Suburban Dungeon” should feel familiar to anyone who ever played D&D or other table-top role-playing games as a kid. It’s quirky. It rhymes. Enjoy.

Twenty-seven other short stories and poems transport readers to secretive space ships, introduce them to dead detectives and flamboyant fashion-loving leprechauns, elvish royalty and aliens. There is something for everyone who enjoys speculative fiction in this book.

“Elements of Dimension” can be purchased through Amazon, Books-a-Million, your local book store or direct from Twin Trinity Media. Get your copy now.

It’s sometimes hard to figure out what to stick on my writer’s site and what to leave off. There are plenty of things I’d love to share with you guys, but I don’t want my website to become cluttered.

Now that I am a full-time fiction writer, I need to focus more on getting the most from my writer’s website real estate. Getting information from the Muse Online Conference helps a bit, though I have such a background in marketing and web development that I’m pretty sure about what I have to do. I just have to tweak my brain away from creating and crafting to the more mundane business side of things.

Things Needed on a Writer’s Website

  1. Books and other publications (if you have them)
  2. General info about you, the author
  3. Information about your genre(s)
  4. A blog, which can include all that other stuff
  5. Ways for your readers to keep in contact with you (RSS, blog, newsletter)

That is my next step: a newsletter. And then I have to figure out where to put the signup on my site.


…and coming up kinda goopy.

I’m not that good at poetry. I don’t consider myself a poet. I have written a few poems over the past few years, but I don’t see myself being published or inspiring anyone with my verse.

The Accentuate Dimensions book needs a few good poems, however, and I am trying to whip something up. Since it is in the fantasy genre, I considered penning some epic tale of heroic deeds and adventures, but I think there is a line limit, so that won’t work. Besides I only have 1.5 weeks to get my Vampire Santa story done, and I do need to make headway on both my novel and novella by the end of the month as well. They both have to be done by Christmas without a doubt.

So… my fantasy poem turned into a vaguely humorous free-verse about some kids playing a RPG in the basement of one of their houses. As it stand right now, it rather stinks, but I think I could do a little polishing. I’ll probably make it rhyme. For some reason, I like rhyming.

Back to work!

I spent about an hour this morning organizing both my calendar and my computer for the upcoming Muse Online Conference (which is closed to registration now). http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com  Though the website is atrocious, the conference itself is bursting with information in the form of chat presentations and forum posting. Plenty of hand-outs as well.

This will be my fourth year attending, and I plan to focus more on networking and forming connections to the small publishing houses and agents that attend as well as other writers. Most of the presentations are the same as the previous years, so I am not expecting a glut of brand new information. As far as fiction writing, platforms and marketing go, I think I’m rather knowledgeable already.

The conference is exciting, however, and meeting up with over a thousand other writers means good conversations critiques and sharing of ideas. That’s always good.

Publication News
My story "Blue Christmas" has been published at Bent Masses in their Twist the Season issue.

Go check it out and let me know what you think.
Now Available

Elements of Time

Available from Twin Trinity Media.

Elements of Dimension

Elements of Dimension continues the Twin Trinity short story anthology series with more top-quality stories and poems. This book explores the themes of science fiction, fantasy and reality. I have one short story, "Death Obeyed," and one poem, "Tale of the Suburban Dungeon" in this book.

Elements of Time

"Elements of Time" short story anthology is available now. It features winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Inescapable" and "No Time Like Now," are included.


Elements of Soul

"Elements of Soul" short story anthology is available now. It features fifteen winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Summer Heat" and "Flood of Tears," are included.