Day: February 26, 2014

Book Brief: Pick-up Stix

Pick-up StixPick-up Stix
by Jacqueline Lorraine Conwell
Genre of this Book: Fiction
Word count: 61, 880

Things were going well for Alora-with the exception of her stagnant relationship with Jordan. She was hoping that her usual beach ritual would bring something to fruition and save her from her current situation. But with their junior year of college approaching, her hope was starting to feel like a pipe dream. Little did she know, her beach ritual wasn’t in vain … For what felt like an eternity, James had waited patiently for Alora’s toxic relationship to dissipate as he kept a safe distance. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to stand idly by, when without warning, his patience paid off. Alora’s situation took a turn for the better from his perspective, which finally gave him the chance to step in and help Alora start fresh. But soon after James was introduced to her, he realized that swooping in to save the day isn’t always as easy as it seems.

This book is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: Pick-up Stix”

Flash Fiction Vote: Pick Your Fave

Heart ButtonIt’s Wednesday already. That means it’s time to vote for your favorite flash fiction entry. We have a few to choose from in this week’s challenge. Which one will prevail? That’s up to you! Look them over and cast your vote.

Go ahead and check out this week’s entries here. Make your choice, then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Voting polls close Thursday at 5 PM Pacific time.

Which author penned your favorite flash fiction entry this week?

  • Lynne Cantwell (63%, 19 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (27%, 8 Votes)
  • Jacqueline Hopkins (10%, 3 Votes)
  • Michael Crane (0%, 0 Votes)
  • MatoSka Chikala (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 30

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll.

Motivate Me

myWriteClub logoAs the mother of two young children with limited writing time I need to make sure the time I do get is focussed. My goal is to produce six books a year. I feel like this is realistic for this stage of my life. I have one son in school and the other attends four mornings of kindy a week. Altogether, I probably get about 15 hours a week as long as no one is sick and there are no unexpected mishaps (which basically never happens). So let’s reduce this to 10 hours a week of pretty decent writing time.

In order to meet my goals I have to work hard and stay on task. It’s so easy to get distracted by Facebook and emails and sometimes finding the motivation to just sit down and write what I have planned can be really hard. (Kudos to Martin Crosbie and his 1,000 Words a Day Project!)

I have had to fit work in around two school holidays that have happened very close together thanks to Christmas and Chinese New Year (now that we are living in China). I have a family first policy, which means I try very hard NOT to write during holiday time. For my last writing project I managed to finish all my planning prior to Christmas, which meant I had three school weeks to write my first draft before the second lot of holidays began. I was determined to get it done…and you know what, I did.

One thing that really helped me achieve my goal was a new website I discovered called myWriteClub. This website is still in beta stage, but I signed up thinking it looked like fun and could really help motivate me. Continue reading “Motivate Me”