Holiday Indie Book SALE Blog Hop

I love a book sale, book sales are good!
(feel free to not understand that terrible reference)

Well, I know  I haven't been one for posting recently. My ability to write coherently has waxed and waned over the past 6 months. BUT! I've got something special for my lovely blog friends. A paperback book sale! My dear friend Grace Pennington and I put it together over the last couple of weeks, and we were excited for it to hit the streets.

Now of course, I'm a lame brain and never got around to posting this on the actual start of the sale, but fret not, for there are still 3 days to empty your wallets for these fabulous indie authors!

Made by yours truly. The color is a little darker in real life.

Also, we have a special giveaway running through Friday the 6th. There are three nerdy goodie packs, including shiny-fancy notebooks, trinkets, and a hand-knitted bow tie!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SALE FINISHED.

Okay, I think I've made enough nerd references for this post, don't you? Time to stuff your stockings with these fabulous books.

Melody Valadez

    Those Who Trespass: https://www.createspace.com/4404436

Faith Blum

    A Mighty Fortress: https://www.createspace.com/4420971

Marilynn Dawson

Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate:

https://www.createspace.com/4249405

Becoming the Bride of Christ: A Personal Journey:

https://www.createspace.com/3672131 Volume One

https://www.createspace.com/3933868 Volume Two

https://www.createspace.com/3958072 Volume Three

https://www.createspace.com/3958097 Volume Four

https://www.createspace.com/3958124 Volume Five

https://www.createspace.com/3960362 Volume Six

https://www.createspace.com/3964570 Leader's Guide

Molly Evangeline

    http://www.mollyevangeline.com/holiday-sales

Kelsey Bryant

    Family Reunion: https://www.createspace.com/4428655

Christina & Melody Grubb

    http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaybyDayCreations

Aubrey Hansen

    Peter's Angel: https://www.createspace.com/3988112

Red Rain: https://www.createspace.com/3813172

Morgan Huneke

    Across the Stars: https://www.createspace.com/4259184

    The Experiment: https://www.createspace.com/4410811

Vicki Lucas

    Toxic: http://vickivlucas.com/books/toxic/ (Discounted to $10 through Paypal)

J. Grace Pennington

    Never: https://www.createspace.com/3940500

    Firmament: Radialloy: https://www.createspace.com/3816448

    Firmament: In His Image: https://www.createspace.com/4480518

Jordan Smith

    Finding the Core of Your Story: https://www.createspace.com/4064194

I am never deleting this email.

So I said:

@JessVerve Unusual: reading every article in my @WritersDigest newsletter this morning. It's like they read your diary. Not like I have one. >.>

And then I get an email that says:

How To Be An Awesome Writer PART ONE

 There are a lot of kewl kats that comment on this blog, saying, "I wish I was a writer." Wait, you want to be a writer... you can spell... your already a kewl kat... AND YOUR NOT WRITING?

  Problem with that Statement #1) What's that awesome ode to Pickles you posted on your blog a few days ago? It touched me deeply! The only way to be a writer is to keep trying!

 Problem with that Statement #2) And just because you don't release everything you type to the world, doesn't mean your not a writer. You should see my writing notebooks. Or my catalog of forgotten writing notebooks. Not everything written in them is beautiful on the eyes.

 #3) But now that your writing a lot, something you SHOULD do is try to finish something if you like it.

 Take this blog. Before writing this post, there were 56 posts, with only 34 of them being published. I love most of the ideas, but I got lazy or freaked that I didn't say it right and so I didn't finish OR publish. That's what revising and redrafting are for, babe!

 #4) So you're already writing, and you finish what you write, yada, yada. There still ain't any fruity-tootiness to your writing? Then think about it a little more! What are you most excited to write, and what gets the most responses from your readers? To keep this in prospective of novel writing, I'd like to point out that not everyone is going to like your best work. My novel Deceptive is one of my most favorite mystery plots, but not everyone that reads or hears about it really likes it. That's another post for another day. But, just because 'no one' seems to like it, does that mean you give up? When you think about what your writing, consider why you like it. If the reason seems fine to you, keep going!

 You become an awesome writer by perseverance. You don't get on an Olympic track team by sitting on your fanny. You don't start of your training at an Olympic level. You work at it, and work at it.

 "WAIT! WAIT! You totally missed something else. What if I don't like what I write, or I'm not very good? HOW do I get better while I'm doing all this practicing?"
 Stick around for part 2!

Jobs

 I'm thinking about becoming an Author Publicist/Book Doctor.

 That's a random one, isn't it?

 You see, I've really been getting into researching self published authors lately, and wishing I could help the really talented ones get more promotion. I shamelessly update pages on Goodreads (I'm a librarian there) just so that indie books will show up more in search engines.
 And I really want to help those less-than-great new authors. Because I see a lot of ideas that COULD be utterly fantastic, but they lack direction or good scene mapping or even key details. Most of them (even ones by small imprints) need two things: a real, gutsy, knowledgeable editor; and about five more drafts. Any editor that would leave his diamond in the rough author out in the lions den with a half-edited book shouldn't be an editor. To heck with your MFA! College degrees are no guarantee for knowledge OR ability OR creativity.

I have nothing more to say right now. Already swamped just by reading books, answering emails, and doing social media for Verve Lit Awards! But it really does bug me, y'know? Maybe if I could have someone doing twitter for me, I could have the time to be an indie publicist/agent.


 Or maybe I'm just looking for a way out of admitting that most of the books I've read in the last week stink on ice.