FLASH GIVEAWAY: “Writing For You” is FREE March 10-14!

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

Get this helpful book for FREE from March 10-14th! Perfect aide to help with writer’s block, tough chapters, and finding motivation.

Victoria Grefer's avatarCreative Writing with the Crimson League

Screen Shot 2013-06-02 at 1.37.23 PM I have never done a giveaway of “Writing For You: A Novelist’s Guide to the Craft of Fiction.” And I think it’s time!

To that end, the Kindle version of my writer’s handbook will be FREE Monday, March 10- Friday, March 14 during a flash promotion.

You can read the preface here if you’d like an explanation of why I wrote a writer’s handbook (based heavily upon this blog and its backlog of posts) and what I was hoping to accomplish.

For another sneak peak, you can read part of the introduction right here: it’s a reflection why we would ever be crazy enough to write fiction in the first place.

I hope you enjoy your free download! You don’t owe me anything in return, but I would most definitely appreciate any help you can give spreading the word about the promotion (and about this blog)…. Please help others know…

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Aiming for the Tri-Rune Release!

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

First, I really hate clock changes.  (Don’t even think of gloating this year, Arizona.) It always wrecks havoc with my energy the next day and I’m planning on finally seeing Frozen this morning.  Doesn’t help that the toddler had a few nightmares last night.  Anyway, this lose an hour never makes sense to me and it only proves that our concept of time is easily altered.  It could still be 8:42 AM here and it wouldn’t make a difference.

Last week was productive with 2 big chapters being written and big news on Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune.  The cover should be in my hands by MONDAY, so the reveal will by on WEDNESDAY.  Sorry that I couldn’t give more time to the volunteers, but a few slips happened that put us back a few steps.  Honestly, if you post it later in the day or on THURSDAY, I’ll be fine with that.  The blog tour is now for the first 2 weeks of April instead of the whole month due to not enough volunteers for a long one.  The sequence of hype events will be:

  • WEDNESDAY- Cover Reveal
  • THURSDAY- Post about going beyond a trilogy and maybe a Timoran poem.  Possibly a mystery poem too about the 5th hero that I’ve been keeping a really big secret.
  • FRIDAY- First part of the prologue posted through out the day.  This will be a curious discussion between some of the gods.  There shouldn’t be any major spoilers, but I’ll double check as I post it.
  • SATURDAY- TWUBS CHAT!  Remember me attempting this last time with an interview with my characters?  It didn’t go well.  Thank you to John and Pam for participating that time.  This time, it’s going to be me answering questions and it works through Twitter.  I’m still determining the best time to do this to optimize participation.  Due to a family obligation during the day, I’ll be doing this at night so I hope I get a few bites here.
  • SUNDAY-  Release of Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune and me going batty getting marketing stuff done.  It definitely helps that I prep the 3 blurbs beforehand.

So this week was pretty exciting with prepping for all of this.  It also had some downsides like Beginning of a Hero hitting a really bad slump that I can’t break it out of.  Tried some paid marketing and nothing.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frustrated.  It didn’t help that I put in a few too many late nights and pushed my body to a point where it gave up on me Friday.  Mustered just enough energy to finish a scene throughout the day and that was it, which was disappointing.  Hopefully, I learned my lesson and don’t do it again.  (Shut up, people with pattern recognition.)

Plans for the week:

  1. See Frozen today.
  2. Come home to set up most of the posts for this week.
  3. Write 2-3 chapters of Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue.  Things are getting interesting especially with the love triangle.
  4. Get in mindset for debut by double checking marketing plan and blurbs.
  5. Relax a bit more.
  6. Outline more of Elysium Saga.

These lists are getting simpler and more basic every week.  Though today I’m just too tired to think of anything witty.

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A Man of many talents making a difference: Julian Lennon

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

Ionia Froment's avatarreadful things blog

This post is devoted to Julian Lennon. This is a man who has limitless compassion for those around him, is a talented musician, songwriter, photographer and huge supporter of equality, as well as a true humanitarian. He wears many hats throughout the day, but is always dedicated to making this world a better place for everyone. He is currently working to promote the White Feather Foundation, which is dedicated to cleaning up the planet and making a difference. This charity is running a campaign for clean water for the planet as well as doing many,  many other things that will benefit us all. Please take a moment to check them out and do what you can to help spread the word.

http://www.whitefeatherfoundation.com/

or if you prefer to make a direct donation to the clean water campaign, simply follow this link:

http://www.whitefeatherfoundation.com/clean-water-campaign/

And, as mentioned above, Julian is also a…

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Death of a Villain

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz
Main villain? Not even close.

Main villain? Not even close.

Recently, I’ve been using weekends to fix up one of my future series.  The Elysium Saga has been sitting in a drawer for years and it’s fallen behind in the evolution of Windemere and the handful of characters that jump series.  Even worse, the notes off the game makes less sense than Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Seriously, I have no idea what I’m talking about in most of the plot outlines.

Total overhaul of characters and plots and origins and overall direction.  The original was a scavenger hunt that spanned 4-5 books.  The last book didn’t even make sense and seemed to revolve around me wanting to wipe Rodillen off the map.  Also, under the new rules of Windemere, victory for the heroes would destroy the world and I still have other stories to tell.  It wouldn’t even make sense for the plot to happen, so I’ve been hacking and slashing away at the mess.

This brings me to the main villains . . . yikes.  A seductive immortal, a copy of a villain from another series, a hell beast, a possessed priestess, a vampire god, and the son of the vampire god.  Well, the immortal is remaining unchanged, but everyone else is either getting promoted or cut.  The copied villain is out because she didn’t have a reason for being in the series anyway.  Nothing more than a powerful enemy with no real story behind her.  I can’t even call her a casualty because she’s in another series.  The real casualty here?

The vampire god who used to be the main baddie.  He was the chessmaster and the major threat behind Elysium’s peril.  His son was a powerful, cunning henchman who I happened to like better as a villain.  Still, the way the current plot is going, the goal of the villains doesn’t fit with the vampire god’s personality.  He wants to rule and the story is going more for destruction.  This means he’s getting killed off a few books earlier and his son is taking the reins of the operation.  It changes one of the hero’s storylines pretty harshly, but I figured that out.  Probably why this is taking so long and delaying me from getting to the Sin series planning.

So, has anyone else ever done a book or series where the main villain no longer works?  So a new one has to rise from the ashes of the old?

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Starts Tomorrow – Kindle Countdown Deal

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

Big Kindle Countdown running from March 9th to March 14th!

Sue Vincent's avatarSue Vincent's Daily Echo

Untitled

To celebrate the launch of Giants Dance: Rhyme and Reason, Don and Wen’s third adventure in the landscape and mythology of England, we are running a Kindle Countdown Deal , saving up to 87% per book, on our two previous forays into the strange worlds that intertwine with ours:

The Initiate: Adventures in Sacred Chromatography and Heart of Albion: Tales from the Wondrous Head.

You can download a free Kindle app for PC, Mac, android and other platforms that allows you to read the books available, even if you do not own a Kindle.. and there are thousands of books to choose from, including many classics, and hard-to-find volumes! With a huge catalogue of free, discounted and rare books to choose from it is a treasure trove for bookworms. You can download the free Kindle reading app for your device here in the UK, or here in…

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Meal Train: For People who Fall Between the Cracks

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

A great post on how to help those in need.

S.K. Nicholls's avatarS.K. Nicholls

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I may have mentioned this on my blog or in comments before, but I am going to tell you about it again for a very important reason.

When I was a small child, we (siblings and cousins all) spent summers with my grandmother. She was a hard working enterprising woman who worked a farm and had a green thumb. My uncle built her a green house. Aside from her cooking, which a vast collection of county fair ribbons proved was the best around, she could make anything green flourish and grow. She was well known for both.

On Saturday mornings, she would get up before sunrise, go out to the hen house, wring a couple to a few necks, scald off the feathers, wash and prepare the meat, and fry up a half dozen to a dozen chicken dinners, throw on some mashed potatoes and biscuits, a side of green…

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Worn to a Nub?

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

Pushed too hard
Body acting odd
Screaming of the cold
Shivers and chatters
Under layers
Passing overnight
Leaving me fatigued

Worn to a tiny nub
By late nights
And unnecessary stress
To get the big work done
Impatience growing high
Due to a bad decision
That I have yet to rise from

I wish to sleep today
And wake with renewed vigor
Head cleared of the fog
To focus back on work
While my characters are held
Frozen in time
Hoping I remember the path

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Themes of Allure of the Gypsies

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz

There are quite a few themes in Allure of the Gypsies, but most of them are character specific.  Friendship carries over from the other books, so you can bet it’s an ongoing theme.  How far will you go for friends and how important are they when the fate of the world rests on your shoulders?  So, I’ll pick the two themes that don’t go beyond much further beyond this book.

Returning Home

The big part of the story is Luke Callindor returning home to Haven.  You learn the circumstances of him leaving, including his worried parents, issues with his father, and the woman he left at the altar.  It’s a mess that he begrudgingly returns to since he isn’t really ready.  His friends push the issue and Luke faces his past.  It’s an interesting theme because you see where Luke came from and get everyone’s opinion on his decision to become a hero.  This makes him more human and adds a depth of history that explains the way he thinks.

The Lich also returns ‘home’ in regards to Kalam’s lair.  When he first became a Lich, he sought out the mysterious Kalam to teach him.  He was raised by the vampire in the ways of necromancy, so there is a father/son bond at times.  Like Luke, you get an idea of the past of the Lich and this makes him more human.  At least as human as a decaying corpse with the power to shred souls can be.

Father/Son

Luke and his father are at odds a lot over his life choices.  Ilan Callindor doesn’t want Luke following in the family tradition.  They fight about it.  Then there’s Talos ‘Doubleblade’ Callindor who is Luke’s grandfather.  He fights with Ilan about how one can’t defeat the wanderlust of their bloodline.  So there’s a lot of bickering between these characters, which causes trouble.  In the same vein, Kalam and the Lich have fights because they operate differently.  Honestly, I go for the father/son battling over identity and life path a lot, so these won’t be the only times I use it.

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From the Vault: Four Season Moons

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz
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Bloody Vir brings summer blaze

Before the wind of amber Ult

Who is driven off by Tavon’s ice

Until emerald Canst frees the land

Then Vir retakes his throne

                                                                                                                                                                    

This is a poem about the 4 moons of Windemere.  Each one rules the sky during their designated season even if there’s more than one in there.  The moons are named after four of the Primordial Gods.  Vir of Evil, Ult of Good, Tavon of Despair, and Canst of Hope.

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From the Vault: The Pandora’s Box Prescription

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Charles Yallowitz
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As I sit here coughing

I contemplate this pill

A harsh Pandora’s Box

Holding hope

And an army of horrors

I am forced to swallow

With a bathtub’s worth of water

My shredded throat

Whimpering against the pill

Until it finds my stomach

Forcing me to wait

My mind wanders

I start to fear the worst

Hours of vomiting if I eat

Muscles popping if I wake

Nightmares if I sleep

Discharges of all manners

A feeling of fire upon my skin

The list of horrors

Is longer than my ills

All to cure a choking cough

And a runny nose

Will I heal without incident

Or will the worst befall me?

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