Charity Sunday: International Committee of the Red Cross #CharitySunday #SnipSun #8Sunday

 


With the current unsettling and unsettled political situation in Ukraine, many citizens have been displaced. The International Committee of the Red Cross is a trustworthy organization giving aid to communities in need. I will donate a dollar for every comment received on this post to the ICRC.


My snippet is from Lil DeVille's newest WIP, Coming Together, the first book in The Awesome Adventures of A.S.S.S. series. A.S.S.S. stands for Alien and Supernatural Search Squadron. I don't have a blurb for the book yet, but I'll provide a little background for the inspiration behind its creation following the snippet.

“You wanted to see me, Lieutenant General Espinoza?”

“Yes, Captain Botterill. Please come in and close the door.”

Captain Abigail Botterill entered General Espinoza’s office. She was a slender, willowy, red-haired woman of medium height appearing to be in her late twenties. She had a flawless alabaster complexion and exquisite violet eyes. Despite her delicate appearance, Captain Botterill commanded respect. She exuded a definite “fuck around and find out” energy.

Lieutenant General Beowulf Espinoza locked the door behind Captain Botterill. Looking like a leading man from a 1940s action movie, he ran his hand over his wavy, dark-brown hair, his black coffee eyes twinkling merrily.

Despite the genre and the somewhat suggestive tone in this out-of-context snippet, the relationship between these characters is 100% platonic. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. No worries for those of you looking for the "good parts," there will be plenty of hot stuff later.

And now, as promised, a bit of backstory.

My first foray into the steamy and sassy world of sci-fi erotica was the Carnal Invasion series of short stories, which I have since pulled out of publication because I want to rework them, giving some detail to the connection between humans and the lusty Gamma Iridians. 

I would like this reworking to be more than the Schtoink of the Month, which, admissibly, is what the first iteration of the series was. I don't think I'm going to write a monthly serial again. Apparently, some people are very successful with such a format, but both of my attempts were dismal failures.

That's about all for this time. I look forward to reading and commenting on the other Charity Sunday posts.




The Icky, Sticky, Nit-Picky Legalese If You Please (Or Don't Please)



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About Me Monday: Open Book Blog Hop

 

Image by Jess Bailey from Pixabay

My work area is nowhere this neat and organized and I'd probably manage to hurt myself with the thumbtacks. Hurting myself is a given. I just hurt myself on the lap desk that I use to hold my keyboard while engaging in epic literary exploits that lesser writers are jealous of.

By lesser writers, I mean my cat. Who isn't actually jealous, but she can't write. She lays down on the keyboard sometimes. 

Anyway, today's question is, what tools do you use when writing?

I have the Grammarly and ProWritingAid extensions for Brave. They are mostly useful but I cuss at them a lot. Like now. Shut up, ProWritingAid! I am engaging in an epic stream of consciousness! A tool like you wouldn't understand!

I use Twitter. I tend to call it Twatter. To me, Twitter is a tool. I occasionally engage in minor banter. Rarely, I rip someone a new one. I generally ignore stupidity because it isn't worth my time to bother with it, but every now and then some flabbergastingly moronic buttface says something so despicable that I can't stop myself from tearing into them. Ageism is alive and well, a lot of people have never left junior high and think that ad hominem attacks are high art, and if you think sexism and racism are dead, you have obviously never forayed into Twatter territory. But I digress. 

You can follow me on Twitter. I have a fair number of followers and I follow back. I'm usually friendly unless you commit one of the above infractions.

I use Twitter primarily to share links, both mine and other people's. Facebook is practically useless these days, although I still engage with the Snippet Sunday group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/401643826588474

I use blog hops to spread the word about my work. The big three that I engage with are MFRW Book Hooks, Weekend Writing Warriors, and Rainbow Snippets.


I am a member of the MFRW IO group. You don't need to be a romance writer to join although most of the group members write romance in some capacity.


Recently I started using Triberr. Many members of MFRW swear by Triberr for getting more sales and engagement. I created a Triberr membership last year and was completely overwhelmed. The key to making Triberr work for you is to follow tribes related to your interests. When you share other people's posts, they will in turn share yours. Here is my Triberr link so you can engage with true awesomeness.


All kidding aside, you can learn much more about Triberr from Kayelle Allen than you can from me. 


I also use my blogs as a promotion tool, although in my experience when people get to know a little about me, that kind of backfires. I'm such a scathing little ray of black hole sunshine and my resting bitch face never rests. It kind of scares people.

Ornery Owl wishes you a Happy Eat Chocolate day today and a happy Ornery's Birthday tomorrow. Ornery's birthday is a worldwide holiday where people cower in terror in the back of their houses pretending that they aren't at home in case the knock on the door happens to be me. They don't need to be afraid, though, as long as they have chocolate, cookies, cheese, or crunchy snacks. I can be appeased with those.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~



Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors




Come as You Are Party: The Publishing Dilemmas of a Stormy Mind

 

Image by Peter Fischer from Pixabay

I have trouble following rules.

Not the rules that make immediate sense, like don't kill people. I mean the rules that appear in terms of use contracts because these quickly start looking like "blah blah blah," so I skim them and don't retain the information. Then I find out that an author--you know, an acquaintance, not me or anything, is breaking the rules by having their book available on Kindle Unlimited and other platforms as well.

My acquaintance (who totally isn't me) erroneously believed that it's okay to have books available on multiple platforms and on Kindle Unlimited as long as the book isn't free anywhere except for Kindle Unlimited. A nice fellow author named Kris Bock informed my acquaintance (again, totally not me) that Amazon frowns on doing this except in the cases of big-name authors (like me, but not my acquaintance) who can do whatever they want because they have significant clout.

You can buy Kris' books (or read them free from Kindle Unlimited) through the following link. I wanted to give Kris a shout-out because she could have ridiculed my acquaintance, but instead she gave said acquaintance (who is in no way me) helpful information so they can correct the error of their mistake.

Now my acquaintance wonders if they should pull their books from Kindle Unlimited or if they should instead pull them from Draft 2 Digital and make them available only on Amazon. Kris said that since most of her sales come from Amazon, she publishes only on Amazon so readers have the option to borrow her books through Kindle Unlimited.

That made a lot of sense to my acquaintance, and it certainly would make things easier. However, unlike me, whose mind is as solid and unjumbled as a perfectly maintained brick wall, my acquaintance totally loves the idea of publishing their book on multiple platforms because it's so exciting to have all those links. Also, my acquaintance thinks that Amazon is pretty much Satan, but these days a lesser-known author has to sell their soul a little to build an audience so they make deals with the devil, otherwise known as billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The nice thing about Kindle Unlimited is it allows readers to borrow a book and try before they buy. This is a great feature for broke folk who want something new to read but may not have the money to purchase it. As a reader, I've certainly taken advantage of my Kindle Unlimited subscription.  As a reviewer, it drives me crackers when writers don't provide the option of either getting the book through Kindle Unlimited or providing a free copy, either as a Kindle gift or a PDF. It isn't like I'm getting rich reviewing books.

My acquaintance keeps the cost of their books low, so perhaps the Kindle Unlimited option really doesn't make that much difference. 

Dear Naughties, what would you do? Have you noticed a significant portion of your own sales coming from a particular channel? I can't answer this question because I'm way too important and popular. My books are available exclusively to ancient deities who pay a premium for them.

Ornery Owl is Totally Not Telling Tall Tales




Onyx and Opal Sweet Romance for Valentine's Day #8Sunday #MFRWHooks #SnipSun

 


Genre: Sweet Romance, Historical Romance, Interracial Romance

Heat Level: 🔥

Word Count: Approximately 5900 words

Blurb

When Elias Król competed in the El Paso Decathlon on an August day in 1978, he was proud to take first place. Little did he know the best prize wasn't his hard-won trophy; it was the bond he would form with the sweet young woman taking his order at the fried chicken booth.

Madison Sanders wasn't looking for love while working at her family's concession stand, but love was about to find her in the form of a lanky red-haired athlete.

This short and sweet interracial romance with a guaranteed Happy Ever After is part of a developing series but it can also stand on its own. With a very low heat rating and no profanity, it is appropriate for both teen and adult readers.

Snippet

I'm sharing from the second chapter. The entire first chapter is available at the following link.

https://ornerybookemporium.blogspot.com/2022/02/onyx-and-opal-always-and-forever-book.html

“Hey, Darlin’, what can I do you for?”

The power of speech temporarily evaded Elias. He hemmed and hawed and cleared his throat. The big-hearted angel came to his rescue with a cool cup of iced tea.

“Don’t go chug-a-luggin’ it now, y’all don’t wanna give yourself a bellyache,” she warned.

Elias sipped the tea and blamed his flushed face on the heat.

“Thanks,” he said. “Sure is hot out today, ain’t it?”

“Sure is, and yet here us crazy fools are. Y’all are runnin’ in the heat, and I’m standin’ back here with sizzlin’ fry baskets and a grill. Y’all want somethin’ to eat, or do ya have another race to run?”

(Plus just a morsel more...)

“Nah, I’m done for the day. I’m ready to chow down,” Elias replied, glancing at his rescuer’s name tag. “Is there anything special that y’all recommend—um—Maddy?”

Buy Links

Price: $1.99 or free from Kindle Unlimited

Free to own between February 13 and February 17.

Amazon

https://amzn.to/33cnVHf

Books 2 Read

Price $1.99 from all sellers.

https://bit.ly/OnOpAFB2R

Odysee

Price 33 LBC (approximately 99 cents) for PDF

https://bit.ly/OnOpAFOdysee

Payhip

PDF for 99 cents plus any tip you care to leave to offset Payhip and Paypal fees.

https://bit.ly/OnOpAFPayhip

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Blog Hops





Sixfold Needs Writers #MFRWAuthor #MFRWHooks #8Sunday #SnipSun #RainbowSnippets

 


Hello fellow writers! I wanted to let you know about Sixfold, the fiction and poetry journal where writers choose the winners. https://www.sixfold.org/

The first round of the competition/writing workshop was supposed to start on February 1st, but it will begin on May 1st instead to get more participants on board. You can enter a piece in either the fiction or poetry category or one piece in both categories. The deadline on the website says January 24th, but they have extended it until April 24th to allow more participants to enter. You can read more about the requirements here. https://www.sixfold.org/howitworks.html

Your story can be up to 5000 words long. I entered my contentious Three Time Travelers piece and a poetry manuscript. 

I am not affiliated with Sixfold except as a participant. I'd just like my fellow writers to know about this opportunity. It's hard to find fellow writers to bounce things off (most are too busy with their own work) but it can be really helpful. I recently made exponential improvements to one of my stories thanks to advice from a fellow writer. I haven't yet made enough income off my writing where I can afford an editor and I sometimes run into the old forest/trees and horse/zebra conundrums when working as my own editor.

If anyone reading this ever wants to do a story for story trade (you show me yours and I'll show you mine) I'm up for it. I've wanted to form a friendly and supportive critique group for a while now but I have a hard enough time managing my own so-called schedule, let alone a group, so it would be a loose and casual affair as opposed to something properly managed. Having ADHD is rather like having The Joker manage your business only without the crime sprees. It's wacky, it's colorful, and you'll often find yourself in interesting places wondering how the hell you got there.

So, yeah, that's about it. Check out Sixfold and hit me up in the comments if you want me to take a look at a chapter or story and give possibly helpful suggestions that you can either accept or reject. 

Folks, I am working through some anxiety issues and am doing better this month than last, but am still having some struggles. I don't expect comments on this post. I will try to comment on as many of yours as I can, but please don't take it personally if I don't. It's not you, it's me.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~



Free Use Image from Open Clipart Vectors

Blog Hops










Insecure Writers Support Group 2 February 2022

 


February 2 question - Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn't around anymore? Anyone you miss?

My father inspired my love of reading. He was a professor of language arts and humanities. He was trying to write a book after he cut back to teaching part time. Sadly, he had a major hemorrhagic stroke just days after his 68th birthday and full retirement. He had several smaller strokes after that and developed vascular dementia. His book was never completed. He died on November 28, 2010.

I became part of a group of bloggers when I started blogging in 2005. I maintain contact with a couple of them. It was a fun experience leaving quippy comments on one another's blogs. I miss it but I wouldn't have time for it now.

~Ornery Owl Has Spoken~



Free Use image from Open Clipart Vectors


An Olive-Green Gown and Malachite Shoes #8Sunday #RainbowSnippets #SnipSun

    Genre: Poetry plus a supernatural coming-of-age story (vampires).  Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3vz8uXw   Publication Date: February 15, 20...