Full Dark release day!

It's here! After a lot of hard work on the part of its creator, Melissa Maygrove, this fantastic anthology is available to buy now. I'm really honoured to be a part of this alongside some outstanding authors, especially with the proceeds going to such a great cause.

Tagline: What happens in the dark will come to light.

Official blurb:

Full Dark is a collection of eleven short works with impressive depth and range. Twisted tales of ghosts, villains, and the paranormal await you—mystery, heinous fantasy, and pure suspense. Acclaimed and award-winning authors as well as a few talented newcomers have joined forces to be your guide. Venture into the dark if you dare.

Just A Matter Of Time by Loni Townsend

Forerunner by David Powers King

Taking Care Of You by Carrie Butler

The Apartment by Lisa Buie-Collard

The Caricature by Nick Wilford

Shifting Sands by Elizabeth Seckman

Shadows Falling On Rainbows by Celeste Holloway

Meringue, Murder or Marzipan by Tonja Drecker

Haunted Lake by Michelle Athy

Soul Coin by Laura Rich

Retribution by Melissa Maygrove

FULL DARK is a benefit anthology. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation, an organization that does many wonderful things for our country's active military, its veterans, and the countless first responders who sacrifice so much to keep us safe.

Publisher: Obsidian Books

Official release date: October 30, 2017

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9960397-4-1

Amazon links: US / UK

Barnes & Noble 

Goodreads

Twitter: #FullDark11     @MelissaMaygrove

Cover designed & donated by Dark City Designs. Thank you, Harper L. Jameson! https://www.facebook.com/groups/darkcitydesigns

Editing services donated by Truelove Press and The Write Word

Please click the below if you would like to help spread the word via Twitter:

Tweet: New Release: FULL DARK! Supporting #veterans & #first #responders. Kindle https://ctt.ec/G94cK+ Nook https://ctt.ec/zbid1+ #FullDark11

Will you be picking up a copy? I think this would make the perfect read for Halloween.

Last week to submit for the IWSG anthology, and Full Dark coming soon!

Hope you're enjoying the season of spooks, witches and ghouls! I'm just here to post updates on a couple of things. In particular, a reminder that the competition for the latest IWSG anthology is still open until November 1, the theme being Tick Tock - so stories should involve a clock or a specific time in some way. The clock is ticking on this one, so get your entries in! Here's a reminder of the rules:

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free. 

Word count: 3500-6000

Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Theme: Tick Tock. The story revolves around a clock, is time sensitive, or has something about a specific time. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines. No erotica, R-rated language, or graphic violence. 

Story deadline: November 1st 2017

How to enter: Send your polished, previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please format double-spaced, size 12 font, and no headers or footers. Include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging or Facebook IWSG group. 

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.

Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.

Elsewhere, Melissa Maygrove's anthology, Full Dark, is set for release next Monday, October 30. As I mentioned before, I have the honour of appearing in this book alongside some world-class authors. If you would like to help out with the launch, either on Monday or another day next week, let me know and I'll send details. Greatly appreciated! Also, if you'd like to help generate some pre-release buzz, you can click the below link to tweet about the anthology:


Tweet: Coming soon! FULL DARK #anthology benefiting #veterans & #first #responders Find out more: https://ctt.ec/XbaHR+ #FullDark11

On the writing front, I'm working on another competition entry with Halloween as its deadline, and after that I'll be into edits for part 2 of my Black & White trilogy. That will probably take me up until the end of the year, and I'll be looking at a release date in the spring. Next month, I will definitely be back to regular updates in terms of posting about goals and keeping myself accountable. This month, I've been a bit swamped with other work, but I think I've got a handle on it now.

Are you getting into the Halloween mood? Working on a story for the IWSG anthology, or have you already submitted? Would you like to help out with the launch of Melissa's awesome anthology?

Black & White blog tour giveaway winners, and Full Dark is coming!

Hope everyone's doing well. I'm here to announce the winners of my Black & White blog tour giveaway - sorry it's a bit late, I got kind of swamped with work after the tour wrapped up. So without further ado...

Winner of $10 Amazon giftcard - Lynda Dietz
Winners of ecopies of A Change of Mind and Other Stories - Will Griesmer, Brent Strassburg and Mary Preston

Congrats, guys! I'll be in touch about your prizes shortly.

Now, onto some other exciting news. I'm pleased to announce that I'm involved in an anthology put together by the wonderful Melissa Maygrove, which is set for release at the end of this month (just in time for Halloween). Melissa's been through some trials and tribulations recently, to say the least, so I'm super impressed that she's managed to pull this project together so well.

Title: FULL DARK: An Anthology

Tagline: What happens in the dark will come to light.

Official blurb:

Full Dark is a collection of eleven short works with impressive depth and range. Twisted tales of ghosts, villains, and the paranormal await you—mystery, heinous fantasy, and pure suspense. Acclaimed and award-winning authors as well as a few talented newcomers have joined forces to be your guide. Venture into the dark if you dare.

Just A Matter Of Time by Loni Townsend

Forerunner by David Powers King

Taking Care Of You by Carrie Butler

The Apartment by Lisa Buie-Collard

The Caricature by Nick Wilford

Shifting Sands by Elizabeth Seckman

Shadows Falling On Rainbows by Celeste Holloway

Meringue, Murder or Marzipan by Tonja Drecker

Haunted Lake by Michelle Athy

Soul Coin by Laura Rich

Retribution by Melissa Maygrove

FULL DARK is a benefit anthology. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation, an organization that does many wonderful things for our country's active military, its veterans, and the countless first responders who sacrifice so much to keep us safe.

Publisher: Obsidian Books

Official release date: October 30, 2017

I'm excited to be a part of this book alongside a stellar line-up of authors, and also very happy that the profits are going to such a superb cause, especially in light of the various disasters we have seen lately.

You can add it to your Goodreads list here and below is a Tweet if you'd like to help spread the word:

Coming soon! FULL DARK: An Anthology - Proceeds benefit #veterans & #first #responders Please share! #FullDark11 https://ctt.ec/stcn3+

IWSG Contest Winners Announced!

Monday again, and it's a great start to the week as the IWSG Show Your Writer Insecurity contest winners have been announced!

Thanks to all the participants - there were so many excellent and creative image. But we only had three prize packages with dozens of books, audio books, IWSG features, and IWSG erasers… (drum roll)

Third place goes to: J Lenni Dorner

Second place goes to: Mary Aalgaard

And the grand prize winner who also finally told all his Facebook friends he’s a writer: Ken Rahmoeller

For more awesome images, visit the other participants:

Sarah, Karen, SE White, Carrie-Anne, Tyrean, Fundy, Sandra, Erika, Olga, Toi, IB Nosey, Morgan, Nancy, Deniz, Zan Marie, Allison Kathy, and Sharon.

Have a great week!

IWSG October 2017 - Show Us Your Writer Insecurity

Time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group and it's a busy one today. If you don't know, the first Wednesday of the month marks the day when writers everywhere can gather to share our doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. Hosted as always by Ninja Cap'n Alex J. Cavanaugh, today's co-hosts are Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, Jennifer Hawes and Tamara Narayan. Onto the first item of business...

This will be a lot of fun - today we've asked you to pose with any item of the IWSG swag or the IWSG logo. Once you've done that, leave a comment at the IWSG website or Facebook page directing us to your photo. The admin team will visit each one and pick the top three, who will receive the following enviable prize packages:

Third place – EBook of A Change of Mind and Other Stories by Nick Wilford, eBook of The Remnant by William Michael Davidson, eBook of Cling to God by Lynda R. Young, eBook of Already Home by Heather M. Gardner, and eBook of Dragon of the Stars by Alex. J. Cavanaugh. 

Second place – The entire eBook collection of the Totem series by Christine Rains, eBooks of Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie, audio book of CassaSeries by Alex J. Cavanaugh, eBook of Black and White by Nick Wilford, and your choice eBook from J.L. Campbell. 

Grand prize winner - IWSG website interview, IWSG newsletter spotlight, IWSG pinned tweet for one week, C. Lee McKenzie's Featured Follower for the month, the IWSG Goodreads book club eBook for October/November, a short chapter critique, and a pair of IWSG erasers.

Onto the next item of business... submissions are currently open for the exciting next IWSG anthology.

Eligibility: Any member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group is encouraged to enter – blogging or Facebook member. The story must be previously unpublished. Entry is free. 

Word count: 3500-6000

Genre: Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Theme: Tick Tock. The story revolves around a clock, is time sensitive, or has something about a specific time. This theme has plenty of scope and we’re open to pretty much anything along these lines. No erotica, R-rated language, or graphic violence. 

Story deadline: November 1st 2017

How to enter: Send your polished, previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please format double-spaced, size 12 font, and no headers or footers. Include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging or Facebook IWSG group. 

Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges.

We know there's an incredible amount of talent in this group, so we can't wait to see what you've got! If you haven't entered yet, give it some thought and see what you come up with. This theme could go anywhere and we're excited to go through the entries.

So, onto today's post. I'm not feeling particularly insecure at the moment - having just finished a blog tour for my first ever released novel, I've been heartened by the support and encouragement that's out there in the writing community and I'm thankful to all the bloggers who hosted me and all those who commented and shared the posts. With this book being nearly five years in the gestation, having it out there feels like turning a corner and I'm optimistic about the future. Of course there is work still to be done with remaining edits on the subsequent parts, but it feels like it's within my grasp, which hasn't always been the case!

Are you showing your insecurity today? Submitted to the anthology or still crafting your masterpiece?

Don't forget to check out other IWSG contributors here!