Gorgeous Handmade Christmas Card Giveaway!

Okay, I know it’s still November, but let’s face it Christmas is just around the corner – and I love Christmas!

So my competition this week is for a pack of five handmade Christmas cards from the extremely talented Karen Jones, over at True Images Cards.

True image cards is based in Devon and Karen makes and packages the cards to order.

Most of the images are taken locally in and around Devon. Karen focuses on creating fun and modern images mixed with classic photography to make  a contemporary card range. All cards are handmade to order.

So, if you would like to win a pack of these gorgeous cards, all you need to do is answer the following question:

How many different designs of Christmas card are on the true image website?

And the address for the site is http://www.trueimagecards.co.uk/

Sorry, guys, this one is for UK based people only. Just leave your answer as a comment below. Good luck!

It’s time for NaNo!

The time is here! All over the world people will be frantically putting words on the page, trying to reach that elusive 50K.

In order to hit 50K you need to write an average of about 1,600 words per day. I normally write between 1-2K anyway, but what I don’t do is write them all on one project. I have a tendency to flit from one thing to another, write some of a novel here, some of a short story there, do some editing on something else….Well, you get the picture.

I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble hitting the daily word count, but what I will have a problem with is keeping myself focused and not getting distracted by other things. I’m one of those people who wanders into a room with the intention of doing one thing, and leave having done everything but. I made porridge for myself and my daughter this morning and it took three goes cause I kept getting distracted by things and burning it!

I figure many people are going to treat this a bit like a marathon; they will start strong and burn out by the end. I am intending to do it the other way around. I have a deadline for two short stories that still aren’t quite finished (one for the 4th, the other the 5th) so I need to get them done before I can do anything else. Because of this I am not expecting my early word count to be too high, but then I am hoping to make up for lost time a bit later on.

At some point today I will post a word count meter somewhere on my side bar, so, if you’re interested, you can keep track of how I am doing.

If any of you out there are also doing Nano, I would love to hear from you, and there is a Nano blog chain just up on the right hand side, which you can also follow.

Good luck to everyone, and I hope to see you all, frazzled and with caffeine jitters, on the other side!

Halloween giveaway – Amanda Norman Gothic mirrors and Vamplit titles!

 

Right guys, tomorrow (Friday) will be the start of my big Halloween Giveaway!

Three winners will not only get a pocket mirror OF THEIR CHOICE from the talented gothic photographer, Amanda Norman, but they will also get an Amanda Norman bottle-opener/keyring, AND get to choose a Vamplit e-book!!!!

So check out these links to see what you could win:

Your choice of Gothic Pocket Mirrors

Keyring/bottle opener

Vamplit titles!

So how do you enter? Starting at 10am (London time) just pop over to my Facebook page and tell me what your favourite movie to watch on Halloween is. Easy.

On Sunday night, at 6pm, I will be announcing the three lucky winners!

Happy Halloween everyone and good luck!

Advice needed…again!

So I said I was going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve even been looking forward to it, doing the plans for my book and pre-writing blog post reviews, so I will be able to concentrate on it. Only now I am having second thoughts.

Here’s the thing: I had thought my new novel would be out by now, and that I would have got the initial promo off the ground. However, as normally happens with things, they always take longer than you think they’re going to, so it probably isn’t going to be out until closer to the end of the month.

The second thing is that I am finally having some luck placing short stories and I am really enjoying writing them. I’m worried that if I just stop I won’t be able to get back on track again.

Thirdly, the novel I have planned for NaNo, just isn’t the sort of thing I normally write, and while my heart says it is a great story that will sell, my head says that I shouldn’t be mucking around with different genres and that I should stick to what I know. A good friend of mine commented that a writer is like a ‘brand’ and that all of the successful ones have stuck to the same kind of formula.

My husband thinks I shouldn’t do NaNo. He thinks I should concentrate on one thing – being a horror writer and doing what I love – but I still find myself being tugged in the direction of NaNo.

So, what do you think? Am I just getting pre-Nano jitters or am I making a sensible decision by letting it go? I would love to hear your opinion!

I’ve been accepted for Masters of Horror Anthology!

Whoop!

I’ve just found out that my short story, The Tortured Room, has been accepted for the new Masters of Horror anthology, Damned if you Don’t.

Here is a bit about the anthology:

Revolving around the evils we inflict upon ourselves, and how we might battle to overcome them. Let your imagination run riot through the horrors of various vices: drug use, gambling, smoking, drinking, scarification, overeating, anything you’re DAMNED IF YOU DON’T overcome.

If selected, your story will be in good company, as two true Masters of Horror have stories included:

“Aftertaste” by John Shirley (Demons, The Crow, etc.) drags the reader kicking and screaming through the literal Crackhouse of the Living Dead!

“Topsy” by F. Paul Wilson (The Keep, The Repairman Jack and Nightworld series) titillates and terrifies as it shows you what it’s like to be in the skin of a 1500-pound man.

(The editor’s own tale, “Showdown with Deacon Blues” reveals an AA meeting where alcohol itself shows up in human form, with its own axe to grind.)

There’s also a possibility of seeing an early classic “Quitters Inc.” by the Master himself, Stephen King!

MASTERS OF HORROR: Damned If You Don’t is a joint enterprise of Triskadeika Books and FOCUSGROUP LLC, to be published in paperback, e-book and (possibly) CD-Rom format.

All authors receive a one-time flat payment (by check or PayPal), equal split of royalties if and when profitability occurs, one contributor’s copy and an optional full-page advertisement for a work of their choice.

SEEKING: Horror stories of drug use*, alcoholism, gambling, scarification (“cutting”), eating disorders, pornography and/or internet addiction, compulsive spending/shopping or credit abuse, and any damaging vice, addiction or compulsive behavior I’ve left out. There may be more than one story per theme.

NO MORE STORIES ABOUT CUTTING WILL BE ACCEPTED!

*--Various types of drugs will be considered, but marijuana will be a tough sell due to its non-addictive nature.

If any of you have an ARTWORK OR PHOTOGRAPH you feel would be great for the cover, please submit it!

RIGHTS: One-time Rights (Rights revert back to the author after publication.)

REPRINTS: Oh, what the hell, why not.

WORD COUNT: No necessarily firm word count, however we’re seeking stories longer than ‘Flash’ works and shorter than novellas. As a rule of thumb, if it’s over thirty pages, those pages ought to ROCK.

READING PERIOD: Now, until 31st of October – Halloween!

FORMAT: Regular manuscript format, double spaced; please use the Times New Roman font.

TO SUBMIT: Email submissions either in the body of an email or as a Word or RTF attachment to FOCUSGROUPLLC@AOL.COM. Put “MOH Submission” in the subject line. Please NOTE that RESPONSES WILL ONLY BE GIVEN ON ACCEPTANCE (Since we only want One-time rights anyway, feel free to keep sending your story wherever, whenever).

So there are a few more days to get something in!

Finally I would just like to thank Carole Gill for pointing me in the direction of MOH, and I am thrilled we will be in an anthology together!

I am being interviewed today…

I have an interview with Gracen Miller over at Moonlight, Lace, and Mayhem today.

The interview is based around Halloween and, of course, my writing. So please stop by and say hello.

My blogging has become a little infrequent lately due to the huge amount of time I am spending on getting the next novel out. I’m hoping to do the final push today and then I should be able to bring you all news of the release date for The Dark Road. Hurrah!

Social networking…again!

I’ve been reading up about social marketing. Boy, do I have a lot to learn. I think I’ve got one thing sussed and then something else pops up. It’s like this whole wide world of making contact with people suddenly opens up and I have this whole ‘oh-my god, that’s how it’s supposed to be done’ moment.

So my latest ‘eyes-wide-open’ moment has come from my facebook page. Like twitter, I set it up a long time ago and then completely failed to use it! I then read about how to use it properly through BookBuzzr (who I found on twitter). They gave a pretty easy to read, basic idea about how to set up a facebook fan page (you can read it here!) and so I thought I would give it a go.  I was amazed when I had 55 ‘likes’ in the first twenty-four hours! I’ve made contact with a whole heap of people I never would have before, and so I am very grateful that I came across the site.

I’ve learnt a lot in the past year and I am sure I still have a whole world of information I still need to find out.

But in the meantime I will do my best with what I’ve got, and I will continue to read and research and learn. If you want to stop by my facebook page the link is www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author. I am currently giving away a free copy of Alone to say thanks for all the support I have had over there, so if you want to stop by and you fancy leaving me a comment then you will be in to win. I am announcing the winner via the facebook page tomorrow morning.

And if there is anyone out there who is looking for support or a friend for their facebook page, twitter, blog, etc, then don’t be afraid to ask for a follow!

Happy social networking everyone!