The WORDS OF PRIDE Giveaway Is Over, But Not Quite Over Yet!

The WORDS OF PRIDE Giveaway may be over this year, but that doesn't mean it's OVER over! I still have all these books that need homes! At the time of writing this, I am waiting on the third winner to get back to me with their selected prize. That's only the third winner out of over twenty! If you haven't heard from me yet, don't fret that you haven't won anything. It's highly possible I will get to you sometime this next week!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the giveaway, whether as an entry or as a contributor. This wouldn't be possible without any of you! I hope that those who get some prizes get some great reads!

POSTPONED: "Love, Differently" Blog Hop

As much as I hate to do this, I have to postpone the Love, Differently blog hop which was scheduled to take place next month in November. Two main reasons for this: 1, lack of interest. The only people who signed up were myself, my co-runner, and my editor. And well, that's not much fun.  2, too busy! Instead of pushing forward with last minute advertising, I'd rather just focus on everything else on my plate this November, since I have two releases coming out.

But don't fret, all two people who signed up - the blog hop will return early next year! So keep your eyes on here and you'll see it pop up again soon enough.

"DAISUKI." Promotion Schedule + Official Blog Tour!

Yesterday I announced the release of my first novel, "DAISUKI.", set to drop September 28th! Also in that post I mentioned that today I would reveal the plans for my first promotion and blog tour! So...here it is?

NUMERO UNO: September Promotions

The following are the TENTATIVE blog post promotions I have planned leading up to the release of "DAISUKI.":

Aug 25: Official blurb revealed.

Sept 1: Book Cover Reveal!

Sept 3: New Layouts (Blog / Facebook)

Sept 5: Character Profile #1

Sept 8: Preview!

Sept 12: Character Profile #2

Sept 15: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT (May or may not be a blog fest!)

Sept 19: Character Profile #3

Sept 22: Another Preview!

Sept 26: Character Profile #4

Sept 28: RELEASE DAY!

Oct 1: Blog tour begins!

Excited? I know I am! Especially for that book cover! It's going to be fantastic! (No pressure to my bff and designer, of course. Well, maybe a little. OKAY A LOT. DO IT RIGHT GURL.  orz)

Also? That SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT on the 15th? Going to be, as the kids back in uni said, ~epic~. It's going to be more a promotional tour for the next book coming out in November (hopefully!) but is still completely relevant to these current promotions as well. If you like writing romance (or want the practice!) it's going to be right up your alley! Hooyeah!

NUMERO THE DOS:  October Blog Tour!

I'll be going on an Internet wide (well, as far as I can go!) blog tour to promote "DAISUKI.", and I'm looking for anybody willing to participate! 

Of course, starting from today I'm only taking...er, takers, of blog owners who wouldn't mind hosting me and (preferably) my book cover etc. for a day! I've set up a Link List for those interested right away to sign up  so I can get in contact with you. Now, a few things about "DAISUKI." that you may want to consider based on the readership of your blog:

1) It's a romance with some "graphic" (I find this highly subjective, but yes, there's sex) scenes between women. I debated whether or not to also promote it as erotica, and have decided not to. It's a romance story first and foremost, but yes, there's sex. 

2) The cover is suggestive, but not dirty. I would say "it's no worse than you see in the romance section in Amazon", but let's be real, some of those should be taken down per Amazon's guidelines! Woah! But my designer and I are making sure that the cover complies to Amazon's guidelines, which means there's no nudity. There isn't even kissing. (But an almost kiss!)

3) The entire series (and myself) is very pro-LGBT, as it's sort of the crux of the story. 

Overall, I would give "DAISUKI." a healthy R rating. I share this because I know some of you who may wish to host me on the blog tour may need to consider their readership and whether or not it would cause a problem on their blogs. If you'd still like to do something with me, let me know, and we'll come up with something!

As for blog tour posts, I'm planning to do posts about Japanese culture and language, F/F relationships (both here in the USA and in Japan), character interviews, general interviews, samples, writing romance,  basically, whatever jives with you and your blog!

Phew! That was a lot of text! I appreciate it if you took the time to read it all! I'm very excited about this tour and this novel! I hope to have the blog tour badges and all that jazz ready around the time the cover is revealed. The reason why I'm taking names this soon is so I can get a jump on things before I'm swamped! If you'd rather wait to sign up until after I reveal the blurb and cover, that's fine too. I'm sure I'll be posting this link list a few times...

Now excuse me, I have like a million things to do tonight! (I am running purely on adrenaline right now. Woohoo!)

NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT: "DAISUKI.", book 1 of the "REN'AI RENSAI" series.

Here it is! The moment you all didn't know you were waiting for! The unveiling of my new series title and the first book to be released by the end of next month!

Are you ready?

COMING SEPTEMBER 28th*

~The Romance Event of the Year~

That's right, my new series is REN'AI RENSAI ("The Serial of Love"),and the first installment, releasing next month, is "DAISUKI." ("I Love You"). 

The series chronicles the lesbian relationship of two Tokyoites over the span of twenty years. "DAISUKI" begins during year 19, when one of them still refuses to say "I love you". (I'm in the midst of writing the first draft of the second one, which covers the origins of their relationship way back in 1992!) So as you can see, there is no particular chronological order to this series. 

It's a spinoff of my main CROSS// series (as it stars two minor characters), and will serve double duty as an introduction to the world. Oh wait, it's not a fantasy! Oh well! It's what I felt like writing! "DAISUKI"'s first draft was written during Camp Nano back in June. Needless to say, I've been working non stop on it to get it polished!

I'll be announcing the blog tour for late September/October tomorrow, along with the general release of further news, including cover, blurb, and character bios! I am so excited!

I swear I am!

Even though I'm so sleep I'm about to pass out!

/sleeps.

Alert! Major announcements in ccming days!

I am so, so cheap.

That's right! In the coming days *cough*tomorrowandsaturday* I will be announcing the title and (tentative) release date for my upcoming novella. And after that I will be announcing the accompanying blog tour! Isn't that exciting? It's exciting. So exciting I am exhausted and sleepy and should go to bed. But I'm here telling you about upcoming announcements instead. So that you are ready for them. And getting just as excited as me.

Flawless plan.

Weekly Writing Check-In: Aw, crap, Camp.

With all the real life stuff going on right now (don't we all~) I've completely forgotten about Camp August. I think I have it all figured out now. I've changed my writing schedule as I change some priorities around, but for the most part I'm happy where things are going.

Tentatively, I feel it's about time I can announce just a little something:  I currently plan to release my first novella this upcoming September (probably lateish). No finalized cover or title format yet, but that's what I've been working towards lately. It's actually the first part of a trilogy. I'm writing the second one right now and hoping to get it out around Christmas and the third in early 2013. Of course as I said before it's all tentative, depending on how long outside editing takes and the subsequent changes, but look forward to a more solid announcement and corresponding marketing plans sometime next month!

And with that, back to writing. I'm just glad I managed to get all my writing done early yesterday, because watching gymnastics live at 1:30 am has killed my usual writing time. I see how it is.

Winner of the Critique Contest

As some of you may recall, I held a 20 page critique contest (raffle, really) in honor of 200 posts! Although only a few people entered (and thank you to all that entered! I didn't expect anybody to, bwahaha.) that's still a few enough to have us a raffle! So the tickets were counted, the numbers were shuffled, and the randomizer decided that the winner was...

Morgan B.

...as the winner! 

Congrats Morgan! I'll be asking for your 20 pages for critiquing in the coming days! Thanks again to all those who entered, and who knows! Maybe for #300 I'll actually have something to give away! Bwaha.

No Friday Flash this week. Sorry~

Ice Breakers: Not Just For Winter Weather

I seeeee Japaneeeeese~

I'm pleased as punch to make two quick announcements before getting into the rest of the meet of this entry:  not only has my blog doubled its readership this week (from 40 to over 80 thus far), but I've also broken 50,000 views. Most of those views come from google image searches, but hey, I don't hold it against myself!

Just want to thank everyone again for the kind comments left on all my Character Blogfest entries. I am quite proud of my "voice", so hearing so many compliments on it made my day(s)!

Now, since I've doubled my readership this week, mostly due to the Campaign and the Blogfest, I thought I should do another sort of introduction for those first reading me - and hey, if you've been around for a few months or a year now...maybe you'll still be entertained? Haha.

Anyway, without further ado, my name is Hildred. I'm currently 24 years old, a Libra (yes, that's important), and have been writing since I was four years old. I majored in Japanese Studies and minored in Religious Studies in university and currently work as an English teacher in Japan until I move back to the States in April/May. I consider myself fairly fluent in conversational Japanese, but don't ask me "what does this kanji mean?" because I will cry.

I write predominately adult Fantasy with Science Fiction overtures. I have two series I'm working on, although one is on the backburner indefinitely. The one that's on the backburner is "Nagnomei", a ten book high fantasy saga that deals with the origins of "humanity" and the lengths deities will go to to keep their people in the dark "for their own good". The one that's not and currently being written, edited, promoted, and soon-to-be-published is "CROSS//", a five book urban fantasy series that's about reincarnation, selfishness, overpopulation, butterflies, and a romance that has survived thousands of years. Both series also delve into "what happens when we die?" with very different answers, because to me, that's the biggest mystery of life. I also delve heavily into LGBT themes, particularly the "LG" part. I feel that women and lesbian romances in general (and all the problems that come with being a queer woman in general) are highly underrepresented in fantasy in a realistic light.

But right. This here blog. I blog about "writing", including in general and my own. Mostly I rant and whine about whatever ails me writing-wise at the moment, and sometimes I rant about patterns I see in the writing/publishing world that pisses me off. I also do a lot of self-promotion and sometime post my own writing. So, your standard "author blog" fare.


I've also recently gotten into Hubpages, and you can find my profile and hubs here. Feel free to add me and I'll happily return the favor! Also, I tweet over here, and if you leave me your handle in the comments I'll happily follow you there as well!

And now, for you!

I'm interested in getting to know most of you better as well! Actually, I think most of us from the blog hops and campaigns could use some introductions to each other, yeah? But in case you've got writer's block about what to say in an introduction, try these!

1 - Describe yourself in 50 words.
2 - What do you write?
3 - What piece of work are you the proudest of?
4 - What's one thing you wish you could do?
5 - If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would you live, and why?

Feel free to post in the comments or in your blog. I look forward to getting to know of you all better, and thanks for reading!