Today, we’re hanging out over at Carla Loves to Read, where Carla Johnson-Hicks is reading and reviewing all three books with her grandchildren for Day 6 of the WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour. Won’t you stop by to see what the kids think of this wonderful kid’s series written by Kaye Lynne Booth and illustrated by Robbie Cheadle, and find out how you can help support the color print editions.
Today we’re over at Robbie’s Inspiration for Day 4 of the WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour with a guest post from me, some fun facts about beavers, and a mini-interview with Robbie and Becky Beaver. Join us in helping to send off the series and raise enough to publish them in color print editions.
Join us on Undawnted for day 3 of the WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour where DL Mullan interviews Heather Hummingbird and offers a review of Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend. Come join in the fun as we send off all three of the wonderful books in the My Backyard Friends Kid’s Book Series.
This is the second month for this story challenge and the going is slow. We were all supposed to vote on last months submissions, but I only had one, so there is not much to vote on. I will publish the submission here, along with the beginning of my own. It’s not really voting, but I would like to hear your thoughts on the stories posted. Would you read more if were offered? What works for you? What doesn’t?
I’d also like to hear from you if you think this idea could be fun and would like to participate at some point in the future. I need to know if there is enough interest to continue this blog series.
This Month’s Prompt
A woman walks into a bar, that isn’t a bar, and it changes her life forever.
Remember, your story can be any genre, so you can get creative. Publish the results on your blog and send the link to me by the last day of the month. Be sure to label them with #WtbRStoryChallenge. Or, if you don’t have a blog, you can send the results directly to me at kayebooth@yahoo.com, and I will publish them or the links back to your blog the following month along with the writing prompt for the next month.
Stick to the rules and after 30 minutes of writing stop. I’ll be writing right along with you. I know the prompt ahead of time, but I won’t begin writing until it has posted. Be sure to have your entry to me by the last day of the month, so I can share them all for readers to vote on.
Another good thing about this not being a live event is you will have the opportunity to edit for grammar, spelling, and punctuation before submitting, and I do want it to be the best you’ve got, of course.
June Submissions
Prompt: Write a story based on a local or popular legend.
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Thanks to Sylva Fae for submitting this month, so I have something to post besides my own story.
The Wizard of Alderley Edge
by Sylva Fae
“What’s up with you, Paul? You’ve been moping around since you got here, and you haven’t even drunk your tea.”
“I’m skint, Granddad. Molly’s nagging me to book a holiday, I’ve just bought a new car and I’ve still got my student loan to pay off.”
“Pah! You youngsters don’t know how privileged you are. I thought you were getting paid well at that fancy new job of yours – you can’t be skint.”
“How would you know, Granddad? You’ve always been rich…”
“Not always, Paul. When I was a young man, I struggled to even put food on the table.”
“Seriously? You live in the biggest house in Macclesfield? Come on, Granddad, what’s the family secret to getting obscenely rich?” Paul laughed; his grandparents were one of the richest families around, owning several businesses and properties.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Granddad replied.
“Go on, try me. Seriously, I’ll take any advice you can give me.”
“It’s not that sort of story but if you want to know, it all started with a legend…”
“A legend? Seriously, Granddad?”
“Do you wanna hear this story, or what?” Granddad grumbled.
Paul nodded, and settled back to drink his tea.
“This is the legend of the sleeping king, and not just any old king, King Arthur, no less. Several places claim to be the final resting place of King Arthur and his loyal knights, but I know he lies somewhere beneath the rocks of Alderley Edge.” Granddad took a moment to sip his tea, then continued.
“A long time ago, a farmer set off along the Ridge Road, taking his white mare to market, in Macclesfield town. He frequently made the journey through the woods and knew every twisty path, rock face and shortcut. As he approached Thieves Hole, the mare stopped in the centre of the crossroads and refused to budge. The farmer, wary of local superstitions of this being the crossing into the Otherworld, urged his mare on, but was suddenly startled by an old man appearing between the trees. A long emerald cloak covered all but his wizened face and long grey beard, and he leaned heavily on a twisted staff, as he slowly made his way down the bank to the farmer.
“Where are you going with that mare?” the old man shouted after him. “I would like to buy it.”
The farmer looked at the old man and pondered, it would save him a walk if he sold the mare here, but he’d likely get a better price at the market. “Thank you, Sir, but I’ll try my luck in the market. I need to get the best price possible.”
“Heed my warning! Nobody in town will buy your mare. I will be waiting here for your return.” The old man slammed his staff down onto the rock, as if marking the spot they would meet.
The farmer finally reached the market, but wherever he went, although people admired the mare, nobody was interested in buying her. She was a fine mare too, worth far more than he was willing to take for her. Strangely, everyone he approached turned away, with the same disinterested dismissal when he tried to sell her. Perplexed, and with the old man’s warning still rumbling round his mind, he set off back across the Edge to home, leading the white mare.
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This is my submission, and will also be my second story for the by invitation only anthology, Tales From the Hanging Tree, which will be released in September.
The Legend of Cottonwood Hallow
by Kaye Lynne Booth
[1865]
Running Fox is walking along the tree line near the riverbank, searching for the [plants] White Cloud needed to initiate him as a brave in the ceremony tonight. He hears yelling at the stage stop up ahead, but he pays it no mind. Today is an important day for him and he doesn’t have time to worry about what the white man’s troubles are. Little Dove will be there tonight, watching as he becomes a man. She is the prettiest girl he has ever known, and he plans to mate with her when he is old enough to take a squaw. He kneels down to pluck up some [plants] from the muddy bank of the river, but quickly looks up at the sound of horse’s hooves approaching fast.
“Ho, there!” a big burly man in a leather coat exclaims as he dismounts from his horse, pointing a rifle right at him. “You there, Indian! What are you doing?”
Running Fox looks up at him wide eyed. He does not speak the white man’s tongue and cannot understand his words, but he understands the rifle pointed his way. His heart beats like a war drum in his chest as three other men come riding up from behind the man with the rifle, and spread out, blocking his escape from all directions. “No, tsapea,” (Let go!) he cries as the big burly man steps forward, grabbing by the arm and jerking him to his feet.
“This the one, Charlie?” the white man asks.
A small, mousy man wearing a striped shirt and spectacles comes up behind him and squints, examining Running Fox’s features. “Well, I don’t know,” the little man says, speaking barely above a whisper. “It was an Indian, but they all sort of look alike.”
“Is this the one who robbed the stage stop, Charlie?” the big man says, shaking the arm of Running Fox to emphasize his words.
The young boy tries to pull away, repeating the words, “Tsapea!”. But the man tightens his grip, holding him hard enough to hurt.
A little man wearing a white apron and visor partially covering his balding head stutters, stumbling over his words. “Well now, uh, Zeek, I’m not sure. Th-the fella who did the robbing s-s-seemed older,” the little man says, wiping sweat from his brow. “I mean, uh, this f-f-feller seems a mite young to be r-robbing anybody. I mean… he’s just a k-kid, really.”
“One Injun’s as good as another, I say,” says a gray-haired man sporting a beard and mustache. He flashes a toothless smile and smacks his lips together as Running Fox continues to struggle, trying to pull away from the meaty grip of the big man. “Ain’t a damn one of ‘em worth a sow’s ear, if you ask me?”
“Nobody did, old man,” says the burly man, still holding the rifle in his other hand. “Was the fella did the robbin’ even an Injun, Charlie?”
“Well, now… It was d-dark, you know? I… uh… I didn’t get a very g-good look. C-c-could have been, b-but I a-ain’t too sure. S-s-seemed bigger, b-but I w-was s-scared. He had a g-g-gun on me and all. I… uh… I guess it c-c-could b-be hi—”
“Oh, fer Christ sakes, Charlie,” says another man, stepping out from the shadow of the big cottonwood tree before the man called Zeek can reply.
Running Fox can’t make out his features in the afternoon son, dappled by the shadow of the tree, but he can see the glint in his eye, and it wasn’t friendly.
The man holds a piece of rope in one hand, which he holds up in front of him as he says, “You better be sure. You wouldn’t want us to hang the wrong man, would you? You’re in charge of the stage stop. If this ain’t him, I guess you’re the one to take the responsibility. Ain’t that right, boys?”
The others mumble to the affirmative, some nodding their heads as Running Fox renewed his struggles against the grip of the gruff, burly man at the sight. “Tsapea!” he said, pulling his arm away with all his might. He doesn’t understand all the men say, but he understands the meaning of that rope. His heart races and a sweat breaks out on his forehead, running down his face. He doesn’t know the why of it, but he’s pretty sure that these men intend to hang him. “Tsapea! Tsapea!”
The burly man tightens his grip and jerks back on his arm. “Settle down now,” he says. “You think you can get away?” Then he turns his attention back to Charlie, but he doesn’t loosen his grip. “Well, Charlie? We need to know. This him, or not? I can’t hold onto this ‘un forever. He’s a wildcat.”
Charlie stares at Running Fox with frightened eyes. Then, he gives a nod of his head and casts his eyes to the ground. “Y-yes. I r-reckon th-that’s him,” he says softly.
“What’s that, Charlie?” says the man with the rope. “Speak up so we can hear.”
“Th-that’s him,” Charlie says, louder this time, but without looking up.
“All right then,” the dark man says, throwing a rope over the lowest branch of the big tree. “Let’s get this done. I haven’t had any lunch yet.”
The grey-haired old man leads a horse toward him, parting the circle of men. The noose slides down over his head. The burly man lets go of him momentarily, but places both hands around Running Fox’s waist and hoists him up into the saddle, as if he were a small child.
Everything is happening too fast. Running Fox doesn’t it even have time to protest. His heart races faster in his chest than it ever has before, faster even than when he’s run for long distances. His breathing quickens as the panic rises within him. They are going to hang him, and he doesn’t even know why. Little Dove will not see him become a brave, because he will never be one. Tears squeeze from the corner of his eyes at this thought, even though he tries to fight them back. He will never see his mother again, will never make his father proud. It isn’t fair. eHis life I just beginning. Running Fox is determined to never leave this spot until he has revenge. Nothing good will ever come from this place. Just before they slap the horse’s rump, sending it charging out from under him, he issues a vow that binds his soul to the cottonwood with his last breath. “Nitea ianna.” (Curse this place).
When I hear the word prolific, I think of Kevin J.Anderson, who puts out between 7-9 books per year. He’s one of the most prolific writers that I know of, although veteran bestselling authors, Dean Wesley Smith and Kathryn Christine Rusch, may rival, or even surpass him. But we cannot all be that prolific. But we can learn from authors like these, who have spent their lifetimes writing professionally, and making a decent living at it.
For many years, I did not know how to be prolific. Delilah took me three years to write, and then I worked almost another year revising it to re-release as the first book in the Women in the West Adventure Series. I even wrote a post in about accepting the fact that “We Can’t All be Prolific” because of how not-prolific I was back in 2022. It was something which I didn’t know could be changed or how to go about changing it.
Since then, I’ve learned a few things that have helped me to become more prolific, and I’m now publishing between 5 – 8 books per year. That’s why the first section of The D.I.Y. Author is dedicated to the methods I’ve used to increase my productivity and become a more prolific author; because I wanted to share some of the methods I’ve used to increase my writing productivity. By becoming prolific, I’ve been able to get my name out there where it can be recognized and having more products, in this case, books, to sell. When you publish 5 books per year, that’s 5 different chances to reach new readers, but its also five chances to remind current readers that you’re still around and active.
The following, are tips that I’ve accumulated, from The D.I.Y. Author.
Becoming Prolific
Outlining: Creating at least a working outline to help guide the direction of your story. If you have an idea of where you are going before you start, you can get words on the page faster.
Doubling Down on Research and Promotional Materials: Research is something that needs to be done for every book, regardless of genre. If you can find other uses for this same research, you can essentially make it do double duty. For example, during the historic research I did for the Women in the West Adventure Series, I uncovered many interesting facts that may or may not have been used in the story, and could also be used to make interesting blog posts for the tours for their releases, thus becoming a marketing tool, as well as a good story inspiration. Or you can use the same inspiration for a second story in some cases.
Write the Damned Book: Just sit down and write. It’s a simple piece of advice, but one many authors, or would-be authors, fail to recognize. In The D.I.Y. Author, I offer a couple of methods of achieving the desired results, including Binge Writing, which isn’t always for everyone, and Persistant Determination, which is plugging away at it every chance you get.
NaNoWriMo: The principle is to set aside the month of November to work exclusively on your novel at every opportunity and setting a daily wordcount which will allow you to reach a goal of 50,000 words within that timeframe. But you don’t need to wait until Novemeber to do this. Just set aside a 30 day period and dedicate to writing your story. I use NANoWriMo to get a start on one of the two novel length works I write and publish each year. In the book, I offer a couple of strategies for making the most of your time, including Time Blocking, and Tracking Your Word Count.
Dictation: This is a strategy for becoming prolific that isn’t right for everyone, but works well for those who are comfortable with it.
Networking and Collaborations: It takes longer to write a novel length work than it does to write a short story or two to include in an anthology, and it’s a great way to add more titles to your author pages. Through WordCrafter Press, I publish at least two anthologies per year, and sometimes more.
Maximizing Your IP: Intellectual Property are the rights to your creative endeavors, or copyright, and an author needs to understand their copyrights, and take care not to sign away more than absolutely necessary when entering into a contract with a publisher. It is also important to understand when your rights will be returned, because when you hold the copyright, you can use that work in any way which you deem fit, allowing your writings to do double, or even triple duty.
Optimizing Your Backlist: Many authors don’t put a lot into their backlist, but there are things you can do to keep your backlist items in front of readers’ eyes and on their minds, such as creating multiple formats, special editions, and price promotions.
Taking Care of Mind, Body & Spirit: Keeping yourself healthy is also condusive to being prolific, as we all write better when our minds are sharp and alert, out bodies are well rested and healthy, and we have a place of our own, dedicated to writing.
Outsourcing: When there is too much for one person to do it all, and believe me there will be, outsourcing certain tasks can be of great advantage, even to the D.I.Y. author.
Why Become Prolific?
To put it simply, the more prolific you are, the more books you have to sell. The bigger your library of books, the more opportunities for readers to discover you and your writing.
I’ve offered a basic list of the methods I’ve used to become more prolific. Some have worked better than others for me and I talk about them in more depth in The D.I.Y. Author. To learn more, you can get your copy from your favorite retailer here: https://books2read.com/The-DIY-Author.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This post is sponsored by The D.I.Y. Author and WordCrafter Press.
Being an author today is more than just writing the book. Authors in this digital age have more opportunities than ever before. Whether you pursue independent or traditional publishing models, or a combination of the two, being an author involves not only writing, but often, the publishing and marketing of the book.
In this writer’s reference guide, multi-genre author and independent publisher, Kaye Lynne Booth shares her knowledge and experiences and the tools, books, references and sites to help you learn the business of being an author.
A time-traveler oversteps his boundaries in 1887. Things get out of hand quickly, and he is hanged, setting in motion a series of events from which there’s no turning back.
LeRoy McAllister is a reluctant outlaw running from a posse with nowhere to go except to the future.
In 2025, Amaryllis Sanchez is a thrill-seeking rock star on the fast track, who killed her dealing boyfriend to save herself. Now, she’s running from the law and his drug stealing flunkies, and nowhere is safe.
LeRoy falls hard for the rock star, thinking he can save her by taking her back with him. But when they arrive in 1887, things turn crazy fast, and soon they’re running from both the outlaws and the posse, in peril once more.
They can’t go back to the future, so it looks like they’re stuck in the past. But either when, they must face forces that would either lock them up or see them dead.
Get Your Copy at the Discounted Price While You Can!
Drop by Thomas Wikman’s Leonberger blog site to catch his smashing review of Sarah: Book 2 in the Women in the West Adventure Series (WordCrafter Press, 2023). I’m particularly excited about this review, as it eases my nervous anticipation about how my strong female protagonists would be received by male readers with this western historical women’s fiction series. I hope you’ll check it out. 🙂
I don’t need MS Word to tell me that my language might be offensive. That’s me. I use offensive language, usually on purpose, for effect because I want to be offensive, or just because it is what my character would say. Of course, I’m not writing for a YA or younger audience. I would want curse words to be pointed out and questioned, if that were the case.
I cuss. Most of the people I know cuss. Even religious folk have been known to issue a curse or two. If I feel the reaction to a situation would be an issued expletive, then my character will issue it. That doesn’t mean that all my characters are potty mouths, but when a curse is in order, they throw it out there, and I believe it is appropriate in certain situations, and also more realistic.
Even if my protagonist isn’t a curser, like Delilah, who uses expletives such as dagnabbit, the people around her do, so my books do contain some cursing. I don’t feel like a story set on the western frontier, would be true to the period or the frontier culture.
Likewise, the modern day Las Vegas culture in the music circles involves drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll, so naturally my character, Amaryllis, in The Rock Star & The Outlaw is involved in all of that and more, and her language often isn’t ladylike. Even so, I try not to let her get carried away with the curse words. And Sarah deals with the issues of prejudice and sexism, and the language in the story reflects the prejudices of the times, whether the AI editor in MS Word likes it or not.
But my villains often have mouths so dirty even their own mothers wouldn’t kiss them. Respect for women or lack thereof is often indicated in the way a man refers to women. If a character lacks respect for women, which many male villians do, then their language when referring to them may be less than flattering. After all, the way a character speaks is one of the things readers use to clue them in to what a character is like, and then decide if they are a character they should like, or not.
Another speech trait which I use often is the improper use of the English language. In the old west, many people were not educated and used words such as ‘ain’t’ or they cut off the ‘g’ in ‘ing’ words. In Delilah, one of things she strived for was to speak more properly after meeting the Mormon woman, Marta, who was a natural born school teacher and corrected Delilah’s speech automatically out of habit. Many of the less savory characters in the Women in the West adventure series, clue readers into their ignorance by the way they speak. I reckon that’s what I do it fer. These are purposeful misspellin’s that drive my AI spell-check crazy.
Many of my western characters are representitive of the many immigrants who made the U.S. into the melting pot that it is known to be. They speak in different dialects to differentiate them from other characters, which gives them colorful speech that is recogizable without adding dialog tags. In Sarah, Lillian Alura Bennett is one such character, who happens to be an Irish madam at a bordello in Glenwood Springs. And in The Rock Star & The Outlaw, the Mexican dialect of Juan Montoya leaves no question when he is speaking.
In Delilah, I had the opposite problem as the character of Dancing Falcon was a young Indian boy, who had been taught to speak English at the Indian agency with a strict teacher, so his speech is almost too proper, which made his speech sound very formal in places. One of the comments from a beta reader was that no one talks like that, so I went back when revising and added in a place where he talks about his time on the reservation and his schooling experience, to explain why he spoke that way to readers. The point being that a characters speech should reveal something about them, as well as making them identifiable.
It was really fun to create the characters in the My Backyard Friends kid’s book series, which is based on the birds and animals which visit my yard in the Colorado mountains. Katy Cat is a bit of a diva, kind of stuck up, and thinks she’s better than everyone else. She’s willing to help out Timothy Turtle as long as it doesn’t inconvenience her too much. I relayed this information in the way she swishes her tail, (body language), and in the way she talks with a bit of attitude. Heather Hummingbird has a lot of energy, so she talks really fast and rarely perches for more than a few seconds at a time. Charlie Chickadee is a young bird on his own for the first time, so I made him a bit niave. The things he says reveals this more than the way that he says it.
Other reasons an author might make the character’s or even the narrator’s voice a bit quirky is because it is the author’s voice coming through. (You know the voice English teachers are telling you to find? Yep. That one.) To an extent, this is true for me. My own speech is usually rather blunt and to the point, and so are my characters’. I don’t use a lot of colorful purple prose, instead calling it like I see it. Many of my protagonists are the same way. Delilah says what’s on her mind and she doesn’t beat around the bush. Sarah, too, tends to speak before she considers the way her words will be taken.
AI editors don’t understand this, and so variants in speech are often marked as needing correction, when in fact, they are purposeful. This is why, just running through your story with an AI editor is never enough. But there are times when human editors don’t get it either. Kevin J. Anderson tells a story about submitting a book to a traditional publisher who turned it over to a novice editor who corrected all the little quirks that revealed his voice and marked his manuscript up until it looked like nothing but red scribbles. That’s when you know that an editor isn’t a good match for you. Kevin politely refused to work with that editor and they assigned him another one. That’s why it’s important to have an editor that gets you and your voice, and understands the nuances of your character’s dialog.
Finding the right editor isn’t always easy, especially if funds are tight. Many editors will offer a free edit of the first ten pages, or even the first chapter so you can fell them out and find out if they are right for you and your story. I wouldn’t go with any editor who doesn’t offer this, and of course, I offer it through Write it Right Quality Editing Services. Any editor worth their salt will understand that they must be able to differentiate between mistakes and purposful word choices.
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About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This segment of “Writer’s Corner” is sponsored by The D.I.Y. Author and WordCrafter Press.
Being an author today is more than just writing the book. Authors in this digital age have more opportunities than ever before. Whether you pursue independent or traditional publishing models, or a combination of the two, being an author involves not only writing, but often, the publishing and marketing of the book.
In this writer’s reference guide, multi-genre author and independent publisher, Kaye Lynne Booth shares her knowledge and experiences and the tools, books, references and sites to help you learn the business of being an author.
The first three books in the My Backyard Friends kid’s book series will be released through retailers on July 16th. Written by me, Kaye Lynne Booth and Illustrated by Robbie Cheadle this series brings kids stories with moral lessons, inspired by the birds and animals that visit my backyard. All three are available for preorder now.
Meet the Characters of the My Backyard Friends Kid’s Book Series
Join us July 15-22 for the WordCrafter My Backyard Friends Book Blog Tour to send this kid’s book series off right. We’ll have a My Backyard Friends store with exclusive offers for books and MBF merchandise you won’t want to miss. The store will go up one opening day and will be available throughout this eight-day tour. Other stops will feature character interviews, guest posts from me and one from Robbie, as well as reviews of each book.
WordCrafter Press Summer Reading List Discounts
Short fiction anthologies on the WordCrafter Press Summer Reading List are discounted through August 31. Get these fantastic anthologies at great prices while they last for some entertaining and captivating summer reads.
How did this happen? I always have my posts scheduled ahead of time, but today’s post snuck past me. What to do? I guess I’ll have to wing it.
I can start by telling you that I once again have a day job, which is probably why this post got by me. I’ve been training for the past two weeks. You don’t know how relieved I am to know I’ll have steady money coming in once again. It’s rough trying to survive off just my books and my writing. Maybe this is why many authors still hold day jobs. I know trying to manage for the past year without one has been rough. Maybe now I can start putting my writing monies back into the WordCrafter business. So, that’s my big and exciting news.
While not employed elsewhere, I’ve been busy preparing for upcoming releases, including my kid’s book series, which releases the first three books July 16: Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend, Timothy Turtle Discovers Jellybeans, and Charlie Chickadee Gets a New Home. We’re launching with a book blog tour to send them off right, and to raise funds to publish each one in color print format, because black & white print won’t do for Robbie’s wonderful illustrations. I hope you’ll all join us for the tour to meet the My Backyard Friends characters and get a glimpse of those beautiful illustrations, and help support the color print publications.
I’ve also been combing through the submissions for two anthologies scheduled for this coming autumn. I announced the winner of the 2024 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest – M.J. Mallon and her story, “The Seagull Man”, and I’m geting ready to go through the by invitation submissions for the Dark Fiction anthology, that is as yet untitled. Once I’ve read them all and I have a better idea of the shape this short fiction collection, I’ll decide on the title. And I just finished editing the submissions for the Tales From the Hanging Tree anthology and sending them back to the authors for revisions. This is a themed anthology and it didn’t get a lot of submissions, so I’m writing a second story to be included to fill it out a bit.
Other than that, I’ve been getting my office set up, as best I can with what I’ve got, hanging out with my cat, Rowdy, taking morning walks and eating a lot of peanut butter, mayonaise and lettuce sandwiches. Maybe now that I’m working outside this little box I call an office, maybe I’ll be able to visit some of my favorite resturaunts and go visit some of my favorite places to camp this summer. There’s a book launch in Gunnison in July that I’d really like to attend and a few ideas floating around in my head for new projects. If I make it, I’ll tell you all about it. 😉
Rowdy the cat in his bed in my office.
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About the Author
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; Books 1 & 2 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah and Sarah, and her Time-Travel Adventure novel, The Rock Star & The Outlaw. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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This post sponsored by WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services.
Whether it’s editing, publishing, or promotion that you need, WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services can help at a price you can afford.
