Baby Moo Giveaway and Friday Celebrations

Hello and Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had a great week. 

Before I get to my Friday celebrations, I want to announce that I'm giving away three signed copies of Baby Moo's Great Escape on Goodreads, so if you're interested in getting a copy of the book visit here to enter to win. You can also enter through the widget on the side of the blog. 

And now to the Celebrate the Small Things hop! This fun hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

I'm celebrating that I was invited to take part in the Columbus VegFest tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio. The wonderful ladies at Sunrise Sanctuary asked if I would like to participate in their booth and sell/sign copies of Baby Moo's Great Escape. I think it will be a fun day and I hope to sell lots of books!

Source: photos-public-domain.com

I'm also celebrating that yesterday was the first day of autumn, my favorite time of the year! Unfortunately it's still ridiculously hot here and I'm grumpy as can be about that, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the cool air will arrive soon. I can't wait for sweater weather.

Happy weekend, all!

Polar Day Excerpt, #SpecFic Chat, and Thunderclap

My new book Polar Day will be out on February 5 and I thought I'd share a little taste of the book here today. This excerpt features Aleksei Nechayev, the antagonist of both Polar Night and The Turnagain Arm. Aleksei is a supporting player this time around, but he's still up to no good. :)

The inquisitive Fairbanks detective Danny Fitzpatrick had ruined the peaceful home Aleksei had maintained in the Arctic town of Coldfoot for decades. He enjoyed checking in on the detective and, while he couldn’t help but feel a strange fondness for the man he had chosen to let live, he always hoped to find him struggling with some new problem. He was tickled to see that this time he got his wish.
Aleksei grinned from ear to ear as he read about the mysterious fires that were plaguing Fairbanks while the city suffered through its worst heat wave in history. How fascinating! And by all accounts, the police, including the dear detective, had no idea who was starting the fires or even how they were doing it. 
Fire was one of the few things Aleksei feared and hated as much as humans did. He still remembered the time he had been nearly burned to death by a male witch not long after he’d arrived in Alaska. He couldn’t help but wonder if a supernatural force was responsible for these fires as well. Was there a witch on the loose in Fairbanks?
Since he was safe and sound on the other side of the world, Aleksei desperately hoped so. How would his favorite detective deal with a situation like that? And what of the fire starter? What was his, or her, motivation? What was the game? 
His lousy winter here in Australia had suddenly taken a surprisingly lovely turn. Clearly, the summer in Fairbanks was turning out to be more horrific than anyone there could have imagined. He couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded. It was going to be such fun.

If you'd like another peek, you can also read the first chapter here at my website. And to enter to win a signed copy of the book, check out my Goodreads giveaway. 

Also, my writing group Untethered Realms has started a new monthly chat on Twitter: #SpecFicChat. We're talking about all things Speculative Fiction. M.Pax kicked things off on Friday with the topic "Punking it up. What’s the attraction of Steampunk?" The chat is ongoing and you can join in any time - just use the #SpecFicChat tag. River Fairchild will be hosting the next chat on Friday, February 20. If you're interested in Speculative Fiction please jump in and join us!

Finally, thank you to everyone who has supported my Polar Day Thunderclap campaign! At the time of this writing I'm at 80 supporters and only need 20 more to get my message sent out. If you haven't already and are willing to support me please do so here!

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend and has a good week ahead! :)

Thunderclap, Ice Fest, & a Goodreads Giveaway

Hello, all! I hope your week is going well so far. Last week was a busy one for me as I took my mom to her last round (yay!) of chemotherapy. She is feeling great, but now all we can do is wait to see the results of her PET scan in February and hope that the cancer is gone. These past six months have certainly been emotional for my family and we are all so glad to have them in the past.

Bookfest @ IceFest

The end of last week was fun though as I participated in BookFest at IceFest in Hamilton, Ohio on Saturday with my bookfest buddy Tara Tyler. We had such a good time! I'm always amazed how much I enjoy these fests considering how introverted I am, but I have gotten to the point where I really enjoy the interactions. It was great to meet not only readers but also local authors and I made some great new friendships. I also learned about some other regional groups and fests that I intend to explore, so I'm excited about that. And last but not least I sold a few books so all in all it was a very successful day.

If you haven't been to any book festivals or conventions and have the opportunity to go to one I highly recommend doing it. :)

Last week I mentioned my plan to shamelessly beg for support for my Thunderclap campaign that I started for the release of Polar Day on February 5. I'm more than a week late but am now here to beg! I need 100 supporters in order for my little message to go out so if you are able to throw some support my way I would be so grateful! And I will gladly return the favor at any time. Just click on the widget to support the campaign:


Finally, I have started a Polar Day giveaway on Goodreads and am giving out 3 signed copies of the book. The giveaway is active in the US and UK, Canada, and Australia. Click below if you are interested!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Polar Day

by Julie Flanders

Giveaway ends February 10, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I'm looking forward to hopping around and catching up with everyone after having to step back a bit from the blogosphere last week. :)

WWW Wednesday and Goodreads Giveaway

Hump day means it's time for another round of WWW Wednesdays, hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you’ll read next?   

 What are you currently reading?

One Good Dog by Susan Wilson 

Slipstream by Michael Offutt

Really enjoying both of these so far!

What did you recently finish reading?

Nephilim Genesis of Evil by Renee Pawlish

I received a review copy of this book through the Knights of the Round Table group on Goodreads. I'm glad I did as it's a creepy and suspenseful read and I'm looking forward to reading more from Renee.

What do you think you'll read next?

Boomtown Craze by M. Pax

I'm really excited for next week's launch party for Boomtown Craze, the third volume in the Backworlds series by M. Pax. Yay, Mary!  

Have you read any good books lately? What's on your TBR list?

Finally, since we're on the subject of books and reading, I wanted to share that I am holding my first Goodreads giveaway and will be giving away three paperback copies of Polar Night. If you'd like to enter, just go here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Polar Night

by Julie Flanders

Giveaway ends March 26, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Using Social Media Effectively

One of my resolutions for 2012 is to learn to make better use of social media. While I love blogging and feel very much at home in the blogosphere, I haven't really mastered any of the various social media options. I have a bad habit of setting up a profile and connecting with others, then never doing anything else, leaving my profile to wither away and resemble a ghost town.

That's not because I don't want to do anything but, as an introvert, I find it difficult to feel comfortable on these sites. I end up analyzing the situation so much, worrying about whether I will have something relevant or worthwhile to post, that I wind up not posting anything. Along the same lines, I worry if I say too much I will get on people's nerves and they will think, "God, I wish she would shut up!" ;) I end up with the same result, not posting anything, and letting my profile turn to dust.

I want to break this pattern though, as it seems clear that social media can be a gold mine for writers if used effectively. I have seen writers do such amazing jobs of promoting their work, and it seems foolish to ignore these constantly evolving opportunities to not only promote our work, but also connect with other writers and build relationships, while also connecting with editors, agents, and publishers.

I guess one reason for this post is so that I can ask advice from those who are social media savvy. Which sites do you find the most effective and worthwhile to use? Which do you feel provide the best opportunities for networking with other writers? Do you have a favorite or least-favorite site?

Also, I have noticed that some bloggers have their blog posts shared on LinkedIn and Google+. Is this something that can be set up automatically, or do you just add posts into your feeds manually? I'm curious and haven't been able to figure this out. I admit I am pathetic, so take pity on me, please. :D

One last question, are you signed up on sites like Digg and StumbleUpon? If so, do you find those sites to be worthwhile? 

I do have profiles on several sites, and have connected with many great bloggers already. I am on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Goodreads.

Am I missing any? Are there any sites you recommend that I have not listed?

If anyone has any advice on how best to use these sites and, conversely, how not to use them, I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have. Thank you in advance!

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend to all! :)

Goodreads

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." ~ Stephen King

I've been taking Mr. King's advice to heart lately, and focusing on reading more. This is not a hardship by any means, as I have always been a bookworm and I love to read, but for various reasons I haven't spent enough time doing it in recent years. It's great getting back in the habit, and to always have a book on my end table and on my nightstand.

I joined Goodreads at the beginning of this year but, as is typical for me, I didn't do much with the site beyond creating an account. As I've been reading more though, I've returned to the site, and am starting to become quite addicted to it. I've already discovered some great new (to me, at least) authors and books, and it's fun to hook-up with others and see what they are reading.

I've also been happy to see that several of the bloggers I visit are Goodreads Authors. Three of these authors have books that will be published this year, and it was fun to add their upcoming books to my "to-read" list. If you don't already follow Samantha Sotto-Yambao, Jennifer Hillier, and Talli Roland, I would highly recommend these blogs/authors. I can't wait to read their books!

If you're on Goodreads, (or even if you're not!) you can find me here. I'd love to connect there and see what everyone is reading.