This whole Freebie Friday thing Lisa and I have going on at Hollow Tree is pretty awesome. I get a shiver of excitement everytime it’s my turn. I love the thrill of uncertainty, the rush of working on a new project, the excitement of finishing it! It’s everything being a writer is about– in a small, heady dose.

Anyway, I have two freebies to share. One is called Lucid, and it’s the product of spending an afternoon reading an online essay on the symbolism found in the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie. *Don’t laugh at me.* Ha ha.

The other is today’s freebie, Gemini’s Treasure, a little something inspired by the constant commercials for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which I WILL be seeing in theaters, thank you very much. #IloveJohnnyDepp

But don’t stop there! If you like what you read, by all means, check out Lisa’s stories. She’s a beautiful writer. Her imagination is interesting and distinct, and her work has a taste of the old classics, probably in part to her Literature degree.

Either way, there’s some great stuff up on the blog and we post faithfully every Friday. Feel free to subscribe and you won’t ever need to remember when we post again. Your email will do the remembering for you! *Love technology*

Happy Friday, all!

I’d meant to post about this, but was on vacation at the time and failed to put up a scheduled post. I have another freebie up at Hollow Tree.

This one’s called Doomsayer and it’s a particular favorite of mine. Can you guess which Greek Myth it’s based on?

I had a mini-epiphany just now. Like literally 5 minutes ago. It’s probably one I’ve had before, but on a much smaller level.

It’s about blogging. I know things have been pretty dead here. I won’t even try and make excuses. I’ve just been BUSY times infinity.

Between house hunting, packing, moving, job searches, little brothers going off to the Marines, writing, rewriting, editing, Hollow Tree, and other such time sucking things (like you know, laundry and cooking and dishes), I’ve neglected the thing that brought me so much cathartic joy: blogging. And I didn’t even realized I missed it (honestly, I thought it just took too much time that I didn’t have and it felt like ANOTHER obligation), until I read Cora Zane’s blog post today.

Now, there’s something you should know. I totally cyberstalk, Ms. Zane. Have for years, and she knows it. But put simply, she’s just awesome. She talks about everything and anything affecting her life at the moment. From music she’s listening to, to writing woes, to her current trend in nailpolish. And heck, I keep coming back because I end up caring about these things as much as she does. Why? Because she’s intriguing. Her raw honesty and down-to-earth voice make me interested in her as a person.

What does this teach me? That I don’t have to write blog posts that will change the world. That will teach writing to literary geniuses. That will cause anyone to laugh or cry. That will win me a Nobel prize.

All I have to do, is be me.

Who knew it was that simple? I sure didn’t. For a LONG time, I thought I had to be X, Y, and Z. But you know what? I’m not. And honestly, how exhausting is it to try and be something you’re not? We all know we’ve done it at SOME point in our lives.

So, here I start anew. My blog, my rules. Yea, I’ll likely be professional and corteous cause that’s just who I am. But I’ll also fangirl and I’ll talk art and music and Etsy (I LOVE ME SOME ETSY), and Tumblr (current obsession #2!), and all sorts of other great things because that’s what I love and that’s what I want to talk about. And some will read it. Some won’t. But really- I’m writing it for me.

So, in conclusion, Happy Belated Anniversary, blog of mine. It’s hard to believe we’ve been at this since 2007. Our relationship has lasted longer than some courtships. Here is to many more years together.

I’ve done a few website adjustments, including a new layout – which uses a slider (such a huge fan of sliders!) – bottom widgets which help keep things organized, and my new header, promoting my YA Fantasy Guardian Circle series.

How do you like it? It’s taking me a few minutes to adjust to the new look, but I do like how everything has its place. The colors are complimentary and I like the dark/light look.

I also created a new Free Reads page, where I’ve listed all of the freebies I’ve offered over at Hollow Tree since January. Fun times.

And finally, I updated my Review page, which hadn’t been updated since 2009. *_* Seriously. That’s wayy too long. I scrounged up all the reviews I’d saved in my Google Search and now they’re up for you! Feel free to use them to help decide on what book is best for you.

It’s that time again! Release Day!

I’m excited to see Playthings of the Gods out in the wild. I’ve always had trouble with short stories. They always tend to swell up and turn into these huge, uncontrollable things they weren’t meant to be. So I was really proud to have something to offer this anthology, something I was proud of, and one of my shortest works to date, minus my flash fiction for Membra Disjecta.

My story is called Awake, She Dreams, and its based on the World of Sleep, run by Hypnos and inhabited by Thanatos, Nyx, Morpheus, etc. There was a bit of gender switching to make the story work, and I included the myth of Selene and Endymion because it’s always been one of my favorites in Greek Mythology.

Now, of course, every release day, I run a contest. This time is no different!

I will offer a free copy of Playthings of the Gods, with fourteen fabulous stories, for your reading pleasure. Here are the rules:

1. Blog, Facebook or Twitter our release! For each promotional hit you make, you get one point. Link me in the comments. +1pts for each

2. Tell me a little something about your favorite myth and why. +2pts

3. Bonus points if you agree to review the book once you receive it. +5pts.

Let the games begin!

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a little snippet.

He came to me on a day like any other. My brothers were causing mischief in the sleepy town below the hill, while I spent my endless hours chanting through empty, cobwebbed corridors and doing pirouettes across the mahogany floors of the abandoned ballroom in the manor, overgrown with moss and vines.

The only people I ever saw were those that came at my Uncle’s command, and they were often too bereaved to sing and dance with me. All they wanted was a drink, and so I dutifully walked them to the flowing river that cut through our grounds and let them gorge themselves with water until their memories washed away with the currents of the smoky Lethe. Then, and only then, would my darling twin brother appear, in all of his somber glory, to walk them back through the land from which they came, back to my Uncle.

I’ve been waiting until I got the official nod and a release date to share the news, but I’m thrilled to have a short (very short, actually, especially for me) story appear in a YA anthology published by Drollerie Press.

It’s my first anthology ever and it’s kind of thrilling (and seriously humbling) to be alongside so many fantastic authors. The range of storytelling is amazing and having gotten a sneak peek at the offerings, I can tell you that the way some of the retellings –oh, did I forget to mention it’s a Greek myths retold anthology?– are handled is pure brilliance.

We got the final version of our cover tonight. Check it out.

Awesomely creepy, right? I love it. It feels kind of cyberpunkish, and since its supposed to be Greek Myths taken to present, it fits. I love it.

It releases February 15th. I’ll keep you all posted as we get closer to release as well as offering a buy link and maybe… a giveaway? *wink, wink*

If not, you definitely should! There is so much amazing stuff happening over there. For starters, we got a new book reviewer. She goes by the supercool name: thephoneix and she’s one of my old fanfic buddies from lifetimes ago.

I <3 her. So please, warmly welcome her to Hollow Tree by checking out last week’s book review!

Secondly, Lisa and I have been posting free short stories every Friday. So far there are four different pieces up! So if you’re looking for a little something to feast your imagination on, you should check it out. You will not be disappointed. *yes, I am patting myself on the back*

Today’s offering is mine and it’s a little piece called Lavender Dawn, born of my obsession with all things weather related. And if you haven’t checked out my first free offering, The Skeleton Key, you should. It’s an ode to Wonderland. I’d love it if you checked it out.

Til next week, my pretties.

… as I toot my own horn.

I had a pretty long day today. Not going to bore you with the details but it involves losing a prospective apartment, taking little bear to an unpleasant doctor’s appointment, and suffering from a mysterious migraine that progressed into nausea. Just overall crap.

Then, while reading through Wikipedia -I’m not a total nerd, I downloaded a really cool iPad app for it and started browsing and oops- wait, wouldn’t that make an awesome story idea?

Yea it would. Two hours and four pages later, I have a fun little short that I’m totally proud of. And it came pretty much ALL in one piece. That doesn’t happen to me often. And my ability to go on and on is infamous- hence my lack of available short stories. I think writing for Hollow Tree is helping me hone my short story skills. I’m seriously psyched.

/personalcheerleadingdone

Just wanted to draw your attention to the first freebie of the month over on Hollow Tree!

It’s called Gimlet and it’s by my awesome writing buddy, Lisa Asanuma.

It’s a fun, short little read and a great way to lose yourself in your head for a bit. Check it out!

I know my little side project, Tales from the Hollow Tree, has been quiet for a while. Lisa and I got really busy with life and it made it nearly impossible to find time for the several day a week schedule we’d originally posted with.

She got engaged, planned a wedding, started a new editing job, and got married. I grew into toddlerhood with my boy, started working from home, and undertook some serious home improvement projects with the goal of selling and moving to a new place.

As you can imagine, this coupled with the smaller every day items of laundry, dishes, dinner, time with family, writing obligations, etc, left us very little time to play. But we were not ready to give up! And instead, after some brainstorming, I’m excited to say that Lisa and I came to a happy medium.

A post went up yesterday detailing Hollow Tree’s new mission statement. A creative oasis. A place to write for the reason we all start writing:  because its fun. Because we love the characters we dream up and the place that they’re from.

So every Friday, Lisa or I will post a piece of flash fiction. Short is the name of the game. And we will be offering it to our blog readers, absolutely free.

Cool, huh? We hope you’ll come check us out and make it a great place to spend a cozy evening.