Creativity

Author Spotlight: Cait Spivey

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Anyone who also follows me on Twitter already knows that I’m pretty good friends with this lovely lady. She’s a brilliant editor, an advocate for diversity in literature, and an author on the cusp of great things. She recently announced the acquisition of her New Adult High Fantasy, From Under the Mountain (to be published by REUTS Publications later this year) and released the third novella in her self-published series yesterday. So it’s been an exciting few weeks for this deserving new author. She’s also been a guest on this blog, penning the ever relevant article “Freelance Editing: What You’re Actually Paying For.”

So today, I’m kicking off a series of features to not only introduce you to someone I firmly believe you should be supporting, but to also introduce you to a series which may contain exciting news for fans of my work as well. Yes, that was a thinly veiled hint that there’s an announcement coming at the end of this post. 😉

But first, here’s a little more about Cait’s The Web series:

I See the Web (The Web #1)

I See the Web by Cait Spivey

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a lot to look forward to, even if it suddenly seems like everywhere she turns there’s a spider staring at her. She’s finally out to her friends and family, surprising exactly no one. When Dawn, the love of her tender teenage dreams, corners her in the library, a whole new world opens up to Erin. From here on out, it’s all make-out sessions with her beautiful girlfriend in rooms stacked high with books.
Until the spiders start whispering.

Turns out the spiders aren’t just stalking her for kicks. They need her to be their voice, their vessel, whatever that means. But their timing is crap, because there’s no way Erin is giving up her human life just when things are starting to get amazing. Too bad the spiders just won’t quit. Like it or not, Erin will have to choose, and it won’t be nearly as easy as she thinks.

A Single Thread (The Web #2)

A Single Thread by Cait Spivey

It’s been two weeks since Morgan Fletcher’s little sister, Erin, disappeared before his eyes in a flurry of spidersilk and blood. Probability says she’s dead; but when Erin comes to him in a dream, Morgan’s eyes are opened to a level of reality where probability doesn’t mean jack. His sister sees the web of time, and she’s got news for him: trouble is coming.

A cryptic riddle and flashing images of the future are all Morgan has to go on in order to save a mystery boy from a gruesome death. That’s if he even believes what’s happened to Erin. Is her spider-whisperer persona for real, or has his grief at losing her caused him to totally crack?

With a life at stake, Morgan isn’t taking any chances. Madness or no madness, he has to solve Erin’s riddle before it’s too late.

The Ties Eternal (The Web #3) — JUST RELEASED

The Ties Eternal by Cait Spivey

Seventeen-year-old Miranda Wolford was born Deaf, though it took her years to realize it. She thought everyone could hear the cacophony of voices that surrounded her—but those voices belong to the dead, and they are the only things Miranda can hear.

When a ghost leads Miranda to a missing child and his murderer, she tries to enlist the police; but between the communication barrier and the insane story, she can’t make them understand.

The murderer is on the loose. To stop them, Miranda will have to take matters into her own hands.

 

Intriguing, aren’t they? I had the privilege of seeing the third one during it’s pre-published phase, and I can tell you it’s amazing. But I’ll go into greater detail on all three of them later — as I mentioned, this is the first in a series of posts. The rest will consist of reviews for each of the three titles listed above. If you’d like to join me and read along, simply click on the covers to be taken to Amazon’s listing for each.

Which brings us to the announcement portion of today’s post. Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Here you go!

From This Calligraphy (The Web #4) — COMING SOON

By Cait Spivey

With Kisa Whipkey

Yep, you read that right! I’m honored to announce that Cait has invited me to be her co-author for the fourth novella in the series. I can’t reveal much about it yet, except to say that it will feature a collision of Cait’s universe with my own from A Symphony of Synchronicity Series, and it promises to be an interesting, dark, and twisted sort of ride.

I’m beyond thrilled about this project and hope you’ll all stick around to see how it plays out. And, for those already excited by this news, you now have even more reason to read the previous books. Though they will not be required reading — each novella does stand alone — you want to help me thank Cait for this amazing opportunity by supporting her, right? Right?

That’s all I’ve got for this week. Stay tuned for my reviews of the first three Web novellas, as well as release updates regarding the fourth, and remember, you still have one week left to enter my Blogiversary giveaway! Don’t miss out.

Reader’s Choice Poll: What Should I Giveaway?

KWhipkey 2 Comments

Hello! Feels like I haven’t seen everyone in ages. Even though I’ve been posting things from the archives, it’s not quite the same as actually creating new content and spending time with you lovely folks. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back in the swing of things around here, and have plenty of new topics and ideas floating around to craft into insightful, probably snark-infused posts.

But first, I believe I mentioned a giveaway coming up . . . no? I didn’t? Hmm, weird. I was pretty sure I’d let that slip during our journey through the land of subgenres. Anyway, my three year blogiversary is fast approaching (May 2nd, in fact), and that means it’s time for one of my two annual giveaways (the other happens in December). Excited? Everyone loves free stuff. Don’t lie. You know it’s true.

The problem is that I’m not currently sure what I want to offer as the prize. I have some ideas, and I could copy what I’ve done before, but what’s the fun in that? So instead, I figured I’d give you, the readers who have loyally stuck with me while my schedule was blown to smithereens and then repaired, a chance to tell me what you want.

Below is a poll listing some of the options I’ve been toying around with. There’s also an “other” category, so if you have an idea I didn’t list, feel free to pitch it. The ultimate decision will be mine, but knowing what interests you guys will most definitely help me figure out the best prize for the job.

So, that’s it. For now. Vote away, and I’ll be back next week with something new. Promise. 😉

 

A Writer’s Resolutions: 2015 Edition

KWhipkey 6 Comments

Ah yes, resolution season. Normally, I’m among the first to catalog a new batch of ambitious goals, but this year, I’ve felt strangely impartial to the practice. Aside from the usual personal ones, like “Be Debt Free,” “Lose Like 100 lbs,” and “Stress Less, Have More Fun,” my resolution list has been sadly lacking. But, since it’s tradition to set some writing ones in stone by posting them here, I’m going to try and rustle some up by the end of this post.

First, a quick reminder of the ones from last year:

Writing Resolutions 2014

  • Finish the rough draft of Unmoving
  • Upload Chapters of Unmoving every two weeks to Wattpad & Authonomy
  • Revise and Re-publish The Bardach, Spinning & Confessions via Createspace/Amazon KDP
  • Compile brief synopses of all plot bunnies
  • Write, Edit & Publish one new short story

How did I stack up against those? Most of you already know. Unmoving still isn’t finished, but I did manage to write quite a bit more of it, thanks to the bi-weekly deadline. Though, I also wasn’t as consistent with that as I wanted to be, and I often had to postpone the chapters, missing the deadlines completely while I tried to finish other obligations. I didn’t upload anything to Wattpad or Authonomy, but I did start submitting the serialized chapters to Starter Serials. So we’ll count this one as a win. Yay me! A quick Amazon search will show that I completely failed at resolution three (The Bardach rewrite is only about a third of the way done), and I also didn’t complete four or five.

So, all total, I managed to maybe, kinda sorta achieve one on that list. But that’s still better than I did last year, so I suppose it’s progress, right?

2014 was actually a great year in other regards, though, aside from the last month, when it decided to go out with a crap-storm of awful. But before that, I attended my first writing conference, followed quickly by a second. I met a lot of fantastic new people and learned some cool new tricks. I helped twelve books come into the world, read a plethora of amazing manuscripts on submission, facilitated the Project REUTSway short story contest, and all around kind of flourished as an editor. So even though I didn’t make the specific goals listed above, I’d say it was a good eleven months. I’m not counting December. That month can suck it.

What does that leave me with for 2015? Well, on one side, it’s left me with a continuation of the suckage December shepherded into my life. But it also leaves me optimistic and full of ambition for my writing, editing, and art. Yes, art. The long-lost bastard child of my creativity. Which brings us to . . .

Writing Resolutions 2015

  • Finish Unmoving (It’s going to happen this year, damn it. I have other stories clamoring for attention too!)
  • Upload Chapters of Unmoving every two weeks to Wattpad & Authonomy (Since I didn’t technically accomplish this to the letter, I’m reusing it. Deal.)
  • Revise and Re-publish The Bardach, Spinning & Confessions via Createspace/Amazon KDP (Still something I really want to do. But I’ll settle for at least completing Kindred — aka The Bardach 2.0)
  • Compile brief synopses of all plot bunnies (Definitely becoming more and more necessary, since I can’t seem to remember s**t if it’s not written down anymore.)
  • Write, Edit & Publish one new short story (Still not sure why I haven’t managed to do this. It’s a short story! Get it together, self.)
  • Plan, Prep, and Unveil Secret Blog Project by the end of the year

You’ll notice there’s now a sixth resolution, and it’s particularly vague. I’m excited about it, but I don’t want to give too much away until I know for sure I’ll have the time and ability to pull it off. Let’s just say that if all goes to plan, it’ll involve quite a bit of free fiction for your reading enjoyment. 😉

Other things on the horizon that aren’t official resolutions — let’s call them “soft” resolutions:

  • Be more consistent with new content for the blog. You’ve all been super patient with my hectic schedule this past year, and I truly appreciate it. But I’m hoping to get back to a more regular posting schedule, full of new insights on writing, editing, publishing, or whatever the heck I feel like writing about. Sound good?
  • Maintain, consistently, the release schedule for the VIP subscription to Unmoving. (Not sure what that is? Look here.)
  • Start working on a more traditional (probably YA) novel. Now that my path to self-publishing is underway, I’d like to tackle the other half — traditional publishing. I’ve always said I wanted to do a hybrid publishing style, self-pubbing A Symphony of Synchronicity, and then pursuing traditional publishing for my dark fantasy stuff. Now seems like a good time to start working toward that goal.
  • Dust off my art training and put it to good use. I have a few artistic opportunities looming in my near future, so I think its high time I went back to actively cultivating this skill set. It may even help support that first “soft” resolution, yielding unexplored topics to write about. We’ll see.

I’m sure there are others I could list, but for now, that seems plenty ambitious, I think. So here’s to a new year, a clean slate, and accomplishing all those things we didn’t in 2014. Cheers!

P.S. I’d love to hear what some of your writing/publishing goals are for the year. Share them in the comments below! 🙂

Holiday Giveaway Round One Winners!

KWhipkey 11 Comments

Welcome back, everyone. And Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fantastic, safe, joyous holiday season. 🙂

Traditionally (because more than one year of doing something makes it a tradition, right?), this would be the week when I detail my writing-related resolutions for 2015, and compare my successes (and/or failures) against the list from 2014. But the truth is, I haven’t made any resolutions yet. Shocking, I know. So we’re going to postpone that for another week and get right down to the thing you’re all waiting with bated breath for — the winners of the holiday giveaway. Well, Round One, anyway.

All total, I received 525 entries, making it by far the most successful one I’ve done to date, thanks in part to the generous donation of a custom cover design from Cardboard Monet’s Ashley Ruggirello, and the fact that this really is a pretty cool prize. If it weren’t my giveaway, and I had something that was actually finished, I would have entered! But, since it is my giveaway, that obviously isn’t allowed. It’s not as much fun as helping someone else if I keep the prize for myself. 😉

So, as I’m sure you recall, there are two rounds to this particular giveaway. The first, which ended last night at midnight, required contestants to enter via a variety of ways listed on the Rafflecopter widget. The second will be different. But, before I tell you exactly what that means, let’s find out who those lucky Round Two participants are.

The Round One Victors

Anne Tilney

Tammy Walsh

Catherine Oliver

Magali Frachette

Tiffany Treichel

Danielle Roy

Susan Nystoriak

Kelly DeVos

Anna Patrick

Amanda Tatman Carney

Teressa Aune Ewing

Mary Ellen Wall

Nicole Tone

Erin Deeds Beaty

Emily Pichardo

Kelsey Simon

Kelly Heinen

Stacie Hanson

Amelia

Crystal Christie

Mary Liles Eicher

Talynn

Katherine Pisana

Priya Kanaparti

Thank you all so much for entering, and congratulations on surviving the first round of cuts! 🙂

The fun’s not over though. Now we get to the real meat of the competition — Round Two. If your name is on that list above, I’ll need you to submit a query and the first five pages of your manuscript (or a synopsis) by January 15th. I’ll review all the entries, looking for the person I think would gain the most benefit from this prize, and the ultimate winner will be announced, here, on January 30th. Best of luck! (And don’t worry, there will be an email detailing this heading out to the winners shortly.)

An Index of Editing Posts

KWhipkey 2 Comments

I’m not feeling especially well this week, so the post I had planned will have to be postponed until next Friday, unfortunately. But I did manage to do some minor reorganizing in the various categories available here at Nightwolf’s Corner. Given my new (this is a relative term, since obviously, it’s been about two years now) identity as Editorial Director for REUTS Publications, as well as my freelance editing career, I’ll be focusing more on posts pertaining to that — tips, tricks, life as an editor snark-fests, that sort of thing. Which means, I’ve now created a special category dedicated to all things editing. (Next week’s post will fall under this new header, actually, and will feature a break-down of the various editorial jobs in the world of fiction publishing.)

In case you’re curious as to what I currently offer by way of editing-related posts, here’s a quick index:

The second new category, for those of you astute enough to notice, is for the contests. I have two annual giveaways I like to do, and rather than clog up the previous category they were under, they’ll now be available under their own heading. Most of them will be closed by the time you peruse them, but they will at least give you a sense of when I do them, and what I tend to giveaway.

Speaking of contests though, there is actually a pretty exciting one currently available. If you missed last week’s announcement, Ashley Ruggirello of Cardboard Monet and I have teamed up to offer a self-publishing author’s dream, for free:

  • A comprehensive, top-to-bottom, full manuscript edit (including structural & line edits)
  • A polished, publish-ready eBook cover design
  • Assistance creating the all-important book blurb
  • A final proofread of the type-set, ready-for-print galley (typesetting/formatting itself is not included though)

Make sure you read the rules posted in last’s week announcement, and then enter via the form! Good luck to everyone participating. 🙂