Liar Liar

Alright, you caught me. I'm a damned liar. This is not "tonight" but actually more than a week later...The sad thing? I actually have lots to say! Well, kind of.

Let's see if I can quit singing along to the new(ish) Fall Out Boy album long enough to write this...

The first thing I would like to announce is that I've agreed (more like I begged) to do some guest reviews on the blog ACReads. I'm very excited for the opportunity. As any reader of this blog knows, I'm not the best at posting regularly. I'm hoping silly things like deadlines, etc.. will help push me to write more updates and such. My first review will be posted Sunday July, 28th, so check it out!

And in relation to that--cue excellent segue--the first book I'm reviewing is "The Burning of Cherry Hill," the winner of this year's Indie Reader Discovery Awards. The same award for which "Benajah's Keeper" was named winner in the paranormal category! 

IndieReader is a website dedicated entirely to independently published books, striving to prove that there is quality self published literature out there. They do reviews (you can read mine here) and interviews, work with industry professionals, and run various contests throughout the year. 

Being named a category winner is a great honor! I've already been featured in an online USAToday article, in addition to seeing "Benajah's Keeper" on the front page of their website for a week. I can't express my gratitude! 

Also in award news, "Benajah's Keeper" was given "honorable mention" in the Fantasy category for ForeWord Review's Book of the Year Award! I can't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but in case I didn't, the book was named as a finalist in both the Romance and Fantasy categories. I would have been happy with just that...to be given an honorable mention (in a category my book doesn't neatly fall in to) far exceeded my expectations!

Hopefully, in addition to some presence at all the big book fairs this summer, all this good press will grab someone's attention. If not, I shall plug on, ever determined.

And finally, I just wanted to give a shout out to all of the excellent reviewers/bookish people I've talked to over the past month. You guys have all been great, and it's been a real treat to hear what everyone has to say about the book! Thank you all so, so much!

SO THIS MORNING...

...I totally had a "I should write a blog post about that" moment. Now that I have time to sit down and write one, of course, I've forgotten. I have vague, transient thoughts on what that idea may have been but nothing concrete. Instead I'll just fill you in on my week.

It was my birthday this week (1-2-3!). I turned 25. I officially feel adult-ish, and I'm not really sure why. I've been out of school for almost 3 years. Had an actual apartment for that long, too. I have a full-time job. All adult-ish things. Yet, turning over my 24th year definitely felt like something. Weird.

So, to celebrate I did a couple things. I dyed my hair--the first time in 3 years. It might not be a coincidence that that number matches up with my first adult like behaviors. Or it might be that after trying to dye my hair blond (while being red headed) fried it so badly, I thought it might need a break. Either, really. But it's red AND blonde now--ombre style! So take that world!

My friends and I had a nice country style sort of dinner that included fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and packet gravy (not proud of that one but still tasty). That was nice. And delicious. Kudos where deserved there.

Lastly, probably most prolifically, I posted Benajah's Keeper for free on Kindle. And holy crap, it was a success. I was planning on having maybe 100 downloads. 500 was like my "wouldn't it be great" daydream. By the end of the 5 days it was listed, the book had 2,830 downloads...from all around the world.

I'm not posting this number to brag. Hell, I don't even know if it's something that one should be as proud of as I am. I'm putting this out there because I am simply blown away.

Now, I realize that not every single one of those users is going to read my book. Some of them may have downloaded it simply because it is Kindle-lendable, and there is some benefit to them doing this. (Note: I did this on purpose. People are going to pirate shit no matter what...) But some portion of them ARE going to read it, and that's freaking awesome.

All in all, a good birthday, folks. Thanks so much for your support and readership! It couldn't be done without you.