Monday, October 27, 2014

Give until it hurts?

Life is chaos - if you try to control it, you'll just get frustrated.
The more life I experience, the more I realize this. So, I've been trying to go with the flow, do my best, get as much done as my frail, aging, human body allows. I want to make the most of my time here.

Unfortunately, I feel blogging is falling by the wayside... And I don't feel I'm alone in this. Many are still hard at it, but others are blogging less. I'm struggling to blog once a week! But that is my goal - and visiting as much as I can - because if I don't visit, I won't be visited. That's how life works. We give, we receive. And I thank you all for giving me your time and attention!

Happily, I have finally reached one of my goals for this year - I put out a Newsletter! It is in blog format and it's still a work in progress. The purpose of my quarterly newsletter is to let anyone who's interested know where I'm at - in person, in progress, in life... I'll be exploring Mailchimp to get the word out soon. I'm also glad I have Crystal's post to refer to for advice!

Also, this past week I had a wonderful time talking at a local Book Club - and enjoyed participating in the madness that was EPICON - geeks galore!

And now, I'm excited to give you my witty, creative, inspiring friend and her latest release!


MAGE REVEALED
Book Two of The Magic Withheld series
by CD Coffelt

Struck with enough malevolent Spirit to turn him into a raving beast of a man, Bert Reese fights to remain human. Alone, he walks a slender path between sanity and madness. Then, an unlikely source enters his life to help—one of the now-hated mages.
But Ashleigh is different and calms his butchered senses. Her fierce nature is the only rock that stands between him and the crevasse that is beast. In all ways, she walks beside him toward a new beginning. But at the end of their journey lies the one who used Spirit against him. Questions arise; did Tiarra, head of the Imperium, lose her magic, die, or simply give way to the new order? Or, like a spider, does she wait for a mage to blunder into her web?

Forced on him without a care for his humanity, Bert is the mage who should not exist, born with a different kind of magic.

And the gates of Hell are no match for the magic he wields.

Author C.D. Coffelt’s world of magic started in Wilder Mage with the words “The earthquake wasn’t his fault. Not this time.” It continues in Mage Revealed, the second book of the three-part series. Watch the book trailer on YouTube.

C.D. Coffelt lives outside Skidmore, Missouri with a bemused husband and way too many cats. She is a member of the Missouri Writers Guild. But despite that bit of conventionality, she adores all things fantasy with a special love for urban and epic. With a passion for good writing and Doritos as companions, locating Middle-Earth on a dusty road in rural Missouri wasn’t difficult. All it took was a little Magic, hours of reading, and an overactive imagination.

She blogs as Huntress on www.spiritcalled.blogspot.com, Facebook, Twitter, and her writer’s critique site, www.unicornbell.blogspot.com.

Find her books at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

34 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations, Carol!
Cool you have a newsletter now.
And we were thinking the same thing today...

Huntress said...

Life's brand of chaos never gets any less craZy. I use the magic words, Oh Well, frequently to cope.

Thank you from my chaotic heart for the shout out. Very much appreciated.

Carrie-Anne said...

I love those shades of red on the cover!

I'd love to have a newsletter, though I doubt I'd get more than a handful of people signing up to read it.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Sounds like a good book.

I used to have a newsletter but stopped it about a year after my series ended.

Liz A. said...

We just do the best we can with the information we have at the time. There's no crime in pulling back on blogging. I think many people are.

cleemckenzie said...

You've done a lot this year! Pat yourself on the back.

Fida Islaih said...

I almost fell out of the blogging wagon. I have a newsletter too, but I'm still trying to get a hang of mailchimp. Thanks for the link.

M.J. Fifield said...

Life is chaos—you've got that right. Still doesn't keep me from trying to control it, though. Maybe one day I'll learn better.

Awesome news about the newsletter!

Congrats to CD on her new book!

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Even though I know I can't control it, I still try. Should probably stop trying to do that. :)

Unknown said...

I need to sort out getting a newsletter sorted. So many things to do!

Michelle Wallace said...

"...get as much done as my frail, aging, human body allows." LOL to frail.

Within the last month, I've read about the topic of starting a newsletter, on quite a few author blogs.
Today, Alex also posted about the state of blogging...

The Silver Fox said...

A lot of people are deserting their blogs in favor of Facebook, et al. Not sure if it's a good thing or not...

Maurice Mitchell said...

Congrats on the newsletter Tara!

Romance Book Haven said...

Great news about the newsletter! Congrats to CD. Love the cover.

Elizabeth Seckman said...

Congrats to CD!

I'm just doing the best I can too. I'll have to check out the newsletter post. I seriously need to do one.

mshatch said...

I've found I've had to cut back on posting if I want to get any writing done and writing has to come first. But I have no plans on giving up blogging. A giant congrats to Huntress :)

Christine Rains said...

Yay for CD! A lot of people are feeling that way to blogs lately, but I still love reading them and posting for mine. I'll be one of the old folks still with a blog when they have, uh, Thought Tweets?

Heather M. Gardner said...

You're not old!

You're doing a fine job.

Family, work, life always should come first.

Heather

Crystal Collier said...

One chaotic day at a time, eh? Way to go getting your newsletter going! Definitely a big step. I'm wishing you sanity and cheese.

And I'm stoked about MAGE REVEALED. It sounds great!

Unleashing the Dreamworld

Carol Kilgore said...

Carol's book sounds perfectly creepy!

Congrats on the newsletter. I've just sent emails so far. I dread - DREAD - the thoughts of making a real newsletter, but I fear the day is coming.

I agree about blogging. I've been blogging once a week this year. It's better, but still difficult because I find myself spending more time on Facebook and Twitter.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

You are doing just fine Tara. Congrats C.D!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

Tara no worries! Blogging definitely has to fall by the wayside at times. It has for me somewhat as well!

H. R. Sinclair said...

Congrats! I have more of a mailing list rather than a newsletter, but mailing list still has such a negative connotation. I'm glad you met your goal! You've inspired me - 2 months left to finish the yearly goals.

Loni Townsend said...

Yay on the newsletter.

I have wondered about the blogging, needing to give in order to receive. There are a few people who I visit, but never visit me back. I don't know. I don't take it personally. Maybe my content just doesn't interest them. Either way, I don't think it's a death of blogging.

Best of luck with cutting back!

Unknown said...

it's funny, I keep reading this about the blogging slowing down. I read it on Alex's blog Monday and a few others'...I'm late to join the blogging party so I assumed it was pretty active (it must have been way more active at one point!)

Sherry Ellis said...

That's cool about your newsletter! I think a problem that a lot of us are having, is that it's just tough to get our writing done and everything else we have to do in the real world, when we spend a lot of time blogging. I know I've had to cut back a bit. At the same time, I don't think we really want to give up the friendships we've made, so we want to still be present. It's about finding a balance.

Cathrina Constantine said...

If you're aged and frail then I'm archaic!!! Blogging does take up so much of my time. I love hopping around, and I try to get something up once or twice a week. I love meeting my online friends and hate to lose them, but it eats up most of my day when I should be writing. And lets not get on the topic of marketing....another story...Congrats on your Newsletter!!!

Stephen Tremp said...

I took much of 2014 off from blogging for personal reasons and to write a book. Coming back, I am amazed at how many people have scaled back blogging. I'll still do it twice a week but that's about it.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your newsletter, Tara! I think we all feel this way sometimes. I have two blogs, one here and another one for my children's work. Sadly, my other blog suffers because I try to blog here once a week. And keeping up with this goal can be overwhelming! Especially when we have so many other awesome authors and writers to visit and comment on.
Life gets hectic but we always have to remember to make time for ourselves. We have one life and we must make the most of it. It's nice to have "me" time.

Meradeth Houston said...

Congrats on your newsletter! And best of luck to CD!!

Unknown said...

That is great that you've started a newsletter and congrats to Carol :)

Anonymous said...

Wonderful cover.

I'd like to make a newsletter one day, hopefully soon, since I have new projects I need to market.

Vanessa Morgan said...

I know what you mean. It's all a matter of priorities, and sometimes blogging is just not part of the important stuff.

Unknown said...

Keep up the good work! come follow me!

My blog: Make It Up or Funny!

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