Update and a shout-out for friends.

Hey everyone! I’m a bit quiet at the moment, mainly because wrangling the monster that is my social networking process into some semblance of order is taking A LOT of time.

So. What am I doing, you might ask?

Right now, I’m busy with sorting out my Twitter. The one most of you follow (@MishaMFB). To say the least, I have been awfully silent on there lately for one simple reason.

Ahem.

Buy my book.

Buy my book. 

Buy my book. 

BUY MY BOOK! 

BUY MY BOOK!   

BUY MY BOOOOOOOOOOOOKK!!!!!1!!!!!

Oh and while you’re at it, click this link please.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for promotion. 

I’m just not all for promotion when it’s spamming my Twitter feed so much that all the promotion take all of the “social” out of social networking. 

SO. 

If you have a twitter profile that you’ve automated. If you have a twitter profile where you’re mainly posting links… 

Know that I love you to bits, but I don’t love your twitter profile, so I’m just going to stop following it. 

Because honestly, all the clamoring for attention and links instead of real interaction is driving me nuts. So much so that until now, I’ve actively been avoiding my twitter. And worse still, I only posted links there myself because I didn’t want to trawl through my feed looking for people to talk to. 

But no more. I’m trying to become the solution for myself by clearing out my feed.

It’s taking long, though. I followed almost 3000 tweeps in my time on twitter and now I have to manually go through all of them to see who’s only posting promos. 

So that’s where I was (and where I will probably be over the next couple of weeks.) 

And then. 

I’m moving again. 

Yes, I know. Again. But the house I’m moving to will be super awesome and actually big enough for all of us. I can’t wait. 

But it does mean that I have limited time in which to get everything done, and since my twitter feed sort out is part of a larger reorientation of my social networking time, I have to get that done first. 

Which means that I’ll only really get around to full-steam blogging in July. The obvious exception being my bloghop post on Friday. 

If you missed my whole post on what’s making me reorganize, you can find it here. 

I’ve entered the Wattys

Continuing my hunt for exposure, I’ve entered both The Heir’s Choice and Endless into The Wattys, which is Wattpad’s way of awarding good writing posted on the site. If a book wins, they put a bit more extra marketing effort into it, which is exactly the sort of thing I want at the moment. So if you’re on Wattpad and you’ve been waiting for an excuse to read my books, please do check them out here. 

Before I go, I just want to give a shout-out to some awesome blogging friends of mine…

“There was a time when a girl’s wedding day was the happiest day of her life.”

In Falside, girls are a rare commodity; protected, controlled, and tracked by the administration. They spend their days idly waiting to be married off to the highest bidder.

When the marriage announcements include Tale’s lover, Freda, the women will do anything to stop the match from happening.

Their relationship is forbidden, and as members of the resistance, they’re already risking everything.

But as their attempts to stop the wedding fail, both women have to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for love.

Amazon | iTunes | Nook | Kobo

BIO

Angeline Trevena is a British dystopian horror author. She was born and bred in a rural corner of Devon, but now lives among the breweries and canals of central England.

In 2003 she graduated from Edge Hill University, Lancashire, with a BA Hons degree in Drama and Writing. During this time she decided that her future lay in writing words rather than performing them.

Some years ago Angeline worked at an antique auction house and religiously checked every wardrobe that came in to see if Narnia was in the back of it. She’s still not given up looking for it.

Purchase from Amazon (merchant sites will be updated on the author’s site)

Maysa Mazari is alarmed by her mother’s talk about arranged marriage. As a hijab-wearing Pakistani-American, she wants to find love on her own. Her judgmental Muslim clique has protected her from racist taunts, although the leader is turning on her as Maysa strays from the group because of her attraction to Haydee.

Haydee Gomez is a former gang member and juvenile detention student. Now living with a clean-cut aunt, she wants to turn her life around, even though one person will never let her forget her roots—Rafe, her abusive pimp. Haydee attempts to pull away from a life of prostitution when she develops feelings for Maysa, although Rafe isn’t willing to give her up too easily.

Finding themselves in danger from Maysa’s friends and Haydee’s pimp, it’s apparent their love disturbs everyone around them as they fight to stay together.

Find Medeia – YA and MG Author

Blog   |   Twitter   |   Goodreads   |   Instagram   |   Amazon

That’s it from me. How are you doing? 

Where I Am Today

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Just wanted to let you know where you can find me for the blog tour.

I’m visiting Alex, talking about writing humor.
Then at Christine’s, I’m sharing info on how I blended fantasy and reality in Endless. 
And last, but not least, I’m sharing tips for what to do when the Internet is down on Tara’s blog.

Have a great day!

Misha

Hello from the new year!

I can’t believe it, but this is my first post for the year 2016. Which, in a sense means that this is really the first day of my new year too.

As such, I’ve decided to start rough drafting again. Good idea in theory. Except it turned out that the heat and lack of use of my fountain pen resulted in it totally clogging up. Which means I’m currently sitting with a jug of water next to my laptop, submersing the pen’s tip to unclog it. It’ll probably take a few more hours before I’ll be able to use it again. But hey, at least in this heat (fourth day in a row where temperatures were higher than 40 degrees Celsius), the tip will dry quickly. 

In the meantime, I decided that it’s time to update my blog a bit. I actually made the back-ground myself, and maybe I’m biased, but it’s giving me the warm-and-fuzzies to look at. It just feels so clean and light and different. 

Then, I also decided I’m going to bring back two regular features on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

On Tuesdays (possibly starting next week), I’ll be sharing news snippets. This’ll be everything from cool posts, to blogfests/hops, books being released etc. So if you have a piece of news you’d like for me to share, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with News in the subject line. This is especially important if you want to make sure your news is shared here, because with the amount of blogs I visit, I might not spot your particular piece of news on a given day. Also, you can let me know someone else’s good news if you don’t think I know about it yet.

On Thursdays I’d like to host other bloggers. You don’t HAVE to have a book to sell. You can just advertise your blog this way if you want. (Also, please note that if you’re trying to arrange a blog-tour you don’t have to post on Thursdays. This is just a nice open day for everyone to use regardless of publishing status.) For more information or to book a guest post date (all Thursdays are currently open), please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with Guest Post in the subject line. Please note that this offer is not open to copywriters looking to write samples. 

Other that, I’ll basically be writing about writing and my experiences as a writer. (As always.)

To 2016! Charge!

Have you changed anything to your blog for the new year? Any news to share? Feel like signing up for a guest post? 

I’m bringing guest posts back.

You know something I’ve been missing lately?

Guest posts on my blog. And interviews.

Remember I used to do a ton of them once?

Yeah me too. It was awesome. And it was a great way for people to get to know each other.

I want to bring them back. On… Mondays.

Since this was a subject of some confusion before, I’ll pre-empt you by doing some FAQs from last time:

What do I write about? 

Basically, I leave the subject open to you, lovely people. All it has to do is hold some sort of relevance to writers. About writing, editing, querying, self publishing, marketing or any sort advice you think people will find useful or interesting are usually easy and great fallback choices. 

Do I have to have something published in order to do a guest post on your blog?

No, in fact, I’d love it if we could feature writers in themselves on Mondays instead of their new books. Something nice and fresh, don’t you think?

What if I do have something that I want to market? 

Of course, you’re welcome to contact me and ask for a spot any other time of the week. Except the first Wednesday and the last Friday of each month. Those are reserved for IWSG my own big goals bloghop.

How do we do this? 

All you have to do is mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com and ask for a Monday. I’ll post available dates on the left side of this blog. I’ll assign dates on a first come, first serve basis. 

Any other rules? 

Yep, just a few: 

1) Please keep the post under 500 words not counting your bio. If you don’t, I’ll send back and ask you to edit. 

2) Please keep in mind that we’re a diverse and opinionated group. Being controversial is fine, but if you get personal in any way, your post won’t see the light of day and you’ll be barred from posting on this blog ever again. 

3) Yes, you’re welcome to tell your friends.  

4) If you book a date, please ensure that I receive your post a week ahead of time. 

5) Please do tell your friends when you’re posting here. I don’t charge and I ask nothing, but it would be nice for me to see some new faces on my blog.
6) No, I don’t do cover reveals. Especially not on Mondays.
7) Yes, I am willing to return the guest post favor if you want me to.
8) Images are welcome, but please no copyright infringements. I will ask. 

And that’s pretty much it. I have every Monday except 14 July open, so do please start mailing me. 

My plan for 2014.

So. We’re back into the New Year, and I’m hitting the ground running at some speed. At the moment I’m editing Birds vs Bastards while waiting for my editor to come back to me with my first editor’s letter for War of Six Crowns: The Heir’s Choice.

While I’m doing this, I’m also busy painting our guest house. Which means that I’m not getting a lot of free hours except when I’m sleeping. Still, I find edits mainly relaxing (she says, dodging rotten tomatoes from jealous people who hate editing), so I’m not complaining.

I’m hoping that once things start calming down, I can start drafting in down times while I wait for editor and crit partner feedback. Because yes. That will be the only way I’ll achieve enough this year. I’ll have to run concurrent projects, resting from one by working on another.

And once they start calming down, I want to kick this blog back into gear by visiting more frequently and getting as involved in this awesome community as I can.

I’m thinking about changing the Paying Forward Awards this year. I’ll definitely keep on doing it, but I think it needs a bit of a change.

There will also be a competition sometime between January and March. Which will actually be about paying forward too. But more on that later.

Also, the Five Year Project (AKA Big Dreams) Bloghop is continuing this year. So if you have a crazy or madly important writing goal/dream and want to join in for some support and accountability, go here.

Lastly, I’m thinking about bringing news features back. But I’ll DEFINITELY have to rethink how I’ll do it.

Yeah… That’s pretty much what’s on my mind for my blog this year. Please feel free to make suggestions! After all, I’m trying to make my blog as awesome as possible for you to visit. 🙂

Any plans for your blog?

Taking a short blogging break

So sorry about this, but I’m going to take a short break until Sunday. 

As some of you already know, Etopia offered me a publishing deal which I accepted. What I didn’t mention (due to being unsure of the contract terms last week) is that the deal is that I split Doorways in two. 

So. Because this might mean a killer deadline at worst and at best a currently uncertain work schedule, I want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. As a result, I have a considerable amount of work to do before the end of the week. 

I’ll share the arrangements with regards to the Paying Forward Awards as soon as I’ve confirmed with the prize sponsors. 

Thank you all for your support and understanding! 

Lots of love, 

Mish

ANNOUNCING: My First Book’s Plans for 2013

Aaaaah… smell the air. I love the scent of new days and new possibilities.

Soon, things will return to a bit more of a normalized schedule, but I expect work to pick up a bit. However, I will definitely be returning to my early to bed, early to rise schedule. I have some projects I want to finish early this year, so it’s best for me to get some writing, blogging and networking done while everyone in my house is still sleeping.

Then, there is the new direction I want to go into with my blog. I think it will be awesome, but only if 1) YOU want it and  2) YOU can help me.

See… I think last year had some great moments on this blog where people stopped by to give and even ask advice. Which was so amazing for me. And it really got me thinking about what I want this blog to become.

As writing blogs go, this is a pretty big one and I’d like to think that it has added value to the readers who stopped by in the past. (THANK YOU!!!)

Now, I want to make it even bigger and better. I want to spend 2013 and the foreseeable future giving back to the amazing writing community. So what I have in mind is two-fold:

Awareness

I want to make people more aware of some awesome blogs out there that might or might not be off the beaten track. Also, I want to be made aware of those. Even if it’s your own.

Also, whether I participate or not, I want to share any and all blogfests, competitions and or events happening. I’ll be trying to get around as much as possible to find these events, BUT I am sadly not the Ninja Captain, so if you have something happening. Even if you think I should have found out already. PLEASE let me know.

Paying Forward

Once again, I am ready, willing and able to help with blog tours, interviews and guest posts. However, because of the fact that this is about us writing bloggers, content writers are STILL not welcome to submit.

Then there’s something I’d really love to see coming off the ground, but that I’m terrified won’t happen. I want to hold a monthly awards ceremony with a nomination and voting process. The awards, however, are the issue. I am going to give amazon vouchers every month (although the amounts may differ based on how much I have at the time), but will also be offering crits, blog analyses or anything within my skill-set that a writing blogger might find useful.

Here’s the hard part: I want you guys to help me. I don’t necessarily mean money. If you can donate time to help someone edit. Or help someone with a query letter and/or synopsis (cause heaven knows I CAN’T). Anything helpful or nice (and preferably open to all countries). From something small to something generous. Everything will be appreciated and best of all, it will brighten someone’s day. I’m thinking that those of you who offer prizes (henceforth called the sponsors) will be listed among the most awesome of the most awesome on my blog.

Also, you will be welcome to take over for a day to plug your book, blog etc. to heart’s content for a day (although I have found that it’s usually better to disguise this in a helpful writing post). Heck, you can make a huge giveaway around your book.

I just think it will be amazing if this works, so I really hope you guys will find it helpful. And who knows, maybe there’ll be a prize for the most generous blogger at the end of the year. The sky’s the limit if we work together.

So… what do you say? Who’s in? If you are, please contact me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with either AWARENESS or PAYING FORWARD as the subject. Comments are also welcome, but might be hard if I can’t reach you by e-mail.

Have a WONDERFUL 2013!

Just some heads-ups (and to explain my sucky day)

Thanks so much for the encouragement and hugs I received on Friday.

I kind of spilled my heart on this subject today on TCoML, so I won’t be writing much of a post here, except to say that the reason for my really shitty day and what I realized about it is in that post, if you want to go check it out.

Before you head over, though, I want to say thank you to everyone who expressed a willingess to help make next year awesome on this blog. I will definitely be putting out more details towards the start of the blogging season next year, since a lot of people who might love to take part will be away spending time with their families. But let me say, that if we get it right, this will be awesome for everyone who reads MFB.

See you tomorrow!

Ch-ch-changes!

As you may know by now, I’m busy going around and catching up on months’ worth of return visits that I never got to do.

I can honestly say I’m loving this. It’s just amazing to read what’s going on with friends new and old.

In addition, it also got me thinking again about what I can do for next year to make things even better. I have a couple of original and not so original ideas kicking about, so as soon as I have them cemented in my head, I’ll be sharing them in the new year.

One thing I will say, though, is that Guest Post Friday is at an end. BUT! I will be hosting regular guest posts and interviews. I’ll just be doing things a liiiiittle differently to before.

Next year, I want to make the writing bloggosphere an even more awesome place, but I can’t do it alone. Who’s willing to help me? No help can be too big or too small and I’ll NEVER let your help go unnoticed.

A little bit of housekeeping

So… I decided to change my blogs’ looks.

It took me 12 darn hours to manage, because I had to change some html codes. Well… more specifically, I changed them, saved them and checked, but the blogs didn’t change.

Yeah. Annoying as hell, because as far as I could discover, there was nothing to do but repeat the process again and again until it worked.

But yeah. I think it’s worth it, don’t you?

For one thing, the comments should be more visible.

OOOH! Speaking of comments. I’ve received more than a few messages with regards to the comments. Apparently some people just can’t seem to comment on my blog. NO idea why. I do notice, though, that more than a few of them use wordpress.

So here’s my question: Who would (for whatever reason) prefer if I cross-posted to my wordpress blog? The posts’ content will be available. But maybe it would be more convenient for you? If it is, please send me a mail and let me know: mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

On an unrelated note, I removed the lists of blogs I follow. For some reason, they were grossly out-of-date and for some reason they refused to accept wordpress blogs. I will gradually build them back up, though, in another format.

That’s me for today.

What do you think about the new look? Any niggles you’d prefer me to fix while I’m at it? Think it’s a good idea for me to cross-post?