Release Day: Secrets in Our Cities

    Hello! I’m still alive, just too busy to blog. But I had to announce this! The publication of the newest Just-Us League anthology, Secrets in Our Cities. This paranormal urban fantasy anthology features tales of our favorite supernatural creatures. And just take a look at this gorgeous cover done by Louis over at Indigo Forest Designs.

The real world and imagination collide in this international collection of paranormal urban fantasies.

Here's What Happened

    Wow, it has been quite a while. So much has happened over the past few months, and if you don't follow me on other social media, then you've missed out on my updates. So here's what happened:
May-
    Husband of Mine got offered a job in Utah, and he accepted. We had about 3 weeks to pack up everything and move 700 miles away. During this time, A Bit of Magic was released, and I didn’t really get to do anything to celebrate my third publication because I was busy. 
    We spent a weekend out in Utah looking for a house. On our way, we were in a car accident and our car was totaled. We only owned the car for 3 1/2 months. We continued on our way to Utah, found a house and put an offer in, then went home. 
June-
    Offer was accepted on the house and we finished packing to move. We drove up by ourselves with all our stuff loaded in a van, and spent three nights in a temporary apartment while we closed on the house and signed the paperwork. Then we moved into our new house. 
    It took about 3 weeks to fully unload everything except for our office which hasn’t been finished because the movers who loaded our truck broke our desk, which is in pieces in the garage. So we’re waiting to fix the desk so we can unload the boxes for that room.
    I started plotting my Camp NaNoWriMo piece.

Release Day- A Bit of Magic

    Today is May 31st, that means it's release day for my third publication in A Bit of Magic: A Collection of Fairy Tale Retellings. Get it now on Amazon!
    

    ~Allie

A Bit of Magic Blog Tour- Rebecca Mikkelson

    Welcome to my stop on the A Bit of Magic blog tour. My special guest of honor is Rebecca Mikkelson!

Rebecca Mikkelson has been writing fantasy stories since her early teens for fun and is thrilled to turn her dream into a reality. She currently lives in Hawaii with her husband of six years where they enjoy not going outside and avoiding the scare ball in the sky. In her spare time, she likes to cross stitch to relax.

Rebecca Mikkelson is Chief of Business Development at Authors 4 Authors Publishing - a publishing company run by authors, for authors, blending the best of traditional and independent publishing.

    Rebecca, I’m so excited to hear about your story, especially since this is your first publication. Let’s get right to it. 

Q- What inspired your retelling? 

Coming Soon: Cursed Winds

    It’s time to announce Secret Project #2! And yes, it’s another fairy tale retelling. I’m very excited to announce the publication of Cursed Winds, my Beauty and the Beast retelling.

    I’ve been holding onto this idea since Disney released their live-action Beauty and the Beast movie. It left me with a lot of questions that I wanted answered, so I decided to write my own version of the tale, which I never thought I would do. And yes, it involves pirates.
    Cursed Winds will be released on May 31st in the fifth JL Anthology, titled A Bit of Magic. Stay tuned for a cover reveal, coming very soon!
    ~Allie

April Camp NaNo 2018 Summary

    My big goal for Camp NaNo was to write an average of 500 words a day. Well, it was to write 15,000 words during the month, but that averaged out to 500 words a day.

    So... I didn't quite write 15,000 words this month. But I spent the last week of Camp NaNo sick with the stomach flu (hence that lovely flatline toward the end), so I took out the 4 days I was sick and altered my goal to be 2k less than it was originally. So technically, I didn't hit my goal, but also I did.

April Camp NaNoWriMo 2018!

    Once again, it's my favorite time of year! Well, besides Christmas. It's time for Camp NaNoWriMo!

    After July Camp NaNo last year, I felt like I was robbed a month of writing. I've been doing so much editing recently—Swapped, which was published in February; Secret Project #2, which is just about finished; and I've started working on Powerful again! While all the editing is great (because I'm an oddity in the writer's community with how much I love editing), it's hard on the writer side of my brain which can, in turn, hurt my editing when I have to rewrite.

Of Legend and Lore Blog Tour- Elise Edmonds

    Welcome back to the Of Legend and Lore blog tour! It's time to meet another JL author. I've hosted this author before, so you may remember her. Give a warm welcome to Elise Edmonds!

Elise Edmonds is a writer from the South-West UK. Reading and writing have always been her doorways into another world—a way to escape and spend time walking with wizards, flying with fairies and dealing with dragons. By day she is a finance professional, and in her spare time she pursues writing as a creative outlet, to put the magic back into everyday life. In addition to reading, Elise enjoys watching movies, playing the piano, and going to Zumba classes. Her greatest loves are God, her husband, her family and friends, and her two beautiful cats.

Elise’s Young Adult Fantasy novel, Where Carpets Fly, is available on Amazon.

Q- What inspired your retelling?

Release Day- Of Legend and Lore!

    Happy Tell a Fairy Tale Day, everyone! And happy release day for Of Legend and Lore: A Collection of Fairy Tale Retellings! Here is the link to buy it on Amazon! 

    To celebrate the release, the From the Stories of Old ebook is discounted for the next few days, so grab a copy by the 28th if you don't already have it!
    ~Allie

Of Legend and Lore Blog Tour: Matt Dewar

    Our blog tour kicked off on Monday with an interview of author B.C. Marine. Meet the next author, Matthew Dewar-

Matthew lives in beautiful Perth, Australia, where he makes the most of every day. He has many writing projects on the go, works as a physiotherapist and group fitness instructor, and somehow still manages to squeeze in a social life. He has published his own book, Nightmare Stories, and his short stories have been included in anthologies such as: From the Stories of Old, Between Heroes and Villains, Whispers in the Shadows, Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony, and Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath.SaveSave

Q: What story did you write for the anthology?

A: Jack and the Storyteller.

Q: What inspired your retelling?

Of Legend and Lore: A Fairy Tale Anthology

    From Rowanwood Publishing comes another JL anthology on February 26th, aka Tell a Fairy Tale Day!

New life is given to eleven old stories in this second collection of irresistible fairy tale retellings.

Royalty faces magical challenges: a prince uses his powers on a rescue mission and reveals a terrible secret about his people; a king takes drastic measures to save his daughters from a troublesome curse; and a princess befriends an unusual frog.

Mythical creatures can be friend or foe: three brothers face a depressed dragon with a legendary treasure; an ancient crow brings a child’s wishes to life; and one young girl discovers dragons aren’t always the enemy.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes: a miser is in danger of losing everything one cold night; a struggling mirrorsmith meets an invisible recluse; a boy must relive the fairytale based on his ancestor’s life; a child is rejected because of his love of drawing cats; and an evil witch is sealed in a glass coffin.

Be transported to new worlds and enjoy fresh twists on old favorites.

    A big thank you to Indigo Forest Designs for our gorgeous cover! As with our previous anthologies, Heidi Hayden illustrated the artwork inside. 

    Find Swapped written by yours truly when Of Legend and Lore is released. And check out the JL blog for blog tour info to find out about the other authors and tales in the anthology!

    ~Allie

Coming Soon: Swapped

    Remember how I mentioned some secret projects that I was working on? And remember how I said I never started my fairy tale retellings last year? Well, Secret Project #1 is officially finished. And now I can finally tell you what it is.

    Swapped was my Camp NaNoWriMo project back in July (when I only got to work on it for a week before I went into labor). I had to start it early because I knew I wouldn't finish it for a while, but I had strict deadlines. And why did I have strict deadlines? Because Swapped was signed over to Rowanwood Publishing to be included in the fourth JL anthology. 
    Swapped is a retelling of the Prince and the Pauper, and I'm really excited about it. I've been sitting on this idea for a while, and as soon as we started working on another fairy tale anthology, I knew it would be my next project. 
    Of Legend and Lore: A Fairy Tale Anthology comes out in February! Stay posted for an update about a cover. (And Secret Project #2 which I'll have more info on in April.)
    ~Allie