Tag: Indie Author

Of Blood and Fire

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Writing

It’s done. I’ve not only finished an epic 5,000 word story, but I’ve submitted it too. It’s currently winging its way into the hands of the Dragon Soul Press editors as I type.

I just hope they like it.

I’ve spent the last forty-five minutes winding down since I did a mad dash to write what I thought was 400 words but was really 600 words in as little time as possible tonight so I could get the story finished.

It took two hours.

Sadly, it’s not much of an update but I had to share nonetheless, now that the excitement coupled with nerves has died down.

Confessions From an Indie Author Trying to Make it as a Blogger

Posted on by staceyjaine in blogging, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Stuff

44148_20150318_232444_FIGHTAlright, I confess. I tried something new today with my blog. I posted two blogs when I normally only post one.

Surprisingly, it got results. Bigger and better than I ever would have hoped for. So, THANK YOU!

The blog itself was inspired in part by all the poetry blogs I have subscribed to, and… the fact (which I didn’t know until today) that’s it’s National Poetry Month! Finally, it was written because I didn’t want to just write another post about the Arthurian Myths (which I adore) lest I bore you all to death. So, I shared Tennyson’s rather epic poem instead.

The second was my obligatory weekly recap for the 365 Writing Challenge post. Long overdue, as I try to write them weekly, but last week was met with a flurry of blogging updates, and little room or time to actually write that second post last Monday.

I can’t promise to write every day. That’s just… impossible for me between trying to split myself between family and writing. I’m not quite organized enough to successfully schedule my time the way I know I should. I try but I inevitably wind up dropping balls or something unexpected happens that wipes out everything I had planned for that day, and attempting to catch up the next day never works the way you think it will.

But, I do promise I’ll try. Assuming you’re all willing to stick with me as I navigate the blogosphere.

So, on that final note, I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU again to all of you who’ve stopped by recently and liked or followed my blog, I really do appreciate it from the bottom of my heart and I hope you’ll keep coming by so that you can stay up to date with my writing progress. Whatever the achievement.

Until next time,

Stacey

Week Thirteen and Fourteen

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today is the end of the fourteenth week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve managed to write 5008 words across fourteen days. Hard to believe, I know. This of course, doesn’t count the words that go into my blog posts, if it did, I can guarantee you the word count would be higher.

So, what have I accomplished in the past two weeks?

Let’s list it shall we and find out!

  • Started work on Of Blood and Fire – I’m 4,408 words into the short story which is centred around King Arthur and Camelot. Complete with dragons and… vampires. Yep! You heard correctly. Vampires!
  • Submitted a poem, Raven Queen to Dragon Soul Press.
  • Edited two short stories.
  • Edited 9,000 words worth of articles for a client.
  • Submitted my short story, The Drowning Pool to Pixie Forest Publishing’s anthology At Death’s Door.
  • Wrote a 600 word scene that will eventually be included in the WIP Eldritch.
  • Wrote two more poems
  • Wrote two drabbles

Of course, that list doesn’t include my work with The Horror Tree which can often be overwhelming or my work with Iron Faerie Publishing.

All up it’s lead to a very busy, but productive two weeks.

Until next week (or the week after that). Happy writing.

Bye March

Posted on by staceyjaine in Indie Author, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

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Another month has come to a close. I spent most of it waiting on things that didn’t arrive and trying to write amongst the anxiety that came with waiting on those things that didn’t arrive. Suffice to say, March has been utterly exhausting.

Rewarding, but exhausting.

I was looking over my submissions for the quarter and I’ve subbed twelve stories and two poems. With five stories still pending completion. Not to mention I’ve written a whopping thirty-two blog posts. While I’ve had two rejections this year, on stories I felt had promise, I’m trying to not let that get me down.

And right now, I’m battling the clock on two projects. Le Fay is probably the most pressing, but another… so far untitled, is proving a mite more interesting. It’s what I like to call Arthurian Legends meets The Vampire Diaries. I couldn’t resist throwing vampires at fire breathing dragons and seeing what came about. Turns out even with Le Fay not quite finished, Morgan’s not letting go. Not that she ever has and I doubt if she ever will.

It’s early days but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to finish the third instalment, Pendragon, ready for a late May release.

So, that’s what I achieved. What’s something you achieved?

 

 

Week Twelve

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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It’s goodbye to yet another week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve written a grand total of 2,200 words… which is slightly up from last week.

So much has happened this week, most of which I have already blogged about. So, I won’t go into it again. Suffice to say, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the poetry anthology from Dragon Soul Press that has my two little poems in it, when it releases in June.

I also received my copy of Spring’s Blessing in the mail, which featured my short story, The Dawning of Spring. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a copy you can do so here.

Well that’s about it for this week.

Happy Writing.

 

200 Followers

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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Thank you all so much. You guys are beyond awesome! It’s been an incredible nine months since I hit my last milestone and so humbling to find myself at 200 followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me.

I vowed back in June 2018 that I’d share more about my writing journey and my kids. I think I’ve succeeded in sharing more about my writing but not so much about my kids.

So, I thought I’d use this post to share a bit about the other side of my life, as a mum to four kids. Yep, four… crazy, right? It comes as a shock to some, actually. In fact, I’m asked a lot how I keep my sanity. Sometimes, I don’t. But sleep helps, that and copious amounts of coffee.

I love my kids to pieces, but they do at times drive me up the wall. My husband too, at times, but I guess that comes with the territory.

My eldest son is thirteen… a teenager, and it hasn’t sunk in yet. He’s outgrown me. (That hasn’t quite sunk in, either) I still find myself thinking of him as the same kid who surprised us all by reading at three and a half. He received Harry Potter at seven and devoured the books in quick succession. He’ll still pick them up and reread them to this day. He hates having to clean his room.

My daughter is quite a bit like me. She came into the world incredibly early, at not even a kilo and has left her mark every day since. At eleven she’s an absolute riot. Loves cats, horses and origami and hates the colour pink. Which according to her brother is the weirdest thing ever.

My next eldest son is ten and insanely smart and sometimes frustrating bundle of energy. I think he learnt to run before he learnt to walk, because he never stops. He loves Lego and minecraft and anything and everything space related and is slowly getting into fantasy books. He hates stir-fry and homework.

My youngest son is eight and has never quit trying to keep up with his older siblings. He loves trains, Peter Rabbit and Groot from the Marvel universe. His favourite colour is green. He’s broken bones and had stitches but I can’t think of a single thing he hates right now, when I do, I’ll be sure to share.

And that’s pretty much the snapshot into my kids and each of their very different personalities.

 

Week Eleven

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today is the end of the eleventh week of the 365 Writing Challenge and I’ve managed to write 2,100 words and get some editing done on a few of my short stories I wrote last month. I’m still waiting on my scores for Phase 4 of Fantasia Divinity’s Interpretations Contest, but I’m hopeful they’ll hit my inbox very soon.

In other writing news, I have four short stories awaiting completion so that I can submit them to various anthologies, plus close to a dozen drabbles to write for another submission opportunity.

March is beginning to feel just a little overwhelming of late, but I’m trudging through and I’ll make it through to the other end, hopefully unscathed. And who knows, maybe by the end of the month, I’ll have a couple of acceptances to add to my pile of ever growing acceptances.

Until next week. Happy writing.

Week Seven to Ten

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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And, I dropped the ball. I find it ironic that the last post I made to this series was on February 11th. Today marks the tenth week of the 365 Writing Challenge.

These last four weeks I’ve written roughly 8,796 new words, finished my Phase 5 short story for Fantasia Divinity Magazine‘s competition and started work on Le Fay, the prequel to Morrighan.

Lost, my collection of short stories, was published on March 28th on kindle and paperback.

If you haven’t purchased a copy, I’d love it if you would consider doing so.

Here’s the LINK!

Until next week.

I hope.

Fingers crossed.

 

Lost is LIVE!

Posted on by staceyjaine in published, short stories, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

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My short story collection, Lost is now available in eBook and paperback (soon) on Smashwords and multiple other platforms including Amazon.

The first story, Freya, is a 500 word flash fiction piece that tells the tale of the Norse Goddess Freya and her fabled necklace, Brisingamen.

To kick off the release of this collection, here’s an excerpt:

“Freya,” she heard a voice whisper. “Freya!”

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She bolted awake; surprised that it was still dark outside her bedroom window. She hadn’t been dreaming that much she knew because fey didn’t possess the ability with which to dream. That was the stuff of human conscience and beings with souls; Freya had neither.

“Who’s there?” she asked into the darkness, afraid that if she turned on the lamp she might scare off whomever it was that was around.

“I am,” the figure said. She squinted her eyes against the darkness, but to no avail, she still couldn’t see anyone.

“What do you want?” she asked.

 

 

Bite Sized

Posted on by staceyjaine in Anthologies, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates

 

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As I’ve stated in a previous post, several of my drabbles are being published in Blood Song Books anthology, Curses & Cauldrons. And, now that I’ve signed the contract, I decided to share a little update with you all, because I not only have the four drabbles previously mentioned, but four others as well. Bringing the total up to eight. They are listed below, in order of acceptance. They are:

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  • Down the Rabbit Hole – is a story about a girl who takes poison from a witch.
  • The Keeper – is a retelling of the story of Cerridwen.
  • Mark of the Witch (previously titled, The Witch’s Mark) – is a story about a family of witches.
  • Undersea – is a story about a sea witch.
  • Excalibur – is a story about Morgan le Faye and the magic of Excalibur.
  • Harm None – is the story of a modern day witch performing a binding spell.
  • Red As Blood – is a retelling of the story of Snow White with a twist.
  • Bad Girls – is a story of three modern day witches about to be burned at the stake.

In case you haven’t already guessed the theme of the anthology is witches, and I’m immensely proud of these eight little stories. Writing drabbles and keeping to the strict, 100 word only caveat, is not always easy, especially when you have to tell a story and have it make sense. I’ll be sure to keep you posted once this anthology hits shelves, I’m sure it’s going to be epic.

 

 

Week Six

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today is the end of the sixth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 3,199 words. It’s up from last week and actually feels pretty good.

I’m still chipping away at my fifth contest entry. It’s going slower than I would like because of the research. There’s not a great deal of information about my person of interest. Plenty of movies and tv shows but when you’re trying to get down to what really happened… it’s a little more difficult. Thankfully it’s not due til the end of this month, so I have time to get it finished. Hopefully, the judges like it.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

Week Five

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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This is the fifth week of the 365 Writing Challenge. I’ve written a grand total of 2,100 words this week and had one of my short stories that I subbed to Fantasia Divinity rejected. 😔

Lost, is however in the works, and will be released by the end of February.

I’m still hard at work on my fifth and final contest entry. It’s proving harder than I thought to get right, but I’m persevering.

Until next week.

 

Lost, a Collection of Short Stories

Posted on by staceyjaine in Anthologies, Indie Author, paranormal, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh

I told you good things were on the horizon, didn’t I?

Lost, is a collection of my own short stories. Within the pages you’ll find every story I’ve ever had published in the last eight years, plus a few new ones.

Title: Lost
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Release date: 28 February 2019
Cover designer: Nicky Montgomery
Blurb: Where will you go once you are lost?

Who will you seek?

What will you find, awaiting you in the shadows?

Enter… if you dare, into worlds where faeries, werewolves, vampires, gods, angels and demons collide.

Week Four

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

Today marks the end of the fourth week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 2,100 words, which is the bare minimum to get by. But it is words on paper so I don’t care.

I’m busy working on my 5th contest entry for Fantasia Divinity Magazine & Publishing and trying not to go stir crazy as I await scores from previous rounds.

All in all a good week, writing wise. I hope to be as productive next week.

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.

Week Three

Posted on by staceyjaine in 365 Challenge, Indie Author, publishing, Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Updates, Writing

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This is the third week of the 365 Writing Challenge. I’ve written a grand total of 3,392 words this week and had one of my short stories that I subbed last week accepted for publication, I’m hoping I’ll hear back about the second one soon. It would be great to see both stories published.

As for what lies in store this week… we’ll work on my fifth contest entry is going ahead at a steady but slow pace. But some words are better than none, right?