Tag: short stories

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.

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10 Songs That Are On My Writing Playlist

Posted on by staceyjaine in Stacey Jaine McIntosh, Stuff

As my last post along this same vein, I thought I’d share something most writers have at least one of.

A writing playlist.

It’s no secret that writers often find music to be inspirational to the creative process of writing, and I’m surprisingly no different.

It’s a shock, I know.

Mine is however very eclectic.

So, before I get caught rambling on any further, I’ll see to the list.

(In no particular order)

1. Speeding Cars by Walking Cars

2. Roses by Against the Current

3. Red by Taylor Swift

4. Hold Back the River by Nicole Cross

5. Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

6. Tear in Your Hand by Tori Amos

7. Head Above Water by Avril Lavigne

8. Way Down We Go by Kaleo

9. Saturn by Sleeping at Last

10. September by Daughtry

That’s a small portion of my playlist. I’d love to hear what some of the songs are that feature on your playlist. Unless of course you prefer to write in complete silence.

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.

 

Le Fay is Coming!

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

For all those who may be wondering, the second installment of my novelette series, Le Fay is in the works. I’m about two thirds of the way into it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be ready for release mid April.

It is the prequel to Morrighan and tells the story of Morgan and how she met Prince Arthur and the domino effect that befalls her which follows in the wake of her father’s death and propels her mother, Igraine, into the arms of Uther Pendragon.

For those that are familiar with the Arthurian Legends of old, my version is a little different in that there is a paranormal undertone to this story, but to tell you more would be giving too much away. I do however hope you’ll enjoy it.

For now though, I’ll leave you with a teensy excerpt and a look into Le Fay.

Enjoy!

He was standing right in front of her; Morgan couldn’t move. She licked her lips that had all of a sudden gone dry and remembered to breathe, and blink, least she be accused of staring at his all too beautiful face.

“Hello Morgan.”

Morgan shook her head, momentarily breaking the daze. He was too pretty to be real. Too pretty by far to be a boy. None of the boys Morgan knew had hair down to their shoulders.

“H-how do you know my name?” Morgan stammered, taking one step backwards. She shouldn’t have been out on the sidewalk. She should have been inside, but the apartment was dark and cramped.

“I know a great deal about you, Morgan,” he said.

Morgan swallowed hard, as fear bubbled up inside. She felt as if she’d throw up any second.

“Who are you?” Morgan sucked air into her half-starved lungs.

It tasted like roses. The garden behind him was full of them. All white to match the fence that ran all the way along the street.

Morgan shouldn’t have been talking to him, she should have turned away and walked inside, but hopscotch was way more fun than playing inside by herself.

“Now, now Morgan, there’s no need to be hostile,” he said. “I thought you could do with somebody to keep you company. It must get awfully lonely playing by yourself all the time.”

“Who are you?” she shrieked, so loud, that he reached out to put a hand over her mouth to shush her.

“If you promise to be quiet, I will tell you,” he said. “Do you promise, Morgan?”

Morgan nodded, and he took his hand away from her mouth. “Yes… I promise. Now tell me who you are!” her voice, while practically inaudible, was pitched.

“I’m Arthur. Arthur Pendragon,” he said, his blue eyes shining like sapphires.

“Arthur Pendragon,” Morgan repeated.

Despite the presence of a lisp when she said his name, Arthur forced a smile. “Yes.”

“Are you real?” she asked.

“Of course, I am!” he said with an air of indignation. “Aren’t all faeries real?”

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.

 

Pre-order Your Copy of Lost TODAY!

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

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Lost, my collection of short stories is available to pre-order digitally across select retailers HERE. They’ll continue to roll out, culminating with the release of the Amazon kindle and paperback versions, available on the 28th.

The collection brings together all my previously published short stories in one volume, and includes a few new, never before seen stories as well.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

For those of you who would like a taste of the stories within, here is an excerpt from the story, Owl Eyes.

The owl screeched again. The sense of urgency drew Lleu’s eyes back to the sky. There above, a trail of white flowers blossomed before stopping short.

His breath hitched as the bird fell from the sky and landed at his feet. A small cry escaped from his lips. Looking down upon the tiny mass of white feathers, he saw an even tinier heart-shaped crimson stain spring from the bird’s chest.

The owl – Blodeuwedd – was dead.

The crimson stain had barely begun to dry upon the bird’s downy feathers when the creature transformed back into the shapely form of a woman.

Llew sighed and bent to caress the soft – though now cold – cheek of his once beloved and cherished wife.

“Blodeuwedd,” he whispered.

 

Beauty

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

My short story, Beauty is being published in Iron Faerie Publishing‘s forthcoming anthology, Fable.

It’s a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairytale, which was first recorded by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740.

I’ll share more as soon as I’m able.

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?

 

 

Week Two

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

Today marks the end of the second week of the 365 Writing Challenge during which I’ve written 2,878 words, which is a huge improvement on last week and I’ve even submitted two short stories for publication. Fingers crossed they’re well received!

I’m currently half way through writing my 4th contest entry for Fantasia Divinity Magazine & Publishing, which is proving to be an interesting little tale, just as the last three have been.

My scores are even half way decent and I’m holding my own quite well it seems.

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

I promise I’ll keep you all posted.