#contest submission away #amwriting #QueerSciFi #flashfiction

Sorry about it being awhile since I last posted something here. It’s been a crazy several months with mostly work and family taking precedence to writing.

I’ve just submitted my entry for this year’s Queer Sci Fi’s Flash Fiction contest closing on Monday, May 1st. If you want to check it out, there’s still time; although, only a few more days. They start in March and close beginning of May each year. If you want to try next year, check out the page then. See the link below.

QSF Flash Fiction Rules

I’m slowly getting used to have time besides work. I’m looking into buying a gaming laptop (Windows) and possibly a refurbished Mac for writing. I miss my old laptop that died before the pandemic. We’ll see.

I’m hoping to get back into writing again. I say that every so often, but I hope it will actually materialize. Perhaps getting the Mac to replace my previous writing device will help. I do have an iPad and I wrote my flash fiction on it (I have a case with a keyboard: It looks like a baby laptop -smile-), but publishing won’t happen until I have something that can handle the apps. I’m considering Velum, should I get a Mac again. Authors, if you like it, let me know in the comments. That may be the incentive to get a new Mac. 😉

I will leave you with a picture of a Writer At Work below and contemplate at least doing more blog posts. That’s writing, right?

~Eloreen

It’s Mother’s Day 2020 #musings

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers whether biological, guardian of, or fur babies. 🌻 🌷 🌺 🌼 💐 🌸 😍 #authorsofinstagram #mothersday #happymothersday #motherhood https://www.instagram.com/p/CAAyGvSAIqw/?igshid=1447dmipnhwey

I’ll post more soon. 🙂 Eloreen

Where did this year go? #Preptober #NaNoWrimo #NaNoLanta #amwriting

What the heck happened to 2019???

 

So, it’s about that time. If you are a writer, you may be prepping for #NaNoWriMo in roughly 2 weeks. The site is now merged between the main NaNoWriMo and #CampNaNoWriMo so there is only one location now. I haven’t poked around much yet, but plan to to sign up for NaNo before the end of the month. Come find me and let’s be friends. I think my original friends were wiped in the merge. 🙂 Link to me via my profile pic:

 

If you are in the Atlanta area–Heck, even if you aren’t in the area, and want to join #NaNoLanta, the regional group on #NaNoWriMo for Atlanta on Discord, visit the server here: https://discord.gg/pQMqMjW. There’s brainstorming shenanigans soon (6 pm EDT) today. Assuming work doesn’t spontaneously combust, I’ll be there.

So, sorry for not being around much this year. I’ve haven’t had much time to think, let along write, but I’ve been picking up social media a bit. Mostly Twitter, some Facebook, and occasionally Instagram/MeWe.

My flash fiction for Migration was published a couple of months ago. There’s an ebook (linked) and paperback versions. I also published Together in print over the summer. I dropped the price to $7.99, It’s still available on #KindleUnlimited for free or purchase for $1.99.

I was going to do a freebie for Halloween but didn’t make the cutoff (today!). If I can finish in a reasonable time before Halloween, I might publish it on Amazon for $0.99. We’ll see. It hasn’t been going well and I need to brainstorm some to get it going again.

I have a paranormal people of color novella that’s rapidly turning into a novel or a trilogy, I’m not sure which. I might work on it this NaNo to turn it into a novel. Not sure yet.

Now that I’ve realigned some things at work, I hope to have more time for writing, family, and the readers. I’m a reader myself, and I miss it when I’m so busy I don’t have time to read. Bad Eloreen, No Biscuit.

As always, I’ll be intermittently posting reviews, book blasts, and tours. Can you believe it’s been 7 years since I started this writing road? Perhaps I will do something next month. Keep in touch. You know where to find me.

Lot’s of things to update including a newsletter #musings #amwriting #publishing

 

So, lots of things have been going this month. I participated in #NaNoWriMo. I won’t win but I feel accomplished because I turned one story into a sequel. I’ll probably post about that next week.

The picture above was taken the Saturday I went to my first write-in for #NaNoLanta, the regional helpers for NaNo, at sunset. Not bad for a camera phone, right? You may have seen it on my Instagram or Facebook feed. I’m trying to be more sociable but for an introvert like me, it’s difficult. I’m working on it.

As I dropped into my blog to create this post, I realized my post from 11/23 announcing Together’s pre-order and release on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited didn’t have a title.

Oops. Missed that entirely.

I’ll blame it on the Thanksgiving Holidays and getting distracted by writing, publishing, and setting up a newsletter. *smile*

Together is the MMM Contemporary Menage short story I wrote for Beautiful Skin Anthology that the first edition was published at the end of August 2018. After three months, a few of the authors wanted to be taken out of the anthology and so a second edition is in the works. 50% of the proceeds will continue to be donated to the Sickly Cell research charity like the first edition and will be kept up in perpetuity. I’ll update with links for purchasing the eBook or print version of the new Anthology when I get them.

 

Here is my lovely cover from Emmy Ellis with Studioenp.

Buy Link

 

The Together eBook will go live on Saturday, December 1, 2018 and will be available on Kindle Unlimited. Eventually, I will get a paperback version added once I get it packaged. Stay tuned because I will be doing a limited sale for the story after it releases. Perhaps a contest for a free copy?

Speaking of newsletter, I have one now that will have exclusive content, free stuff, and notifications for my subscribers that will be in addition to the blog. The best part is if you sign up via the page below, you get a link to a free story in the eBook format of your choice.

Eloreen Moon’s Newsletter

If you have already subscribed, great! I look forward to interacting with everyone in a different way.

Today, I just submitted a 500-word flash fiction entry to Writers’ HQ From LGBTQ+ With Love contest. I didn’t find out about it until yesterday and the deadline is 11/30/2018 midnight GMT. Talk about submitting at the last minute. 🙂 It will be interesting to see if place for one of the prizes they offer. We’ll see how I do. I’m not expecting anything: I entered because it sounded like fun. If I win something, then it happens. If not, I have another flash fiction story. Hmmm, maybe I’ll compile them into a book and provide it as a freebie…

And now, I will leave you with a picture of one of the kittens that decided to live with the family a few months ago. He’s cute and warm on this cold day in Atlanta. 🙂 Can you believe he’s only 6-ish month’s old? Yeah, me neither. He’s not the biggest either.

 

Eloreen

General election today #Vote #GeorgiaVote #musings

I voted. Polls close at 7 pm EDT.

I am working on a #NaNoWriMo18 #LGBTQwrimo #NaNoLanta story. I’ll update on the next day or two. All the things.

I do have a question: Would you like to see a newsletter on your inbox of future releases, ARCs, and a freebie story? If so, comment here. I’m looking into setting one up monthly, possibly as frequent as weekly.

I Win! #CampNaNoWinner2018 #CarinaPress #BlogCritiqueAcceptance #musings #amwriting

 

So, I did this thing with #CampNaNoWriMo. I met my goal but my story is not finished yet. I will hopefully finish in the next week or two, send to betas and get it edited. I’m sort of running out of time as it’s due by the end of the month. We’ll see.

 

I also did this other thing. I submitted an excerpt of a little under 800 words to Carina Press’s Blog Critique scene submission call of a WIP that I’ve been kicking around off and on for awhile now (almost two years).  Did I mention I tend to write slow? 🙂 I just received the email that my story, Sparkle Vampire, was selected randomly for posting to their blog and a Carina editor will provide feedback there! I will let everyone know when it’s posted and if you want to provide feedback, please do.

 

Wow. I really did win that opportunity. I wasn’t expecting them to accept it, but that’s cool. I’ll get some feedback and maybe I’ll work on it and see about filling it out. Now, to finish my MMM I’m working on. *smile*

 

In addition to this, and around my Real Life of working full time, I was asked to submit to America’s Emerging Writers (Series) by Z Publishing for Georgia. Their submission deadline is in a couple of weeks. More information is here: https://www.zpublishinghouse.com/blogs/upcoming-books/americas-emerging-writers-series.  It’s intriguing concept, and I may submit. Maximum is 5 stories (excerpts are accepted but they prefer stand-alone stories to 1250 words). I’m not sure if I have time but it is definitely fascinating. Check them out as they are looking for submission for all US states. If they accept your submission, it will be published in the anthology they are compiling for the entire country. They’ve done a poetic one already. I wish I knew about that because that looked fun too. 🙂

Whew! It’s been a fun couple of months for me in the writing world. Now back to my writing. The muse is strong today.

Eloreen

 

Hashtags oh my #CampNaNoWriMo #musings #amwriting #MMM #Menage

So, it’s been a week since my last update. I feel like I’m in a ‘writing’ anonymous meeting. Is there such a thing? Well, us writers need a lot of support, so probably. 🙂

I’m continuing to write on my MMM Menage for an anthology compilation (more info will be coming once everyone finishes and we figure out a publishing date).

Pretty close to finishing Camp NaNoWriMo even though I didn’t write as often as I wanted. I did something to my lower back mid-month and took almost 2 weeks off because of that. I did get a surprising amount of words done a few days ago. I plan to reach word goal by end of month but it will depend on if I get time. I have a full plate for this weekend.

After a doctors appointment last Friday, I had to make some changes to my diet and exercise. I’ve been walking 10  min a day (to start off) and changing my diet to a keto/Atkins-based diet where I have limited carbs per meal. As of Wednesday, I lost a pound so something is going right.

Well, this is going to be kind of short. 🙂 I’ll follow up with another update soon.

Eloreen

 

Day 3 Pre-GRL a meetup and Divinity #GRLRetreat2017

Since I promised to post something today, and more pictures of the house, here we go. The update for the day is after the house pictures.

House pictures:

Dining room

Kitchen, excuse the mess. 🙂

Hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom off the dining room

Living room

Wall behind the living room. You can see the dining room from here. Front door is to the left of the picture

Back porch and yard

Day 3 started with a 6:20 am (yes, morning) local time phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I let it go to voicemail. I went back to sleep 20 min later after the adrenaline left (did I mention I startle easily?). 

Woke up 3 hours later with another phone call and that was all she wrote. Breakfast with pancakes and eggs. I edited The Druid’s Bond a little and made my first batch of Divinity. Surprisingly easy. Love the 10% humidity. 

The Divinity. No nuts because I don’t like them in foods. I will be doing more batches tomorrow.

Then S, M and I went downtown near Union Station to meet up with JP Kenwood for happy hour drinks. 

We got back about an hour ago and I’ve worked on editing The Druid’s Bond a little more. Tired though so probably going to shut down after this post and go to bed.

Plan tomorrow: Botanical Gardens, more Divinity making and writing, and a meetup with another of M’s friends coming in the evening for a late dinner here at the house.

Then packing for the Tech Center. One more day.

Eloreen

Where did the time go? #amwriting #CampNaNoWriMo #PodCastle #RGRTransAwareEvent

Wow. Time flies when full time work explodes. (I see a theme here.)

While I’ve been working an inordinate amount of hours for that blasted Real Life job, I have done some writing and plans are in the works for more. Not as much writing as I would like; but between reading, reviewing and the little writing I have done, it’s kept my sanity on more than one occasion.

I just finished creating posts for another review (see post today) and I had posted one from a new author 11 days ago: The Palisade. Great story. I would recommend it. I’m working on the second book in that series in my copious spare time (yes, the sarcasm is high in that one). Expect a review for it in the next month. I hope.

I am doing more reviews both here and RGR. In fact, RGR is doing a Transgender Awareness Event starting today in response to a certain President’s stance on Transgenders in the the military a couple of weeks ago. It’s two weeks of reviews, spotlights, giveaways, guest post, and fun. Come join use as we celebrate all Transgender fiction. There’s even a podcast done by one of our own at RGR. (Not me, thank goodness). Links below.

Podcast: Big Gay Fiction Podcast

RGRTransAwareEvent: RGR Trans Aware Event Kickoff

Back in early June, I posted about the new QSF Flash Fiction story in Renewal. Still haven’t heard much more about it as the last couple of months have been hectic. (see start of this post)

Later in June, I found another Flash Fiction contest from a QSF post somewhere on social media, and decided to enter it. PodCastle‘s 2017 Flash Fiction Contest was completed but I didn’t get past the first round. Most liked the beginning but didn’t like the ending. Shrug. There were definitely others more worthy of winning so I’m not surprised. I like my twisty stories. 🙂 Since I didn’t make it, I am free to post it here. It was a whole 500 words and that seemed like luxury. Here you go. Let me know what you think. I might expand it later on. When I get a chance. Isn’t that what a writer says? *smile*

 

The Lotto Ticket
©2017

by Eloreen Moon

 

“I have no idea what I’m going to do.” I stared at the Lotto ticket I had at my hand. It matched the numbers just announced on the TV. I turned to my bestie Mitch panicked. I had plenty of magic in me but nothing prepared me for Lady Luck.

“Lucas, before you do anything, you talk to a financial guru.” He immediately answered. “With that much money, once you claim it, you’ll be mobbed by every warlock, ‘were, and weremage– anyone who has even a remote familial connection to you will come out of the woodworks.”

“You’re not kidding,” I snorted. “You know anyone? I’ve got nothing.” My lemur half wanted to get going. As a weremage, a shifter and a magic-user combined, we tend not deal with mundane things like finances, ever.

“Actually, I do.” Mitch stood up smirking, pulled out a warn business card from his wallet, and then presented it to me with flourish. My impatience had me wanting to beat-down his cocky werewolf hide. He pointed to the card. “Kenton’s a distant cousin. He gave that to me when he started up some number of years ago after finishing school here. He’ll know what to do.”

With that, I typed the digits into my phone, and called.

#

The next day, I teleported to the address Kenton had given me when I had set up the appointment for this morning. Driving was a bitch and my magic was fresh. The ticket was in my safe at home– at Mitch’s insistence and Kenton’s confirmation– photo proof the only thing needed on my phone. I walked up to the entrance.

The door swung in as I reached to open, and the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen stood in front of me. Shorter than my 6 feet, a lean swimmer’s body, and an adorable face with dark hair tripped all my buttons. I reigned my lust in as much as I could and reached to shake his hand.

“Hello Lucas, I’m Kenton–” he started; but when our hands met, both of us twitched as the shock of desire, emotions, and recognition passed between us.

We said “Mate” at the same time already in-sync as if we had done this before.

I pulled him into my arms and he went willingly staring at each me in such wonder. “I never thought I would find my mate after all these years.”

“Neither did I.” We kissed, and I realized we had done this before as snippets of lifetimes we had previously lived played through my mind. Startled, I pulled from the kiss both reluctant to stop and curious to know. “Um. Did you see—?”

“Yes,” Kenton said, shock adding to the wonder in his face.

I loosely held him in my arms staring into those intense blue eyes as he held my brown-green ones. Silently, I thanked Lady Luck and the Lotto ticket that had brought us together as we went inside to a new life.

 

What do you think? Comment below and I’ll respond. Might not be quickly, but I’ll get there.

 

As for other writings, I’ve gotten some ideas, a request to co-write something, and the urge to work on previous WIPs. I did a little for Camp NaNoWriMo but work, again, got in the way, and writing in July didn’t happen. It’s now mid-August and the work schedule is still high. I spent most of this past weekend working. No rest for the weary.

Well, I have to run. Read some more trans stories for the RGR event and reviews for others. This includes a possible MF story for next month. We’ll have to see. Dragon Con is coming and my annual trek to it.

TTYL

Eloreen

 

#NaNoWriMo #amwriting what was I thinking?

So, I meant to post that I’m writing in NaNoWriMo this year before starting on the first. I intended to bog about my progress every day. I wanted to have a good flow of words and at least get around the average daily word count.

Not exactly how things went.

Started on the 3rd instead of the 1st. Never got around to that initial blog post. I’m sitting at 3120 words instead of about 6600. I have no motivation to get up to go to my computer. I could pull out my iPad but I really need a table or desk so my keyboard typing on it doesn’t cause the whole thing to drop. I’ve already cracked my screen (thanks cat) and had to replace the screen. There are other things but I’m not going to bore you with my problems. You’re welcome. 🙂

 It’s gotten to the point when I want someone to pee for me… Not physically possible but nice to dream about. 😀

Reviewing had been almost non-existent. Here or on RGR. Although, we have discussed a meet-up at some point. Tentatively planned for next year. I’ll post more once we finalize it. That’s part of the reason, I’m trying to write something to publish. Get some mad money in and try to pay for these conventions I want to go to.

I do continue to read and likely will review regularly again. If I could get the full time job to slow down, I’ll be happier. If you want to connect on NaNoWriMo.org, look for my name and the pic below.

I’m going to sign off now and read some more.

It’s been a surreal day, week, month, year…

-Eloreen