Tag Archives: Pretoria Writers Group

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STORM Experiences – Launch

I’d never been to a book launch before, so, this was a first for me. I really had no idea what to expect, except that I knew it wouldn’t be one of those super commercial deals. We arranged the whole thing ourselves. We booked the venue, we got catering and did the sales ourselves.

I must say, though, it was ridiculous amounts of fun (and bliss) to sign hordes of books. I stood for pictures with friends and family. I introduced new fans to the other authors. The whole lot of us sat for an interview that I will soon link for you to listen to. Much to my dismay, I never got around to saying some of the more exciting stuff I had planned… But, more on that another day.

The most exciting news? I actually made money! And, yes, that’s after deducting all the printing and launch costs! *does a happy dance* Sure, I won’t be able to live off it, but I can put it down for the next endeavour!

 

PS. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It’s been a bit of a run around lately. Building onto our house means that I have no office and my toddler keeps typing “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” every time I sit down with my laptop. It also doesn’t help that she goes to bed moments before I pass out for the day myself.

If you’d like to help me get more time, feel free to buy all of my short stories off Smashwords – The Mystic, Beyond and The Gravic Exacerbation – or leave me a Bitcoin donation. Daycare would make a world of difference!

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STORM – Blog tour request

The Pretoria Writers’ Group is requesting hosts for a blog tour of the STORM anthology.
It is an anthology to be published in two volumes (I for fantasy/scifi/dystopia and II for contemporary stories) intended for an adult audience (no erotica).
The tour will be from 11 to 24 May 2014.
If you are interested please email your preference for hosting to blog.tour.info@gmail.com

Notes:
1. This is NOT my personal email and only messages with STORM HOST in the subject line will be attended to.
2. Please indicate which Volume of STORM you would like to host (or both)
3. Please indicate if you would like to review (either or both) of the Volumes (a limited number of ARCs in PDF will be provided before the tour commences)
4. Please indicate if you would like to interview any of the authors on your blog (please provide the name(s) of the author and your questions in the email)
5. The authors are: Linzé Brandon, Vanessa von Mollendorf, Natalie Myburgh, Carmen Botman, Charmain Lines and Richard Wheeler.
6. The covers, buy links to both volumes, short excerpts of the stories in the relevant anthology (I = 6, II = 4) and the Smashwords author profile links for all the authors will be provided by 7 May 2014.

If you have any questions please include them in the email – thank you.

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STORM Experiences – Learning

When I started out writing for STORM I was rather self assured of my writing skills. I was sure that I could write up something that would blast my fellow contributors away. It took quite a bit to bring me back down to a position of humility.

But, back to today’s story… I asked a fellow writer, Richard, to help met out with a bit of beta reading… And did he beta read. My oh my. He came back with criticism of 8 pages on a short story of just over 9000 words. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.

Now, usually when you get feedback on a story, you have to steel yourself. You have to take a deep breath and remind yourself that they are not criticising you, they are criticising your work. (Fat lot of calming down that does. :P)

Richard’s feedback was thorough; it was honest; heck, it was a good read…. But most importantly, it was edifying and positive.  I’m not sure how he did it, but after reading his feedback, I wanted to know more. I wanted to talk to him and find out what he could teach me, what we could figure out together.

If all beta readers could help writers like Richard did, I think more people would make it through the editing/rewriting stage. I really hope that I can provide the same kind of feedback to other writers who ask me to beta read in the future. 

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To my SAfrican fans: Pre-orders are open!

It’s time! The Pretoria Writers Group anthology, STORM, is coming out in June 2014 and the pre-launch sale is on! This is your chance to get your hands on a print version of STORM (Volume I and/or II)!

If you’d like to pre-order a copy, use the contact form below. 

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Watch out! A STORM is coming!

Get out your calender and mark the 30th of June. The Pretoria Writers Group is getting ready to release a two-volume anthology entitled STORM. Being the talented writer I am, I have the privilege to say that my short story, Beyond, will feature in one of the volumes!

In preparation, I have started setting up my author profile on Facebook, Smashwords, Twitter and Pinterest. Feel free to have a look. All of them are still pretty empty but, once the ball is rolling, things are going to get awesome!

Also check out my updated “Stuff to check out” section. I’ve added some information and links that you might find interesting!