So Many Projects, So Little Time

Good grief - it's been awhile, sorry!  I've been having problems with my eye for the past month, and most of my time off has been spent going to various doctor appointments to see if we can figure out what's wrong.  There's no end in sight (haha - sight - get it?) just yet, but in the meantime, I have also managed to take some baby steps on a number of different things, so that's something!

Everything Happens At Once

At least, that's how it seems sometimes.  I only have a few minutes to write this post (I'm at work), so I'll make it quick!

I got my ABNA entry in, easy peasy.  I finished editing the manuscript around 11:25pm, then poured a well-earned rum & coke to celebrate.  I'd fully anticipated that there would be a huge backlog of people all trying to upload their entries at the bell, and I was completely prepared for that.

What I wasn't prepared for was having no trouble whatsoever, and being done within the first 20 minutes.  I mean, I'd barely touched whatever number rum & coke I was on at that point!  But everything loaded smoothly, except my author photo, which I took the time to resize to make it fit the entry form.  Even with that, I was done quickly, and had some time to kill.  So naturally I went to the contest message boards, and updated Twitter and Facebook.

I'd been putting off a couple of other projects while I got my entry ready, so the next morning, I began to turn my attention back to them.  Browncoat magnet sets.  Ebon Black editing (and some huge waffling on how long it should end up being). 

And I got another idea for a book, this time a Young Adult fantasy-ish tale; the subject of which, to my knowledge, has never really been done before.  So I am excited about that, too.

Oh, and I finally got prizes drawn for the Spot The Ad contest I ran while my Ryerson Chang School ad was up.  I'm started handing them out to the winners, and am actually having fun doing so - I'm so glad I ran that wee contest!  :)

OK, that's it for my lunch break - back to the day job!

Until soon,

S.A.M.

Carving The Light Free Previews

This will be news to some of you, a quick reminder to others, and met with complete indifference from still more!  ;)
But I wanted to just put it out there as we wade through this holiday season.  There are some free previews of Carving The Light available out there on the world wide interweb!  The first few pages of the book are visible through the Search Inside feature on the book page at Amazon.com (Carving The Light).

Additionally a full scene from further along in the story can be found here.

In other news, the Ryerson Chang School ad is appearing more and more frequently across the city of Toronto, on subway platforms and now in public transit vehicles all over the place.  So keep your eyes peeled and cameras at the ready!  The Spot The Ad Contest is in full swing, and there are tons of crappy prizes to be won!  Search Carving The Light on Facebook, and this blog, for full contest details!

Until soon,

S.A.M.

Toronto - Spot The Ad Contest Now On!!!

Okay, Toronto, here we go!  The Ryerson ads are going up all over the TTC, across the city, and will be up through the holiday season!  Keep your eyes peeled, and your cameras at the ready, to give yourself a shot at winning any number of the fabulously crappy prizes available to be won!  :)

Reviews For Carving The Light!

Thanks in no small part to the Goodreads.com community, I have finally started receiving reviews for my book online!  They are all visible on my book page, but here are some of the highlights thus far:

DangerGirl says: 

Have tissues at the ready.


Ms. Maynard is so apt at creating characters that are both vivid and complete that you are immediately drawn into their lives and empathize with their struggles and their joys. She has knit together a journey that truly will have you laughing out loud with tears rolling down your face.


Arliss writes:

I enjoyed this story of three sisters who endured a tragic event during their childhood.


Ms Maynard allowed me to travel with the sisters, feel their painful experiences, and know the secrets they kept from each other. Through her writing I laughed, I cried, I cheered, and I pitied these girls as if I too was part of their family.

I look forward to her future writings.

And Delilah feels:
 
I thought that this was a great book. It spoke from the heart and was a very true account of the feelings of guilt people can carry around with them. It is so true about the fact that if more people would talk about their feelings it would avoid so many misunderstandings. I would highly recommend this as a goodread.


I will be posting individually on Goodreads, probably later this evening, but I wanted to say overall how grateful I am to each of those women for taking the time to post their thoughts about Carving The Light.  And I am REALLY happy that people are enjoying it!  The Collins girls and the fabulous people in their lives became very important to me while I was writing their story, and I suspect that they will always occupy a special place in my heart.  So, thank you, to everyone who's taking the time to look at my book, or to pick it up and read it, and to those who spread the word and let others know (and me, too) how they feel about it, or how it's affected them.
 
And if anyone feels like posting similar thoughts on Amazon, please feel free to do so!  lol
 
In OTHER news, we are now just mere weeks away from the beginning of the Ryerson Chang school's winter ad campaign, and I can not wait!  I got an update email from them today, letting me know that they will be submitting materials to other print publications and such, as well, so that is outstanding...I'd love to see where else I turn up!
 
I've started putting together small prizes for the contest, too, so get ready to keep on the lookout!  I just got a cute little Carving The Light totebag in the mail the other day, and there will be much more to come!  Pictures to follow, but for now, this is what the ad will look like. 
 

 
Watch out for it all over Toronto via the TTC, starting November 29th!
 
Until soon,
 
SAM

Everything Is Happening

So, here we are, with only 9 days left before I head to sunny California with my lovely girl for a whole week!  Mayhaps we shall even work on illustration ideas for Ebon Black and the Seven Dryads, especially when we will be exposed to such incredible ingenius ideas at Disneyland!  For certain, though, there will be much giggling and good times.  I can not wait.  :)

I am WAY overdue in sending out many thanks to the boys at my photo shoot last week!  Jim, Mark and Ted made it great fun for me, and it was actually kind of hard to leave!  I can't wait to see how it all turns out!  I will be posting it everywhere, once I get a look at it myself, of course!  ;)

Additionally, I have submitted Carving The Light to Guys Can Read, in the hopes that they might pick it as a finalist in their indie author contest!  Basically, they will announce a group of finalists on November 2nd.  If my book is among them, I will be looking for everyone I know to go vote for my book to win.  IF it wins, the guys will read and review it on their podcast!  Which is about the coolest thing I've heard in recent memory. 

I know my book is kind of girly at first glance (you know...all emotions and drama everywhere), but guys have been enjoying it, too, and I think it's likely because the characters are all easy to relate to, no matter what gender you happen to be reading from inside of.  So, hopefully, my little book will be given a shot at finally having a review or two done on it...and if some of those reviews come from the boys' perspectives, ALL the better!  I am really excited by the opportunity, and would encourage all of you to go check out their podcast/site, when you have a chance.  It's truly unique, and I look forward to hearing more from them as we go along!

OK, that's it for now.  I am too distracted to write much at the moment, apparently!

NINE MORE DAYS!  :D

Until soon,

SAM

Ryerson - Chang School Photo Shoot Tomorrow!!!

Everything is coming together for the ad I will be featured in for Ryerson's Chang School of Continuing Education!  The photo shoot is tomorrow morning and, with the exception of a still sore and bumpy eye, I am good to go!

Updates and Musings

OK, first off, I should mention that I just got back to work from my first appointment with an eye doctor, to make sure that my injury from a few weeks ago is healing and that no further damage was done.  So, one eye is dilated a ridiculous amount, I am uncomfortable and can't see out of it, and I just want to go home and sleep it off.

Typing ain't easy, either, naturally, but there was some stuff I wanted to talk about, while I have a chance!