Mornings With Marie: July 2022
Mornings With Marie: July 2022
BBNYA, Camp NaNoWriMo, Book Reviews, and Fantasy Author Thomas M. Kane
Hullo, fam! I hope you’ve been well, wherever you are and however cold/warm it is on your side of the world 😘
July is turning out to be busy. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to join the panel of this year’s Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award or BBNYA, which is an annual indie book award hosted and judged completely by book bloggers from all over the world. One of BBNYA’s goals is to give underappreciated, lesser known indie authors a chance to make themselves known without being overshadowed by the big names, so you can bet I’m here for this! 😍
And if June is Audiobook Month, July is for Camp NaNoWriMo. Or one of two months for Camp NaNo, anyway. The difference between NaNo in November and Camp NaNo is the flexibility afforded to authors. We can set our own word count goals - yes, it doesn’t have to be 50,000 phew! - and we can tackle any kind of writing project, novel or not.
I decided to join at the eleventh hour - literally at 11PM on 30 June! 😂 A friend told me she was participating, then I remembered I’d thought of participating, and the rest is history. I’m now working on something called Reflections, a 10,000 word fantasy anthology (collection of short stories) about mirrors. Or, well, there’s scifi too. And horror/paranormal. 🤭 Wish me luck!
New Short Stories
The Audience Is the Enemy (Audio)
A musician laments on her strange "fan" situation.Butterfly Kisses (Non-Fiction)
A short piece about and for my father - because June is the month for weddings, and fathers too. Written in response to Vocal’s Fathers’ Day challenge.
Featured Author of the Month
Thomas M. Kane is a fantasy author and international relations scholar. He grew up in the woods of Maine, then spent eighteen years teaching international relations at Britain's University of Hull. Now back in Maine, he draws on his studies to write fantasy novels full of spies, secrets and high-stakes political intrigue.
His fantasy series Mara of the League is now complete on Amazon, with book one also available on audio!
Mara clashes with her land’s corrupt rulers, but the day will come when it’s up to her to save her country from invasion.
The Mara of the League series follows its reflective and frequently misunderstood main character from childhood into her forties, exploring her evolving thoughts about her family, her friendships, her life choices, and the political maelstrom she is involved in. The box set features eight detailed maps detailing military operations.
Book Reviews
Here’s a little something for the readers on my list: I’ll now share links to the book reviews I’ve posted in the previous month! If you’re looking for new reads, this could be just the place of you. I mostly read fantasy and young adult, but I’ll occasionally throw in a different genre to shake things up. And if you have recommendations of your own, I’ll be happy to check them out sometime! 🥰
MARY: Adrift in the Sea of Sorrow by Kate Cunningham
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ● Young Adult Dystopian FictionMan Down by James Goodhand
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ● Young Adult Thriller/DramaThe Heron Kings by Eric Lewis
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ● Epic FantasyValen and the Beasts by G.J. Kemp
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ● Young Adult Fantasy Adventure
Do watch out for my list of fave reads for the first half of 2022, which will be coming to you through a special edition of this newsletter later this July 😉 I guess I’ll have to officially make this a bi-monthly newsletter soon, haha!
Writing Opportunities
Love short stories? Globe Soup runs its 7 Day Writing Challenge all throughout the year, with a cash prize of £500 for stories up to 2,000 words. Entry is free. The next challenge starts 4 July!
Chicken Soup For the Soul: The Power of Positive Thinking (Deadline: 31 July)
How did you “think positive” and how did it change your life? Submit your true stories and poems on the power of positive thinking. Pays $200.Wizards in Space (Deadline: 1 August)
Submit your poetry, prose or art to Issue 08, which features the numerology of the number 8: a digit that stands for power and achievement and good fortune. What does it mean to be empowered, to revel in your own strength? How do you take the abundance of yourself and share it freely with others? When have you felt most like dancing and singing? Pays $40 per original poem or per page of original art, $20 per reprinted poem or per page of reprinted art, $0.04 per word for original prose based on final published word count, and $0.02 per word for reprinted prose based on final published word count.
Writing Resources
Need ideas for your newsletter? Or do you simply enjoy reading a wide range of topics and staying in the know? Join Refind and get 7 new links every day, tailored to your interests and curated from 10k+ sources.
Author Paul Bradley Carr reveals his top tips for creating a memoir that appeals to a wider audience. Join the How to Write a Memoir with Commercial Appeal webinar this coming 6 July! Registration is free.
Learn practical tips for creating a podcast on Substack through this primer on podcast production. You can connect with other podcasters (current and aspiring) on the comments section as well!
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter! I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to write me back. 💕 Thanks for reading and talk to you again soon! 😘
Marie xx