Mornings With Marie: June 2022
Mornings With Marie: June 2022
Summer, New Short Stories, and Fantasy-Romance Author Kate Craft
Happy June, friends! 🌞
It’s finally summer in the UK - or it will be, officially, on the 21st. All the same, the sun sets past 9PM here now, which is a lot later in the day than my summers back in the Philippines. The good news: there’s more time to do stuff! The not-so-good news: even summers are cold here. The forecast for the 21st is 18°C (hottest) vs. my hometown’s 27°C (coldest) 🤣 It’s not entirely bad, because it’s actually nice to take walks and travel around without sweating to death, but I also can’t just leave the flat in shorts and a tank top. (Spoiler alert: I’m still wearing leg warmers and fleece jackets to this day. 😅)
Weather aside, things have been pretty good around here, and I hope you’ve all been well too! 💖 I’ve been working on some new projects, hanging out in author communities, and dipping my toes into TikTok FOR SCIENCE 🧐.
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Which reminds me, I’ve recently updated my social media handles so Facebook, TikTok and Instagram are now all harmonized under @sinadjanmarie. Twitter, alas, remains elusive as someone beat me to the name, so I’ll forever be a bunny there 🤪
I’ve also been catching up on theatre shows and movies! Hubby and I particularly enjoyed Beyond the Barricade, a touring musical theatre concert headlined by former Les Misérables cast members, and the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. 😍
New Short Stories
The new format (webpage vs. downloadable PDF) seems to be working better for everyone thus far, myself included, so I’ll be sticking to it unless anyone has any novel ideas 😉 And this month we have a couple of new stories!
I wrote these two for Vocal’s Mother’s Day Confessions challenge, so they’re both letters of a sort, and they both mention time travel (🤪), though the second is much darker.
Hey Mom, I Built You A Time Machine
A daughter plays fairy godmother to her mother.Death Note
A short story on the complications of love, loss and saying goodbye.
While here are some “old” pieces I ported over to Vocal:
Tactics
A short office romance story told from two perspectives.Rendezvous
Working late one night, Nora unintentionally stumbles into her colleague's moonlight tryst.The Hotel Fen Archives, Vol. 1
Short stories and flash pieces from the Hotel Fen universe.
I still have one more story in the works, with a prompt courtesy of my lovely author friend Dawn. Unfortunately I couldn’t complete it in time, so it will have to go with the special edition newsletter that’s going out mid-month, or maybe on the summer solstice. (Maybe I should just go ahead and make these newsletters bi-monthly, eh?) Anyway, here’s an idea of what Dawn’s roped me into:
Fun, right? Stay tuned for the output! 🥰
Featured Author of the Month
Kate Craft is an emerging author of fantasy-romance. Currently dwelling in the United Kingdom, Craft spent the majority of her early years travelling the world and immersing herself in new cultures. During this time her passion for reading and writing were carefully tended and curated, and she began her first projects as a novelist. Now she writes full time with the love and support of her two side kicks: Bodhi, the beautiful fox-red Labrador, and her Fiancé. Craft's focus will forever remain on anything featuring romance, and with a love for history and fantastical worlds, she carefully weaves her own fantasy realms of magic and mayhem for us bibliophiles and those in need of an escape.
Her Arthurian-inspired novel, Chaos Forged A Fable, is available for purchase on Amazon US or Amazon UK. You can also add it to your Goodreads lists. Book 2 is coming out this September, so this is the perfect time to check it out! ✨
Policewoman. Orphan. Single... again. This is all Maya knew. But everything is about to change.
For the first time in five years, Maya Cross returns to her family home, only to learn that her past is completely fictional. Not only are her parents alive, they’re in another world. A parallel realm. A place called Avalon.
With nothing but an odd stone and a promise, Maya crosses the barrier between worlds on a rescue mission that will change her life forever. Wild and ill-tempered territories, their eccentric rulers and strange new creatures both help and hinder as she gathers friends, foes, a few mischievous sprites and a soulmate to help her save those she loves and discover her true destiny.
Writing Opportunities
Love short stories? Reedsy has a weekly short story competition. Just respond to their prompts and get a chance to win $250! Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.
The First Line Journal (Deadline: 1 August 2022)
They want fiction (300-5,000 words) and poetry that begins with pre-set first lines, one for each quarterly issue. For the fall issue, the first line is “Lily unlocked the back door of the thrift store using a key that didn’t belong to her.” For nonfiction, they want critical articles about your favorite first line from a literary work. Pay is $25-50 for fiction, $25 for nonfiction, $5-10 for poetry, less postage fee for international writers for author copies unless you opt for a PDF instead of a hard copy. No submission fee.Live Novel Digest
This is an app-based magazine, publishing “open-world, interactive novels.” Word count is 2,000-4,000 words for short fiction, with a note to ensure submissions are suitable for a wide audience.” Pays $100.The Globe Soup ‘First Sentence’ Mini Challenge
Prize is $100. The challenge is to write the first sentence of a brand new, original story while adhering to the genre and “type” provided. You can write for all 10 combinations, or just one. It’s all up to you. You need to join the Love to Write Facebook group to enter though - but it’s a fantastic group, I promise!
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.
WriteHive 2022 Conference (10-12 June 2022)
This is considered as the writing community’s largest free virtual writing conference. They gather authors, editors and industry professionals from all over the world and from every step in the publishing process to provide three full days of panels, presentations, and workshops. It is available to everyone, no matter your writing proficiency.Ultimate Bundles is offering a free ebook called Writing Wisdoms: 26 Brilliant Tips From Successful, Professional Writers. Just go to the link to get your copy!
Finding High-Quality Reviewers and Building Your Mailing List (23 June)
A free webinar presented by Evan Gow of StoryOrigin. Evan is the indie developer of StoryOrigin, which is a marketing tool and community of authors that work together to find reviewers, build mailing lists, increase sales, and stay on top of deadlines.
I hope you enjoyed this month’s 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! 😘
xoxo, Marie