Every month Solstice Publishing hosts a Twitter Tale event with a different picture for inspiration. You can follow along with stories from several Solstice authors, including myself. Check out #Twittertales every Thursday and Friday. And now, check out my July story, Home Sweet.

Annie pulled her coat on, shivering. The one room in the old house was all the three of them could afford, it was always cold. She tucked her hands in her pocket, felt something. She pulled out a pair of thick, red gloves that she’d never seen.

Annie didn’t have time to figure out the mystery gloves, she had to get to work. She pulled them on and headed out. Old Blanch was sitting on the front porch, already. She’d gotten a bottle of something somewhere, and she was sipping at it.

Annie gave Blanch a nod on her way out, which the old woman returned. “Have a good day,” Annie said.

“You too,” Blanch said, her voice already slurred. “Hurry back. She don’t like when you’re gone long.”

Again, Blanch was going on about that?

Old Blanch sat back against the doorframe, watching Annie vanish into the crowds. She didn’t know, how could she know?

The house knew, though. Houses, even old ones like this, knew who belonged to them. And Annie belonged to this one.

The house knew her, had known Annie long before her life began. She didn’t remember, with her one lifetime of memories. But the house did. And it would take care of her. It would always take care of her. In this lifetime and the next.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Preorder your e-copy now!

Like me, many of you probably just finished July’s Camp Nanowrimo session. Or, maybe you just finished being slightly annoyed by social media being taken over by Camp Nanowrimo. You know, wherever you fall in that spectrum.

I did win, as you’ll know if you followed me on social media. But, I found myself a little letdown. If you’ll remember, at the start of the month I thought this was going to be the most productive Nanowrimo ever. I was going to kill it, nothing was standing in my way.

A week in, I changed my goal again. Now, I made my goal, but it was a low one. All I asked of myself was to write 30,000 words or essentially finish the second draft of my new science fiction piece. I did that, but I thought I would be able to do so much more! Nothing was standing in my way!

Actually, a lot of things were standing in my way. As usual, I had 99 problems and created 95 of them my damn self. One of the biggest ones is that I was adjusting to a new medication. Totally dumb of me to think I was going to be able to write at my normal pace, let alone exceed that pace for any amount of time.

And speaking of time! Some day I will learn that time goals do not work for me! The problem is that I always either over or underestimate how much time something’s going to take. For instance, I write and even edit fairly quickly. But when it comes to doing social media stuff or creating graphics or posting blog posts, those things all take a superb amount of time. So a timed goal is hard to fit in, and unrealistic in terms of how much work I’m going to get done.

Oh, and if you were wondering why I’m spending so much time making graphics and working on social media, it’s because I’m launching a book this month. You know, Station Central. Available for Preorder right now. And launching a book is a ton of work. I mean a lot a lot of work. Once again, this was me being unrealistic about what I can do with the time allotted.

So, my uber-productive month was still more productive than normal. I’m pretty happy about that. I did finish the second draft of my new novella, and I’m not mad at that. I started on the beta readers edits of a new book I’ll be announcing soon, and I’m pretty pleased about that too. So, I’ve decided to focus on the good, focus on the happy. Because when I focus on the good, I find more of it.

And you know what? Camp Nanowrimo is still really fun! I love the communal feeling from my local writers, and writers all over the world. I have never done any Nanowrimo event that I didn’t feel like I got something great out of.

Next time I’ll just plan my goal a little better.

So how about you? Did you reach your Camp Nanowrimo goal? Let us know in the comments below.

Station Central has been touted as the vacation destination in the stars. Its success and popularity as not only a great place to vacation, but a great place to live was the start of mankind moving off of Earth and into the stars.
Sennett, Godfrey and Liam head there in search of a much-needed vacation. Instead, they find a council at war with each other, a population starving and an accused murderer lurking in the shadows. Sennett and Godfrey fight to keep April safe as family secrets threaten to destroy them, even as the Hollow Suits come out of hiding and attack. Will they survive the fourth installment of Station 86?

Pre-order Station Central now.

Every month Solstice Publishing hosts a Twitter storytelling event. On Thursdays and Fridays, several of us get together to write stories, 240 characters at a time, based on a shared picture. If you want to follow along, check us out at #twittertales with @solsticepublishing. But, I wanted to collect up all of the tweets that encompass my story and share them here with you. Here is my June story. Hope you like it. And check out the Twitter Tales every month.

It walked, unsure of how long it had been walking. There had been buildings before, but that had been how long? Days, weeks? So these building on the horizon had been a surprise. And a letdown, when It reached them. They were broken and empty.

It looked through the remains anyway. The food stores were dwindling, It couldn’t overlook a chance to find more. Inside one building it found a cluster of broken boxes and a few stray potatoes. It was pleased but worried. Why had these been left?

Hoping that the potatoes weren’t poisoned, It tucked them into a bag and kept scrounging. There was no use leaving until every inch was searched or until it was not safe to stay.

There, in the corner, what was that? A bottle, catching the light.

It crept towards the bottle, intrigued. When It got closer, It could see the label. A bottle of pop, something It hadn’t seen since childhood. Something It had dreamed of, surely something never to be had again. This was too good to be true.

At the last moment, It pulled it’s hand back. Since the darkness, there was nothing like this left. Other scavengers had taken everything. If something this good, was left, it was a trap. There was no doubt. It looked around, wary. Was It alone?

It heard things in the sand, slithering and slinking towards it. It dropped the bottle of pop and ran. This place was a trap, set by those who had given up on scavenging and taken to cannibalism. But they wouldn’t win today. It ran.

The bottle of pop stayed where it was, resting on a trap door that led to a well stocked cellar that had not been touched for years, and had been casually dropped by accident when the family who’d once lived there left.

Harold spent most of his son’s life protecting him from the man in the woods, while his neighbors lost child after child. Then, after a deadly car crash, he has to take his sixteen-year-old granddaughter into his home.

Then a reality company starts building a new neighborhood in the heart of the woods, placing hundreds of children in harm’s way.

Get it here now.

If you subscribe to PBW Update, then the last episode of Station Central came your way on July 29^th. If you’re reading Station Central here, then there’s just two episodes left.

The ending is explosive, get ready.

But, as always, there’s more to the story. There are two chapters at the end of the book that tell the story of what’s happening on Earth right now, and more information about Sennett’s birth parents.

If you can’t wait to get it, don’t worry. The ebook of Station Central will be available on August 30^th. But, of course, it’s available for pre-order right now.

And please keep reading as we reach the ending of Station Central right here on PBW.

This is a little late coming, but as you might know, I’ve been busy. I mean, I’m always busy, so that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. But I meant to write this back in June, and I’m just now getting around to it.

Oh well.

As some of you may know, my birthday was in June. And every year, I read The Giver on my birthday. I’ve done this since I was thirteen when I was given my first copy of it by a friend named Jamie over lunch on the last day of school.

This means that, as of this year, I’ve literally read The Giver twenty times. That’s right, the same book. Twenty times.

And you know what? It’s never gotten old. Every year, it feels different. Every year, even though I could quote you whole pages of it, it feels like I’m reading it with fresh eyes.

Why is this happening? It’s the same book. It hasn’t changed since 1993 when it first came out. I refuse to acknowledge that a movie exists, so that hasn’t colored my perception. And yes, there are more books now. But sadly, I’ve only ever read Gathering Blue. And that only once.

The book hasn’t changed. But the eyes reading it have. I am a far different person now than I was twenty years ago. I mean, I would hope I’m not the same person I was when I was thirteen. But I’m also not the same person I was when I was fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or thirty. I hope that I’m not the same person a year from now.

And as I change, as I become a different person, the words ring out from the page differently. Their tune hasn’t changed, but I hear them different.

Different passages, different words touch me. Every year a different phrase moves me. Every year it means something new to me.

I can’t help but wonder if other people have experienced this. An I the only one who’s invested time every year to absorb the same words? I know that some people read the same poem over and over, studying its melody and features. But does anyone else do that with prose?

Some, I imagine, do this with holiday classics. I have tried to read two books in particular for Christmas every year, A Christmas Carol and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I don’t always have the time, and it hasn’t been so long a term thing. It’s also a bit more universal, you know? A lot of people read those books every year. No one, as far as I know, reads The Giver every year. This makes it a very intimate experience.

No matter what your age, you can start this tradition right now. It doesn’t have to be your birthday. Maybe you have a book you read every Summer, every Fall. The important thing is to pick a book with a depth that can be explored over and over. One that you will feel comfortable revisiting over and over. A book that means something important to you.

It’s best if the book has a significant meaning aside from the book itself. Though no matter the book you chose, it will start to collect that meaning over time. I read The Giver, and I remember reading it in my attic bedroom at thirteen. I remember reading it in my first apartment for the first time. I remember reading it under a shady tree in the grass, on a bus on the way to work. I remember reading it in twenty different places, in twenty different versions of my skin. And as I’ve read it every year, I’ve moved forward. I, like Jonas, have given myself over to a leap of faith. I have hoped that I would find people who love me at the bottom of that hill.

When a station goes dark, Sennett is asked to join the last remaining IHP members to investigate. When they arrive, they find so much more than they expected. A terrifying virus is loose on the station, that they might never escape from.

Meanwhile, Station 86 is having its first free election. Godfrey hadn’t had any intention of being involved, until he isn’t given a choice.

In the meantime, April’s true identity as the first hybrid humanoid is no longer a secret. And there are those who can’t stand that there’s a half Earthian, half Khloe. There are those that will never rest until the little girl is dead. With Sennett trapped, stations away, Godfrey and Mason have to work together to keep April safe.

Now available on Smashwords

It’s time for a launch day, are you ready?

Virus, Book 3 of Station 86, is now available on Smashwords.

When a station goes dark, Sennett is asked to join the last remaining IHP members to investigate. When they arrive, they find so much more than they expected. A terrifying Virusvirus is loose on the station, that they might never escape from.

Meanwhile, Station 86 is having its first free election. Godfrey hadn’t had any intention of being involved, until he isn’t given a choice.

In the meantime, April’s true identity as the first hybrid humanoid is no longer a secret. And there are those who can’t stand that there’s a half Earthian, half Khloe. There are those that will never rest until the little girl is dead. With Sennett trapped, stations away, Godfrey and Mason have to work together to keep April safe.

By the way, it’s also available on Barns & Noble and Kobo. Super excited about that.

If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a copy of Virus, now’s your chance. I hope you love it.

Thank you as always for reading. And I hope you’re ready for the end of Station Central. There’s only two episodes left!

So, there’s this school bus driver that I kind of hated this past year. Her route was right near my house and, I’ve got to tell you, she must have had it out for me. She would take corners too wide, causing us to have to back up. She’d come to stops with little to no warning. She would sit at a stop forever, I swear. And any time we made eye contact, she’d go off on us. At least as much as she could, seeing as how we couldn’t hear her. Though I’m assuming you have an idea what I mean. Hands waving, mouth moving in such a way we can clearly see she’s not using language she should be using while driving about a bunch of kids.

I don’t like this woman. I cannot understand this woman, and I don’t want her to be driving children.

At the same time, it’s really hard to have such strong feelings for someone you see for a minute at most. And, a lot of factors play into my vitriol for this woman. For one thing, I see her in one of my least favorite times of the day. I am always anxious I’m going to be late for work, no matter how early we’ve left. And she, well, I’m sure driving kids on a school bus can’t be a stress-free job. Maybe we’re just two women, doing our best.

Or maybe she’s got road rage and needs to get that shit under control.

One way or another, I don’t really know this woman. I see one face of her, and it’s not a good one. I don’t see her when she gets back to the bus depot. Maybe she’s the one who brought doughnuts in. Maybe she waits a few extra minutes for a kid who has trouble getting out the door. Maybe she is the driver that always remembers all the kid’s birthday. Maybe she’s a great wife, mom, aunt, sister.

The same is true for our characters. Especially our secondary characters. We tend to see our primary characters as themselves because we see them through their own eyes.

But what about the nice old man who lives next door? How does his son see him? Is there a reason he doesn’t bring his wife when he visits?

What about the best friend? She’s always happy, always there to answer the phone when the MC needs her. Why is her life so empty that she’s just there for her buddy all the time?

Or, what about the villain?

The reason this is coming up is that I’m working on a companion novel to Woven right now. For those of you who read the trilogy, you might remember a woman named Grace in book two. The one who was an old flame of Victor, who was less than happy to see him in love with Lenore?

Yeah, her story is so much more than just being the old girlfriend. And so is Calvin’s. I was really astounded how I felt about Lenore after writing this. Or more specifically, Victor. I am kind of furious at him now.

I’m not telling you all this to sell a book that isn’t even done yet. I’m telling you because it’s really fascinating to me. No one’s really a pure villain or a pure hero. We all have shades of gray. Things that redeem us, things that we’d rather no one else know about. Why does your neighbor walk alone every evening? Who does your boss go home to? How many of your co-workers are forcing that smile?

We all have stories, and we all have many sides. To write a good character, make sure you explore all of your character’s sides. Even if they don’t fit into the story you’re telling right now.

Station 86 is shocked when a Khloe assassin begins killing members of the all powerful council. Officer Sennett Montgomery and Councilman Godfrey Anders swear to find the assassin after Godfrey’s wife is falsely accused. But the killer, and the council itself, are not what they seem. Neither, as it turns out, is Sennett’s daughter.

Download the e-book now for free.

Fun fact. When you get interested in something and want to learn more, the universe (or probably ads inspired by online spying) will help you. As you may know, I’ve been on a mission for better money management for quite some time now. I have to tell you, though, I’ve been struggling. Food is expensive, you guys. Like, way more expensive than it should be.

So, I listen to this podcast called Bad With Money with Gabi Dunn. And if you do too, I bet you now have her theme song stuck in your head. And she had someone on a few weeks ago who I just fell in love with. Like, started following her on Instagram and bought her book right away love. That person is Erin Lowry, aka the Broke Millennial.

You guys, this woman has some of the most practical advice I have ever seen for money management. Not just budgeting, not just saving. Real, honest money management. And I love it.

Had some great advice about budgeting

While I didn’t agree with absolutely everything in the book, I found the vast majority of it helpful. It went way past the usual suggestions that you see everywhere. Save money, use this method of budgeting, use that method of budgeting. Oh man, this shit gets offensive sometimes. Clip coupons, shop at different stores, shop the sales and forget coupons!

While all that’s fine, saving money doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know what to do with it.

Let me tell you, I’ve learned things from this book that are going to save me money. Even better, I learned things from this book that are going to make me money. Which is awesome.

Inspirational stories

Look, money issues are hard. It’s nice to know they’re hard for everyone. I mean, there’s a reason why I gravitated towards a money advisor called the Broke Millennial. This book did two things in that regard. It told me I’m not alone, and not stupid for not knowing these things. That’s the big thing to remember. We’re not taught this stuff anywhere unless we seek it out. We are not stupid for not knowing how to manage my money.

The other thing this book taught me is that just because I don’t know now doesn’t mean I’ll never know. I can take steps to be better, and I can start right now. And so can you. Which brings me to my last point.

Made me feel like proper money management was an attainable goal

I went through this book with my notebook open, taking notes. I have plans, people, I have big plans! And you know what else? I feel like these big plans are totally, absolutely, one hundred percent attainable.

I think too often we’re just afraid of things like investing or changing banks. I think money, in general, makes us scared. And I get it. Money makes me scared. But not having enough of it to care for myself and my family makes me way more scared.

And for helping me feel more confident about money decisions, this book is worth its weight in gold.

It’s always an exciting time when I get to announce a book launch. Even though this one isn’t a purely new launch. That’s okay, though. It’s still fun.

Virus, book three of Station 86 will be available on Smashwords on July 30.

So, if you’ve been waiting to complete your Station 86 series, but you’re not a fan of Amazon, I got you. I always love being able to offer my stories on as many markets as I can.

And of course, because it’s on Smashwords, it’s also on OverDrive, Kobo, Apple Books and Barns & Noble. Let me tell you, it is like a literal dream come true to see my books on freaking Barns & Noble!

I love being able to provide my books across as many platforms as possible. I want to make sure that anyone who wants to read my stories can, regardless of what device they have. And I hope that if you haven’t read Virus yet, you grab it now.

Every single year I do this, and I have no intention of stopping. #Sorrynotsorry. But this is a pretty exciting thing, and I really want to share it with you.

Tomorrow will be the sixth anniversary of the day I started my trilogy, Woven. It’s the sixth anniversary of the day I sat in the middle of the park and prayed for this story not to die on me.

And, it didn’t.

This is a particularly special anniversary because the first trilogy is now over. And Woven has grown so much beyond that. At least in my mind, it has, and in projects that are in the works as we speak. (Sorry, no launch dates to release yet.)

I always like to take a moment at this time every year to thank all of you. I value all of you who got Missing Stitches to the bestseller list on its launch day. I thank all of you who read it and left a review. I can’t believe that I’m so blessed as to have so many people reading my stories.

For those of you who are authors, don’t quit. It takes work, and it takes time. But you can get there.

Again, thank you. I have every intention of continuing to bring you stories for many years to come.

Stay tuned.

In Devon’s world, magical work is as common as turning a pot or fletching an arrow. What isn’t common is a man with thread magic. When Devon finds that he is a seer, weaving prophetic tapestries, his family tries to keep it a secret.
But the family can’t hide Devon’s visions after he predicts a devastating plague in the dragon lands of Coveline. He travels there to help the dragon queen save her people.
Meanwhile, Devon’s sister Lenore joins the Church of Singular Light. As Lenore learns to serve, and falls in love with her city, she discovers a dark underbelly to the church.
Lenore fights for her city, and Devon rushes to find a cure to the plague, while an unseen enemy raises an army to destroy Septa from within.

Get it here today!