Now that Arden's Act has been out for a few months, I should be trying to figure out ways to have it linked to something ragingly popular on the internet, like 50 Shades of Gray or Outlander. The latter is somewhat plausible, in that I at least read and admire Diana Gabaldon, and love the miniseries--but I digress.
Instead I've decided to share one of the most harrowing parts of getting published--having one's family members actually read what one has written. I can let a million strangers read my words without batting an eyelash. But my relatives? People whose thoughts and feelings about me I actually care about? Almost as scary as the thought of a world without restaurants. And when your book has, quite frankly, a lot of sex scenes in it? Oh my.
Fortunately, I have pretty great relatives, and amazing parents. Not only that, but most of them are really a hoot. My mother, and her sister, my Aunt Clara, have now read the book. Apparently, they both loved it, and they are both just so proud of me! My mother was gracious enough to share with me the following bits of their conversation:
Aunt Clara: "I had no idea Elizabeth knew about [insert name of kinky sex act here]."
Mom: "Elizabeth is French. She is always horny."
It is a great comfort to me to have a family who really gets me.
Apparently, my father has decided to read Arden's Act, too. He is the one who so graciously donated those French genes.
Mom: "You can just skip over the filth if you want to."
Dad: "But that might be the best part!"
Seriously, though, my family has been great about my e-book. I am so blessed to have them all.
Elizabeth
(without her glasses)
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Guest Appearance
I am the guest blogger for my publisher, in celebration of Keith Publications' fourth anniversary. I'm going to put the link down here, because you have to comment on their site to be entered to win fabulous prizes.
http://keithpublications.com/blog/60-elizabeth-thomas-reading-writing-and-rock-roll.
http://keithpublications.com/blog/60-elizabeth-thomas-reading-writing-and-rock-roll.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
To Fanfic, or Not to Fanfic (and other news)
I know I say this every time I come here, but I really need to do this more often. There are noises everywhere that it really can be done--make money as an independent author (which is not to say I'd turn down any form of book contract!)--but that the key to doing so is to blog, and tweet, and make all sorts of vulgar and comical-sounding noises. Apparently it is pretty key even with a conventional contract. So, without further ado, I will announce that my short story More Than the Quest, published by Keith Publications, is now available on Amazon for Kindle. Here is the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-the-Quest-ebook/dp/B00E5G85DE/ref=sr_1_1/177-8323824-7150801?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1375573403&sr=1-1&keywords=more+than+the+quest.
It's a short fantasy tale, a stand-alone excerpt from a novel I am writing called The White Squirrel.
I want to do more with this blog, however, than publicize myself. In the last entry I made, I posted a link to a book written by a friend from my old writers' group, Barbara Ann Wright. Her first book, The Pyramid Waltz, did very well for itself, and got a review in USA Today; her second book in the series, For Want of a Fiend, came out in May, and here's the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Want-Fiend-Barbara-Ann-Wright/dp/1602828733/ref=sr_1_1/179-9177260-5298851?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375574265&sr=1-1&keywords=barbara+ann+wright
There are electronic versions of both books, now, too. I haven't had the time to read it yet, but I'm sure it will be every bit as good as the last one. I'll be sure to review it when I'm done.
Now to the actual topic of this entry. Not all of my friends know that I've become absolutely addicted to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Pendergast series, but my kids sure do. And I have made a great many online friends on one of the Facebook pages devoted to their works, Team Pendergast. I picked up the first in the series, Relic (please do not judge it by the movie that was made from it; Pendergast was left in all his magnificence on the cutting room floor!), looking for a quick, keep-yourself-from-being-bored mystery fix, and came away, eleven books later, with an obsession and lots of new friends. (Actually, he had me at the third book, Cabinet of Curiosities; his brother Diogenes had me by the seventh, Book of the Dead.) Not only that, but the authors themselves are genuinely good human beings who are willing to interact with their readers. While they cannot officially endorse fan fiction, they are okay with it; on their author website they include links to fan sites that include fan fiction about their characters. Mr. Preston even seems somewhat proud of the subgenre called, for obvious reasons, "Pendergasms."
As prolific as these Gentlemen (my pet term for them) are, the wait between Pendergast books is nevertheless excruciating. My friends and I have often been driven to the vast body of Pendergast fanfic in desperate need of a fix. Still, most of the aspiring writers I know would not ever write fanfic. It is, to their minds, a waste of time, to work on something they can never sell to a publisher, or even independently, because the characters belong to other people. I have such a hard time making time to write that I could ill afford this kind of indulgence. However, as I was trying to work on The White Squirrel, and writing myself into corners, a story with the Pendergast characters came to me and would not let me alone. I kept telling it no, but it would keep whispering yes, in Diogenes' sibilant tones, chiming in with the lyrics of the songs I listened to on the long commute to my day job and showing up in my dreams. Eventually, it occurred to me that the quickest way to get it to leave me in peace to write my original, and, God-willing, someday profitable work, was to actually write the damned thing.
And so I have. I have been sharing it with my friends on Team P, on an offshoot page christened The Writer's Shack after a cottage Mr. Preston uses to write in. They have been gracious and kind. I have been having fun, too, and recapturing an enthusiasm that has often eluded me. In a PM with one of my Team P friends (or Penderpeeps, as most of us call each other), I affirmed that even TRYING to write like Preston and Child made me a better writer; my wise friend compared it to art students learning by setting up their easels in the Louvre and copying the masters. That is exactly how it feels. Also, I have never felt that I would be any good at writing any sort of mystery; I have never felt I would be able to come up with a plot in which the reader would not immediately know who the murderer was from the first chapter. This fanfic was a safe area to play with a genre in which I was not at all comfortable.
From the beginning of my fanfic adventure, my daughter has been making Fifty Shades of Grey comparisons. I have been shrugging them off. I feel like the characters I have been borrowing from the Pendergast universe are too distinct, and that the things I am writing about them would not be as funny or--yes--sexy!--if they were about different people that we didn't already know like old heartthrobs. But my wise friend at Team P has urged me to think about it a little harder, and at his urging, I have been thinking of some ways to change the characters enough, but still preserve the dynamics between the four I find the most fun to write.... Who knows? We'll see.
It's a short fantasy tale, a stand-alone excerpt from a novel I am writing called The White Squirrel.
I want to do more with this blog, however, than publicize myself. In the last entry I made, I posted a link to a book written by a friend from my old writers' group, Barbara Ann Wright. Her first book, The Pyramid Waltz, did very well for itself, and got a review in USA Today; her second book in the series, For Want of a Fiend, came out in May, and here's the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Want-Fiend-Barbara-Ann-Wright/dp/1602828733/ref=sr_1_1/179-9177260-5298851?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375574265&sr=1-1&keywords=barbara+ann+wright
There are electronic versions of both books, now, too. I haven't had the time to read it yet, but I'm sure it will be every bit as good as the last one. I'll be sure to review it when I'm done.
Now to the actual topic of this entry. Not all of my friends know that I've become absolutely addicted to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Pendergast series, but my kids sure do. And I have made a great many online friends on one of the Facebook pages devoted to their works, Team Pendergast. I picked up the first in the series, Relic (please do not judge it by the movie that was made from it; Pendergast was left in all his magnificence on the cutting room floor!), looking for a quick, keep-yourself-from-being-bored mystery fix, and came away, eleven books later, with an obsession and lots of new friends. (Actually, he had me at the third book, Cabinet of Curiosities; his brother Diogenes had me by the seventh, Book of the Dead.) Not only that, but the authors themselves are genuinely good human beings who are willing to interact with their readers. While they cannot officially endorse fan fiction, they are okay with it; on their author website they include links to fan sites that include fan fiction about their characters. Mr. Preston even seems somewhat proud of the subgenre called, for obvious reasons, "Pendergasms."
As prolific as these Gentlemen (my pet term for them) are, the wait between Pendergast books is nevertheless excruciating. My friends and I have often been driven to the vast body of Pendergast fanfic in desperate need of a fix. Still, most of the aspiring writers I know would not ever write fanfic. It is, to their minds, a waste of time, to work on something they can never sell to a publisher, or even independently, because the characters belong to other people. I have such a hard time making time to write that I could ill afford this kind of indulgence. However, as I was trying to work on The White Squirrel, and writing myself into corners, a story with the Pendergast characters came to me and would not let me alone. I kept telling it no, but it would keep whispering yes, in Diogenes' sibilant tones, chiming in with the lyrics of the songs I listened to on the long commute to my day job and showing up in my dreams. Eventually, it occurred to me that the quickest way to get it to leave me in peace to write my original, and, God-willing, someday profitable work, was to actually write the damned thing.
And so I have. I have been sharing it with my friends on Team P, on an offshoot page christened The Writer's Shack after a cottage Mr. Preston uses to write in. They have been gracious and kind. I have been having fun, too, and recapturing an enthusiasm that has often eluded me. In a PM with one of my Team P friends (or Penderpeeps, as most of us call each other), I affirmed that even TRYING to write like Preston and Child made me a better writer; my wise friend compared it to art students learning by setting up their easels in the Louvre and copying the masters. That is exactly how it feels. Also, I have never felt that I would be any good at writing any sort of mystery; I have never felt I would be able to come up with a plot in which the reader would not immediately know who the murderer was from the first chapter. This fanfic was a safe area to play with a genre in which I was not at all comfortable.
From the beginning of my fanfic adventure, my daughter has been making Fifty Shades of Grey comparisons. I have been shrugging them off. I feel like the characters I have been borrowing from the Pendergast universe are too distinct, and that the things I am writing about them would not be as funny or--yes--sexy!--if they were about different people that we didn't already know like old heartthrobs. But my wise friend at Team P has urged me to think about it a little harder, and at his urging, I have been thinking of some ways to change the characters enough, but still preserve the dynamics between the four I find the most fun to write.... Who knows? We'll see.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Living the Dream
Wow. Haven't been here in far too long. And a lot has been happening. Not only has Keith Publications released my e-short story, they are also going to publish my historical romance, Arden's Act. Here is a link to the short, More Than the Quest. And here is the cover--even e-books have covers! Anyone who blogs and who would like a PDF review copy, please comment on this blog or contact me via Facebook...
Keith is also interested in the novel from which the short story comes, The White Squirrel, which I am working on for NanoWriMo. I will never make the 50,000 words in a month, since I am also moving this month, but I'm getting more done than I would otherwise.
In my association with Keith Publications, I have also made the cyberaquaintance of other writers, including Nikki Prince, whose novel (novela?) Demon Mine I have reviewed for Amazon and Goodreads. We need a photo of Nikki's cover, too--it's pretty:
If you like erotica, check it out--Ms. Prince knows her stuff. I have to admit, however, that I found it interesting in part because of its take on Apocrypha characters, Lilith and Samael.
I also don't think I've mentioned that I joined a writers' group this year, a group that has many talented members. One of the most talented is Barbara Ann Wright, whose first novel The Pyramid Waltz was just published by Bold Strokes Books. I've reviewed it for Amazon and Goodreads as well. It's a great, imaginative fantasy, with strong female characters. Barbara writes with wit and intelligence. Here's her cover; it's an actual print book and not available for Kindle or Nook--yet.
One of the really cool things about knowing Barbara is that she was gracious enough to invite the members of her various writers' groups to a masquerade ball to celebrate the release of her novel. So early last month I got to hobnob with other writers, dressed like I'd never been dressed in my life:
Here's a picture of the proud authoress herself, holding her first-born:
After the party, I adjourned to my dear P's British Museum, where I had him take a photo or two for use on web sites, blogs, etc. I love that he chose the fleur de lis as a backdrop--he knows me so well.
After the photo shoot, let's just say I had an experience every woman writer who claims historical romance as part of her repertoire should have...
One last photo I want to post before I adjourn--the proposed cover for Arden's Act. I shall try not to stay away from here so long in the future!
Keith is also interested in the novel from which the short story comes, The White Squirrel, which I am working on for NanoWriMo. I will never make the 50,000 words in a month, since I am also moving this month, but I'm getting more done than I would otherwise.
In my association with Keith Publications, I have also made the cyberaquaintance of other writers, including Nikki Prince, whose novel (novela?) Demon Mine I have reviewed for Amazon and Goodreads. We need a photo of Nikki's cover, too--it's pretty:
If you like erotica, check it out--Ms. Prince knows her stuff. I have to admit, however, that I found it interesting in part because of its take on Apocrypha characters, Lilith and Samael.
I also don't think I've mentioned that I joined a writers' group this year, a group that has many talented members. One of the most talented is Barbara Ann Wright, whose first novel The Pyramid Waltz was just published by Bold Strokes Books. I've reviewed it for Amazon and Goodreads as well. It's a great, imaginative fantasy, with strong female characters. Barbara writes with wit and intelligence. Here's her cover; it's an actual print book and not available for Kindle or Nook--yet.
One of the really cool things about knowing Barbara is that she was gracious enough to invite the members of her various writers' groups to a masquerade ball to celebrate the release of her novel. So early last month I got to hobnob with other writers, dressed like I'd never been dressed in my life:
Here's a picture of the proud authoress herself, holding her first-born:
One last photo I want to post before I adjourn--the proposed cover for Arden's Act. I shall try not to stay away from here so long in the future!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Lot's Daughter
Have been meaning to post about this for a while. It's a short story I self-published through Kindle, called Lot's Daughter. It's gotten a couple of good reviews. Hopefully the link I'm going to put here will work, although it didn't work on my web site. Okay, this one should work!
1.
Lot's
Daughter by Elizabeth Thomas (Kindle Edition - Mar 31,
2012) - Kindle eBook
Prime
members:
$0.00
(read for free, Join Amazon Prime)
Buy:
$0.99
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(2)
1.
Lot's
Daughter by Elizabeth Thomas (Kindle Edition - Mar 31,
2012) - Kindle eBook
Prime
members:
$0.00
(read for free, Join Amazon Prime)
Buy:
$0.99
Auto-delivered wirelessly
(2)
Friday, March 2, 2012
Long Time, No Blog
Yes, it has been a long time. I had run out of things to say that I felt comfortable sharing with people who actually know me. But I have had some exciting news--an e-publisher, Keith Publications, accepted a short story of mine for publication as an e-book. I'm not sure when it will actually become available, because one of their editors needs to take my story out of the stack, and start the editing process. I will definitely keep you posted. The story is called "More Than the Quest," and for those of you who knew me in my White Squirrel days, this is a stand-alone excerpt from that novel.
I have also joined a writers' group here in Austin that is filled with talented people. They have critiqued another short story of mine that I intend to publish independently as a Kindle short. I'll be keeping you posted on that as well.
I have also joined a writers' group here in Austin that is filled with talented people. They have critiqued another short story of mine that I intend to publish independently as a Kindle short. I'll be keeping you posted on that as well.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The One After Chemistry
I finally finished chemistry. I got a B and was glad to get it. I finished in May, and still didn't get around to blogging until now. And in this time between, I have come to realize something. Using my own name, there is very little that I am not too timid and far too afraid of offending people (or having them think me totally uncool) to write my honest opinions about. And I realized I needed to stop wasting time trying to overcome these fears, or trying to find really neutral things to write about. Because most really neutral things are really boring, and I've been trying to overcome these fears all my life. I realized what I really needed to do, if I wanted to talk about things that matter to me, is to blog under a pseudonym. I will still try to occasionally make entries here, because they assure me that it helps one's writing career to have a blog site.
And while I'm here, I might as well note that I've started another novel. It's something of a sequel to Arden's Act, which I'm still shopping around. I wanted to do a Civil War romance novel, but do it from the Northern perspective. I'm going to set it in Michigan.
And while I'm on the subject of my writing, I did recently publish my little middle school book, Confessions of a Mixed-Up Weasel Hater, as an e-book, both for Kindle and Nook. I've sold a grand total of 3 e-copies, one to myself, because I wanted to see how bad the e-file was. Messed up all my paragraph indentations, and for this I apologize. While publicizing this event, however, I apparently sold a few more hard copies...
And while I'm on the subject of Kindles, I got one. Now I carry temptation with me daily.
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