Wrapping Up the Year

The very final Mending Heartstrings giveaway winners have been chosen — congratulations to Sherry and Ryenne! And all of the prizes have been shipped, leaving me strangely bereft of all those Mending Heartstrings goodies. 

The whirlwind of my first release has officially died down. I do plan on sorting through all my experiences and posting impressions and tips, but that will have to wait until the new year. I also have a special guest planned for the beginning of the year!

Meanwhile, I'm going to take a short break from posting, though I hope you will consider reading Mending Heartstrings and letting me know what you think. 

Here's wishing you all a happy and healthy end to Hannukah or a Merry Christmas, along with a superb New Year!

The Genres We Hate

This initially went up as part of the Mending Heartstrings blog tour, but that post had some formatting issues, so I'm sharing it here as well. As an added perk, there's still time to enter the blog tour's giveaway, included at the end!

People can be surprisingly insular when it comes to the music they listen to. While many of us would be entirely willing to try a new food (reasonably speaking — not bugs on a skewer!), we would be equally unwilling to approach music outside of our habitual genres with an open mind. Interestingly, or sadly, the same can be said about literary genres. Whether due to a lack of exposure when forming our tastes, a pervasive stereotype, or a single bad experience, we form resolute opinions on genres we must emphatically avoid.

To that end, many rule out entire musical or literary traditions, such as the wealth of classical music or all poetry, becoming adamant in escaping exposure. I can just imagine certain friends (and likely some readers) shuddering at the idea of voluntarily attending an opera, or ballet, or even something with a more “contemporary” reputation, like a Broadway musical. Similarly, all too many of my friends, despite knowing me and what I write, consider romance to be “porn on paper,” “insubstantial,” or something equally dismissive and judgmental.

Those who may be persuaded to branch out would approach the experience with an expectation of boredom and time lost at best, indeterminate suffering at worst. But occasionally, those same people who would avow a deep and longstanding hatred of a genre will be unable to escape exposure and will thereby discover how utterly wrong their preconceptions were, seeing the beauty in a new world.

Flash! Friday: Year Three

So, there is a chance my entry officially posted too late for this week's Flash! Friday contest, and I'll easily admit it was written very last-minute, but I figured there's no harm in sharing here.

This week's prompt returned to its roots with no dragon bidding, just 150-word stories (+/- 10) on this photo: 

Holiday Song Lyric Parody Contest!

As the holiday season is rapidly approaching, the Authoress a.k.a. Miss Snark's First Victim is hosting a parody contest of Christmas & Hannukah song lyrics! Check out the rules (and prizes!) here. Up to two entries per person are allowed. 

I may or may not end up entering these when the contest officially opens, but just for fun, my attempts are posted below. Share your own in the comments, then head on over & enter the contest yourself!

Scripting Change Book Blast

So, I'm posting this a bit late, since Beyond the Words released the same day as Mending Heartstrings, but nevertheless I wanted to make sure to spread the word!

The community writing project, Scripting Change, is incredibly excited to announce the release of their second anthology: Beyond the Words!

Absolutely every piece of this e-book, from the coordination, to the contents, to the beautiful cover art, was volunteered, and 100% of proceeds will be donated to nonprofit organizations championing literacy in their communities.  Read on to find out why!

About the Project:

Scripting Change is a writing initiative that aims to bring together the vast community of writers and readers in support of responsible nonprofit organizations. 

The project accepts submissions from writers, relating to a theme that reflects an important cause.  The selected pieces are combined in an anthology which is published as an e-book, in this case: Beyond the Words.  Proceeds from this and every Scripting Change e-books' sales are donated to the matched organization that champions each e-book's cause.

By focusing on the compelling words of writers, Scripting Change is able to raise not only funds but also awareness for the causes of the organizations they support.  The time and talents of everyone involved are offered freely, so the project has absolutely no overhead costs, which means every dollar raised is donated to positively impact our society!

About the Nonprofits:

It is impossible to overstate the importance of literacy, yet so many struggle with this crucial skill. So, Scripting Change has decided to donate proceeds from Beyond the Words to not one, but three nonprofits throughout the United States, all of which foster literacy in their communities.

Read for Literacy, in Northwestern Ohio, provides learning opportunities for readers of all ages and backgrounds, with three tailored programs: Creating Young Readers, for children in kindergarten through 2nd grade; Adult Basic Education; and English Language Learners, for non-native English speakers.

Literacy Action, in Atlanta, Georgia, offers an incredibly wide array of literacy programs for adults — from literal reading assistance, to workplace literacy, family literacy & education, and much more, this organization provides its community with crucial support, enhancing so many lives!

Page Ahead, in Seattle, Washington, focuses its literacy efforts on children, allowing elementary-school children to browse book fairs at the end of the school year & choose their own books for the summer — which are then provided to them by Page Ahead! They bolster this program by also working with parents, helping them engage their young readers.

Now it's your turn!

Scripting Change depends entirely upon the support of the community as a whole.  The writers, and our cover designer, have done their part; the coordinators have brought it all together; the bloggers have graciously helped us spread the word – now it's up to the readers.  We hope you will enjoy the anthology!

Beyond the Words is available through: 

Smashwords ~*~ Amazon: US; UK ~*~ Barnes & Noble

Learn more about this project at: ScriptingChange.blogspot.com
Find them on Facebook or on Twitter: @ScriptingChange

2nd Flash! Friday Fiction Anniversary!

Rebekah has pulled out all the stops for the second anniversary of Flash! Friday Fiction (aka Flashversary).  The festivities will consist of multiple rounds of competition, starting this weekend, with a winner crowned December 16th. 

Round one is open to all, with a 150-word (exactly!) story on the photo below. Round 2 will be open to 25 semifinalists; with 10 finalists moving on to the final judging.  All of the stories will be judged blind (stripped of the identities of the authors).

Release-day Giveaway Winners!

It was quite a release day, let me tell you! Crazy, exhilarating, surprising (flowers & balloons!), delicious (champagne!), fun, busy…you name it!

But the release day of Mending Heartstrings is officially over, and I have a list of winners for various contests. (And info toward the bottom of this post on more giveaways still going on!)

These ladies already know they won during my Facebook release party, but I wanted to include them anyway because they did some pretty cool things in order to win! Some contests were random, some weren't, but here's the breakdown of winners:

All About Mending Heartstrings' Release Day!

25 months ago, I wrote the first words of what is now Mending Heartstrings. In just a few hours, it will be officially released!!

So much is happening tomorrow, so this post is your guide to the festivities and giveaways: 

Facebook Launch Party: 4pm PT - 7pm PT join me in celebrating with a virtual party hosted entirely on Facebook! (I believe that in order to participate, Facebook requires you to RSVP on the page.) The party will include unique giveaways, contests, and all-around good fun — but only if you're there!

Blog Tour: With guest posts from your truly and a mix of reviews, not to mention a pretty kickass giveaway (if I do say so myself), this tour will run from Dec. 2nd — Dec. 12th. I'll be sharing each post on Twitter and Facebook! 

In addition to the blog tour, there will also be a book blitz happening on December 2nd, with its own unique giveaway for the prize pack below! (The first post is already up here!)

Twitter Exclusives!

For her release of Hemlock Veils last week, Jennie Davenport had some brilliant Twitter promos, which gave me some ideas! I'm lucky her release came before mine… ;-) So, here's how this will work:

Between 12am ET Dec 2nd (9pm PT Dec 1st) and 3am ET Dec 3rd (12am PT Dec 2nd) everyone who tweets the Amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OQG1ROW) to Mending Heartstrings will be entered into a random drawing! Remember to include me (@AriaGlazki) in the tweet so it can count. Prizes:

A Mending Heartstrings keychain!

A Mending Heartstrings notebook, with a super cool guitar-pick bookmark! (Pictured in the prize pack above.)

In that same timeframe, everyone who retweets any of my tweets related to Mending Heartstrings will be entered to win a Mending Heartstrings magnet! (2 total)

And to top it off, everyone who tweets or retweets a post about Mending Heartstrings, including sharing info about the reveal party and blog tour stops, will be entered to win a tote bag!

Keep in mind: there is no limit to the number of times you can enter, so tweet as many times as you'd like. Each prize will also come with an autographed trading card!

Winners will be selected randomly using random.org, and I'll announce them Dec. 3rd both on Twitter and on this blog.

But there's more! If you don't want to risk missing out on a personalized, autographed Mending Heartstrings trading card, you can sign up to receive one here — all you have to do is pass out additional cards to your friends and fellow readers!