Celebrate with Me! Happy Book Birthday GEARS OF BRASS!

The day has finally arrived. AND there's a GIVEAWAY of Amazon giftcards, critiques for writers, and this gorgeous steampunk necklace!

Happy Book Birthday, GEARS OF BRASS!  A Young Adult Anthology

Authors: Jordan Elizabeth, Lorna MacDonald Czarnota, Christine Baker, W.K. Pomeroy, Eliza Tilton, Heather Talty, Grant Eagar, Natalia Darcy, Clare Weze, S.A. Larsen, J. Million

Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press

Format: paperback, ebook
Purchase Links: Amazon eBook | B&N eBook (more links - Kobo, Smashwords & print link coming soon...)

Description: A world like ours, but filled with gears of brass, where the beating heart is fueled by steam and the simplest creation is a complex clockwork device.  

Within this tome, you’ll find steampunk fairy tale re-tellings, as well as original stories that will send your gears turning.  

Welcome to the steampunk realm, with eleven authors guiding your path. 

Gears of Brass is a steampunk anthology published through Curiosity Quills. Within the pages, you’ll come across clockwork inventions and steampunk-ified fairy tale retellings.  Eleven authors will guide you through worlds filled with airships, top hats, and corsets. An introduction is included written by the fabulous Susan Kaye Quinn, author of The Dharian Affairs trilogy (Third Daughter, Second Daughter, First Daughter), a steampunk fantasy adventure-romance.

My thoughts:  After the numerous freelance pieces I've had published, the thrill of developing a few kidlit manuscripts - two of which are on submission - and working out a few delicate and sweet picture book manuscripts, I never would have guessed a simply break from all that would give me a published story in the company of such amazing other writers. I originally wrote TIME SPUN SOULS to simply get away from it all. 

We all love our work. Why else would we slave countless hours isolated from the living to create fictitious people, places, and things? And I love this story for all the reasons you love yours (or ones you've read) with one exception: this was the story that literally flushed out of me in less than a week - fully developed world, characters, emotions, and arcs. So much so, I almost decided to continue developing it into a full-fledged young adult novel. BTW - I just might use it as a springboard to continue the story in a full YA novel. But that's for the future. 
Here's a teaser from Time Spun Souls to wet your whistle: 

"Stealing a few steps backward, I reached for him and brushed my fingertips along his cheek. Static energy crept across my palm. It glowed blue and pulled like taffy, sticking to my fingertips, then snapping back to his skin. My hand jerked back so hard I hit myself in the chest. My eyes traipsed down his neck, his shoulders, finally stopping at his midsection. It was almost as though I could see inside him."

And they'll be other teasers floating around the blogosphere over the next two weeks.  
Thank you so much for stopping by the Alleyway to celebrate with me. If you read TSS, please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear. And oooh ... I now have an Amazon Author Page. Check it out and leave me a message. I'd LOVE that!
ENTER the MEGA Giveaway!!! Feel free to share away! The more steampunk the better, I say. ;)

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IWSG: A Mountain to Write

Better yet: 

A Mountain 2 Write RIGHT.

The exhilaration at the end of each writing project is an intense compilation of relief, pride, and excitement. Of course, a new anxiety of revisions quickly begins to take form. But I ignore it for a bit. Instead, I take a moment (sometimes a few more) to bask in the accomplishment. As most of you know, it's quite a feat to type THE END. 

Participants & Sign Up

So why do I stress the @$%^& out of myself at each starting line? It's almost unbearable, at least for me. So much so that often I lollygag for days, weeks, and even a month before I hunker down and engross my attention into my next manuscript. Sometimes longer, which makes me question myself, my abilities, and my verve for writing successes. 
The anxiety doesn't seem to have a specific focus either. It doesn't matter how long I anticipate the manuscript to be or even the topic and theme of the story. My young adult work obviously runs longer than my picture book work, but both flip me out equally. It's almost like the dread that used to practically paralyze me before the start of every school year. 
Do I see anyone raising their hands in agreement? OR am I just weird?