Posts Tagged ‘#MFRWAuthor RT Day’
A Little CHANGING FACES for #MFRWhooks and #MFRWauthor RT Day!
Folks, it’s Wednesday, February 13, 2019. We’re one day away from Valentine’s Day, and as it’s also Marketing for Romance Writers ReTweet Day, I’ve decided this week to take part in another MFRW promotion, that being Book Hooks…the two together should help to get the word out about CHANGING FACES, my most unusual LGBT-friendly romance…
First, a bit about the Marketing for Romance Writers organization. It is made up of a bunch of writers who work together, for free, to help learn about effective ways of book promotion. In that vein, MFRW sponsors both Book Hooks (short snippets of books to whet your interest, and as it’s a blog-hop, you should find something you like from one of the writers if you just keep hopping about the ‘net) and a once-a-month #MFRWauthor ReTweet Day. As I’ve been a member of MFRW for umpty-ump years, I’m happy to take part in this whenever I can…and what better day than the day before Valentine’s Day to talk about the enduring power of romance?
So, without further ado, here’s a bit from my own CHANGING FACES:
When we got back to our building, instead of going up to our apartment, we went down into the underground parking garage. We got into my old, reliable Ford Escort, and I put the key into the ignition; traitorously, the engine turned over on the first try.
As we sat in the frigid air waiting for the car to warm up, I turned to Elaine. “I am glad you told me what upset you so much, even though I don’t understand it. I’ve known something was wrong for months.”
“I tried to say something, but I didn’t know how,” she said in a very small voice. “I just feel all wrong, inside.I don’t know how to explain it.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you at all, love,” I told her. “You’re a good person; the best. You didn’t deserve what happened to you in Florida. And not all men are like those jerkwads.”
“You know, you can say asses, if you need it.” Elaine puffed a laugh. “I’m not that much of a prude.”
“Asses isn’t strong enough for them. And I’m trying to be polite,” I said through clenched teeth. Then I tried again. “Look, love. You are the same person regardless of what you look like, whether you present as male or female. I will always love you. I’m not about to abandon you. I just don’t understand why, if Ruby Rose can stay in her body as a gender-fluid person, you can’t stay in yours.”
Elaine’s gloved hand reached out, but before we actually touched, she drew back. “I wish I could explain it, Allen. It’s like a compulsion; now that I’ve told the truth about myself, I need to find out where that truth leads. And I’m not sure where that path is going to go.” Her deep brown eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to deceive you. I love you too much for that.”
“Honesty is important,” I agreed. “Even so, how do you know that it’s not just your depression talking?”
“I am depressed,” Elaine admitted. “But it’s mostly because I don’t feel right in this body. I have never felt right in this body, and the longer I go on in this body, the more wrong I feel!”
The car had warmed up enough now, so I couldn’t delay this any longer. “Just-don’t leave me, Elaine. Let’s try to talk this out.” I turned onto the dimly-lit street, and started to drive.
Elaine sat, silently, next to me, for blocks. Then, she said, “If you can’t accept me as myself, in whatever body I might have down the road, how can we stay together?”
“All I’ve said is that I don’t know if I can accept you in a male body. I would find it hard to make love to another man.” I swallowed hard, adding, “I’ve tried to put myself in your place, and I can’t do it. I don’t know how it feels to be transgender. I do know how it feels to be in love with you. I don’t want to lose you. I’ll do whatever it takes. But I want you to go to counseling-isn’t there a very long period of counseling you have to go through, before you change sexes outwardly?” I seemed to remember that from Chaz Bono’s story; that had been discussed often, a few years back. “And you don’t like going to counseling as it is!”
“I’ve not run into good ones, thus far.” Elaine turned her head to look out the window.
I glanced that way, and saw ice hanging from the trees just off the street. Was that a rainbow prism at the edge of my vision? I told myself I was just seeing things, and kept driving.
“Mind, Jolene asked me the very same thing, earlier.” Elaine said, sounding very far away. “I told her I’ll start counseling after Christmas.” Then, she smiled wryly, a brief twist of her lips. “She told me to marry you and stop putting you off, too.”
“I knew I liked Jolene.”
We shared a laugh. Then I blurted out what I’d been thinking all the while.
“Elaine, please-I need you in my life. I love you so much. I don’t care what you look like; I care that you’re you. Please don’t leave me.”
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If you enjoyed that–and I sincerely hope you did–here’s a bit more for you about CHANGING FACES plus a few links to help you buy an e-book copy (which, BTW, is only ninety-nine cents in the US, ninety-nine pence in the UK):
Allen and Elaine are graduate students in Nebraska, and love each other very much. Their life should be idyllic, but Elaine’s past includes rape, neglect, and abuse from those who should’ve loved her—but didn’t, because from childhood, Elaine identified as transgender.
When Elaine tells Allen right before Christmas, he doesn’t know what to do. He loves Elaine, loves her soul, has heard about transgender people before, but didn’t think Elaine was one of them—she looks and acts like anyone else. Now, she wants to become a man and is going to leave.
He prays for divine intervention, and says he’ll do anything, just please don’t separate him from Elaine…and gets it.
Now, he’s in Elaine’s body. And she’s in his. They’ll get a second chance at love.
Why? Because once you find your soulmate, the universe will do almost anything to keep you together—even change your faces.
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Faces-Barb-Caffrey-ebook/dp/B01N3CQKWJ
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Changing-Faces-Barb-Caffrey-ebook/dp/B01N3CQKWJ
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/changing-faces-barb-caffrey/1125707044
Now, please take a look at these other authors, also a part of #MFRWorg, and see if anything there interests you, too!
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Time for a Paranormal Blog-Hop Wednesday, Elfy-style!
Folks, I’m proud to take part in Paranormal Love Wednesdays’ Blog Hop. I found out about this because I’m a member of Marketing for Romance Writers…as a writer of humorous YA urban fantasy/romance (with ghosts), I thought AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE might find some new readers this way.
And that’s important, especially as A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE is coming soon…
Let’s see what a bit from AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, chapter 18, can do, hm?**
Drum roll, please:
“Trust me.” He winked. Bruno was gratified to see Sarah smile at him. It was a small smile, but he wasn’t picky. He’d take any smile he could get.
He walked away from Sarah. The spirit followed him. Bruno almost felt as if he could sense the spirit wondering what he was doing, walking away from Sarah like this. He asked once, “Sarah? Do you feel anything?”
“No, should I?”
“Hmmm,” he said. He decided that since leading the spirit wasn’t doing any good, and trying to contact it directly hadn’t done any good either, he might as well ask it what it was doing there. He walked directly toward it. This time, it stayed put. Bruno felt a sense of astonishment from the shape before he addressed it. “I mean you no harm; neither does Sarah. Can you help us?”
Bruno expected the spirit to do something, but he didn’t really expect what came next. The spirit darted this way and that all over the third floor. Bruno and Sarah were led on a merry chase for a few moments, until it vanished into a wall. The very wall he had been examining when the spirit had appeared.
“Now what?” Sarah asked.
*** END EXCERPT***
Want to know more? First, here’s a blurb for you:
Bruno the Elfy believes he’s very young, has no power, cannot see or talk with spirits, and has no enemies.
He’s wrong.
Quickly sent to our Earth (the Human Realm) and told to watch for magic, Bruno must unravel the lies, keep his mentor from being tortured, and—oh, yeah—figure out why he’s so strongly attracted to young, Human Sarah.
Because his life depends on it.
Now that you’ve read a bit more about AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, perhaps you’d like to read the five sample chapters? (If so, here they are.)
Or maybe — just maybe — something here intrigued you. If that’s the case, here are my buy links:
Amazon (US): http://amzn.to/1p6xvQj
Amazon (UK): http://goo.gl/dDoBnd
Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/m8o49ad
And do, please, check out the following authors…they’re all taking part in the Paranormal Love Wednesdays Hop, just as I am:
| 1. | Margo Bond Collins | 6. | Megan Morgan | 11. | Andrea R. Cooper | |||
| 2. | Bokerah | 7. | Dena Garson | 12. | Barb Caffrey | |||
| 3. | Carrie L Wells | 8. | Jo Grafford | 13. | Jodi Hale | |||
| 4. | JoAnne’s Blog | 9. | Helen Henderson |
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| 5. | Connie Bowen | 10. | J.J. DiBenedetto |
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**Note that the Paranormal Love Wednesdays’ Blog-Hop asks for only four paragraphs, and I put up six. (Yes, I can count.) I couldn’t figure out how to do it in only four paragraphs…so please forgive me the two extra paragraphs.
#MFRWAuthor RT Day is Tomorrow…and Other Stuff
Folks, tomorrow is Marketing for Romance Writers’ monthly ReTweet event. As I’m a member of MarketingforRomanceWriters.org (which you can find on Twitter as @MFRW_ORG), I’ve signed up to take part in something called a “Thunderclap,” which causes many Tweets and Facebook messages to go out at once as I understand it. (I’ve never taken part in a Thunderclap before, so that’s all I can tell you regarding this particular promotion.)
Mind, I always support #MFRWAuthor RT Day — the hashtag works out to “Marketing for Romance Writers Author” and of course “RT” means ReTweet — because I find the Marketing for Romance Writers group to be quite beneficial. They help you to understand marketing, for one (as I’m sure you’d expect, considering their name and all), as they are fellow writers who’ve all walked — or who are now walking — the same path you are. MarketingforRomanceWriters.org tends to help indie or small press authors the most, as we need the most help because we don’t have major publishers behind us. But it’s a group that will help any writer if he or she is willing to acknowledge what they do in return…do check them out (they have both a website and a blog as well as a Yahoo Group), as they are an invaluable resource.
Aside from that, I’ve been editing, doing a spot of writing, and editing some more, as per usual.
I do have some semi-bad news to report as my newest short story was rejected by the Writers of the Future contest. I call this “semi-bad” only because I am happy I wrote the story; while I’d have appreciated it if WOTF had loved it the way I do, it’s OK that they didn’t. (You wouldn’t believe how many thousands of stories they get during each quarter.)
Aside from that, Jason Cordova has been mentioned as a possible choice for the John W. Campbell Award. I know Jason quite well, as I’ve worked with him over at Shiny Book Review for years (yes, I intend to write a review this week; why did you ask?), and I’ve read most of his output. His first novel, CORRUPTOR, came out in 2010, but didn’t sell enough to be considered a first, qualifying pro story — which means he’s still eligible to win the Campbell Award.
“But Barb,” you say. “Aren’t you eligible, too? AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE came out last April, so you should qualify…right?”
Well, therein lies a tale. I sold my first story, a co-written affair with my late husband Michael, to the BEDLAM’S EDGE anthology back in 2004 (edited by Mercedes Lackey and the inestimable Rosemary Edghill). That was definitely a qualifying pro sale under the rules, albeit a qualifying half-sale (as Michael receives credit for the other half, which made perfect sense to me at the time and still does).
My second pro-qualifying sale, I believe, was made last year after I sold a story to STARS OF DARKOVER (edited by Deborah J. Ross and Elisabeth Waters). (I say “I believe” because I can’t remember when SFWA raised their rates for a pro-qualifying story from .05/word to .06/word. Under the new SFWA guidelines, this story would not count.)
And that’s it as far as pro-qualifying sales go. Everything else I’ve written to date, including AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, leaves me eligible for the Writers of the Future Contest, meaning I’m largely unknown. (Something I’ve said all along, mind.) But because of my one, early half-sale, I believe I am ineligible for the John W. Campbell Award.
Even if I were eligible, I’d be astonished if anyone nominated me.
Why? I’m not known. (Neither is my late husband Michael, despite my efforts to the contrary — and his while he was still here.)
Anyway, Jason’s much better-known than I am. He also has more short stories and novels (some co-written with Eric S. Brown) to his credit than I do, and has more on the way. He definitely deserves to be considered for the Campbell Award as he remains eligible, and I’d love to see him win it.
EDITED TO ADD: My friend Katharine Eliska Kimbriel’s novel SPIRAL PATH is eligible for the World Fantasy Award, the Andre Norton Award, the Nebula, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and even the Newbery Medal. I reviewed SPIRAL PATH at SBR last September; I’d anxiously awaited it for over a year, and I was not disappointed. So please, do not forget about her and her excellent work…you could not ask for a better writer. (Or a better person, though awards do not measure that, usually.)
Back to my original post, already in progress…
Aside from that, to answer a few questions — Yes, my hand is better. (Thank goodness.) And yes, I’m definitely looking forward to Spring Training. (Go, Brewers, Go!)
If you have any questions for me, go ahead and ask in the comments…I’ll do my best to answer, as always.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 