DEFYING SHADOWS IS OUT!!!

Published July 20, 2016 by Ashley Townsend

Defying Shadows has officially been released into the wild!!! 😃

http://amzn.to/2acv3rh http://amzn.to/2acv3rh

Hallelujah! It’s been a long time in coming, but I am so ecstatic that it’s out. Follow the link to the paperback of Defying Shadows here, and find me wandering San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow through Saturday. I’ll be the blond shamelessly promoting my own books. 😋 Follow the crazy person with the Defying Shadows tee and tote for a bookmark!

And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter each day to be entered to win a paperback copy of Defying Shadows and an Amazon gift card. End this Sunday!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/efc81f6e2/?

Part 6: The Tricks of the Trade

Published April 7, 2016 by Ashley Townsend

Wow, has it really been so long since I last posted?! . . . . Oopsies! Got a little distracted there for a bit, but now I’m back on track and ready to get at it. Now, where were we? Ah, yes:

Writing is an Art, I Tell You!

Part 6: The Tricks of the Trade

typewriter

Things a writer should definitely be aware of:

Conferences:

In the modern age, it’s crazy simple to search “Writing conferences in your area” and get a ton of hits. Conferences are going on all the time and are a great way to expand your network and learn things about the industry that you never even imagined.

I’m attending Realm Makers at the end of July. It takes place in Pennsylvania and is an awesome conference for Christian spec-fic writers to share their stories and learn about the craft. I’ve had the pleasure of getting connected with authors and speakers who will be in attendance this year, and their encouragement and lively attitude is incredible. I hope you’ll join us there, and registration is open now!

Natural Reader:

This app saved my life while editing Chasing Shadows! (download the free version here) I was going bonkers reading the manuscript over and over, and then I discovered this bad boy. I would copy and paste a few chapters at a time into the app, and then while I’m cleaning the house or getting ready for work, I could audibly catch errors that my eyes had just skipped right over by the 32^nd edit. When you read you manuscript so much, your brain just auto-fills, and although the monotone voice can be a little grating at first, this was such an invaluable tool! I’m also pretty positive it saved me from chucking Chasing Shadows right out the window.

PicMonkey:

I joined PicMonkey a little while ago, but never really took full advantage of its process until recently. It saves so much time and makes every announcement or advertisement look so much more Wow! when you can create your own graphics over an image and design it specifically for your event/announcement.

http://www.grammarbook.com/

This website is fantastic! I have it bookmarked on my phone so whenever I have a quick grammar issue to check, and I can just look up the problem super quick and be done with it, rather than stare at the screen vacillating between whether I’m right or wrong.

And a couple things my good friend and fellow author, Nadine Brandes (check her out here—she’s amazing!), introduced me to are https://evernote.com/?var=1 and https://clicktotweet.com/

Evernote—basically it links all of your devices and the work you do on them so you’re never without it! I’m still getting used to it, but it’s pretty fantastic and handy.

Click to Tweet—now this is awesome! I’ve seen Nadine and other bloggers use this little tool, and it. Is. Marvelous! It’s only free for the first month, but for a measly $7 a month, I can embed links for people to easily tweet about anything I post on or share. Just invest, okay?!

Well, that’s about it for today. I promise not to let so much time pass before I chat your eyes off next time. But until then, stay crazy, Shadows!

Comic-Con Status: CONQUERED!

Published July 15, 2015 by Ashley Townsend

As quite a few of you know, I spent this past weekend at Comic-Con, reveling in my first experience with such a large number of fangirls (like me) and fandoms and freaks (also my people). It was … ah-mazing! I took great pleasure in flashing my “Professional Author” badge Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, fangirled the heck out of that weekend, and endured–with great relish–my sore muscles after carrying loads of free and signed books around the convention center for 3 days. “Pack light,” they said. “Carry nothing heavy,” they said.

Are you crazy? THEY’RE FREE BOOKS!!!! That’s countless hours of free entertainment for myself and whomever I decide to share these pretty morsels of fiction with. Some people just don’t understand the price of fantasy. I didn’t care how early it was (it’s book-time somewhere!) and ignored the fact that I’d been hefting these heavy items around all day. I literally spent three days in the book, novel, and comic area–everyone knew my name by Saturday–and I basically enjoyed three full days of hanging out with fangirls and writers and publishers. It was the best! I’ve never actually experienced that crazy hype over free things, but when Illuminae arcs came out, I was ready to kill, if need be.

I received about 20 free books in all *heaves dreamy sigh* and actually ran into a fan of the Rising Shadows trilogy who recognized me (look, ma! I’m famous!). I got a pic with her, and it was awesome! So, to give you an idea of how amazing this past week was, here are some highlights from Comic-Con:

Meeting/stalking Marie Rutkoski and Renee Ahdieh and getting The Winnter’s Curse and The Wrath and the Dawn signed by the authors. #deadonthefloor And they were so gracious, too!

Getting to meet Gena Showalter, author of Alice in Zombieland. My dress was inspired by the series’ covers, and Gena and her publicist loved it. I got several pictures with Gena, and her publicist contacted me afterward saying that if I ever wanted one of Gena’ books or a title that hadn’t been released yet, then I just had to let her know . . . Umm, okay!

Getting an advanced reader’s copy of Illuminae by Amie Kauffman (These Broken Stars, with Meagan Spooner) and Jay Kristoff. I had been circling like a hawk all day long, just waiting for the moment they started releasing them because they’re in such limited supply. Score!

I saw a little girl staring at me for five minutes, and so I asked her if she wanted to take a picture together. She was so darling! She said that she and her dad were getting ready to leave, but she hadn’t met a princess yet. I almost cried, she was so sweet, and this costume totally made her day and mine; I felt like a Disney princess!

Befriending a fellow bibliophile, Lisa, in line for Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard. And she’s going to check out the Rising Shadows trilogy! Also, Sarah J. and Susan were hialrious and wacky–loved meeting them!

Achieving my lifelong dream of meeting Captain America and Star Lord. Also, Star Lord was a riot and–ahem-very handsome and charming. Just sayin’. ^_~

Also, having author Kate Elliott think my costume was so amazing that she had to take a picture of me with her book, which meant I got to give her my business card so she could tag me in it–eeeee!

I didn’t get to see Stephen Amell, but I did meet Arrow on Thursday. Just *sigh.* This picture was even posted on the official CW Comic-Con website. o.o Waaaaa?

Seeing Armie Hammer *sighs* and Henry Cavill *faints* and Garrett Hedlund (aaa-ooo-ga!) and Hugh Jackman (waaa?) and Matt Smith (WHO??) and Douglas Booth (Oh, Romeo) in Hall H for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Batman Vs. Superman, Pan, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Give it to meeeee!