Tag: A Thousand Years to Wait

2020 Wrap Up

L. Ryan Storms2 Comments

I shoot some stats just about every year, mostly to prove to myself that, yes, I *am* actually moving forward in this thing called a writing career.

Given the craziness of 2020 all around, *I* wouldn’t even blame me if I’d chosen to fall off the face of the earth, or hide under a blanket and never come out. But we’re stronger than that here in the Storms household. Which means, nevertheless, we persist.

And persist we did.

2020 Writing

Books published: 1
eBooks published: 1
Signing events attended: 0 – Thank you very much, COVID. (Also, get your vaccine so you can come to 2021 signings. Because they will be happening as soon as I get my vaccine and the world is in a better place all around.)
Independent Book Award Entries: 4
Manuscript words written: >90,000
YA manuscripts finished: 1
PB manuscripts finished: 1
YA manuscripts started: 1
Adult manuscripts started: 1
Manscripts queried: 3
Queries sent: 96
Query rejections: 55
Query no response: 33
Queries still open: 19
Total accumulative completed manuscripts (2011-2020): 7
Online pitch contests entered: 2
Blog posts written: 11
Number of new SCBWI critique group members discovered: 1 (We’re up to 5 in our cozy little group!)
Writing friends made: Never enough! Writers, find me on Twitter.

Ebook sale promos are great for boosting a book! For a brief moment in time, the ebook for A Thousand Years to Wait ranked higher than Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K. and was in the top ten in Canada as well. It might have even been higher…but I didn’t think to look until several days into the sale. <shrugs>

Happy Holidays, friends! I hope you’re all safe and healthy and happy and that 2021 brings new and great things. (Preferably all good things, no more disasters and viruses, please. 2020 brought plenty of that, thanks.)

Much love to you all, from my house to yours! xo

Santa came to our house. If you celebrate, hopefully he visited you, too!

The Release Day Plan

L. Ryan Storms2 Comments

So what does one do on the day their very first book launches into the universe? Here’s a list so you can see how incredibly *unusual* today really is.

In order, I…

  1. Got kids up and ready for school.
  2. Picked up extra kid to take to school.
  3. Did the social media thing.
  4. Picked up older kid and another extra kid from 1/2 day of school.
  5. Cleaned multiple litter pans (we’re fostering, so it’s more than just my own cats).
  6. Cleaned yard of dog poop. (Exciting, right?)
  7. Mowed the lawn.
  8. Did the social media thing.
  9. Picked up younger kid from school.
  10. Took kids to dance class.
  11. Wrote words.
  12. Did the social media thing.
  13. Dinner. (Cooking? Not today, Satan.)

And if we’re really in the mood to celebrate this evening, we just might go for cupcakes… I’ll keep you posted.

My point? My dear friends, launch days aren’t really any different than any other day. There’s still plenty of poop to clean up and lots of words to write.

But am I celebrating anyway? Yes. Yes, I am.

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9:28 p.m. update: Celebratory gourmet cupcakes were had. They were prettier before they were accidentally smashed by 13 y.o. in the car. Tasted yummy anyway.

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Preorder Giveaway for A Thousand Years to Wait!

L. Ryan Storms9 Comments

—- THE PREORDER GIVEAWAY IS FINISHED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PLACED THEIR ORDERS & PARTICIPATED!—- LRS 3/12/19

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So much fun stuff going on in my author’s universe! What’s next? You can preorder the ebook or paperback of A Thousand Years to Wait. And guess what? I’ll even make it more interesting…

If you’re one of the first 15 preorders to 1) send a screenshot of your purchase to WritingUpStorms(at)gmail(dot)com, 2) follow my author account on Facebook or Twitter (either one!), and 3) share my post (FB) or tweet (Twitter) about preorders, I’ll send you a one-of-a-kind talisman necklace just like Reina’s!

 

Talisman necklace!

Talisman necklaces
Limited one-of-a-kind talismans!

Where to preorder? Click here.

Indie Author Storms

L. Ryan Storms4 Comments

Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark
I’m no Indiana Jones.

Maybe it doesn’t quite have the ring of Indiana Jones, but I think Indie Author Storms has a nice sound to it. So why did I decide to go indie and what’s next?

I’ve been writing seriously for seven years, querying for four, and have four completed manuscripts—some of them with quite wonderful feedback from agents and editors. And until the last year, I really wanted to take the traditional route to publishing.

So what changed?

Cancer.

Cancer is one hell of an eye-opener. And when my husband was diagnosed in April of 2017, it didn’t just change the rules; it changed the entire game. He’s doing well now—a year and a half cancer-free. There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t celebrate this. (Insert happy dance emoji right here!)

But his diagnosis wasn’t all.

At the beginning of my foray into Writer Twitter, I made friends with a wonderful professor and writer who had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She documented her journey in life, and through diagnosis, and I had the pleasure of beta-reading for her about a year and a half ago. As with most interactions on social media, we dipped in and out of each other’s profiles here and there, commenting and leaving digital hearts in our wake. I learned only recently that she passed away in June.

 

Before she succumbed to the terrible disease, she followed her dream and published Blooming Out of Darkness: A Memoir about Cancer, Spirits, and Joy. The book, which sits on the bookshelf beside my piano, is a stark reminder each and every day—a reminder that we don’t always have the time we think we have. Between Alicia’s story and my husband’s ordeal over the last year, I’ve decided that it’s time to take the next step in the journey to authorhood. 

There’s a beautiful change in perception that occurs when you reach your forties. (Okay, I’m not quite there, but I’ve got less than a year, so…) You begin to care less about what other people think or what other people would do in any given situation, and so much more about what you feel and how you can be good to yourself.

Indie authorhood is me being good to myself. I’m ready to have the fun, to release a book baby into the world, to take the next step and grow as an author. A Thousand Years to Wait is my gift to the world, yes. But it’s also a gift to me. And I hope we can enjoy it together.

A Thousand Years to Wait will be released on April 30th, 2019. You can add A Thousand Years to Wait to your Goodreads list here. Check back for excerpts, teasers, a cover reveal, and more! I’ll be updating regularly over the next six months.