Happy Tax Day in USA!It wasn't happy for me. Apparently, now that my oldest daughter is 17, and we're paying MORE for her to get through life, she is worth less as a deduction. Plus we had to dip into our retirement savings, which has a tax penalty--I hear a lot of people saying they had a tough year, and I'm simply able to empathize. WeddingI got to celebrate the wedding of my best friend's oldest daughter. I've been to other weddings, even for his kids, but maybe because my own daughters are getting older, it hit home more that mine aren't far from that stage of life. EclipseBoth these pics are from other folks I work with. My family got a little unlucky and the cloudcover was too heavy (as seen in the time-lapse below, which caused the totality to be missed from where we sat). BirthdayMy birthday was April 13th, but this year got a little hectic and it more or less snuck by. Had fun though! I didn't do much writing the last couple weeks. Too many things. I did get a little reading done--the "Death Before Dragons" series by Lindsay Buroker. I stumbled onto her books by looking at "Also Bought" books from people who'd read my books. Funny, right? Using my books to find what else I might like to read. It worked though--good books for me. Giveaway^2 ContestI've got the bones of the "Giveaway^2" contest set up. The contest will run from April 21 through the 25th, and the contestant who garners the most clicks leading people to my Amazon giveaways (one for Mother of Trees, one for The Guardian of the Palace) will get a signed hardback copy of one of my books (you get to pick which). I'm afraid I have to limit that prize to folks in the USA (where mailing is cheaper), but if you want to participate outside the USA, I can figure out something--probably an unsigned copy sent directly from the closest Amazon print country. Why is it called Giveaway^2? That's math shorthand for Giveaway-squared, meaning I am giving away books to the winner for helping me give away ebooks. Right now, we've got five contestants:
It's not too late to join in - you could win a free book for helping me give away books. Not to mention braggin' rights! Just shoot me an email and pick a name for the contest. I love you all for helping me grow my audience, for being willing to reach out to your peeps for me. (And yes, for the authors who read my newsletter, I can write up instructions.) More details here <-- I pushed the instructions onto my web site. Indie Author ShowcaseI'm trying something different this newsletter - curated sets of books to appeal to different audiences. If you want to help indie authors grow reviews, the first link is a great one. Then I've got a cheap, genre-specific bundle, a couple of options for freebies to get to know new (to you) authors, and a group of KU books. Previous Newsletters
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My oldest daughter's first weeks in Arkansas have been exciting--including a "live shooter on campus" incident that turned out to be a hoax. I think my wife and I worried more than my daughter did. But she's making friends and getting her work done, and I couldn't be more proud. My other two daughters started school as well--my youngest is in high school! Crazy. I know I keep saying this, but it's gone by so fast! We are back into the help-me-with-homework evenings, Friday-night football...
My oldest daughter left for college! Arkansas... an 8-9 hour drive on a good day. My wife and I have definitely fought strange battles with suddenly watery eyes since dropping her off... some kind of strange allergy attack no doubt. From the verdant growth in Arkansas. We miss you tons, Sienitas! Dorm drop-off Click here to be removed from family content. A Dragon's Egg and a Full-Circle Moment Okay, I have to share this—because it's one of the coolest things that’s happened to me as an...
We took our final family trip before my oldest goes off to college. I'm guessing family trips get successively harder after this year, and, frankly, I'm not ready for this stage of life to end. I know it's cliche, but it sure went by faster than I thought it would. Do you remember how slowly the days seemed to creep by when you were a child? How exciting a birthday was? It's really crazy how quickly the years whip by as you get older, and that birthday feeling swaps to, "Really? Another one?...