Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Doings at Rooglewood: Come What May

Oh dear. I'm sorry. That's not a very propitious beginning is it? I don't normally indulge in a pun, but . . . this month tends to be ripe with them.

Anyway, I know I've been a wee bit quiet on the blogging front lately, and I do apologize. I have had many doings, many of which I can't really talk about in a big way just yet, so this may be a bit of an abbreviated "Doings" post. But I'll try to touch on all the most important points!

First of all . . . my mother's launch tour for Until That Distant Day was a great success thanks to all of you hardworking bloggers and enthusiastic readers out there! We both appreciated the love, and we hope that you'll keep on telling your friends about this wonderful book (and encouraging them to actually buy it, of course. I would love to see my mother get a little return for all her hard work!). The .99 Kindle special is over, but the book can still be downloaded for just 3.99, which is a great deal for the amount of story contained therein.

Oh, and the lovely Joy C. of the Fullness of Joy blog won the giveaway. Huzzah for Joy! She will be receiving thepaperback book and a tin of tea from my mother.

Now my current BIG project is getting Five Glass Slippers ready for publication. We are just about ready to send out PDF review files to a select number of readers.

If you are a blogger and prepared to post your review of Five Glass Slippers on Amazon between June 14 and June 31, feel free to write and request a PDF file. We are only sending out 15 copies, so preference will be given to reviewers who also have Goodreads accounts and are willing to post their reviews there as well. Bloggers are requested to review the book on their blogs.

We'll be putting together a blog tour later on, but for now we're focusing on getting those advance readers in. Email me (aestengl@gmail.com) if you are interested! I anticipate having the review file ready by next weekend.

And while we're on the subject of Five Glass Slippers . . .

I am preparing to launch the cover and contest details for the next Rooglewood Press fairy tale collection. And this year, I want to do an honest-to-goodness cover reveal tour! Are you a blogger and would you like to take part in that cover reveal? This would mean getting an advance glimpse of the gorgeous cover and insider's knowledge as to which fairy tale it will be. Email me if you'd like to take part. The reveal is scheduled for June 1 . . . coming up soon.

And of course we're all looking forward to THIS contest, coming up next month!

Details can be found here. I've received a lot of interest but no actual files yet . . . Hoping for a great turnout nevertheless! (But we'll see. This is such an unusual contest, so I hardly know what to expect.) Be sure you get your files to me by the deadline. Music will be posted on June 16.

I have a couple of fun features coming up on this blog over the month of May. These next two Mondays I will be featuring two exciting fantasy novelists, each of whom is offering a giveaway. Their stories look exciting, dramatic, suspenseful . . . all that a reader could ask for in a fantasy tale. You'll have to stop by to meet these authors and learn about their works!

I realized that I haven't yet shown off the birthday cake my Rohan made for me this year . . . so the time has come! Behold:

 
That, my dears, is a dense chocolate torte with two different chocolate ganache layers and a butter-cream chocolate frosting. And he learned how to make beautiful chocolate curls for garnish:

I promise that I don't love my husband merely for his baking skills; but my word, they certainly don't hurt anything!

For those of you interested to know how the feline denizens of Rooglewood are fairing these days . . . . Monster is still delightfully fluffy:
And Marmaduke is, apparently, headless:

But he's beautiful, so we won't judge him.

Everyone else is doing well too, and Mutti-cat (my feral rescue kitty, for those of you who don't know) is making great strides as she adjusts to housecat life. She has decided that people as a whole are nice, and she will allow anyone to pet her who wants to . . . just so long as they are willing to crouch down beside her Piano of Solitude, behind which she spends most of her days. She's still pretty terrified of Milly the Black Dog (except at meal times, when she loses all fear in her need to join the other beasts in telling me what time it is). But still! I couldn't ask for better progress. So many feral rescues never adjust as much as she has.

I'm writing a book, but it's still in early stages, so I'm not talking about it much (so don't ask!).


I will be contacting my cover artist quite soon now about finishing the cover for Draven's Light, my 2015 novella. Most of the basic design is settled, but the illustration itself still needs to be rendered. I'll be shipping that off to Julia Popova's capable hands. Looking forward to that cover reveal, hopefully in October . . . which may seem far away to some of you, but the way this year is speeding by seems just around the corner to me!

I'm hard at work on Golden Daughter these days.
Just got through the first round of galley edits and am getting ready to dive into typeset galleys soon as well. Pleased with this story, but tremendously intimidated by how much work is yet to be done on it! But I'm starting to see how the interior design work is going to look, and it's soooo pretty. Definitely looking forward to sharing it with all of you.

And . . . I think that's enough doings for one post!

Let me know if you'd like to be an influencer reader for Five Glass Slippers or a cover reveal host for the next fairy tale collection. I would love to have you on board. And let us know in the comments what doings you are up to during the merry month of May. Are you writing anything new these days? Anything old? Are other creative projects taking up your time? Or school? Or work? Do tell!

16 comments:

Anna said...

Wow! Everything is so exciting!!! :D You are one BUSY person! :) Do you ever take a break?

As for me, I just wrapped up finals and am having tons of fun working on expanding my Cinderella novella into a novel. :) I probably won't get very far, though, before the next contest is announced. I will probably spend the rest of the summer writing that because I can't write during the school year; it's so crazy! :)

I will be praying for all your business! :) Thanks for writing this post! I love "Doings" posts!

Hannah said...

Fun doings! I hope you're doing well! :)

Clara said...

So glad that all is well at Rooglewood! Monster looks like he needs a kiss :)

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

@Anna: How fun that you're turning your retelling into a novel! It was such an exciting premise, and I bet a novel will give it even more room to spread its wings. :)

@Hannah: I hope you and yours (including Tellie) are well too!

@Clara: Monster ALWAYS needs a kiss! Except for this particular moment . . . right now, he's telling me he needs supper.

*hurries to feed the furry swarm*

Hannah said...

And that cake and those cats are too much for words. Marmaduke...

Hannah said...

Aw, thank you, Anne Elisabeth! Yes, Tellie is doing well. I'm pleased with how my new introduction to The Daisha is coming! :D

Unknown said...

Yay!! Expect at least 3 entries from me on the Music Contest front. : D I am cranking away and super excited!

Because I just finished school, I am immersed in rewrites, unwrites, diswrites, and such. Exciting stuff! Thank you for posting! : )

Dom said...

I would love to be a part of your cover reveal and the advance reader party. I am not quite sure how you wanted responses, so I thought I would just leave a comment and ask. The contortions of your cats are so cute! Happy Spring!

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

@Allison: I can hardly WAIT to hear your submissions! :)

@CajunHuntress: Glad to have you on board for both! Go ahead and email me (aestengl@gmail.com) so I can officially get you on both lists.

Emma Clifton said...

I've been working on a project for a knitting photo contest; I hope to do some more writing this month, though.

Meredith said...

You never cease to amaze me, Mrs. Anne Elisabeth! What exciting "doings". Oh, my, that chocolate cake sounded absolutely scrumptious! I'm super jealous!

Am writing and editing stories. Just received input for one of my stories, (kudos to Ms. Stephanie, although my lapses in logic with my stories must drive her to distraction! Her comments are so invaluable, and I find myself laughing in bemusement at my failure to comprehend that things that make perfect sense to my flighty brain might need more clarification for readers. I'm also learning so much about how sighted individuals perceive things I'd never thought to know. She's phenomenal!)
So excited about the reveal of the next fairy tale choice. Also thrilled that Golden Daughter is progressing so well. Am eager for Mrs. Laurie to find the time to transcribe Five Glass Slippers and Until that Distant Day. Waiting as patiently as possible. Chemistry must come first, I suppose. Am forcing myself not to pester her. Have preordered the print books in case my patience completely snaps. LOL! And, I think my mother would love Until that Distant Day, too, so I'm getting it for her to read.

I'm also working on my entries for the music contest. So eager to hear everyone's submissions!

Your cats are so precious, and I so desperately want to pat them!

BTW: Heard your interview on the Life Is Story Blog. Wonderful! Congratulations on Dragonwitch's nomination for a Christy Award!

God bless you.

Rebekah L. / The Princess of Dol Amroth said...

THAT CAKE. Oh, happy late birthday!

Wait...You really have a cat named Monster? COOL. I didn't know that. Can he turn into a handsome fairy named Eanrin? XD

Headless Marmaduke. That made me laugh. :P Poor Marmaduke. XD

You're writing! (I should be doing that...) GOOD LUCK ON WRITING!!

ghost ryter said...

Awwww! Head or no head, Marmaduke is precious!

You know, you could just have Rohan bake some cakes like THAT as the prize for the music contest. I don't think anyone would mind (I wouldn't ... *looks at picture and drools*)
Speaking of the music contest ... I'm going to be sending in my two submissions soon. I just can't get a good recording.

Would you mind giving us the smallest of hints abotu "Draven's Light"? I just want to know, where does it go in the series's timeline?

Anne Elisabeth Stengl said...

@ghost ryter--Well, I'm not talking too much about DRAVEN'S LIGHT yet. But I will tell you that this one is the earliest book in the series' timeline. It takes place looooong before STARFLOWER even. :) I'm very excited to get the cover finished up so I can share it and the back-cover write-up with all of you. Probably not until after summer though!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday :):):):):):):):):)
Your birthday cake looks great.
So many May birthdays! I am very exited about Five Glass Slippers
If only I had a goodreads acount:(
Jemma

Anonymous said...

I just realised you asked what we are doing. Well, I am having a birthday and Celebrating family birthdays, that is pretty much it.
Jemma