Waiting with the Fairies

Most fairy tales have a common event. The wait. It's when everything has already happened, but the ending has yet to arrive. It's that period before the resolution. The shoe fits. The poisoned apple is dislodged. A kiss awakens a long-sleeping princess. The woodcutter splits open the wolf's stomach.But before that, it's the wait. Cinderella has to watch both her step-sisters try on the shoe that is rightfully hers. Snow White has to lay in state until hoping someone will give her the Heimlich. The Sleeping Beauty...sleeps. Little Red Riding Hood is cramped into a stomach with her grandmother.That's how I feel right now. I'm in the waiting room wondering if my story will have a satisfying end. Or beginning. I know this is only the start of my public writing life, even though I've been working on this moment for years. But I'm no shrinking princess or little girl lost. My wait is more pregnant pause than intermission.So, tomorrow, July 24, 2018, A Smuggler's Path goes live digitally and the paperback will be my happily ever after. Or more like cliffhanger before then next installment. If fairy tales teach us anything, it's good things come to those who wait!And speaking of wait, the wait is almost over the free copy of A Smuggler's Path contest. I've also decided to allow any comments from the start of the contest to any post since the Fairy Tale Book Club to be valid as entrance into the contest. So if you comment on this post or any from this month, you're automatically included in the giveaway! Good Luck!

Fairy Tale Book Club (FTBC) update

I hope you’re all as excited as I am to start the ball rolling on the FTBC. There is still one more week before I open the forum to comments about The Goose Girl. As an added bonus for our inaugural club “meeting”, anyone who posts a comment will automatically be entered in the random draw to win a free copy of my new book, A Smuggler’s Path. Here’s a description: In Canto, magic is a commodity, outlawed by the elites after losing a devastating war and brokered by smugglers on the hidden market. But some know it’s more—a weapon for change.Inez Garza moves through two worlds. She's a member of the noble class who works as a magical arms dealer—a fact either group would gladly use against her. Neither know her true purpose—funding Birthright, an underground group determined to return magic to all at any cost.But the discovery of a powerful relic from before the Rending threatens her delicate balance.Inez’s inherent magic, which lies dormant in all the Canti, has been awakened. Now the Duchess’s daughter, radical and smuggler must assume another forbidden title—mage, a capital crime. This will bring her to the attention of factions at home—fanatical rebels bent on revolution, a royal family determined to avoid another magical war, her mercenary colleagues at the hidden market willing to sell her abilities to the highest bidder—and in Mythos, victors of the war and architects of the Rending.Evasion has become Inez’s specialty, but even she isn’t skilled enough to hide from everyone—and deny the powers drawing her down a new path.Three lucky winners will be chosen the day before the book is officially released on July 24th, 2018!I'm looking forward to reading everyone's insights for the FTBC!