Publishing news!

 First, my short story, "The Jerusalem Plot," will appear in the premiere issue of Thrill Ride Magazine.  It's currently available for preorder here.  I'm excited about being a part of this and I hope you'll check it out.

Secondly, my Christian suspense novel Death on the Air will be coming out later this month.  Subscribers to my newsletter have already seen the cover (if you want to subscribe, there's a link on the left side of this page).  Here is the blurb:

Sandra Benson appears to have her life in order. A Christian with a popular talk radio show, she makes sure no one sees her struggles with alcohol and tries to tell herself it’s not a big deal. 

Then a caller who names himself “Lucifer” makes a startling statement - he killed a woman. Sandra is rattled by the call, especially when she learns she has a connection to the dead woman. 

As her life slowly unravels thanks to Lucifer, Sandra struggles to help stop him. Because he isn’t done killing - and she fears she may be next.

And I'm ending this post with a question for those of you who read my weekly column "Laura's Look."  Do you have a favorite?  I'd love to hear about it.  drop me a line at my email address laura@laurahware.com.  

Getting Rid of "Only"

 In some ways, February was a challenging month.  It was busy, I started the month with a nasty cough (thank you, pine pollen), and in general wasn't feeling at the top of my game.

My column still went out every week.  I still wrote every day, even if it wasn't a lot.  In the end I wrote 12,226 words in February.

Talking with a couple of fellow writers, I bemoaned that I'd "only" written around twelve thousand words.

Carolyn, one of the writers, encouraged me to change my thinking.  She framed it like this: despite having a difficult month, I succeeded in writing over twelve thousand words.

That gave me pause.  Looking at it that way, it wasn't a failure on my part, but something to celebrate.  Feeling good about the writing increases the chance I'll do it.  

"Only" was a weight that held me back from what I'd truly accomplished.

So, despite a difficult month, I wrote every day, my column went out every week, and I wrote over twelve thousand words.  (I also have a book out to my copyeditor - look for Death on the Air later this month)

If you, like me, find yourself saying, "I only did..." see if you can reframe it.  Turn it into a positive.

You'll be amazed at how it helps your attitude.

Random stuff...

 First off, you should know that as I am an honorary groundhog (having been born on Groundhog's Day) and did NOT see my shadow.  Early spring is my prediction.

I have been working on various projects this month, but things seem to be moving slowly for some reason.  I'd developed a cough at the end of January/beginning of February which slowed me down a little but it's pretty much gone.  I'd hoped to have Death on the Air to my copyeditor by now, but no such luck.

But I've still written every day - sometimes not much, but it counts.  My streak is at 962 days right now, which means I'll probably hit 1,000 days sometime in March.

While I catch up on my work, there's still time for you to check out my friend Matt Buchman's Kickstarter for Thrill Ride Magazine..  It ends on the 21st, so don't delay.  Go here and see all the goodies he's offering.

Want to give a head's up...

 A friend of mine, Matt Buchman, an excellent writer and editor, is currently doing a Kickstarter for an action adventure/thriller quarterly magazine called Thrill Ride.  He's got nearly 50 stories lined up for the first year - two of them are mine.

I believe in this project and would like to see it happen.  If you are so inclined, could you click here and check it out?  I assure you it's well worth your time!

2023 Goals (So Far)

 As I mentioned in a previous post, I want to share with you some things coming up this year.  These are based on goals I've set and hope to accomplish in 2023.

I want to continue my writing streak of getting words done every day.  So far I've managed to do so even though there were times it was tough.  Right now the streak stands at 947 days - 1,000 isn't that far away.

My friend Karen and I figured out there are SEVEN projects I want to publish.  I don't know if I can get them all out this year, but there are some that are a priority.  Three I know for sure will be out by the end of June are as follows:

-- Sorcery and Steel: Tempest.  Co-written with Azure Avians, this is the fifth book in our fantasy series.  I'm in the midst of writing the last chapter now, and we plan to have copies available for Shore Leave in July.

-- Laura's Look x100.  This year marks the 25th year of my column "Laura's Look."  I'm celebrating with a Kickstarter in April for a book that will include 100 of my columns that have been published over the years.  I'm looking at a June release for this, so stay tuned.

-- Death on the Air.  This is a Christian suspense novel.  A Christian radio talk show host gets a disturbing call on her show - a man confesses to a murder.  As events transpire, she learns there are more deaths to come - one of them hers.  I'm hoping to get this out the end of this month or beginning of March.

Hope you have a lovely February.  I'll talk to you again soon.

A Workout in Vegas

 So last week I found myself in Las Vegas, Nevada, attending a Fantasy Caper writing workshop taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who as a bestselling author knows a thing or three thousand about writing that kind of a story.

Along with nine other writers, I attended lectures, wrote exercises and a short story, and let me tell you - it wasn't easy.  This is a difficult subgenre to write well, a lesson we all quickly learned as we struggled with bringing enough description into our exercises and stories.

Understand that all the writers attending (myself included) are not bad writers.  Kris made a point of repeating that fact over and over.  This is hard, she said.  It's a new thing you're learning.

Writing a fantasy caper is like trying to walk, chew gum, juggle, skip rope, and yodel - all at the same tine.  There are a lot of different things going on in such a story, and you need to be on top of all of them.

I have my notes and assignments.  I look forward to adding this tool to my writer's toolbox.

Some of you are probably asking, "But did she have fun?"

Why, yes, yes I did.  I got to spend time with friends I hadn't seen in real life for a bit.  I got to write, something that I enjoy.  But, in case you're wondering, I didn't gamble.  For one thing, there was no time.  For another, I needed my money for meals, which were expensive, though overall good quality.

I'm back home and nearly caught up on sleep.  It was a great time working out my writing muscles.  I hope I will be able to attend another one in the future.

Happy New Year!

 I hope your year got off to a decent start today.  

I took a look over my accomplishments in writing in 2022.  I wrote a total of 246,529 words.  Not the 300k I was aiming for but it still counts as my second-best year ever writing.  So I'm counting that as a win.

I wrote 15 short stories and a novel in 2022.  I sold 3 of the short stories and published one.  I also published a collection .

Getting things sent and published is a weakness for me.  It's something I want to work on in 2023, as well as continuing to make new words.

In the weeks and months ahead, I'll try to share with you what I'm doing in these areas.  The next big thing on my list is a Fantasy Caper workshop in Vegas that starts a week from tomorrow.  I'm having fun writing a story for the workshop.

May 2023 be an improvement over 2022.  Thanks for walking this road with me.