Young Adult Giveaway

Welcome to another great giveaway! Just full out the form below between the 27th and 31st for a chance to win a free signed copy of “The Canticle Kingdom”.  As one of the options for this contest, I have included checking out the web serial that is a prelude to “The Canticle Kingdom” called “Canticle of Night”.  So, if you’d like to see (or even hear) a sample of my writing, please go visit the link provided and check it out. (Don’t forget to “like” it).  In other news, I hope to get the sequel out this year, entitled “The Frozen Globe”.  I already have a cover for it, and it looks awesome.  If I can get over 150 entries in this giveaway, I will reveal the cover when I announce the winner.

Don’t forget to visit all the other great blogs participating in the hop using the list below the entry form.

http://www.bigworldnetwork.com/CanticleofNight.html

Two Interviews: One Real, One Fictional

This week I’ve got a another character interview, this time from Xandir’s sidekick, Jarom the Cherub. 

Speaking of interviews, I have one up here on Booksnatch that includes a giveaway of “The Canticle Kingdom”. Hop on over for more details.

http://booksnatch.blogspot.com/2012/01/interview-giveaway-michael-d-young.html 

Interviewer: Today with us we have Jarom the cherub. He’s looking a little shell shocked. What’s the matter, kid? Never seen a city before?

Jarom: Actually, no, not an earthly one. It’s a little…dingy.

Interviewer: What did you expect? You mean they don’t let you look down here with your little heavenly periscopes or something?

Jarom: Oh, we could. I just never wanted to. It is heaven after all.

Interviewer: So, first I want to ask, are the streets there really paved with gold?

Jarom: Gold? For a garbage can maybe. We’ve got much better stuff than gold up there.

Interviewer: Interesting. Now tell me, what about St. Peter? Does he really sit up there at the gates and wait for everyone? Sounds like that could get a little boring.

Jarom: I think it would be more accurate to say the “Saints Peter” do that job.

 Interviewer: I don’t understand.

 Jarom: The St Peter you’re thinking about only does it once in a while. Basically, they recruit anyone who happens to be named Peter and split up the shifts among them. Most newcomers are too starry-eyed to notice the difference.

Interviewer: So what’s your job up there? Do you work for Cupid or something?

Jarom: Cupid? Heavens, no. He may look cuddly, but don’t get on his bad side, and don’t even think about using the word ‘cute’. Those heart-tipped arrows are plenty sharp. I actually work in the ambrosia business.

Interviewer: Ambrosia? Tell us about it.

Jarom: It’s only best food on heaven or earth. Manna comes in at a close second. Sometimes we even mix the too and have ambrosia filled manna. Literally, a match made in heaven.

Interviewer: So would you care to share the recipe? Sounds like I could win a few contests with that one. 

Jarom: I only wish I could. Sharing the secrets of Heaven with man is a banishable offense. If you a taste, I’d have to kill you.

Interviewer: A donut to die for. Now you’re just being cruel.

Jarom: I really am sorry. One angel who gave away secrets got made a destroying angel thousands of years. I can’t think of anything worse than that.

Interviewer: Do you have a pet peeve? Do angels have pet peeves?

Jarom: I assure you they do. And I know mine. It’s when people say ‘cherubs’. It’s not a word. More than one cherub and you say ‘cherubim’. Tell your friends.

Interviewer: I know you’re busy, but is there anything else you can tell us about heaven?

Jarom: Just that it’s worth it. I miss it like crazy already, and I’d do anything to get back. Something tells me that there’s a rocky road ahead before that happens.

Interview: Thank you, Jarom. We’ll let you get on to your assignment. There you have it folks, from the mouth of an actual cherub, proving that there actually are donuts in heaven.

Second Verse, Same as the First

Week Two went about as well as week one, even though we were in the middle of moving from our apartment into a beautiful brand new condo. We’re all settled in and loving it. Don’t write off writing just because you are busy!

Stats:
My word count for the week: 14079
Running Total: 31645
Monthly Percentage: 63.3%
Yearly Percentage: 5.3%

Writing Tip of the Week:
Take rejections in stride.  I had a very disappointing rejection this week, and stuff like that just hits you where it hurts…metaphorically of course. I think it’s okay to be sad for a little bit, to mourn that lost opportunity, but then you have turn around and start making your next moves. If you are not careful, you might be tempted to let that project languish on the farther back of burners so that nothing happens.

Most of time, it is not that your project was bad, just that it didn’t fit what the publisher wants right now.  Send it off again as soon as possible. I’m already preparing to send it to two more publishers myself.

Writing Update:
I’m continuing to map out another web serial, and working on recording the audio version of “Canticle of Night”. Did you know it is available for free on iTunes? Good stuff.

I have been working hard this week on a non-fiction project for once that is a guide for LDS Ward Choir directors, but also can be helpful for any church choir directors. It is a topic about which I know quite a bit, having done it several times.

I’m also working hard on the third and final installments of “The Canticle Kingdom” and “The Last Archangel” series. Just getting these off the ground. In addition, I am preparing a novel called “Countdown” to enter in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award. Last year, my novel “Starspire” (as yet unpublished) was a quarter-finalist.  I’d love to get at least to the semi-finals this year!

If you want to listen to or read “Canticle of Night”, please visit my page at http://www.bigworldnetwork.com/CanticleofNight.html

I’d love to know what you think about it!

Today as promised, an interview with Xandir, the main character of my novel, “The Last Archangel”.  

Speaking of, you can also read a new review here:http://booksnatch.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-review-last-archangel-by-michael-d.html

Enjoy!

Interviewer: We
have here today a guest that wasn’t so easy to get ahold of.  He isn’t listed in the yellow pages, you can’t
read his blog, and the guy never tweets. Xandir is a destroying angel by day,
and by night…well, still a destroying angel. 
In fact, he’s got the gig until the End of the World.  At least there’s job security, right?

Xandir: You’re
awfully gutsy making fun of some with a sword in each hand. I’ll have you know,
I once toasted two cities and turned a lady into a pillar of salt all before
lunchtime. Don’t test me.

Interviewer:  Sorry, it’s just, I’ve never interviewed an
angel before. From all the paintings and stained glass windows I’ve seen, you
all seemed to be an easy-going lot.  I
see I’ve been misled.

Xandir: Yeah,
well, you wouldn’t be the first. I know we don’t exactly offer to pose for
portraits, but greeting card companies really just need to try harder.

Interviewer:  Perhaps you would like to dispel some other
common misconceptions for us, Xandir.

Xandir: Sure,
where do I start? I could probably write a whole book about it.

Interviewer: What
about music in heaven? Is harp strumming compulsory?

Xandir: Do you
think I’d be caught dead with something as frilly as a harp? No, angels play
all sorts of things, though I think a few instruments have been banned. The
accordion, the bagpipes, and the kazoo have been relegated to Hell. 

Interviewer: Kazoo-wielding
demons.  Now there’s one more reason to
stay on the straight and narrow. I can’t help but notice that your wings don’t
look quite like I had imagined. They look more like the surface of a bubble. Do
all angels have them?

Xandir: Most do.
But remember the wings are more substantial than they look, and we’re not
birds. Not even little cherubs for all their sickly-sweetness.

Interviewer:
That’s reminds me, there seem to be a lot of different types of angels.  How does that work?

Xandir: The
little bite-sized ones are the cherubim. They are the younger ones in training,
usually apprentices to more senior angels. 
The suck-ups get made Seraphim, who take great pride in supervising the
rest of us. I’ve got a High Seraph who acts as my glorified baby sitter. It’s
his job to make sure I don’t just destroy stuff for fun.  Or boredom. I guess there are some Archangels
even above them, but who cares about them?

Interviewer:
Interesting. Now, I’ve got to ask, is there really a cloud nine? What makes it
so great?

Xandir: Yeah, it
exists, but it’s not really that much better than clouds one through eight.  I think there’s a pretty good ambrosia stand
there, but, you know, it’s been a while.

Interviewer: So,
I know you’ve probably got to get on to destroying some more things, but I’ve
got to know.  What’s will halos? You
don’t seem to have one.

Xandir: You’re
pretty observant for a mortal.  The deal
is, not all angels have them.  What you
all see as a halo is actually a crown given to big wig angels.  Like most angelic clothing, the crowns glow
and create that ‘halo’ effect around the angel’s face.  What I’d do to try on one of the Archangel’s
crowns.  It would make a Rolex look like
a Cracker Jack toy.

Interviewer:
Where are you going? I have some other questions I’d like to ask.

Xandir: Too
bad.  Duty calls.  Oh, and I’d stay off the interstate today if
I were you.  I’m headed there now, and it
might not be pretty.

Interviewer:
Thanks for the tip.  I’ll…and he’s gone.
You heard him folks, straight from the angel’s mouth: stay off the interstate,
and, well, don’t take up the kazoo. 

One Week Down!

My first leg of my marathon writing year went very well. I’m a little ahead of schedule and feel like it’s really something that I can sustain. I want to get ahead, because you never know what will come up and some weeks will be busier than others.

I think it is fun to keep stats in order to gauge progress. So, here we have it:

Stats:
My word count for the week: 14907
Monthly Percentage: 29.8%
Yearly Percentage: 2.4%

Writing Tip of the Week:
Don’t discount your smaller writing stretches. If you have five minutes here, there minutes there, you may not think that would be much. Just yesterday, I had a day like that, writing 100 words here, 86 words there and ended up writing almost 2,000 words by the end of the day! To put that in perspective, I need to write about 1,643 words per day if I want to hit 600,000 by the end of the year. Next time you have a few minutes, instead of checking Facebook for the fifth time, write a paragraph or two.

Writing Update:
I’m working on recording the first season of my web serial “Canticle of Night” and just got finished writing the second serial “Canticle of Dawn”. I’m planning a third one called “Canticle of Twilight”, which I assure you will have nothing to do with vampires or sparkly creatures of any kind.

I’ve also started a new book called “Wandaful”, where the main character is named…you guessed it “Wanda” and it has to do with magic wands. (But not your grandmother’s magic wands…that is, if your grandmother was a magician or something.)  More to follow on all these exciting projects!

If you want to listen to or read “Canticle of Night”, please visit my page at http://www.bigworldnetwork.com/CanticleofNight.html

I’d love to know what you think about it!

Also, Rafflecopter just went out to the public. It’s a great tool and you should enter the giveaway below and get to know them better. If you enter, let them know that I referred you.

Kicking Off Angel Thursdays

Hello everyone!

I’m off to a great start on my marathon writing year. I’d like to introduce a feature I’ll be doing on Thursdays, in which I highlight posts about “The Last Archangel”. I just finished writing the sequel and hope to get that out in the world soon one way or the other once I’m done with revisions. The number of followers has grown significantly since the initial blog tour and so I’m going to highlight things from the tour and some never-before-seen content as well.

Today, I’m just going to do an intro post with a little about my book. The publisher recently slashed the ebook price for all their ebooks in half and so it can now be yours for only $3.99. (was $9.99)

The story revolves around Xandir, who is a an angel who fell near the beginning to this world and as a punishment has been forced to work as a destroying angel throughout history. The story chronicles his quest in our time to either find redemption–a quest which determines whether he helps destroy the world or save it. You can read a great review of it here in the Deseret News:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705395271/Review:-/’The-Last-ArchAngel/’-full-of-warring-angels-and-demons.html

You can purchase the Kindle version here: http://amzn.com/B0051PKCZC

Next week, I will highlight a character interview with Xandir, so you can get to know him better. Hope the beginning of your New Year is going great! 

Happy New Year! Time to Get to Work

Happy 2012!

It’s the starting line for a long contest, which I have set for myself and I’m off to a good start. I’d like to explain a little more what I am doing. I intend to write 600,000 words this year, shooting for 50,000 each month.  Unlike NaNoWriMo, I am going to count anything I want to publish, be it fiction, non-fiction, novels and short stories. I will not count any other writing I do such as emails, writing for work, or any other incidental writing.

I will update the word counter every Monday and give a little status update. I don’t want to flood the blog with only this, but it will be a major part of what will be going on this year. I hope to accomplish this not only for the boost in my own writing, but to show other writers that they can make and achieve big goals. Please help by sending your encouragement and posting about your own writing goals. I believe you only get high results when you set high expectations for yourself.

The first day of the year saw a great writing day, with about 3,900 words down already. Only about 596,000 to go! I know that this will be more a marathon than a sprint, and I think that the slow and steady commitment to every day writing is what will win this race.

I have decided that I’m going to take pledges for this project and that all the proceeds with go to MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, in honor of a good friend who suffers from this disease. You can click on the link to make a monthly pledge for as little or as much as you want.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvGbWtxyNIU1dDZLM2Z1S2E1TUNsUW1VaWtab3A3aVE

On another note, I wanted to list some of the things I’m looking forward to in 2012.

-The first “Hobbit” movie. I’m a true fan.
-The Olympics in London.
-The Presidential election. I’m hoping for some change.
-My 10 year high school reunion (Yep, I graduated in 2002)
-Watching the world not end in December and then laughing at all the doomsayers.

What are you looking forward to? What are your goals for the new year? 

My Writing Plan: 2012

Can you believe 2012 is already upon us? It seems insane. Soundslike a real Jetsons year, like we should have flying cars and the like. TheMayans say the world is going to end about this time next year. I don’t know ifthat is true, but if it is, I’m resolved to making this last year count. 

This is officially my final post for 2011. It has been agreat year that has seen the release of a new novel, a new inspirationalpamphlet, a new serial story, and the writing of many new manuscripts. For myblog, it went from having about 50 followers to over 320.  Thanks to everyone who joined up!

For your very last chance of the year to win “The Last Archangel”,follow the link to the giveaway below. 

http://www.pawingthroughbooks.com/2011/12/12-days-of-christmas-extravaganza_3056.html

Also, here is a great interview on Sylvia Ramsey’s website, in which I talk a lot more about “The Last Archangel”.

http://wwwthouhtfulreflections.blogspot.com/2011/12/young-adult-urban-fantasy-author.html

Inconjunction with the end of the year, I’ve come up with some goals for 2012. I’mshooting for the stars. If you want your own template, please email me at thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com to requestone. Here they are: 

Goal: Write 50,000 words/month for every month in 2012 for a total of 600,000 words.

Novels:

To Write:

10

To Revise:

5

To Submit:

5

Goal to Sell:

3 books

ShortStories:

To Write:

10

To Revise:

10

To Submit:

15

Goal to Sell:

5

NonFiction Works:

To Write:

1

To Revise:

2

To Submit:

2

Goal to Sell:

1

Conferencesto Attend:

LDStorymakers

ConDuit

Teen Writer’s Conference

UVU Book Academy

Announcing: Canticle of Night

When many people read “The Canticle Kingdom” they told me that they wanted more backstory.  Wait no longer! In conjunction with BigWorldNetwork, I am producing a 12 part serial story that details some of the backstory of Jorgen and Karsten Muller, the brothers who created the music box that would become The Canticle Kingdom. You can read and listen for free here: (I did my own narration as well)

http://www.bigworldnetwork.com/CanticleofNight.html

Please spread the word!  I’m excited to see how this new format will be. A new episode comes out on Mondays, and I promise to keep it exciting and interesting. Please let me know what you think.  

Raising the Stakes on NaNoWriMo

I always look forward to November each year for more reasonsthan Thanksgiving. Though I am a sucker for turkey and stuffing, I also lovewatching my word counts skyrocket as I take part in National Novel WritingMonth.  (NaNoWriMo for short) For theuninitiated, during NaNoWriMo, writers seek to write 50,000 words in 30 days,which is the length of a short novel.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for three years, and I’veimproved every year. My first year, I barely squeaked by on the 30^th,the next year I hit the goal on the 25^th, and this year I took ahuge leap forward in finishing on the 17^th. 

This got me to thinking—why couldn’t every month be likeNaNoWriMo? If I can do in November, what makes it impossible in January orJuly? The answer for me is: nothing. I just try harder in November to work hardand minimize distractions because I have a firm target.

With that in mind, I want to set a very high goal this year:I literally want to make every month like NaNoWriMo. I think I’ll call itNational Novel Writing Year (or NaNoWriYe) for short. I want to write 50,000per month for every month in 2012 for a grand total of 600,000 words.

To put that in perspective that’s about two installments ofRobert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series.  It is much more than I have ever written, butI think that I can do it. I am serious in my commitment to writing, and I thinkthis will be a formative year in my career.

I’m sure that many full-time authors can easily pull of thisfeat.  However, I’m working a full-timejob, have a wife and two kids, and a very busy schedule with the MormonTabernacle Choir.  I hope that in doingthis, I can inspire others who have busy lives to see that they can still fitwriting into their schedules.

I have also decided that I want to take it a step further.Many runners run to raise money for charity. I thought I would go ahead andwrite for charity instead. To help out, you can pledge an amount, howeversmall, for every month’s worth of words I write (every 50,000 words). Thatmeans, if you pledge $1, and I reach my goal, you would donate $12 to charity. In this case, I have selected the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in honor of a good friend who suffers from this disease. 

To pledge an amount, fill out the form below. All you needis a full name and email address.  I willthen send you an invoice through PayPal at the end of the challenge for theproper amount. I will be taking charity suggestions from my readers to figureout where the money should go.  I won’tkeep a dime.

Anyone else up to the challenge? I’m excited and already alittle tired just thinking about it. Luckily, I have several full noveloutlines ready to hash out, and I’ll be giving constant updates here on my blogthroughout the year. 

In this season of giving, I encourage you all to think ofways to spread the abundance we all have been given.  Have a happy and blessed Holiday Season.