Sabrina's Blog

My 6 year old is very much like me, a bit of sci-fi/fantasy nerd. A bit. *cheesy grin* Lately, he is very much into anything that has to do with the undead: ghosts, zombies, vampires, witches, necromancers. Our latest conversation centered around the last. He wanted to know what the difference between a necromancer's magic and a witch's magic. As with any conversation with this beautiful child, it became a snowball of: "What if this?" and "What if that?" questions. And soon I had the beginning kernels of a book idea. I have to say, some of the most entertaining and thought provoking conversations I've experienced in my life have been with this child of mine. I know one day soon, he'll grow up and begin to pull away to do his own thing. He'll go through the 'my parent's are so uncool' stage. It makes me sad when I think about it. Until that happens, I'm determined to bask in being his favorite person and I continue encouraging ...

My earliest memories of my love for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre are of sitting down with my mom to enjoy Star Trek: The Next Generation. They're followed by the endless run of seriously odd stuff shown on the Sci/Fi Channel over the years, countless movie motion pictures, and books. Lots and lots of books. Despite this upbringing, I never once heard of/watched/discovered the world of Doctor Who. A tragedy, I now know. For the last 5 years or so, I've had friends and acquaintances express shock at this void in my sci-fi/fantasy experience. "How can you call yourself a real fan of the genre?" has been asked of me, over and over and over. I always rolled my eyes and laughed them off. I prefer books anyway and simply don't watch much TV, so its been easy to continue missing out in blissful ignorance. Earlier today, avoiding the current writing project because of yet another plot snag, I was playing on Facebook and an ad for a Doctor Who fan group popped up on m...

It's FREE!!! SHINE 1: Childhoods End is available HERE for the next 5 days at NO cost to you!! Please check it out and if you like what you read, I hope you'll leave a review. It's a novella, so quick to read. The next 4 installments, also written by SHINE universe creator William Bernhardt, will come out each consecutive month for only $0.99 each. This is a ongoing serialized novel in which multiple authors will write. Bill honored me, by asking me to be one of the writers creating stories in this universe and as soon as I know when my SHINE story comes out, I'll be sure to let you all know. Did you watch the trailer I posted earlier this week? Have you read SHINE 1: Childhood's End? Did you leave a review? Feel free to tell me what you think on here as well. Thanks for reaching out and supporting this fun new project I am so excited to be part of, blog friends!

I mentioned a while back that I was excited to be asked to write in a fun new project and I'm super excited to finally be able to share the details!!! The photo above is the cover for the first installment of a fun new serialized ongoing novel that will release one installment a month. The first 5 installments were written by the SHINE Universe creator and bestselling author, William Bernhardt. He invited several other writers, including yours truly, to also write in the fabulous SHINE Universe, which will come out sometime after the first 5 installments.  SEE! I told you, exciting! Even better, this first installment to release THIS Thursday, is absolutely FREE  for the 1st 5 days!! After Monday, each one will be only $0.99! There is also a really cool trailer for it. It isn't a comic book or graphic novel, but fully prose, each at novella length. Bill just really likes comic books and so the trailer was made in that fashion. If you'd like to check o...

Pitch your nonfiction theme. Every work of fiction has one. This little nugget of wisdom came from author, David Morrell, creator of the original Rambo character that inspired the Sylvester Stallone movies at a local conference I attended this weekend. I love conferences. I always learn something that helps me grow as a writer. This one was no exception. Like most writers, I struggle with pitching my book. I can talk about it at great length to anyone who'll listen, but put a restraint on me and my brain wants to freeze up. It's so frustrating. How do I put a 127,000 word epic fantasy into one minute? The closer I came to being ready to submit, the harder I found this question to answer. How could I know my story so well, yet be completely at a loss when it comes time to pitch? How do I condense it down and still keep it interesting? Mr. Morrell suggests pitching on the nonfiction topic. Human's gravitate toward that which they identify. Every writer has a reason...