I’m a Slacker and a Status Update

ABast-Winter Pleasures

AAguirre-Bronze GodsI’m usually a real stickler for consistency, but I’ve been totally sucking at it the last two months or so. As such, I’m behind on quite a few things. So here’s where everything is at for the moment. I’m hoping to get completely caught up by Monday, but I know I’ve said that in the past. If I’ve promised anything or you’re wondering what’s going on with something in particular, don’t hesitate to drop me an email, a tweet, FB post or G+ me. I’m around, just with a bad case of short term memory and oh shiny syndrome.

Google+
How many of you are on Google+? If you are and you want to keep up with LE, I recently started a G+ page and a community. At the moment, the site doesn’t feed into the G+ page like it does with Facebook, but I’m trying to ensure the majority of posts get there.  The G+ page is great for updates, but the community page is more like a discussion forum and I encourage anyone and everyone to start up a chat about anything UF/PNR/Steam/Fantasy. The other beautiful part about the community page is the ability to do video chatrooms.  So if you’re over there, you should come check it out.

Escaping Reality Book Club
If you’re not already aware of, LE has started a Book Club, sort of. Using the new community pages at Google+, we’ll be getting together for the first time on January 20th to discuss City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. February’s book will be Phoenix Rising by Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris. If you are planning on attending, please don’t forget that you will need to have a Google+ account.

Newsletter
Here it is, the 15th of another month and I still don’t have the latest Escapist Newsletter posted. After talking with Nicole, I’ve made the decision not to do one this month.  The newsletter takes quite a bit of time to put together, and weeding through everything from January will make it take twice as long. So it’s just not going to happen.  The newsletter (and hopefully all of the news posts) WILL get back on schedule in February. I don’t care what needs to happen on my end, I need to get back that consistency. The lack of has been driving me nuts.

However, don’t feel that because I won’t be doing the newsletter, you won’t get any of the news from December. I still have everything unread in my Reader and will be including it in the various news posts I’m going to start posting. So you’ll get a mixture of both; plus December wasn’t that big of a month. I’ve already gone through a lot of it, so it shouldn’t be too hard – it’s just a matter of getting it all in one place.

ABast-Winter PleasuresI will be adding the Author Appearance lists for November and December, I just need to get them all in one place.  All the new releases for December and January have been posted. So if you think you missed one, make sure you check out those links.  Also, if you want to see all the new cover pretties that came out in November and December, just check out the photo albums on FB – they are all there. And just because I dislike posts without images, here’s a few of the new covers from November I believe.

And since there won’t be a newsletter for January, here are the November and December’s Reviews:

BMcMaster-Heart of IronBlack Friday Contests
Also, for those who won any of the Black Friday contests, I’m running behind on getting the information to the authors. Authors – I should be emailing you with winners information by this weekend. My extreme apologies for taking so long!

Also, if you are a winner and you haven’t contacted me yet, do so ASAP. Once I get through everyone who has submitted their information via the form, I’ll be redrawing new names.

RT Booklovers Feature
Quick question for everyone. LE will be doing the RT Feature for the 4th year in a row and I’m wondering. Do I need to update the questions? For those new to the site, and maybe unfamiliar with it, the RT feature began when I was planning my first trip and I was curious who would be there. The feature is meant to introduce readers to some of the authors who will be attending as well as the convention itself. I’m kind of wondering if I should add a question or maybe change it up a little.  Here are the questions as a reminder:

  1. Can you introduce yourself to my readers a little?
  2. Can you introduce us to the world that you have created?
  3. Will this be your first RT or are you a veteran? Any advice for those who are going for the first time?
  4. Are you speaking on any panels during RT? Are there any you are looking forward to?
  5. If someone were wanting to meet up with you at RT, who should they look for?

How many authors do you like to see? I normally run it for a full month, plus any extra days in the month it takes place, prior to it starting. However this year, RT Booklovers begins on the 1st, so I’m wondering if 30 authors is good or if you like seeing a few more. I generally get a really good response when I send out the questionnaire, so more is totally an option if there’s an interest.

Authors! For those attending, if you write in one of the five genres LE covers (paranormal romance, urban fantasy, science fiction, fantasy or steampunk) and would like to participate, please let me know and I’ll make sure to include you on the email when I send it out (which I’m hoping to be this weekend as well). The only requirement for participating is that you are a published author and attending the convention in Kansas City – you do not have to have a new novel coming out any time soon.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.