Tag Archives: coastal magic

Coastal Magic 2019

Posted on by under Conferences

I’ll be one of the attending authors at Coastal Magic 2019, a wonderful reader convention in Daytona Beach, Florida. Next year’s event takes place February 28 to March 3 and is the seventh annual CM. I’ve attended this convention twice in the past and really enjoyed it both times.

Featured Author Coastal Magic 2019

There will be a booksigning, which is open to the public. You’ll be able to pre-order books from me closer to the date. I’ll put up a form at the first of the year, plus you can order anything available in my Selz store and pick it up at the booksigning.

Reader registration is open right here.

See you at the beach!

About Coastal Magic

Posted on by under Dragonfire, Promoting

Those of you who follow me on Facebook already know that I’m living in the House of Flu. Mr. Math became sick with it about a week ago, which (perhaps predictably) meant that I came down with the flu in the middle of last week. Neither of us are back to normal yet (ugh) although there has been some improvement. The New Girl is bouncing off the walls, missing all her big walks (but I think she likes hanging out in the bedroom when one or both of us head back to bed.)

All of this would be just TMI, except it’s forced me to change my travel plans. I’ve lost a week of writing and will probably lose most of another, so I’ve cancelled out of the Coastal Magic readers’ conference at the beginning of February. The schedule was tight for Firestorm Forever already, but my being sick made it tighter. In order to get the book done on time, I need to stay home and write.

I’ll miss seeing all of you who are booked to attend, but I’m pretty sure you’d all rather have Sloane’s book in March!

Plans for 2015

Posted on by under Coming Soon, Conferences, My Books, Promoting, Reader Contest

Those of you who visit here often know that I’m big on making plans. At the first of the year, I like to update you as to what you can expect from me in the year ahead.

First, let’s talk about promotion.

• Reader Conferences
I’m booked to attend two readers’ conferences in 2015, both of which are early in the year. I haven’t been booking anything after that, and I doubt that I will—this year, I want to stay home and write more. No matter how efficiently I think I’m traveling, I don’t get any writing done for about 3 weeks when I go to a conference. There are too many characters in my office demanding that their stories be told, so 2015 is Writing Year.

Reader conferences are fun because there’s time to chat, plus there’s always a booksigning open to the public. In addition, I usually take some special goodies to these events.

I will be a featured author at the Coastal Magic Conference in Florida in February, which is a lovely small conference focused on paranormal romance and urban fantasy romance. Registration is closing soon for this wonderful event, so think about attending. You can come to the book fair on Saturday night, even if you aren’t attending the conference. I’d love to meet you in Florida, either way!

I will also be a featured author at a new conference, in April in Ottawa, called Romancing the Capital, which is being organized by Eve Langlois. I also think this will be an awesome conference and a lot of fun, so think about registering to attend, as well.

• Giveaways on the Move
I’m also switching up my giveaways this year, to make sure that my readers have a better chance of winning them. You’ve probably noticed that I’m not giving away a book every month on the blog anymore. Instead, I’m giving away prizes to readers through my newsletter: for example, in December, I gave away 25 audiobooks. Special pricing and new releases are also announced first in my newsletter. You’ll want to subscribe to the newsletter for 2015, to make sure you don’t miss out.

If you already subscribe but don’t see the newsletter in your email inbox, your ISP might think it’s spam. You can check your spam folder, or better yet, re-subscribe and add my email address to your email address book. That way, your ISP will know that you know me. The newsletter is mailed from:
chestwick@sympatico.ca

• More Bonus Content
I’ll also be offering more bonus content to you through my store. Right now, there are downloadable EPUB excerpts for both Firestorm Forever and The Crusader’s Bride. The one for The Crusader’s Bride is longer than the one posted here on the website, which is one kind of additional content you’ll be seeing in the store.

• A Monthly Guest Blog Post
I’ve also been invited to contribute each month to the Romance Canadian Style blog. (You might remember that I did a guest post there last year about using Canadian settings in romance novels.) I’ll be there on the 23rd of each month through 2015.

• Change at the Château
I have a new virtual assistant as of this week, and I’m hoping that her help allows me not only to interact more with all of you but also to get more writing done. Check out yesterday’s post or About Deborah to find out about my new social media links.

On Monday, we’ll talk about upcoming books from yours truly…

Go South

Posted on by under Conferences

Take a look over on the sidebar and you’ll see the link for Coastal Magic 2015. This reader conference will be in February in Daytona Beach Florida, which is not a bad place to be in February (even if it rains that weekend, as it did this year. You don’t have to shovel rain.) The conference focuses on paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and it’s a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the chance to chat with fans. It’s not a huge conference (like RT or RWA) which makes it more casual. I’ll be a featured author again at the conference next February and would love to see some of you there.

The list of attending authors will be posted in June, and registration opens July 1. Have a think about coming south next winter and being part of the fun.

Ten Reasons to Love the Coastal Magic Readers’ Convention

Posted on by under Writing Life

I’m home and still running with a nice thrum of energy from spending last weekend at the Coastal Magic Readers’ Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida. Here’s my top ten list of why it was so great.

1. Readers
Wow. I’ve never gone to a readers’ con before, and now I’m wondering why. It was such fun talking to readers, as well as meeting people in person who I’ve known online for a while. Jennifer’s book club came to get their copies of Dragonfire signed. The book club from Michelle’s book store A Novel Idea made a road trip from Ocala to get their copies of Kiss of Fire signed. Mindy came to have her copy of The Rogue signed, as well as to get more books. It was fabulous to meet lots of excited readers and have my picture taken with many of them. I was having a great time before the booksigning, but after that, I was walking on air. (They need to figure out how to put that kind of energy in a jar.)

2. Books
I got books and bought books, although I wasn’t nearly organized enough to get them all signed at the book fair. 😦 The “bookstore” was in the corridor, which was a stroke of genius – every time I passed to go to another panel or whatever, a cover caught my eye. It was wonderful to sit down, talk to people about books (their own books or books they loved) then be able to step right out and pick up a copy.

3. Authors and Bloggers
It’s always good to see authors I know in person and to have a chance to catch up a bit. For example, I saw the fabulous Linnea Sinclair for the first time in ages, and even though she called me a crazy Canadian for wearing sandals in weather she found cold (come visit my world, Linnea. I’ll show you cold!), it was great to see her again. She also told me that she’s still using the prologue from Fallen in her writing workshop and suggested I should have it on my website. Now it is. (As if the fabulous quote she gave that book wasn’t enough. Thanks, Linnea!) I met so many authors I’d never met before – and bought a bunch of their books, too. Now I have to get reading!

4. New Perspectives on Old Skills
Amy Lane taught me why knitting is the essential skill for surviving the zombie apocalypse. You can check out her list on her blog, right here.

5. The Beach
Seagulls, pelicans and crashing surf. I found and brought home a seashell. 🙂

6. No Snow
It rained, but really, after the winter we’ve had, I’m not that picky. I wore sandals, after all. I had curly hair for three days. No mittens. No hats, No coat. No chance of frostbite. No shoveling. It all worked for me.

7. Hoard Enhancement
Besides new books, I made a few other acquisitions in my travels. Some wonderful new dragon earrings, for example, more blank books (I can’t have too many), Sharpie markers in more colours (again, it’s impossible to have too many) plus even a research book for Thorolf’s story.

8. Alligators
Yes, I saw one, basking in the sun and not in a park or zoo. We did not, however, pursue an intimate acquaintance.

9. Panel Discussions
I had the chance to sit on multi-author panels and bounce around ideas about myths and fairy tales in urban fantasy and paranormal romance with Boone Brux, Lucienne Diver, Aria Kane and Amanda Carlson; compare notes on angelology, demonology (and even moral ambiguity) with Damon Suede, Rosalie Lario, Kait Ballenger, Lea Nolan and Ciara Knight; dragon shape shifter and other heroes with more with Kristin Painter, Carrie Ann Ryan, and Mari Mancusi; and also picked up some chitty chat about publishing. These casual panels were fun and interesting, but also led to more book purchases. (I like hearing authors talk about their books.)

10. Bloggers and Other New Contacts
I met people who do lots of great things for authors and readers and books, including virtual assistants, bloggers, reviewers, cover artists and more. I’m hoping to put some new ideas into action this year, and put those new connections to work. You’ll have to stay tuned for that.

Best of all, when I got home, Thorolf was still waiting in my office for the rest of his story to be told. 🙂