2 WEEK NOTICE!

2 WEEK NOTICE! TIME IS RUNNING OUT! SEE THE CAMPAIGN: https://igg.me/at/thebeauty/x

Let's go beyond the fairy tale. The Beauty will take readers to new locations and introduce them to exciting new characters. More importantly, bonds will be tested when secrets are finally revealed. If you loved book one, The Beast, you will absolutely adore this next installment. If you're new to The Hunter Legends, then jump in and prepare yourself for freezing weather, bloodthirsty hellhounds, steampunk inventions, and a heart-thumping romance for the ages.

I am so proud of my readers and subscribers for getting this campaign to where it is. Though we HAVE NOT reached goal, the campaign has raised enough to at least cover the cost of the digital cover. Most of my readers use an e-reader, so if I can raise at least enough to pay for the e-book (Just shy of $600 is needed), then I can get the book out there on Kindle and Nook. A few months down the road, after I've earned some royalties from the digital book, I can then have the paperback made. This is not ideal. Of course, I'd want to release it all at once. But this might be the way I have to go, if the funding doesn't come in. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Please take some time to look at the campaign. Contribute to get the paperback signed or to get other awesome goodies. If you can't contribute, a share can really make a difference. Send the link to anyone you think might enjoy this series. 

Don't forget the FREE chapters! You can read the first 2 chapters of book one and two by sharing the campaign. I think you'll really love them, and hopefully they'll leave you wanting more :D




Pre-order THE BEAUTY & Help Get It Published!

Good news! The Beauty is almost here! I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting its release. That's nearly about to happen! Aggghhhh, I'm so excited!! Who's ready to pre-order?

I've officially launched the indiegogo campaign to help me cover all of the costs needed to publish a book. I want The Beauty to be as nicely put together as The Beast was, so I'm sparing no expense--at least that's the plan. It really depends on if I get the finding or not.

As there always is with crowdfunding campaigns, there are great perks to be had. You can get the book signed in paperback or you can get an early ebook copy before anyone else. Most of the perks are variations of that. However, there's one that I would like to put a spotlight on. I'm calling it...the Fanatic Fan Perk...Or Pack...I change my mind on that all the time.
This perk was originally developed for those people who had bought the entire series in my first campaign. Of course I want them to have a reason to come around, I like these people ;P However, after I came up with the idea, I decided to include an add-on option. That's when I realized what a great deal this was. You get the t-shirt, the book bag, the early chapter from book 3, thirty minutes of one-on-one time with me, AND you can add-on The Beast and/or The Beauty for only $10 each. That's freakin half off! It's a good deal. While there are many other perks to look at, I think this one is worthy of everyone's consideration.

I'd also like to point out that there are lots of chapters available to read on the campaign. There are 2 chapters from The Beast (book 1) and 2 chapters from The Beauty (book 2) available. All you have to do is share the campaign on either facebook or twitter and you'll be granted access. I really hope you guys enjoy them and I absolutely hope they convince you to contribute.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CAMPAIGN! 


A Writer's Nightmare...Literally.

I'm no stranger to nightmares. I've had plenty about zombies and more than a few about demons--which scare the crap out of me. But I've never had one like this before. If you're not a writer or a creative person, than you probably won't understand why this dream qualifies as a nightmare. Trust me when I say, it really did scare me.

In this dream, I'm hosting a contest to help publish and promote my next book. All contestants must write The Beauty for me. The winner will have their version published and be listed in the credits of the book. I know, that's a super shitty contest. Write a whole book and all you get is a special credit in the book? Maybe they got paid too, but I couldn't really say. Still, what kind of crappy contest is that? There's no accounting for what the brain comes up with.

Crappy contest or not, it worked. People turned out in droves with their submissions. I looked them over and selected the best one to represent The Hunter Legends, book 2. There was a lot of fanfare and applause. It was a big deal. Now all I needed was for the winner to send me the completed manuscript. 

But the first sign of trouble came when the winner's agent (Yes, this guy had an agent. This random, plucked-from-obscurity dude had an agent. That was warning alarm #1) told me that the winner already had an interview with Romantic Times Magazine. 

"What?! But I'm the author of the book! He's just a credit, call him a co-author at best. I don't even want his name on my cover," is what I say to my made up dream friends.

Days go by and the signs just keep piling up. The finished manuscript of The Beauty still hasn't shown up, which makes me very uncomfortable. Why hasn't he sent it? Meanwhile, buzz for The Beauty is reaching levels that I never expected. But they all want interviews with the winner and credit the winner with creation of the series!

That's when the anxiety starts. These are my characters! This is my series! I've worked my butt off making it all come together. Belle, Aleksander, Gastone, Edvina, Laramie, and all the rest of them are in my blood--they're apart of me. But this guy wins a contest and suddenly the world hands him all of my beloved hard work. I also recall complaining that the only reason he's getting notoriety is because he's a man. You know how the public is, a man writes a romance and they go crazy for it. Just look at Nicholas Sparks. He's a man, so it must be good. *eyeroll*

But what really gets me is the idea that I've lost my series. I realize during all of this that, while he wrote The Beauty, I don't know if he did it right. Did he tell the story the way I intended? Did he take the story in the right directions? My god, what if he represented the characters wrong and sent them down paths that weren't supposed to exist.

And that's when I woke up. Heart racing, sweat beading on my forehead-- and fearing that the winner was going to be standing at the end of my bed, holding my book and yelling, "It's mine! It's all mine!" 

But wait, it was just a dream! It wasn't real. That's right, I've already written The Beauty. I did it all by myself and no one else can ever steal it from me, and I know the story was done the right way. So calm down, Lindsay. It's okay. All is right in the world.

Thank god.

And that is a writer's nightmare. Fear that someone might steal your work and fear that they might not do the story justice. Never had dreams about people hating my books and only ever getting 1 star reviews. While those things would make me super sad, at least my books would still be mine. I could still write them and love them, and it wouldn't matter what anyone else thought.

But someone stealing my characters from me and not giving them the story they deserve--Well, I just couldn't deal with that.

So thank god it was just a dream. Breathe that beautiful sigh of relief. -Lindsay Mead

   

A Helium Reading Of The Beast

Okay, I don't normally post about my daily vlog. I post videos everyday (mostly) on YouTube where I share my life; it's a whole thing. It's super important to me, but I recognize that not everyone is going to be into that. So I don't bog down my blog with posts about it. My daily vlog has its little space on the right and I think that's plenty for now.

THAT BEING SAID! I inhaled some helium in a recent vlog and ended up reading from THE BEAST with my funny voice. It was great. Below you'll find that snippet, but I'll also post the entire video beneath that. The rest of the helium bits are funny and I recommend watching.

A helium reading of #TheBeast! See more helium antics here: http://bit.ly/1PG1gjb Read my book here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z5LOJVA
Posted by Lindsay Mead on Thursday, February 11, 2016
THE FULL VLOG:

If my silly reading has enticed you, then you can buy THE BEAST in ebook or paperback here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z5LOJVA It's also available on Nook and at Barnes & Noble. Thanks for watching!! -Lindsay Mead

Trying To Do It All... But Failing

It's 2am and I'm thinking that I really need to go to bed, because tomorrow I need to be up early. I'm going to the museum with my mother to see the new King Tut exhibit. Yeah, I'm hella excited about it. However, I've thought very little about it tonight. Instead my mind is continually going over the gazillion things that I need and want to do.

Let me see if I can quickly list all of the things that I'm trying to accomplish in any given day: Writing/editing 2 books, book marketing, a daily YouTube vlog, a topic video on my author channel, dieting, exercise, active social media accounts, blog posts, updating blog features, and reading. That's just the average stuff. That doesn't include things like Christmas shopping, decorating, gift wrapping, or anything seasonal such as that. Maybe that seems like a lot to you, or maybe it doesn't, but to me it is.

I suffer from two personal issues: procrastination and...Oh let's just call it being overwhelmed. I tend to bounce between the two. It's so easy to put things off--just 5 more minutes, 30 more minutes...I'll get to it after this movie. Before I know it, I've got 4 hours before bed and only enough time to do a couple things.

Then there's the being overwhelmed part. I really want to work on this side book...Oh but I should work on The Beauty first...but then I've got to do something interesting for the vlog...Of course, if I don't exercise now, I likely won't later...

See how that works? The cycle normally goes on longer than that until I come full circle. At that point I usually fold up and watch a movie instead of doing anything constructive at all.

Essentially if I can't do it all, than I'll choose to do nothing.

These two issues have been my problem for ages. It's incredibly frustrating. I keep telling myself that I'll be better tomorrow. Often that's not the case. If it is, it doesn't last to the following day.

I often look at authors who run successful blogs and publish at least four books a year or I look at popular youtubers who post interesting videos every week/day while running side business--and I am in awe. How do they do it? How do they juggle it all and never feel overwhelmed? How do that do it all and keep the job from becoming "the job"? I aspire to be them and also think that I never can be.

I have great ideas, but I lack ambition and discipline. I'm more the philosopher type than the inventor type. Meaning that I'd like the spend the day staring at the sky and contemplating what could be; as opposed to those who spend the day making their thoughts a reality.

There are a couple things that I'd like to do to change this quality about myself. One is to take better care of myself. I recently juice fasted for a week. I noticed during that time that I felt more ambition. I just had this rare energy that made me want to get up and get doin. It was wild and wonderful. So I believe that if I continue to eat better and cleanse my body of toxic crap, this will aid me in my desired behavioral changes.

The second thing that I'd like to do is to take it all one thing at a time. Don't look at everything that I need to do all at once. Just pick one thing, do it, then move onto the next. That's why I'm writing this post now. I picked it, I did it, and I refused to think about the fact that I need to work on The Beauty or edit the daily vlog for tomorrow.

So that's where I'm at in my life. I'm trying to do it all--currently failing--but not giving up on myself just yet. If there is anyone out there that is actually reading this, I'd love to know how you cope with all that you have to do... -Lindsay Mead


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