Author News! The Rebel Princess Release Date (Katie)

AUTHOR NEWS!!!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

I'm excited to announce that book 2 in my princess series now has a release date, and it's sooner than you think!

You can pre-order here!

Merry Stern has never been a spy, but when she's offered asylum in exchange for her help uncovering remaining rebel bands, she accepts in hopes of freeing her father.

Working with the royals is no easy feat, especially considering that Prince Gregory Hamilton considers her untrustworthy and duplicitous. As she and the prince navigate their uncomfortable relationship, Merry is introduced to questions she did not know she possessed; questions of light and darkness, good and evil.

Princess Roanna is finally engaged to Prince Benjamin of Lox, only the marriage seems stalled, and she cannot determine at whose hand. The Dawsons won't let her out of their sight, Chester's Wake is focusing all efforts on finding their lost princess, and Lox refuses to acknowledge her position entirely.

Truth and lies are brought to light as those who seek to control and destroy are finally uncovered in The Rebel Princess.

So much to look forward to in 2020!

Happy (almost) New Year, friends! I've been hinting for a while about some changes coming at Lands Uncharted in 2020, and I finally get to share all the details!! But first, the sad news. Julie is stepping down as a regular blogger following a very busy stretch that included her wedding! Congratulations, Julie! We wish you all the best and hope you'll stop by to visit often! If you missed Julie's last post, you can find it here.

Now for the good news - in addition to filling the spot Julie's leaving behind, we've decided to expand our ranks for 2020 for a grand total of 9 contributors! Meaning we're adding 5 new bloggers!! I've had the opportunity to start getting to know these amazing ladies over the past few months, and I can't wait to see what they bring to Lands Uncharted this year! I'm thrilled to get to introduce you to:

Gretchen E.K. Engel - My every interaction with Gretchen has confirmed what a kind, talented person she is, and she has me drooling to read her "Downton Abbey with gadgets" steampunk stories!

Heather L.L. FitzGerald - I thoroughly enjoyed Heather's Tethered World Chronicles and can't wait to see what this fun, creative author comes up with next!

Kimberly A. Rogers - I had the opportunity to help celebrate the launch of Kimberly's Little Mermaid retelling, Selkie's Song (a book I absolutely loved!), and I'm so excited to get to work with her again!

Sarah Sawyer - Sarah and I bonded as fellow finalists at an awards dinner, and I can't wait to read this sweet lady's first book when she finds a publisher!

V. Romas Burton - I've heard fabulous things about her debut novel, Heartmender (you can find Lauricia's glowing review here), and I can already tell we're total kindred spirits!


Can you see why I'm so excited?? Click on the link on each author's name or under Current Author Bios to find out more, and stay tuned for everyone's debut posts coming up in January!


Speaking of posts, that's where the other fun changes come in! Our What We're Reading category is turning into Weekend Reads! We'll be posting a book review every Friday to help inspire your weekend reading (or reading at any time, for that matter!). Writer's Life is staying put on every other Tuesday, but it will be rotating with a new topic - Story Snippets! We're excited to share tidbits of what we're working on, complete with behind-the-scenes commentary! As our authors' Saturdays have grown increasingly busy, I'm sad to report we're saying goodbye to Top 3s, though I may find a way to include a Top 3 list here and there on occasion :)

And this is the last day of our Christmas giveaway, so make sure to enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win one of these four amazing book-themed gift boxes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Here's to a new year filled with blessings, family and friends, dreams to pursue, and of course an abundance of great books! :)

Life Lessons at a Writing Conference (Laurie)

Hey everyone! Before I move into my post, I wanted to share some exciting news! Lands Uncharted has a new blogger!!! Sadly Laura has stepped down from being a regular contributor with us, if you missed her farewell post you can read it here. But we're so thrilled to be adding Julie Kitchens as our newest contributor! Make sure to check out her bio (you can find the link on the left-hand side), and if you haven't read her first post yet, Top 3 Reasons to Travel, you can find it here. Welcome, Julie!!

Now, back to our regularly-schedule programming... :)

Back in July, I had the opportunity to attend the first annual Northwestern Christian Writers Conference here in Minnesota. It was a wonderful conference in many ways, but since this is a Personal Notes post I won't go into all the writing-related lessons I learned. Instead, I want to focus on a few life lessons I received during the course of the day that were arguably even more valuable.


First, I had several fun experiences of God leading me to the right person at the right time. At lunch, I saw a stranger sitting alone. Despite my inner introvert telling me to go find a familiar face or join a group where I wouldn't have to talk much, I took a deep breath and asked if I could sit with her. And I'm so glad I did! It turned out she was also a lawyer who left her job to become a stay-at-home mom and is now looking into getting started with writing. As you might imagine, we had a lot to talk about!

Later on, I was sitting on a bench alone and someone asked to join me. She was from the town where I went to college, and happened to work at a middle school there. When I told her about what I write, she asked for my card so she could contact me to come speak to her students about my book when it comes out! As my fellow Lands Uncharted blogger Jill would say, it seemed like total a "God thing" :)


But what struck me even more deeply was a message contained within the time set aside for worship at the beginning of the conference. The singer made reference to the familiar story from the Gospel of Luke where Jesus calls Simon to be His disciple.

As a quick refresher, Jesus tells Simon to "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Simon answers, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing..." You can imagine what he's thinking here, right? Fishing is his specialty, and he's been at it all night with no results. Casting his nets out again was sure to bring nothing but further embarrassment and frustration. Yet, he continues, "but at your command I will lower the nets." And when he does, he brings up a net so full of fish it nearly sinks his boat. (New American Bible, Luke 5:4-7)

I'm sure it's partly because I still have a lot of maturing to do in my study of the Bible and my faith in general, but I'd always taken this story at face value. Nicely done, Jesus - what a clever way to make an impression on your new disciples. But hearing it in the context of a writing conference suddenly added a whole new layer of meaning.

There are so many areas of our lives where we can work tirelessly, only to find that little to nothing has come of it. Sometimes that can be a sign it's not meant to be, or the timing isn't right. But sometimes, you may feel a little pull within you to try again. Send out one more query. Enter one more contest. Make one more effort to become that person's friend. Make one more attempt at that seemingly unsolvable problem.

It's so tempting to say "I'm done. I've already tried so hard, given it my best shot, and it's over. I refuse to let it waste any more of my time." And there certainly will always be a risk that nothing will come of it. But what if, like Simon, Jesus is prompting you to try one last time because He's prepared the biggest catch of your life? Talk about inspiring!


These reminders of how God can act in our lives if we're willing to listen and take a chance came at just the right time for me, and I'm hoping I can really take them to heart as I step further and further out of my comfort zone towards the unknown of becoming a published author. Even if I hadn't learned anything specific to writing, I'd say the conference was a success :)


What coincidental connections have you made by happening to meet the right person at the right time? Have you had an experience where you planned to give up on something but tried one more time with a positive result? Has a familiar story ever taken on new meaning for you when put in a different context?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie

Endings and Beginnings

Happy Friday!

We wanted to let you know about a few changes happening here at Lands Uncharted as we move into March (and hopefully spring!). As you may have seen, Elizabeth Newsom wrote a post a little over a week ago bidding us farewell. Elizabeth has been with Lands Uncharted since the very beginning and has blessed us so much with her insight and humor. We're sad to be losing her, but we hope to reel her back in for a guest post every once in a while :) Check out her website to follow her future updates.

We'll miss you, Elizabeth, and we wish you all the best with your writing and other endeavors!




Fortunately, we also have some good news. Elizabeth Jane Kitchens (who will be known as Lizzie around the blog, to avoid "Elizabeth" confusion) will be joining us as a regular blogger! Yay!!! You may have seen her here before - she did an interview with us last year, and her YA fantasy novel, The Beast's Enchantress, has come up in several of my posts (my full review is here, and I also discussed it in Top 3 Books I Read in 2016).

We are thrilled to welcome Lizzie to Lands Uncharted in a more official capacity, and can't wait to get to know her better! Make sure to check out her new bio page and stop back tomorrow for her first post!

The Start of My Publishing Journey... (Laurie)

I had a completely different post written and scheduled for today, and then something really exciting happened...I SIGNED A PUBLISHING CONTRACT!!!

I'm thrilled beyond measure to announce that my debut novel, a young adult fantasy titled Common (book one of the Tales of the Mystics), will be released in early 2018 by Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing!! To find out more about my book, L2L2 Publishing, and the launch of my newsletter (which includes some giveaways!), check out my latest post on my website.

For this post, I'd like to focus instead on the path that led me to this point. My announcement probably feels very sudden to anyone outside of my closest group of family and friends, but it's been in the works for months, even years. That's the journey I'd like to share here.

A little over four years ago, I was a brand-new stay-at-home mom in need of a hobby. The crazy idea to write a book entered my head one beautiful fall day, and I couldn't quite shake it. I started writing a story that had been on my mind for some time, and I fell head-over-heels in love. Soon I was writing every chance I got, and eventually turned that story idea into a full-length novel (albeit a short one, by fantasy standards).

Then came the even crazier, equally-unshakeable idea of getting my story published. I joined a writing group, found my first critique partner (our very own Laura!), and started researching agents (that is, after I found out what an agent was and that I would probably need one). Once I felt I was ready, I started sending query letters to those agents, and got my first taste of the pain of silence and the sting of rejection.

But I kept trying. I revised that manuscript several times and queried nearly 40 agents. Finally, accepting that my story wasn't getting the response I'd hoped for, I set it aside and threw myself into a new project. By the time this new manuscript was complete, I'd joined a different writing organization, found a whole group of critique partners, and learned a lot more about writing and publication. But since this manuscript incorporated elements of my faith, I knew I would need a different approach if I wanted to get published. As I got to know other Christian authors, I became much more open to the idea of small publishers, in spite of the likely reduction in fame and fortune :)

Enter Realm Makers, an amazing conference for Christian writers of fantasy and science fiction, which I attended last July (read more about my experience here). There, I had the opportunity to pitch my new story to one agent and two publishers. All three appointments resulted in requests to see some sample chapters, but one of the publishers soon sent a rejection, and I never heard back from the agent. The other publisher, however, sent me one of the kindest, most encouraging e-mails I've ever received. She was very impressed by my first three chapters, and couldn't wait to read the rest of my story! Yay!!!

Except...a significant portion of my story wasn't edited yet. I gave myself a three-month deadline to get it finished, and worked hard to revise and polish my manuscript to the best of my ability. At last, with a few days to spare, I sent it out, both terrified and elated that this could be my big break.

Then came the wait. It wasn't even a particularly long wait, but in my impatience it felt like an eternity. I researched and submitted to other publishers, to lessen the blow if the publisher from Realm Makers didn't work out. Ironically, my wait ended back in December, the very day that my "Waiting Game" post went live on the blog. She loved my story and wanted to offer me a contract!!! *Insert screaming, tears, and happy dances*

But...I had to deal with the other publishers I'd submitted to. So I asked for some time to make the decision, and reached out to the other publishers to see if they wanted an opportunity to consider my manuscript. One did, so I waited again. Throughout, I experienced more and more confirmations that the original publisher (which was, not surprisingly, L2L2 Publishing) was the perfect fit for me. I let her know, and there was much rejoicing!!

By then it was the holidays, so we held off looking at the contract. Then came the contract negotiations. And NOW, we've finally made it official, and I can't wait to see where my publishing journey will lead!!

Whew! Thanks for bearing with me through this long post :) I hope my story can provide some inspiration for you, no matter where you're at in your own writing / publishing / life journey!


What has been a long but rewarding journey in your life?


Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine's Day!
Laurie

Exciting Changes for Lands Uncharted in 2017!

Happy New Year everyone!!! A few days early :)

It's hard to believe that Lands Uncharted is already celebrating its first anniversary! We've had an amazing year, complete with 180 posts and tens of thousands of pageviews! Many, many thanks to all of you who have come along on this journey with us!

We have a few exciting changes to announce for the New Year. First, you may notice a new name under Author Bios over on the left-hand side. We are so thrilled that Jill (writing as J.M. Hackman), is joining the blog as one of our regular contributors! Jill did an interview with us back in June, and we can't wait to bring her aboard! We hope you'll help us make her feel welcome as she gets started - her first post will be Saturday, January 14th. Find out more about Jill by checking out her bio page or her website, www.jmhackman.com.






Hannah will be stepping down from our regular rotation to make room for Jill, but the fantastic news is that she's staying with us, just in a slightly different capacity. You've probably noticed that Hannah excels at in-depth posts about writing great fantasy, and she's going to start posting every other Friday under a new label: Storytelling Magic. She'll tell you more about her plans for Storytelling Magic in her post this coming Tuesday, January 3rd, and then her first Friday post will be January 13th. We'll continue to feature author news and interviews with guest authors on some of the Fridays Hannah isn't scheduled to post, so make sure to check in every week (or follow the blog by e-mail to get notifications of updates!).



Thank you again for joining us in our fledgling year at Lands Uncharted - we can't wait to continue to share with you in the coming year!


See you next time!
Laurie


P.S. We recently ordered our very first Lands Uncharted bookmarks! Aren't they lovely?? The blog feels so much more official now :)

The End of NaNoWriMo! (Hannah)

Hi everyone!  This is just a short news post, but I was so excited I couldn't help but post it.  NaNoWriMo is over, and I officially won with less than an hour to spare.  If you remember from two days ago, my progress looked like this:

In three days, through no small amount of work, I finally pushed it just over the 50,000 word mark.

And here is my happy NaNoWriMo winner badge!

OK, enough bragging for me.  There is no way I could have done this without my family's support, especially the last couple of weeks.  Every spare minute was consumed by writing, and I have barely seen them.  They covered for my housework, helped with animal chores, and encouraged me to keep going no matter what.  This wouldn't have been possible without them.

So for my parents, thank you for everything.  Everything.  I really can't thank you guys enough.

For my siblings, thank you for covering some of my responsibilities so I have time to write and for understanding when I said "I can't do that today, I have to write."

For my extended family, thank you for all of the encouragement and support you have given me.  It has kept me going.

For Brenna, thank you for being my writing buddy, and for constantly writing more than I did so that I would be encouraged to keep going.  Congratulations on meeting your 60,000 word goal.

If you would like to read some of the other NaNoWriMo posts, please be sure to check them out here.

Have a wonderful December everyone!

~ Hannah

Contest, Guest Post & Websites

Happy Friday! We have a few fun announcements here at Lands Uncharted!

I was named a finalist in the YA category of the Phoenix Rattler Contest put on by Christian Writers of the West. Yay!!! Many thanks to everyone who volunteered their time to judge, and congratulations to all the finalists and winners! http://www.christianwritersofthewest.com/2016-winners.html

I also had the opportunity to do a guest post on Ralene Burke's website, titled Confessions of a Subpar Creative Writer. Take a look at her whole Confessions series of posts for fun, thought-provoking insights into writers' lives.

Lastly, did you know that three of our contributors now have their own websites? Check out:

erinhawleycronin.com to find out about Erin's books and experience Everyday Adventures with Erin

elizabethnewsom.com for Elizabeth's book reviews, polls, writing prompts, and other great posts on writing and life

laurielucking.com for monthly updates on my writing journey


And we have some exciting updates coming for the new year that we can't wait to share over the next few months! Stay tuned!


Thanks for reading!
Laurie

Another Guest Post + Blog Update (Laurie)

Happy Friday, everyone!

I'm excited to share that I visited janeenippolito.com today to do a guest post as part of her World-Building Wonders series! Check it out here! But *spoiler alert*, the post involves an aspect of my world-building that gets revealed pretty late in my story.

Also, we have a fun update for Lands Uncharted! We're going to start featuring guests on Fridays! It won't be every week, but we're kicking it off with two author interviews: next week, we'll be featuring an interview with Amy Brock McNew as part of her blog tour for her upcoming debut release, Rebirth. The following Friday, we'll be talking with A.J. Cattapan, author of Angelhood. We're hoping to schedule more beyond that as well, so make sure to start stopping by on Fridays so you don't miss any of our special guests!

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

Guest Posts (Laurie)

Happy Friday!

I'm so excited to announce that I was asked to write a guest post for Speculative Faith, an awesome site dedicated to Christian speculative fiction (meaning anything in the fantasy, sci-fi, allegory types of categories). Those of you who checked out my post a few weeks ago about choosing teams in various popular love triangles may remember I said I was working on a more substantive post about love triangles - and here it is! http://www.speculativefaith.com/creating-a-compelling-love-triangle/

I'm honored to have this opportunity to engage further with the community of writers and readers of speculative fiction, and I'd be thrilled if some of you would take the time to check out my post!


But that's not all! Christian Books for Tweens and Teens was so impressed by Hannah's review of the Oracles of Fire series by Bryan Davis that she was asked to share it with them as a guest reviewer! Yay Hannah!! You can check out her guest review here.


Thanks for stopping by! We hope to have many more exciting announcements to share with you in the future!

New Release Celebration (& Giveaway): The Healer's Rune by Lauricia Matuska

And the lucky winner is...Leslie!! (Winner chosen via Rafflecopter.) Thank you so much to Lauricia and to all of you who stopped by and entered our giveaway! We hope to have more, so make sure to check back again :)

We're thrilled to have a special guest, Lauricia Matuska, visiting Lands Uncharted today to celebrate her new YA fantasy release, The Healer's Rune!

Three hundred years after a great war shattered the Council of Races, the warriors of Rüddan have all but eradicated their cousins, the faerie Aethel. In so doing, they decimated the Dryht sages and enslaved mortal Humanity. Now a voice rises above the chaos and calls her people to rebel. Young Sabine, one of the Human slaves, must learn to overcome centuries of lies and prejudice to forge an alliance between four enemy races. But what chance does she stand to overthrow the Rüddan with her dangerous secret, a secret that threatens not only her own life but the existence of all the races on the planet?


Lauricia answered a few questions for us about The Healer's Rune:

What inspired the idea for this story?
Three things, actually. The first scene I wrote for the story (which actually takes place a quarter of the way into the novel) was a scene based on a real-life experience. One night as I was sleeping, my black Labrador-mix dog was outside, barking at something. I peeked through the window to see what she was carrying on about only to find her barking madly at the wall. As I drifted back to sleep, I wondered what she could have been barking at the wall for and, because I’ve saturated myself with fantasy stories since fourth grade, my thoughts took a fantasy turn. I imagined a portal and a fairy race, the first elements in the creation of The Healer’s Rune. I won’t say more because I don’t want to spoil the scene, but you’ll recognize it when you read it.

When I began writing this story in 1998, it was very common for elven races to be portrayed as a native people who were chased out or overcome when Humans arrived in the land they inhabited. I began to wonder what it would be like if Humanity were the subjugated race rather than the other way around. Since that wasn’t a topic much developed at the time, I decided to explore it and see where it went. Thus, the second element was developed.

As my first draft was growing into a second draft, the Twin Towers were flown into and destroyed. There were many rumors about that attack being staged and, while I don’t have the knowledge to argue for or against that claim, it made me wonder “What if.”

Those words, “What if,” are powerful words for writers.

I had just read a quote by Winston Churchill that said history is written by the victors and, mixed with my what ifs about the Twin Towers, I began to wonder what it would be like if history actually was written and re-written at will by whichever power was currently in control. That idea became the basis for the third, dystopian element in my novel. I mixed the three together to see what would become of them, and viola!

Since we're all about exploring new worlds here at Lands Uncharted, tell us about your setting and any fantasy elements involved in your book.
The Healer’s Rune takes place in a world called Ceryn Roh, where there are four dominant races. The most powerful race, and the one currently in control, is the Rüddan, a high-elf warrior people who lived in the frozen north until they migrated to warmer climates and began to take control. The Aethel, another high-elf race, are cousins and mortal enemies of the Rüddan. According to history, however, they are extinct. The third race is the Dryht. They are a wise, dryad-type people with a strong bond to nature, but they were recently decimated by a magical plague they invoked to attack Humanity and are rarely seen. Humanity, the fourth race, is currently enslaved to the Rüddan in everything but name. All of the races possess magical ability to some degree, but the Rüddan have worked hard to suppress its use in every race but their own.

Because The Healer’s Rune is the first book in an epic trilogy, the setting is pretty expansive. It starts on a forested island in a small, poor Human village. In later books it will include a trip across a grassy plain, an extended stay in a hidden desert fortress, and a trek-by-kidnapping to the icy north.

Who is your favorite character in The Healer's Rune, and why?
Since I created them all, that’s like asking who my favorite child is. There are things about each of them (well, most of them) that endear me to them. However, I’m a huge fan of Auda, a Human healer who mentors Sabine, the story’s protagonist. I love Auda’s independence, her spirit, her sass, and her sense of humor. She is what I hope to be if I get to live as long as her.

Describe the readers who will love this book.
I wrote this story for people who love fantasy but want to see it go beyond the usual elements that cause some critics of the genre to call it contrived or cliché, so anyone who likes fantasy and wants to see a new twist on the classic elements will enjoy it. There is also a lot of appeal for readers who are looking for a strong female protagonist. While there are no overtly romantic elements in the first book, the groundwork is laid for a relationship to develop in the second and third books, so that will appeal to readers who enjoy a romance element. However, there will be no erotic scenes, so readers who are looking for “clean” books need not be wary – this series, and all of the stories I plan to write, will contain inspiring romance, not questionable details.

Finally, please share a favorite line or passage from The Healer's Rune with us.
The excerpt below comes from the scene inspired by my “What if” ruminations the night my dog was barking at the wall:

A tall, slender figure stood before the wall, a dim shadow outlined in sharp angles by the golden light. Prompted by some silent cue, it stepped into the light and seemed to shrink, as if walking away. Suddenly, it disappeared, and the yellow light began to fade. Before Sabine knew what was happening, the glow winked out so abruptly that bright spots danced through her vision. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

When she could see once more, the wall looked normal, each brick placed upon another in its ordinary manner.

Magic! Sabine began to tremble.


The Healer's Rune is available in both e-book and paperback formats from Amazon.

About Lauricia:
Lauricia Matuska has taught high school literature and creative writing classes for more than ten years. She first discovered the realm of fantasy by traveling with Lucy through the wardrobe to Narnia. Since then, she has established dual-residency between that world and this one, and she currently serves as an ambassador to contemporary youth and young adults. The Healer’s Rune is the first novel in her Ceryn Roh trilogy.

Here are some ways you can connect with Lauricia:
Website - Lauricia-Matuska.com
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

GIVEAWAY!
Lauricia has generously offered to give away an ebook copy of The Healer's Rune. Enter below! The winner will be announced here on Thursday, March 3rd.

Thanks so much for visiting, Lauricia!

a Rafflecopter giveaway