Friends on Facebook

An interesting observation occurred to me as I try to rebuild my friends list on FB since I was deleted…it’s a heck of a way to clean out your friends list.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate every one of you who has followed me, enjoyed my posts, find me humorous, sympathized, empathized, or just been a friend. 

There are so many types of friends too.  Those of you who are fans, those who are confidants, those who you just nod to in the hall at the conference, but who you’d still consider a ‘friend.’

With only 5000 people being ‘allowed’ to be your friend on FB, I maxed out time and again.  Sometimes I’d go through my list and anyone whose account had been deleted (who is still on your friends list) was then taken off my list so I could add more.  Those of you who had my last two accounts on it, you might want to go weed out your friends lists as I’ll appear on there under my two old accounts and take up space you could use to welcome a new friend.

Sometimes I’d marvel that not only had I made 5000 friends, but I had an equal number of people following me, and more.  I like talking to random people too.  Whether it was about a character in one of my books, or what it was like to live where they live, and a host of topics in between.

One of the most awesome, silver-lining moments occurred though…people I haven’t spoken to in a coons-age, are inboxing (private messaging) me.  Asking, ‘aren’t we already friends?’ which led to a discussion of what happened, how are you, etc.  I have had some really wonderful conversations that would never have occurred otherwise.  I relish that interaction, one of the reasons that social networking works, you get to talk to people you might never have the opportunity to do so otherwise.

I don’t know if I’m intimidating.  I don’t think I am.  I think I’m down to earth and am always pleased when someone hits me up for a conversation and I have the time to chat like that.  I use FB not only to socially network, but for games (I suck at Wordosaur, just in case anyone was wondering), and of course to let everyone know about my book releases.  So, don’t be shy, I don’t bite (hard), but please feel free to inbox me and chat, understand that sometimes I may not have the time, but I’ll welcome it at another time, I may even be the one to initiate the conversation.

In the meantime, if you haven’t subscribed to this blog, please do so, just in case FB decides to delete my new account (let’s hope not, it’s a lot of work).  If you are on this blog and we aren’t connected on FB, please, befriend me.  I can’t possibly remember everyone’s names!  And, what’s up with you people changing your avatars on me?  I can’t remember names but I do recall pictures!  Lol…seriously, sometimes I look at a name that looks vaguely familiar but their avatar totally tells me I knew them.

I look forward to 2021 being a better year…for ALL of us!~

I stopped writing

and, I don’t think anyone noticed.

This past spring I put out two novella’s in my Malice series, the first one, no problem, the second was more of a struggle.  Since then, I have been able to write only, maybe, a paragraph to a page or two at a time, nothing like my obsessive writing of the past.

In January, returning home from a trip, I had caught a cold.  Or, so I thought.  I don’t know what it was.  People in the medical field, my doctor included say it wasn’t Covid19.  I’ve since gone to another doctor, who also doubts that it was Covid19 and stated that other viruses, other illnesses, can cause the effects I described.

I was sick for six-eight weeks with fevers, chills, coughs, and on and off cold behaviors.  Over it all was this intense fatigue that worried me.  It hasn’t ended all these months later.  I have a hard time concentrating, I sleep too much, and I’m definitely depressed.  This new doctor didn’t seem too impressed or concerned, sigh.  I hate being dismissed that way.  I live in a constant brain-fog.

In the meantime, I had to get out the Lesfic Bard Awards, and that was a real challenge for me to concentrate on, but I persevered and slowly but surely got the work done.  The same thing with getting out my author’s books through Shadoe Publishing.  But, my own, nope, can’t do it, too much distraction, fatigue, and other things.

Fortunately, this lockdown has a silver lining.  There are a LOT of people who suddenly want to do audiobooks.  My massive backlog of novels, novellas, and shorts are almost all coming out in audiobooks!  The same thing is happening with Shadoe’s authors, which is great for all involved.  However, this means an awful lot of listening time (for the past three months, almost ALL the work I have been able to do).

At this time where I can only get out a paragraph or two, or a page or two, still nothing seems to be getting accomplished there.  It’s not that I don’t have the ideas, plenty of those.  I also seem to be able to enjoy and still do make covers of stories I hope to write.

Still, it depresses me that I can’t seem to concentrate enough to finish these thoughts and get the work done.  I have to wonder how much of the politics and depression over the lockdown is affecting me.  Normally I am a solitary person so the lockdown shouldn’t affect me.  I’ve never been a political person, but the last five years have really made me aware of things that are affecting my life, my future, and those around me via these people in positions of power.  It is all depressing.  I know I am not alone there, I see people posting on social media, ALL the time about their feelings of despondency over the situation.  Please, hold on until you can cast your ballot, but above all VOTE the bastards out of office.  VOTE, VOTE, VOTE is all you can do!

In the meantime, I have set up on my website a way for people to not only buy my books directly but get audiobooks, especially if they have never tried them before, for FREE!

Please feel free to reach out to me, I do like hearing from people who have read my books, who knows when this brain fog will lift, maybe something you say will trigger me and get me writing again!

Thanks for listening to my rant and buying my stories, it does mean a lot to me.

~K’Anne

 

Lesfic conferences around the world for both fans and writers

Hi there, thought I’d put together a list of the conferences I know about so that readers/fans and writers can plan to attend if they know about them.  This may not be a complete list and I would appreciate an update that I will post on social media if you get me the information.  Thank you to those who have contributed and I’ll try to keep this list current, perhaps placing it on the Lesfic Bard Awards website permanently and cross-posting.

Golden Crown Literary Society (various locations every year in different cities around the United States)  Albuquerque, New Mexico July 2020

Lamda Literary (New York)

Provincetown Women’s Week (Provincetown, Massachusetts every October)

Clexacon (Las Vegas, Nevada) April 2020

ELLcon (Bristol, United Kingdom) Last conference 2018

Left Coast Lesbian Conference (Palm Springs, every October)

Lone Star Lesfic Festival (Austin Texas)

Diva Festival (Great Britain)

Romance Writer’s of America, July-August (special interest group for lesfic) Next year (2020) in Nashville

Saints and Sinners (New Orleans)

OutWrite (Washington, DC)

Rebooth Beach, Delaware

Rainbow Author Event (Sydney, Australia)

Gulfport Readout (Florida)

Read with Pride Northwest

Rainbow Book Festival (New York, New York)

GayRom Lit Retreat (Albuquerque, New Mexico) October

L Fest (Llandudno, United Kingdom) December

Salon du Livre (Paris, France)

Weston-Super-Lesfic (Weston-Super-Mare,  United Kingdom)

South Coast Lesfic Hangout (May 2019)

Bold Strokes Festival, Nottingham, UK, 6-7 June 2020.

Many authors choose to go to Pride events and take out a booth, when all else fails (to get a book signed or meet them) ask!

 

Need to CHANGE something…HELP would be appreciated

I understand that the big companies such as Amazon generally class lesbian literature under LGBT and leave it at that.  I don’t know about gay literature, because, I don’t buy it.  However, I noticed that when you go just to look for it, especially for newbies who are looking for stories about themselves, you get INUNDATED with gay fiction if you are looking for lesbian fiction.  It’s rather annoying as an author, a publisher, and a promoter to have my books competing with something that shouldn’t be a competition.  Their books have merit, but there are more gay fiction books out there than there is of lesbian fiction.

I want to change that, I want more lesbian fiction.  I also want to make it EASIER for people to find the stories that are part of their lives.  Having lesbian fiction and gay fiction separated may do just that.

I’ve started a petition under Change.org to TRY to get Amazon to help our marginalized books the attention they deserve.  Let’s separate the two genre’s and have all the categories available under them.  So if you are looking at the top 10, 20, or 100 in Lesbian Fiction, then ONLY lesbian labeled books come up and they aren’t ‘competing’ with other books that they shouldn’t be.

Labeling your books, that is under the correct categories and tags isn’t the issue…you know if your book is Action-Adventure, Romance, Mystery, etc…it’s the fact that it is Lesbian Literature and not Gay Literature that is the issue.

Please help me by signing the petition and sharing it everywhere on social media or wherever readers of lesbian literature may congregate.  Perhaps, if we get enough ‘attention’ from this sign up, we can get Jeff Bezos of Amazon and his powers-that-be to change this one little thing for us.

Thank you in advance!

Click here to sign up and share.  If you have a webrowser not allowing you to sign in to my links, here is the direct link: https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com-separate-lesbian-and-gay-fiction-into-completely-separate-categories

Top 100 Best Lesbian Books

I am pleased to announce that my book The Outsider made it in the Top 100 Best Lesbian Books by The Lesbian Review!

Check out their review here.

Buy it here.

Thank you so much to the fans and those who like my style of writing!  Keep in touch as I release another one this week!  ~K’Anne!

A week or two away

I’m nervous and excited about my first foray into Science Fiction.  I wasn’t sure if I could tackle it.  This particular book was originally started in 2011.  I know, because I put the date at the top of the script!  I just didn’t think I could do a science fiction story justice because, after all, we are influenced by Star Wars and Star Trek.  As mentioned previously, I am a fan.  I didn’t want the innovations, dreams, and ideas to influence my own stories.

Then, I started reading Prudence MacLeod‘s novels.  I am also her publisher over at Shadoe Publishing.  Reading her wonderful Novan Series and talking to her, she pointed out there will always be coincidences, similarities, etc.  Her stories don’t FEEL like those epic shows and movies so maybe I could do this too.

I remember THINKING, what would happen if a present day woman, at the time 2011, was taken by aliens and woke up 500 years later?  I decided later that 2015 worked out better and that ended up in the story.  The story took off from there.

My android/human in the story is plausible since we already put artificial things in human bodies and that’s what I was going for.  Not that Jeri Ryan didn’t do a FANTASTIC job as 7 of 9, or Brent Spinner as Data.   But…my Mercédès, pronounced Mur-said-dees looks nothing like those other two.

Mine is based on Vanessa Williams beauty, with blonde hair, and blue eyes.  I wanted a woman of color for this story.  I think, teaching a woman who had no idea about the human side of her sexuality, an intimate relationship, love with another woman, was a challenge for my other main character Ryley.

The book is in it’s final edits, the beta readers loved it, and I’m hoping you will too!

     

Watch this space for my announcement about it’s release in December!  Meanwhile, check out my website for other great reads!  www.kannemeinel.com

 

 

And the WINNER is…..

Can you believe it’s been TWO weeks already since I announced my contest to NAME my first Science Fiction novel?  Thank you to those who entered!

I put the titles in a generator (those free things you can do on the net) and the name it chose was…

This means that Ashley MacDonald wins!… and I’ll be sending a paperback copy to South Africa!  Well, a deal is a deal and I don’t mind… now that I know what the word means, it fits the book PERFECTLY.  Recombinant Love… recombinant means bringing together DNA sequences that would not normally be found in nature…Thank you Ashley!

And, I want to say a SPECIAL thank you to those who shared my book naming contest:

http://www.prudencemacleod.com/

https://womenwords.org/

https://sapphicreviews.wordpress.com/

http://www.Joannadarrell.com/

https://kittykatwordpresscom.wordpress.com/

https://iheartlesfic.com/

Please go to the above referenced blogs and show them some appreciation by FOLLOWING their blog if you haven’t already.  Books, books, and more books are promoted on ALL of the above mentioned blogs…sharing is caring so tell all your book friends!

Btw, I am NOT thrilled with the font and may change that a bajillion times behind the scenes here before my book comes out.  In the meantime, I have a few other books for you to read, catch up!

The first SEVEN 5-STAR reviews!

5-star reviews, baby!

Customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars

5 star		100%
4 star		0%
3 star		0%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

Top customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed this book

By zoe Lomas on September 2, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

Really enjoyed this book, couldn’t put it down and read it in one night.

I could relate to Alyssa on so many levels and wished so many times growing up that I had the nerve to stand up to my family in the way that she did.

No idea what I’m talking about, well then you’re just going to need to read the book for yourself!

Fiona reminds me of the vet’s I worked for whilst studying in the UK, strong, independent, determined and workaholics!

If you enjoy reading about strong female characters who overcome various obstacles and adversities thrown their way then this is definitely the book for you.

The characters are well developed, the storyline flows naturally with no unnecessary sex scenes, there’s romance and intimacy as needed but not heaped on as is the case with some f/f books these days. There’s plenty of drama and gun toting city girls turned country vet / cow girl to keep you reading all night as I did.

I’m hoping there is a follow on book from this one!

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved the scene in the cafe where the two main …

By Reader6 on August 31, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I loved the scene in the cafe where the two main characters entered into their partnership, and, how their love turned into something that would surely stand the test of time. Personally, there’s nothing sexier than a barefoot gal in shorts, and a tee, with a rifle over her shoulder, a pistol strapped to her waist and the willingness to use both to protect those, and the things she loves. Great story. Highly recommend!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read

By TD Webb on August 22, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I bought this cause I liked the cover, well I have to say what a great read, makes you laugh in places, the two main characters have excellent chemistry, even as good action and I’m not talking about sex. All in all I have no problem recommending this book too my friends. Another great story from K’Anne.

 

5 stars Well Done

By Jennis Slaughter on September 1, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

Characters are very real and easy to see in the mind’s eye. The families are similar to my own as is the finding the one person that will stand by you no matter what. Well written. Makes for a lovely evening with a bottle of wine.

 

out of 5 stars I really loved reading this book

By svincent on August 26, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

I really loved reading this book! At first I wasn’t sure about the main character, she seemed very spoiled, but as I began to read the story I began to like both of the characters. The author does a great job of telling their story and she doesn’t follow a predictable path with the plot. It is refreshing to find a story that is a little different and keeps you guessing about what might happen next. I really liked this story!

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

By Melissa Pannett on August 28, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

was impressed with the realistic characters. will read again.

Worth the read!!!

By Fancy on August 27, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

As with all of the other books I’ve read by K’Anne Meinel,I thoroughly enjoyed Vetted. Very hard to put down!

Luggage

Thirty odd years ago (yeah, I can’t believe I can say that either) my mother bought me a luggage set as a birthday/graduation/xmas present.  It was pretty expensive then (especially for my mom) and I have to say I have gotten a lot of use out of it.  For roughly $100-$150 I got a complete Samsonite set.

And, after 30 some years of traveling (I lived out of them for a couple of years) they really have stood the test of time.

What happened to the days where you bought something and knew it would last?  Remember the days where Samsonite had those commercials where chimpanzee’s, monkey’s, and apes threw the cases around?  They really did/do last.  Okay, it was American Tourister (do they still exist?) but, you get my drift…

I’m sad to say that other cases I’ve added have never lasted as long.  This set, pictured above is still going fairly strong.  I have one or two pieces I never use anymore (makeup case) and I’ve learned to downsize, but the same basic three pieces are still alive.  I’ve lost the pull strap for the big one which still has working wheels, you can see wear and tear on the edges, and today I found a hole through one of them as I pack for the GCLS con in Chicago.  Still, quality LASTS.  So does a GOOD story.  It stick’s with you for a LONG time, even after the book has become frayed and worn away.

We are living in a time where people dispose of their possessions far too easily.  A book, a story that sticks with you, makes you want to read over and over again, is priceless.  So take a moment and think over those you have enjoyed.  Check out mine if you haven’t, and if you have, please leave a review….you never know who you might influence and they can have the same enjoyment of the story that you had.

If you are at GCLS this next week, please say hello to me.  If I look a bit confused it’s because I have the memory of a goldfish and while your name might ring a bell, the bell’s clapper may have been muffled…Facebook friends and others have a tendency to make me look as though I don’t remember anyone, but I do, and I have a long memory for the oddest things…so take a chance and give me a hug (I really don’t bite (despite the fangs)…hard), talk to me, and ask me for a lesbian membership card!  Lol!   Who knows when/where we will meet again!  See you all there!

It’s off to Chicago I go for GCLS!

Has it really been a YEAR since Washington DC and GCLS?  Where has the time gone?  REALLY?  I traveled a lot since then, bought a few new computers, got a new SUV, wrote a few books (you didn’t miss THAT did you?) and here we are again!  Another event.  This year it’s in Chicago which is cool because it’s only 5 hour (depending on traffic) or so from the Northwoods where I hole up in my cave *depending on if I’m writing.  This hermit is coming out of the cave for this event.  Be sure to stop by the Shadoe Publishing booth as seen here from last year.

You couldn’t possibly miss my red hat could you?

Ask me for a Lesbian Membership card!  I laminated a few too for you die-hards who need a card!  lol!

Oh, and I’m bringing PLENTY of books too, got the first loads in the back of my new SUV:

Yeah, those are HEAVY…I will have to either get a bigger SUV or a trailer soon!

All joking aside, Shadoe Publishing has two booths this year as always and we would LOVE to see you.  I’ll be on a panel with some very nice authors on Thursday, and, of course around for the author signings…or, if you can’t be there for that, buy a book and hunt me down with my red fedora or my light up shoes!

Because, well, as you know, I don’t like to draw attention to myself, bahahahahahah!

C’mon, you know you want to give me a hug, get a picture, and I want to see you all there too!  Don’t be shy!  I don’t bite…hard.  BTW, if you post a picture of me and you on Facebook from the conference, I want you to tag me!  I’ll even consider GIVING you a book for doing that!

See you there!

K’Anne!