Phoebe Hinkle's Blog: Chronicler's Corner - Posts Tagged "black-otter-books"

Ahoy, me hearties! Tomorrow (September 19th) be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Aye, ye heard that right. There be an official holiday where ye get to talk like a pirate.
So what better way to celebrate than by talkin' about me own girl, Cap'n Bonnie Febland? Sure, an' I may be writin' about other characters now, but I've still got a special place in me heart for her. After all, she's got many o' the qualities I'd like to see in meself. Fearlessness, truth, an' a sense o' justice an' fair play. I tell ye, lads, I'd join aboard her ship if'n I could.
But in a way I can, an' ye can too! Aye, I'm talkin' about me book, The Treasure Beyond . If'n ye've never read me books afore, 'tis a good place to start. There be sea battles, storms, an' some fights o' the most swashbucklin' kind on the seven seas! Aye, me hearties, get yer hands on this treasure chest an' enjoy the gold inside - it'll get the wind in yer hair, an' the sea blood runnin' in yer veins.
(Now, then, where'd I put me trusty spyglass . . .)

Phoebe Hinkle

Y'all, I have exciting news. Next month, December 13th, marks five years since I first became a published author. Time for celebration, right??
So! I'm going to do something I've never done before, and run a giveaway. I'll be giving away three prizes:
-One (1) autographed copy of King of Hearts
-One (1) autographed copy of The Treasure Beyond
-One (1) grand prize, autographed copy of Thunder of Time with a wooden Roman-style dagger, made by my friend SFC.

(And let me tell y'all, she does awesome work! I have a dagger she made based on Bonnie's in The Treasure Beyond, and it is just gorgeous.)
The giveaway will be open now through December 12th, and winners will be announced on the 13th.
So the obvious question becomes . . . how do I enter, Phoebs? It's pretty simple, since I decided not to go through the bother of setting up a Rafflecopter account. Email me through my website with your name and email address, and please make sure to put "Giveaway" in the subject line. On December 13th, I will randomly choose one winner for each prize! (Your information will be kept strictly private, I promise. At the moment, I don't have an email newsletter, but if I start one in the future, I will add you to that mailing list unless you request otherwise.)
(But Phoebs, what if I already have the books? Well, it's Christmas season, right? And books make awesome gifts!)
Make sure you enter by December 12th! And please - please, PLEASE - pass the word along! Indie authors like me rely on word-of-mouth, so if you know someone who might be interested, tell them about it. Enjoy and stay safe!

Happy December, everybody! In case you're wondering, yes I started listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Bcuz I do that.

You have until the 12th to enter the 5-Year Anniversary Giveaway! I'm picking winners on the 13th, so make sure you (and your friends) get in your entries before then!
Want to know what's at stake, and how to enter? Details are on my website. (Please note: Due to shipping costs - it's expensive to ship via Roman galley - this giveaway is open only to US residents.)

Merry Christmas in advance!

Time's running out, y'all . . .
Remember, I'm picking giveaway winners on the 13th. Make sure you get your entries in by midnight December 12th! And if your friends haven't entered yet, make sure you pester them until they do. *wink wink* 😜

To enter:
Email me through my website with "Giveaway" in the subject line, and your name and email address in the body. You'll be notified by email on the 13th if you've won. (All your information will be kept strictly private.)

The prizes:
One copy of King of Hearts
One copy of The Treasure Beyond
Grand prize:
One copy of Thunder of Time plus a handmade wooden Roman-style dagger
*All books are physical copies and will be autographed.*

Have you entered yet? Lord Whiskerton is watching you . . .

Last day to enter the 5-year anniversary giveaway, y'all! I'll be picking winners tomorrow.

Go to my website for more information on the prizes and how to enter.

Five years ago on this day, I hit "Publish" to send my first book out into the world. And it's sure been a wild, crazy ride!

I was 15 then.
I am 20 now.
I have learned a lot since then.

I learned writing techniques that I never knew before.
I learned that characters can become like family to you - and that they can surprise you in ways you never saw coming.
I learned that you can't ignore your real family for the sake of your charrie family.
I learned that writing can be the best way to express your pain and work through what you're feeling.
I learned that you can't write in your own strength.

There are so many people I could thank. My family - my friends - my proofing team - my readers - and above all, my God.
You are the reason I am here today.
You are the reason I keep going.
I couldn't have done this without you.

Okay Phoebs, that's all very nice, but can we get on to the giveaway winners please? I want to find out if I got lucky!
*Ahem* yes, sorry.
*drum roll please*
And the lucky winners are . . .

King of Hearts: Liesl K.
The Treasure Beyond: Jared M.
Thunder of Time + wooden Roman dagger: Gemma S.

Congratulations, y'all! 🥳
I'll be emailing the winners today to notify them. If everything goes well, they can expect their books to be in the mail within the week.

And that's all the excitement for this post. Thanks for putting up with me!

Hey, folks! Last year I held a giveaway to celebrate 5 years of being a published author. This December will be my sixth year, so I'm going to hold another giveaway to celebrate! I'm giving away two prizes this year:

One (1) copy of To Stand and a Balsam & Spice scented wax melt (the official scent of the series)
One (1) copy of End of the Earth and a Kona Coffee scented wax melt

Rules for this year are the same as last: Email me through my website with the word "Giveaway" in the subject line, and put your name and email address in the body of the email. Your information will be kept strictly private, but I will add you to my email update list unless you request otherwise. Deadline to enter is December 12th as I'll be picking winners on the 13th.

And don't forget to share the news with your friends and enemies! 😁

Don't forget, folks - tomorrow is the LAST DAY to send in your entry for my 6th anniversary giveaway!
To enter, email me through the contact page on my website.

And once again, those prizes are:
One (1) copy of To Stand and a Balsam & Spice scented wax melt
One (1) copy of End of the Earth and a Kona Coffee scented wax melt

I'm picking the winners on Friday!

(ALSO don't forget that the cover reveal for We Gave Our Tomorrows is next Monday!)

6 years ago, I went insane.
No, I'm just kidding. 😉 I'm still sane (mostly), just INCREDIBLY tired. (I *could* go off on a long tangent about how sometimes we Christians do seem a little crazy because sometimes God asks us to do WILD things . . . but I won't.)

Anyway, yeah - I've been a published author for six years, and y'all have heard this spiel before, so I'll skip it this time around. But it's really funny sometimes how God works; the first book I published was set in WWII, and now 6 years later, the next book I'm going to be publishing ( We Gave Our Tomorrows ) is also set in WWII. But this time I did my research. 😉
I thought it would be interesting to compare my writing from both books. Prepare for cringe:

Never Left Alone, 2018
The general rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly. "Happy and foolish are two entirely different matters. There is a time and place for playfulness, and this is neither. Franz, you are twenty-two years old! Can't you stop behaving childishly?"
"Afraid not, sir," Franz replied, doing his best to put on a mournful face. "It's a part of who I am."
"Fine, you may be dismissed," the general told him. "If you can do anything seriously at all (which I doubt), try to think seriously about what I said."

Um, yeah. That was how I wrote back then. 😬

We Gave Our Tomorrows, 2024
Jack cocks his head, looking at my face. “Hm, that is a nice scratch. If you’re lucky, it might scar, and then you’d look heroic like me.” He grins, touching the shrapnel scar on his own cheek.
“You, heroic?” Sam scoffs.
“Yeah, me. Just like my brother Jimmy. Did I tell you about how he shot down a Jap at Pearl Harbor and made it in the Oakland Tribune – especially since he had to bail out with a dozen Zeros on his tail?”
“About a hundred times. Get your own heroic tail back upstairs before I kick it up there for ya.”
Jack makes a face at him. “You’re not Parker, you can’t tell me what to do.” He neatly avoids Sam’s lunge at him and takes the stairs two at a time.

Maybe one of these days I'll rewrite that original book. It needs a major overhaul though so it would be pretty unrecognizable. 😆

Y'all are probably impatient to find out who won a book, so we'll get on to the giveaway entries now. The winners are . . .

- To Stand and Balsam & Spice wax melt: Greta B.
- End of the Earth and Kona Coffee wax melt: Esther K.

And I didn't announce this before, but I decided to draw a surprise third winner. So another copy of To Stand goes to Faith A.!

Congrats to the winners, stay safe, have a merry Christmas, and God bless y'all!
And don't forget that We Gave Our Tomorrows cover reveal is on MONDAY!