Alyssa Cooper's Blog

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It’s (finally) a real actual thing!

The Witches of Armour Hill: Twisted is available now for pre-order, exclusively on Amazon. If you’re an old-fashioned paperback-er, you’ll have to wait until the official release of August 10th – the paperback will be available on Amazon, from the e-store on my website, and, if you live in the Kingston area, from me personally!

The Witches of Armour Hill: Twisted is nearly ready to meet the world – but it still needs a cover!

Below, you’ll find four options for the cover of Twisted. I’ve always loved keeping my readers involved in the creative process behind the Witches – and I can’t imagine choosing a cover without you!

So, let the vote begin!

Leave a comment with your choice (Option 1, 2, 3 or 4) to cast your vote – one vote per person please. Voting will remain open for a week, running concurrently on Facebook, Instagram, and here on my blog. On May 9th (happy birthday to me!) the winning cover will be announced!

Happy voting ~

Still haven’t read The Witches of Armour Hill: Switch? You’ve still got time! Switch is available in both paperback and Kindle ebook editions – the ebook is FREE for Kindle Unlimited members!

Today is the last day of the 365 Challenge. I’ve written 365 poems in 365 days, and although I am looking forward to taking a bit of a break, I’m also so proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me along the way, on Facebook, Instagram, and Patreon, where I have been posting daily updates. All of your shares and comments gave me the reassurance I needed not to give up, and I doubt I would have made it to the end without you.

2017 was a year of growth, and as it draws to a close, I see the promise of great things to come in 2018.

Happy New Years, everyone.

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[image error]On November 17th, I was given the honour of opening for monumental spoken word artist, Shane Koyczan, at the Grand Theatre in Kingston.

This was the biggest performance of my career – and I look forward to continue making these steps forward into a career as a spoken word artist.

Day seven of NaNoWriMo has officially drawn to a close.

2017 is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, but it is (knock on wood) going amazing. My plan was to spend the first few days completing The Witches of Armour Hill: Twisted, which has been a work-in-progress for a criminally long time, and then use the rest of the month to work on The Witches of Armour Hill: Book Three (which doesn’t have a cool subtitle yet).

I am proud to announce that in the last seven days, I have written 11 212 words, and the first draft of The Witches of Armour Hill: Twisted is OFFICIALLY COMPLETE, clocking in at a healthy 89 000 words.

This is seriously so exciting guys. SO EXCITING.

Tomorrow, I begin work on Book Three. If I maintain my current trajectory, I’ll have 40 000 words to the manuscript by the time NaNo wraps. In the meantime, I’m going to let Twisted marinade, and will return to it on December 1st to begin the first round of edits.

…basically, I should have started doing this years ago.

Are you doing NaNo too? Be my friend!

This month, my patrons over at Patreon received an original poem (outside of the usual 365 Challenge updates, which are also compiled there), a performance video from the last Kingston Collective Poetry Show, a self-shot rehearsal video, and two samples of my poetry editing process, showing how the 365 Challenge poems that I post daily become finished works.

Next month, I’ll be putting together a digital version of my “World Building in Urban Fantasy” workshop, and will be sharing early previews of The Witches of Armour Hill, Book Two: Twisted, that you can’t get anywhere else.

I’ll also be archiving the first 155 poems of the 365 Challenge. These poems have been posted daily, and are currently publicly available on my Facebook, Instagram, and Patreon pages – but, as I get ready to begin compiling some of them for chapbook publication, and preparing others for magazine and anthology submissions, it’s time to remove the original versions from the public eye. They will be removed entirely from Facebook and Instagram – they will remain on Patreon, but will only be available to registered patrons.

Basically, Patreon is the place to be – and you can join in on the fun for as little as $1 a month!

Let’s talk about Patreon for a minute, shall we?

Patreon brings together art-lovers and art-makers, creating a platform for the former to fund the latter, in exchange for rewards and warm-fuzzy-feelings.

After hearing some really inspiring success stories from creators that I deeply respect, and some gentle prodding from my awesome friends, I’ve set up my own Patreon page in hopes of finding some patrons who are interested in helping me devote a little more time each day to my passion, instead of to my day job.

Monthly pledge amounts start at $1, and rewards include daily poems, rehearsal and performance videos, and behind-the-scenes updates and info about future publications. Pledge a little more and you can also get some unpublished content from the archives, personalized poems and stories, and even get invited to the beta reader groups for my works-in-progress.

Even if you can’t afford to contribute – which I totally understand, being a starving artist myself – a like or share on this post would go a long way, and would be deeply appreciated.

We’re all in this together, or something equally corny and cliche. ❤

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I’m still on track with the 365 Challenge; haven’t missed a day!

I’m still posting once every week or two on here, just to keep from overwhelming those who are signed up for email updates and such, but if you’d prefer to get daily updates, you can follow my facebook page – there, I post a new poem every day, as I finish them!