Short, Sassy & Scary! Available Now!

Hello most excellent ones!

I have NEWS. Firstly I got out of suburbia this weekend and headed to the country to visit one of my bestest friends in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia.

On the way there, I had to pull over and take a photo of the sunset because it was absolutely beautiful.

But then I looked at the photo, and it makes me think I seem to have survived the apocalypse. Don't you think? Yowza.

I seem to have gotten into the WORST ROUTINE EVER and am wide awake and working at 6am these days, so while my friend was sleeping off the end of the school term (she's an English teacher, who, I discovered today, yells homework assignments at her students as they walk past her down the street. I think all three of us - the student, the teacher and I - were horrified at this development), for a couple of hours before she got up I was hard at work on what I have to say is my favourite scene so far of the The Kiss Off book two. 

And. AND. New books alert!

Well. Sort of new. I have bundled three of my short contemporary young adult titles into the Sarah Billington Short & Sassy Collection: Volume One, and a mixed bag of four of my scary stories into the Sarah Billington Short & Scary Collection: Volume One.

Observe:

Pretty, yes? And by buying in bulk, it's cheaper for YOU, and I make more money. Win-win, right? 

AND though I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the cover for my middle grade novel Life Was Cool Until You Got Popular, I can't use it for the print edition which IS BEING MADE AND WILL HOPEFULLY BE AVAILABLE WITHIN 6-8 WEEKS.

And though I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cover up there, I SUPER LOVE the new cover. For realz. And you'll see it soon, I promise.

That's it from me for now. How about you?

Why I, Sarah Billington could never be a Pantser

Today I'm talking about Seat-of-the-Pantsing when writing.

I'm not talking about this:

Another form of "Pantsing"

I got an idea for a new story last night as I went off to sleep. And I'm rather excited about it. It's about a wall separating a town. It's been there as long as the MC can remember and there are armed guards in front of it who will kill you on sight if you approach it. This'll be a SHORT story, not a novel, and I wanted to write it today. BOOM. Done.

So I started writing it aaaaannnnndddd it's really not that simple.

If it's going to be a GOOD story, I need to know some stuff upfront.

Is the emphasis on what's on the other side/who's on the other side?
Is it on the danger of approaching the wall?
Is it about who put up the wall, and tearing it down?
Is it about why there is a wall in the first place?
Is something good/bad happening on the other side?
Is her side imprisoned, or are they being protected from what's over the wall?
Is it perhaps, the Berlin Wall? Is this a historic piece? An alternate historic piece?

Without knowing any of this stuff, really, what can I write?

Pantsing so doesn't work for me.

How about you?

Love Sairz

Resistance is futile: Bookstore sales and eBook updates

 So I tried really hard not to go to any bookshop sales. A bunch of them are closing down and selling their stock for ridiculously awesome prices but I was NOT GOING. I don't need more books, I don't have the money to justify buying more books. I will not succumb!

Until this morning, I did.

I gotta say, I didn't do too badly. Since the sale's been on for awhile now, most of the stuff on my list of must reads were gone, but I got a couple of promising titles, including this one which I've had my eye on for awhile now:

It totally looks like a zom com. I'm currently writing a zombie comedy myself so, naturally, it caught my attention.

Though I gotta say, the ultimate zom com is most definitely this:

If you have not watched Shaun of the Dead then you are missing out on something magic. For realz.

Moving on.

There is still time to grab my award winning short story eBook Life Was Easier When Boys Were Stupid for FREE from Smashwords with the coupon code TB47A. You can read it online through HTML or Javascript or download the Kindle, ePub, PDF, LRF or PDB versions, depending on how you want to read it. Coupon code ends Sunday!

You can also get a story of unrequited love, The Ballerina & My Best Friend, which, like Life Was Easier, is available from Smashwords and Amazon.

Aaaand....Coming soon!

A completely free short by Edwina Ray.

More later,

Sairz