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Friday, April 21st, 2023
Writing prompts have been moved to their own section on the main menu, but you can also see the entire list here: https://kellyaharmon.com/category/writing-prompt/. I’ve been toying around with starting the prompts again. If you’d like to see that, leave me a comment! Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Open voting will take place until August 17, and winners will be notified on the 19th! It would be lovely if you would be able to vote for my book! If you’re so inclined, the link is here: https://bardsandsages.com/efestivalofwords/2018/07/15/2018-finalists/
Tuesday, May 29th, 2018
7/23/2018 – Edited to add that The Pale Leaves is no longer an active web site, and the story is no longer available. 🙁 Tuesday, March 6th, 2018
The good news is, I’ll be co-editing four books this year. Four! Two have already opened and closed for submissions. (One will include a re-print of mine.) The books are: Re-Quest, a collection of dark fantasy, science fiction and horror, and will include my story, Advantage on the Kingdom of the Shore. The second is Re-Launch, dark science fiction stories of launches and new beginnings. My co-editor, Vonnie Winslow Crist, and I will soon be reading for Re-Enchanted, stories of magic and fairies, and Re-Terrify, stories about monsters. I can’t wait. If you’re a writer, you’ll want to get on the Pole to Pole Publishing mailing list so you’ll see the announcement first: http://poletopolepublishing.com/submissions/. (Writers on this list see the announcements prior to the general public.) From this point forward, I’ll likely publish odd bits of publishing news and announcements on the blog. I’ll also infrequently update the writing prompts. By the end of this year, I hope to move them all to their own location so you don’t have to hunt them down in the blog. Once I do that, I’ll probably begin adding prompts again. Hope to see you there! Wednesday, September 13th, 2017 If you’ve been on the fence about Stoned in Charm City, why don’t you try it as part of a bundle? It’s available with all the other authors listed below. For a minimum of $2.99, you get them all. (Click the image to get to the sale) Pockets of Darkness – USA Today Bestseller Jean Rabe Scattered, Smothered, & Chunked – John G. Hartness Stoned in Charm City – Kelly A. Harmon (Me!) Rescue from Planet Pleasure – Mario Acevedo Trifles & Folly – Gail Z. Martin Fright Court – USA Today Bestseller Mindy Klasky Heaven Painted as a Poker Chip – USA Today Bestseller Dean Wesley Smith Chemical Burn – Quincy J. Allen Southern Bound – Stuart Jaffe Pay a minimum of $2.99 USD and receive all 9 ebooks. This option is also available at Kobo, Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble. Tuesday, September 12th, 2017
A Cloth and Paper subscription appealed to me because they bill themselves as providing “luxury” planning supplies. The subscription was pricy: $100 for three months. But if I received quality, engraved, luxury items – as the advertisement seemed to imply – I figured the cost was worth it. Short Review:
All in all: Not recommended — especially if your objective is to outfit your planner. I should caveat that my recommendation to stay away from Cloth and Paper has more to do with expectations than the quality of (most of the) actual items received. Also: I was very disappointed with my one customer service experience. Now for a more detailed review: When you sign up for a Cloth and Paper subscription, you’re asked what size planner you own (so they can send things to you in your planner size) and also for your name or initials (or whatever) you’d like engraved on the items that are mailed to you. How exciting! However, not once in my three-month subscription (January – March) did I receive an item that would fit in my planner. Nor, did I receive anything engraved with my name. All planner items received were “odd” sizes. Many of these items remain in their shipping box, as I have no idea where—or how—to put them to use. The Boxes In January I received:
Note that none of these items are true “planner supplies.” All items are stamped or engraved “Cloth and Paper” or C&P — not my initials. I was too lazy to send a note about the pen that didn’t write, but I remedied that when the February box came in. In February I received:
Again, nothing for my planner, and all the engravings are “Cloth and Paper” or “C&P.” I was quite disappointed with this shipment. I’m not likely to use any of these items, except perhaps the clip just to try it out. I suspect that it will fall off in my purse and relegate itself to the “useless” pile. Brass is not my thing, so I won’t be using these items on my desk. Because I didn’t like the shipment, I contacted Cloth and Paper via email to ask if I could exchange the box for something else. While I was at it, I asked if they could send me a refill cartridge for the January pen which didn’t write. A C&P representative wrote back promptly. There were a few back and forth messages to verify which pen cartridge I needed and the rep said that I could exchange the box. Happily, I wrote back and asked how we could make the swap. In the next email exchange, the rep changed her tune: she said that she had made a typo. She’d meant to type “can’t” not “can” about being able to exchange the shipment, and that no exchange of the February box was possible. And that was that. She did send two refill cartridges for the pen (about a week later) however. In March I received:
All in all, I was highly disappointed with the subscription. My expectations were that I would receive planner supplies to match the size of my planner and that some of the things would be personalized. Overall: not recommended. While the luxury of most of the items is not in question, the functionality is. Spend your money elsewhere, where you can choose the exact items you want or need and which will fit in your planner. Sunday, September 10th, 2017
I share the Table of Contents with many fabulous writers, including: Monica Rose Song, D.A. D’Amico, squiddosnazz, Mike Lewis, Michael Harris Cohen, Virginia Frances Sterret, Eddie D. Moore, Richard King Perkins II, Dianne Williams, Robert Tokley, R.W.W. Greene, María Castro Domínguez, Patrick S. Baker, Virginia Frances Sterret, Halli Lilburn, Chanel Earl, Dick Yaeger, Benjamin West, Tod McCoy, Marsheila Rockwell, Ashleigh Gauch, squiddosnazz, Karen Bovenmyer, and Vonnie Winslow Crist. (This is the third anthology that Vonnie and I share this year, which is simply amazing. She and I are also co-editng an anthology, Dark Luminous Wings, which will be available in October!) Starward Tales II is only available on Amazon right now. You can find it in Kindle and Paperback editions here: Starward Tales II: Another Anthology of Speculative Legends I don’t have a story in the original antho, but if you’re interested, here’s the link for Starward Tales, Volume 1. If you prefer an audio version, Volume 1 is out: Starward Tales, Volume 1: Audio Edition. Saturday, July 8th, 2017
The story takes place in the time frame between Book 2, A Favor for a Fiend, and Book 3, A Blue Collar Proposition. This is important because in that time period, Assumpta is still demon-marked. How the mark works is key to the mystery here. I won’t say too much more except in the story, Pournelle (the demon!) comes to Assumpta and asks for her help. Doesn’t get any better than having your enemy coming to you, eh? If you haven’t read the magazine before, I urge you to read it! The stories are terrific, and the artwork is phenomenal. Digestion includes a fantastic drawing of Pournelle and Assumpta sitting at a table in the Charm City Brewery. Thursday, June 1st, 2017 If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I’m a planner nerd. So you have no idea how excited I was to win a contest on the Quo Vadis blog for one of the Plan and Note Planners. I’ve been coveting one of these for a long time, and this was a great opportunity for me. In return, I promised to write a review of the planner and how I used it for bullet journaling. (But the fact is, the journal bowled me over with its quality, and the thought of bullet journaling took a back seat).
Short Review: This is a high-quality planner with extreme “touchability.” It just feels good to hold and to use. The cover texture is soft, and the pages are very smooth. It’s a joy to write on them. The order of the planner is well thought out and includes some future planning features. “Strict” bullet journalists may find the idea of using a pre-defined calendar as their journal quite restrictive. “Lazy” bullet journalists (like myself) may find it suits them perfectly. Now for a more detailed review: I loved this planner from the moment I received it. Black is my favorite color, but I love the blue spine and elastic band. (It also comes in violet or rose.) It’s a soft-cover planner, but sturdy enough to write on in your lap, or simply holding it in your hand. It lies nearly flat when opened. But the “touchability” of the cover won me over immediately. The texture is a soft, almost warm, material that invites you to stroke it! The inside pages are very smooth and thin, and the quality of the paper is outstanding. I used fine Sharpies, colored felt tip pens, gel pens and even several different fountain pens, and nothing bled through. I even had a fountain pen leak and leave a nickle-sized ink splat on the pages. It did not bleed through! You could sometimes see shadows of writing on the other side of the page, especially in hard light, but no bleeding. I was very impressed. For a pen junkie like me, this is a huge selling point. I’m sold just on the quality of the paper.  Two photos merged together here: one of the ink-splat page on the left, and it’s obverse (turned back a day) on the right. The planner is divided into several useful sections, especially if you prefer a pre-printed, bound calendar/diary. If you’re bullet-jounaling in the traditional sense, these sections might get in your way. However, there’s lots of room for personalizing and adding to the journal. Here are the sections: 1) 2017 – Year on One Page 2) 2017- Year on Two Pages  Year on Two Pages Because the space was small, I found myself “paralyzed” as to what to record here. Then it dawned on me that these pages are PERFECT for habit tracking. I like to work on one habit at a time, so I used the entire daily box to track: showing the beginning and ending dates of the project in pink, and highlighting in gold — with a star — the dates I followed the habit. But these boxes could easily be divided to track up to five daily habits (maybe more, if you use just colored dots, perhaps).
3) Monthly Calendars, one per page, printed horizontally. 4) Week on Two Pages, January – December  Showing a week on two pages spread, and my lazy bullet journaling… 5) Future Planning Section 6) Address Book – 9 Pages! Because the headings are in a light gray color, the pages are easily re-purposed. This is where dedicated bullet journalists will be able to pack their spreads. 7) Lined Pages – 2 What Would I Change? Overall, the Quo Vadis Plan and Note Planner is an exceptional planner of quality. I highly recommend it to anyone! Where to Find Quo Vadis: For more information on the Plan & Note planner including where to purchase: https://quovadisplanners.com/catalog/planandnote For all Quo Vadis planners: quovadisplanners.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quovadisplanner/ Facebook: Quo Vadis blog has posts on time management, writing, journaling, and more: quovadisblog.com |
A pinned note to let you know that the blog is no longer regularly active. You may see the occasional new note here, but for the most part there’s no action.
I’m so pleased to announce that the fourth book in the Charm City Darkness series has made the finalist list for the eFestival of Words contest!
My short story, “Any Kiss Would Do,” has been published at The Pale Leaves Magazine on line. If you like re-written fairy tales, you might like this very short story based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
I’m making some changes to my web site this year, the first of which is to move the blog off the home page. You’ll note that there hasn’t been much going on there in a while: I’ve been doing more editing and the blog has taken a back seat to that work.
Just a quick note to say that I have a reprint published in Starward Tales II, a collection of short stories, poems, legends, myths, and fairy tales as science fiction. It contains my story, All for Beauty and Youth.
The latest edition of Occult Detective Quarterly contains a new Charm City Darkness short story called Light from Pure Digestion Bred.
