2018 in Review - What a Year!

Sorry it's been so long, friends! I haven't had a lot of book-related updates in recent months, but I'm hoping that will change in the near future! In the meantime, I wanted to take a moment to reflect back on what an AMAZING year 2018 was.

In February, I published my debut novel!! Even almost a year later, that fact still blows my mind. Since it's release, Common has reached so many readers and even won third place in the CWRC Reader's Choice Literary Lighthouse Awards! In March, I saw my first publication of a short story, "Threshold," in Mythical Doorways by the Fellowship of Fantasy. Readers' strong responses to that story have touched me more than I can express, with words like "This story is quite remarkable. It's a poignant, moving coming-of-age tale with a fantasy twist." and "The feels!!! This story was SO good, and that ending was SO worth every minute of not knowing which decision Heidi would make!" You guys sure know how to make an author grin. :)

Lately I've been incredibly excited and encouraged that many bloggers are making their lists of favorite books from 2018, and Common has come up multiple times!!! Eeeek! You can find it on:

-Katy Huth Jones' "The 10 Best Books I Read in 2018,"

-Jenelle Schmidt's "15 Best Books of 2018," AND

-Deborah O'Carroll's "End-of-Year Book Freakout Tag 2018!"


Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has taken the time to read one or both of my stories - your encouragement and support make all the ups and downs of the writing journey so worthwhile! Hopefully there will be many more stories to come!

Last, I have a little favor to ask. The INSPY awards are now open, and I would love for Common to be a contender! But books have to be nominated by readers, and the more nominations a book receives, the more likely it is to make it onto the longlist. Here's the link: https://inspys.com/?page_id=1183, and here's the information you need:

Title: Common

Author: Lucking, Laurie

Publisher: click "Other," then type in Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing

Category: Speculative Fiction (it also qualifies for "Debut Novel," but their YA category doesn't include fantasy so it doesn't fit there)

Publication Month: February 2018

13 digit ISBN #: 9781943788279


A HUGE thank you in advance!!! I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start, I can't wait to see what 2019 will hold for all of us!

Mythical Doorways Blog Tour and Facebook Party!

Mythical Doorways is here!!! Hooray! It released on March 27th, and now is available for FREE on Amazon! The first reviews are starting to roll in, and I've been thrilled by the response to "Threshold" so far! One reviewer said, "This story is quite remarkable. It's a poignant, moving coming-of-age tale with a fantasy twist." And here's how another reviewer described it: "The feels!!! This story was SO good, and that ending was SO worth every minute of not knowing which decision Heidi would make!" *Cue giant grin accompanied by happy dancing*

The blog tour celebrating the release of Mythical Doorways wraps up today! Check out the full schedule of posts here. And TONIGHT, we're finishing up the celebration with a Facebook party! The fun starts at 7:00 pm CDT (8:00 pm EDT), and my featured author slot starts at 9:20 CDT / 10:20 EDT. I hope to see you there!

Three Guest Posts, Two Signings, and a Release Date for Threshold!

Common has been out in the world for almost a month already! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make the release a huge success!! The blog tour and Facebook release party were so much fun, and not only was Common back-ordered for several days, but it was also the "#1 New Release in Teen & Young Adult Christian Fantasy" on at least 5 different days! Yay!!!

Even after the official blog tour ended, I had the opportunity to visit several additional blogs. First, I posted as part of Catherine Castle's Wednesday Writers series about putting twists on classic tales, which you can find here. Next, I visited the Castle Gate Press blog to share about incorporating religion into fantasy settings - check it out here! And just this week, I had the opportunity to do an interview on Ginger Solomon's blog, where I shared about what I like to read, how I come up with character names, and an excerpt from Common! Find it here.

I also have my first official author events coming up soon! On Saturday, March 10th, I'll be selling and signing copies of Common at the Half Price Books in Coon Rapids, Minnesota from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (for more details, check out the Facebook event). Several weeks later, on Saturday, April 7th, I'll be near Madison, Wisconsin signing books from 9:00 to 11:00 am at M.N.M.'s CoffeeHouse (find the Facebook event here). I hope you can make it to one of these or a future event!

Lastly, the Mythical Doorways anthology, which will include my short story, "Threshold," has an official release date of March 27th! We'll be having a mini blog tour from March 27th to 29th to celebrate, plus a Facebook party on March 29th and a mythical doorways-inspired writing contest (submissions open on March 5th, find out more here)! 

Stay tuned for more updates later this month!

Threshold found a home!

In the midst of all the excitement over Common's upcoming release, I received the wonderful news that my Peter Pan-inspired short story, "Threshold," was accepted into an anthology!!! It's titled Mythical Doorways and will release this spring from the Fellowship of Fantasy! I'm honored to be in a lineup of such amazing authors, and I can't wait to share this story with you! And feast your eyes on these amazing covers!! For more information about my story, check out the "Books" tab above. Also, if you want to stay updated on release notifications for the anthology, click here.

In other fun news, I had the opportunity to visit Karin Beery's blog last week to share about some lessons learned since signing my publishing contract almost a year ago. You can find the post here.

Check back for more updates over the next few weeks!