My Space

I think a writer's space speaks volumes about the author behind the words. I always love to see what other authors spaces look like. What posters do they have? Is it neat or messy? What research material can I see? Is it near a window or in a dark corner? Is there a stereo near by? Is it cramped or spacious?

My writing space is wedged into corner of my bedroom. You see, we live in a two bedroom apartment. Originally, when we signed the lease, the second bedroom was supposed to become my study. Less than a month after we signed it we discovered I was preggers. Goodbye study, hello nursery. I made what I was left with work and now I have a writing area that makes me happy. No, there's not a lot of space but as you can see, it works!

It's cramped but near a window. At least I can see outside! I have a poster of Belle, my favorite Disney princess on the wall behind my monitor and a figurine of Spike from Buffy on my desk. I have a three shelf bookcase that's cram-packed with research material and WIP and beside that a milk crate that I use as a mini filing system. Right now I have to use my CD walkman to listen to music until my husband can get the CD drive of the computer to work (I got a CD jammed in it...go figure!). I'm not a huge fan of sticky notes (unless I'd editing) so there aren't a ton of notes on the wall behind the desk. A few pictures (Iris Falls Church and Haven!), a reminder of what ink cartrige I need for my printer, and reminders that I can writer (for those times I get frustrated and convince myself I can't).

As I'm writing this, it's a mess. Paper everywhere, book signing supplies scattered all willy-nilly, and things that desperatly need to be filed away. Once I clean it, because it really does need to be cleaned (I can't find anything!), I'm going to add a picture to this post.

Like I said earlier, I think a author's writing space says a lot about them. Maybe you can learn a little more about me.

Interview and Acceptance

I'm due to have an interview go live today at Wordshaping, but as of fifteen minutes ago it's not up. I'm sure it will be later in the day.

I also got an acceptance from FLASHSHOT today! "The Escape," which was first published by the now dead Pen Pricks back in 2008, is going to be published again on June 17th!


EDIT @ 12:25AM (5/24/10) - The interview is now live! Why I write kick ass fantasy heroines!

Website Updates

I've been updating my website lately. Just small things, nothing major.

You'll see that I added my new review for PROMISES TO KEEP up on the review page as well as on P2K's page. I've rearranged The Books section. I've updated my bibliography.

On the main page, you will see that I've added a Works in Progress (WIP) and Submitted section. This way, you can track what I am working on or submitting...assuming you'd want to. I'm always fascinated with authory stuff like that on other author's sites. My favorites are Kim Harrison's drama box and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes website. You can get a look into the mind of the author. Maybe get some ideas on how to improve your own writing process.

Don't forget I'm at Wordshaping on May 23rd! Come on by and don't forget to leave a comment!

Monster

My haiku "Monster" is now up at Aphelion Webzine. It's been a long while since I've had a short story or a poem published. Feels good!


http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/poetry/2010/05/Monster.html

I Feel Like a Real Author

My first book signing. *sigh* I was so nervous, and for no reason. It was GREAT! I had a blast. So many people came into Here Be Books, and I sold 19 copies of my books. 19! One of the sites I visited when looking up book signing tips said I was lucky if I sold 7. But 19! Wow. Here Be Books has copies of each of my books available at their store. I was left with a ton of bookmarks, but that is partially my fault. Last night I decided that I needed more than 80 bookmarks...so I stayed up until midnight printing 200 more. Yep, you saw the right; 200. When I get nervous, I go a little overboard with things. But at least it's not a waste. I can use those anywhere!

Here are some pics from the signing;

Guest blog list

I'm cleaning up the side bar on this blog and, just like with the interviews, I decided it would be easier to actually use the label feature so my guest blogs will be easier to find.


Here's a list of the guest blogs I have done thus far:

5/12/10 - Kayden's World of Paranormal (character interview)
4/3/10 - Fang-tastic Books
3/18/10 - You Gotta Read
3/11/10 - Romance Junkies
3/10/10 - The Pen and Muse
3/6/10 - Dawn's Reading Nook
3/3/10 - Romance Roundtable
2/24/10 - Backseat Nightmares
2/21/10 - Dishin It Out
2/16/10 - Backseat Nightmares
11/3/09 - Kayden's World of Paranormal
10/21/09 - EP Author's Blog

My interviews

I'm trying to clean up the side bar on this blog, and in doing so I've decided to get rid of my interview list. However, since I am now actually using the label feature on this blog, you should be able to find them easily on my label list. Yay!


So, below are all the interview I have currently done.

5/4/10 - Rachel Brimble's Blog
4/28/10 - Just Write!
4/7/10 - Page Readers
3/30/10 - Razlover's Book blog
3/29/10 - Spinning Pearls
3/25/10 - Margaret West Blog
2/6/10 - Love Romances and More
1/27/10 - Page Readers
10/30/09 - Book Chatter
10/5/09 - What's Hot in Romance

Ready...Set...Book Signing!

I have four days left until my book signing at Here Be Books! I'm so nervous and excited, this being my first one and all. When I started getting things together for this, I had no clue what I was doing. Still don't, for that matter. But I found a lot of websites that give advice to authors such as myself. Some sites said to do this, others said to do that, but every site had a few pieces of advice that were the same and it's those pieces that I took seriously.*

1) Get 11x17 prints of your book cover made. Laminate them so that you can reuse them.
2) Buy/make bookmarks.
3) Have candy to entice people over to your table
4) have freebies. Everyone likes getting something for free.
5) send press releases

I have three different freebies for my book signing. The first is, of course, bookmarks. The second are FADE TO BLACK buttons that I ordered from PureButtons.com (these are limited. I only have 40 to give away). And third, the first chapter from MALEVOLENT DEAD (limited as well; I have 50). I hope that, even if they don't buy my books, the people taking these freebies will either buy it later or show a friend who will be interested.

I have no idea how many of each thing I will need. All I know is the day of my signing is the last day of Here Be Books big sale and one of their busiest days of the year. I figured I'd go overboard with the bookmarks since I don't have time to order more buttons. I don't want to make more than 50 Sneak Peeks because I don't want to have a ton of left overs.

On May 16 (or, if I'm feeling ambitious May 15), I will post an update on how my signing went. Maybe I'll learn something. Maybe I'll have a funny story. Hopefully it will be all good!


*Here are the list of sites I have been looking at when looking for book signing advice
40+ Ways to Make Your Next Book Signing an EVENT
Book Signing Tips - Matilija Press
How to Have a Successful Book Signing
Ten Tips of Tackling Book Signings...and other helpful hints
How to Write a Proper Press Release (because I didn't know how)

Timeline

Firstly, I'd like to announce that MALEVOLENT DEAD has been accepted by Eternal Press for publication. Release date is TBA. Interesting side note: I got my acceptance letter for MALEVOLENT on May 2, 2010. I got my acceptance letter for FADE TO BLACK on May 2, 2009. May 2 is my new lucky day! For updates on how the process from contract to publication is going, please check MALEVOLENT's page on my website.

Now for the topic of this blog: Timeline. With soon to be three books out all set in the same world I thought I'd go ahead talk about this now. First and foremost, PROMISES TO KEEP is a stand alone book. There isn't going to be a sequel. However that doesn't mean that Starlette, or other characters from that book, are never ever going to pop up again. For example, inside PROMISES, T.D. tells Starlette that she was attacked by a vampire necromancer's goons. These events happen within MALEVOLENT.

Backstory time: When I was editing FADE, I cut out a subplot that involved a vamp necromancer and T.D. (actually, for those of you looking closely, she's in the room with Sarah when Donavan is calling the Were meeting to order. She's the blonde in the corner). I hated having to cut it, but to me it felt like filler. I hate filler. But I like T.D., and MALEVOLENT was born from the 2,000 words I cut. Amazing.

So where does PROMISES fit in with the Sarah Vargas series, since T.D. is in both? Between MALEVOLENT and BLOOD MOON (the 3rd book in the series that I'm currently writing). She gets injured in MALEVOLENT, goes to help Starlette in PROMISES, and then helps Sarah again within BLOOD MOON.

T.D. is a very busy person. And my favorite character. You saw her witchy side in PROMISES TO KEEP. I can't wait for you to see her kick butt side in MALEVOLENT DEAD!

18 days....OMG!

There's only 18 days left until my book signing. I feel like there is so much to do. Print flyers, hand them out/stick them places, order 11x17 copies of my book covers, figure out what in the hell I'm doing, etc.

This is my first book signing. I have no idea what I'm doing. Every time I say this to someone, they just say "You show up and sign books" but there seems to be so much more than that. I've found a couple of websites that have helped me get an idea of what to expect, but I'm still running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Quite comical actually.

40+ Ways to Make Your Next Book Signing an EVENT!
How to Have A Successful Book Signing

Wish me luck!

How embarrassing

Yesterday I went out to the shooting range to do some research for Blood Moon. Sarah's going to need a bigger gun than her little P22 and I needed to find something that would suit a person like her. I fell in love with the M16 there, and I think it will work well for what Sarah has to do.



While I was there I oogled the P22 and discovered something that is extremely embarrassing; I spelt Walther as Walter in Fade to Black.

I can't believe I did that! I also can't believe that I didn't catch it AFTER I did it. At least I have time to fix it in Malevolent Dead, but still!

Ugh!

I'm so embarrassed, but at least I'll learn from this. Always always ALWAYS double check everything!

Book Signing!

I'm going to be at Here Be Books in Summerville signing copies of FADE TO BLACK and PROMISES TO KEEP!

When: Saturday May 15

Time: 12-3pm EST

Where: Here Be Books (& Games)
4650 Ladson Road, Suite I
Summerville, SC 29485
843-695-1498
www.herebebooks.com

Please comment if you have any questions. I hope to see you there!

Submissions

One of the worst things about being a writer is the submission process. As a writer, you work so hard creating and editing a manuscript. You polish it, send it out, and wait forever for a response. Sometimes a market is quick. For example, I got a 1.5 day rejection from Fantasy Magazine the other day. I don't mind that. Quick form rejection and I can send it out again. It's the rejections that you get 243 days after sending something out. By then, you think that this might be a good thing. Maybe they like your work and are trying to figure out where to put it. But usually they are overloaded with submissions and it took them 242 days to open your email.

That's was the submission process is for writers. 90% of the time it's disappointment; form rejections, cruel rejections, or no answer at all that take forever to get to you. 10% of the time it's golden; the acceptance, a positive personal rejection, or even a quick 1.5 day rejection.

Today I sent out a short story submission to Sword and Sorceress 25. I've been trying to get into this annual anthology since 2007. It's one of my writing goals. Every year I get a quick rejection, usually personal. I think I write too dark for them, but I have to try. Every year I get a rejection within a day. I can live with that. I just hate the waiting game. Hoping that this year, the editor will like a story I send her.

Hopefully this will be the year, but my jaded side says no. I'd really like to prove that side wrong.

Stats for Promises to Keep

*happy dance*

Promises to Keep is rising up the Bestseller lists!

(overall for Fantasy ebooks)
#16 - Fictionwise.com
#13 - Readerwise.com
#13 - ebookwise.com
#16 - Ereader.com

As for the Kindle, Promises isn't doing so well there. Currently ranking #162,518.

(overall for Eternal Press)
#4 - Fictionwise.com, Readerwise.com, & ebookwise.com! (unknown on Ereader.com)



Now if only I could get some reviews.... :o)

Getting stuck

For once I'm not talking about writing. Well, I am...just not the process.

I've belonged to a bunch of writing forums, all of them filled with people that have spent years and years writing. That's great right; getting advice from veterans that have seen it all. Except that they haven't seen it all. They are still stuck writing short stories for paying markets and not going up to pro. Or they are still writing ebooks and not trying to get an agent.

I think it's very easy to get into a groove and stay there. It's comfy and you what to expect.

It scares me.

Some day I want to walk into my local B&N and find my book on the shelf. I'm not going to get there writing short fiction all the time or sticking with the ebook industry (although I do think ebooks are about to boom big time. I like that I'm in it, but it doesn't mesh good with my overall goal). It is so easy getting relaxed with a certain market; short fiction for instance. I wrote short fiction for years, nothing getting published by a pro market. Stop by my website, take a look at my bibliography. It's crazy how comfy I got there. I think when a writer gets too comfortable, they forget their original goal and that's how I'm getting.

I still plan on publishing MALEVOLENT DEAD and BLOOD MOON as ebooks, but my goal is to have an agent for my longer works within 18 months.

What's your goal?

Upcoming events and bestseller info

Even though it is now April, I still have a lot of events coming up. Heck, I'm even still booking them. I have events going on through November, which can be found on my events page. So here's the line up for April and May.


APRIL

Apr 3 - Guest blogging at Fangtastic Books. http://www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com

Apr 7 - Interview over at Page Readers at 1pm EST. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/page-readers
Live Chat at Romance Junkies 9pm EST. http://www.romancejunkies.com/chat.html

Apr 24 - Visit me at Love Romances Cafe. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe
Apr 28 - Interview on Just Write! http://justwritewithannemarienovark.blogspot.com


MAY

May 4 - Interview at Rachel Brimble's blog. http://rachelbrimble.blogspot.com

May 15- Guest blogging at Kayden's World of Paranormal. http://kaydenmcleodparanormal.blogspot.com

May 23 - Interview at Wordshaping. http://amberpolo.blogspot.com

May 30 - Visit me at Love Romances Cafe. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/

__________________________________

Now that PROMISES TO KEEP is available everywhere, I've started keeping track of the bestseller lists. Here's the stats for Fictionwise.com:

#8 for Eternal Press (was #156 two days ago)

#54 for Fantasy ebooks (unknown rank before)

Woot! Let's make PROMISES reach #1!

My writing process

For those of you who don't know, I started on BLOOD MOON the other day. BLOOD is the third (and possibly final) book in the Sarah Vargas series. I am thrilled about this, because this is what we've all been waiting for since the end of FADE TO BLACK, the retaliation from the Blood Moon Corporation. My goal is to have the first draft finished by July.

Before I even sit at the computer, I grab a sheet of paper and write up a rough outline. Right now I have 10 chapters outlined for BLOOD, but I’ll probably be more like 16 when I’m finally finished. For once, along with the outline, I had to write up my loose ends. There are plenty of events in MALEVOLENT DEAD that need to be wrapped up, and just a small handful from FADE. I can’t remember them all, so I made a list. I also find a binder to keep all my notes and drafts of BLOOD in. Ever since my computer crashed and I lost everything, I am a printing demon. The second I finish for the day, sometimes before I finish if I’m on a roll, I print. It goes into the binder and won’t be looked at again until I am finished.

Now I'm not sure about you, but the hardest part of starting a new project is just that, starting. I will sit in front of my computer, looking at the blank Word document, trying to figure out how I want to start it. It takes forever to get the party started, but when I do it’s like a huge sigh of relief. It doesn’t have to be a marathon writing session. Right now I only have 825 words written, but at least the hard part is done. I’m started, and that’s all that matters at this point.

Writing Sarah is interesting. She’s so complex, and has plenty of anger and trust issues. I the right music to get her going, and I’ve found that for this book Avenged Sevenfold will be her soundtrack. For FADE it was mostly Evanescence with a little Avenged Sevenfold near the end. MALEVOLENT was written without much music, except for a couple of sections that just needed Avenged Sevenfold’s “Burn It Down.” Why no music? I’m not too sure. Sarah was lost in MALEVOLENT and, in a way, I was too. With FADE published, I was afraid of scaring away the fans I had. But this is the end game.

Will Sarah live?

Will the Blood Moon Corporation win?

It’s time for me to find out.


Discover where it all began! Read FADE TO BLACK today.
Ebook available from www.eternalpress.biz or in print from Amazon.com

Today, when bringing up EP's main page, I thought to myself that it would be cool to see both of my covers at once. Coolness insued. Promises to Keep the pic for Top Sales and Fade to Black is the pic for Paranormal.

I've also added on a webpage for Malevolent Dead. I hope to be subbing it soon, but something just isn't right with it. I've sent it to a friend to read through and maybe he can figure out what's wrong. In the mean time, a little peek into Sarah's world is in order. Here's a pic of Malevolent Dead, the club that bites.

Vote for PROMISES today!

Today begins the You Gotta Read Videos Trailer Contest. From now until the 26th of March, you can stop by and vote for your favoite book trailer. Exciting, isn't it? Especially since PROMISES TO KEEP is trailer 20 in the contest.

Please stop by there and vote for PROMISES TO KEEP (Trailer 20). Voting ends on the 26th!http://ping.fm/0sqp6

No-show Blogs

Excuse me while I climb onto my soapbox. I feel that this may look bad on me, when I didn't do anything wrong.

Back in February, I scheduled a ton of guest blogs and interviews to promote PROMISES TO KEEP. Everything was due around March 1, and I made sure to email them the information early. After all, you never know if a file won't open. That would give enough time to make sure the problem was solved well before the blog/interview's due date. I have a planner that I keep track of all of my events in, even posting them on my Google calendar and Facebook with reminders emailed to me. I am one prepared little author.

The day of my guest blog/interview I promo the heck out of it, posting info on Facebook, Twitter, RITBS, Yahoo, etc. I enclude a link to the site.

So imagine my fury when I discover that the blog never put up my post.

I give it until 4pm EST before I email them. Maybe life got in the way. Maybe they are on a different schedule than I am. Maybe a meteor hit their house. Maybe they got abducted by aliens. Whatever. Here's what I say:

"Hi (insert name here). Just a reminder that my blog was supposed to go live today. I emailed it to you around the first of March. If for some reason you didn't get it, please let me know."

I don't care if it's late, as long as it goes up.

And then I get no reply. None. Nada.

How is that professional? The two blogs that were no-shows double as review sites. They are important high traffic sites for us little known authors. What ticks me off the most is how much time I spent on these guest blogs when I could have been writing or, better yet, spending time with my family.

In a week or so, if I still haven't heard from no-show-blog#2, I'll post it on here. It was a funny post, one that I was very proud of.

I'm getting off my soapbox....for now.