Friday, August 31, 2012

Coming Up: Another Fast First Draft...Another Book Completed


First, have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend. We're not going anywhere or camping. Might take the kids to Lagoon, an amusement park like Six Flags though smaller. We'll see. Okay, back

1.      My Internet is down, so last night I had no access, which is torture…torture of the worst kind. Did I say torture twice? Yeah, that's how it feels whenever we don't have Internet. You see, my family ditched regular TV eons, so all our news, movies and TV-watching is done on online. But that’s not it. If I don’t stop by FB, catch up with my blogger friends, check my e-mail, listen to Jon Stewart while I work, I get very snippy. So now I’m outside my gym piggy riding on their wi-fi until the library opens.

2.      I finished cleaning up the WIP I completed two, or was it three, weeks ago. Now I’m plowing through suggestions by my CP partners. You girls rock!! Then it is off to my editor then agent.

3.      Will spend the weekend outlining my next WIP, the next Guardian Legacy book (FORGOTTEN), which I hope to start next week. This will be another fast draft. I do know what’s going to happen at the beginning of the story and the end, and some key events in between though but no idea when they’ll happen.  All I know is the characters won’t leave me alone. As I wrote HUNTED, the book with my editor right now (which they loved…no plot issues…yeah!!), I kept thinking about FORGOTTEN, so now I’m ready.

4.      I will also work on my rune book, the first in a new series. This one will be critiqued as I write…that’s my old way of doing things. You know, write a chapter and post it on my group as I continue writing. FORGOTTEN won’t be seen until it is done.

 

Okay, enough about me. What are you up to?

Friday, August 24, 2012

Fun Friday Stuff and US Mid-West idioms

What a crazy week. Where to begin?
First, some fun stuff to share then not-so fun writing tidbit.

1. Betrayed was chosen as  one of the favorite Books of the Summer by author Kelly Hashway. Not only is Kelly an avid reader, she writes amazing YA stories and children picture books.


I can't wait to read her latest book: TOUCH OF DEATH (You can pre-order it now)



2. The lovely Minnie of Sunsetreaderreview, who also runs Read 2 Review and Author's Little Corner on Goodreads, had her girls read both Awakened and Betrayed  and posted their reviews on Goodreads. Here are a few of them.

Conclusion (Awakened):
Bran is a good kisser...Elle said so and Lil agrees

As I was reading this, I didn't really think "oh, this is an angel book" like you sometimes do with vampires or werewolves. It was so seamlessly written in that it simply makes sense... Melanie's Reviews


Conclusion (Betrayed):

Normally second books aren't that great - Hi, New Moon (don't get me wrong, I love the Twilight series, but New Moon was just... not that great) - but Betrayed just blew me away.
I can't believe I hadn't heard of this author before, but now I am a legit fan...Maria Stanica's Reviews.



My thoughts: OMJB! I loved this book, Ednah Walters FREAKING DELIVERED! It was fantastic and it kept getting better from there...Annie's Reviews



3.  I encountered the dreaded sagging middle of my WIP, the one I finished a few weeks ago, and needed inspiration to fix it. As any author would tell you, it doesn't hurt to look at the ending of your story and work backwards to fix the middle or check your secondary characters and make them shine.

So I went with the secondary characters and realized why they were so bland. I didn't make them sound authentic enough. How do one go about making mid-western folks sound authentic? Do they have distinct accents like Texans, New Yorkans or Bostonians? Maybe not but their language is pretty corlorful

Rural mid-west people say the darnest things like (Check the whole list here):

-so ugly she had to sneak up on a glass of water to get a drink
-slick as the deer gut on a doorknob
-nuttier than a crapper at a peanut festival
-their INGs have no Gs, walkin', smokin', you betcha
-Top of the morning to yah
- Mad enough to chew horse shoes and spit nails
- Grinning like a mule eatin' saw briar
- Grinning like a possum eatin' sour persimmons
-So skinny she had to jump around in the rain to get wet
-Got beat with a ugly stick when she was born


Do you have some more to share. Not necessarily from mid-west

Monday, August 20, 2012

NEW RELEASE: Grace Doll by Jennifer Laurens-Free for 1 Week ONLY



1. Ooh, exciting news!!!! 
Today is the release day of Grace Doll, Jennifer Laurens latest book. If you'veread Heavenly series, you will not want to miss this one. It's amazing, dark with a hero to die for and a heroine that you will cheer for.

Best part? It's FREE on kindle for one week only. Get it from HERE



2. I slaved the last week and finished with edits of HUNTED...first edits, which meant slicing off about 12,000 words.


3. It's off to my editor while I work on the WIP I finished a few weeks ago. That should take up the rest of my week.


What are your plans for this week?

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Editing Thou Art a Witch with a capital B

1. Okay, so I got the edits (HUNTED, the next Guardian Legacy book) from my amazing editor, Rich Storr, and I have to slice off about 10,000 words.... drip..drip, drip...yeah those are tears rolling down my face. But it's gotta get done. My next book, I'm so aiming for 75,000 words.  I swear.


2. I did complete the WIP I was working on in 6 weeks, so not so bad. Sorry, I was out of town and didn't blog about it. Plan to upload it so my CPs can plow through it and gut it out while I work on HUNTED. I'll probably edits both books in the coming weeks.



3. Kids are off to school next week...hooray...party time... Yeah, I know, I'm a bad mother. But after five kids, you get your yippee moments wherever you can find them and thumb your nose at anyone who condemns you with a look. Yeah, I'm talking about you reading this. Judge lest ye be judged.

4. Our shopping trip to Park City and Salt Lake City was fun but my poor visa suffered the most. We tend to go somewhere fun each summer and skipped this year...except for the few days in Vegas at the beginning of summer, which wasn't bad. We did enjoy Mistere, Bellagio water show, and Madam T's wax museum. Still my oldest wasn't with us, so it wasn't the same.

Okay, enough about me. What are you working on this week.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Getting Organized and Writing More

Inspired by my fellow Spencer Hill Press author friend Kelly Hashway, who's finished 4 WIPs this year alone...so far...and plans to add two more, I've decided to be more organized when school starts and the kids are gone. I plan to finish 2 more WIPs by the end of the year, one YA  and one adult, both paranormal romances, both first book in a new series, both around 75K.

Tall order, right? I've been thinking about them for over six months. That's why I usually do first, think about the story, the characters, their goals, motive and conflicts (GMC).

We'll see how it goes.

So far this year, I've finished 2 books, one adult romance and one YA, and this will make the 3rd one. If I can two more...

As of this morning, this is where I am at with my present WIP. I should be done by tomorrow night if the muses stay with me.



*Congrats to Shauna Olen Buck for winning a copy of Betrayed and swags in the Annual Summer Giveaway Hop"

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tame The Editor in You While Drafting

FYI: I am participating in Summer Giveaway Hop, so if you missed it, head HERE. The giveaway is open until August 8.


I gave myself a month to finish a WIP and blogged about it on July 6th. I've had bumps in the form of a week-long computer woes and illness, days when I wanted to kick back with a glass of wine and a nice book, and hours when my 8 and 10 year had play dates and turned my house into the House of Screams. Despite all that, I plodded along.

So, where am I at one month and seven days later?




89,275 words instead of 100K I'd planned
2 and 1/2 chapters to go.
About 3 days to finish, right?
Maybe.
You see, this is exactly where I've been the last 3 days,
stuck with 2 and 1/2 unfinished chapters
What happened?

The inner editor in me happened. It usually takes me about 4 months to finish a book. I write a chapter...revise it...revise it again until I'm happy with it...upload it so my crit partners can take a whack at it...move on to the next chapter while waiting to hear from them. Steady and slow, but when I finish, it takes me less than a month to edit it.

This time, I was drafting a chapter a day, until last Friday when I  realized that for the black moment to happen, I had to fix the holes in the plot. I told myself they could wait, but alas, the editor in me took over and I've spent the last 3 days filling the bloody plot holes.

You know what happens when you stop and go over what you've written. You notice things that need fixing, weird sentences, stilted dialogues, out of character behavior... and you can't help yourself. You've got to FIX them.

So tomorrow, I'll be back on track finishing chapter 19, 20 (Wed) and 21 (Thur) because Friday morning I'm taking my kids on a a three-day back-to-school shopping trip and mini-vacation.

So the deadline is now...Thursday night. Or I'm going to be one  grumpy mom during this trip.
How do you tame the editor in you while drafting??

Friday, August 3, 2012

AnotherTwilight Fan-fic?

Do you authors write according to trends?

We all know about the success of 50 Shades of G. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and bash the series. To each their own. We, however, know that it was a Twilight Fan-fic. I read somewhere that the author has earned 7.3 million (since April) and has become UK Amazon bestselling book of all time and outsold the latest Harry Potter. Good for her.

Now another Twilight Fan Fic has been picked up by Penguin Imprint for seven figures... As a writer, it makes you wonder. Is it better to stay true to you and write your story or jump on the bandwagon and go with the trend?

Readers don't seem to care. Publishers want to make money and don't care.

Personally, I try not to follow trends. Why? I want to wake up in the morning and feel good about myself as a person and a writer. Maybe that's why I'm not a millionaire, hehehe.

When I started writing the Guardian Legacy series, there were no books on children of the fallen angels. But I had an idea and went with it. Then my agent started subbing it to editors and all she heard was "we've just signed up an author writing angel books...blah blah this and blah blah that."

I didn't care. I had a story to tell and will continue to write until I finish my GL series.

On a different note, it's been a mad dash to the finish, Olympic style, on my WIP. I'm totally wiped out, but what a ride. I think I'll start another WIP after I revise my present one and send it to my editor. This is where I'm at as of this morning...will start writing at 10:30.