Come visit me at one of my oldest net friend's blogs!

Happy Saturday!

I know it's rare you see me on the weekend, but I had to let you know I visited one of my oldest net friends, and she interviewed me. Come meet the talented Renee Cheung as we talk about revisions and characters.

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Two days until the release of Silent Whispers (Totem #2)!

Friday Five for May 8, 2015

1. Great news! I finally have a new editor with Ellora's Cave. She's quick, hilarious, and a geek. We get along wonderfully. She's enthusiastic about the next two books in my Dice & Debauchery series, and we have a release date for the second one called Layers of Lace. May 29th! Yeah, I know. It's not that far away! That date is also my wedding anniversary. So I'll have double the reason to celebrate!

2. Will I be doing a tour for the newest book? No. I'm still exhausted from the previous ones. I'll wait until the final book is released and then find a fun way to promote the whole D&D series.

3. With being sick and doing the revisions, I haven't had a chance to do any new writing or catch up on everything online. Next week should be quieter for me, and then I'll get everything in order before my son is on summer break. Wait. It's almost summer already?!

4. Today I'm helping my son's preschool set up for a big rummage sale. I was happy to purge more than I expected from our house. Funny how getting rid of physical things can make us feel lighter on every level. Do you like to go to rummage sales? Have you ever found a hidden treasure at one?

5. Happy Mother's Day this Sunday to all the wonderful moms and like-moms out there!

Friday Five for December 5, 2014

1. Did you see the awesome cover for my urban fantasy novel, Of Blood and Sorrow? It's absolutely gorgeous. I've put it up on Goodreads too. You can mark it to read on there now.

2. Speaking of the novel, I finally finished a major POV change in it. It was tedious to the point of excruciating at times, but I've done it and it feels amazing! It'll be sent off to my CPs and beta readers today.

3. I also finished my revisions for the final book of my Dice & Debauchery series. All manuscripts are now with my editor at Ellora's Cave. I even heard from the cover artist who will be designing the covers for my books. I'm not sure what we're doing yet, but she's very nice and patient with me, the newbie at working within a publisher.

4. I can't believe it's December already. I've been going over my goals for this year. I think I've done pretty good. I will have to give myself a push to reach 100 books read, though. I'm at 94. (It says I already reached it on Goodreads, but I review children's books that I read with my son. So I don't include them on my count here.)

5. Less than three weeks until Christmas! My little guy is super excited. We've decorated the house and we're going to find a tree this weekend. He visited with Santa earlier this week. Afterward, he told me that wasn't the real Santa. When I asked why he thought that, he told me that it was "Second Santa" because he had glasses on and had a gray beard rather than a white beard. Yet he was still a nice Santa! If the weather stays reasonable, we might go to the Krampus night parade tomorrow. Has anyone else ever seen a Krampus?

Have a wonderful weekend!

IWSG for July 2014

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Krista McLaughlin, Kim Van Sickler, Heather Gardner, and Hart Johnson. IWSG is also trying to get on the Writers Digest Best 101 Websites list. Please email them at writersdigest@fwmedia.com, subject line "101 Websites," and suggest the IWSG - http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/ .

This month I'm insecure about being accepted. Rejections get me down, but acceptances stress me out in another way.

Will I live up to the editor's expectations? What if having a publisher doesn't live up to my expectations? Will my readers like it? What if my sales flop and no publisher ever wants to take me on again?

Taking a deep breath. Letting it out slowly.

Did I think I should be dancing for joy and kicking back with no worries? Well, no. I did think I'd be a little more confident about things. I know the twisty-turny roller coaster of writer emotions will take me around the bend again to dancing days, but this week, I'm gripping the edge of my desk as I finish off the first round of revisions for my editor.

Friday Five for May 30, 2014

1. I finished my revisions for WIP #1. It went through some major changes, but it's beautiful. Now I need to find the editor that thinks so too. I queried three publishers earlier this week. I already received one rejection. Yup, two days after I queried, I was rejected. Remarkably, I wasn't totally devastated. I'd love to get picked up by a publisher, but if the manuscript doesn't find a home somewhere, I will self-publish it. A few years ago, I wouldn't have been comfortable with that possibility, but I am now.

2. No word on any of the short stories or the novella I submitted. Waiting never gets any easier.

3. My son had his last day of school and now summer vacation begins. Unfortunately for the poor guy, it starts with him feeling sick. Yet he really wanted to go to his last day of school. I'm happy he loves it so much.

4. Did you see Annalisa Crawford's awesome new cover? Check it out.

5. There are two fabulous giveaways happening over on Untethered Realms. Mary Pax is having a Roadtrip Audiobook giveaway, and Cherie Reich is giving away a huge prize pack of several books including a signed print version of her new YA fantasy novel, REBORN.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Five for May 16, 2014

1. I've been working hard on more revisions for WIP #1. I might have it done in time to query before the end of the month. My goal day to send out queries is the 28th. It's my son's last day of school. If I don't make the deadline, I'm going to attempt not to be too hard on myself. It's important to send out the best story I can, so if it takes a little more time ... I'll likely scream a bit and pout. Maybe eat chocolate and pout some more. Then I'll get right back to work and finish it.

2. I have a busy weekend ahead. A local writer's group meeting, a 5 year old's birthday party, and a school board end of the year party that involves wine and salad. Neither of which I like. I will go and smile and try not to look too awkward.

3. I've gotten a few great reviews these past few weeks for The 13th Floor Complete Collection and FEARLESS. It's wonderful to hear from my readers, and reviews like those can make a crappy day into a good one. A big thank you to everyone who has left me a review and who reviews other books. You are awesome!

4. Still waiting to hear back on some short stories and my geeky novella submissions. Waiting never gets easier, no matter how many years you've been writing.

5. Finally, here are the winners from my giveaway from the My Book Boyfriend Blog Hop! Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who entered. Have a great weekend!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Five for March 28th, 2014

1. Is March nearly done already? Wow. Time just flew past, and April's going to be a busy month outside the blogging world for me. I'll be slowing with my blog posts here and participating in the A to Z Challenge with Untethered Realms. We're featuring fantastical creatures. It's going to be a lot of fun!

2. I didn't get much done revision-wise this month. I had hoped to be halfway done with revisions for one of my WIPs, but my CPs and betas have been busy folks too. That's okay with me. I'm not forcing hard deadlines on myself this year. And I'm getting much more sleep because of it!

3. What have I been doing? I'm almost finished a new novella. I couldn't resist writing something new, and this is completely new for me. I found a call for themed novellas on a popular publisher site. One of them made me laugh. A lot. So I went for it, and the story flowed so easily. It's a geeky contemporary tale with absolutely no supernatural elements. Weird for me! And yes, I'm being mysterious about what it exactly is, because if the publisher rejects it, I love it so much I might self-publish it. Then you'll hear no end of it!

4. My son had his first literacy after school special this week. He blew the socks off the teacher. He's the best reader in his preschool by far. I'm so proud of my wonderful little guy.

5. No plans for the weekend. Maybe we'll finally watch Gravity. And the season finale of The Walking Dead. It's been an awesome season! Have a great weekend.

P.S. What do you think of my new blog banner?

Friday Five for February 21st, 2014

1. Thank you so much to DL Hammons and the Blog Blitz team. I was blitzed last Friday. It totally shocked me. And it felt absolutely wonderful. What a way to end the week! This is one of the reasons I love the Blog Blitz. You, too, can make other people feel this fantastic. Join the Blog Blitz team now!

2. Thanks to the blitz, I now have over 500 followers! Yay! I'm also nearing 850 posts on this blog. I think it's time to do a giveaway. Let me think on this. I want to make it worth your while.

3. It hasn't been a terribly productive week. I've been distracted by babysitting, headaches, and Archer. I managed to do some revisions to my superhero WIP, but little else. If I push it these last days of February, I might be able to finish the 3rd draft by the end of the month as I planned.

4. When I'm working on a WIP or critiquing, I always do it with the document single-spaced. I don't know why this is. I think maybe the extra white space of double-spaced documents is distracting. How do you usually format documents that you're working on?

5. Our household is just getting over a sick week. We haven't been horribly sick, but something icky has been sticking around. So we have no plans for the weekend except resting up. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Five for February 7, 2014

 

1. Earlier this week, I checked my sales on Amazon and discovered there were over 1000 downloads of THE MARQUIS in less than 24 hours. I was shocked and ecstatic! It was #1 on the Demons & Devils best seller list and #9 on Paranormal & Urban. It was also #274 in the Free Amazon Store. I have no idea what promoted the rush of downloads. I haven't done anything new with marketing. It's just one of those weird and wonderfully unexpected moments.

2. I haven't gotten a chance this week to start on my revisions for WIP #2, my superhero story. I'll get a few hours this morning, but hopefully I'll find time on the weekend, and we won't get any more snow days. Though the groundhog saw his shadow, didn't he?

3. Don't forget there's still time to enter the huge Valentine's Day Giveaway. 21 authors giving away their books. I'm giving away a digital copy of The 13th Floor Complete Collection.

4. My son amazed several people this week with his reading skills. I always love watching people's amazement when they see a 3.5 year old reading. I'm so proud of him. This does not show in the bad mom haircut I gave him this week. Poor kid. He won't let anyone else do it, so it's up to me, and he cringes at the sound of scissors cutting hair. Yes, it is a weird and a bit unnerving sound, but it makes for an uneven cut no matter how much I try to be careful.

5. I finished reading a trilogy by Nora Roberts. The first Roberts books I've ever read. Surprising since I do like romance, but I was a bit intimidated by the number of books she has published. I tell myself that I need to be that prolific, suffer a few moments of immense stress over it, and then tell myself to just get through the revisions of my current WIPs. Worry about writing more later. Working on revisions for two WIPs, yup, that's enough for me right now.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Five for January 24, 2014

1. I started on the third draft of my WIP. One step closer to a beautiful polish and then, oh no, querying! Yikes! Is it okay to start panicking about that now even though I'm not close to starting to do it yet? I have all these different scenarios playing out in my head. I think I've covered every possibility. Of course, something I totally didn't expect will happen. Hence the panic.

2. When I started the work on my third draft, I made a new list of plot points for the chapters. (Since I changed the chapters around in the second draft.) I marked out parts for action, romance, characterization, and key plot points. I even used colored pencils. I really liked using color. Did it help me? Well, everything looks to be in order just the way it is. Until my CPs and beta readers have their say, that is! I'm on the right track, though.

3. Lots of school delays this week. We don't have a ton of snow, but it's frigid. My day to assist in my son's preschool class is on Monday. By the look of the forecast, we're due for another delay. Class will be later, so I'll be sitting down to have lunch with nine three-year-olds. It has the possibility of great entertainment. Let's hope it's all comedy!

4. This week I ordered flowers for my mom (who's retiring in a week) and my Nana (whose birthday is at the beginning of February). It made me get excited about growing more in our garden this year. Then thinking about the warmer weather, I decided I needed a wide brimmed sun hat. Maybe a straw hat or something in that fashion. My thoughts came to a screeching halt. When did I become a woman who wears a straw hat?!

5. No plans for the weekend which is nice. What about you?

Friday Five for July 5, 2013

1. We had a fun Fourth of July yesterday. The parade was in the morning, and then we visited with friends. A nice dinner and fireworks in the evening. My husband has today off too, so we might go to the zoo if the weather holds. And then maybe the lake on the weekend.

2. All my revisions for THE GHOST are done. Yay! It's with my CP/editor now, and she'll proof it. Then hopefully on Monday or Tuesday, I can get it up on the purchase sites. My blog tour guest posts are done and sent. I'm on top of thing this week.

3. Next week, I'll take a moment to breathe and ready myself for THE GHOST blog tour. I'm also starting Parent & Tot swim lessons with the boy. Those will be every weekday morning for two weeks. Then my local critique group meets on the 20th. So I'll have to do the critiques the week before. June went by so quickly, and I suspect July is going to fly by too.

4. I read the final book in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. It's a wonderful series, but I was disappointed by this last book. Not just because I didn't get the ending I wanted either. I posted a big review with a spoiler warning on Goodreads if you're curious as to what I thought of one of the most famous paranormal romance series in the world.

5. Eight days until the official release of THE GHOST. Thank you to everyone that commented on my IWSG post on Wednesday. I'm still nervous, but not as much as I was before. You guys are awesome!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Five for June 28, 2013

1. A frustrating week for managing to get time to revise. Oh, did I mention I finished THE GHOST? Yay! Well, the first and second drafts are done. I've been worried about it, but one of my CPs has declared it's her favorite in the series. But yes, revisions. Our power has gone out twice now with all the summer storms passing through. I lost all of Wednesday. And there are more storms in the forecast for the next seven days. Yikes!

2. Even with that frustration, I had a wonderful surprise yesterday morning. THE MARQUIS received a 4.5 star review from Night Owl Reviews. It's now one of their Top Picks! If you haven't picked it up already, it's free for all e-readers.

3. I was inspired to write a new story by my visit to the dentist Wednesday. I had a crown fitted. The last of my silver fillings is gone. I thought about how the dentist and the hygienists must hear all sorts of weird teeth stories. But what if it was a dentist office for supernatural beings? Yup, a supernatural dentist. Could be really fun!

4. I've been enjoying a lot of outdoor time this week. Between storms, my son and I have been out in the pool, at the park, and in the woods. We put on tons of sunscreen, but thankfully he tans better than me. He's getting a few freckles, but not as many as have erupted on my arms. I don't brown, I stay red. Red and freckled like I'm some weird lobster mommy!

5. Next week I'm still sticking with my regular blogging schedule even with Canada Day and Independence Day. Join me for a great post by a special guest on Monday and July's IWSG on Wednesday. Have a fantastic weekend! Relax and kick back.

My 2013 writing goals

The 13th Floor series: This is going to be my main focus for the year. I have four novellas to write, five tours to run, and all the promoting that comes with it. I put myself on a tight schedule for it. Maybe too tight? Being sick has already put me behind schedule. I keep telling myself it will be okay if I'm not rigid and strict with myself, because life happens and self-publishing gives you flexibility. That's why I decided to take that path after all. So yes, you'll be hearing A LOT about the 13th Floor series from me in 2013. How convenient the year matches my series!

The A to Z Blogging Challenge: You may have noticed I didn't schedule a book release in April for this very reason! *winks* I love the Challenge. It was incredible last year. So many original posts from people. I wrote Fearless, and I self-published it. It's been a huge success. (Almost 700 downloads just this month!) I've gotten a lot of requests for another book. You might scream and protest, but Abby, Demetrius, and Tawa's story is done. I'm not going to do another with them. BUT I might do another story about a different Fearless. There are hundreds of these warriors around the world saving children from the monsters. I haven't any ideas yet, but I'm a pantser. It'll come to me!

NaNoWriMo 2013: I considered doing Camp NaNo instead, but November wouldn't be the same if I didn't participate in this challenge. Besides, I have a book tour in June. I have no idea what I'll write, but that's okay. This is one thing I want to do every year for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if I publish every book or not. It's the rush of the challenge and the creation of a new story.

Short stories: I'm not going to do the write 1 / submit 1 this coming year. It was an excellent exercise and I encourage writers to try it, but I need to concentrate on the 13the Floor series. Yet if I am inspired, I still would like to try to do six in 2013. I would love to get something accepted by a SFWA approved publication. That dream hasn't faded.

Revise and query one novel: I have several completed novels. All of them need to be reworked and polished. I hate revising but love writing first drafts! I want to find them homes. I'm not sure which one I'll work with. This won't be until the latter half of the year after all my work with the 13th Floor series is complete.

What are your writing goals for 2013?

NaNoWriMo 2012 - day ten update

Word count as of last night: 18453

I just managed to get in my minimum word count yesterday. The boy is sick and barely napped. I might have a touch of what he has. I feel drained, exhausted on every level. Though it could be from the week I had.

I'm still having fun with the story. I'm working more on the romantic plot and the big villain is about to make an appearance.

My favorite bit from yesterday: "Me and Jagger? No. No, no, no." Not enough nos in the world to make that point clear. "We're only friends. What he meant, geez, I shouldn't be telling you this, but Irca likes you. A lot. And Jagger has always had a thing for her. So catching you and I together makes him mad because it would upset her. God, this sounds like some bad high school drama."

I finished my revisions of 1301 and sent it off to my CPs and betas. I did some serious changes at the beginning and added more to the end. The meat of the middle remained solid, but I always worry about beginnings and endings the most because they usually leave the biggest impressions.

I have no plans for the weekend except to nurse my poor sick boy and catch up on sleep. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Five

1. I finished my first round of revisions with my WIP. Three chapters deleted and several other pages. One chapter added. I need more words now.

2. I tried to start my second draft yesterday, but I stared at the screen for an hour. I couldn't get out the first line of the new first chapter. I know exactly what I want to do with the chapter, but I can't get over that first line hump. I think I'm worrying too much about it being perfect. I need to forget that and leave it to be changed in the next revision.

3. My son will be two in three weeks. How can I be the mother of a two-year-old? Has he gone off to college yet?

4. I'm all prepared for the A to Z Challenge. I have a fear that Blogger will change everything over to the new look and I'll lose all my pre-scheduled posts for the challenge. Please Blogger, don't mess any of us up.

5. Finally watched the first season of Sherlock. Awesome. The second season will air on PBS starting in May. I still prefer Doctor Who, but Sherlock is pretty dang cool.

A quick Friday update

It's Friday! Woo-hoo!

I've had a productive week. I edited and submitted my newest short story, "George and the Dragon." My writers' group liked it and my critique partners helped iron out the rough edges.

I only have four chapters left in my first round of revisions of my WIP. I can't wait for the torture to end. Of course, once the first round is done, there's the second and third and fourth to how many it takes to get it right. I'll be rewriting the first chapter again. This was inspired by Les Edgerton's Hooked. It's a fantastic book on beginnings. It's now my top book on the craft that I recommend to other writers. It makes everything so clear.

I'm reading Laura Jospehsen's Rising Book 1: Resistance. Intriguing story. I don't know who to trust or what's coming. And the quality of her writing is phenomenal.

I'm also reading Cherie Reich's Fighting Gravity, the second novella in her Gravity series. This one is packed with action and edge-of-your-seat tension.

I'll be reviewing both books next week.

Just over a week until April and The A to Z Challenge! I hope you're getting a head start on your posts if you're participating. Have you seen the linky list? Over 1100 participants! It's going to be an awesome month.

Enjoy your weekend.

In the groove

You still have three days to enter to win Cherie Reich's giveaway. Just leave a comment on Thursday's guest post. Cherie talks about running a book blog tour and offers some great advice.

It was a slow start to last week, but I found my groove. I wrote my short story for the month. I added a sci-fi twist to the fairy tale version of George and the Dragon. I've already emailed it to my writers' group, and we'll meet this coming Saturday.

I also finished all my posts for The A to Z Challenge. Yippee! I'm ahead of schedule and it feels good. I just couldn't stop writing. It's a fun story. I hope everyone else has as much fun with it as I did. Now I can spend my blogging time in April visiting the other participants.

I came up with a new idea for either a novel or a series of novellas. I haven't decided which would be better. Of course, you know what it's like when a new idea hits you. All you want to do is concentrate on that idea. I want to hold off until November and write it for NaNoWriMo, but we'll see how much power it has over me.

There's three weeks left of March. I want to focus on the revisions for my WIP. I need to stay in this groove and dig down deep. I don't like revising. I used the A to Z posts as a way of avoiding those revisions. I think once I get past the starting hump, I'll be fine. I just need to get back into revision mode.

I finally have my workspace back again. My husband's birthday is at the beginning of April. I already knew I was going to buy him a wireless rotor for his Xbox, but this morning, he saw the price on it had gone down and was going to buy it himself. The only way to stop him was to confess and give him his present early. Now he can play on his Xbox in the living room on the big TV and not squish himself in this little computer room with me. He's very happy. I'm very happy.

Today our Christmas present is arriving too. We ordered a new bed platform with drawers (we seriously need the extra storage space) in December as our mutual Christmas present. It's being delivered today.

I lost an hour of sleep due to Daylight Saving Time, but at least my son adjusted wonderfully. He even asked to go down for his nap at his regular time yesterday.

Have a good week!

Reminders and Links to Anthologies

 

First off, today is the last day to enter to win a copy of Aubrie Dionne's A Hero Rising. Please read Saturday's interview and enter to win!

Please pop on over to A Twist of Noir and check out my short story. I'd love to hear what you think.

I'm on track with my short stories this year. I had my noir story accepted, and I just got an acceptance for another of my stories that I submitted last year. It's a scary fish story entitled "A Ticket on the Train," and it's to appear in the anthology, OCEAN STORIES. I submitted my Steampunk Cthulhu story this week. Now I must consider what to write for March.

BLOODSTONES - 1-time print (Ticonderoga Publications); urban f/h (fic). Pay: AU2¢/word +2 copies. Words: 1k-7½k. RT: after DL. Reprints: no. E-subs: ONLY. Amanda Pillar, Editor. Deadline: May 15.

EXTREME PLANETS - 1-time print/Kindle (Chaosium Inc.); sf (fic). Pay: 3¢/word +3 copies. Words: 4k-10k (<20k for pros). RT: after DL. Reprints: pros query only. E-subs: ONLY. David Conyers, David Kernot, & Jeff Harris, Editors. Deadline: June 30.

CHERIE'S CHALLENGE - 1-time print/eAntho (Sleeping Cat Books); all genres (fic). Pay: exposure. Words: <5k. RT: 6-8 weeks. Reprints: query. E-subs: ONLY. Sarah Holroyd, Editor. Deadline: July 1.

A FISTFUL OF HORRORS: Tales of Terror from the Old West - 1-time POD/eAntho (Cruentus Libri Press); western themed h (fic). Pay: £20. Words: 2½k-7½k. RT: receipt=<7 days; final=DL +<7 days. Reprints: no. E-subs: ONLY. Kevin G. Bufton, Editor. Deadline: May 31. 

     (Oh! I have an older short story I can shorten and send here.)

On the novel front, my revisions are slowly coming along. I hope to have the first round done by the end of March. I can't believe how much I'm deleting and rewriting. I'm sure it's only my imagination, but revisions physically hurt!

Finally Friday update

It's been a busy week. The Origins blogfest was so much fun. We need to start our own League of Justice Writers. I'm following a bunch of a new blogs. Welcome to my new followers too!

In case you missed the post yesterday, I'm celebrating reaching 200 followers with the Learn Your Craft Giveaway! Free books. I don't care where you live in the world. Free books because I adore you all.

I revised two and a half chapters of my current WIP this week. I'm at the point that I need to rewrite a foretelling/prophecy. I'm horrible at doing those things. Why can't mystics or oracles just bluntly say what they mean? I feel my protagonist's frustration in trying to figure out what the vague references and strange symbolism mean.

I critiqued three stories for my writers' group. We meet tomorrow. I submitted my Steampunk Cthulhu story to be critiqued. I wonder if any of them are familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos. Once I have their critiques, I will edit and revise again, send to my CPs, and then revise again before submitting it to the anthology.

I also revised a short noir story I wrote a while ago and submitted it to a site that features stories of that flavor. One extra submission for me this month!

I cut my son's bangs today. Toddlers don't sit still. You can imagine what it looks like. I think I ought to consider not cutting his bangs myself any more. At least he's happy not to have his bangs in his pretty long eyelashes any more.

Have a wonderful weekend!

NaNoWriMo 2011 Winner

Woo-hoo! I'm still doing a happy dance even after the NaNoWriMo word verification tool didn't match the word count my word processor - Open Office - told me. In fact, it was over 1100 word difference. I went to verify my win earlier tonight and it came up a few hundred words short. I have over 51300 words written. It was frustrating, but I wrote just over 200 words and it was enough. NaNo told me I wrote -1100 words today, but I still have my win.

I see a few other winners out there. Congratulations to you! The rest of you warriors, keep going. There's still a few days left of the month. Push yourself. You'll be surprised at what you can accomplish. I believe in you.

I hope to finish the novel in a few weeks. Before Christmas at the latest. Then I'll let it sit for a while. I have two other novels I want to go through more revisions and submit before I start any editing with my NaNo novel. Revise, revise, revise. That will be my motto for the next four or more months.