Welcome to Summer!

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer planned! I just hope we aren't looking at TOO many 100+ days here in North Texas. It can get hot, hot, hot down here!

The rewrites on After - Part Two are coming along nicely. I'm focusing on getting the Amarillo chapters done by this week so my hereos can move on to Boulder City. Amarillo was a last minute idea, and I HATE last minute ideas. This is where plot holes and continuity errors live. I really have to let an idea float around in my head for a while, give me time to really get it formulated and solid before it goes down on paper. I started Amarillo on faith that something would come to me over time and eventually it did, but it took too long! I was starting to get worried.

During that time while I was waiting on Amarillo, I jotted down a short story which I'm now working on the finishing touches to get it into a paranormal/horror anthology. This is exciting! I'll keep everyone updated on that as well as this new project progresses.

On the reading front, I have a sad story. I picked up the next book on my to read list, read the 100 pages that I normally do and was irritated the entire time. I just couldn't finish it. I hardly ever abandon a book but I was having a terrible time getting into this one. The book had some pretty decent reviews, but I guess it just wasn't for me. There are WAY too many books out there for me to read, I just don't have the time to dedicate to something I'm struggling with.

I joined a book club, so I'll be reading Ready Player One next week. This one looks pretty good!

Vacation starts next Friday, so I can't wait! I'll try to get a quick update in before we head off to the beach.

Forever Road, By Catie Rhodes

First off, happy fathers day to all those wonderful dads out there! We just got back from an excellent lunch and I am STUFFED!

Now, before I start the review, I want to say just how much I love reading indie books. They follow a different format, a different set of rules (or no rules at all!) than what we've come to expect from a traditional publisher. Sometimes, it's a very refreshing change of pace.

Most of the indie books I have picked up lately have been backed by a handful of very good reviews. Now here is my request on behalf of all the indie authors out there. If you read a book that you like/love, PLEASE post a review. You have no idea how much this means to them/us.

Generally when I read a book, if the story hasn't gripped me by about 100 pages in, I start to lose interest. I find it a chore to finish, if I finish at all.

Forever Road,
by Catie Rhodes

I was thrilled to find that was far from the case with Forever Road. This book pretty much had its claws in me right off the bat. The story is told from the first person perspective of Peri Jean Mace, a tom-boy who has had a rough life and just so happens to be able to see ghosts. She is an excellent character that I genuinely like and believe in.

I do love supernatural/paranormal stories, which is what caught my eye about the book. The interesting thing, though, was that it didn't revolve around the spiritual world 100%. The mystery in the book was so well played out, there were times I would totally forget I was reading a paranormal book. I was just so enthralled by what was going to happen next and the who-dun-it aspect that I forgot about the ghosts!

Along with Peri, there is a great background cast to flesh out the world. The book is full of very lively and believable characters. It's action packed and heartfelt. By the end, I had laughed and cried, and now I can't wait for the next installment.

Catie has a very unique writing style, and I got a kick out of her expressions several times throughout the book. If you like ghosts stories or a good mystery, I 100% recommend this book. I save my 5 star reviews for the books I really love, and this one gets a full 5 stars!

Catie Rhodes has her own blog and webpage. You can find here here.

~ ~ ~ ~

Also, if you have been waiting for After - Part 1 to become a free download on Amazon, I am happy to report that you can grab it anytime now! I fully intend to always offer the first installment of The Phoenix Curse for free, and I'm pacing the releases so that I can keep ahead on the writing front as much as possible. 

So far, so good! Enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Spectacular Week!

Happy weekend everyone!

I just wanted to drop a short note to let all my fans know how phenomenal this week has been. The response I've gotten from the release of After - Part 1 has far exceeded any of my expectations and I am truly overwhelmed.

A big THANK YOU to everyone already out there, and a warm welcome to all the new visitors. You are all amazing. I just don't have enough words to express how thankful I am right now for all of you.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Busy!

So things have been quite hectic lately with the start of summer break. I am counting down the days until vacation!

Here's a quick update.

I've started reading Forever Road by Catie Rhodes, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm parceling it out a chapter at a time, so the reading is slow for right now, but expect a review here in a little bit. I'm also working on the rewrites for Part 2 of After and am so far pretty happy with the progress.

NaNoWriMo is organizing writing camps for July. There is still a word count goal, but unlike the 50k words in November, you can set this one to whatever you feel is attainable. I'm thinking about signing up and adding 25k words to Dreamland. It's not a bad goal considering the other projects I'm working on.

If any of you out there reading this has ever dreamed of writing, I urge you to give this a shot! Don't worry, no one will have access to your story, so no one will be able to read it. It's yours and yours alone, and you can write about what ever you want! They have a fantastic support network that has answers to any question you might have.

Stop by and have a look if it's something you think you might be interested in. Camp NaNoWriMo.

Choices - A Time Travel Novella, By Cate Dean

After the rush of excitement of finally publishing my first book, I decided to sit down and curl up with a story I could get absorbed in. I picked up Choices - a Time Travel Novella, by Cate Dean.

I love the cover art.

I first discovered Cate Dean while reading Tales From The Mist. The Messenger was one of her short stories published within the anthology, and it was a gripping tale that stuck with me. Although I enjoyed Choices, I think I still like The Messenger better.

That being said, Choices was exactly what I wanted to read. I've never much cared for stories with time travel, but this one didn't dwell on the intricacies that generally revolve around the subject, so likewise wasn't bogged down by loop holes that come with it. Instead, we jumped right into the action, following our damaged heroine, Maura, as her journey was forced upon her.

I know some reviewers have said that they wished to have more detail in this story, and wished it was longer, but I think it worked okay as is. It's true, there isn't a lot of detail or back-story when you get started, but by the end, Cate has sprinkled all the answers through-out the book by our insight into Maura's thoughts, and nearly everything we original questioned has been answered.

There is A LOT of action packed into this little book, and sometimes I found myself wincing at Maura's pain and rubbing my own leg. It was a very fast ride, and a worthwhile read if this is the type of book you go for. As I said before, this generally isn't the genre I'm inclined to read, and it will not linger with me as The Messenger did, but I still enjoyed it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Now, on to The Phoenix Curse news. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, but the second I got everything wrapped up with the publication, I was ready to jump right into Part Two. Crazy! I had to force myself to get some other things done!

I've finally found the need to add 'tabs' to my blog. If you'll notice the 'Books' tab has a link to all the places that you can find Part One, and I have declared that Part Two will be available in the fall. Also, I have been working on the cover art for Part Two. This is exactly what I envisioned in my mind, and I'm pretty much blown away that I was able to actually get that out of my brain and into Paint.net. I'm still working on the brightness levels so you can tell what you're looking at in the thumbnail, but I really dig what it looks like when the picture is blown up! I'll probably still work on it a bit more before I'm ready to publish, but here is the preliminary artwork.

Now that I'll soon by diving into the Part Two edits, I ALSO have all of Part One of Dreamland fully
outlined, and am once again pleased with the story progression.

For those of you that have been following along, and read my acknowledgements in Part One, then you all already know how big a part my husband has played in this. Even though he is my beta-reader and editor, he still refuses to let me spoil him! So he's reading the story for the first time as he edits, and he's urging me to get my rewrites done so he knows what happens! This is great incentive for me to keep trudging on.

For all my fans out there, thank you so much for the wonderful, encouraging comments. Those, too, mean so much to me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The Phoenix Curse: After - Part One

Drumroll please!

After - Part 1

It is done. Many tears of joy were shed this day.

Without further ado, I give you part 1 of After, book 1 in The Phoenix Curse.

I actually uploaded last night, and was VERY happy to see Part 1 was already accepted into the premium catalog this morning. This means that the book will be going out to iTunes and Barnes and Noble in about two weeks.

I am still working on getting everything ready for upload on Amazon, for those of you that prefer the kindle. The formatting for Amazon is a total bear! Smashwords was incredibly easy compared to this! I figure it will still be a few days before the book is ready to upload.

Now that I know more about Amazon, I have decided to hold off a bit to enroll Part 1 in the KDP Select program, if I ever enroll it at all. I did find out I have to list it at .99 cents, and eventually Amazon will lower the price to match the free cost I have listed on Smashwords, but I have no idea how long that will take.

All that aside, I am very excited! I hope everyone enjoys the novella as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am eager to get to work on the rewrites for Part 2, and I'll be getting back to dedicating one night a week to Dreamland.

For those of you that have been with me from the beginning, I'm sorry you'll still have to wait a little bit longer for some story progression, but I do think the changes I made to Part 1 is worth a reread.

Thank you all!

The Last Threshold, By R. A. Salvatore

Before I get into the 'review', a quick, happy update on After. All rewrites are now done! I am just going through one final read through as I format to fit the Smashwords specifications, and then Part 1 will be uploaded!

I am also working on the cover for CreateSpace and formatting for Amazon. I DO plan to enroll in the KDP program with Amazon, which means I will have to remove the Part 1 novella from Smashwords. If Smashwords is your preferred reading format, I apologize for the move, but I feel this is best for me at this time, and the marketing the KDP program can give me. All I can say is grab the format from Smashwords as quickly as possible.

Also, the book will be a free download while on Smashwords, as well as after I move it to Amazon.

I did suffer a minor hiccup Friday night, which perturbed me to the point that I shut off my computer and picked up a book. A small storm was blowing through, and we suffered a brown out after I had been working on my 'From the Author' for about an hour. Yes, I have my auto-save set up, and this is normally why I use Yarny or Evernote to write with, but I had JUST copied out of Notepad to clear formatting, and pasted it into Word.

*FLASH* Aanndd, it's gone.

I know it's not the worst thing that could have happened. I've lost full chapters before, but for anyone that's written anything, it's still very annoying. Especially since I've been chewing on my author's note for quite awhile now. The funny thing is, I know no one ever reads those! So, with an eye-roll to that minor annoyance, I move on.

My Copy

That night, I picked up The Last Threshold, the 4th and last book in R. A. Salvatore's Neverwinter Saga. I was only a quarter way into the book since I had been reading it on the plane the week before, but as soon as I got into it, I did what I normally do when I read books. I couldn't put it down and I finished it yesterday afternoon.

And when I say I can't put these books down, it is quite literal. Even though I have a signed copy from Salvatore himself, that precious copy is put away in a safe place, and I was reading it on my kindle app on my phone. So I'm reading it as I'm walking around the house, walking to the car, and in the passenger seat as my husband drives. This quirk I have annoys him, but he tolerates it. After all... it's Drizzt Do'Urden we're talking about here.

It will be difficult for me to review this book for those unfamiliar with the series. Salvatore has written quite a few books in the Forgotten Realms D&D world, and I have to look at is as just one part of the whole.

Is it the best book he's ever written? No.
Is it a must read for the Drizzt fans out there? Yes, yes, yes, absolutely yes!

The relationship I have with this series of books is quite unique for me and any other book series I've ever read. To keep it short, my husband was the one who introduced me to the books shortly after we had gotten together. During road trips, we would take turns reading the books to each other, and then would discuss them at length afterwards. Our shared love for the books brought me closer to the characters.

At first, my husband was several books ahead of me in the series, so when I finished the Ghost King, I couldn't let him know. I was devastated and wasn't able to talk about it for a few days. Now I have finished The Last Threshold before him, in fact we were pulling into a parking space yesterday to pick up our pizza when I finished the last word.

I clicked off the phone and threw it into my lap.

He turned to me, saying something about the pizza, saw the tears and just turned to get out of the car. I heard him say "crap" as he shut the door.

Based on my reaction, he is now scared to read the book. Now I have no one to talk to about it! I'm sure he'll pick it up soon. He's still helping me with the final edits on After, so I'll give him a pass on The Last Threshold for awhile.

I do need to update my Shelfari, but here are the books I have in line to read next.

Choices - A Time Travel Novella, by Cate Dean
Forever Road, by Catie Rhodes
Breaking The Devil's Heart, by H.A. Goodman

And I eventually plan to get around to reading the Dead series by TW Brown. I have read his Zomblog series, and really enjoyed it. I just fear that as soon as I start a series, I'm going to get lost in it for weeks and nothing productive will get done!

My next post should be the announcement that After - Part 1  is live on Smashwords. Not long to wait now!

Lil'Bit

Woohoo!

Time to take a short break from the furious editing pace I've set lately. Need to make sure I finish on time to
release Part 1 at the first of June as promised. Things are going well! I've rewritten then ending of Part 1, and
now just have two scenes left to fill in and edit. Then it's time for one last re-read. Woohoo!

Also, another little bright point of interest, I am over 13,000 words into Dreamland. Not bad for a book I'm not dedicating any serious time for! I have shelved my work on Book 2, though, at least until I finish the edits for Part 1 of After.

Now for a little story. This actually revolves around something that happened to me yesterday morning, but first I need to flashback to about 18 years ago.

My friend and I were out driving down a stretch of not-so-busy highway when I see what I think is a paper bag being thrown out of the window of the car in front of us. It's just a brown blur, and I really didn't think anything of it, except my friend gasps and stops the car in the dead center of the highway.

It wasn't a bag that was thrown out of the window, but a kitten.

Now, I'm not going to go into what a despicable person it was that did this. That's not what this story is about, but to this day I still remain horrified at the act of cruelty I witnessed.

So, we're stopped in the middle of the highway. The car behind us stops to check on us, not sure what had happened, and the Good Samaritan thought we might need help. My friend explains, and he fetches the kitten. Amazingly enough, it's still alive, although it's pretty much petrified from terror and pain.

I held the little thing on it's back in my cupped hands. The only thing he moved was his eyes. He was alert, and obviously panicked. He had bitten through his tongue and had a few other minor injuries, but the worst was his right shoulder. It was pretty much shattered and completely useless.

It was late in the evening already, and I lived very very far from civilization. This was before cell phones, kiddos, so I actually had to get back to my house before I could start calling any local vets. That also meant pulling out the old yellow pages. Remember those?

Not actual pic of Lil'Bit

Anyway, we had no luck finding someone that could help the poor thing until the next morning. I patched him up as best I could for the night, making a little splint and harness for his injured leg that secured it to his chest. We were't even sure if he'd live long enough to make it to the vet. He managed to surprise us, and was actually moving around the next morning a little bit.

Then the vet recommended we put him to sleep.

Really? Not acceptable. If I had been able to get a second opinion, I would have, but our options were very limited due to how rural our area was. So I nursed him back to health on my own, and he made a miraculous recovery. His shoulder never healed properly though, so he never regained the use of his front right paw, but he managed to get around just fine.

He was very feral though, and never got over his ordeal. I had two other cats at the time, and he wouldn't get near either one of them. The only person he would tolerate was me, and that was only on his terms. One day, he got out of the house, and that was the last time I ever got close to him. I saw him occasional, and always set food out for him, but he was no longer under my protection.

When it came time to move back to civilization, I couldn't catch him. I hope he lived a happy life up there in the wilderness. I had always called him Lil'Bit.

Flash forward to yesterday morning.

I was driving to work, and had glanced at my radio for a sec. When I looked back up, I saw the car in front of me swerve and a brown flash of fur flying through the air. It looked like the car could have possibly clipped him, or maybe he had just jumped out of fright, but it was a fuzzy little kitten. It hit the ground and darted off the road into the field. I slowed down and tried to spot him, but he had already disappeared in the grass. I hope the little guy was all right.

Then, at the next light, I pull up behind the little mini cooper that had almost hit him, and this is the kicker.

The personal license plate was "L'Bit."

So, there's my little story of cosmic coincidence. I can only hope for happy endings in this story; that Lil'Bit lived a long, happy life in the woods, and the little kitten from yesterday morning is fine and has learned his
lesson about roads. I thought the story worthy enough to share.

Now it's time to enjoy the weekend now, everyone! I'll have my nose to the grindstone again soon enough. I may not update much while I'm working on the last finishing touches, but the timeline is still looking good!

Get ready, everyone!!

Back Home!

Sorry for the lack of updates this past week, but I was on a business trip out in CA. First time I've ever been over by the LA area, but unfortunately my time was pretty much monopolized by day job stuff, and I didn't get to see any sites.

I also only got to spend a small amount of time on editing, but I still managed to get through a good chunk.

I am totally exhausted, and was super happy I got to sleep in my own bed last night. It feels so good to be home!

Going to recoup a little bit today, and then get back to it. It's still looking like I'll be able to hit the timeline.

Shara and the Haunted Village, by Jeffery Getzin

I just finished this little novella last night and have to say it was an enjoyable read. I give this book a solid 3 1/2 stars.

Shara and the Haunted Village

The reasons I liked it;

• It's a quick read with a nice fast paced adventure.
• It's very reminiscent of a D&D scenario campaign. I've read a lot of D&D books and I enjoy them, although I know not everyone does. To me, it always feels like you're part of the adventure.
• The story had a nice, neat ending - the kind of ending you would expect for a story like this, and I found it gratifying and clever.
• The demon gets a full 5 stars, and she's reason enough to read the book if you enjoy a good fantasy novel. IMO, she was the star of the show.

The reason this book didn't get a higher rating.

• There were some scenes/errors in the book that pulled me out of the story, making it hard to get 100% absorbed.
• The main male lead reminded me of a certain rogue leader of Bregan D'aearth, and he never really broke out as his own character until towards the very end. (Edit: See Jeffery's comment below! Very interesting.)

Now, the issues that pulled me out of the story I believe could be fixed with a bit more polishing. That would make this a stellar fantasy read that I would recommend to anyone. As it stands now, I know some people don't have a high tolerance for these types of errors, and I would be afraid to recommend this and then have the reader be turned off from the author. 

That being said, is this book worth polishing when the author could be working on new novels? I would say no, it's fine the way it stands now, and precious time could be devoted to writing new adventures. 

As for myself, I would gladly pick up another book from this author, particularly one that would revolve around Shara again. I could see her going on another adventure, one even further from home, and she has a ton of potential character growth.

Jeffery Getzin has his own webpage. You can find him here.

~ ~ ~ ~

NOW, on to a little Dreamland blurb. I know I skipped writing last week in favor of a much needed break, but I picked it up again this week and I got to finally introduce two main characters for book 2 to Joss. It's so exciting and I loved finally seeing them take shape in the words. They're exactly who I had rumbling around in my mind for these past few months.

Editing is also still going well. No hiccups or delays to report there. Nothing exciting either! Editing is so hard, but I'm done whining about it for the night. I'm satisfied with what I accomplished today, and I'm ready to start the weekend. Yay!

My Little Rose

Silence And Sound

My darling daughter has just had her first poem published. She's ecstatic, and I am one proud mama. It was published in the school news paper, but still, she has the bragging rights! She got published before I did!

She was also quite indignant about the editorial liberties they took with her poem. I do have to admit, they changed it up for the worse. I'm not sure who made that decision, but it is what it is. I helped her get her original published on WattPad, so she's been passing around that link to her friends.

         But wait! There's more!

The Reason Why

We've finally got a lot of the kinks worked out on her other story. It's something she calls... Creepy Pasta. I had to wiki that to figure out what it is. Apparently it's the in thing for kids right now. For those that don't want to click the link, it's just short horror stories based on urban legends. I've actually listened to a few that are narrated on YouTube, and some aren't bad.

The story she wrote a few weeks back, this Creepy Pasta thing, is also posted on WattPad. Any review I give on this is completely biased  so I will abstain. I know this isn't the perfectly written story, but she's making the effort and learning in the process! I am so very proud of her.

So that has been an exciting couple of days for both of us. I am also pleased to announce that editing seems to be going so much more smoothly now. I don't know what happened. Either I've figured something out, or I'm looking at it through rose-colored glasses and you're going to get a steaming pile of poo! Ahh, let's all hope that's not the case.

Anyway, I'm finally prepared to lay out a VERY tentititive deadline as to when the polished copy of After - Part 1 will be up on Smashwords. My target right now is before June, so I'm just going to say June 1st, just to be on the safe side.

~deep breath~

Okay, I said it! I can do this, right? Oh boy...

Tales From The Mist

Here is the brief review, as promised.

Just a little note for your information. When I write reviews, I will do my best to avoid spoilers. I know spoilers are probably not too likely to happen with a book full of short stories, but there are a few other books that I'm planning on reviewing here in a few.

Tales From The Mist is definitely worth buying. I love just being able to get a quick story in every now and then, and most of the stories in the book delivered. Some are chilling, some are sad, and there's a few twists in there as well. I feel safe to say that there's a little bit of something in here for everyone.

Also, if you want to support the indie community, this is a great purchase. I generally buy a couple indie books a month, although I have to confess I haven't had a chance to read them all, but they are all on my list of things to do! I know the reviews are just as important as the purchases.

Yesterday, I only got a little bit of editing done, although I spent a lot of time on the book cover. I'm currently working on the Smashwords dimensions, and my aim is to make something that can convert to Amazon pretty fluidly. I wasn't aware that this was going to be so tedious! I'll probably get to spend a little more time with the cover today and will upload it as soon as it's done. It's very tedious work for someone who's a novice at graphic design.

I had originally planned on hiring someone to do it for me. Give some support to the indie cover artists (They need love too!) but I actually love doing this type of stuff. I wanted to try my hand at it and see how it turned out. Plus, it's relaxing in its own way. I nice break from the editing I'm struggling with.

Speaking of creating things, I bought a little do-it-yourself shelve/bench for my little boy. Now his toys have a REAL home! He was very curious, and sat close by me as I built it for him. He was also very excited when he figured out his toys can go in the little blue boxes, and he helped me transfer them all from his old bin. Here's the finished result.

Yay! I finished something!

Alright guys. That's all for today. Time to enjoy what's left of the weekend!

Good Day

First off, I'm testing this new email feature. I may have to go back and edit the formatting to clean it up some, but thought it might come in handy if I ever had a few spare moments to blog when I was at an internet accessible computer that for some reason has Blogger blocked. I couldn't think of where that place might be, though. ~innocent smile~

So, you may have noticed, these past few days, I've been making some adjustments to the interface here. I like the new logo at the top, but still not sure what else I want to do. I guess the old adage, keep it simple stupid, does just fine.

I am also really happy with the amount of editing I've been able to get done. I did get the first part of Chapter 1 rewritten, and blended in now. If I could edit like this every day, I'd be done in no time! Unfortunately  I don't see that happening, though. We will always have good days and bad days. Editing is no exception.

I really miss reading. I normally read quite a bit, and have actually read a few books over this past year, despite writing a whole novel. I have stayed away from picking up a new book though, because I know as soon as I do, I will get all obsessive compulsive with it and won't get anything else done until I finish the book.

But I really want to read something!! 

So, to compensate some, I bought a book full of short stories in the horror genre. It's called Tales From The Mist. I read the first story while waiting at my Dr's appointment yesterday. It was okay. I'll update my Shelfari with a full review once I'm done reading. It had some pretty decent reviews, so I'm hoping this will quench my thirst, so to speak.

I will update again soon!

A Game of Rewrites

Ugh.

That about sums up my feelings from the past few days. I've been working pretty diligently on editing, although I did take the day off on Sunday. That was my Dreamland day, anyway.

I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish yesterday, although in the big scope of things, I'm still not pleased with my pacing on the editing. It's a learning process, I know, I just wish I could go a bit faster. I will continue to work on it and improve the best I can.

Right now, I'd like to discuss one of my favorite authors. Mr. George R. R. Martin. I know the man is the IN thing right now because of the HBO show, Game of Thrones, and that thrills me to no end, but I was a fan of his writing before the show was even a thing. My husband and I have both read A Song of Ice and Fire and we are eagerly awaiting the Winds of Winter.

I think Mr. Martin is a genius. Beyond the fact that my husband and I were able to share the story with each other, the books have also inspired many conversations and lengthy discussions. A Storm of Swords is one of my all time favorite books, so you can imagine how excited I am for this season of A Game of Thrones.

The episode that aired last Sunday night featured a scene that I was eagerly awaiting from the very first announcement of the show, and it did not disappoint. It was wonderfully done, and not only am I happy about that, I am also very gratified.

I highly recommend both the books and the show.

Now, that being said, I'm off to rewrite Chapter 1.

In Rememberance

This is a terribly sad week for American History.

Due to the tragic events that have been happening in Boston, I'll make this brief.

18 years ago, at 9:01am, I was just driving into Oklahoma City when the fertilizer bomb went off.

"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence.
May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

For Boston

I hate the tragedies and I hate the pain. I hate the fact that these bombs in Boston won't be the last senseless attack we'll see and be forced to experience.

How one person, or a small group of people, can have such a huge impact on so many people by committing such a terrible act leads us all down the path to wonder why?

The 'whys' might matter later, they might not. The fact remains that there are wounds here now that will never heal, and those that live through this have had their lives changed forever. Whether they crumple into maddening sorrow, or have the strength to carry on, their lives will never be the same.

To those out there that have been injured, lost loved ones, lost their own lives, you have my tears. I can think of no words that could come from a stranger that would bring you comfort, but every part of me wishes I could send you what strength I have as I sit here and stare at the news reports so far away. You have, in a word, my condolences. I know that's not enough.

And to those of you that rushed into the chaos, the ones that helped the injured, the ones offering rides, and even opening your homes to strangers. Even the ones helping coordinate things online to open another avenue to find help, or even locate loved ones.

Thank you.

You are truly heroes. Its this show of humanity from hundreds of people on this dark day that overshadows the act of one psychopath. This is how we know these assholes, try as they might, can't win. The humanity we share still manages to shine through.

Never lose site of that.

Today I Learned...

I guess it's been more over the past week that I figured this out, but editing is all kinds of boring. At least from my very short experience with it. Writing is much more fun! I have set aside a couple hours a day to edit and work on my rewrites. Even though I'm not bouncing off the walls while I'm doing it, I'm still keeping up a steady pace.

I am also quite pleased with what I've already got polished up as the 'final final' draft. THAT is something that is very exciting and terrifying at the same time. The more of these scenes and chapters I get behind me, the closer I am to releasing this to the public. That next step is looming on the horizon as a manifestation of all my fears and doubts, staring down at me with judgmental eyes and waiting for me to break.

But I can't break. I've put too much work into this to leave it unfinished now.

And there's just so much more rattling around in my head I need to get out.

The last thing I want to do is disappoint the few of you that have been following me. I just hope I can deliver a story that you can enjoy.

Once again, I wish I could give you a timeline for when I expect to be done on the editing, but I've found that my progression is varying from day to day. Some days I can run through a scene easily, then others I can get lost in rewrites and end up adding to the editing pile instead of taking away. So... sorry about that.

As far as my one day a week rule for Book 2, that's going awesome. I'm already halfway through chapter two.

So there's my almost weekly update. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

A New Journey

I feel very honored to be writing this little introduction, not to mention, extremely proud.

My daughter has finished a short story that will debut on WattPad by the end of this week. I am in full fledged editing mode, so I've moved her story to the top of the After pile. I apologize for the delay this will cause, but I can't say that I'm feeling that sorry!

See, I made this deal with her. Whatever she would write and finish, I would edit. Last night she sat down, and in an hour and 1/2, she wrote a short story from start to finish. It came in at just a little over 2200 words, and she typed every bit of it by hunt and peck. I was very impressed!

I hope she never loses that spark, and I will do what I can to fan those flames.

I am so very very proud of her.

Aside from that tangent, here's my thoughts on my editing of After thus far. I have to say that this is very easy and extremely hard, all at once! I'm taking my time, and my husband is proof-reading everything to catch the little things I STILL manage to miss. I will say I am happy with what I already have finished and in the ~DONE~ pile.

Part 1 will be getting a few scenes added in to flesh out the world a bit more, so I've decided to post that on Smashwords once I've finished the editing process. If you've been following along with me, I recommend a reread once it's up. There will be quite a few changes from the first draft that's available now!

To make sure I don't lose the connection I have with my characters, I have dedicated one night a week to working on book 2, Dreamland. I have come so far in my ideas from where I first started, it amazes me. I am looking forward to really digging in and writing about what life is like in this new post-apocalyptic world.

So that's my little weekly update. This editing thing just doesn't seem to have as many breakout WOW moments to post about... At least not yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Victory

The day after achieving one of my biggest goals, and all I can say is I'm still exhausted. Yesterday was not only the completion of the first draft of my first full length novel, but I also blasted through my word count record for one day, and left my old record eating dust.

My previous record stood at around 4k, and that was from the closing days of my first NaNoWriMo when I was exuberant at the fact I was going to finish my goal on time.

Yesterday, I ended the day with a whopping 6885 words, and it was absolutely amazing. The words were just flowing, and I never hit a point where I was sitting there going... "What now?" I just knew what was going to happen.

There was a moment where I finished a paragraph and sat back and just stared at my screen. I was so nervous, I actually ran my hands through my hair and squeezed my palms against my temples and thought... Am I really about to write this? This is the end. The end is starting right now.

And now the editing begins in earnest.

Since I have never done this before, I have no time line to lay out other than I will be trying to get this done and available on Smashwords ASAP.

I am very excited and pleased right now. And did I mention exhausted?

Exhausted...

Done

At 12:47am on 3/25/13, I finished my first book at a little over 130k words.

I can't find the words to express how I feel right now, other than I know I'm exhausted. You will get a full update tomorrow, but for right now.... Sleep.