NaNoWriMo and Black Friday

NaNoWriMo is DONE!! Woohoo!! I finished day before yesterday, and that feeling of accomplishment was just as wonderful as I remembered. I know there are some amazing writers out there that were able to actually finish their manuscript, but I was quite happy to end with my 50k words. I would say I'm only about halfway through the actual story, though.

Day 13!

I know I was quiet through-out November. I was actually really hyped about this year's NaNo and had a pre-NaNo post all worked up in my head, and then I was struck by a horrible migraine type headache on Halloween. BALLS!! It was horribad. Now, I've suffered from migraines all my life, and this was not one, but it was damn close. I've been getting these types of headaches a lot recently, but this one topped the charts on suckage. I remember the first one I got was during my first NaNo in 2012. It put me down for a few days then too. (see the chart to the left for historical accuracy.)

It did not occur to me until 2 years later, that the headaches might be caused by my blood pressure medicine. Brain child, I am not. Anyway, I dropped those meds and went to the Doc for something else. As soon as I did, I instantly felt better. The new meds aren't dragging my energy levels down either, so I feel better than I have in a long while.

Look at that beautiful, smooth climb of words,
LOOK AT IT!!

So NaNo pretty much went off without a hitch this year. I wrote consistently every day, paced myself well, and finished with an awesome push right at the end. Look at that last push right there at the end! 4000 words in one day! I had just hit one of those scenes that I couldn't wait to get to, and the story just flowed. It's funny how some days getting 1000 words down is like squeezing blood from a turnip, and others it's a flood of thoughts that my furiously typing fingers are just trying to keep up with.

I am really starting to love this story line and my awkward little seraph. I can't wait to finish it and get it out there, but that will probably be late in 2015 by the time I get to it. Don't worry. Dreamland will come first.

So, yay!! Maybe this next year I can give Camp NaNo a shot and actually succeed. For now, I'm working on a small project for December and also plan to send some ARCs out of my novella. If anyone is interested in that, just drop me an email at drjpublishing@gmail.com; subject ARC THIEF.

Meanwhile, After - Part Three is ON SALE TODAY for $.99!! This quite possibly could be the last time I'll be listing it for sale because I'm seriously thinking of pulling it from Amazon KDP Select. It's just not giving the results I want, and I'd like to open the books back up to other platforms. I guess it did okay in their Kindle Unlimited program, but it's not pulling the numbers that part two did, so I'm a bit disappointed.

Anyway, tell your friends! Grab it now! Send it as a gift! yada yada ~insert more corny sales pitches here~ (I'm not good at marketing!)

After - Part Three for $.99!

Black Friday Only!

He's such a cute wittle puppy!

And that's all I have for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, have a safe Black Friday, and hang on to your butts! The holiday's are in full swing!

Dead Trees - By Eli Constant

My mind is wandering down crazy paths today! I'm so close to finishing the editing for my alter ego's novella, and all I want to do is write the prologue for Dreamland. I have it all sketched out, and I'm eager to jump in! Maybe I"ll get that started today once I hit my editing goals. Sounds like a plan to me!

So, recently I was gifted the audio book Dead Tress by +Pamela Lorence. She saw my review on That Ghoul Ava, and highly recommended +Eli Constant's book. Pamela also does the narration for Dead Trees and it is superb!

Dead Trees was definitely not what I expected from an apocalyptic story. It opens six months after the disintegration of society, although we do get bits and pieces of information that fill in what happen during that time. Most of the book is told in Elise's POV, but there are a few scenes that aren't, and I'll call those guest POV's because it's not the norm. This is Elise's story.

As a mother, I related to Elise on a lot of levels. Not the kick-ass warrior part, but the mommy part. (I've already faced the fact that I would be a goner in the first 48 hours of an apocalypse if Buffy or the Winchesters don't come save me,) Elise is smart and willing to do what it takes to not only protect herself, but her two daughters. Now, as a mother, as soon as I found out she had a toddler in the car, my stress level shot through the roof. There were some very tense scenes that I ended up sitting in my car after the drive home just to listen to them. I had to know what happened!

The monsters in this book, or maybe I should say beasties, were so well done that I actually had nightmares about them. Yay for my over active imagination!

Pamela Lorence did an awesome job bringing Elise to life, and there were a few times I actually teared up while listening. I immediately bought book 2 for my kindle once I finished, which I've already started. Let me tell ya, book 2 starts out super creepy. It might take me a little while to get through this one since I have to find the time to read, but maybe I can catch some downtime this weekend. It is the calm before the NaNoWriMo storm.

So there's my Dead Trees review, and an audible review of a full five stars will accompany it. I may take the rest of the week off blogging while I wrap up the novella. Unless something else exciting comes up, I will catch you guys next week!

Next on a very special That Ghoul Ava - T.W. Brown

Got my coffee, got my music, got my dreams of going full-time author... I think I'm set.

Yesterday was an excellent, and I mean excellent editing day! I think it may have been a record because I finished up three scenes. However, this is a stand alone novella, and much different than trying to keep track of all the characters and plot lines for The Phoenix Curse. Hopefully I'm learning though. At the pace I'm going, the romance novella Thief should be sent to my editor before the end of the month, and then Katlynn Rose will be born! Dat exciting!

Also, romance with a happy ending is such a refreshing change of pace than the desolation of humanity and death.

Kinda like the difference between That Ghoul Ava and the Dead series by +Todd Brown (I totally just figured out how to do that, BTW.) Dead is a very dark, very gritty, very curl-up-in-a-fetal-position-and-cry set of books, while That Ghoul Ava is the polar opposite. Ava is fun and funny, a light read full of comedy and references. Glorious, glorious references that make me feel a part of something bigger. Man, do I love it when I get a reference.

Anyway, Next on a very special That Ghoul Ava was just as great as the preceding novels. It was a bit more serious that the others, but still managed to make me laugh out loud in parts. Ava (and the reader) gets to learn a little bit more about the history of ghouldom and just how awesome Ava could become, but everything isn't all flowers and butterflies. Ava is forced to make a life(unlife)-impacting decision with some pretty serious consequences either way. I can not wait for the next book! Hell, I was so excited for this one, I couldn't wait for the audio book to come out, so I snagged the e-book.

The mythology and lore is excellent in this series, and I really need someone out there to make a dedicated beastiary for Ava's world. Seriously, if you enjoy some light-hearted, supernatural fun, grab Ava's first adventure and give it a shot. It's reasonably priced, and well worth the time/money invested to see if you like it.

And there is my un-spoilory review. Do we like unspoilory reviews, or should I start going straight up... "OMG THIS HAPPENED AND I WAS LIKE WOW, AND THEN THIS HAPPENED AND IT WAS ALL... WOAH DUDE!!!" ?

I don't know. I'll think on. I hate getting spoiled to things, so I want to spare people that. I was a full season behind on the Walking Dead and I still haven't finished Breaking Bad, so for a while there, I was tip-toeing through reddit and Facebook like it was a minefield. Still got spoiled.

For now though, it's time to get some egg-rolls, listen to another chapter of Dead Trees, and enjoy the upcoming weekend, free from the 8 to 5 workday problems. Enjoy your word of the day, cuz that's what I'm going to be doing alllllllll weekend!

re·lax·a·tion

rēˌlakˈseiSH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   the state of being free from tension and anxiety.

Rise of the King - R.A. Salvatore

So, one of my most-beloved stories just released another book on September 30th, Rise of the King by R.A. Salvatore. Highly anticipated!!

The stories of the Companions of the Hall, and pretty much every other character Salvatore has created in this world, are tots my favsies. And I'm talking of ALL my favsies. Yes, I love A Song of Ice and Fire, and Wheel of Time, but nothing has touched my heart like Drizzt Do'Urden, and the wide cast of characters that has passed through his life. If you follow my blog, you're probably well aware of that fact since I tend to gush every time there's a new release.

Well, gushing might be somewhat limited today at least.

Now, a couple months ago, I blogged about how I felt about the e-book pricing war. (If you care to read it, it's here.) And in that post, I stated there were very few e-books that I would spend over $10 on. At the time I wrote that post, Drizzt came to mind, as well as Winds of Winter. Those might have been the only ones I would have broke the bank on.

Turns out I was wrong. I was very surprised to find that on the day of release, the kindle version of Rise of the King was still set at $15.49!

Nope!

Call me cheap, whatever, but nope. The hardcover is only $2 more, and I'm much more willing to pay a higher price for a physical copy, but an e-book? And I love my Drizzt, I really do, but I'm also aware that the price has to drop eventually. So I looked at the page with disappointment, ranted with my husband a little bit (because he loves Drizzt stories as much as I do) and we both decided we would wait.

Until I remembered I had audible credits... (insert cheesy grin here)

So instead of reading an over priced e-book, I got to listen to the talented Victor Bevine narrate yet another stellar performance. He does such a wonderful job that I know which character is speaking without having to be told, and he makes the action scenes so intense! If you like fantasy/audio books, I recommend grabbing Homeland or The Crystal Shard. I don't see how anyone could be disappointed in the stories and performance.

And now the spoiler free review.

It was... okay. The book wasn't bad by any means, and there were some very stand-out action scenes that I enjoyed, but this book was pretty much all set-up. A slew of new characters get introduced, and we find out where everyone is, and what's going on, but not much beyond that. It's actually what I would expect from a mid-series book, so now I'm dying for the next release!

If you love Drizzt and Co., this is definitely a must read, but if you are riding the fandom fence (and it kills me to say this) a thorough synopsis might do just as well for you. And a diagram. Hell, I think I need a diagram of all the new names being tossed around. And a map. Anyone got a map?

Not the best review I've ever given. If I could ever get back onto Goodreads, I will leave my spoilery review there, but unfortunately, with the little time I have, Goodreads is one of the things that fell behind. I'll be back there someday, I promise.

Next review will be on the new Ava book, and then Dead Trees! See? I'm trying.

I've also got my NaNoWriMo month all planned out, and the edits for my novella are coming along nicely, for me anyway. I still struggle with that. I may have started an origin story for one of the Phoenix Curse characters and... well... first drafts come along A LOT quicker than editing.

Anyone want a little more background on Seth??

So much to do and so little time... And Dreamland is simmering on the burner.

I better get to it!

After - Part Three is Available!

It's finally here!! I'll keep this short and sweet. Dig in!

After - Part Three (The Phoenix Curse Book 3) 

That Ghoul Ava - By T.W. Brown

Do you guys want to know how many books I've read this year? 27.

Do you know how many reviews I've gotten up on my blog? One.

I'm ashamed. Some of those books have been indie novels too. I try to make it a point to always always leave reviews for indie novels, and I have failed miserably this year. I am going to strive (hards) to do better.

That being said, I have left reviews for a handful of books on Audible and Amazon, they just never made it to my blog. I still have a very long, drawn out post in my drafts for The Dark Tower series that I poke with a stick every now and then, and ideas for The Wheel of Time, which I just finished this year. I will say that Sanderson did a wonderful job finishing up Jordan's work. The Last Battle totally blew my mind, and I will always remember the night I finished it. Many tears were shed, and there are scenes that I'll remember forever.

But on to an actual review! Oh. My. Goodness!

Little over a months ago, (geez, has it been that long?) Mr. Brown graciously gave me the audible versions of the three That Ghoul Ava books in exchange for a review on Audible. As soon as I got the books downloaded, I proceeded to devour them.

Ava instantly grabbed me. The books are light-hearted and well written, and both the narrators did an excellent job. I got a kick out of all the chapter titles, as well as the buttload of references strung through all the books. I caught at least one Buffy reference, and I think there was a Dexter ref in there too? And WHAT'S WRONG WITH JOURNEY???

Anyway...

There were several scenes that actually made me laugh out loud, which is somewhat rare for the type of books I generally read, so this was a much appreciated change of pace. The plot for all three books were solid and true to the core of the story. There wasn't a lot of extra, unneeded fluff, and there was just enough mystery to keep you wondering what was going to happen next.

But what did I absolutely love about these books? Ya know, besides Ava...

The mythology! Man, am I a sucker for a twist on the standard mythology of supernatural beings. Ava's universe has something new and different for them all. Vampires (dead sexy), ghouls (OP!), zombies (delicious... what?), fairies (bitches) ... There's something new for all of them. Oh, and goblins. Yucky!

These books are good fun, and I highly recommend them if you want a hearty laugh. Like I said in my audible review, they're like a supernatural Nancy Drew for adults.

I know the fourth book is out, and I don't think I can wait for the audible release! I might have to fit that one in before Rise of the King comes out on Tuesday.

Also, the cover art is absolutely fabulous!

        

This concludes my spoiler free review for That Ghoul Ava. Yay! I finished a review! Time for a cookie.

Oh! And for those of you who may have missed it, After - Part Three is on the way. Release date is set for September 30th! Weee!

Get ready!

Are you ready for After - Part Three? If you've been following my Facebook posts, you know the release is just around the corner! The rewrites are done. The first round edit changes are done. The polishing is done, and now it's in the hands of my final copy editor. WE ARE SO CLOSE!!

To celebrate, the first two parts have new covers! The changes to part one are pretty small, I just added a little eyeliner (snicker), but I think part two got a pretty big make over.

ARE YOU EXCITED YET? I know I am!!

        

If you haven't started yet, now is the perfect time! After - Part One is available in e-book or paperback.

Alright guys. I'm off to work on the next project until the manuscript is back in my hands again. Expect some updates soon!! Here OR on Facebook, and eventually Twitter, but I suck trying to use Twitter. Me using Twitter is like having to watch my Grandpa program the clock on his VCR. Yes, I said VCR.  

Is my age showing again?

Anyway, love you guys! Have a wonderful week!

The Titans are Fighting...

www.macobserver.com

And the question is... Do I join this war? Hrm...

So, this weekend I woke up to an email from Kindle Direct Publishing, detailing their side of the war on e-book pricing, and to email the CEO of Hachette on my stance. The letter I received seemed very thought out and well written, but had the tinge of one-sidedness that you often find in these things. They have become very public on their stance, and you can find the letter here if you want to read it.

So the first time I heard of this issue was when I got a kickback from Barnes & Noble for the few e-books I purchased from them. Now, I loved my new bright and shiny e-books and was all about putting a request for a Nook in my letter to Santa, but the affair I had with B&N burned brightly and died quickly. It's a sad story, really. After a heated brush with customer service when all my books went poof (error on their side), I immediately turned to Amazon without a look back.

Don't dick around with me when I'm on the penultimate chapter of a Stackhouse novel, people.

But fair is fair, so here's another side of the story, published by the NY Times. It details the hardships that Amazon has brought some of Hachette's authors by refusing to sell Hachette's e-books until they cut their costs.

Now, I had a really hard time seeing past the media spin they put on his tale of woe and actually digging out some compassion for these 900 authors, but despite the odds, I did it. I don't think it had the desired effect, because I'm definitely not on Hachette's side, as a consumer or an author, but at least it did give me another perspective to eye Amazon with.

Annnndddd....  I think both companies are wrong.

I'm not on the fence though. I know what I agree with, and I do agree with Amazon's basis for this war, just not their methods. I think banning Hachette's sales might have been a wee bit too much. That's not to say that I agree with Hachette's stance. In fact, there isn't anything I've seen come out from Hachette that I agree with at all. Their tag line of 'lower e-book pricing devaluing the authors work' is bogus. That's not going to happen. Are we, as consumers, THAT stupid? I don't think we are, but I guess that question's still up for debate. I admit I might have a little more faith in humanity that's justly deserved, but I still say no.

So I do not agree with Hachette, and I'm having loads of trouble trying to find their justification. Also, this article doesn't help. Really, Hachette? You think lowering e-book prices is going to devalue the authors work, but their work is only valued at 25% of an e-book sales to you? Is there something I'm missing here?

And I guess there might be, because I've only ever dealt with Smashwords and Amazon, who both give their authors a much bigger slice of the pie, so I will just put a pin in that question for now, and for the love of a run on sentence, I'll just sit over here quietly with my mind boggling on that point. The one above, I mean. With the 25%. Yeah. Got it? 'Kay, moving on, then.

So where do I stand as a consumer?

That one's easy. Amazon and Smashwords, all the way. Why? Because duh... Lower e-book prices. With as much as I read, I can't afford to drop $10+ a few times a month just to snag another book. There are only a few, and I mean A FEW books that I would spend over $10 on... does that make me cheap? Don't care.

Let's go way back for a sec, before all these fancy-smancy e-books, back when all the other kids at school thought I was the 'weird' girl cuz I was always carrying around a 600 page tomb by King or Jordan... Do you know how I got those books? I got them resale. And I'm not talking about the hardbacks that resale for $14.99 still, I'm talking about the beat-up paperbacks that were coming off the spine, because that's what I could afford. And you know what else? I LIKED IT. Because I didn't have to save up my precious pennies just to wait for weeks to buy ONE story. I was able to buy multiple and be taken away to a different world each and every week.

Did that devalue any of those stories I read? No, it didn't. And that's why I keep my e-book price low. I write for my stories to be read, not to be looked at and passed over because the price was too high. But that's how I want to approach it as an author. As much as I don't agree with Hachette, I still think the authors have the right to set their own e-book price. If they want to sell their book at $19.99, by all means, set the price at $19.99!

I could be wrong on that, but with every author able to set their own price, I doubt there will be many books being sold for $19.99, because Amazon and Smashwords will still exist, giving readers the lower cost for their fix. And even (godforbid) that was taken away, I'd be back at Half Price Books, buying up all the paperbacks again.

War sucks. Whether it be fought with a pen or a sword, apparently there are casualties either way. I can't see the justice or the reasoning behind everything that's happened/happening with the e-book struggle, but I do believe the consumer will be the deciding force in the end. That's the way of the beast. It's how it's always been, and how it always will be. At least until the zombies come eat all our faces.

And I'm out. 14,000 words left to go! Have a glorious week, everyone!

Mondays

Do. Not. WANT!

Argh! I am such a fan of sleeping in, but getting jolted awake at 6am is pretty much the opposite of that. I know that happens five days out of the week, but I have a special resentment reserved for Monday mornings. My alarm blaring Everything Is Awesome might not have been the best song choice in retrospect. Oy.

Now, I have heard of these fabled morning people that thrive during the dawning of a new day, but I have yet to meet one. My question is, do you actually exist, or have you gone the way of the unicorn? Have the grumpy-grumps strangled you all? I figure that would be my first reaction to meeting a morning person, especially if it was prior to 10am. I need to hang a sign on my door that reads Come back at noon. I know there are already tons of jokes and quips out there regarding stuff like this and "morning coffee," but that's because they're true. Yet, it's late afternoon and I'm still yawning. Oh well.

But, I didn't come here just to bitch about Mondays, although I could go on and on... No? Okay, moving on then.

I actually came here to give you some cold hard stats on the creation of After - Part Three. (cheer!) A long, long time ago, when I started the editing process, I based my timeline off the previous two books. Over the months that followed, I discovered my folly since After - Part Three was not written the same way as the others. I wrote most of the back half of it using Dragon Naturally Speaking, a nifty little text to speech program that is correct at least 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time leads to a quagmire of confusion that is neither time-efficient nor productive, although amusing at times.

Ehe... Oops.

So when you're speaking off the top of your head, and just yammering and yammering, you do get a lot of words down, if that's your goal. A first draft getting created this way is not a bad thing, but pretty much the whole thing will need to be rewritten, and I mean COMPLETELY rewritten. Nothing good is going to come out of that first draft. It's only a little better than an outline as far as I'm concerned. I did not take this aspect into my equation when I calculated the time it would take to finish.

I remember opening up the draft for part three and being somewhat disappointed that it was just under 50000 words... probably about the same size at part one. Part two came in over 70000, and I really thought the final chapters of After would top out a little higher than that. Boy, was I wrong.

Or was I?

I'm not going to skimp on my book just because I could stamp it and call it a day. My manuscript will get the full attention it deserves until I'm satisfied with the story I've told. That means some chapters need shuffled, some scenes cut, some scenes added, some perspectives changed, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed by moi. Well, maybe not the blood part, (unless you want to count the papercuts) but still, you get it.

So I dove in and really started chewing it up. And aren't you curious as to where I stand now?

After - Part Three is roughly at 86,000 words.

Zoh. My. Gosh!!

Looking at it that way kinda boggled my mind. It wasn't my focus during the rewrites, but one day, I decided to compile everything and got quite the surprise. The whole manuscript of After is sitting just over 211,000 words right now. Um... Did I do that?

I never expected this first book to turn out to be so many words. I was thinking I'd be lucky to hit even 100k. Actually, there are a lot of things I didn't expect to happen with this first book. I guess the biggest thing that's blown me away is all the fans, followers, and supporters I've gained. I love you guys! You are all so wonderful, and I hope to be able to get through the remaining 20k words of part three, and have this book out to y'all by the end of the month!

Happy.. uh... Monday, and I hope the rest of your week just keeps getting better from here!

Stress

I do not handle it well, apparently.

So I haven't posted much lately, nor really given an explanation as to why, other than I lack time. That is true, but why do I lack the time? Home life has been extremely hectic lately, and most of the time that I get to myself has been devoted to finishing After - Part Three. (News on that later.)

But, truth is I simply don't spend a whole lot of time talking about what's been going on with Debra. Mainly because at this point, it just seems like I'm making excuses since I'm getting further and further away from the wrong side of my deadline, and I push myself to write and edit and edit and write until I collapse. And do not doubt that this has happened! It is not pretty when the meltdown occurs, because I generally end up in a fetal position crying... or laughing... or sometimes both. But mostly I just get all passive aggressive and snappy, and that scares my husband and the cats. (I love you, honey!)

ANYWAY, I'd like to put that aside for a sec, and actually take a break from all the hubbub and just blog. I'm going to talk about what's been going down in Debra town lately (sorry) and share with you a little something I learned about myself last week.

Stress is bad. Very bad. It's awful. Atrocious. Evil. It's what will cause my death during a zombie apocalypse, or any type of apocalypse, really. I realized after watching World War Z that I am *NOT* going to be one of the select few that make it through the cataclysm to later become a hero of humanity. No. Not even close. In fact, chances are pretty slim that I'm going to make it past the first 24 hours. It's just not going to happen.

So, I guess a good starting point for this story is around February, when we finished up our second move within 3 months (DO NOT RECOMMEND.) Short story, sold house, moved to rent house, bought a house, moved to a new house, husband aggravated an old injury in his hip. Ugh!

We've been dealing with his hip pain on and off for the past 3 or 4 years, and he's been to the Doc a couple times for it. Treatment was generally a steroid regimen to help the inflammation go down, and normally that worked. This time... not so much. So it was off to a specialist, who did not have good news.

After taking a look at his x-rays, the Doc was like, "LOL what happened to all your cartilage, buddy? Holy moly, looks like you need a new hip!"

Note: I wasn't actually there when he got his diagnosis, but I imagine this is how it went down.

Of course, we got a second opinion, but the consensus was the same. Severe arthritis in the left hip and no doctor liked the idea of putting a new hip into a thirty-two year old, but whatcha gonna do? He was in a tremendous amount of pain, and unable to move around freely anymore, so last Wednesday, he got his new hip.

Sorry, we do not have a cool video of him walking 24 hours after the surgery like Mark Cuban. Stop setting these crazy standards, Mark!

Anyway, day of surgery. We get to the medical center early morning, and I'm feeling okay. I'm nervous, but he seems excited. They take him to pre-op, and suddenly my stomach is like... "I don't like this so much, bub." I realize that I'm queasy, but it should get better once I finally see him again. So I wait, and do my best to ignore the growing queasiness. Then the nifty little pager they give you goes off, and we (his mom and myself) get to go back to see him before they wheel him into surgery.

It did not get better.

The string of nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists start coming in to give him the spiel of how they're going to cut him up and... stuff, and my stomach has firmly set its speed to hyper-drive on its downward spiral. I just couldn't handle it. I began to pace in the tiny little room while, trying to settle my stomach, but it only helped so much.

And this is the worst part. The nurse comes in to shave him, and all my concentration was focused on not throwing up that I couldn't even enjoy the moment!! He was getting his ass shaved, and I couldn't even quip about it! He's mother was in the room to witness it, for crying out loud, and I had nothing! Ugh! Golden opportunity missed.

Then, my wonderful husband, who is about to go into major surgery, says to me. "I'm fine, you can leave if you need too." Oh really? Okay! *Zoom* And I barely make it back to the lobby bathroom before my stomach turned inside out. There was also a major headache that went along with it, and the few hours that followed did not get any better until the nurse updated us mid-surgery that everything was going well. That was when the stress finally let go and I began a slow, steady upswing.

I'm so happy I could be a real pillar of strength for ya, babe!

*facepalm*

I'm horrible.

This has been an ordeal, but the tough part is behind us, and now he can really start to mend. Living in chronic pain is not fun, y'all! I'm glad he decided to go through with the surgery, even though he'll never be able to run again. (yet another reason we aren't going to make it through the apocalypse.)

So there's a little bit of what we Johnson's have been dealing with the past few months! Time is still being poured into After - Part Three and I think I'm still on my schedule to release next month, as long as my #1 beta reader can muddle through the pain-pill drowsiness to actually concentrate on reading. Then I ship the manuscript off to my editor. The timeline is looking good!!

And now..... ***VACATION!!!*** Well, working vacation anyway. I'll continue to write! Catch y'all soon!

Also, quick shout out to George Tate. Thank you for the copy of The Gathering of Twine! It's on my list of things to read, now!

My Writing Process - Blog Tour

Alright, everyone! It's time to hop! That's right. Let's get your blog hop on! And I'm about to hop to it!

Was that painful? I apologize. I've never participated in a blog hop before, so wasn't entirely sure how to get this started. I'm going to assume that my awkward stumbling has sufficed as a header, and just move on. *facepalm*

Today is my post for the My Writing Process Blog Tour.

First thing, I want to thank Johi Jenkins for tagging me. I have read both her Resurgence and The Thirst Within novels, and I'm eagerly waiting on the next installments. They're definitely the kind of books I still think about long after I'm done reading. Thanks again for tagging me, Johi!

Welp, I guess it's on to the questions now!

1) What are you working on? 

I am currently in the finishing stages of the last 3rd of After - Part Three. I'm getting nudged on this almost daily now to get it released, so the pressure is on! But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that the release date is just around the corner. After that, I have a couple of other projects simmering on the burners that I will unveil in August. I am incredibly excited about both of these, but my main focus still remains on The Phoenix Curse.

2) How does you work differ from others of its genre?

This is a toughie, since not only am I in the over saturated horror/supernatural nook, but in the zombie nook as well. Zombies!! Zombie novels are literally a dime a dozen now-a-days, and if someone had told me ten years ago that my first published novel would be about the mindless hordes, I would have scoffed and thought they were a moron... and then delved into what else they might know about the future, but seriously... zombies?

Yes, zombies!!! Not only because so many people out there love apocalyptic/distopia/zombie fiction, but I love apocalyptic/distopia/zombie fiction... and a strong female lead. Now, zombies have been done every which way, so I went the way of the not-dead mindless horde and ended up with infected LIVE zombies. Ones that will definitely die (and stay dead) if they suffer some massive trauma, but they're strong... and they're fast... and they're resilient, and that's what my nightmares are made of.

Also, most zombie novels start at the cusp of the desolation. I jump a few years past the apocalypse, and dropped my characters into the new and (not) improved distopia America, and let them take over from there. 

3) Why do you write what you do? 

It captured me. I fell in love with my characters and then fell into the world that I created. The Phoenix Curse started off as an exercise, but managed to bloom and come to life in my mind. Now it's just a matter of finding the time to get it all down on paper.

4) How does your writing process work? 

Slowly? *cackle* Probably not the answer you're looking for. I start with a prompt, a rough outline in my head, and I try to get a complete story down on paper as fast as I can. I've only done this a couple times, so I'm definitely no pro at it, but I'm working to get better! Once that part is done, then I bitch and moan for the next few months about how much I hate revising/rewriting/editing while I put myself through a slow kind of torture by getting my manuscript ready for the editor. Oy, editing sucks.

But as much as I grumble, it is all worth it when the scene I was struggling with finally clicks into place, and nothing compares to that feeling when I have my final manuscript in my hands. It's wonderfully awesome, and I hope to have that exact feeling here soon with After - Part Three. Never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

~~~

And there it is! We're really hopping now!!

Ugh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't torture those that made it this far down my post. Please accept my humble apologies. I'm ashamed. And sleepy, but no excuse.

Okay, NEXT week, be sure to check out the two blogs below, whom I have nominated to follow me in this blog hop.

First is Monica La Porta, whom I worked with on Off the Beaten Path. She is the author of the wonderful Priest series, which is set in a very intriguing world.

Next is Arreis Rose, who is currently working on her first series, and is just now getting her brand new blog off the ground with this blog hop. The first book in her series, Small, is tentatively set to release next Summer.

News!

Summer is coming! It's just around the corner. That fact is unavoidable and weighs on me every day because I said roughly 8 months ago that After - Part Three would be released in Spring of 2014.

Now spring has come and almost gone, and it's time for me to face the inevitable. I did not finish as promised. There are a number of reasons why I did not finish on time, but like my fortune cookie told me... Excuses are easy to manufacture, but hard to sell. I never liked excuses anyway, so I'm not even going to bother wasting my time on an explanation right now. However, it will be coming later, because there was a lesson for me, a huge lesson as a matter of fact, and it's something I want to share because it might be helpful/inspirational... but later.

I could have published prior to this, but the book wasn't something I wanted to rush, based on the previous lessons I've learned. I got overly excited with After - Part One because it was the first book I'd ever written and finished, so I was a little over eager to hit that publish button. Then I had a slew of errors that I had to go back and fix. Then with After - Part Two, I had promised to get it out by October of 2013, and I did it!! ... And had a slew of errors that I had to go back and fix.

Third time's the charm?

I want to do this right. I can't promise a release date, but I can promise that I'm going to deliver a book that I'm happy with, and hopefully one better written and put together than it's predecessors. I can also give you my schedule, and at this late date, one that I feel comfortable in sticking with.

I should be finished with the rewrites by the end of this month, and then the manuscript will go to my editor in July. Once she has it to look over, I can get a better timeline of how long it will take her to finish the edits, and then I will be able to have a true release date. During that time, I'll be marketing part three, finishing up a project that stole some of my attention earlier this year, and working on the first draft on my next Phoenix Curse project.

Lots and lots and lots of plans! I'm excited about them all and can't wait to share it with you! Until then, blog posts will be scarce, but if you want to check up on me, feel free to reach out to me on Facebook. Yes... I have Twitter, but I suck at Twitter. I love you, Twitter followers, and I apologize for being Twitter stupid, but I just can't get with the program. I continue to try, but it feels like my efforts are doing more harm than good.

Sorries.

Have a good weekend, everyone!!

Dreaming and Days of Future Past

I've said this before and I'll reiterate right now, that I do enjoy my day job in procurement and I find it satisfying, but that is not my dream. 

*queue soft, inspirational music*

I have a dream! That dream is to wake up at 7 every morning, come downstairs in my bath robe, fix me a cup of hot chocolate, and open up the manuscript that I will pour all my creative juices into for the day.

*record screech*

Well, I guess I could be doing that anyway via starving artist fashion, but I'm a little more pragmatic than that. I need to make a living to support this hobby I have, but one day I hope to turn the hobby into the career that can put food on the table. And oh how satisfying THAT will be!

I have so many stories in my head that I don't have time to get down on paper right now. I would have liked to have been done with After months ago and already deep into Dreamland or beyond, but I can only do what I can do with the little time I have. Rest assured, that my free time is going into After - Part Three. 

Hell, I've had two prompts floating around in the ol' noggin for over a week now that I haven't had time to pen. If I don't get them down somewhere soon, I'll forget them. One is decent, one maybe meh, but you can't ever tell just from a prompt. The story doesn't really come to life until you work with it, and decent prompts aren't always easy to come by. I can go for months without a prompt, then have two fall into my lap within a day of each other and send my brain into hyper drive trying to untangle them. 

Think I'm going to get to them after I publish this post. Don't want them getting away!

Evan Peters

On the fun side of things, I got to go see X-Men: Days of Future Past last weekend. I really enjoyed the movie, but I'm not a hardcore X-Men fan. I only read a few of the comics when I was a kid, mostly Rogue and Phoenix stuff... which means I was not a fan of The Last Stand, but whatevs. Thank you for turning that fubar back around, Simon Kinberg! 

I just thought Days of Future Past was really well done, and it had some excellent comedic moments as well. Someone who's unfamiliar with the X-Men mythology should still be able to enjoy this movie, but I STRONGLY recommend watching First Class first if you haven't seen that one. 

My favorite introduction of a new character to the screen was Quicksilver! YAY, TATE!! Yes, I know his real name, but Tate is the first thing that pops into my head, even after watching American Horror Story season 2. I can't even remember what his name was in that season. Probably because I always referred to him as Tate. 

Okay, okay... Here on out, I'll refer to him as Quicksilver, because.... QUICKSILVER!! But that's only going to work up until the next Avengers movie releases. Then everyone's going to be confused. 

Welcome to my world. 

Bioshock and Editing

I believe I have finally managed to get a good editing process down for myself. Goals are easy when you're still in the first draft process and you're just writing words, words, and more words, but it was difficult for me to set goals during the editing. Mostly because I didn't have a good process. First there are rewrites, then you have the macro-editing, and then you have the micro-editing... All of which I find very daunting tasks. Hell, there are probably more editings in there I should be doing that I don't know about. Don't tell me! Don't tell me!! I don't wan't to know about them, or it's just going to scare me more.

So a couple weeks ago, I was able to work out a goal for myself, and I started to meet it everyday. So I upped that goal last week and I met it EVERYDAY! WOOHOO!! It took a bit of adjusting to create an attainable goal while I juggle work, family, and sleep, but I think I've finally done it.

If I try to do to much, I end up over reaching, stressing myself out and then the inevitable crash and burn catches up with me. Once that happens, it's hard to get started again. Doubts and fears creep in, and other projects dance enticingly at the edges of my mind. Don't worry though, I am determined to make this work. I'll get through this one step at a time, one page at a time, one word at a time, until it's done and I can hit that publish button. Then I will begin the next project and finish it the same way. 

And.... I still don't have a release date for part three yet... sorry! But we're getting closer!

So please don't hate me for taking some time off this weekend. I enjoy playing PC games and grabbed Bioshock Infinite while it was on sale for $10 on Steam. My husband has played it, and it's one of his favorite games. He was not spoiled to the ending when he finished it, so he had a pretty mind-blowing experience. Me, on the other hand, I tell him back then, "I'm never going to play it. Go ahead and tell me how it ends."

Oops! I really had no intention of playing the game, and I suck at first person shooters anyway. Why would I think I'd play it? Guess I won't be having games spoiled for me anymore. But I played it, and I enjoyed it. Of course I had it on EZ mode, but that did not distract from the story. Shame I was spoiled to the ending. Now I'm left to imagine how mind-blowing it could have been.

I guess FPS games aren't so bad... I still need to finish Mass Effect 3.

After all the edits are done, of course. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Long time, no blog. Am I right?

Sorry about that. I've been updated on Facebook more and more lately, which isn't to say that much, but that's where my posts have been. If you haven't followed me there yet, here's the link. There is also a Phoenix Curse facebook fan page, but I hardly ever post to that one anymore.

So here's a brief rundown of the past couple of weeks. My husband and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last weekend, and it was wonderful. We didn't go anywhere, but we did take a couple days off work just to spend time with each other. One of those days included an hour long full body massage at a day spa.... shortest hour ever!! I definitely recommend doing that if you never have. It is amazing!

That was followed by a stellar week in the editing/rewriting journey, and I plan to match and exceed that this week! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of my first root canal and a crown prep on top of that, so I did not hit my daily goal... imagine that?... but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Little ibuprofen afterwards and I was almost back to my normal, charming self.

Here's a life tip for everyone out there. Don't eats nuts, I repeat, DO NOT eat nuts the day after you've had a root canal. That is a BAD BAD BAD idea! Feel free to pass that on to friends and loved ones out there.

Ahem...

After my wonderful 5+ hours experience at the dentist, I came home to relax a bit. We've been living in our new house since the end of February and haven't take a walk around the neighborhood yet, so I asked my lovely daughter if she wanted to go with me. It was a beautiful weather last night, so we headed out on to find the nearest walking trail. It was just my daughter and the little stinker since my husbands ability to walk has been very limited due to a injury.

We find a trail and are walking through a nice, open area behind some houses. Bunnies are hopping around being bunnies, and it's just a picturesque day for a walk. Then Arreis (my daughters pen name) says, "I want to show you something," and she hands me her phone.

This is what plays.


Then she hands me this nifty little green and blue bracelet that she made out of rubber bands. Not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit! It was such a beautiful walk and a memory I will cherish forever. So glad I can share her love and creativity with everyone too!

To all you wonderful mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

After - Part Three Cover Reveal!

Happy first day of spring! Ya'll know what that means, right? As promised, the cover reveal for After - Part

Three is coming right up!

Happy Spring! 

Before I get to that, I just really quick want to say thank you to my fans out there. I love reading your kind words that come across Facebook and Twitter. They mean so much to me and really do brighten my day. I'm back to working on the book at least a little every day, and I'm so happy that you're on this journey with me!

So here it is. The brand new, shiny cover art for After - Part Three!

Doesn't it look so cute, fluffy and.... creepy??

A Kind Word

I like to talk about trivial things. There's just something I love about fluff... a sweet, guilty pleasure. Today, however, I'm leaving the fluff behind, and touching on a serious subject.

I don't talk about my personal life, my past life, much. It's a topic I intentionally steer clear of for a reason, and I have no plans to divulge my ancient history other than within my writing... and before I go any further, you must understand that it is just that. Ancient history.

I sit here tonight in a brand new house, have a loving husband, wonderful kids, a good job, and I've been able to turn my dream of becoming a published author into reality. I'm blessed, and I know it, but I walked a very dark path to get here. Yeah, I caught a few breaks that lead me out of a very bad situation, but ultimately it was me that made the decision to be strong and walk away.

Maybe, at some point in my life, I thought of myself as a victim. Not only did I live through, I survived years of domestic abuse, and I believe I came out the other side a stronger person. It's no small debt that I owe my husband for helping me grow into the person I am today, and he probably doesn't even realize how much he helped me by simply being the kind soul that he is. I've grown so much over the past decade, and even though there are still some lingering issues, some scars that refuse to completely fade away, I am happy with the person I am today. I will never think of myself as a victim again.

But that's not the story I want to write about tonight. I will leave the darkest part of my life in the shadows, only to break free in bits and pieces in my books. What I want to talk about is the road I walked that lead me there.

We were all born a clean, pristine slate, to be shaped partly by nature and probably a lot more by nurture. The house I grew up in was rife with bitterness and negativity. Two things that really don't come close to what I suffered in my early adulthood, but they paved the way nevertheless. The passive aggressive comments and outright degrading statements getting thrown at me at a very young age shattered my self-esteem. Remember, as a child, you have no basis of comparison. This was the norm. This was how I thought the world was supposed to work.

I very keenly remember sharing my dreams with the adults around me - those that I trusted, loved, and respected unconditional because that's simple what children do - and I was laughed at. By adults. I didn't even get humored or patronized, my thoughts were simply shot down.

I sang a song and was told "You'll never sound like Pasty Cline."

When I told another member of my family, "I want to write a story," I can still remember her laughing at me and saying "You don't have anything to write about."

But the worst thing was that I believed it.

I'll never forget how hard I tried to achieve their standards, how I strove for a complement, and yet I could never satisfy. It left me feeling completely unwanted and that anything I would accomplish would be worthless and a waste of time. I'm sure there are thousands upon thousands of people that have suffered through similar situations, I can't imagine that it's really all that uncommon, and that's a sad thought indeed.

Years later, as an adult, I finally understand that the problem was never with me, but more a reflection of the insecurities and doubts of my caregivers projected at me. Now, as a mother, I can't even fathom saying these things, or the like, to my children. Even though I witnessed it, lived through it, and bore the brunt of many hurtful statements, I still do not understand the thought process behind 'knocking' a child's self-esteem.

And really, this is what I want to talk about.

Watch what you say around and to the young-ins. What you think is an offhand remark that doesn't mean anything to you might linger in their thoughts for years. It could hit them at a critical time and shape who they are, affecting their decisions and reasonings for decades.

And even though I was nearly crushed under the weight of the overwhelming negativity, I do remember the good things too. Not that it came from my immediate family, but the applause from an unlikely source stands out like a bright pillar in my memories. It was the encouragement I was starved for, and it was enough to keep the spark burning.

I remember that vividly as well, Mrs Duke. Thank you.

So never withhold a kind word from a child. If you have young children around you, keep in mind that you are their everything. Everything you say, everything you do is being inscribed into their memories. It doesn't even have to be your own child, especially if it's not your own child, because you never know, can't know what they live with. The kind word you say to them could just be the only one that they'll hear that day, that week, that month, that year.

Encourage them, listen, spare that moment to really focus on what they've brought before you. It will mean the absolute world to them. Those kind little words may be the ones they remember, the ones they cling to during the tough times, the ones that will give them that extra, little push when they want to give up, and the ones they smile back on after they accomplish something amazing.

You may never know what you've done for a child with your kind words, but they'll know, and that's what matters most of all.

Tuesdays!

I love Tuesdays, aside from the part of it being the 2nd day of the work week. I love them because for years now they have heralded the release of a new movie to DVD/Blu-Ray, or a new console or PC game, or a new book. Tuesdays are awesome because of the fresh and new things that are released to the public for our consumption. Tuesdays are exciting.

Yesterday, R.A. Salvatore's Night of the Hunter: Companions Codex, I released. I had it downloaded before I even got out of bed. In fact, this blog post was supposed to be up yesterday, but my spare time got lost within the book. The saga of Drizzt Do'Urden is my biggest and most loved fandom, and I'm so happy that Salvatore can get out two of these books a year.

Also, I'm thrilled my daughter has fallen in love with these books as well, and I now have all of them on Audible up to The Servant of the Shard. I expect I'll have every last one of them here within a couple months, because she's devouring them. Victor Bevine does an excellent job narrating, and they're well worth the price, especially the ones that have the whispersync deal.

For the indie scene, Monica La Porta's The Priest is now free on Smashwords, and Amazon will price match. You'll remember her from our collaboration on Off the Beaten Path. I highly recommend giving this book a read if your looking for a good romance.

But if you need a little more horror, then be sure to grab this one, and it's for a wonderful cause! I've read the works of more than one of the authors in this collaboration, and I love their stories. Let's Scare Cancer To Death is now available on Amazon, and all proceeds will be donated to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. How can you NOT buy this book? I love me some short stories, so I'm excited to get started on this!

You can read more about the collaboration on T.W. Brown's blog here.

Everyone have a wonderful week, and I'll be back on Friday! (I think.)

Odium (The Dead Saga) - By Claire C. Riley

Happy Friday! North Texas finally recovered from the cold and it's a beautiful day! To bad the rain is coming in tomorrow, so gotta enjoy it while it lasts.

  

Today, I'd like to talk about Odium (The Dead Saga). This was written by a fellow indie, Claire C. Riley, and it's a good read, specially if you have a craving for the more main stream zombies. It's written in first person, present tense, with Nina as our voice and main character. This is actually not my favorite style to read, but the book still drew me in once I got into the rhythm. I didn't catch many grammatical or formatting errors, so Claire and her editor are doing a great job there, AND the cover art is beautiful.

Overall the story was good and the relationships between the characters developed nicely. I don't know why, but I'm always a sucker for the stories of what happened to each individual during the crisis or the turn, and I really enjoyed those sections.

I only gave the book 4 stars because I was sometimes confused by who Nina was supposed to be. The character seemed to waiver a little bit from when the book first started out until she finally found her flow about half-way through. Even though that development part was a little shaky, it shouldn't stop anyone from picking this book up, especially those that love some good old-fashioned zombie fic.

Claire C. Riley is definitely on my watch list now!

90mph

Can I be done yet? I mean.. can I just collapse and sleep for a week?

I hate moving! And to do it twice within 3 months has been a huge strain, physically and mentally. Calling all the utility companies -sometimes multiple times- fighting with the ones that screw things up (I'm looking at you, Time Warner) and all the boxes... Dear Lord, all the effing boxes!! I never want to see a brown moving box again!

Thank goodness it is OVER! We don't plan on moving again for a long, long time. Now it's time to settle back into the routine and get some relaxation in. Now if only this crazy Texas weather will cooperate. Saturday was all, 'Hello sweet spring day!' with the wonderful 80 degree temps, and then they sank to 19 on Sunday with sleet and ice all over the place. Really?

And on top of buying a house and the move, the day job just went through a major realignment and I had to learn a bunch of new lines. There's a little bit of work jargon for ya. No need to go into details on it though. It was stressful at work, stressful at home, and the blog and the edits have been pretty much ignored for the past month. I'm so ashamed.

On the bright side, I am over halfway through reading Odium ( The Dead Saga).  It's nice to actually read a book again, although I've grown really fond of listening to them too if you have a good voice reader. I should be done with it soon and be able to get a review up.

I've already started the edits again on After - Part Three and I'm actually printing the first chapters of the manuscript now for beta reading! I meant to have the cover reveal done last month but life just got in the way, so now it's been rescheduled for the 20th. Why the 20th? Because that's the first day of spring! I'm still confident part three will be released before summer officially begins, but I do not have a release date for you yet. Hang in there with me!

So happy to get a Tuesday post up again. Feels like it's been forever since I've been knocked off my schedule. At least I'm able to say Happy Tuesday! Have a wonderful week and I'll be back soon!