That bloody Highlander

I got to spend some relaxing time with some family this last weekend, enjoying the refreshingly cool air in the mountains, surrounded by deer, bears, and mountain lions (before you ask, no, I didn't see the latter, but that doesn't mean they're not there). Oh, and let's not forget the crap-ton of sheep that were BAAAAA'ing 24-7 and their sheep dog that liked his voice a bit too much.

While we were camping, I not only got in some fun family time (4-wheeling, playing games, helping my little guy play with his brand new toys he got for his first birthday, and cuddling in front of the fire while it rained and hailed - in July - true story), but I was also able to write and edit. The Highlander won the battle against a particular Guardian for my attention, so he's very happy (and a wee bit smug about beating an immortal) about the fact that I'm working on his story.

Any time I take a break from writing a story, it takes me a little while to catch up again, so I've been going through the book one section at a time and sortof editing as I go. And I am so glad I'm working on this story. It's about time I give some attention to characters that aren't in the Primordial Guardians realm; and about time I focus on the not-so-supernatural side of imagination. Uh, okay, okay... there is a little bit of paranormal to the story, but not in the characters themselves.

It feels nice to really get back into writing again, and I hope that I'll be able to keep it up. So far, my goals for this year have been shot, so I've got to scramble to catch up.

Edit, Edit, Edit

Editing is going well for the 3rd book in the Immortal Guardians series. I'm anxious for the 1st book to be released and can't wait til I hear back on 1st round edits. With any luck, maybe I can get 3-4 books published this year!

Time for a read-through

I am so close to finishing the 3rd Immortal Guardians novel that I can just taste it. Now that I'm this close, I think I'll go back to the beginning and re-read what I've written so far so that I can make any adjustments that are needed before I write the ending. I know there are a few other scenes I need to add in, and I want to make sure I get the timing right.

Guess I know what I'll be doing the next few nights after work. :o)

Book Trailer

I've decided to create a book trailer for Dark Seduction to try and get the word out more before it releases. Last night, I spent hours putting together ideas and now I'm trying to decide if I should just go ahead and dump money into it (to buy video and images for it) or if I should do some more homework. I know there are businesses that will create book trailers out there, but I'm not sure what the cost (or quality) would be. On the other hand, there are likely college students who need to get credit and would be willing to help a girl out if it could go in their portfolio.

So, not really sure what to do. I could keep working on it myself (it is kindof fun), but it will take away from my writing time.

Any suggestions or ideas?

It's nice to be back

I went home last night and started writing. Since all of my characters have been giving me headaches the last few days, trying to get me to write their stories, I decided to just go with the flow and write what scene was pushing on me the most. I cranked out 2,000 words (not my best day, but certainly not my worst) and I'm so excited at how close I'm getting to completing the 3rd Immortal Guardians novel.

Get Cracking!

Now that my first book is well on its way to being published, I can't help but feel motivated. I worked on my 3rd novel a bit last night and the first book in my YA series has started pushing again. But neither of them are being as loud as Nitro. Nitro has apparently decided that I need to write a little bit more about her past and she's pushing really really hard right now for me to a certain part in the 2nd Immortal Guardians novel.

I set a goal for myself last week and didn't even come close to meeting it, so I'm setting another goal for this week and hope to not only meet it, but also make up for what I lacked last week. With any luck I'll have the 3rd novel done and ready for editing in no time!

Dark Seduction Cover!

We're well on our way to releasing Draven's book. I've signed with Evernight Publishing and I'm so excited to share the cover for the first novel in the Immortal Guardians series, Dark Seduction.

I'm back

I'm really excited for this week. A publisher liked my first novel and I've signed a contract to have it published with them! I'm also planning to knock out a bunch of writing since I won't be able to hang out with my hubby, which also means that I should be able to write a whole lot. With the holiday season being upon us I've felt like a serious slacker, but I'm hoping that all of that will change this week. If I keep at it, I should be able to have this 3rd novel completed in no time.

Three-quarters of the way done

I just hit 60,000 words on my third novel in the Immortal Guardians series. So, that means that with my minimum total word count goal, I'm 3/4 of the way done! Or if I go with my maximum word count total, then at least I am over 1/2 way done with it. Woo-hoo! Its been hard since I've been sick for the last week and that has completely ruined my energy to do anything, but I'm excited that the book is really coming along.

Okay, I'm kinda proud of myself

As you just read from the title, I'm kinda proud of myself. For some reason I thought I'd started my 3rd novel in the Immortal Guardians series on October 2nd, but in reviewing my notes, I started in on October 11th. I officially hit my half-way point (for the minimum I want the novel to be) on Friday, so that means that I completed half of the book in 17 days! I'm pretty proud of myself, seeing how I have a full-time job. Hopefully I can keep it up because I think it would be incredible to be able to finish it in less than two months.
And lets not mention how I'm getting pressure from someone who read the 1st two and can't wait for the third... cough, cough.

Oh no. . . Not again

So, I started writing another new book today. WHY CAN'T I STOP STARTING NEW PROJECTS??
I'm going to drive myself mad!
Really, there just needs to be more hours in the day so that I can somehow write an entire book every single week so that I can keep up with all the characters that are yammering on inside my head.
/Sigh

Now I need to spend equal time between three projects... How in the world am I going to pull this off?

Done with editing Book #2!

I finished my first-round editing on Raider's book last night and I've sent it off to a few friends so they can read it. I'm dying to get feedback on it so that I know if I need to change/fix anything.

So, I guess for now I can jump on the new series again and see how much I can write in that one before the results come back. :o)

I Came, I Saw, I... Failed

I finally heard back on the results from the HOW contest. I tried not to get my hopes up, but, its hard when you've put a lot of work into it. At least I got some feedback that I can work with in all the upcoming revisions  I will no doubt start ASAP. Which, by the way, I've already revised the beginning of Draven's book. Most of it is completely different from what I submitted, and his had the better score (Hmmm...)

So, this is what I got.

On Draven's book (the 1st in the Immortal Guardians series), my scores were. Each judge could give a max of 135:
129
124
57


On Raider's book (the 2nd in the Immortal Guardians series), I got:
124
100
53

I could tell the same three people judged both. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Hating the Game

I just received another rejection from an agent. Seriously, I don't know if the concept of my books suck (sorry, boys), or if I just suck at writing the query letter. At least this agent replied with some feedback that I can work with. She said that she just didn't feel compelled to want to know more. So, I guess I'll revise my query letter yet again in hopes that I can capture the right agent's interest.

On a side note, I've been editing Raider's book (whenever I find time) and have even written some more scenes in one of my YA novels. I'm trying to work on my books as often as I can; I really don't want to lose motivation, and rejections really put a dampering on the writing mood.

2 Down, a million to go

I've completed Raider's book, so that marks my 2nd completed book in the Immortal Guardians series. I am so excited about his book. I think it turned out really well. Of course, I need to go back and edit, but I'm seriously excited that I've finished his book!!

Don't laugh at me

Alright, I went ahead and joined the RWA. I just had to participate in the Golden Pen... why not, right? So now, my heart and soul will be on display for a bunch of judges to read and... well, judge... So my nerves are just a-rackin'. Here's to hoping I place one or both of my books in the Utah or the National, or both...

Can we say 70,000 words?!?!

Yep, I just passed 70,000 words in Raider's book, I am so close to finishing this one that its crazy, and I'm still actually writing the end. Likely as soon as I'm done writing, I'll go back through and edit it a few times, but the point is, I'm almost done with his book, which means there is (hopefully) one less voice in my head, which also means one less Immortal Guardian in my head.

Grins all around, its a good day!

Attention? Not sure I have attention span left...

I've been a slacker with keeping up on my blogs. Oh, and with writing...

My hubby and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary, and I've found myself getting extremely distracted. I made myself find time today, and I sat down and edited Draven's book for four hours. Now, I'm going to try to work on Raider's. But why, oh why does the swimming pool have to look so tempting outside the window?

Anyone who knows me personally knows that my mind never sleeps. During all hours of the day, I'll be working on projects, but my mind is also going through the stories that I still need to write (or the one's I've written). At night, when I try to sleep, my mind does the same thing. I feel like I'll never get rest until I actually get these suckers down. Which leads me to my next comment.

My other series is pushing to the forefront. I'll be thinking of my Guardian series, and my other one will make an appearance. I only wish there were enough hours in the day to get everything down.

Nerves

I think my nerves are getting to me. I'm really nervous that the agent won't contact me back because she doesn't like my sample pages of Dark Seduction. I'm constantly thinking that the book isn't good enough, and I'm always tempted to make changes to it.

I'm over 12,000 words now on Thrash's book, but I'm having a terrible time at keeping my concentration on him.

My wonderful hubby keeps telling me to not change book #1 until I hear feedback from an agent, but the issue is, if they don't like it, they don't even contact you back.

Stupid nerves...

Prologue for Book #2

I think I've nailed down the Prologue for Thrash's book. His novel is now at 11,000 words so the story is just flowing out of me whenever I have enough time to type it up.

It looks like the pain-in-the-ass (and faaaar too tempting) Thrash is winning in the battle against Draven for my typing attention.

Go Thrash!