Indie Life: Changing Seasons, Changing Gears

Indie Life is hosted by the indie authors of the Indelibles as a 2nd Wednesday of the month feature. It is a great way to discover and reach out to other indie authors--authors working hard and turning their dreams into reality. Share your thoughts and experiences with being an indie author, and speak with like-minded souls by visiting the author links below. Click HERE to sign up for Indie Life.

With my blog tour less than a week away, I've been thinking a lot about my next book. I have the new book I'd codenamed Project Winter outlined and started. But I keep going back to my outline for Book 3 of the Lorne Family Vault. It feels so unfinished. And it's been calling to me. And I hate things left unfinished. A big part of me wants to start something new, but another part--a nasty and more controlling part--wants me to finish what I've started.

So after much deliberation, meditation, and confrontation with the nastier part of myself, I've decided to switch gears. I am putting Project Winter aside for now and starting Book 3. I liked the idea of serializing my next book since I can't crank out multiple full-length novels in a year, and I had originally not wanted to change the format of the Lorne Family Vault halfway through the series, but what the hell. I've already figured out how to break up Book 3 into four clean parts, so I can still release in a timely manner.

I've regained the excitement I feel had been lacking most of the summer. Fall is here, and the change of season is refreshing. I look forward to continuing with Oliver on his adventure to discover who he is, what is in the Lorne family vault, and why he can no longer go home. I hope this isn't a mistake (from a business perspective), but then again, writing is never a mistake (from a  writer's perspective).

The SUSY Asylum (Lorne Family Vault, Book 2) blog tour begins on Monday, and will go for two weeks (averaging three stops a day). So I'll be posting on Monday next week with links to all the stops. See you then!

IWSG Wednesday: SCBWI Summer Conference

Happy Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday. Thank you again to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the creator of the group. The first Wednesday of every month is dedicated to this group of supportive writers. If it's something you're not familiar with, then please click on Alex's link above for more information and to sign up!

This past weekend was the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Summer Conference at the beautiful Hyatt Regency on the edge of Beverly Hills. There were about 1300 attendees from (I believe) 46 states and 14 countries. And with all those people swarming the hotel, I found fellow blogger, Morgan Shamy, within ten minutes of arriving! It was great to meet her and discuss all the joys and woes of writing with her and her blogging friend, Ryan Dalton. So for the first time in three years, I didn't have to walk into the ballroom and find a seat alone.

There is always an amazing lineup of keynote speakers, but my favorites this year were Laurie Halse Anderson, Jon Scieszka, and Matt de la Pina. I loved Laurie's speech so much I attended one of her breakout sessions that extended halfway into lunch, though no one seemed to mind. She's also a children's book writer with the voice and potty mouth of a Drill Sergeant--quite entertaining. One big takeaway I got from her was the commitment to write at least 15 minutes every day to build discipline and momentum. There are so many days with huge time constraints and prior commitments, but you can always find 15 minutes (if you're committed). I needed to hear that.

The other new experience I had at this conference was receiving a professional consultation from a literary agent. I had the pleasure of meeting with Jennifer Azantian, from Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. She gave me feedback on the first chapter of my new story, Project Winter. Overall, she seemed to enjoy it and expressed that the story had a unique and marketable concept. I have to admit that I've been procrastinating on this project, anxious of what comments would come from my consultation. It was a great experience and I'm excited to continue writing. Thanks, Jennifer!

And if you read Morgan's recap of the SCBWI conference earlier this week, you may remember her mentioning a "table war" with Arthur A. Levine. Well...it was less of a war and more of an immediate surrender. Sorry, Morgan...haha. We were hungrily searching for a table to eat our lunch at a nearby food court. There were blood-thirsty lunch lurkers everywhere diving for tables at just the hint of someone about to stand up. And then as fate would have it after a fortnight of searching, we found an empty portion of a table. Just as we were about to sit down, Morgan looked over at two men approaching and stepped away from the table saying, "I can't steal a seat from you." [may not be an actual quote...but it's close] The men were hesitant, but eventually graciously took our seats. I was like, what just happened? As we walked away to find another elusively empty table, Morgan told me that one of the men was Arthur A. Levine (the guy who published the American editions of Harry Potter). Oh... Now I understood. We should have gotten autographs--or left a manuscript on the table.

Well, my August is off to a great start. How about yours?

IWSG Wednesday: Apologies & Updates

Happy Insecure Writer's Support Group Wednesday. Thank you again to Alex J. Cavanaugh, the creator of the group. The first Wednesday of every month is dedicated to this group of supportive writers. If it's something you're not familiar with, then please click on Alex's link above for more information and to sign up!

I feel bad that I missed last month's post and had to make sure I did not repeat the folly so Alex doesn't kick me out of the group. Sorry, Alex! Where did May go? The last few weeks have just flown by and I leave for Kauai tomorrow for a week-long vacation. Maybe that had something to do with the month disappearing in a flash. I just bought Dan Brown's new book, Inferno, to read as I lie on the beach for the better part of a week. I hope I don't get too burned...haha.

It's only taken a little over a year, but all the ebook versions of my books, Provex City and SUSY Asylum, are now available: Kindle, Nook, iBookstore, Kobo, and Smashwords. I've been working on getting the 2nd Edition of Provex City out, and it is finally available! It has been a lot of work getting both of my books formatted for paperback (on Amazon) and multiple ebook readers, but in the end, I believe it was worth it. Now I can get back to writing and promoting again.

I've put a lot of thought into what I am going to write next, and I have decided to step away from the Lorne Family Vault series for a little while and write a brand new book. And this decision came after I'd already fully outlined the third book in the series--figures. I ultimately decided to start a brand new project because I'd like to submit again, to work on getting traditionally published while continuing to promote my self-published books. The new book will be written as a standalone, so once I start submitting, I can dive right back into the Lorne Family Vault and pick up where I left off. Hopefully, I'm making a good decision, but only time will tell.

My new book is codenamed Project Winter, and it's a YA contemporary/dystopian in a female POV. It will be quite a change for me. I have a complete outline, synopsis, and first chapter thus far. It feels really good to be writing again. But as usual, starting a new project brings on a whole lot of anxiety, especially with the pressure of future submissions looming overhead. I know how hard it is, but I think I'll be better prepared this time.

Are you ready for summer? Are you at the beginning, middle, or end of your primary project? Anyone going to the SCBWI Summer Conference in August? I am and can't wait! The conference is always a great motivator...and getaway. And as always, thank you for reading!