IWSG Wednesday: Introducing Le7el

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 am elbows deep in revisions. I have more work than I originally thought, but I'm excited for the final products. An idea came to me a few weeks ago and I'm running with it. I had been concerned that SUSY Asylum was so much longer than the other books in the series. I had thought of splitting it into two books for a while, but didn't know how...until I explored the idea of splitting it into one novel and one novella. I didn't know if it would work until I began reorganizing the story and I think it's working quite nicely. Now I'm  not so worried about cutting. I'm actually having to write a few more chapters to fill in some newly created gaps.

So the new novella will be titled Le7el, Book 1.5 in the Lorne Family Vault. I don't want to deceive people that have already read the first edition of SUSY Asylum, but since I didn't promote it much, I don't believe it was read by many people. So I'm not worried about angering a whole lot of readers. Ultimately, I think this is a good decision for the series. It's creating more work for me right now, but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

As I get back to work, I want to share what I've been listening to while writing this post. Florence + The Machine's new album came out today (still Tuesday as I'm writing), "How Big How Blue How Beautiful." Their albums create such great mood music for my writing. I'm not too familiar with this new album yet, but the song Delilah caught my attention immediately. Florence + The Machine never disappoints. Enjoy!

IWSG Wednesday: The End in Sight

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!

As I said in my previous IWSG post, this past month would be an important one, and it was. I just passed 74,000 words, which is a number I'm quite proud of. I have two chapters left in Archanum Manor. The first one is huge because it's right in the middle of the climax. The second, will be a short resolution and wrap up. I can finally see the end and I'm pushing to finish by this coming weekend.

I know many of you are starting the April A to Z Challange, which is a huge commitment. So I'll keep this short and just update you on my progress. Once I finish this first draft and do a full read through, I'll go back and edit the third book, Doria Falls. During that time, Archanum Manor will be sent to a few beta readers. When I finish the Doria Falls edits, I'll have the distance I need to dive back into Archanum Manor and clean it up. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but it doesn't feel much like work anymore.

I'd like to leave you with another song I recently added to my Archanum Manor playlist, one I've listened to a lot this month while writing. But I've been listening to the album version and ran across this beautifully haunting acoustic version by accident. But as Mr. Gordon would say, accidents don't just happen. I was meant to find this song tonight. It fits the tone of the book so very perfectly. Take a few minutes for yourself and enjoy the sublimely melodic duet. 

IWSG Wednesday: Crossing the River

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!

Another month has flown by and I'm taking a moment away from my writing cave to give an update on my current manuscript. I just passed 50,000 words in Archanum Manor, which feels substantial, but it's obviously taking longer than I had hoped. So I actually averaged 500 words a day this past month, not the 1000 I was pushing for. The important thing is just to keep writing, so I won't come down on myself too hard.

One reason for my lower than expected word count was hitting a major snag in the story. I came to the edge of a river that was quite difficult to cross. I could see the opposite river bank with no idea how to get there. Building the bridge cost me time with writer's block and rewrites. But it did finally get built. I've been writing that bridge for the past week and a half, and I can successfully say that I've reached the other side of the river and ready to continue down road leading to Archanum Manor.

Now I'm getting close to the biggest scenes in the book, which is both exciting and terrifying. I need these scenes to live up to the key scenes in previous books, with the hope of actually surpassing them. This will be an important month as I bring the series to a close. I don't expect to be done by next month's IWSG's post, but I expect to be close. Here's hoping.

I'd like to leave you with a song I just added to my Archanum Manor playlist, one I've been obsessed with over the past week, listening to it repeatedly while writing the interactions between Oliver and Desiree. It has the beautifully sad tone of an Elliott Smith song. Sit back, turn down the lights, close your eyes, and let Joshua Radin pull at your heart strings for three minutes while I get back to work. 

IWSG Wednesday: The Start to a Great Year

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’m excited for 2015. I began this writing journey at the end of 2008 with an idea for a young adult series, and this will be the year I finally finish. I hope to have all four books released sometime this summer, hopefully early summer, but everything seems to take longer than anticipated. I won’t beat myself up over a couple of months. Mark my words: it will get done this year!

This week I received the cover for the third book, Doria Falls, and I’m very happy with how well it came out. So now there’s just one cover to go. The covers are visual representations of finished books for me, so they’ll light the necessary New Year’s fire to get this final book done. I’ve put off all promotion with the writing of these last two books just because that would have prolonged the writing process even longer, which was too hard to accept. These books are my training wheels, and at this stage in the game, it’s much more important to focus on bettering the craft than selling books. When I’m more competent and confident, I can find the more appropriate balance.

There are quite a few things that these books in the currently evolving publishing environment have taught me. Here is a short sampling of what I’ve learned:

• Long books are not my friend: When I started writing, I was inspired by the Harry Potter books. There was something cool about having 700 page hard covers. With most books for self-published authors being sold as ebooks, that coolness factor becomes irrelevant. For me as a self-published author (and at the pace of which I write), it is better to have two shorter books available than one longer book. SUSY Asylum clocked in at 120,000 words, which is quite a bit longer than the other books in the series. Going forward, 60,000 – 70,000 words is a more appropriate length, which in turn will help me add more titles to my backlog.
• Don’t end on cliffhangers: I will no longer write books that end on cliffhangers because I don’t write fast enough to keep readers happy (or at least I won’t while I still work fulltime). I actually like cliffhangers, but they don’t currently work for my writing. With the books in my current series having cliffhangers, I felt like I had to finish the series before moving onto something new. If I decide to write a serial at some point, then I’ll most likely use cliffhangers (but that’s another discussion entirely).
• Don’t create a new Createspace file for a reissue: When you create a new Createspace file/page for a reissue it creates a new Amazon page for that book. I did that with Provex City. What I didn’t know at the time was I couldn’t delete the old page. So now I have one Provex City paperback Amazon page that simply says “currently unavailable.” Also, if I unlink that page from other formats of the book, I lose all the reviews originally written on that page. Amazon will not move reviews from one page to another even though they’re for the same book (just different formats). This was a frustrating lesson.
• Don’t pay for ISBNs: This one goes along with the bullet point above. I created a new Createspace page (which in turn creates a new Amazon page) for the reissue of Provex City to give it a custom ISBN number. I wanted the option that if Provex City ever made it into libraries, then it wouldn’t need a new ISBN number. This is just a waste of money. If my future self published books make it into libraries one day, they’ll just need to be reassigned a new ISBN number. Why worry about that now (and pay $99 for it).
• Try new genres: The digital bookstore of ebooks make an author’s expansion into multiple genres easier than ever. Why not intentionally try to reach more readers? Some genres may sell better than others for you. You may write some genres better than others. You may enjoy writing some genres better than others (which may not be the genre you started with). So why deprive yourself? Sample all the flavors.

Those are enough of my mistakes for one post, but I am thankful for the learning experiences. Though the day I stop messing up is most likely the day I quit--it's all part of the process, the journey, the adventure. Give yourself permission to screw up because at least you're trying. 2015 can be the greatest year ever or it can be a year that passes by without incident. You get to decide.

IWSG Wednesday: Doria Falls is Done!

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!

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally have a completed manuscript of my third novel, Doria Falls, Book 3 in the Lorne Family Vault. I wrote the final words on Wednesday of last week, and over the weekend finished my first round of editing. My beta readers will dive into it over the next few weeks as I begin the next round of editing. Hopefully, I can hand it over to my editor by the end of the month.

Even though this book took me a few months longer than I had hoped, I’m proud with how it turned out. I don’t want to kick myself too much for my sporadic daily word counts and celebrate the steady progress of one more novel under my belt. Doria Falls is a big change from the two previous books, especially SUSY Asylum. Clocking in at a slim 75,000 words (slim by comparison), Doria Falls is a very streamlined novel. The story within Provex City took place over several months, SUSY Asylum over several weeks, and Doria Falls over several days. It picks up exactly where SUSY Asylum left off—to the minute. Now I need to write a blurb for it, which is not something I’m looking forward to.

Along with editing and formatting, I am beginning to plan for the fourth and final book in the series. This will be my first experiment with a thorough, scene-by-scene outline. Hopefully, this will help my productivity during the writing process and maximize the limited time I can devote to my novel each day. My plan is to begin writing by the beginning of September and have a finished first draft by the end of the year. This series will always mean a lot to me, but I’ve reached the point where I just want to get it done and begin something completely new. It’s time to finish up and move on, allowing a whole new chapter in my writing career to begin.

Hookers & Hangers Blog Hop: Hangers Edition

Hookers & Hangers Blogfest, July 16th & July 18th, presented by Falling for Fiction.

We all know how important the first and last lines are in every chapter. This blogfest will hopefully get your HOOKERS and HANGERS polished making it impossible for readers to put down your book and leaving them begging for more!

On July 16th, post the first sentence from each chapter.

On July 18th, post the last sentence from each chapter.

Post as many as you like!

We will be judging everyone’s first three HOOKERS and first three HANGERS. We’ll each pick two winners (MOST ENTICING HOOKER and MOST IMPOSSIBLE HANGER) making a total of ten winners! Winners will receive a 10 page (double spaced) critique and a Friday Spotlight on FFF! 

Here are a few of my chapter hangers from my newly completely first draft of SUSY Asylum (The Lorne family Vault Series, Book 2). I'll start it off with the song that goes with my number 1 for both posts.

1. Desiree closed her eyes, let go of the railing, and instantly felt her weightless body slide back and take flight.
2. Desiree pulled TJ into her like it was the end of the world and there would be no tomorrow.
3. All I knew was I only had a few seconds left before everything went black and I lost more time, one more way I was at the mercy of Alexandria Lorne and her asylum.
4. “TJ, please turn around; I’m coming out,” Desiree said with as much confidence as she could gather and slowly opened the door.
5. “The voice in my head tells me we’re in the right spot,” I said and led the way into the closest building—Building 4C.

Click on the picture at the top of the post to see the other bogs participating in this hop, and pay them a visit. Thank you, ladies of Falling for Fiction! I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek into the sublime world of SUSY Asylum.

Hookers & Hangers Blog Hop: Hookers Edition

Hookers & Hangers Blogfest, July 16th & July 18th, presented by Falling for Fiction.

We all know how important the first and last lines are in every chapter. This blogfest will hopefully get your HOOKERS and HANGERS polished making it impossible for readers to put down your book and leaving them begging for more!

On July 16th, post the first sentence from each chapter.

On July 18th, post the last sentence from each chapter.

Post as many as you like!

We will be judging everyone’s first three HOOKERS and first three HANGERS. We’ll each pick two winners (MOST ENTICING HOOKER and MOST IMPOSSIBLE HANGER) making a total of ten winners! Winners will receive a 10 page (double spaced) critique and a Friday Spotlight on FFF! 

Here are a few of my chapter opening hooks from my newly completely first draft of SUSY Asylum (The Lorne family Vault Series, Book 2). Enjoy!

1. There were still blood stains on the concrete where he had taken his last steps and collapsed.
2. Anna was a great girl and I think she really liked me, but every time I closed my eyes to kiss her, I pictured Desiree.
3. Desiree’s plan to turn me into a born-again Lorne was underway—and I couldn’t tell if the idea was brilliant or insane—but she was committed to it.
4. I sat silently on Desiree’s empty bed while her mother and sister slept soundly, with no idea I was in their house.
5. The icy hands holding me under the water felt so real, not metaphorical hands, but real hands, which were then pulling me up.

Click on the picture at the top of the post to see the other bogs participating in this hop, and pay them a visit. Thank you, ladies of Falling for Fiction! Come back Wednesday for the Hangers portion of this blog hop!

I've Hijacked Tossing It Out for Friday the 13th!

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! It is a glorious day to be hijacking Arlee's blog @ Tossing It Out. And as I've been saying all week, I have a (hopefully) nice surprise awaiting you there. It is not my typical flash fiction, but still fiction related. Not to mention the title announcement of the second book in The Lorne Family Vault series. Please check it out and enjoy! :)

Your regularly scheduled flash fiction will reconvene next Friday, when I will be posting my entry for Candilynn Fite's July edition of Follow My Lead.

Hello, Insecure Writer's Support Group!

I'm not the last blog on the list any more! I was just excited to see that. This is my first post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. I'm glad I found it and thankful to have the opportunity to take part. I'm fairly new to blogging and I'll use this post to talk about my adventures, struggles, and triumphs in writing over the past few years.

I came up with an idea for a YA fantasy series a little over three years ago and began writing the first book, Provex City, finishing an early draft in about a year's time. It was my first attempt to write a novel and it needed a lot of reworking. I didn't want to take classes to learn how to write a novel first and then begin writing, so I just began writing and learned along the way. Once I was in the editing phase I signed up for a novel writing class at a community class and had my original prologue critiqued (which was about 12 pages). I got an interesting mixture of comments and took many of them into consideration for future drafts of my book. For the class, my novel had a different title, and since then I have also written a completely new prologue. But that class was encouraging because it showed me that people I didn't know seemed interested in my story.

Over the past two years, I've been editing Provex City and submitting queries to agents. That was a humbling experience. I wrote about this in my first blog post, but to make a long story short, I didn't get much in the way of responses. I've read a lot about not taking it personal, but it's hard and takes its toll over time. Do I start writing a completely different novel or book two in the series I already had planned? I have a few ideas for other books, but I really want to continue with my series. That's when I decided to stop submitting and seriously look into self-publishing. There are people becoming successful by publishing direct to Kindle. And that is something I can do now instead of waiting for someone else.

I realize that the people who are really succeeding through self-publishing are the minority, but I have to believe that it's possible for me to fall into that group. Why not? If someone else can do it, then why can't I? If I write a good book and model the strategies of authors succeeding doing what I want to do, then I should be able to achieve similar results. I like what Anthony Robbins says:

How long do you give your average baby to learn how to walk? How long do you give your average baby to learn how to walk before you shut her off and don't let her try anymore? Are you kidding? My baby will try until she learns how to walk. Try until. The magic formula for success. --this is not a direct quote

I keep telling myself that. My debut novel, Provex City, will be out on Amazon in the next few weeks, first in eBook and later in paperback. I am working on increasing my online presence and building a platform. I am writing daily on a first draft of my second book in the Lorne Family Vault Series. I tell myself that it's not a question of if, but when. Try until. I will continue to write, fight, and push toward my desired direction, knowing that the valley of successful writers lies just over the horizon. Thank you for reading. I'd love to read your comments. I hope I see you again before May!

Also, be sure to check out other writers in the group (the list is posted below).

Waiting for Inspiration

The Lorne Family Vault Series was born one day in December of 2008. I accompanied my sister and her boyfriend to a hospital in LA. He was going into a long awaited surgery and I wanted to be there to lend moral support. My sister and I were in the waiting room for much of the day, praying the surgery would go well. And it did.

It's in the moments you least expect when inspiration strikes, and a few of those times it's a direct hit. On that nervous day, sitting impatiently in the waiting room for more hours then I care to remember, I envisioned the Lorne Family Vault Series in fast forward. I had begun working on a young adult book a few months before, with ideas to make it into a series. I was three chapters in. But it was that morning in the hospital that I decided that the book wasn't working. I didn't really want to start over (like I had already written so much), but I knew I had to significantly change where my story was going.

I started bouncing ideas off my sister. It definitely took our minds off the surgery that was in progress a few floors away. But also the ideas really began to flow. I didn't bring a notebook to write anything down, but the ideas were so vivid I could see the story unfolding like a movie. Thank God I remembered nearly everything we discussed that day. Kafka Lorne and the rest of the Lorne family had been born.

I divided all the major plot points and cliffhangers into four books. Much like what J. K. Rowling said about Harry Potter, I saw how my series was going to end. I saw the climax sequence. Now all I had to do was get to it.

As you can see in the sidebar of this blog, I'm well into a first draft of the second book. And I'm so excited about it, almost more so than I am about Provex City! I've loosely outlined the third book and have major plot points for the fourth book. If I develop more twists in the adventure, then I'm not opposed to adding a fifth book. I still know the ending.

A few days after the successful surgery, I scrapped the chapters I'd written and began writing a book titled Shroud Lifted, which, after it was completed, I renamed Provex City. It's been a long time coming and it is almost here.

Welcome to Provex City!