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News: Giveaways and More Writing

12/24/2014

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12/24/14

Excitement always builds as a release day approaches and I'm doubly excited because next month I have two books coming out! Road to Home will arrive on January 7, 2015 and The Oracle's Golem on January 21, 2015. Both are up for pre-order at LT3 for a 36% discount if you buy before the end of the year and after that for a 15% discount if you buy before release day. Plus, LT3 is giving away one free copy of each book. Road to Home's giveaway is HERE and The Oracle's Golem is HERE. I will not be holding a formal giveaway for these releases, but this month's newsletter might have a surprise inside for a few lucky recipients.
I'm still plodding along on the writing front. It is very possible that I will finish writing Dragon Deception, book two of my Supernatural Consultant Series, before the New Year. Six days to write 10k words is not an insurmountable task. I have most of the plot already planned out for Deception and Detective, book three. All I need is the acceptance letter from LT3 for Dragon Consultant, book one, and this series is a go!
Of course, focusing solely on SCS means all of my other stories are going to have to wait until next year before I get to them again. I had wanted to write a lot more in Kelpie Blue this month, but that just didn't happen. Nor did I get a lot done in my Oracle series. Cute dragons are very distracting, but I know I will get back to my other stories soon enough.

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News: Exciting Changes and New Stories

11/12/2014

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11/12/14

LT3 extended the deadline for their Devil's Land call. This is really good news for me because now I don't have to scramble to get my story finished in time. The new due date is March 31, 2015. The additional two months will definitely make it easier to get my story written and edited properly (and to think of a title!). My second goal for November was to finish writing this story, which is no longer immediately imperative to do. I am certainly going to continue working on it, but with the pressure off I don't have to rush or worry nearly as much.
One of the main reasons I'm excited about the date change is because I've gotten hooked on writing Dragon Consultant and haven't been spending much, if any, time on any of my other stories. I really think it's conceivable that I might finish writing DC this week! I'm aiming for approximately 25k words in length and have already surpassed that, which means it's nearly finished. I am also beginning to plan book two of the series and the series as a whole. When I started writing DC it was supposed to be a stand-alone for an anthology call. Now that I'm not writing under those parameters it's expanded. I'm planning a minimum of three books and am excited to see where the story will take me.
I have seen the print cover for Road to Home and it's glorious! The release date for the ebook is coming soon, January 7th, so don't forget to pre-order and get your 15% discount today. The Oracle's Golem, coming out January 21st, is also available for pre-roder. Don't miss out on getting your copy of either story!

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News: Release Date and Pre-Orders

10/29/2014

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Road to Home officially has its final release date: January 7, 2015. The edits are done and the hard part is over! The best part of writing any story is this moment, when I get to sit back, relax, and wait for my hard work to pay off. I really like Road to Home and I know readers will too!
Which is why you should pre-order your copy today! Road to Home is available for pre-order at Less Than Three Press with a 15% discount if you buy before January 6th! It's a great deal for a great book. Here's the link: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com...books
But wait! There's more! The Oracle's Golem will be released exactly two weeks after Road to Home on January 21, 2015. The highly anticipated next book in The Oracle's Series is also available for pre-order at a 15% discount! You can also get your copy today: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com...books

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News: Best Seller and Edits

9/26/2014

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9/26/14

Satisfaction Guaranteed received a best seller star at All Romance Ebooks! I really hope everyone is enjoying the anthology, including Heartbeat, my story.
Rosh Hashanah has almost ended. After synagogue services this morning the time consuming parts of the holiday are over. This is good for me for two reasons. First, I got the next round of edits for Road to Home in my inbox the day before the holiday started. I have been slowly working on them during my very limited free time. The edits are mostly accept/deny instead of massive rewrites, which means I might have it back to LT3 this weekend or early next week! It's so nice to have a round of edits that cooperate with me. Second, September is almost over and I still have a lot of work to do in order to accomplish my goals. I'm going to try and complete my goal for the Devil's Land call I'm writing before October. Wish me luck!

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News: Writing Progress

9/10/2014

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9/10/14

I have so much free time for writing now, I almost don't know what to do with myself! It's amazing! After six weeks of zero free time to even run the most necessary errands, I'm suddenly able to take my time through my day. I can eat a leisurely breakfast and read the paper. I can run my errands and make my phone calls without watching the clock every rushing second. And, best of all, I can sit in front of my computer writing for hours! The mere five minutes snatched between getting out of the shower and having to get dressed to run to my crazy job was awful. I cannot stress enough just how happy I am that my summer job is over.
I have gotten a lot done in the past ten days. I put together my goals for September and have been doing my best to stick to them, but before I could get started on those I had to finish some major editing. I finally got through all the edits for Road to Home, then I put it aside for a brief day and went through the second round of edits for The Oracle's Golem. Once Golem was done, I sent it back to LT3 and did one final read through of RtH. That story is now also back with LT3 where the editor will take another look at it. I got a rather grumpy message about how RtH was very late (even though I told them I wouldn't finish the edits until the end of August and got it back to them only a few days after that), so the release date might have to be changed again. I'll keep everyone updated when I know more.
With all the editing on my plate finally done, I moved on to my September goals. I have written 7k in Magnified so far. If I keep up with the pace I've been writing, I'll have the story done by this weekend. It needs some major editing, of course, but with the first part done I can start writing part two. Justified has been distracting me for over a month now with ideas and plans, so I am very eager to start putting it all onto paper. I have also been working on The Oracle's Sprite. I promised myself that I would have it submitted to LT3 by the end of the year, which gives me plenty of time. I've written approximately 2k. In a story as short as Sprite, that's significant progress! I'm still on track for my goal of reaching 15k words in Sprite.
I haven't had time to work on any of the anthologies on my list. Thunderbird just needs editing, so I'm probably going to put it off to the end of the month. I do need to start working on my story for the Devil's Land call. With the High Holidays coming up, I'm not going to have a lot of writing time and that story has a concrete due date. I do know how the story starts and can start writing. I've been working on my other stories instead, but I'll switch my focus soon.

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August Goals: Results

9/2/2014

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9/2/14

Here's the results of my August goals:

It feels like August has flown by, yet just a week ago I was grumbling that it would never end. The difference between a week? My six-week job from Hell is over! Yay! The best part is that I survived it without resorting to homicide. Goal number one for August was a success.
Goal number two was much less successful. My difficulties with getting Road to Home edited were compounded by exhaustion. I had to expend too much energy surviving the job and there wasn't anything left for editing or writing. I did mange to finish a good chunk of the edits, but it's not done yet. I'm not allowing myself to work on anything else until this goal is completed, so I'm hoping to have it back to LT3 only a week late.
Goal number three turned out to be successful, although I'm not really sure why because I didn't have the energy to actually sit down and plan my Oracle stories out. Somehow the ideas happened anyway. The Oracle's Sprite now has a firm beginning and I've also figured out the epilogue. I'm still missing the climax scene, but I'm so much further than I was a month ago that I'm very happy. I have also worked out a huge chunk of back story for The Sentinel's Prophesy, which will help propel the series as a whole. The Sentinel's (Light), book two, now has a main character and Prophesy has an antagonist. There's still a lot more to write for this series, so look for it to be on my September goals list.

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News: Six more days until I have free time again

8/26/2014

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8/26/14

This is my last day off. After today's break I have exactly six more days of work and then the season is over and the place shuts down until next year. You have no idea how excited I am. The six weeks of hell are almost over!!! On September 2nd, I will finally have free time to do things again, like write. Keeping an eye on the light at the end of the tunnel will hopefully sustain me for these last few days.
Editing Road to Home hasn't been going well at all. Not because of the usual reasons, but because this past week is always the busiest of of the season and I've been coming home to crawl into bed. I seriously just haven't had any time to work on anything. A large chunk of the edits need to get done today or I won't make the deadline. I really don't want to spend my first day of freedom (Sept. 2) working on edits when I have so many other stories clambering for attention.
I have so many plans for next week that I'm looking forward to tackling! First I want to start digging into The Sentinel's Prophesy. I think I've figured out how the story will evolve into a series and am hoping to flesh it out and get the story going. The Oracle's Sprite is ninety percent planned out in my head and I want to get it all onto paper. Plus, the second round of the edits for The Oracle's Golem are waiting for me too! The other things I'm planning to work on are both stories in my Out of Underhill series, which want to move from the opening, introductory stages to real plot, and getting Magnified finished so I can start working on Justified. It's a lot to do, but after six weeks of almost no writing at all I'm hoping I'll be able to get a lot done!

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News: It's my day off, so I'm working on my writing instead

8/12/2014

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8/12/14
My crazy job continues unabated. Today is my lone day off this week, so I'm trying to take full advantage of the free time. So far I have edited parts of Thunderbird to get it ready for submission, figured out how to transition to the climax scene of Magnified, and stared hopelessly at the edits for Road to Home. I wouldn't call myself productive, but the intent is there!

Thunderbird is one of the shortest anthology submission pieces I've ever put together. It's barely 11k words and I'm starting to get worried that it's too short. Do I need to add another scene at the end--an epilogue maybe--to help cement their ongoing relationship? I still have months before this story is due, so it's not a big deal yet, but I want this story done and ready to go so I can focus on some of my other stories once my crazy job is finally over.
Magnified continues to be the longest and most in-depth story I have ever written. I've been stuck on this one scene for a few weeks now, trying to figure out how to transition from the build-up to the climax to the climax itself, but I finally figured it out and am happily moving on. All that's left to write is the climax itself and the aftermath. I will not be submitting Magnified at that point, however. I have big plans for Justified, part two, but parts of that story are contingent on my getting Magnified written correctly. The last thing I want is for Magnified to get set in stone (ie. published) and then afterwards realizing that I can't get Justified to work properly because I accidentally flubbed one scene. Only once the entire series is written will I feel comfortable contacting a publisher. I'm really looking forward to starting work on Justified, though, so look for a working summary to appear soon.
What more is there to say about Road to Home? I've probably complained everyone's ears off enough at this point. I love the story to bits and I really enjoyed writing it, but something about this damned editing process is making me balk at every turn. The edits are straightforward and are not nearly as difficult as my brain is making them out to be. It's like my mind is thinking I'm climbing a rugged mountain even though I'm just walking up a steep hill. I am working my way through the edits, slowly but surely, and will have it back with LT3 in time. I'm looking forward to getting back to the point of bragging about how wonderful the story is!

I have crossed the halfway point of the six weeks at work and I'm happy that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. My last day of work is the same day Road to Home is due back. September will be a much more relaxing month with neither of those things on my plate!

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August Goals

8/2/2014

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8/2/14

It is now August. Where has this summer gone? It was just June a few days ago, I swear! I hope everyone is enjoying the sun and the warm. Since it's the beginning of the month, I thought I should lay out my goals for August and the rest of the summer. Here's my list:

Survive this summer job! It's six short weeks of hell, but it honestly feels like six months sometimes. I have very little free time and when my one day off a week appears I'm too tired to do anything constructive with it. Survival is key, because once this job is done I'll have lots of time to work on my writing!
Finish the edits for Road to Home. I don't know what it is about this story, but my brain is just not getting in gear. The edits are very straightforward and shouldn't take as long as they have. I need to get them done this month. I want the book to be published on November 26th so my readers can enjoy it and I can start pretending that I have fond memories of the difficult process it took to get Road to Home to that point.
Figure out where The Oracle's Sprite and The Sentinel's Prophesy are going. The goal is to have both stories submitted by the end of the year, but to do that I need to figure out the plot I'm still missing. If I can finalize the plot this month, I'll have plenty of time to finish writing both stories in time!

Only three goals doesn't feel like a lot, but given the stress of the first one I think that's okay. I should be able to accomplish them all, especially considering the first will be solved by still being alive in six weeks without quitting and the second is non-negotiable. The only wrench I can foresee is one damned adorable kelpie who is demanding to know why his story isn't being written. Writing Kelpie Blue might creep onto that list despite my best intentions. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer!

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News: It's Going to be a Busy Summer

7/22/2014

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7/22/14

My birthday was Sunday and I was too tired from my summer job to put something fun together for you. The job ends in September, so I'm hoping to plan a belated celebration for then.
I have finished a first read-through of the edits for Road to Home. That means all of the easy stuff has been taken care of. Tackling the difficult rewriting and the changes that require some thinking are next and will take a lot longer. My free time is very limited for the next five weeks and the edits take priority. That means that I probably won't get much writing done this summer. :( I'm hoping that in September I'll have so much plot built up in my head that I'll write 5k a day and finish all of the stories I'm hoping to have completed by the end of the year! It's a nice dream and I hope it comes true.
Even though I can't write, I can still plan! It's a forty minute drive to and from my job, so while I'm in the car I find myself thinking about where my stories are stalled and how to fix them. So far I've figured out how to avoid the extremely awkward time skip that was trying to ruin Kelpie Blue and I've begun planning part two of Magnified. Next I'm hoping to figure out where the conflict is in The Oracle's Sprite and how to weave a secondary plot into The Sentinel's Prophesy so it will reach my minimum word count. That secondary plot will hopefully be the catalyst that helps to create the other two books in The Sentinel series, so it's important for me to figure it out. If I have all of that set out in my head when this job ends, I might be able to achieve that 5k a day goal!

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News: Giveaways and More Writing

News: Exciting Changes and New Stories

News: Release Date and Pre-Orders

News: Best Seller and Edits

News: Writing Progress

August Goals: Results

News: Six more days until I have free time again

News: It's my day off, so I'm working on my writing instead

August Goals

News: It's Going to be a Busy Summer

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