Hi all!
So I finally got my author facebook page up!
Why didn't I have one before you ask?
Well, when it was only one book and I didn't know where things were headed I thought it was more important to focus on the book and not me. But now! Now! Now that it will be two I feel like it's time.
Here is the link. Come by and give it a like if you are a facebook user.
Hello dear readers!
I saw this amazing video on facebook yesterday that I wanted to share with you all. It is actress Jada Pinkett Smith talking about being a wife and mom.
She discusses finding balance and weighing helping her family reach their dreams while still trying to reach her own dreams, and something in her words really spoke to me.
I think this is an important subject and something that all wives and mothers need to hear.
We are programed, at some point I don't know when, to believe that wanting things for ourselves is wrong and selfish when you have a husband and family. The key is finding balance, and I think it is summed up quite beautifully in this video.
Please enjoy, and let me know your thoughts!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153819590839494&id=11445289493
Hello dear readers
So I wanted to give you all an update, especially those who don't follow me on social media.
The title for Book 2 is Ikon and I am working on a January 2016 release!
Isn't it January now? Why, yes it is! I don't have a firmed up date yet but it will be this month baring any major issues. The ebook will come first with the paperback to follow shortly after. My cover artist (RMGraphX) and I have been talking and she is cooking up something awesome, I can't wait for you guys to see it!
Once I have all of that pulled together I plan on doing some rafflecopter giveaways so keep an eye out here because those will be coming up soon.
Ikon has been a labour of love for me, and I hope you guys love it as much as I do. It's a bit different for me and I hope it works well! I can't wait for you guys to read it.
I will be back on here updating as much as I can, I apologise for being so neglectful.
Make sure you pick up your copy of Rebirth before Ikon comes out, so you're all caught up! It's available in ebook and paperback, check the links in the sidebar!
Hello dear readers!
As I previously mentioned, I am participating in NaNoWriMo but not formally. For me it's just about getting it done. Sitting down and writing something.
Well I am pleased to say that I have been getting stuff done. The WIP is coming along slowly. I got Book 2 back from the editor and I will be sitting down with it soon to start formatting. I'm really excited for it to come together and I cannot wait for people to read it!
It's a little bittersweet for me without my Mother here. The first time Rebirth was released (under different title etc) she got to see it, it actually came out about 6 weeks before she died. It makes my heart ache thinking about it.
But with NaNoWriMo in mind I have been more productive, which is great. I wish I could keep track of word count but since I write from my phone I haven't figured it out.....and I don't want to be consumed by word count. That's not that this is about for me.
Are you participating this year? Want to chat about it? Post your comments here or head on over to my facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/RebirthBookRTM
I have decided to unofficially participate in NaNoWriMo this year.
I have always meant to but could never get my shit together in time and always missed certain key days, but this year I am jumping in. And I say unofficially because I won't be signing up for their website, I will just track my progress on here and possibly facebook to see how I do. And I will have to track my progress differently then word count, because I do my writing on my smart phone and it's not the same as putting pen to paper or typing on a computer.
I'll be participating with my current WIP that is unrelated to The Afflicted series. As Book 2 of The Afflicted is at the editor and making its way to publication I have been spending my time with something new before I return to my first draft of Book 3 and start working. There are certain threads I need to connect before I can get going with a new draft and I am hoping that once I see how certain aspects of Book 2 are received I can start to connect those threads. I am super excited for you all to read Book 2.....it's really coming! Sooner then you might think.
NaNoWriMo may also be a good time for me to take a look at Blueprint Your Bestseller by Stuart Horowitz, which is sitting right at the top of my TBR pile. I'm not sure if I mentioned that it's a method that JK Rowling uses and, frankly, the Harry Potter novels are some of the best plotted novels I have ever read and if I'm going to plot in such a fashion I might as well learn from the master, right? (I have always been a pantser, for the most part, but with novels involving history it makes things a bit tricky so I need a new method)
I am excited, actually. As I have mentioned, this new WIP has opened some interesting pathways in my mind that I didn't expect to find and I like where they are taking me.
Hopefully doing NaNoWriMo will take it that extra mile and turn it into something real.
Having experienced grief fundamentally changed me as a person.
I have always been someone who feels strongly and deeply, but since losing my Mother I no longer feel connected to the world like I did. I don't feel for people the way I used to - I feel for my husband, my daughter and stepson and that's it, really. I am okay now, where I wasn't before, with my lack of friends my own age. And I don't feel anything for other people's problems like I used to. I empathise but it doesn't cut me deeply.
I haven't seen my supposed best friend since Christmas. And I accept it, and I wonder if I am better for it. A rift has come between us, I had to make a decision for the good of my family that she said she was fine with and she lied about. She has told me multiple times she was going to visit and has not, was even in my neighbourhood on my birthday and walked passed me in a store like she didn't see me but didn't call. She made a big production about coming for cake on my baby's 1st birthday about 2 weeks before then never called, never came, and I heard nothing for months.
Years ago this would have gutted me, made me a bumbling mess. Now I am indifferent, disinterested, and tired. Tired of being the only one who cares about anything, really.
It's easier on me not to care. If no one else does why should I?
As long as I can write and be with my family everything else doesn't even scratch the surface. My connection to the regular world seemed to die with my Mother, and that emotional raw nerve I once was has closed. I sleep better, and my stomach hurts much less.
But grief does that to you. It makes you question everything and everyone, because if it doesn't have a point then what's the point, right?
(I apologise if I sound like I am ranting. I am really clearning my head).
My Mother was really the light in my darkness. And now with her gone, even with the light that is my husband and children my grief has carved a more permanent place for that darkness and it is a part of me like it wasn't before. It is a comfort now, I can retreat to my quiet dark place when I lose interest in the world. It makes for interesting writing and I hope that it will add something to my WIP that I have been trying for but somehow missed. I find that writing has become more raw and emotional and I am retreating into it like I did as a child, and I like it. I have always been drawn to the dark so it makes sense that's where I would end up.
So!
Good news is an editor has been found, and the ball is officially rolling. It will take some time BUT it has begun, which is the important part.
It's been a relief to finally get the ball rolling with Book 2 because having it sitting there collecting dust was really weighing on my brain.
I also picked up a copy of Blueprint My Bestseller in anticipation of this. If you don't know, Blueprint is a method of organizing a manuscript that JK Rowling uses and, really, if you don't know how brilliantly plotted the Harry Potter books are then, well, go read them again!
I thought I might need it during the editing process. But we'll see.
I will keep you posted!
