I've moved!!

Please come see my beautiful new blogger account at:

www.mariehallwrites.blogspot.com :)

That is all. :D

Six Sentence Sunday #8

While I wait for my new site to go live, I figured I'd post one last SSS to this account. Last week you were introduced to Pandora, a Nephilim who has a 'thing' for mortal men. This paragraph is set up for the carnival she and her demon family run. Pandora is a thoughtful demon, but her head can be a very dangerous place to stay in for too long... So without further ado:

Diabolique was Luc’s brainchild. Years ago, none of us could have imagined how popular and mainstream ‘dark’ would become. There’d been a time to admit you dabbled in darkness meant a swift and excruciating death. Dancing with the Devil was a strict no-no. Now, to be cool meant embracing every dark thought and deed and making it your own. Funny how things change.

Happy 6!

Update

Since I'll be writing under a different penname I'm currently getting ready to transfer over all the info from this account to my writing name: mariehallwrites.blogspot.com. I'll also be updating my account, make it look more inviting.

Stay tuned for further updates soon! :D

Red and Her Wolf... The cover

My cover artist keep churning them out and I'm just amazed at the quality of these covers. Though I shouldn't be, she so totally rocks! Anyway, here's the cover for book 3 of the Kingdom Series: Red and her Wolf! Wolf-man is so totally *swoon*... le sigh...

I'm busy, I'm busy

Oh my gosh I'm busy! Sorry I haven't been updating in forever. I promise the wait will be worth it. :D I've had so much on my plate, cool, fun stuff. Last minute, getting set to go to print type stuff. My first 2 Kingdom books are done, my full lengths are nearly ready to be sent off to an editor for copyedits and I'm soooo super stoked, lots of book covers and neato fun stuff on the horizon to share soon!

Stay tuned...

Another gorgeous cover!!!

Seriously ya'll don't be jealous but I've got the bestest cover artists in the world! ;) This is my cover to the second (as yet to be completed) book in my Death Series! She's just gorgeous! *g*

The pink stuff at top is actually Dia de los Muertos skulls. Aren't they divine? The setting for book 2 is in Mexico during the, you guessed it, Dia de los Muertos celebration. Wow did Kelsey outdo herself!! If you guys are looking for cover artists check out razzdazzdesign.com or forthemusedesign.com both come highly recommended by me! And the artists are super easy to work with and very affordable! ;)

Six Sentence Sunday #7

So a new offering for you. This is from my completed novel Death and the Crimson Night, here we're being introduced to the main protag of the tale. Pandora, a Nephilim conflicted with who she's supposed to be vs. who she really is.

The night rang with the cacophonous pitch of rides and the thrilling screams and laughter of riders. Some type of heavy metal played over the loudspeaker, too loud for me to tell who it was. Knowing Luc, it was probably something creepy and mood setting, a-la Black Sabbath.

I watched the scene with cold detachment, not paying much attention to the women or children. I wasn’t into that sorta thing. I preferred my prey young, muscular, and full of testosterone.

Don't forget to tell the Dad in your life Happy Father's Day! Have a great one! :)

Trend shifts, yet again...

Sigh...

Apparently NY is pretty sick of Urban Fantasy's right now. Which I'm not terribly surprised to hear about. A couple of months ago I shopped around a manuscript to agents which 3 years ago (yes, I shopped it around before) garnered several requests, ultimately getting passed up because they either had too many UF authors on their roster, or they couldn't quite connect with my heroine. Which, she can be sort of sharp. LOL... But this time when I did it I noticed a much less enthusiastic reception. I switched up several of the plot elements and practicially rewrote the first three chapters to it. Out of 20 queries, I got one bite and she told me she loved it, but UF's were a tough sale.

So now it seems things are shifting again. Sci-fi, the ugly red-headed stepsister is starting to inspire editors again.

Epic fantasy's are no more popular than before. Authors were hoping since Game of Thrones there'd be a rise in readership for it, but there doesn't actually seem to be and in fact a number of editors aren't buying them, with a rare few exceptions.

I guess if you're like me hang on to those UF's/epic Fantasy's because everything is cyclical and eventually an author, movie, or (insert whatnot here) will make them popular again.

Why I know writers are the smartest people on the planet

Have you ever wondered, as I have, 'man, if the cops ever needed to crack into my hard drive they'd swear I was a bank robber/drug dealer/professional race car driver/gourmet chef/vampire/soccer mom!'

Seriously think about it. Writers tend to know the most random, useless, impossibly brilliant tidbits of information about almost everything. I write about countries I've never stepped foot in, yet I know the peak of their altitude, the country's population, general demographic, old stories, and even a smattering (though probably butchered...lol) version of their language.

One day I'd love to see a writer get on some trivia show like Jeopardy, I'd be willing to bet we'd go very very far.

So to all the brew masters/herbalists/wiccan shapeshifting wolfie mermaids out there...

I salute you! And cops if you're reading this, I swear that article on how to make a bomb shelter is totally research!!  *g*

Deep ninja mode:

Be very quiet, Linda is in deep edit mode. If you value your life, you'll back away slowly. If not, I'll lay the stinky ninja on you. And you won't like the stinky ninja, trust me!!

Six Sentence Sunday Part 6

Time for another riveting Six Sentence! *g*

Gerard wanted to freeze this moment, remember it always. The way her pink belly shirt exposed her navel, how her nipples puckered- presenting itself like a jewel to his waiting mouth. He licked his lips, wishing he could do more than touch her hair.

“Would you like to learn?” Betty asked, her sultry voice made him tremble.

He nodded, not knowing why he wanted to, only knowing he needed to...

And the rest I'll leave to your fevered imaginations, my little chou's! Till next week! ;)

Dream Weaver (Cover Love)

So here it is, time for another showing! My beautiful cover to a book a wrote years ago. It's in need of tender love, but I'm beyond thrilled with this cover and just had to share!

Jealous yet. ;) LOL... hopefully I can make the inside as great as the outside!

All of you must bow down to me!

Do it I say! Bow down, you worthless pathetic slime.

What?

Do you not know who I am? I am King of the Trolls! Mortimor Snerd. Have I not introduced myself to you once? Did I not tell you I'd be back?! That stupid cow Linda was too busy to update you today. She's writing. Writing. Excuse me while I spit the bitter taste out my mouth! Always whining about not having enough time, needing to work on this or that. Try Lording it over a rabble rousing crowd of cannibalistic trolls, that's pressure!

And riddle me this puny mortal, why when I offer her the vasntess of Trollandia she chooses to write about this man, this Gerard!

Tell me honestly now. Is he not the most revolting thing you've ever seen? Why he's got no scales, no green hue. Where are the horns?! The callouses! That is not a man, that is a babe, a babe with fuzz around his lips.

I know, he's hideous. And French, good gods, save us all! Anyway, I've no patience for any of you anymore. I've a kingdom to run, some heads to bash in, and a stinky little writer in my dungeon who's waiting on my big hairy kiss.

(Deep in the dankest drippiest side of the Troll's dungeon a harried writer's heart seizes up when she hears Mortimor's words...

"No, I'm not, Mortimor Snerd!" Linda yells. "You stay away from me you big walking mole!")

"Oh shut your mouth, Linda!" I snicker. The woman so obviously wants me. Yes, she's also a frightfully ugly creature, but I guess I've got a thing for worms.

Anyway, I'm bored of you all. Go away! A word of warning though... remember we're always watching.

*cue maniacal laughter now*

Sleeping Handsome

So now that I've totally decided to go Indie, I've decided whenever I come across a great Indie artist, I'll plug their book here. Show some support. Today is all about a scrumptious novella I read last night, Sleeping Handsome by Jean Haus.

The book is great, it's about an eighteen year old boy in a comma and the girl who falls in love with him. The heroine of the tale- Paige- is a self centered, typical high school Senior who's gotten herself into trouble and in order to not be expelled has been assigned reading duties to a comatose patient. She's an aspiring actress and because she reads so well, the principal feels she might help Zach come back to the world of the living. At first she resents being 'forced' to do it, but over a period of a month she starts to feel as if Zach is only just sleeping and not on the verge of death at all. After stumbling onto his secret journal she begins to read to him from it, hoping that she'll jog his mind into waking. Remind him of who he was. And as she does so she begins to fall in love with the boy between the pages of the book. After a month, she's reached the final entry and is then told by Zach's mother she'll no longer be needed to read to him anymore. The family has decided after four months it's finally time to take Zach off life support. Paige is heart broken and goes to his room to tell him goodbye, she leans in and kisses him and... well, I won't give it all away. ;)

If you can suspend disbelief that a boy that sick should actually be in the hospital and not on life support at home, then you might actually enjoy this love story. It was incredibly sweet, no sex, though there is some language. But still, well worth your time and when it's free??? You're not really out anything but an hour of your life. Give it a shot. *g*

Try it, you might love it as much as I did!

Unbeliveably bored

So today, I'm sooooo bored. There's a great many things I should be doing and I've done none of them. I'm getting antsy because there's a million places I should be hearing back from soon (3..lol) and yeah, I'm full of nervous anxiety and just want to hear something. Of the good variety specifically! :D

We didn't make the flight, obviously I'm here typing instead of playing with my niece and nephews and that was annoying. Next time I'll know, be absolutely packed a full week in advance. I'm used to flying traditional airlines, where if they don't fly out on time it's because they've bumped the flight back. The military thinks it's fun to jump forward with no word of warning. So when I went to the airline to ask why the flight was no longer on their Sunday flight plan, it was because the flight was getting ready to take off in less than an hour! Needless to say, 2 small kids, lots of packing still to do. Yeah... maybe next year. Sigh...

So today my hubs got his associate's degree from the college of the Air Force. My not going home did at least afford me the ability to watch him walk across the stage. Which in hindsight was a good thing, we had no idea this ceremony was even slated to take place today until last week. I would have hated to miss it.

I've got less than 10k left to complete Gerard's Beauty and I should be done with it *fingers crossed* by next week. Unfortunately if my writing goes the way it did today (5 words exactly) it might actually take another year. :(

So yeah, need some good news. Something to invigorate me and get me motivated again! Do you hear me universe!! A million dollars, a book contract, the return of my abandoned muse... I'm not picky!

Six Sentence Saturday?

Happy Weekend all, hope it's as great as mine. Though I doubt too many of you can touch mine, Hawaii and all... Kind of an unfair advantage. ;) Anyway, you might notice I'm updating my six sentences today rather than Sunday, I have a perfectly good reason. You see tomorrow I'm going to try and catch a HOP with my boys (that's a military flight for you civilians *g*) and heading back to the mainland for 2 weeks to hang with family. So if all goes as planned I won't be here tomorrow to update. Ergo... Six Sentence Saturday has been invented. *VBG*

So without further ado:

“Betty Hart, I’m sorry.” Gerard whispered and she smiled, snuggling in deeper. “You shouldn’t know me. I’m no good. Don’t fall in love with me, Cherie. Guard your heart, because the moment I’m free, I’ll leave you. I always do.”

:)

Fun Factoid Friday!

Used to be a time when the end of the week was a source of great excitement for me. The older I get though, the quicker time seems to fly and I'm desperate to slow it down! LOL... anyone else like me? Sheesh *eye roll*. So here we are, yet another fun fact Friday.

1. Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women!

(Somehow I'm not surprised to learn that inventions designed to prevent harm to a person belong to us! We so totally rock, and laser printers... obviously a writer. ;) Hmm... maybe she's a diva! *g*)

2. It is impossible to hum if your nose is plugged.

(I wish I was a fly on the wall to see how many of you are trying that right now! LOL)

3. Couples' personalities converge over time to make partners more and more similar to one another.

(Clearly the same is true of owners' and their pets!)

Have a great weekend all!

Cover art!

Oh man, I love cover art day! It's like opening up a Christmas present. :D *squee* So here's my cover for: Fire in the Sky and Cursed: A vampire's tale. Yay! What do y'all think?!

There's a new genre in town!

Move over Dystopian YA's. The hot new genre is: CRAP! Yup, not kidding. Go read Pub Rants if you don't believe me.

After reading that I sort of feel both disheartened and encouraged. I basically blogged about this the other day, writers (knowingly or not) following trends. Listen y'all... you may not know me from Adam, or even want to believe a word I say but I've got some ins in this biz and I'm telling you loud and clear... that ship has sailed. Editors are seeming more and more disgusted by it, to the point that even if you come across a REALLY GREAT read they already have a preconceived notion of what they're getting and are 9/10's of the way toward rejecting it before they even read the first word! Can Dystopian/Tweeny glittery vamps still sell? Sure, but with the sheer amount of queries out there yours had better be not only FRESH but also Fan-Freakin-Tastic! That's a very tall order. Which is sad, but unfortunately part and parcel of the business.

We saw the fallout from paranormal romances just a few years ago. What would have sold before in no time flat would now make anyone hestitant to make an offer on simply because the market can't really sustain it. I've always felt like I tried to keep one step ahead of the 'hot' new thing in para (listen, I write paranormals and fantasy... I won't stop simply because I know the market for it sucks eggs now) but no sooner would I get a brilliant idea to write about a new species of demon (nephilim) than I see tons of novels dealing with the Judaeo-Christian version of demons. So what do I do? I submitted that novel to several agents, many of whom requested more and responded favorably before ultimately rejecting it. Why? Because they already had 1 too many authors writing demon books. In fact, 3 of those 4 agents asked me if I had anything else for them to read. That told me one thing, they weren't giving me the pat 'it just wasn't for me' answer. They sincerely liked my voice but just weren't sure they'd be able to sell this book when they already had authors on their roster (and I'd bet my last dollar... they're having a tough time selling those).

I'm not saying don't write the Dystopian or glittery vamp, I'm just saying understand your market and if NY is your ultimate goal then realize you may never sell that book, no matter how good it is. :( As for me, I came to the conclusion that readers tastes don't really change, so while NY has had enough of para and now it seems certain categories of YA... readers still like what they like and will give my little demon a chance. I decided I like writing paras too much to pursue NY any longer. I'll be self pubbing, for me... that's probably my only good option left.

For you... just decide if you're willing to go through the rigors and headaches of being told this is great, but sorry... just can't take you on right now. Who knows, lightening always strikes... maybe it'll strike you. Whatever you decide, just think it through and decide just how much you're willing to put up with to realize your dream.

Happy writing!

Disturbed

So the other day I read a freaky story on aol, straight from the Miami Herald. I can't stop thinking about it, not because I loved it, but because it disturbs me too much. I write fiction, in fiction I've no problem with the concept of zombies eating flesh to survive, why... because in real life it's NEVER supposed to happen. It's safe because its confined to the pages of a book. Just like dinosaurs are fun, NOW... how ever many years ago they walked this Earth in no way would I have wanted to personally know one. Not even the herbivores... I like my dinosaurs in bone form, thank you very much.

I don't even want to relate this story because it's given me bad dreams 2 days running, but I feel I need the catharsis of purging this from my subconscious so here it is, in all its unfiltered macabreness.

A cop was called to a scene of two men fighting under a freeway overpass in Miami this past weekend. When he arrived on scene it was to see a nude man straddling the prone form of the other. Naked was bent over the other, blood was everywhere. The cop got on his loud speaker and at gun point urged the man to back away. Then the cop heard a noise that chilled him to his core... the slurping of naked dude eating on the other man's face. Yes, eating.

He fired a shot into the air, again told the guy to back away. The guy laying down wasn't moving anymore. Naked guy was still eating his face. The cop fired a slug into his shoulder, dude got flung back and on bloody knuckles crawled his way back to the prone body and resumed eating. Cop fired off a total of six rounds, killing the cannibal only to discover when he walked up to the bodies, the dude who'd been eaten on was still alive!!!!

His entire face had been gnawed off. When I read the story last the man was in ICU fighting for his life. By all reports Cannibal was tweaking on coke and I dunno... maybe confused the homeless drifter for food? I don't have any bloody idea and we'll never know since he's dead now..but can you imagine? Even if that poor guy survives he'll never be the same. And I'm not just talking physically, spiritually, emotionally... if he survives he'll probably wish he hadn't. He was attacked and eaten on.. his face is gone. I'm sorry to make you all so sick with this story but it literally has turned my stomach for two days now and I just want to vomit when I think about it. That goes beyond mere mental illness, that act is about as depraved as a human can go. Is he even still considered human? Did the man even own a conscious? Even high as a kite could he really not tell he was chewing on a living man's face? My God that poor man, my heart bleeds for him. No one, no one! should ever have to go through something like that.

Too sad. :(

Six Sentence Sunday #4

Howdy folks! Happy Sunday (almost) and Happy almost Memorial Day! :D Red Rocket's Giants came in second place in the baseball tournament, we're so proud of him! Just a mini-brag before getting down to business. *vbg*

So thinking about what I wanted to post, I decided to go with a story I set aside last year. It's a great story and if it weren't for plot bunnies I'd be done with it already. LOL. Maybe posting some lines will spur me on to finishing.

So without further ado:

"Oh Alistar, what have you done?  Forgive me, dear wolf, my fight is not with you."  His eyes widened.  "Ignis," Memphis cried, energy pulsed from her hands and then she drove the fiery spear through his gut. Alistar fell to his knees, shock and pain scrawled fine lines around eyes that grew glassy and dull.  She held the flame in place until the light died and his soul fled.

;)

Fun Factoid Friday

What a week! Red Rocket finished his last day of fourth grade yesterday, we all went to sleep way too late and are looking forward to exploring more of Hawaii this summer! Dh has learned we've  been granted an extension, so we'll actually be living in Honolulu through 2017 God willing and yeah.. life is good! *vbg*

I'm halfway through Gerard's book and am happy where it's headed, am reading a pretty fantastic book *Retrieval* and so without further ado:

1. Oprah Winfrey makes $10 a second.

(No, I did not say an hour, a second... wow! I'm just... yeah, totally jealous)

2. Jean-Clause Van Damme learned to speak English by watching the cartoon "The Flinstone's".

(That explains so much...)

3. During his lifetime, Herman Melville's Moby Dick sold only 50 copies

(And as a writer, that totally depresses me)

Happy Memorial Day all!

Remember to thank a veteran. :)

Cover Art

LOVE posting cover art. It's like opening a present at Christmas for me! *smiles* So this is for book 2 of the Kingdom Series, currently being written entitled: Gerard's Beauty. Based on the Beauty and the Beast book, but with a twist. Of course. *wink* The beast in question is the hot head Gaston (although for copyright reasons his name has been changed to Gerard and there's actually a really funny story about why Gerard's name was changed to Gaston in the first place... but to find out, you'll have to read the book!) finally meeting his match in the sexy yet nerdy librarian, Betty Hart. I love this cover and feel like it really conveys the fairy tale like quality of the book!

Is too much of a good thing, too much?

You might be wondering what's gotten me to ask that question, well just this... seems like when anything suddenly becomes trendy (IE: Twilight, The Hunger Games) the masses jump ship and start writing nothing but YA. Years ago, Para Rom was all the rage and just about everyone I talked to was writing one. Even writers that traditionally only wrote contemporaries. Which inevitably meant the market got glutted, less and less writers were discovered in that genre and eventually burn out happened. Now you've got agents who are fed up with Para Rom. Which to me is sad, because I still love a good vampire novel. But you even mention the word and well... it ain't pretty.

So a couple years ago a new book kinda went global, Twilight (ever heard of it?) and suddenly vampire romance YA's exploded. Every. Where. Then here comes this bleak, dystopian tale of kids killing kids and now... it's also everywhere.

I'm not harping, because well... I've been very guilty of also following trends. Not thinking I am mind you, but an idea will strike and I'll think... why not? But here's the thing, it's sort of dawning on me.. once a book makes it the trend has actually already been in effect for 2-3 years. Say it takes you a year to write your book, get it all polished up nice and perty like.. well... now you're at 4 years behind the curve. Say, just say, all the stars align and an agent is still cuckoo for cocoa puffs (oh..hmm..sorry, haven't eaten lunch yet*blush*) dystopian society/vampire/erotica a la 50 Shades/insert trend here.. and they snap you up. Well that's just one hurdle amongst many. Now you have to convince NY that you're worth it. Say they do and they buy your book- but you're a newb author, so there's not gonna be much promotion for it and you're not going to get a quick release date *unless they're a start up company, which yeah... hasn't happened in oh... forever* You're looking at a potential release date of a year, maybe even two. Yes, I've seen it happen.

In the end, you followed a trend (knowingly or not) and you're now releasing a book 5 or 6 years after the mega hit came out. At that point the reader is sick of them, the market is glutted, and unfortunately your book gets no love and now the agent is wondering... what did I ever see in that?

(A slightly cynical what-if) But it could happen. I guess my point of this post is this... I love romances/UF and for two years now I've been trying to write a YA. Why? Because I'm a masochist, clearly.

I finished the 'YA', shopped it around, and got soundly rejected. I realize why... A. It doesn't stand out from the crowd, it's pretty much a been there done that type plot, but B. I'm a Fantasy/Adult Romance/UF girl...my YA wasn't really a YA at all. Yes, I had a 16 year old MC but she talked mature, she thought mature, and she got put into mature situations. In my case (and I can only speak for myself) I followed a trend hoping to get some recognition but my 'voice' is pure adult. I just couldn't make it work and I know I'm not the only one.

So write what you love. Forget the trend. Who knows, if you stick to your guns long enough you might be the one to churn out the next mega success. So here's hoping ugly pickle loving IT nerds who fight vampire trolls at night while learning to fox trot during the day will be the start of something amazing!... I can only hope. ;)

Six Sentence Sunday #3

Wow, three weeks of S.S.S.! Nearly 10k into my latest book, but now I'm switching books and I'm putting six sentences from an older story. This is from my fantasy w/romantic elements: Fire Dancer (formerly known as: The Girl in Amber Flame)...

So without further ado...

     His words punctuated each snap of flesh against flesh. She moaned, denying it. His eyes flashed and what he did next laced her soul with horror and she screamed.

Then he was quieting her with his toxic kiss. The one that drained her of thought, of fight, of anything but the primal need to have more and more. But like a parasite, all he did was take and take, giving nothing back, and each time he took she became less and less...

:)

And so here we go...

The kids are getting ready to start Summer Vacation. Which, ironically, I'm happy about. :) I hear most mothers whine about... can't wait till they go back, I've always been just the opposite. I love having Red Rocket home and look forward to this summer. Hiking Mt. Kilauea, camping on Bellows Beach, hiking (for the second time!) Diamonhead, and let's not forget Hanuama Bay. I love Hawaii! So much fun, all of it free. Or so cheap it might as well be. The most expensive thing about this place is getting here, once you do... you can comfortably have a fun vacation without spending an arm and a leg. If you know where to go. ;)

But anyway... Fun Factoid Friday time! Yay, I know how much you all look forward to my obscure little facts. *g*

1. Hippo's milk is pink!

(Okay, that is one ugly beast! I'd hate to be the baby sucking on that nipple!)

2. Men who kiss their wives in the morning live five years longer than those who don't.

(And this is why I write romances! It's good for your health!)

3. A poll has found that computer 'nerds' make the best lovers, with 82 percent of it being IT geeks claiming they put their partner's pleasure above their own.

 

(Who wouldn't want that? Grrwar!)

Stay classy San Diego!

Oh wait, I was channeling my favorite geek ever...

Okay, so with him, I might belive it! ;)

Have a great weekend all!

Hello, my name is Linda and I'm an addict...

A kindle free reads download addict that is! Oh man, I've seriously lost count of how many books I've downloaded. Each night, right before bed, I open my kindle and browse the top 100. It's seriously like Christmas for me. I get so giddy, so excited at the thought of finding 'the one'. My new favorite. New favorite author, book, series. Ohhh, it's just insane how many good books there are out there. I'm amazed by the quality of Indie writers.

When I first started reading it seemed like for every 10 books, only 1 would be readable, but as time has progressed either writers are getting more crafty and realizing just how important good editing is, or I'm just getting really lucky. Last night for instance I found 5 new books, I always read the first page of each book after downloading, just to decide which book I'll choose to read next. And the quality is just... I'm so excited! Already I've found an author I plan to follow religiously, Rhonda Stapleton, and a series (while not perfectly edited) has been fun!

I said that to say this, if you ever wonder should I do a free day? Does it really pay off? Yes, it does. I've followed at least 4 authors beyond their free read and look forward to finding more. I love the freedom of Indie pubbing, I love all these authors we would never have had a chance to know before. I think it's an exciting time to be a reader/writer and I for one just wanted to say a great big thank you to all the writers out there brave enough to go for it!

Guest blogger

I happen to have friends in the industry. I know, I'm totally lucky that way! *g* and today I decided to post some of his thoughts on queries. Here's some hard and fast rules to make it the best query you can and give yourself the best chance of getting seen by the 'right' eyes.

Surprise number one, many many agents employ interns. Not all, but a number of them. The intern is a faceless, nameless individual who reads through thousands of slush piles and decides which queries will get before an agent's eyes. They know precisely an agent's likes and dislikes and will forward IF and only IF the author meets certain criteria.

This is forwarded from the horse's mouth himself:

1. You wouldn't believe how often rules get broken. If we say only include the first 30 pages, pasted within the body of the email, it does not mean attach the full manuscript! We won't open them and you'll be rejected without even reading it.

2. Please don't tell us your bills are piling up and so you'll take any amount of money. A. We're your agent, we shop your book around. B. We don't pay you, you pay us! Don't give us a life story, remember this is a professional industry, keep it professional. Sad as it is to know you're in desperate need of funds, we're also not going to stop rejecting you if the project doesn't work for us. Period.

3. Do yourself a favor, include the sample writing! If you think to tease us with a query by saying go to this website or that website, nope. We simply don't have that kind of time. If the query is weak, we'll reject. We request the sample pages from the beginning because we understand not all writers can write a strong query. But if all you give us is the query, we'll judge you based on that alone. And here's the kicker, we find authors more often than not based off the strength of the writing and NOT the query. So you're only hurting yourself by not following the guideline's.

4. If you write a vampire novel PLEASE DON'T start the query by saying, "I Know... I Know... Another Stupid Vampire Novel." If you don't have enough faith in it, then why should we?

5. DO NOT REQUERY THE SAME BOOK OVER AND OVER WHEN WE'VE ALREADY REJECTED IT! Yes, we remember you and no, we don't read them again. So STOP. Chances are if you write another novel, we won't even look at it because we remember you and who you are! If we don't ask you to resubmit, DON'T.

6. Do, be professional. Query one agent at a time. That is not saying not to send out multiple queries, but don't do it in the same email. How would you like getting a group rejection?

7. The query letter is a simple thing. Give us length, genre, name, phone number, and a brief blurb and already you're ten paces ahead of the pack.

8. Secret number 8... list every single writing credential. Even if you don't think it matters, it matters. Do you have an MFA, say so. Brag about yourself, that is the time to do it!

9. Don't follow trends. Write what you love, if you do... we'll know and respond. Beautiful writing is beautiful writing, no matter what genre it is. Don't listen to naysayers saying such and such is dead, or such and such is hot, write what you love because that's what we want to read!

Well...I think he was pretty thorough there. And thank you so much *mysteryintern* for your pearls of wisdom! Hope you all enjoyed!

Linda

Six Sentence Sunday

Yes, it's late, but this was the first time I could get away to put it up! LOL. This is from my very ROUGH wip Gerard's Beauty! Happy Mother's Day all, and with that I give you Six Sentence Sunday:

His eyes narrowed and she stopped moving, stopped breathing. Black eyes. But instead of them being lifeless and flat like a shark’s, they gleamed like oil in moonlight flickering with glints of silver.

     She swallowed hard, her heart beat hard and her mouth went 


dry. Then he lifted a brow and reclined, reminding her of a loping 


panther the way his massive body relaxed on the chair. One large 


leg sprawled out, skin peeking out from behind his ripped shirt. 


;)

Gotta love new covers!

I normally would wait to post again till the next day. But new book covers simply cannot wait!! I was pleasantly surprised to find my book cover for Her Mad Hatter waiting in my inbox this afternoon. I'm sooo happy, first: because what are the odds I'll find an Asian Alice?! Second: Because this just feels so Hatter.

So what do you think?

I also received a cover for my second novella. It's in deep editing stage just yet, but I'm so happy to have the cover ready when it's done!

Love it!!

Fun factoid Friday...

And so another week bites the dust. Red Rocket is getting ready start summer vacation in 2 weeks and I've got a massive amount of edits to hit on Hatter. I'm hoping to get that well under way today, so without further ado:

1. Cherophobia is a fear of fun.
(Wow, really?! People are afraid to have fun... how sad.)

2. A donkey will sink in quicksand, but a mule won't.
(Hmm...)

3. Worms reportedly taste like bacon
(Mmm...)

LOL....that last one is so gross. :p Ya'll have a great weekend!

The reality of the harsh critique...

They exist. Yup, if you're a writer- and no matter how many fans you might have, the old adage is very true: Can't please them all.

First off, let me start this by saying I'm not thinking of anyone in particular. But I've had my share of them, I've been around for 10 years. It happens.

In the beginning those things used to get me so low I'd literally go weeks before I could write anything. I'd question everything I wrote, would start to listen to every negative comment and let it dictate to me what type of writer I was. But I've learned... and it's taken me a while to understand this... I am not what I write!

So what if someone doesn't love your work? 

They are every bit entitled to their opinion and you just have to live with it. That's what this business is all about. Harsh but true.

For an example: Stephanie Meyer has sold like gangbusters, her books have been turned into films and yet there's plenty of people who HATE her stuff. So what you think.. she's just a flash in the pan. Fine, let's look at a writer of classic literature, taught in schools, colleges, MOST readers would tell you she is their favorite author of all time. Jane Austen, author of such notable classics as P&P, (that's Pride and Prejudice for the few of you still living under a rock *wink*) Sense and Sensibility, and my personal favorite- Northanger Abbey. But go on to Amazon reviews, there's at least 100 people who would rather burn it than read it. 

So what's my point with this post? Just this. Learn. Learn from them. Listen, I never send my stuff out to get read with the need to be told, this was divine, an instant classic, you write sooooo much better than me, I'm not worthy... while those things are nice, you cannot learn from them. In fact, once the dust settles and you can sort out the feelings from the critique, it's often the really harsh critique from the person (who you know HATED it) that will give you some great insight. Something obviously turned them way off, try to find what that is, stew on it... and you might be surprised to find it's got merit. 

Besides, writing is all about drawing out emotion from the reader. I'll take hate over antipathy any day of the week. ;) Just means I'm getting closer.

Hi guys

For the two people that read this! LOL...Sorry I've not updated in a while. I've been BUSY. Completely and totally. My internship has kept me unbelievably busy, not to mention my own writing. I've recently completed another book! Yay me. :D Entitled: Her Mad Hatter. Based loosely off Lewis Carroll's classic Alice in Wonderland. It's the grown up version. ;) It's in the beta/editing phase and I'm feeling really good about it. Working on book 2 in my kingdom series. Will post book cover photos and a blurb soon, I hope!

I'll write more later...!

Six Sentence Sunday

So I guess I'll be jumping on the bandwagon! My C.P. and good friend suggested I join in on the fun. So six sentence Sunday from my current wip: Gaston's Beauty

The books had it all wrong. Shifters never turned human with clothes on. They returned to human form as nude as the day they were born. His muscles, like thick ropes, flexed as he strode back out. She fanned her flushed face, entranced by his predatory loping grace, even on two feet, he walked like a beast.

My, but her boys were pretty. 


There ya go!


Have a great Sunday :D

Have to do this

Instead of Fun Factoid, today I'll be doing something I rarely do. Write a review!

I don't normally write them. And most especially not for a superhero romance. I've not found one yet I love. Well, that all changed last night. In fact, I loved this so much I'm blogging about it. The author is clearly a skilled writer, all sex scenes are fade to black (normally that's how I prefer it) and yet, I found myself almost wishing there was one, that's how hot the chemistry was between the two.



Cover is super cheese as  you can see, but this is a prime example of don't judge a book by it's cover! You absolutely must go download it, it's free...honestly, no reason not to try it. This book rocked my socks off. An adult version of Sky High, campy, cheesy goodness!

Just do yourself a favor, DON'T start reading this right before bed! It's highly addictive!

Premonitions

Premonition: Anticipation of an event without conscious reason
(Merriam-Webster Definition)

So to tell this story properly, I have to back track a little.

Last night, right before bed my husband started prowling the house. He checked the doors, then rechecked them. And then again, about an hour before bed, he rechecked them. Locked. But he was paranoid because the back door was open earlier in the evening. The only one who would have opened it would have been either myself or him, he asked me when he noticed if I'd done it. Honestly, I can't say that I didn't. But...I don't remember doing it. I would have had no reason. I didn't go into my garden yesterday, which is the only reason why I'd do it.

Anyway..after that, he was paranoid the rest of the night. So much so, that when we went to bed, he shot straight up thirty minutes later, grabbed my son's baseball bat and said he was going to check the doors again. He also walked the perimeter of the house. When I say he's not normally like this, I mean it. It was strange enough behavior that I started to get a little nervous. What was he doing?

When he finally came to bed, he didn't sleep well. He had so many bad dreams, it kept waking  me up. I'd have to literally slap him to get him to wake up and stop screaming. Needless to say, I did not sleep well last night. Before he went to work this morning he told he kept having these dreams that someone was breaking into our house and had hurt Bean.

I shrugged it off, it was only a dream. Right?

This morning when I walk Red Rocket to school I see cop cars at the neighbor's house. I really don't think much about it, this is a military base, it's not that uncommon. But when I'm coming home my neighbor is outside, she's got a ginormous suburban. We call it big blue, this thing is like a house it's so big. Hard to miss.

It was stolen last night. Not only that, she tells me the robbers hit most of the houses on the street. They jacked open garages, were stealing motorcycles, breaking into homes...last night my street got hit!

But not my house. Not only that, I left my car door unlocked. There was even cash in the ash tray. We have a classic Harley in the garage. Nothing got taken!! OMGosh!

Premonition?

You decide.

The trials of fabulousness...

While I know it might be hard to imagine, my being anything less than completely and totally awesome...it is true that I'm a human too. I'm completely and utterly helpless when it comes to technology of any sort. In fact, it's a minor miracle I was able to boot up this laptop today. I know, shocking right.

Point is, I'm entering a very scary phase of my writing life. Promotions. I don't have a clue where to start, how to do it, et cetera. I've always left that up to my publishing houses before, would go to chats they scheduled for me, would go to the website where they'd put up ads for my books...yeah, I did nothing. Bit of a pampered doll I was.

But...

Now, it's all on me and I don't know where to start. I hear so many conflicting reports. This works, no it doesn't. You must do this, I did that and not only did I waste 400 bucks...I didn't generate not one sale. So what does a girl like me do? I'm really not great at searching the web, mainly because I'm too lazy to learn. I'd rather write. That's why I go the easy route, blogger instead of word press as a point in case.

I thought, wrongly I'm guessing, that when you upload your stuff to amazon they did a certain part of the marketing for you. Like for instance, if I signed up for KDP select program..they'd circulate my book in all the appropriate venues, get some buzz going and I could sit back and see the magic happen.

I'm thinking however, that's just not the case. I blame stories like the Mill River Recluse for making me think this way. Darcy Chan (?) the author, plunked her book onto amazon for .99 cents, did zero advertising and it's now sold well over 300,000 copies. Granted .99 cents is a very low price point and maybe that enticed buyers to give it a go. But, there's many books marked down that low that get nowhere near that amount of sales.

So if anyone could give me a very basic, rudimentary plan for marketing that doesn't involve spending a fortune, in fact..free would be best, I'm a struggling writer *eye roll*, I'd be forever indebted to you and would definitely be willing to share some of my awesomeness with you! :)

Thoughts...and fun factoid friday!

Wow, where did this week go? I turned around and it was gone. Jeez, this was a crazy week. I hardly blogged, sorry about that. :( Just busy. Has that ever happened to you? Super duper busy, but you're not really sure with what, or even why? It's Friday, I know I had the week from h-e-double hockey sticks...and yet, I'm scratching my head trying to remember what exactly I did. LOL. Or maybe I'm just getting really old. Oy vey!

Wrapping up Her Mad Hatter, I'm hoping I'll have it done soon. Which is a good thing, because I know in a few weeks my life is going to get even more busy. If you can believe it. :p

Without futher ado, Fun Factoid Friday:

1. The CIA once spent $20 millions dollars on a cat equipped with gear to spy on the Soviets, but it was hit by a taxi.

(That my friends is the definition of Irony. And can I just say...wow, what a brilliant use of our tax money. Lovely, maybe next time they'll take my advice and hard wire a cockroach, everyone knows they can survive for 2 weeks without a head! *sheesh*)

2. The Procrastinators'  club of America newsletter is called Last Month's Newsletter.

(nope, didn't make that up!)

3. To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.

(*eyes bug*..there are no words...)

Have a great weekend!

The epiphany...

I've been waiting for a while now to hear back from an agent with my full manuscript. I heard today. Rejection. And really, not for anything seriously wrong with it. She felt it wasn't a true YA, it's definitely Adult Fiction. Also, certain aspects of my world confused her, she didn't expound on that, but I'm fairly certain I know what she's talking about. 


Here's the deal though, I'll clear the confusion...like I said, I'm pretty sure I know where that problem lies...but I think the reason why she rejected this, it's a matter of..what do I do with this? She read the whole thing, said she actually enjoyed it. She's always liked my voice and was excited to read this. I think what it all boils down to is this...it's different. Not bad, just different. 


I've been contemplating something for a long long time and that's that I placed too much emphasis on NY. I've made them my end all be all. But I don't think I can write for NY. Not that I can't write, but that my stuff is not at all what NY wants to see. Is there an audience for my books...honestly, I don't know. I don't know that anyone outside of my family and CP's would like this. I don't know that I'll ever make a red cent on these books, but I do know I have to publish them. I have to put them out there, I just have to. So it's with much sadness, but firm resolve, that I know my NY dreams will never be. After 10 years I think I'm finally ready to admit it's over. 


From now on, I'll be strictly Indie. In the end I think I'll actually be happier. It's a sad day for me right now, but I really do feel I'm making the right choice.

Surprise!

Said I would share it when it was done, and here she is, shiny, new, and almost ready to go up! So...beautiful right? *vbg* This is the mock up cover to my novel Death and the Crimson Night. And here's the blurb:

Pandora travels with the Carnival Diabolique, a dark circus that provides any addiction a person might desire. She is one of the half-breed demons that run it. Unlike her brethren, she believes humanity is more than prey and worth protecting. Eager to redeem her past sins, she fights with The Order, a human watch group who use Pandora to clean up the messes left behind by monsters who prey on the innocent. Her latest mission will take her deep into the lair of vampires worshipping an ancient god whose thirst for human blood is unmatched. As if that weren't enough, she comes face to face with her own personal demon--a killer sworn to end her kind.

Although he should be trying to kill her, he seems content to provide backup when she leasts expects it, and while she should be grateful, his attention leaves her unsettled. She knows the dark desires he awakens in her might lead to her demise, but it's a deadly dance she cannot resist. Betrayal rides the night and when it's all over she will never be the same again. 

If you need cover designs, razzle dazzle, just sayin'. ;) Elune's amazing. Will definitely use her for the rest of the series. Fantastic. As good as anything I've seen with NY. Will release more info when it goes viral..but for now, I'm thrilled!

That kind of a week...

Ugh, you ever have those weeks where everything just sorta seems to slide downhill? Well I sure did. First my baby gets a crazy temp on Tuesday, Wednesday it spikes so high I rush him to ER and am told there's some crazy flu thing running around, can't do much for him but give him motrin and tylenol and wait it out. Finally breaks Wednesday afternoon, but then his voice gets really rough and scratchy. Also doesn't want to eat much. But overall, doing well. However...Red Rocket starts to act the same way Friday night and wouldn't you know it, by Saturday morning his fever is blazing. I don't take him to the ER because the symptoms are exactly as Beans.

And just like bean, by Saturday evening his fever broke. Now he's complaining of an extremely sore throat, doesn't want to eat much. But other than that, seems fine. No idea what in the heck this thing is, but caring for 2 sick boys at once...not fun!

No writing done, but I did get some covers commissioned and I cannot wait to see them. They're for my Kingdome Series. I plan to start writing as soon as I wrap this up. I'm just praying this coming week will slow down for me and that my boys will get their appetite's back, especially little bean. He's already tiny, don't want him losing any weight.

So yeah, that's it for me!

:)

Inspiration

So I don't normally do this, pick out faces to match the vision of my characters. But I identified so closely with these two characters that I know THIS is who they are.

Meet Gavin Rossdale, a.k.a: The Mad Hatter. Crazy hair and all, only a little more gothed out.

Kelly Hu, a.k.a Alice Hu. Yes, the last names are the same...because truly she is Alice in my mind.

Aren't they a gorgeous couple?

Le sigh...

Don't bet on it, you goose stepping harpy!!

Okay, seriously that's got to be the best line ever! Nonsensical ramblings that made me chuckle, love it when that happens.

Anyway...

Writing a new novella series. The Kingdome Series based on the bad boys of fairy tale land. 1. Hatter. 2. Gaston. 3. Hook. 4. Jafar. 5. The big bad wolf.  I'm getting so excited. I'm almost halfway done with book 1: Her Mad Hatter. Semi-loosely based on Alice's Adventures. But with a sexier Hatter and an Asian Alice. Sooo much fun! I haven't done something like this in forever, just write campy fantasy romance and I'm loving it. Last night I finished the scene where Alice falls through the 'hole' into Wonderland, lands at the Hatter's Feet and yeah..sparks are already flying.

I've commissioned a cover artist already and I cannot wait to see it. My goal is to have all five novellas done within 2 months or so. The goal is that these books will be my very first self publishing venture. 5 books out all at once, hopefully I can develop a fan base off those who'll follow me to my full length books, and won't mind waiting on the sequels to come out.


No news, though should hear back soon from several places...

Secret squirrely stuff

So...I've got some cool news to share. Soon. I'm so excited. It's my cover for, what will be, my first full length self-pubbing venture. I saw a mock cover of it today, sooo pretty. But she's not done yet and I don't want to share until it's fully complete.

But ohhh, I'm happy.

The only thing that would make this week better if is I got agented, sold a book, and made gads of money. That's not too much to ask for, right? *g*

Fun Factoid Friday...and singing the blues

Here we are yet again. This week flew by, crazy. Where did the time go? I got zero writing done, well no..scratch that, maybe about 4k. Which is small fries for me. But I was busy, so I guess I can cut myself some slack. *g*

Without further ado:

1. If you blowtorch Pepto-Bismol, you would get a hunk of metal.
Hmm...makes me wonder if that's a good or bad thing, considering we ingest the stuff. 


2. The chances of you dying on the way to get your lottery tickets is greater than you chances of winning.
Well...that's just depressing.


3. A Native American tribe in South Dakota collects bottle caps left by campers, using them as currency. Several banks in the area now recognize the caps as legal tender.
I'm so moving there, instant millionaire! *vbg*


I don't know if it's the end of the week blues, contest overload, a hundred and one (not really, but close) agent rejections...or just the fact that sometimes you wake up and just feel blue, but I'm suffering from a serious case of I-can't-write-worth-crap-itis. Sigh...I'm doubting everything I've written, question my ability to write new material that won't be rejected a million and one times (you see how that number just grew? Was raised by a fisherman, what can I say *g*) or have my entry be ripped to shreds by people who would be potential readers. I'm frozen with indecision, whether to self pub, or continue to let my stuff sit and gather dust on my hard drive. 


Also just read Kristen Nelson's blog and she said agents are beyond sick of romance paranormal's. Yeah...sigh, that was the proverbial cherry on the crappy sundae. Well, onward and upwards...


Have a great weekend all!

Into the dreaming...

So sometimes I'll wake up and know maybe it's time to listen to my subconscious. I've been agonizing lately, do I pursue NY and agents or do I just go the self pub route? I've read tons of self published books lately and am majorly impressed at the sheer talent I've stumbled onto. Yeah sure, some of the stuff is awful and could really benefit from a good editing, but for the most part I'm super excited at the quality out there. Used to be that there was a stigma attached to self publishing, back in its infancy people would tend to look down on you for going that route. Only quitters did that, only people unable to hack it with NY or smaller pubs would go that way, less and less do I feel that's the case.

I'm reading people who could easily publish with NY, their stuff is really that good, and yet they're choosing to do it themselves and I gotta say there's something to be said for not having to wait months, sometimes even a year! before a project gets published. Also with so many bookstore's folding up it seems more and more digital is the wave of the future.

I always considered myself a purist, preferring the smell of books, the tangible presence of it in my hand. But even I, dinosaur that I am, have switched over to kindle. I rarely go to bookstores anymore, mainly because on this small island there's only one B&N still open and it's a fair distance from my house. The only other bookstore's are for locally published books, which is fine, just not what I read. I hate to say this, but maybe I've been wrong pursuing NY like a rabid dog. I write good. I know I'll have an audience out there, problem is I've never been able to interest NY so I have a pile of books on my hard drive gathering dust and being unread. Writers say the key to generating a semi-decent income comes from having a backlist...well, I have that. Boy do I! About 12 books, only 4 of which ever got published and I doubt more than friends and family read those because the small e-presses they went through have long since folded and disappeared.

I woke up this morning, my dream fresh in my mind...what was that dream? That I took my career into my own hands and stopped being scared to take the plunge into self-publishing.

I guess that means I have some work to do. *wink*

P.S. The agent search contest (yes, I know the irony of entering when I've written what I did today..lol) is going on right now. Please jump on over to Mrs. Snark's first victim blog and judge. Because I know a lot of people don't read this blog, I'll just say it here..I'm number 15. ;)

Happy writing!
Linda

Think I'm gonna be sick...

So I entered Mrs. Snark's first victim agent search contest. Time to enter was 9am est-5pm est. It was done on a lottery system, so even if you squeaked an entry in at 4:59 there was still a good chance you'd be one of the 50 chosen to be an entry. I did mine around 9 am hawaii time, so it was kind of late for an eastern entry. I figured there was no way in heck I'd get on...

I did...

Now I'm so nervous because I've opened myself up to be criticized by others, and I question my entry. Does it start too slow, I like to do some set up when I start a ms...so yeah, some of the plot is in the entry..but when it's only allowed to be 250 words or less, kind of hard to final unless all you submit is a major hook and now I wish I'd scraped what I submitted and rewrote a much crisper hook!

Ugh...

Think I'm gonna be sick. :(

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter all! HE is Risen! For those of you who might not know, my faith is very important to me and today was a great day to celebrate...

The family and I went to have Easter brunch with Island Mom and Dad, we were on the 20th floor of a downtown sky scrapper with the most amazing view of Honolulu. Good food, talk story, great day! Hope all of you had a wonderful one too!

However you celebrate it, be blessed :)

Fun Factoid Friday!

Wow, are we really here again? Seems this week flew by. At least to me. Not sure why, I haven't heard a word back from any agents/editors/or otherwise...so you'd think my nails would be down the quick now..but they're not. I actually survived. How 'bout that? *wink*

So without further ado...what you've all been salivating all week for, fun factoid friday!! Woo hoo!! *snort*

1. There's a Hello Kitty-themed hospital in Taiwan...

Okay, I live in Hawaii where Hello Kitty is as popular as Mickey Mouse is back on the mainland. I'm sorry though, that's just kind of creepy!


2. Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight!


You mean all those years I've been slaving away at the gym has been for nothing?! All I needed to do was sniff a banana? I *sniff* a conspiracy theory, evil gym memberships of the world!!


3. And because I love y'all, I'm gonna share something pretty cool. If you've been living under a rock like me and knew nothing about this blog until just recently, go check it out. It's called Mrs. Snark's first victim...she's hosting a contest on Monday called Secret Agent Search, something or other..anyway be one of the first 50 people to upload the first 250 words of your completed ms. A secret agent will be trolling that site (in fact rumor is, sometimes someone other than the slotted secret agent is trolling). She's becoming increasingly popular with these agent searches, quite a number of writers have gone on to sign with agents, EVEN those who don't win the contest. Take a gander at her website and read what others say. Trust me, it's worth the visit!
misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend all!
Linda

Who you want to be vs. Who you are

It sucks when you realize what you've been forcing yourself to be for the last few years is not who you really are. Like for instance, in my head I'm a fashion plate with a wicked cool sense of style, who keeps her house in tip top shape, greets her husband at the door with a large smile and the house always smells like some sort of baked goods and dinner.

                                                          

In reality it's a good day when my hair is pulled back, my clothes manages to stay clean for more than an  hour, and the toys are picked up off the floor.  Most days I look like this:

                                                                           
                                                                     

I'm only 31 years old...but I feel so old. There's an 8 year age difference between between Red Rocket and Bean.

Of course those are the pictures I send out to family, but the reality is most days they look like this:

Even at this young an age, Red Rocket is aware of his image and doesn't let me snap shots of him looking like Bean there, but really..he's not much different. What's my point of these pictures? Just this...my writing voice. I really really really want it to be like this:

Hard and edgy, with a cool vibe of oh my gosh! Home girl is getting ready to kick some serious bad guy tushy. The reality of the fact though is that I've got a decidedly quirky writing voice. More often than not what I wind up with is something more like this:

Cheesy, funny, and a little corny. Is that why I'm not selling? Because I'm forcing myself into a box I really don't belong in? I'd like to think I'm edgy, I've definitely gone through some serious lows in my life that have given me (I'd like to think anyway) a bit of steel...and yet, for whatever reason I cannot seem to stop myself from having my character tell goofy jokes and act like total nerds. Or maybe the stars just haven't aligned yet and I'm close, who knows...all I do know is everyday I wait to hear from an agent or editor, or each time I open another Rejection letter *grumble grumble this morning grumble grumble* I question every little thing about my stuff and wonder...is who I want to be, not who I really am?

Food for thought...

Ring...ring...hello...hello...is there anybody out there?

If anyone tries to tell you that writing is not filled with all sorts of pitfalls and paranoia, they're either lying or they've tapped into the urban myth called zen. I'm freaking out here...

Seems like I've been waiting to hear something back from agents forever. And yes, I know...that's what they do. They take their time. And in no way would I want them to rush through reads because I'd hate to think they rushed through mine. BUT...this wait is killing me. I can't even write. Every time I sit down to put something on paper I'm all sorts of like..well, maybe I should just refresh my inbox and see...nope, okay...let's write. 10 words later...maybe I should just hit refresh and see....nope, okay let's write...ad nauseum...

I'm such a mess it's not even funny. Well, okay..so I guess it's kind of funny.

Actually it's pathetic is what it is. And how cool would it be if I did get agented and could tell my agent...I've even got book 2 done now. Yep, that would be awesome!

So back to writing....

after I hit refresh one last time.

*groan*

Fun Factoid Friday

It is time, yet again, for another stroll through the seemingly useless, yet fascinating facts of life...

1. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning

Umm..hmm..yeah, I ain't buyin. I think that's a nefarious plot by the fruit industry to make me cut back on the java. Don't think so! Good try though evil apple growers of America!

2. A quarter has 119 grooves around the edge.

Okay, so I've always been one of those people who hear these things and take them as a challenge to find out the 'truth'. I think in this case, I'll just trust it's so. Who wants to count a quarters ridges? I certainly don't.

NEXT!

3. The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.

Yeah, I know..I'm so mean. :p

Have a great weekend!

Waiting to exhale...

Okay Terry Mcmillan had to come up with the best book title ever. It encompasses not only the story, but also..wow can I understand that sentiment. There's so many points in my life where I feel like I'm hanging by a thread, dangling over a rocky ledge and staring down at a thousand sharp spires. Feeling like either I'm gonna fall and be horribly hurt, or someone's gonna come up behind me, grab a hold of that thin (yet surprisingly strong) thread and pull me to safety.

I'm not old, but I feel like I've been put through the ringer in my life. I'm sure many of you have felt that way...when I was 10 I was molested by a family friend. It was a nightmare. I couldn't sleep for the next three years without experiencing horrible nightmares because of it. Partly because I was 10 and what he did to me ruined my innocence. I knew too much, had seen too much...I was a mess. But Praise God I had wonderful parents who prayed with me, took me to therapists and somewhere along the way I found out just what a strong person I actually am. That strength helped me through the second obstacle in my life. At 26 I was pregnant with my second child. My husband and I were thrilled, only to discover at three months that I'd miscarried weeks before but my body was one of the rare ones that clung to the pregnancy regardless. That was my third miscarriage. The previous one was what they termed a molar pregnancy, fairly rare and requiring surgery to remove all traces of the pregnancy. Because of that experience I did not want another surgery. I was given the option, but I choose to take medication at home to fully terminate. I was supposed to do a follow up, but I was young and dumb and hated doctors and thought I was okay. Four months later, bleeding out almost every day my MIL forced me to go to the doctor. Only to find out I had cancer. Apparently my body clung to that pregnancy so hard that even the pills did not work, what remained turned cancerous (who knew that could even happen). It's called choriocarcinoma and it's basically cancer of the placenta. Again my faith in Christ got me through the worst part, after the chemo I had to do a one month follow up for a year. Once the year was up then I had to go in once a year for the next three years. After that, I was 'cleared' of all cancer and life went on. But again, I was stronger. There were depths being added to my character, my person, that made me realize how precious, how wonderful life is. The doctors told me to have a hysterectomy, I could never have another child again after the chemo anyway. I'd be sterile, or if by some fluke I could get pregnant I'd likely have more miscarriages and the possibility of getting that form of cancer again goes up each time you get pregnant. The nurse, her name was Linda, told me not to. Not to listen. I was too young. That she'd seen other women go on to have successful pregnancies and that doctors were always gonna give you the gloom, but that if she were me, she wouldn't do it. I prayed and decided to go with my gut. I didn't do it.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm pregant again. First miracle. Second miracle. He's healthy. Perfect. Beautiful. I go to every doctor appt and they all just grin and say he's fine, you're fine...yay! I'm stoked, on cloud nine. July 14, 2010 I go into labor naturally. Less than 30 minutes of labor and 4 pushes later, here he is. My beautiful baby boy. He's healthy, he's perfect...we're one hour away from being discharged when the nurses notice his breathing is labored. 4 hours later he's rushed to the NICU, diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. The blood vessels in his lungs are all sealed shut. Like a straw that's pinched at the tip. Very very little oxygen is working its way to his heart. There's no surgeries to fix it...all they can do is put him on pure oxygen with the hope that his body will eventually kick it on and open those valve's. I pray harder than I've ever prayed in my life...none of what I've gone through can compare to the pain I feel right then. 3 weeks later, he's sent home with a small heart murmur and 2 years later he's bright, active, happy, and totally totally healthy.

I'm that tree, the sapling that's battered and beaten by winds, tsunami's, hurricane's...I'll either be up rooted, or become stronger. Bend less, sway less, and push on. I'm covered in scars, but I'm not broken, I'm stronger...

Perspective.

That's way I know waiting to hear back from agents, or editors, or wondering if I'm a good enough writer to someday be fortunate enough to see my works in print isn't the worse thing that could happen to me. Whether I get published by NY or not..I'm alive today, my son is healthy, my life is good and I'm a happy, happy girl.

Perspective is always a good thing. ;)

A peek inside my mind...

So sometimes you hear writers talk about this crazy thing called a muse...we almost always refer to him/her/it as a real being with real thoughts who's only goal in life is to mess with us and give us entirely too many plot bunnies to deal with, to the point that even penned and coraled they still figure out some way to get out, bump fuzzies and create a firestorm of TOO MUCH.

Obviously the muse is our metaphorical way of describing our thought process, how we get our ideas, which ideas slide right to the top of the pack and maybe make their way to a novel (if they promise to be good and shut up so we can think!) or sometimes they're like that guy in your home room class who's so freakin' hot and you're totally crushing on him until he opens his mouth and starts talking about farts and how many girls he's laid and 'hey babes, you wanna be number 10'...ewww gross. Okay, so those we trash. But what gives us the ideas..

Well, I can't speak for all writers but I can speak for myself. In my R(eal) L(ife) I'm a very quiet, studious person. I look at the world around me. I don't just go for a walk and plug my headphones in and forget there's a million other people, other things going on around me. I guess in some ways I tend to look at the world like a great big novel and my plot is just one of many that creates that story. I'll see someone run past me and I'll wonder why're they're running. Too lose weight? Because they're angry? Because they're happy?

Sometimes I'll read a story about a man marrying his car and....no, nah..I couldnt' even come up with a storyline on that one. Too weird even for me..lol.

What I find myself most inspired by is nature. I'm very blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. For instance I go walking every day on this trail behind my house. The trail is framed by trees on either side. But these aren't the normal trees you see on the mainlaind, these are twisting, knotted things that seem to reach out from the ground like a great big hand and with green fingers shotting towards the heavens in a large sprawling blanket of leaves. There's also another tree that has this great big mound around the base with the most amazing spread of wild flowers growing in thick bunches around it. The petals are the most amazing shades of pink and purple, sprinkled with white throughout and I always think if fairies existed, they'd totally live there. Then I start thinking well if they lived there what would they be doing?

And boom, plot bunny. Which is good and bad. You never want the well to run dry because then that means you won't be able to write anymore, but sometimes (like now) you've got a series you're trying desperately to finish and you just can't entertain thoughts of fairies flitting from stem to stem at night, glowing like willow o wisp's gathering dew. Although....*tucking that thought away for another day* ;)

And just because I'm in a sharing mood I'll share with you the picture of one of my favorite trees. I call it:

                                                         RAINBOW IN PARADISE

No, it's not painted..it is exactly as it appears..it's called a Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree. Now tell me that wouldn't inspire you!