Saturday, September 26, 2015

Happy Saturday!

It's been a productive week for me with my little serial that I've been working on. As I've been writing, I've had to ask myself how in the world I thought just releasing two chapters a week would work out for me. I'm three weeks in, so chapter six has been shared on jukepop.com, but I'm currently writing chapter twenty-four and it's really hard not to start double posting.

I started out the story thinking it would be a beauty and the beast kind of tale, but as my characters often do, they fooled me. They're from a completely different, much older, story. I think it's going to be interesting to see how things conclude. They've shared some key events, but the conclusion seems to still be hazy. I'm imagining that I'll find out exactly where things end up by the end of next weekend, and I'm excited to see how the conflict is resolved.

For my other book that I've been working on, I have way too many days before I hear anything about whether Game Misconduct made it to the second round of the contest I have it in. I'm still freaking out about it and already picture myself in tears ten or eleven days from now when they tell me I didn't make it. I seem to be getting some support for it on WriteOn, but it's hard for me to tell if it's what the judges are looking for and whether it competes with the other entries.

As I've gone along on my little writing journey the last few years, I've already seen the dream I had when I first started come true. Just to have other people read my words and find enjoyment. As time has gone on, I've really wanted to try traditional publishing. Both self and traditional publishing have pros and cons, but something about having a contract will make me feel like I've reached another level of accomplishment.

I've always been hesitant to tell people I know that I write, because I've never felt anything I've written is good enough. I think something about having a book traditionally published will finally make me feel that something was good enough. That probably doesn't make sense, but right now it's kind of like a light at the end of the tunnel for me.

If it doesn't work out this time, I'm dedicated to keep trying. I'll probably try to shop both Game Misconduct and The Monster in the Woods around to see if I can get any takers. Hopefully while queries are out in the world, I can finish up the three series I've had sitting in the wings. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan of action. I guess I'll get back to my monster and see if I can't get the characters to reveal the ending.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Let the nailbitting commence

I get easily nervous. That's pretty obvious to anyone who has ever spoken to me, right? And sitting here a couple of days before my contest entry for Game Misconduct has to be finalized, I'm biting my nails.

It's my first non-paranormal work, even though the first book I ever wrote didn't have blatant paranormal qualities, every book since has. Okay, there is that one other book that I got about a third of the way through that I had to shelf for one of my paranormal story lines. (Note to self, circle back to that book one day. It was going to be great.)

So, writing a book that could actually happen in real life is a little new for me. At least one of the topics in Game Misconduct wasn't though. I think I've shouted it from every roof top that I'm a hockey fan. That's probably why I made a hockey player the male lead in the story. It's something in real life I can relate to.

There are a lot of other parts of the book that I had to rely heavily on Internet research to try to get accurate. I was lucky enough that my critique partner for the story had experience in one of the aspects I did research on. When the book is published, there's going to be a hearty dedication made out to her for all her help.

She really helped me put all the polishing I could on a story that I really hope people will enjoy. I think it still has my sense of sarcasm laced through it, and you know it wouldn't be a story written by yours truly if there weren't some plot twists in there somewhere.

So, while I wait for the word whether it will move on to the top 50, give it a gander over on wattpad.com. If I do get a chance to move on, I will need every vote I can get. Note: votes don't count until after Oct. 6, so read now, vote later :)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

A new adventure

Why won't my brain shut off? Obviously, I don't really want it to stop working, but when I'm playing around with one book, it would be really freaking nice if it quite coming up with new characters it wanted me to write about. And why, brain, did you all of a sudden go really dark?

I've decided the story it wants me to tell would work well as a serial, which if you're not hip on what that is, it's just a way to say that the story is posted one chapter at a time for the world to read. After spending the long weekend searching the Internet for sites that host serials, I decided I wanted to try out the Jukepop site.

For this kind of story telling, I could've used wattpad or writeon and just directed my readers to read there, but Jukepop gives incentives for readers voting for your stories - incentives equals money in this instance - so I thought it might be interesting to see what happens. I'm still learning about their system, but the serial I'm started has already been accepted to the program.

What's the story? Very good question. I've gone with the title "The Monster in the Woods" and here's the really quick synopsis based on what my brain is currently sharing about the story.
After being held captive for almost a year, Britta sees a chance to escape the monsters who killed her family. The only problem is that her freedom means facing a different kind of monster. The kind that has sharp teeth and hasn’t met a person it didn’t kill.

I've got an idea where things will go, but who knows what twists I will come up with. I'm currently planning on posting updates Mondays and Thursdays - eventually I may back that down to just once a week depending on readership.

So, how can you find this new story? Go to http://www.jukepop.com/home/read/9076?chapter=1. The first chapter is up, and I should have a new one for tomorrow. I'll post on Twitter when new ones are released, so make sure you're following me, and pretty, pretty please hit the +vote button on each of the chapters you read. I'd really like to see if they do pay money for being in the top 30 for votes.

Also, please don't forget to vote for The Witch's Web in the Hidden Gems contest: http://www.inkitt.com/stories/21913/

Saturday, September 5, 2015

In a contest mood

I have never won any popularity contests. Being the exact opposite of outgoing kinda puts me at a disadvantage. Knowing that, it may surprise you that I'm working on entering some of my books in what eventually ends up being popularity contests, which means I could really use your help.

One contest is still a good month away before any voting is needed, but I found a contest that took previously self-published work, so I entered what I've decided is my favorite book that I've written, The Witch's Web. The prize seems to be the company running the contest acting like an agent and getting your book published via someone who isn't yourself. There aren't a ton of details on it, but I'm currently trying to get my words out in front of as many people as I can, so I'll try anything once.

They say voting isn't everything, but I believe you have to be in the top 10% to move to any other levels, so please, please, please take a second and hit the little heart button if you like the story.

Link to do so: http://www.inkitt.com/stories/21913

And if you've forgotten what The Witch's Web is about, here's the description:
A day can really change your life. If Molly was honest with herself, her life changed in just one night. The one time she decided to be a little reckless turned out to be a blessing, and everything that happened afterwards couldn't take that away from her. That one night a miracle happened and Molly's daughter was created.

The Witch’s Web tells Molly’s story right after she gives birth to her daughter. In it, Molly finds her life spinning out of control when it’s revealed that the father of her little miracle isn’t just an average guy out looking for a beer after a long day at work. He’s really Jason from the Greek mythology stories her mother told her as a child, and he’s got a witch for an ex, who's determined to make sure he doesn’t have a family of his own.


And of course, one of my favorite covers: