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Archive for September, 2012

Late Sunday Post

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2012| 6 Comments »

This is a very late post. I didn’t have time before church. Then, my son, his girlfriend, and her little girl were all here this afternoon. And THAT was more important than posting. Then there was church tonight, so I’m just now getting around to it.

There’s not a lot to report aside from the last couple of posts where I’ve already told everyone what’s going on. 🙂 But to summarize for those who haven’t kept up. I went to a cabin in Ellijay, GA with Anya Kelleye. While there, I got all my editing done on Soul of a Vampire. I got Vampires’ Curse ALMOST ready for print. Anya worked on some book covers. We both did some reading. We ate. We chilled out. It was a much needed retreat. And Soul of a Vampire is in the hands of beta readers.

For those of you waiting on pictures of our retreat, I think I’ll post them tomorrow. I didn’t think I should do it in a ROW80 post.

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Almost Time to Go

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 15, 2012| 14 Comments »

Well, it’s almost time to go. Although I do miss hubby and the animals, I’m sad to leave this beautiful place. I won’t miss Mr. Roach, though. Nor will I miss his little brother who I found resting on my pillow before I went to bed last night. I slept with the light on again. 🙂 It’s been a good trip. I finally got Soul of a Vampire ready for beta readers. I tried to get Vampires’ Curse ready for print, but I’m still having trouble with page numbers. When I finally get one problem fixed, another one crops up. I finally got the numbers right. But then when I added the blank pages needed to make sure all the chapters start on an odd number, those pages had the page numbers and headers on them, even though I started them in different sections. I’m tempted to leave those blank pages out. I’ve noticed some traditionally published books aren’t staring all chapters on odd numbered pages anymore. And I think one of them was a Stephen King. I wonder if that even matters anymore. I think it looks better, but why beat myself up over it when big publishing houses don’t all do it anymore. What to do….

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Day One of our Retreat

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 14, 2012| 8 Comments »

I’m stealing Anya’s hot spot on her phone for a few minutes. I just wanted to give a quick update.

When we arrived at this cabin, I was completely in love! This place is absolutely amazing and beautiful. I’ll have pictures later. Maybe more pictures than anyone wants to see. LOL. I went around with my iPad snapping pictures like a crazy person.

Anya is sleeping downstairs in the master bedroom, and I’m upstairs. There’s also a loft bedroom. We each have our own bathroom. I haven’t seen any scorpions, but there is a roach the size of Texas that apparently thinks my bathroom is his own personal domain. He’s scared of me, though. When I come in the bathroom, he scurries behind a little container that holds towels, a candle, etc. Once, he peeked out from behind it, and when he saw me, he scurried back behind it. I did sleep with my light on last night since roaches like darkness. LOL.

I’ve been working on getting Vampires’ Curse ready for print. The page numbers, as usual, have been kicking my butt, but I’m using some pointers from Ruth Ann Nordin, and I think I might have figured out how to make it work. I ALWAYS struggle with the page numbers. That’s the only problem I have with formatting for print.

So I’m going to get back to work now. Later, Anya and I might go outside on the huge porch and sit in the rocking chairs and work. Or not. We can do whatever we want. 🙂

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Might be Internet Silent

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 13, 2012| 6 Comments »

I just wanted to let everyone know there’s no Internet access at the cabin where Anya and I are staying. My Verizon 3G might work on my iPad, but I’m not sure. This whole weekend is about writing and working on writing stuff, so it might be good to be offline a couple of days. So I’m not ignoring everyone. LOL

Anyway, we’re on our way. We have all our food packed. We have all the tools we need to work. We have our jammies. We may STAY in our jammies. The cabin has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so we have plenty of room. I told Anya she could stay in the master bedroom with the jacuzzi tub…since that’s where she found a scorpion once. 🙂

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Cats!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 12, 2012| 8 Comments »

Just a quick post to show you a picture of my cats. Although they are only about six months old, Oz is as big as many full grown cats. If he grows any more, he’s going to be HUGE. I’m sorry you can barely see him in this pic. He’s all stretched out against the back of the love seat, and he’s black, so he’s hard to see. But I had to show this pic because Willow looks so cute, looking at me like she wants her picture taken.

While I’m on vacation next week, I need to get them spayed and neutered. I caught Oz trying to “get friendly” with Willow, so I guess it’s time. And then we’re going to have a puppy to have spayed soon afterward. I think I’ll let my husband take care of that one. 🙂 Anyways, here’s the pic.

Willow and Oz

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Going on a Retreat!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 11, 2012| 24 Comments »

Thursday evening, Anya Kelleye and I are going on our own little retreat. There’s a cabin in Ellijay, GA where she’s stayed before, and we’re renting that one for Thursday and Friday nights. It’s by the river, and it’s going to be so beautiful and peaceful. Anya is the only person I know who can sit quietly with me and let me work. I plan on doing a lot of writing and she’s going to work on book covers. And we’ll both probably do some reading, too. We’re still trying to figure out if we want to cook or if we want to just take finger foods. All I know is it’s going to be a fun time! Just so long as the scorpions stay away. That’s one creature that gives me the heebie jeebies, and they are known to frequent some of the cabins in this area. They are the little bitty scorpions, but they still sting!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the website North Ga Cabin Rentals. Maybe if you’re ever in the southeast US, you can stay in this beautiful place!

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Sunday Update

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 9, 2012| 18 Comments »

I’m a little over halfway through edits on Soul of a Vampire. Then it will be on to the beta readers/editors. It’s funny how when you write a book, you do it a little at a time, then when you start the read through for editing, you find little plot holes and things you didn’t mention that you should have. I realized I didn’t mention the last names of two of my characters, and didn’t mention the name or much about the town in which the story is set. LOL.

It feels like fall is in the air today. After such a HOT summer, the high today is only 78 degrees. It’s not supposed to get higher than mid-80’s for the next week. Yay! No 90 degree weather…at least for awhile. 🙂

I need to get back to cooking! Since we got back from Gatlinburg, I haven’t cooked anything. 😦

How are you guys doing?

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What To Do When You’re Offended

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 8, 2012| 20 Comments »

I debated with myself for a long time before I decided to post this. I try to never post things that are controversial, but I can’t get this off my mind. Most of you know I’m a Christian. But I’m not really offended by much, and I let most things slide. I’m okay with people using the “f” word if they want, although I don’t personally use it. Most words don’t bother me, really. I do have issues with people using God’s name disrespectfully, but if it’s on their own blog or whatever, that’s their right. I’m not going to preach about it. LOL. But I saw something on Facebook that offended me so badly, that my face got hot and tears came to my eyes. It was so offensive toward God that I couldn’t believe someone posted it. Now here’s the question. Since I’m likely to see that kind of thing again (I’ve seen other things similar from this person), do I unfriend them? I don’t want to make a big issue of it, but I can’t stop thinking about what I saw. I never want to see it again. I have friends who are atheists and agnostics, and most of them wouldn’t post that, simply out of respect for others. Would this person even notice if I unfriend them? I don’t really know them that well anyway. I don’t ever want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but this hurt me down to the core. I can’t unsee what I saw. What should I do?

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What Catches Your Eye and Makes You Buy?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 12 Comments »

I’ve been hearing a lot about how important a good cover is. And I agree. It’s very, very important. Many readers won’t even take a look at a book’s description if the cover isn’t appealing to the eye. But I’ve found that the cover isn’t what catches my eye first. It isn’t the most important thing in deciding whether or not to check out the book. For me, it’s the title. I don’t know why that takes precedence over the cover, but for me it does. I’ve been looking at a lot of free books lately because I get emails offering them to me. And I’ve found that even if they’re free, I pass them over if I’m not interested in the title.

So what makes a good title? For me, it has to be intriguing. It has to let me know just a tad about what I might find in the book. Or if it doesn’t, it should make me WONDER what’s in the book. For mystery titles, sometimes the name of the place sparks my interest. Many mystery books use the location as part of the title. If the name of the place sounds spooky, it’s going to catch my eye every time. Ruth Ann Nordin, a best-selling romance writer, just released a regency romance called “Her Counterfeit Husband”. Now that title draws me in. Why is her husband “counterfeit”? I want to know why. Susan Bischoff’s “Heroes Til Curfew” interests me. What about these people makes them heroes? And why is there a curfew? They must be young. Kait Nolan’s “Red” makes me want to take a second look because the title has one word, and I want to know what it means. This is what I’m talking about. The title makes you wonder. I won’t mention any titles that I think are terrible for the same reason I don’t do bad reviews. But I’ve seen some bad ones. And I’ve seen some very, very good ones.

This happens to be a real problem for me as a writer. Why? Because I’m terrible at thinking up titles for my books. I’ve actually had some help with some of my titles. I was very, very lucky with Soul of a Vampire. I thought of the title and the basic story at the same time. It just popped in my head. And I think it’s a good title. The word “vampire” still gets the attention of readers because the vampire craze isn’t quite over yet. Although, it’s never really completely over, because vampire stories have been around forever. And the word “soul” is intriguing to me. It would make me wonder what’s up with this vampire’s soul. Oh how I wish all book titles were this easy for me. I know I’m going to have a real challenge with that when I write the story my husband thought up. It’s kind of a complicated story, but I think it’s going to be a good one if I can write it properly. And if I can think of a good title! I might make him do the title. LOL

What about you? Is a title important to you? Or will the book cover draw you in enough to check out the blurb?

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Wednesday Update

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on September 5, 2012| 10 Comments »

I don’t have a lot to report. I’m letting my WIP sit for a few days after finishing, and I plan on starting the editing process tomorrow. I usually don’t have a lot to edit because I do a lot of editing along the way. But when I do the final read through, I always find things to change or add. I rarely find anything I want to take out. Since I’ve been at this writing thing awhile, my first drafts are much cleaner.

On a weird note. You know how Amazon sends you those emails suggesting certain books to read based on other things you’ve bought from them? Amazon sent me an email today suggesting two of my own books to me! That’s never happened before, and I thought it was kind of funny. Hmmm, I wonder if that means they suggested those two books to other customers….

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