September 2014

Archive for September, 2014

ROW80 Check-In 9/21/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beta reading, facebook release party, fire wizard, kait nolan, proofreading, ROW80, writing on September 21, 2014| 6 Comments »

There’s been some progress this past week. I finished the beta read and got it back to the author. I’ve made a lot of progress on my paid proofreading job, which is due the end of this month. Once that’s done, I’ll get the other proofing job started, because it’s also due by the end of the month.

Now, for my own stuff. I can’t believe it’s only nine days until my Facebook release party! That means I better get those edits done quickly! The major thing that needs to be done is adding the scene a beta reader suggested. I also got some writing done on my cozy mystery.

Okay, so here’s why I actually got some of my own writing stuff done. Kait told me I HAD to work on my own stuff for 30 minutes four days a week BEFORE I worked on anyone else’s stuff. And she sent a little animated pic of Dean Winchester watching me, so I have to do it. Kait and Dean say so.

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Busy, Busy! ROW80 Check-In 9/18/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beta reader, editing, fire wizard, new release, proofreading, ROW80, writing on September 18, 2014| 6 Comments »

Yeah, I’m a day late.

In my last post, I had listed four things I had going on. Well, I’ve added another proofreading job, but this one is a second pass-through, so it shouldn’t take too long. I have to get one job done because I’ve been paid already. 🙂 I need to get the beta read done, too. So I’m focusing on those two things first.

I just want to say I will strangle anyone who suggests I go somewhere or do something Saturday. My whole day last Saturday was filled with a church function, so I NEED this Saturday to get things done. If I really work hard, I can get the beta read AND the proofing job almost done. Then I’ll just have the one other one, so I can work on my own stuff. Hubby wants to watch Captain America: Winter Soldier tonight, so that will take up a couple of hours. But I need recreation and I need to spend time with hubby. We shall have popcorn.

And speaking of my own stuff. I’m still working on getting some suggested edits done on Fire Wizard. I HAVE to get these done soon because I’m releasing this book on October 2, and I’m celebrating with a Facebook release party. You are all invited.
Fire Wizard Release Party.

How are the rest of y’all doing?

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ROW Check-In 9/14/14 & Decisions, Decisions

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged fire wizard, mysteries, mystery series, ROW80, writing, writing mysteries on September 14, 2014| 18 Comments »

Here’s what’s going on:

1) I’m working on a line editing job for a client.
2) I’m beta reading for a friend who also beta reads for me.
3) I’m trying to figure out which suggestions from beta readers to incorporate in Fire Wizard. (Probably most of them, LOL)
4) I’m working on my mystery, although not as much as I would like.

And here’s the decisions part:

I think most of you know by now I’m thinking of writing my mysteries under a different name. I have personal reasons for this, and I hope I don’t have problems building another following. I know mystery readers are often much different from paranormal romance readers.

Here’s the other dilemma. I don’t usually do series. I did a trilogy, based on the fact that readers were often asking me if there was a sequel to a book of mine they read, so I figured I should try one. They just don’t sell as well as my stand-alones. And I prefer to write stand-alones since I get bored even when reading series. BUT…series in mysteries are very common. So I’m wondering if I ought to do at least a trilogy to test the waters.

And here are some of the problems:

1) In mysteries, the main character is drawn into some mystery, usually a murder, in every book. In real life, most people don’t even get involved in ONE murder. So why is it so believable in fiction? Would I be able to make MINE believable?
2) Mysteries are hard because you have to find a way that the main character can figure out the mystery. The mystery itself isn’t nearly as hard as figuring out how it gets solved. (Hopefully, my husband can help with this since he is so good at this kind of thing.)
3) How do I keep the romantic thread (yes, I have to have one!) interesting through a series? I often lose interest in a series when the romance is resolved in the first book. So…either I have to keep dragging it out with reasons they can’t be together (which worked well in the Vampires’ Curse novellas, but doesn’t seem possible in this first mystery because of the circumstances), or I can maybe have them together at the end of book one but find something to pull them apart again in book two.

I’m reading a mystery series, right now, by Patrice Greenwood and also watching LOTS of episodes of Murder, She Wrote…for research. 🙂

Any thoughts? I would really appreciate feedback.

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ROW80 Check-In 9/7/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged amazon, barnes and noble, cozy mystery, fire wizard, proofreading, ROW80, scrivener on September 7, 2014| 11 Comments »

Things are moving right along. I’m waiting on one more beta reader to get done with Fire Wizard. The good thing is, two of my betas pretty much read it in one sitting because they said they couldn’t put it down. 🙂 I might be having a FB party for the release. I’m looking at an end of September release.

I’ve written one scene of my cozy mystery (title to be determined later), and have worked a little on a couple more scenes. I have a love/hate relationship with Scrivener, but I think I’ve worked out most of the bugs, so it’s mostly love. I was having problems losing the formatting, but I think I got it worked out. I’m a linear writer, but I like how when I think of something that could go in a scene later, I can just go to that scene (I have outlines, so I can tell where that scene is) and write it before I forget. Then I can go back to the scene I was working on.

I’m still trying to decide whether or not to write this book under this name or another pen name. I have reasons (that some of you know) to write under two pen names. This brings up another question of whether or not to start writing under a publishing company name or not.

Which brings up another problem. I want to get a federal ID number, but I found out from two different author friends that when trying to change from a SS# to a EIN, or from one EIN to another one, Barnes & Noble made them delete their account and republish all their books under the new number. Which means, they lost their reviews and ranking. If Amazon can just let them change the number, why in the world can’t B & N do the same thing? That’s made me rethink the EIN number. I have some decent reviews on B & N, and I would hate to lose those. This makes my eye twitch.

I’m also proofing a new book for a client, so that business is going well.

So, how are the rest of you doing?

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ROW80 Check-In and Cover Reveal

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged anya kelleye, anya kelleye designs, cover reveal, fire wizard, James Magnussen, ROW80, soon to be released, writing on September 3, 2014| 10 Comments »

Since check-in day corresponded with my cover reveal date, I’m going to combine them together. After all, this is all about writing, goals, and successes, right? So what better way to reveal a cover than during a ROW80 check-in?

Without further ado, here is the ebook cover for my upcoming release, Fire Wizard, with the fabulous cover model James Magnussen! The photo was taken by Anya Kelleye of Anya Kelleye Designs, and she also designed the cover. This was a fun photo shoot, and I’ll just say, James is as sweet as he is handsome. The print cover will be coming soon.