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Posts Tagged ‘anthology’

What I’m Up To

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on August 30, 2017| 7 Comments »

From Keeper of His Soul

No, I don’t mean that I’m up to no good. LOL. Just what I’ve been doing.

I FINALLY finished Keeper of His Soul. I figured while I was on vacation, I would just bite the bullet and do it. I’ve been struggling with the last chapter or so because the ending I had in mind was kind of lame. It would have been a satisfying HEA, but it didn’t feel right. But the ending finally came to me, and it kind of threw me. I was like “do I really want to do this?” But I had to. Now for all you romance lovers out there, don’t worry. It has a HEA…sort of. It wasn’t all rainbows and roses, but it had to come with some pain. I don’t see how it could have ended differently. It just wasn’t possible. I’ll see what my beta readers think, but I can’t change it too much. The pain had to be there. The characters had already been through too much, and for it to end up as a perfect HEA wouldn’t have worked for me.

The next project will be under my other pen name. I have to make some hard decisions soon, and the biggest decision is whether or not to stop writing under Lauralynn Elliott. There’s a lot of competition in the paranormal romance genre, so it’s hard to get noticed. I have a few hard-core fans, but they can only buy so many books. My other pen name writes cozy mysteries, sweet romances, and soon, I hope, a historical romance. First, I have to finish the trilogy, then the historical. This all comes down to the business side of things. If I can’t make a decent living under Lauralynn, I HAVE to focus on the other pen name. Neither is selling well, but the other one sells a bit better, and I RARELY post anything on FB or do anything else to promote that name. Yet is still sells better than Lauralynn, although sales have picked up a tiny bit lately. But not enough. So, if Keeper of His Soul doesn’t do well, Lauralynn might die off for awhile. Not on social media because I would miss everyone. But as far as anything pertaining to writing.

So here’s the deal. When I release Keeper of His Soul, I need your help to spread the word. Word of Mouth is the best advertising. And, by the way, Soul of a Vampire, the book to which Keeper is a sequel, is in an anthology that’s FREE right now. Yep…free (except on Amazon, but not for lack of trying). So pop over to your favorite retailer and grab your free (or .99 on Amazon) copy of Paranormally Yours.

Amazon (It’s still .99 on Amazon since they still haven’t lowered it. Be sure to go there and click the link to report a lower price.) Update: It’s now free on Amazon!

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

Or you can search it on your Apple device in iBooks!

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ROW80 Update 8/12/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 12, 2015| 13 Comments »

I’ve been neglectful in my ROW postings lately. I’ve been very busy at work getting ready for new software, which I know is going to be a nightmare. There’s been SO much data entry for things that couldn’t be imported from our old system. Hours and days of mind-numbing data entry.

Anyway, quick update. I typed “The End” on a novella written under my other pen name. Now comes the editing.

I’ve had a story for an anthology finished for a long time under that same pen name. Due to beta readers vehemently disagreeing with each other on major points in that story, I’ve let it percolate for awhile, hoping I can see it with new eyes. The first beta reader really tore it apart, which has never happened to me before. But then three other beta readers completely disagreed with the first one’s assessment. Then two of THOSE three beta readers disagreed on another point. Three beta readers loved my hero, one hated him. One beta reader had a problem with rich/poor class differences in the story, none of the others did. I’m at the point right now that I think I’m going to chuck most of what any of them said and do it my way. Not really. I always consider the advice of beta readers. I just won’t know until I look at it again, which I’m going to have to do soon because the deadline is coming up. I think this is the last anthology I’m going to do. It’s too much stress.

I’ve started writing more on the Soul of a Vampire sequel since I finished my other WIP.

And I have so many books to line edit for clients right now! This is a good thing.

Okay. Done now.

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ROW80 Update 4/19/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on April 19, 2015| 12 Comments »

This has been a good week. I only wrote four days last week, but I managed to churn out 4,077 words. So I’m happy with that. My Supernatural (love Sam and Dean) spreadsheet says I’m on track to make my monthly word count goal. This is a novella for an anthology under my other pen name. I still have some plotting to do for my next in a series under that pen name, plus writing a sequel to Soul of a Vampire under Lauralynn.

I still haven’t figured out quite how to write multiple books at the same time. I wanted to this round, but I seem to still be focusing on one at a time. I think part of that is because I figured out some stuff that would make a better plot than the one I originally had planned out. A lot of the basics are the same, but some of the reasons for the conflict have changed. So then I got all excited about writing this. I don’t really want to lose the momentum, so it’s hard to work on something else. We’ll see how that goes.

I’m looking forward to this week because I’m so in love with my current WIP right now. I’m just barely into the second act, so I hope I don’t stall somewhere in the middle!

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End of ROW80 Round 1 2015

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 25, 2015| 16 Comments »

When I stated my goals in January, I had two goals I wanted to accomplish during the round and one I wanted to accomplish sometime in 2015. Here is a recap and the outcome.

1) Finish and publish the novella written under my other pen name for the anthology I’m doing with another author. Goal to finish: January 31 Finished this January 20

2) Finish the mystery I’ve started and publish under that same pen name. Goal to finish: Mid to Late March Finished this in early March

3) Write and publish at least one title under my Lauralynn name. I have three ideas and don’t yet know which one I’m going with. Goal: Sometime this year. I’ve chosen the story (sequel to Soul of a Vampire) and have started some plotting with some help from Susan Bischoff This one wasn’t a round goal, but a 2015 goal, so I think I’m doing fine. 🙂

I know I didn’t have MAJOR goals this round, but I honestly think I did really well considering I have a full time job and a proofreading business.

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ROW80 Update 2/1/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 1, 2015| 8 Comments »

Duke - 8 or 9 months old

Duke – 8 or 9 months old

Since Facebook no longer seems to pick up pictures from WordPress blogs unless it’s in that post, I thought I would provide a picture so it would show up. And what better picture than a happy dog, right? This was taken a couple of years ago, I think. The caption was already on there when I found it on my computer.

Where did January go???

There’s been progress. I got the manuscript written with my other pen name off to the publisher. I’m beta reading right now for a friend, and I have a couple of small things to proofread. I plan on picking back up on a mystery I started awhile back before I stopped to do this last novella. I should be able to get that done by the end of March. Then it’s on to a story for another anthology.

I have another Lauralynn book I need to get done before the end of the year. I’m probably going to write a sequel to Soul of a Vampire. It will revolve around a different character, the best friend of the “shero” in SoaV.

I’m really trying to be more productive this year. So far, it’s going well. I have a goal of 150,000 words this year. I made my January goal. I’m using my nifty Supernatural spreadsheet to keep up with my monthly and yearly words. 🙂

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