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Posts Tagged ‘fire wizard’

ROW80 Update 3/22/15

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 22, 2015| 10 Comments »

I almost didn’t post because I didn’t have a whole lot to say. I already talked about my sub-plot issue on my Friday post.I haven’t been writing because 1) I’m proofreading for a client and 2) I’m still plotting another book. I feel like plotting, planning, etc. is still part of writing, so I’m okay with that. I have a novella written under my other pen name almost ready to publish. The cover is almost done, and I have just a few corrections to make. But I can’t think of a TITLE!!! I have the title for the series this starts, but not the actual book. Titles are so hard for me unless the title comes to me, and I write the story around the title. That’s happened a couple of times, once with Soul of a Vampire and again with Fire Wizard. But most of the time, I’m struggling with that title. And since it’s my first mystery, it’s more of a challenge than my paranormal romances. It’ll come to me. I must have patience!

And since this post is pretty boring, for your viewing pleasure, here’s Willow. 🙂

willow 3-22-15

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Review of 2014 and Moving On!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 2, 2015| 4 Comments »

I was thinking I only published Fire Wizard this year. But then I realized I actually published Hearts of Evil in 2014, so it was two books instead of one. So I guess I accomplished more than I thought. I did start writing Hearts of Evil in 2013, though, so I didn’t actually WRITE two full books in 2014. Although, since I wrote part of Hearts of Evil in 2014 and ALL of Fire Wizard in 2014, PLUS I wrote some words on a novella and a novel in 2014, it probably adds up to two books. 🙂

Here’s my plan for 2015.

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

This is a big thing for me because it will involve a lot of discipline to write that much. No more slacking for me. I have to go into my office and write. That’s the only way I can produce words. No more trying to write with the laptop on my lap while hubby is watching TV.

My PERSONAL goal for this year is to gradually cut down on my insulin until I’m completely off of it by the end of the year. This is a goal I may or may not be able to control. I’ll get to my proper weight by eating better and exercising more. If my diabetes can be controlled this way, that’s great. But sometimes it’s too late for that. I’m going to try, though. We’ll see what happens.

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ROW80 Check-In 10/15/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on October 15, 2014| 13 Comments »

I just checked in two days ago! Wait…I was a day late. 🙂

I’ve been making some progress. In the last three days, I’ve written for about an hour and a half, 1908 words. I didn’t write last night because I was SO upset with CreateSpace. When I got my proof, the cover of Fire Wizard was so dark and bland. Nothing like the colorful cover Anya had made for me. 😦 I just couldn’t focus. So I went to my friend’s Jamberry Nail Facebook party. Retail therapy is so effective. You know, that’s the first Facebook party I’ve ever attended that wasn’t an author’s party. It was the first party I’ve ever attended on my “real life” Facebook account. And I won something!

I did write about 30 minutes during lunch today. Wednesday isn’t usually a writing day, but since I was feeling sorry for myself last night, I thought I better make it up a little. LOL

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ROW80 Check In 10/8/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on October 8, 2014| 5 Comments »

See that little tab up at the top that says “Newsletter”? Click it. You know you want to. Seriously, I’m going to start sending out newsletters about new releases and other news, but I won’t be spamming anyone. You’ll get very few newsletters in a year if you sign up. BUT…if you do sign up, when I get 50 people on my list, I’ll do a drawing for a signed copy of Fire Wizard. /end of promo

My goal is to write for 1 hour, 5 days a week. This is 5 hours a week. I’m a little bit behind on that since I’ve only gotten in a little less than an hour and a half so far, but I can make that up on Saturday since I have most of the day to write. My cozy mystery is going pretty well. It’s my first attempt at this kind of story, so I hope I can do it justice. It’s harder to write than paranormal romance. I’m at the point where the murder is about to happen. Well, at the point where the body is found. That ought to be interesting.

I’m still stewing in my mind about the Sci-Fi romance. I need to start plotting that out before I forget stuff.

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ROW80 Check-In 9/21/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on September 21, 2014| 6 Comments »

ROW80Badge
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 , , , , , , 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 , , , , , 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 , , , , , , 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 , , , , , , , 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.

Fire Wizard eBook

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ROW80 Update 8/31/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on August 31, 2014| 9 Comments »

Here it is the last day of August, and I’m wondering where this year has gone! I’m sitting here already ready for church. I’ve made and ate breakfast with hubby (biscuits and gravy, a treat every couple of weeks), already walked on the treadmill and ready to go! 🙂

Fire Wizard is now with beta readers. I’ve already had one person come back and say they couldn’t put it down so they stayed up late reading it. That’s a good thing, right? The cover is practically done, just a little tweaking needed. I can’t wait! I plan on having a Facebook release party, but this time, I’m not going to do it myself. More about that later.

I spent hours yesterday reading a tutorial on Scrivener. I’m still not sure if I’m going to get it (I have the trial version), but I’m leaning toward it since somebody told me I could convert the file for my print book (with page numbers) as well as ebook formats. It’s only $40, which is a bargain considering all the bells and whistles it comes with. It would be a great tool for those who are serious plotters. But it’s good for pantsers who need to plot just a little.

What’s up with y’all?

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