I Won the Stare Down

Well, I won the stare down with the laptop. I opened it up and I started the next chapter, formatting it as I always do. I could almost feel it shaking under my fingers as I showed it who was boss! hehe Seriously, I sat in the quiet and resumed my writing and yes, I skipped over a day or so in the lives of the Darktower family, but I finally put them where I have been just DYING to get them. Now it will get good and the story can fully begin. I have full reign now and who knows what will happen!! Too much power for me!! hehe again. Yes, I am in lighter spirits today, for I won the battle. I wrote just over a page when I thought I would not write a single word so I am happy.
It is time...time for me to open it back up and write some more. It is calling to me today instead of shouting at me to stay away. I suppose I had better be sociable or it may be like most of my other friends and just stop calling altogether!

The Intimidating Notebook

I finally got my own trailer done...it wasn't what I really wanted it to be, and I can always make some changes, but it is there. I think I will take a stab at some writing this morning before I go to work...We shall see what happens there. Perhaps I will find that the inspiration will flow and I will have nothing to fear any longer! hehe
My husband and I went and saw The Dark Knight last evening and I was amazed at the imagination, the special effects and the casting. I loved it...but I am a Batman fan, after all. But the story line got me all the way. It twisted and turned with many low blow moves on the Joker's part...and I loved that it showed several of the villains in one show that we used to see on the cartoons as kids. It was great.
So, I am off to see the Intimidating Notebook for a visit and see what we can accomplish today!

Time Will Tell

Here I am...a woman, a mother, a wife, an employee, a friend, a daughter, a sister, an author...with no time in my day for the things I would like to get done and all the time in the world for all the things that will get me nowhere. I desperately want the time to make memories with my children, to visit with my friends and not feel guilty, to be able to write my novels and entertain the world and not feel that I am putting my family out. It is tough. I feel unappreciated where I work hard everyday and put much pride into a minimal job...but when one reader compliments my handiwork in a book, I feel elation and I want to spread that to more readers. I feel a little bogged down with so much to do and no time to do it...
But on a good note, I was able to send in my required documentation to mypublisher today to finish my end of the deal, so to speak. Now my manuscript goes to an editor who will format it and get it ready to print. Then it will go to the cover design team who do a great job. I look forward to seeing what they do for this one.
I hope to begin a trailer for this book soon...I usually wait until the cover is here, but I may have it done and waiting by then, who knows? Time will tell, it always does.

Creating Trailers...Like Movie Trailers

I have found that I absolutely LOVE creating trailers for books. Although I find it difficult to make them for myself, I enjoy making them for others. I was so tickled when my good friend and fellow author asked me to make her trailer for her second book...I had made the one for her first...and at the same time I felt a little intimidated by the task. What if I could not produce the same results as the last time? What if she hated it? But, as I forced myself to get started and just dig in, it all just kind of came to me and I could see what I wanted to accomplish and what kinds of phrases I wanted to use...It was amazing to me how my mind can be so creative sometimes! I could happily spend my days snapping photos and putting together these trailers for authors for the rest of my life and think I had the best job in the world...next to writing books, of course! lol

Writing is Like Poker...

I was at a game of poker last night with my husband and some friends and it occurred to me that writing and playing the publishing game is a lot like playing poker...very much like gambling. You put your words together and throw your "ante" out there to the publisher, who is like the dealer because they hold all the cards, and as you sit around the table of marketing and promotion with your fellow authors you hold in your hands your secret weapon...the "cards" that you feel will win the table over and enable you to win. And so you toss in your chips as you pay endlessly for items needed to promote yourself, whether it is bookmarks, posters and announcement cards or a fee you pay an agent, those chips go into the middle of the pot and it grows. Some hide behind a name and bluff their way to the top as everyone folds to them, intimidated. Some have true talent and hold the winning hand. Some just play to have a good time and do what they enjoy. Regardless, it is difficult to find your way around those who up the ante higher to be able to play with them and you find yourself questioning your own worth in the business. But, no matter where you fall in the ranks...if you love doing it, never stop because you can only get better!
I am not a very good poker player but I keep going back and I learn something new each time I play. The same goes for writing. Everytime I publish I learn something new, every booksigning I learn something new, every author I meet I learn something new. I just have to get better...

You Just Never Know...

I was at work last evening and a woman handed me her card. She told me to come down and see her so she could cook for me and my husband at a fine restaraunt. I jokingly replied that I would come and eat her food and I would leave her a copy of my book for her to read. She laughed a moment and sobered quickly. Her interest piqued and she asked what I wrote and remarked about how fun it would be to host a booksigning at the restaraunt. She acted genuinely honored to have met me...ME! of all people. Perhaps it will lead to a very exciting event for the both of us! Furthermore, it was interesting because the woman's daughter was with her and she works in a marketing firm directly across the street from my place of business. She offered to take my card and my bookmarks and see what she could do to run some pricing through the industry and get some quotes for me! What fate will do for you when you open your big mouth!! hehe

The Fear of Moving On

I am currently writing book two in my Elgolan Series and am finding it rather difficult to continue to move forward. I find it funny that I just punched the final period of chapter four the other night with bittersweet feelings as I knew that would mean I would have to, in a sense, start over with a new chapter. I have yet to begin chapter five. How odd, when the book is laid out for me in my mind and even sketched on paper that I would have this fear of moving forward with my own book. Here I have readers wanting the next book and I am cowering on my couch staring at my laptop unable to open it and let the inspiration flow. I know I had times like this with the first book but it also took me seven years to write it...I don't have that luxury this time around. I had wanted this book to be done by now and it isn't, which makes me disappointed in myself. Well, I will just have to take it one sentence at a time for they turn into paragraphs and then into chapters. I will get there eventually!

Prequel in preproduction

July 22, 2008

I am well on my way to the release of my second book, although it is actually the prequel to my first. It is quite a unique little book of only 150 pages, but instead of chapters it is made up of five short stories...each with it's own name. This has been very different for me since my first novel was 483 pages and twenty-four chapters and the "second" book in the series will be similar as well. So, it makes this little prequel very special.
I had to sit and decide what I wanted to have displayed over the back cover two nights ago. That is always a tough thing to do. I wanted it to reflect the fact that it ties in with the first book and answers questions that the reader didn't even realize were there in the first place but I also wanted it to tell the reader briefly about the story itself. I also wanted to add a blip to my readers at the end. So, here is what I came up with...

Before there was Thorne and Aspen, there was Vatric and Lyndsay...
Before Aspen discovered the village of Cliffehaven, there was a small settlement camp called Little Harbour where death and poverty overshadowed all who lived there. But there were two who dared to break free of the gloom and move on to promised paradise. Together, Vatric and Lyndsay embark on the journey that would shape their lives as they fight to remain just beyond the clutches of the greedy Earl St. Michael.
Before there was Noble Courage, there were the Tales of Elgolan!

I thoroughly enjoyed writing about these two very subtle characters from Noble Courage and I smiled the entire time as the pieces all fell into place like a puzzle. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Please feel free to drop me a note at darktowerfamily@yahoo.com .