GIVEAWAY!!!!! Win a copy of Karma Kameleon!!!!

Today I am am offering up a digital copy of Karma Kameleon, over at Booked Up! Please go check it out and enter!!!

Sunday Six- More Karma!

Here is another scene from my newest release, Karma Kameleon!

As the room continued with “Happy birthday dear Preston,” the pain sharpened, like a shard of glass being jammed into my mid-section. I gripped one of the dining room chairs and fought to stay on my feet. Me crippling over in pain would only cause mass hysteria. And I didn’t want that for my boy’s big day.

Rich made it to my side before the song had ended. “Are you okay?”


And if you'd like to check out all the other participants, go here!!

It's Release Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Release day!!!!!!! Yay!!!! I'm so excited!!!!

Today is the release day for my second full-length novel, Karma Kameleon! It's the sequel to my debut, A Bitch Named Karma. I'm so excited for the release of this book. Readers were so engaged with Lexi Marshall in the first and I just needed to tell the next phase of her life. More problems, more Karma, more Lexi! Readers also get more Rich, her sexy rockstar boyfriend, and get to see him mature and become a man. But that causes more problems for Lexi too! She's now caught between the two men in her life!

I'm partying ALL day on my Facebook Fan Page with, prizes, guests, games, giveaways and more!!Come stop by!!

Here's the blurb:

Karma is back, but this time she’s not completely to blame. 

After surviving a heart- wrenching tragedy, Lexi Marshall is determined to find happiness with her wacky, new-age family. Stumbling through her first few months of motherhood, she's achieved the perfect balance living with her son, the love of her life, and her best friend and his lover. But happily-ever-after all under the same roof doesn't last long. 

For one thing, Rich doesn’t exactly agree living with everyone is ideal. With their gay/straight double wedding fast approaching, he wants to find a place of their own instead of continuing to sponge off of Marcus and Kevin. But Lexi isn’t ready to give up her easy lifestyle...or the never-ending wisdom of her lifelong best friend, Marcus. 

Torn between assured comfort and true happiness, Lexi has to make a choice, and fast. Will she lose everything, or can she trust karma, and have it all?

Some Karma for Six Sentence Sunday!

Tomorrow is the release day for Karma Kameleon the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma, and my second full-length published novel! So in honor, I will post the first 6 sentences from Karma Kameleon!

Enjoy!

“Rich, I’m pregnant.”

The last time I’d said those exact words to him, it had led to our breakup and my entrance
to a dark and dreary pit of misery. This time, instead of a dumbfounded, confused expression, a
huge grin formed on Rich’s face and he kissed me. We laughed and he told me how happy he
was and how much he loved me.

“This is perfect.” He lay next to me on our bed and combed his hand through my hair.

And if you want to join the party, stop back tomorrow for all kinds of fun and prizes!! I'll be partying all day on my blog, Facebook author page and Twitter!

One more week!!!

Next Monday is the release of my second full-length novel!! I am so so excited!!

Karma Kameleon is the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma. I cannot wait for you all to read the next chapter in Lexi's life. There's more drama, more laughs, more sexiness and sassiness...more Lexi!

All day next Monday, January 9th, I'll be hanging out here, posting all kinds of fun things. And I'll be partying it up on my Facebook page and Twitter too. All kinds of fun things- excerpts, games and prizes! I have lots of great things to give away!! Hoping lots of my author friends stop by and share their books and excerpts too. Should be lots of fun!

It's my birthday!! But I have a surprise for all of you!!!

I know birthdays are not special to many people...but for me...even as I step into my mid-thirties today...I still feel special on this day. I think everyone should feel special on their birthday! It's the only day of the year that is just for you.

I have long sine abandoned parties on my birthday, but in our family, we still celebrate. The birthday person gets to choose where we go for dinner and we enjoy a nice meal together. I don't get as many presents as I used to...and I'd be lying if I didn't say I missed it! Can't help it...I'm a girl who likes to be spoiled!!! But my parents and my mother in law always treat me to something and hubby too...but usually I pick out my own present and say "This will be my birthday present!) LOL!

So anyway...without further ado..I have a present for all of you on my birthday!!! It's sultry and sexy and I can't wait to hear what you think! It's my new covert art!!!!! Karma Kameleon will release in January 2012 and here is the cover!!!!

It's Blurbalicious!!!!

No cover art yet, but I have my official blurb for Karma Kameleon!!!!

KARMA KAMELEON

Karma is back, but this time she’s not completely to blame.

After surviving a heart-wrenching tragedy, Lexi Marshall is determined to find happiness with her wacky, new-age family. Stumbling through her first few months of motherhood, she's achieved the perfect balance living with her son, the love of her life, and her best friend and his lover. But happily-ever-after all under the same roof doesn't last long.

For one thing, Rich doesn’t exactly agree living with everyone is ideal. With their gay/straight double wedding fast approaching, he wants to find a place of their own instead of continuing to sponge off of Marcus and Kevin. But Lexi isn’t ready to give up her easy lifestyle...or the never-ending wisdom of her lifelong best friend, Marcus.

Torn between assured comfort and true happiness, Lexi has to make a choice, and fast. Will she lose everything, or can she trust karma, and have it all?

WARNING: Contains some explicit sexual scenes and strong language.

A Series...love it or hate it??

There are many many times I read a book and wish it didn't end. I just wanted to keep reading about these characters that I came to love!!

Many authors write books with a series in mind. When I write A Bitch Named Karma, I had no plan other than what I was doing at that exact moment. But after a while, some ideas for a sequel did pop into my head....but I wouldn't allow myself to really give them much though until I found a home for the book. No point wasting time thinking about a sequel if I couldn't even sell the first. And there was no way I was going to write one when I could have used that time to write something else that had the possibility of selling. But after i signed the contract...the ideas swirled again. I took notes and wrote the manuscript last summer int he few months after A Bitch Named Karma's release. Karma Kameleon will release in January 2012!

As far as a 3rd.....who knows. Maybe someday! ;)

But one thing I have issues with in a series is books that are just filler and feel like the author only wrote it to hook you and make you want to buy the next. (I find this often with book #2) I hate feeling like I read an unfinished story just so the author could profit on selling the next book...they have you hooked and wanting more. In my opinion, every book in a series needs to stand alone. Not cool to leave me hanging at the end with no real ending.

One of my favorite series books is The Queen of Babble series by Meg Cabot! SUCH an awesome series. And I can't write a post on series books without mentioning The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Fantastic!!

What is your favorite series??

A Contract!! A Contract!!!!!

I love love love publishing contracts!!!!! I hope this never stops feeling this good!!

I submitting Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma, to my editor at Lyrical Press a couple weeks ago. She is usually pretty fast with this kind of thing, so I didn't expect it to take long to hear from her. But it still felt like forever and I told myself to just chill out. I knew she was reading it...she told me she was...but nothing. Nadda. No clue on if she was enjoying it or not. So I was super nervous.

But then the other day I checked my email, and there it was...a contract for Karma Kameleon! Usually my editor tells me ahead of time that she is recommending something for contract! But not this time....total surprise!! And I loved it!

So excited!!!

And check this out!! A local paper did a story on me! Click here!

It's vacation week!

I know not all schools give the kids a week off for President's week, but ours does. Didn't used to...this is new...only been the last could years. So now the kids only have one week at Easter, instead of almost a full 2 weeks like they used to. I think it's better to have it broken up.

So, this morning I stayed in bed til 10....for some odd reason, my son slept til I went in and got him up. My daughter had stayed the night at Grandma's house.

You may ask...any big plans for this week?? Not one. Last year we took the kids to Kalahari in Ohio, a huge indoor waterpark resort. So so fun..I highly recommend it. But no money for it this year. We'll just hang out at home. I'm sure we'll play lots of Wii and other games.

In other news, I am done with edits on Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma. Yesterday i worked on filling a few small plot holes and hopefully it doesn't look like I added these small scenes in. My main focus now is just reading through the story and looking for grammar mistakes and spots where the text just doesn't work. Hoping to get it out to some readers in the next few days!

October Writing Stats

I posted on Monday that I have finished Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma.

Last month I posted my stats for July, when I was in ultra writing mode. Once again this October, I was back in writing mode and decided to post my stats again!! I like figuring it all out, and hopefully, you all enjoy reading it too!!

Number of days my 1000 word goal was met: 17 (July was 18)
Number of days it was not: 5 (same as July)
Number of days I didn't write at all: 9 (but 4 of those days my laptop was out of commission) (July was 8)
Number of days I wrote at least 1500 words: 9 (same as July)
Number of days I wrote over 2000 words: 2 (July was 4)

Total word count for October: 29,251 (July was 30,590)

I strive for 1000 a day. I like to meet that goal every day, but I don't stress about it, considering I have many days where I exceed that goal. In the end it usually averages itself out. Obviously, I was a little under for October....but I finished the story, so that's all that matters!

Even after 4 days without my beloved, my book is finished!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

What a crazy week this has been. On Wednesday, I could barely get my computer to turn on, let alone do anything. Hate when that happens. And it never ceases to amaze me how lost I feel without it. I have our older PC in the basement that has virtually nothing on it and mainly hubby and daughter use it for internet stuff. So luckily I could check email and such. But I could not write. Everything is on my laptop.

And that meant ending Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma, was put on hold. And that made me mad. I had a goal of finishing by the end of October. It was just a personal goal, but for me, that is just as important as a deadline from an editor. So we took her to the computer doctor and I wrote the very last chapter in a notebook. So technically it was finished...but for me...if it's not in the computer, it doesn't count.

My laptop was fixed and good as new...picked it up yesterday morning. But with Halloween festivities, I could not get on it until after 10 at night to actually transfer my scribbles into the computer. Yay!!!!! It feels so great to have it finished!!

So now we start the self editing process. But I've already been through the first half once. And my writing is getting cleaner and stronger with each book. There shouldn't be as much to fix. My new goal is to have it cleaned and ready to submit by the end of the month!

Yippee!!!

Editing and Writing at the same time???

Well...here I am in the middle of my first round of copy edits for Paradise Cove, YIPPEE!! But I've been spending so much time on Karma Kameleon...trying to get the first draft done by the end of October.

Normally, I do not mix editing and writing. I do one or the other. When edits come in...I usually put aside whatever I'm working on to devote all my time to that. But for the first time, I don't want to do that. I really had my heart set on meeting this goal by the end of October. And I am in a really good position to accomplish it! That means still keeping with my daily work count goal. Paradise Cove is a shortie...only 16,000 words, so it's not like editing an entire full-length novel. And I could put Karma Kameleon aside for a few days to work solely on edits...but I'm just too afraid that I'll get behind and not able to come back.

Yesterday went well. I actually got a decent amount of the editing done. Earlier that day, while out to lunch with my son, he started the next scene on Karma Kameleon. I wrote in my little purse notebook while he slowly ate his food. (I don't know about your kids, but mine can sometimes take for-ev-er to eat.) So I typed that into my computer...just over 600 words. Not bad. I was going to leave it at that. Editing and getting 600 words down wasn't too bad. But I just couldn't leave it. I got back on the computer after the kids were in bed, did more editing, and also squeaked out a few hundred more words. I made my word count goal, barely, but I did it.

Last week of Summer vacation!

I am both really happy and kinda sad at the same time. I am so desperate to get back to a normal daily routine. So done with the "whatever goes" kind of day. Very much looking forward to structure.

But on the other hand, it's almost September and my daughter is going back to school and I feel like the summer has gone by and we didn't do enough.

I keep reminding myself that I am a work at home mom and not a stay at home mom. I still have work to do...so I can't just do whatever I want every day. Besides, most things take money and we just don't have it.

I got a lot done in July...added almost 30,000 words to my manuscript. The plan was to take August to edit the first half of the book- Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma. And that went well...for like the first two weeks. But the last two....didn't do anything at all. Which is fine...maybe I needed to just chill anyway.

So, here we are....week til school starts. Already have some plans for this afternoon. And tomorrow hubby is off, so we have plans for then too.

Hope the rest of your summer goes well!

Practise makes perfect???

Well, I am officially in editing mode for the first half of Karma Kameleon, the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma. I'm excited to be doing this. I am one of those writers who can just write and write and not edit while in writing mode. I know many writers who have trouble with self editing....and scrutinize every word the second they type it. My process has always been to get the story out and fix it later.

But I wonder if the more I do it, will the "fixing" part get easier? I can tell with every project that my writing gets stronger and tighter. I make far less grammar mistakes as I am constantly re-learning all those rules I learned in elementary school. I've already been through the editing process with a professional editor and I know I have learned so much from her. My hope is that now, it will all be a bit easier..less work will have to be done afterward!

Well, bloggers, today is the last day to sign up for my A Bitch Named Karma giveaway!!!! Get your comments in to qualify!!!! Click here for the post!

If I reach my goal....I'll take a break!

I'm busy working on a sequel to A Bitch Named Karma. I'd always had the idea floating around....but there was no way I was writing even one word until I sold the first book. Didn't wanna jinx it or anything.

So once the publishing dream became reality, of course I wondered if I should write the sequel. Do people like sequels? Do publishers like sequels?? I asked my editor the question and it was a resounding "YES!" So I started it.

The original goal was to finish it by the end of 2010. (But I didn't seriously even start it `til a couple weeks ago.) I think that's a reachable goal. My daily word count goal is 1000. I usually can write a couple hundred more than that, but that's all I can realistically manage with two kids. That will have me finishing the book around the end of September or so. I think that's decent. We're leaving November 30th for a 9 day trip. I should have all of October and November to edit. Not sure if that will be enough, but it should be pretty good. After going through the editing process with my editor for one book already, I can tell that my writing is much stronger. So, hopefully that means my first draft will be better than my first drafts have been in the past!

So anyway, I think I may take a break the first week of August. I am desperately wanting to get some scrapbooking done. If my total word count is 40,000 by the end of July, I will take a vacation! (I'm at 12,000 right now). Today is the 6th...I have 26 days....so I'll need to do more than 1000 a day...but I think I can do it.

Do you set word count goals and reward yourself when you make them???