Wow! I am beyond amazed!!!! And eternally grateful to each and every person who has been following my journey for months and also the new followers who have just joined!
When I started this blog, I planned on doing it to "build my platform" and make a name for myself on the internet. What I hadn't expected were the friendly faces and thoughtful posts I received! I made friends out here in Bloggerland! And you have all given me such wonderful support and advice and hopefully i have enriched your blogging experience too!!
I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors! Most of you are fellow writers and we're all on this crazy, winding, twisting, uphill path together! It's so nice to have people to share the joys and sorrows with!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Been busy lately....sorry I've been MIA!
I know I don't have to remind anyone how fast time flies by. I look at the calender and I'm like "Holy Crap!" I have only a little over a month left till the writer's conference! I finished my POV change for Spellbound, but I have not touched it in a little over a week. I still have to go through it a couple times and edit!! Plus, my editor just sent me my galley for A Bitch Named Karma and I need to do that and get it back to her. YIKES! Holy workload!
And my daughter was on winter break last week, so that meant I got almost no time to work or play on the computer! We went away for a few of those days too. I did take the laptop and popped online a couple times, but no time for blog reading :(
So, huge apologies to all my bloggy buddies. So sorry I have not been participating int he blogging world lately :( But I will be honest in saying I'm not sure how much time over the next month I can dedicate to you. I absolutely need to get the galley done and then it's full steam ahead on Spellbound edits. I need to have it perfected for the conference!!
And my daughter was on winter break last week, so that meant I got almost no time to work or play on the computer! We went away for a few of those days too. I did take the laptop and popped online a couple times, but no time for blog reading :(
So, huge apologies to all my bloggy buddies. So sorry I have not been participating int he blogging world lately :( But I will be honest in saying I'm not sure how much time over the next month I can dedicate to you. I absolutely need to get the galley done and then it's full steam ahead on Spellbound edits. I need to have it perfected for the conference!!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Final stage of editing....I can't believe it!!!
Wow. Can't believe this day is here. Today I start the absolute last stage of editing. I received my galley yesterday and now all that's left to do is go through and note any typos or other minuscule changes. After this there's no going back...no more changes. This is it!!!
I am in awe of how far I've come since starting this book. It had a different name back then and the original story idea was a bit different. It morphed as I wrote and I remember how fast I pumped out that first draft. Barely two months it took me...I was so excited...so inspired...I just could not stop. It was three years ago this month that I started it.
I remember how excited I was when it was finished and how fabulous I thought it was. I edited and perfected it and I queried. I received 9 requests...one of which was a full request from Red Dress Ink, one of the biggest chick lit publishers around. (this was when they still accepted unagented submissions). Devastation filled me when every single one ended in rejection.
But I loved this story so much.
It sat for a while, then it got an overhaul. I queried again and had no luck at all. Then I sent it off to a few digital publishers and that's when my story found it's home. My heart about burst when I found someone else who loved this story as much as I did.
And now here we are, after perfecting it even more...ready to publish and share it with the world!
I am in awe of how far I've come since starting this book. It had a different name back then and the original story idea was a bit different. It morphed as I wrote and I remember how fast I pumped out that first draft. Barely two months it took me...I was so excited...so inspired...I just could not stop. It was three years ago this month that I started it.
I remember how excited I was when it was finished and how fabulous I thought it was. I edited and perfected it and I queried. I received 9 requests...one of which was a full request from Red Dress Ink, one of the biggest chick lit publishers around. (this was when they still accepted unagented submissions). Devastation filled me when every single one ended in rejection.
But I loved this story so much.
It sat for a while, then it got an overhaul. I queried again and had no luck at all. Then I sent it off to a few digital publishers and that's when my story found it's home. My heart about burst when I found someone else who loved this story as much as I did.
And now here we are, after perfecting it even more...ready to publish and share it with the world!
Friday, February 19, 2010
My Cover Art: Here it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so unbelievably excited to share this with my blogger friends!!!!
As I said in my last post, it is a bit more racy than I would have liked, but option #2 was just not as striking. And honestly, the second model had WAY too much makeup on and she was kinda ugly! LOL! And her arms were positioned really weird. I think this cover will definitely grab someone's attention and hopefully once readers read the blurb, they will want to buy it! There is a warning that will post under my blurb, telling possible buyers that the story contains strong language. There is no mention of sex in my warning, so hopefully that will be enough to let readers know it is not an erotic novel. And it will be listed under Chick Lit not Erotica.
Sooooooooo......what do you guys think??????
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
COVER ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am beyond excited!!!!!!
Wow....I have been waiting for this day...since...forever!!! I think all writers dream of the day they will see their name printed across the cover of a book! And let me tell you...just the jpeg attachment of my cover art took my breath away!!
I never really had any ideas for cover art for A Bitch Named Karma. My publisher, Lyrical Press, asked what my ideas were, which I thought was very cool of them, and I didn't really know what to say. I wanted something eye-catching, of course, and I like more simplistic covers. Lyrical has fantastic cover art, so I wanted to leave it up to the professionals!
And wow...did the professionals do an amazing job!!!
I am not going to post it yet...I know...it breaks my heart not to share it!!! It may go through a change before it's set in stone.
But let me tell you, the font is really fantastic...and the background is a medium blue and it's ruched satin. I am not usually a fan of blue, but this is really stunning. There is a female model on the cover, as Lyrical uses real photos on their cover as apposed to drawings. She's gorgeous, of course, with dark hair that contrasts against the blue amazingly!
My one and only gripe is her clothing....or rather, lack there of. She's a little too naked for the type of novel. It's chick lit/contemporary romance and my fear is that potential readers will think it is an erotic novel. There are sex scenes, but they are, for lack of a better word, glossed over. My MC is a very sexual person but I chose not to write the details of the scenes. I'm afraid that someone may look at the cover and pass on it because they do not like detailed sex scenes. Or others may buy it thinking it's erotica and feel disappointed when it's not.
Book covers, even digital ones, are sooooooooooo important. No matter what your blurb says, or what your excerpt is....readers see that cover first and they form an opinion immediately. Last thing I want to do is turn away potential buyers or disappoint someone who was looking for more that what my book contains.
I never really had any ideas for cover art for A Bitch Named Karma. My publisher, Lyrical Press, asked what my ideas were, which I thought was very cool of them, and I didn't really know what to say. I wanted something eye-catching, of course, and I like more simplistic covers. Lyrical has fantastic cover art, so I wanted to leave it up to the professionals!
And wow...did the professionals do an amazing job!!!
I am not going to post it yet...I know...it breaks my heart not to share it!!! It may go through a change before it's set in stone.
But let me tell you, the font is really fantastic...and the background is a medium blue and it's ruched satin. I am not usually a fan of blue, but this is really stunning. There is a female model on the cover, as Lyrical uses real photos on their cover as apposed to drawings. She's gorgeous, of course, with dark hair that contrasts against the blue amazingly!
My one and only gripe is her clothing....or rather, lack there of. She's a little too naked for the type of novel. It's chick lit/contemporary romance and my fear is that potential readers will think it is an erotic novel. There are sex scenes, but they are, for lack of a better word, glossed over. My MC is a very sexual person but I chose not to write the details of the scenes. I'm afraid that someone may look at the cover and pass on it because they do not like detailed sex scenes. Or others may buy it thinking it's erotica and feel disappointed when it's not.
Book covers, even digital ones, are sooooooooooo important. No matter what your blurb says, or what your excerpt is....readers see that cover first and they form an opinion immediately. Last thing I want to do is turn away potential buyers or disappoint someone who was looking for more that what my book contains.
Monday, February 15, 2010
POV change is DONE! Holy Cow was that a lot of work!
This POV change was for Spellbound, my 3rd completed novel. Basically it's about a simplistic woman who falls for a wealthy man and the differences they must deal with when they start a committed relationship. It tackles a lot of issues today's couples must deal with: financial, religious, familial.
I shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of work this took...I knew it would be very time-consuming. But in the beginning, it was just time consuming....easy....replacing I and we with she and they. But the more I went on...it just got to be a huge pain in the butt. Worth it, hopefully, but a huge pain.
But today I finally finished it. Whew! Huge weight has been lifted! This change was necessary and it was worth it. I think the story is stronger...love that I can add my hero's POV in. I think that helps the story a lot!
So next step...after I let this baby sit for a week, is to go back through and tighten it up. I need to add in some more spots with hero's POV and determine where I can cut some things. It's a tad too long. But I'm not overly concerned with that.
So now I have a little over a month to get this story ready for pitching at The Write Stuff Writer's Conference the end of March.
I shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of work this took...I knew it would be very time-consuming. But in the beginning, it was just time consuming....easy....replacing I and we with she and they. But the more I went on...it just got to be a huge pain in the butt. Worth it, hopefully, but a huge pain.
But today I finally finished it. Whew! Huge weight has been lifted! This change was necessary and it was worth it. I think the story is stronger...love that I can add my hero's POV in. I think that helps the story a lot!
So next step...after I let this baby sit for a week, is to go back through and tighten it up. I need to add in some more spots with hero's POV and determine where I can cut some things. It's a tad too long. But I'm not overly concerned with that.
So now I have a little over a month to get this story ready for pitching at The Write Stuff Writer's Conference the end of March.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Finally back to work...got lots to do!
My laptop had to be rushed to the Computer Hospital AKA hubby's uncle's. We have always gotten our computers from his uncle, who builds them for a living. He is also a fantastic computer surgeon. He had her back to me in only two days, which I appreciated to no end. She is mostly good as new...but I fear she will never be 100% :(
But anyway, I am now working on selecting the excerpt that will be listed on my page on Lyrical Press's website!! And wow is it hard!!! They want a scene toward the beginning of the book...something that makes a reader want to read more, obviously. But I don't want to give away something that is meant to be a surprise!
But anyway, I am now working on selecting the excerpt that will be listed on my page on Lyrical Press's website!! And wow is it hard!!! They want a scene toward the beginning of the book...something that makes a reader want to read more, obviously. But I don't want to give away something that is meant to be a surprise!
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