Category: James Matthews Series

Playing with words #WIPpetWednesday and #ROW80

Let’s do ROW80 update first today.

 

1. Fallen from Grace: write 1 chapter a week (moving week excluded)

FINISHED!! Cue the chimes! Ring the bell! Throw the confetti!! I’m FINISHED!

2. Promo: Answer three interview questions a day until done
3. Promo: Write out a guest post a week until done

4. Lovely, Dark, and Deep short story needs to be written/plotted 2k a day due Aug 31st

Time to get cracking on this.

5. Paranormal Romance short story 2k/day due Aug 9th

Since I’ve finished most of my goals for this round, I’m going to make new goals.

1. Lovely, Dark, and Deep short story needs to be written by Aug 31st. 2k words a week.

2. Post-Apocalyptic/Zombie short story needs to be written by Sept 27th. 2k words a week.

3. Editing Fallen from Grace. 3 chapters a week.

yayayayayayayayayayayayayay!

Also…

Today is cover reveal day for Ashes Fall! I’ve already given a bit of a preview of it, but I’ll post it and two teasers I made up.

Ashes2finalAshesFallTeaser1 AshesFallTeaser3

This book will be released on September 1st!

Okay…now onto WIPpet.

I was told last week, after I had posted last week, by my beta reader that I needed to post this excerpt. If you get the reference, you get bonus points for the day! Today I give you 13 short paragraphs from chapter 12.

She fired up her computer as she sat outside the house with her lights no longer on. Opening a new report, Grace filled in all the appropriate information before clicking “Report Complete” at the bottom of the screen. Her stomach growled as she put her cruiser in drive, and Grace decided to hit the diner for lunch before it closed. Not being one for driving while talking on the phone, Grace put her car back in park and called the top number on her favorites list in her phone.

“This is Ruby’s.”

“Hey, Sueanne. I wanted to place an order for pick up.”

“Go ahead with it.”

“I’d like a healthy dose of hash and scrambled, dry. Also two sides of toast, white with not butter, and four packets of strawberry jelly.”

“Grace?”

“Yup, that’s me.”

Sueanne giggled. “I should have known it was you. I’ll have them put in an order for chocolate milk too.”

“Thanks!”

“Total is seven o’ nine.”

“That’s it?”

“It’s a special.”

Grace smiled, said her thanks and hung up. She would have fifteen minutes before it was ready to be picked up, but that wasn’t a long way. She drove through the neighborhood to give it a quick check before heading over to the diner to pick up her meal. She’d eat in her car, not wanting to talk to more people than necessary.

A ROW80 Update on a Sunday Morn…

Welcome to my crazy morning. Sundays are always going to be insane for me! So I’m going to make this quick.

1. Fallen from Grace: write 1 chapter a week (moving week excluded): I wrote chapters 11, and 12 this past week, and I have about 1,000 more words on chapter 13. That MEANS!!! I only have two more chapters to write and the novel is complete! My betas are up to chapter 10, so I might just get this book out earlier than expected *crosses fingers* I sent in for the covers to be done, so I should be getting those soon for books 2 & 3 in this series. Eeeeek!
2. Promo: Answer three interview questions a day until done
3. Promo: Write out a guest post a week until done
4. Lovely, Dark, and Deep short story needs to be written/plotted 2k a day due Aug 31st –This is so not happening
5. Paranormal Romance short story 2k/day due Aug 9th — I’m worried this is so not happening. We haven’t made any more progress on it, and the 9th is well, fast approaching…

Also! If you didn’t already think I was insane with these goals for ROW80. I have two novels releasing in the span of a month. Whew. That means tons of book tours going on and getting set up. The one that just released on the 1st is a stand-alone!

70a86-awccoverJane expected six months undercover to be hard; she expected it to be lonely and bleak. She didn’t expect to find love.

Jane Butler, a CIA operative, is assigned the task of infiltrating the Xanthians and determining if they’re a threat to humanity. Going undercover as a Xanthian mate, she boards the transport ship and meets Usnavi—her new mate. After spending six days traveling through space, Jane is ecstatic to explore the Xanthian station and soon sets out to complete her mission. The only problem? Usnavi—and the feelings she is quickly developing.

Fumbling their way through varying sexual expectations, cooking catastrophes, and cultural differences, they soon discover life together is never boring. As Jane and Usnavi careen into a relationship neither of them expected, Jane uncovers dark secrets about the Xanthians and realizes she may no longer be safe. When it becomes clear she’s on her own, Jane is forced to trust and rely on Usnavi. Simultaneously struggling with her mission, her feelings for Usnavi, and homesickness, Jane faces questions she never imagined she would have to answer.

 

Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
iTunes
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
Kobo

And this one!! That comes out on Sept 1st and is the final in a series. Ashes2final

Eleven years after the love of her life dies, James hopes everything would be normal and works to construct her reality as such. Her adopted daughter, Lily, finishes her sophomore year of high school with nothing other than good grades, a best friend for life, and goals for the future. James, after stepping back into the dating world, has a girlfriend with a steady, non-life-threatening job. Life is as peaceful as it can be. But a day at the waterpark with her daughter reveals the largest crack in the façade.

And nothing can stop chaos from ensuing.

 

Anyway…chaos ensues in my life, not just James’ as this all comes together.

I have tours for Ashes Fall and For by Grace that are accepting blogs. If you’re interested in either, let me know and I’ll send you a link to the sign up. =P

WIPpet Wednesday! April 23, 2014

It’s WIPpet Wednesday! w00t! And I can join this week, so it’s an even bigger wOOt!! Last week I spent a wonderful time at Rainbow Conference in Tampa, FL with a bunch of like minded people. It was great and fantastic and overwhelming all at once. I learned so much and met a bunch of people andandandAND I can’t even continue it was such an amazing experience. I can’t wait for next year. I’ll eventually write a post about the weekend with some of my notes from the panels and guidelines to con-going.

This week I also got a new part-time job working with low income kids. I think it’s a great opportunity for me, and one I’m going to sincerely enjoy.

Now… I have two favors for yous peoples. If you have a blog, twitter, facebook, anything that you can use to post on it, PLEASE OH PLEASE sign up for these two cover reveals. The more people who shout it out, the better.

The first is for my novel, For by Grace, TBR June 1. The cover reveal is May 1. This is a F/F Crime/Mystery COPS style novel that you’ve gotten a few excerpts from in the course of WIPpeting. If you live in the DFW area, I’m also going to have a release party on June 2! Here’s the link! All you need to do is sign up, and Rachael the Majestic will shoot you an email.

The second reveal is for S. A. Snow’s debut novel, Across Worlds: Collision. This novel is a sci-fi/erotica blended genre with mixed gender tendencies, so M/F and F/F. It’s a fantastic read to say the least because it’s not just all sex. There actually is plot in it! This book will be released August 1 by Acquitted Books. The cover reveal is set up for June 14th. Here’s the link to sign up.

 

The excerpt this week comes from chapter 10 of Ashes Fall — yes, I’m still working on chapter 10, but I’m going to finish it in about five minutes. There are fourteen sentences for the year, ’14. So that’s what you get. This is actually the very last bit of chapter ten. I’ll be asking for cover reveal goodies on this one too as soon as it gets closer to release date and I actually edit the damn thing. Release date is September 1 *shoot me now*

“Lily.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a question.”

Lily moved over to where Norma sat and mimicked her position on the mirrored sofa.

“Shoot,” Lily said.

Norma cringed at Lily’s choice of words before starting. “In the house, when the deputies were there, after Darcy died—did you make the gun go off?”

Seconds ticked by. Norma heard each one as the large clock in the hallway echoed through the room. Tension burst and coiled in her stomach as she waited for the simple answer or the long drawn-out explanation. Lily licked her lips, and all the air in Norma’s lungs released with a whoosh as Lily answered.

“Yes. I heated the gun until it went off and shot him in the stomach.” Lily blinked before she stood up and walked out of the room with a sway to her hips.

If you would like to join in WIPpet Wednesday’s it’s uber simple. Write a blog post with an excerpt of your current WIP (Work In Progress). The excerpt must in some way correlate to the date. Feel free to get crazy with the math. Then when that’s all done and finished, you head on over here and link it up. Go and read the other posts, comment because we’re comment whores, and get on to more writing or editing or whatever it was you were doing. Thanks to the awesome KL for hosting this thing each week.

 

 

Updates from the Beyond

Yes, I have noticed that I haven’t been around in the last few weeks. It’s honestly because I’ve been so busy, and not busy with fun stuff. My blog posts for my author’s corner have dwindled the past three weeks, all failing to be given to me and thus not shared with you. I’ve been traveling a great amount and thus unable to write or post for WIPpet Wednesdays, something I sorely miss. I could probably manage to post, but no way would I be able to manage to actually read my fellow WIPeteer posts, and thus I don’t feel comfortable posting without being able to reciprocate.

So here’s a bit of what’s been going on.

1. I’m looking for people to fill spots for the rest of the year on my blog for Author’s Corner. Right now, I’m only looking for LGBT authors or authors who write LGBT (or both, if someone happens to fall into both of those categories like me). I have a post up and coming next week from James Crawford, and I sincerely hope it actually happens.

2. I’m recently engaged!! Which is crazy exciting, but now think about the fact that we chose a wedding date six months out. Wow…so much planning. And I really hate planning. So now that most of the big things are planned, I can finally start to relax a bit. Also, I’m graduating with my Master’s degree in May, so I’ve been planning for that as well.

3. I have two books of my own that need to be edited, and I thought I would finish at least the first edit on Ashes Fall before I had to start on the final edit of For by Grace. I was wrong. For by Grace comes out June 1st and I really need to get the final edits to my publisher. Sadly, Ashes Fall is once again taking the back seat. These two books are coming out this year, along with a third that I co-wrote. I need to get kicking on writing in order to have anything coming out next year.

4. Due to the desperate need for money, I took on an editing job. Which will be awesome! I’m also searching for a part-time to full-time job in retail, because apparently I think there are more hours in the day than there actually are. This editing job is amazing though. It’s for debut author Tammy Morea and is a YA novel. I can’t wait until she publishes it for you all.

5. I’m still chugging along in school and my other job that doesn’t actually pay anything but gas money.

So this be my life for the past three weeks which I haven’t posted here. No interesting reads as of yet, though I did get started on Kristen Duvall’s Femme Du Chaos which is a great read so far! Wish I’d finished it before life got in the way again. Hope to see you all soon! Maybe Wednesday with a WIPpet post!

My Editing Schedule

Mar 24 – Ch 0, 1 (FbG) Ch 1, 2 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 25 – Ch 2, 3, 4 (FbG) Ch 3, 4 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 26 – Ch 5 (FbG) Ch 5 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 27 – Ch 6, 7 (FbG) Ch 6 (August Moon, TM)

Mar 30 – Ch 8, 9 (FbG) Ch 7, 8, 9 (August Moon, TM)
Mar 31 – Ch 10, 11, 12 (FbG) Ch 10, 11 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 01 – Ch 14, 15 (FbG) Ch 12 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 02 – Ch 13, 14 (August Moon, TM)
Apr 03 – Ch 15 (August Moon, TM)

Here’s to really hoping I’m able to stick to this editing schedule, and yes, I realize how ambitious I am. Either way, in the next three weeks, both these novels will be edited!

Jumping in, two feet forward

I feel as though I’m completely jumping into part of the market world. I’ve signed and paid for my first ad to be placed (no, I’m not saying where or how much–maybe if it works or does work, there will be another post on that). I’ve been doing a lot of giveaways with eBooks and even a few with printed copies.

What I’ve found is this. I have no clue if my sales have increased. I should know at the start of next month. This month I got a whopping $6 on royalties. Which isn’t bad, considering it could have been $0 and the book has been out for nine months with little to no promotion! I have to say, it’s done far better than I thought it would.

But I have bigger expectations for Dying Embers. I want it to sell more, and I want it to help sell more of Forever Burn. The question that remains is just how to do that. From everything that I’ve read, discoverability of the book and of me is supposed to be far more important than sales. I supposed that’s because if people can find you, they will buy you–so the two are actually related.

In order to achieve this discoverability thing that I keep reading about, I jumped head first into a lot of giveaways. I upped the ante to try and get facebook likes as well as twitter followers. I’m ignoring sales and trying solely to be “around.” I think it might have actually worked.

Starting the second week in November, I’ve participated in about 3 or 4 giveaways as well as some other promos for other authors. It’s suggested on twitter that 5 out of ever 6 tweets for promotion should be about other people, not me. I’ve upped that, and my own promotions on twitter. I’m also still on there writing random things as I usually do.

There is a giveaway going on right now, Morgan Jane’s 2500 Likes Giveaway that I think has given me the most Facebook likes. I went from a mere 167 to well over 500 in the span of about 3 weeks. I’m still in shock over it. I’m also participating in Diane Rinella’s giveaway. For this I just did the post on the 6th as an author spotlight for her. Likewise, today I spent an hour on This Redhead LOVES Books page on Facebook doing a giveaway of Dying Embers and talking up my books. I’m also participating in a Strong Women in Fiction Giveaway that came up and I couldn’t resist it. I’ve done a guest post and provided a print copy of Forever Burn for it. Likewise, I’m also doing my own giveaway right now, for the pleasure of having achieved 500 likes on my Facebook author page.

It seems that I have jumped in with both feet into the marketing world. I was very hesitant to market at first and to take any risks. I didn’t know at all what I was doing or what I should be doing. Back in March–when Forever Burn was released–I don’t think I even really knew what a guest post was! I certainly didn’t know how to use raffelcopter. The learning curve for marketing has been steep and sharp, as well as having lots of rapids on the way. But something my mother always taught me when rafting down the river was to keep two feet forward–that way you only break your legs when you crash into something and not your head.

So, upon taking her advice, which she certainly did not intend for the writing world, I have jumped two feet forward into the waters of marketing, and I’m letting the current and rapids take me where they go. The theory remains the same. If I push my discoverability rather than sales, then the sales will come as a result of being found. The likelihood that my sales go up because more people actually know about the book seems rather logical (I think Spock would even like that answer).

So, ttfn folks, I hope you see me before I see you!

A day for the future…

Today is one of those days that I will forever remember. December 1, 2013 marks so many milestones in my life that to put one above the other is completely impossible. There are two very important ones that I want to talk about.

Family is something extremely important to me. Most people don’t know, and they don’t ever assume, that someone doesn’t really have family. Sure, I have family, meaning I have aunts and uncles and cousins and at least one grandparent who is still alive, but they all live over a thousand miles from me. I am literally all on my own in the great state of Texas.

My mother and I moved to what I call my hometown in 2001, and it was about two years later that we met one family in particular. Ever since then, they are my family. We have holiday meals when them, and when I come home, that’s who I stay with. They are the family that I was never able to have. I never lived close enough in order to have them.

On Wednesday, I flew halfway across the country—which is no easy feat—to meet up with my family. I was able to spend Thanksgiving with them, but that’s not why I was there. Today is why I was there. Today I became an official part of the family. My very good friend had twins on July 18, and she asked me to be their godmother. I couldn’t have been more honored and blessed.

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I’m charged with raising them in Christ and teaching them about Christianity and Scripture, about the church and about God’s love. I’m going to take that even further. I’m going to teach them about interreligious dialogue, about conversing with the other and about finding one’s self in someone that can’t possibly be related to. I’m going to teach them how to be independent and strong, how to strive for their dreams and to work hard and play harder. I’m going to teach them to love above all else and to love those who are in need.

Today my twin godsons were baptized in the name of God, Son, and Holy Spirit—and I couldn’t be happier to finally be a part of the family.

The second amazing thing about today is that my second novel, Dying Embers, is being released. I had never planned on writing this book until I was completely done with Forever Burn. I couldn’t let the characters go and there were still aspects of their story that needed to be told.

I felt so compelled by these characters and their stories that I just had to continue writing them. I finished the novel itself in thirteen days and the majority of the editing over the next six weeks. It was something that I was amazed even with myself—I don’t think I’ll ever write a book that quickly again.

This novel represents something that I worked hard to achieve, something that I dreamed and worked toward, and something that I want my godsons to see as representative of something they can do.

So please take the time to check out Dying Embers and order yourself a copy. I appreciate any and all reviews so long as they aren’t bashing. So if you love it, write an amazing review. If you don’t like it, tell me why. Only good reviews never help an author improve and never help them to keep their head on straight in the line of possible fame. =P

 Dying Embers Blog Page (includes blurb and buy links)

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WIPpet Wednesday!! November 20, 2013

558043_221858701316154_1474243239_n 1374873_221041088064582_760361577_nSorry about missing last week. I couldn’t drag myself to the computer to do this (even though I skipped class and didn’t even have that to contend with). NaNoWriMo is going incredibly slow for me. Meaning, I’m not really writing lately. I need to fix that if I want to even hit 0,000 words this month. I’m looking at getting another part-time job starting in December to help make up for some of the bills (the advantage to seasonal jobs is becoming clear), and I’m preparing for another move sometime in mid-December. Back to Fort Worth I go.

Thus is the insanity of life.

My SO and I did get a puppy! This one will actually stay with us unlike the husky (she went to live with the SO’s parents). Puppy is a pitbull mix and is named Caprica (if you watch a certain show, you’ll be encountering a theme soon enough).

Likewise, I have a blog tour that begins today! Yay!! Amy, my awesome beta reader and amazing friend, is first up on the blog tour with an excerpt and promo. I’m sure that her post will be up soon–I’m up incredibly early! So check out her page and the post to get some more information and goodies on Dying Embers, which is going to be released on December 1! w00t!

But enough of the “chit chat” and onto WIPpet Wednesday! WIPpet Wednesday is an awesome and amazing thing where writers post excerpts of their WIP (Work In Progress). The only rule is that it in someway correlates with the date. Likewise, if you don’t have a current WIPpet, you can always start a new one for your post. Once you create the post, you go here and link it up with all the others, then hop around the blogs and comment–because we are all comment whores–just so that we know you were there. And Ta Da! WIPpet Wednesday is done!

For this week, you get twenty paragraphs (they’re small, most of it is dialogue) from chapter 6 of Fallen from Grace. In this part you really get to see just how far Grace has fallen. She and her girlfriend, Amya, are cleaning out Grace’s mentor’s house (he recently died), and they have had themselves a HUGE spat. This is the end result–the fall. This chapter is titled Conspiracy Theory, in case you were wondering.

As soon as they were inside, Amya took her straight down to the bathroom and started the water. She started to strip of Grace’s clothes and then shoved her into the tub, the water hot on Grace’s skin. Grace shuddered but eventually stretched out her legs and let the heat seep into her skin and muscles. She ached.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve run that much,” Grace commented to no one in particular.

“Three miles, Grace.”

“What?” Grace looked up to find Amya peeking her head into the shower.

“You ran three miles. Took me twenty minutes to find you and catch up with you. Luckily you were going straight ahead and didn’t stop moving.”

Grace shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms. Amya turned the temperature up more, and Grace scooted fully under the spray, curling her legs up again. If anything, she needed the wake up call. She would still be talking to Captain Brandon, whether or not Amya agreed to it. It just meant that their relationship would be on the rocks of sorts.

There was soap on her back. Grace turned her head over her shoulder and saw Amya leaning into the tub, rubbing her hands over her back and creating suds. Grace said nothing and turned back toward the spigot, reveling in the calming sensation. They would have to finish the two other rooms before the day was out, but she didn’t care that they were wasting time. And it didn’t seem Amya cared either.

After ten minutes, Grace rinsed off and stepped out. Amya handed her one of the towels that was still hanging up from before David and Carol left for their last car trip. Grace swallowed the lump in her throat and died her body. She redressed and moved to sit back on the bed in the guest bedroom.

Amya started to pack up the closet by pulling everything out of the dresser drawers. Grace looked at her fingers and then up at Amya.

“You don’t believe me. You just believe that I believe.”

“You’re right,” Amya said without turning around to look. “I believe that you think their deaths are all connected, and I believe that you are absolutely convinced of it. I’m pretty sure this is one of those times where we just agree to disagree.”

“So you won’t support me.”

“I will support you in your beliefs.”

“That’s a cop out,” Grace spat. “Fucking cop out.”

Amya turned around with her hands on her hips and shook her head. Grace knew what was coming. If she didn’t do something to fix the situation, then Amya would be leaving and probably be gone for good. There was a fleeting moment where she cared, and Grace tried to grab hold of it and keep it close to her, but she couldn’t. She just didn’t care anymore.

“Leave,” Grace whispered.

Amya said nothing in return and made no move to exit. She stood stock still with the closet behind her and two dresser drawers open. Grace stared at her, utterly defeated this time. She was tired of fighting.

“Just go.”

Time seemed to stretch and bend, but finally Amya took the first step toward the door. She looked back twice before leaving the room and heading outside. Grace heard the front door slam shut, the vibrations shuddering throughout the house. She rocked onto her back, the mattress hitting her spine and she stared at the ceiling. She had no more tears left. She had no more sobs or worries or wants. Grace took a deep breath and said the only word that came to mind.

“Good.”

Thanks to K.L. Schwengel for hosting this amazing thing. And thanks to Amy at UnchainedFaith for starting off my blog tour with a hop and a dance!! Be sure to check out both of their wonderful posts.

Crashing into the atmosphere!

Tomorrow marks the first day of my blog tour for Dying Embers. There will be interviews, excerpts posted and spotlights all over the internet! Well, at least a small portion of the internet. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this book to come out (in both senses of that term).

Dying Embers is the prequel to Forever Burn, which came out last March. It was written with a very specific purpose in mind. Let’s get to know Addison Lee far more than we did in Forever Burn. Addison turned out to be one of my favorite characters in this series, and I just couldn’t let her go after Forever Burn happened. She even makes an appearance in Ashes Fall, the third and final of this trilogy. delg

At the beginning of this novel, Addison is a bit lost. She’s making a move to a new city, new state, new job, and away from everything that she thought had been dragging her down. She thinks that as soon as she gets to Norwich everything is going to be better. She won’t be dealing with her old job and other people who have gifts like her, and most importantly, that she won’t be dealing with her nasty ex-fiance.

Well, leaving everything behind is far harder than Addison thought it would be. After moving, her old boss and sometimes-lover, keeps calling her to ask for help. Her new job is demanding, and not only that, but she made a massive mistake before she even started.

Throughout all of the chaos, she’s falling in love and trying to find herself at the same time. Addison is almost there when tragedy strikes, and she is forced to head home to Wyoming to help out. Nothing goes quite right for Addison throughout her first few months in Norwich, and she does her best just to keep afloat. definal3d-300x300

This story was something that was on my mind as soon as I finished Forever Burn. The characters were people I wanted to be my friends, people who were so alive that I couldn’t just cut off all ties with them and move on to my next group of friends. The process of creating was something I had latched onto and couldn’t let go.

I do want to talk a bit about this writing process (and the editing process). It seems to be one of the questions I see floating around the interwebs the most. Writing and editing for every author is a completely different process, and we all go about it in a different way. I tend to write very quickly. I have the story in my head and it’s just “Go! Go! Go!” until the story is done. Editing is where I spend most of my time.

For Dying Embers, I sent it through an amazing site called Project Team Beta. Two beta readers go through each chapter and give constructive feedback. When I’m ready and after a certain amount of chapters, I am allowed to choose permanent beta readers. I have one beta reader that I always use. Her name is Amy, and she’s awesome. Amy is meticulous in finding grammatical errors, something I am eternally appreciative of. (Amy is actually the first day on the blog tour.)

After I do my first round of edits after the beta readers get it, I do a second round. Then I print everything out and put it into a notebook. Once I finish all of my chapter edits, I take the notebook and a brightly colored pen and have at it. This time, though, I start from the back and I go through each sentence individually. At this point, I’m simply looking for typos, and you’d be surprised by how many I still find. (Sometimes I think I make more typos when I edit.)

Once all of this is done, I send it to my publisher. At that point (with this particular novel), we went through two more rounds of edits. It went through an editor and then back to me. Then back to the editor, then back to me. AND THEN we finally arrive at the final copy. I guarantee as soon as I get to see the final version in print, I will still find things that I want to change. I’m never completely happy, but I can’t keep it all to myself either.

Dying Embers was an exercise in my ability to write quickly. And I’m quite pleased with the final results. I hope you enjoy it too!

Blog Tour ScheduleFinalistSM-1

Nov 20: Amy
Nov 21: Autumn
Nov 23: Kirsten
Nov 25: Sarah
Nov 26: Samantha
Nov 28: Anna
Nov 29: Sirena

Dying Embers will be released on December 1, 2013. Right now, it is available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and Kobo.

Tiaras, crowns and the royal throne!

I thought that I should give you all an update on what’s going on book-wise. I’ve been posting excerpts for awhile now, but I think a succinct post on them all might be helpful.

To bring it all down to the basics, I’ve been editing a lot lately and not writing. This has got to change. I don’t know if it’s because I’m in a slump or just because I wrote so much in the past that now I have to catch up with all my editing, but it seems to be overwhelming. While I love editing for other people, I also enjoy writing. I want to find a good balance. Since NaNoWriMo is coming up, my balance is still going to be off. I’ve taken an oath to do NO editing during that month.

For specific novel updates…

Dying Embers will be released on December 1st. It’s all ready and set to go. I will have a blog tour going on for the last week in November for this. If you are interested in participating (which would be awesome since I need at least three more people), you can go here and fill out the form. I’ll send everything pretty soon. Dying Embers is the prequel to Forever Burn and looks more closely at Addison and how she got to Norwich.

For by Grace is in it’s second editing stage. I’m in theory going through that this week *snorts and giggles* It’s not actually happening though. Maybe in the next two weeks. This novel is one I’m really excited about. It’s scheduled to come out June 1, 2014 with Supposed Crimes. So excited! I just picked the cover, and I’m waiting on the final proofs for it. It’s gonna kick some ass. Likewise, during NaNoWriMo, I will be writing the sequel to this novel titled Fallen from Grace.

Ashes Fall is in the first editing stages. I’ve gotten it back from my beta’s and just need to take the time to go through it. It’s not scheduled for release until September 1, 2014, so I do have some time. My guess is that I’ll be editing it over Christmas break…you know, when I don’t have that pesky thing called school to take up all of my time.

Across Worlds: Collision is in the final, final stages. My cohort and I need to go through it one more time before it goes back to the publisher. It’ll be released, hopefully, sometime next year. This is our first erotica novel, and it’s co-written, which made it tons of fun and a great experience.

Emma’s Story, which still doesn’t have a name and I really do need to name it, is still in the process of being written. I will be taking a break from it in order to write Fallen from Grace in November. I’m hoping to have this novel done and completely edited by May of next year. I would love to be able to take it to DFWCon and perhaps meet with an agent over it. If not, I’m not going to cry. I have a publisher and I love her dearly.

 

That’s the quick and dirty update. Now to bring the title of the post in, I’ll be going to my throne room and disappearing into some much needed royal work! ttfn.

 

Dying Embers RELEASE

Hello everyone,

I’m writing this post today because I got some news. The official release date for Dying Embers is December 1, 2013. I really want to do a blog tour for my release, and that’s where you come in. If you’re available and would like to help me out, I will forever be grateful and hopefully will get the chance to return the favor.

The blog tour would take place in late November, and I’ll provide everything you need for it. I’ll be contacting you in early November, with your official date to post.

Dying Embers is the prequel to Forever Burn and is published with Supposed Crimes, LLC. It’s a paranormal/speculative fiction novel with LGBT characters. Here’s the blurb, it’ll give you a better idea of what it’s all about.

She thought she was on a new path, but life keeps tugging Addison Lee back to her past and her gift.

Addison struggles to make a new life in Norwich, one where she can be the Battalion Chief of Fire Station Seven and live life as she sees fit. She wants a life without the complications of an ex-fiancé and a job that put her life on the line for little more than a gift she was born with. Learning the ropes of a new job can always be tough, and being a Battalion Chief means she has a great responsibility to her crew and to the city. Nervous about her first day already, Addison realizes that adding in a one-night stand with a future employee has left her on rocky ground.

Plagued by visions of a dying woman, Addison continues to cope with difficulties at her new job. She has no idea who the dying woman is, where she is, or even, when she is—and no means to find out. Addison is distracted from the dying woman and her new job when called to Wyoming on an emergency, where she discovers it’s not as easy to leave her past behind as she hoped.

So, again if you’d like to help, PLEASE OH PLEASE HELP ME OUT! just hit up the link below, fill out the form and I’ll again before forever grateful.

Link to the blog tour sign-up.

Thank you so much in advance!!

Excitement and more!

As most of you know, I spent two weeks traveling around the US from the East Coast to almost the West Coast. What you don’t know is that on my way back from Montana to Texas, I had an amazing visit with fellow WIPpeter and friend, Sarah Hart. She met up with me at the airport, and we had a great thirty minute conversation during my layover. Sarah is beautifully spirited and a wonderful person!

Sarah & me

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time talking with my publisher. She IM’d me to say that she’s really enjoying my novel For by Grace and that she wants to publish the series! Yay! It’s been a few weeks since I had sent it to her, and I’m always nervous that she won’t like it. But she wants it! *does the happy dance*

Secondly, she told me that she had nominated my novel Forever Burn for the 2013 Rainbow Awards. She put it into two categories, debut novel and paranormal romance. I doubt I’ll win anything, but I’m completely appreciative of the nomination and the confidence that she has in me.

We were also talking about the publishing company itself. In April, I will hopefully be traveling to Tampa, FL for the very first Rainbow Con. While I’m not going as a writer but as a general admission, I still think the experience will be great. I should have goodies from my stuff and goodies from my publisher as well (apparently she’s a tid bit shy about going to cons).

So far, 2013 and 2014 are looking to be big and great years for me! I’m hoping for the release of three novels next year: Ashes Fall, For by Grace, and my co-written piece, Across Worlds: Collision.

I have also copy-edited seven books since May, which I didn’t think was a lot until I really sat down to look at it. Since May, I’ve done those seven novels, edited one of my own, written one of my own and started that editing process, and edited my co-written piece. I am BUSY!

I’ll keep you notified of any further updates. Also! I’ll be posting my book reviews of my last summer reads as soon as I find the time.

Keep it strong, people

WIPpet Wednesday!! September 4, 2013

Good morning and welcome to the land of the living. I absolutely almost forgot that today was Wednesday. *hides* but I remembered!! In time, of course. It’s been a crazy week, but this morning I was filled with reading about Zombis in Haiti (they’re real there), and witches who are high on drugs and use broomsticks to transfer the drug to their bodies (that’s all I’m saying because the rest is inappropriate). Yes, I was actually reading this for class.

Nothing crazy like that in this story…yet. Even though there are witches. Hmmm…now I have ideas running around in my head.

Well here you go!

Since today is the 4th, you get 4 lines from Chapter 10 of the story that still has no name. Joel is talking to Emma in this…so have fun!!

 

“Why are you here, Caroline?”

She cringed inwardly at the name and chewed on the inside of her lip.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Why are you at the house? Why did you come find us?”

If you would like to join in WIPpet, all you have to do is write up a blog post with some of your current WIP (Work In Progress) that correlates somehow to the date. Feel free to get crazy with the maths. Then you link it up here and read everyone elses work. It’s fantastic!!

 

Also…in case you missed it. I did an interview with a cover reveal last week. If you want to read the interview, you can go here. This, by the way, has been my favorite interview to do so far.

If you just want the cover reveal and to tell me how fantastic it is, look down.

Dying Embers is the second in the James Matthews Trilogy, but is a prequel to Forever Burn. In this novel, we learn more about Addison Lee. This book will be released THIS DECEMBER!!

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She thought she was on a new path, but life keeps tugging Addison Lee back to her past and her gift.

Addison struggles to make a new life in Norwich, one where she can be the Battalion Chief of Fire Station Seven and live life as she sees fit. She wants a life without the complications of an ex-fiancé and a job that put her life on the line for little more than a gift she was born with. Learning the ropes of a new job can always be tough, and being a Battalion Chief means she has a great responsibility to her crew and to the city. Nervous about her first day already, Addison realizes that adding in a one-night stand with a future employee has left her on rocky ground.

Plagued by visions of a dying woman, Addison continues to cope with difficulties at her new job. She has no idea who the dying woman is, where she is, or even, when she is—and no means to find out. Addison is distracted from the dying woman and her new job when called to Wyoming on an emergency, where she discovers it’s not as easy to leave her past behind as she hoped.

Interview with Aaron Speca & Cover Reveal for “Dying Embers”

Hey y’all (I can say that since I live in Texas). I was interviewed by Aaron Speca, an amazing, amazing person. The interview went live today. I have to say, this is was the funnest interview I have done so far. He did a great job on it.

ALSO!!!!! On a more exciting note, there’s a cover reveal for DYING EMBERS in this interview. So go check it out and see what my new cover looks like. I’m totally in love with it.

Find the interview here!!

Here’s a preview of the interview…

If there is one character you would really like people to meet, who would it be?
This is such a hard question because I have a lot, though many die (NOT a spoiler, I swears it!). Only one? Yeesh. I’m going to have to say Peter from For by Grace. Mostly because he reminds me of me in one sense, and in another someone that I would be best friends with. It’s a tossup between him and Addison from the James Matthew’s series. Addison stole my heart and hasn’t given it back yet.
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The tagline on your website says “A Torch in the Wind”.  I’m wondering if this phrase has some sort of special meaning to you?
The meaning is symbolic. There is always a light somewhere, and something is always threatening to put it out. However, if the light is strong enough, tenacious, willing, and brave enough, it will always prevail. Yet, it must also come to an end and die out. I don’t expect writing to always be this close to my heart. I do have a career that I’m working toward which is my number one passion.

Come on, let’s celebrate!

8837096895_81577a234b_qWelcome to the creative buzz hop! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve participated because of traveling, but I have so much to celebrate that I couldn’t pass up this week’s topic. Celebration!

If you want to join in the Creative Buzz Hop, it’s simple as one, ,. Write a post, a poem, a short story, anything you want that relates to the topic. Celebration! Then display the Creative Buzz Hop logo in the post. Then go to HERE and link it up with everyone’s. That’s all it takes!

For fifteen days I am traveling around the US, in the East and in the West, three different time zones. On July 30th I took off in a plane to come visit my mother, whom I haven’t seen in seven months (Arlington, Virginia). That Friday we drove up to Maryland to go to a sci-fi convention. Yes, I will admit, I am a con goer, and I love it! This was my mom’s first, and we had so much fun. We met Bill Shatner, Brent Spiner, Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock, Amanda Tapping and so many twitter and fb friends that I lost count! After deciding to skip the beach and come back to Arlington for a few days, we’re relaxing and hanging out.

On Thursday I will be flying to Montana, which is the essence of why this trip is happening. On July 18th, 2013 two baby boys were born to my best friend and her husband. I am their godmother!! Yay! So…On Thursday I will be flying out to meet them and to visit with my older godson who is now seven. I can’t wait to spend time with these three boys. Since I’ll be home, I’ll also be visiting a multitude of friends and preaching at my home church on Sunday morning.

More celebrations? Why I do say there are.

My publisher emailed back my final edits that I needed to do and asked to move up my publication date for the book. By about three months. Dying Embers should be released around December 1st, 2013! That means I’ll have published two books in one year. Yipee! I also…*cough*…got the book cover proofs on Saturday! I should be doing a reveal in the next few months.

I have a new job starting on August 18th, I’ll most likely be moving at the end of this month or the next (which is absolutely a good thing), school is starting and it’s my last year, and frankly, LIFE IS FANTASTIC.

Celebrating the little things makes life so much better than it actually is. Celebrating the little things reminds us that the big things are greater and the bad things have nothing on us.

The wonderful world of writing!

I received an email from my publisher this morning with my final final edits to Dying Embers. That means, I have one more round and it’s done and ready for print. YAY! She also said that she wanted to bump up my release date. Now, it’s looking like Dying Embers will be released in December. I’m so excited! Time to get to work.

Secondly, this week I started a new novel series. It’s untitled as of yet–the first book and the series–but I can’t wait until it’s all finished. This is probably one of my favorite main characters ever. She’s stubborn, she’s manipulative, she drinks a lot and she even does drugs on occasion. Emma’s a crazy one that doesn’t listen to a lot of people. She has a plan, and she wants to see it through.

We’re still working on the edits to Across Worlds: Collision. Our beta’s just got chapter seventeen today, and we’re working on chapters six and seven. It’ll get done eventually and be ready probably to come out late next spring. It’s been an absolutely pleasure to work with my co-writer. We’re even talking about writing another book together as soon as the fall semester starts up.

I sort of hosted my first virtual write-in tonight. It was a total success. We went for about two and a half hours, writing and chatting every thirty minutes during our check in. Everyone did great and fantastic. I’m so proud and impressed with all the women that participated. We’ll be doing it again next week on Thursday, so if you want to join, add me as a friend on facebook and PM me to tell me. I’ll gladly add you into the group. If you can’t join right away on Thursday night, just come and go. We all have lives and it does get busy.

Lastly, I will be gone for fifteen days starting on Tuesday. I’ll only have internet for the first week! Talk about scary. So if I’m not around much, that’s why. I’m flying out east to visit my mother and a few friends (along with my co-writer), and then I’m flying out west to visit my brand new godsons. Yes! I am a godmother. Asa and Aiden were born on July 18th around 7pm, and just got home from the hospital yesterday. They were five weeks early, so that’s a great sign! I can’t wait to meet my precious babies.

So that’s a quick update as to where I am right now.

TTFN

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Ashes Fall and the end of the James Matthew’s Trilogy

Today is a day to be remembered! But isn’t every day? =P I spent about six hours writing today and completed the novel “Ashes Fall” in almost record time. If you only count the days that I wrote during NaNo, it probably is. However, I started writing this novel in February.  It was slow going; I think I was honestly just burned out on it. I struggled through the month, with little to no progress and March hit. I had a deadline for an open call submission to another publisher and needed to write that novel.

Stopping all my work on “Ashes Fall,” I started to write Grace’s story. That one I finished in the month of March. That one took seventeen days to write. I love the way when I get into writing a novel that my fingers just start to type and I can’t make them stop. It’s an amazing feeling. Grace’s story, I wrote the majority of it in six days during my spring break. That was about 60,000 words if I remember.

After editing and submitting that one, I had to edit “Dying Embers” also part of the James Matthew’s trilogy. My publisher wanted it done, so I did it instead of writing “Ashes Fall.” July and Camp NaNoWriMo finally rolled around and in I went to write. Nineteen days into it, and I finished. There was a total of ten writing days during Camp NaNo.

I feel so blessed to have finished this novel and series. It certainly wasn’t without tears, particularly in this last one. During “Forever Burn” I sobbed as soon as I made a decision for the ending, and then I sobbed as soon as I wrote it. I was probably depressed for a week after each, but I pushed through and finished it.

“Ashes Fall” is far darker than “Forever Burn” and certainly darker than “Dying Embers.” I can’t begin to write about what goes on in this novel, but James has to hang on for a wild, wild ride. My WIPpet’s take care of explaining some of that, but it gets worse. Knowing what’s going on in her psyche as well as what’s going on in Lily’s throughout the entirety of the novel is crazy.

I can’t wait to begin to edit this novel. It’s already out with my beta-readers, and I’m impatiently waiting for it to return chapter by chapter. I’m so ready for this whole things to be in your hands to you can read it…but wait, isn’t there a prequel that has to come out first??

 

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WIPpet Wednesdays: July 17, 2013

It’s Wednesday! That means it’s WIPpet Wednesday!! You can join us any time just by creating a post of your current WIP (Work In Progress). Your post has to correlate to the date in some way. It can be seventeen words from chapter seven, or seven words from chapter seventeen! Get creative!

Today is seven paragraphs from chapter 5 of Ashes Fall. All you need to know is that James WAS taking a shower, and Lily is her sixteen-year-old daughter.

The suds slid down her body when the curtain to the shower flung open. Lily stood on the other side, hesitating for only a second before she stepped over the edge of the tub and clasped a hand over James’ mouth and moving her into the corner of the shower. James’ heart rapped against her ribs and in her throat, making it hard to swallow and breathe.

Lily made a shushing noise into her ear and took a deep breath, the water raining down onto both of them, the white suds from the body wash sliding down to the tub and swirling around before heading down the drain. James gripped her daughters hip to try and push her away, but Lily held strong and didn’t budge.

Managing to wriggle free enough to speak, James took a deep breath of the hot steam which suffocated her even more. “Lily, what’s going on?”

“Shhh…”

When Lily’s eyes found James’, the dark-brown was filled with worry and fear, her irises large and dilated. James started to breath heavier—something was definitely wrong. She tried again to push Lily aside and to reach for the shower curtain to leave the confines of the bathroom, but Lily held her still.

“I need to see what’s going on.”

“Someone’s here,” Lily whispered back. “Shut up or they’ll find us.”

To join us, make your post and link up here!! Thanks to My Random Muse for hosting!! See y’all next week!

Indie Author Land Interview

Forever BurnToday my interview with Indie Author Land goes live!! I’m sharing it here so you can read it. I had a ton of fun answering their questions and getting to know them better.

The interview is about my first novel Forever Burn.

Here’s a section from the interview…

OK. Tell us a little more about James.
James has lived in the same little town her entire life and has always wanted to be a firefighter. She wanted to run into burning buildings and save lives. It’s not turning out to be that; instead, she is sent to far more medical calls than to fire reports. However, two years before she did go to a house fire and rescued a little girl, Lily, from the flames. Now she can’t stop the nightmares and flashbacks of Lily standing in the house being swallowed by the fiery inferno.

Interview with Adrian J Smith, author of Forever Burn | Indie Author Land.

WIPpet Wednesday!! July 10, 2013

Good morning and welcome to WIPpet Wednesday. Today on the show, you will find an excerpt from chapter nine of Ashes Fall, written and created and imagined by one Adrian J. Smith. She uses quick wit to break up tense scenes, but not in this excerpt. This particular scene is filled with angst, horror, and deep pain. Here is the excerpt for today:

James’ jaw dropped. She started to race toward Lily, stopping when the explosion rocked through the street and startled her. Spinning on her heel, James looked wildly around and tried to figure out exactly where it had come from. She went back to Lily, her eyes still hot with fire and her body radiating heat.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“What needed to be done.” Lily shrugged and went back inside.

James’ heart doubled its speed in her chest as she ran down the block in the direction that Darcy had gone. She made it to the end of the block and saw the car. People had started to surround it, already on their cell phones. James couldn’t think. She ran forward, her bare feet on the asphalt as she ran toward the car, the back of it starting to catch fire, but the front completely consumed with flames.

“Darcy!” she shouted, her breath catching in her throat as she saw the ‘coexist’ bumper sticker on the rear of the car. “Darcy!”

James got to the car, not feeling anything she stepped on. She ran close to the fire, stepping back when it burst at her, threatening to burn her skin. Any tears she shed evaporated from the heat. She screamed again and tried to get to the door, but the fire came toward her again.

Someone grabbed her arms and dragged her back. James fought them. She had to get to Darcy. She was the only one that could save her. She saw movement in the front seat, white eyes in a darkened face covered with burned and ashy skin, rustling around and moving as the scorched body tied desperately to get out. James doubled her efforts to get away from whoever held her, but they were too strong.

Lights cast a glow on her face but disappeared in the flames as the fire engine and paramedics arrived, one right after the other. The hose was hooked up and fire crews in full gear swarmed the car. Another engine arrived in time to help, using the tank in their truck to douse the fire.

Turning into the warm body, James buried her face in the chest and let sobs take over. Arms rubbed her back and rocked her from side to side. She couldn’t watch. Smoke burned her nostrils, the small hairs detesting the scent of fuel and flesh touched by flame.

Time elapsed and they pulled the body out, laying it on the stretcher. There was hardly anything left. James slowly twisted around to stare as they covered Darcy’s body with the sheet and stuffed her into the back of the ambulance. The fire crew started to come near her and she shuddered. She couldn’t deal with them right now.

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt today. Adrian would appreciate any and all comments and has committed to responding to them in a timely manner. She has also opened the floor, like any Wednesday, to all those who wish to join in and get noticed. All you have to do is post an excerpt of your current Work In Progress that corresponds with the date. Today, Adrian posted ten paragraphs as it is the tenth of July. She did not choose from chapter seven for the month, although she could have. Adrian would love to see and read your excerpts, so post them and link them up over on this website right here. She’ll wander around later today and tomorrow, reading them for pleasure.

So, please, join in and have fun.

AND CUT!

Update! Books in June/July

I’m sorry I haven’t spent as much time on the blog this summer as I would like to be. Here’s a make up post! I sincerely hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July. I’ve been working on writing ASHES FALL for Camp NaNo and I’m finally making progress on it. I’ve been trying to write this book since about February and got sidetracked by FOR BY GRACE, which needed to be finished for submission. This one I at least have some time on, it’s not looking like it will be out until 2015! Yikes! So far away.

ASHES FALL is quite different from the other two books in the series. This one is a lot darker and a lot more intense. I knew it was going to happen that way. The nature of the story made it necessary. However, I did not expect Lily and James to totally trample over my plans and take over in certain places. Sometimes characters can be insane. The book is still on the main track that I want it to be, and that’s what is important at the moment.

I haven’t been reading much, so my book update will be short. I have enjoyed what I’ve read though. Which is awesome. I got on vacation for two weeks in the beginning of August. I will be meeting my two brand new godbabies, Asa and Aidan, during that time to. Twin boys. Whew! I hope I can tell them apart. Along with them and my first godson, Seth, I’ll have three in total!! Such a blessing to have them all in my life, as well as their mother, whom I adore and love.

Anyway, enough rambling from here…here’s my book update!

1. Rescue Me by Julie Cannon

This book sucked me in from the very beginning. I got the sample and as soon as I finished it I had to read the rest of the novel. The characters were very relatable, and even though it was a class, main character as a writer, it was still a very interesting novel with a twist I didn’t expect (which is hard to do sometimes). This really was a great read for an afternoon, short and well-written. 5 stars