My Covencraft short story, Carnival Moon, [which is available as part of an anthology with other Fable Press authors] has a cover!
Carnival Moon continues along in my Urban Fantasy series, and follows Jade as she’s invited along to join the local werewolf pack for their Wolf Moon Carnival. It takes place immediately after book 2, Counter Hex, but before Book 3 [Double Sided Witch – which I’m working on right now]. You don’t HAVE to read it, but I would love it if you did!
This story is only in e-format, but if you’re like me, you HAVE to have things match! Paper books or ebooks, it drives me crazy when series don’t match.
So, I contacted the illustrator of my other two covers, Steven Novak, and he put together something for Carnival Moon! I LOVE IT
Steven was great to work with! One of the things I’m super sensitive about is I don’t want any hypersexualized poses or images for my heroine. She’s not that kind of person [and neither am I, frankly]. I’m really happy with how the cover turned out, especially since some of my feedback to Steven included things like, “Can you change the shading on her butt? she looks naked” – as articulate as I try to be when I ‘write’, I am NOT that way in real life! But he seemed to ‘get’ EXACTLY what I meant immediately!
Currently, Carnival Moon is only on Smashwords. If I can get it up other places, I’ll keep you posted. This is my first go trying to get something out there. As my nephews used to say, DO IT SELF.
Hey all! For those of you done with book 2 of my Covencraft Series, Counter Hex, and waiting on me finishing writing book 3, Double Sided Witch, I’ve got good news! I have a short story featuring Jade in Fable Press’s anthology, Fable’s Carnival! [via Smashwords]
The Fable authors got together and decided to try for an anthology and we voted on teh theme ‘carnival’ but, it was up to each individual author to interpret that as they wished. Here’s a little snippet from my short story, Carnival Moon, to whet your appetite!
Jade knocked on Paris’ office door and then pushed it ajar with her foot, spying him at his desk. Paris was on the phone, looking up from his computer and acknowledging her with a quick quirk of his lips. Since her hands were occupied with a tray of coffee and a grimoire, she jerked her head in the direction of the Queen Anne chairs in front of the fireplace and headed there. She saw Paris tilt his head to get a better look at the spellbook she was carrying. It was just one of her regular grimoires, not one of her demon spellbooks. She knew better than to take one of the demon books out of her house – he’d told her several times. Several long, annoying times. There were only three demon grimoires that they knew of at the coven; Paris had one and Jade the other two. Jade wasn’t sure where he kept his, only that it wasn’t at the Coven. Jade’s two were safely ensconced in her cottage. Today it was just a regular spellbook – one from the Coven’s library. There were a few spells Jade wanted to try, but, given her history, she’d been banned from new magic anything until Paris could review it first. You lose control of one or two spells and maybe try a demon rune without asking first and suddenly, you were on the shit-list.
She sat cross-legged on the floor and spread her stuff out. If she was going to have her coffee, muffin and spellbook, it was easier to be on the ground. Paris finished his call and then came over, hitching his trousers up carefully before descending gracefully into a cross-legged pose as well. Jade crammed a piece of muffin in her mouth and simultaneously handed him his coffee (which was sure to be overly sweet – he had such a sweet tooth), as he spoke.
“The werewolves have asked to meet you.”
Jade paused at Paris’ words, coffee cup half way to her mouth. She worked her mouth around the muffin, swallowing the dry morsel so she could speak. “I was sick that day.”
Paris frowned at her comment. “What day?”
Jade shrugged, washing down the muffin bite with her drink. “Whatever day it was the ‘something’ happened that made the werewolves want to meet me.”
I hope you’ll check it out and let me know what you think! It takes place directly after book 2, but before book 3 – right in the middle! Happy reading!
Hello internets!
It’s time for a status update on book 3 of my Urban Fantasy Series, Covencraft! I’ve been a bit behind in my writing over the last few months. There were some things, with some issues and some blah de blah but I’m back on the writing wagon! This weekend I’m with my writing friends in South Carolina and it’s always a really good jolt for my creativity and productivity.
I’m almost a quarter of the way into book three! My working title (which I sincerely hope ‘sticks’ because I love it) is “Double-Sided Witch.”
I’m still in the ‘setting up’ phase – where I’m positioning all my dominoes and getting them ready. I always feel like the first 2/3 of a book is this domino positioning and the last third is where, if I’ve done my job well, all I have to do is knock them all down. At this point, I’m predicting 90000 words for the book. I alternate between “OMG IT’S GOING TO END UP AT 130000 WORDS IF I KEEP UP LIKE THIS” to “SOB, THIS ISN’T GOING TO EVEN END UP AT 60000 WORDS BECAUSE I CANNOT PLOT.”
This is also the point where doubt sets in. Is there too much plot? Not enough? Is too much happening? Not enough? WHAT IS GOING ON?? lol. I find I just need to keep my head down and keep at it.
For those of you who have read Counter-Hex and expressed a love for Bruce (Jade’s lizard familiar), you’ll be happy to know that he’s back in book 3. For a guy who was only supposed to be in one chapter of Counter-Hex, he’s made himself a place in my heart and I’m happy to have him back in Double-Sided Witch.
One of the things I really struggle with is this: what do you do when you don’t like a book?
For a long, long time, I pushed through. I kept reading even if I didn’t like it. And then, I thought, SCREW THIS. LIFE IS SHORT. I’M NOT GONNA WASTE IT ON BAD BOOKS. So I stopped reading when I wasn’t enjoying a book.
Flashforward to when I got my first book published and now, every time I feel like I’m not enjoying a book, I get this gut-wrenching feeling like there is someone not enjoying MY BOOK just like I’m not enjoying the book I’m reading. Once again, I feel like I have to PUSH THROUGH.
But.. for what? What am I hoping for? I was just reading a book last week and I was JUST NOT INTO IT. I didn’t connect with the characters, I wasn’t really invested in the mystery, I just… didn’t care what happened next and I found myself taking a deep sigh and GIRDING MYSELF before I fired up my kindle to start reading.
Was this how I wanted to spend my spare time? NO.
So, I removed the book from my device and my goodreads [I don’t like giving books a bad review! OMG, I KNOW HOW IT FEELS AND I CAN’T]. I feel kind of guilty about not finishing, but mostly, I just feel relieved.
And now I’m back to reading a book I like! I’m currently reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s about how quickly we size things up and make decisions. I’m still on a bit of a non-fiction kick at the moment. I’m much happier now! I look forward to reading again!
HI all, I’m transitioning from WordPress.com to wordpress.org – I apologize for any glitches while I make the move! I’m doing it SELF! [as my nephews used to say] and I tend to push buttons until things just work.
I’ve been into non-fiction books lately, which is NOT like me but I’m always open to my likes/dislikes changing so I’m just going with it. Of course, one of my biggest interests is writing and my book, so I’ve been reading some books on both.
I’m in the middle of Fast Fiction which I’m hoping will help me get faster at actually WRITING. But the clincher is you have to do all your PLANNING before hand. This has always been a sticky point with me. I don’t like prep work. I don’t like to tape shit up before painting, I want to just get to painting. I don’t like moving shit around so I can get organized well, I like to just start organizing. And similarly, I don’t like to start planning too much when I should be writing.
Because planning is HARD. UGH. it involves THINKING AND PLOTTING and sometimes these things aren’t fun. I can lay down the FUN scenes, it’s the little bits in between the fun scenes!
I’ve also been reading about marketing and how ideas spread. All this keeps pointing toward DEVELOPING A PLATFORM. which. Yeah. It must be capslocked. It’s a capslocked kind of thing.
So it’s all social media this and social media that and networking and pimp your work and *SOBS*. I kind of identify as an introvert! I LIKE being at home! I LIKE not talking to people. I LIKE being by myself. Can’t I just know that the book is good and it will eventually take off? Maybe? Someday? with luck? and maybe some black magic or a ritual sacrifice?
The answer has been a resounding NO.
I mean, I’m on social media. I like tumblr, and Pinterest and I do okay with Facebook [although too much FB makes me angry]. So I’m out there, I’m just… Out there for me. I reblog the stuff I like and pin the stuff I like and blog about stuff that’s on my mind and I don’t really worry about ‘creating an authentic brand,’ or if it all has to do with my books.
I wish I could say ain’t nobody got time for that. But I guess I have to make time?
I’m in plotting mode right now for Book 3 of my Covencraft Series. I admit, I’ve been resting a big on my laurels [such as they are] since I completed the first draft of Book 2 – Counter Hex in December. The Counter-Hex had to go through edits and I wrote about 8000 more words and then edits again. And more edits. GOD THE EDITING. And then I was just happy to be done and decided to take a break!
The problem with doing nothing is it’s hard to tell when you’re done!
I’ve been futzing around with a fanfic as well that’s at 40000 words and NEEDS TO BE FINISHED.
So! LE PLAN!
I’m off on vacation for just under a week and the goals are:
1. 5000 words on the fanfic [More would be GREAT but 5000 is a very realistic goal for me and I can attain that]
2. Plot out the first half of book 3, tentatively titled Double-Sided Witch. I have my ideas but the problem is when they live in my brain they are swirly and round, like clouds and I need to write them out linearly to ensure everything makes sense and sadly, I think once I do that, I may have to get rid of my gorgon idea. IDK, we’ll see. There may still be room for a gorgon. I also have a scene in my brain that I tried to put in Trial by Fire [and I couldn’t fit it in] and I tried to put it in Counter Hex [and I couldn’t fit it in] and it’s already down on my notes for Double-Sided Witch. aaaaaand I’m starting to think it won’t fit in there either BUT DAMMIT. I WANT IT.
For reals, yo. If I never manage to get this scene in one of these books, I’m just going to write it anyway and toss it up on the blog. CONTINUITY BE DAMNED
3. Get a solid 5000 words out on book 3.
So! Goal for the week is 10000 words, so that means I have to write ~2000 words a day while I’m away which is doable. I also want to get some reading in and the kindle is all loaded up!
Betta fish are those colorful, swirly, VICIOUS BASTARDS that will fight each other to the death.
Look at that glorious bastard
Often as I’m working, I will think about cloning myself [I SWEAR TO GOD I am going somewhere with this – bear with me]- I’m the type of person that likes to be busy, I like to solve problems, I like to help and I hate to tell people I can’t do something. This often means that no matter what I job I do, I end up doing several related tasks that aren’t actually my job, but that I end up being really good at or that no one figured out yet.
But, it makes me CRAZY BUSY sometimes and things get dropped.
So, ergo my cloning thoughts. If I could clone me, problem solved!
But I ended up realizing that if there WERE Two Margarita’s, we’d end up fighting. Like Betta fish – each one wanting to be top dog! Butting our noses against the glass trying to get at one another in a fight to the DEATH.
Or rather, each one wanting to sleep in and snuggle the puppies while the other schlepp went off to work. [No, you’re going in today. I’m staying home. NO, YOU’RE GOING IN TODAY.]
And then we’d both feel guilty and end up both going in and resent one another while each believing it’s the other one’s turn to make coffee and who is also responsible for not putting the good eye shadow brush back in the right spot.
Plus, I’d be really uncomfortable around other!Me. She would know all my secrets. And she’d be as secretly mean as I am.
So, I guess it’s best that Margarita’s are like Betta Fish – better in singles than in pairs.
If you’re an Eddie Izzard fan, you know what I mean when I say Cake or Death
WELL, WE’RE ALL OUT OF CAKE.
I’ve got death on the mind lately. Which normally for me usually means something morbid and creepy is churning up in my brain for my fictional writing, but this time, I really just mean death. Like everyday-ironically-a-big-part-of-life death.
Things No One Told Me About Death
1. When you’ve been touched by Death [i.e. when someone close to you dies] other people are uncomfortable around you. I think it’s because they want to say something to make it better and there’s nothing to make it better. But also because it makes them realize Death can touch them too and that’s something we don’t like to think about it. and then you feel weird, because they feel weird. It’s a big cloud of weirdness around you.
2.It’s mostly a tragedy only to you. Most people’s lives go on the next day or the next week or the next month. But you’re kind of stuck dealing with it for a lot longer. You stare at things trying to figure out how it’s all working when you’re not.
3. People still get awkward when you talk about the dead person. In my case, I felt like people were awkward or uncomfortable when I talked about my dad for about a six months after he died. Like, just because he died he didn’t become less a part of my life, you know? But it was like when I would say something like, “Well, my dad used to say…” or “Yeah, my dad owned a restaurant for a lot of years…” or “Dad liked getting lotto tickets and socks for presents….” people would almost pause, like a deer in the headlights. I think it’s because they were having an internal monologue of “OH SHIT, SHE’S TALKING ABOUT HER DEAD DAD. DO I SAY I’M SORRY AGAIN? DO I ASK HER HOW SHE IS? DO I EVEN MENTION THAT I KNOW HE’S DEAD?” – I felt like they really wanted to say something nice or helpful and they just weren’t sure if they should and that made them feel weird.
4. Minutiae is eternal. The phone still rings and the car needs gas and you get a salad dressing stain on your favorite shirt and how can this all be happening when you have experienced this kind of a loss? When Donna’s mum died, I was the awkward one. She was talking to me on the phone and I remember thinking, “How can she just be TALKING to me right after her mum died?” and then 8 months later, my dad died and I told her about that moment and how now, I got it. You just go on and there’s stuff to do. She nodded and said, “Yeah. There is.” But I didn’t get it until that moment.
5. For something you think about a lot, it can still surprise you. Once, about two years after my dad died, I was at the office working. I can’t remember exactly what happened but Chantal and I had just come back from a break or lunch or something and Jessi said, “Oh, you’re dad called for you.” and I was like “Oh really? I wonder what he – what a minute, my dad is dead.” and I realized that Jessi was talking to Chantal. But for that moment, I forgot. I also have seen a man once or twice that looks like my dad and again, for that moment, I’m like “HEY DAD!!!” and then I realize it can’t be him.
6. Okay, I don’t know if this happens to everyone, but my mum and I had “OH SHIT HE WASN’T REALLY DEAD” dreams. Mum would realize in her dream that dad wasn’t really dead and DAMMIT how would she explain that she sold his car? Maybe because of the stuff I read and write, mine were a bit more graphic. I would full on dream we made a mistake and buried him alive and now we had to go dig him up and JESUS how did we FUCK THAT UP SO BADLY. And it would be a dream that I would have several times, with several variations and in the dream, I’d remember the other times it had happened and I’d just feel SICK and wonder how we kept getting this so horrifically wrong.
I’m sure there are other things that I didn’t know about Death. I’m sure I’ll find out more [unfortunately], but those are the things that have been on my mind lately.
I signed up for a sprint triathlon that runs Sept 6.
IKR? LIKE WHAT WAS I THINKING.
Consequently, I need to get in shape. Heidi invited me biking this weekend. Heidi is also the EVIL MASTERMIND behind signing up for the sprint triathlon.
She is petite, but mighty.
So, I managed to stuff my bike into my Honda Civic and meet Heidi for a ride. In the five years I’ve had that car, it’s the first time I’ve ever had to put a bike in it. Which means I’ve not taken my bike ANYWHERE. Riding or otherwise.
Luckily, riding a bike is like riding a bike – despite the LENGTHY TIME it has been since I was last on one, I picked it up quickly enough! A few rough spots where I was a little wobbly, a few times my chain and gears locked up [my bike needs to be serviced] but I did it!
Heidi took it pretty easy on me, just biking around Didsbury. Although there were a few times that I was thinking “OH MY GOD, HOW CAN THIS BE UPHILL?? IT DOESN’T LOOK UPHILL AND YET I’M GIVIN’ HER ALL SHE’S GOT, CAPTAIN!”
Heidi was able to keep up the conversation while I only managed some breathless, “Yeahs,” “Uh-huhs” and “No, no, I’m okay! I always look red like this and all sweaty SWEET MOTHER I ALMOST GOT A BUG IN MY MOUTH”
What can I say? I’m not very outdoorsy!
But the seal has been broken and I hope to get the bike out more!
yanno, as soon as my butt stops hurting from this ride!
