News Report 001

Good News! To my surprise and delight it is looking like "A Guardian's Desire" will be my first print book. Am I psyched? Yeah...and slightly nervous, you see at first I was thinking 'real book signings,' 'real book release party,' and 'print up adverts to leave in Borders,' but alas...sometimes I worry that I have the social skills of bear (in hibernation or out of). I am nervous. How so? I dropped out of EPIC because I was flamed (I sent a promo that I wasn't supposed to and they let me know that it was not appreciated). I stopped doing a lot of promo email, because I can't keep track of which list or group I need to submit stuff to and basically, I put the (her) in hermit.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of author promotions: glamor shots, adverts, signings and appearances, one writer is doing do much, I had to wonder when she ever found time to write. I polan on working on the social skills some, but if anyone has tips for being better at promotions, I'd sure welcome them...otherwise, I'm having the release party at a pub--the favorite den of moody writers anyway? A book and a tumbler of scotch, anyone?

Sketch Book: Micah

Sometimes sketching out a character can help me to well...ok, here comes the cliche...It helps me to visualize the character and remember key details about them. It also gives me fantasy fodder. I don't do as much CGI sketching as I used to, but every now and then I get inspired...or challenged. I told my beta that I would have a picture of Micah up and a few hours later, here is my rushed attempt.

Micah is a character from my current WIP, The Sorcery of Shadows. A fire sorcerer, he has a calm demeanor and a gentle heart, but once enraged, he can bring the inferno of hell upon Earth. He is sexy, clever, and wise...but his mate the sorcerer of ice...well, his character sketch has not been done yet...Soon.

Ice Station b. Matthew Reilly

I learned many things from this book, namely various types of handgrenades and their yields, about the true nature of killer whales, about the horrible unstability of real estate on Antartica and (my fav) how to evade and disble opponents hunting for me with night-vision googles on.

Nope it wasn't the most prolific book I've ever read, but it was damn near the most action-packed. Now a self-professed lover of Matt Reilly and his 'nothing is impossible' scenarios, I have come to embrace Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield as the baddest badass on Earth. I mean McGuyver, Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, James Bond and Lara Croft COMBINED could beat this guy.

While I enjoyed learning heaps (of probably untrue) background on the many special ops units of the world, and the conspiracy theory (maybe not) of infiltrators in general, I won't say that that this was anything but what it sets out to be...A KICK ASS Action Thriller that will have your heart racing at 60+ mph!!

Checklists, Outlines and Synopsis...Fun?

I find that during those few days of the self-imposed break, that I give myself between projects that scary things seem to happen, like...I get bored. After you've spent months of coming home to work on building a word count the lull of finishing a project is near painful. The real work soon comes into play, namely preparing the query letter and the synopsis (if you weren't prepared enough to have wrote the synopsis prior to the novel). This lull in creativity and excersize in business is ussually filled with questions such as: what promo am I going to do next, what project will I soon start, what updates need to be made to the website and where did my social life disappear off to?

In deciding to take a rest from my completed manuscript, I have a checklist that I have been working on. Although I am anxious to start the Hard Edit on "The Sorcery of Shadows" and even more anxious to start working on the numerous spicy sex scenes in "The Heart of Bast" I am forcing myself not to. One has to have time for the formal, business-type things, right? Like websites, polls, contests and *gasp* the actual submission process... and while I am getting things done (around the house too even), I am counting the days until I am able to edit...Sunday, August 17th...whoohoo...now when...oh when can I start writing hot werecat sex...Monday...maybe split my time between edit and free writing....I give up. I just need to get through my own self-imposed detox.

The Finished Line!!...Ok...The Final Countdown

"The Sorcery of Secrets" was finished last night around 10pm, while I watching disc 4 of 'Starship Troopers Roughneck Chronicles.' At 86,179K, I'm not going to say that its the longest thing I ever wrote, but it was the hardest by far. I have 2 Beta readers, gracious enough to take a look at it, but it narrowly fits into the romance genre...ok, very narrowly. I don't have a clue whether anyone will want to pick this up, but more than Guardian, this piece is slightly on the complex side and moreso than any other piece I wrote, this one screams sequel to me. But I am not going to think about it. Today is celebration day! Whoo Hoo.

Going to work on the dreaded 3-5 Synopsis and give myself sort of a mini-break. In preparation for work on my werecat story, I'm going to read the 30 or so pages I already wrote towards that project and kinda chill....if I can...

Natural Selection b. Dave Freeman

Looking for a creature feature? Something kind in the realm of the absurd, but not as far out and ridiculous as killer bunnies? Well, Natural Selection, might be the book to read. The killer creature in this book, in case you don't recognize it from the cover, is a manta ray. Now, in real life they are, pretty damn scary. The things can be 20+ feet across and weigh a few thousand pounds. Now imagine, the gaping mouths, full of teeth...imagine that they come on land and that they FLY!!

To say this book actually caused me to have a nightmare speaks not to the narrative talents of the author, but to my fear of the creature he creates. The book is full of unbelievable feats, of stupidity and bravery and reality, all rolled into one and the amount of times that a character has a PLAN and Knows How to Kill it, Find it and Solve problems might annoy a reader, but the book was a fun read and it is the summer time....

Earth, Wind and Fire...Um...and Water!

This weekend rocked in so many ways, the most important being that my muse sobered the hell up and really got busy. Not only did she give me the insight I needed to wrap up my current, monstrous novel, but she also gave me a more suitable title. Hawt Damn! Ok, so the novel formerly known as "Burned by the Sun" will hence forth be called "The Sorcery of Secrets." 3 cheers for the sibilant hiss. The muse seemed to think that the title should be a bit on the broad metaphor and metaphysical aspect, rather than focusing on just the heat aspect. In short, I wanted something that would focus on the many revelations that come to the main character rather than one specific point. I outlined (yeah, occasionaly I try) the last 3 chapters and lord willin' this puppy will be ready for launch.

At the moment the muse hasn't said anything about a sequel but then it is a part of a large universe and part of the story is untold deliberately. At nearly 300 pages, I didn't want to push the tale any broader than it already is. As it stands, I focus on only two types of sorcerers, fire and wind (In my sorcerer universe each has a specific element which they deal with). I can sorta see a sequel, focusing on different types, maybe a water sorcerer-- but I'm really not ready to put the cart before the horse.

Believe it or not, I actually have a set list and order of upcoming projects, now if I could just learn how to plot out a story, I might be able to produce things a bit faster and have to rely upon muse sobriety less.