Shymers got a brand new cover!

I'll admit, I'm a cover junkie. And I enjoy creating them as much as I like looking through them, although my design skills only go so far. Fortunately I stumbled upon a very talented designed by the name of Najla Qamber who has great vision and always knows how to meet my demands. We recently collaborated on an updated cover for my book Shymers, a dystopian tale that explores what it would be like if everyone knew how long they had to live. I had the vision and picture I took of a friend's daughter while Najla had the skills to make it come to life. What we came up with is so stunning...I'm dying to get my hands on a paperback copy!

To celebrate the new cover, I'm offering the dystopian tale for just 99 cents:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Stay tuned for more information on Rebels, the long-awaited sequel to Shymers (coming in 2015)!

More Zombies Are Coming!

Agghh! I'm so very excited to tell you that I have finally completed the first draft of the sequel to The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfect Life! This was such a huge accomplishment for me as I've been totally dreading starting on the sequels I know I have to complete. Did I mention that I won't leave a book open-ended ever again?

I first started this book right after finishing the first, but then shelved it when other shiny new ideas came along. Right now it's in the hand of some very competent beta readers, then it will be off to my editor for round #1. I'd love to say it will be out by Halloween, but that's probably getting a bit cocky. I will at least have the cover done by then, and can't wait to see my idea for it come to life!

Next project is one of my favorites to date, Paranormal Keepers. And yes, to all the awesome fans who have been begging for the sequel to Shymers, that will be coming as well. In the meantime, I'm feeling the need to celebrate. Is it Friday yet?

My Next Project

Happy Friday, everyone!

I have a confession to make—I'm dragging my feet on my next project. Technically, I have five in the works. I've mentioned before it's a horrible habit for writers to take on as it's the best way to get nothing done fast. I'm pretty sure this is a form of self-sabotage. I could blame it on the transition between summer—probably my slowest writing season of the year—and the madness of fall (kids back in school and sports, farmer husband preparing for his busiest season of the year), but I know that's just an excuse to hide behind. The real reason? I'm just a big chicken. I'm indecisive. I'm terrified of sequels. I'm scared of rejection. Take your pick.

I know I need to start pumping out sequels, especially to Shymers and The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life as I really left those poor characters hanging. When I first started writing, I was a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. I wrote stories with no ending in mind, and no general outline to follow. This made for a lot of work in subsequent drafts (bless my editors' hearts), but it felt like the best way to let my creativity flow. While I still don't use an outline as that feels way too much like homework, I at least have the eventual goal of the characters laid out, and try to give a satisfying ending. And I can promise you, I'll never leave a book open-ended ever again. You'll sooner see me sky-diving or performing open-heart surgery.

Whenever I really enjoy the first book in a series, it seems the second almost never has the same magic, unless we're talking about Harry Potter (pun intended). And I HATE the formula of the second book that always seems to go like this: boy and girl who fell in love in book #1 are separated in book #2 and spend most of the time either trying to get back to each other, or mourning the loss of their love. I spent all of book #1 wanting them to finally hook up and most definitely don't want them to be apart again! So a big part of me is anxious in fighting in the formula. Another part of me is just worried it won't be as good as the first, and that I won't find the same "voice" of the character.

I've almost finished the first draft of the sequel to The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life, and have my fingers crossed that it will be out by Halloween. Will Shymers be next? I hope all my fears, ADD, and self-doubt will behave enough to make it happen. Besides, as J.R. Tolkien wrote in The Return of the King, “The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won't come.”

On that happy note, hope everyone has a fun weekend.

Celebrate the Small Things - June 7th

Happy Friday! Once again I'm going to list off the things I had to celebrate this week per the fabulous VikLit's Celebrate the Small Things blog hop. If you'd like to remind yourself of all the things life has to offer, sign up for the hop below.

Today I'm celebrating a very BIG thing, and that is my son's 11th birthday! Hard to believe that much time has passed already. Before I know it he's going to be taller than me with a deep voice and a gaggle of girls knocking on our door.

Career-wise, I'm celebrating the fact that I'm halfway done with the edits of the re-write on my first novel What I've Done! I have an amazing editor with the best ideas, and together we're making this story even better than before. Stay tuned for an updated release date.

I'm also celebrating the fact that I added nearly 10,000 words to my zombie sequel this week after signing up for JuNoWriMo. I knew it would be the motivation I needed to get past a major case of writer's block as the very first time I signed up for NaNoWriMo, I finished the first draft of What I've Done.

Hopefully by this time next week I'll be celebrating the fact that summer has finally arrived, my friends and family are all healthy, and we're done planting crops for the season. Keep your fingers crossed.

Celebrate the Small Things Blog Hop

Once again, I'm flabbergasted that it's Friday. How does time slip by so quickly? Is losing track of time a sign that you're going insane? Anyway, I'm here again as part of the awesome Vikki's blog hop (see info below on how to sign up). Another great week went by with many things to be thankful for. 

Career wise, I did sign up for my first writer's convention in Madison, Wisconsin this April and discovered I will meet a few Twitter friends while there. Yay! Although I'm a bit freaked about having to drive five hours by myself and then navigate through a big city (I'm a country girl after all), I think all the information, classes and networking will make the trip well worth it. I also revived a story on mind control that was nearly completed and made it into something I'm really excited about and can't wait to get out there. I know it's time to work on the sequels to Shymers and The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life, but I feel a lot of pressure to complete them and writer's block has kicked in. I hope to tackle them this summer when at our lake home where my mind is bit more relaxed.

And finally, I created my first video blog. It was almost as painful as dental surgery. Almost. But I have heard so many people say that they love it when they get to "meet" their favorite authors and see them in person, so I thought I should give it a try. I was super nervous when doing it and seemed to roll my eyes an excessive amount of times. I promise to work on that with my next installment.

If you watched that video then you already know I started an intense diet this week. The weight loss won't be anything too dramatic, just a chance to lose those last extra pounds that exercising and watching what I eat don't seem to touch. But my favorite foods/drinks are Red Bull, ice cream, chocolate, alcohol and pizza/pasta, none of which I can consume for probably an entire month. This diet has taken more will power than I thought I was capable of. It's day four, and I haven't cheated. Not even once. But I nearly went postal last night when my son found the Snickers ice cream bar I hid from myself in the freezer and seconds later I found a Red Bull my husband put in the soda drawer. Really? I hope my family can work with me a little better in the weeks to come. And I hope after I adjust to these smaller portions of food, I will no longer feel like this all the time...

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Major Success!

Once again this year, I made the commitment to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). What's this madness you ask? For the sane people out there, NaNoWriMo is a free for all in which hundreds of thousands of writers commit to put 50k words into a new story during the month of November. Although I hit the magic number about a week ago (not surprisingly, I'm still waiting for the champagne and confetti), I kept on charging ahead. While technically I still have today to keep working on it (and I plan to, believe me), my word count is over 68k.

My friends on Twitter have been saying how amazed they are that I have such a high word count. You have to take in consideration, however, that I did leave my office job over a year ago to write full time, so it's not the great feat it was last year when I had to steal every second of my social life to finish. Still, it's not as easy-peasy as one would think. Writers face many obstacles like gaping plot holes, a drive to delete and self-edit, and the dreaded writer's block.

One of the rules of NaNoWriMo is that you can't go back and rewrite/edit/delete at any time during the month. When I first participated last year, this about killed me as I was infamous for going back and rewriting when something bothered me. But once I got past it and kept moving forward, I was able to finish my first novel in over a decade. Keep in mind, dear reader, that a story is not done by any means just because you've written 50,000 words. My first published book, What I've Done, was a product of last year's NaNoWriMo. I continued writing it for a month or two after NaNoWriMo was over. Next it was sent to my editor for ideas, then I engaged in some major rewrites. By the time the story was finished in March, the total word count was over 75,000.

But the great thing about NaNoWriMo if you're a full-time author is that it really gives you a boost on your next novel. The new story that I'm working on involving mind control (title still in progress) has just exploded out of my fingertips and taken on a life of its own. The tale begins with a girl named Kianna having strange things happen to her on her eighteenth birthday. It gets out of control to the point where she actually entertains the idea that there is such thing as a birthday fairy (as Kianna says in her own defense, "Like mind control is any more believable?"). I hope you will see this story come to live early spring of 2013.

To all the fans who have been razzing me about writing sequels, The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life is up next and the sequel to Shymers will be one or two after that. I truly appreciate the great feedback and reviews I've been getting on these books and apologize for leaving you hanging with the giant cliffhangers! But be patient, my friends, and hopefully you'll be blown away by what happens next!

So what exactly is the prize for NaNoWriMo you ask? Nothing. Unless, of course, you count a whole world filled with shiny new characters for readers to enjoy and an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment. As a writer, I can't imagine anything better (well, other than maybe a movie deal or an around the world signing tour).