First Draft = Step One

Late last night I finished the first draft of my latest novel. While it may be retitled later on I'm calling it Fox Hunt at the moment. When that last sentence was finally typed and I realized I had finally gotten the entire story down I felt a sense of joy and relief. Getting a story down on paper or in a word processor takes the longest for me. For the most part that first draft is the real trail. It's the telling of the story and everything that comes after is just refining the story so that readers can understand.

When I joyfully gave my husband a kiss and told him the story was wrote, he smiled and said, "Cool. So you're almost there." I understood what he was saying completely. After six years of watching my creative process he knows what's next. The horrors of revision and edits. The long nights of "does this sound right" are about to start. Once I do a first pass over the first draft to clean it a little my husband will get a copy. It's at that point that I really get to relax and await his response to the story. I'm always ready to hear what he has to say, and trust me he questions any and everything he doesn't understand.

So last night as I bask in the glory of finishing that first draft I couldn't help but dread the next step. The rewriting, the revisions and the polishing. I love taking that first step towards story telling, but there are many steps left to take. Thankfully, like with many things in life, it's step one that always takes the most time to prepare and finish.

Happy reading everyone and I'll see you again in the new year!

Second Life Book Store

Witch Hunt has made it to the shelves. While the paranormal romance has long been distributed through Amazon, Barns&Noble, All Romance EBooks and Cobblestone, now it is on a real shelf. Well, sorta. It is currently resting on a shelf in this virtual book store located in Second Life.

This store is run by author Sharon Clare and the sign above the door reads "Welcome to Temptation." I love the idea of having a book store set up in a game. While I thought just having an ebook was a little techish, this takes me into a cyber trip. Sharon places books on her shelves along with a buy link and a blurb. It also rotates through on the store window, as you can see in the picture. 

Here's the fun part. I'm hosting my first contest. The first person to locate the bookstore and post a screen shot of Witch Hunt on the shelf wins a free copy of Witch Hunt for their Kindle bookshelf!

Here's the rules: You must be over 18 and the screen shot should clearly show Witch Hunt. The first screen shot posted on my Facebook page, Hunter or Hunted, wins. This contest will run until someone claims the free copy.

Happy hunting all!

Writers' Block: Cure #13

There are a number of reasons why an author could suffer from writers' block. In fact, there may be more reasons than there are cures. Maybe. Over the many years I've found that there are many ways to get the creative juices flowing.

One of the many reasons writers deal with writers' block is stress. Stress can cause a lot of problems. A person's health, personality and performance in life can all be affected by stress. Writers have a lot of things in their career that can cause stress; deadlines, tour schedules, marketing, editing and even technical difficulties. These are just the stressful things that our jobs can cause. Stress can also be brought on from outside influences. No matter where the stress comes from it can cause a creative blockage that every writer must surpass to continue their story.

My answer? Destress. It sounds simple but it isn't always as easy as taking a day off. Relieving stress should be a regular thing to ensure your health and writing stay in good shape. People deal with stress in different ways. I make sure to take at least ten  minutes a day devoted to me. This does not count my writing or housework. This is ten minutes a day of me time. Whether I spend it meditating or pampering myself with a nice cup of tea and a great view I take this time each day to not worry about everything else.

A healthy diet can also play a big part in relieving stress. A well balanced diet gives the body more energy and reduces the aches and pains that come with poor diets. A diet of fast food or frozen diners can lead to heartburn, upset stomachs and a range of other problems. These problems add to the already heavy load of stress we deal with every day. I'm not saying never eat junk food again. That's just crazy, but by balancing out your diet you can relieve some of that stress in the long run.

This cure for writers' block isn't a quick one you should try if you're facing a deadline. This is a long term cure that can work wonders. So for a happier writing life filled with that creative spark remember to take some you time and leave the stress behind.

Peace and love!

Pinterest Discovered

So while I've been raking my brain to power through the first draft of Fox Hunt, I've found myself thankfully avoiding Facebook and my other weaknesses of online surfing, but this morning something found me. I have discovered Pinterest! Boy, now I've done it.

I've looked at Pinterest before. In fact I had an account that I never really used a lot, but early this morning I found myself scrolling through a paranormal romance search. This is almost as a good as walking through a book store reading summaries and that middle of the book chapter. I found reviews and excerpts, and much like in a library or book store the first thing that attracted me was the cover. This just adds to my idea that a great cover is one of the best things an author can have. Along with a well written story, of course.

You can search any key phrase you want on Pinterest. If you're interested in a particular author you can search their name and find out if any of their book reviews or new releases have made it to the board. If you don't find your favorite on there then create an account and share them with everyone.

I have a few boards on there now. One I find of the most use to me is my "Wanna Read List." I have a hard time remembering book titles and authors that I find at random, but this way I have a list all set up when I want to grab a new book to read.

Peace and love
      &
Happy reading everyone!

Full Moon Spot Light: Hidden Honor Review

I've taken a break from the more paranormal romance and returned to my roots; Historical Romance. That's right, the first romance story I read was historical and it imprinted a love for these types of novels. While I know a review coming from me isn't the best achievement to be had I had to pass on a really nice romance I stumbled across.


Hidden Honor by Anne Stuart

Let's start with the story itself. The blurb of the book covers it best.

"Independent and headstrong, Elizabeth of Bredon wants only to become a nun, but her journey to the convent of St. Anne's threatens her choice. It's not the escort of holy friars who tempt her, but the man they are taking to do penance for his many sins. Elizabeth has heard whispers about Prince William's treatment of women --- the king's only son is a man well schooled in deception, cruelty and murder --- yet she cannot entirely resist his charms.

But when the journey takes a treacherous turn, masks of deception fall and there is no safe place but in the wicked prince's arms. With treachery drawing near, they are soon racing against time, murderous revenge ... and their own sinful desires."

That is exactly who Elizabeth, the heroine, is: headstrong and independent. Of course she is also very naive in the world outside of her life long home. She doesn't even realize that not all men are beasts who want to beat her into submission. That's kind of a nice touch for me. I love a character that learns that s/he is wrong on a larger scale. The downside for me was the low self-esteem that Elizabeth has. She stupidly believes that because there were no men before to find her attractive that she will never be a true target for, shall we say uninvited male advances.

The hero of the book is a little harder to understand. I'll admit I got confused once or twice trying to keep Prince William figured out. I don't want to ruined the plot for any readers, but Prince William is not who or what he seems to be. The confusion over Prince William is combined with a second love interest, Brother Matthew.

Prince William is known to be a very bad guy when it comes to women. In fact he is sent with the group accompanying Elizabeth to the convent because he killed a woman and must repent. His father, the King of England, arranged all of this, but the monks who are also in the group threw in a twist to help protect the rather vile prince from harm. Don't worry this twist is reveled early on.

I have to admit for a chick determined to become a nun, Elizabeth sure does find men attractive. While this is not an overly hot and heavy story, it drops enough tasteful steam to make it worthy of romance.

There are two side characters in this story that have a little love story of their own. Dama Joanna and Sir Adrian are wonderful. Dama Joanna has made her way through a less than happy life on her back. She also has a very bad impression of men and becomes friends with Elizabeth. Sir Adrian is mixed up with the confusion of Prince William and while he at first appears to be a monk, Joanna is happy to learn that he is in fact no such thing.

Final thoughts of this book: It's worth putting on the shelf for a second or even third read through. I really enjoyed it even with the few confusing points and slight dislikes of the main heroine. 

Happy reading all!

Peek a Boo

I've been working on a novel. Well, I've been working on a lot of stories, but for the last half a year one novel has kept my attention more than the others. Another werewolf novel. It is centered around a character from my first novel, Witch Hunt. In this novel I've moved away from the mountains of Montana towards my home turf, the Appalachians. Yeap, I love the mountains and I think most of the stories that come to me for the shifters and witches are most likely to take place in them.

Onward to the story at hand. A romance centered around two werewolves. One is the leader of his bloodline and the other is the daughter in a traveling family. Traveling werewolf families live the way that werewolves lived for years. They travel from area to area, migrating if you will. This would keep them safe and relatively unnoticed by most people. After the Witch Hunters, aka burners, began to hunt down true witches and werewolves most of these families had to change their way of life, but as I learned in this story not all families felt it was the right move.


I won't lie, when I was writing Witch Hunt the character I'm working with now just screamed that he needed his own story. Even then I was developing him into more than a side character. The picture above, I also posted it in Hunter or Hunted Facebook page, was a strong inspiration for his peek a boo appearance in the life of our heroine. Other than mischievous wolf/man, I'm not sure why this picture caught my attention, but it sure did and now I'm riding a run away train towards ... well I guess I'll find out when I get there!

Now, back to the craziness of the day.

Caught My Attention

I don't normally watch TV. I would much rather be reading or writing, but this year two TV shows have caught my attention; Ravenswood and The Witching Hour. While there have been many other shows that show the same type of commercials and theatrics I was at once drawn to these two. While I was wondering why that was my husband explained it to me while laughing. "They're both paranormal and remind you of stuff you love to read." That was one of the most simple answers I've ever heard, but it's pretty close to the truth.


Ravenswood airs Oct 22 on ABC and has me biting at the bit. In the town of Ravenswood five people are drawn together in an attempt to break a curse, or so I gather. It caught my eye through the trailer. All those people finding the black feather and running off towards a cemetery. It screams either sweet paranormal thriller or one of those solve the murder thrillers. Also, I've always had a soft spot for ravens, blackbirds and crows.

The second TV show that caught my eye, The Witching Hour. I don't know much about this one at all. Only that there are four women who are apparently witches and there is some sh*t about to go down. Along with two rather good looking guys, this show reminds me a lot of the romance novels I love to read so much. Of course there is a slight reminder of the Hollywood movie, The Craft, that I am trying to repress. While The Craft had its place, I was not a fan and am really hoping that The Witching Hour does not turn into a The Craft series

 

I am honestly excited that these two shows are coming out. Along with Sleepy Hollow I plan on watching just a little more TV this year. Never fear though, I'll still be writing in my wonderful make believe worlds. 

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