NaNoWriMo, Day 1

It's November 1st and this is the first day in #NaNoWriMo. I'm very excited about it and though the day is not over yet, I have just achieved the 1667 words goal for today. I'm not stopping, though. Just taking a break to blog about it, to share my excitement.

Secrets and Lies (not very original, I know - just work title) is a romantic YA fantasy. 

Keira is a fairy hiding in the human world who stumbles upon more complications - very much unwelcomed ones, since she already has her fair share of problems - when meeting Devon, a stubborn vampire who takes great interest in her.

They can't stay away from each other and they can't trust each other either, which only puts them in an impasse. 

***

And since I'm very excited about it (let's hope this won't change), here are two snippets from one of their first real conversations.

“You’re not human.”  

No kidding! A fabulous deduction, Mister Stating-the-Obvious, Keira huffed internally. ‘Neither are you’, she wanted to say, but she just strengthened her resolution to stay silent.

“Leaving is the first smart thing you did since you entered this door,” she muttered exasperated, knowing he’ll hear her whisper. She wished she could read his mind and enjoy his reaction, but her magic was still too weak for that.

The premise is simple, but I hope I'll turn this into a funny adventure. Only time can tell.

Signed up for NaNoWriMo, 2013

Yup! I'm doing NaNo this year. I've decided just yesterday, signed up and dugged through my documents for an old outline for support. (Is having a 7-8 K words outline cheating? I hope not)

In February I signed up for NaHaiWriMo to learn discipline by writing a themed haiku daily. Done, and continued that process for two more months. 

This summer I've written 3 outlines (complete outlines - worlds, characters, timeline) which was a big step for me. Now it's time to extend one of them to a book.

I've already practiced my writing during September, finishing two novella lenght 1st drafts that may not ever see shelves (real or virtual). Well, in the present state, they're not awful, but there's much work to be done. Maybe in December I'll start editing one of them, we'll see.

So, in November I'll try to write a full lenght novel. Quite a challenge. But, after the progress this year, I'm confident I'll finish the challenge with a 1st draft novel. 

My story, Secrets And Lies (work title), is a YA fantasy about a young faerie on the run from her kind, caught in too much intrigue, hidden in the human world. She can't stay out of trouble, or hidden for that matter, which leads her to a world of lies, secrets and scheems, which she hates. And her help comes in unexpected ways, confusing her even more.

But she's not going to give up.  

And neither am I. Wish us good luck.

The Faerie War, Creepy Hollow #3 Review

 My review

The Fearie War is the stunning and much awaited end of The Creepy Hollow series. I've been waiting for this book - breathless - ever since reading the last (shocking, surprising and original) page of the second book in the series, The Faerie Prince.

The book starts with Vi in a new setting, in an unusual frame of mind, troubled. Through this final book, V must learn who she is and rediscover herself as person after memory loss to help save her world. And she does. She grows. She has some (very) trying moments, but she fights to overcome them. She adapts. She evolves. She transforms.

And she's not the only one growing. Ryn, the love interest turns even more swoon-worthy - if you thought that impossible, you were wrong. The love story is amazing; a new perspective and a very trying and emotional road for both Ryn and V.

(Boy, did Rachel make her characters suffer to prove their love!)

The worldbuilding is amazing! The insight in the underground of the Creepy Hollow ads to the conflict and makes the final book of the series different from the first two books. We meet some new characters, we see the guardians after graduations, in unexpected circumstances.

Rachel surprises with each page. The Creepy Hollow series is one of the most original steries out there. Romance, action, humor and surprise after surprise will keep you guessing at the end. Yes, it's a happy ending, but a surprising one. 

Looking forward to reading Rachel's next book and see what other amazing story she makes us sigh over.

Purchase The Faerie War

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Apple iBookstore

CreateSpace print

  

Author Bio

Rachel Morgan was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. After completing a degree in genetics, she decided science wasn’t for her—after all, they didn’t approve of made-up facts. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults.

When she isn't writing, she's reading (duh!), catching up on addictive TV series, and baking things that almost always include chocolate.

The Creepy Hollow Series

Amazon|Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer | Pinterest

Rachel's Links

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Yay! It's here! The Faerie War - Creepy Hollow #3 by Rachel Morgan

It's party time!!! 

Today is the official online release of Rachel Morgan's third Creepy Hollow novel, The Faerie War. After that cliffhanger at the end of the second book, fans can finally find out what happens to Violet and everyone else in Creepy Hollow. If you'd like to get your copy, you can find it at the following online stores, plus a few others:

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

CreateSpace (print)

There are seven other teaser images displayed on various blogs today. If you'd like to see them, you can visit the following fabulous bloggers:

And there's a major giveaway going on!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Insecure Writer's Support Group, October 2013

The Insecure Writer's Support Group, started by Alex J. Cavanaugh, a group designed for writers to support and encourage each other gathers today again.

This month my insecurity is at the lowest level ever - in all things writing, at least. Though my 5 k/day didn't last more than 2 weeks and then I went at lower levels, I've finished 2 first drafts out of 3 and the last one is nearly ready. Yay! That's a lot of writing for me. 

I've accomplished my goal for September - finish a 1st draft. This month I'll finish the first draft of my third project and be lost in rewriting, edits and revision. 

I still have to consider some things related to publishing while I'm also moving into a city where I can't ever sleep well at night. Yup, that's going to be funny!

So wish me luck and a good night's sleep at least once in a while.

CassaStorm by Alex J Cavanaugh

Alex J Cavanaugh, the most supportive writer and internet promoter has just released his third book, CassaStorm. Congrats, Alex!

My curiosity regarding CassaStorm was related to writing: the most difficult to write character and scene were ... because ... And here you have the answer:                               

 

The most difficult character to write was Athee from CassaFire. She was my first female lead and I worried I wouldn’t get her right.

The hardest scene to write was the final scene with Byron and Bassa in CassaStar. Those who’ve read it know why and I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t, but I really hated writing that scene.

Comment on Alex’s blog this week for a chance to win a Cassa mug, mousepad, magnet, and swag!

CassaStorm

By Alex J Cavanaugh

From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorM is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.”  – Edi’s Book Lighhouse

"Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together."
- Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera

Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019

$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm:

Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1116848619?ean=9781939844002

Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/CassaStorm-Alex-J-Cavanaugh/dp/1939844002/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378484337&sr=1-1&keywords=cassastorm

Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/CassaStorm-ebook/dp/B00F2O9QMC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378811366&sr=1-1&keywords=cassastorm

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17670532-cassastorm

Book trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Umm2l0XdHc&feature=youtu.be

Find Alex:

Website – http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Twitter – http://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh  

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4287922.Alex_J_Cavanaugh

Sacrifice Her Cover Reveal

The day has finally come. Time to reveal the cover of Sacrifice HER. Be amazed.

Title: Sacrifice HER by Sheena-kay Graham
Goodreads: Sacrifice HER
Release Date: December 2013

Summary: When a city is at stake is the life of one sixteen-year old girl worth risking thousands? Deidra Moore goes on the run after escaping from a group of human sacrifices for Bane: God of War. She doesn't believe he exists and sees uncertainty in the scorching desert as a better alternative. But Faux City isn't finished with her and their leader Lord Brinn is ordered by Bane - through one of his maiden worshipers- to bring her back or face dire consequences. In the desert Deidra meets a wanderer named Kane and as feelings spark can they find a safe place to lead a new life before Lord Brinn and his soldiers catch up with them? Yet the question remains. Does Bane really exist and if he does what will happen if either side succeeds or fails? Told in alternating perspectives of both the runaway servant girl and the blonde strong willed leader.

 Author Bio: Sheena-kay Graham was never meant for a traditional job behind a desk. Her childhood career plans included becoming a ballerina, actress or someone who helped people. So naturally she decided to be a writer who writes from her bed. Yes, no desk for this Jamaican book lover. No matter if it’s reading, writing or using the computer....you get the gist. The love of the written word has always been with her leading to stories, novels, poetry and way too much fan fiction. This Christian woman can be found trolling Amazon online, in local book bookstores, watching movies on the big screen, or in her bed, or reading/writing/on the laptop...again in her bed. Mainly writes YA fiction and is ready to unleash her creativity to wow the masses.

Links

Website: http://queendsheena.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5448863.Sheena_kay_Graham

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheenakayGrahamAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/queendsheena

Cover Design: 

Image of woman with flowing hair (purchased): © Transfuchsian | Dreamstime.com

Cover Designer:  Langao @ http://fiverr.com/langao

And for a final bit of wow factor. Look at what I got for free without asking.

Celebrate the Small Things, Sept, 6th

Celebrate The Small Things is a fun, weekly meme hosted by Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. Stop by and visit the other entries.

Here's what I'm celebrating this Friday:

 

* * * writing 19 K words this week. They're not all on the same project, but I'm happy I'm in my schedule.

* * * being more active, more involved and a little more social. Time management is the key. That, and awesome people hell bent to see more of my charming personality (to be read sarcastic nature). Thanks guys, you're amazing!

* * * wrapping up a project, my first writing project. After toying wiith the idea for more than two months and finally deciding to write the outline in August (I hate outlines - they make writing less fun for me) I'm almost done with the first draft. Yay! It will be a lot of work re-writing it and editing, but I'm exciting about finally getting there.

So, this weekend will be a busy one, finishing up my first novella - it doesn't have a name yet - and then cellebrating it.

Have a fun weekend!

The Insecure Writer's Support Group September 2013

Today it's the two year anniversary of a wonderful project, The Insecure Writer's Support Group, started by Alex J. Cavanaugh, a group designed for writers to support and encourage each other.

In today's post, Alex had surprised everybody, announcing the creation of The Insecure Writer's Support Group website. Looking forward to seeing the result, Alex!

My insecurities this month concern my ability to accomplish everything on my To Do List for September, which is very long. In August I've written 3 outlines beginning to end, worlds, characters, everything that goes in the story is already established. Crazy, I know, right? I've been struggling with this, and suddely in August I've done it. Not once, not twice, but three times!

And that made me bold. So, for September I've designed a crazy writing schedule that will be amazingly difficult to follow. I've figured since I know everything in the story, I could write about 5000 words a day, every day. Yup, 5000 words. 

For now, I'm faithful to my Spartan schedule, doing 5000+ words. But I can't write that much on a single story daily - outlining has removed the joy, the excitement, in discovering what happens next so, I lose interest after about 3000 words. So, I alternate between 2 stories.

It seems to be working, for now and I hope by the end of the month to have the 150 K I wanted. But I fear I'll lose interest because of outlining. 

I see the pros of this technique, I actually worked on a story for a week without giving up the project, but knowing what happens next makes the writing less... exciting. But if I get the work done, I'll keep up this way. I just hope outlining won't turn my writing flat. 

One of the projects still gives me the spark of excitement, so I'm confident about it, but the other one is slower, less attractive, but I'm not giving up. By the end of the month I'll have 150 K words done and raedy for re-writing.

As usual, no names yet for my projects. 

I hope everybody has a great, productive September.

Teaser Tuesday with Basho's Haiku. Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

Here's my teaser from Basho's Haiku. Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho (translated by David Landis Barnhill):

I spent a number of days in Awazu, where there was a man who loved the tea ceremony. He gathered chrysantheum flowers from a nearby beach and invited me to tea.
 

a butterfly too comes
to sip the vinegar:
chrysanthemum salad

You can stop by Amazon and download one of my haiku chapbooks for free: 17 Syllables: Of Love and Life.

Express Yourself

Express yourself is a fun, weekly meme hosted by Dani and Jackie to help bloggers learn more about each other (and maybe ourselves).

The question this week is: "Which book/movie you wished you lived in?"

A tough one, but by far, "Pride and Prejudice" for both the movie(2005) and the book.

Other choices for BOOKS:

The Vampire Academy world

 

Mortal Instruments world

 

(I'm not big on reality, I'm sure you can tell)

Other choices in MOVIES:

Pirates of the Caribbean world

 

Stardust 

 

In time

 

Tomorrow, August 13th till Thursday 15th, my haiku chapbook 17 Syllables: Of Love And Life will be free on Amazon. 

Six Word Saturday

Enjoying my coffee under August sun

I'm one of those persons who can't start the day without coffee - it's more than a ritual, it's my first great moment of the day. 

And since today I'm not working on my usual stuff, but to the outline that I started yesterday (3.5 K in one day - yay!) though I was planning to take a break this weekend, I'll need at least a double dose of coffee to finish what I started. I think it will go around 8-9 K. I'm exited about it - it has vampires, action and shy love and big mouths - I was smiling the entire time I was writing (I think that's a good sign). 

I've figured the world, the characters, (still thinking about the setting), the timeline (one of my least favorite things) and I've also figured out why I can't finish what I start - that damn voice. All these were brewing inside my mind during the last week or so, and now I caved in and put everything on paper (yeah, paper and pen for outlining). So this new thing is an experiment till now, but works better than what I usually do, so I have high hopes (not that you couldn't tell by all this babbling).

And though I'm not usually sharing what I'm working on, since I'm so so crazy happy with this, I'll share a two line exchange  between the main characters.

"I wish you'd do what I asked you to."

"Well, it's not the magical time of Christmas when wishes come true. And I'm not a genie. I don't do wishes."

 
_______________________________________________________

 

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does with their entries.

Have a great Saturday!

Celebrate The Small Things

Celebrate The Small Things is a fun weekly meme hosted by Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. Stop by and visit the other entries.

Here's what I'm celebrating this Friday:

* * * 8012 words this week already but I think I won't have the time to add more during the weekend.

* * * changing the aspect of my my blog and updating some of the social updates.

* * * adding 5% at the already 10% ready of a sideways project that I'll start talking about soon. I'm still trying to decide if I should start a new blog for it.

* * * This week I've had the pleasant surprise to talk to and reconnect with a close friend who's been  in Spain for almost 4 years now.

This is what I'll be celebrating today. I don't think I'll be able to do much writing this weekend, but I hope I'll come back Monday with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. 

I've also decided that from Tuesay13th till Thursday 15th my haiku chapbook 17 Syllables: Of Love And Life goes free on Amazon.

Have a nice weekened, all!

Cover Reveal The Faerie War (Creepy Hollow) By Rachel Morgan and more

The fate of the faerie world is in her hands...

Title: The Faerie War

Series: Creepy Hollow, Book Three

Author: Rachel Morgan

Cover Designer: Morgan Media

Publication Date: Oct 2013

Add on Goodreads

Find the Creepy Hollow series on Amazon

I'm really happy to have a cover for the final book and can't wait for October to discover the final adventures in the series. The second book ends with a strong, killer cliffhanger so I'm very impatient to get my hands on the last instalment in The Creepy Hollow series. 

What do you think about the cover? My favorite in the series.

What's up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up.

What I'm reading. After reading all the available books in The Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout I'm up to her other series The Covenant. the first book in the series is a novella, Daimon and looks promissing.

What I'm writing. This week is dedicated to writing and I hope that by the end of the week I'll have one of the outlines turned into a first draft of about 17-20 k. I'm already 5 k in the first draft in a single day. *Happy!* 

What's inspiring me right now. Hmmm... Kings of Leon and Ed Sheeran are my company when writing. 

What else I've been up to. After a movie marathon with friends last week I'm now thinking I should take some time to visit one of my sisters.

Teaser Tuesday with Obsession By Jennifer L Armentrout

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's my teaser from Obsession written by Jennifer L. Armentrout: 

The fingers under my chin drifted up, spreading across my cheek. I held still. His gaze dropped to my mouth and then farther down, his stare so intense it felt like a caress.
His lips slipped into a smile that did nothing to ease the stark lust in his face. “Oh, Serena, you really have no idea of what kind of shit you’ve stepped in.”

I loved the book! And the cover is amazing!