The past few weeks have been very busy and I feel like I have little to show for it.
I am almost done with the additions I am making to Cursed. I was hoping to have them done by now because there are some scheduled reviews for August.
I've been juggling that with kids birthday parties, my kid's birthday party (she turned 4), an unexpected trip to Toronto to visit a sick friend and other dreary life dramas that can't be avoided or ignored.
So bear with me. I will have everything organized and figured out within the next few weeks. The summer is zipping by so fast I feel like I haven't had a chance to enjoy it.
That isn't surprising considering how much rain we've had. It's been a monsoon in southeastern Michigan. Everything is green and soggy.
And lastly, I have not finished The Killing yet so don't spoil it for me but I have enjoyed this season. It had a lot of suspects but not a ridiculous amount. I have two episodes to go and it's looking like the guy in prison really did his wife in. I admit that I fast forward through those prison scenes. I find them boring.
Showing posts with label young adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label young adult. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
New cover for Evolution
My YA dystopian/science fiction/paranormal book has a new cover thanks to Sarah Dalton, a British designer. I bought the picture but needed it enhanced. While there is no person on the cover, I hope it's mysterious enough that it attracts some attention.
I don't have an official release date for Evolution. I had originally planned for August but I'm not sure that is doable. I can say Evolution will be released sometime in the next quarter. That's as close as I can get to a release date.
I don't have an official release date for Evolution. I had originally planned for August but I'm not sure that is doable. I can say Evolution will be released sometime in the next quarter. That's as close as I can get to a release date.
Evolution is a story of survival. It's about a group of friends who have survived a horrific virus that has taken the lives of most Americans. Michigan can be an inhospitable place in the winter, so the group decides to go to Florida. The journey is perilous but also gives the teens time to discover the "Remarkable" skills they've developed after being sick.
I need to work on the book blurb because the story is much more complicated than that. The teens/aka virus survivors are cogs in a complex wheel of a man's revenge and thirst for power.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Glad I'm not a bank teller
The guide for new parents is almost done. I should be able to meet my self-imposed deadline and have it online by mid-February.
Life has just become so much work for me. I know I complain a lot. That's my charm.
Every night I try and squeak in an hour of writing. I don't always succeed. Right now my priority is the guide. Before it was the former Virus book. I don't have much more than three or four hours a week to write.
It makes me very frustrated that I don't have more time but I don't know where I'd get it. It's 8:30 p.m. and I've just sat down at the computer.
Now it's 8:35 p.m. and I've just returned from upstairs searching for the origins of a huge crash noise. I was a little freaked after searching every room and finding nothing. My husband discovered a shampoo bottle fell off a shelf in the family bathroom. We must have a ghost because no one was in that room moving around.
So, I'm going to cut this short because I'm writing the guide.When I'm having a crisis of confidence I wonder if I'm wasting my time. I guess I'll know in a few months.
I hope that folks will take a chance on my stories and enjoy them.
That brings me to my assignment today. I don't talk much about work. That's another reason why I don't feel like writing because I do it every day for work.
Anyway, I covered a couple of Criminal Injuries Compensation Board hearings.
The first one was a guy who got stabbed. The second one was profound. It was a woman who had worked at a bank for 35 years. She - TWICE - was the teller on duty when the bank was robbed. The first robbery was violent with men in masks with guns.
The second one was a man with a knife.
The woman is now a mess. I almost cried during the hearing. She suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, depression, anxiety and is really struggling to live a normal life. She hasn't been able to go back to being a teller because she's afraid of dealing with the public. Who can blame her?
I have covered several bank robberies in my career and I always wondered what happens to the tellers. Well, now I know.
Life has just become so much work for me. I know I complain a lot. That's my charm.
Every night I try and squeak in an hour of writing. I don't always succeed. Right now my priority is the guide. Before it was the former Virus book. I don't have much more than three or four hours a week to write.
It makes me very frustrated that I don't have more time but I don't know where I'd get it. It's 8:30 p.m. and I've just sat down at the computer.
Now it's 8:35 p.m. and I've just returned from upstairs searching for the origins of a huge crash noise. I was a little freaked after searching every room and finding nothing. My husband discovered a shampoo bottle fell off a shelf in the family bathroom. We must have a ghost because no one was in that room moving around.
So, I'm going to cut this short because I'm writing the guide.When I'm having a crisis of confidence I wonder if I'm wasting my time. I guess I'll know in a few months.
I hope that folks will take a chance on my stories and enjoy them.
That brings me to my assignment today. I don't talk much about work. That's another reason why I don't feel like writing because I do it every day for work.
Anyway, I covered a couple of Criminal Injuries Compensation Board hearings.
The first one was a guy who got stabbed. The second one was profound. It was a woman who had worked at a bank for 35 years. She - TWICE - was the teller on duty when the bank was robbed. The first robbery was violent with men in masks with guns.
The second one was a man with a knife.
The woman is now a mess. I almost cried during the hearing. She suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, depression, anxiety and is really struggling to live a normal life. She hasn't been able to go back to being a teller because she's afraid of dealing with the public. Who can blame her?
I have covered several bank robberies in my career and I always wondered what happens to the tellers. Well, now I know.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Virus is almost done
Virus, the young adult book I've been working on for five years, is almost done.
I have some editing to do, some reader feedback to input before I send it off to copy editors. I hope to have it published by mid to late November 2012.
I plan to post the cover and a book blurb on Good Reads to start promoting the book. If you would like an advance copy, post a message here with contact info and I'll be in touch. I will send out 20 advanced copies. The only stipulation is that I need readers to write reviews and post them on e-retail web sites like Amazon and on Good Reads.
I'll be publishing the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-book web sites. A complete list will be posted once the book is set to go.
Virus is an end of world type story about a virus that is unleashed on the U.S. The survivors are mostly young adults who were either immune to the virus or got sick and survived and developed "special skills" when the virus altered their DNA. I think of the book as a cross between The Stand and the NBC television show Heroes. Book one is the story of survival and travel to Florida where most of the population is gathering to live out the winter.
There is a bigger broader story about a "big bad" that will stretch out over the three-edition series called Remarkables. Because I work full time, I won't be able to complete book two until late 2013 and book three until 2014. I have most of book two and three outlined and just need to fill in the blanks.
Here is a sample of the cover:
Before I start book two though, I plan to release the first book in my Fairy Tale series called Cursed. It's about a young woman who is cursed to die at 17 by her grandmother. The book is half written and I have a goal of publishing it in late February 2013.
I'm excited about this series. Unlike Remarkables, it's only been percolating in my brain since May. I have a seven-part story to tell. Each book is an independent story, although characters will bleed over from book to book. I think of it more in the vain of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld. She had characters make guest appearances in books, which all revolved around supernatural themes.
All of my young adult books have supernatural, science fiction type elements. I don't write about vampires or werewolves, but my characters have powers, much like in Harry Potter without reciting spells.
Chapters one and two of Virus will be posted here soon. Come back to check it out.
I have some editing to do, some reader feedback to input before I send it off to copy editors. I hope to have it published by mid to late November 2012.
I plan to post the cover and a book blurb on Good Reads to start promoting the book. If you would like an advance copy, post a message here with contact info and I'll be in touch. I will send out 20 advanced copies. The only stipulation is that I need readers to write reviews and post them on e-retail web sites like Amazon and on Good Reads.
I'll be publishing the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-book web sites. A complete list will be posted once the book is set to go.
Virus is an end of world type story about a virus that is unleashed on the U.S. The survivors are mostly young adults who were either immune to the virus or got sick and survived and developed "special skills" when the virus altered their DNA. I think of the book as a cross between The Stand and the NBC television show Heroes. Book one is the story of survival and travel to Florida where most of the population is gathering to live out the winter.
There is a bigger broader story about a "big bad" that will stretch out over the three-edition series called Remarkables. Because I work full time, I won't be able to complete book two until late 2013 and book three until 2014. I have most of book two and three outlined and just need to fill in the blanks.
Here is a sample of the cover:
Before I start book two though, I plan to release the first book in my Fairy Tale series called Cursed. It's about a young woman who is cursed to die at 17 by her grandmother. The book is half written and I have a goal of publishing it in late February 2013.
I'm excited about this series. Unlike Remarkables, it's only been percolating in my brain since May. I have a seven-part story to tell. Each book is an independent story, although characters will bleed over from book to book. I think of it more in the vain of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld. She had characters make guest appearances in books, which all revolved around supernatural themes.
All of my young adult books have supernatural, science fiction type elements. I don't write about vampires or werewolves, but my characters have powers, much like in Harry Potter without reciting spells.
Chapters one and two of Virus will be posted here soon. Come back to check it out.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Taking a leap
For years I'd write books, not quite finishing them all, and wonder sometimes, why am I doing this?
I have so many demands for my time. I'm desperate to find four hours a week to go running and start training for some goals. I need to spend more quality time with my daughter without it always being about dressing, undressing, bathing and eating.
My recent issue of Writer's Digest finally paid for its subscription price. I'm going to self publishing an ebook.
I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It's kind of sad it's taken me this long to realize the potential. I have friends who are competent editors. I know graphic artists to do a book cover. Darn, why didn't I think of this before now?
Anyway, the plan I have calls for a revision of the stories I've been writing. I'm outlining a series that will start as a three-parter but have the option of a fourth or fifth installment. The books will be about half the length of Polluted Blood, the young adult trilogy I've been working on for four years. Book one of Polluted Blood is almost done but it will take a year or more to finish book two.
The first three books of my new series will be released over three or four months starting this fall. I'll post some chapters here soon to see what ya'll think.
Gotta go write. Later.
I have so many demands for my time. I'm desperate to find four hours a week to go running and start training for some goals. I need to spend more quality time with my daughter without it always being about dressing, undressing, bathing and eating.
My recent issue of Writer's Digest finally paid for its subscription price. I'm going to self publishing an ebook.
I don't know why I didn't think of it before. It's kind of sad it's taken me this long to realize the potential. I have friends who are competent editors. I know graphic artists to do a book cover. Darn, why didn't I think of this before now?
Anyway, the plan I have calls for a revision of the stories I've been writing. I'm outlining a series that will start as a three-parter but have the option of a fourth or fifth installment. The books will be about half the length of Polluted Blood, the young adult trilogy I've been working on for four years. Book one of Polluted Blood is almost done but it will take a year or more to finish book two.
The first three books of my new series will be released over three or four months starting this fall. I'll post some chapters here soon to see what ya'll think.
Gotta go write. Later.
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