Another award!

October 31, 2012Leave a comment

I’ve been nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award again! This time I was nominated by Rooster Lady Sister, a most interesting character. As always, I’m flattered to receive such an award, but since I was nominated for the same award by our mutual friend Lindsey just a month ago, I’m going to let that post do double duty. So if you would like to read my seven random facts, you can find them here, along with the people I nominated when I initially received the award.

And now, back to the grindstone. I’ve got the day off of work, but I’m working hard on The Lokana Chronicles: Fog of War. Or at least I would like to be – I keep getting distracted by other things that also need doing. If anyone has a spare time turner, I’d really appreciate it if you could lend it to me for…um…a period of time that has yet to be determined. I’ve got a crap-ton of stuff to get done. 🙂

Excerpt time!

October 29, 20122 Comments

That’s right, I’ve finished another chapter, so it’s time for another excerpt. Today’s snippet comes from the newly-finished Chapter 5:

When the servants brought out the food, Michael was relieved to see what looked like roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and fresh bread. He was even more relieved when his tongue confirmed what his eyes suspected – he hadn’t had a thing to eat since breakfast and he was starving. Michael couldn’t count the number of times he’d eaten this same meal growing up. It was one of his favorites; it should have tasted like home.

And yet…it was different somehow. The meat had a different flavor. And it was juicier, more tender. The potatoes were lumpier; the gravy richer, more flavorful. And the butter – was it hand churned? He’d had samples of hand churned butter a few times at the local pioneer fair. Was this what it tasted like? I can’t remember.

So there you have it! Michael’s journey through the strange new world of Lokana has only just begun. I hope you’ll stay tuned for further adventures – rest assured, there will be plenty.

Comfort Food time! (cookingandmyfamily.wordpress.com)
Shepherd’s Pie Made Easy (answers.com)
Salisbury Steak and Cheesy Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes (rantsfrommycrazykitchen.com)

Another interview

October 22, 20122 Comments

I’ve been again. The interrogator extraordinaire was none other than the zombie master himself, everyone’s favorite sock puppet, Splinker. That’s right, in a new feature called “Someone Else Who Isn’t Me!”, I’ve Been Deader author Adam Sifre interviews other authors and today, that author is yours truly. So pop on over and have a read! We talk steaks and books and killer dust bunnies. There’s even an excerpt from The Lokana Chronicles. Leave a comment! After all, even zombies love comments. 😉

The interviewer interviewed II (kateannejack.wordpress.com)

Moving right along

October 19, 20124 Comments

Since the two snippets I’ve posted from my WIP have been so well-received, I think I’ll continue posting them. It’s fun seeing what everyone thinks so far and hopefully the little teasers will help me to create curiosity about the book so that when it’s done, I’ll have lots of people ready and waiting to buy it.

Okay, that’s all a pipe dream, but hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Anyway, I finished writing Chapter Four today and that was when I realized that I never posted anything from Chapter Three. So, lucky you, you get two bits for the price of one today!

Picking up steam!

October 15, 20129 Comments

I broke the 10k mark on my WIP over the weekend. Woohoo! I just broke it, but still. It was enough to allow me to publicize what I’ve written so far on authonomy, which I’ve done now, if anyone wants to take a look. I’d like to get some feedback on where things are going and how things are developing. I feel like my writing is stronger this time around, but that doesn’t mean I won’t have a lot of work left to do once the writing part is finished.

If you’d like to check it out, it’s tentatively titled The Lokana Chronicles: Fog of War and you can find it here. I’m terrible with titles and I’m really not satisfied with that one, but I suppose it’ll do until I can think of a better one (by the way, if anyone would like to submit some title ideas, I’m all ears).

Time To Plan a New Book (dan-harris.net)

Write on through to the other side

October 8, 201210 Comments

Yesterday afternoon started off wonderfully. I put the boys down for an early nap (they were both a little grumpy – must have been something in the air) and sat down to get some work done on chapter three. All was going swimmingly for about a page and a half and then…apathy settled in. My mind began to drift, the slightest noise was a disturbance worthy of hopping online, and I think I spent a good twenty minutes staring off into space looking at absolutely nothing.

Not wanting my rare and peaceful afternoon to be a complete waste, I decided to force myself to write, something I am notoriously awful at and about. Explanation: I am terrible about making myself do things, especially things I’m apathetic about. Also, when I posted it to authonomy, The Lokana Chronicles received many comments about pacing because I hopped from scene to scene to scene. The problem? I quit writing the scene well before I should have. As a result, I spent a lot of my revision time adding onto existing scenes and praying I wasn’t just adding fluff.

Since the story wasn’t flowing well, I decided to work on my pitch.

Home

October 5, 20124 Comments

Once again, I’m in the mood for sharing. I’ve just finished the second chapter of my WIP. Yay! Assuming my brain thaws out sometime tonight, I’ll be able to start working on Chapter Three in the morning. There are still some important things I need to figure out and some major kinks that need ironing, but I’m still at the point where I’m just having fun and not majorly stressing.

Meanwhile, may I present a snippet from Chapter Two:

“Darling, wake up. We’ve reached the Briants’.”

Maria slowly opened her eyes. Every other time she had visited, Michael’s house had been friendly and welcoming. Cozy, even. His house, his family, was the exact opposite of hers in so many ways and she drank in the warmth and sense of belonging she felt here like a starving man set loose on an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But now, for the first time, she felt none of those things. As she stared at the front door and thought about what she had to tell Mr. and Mrs. Briant, a deep and abiding sense of dread quickly overwhelmed her.

The next big thing

September 26, 2012September 25, 20121 Comment

The next big thing…we all like to think we will be. I suppose there can only be so many Twilights in a lifetime, but you never know…right?

We are blog hopping our way through some new reads. For those who aren’t familiar with a blog hop, to me it’s kind of like a treasure hunt. Once you find something on one blog, you hop on over to the next blog link for more treasure. In this case, the treasure is a wealth of new and exciting books. Some are still being written, some are just being released. Either way, for fiction lovers, it’s a treasure and I’d like to thank Lindsey J. Parsons for tagging me to participate.

In this particular hop I answer ten questions. You get to learn about my current WIP (Work In Progress), some of the characters I’ve come to think of as real, and how I got to the point of being nuts enough to write down over 70 thousand words worth of what the voices in my head have been whispering to me. When it’s all said and done, comments and questions are always welcome! This way to the Q&A!

Movin’ right along!

September 24, 201226 Comments

Guess who just finished the first chapter of her newest WIP? That’s right! Given that I’ve only been writing (not plotting) for what – a week? – and the fact that I don’t have a whole lot of free time in which to write, I’m pretty proud of myself. I can’t wait to see how everything is going to turn out. 🙂

I just finished my first book (for the third time…) (writeaubreywrite.wordpress.com)

Oh, darling!

September 22, 2012September 22, 20124 Comments

They say you should murder your darlings, but this one from my latest project may prove difficult to kill, should it eventually become necessary:

If there was anything Muffy Montrose and Cookie Bradley loved more than talking, though, it was shopping. They went every other weekend, always with each other, usually with their daughters in tow, but never with their husbands, who were too busy working or golfing to notice the desperation their wives wore like the latest fragrance.

If he were being honest with himself, Michael felt sorry for these women. They were trapped in marriages that provided them every comfort but the one they truly wanted. Even their daughters had little respect for them. Maria was always going on about how her mother was such a doormat and how she should stand up for herself and how she would never let a man treat her the way her father has treated her mother. But then, he wasn’t being honest with many people lately, least of all himself.