Back In Action!

Hi, guys!

I apologize for being gone for so long, but I'm happy to say that I'm back, baby, and quite possibly better than ever :).

I have been working diligently on some very exciting things for the past few months, and will have a BIG announcement coming up at the end of this month.  And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is because it's a surprise.  You're just going to have to wait because I'm evil like that ;).

Thank you so much to all who participated in naming the next installment of the Fairytale Assassin short story series. I got distracted by other projects, but then decided to go a different way with the naming, so I wanted to let you know that. I appreciate the support, though, and the great names you guys put out there.  I love this blog. You guys are so awesome!

Anyway, fun stuff is coming down the pipeline, so stay tuned!

I also have 10 authographed copies of the delightful trade paperback version of Legacy of the Empress that I'm currently selling :). I'm happy to autograph these any old way you'd like and may even include some bad artwork if you're lucky, so snap them up for any loved ones who love a great fantasy adventure for under the tree!  You can purchase them HERE.

How many people can say they got a book for the holiday personally autographed just for them? I think that would be pretty darn nifty, if I do say so myself.  I'm using wepay.com for the transactions, so it's easy and safe for all.

Other than that, you'll be seeing a lot more of me 'round these parts... so hold onto your butts.

Legacy of the Empress is available in PAPERBACK!

The day has come!  It's finally here, and I am practically vibrating with excitement :).

Legacy of the Empress is a FOR REALS book!  On paper!  With bindings and pages and new book smell!


To your left you will see me holding a copy of my for-realsies paperback novel, formatted with tender loving care, and looking completely and utterly awesome.

330 pages full of goodness.. in my actual hands.

I know that I've said in the past that when the day came that I held my book in my hands, that I'd get a big pile of them and swim through them like Scrooge McDuck, however... now that the day has come, I don't want to crease them with my flailing body.

They are just too pretty.

In related news, the trade paperback is available on Amazon for $10.99!  How awesome is that?

So if you love the feel of a delicious papery book in your hands, and also want a great epic fantasy read, here you go.  You're all set :).

I have my first ever book signing this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Vancouver, WA at Cover to Cover bookstore, so if you're in the area, come say "hi!"  I will be thrilled to see you :).

Thank you for letting me share this incredibly exciting moment with you, and for all of the love and support over the past couple of years.  You guys mean the world to me.  ((internet hugs!))

New Cover Art! A Paperback! A Book Tour! OH MY!

In case you've been wondering what I've been up to when I've been horridly neglecting you, here's some new and exciting news! :)

Legacy of the Empress has a Fancy Pants professional cover, and is coming out in paperback form NEXT WEEK!  That's right, ladies and gents. I'm going paper, and I'm going there hard.  The book will be a nice sized trade paperback, and will be priced at $10.99.  Woot!

Along with that awesome and most excellent news, I'm excited to say that I'm going on a booktour around the Portland Metro Area in October with some other really cool, local YA Authors.  Since Legacy straddles the line between YA and epic fantasy, they were nice enough to have me.

Here's where you can find me if you live in the area:

• Cover to Cover Bookstore on October 1st, from 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
• West Linn Public Library on October 7th, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
• Beaverton City Library on October 20th, from 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
• A Children's Place Bookstore on October 22nd at 1 p.m. - whenever they kick us out!

So, all of you Pacific Northwest Internet Friends, come say "hi!" :)  I'll be the one getting all nervous and sweaty before reading a passage from my book.

I'm so excited!  I hope I get to meet some of you face to face. How cool would that be?

Also, please tweet, facebook, or blog about these events, or even the paperback. It would be a huge help.  Thanks for all your support, guys!

July's Numbers, AKA, Why I Was Crapping My Pants in July

I promised I'd share my numbers with you as I went along this crazy-go-nuts road, and that's exactly what I'm going to do :).  Woo hoo!

Okay, so first, history:

In April I had a couple of short stories up and sold 19 e-books.

In May I had the two stories, and released LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS in the last couple days of the month. I sold 30 3-books, 7 of which were Legacies.

June, I sold 125 e-books across two names (this one and my pen name.)

So, July?  How'd it go???

Welp.

I sold over 3500 e-books in July.  Two short stories sold over 1000 copies each.

I flip flopped between feeling sweaty elation and then icy cold terror. Now, I'm much calmer :). 

What a great month, though.  Let me stress, too, that I only have one full length novel:  Legacy of the Empress.  The rest are all short stories, and a 15,000 word novella under my pen name. 

People who say short stories don't sell are wrong.  This is excellent news for all of us!  Have some shorts chillin' on the harddrive?  Well, if you publish them for kindle, nook, etc, you could make money and gain a following before you finish that first novel. 

What are you waiting for?  If you enjoy writing short stories, you have nothing to lose, except maybe $10 for a stock photo.  I edit my stories and make my own e-covers for these short tales.  Go for it! :)  You may be surprised.

August has slowed down already, and I've only sold about 550 so far. Summer is notoriously slow because folks are doing yardwork and chasing rambunctuous kiddos instead of reading, so I'm working on getting new stuff written for Fall :). 

I hope to have two new Veronica Grim, Fairytale Assassin stories ready by September 1st, and then it's time to write the sequel to Legacy of the Empress.  Woo hoo!

It's GO time.

How are your own projects going?  Do you have anything on the burner now?  Tell us about it!

Update Roundup!

Hi, All,

Man.  So sorry I've been neglecting you all lately!

I promise, I still love you.  It's just been one stressful/good/fun/crazy/sad/weird/funny week.  I feel like it's a been a month.  But, also in a good way?  It's like I'm in the Twilight Zone, and I ain't talking about sparkly nosferatu.

Since 7/9, bascially, I've sold 2200 books.  What??

Anyway, things are going really well, but I'm now working harder than ever getting the next installments of Veronica Grim ready to go, as well as getting ready for a sequel to Legacy of the Empress.  My alter ego has a trilogy planned. People:  It is ON!

I had a lot of highs this past week and a half, but I also got my first one star reviews. Egads! They totally happen, and I'm even sort of happy that I got that "milestone" over with ;). It's like waiting for the first rejection from an agent, or getting your period or something. It's a part of the beautiful cycle of Nature.

Okay... I admit I felt like this *just* a little bit:

But, then I read the one-star reviews from some of my favorite authors and felt a smile creeping onto my face.  Dude!  A one star means I'm like... a real author.  With books out there for people to have opinions about!

That's seriously awesome :).

Also, I got some lovely 5 stars for No Rest for the Wicked, Carnivore, and Legacy of the Empress. From Internet Strangers!  Wooo hooooo!

So there you go.  Roller coaster of happy/sad/happy and some hard workin's.

In other news, I promise to actually ship your books out, you lucky contest winners. I still don't have a couple of your addresses, so please email me forthwith to claim your treasures.

There have been lots of fascinating discussions lately in the blogosphere, so expect linkage later this week. 

In the meantime, how the hell are you all doing?  Any projects that you're working on?

I'd love to hear about them!

Author Interview over at Sandra Ulbrich Almazan's Blog!

Hi, guys,

Today I'll be hanging out over at speculative fiction author Sandra Ulbrich Almazan's lovely blog!  She was kind enough to interview me, and asked a ton of great questions.  Go check it out.  There's even a picture of some of my "art"  (Note the usage of ironic "" marks.) 

Also, as a bonus, I wanted to let you know that for the rest of the summer, Legacy of the Empress is on sale for .99 cents!  This is an experiment, and I'll let you know how it goes :). 

Thanks, all!  Hope to see you over at Sandra's place.

And the Winners Are....

This weekend I celebrated reaching my 100th e-book sale and beyond, and had a mini giveaway to celebrate!

Here are the names of the five lucky winners from my commenters (drumroll, please!):

MBoyd1978

Keira Lea

Callie Kingston

M. Horton

Katherine

Please pick from my author page which e-book you'd like to receive and either leave a comment or shoot me an email, and I will hook you up!

I just put out a new Fairytale Assassin short story to continue the storyline from No Rest for the Wicked.  It's called Carnivore, and is my own twisted take on Little Red Riding Hood.  You guys can totally pick that one along with my other three--winners' choice!

Thank you all for celebrating with me :).  Remember--if you didn't win this time, there's still time to enter my Launch Day Giveaway.  It ends 6/31/11, so get those entries in soon!

Guest Post at Author Cole Drewes' Blog Today!

Hi, All,


Today, I'm a guest poster over at Author Cole Drewe's blog. Go check it out :)!  I've been getting a lot of questions from writers about how I made the final leap into indie publishing Legacy, so I go into more depth about why I did it, why I think it was the best thing for me, and why I'm optimistic about my career.

Cole's book, Hounds of Heaven, just launched as well--Congratulations, Cole!

___

If you haven't entered my fabulous Launch Day Giveaway, then why haven't you? It's AWESOME! It's exactly the kind of thing you should enter.

Right now.

Go.

Do iiiiit. ;)



Here's how to get entries into the drawing for cool books, delicous chocos, and a $25 Amazon giftcard:


Be a follower of this blog: Old followers get 1 entry, and New followers get 2 entries!

Tweet about this giveaway: 1 entry per tweet (as many as you'd like)

Link this giveaway on Facebook: 1 entry per link!

Review the book on Amazon or on your blog: 5 entries!

Talk about this giveaway on your blog: 2 entries!

Tell me who your favorite Fantasy character is in the comments: 1 entry

"Like" my book on Amazon: 1 entry

Link a picture of you brandishing a sword: 3 entries! (cause seriously... that's cool)

Interview me on your blog: 5 entries!
Tell a friend about my book : 1 entry each time! (honor system, yo)


Leave your comments in the contest post with what you've done along the way, and rack up those entries! The contest runs until the end of the month.

I'm excited to see who wins!! :)

Excerpt from LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS

Happy Sunday!

Callie Kingston has an excerpt from Legacy of the Empress up on her blog if you's like to have a look :).

Enjoy!

LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS Launch Day Giveaway!

LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS is finally for sale in the Kindle Store, and I'm celebrating by holding my biggest contest yet!

There will be 5 total winners with one GRAND PRIZE:  A $25 Amazon Giftcard!


The next three runners-up will receive either FIRE, RAMPANT, or SOULLESS (in honor of fantasy novels with strong heroines), an e-copy of LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, and a bar of delicious Ghirardelli chocolate.  Look at those bars sparkling at you in the photo... you know you want them!


The Grand Prize winner and last winner also get a free e-copy of LEGACY, of course :).  


So, ready to play?  Who wants to win a gift card or some great reads??


Here's how it works.  Each time you do one of the following, you get a certain number of entries.  Leave what you've done in the comments below, and I'll tally them all up when the contest ends and pick our winners!


How to get entries:

• Be a follower of this blog:  Old followers get 1 entry, and New followers get 2 entries!
• Tweet about this giveaway:  1 entry per tweet (as many as you'd like)
• Link this giveaway on Facebook:  1 entry per link!
• Review the book on Amazon or on your blog:  5 entries!
• Talk about this giveaway on your blog:  2 entries!
• Tell me who your favorite Fantasy character is in the comments:  1 entry
• "Like" my book on Amazon: 1 entry
• Link a picture of you brandishing a sword: 3 entries! (cause seriously... that's cool)
• Interview me on your blog:  5 entries!
• Tell a friend about my book : 1 entry each time! (honor system, yo)

This contest will run through 6/31 to give you time to star racking up entries!

GOOD LUCK, and thank you for celebrating this special day with me!

Also, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!  If there are any troops who read this blog, please email me, and I'll hook you up with a free copy.  Thank you for your service to this country, and God bless!

LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS is Launching!

I'm ready to take the plunge! :D

After years of hard work, LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS will be up on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com, ready for purchase by this evening or tomorrow at the latest.  I'll update this post as soon as it's live!  


(Edit: It's now live on Smashwords for $2.99!)

This moment is so incredible for me.  I couldn't have gotten here without so many of you.  My beta readers, my crit partners, my fellow bloggers, my readers.  I love you guys!! THANK YOU for your incredible support!

Stay tuned for a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY I'll be announcing tomorrow to celebrate!

Trust me.... you don't want to miss it! 

Holy crap burgers...

I just saw the almost-finished cover art for LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, and I am over the moon!!!! :D

The colors are beautiful, the artwork rich and almost Tolkien-esque... just wow.

I can't wait to be able to show you all the finished product, but I just had to pop in and say how excited I am.  This is a great day.


What's going on with you guys?  I'd love to hear what made your day today! 

Self Publishing: Why I Changed My Mind

AKA, "Is she nuts or what?" ;)

I'll admit it. 

I used to think "self publishing" was a dirty phrase.  It conjured up images of people who got suckered into buying a few thousand dollars worth of books from a vanity "publisher" and then ended up trying to sell them out of the trunk of their cars.  I did not want to be one of those people.

Money should flow toward the author, not away from it, and I'd never heard of anyone making money with a vanity press except the presses themselves.

Recently, I learned that self publishing is not what I thought it was.  True self, or Indie Publishing, has recently been made possible by the explosion of products like the Nook, Kindle, and Sony e-readers.  Hell, even by the iphone!  Authors can upload their books and sell them directly, often receiving 70% royalties with no up front costs.

HOLY SHIT.

Why did I not know about this?  How did I not get that the e-book explosion has officially changed the power dynamic for authors?

Honestly, while I was writing and editing and learning all about the publishing industry, the publishing industry was changing around me.

Today is a brand new day, and the world of publishing is a brand new world :).  E-sales are dominating in a way they never have before, and I'm helping them by downloading fistfulls of books to my iphone, even though I swore I'd never enjoy digital as much as print.

Hell, I bought a Nook this winter.  And I *love* it.

Before making my decision to have a go as an Indie Publisher, I did some research, and it was hearing from these authors and bloggers that really made me do my 180. 

Author J.A. Konrath is a huge advocate of indie publishing, and has basically made a total killing off it, as opposed to going with a traditional/legacy publisher.  Check out this amazing, in-depth conversation he had on his blog with author Barry Eisler about Barry's decision to turn down $500,000 to self publish.  It's a lengthy read, but FULL of incredible information.  Worth it, for sure.

They both give straight talking sales numbers, and even answer commenter questions in this second blog discussion.  There are even graphs...... I love graphs!

Then I thought "Pfffffft, maybe this is only a viable option for fancy, luckypants writers.  I wonder if there are any folks in the comments section who are regular Joe Authors with similar experiences." 

Turns out, there were!  There were plenty.

For example, Sarra Cannon decided to self publish her YA series a mere five months ago and has already sold 13,000 copies and counting.  13,000.  If she's selling her books at $2.99 for the Kindle, she gets a 70% royalty.  Logically, this means she could have made $27,209 in five months.  All on her own.  As a newbie author.  (Disclaimer--I have no idea about the money she's made, I just know she published 5 months ago and sold that many books.  I am just making a point that a total newb has already sold more books than many a debut author could dream of selling.) 

Publicist and wife of successful author Michael J. Sullivan, Robin Sullivan has a blog post comparing two mid-list genre authors, one who was published by a legacy publisher, and one who chose to self publish.  There are charts there, too.  Sweet, sweet charts.

In a nutshell, she discovered that the traditionally published author with several books out wasn't quite making a living wage, while the self published author quickly went from $800/mo to $12,000/mo with sales holding steady.  They both have comparable books and backlists, yet one is living the writer's dream.  He got to quit his day job.

I don't plan on striking it rich, and I definitely don't want to be famous.  All I've ever wanted out of my writing career is to be able to stay at home and be a Full Time Writer.  Oh, and not starve while doing so ;).

It seems to me that indie publishing my work is the most practical way to accomplish that goal.  And how cool is that?  Now, I can rely on my own hard work for my success, which is something I'm very comfortable with.

I'm gambling on myself... and it feels great.

Some Exciting News!

As promised, I'd like to share some exciting news with you today :)!

Some of you may remember when the kindle first came out, and I blogged about the end of physical books as we know it.  Well, thankfully, the hardcover isn't going anywhere soon, BUT new opportunities have opened up for the aspiring author as far as e-publishing goes.

I'm sure by now everyone's heard of Amanda Hocking, the 26 year old author who self published her YA Trylle Trilogy on Amazon, sold 450,000 e-copies, and just signed a $2 million book deal with Random House.  This definitely got me thinking--she may be a stand out, but what is the downside to publishing your own e-books?  IS there a downside?

The publishing industry is rapidly changing with the new impulse-buy-ability of e-books.  Now, self publishing doesn't have to be a dirty word.  A writer's options are no longer limited to either a traditional publishing contract, or paying a vanity press to print books that will never see the light of day.

The e-book train is moving down the tracks, not just for the one-off success stories like Amanda Hocking, but some established authors are opting for self publishing when it comes to their e-releases, because they take control of the profits.  When authors are already doing their own promotional work, suddenly releasing an e-book starts to make sense.

For those of you who read my blog before I took my break, you know I am not a pie-in-the-sky type person, but rather a work hard, practical person.  E-publishing my book that isn't a popular genre right now is speaking to my logical side (high fantasy hasn't been sellable for awhile in lieu of more contemporary fantasy, even though it has its niche).

After a lot of research and debate, I've decided to self-publish Legacy of the Empress as an e-book.  I see it as gambling on myself--I don't pay anything out of pocket, and I stick to the same marketing plan as if I had a physical book coming out.  I'd always planned to do the legwork myself, so putting my own book out there seems like an ideal plan :).  I believe in this book whole heartedly, so why not put it out there?

So there you have it:  I have an artist cooking up a fantastic cover for me right now, and I'm getting ready to launch this mofo.  More info to come!

What are your thoughts?  How do you look at e-publishing versus traditional publishing?  Have you ever impulse bought a low-priced e-book?

Blog Chain: Gender Bender!

Sandra starts our blog chain off this round. She asked:

Have you ever created a character different from yourself in some significant way, such as (but not limited to) different gender, race, ethnic group, religion, or sexual orientation? If so, what, if any, research did you do to portray these differences?

Was this character a main character, secondary character, or walk-on? Did these differences have an impact on the story?

Gotta love these questions!

In my first novel, LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, one of my two main characters is a dude--Torin. Writing his dialogue and character was very natural about 90% of the time. HOWEVER, there were definitely moments where I'd stare at what I'd just written and think "Something's.... off." These were usually the moments where, unbeknownst to me, I'd made Torin react to a situation like a lady. Poor Torin..

In these scenerios, I turned to my Resident Man Expert, or RME for short (my husband.) I'd force him to read a scene, or even just shout "What would a dude do in 'blank' situation??" Once I found out that instead of crying, a dude would actually punch the ground. Hence the scene feeling .. awkward. Once I had Torin punching stuff dry-eyed everything made a lot more sense, and the other character's reactions felt much more natural. Thank you, RME!

In HOLLOW LAND (the novel I'm currently working on), I have a few east asian characters as well as a Jewish female lead. This is definiely going to require not only a trip or two to the library but also for me to consult with some non-whitey whites. The good thing is, not only am I friendly with several nice Indian folks at work whose brains I can pick, but there is something wonderful we have now, called The Internet. I've started following a few blogs from the countries my characters originate from to get a feel for the culture. I'm hoping I can eventually get some beta readers of the same religion/culture to help me out and make sure I'm not being a dork about some detail or another.

If I had any advice for you guys, it's to be brave :). Don't be afraid to write a certain character just because they are outside your immediate frame of reference. Learning new things is what makes this fun! Go for it, and get excited to learn about other cultures, sexual orientations, and even how the other sexes think.

What do you guys think? Have you ever written outside your comfort zone? How did it turn out?

Don't miss Shannon's answer coming up tomorrow!

Blog Chain: Meeting Your Characters!

It's blog chain time again!

This round's topic is brought to you by the character-driven Cole who asked:

How do you get inside your character's world?

Apparently, Cole actually stalks her characters, google maps their haunts, etc, to get to know them. This got me thinking about my own process.

How the hell did I first meet my characters?
How did I know what they looked like? How they thought? What their strengths and weaknesses are?

To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure. They just sort of showed up in my brain like strangers knocking on my door. For example, in my head I have a picture of Astrid and a picture of Torin from LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS in mind from the start. I don't know where they came from, but I knew that Astrid was an 18 year old girl with long dark hair and deep blue eyes, and Torin was a 19 year old boy with dark hair that stuck up in weird angles.

This is seriously the first I knew about them, and I had to figure it out from there. It really was like I saw strangers in a cafe, thought they were interesting, and then tried to get to know them from afar. The first thing I do is try to google for images that are close to what I have in my brain. I feel like if I can give my characters a physical form (at least in my own head), I'll be able to hold onto them long enough to figure out what makes them tick.

So, I googled.

For Astrid, I came up with this picture of Kate Beckinsale, only in my head she's younger, and has longer hair. For Torin, a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal was the closest I could find. From there, I spent time with them in my head and felt out how they talked, if they were quiet or loud or shy or obnoxious, and then checked in with them at random intervals throughout the story to see how they would react to different situations. For each scene I thought "what is driving them?" and then basic questions like "what would Torin do? How would he feel here?"

Being a woman writing a male character, I also had times where I checked in with my Resident Man Expert: AKA, my husband. For example, I had Torin crying over something and it didn't feel right. I asked my Resident Man Expert what a guy would do in that situation. His answer? Punch something! That explains why crying doesn't seem like a good choice here :)! Torin wouldn't cry, dangit, he'd punch the rock until his knuckles bled! (needless to say, my R.M.E. was extremely helpful. I highly recommend getting one if you don't have one already, or a Resident Lady Expert if you are a dude.)

I admit it's kind of weird that my characters show up in my head before I get to know them. I'm not sure how this works. For my new WIP, HOLLOW LAND, I knew that the main character had short, dyed fire engine red hair... but when I tried to name her she basically told me her name was Davida, and the name I'd chosen for her was nickname. Then she told me she's Jewish. Jewish? Great! Now, I'm going to have to research!

Sometimes these characters turn out to be more high maintenance than I bargained for, but who am I to complain? They are who they are.

Okay, now I'm worried that this post makes me sound insane.

How the heck do YOU come up with your characters? How do you get into their heads? Do you meet them first like I do and then let them unfold, or do you have a system I need to know about?

Don't miss the fabulous Kate tomorrow!

GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!

Remember that post I did at the beginning of January about my personal goals for 2010?



Well, it's February (so people tell me), and that means it's time to check in and see how we're all doing :).


Here's my progress so far:


1) Finish Legacy of the Empress final edits by 1/31/10!


I finished my edits on 2/1/2010, which isn't too shabby, if you ask me :)! I'm extremely proud of myself and have been strutting around looking smug since Monday. Hooray! Now, Legacy of the Empress is in the hands of my copy editor (a.k.a. My Poor Husband Who's Read This Book So Often He's Starting to Hate it), and when I get his edits back, I have a week to finish those. Right now, what am I doing? Why, polishing my query letter, of course!


If you are looking for some great forums to get feedback on your query letter, check out http://www.querytracker.net/, or jump into the forums over at agent Nathan Bransford's blog! There are some very helpful writers in both groups who are happy to shred your query! They've helped me immensely, and I'm eternally grateful.

2) Get to [redacted goal weight] and stay there!

So, I've done Jillian Michael's 30 Days of Evil (or whatever it's called) several times, and am starting to lose not only pounds, but inches! Inches, people :). It's exciting stuff. Maybe one day I'll be able to run in corduroy pants without them bursting into flames!


My other goals involve querying agents, and working on my 2nd novel, so I'm not there yet.


How are your goals going this year? What are your successes and struggles so far?

Blog Chain: Facing Your Fears!

It's blog chain time again!

The devious Kat started us off this round with the following topic:

What are the primary fears that drive your characters? Do they battle aliens of gangsters or monsters? Or do they battle unreconciled issues in their lives? Which do you prefer writing about? What do you fear?

Wow! Love the topic, and not just because it's almost Halloween... Mwahahaha!

In my book, Legacy of the Empress, my characters have issues. Astrid, my heroine, spent the last ten years of her childhood locked away in a tower room. Her mother imprisoned her when she was eight after murdering her courtiers and usurping the throne using dark magic (what a bitch, right?). When Astrid escapes and finds the magic consuming the land and its people, she fears two things:

1) Being locked up again
2) Her mother killing more innocents before she can stop her.

Torin, the boy who joins her quest to find an ancient Empress and defeat the dark magic, has his own set of fears:

1) Living an unremarkable life
2) Letting Astrid down.

He longs to be something more, a hero, and sees himself as Astrid's protector on her journey. When he is weakened (no spoilers!), he struggles with feeling useless--a burden instead of a warrior.

I prefer writing about internal fears because those are the ones that haunt us the longest. We all have them: those tapes in our heads that tell us things we wish we didn't believe, but struggle with on a daily basis. We long to realize these fears and rise above them, to change the tapes to say what we want them to say. Instead of hearing "I'm not good enough," we want to hear "I'm good enough the way that I am!" It takes a journey to get there, though, and we're afraid of failing ourselves the most of all.

I read this quote the other day, and it really spoke to me:

"Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are."– Don Miguel Ruiz

We want to change, to better ourselves, but that requires a journey, and sometimes, a painful sacrifice. That conflict makes for some great storytelling, don't you think? :)

As for myself, some of my greatest fears include:

1) Losing loved ones before I'm ready to
2) Sliding down mountains (a weird phobia)
3) Living a fearful life and dying with regrets

The first one I can't control, the second is odd and means I don't like skiing, and the third is up to me. Regrets are for pussies! I can choose to follow my dreams, even if it means risking failure, and dammit all, I'm going to!

What about you? What fears do you characters face? What fears do you face in your everyday life?

Please check out the remarkable Cole answered before me, and the fearless Kate answers tomorrow! Don't miss it!

Work In Progress Wednesday!

Happy work-in-progress Wednesday! It's still Wed, right? Better late than never :).

This week, I've been kickin' ass and takin' names!

I've edited my novel, LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, fixed my ending scene, sent my ending scene off to my fabulous crit buddy, fixed my ending scene again, and re-edited parts that I'd changed.

Now, I'm rereading it (again) to make sure everything's together as a story and catching any last little edits, while my husband and another crit buddy check it out one last time.

I vowed to take it slowly and make sure it's as perfect as I can possibly make it before sending it out... and the beautiful thing is, I think I'm really close. After my last last edit, someone will have to slap it out of my hands so I can let it go and send it out into the world.

Of course, there's still a lot to be done :), so I'm not patting myself on the back just yet.

How are your weeks going? Any progress? Setbacks? Successes?

I'd love to hear about your projects!

May everyone have a blessed week.

Now, enough blog reading. Go kick some ass!

Take it, and Like it!

Criticism.

Rejection.

Someone debating the validity of your Genius.

How dare they, you ask??

The greatest gift a writer can get (besides cash or liquor) is honest feedback on his/her work.

How many of you have been writing since you were in high school or earlier?

How many were told they were brilliant by English teachers and/or relatives?

And how many of were unpleasantly surprised later in life to find out that ... yeah, not so much?

Welcome to the life of a writer.

That twirly feeling in your stomach is the beginning of a new and wonderful thing called Self Awareness. It is this discomfiting understanding that your first drafts are crap that will set you apart from the other wannabes and make you shine. Trust me :). It's true!

I was that kid who was told by all the teachers that everything they write might as well be inked in unicorn snot and angel tears because it's so amazing, and so thought (of course) this was true. Embarrassing, I know.

I very clearly remember my first week in college. There was an online poetry critique group that you could submit to, so of course I sent my Pearls of Awesomeness over, expecting them to praise me, tell me how amazing I was, and then ask me to tear their lesser works apart for them.

I'll never forget what happened next. They gave ME criticism! My themes were vague. The endings of my sentences weren't snappy enough. I was wordy. I was wasting words... Needless to say, I almost had a heart attack.

"But... I'm brilliant! Everyone says so!" I thought, shaking my fist at the computer screen.

This was when I first wondered if maybe my gradeschool teachers were liar-pantses, and I had a lot of work to do after all.

Thank goodness for criticism!

Without it, we would never know our shortcomings and would have no clue how to recognize them on our own. Criticism is the mirror that tells us when we have spinach in our teeth.

There is a theory that goes something like this: Competence is inversely proportional to confidence.

Have you ever noticed how the people who are worst at something are the ones that think they're the best? Think karaoke. Think middle-school poetry. Think... William Hung from American Idol. This is absolutely true for writing as well. The people that don't think they have any room for improvement are the ones who suck the most. They suck, because they never realize they have room to grow, so they simply don't bother on improving themselves. These are also crazy people.

Let's face it. Even Shakespeare probably sucked at first. He and Christopher Marlow probably had a critique group and helped sharpen one another's skills.

I guess my point through all this rambling, is that learning to accept and even love constructive criticism has made me a vastly better writer. I learn more and more each day, and crave feedback that can shine a light on something I've yet to learn. Hooray for people who care for me enough to tell me the truth :). I love you all!

There is a great discussion over at author Nicola Morgan's blog about when to either let your WIP die, or when to give it CPR and revise. I'm quoted there talking a little bit about my own journey with LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, which is very cool! If it weren't for the couple of rejections I received, I never would have gotten critiques, never would have revised, and wouldn't have this shiny, sparkly new version that I swear is 10X better than I ever thought it could be.

Criticism is a gift :).

Do you treat it that way?