New Release!

I'd like to take a moment and congratulate Jessica L. Padilla on her new release, Blood Origins (Black #1)!  This is a paranormal suspense for readers 16 and up.  You can read the first chapter on Cressen Books' website and find the purchase links for the book there as well.  Below is the cover and synopsis for this incredible debut:

Red pain, Red need, Red hunger... Nightmares filled with red, dripping with death. The lines between predator and prey have blurred, nightmares have become a reality and choices must be made. Adelin, half in each world, must choose between a lost mother, found, or a dad who's always been there... The black world, a world filled with darkness and death, or the human.... Will she choose humanity or will she let the darkness consume her? Blood has never been so red.

Coming Up For A Breather!

Good morning all!  We made it past hump day and the weekend is almost upon us.  I just wanted to say 'hi' before I disappeared again.

Oh, and I wanted to share with you a little update on one of our authors at Cressen Books.  Her name is Jessica L. Padilla and she has a debut paranormal coming up.  The novel is Blood Origins (Black #1) and the release date is August 21.  That's right...just a few more weeks and you can get your hands on this awesome new book!  Below is the cover and synopsis:

Red pain, Red need, Red hunger...

Nightmares filled with red, dripping with death. The lines between predator and prey have blurred, nightmares have become a reality and choices must be made.

Adelin, half in each world, must choose between a lost mother, found, or a dad who's always been there... The black world, a world filled with darkness and death, or the human....

Will she choose humanity or will she let the darkness consume her?

Blood has never been so red.

Doesn't this sound amazing???  Be sure to mark your calendars for this debut release.  This series is going to be awesome!

So, I believe that is all my news for the moment.  I'm going to hop off here and get some writing done.  Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Reading!

I'm Officially Back From Vacay!

Madison Wisconsin Skyline

And what a vacation it was!  I really enjoyed Madison, WI and would recommend the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, the Henry Vilas Zoo, and the National Mustard Museum to anyone who visits Madison.  All of these places are free to get into and had some pretty awesome things to check out.

Here's just a couple of pics from the Olbrich Botanical Gardens...this place is amazingly beautiful!

 

And here's some pics from the Henry Vilas Zoo!

 

 

And some pics from the National Mustard Museum! :)

 

 


I took a lot more pictures than this, but these were some of the ones that I really liked or just made me giggle!

After spending a week in Madison, we headed to Iowa and visited with one of our authors, Jessica L. Padilla.  It was an awesome visit and we're really looking forward to releasing Jessica's debut paranormal, Blood Origins, soon!

And then from Iowa, we traveled through miles and miles of cornfields (no joke) to Indiana, where we met up with our other author, Jessie McClain, and her family.  Jessie is the author of Awakening Iris, which is now available!

Then it was back home once more where we spent another week doing yard work and house work, and we visited with some family who happened to sort of be passing through.  The Muse and I actually live about 20 minutes from the nearest town and our house is literally not on the way to anywhere....it's a destination! lol

So, that was my last 2 weeks and the reason for a lot of silence on the blog here.  But, I am now back and ready to set my fingers to typing and will be sharing more posts and updates in the coming days.  I hope everyone is having a good Monday (if there is such a thing) and staying cool!

A Wild and Exciting New Year!

Wow, it has been a very crazy couple of weeks since I last posted!  First of all, I want to wish Rachel Stark a Happy Release Day!  Her amazing debut novel, A Veil of Shattered Dreams, (link is to Goodreads) is now available on Kindle and Nook and will be available in paperback soon.  So very excited for her!  And if you'd like to check out the first chapter, mosey on over to Cressen Books website.  There are links for the Kindle and Nook if you read the chapter and decide you have to have this awesome book right then and there! :)

Christmas was wonderful and I got some really cool "author" related gifts (a couple of tees and a long-sleeved tee with author sayings that are adorable and totally me as well as a HUGE coffee mug with an author saying on it too)!  So now I'll be able to dress the part of an author while I sit down to the keyboard and pour out all of these stories floating around in my head.  And the HUGE coffee mug will be put to very good use, delivering inspiration one steaming cup at a time! lol

New Years Eve was uneventful...the Muse and I ended up going to bed around 8:30 after a very long day, so we missed the ball drop this year.  New Years Day, we celebrated the Muse's birthday and I actually managed to bake a really awesome-tasting pecan pie, my first ever!  I was really excited about that. :)  I don't bake or cook, so it was a bit of an undertaking for me.  The Muse was happy, though, and so was I, so it was all good.

As for 2013, there's so much already planned that I don't even know where to begin!  I should have The Butterfly Connection, the fourth and final book in The L & L Mysteries, completed within the next month or so...yay!  The Muse will be coming out with a new book in the next few weeks as well.  Then we have our new authors, Jessie McClain and Jessica L. Padilla, that we'll be assisting in getting their novels ready for publication.  And of course, there will be trips and book fairs and other happenings taking place throughout the year...busy, busy!  But I wouldn't have it any other way.

And somewhere in there, I'll be working on the collaborative project the Muse and I are doing together (Galactic Dynasty series) as well as The Soul of Arial.  Whew.....I've got a lot on my plate now that I think about it! :)  But, I believe that's everything I can think of at this moment that will be taking place this year.  And I believe that's probably more than enough!

Did you celebrate Christmas?

If so, what awesome presents did you get for Christmas?

 

I'd love to hear from you, so leave a comment below!  I always respond back, so if you leave a comment, be sure to check back within a couple of days!

When Will I Write Again?

Wow, it has been a crazy few months and things don't look to be slowing down any.  Especially with the holidays approaching, I've been trying to figure out just when I can get back to my writing.

As some of you may know, my Muse and I own a publishing company.  So, aside from writing, I wear many other hats including editing, cover design, website maintenance, etc.  And this year, we've taken on an intern from Shepherd University who has been an absolute joy to work with these last few months.  Her enthusiasm and insight has helped us branch out even more with our business and has given us ideas of how we want to proceed in the future with many different things.

And most of you probably remember me announcing that we have signed on a new author, Jessica L. Padilla, who will be writing in the Paranormal genre.  So, exciting times to be had by us here and more exciting times to come as we may sign Rachel Stark, our intern, on as an author (she's still contemplating what she wants to do and we don't want to pressure her and will respect any decision she comes to as we want to see her do what's best for her).  We are also in talks with another potential author but that's still the early stages, so we won't know anything at this time.  But I'll definitely post when we know something for sure there.

With all of this going on, I also managed to get our books in paperback out on Amazon.com and soon it will be time to start a "Christmas" marketing campaign.  So many things to juggle where the business is concerned and I worry at times that I'm going to drop the ball somewhere.  I mean, the Muse is a huge help with the business, but he works full-time for the federal government, which leaves me handling the business alone most days.  I don't mind because I absolutely love what I do and I love working with all the different aspects of a publishing company.  But it can get overwhelming at times for just one person to handle.

So, that brings me to the title of this post: When will I write again?  I've got The Butterfly Connection waiting to get it's final edits so I can publish it and finish out The L & L Mysteries series.  I've got Galactic Dynasty waiting for me to write more on it.  And I've got a ton of other stories and ideas that keep grappling for my attention.  But there's only so much time in the day and these other pieces have needed my complete focus these last few weeks.

I'm extremely happy that the business seems to be picking up, so please don't think I'm complaining about that.  It's really wonderful and exciting!  In the case of my writing, I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to restructure my days so I can at least get some writing done each day and not feel as though I've completely abandoned my own aspirations to be a writer.  I have so many stories to tell that I don't want to push them to the back burner permanently.

So, I'm out of here for now to figure out how to make time for writing and to hopefully get back into the wonderful flow of words!

New Author On Board!

Today is a totally awesome day for my publishing company, Cressen Books LLC.  We've signed on a new author!!!!  Her name is Jessica L. Padilla and she'll be writing in the paranormal genre.  We are so excited to be working with her and I look forward to sharing progress updates as we move towards publication of her first novel in the series.

Here are links to her social media and internet sites:

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Author's Website

Also, check out our website and see the new addition of Meet Our Authors tab.  There, you can see pics of our authors and follow the links to their individual author bio pages.  And, we have the announcement up on the homepage about Jessica joining us.

So, exciting times here at Cressen Books!  Make sure you Like us on Facebook so you can keep up with progress, updates, and announcements!  Now it's off to celebrate!