Atmosphere is Key

Happy Friday all!  I hope each of you have had a productive week and are eagerly awaiting the beginning of the weekend!  For me, there are books calling my name to be read along with other things I'm not even aware of yet.  Always busy here on the weekends!

Anyway, I kind of wanted to ramble a bit about atmosphere today.  And no, not the atmosphere that we all share.  The atmosphere that one needs in order to create.

Some authors are fond of listening to music while they write.  They have particular playlists cued up depending on the type of novel they're currently writing.  As for other authors, they write while watching genre-specific movies or TV shows.  Some authors prefer the bustle of a Panera Bread or Starbucks to help with their writing flow.  And other authors book a few weeks at a specific hotel in order to pound out word count goals.

As for me, I'm a quiet writer.  If there's any sort of chattering or music, I become completely distracted and lose my writing flow very quickly.  My favorite writing place is the living room where I curl up in my favorite recliner chair with my laptop and let the words flow freely across the screen.  I don't have any music on, no TV flashing in the background, and typically nobody around to pester me about something every thirty minutes.

When I'm in this sort of atmosphere, the writing comes to life, my characters take over, and I can happily dance my fingers across the keys for hours on end.  Thousands of words come pouring out and before I know it, I've finished a chapter.  Then another.  And so on.  I am content to live in another world for several hours and when I finally do come back to reality, I'm usually starving!

I guess my point here is that everyone creates differently.  We all need different sorts of stimuli to get the imagination pumping.  We each require a particular atmosphere and sometimes it takes trial and error before we find that perfect blend that helps us to bring our stories to life on the page.

What sort of atmosphere do you create best in?  Feel free to share below and have a great weekend!

Word Creativity

Morning all!

So, I was scrolling through Pinterest this morning and stumbled across a couple of images that got me thinking 'hey, I can write a post about that!'  So, here it is, with the images.

Words are an author's lifeline.  We use them to create amazing worlds and characters, plots and subplots, descriptions, interactions, and overall awesomeness.  Without words, novels would not exist.

Unfortunately, some words get overused.  'Says' and 'looks' are two of them and for any die hard reader out there, these two seemingly innocent words can drive a person crazy when used over and over and over again. 

Luckily, there was a genius out there somewhere that created these lists giving us words to replace 'says' and 'looks' and I'm sure there are a ton of other lists out there of amazing words that can replace other words that are overused.  'Says' and 'looks' are my two pet peeves, though, so these are the two that are getting highlighted here.

So, here are the lists that I would highly recommend any author/writer/journalist/whatever keep close at hand to refer to when the urge to simply write 'says' or 'looks' attempts to overpower you:

 

I love that these lists exist out there and strongly urge anyone that is writing to use them, whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, doesn't matter.  Get creative with your words and give the overused ones a much needed vacation!

Now, back to my writing cave.  Have a great rest of the week and Happy Reading or Writing or whatever interest makes you happy!

Updates, Vagar, and Other Randomness

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last posted. *hides face in shame* lol  I promise, I've been busy writing and editing among other things over the last couple of months.  So, let me update everyone on the latest.

As you all know, Prophecy Revealed (The Soul of Arial #1) is now available on Kindle and Nook for $6.99 and in paperback on Amazon and CreateSpace for $9.99.  The cover, synopsis, and first chapter can be found on my publisher's website, Cressen Books LLC.  And you can also find purchase links there.  Plus, be sure to browse their website for other amazing books by really talented authors!

As for Vagar (Galactic Dynasty #2), I've been making huge progress in the drafting of the first manuscript.  I'm up to Chapter 14 now and can probably conclude that I'm about halfway done, give or take a chapter or two.  Things are stirring up for Rosa and Daemos and there's some major reveals and intrigues in development even as I write this post!  lol  Never a dull moment with those two. :)

Also over the last couple of months, I took a trip to Baton Rouge, LA and can safely say that I really don't want to go back.  It was an experience, not necessarily a great one, and I kind of wished I hadn't stayed for as long as I did there.  Of course, my extended stay had to do with the horrible snow storms we got back in February that ended up canceling our flights back home twice, once while we were sitting in the plane being de-iced before take-off.  Yeah, there were a lot of unhappy campers on that plane, including me.  But I did finally find some really good Cajun cuisine my last two days there... sadly, this food was found at the airport hotel we stayed at for the last two nights and at a restaurant within walking distance of the airport hotel.  Yeah, had to go to airport land to get the good stuff because downtown Baton Rouge didn't have squat... sigh.  Oh well, it's one more place I can mark off my list as having been to.  'Nuff said.

Other than the Baton Rouge trip, I also made a couple of treks to a place along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.  I call it my writer's retreat... it's a house built in the 1880's that a co-worker of my hubby's is renovating.  She needs help with stuff from time to time, so the hubby helps her with house projects while I hole up in what she calls the Floosy Room...lol...and write my little fingers off for hours on end.  Love that place as it always has such creative energy there and I come away pleased with the progress I've made on various writing projects.  Anyway, I've been there twice in the last couple of months, hence the reason I've made such astounding progress with Vagar.

So, I believe that's the gist of what's been happening since my last post.  At the end of April, I'll be attending the Martinsburg Chocolate Festival and Book Fair.  And then I'll be heading to Kentucky the first week in May to spend some much needed girly time with my bestie there. 

My goal right now is to have Vagar finished and ready for publication sometime this summer.  *crosses fingers*  I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on the progress there as summer looms closer!  As for the second book in The Soul of Arial series, I've kind of set that to the side in order to concentrate on Vagar right now.  Once I get the first draft done and in the editing process, I'll probably start focusing more writing energy on Two Worlds.  Until then, Arial and the winged warriors are taking a little vacation!

Whew, alrighty then.  I think I've caught up on everything.  I hope everyone is enjoying springtime and reading all kinds of amazing books!  Happy reading to all and I'll try to get back on here again soon with more updates!

Finally A Title....and Other Writing News!

So, for the last couple of months I've been struggling with what title to give the 2nd book in the Galactic Dynasty series.  The Muse and I batted titles back and forth like it was a fiendish tennis match where neither of us could break Deuce.  (Tennis fans or those familiar with the game will get that reference.)  Anyway, long story short, we have finally come to an agreement on the title for the new book we're co-authoring.  Ready?

Vagar

Yep, that's it!  lol  Seems like such a dramatic and traumatizing process for such a short title.  But, for those of you who have read Starward, you'll at least know where the title comes from.  And for those of you who haven't, when I post an official synopsis down the road, it will probably make more sense.  Don't you just love it when us authors get vague and mysterious about our works?  *evil cackle*

So, now that I can rest easy once more having finally come up with a title, I can also proudly announce that we are now six chapters complete into the new book!  Woot!  Writing and brainstorming have been going really well these past few weeks and continues to go strong.  I've got the next two chapters outlined and ready to begin writing and I'm so excited with how this novel is flowing so far!  And it's a new challenge for me because there are several POV's I'm writing from this time.  But each POV is pertinent to the overall story, so hopefully you wonderful readers will not hate me too much for writing from so many different perspectives!

In other news, Prophecy Revealed (The Soul of Arial #1) is in the process of being edited.  It's getting a lot of massaging and polishing, but it's slowly developing into an even more awesome fantasy novel than I thought possible!  I'm really excited about this novel and can't wait to share it with you all.  Hopefully it will be finished and released before the end of the year, but we'll see.  I'll keep posting updates as things progress!

I believe that's all my news for now.  I hope everyone is enjoying the onset of Fall...my absolute favorite time of the year!  And if you're looking for something different to add to your book collection, meander on over to my publisher's website, Cressen Books LLC, and see what they have for you to choose from!  I'm pretty confident you can find a book there to curl up with on these crisp, cool evenings!

Which Story Do I Write?

I imagine most authors stumble into this problem from time to time.  Story ideas are constantly developing inside our heads and some stick more than others.  But what happens when you have two or three really good ones that stick all at the same time?

I'm actually experiencing this at the moment and I think it is why my writing has come to a complete standstill.  I actually can't figure out which story is dominant enough in my head to write.  They're all clamoring for attention, but I can only work on one at a time.  So, instead of choosing and moving on, I'm actually stuck.

Part of me knows that I should just push the other ideas to the back burner and continue working on book two in the Galactic Dynasty series.  But another part of me wants to rebel and head a completely different direction with all new characters and storylines.  I've even gone so far as to make some preliminary notes so that if I do decide to tackle one of the new storylines, I'll have somewhere to begin.

But what I'm wondering is, am I actually procrastinating?  Do I not want to work on book two right now?  Or is there some other reason for this standstill?

I don't believe for one second that I've lost my love for writing.  No, this is more of an issue with me having too many storylines in my head and trying to figure out how to turn the noise down so I can concentrate on just one of them.  It doesn't even truly matter which one as long as I choose one and move on.

Perhaps this standstill is telling me that even though I have these ideas right now, none of them are subconsciously developed enough yet to take precedence.  So, maybe I should just leave them alone for a little while longer, let my subconscious mull them over some more, and while I'm waiting for one to really break through, continue working on book two since I actually do know where that one is going....for the most part!

Have any of you experienced this problem before? 

What did you do to resolve it so that you could move on with your writing?

 

Latest Updates

I know it's Thursday and I usually do a Booking Through Thursday post.  But, I was sifting through all my posts and realized that I hadn't given any updates lately.  So, I will return to Booking Through Thursday next week.

So, let's start with an upcoming release from one of our authors at Cressen Books.  Awakening Iris (The Dreamcatchers Saga #1) by Jessie McClain is the debut novel of a very talented author.  Here's the cover and synopsis and the release date for this novel will be Wednesday June 12, 2013:

Dreamcatchers and dreams.  Iris has them both.  Dreamcatchers to catch her bad dreams.  And dreams of what life was, but none of what life could be.  Until her familiar Stranger engulfs her life and changes everything.  Is he a new dream of the future or destined to be a repeat of the past?  Can she allow herself to love again or will the pain from the past be too great?







So, make sure to mark your calendars!  This book will be available for Kindle and Nook and will also be available in paperback through Amazon.com.

The next bit of news - Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1) by E. M. Lohr and Wendy Lohr (co-authoring with my Muse has turned out to be a lot of fun) had to have an extra chapter added.  We had gone through all the edits and realized that it was missing something.  So, I've added that extra chapter and hopefully we'll have a chance to edit it in the next couple of days.  Then we still have to get a synopsis together and finish the cover before everything will be ready.  We're hoping to either publish this sometime in the middle of June or sometime in July.  Release dates will be announced when we get closer to figuring that out!

Other than those two major things taking shape, I've been working on edits for another author's novel that we hope to release by the end of June.  I'll highlight that more once things have progressed to the last stages.  And, I've been writing feverishly on several new ideas over the last few weeks.  I absolutely love the writing process, the flow of words across the page, coming so fast that my fingers can barely keep up with my brain!  So exhilarating!!

I think that's it for now.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Weekend and wish you all a great weekend coming up.  And Happy Reading!

It's Saturday!

Good morning all!  It's Saturday and in just two days I'll be picking up my very best friend in the whole world from the airport to spend a week doing what friends do...sooo excited!!

With her coming to visit, that inspired the Muse and I to do a bit of Spring Cleaning this morning and I'm a bit exhausted now.  Fortunately, with no kids to worry about, the mess wasn't all that bad...clean bathrooms, vacuum, and dust for the most part.  But it can still be a bit tiring.  So now it's chill time here before we decide to do something else ambitious!

Just to give an update...I've finished edits for two of the authors that are signed on with Cressen Books.  Those manuscripts have been sent back to them to work on and if all goes well, we'll be publishing them within the next 6 weeks!!!  Between now and then, I'll be posting covers and such on the blog here so you all can see what's releasing soon.

So now it's back to working on edits for Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1).  We're about 40 pages away from being done with it.  Then we have to come up with a synopsis, finish the cover, and publish it!  Woot!!  I'm so excited to see this novel release as it's going to be an awesome beginning to an epic Sci-Fi/Adventure series that I hope readers will enjoy!

Then my next project will be to start working on edits for Prophecy Revealed (The Soul of Arial #1).  This particular story has evolved so much over the past couple of months that it no longer looks like what it originally started out to be.  But that's okay.  I think the evolution of this project has just made it even better.  This series will fall under the Fantasy/Mythology/Adventure realm (yeah, it covers different genres and doesn't fit into just one specific one).

Other than that, I've been writing on some different story ideas during these last couple of weeks of editing sessions just to keep the creative writing flowing.  I'm not sure if any of those particular stories will develop into something publishable, but you never know.  And, as some of you may have noticed, I've started participating in some bookish memes each week to add a little more spice to the blog.  For now, I'm participating in Teaser Tuesday, hosted by Should Be Reading, and Booking Through Thursday (blog is of the same name).  I've been enjoying these so far and hope to keep up with them on a regular basis.

And since I love to read and have gotten back on a reading trend again, I hope to post a monthly update of the books I've read during that month.  I did this for several months last year before I fell off the reading trend horse.  But now that I'm back in the saddle, I'll try to pick that back up again.

I guess that's it for now.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'd like to say 'Howdy' to the new followers!  I'll try to keep things interesting here!

Moving Forward

Since the last time I posted, The Butterfly Connection was published and is now available for Kindle, Nook, and in paperback...WOOT!!  This means that The L & L Mysteries series is behind me and I am moving forward.

My next project is Starward (Galactic Dynasty #1) that I'm co-authoring with my Muse (aka my wonderful hubby).  The manuscript is actually finished as of early last week and we are now entering the editing phase.  This is going to be an amazing beginning of a very exciting sci-fi/adventure series and I can't wait to see Starward published!

With the manuscript for Starward finished, I am now moving my writing focus to a new series I'm authoring for adult readers.  I don't have a title for the series yet, but the first book in the series is called The Soul of Arial.  This series falls in the high fantasy realm and explores a whole new take on where souls go when humans die.  I don't want to give too much away right now, but I'm very confident that nothing else exists out there that could compare to this series.  At least nothing that I've read and I've read A LOT over the years.

With that said, I need to return to my writing cave for now.  I'll try to resurface and give some updates later this week or early next week.  Until then, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and don't forget to celebrate National Reading Month by curling up with a good book! :)

Part 1 Complete...

Whew...I have finally reached the end of part one of Rosa's journey in "Starward".  It's always such a huge relief to reach a goal that was set at the beginning of a writing project.  Now my Muse and I will be re-reading the first part and seeing if there's anything we missed or wanted to change before I begin part two. 

I'm really excited about beginning part two (even though Rosa is a little less enthused).  My Muse and I have so much planned for the second part, that every time I think about it, I get all giddy and excited and my fingers itch to begin writing it!  But, I shall refrain until we both give the first part our seal of approval.

So, while I'm waiting for my Muse's feedback, I'll turn my attention to poor Lucien and Leyla.  They've kind of taken a back seat lately while I collaborated with my Muse to begin this new series with Rosa.  But, soon I will be taking on Leyla's persona again and helping her through the next piece of "The Legend of Goat Head Lodge".  Fortunately, the story has already been written.  Now I'm just going through and doing the edits and re-writes.

From one character to the next, I'll continue this journey I'm on, navigating the world of creative writing.  And, unlike Rosa, I'm looking forward to every minute of it!