Feel this

This whole you only have so many hours in a day and need so much sleep to function correctly is well ... tough sometimes. Life is always changing. Kids get sick and now you have to leave work early in order to get them. Hey, what the heck can you do? Sit around and cry about it or just deal with it and move on? Life happens.

As my cover reveal for Bryce is looming near, I'm excited and overly nervous. Nervous because I LOVE this book. I seriously never had so much fun writing. These characters cracked me up. Literally I was at the computer laughing while typing. Possibly looking really really crazy but it happens. But that's not what I love most. What really got me was the feel of this. The life part of the book that was well, fun. That's why we read right? To find ourselves into someone else's life story. Cheering for them. Crying with them. Yes Feelings.

Anyways I hope you love the little snippet I left from Bryce at the bottom of this. Currently finishing up book #2 Graham again really loving these characters. Fun witty characters are always a blast to write. Back to writing and in my editing cave.

I glare out my window at her house. Graham sighs. “Oh, come on. That was kind of funny. You know she’s just getting back at you for the wet T-shirt bullshit you pulled on her at Greg’s party.”

Okay, in all fairness, that was a dick move on my part. But I’m an asshole. Everyone who knows me knows this, especially Madison. I’m not going to apologize for being me. She was wearing a white T-shirt, and I happened to stumble upon some water balloons. So, I may have run up to Greg’s balcony with a bowl of filled balloons and waited for Madison to come into view. Then I launched them in a way that got her T-shirt soaked, revealing the parts she always keeps hidden. Literally, the girl goes swimming in dark shirts.

I’m a guy. We like boobs and ass. Sorry, ladies, if this offends. Some of us aren’t as open about it. Those of us who are are pigs. We know this. We just don’t care.

Anyway, Madison’s sharp green eyes found me through the laughing crowd, and she made the slit-your-throat sign at me. Pissed off, raging mad, and blushing red, Madison is actually really hot. That’s probably why I love tormenting her so much. Plus, it amuses me.

Being an author

You want to be an author, fantastic. You're taking the serious steps of getting your book published this means you've stepped out of the "This is a hobby" to "This is a job" stage.

Wait, this is a job?

Yes, this is a job. Welcome to the hard road and dedication it will take to get you through this. Trust me, you'll need it.

Over the months you might spend your time trying to create the most wonderful one of a kind masterpieces. You might even be a closet writer like I was for a long time. People would ask, "What are you doing?" I'd freak-out shut down my word and say, "Nothing." Because at the time I was completely scared that my work sucked. But eventually, very slowly I might add, I began to share. Bit by bit. It's a process, and again, eventually you'll share.

Next comes the figuring out your path. I tried the agent thing first and I ended up with the wrong one the first time around. This happens. Sometimes no matter the research sometimes you just end up with the wrong agent. The good thing about this possibly painful realization is that you know now what you need and are looking for. Hopefully, you find it. I didn't search for an agent until after I published my second novel through Swoon Romance.

Yes, I went the Indie route, and you know what? I love it. I can honestly say I've grown and have learned more going this route than trying to do things myself. Or trying to find a place for my works in the world. Is it for everyone? Probably not. Some people are happy with self publishing and you know what? Good for you. I'm glad. It doesn't make this person any less of an author than me. If you think differently then ok, but let me ask you this, if a person is selling his or her books whether or not online or in stores does this not make them an author? Let me ask another question, did this person write a novella or a full length novel? Then wouldn't this make them an author if their work went from being an MS to being sold?


Point is don't judge people by what form of publishing route they take. Agent or unagented. Self-published, Indie, or Traditional. If their books are out there they are an author.

Happy writing.

Update

Hello Wonders!

Exciting news. I just returned from NYC, and I met a whole lot of wonderful fans, readers, and I was just so excited to be around all of you! YAY! I'm almost finished with my latest project which I am sooooooo excited about I actually am literally at the edge of my seat waiting to share.

Before I get too far ahead of myself ... I want to say my wonderful agent told me that she's pitching my other project Runaways so fingers crossed and YAY! So excited about that too. That's most of my updates. I am going to go write and finish up some work and I will post again later.

Happy reading

Oh for the ...

HA! I wrote this post. Thought it saved. Turned out only a sentence saved. Everything else was lost. UGH.

Okay restarting: I apologize for being away for so long. Here is the latest updates.

Rival Dreams is in Editorial YAY!

Runaways is Finished and with my Agent! (Double Yay!)

Current writing projects: Scandal Life, My Summer of Boys, and Things We Shouldn't Do.

Scandal Life- On pace to be finished in June

My Summer of Boys- On pace to be finished in September

Things We Shouldn't Do- On pace to be finished in December


This is my crazy writing schedule. Outline. It's wonderful. I never use to before but now it comes easier when I do.

That's all my writing updates. Now, let me talk about on the personal front. I'm excited about my trip to NYC this year. BEA and BookCon is going to be great! I hope to have Scandal Life finished before my trip, but it probably won't be so ... that's why I say June for that one. :)

Happy reading and writing!

Review/rate/star away

As an author, there are things we must and mustn't do. 

Do tell readers how much you like them.

Don't tell people who gave you a bad review how much they may suck.

While I am talking about reviews, what do you consider a bad review? Here is what I think a bad review is: 0-1 star, yeah, that's bad. 2-3 is average but not BAD. 4-5 is great!

So when I see on Goodreads lots of 3-4-5 star ratings and a few 1-2 that tells me the book is good or decent. Now, if it has a lot of 1-2 star ratings and very little 3-5 star ratings that tells me the book is not so hot.

This seems logic right? 

The problem with this though, is sometimes Authors tend to look at only the bad reviews and focus on this. Only this. And they really shouldn't. What? Yes, I mean what I said. Don't focus on the three or five bad reviews out of 200. Seriously, what does that matter? 

The only thing this tells you is that 195 or more people think your book is Amazing! 3 to 5 people don't. Wow. 

How about these odds, there are over a billion people in the world. There is one person out of a billion that doesn't care for your book. Wow, again, wow. 

So, let me ask you this, why are you focused on the negative review? 1 out of a billion. Odds don't seem so terrible now do they? That review isn't that scary now is it? 

Wanna See Me?

Hey Peeps ...

Wanna See Me?

I'm going to be at BookCon in NYC May 30th and 31st.

I'll be Signing at: 4:00pm to 4:45pm  May 30th Booth# 2579

If you miss my signing and still wanna see me I'll be there all day both days.

Then and now

I'd like to share a tale about a girl who struggled, fought, and see how jealous people can truly become when one achieves her dreams.

There was once a girl who loved books. Loved them so much she decided to write a few herself. She finished a few 3 to be exact. The girl researched and researched day and night, night and day, working on the next steps.

Perfecting a query letter. It seem so hard. How can someone summarize so much awesomeness into three paragraphs or less? She did it though. She managed it after a lot of tries and a lot of failures. She also did a synopsis. Same try and fail procedures but eventually landed one that was sure to be just what she needed.

Next she revised, sending her babies off to Beta Readers and Critique Partners she met on writing sites she joined. And once she was fully satisfied with her work, she was ready for the next step. Researching agents seemed easy enough. They all seemed great and amazing and wonderful, but this person had to be everything she couldn't be.

Rejections poured in by the dozens. The girl didn't know what went wrong. She did it all right. But she wasn't given in and kept working. Kept fixing, writing and eventually got some requests. She could do this. She could really do this.

When she got her first yes, she didn't know what to do. She felt confident in her choice and it seemed like a good pick so she said yes. But the girl learned very quickly that some things that come in pretty little packages are not the gifts you want in the end. After a long year the girl was bitter and felt deceived. She looked back on it and realized things were broken, and it was too late to fix. And the hollowness grew until there was just a huge black hole. She felt like her whole world was crashing in on her and her dreams were slowly disappearing. She vowed to never feel this way again. She wrote through her pain. Wrote through her jealously of people she knew landing things that she wished had happened for her.

The girl wrote and worked harder than ever. She read books to help her improve. She sought out new ways to make her book unique, wonderful, and have a flare like no other. And she also decided when the time submit was right, she'd do it on her own. So she worked on a few different things and decided to submit, only this time it was to a publisher and not an agent.

After first her idea was good, but they wanted the girl to revise and resubmit. So she worked on the revision. She was going to get this right. She was determined to never fail again. And eventually the girl resubmitted and got a yes.

Now her book is doing well. She figured people would rejoice with her as she had with them. She hid her jealous green monster from them and wished them the best. And even when she was jealous she never made a remark to let it show. But apparently others are not like her. They tear her down and say things that are not true.

For those who are green with envy please note this. The girl knows what kind of road she traveled and how long it took. She will never forget who to thank for all her good fortune, which are all the readers who love her book and continue to buy it. She will never miss an opportunity to say Thank You. It was hard and she's grateful for the longer journey. It makes her appreciate the good with the bad. And for those of you still finding your own path, just know no matter what there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep working on it and you'll get there.


Happy Reading