Lisa Rector's Blog: Writing and Beyond, page 4

A Day in the Life of an Indie Author

An ideal writing day is one where I sit at home and tackle my WIP, and I’m not interrupted by errands or life. I try to set aside the hours between ten a.m. and two p.m. to write a rough draft, revise, or edit.
So what about the rest of my life?
I wake in the wee hours of the mornin’. I have two and a half hours from the time I wake until the time I send the last nugget off to school. In those hours, I accomplish amazing things.
I eat. Wow. I pack lunches and wake kids. I either load or unload the dishwasher. Counters and floors are wiped down (everyday). Within those bustling minutes, I make time to stretch and tone and time to read spiritually uplifting material, often a religious magazine or book. Somehow I get dressed and ready for the day.
I slink back to the house after carpool and give myself an hour of electronic housekeeping. This is updating my blog and the two other blogs I post on. I clean out files and make memes or graphic images. Emails are dealt with.
It’s ten o’clock. Lunchtime. I’ve been awake for four hours. Need to fuel up.
Now I dive into my works in progress. I set a timer for forty-two minutes. In the middle of wherever I might be, when that screaming bomb goes off, I jump up and hightail it to my kitchen. “Not to eat again?” you ask. Nope. To dance. I crank up the music in the room that has the most open floor space and shake out the stiffness in my body. This is great and energizing before I get back to the grind.
My dance-a-thon happens three more times.
Then the best part of my day happens. A steaming hot shower followed by an hour-long nap.
Crunch time has arrived. If I haven’t thought of what to make for dinner, I palm through the frozen foods in my freezer and invent something. I usually preheat my oven and prep before running off to scoop kids up from school.
We’re all home. Dinner ensues. Now it’s me time. I either catch up on my shows or curl up with a good book while interspersing time with the kids and homework.
But this is a best-scenario day. Often anything flies.
What does your writing day look like?

Series Revamp!

My series is evolving.
It's a good thing. 
It's exciting. 
To keep up with future novels that are in the works, I've changed the Chronicles of the Half-Emrys to The Emrys Chronicles. All your favorite characters are as they were, but the book covers and names have changed slightly. You can still find them on Amazon.
Check out my new covers!
Half-Emrys: Master of Lies

Lost to the lies. Consumed by revenge.
Unaware of her immortal heritage, the truth concealed from her, Ahnalyn learns she’s a child of two worlds—a half-emrys with the ability to wield the light and the dark power. When Ahnalyn is taken captive by evil tyrant Lord Caedryn, Aneirin, a Son of Light, defies law and risks exile to come to her rescue.
As Aneirin’s life becomes entwined with Ahnalyn’s, he is certain she belongs with the immortal emrys. But doubt and fear shroud Ahnalyn as the painful truths of her past unfold. Ahnalyn is thrown on a journey beyond her control, and she must sift through the lies Caedryn throws at her to uncover her true self and true potential, before the darkness consumes her.
Half-Emrys: Master of Lies, a romantic fantasy, is the first book in The Emrys Chronicles.
Half-Emrys: The Two Masters

Choose the light or choose the darkness, but you cannot have both.
As a half-emrys, Einion can wield the powers of light and darkness in the mortal world. But having known only the light’s purity in the immortal realm, Einion fears the dark power that leads to corruption. Despairs over his heart increase his uncertainty, and Einion is thrust on a path where he must face his worst fears to save the one he truly loves.
Rhianu, a ruthless Dark Emrys, stumbles into Einion’s life only to be challenged by her versions of good and evil. Her heart is torn between power and love, between the past and the future. Familiar with betrayal, Rhianu must follow through with her master’s deceptive plan—no matter what the consequences or what her heart tells her.
Half-Emrys: The Two Masters, a romantic fantasy, is the second book in the The Emrys Chronicles.
Half-Emrys: Master of Time

Time is only one enemy.
A malicious shadow trails Catrin and Meuric after they find themselves shoved backward through time. As a wielder of darkness, only Meuric knows the enormity of the evil that wants to claim Catrin, a pure Daughter of Light. Though they are two immortal enemies thrown together, Meuric and Catrin band together, searching for the way home.
As time forces Meuric to relive a tortured past and face his fears, Catrin’s health rapidly declines from a prior injury. Meuric confronts reality—his long-ignored light could save her, but using it will diminish his dark power, hindering his ability to pass through the ether to their own time. Returning home has become the least of his problems . . . if there’s a way home at all.
Half-Emrys: Master of Time , a romantic fantasy, is the third book in the The Emrys Chronicles.
Fallen Emrys: Niawen’s Story

Even the purest can fall.
In a peaceful world of seemingly perfect people, Niawen defends the dragons’ paradise from the evils outside their realm. Throughout her life, she was taught that humans would corrupt her inner light and that entering the mortal world means exile.
Mortified when her chosen life mate doesn’t return her feelings, she flees to the mortal realms, despite all the warnings. Her growing affections for the humans are crushed by a new enemy—death, and Niawen willingly defiles her pure light in battle to avenge her friends.
As she fights to overcome her corruption, she faces a sobering truth—the humans she loves will die. Niawen must find the one emrys who came into the mortal world thousands of years ago or risk facing eternity alone.
Fallen Emrys: Niawen’s Story, a romantic fantasy, is the prequel to The Emrys Chronicles.
The Emrys Chronicles boxed set
The Emrys Chronicles boxed set contains Half-Emrys: Master of Lies, Half-Emrys: The Two Masters, and Half-Emrys: Master of Time. Follow the stories of the half-emrys, immortal children who harness the powers of light and darkness. The Emrys Chronicles are romantic fantasy.

Giveaway Time!

BIG news!

I'm revamping my series name, book titles, and covers! The stories are still the same, but as my series progress, I need names that work for all of my emrys spin-offs. Book covers and titles are changing over the next few days, but for now . . .

You have a chance to win the last copies of these first editions! Just enter the giveaways below.

Graceling fans, now's your chance to discover a new series.

Good luck. And remember, rise above the darkness.



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Goodreads Book Giveaway Fallen Emrys by Lisa Rector Giveaway ends March 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

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Goodreads Book Giveaway The Two Masters by Lisa Rector Giveaway ends March 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

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Goodreads Book Giveaway Master of Time by Lisa Rector Giveaway ends March 31, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway

I Love Dragons eBook Giveaway!

Dragon Lovers Unite!
Whether fire-breathing or water-dwelling, winged or serpentine, dragons capture our imagination and take us to fantastic new worlds. For the month of February, nineteen dragon writers have gathered together to offer a collection worth sinking your teeth into. We've got dragons of all sizes, from friendly to fierce and everything in between. Let's take a closer look at a few of them:
​

A Keeper's Tale: The Story of Tomkin and the Dragon
​by JA Andrews

Regardless of his aspirations, the bookish, untrained young man is better suited to recording the deeds of heroes than being one himself.

Which becomes an obvious problem when he finds himself clinging to a ledge above a sleeping dragon. And instead of wielding his family’s great sword with valor and skill, he drops it—onto the dragon.

The problem grows immeasurably worse when Tomkin himself falls off the ledge—also onto the dragon.

And his problem reaches its peak when Tomkin, after being captured, discovers a maiden locked in a tower. But this is no sweet damsel. Not only does she refuse to be rescued, she refuses to even admit she’s in distress.

It’s too bad for the people of Marshwell that Tomkin is the only thing standing - or falling - in the dragon’s way.

Dragon Friend
by Marc Secchia

Gold Award winner - 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards

Stabbed. Burned by a dragon. Abandoned for the windrocs to pick over. The traitor Ra’aba tried to silence Hualiama forever. But he reckoned without the strength of a dragonet’s paw, and the courage of a girl who refused to die.

Only an extraordinary friendship will save Hualiama’s beloved kingdom of Fra’anior and restore the King to the Onyx Throne. Flicker, the valiant dragonet. Hualiama, a foundling, adopted into the royal family. The power of a friendship which paid the ultimate price.

This is the tale of Hualiama Dragonfriend, and a love which became legend.

King's Warrior
by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

When Dark Warriors invade her country, it is up to Princess Kamarie to seek out the legendary king’s warrior and request his aid. The feisty princess has spent her life dreaming of adventure and is thrilled to be tasked with such a quest. There’s only one thing that can dampen the princess’s excitement: Oraeyn. The squire views his task of protecting the princess on her journey as an inglorious assignment and makes no attempt to hide his disappointment.

Despite a rocky start to their journey – in which Oraeyn throws the obnoxious princess in a river just to get her to call him by name – the travelers soon learn that they must depend upon one another if they are to locate the man they have been sent to find.

The adventure merely begins when they meet Brant: a warrior with a mysterious past. He joins their cause readily, his heart smoldering with a vendetta Kamarie cannot completely understand. But whether she trusts him or not, the hope of their world rests on the steel he wears at his side.


But Wait ... There's More!


View the entire collection of 20 ebooks here, and enter to win them all for your hoard, along with your very own embossed leather dual dragons journal.

​The giveaway runs from Feb. 1-28. The winner will be notified by email on March 1.

Enter below and good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Romantic Getaway for You!

No one special to spend Valentine's Day with? Don't despair. Get away for the weekend. Pick up this romantic fantasy series and settle into a cozy armchair in front of the fire while sipping bubbly and eating chocolates. Let the magic of Bryn and Emira pull you from Earth for awhile.

You won't be disappointed. But you'll have to tell me which heartthrob you liked best. Aneirin, for his overly serious but subtle sweetness. Einion, for his adventurous spirit and noble heart, or Meuric, for being the bad boy he always is.

Now's your chance to snag the Chronicles of the Half-Emrys series for 99 cents. Happy Valentine's Day! 

Even as I Am

While struggling with my own shortcomings, and feeling as if I fall short of the mark every day, I was touched by a video I recently watched in church.

The video begins with this scripture.
“Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.” 3 Nephi 27:27
The video goes on to list the attributes of Christ.
Humble                      Obedient                       Healer                 Kind                 Teacher            Courageous            Servant               Submissive                Selfless                       Full of love
As I watched the Savior in all these roles, which the video portrayed, one thought crossed my mind. He’s genuine. In every role, in displaying whichever attribute, the Savior was Himself. He always expressed His true feelings, which were based on true motivations and love—Christlike love, which is charity.
And I realized that in my life, I only ever want to be genuine, even when I fall short and despite my shortcomings. I want to exhibit these Christlike behaviors with all my soul. I don’t want to grumble through life. I don’t want to complain when asked to do something. I don’t want to wallow in my sins. I want to be happy when I serve.
I want [to] “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny [myself] of all ungodliness; and if [I] shall deny [myself] of all ungodliness, and love God with all [my] might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for [me], that by his grace [I] may be perfect in Christ . . .” Moroni 10:32

I might have shortcomings, but perhaps the good in me can outshine the bad as I “come unto Christ” and be “even as [He is].”

To My Indie Author Friends

This blog post is to all my indie author friends.
Writing a novel is hard work. Authors might spend well over a year writing, revising, and editing until the words are perfect. Often times, we authors want to jump the gun and press submit before the novel should have been published. Many authors can’t afford an editor and rely on friends and beta-readers to find errors. I’m not going to say this is wrong, but I am going to let you in on the most common errors I find in indie novels. I’m a rampant reader. I grab free novels from various newsletters. Most of the time I am let down by the quality of the final product. Often the stories are brilliant, but I’m left wondering, “Did the author decide to stop in the middle of edits?” Perhaps indies need help.
Number one thing to do. After you believe you have finished all your edits, and most especially if you can’t afford an editor, listen to your novel aloud. Word has a feature where it will speak selected text. Using this function will help you find sentences with missing or wrong words. You won’t believe how many indie novels I have read that are just simply missing words. This is so easy to fix.
Number two. Commas matter. Two independent clauses should be joined by , and, a semicolon, or made into two individual sentences. (Please, if you don’t know what an independent clause is, you must pick up a writer’s reference and educate yourself.) I often trip over sentences when I can’t tell the logical separation between two thoughts. Follow my examples.
I went to the store, and I biked home.I went to the store; I biked home.I went to the store. I biked home.
Another comma error I see. Commas are missing before participle phrases (the –ingphrase). Some of these commas are so crucial for clarification!
I went to the store, skipping all the way.
I saw my aunt skipping up the street. (The comma is not needed here because the aunt is the object skipping up the street. But what if you put the comma in?)
I saw my aunt, skipping up the street. (This would mean that the subject of the sentence, I, is skipping up the street. To further clear this up, the phrase can be moved to the front of the sentence.)
Skipping up the street, I saw my aunt.
But I would prefer this for clarification. While skipping up the street, I saw my aunt.
Number three. Another issue I see with participle phrases is the time warp. I will refer you to this reference.
Number four. Those quote marks and apostrophes must face the correct direction! What do I mean? Some marks are straight and some are what are called smart or curly. Often when authors are copying and pasting parts of their documents from different programs, the marks end up being a mix of straight and curly. Use search and find function to replace all your quote marks and apostrophes from straight to curly. But after that, you’ll have to go through your document and make sure they are facing the right direction.
Go get ‘em.(wrong)Go get ’em.(right)Clare said, “I’m going to repeat her words so you understand. ‘Go get ’em.’” (right)
Number five. Once everything is a go with your manuscript and you have formatted your mobi or ePub, you must scroll through every page on your eReader and look for errors. Look for spaces before punctuation. Look for different paragraph indents. Even look for paragraphs that break in the middle. All these mistakes are easy to see if you scroll page by page. Make sure your final product is pretty and looks professional!
All right. With all this said, it makes sense, as a writer, to pick up a grammar book. I started with a simple writer’s reference, and now I’m digging my way through Chicago’s Manual of Style, a must for every author.
If you fix these simple things listed above, even if you aren’t great with grammar, readers will enjoy your novel without tripping over the bumps.
Do you have any other suggestions for indie authors?
Happy editing!

Working Resolutions Your Way

I’m pretty sure the root of all my problems is lack of sleep.

Actually, I am absolutely sure.




I suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). If you have it, you know exactly what I mean. My legs run in my sleep, wearing holes in my sheets; I go through two sets of sheets a year. My legs spasm during the day if I don’t get enough movement or if I overwork my legs. I have to have the perfect amount of exercise. My legs will “tweak out” on long car rides. How do I describe that? Because car space is so tight, even in the front passenger seat, if my legs can’t move how they want, they freak out. The sensation is much like ants using my blood vessels as a highway. Sometimes the sensation is like mild electric jolts.
And don’t get me started on plane flights. I take nerve medication to dull the pain.Even though I take medication at night, getting a restful night’s sleep is still a miracle.

What does this have to do with my resolutions? 
Number one resolution is to get enough sleep. Why? Because if I don’t, I am a serious disaster, and my brain is foggy. I was worried I was suffering from short-term memory loss. I leave notes right in the middle of the counter so I can remember things for the next day. Sometimes the next hour.Yeah, it’s that bad.
But once I made the connection of my irritability and my poor memory to my lack of sleep, I felt hope.
I can work with this.
Number one is to take my medication regularly. I don’t like taking prescription pills, but I have to suck it up and just do it for my sanity.
Number two to counter my foggy memory, make a lovely graphic of the things I want to accomplish every day, but also realize that I don’t have to do all of the things on the list every day. With the list, then in those moments when I stand there thinking I should be doing something but I can’t remember, I can consult the list.
Many of the things on my list are non-fiction books I want to read, mostly pertaining to my spirituality. I was getting discouraged with my scriptural reading and with keeping up with Sunday school lessons. I feel more power with a list. Plus, instead of feeling as if I need to do a marathon sprint with any particular book of scripture or other religious material, I can read a little of each every day.
I’m doing this with my writing education as well. I really want to read Chicago’s Manual of Style and my Emotional Thesaurus and Character Traits books, but just a few pages each day. That way I feel like I am moving forward.
Another thing about my resolutions. A few years ago I ran a half-marathon. The marathon destroyed my body and triggered an all over inflammatory response where my body attacks itself. My body still is and, I’m pretty sure, will always be messed up. An excess of anything, including inflammatory foods and too much exercise makes me swell, and my body shuts down. What? Yeah. How do I overcome that?
It sucks. I feel like I have an autoimmune disease. And who knows, maybe I do. I don’t plan on going to the doctor to find out. But I have noticed that tasks I could accomplish are growing more difficult. My husband has to dig the holes in our hard clay soil for me now when I garden. I can’t walk as an exercise for more than twenty minutes. Thirty minutes pushes it big time, and by the end of the day, I am nonfunctional. I can’t go clothing shopping or grocery shopping for more than two hours. And I have to come home and rest for half the day when that’s over.
But at least I know my limits.
What does this have to do with resolutions?
I discovered what works for me. I sit a lot, but I have to get up and move because of my nerve pain in my lower back and neck and my lymphedema in my ankles. But movement relieves all of these. Whenever I know I am going to be sitting for a while, I set a timer for forty-two minutes. Why forty-two minutes? That’s the length of a TV show or that’s how long it takes me to pluck out a scene. That’s also how I break up my reading tasks. Read Chicago for forty-two minutes or read my church materials for forty-two minutes. It’s a perfect amount of time. I read just a few pages, an article, or a whole chapter if it’s short, but I break things up if sections are too long. That way I don’t feel overloaded by spending too much time in one particular area.
And then I jump up and either tackle a chore like vacuuming or
I crank some music in my kitchen and dance like a crazy fool (while incorporating some hand weights). The dancing is my preferred form of movement. The Lindsey Sterling tracks I listen to are anywhere from three to five minutes and get my heart pumping. Plus the music inspires my writing, and I sit down ready to dive back in.

So, in the end, what matters is that you set up your resolutions so they work for you.
I have a mantra I like to follow. It’s posted on my blog side bar. “When you cannot do what you have always done, then you only do what matters most.”

I am a Child of God

A beautiful hymn in my church begins, “I am a child of God, and he has sent me here.” Meaning, I am a spiritual daughter of my Father in Heaven, and he sent me to earth.

A group of children in my church meeting sang the first two verses of this hymn for the congregation and invited the congregation to join in on the third verse. As I sang the words, “I am a child of God,” my eyes teared up as the Spirit washed over me. I knew the words coming from my mouth were true.

I know that I have a heavenly parentage, and I know, just as the words of the song say, "I'll live with Him once more."

Read or listen the words of the song here

.

It is of God.

Queen of procrastination here. Finally, on New Year's Eve, I have completed reading The Book of Mormon, as promised for my Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge.

As I listened to Joseph Smith’s testimony at the beginning of The Book of Mormon of how the angel Moroni appeared to him, I reached the part where Joseph tries to work after a night of interviews with the angel. Joseph collapses in the field and receives another vision where the angel tells him to go back and tell his father about his heavenly visitations.

I’m cleaning in my kitchen, and before the next paragraph starts, I mutter to myself, “It is of God,” meaning the whole thing, the heavenly visits and the testimony of Joseph and the subsequent translation of the Book of Mormon. As soon as I said those words, on the CD, Joseph’s father tells Joseph the same thing. “That it (the heavenly message) was of God.”

A warmth flooded my body then as the Holy Spirit washed over me, confirming the truth of the words I whispered aloud and the words of Joseph’s Father. Even with all my procrastination of my goals, I will always know The Book of Mormon is of God and that it is true.