Eryn Scott's Blog, page 3

Scott on Scots

Bahahaha! Scott, Scots. Oh boy, do I love puns.

If you don’t know me very well, know this: Eryn loves puns.

Anyway, another thing I love, oh-so-very-much, is my newest release! The Beauty of Perhaps releases today and I CANNOT wait to hear what you think!

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From the first page, I knew this story would be something that would make me smile, make me sigh, and sit deep in my heart, but seriously, seeing the paperback in person yesterday when it came in the mail… let me just say, I am one smitten lady. (I may or may not have carried a book around in my purse all day just so I could pull it out at random times and stare/sigh at it.)

I hope you love it, too! Here’s the link. =) Get it this week for a special, release sale price!

Eryn

Pieces of him

I was talking with a friend the other day about the pieces of me I put into my main characters. And even though when I’m writing a character, it really is just that — a made up person — each of my heroines inevitably get some parts  of my personality.

Sunny was a manifestation of the anxious and socially broken parts of myself, Lauren of my over-controlling tendencies. Julep got my strong connection with my family. Rainy definitely got my stubbornness, my unwillingness to let go even when the facts are looking you right in the face. And Honey, the character in my newest release, embodies my inability to say no, even when I really should.

Authors write what they know best. So even though the women may be very different from me in certain ways, there are always those parts of me that show up.

The same has to be said about my amazing husband. I find that each of the guys in my books has a part of him in them, too. Brian had his kind heart and unfailing willingness to look past what I don’t say and find what I really mean. Adam had his never-stop-trying attitude when it comes to our relationship. Carter got his compassion for others, especially for his family and friends. In my upcoming release, The Beauty of Perhaps, that leading man got his laid back, calm attitude from my main squeeze, not to mention his love of adventure.

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I think it’s ultimately what makes me love writing love stories. I feel like each one lets me fall in love with pieces of him over and over again.

Sweet!

Hey there lovely readers. It’s been a while, I know.

I’m so sorry for that. I’ve been spending the past few months dealing with a big flare up of my oh-so-fun autoimmune disease and it put me a tad behind schedule, release wise.

BUT, things are looking up! The Sweetness of Honey Pie, the third book in my What’s in a Name? Series, is finished! It’s with the editors now and then it’ll be off to my lovely ARC readers. I set it for an April 6th release date, but I’m thinking it’ll be out a bit earlier. If you feel like you might forget, it’s up for preorder right now on Amazon. Just click  to order yours and then it’ll be delivered to you when it’s out!

This book is as sweet as can be and I had a blast writing it. Here’s the cover again, and the blurb.

Honey Pieretti is sick and tired of being so nice. After her helpfulness leads to humiliation on her favorite baking-themed tv show, she and her lifelong best friend, Carter, decide to cast aside their trusting personalities by starting a competition to toughen up.

It’s all fun and games until Honey realizes she’s falling in love with her best friend. Convinced he doesn’t feel the same way, she must decide if she can live without his friendship or hide her feelings forever. But as the competition heats up and Honey’s given a chance at TV redemption, she finds that more than just love could ruin their friendship. 

Can she prove to the boy next door that she’s still the girl he knows?

In other news, The Beauty of Perhaps is turning out to be a book I just can’t seem to stop fiddling with. I’ve fallen in LOVE with the story and I kinda think I just don’t want the writing process to end. =) I’ve added a ton of scenes to the original “finished” manuscript and am working on a few more before I think it’ll be perfect. The book should be releasing sometime in April, but I’ll let you know when I have a firmer idea of that date.

Thanks so much for sticking with me through this bit of a break. I promise I’m doing much better and am back to writing my heart out. There’s even a bit of a hint about my next work in progress hidden in my signature graphic below. Can’t wait to tell you more about it!

Cheers,

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Watercolor design by created Freepik

http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/watercolor-flower-background_1049203.htm’>Designed by Freepik

 

 

A Love Story

There’s a lot in this newest book that’s turning out differently than I expected it would.

It was supposed to be, almost exclusively, a women’s fiction story about a woman finding herself in a foreign land.

And while it still is that in many ways, it’s definitely taken on more of a love story tone. Sure, it’s becoming a love story in the most basic sense of the phrase. Gates, the love interest, and Molly just have something about them that has my fingers flying across the keys, has me writing scenes in a way that’ll put them together. But the love story part of this book is so much more than just two people finding each other.

This book has become a love story about Scotland. Just in the same way I find myself steering the story toward scenes where Molly and Gates get to interact, I find such a pull to write about this amazing country.

   

This book has become a tug-at-my-heart, reminisce-about-my-time-there love fest and I simply cannot help it. Readers, I’m taking this one slow, and I apologize for that, but as much as I try, I can’t seem to speed up this process. There’s something deep in my bones that is LOVING sitting deep in this story, returning to this lovely place, if only in my memories.

Even still, I’m heading into the halfway point and expect The Beauty of Perhaps to release late November. I will also be starting an ARC team for early readers and reviewers who might be interested in getting a free book in exchange for an honest review. If you’re interested in that, please join my Eryn Scott mailing list as I will be opening up spots to those people on the mailing list first.

Okay. =) Back to writing. Back to reminiscing. Back to my happy place.

Thanks for stopping by.

Eryn

Lucky Duck!

Those of you who follow this blog will know that A Chance for Sunny Skies was a book straight from my heart. After I finished the story last year, someone asked me, “Are you going to write a series for Sunny?” My immediate reaction was, “Oh gosh no!” I was done. That was it. Stand alone. Wrapped up. That story was finished.

It was a few months later that my lovely sister (also a writer — look for V.L. Helvey books someday) mentioned how fun a Rainy book would be. It surprised me how open I was to the idea, now, just with a few months difference. Hmmm… I thought. That would be kinda fun. 

Sometimes books are written because the character just won’t leave the author alone. And that’s what this book is for me. After that nugget of an idea was planted, I couldn’t get rid of Rainy in my head. She kept telling me her story, sometimes yelling it.

Isles Away

It’s only been a little over a week since I got back from Scotland, but I still can’t think about the place without getting a dreamy look in my eyes and letting a deep sigh pull at my lungs.

Because, that place.

Readers, it wasn’t just the rolling green hills (I thought I knew green, living in the PNW, but Scotland has a whole different spectrum of the color), or the heather-spotted moors, or the sparkling beaches, or even the locals’ oh-so-wonderful accents that had me at hello (or “hiya” as they often say). The soul of this country is one you can’t help but fall in love with, let it settle deep into your bones until you realize that you don’t actually know how you’re going to leave.

And let me tell you, I came back BRIMMING with ideas for this book of mine. So the exciting thing for me is that, even though I did eventually have to leave, I get to spend an entire book reliving my love for this place, letting my character experience the country as I did, and sitting with my memories as I write.

I mean, just look.

*Sigh*

Okay. Enough drooling over pictures, I have to get writing. =) Eeeee! I love starting a new book!

Want a little teaser before you go?

The book is titled The Beauty of Perhaps. It’s all about Molly Baker, a late-twenty-something who, above all else, values planning and loves the predictable (I mean, we’re talking she won’t go to a restaurant unless they have an online menu she can use to pick her meal out before hand, predictable). So, what better for someone like that to do than drop everything and take a teaching job on a remote island in a foreign country, right? Yeah… Wonder what got a girl like that to take such an adventure? Wonder what will happen once she gets there? Wonder if there’ll be a cute Scottish guy who will steal her heart?

You’ll have to wait and see!

I’m off to get started! Thanks for stopping by!

Eryn

And now for something completely different…

In my latest book, Settling Up, the main character, Lauren  loves to make lists. I do, too. Yep, percentage weighted, pretty-darn-detailed lists have helped me make some of my life-decisions (from the trivial to the quite important).

Now, while I don’t have a Perfect Guy List like Lauren (deciding to marry my husband was the easiest decision I’ve ever made), I do have a list that’s somewhat famous among my family and friends. Anyway, I thought I’d share it with you, readers. We could all use another list to carry around with us in our heads, right?

Those of you who know me, understand my inability to deal with scary things. Maybe it’s a sign that I was always meant to be a writer, but I’ve always possessed what some would call an overactive imagination. And while this wonderful imagination can help me picture scenes happening in my books, it  also “helps” me picture horrific what-ifs in all-too-much detail.

Because my brain already seems predisposed to this kind of thinking, I try to do as little as I can to fuel these scary images by avoiding all things horror: books, movies, pictures, etc.

To help me with this, I’ve cultivated (after years of hard work) a list of things to avoid. If any of these shows up in a movie, book, or otherwise, I stay far far away.

WARNING: if you are easily scared, you probably won’t want to read most of this list. Even writing it is giving me the willies.

The Things Eryn CANNOT Handle List:

Fingernails. Not just people having them. That’s okay with me. But if ANYTHING happens to them during the course of a movie, I’m out. If they’re ripped or peeled or even removed (shudder). Done. Even if them just being really long and dirty can be enough to make me want to hurl. Intense scratching will often be a deal breaker as well. And let’s not even talk about people running them along some rough, noise-creating surface (ahem, chalkboards).
Limbs doing things they most definitively should not do. If an arm or leg is facing an irregular direction, that’s enough. Heads (which I know are not limbs, but stay with me) rotating more than 180 degrees is also VERY BAD. People walking down the stairs (OR ON THE CEILING) with their arms and legs flipped all backwards is WRONG!
Speaking of ceilings, things defying gravity when they’re not in either a space movie or a fantasy world where people have magical powers is next. If you can walk (or let’s be honest, you’re probably crawling… with your arms and legs in all the wrong places) on the ceiling because you’re some evil demon, I’m out. (Also, why do scary things always seem so sticky?)
Masks. Um, really, do I need to say more?
Dirty water. I honestly can’t explain this one. Pond water? Totally fine. Puddles on the street? I don’t really want to step in it, but it’s not scary in the least. But when these scary movie makers add dirty water into their movies, it pushes me OVER THE EDGE! There was even a movie called Dirty Water! When we saw the trailer for that one, Scott looked at me and said, “I think they read your list.”
Inexplicable speed (or a lack of it). Zombies really shouldn’t be all that scary. They move SO SLOWLY that they honestly shouldn’t be much of a threat. “So you’re saying I just have to stay at a brisk walk and you can’t catch me?” Not scary. OR SO YOU WOULD THINK! But these amputated amblers, these drooling draggers never stop. They might be slow, but they’re going to catch up while you’re sleeping (because they don’t have to sleep and you do). As scary as zombies are with all of their molasses movement, even more terrifying is the opposite of the spectrum. Things that move super fast. Super quick evil things are so much scarier than regular-speed evil things (especially if they’re crawling across a ceiling super fast with their limbs all crazy — feel like there’s a theme here?). And who in their right mind decided it would be a good idea to make zombies fast??? Sweet Jesus, we can only handle SO MUCH.
I don’t know how to label this one, but it’s that thing where the character is looking in a mirror and it’s just them, but then they look away and the next thing they know, there’s someone BEHIND them! I CAN’T EVEN!
And my last one (for now) is that other thing when someone has a normal face, but then it flashes to some kind of demon face and then it switches back to normal again and it happens so fast that you’re not sure if IT EVEN HAPPENED. Did it? No one will believe you if it did. It is this exact reason that I only made it through not-even-one episode of Grimm.

Anyway, that’s where it stands right now. What would you have on your list? Or what other lists do you use to help you deal?

Eryn

It’s Here!

Settling Up is out, published, live, ready for all to see and read! AND it’s on sale for 99 cents this week only.

That’s it! That’s all! I’m happy.

Things are adding up

Okay, so I know that I said I was going to work on my Scottish teacher book next, but I started writing and realized, “Huh, I know next to nothing about contemporary Scotland.” I began to do some research, but quickly remembered that I’m much more of a visual learner, an experience it myself type.

So… Scotland, here I come! (Well, not at the moment, as I am still wrapping up the school year, but you get it.)

Anyway, in the meantime, while I’m waiting for my research trip, I decided to fill my time with a few things I think you’ll be pretty excited about. First, I’ve just finished the first draft for a book that will be releasing in early July. It’s called Settling Up and I am IN LOVE with the story, not to mention the cover.

Is that not the cutest cover EVER!!!???? It is a product of the continued genius of Paper and Sage Designs, of course.

Here’s what it’s all about:

1 bald spot  + 1 30 year old  = zero chance at love.

If there’s one thing statistics professor, Lauren Sinclair knows, it’s probability. And she understands her current equation all too well.

Desperate to get herself back into the dating game, Lauren relies on statistical analysis and a ridiculously detailed list to help her find the perfect man.

Her friend Mack thinks it sounds like she’s trying to find a car instead of a husband. What does he know? He’s a tattooed, totally-not-her-type Blackjack dealer. 

But maybe this professor needs to learn that love is more than a numbers game.

I had such a connection with this story, I ended up finishing it much faster than I anticipated. Knowing I still had time to fill before Scotland, I thought about what else I could pick up from my “to be written” pile. I think/hope you’ll be just as excited about the one I ended up choosing as I am.

YAAAAAAASSSSS!!! It’s a Rainbow book, for those of you who loved her in Sunny’s book and couldn’t get enough of this awesome lady. I’m about a third of the way through the first draft, so I don’t have a finalized blurb for you yet, but I can tell you that it’s got a bit of a You’ve Got Mail feel to it. I can’t wait to share it with you! This one is projected to release in early August.

And in order to do that, I’d better get my butt back to writing.

Fantasy Facelift

I’ll be honest. When I started out publishing last summer, I didn’t know much about the market or how much money I’d actually make doing this. So needless to say, my first covers were just products of me fiddling around with (the free version of) Picmonkey.

Yeah… not exactly professional.

Anyway, the time has come for a bit of a facelift. I’m beyond excited to reveal the new covers for The Antiarch Trilogy. Wicked Good Book Covers is the awesome designer!

Well… without further ado… here they are!