Anastasia Austin's Blog, page 2

Writing: Monthly Update for October

 
Current Romance WIPs:

FACING FATE  - Oh, the drama... So, this book had been moving at a snail's pace even though the word count kept rising. I mean, just look at my word count tracker for October! It wasn't until October 30th that I realized why I couldn't find the end of this book.

I'd already passed it.
Here's what I posted in one of my writing groups after it happened...

"I wanted to scream last night but was in a library. Don't think they would have appreciated it. So, I've been frustrated with how long my current WIP is taking to finish. Turns out, I blew past the ending! UGH!!!!!

I sat down last night and wrote a sort of synopsis for the book, ignoring the fact I'd already written most of it. I allowed myself to let things happen that felt right, whether they existed in the book already or not and to come out in whatever order they flowed naturally. Doing this, I discovered I was chasing the wrong ending, things were happening out of order, and I'm missing some key character and plot moments. 😭😭😭

On the upside, I've already written the climax of the story. So, to "finish" the book, I just need to back up and write the resolution.

Downside, this thing is going to need some serious revisions and I'm probably going to lose several thousand words in the process."

As of, November 2nd, I'm done drafting FACING FATE! And now I'm going to take a break from it for a couple of weeks.

INFINITELY ENDLESS (aka Plus One)  - This is what I'm drafting while I take a break from FACING FATE. It's coming along nicely! Hoping to finish it this time around.
Word Counts:


Got a lot of words written in October, but didn't make a whole lot of progress. UGH!

November will be better!
 

Publishing News:
Nothing to report!


Read in October:
FYI: Most of these are short reads. Just Roommates is the only full novel on the list. A couple are more like teasers, which I didn't know going into them (Rock Hard, Snowed in with the Ranger, and Lightning Strikes)

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!



Thank you!

Writing: Monthly Update for September

After my Mini Cooper, Benny pooped out and one of the places I tried to purchase a new car from tried to screw me over lying about the title not being a prior salvage and swindling me out of a $100.00 to hold the car, I finally have a cute new car with hardly any miles that runs great!

Everyone? Meet Nermal!



Yes, she's purple! Grape metallic ice to be specific.

QOTD: Have any of you had a bad experience with a car dealership or salesman?


Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - It's alive!!!

And doing well! Thank you for all your support. If you've read it, I hope you loved Katie and Isaac's story. If you haven't, I hope you give them a chance. They are such a sweet couple.

Get your copy today!

Love it or hate it, please rate it♥

FACING FATE or ARRANGING FATE [Title might change] - Book 3 in the Fate series! This book decided to give me some trouble. To be fair, it was mostly my fault. When I started writing Jake and Amber's story, I completely forgot to ask them what they wanted from each other. So there I was, 33K words in, not even close to the middle of the book, and their relationship was going nowhere! 

After going back and asking the question, I have reoutlined, organized, and now these two are ready to turn up the heat!

PLUS ONE - On the back burner.

SECOND CHANCE - On the back burner.

Romantic Fantasy WIP - Considering picking this up after Jake's story is finished. It's an old story I'm resurrecting and making romance a huge part of the plot. I have two words for you... MATING BONDS!


Word Counts:


Previously, on Word Counts... "God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll have a first draft [Jake's story] done at the end of September!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah... that didn't happen.

It's extra funny because we got SO much rain in September, the creek did actually rise! lol

Even though I didn't finish Jake's story, I did write on FOUR different projects. Most of those words were for the outlines of two projects and the other was a short film script but words are words! It's all progress!

Publishing News:
With the release of FIGHTING FATE on September 17th, I also saw a boost in sales for FAKE TO FATE! Such a nice surprise!

Also, that boost put FAKE TO FATE in the top 200's of the comedy category!


Read in September:

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy the first two books in the FATE series today!



Thank you!

Fighting Fate paperback available to order!

I can't tell you what a relief it is to announce this. The last few months have been quite a struggle to get anything done and then, this week, I got sick with some kind of cold/flu/allergy thing. Which is super ironic considering that's exactly what happens to Isaac in the book that sends him and Katie on this wild ride!

Fortunately, like Isaac, I had someone taking care of me. My loving husband made me my favorite "garbage stew." Beef roast and a whole head of cabbage in chicken stock with  celery, onion, and carrot mirepoix, cooked for like 3 hours until the roast just falls apart. OMG it's the best! But he calls it garbage stew because it doesn't look the greatest and the cabbage gives it quite the aroma. LOL



After much rest but no writing, I'm feeling better and was able to fix the issues with the paperback cover yesterday and publish! After Amazon reviewed and approved, Isaac and Katie's story is live! If you order today, I'm pretty sure you'll get it by release day on Tuesday. I suppose it depends on where you're ordering from.

Until the end of September, the paperback will be the lowest price Amazon will allow me to sell it. $11.99 USD. It's so pretty and almost twice as thick as the first book which makes it so nice to hold. Plus, it has a super buttery cover. UGH! I just love it!

Now it's time for me to get back to writing! Jake's story is coming right along. I hope to get it out to you all before the end of the year yet! Wish me luck and let me know what you think of the series so far! Are there any characters you'd like to see more of?

Thank you all so much for reading! ♥ Have a great day!



Click here to order the paperback of Fighting Fate! (Non-US links Amazon provided me are below.)

Fighting Fate paperback links
UK
Spain

And don't forget, the Fighing Fate ebook releases on the 17th! Click here to pre-order now and get it delivered to your device on release day!

Fighting Fate ebook links
UK
Canada
Spain
Mexico

If you haven't ordered the paperback of Fake to Fate, the first book in the Fate series, now would be a good time. I updated the cover for it to better match Fighting Fate and the two would look great on the shelf together!

Click here or on the image below to order the paperback of Fake to Fate! (Non-US links Amazon provided me are below.)

Fake to Fate paperback links
UK
Spain

Fake to Fate ebook links
UK
Canada
Spain
Mexico

Writing: Monthly Update for August

August happened... Seriously, where did the month go?! On top of that, where did the last fifteen years go? Our son had his first week of high school and I'm still not sure how I feel about that. Did any of your kids hit a milestone this year? How are you handling it?

At this point, we're just taking it one day at a time. Hoping for a good school year!

Now, not only did our son hit a big milestone in August, I did too! A writer dream come true. One of my favorite authors, Mary E. Pearson (The Kiss of Deception, Dance of Thieves, and more from the Remnant Chronicles) released the second book in the Dance of Thieves duology, Vow of Thieves. On August 8th, my husband and I went to her signing event in Minnesota.

Before we went, my husband encouraged me to take a copy of Fake to Fate, just in case. I did, thinking it wouldn't come into play but when it was my turn in line for Mary to sign my copy of Vow of Thieves, this happened...



Last year, when I went to the same book store for her signing of Dance of Thieves, I told her how much The Kiss of Deception inspired me to throw out my worry over writing the "correct" way and start writing my way. 99.9% of that book is written from 3 different POV's. All from first person, and the identity of two of the characters are hidden for most of the book. Then, close to the end, she had one chapter from a completely different POV and it was only like 2 pages long. WHO DOES THAT?! lol When I told her how much I loved that and it changed my life as a writer, she let me know that she had worried about including it in the book and hearing how it had impacted me validated her decision! And this is what she wrote on the first page of that chapter...



This year, I reminded her of the previous event and told her I took that sentence to heart. I followed my own rules and self published my first book in April. She got so excited and asked if I had a copy. When I told her I did, she asked me to sign it for her! It was the first book I signed that someone ASKED for my signature. REVOLUTIONARY moment! I'm still flying high from it! 

It never would have happened if my husband hadn't encouraged me to be bold and own my accomplishments. Thank you, Tebs! It also wouldn't have had near the impact if I couldn't then share it with all of you! Thank you for reading and for your support! ♥
Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - All the things are happening with this one!

Release day is September 17, 2019! Pre-order the ebook now!
There will be a paperback version available early. I should get the proof copies today. After I read through and make necessary corrections, it will be ready to go! Stay tuned for the announcement!
Reviews are coming in and they're great, so far! Visit the Goodreads page to see what people are saying about Fighting Fate and add it to your TBR!

PLUS ONE - You'll see in my word count tracker that I did add to this book in August. Then I made the decision to continue with the Fate series. PLUS ONE has become the book I chip away at when I have the time to spare. Eventually, I'll have a finished draft and can commit time to publishing it.

FACING FATE - Book 3 in the Fate series! This is Jake's story and OMG I love it so much! We learned so much more about him in FIGHTING FATE and I'm learning even more spending this time with him now. I can't wait to share his story with you!

SECOND CHANCE - While brainstorming one day, because I couldn't work on anything else, I came up with a plot for a second chance romance. It's plotted/outlined and I love the story but the female's backstory is a bit darker than in my other books and it plays heavily into the plot. Not sure how I feel about that, since I love how fluffy my other stories have been. We'll see what happens when I start drafting it. Not sure when that will be. I want to finish the Fate series before picking up a new one. Plus, I have ideas for a couple other series that I've been sitting on longer that I might want to write first. WHO KNOWS?!

 

Word Counts:


Quite a lot of revision and editing for FIGHTING FATE happened in August. Though, I still think it was a darn good month for words! Several days went off the chart!

The 6th and 7th look a little wonky because I screwed up and forgot to change colors when I switched from drafting PLUS ONE to FACING FATE. LOL

Currently, I've written over 20K words on FACING FATE! God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll have a first draft done at the end of September! Looking to publish it before the end of the year!

 

Publishing News:
Got some new reviews for FAKE TO FATE! Sold a copy of the ebook and had some page reads!

Released the pre-order for FIGHTING FATE. Already seeing reviews from ARC readers!
Read in August:
Thanks to my dear friend, Bree, I've become obsessed with the Brides of the Kindred series. LOL Not for the faint of heart! Super steamy and a little odd. Love it!

 

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now.

Pre-order the ebook for FIGHTING FATE on Amazon and get it delivered directly to your device on September 17th!

Thank you!

Fighting Fate Pre-order and Preview

OMG! I can't believe it! My second book, Fighting Fate, will be coming out September 17, 2019!

There were times I wasn't sure this book would ever be finished. Now, I'm so excited for you all to read Katie and Isaac's story. It's been a labor of love but so worth it! Though it took some time for Katie and Isaac to open up and show me their story, when they did... OH, WOW! They had quite the story to tell!

You can read the first four chapters of Fighting Fate and pre-order the ebook for $0.99 today!

If you bought the ebook of Fake to Fate from Amazon, you should be able to update the file on your e-reader now and see the preview and pre-order link for Fighting Fate at the end of the book!

If you have not yet purchased Fake to Fate, now is a good time. Though, these books can standalone or be read in any order, I believe it's a more pleasurable experience to read them in publication order.

Buy Fake to Fate

Please visit mybookcave to claim the file type of your choice. (epub or mobi) Note: mybookcave will ask you to sign up for my newsletter before you download. Thank you in advance for jumping through the hoop to read ♥

If you'd like to jump straight to the pre-order click here!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WYVNCWC

The paperback copy of Fighting Fate will be available closer to the release date. I'll send another email letting you all know!

A little writing update: I started drafting the next book in the Fate series. WOOT! And there will be at least one more book in this series after it. I'm absolutely loving all the characters in this world. The more time I spend with the them, the more I realize how hard it's going to be to leave them behind for a new cast someday.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me!

Dear book bloggers/reviewers,

I have a limited number of ARC's of Fighting Fate available now! If you would like to review a copy, please comment below or send a message via my contact page with the best way to send you the link. Reviews due by September 17, 2019. Thank you so very much!

Writing: Monthly update for July

I finally fought my way out of revisions!

Current Fantasy Romance WIPs:
So, I included this in my update last month without considering whether or not readers of contemporary romance would also be interested in fantasy romance.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd love your help deciding whether or not I should publish Fantasy Romance under a different name.

Please respond to the following questions with your thoughts.

Do you only wish to read contemporary romance and would not like to get updates about fantasy romance? Or would you like to know about everything I write, regardless of genre?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Current Romance WIPs:

FIGHTING FATE - I DID IT! I finished revising! Today, I will contact my beta readers and ask for feedback to be returned within two weeks. After that, I'll revise again, considering their feedback. Then, it's off to ARC readers before publishing!

Release day is not set yet but I expect it will be mid-September.

Can't wait for you all to read Katie and Isaac's story! They fought me just as much as they fought the feelings they had for each other. But it was worth it in the end! I hope you all love them as much as I do.

PLUS ONE - I will pick this up again in about a week. My family and I are going on a trip to Minnesota next week to an author signing event for the release of Mary E. Pearson's new release, Vow of Thieves and I have to finish reading her ARC!

Word Counts:


You'd think this was a drafting month, not a revision month based on those word counts!

I suppose it kind of was. I added over 20K words to the "first" draft, that was really more of a zero draft.

Really excited Fighting Fate will be a full novel now that it's over 50K words!

Publishing News:
Nothing to report on Fake to Fate.

Fighting Fate should come out Mid-September. I'll let you all know the official release day when I know it and include a pre-order link!

Read in July:

I feel like it's worth noting, this book was a gift from my wonderful, supportive husband.

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!



If you would like more frequent updates, please follow me on Instagram. If you're as impatient as I am, you can get some of the information in my updates when it happens rather than having to wait for the monthly update!

Just Writing Things - 2

Mini rant 😅

I believe the above image is why so many authors stress out about writing. After English teachers have convinced them their writing has to mean something to mean anything. It's one of the many things that kept me down about my own writing for so long.

AND just because an author doesn't bury a deeper meaning in their prose doesn't mean their writing is vapid or shallow. Characters give a story depth as much, if not more than anything else.

And why that's relevant to me? Romance is all about the characters! Because without decently developed characters it wouldn't matter what the genre was. If the story was fluffy and sweet or deep and meaningful, it would not be as good.

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!

Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!

Writing: Monthly Update for June

You know... I should just accept that these updates will happen as close to the beginning of the month as my schedule will allow. LOL #BUSY

Querying:
Not Querying for the foreseeable future. Why? I love self publishing. There may come a project someday that might benefit from the hassle that comes with traditional publishing but at this point, I want to self pub all my projects. Fantasy too.

Current Fantasy WIPs:
Which leads me to this.

I might change the title of this section to ROMANTIC Fantasy because I LOVE writing romance. And now I have a series (or it might be a serial. Not sure) I've started outlining!

The series is 12 novellas inspired by the world and characters of my short story UNDER THE AMETHYST SKY. You can read that short, but keep in mind, Kaia's and Theo's story will be a little different when I turn it into a novella. The world building has evolved a bit in the last week or so while outlining the first book.

I'm really excited to start this project but I have a few contemporaries I need to finish first.


Current Romance WIPs:


FIGHTING FATE - YIKES! It has been a real fight to finish this book. And I'm still not done. But I am further along!
I'm closing in on the end of the first revision. When that's done, I will read through it again and make final edits before sending it to beta readers.

It's happening! Slower than I'd like but it is happening!


PLUS ONE - This guy is waiting for me to finish FIGHTING FATE revisions. I'm getting there, little buddy!



Word Counts:


I feel like I was a lot more consistent with my writing this month. I missed several days of words but not because I wasn't writing. Words are not always added when revising. 

Really wish I could have been drafting in June. Oh, well. July is looking up!





Publishing News:
FAKE TO FATE:

June was a slow month. Still had just over 1000 page reads! 

Can't wait to see what releasing a second book will do. 

Thank you, everyone for your support.



Read in June:

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!



Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!

Fighting Fate Cover and Blurb Reveal!

This book has been a constant fight but I'm loving the characters and their story is super cute.

Revisions are coming along nicely. Slower than I'd like but nicely. lol

I'm not exactly sure when it will be up for pre-order but you can now add Fighting Fate to your Goodreads lists!

Without further ado, here's the cover and blurb for the second book in the FATE series, FIGHTING FATE!

Katie has everything planned out; school, career, social life. And she isn't going to let anything get in her way. Until she repeatedly crosses paths with poster-child frat boy, Isaac Johnson.

She hesitates when all he wants is a hook up. She pushes him away when he shows signs of wanting more. Then she's torn, when she finds him all alone and sick as a dog after his frat brothers abandon him for spring break.

Katie should leave. Stick to her plan. Finish the project that could make or break her college career.

But she can't leave him like this--to fend for himself when he can barely breathe--or ignore the connection building between them. The one she's not sure she can fight anymore.

Fighting Fate


 

Read Book 1, FAKE TO FATE, today on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

Writing: Monthly Update for May

It's another late one! Still trying to get into the swing of this writing with the intention of publishing quickly thing. But it's HAPPENING! Getting closer everyday to book 2 of my romance series being ready!!

May was my husband's birthday month and I took a few vacation days and did a crap load of cleaning. Still finished drafting a book! May was awesome!
Querying:

Not Querying for the foreseeable future.
Current Fantasy WIPs:

All fantasy WIPs are on hold while I get my self-publishing feet underneath me.

While the above is still true. I MAY have dipped my toe into my dragon shifter book again. And POSSIBLY reoutlined it after having a pretty big breakthrough with why it's not as good as it could be. So... MIGHT be working on that again in the near future.

Current Romance WIPs:

Untitled FATE Book 2 Now has a title! FIGHTING FATE - I finished the first draft on the first of the month! I started revising by printing, reading and noting all the inconsistencies. And, WOW, were there a lot!

I finished the read-through yesterday and started transferring my notes into my Scrivener document for ease of access when I start the writing revision tonight or tomorrow.

Not sure how long this is all going to take. I can't even guess at this point but it's going to be at LEAST two weeks before I can even think about calling for beta readers. Which means I won't be looking at announcing a publishing date until mid-July or so.

PLUS ONE - This has been set aside while I finish FIGHTING FATE. I know what the next book in the FATE series will be and will need to at least outline that really well before I come back to this. But the PLUS ONE draft is already over 14K words (half-ish-way done.) So that's awesome!
Word Counts:



Did much better on my word counts in May! Went off the chart TWICE! One of those times was a 4000 word day!

You also get a glimpse into the identity crisis FIGHTING FATE had. lol That's not even a third of the names I tried out for this book. I'll tell the story sometime but it will have to wait until after I write the blurb.


Publishing News:

FAKE TO FATE:

Celebrated one month of publishing on the 30th of May by announcing a free weekend for the ebook on Amazon.

91 copies were claimed! Since then, people have read 647 pages!

Thank you, everyone for your support.


Read in May:
Only You

Thanks for reading. Keep moving forward!


Buy FAKE TO FATE! Ebook and paperback are on Amazon now. Thanks!