Cate Masters's Blog, page 77

Crazy productive weekend

It's amazing what I can accomplish when I can actually sit in front of a computer all day!

I set up my novella Soul for Sale at CreateSpace to make it available in print.Hopefully the setup has no kinks and the proof copy will soon be in my mailbox. It's for an event that The Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookstore is planning in June, and I may be on the panel. Deb, the owner, is wonderfully supportive of local authors, and always has great events on the shop's schedule.

My crit partners gave me excellent feedback on my Gettysburg ghost story, so that was number one writing priority. Despite my muse's insistence that I start yet another new story, I concentrated on the ghost story. It's been haunting my hard drive for more than a year now. Time to exorcise it! :) The working title is A Guided Tour of The Midnight Hour. What do you think?

My muse tends to act more like a duende anyway. I need to control her better. What? Never heard of a duende? Then you should read my short fantasy, The Duende and the Muse.  :0  Full of Greek mythological figures in a fun present-day setting.

I also requested the rights back to Design for Life, my short contemporary published by The Wild Rose Press. You might yet find it on some secondary sites, but it's gone gone gone from TWRP's site. As with any re-release, I have some reworking ahead on that one, especially because it was part of the Flower Basket Series.

But I did finish the cover - what do you think? The heroine's a fashion designer, so, after hours of sifting through images on Dreamstime, I went for a cute graphic.

It will probably be a slow blogging week. Lots of life stuff happening, so I won't be able to get online much, although there will be three new authors at TBR this week. Hope you'll pop over and make them feel welcome. Please follow TBR too! :)

SSS: First peek at A Hard Day's Knight

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! They always end too soon, don't they? But I'm glad to jump back into Six Sentence Sunday. I missed you guys.

Here's a first look at my short fantasy, A Hard Day's Knight, tentatively set for release in February as part of Decadent's 1NS series! To set up this scene, the hero Lance is about to be introduced to the heroine, Gwyn, but is reluctant to meet her for reasons he must keep secret, even though his friend tells her what a great girl Gwyn is:


"I'm sure she is, for someone else." It pained Lance to say it.
Kurt blew a sharp breath. "Fine, be an ass but you will be nice during dinner, at least."
"I'll be a perfect gentleman." And once this night ended, he would leave, and start over again in a new city, as he had for centuries.
Visit all the participating SSS authors here. Have a great week!

I have a love/hate relationship with edits

I am a staunch believer in having an editor. Though I have amazing critique partners, and a bunch of them too, an editor always lends greater insight and perspective to a story. Takes it another level higher.

As particular as I am about correct punctuation, grammar, and getting all the details right, I worry that I missed something. Or that the storyline has a hole.

So I am thrilled that Decadent Publishing contracted my dark paranormal novel, Dead to Rights.

I'd self-pubbed it last year, but hoped an editor could help me kick it up to that next level. (There's always a next level!) Unfortunately, I can't afford to hire an editor.

I just finished first-round edits, and am loving it. And hating it. Grueling as edits can be, I know I'll be happy with the end results.

I also wasn't satisfied Dead to Rights was receiving enough exposure. Lately, reviewers are swamped, so getting any reviews are difficult, but it's a little more difficult to entice a reviewer to read a self-pubbed novel, unfortunately. I'm hoping that now it will receive a little more attention.

The new, tentative release date for Dead to Rights is late February. Woo hoo!

And I just received this cover in my email.  Beautiful, isn't it?

Keep reaching higher

Ray Bradbury reminded me why I need to keep writing. To keep reaching higher, for that moment of blissful realization that I'd written something beautiful and meaningful, something that will resonate with readers long after they've finished the last page.

Insecure Writers: Self-doubt

I try to hit the mute button on my inner critic while I write. In the best of times, I sink into the story and let the flow take me away. Other times, it's more of an effort to craft the story, and it plods along. I go with that, too, because I know it's most important to get that first draft down. Revisions always follow. Multiple rounds of revisions. Followed by multiple critiques, after which there are more revisions.

Lately, I've been locked in the grips of self-doubt. It goes way beyond writer's block, which I always manage to write around by switching to another story until the problem blocking the other story comes clear. My self-doubt is so overwhelming, I couldn't write for most of December.

I forced myself to revise a story I wasn't quite satisfied with, and now it's much better, but I want readers to love it as much as I do.

This self-doubt is absolutely paralyzing. I'm simply lost. Have you ever dealt with such writing fears?

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Would love your votes!

It's that time of year again - the annual PredEd polls. I'm happy to say I have a few entries! I would love your support for these 2011 releases:

The Magic of Lavender

Just the Right Amount of Wrong

Rock Bottom  

Ground Rules

The Preditors & Editors site asks that you verify your vote by clicking the link on the email you receive after you hit Submit, so it's a two-step process. But two clicks will make me so happy! I truly appreciate your support.

TBR launches today!

Today TBR features its very first guest - Maria Zannini! Maria has some exciting news, and I'm honored that she chose to announce it on TBR. Check it out!

Happy new year!

May the coming year bring only good things to you and yours! Happy New Year's.

3, 2, 1... launch!

It's almost time for the launch of TBR! On January 2, visit my first guest at TBR, Maria Zannini, and help her celebrate her latest release.
In place of the Author Spotlight and Author Chat here on my blog, TBR will feature three authors each week. You'll want to check back often, so please follow TBR and visit often! There's an exciting roster of authors coming up, and many will hold giveaways.
If you want to be interviewed at TBR, check the blog for information. I'd love to feature your work too!

Though the blog's official launch isn't for a few days, you can get a sneak peek at the January Featured Author - check it out!

Now the calendar's just one page

And the year's dwindled down to the last few days. For most, a time of both reflection, and looking ahead, when we stand at the edge of the old year and the uncharted new one. Some make resolutions, which to me seems nothing more than a wish list. Others have goals, which implies making a run at something.

This year, I'm going to plan.

Life thew me some curve balls at the beginning of this year, which I've briefly mentioned, but I don't  throw my problems into the ether for all to see. It may make me seem standoffish, but actually, I see it as being positive. I'm not going to dwell on the downside of it. Things happen for a reason, I believe, and for now, they are as they need to be. Sorry to be cryptic, but enough said.

But the loss of writing time really threw me. I did manage to finish some stories, and I'm happy about that. I have many more WIPs awaiting me, and I plan to tackle them as time allows.

I also plan to be more organized, not only with my time but in general. I wasted too much time this year because I wasn't.

I also plan to read some of the dozens of books I've accumulated. Literally, I have about fifty that I really want to read, and they're either loaded onto my Kindle or stuffed into the bookshelf beside my bed.

Most importantly, I plan to hold onto my dream. After waiting all my life to realize it, I'm not going to let it slip away.

What about you? Anything in mind for the coming year?