Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 40

Going on a Retreat!

Thursday evening, Anya Kelleye and I are going on our own little retreat. There’s a cabin in Ellijay, GA where she’s stayed before, and we’re renting that one for Thursday and Friday nights. It’s by the river, and it’s going to be so beautiful and peaceful. Anya is the only person I know who can sit quietly with me and let me work. I plan on doing a lot of writing and she’s going to work on book covers. And we’ll both probably do some reading, too. We’re still trying to figure out if we want to cook or if we want to just take finger foods. All I know is it’s going to be a fun time! Just so long as the scorpions stay away. That’s one creature that gives me the heebie jeebies, and they are known to frequent some of the cabins in this area. They are the little bitty scorpions, but they still sting!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the website North Ga Cabin Rentals. Maybe if you’re ever in the southeast US, you can stay in this beautiful place!

Sunday Update

I’m a little over halfway through edits on Soul of a Vampire. Then it will be on to the beta readers/editors. It’s funny how when you write a book, you do it a little at a time, then when you start the read through for editing, you find little plot holes and things you didn’t mention that you should have. I realized I didn’t mention the last names of two of my characters, and didn’t mention the name or much about the town in which the story is set. LOL.

It feels like fall is in the air today. After such a HOT summer, the high today is only 78 degrees. It’s not supposed to get higher than mid-80′s for the next week. Yay! No 90 degree weather…at least for awhile.

I need to get back to cooking! Since we got back from Gatlinburg, I haven’t cooked anything.

How are you guys doing?

What To Do When You’re Offended

I debated with myself for a long time before I decided to post this. I try to never post things that are controversial, but I can’t get this off my mind. Most of you know I’m a Christian. But I’m not really offended by much, and I let most things slide. I’m okay with people using the “f” word if they want, although I don’t personally use it. Most words don’t bother me, really. I do have issues with people using God’s name disrespectfully, but if it’s on their own blog or whatever, that’s their right. I’m not going to preach about it. LOL. But I saw something on Facebook that offended me so badly, that my face got hot and tears came to my eyes. It was so offensive toward God that I couldn’t believe someone posted it. Now here’s the question. Since I’m likely to see that kind of thing again (I’ve seen other things similar from this person), do I unfriend them? I don’t want to make a big issue of it, but I can’t stop thinking about what I saw. I never want to see it again. I have friends who are atheists and agnostics, and most of them wouldn’t post that, simply out of respect for others. Would this person even notice if I unfriend them? I don’t really know them that well anyway. I don’t ever want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but this hurt me down to the core. I can’t unsee what I saw. What should I do?

What Catches Your Eye and Makes You Buy?

I’ve been hearing a lot about how important a good cover is. And I agree. It’s very, very important. Many readers won’t even take a look at a book’s description if the cover isn’t appealing to the eye. But I’ve found that the cover isn’t what catches my eye first. It isn’t the most important thing in deciding whether or not to check out the book. For me, it’s the title. I don’t know why that takes precedence over the cover, but for me it does. I’ve been looking at a lot of free books lately because I get emails offering them to me. And I’ve found that even if they’re free, I pass them over if I’m not interested in the title.

So what makes a good title? For me, it has to be intriguing. It has to let me know just a tad about what I might find in the book. Or if it doesn’t, it should make me WONDER what’s in the book. For mystery titles, sometimes the name of the place sparks my interest. Many mystery books use the location as part of the title. If the name of the place sounds spooky, it’s going to catch my eye every time. Ruth Ann Nordin, a best-selling romance writer, just released a regency romance called “Her Counterfeit Husband”. Now that title draws me in. Why is her husband “counterfeit”? I want to know why. Susan Bischoff’s “Heroes Til Curfew” interests me. What about these people makes them heroes? And why is there a curfew? They must be young. Kait Nolan’s “Red” makes me want to take a second look because the title has one word, and I want to know what it means. This is what I’m talking about. The title makes you wonder. I won’t mention any titles that I think are terrible for the same reason I don’t do bad reviews. But I’ve seen some bad ones. And I’ve seen some very, very good ones.

This happens to be a real problem for me as a writer. Why? Because I’m terrible at thinking up titles for my books. I’ve actually had some help with some of my titles. I was very, very lucky with Soul of a Vampire. I thought of the title and the basic story at the same time. It just popped in my head. And I think it’s a good title. The word “vampire” still gets the attention of readers because the vampire craze isn’t quite over yet. Although, it’s never really completely over, because vampire stories have been around forever. And the word “soul” is intriguing to me. It would make me wonder what’s up with this vampire’s soul. Oh how I wish all book titles were this easy for me. I know I’m going to have a real challenge with that when I write the story my husband thought up. It’s kind of a complicated story, but I think it’s going to be a good one if I can write it properly. And if I can think of a good title! I might make him do the title. LOL

What about you? Is a title important to you? Or will the book cover draw you in enough to check out the blurb?

Wednesday Update

I don’t have a lot to report. I’m letting my WIP sit for a few days after finishing, and I plan on starting the editing process tomorrow. I usually don’t have a lot to edit because I do a lot of editing along the way. But when I do the final read through, I always find things to change or add. I rarely find anything I want to take out. Since I’ve been at this writing thing awhile, my first drafts are much cleaner.

On a weird note. You know how Amazon sends you those emails suggesting certain books to read based on other things you’ve bought from them? Amazon sent me an email today suggesting two of my own books to me! That’s never happened before, and I thought it was kind of funny. Hmmm, I wonder if that means they suggested those two books to other customers….

Ring and Dagger

As promised, here are the pictures of my ring and the dagger we bought on our anniversary trip. The ring is showing the side with our wedding date. I don’t know how well you can see it. I had to prop it up with a plastic lid so you can see the engraving. You can’t tell in this picture, but the ring is silver, and the edges are gold. And isn’t that dagger awesome?

Anniversary Trip Update

I’m not sure if this post will even go through. There’s no wifi in the room and the 3G on my iPad is spotty. I’ve had to respond to comments more than once before anything will go through.

Since I finished my WIP last week, I’m taking a small break from writing while on my anniversary weekend. When I get back, I’ll start my read through/editing/proofing.

Since this was our 30th anniversary, I wanted to do something special. Hubby has lost three wedding bands because he has to take them off for work. I’m still wearing my band and tiny solitaire. So we got stainless steel bands, silver with gold trim, and had our names with hearts between them engraved into them. And our wedding date, too. They look awesome. I’ll do pics later because I can’t get the pics from my iPad to upload to WordPress.

None of you probably know this about me. But I love knives. I also fear them. I think they’re awesome. So I bought a dagger from a shop here. I’ll do a pic of that, too. One year we got our sons swords from this shop. Yeah, real swords.

Since Internet is spotty, I’ll have to wait until I get back home to do my sponsor duties. I’ll check out other blogs later. Bye for now!

Anniversary Weekend!

This coming Tuesday, hubby and I will have been married 30 years! It’s so hard to believe. We went through some rough tomes early in our marriage, but the last half has been great. My husband is one of the most awesome people I know. I have the utmost love and respect for him. He cleans house, does laundry, and actually listens to me when I think he’s not. Because he buys me stuff I’ve mentioned I need. Anyway, we’re currently on the way to Gatlinburg, TN for a couple of days. That’s where we spent our honeymoon 30 years ago. I didn’t even bring my laptop, only my iPad. No writing this weekend! I’m so glad I finished my book before this weekend. This trip is going to be fun and relaxing. Good food. Maybe a little shopping. And MAYBE my husband will get me on the chairlift going up to Ober Gatlinburg. Maybe….

I’m Finished With My WIP…Maybe

I have a serious dilemma. Or should I say a series dilemma? Here’s the deal. I just finished the last chapter of Soul of a Vampire. But I think this book might have the potential of being the first in the series. I THINK. If it’s going to be a stand alone, I need to stop it where it is. But if it’s going to be a series, there’s an epilogue I need to write to hint at whose story might come next. I don’t know what to do. Many of you know my story of series writing. I wrote Guardian Vampire and a lot of readers wanted a sequel. But there was no sequel in my brain for it. So I wrote the Vampires’ Curse (Libby Fox) trilogy to please readers who liked series. It just doesn’t sell well. If it weren’t for Guardian Vampire and Haunted Lake, my sales would be TERRIBLE. Those two have always been my best sellers. And they’re stand alones. And they’re getting some age on them, so the momentum is slowing down. The only reason I hesitate to write a sequel to SoaV is because I was going to work on the book my husband thought of next. But I could put it off and write the sequel, then come back to the other one. However, I don’t want to disappoint my husband by putting off “his” book. Oh, what to do!

On the eating situation I was talking about earlier, I found that I can eat fish without the gag reflex taking over. I actually had for supper…sushi (not the raw kind), a few olives, and cheese & crackers. So I won’t have to revert to popcorn for supper again. LOL

On a Vegetarian Kick?

The title is a little misleading, since I really don’t like most veggies. What I really mean is I’m going through one of my “meat makes me gag” stages. I fixed spaghetti the other day because that’s what hubby wanted. He wanted me to make enough for him to have leftovers for work through the week. I did eat a plate of it, but my mouth and stomach were rebelling a bit. I’ve been through these phases before. Yesterday, for lunch, I got a veggie plate at the grocery store consisting of Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Did I mention I don’t like veggies? I really tried to eat the green beans. I ate as many as I could before the gag reflex started. I think I’ll go for a salad at lunch today. But I’m trying to think up some good dishes to fix for myself that contain no meat. Keep in mind…I DON’T like most veggies. Did I say that already? LOL.

So, anyone got any ideas? I love onions. I like beans. I’m still going to try Kait Nolan‘s polenta recipe (I already have the yellow cornmeal). But I don’t like most green veggies. I like zucchini, but it has to be exactly the right texture. I LOVE cheese. I’m open to suggestions….