Rachel Vincent's Blog, page 27
November 3, 2010
A new French cover!
[If you haven't already seen it, scroll down the previous post to enter the My Soul To Steal ARC giveaway!]
I've been searching the internet daily for the last week or so, and look what I finally found! The French cover for My Soul To Keep! They're calling it Sauve mon ame , which translates roughly to "Save my soul!" With an exclamation point! My first cover with an exclamation point! I feel like I should use a bunch of them now!!!
The book comes out in France on December 1!!!!
Anyway, exclamation points aside, I think the cover's beautiful! I love the continuity with the wavy, sparkly things trailing from her eye on all three covers, and I'm fascinated by how the French covers transpose the colors from the American covers for books 2 & 3. (The US MSTSave is green and the US MSTKeep is purple, but it's the opposite in France.)
In case you don't remember, here are the first two, available now!:
-----
November writing update:
Here's my progress on the novel overall, after writing 3,784 words yesterday:
23,300 / 100,000
And here's my progress toward my November writing goal of 65,000 words:
6,900 / 65,000
(10.62%)
I've been searching the internet daily for the last week or so, and look what I finally found! The French cover for My Soul To Keep! They're calling it Sauve mon ame , which translates roughly to "Save my soul!" With an exclamation point! My first cover with an exclamation point! I feel like I should use a bunch of them now!!!
The book comes out in France on December 1!!!!
Anyway, exclamation points aside, I think the cover's beautiful! I love the continuity with the wavy, sparkly things trailing from her eye on all three covers, and I'm fascinated by how the French covers transpose the colors from the American covers for books 2 & 3. (The US MSTSave is green and the US MSTKeep is purple, but it's the opposite in France.)
In case you don't remember, here are the first two, available now!:
-----
November writing update:
Here's my progress on the novel overall, after writing 3,784 words yesterday:
23,300 / 100,000
And here's my progress toward my November writing goal of 65,000 words:
6,900 / 65,000
(10.62%)
I have no idea why the progress bars don't show up right in my Blogger posts. Sorry.
Click below to see my critique partner Rinda Elliott's progress in our partnered not-NaNo. She made her goal too!
Who wants an ARC? [Edited]
As promised, here's the My Soul To Steal ARC giveaway. Just fill out the form below, according to the following rules:
One entry per personIf you're under 18, you must have your parents' permission to give me your shipping information, if you winEntries must be received by 11:59 pm (Central) on Wednesday, November 10, 2010
One entry per personIf you're under 18, you must have your parents' permission to give me your shipping information, if you winEntries must be received by 11:59 pm (Central) on Wednesday, November 10, 2010
And yes, the giveaway is open worldwide. If UPS will ship to you, you can enter!
Okay, start entering!
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November 2, 2010
Why I'm not doing NaNo...
[I know I promised to give away an ARC of My Soul To Steal today, but I have to push that back by one more day, in order to post what's below. But look for the contest tomorrow. I swear, this book wants a home. ;)]
Why I'm not doing NaNoWriMo:
NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month--a November-long challenge to writers to try and write 50,000 words in one month. It's a sort of group-incentive program.
It's been going on longer than I've been writing, and I've always wanted to participate, but I've never been able to, and it doesn't look like I ever will. And here's why.
The timing's never been right for me. Unless you've "won" a previous NaNo event, you have to start a novel from scratch on Nov. 1, and as a contracted writer, that's impossible for me. I'm always already in mid-novel on Nov. 1, and my deadlines are too tight for me to set that novel aside and work on a side project for an entire month.I can't commit an entire month to just one novel. I inevitably get edits or revisions during November and am forced to divert my attention from the novel I'm actually writing.In order to prove that you've actually written 50,000 words in the month of November, you have to upload your novel to be verified by the staff. They'll let you scramble the words first (they even provide directions for this) but for a writer who's paranoid about spoilers from her brand new series leaking out, this doesn't work for me.50,000 words in a month is actually under my natural pacing. I aim for a chapter a day, which is 3,000+ words per day, five days a week. Which is 60,000 words per month, bare minimum.But, I love the idea of NaNo, and I love the camaraderie. So my critique partner Rinda Elliott and I are going to do our own private version. We don't have a name for it yet (suggestions?) but we're going to hold one another accountable and post our daily progress, with links to one another.
Starting today.
Yesterday, I started with 16,400 words on my novel (the first in my new series, which I hope to be able to announce soon). I wrote just over 3,100 words.
Here's my progress on the novel, overall:19516 / 100000
(19.52%)
Here's my progress toward my November goal of 65,000 words:
3116 / 65000(4.79%)
Rinda made her goal too! So far, so good!
October 31, 2010
Haunted Gingerbread winners!
And the results are in! We got four entries in the Haunted Gingerbread contest, and I love them all. And that's why I've decided to award four prizes--three category winners, and one grand prize. Here they are:
First up is this one from ticeyx, which wins the prize for "Most Colorful." I love the red! Ticeyx, how did you do that? Fruit rollups? I also love all the little pumpkins and skulls. Please comment and tell us how you did those, as well as the ghosts on the roof!
Ticeyx wins a signed copy of Alpha!
Hannah sent in this gingerbread lighthouse, which wins the "Most Unique" category. Love the spiders, and the lighthouse actually lights up!
Hannah wins a signed copy of Alpha!
Jemma sent in the adorable house above, which takes the prize for "Most Traditional." My favorite feature from it is the frosting spider and web, hanging over the front door. Nice work!
Jenna wins a signed copy of Alpha!
And the Grand Prize winner (a signed copy of Alpha and the Godiva chocolate lollipops) is this gingerbread model of the Lazy S Ranch! But for the record, it was chosen not for the subject matter but for the detail! Red barn, circle drive, green frosting grass, windows with bars, Lazy S gate made of Tootsie Rolls, and even the licorice werecats (Faythe and Marc, I'm told) sharing their Halloween pumpkin. Number 1 and I love it!
Thanks to all those who entered, and if you wish you'd had time, you might get a second chance. I'm thinking of doing another one this winter. ;)
Winners, please email me (contestsATrachelvincentDOTcom) with your shipping information, and I'll put your prizes in the mail...
First up is this one from ticeyx, which wins the prize for "Most Colorful." I love the red! Ticeyx, how did you do that? Fruit rollups? I also love all the little pumpkins and skulls. Please comment and tell us how you did those, as well as the ghosts on the roof!
Ticeyx wins a signed copy of Alpha!
Hannah sent in this gingerbread lighthouse, which wins the "Most Unique" category. Love the spiders, and the lighthouse actually lights up!
Hannah wins a signed copy of Alpha!
Jemma sent in the adorable house above, which takes the prize for "Most Traditional." My favorite feature from it is the frosting spider and web, hanging over the front door. Nice work!
Jenna wins a signed copy of Alpha!
And the Grand Prize winner (a signed copy of Alpha and the Godiva chocolate lollipops) is this gingerbread model of the Lazy S Ranch! But for the record, it was chosen not for the subject matter but for the detail! Red barn, circle drive, green frosting grass, windows with bars, Lazy S gate made of Tootsie Rolls, and even the licorice werecats (Faythe and Marc, I'm told) sharing their Halloween pumpkin. Number 1 and I love it!
Thanks to all those who entered, and if you wish you'd had time, you might get a second chance. I'm thinking of doing another one this winter. ;)
Winners, please email me (contestsATrachelvincentDOTcom) with your shipping information, and I'll put your prizes in the mail...
This is how we do it...
[Note: today's the last day to send in your entry in the Haunted Gingerbread contest! I'll be posting them and announcing a winner tonight!]
This will probably come as no surprise, but I like Halloween. It's a great excuse to dress up and make creepy treats. I don't cook, but I do bake. And carve. And toast. And frost.
Here's some of what we did for Halloween this year!
This is what my yard looks like this year. You can see that the skeleton kicked out part of the flower bed border when he clawed his way up from the earth. ;)
This year's pumpkins! It's always hard to get a good shot of them lit. Mine is on the left, and #1's is on the right. Mine is from a pattern, his is freehand. What do you think? And, of course, we cleaned and toasted the pumpkin seeds using this recipe.
I got the meringue bones recipe here, but I forgot to take a picture of them baked, and now they're all gone! They taste like a cross between cotton candy and toasted marshmallows--so good! And they melt in your mouth, after the initial crunch. I'm making some meringue ghosts this afternoon. ;)
And, of course, our gingerbread house. It's homemade and the design is original (courtesy of #1). People have been asking about the frosting I use. Confession: I make a very simple frosting of powdered sugar and milk, and I make it thick. It doesn't taste very good, but we're not going to eat it anyway, and it holds well. We apply it with a cookie press frosting tip attachment, then smooth the "mortar" with a finger.
These are our blood clot cupcakes. The frosting is supposed to be tinted to look like gray matter, but we forgot to do that. So #1 added the veins! The recipe is here. Gross, huh? ;)
This will probably come as no surprise, but I like Halloween. It's a great excuse to dress up and make creepy treats. I don't cook, but I do bake. And carve. And toast. And frost.
Here's some of what we did for Halloween this year!
This is what my yard looks like this year. You can see that the skeleton kicked out part of the flower bed border when he clawed his way up from the earth. ;)
This year's pumpkins! It's always hard to get a good shot of them lit. Mine is on the left, and #1's is on the right. Mine is from a pattern, his is freehand. What do you think? And, of course, we cleaned and toasted the pumpkin seeds using this recipe.
I got the meringue bones recipe here, but I forgot to take a picture of them baked, and now they're all gone! They taste like a cross between cotton candy and toasted marshmallows--so good! And they melt in your mouth, after the initial crunch. I'm making some meringue ghosts this afternoon. ;)
And, of course, our gingerbread house. It's homemade and the design is original (courtesy of #1). People have been asking about the frosting I use. Confession: I make a very simple frosting of powdered sugar and milk, and I make it thick. It doesn't taste very good, but we're not going to eat it anyway, and it holds well. We apply it with a cookie press frosting tip attachment, then smooth the "mortar" with a finger.
These are our blood clot cupcakes. The frosting is supposed to be tinted to look like gray matter, but we forgot to do that. So #1 added the veins! The recipe is here. Gross, huh? ;)
October 29, 2010
Interviews and giveaways...
First, there're still two more days to enter the Haunted Gingerbread contest! Click here for details.
Second, here's a list of the recent guest blogs I've done, and several of these contain questions I haven't answered before, while others are glimpses of how I spend my spare time, and what books/movies scare me (ya know, 'cause of Halloween).
I Want To Read ThatInk And PaperBookbabblers
Second, here's a list of the recent guest blogs I've done, and several of these contain questions I haven't answered before, while others are glimpses of how I spend my spare time, and what books/movies scare me (ya know, 'cause of Halloween).
I Want To Read ThatInk And PaperBookbabblers
And...I just got Australian copies of Rogue! So I'll be giving those away soon. But even before that...
Next week, after I announce the winner of the Haunted Gingerbread contest, I'll be giving away ONE ARC of My Soul To Steal. And it'll be a plain, old, fill-out-the-form giveaway, super easy. So get ready!
October 27, 2010
FYI
Blogging as an author is an interesting challenge. Some days there's nothing going on. Some days, there's so much going on that I'm afraid of overwhelming people with one long, rambling post full of updates. But more often, there's something going on, but I'm not yet free to share or comfortable with sharing it online.
This has been the case a lot lately. So I've been pretty quiet online, but between real life, the Alpha release, and starting my new adult series, things have been pretty chaotic behind the scenes.
So I'm going to take this opportunity to answer the two questions I'm getting most often. Then I may ramble a bit. ;)
Q. Will you write any more Shifters books?
A. I honestly don't know. I hadn't planned on it, even after getting many, many requests for more. (So glad people want more, though!) And I can say for sure that Faythe's story is over. I know a lot of people wanted to see her settle down with her chosen mate and start a family, but the thing is this: that was never the point of the novels for me.
Do I see her doing that after the final page of Alpha is closed? Yes. Maybe not immediately, and maybe not in the stay-at-home capacity, but yes. I do eventually see her with a family of her own. But I don't want to write it. The story I envisioned for Faythe has reached its conclusion, and I'm very happy with it. So please feel free to picture her in your head as the world's most bada$$ mom ever. I know I am. ;)
On the other hand, I have not decided against a spin off. But I haven't decided in favor of one either. I do have an idea for one, but I have not proposed it to my publisher, for a couple of reasons. First, I don't have time to write a spin off series right now. I'm pretty swamped, at least for the next few months. And second, I need to know that I can make it in adult fiction without the Shifters series. I don't want to be that proverbial one-trick pony. (I'm counting the Soul Screamers series as a separate one-trick pony because it's YA.) I need to know that I can do something else.
Q. Why haven't you told us what your new adult series is about?
A. Because I'm not very far into it yet. The Shifters and Soul Screamers series both sold with books already written. (Stray and Rogue, for Shifters, MSTTake and an outline of MSTSave for Soul Screamers). But this new series sold based on...nothing. Well, nothing but the theory that I could come up with another adult series idea, based on the fact that I'd done it before.
And I did come up with another adult series concept. The concept was approved by my publisher months ago, the release has been scheduled, the back cover synopsis has been written, and cover design has already begun. But because of Soul Screamers deadlines, I just started the manuscript for this new book a couple of weeks ago. And it's been slow going so far, because I'm getting to know brand new characters and a brand new world (it's our world, plus some).
I've spent a lot of time rewriting what I'd already written, refining the characters and expanding the world building. I've been figuring out details that were vague in the concept proposal but now need supporting details. This stage of the process for me is very time consuming, yet shows little quantifiable progress. Which is very frustrating.
So, hopefully it's obvious that until now, it's been too early for me to tell you about this book. That would have been like trying to tell you what pattern a kaleidoscope shows, only to have it change on the next turn. And the confusion from that would have been magnified by the fact that news spreads very quickly on the internet, and it seems to evolve with each retelling, like that "telephone" game we played as kids.
But I'm now waiting for the official green light on my latest (and hopefully last) big concept adjustment, and when (and if) that comes, I'll do a whole post about this new series. Shouldn't be long. Unless my publisher doesn't like it. And if that's the case...well, you won't see much of me for a while, because I'll look a bit like a mad scientist, only with an ergonomic keyboard, rather than test tubes and beakers. ;)
This has been the case a lot lately. So I've been pretty quiet online, but between real life, the Alpha release, and starting my new adult series, things have been pretty chaotic behind the scenes.
So I'm going to take this opportunity to answer the two questions I'm getting most often. Then I may ramble a bit. ;)
Q. Will you write any more Shifters books?
A. I honestly don't know. I hadn't planned on it, even after getting many, many requests for more. (So glad people want more, though!) And I can say for sure that Faythe's story is over. I know a lot of people wanted to see her settle down with her chosen mate and start a family, but the thing is this: that was never the point of the novels for me.
Do I see her doing that after the final page of Alpha is closed? Yes. Maybe not immediately, and maybe not in the stay-at-home capacity, but yes. I do eventually see her with a family of her own. But I don't want to write it. The story I envisioned for Faythe has reached its conclusion, and I'm very happy with it. So please feel free to picture her in your head as the world's most bada$$ mom ever. I know I am. ;)
On the other hand, I have not decided against a spin off. But I haven't decided in favor of one either. I do have an idea for one, but I have not proposed it to my publisher, for a couple of reasons. First, I don't have time to write a spin off series right now. I'm pretty swamped, at least for the next few months. And second, I need to know that I can make it in adult fiction without the Shifters series. I don't want to be that proverbial one-trick pony. (I'm counting the Soul Screamers series as a separate one-trick pony because it's YA.) I need to know that I can do something else.
Q. Why haven't you told us what your new adult series is about?
A. Because I'm not very far into it yet. The Shifters and Soul Screamers series both sold with books already written. (Stray and Rogue, for Shifters, MSTTake and an outline of MSTSave for Soul Screamers). But this new series sold based on...nothing. Well, nothing but the theory that I could come up with another adult series idea, based on the fact that I'd done it before.
And I did come up with another adult series concept. The concept was approved by my publisher months ago, the release has been scheduled, the back cover synopsis has been written, and cover design has already begun. But because of Soul Screamers deadlines, I just started the manuscript for this new book a couple of weeks ago. And it's been slow going so far, because I'm getting to know brand new characters and a brand new world (it's our world, plus some).
I've spent a lot of time rewriting what I'd already written, refining the characters and expanding the world building. I've been figuring out details that were vague in the concept proposal but now need supporting details. This stage of the process for me is very time consuming, yet shows little quantifiable progress. Which is very frustrating.
So, hopefully it's obvious that until now, it's been too early for me to tell you about this book. That would have been like trying to tell you what pattern a kaleidoscope shows, only to have it change on the next turn. And the confusion from that would have been magnified by the fact that news spreads very quickly on the internet, and it seems to evolve with each retelling, like that "telephone" game we played as kids.
But I'm now waiting for the official green light on my latest (and hopefully last) big concept adjustment, and when (and if) that comes, I'll do a whole post about this new series. Shouldn't be long. Unless my publisher doesn't like it. And if that's the case...well, you won't see much of me for a while, because I'll look a bit like a mad scientist, only with an ergonomic keyboard, rather than test tubes and beakers. ;)
October 25, 2010
Monster House 2010
Okay, here, finally, is Monster House 2010:
We actually finished it last week, but I wanted to wait until the last week of October to post it. Features of note/ingredients:
candy corn roof tilesTootsie Toll fencefall colored M&Ms and Reeces Pieces leaves on a gingerbread treelicorice trimmarshmallow creme pumpkin patchCocoa Rice Crispy treat molded into place for the "fall lawn"ghost Peep occupants
From the side, you can see the family graveyard on the hill, and the ghost currently haunting it. ;)
And here's a close-up of the tree. The design was #1's and I'm so glad it worked! It fit together like a puzzle with minimum trimming and stood up perfectly!
Above are the two parts of the 3-D puzzle tree (plus tombstones) before they were baked.
And, of course, the naked gingerbread, which makes it easier to see the design. ;)
So, how's your haunted gingerbread coming? There's still one more week to enter the contest!
We actually finished it last week, but I wanted to wait until the last week of October to post it. Features of note/ingredients:
candy corn roof tilesTootsie Toll fencefall colored M&Ms and Reeces Pieces leaves on a gingerbread treelicorice trimmarshmallow creme pumpkin patchCocoa Rice Crispy treat molded into place for the "fall lawn"ghost Peep occupants
The house's eyes/front windows are made from yellow Tootsie Rolls rolled flat and cut into shape.
From the side, you can see the family graveyard on the hill, and the ghost currently haunting it. ;)
And here's a close-up of the tree. The design was #1's and I'm so glad it worked! It fit together like a puzzle with minimum trimming and stood up perfectly!
Above are the two parts of the 3-D puzzle tree (plus tombstones) before they were baked.
And, of course, the naked gingerbread, which makes it easier to see the design. ;)
So, how's your haunted gingerbread coming? There's still one more week to enter the contest!
October 20, 2010
Censorship vs. Spoilers
[Warning: this note contains complete honesty]
I hate censorship and hate deleting comments (even when people track me down and comment here just to tell me they hated my book; yes, it happens, and I have no idea how I'm expected to respond). But I hate spoilers even more, so in the past couple of weeks, I've had to delete several comments from my blog, and several more from Facebook, because they contained spoilers.
If you want your comment to appear here, don't put spoilers in it. This is Official Blog Policy, people. I should probably write that in the sidebar somewhere...
So, for the record, anonymous poster from this morning, your comment wasn't rejected because you were disappointed in Alpha (that's your right, and this is me making sure your voice was heard), but because you mentioned half the plot points in the book. That's not fair to people who haven't read it yet.
Okay, now let's move on to the fun stuff!
Two new blog tour stops, this time from the UK blog tour my UK publicist set up:
Fluttering Butterflies has a guest post from me in which I list my favorite horror films (suitable for Hallowee viewing!), complete with pictures! Yes, horror movie images. Don't click if you don't want to see...Book Chick City has a guest post from me, wherein I talk about black cats and Halloween, and she gives away 5 shiny copies of Alpha (unsigned, straight from the publisher, I believe). So if you haven't gotten your copy yet, head on over! You could win one!
I hate censorship and hate deleting comments (even when people track me down and comment here just to tell me they hated my book; yes, it happens, and I have no idea how I'm expected to respond). But I hate spoilers even more, so in the past couple of weeks, I've had to delete several comments from my blog, and several more from Facebook, because they contained spoilers.
If you want your comment to appear here, don't put spoilers in it. This is Official Blog Policy, people. I should probably write that in the sidebar somewhere...
So, for the record, anonymous poster from this morning, your comment wasn't rejected because you were disappointed in Alpha (that's your right, and this is me making sure your voice was heard), but because you mentioned half the plot points in the book. That's not fair to people who haven't read it yet.
Okay, now let's move on to the fun stuff!
Two new blog tour stops, this time from the UK blog tour my UK publicist set up:
Fluttering Butterflies has a guest post from me in which I list my favorite horror films (suitable for Hallowee viewing!), complete with pictures! Yes, horror movie images. Don't click if you don't want to see...Book Chick City has a guest post from me, wherein I talk about black cats and Halloween, and she gives away 5 shiny copies of Alpha (unsigned, straight from the publisher, I believe). So if you haven't gotten your copy yet, head on over! You could win one!
October 18, 2010
Gingerbread update
I seem to have stumbled into some kind of alternate reality wherein time...disappears. Or runs too fast, or something. Is this the Netherworld? Have the monsters been replaced with deadlines, interviews, guest blogs, and email? Not that any of those things are monstrous, but sometimes they pile together to form one big, scary creature called Obligation, which devours time (not just free time, but All Time) and leaves nothing but a vague blur of recollection.
Seriously, though I have no idea how it got to be mid-October, and even though I've already turned in two books, a novella, and two short stories this year, and promoted four novel releases, I feel like I've accomplished nothing. And I still have one book to go this calendar year.
Anyway, while I fight to get caught up, here are a few updates:
Foreign releases:
My Haunted Gingerbread House construction has begun! Yes, it's a long process, because...did I mention I'm short on time? ;)
As usual, the design is by #1. Here's a shot of his original sketch and the cardboard mockup. The mockup is to make sure that the pieces will fit together like we think they will. And after it's together, he takes it apart, and we use the pieces as templates for the dough. (Note, we don't actually eat the gingerbread, so we're not too worried about germs. ;))
This is naked gingerbread. AKA, the assembled, but still undecorated house. This year, it sits on a "fall lawn" made of chocolate rice crispy treat, molded to the custom wooden platform. There's a tree, but it's not assembled yet. I'm holding my breath on the tree this year, because it looks kinda fragile. I'll post more pictures when the whole thing is done.
Also, don't forget the Haunted Gingerbread contest, going on until Halloween!
And...just 'cause...here's a picture of my front flowerbed, all decorated for Halloween. Note how the skeleton has busted through the brick border. And yes, that's the tombstone that usually sits in my office. ;)
