P.T. Michelle's Blog, page 3
December 12, 2016
AWAKEN and BLACK PLATINUM release schedules
AWAKEN and BLACK PLATINUM release updates…
AWAKEN
ALMOST DONE! Woot!! If you’ve been following me on FB you’ve seen the daily word count I’ve been cranking out on AWAKEN. I’m ONE scene away from finishing Ethan & Nara’s final book (it’s well over 100K). I do have edits, which usually go quickly, but with iBooks’ holiday shut down for uploading books starting today and going thru 1/8/17 and Kobo closing for uploads early too, I can’t release a book on some retailers and not others. Oh man, the emails I would get from unhappy readers if they couldn’t get the book on their retailer of choice!
All this means that AWAKEN’s release is out of my control until later in January. So I’ll be setting AWAKEN’s release on ALL retailers to go live on 1/24/17. I will share PREORDER links for each retailer as they become available.
BLACK PLATINUM
November 29, 2016
AWAKEN update! It’s coming very soon! :)
I’ve never had a book take me so long to write, but AWAKEN has definitely done that! Truth time, there were a few threads I considered cutting so the book wouldn’t take as long to write, but Ethan and Nara (HUGS, I love these two!) deserve to have their full story told…including their families and all that entails, so I kept the threads and weaved them in. That means you’re getting a honking long book, which does take longer to write. It was supposed to come out tomorrow, but it’s not done. Argh, Ethan and Nara…they just have so much story in them! It IS coming soon. I just need to finish up the end, then edits. So you WILL get Ethan and Nara’s story this year, DEC 2016. FINALLY! Bare with me just a tad longer…unless you want me to leave it right here…
Fair warning, this book will tear at your heart quite a few times. AWAKEN is almost here!
Be sure to add AWAKEN to your Goodreads to read shelf! 
November 16, 2016
Happy Birthday to Me & a teaser for BLACK PLATINUM’s cover!
The next chapter in Sebastian and Talia’s love story is coming! I posted this on Facebook, but I’m also sharing this here. See a teaser for the cover of BLACK PLATINUM here! AWAKEN will be coming out at the end of November and BLACK PLATINUM in January.
October 27, 2016
Visual Plotting (aka Storyboarding)
Visual Plotting (aka Storyboarding)
When I first started writing, I was a pantser writer (that means I wrote by the seat-of-my-pants…no planning or plotting), but the more stories I created and the longer they became, I had to morph into a hybrid writer where I would have to write a high-level outline and then I could sit down and write my books.
I recently ran across the concept of visual plotting aka storyboarding on Rachel Vincent’s blog** and the idea really appealed to me for a couple of reasons:
1) Because I’m a very visual person
2) Because when you write bulleted items down in an outline format on paper and you print it out to read it away from your computer, you aren’t given the freedom to “mess” with the order of events/scenes(how and when they occur) as easily.
So I gave this concept a whirl for my manuscript Insurrection (the second book in my Scions trilogy that I originally published with Harlequin under their Silhouette Nocturne line).
FYI: You can do this on Scrivener now! But if you prefer a tactile, hands-on approach over digital, then here’s how you do it. The concept is the same regardless.
Supplies needed:
1) Dry erase board big enough to hold a LOT of sticky notes.
2) Different colored post it notes to represent different aspects of your story, ie Main plot, main subplot, secondary plot, minor subplot and of course the romance.
3) Dry erase markers. (I tried to match mine to the sticky notes, which I’ll tell you why below)
Basically what you’re trying to do is take high-level ideas and put them on sticky notes in a one-liner format. As ideas/new scenes come to you, keep writing them down on the appropriate colored post it notes and then plunk them on your erasable marker board in no particular order. Once you have as many as you can think of, start placing your ideas/scenes on the board in the order that makes the most sense for them to happen in your story. After you have placed all of them, you might get an idea to move a scene earlier or later and that in turn might spur new ideas or scenes or plot twists for your story…to which you’ll jot down on a new post it.
In my mind, this kind of plotting helps for two reasons:
1) It’s more flexible
2) It lets you see if your story is balanced or where you might need to add more elements for a better balance.
For instance, if you look at my storyboard at the bottom of this post, you’ll see that I don’t have any light pink post its at the end. Light pink post-its represent the romance aspects of my story. Yep, I haven’t figured out yet exactly how I want the story to end. Also, since I have yellow at the beginning but nothing near the end, I can tell I need to make sure I carry my secondary plot further into the story. I have ideas for both additional light pinks and yellow posts its, and those I could either jot down on a few post its and keep them to the side until I decide which one I want to use OR I could use my markers and write out the different ending ideas on the board off to the side. That’s why the coordinated markers might come in handy.
Rachel’s example helped her formulate her synopsis, which I think is the BEST use of this storyboard…ie, high-level plotting. That’s exactly what each of those post it notes represent…plot points, twists, romantic scenes, etc that will happen in the story—and that’s exactly how you write a synopsis…at a high level.
Did Insurrection follow this outline? Some of it did, but it gave me a very loose road map and a place to “play with” ideas and tweak my story as I’m moving along.
For a great tool with many functions such as:
1) Helping you get out of a plotting rut
2) Helping you write up a synopsis when you haven’t written the rest of the story yet…ie, if you want to write a proposal to pitch to NY publishers/agents, etc.
3) Helping you tweak your novel as you’re writing it
Give storyboarding a try and see what you think.
I’ve added the storyboard below again so you can see it beside the color-coded legend (which I also pilfered from Rachel**
October 23, 2016
Updates for Awaken and Black Platinum
Admitting that you’re not superwoman.
That’s hard. I hate admitting that 
October 2, 2016
Brightest Kind of Darkness Print Book Bundle Giveaway!
The massive BKoD print book & swag GIVEAWAY is posted over on my FB page!
One LUCKY winner will be chosen on 10/3 (tomorrow).
September 29, 2016
AWAKEN in October & Giveaway contest to win print book bundle!
My apologies that I didn’t post this on my blog/website too. I posted a video on FB if you want to see it here, but here’s what went out in my newsletter yesterday about AWAKEN’s upcoming release…
RELEASE
AWAKEN (the last BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS book) IS coming in October! The move back to the US from France and other unforeseen circumstances has delayed me but it IS coming! As a fun thank you to readers who’ve been patient for 2 years waiting for AWAKEN’s release…for every three days past Sept 30th, I will be giving away a full set of the BKoD series in print (up through the books currently available today (includes: Ethan, BKoD, Lucid, Destiny and Desire) until I give a new release date for AWAKEN. It should be in October.
** The giveaway print BKoD bundle will be the original covers **
UPCOMING GIVEAWAY (for BKoD series print bundle)
Starting October 3rd, I’ll be giving away a whole set of the BKoD books in print (up through Desire) to one lucky winner. This giveaway will be hosted on Facebook. If you haven’t LIKED me there, please do so you don’t miss out on the giveaways.
August 9, 2016
AWAKEN update…
For those who are waiting on AWAKEN (Brightest Kind of Darkness, Book 5 – the final book) news…I’d hoped for an August** release, but September is more realistic. Each time I have moved, it has thrown me off my writing schedule, but this move from France back to the US has taken FAR, FAR more of my time away from writing than I anticipated. I thought the US part would be so much easier, but too many moving parts, a new town, new house, and life changes are all happening at once. :/
The good news is I am writing every day and I have no plans to move ever again (if I can help it! PLEASE, NO MORE MOVES!). I want to give you all the best book I can, and AWAKEN is the only story I’m working on until it’s finished. I will update as I get closer.
Yes, this means that BLACK PLATINUM will get pushed back a little bit. I’ll be updating the preorder for it on iBooks soon once I see where I am with timing on AWAKEN.
I apologize to you all for my scheduling adjustment, but I am human and if I push to write at lightning speed, the stories won’t be as good as they can be. I love my readers and am doing my best to make you happy while also not stressing myself to the point of sheer exhaustion. I’m so appreciative that you all are excited about AWAKEN’s release and are passionate about Ethan and Nara. AWAKEN is coming and BLACK PLATINUM with Sebastian and Talia will be right behind it. 
June 28, 2016
STEEL RUSH & GOLD SHIMMER now in Audio!
GOLD SHIMMER & STEEL RUSH are now available in AUDIO on Audible & Amazon! Grab up both books to listen to Cass and Calder’s epic love story as a treat for your vacation read. You won’t be disappointed with Lance Greenfield and Kirsten Leigh’s fabulous narration. They add a whole new layer of awesomeness to their story!
June 10, 2016
AWAKEN’s cover reveal & and whole new look for the BKoD series!
For those who’ve been waiting and missed this announcement on my Facebook page. Here’s AWAKEN‘s cover!
