T.K. Rayford's Blog
September 9, 2013
Gem's Story
I've been working on Galaos, but having a bit of a hard time putting the story together. That's not because the story doesn't want to be told, but it seems that Gem's story wants to be told more. I've always said that Gem is one of the most interesting characters in the Abstrus series for me. All of the characters have their stories and their reasons for being who they have become, but I've always been the most interested in how Gem has come to be the person she is today.
So I finally figured out that trying to write the next book with the white noise of Gem's life story playing in my ears is not a particularly good combination. I'm not getting much done. It would make me far more productive to allow her story to tell itself first and then go back to Galaos and Lexi. I'm officially working on a novella about the events in Gem's life before meeting Lexi. After all, aren't you dying to know just how a half breed ended up working as a hunter? Who knows where we'll end up!
And now that you know what I'm working on, I'm gonna end this and pretend to go be productive. :)
So I finally figured out that trying to write the next book with the white noise of Gem's life story playing in my ears is not a particularly good combination. I'm not getting much done. It would make me far more productive to allow her story to tell itself first and then go back to Galaos and Lexi. I'm officially working on a novella about the events in Gem's life before meeting Lexi. After all, aren't you dying to know just how a half breed ended up working as a hunter? Who knows where we'll end up!
And now that you know what I'm working on, I'm gonna end this and pretend to go be productive. :)
September 6, 2013
Shady's Back
Well, howdy. Yes, I have been MIA for a loooong time! My apologies. But don't worry. I'm still around and kicking. The past year and a half has been jam packed for me. I had a new baby boy since I've been away. He's 9 months old now and the cutest chubby person on the planet... but of course I'm biased.
Of course, my procrastination turned into desertion as far as my writing goes. I know, I know. Shame on me! But the good news for those who have been waiting is that I'm back and focused again. I have more going on right now than I've ever had at one time in my life (including becoming a student again, yaaaaay me) but I'm prepared to put in the extra hours to complete Galaos, the third book in the Planet Abstrus series. I'm very excited about it and hopefully soon, I'll have a prospective release date for you guys.
So that's pretty much all for now. Glad to see you guys again, and I won't be a stranger. Hopefully :)
Of course, my procrastination turned into desertion as far as my writing goes. I know, I know. Shame on me! But the good news for those who have been waiting is that I'm back and focused again. I have more going on right now than I've ever had at one time in my life (including becoming a student again, yaaaaay me) but I'm prepared to put in the extra hours to complete Galaos, the third book in the Planet Abstrus series. I'm very excited about it and hopefully soon, I'll have a prospective release date for you guys.
So that's pretty much all for now. Glad to see you guys again, and I won't be a stranger. Hopefully :)
August 17, 2012
But I Digress...
Apparently I have been living in the clouds because it wasn't until just now that I realized I haven't posted in almost two months. Shame on me! I have been indeed doing some fun things over the past two months... but I can't really say that I've been doing what I'm supposed to be doing. But what's new right? :)
I have been productive though. Just not very productive in the way of writing. =/ My embroidery habit has kicked into high gear and I've had the time of my life with my Brother machine. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
And now that I've said all of that, I have realized what the point of this post is. (At least I got here eventually right?) Galaos was supposed to be out around this time, but obviously I've fallen behind on getting it finished. I apologize greatly. The new date that I'm shooting for is early November 2012 and I'll keep you updated on it.
I have been productive though. Just not very productive in the way of writing. =/ My embroidery habit has kicked into high gear and I've had the time of my life with my Brother machine. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
And now that I've said all of that, I have realized what the point of this post is. (At least I got here eventually right?) Galaos was supposed to be out around this time, but obviously I've fallen behind on getting it finished. I apologize greatly. The new date that I'm shooting for is early November 2012 and I'll keep you updated on it.
June 29, 2012
Abstrus Giveaway + Randomness
Well, I've quite obviously missed my "tomorrow" deadline that I set to get my little giveaway posted. Don't worry though. I'm gonna do better, starting today :) Anywho, I've got signed copies of Abstrus and Sion that I will be giving away to two people. All you have to do is comment here on the blog or on my Facebook page to enter. Random.org will be used to select the two winners on July 7th.
Whew! Now I feel better. My randomness for today is that for the past three days it's been over 100 degrees here. Yesterday, I got in my car and the dash thermometer said 114. Ri-di-cu-lous! Bless the guy that invented air conditioning. Luckily though, the book I'm reading in set in the mountains of Montana during the winter. Nothing like a little imagination vacation to cool off right? The thing that makes me even sadder is that we haven't even hit the hottest part of the summer yet. Maybe I will write a poem about it...
I've thought about it for a moment and now I will definitely be writing a poem about it.
Whew! Now I feel better. My randomness for today is that for the past three days it's been over 100 degrees here. Yesterday, I got in my car and the dash thermometer said 114. Ri-di-cu-lous! Bless the guy that invented air conditioning. Luckily though, the book I'm reading in set in the mountains of Montana during the winter. Nothing like a little imagination vacation to cool off right? The thing that makes me even sadder is that we haven't even hit the hottest part of the summer yet. Maybe I will write a poem about it...
I've thought about it for a moment and now I will definitely be writing a poem about it.
June 3, 2012
Insomniac
Why am I up at 3 am? No, it's not because I'm working hard on something and I'm so diligent that I just had to see it through to the end before going to sleep. I wish I could say that was the reason.
I'm really still up because apparently sleep has decided it hates me for now and doesn't want to visit me. Stupid sleep. After lying in bed for hours trying hard to not be awake anymore, I decided to blog (which is not quite as productive as writing, but hey, who's judging) since I have at least 2 things to talk about.
The first is Camp NaNoWriMo!!! If you've been around awhile you know how I absolutely adore NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place during the month of November. It's the perfect thing for a girl like me who functions best under a glaring deadline. How excited was I to find out that Camp NaNo will be in two separate months this year in addition to the traditional NaNo???? June is the first camp and I'm all bunked up with my sleeping bag and my new deadline to get the writing done. I'll be sure to keep you updated with my progress this month, because I just know you're dying to be updated daily about how many words I've written :P
The second thing that I had to talk about was how lacking I've been in the giveaway arena. For a while there I was really awesome and was holding giveaways left and right. So in my attempt to be awesome again, I'm dreaming up a new giveaway for a copy of Abstrus and Sion and maybe some swag too. I guess I will sit quietly in the dark and decide exactly what I'd like to do for the giveaway until I fall asleep and announce it tomorrow.
Well, those were my two things to talk about and I'm fresh out of things. I hope this post made at least a little sense, but if it didn't, remember that it's 3am and I'm sleep deprived.
Goodnight now, I hope.
I'm really still up because apparently sleep has decided it hates me for now and doesn't want to visit me. Stupid sleep. After lying in bed for hours trying hard to not be awake anymore, I decided to blog (which is not quite as productive as writing, but hey, who's judging) since I have at least 2 things to talk about.
The first is Camp NaNoWriMo!!! If you've been around awhile you know how I absolutely adore NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place during the month of November. It's the perfect thing for a girl like me who functions best under a glaring deadline. How excited was I to find out that Camp NaNo will be in two separate months this year in addition to the traditional NaNo???? June is the first camp and I'm all bunked up with my sleeping bag and my new deadline to get the writing done. I'll be sure to keep you updated with my progress this month, because I just know you're dying to be updated daily about how many words I've written :P
The second thing that I had to talk about was how lacking I've been in the giveaway arena. For a while there I was really awesome and was holding giveaways left and right. So in my attempt to be awesome again, I'm dreaming up a new giveaway for a copy of Abstrus and Sion and maybe some swag too. I guess I will sit quietly in the dark and decide exactly what I'd like to do for the giveaway until I fall asleep and announce it tomorrow.
Well, those were my two things to talk about and I'm fresh out of things. I hope this post made at least a little sense, but if it didn't, remember that it's 3am and I'm sleep deprived.
Goodnight now, I hope.
May 11, 2012
The Timeless Battle
Well I have been thinking a lot lately about that age old battle that will probably never see an end. Yeah, you know the one. Pessimists Vs. Optimists. My husband would say that I'm a pessimist by nature, a true Debbie Downer, but I'm not sure that I would agree. I would call myself more of a realist (and I can see him rolling his eyes at me even as I type this.)
But regardless of which I truly belong to, I do believe that I've had an epiphany... and not just because I like the word epiphany either. For the past few weeks, I have been walking around being my normal realist *cough* pessimistic *cough* self, but with extra dedication for some reason.
The "some reason" would actually be lots of reasons. I'm not where I want to be yet and I'm slowly chipping away at the block to get there, but it just wasn't happening fast enough. And then for a while I felt ignored by readers, and then once that phase passed and someone picked up Abstrus, they felt it wasn't a five-star effort, to say the least. Bummed was not the word. This all had me re-evaluating the meaning of life for a while.
The point of this pointless post is to say that in the battle of pessi Vs. opti, I will probably never be the latter... which I'm coming to realize is okay. Just because I'm not a glass-half-full or a "the sun'll come out tomorrow" girl doesn't mean I'm broken. The good news is if this is you too, you're not broken either. I mean, some of the greatest most revered artists in history did things like chop off their own ears and were just plain nuts. If I haven't reached that slippery slope then I'm probably doing pretty okay.
I think that being a pessi/realist is definitely a part of who I am and is it's own motivation for me to keep going and doing what I love. Because ultimately if I love what I'm doing, then someone else will too. That doesn't mean everyone will but even just the someones make this all worth it. And I'm not saying it's cute to always be the worst case scenario type person, because it's not. Even us pessis have opti moments. I know I do... especially when I'm eating gummy worms. Then everything looks a little brighter.
Fin
But regardless of which I truly belong to, I do believe that I've had an epiphany... and not just because I like the word epiphany either. For the past few weeks, I have been walking around being my normal realist *cough* pessimistic *cough* self, but with extra dedication for some reason.
The "some reason" would actually be lots of reasons. I'm not where I want to be yet and I'm slowly chipping away at the block to get there, but it just wasn't happening fast enough. And then for a while I felt ignored by readers, and then once that phase passed and someone picked up Abstrus, they felt it wasn't a five-star effort, to say the least. Bummed was not the word. This all had me re-evaluating the meaning of life for a while.
The point of this pointless post is to say that in the battle of pessi Vs. opti, I will probably never be the latter... which I'm coming to realize is okay. Just because I'm not a glass-half-full or a "the sun'll come out tomorrow" girl doesn't mean I'm broken. The good news is if this is you too, you're not broken either. I mean, some of the greatest most revered artists in history did things like chop off their own ears and were just plain nuts. If I haven't reached that slippery slope then I'm probably doing pretty okay.
I think that being a pessi/realist is definitely a part of who I am and is it's own motivation for me to keep going and doing what I love. Because ultimately if I love what I'm doing, then someone else will too. That doesn't mean everyone will but even just the someones make this all worth it. And I'm not saying it's cute to always be the worst case scenario type person, because it's not. Even us pessis have opti moments. I know I do... especially when I'm eating gummy worms. Then everything looks a little brighter.
Fin
May 2, 2012
Galaos Progress
I'm so excited about Galoas, the third book in the Planet Abstrus series. The writing on it has gone a little slower than I would have liked. There are so many things going on right now that it's hard to find the time to withdraw to the dark recesses of my writing corner and focus on nothing else. But no worries... I foresee a dark corner in my immediate future.
I will be putting up an excerpt from Galaos soon as well as the Galaos and extras pages complete with cover and sound track. Exciting right!!!!
And I have to say that out of the three books, Galaos is quickly becoming my favorite. There are some things happening that shocked even me. I can't wait to share it all with you. And the even better news is it's still on track to be released in late summer 2012.
I will be putting up an excerpt from Galaos soon as well as the Galaos and extras pages complete with cover and sound track. Exciting right!!!!
And I have to say that out of the three books, Galaos is quickly becoming my favorite. There are some things happening that shocked even me. I can't wait to share it all with you. And the even better news is it's still on track to be released in late summer 2012.
April 9, 2012
Finally!
So after being behind since forever, I finally got to see The Hunger Games movie. It was very exciting. I give it both a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Now follow me as I delve into very vague and shallow details...
Thumbs up:
The movie was so well done. It stuck to the book as well as any movie could. (Although I hear that Harry Potter is the best at this. No, I haven't read nor seen those, but please put your pitchforks down.) I am most happy when I can follow along the movie scenes with my memories of the scenes of the book and they fit. It's tough to capture on film everything an author puts forth in a movie, but I think they did mostly well with this. They didn't change any major details which is good, because that sort of thing can easily push me over the edge into dislike of a movie.
Let me say that I think Rue was perfectly cast. She was everything in flesh and blood that Rue was in my mind's eye. And yes, before you ask, I did tear up. Only the heartless wouldn't!
The emotions that came across the screen were nearly identical to those I felt while reading the book so that's terrific.
Thumbs down:
I am a reader and a writer at heart and movies will never reach that pedestal. With that being said, The Hunger Games was a movie just like any other movie. If all we were asking from it was to do what a movie does, then I'd say it was pretty close to perfect. The problem for me comes in when I begin to over-analyze stuff. I couldn't sit in my theater seat and only ask for the movie to be a movie. I wanted it to live up to the book which, in my opinion, truly no movie can do for an excellent book. The movie is very limited in what it could convey to the audience and that bothered me. Not because they did anything wrong, but just because that's how my mind works.
Another thing that irritated me (don't judge me) was Prim's cat. That darned cat was not a healthy, black and white with two eyes. I know that this seems like a silly thing to be disappointed over, but I was. I couldn't even explain why it bothered me so much.
Another thing that didn't make me happy was Gale. He did not mesh at all with the Gale in my head and his relationship with Katniss was glossed over at best. I know there is a time limit on a movie, but this is a huge factor in the book and becomes even more important later on. I don't think people who haven't read the book would even get how close he and Katniss really are. But then again, there are several things that are just thrown in to stay true to the book, but don't really seem to fit in the movie.
There are tons of other tiny things that bothered me, but none actually affected the quality of the movie. If I wasn't comparing the movie to the book then there wouldn't even be a "thumbs down" section. The movie was absolutely great. But it's impossible to make a movie live up to a 5 star book. I guess that's a good problem to have though.
Thumbs up:
The movie was so well done. It stuck to the book as well as any movie could. (Although I hear that Harry Potter is the best at this. No, I haven't read nor seen those, but please put your pitchforks down.) I am most happy when I can follow along the movie scenes with my memories of the scenes of the book and they fit. It's tough to capture on film everything an author puts forth in a movie, but I think they did mostly well with this. They didn't change any major details which is good, because that sort of thing can easily push me over the edge into dislike of a movie.
Let me say that I think Rue was perfectly cast. She was everything in flesh and blood that Rue was in my mind's eye. And yes, before you ask, I did tear up. Only the heartless wouldn't!
The emotions that came across the screen were nearly identical to those I felt while reading the book so that's terrific.
Thumbs down:
I am a reader and a writer at heart and movies will never reach that pedestal. With that being said, The Hunger Games was a movie just like any other movie. If all we were asking from it was to do what a movie does, then I'd say it was pretty close to perfect. The problem for me comes in when I begin to over-analyze stuff. I couldn't sit in my theater seat and only ask for the movie to be a movie. I wanted it to live up to the book which, in my opinion, truly no movie can do for an excellent book. The movie is very limited in what it could convey to the audience and that bothered me. Not because they did anything wrong, but just because that's how my mind works.
Another thing that irritated me (don't judge me) was Prim's cat. That darned cat was not a healthy, black and white with two eyes. I know that this seems like a silly thing to be disappointed over, but I was. I couldn't even explain why it bothered me so much.
Another thing that didn't make me happy was Gale. He did not mesh at all with the Gale in my head and his relationship with Katniss was glossed over at best. I know there is a time limit on a movie, but this is a huge factor in the book and becomes even more important later on. I don't think people who haven't read the book would even get how close he and Katniss really are. But then again, there are several things that are just thrown in to stay true to the book, but don't really seem to fit in the movie.
There are tons of other tiny things that bothered me, but none actually affected the quality of the movie. If I wasn't comparing the movie to the book then there wouldn't even be a "thumbs down" section. The movie was absolutely great. But it's impossible to make a movie live up to a 5 star book. I guess that's a good problem to have though.
March 31, 2012
The Biggest Winner
So I'm back from a very lovely vacation, and while I'm happy for my return, my brain needs a little prodding to start working again. I am really enjoying my wonderful marriage of 2 weeks and can't wait to see what's to come.
But to jump right in, before you ask, yes I did indeed play the lottery. And nope, I absolutely did not win. But that's okay. All the cool things that I planned to do with Abstrus with that 640 mill will just take a little more time. Patience is a virtue as they say. I really did have to take a short moment to grieve over that loss since I had thoroughly convinced myself that I would win. X) What's life without an imagination? Spending that money in my mind was great fun! I'm glad that I had that time as a half-billionaire lol.
In other news, I still haven't had the opportunity to see The Hunger Games movie and I'm so disappointed in myself. I got to do better! Hopefully I will find some spare time tomorrow after church to go so please prepare your hearts and minds for a long blog post on that subject.
And finally, in actual writing news, Abstrus is still up for 99 cent on kindle, nook, iBooks, and Smashwords. Grab a copy and please do leave a review. And once you're done with that, grab Sion too. I'm getting myself together to pick back up on working on Galaos, the third book of the Abstrus series. I still don't have a perspective release date but I'm shooting for sometime this summer. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
But to jump right in, before you ask, yes I did indeed play the lottery. And nope, I absolutely did not win. But that's okay. All the cool things that I planned to do with Abstrus with that 640 mill will just take a little more time. Patience is a virtue as they say. I really did have to take a short moment to grieve over that loss since I had thoroughly convinced myself that I would win. X) What's life without an imagination? Spending that money in my mind was great fun! I'm glad that I had that time as a half-billionaire lol.
In other news, I still haven't had the opportunity to see The Hunger Games movie and I'm so disappointed in myself. I got to do better! Hopefully I will find some spare time tomorrow after church to go so please prepare your hearts and minds for a long blog post on that subject.
And finally, in actual writing news, Abstrus is still up for 99 cent on kindle, nook, iBooks, and Smashwords. Grab a copy and please do leave a review. And once you're done with that, grab Sion too. I'm getting myself together to pick back up on working on Galaos, the third book of the Abstrus series. I still don't have a perspective release date but I'm shooting for sometime this summer. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
March 8, 2012
What I've Been Up To
I've had so much going on in the past two weeks that the honest truth is I haven't gotten any writing done (including here on my blog as you may have noticed.) But I told myself I was gonna sit down and write today or I'm not allowed to go to sleep tonight. So here's what I've been up to:
I will be walking down the aisle in 9 days and it doesn't get much more exciting than that. Because I chose to do my own decor, being the crafty girl that I am, I have devoted countless hours to my hot glue gun. Yes, I have come away with some wounds but it was a labor of love. At least I'll have something to remember this time by :) And in my opinion, 2nd degree burns and all, there is nothing better than a hot glue gun...
Another thing that has taken a chunk of my time has been reading the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. It is my typical type read... a young adult paranormal romance series. But it is so different from anything I've ever read. And that's saying something because I've read a ton. The premise of the books is so original that it sucked me in from the beginning and hasn't let me go yet. I'm currently in the middle of the fourth book and all I can say is <3 I definitely recommend checking them out.
Also, don't forget that Abstrus is 99 cent on kindle, nook, and smashwords.
I will be walking down the aisle in 9 days and it doesn't get much more exciting than that. Because I chose to do my own decor, being the crafty girl that I am, I have devoted countless hours to my hot glue gun. Yes, I have come away with some wounds but it was a labor of love. At least I'll have something to remember this time by :) And in my opinion, 2nd degree burns and all, there is nothing better than a hot glue gun...
Another thing that has taken a chunk of my time has been reading the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. It is my typical type read... a young adult paranormal romance series. But it is so different from anything I've ever read. And that's saying something because I've read a ton. The premise of the books is so original that it sucked me in from the beginning and hasn't let me go yet. I'm currently in the middle of the fourth book and all I can say is <3 I definitely recommend checking them out.
Also, don't forget that Abstrus is 99 cent on kindle, nook, and smashwords.
