Chelsea M. Cameron's Blog, page 10

Written Confessions: My big Sparkly Secret

A few weeks ago on Twitter, my writer buddy Patricia Lynne (author of Being Human and Snapshots) asked if anyone wanted to join her in writing about something we've never told other people about writing, books, reading,etc. I immediately thought it would be fun, so I started thinking about what I'd write about.And then it hit me. I have a big, huge, sparkly secret.You ready?I'm a Twilight fan. (I hate the term Twi-hard)To illustrate my fan status, I will share with you some pictures. They really say it better than I can.

This is my first set of Twilight books.

My second set of Twilight Books. I did not purchase them. They were a Christmas gift from my besties :)
Twilight Poster #1
#2 and #3
#4 and #5
#6 (This is my favorite. I got it at Borders for free, and I told the girl who worked there and gave it to me that I loved her. She was a little creeped out)
The Door
Tiny shiny Volvo (also a gift)
Look familiar? Yep, Bella's bedspread from the movies (It's from Target)
And finally, white Twilight I bought from a book blogger and Tiny Edward


So there you have it. My Twilight obsession in visual form. Explanation?
Okay, so I didn't hear about the books until Breaking Dawn had come out. My mom heard a story about how the obsessed fans were lining up at midnight to get copies. It was touted as "the next Harry Potter." I, of course, scoffed at this and immediately tried to find out what the fuss was about. That was August of 2008. I was in the middle of writing my first book, and I was stuck. I'd re-written it a million times, but I just wasn't happy with it. These two things are related, I swear.Okay, so after reading about this book and that it was about vampires, I immediately thought, ick. I'd NEVER EVER been into vampires. I'd only seen clips from Interview, and I'd never seen Buffy or any of that. So I went to my local bookstore and bought the book with the intention of reading it and hating it and then returning it. I kept my slip so I could do just that.I sat down and started to read.Four hours later, I was done and my life was changed.I had to wait a few days to get the rest of the books from Target (which is 45 mins away). I remember my mom was buying a de-humidifier and when she'd go into every hardware store, I'd sit in the car and read New Moon. Over the next week, I read all four books and lost about 6 pounds because I stopped eating.I wish I could say I was making this up, but I'm not.There was something about these books that spoke to me on a very deep level. Yes, the writing wasn't fantastic. Yes, Edward was controlling. Yes, the sparkly thing was a little dumb. But you know what?I DIDN'T CARE.The story mattered more than any of those things.You can say all you want about the books being bad and Bella being a Mary Sue (she is), but those books have touched thousands of people on a deep level. I really can't put into words why I love them so much, but I do.I realized that while reading them that if Stephenie Meyer could take the vampire myth and turn it on its head, then I could WRITE WHATEVER I WANTED.This was a revelation that hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd been trying to box my writing into a certain formula that I thought it had to be. When I realized that I could do what I wanted, the flood gates opened and my character started talking to me. I had more story ideas than time to write them. It's been like that ever since.I know I'm not the only writer who was touched this way. I've heard from so many others that never thought they could write until Twilight inspired them. I'm not alone.So there you have it. My semi-closeted Twilight obsession. Make of it what you will.Also, be sure to hop on over to Patricia's blog to see the other confessions!

Nearing the finish line...

So last night I finished the first draft of My Favorite Mistake. It clocked in 100,674 words, which makes it the second-longest book I've ever written. The first is the first book I wrote, which clocked in a around 120,000, but which I edited down to around 94,000. 
The book is due to the editor next week, so I'm feeling the pressure of getting it polished enough. Right now I should be editing, but I've been such a bad blogger lately, I felt the need to do a little post.I've been feeling the MFM love SOOOO much lately. I have to say that this book has been an absolute joy to write. That doesn't mean it's been easy, but it's been so. Much. Fun.
I've put a lot of myself in this book. I try not to so much, but sometimes it just happens.In The Noctalis Chronicles and somewhat in The Whisper Trilogy, I dealt with my feelings about death and what happens after. I don't talk about my personal life a whole lot, but I will tell you that I lost my dad to cancer when I was 20, and that, more than anything else, has shaped me as a writer.One of these days I'll do a post about my dad and the impact he had on my life, but I'm not emotionally up for that now.
In MFM, some of the experiences that the characters have are ones that I have had. No, I didn't get a tattooed bad boy as a roommate (How AWESOME would that have been?), but I did have a friend that I based Hunter on. We haven't stayed in touch, so I'm sure he'll never be aware of this. I sincerely hope. Actually, he'd probably think it was awesome. 
I lived in an all-girls hallway my freshman year of college. It sounds like a good idea in theory, but it often leads to DRAMA. You need a guy to break that up. That was my friend. Let's call him Joe.Joe was fondly known as our "resident male." There were times when he was the only guy at a table full of women. He LOVED every moment of it. Joe was good with women. He knew every single right thing to make you feel like you were the prettiest girl in the world. He also had no qualms about telling you if you wanted, he'd hook up with you. Anytime, anywhere.
He was forward, and this was shocking at first. I'd never met a guy who told me that my boobs looked fantastic in the shirt I was wearing like it was a normal thing to say. Oh, that wasn't the most scandalous thing he ever said. Not by a long shot.
Writing about Hunter is EASY. I just take myself back to that time in my life, which wasn't that long ago. *cough, cough*I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't totally infatuated with Joe, because I was. Everyone was. And he knew it, and took full advantage. I don't think he did a load of laundry himself for the first semester of school, or cleaned his room. For real.
I'll be posting more about MFM soon, and I hope you're as excited about the blog tour as I am! 

Neither is HEERREEEE!!!!

Neither, Book Three in The Noctalis Chronicles is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

Here's the synopsis:
For Ava-Claire Sullivan, it's bad enough that loving vampire Peter Mackintire might kill him the rest of the way. His equally immortal mother keeps trying to murder her so Di won’t lose another of her precious sons.

A promise Peter made nearly a hundred years ago means loving someone will kill him. Ava's done her best to either end her own feelings or stifle his, but she's losing; he's falling harder for her every night. She hasn't found a way to free him of his promise yet, and it's almost too late.

But her own terminally ill mother is dying fast, and now Ava-Claire is forced to choose between the last days of her mother's life and freeing Peter as they wait for Di to come up with yet another plan to destroy their love, and Ava’s life.

Sooo, what do you want to know?

I've been a bad bloggy person, and I plan to remedy that soonish. I only have a few more pages of Neither to edit before sending it off to my editor, and then it will be all My Favorite Mistake! Sooo excited!

Anywho, I'm going to write a post about exciting, hand-flaily things this weekend, but for today I just wanted to say HI! to all my new followers and visitors. I hit 10,000 views a few weeks back somehow. I don't know what brings people here to my little corner of the internet, but YAY! happy to have you.

I've been doing a lot of interviews for my blog tour lately, and I was wondering if any of you had burning questions about me that you'd like answered. About writing, my books, my views on preparing for the zombie apocalypse? Leave them in the comments, and if there are enough, I'll get a FAQ page started. Don't be shy, ask away!

Blog Tour Links!

I've been horrible about sharing the links for my blog tour, so here are a few. (Or a lot)Peter's Playlist and Giveaway: Love of Books http://christysloveofbooks.com/posts/noctalis-blog-tour-playlist-giveaway-scavenger-hunt/Peter's Character Profile: FireStarterBooks http://firestarbooks.blogspot.ca/2012/08/character-profile-books-noctalis-by.htmlReview: Turning the Pages http://www.angelafristoe.blogspot.com/2012/08/blog-tour-nocturnal-by-chelsea-m.htmlReview: Howling Books and Design http://howlingbooksanddesign.blogspot.ca/2012/08/noctalis-blog-tour-by-chelsea-cameron.htmlReview: Woopeeyoo http://whoopeeyoo.com/2012/08/08/book-blog-tour-nocturnal-nightmare-by-chelsea-m-cameron-review-giveaway/
Phew. That's a lot of stuff! Make sure you check ALL of them out to collect the words for the Scavenger Hunt. There are also giveaways at some of the stops for ebooks! On with the tour!

Some things that are awesome...

I haven't done a post about things I really like lately, so I thought I'd go ahead and do one. Okay? Okay. Here are some things that are AWESOME:


I just downloaded both the studio album and the iTunes session of my new fave group The Head and the Heart. I kind of stumbled upon them when I was looking for cool new music. Hunter, from My Favorite Mistake plays the guitar and music is a huge part of his life. It's one of the things that has stayed constant in his life. Since I'm not a 20 something dude who plays the guitar, I've been on the lookout for music he would like. Classic rock is a given, but I knew he also had a passion for bluegrass-y, folk-y stuff too. And Hunter isn't the kind of guy who would listen to a band just because they were popular. So I went on a search for cool indie bands. Enter The Head and the Heart. I AM IN LOVE. They have some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. "And I think of all this time that we have wasted with all our fighting and I cry, Just want to die with the one I love beside me..." *swoon* Yay for new music!!!!Nocturnal and Nightmare are going to be FREEEEE from Friday through Tuesday. Yeah, that's right you can get both books for the grand total of ZERO DOLLARS. Or Euros or Pounds or Dubloons or Galleons. FREEE.I'm going to be doing a live video chat on August 30, hosted by Heather at Supagurl Books! I'm freaking out about people actually seeing me and hearing my voice. Which is ridiculous, but true. So, if you want to see me talk awkwardly, and get a shot of my messy bedroom, or chat with me about The Noctalis Chronicles, you should RSVP. You can do that: HERE.My Favorite Mistake, the book I haven't finished writing yet is going on tour in October! There are still plenty of spots available. We're going to double and triple book, so if you're a book blogger, please sign up! You'll get a review copy to read before anyone can buy it :) How's that for incentive? Sign up for that: HERE.Okay, enough about me. I hate talking about me. I do like talking about my books, though. But what I love even more than talking about my books is talking about other people's books! I've been on a book-buying hiatus to save some money, but I broke that last week and got the following in paperback: Slammed and Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (I've heard earth-shattering things about them, and she is just the funniest, sweetest, most genuine person online, so I had to get them), Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire (which I've read part of the ebook, but haven't finished because I had my own deadlines. Figured it was an essential in anyone's New Adult bookshelf) and Easy by Tamara Webber (Which I've also heard Ah-mazing things about). I'll let you know what I think of them when I eventually read them. *sigh* It's gonna be a while. I have about a week to get Neither ready for the editor, and then it's right into My Favorite Mistake. I'm going to be taking a break of sorts in October, so I'll finally get some time to read.

In which I change my mind...

It's not a huge thing, but I've been thinking about the title for the third Noctalis book, Numb. Back when I was brainstorming how the story was going to go, it worked. Now that I've written the story, though, it doesn't anymore. After going through a few options, I have settled on a new title.....
Neither!
It works much better with the book, and has better symbolism. I've already changed it on the Goodreads page and everywhere else I needed to. So look for Neither on August 31st! I am in the home stretch of the first draft, and will be sending it to my beta tonight. I'm hoping she'll read super fast so I can go through it two more times before I hand it off to my editor and then I will have ARCs! If you're a blogger who would like one, I'll hopefully have them Friday the 17. Shoot me an email if you want one. 

Summer in Salem Cover Reveal!!

I'm soooo excited to be able to share the cover of my indie buddy Brina Courtney's Summer in Salem! She sent me a mock up of it a while ago asking for my opinion, and I literally could not stop staring at my computer. Then she told me what it was about and I knew I HAD to get my hands on it! Here's the amazing blurb:

Teagen’s summer has been turned upside down by a body, a pentagram necklace, and an old flame. 
Nine months ago, Teagan Matthews' boyfriend disappeared and took her sense of stability with him. But when the opportunity to live with her aging grandmother in Salem arises, she decides it's time to get on with her life. A new home, new job and new friends are adding up to a beautiful summer...
...until a young girl's body shows up one night in town, wearing a necklace exactly like Teagan's.
Now a guy looking remarkably like her missing boyfriend has shown up in town along with a mysterious stranger who may have some answers that Teagan has desperately been searching for. Teagan must now decide who to trust because it could be matter of life and her death.
*squeeee* I am REALLY, REALLY looking forward to this!!! 
Expected publication: September 2012Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15779561-summer-in-salemBrina's web site: www.brinacourtney.comMy books: http://www.amazon.com/Brina-Courtney/e/B0073X9KRQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1343760711&sr=1-2-ent

Oh, you want to see the cover? *sigh* I guess we can do that...


*Don't forget that Brina's other books, Reveal (Book One in the Cryptid Tales) and Capture (Book Two in the Cryptid Tales) are both on sale on Amazon today. Pick them up now!

The Noctalis Blog Tour!

I case you didn't know, my books are on tour for the whole month of August!!! Heather over at Supagurl Books is my fabulous host/organizer/bloggy goddess. Now this isn't just ANY blog tour. It features awesome extras from both Nocturnal and Nightmare, including deleted scenes, playlists, character profiles, reviews and interviews with me and the characters. It's EPIC. I'll be posting the links of everything as soon as I have them. 
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! At the end of the hunt there will be a huge prize pack that you can win that includes signed books, bookmarks, a keychain, and a $20 gift card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You want it. You really do. How do you get it? Each blog will have a highlighted word or words. All you have to do is find the word and start collecting them! At the end of the tour, you'll put them together to make a phrase, and that will be your entry to win! *hint: the phrase can be found in the pages of Nocturnal*
What are you waiting for? Get hopping!
Day One:Author Interview at Bengal Reads: http://www.bengalreads.com/2012/08/interview-with-chelsea-m-cameron.htmlReview, Ava and Peter's Playlist at A Soul Unsung: http://soulunsung.blogspot.com/2012/08/noctalis-chronicles-scavenger-hunt.html
Day Two:Interview with Texas with Beth Art from the Heart: http://bethartfromtheheart.blogspot.com/2012/08/noctalis-tourauthor-chelsea-cameron.html

First Chapter of My Favorite Mistake!

OneThe first day I met Hunter Zaccadelli, I punched him in the face. Granted, he completely and totally deserved it. He also asked for it.
When our fourth roommate bailed on us three days before school, Darah, Renee and I assumed housing would take care of it and shove some poor unfortunate in with us. Some poor girl who had decided to switch colleges at the last minute to follow a boyfriend, or someone who had their apartment plans fall through. We weren't sure what to expect, but come move-in day, I did not expect who was waiting outside when I opened the door.
Instead of a desperate and frazzled girl, he showed up with a foot locker, a backpack and a guitar. It was so beyond cliché that I didn't say anything for the full three seconds it took for me to assess him. Dark hair buzzed so short, his head was almost shaved, piercing blue eyes, and at least a foot on my 5'0. And a cocky smile to top it all off. He might as well have had Trouble tattooed on his forehead. I could just make out some ink on his arm, but couldn't see what it was.
“Are you Darah, Renee or Taylor? You look like a Taylor to me,” he said, looking me up and down. I wasn't at my best, considering I was dressed for moving heavy objects in a blue UMaine t-shirt, black soccer shorts, and had my light brown hair in a haphazard bun against the back of my neck. His eyes raked up and down twice, and for some reason the way he assessed me made me blush and want to kick him in the balls at the same time.
“There must be a mistake,” I said.
“That's a creative name. What do you shorten it to? Missy?”
“That's not what I meant.” His grin somehow gets wider. Either his dad was a dentist, or he was really into flossing because those teeth were perfect. I noticed things like that, having gone through my own dental saga between three years of braces and night headgear.
“Is that her?” Darah called from her room where she was arranging her photo frames so they were exactly level. She was neurotic like that.
“I'm Hunter, by the way. Hunter Zaccadelli.” Of course his name was Hunter. The only Hunter I'd ever known had been a complete douche. Looked like this guy was going to carry on the tradition. He shifted his bag on his shoulder. “So, should I bring my stuff in, or...”
“Who's that?” Darah finally emerged. Our other roommate, Renee, was still unloading stuff from her car.
“New roommate, hey,” he said.
“You're the new roommate?” Her eyebrows migrated so they were nearly hidden under her dark bangs. She gave the same up and down as I did, but he didn't do the same to her. He was still looking at me.
“Yeah, my housing plans fell through at the last minute. My cousin was going to let me live at his place, but that didn't work out, so here I am. Do you mind if I come in now?”
“You can't live here,” I said.
“Why? This is a co-ed living facility, last time I checked.” He flashed his smile wider and shouldered his way into the room, completely ignoring me as his chest brushed mine and I got a whiff of cologne. It wasn't that cheap crap that punches you in the nose. It was more spicy, almost like cinnamon. I stood my ground, but he had height and weight on me.
“Well, it's better than sleeping on my cousin's couch,” he said, plunking his bag on the floor, and surveying the room. The suites were small, with a kitchen and tiny nook for a dining table on one side and a tiny living room for an apartment-sized couch and a chair on the other. The bedrooms were the worst, with two beds crammed perpendicular to each other, with the desks crammed underneath, and room for only one small closet.
“Can I see some identification?” Darah said, propping her hands on her hips. “How do we know you're not some random creep?”
“Do I look like some random creep?” He spread his arms out, and I finally saw what the tattoo on his left bicep was. A number seven in curling intricate script. My eyes moved up to his face.
“How are we supposed to know?” Darah moved closer to him, using her stature. They were almost the same height.
“Look, all I know is that I submitted an application and they sent me an email with a room number and your names. Do you treat all your guests like criminals? Here, I printed it out.” He drew out a many-times folded sheet of paper and handed it to Darah. She glanced at it, sighed and handed it to me.
“Why wouldn't they have notified us?” I said, once I'd read it.
“Who knows?” Darah said.
“Oh my God, I swear I'm never moving again,” Renee said from the top of the stairs, her arms full of boxes, and two bags dangling from her arms. “Who left their crap in the hallway?” She stepped over the foot locker and guitar case, giving them a look of disgust. “Has our new roommate showed up – Oh, hell-o.” Her voice changed from irritated and dry to sweet and sugary the second she saw Hunter. “I'm guessing that's your guitar in the hallway.” She dropped her stuff and proceeded to pop her hip out and lean to one side. Oh, please.
“This,” I said, pointing to Hunter, “is our new roommate, according to housing.”
“No way.” Renee's eyes got wide in her tiny face. Renee looks like a china doll you plucked off a shelf and put in a Victoria's Secret tank top. “Are you shitting me?”
“What a reception,” Hunter said.
“Shut up,” I said. He just smiled again. God, I wanted to smack that smile right off his face.
“I should probably get my junk out of the hall,” he said, going and picking up the foot locker as if it weighed nothing more than a shoebox. Show-off.
Hunter had to navigate boxes and random pillows and crap that littered the rooms, which he did with grace. He found a spot and set the foot locker down, looking at us.
“So, who am I sleeping with?” he said, leaning against the door to my bedroom.
The agreement had been that since Darah and Renee had already been roommates last year, and I was joining their little group, that the new girl would live with me. But that was so not happening now that the new girl wasn't a girl.
“Did you seriously just say that?” I said at the same time Darah said, “The only free bed is in Taylor's room.”
“There is no way he's staying with me,” I snapped, crossing my arms. He'd been staring at my chest ever since he'd made the sleeping with comment. Not that I had much of one to speak of, but that didn't stop his eyes from traveling there.
“No, we're calling housing right now and straightening this out.”
“Tay, they're not open on Monday.”
“I don't care, there must be someone there. It's move-in day.” I grabbed the campus phonebook that had been on the doormat when we'd gotten here this morning and thumbed through it until I found the number for housing.
“Aw, c'mon Missy, you don't want to live with me?” Who did this guy think he was? I'd known him all of ten minutes and he'd already given me a nickname and propositioned me.
“Call me that one more time...” I didn't finish as I furiously typed in the number. Darah and Renee whispered to Hunter, but not quiet enough so I didn't hear them.
“It's best to let her go when she gets like this.”
“I wouldn't mess with her,” he said as I listened to another ring.
Finally, a message picked up, telling me what the hours were, and giving me some extensions I could try. I punched in the first one. No answer, but a message machine picked up. I left a short message, explaining the situation in the most urgent of terms, and then called back the original number. I didn't stop until I'd left messages for all five of the contacts on the housing voicemail list. I slammed my phone down on the counter.
“Feel better?” Hunter said.
“No.” I chucked the phonebook on the couch. Darah and Renee were looking at me like they were worried I was going to explode.
“If you were a gentleman, you'd offer to sleep on the couch.”
“Well, Missy, you'll come to find out that I'm not a gentleman. I plan to take full advantage of this situation.” My mouth dropped open in shock. No guy had ever talked to me that way.
“Is it hot in here? I think I'll open the window,” Renee said, scurrying over to our one window, located behind the couch. Darah looked at me and then Hunter and back.
“Well, there's nothing we can do right now. Let's get his stuff in and then maybe we can go down and see if anyone is at housing.”
“Sounds good to me,” Hunter said, shouldering open my door and walking right in.
“I can't believe this is happening,” I said, closing my eyes. I heard “Back in Black” by AC/DC coming from my room. Hunter's ringtone.
“Hey, man. No, I just got here. Room 203. Yeah, that would be great...” He nudged the door shut and I glanced at Renee and Darah.
“I didn't think we were going to have to do this so early, but I think we need a roommate meeting,” I said. We'd agreed that we would have weekly roommate meetings to air our grievances. I was all for getting that shit out in the open so we didn't end up hating each other. I'd had a horrible roommate last year, and I didn't want to deal with that again.
I listened, but it sounded like Hunter was still on the phone. I could hear him rummaging, and prayed he wouldn't break anything. Then I would kill him.
“I don't see what the big deal is,” Renee said. “I mean, it would be the same if one of us had a boyfriend staying over. Paul stayed over all the time when Darah and I lived here last year.”
“But that was because you were sleeping with him,” I said.
“Maybe I'll sleep with Hunter,” she shot back. Renee had broken up with Paul extremely recently, and was on the prowl for a rebound. We all knew she and Paul were meant to be and that they would eventually realize that. But Renee was still in the anger stage.
“Are you uncomfortable with staying with him, Taylor? It's okay if you are.”
“I can't imagine why I would be uncomfortable about sharing an extremely small room with a guy I've known all of a half-hour who keeps making creepy comments. Yeah, I have no problem with that.”
“If you want, Renee and I can switch. I'll stay with him and Renee can stay with you,” Darah said.
“Why can't he stay with me?” Renee whined.
“Because you'll rape him in his sleep,” I said.
“You can't rape the willing, Tay,” she said, winking.
“You're disgusting.”
“How about we draw straws?” Darah said.
“Do we even have straws?” Renee said. “How about we do numbers or something. Here,” she said, grabbing a UMaine notepad that someone had left on the kitchen counter, along with a pen. “I'll write our names down and we'll put it in...” she grabbed my baseball cap I'd discarded earlier, “and Hunter will pick. There you go. Problem solved.”
My door opened and Hunter emerged, another grin on his face.
“You weren't talking about me, were you? Like he didn't know. I rolled my eyes as Renee wrote each of our names on little bits of paper and tossed them in my hat. She put her hand over the top and shook it up.
“Pick one,” she said, shoving the hat in his face.
“Okay,” he said, sticking his hand in and pulling out a folded slip of paper. Renee slowly unfolded it. We all waited as she paused dramatically.
“Taylor,” she said, turning it around so we could all read my name in black and white.
“Shit,” I said.