S.L. Morgan's Blog, page 12

Way to go, OU Sooners!!!!

I have to give a special shout out to our favorite college football team!!! I was so nervous about this game! So nervous, in fact that I felt like I was publishing the un-edited first draft of my book for the entire world to read and critique, when the game started!

But, as true OU Fans we put our jerseys on and were ready to support our boys!!! All I can say is that this was the best game ever!!! Sooners brought their Magic and Alabama made them work for their win! WOW!!!

Now, let’s just hope that once I publish book 2 in my series, it will be just as fascinating for the readers as the Sugar Bowl was for us OU fans!!!

I have a new helper! My own Mogwai

For those of you who grew up in the 80′s, you’ll know who this little guy is!!! Little Gizmo is going to get me through this next year as a writer!!! Every time I get frustrated, I’ll just let him sing to me

Happy New Years!!!!

My resolution for 2014 is to finally publish Ancient Guardians: The Uninvited (Book 2) So that my readers are finally able to read the second book in my series! We’re on final edits/test reads/Book Cover proofing….just ordered ISBN and filed with the Library of Congress!!!! Woooo-Hoooooo this is one happy writer!!!! And the fantastic part? Once The Uninvited is published….I get to start revising and editing Book 3! Good thing I love to write because “The Character’s” have decided they want their story told in five books!

Happy New Years, Everyone! And thank you all for your support in 2013!!!

SL Morgan

Ancient Guardians Black Edition Books I and II

Ancient Guardians: The Uninvited

We are close to publishing….so I thought I would share a small excerpt….

She looked over at Areion, whose golden eyes seemed to

bore through her.

The dark side of publishing

First of all, let it be known that I love to write! I love to hear that readers are excited to read Book 2 The Uninvited in the Ancient Guardians Series! I wrote this book in three weeks! Of course it would require extensive edits because of this, but overall…the Book was great! As we started editing, Book 3 crept up on me, and as a writer, you can’t block a story out…you have to write it! So I did! Then Book 4 hit me, and I had to write it too! I’m doing this while trying to edit Book 2! (not the best idea) This was the first cause of slowing the editing process down!

So, I decided to hire a professional editor, that was a huge mistake! The un-named company is loved by other authors! Me? Not so much! The editor assigned to my book wound up being very informative on punctuation and loved everything else in the book! (RED FLAG) I won’t go into detail, but editors are not supposed love your book!

So now I was facing a content edit alone…something I had hired this company to do!

Missed my first deadline Summer 2013

But I ignored this pressure and pressed on, knowing I would have this book published by Christmas! (missed again)

That all aside….I just realized there are only 4 days left in 2013…I was quite excited yesterday when I found out we were only four chapters away from completing the hardest part of editing this book….

Until I noticed that The Uninvited won’t see a 2013 publishing date!

This is so disheartening for me, but I have to ensure this book is polished and ready to be published! I do this for the readers, the book and for my own name as it’s author!

So, with all of my venting and shock about the newly missed deadline of The Uninvited

I thought if share some pictures of what I go through every time I know I’m about to miss a deadline and my readers will have to wait longer!!

My determined look, while starting in on editing! I was ready to go!!!

This was just after I glanced over at my Calendar and realized how many days were left to publish in 2013!

Take deep breaths, Stac! We have to make sure this book is ready for publish, it will be okay! It’s fine…I say to myself as I control myself from having a nervous breakdown!

This is me trying to get a grip on myself and highly frustrated!!!! Ready to walk away!!!

This is me refocusing and saying for the hundredth time, I’m not going to let this book beat me! 2013 or 2014 it WILL be published!

So, that’s how my day started off! The lovely, enchanting life of a writer!

Christmas comes early with Old World Christmas!

It’s been a family tradition to receive Old World Christmas Ornaments that are personalized from The Village Shop So, you can imagine my excitement when we were surprised with these new ornaments! I’m sure you’ll find my favorite ornament pretty cool!!!

I wasted no time putting this ornament in its rightful place on the Tree!

Can this writer ever catch a break?

Nothing like being in the middle of your writing and editing, when Windows thinks that an update for your computer is more important than getting your book published! So, without warning Microsoft word shuts down, and I’m staring at this screen with both hands on gripping each side of my head and screaming, WHYYYYY

That’s it! I’m going back to notebook & paper and old fashioned typewriters!!!!!

CONTROL SAVE

Find a Way by Evanescence….

Well, I was going to make a book trailer for “Ancient Guardians: The Uninvited…but I just came across this video that pretty much sums up where the second book in the #AncientGuardiansSeries is going!

If you already don’t know, Evanescence has been the inspiration behind all of my writing. I listened to this song and was amazed at how well it worked with my second book and this was the first time I’ve ever listened to it. I can’t wait until the band records makes it available on an album for purchase. For now, this is a live version of her singing, “Find a Way” Enjoy and give it up for Amy Lee and Evanescence!

The Long day is over…is it really only Monday?

I will admit that writing a book is definitely the easy part. (For Me) I can take my characters wherever I want them to go, I have fun with them and most of all, I get to escape with them!

When I decided to publish Ancient Guardians: The Legacy of the Key, I definitely had my work cut out for me. This is where editing comes in to play. Without an editor to go over a manuscript, and you decide to publish, well that could lead to very traumatic reviews from readers. I understand and appreciate every book I have read now, knowing that there was an editor behind a great author’s work. I would have never had the respect for an editor as I do, now that I am a published author.

It isn’t easy though, as a writer we fall in love with certain pieces of our writing. Particular scenes that we know we can’t let go of. Then the editor (who is there to help polish your book) comes in and says: “Lose it!” This is one of the toughest parts of editing, and where authors have to detach from their writing and passion for their story. Today was a pretty tough cut for me…but after 45 minutes of the editor convincing me that all I was doing was slowing/bogging down the book, I finally gave in and cut one of my favorite scenes. The editor was right, but it was still hard to let it go!!!

Editing on every level stresses this little writer out! *sigh* But, as I did with my first book, I’ll make the cuts and we’ll have a published book soon enough!

I decided to share this song, because after months of being overwhelmed editing (and missing deadlines) of Ancient Guardians: The Uninvited (Book 2)…I put on my iPod and this song randomly rotated in and it was exactly what I needed to hear!

“The Long Day is Over” (I wonder if my editor is thinking the same thing, she was pretty fed up with fighting with me there at the end

So with that all said, I think I’ll go cook dinner now and watch Iron Man

For all us crazy Authors…

I love this, so I thought I’d share