Kyra Halland's Blog, page 17
October 31, 2015
Release Day Blitz: Dark Fates - Madness
Dark Fates- MadnessShort Stories by Lynn Thompson
Amazon Smashwords B&N
Enter a world of love, loss, teenage angst, and betrayal.
Includes:
"One Way Ticket"
"Teen Spirit"
"Calla Crossing"
"Zack’s Promise "
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Ghosts
Content/Themes: Teenage Angst, Horror, Ghosts, Supernatural, Paranormal, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery Excerpt:
One Way Ticket
Normally Tyra had fun with this ruse, but tonight she couldn’t get into the swing of things. She let Liam take the lead and tried desperately to stay planted in the here and now. Tyra relaxed into Liam’s arms; a deep sense of well being settled over her. She lightly stroked Liam’s waist-line with her fingertips. Liam’s muscles took on a more defined shape under her hands. His lips dropped closer to hers with every step they took. She snuggled into him. Amazingly content she thought about hooking up with Liam, thinking in some sad way she was missing out. She glanced up, ready for a kiss. The face that gazed back at her didn’t belong to Liam. It belonged to him. Tyra’s heart dropped into her stomach, all movement stopped. She wrenched herself free of the arms holding her so intimately and stormed out the front door.
Teen Spirit
Jade studied the hordes of weeping people that herded into the gymnasium. They were all crying because of her. Her lips curled into a sneer as she glanced around for her small group of friends. She couldn’t believe they weren’t here yet. Bored she floated down a couple of bleachers to eavesdrop on a group of her parents friends.
Calla Crossing
She sat on the pipeline, feet dangling in the air, hands clinging to the metal cable. Calla waited patiently for Broden to show up. Steadying herself to roll with the bridge in the slight breeze she gazed over the amazing view of the canyon before glancing down. Almost one-hundred feet below the river flowed between the canyon walls. How did she get here? Some days she had a hard time remembering. Some days her memory was crystal clear. Every day, her soul screamed for vengeance.
Today she sat searching her memories, wondering again how she got here.
Zack’s Promise
Zack shook his head to chase the memory away. He’d always had this drive to prove himself to his big brother. He didn’t know why.
The sun sat on the horizon, Zack needed to get home. He sighed and trudged at a snails pace along the trail. He never seemed to remember anything good about Isaac. Only bad memories. He’d taken what Isaac said to heart and never tried out for the track team. Maybe he’d try out at the beginning of his junior year. Coach always called him speedy and asked him to join every year, so far. He’d have to get off the anti-depressants, the Xanax, and begin training again. If he could just come up with the will power, and the energy to do it.
He sighed heavily, remembering his promise to Isaac. The depression pushed down harder on his shoulders. If everything went as planned he wouldn’t be alive long enough to become a Junior.Stalk The Author:
Website
Goodreads
Google+
Smashwords
Amazon Author Page
October 28, 2015
Short Story: Rescue From Suburbia
Since the release of City of Mages, I've been doing the prep work for the next revision of For the Wildings (the 6th and final book of Daughter of the Wildings) and I've also been getting back in the habit of writing new words (almost) every day. Part of that has been doing writing exercises from the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. One of the exercises was to take a description of a neighborhood given in the book and write a scene showing the neighborhood. I started with that exercise, and it kind of took on a life of its own... Not my usual kind of thing, but I hope you enjoy it. 
Roma Flowers http://www.freeimages.com Rescue From Suburbia
copyright 2015 Kyra Halland
"Turn left from Route 9W in six hundred feet," the fembot voice of the GPS said.
Left? Sandra thought. She didn't think that was what the directions had said. But going 65 miles an hour down the highway with a cement mixer crawling up her back end was no time to fumble for the sheet of paper with the directions on it. She had programmed the address into the GPS, so she would just follow that and if it didn't seem right, she would check the directions when she found a place to stop.
The turn came up quickly. She veered into the turn lane without having time to slow down, and the cement truck blasted past her. She waited while the traffic coming the other way passed, then made her turn.
Woods lay between where she had turned and where the business park she was looking for was presumably located. Sandra drove into the shelter of the trees --
Then, in what seemed an eyeblink, she found herself not in the driveway of a large industrial business park but on a winding suburban street. Maybe the business park was beyond this neighborhood, if she kept driving straight through.
The street she was on curved and met a second street that branched off, also at a curve. She slowed down and looked at the street signs, hoping to see Commerce Street. No such luck; she was at the intersection of Mars Court and Mercury Terrace. She braked for a moment and considered; she thought she wanted to go north. Mars Court, the street -- excuse me, court -- she was on continued curving around to the east, but Mercury Terrace seemed to go north.
She turned and followed Mercury Terrace north, then it angled west-northwest. It turned into Venus Lane, Uranus Place -- the kids probably had fun with that one -- and Pluto Circle, then turned into Mars Court again and met another street at a sharp T angle. Jupiter Landing, the new street was. She turned right, hoping to get going straight north again, but Jupiter Landing made a hairpin curve. She followed it all the way around to get back to Mars Court, but right about where she thought Mars Court should be, Jupiter Landing met with Jupiter Court at about a thirty degree angle.
She was lost. Sandra stopped the car and looked around. The streets all looked the same. And so did the houses -- miles and miles of off-white stuccoed suburban sameness. Except the flock of pink flamingos in front of the house at the corner of the Landing and the Court added a nice individual touch. The compass on the GPS unit said she was facing south. Which seemed odd; if it was still morning, shouldn't the sun be on the other side of the sky from where it was? Either she was really turned around, or the GPS was messed up. Or both.
One thing was clear, she wasn't going to be able to just drive straight through the subdivision to the office park. The only thing to do was to backtrack to the highway and find the right exit this time. And ignore the GPS.
Sandra reached over to the passenger seat for the directions she'd scrawled on the back of the envelope while she was talking to the HR person on the phone. As she thought, she should have taken a right turn off the highway. But there hadn't been a right turn where she'd turned; it was a T-intersection. The turn must be farther up. Oh well; she'd left the house in plenty of time, anticipating trouble finding her destination. With any luck, she should still make it to the interview on time. Fortunately, she had the phone number of the woman she'd talked to in her cell phone. She pushed call; the chipper, cheery voice of the HR assistant answered.
"Hi," Sandra said. "It's Sandra Benson. I have an interview at 11:30; I'm having a little trouble finding your office, but I should be there on time. I just wanted to let you know, in case I am a few minutes late."
"Benson..." the HR woman said. "Let me see, I'll put a note on your file, just in case... I'm so sorry, Ms. Benson, there seems to be some sort of mistake. We don't have you scheduled for an interview today... Or any day this week."
Sandra huffed out an exasperated sigh, holding the phone away so that the HR person wouldn't hear her impatience. "It's right here on my calendar," she said, looking at the envelope where she'd scribbled down the information. "Tuesday, October 7, Mega-Lite Industries, interview with Ms. Valance."
"Well, then, I do apologize," the HR woman said. "It must have fallen through the cracks. I'll go ahead and put you on her schedule, and she'll work you in today, since you've already gone to all the trouble of driving all the way out here."
"Thank you," Sandra said. "I should be there soon."
She hung up, turned the car, and began backtracking. Now that she had noticed the pink flamingos in the yard of the house she had stopped in front of, other yard ornaments came to her attention. A Virgin Mary in a half-buried bathtub shrine, a basketball hoop, a garden gnome, a birdbath, a politcal sign for last year's election, an army of garden gnomes, a Camaro up on blocks, a flock of pink flamingos...
Darn. She was back at the intersection of Jupiter Court and Jupiter Landing. How had she gotten here? She could have sworn she had turned the other way, back onto Mercury Terrace. She called up the map app on her phone and had the GPS find her location; it showed her in the middle of an expanse of emptiness. Apparently this subdivision had been built since the last time the street maps were updated.
There were no signs of life on the streets; probably everyone was at work. Only one thing left to do. She Googled on her phone for a taxi company, and called the first number that came up on the results.
"Galaxy Transportation Company, how may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm at --" She checked for a house number on the pink flamingos house "-- 709 Jupiter Landing. I've got my car and it's working fine, but I can't find my way out of this neighborhood and I'm going to be late for a job interview. If one of your drivers knows his way around here and can lead me back out to 9W, I'd really appreciate it. I'll pay double whatever the fare would be."
"Certainly, ma'am," the cheery voice on the other end said. The connection was funny, from way out here in the boondocks; the sound was slightly metallic. It was lucky she could get a cell signal at all, Sandra thought. "You aren't the first person to get lost in that neighborhood. We'll send someone right out."
"Thank you so much." The rush of relief and gratitude was more than Sandra had expected. She hadn't realized it until now, but she had a really strange feeling about this neighborhood. It was too empty, too new, too weird. Going to a job interview actually sounded like fun in comparison to being stuck here.
She looked at her watch, hoping it wouldn't take the taxi too long to get out there. She got out of the car to stretch; the neighborhood might be empty, but it didn't look dangerous, and it was broad daylight, so it should be okay if she walked around a bit while she waited. The day was bright and held some summer heat that just wouldn't let go.
Then, somehow, the light seemed brighter. She squinted; the brightness hurt her eyes. A chill rushed over her, weird considering the heat and how strong the sun was. She turned to go back to her car, saw at the heart of the bright light something shiny and metallic hanging in the sky, far too large to be floating... Right before the light enveloped her completely and the world fell away, she saw the lettering on the ship, Galaxy Transportation.
At least she wasn't lost in suburban hell any more, was her last thought.
Roma Flowers http://www.freeimages.com Rescue From Suburbiacopyright 2015 Kyra Halland
"Turn left from Route 9W in six hundred feet," the fembot voice of the GPS said.
Left? Sandra thought. She didn't think that was what the directions had said. But going 65 miles an hour down the highway with a cement mixer crawling up her back end was no time to fumble for the sheet of paper with the directions on it. She had programmed the address into the GPS, so she would just follow that and if it didn't seem right, she would check the directions when she found a place to stop.
The turn came up quickly. She veered into the turn lane without having time to slow down, and the cement truck blasted past her. She waited while the traffic coming the other way passed, then made her turn.
Woods lay between where she had turned and where the business park she was looking for was presumably located. Sandra drove into the shelter of the trees --
Then, in what seemed an eyeblink, she found herself not in the driveway of a large industrial business park but on a winding suburban street. Maybe the business park was beyond this neighborhood, if she kept driving straight through.
The street she was on curved and met a second street that branched off, also at a curve. She slowed down and looked at the street signs, hoping to see Commerce Street. No such luck; she was at the intersection of Mars Court and Mercury Terrace. She braked for a moment and considered; she thought she wanted to go north. Mars Court, the street -- excuse me, court -- she was on continued curving around to the east, but Mercury Terrace seemed to go north.
She turned and followed Mercury Terrace north, then it angled west-northwest. It turned into Venus Lane, Uranus Place -- the kids probably had fun with that one -- and Pluto Circle, then turned into Mars Court again and met another street at a sharp T angle. Jupiter Landing, the new street was. She turned right, hoping to get going straight north again, but Jupiter Landing made a hairpin curve. She followed it all the way around to get back to Mars Court, but right about where she thought Mars Court should be, Jupiter Landing met with Jupiter Court at about a thirty degree angle.
She was lost. Sandra stopped the car and looked around. The streets all looked the same. And so did the houses -- miles and miles of off-white stuccoed suburban sameness. Except the flock of pink flamingos in front of the house at the corner of the Landing and the Court added a nice individual touch. The compass on the GPS unit said she was facing south. Which seemed odd; if it was still morning, shouldn't the sun be on the other side of the sky from where it was? Either she was really turned around, or the GPS was messed up. Or both.
One thing was clear, she wasn't going to be able to just drive straight through the subdivision to the office park. The only thing to do was to backtrack to the highway and find the right exit this time. And ignore the GPS.
Sandra reached over to the passenger seat for the directions she'd scrawled on the back of the envelope while she was talking to the HR person on the phone. As she thought, she should have taken a right turn off the highway. But there hadn't been a right turn where she'd turned; it was a T-intersection. The turn must be farther up. Oh well; she'd left the house in plenty of time, anticipating trouble finding her destination. With any luck, she should still make it to the interview on time. Fortunately, she had the phone number of the woman she'd talked to in her cell phone. She pushed call; the chipper, cheery voice of the HR assistant answered.
"Hi," Sandra said. "It's Sandra Benson. I have an interview at 11:30; I'm having a little trouble finding your office, but I should be there on time. I just wanted to let you know, in case I am a few minutes late."
"Benson..." the HR woman said. "Let me see, I'll put a note on your file, just in case... I'm so sorry, Ms. Benson, there seems to be some sort of mistake. We don't have you scheduled for an interview today... Or any day this week."
Sandra huffed out an exasperated sigh, holding the phone away so that the HR person wouldn't hear her impatience. "It's right here on my calendar," she said, looking at the envelope where she'd scribbled down the information. "Tuesday, October 7, Mega-Lite Industries, interview with Ms. Valance."
"Well, then, I do apologize," the HR woman said. "It must have fallen through the cracks. I'll go ahead and put you on her schedule, and she'll work you in today, since you've already gone to all the trouble of driving all the way out here."
"Thank you," Sandra said. "I should be there soon."
She hung up, turned the car, and began backtracking. Now that she had noticed the pink flamingos in the yard of the house she had stopped in front of, other yard ornaments came to her attention. A Virgin Mary in a half-buried bathtub shrine, a basketball hoop, a garden gnome, a birdbath, a politcal sign for last year's election, an army of garden gnomes, a Camaro up on blocks, a flock of pink flamingos...
Darn. She was back at the intersection of Jupiter Court and Jupiter Landing. How had she gotten here? She could have sworn she had turned the other way, back onto Mercury Terrace. She called up the map app on her phone and had the GPS find her location; it showed her in the middle of an expanse of emptiness. Apparently this subdivision had been built since the last time the street maps were updated.
There were no signs of life on the streets; probably everyone was at work. Only one thing left to do. She Googled on her phone for a taxi company, and called the first number that came up on the results.
"Galaxy Transportation Company, how may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm at --" She checked for a house number on the pink flamingos house "-- 709 Jupiter Landing. I've got my car and it's working fine, but I can't find my way out of this neighborhood and I'm going to be late for a job interview. If one of your drivers knows his way around here and can lead me back out to 9W, I'd really appreciate it. I'll pay double whatever the fare would be."
"Certainly, ma'am," the cheery voice on the other end said. The connection was funny, from way out here in the boondocks; the sound was slightly metallic. It was lucky she could get a cell signal at all, Sandra thought. "You aren't the first person to get lost in that neighborhood. We'll send someone right out."
"Thank you so much." The rush of relief and gratitude was more than Sandra had expected. She hadn't realized it until now, but she had a really strange feeling about this neighborhood. It was too empty, too new, too weird. Going to a job interview actually sounded like fun in comparison to being stuck here.
She looked at her watch, hoping it wouldn't take the taxi too long to get out there. She got out of the car to stretch; the neighborhood might be empty, but it didn't look dangerous, and it was broad daylight, so it should be okay if she walked around a bit while she waited. The day was bright and held some summer heat that just wouldn't let go.
Then, somehow, the light seemed brighter. She squinted; the brightness hurt her eyes. A chill rushed over her, weird considering the heat and how strong the sun was. She turned to go back to her car, saw at the heart of the bright light something shiny and metallic hanging in the sky, far too large to be floating... Right before the light enveloped her completely and the world fell away, she saw the lettering on the ship, Galaxy Transportation.
At least she wasn't lost in suburban hell any more, was her last thought.
October 22, 2015
City of Mages Now Available!
I'm happy to announce that City of Mages, book 5 of Daughter of the Wildings, is now available at the following stores:Amazon | Barnes & Noble
iTunes | Kobo | OmniLit
Smashwords | DriveThruFiction
In theory, it's also live on Google Play now, but I'm not getting it to show up. Over the next week I'll get the paperback edition formatted, then that will be available a couple of weeks later, after I receive the proof copy in the mail and approve it.
City of Mages is the next-to-last book in the series. The last book, For the Wildings, is by far the longest book in the series, so it's going to take a little longer to get it ready to go, especially with the holidays coming up the next couple of months. I'm still thinking about what comes after that; I realized that the second project space in my brain has been occupied by a fanfiction I wrote for NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago, that I'm still editing. I'm almost done with that, so I'm going to finish it up and get ready to start posting it so I can move on to something else. The Healing Tree (dumb working title) really wants to get written, and I've got a bunch of other projects waiting to be planned or revised. A follow-up series to Daughter of the Wildings is definitely on the list :-)
October 16, 2015
Quick Update: City of Mages, Featured Author
Wow, I just realized I haven't been posting much lately. I've been deep in edits on City of Mages, and I'm on to the final proofreading. Look for it next week! To make sure you miss the release announcement, sign up for my email alerts. I won't share your information, and I also won't spam you.Also, this week I'm the featured author in the Paranormal, Fantasy, Dystopia, and Romance Readers, Writers, and Reviewers Goodreads group. I want to thank these nice people who are helping promote me this week - make sure you go check them out!
Aoife Sheridan
Lynn Thompson
Annie B Matthews
Eva Gordon
Elle Jacklee
Shari Sakurai
A.S. Johnson
October 12, 2015
Author Spotlight: Annie B Matthews
Introducing author Annie B Matthews, author of the YA paranormal novel Talent:1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I have always been a voracious reader and writing seemed to be a natural extension of that. I love stories, whether they are written word or on the screen. I’m a runner too, which came as something of a surprise to me, but it’s a great way to bash out plot ideas.
2. When did you start writing, and why?
As a teenager, I would be frustrated by novel endings that I didn’t like and I would reimagine these all the time. I would have these little movies playing in my head too, but it wasn’t until a friend showed me a story she had written that I decided to start writing myself. I was twelve. I started writing YA as a teen and never stopped. Although I do have a couple of adult novels on the back burner.
3. What do you write, and why? What do you enjoy about what you write?
At the moment I primarily write YA, as that’s how I started and I like YA. I work with teenagers, so I listen to what they have to say about the fiction aimed at them and I try to consider that in my stories. For instance, many girls want the romance, but without the weak female character that often goes with that. I enjoy writing stories where the romance is important, but the heroine is more important. My heroines are independent and the guys they end up with are awesome, not ‘alpha’, regardless of their age!
4. What is your latest book or series? Any forthcoming books?
Talent is my first self-published novel and the sequel, Fire, will be out before Christmas. These will be the only two novels in the Talents series. I have some other projects I want to work on, including a novella on revenge bullying.
5. "Welcome To My Worlds": Tell us a little about the world of your latest book or series.
The world of Talents is the world we live in, with a variety of ‘talented’ individuals. Telepaths, empaths, locator talents and future seers...just as every person is unique, so are the talents. The Talent world is, in many ways, in its infancy; these novels show the starting point for a new society that brings all the Talents together.
6. Introduce us to some of your characters. What do you like about them?
In Talent, we meet Libby. She’s ambitious, loyal and tenacious. I like her, as she’s not afraid of a challenge - she faces a lot of them! Her best friend, Kelly, also interested me as she started out happy and vivacious, but the world they live in has its own pressures. As she grows up, she has to work out her place in that world. It’s an interesting and often difficult journey that I think we can all relate to. Kelly is the heroine of Fire [book 2].
7. A fun fact you would like your readers to know about you or your book.
Talent took 2 years to finish because I didn’t think I could, or should. I met someone who writes and blogs, and she loves what she does. She inspired me to give it a go. Once I made my decision, the book was finished in 3 months.
Where to find Annie B Matthews:
I blog when I can, or when something interesting comes to mind. You can find ‘Read, write, coffee’ on Wordpress: https://anniebmatthews.wordpress.com/
Goodreads | Twitter
Talent:
Libby didn't expect to have her perfectly planned life uprooted half way through Sixth Form.
Starting a new school is the least of her worries, however, even though the natives aren't too friendly and the boy she has an instant crush on looks at her as though she's his worst enemy.
With her parents acting strangely, Libby starts to think that their big move might tear the family apart.
Then her mum disappears and Libby finds herself thrust into a world she never dreamed existed.
It turns out that no one is ever what they seem.
A young adult paranormal novel.
Available at Amazon
October 1, 2015
Author Spotlight: Eleanor Webster
Today I'm happy to welcome Eleanor Webster to the blog, to celebrate the release of her first novel, No Conventional Miss.1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I live in a small town in northern Canada with my husband and two daughters. In addition to human neighbours, I also have bears and deer which frequent my backyard. One bruin, in fact, broke my very fine cherry tree.
I am a lifelong learner and have a Masters degree in educational psychology and undergraduate degrees in creative writing and history. I use my writing to explore my fascination with the past and am thrilled to announce the publication of my first Harlequin Historical, No Conventional Miss.
2. When did you start writing, and why?
I attempted my first novel when I was in grade 5. It featured a stowaway on a freighter. However, I lost interest in her somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
As to why I write – I write largely because I am too old to play with Barbie dolls – plus their clothes are too tricky and I always lost the shoes.
3. What do you write, and why? What do you enjoy about what you write?
I write romance and I aim to entertain. I work in a field of psychology which can result in heart-breaking situations and I write to create a place of ‘happy endings’ which are not always duplicated in real life. I enjoy creating engaging and somewhat quirky characters.
For example, in No Conventional Miss Rilla is an inventor and builds a butter churn which succeeds in flooding the dairy. Lady Wyburn, another character is kind, lovely and slightly ditzy in a very smart way. For me, Lady Wyburn is that impish inner voice which notes the inanities of everyday life and enables one to cope with humor to life’s vicissitudes.
4. What is your latest book or series? Any forthcoming books?
My latest book is No Conventional Miss. It is debuting today, Oct. 1,through Harlequin Historicals. I have a two book contract with Harlequin so a second book will be released at some point... It is set slightly earlier with the backdrop of the French Revolution.
5. "Welcome To My Worlds": Tell us a little about the world of your latest book or series.No Conventional Miss is set in Regency England. I have always loved the Regency Period because it depicts a society poised for change. The inventions of the Industrial Revolution are emerging, bringing with them the anticipation of societal transformation.
Rilla has a zest for innovation and invention. However, she is also plagued by moments of second sight and paranormal ability. Both aspects of her personality are not acceptable within the context of her society..
6. A fun fact you would like your readers to know about you or your book.
My favourite character, Lady Wyburn, is based on my conception of a grandmother I never met but with whom I identify. She was ditzy in a smart, delightful way. Apparently, she once set the veil of her hat on fire with a cigarette. I’d do something like that. In fact, my peers strongly advocated that I NOT take up smoking. Second interesting fact, I am a hand-talker. I can’t help it. Once when working with teenagers they timed me to see how long I could talk without moving my hands. I never made it past 30 seconds.
No Conventional Miss:
She's always been different…
Amaryllis Gibson is an unlikely debutante. She favors fact over fashion, cares not for "proper" conversation and is haunted by ghostly visions which could land her in the madhouse! Marriage is definitely the last thing on Rilla's mind…
But when she's caught in a compromising position with Viscount Wyburn, suddenly she finds herself betrothed! And worse, his powerful presence only increases her visions. By shedding light on the viscount's past, can Rilla gain his trust and win him round to her more…unconventional traits?
No Conventional Miss is available at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes
About the Author:
Eleanor Webster loves high-heels and sun, which is ironic as she lives in northern Canada, the land of snowhills and unflattering footwear. Various crafting experiences, including a nasty glue-gun episode, have proven that her creative soul is best expressed through the written word.
Eleanor lives with her husband and has two daughters. She is a lifelong learner and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology. Eleanor has a masters degree in educational psychology and an undergraduate degree in history and creative writing. She loves to use her writing to explore her fascination with the past.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
September 29, 2015
Urdaisunia Revisited
One of the reasons I started writing was to write the kinds of books I wanted to read and had a hard time finding. So it makes sense that I would want to go back and re-read my older books, and I've been wanting to do so for a while. It isn't quite that simple, though. A lot of authors, including me, have a fear of reading their own books. We tend to read our own work in highly critical mode, and we're terrified of finding mistakes, or that our older writing style will make us cringe, or that we'll end up wanting to just rewrite the whole darn thing. Finally, though, I decided I wanted to read my books and revisit those stories and characters I love enough to brave the dangers. So I decided to start at the beginning and read
Urdaisunia
.And it was actually a lot of fun. It's been so long since I looked at Urdaisunia that I had forgotten a lot of what happens and a lot of the neat details in it that I love. Once I got over my initial terror of finding mistakes and sucky writing in every paragraph, I even got lost in the story, reading it like a reader would. That's a rare and fun thing when it happens for an author, to be able to read their book from a reader mindset. Would I do some things differently now, 2 1/2 years and many books later? Yes. As with most authors, my writing style has evolved and maybe improved with practice. And I did find two minor proofreading errors that I have corrected in the uploaded books. But I didn't find myself cringing or wanting to rewrite the whole thing; I thought it stands very well as it is. And I was reminded of some story threads to bring into planning the sequel (which is in the development stage, though it isn't at the top of my list of projects to work on).
I hope it doesn't sound like bragging to say I enjoyed revisiting Urdaisunia and I'm proud of it. My books might never burn up the bestseller charts, but I can say that every book I write is a book I want to read, and I put my very best efforts and all my heart into each book. If I touch even one or two readers for whom that book is exactly what they wanted to read, and they feel the emotions and enjoyment that I put into writing the book, then I've done my job, and knowing I've touched readers this way is the best validation I could ask for.
September 25, 2015
Friday 5: Where the magic happens
It's been a while since I did a Friday 5, so here's one: Where the magic happens, or, pictures from my writing room.
1. My writing room is a spare bedroom in our house. I share the space with storage bins full of Legos, the elliptical trainer, boxes of Christmas decorations, and other assorted stuff that we don't really have anywhere else to put. (With one kid married and permanently out of the house, we could put some of it in his room, which we intend to repurpose as a guest room.) Anyway, I have two walls of this room staked out for my own stuff. I have an 8-foot-long folding table that serves as my main writing table. It also serves as my scrapbook table, so from these pictures you can see that my laptop and manuscripts have to share with all my scrapbook junk. It's kind of good because that way I have to put away one project before I can work on the other thing instead of just having all my stuff out all the time.
2. I do have a sewing machine, though I don't actually use it very much, mostly just mending and decorative stitching on scrapbook pages. I did make my younger son a Homestuck costume for Halloween last year (in one day!) that I guess turned out pretty good. Thank goodness for cosplayers who post their patterns online. I also have four paper trimmers (you can see three of them in this picture). I don't know why I have four paper trimmers, I just do. 
3. This desk was used by both of my boys when they were in grade school. It's too small for an adult to sit at, but it has lots of shelf space and drawers (one of those drawers is full of nothing but unopened packages of index cards) and I can fit my file drawers into the chair space. When we got the younger one a new desk I glommed on to this old one before my husband could even suggest we get rid of it. Oh, and there's my Kuroneko plushie from Trigun up on top, keeping an eye on me to make sure I stay on task.
4. Of course, since the desk belonged to grade-school boys, it has stickers all over it. Mostly Pokemon, and something called Duel Masters that was kind of a Yu-Gi-Oh ripoff but mostly what they did was send out junk mail with lots of stickers in it. It gives me kind of a happy nostalgic feeling to look at these. 
5. My laptop, the first one I've ever owned, which made it possible for me to move all of my writing operations into this room instead of typing on my desktop in a room at the other end of the house which serves as the family computer room and doing manuscript revision in this room and then hauling the pages back to the other end of the house to type in the changes. Now I just use my desktop for formatting and uploading. And you can see my lucky rainbow unicorn Pusheen patch. My (then-future) daughter-in-law sent it to me for Mother's Day last year. It makes me happy :-D 
1. My writing room is a spare bedroom in our house. I share the space with storage bins full of Legos, the elliptical trainer, boxes of Christmas decorations, and other assorted stuff that we don't really have anywhere else to put. (With one kid married and permanently out of the house, we could put some of it in his room, which we intend to repurpose as a guest room.) Anyway, I have two walls of this room staked out for my own stuff. I have an 8-foot-long folding table that serves as my main writing table. It also serves as my scrapbook table, so from these pictures you can see that my laptop and manuscripts have to share with all my scrapbook junk. It's kind of good because that way I have to put away one project before I can work on the other thing instead of just having all my stuff out all the time.
2. I do have a sewing machine, though I don't actually use it very much, mostly just mending and decorative stitching on scrapbook pages. I did make my younger son a Homestuck costume for Halloween last year (in one day!) that I guess turned out pretty good. Thank goodness for cosplayers who post their patterns online. I also have four paper trimmers (you can see three of them in this picture). I don't know why I have four paper trimmers, I just do. 3. This desk was used by both of my boys when they were in grade school. It's too small for an adult to sit at, but it has lots of shelf space and drawers (one of those drawers is full of nothing but unopened packages of index cards) and I can fit my file drawers into the chair space. When we got the younger one a new desk I glommed on to this old one before my husband could even suggest we get rid of it. Oh, and there's my Kuroneko plushie from Trigun up on top, keeping an eye on me to make sure I stay on task. 4. Of course, since the desk belonged to grade-school boys, it has stickers all over it. Mostly Pokemon, and something called Duel Masters that was kind of a Yu-Gi-Oh ripoff but mostly what they did was send out junk mail with lots of stickers in it. It gives me kind of a happy nostalgic feeling to look at these. 5. My laptop, the first one I've ever owned, which made it possible for me to move all of my writing operations into this room instead of typing on my desktop in a room at the other end of the house which serves as the family computer room and doing manuscript revision in this room and then hauling the pages back to the other end of the house to type in the changes. Now I just use my desktop for formatting and uploading. And you can see my lucky rainbow unicorn Pusheen patch. My (then-future) daughter-in-law sent it to me for Mother's Day last year. It makes me happy :-D
September 22, 2015
Back in the old days...
Carlos Koblischek freeimages.com Recently I got a new phone, my first smartphone. Which brought up the question, Am I smart enough for a smartphone? One of the first things I did with it was accidentally set a password without realizing what I was doing, so of course I didn't know the password to unlock the phone, which led to having to do a complete factory re-set less than an hour after I opened the box. And it took me a month to figure out how to answer calls on it :-P What can I say; no one ever calls me. Actually, the number is for family and emergencies only, and most of my family members text or IM me. Anyway, once I figured out how the thing works, I put the Kindle reading app on it, so now I can read books on my phone. No matter where I am, I'm never without a book - a lifelong bookworm's dream!I was reading on my phone in bed one night (I also use the alarm on it to wake up, and this way I only have one device on the nightstand), and remarked to my husband that back in the old days, when we were in high school (in the mid-late 70s), if someone had talked about "reading on your phone" we wouldn't have had a clue what that meant. What, you call a phone number and someone reads out loud from a book to you? It reminded us of the old info lines they used to have (maybe still do, though it seems awfully archaic now) where you call a number (a 900 number that you have to pay to call?) and put in one extension number to get your horoscope, and another one for the latest celebrity news, and another one for health tips. So maybe reading on your phone would have been you dial the number and put in the extension for the book you want to hear, a new chapter every week.
Reading an ebook on Kindle (or whatever your reading device of choice) is so much cooler than that. As is this whole Interwebs thing we have now :-) But back then, we never would have believed this was possible.
Another thing I like to think about is how the music from a whole cardboard carton's worth of LPs will now fit on something the size of my fingernail. If you're old enough, you remember hauling cardboard cartons from the grocery store filled with LPs every time you moved in or out of your dorm room or apartment. Those things were HEAVY. I met my husband in college, and every semester when he moved in and out, I would help him carry the cartons filled with LPs, and also his speakers, each of which was about the size of a kindergartner. But now we've gone from this:
to this: 
(Yes, that's my real hand, with a 16 GB micro SD card.)That would have completely blown my mind way back when.
And another thing: back in the old days, if you liked a song, you could buy the single (with a bonus song on the back, the B side, which would never get played on the radio except on the very coolest stations) or you could buy the whole album, maybe paying a lot of money for only a few songs you ended up liking. If you wanted to hear your favorite song over and over again, you had to lift the needle or rewind the tape (if you were really high-tech and listening to cassette tapes), and each time you risked dropping the needle and scratching the record, or tangling up the tape, and over time that favorite song would get worn out. Plus you were also stuck listening to the songs you didn't like, unless you wanted to lift the needle and move it or skip ahead on the tape. If you had a cassette recorder, you could put it by the radio speaker and record your favorite songs off the radio :-D You had to be fast, to push the record button as soon as the song came on, and half the time the DJ kept talking over the start of the song. >:( The really cool people had a stereo with a tape deck built in so they could make mix tapes of their favorite songs from their albums, but then you were still stuck with always hearing the songs in the same order.
This is why I love MP3s. I can buy a whole album or just a few songs, and if there's a song I don't like I can delete it, never to have to hear it again. I can make playlists (I almost always make playlists for my writing projects) and add to them whenever I want, and listen to the songs in different orders, or listen to my favorite song over and over and over and over again (I'm like a 2-year-old that way, I'll obsessively listen to my favorite song or album a zillion times in a row), or just put all 10 gigabytes of music on my MP3 player on a massive random shuffle. Like having my own personal radio station except without commercials, songs I don't like, and inane chatter. Like I've always been a bookworm, I've also always been a music lover, and this would have been absolute heaven back in the old days.
To a lot of people a lot younger than me, this is all just how things are. It's hugely different from the world I knew when I was younger. But in a way it's cool that I remember when things were different, because I have so much more appreciation for how amazing all this stuff is.
September 19, 2015
September 2015 Update
The first half of September has completely blown right by, and I never did the monthly wrap-up/look ahead. In this case it's pretty simple; To The Gap, book 4 of Daughter of the Wildings, was released on August 1, and revisions/edits on book 5, City of Mages, are well underway. I'm into the fine-tuning stages now, and it's going pretty well (it helps that life has pretty much settled down for now, and I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that). I'm pretty confident the book will be ready for release the first half of October. Hopefully on the earlier side of that time frame, but I don't like to over-promise. There are a lot of other projects I want to get to sometime, but right now, being so deeply immersed in Daughter of the Wildings, I don't have a lot of mental energy left over for anything else. so any serious work on anything else will probably have to wait till after book 6 is out, which will also give me time to decide which projects on the long list of them to work on next!
