Ryleigh Berkenpas's Blog
April 22, 2013
Another Free Day approaches: April 26, 2013
Good evening, dear readers! For those of you who are interested and may be planning to reading my book, The Fallout from Finding Emily, I thought I'd give a shout out to you all and let you know that this coming Friday (April 26, 2013), and only this Friday, the kindle edition is FREE on all Amazon sites! So if you have a kindle (or the free kindle app) and want to read it, but the hefty price of $1.99 is standing in your way...
Well, you get the picture.
This will be the last day in the foreseeable future that I am offering this book for free, although I am toying with the notion of participating in a giveaway through LibraryThing, since they allow ebook giveaways and Goodreads does not.
As always, happy reading!
- And if you do decide to download and read it, please post a review on Goodreads and Amazon and possibly the Kobo site once you're done. Thank you!-
The Fallout From Finding Emily
Well, you get the picture.
This will be the last day in the foreseeable future that I am offering this book for free, although I am toying with the notion of participating in a giveaway through LibraryThing, since they allow ebook giveaways and Goodreads does not.
As always, happy reading!
- And if you do decide to download and read it, please post a review on Goodreads and Amazon and possibly the Kobo site once you're done. Thank you!-
The Fallout From Finding Emily
April 10, 2013
Laura who?
Those of you who have read through my book, The Fallout From Finding Emily, and its 'dear readers' section know that I am currently writing a sequel in Laura's perspective, and while Arlene may have thought Laura shallow, reputation obsessed, and power hungry, that isn't all she is. She's actually a little... complicated, not unlike Arlene.
To be completely honest, I initially had a very difficult time while trying to write the next portion of the Kelsey O'Brien story, which belongs to Laura, because I didn't really know who Laura was. I knew who Arlene thought Laura was, but I hadn't quite worked out the kinks and details of Laura's past or worked through the events that made her who she is. And I've lived with Arlene - grown up with her, actually - since I was thirteen, when I wrote the first version of her story, and yes, she has changed and evolved over the years, but who she is, her character and what she stood for, essentially remained the same. And therein lies the problem, because prior to writing Laura's portion of the Kelsey O'Brien saga, I didn't know who she was. I knew of her, but I didn't know her, you know? But I digress. And will continue to, because I don't actually plan on divulging any of Laura's secrets to you via blogging; those will need to be discovered when you venture forward to read her story, which I am working out as we speak. Or type. Or whatever.
Either way, I should have the first draft done by the end of April if all goes as planned, but it will probably be another few months before you see it anywhere because I'm pretty sure I'll need to do a complete rewrite, as is required with most stories.
toodle-oo!
To be completely honest, I initially had a very difficult time while trying to write the next portion of the Kelsey O'Brien story, which belongs to Laura, because I didn't really know who Laura was. I knew who Arlene thought Laura was, but I hadn't quite worked out the kinks and details of Laura's past or worked through the events that made her who she is. And I've lived with Arlene - grown up with her, actually - since I was thirteen, when I wrote the first version of her story, and yes, she has changed and evolved over the years, but who she is, her character and what she stood for, essentially remained the same. And therein lies the problem, because prior to writing Laura's portion of the Kelsey O'Brien saga, I didn't know who she was. I knew of her, but I didn't know her, you know? But I digress. And will continue to, because I don't actually plan on divulging any of Laura's secrets to you via blogging; those will need to be discovered when you venture forward to read her story, which I am working out as we speak. Or type. Or whatever.
Either way, I should have the first draft done by the end of April if all goes as planned, but it will probably be another few months before you see it anywhere because I'm pretty sure I'll need to do a complete rewrite, as is required with most stories.
toodle-oo!
March 26, 2013
March 26, 2013 - Free on Kindle!
Good morning, dear readers! For those of you who are interested and may be planning to reading my book, The Fallout From Finding Emily, I thought I'd give a shout out to you all and let you know that for today, and today only, the kindle edition is FREE on all amazon sites! So if you have a kindle and want to read it, but the hefty price of $1.99 is standing in your way...
Well, you get the picture.
As always, happy reading!
- And if you do decide to download and read it, please post a review on Goodreads and Amazon once you're done. -
Thank you!
Well, you get the picture.
As always, happy reading!
- And if you do decide to download and read it, please post a review on Goodreads and Amazon once you're done. -
Thank you!
March 24, 2013
Soon to be on Kobo
I had it easy when I formatted my book for Kindle and posted it on Amazon.com, I realize that now, after I've spent 8+ hours trying to successfully format my novel, The Fallout From Finding Emily, for publication on Kobo Writing Life. I've changed the format numerous times trying to find success and just can't seem to get it right - first there are page-long spaces between each paragraph, even the paragraphs that are only one sentance long, then I figured out how to rectify that but now there are no spaces or indents between any of the paragraphs. I figured out how to fix this, again, not the correct way, but hey, it was fixed - but when I looked through the sample ePub Kobo provided, realized while converting, it randomly entered page breaks in the middle of random words in 5 different places in my book. Confusing much? Yes. I'm about to pull my hair out - and I really, really like my hair. But never fear, dear readers, if you don't have a kindle or the kindle app, I do not plan to give up - I just hope I can figure this out in the next months. The anticipated release date for The Fallout From Finding Emily on Kobo is May 5, 2013; hopefully it will be ready by then. And until then, I'll be reading, formatting, and writing my pretty little heart out. ~Ryleigh <3
March 17, 2013
pre-planning?
I've never actually plotted, schemed, or planned a book before writing it, but, seeing that I know my characters already, decided to try it for the sequel I'm writing for The Fallout From Finding Emily, and I've got to say, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. True, nothing ever goes exactly as planned, but because I have a plan I am not finding myself avoiding writing because I've hit a block and have no idea what to say. I do avoid writing certain scenes that I just don't feel like tackling, but all in all, when it comes down to it, I am feeling extremely good about how productive I've been - six weeks in and I already have over 40,000 words to my first draft! Yay! That doesn't mean I'm anywhere near done, as the first draft is extremely rough and the entire thing will most likely require a re-write, but just the fact that I'm getting it all on paper is super encouraging - every time I hit an additional 10,000 words I feel like celebrating! Whooo-hoo! I am loving the pre-planning thing! Now I just need to add the additional scenes to my cue cards and sort everything out - and write the rest, of course. This is me, wishing you more and more happy reading (and writing)!
February 25, 2013
And the quest continues...
Prose is my downfall. I know this, and, therefore, am on a quest to improve my prose skills by slowly yet surely learning about different sentance structures and styles. My theory is that, in learning about the sentance styles and structures - and practicing them not so diligently, I will get better. At least I hope to get better. They do say practice makes perfect, right? I don't claim to be perfect yet - not by a longshot - and I'm not really even practicing all that much, but hopefully I'll make it there one day soon.
The Art of Styling Sentences
The Art of Styling Sentences
February 23, 2013
Way Too Easy
It took me two years to write my debut book, six months to edit it, and, if I'm being completely honest, the story and characters have been with me since I was thirteen. So how long did it take me to post it online?
Answer: Once I had an ebook cover created, a blurb written, and the word document formatted, way less time than I'd anticipated. Which basically means no time at all, or all of a single hour of a single day.
One hour!
What in the world have I been delaying and bemoaning and procrastinating for? Why did I think it would be a long, drawn out process that would take, well, forever? Because it didn't! Granted, all I did was post my book on amazon, but hey - it's out there, and that alone feels like a huge accomplishment!
The amazon kdp feature is so user friendly that as long as you show up with the information required (a blurb, a book cover, and your book content), you can have your very own book submitted on their site within minutes. It does take them a few hours to process the information and post it on the site, but really, this was too easy and leaves me scratching my head and wondering why I waited so very, very long to try this.
Answer: Once I had an ebook cover created, a blurb written, and the word document formatted, way less time than I'd anticipated. Which basically means no time at all, or all of a single hour of a single day.
One hour!
What in the world have I been delaying and bemoaning and procrastinating for? Why did I think it would be a long, drawn out process that would take, well, forever? Because it didn't! Granted, all I did was post my book on amazon, but hey - it's out there, and that alone feels like a huge accomplishment!
The amazon kdp feature is so user friendly that as long as you show up with the information required (a blurb, a book cover, and your book content), you can have your very own book submitted on their site within minutes. It does take them a few hours to process the information and post it on the site, but really, this was too easy and leaves me scratching my head and wondering why I waited so very, very long to try this.
