Meri Benson's Blog, page 24

NaNoWriMo

So, I’ve been working up a little bit of stuff around me and I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. Or more like again. I’ve done it for a couple years, and I’ve yet to be able to actually win it, so I’m putting a lot of will power into steaming through and actually being able to say I won this year.

I’ve even got a schedule for the month of October to get me in the writing mood a little more, working on some fics inspired by the daily prompts that are posted in the Prompt forum on the website.

And if you’re wondering what NaNoWriMo is? It’s National Novel Writing Month. Basically, for the month of November I promise to work my tail off and write 50,000 words be it a novel, fanfiction, a collection of short stories. 30 Days, 50,000 words. And the focus isn’t to get bogged down in quality so much as getting the quantity out, and then use the month of December to edit what you’ve written.

Wanna join the craziness? http://www.nanowrimo.org is the place to go. Sign up is open, and the forums are already a flurry of fun and talking as people prepare for the insanity that is November. If you’re new to NaNo, there are also regional forums where you can see if maybe someone is hosting a write it, or other fun plans to keep people in their area on track. You might make a new best friend.

And if you want to add me on there? my handle is kougerkat

Book Review: Easy Bake Coven by J.D. Shaw

Author: J.D. Shaw

Publisher: Independently Published via Kindle Direct & CreateSpace

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Rating:  3.5 Stars

Vivienne Finch has her dreams set on opening ‘Sweet Dreams Bakery’ in her little seaside town. But when the mayor’s wife ends up dead in her dumpster on opening day, the tiny town is pushed onto its side, and Vivienne is dragged right along with it.

Right up front I will say I liked the book. The plot was interesting, and the twists did keep coming with the who-dun-it part of this book. The town was well described too. The author was good to detail how the little main street looked, especially since the mayor’s wife had been planning to give main street a face lift to better attract more tourists, and the characters were fairly engaging to read and follow. I definitely look forward to book two come the winter season.

However, there’s a reason why it doesn’t have a higher rating. For all the good, there were some issues that I had with the book too. Between the synopsis posted and the title, you knew that it would have something to do with witches in the story. I just didn’t realize that it would be so far into the story. I feel like, as a whole the title was kind of a let down, because Vivienne doesn’t find out she’s a witch until a good part of the book, and really? There is no coven. It’s a vague, hand wavy reference through her grandmother and then at the very end of the book.

As well, I think that things were taken far too well, far too sugary sweet toothed. Things that any normal person would freak out about finding out, especially when it comes to try and kill you, Vivienne just absorbed and kept on walking like it was a normal day in her tiny Cove town. In that respect, the character fell a little flat and two-dimensional to me, because it’s not JUST the witch part that she takes with just a bat of her eyes, but secrets about other supernaturals as well. I wish she would have freaked out, thrown a fit, something to show that this was completely out of her norm and out of the reality she’d lived in for all of her life.

Will I read book two? Probably. Would I suggest this book to people to read? If you don’t mind a little light reading with a few issues, sure. At $2.99 it’s not too heafty of a price to enjoy the story and plot.

Inching along

I really don’t know why it’s so hard to get me to sit down and write out blog posts, or update my twitter for that matter. I always have great plans to, and then they fall short of my wants because something or another gets pushed in front of me.

Though, in my defense with blogging, I’ve been vying for a full time desk job that will pay the bills. Something I deeply need in order to survive and all. It’s going well too, and I’m hoping to have the job secured by the start of the new year. So here’s hoping.

In other news, I am in the process of writing up a review, though a couple days ago, as I was finishing up the book I was directed by Kindle that since I was reading A, I might like B. And B turned out to be book two of a series named after the book I was currently reading. But by a different author. Color me confused at that point.

Apparently two different authors used “Easy Bake Coven” as their title, only five months apart. So while the newer of the two’s review will be posted hopefully tomorrow if today pans out as I want it too, the older of the two “Easy Bake Coven” books will be jumping my reading list to top so I can read and review that one too.

Which leads me to a poll of sorts, dear readers. Have you come across this before? And I’m not just talking about similar titles, because I have stumbled across similar or same titled books but what was inside, and the genres tended to be different. Both of these books are about witches, and from the description of the second one, they’re both slipping into some mystery as well.

And for those that write and publish, do you search to see if anything on amazon, B&N, smashword, etc. has the same title as what you are hoping to name your book? Or do you just publish it without looking?

Book Review: Blood and Lipstick edited by Roger Armstrong

Author: Encarnita Round, Leigh Campbell, Robert Hanley, Victoria Oldham, & E.E. Ottoman

Publisher: Storm Moon Press — found here

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance

Rating:  3.5 Stars

The first tale is 27 Days by Encarnita Round (1 star) which follows Sarah through some troubles with her wife when a new love interest enters the picture. 27 Days is written in first person, which is a hard perspective to pull off, and unfortunately I think that very reason is part of the story’s downfall. As the reader, you’re so rooted in Sarah’s head that the actual actions are glossed over or jumbled most of the time. You get more thoughts and history and Sarah’s impressions than anything else. It’s so very narration heavy because it’s first person that it was hard to wade through while I read. I felt like the author was cramming information and backstory down my throat to get it out rather than letting it flow naturally and as needed, and because of this I also feel that there was some backstory that wasn’t needed and I as the reader was left going ‘okay, I know this, but why should I care when it doesn’t directly impact anything that’s going on in any of the story?’ It wasn’t just the way the story was written that didn’t grab me, but some of the characterization of the five hundred year old vampire seemed more like a teenage to twenty something girl when reacting to things internally.

We continue with Bloody Flowers by Leigh Campbell (4.5 stars). The story starts with Meri at a club looking for a tasty woman to bring home to her lover and maker, Helene. She finds Diana and after a taste decides to bring her home, already feeling like the woman will be more than just a one night bite. The complications arise when it comes to light that Diana is on the run from another vampire. The writing is great, it really pulls you into Meri’s point of view as you read. As well the action scene leaves you on the edge of your seat to see just how things will turn out. Definitely worth the read, and worth watching to see what this author will produce next.

As we slide into You and the Moon by Robert Hanley (3 stars) we follow the tale of Julie as she searches for the woman and scientist whose shoes she has followed since a girl. Cassandra was everything that Julie wanted to be, and every ounce the person Julie wanted to be with. Over all, the plot was an interesting one. The concept that vampirism could be cured with modern science was definitely a new spin for me. I’ve seen a lot of ways science has helped vampires to survive, from farming humans to creating fake blood, but never had the research been spurred from the remorse and guilt of what being a vampire made a woman do. I did have a few issues with characters though, as the relationship starts off a little more dangerous obsession on Julies part than love, and the accepting that Cassandra is a vampire off the bat by Julie was a little awkward since she just seemed perfectly fine with it after never having come across it before.

Next we set sail with Jayne and Eleni in Love’s Horizon by Victoria Oldham (4 stars). Jayne loves the sea. She owns her own boat, uses it to ferry tourists around, and also happens to live on it. When she’s not out on open waters, she’s digging deeper into the paranormal. The combination of these two things is what draws Eleni to her, needing a human captain. The story and the characters were interesting, and I did personally find the concept of vampire pirates quite a new twist and an enjoyable one at that. I’d love to read more, both from this author but from this world and these two characters.

And finally, we travel back in time with Business Makes Strange Bedfellows by E.E. Ottoman (4 stars). Gret is ahead of her time, being an independent woman that refuses to let men hold her down from getting her inheritance to becoming a doctor. One night in her lab, she accidentally releases something and to put it right hires Vi’s help in tracking and killing it. The writing is well done, the plot is most definitely an interesting one, and the ending leaves you wanting more. I also really love the tip of the hat to Lovecraft in the story. I will say though that I found the climax of the monster hunt a little rushed, but then that could just be me wanting more too.

Comings and Questions

I don’t know what it is, but it always seems that as soon as I set a deadline for myself, everything breaks to hell to keep me from that deadline. I will be working harder to fix this issue so that when I say something is going to happen, it will come hell or high water happen.

I’ve already talked to my friend about how what I really need to do to get back in the writing horse is set aside an hour a day to write. On days where I’m home in the afternoon, odds are it’ll be then. On days where I won’t be home until 6 or so, it’ll be started 9pm. Gives me a little bit of relaxing after the long day with prime time shows, before I put my nose to the word count. I also need to set aside some time to read so I can get through the books that are stacking up for review.

New Release!

It’s finally here! My very first published work (not counting the freebie I did for Earth Day)!

It’s part of an anthology called Sacrificed.

I’m one of four authors in it. It can be found here for purchase!

Kassandra’s town is committed to Following the Old Ways in that every few years they round up the virgins of the town and one is picked by lottery to sate the demands of the dragon. But what happens when the dragon finds out that Kassandra is not as virginal as she is supposed to be?

Upcoming Reviews

This is going to be a really small update today. So, not only am I behind in my writing and word count goals, but I’m a little behind in my reading and reviewing.

I plan to finish reading and get the review of Storm Moon Press’ Blood and Lipstick Anthology this week. I’ve been sitting on it for a while now, though I only have two stories left in it, and I am looking to push and get it done. So watch for that review probably tomorrow or Saturday.

After that, I am going to be slipping out of the Storm Moon Press stuff and hit up two fantasy books.

ARC of Flag of Bones: Voyages of the Dragon Wynd by Elle Pepper (A reduex of her original release)

and

Scarlet Sails by TS Rhodes

I am very much looking forward to getting into some swash buckling fantasy with these two books. And hopefully you all will enjoy coming with me on my travels through them.

Back from the Wilderness

It’s oddly nice sometimes to get offline, hang out with friends, and just… relax unplugged. Well, I was a little plugged in until my best friend joined me out in the woods for the festival last week, but that can’t be helped when my smartphone gets better internet service than cell service out in the middle of no where. But the crux of it was, it was nice to be unplugged for a while.

Get back with nature, just have some good time with friends, campfires, and some crafts. And when there’s time, get back with the old pen and paper and just… get to the essence of writing without all the distractions from the internet that can crop up. Seriously, writing with a computer that has online capabilities is sometimes like ordering a new ebook from Amazon. I go for the free book, but suddenly, ten bucks later, I have a small arsenal of new reads and I’m going ‘no, get me off here!’. 

Can you tell I have a very ‘Oh! Shiny!’ kind of personality? Heh. I tend to get distracted easily if I’m not careful, and even sometimes when I am careful.

This week is a get back into the swing of going to work kind of week over all. Though I’m hoping that I can get back into the swing of writing as well. As per my friend’s suggestion, I need to see about putting aside one hour to write a day so even if I don’t get the thousand word (or more) goal, at least I am getting some words out. And in that hour I won’t do things like play on tumblr or poke around on facebook. Dedicated purely to writing. I want my Fae story out, damnit.

And in other news this week, hopefully the anthology I’m part of will be released Friday, fingers crossed at least.

And did I mention that while at the camping trip, a friend of mine said that she would help me to figure out how to format a word document so it’s all ready to self publish at create space? Because I really am seriously thinking of doing some shorter, novella length works for kindle/create space while my novel is being pushed at some big publishing companies. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for, for this Fae novel of mine. Big house publishing company. Hopefully it’s got enough potential and punch for that.

And Immune System Goes to Crap

I really, really can’t believe that it’s been so long since I’ve been on here. And believe me, it’s been just about as long since I really touched my WIP. Well, not counting two days ago. I ended up getting sick with Strep. And then taking a little bit to actually get into the doctor for them to diagnosis it, and that lead to them not believing it was strep because the quick culture came back negative and my throat while looking irritated looked fine. Four days later, my long culture is positive. (Which is what I said would happen the moment I stepped into the doctor’s office.)

I’ve gotten semi back into writing. Slowly. It doesn’t help that in two days I’ll be headed to the middle of no where for a week long festival that I run. Doesn’t add up to a lot of down time to write, but I am hoping to put the old pen to paper and see if I can’t get a little bit written while I’m there. And my phone has a talk to text feature that I can probably utilize to get it transcribed a little faster once I’m back.

Wish me luck on trying to catch up on my word count, because I’m so far behind I’m gonna cry if I think about it.

And So It Begins…

So this is going to be a fairly short post.

The good? I started writing yesterday. And I’m not gonna lie, it felt good to get the words out. I’m never sure if it’s great, or if it’ll keep through the rough draft edits, but words out are words out and I can expand or compress later. I really need to stop worrying about the future of the draft and focus on getting the draft actually out of my head.

The bad? It wasn’t nearly as much as I was hoping to write. Though it’s a start. A single step in the right direction. I just need to make sure I follow that step with more throughout the week.

I will say part of not hitting my goal was because I started to not feel well, and that’s continued into today. I’m wondering if I should have stayed home with how I’m feeling, but with two hours left once I’m off the little break, it’s already too late to do much but tough it out and crash on my face when I get home.

I am looking to get more words out, by tooth or nail tonight. Though quite honestly I may take an offline approach and notebook the word count from bed once home.