Heather Hamel's Blog, page 14

NaNoWriMo Update

I apologize that I don’t have time for a proper blog this week as my fingers are ready to drop off for trying to write at least the first draft of another middle grade novel in one month. As I mentioned before, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I’m fool enough to participate!

I am please to say that I have over 15,000 words written as of right now. I’m not saying they are good, I’m not saying they make sense – but they are written down!

If anyone is looking for me for the remainder of the month, I’ll be at home…sitting behind my desk and hunch over my computer…like a good writer!

Murder of Crows Free for One More Day

To celebrate the kick-off of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I’m offering Murder of Crows free this weekend.

Feel free to share this with anyone who may enjoy curling up with a ghost story/murder mystery. It’s a great read on a super cold day!

Click here for the link!

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s when insane authors put their lives on hold for one month and attempt to whip out the crappy first draft of a novel at a pace of approx. 1,600+ words a day.

Did I mention I’m participating this year? I love challenges (cough, cough..Kobi) and  goal setting. I have had so many requests for sequel for Murder of Crows that it will be my focus next month – title to be revealed at a later time!

Also, in honor of both Murder of Crows and NaNoWriMo, November 1st and 2nd, the kindle version of Murder of Crows will be FREE! Tell everyone you know & I’ll send out a reminder on November 1st with the link!

Thank you for your support and your understanding I’m somewhat ‘unavailable’ next month!

Release of Book Cover #2 – Beneath Diamond Waters

Today is the reveal of the cover for Beneath Diamond Waters: Book 2 of the new Cryptozoology series.  This story takes Fiona down to the land of the mermaids!

It is also the work of Sarah Foster from Sprinkles on Top Studios.

Let me know what you think! Also, if you haven’t gotten a chance to see the guest Christmas Memory blog, please head over to: http://www.cliffordrush.com/2014/10/2nd-book-christmas/

 

 

Book Cover Reveal – Within Emerald Forests

For those of you that missed the Florida Heritage Book Festival at Flagler College yesterday – we had a great time!!

I didn’t want everyone missing out on the reveal of the next book cover, Within Emerald Forests which is Book 1 of the Cryptozoological series – but you will have to wait a little longer to see the cover for Beneath Diamond Waters…I don’t want to share too much too soon!!

The series covers are being created by the talented Sarah Foster at  Sprinkles on Top Studios.

Ready? Enjoy!

 

 

Persistence

I grew up hearing various expressions on how hard work and persistence can pay off. I’ll be honest, I always thought there was a huge amount of luck involved as well – and maybe there is, but without the hard word in the beginning and the hard-headed persistence to see something through, nothing would ever be accomplished.

Two examples of this from different areas of my life came to light recently. One was last week when Murder of Crows was reviewed in the local newspaper. It was such a nice review – for those who missed it last week, here’s the link. It wouldn’t have happened without the persistence to write (and finish) the book, the persistence of others to read and help edit the story, the persistence to allow myself to make mistakes as I fumbled though publishing it myself, and the persistence of everyone involved of talking about Murder of Crows and promoting it! Thank you – others are starting to take notice of the little ghost story!

The other example of persistence paying off recently came from Kobi. It has been such a wacky summer between the heat, rain, and bugs keeping me out of the saddle. We have done more ground work the past few months than I think we have done during our entire relationship! Earlier in the summer, I developed a severe pain in my left arm – which I recently found out is an inflamed rotator cuff- so I’ve had a hard time riding and working Kobi the way I normally do. I’ve had to go to neck reining to protect my shoulder. Due to the persistence of our ground work and saddle time – he was amazing and I could tell we had more trust with each other than we had a few short months ago.

It just goes to show persistence, hard work, and maybe just a little luck really does pay off!

First Newspaper Review for Murder of Crows

Sometimes hard work pays off and sometimes things happen due to luck – I’m fortunate enough to have a little of both!

Murder of Crows was reviewed in the local paper today and while I feel everyone should go out and buy a copy to frame, for those who don’t live close enough to do that – here’ s the link.

As for the comment about ‘trying to hard’ to make the house haunted – what can I say, I grew up in Scotland where those things happen on a daily basis!

Making Connections

For the last few months I have set up at the Downtown Bazaar at the Spanish Quarter to sell books on the last Saturday night of the month. Last night started as hot and sweaty as the previous months, but for some reason people wanted to talk more last night.

Writing can be such a solitary endeavor – sitting by myself in the quiet of creating for hours on end, coming up for air periodically and sharing the stories in progress with a handful of souls. I love that part of it!

But last night, I was fortunate enough to see some of the connections with the outside world, and yes (gasp!) other people that some of my stories are making.

Some people who walked by were drawn to Kobi and found the story and experiences of a wild horse fascinating. We would talk about the wild horses on Cumberland Island or Chincoteague. While I was packing up a woman from Nevada came up and thanked me for saving one of the wild Nevada bunch from a life worse than death and said she will send me some pictures she took of them roaming wild in her back yard – maybe I see some of Kobi’s herd in them!

Other people loved ghosts and mysteries. I exchanged countless ghost stories with people last night and enjoyed every minute of it, from people asking questions about hauntings in St. Augustine, to a mother and daughter sharing some experiences in her daughter’s quite haunted college dorm in West Virginia.

And a few others came to talk about writing. I met another aspiring teacher/writer named Heather in Ocala who said she had seen a copy of Murder of Crows in Ocala and asked if I ever set up there! The reach is getting farther.

All in all, it was a great night and filled the creative tanks again. We’ll have to see which world my fingers will write about next!

New Beginnings

Those of you who have been following my blog for awhile know I am a huge fan of equine therapy and somewhat jokingly say that I participate in it every day! Two weeks ago Sugar had an opportunity to join the ranks of these hardworking horses and took it!

As surprising as it may seem, it was a difficult decision for me to make, since change and the unknown can be scary. After many sleepless night and burning stomach-ache (that I’m sure have led to ulcers), I realized that Sugar needed much more than I could give her. She needed (and deserves) to be around people who adore her. She also needs to be with a larger herd than just Kobi – we all know how cranky he can be sometimes!

Her new home with Dr. Ashley Thompson at Salto De Fe is on over 300 acres with a beautiful pasture and enormous pond to eventually swim in. She’ll have 24 hour, grazing turn out with 13 other horses. I know she has her hooves crossed that one will be a stallion, but I’m not holding my breath!

Thing here are different now and Kobi has adjusted quite well to being an only child for the moment. (Please don’t send me anymore guilt about horses being herd animals and needing company – I’ve done it to myself already and Kobi and I are both doing well now – so keep negative comments at bay).

At some point Kobi will have another brother (I’m done with mares), but in the meantime we are enjoying each others company on trails and strengthening his ground manners!

Old Theme Parks = New Fun

One of the main reasons Les and I ventured to North Carolina was to check out a theme park of his youth – Ghost Town in the Sky. After our initial disappointment of showing up on Wednesday and realizing they are only open Friday through Monday, we decided to postpone leaving the mountains by a few hours to experience what we came to do.

After making that decision, I had serious anxiety with the thought of a 20 minute ski lift ride up the side of a mountain. It’s  not that I’m afraid of heights, per se – just cautious. I expressed my concerns before we bought tickets and both employees said they would much rather use the ski lift to get to the top than the trolley that drives up those twisty mountain roads. Point taken.

After breakfast threatened several return trips, it was our turn to hop on the lift. Wow – was I wrong. The ride, while terrifying for the first minute or so, turned out to be one of my highlights of the trip – not to mention conquering a fear.

The town itself was made to look like a main street of the old west. I didn’t have any expectations, so I had a great time watching the saloon girls dance and the shoot out in the street. Les had childhood memories to contend with, which we all know tend to remember things bigger and better than they may have been many, many years ago. After an hour, we had seen all we felt we wanted to and headed back down the mountain via ski lift.

I’m so glad we did it!