Megan Morgan's Blog, page 41

My Fuzzy Muse

My fuzzy muse is very spoiled, as you can see…

My toys, all mine!

My fuzzy muse is a nine year old tortoiseshell named Francis. She’s a she, though many people mistake her for a boy because I guess Francis is a boy’s name? (She’s named after an old friend, who is male, but it’s his last name.) Almost all tortoiseshells are girls because their coloring comes from the X chromosome. I got her has a kitten, and she’s always been a rather small cat, if you don’t count her circumference.

My fuzzy muse has a wonky eye…

Eye see you.

She was born with a permanently dilated eye, something that makes her look pretty funny in the light. The vet says she’s fine though, and probably still sees better than most humans. She also has a malformed septum that makes her snore a lot, but she’s healthy and happy and just a little damaged, and we love her all the more for it. She often closes her dilated eye in direct light, which makes her look like she’s winking at you.

My fuzzy muse is very much a momma’s baby. She always needs to be touching me. If I’m sitting or lying down she stretches out so she can be pressed against me, and when I’m standing she often leans against my legs. It must be torturous for her when I’m not home! She’s there when I write, and when I edit, and helpfully stretches herself out on my writing planner so I can’t see it or wedges herself between me and the laptop so I have a soft place to rest my arms. Quite helpful!

Now, my fuzzy muse is tired and needs a comfortable-looking nap…

Looks so comfy!

Do you have a fuzzy muse in your life?

Filed under: About Me Tagged: cats, me, personal life, pictures

A Cover Is Worth A Thousand Words

As I announced on Friday, I had a novella accepted for publication with Siren Bookstrand. Great news! However, when you have something new being published, there comes that inevitable form you have to fill out (which I’m filling out right now and as usual, biting my nails over):

The cover art request sheet.

If you haven’t been traditionally published, I’ll fill you in: MOST publishers give you some say in what you want your cover to look like. You will get a form, through which you get to explain your vision for the cover to the cover artist. This is both great and terrible. Great because, hey, you get a say. Terrible because, do you really know what you want your cover to look like? Have you really thought this through in detail? If you have, and you have a clear vision, good for you. For me, it’s some vague idea or ‘man, I just want it not to suck, okay?’ Also, how in the world do I express exactly what I want to see on the cover? Do they think I’m a writer or something?

Here’s some important tips and things to remember if you gotta fill out that sheet:

Your ideas are just that, ideas. You’re probably not going to get exactly what you want, especially if you’re too particular. The project is a collaboration between you and an artist (who hopefully knows a great deal more about cover art than you do) and your suggestions are merely suggestions.
The artist has almost probably not read your book, so you’re going to have to be explicit about what the characters look like and what the important themes of the story are.
If you absolutely hate the end result, most publishers and artists will work with you to tweak it. On one hand, publishers want you to be happy with the product and not hate the sight of it (they really do). On the other hand, there’s a clause in your contract that states the publisher has the final say on all cover art. The artists aren’t ruthless monsters though, they want you to like the work they do and they want to represent your work faithfully. I’ve only heard a few horror stories of authors who were absolutely repulsed by the covers they ended up with.
Check out the other covers your publisher produces. Find ones that are similar to the vision in your head and mention them on the cover art form. Like, “hey I really like the composition in this one, and the colors in this one…”
This is something I personally do: most cover art is made from stock photos. I go to stock photo sites and find pictures of people that resemble the characters I see in my head. Then I send links to the artist with notes like “this is what I envision this character to look like, sorta.” It may not be the same stock photo site they use, but it gives the artist an idea of the sort of photos to look for. Sometimes I make comparisons to celebrities as well.
Try not to be too terrified on that day when you get the email that has your cover proof attached and you’re going to see it for the first time. Take a deep breath and open that file. You did it!

There’s my tips. Have you ever had a cover you loved, or hated, or had a hard time (or an easy time) getting what you wanted out of it?

Filed under: Behind The Scenes, Publications Tagged: advice, book covers, creativity, pictures, publishers

13 insane things…

I was trying to come up with a blog post subject for today and I decided to check out some ‘blog topic generators.’ There’s a bunch of them listed here, and I used the Portent’s Content Idea Generator. I put ‘writing’ in for the subject and I got some truly hilarious ideas, like this one: 13 Insane (But True) Things About Writing.

That made me laugh. Could I come up with 13 insane (but true) things about writing? Sure I can! Here you go:

13 Insane (But True!) Things About Writing:

YOU kinda have to be insane to be a writer.
People will never ask you things you can readily answer when you tell them you’re a writer. They’ll ask things like “how do you write a book?” (there’s no easy way to answer that) or “when do you have time to write???” (someone who doesn’t even know me asked me this recently, when they have no idea what my schedule/life is like) You will get more strange/hard to answer questions than things you actually want to chat about.
You won’t make much money. But you’ll keep doing it! (See #1)
 If you write urban fantasy, you will never meet a single person in real life who knows what that is, despite it being one of the biggest selling genres in books today.
Additionally, if you write romance, you will inevitably get some sneers and eye rolls, despite the fact romance is THE top genre in books and has been a multi-BILLION dollar industry for multiple years running.
Sometimes you write a whole book, then hate it and never look at it again.
Or, you’ll pull out some God-awful thing you wrote ten years ago and think “hey, I can fix this up and make it better.” You can’t. Move on to something new. After two days of massive revisions, you’re going to hate ten-years-ago you and wish you could go back in time and stab yourself.
You deliberately go read customer/Goodreads reviews on your book, even though you know you shouldn’t do this to yourself.
Writing is a socially-acceptable form of dissociating and hallucinating for hours on end.
At times you know less about what’s going to happen in your own story than a reader would.
No matter how much stuff you have published, sometimes you will lay on the floor and angst about what a hack you are.
Sometimes you ask your cat what’s supposed to happen next in your book.
Sometimes the cat has great ideas.

Well, that was fun! Do you have any to add?

Filed under: Monday Funday Tagged: blogging, creativity, funny, writing

Some happy news!

Just a little announcement today!

Yesterday, I signed a contract with Siren BookStrand for my paranormal erotic romance It Takes a Thief. It’s tentatively scheduled to be released in August. I will talk more about it and have more information to share soon!

I’m really excited about working with Siren. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them from their authors and they’re one of the top publishers for erotic romance. They seem to be interested in cultivating the careers of authors too, so I’m hoping to publish more with them in the future.

I’m feeling quite positive about writing things right now. This marks my eighth publication (not counting short stories in anthologies) and it will be my second release this year (The Burning City comes out in July and I have a novella, Through the Darkness which will be released in fall/winter with Muse It HOT). My novel-length works are urban fantasy and romance, but I can’t help myself, I like to write smutty novellas, so my shorter works tend to be of the erotic variety. We all need hobbies, don’t we?

Anyway, that’s the good news! More info about it coming soon.

Filed under: It Takes a Thief, Publications, Works Tagged: contract, erotica, paranormal, publishers, romance, siren bookstrand, updates

When you hope your dreams don’t come true

This post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop. The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. The awesome co-hosts for the June 1 posting of the IWSG will be Murees Dupe, Alexia Chamberlynn, Chemist Ken, and Heather Gardner!

The other night I had a dream that not one, but two different people read my first book and hated it. Neither of them were people I actually know, one was a guy who came into my work and asked to read my book and then left me a long, detailed letter about how much it sucked. The other was an amalgamation of several people I know, a woman who told me to my face it was pretty awful and that the characters were terrible. Needless to say, I woke up a bit disgruntled and disheartened.

I work in the service industry–I’ve been a server and bartender for a long time. In the service industry there is a phenomenon jokingly called ‘server dreams.’ Because serving/bartending can be such a high-stress, anxiety-inducing job, many people who do it have nightmares weekly (sometimes nightly) about work. Dreams where they’re slammed with a hundred tables at once, or they can’t work the register, or all the food is coming out wrong, or everyone is yelling at them–it’s never something cool like someone giving  you a million dollar tip, it’s always a nightmarish hell where you forget how to do your job and all the customers hate you.

A few years ago I started working as a bartender in a private airport club, which is MUCH more laid back and slow paced. Since that time, my server dreams have stopped, though I still have about one a month (but then I wake up grateful I’m not doing that anymore, instead of frazzled).

…now I’m having AUTHOR DREAMS!

Geez, it never ends, does it? Next I’ll probably dream I’m doing a book signing and someone walks up to me, hits me across the face with my book, and tells me I’m a disgrace to the writing community (don’t get any ideas, brain).

Have you ever had a nightmare about your writing?

Filed under: Behind The Scenes, IWSG Tagged: blog hop, funny, insecure writer's support group, writing

Happy Memorial Day!

Today is Memorial Day here in the US. First and foremost, it’s a day to remember and honor those who have lost their lives serving our country in the military. Beyond just remembering and honoring, there are many ways to help the families of fallen soldiers. Donating to organizations like TAPS and Children of Fallen Soldiers as well as many other organizations that help those left behind is a good way to honor those who have made the sacrifice.

Memorial Day is also the ‘unofficial official’ start of summer in the US and a lot of people celebrate today by going to the pool, having cookouts and parties, and enjoying a day off work. Unfortunately some of us still have to go to work, like me, but I’m planning on jumping in the pool when I come home!

Wherever you are today, have a great holiday, or a great Monday!

Filed under: Holidays

Descended From Dragons by Tricia Owens

Today I’m hosting Tricia Owens and her sweet and sensual urban fantasy/paranormal romance Descended From Dragons. Tricia is giving away a $75 Amazon or B&N gift card, so make sure to comment, check out the other stops on the tour, and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway!

Enter to win a $75 Amazon/B&N Gift Card

Leave a comment and check out the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

Beneath the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas lies another city. A secret city in plain sight, full of warlocks and demons, shape-shifters and golems. A city that feeds off the chance magick that is generated by gamblers and which is ruled by mysterious beings called the Oddsmakers.

It is in this strange underbelly of the occult that Anne Moody runs a cursed pawn shop for the desperate, the curious, and the magickally inclined. Though the job is boring, it keeps her under the radar. None of her customers have any inkling that she is a dragon sorceress with a power that’s been feared throughout history. However dragons are no help when a stone statue ends up in her shop that is more than it appears. The statue is a gargoyle named Vale, who is shrouded in mystery and secrets. When she learns that Vale is possessed, and that the person responsible for cursing him plans to take over Las Vegas with a horde of demons from Hell, Anne realizes it is up to her to defy the Oddsmakers and save the city, and possibly the world.

EXCERPT:

A shift of the eyes to the left. I followed Orlaton’s line of sight to a riveted metal trunk that sat on the floor at the base of one of the bookshelves. Like a pirate’s chest, it was sealed closed by a large, ancient padlock. The padlock was probably only window dressing. The real locks were magickal, and they would hurt you if you tried to break them, if not outright kill you.

“I’ve made my mistake. I will never make it again,” Orlaton murmured.

His cheeks were white. His shoulders had hunched. As I looked at him, dread crawled up my spine like a spider. There had been horror in his voice. A wretched sort of anguish. Anguish still bound up in fear.

I looked at the chest again. It didn’t look so simple anymore. Now it looked like someone’s nightmare.

“What’s inside it?” I asked, reluctant to hear the answer.

His eyes shimmered behind their lenses. “Do you really want to know?”

Orlaton had taken this somewhere darker than I’d intended this conversation to go. I wanted to back away from the haunted knowledge in his eyes even as a part of me wanted to defend him. Orlaton was no wounded bird, but something in that trunk had hurt him. Badly. I couldn’t begin to imagine how terrible—how wickedly devious—it must have been to have slipped beneath his guard.

I couldn’t begin to imagine what it had done to him before he had managed to stop it.

“I suggest you don’t do what I did,” he warned in a voice that trembled. He aimed a meaningful look at the gargoyle statue. “Some magicks…linger. Some magicks destroy you when you least expect them to.”

“I’ll get help,” I promised him. A name came to mind, one I hadn’t thought of in years.

His mouth thinned into the smile of a ghost. “I’d wish you luck, but it won’t help you.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tricia Owens wants you to know that Las Vegas is actually a pretty cool place and you won’t be eaten by a troll there. Probably. A former casino games dealer and cruise ship editor, Tricia has traveled extensively, visiting over 70 countries. She writes full time in several genres including urban fantasy and romance. Her favorite setting is her home town, the city of sin.

Website: http://www.triciaowensbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tricia-Owens-Author-348774068467200/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tricia-Owens/e/B009HBB3FY

Enter to win a $75 Amazon/B&N Gift Card

Leave a comment and visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

Filed under: Giveaways, Guest Posts Tagged: guests, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy

New Adult for old adults

Over the past several years, the genre of ‘New Adult’ has become hugely popular–often a sub-genre of romance, you can find it as its own dedicated category no matter where you buy books. As far as I’m aware, the name, or even the idea, didn’t exist until fairly recently. According to the Wikipedia article on it, St. Martin’s Press coined the phrase ‘New Adult’ in 2009.

When New Adult first became a thing, I admit I was confused by it. A step above Young Adult, it typically focuses on twenty-somethings. Well, I thought, isn’t that just…fiction that’s not YA or children’s? Then, learning more about it, I discovered that typically New Adult focuses on the trials and tribulations of passing into adulthood, often in college (though not all New Adult is set in college). Basically, that unwieldy and frightening time in your life when you’re trying to cut the apron strings and be a functioning adult out in the real world. After understanding it, I wrinkled my nose–why on earth would I want to relive that time in my life? I’ve maintained disinterest ever since.

Then recently (for superficial reasons I’ll explain below) I started watching a type of TV show that I never watch. I’m a drama and horror and darkness kind of gal. I love The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, and Peaky Blinders, just to name a few. I loved Breaking Bad. I like intensity and grit and heart-stopping action. I don’t really get into comedy or fluff. HOWEVER…

There’s a teen-ish slice of life show on MTV (of all networks!) called Awkward, which I moved myself to watch a few episodes of because one of my favorite actors (the lovely Evan Williams) is in it in the later seasons, and really, who among us hasn’t gritted their teeth through some ridiculous drivel for their favorite actors? Except, once I got into it, it wasn’t ridiculous drivel. It was inexplicably funny and charming and poignant in parts, and while most of the characters are overblown caricatures, it’s done in an amusing and entertaining way. I started watching it when Mr. Williams entered the show, which was when the main character was in her final year of high school, and then she moves on to college. My eyes glazed over as I inexplicably binge-watched.

And then I realized…I’m watching New Adult!

After sitting with myself for some time, it finally clicked for me why New Adult–and Young Adult–are so popular, especially outside their target audience (the reviews for Awkward on Amazon show that a large percentage of the viewers are my age). It’s about nostalgia. High school and college are a microcosm that we never really experience again in life. High school was that time when there was so much high-tension drama, but it was fluffy drama because you weren’t paying your own bills and your parents still fed you. College is where we shape ourselves and learn who we are, but in a cubby hole of supportive and equally confused proto-adults. The rest of our lives are second jobs, taxes, sick babies, and broken water heaters. Why wouldn’t we want to go back to that simpler, and in retrospect, more fun time?

Of course nostalgia can be painful too, and some of us didn’t have a fun microcosm, but the purpose of art is to move us, so maybe some of us want those difficult feelings as well.

Maybe I need to pick up a few books and give New Adult a try after all…

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: books, new adult, reading, romance

Hooked on a feeling

I hate exercise. I know it’s good for you and all the benefits it provides your body and mind, but I just hate it. However, some years ago I tried running, which I surprisingly loved, but ultimately got lazy and gave up on it. Now, I’ve decided I want to try to get more healthy and fit, but I can’t just pick up running again because I’m too out of shape (because I don’t exercise) so I’m starting off slow, by walking 30 minutes a day.

I recently moved, from a very ‘city’ neighborhood to a much more residential one–still in the city, but a lot less implicitly urban. This means I have some nice areas nearby to do my walking. The other morning I walked nearly a mile through the quiet, sleepy neighborhoods that surround my apartment complex. It’s a nice brain jog to have so much new scenery to take in. It’s fun to explore, too–kind of exciting, and weirdly scary, every time I’ve wandered a good distance from home into an area I’ve never been before. Not scary because I think something is going to happen to me, or I’ll get lost, just the vaguely nerve wracking thrill of wandering around somewhere unfamiliar and outside my comfort zone. I walked all the way to the interstate one morning, and it was pleasantly odd to know I was somewhere I had never been before on foot and didn’t even know I could get there from my starting point. Discovery! Newness!

This has something to do with writing, I promise. This is a writing blog, after all.

The neighborhoods I walk through are very suburban, even though I’m not in the suburbs. Each squat, tidy house (no big houses in this area, most are one and two stories, and very compact) with a nice efficient square of yard in front of each, many with towering trees surrounding them. Smooth, clear sidewalks, all flat terrain with maybe a gentle hill here and there. A maze of interconnecting streets I haven’t explored yet, each much like the other. I walk past a school and a factory (which is blended into the neighborhood setting with trees and gorgeous landscaping and tall fences). Each house and yard seems much the same, apart from the personalized touches the owners and tenants have added–flowers, bushes, lawn sculptures, patios, a splash of bright color here and there. Having lived in an overly gritty, ‘city’ area for so long, I forgot places like this exist. We’re also in the full blush of spring right now and the grass is blazing green, the trees burgeoning with leaves.

Here’s where the writing part comes in: based on the description above, you can probably picture this neighborhood. Not the exact details of course, but you get an image in your head, because you’ve probably been in a place just like it. Describing how a setting looks is pretty easy. Based on a few descriptors, most readers can picture an idyllic, quiet, well-maintained neighborhood on a spring morning.

Much harder to capture in writing is the way a setting feels. And even if you can capture the feeling, there are still readers it won’t resonate with.

In our formative years, as children and young people, our eyes are ‘wide open’ because everything in the world is literally new to us and we’re taking it in for the first time. During that time, feelings get attached to certain sights and events–namely, how we felt when we first saw and experienced them. As I walked through this neighborhood, all fresh and new to me, certain things kept sparking my memory–the way a fence sat, the sprawl of a yard, a box of flowers, the way the shadows gathered under tall, thick pine trees. Not so much memories as the memory of a feeling. I can’t tell you from what point in my life those memories came, but they kept getting triggered over and over. When I was a child I grew up in the desert, where neighborhoods are only green if they’re watered and maintained constantly. We lived in a few of those places and they were always eye-opening to me, because at other times we literally lived in places where the backyard was sand. I think the onslaught of neat, idyllic greenness took me back to that time. Everything I passed had an interesting, comfortable, elusive feel to it that I couldn’t explain if I tried. It was a good feeling, though.

The problem with conveying the feeling of a setting is that your readers don’t share your memories. And while something you hit upon might resonate with a few of them, some are not going to understand. We share a lot of universal truths as human beings, but our memories–and the memory of feelings–are our own. You can still convey this though, by making your character’s memories a vital part of who they are and in moving the story forward. You don’t know me or share my memories, but after explaining my background to you, you can probably understand why a lush, picturesque neighborhood would make me ‘feel’ my childhood. You can explain your character’s feelings by pointing out why they have them. A few people might really get it, too.

Every day is a writing lesson! Even taking a walk to try to stop hating exercise can make you a better writer.

Filed under: About Me, Behind The Scenes Tagged: creativity, inspiration, personal life, tools, writing

Siren Song news

Just a reminder, The Wicked City is still free right now at all retailers, and will be until June 5th! If you like urban fantasy and want to get a taste of the Siren Song series, this is the perfect opportunity. Click below for more details and the links to all retailers!

Also, the third book in the Siren Song series, The Burning City, will be released on July 5th and right now it’s up for grabs on NetGalley if you’re a reviewer. Click the cover to pick it up!

Get some free books and have a great weekend!

Filed under: Promotion, Publications, Siren Song, The Burning City, The Wicked City Tagged: kensington, lyrical press, paranormal, reviews, updates, urban fantasy