What I'm Writing Now

Sorry, I haven't been able to stay on schedule.  You know, as an aspiring author I used to get up at 4 a.m. to write.  Now that I'm published, I get up at 3. 
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Not kidding.
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When I really feel pressed, I get up at 2:30.  Did I mention I have four children?  Anyway...
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I'm supposed to be taking December off story writing to focus on promo.  That's short for 'promotional writing.'  I've learned that published authors do a staggering amount of writing for free, especially if they can't afford to pay real money for promoting their books.  Sorry, but unless you're Stephanie Meyer, you're not gonna have millions of dollars thrown behind advertising your book.  My publisher does a lot, don't get me wrong.  But, still, especially in ePublishing, a lot of promotional work depends on the author.  I knew that going in, because I was a book reviewer for four years.  I'm not complaining, because it is nice that I can go to sites like Night Owl Teen and have the option to 'sing for my supper,' so to speak.  I can't afford to pay for advertising on their site, but I can request to have Sugar Rush reviewed and I can 'guest-blog' for free.  This gets my stories out there too.  Otherwise, I couldn't be on their site at all and no one would know Sugar Rush exists.  To learn more about my promo writing, check out-   Kimber An's Calendar
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But, I am 'pre-writing' a few few other stories. 
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Well, actually, one's 'post-writing' I guess you could say.  I tried to get out the prequel to Sugar Rush before, but I just didn't have the time to do it justice.  Sugar Rush was ready to go and it worked with my publisher's schedule.  So, the prequel, CRUSHED SUGAR, is actually coming out after Sugar Rush, probably in January.  It's been gutted and flip-flopped, critiqued and edited, and generally butchered and put back together.  I need to do some polishing work based on some critiques my fellow Decadent authors generously provided and then, I think, it will be ready for the final edit before it's released.  Crushed is a short story, although it might be just long enough to qualify as a novella.  It's approximately 15,000 words, unless I have to cut or add dramatically in the final edit.  Crushed is about how Ophelia ended up with Martin, the villain, instead of Adrian, the hero, before the start of Sugar Rush.
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I have another, truly short story called, 'Bianca & the Blood-Sucking Dead Guy.'  Several readers really liked Ophelia's twin sister and I had the urge to try out First Person Point-of-View, which is really scary writing for me.  I came up with this rough draft.  It's set right after the end of Sugar Rush and hints at events to come in the next full-length novel, SUGAR BABY.  Becaise First Person POV is so scary for me to write, I tried it out on a holiday story, which you can read for free by clicking here- The Christmas My Sister Blew the Head Off Malibu Barbie
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And I'm also working on the world-building for SUGAR BABY.  When doing a series, each new book gets bigger and more complicated.  It's also quite scary, a major learning curve for me.  Some of its fun though, like figuring out if it's possible to convert a salad shooter into a battery operation and finding a picture of what I imagine Bianca's new kitten, Luna, looks like.  Here's a link to a great post on writing a series-  Leanna Renee Hieber on Writer Wednesday   You may know her as the author of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. 
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Well, that's it for today.  Take care.  The weekend is upon us!