11/16/11 - Nighstalker is now an e-book, finally! It's available on the Kindle for $.99. I was also successful in getting my publisher to lower the price of the book from $12.95 to $8.99.
Been busy with a freshman in high school playing football. A real eye-opening experince.
Everyone waiting for the Breaking Dawn movie debut? I can wait a little longer. That book just got too weird for me. But I am currently enjoying Rachel Caine's Last Breath and Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen Distant Thunders. I highly recommend both series.
8/10/11 - Went on a cruise last month and had a ball. Spent a day at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. I highly recommend it but bring your credit cards - its expensive.
One step closer to having Nightstalker available as an e-book on Kindle. I think pulling teeth would be easier.
7/7/11 - I'm currently in negotiations with my publiher for Nightstalker to lower the price of the book and get it on Kindle. The simple fact is if I don't sell books, the next book in the series can't be published. Self-publishing isn't cheap. If you enjoyed either or both books, give either or both books as gifts or tell your friends about it. I would appreciate it.
To the agent and/or publisher that is offering the Anthony woman a book deal - Shame on you! She shouldn't be profiting from what she did and neither should you. A little, innocent girl is dead. Where are your morals?
6/25/11 - I don't comment on non-writing related things often, but I'm going to give my opinion of the Casey Anthony murder case. It's high time the Federal Government steps in and declares all crimes against children Federal crimes, governed by Federal sentencing rules.
If a person abuses a child physically in any way and is found guilty, its life in prison with no chance of parole. Such people have proven they can't function in society, so they need to be put away, permanently. It has been proven too many times that such people who get out of prison comment the same crime again. Don't give them the chance.
If a person kills a child, on purpose or through neglect or abuse (I'm not talking about in an accident unless it involves drunk driving or being on drugs) and the person is found guilty, automatic death sentence. No deals, no appeals. They're history.
No judge should be able to decrease the sentence.
Okay, I've said my piece.
6/24/11 - It's been a while. Author Solutions, who runs this site, changed everything in the background in January and it's taken until now for me to be able to get back in here. I know I'm pathetic when it comes to technology.
Still periodically having trouble with the connect. Can't ait until the contract is over. Verizon, here I come.
My New Year's resolutions stayed resolved for about a month. Real life intruded all spring and continues to take up a lot of my time.
I'm working on updating the site. It will be a slow process as well.
Again, I'll ask if you enjoyed Daywalker and/or Nightstalker, put a review into Amazon. I'd appreciate it.
1/12/11 - Happy New Year! a little belated because my AT&T laptop connect cut out on me and I had to fight AT&T for over a week to get them to 1 - recognize the damn thing wasn't working, 2- send me a new one, 3- admit the new one wasn't working right either, 4- send me another one, 5- not charge me for going above my plan because the first one wouldn't connect, 6 - prorate my next bill for the days I didn't have access.
If you read either Daywalker and/or Nightstalker and liked them, please write a review in Amazon. I's appreciate it.
I made some resolutions for this year. One is to complete Red Rain, the second Jesse book. Second is to complete Aquarius, the young adult book I'm working with my son on. Third is to complete at least one of the in-process fanfics I have going on over in Gatchfanfic.
I found out recently one of my favorite authors, Jennider Rardin, passed away unexpectedly in September. She wrote paranormal romances. She had one other book completed that is still going to be published this summer. That's sad. She was only 45.
12/23/10 - First, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I refuse to use the term 'Holiday Season'. It's Christmas and we shouldn't be ashamed to say so!
Blood Rain, the next Jesse book, is up to 57,000 words. I keep plugging away and here's another plug: if you liked Daywalker and haven't looked up Nightstalker, take a look. Tell your friends and relatives about it. Give one or both as gifts. Blood Rain can't be published once completed unless I have the seed money from the sales of the first two books - I'm following one of my favorite author's examples, Rob Thurman, in stating the facts regarding publishing.
I've been posting a new story over at Gatchfanfic, Big Girls Don't Cry. Check it out.
11/30/10 - Blood Rain is up to 46,000 words. Progress is being made. When the words flow, they flow, but when they stop, Wham! Writer's block is not only frustrating, but a real blow to the ego. They say when you get it, go write somehting else for a little while until your muse omes back.
Well, Ms. Muse, get your butt back here!!
11/19/10 - It was a good time at Tuscarora. I got to talk to a lot of people and hopefully earned a few more fans. If you like my books, go to Amazon and submit a review. I would appreciate it.
11/9/10 - I will be conducting a book signing at Tuscarora High School in Leesburg, Virginia on Saturday, Novemer 13. Come say hi!
10/26/10 - I just got word Nightstalker was a finalist in the Fiction & Literature Romance category of the Best Books 2010 Awards, sponsored by USA Books News. This is the second award for Nightstalker. Hopefully the publicity will create some sales.
10/15/10 - I'm still trying to decide on the name for the second Jesse book. The current working title is Blood Rain. I'll be breaking 40,000 words this weekend. I'm going to use NaNoWriMo as my inspriation to complete it by the end of Nov. However, sad fact of the matter is unless more copies of Daywalker and Nightstalker are sold, I won't have the seed money to get Blood Rain published. You want to know what happens to Jesse next? Spread the word. Suggest the books to your friends, co-workers, even your enemies. Give it as a gift. Daywalker is an award winning book. Thus far, Nightstalker has been a runner up and I'm awaiting word on several other contests Nightstalker is in. Word of mouth is the best advertising.
9/21/10 - Fall would be my favorite time of year if it didn't lead to winter. I hate winter.
Barnes and Noble still refuses to carry either Daywalker or Nightstalker because they are self published. You want to see them in stores? Ask your local store to carry it!
If you've read the first chapters of Aquarius and/or Dream Warriors, let me know what you think. The first person to do so will receive a signed copy of their choice of Daywalker or Nightstalker.
8/22/10 - Just got back from vacation. A week of no writing is a mixed blessing - it both gives you time to think through some scenes and makes you crazy not writing it down. Paper doesn't like the humidity at the beach and laptops don't like the sand blowing around. I'm off schedule again. What's new? Football season has started and I'm back to being a soccer Mom who has yet to see a soccer field. Non-stop sports from now until mid-June. Wouldn't have it any other way.
8/11/10 - Jesse's not having a lot of fun. Conflict is the key to writing and poor Jesse is always in the center of the conflict, sometimes through no fault of his own. Other times, he's creating it on purpose. He feels responsible for anything that goes wrong in his presence, whether he caused it or not. Guilt can hinder you and Jesse's finding that out the hard way.
7/30/10 - I've been very busy marketing Nightstalker, entering it in contests, talking to people. I also finally finished my Battle of the Planet's fanfic Sacrifice after several years of working on it. It's posted over in Gatchfanfic. Jesse's talking to me again, so progress is being made on his next book. I've got a lot of half finished fanfics I'm also working on in Gatchfanfic. Writing is a lot of fun.
7/11/10 - Send me a note explaining why you liked Daywalker. The first person to do so will receive an autographed copy of Nightstalker. I'll reply to all of your notes and send the winner instructions.
7/6/10 - Nightstalker has been published and the timing was perfect, as my laptop crashed only hours after finalizing everything. It's taken me a week to get a new laptop and fight it. I swear computers hate me. The new laptop wouldn't load at first, my AT&T connect keeps losing the internet connection so my attemtpts to restore all of my files from Carbonite keeps failing. Nightstalker is available on Amazon and will be available in other venues soon, including as an e-book.
6/18/10 - I'm still waiting for the new proof copy of Nightstalker to make sure everything is now okay. Self publishing is soooooo much fun.
My book signing on Friday, the 25th, which is sponsored by the Loudoun County Library Foundation's Annual Book Sale, will be at Smart's Middle School in Leesburg, VA. The address is 850 North King Street. I will be there from 9 AM to 3:30 PM. I'm trying to stretch it to 7PM. I'll only have Daywalker with me since Nightstalker isn't available yet.
6/5/10 - I received the proof copy of Nightstalker and found some errors. The corrections have been made and the corrected copy have been sent back to the publisher.
I will be participating the the 2010 Loudoun County Library Association's Used Book Sale on June 25th in Leesburg, VA for their first Meet the Author event. They asked the Loudoun County Writers' Association to ask their authors if they'd be interested in selling their books during the event. I jumped in feet first. I'll be there all day. More information to follow.
5/22/10 - The cover for Nightstalker is finished. Much better than the cover for Daywalker. It took 2 months of going back and forth to get it right, but the delay was worth it. I'm now waiting for the proof copy so I can go through it to make sure everything really is okay. Once I give them the go ahead, it will take about 15 days for them to make it available on Amazon. It will be in both soft cover and e-book (believe it or not, even though CreateSpace is an Amazon subsidiary, they don't automatically make the book available on Kindle. I'm working on it). I'm also working on getting it available through other venues such as Barnes and Nobles.
Stay tuned. Got my fingers crossed for publication by June 30th!
3/19/10 - Those of you who are BotP fans will understand when I say I nearly went Condor on CreateSpace before I finally got the problems with the formatting resolved. The book is now over 300 pages, which isn't a problem. I've moved onto the cover. One step closer to being published, but I suspect it won't be ready by the end of the month because I'm taking a break and getting out of town for a week. I really need a break before I finish all this and get back to the second Jesse book and really get rolling on Aquarius. My son is going to co-write it with me. I asked him what he wanted most in the book: Landsharks. We'll see if we can squeeze some in.
3/10/10 - Self publishing is so much fun.
When I contracted CreateSpace to publish Nightstalker, they asked what I wanted. I decided on a 5 1/2 inch by 8 inch book this time. They then provided me with their formatting requirements. I'm doing all the formatting myself this time. I spent days figuring it out because I'm actually technology phobic. The book ended up 280 pages. I was was very proud of myself when I got it done and I sent it in. This was in early February.
About a week later, I got a note they had rejected it. They didn't say why. I had to ask. They said the formatting was wrong. I had used the formatting for an 8 1/2 by 11 book. Well, those were the instructions they had sent me. It didn't say anywhere it was for a larger book size.
They provided the 'correct' format requirements so I spent another several days fighting Microsoft Office 2007 Word - which I hate - to get it right. Suddenly the book was 526 pages, way to big. I decreased the font from 12 to 10, moved the Chapter line up a few lines and the start of each chapter up a few lines. I got it down to a respectable 402 pages. I was unable to get it back into pdf form, so I had to call on my friend Beth for help. She did help and I sent it off again.
Two days later, I get another note they rejected it. Why? 'You told us the book was 280 pages but now its 402. Books over 400 pages have a different format.' It's a good thing they weren't within punching range. Of course the page number went up. You morons gave me the wrong formatting instructions the first time!!!
So now I have to either cut out 3 pages - not an easy thing to do - to get it below 400 pages or change all the formatting again, which will increase the page number again, which might prompt them to change the formatting again.
Breath in, breath out. My mantra is becoming this is a learning experience. Pardon me while I scream into a pillow.
3/7/10 - Formatting still sucks. Turns out CreateSpace gave me the wrong format instructions and Word in Microsoft Office 2007 is very difficult and unforgiving. I've got a friend helping me with it and keep your fingers crossed, we'll have the problems resolved in the next day or so (she's a lot better with the computer than I am). Then I can send it back. If it passes muster, I can work on the cover.
2/20/10 - Formatting sucks. I've been going back and forth with CreateSpace trying to get Nightstalker formatted properly. Now I remember why I paid IUniverse the big bucks with Daywalker to do it for me. It doesn't help that I submit it and then get a note back that just says its wrong, fix it. What's wrong about it? It might help if they'd give me hint. I followed their instructions to a T. And they won't let me start on the cover until the formatting is to 'their standard'. It really shouldn't matter, because their standards also say they will publish the book 'exactly as you have it'. Gotta love it!
2/15/10 - I was just notified Daywalker won the science fiction category of the 2009 Los Angeles Book Festival! My first award! Hard work does pay off.
1/27/10 - Nightstalker will be published shortly. I've nearly completed the final edit. Then it gets formatted while we work on the cover. It should be available before the end of February. Hopefully, sooner! It will only be available on Amazon initially, as a soft cover and e-book. The tentative soft cover price will be $10.99, better then what IUniverse forced on me for Daywalker. I don't have the e-book price yet.
I'm going to post a brief synopsis for the book on my home page and move the blurb for Daywalker to the Daywalker tab.
1/13/10 - I want to praise a local group that has wasted no time helping Haiti. Virginias's Fairfax County Emergency Rescue Team arrived in Haiti this morning. That's right - this morning!
The father of one of my son's basketball teammates is a member of that team. He was paged last night in the beginning of their basketball game. He was sitting next to me when he got word they were deploying and immediately called his wife, who was unable to attend the game. He told her "Honey, I won't be home for a while. I'm heading to Haiti." He got up, went over to the bench, talked to his son for a moment and then left.
They didn't wait for the UG government. They didn't wait to see how things were going. They went where they were needed without hesitation and without regard to personal danger.
Way to go, guys!!!!!
1/6/10 - I've always believed in ghosts. I've had several ghost experiences, but what happened yesterday was a first for me.
While on my way to work, while it was still dark, I saw a ghost dog.
I was on a four lane separated highway. I was at a red light, the sixth car back. A light colored dog, about the size of a labrador, was standing on the curb on the right. It started to cross the street. As it was reaching the car in front of me, the light turned green. The dog continued in front of that car and I feared it might get hit. Although the other four cars went, the car in front of me didn't move, so I figured he'd seen the dog. The dog walked in front of it and reached the median safely. As I watched and the car in front of me drove off, the dog misted away. I looked around for a few moments and didn't see it anywhere. I thought it might have been my imagination, a cloud of car exhaust as it was only about 24 degrees, but I'd watched the dog cross the street.
So know I'd like to hear other animal ghost stories. If you have one, send it to me via your e-mail.
1/4/10 - First off, Happy New Year!
Second, I'm tired of trying to get an agent for Nightstalker. It's been over a year and although interest was shown, no agent was a taker, so I am in the process of setting Nightstalker up to be published through Amazon's CreateSpace self-publishing model. I don't know how long it will take - took six months with IUniverse, but I'm doing this on the fast track. Initially, Nightstalker will only be available through Amazon. I'll place a notice on the home page once that happens.
It looks like the price will be $10.99. CreateSpace has a better pricing mechanism that IUniverse. I'm excited!!
12/3/09 - I've decided to share another writing side of myself with you, the side that returns to a favorite time in my childhood. My fanfiction.
For those of you not familiar with fanfiction, let me explain. Fanfiction is a story written by a fan about the characters of their favorite TV show, book, or movie. There are writers who make a lot of money doing it. Ever notice all the Star Trek books on the shelves?
Most fanfiction is not published for money but is written for fun and posted on the internet to share with like minded people.
My favorite show was a cartoon called Battle of the Planets, which was on TV in 1978-1979. It was about five special young people protecting the Earth from an invasion from the planet Spectra.
Battle of the Planets was the first American version of a Japanese anime named Gatchaman, which was shown in Japan in 1972. This anime was so popular, two sequels were drawn: Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter. Battle of the Planets became so popular in the US Gatchaman was obtained by Turner Entertainment and remade into G-Force, which was shown on TNT. Gatch II and Gatch Fighter were obtained by Saban, the parent of the Power Rangers, and was remade into the series Eagle Riders.
My favorite version is Battle of the Planets and I've written over 20 fanfics. If you're a fan of any of the versions of Gatchaman, check out Gatchamania (the link I had to the site now isn't working either. Gotta love technology! If you're interested in reading my fanfics, go over to www.gatchfanfic.com and look for my name. Let me know what you think.
11/28/09 - I hate computers. I just spent a half hour writing an entry here and when I went to save it, it had timed me out! That's ridiculous! I should be able to type in here for as long as I want. I lost everything I'd typed.
So here I go again.
I have come to the conclusion the second Jesse book just isn't working, so I've decided to put it aside and go with the outline for the third book. I've been writing it for 2 years and just can't make it work.
I didn't come to this decision lightly. I was reading the blog of one of my favorite authors, Laurell K. Hamilton, and she described a time when she had to drop the last third of one of her Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, books because it just wasn't working. She agonized over the decision for several weeks and then rewrote the ending of the book. The reason - the book was going in a direction she didn't think the characters nor the readers were ready for.
That's what was happening in Nightdance. I was trying to give Jesse information about being Landian that he wasn't ready for. He needs to learn about his past and how he fits into the whole picture in small bits, not all at once.
So I've pulled out the outline for book 3 to make it book 2 with some adjustments. Only small amounts of it are written in long hand, so I've got lots of typing ahead of me. I've setting a deadline for myself of the end of February.
Wish me luck.
10/10/09 - I'm still looking for an agent for Nightstalker. Nightstalker has been revised and I have posting the revised first chapter. It now includes one of the other main characters sooner, which is what some of the agents that have read it strongly urged I do.
I have also posted the new first chapter of the second Jesse book, which is still in progress. As a bonus, I included Chapter Two as well. Enjoy! I hope to have it completed by Christmas and will be publishing it via CreateSpace, which will make it available online only at Amazon and other sites. The name is still up in the air. Sundance just doesn't seem to fit. I'm now leaning towards Nightdance.
Once it is published, I will immediately be jumping into the third book, Red Rain. This one will go a lot smoother and faster.
I have several other books I am working on and I've decided to post the first chapter of each here to find out what everyone thinks.
The first is a Young Adult book, Aquarius. It is science fiction and is the story of seven siblings with special abilities. Hidden on a spaceship called Aquarius by their parents when their goverment decided they were too dangerous free, they find themselves running for their lives after their parents disappear while gathering supplies. If you know preteens or younger teens who have enjoyed James Patterson's Maximum Ride and Daniel X series, they might be interested in reading this.
The second is Dream Warriors: Scared to Death. It is the first of a series. Demons use our dreams to torment and even kill us in order to gain power from our fear. The Dream Warriors are a team of specially trained agents capable of entering our dreams to fight the demons with powers they only have in the dream realm.
Let me know what you think!
8/29/09 - In Daywalker, I briefly mentioned an incident that happened to Jesse while he attended the Academy, before the team was formed. Wouldn't you like to know why he had ended up in the middle of a dance floor at a night club laughing hysterically? I'm working on a short story about it that I will make available only to those who send me an e-mail saying they want to get it. It will be a few weeks before I send it out. So, if you'd like to receive it, let me know.
8/18/09 - I just received confirmation from the PNWA that I didn't win their contest, but still, being one of the eight finalists is great.
For anyone who has recently purchased my book Daywalker from Amazon - if the cover has a face on it, its not the right cover! They keep printing the wrong cover and all attempts I've made to have them correct it have failed. For those of you who don't know, the writer doesn't own the rights to the cover, the publisher and/or artists/photographer does. Because of that, I can't take any legal action against them. Only IUniverse can and they don't seem to eager to do anything about it. So, if you received a copy with the bad cover, be advised - that is not Jesse!!!!!!! If you send me an e-mail, I'll be happy to exchange the book for you with one with the correct cover.
I continue to try and find an agent for Nightstalker, Daywalker's companion book. I'm also trying to find an agent for my first children's picture book, Little Car-Car Goes to the Beach.
I'm still working on the sequel to Daywalker. It's been really tough writing it.
I'd love to hear from you. Send me a note!
8/13/09 - They announced the winners of the 2009 Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) Literary Contest at their conference in Seattle on 1 August. I was unable to attend and since I haven't heard anything, I assume Nightstalker didn't win, but being named one of the eight finalists in the romance category is fantastic. If you're an agent and would like to see Nightstalker, just send me a note.
The first agent to ask to see the full manuscript has decided to pass on it. She's Laurell K. Hamilton's (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter) agent. It was quite an honor just to have her ask to see the whole manuscript. She gave me a few suggestions to make the book better, which I am taking to heart.
6/23/09 - I just received a call telling me Nightstalker is a finalist in the romance category in the 2009 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest. The winners will be announced at their conference in Seattle on 1 August. Got my fingers crossed. I also had another agent ask to see the whole manuscript. Things are looking up.
5/30/09 - I've been peddling Nightstalker to agents for a few months. Last week one of the agents that had shown interest in the book (a real one, not the one I had worked with last year), asked to see the whole manuscript, so I sent it to her on the 22nd. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, I'm going to be doing some work on the look of this site. By the end of the summer, I hope to have it more to my liking.
5/6/09 - Still working out the problem with Amazon regarding Daywalker's cover. I'm beyond ticked.
Still trying to find an agent for Nightstalker. Three have shown interest but haven'y gotten back to me on the additional material I sent them at their request. Fingers are still crossed.
Although Nightstalker didn't win anything in the Crested Butte Writers' The Sandy Writing Contest, I got very favorable feedback from the three reviewers, all of whom are either published or past winners of the contest. All liked the detailed world I'd created and the main character, Angelina. It scored 131 out of a possible 167. All said they would purchase it if published.
The next Jesse book is still a work in progress.
My young adult book, Aquarius, is coming along. More to come on that
If you liked Daywalker and what I have posted of Nightstalker, send me a note. I'd love to hear from you.
4/12/09 - I want to address one of the points of the Daywalker review posted in the Self-Publishing Online Magazine. The reviewer didn't like that Jesse was sick frequently because vampires don't get sick. That is part of the plot! Jesse is only half vampire and doesn't have the full healing ability of a full vampire. His Landian half has silver as the predominant metal in the blood instead of iron. Silver is poisonous to vampires - not as much as a were, but its still a problem. His genetics are at war and he suffers for it. I thought I made that clear. If you disagree, let me know.
4/8/09 - Amazon lied!!!!! They're still selling the book with the wrong cover. What do I have to do to get them to fix it? Their website shows the correct cover. How hard can it be to print it with the correct cover? So, do not order from Amazon. You can order Daywalker from this site, Barnes & Noble, IUniverse and many other sites.
If you ordered from Amazon since 15 January and you received the cover with the horrible face on it - I cannot stress enough that is not Jesse!!!!! - please let me know and I can arrange for you to get a correct copy. Unless, of course, you want to keep it in the hope someday you'll be able to make a lot of money selling it on E-Bay.
4/1/09 - Amazon has finally fixed the problem with the cover. Do I believe them? Don't know. I've ordered a copy of the book just to make sure.
No luck on the Breakthorugh Novel Contest for Nightstalker. At least I'm with 6,999 others who didn't make the first cut. Just waiting to heard from the other contests and still sending out queries to agents and directly to some publishers.
I found it interesting the powers that be who asked all of us to turn our lights out at 8:30 for an hour this past Saturday to bring attention to global warming didn't tell us to also turn off the TV and unplug the electric car. It's either all or nothing. Personally, I don't want to live in a dark, dank cave.
3/20/09 - Amazon is still selling Daywalker with the wrong cover. Their solution is to take it off their shelf until the problem is resolved. It's been 2 months. How much longer do they need? I may have to talk to my lawyer.
So, if you want a copy, you'll have to order it directly from this site, IUniverse or try Barnes and Noble online. If you like e-book verions, try DriveThruFantasy.
3/8/09 - When it rains it pours. I haven't been able to get into my own website for two weeks. I have no idea of why. I hate technology.
Amazon still has my cover messed up. They swore up and down on Friday they'll correct it. If they don't, I might have to seek legal advice. Seeing that face on the cover that is not even remotely close to Jesse is still making me ill.
I'm waiting impatiently for the first cut of the Breakthrough Novel Contest on the 16th for Nightstalker. I've entered it in 3 other unpublished novel contests. I also entered Daywalketr in another contest, the 2009 Hollywood Festival. We'll see what happens.
I've changed the name of the second Jesse book from Sundance to - drumroll - Nightdance. Sundance just wasn't curring it. I'm really trying to finish it. The pieces are finally coming together. The funny thing is I already have the outlines for book 3 and 4, so they're ready to be written.
I've also started the second Nightstalker book, Thunder Island. It will contain more of Tanner's story.
2/6/09 - Changing jobs and getting hives is no fun. Having my Daywalker cover still messed up with Amazon is even less fun. IUniverse swears they sent the correct digital record to Amazon on 15 Jan, but Amazon still hasn't fixed it. Makes me sick.
I finally heard back from my agent. The bad news is no interested publishers yet. The worse news is she's getting married and has decided not to take on anymore books, so I'm shopping Nightstalker out now. The contract is up 16 March, so I can move on then.
I've also entered Nightstalker in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest for unpublished books. 10,000 entries. They're going to announce the top 500 around 16 March. Keep your fingers crossed!
1/7/09 - New year, new problems. I just learned Amazon is using the wrong cover for Daywalker. The one they show online is correct - a cityscape. The one they're sending out has a face superimposed on the cityscape. IUniverse couldn't get Jesse right, so I told them no faces on the cover. IUniverse initially sent the incorrect cover to Amazon when we added Dayewalker to their Kindle e-book line and I thought I gotten that corrected. Now the bad cover is on the hard copy books. Can't win for losing. That face is not Jesse! Not even close. I'm mortified. I have contacted both IUniverse and Amazon. If you ordered the book and received one with a face on the cover, contact them to get the correct version.
I'm waiting impatiently for my agent to let me know what she's heard back from the publishers for Daywalker.
Nightstalker has been edited is is ready for submission.
I'm working on Sundance again. I have to rewrite a whole section that just wasn't working.
12/27/08 - Daywalker just received an honorable mention in the 2008 DIY (Do It Yourself) Book Festival and will be honored at the 2009 DIY Convention in Los Angeles in February. I'm hoping to attend. Thanks to DIY Book Festival staff for their vote of confidence.
12/19/08- The problem with the cover being used for the Kindle version of Daywalker has been corrected. If you want an e-book version of Daywalker for less, check out the Drive Thru Fantasy site. They only sell e-books.
I'm going to start reviewing other sci fi/fantasy/paranormal books. It's just a way to share the books I like.
Amazon is having an unpublished book contest. I'm entering Nightstalker. The winner gets a contract with Penguin Books and $25,000. Not shabby.
NaNoWriMo...didn't work for me. I only got about 15,000 of the planned 50,000 words written, then hit a wall. I'm working on scaling the wall.
11/16/08 - Daywalker is now available on Kindle! I'm thrilled but IUniverse screwed up and sent Amazon one of the cover arts that I hated and turned down. They kept trying to put a face on the cover for Jesse, but they couldn't get it right, so I finally said no faces, just the city and the sunset. So please, if you see it - THAT"S NOT JESSE!!!!!!! I'm so upset with them.
11/14/08 - I found out its going to take 4-6 weeks for Daywalker to become available on Kindle, so it should be mid to late December.
Two rewrites for Nightstalker have been suggested so far. I'm working on them.
NaNoWriMo is turning into a challenge. Dream Warriors had 10,000 words so far. I'm supposed to be at 23,338 words. Life intrudes.
I got a question asking if I have any causes. I do, but I'm not ready to talk about them here. Maybe sometime in the future.
11/2/08 - I've been bad about posting, but I've been very busy.
First, for those of you who like to save paper by getting e-books and have the Sony Kindle reader, I've just made a deal to make Daywalker availbale on it. I'm waiting for an effective date.
Second, I completed Nightstalker! It's being edited, so I hope the editor doesn't suggest any big rewrites.
My agent is submitting Daywalker to the various traditional publishers, so keep your fingers crossed.
Sundance is about 2/3 complete and I'm working on the outline for Nightstalker's direct sequel, which has a working title of Thunder Island. The only way to be successful in the writing world is to be prolific.
I'm also participating in the NaNoWriMo. What's that, you ask? National Novel Writing Month. Every November, a group of writers attempt to write a novel by the end of the month. The group is large. This year, it has over 90,000 participants. We keep track of our word counts in the website. I'm working on the first book of a new horror series. More information to come.
Send me a note via the Contact tab. I'd love to hear from you.
10/1/08 - Books-A-Millions said no as well. They believe the vampire genre is full. Yeah, right. So now I'm only buying books from Amazon.
I now have an agent! Hopefully, a tradional publisher will pick up Daywalker and they will get it into the stores.
Apparently the IUniverse booth at the Miami Book Fair will only be dispalying books. They won't be for sale, so if you see Daywalker and end up buying it here or on the internet because you saw it at the Fair, let me know. Everything else below still applies.
As promised, I have posted the first chapter of the draft of Nightstalker. Let me know what you think of it. The book is nearly completed.
Look for the first chapter of Sundance, which I will be posting on the 15th.
9/12/08 - Barnes and Noble said no thanks. If you're self published, you have to sell a lot of books before they'll even consider placing your book in their stores. It's the old Catch 22 - you can't sell a lot unless you're in the store and you can't get in the store unless you sell a lot. So, I'll say it again. If you want to see Daywalker in the stores, you have to tell them. In the meantime, as with Borders, B&N has lost my patronage.
If you live in the Miami area, look for Daywalker at the Miami Book Fair in November. It will be available in IUniverse's booth. If you buy one there, contact me via this site and I'll send you a complementary note and autograph to place in it. I will also place your name in a raffle for a free signed copy of the next book - whichever one gets published first.
Again, my thoughts go o
|
