New month and the brown bar is back

Last month was awesome.  I broke my best record of sales.  A total (so far as I know) of 32 copies of my work went to readers who wanted to read my stuff.  This made me happy.  With that and the handful of reviews I received makes March one of the best months so far in my writing career.  While I did not finish up as much as I thought I would I did put out new titles for the readers to enjoy.

In fact I used a new platform to post them.  A place called draft2digital.  Stuff went in pretty easy and amazingly enough one of the titles sold three copies right away.  Now it just might be because it was erotica and had the torso of a sexy woman in a corset on the cover but who is complaining?  I mean any sale is a good sale.

My series are starting to fill out nicely.  I have a number of titles out now.  Each series of short stories has between 3 and 6 titles a piece, which is good.  As I complete more I am moving quickly to the amount of pages I want for the paperback collections.  Okay for the collections period.  It will be fun to see how they do.

On the writing front Harry took over my mind from Traveler.  At first Sudden Disappearances flowed easily but it got stuck over the holiday weekend.  Okay between cooking and having kids in and out of the house and other distractions I really did not get a lot done.  But I made up for it today.   The story is up over 6K in words right now and I have some nice twists working there way into the story.  I did have to dig back into A Watery Grave for some info and flip back to another work in progress.  That work is Lady of the Merrimack.  Now that is a side story based in the same city as Guardian but from a different character.  As I have said in other blogs in the past I have a whole set of other stories that will be set in the same city.  Seven to be exact.  Each of them are in various stages of writing from a few pages to over 30 pages of story.  They will weave in and around the main Harry stories to make the world richer.

Slowly word is getting out about me.  I was just added to a book listing over on a facebook page  http://www.amazon.com/review/RQW0ENBT3U9HF/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm? you can see it there.  Rather nice of them.  Facebook as proven a good place for me to put up links to my work and to discuss writing.  Heck I have been printed in two collections from Facebook and I have been requested to be in three others, so a good place for me.

Amazon has been good too obviously.  Though I am confused.  I have a review I picked up on the UK site that has not as of yet processed over to the US site.  Night and Day got a nice solid four star review and it would be nice if it would show up in the US.  One of my odder little tales, it was the first one I wrote in first person.  I happen to like that tale and who knows someday there might be more of them.  You never know right?

Heck when I get the rights back to the tales in my first collection, Gates, I plan on putting Last Moonset and The Companions tale out as part of a new series.  They are of course tales that go together.  The other tales in the collection could probably work in Beyond Realities or Worlds Apart but I would have to think about it.

Heck I have the beginnings of a sequel to Descents.  Now that will be fun.  My take on horror is not the modern lets fill it with blood take.  So we can see where that will go when I get to it right?  Some of the stories like Seven Moons should go with Knight Protector.  Very paranormal romance without the usual paranormal take on things.  I just might change Knight Protector into the first book of a series of my more romantic tales…okay now I have myself thinking of more series!  I am going to drive you poor readers nuts this way if I keep it up.

 

Back to work or where did that blind dwarf come from!

I have seriously padded my thumb so I can type and not feel like I am being jabbed each time I hit the space bar.  Managed to do a chapter on Traveler last night and another so far today.  Yes the chapters are short, only a few pages but I do this when I change viewpoint from heroes to villain.  Only makes sense to me.

A new character (or two) decided to pop their head into the story.  Since I am one of those weird writers who don’t use outlines and cue cards and all that stuff to do my stories it is expected.  You need your muse to toss in these voices to move the story in the direction it is supposed to go.

The villain is turning into one hell of a nasty little creature.  Any creature who wants to commit genocide is going to be of course but you don’t expect someone who was once a beautiful Elf woman to turn into one do you?  I am having fun writing the arrogance of the two who are battling over our main character.  Parents…sometimes you just don’t need them right?

Looks like this will be lighter in tone than my last few.  I don’t want to become known for just dark fantasy right?  I am hoping I can get through this whole book with something that would be good for a younger audience.  Say that big youth market?  Would be nice.  The love story is soft and tentative so far.  I won’t take it too adult, after all I have a few others in the wings for adult fantasy romance type things.

Edana is strong willed for sure.  But a woman who grew up not knowing who she is and even what she is, who is the best in a field generally male dominated, she is going to be strong willed.  Now i just need to come up with the Elder Gods.  Yes I said Elder gods.  Creatures who took a hand in events that they never do…or rarely do.  Should be fun.

Still crossing everything I have that the review of Fall Into Nightmares will be a good one from PRG.  They have liked books I have read and reviewed, some more than I have and others less.  Sometimes I am surprised at the things they give 5 stars to.  I don’t expect something that good but I would gladly take it.

Endings is getting a small handful of reviews, which is good since Revenge is out now.  And now I am going to hold off on working on the third book in that trilogy till I see some good sales on both books.  Endings is neck and neck with Ice right now.  While neither is a best seller by any stretch of the imagination they are doing good for me.

Speaking of Ice.  I am thinking that soon I should put together those collections.  March should hold a number of releases of my work.  While I may just be taking up virtual space someone will find me someday and rad everything.  That is my hope after all.

 

Poetry can be harder than short fiction

Yes I know poetry is hard for many.  Heck some writers take a year to write one decent poem but well that isn’t how mine come out.  Generally when I am in an emotional overload I will sit down with pen and paper and let it flow out of me.  That was how Love, Loss and Loneliness came about.  A lot of emotional bursts in free verse style.

But the people doing the Apocalypse anthology wanted to have some poetry to go with the short stories.  Now I had submitted a short story and offered to do one for them.  Took me a week to write it!  No really a week for me is a long time in poetry.  I’m not sure of it of course.  I am never sure of my poetry but I sent it over.  Hopefully it makes it into the anthology which submissions for is closing on Thursday.

The Fae poetry contest ended and I was not in the top three.  Course again my poetry is short and to the point.  The ones that one were more epic in style.  Nothing wrong with that and people did like my little ode to the Fae.

Other contests I have entered seemed to have folded up.  Which is too bad really.  This is why I tend to put out my work on my own.  While getting into a collection is supposed to help with your over all noticeability it seems that these stories get lost in the shuffle.  I like being parts of writing groups since it helps with the creative process and you all know dear readers that I adore a good anthology.  but if they never get put out who will read these children of my mind?

The past few days I have been doing a major edit/rewrite to Revenge.  While it is much better than Endings was it needs the work.  some of the sentences just do not flow the way I feel they should.  I am hoping to get it done this coming week.  With my hubby’s hours being shifted I will be doing a lot of writing in the evening.  Now that doesn’t always work for me.  I tend to write in the morning while he is working and the kid is at school.  We will see what happens.

The free offer on Smashwords for both Endings and Fall Into Nightmares is still going.  Nightmares freebie will expire on Valentines day.  Endings goes on till the 25th.  I haven’t decided if I will do a one day free offer on Love, Loss and loneliness on Valentine’s day yet.  I have made a single sale on that poetry collection and I hope to see a few more.  While it may not be all sweetness and light it is definitely a look into a heart and good for that day.

In other works I have a good idea how to finish up If Shadows Could Speak.  That tale is I would say three quarters finished.  That will be either number six or seven in the Death Walks Through series.  I have gotten a bit stuck on Death Comes Softly, which is the piece I had planned as the sixth story.  The either will be No More the Smiles.  After that I will probably take them all and put them together in a paperback.  Not sure how many pages it will be but if it isn’t enough I will have to dig around for new ideas.

The other series are on hold for a little bit.  I have ideas waiting to be sprung out of my folder of starts but I really need to work on the longer stories.  The sequel to Nightmares, Destiny’s tale and Traveler all need to be worked on and hopefully completed by the end of this year.  If I keep up a steady pace of writing I should get them all done.  Too bad I have a number of books to read and review. They are so very distracting..and worth it!

Fresh and brisk morning

Okay taking off yesterday to read and play games was a good down time.  Needed it.  I was getting way to wrapped up in my storyline for comfort.  Yeah it is a good idea to enjoy what you are writing but you need time to do other things and relax.  Pushing to get your characters through something can make the seem like they are being pushed.  I have the beginnings of a section with Avendale, a bit into her motivations and a bit into why she is so focused on controlling Jeffery.  Plus a few more hints about his mysterious background from before  she found him.  I know having a character who only remembers bits and pieces can be annoying to some but it will work out.  Probably should add a bit here and there about Jessica and Gregory but this is really Jeffery’s story.  There came into being in this paradigm, until Jeffery.
Realized after I had fiished up my spoiled time that I am behind on book trailers.  I mean five whole finished books, not counting A Water Grave which I am holding off for those pics from my daughter.  I need to do them for The Words That Bring Peace, Distance Means Little to Love, The Dream Wish, Endings and All That There Was.  Now four out of the five wont be an issue.  Distance…well that depends on if I go romancy or raunchy.  I dont know but I guess I will get them sorted out in the next few days.  Then a few more covers to do for the finished stories and oh yeah get the paperback cover to work for Endings so I can get that out.

So much to do, so little time till school starts.  Well back to work for me.

My day off or I don’t want to write today

Yes I know blogging is writing but so?  Decided that since I picked up one of the many hardcovers I don’t have I will just sit back and read for a while.  If I look back and realize I have written 22K of words in the past two weeks on Chaos war I realized I do need a little break.  Yesh yesterday I spent some time writing, mostly editing though.  And then I went out with the family to get the kid her school shoes and clothing.  Since we took a bus it took a lot longer than most times.  When we got home after seven I just said enough.  Looked around in my emails and then curled up and went to bed.  So today I am gong to relax and read and then if i am up to it I will dive back into the next chapter of my book.

Okay I will probably dive back in by lunch.  After all I need to get Avendale’s POV in the book before the end of the book right?  And get a nice cliff hanger set up for the second book to take over once I dive into it.  There is all ready 10K in the second book waiting to be written.  Never mind all that wonderful fun stuff in my other books.

 

Other people’s work

Since the work computer is down till tomorrow at least, thought I would catch up on my kindle reading and reviewing.  I downloaded a lot of odd books.  reviewed four of them so far.  The karma fairy must be watching.  I got two more reviews on One More All Hallows Eve…which made me happy.  Seems like that story is being taken in ways I didn’t expect.  Interesting how that can happen.  Readers certainly take things in and get out of your simple tales different things.  I can’t wait for more.  Good, bad or indifferent.  The review says more about the reader than the story they review I think.

Passing the Torch free days

Decided to try and spark some interest in my books again.  Put “Passing the Torch” my short story up for free on Kindle for the next five days.  Hoping people will download and read it and then pick up the other ebooks that are up.  “Night and Day” and “Another All Hallows Eve” are $1.99 each, so not a big cost.  The Paperback, Gates, is pricey I admit but they are working on the ebook at the publisher so that should be less.  “The Knight Protector is still over on Smashwords for $2.99.  A bit more but that is because it is a novella instead of a short story.