Chains of Nect - Blurb and Cover Reveal

It's time for an update! Aren't you all so lucky. Don't care about what's going on with me and my progress? Feel free to skip the post. But I can't promise you won't miss something super crazy awesome if you do.

The Plan is unfolding nicely, so far at least. I've been posting parts of "Dude in Distress" to Wattpad twice per week now. The last section is due to be posted on July 10. So, if you're curious if the unicorns manage to save Dom from Big Bad Girl, please pop over to Wattpad to read the story.

Chains of Nect will roll out on Wattpad starting July 17, and there will be a new scene posted every Friday. I already have two scenes good to go, and this month I'll be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo which should net me several more scenes--it's nice to be ahead of the game, just in case something happens! (Like last week when I got sick and my writing schedule went to hell.)

Interested in reading the prologue of Chains of Nect 8 days before it releases on Wattpad? Then you should sign up for my newsletter (form is to the left) because the first issue will go out on July 9 and include a sneak peak of the prologue. The main goal of the newsletter is to announce my upcoming publications, but I'll also have some bonuses in them now and then. If you're worried about your inbox filling up, I'll send no more than one per month, sometimes less frequently.

Oh, but you want to know what Chains of Nect is about? Of course, of course. Here's the blurb:

Obsidian successfully plays the game expected of her, passes the tests, and is accepted as a Guardian. Though she jumps through the hoops, she doesn't want to follow the precepts at all, to guard the portals but never open them. She believes its a waste to not explore the worlds within, like her ancestors had. How can they protect themselves if something comes through the portals if they don't know what's in them?

Obsidian's appointed mentor, Damian, is a straight-laced young Guardian, who can't contain the young dedicant. He's always believed the laws are in place to protect all of Nect, but Obsidian starts to make him question his own principles. She doesn't allow him any time to examine the possibilities, though, and he has to decide between reporting her or standing by her side to protect her from whatever horrors she stirs up.

Will the Guardians end Obsidian's life, or will something from another world get to her first?

Not enough for you? Fine you've talked me into it. Here's the cover!

I've also been playing the Short Story Submissions Game. The intention of this game is to gather as many rejections as I can. Yes, I know, the point should be to get as many acceptances as I can, but if I aim for that, I'll just depress myself. Here are my tallies for 2015 through June:

Submissions - 28
Rejections - 25
Acceptances - 1

I may not hit 100 rejections this year, however I hope to hit at least 50! And yes, you noticed, there's one acceptance. I had that story listed at the top of The Plan. "Bloodstains" will appear in a limited time fall anthology through Dingbat Publishing (anthology title and publication date still to be determined). That should be a fun set of stories.

I'm also still running Writing Quest every month--feel free to join us if you have some writing goals.

I think that's all as far as writing goes. Probably leaving the state of my house out of this post is the best idea (scary pretty much sums it up). I get writing done and everything else gets neglected. Go figure. Though the evil kitchen is due to be remodeled this month, barring more delays.

I feel like I'm forgetting to cover something, though. What do you think? Is there something else I should have touched on?

NEXT UP: Crazy Necro Antics - Wedding Bells Part 2

Writing Journey

I came across this picture to the right while looking for something suitable to use for my writing updates. Aside from it being a beautiful picture (it's a Public Domain picture on Pixabay), it reminded me how grand of a journey writing is. I write about many journeys in my fantasies, but I have to remember that I'm on my own journey as well, and one where I'm taken to many different worlds.

A journey where I cross countless bridges.

This bridge is a bit of a lonely view, but I'm not alone on this adventure. Not only do I have companions travel with me during parts of my journey (friends, family, acquaintances, business associates), but I also know that many writers are on their own journeys, and our paths may cross--we may traverse the same bridges even at one point or another.

A lot of times I get discouraged because unlike the end of a novel, it's impossible to see the end of the journey. Heck, like most writers, the end of the writing journey doesn't come until breaths no longer pass my lips, and I don't want to know when that end is around the corner. It's not only the end though that's elusive, but even the next path I'll travel, the next bridge I'll cross. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure. I can make a choice to go one direction, but I can never be sure exactly where that direction will take me.

It seems futile, doesn't it? That doesn't stop me from remaining on the path, even if I've needed to take rest stops along the way due to life (life is that big monster in the path with sharp teeth and bloodshot eyes--after a while, it gets bored and wanders off, allowing me to continue).

This was supposed to be an update, but I guess it's turned into more of a reflection. No, the life monster isn't growling at me right now. I've actually made steady progress on revisions of Dead As Dreams. I also re-designed my website, as well as adjusted a few things on the blog. I sent The Mind Behind the Mind out for consideration to another publisher last week, and my short story "Ode to Buses and Libraries" got put into a slush pile the week before.

Though I don't have any new publications to report, I'm proud of the steps and choices I've made on my journey recently. Keep watching my word count trackers in the left column if you're curious how I'm doing. And if you're a writer on your own journey and would like to cross paths with me and some other writers for a bit, please join us at Writing Quest. I create a new event each month on my Facebook author page.

For now, I'm curious where my current choices will lead me. And if they make me go back across the bridge (rejection), I'll just cross another (more submissions, and even some indie publishing).

You'll be seeing a lot of this bridge in the future, whenever I post my updates and writerly ramblings.

NEXT UP: What Am I Writing? Another excerpt from Dead As Dreams!

Do You Speak Simlish?

Your friendly monthly update here!

NaNoWriMo was a bust, per usual, but I think in 2013 I'm going to pick a better month and see if I can hit 50k words then. Getting into the winter and the holidays my writing productivity drops for various reasons (family, life, the urge to hibernate, etc.), so a spring month would be so much better than November! Still, I have a complete rough draft of one Fate short done, and the start of another--can't say I didn't get anything done.

I've also been attempting to organize my house. For me, I feel if things are tidy around me, my brain will work better and be less panicked. I have yet to prove this theory because the house is always a mess. However, I'm making better progress than usual. This month my study WILL get completely cleaned, including the endless papers.

This month I also hope to get back to sending some short stories out, as well as maybe prepping another story to be indie published (or maybe two in one!). It won't be released until 2013, though, most likely. I also plan to get back to revisions of Dead As Dreams.

So, are you still wondering what the title of this blog post means? OK, I give.

I recently purchased The Sims 3 along with the Supernatural expansion. Many people on The Sims 3 website like to do Family Challenges or post stories of their Sim families. And I thought it would be fun trying that out as a series here on my blog--starting with chapters in the life of the Lavender family, the progenitor being a fairy named Lila.

Now, I know some people may be skeptical over this. I will be telling more than showing (a big no-no usually when writing fiction), but I think it will be a fun exercise! And it will definitely have the fantasy slant to it (which makes it far more interesting, in my opinion). I likely won't post a chapter more than once per month, depending on how much time I have to play the game--right now I'm trying to play for a couple hours each week.

That means you all have the first chapter on the Lavender Lineage to look forward to this month! As well as a post about Yule. Oh, and a special edition of the Gamer's Lexicon too.

Don't forget to join us over at Writing Quest - December! Happy writing and reading. =)

NEXT UP: An entry in the Gamer's Lexicon! What game was nicknamed Rat Killer when it was first released?

October = Break Time!

A day late and a dollar short? Sorry for the delay. My daughter had a field trip early this morning, and I didn't want to stay up late to post last night!

Anyway, as seen from the last post, I'm still in a bit of a funk. I honestly think that the weather is affecting me more than usual even. The winter blues have pounced on me and they are digging their claws in! Therefore, I think I at least need a bit of a blogging break. Only for a couple weeks. I will probably have two more posts this month, then if I do NaNoWriMo, I'll likely be posting frequently in November.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to write. I'm through Chapter 4 for revisions on Dead As Dreams. I hope to revise at least another 10 Chapters, but we'll see how the month goes. I need to get my head and house in order so I'm not worrying about a million other things when I write. Maybe it's time to start meditating again (although if I try that, I may just fall asleep instead).

The Mind Behind the Mind received another rejection, and I hope to send it off to the Harper Voyager open submissions call in the next few days. I also received another short story rejection, so I have a few short stories to push out into slush piles again. One I may need to edit first though. =)

Speaking of short stories, I will be editing and formatting "Dancing in the Wind" and placing it up on Amazon for sale (may also go up on B&N and Smashwords) later this month. I need to finish the cover art for it, and I'm waiting on a friend to help out with some nice art. My initial goal is the 15th, but definitely by the 25th, as long as I get the artwork! I can always change the cover I guess if the art is delayed.

So, that's really what I have on my writing plate. I just need to keep plugging along. The two posts I hope to write up this month will likely be a contribution to Science Fiction & Fantasy Saturday with an excerpt from "Dancing in the Wind" and then on Halloween I'll have another Magic is Reality, Reality is Magic entry talking about Samhain--the first sabbat (holiday) in the Wheel of the Year!

Don't forget about Writing Quest - October!

NEXT UP: Only two more posts in October--one for SFFS (date to be determined) and the other will be a post about Samhain on Halloween!

From 2010 to 2011

I can't say 2010 was kind to me, or that it was a good year. It was a year, it passed, stuff happened. Enough said.

Okay, maybe I won't leave it at that. When have I ever left things alone?

I didn't reach all of my writing goals, but I did progress with a few things. Dead As Dreams still needs to be completed, but I have less than one third of the rough draft left, and I can see the ending far down the tunnel, a little pinprick of light (that has been going through one huge arse mountain since I started writing it back in 2005). I completed and revised some short stories, as well as sending many stories out to slush piles. And I successfully survived my first class for my M.F.A. program.

A friend, Heidi Ruby Miller, posted her submission, acceptance, and rejection stats for the year. This made me curious what my numbers ended up being for 2010. Unfortunately, this meant I had to go through my submissions program and count everything per manuscript (since I don't have a handy spreadsheet to track the numbers yet...I will have to change that!). My numbers are below. =)

Novel Queries

Submissions: 6 (5 to agents, 1 to a publisher)
Rejections: 5
No Response (some counted from the previous year): 3

Short Stories

Submissions: 38
Rejections: 36
No Response/Still Waiting/Withdrawal (some counted from the previous year): 6

I didn't want to depress myself by listing a category for acceptances when I had none. True, it would be nice to have those acceptances, but looking at my numbers, I'm pretty damn proud of myself for submitting that much. What does it mean? That I haven't given up. Perhaps 2011 I'll happily have an acceptance category, but for now, all I can do is keep going!

So, how did you do for the year? Achieve all your writing goals, feel like you accomplished a lot, even if you don't have any acceptances as proof? It's always useful to take a look back on the year that's just passed, so you can think of what you want to do in the coming year.

Some people may roll their eyes at resolutions, but many people feel that sense of a new beginning when the old year comes to a close and a new one begins. It's a circle, the snake eating its own tail, but there is still a beginning and an end, the end being a new beginning.

How to begin 2011? Good question!

First, if you want to work alongside other writers and make a goal for each month, keep Writing Quest in mind. I just started Writing Quest - January up on Facebook. The event is open to the public, and I'll continue to host a Writing Quest each month. If you don't have a Facebook account, feel free to post your goals here!

I'm feeling pretty good right now, since I just came off a 2 hour stint of writing, ending with 7 new pages and the completion of a short story rough draft. This means I must make sure to rein in my desire to list outlandish goals and think I am Super Woman who can complete a list of countless resolutions. Got to beat down that story completion high (who needs drugs when you can just write?).

If you've been watching Twitter, I've been poking some fun at resolutions today. So, I'm going to list some GOALS for the year. For 2011, the list will not be exhaustively long. Promise.

- Revise Mind Behind the Mind once more, and start sending it to publishers (since wait time can be up to a year, it might only hit the slush of one publisher).
- Complete the rough draft of Dead As Dreams.
- Don't start anything new! Got to finish some things first. I include Fate stories in the Not New pile - hell, I had that series idea 3 or 4 years ago (hence, Not New).
- Hey look at that, my study is clean, and I just spent 2 hours in it, writing, so I don't need this on my list this year!
- Keep submitting, and submitting, and submitting....
- Survive my M.F.A. program once I start full time in June.

That's it. Short and sweet. Of course I intend to keep up with my blog, as well as critiques, but those don't need to be on my goals list. One of these days I'll get to catching up with my writing forums and listserves, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen this year.

What are your goals for the year? Or have you chosen to make a resolution or two? I'd be happy to hear what everyone else has planned!

Happy writing in 2011!


NEXT UP: Terry Pratchett's Colour of Magic