Apologies & Updates

I know I’ve been conspicuously absent from WP for a couple of weeks. Most of what you’ve seen from me have been posts I scheduled a few weeks ago. I’ve been trying to really focus and buckle down on finishing edits for The Storm and the Darkness, and all my spare time has been going to that. On top of that, I’ve had a lot of other personal stuff crop up (all good stuff, don’t worry), and between those two things I’ve found myself with a lot less time on my hands. I used to be able to squeeze in time to catch about 70% of the posts in my Reader, and now I’m averaging 5-10%. I am not exaggerating when I say it pains me to fall behind on all your news. (This goes double for my RCC friends!)

On top of that, I’m looking into going back to school full time in the evenings to finish my degree. So I’ll need to figure out a way to juggle work + school + writing + blogging + everything else. I’m still not sure how I am going to do it, but I WILL, because I am nothing if not resourceful, and you should always make time for the things and people you care about.

So, for the good news…some updates!

1. I am ALMOST DONE with my pre-beta edits for The Storm and the Darkness. HUZZAH! This has been a long time coming, and took a tremendous amount of discipline to buckle down and do it. I won’t bore you with the editing details, but I project I am about a week out from sending it to my lovely beta readers 🙂

2. I had an exciting meeting with my book cover artist and I am THRILLED to work with him again. He did excellent work for St. Charles at Dusk and I can’t wait to see what he does for The Storm and the Darkness. He’s also going to help me jazz up the overall series branding so it matches the individual books. I should have the cover by June 1st!

3. My Guest Author Program got off the ground on May 1st, and I’ve featured eight different authors so far (and hopefully giving them some helpful marketing).

4. My Facebook site for The House of Crimson and Clover is up to almost 600 fans. I’ve been offering 5 free copies of St. Charles at Dusk for every 100 new fans (and still am, until we hit 1k), and I’ve given away 15 so far.

5. I’ve also been a part of several other author giveaways, and have given away an additional 15 copies of my book in different places. Most of the winners (in both cases) have offered to review my book once finished, so even if a couple do, that will help boost my rating on Amazon.

6. My aunt helped arrange a local bookstore in my hometown to start carrying St. Charles at Dusk in their store. This will be the first physical location that my books have been sold in, so this is a big milestone for me.

7. Finished some of the fun media extras I wanted to do, like a playlist for Dusk, etc.

So, for my lack of attention to everyone: I sincerely apologize! I still love you guys a ton, and I’ll be posting and commenting more often again. Once my book is off to the betas, that should clear up a little of my free time to spend on my favorite community 🙂

XOXO

A to Z Blogging Challenge: 26 Post Recap

Wow, what a month! 26 posts in 30 days. Sorry, make that 30 posts because each week I also posted a quick recap. Phew!

I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. It challenged me to go beyond just those things I knew I wanted to post and to think more creatively about what I wanted to share. As a result, I wrote a series of writing advice articles, expose pieces on my book series, and a number of other things I ordinarily would not have thought of. Oh, and I met some really awesome bloggers along the way. Pretty cool.

That said, I’m not convinced I would do it again. It limited me on what I could post about, and I ended up with a ton of posts I had to push until May (I know I could do several posts per day, but that’s overkill), and it was incredibly time consuming. BUT…I definitely recommend everyone try the challenge at least once. It will challenge the way you organize your thoughts, in a good way!

• A is for Awards and Awesomeness
• B is for Biographies (To Character Bio or Not to Character Bio)
• C is for Cutting Room Floor (And you Thought Your Writing Was Bad)
• D is for Deschanel
• E is for Éowyn and Éomer
• F is for French Quarter
• G is for Garden District
• H is for Helping Other Writers (Guest Author Program)
• I is for Incomplete (You Won NaNoWriMo…Now What?)
• J is for J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
• K is for King James Hepburn (Oh, Wait)
• L is for Location
• M is for My Name
• N is for NaNoWriMo
• O is for Ophelie
• P is for Pinterest (House of Crimson and Clover has a Board!)
• Q is for Quillan
• R is for River Road Plantations
• S is for Sullivan
• T is for Travel
• U is for Using Social Media as an Author
• V is for Versatile, Very Inspiring, and Sunshiny Blogging!
• W is for Writing
• X is for X-Lined Dominant Inheritance
• Y is for Yearly Writing Goals- Check In
• Z is for Zen

Z is for Zen

As writers, we all have certain settings that inspire us.

I have never loved sunny days and warm weather. I crave the cold, and the storms, the wind, and the snow, and I am never in more of a mood to be creative than I am when the rain is pouring down in sheets outside the window and I have the perfect cup of coffee at my side.

 

This is my zen. What is yours?

 

Y is for Yearly Writing Goals- Check In (Rome Construction Crew Update #1)

Back in January I published my writing goals for the year 2013. I posted them here so I could hold myself publicly accountable. Since we are nearing the fifth month of the year, its a great time to revisit the list and see what progress I’ve made. It is also good timing because I’ve recently joined the Rome Construction Crew, and most of my goals involve writing.

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Week 4 Recap

In case you missed any of my A to Z Challenge posts from Week 4, here you go!

• S is for Sullivan
• T is for Travel
• U is for Using Social Media as an Author
• V is for Versatile, Very Inspiring, and Sunshiny Blogging!
• W is for Writing
• X is for X-Linked Dominant Inheritance

And here are the posts from A-R:

• A is for Awards and Awesomeness
• B is for Biographies (To Character Bio or Not to Character Bio)
• C is for Cutting Room Floor (And you Thought Your Writing Was Bad)
• D is for Deschanel
• E is for Éowyn and Éomer
• F is for French Quarter
• G is for Garden District
• H is for Helping Other Writers (Guest Author Program)
• I is for Incomplete (You Won NaNoWriMo…Now What?)
• J is for J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
• K is for King James Hepburn (Oh, Wait)
• L is for Location
• M is for My Name
• N is for NaNoWriMo
• O is for Ophelie
• P is for Pinterest (House of Crimson and Clover has a Board!)
• Q is for Quillan
• R is for River Road Plantations

W is for Writer

I am a writer. I’ve also been a great many other thing throughout my life, but I’ve never not been a writer.

I started writing when I was seven, and the contents of my imagination both shocked and inspired my parents. Growing up, I was the kid with the imagination. The creative one. The one who excelled in English and Journalism (and even won awards for it), and who read anything she could get her hands on. I was the kid who enjoyed getting reading assignments over the summer. I was the one who wrote short stories that nearly got me expelled.

I wrote my first novel in junior high. It was terrible, but I kept writing. I published my first novel, St. Charles at Dusk, in 2011. Shortly after, the story turned into a series, and I’ve now written five books in The House of Crimson and Clover series. It won’t stop there, either. I love knowing that I have so many more stories to look forward to.

I created this blog to promote my work, but the content has expanded beyond that original intention. I’ve also met many other great writers and, through those friendships, have learned that the best way to be a member of the writing community is to share your experiences with others, in hopes that they might learn you the way you learn from them. The writing community is an ecosystem of writers sharing with other writers, and I’m proud to be a member of it.

I’ve created a Writing Tips page (a replica of this post) that will contain all articles I’ve written related to writing tips, tricks, and experiences that I think are helpful to others. By coming directly to this page, you won’t have to search through the page to find what you need. It’s easily accessible from the top and left navigation menus on the homepage.

In addition to writing articles, I also have established a Guest Author Program, where other writers can be featured and promote their work. Check this page out for details.

Finally, I have a page specific to my NaNoWriMo adventures.

Happy Writing!

Writing Articles

Character Biographies (To Bio or Not to Bio?)

Fictional Genealogies

Fooling the Overachiever Into Submission Using the Scientific Method

Incomplete (You’ve Won NaNoWriMo: Now What?)

Location and Setting

Mitosis (How to Outline When You Suck at Outlining)

Write Badly and Often

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Week 3 Recap

In case you missed any of my A to Z Challenge posts from Week 3, here you go!

• M is for My Name
• N is for NaNoWriMo
• O is for Ophelie
• P is for Pinterest (House of Crimson and Clover has a Board!)
• Q is for Quillan Sullivan
• R is for River Road Plantations

And here are the posts from A-L:

• A is for Awards and Awesomeness
• B is for Biographies (To Character Bio or Not to Character Bio)
• C is for Cutting Room Floor (And you Thought Your Writing Was Bad)
• D is for Deschanel
• E is for Éowyn and Éomer
• F is for French Quarter
• G is for Garden District
• H is for Helping Other Writers (Guest Author Program)
• I is for Incomplete (You Won NaNoWriMo…Now What?)
• J is for J.R.R. Tolkien Collection
• K is for King James Hepburn (Oh, Wait)
• L is for Location

L is for Location

Choosing a location for our writing can be one of the most challenging, and personal, decisions of the novel-writing experience. Often times the setting invokes a certain tone (would you rather write a romance in Paris, or Detroit?), or has cultural relevance (writing a story about a child who experiences racial bullying would be easier in Mississippi than, say, Washington state). I can’t tell you how to choose a location, because that is a very personal choice…but I can give you some tips for giving that location the justice it deserves.

H is for Helping Other Writers (Guest Author Program)

I’m a firm believer that if you send positive energy out into the world, it will come back to you. Helping other writers promote their work- that very same thing that I am trying to do- is the best form of good writing karma that I know of.

Because of this, I recently announced the launch of the Guest Author Program on my blog. You can find about more about it here, and how to become a guest author. It’s quite simple: I will take all genres, with authors in all stages of writing. And once its posted, you’re welcome to share it on whatever social media platform suits your fancy. Feel free to share this post with your friends who are writers too.

I’ll start doing the guest posts in May, after the end of the A to Z Challenge.

What’s better than free, simple book promotion?

A to Z Blogging Challenge: Week 1 Recap

In case you missed any of my A to Z Challenge posts from Week 1, here you go!

• A is for Awards and Awesomeness
• B is for Biographies (To Character Bio or Not to Character Bio)
• C is for Cutting Room Floor (And you Thought Your Writing Was Bad)
• D is for Deschanel
• E is for Éowyn and Éomer
• F is for French Quarter

So far I’m enjoying this more even than I thought I would. It’s forcing me to think about choosing topics in a different way, and, in doing so, I’ve introduced some fun posts related to my books. Writers find inspiration in such a variety of unexpected ways!

Next week should be interesting…I have “G” in the bag, but what the heck alphabet? Putting “I, J, and K” sequentially is uncool. Maybe I’ll redeem myself with “L.”