Reading, Writing, Go!

So after a pretty long break, I finally broke out a book, sat down, and read it in a day. It's been awhile since I've read (yay work and starting a small craft business taking up a bunch of time), but I finally gave myself the time. And I must say, it seems to have done the trick in my writing blues. It's honestly been awhile since I've written anything, and last night, I sat down and picked back up. It was awesome to finally get back to writing. So, I plan on holding on to that feeling, so I can meet my desired deadlines. I will blame all the snow we've had for my writing blues. 

Also, another free book promotion! This weekend, February 22-23, both novels will be free on Amazon! Check it out, and don't forget to tell your friends, family, and coworkers! Let's get these stories out worldwide! 

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a very happy holiday! As everyone is getting new e-reader devices, now is the perfect time to tell your friends and family to download the Desire novels! Through December 27, Secrets and Keys is free! Then from December 28-29, Lies and Locks will be free! They're the perfect stories to read as we all try to keep our New Years Resolutions coming up while working out on a dreaded machine!

And just in case you forgot (I know I haven't said it in awhile): I APPRECIATE YOU ALL! All of your love and support in my writing process is truly a wonderful  gift to have.  Thank you, as all of your support gives me motivation to finish the final novel!

It's on

The free book promotion is still going on until tomorrow, December 2, for both Secrets and Keys/Lies and Locks. Don't miss out on your chance to get both novels for FREE! And after you purchase and read the books, you can all do me a HUGE favor by rating them. Let me know what you think of them! On Amazon would be awesome, as that is where others will be wondering if it's worth giving each novel a shot by purchasing it. But if you have a GoodReads account, then post  your reviews there as well! It would be really great to hear what others are thinking. Plus, maybe that would give me the motivation to finish cranking out the third and final novel. Send me good thoughts, since I have had ZERO motivation this past month to finish (losing my documents on my old computer has really decreased my motivation- but maybe for Christmas I'll be able to transfer my old hard drive to this computer!).

Read. Review. Repeat.

Surprise!

Hi everyone!

So I've decided to set a free promotion for BOTH Secrets and Keys/Lies and Locks. Starting today and ending Monday, December 2nd, both novels will be free on Amazon! Check out the links on the side to find them. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday season! I will announce the next promotion soon.

When September Ends...

Oh hey! Long time no see. Maybe I should drop by more often! So I realize I totally failed keeping up with this blog this summer, but I want to get better. My life this summer went from busy to hectic as soon as my marching band coaching job started! So long story short, two jobs + no free time = no time to write. I know, I've been bad this summer. As soon as marching season ends and I get back to only having one job, I plan on seriously cracking down on finishing the final installment in the Desire series. After that, I have some exciting things planned!

I am enrolling both of my novels in the Amazon KDP program again. This will probably be the last time I enroll the first novel. Keep an eye out, as I will post an announcement a few days before I choose the free promotion dates!

What A Month

So, what is one of the worst things that could possibly happen to a writer? If you guessed sending your computer in to get a tune-up before the warranty expired and two weeks later finding out your computer would not return because it was trashed due to it being too expensive to fix and you didn't back up everything important on your computer, then you guessed correctly. I had a mild panic attack that I lost the documents for all of the novels, but thankfully I have a habit of e-mailing myself or one of my editors copies, so I have almost everything! The only thing lost was the most recent stuff I worked on for a new novel, but there was only one chapter lost there. So if you have been wondering why my posting has been slow, even though I told myself I would come here more often, that is the reason.

I plan on getting the third novel at least close to finished this summer (though who's complaining if I finish?)! Hopefully I can get it there. I just need to get used to this new keyboard! I hope everyone is enjoying the sun and warm weather, and that the summer brings you many great adventures!

It's been awhile!

Hello all you lovely people!

I realized it has been quite some time since I've updated this, and I thought I should probably say hi! I hope you all enjoyed the second novel in the Desire series, and if you haven't read it yet, no worries! It is still for sale (not that it will ever go off sale).

You would think that finally graduating and not having to worry about homework and classes would give you plenty of time to sit down and write. Well that has not been happening! Working full time has taken up more time than classes, and novel three has not been coming along as well as I had hoped! No worries though, it's over a third of the way done, and the first two novels were written primarily during the months of June and July. Don't ask me why I'm more productive in the summer, I have no idea either. I plan to have most of the third novel done by the end  of summer, as I am really excited to start a new series.

I'll try to keep you all in the loop better over the next few weeks! I feel that updating this more will help give me the motivation to keep writing (though if you ever feel like sending me words of encouragement that could help get me moving as well). I hope everyone is doing fantastic, and that you all have a wonderful summer!

It's Here!!

I'm going to make this short and sweet:

Lies and Locks is finally here! I've added a link on the right side of the page in order to make it easier to find the novel on Amazon. I really hope you enjoy it! I'm off to continue working on the third novel!

It's coming!

Lies and Locks is coming! Remember to be on the lookout this Tuesday, March 12th, for Lies and Locks! As soon as the link is up, I will post it here as well. Keep in mind that today and tomorrow, Secrets and Keys is free on Amazon! So if you haven't already taken advantage of this fantastic deal, head on over now. Thank you all for sticking with me, and I really hope you'll enjoy Lies and Locks as much as you enjoyed Secrets and Keys!

What beats free?

Today is the day! Secrets and Keys will be free for today only! So tell your friends, family, anyone you think might enjoy the novel to pick it up. There will be only two more chances after today to pick up Secrets and Keys for free, as I do not know if I will re-enroll it into the Amazon Select program once Lies and Locks is published. It is #36 on Amazon Teen Literature and Fiction currently, let's try to get it in the top 10 before the end of the night! Get it today!

On a side note, the third and final novel is coming along nicely. I've been averaging a full chapter a night, meaning it may be much easier to finish this story faster and get it out quicker to you wonderful people! More updates about the release of Lies and Locks to come soon.

*Important Dates*

Hello all! How have you been? I've been keeping busy, getting things on track to release the second novel, Lies and Locks! I have finished my edits of the novel, but I am hoping to get one more fresh set of eyes to look at it before I publish. So, as of now, the release date of Lies and Locks will be March 12th, 2013. You will be able to find it on Amazon!

In order to promote this release, I have three more free days left. This weekend, February 16, Secrets and Keys will be free on Amazon. It will also be free the weekend leading up to March 12th. So tell your friends!

If any of you were curious, I finally began the third and final novel! It is underway, and I am excited to see where the book will take me (yes I have most things planned out, but exciting twists always come up as I write!). So, get pumped. I know I am! Before I go, as promised in the last post, here is the cover of Lies and Locks. Enjoy!

YOU

So, I wanted to make this post about you! I realize I should have written this sooner (like Monday), but I'm happy I can write it now. I want to take the time to thank YOU. Thank you for supporting me, thank you for telling your friends about Secrets and Keys, and thank you for being patient as I put the finishing touches on the second novel! Because of you, Secrets and Keys had over 500 downloads during the weekend. At one point, Secrets and Keys reached #3 on the bestsellers list of free books! None of this could have happened without you, and that is why I wanted to give you all a huge THANK YOU!! You're awesome, fantastic, beautiful, and I appreciate you all! Okay, that is all for now, I'm off to finish editing and working on the cover! Maybe I'll post it here on my next post. I plan to have the second novel out by March! Stay awesome my friends, and I'll talk to you soon!

New Look, New Year, Free Stuff!

So, in case you missed it, the cover of Secrets and Keys has changed slightly. While I was fond of the cursive print, it did not make the cover stand out well. Hence, the new font. I think it will help make the cover stand out more against other books that also use large fonts.

I've decided to re-enroll Secrets and Keys back into the KDP select program. So this weekend, January 12-13, it will be free on Amazon! Use the link on the right to be directed straight to the page. I look forward to having new readers pick up my novel!

Finally, I went through the second edit of the second novel, title to be revealed soon. I need to go through one more time, and then I will be satisfied and ready to publish. Last night, I spent two hours looking for potential cover photos. Nothing fit what I was looking for, but I found a website that you can collaborate with artists who can put a photo together. Hopefully someone will come up with something I really enjoy!

Don't forget to download Secrets and Keys free this weekend! I hope everyone that is back to school had a wonderful first day and has a great semester!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic break, enjoying the holiday season! I know I did. So a few updates for those of you that still check here periodically:

I finally graduated! With grad school not starting until August, other than working, I shall be working on editing/writing. The second novel will be out hopefully soon, and I will update you all as soon as I pick a date. Maybe I should set a deadline now though, as deadlines for grad school sure are helping me work faster!

That being said, it is very exciting to have two novels completely written (even if one still needs some editing done). I have been distracted lately, with ideas for a completely new novel (series? Haven't decided yet). As that comes further along and I decide it is actually something I wish to complete, I'll announce updates! Novel three will be started as soon as I figure out how I would like to write it (you'll understand once you read novel two).

I have also considered putting Secrets and Keys back into the Amazon KDP select program, where I can select five days to allow readers to purchase this novel for free. Look out for updates, as this will be occurring very soon (if not within the next few days). Considering I never put this story back for purchase on Barnes and Noble, it seems unwise not to keep it in the KDP select program (as an avid book reader, I would love to get more novels for free, so why shouldn't I offer mine for the same deal as well?). So look out for a date, and tell your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, enemies, whoever to download it for free!

That's all I have for now. As I wrote this post, I am starting to think that if I do enroll Secrets and Keys back in KDP select, the first free dates will be next weekend! (January 12-13th) So keep an eye out for confirmation, and download! Talk to you wonderful people again soon!!

Motivation

So, the title of this post has meant a lot to me these past few weeks, as it has been quite important in going forward in my life. Being in my universities color guard, plus finishing up my last semester of undergrad has been a great accomplishment. If any of you have ever been in marching band, you know what I mean when I say it takes some serious dedication and motivation to make it through the season. While it is bittersweet that my time in college color guard is coming to an end, I am excited to be graduating in a month!

What does this mean for my writings? Well, I need to find my motivation from this summer (as all I have is being used up on school currently)! I've hardly written anything this semester, and come December, I really need (and want) to get back to writing. I am still making plans to start the third and final novel in the Desire series as I work on a completely new story as well. The good news for those of you waiting on novel two? One of my fabulous editors has gone through and edited! Usually I go through once or twice before sending it to her, but she offered to take it raw, and considering how busy I've been, I took her offer. I can't thank her enough, and everyone else should be excited because that just means a quicker release of the second novel! Now I need to focus on creating the cover!

Graduation is in a month, so I probably won't have any new updates until after then. Wish me luck, and get excited for (hopefully) more updates about the stories!

Oh My!

Wow, I really fail at updating this. Sorry everyone! Life has been hectic. I took summer courses all summer, and am finally in my last semester of undergrad! As you can imagine, I am super busy right now (which is another reason this has not been updated in awhile). So I have some good and some bad news. The bad news is that it will take longer to get the second novel published than I previously hoped. With summer classes, I was only able to personally edit the first ten chapters. I prefer to edit my novels before I enlist the help of my fabulous editors/friends to go through it for me as well. Then after everything looks good, I plan on creating a physical copy to go through, as I can find mistakes much easier when I have a hard copy in front of me as opposed to looking at my computer screen. The good news is that I graduate in December! I won't be going off to grad school until August 2013, so I plan on having much more time to get editing done/starting the final novel during those months (between having to go to work of course).

I think in my last post (maybe more ago) I mentioned something about changing the fonts on the cover of Secrets and Keys. I haven't had a chance to find something I love yet, but I still plan on making the change. Be on the lookout, and you will no doubt be one of the first to see the change, as I'll update the background here to the new cover. Finally, I'm curious how many would be interested in purchasing a hard copy of Secrets and Keys? The website I print hard copies for myself off of has the option of making the book available to anyone else who wishes to have a hard copy. It is private currently, so only I can print it, but if there seems to be in interest in having a physical copy, I may open it up to public ordering. Alright, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll update with more good news soon! (Though I can't promise anything until mid-October)

Exciting news!

So I am super pumped right now. Last night, I stayed up until 4am. Why did I stay up so late you ask? Why, I was finishing the last chapter of Lies and Locks! Yes, you read right. I have finished writing the second novel! It feels like such an accomplishment. Except, this book won't be out anytime soon. Still hoping to have it available sometime in November or December. For now, I'll be busy editing and crossing my fingers my lovely editors will be available again to help me out.

It's such a good feeling finishing a project I started. You see, I'm a very crafty person, but most things I start never get finished. That's why I was so happy to finish the first novel. And then, with the help and encouragement from amazing friends, I went on and finished a second novel! So, let me tell you, if there is something you want to do, go out and do it. If it's a craft, make sure you finish it! The end product is so great and you'll be really proud of yourself. Now, in between my editing sessions, I'll be working on creating my second quilt! Those are fun to make too =] I hope everyone's summer is going great! I will be going camping next week, and I'm hoping to get some sun (every time I try to tan- with my 45spf sunscreen, a large cloud covers the sun. My family jokes that my paleness blinds the sun. Haha). I'll update you amazing people that still read my blog soon with other new projects!

Updates

Sooo, remember how I said I was almost done with Lies and Locks? How I only had one and a half chapters left? Well I finished one and a half chapters. Except, doing as I always do, I had new ideas and it dragged the chapters out. So, instead of having the last chapter two-three times as long as every other chapter, I decided to add one more chapter! I am still almost done though, so get pumped!

I've also been thinking about changing up the cover for Secrets and Keys. While I love the cursive print the title is already in, I realized for those searching e-books on Amazon, it doesn't stand out much and grab readers attention. So I have a second cover ready, the font not as awesome as the current font, but it will grab potential readers attention much more. I figured I would let everyone know, so that to those who currently have a copy of Secrets and Keys as e-book, if you receive a notice about an update to the book, just know it is a change of the cover and if you want to keep the cursive font cover, don't update.

Alright, that's all I have for now! I'll talk to you wonderful people who still read my blog soon!!

Hellooooooooooo!

Well, long time no see! There has been so much going on since the last time I updated! First off, I finished spring semester at my school, and am now taking summer classes. Boo summer classes, never taken them before. It will be worth it though when I get to graduate in December! =] Enough about me though, I have updates about the second novel in the Desire Series!

I finally have settled on the title Lies and Locks for the second novel. The novel is almost complete! I have one and a half chapters left, and then I will be crazy editing it. This means that I will absolutely  meet my goal of finishing the novel by the end of summer (considering summer just started, and it doesn't take me months to write a chapter). The editing process will take more time, but after it is edited, hopefully the rest of getting it ready to publish will happen quickly. So be on the lookout for updates, and I will try to update this more than once a month!

What a busy time!

Crazy times! This is my last week of classes, then next week is finals week. Why is it professors wait until these last few weeks to make everything due? Of course, I couldn't just focus on school, and I have been working on the second novel! I'm expecting about five more chapters, and then it will be complete! Then it will be time to edit and review the entire thing, but that's okay. It will be cool to have two completed novels! So my plan to have it completed by the end of summer will happen, and my goal for it being published in November is definitely looking good. I will keep everyone updated on the progress.

Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't have multiple other stories coming to mind. It really is obnoxious all these stories waiting to be told, but I really can only work on one story at a time. I probably won't start the third novel in the Desire series right away, as I have a few chapters of one story that I mentioned before, but now there's another. Oh boy. I know I mentioned dystopian novels before, and technically I could make this new idea into one, but.... oh boy. I had this really crazy dream, and I mean I always have very vivid dreams. They usually go away after a day. This dream though, I still remember all the details clear as day, and they create a really fascinating story. So I may see where that one will take me before starting the third novel in the Desire series. Keep an eye out for updates, and I'll talk to you wonderful people soon!