The Quiet Between Storms?

Whee! Last week was pretty big. My second book came out. If you haven't done a release yet, it's a little bit crazy and you start to feel like you're standing in an amphitheater designed to seat 20,000, and there are 100 people on the stage trying to get the attention of the audience.

The Great A to Z challenge starts up on Friday, and I've decided to throw in my hat. I'm frantically making videos, but it's looking like I'll be uploading during the challenge, but I'm committed to visiting five a day, so watch out for me. The challenge is enormous this year--I'm number 1535!

This Saturday I'm doing my first Signing at Mendocino Gallery Bookshop! So if you're in Mendocino, California at 6:30, I'll be signing books! 

Writing update:
All I can say at this point is "I'm working on it." I wish that I could really get into it, but since everything I'm working on right now is stuff that no one else has read, it seems rude to bore everyone about it or get your hopes up, because having 20K words into a project means nothing. I could hit a stumbling block at 40k or on the last couple of chapters, or the whole thing could crash and burn because sometimes that happens with novels. They are, by their very nature, difficult to write. So, I hope everyone is satisified with I'm working on it. I'm working on the things people have asked for (Yes, Liz, that project, too), and I'm working on a couple SeKrYt Projects. We'll see which gets where first. (My guess is the secret project will get announced before the others, but the universe has a tendency to laugh at me!).

OF Pens and Swords is Out Now!

W00t! My second book just came out today! I’m so excited! You can check it out here or on Goodreads. I'm so excited!

OF PENS AND SWORDS:

Seventeen-year-old Cyra Berque wants two things in life: a date with Rochan and a chance to fence at the Olympics.

But people with one hand don’t normally fence, and girls with big thighs don’t get the boy. Knowing that she wants to make the Olympics, Cyra’s coach sets her up with another coach, one who could take her all the way to the top, but the new coach costs more. Feeling her dreams slipping out of reach, Cyra agrees to tutor a ballerina with a rich father and a D minus in English. It’s triple the pay and triple the pain. The ballerina isn’t interested in passing classes―she wants Rochan, and she’s promised she’ll turn her D minus into a full-fledged F if Cyra doesn’t help her win the heart of Rochan.

A Cover is like a Portrait

And my next novel has a cover!

That's right, my next novel, Of Pens and Swords has a cover!

 

I LOVE my cover. I love that it's different from the cover of my first book because they are very different novels!

Here's the blurb for Of Pens and Swords: 

Seventeen-year-old Cyra Berque wants two things in life: a date with Rochan and a chance to show the world a one-handed girl can fence in the Olympics. When Cyra’s coach tells her he’s taught her everything he can, he sets her up with another coach, one who could take her all the way to the top, but the new coach costs more. Feeling her dreams slipping out of reach, Cyra agrees to tutor a ballerina with a rich father and a D minus in English. He’ll pay Cyra three times her usual tutor rate if she can get his precious daughter to a passing grade. The ballerina only has eyes for Rochan, and she’s promised Cyra to turn her D into a full fledged F if Cyra doesn’t help her win the heart of Rochan.

 

You can add Of Pens and Swords on Goodreads! 

Insecure Writer's Support Group, An Open Ear

How? HOW is it already March? One way or another, that means it's time for an installment of Insecure Writer's Support Group. It's led by The Ninja Captain Alex, and his host of co-hosts: Lauren Hennessy, Lisa Buie-Collard, Lidy, Christine Rains, and Mary Aalgaard!

Yes, I am insecure, but I'm going to do something wild: I'm going to take a deep breath and move on. I'm in a place right this second where I can do that. I don't expect this place to last for too long, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Writing is hard. It's hard on the soul. It's hard on the family, and it's hard on the personal life. Publishing is like being on a roller coaster, except you're the car and there are no tracks, but you're desperately trying to get all the passengers back to the station safe and sound while dropping them from twenty stories, and doing loopty-loops.

So, instead of venting my frustrations with writing and the world in general, I'm going to take a pass. But my passing today doesn't mean others don't need something, and right now, I don't need to vent. Maybe you do. Today, I'm offering a spot, a limited time spot, to vent your insecurities and frustrations. I know we are all encouraged to be happy go lucky when it comes to queries, submissions and publishing, but sometimes it isn't all roses. If you want to share your woes and have them acknowledged, today is the day. Leave your comments, and I'll respond to everything, because sometimes it's nice to know that someone out in the world heard you. I hear you.

Good luck out there, and keep on keeping on, whether that's writing, publishing, life, or other forms of chasing dreams.