WIP Update

I thought it was time to share just where I’m at in my work in process.  I had a beta reader take a look and she liked the story.  Then I had an author take a look at it and she liked enough that she is giving me suggestions to help make it better, which I LOVE!  I want my story to be the best it can be and I love all the help.  I’m a VERY lucky girl.

 

Right now I’m working on editing my story using the wonderful suggestions I was given and I’m about half way through with that.  Then I want to go through it one more time to see if I need to add anything.  After that I’m hoping I can get the hubby to sit down long enough to give me a content edit before I sub it to Samhain. 

 

The last step before subbing is the synopsis.  I’ve never writen one so I’m a little nervous, but I’ve had some wonderful advice given to me so I’m sure it will be fine.

 

I would love to have everything done by my birthday, but I don’t see that happening because it is this weekend!  lol  Maybe as a birthday present I can get my hubby to take our son for the day so I can finish up. 

Lori Foster Event

First I got a late start which is nothing new if you ask my husband. I started driving and the first thing you should know is I am VERY bad with directions and Map Quest EVERYTHING! After going about 2 hours the wrong way I stop at a gas station and talked to this nice police officer who said I went North when I should have gone South! Silly Me! Stupid Map Quest didn’t have a direction posted so I went the wrong way! I was down, but I put my Batman soundtrack in, the one that is all Prince, and all was good until I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I was too busy driving and looking for 33 East and telling myself it had to be coming up soon. Finally I see a sign and right by the sign is a gas station. Whew! Good thing too! Lol

I finally pull up to the hotel at 11:00 when I had planned on being there at 9:00. I walk into the hotel and have no idea where I’m going or what I should do. I go to the big room and it is chaos. People are everywhere and they are doing some kind of raffle. I look around to see if I can find Joy from Joyfully Reviewed because I’ve seen her picture before, but no luck. I leave the room and go to the Borders area where they are selling books and Lori Foster just happens to be there. She was very nice and took me to the registration area where I got my name tag.

I do a walk around the room and there is Joy! She gives me a big hug and introduces me to a few people at her table. She asked if I want to sit down and I say sure. She tells me she’ll be back because she wants to take pictures.

It is then I realize that it is almost 11:30 and I have NO idea where they are doing the pitch meetings. I feel a little panic because I don’t have an actual appointment and was told to stand by the time keeper so they could squeeze me in, so I leave the table. I go outside the room where they have a schedule set up, but all it says is the meeting rooms have been changed! I go back to the registration table, but they have no idea where the rooms are. It just so happens that I spotted Christina Brashear (the publisher of Samhain) by her name tag so I introduced myself and asked where they were doing the pitches. She was kind enough to direct me so off I went. I found the time keeper and she puts my name down and the waiting begins. One of the editors from Wild Rose stopped by and asked what I was pitching. I think her name was Nan-I didn’t get a good look at her name tag. I told her a little and she said good luck and told me not to be nervous because I had just practiced on her. I thought that was very nice! I really didn’t have long to wait because someone didn’t show up for their appointment.

I enter the room and I feel the nerves coming because I’ve never been good at talking to strangers and this is VERY important. I sit down and introduce myself and Angela James knew who I was! We chit chat a little about the fact that I named Jaci Burton’s Christmas book and how I’m on the Samhain Café ALL the time and then the pitch starts. I fumble what I’m going to say. I was just going to pitch my first book but ended up tell Angela about the series. I think that is why I fumbled so much. I had everything I was going to say so carefully thought out and it just left my head the minute I stated talking! Angela did tell me to submit my full manuscript to her so I would say the pitch went well. Now I have to fix a few things so I can submit it!

While I’m standing there waiting for my pitch meeting and Amy Knupp was walking by and saw my name tag and said hi! I talked to her for a couple minutes and then I had to go into my pitch. After I was done with my pitch I went back to the big room and looked for Amy because I knew Maya Banks and Ali would be with her. I spot them in the crowd and go over. They are all VERY nice and I ate lunch with them and then went book shopping with them. While book shopping Valerie Tibbs showed up so I went book shopping with her and who do I spot, SJ Willing! He is British! I would have never guessed. I talk to him for a little bit while Valerie gets her books and who walks up but Anne Rainey! I’m so excited to put faces with all these names. We talk for a while in line and while checking out who walks by…D. McIntire and then Shiloh Walker walks by and say hi when she hears my name! After chatting for a little bit Valerie and I go back to the table where Maya, Amy and Ali are sitting. We take some pictures and Joy comes over and asked who we want to meet. She takes us around and we find Bianca D’Arc. I even got a picture….with her arm! Lol She doesn’t like her picture taken. We talk for a bit and then go sit back down. Joy comes and sit with us and her bunny molested me. Lol Joy is a hoot!

It is finally time for the book signing so Valerie and I go look for authors to sign our books. Ali had A LOT of work to do because she had a BAG full of books to get signed. Valerie and I didn’t have as many! After getting our books signed we sit back down to talk a little and then it was time to leave.

The drive back was MUCH faster, probably because I went the right way! Now I am tired and ready for bed! It has been a long day and I have some work to do on my story tomorrow!

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

A while ago I entered a contest on Ann Aguirre site http://www.annaguirre.com/blog/ for a signed copy of Grimspace and ended up winning the grand prize which was a gift cert to a book store.  Of course I HAD to buy Grimspace and I’m VERY glad that I did.

 

Grimspace is written in first person as told by Sirantha Jax.  I don’t read much first person, I’m not sure why, I just don’t.  If you don’t read much first person you really should give Grimspace a try.  It will be worth the read.  Grimspace is Ann’s first book and the sequel is on the way.  I can’t wait for it.

 

Here is the blurb from Barnes and Noble: 

As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace-a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun’s not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.

 

The things Ann puts Jax through are unbelievable and the strength that Jax using to pull through it all is great.  It is nice to read about a strong female lead and her flawed, but strong male counter part.  The world Ann creates is very vivid and you can feel yourself become a part of that world.  I think some of that comes from the 1st person perspective. 

 

The secondary characters are just as wonderful as the leads.  I won’t even talk about Baby Z…giving Ann a glare.  :)  One of my favorite secondary characters is Dina.  She is great and I hope Ann gives her her own book, but I don’t know how that will work because the series is in Jax’s voice.  I just know that I want more of Jax and her world.

 

Right now Ann has a free read on her site in March’s voice and it is very good.  It might give some things away if you haven’t read Grimspace, but it is very good and I enjoyed reading about some of March’s past and hearing his voice.  You get a certain feel of March through Jax, but it is nice to hear just him unfiltered by Jax.

 

If you haven’t picked up Grimspace you should go get your copy today because you aren’t going to want to fall behind in this series. 

Updated Blog

I’ve been playing around with my blog and wanted to create a customer header.  I didn’t own the picture I had up so I needed to changed it and was just using it as a placeholder until I could create my own.  I found something I like and created my new header.  I’m very happy with it and I’m using the same image for my business card.

 

Next step…web site. 

Getting Nervous

Next weekend I’m going to Lori Foster’s event.  I have plans to pitch my series and I’m VERY nervous about it.  I’ve never done any kind of pitch before so this will be a new experiencefor me!  I have my first story done, but I have some minor adjustment that I want to make.  I still need to write my blurb and that part should be easy.  I do it all the time for the books that I review.  lol

 

I just need to remember to breathe!  lol

 

After I get back I’ll make sure to update everybody!

The Wait is Over: Shiloh Walker’s Through the Veil

Today is the day I get to tell everyone what I thought of Shiloh Walker’s Through the Veil.  I’m so excited to talk about this book.

 

First here is a little blurb from the Barnes and Noble Site:

Lee Ross always knew she was not entirely human. But when the man who has plagued her dreams her entire life appears in the flesh, can she give up everything she knows to follow him to another realm?

 

Here is a link to Shiloh’s site for an excerpt:

http://www.shilohwalker.com/excerpt_TTV.htm

 

And here are two pre order links because I just know you are going to want to go out and order this book!

http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780425222478-0

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Through-the-Veil/Shiloh-Walker/e/9780425222478/?itm=1

 

Through the Veil is intriguingly wonderful with fast paced action that will rock your world.  Shiloh Walker grabbed my attention from the very beginning and never let go.

 

It starts off with Lee unsure of what is happening to her when she sleeps.  Shiloh does such a wonderful job that I was just as unsure of what was happening and I had to read more just to figure out where Shiloh was going with Lee’s character.  Lee is very intriguing and I wanted to know more.  This doesn’t surprise me because Shiloh’s stories are very character driven and she makes you invested in what is happening to them.  To me that makes a wonderful story teller.

 

Next up is Lee’s mystery dream man, Kalen, and he is alpha male all the way.  He is loyal and steady and someone you can depend on and he worries about his leading style and the kids he has to send into battle.  That just touched my heart.  Kalen is just as intrigued with Lee as I am.  He has known her for years, but he doesn’t really KNOW her, if you get what I mean.  He knows something is off, but he just can’t put his finger on what it could be.

 

Shiloh does just as well with her secondary characters.  There is one character I REALLY want to know more about and that is Morne.  He is so mysterious and dangerous.

 

The last character of this story is the world itself.  Shiloh has such imagination and she wraps you in so you don’t want to leave her worlds.  The way she writes you feel like you are already apart of her world and you are just waiting for her to tell your story. 

 

All in all, I LOVED Through the Veil and I HOPE this is the beginning of another wonderful series by the talented Shiloh Walker.  And my greatest hope is Morne will be the hero and maybe he’ll meet the fierce warrior Jambrea and she’ll sweep him off his feet.  J

 

Blog Writing Contest Update

Well…I didn’t make the cut this time, but I’m not giving up.  :)  The three finalists are great so you should go take a look and vote if you have a chance.  http://lorelielong.blogspot.com/2008/05/presenting-finalists.html

I’m not giving up.  I have another contest that I will submit to on June 1st that I have high hopes for.  It is longer than anything I’ve written for a contest and I had people look at it before I’m submitting it.  :)  I also have my two projects I’m working on and a review to post to keep me busy. 

 

 

Teasing: Take 3

It is the second week in May so I thought I would let everyone know whose book I will be reviewing on my blog.  It is none other than Shiloh Walker!!  I had the chance to read Through the Veil and it isn’t due out until June 3rd!  As soon as Shiloh gives me the go ahead I will be posting my thoughts on Through the Veil right here. 

 

Stay tuned!

 

Update:  I have been told by the lovely Miss Shiloh Walker that I can post my review after May 19!  WooHoo!!

Duel Update

Well it seems that the challenge will not be an official thing through Lyrical Press.  That is fine by me because I still plan on writing the story and submitting it by October.  :)  The challenge was given in good fun and I plan on keeping with the spirit of it.  I would say the challenge is a sucess because it got me thinking of a way to bring a bunch of genres together.  I just hope I can do it justice.  lol  I’ll try to keep you updated on my progress.  This story might go a little slow because I’m still working on my other one. 

Duel Idea

So I have a title for the story I’m going to write for the duel.  Angel’s Demon.  I like the sound of it and I have an idea on what I want to do with the story.  I wrote the first paragraph.  I don’t know if I’ll keep it or not, but here is what I have so far.

 

Angel Monroe pulled up the bar and wiped a tear from her eye.  He isn’t worth the tears, she thought to herself.  She had to pull it together.  She had a gig tonight and as they say…the show must go on.  As Angel was pulling her guitar out of the back seat she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and a chill down her spine right before hands grasped her from behind and pulled her from the car.  She tried to struggle, but it was no use.  She felt the prick of a needle and then everything went black.