Writing Writing Writing

It has been a while since I have posted. Lots going on, including the kiddies' having issues at school (I know, they have only been back a little while- this was the 2nd freaking week!), writing, a week long stint at the county fair, crafty stuff, more writing, and medical issues. You have my sincere apologies for staying gone so flipping long. I really think I'm turning into a zombie. Anyways...

Back in mid-August, I posted about my writing goals. For those that don't remember, here are those goals:

Research specific topics

1. realistic and descriptive battle scenes
2. 15th century Moldova
3. colonial America
4. Cincinnati in the 1800's
5. antiques from 1300's and up

Write something daily

1. back story for a few other stories in the works to pick up on next year
2. journaling through NaNo prep

I figured an update was in store. Let's see. Research... I completed 2-5 a lot faster than I expected, along with research on Gothic and Revival architecture, architecture in Cincinnati, and a tiny bit of botany research. By the end of August, I finished all that and #1 of the Write Daily list. So in September, I decided to start writing on one of my side projects, the focus of all that research. Using Liquid Story Binder to keep track of my writing sessions, I managed to get down about 62,000 words over 12 writing days. My total writing time amounted to under 55 hours. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I finished the story?! I'm a pantser as you know so when I reached the end (and realized it was the end) I was in shock.

This new story doesn't resemble anything like The Immortalis Trilogy.

My newest story (and 3rd novel if you are keeping track) is a YA urban fantasy set in present day Cincinnati. It is a stand alone novel but with so much possibility for a series. 62,000 words is a bit on the slim side for my tastes (Journey of Shadows ran around 83,000 in its last incarnation and the 2nd in the series, still untitled, is sitting at around 130,000) but it feels complete to me. We'll see what happens after my Beta readers have a look.

With that 1st draft done and the story out of my head, I am finally able to relax. Or can I? Crap, its mid-October already and I haven't done any NaNoWriMo prep. At all. Son of a- I'm off to start research for #1 above (battle scenes) and try to forget about the children's fairy tale that keeps bouncing around in my head until after November. Maybe I'll just make a few notes first...

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3

Smashwords Sale!

For the month of July, Smashwords is running a special sale for the summer (and winter for those south of the equator). As part of the sale, Journey of Shadows will be available for a 50% off discount from 12:01am on July 1st until 11:59pm on July 31st. That means you can pick up my debut novel for a whole $1.50 over the next 31 days! How cool is that? Simply enter the promo code SSW50 when you go through with the purchase. Not ready to drop that much cash just yet? Head over to the link above and download the first 15% of my novel for FREE.

Remember the sale does not start until 12:01am Pacific Time on July 1st. They will have a complete listing of participating titles from Smashwords authors for you to browse while you are there. Don't miss out on this chance!

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

I Have a Confession...

The past few weeks has been incredibly busy and I have slacked on my blogging. I know I promised that I would be updating this blog with a few posts per week and then didn't. I haven't forgotten about you and this blog. I have been swamped at work and literally come home with absolutely no energy to do anything. I have sat at my computer for a few hours a night and tried to look like I was being productive while in reality, I was just almost sleeping with my eyes open. Yes, I have been that tired.

With Journey of Shadows finally coming out, work deciding that everything must be done before Spring Break, and my stupidly weak immune system trying to recuperate from a week long battle with strep, the past three weeks has been a true FML moment. C'est la vie.

I have 3 blog posts coming this week that are 100% happening (because they are already written and scheduled) and another two that are possibly going to happen. We shall see about those possible ones.

Until then, please accept my apologies for my extended absence. Stay tuned.

Empire History

I promised to keep this part short so I will try my best.

The Empire was once ruled by Kings and Queens and representatives of the magic races that lived throughout the lands. The Northlands and Mid-Forest were united under a child king chosen by the Gods to rule until the child reached adulthood. The Upper Wastes, when it was the forest Bog Nial, grew under the watchful eyes of fae troupes and their court. The Lower Wastes, once grazing lands for cattle, and Cofway Woods were less dark and more wonderful during these times under the rule of a peaceful King and Queen. The Southlands also paid homage to a King and Queen. The middle lands, the forest surrounding Nostal and the Wild Woods, were protected by a council of nymphs and humans equally responsible for the lands. The Lunal Isles were ruled by the Shadows, a race of shape shifters that largely kept to themselves. Caless Island, land and sky, were the property of the dragons. The mountain ranges were home to the dwarves to the west and human sorcerers to the east. The Immortalis, the only magic creatures able to also use magic, wandered the world telling stories, healing the injured, and blessing babies and sacred unions.

All this changed during the Great Battle.

Empire Geography

I was at work today when I thought I should share a little about Journey of Shadows since I'm so dang proud of it. I thought at first that I should post the prologue but it dawned on me that the first 15% of the book is available for a free download already so that would be almost like cheating. If you'd like to read that first 15% before making the jump to purchase, click here. Scroll to the bottom and select your preferred reading format.

So after several hours, I decided to give an introduction to the world and main characters.

Journey of Shadows, Available Now!

My long awaited novel, Journey of Shadows, is finally available! Check the book page for more information or go here to view it directly from Smashwords. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Steven wrote a wonderful blog entry about Journey of Shadows and added some fantastic background on how we ended up teaming up for this project. Check his post here and then scroll to the bottom of the page to find his  Bookstore Plus for old books and collectibles! If you buy something from his store, email me and I'll send you a coupon for 50% off the purchase of my novel. How's that for a deal? This coupon will only be good until April 6, 2012 so act fast!

Immo1 Update

I am very happy to announce that my first novel, Journey of Shadows, the first book in The Immortalis Trilogy, is finished. At least, my transcription is finished. If you recall, I printed my last draft out (draft #8 I think) and edited it by hand. I retyped the entire file since I made so many changes. The paper was a sea of red ink. In the middle of my transcription... or well, probably 1/3 of the way through more likely, my computer crashed. It took several agonizingly long weeks for me to get my files back. Anyways, I finished the transcription and it is now in the very capable hands of my editor, Steven. He has a lot of work to do, as I am notoriously impatient and tend to miss a lot of suffixes and/or make up words.

We are all very excited about the upcoming release of my novel, affectionately called Immo1 if you have read any other posts about it. A little background on Immo1... Immo1 started as a single line of thought while I lounged in the bathtub in September, 2009. That single line became a very rough story beginning. It was headed to my unfinished story pile when I shared it with Steven later that month. With his encouragement, I developed it a little more and it became the first draft of my prologue. That November, I finally did what I had said for years I wanted to do: I wrote a novel for National Novel Writing Month using the prologue as a stepping stone.

Since November 2009, Immo1 has undergone an incredible transformation through the love and dedication of Steven, his wife Rene, and my beta readers Raven and Philip. I fit in there somewhere but seriously, I know I would never have finished it without any of them. They all hate when I try to give them credit for Immo1 but it really didn't come alive to me until they read the early drafts and encouraged me to keep working on it. The best part was none of them gushed about how amazing it was and how it would win a Hugo some day. Okay, well, maybe Steven did... but he is biased. They gave real feedback: constructive criticism, suggestions, research information, etc. So they really are a huge part of this.

Since then, I have been fortunate enough to find an amazing artist to do the cover for Journey of Shadows and I was astonished with this man's professionalism and artistic vision. Alberto Ramirez Jr. is an incredibly talented man with a fantastic ability to take a text description and make it come alive in art. Here is the finished cover:

To me, it reminds me of the original Nancy Drew covers. I freaking love it. It is 100% what I envisioned when I told him "a Wizard of Oz-type dog with a human shadow sitting by a fire in the woods" and then some. Alberto is a professional and he takes pride in his work. I can only hope my novel is good enough to be represented by such an amazing piece of art.

Stay tuned to find out the exact date of release for Journey of Shadows. It is coming very soon! Yay! for a March release... quite a birthday present for me indeed. What do you think of the cover?!