My Monthly Update – I can’t believe it!

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It’s already December 2014. I can’t believe it. This year flew by. I’ve been a published author for six months and it has been a world wind and I don’t see it slowing down. I have one month to finish some projects, and plan for more, but I’m super excited about 2015.

Events

December 8th, 2014 – Hope for Him (Hope Series Book #2) Release Day Blitz. If you want to help me promote my release, please sign up here.

Hope for Him (Hope Series Book #2) Release Day Blitz Sign Up

Each blog participating has the chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

December 13th, 2014 – Santa Facebook Hop – more details to come.

December 15th, 2014 – Love Addiction Anthology Release Day Blitz & Party.

Come hang out with us and celebrate 8 moving stories of love and lust to melt away the winter blues.

December Goals

Complete Publication schedule for 2015.
Complete marketing/publishing budget for 2015.
7,129 words on Hope for Us
11,432 words on A New Season

Sydney Quotes the Movies

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I wasn’t sure if it was because of Chris Nolan or Matthew McConaughey or because it was a movie about outer space, but I thought it was all around brilliant. Plus, it had a lot of great quotes and it made me think.  I love that in a movie. 

“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt.”

“Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.”

“Murphy’s law doesn’t mean that something bad will happen. It means that whatever can happen, will happen.”

“Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends time and space.”

“I have a cue light I can use to show you when I’m joking, if you like.”

Movie watching List for December: 

The Hobbit – Third and final. What am I going to do next year with no Hobbits? 
American Sniper – True story and Bradley Copper. 
Exodus – It’s Ridley Scott and epic movie making. The sea parting scene is reason enough to go see it. 

What are your big plans for 2015? Have you seen Interstellar? What do you want for Christmas? 

Have a great December, everyone!

My Monthly Update – Better Late … and SQM

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Release Month

Hope for Her (Hope Series Book #1) was released on October 1st and it had a great release day, and 5 days later, it is still in the top 100 in African American Romance. I also received some great feed back from readers. Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Speechless, Mouth open, shaking my head, laughing, crying, smiling.”

“This book touched my heart, made it ached, and ripped it right out.”

One reader even declared Hope for Her, her favorite book this year. Considering it’s October, I thought that was pretty cool. haha.

Hope for Her will be .99 cents for another 10 days!

Events

October 6, 2014 (Tonight) from 4:00 – 8:00 pm CST, I will be taking over at the United Indie Book Blog on Facebook.  Lots of great giveaways and I will share some exclusive excerpts from Hope for Him (Hope Series Book #2). Come and join me.

October 9th, 2014 from 4:00 – 8:00 pm CST – The New Adult Street will be taking over at the Twin Sisters Rockin’ Book Reviews on Facebook.

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October 30, 2014 from 10:00 am – 10:00 pm CST – Trick me or Treat me? Romance Book Lovers Halloween Party. Join The New Adult Street Team for great giveaways and fun halloween activities. Costumes optional.

October Goals

Edits for Hope for Him (Hope Series Book #2) are due to my editor no later then October 15th.

The final 30,000 words on Hope for Us (Hope Series Book #3) due on November 1st.

Prep for NaNoWriMo – I am thinking about the first book in a two book series. The tentative titles – A New Season (Season Series Book #1) & Off Season (Season Series Book #2)

Guess what, the book is about a girl and a football player. Big surprise.

Sydney Quotes the Movies

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Classic Denzel Washington and another good director outing for Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, anyone!!)

Some of my favorite lines perfectly delivered by Mr. Washington:

“Change your world.” His advice to a troubled young lady. 

“Old man got to be the old man. Fish got to be a fish.” His take on the classic novel, The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. 

“Hit it on something stupid.” As to why he had cuts and bruises on his knuckles. 

“When you pray for the rain, you have to deal with the mud, too.” Great advice to anyone. 

“Progress, Not Perfection.” Advice to his coworker. 

Loved this movie.

Have you seen the The Equalizer? What was your favorite part? Are you participating in NaNoWriMo next month?

Have a great October, everyone!

My #DFWCon by the Numbers

8 Seminars Attended – couldn’t even pick a favorite, they were all amazing.

1 Workshop Attended – didn’t go well.  The story I had critiqued isn’t very good and I am finally ok with it.  It was my first attempt at writing a novel and while I love the story, I came to realize it works much better in my head then it does on paper.

2 books purchased – believe me when I tell you I exhibited an incredible  amount of self control in only buying two.

The Wisdom of Hair by Kim Boykin – she conducted two seminars, Making a Story Great with Texture and The Way to a Women’s Heart. She was amazing.

Secret Sex Lives by Suzy Spencer – she conducted a seminar titled Murder & Sex, great information.

2 Pitches – my first attempted at pitching my story. I wrote my pitch in 6 different ways the morning of the first pitch. It never sounded right.  Finally, after a pep talk from the lovely Tameri Etherton,  I just went in and spoke from my heart.  I love this story and I guess it showed because . . .

2 Requests for submissions – I really don’t know how or why an agent asked for a request, in the pitch sessions, it seems like everyone was getting request.  I don’t care, I am happy to have some one care enough to ask follow up questions about my story and to hear them say, I would like to read more.  Coolest feeling in the world, every.  

Tons of amazing people – I met and talked to and learned from and admired and was humbled by so many people. It was so great to be around people who understand and can related to the weird, quirky, imaginative, off the wall, what in the world and strange way we think sometimes.  People who say, I know exactly what you mean.  It was nice to be around people who understand how blessed we are to call ourselves WRITERS!

Related Post – DFW Writers’ Conference

My Weekly Update – Better Late Than Never

Twenty Seven days into 2013 and I now I am starting to understand.  Well, Better Late Than Never, right?

  1. I understand that my lackadaisical, laid back, ‘oh, I’ll get to it’ attitude about blogging is not for me.  I need a schedule. I am going back to announcing my schedule for the week – better late than never, right? 
  2. I understand that while I can’t spend all my time on social media and be a productive writer, I can’t ignore days of social media and expect to be on top of things.  Playing catch up all the time doesn’t work for me – better late than never, right? 
  3. I understood that I needed some time after my last job to relax and recharge.  But, 6 weeks out of work and I am bored and unproductive in every part of my life.  Far be it from me (What a great saying, I feel like my grandma) to use all this extra time to practice writing habitually, reading cognitively and editing effectively.  But, I am starting now – better late than never, right? 
  4. I am realizing that with so many opportunities out there for pitching/querying/submitting to agents/publishers on blogs/twitter/facebook/writer’s conferences. My three first drafts aren’t ever going to be ready, sitting on my desk unedited – better late than never, right?

Have you had any Better Late Than Never lessons learned this year?  

Awards

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Thanks so much to EM Castellan for the The Lovely Blog Award.

Also, a quick thanks and shot out to Karens Different Corners for awarding me the Liebster Award, although I am not sure I should except because I have more then 200 followers, I appreciate the recognition regardless. And, she is close to 200 herself, so follow her and prepare to gain knowledge and be entertained.

Post to Report On

Hey, Y’all: Dialect and Slang From the Write AngleAs someone from Texas, I have to practice not making all my characters sound like Texans.  What do y’all think about dialects and slang? 
Character Study by Left and Write – How much character development do you do before and during writing and editing? 
6 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming and Published Author: a guest post by RaeBeth McGee-Buda on Amanda Fanger – #2 – Editing is Tough – I knew it. 
The First Draft Run Through Blues by Raewynn Hewitt – Makes me want to cry. 
Editing is Writing Too by Raewynn Hewitt – The push I needed to get off my butt and put my butt in the chair and edit. 
New Followers
Tim The Film Guy
William Stadler
Special thanks to my email followers as well.  
 

Next Week’s Schedule

Monday – Re-Introduce Myself Blog Hop
Wednesday – The Word Master Challenge
Friday – Imaginary Friend Blog Hop
Sunday – My Weekly Update

And, don’t forget to sign up for Blogging from A to Z Challenge on Wednesday, January 30, 2012.  Click the badge below for rules and Tips on Blogging from A to Z.

 

And, congratulation to Aldrea Alien for knowing her Bilbo/Gollum Riddles. Here are the answers:

1. Mountain.
2. Teeth.
3. Wind.
4. Sun in the sky shining upon daises on a hill.
5. Darkness.
6. Egg
7. A Fish.
8. A fish lay on a table. A man sat on a stool. And the cat got the bones.
9. Time!

Let Me Tell You Why I’m Exhausted

Top 5 Reasons why after the week I had, I am Exhausted:  

  1. I am exhausted because for the first time in my life I wrote over 20,000 words of pure unadulterated creative fiction from my mind in 7 days.
  2. I am exhausted because instead of going to sleep at a decent hour, every night this week, I stayed up late to write.
  3. I am exhausted because in order to keep up with my peeps and tweeps, I have to communicate on “social media” at some ungodly hours.
  4. I am exhausted because my mind is constantly racing about what I am going to write about for the next 20,000 words of pure unadulterated creative fiction in the next 7 days.
  5. But, really, I am exhausted because one of my collegues took me to a jazz club last night And even though I was exhausted, I stayed for all 4 sets.  Whitney Houston, Anita Baker and Babyface songs with a jazz twist, I had no choice.  I had to stay.
CJW – Cigar, Jazz & Wine

And, to be perfectly honest with you, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about this week. If being exhausted is the price I pay for doing what I love, then YAWN and bring it on.    

Quick Shout out to my new followers from a week ago:

1 EarthUnited
EM Castellan
Empty Coffee Cups
Anabel Mikolay
Sisi’s Blog
Hanna Pot
Elisabeth Crisp
Champagne Whisky Cigar
Life Coach Marie
Beradadisini
Wonderful Cinema
Fu Only Knew

I will gladly continue to be exhausted for your reading pleasure.

FYI, by the time you read this, I will be asleep.  Talk to you tomorrow. I really am exhausted.