BIG Cover Reveal

So, lately, my favorite "thing to do" seems to be ignoring this blog. And I feel bad about that because I have some really INCREDIBLE blog followers. You guys are the greatest. Looking ahead on my calendar and realizing it's JUNE (carp), I'm thinking I need to give you a little treat. It's a secret that's not really a secret, but something I think you'll end up being as excited about as I am.

While I feverishly work to get The Tyrant King--next in The Peasant Queen series, I may have mentioned it--edited, formatted, and published, I will offer you a teaser for my next project.

We start with an amazing cover reveal. Yes, again, this one is done by my brilliant friend Deirdra.

Are you ready? No? Ok, I'll give you another minute. Are we good? Great. Here goes!

Excited yet? I am. Here's the back cover blurb (back cover is gorgeous too):

The City of Light and its inhabitants have long been protected from evil by the Barrier, the aura created by the actions of their pure hearts. One day their peace is shattered by the voice of The Demon, who vows his servant will enter their City and claim a maiden, Aisilyn, to be The Demon’s bride.

Five families wait with dread, uncertain if their Aisilyn is the one the Dark Warrior will take. Only Gennavieve is certain the Warrior will come for her sister. To protect Aisilyn, and her upcoming marriage to the man of her dreams, Gennavieve puts herself in her sister’s place—allowing the Dark Warrior to claim her as The Demon’s chosen bride.

In a world driven by prophecy no one knows which prophecy will be fulfilled, or whether Gennevieve’s choice will lead to The Demon’s destruction . . . or her own.

City of Light is slated for fall. I'm seriously shooting for a September release date, but it honestly depends on how much I get done this summer. So if you don't see me online much, or posting much, please know I'm working on something amazing. :)

Resolutions are for Suckers

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I don't do New Years' Resolutions. There's a quote going around Facebook that Resolutions are a to-do list for the first week of January.

I set goals instead. Here, on my writing blog, we're not going to mess with my personal goals. We'll explore my writing goals for 2012.

I decided I'm going to publish, or contract to publish, *5* books this year.

Whoa. I know, right? Then I got to thinking.

I'm submitting The Tyrant King at the end of the week. Cleaning up The Wild Queen to prepare for print versions (by Mother's Day per a personal request). Submitting Lizzie Lilac and the Left Socks, my children's book, (though there's no guarantee it will be published). These 3 books are almost done, and only require a few touch ups.

But, The Wild Queen shouldn't really count since I published the ebook last year. Right?

I have lined up a fabulous editor for Consequences in March, so my edits need to be done by then. That's okay, since my plan is to have it done by February. That gives me time to get it out to readers, get their feedback on it, and then make a few tweaks before my dear editor gets her hands on it.

After that, I think I'm going to work on a few rough drafts. It will be great to flex that creative muscle again. Exciting.

Five books will be great. What a fun way to spice up 2012.

Since I will be self publishing a few, I have some control over meeting this goal. The fun part will be learning how to do my own typesetting and cover art. Scary. I'm excited and motivated to get this done.

Let's go 2012!

Life Edit

Occasionally a writer has to eat her words, and even those words aren't terribly tasty. A few weeks ago I told you all about The Price of Love, my "perfect for Halloween" story I planned to launch as an e-book last week. Lacking the huge fanfare and announcement that it's actually for sale now, I'm sure you've guessed where this is heading.

I got into the story to edit it, and found it needs SO much more work than I first thought. My initial fondness for the story had made me blind to how much I have grown as a writer since. And, so far, only one scene has been rewritten. Oddly it's a really critical scene near the end of the story.

Now, I'll let you in on what's going to happen from here. I'm going to work on this story off and on in my "free" time and get it nicely polished for NEXT Halloween. I may release it before then, if I'm really happy with it, but I doubt sales will be that good until the creepy season hits again.

I'm sorry to have disappointed you. Trust me, I'm disappointed too. But, sometimes, we just can't have what we want.

The Home Stretch

Launching an e-book can be complicated. You want to make sure you're not just putting a story up for the sake of saying you've done it. You want--at least I want--to be sure I'm putting the best story out there that I can.

But, we're in the home stretch now. On Friday, May 13th, readers will be able to purchase The Wild Queen for their e-readers or even home computers.

In case I haven't shared yet, (or if you missed it) The Wild Queen is the story of King Lucien and Queen Roweena--Gregory's parents.

Roweena is the crown princess of Norvallen, a tiny kingdom with only one thing of value—the Healers' Grove. The trees in this small section of forest are enchanted, giving a sap that can be mixed into potions or salves to heal almost any wound.

And it’s in high demand.

Lucien, the young king of neighboring Demarde, comes to Roweena’s father seeking an alliance, but comes away with a marriage contract for young Roweena’s hand. Furious and stubborn, this untamed beauty vows he will never conquer her. But the contract purposely gives her time to come to terms with her fate.

Before Lucien can return, Roweena’s home is attacked and her parents are murdered. The Healer’s Grove is also attacked—burned to the ground. With nothing more than her horse and the clothes on her back, Roweena goes to the only person she knows can help her. Lucien. But he can do nothing with no legal claim to Norvallen, so they marry.

Lucien and his army destroy the invaders and rescue what remains of Roweena’s people. He then makes Norvallen a part of his kingdom, but separate, ruled by a man Lucien trusts who answers only to him.

Roweena tries to carve a piece of life out for herself in Demarde, but her wild ways often clash with Lucien’s calm, reasoning manner. They have a son, Gregory, and then a daughter, Falina. When Roweena is pregnant for the third time, she vanishes. Speculation runs rampant. Was she kidnapped, fallen victim to a mysterious enemy? Or did she run away?

Enjoy!

May Day

Actually, that was 2 days ago. And I'm really not in any kind of panic. Mostly. :)

It's May now, and we're winding down the school year and my writing time. I don't get any writing done in the summer when the kids are home, so I'm really not planning to do any from May 26th through August 20th (or whenever school starts again). This is a self-preservation technique to save me the stress and aggravation of trying to write and not succeeding.

But my plans have been a little redesigned.

Last week, I posted about my writing doubts while I waited for the publisher to get back to me for The Tyrant King. They did, with a list of suggested changes and a request to resubmit when I make the changes. At first, I was sad. I mean, I didn't WANT to have to do any more work on it, but that night as I was driving (another epic story for another day) to an author event one of the more inspirational songs I use spontaneously played on the radio. For me. I know it was just for me. :) And I'm honest enough to admit my writing isn't perfect, and the story DOES have issues, so I'd much rather fix them now rather than have it published full of plot holes. (slight exaggeration) So while I wait to hear back from my beta readers for my e-book, The Wild Queen, I'm going to work on fixing The Tyrant King--with the hope of resubmitting it by the end of this month.

What has changed? My 3rd planned e-book, The Price of Love, has been put off indefinitely. And I'm not going to start The Lost Princess, my (hopefully) 3rd print book, until I've resubmitted The Tyrant King to the publisher. I'm still hoping to get it all done this month, but I'm also cutting myself a little slack.

I may also be writing a little into June. Hopefully the kids will forgive me. :)

An Editing Life

My goal this week is to finish the edits for The Wild Queen so I can get it out to my beta readers and have it ready to go by the end of this month. My reason? Next week the kids are on Spring Break--and three of my kids have a birthday next week. Ya, I'm not going to get anything done unless it's this week. :)

Saturday at Write Here in Ephraim, author Michael Knudsen taught a class on self editing that was incredibly timely--at least for me. I feel a teeny bit robbed, since we ran out of time and he had to cut a large part of the presentation short. His technique was endorsed by the incomparable Tristi Pinkston, who not only is a published author of 6 novels but also a freelance editor. Tristi appreciated Michael's editing process, and appreciated how dynamic his finished story turned out to be because of it. Wouldn't we all want to have a finished book like that? I know I do.

That's this week's project, anyway. I'll let you know next week how I do. :)