A 2013 Recap and a 2014 Plan

So..2013 was a pretty eventful year for me life-wise.

Quit my corporate job, moved halfway around the world, experienced some crazy culture shock I might never recover from.

Writing-wise, a lot of things happened too.

Published 4 books, 3 short stories and made a decent whack of change on my first few months of self-publishing.

So...what's happening in 2014?

A lot. Most of it will be writing, as I am devoting the next four, five years to build up a decently sized backlist so I can take it relatively slow and easy after that. I will suffer now in order to have it easy later. It's got to be better than taking it easy now and then having it rough later, right?

Here's the foreseeable schedule for the next few months:

January - For a Duke's Love (novella), Razing Hell (novel), Snow Prince (novel)
February - Wolves and Brimstone (novel), Lady Dangerous (novel)
March - Shinjuku Affair (novel)

After that...I have no idea. Yeah...looks like 2014's going to be twice as busy than the year before.

I have a confession to make. In an effort to up my productivity, I have to admit that I've entertained ideas of writing a book a week. That's 40 work hours. Assuming, I write a minimum of 1k an hour, that's a novella a week. Once I came down from my cold-induced delirium, I realized there's no way I'm going to write a book a week. >.> Maybe a book in two weeks? I've been reading a hell of a lot of craft books recently and one that has really interested me was Rachel Aaron's (she of the Spirit Thief fame) "From 2k to 10k." I've pretty much been following her book like a Bible and hope to replicate her daily word counts.

We'll see how it goes in the following weeks...

Edits...

So I've got about ten more chapters to proof of Kiss the Shadows and this is basically the look on my face...

 

There's a lot that needs to be changed. A bunch of terminology just doesn't sit well with me, and there's a rape scene of a male secondary character in the middle of the book that just...makes me shudder, so I'm basically rewriting that scene. I didn't mean to use rape as gratuitous violence, only to show how high the stakes were, but that whole excerpt just makes me...unhappy. Especially since I really like him.

So, I'm rewriting, editing, proofing and formatting and all that needs to be finished by midnight. Which is, oh, two hours from now.

ARGGGHHHHHH!!!!

On the Accountability of Reviewers...

(this post really isn't that big of a deal, I just like being overly dramatic...)

So, it's hecka early in the morning. Like not even sun-up. Like, 4:30 in the morning, yo. Went to bed last night at around 10-ish and then mumbled some nonsense about wasting time when my husband couldn't fall asleep. I told him there was no point trying to find sleep if it didn't want you and the best thing to do was just go and do something constructive. I think one of things I said was "Play Pokemon." LUUULZ.

Why can't I take my own advice?

Yesterday, I read a particularly cringe-inducing review yesterday for my Christmas novella, in which the reader wrote...

"I got this one for free, but that wasn't even worth it! Don't waste your money on this poorly written story!"

Ick. Considering the extensive editing/rewriting this particular incarnation received, I'm wondering exactly what she would've thought if she read the original version posted in 2011. Probably burst into flames or something. Worst thing is, she never elaborated on why she detested the story, so it was kind of like a double whammy.

I posted the review on Twitter, and my tone, admittedly, was kind of mocking. Which got me thinking.

Writers are responsible for the books they write, but are readers responsible for the comments they make regarding said book? It's considered a huge writer faux pas to call out reviewers. As a writer and a reader, I am totally on the side of the reviewer. If someone doesn't like a book, then it's their decision and no one should rake them over the coals for it, unless their comments were centered on the author. I think some reviewers need to differentiate between the writer and the product they put out, but that's a different story for another day...

A lot of people are of the accord that reviews are strictly for readers and the writers should stay the fuck away. While I do agree with this particular thought TO A DEGREE, I think reviews are especially important for self-published authors such as myself, because there is no other way we can get positive/negative/mediocre input. I don't have any critique partners (couldn't find any I connected with on a personal level...maybe I'm just too picky?!) and my writing process is a solitary one. I start a book from an idea and go to outline, first draft, edits, final drafts, cover idea, cover design, formatting all on my own, so there's not really a chance for me to get any other individual's input, aside from the occasional ideas I bounce off my incredibly logical husband.

Just my thought regarding accountability when it comes to reviews. Should readers be held accountable for how/what they review? I'm still not sure. Mostly, I just wanted to write this post to say "Hey, reviewer. It's all good. I bear you no ill will."

Anyways, must work on edits for HER WICKED KISS and KISS OF SHADOWS today as well as attempting to get 2k on a short fantasy-centric ala Howl's Moving Castle setting erotica involving a sex obsessed viscount and a notorious madam...hehe.

Oh and working on outlines for Razing Hell and doing a chapter breakdown for Snow Prince.

I'm really trying to make a career out of this writing thing. It's one of the main reasons why we moved to China; so my husband can learn Mandarin, work on his Masters, and I need only to concentrate on writing.

I can only hope my time here will not be in vain.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about the craft books I'm reading regarding my writing process (which has changed DRAMATICALLY in the last few weeks) so I'll see you folks then.

Until then, stay frosty.

An early Christmas

So...early Christmas for us here in China. Okay, just us as in myself. Hubby got me this awesome writing lap desk with extendable legs for extra height and the desk has an optional incline thingie that makes it super fun and convenient to write in bed. I wrote a little bit in bed last night and it was teh awesome. I still don't know what to get my husband, especially since we pretty much already celebrated his birthday two weeks ago, so I've got my thinking cap on.

Anyways, currently working on the edits for HIS WICKED KISS, which in retrospect perhaps should have been titled HER WICKED KISS. Lucky for me, I'm my own cover designer so it's easily remedied. In fact, I just did it right now!

I think it's a very real possibility I'll be able to make my deadline for having a Christmas release for this short 10k prequel to the Blood Martyr series. The reason I am releasing this particular story is because it directly ties into the last part of the third BM book, WOLVES AND BRIMSTONE, and also I think the male hero of HER WICKED KISS (hah, see what I did there? Changed the title!) is way bad-ass. And, to be honest, I have a real soft spot for the American Revolution. I find that period of American history to be utterly fascinating and I would LOVE to write more in that time period, when BM comes to an eventual end.

New Cover art Reveal!

 

HIS WICKED KISS, a Blood Martyr Prequel in which a younger, less jaded Tanith Quinn runs into a vengeful colonial...coming to you this Christmas!

Also, I finished the outline for WOLVES AND BRIMSTONE, and man, Tanith just can't catch a break. :< I feel kind of bad for raining all over her, but like Katrina from AC: NL says, "Remember that bad times are just times that are bad..."

Hang in there, Tanith. Things are will get better and you're definitely going to get your happy ending!

The horror and the Plan

First off...it snowed! It snowed for a long time, and even though it's the wet fluffy kind of snow that just melts as soon as it hits the ground, it's still strangely gratifying to know that it does snow, this far south in China. The folks back home in Korea and Chicago  have been taunting us with their photos of snow, so it's nice to send one back.

Now onto the horror: this morning I woke up to the sound of chewing. As this was before sunup (it's still before sunup FYI) I couldn't see a darn thing, but that sound should always worry a pet owner. I scrabbled along the nightstand and found my earphones, but alas were too late to salvage them. The cat bit through the cord pretty much and now I must go out and buy new headphones. ARGGHHH. What makes it worse is that these are Skullcandies and while they are inexpensive in the States, the local mall, which has a Skullcandy store, were selling these for 800RMB which translates into about $130.

WTF!!! These are selling on Amazon for $50 right now, so you can understand my dismay. Admittedly, I didn't look at all the other headphones in the store so maybe they'll have some decently-priced ones, but I'm not feeling particularly encouraged.

I want to be angry at the cat, but now she has crawled into my blanketed lap and refuses to leave.

I need one of these...

 

ANYWAYS...

Now onto the plan part!

Before I fell asleep, I sat up in bed and made out my writing plan for the next few months and, let me tell you, things are looking very, very busy.

DECEMBER 2013
  BITE
  KISS THE SHADOWS

JANUARY 2014

  FOR A DUKE'S LOVE
  RAZING HELL

FEBRUARY 2014

  SNOW PRINCE
  WOLVES AND BRIMSTONE
  HIS LADY DANGEROUS

MARCH 2014
  THE SHINJUKU AFFAIR (Still a bit iffy on the title)

So, according to the plan I've charted out for my myself, by the end of March, I should have put out an additional 7 new products out under the FIONN JAMESON/FIONA SHIN (my historical writing penname).

That's a lot.

...I should probably get to it...

Edits and More

 

I wish I had this problem! Even with my final drafts, I always feel like something's wrong and needs to be changed. This is usually true all of the time, so I go through extensive edits, usually anywhere from three to five times. Then I usually let the book rest for a week or two, working on other projects, and then come back to the edits and go through a few more times before formatting the book and then uploading it to Amazon. For the last month or so, I've been really, really behind on all of my projects so I kind of forced all my babies out before I think they were ready.

HIS FOR CHRISTMAS is one of those projects, only this book was written two years ago. This was back when ebooks were starting to get pretty big and I had originally put it up for sale to test out the self-publishing waters and it was the results I received that convinced me to go into self publishing rather than get into traditional publishing.

As this book was strictly an experiment, I'm afraid I used that as an excuse to present a rather shoddy product that I didn't think would do well. Instead, it did and I kept on meaning to present it in a more professional way.

It took two years, but here it is!

 

Elliot Whitley's been burned. On Christmas, no less. Now, every Christmas, he can't help but think of the woman who took his heart and crushed it into a million pieces. As far as he's concerned, Christmas and women can go and hang.

But that's before he comes across a young homeless woman who is not at all as she seems.

Perhaps she will be the one to restore Elliot's faith in the holidays...and love.

 

New Cover Art and more news!

So...BLOOD WISH gets a new cover (I designed it!) as well as a new title. I never really thought Blood Wish was the appropriate title for this book because technically, no wishes get granted. For the second book, perhaps BLOOD WISH would be more apt, but I'm grateful for this opportunity to change this particular book. After some more editing, I'll be putting up Eve and Vincent's story within the next few weeks. Originally, this book was sold for $5.99, which I always thought was kind of high for being an ebook, so I'll be putting this up for $2.99. I'm quite excited to bring this book back since technically this book was my first novel.

Anyways, I'm at the local mall right now, having consumed a sandwich and an Iced Lemon Tea and ready do get a few hours of writing down. I'd like to get down another 1k of THE SHINJUKU AFFAIR as well as another 1.6 of BRIMSTONE AND WOLVES, and possibly another couple hundred words for the next book in the Centennial City novel...not entirely sure which thread I want to pursue but I do want to continue this series since there are certain characters I'd like to revisit...

I know what happens next!

 

I'm sitting at the Starbucks at the local mall in my town and working on my latest! I know what I'm working on now! Obviously the third Blood Martyr book, as it's about half finished, but I decided that I would also get cracking on this contemporary, semi-erotic romance called THE SHINJUKU AFFAIR about a journalist who ends up falling in love with her subject who may or may not be mentally unstable.

Okay, I kid. He's mentally kind of stable, but he likes having fun with the main character so a lot of times he comes off as completely crazy. The story, as you can tell from the title, is set in Tokyo, Japan, a place near and dear to my heart. The main character, Fuuka, is very naive and unsure when it comes to men, while Takumi can come off kind of hot and heavy, so this will be a very interesting pairing for me to write. Mostly, I'm excited to complete this story because I haven't written anything really explicit in a while, so I'm really having fun with this particular manuscript. I'm about a fifth of the way through and I anticipate this book being a late February, early March release.

What Happens Now?

I never really got into Dr. Who, but most of my friends are, so I get to hear all about this particular show, and more than I wanted to know about the TARDIS and I thought this pic found on Tickld was very, very true. As far as Tickld goes, it's my new Lolcats, with a lot more attitude and less cats.

So, BITE is finally finished and out to the general public.

It was supposed to be out by June. I had finished the first version in May, but upon reading it, found the plot to be lacking...something. I rewrote BITE four different times and each time, I I had it, but unfortunately, I was not satisfied with the current WIP. Also, what with moving to China and dealing with culture shock, and whatnot, things got pushed back. For a while, I was kind of worried I was doomed never to finish the darn book. But I did, and I think it's a stronger book now, moreso than the previous versions. At some point, I may post up the different versions, but I have to warn you, they're pretty raw.

Now I am faced with the most question I've had to ask myself in the past few months.

What do I work on next?

There's a hell of a lot of things I can work on. I've got a bunch of projects kind of languishing in the background,.

1. RAZING HELL -  an urban fantasy about a young demon hunter who joins forces with an exiled fallen angel to take down the forces of evil that is trying to consume the world.

2. THE SNOW PRINCE - a fantasy romance about a writer who gets sucked into her own story (because honestly, what romance writer doesn't dream of this from time to time) and must find a way to fix the broken story, but she doesn't count on falling in love her tortured hero.

There's also a few more projects that are close to being finished as far as the general first draft goes, but I think these mentioned two books will be the closest to being released in the next few months.

I'm also releasing the third Blood Martyr book by February as well as a zombie-themed book called Darkness Fallen within the next few months.

I think it's safe to say the first half of 2014 is going to be very busy.

How to write when one does not read...

Is unfortunately the dilemma that I face.

Lately, I haven't read anything worth noting. It is worth noting that I haven't actually read anything at all. Oh, sure I peruse copies of old Jim Butcher books to re-familiarize myself with the first person POV and whatnot but these are books I've read a million times over. Basically, what I mean to say is that I haven't read anything NEW in just about forever. I think the last time I read something from start to finish was a beta read about demons, drugs, sex, incest, and just about everything else turrible. Don't get me wrong, it was a riveting read and the writer now has an agent for the book, but it wasn't a pleasure read.

I'm too busy either watching Netflix, playing Animal Crossing on my 3DS, or...

... ... ...

No, I think that's pretty much it. Basically, I'm not reading anything for fun and I think my writing is suffering because of it. It's an issue I've discussed with my husband and we've both come to the conclusion that because I write for a living, I now view reading as a part of my job, and because I think it's a job, all the fun is sucked right out of it.

For my sake, I hope this is not true because I intend to write for the rest of my life. I used to read ALL THE TIME. I never watched TV when I was growing up. Okay, except for when Scooby Doo was on on Cartoon Network. I got in trouble every other week at school for reading. Teachers would take my books away and I'd get them back in a big box at the end of the year. Hell, my parents used to get phone calls about my reading during class.

Maybe, just maybe, I've been reading things that I've lost interest in. Actually, I'm not sure.

But starting today, I'm going to devote just 2 hours of my day to reading something, anything. I'm hoping this will help me re-ignite my writing spark because, let me tell you, with editing and whatnot, I'm feeling kind of low in the creativity department.

9th day of Nano!

And I'm right on track!

In fact, I'm writing right now, with bowls of deep-fried French Fries and Korean spicy rice cakes on one side of my computer. I've got One Piece playing in a small window next to Scrivener because for strange reason, I can stay a little more focused on my current WIP if I have a small distraction playing next to it. I know, I know, it's strange, but hey, it works so I'm not going to question it too deeply.

BITE is being edited as we speak and I anticipate a late November release at this rate it's being worked on. By the end of November, I should have the first draft of the 3rd Blood Martyr book finished. I'm kind of undecided on the title yet, since it deals with both demons and werewolves, instead of just either one. Maybe I'll just call it OF DEMONS AND WOLVES or something like that, luuulz.

Except at this point of the manuscript, which is about 25 percent complete, there's only one demon involved so the title wouldn't really be accurate. Don't ask me about the other 75 percent because I'm writing this book without an outline. I don't even know how this book is going to end. At this rate, I'm just hoping this book will answer questions asked in Book 2 and set up more questions to be resolved in Book 5. I'd like to write and release a Tanith Quinn book every two months, but that seems strangely overly ambitious. Still, it's a goal I can try to push myself to achieve.

And with that said, I will leave you with this gif that I've been having a hard time forgetting...

It's November 1st!

First post of November, first day I've started working on the third Blood Martyr book which I have tentatively titled Cry Wolf.

The rough premise I'm going with is, with the absence of Phoenix and his pack from Book 1, Centennial City is seen as the ideal place for a pack of wolves from St. Louis and starts a war in the Underworld that might leave the city in crumbles. And there's not a damn thing Tanith, our MC, can do about it.

I'm actually writing Cry Wolf as my 2013 Nanowrimo project and so far I'm ahead of my word count. Still, it's only the first day, so I'm waiting to see if I'll still feel energetic and go-get-em by the end of the first week.

While I'm writing the first draft of Cry Wolf, I am also working on the third draft of Bite, which is the second book of the Blood Martyr series. Bite was supposed to be released late June, early July but I had to write several more drafts when I noticed a bunch of strange plot holes that wouldn't go away no matter what I did to the current plot. I'm now almost finished with the third draft, which might turn out to be my last one. I'm quite excited and hope to have this book finished and out to the general public by the end of November. I've been working on this chapter of Tanith's life for way too long and I'm ready to have it out of my hair and finally move on.

As far as life on the non-writing front goes, it's...going. Hangzhou is relatively slow compared to Chicago, or maybe I just feel this way since I now stay at home all day and write pretty much all day and into half the night.

Well, that's it for today. I'd like to aim to post at least something every day, so we'll see if I'm back tomorrow!

The Day of Reckoning has come...and passed...

And BITE is not complete.

It's closer to being complete than yesterday, but the fact remains that it is not yet ready for human consumption, so once again, I must push back the release date. Damn.

I really honestly think that maybe another week of hard work and I can make it presentable, at least to the degree in which no one will try to kill me in my sleep for putting up such a shoddy product. But only just.

Nanowrimo officially starts in less than 5 hours and I know what project I'm working on: the third book in the Blood Martyr series, which I have tentatively titled Cry Wolf.

Normally, I balk at going from book to book without any rest, but I think it might prove to be advantageous for me since the second book will be very, very fresh in my mind. The third book will be a few weeks in the future and as the title says, refers to the wolves of Centennial City. More specifically, it concentrates on Kieran's struggle for dominance in a city that might have grown too large for him to rule with any practicality.

The second book, BITE, is more of a continuation of the first book since the first book Waiting for Darkness ended on such an abrupt note. BITE will deal with the repercussions of Tanith's actions and she's also going to have to contend with Kieran and Jamison's attentions. Bite, unfortunately, will not settle the ultimate question of who she ends up with, and I'm afraid, neither will Cry Wolf.

The Blood Martyr series started with a lot more sex but I think the subsequent books in the series will be less sex and more violence, although this certainly was not intentional.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a book to finish. And start.

ONE DAY AAAHHHHHHHHH

Seriously, I'm not going to get any sleep tonight. I'm still not finished with final edits and now, I'm starting to wonder if it would be the worst idea EVA if I forced myself to stick to the Halloween deadline.

All I know is that I want to get this thing out before Nanowrimo comes around because I've got more projects than you can shake a stick at. My only wish is to finish them all by the time I'm dead, but I doubt it.

Just rewrote a scene in which Kieran gets the CRAP kicked out of him and it was pretty emotional for everyone all around. I had to channel all the emotions that went into this scene so I'm pretty drained at the moment. Must take a short break and dive right back into final line edits before I push this baby through to Kindle.

So...can't stay to chat anymore. Don't have much to say except I'm pretty frazzled at the moment.

*screams before rushing back to the fray*