WOOO AND HOOO!
I have a new novel out! It’s The Soul Thief, the sequel to The Popcorn Thief.
Here’s the blurb:
Ghosts get stuck sometimes.
Franklin sees it as his duty to help them along, get them to pass from this earth to the Beyond.…
In celebration of the publication of The Soul Thief, I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway of five copies of Book One in the Chronicles of Franklin, The Popcorn Thief! (You’ll also note the new cover on this book, to match the second book.)…
WOO and HOO, y’all!
One of my favoritest books is The Popcorn Thief.
For the longest time, I thought that Franklin was just a one-off. That there wasn’t a second novel.
But Franklin started talking to me after a bit. Told me that there was more of his story, if I’d just shut up and listen for a bit.…
To date, 2015 appears to be the year of the sequel for me. This is a good thing. I’ve never been able to write sequels, or series. And yet, every bit of marketing advice out there says you must. I’m not sure I agree with that — I think it’s more important to write things that you love.
However, last fall, I asked the brilliant Kristine Kathryn Rusch about this. The advice she gave me was priceless: If I want to engage my butterfly brain, each book must be unique. You can’t just write the same story over and over again, or even really continue the story from one book to the next.
Since I started following that advice, I’ve been able to write more series characters. Each book is unique. I actually enjoy the challenge of that, while keeping the characters and their voices true.
So what exactly does that mean? Let me explain.
Warning – lots of pictures under the cut.
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One of the advantages that a writer like J. D. Horn and The Line has while writing about Georgia and Savannah is that he was born in rural Tennessee. I am a mid-western girl, I wasn’t raised in rural Kentucky.
There are things I can do to overcome this, however, and in general, to write about areas that I (used to) know nothing about.…
I blog about inspiration both here and over at Book View Cafe. Feel free to comment either here or there!
I create song lists for every novel I do. I had a great one for Siren’s Call–full of bright jazz, with some Asian pieces thrown in, and a couple of country western numbers to boot.…
Earlier this morning I finished the second draft of “The Popcorn Thief” — the make-it-not-broke draft.
Blue ribbon prize at the Kentucky State Fair for ten cobs of the best popping corn
I wrote the first draft fast and furious. I knew I would miss things, though, so I kept good notes, in a spreadsheet, of what I would need to add.…
I flew to Kentucky this weekend, to do research for this novel. I spent a lot of time in airports and airplanes.
What else was I supposed to do but write?
The novel is currently only about 53,000 words long. I’m already adding to it, however.…
I blog about what inspires me both here and over at Book View Cafe. Feel free to comment either here or there.
There are lots of things that inspire me to write, like fashion and weird photography and poetry and food and things.
For the month of August, I’ve been doing a challenge. Basically, it’s writing 3000 words per day, every day, for the first 20 days of the month, so I’ll finish a 60,000 word novel in August.
Sounds crazy, right?
But I’ve done it so far. In the first ten days of August, I’ve written 30,000 words.
What’s my inspiration? How do I sit down at my writing computer, day after day, and come up with things?
One of the things that’s made this challenge easier for me was a talk given by the brilliant Matt Buchman. He’s been a project manager for 30 years, and he gave a presentation on applying some of those principles to managing your inner writer.
As I do a lot of project management for my day job, I was really interested.
One of the questions Matt asked was, “Why do you write?”
I actually didn’t find that question, by itself, that useful. Why I write is personal, and quite frankly varies from project to project. Instead, I had to break that question into two questions: “Why do you write” as well as “Why do you share.”
Me–the second answer, is both obvious and entertaining, and has been a huge part of my inspiration for getting my butt in the chair and writing 30,000 words this month.
And here’s the hint:
…
I’ve been selling The Raven and the Dancing Tiger for $0.99 for the month of July, to celebrate the arrival of The Guardian Hound.
But July ends tomorrow, and so does the sale. I’ll raise the price back up to $5.99 early Thursday morning.…