(Click on the images for full view.)

Also, on my Book Blog Tour (March 19-23) hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews, I’ll be offering up as part of the Grand Prize, a sterling silver ‘Mayfair Moonstone’ charm necklace , so be sure to visit their site for full details and your chance to win! I’ll also include in that Grand Prize a hard copy version of the book and other goodies.

Onto other news: I’m happy to announce that my not-so-young-adult novel, DIRTY EDEN, will likely be published by the end of February! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you all think of that one. It’s COMPLETELY different from THE MAYFAIR MOON in so many aspects and let’s just say I don’t hold anything back . If you like dark and gritty adult humor, unconventional views and strange, creepy alternate realities, then you might like DIRTY EDEN.

Also, I’ve already had one book blog review and even my first author interview over at Mina Burrows’ blog ‘Books for Paranormal & Mystic Minds’ – she’s been great! AND I have a book blog tour coming up in March, hosted by the wonderful people over at A Tale of Many Reviews. So, anyone out there runs a book blog and would like participate in the tour for THE MAYFAIR MOON, follow that link and sign up!

I’m in the process right now of publishing a physical copy of THE MAYFAIR MOON and I can’t wait! Soon, it’ll be available for Kindle AND for anyone out there who don’t yet have an eReader, or who just prefer a book they can hold and read.

:-)

Yesterday marks a huge day for me as I finally published my first novel on Amazon and I’m pretty much…terrified. I spent a week going over the book one last time, addressing Heather’s recommendations (from Red Adept Reviews)  and then sat staring at my computer screen for a tortuously long time on the night of the 6th, before taking the plunge. I decided to enroll in Amazon’s KDP program, which means the digital selling of my book is exclusive to Kindle for at least 6 months. If you are an Amazon Prime member and own a Kindle, you can read my book for FREE using the ‘Lending Library’! After that, I can start selling on Nook and other platforms. Paperback copies will be available at a later date all depending on how this eBook process unfolds.

Right now, I need reviews and ‘likes’ on Amazon and abroad!

On my book’s Amazon page, just to the right of the cover you’ll see a graphic like the one above. Be generous and ‘like’ it – I will be in your debt. If you happen to purchase ‘The Mayfair Moon’, I would love a good review! :-) I’m also looking for book reviewers out there who might be interested in delving into my story and telling their readers what they think of it. So, if you know any personally, please send then my way!

As with any new author, I’m both excited and scared out of my mind, but this step in my lifelong journey to become a published author is (it feels like) long overdue, and despite being afraid, I’m also happy. :-)

I really hope you all like it!

I got my official Red Adept ‘Alpha Read’ results back today on my novel, ‘The Mayfair Moon’ and I couldn’t be more pleased and excited. My Alpha Reader was ‘Heather’ and she did exactly what I hoped she would do: She pointed out and described in detail everything that she DID NOT like. Honestly, I was worried that whoever read my novel might feel in some way obligated to sugarcoat the truth, but that was not the case. Heather was blunt and to the point, which is now helping me to make this book the best it can be. She has opened my mind to a few things I was unaware of and even confirmed a couple of things I myself thought was a bit ‘off’. I cannot stress enough to every writer out there how important it is to get someone who doesn’t know you and who would be less inclined to bias, to read your book before you consider publishing (self-published, indie and even traditional).  I am now on to the next step in my publishing process: another brief edit to address all of Heather’s recommendations and then on to the step that both terrifies and excites me: publishing.

Despite the mentioned negative, I’m very happy to say that her positive opinions greatly outweighed the negative and that she “really enjoyed it!” and hopes to “…get to read the sequel some day!”.

What a way to start a new year! I’ve been sick with nervousness since I sent Red Adept my manuscript, unable to write or do much of anything for fear of my Alpha Reader absolutely hating it. And now, I’m looking at my road to publication in a whole new way. I’m still scared to death, but I’m going into it with a lot more confidence! :-)

I know this might sound like some kind of prompted publicity, but it’s purely my UNprompted opinion and a big Thank You to Red Adept, but I would recommend Red Adept services to any aspiring published author and I personally will be using them for my future projects.

As for ‘The Mayfair Moon’, I am hoping to publish this month! So, I guess I better get back to work.

Alright, folks! I’m getting a Kindle around February and I want to help give indie/self-pubbed authors some deserving praise and exposure, so here’s what I’m going to do. I’m setting aside $50 to put toward the purchase of eBooks to read on my new Kindle. If you’re a self-published author and you write fiction, all you have to do is:

1.  Be following me on Twitter.
2. Be an indie or self-published author.
3. Comment on this blog post with the title of your book, genre and a link to your book on Amazon. (This is important, so read carefully: to help my paranoia, DO NOT shorten your URL so that it removes the ‘Amazon’ from your link, or I will not click on it.)
4. Also post your Twitter username.

That’s it. I will take the first however many eBooks posted (and that qualify: see below)  that equal to $50 and will buy them when I get my Kindle. In addition to purchasing your book, after I have read it and if I like it, I will rate your book on Amazon and on Goodreads and write a short-and-to-the-point review. If I can’t honestly give you at least 4 stars, I will not rate or review at all because I don’t want to give anyone public negative feedback. Keep in mind, it might take me a while to actually get to your rating and review because I’ll have several books to read ahead of yours, but I will purchase your eBook around the same time I purchase the others.

In addition to purchasing, rating and short-reviewing your eBook, I’ll tweet when I’m reading yours along with a link to your eBook on Amazon and a link to your web site/blog. The only things to keep in mind before submitting are the following:

1. It MUST be fiction
2. It MUST be either, paranormal, fantasy, young adult, paranormal romance, horror, middle-grade fantasy, dystopian, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, or anything else that you think fits these genres. I also love a good southern story with rich southern characters, or historical novels about society’s struggles and triumphs (e.g. The Color Purple), or a tragic love story (e.g. The Notebook). I’ve never been too interested in strictly romance novels, or crime and mystery, things like that. However, if you think your book has the potential to change my tastes a little, go ahead and post it and I might give it a try. I can’t guarantee it’ll be counted among one of the first chosen, so please take that into account.

I have been trolling Amazon’s eBook phenomenon for months and am really excited about finally jumping on the eBook reader bandwagon myself. Also, I want to help out any way I can with giving great indie and self-pubbed books/authors some publicity. Every little bit helps, right?

Lastly, even if you don’t post the link to your book in time for it to be among the first $50, I still encourage you to post your link for me anyway! I’m always on the lookout for great indie/self-pubbed books and I might end up checking it out later, regardless.

I have been trying to come up with a few interactive ways to get fresh eyes and opinions on my fiction and have decided on trying out a Chapter Swap with a fellow writer. Or two. Or three.  I know it’s probably difficult (I say ‘probably’ because I have yet to try it myself) to just ask someone you don’t know, “Hey, would you be interested in reading the first chapter of my novel and telling me what you think?” and they be even slightly interested. So, I’m reaching out now to other writers who are as interested in having unbiased, fresh opinions on their work, as I am.

Here’s how it works. I’ts quite simple.

If  you have written a novel and would like to swap your first chapter with mine, you can send me an email through my contact page to request a swap. Include a link to your site and your Twitter page, if you have one,  as well as the title and blurb for your book.

Depending on how many requests I get, I’ll let you know if I choose to swap with you, or not. (This is no popularity game! So please don’t be offended. If I don’t request a swap with you it only means I had more requests than I can take on, not because I didn’t like the sound of your book, or anything like that.)

After I read your first chapter, I will give you my 100% unbiased opinion of the plot, character(s), pacing, dialogue and even editing, in return for your overall about mine. I admit, I’m no professional editor and I’m no professional anything really, but having a fresh mind that will genuinely take the time to read your work  and not charge you for it, can be invaluable.

Also, it’s totally private! Both parties agree not to discuss the work with anyone else, especially in public.

The book I am interested in swapping right now is my YA Paranormal Romance - The Mayfair Moon. Below is the info.

One-sentence Blurb: After a frightening encounter with a werewolf, Adria Dawson loses the love of her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious boy and his legendary family.
Three-word Description: crossover, love, controversial
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Word Count: 82k
Status: Complete

Longer Blurb:

After a nightmarish encounter with a werewolf, seventeen-year-old Adria Dawson loses the love of her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious boy and his legendary family.

 Strange and tragic things begin to happen in the small town of Hallowell, Maine: residents come down with an unexplainable ‘illness’ and some disappear. In the midst of everything, Isaac Mayfair is adamant about keeping Adria safe, even from her sister whom he has warned her to stay away from.

 As unspeakable secrets unfold all around Adria, impossible choices become hers to bear. Ultimately, no matter what path she takes, her life and the lives of those she loves will be in peril. As she learns about the werewolf world she also learns why her place in it will change the destinies of many.

(Click images for full view.)

Awesome. I couldn’t resist a photo. THE WALKING DEAD, WORLD WAR Z, among other great and delicious zombie literature and even David Moody’s HATER and DOG BLOOD books.

So anyway, not a lot going on lately. Still agent-hunting and in the meantime editing so much that I can’t see straight. This is what I get for having more than one novel project at a time. Hey, I figure having two books on submission possibly doubles my chances of finding some sort of representation.

So far, I’m still delusional. :-)

I’ve uploaded the newest edit (and hopefully the last one before actual publication) of DIRTY EDEN chapter one and would love and appreciate any opinions or critiques, complaints or compliments.

Well, I’m off to Starbucks and my nieces 2nd birthday party. Here she is, mean face and all. Heh.

Lastly, I’ve changed my Bio page a lot, if you’re interested.

Check out my eCovers page for more information.

So far, I’m a little over 20k words. I’ve put the first chapter up for download (click the image above for the blurb and chapter one), but of course, it’ll be edited a hundred times before I’m satisfied with it. I’m having a lot of fun with this book!

Thanks for looking. :-)

Jerricah has been extremely curious about my newest YA novel, The Mayfair Moon (title subject to change) and finally after seventeen chapters, I decided to let her read it.

She did more than read it. For two days, she read it aloud to me and we edited it. I knew she was intelligent, but I never thought to put her intelligence and love for reading to work like that. It was a wise decision. She found a lot of errors, bad sentences, places were I was ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ – she found a lot! And what was also great was her inability to be biased because I’m her mom. She wasn’t afraid to tell me what she didn’t like, what made no sense, what SUCKED.

Of course, what I say next will likely be interpreted as writer blindness to family opinions, but that’s OK. I’m not ‘one of those’ writer’s, I can assure you. So, with that said, I can tell you Jerricah loves The Mayfair Moon, despite the errors (because ALL first drafts have errors!) and she kept trying to read ahead to find out what happened to this and that character. She truly loves the story and has easily connected with the characters. She’s anxious to read the rest and this has helped inspire me to finish it.

On a side note, I have dumped my cable! I have officially dragged out the crappy converter box and hooked it up so I can get used to limited TV entertainment in a few days when Comcast shuts me off. I did do it because I’m sick of paying $65 a month for basic cable, but also because too much TV=less writing! I know that without the TV on to distract me for hours and hours every week, I’ll have much more time to write.

And that’s what matters.