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Done with Baseball Short
Aug. 28th, 2017 04:10 pm
So, I am done with the baseball short.
The dang thing ended up at around 22K.
*shakes fist at characters*
WHYYY! When I tried really hard to make it like 15K, but no, these two continued to talk. And in that 22K, I have like 4 sex scenes.
JESUS!
There is a lot of banter between these two as well. Some great one liners. It's kind of like The Wretched but with athletes instead of rockstars. It won't be out until November, so we'll see if me and my betas can cut some of the filler.
So that leaves me with Crossfire. I really wanted this story to be done by end of August. Unless I write like 10-12K in the next 3 days, that won't happen, so I'm setting the goal to be done by September 4th. I actually need to be done by Saturday because I have a wedding to attend. That means no writing. Oh and the wedding is out of town so, yeah, probably not going to bother taking my laptop. I will take my Kindle though so we shall see what happens.
To make that date happen, I will be putting off starting anything else new. Anasa is ready to go, but Crosssfire has to be finished. I wanted it in the editor's hands sooner than later, but due to RL and so many other things, I couldn't make that happen.
Once I get that done, I'll start rewriting my stories Guardian Angel/Save me, combining them into one titled Save Me. It's the story I wanted to write for my cousin who committed suicide. I've wanted to finish a full book for him for a long time, and since I bought the cover, I'll be doing that.
Also, I'll be doing Veronica's short, Rain Delay, and Anasa for Michael. Once any one of those are done, I intend to work on a couple of stories for BLMorticia. One is a novella I don't have a title for, but it's set in New Orleans and involves paranormal. The other is a short called Heat of The Night. I have a cover for that as well and I'll be probably giving it away as a freebie or charging 99 cents for it. We shall see how it goes.
Wish me luck on finishing Crossfire by Sept 4th!
Done with Charity Short ---
Aug. 20th, 2017 09:24 pm
So, I'm done with one of the shorts. I think it turned out really cute. This is the inspiration for the story and as per usual, it was good to write with Rawiya again. If she were a person in real life, she'd leave me because I seriously treat her badly.
*sighs*
Another issue with being the author of so many pennames. Mind you, I have 2 new secret ones along with Rawiya, BL, Michael, and Veronica. I also have RM Durand who is my vampire writer, my secret pen that does some taboo erotica, as well as Brooklyn Roberts who will be doing Lesbian fic and my fanfic penname Sahara Duran.
YIKES! How many is that? 10? OMG that is TOO DAMN MANY. Oh and I do have a mainstream name I'd like to use someday. In other words, no romance. Sighs, I doubt that will happen soon, but whatevs, it's there.
Ahem, back to Rawiya. she is the most seldom used muse, and very easy going. However, it was hard as heck to write this story. Why you ask? Because I wrote two very sweet characters.
Yep, I wrote good guys. Nice, clean cut, the kind you want to bring home to momma, guys. Not the assholes I usually write. No snark as with BL or Michael. No demons or smartass cops as with Michael. Just, sweet, down home guys that you just wanna pinch their cute cheeks!
*groans*
And actually, I had to stop writing my BL story to finish it, so now I'm going back to BL to finish the baseball short. I need that done so it will be ready to go soon. I have so many stories on my WIP list. Rewrites, new ones, old ideas like SMOKE which had been there for years. I'll never finish them all.
And having so many DAMNMUSES is one reason why.
Maybe I can get through half. Even that might be too much!
* * * *
So now I'm down to 2 WIP's, not counting the fanfic I haven't finished. *sighs* Crossfire and Double Play. I'd like to finish Crossfire by the end of August and sub it. Double Play I plan to finish this week. When I do, I'm going to start Anasa. FINALLY!
He is chomping at the bit to get started!
Tags:
NaNoWrimo 2016 Update #1 SMOKE 25K
Nov. 14th, 2016 07:51 pm
Yes, I know.
I really should've updated
WOOT!
But, hold on. Before we throw the confetti, I am having anxities over this damn story. Now I remember why I put this thing on the backburner for 3 plus years.
UGH!
Without giving anything away, this whole story is a clusterfuck. The premise it's built on is a clusterfuck and now, one character decides to throw a monkey wrench into my already shaky foundation by ...
NOPE, not gonna tell ya. Just trust that Santiago fucked up my plan!
GRR!
I still love him. In fact, he is my favorite character in the story. The man above is my muse for Jonas. My hotheaded firefighter who loves Santiago with all his heart. And yes, he is as fuckable in the story as he is in that pic.
SWOON.
Still, this doesn't make me forget that Santiago has pulled something in the story that might make it difficult for me to tie up lose ends. I mean, it wasn't as if I already had my doubts as to how I was going to pull it off. Now, I'm damn near ready to throw my hands up, but guess what kids. I ain't goin' out like that. I'm gonna keep hacking away and wrecking shop .... (is that term still a thing OH Well) On these sons of bitches because this book deserves an audience. It's juicy, sexy, angsty, and well, I like it because I'm writing it.
*grins*
If you're interested in following my progress, just stay in tuned with my writers blog. Yep, I update it now when I can, because as I said in a post two or three weeks ago, it's like therapy.
Thanks for listening...
* * * *
WRITING UPDATE
So at the moment, SMOKE NANO is at 25K
I am starting Hirah 3 over again and about to hand #2 over to an editor. 2 betas gave me some help which I appreciated dearly. Now, I'm going to try getting Hirah out before the end of the month.
Still working on See No Evil. Must finish by NOV 30th and the DD Fanfic I'm working on as well as the freebie. I actually have another couple of freebies based on pics, but I haven't strated them as of yet.
TA for now.
Tags:
Running in place...
Sep. 29th, 2013 08:22 pm
Greetings again...
And yes, I have another hot man up there to begin my post. Don't I always? Yeah well, I did it to not only catch your attention but illustrate how I feel right now. All wet... sweaty... even though that ain't sweat on this hottie... *winks*
Anyways, I feel pressured to produce. Why? I haven't subbed ANYTHING until the last couple of days. I've been busy learning, reading books on writing, taking classes and doing the freebie stories for BL's The Wretched. I did manage to finish Jayden for Rawiya which I'm rather excited about but until I subbed ML3 and UTG the new version by BL, I hadn't sent anything into publishers since like, oh I dunno, the first of the year?
Well, not counting the sub I just did for the charity anthology anyway. Seems like I'm running in place as far as my writing is concerned. I'm keeping up with word count, reading, learning but right now, I have no new releases to come out for the year.
So very different from last year when I think I had like 15 books come out with pubs as well as self pub. The royalties started rolling in and I even ended the year with a couple of best selling books on Amazon. This year it's been all about the Wretched, keeping up the monthly bit with Corey and company while I try fitting Michael and Rawiya around BL's rigorous schedule. The number of downloads say we should continue to do the freebies since they all have at least 2-300 downloads at Smashwords where I hardly make any money. Someone's paying attention there and so, I continue to churn out the Wretched Tales.
But even with those stories, I still feel like I've hit a wall. With the debacle at NBP, the pub that went down the tubes as well as troubles with another over moneys and statements, it makes me weary to sub anywhere. Sure I still want to see in work to publishers but I'd rather deal with those that have a good track record. No more small presses for me. I need to go bigger and ask my peers more questions. Although this is my plan, I'm also feeling a sense of self-doubt. Am I good enough to be with some of the bigger pubs? Can I produce a story that people will pick up when I sub to say Dreamspinner or LooseID? That theory was tested when I tried doing the subcall for MLR and because I didn;t feel the story was ready I nixed subbing to them.
Despite this, I still want to sub Jayden before the end of this year. It will most likely be my last sub of the year. On the Run won't be ready for subbing until January most likely and other that I Love it Rough, The Wretched Tales, and a possible Xmas Tale, I don't see myself with many new stories for this year.
It may seem like i'm panicking a little and well that's because I am. I recall when I first started how I was so prolific. I subbed short stories to pubs and they were accepted in anthologies. Then my first couple of stories came out for Michael, then BL, then Rawiya with NNP. Wow, I was on a roll but this year its the exact opposite. I sincerely hope that changes. I blame it on stress, the day job for one, takes a lot of my time and well, I have a family so a lot of my brain power goes there.
I wonder how people are able to juggle all of it. Working FT, writing, family, etc. I guess I'm just not that strong. At least not yet but I hope to be stronger as I continue to strive to be the best author I can be!
* * * * *
Progress
Sent Something Like Jayden to the betas
Subbed UTG by BL and ML3, editing UTG2
Writing Ryland and Ryder's third book and about to do I Love it Rough
Thinking about a possible print or full volume for the Wretched
Halloween short for the Wretched and or Nathan/Bryant
Christmas story... not sure what characters
Tags:
Lights... Camera... Action!
Jul. 18th, 2013 11:25 am
Morning!
Today i'm talking about the similarities of an author to a director. How you say? Oh wait a minute, you wanna know who the hottie is first? Oh, just my newest muse Bryan Marczewski who is a hot young model from Brazil. More Brazilian men. Yes I know, I need to move there.
Anyways, what do I mean about similarities between an author and a director of a movie, TV show or play? Well lets see. We both want our characters to portray certain emotions. When things aren't right, we yell CUT and yeah, we as authors actually cut out scenes. When we get the desired result, we let the cameras roll until its a wrap. Yep, and then we edit and edit until we're satisfied.
There are more but what I want to focus on is the characters which as you know, drive the story. Sure the plot does too but what do readers often say about some books they didn't enjoy? I just couldn't connect with the characters.
It's already hard to write a story, get facts straight, and throw in the fact you need to be as close as you can to correct punctuation and grammar. All important, but what seems to be the main concern is your characters. Are your making your characters stand out for the reader?
In I Like Em Pretty under Michael Mandrake, the character Kenina got on EVERYONE's nerves. They couldn't understand why I wrote her to be such a bitch. Well, truthfully, I changed the plot line and to make up for some mistakes, I made Kenina a very unlikeable character. Well, I love the girl. You can't have happy go lucky cheerful characters all the time. On the other hand, a couple of reviews said they couldn't connect with Frankie or Kajika. I couldn't figure out why because I thought I did a good job at world building, however there was still one thing missing. Their emotions. I didn't fully tap into their emotions, their inner voices like I should've. That meant really SHOWING the emotions, showing how mad Frankie was when Vance looked at his man and so forth.
IN the end, I figured Kenina was memorable because through her actions, she showed herself to be a bitch and well, in that instance I might've did my job. However, I still need to work on fleshing out Frankie and Kajika as they move on to their second book. So, as an author, I am yelling from the director's chair saying, Kajika... give me more emotion. Show me what you're feeling. Yep, I need to work on that. I'm up for the challenge and through my latest set of beta reads I picked up some very valuable knowledge. Hopefully I can apply this to the next book and the complaints won't be focus on the "actors." I'm working on it but as you can see, it's a easier said than done.
* * * *
So an update?
Well, I'm finishing the sequel to Guardian Angel, my personal piece which just released last Friday. Rawiya is writing it and of course, she'd into it. Next on the docket is the Wretched. BL and I are looking forward to doing that this weekend. Next, Something Like Jayden by Rawiya. A little different book from her. Not the fluffy stuff you're used to with her. And then onto my novels: On the Run with BL and I Love it Rough with Michael.
:D
And I'm on pace to do the 500k thing. I'm over the halfway point! Woot
Thanks for listening!
When a Muse runs Amok! GO WITH IT!
Sep. 5th, 2011 06:32 amHappy Monday morning, hope you're enjoying the labor day which is a sign for most schools that summer is over and time to return,
Well, it is for my kid. THANK GOODNESS.
For those who have kids, do you get frustrated when you take them out in public and they act as if you haven't taught them anything? That doesn't really happen to me, even with my threee year old but I've seen it in stores where parents try to stop the kid from touching things, running down aisles, or screaming at the top of their lungs.
Argh.
Most of the time, the parents give the glare or they threaten to hurt them. *laughs*
That's what I compare my muse to at times. Not the writer muses, the characters. They're like little kids that do something you don't want them to, but in this case, I let that muse do what it wants.
Example? African Sun!
It was supposed to be a hetero suspense action series with my only gay participants to be the villains and my bisexual Doctor Nicholas Fairlight.
Well, I ended up with that but with book three completed, my hetero hero isn't into the heroine any longer. He's fallen for my doctor! YIKES
This mght not make my editor too happy but I went with it. It's so intriguing to have the characters go on and do what they want. AS was the last story I'm just letting it do what it wants and fly by the seat of its pants. Since I learned how to do short plot and the character arc where I find out the characters motivation and his goals, the muse is a little more controlled.
;
Doesn't mean they don't throw a wrinkle in there however. :D
Still, whatever they do, I let them run amok in the story because that's what I want is an interesting story. Might not please alot of traditional folks but we and the muses, writing and characters, do it for ourselves first!
* * * *
Soooo Where does that leave me?
AS is almost done. I have about 3 scenes left in there that should finish the first draft. At this point, the story is at 52k which makes the series 188k. WOW! I never thought that would happen.
Mi Familia is at about 35k now. I'm looking to finish that this week as well. It was hard to concentrate on both effectively so, alas I'll finish AS most likely today and do Mi Familia over the next 3 or so.
That only leaves Taming And Closely Guarded which I plan on working on after I finish the Halloween subcall for my publisher to do my vamp M/M, My Sexy Vampire.
Then 2 more subcalls for the 31st of October and 1 in November where I'll be writing with another author.
Very excited about that.
The goal is to finish 2 of the calls before I leave on my trip in October,
Thanks for listening!
