Taboos and Perversions

 

Good Lord. I can't believe I haven't posted since December...

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 After about a month...



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So, Anasa is DONE!

*runs around the room screaming*

I'm really stoked about this book. I love the two characters, their banter is really some of the best I've written in a long time. I really happy how it turned out, but again, the ending is lacking. I hope to fix it once I get it back from the beta readers, but in the meantime, I'm happy with Anasa. 

I'll be putting down the paranormal for a bit and concentrating on two contemporary novellas. One is an MF for my new muse, Veronica and the other is an MM for Rawiya called Save Me. Save Me is actually a continuation of a story I wrote for my cousin who committed suicide in 2011. A lot of the parts were done in a short I did called Guardian Angel and an antho with the same title. I'm basically rewriting the whole book into one to give this book the happy ending I wanted for it in the beginning. I'm hoping to release that for Xmas. 

Teacher's Pet is my MF and I hope that will also come out in Nov/Dec. Those books, along with Calisto's Quest, which is Immortals 4 and my short Double Play for Minor League Alphas, will finish out the year for me as far as releases. I really wanted Immortals to be done by the end of the year but again,I have a series that will be carried into the following year. Thankfully, with only 2 books. Mercurio's Mating, book 5 and Book 6 for a character who has wormed her way into my heart, the kid Annerxa. We shall see what happens with that. 

So as far as WIP's, I have Teacher's Pet and Save Me on tap. Also edits on SMOKE which I got back from my content editor. This book might not be out this year, but we will see what happens. I might hold it back until January so I'll have something new to look forward to for the new year!

Thanks for listening

 

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!

 


So here is the deal with SMOKE.

No, no, no, don't panic. I didn't add more words to the 117K that I'd already done.
 
*whew* You say.

No, I just wanted to talk more about it. Not in terms of plot or anything because, duh, you wouldn't read it if I did. 
Instead, I wanted to share how long it had been in the WIP box and how you should NEVER throw away ideas.
We writers are strange creatures. Yes, you knew this already right? We spend as many hours thinking of stories as we do writing them. 

It's TRUE! I swear! Ask any author if you don't want to ask me. 

*laughs*

Anyway, yes, when those glorious plot bunnies pop up in our heads we find anything, absolutely anything to get it down. Some of us have fantastic memories and we're able to remember. While others find anything to jot it down with. Lipstick, crayon, pen, pencil, and of course, any electronic device. 

I've never done the lipstick, but I have done the crayon before. I have a pretty good memory, but sometimes that brain won't be functioning correctly so it's always best to write it down or tap it into my phone.

As far as SMOKE is concerned, I'm not sure how it came about, just know it's been on my WIP list for almost four years.

Yes, that's right. 4!

The plot line was agonizing, because ... 
I'm not fucking telling you! 

*inserts maniacal laughter here*

Sorry, I can't. I'd give you the basis of it if I were self-pubbing. I'll tell you this much. It's a writer, a fireman, and a businessman. That's all. Oh and it's interracial, and angsty and that's all I'll say.

Anyway, SMOKE was an incomplete idea. I had a couple of scenes and because I'm more of a panster, I didn't have the plot set up for this story. I only knew who I wanted to "star" in the book. If you look back a few posts in this journal, you'll see the muses for the story. I started to put them on that graphic, but ... yeah, no. Those RF stock models will do. 

Back to the story. While letting it fester, I wrote a couple of shorts on it. I participated in a freebie sharing group called Wednesday Briefs and actually wrote 3 different scenes for SMOKE. None of those made it to the actual book, but I saved all three as a reminder for the story. 

When I started it last NANO, I had those small parts as well as the muses faces on the page. All I had was a basic idea, and seemingly the more I wrote on it, the more it started to flow through my fingers. Even when I took a break on the story, I was still able to pick up where I left off without an issue. Actually, I'm thinking the break was the best thing I could've done because it went so smoothly after that. Sure the characters took me on a rough ride, but hey, that's what makes a more intriguing book.

Now, I've often talked about how endings are an absolute bitch for me. They still are, and this book was no exception. I do believe that I ended the book correctly though. It had a nice epilogue that showed a beautiful scene. The characters seemed satisfied with it too, so I'll just have to see what the feedback will be from the betas. 

The moral to this story? NEVER throw any ideas away! Regardless of how bad that story sounds, how choppy, or whatever, it might turn into something big later on. SMOKE might have never been written if I didn't want to do something out of the ordinary. Well, at least out of the ordinary for Michael. 

Writing is like a journey that takes us on different paths each time. Some might stay on that same path, while others, like me decide to wander off onto a different one. Sure the road was bumpy and it did take me a long time to complete, but I'm glad I did. It was an excitingly frightening experience, as every book is. And it all started with 3 scenes and a half ass idea. 

Writers, don't concern yourself with how many ideas are in the WIP folder. Most likely, unless you write at the speed of wind, you'll never finish them all. All those half ass ideas and small notes, might end up being something bigger in the long run. Cherish them all in the notebook, on the laptop, on piece of paper in a box written in crayon. They're all valuable whether you write them or not.

Whew!

Okay so that ends this post. 

This is the WIP list now.

Or instead, why don't I let Michael tell you? Read his post here.

Some random guy I downloaded. Not sure who he is, but he's hot!

Greetings all. So, I've been really busy. Me and my co-author finished our book. yay!

*throws confetti*

We came in just under 80k. YIKES

yes we have some editing to do, but we'll see who it goes.

I also did my fanfic. Not the DD one, the other one. It went well and I'll post it on my Wattpad later on, with the names changed of course. My DD fic still isn't done because I put it down to write on the other fanfic. Now, I'll be working on the DD fic, as well as the reader request story. I did a little research and i think I can pull it off. I'm also OFFICIALLY starting Immortals. Book 1 will be about 30-40K, I think. I'm looking to release it in April. I have 5 books right now, so I'm thinking 1 every other month. I'm also still working on Smoke. I got some more words in and I hope to have it done in the next 3 or so weeks. That's the goal anyway.

So, my WIP list looks like this

DD Fic
Story Request
Immortals Book 1
Twins Prequel
Smoke

Once I finish one of these, I'll be starting on Michael's 3rd book in the PROTEKT series.

A lot I know, but I think I can do it! Wish me luck!

Yay, NaNo is won. Woot! *happy dances* But as the title of this post says, it is not done.

Hey that rhymes! *giggles*

Yeah, it isn't even close. A little over 50K 47K and I'm just throwing the first bit of drama their way. I'm thinking there will be a lot of cutting to be done when I'm ready to edit, because at the pace this story is going on, it won't be done until 80 or close to 90k!

YIKES

That would be my longest story since African Sun and well, that story hasn't seen the light of day in like 2 years. It hasn't been published, it was never edited. Soo that means its on the rewrite list. *sighs* Someday I will pick up the pen on that again.

Anyway, back to Smoke. I had to take a step back from it because I hit writer's block. Yes, I know when do I have that? Well, apparently something got in the way of my progress and I decided to let it go until I found a viable solution for the next part. I did, and started work on something else. Actually, I went back to See No Evil and well... I counted a few of those words in my Nano total. SOOOO rebel of me. *grins* I wrote a very emotional scene with my transwoman and my sexy CSI which has me thinking, will I let them sleep together now or wait.

*blinks*

Yes, this is the dilemma authors go through on a consistent basis. We agonize over how we allow our characters to move forward. And it really is a pain, especially when you want to torture them a little more but they bug you to let them do the other things. *groans* Ah the joys of being an author.

Okay so I'm saying all this, why? Well, really I'm rambling, but also I have to say how glad I was that I worked on 3 stories at once. If I had depended on Smoke to get me through Nano, I might have come up short. Instead, I am a NANO winner for number 6 out of 7. Not too shabby, huh?

So congrats to all the other authors who participated, because even if you didn't make it, you're still a winner because, hell, you write some words in November!

And by the way, that is my muse for Santiago in Smoke. He is a total doll!

* * * *

WIPS

See No Evil is moving along. I'm hoping to get it done, edited and released by the end of teh month, but it would be totally okay to come out in January. We'll see what happens!

Smoke is on hold for now. I will go back to it, but I need to do a little more reseacrh on something before I continue.

Hirah #3 is coming along, but I am making some changes to the beginning. I have to break them apart because they are starting to sniff around each other's butts. LOL that is my term for the characters getting too close before I am ready to bring them together. I will be getting back to it ASAP

Releases - I intend to release UTG 2 and Hirah 3 for December. Not sure about Evil, but we shall see!

Wow, good Saturday Morning! *blinks*

I'm still awake. I should be asleep but I'm not.

Can you believe this freakin' year is almost over? OMG. I know I can't but here it is, the beginning of November. It's almost time for Turkey Day, then Black Friday, then that dreaded holiday called Christmas! Yeah I said it. I'm NOT ready as per usual. 

Even though this one shall be a little easier since I'm working the day job. Means a little more money to burn and the royalties this month go towards the bills and maybe a couple of things I'd like. 

*AHEM* Back to the blog. I posted the pic of the man opening the shades because it's a symbol of how I feel about my writing and the steps I've taken to improve. 

In the beginning, I think I was so elated that someone actually wanted me to publish and then I wanted more, and more, that I continued to sub at the speed of light.

Reading the past updates made me smile. Working on 7-8 stories with dates I didn't really make. Some of them I did but how many days did it ACTUALLY take me to finish Closely Guarded and Wild Horses?

Shit, almost a year but I did it.

Anyways, getting back to my point. I have a better idea of the business and what works for me and the muses. Yes, since they are the brains behind my books, I have to give credit where credit is due. 

We know we can't work on multiple stories at once. We'll mix up voices. We also know, keep styles separate. BL with the snark, Michael with the characters who are comfortable. Long winded style of writing, big words, etc and Rawiya, interracial, down to earth, all contemporary. 

Yep, I got it down now. The muses don't cross over all that much anymore. BL and Michael do because of the similarity in some of their characters. Alpha men, military, strong males with strong personalities, quick wit and mouths that might get them into a fight. Their paths do cross on occassion but Rawiya is a style all her own.

More than that, I don't really worry about subcalls. At least this year I didn't. I concentrated on stories of mine that needed finishing and now, I have almost a clean slate for 2013 with only Trois in Treble, and a rewrite of Vertigo 2 and Lessons in Ink to do. 

I mean sure, there are series to finish, sequels but as for the stories not done, those are the only ones left. *intention on pubbing* Yes those, not fanfic. 

I'm very excited that now I have a better idea and choose my writing goals wisely. My plan of attack is better as well as my eyes that are more capable of spotting simple editing mistakes. 

I also learned a lot from my fellow writers and betas who've helped tremendously. No, I'm not perfect but damn, I think i'm a ton better than what I was. 

I suppose when most start out, they begin totally raw which is how I started but now, I figure I know a little more and am pleased with my progress.

I'm going into this with my eyes opened wide, knowing my limits and expectations. Also, paying attention to the market, readers, and fellow writers. 

Yep, this gal is ready for the challenges that lie ahead! Bring on 2013 and skip err, the festivities. 

I'll try to come back more often and speak!