Happy Saturday!
This is my first entry on this site. It's weird. I feel a bit awkward, it's a shuffle past someone in the hallway feeling. Excuse me. No, Excuse me. No, really, excuse me.
The past few months have been surreal.
It was a year ago on April 20th that myself and, at the time fellow blogger, Natalie (a.k.a N.A. Alcorn) took a maiden road-trip with each other to an event in Columbus, OH. We'd never met, except for online. I think we were equally thinking it was a Catfish-y experience and surprised that the other wasn't a serial killer.
We spoke on the phone a lot before the Columbus event and our friendship came easy to us. We had so much in common. Both wanting to write. Both reading a lot as an education. Both blogging and having decent success with it. We had the same approach to our ultimate goal of writing our first novels.
It was in Columbus, OH in April 2013 that two bloggers standing in a line to have books signed decided they would get to the other side of the table. They would be the authors. It was settled. Their collective goal was to write their first books and have them published by that same time the next year.
And do you know what? They did it. We did it!
We cheered each other along. We talked out plots, learned about self-publishing, and shared every bit of information we could find on how to do it the smartest way. Individually, we were authors, but together we could almost rule the world.
That brings me to March. I released Fade In and it did so much better than I could have dreamed. It made it to number 5 on the Hot New Release Humor list on Amazon (for a brief moment). Seeing my little book along side of amazing authors, the likes of Tara Sivec, Janet Evanovich and Penny Reid, made me feel like I had possibly made a deal with the devil when I was drunk and I couldn't remember it. That had to be what happened, right?
Now you're all caught up. That was pretty exciting, but not nearly as exciting as what I have in store for the next year.
These are the things I'm working on:
The Wake Series
This story has literally plagued my mind since last November. I took a few days off from Fade In last fall just to purge this story from my head so I could focus again. These two characters are challenging and I love them so much already. After finishing Fade In in March, and after I allowed myself a little time off to enjoy the release and blog tour, I dove into the plot.
What I thought was one novel turned into 3. My first series was born.
I plan on having the first installment in The Wake Series, Bait, ready to publish this summer. I can't wait.
Oh, yeah there's also the fact that both Casey and Blake have brothers and sisters that I'm falling in love with more and more everyday. So... who knows this series could be a lot bigger that I ever thought.
You can add Bait to your TBR on Goodreads here.
Happy Endings
This is a collaborative project that N.A. Alcorn and I are working on together. So far, it's the most fun two nerdy bitches could possibly have with each other, from 200 miles away. It's about two friends that start a business that brings unlikely people together. The way we've planned-out the stories and books is unlike anything else out there right now. So prepare yourselves for a really fun, new way to read romance.
Other works in the near future include:
The Unnamed series- This is a series about a band. It is still in its infancy, plot-wise. I have notes and songs and a very rough draft.
A book about a guy that's surrounded by women. They're everywhere. This is also still in the notes and scribbles in my notebook phase.
An NA series about a unique college that isn't like any other university anywhere. I started writing the first book in this series about two years ago, before my book review blog monopolized my time. I'm excited to see where it leads. I love the setting and the different approach to "college."
I haven't decided yet, but I'm entertaining the thought of a full length Ben, from Fade In, novel. The messages I get from readers that ask "Where was he?" "What was he doing?" "Why didn't you give more away about this?" are like a come-here pointer finger for me to his story. Hmmm. I also kind of miss the guy. He was my first.
I've tossed around ideas about novellas for Cynthia and Devon, as well as, Winnie and Cooper. Anything can happen.
There is a novella I started for the Southern Seduction Box set that I didn't get a chance to finish or publish. With the box set's release being so close to the release of Fade In. I won't do that to myself again. I learned first-hand the author version of Murphy's Law that week. Plus, I think Flynn and Five's story is actually better suited as a full length stand-alone novel.
I have notes on a novel about a dead author. That sounds totally freaking creepy. I promise. It's not. Ok, I promise it isn't intentionally.
I have a couple other ideas popping in and out of my over active imagination, too. But they aren't as tangible as the ones I've mentioned above. I hope that answers the question, "What are you working on now?" I get that a lot.
This past year has been incredible and I feel like I'm gaining more momentum every day. I've learned much about being an Indie author. Some good. Some less than good. Overall, I can't imagine stopping now.
If you actually finished this diatribe of a post, leave me a comment, find me on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else. I'm around. (See the right sidebar for links.)
Wait! To anyone who bought Fade In right after it published. I know the editing was shitty. It has been re-edited and re-published on April 2. I am waiting for Amazon to let me know when the updates are available for copies purchased between March 16 and April 2. I'll let you know when you can upload the better version and I apologize for the rougher draft that released first.
Cut an Indie some slack.
I was a virgin. ;)