I'm on TOUR!

Hey, so, this is pretty exciting. Monday, July 23 kicks off my one-week blog tour! I'll be making a stop a day doing various fun stuffs. Several blogs will be hosting giveaways, too, so you should definitely check THAT out! Anyway, here's the schedule:

Monday, July 23:
Guest Post - "Creating Characters"
Andi's Book Reviews

Tuesday, July 24:
Promotional stop
Nette's Bookshelf Reviews

AND

Promotional stop/Playlist
whoopeeyoo! :D

Wednesday, July 25:
Guest Post - "What's in a Name?"
The Speculative Salon

Thursday, July 26:
Promotional stop
Butterfly-o-Meter Books

Friday, July 27:
Promotional stop and Review
The Bookshelf

Sunday, July 29:
Promotional stop
Read 2 Review

Monday, July 30:
Guest Post - "Finding Love When you're the Personification of Evil"
Romance Book Junkies

AND

Promotional stop
TheFullFang

New Review(s) and Interview/Giveaway!

Some exciting things to share today, dear blogledites!

First, a new review from TeAmNeRd ReViEwS, 4 of 5 stars!

Secondly, you can see an interview and a giveaway on Nikki's blog, Close Encounters with the Night Kind. You can find Nikki's fantastic review here! If any of you found your way here from there, then hi! *waves*

Also, in completely un-book-related news, I've become obsessed with nail polish lately. I think the way they're painted now is my favorite: Caffeine Fix polish (it's so shiny!) under Traffic Stopper Copper glitter. I'm like a magpie, fascinated by my shiny, glittery nails.

New Review!

Laurie-J from Nightowl Reviews has posted a review of The Dark Man's Son. Go check it out!

It's a SALE!

Who doesn't love a sale?! Visit SMASHWORDS during the month of July and you can get The Dark Man's Son for only $1.50! That's ONE dollar and FIFTY cents! Even I can afford that, and I'm smack yer mama poor!

Happenings

Hello, dear blogledites! You might have noticed a few changes around here in the past day or so. I added some tabs up at the top to take you to various pages around the blog. There's a bio, some contact info, info about the book, and some reviews I've received. I'll be adding more as time goes on.

Also, my first Author Interview was posted today on Gamblersgame! I'm pretty excited, and this kicks off the beginning of my reaching-out-to-promote blitz.

I have an interview and giveaway with Laurie of Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews on July 1, an interview and giveaway with Nikki of Close Encounters of the Night Kind on July 12, and a guest post and giveaway with Nikki (different Nikki) of Ramblings from a Chaotic Mind on Aug 1. I'm also planning to launch a blog tour with Bewitching Book Tours that should start July 23. I have other interviews/guest posts/giveaways in the works, and I'll let you know when the details get finalized!

Also, look for me in the July/August issue of InD'Tale Magazine, out July 15.

Exciting times, blogledites!

Part Two: Let's Talk...

Now, a few days later than promised, on to the second question: process!


I used to just sort of write at my work. I have about a zillion unfinished stories haunting my harddrive, and they might never get finished. Why? For some of them, because they're just not very good. For others, I never really intended to finish; it might just be a scene or a pretty moment that I can use later. For most of them, though, it's because I never established a routine.


Shortly before I dove into this book, I read Stephen King's On Writing. Now, look, don't be a snob. If you're here reading this you have no reason to be a snob -- I write trash, in King's words, but I hope I write good trash. On Writing was invaluable to me. I learned so much from it, and it's not even a very long book. It's approachable, interesting, and easy to read.


In it, King says he sets a word goal for himself every day, and he doesn't stop writing until he reaches that goal. So that's what I did. My goal was easy peasy: 1k words. That's not very much; I set the bar low on purpose so it would seem achievable. Most days I wrote at least 2k words, and some days as many as 4k. Other days those measly 1k words seemed like a damn marathon. I would sit and sit and every single sentence was like a major dental procedure.

Here's a newsflash, kids: despite what people think, writing isn't easy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either a fool or a liar. Or a really crappy writer. I don't think there's anyone out there who listens to Mozart and thinks, "Shit yeah, I could compose that in my SLEEP!" But there are plenty of people who will read an amazing book, shrug, and say, "Easy. Gimme a typewriter and an idea and I'll give you a best seller."

It doesn't happen that way. Writing 98k words (the rough length of Dark Man) takes discipline. Blood, sweat, and tears. Don't get my wrong, dear blogledites; I'm in no way comparing myself to Mozart. I'm just saying that just because you can write a coherent sentence doesn't mean you should write a book.

Also, and here's something else I learned from Stephen King: don't write unless you're also reading. It never occurred to me that there were writers out there who don't read. How the heck can you know good writing unless you read? How can you know your genre, your audience, your voice?

Whenever I picked up a book to read while writing Dark Man, it helped me clear my head. I went back to writing with a different perspective, and a voice in my skull other than my own. My sentence structure and vocabulary became more varied. It was nothing at all but win.

So. What have we learned here? Stephen King knows a damn lot about writing. Set a routine. Read a lot, as much as possible. Don't be an arrogant sod.

Words of wisdom for a lifetime, dear blogledites.  :)

Let's Talk...

Process! (a 2 part series, because it turned out longer than I meant)

People who know I wrote a book (all, like, 5 of you!) often ask me questions like how long did it take, or what sort of routine did I follow while writing. Well, dear blogledites, I shall now pull the curtain back and expose the mystery of my writing process to you!

Let's address the first question first: how long did it take me to write The Dark Man's Son. Ha. That's a funny question, really. I've been writing stories with the Guardian characters since I was probably 14. They've gone through a LOT of changes over the years. Originally there was just Alex (who had a different name; big surprise). Then I decided she had a brother, but he was dead. Then I decided that once upon a time there had been 100 Guardians, 50 Light and 50 Dark. Present day, there are only 2 left, and they've gotta duke it out for the Big Fight.

That idea didn't last very long. Too many complications to work out. Eventually I decided on the form they take now: 2 Guardians, one of each, and they've both existed since the beginning. Oh, wait. That took me a while to decide, too. I read Sandman by Neil Gaiman a few years ago, and that helped me to define my characters' age. How? Well, in Sandman, Dream and his siblings are called the Endless. I liked that. They (at least Death) were older than...pretty much everything. I thought about it, and I realized there'd be no need for Guardians until there were mortals. And then I decided they'd be the Youngest. Angels are the Eldest, I guess you could say, and then mortals, and then Guardians.

Anyway. It also took me 16 years to work out Alex herself. Her original incarnation was pretty much flawless, a beacon of shining light. It took a while for me to realize how boring that is. Alex now is...well, read and find out for yourself, but she's not exactly Mary Sunshine. Good is sometimes relative.

It takes a perspective a bit broader than a 14-year-old's to attempt to write an immortal being. I'm not saying I'm Ms. Worldly or anything, but time has helped a bit. I think the reason Alex faded into the background a bit more than I originally intended is because I felt sorta like Jason: an outsider looking into a world I didn't really understand. I have no idea what it would be like to exist for literally billions of years. What has she seen? What has she done? What sort of life is that?

Everything I've ever read has influenced this story. I'm talking obvious influences like Robin McKinley or Neil Gaiman or Cormac McCarthy, but also more subtle ones like Homer or Vasari's Lives of the Artists. I spent a long time in college -- I was on the 7 year plan -- and had quite a few majors before I decided on one. All of that has gone into this book in one way or another.

To answer the question a bit more directly (or to actually answer the damn question), once I sat down to start writing this particular book, it took me about 3 months to finish the first draft. I had some scenes written already, and I pulled some scenes from previous stories, but everything got reworked to fit this story. The scene where Alex and Luc meet Rorik was an old one. The opening scene of the book was a bit older than that. The scene where Jason first meets Cassius was the oldest of all, over 10 years. That one got reworked a lot.

Point is, an idea can take a long time to develop before it's ready. Sometimes it needs coaxing or refining. If it's a good idea, it'll work out. If it's not...well, forget it and come up with something better.  :) (she says like it's so easy)

Tune in tomorrow, dear blogledites, for Part 2 of this ramble: Process (for real)!