April's Showers

  Hello my little rain drops. I just realized that I haven't given anyone an update since August. Well, I am happy to say that the first round of Beta readers finished and delivered their feedback, which was very exciting! Another positive thing to report is that I made the necessary edits and it is now with the second round of readers. While round two of Betas are reading, I took a step and started working on book two. With any luck, this should kick off the progress in a way that may hopefully shorten the time in between publications (Once we get there that is.) Because I am doing Nano, I'm trying to get a huge chunk of the book finished by the end of the month. This would be a lot easier if evil little plot bunnies weren't trying to invade. Comically enough, I began scrolling tiktok [@aprilfellowsauthor] and came across a video that inspired an entire romcom... Guys,... It's fluffy. Most all of my writing involves a LOT of human suffering and overcoming t...

  Edit Post Preview (opens in a new tab) Add title Cart before the horse We've all heard the saying, "Don't put the cart before the horse." I have always understood this to mean that it is useless to buy a cart if you have no horse to pull it. A phrase steeped in history. As I embarked on the journey toward eventual publication I allowed my dreams to soar. Wat publisher would I like to submit to? Would my story become a movie? Would it be a best seller? On and on these thoughts coursed through my head and before I even had a working outline, I poured over major publishers and all the many ways to publish. I quickly realized that the business of writing was not as simple as I had imagined. In my naivety, I supposed that I would write the book start to finish, print it off, and send it to a list of publishers with illustrious dreams of an acceptance from someone and my name on the dust jacket of a book published nationwide. These dreams are of co...

 I wanted to report back on the progress so far! Extermination of an Empire is with Beta Readers right now!  As exciting as that is, I have decided that it is best to make the best of the time while I wait to hear from readers. In this "down-time" I am working on book 2 and I am proud to report that I am eight thousand words into the novel. Now that may sound like a lot, but it is really just the first two chapters.  I am so excited for the coming months. As school starts, I will have more time to steal away for some writing and keep this momentum up. My hope right now is that I might have book 2 ready shortly after starting my hunt for an agent. This way, I can make sure you, my readers, don't have to wait too long for the next edition.  I hope this little update finds each of you well.

 As I write this, I am preparing material for my Beta Readers!!  This is a step that I never expected to reach! When I first began writing Extermination of an Empire almost 8 years ago, it seemed a pipe dream to be approaching this step. Now I find that not only am I preparing work for Beta readers, I am also working on book 2 as well. My hope is that I can release them as close together as possible once I reach that point.  The other exciting element, is that Extermination is not the only exciting project before me. I hope to follow up the series with either a Historical romance thriller based in Ancient Egypt and a Peter pan re-telling that both excites and terrifies me. (the sheer possibilities and the cult fan base are partly terrifying). I have a great deal of faith in each of these projects. Enough that I can easily see them each as either a tv/mini series or a major motion picture. I believe in their potential. However, I am also realistic. Even as I dream of all o...

  Well, 2020 is over and 2021 has com in like a jaguar leaping for the jugular. November we had joy and heartbreak as we found out that I was pregnant and then promptly miscarried a week later. We found our way to healing, and then came February and withing the first 5 days, my 45 yr old husband had a heart-attack. To say that the last 6 months have been difficult and stressful would be an understatement. So with all of these distractions rampant, it is reasonable to assume I have been struggling, because I have. Today I am happy to report that I am working on Chapter 14. This marks the over halfway point! I cannot tell you how happy I am to be where I am. This novel has been a labor of love, research, and perseverance. What began as a lofty goal in 2013 is now nearing completion as I hit the halfway mark in my self-edits and send my writing off to my editor. Soon I will be sending Extermination of an Empire to Beta Readers, followed by the ever daunting Query process...

  Each of us began life as a clean slate without skill or ability. An inherent potential resonated within us. We were trained how to do something and we failed. We failed, and failed again until at last we succeeded. With every failure in this early period, we received encouragement to press on. To keep trying. To keep failing. The best example is learning to walk. Countless falls and bumps go by. Sometimes one on the heel of the other, and still we tried again. Somewhere along the way, failure became scary enough to stop our advances. The fear of failure stops us from ever trying again. I recently had this discussion with my daughter who was unwilling to go fishing with daddy because she fails. "Mommy," she told me, "I just fail. I don't like it." She had only been fishing a handful of times and was still working on a successful cast. I think she may have been using it as a plot to do something else, though i can't be cert...