Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Another Review Deserves Another Sentence

A new review of Mary of the Aether appeared on a website called More Than A Review. It's really more of a non-spoilerish synopsis than a review, but it is appreciated either way. If you haven't bought the book yet because you're not quite sure what it's about, here is your chance to find out a little bit more about it without spoiling any of the major twists.

Anyway, a new review of Mary of the Aether is a reason to celebrate by offering you one more random sentence from the sequel, Mary of Shadows. Indeed, I'll give you more than a sentence. I'll give you a whole quote. Here it is:

“The worst person in the world,” Kristen shouted, shaking a fist at the sky. “That’s the problem. The worst person in the whole stupid world!”

There you go. There it is. Relish it!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Best Time of the Day to Write

So what time of the day do you do most of your writing? What time of the day do you do your best writing? As for me, having another job which occupies most of my time, I am limited in terms of when I can write. However, consistently over the years, I have found that I write best late at night. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because my body is shutting down from lack of sleep, leaving my mind, and particularly my subconscious, freer to assert itself. Daylight, daytime activities and commotion around the house tend to distract me. When all is dark and quiet, and that late night stillness blankets the neighborhood, then I find myself more focused on creating other worlds, other places, other people, of delving into that strange head space where stories are born.

Of course, I have the constant distraction of the internet right in front of me, day or night, so that is a constant battle. It is so easy, such a little thing, to window out of Word and go browse Reddit or some other random site and read about useless trivia for a while. Wanting to write helps overcome that distraction. I mean, really, if you want to write, if you need to write, if the ideas in your brain are always threatening to spill out onto the floor unless you write them down, then you will find a way to overcome the distractions.

And you must, fellow writer. You must!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Please Enjoy One Sentence

Just in case you're keeping track, I am 54,709 words into Mary of Starlight. I know that particular detail just made your day. Not even sure why I blog it, except that I like to keep myself accountable to the daily word count. Oh, Dear Readers, if you only knew what was about to happen in the novel. Oh, dreadful circumstances. Oh, terror and pain. I can't wait to write it.

In the meantime, please enjoy one random sentence from Mary of Shadows. It comes out this summer, but you get a sneak peek right now. Right now, people. One sentence. Here it is.

Mary stood in the bathroom, squeezed into the narrow space between the toilet and sink, gazing into the mirror and marveling at how bad she looked. 

There, that's one sentence. That's all I have for you now. You'll have to wait until this summer to get all of the other sentences (unless I decide to post another one here at some point, which I probably will).

Friday, January 25, 2013

Fall Asleep Faster

I've learned the secret to falling asleep faster. Normally, I am an insomniac, lots of tossing and turning, restless thoughts, and I have learned, through careful study and contemplation, that this is the result of the anxious writer-hippo that lives inside my brain. When I don't write enough words, the writer-hippo grumbles and gurgles and keeps me awake.

So the secret to falling asleep faster is to meet your daily writing goal. Set it and then hit it. The goal for me is 1,000 words, which works with my schedule. Strange hippo metaphors aside, I can't explain what's really going on, but when I don't write enough in a day, I feel like I haven't fulfilled some purpose in life, I haven't fed some appetite or watered some mental garden. That's the best way I can describe it.

Tonight, I hit about 1,300 words in Mary of Starlight, and now I can sleep. I just wanted to pound out a blog entry first. Good night, folks.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Starlight Writing

Working on Mary of Starlight late into the night. Why is it that my most productive writing time is after 11pm? I don't know, but it's not good for someone with a daily job. Anywho, I am past the 51,000 word mark in Mary of Starlight, right at the point in the story where all sorts of crazy and awful things begin to happen in ever-increasing intensity.

There will be epic struggles, there will be explosions, there will be terrible moments of dread and danger, there will be mullets, there will be creepy people, there will be screaming and weeping and hand-holding and sarcasm. Yes, there will be all of these things and more, as we press ever onward toward the climactic moments of the Mary Lanham saga.

Look for Mary of Starlight sometimes in 2014. Yeah, I know, it's a long way off, but we've got to get Mary of Shadow in print first. That happens this summer.

In the meantime, here is the latest listing of Mary of the Aether, book the first, at Book Daily.


Monday, January 14, 2013

Mary of Starlight

Well, it's happening. I have resumed work on Mary of Starlight, the third book in the series. I just want to see it done, to get the story told. There are scenes, especially in regards to the end of this book, that have been vivid in my mind for a long time now. It will be good to get them down in print. I've got a little over 47,000 words written, a few paragraphs into chapter 13. What I've got in mind for this book is pretty intense. I hope I can pull it off.

As a gentle reminder, the first book in the series, Mary of the Aether, is currently available here in both print and Kindle versions. The sequel, Mary of Shadows, comes out this summer.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Giveaway Winners

Well, the Mary of the Aether book giveaway is over. Five lucky people (out of 936 entrants) won free paperback copies of the book, and those copies are in the mail. Keep an eye on Goodreads for another giveaway at some later date.

Here is the Goodreads page for the book HERE