Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sale at ARe!

ARe is teaming up with the Smart B*tches Trashy Books blog to give readers 50% off their purchase this weekend. To read the entire post, visit here. The code is SBTBARe1

The discount will only appear once the code is entered in the shopping cart and the “Calculate Discount” button is selected. This offer expires at midnight 31 January 2010, 11:59 PM Mountain Standard Time.

This is the perfect opportunity for you to purchase Woman of Honor before Knight of Glory is released in March.

Go shop, my friends!

Monday, January 4, 2010

My Writing Resolutions

I know it's past January 1st, but I still want to write down and keep track of my writing goals for 2010. At the end of the year, I'll dig up this list and hopefully, I'll be able to say that I completed every single one of them.

1. I want to sign with an agent for my fantasy YA novel, The Land of Imagining.

I've already started querying agents the end of November and have had two partial requests and several rejections to start this long, drawn-out process.

2. I want to start on the sequel to the aforementioned novel.

I see this series being a three book series, with The Land of Imagining being the middle book, with a sequel and a prequel. So why did I write the middle book first? Because the main character is an ordinary girl (who learns she isn't quite so ordinary after all) and has to journey to a strange, new world. I want the readers first glimpse into the All-Knowers' Land of Imagining to be seen through her eyes, through the eyes of someone who has never seen it before. The sequel is set mostly on Earth, and the prequel is set mostly in the Land of Imagining. So it works best for the middle book to be read first. And it really isn't as strange as it seems. After all, the Chronicles of Narnia were published in a vastly different order than chronological.

3. Write the last book in the Kingdom of Arnhem series.

I still trying to come up with a name for this one. I'm thinking Warrior of Courage. I would like to keep the trend going, Woman of Honor, Knight of Glory....

Hero, Warrior, Mage, Champion....
Courage, Virtue, Hope, Justice....

Still playing around. Any ideas? Suggestions?

4. Start and hopefully finish another fantasy YA novel or my suspense novel.

This fantasy novel shows the plight of four teens as their world is turned upside down when magic sudden appears and chaos results.

The suspense novel is about a woman who accidentally kills a young child during a game of hide and seek, and her resulting descent into madness and guilt.

5. Sell some short stories to magazine(s).

I have a backlog of short stories that are collecting rejection letters from magazines. I would like to work on them, shine them, and start circulating them again. If I can't find a paying market for them (so far I've only tried the pro markets), I may end up making some available on my website for you all to enjoy.


Well, those are my goals. Lofty ones, especially the agent one. And writing so much considering that I'm 10 weeks pregnant and will soon be taking care of not one but two wonderful babies. But I really want to make something of myself as an author and I know I can do it.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Writing Update

I know, I know, it's been a little while since I updated. I'm sorry but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that everyone has a prosperous and delightful new year! I'm hoping that 2010 will be a huge year for me, writing wise.

Speaking of writing, I recently submitted a short story, The Last Raid Against Lushfield, to Pill Hill Press for their Four Horsemen Anthology. Unfortunately, they rejected it, but the rejection letter was rather nice:

Thank you for your recent submission to Pill Hill Press' The Four Horsemen: An Anthology of Conquest, War, Famine & Death. Unfortunately, I have decided to pass on your story. This is not reflective of the quality of your writing, I just didn't feel it was a good fit for this anthology.

I carefully considered "The Last Raid Against Lushfield" -- it was shortlisted. Great story and I hope you find a home for it in a different market.

I hope you will continue to submit your work to Pill Hill Press (see the "Open Submissions" page of our website - www.pillhillpress.com), and wish you the best of luck in all of your writing endeavors.


As far as rejection letters go, that is pretty much the best you're gonna get. Now I'm off to find another home for it. I do think this one will find a home quickly, it is one of my better shorts. It's also set in the same world as my Kingdom of Arnhem series.

Which leads me to the P&E 2009 polls. Woman of Honor is nominated in the annual Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. If you read and enjoyed Woman of Honor, please cast your vote for me here.

You'll have to enter your name, e-mail address, and type two verification words. Click the link in the confirmation e-mail, and your vote is counted!

Woman of Honor is also up for Romance Novels and me under authors.

Thanks! And I promise it won't be so long before I post again.