USA Today!

Shield from the Heart is now available and it was also mentioned on the USA Today website!! Check it out here: USA Today!

Print on Demand

Silent as the Grave is now available on Print on Demand! I'm so excited to hold my book in my hand that I can hardly contain myself! I can't wait!

Here's the link:
Paperback of Silent as the Grave

Guild of Truth Book 2!

I have officially signed my contract for book 2 in my Guild of Truth series and just received an e-mail from my editor about the cover worksheet, the author questionnaire, and the tentative release date! I'm really excited about filling out the cover worksheet. This is where I get to put in some ideas about what I want the cover to look like. I also give the cover art people a brief description of what the characters look like. The cover art department did such a wonderful job with Silent as the Grave that I can't wait to see what they do with book 2. Book 2 is tentatively titled, Shield from the Heart, and we'll see if that changes in the long run or not. I hope it stays, but that's up to the publisher. *crosses fingers that it stays*

And lastly, my tentative release date is December 24! Christmas Eve! I was really excited to hear this because while the majority of the book takes place during the month of Sept/Oct the epilogue is set during Christmas time. Funny how that works out, huh?

Guest Blogging

Today I'm over at http://www.rannsiracusa.com/blog talking about never giving up and Silent as the Grave! Stop on by.

Social Media Advice for Writers

So now that I'm full recuperated from RWA and semi-recuperated from having my wisdom teeth taken out, I finally get to go over all the great things I learned from RWA. One of which is social media skills. I went to a workshop about social media and what really stuck with me was that: promotion can be seductive and deadly! And I totally agree with this. As a new author it's easy to get lost in wanting to do nothing but promote my new book. However, it's also easy to loose track of what's important. The writing!

The workshop stressed that you shouldn't try to tackle everything at once, and while I'm definitely one of those people that try, I'm slowly learning to pace myself. I learned that it's okay if I'm not a facebook guru, or a blogging guru, or even a twitter guru. What was important was that I find a social media device that worked best for me. And having been fiddling around with the different media sites, I think I've settled on Twitter. To me it's the most fun. Short, sweet, and to the point. Plus you can upload fun pictures! I know, I know, FB does that too, but for some reason it's a lot easier for me to handle on my iPhone. So I'm going to focus on my Twitter account. Does this mean my blog and facebook will be forgotten? Nah. I still have love for the FB and Blogger, they're just taking the backseat for a little while. ;)

Now that I've finally found what's hopefully a niche in the social media world, I'm going to set some goals to keep myself motivated. Instead of trying to tackle the world, I'm going to go slow, try to blog 1-2 times a week and Tweet at least once a day. Social media is like a habit, you have to practice to get good. So now it's time for me to practice. Wish me luck!

RWA 2012 Conference

Spent the better part of yesterday and Sunday recuperating from RWA! The conference was amazing. It was my first time and let me tell you, it was a blast. I met so many wonderful people and made life long friends too. I wish I had taken more pictures but I'll upload the few I have to give you an idea of what it was like.

Upon first arriving you are given this huge bag at the registration desk and look what's inside!! It was like finding the Holy Grail.

This was a quick shot of the first luncheon with guest speaker Stephanie Lauren. (I don't know why I didn't snap a shot of her when she was up there. Oh well.)

Me with the amazing Tonya Burrows and Gina Gordon.

After the first book signing I had to unload my side bag before it broke my collarbone! It's safe to say that the trunk of my car was filled many-a-time with boxes of books.

Opening night of the Olympics the Hilton hotel across the street.

Yet more books after another book signing. Although in my defense, these aren't all mine. I wish they were though. ;)

Victoria Alexander hosting the RITA awards.

The wonderful ladies that I had a blast sitting with and becoming friends with!

Finally me with the fabulous Victoria Alexander. I sat in on a workshop she was doing on a different day of the conference and I have to tell you, this lady is too funny. She's a blast to be around.

And now that the conference is all over and done with, it's time to get back to the writing. This third book isn't going to write itself.

Happy Friday!

Today I'm guest blogging over at Coffee Time Romance. I'm talking about Silent as the Grave and of course, super powers! It seemed like a perfect topic, what with The Dark Knight Rises coming out today and everything. :) Hope you see a lot of you over there at Coffee Time.

To Guest Blog Post 

Release date!

Well, it looks like I'll be one of those bloggers that does a monthly blog. Lol. Time just seems to slip away from me. Anyway, today is the official release for Silent as the Grave!! This is the first book in my Guild of Truth series and my first book ever published! I hope you all enjoy it and am now starting my plotting journey on book 3. :) Time to fuel the plot bunnies with lots of carrots. Mmm.

June already?

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's already the middle of June. May went by so fast. It probably had something to do with me having to fight off early stage pneumonia. Not fun. Glad I'm on the road to recovery. And on a brighter note, I got the cover to Silent as the Grave and it is amazing! I'm currently working on the books galleys. This is the last chance I'll have at making corrections. And then the release date is just around the corner! July 9th! I'm so excited.

And because I can't get enough of my book cover...;)

One month later

Wow. I can't believe it has almost been a whole month since I last blogged. My bad.
On the writing front, I've been working on my manuscript edits. They're due on Wednesday and I'm doing a final read through. I definitely feel that the story as a whole is a lot tighter now, so yay!
Also, some exciting news is that the release date is set for July 9th! I still can't believe it. I probably won't believe my book is officially published until I see it on a kindle or something. ;)
Well, back to the editing.

Plotting...

So today started off with a call from Canada and a chat with my mentor as to what classes I should take for grad school. Really exciting stuff. I got it all taken care of and now it's on to plotting!
I always hear different takes on plotting, and you know what? I don't think I've found my perfect niche yet. I'm a very bar bones kind of plotter, who writes by the seat of my pants. I'm really trying to change that because when I reach a lull in my story or a transitional stage I'm usually stuck for a good while before I can overcome the hurdle. So today I'm trying to plot out my newest story idea very thoroughly. So far it's bar bones, I figure I'll get the majority of the story out and then flesh it in.
I'm really hoping this will help the writing process go faster and keep me on track. It's a little slow going (thus this blog post ;) ) but I really want to stick with it and find my perfect plotting method. I've already eaten my share of carrots for the day, so those plot bunnies better get a move on in my brain!
What about you guys? What do you do for plotting? Are you plotters or write-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of people?

Twitter!

Got my Twitter account up today. The link will be posted on my 'contact me' page. Now I have to get used to tweeting as well as blogging. Blogging to me seems easier, there's just something about only having 140 words to write... Lol.
I'm still working on my questionnaire. My goal is to finish it by the end of the week. I only have a few things left to fill in. Everything else is taken care of but I'll probably go through it a few times to make sure I like all my answers. Right now I'm working on a short 'about my book'. It's similar to what you'd find on the back cover of the book. This is always fun and challenging, I like the idea of hooking someone into reading more and really making my characters and story stand out. Wish me luck!

Book Two...Done!

I just finished the first draft of my second book in The Guild of Truth series (Silent as the Grave is book number one). It's a pretty awesome feeling to type, 'The End.' This brings all the novels I've written and finished up to 7! Wow.
Now, I let this book sit for a little bit while I start plotting other works. There's this one story idea that just won't seem to leave me alone...
Anyway, I think now I'm going to go for a run, enjoy some of this 80 degree weather, and finish up my author questionnaire that I swear is never ending! Lol.

Author Photos

Had fun roaming the backyard today in search of good lighting to take some author photos. Got some good ones. It was one of the last things on my to-do list for my author questionnaire. Now it's time to finish it up and ship it back to my editor.
As for the writing, my second book is so close to being finished. So close! Seriously, I only have a couple thousand more words, if that. I should finish it up in a few days if all goes well. Then starts the beloved self-editing process...bum bum buhhhh.

First blog post!

Finally got a blog up and running. Hopefully I'll be able to turn this into my official headquarters.
Still waiting on finalized title and cover for my book, tentatively titled Silent as the Grave. I can't wait to see what the art department at Crimson Romance has come up with. *crosses fingers*
Still waiting on editorial process as well. June, aka launch month, is fast approaching. There's still so much to do! So excited!