October Release

It’s been about half a year since I last made a post. But I’m a writer, so inevitably I always end up on this blog. That’s mainly due to me releasing or in the process of publishing a novel. Earlier this year a friend inspired me to finish one of my favorite projects originally named, Love Bleeds Red but has now been rewritten as, Pretty Monsters.

The story is about a girl who was cursed by a demon two centuries before the story takes place. The curse gives her immortality in exchange for her humanity. She can never die but every living thing she encounters will fear and either run away or attack her. So for two hundred years she suffers loneliness, persecution and isolation. It seems her life will be an eternity of darkness until she meets a boy who for some reason is immune to the effects of her curse. He falls for her instantly and despite her strongest efforts she can’t seem to push him away so he can’t discover her dark secret. As she lets him in she has to keep him from getting hurt from the darkness inside of her.

This story has a lot of supernatural elements along with action and romance. I got inspiration from Harry Potter while writing the story over and over. I wanted it to have a magical and out of this world sort of feel to it. Then I added horrific elements to make it out to be a somewhat romantic and dark fairy tale. I tried to include a lot of mythical creatures (no spoilers) some already known and others I made on my own. Pretty Monsters has been requested over and over from people who either know me personally or have had a class with me and heard about the story. I’ve finished its final draft and now it’s in the revision and editing stage. I plan to release it on Halloween because what a better time to release a horror themed story on Halloween?

Aside from the story writing I’ve been up to quite a lot this year. I’m finishing up my final semester at Ivy Tech before I transfer to university. From there I plan to major in Journalism and pursue a career in reporting. I have thoughts about going back to school sometime later to become a detective. It all depends on where I’m at in life in about 4 years.

That’s it for my update. I felt like blogging today. It’s been on my mind for a while. I’ve been getting weekly views for some reason and can’t figure out from who or why. But it’s brought me back. I plan to start blogging every other day or weekly.

 

 

Write Two Books in a Month!

Last week was a pretty awesome week. Since I’ve started my second year of college, I’ve been diving into my classes. Naturally, as a writer, I love my creative writing class the most and I excel. My teacher is freaking amazing. On the very first day I learned something new and I’ve been learning since then.  When a teacher motivates a student to dig further into their passion, I think they’ve done their part in building a better society.

Last Thursday my creative writing teacher introduced the class to author, Samuel Snoek-Brown. He recently just published a novel called, Hagridden. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Louisiana era where two women are desperately trying to survive. I’m not a spoiler but I will say there’s mythology and the book gets pretty intense. Seriously check out his book and his website. Just click the links. You know you want to.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to meet Sam last week. As an author I jump at every opportunity I see to meet another author. It was pretty awesome. I asked him all of these questions about his journey and process. He wrote his book in TWO weeks. That’s amazing. It was the coolest conversation I had ever shared with anyone. Speaking with him put me into a writing FRENZY. I’ve been writing nonstop. It’s inspired me to finish not one but two books in a month’s time.

I have so many ideas and drafts. I get a new idea every other day and I hate leaving them in my head because that’s how you lose them. So now I’ve decided to start finishing some of my drafts. REALLY finish them. Sam has encouraged me to push myself past my limits and seek my true potential as a fiction. I have a good feeling about all of this.

Not just that. I have this goal to live my life to its fullest. Just for a month. See what happens when I go for what I want without any hesitation. No waiting and no putting things off. I’ll post more about it later this week. But I’m very serious about this. I’m all fired up! I know I can do this. And I will. I’ve got this passion burning deep inside me. I’m going to let it out.

Thanks for inspiring me Samuel Snoek-Brown. I wish you the best of luck with your books. You have truly inspired me.

Book Writing, Publishing Books and Creating a Graphic Novel

 

Hey there bloggers, writers and followers! I managed to update my page within a month. I am very serious about getting back into the groove of blogging. I even have ideas to have them written days before they are even placed online. I have decided to post about mainly my writing career. But when there’s nothing to share, I will post about my interests, daily life and books that I am reading. For this post I will just share current progress with my career.

My goal for the summer was to have one or two story drafts written. I hadn’t realized that I completed the goal until yesterday. Love Bleeds Red: Daywalker and Beyond a Lifetime: Through the Veil, were my story writes for the summer. They both need revising and editing before I think about releasing them. I made that summer goal so I get in the habit of finishing books instead of only starting them.

My main focus right now is finishing “Where is Dreamland?” The manuscript has 111 pages at the moment.  Lately I’ve been struggling with writer’s block but instead of going to different projects I keep writing. Ideally, I want to be finished writing this by late October or early November. Revisions would start late December, then editing. I think it would be pretty cool to have this published around the time Hero’s Romance was released, but there is no rush. I’ll keep everyone updated.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but I also have plans to start a comic book. Originally it was supposed to be based on Hero’s Romance. But now I’m not sure. Aside from the plot, I’ve been working on a new art style. This one borders realism. My old style looked a lot like anime/manga, which is fine, but I feel like it’s overused a lot today. So I’ve been practicing realism by drawing people. Mainly celebrities.

I don’t necessarily hate my old art style. But I do like this new one more. It looks more mature in my eyes.

 

I’m no artist. But I really like the way this is coming along. An old friend sat with me yesterday and showed me a few things that should help me improve. I post pictures every day on Instagram. I’m thinking about starting my own Youtube channel to show how I draw and also talk about my books, writing. A vlog basically. It would be a great way to inspire people and motivate them to follow their dreams like I am.

The Author’s Career Continues!!

Hey Bloggers! It’s month 3-4 of my career as an author. I have become very bad at updating this but I haven’t forgotten about it. I turned 21 two days ago and whilst celebrating there was a discussion that ended with me talking about my book. It made me anxious to blog!

It’s a bit hard to blog when I don’t have a subject. Back in December when I first made this blog, I had decided to publish a book. It was very easy to blog back then. I had updates everyday because I made progress with Hero’s Romance each day. At the moment I don’t know what I will publish next. I do know that I want another book released by the spring of 2015.

My plan is to find a focus by July 28^th. At the moment I now have FOUR different books that I am working on. Love Bleeds Red, Trinity and two books I have yet to give titles. Last month was very crazy and I kept getting inspired. So I would continually make one story line after the other. Love Bleeds Red most likely will not get published. Its rewrite is coming along well and I feel that if I baby it more and more it will be a VERY well written story by the time I publish it.

Last month I made a list of things to do for the month of June. Even though I haven’t been blogging about it, I have stayed productive and have gotten a few things accomplished.

I have finally made a business card. It’s for professional purposes only. That’s why the black line is there (my phone number). This is a temporary version until i have professional cards made. I figure some is better than none. I’ve had alot of people request business cards lately. Now i have them 😀

Hero’s Romance continues to make sells monthly. I’ve been getting surprised with its progress. It has now went overseas three times now. Australia, Germany and most recently England. I hadn’t realized it was being bought online until I randomly went through my email and found out I’ve been receiving money for Kindle purchases along with paperback orders. No wonder my bank balances weren’t matching! I would spend money and look at my statement then become confused as to why it’s higher than what it should be. Aside from sells I have yet to send books to reviewers or book clubs. I’m running low on copies so I may have to order more. I plan to send some copies out to reviewers very soon.

 

There’s much much more for me to do.

And of course, I’ve been doing MUCH better with my schooling. For the summer I am taking an English class so I can take more advanced classes in the Fall. As of right now I have plans to attend, University of Iowa, New York University or California State University of L.A. I’m not sure which and to be honest, I may leave the states and finish school overseas. I’m doing whatever it takes to master my writing craft so I become a superb writer. I believe studying overseas will give me more experiences.

That’s my current update. I want to blog weekly but I’m not sure what to write about without a subject. So I might share other things related to writing with you all. I have a muse lately so I know I will be inspired to write more and more.

I love this! If you LOVE romance or love to read in general FOLLOW THIS BLOG. Seriously, I follow back always and who doesn’t like mutual support? I’ve seen reviewers too. FOLLOW. Because I will need people to critique my books, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Some help is better than none at all. I’ll keep you guys updated. Thanks to all that follow me. If you have a fan page, I’ll be sure to follow you. Thanks followers 🙂 Keep writing and blogging

Summer time and Summer Goals! Update 6-3-14

Hello, hello bloggers and followers 😀 It’s been a pretty interesting week and month all together I hope everyone is doing well.

This summer is going to be huge for me. I plan to get A LOT accomplished as far as my writing career goes and personal life as well. I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my last post but I am devoting my summer to centering my life on my career as a writer. Although I am a fairly young writer, I still consider myself an author since Hero’s Romance has taken off as my first release. As I planned, it is the title that began my career.

The whole experience is pretty exciting even though it’s only been 2 months since I became an indie author. I have to get used to seeing myself online as well as seeing people buy and read my book. The best part about this is the amount of people who get inspired and intrigued. Both family and strangers have told me they’ve been inspired by me. That’s one of the things I hope to do as I continue to write and release book.

My plans for my summer is to really get my book around by social media means and by myself. So far, I’ve managed to sell copies each month since it was published in April. What I want to do now is introduce my book to stores, reviewers and book clubs. There are plenty book clubs and stores that I can reach out to around my area. For June, I plan to go out and do my research. Hopefully by the end of this month it is in stores and has official reviews.

People have frequently asked me what I am currently doing and when will my next book be available. At the moment, as I said, I’ve been centering my life on my career. I’ve been looking for like-minded people to associate with as well as working on a couple of projects. A lot of my classes this year have something to do with writing. I am taking an English class this summer so that I can take an advanced course this year along with creative writing and hopefully, Latin. I am also looking to intern.

I have decided to become a year-round student instead of taking on five each semester, for now at least. My love for writing is simply too strong. So I had to find a way to both manage school and my career. Some suggested me focusing just on my career.

School isn’t something I’m willing to put aside, even for one semester. It’s something I want to finish for the experience, the degree and myself. Taking on 5 classes made my grades suffer the first semester since I focused so much on Hero’s Romance. But during my second semester, I was able to pass all of my classes when the course load was less demanding of my time. So as of now I am taking 3 classes during the Fall and one during the Summer. I plan to transfer to a university once I earn my Associates degree in Liberal Arts next Summer/Winter. My goal is to earn my BA in English in two years.

Aside from school, I am still working on books! 😀 I don’t go two days without sitting at the computer for an hour or two as I write awesome characters and plots. Love Bleeds Red has been the book I’ve focused most of my time on. I am currently working on it as I type. I’m not positive that it will be my next publish. The more I work on it, the more I get drawn to it. I love the story and I want it perfected before I release it.

My year plan is to have another book published before 2015. By late July or late August, I should be finished with this rewrite. I wanted the next book I send out to be a fantasy-fiction but that could change depending on how I feel. I could throw out a science-fiction or even a horror. More than likely the next book will be a young-adult novel.

As of now these are my current goals for June:

Get business cards made.

Send Hero’s Romance out to reviewers and book clubs. Get more books out to readers.

Learn how to get book in stores, then do it.

Do well in school. Meet local writers, journalist, authors, etc.

Blog more frequently…lol Have fun.

Not too demanding right? It should be a pretty good summer. I hope everyone is doing well with his or her path to becoming an author. If you have any advice or want any, feel free to share or contact me on here or via email.

I love this! If you LOVE romance or love to read in general FOLLOW THIS BLOG. Seriously, I follow back always and who doesn’t like mutual support? I’ve seen reviewers too. FOLLOW. Because I will need people to critique my books, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Some help is better than none at all. I’ll keep you guys updated. Thanks to all that follow me. If you have a fan page, I’ll be sure to follow you. Thanks followers 🙂 Keep writing and blogging

First update, since the book signing!! I’m STOKED!!

HEY BLOGGERS AND FOLLOWERS!! I know a lot of you wondered if I removed my page…nope.

Quote from my next book 🙂

Sorry all, towards the end of this past semester, I had to focus hard on my exams. But classes ended last Friday so I’m back with A LOT of updates. I’m going to talk about; my first book signing and my future plans and current projects.

My first book signing was April 25^th, 2014. It was from 6pm to 8pm and I LOVED every minute of it. People came and went. I won’t lie and say it was a blow out because it wasn’t. But I did sell copies of Hero’s Romance to readers. The book signing was amazing. People I didn’t know came to the store. During the signing I sold books, signed books and talked to the readers.

I think my absolute favorite part was answering questions about the book and my whole writing process, character development and where I get inspiration. I felt like I was getting interviewed. I LOVED it. Since that day I’ve been practicing every night in my study. I pretend I’m at a signing for 15 minutes after I work on my current project.

I will sit in my study and answer questions. There’s these flashcards I made with questions about inspiration and “my” writing processes. It’s motivating. The book signing has not only encouraged me to keep writing, but now I want to inspire others to reach their dreams like I have.

Hero’s Romance continues to make sells. It is available online in paperback and kindle. This week I sold 4 books by hand. My plans now are to keep spreading it through social media, have more signings and go to retailers and get it on shelves.

As of right now, I am currently writing my next book. There are three projects that I’ve been jumping back and forth through. Elements, Hero’s Wake and Love Bleeds Red.

Hero’s Wake is a book mentioned in Hero’s Romance’s story. I thought it would be cool to explore that story. It’s a more adult and passionate version of Hero’s Romance. I am thinking about starting a series of non- connected romance novels. It will always be Hero’s “something”. Hero’s Fantasy, Hero’s Story, Hero’s Nightmare. I would obviously have to get more creative with the titles.

Elements is a story that revolves around a boy who discovers an orb with mystical powers. He starts off as a cowardly and weak boy, who slowly becomes daring and strong as he protects not just the orb but his friends as well from the dangers, the mystical orb attracts.

Love Bleeds Red is another romance tale. It centers on a Thomas who becomes drawn to this mysterious yet alluring girl named Samantha Black. She transferred to his school while he was absent for a few weeks due to a heartache. When he returns he notices her immediately, due to her being the school outcast. Everyone finds Samantha to be strange and quiet. Thomas, however, finds her to be pleasant and kind after he decides to meet her. However, Samantha seems to be very withdrawn and distant towards him.

A bit from the story so far.

But after several occasions of intense kissing with her, Thomas can’t bring himself to forget about her, even though she’s putting so much distance between them. She draws him in without trying. Eventually, she let’s her guard down as he too, moves her heart. Soon though, he learns exactly why others feel so nervous around her. Samantha Black has a very dark secret.

Love Bleeds Red is my FAVORITE. It’s the first story I wrote and now I’m rewriting it into a different point of view. I wrote this story when I was dating this girl named Ashley back in high school. She didn’t have any friends and the kids picked on her a lot because she was “different”. But I liked her because she was different. Over time she inspired Samantha Black’s character.

Right now my progress with Love Bleeds Red is the farthest. Trinity is the next then Hero’s Wake is last. I’ve been on fire with the first novel. I’m having fun with it and my experience with my first publish is improving the story dramatically. I can’t wait to let people read it. I plan for my next publish to be a huge step forward as far as writing skill and story telling goes.

So what’s my current progress?

I sell books

And I still write 😀

I’ll be sure to update weekly, now that I have the time to. If anyone is interested in  a copy of Hero’s Romance, check out the buy a book tab. Thanks!

 

I love this! If you LOVE romance or love to read in general FOLLOW THIS BLOG. Seriously, I follow back always and who doesn’t like mutual support? I’ve seen reviewers too. FOLLOW. Because I will need people to critique my books, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Some help is better than none at all. I’ll keep you guys updated. Thanks to all that follow me. If you have a fan page, I’ll be sure to follow you. Thanks followers 🙂 Keep writing and blogging

My First Book Signing-TOMORROW!!

Hello Bloggers/Followers. I’ve been very excited because like the header says, my first book signing is tomorrow.

It will be at BookMama’s in Irvington. If you live in Indiana, feel free to come by at 6p.m for a copy of Hero’s Romance and a signature.

This entire month has been great. I’m thinking about dedicating this entire month to my book career next year and the years after. This month Hero’s Romance was published in paperback and kindle form, I’ve nearly sold the copies I received and now the book signing is tomorrow. The next steps are to get the book in local stores and work on another work.

I also need to get more followers on my social media accounts to help spread my work around. All it takes is hardwork and dedication, which I’m used to at this point. I look forward to seeing how all of this plays out.

 

I love this! If you LOVE romance or love to read in general FOLLOW THIS BLOG. Seriously, I follow back always and who doesn’t like mutual support? I’ve seen reviewers too. FOLLOW. Because I will need people to critique my books, good or bad, doesn’t matter. Some help is better than none at all. I’ll keep you guys updated. Thanks to all that follow me. If you have a fan page, I’ll be sure to follow you. Thanks followers 🙂 Keep writing and blogging

Ok fans. You win. Hero’s Romance is now available for KINDLE!

Hey bloggers and followers! This is a special update going out to all the young adult fiction and romance readers.

I published Hero’s Romance this month and it’s available in paperback. Go to my pages and click the “buy a book” tab.

That’s not the news. The BIG news is that my book is now available on KINDLE. Personally I prefer the book version where I can feel and smell the pages. There’s something homey about having the actual book.

However, due to popular demand, the book is now available on amazon kindle!

What are you waiting for? DOWNLOAD IT! Click here to check out the Kindle Version

My Book Has Arrived!!! It is now Available! Read for details

Hey there bloggers and followers! I’m proud to announce that my novel Hero’s Romance is now available through me and online. Visit my buy a book page purchasing information.

Do you ever just stare in the mirror and wonder, ‘Is this it?’ Senior class president and head cheerleader; Aliyah Conrad feels as if she has everything and yet nothing at all. Each day she looks in her mirror questioning the value of her life. The world surrounds her yet she feels so invisible. She longs for something but it seems so far away, a fairy-tale.

Senior student; Timothy Derr feels the same way. Though he has so much going for himself, he can’t seem to find satisfaction in his daily routine. He’s published his own book and he’s quite the young rising star. Yet he feels, empty.

Aliyah and Tim both long for something meaningful and deep. Then one day, out of the blue, when one receives an unexpected gift, their lives are unknowingly bounded. Even though their lives are far from a fairy-tale, it’s more than enough for them in this deep and romantic tale

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Edward\Redd (April 1, 2014)
• Language: English
• Genre- Young-adult fiction/Romance
• ISBN-10: 0615986404
• ISBN-13: 978-0615986401
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches

I am genuinely proud of my work with this book. I’m practically in love with it. If you enjoy young adult fiction and or romance, totally check this title out. Woman and romance lovers will most likely be drawn to this book. Its audience isn’t limited to young adults either. Check out the links!

 

Sweet! I’ve been nominated for The Beautiful Blogger Award.

I recently released my first novel called, “Hero’s Romance” and one of my fellow bloggers got inspired by it. It always feels nice to know that someone has been inspired by my pursuit of dreams. I hope to encourage as many people as possible to touch any dream they have. Trust me, you can do it. Thank you so much for this award, Lisa Taylor. I encourage my fellow followers to take a look at her page. She too, is an indie author!

About the Award

The Beautiful Blogger Award is an honor bestowed by fellow bloggers to show how much they love reading your blog and appreciate the beauty in your words.

Nothing makes me feel happier than inspiring others. Thank you so much for this award!

Rules

1. Copy the Beautiful Blogger Award logo.

2. Thank the person who nominated you and create a link back.

3. Nominate 7 (yes only seven) other bloggers and say a little something about them.

MY NOMINEES

1. Topaz Winters

This young blogger is very inspiring to me. She’s an upcoming author and song-writer/singer, at the age of FOURTEEN. That’s incredible! When I first came across her blog it baffled me. I thought I was a young author but she takes the cake. She’s incredible so I have to nominate her for this award. Keep up the good work Miss Winters!

2. Billyrobin!!

She is one of my biggest sources of inspiration. She’s been following my blog since day one. She blogs about her interesting life and she is also pretty imaginative. We’ve talked about story ideas and she comes up with pretty good characters and plots. I really look forward to reading something of hers one day.

3. The Reading Girl

She has to be one of my favorite bloggers! I’ve been following her since the week I created my blog. She’s inspiring and does amazing book reviews. She actually got me interested in goodreads. She’s awesome! Please review Hero’s Romance. It would be a HUGE honor.

4. Jacqueline Smith

Another blogger that I follow. Her book, Cemetery Tours really inspired me to push hard towards my own publish. It was really cool to meet another on wordpress. I believe she was one of the first I followed who had their own book out. Keep up the amazing work Jackie!

5. Sandra Danby

She’s another author I admire. Obviously I somewhat favor authors. It’s kind of hard not to with me being one. Seeing others doing what I’m going towards, motivates me to keep going furthur. It’s inspiring. Thank you Sandra :D.

6. Gede Prama

His blog is very inspirational and he’s very kind. One day out of the blue I noticed someone commented on one of my pages. He was giving me a greeting and thanking me. His blogs are one of those pages you go to and instantly become at peace. It’s amazing. I’m nominating him because his blog and kind words encourage me to keep writing, blogging and share my stories. Thank you Gede.

7. Michaela Wiley

She is another blogger with a page, dedicated to inspiring others. She blogs to help better peoples’ lives. On her page you will find things that will help your personal growth and well-being. I found her blog by coming across a post about meditation. It’s pretty useful. I always look forward to her posts.

Those are my 7 nominees for the award. I hope you all accept 🙂 thanks for being inspiring bloggers!