Last Winter Was The Coldest

I am super excited that Benedict Cumberbatch is hosting SNL in two weeks. I get all schoolgirl giddy.  I just discovered Sherlock and I'm impressed. Totally updated but true to the original source material. I can't get over how well it's done.

Currently querying The Black Queen. So far, I've got three full manuscript request to work with. I'm grateful and excited.  It feels like I"m finally getting somewhere...but who knows, right?
I'm working on book 4, the working title is "The Boyfriend" and I'm going to start working on the 2nd book in The Black Queen series. So much to do.

How to Make Things More Difficult

They're working me 48 hours a week on 10-hour shift. Who wants to start their job at 5am one week and then work till 1am the next week?  Not Me!
How do you parallel park?  Really. I need to know.

Next month (July) I'm starting on my 4th, yes 4th novel. I'm so proud of myself , yet so weary.
It's the lack of sleep and mind-numbing long hours.
I don't know whether to continue The Black Queen series (title could change to Obduro) or start on something new, entirely. 
I have ideas for two other stand-alone novels, I'm really excited about them.  No. I can't get excited right now, too exhausted.

There's something about fresh red nail polish.
July also brings the querying period for The Black Queen/Obduro.

Make things more difficult.  

Versailles 2015

I just finished the first season of Versailles. BBC, 2015.
It's too bad I have to wait till 2017 for another season but at least it got picked up for a second season.
Twice as expensive as Downton Abbey and it looks it.  Money well spent. I wonder what the wig budget is. Those look like some expensive wigs. 
George Blagden is good in the role of Louis XIV but, for  me, the stand-out role is Alexander Vlahos. It's hard to think of Louis XIV as the main protagonist. He is, but it's difficult to think of him that way. The show is called Versailles . It doesn't exactly share the same problem as Marco Polo. Speaking of Marco Polo, that's suppose to be back in July!

The Rush To Be Ready

This week I signed up for an online class from the Editor Devil. Nail Your First 50 Pages.  I have a new strategy for Querying out my third novel but let's face it, I need all the help I can get. Because I attended the writer's conference, it was only $30 bucks so I'm curious. Why not?
I need to figure out a way to get away from my job that won't involve going hungry or being without healthcare.  Any ideas?

L.V. Writer's Conference

My first ever writer's conference.  Done. Did it. It was a success. I'm considering it a success. I got what I paid for. It's the most money I've ever spent on myself and it was worth it. A friend of mine calls it "investing in myself."
I have a lot of new insight. What worried me was going all the way there and experiencing something that made me rethink everything.  I thought everyone would be worlds ahead of me, that I wouldn't like my ideas anymore...troubling stuff, right?
I found it better than I could have thought. Actually, it was a lot more simple than I thought it would be. I'm not a big talker so I mostly observed and absorbed information. I got a lot of information. Good information. I have a lot to do now.
I love my novels even more now. They're not bad.
I would go to another writer's conference, maybe not so far away. I spent a whole day travelling back to Pitt.

New Cover Art

The Secrets of Slade Sanders has new cover art. I love it.

That's done . Now onto getting the 2nd book "The Secret Life of Slade Sanders" edited
And I'm still working on this third novel. Which is coming along. I can't complain there.
Not having to work for a month is a big help.
I'm going to miss having so much time off to write.. An author's work is never done.

So Much Work, So Little Return

I hired a new illustrator to re-do the image on my book cover.   The first one didn't work, they couldn't complete the project.  Found the new one on Twitter. We'll see how this one works out.
The new Illustrator seemed perplexed when I told her I simply wanted an image from her and not a whole book cover. After I told her that I am a designer myself, she then proceeded to give me her resume, not sure why. 
But we came to agreement, I'm looking forward to it.

Small Favors

I'm bloody happy that I only have 7 days of work left.  I basically have the entire month of December off.  There's nothing bad about that.  Not going to that survival job is always  a good thing.
Plus I get 5 days off for Thanksgiving.    Two more work days till that little break. 
Even so, things are starting to pile up.  I was thinking what would I do for an entire month, well, the gaps have begun filling themselves in. 
I need a website.  
Doctors appointments
Gotta do my hair....

To name a few. 
But I have an entire month. 

What did I do on Halloween?

I went to a Halloween attraction called The Haunted Hillside, in Uniontown.
It was $20 dollars and much better than that last Halloween attraction I went to.
The one up in Wexford.  The workers were actually there in substantial numbers, it was warm and the whole thing started on time.
They had some awesome costumes, I saw several I genuinely liked. No consistent story line though.  It started off promising, Black Ops against mutants but that quickly moved to ghost and then a haunted cornfield, then the finale was a Deliverance, inbred, red neck , homicidal hillbilly thing.  It was all done well, just not cohesive.  We spent an hour walking from where they dropped us off at back to where we came in.  Brilliant.

Did I mention it was $20 dollars?

Holloween Hayrides and Painting with a Twist

I haven't taken a painting class since college.  I don't remember enjoying the painting class in college.  So, a BYOB, step-by-step painting class should be good. And it was.  I got me some green apple Smirnoff Ice and had a good time.

Overall, not too bad.  I would do it again.
Halloween  Haunted Expedition...it was $15 dollars of exercise by walking through a cornfield in the dark.    It was cold so they said at least 15 people didn't show up to work the event.  Our little group was alone, walking through a cornfield along the linear path, trying not to trip over anything. I did succeed in doing that. 
There was a distinct feeling of "where is everyone"?   There were 3 interactive attractions (if you want to call them that)  and some Spencer's Gifts masks but little else going on.
It was my 2nd Halloween feature type thing. I don't get to go to these that much.

No Rest...

There really is no rest for the weary.  I got the weekend off from survival and now I am to ponder how to promote my novels. 
Free, is of course better than something I have to pay for.  

I am still trying to catch up on all of the TV I missed during the week.  I only have The Originals left.  I am desperately trying to cut some shows out and I have but there are so many left that I still like watching.  Thursday nights alone, I have 7 shows.  That's  over 7 hours of television!  

Gotta make time I guess.

Poetry and other things I'm not ready for...

I guess Matt and Trey didn't make the cut this week.  It's suppose to only take them 3 days to  make an episode...

I've been checking out poetry books lately.  I want my character's dialogue to flow like poetry.  Hannibal (Tv show) is my inspiration for this.  I loved the dialogue on that show.  I'm already planning for my 4th book even though I'm not finished with my 3rd. 

I have to survival work extra this week so this will cut into my author's time substantially.  It's pretty fucking bad.

Published at last!

This was two years of hard work.  I loved writing this book, I love writing all of my books but I'm relieved that it's done.  At least phase two is done; I know a lot of hard work is still left.  I'm in for a whole new can of worms.  Now I have to promote this thing.

The Secrets of Slade Sanders is available. 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0165YX402

I have to promote this one, continue writing my third novel and prepare my second novel for publication as well.  Writing is definitely my second job but it's also my chosen career.

Dedication

I'm dedicating this blog to my novel writing career; for what it's worth, for however long it lasts.
This week I thought up a new story line for another novel.  I'm particularly excited about that.
I took this past month (September) to focus on getting my first manuscript (The Secrets of Slade Sanders)  published; still working towards that goal.  Almost there, almost there.   I am re-doing my cover design; partially .
Still developing the flow of my third novel. It's coming along but it reads like a paint by numbers.