Surprise Excerpt ~ Inheritance of Ashes - Coming this Fall

Here's a blog surprise for my readers hanging about! A pretty sizable excerpt of  Inheritance of Ashes book 3 in the Ashen Twilight trilogy which will round out the series with a conclusion. 'Inheritance' is still set for an October release and is currently one of my big projects I'm working on finishing in the next few months before prepping for release.

For those who voted to see excerpts before the release, here is a lil treat for ya! I won't say where these scenes take place but here is a snippet of what's to come. ;-)

(Keep in mind this text is a bit unedited but still cleaned up for reading purposes. Text may be different in the final release version).

Enjoy!

Of Slumps and Bookstores

So...my brain took a mini trip to dive whole hog into analytical work and now the creative side needs a bit of a boost. Today I went to the bookstore after months of no bookstore visits and mainly online shopping (which I love). It felt great. Our local Borders closed (and I found out the first Borders I went to back home in California also closed, so it was a bummer) and the used bookstore in town that I recently discovered also had to close.

Alas, our Bookman's was still standing and going pretty strong as ever. A great used bookstore with a big selection of stuff is deadly for me and my pocket book, especially if I'm trying to save. I've loved books since I was a child and I'm used to leaving bookstores and libraries with stacks of books under each arm. This time I told myself I wouldn't get as much but...well, you probably know how that ended. ;-)

On the plus side, I ended my reading slump especially in the genre of IR (or interracial romance). I've been gathering the books in the genre for a while but for some reason I couldn't get into any of the new ones I got. Bookman's had an awesome selection of IR books that I had heard about but never had a chance to read. I started loading up and making a mental list of all the books I would read and I suddenly started feeling that bug bite me again. It was an awesome feeling. Creating, even in your mind, is an amazing feeling that's not unlike floating with a sea of possibilities. Works-in-progress (or WIPs) here I come!





Now, don't get me wrong.

I still love online shopping, e-books and my e-reader. But sometimes the brain needs to be cheated with a change of pace to get those creative juices flowing again in an unfamiliar environment.

Next stop...

Back to the writing cave!

Dipping back into the waters

Greetings all!

It has been ages since I popped into my blog for updates! For the past few months, I've been taking a rather unscheduled sabbatical from online. Between working hard at the day job, a new romance and a mini break to gather my creativity back in full force, the time has been flowing by like crazy! A week seemed like a day.

So many things have changed since I last blogged. Our local Borders closed down, the publishing industry has turned on its head and gone e-crazy with all the new readers and paths to publishing. Everyone I talk to has talked about publishing their book via Kindle. Publishers closed down, some are opening. At the same time, agents are becoming publishers themselves! It's definitely a brave new world of publishing after talking about it and speculating about it for so long, it's surreal to see it happen here right in front of my eyes. I love it and it's a bit scary at the same time.

With that kind of liberation in publishing, there also comes new fears and responsibilities. Readers are becoming more careful with their money and the amount of books coming out affords them to be pickier with how they spend their time. One bad indie book can spoil the bunch for some readers and I've heard more than once that many are nervous to venture into indie reading because they don't know what has been tested and recommended. On the flip side, it can cause a bit of stress to put out the perfect product. Even after you put out the best product you can, it doesn't always hit out the park with everyone who reads it, as readers look for different things in books. It's a rough reality every writer comes to terms with which is why I take breaks in between. I love writing and I love bringing out new works, especially when I imagine how excited readers will be as they progress through my stories.

While I'll be taking baby steps to ease back in the public angle, I'll be charging forward behind the scenes on some projects I have lined up. I have a new editor I'm working with who is giving me awesome feedback on my stories, so it's just a matter of getting through each project and then prepping them for release.

I hope you guys will bear with me and hang tight as I bring out new releases and sprinkle in some freebie stories here on this blog.

I have joined the e-revolution with my new Nook Color so I'll be catching up on some reads on my end and hope to be posting some reviews here as well as some recs for you guys out there.

In the meantime, happy reading to you all!