It's a wrap!

The photoshoots for my book cover and trailer are finally finished! The models are perfect for my characters and I can't wait to share the pictures with you! The cover reveal should be soon with the trailer following right after. And then the book release! 

Until then, here is a teaser shot...

Have a great weekend and happy writing! 

Revisions...

For some reason, that word makes me cringe. Yes, there are people who love revising. I'm not one of them. Give me a premise or a character and I'll write a first draft any day. I love the adventure of plotting and creating. But to fix it? I mean, isn't everything perfect the first time it hits the page?

Haha. I wish. Luckily there are people full of helpful information. I just finished a final revision for my book coming out in May, and now I'm going to share with you my 3 best pieces of advice.

#1-Get a critique partner...or five. The more the merrier. Read their comments and consider their advice. But don't change something unless you want to. It's your book. But at least think about their suggestions. If they mention something, stumbled on a word, or a fact...that means it was noticeable. And if your CP's catch it, most of the time readers will too. That's not always the case, but more often than not, my CP's have similar comments. Which is another reason it's nice to have more than one or two. You can compare their suggestions and decide what's best for your story!

#2. Let it rest. Honestly, everything's better after a little rest, right? If I don't get rest, nothing out of my mouth makes sense. If you don't take a break from your story, chances are, it will make sense to you, but not to everyone else. You need that space to gain a different perspective, to think subjectively about your characters, their actions, their decisions, everything. Let it rest and go back to it with fresh eyes!

#3. Read it from top to bottom. Not just once. I'd say it's safe to do after every revision. Even if you think you only made a few changes, sometimes there's a word missing, or an addition you didn't notice. At times one change can have a domino effect. You may not remember mentioning something you omitted later on in the story. Once you do a read-through, though, you'll be able to recognize inconsistencies, word repetitions, etc. Keep it consistent and keep it real :)  

As far as formatting, one of my CP's pointed me to this blog post by Vickie Motter. It's fantastic! 

And if you want more revision tips, Agent Christa Heschke is doing a weekly blog post entitled Revisions From Authors For Authors. Be sure to check it out!

I hope that helps! Good luck with your writing and happy revisions!!!

Imperfections create perfection!!!

One of my facebook friends just posted a buzzfeed article about four regular women photoshopped into cover models. 

You can review the results here.

But I want to focus on the thoughts of a couple of the woman after they viewed the final result. One says,

"This is how I always wanted to see myself. But now that I see it, I'm questioning why I ever wanted to look like that."

Another says,

"Once you take away your imperfections, there's not much left of who you really are."

This is why your characters need faults. They need to be relateable. Don't make them perfect. Give them physical and emotional scars. Things to work through. Things that embarrass them. Then have them work through it and gain strength. Show the reader who your characters really are and they'll love them for it :)

Have a great week!

COVER REVEAL-NOT YOUR AVERAGE HAPPY ENDING!!!

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day! 

I'm excited to share the love for my friend Chantele Sedgwick. The sequel to her first book, Not Your Average Fairy Tale, is coming out on March 3rd!

Without further ado, I present Not Your Average Happy Ending.

When Ash Summerland left the Academy of Magical Beings, he was sure he’d put his troubles behind him. But when his girlfriend, Kendall, is almost killed by an old enemy over something he knows little about, Ash is forced to confront the demons of his past if he wants to save his and Kendall’s future.

With his fairy magic fading and his djinn magic more powerful than ever, Ash isn’t sure he can stop the evil from closing in around him. Although Kendall is the only thing keeping him from going over the edge, if he can’t learn to balance out his magic and find a way to defeat his enemies once and for all, both his world, and the girl he loves will be lost forever

Excited? Me too! Congratulations Chantele! Be sure to visit her blog and spread the love.

Have a great weekend!

Type 1, 2, 1-2 awesomeness.

I haven't done a writing post in a while. Which is sad considering this started as a writing blog. I've been so wrapped up in book prep, but I love getting back to basics.

Writer's are all different. Obviously. We each have our own voice, descriptions, style, everything. One thing that has stood out to me lately is the way we write our first drafts. 

Let's start with what I'll refer to as Type 1 writers. These awesome intellectuals pour over pages, giving every detail, expressing every emotion, adding every single word they can possibly think of. 

And then there are people like me, Type 2 writers. These superb beings get to the point. They don't add fluff, don't add detail, and oftentimes don't add enough. 

During revisions, Type 1 will probably spend the majority of their time cutting back, trimming those words, taking their manuscript from 100,000 words to 75,000. 

On the other hand, Type 2 will spend hours filling in information, adding emotion, fleshing out those flat characters, doing all they can to take their manuscript from 50,000 words to 75,000. 

Is either one of them better? No way. Sure, there are people in the middle who get their first draft near perfect (Type 1-2 awesomeness). That's something to admire. But I don't think it means those people are any better than the others. They might spend months planning their book just to get it right. And that works for them.

No matter which type of writer you are, the most important thing you can do for your book is find a critique partner. I'm a Type 2 writer. And if it weren't for my Type 1 CP's, my books would be flat, boring, and super short. Constructive criticism can be hard to take, but it can make or break your book. 

So, which type of writer are you? Do you have CP's that are the opposite?

1st Glance!!!

Since most of you don't know about my book, Changing Fate, I've decided to give you a glance.

The main character, Kate, is a teen with cystic fibrosis. In the book you'll learn about the disease and also the struggles Kate goes through as the new girl, the sick girl, the girl who resists friends, and the girl who wants love.

I hope that it will ignite others into learning about the disease and spreading the word! To learn the details of cystic fibrosis, please visit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and educate yourself.

I'd also like to introduce you to Ali and Christina. 

Anyone who's a fan of America's Got Talent and perhaps watched the show in 2010, might know about the two sisters. They've fought CF their whole lives and have used music to share their story and inspire those around them. Here are some links to a few of my favorite songs!

Something About Me.
The Same Way.
Love is Gonna Find You. 

To learn more about them, you can visit their website and also read this article about their journey.

Christina is now teamed up with Davin Nebeker, singing hit songs and original melodies. Here are a couple of my favorites of theirs!

Wintertime.
We (Fell in Love).

Thanks for your support! I can't wait for my book release in May! 

An ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

No, I didn't get an agent. But sometimes that's not in the plans. See, here's how it happened.

Mother's Day 2013, I found out a new friend of ours has cystic fibrosis. Cute little girl, six years old, full of energy and life. I wondered what the disease entailed so I looked it up and researched it for many days. 

And then the idea for a book dropped in my brain. That's really the only logical way of explaining it. I never before in my whole life would've written a book like this. See...I hate sad stories and I don't like talking about medical stuff. I'm a little bit (okay a lot) of a hypochondriac. I shy away from anything medical because I suddenly think me or someone near me has it. In fact, while writing this book, I worried for months that my youngest had cystic fibrosis even though I knew she didn't. 

Then why did I write it? Because I was supposed to. I talked at length with the mother of the girl and she introduced me to someone else who has lived with the disease for many years...and the story was put together. 

From the very beginning I had a thought that I should self publish because of the type of book it was. Yes, it's also a Young Adult Contemporary Romance, but it was more of the reasoning behind why I wrote it--which was to spread the word about CF and help others get involved. I wanted to do something for the cause and since I didn't have money, I wrote a book instead. 

When I finished, I realized it was some of my best work. I also knew that if it could get me an agent, it would start a lifelong career and not just a one book sale. So I queried 7 agents, one of which was my dream agent. 5 rejections came back, along with 1 full and 1 partial request. A couple months later, another rejection...but my dream agent still had my MS. 

And the voice in my head kept saying, "Self publish." I fought it over and over again. Each time the feeling grew stronger. See, I'm a religious person. And when I prayed about this, I knew what I was supposed to do. But how could I possibly explain that to dream agent? How could I possibly tell her I had to withdraw my book?

I just did it. And I learned something really important. Sometimes the right decision is the hardest one. I was supposed to write this book. I knew that. It just took me a little bit longer to realize that I was also supposed to publish it. Not only do I want to get the word out, but there is some medical material that could be time sensitive. With continuous research in cystic fibrosis, my book could've been outdated by the time it would sale and get published through a traditional publisher.

And that's why I'm publishing this book. I'm not sure I'll do it with any other book, but for this one, it's right. No doubt about it. I may get 1 sale, I may get 1,000. What matters to me is that no matter the number, if someone reads my book, they will be aware of the disease and they might decide to help.

With that, I'd like to announce that my book will be available in the beginning of May through Amazon and Kindle. 

I'm working hard on getting everything ready, but I have to tell you that great things are happening! When you do what you're supposed to do, everything falls into place. I'll keep you all posted but hopefully soon I'll be able to share my cover, head shot, and maybe a book trailer!!! 

I'm so excited. Not just to share my book, but to be a part of something awesome :) 

And if you're still reading this...thank you. 

Have a great week everyone!