My Crazy Life

I would just like to take a moment to say I am terribly sorry. I haven't been active on this blog and am behind on deadlines. I am still here and devoted to my work. Unfortunately, as some of you know life as a single mommy sometimes takes over and things get jumbled.

It seems like lately, if it's not one thing it's the other. Have you ever stepped back and took an outside look at your life? That's what I've been doing lately. Things have gotten very distorted and out of focus. Seeings how I'm blind, that's a pretty big improvement.

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and promise to be full fledge normal very soon. I've been working on the review process for Clandestine in audio practically none stop. I have also gotten several chapters of Sightless Spirits and the yet untitled book three of Bound In Blood. Divinity is still in the editing stages.

I've also been trying to plan a fun give-a-away for the near future as well as planning some future signings to get out in public.

It's difficult to get the word out and with lack of funds for advertising and travel, the job can be that much more combersome. This is a huge pitfall of self-publishing that I plan to adress more fully in a future post.

My goal is to start posting more here so that the blog reader base will increase. I want to talk about things you want to read about. If there is ever anything you want to hear about no matter what the topic is, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

I am also very open to guest posts on this blog. Are you an author? Maybe you are a reader who loves books and wants to talk about them. Or maybe you are a reviewer or someone else with a love and passion for the literary world. Either way, if you want to do a guest post, I want to work with you.

Do you have any ideas for posts? Let me know what you're thinking and I'll try to make it happen.

I will tell you that I am really loving the Bound In Blood series and think you will all enjoy where it's heading in the future. There are more tweists turns magic and mayham then the first installment of Clandestine. There are new love issues and jam packed action to keep you craving more.

The audio book for Clandestine is going to be marvelous. The narrator Melissa Strom is amazing and I love love love the music by Toby Semane.

As always keep checking back for more updates. You can also visit me on Facebook by clicking the link on this site. Remember, every like the page gets, helps get the word out for free. Please help by pressing the like button for the FB page. I'm active on there and always respond to questions, comments and or messages.

I have been having Twitter issues so I admit I haven't been as active there. You can also find me on Good Reads where I host a group and am a member to several groups.

I also have my blog Playing The Blind Card where you can get more info as well. Oh and side not, I have been contemplating combining the two blogs. What do you think? I will keep you posted on that front as well. I hope that if this happens all followers will consider traveling to that blog.

Thanks for listening to my rambling and I will be back soon more:)

Down On My Hands And Knees Beggin For Help:)

I know that donating to a project or cause that you have no guarantee will be a success can be intimidating. Maybe you think your pledge won’t make a difference. Maybe you are leery of giving money to a stranger. No matter what the reason, I hope you will reconsider.

I assure you that every dollar earned will be going to this book project. My fans want it so much that it is crucial for me to get it done. That being said, there is no way I would ever back out of my end of the deal.

Kick Starter is a crowd funding website that aims to help connect people with creative projects with possible investors. A person has a limited amount of time to reach their goal. If their goal is not met, no money exchanges hands. That’s right, your money never leaves your wallet.

Second, if you decide to pledge, you will receive prizes for your generosity. Therefore, it’s kind of like purchasing something. Once the goal date has passed, all the people who supported the project will receive their items.

I plan to send people who pledge emails updating them on the progress on the production of the audio book. I am producing my books through a company called ACX. The narrator I have chosen is Melissa Strom. She is a well respected and very talented actress. She has agreed to stay on for the entire series which is anticipated to be four novels.

Again, I know it seems risky. Just know that I will never receive any of your financial banking information. All transactions are completed through Amazon Payments. This is a secure way to ensure your financial protection.

The reason it is so important to me to have my books done in audio is because… well, I myself am blind. I know what it’s like to look for a novel on Audible and have it not be there. That is one of the most frustrating things a book lover can go through. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, fans have written to me wanting to know when the series will be available in audio.

The only reason I haven’t done it by myself is because I haven’t had the money. My first book only just came out in August and the second will be out in December. Therefore, right now my funds are limited. I would never ask strangers for funds if it wasn’t completely necessary. This is the only way I can carry out this portion of my dream in a somewhat timely fashion.

I am a single mommy to two great little girls. I want them to be proud of their mom. Most of all, I want to build a career that will give them a better life. Yes, money can’t by happiness, but it is a big part of life.

I don’t want to depend on Disability income anymore. I want the pride of standing on my own two feet knowing that I’ve worked my buns off to get there. When I received my first royalty check of fifty dollars, you would have thought that I had been given a mountain of diamonds and gold ripe for the picking. I cried, knowing that this was my first real pay check. I earned it all by myself and not because of something that was beyond my control.

The town I live in is a difficult one for finding regular employment, especially when you have a disability. I have tried on numerous occasions to get a job. On all of those occasions I was turned down. They of course couldn’t tell me the real reason, but I knew what it was. They were intimidated by my blindness. They didn’t think I could handle the job, though I was more than qualified. I was never given the proper chance that I deserved and wanted so desperately.

You see, I have never been someone that enjoys getting something for nothing. That’s why it took me so long to decide on creating a Kick Starter project. I finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try. If someone didn’t want to pledge, they didn’t have to. If they did, then awesome.

I didn’t want to wonder for the rest of my life if it would have worked. It’s the what if’s that keep you up at night and kicking yourself in the end.

The great thing about a Kick Starter project is that you can back out at any time if you change your mind. The minimum pledge is one dollar, so breaking the bank is not a problem. You will have comfort in knowing that you helped in making someone’s dream come true. Someday when I’m as famous as James Patterson or any of the other great authors out there, you can say you helped me get to where I am.

I don’t plan to take your money and run. As I’ve said, you will get some really cool prizes for each of your donations. I will send you update emails and I’d like to keep in touch with you long after the project is completed. I want you to know that your contribution means a lot to me and I will never forget it or you. I will also be happy to respond to emails anytime, even if the project is done and the productions complete. After all, if it wasn’t for all of you, it wouldn’t be possible.

I only have until November first to reach my goal. That is less than two weeks away. So I am before you on my hands and knees begging for your support. Pretty please consider helping me achieve my dream. It would mean a lot and I’d be eternally grateful.

You Are What You Write

I was told of an interesting theory recently. It is that when a reader is enveloped in a book, they tend to take on the characteristics of the people in the story they are emerged in. If this is true what does that say for an author?

If the simple act of reading can alter your personality even if only temporary is it more true for an author. A writer has to put themselves into the mind of a character to develop them into reality. They are submerged into the traits, language, personality, mannerisms, etc. In some ways they become that person, at least while they are writing.

When the computer clicks off signaling the days end do the characters stay with them? Are they able to set aside a person who is in no way anything like they are in real life? What would that mean for a writer of something less than flattering?

For instance, do some crime novelists take on the mentality of their villain once the writing day is done? When a person takes on the task of writing about a murder of a famous celebrity, to they bear the burden of that horrible mind set?

Obviously for the majority of cases the answer is no. Maybe in some ways we all take on a little of who we write. We also put pieces of ourselves into our projects.

In order for a person to write a multifaceted three dimensional character that appears they could walk right off the page and enter today’s world, they have to become one with that person. Writers have a wonderful job. They get to embark on endless journeys down the fictitious path of their imagination and creativity. For some this can be a very individualized process and one that can be considered a great learning experience.

Anyone whether they are an author or not can learn a tremendous amount about themselves when they put pen to paper or their fingers to a keyboard. The simplistic art of journaling can be quite beneficial for a person’s soul. Our mind can unlock the key to an infinite number of possibilities if given the chance to breathe and take form.

Does this sound like a lot of gibberish? Well, may it is. Or maybe it’s a profound morsel of knowledge to be passed down through the ages. Okay so probably not that last one, but you get the idea.

The Taste Of A dream Come True

My book is out… My book is out... YAY YAY My book is out! The time has finally come and Clandestine is finally out! I can hardly wait to see what everyone thinks of it. It really is a great book and the start of an amazing series.

I have wanted to write for seriously as long as I can remember. My lovely Gram still has a million poems that I wrote back in the nineties. I admit that I never thought in a million years that I would one day have a book that someone could purchase, hold in their hands and hopefully fall in love with.

Guess what??? That day is finally here!!!

My book can be purchased at Create Space Amazon Barnes & Noble

It is available as a paperback or eBook for your Kindle or Nook.

For a synopsis check out Clandestine

The amazing cover art was done by Joy at Dreamscape Covers If you check her out be sure to tell her that Nicole sent you and tell her I said hi.

Connect with me on: Good Reads Be sure to sign up for my book give away and join my Q&A group while you are there.

We can also chat on: Facebook

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

It’s less than two weeks from the release of my first book Clandestine

I’m so excited, nervous, scared and happy, all rolled into one overcrowded package. There are so many emotions running through my head that I am not completely sure what to do with them all. This has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember and it’s finally becoming a reality.

When I first became blind I never would have imagined I would have been an author. It’s not that blind people can’t write, because obviously they can. It’s just that I was in such a different place back then mentally, that I thought anything I desired was unattainable. I was so bitter, angry and negative that I truly thought I’d never accomplish anything bigger than making a sandwich.

Looking back on that version of me, I think… wow, what the hell was I thinking? When something in life happens to you that alters life as you thought you know it, the road can seem treacherous. I was such a Debbie Downer back then and I wish my present day self could have had a heart to heart with the me of the past.

I would have said” Guess what, your life isn’t that bad. You still have your health and people who love you. You still have all of your other senses. Yes this is hard. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ll ever go through, but it’s not the end of the world!”

Then because the me of the past wasn’t an agreeable person, she would have said, “Bite me.”

I still have my bad days when it come to my vision, or lack there of. The difference is that now I have learned to cope and accept the things about myself that I can’t change. Being blind has taught me so many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned and I’m eternally grateful for that.

If I had it to do over again, would I choose to have never gone blind? Honestly, I have no idea. The bigger part of me is screaming DUH!! OF COURSE YOU WOULD CHOOSE NOT TO BE BLIND!! The smaller part knows that if I hadn’t gone blind then several things that I’ve accomplished might not have happened.

For instance, I would have never started my blog Playing The Blind Card I may have also given up on the path of writing for a different career. Would I have been as happy as I am now? I don’t know.

I have been written about in the newspaper twice. I’ve gotten the opportunity to have a guide dog and meet several amazing people at the school where I met her.

I get the opportunity to appreciate the sound of my children’s laughter way more. Granted, the flip side of that is that I also get the ear splitting pleasure of listening to them fight and argue with me, but still.

I’ve always loved the expression “Go big, or go home”. It’s finally happening to me where I get to officially say “I’m going big!” Clandestine will be the first of many books to come. It is the first book in the Bound In Blood series. It’s a great Young Adult Paranormal read. I love it because it has the suspense of vampires that people love, but also has a humoring banter that will hopefully keep you laughing. It’s dark, but has a deeper message and it truly is a coming of age, rite of passage kind of story. People of all ages will love it and I hope you will all give it a go.

In the beginning, it will only be available online but hopefully soon you will find it in book store shelves everywhere. If you have a book store near you, request it. The more people that do will help get it on the shelves.

Once I have the exact book page links from the websites where it will be sold, I will post them here. So be sure to keep checking back!

Walking Into Editing Blindly (Pun Intended)

I love to write. It is my honest to God passion in life. It is the one outlet in life that I have and can call my own. It is no one else’s but mine and no one can take it away from me. Well technically, if my computer breaks or gets stolen it could be taken from me but that’s beside the point.

Now don’t get me wrong, I of course have my girls, my dog, my house and my health. When I say it’s the only thing I have to call my own I mean outside of home life. It’s something I can get lost in even if only for a little while. It’s more than just a hobby for me. It’s my dream. Even if God forbid not one copy of my book ever sells, at least I know I did it. I created something that I poured my heart, my soul and my time into and put it out there for the whole world to see.

For the most part I can write about anything. The hardest part for me though is the editing. I never used to mind editing and still don’t for the most part. But since I have lost my sight it has gotten so much more cumbersome.

The fun aspect of editing that has always been for me is content editing. You know when you move into a new house and you get to unpack the boxes and decide where everything is going to go? That’s how I feel when I do content editing. It can be a totally enjoyable experience to rework sentences and add things you had forgot about. It’s cool to be able to dig in and develop characters and really put yourself into their head and see how they tick.

The great part about getting into their head is that what’s inside it is whatever you want. You are the mastermind. It’s up to you how a person or a scene is formed. It is puddy in your capable hands. However you decide to shape it is all on you.

Okay, so now that the fluffy side of editing is taken care of it’s down to the nitty gritty stuff. Now you have to check and see that all your paragraphs are indented properly, commas are where they should be and you didn’t run any words together as one in your haste of finishing the story.

Seems fairly easy right? WRONG! At least when you’re blind it’s wrong anyway.

Sometimes the all mighty spell checker doesn’t pick things up. For instance if you spelled the word “right” but you meant to say “Write”, it might not be picked up.

When you can see, this isn’t a problem because you can give it a once or twice over and say to yourself… “Hey, that isn’t supposed to be like that”. When you are blind, you hear the voice of your computer say the word “right” and assume it is the right spelling. It doesn’t sound any different if something is spelled wrong or not. If you don’t have someone to check your work for you then the task becomes quite tedious. You have to go sentence by sentence, word by word and in some cases even letter by letter to fix problems. That is not a fun or enjoyable process.

Luckily, with Clandestine I have the privilege of working with my beloved Gram. She has been a God send in the editing dilemma. Without her I wouldn’t be as far as I am with the book. She has been amazing at picking up on the natty gritty that makes me want to pull my hair out.

I have a tendency to type pretty quickly when my creative juices are flowing. I get all the words out in a rush of pages before they overwhelm my brain into explosion. There’s nothing wrong with that except for the fact that it’s easy to forget spaces between words or have the problem mentioned about where you type one word but mean another. For whatever reason when you run two words together it isn’t always caught by the spell checker. The reason for this astounds me. The word clearly is spelled wrong. It is two words that have been smushed together that in no language or context make a new word.
Well, that’s not totally true. I am thinking of compiling my own dictionary of words that I have created. Some of them are kinda cool actually. Just saying

Anyway, I am over half way done editing for Clandestine I can hardly wait for its total completion when I can sit back and enjoy my handwork. Well, at least for like five minutes because then it’s on to marketing it and fully jumping into Divinity.

Not to mention the other million and five half finished projects and tid bits that are floating inside my computer waiting to be crafted. I am fully committed to finishing each and every last one of them. Or more accurately, I have to finish them or I will probably be committed to a rubber room. Not that there’s anything wrong with that for those readers who are scanning this post from the comfort of their straight jacket.

But I digress. I really appreciate all of my readers and those of you who have supported me from the beginning when my only publicly viewed writing was on Playing The Blind Card. Oh, and also my family who have been forced to read all my writing since the beginning of time when I first learned what I Haiku was and scribbled my first story down with my super cool metallic ink pens (thanks mom and dad).

Until next time remember…

Write write write and just when you think you can’t write anymore, do some typing. xoxoxoxoxox

Just A Few Pearls For Newbie Authors

There are a lot of things to consider when you decide to publish a book. Do I want to go traditional or Indie? This is an important question a lot of authors find themselves pondering these days. The taboos of independent publishing are long since gone.

Back in the day an author who decided to go the Indie rout would submit there text and graphic material to a printing department. They had to pay a fairly hefty price up front. They would receive a truck load of their books that they had to find a way to sell. For a lot of authors this meant umpteen boxes of their masterpiece sitting in the garage next to the Christmas decorations collecting dust. This can be a very gut wrenching prospect for some. This book is something you put your heart and soul into. Not to mention all the sleepless nights you spent finishing and fine tuning it to the sheer perfection that it is. Many gave up and went back to querying. Others may have given up all together deciding it wasn’t worth the hassle.

Don’t worry my friends, those days are over. Self publishing a book is easier and more affective then ever. Thanks to companies such as Create Space and Smashwords (just to name a few) it is actually possible to get your book in front of public eyes for purchase and consumption for nothing. That’s right notta, zilch ZERO DENERO.

Of course, this is assuming you can handle every aspect of the publishing world all on your own. This means you are not only an author, but a graphics designer, editor and marketing expert.

Don’t let this throw you off the trail though. There are several ways around this problem if you are currently a starving writer as most are when they first start out.

Editing: If you know someone who is proficient in the editing process you can see if they would be willing to scour your manuscript for all the nitty gritty errors. If you know of an amazing English teacher that inspired you tremendously growing up, it’s possible they would be willing to take a peak at your work. There are editors for hire but in SOME cases, they can be quite costly. I looked into one that said they would be happy to edit my manuscript. They gave me the figures and when I worked it out on a calculator, it was going to end up costing upwards of $1000. This isn’t the going rate for all editors though. A search on the internet or advice from a friend could bring to your attention a diamond in the ruff. I have heard there are editors that can cost as low as a few hundred dollars. While this is much better then the price I was given it still isn’t in my budget. I am doing the best I can on my own and having as many people as I can go through my manuscript with a fine toothed comb.

Graphic Design: The cover art for your book is probably one of the most important parts of getting a sold sign on your book. While it might be true in other life situations that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, the publishing industry just isn’t that way. Your book is going to be up against big name authors with a solid reputation. Let’s face it, if your cover doesn’t catch someone’s eye when perusing the shelves or results page on Amazon your sunk. You could have written the most eloquently written piece of literary art imaginable but people aren’t going to take a chance on it if the cover is mediocre. A lot goes into designing a book cover. It’s really not as simple as finding some clip art attaching a title and author name and calling it good. Graphic design is a very detailed intricate process. This is the one thing I decided to find a professional for. I am a BLIND writer. I’m pretty sure my cover art wouldn’t appeal to most except maybe my fellow Blindy’s. Some cover artist charge an arm and a leg… literally. This really is a problem for newborn Indie authors. Most aren’t going to have $500 or more to fork out on cover design. Have no fear newbie’s there are cover artist that cater to new independent authors and no what it’s like to be just starting out. I personally found an amazing cover artist and for my particular cover am being charged $100. Of course not all of her covers are that price. Nevertheless, she doesn’t have any covers that are outrageous at all. They look just as good if not better then the high priced designs and the customer service is phenomenal.

Marketing: Many companies promise that if you hire them you will be a best selling author. I have one word for those companies… HA! No one can predict or manipulate book sales to make you the next James Patterson or Stephanie Meyer. In my personal opinion, the best thing you can do is WORK WORK WORK! This means be the King or Queen of social media. Network daily. Utilize Good Reads and other book related sites. Get as many of your friends to tell their friends. Have book marks made and pass them out to local book stores and libraries. Know who your target audience is and reach that target. Do contests on your site or blog with your book as the prize. Once sales start rolling in do book signings. Find a way to connect with your readers and build a relationship with them.

Getting a store to purchase your book on face value alone is tricky. Many are put off by a self published book. In the past, they didn’t look quite as professional as they do now. Some will give your title a chance but prefer to do so on a consignment basis. This means they sell your book and then they get a cut and give you a cut. They don’t give you any money up front. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is possible that once their customers realize what a brilliant author you are that they will tell their friends and then you’re golden. The store will be happy to do more business with you and you’ve just established another networking relationship that will hopefully last for when your future books are released. Try and make your book look and feel as professional as possible. If it looks like one of the big boys hopefully it will be picked up as many times as the big boys.

Book Description: Many people pick up a book for its cover. From there they flip to the description on the back to see if it’s something they want to read. Make sure your description is perfect. Make sure it’s catchy and doesn’t give too much away. If your description tells all the major events then people will lose interest. If a book description tells them everything it will leave them feeling like they’ve already read it. If that’s how they feel, why would they want to buy it? They’ve learned all they need to know by reading the back. The key is to keep them wanting more. Give them just a taste. Leave them feeling desperate to know what happens.

All of these tips are things I’ve been learning through out my own publishing experience. I’ve done a lot of research and talked to a lot of people to compile this wisdom. Honestly, I’ve probably learned a lot more but this post was getting never ending so I’ll bless you with those pearls another day. I am getting ready to publish my first book Clandestine very soon. It is book one in the Slayer Saga series for young adults. If you haven’t already, please check out the description by clicking the link “Clandestine” to the right under the heading “Pages”.

Stay tuned for future posts where the topics you found here are discussed in more detail. There is also a post coming up next that will teach you to make your own copyright symbol (©) using nothing but your own keyboard. This will make your copyright page look more official and professional.

I hope that you all found something helpful in this post. I also hope that you will decide to sign up to be a follower of this blog and show your support of a newbie author. Please use the share links below to show your friends on Facebook and Twitter this post.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you come back soon!

The Princess And The Peanut VS Writing

When you’re a mommy it’s really hard to have a writing routine. Neither job can be mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, both are important. It’s pretty much inevitable that both activities will run together.

I have two beautiful daughters that I will refer to as Princess and Peanut. The main reason for this is because my oldest daughter (Princess) would have a fit if she knew I was talking about her.

Anyway, Princess is ten and Peanut is two. Obviously, Princess goes to school five days a week, so that should make it easier for my writing. However, little Miss Peanut isn’t in school yet so she’s home with me every day. She will be attending Pre-School in the fall and is super siked about it.

Because she is home all the time, she of course demands the majority of my attention. I will say though, she is really good about entertaining herself for a bit if Mommy needs to get some work done. Now don’t get me wrong, there are interruptions… Lord there are interruptions.

I am sometimes in the middle of an intense plot point of a book I’m working on when Peanut decides she wants to take my order. This usually means I need to stop what I’m doing and tell her I want a milkshake and a carrot, or some other random combination I come up with at the time. Peanut will then rush to her pretend kitchen to fill my order. When she returns she has my delectable treat presented on a sparkling tray. Now by treat I mean Legos that she calls my food and drink. By sparkling tray, I mean one of her hard cover story books which do sparkle thanks to the glossy cover.

I then have to pretend to consume her creations and give her a rave review at which time I hand her my pretend money. After that, she takes my finished items back to her pretend kitchen and does the dishes. She’s really quite an efficient little thing isn’t she?

PS… If you ever play this game with her don’t ask her for change when you pay her. That’s where she scams ya.

Needless to say this some times makes for a non-eventful work day. For the most part I’m fine with it. I have learned to schedule my work stints in conjunction with naps, movie time or after both Princess and Peanut are tucked in at the end of the day. The only problem is sometimes you can’t schedule when an idea will take form. In order to let the creative juices flow and get the thought out, I will make a note of it on my computer or on my IPhone. For all of you sighted mommies, you can substitute computer for pen and paper if that’s more convenient.

Someday Miss Peanut will be in school full time and I’ll be able to have a normal work day with my writing. I am excited for those days but will miss my Lego and story book treats dearly. Yes writing is important and my future but it is only a piece. It’s easy to get wrapped up in writing your next book but always remember to cherish your little Peanut. They are only little once.

Please sign up to be a follower of this blog. If you do, you will get an Email message delivered to your Inbox letting you know when I’ve posted something new. If you are reading this and you are a Mommy and a Writer, leave a comment on this post. What’s your writing routine? Do you have a schedule too?

If You Like To Write... Then Write

When you are a writer the most important part is of course… writing. You can’t be a writer if you don’t write regularly. They say to write everyday but for some this just isn’t possible. Life tends to get in the way. My only suggestion to those writers is to do it as often as you possibly can without giving yourself carpal tunnel and or arthritis.

When I was in High School, an amazing teacher named Mr. Fogus told us to write continuously without stopping for fifteen minutes. We were aloud to write anything we wanted and it wasn’t required to make sense. He said even if you have to jump from topic to topic it doesn’t matter just write.

I have to say Mr. Fogus was one of my favorite teachers. The other was Mrs. McIntyre. Ironically enough they were both English teachers.

So I did the assignment and was really excited about it. I loved anything to do with writing especially when I got to purge my creativity in any way my mind struck me. It really is the greatest and I recommend it for anyone experiencing writers block. Anyway, he set his timer and we all got started. At the end of the fifteen minutes I had written almost a complete story.

Side note: I didn’t do that every time. Sometimes my paper was a jumble of thoughts that made little to no sense.

It was a story about a family of lawn gnomes that were trying to live a normal life in the regular world. The main conflict was that a cranky old man obsessed with his yard kept stealing their son to decorate his garden. At night they would have to sneak through a hole in the fence and past the cranky old man’s yippy Pomeranian to retrieve their son. By the end of the story they worked out a deal with the cranky old man and they got to live in his garden. He promised them that if they stayed in perfect position when ever he had visitors he would keep them painted and polished. Once they had agreed the cranky old man wasn’t so cranky anymore.

Yeah I know totally silly story but I was a lot younger when I wrote it. Not to mention, people clearly like stories involving lawn gnomes look at the movie Gnomeo & Juliet that was really popular. So there!

The main point of this post is that if you love to write then write all the time. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense. Just get all of your thoughts down on the paper. Afterward, you can examine the material and who knows? It’s possible that you have a workable story or maybe even fragments for multiple stories.

If you’ve done that and still don’t know what to write then just write what you know. Starting to a topic you are familiar with is easy. You can base a character on yourself or someone you know and fill in the blanks with experiences you’ve gone through. Anyone’s life is interesting enough to want to read if it’s written well.

PS… The cover to Clandestine is coming along good.  I am using a company called Dream Scape covers.  The artist is super nice and does awsome work.  I'm excited to see what people think of the cover when it's done.  I will post it on the site when the artist is finished. I’ve also decided to tweak the ending a little bit and I’m working with someone to do a final round of editing before it’s released. As it gets nearer and nearer to being finished I can’t hardly stand it. I am so excited and I hope everyone loves the story as much as I loved writing it. That being said I hope that all of you reading this will subscribe to this site. You can do so by going under the heading followers and clicking the link. Signing up is easy and only takes a second. If you’re on Twitter you can follow me there too and get updates about the book and normal life ramblings.