4th Sunday Surprise: March Madness

And I'm not talking about:

No I'm referring to the craziness of the month of March. Though hectic I enjoyed every minute, expect for the cold and sore throat two weeks ago--NOT cool.

The month kicked off with Kristina McMorris book signing event at Barnes and Noble. Which was super awesome! I love this girl and her books.

Shortly thereafter my favorite author came to Powell's and of course I had to go see her, because she is one of the coolest people I've ever had the privilege of meeting. Anytime I've emailed Kim Harrison (aka Dawn Cook) a question about writing or whatever, she's always been so gracious and replied. Not only is she a fabulous person, she writes a killer series. If you haven't checked out The Hollows Series, you are so missing out.

Then came lots of studying and juicing. (Have to feed the brain!)

I passed the final with an A! To celebrate I went to the midnight showing of the movie I've been anticipating for since November, when I picked up the first book.

11:15 sleepy, but so excited to watch this wonderful adaptation to the best YA novel I've read since Twilight. Have you guys seen it yet? What did you think?

Even though I've had a full month, it's not over yet. Next weekend I'm going to the Spring Intensive which a writer conference here in Vancouver, Washington. I'm sure I'll have lots of industry info to share with you all next week.

Cheers,

Melania

3 Sunday Sweets: Paradise 21

What can I say about this fantastic novel? The plot blew my mind to the far reaches of the universe. The setting took my breath away. The characters stole my heart. And the love story warmed my soul like delicious cup of hot coco on a rainy cold night. Aubrie Dionne has crafted the perfect Sci-fi novel. You won’t find any corny cheesy moments. It is so visually enticing you’ll forget you’re on planet Earth. 

The moment I picked up the novel, my inner sci-fi fiend swelled with inexplicable happiness. Though categorized as a romance, the book is written so well that even hardcore sci-fi-loving men would thoroughly enjoy the adventure.

Paradise 21 contains all the elements that make an excellent space adventure. There’s a desert planet with reptilian alien creatures and sand worms. (Dude, you can’t have a dessert planet without sand worms! Just sayin.)  There’s space pirates and alien ships. You’ve got a totalitarian human society on a ship traveling towards a new planet to populate after Earth has been completely destroyed by humans.  Then there’s a girl desperate to seek freedom from this controlled environment and a man searching for a way off the desert rock. When she crashes on his planet things explode.

And I’m going to stop there, because I think you need to go out and buy it TODAY. Even if you’re not a sci-fi nerd like me, I still think you’ll enjoy the story. So what are you waiting for? Click here to order your own copy.

2nd Sunday Savors: Characters

Characters: dictionary.com definition:

char·ac·ter/ˈkariktər/

Noun:

The mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. The distinctive nature of something.

I remember the day clear as if it were this morning. I was riding the MAX home listening to Depeche Mode"s It's No Good.  I closed my eyes and was taken to a moonlight meadow in the Fagarasi Mountains were a gypsy witch and a vampire stood together. He loved her so much because she was his beloved incarnate. She felt attracted to him as well, but held back. From there stemmed my first novel, Six Roses. I went home and wrote the first draft in about 3 months. Then I rewrote it changing her age from 16 to 18. But that draft didn't feel right either so I rewrote the entire novel, now making her an adult. With each evolution, the story became better. Yet there was something missing and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

So I rewrote the story taking a new spin on things. What if the girl who wrote Six Roses, discovered this world was real when the characters she created came into her life, and caused all sorts of mischief? Thus became my second novel The Vampire Novelist. I received lots of interest for this one, but because my writing wasn't quite up to par it was rejected each time. I loved this story and the character I created, but something lacked.

Last November, I participated in NaNoWriMo and I rewrote the original story AGAIN. 4th time now. This round I changed the plot completely, but kept the main & supporting characters. I did add a new character, a handsome young Orthodox priest. That's when the worst possible thing happened.

My gypsy witch fell in love with him.

I was so shocked I almost stopped writing the damn story. This couldn't be happening. She's supposed to be with vampire. They are soul mates! I screamed. I cried. I drank lots of whiskey. I couldn't sleep. And finally I accepted the inevitable. She was going to be with priest and there was nothing I could do about it.

That was in November. In early February as I was completing Editpalooza, it hit me harder than a speed train. My characters had taken a life of their own. They had become three dimensional beings. (All in my head, of course.) Here I was trying to force two people together who weren't meant to be lovers in this incarnation of her soul and it took five rewrites (if you count the spin off novel) for me to figure this out.

 Dude, writing is HARD! FRUSTRATING! DEMANDING! Can drive a person to alcoholism. But it's also so rewarding. Best part: you're never alone. I have my characters living with me 24/7 telling me what they think or making snide remarks about my choice in fashion some days. It gets noisy at times, but we're just one big happy family. When I try to abandon or ignore them, they sing this song:

Thanks for stopping by and reading my ramblings.

1st Sunday Snippets: 1st Bite

For the past two weeks I've been feverishly working on three different projects. #1 writing a merman high heat level romance novella, #2 editing a mermaid novella, #3 revising The Vampire Novelist. (I know! Those vamps keep sucking me back in.)

Trying to keep three different stories straight hasn't been easy. Thank heavens for:

Harney and Sons

I've made lots of changes to TVN. I will talk more about that next week. But one of them is when the hero and heroine meet. The heroine is at a goth club in Seattle celebrating her 21st birthday when he saunters in and crashes her party.

 

I wetted my lips as my mind searched for something to say. Silly me, he’s just another human playing a vampire. A tall dark handsome man with pale skin and long black hair tied in a ponytail isn’t really that original among the wannabe undead.

“Hi.” I said.

He didn’t respond or acknowledge my presence. No, he just stared with those eerie red eyes. Except they weren’t red anymore. Black pools of darkness had replaced the crimson pupils.

He held his hand out and with the same blank expression he asked, “May I have this dance?”

May I have this dance? Who the hell talks like that? I gave him a beaming smile and placed my hand in his. “Sure.”

That’s when I knew the alcohol was talking, because I never dance with strangers, especially when I’m supposed to be on a date who happened to be very late. What was I supposed to do?

The stranger led me towards the center of the dance floor. For a moment I almost expected him to put his hand on my waist and start a waltzing me around. He didn’t. Instead he pulled me to him in a tight embrace, lowered his head to my shoulder, and bit me.

Thanks for reading! 

 

4th Sunday Surprise: Ski boots

Because I have nothing too writerly or authorly to share, except I have so much to share, but can't talk about it right now... If you know what I mean. So I'm going to talk about something that has nothing to do with fangs, felines, fins, & fun fiction: skiing. (but it actually does, keep reading...)

Yup, it's still winter in the Northern Hemisphere and here in the Pacific NW, we still have plenty of snow on the mountains. But I will rewind a bit.

Let me take you back 8 years when a young 25 year old single female moved to Portland, Oregon so she could go skiing in the winter and hiking/backpacking in the summer while enjoying the benefits of a big city such as shopping and fine dinning.  Oh and to be closer to her rapidly-approaching-retirement parents too. Within the first three months of her new life in the coolest city in the US, she met a certain handsome stocky fellow who loved to hike/backpack, read speculative fiction, and SKIED.

He took her skiing a couple of times up on the iconic fixture of Portland (when it's not cloudy) Mt Hood. Long rides on the chairlifts coupled with the four hour round trip car ride, led to interesting conversations and other things. Okay, you all know where I'm going with this.

A year and a half later, the young girl had a ring on her finger and a new last name. And while their happily ever after still continues one thing died after the wedding: the skiing. The one thing that had brought them together they stopped doing. Oh, he continued to ski, but she stopped for various reasons. Sometimes it was finances (skiing is an expensive sport). She then missed two years, because of a broken toe and the thought of cramming her foot into a ski boat set her teeth on edge. And then laziness set in. After a while of not skiing, one starts to question their skill and fitness level.

Well, Thursday on the anniversary of their first date, the man took his wife down to REI and bought her:

Boots, Skies, & Bindings

Sexy wool socks

And Helmet & Goggles

Mt Hood Meadows

Friday, he dragged her butt up to the mountain and she skied for the first time in SEVEN YEARS! Boy, did she have fun. The best part about the day is she got done and realized her knees didn't hurt. Having skied her entire life on crappy rentals, she felt like a champion getting her groove back on after a long sabbatical. Having the right gear makes a world of difference.

I guess you can compare this with writing. You can spend years trying to emulate another author's techniques or "rent" ideas, but until you own your personal style, it will never seem right. Once you figure out YOUR voice, YOUR expression, YOUR story, your writing "knees" will stop aching because your feet will be in YOUR shoes. Not in someone else's. Sure you'll be sore, but the good kind.

See writing lessons can be learned in every situation, even in skiing.  My advice: get your own writing "boots"!

Cheers,

Melania

PS. Did you notice The Marked launch countdown widget? I will be part of Inara Scott's Blog tour in April. So excited!!!! Check out the short post I did a year ago on The Candidates (book 1).

3rd Sunday Sweets: Bridge of Scarlet Leaves

Some of you might remember about a year ago I wrote a blog review for Letters From Home by my friend Kristina McMorris. Well, this year she has a second novel coming out, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, and I had privilege of reading it months ago (one of the perks of being a writer & friends with authors).

Here is a brief bio of author and details of story:

KristinaMcMorris is a graduate of Pepperdine University and the recipient of nearly twenty national literary awards. A host of weekly TV shows since age nine, including an award-winning program, she penned her debut novel, Letters from Home (Kensington Books, Avon/HarperCollins UK), based on inspiration from her grandparents' wartime courtship. This critically praised book was declared a must-read by Woman's Day magazine and achieved additional acclaim as a Reader's Digest Select Editions feature, a Doubleday/Literary Guild selection, and a 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Historical Fiction. 

Her second novel, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves (March 2012), has already received glowing reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, among many others. Named one of Portland's "40 Under 40" by The Business Journal, Kristina lives with her husband and two sons in the Pacific Northwest, where she refuses to own an umbrella. 

Brief story description:

Los Angeles, 1941. In spite of her Julliard ambitions and family's wishes, violinist Maddie Kern secretly elopes with her Japanese American boyfriend—the night before Pearl Harbor is bombed. When her beloved Lane is interned at a relocation camp, she dares to remain at his side. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America, at tremendous cost.  

Skillfully capturing one of the most controversial episodes in recent American history, Kristina McMorris delivers an authentic, moving testament to love, forgiveness, and the enduring music of the human spirit.

So what do I think of this critically acclaimed WW2 novel? First of all I must mention I'm not a fan of this genre. It never appealed to me, that is until I read Letters from Home and discovered a wealth of beauty from a not-so-distance time in history. Second, Kristina has such an exquisite talent for telling a very emotional story, that she could probably write about the robots falling in love and I would still fall in love with the characters and story.

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves left me teary-eyed, in awe, transformed, and hopeful. There is no way you can read this lovely poignant story without being changed. Kristina takes to you a place in history where terrible events took place, even on our own soil, and shows how love can conquer all. 

The biggest shock for me was when I read about the work camps all the US Japanese citizens were forced to live in during the war. I had no idea such a treacherous thing took place here in America. They never really talked about this in high school history. Then there were all the American spouses who chose to live in these dismal conditions just to be with their loved ones. This part of the story blew my mind. 

The relationship between Lane and Maddie will bring tears to your eyes, warm your heart, make you scream, and take your breath away because the power of love has no bounds. I highly recommend this beautiful novel to anyone and promise you won't be the same person after you've read the last page.

You can pre-order (to be released February 28th) your own copy of Bridge of Scarlet Leaves here.

2nd Sunday Savors: Traditional vs Self-pub

Tillamock Lighthouse, Oregon Coast

Why don't you just self-publish? If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me this question, I would have enough money to pay someone to publish and promote my book while I vacation in Hawaii for six months.

Over the last year, I've taken great consideration to the question. With e-publishing becoming so popular, many authors rejected by NY are still getting their book out there and some with more success than ever. Several authors in my RWA chapter that have gone this route and are able to support themselves financially.

You know what? I think it's great! I'm so happy to see them succeed, because they deserve it. The relevant question is what the author wants? Are they willing to query their hearts out to NY and wait for months while assistants dig through the slush piles or do they want to see their book out in print within six months?

Does the author want to hold a beautiful hard cover copy of their book they've shed blood and tears writing and editing or will they be satisfied with the digital copy on Amazon or B & N?

These are the questions I've asked myself since I started writing 3 years ago. There is nothing wrong with either route of publishing. In my opinion, NY is the way to go because they have high exceptions expectations. Therefore I strive to write to their standard, even if in the end I publish with a smaller independent company. When I have a product I'm proud of I will see where the industry is and will make my decision. If I find an e-publisher that provides the same quality and marketing drive as the big six in NY and they want my book, I certainly am not going pass the opportunity.

Till then I will write, write, write, write.....