Romanticizing Reality

**SPOILER ALERT** Kinda. Have you read HEMLOCK VEILS and are aching to know what direction the next book will take? Well, if you haven't read and finished HEMLOCK VEILS, this post might ruin the end for you, so I'd stop reading this , and go start reading my book, available on Amazon ! Next, spread the word about how much you loved it, to all you know, rate it and review it, and then come back here and read this blurb! Got it? Okay, for those who have read it, I need a little help. VEIL OF THE ROSE, Book 2, will be released this coming April! (Don't you love when you don't have to wait long?) That baby is already with my editor and everything. Yet I realized, when my publicist emailed me this week, I've never written a pitch, teaser, blurb, or ANYTHING for this story. So yesterday, while a newborn migraine was screaming its way into the world, I sat down and jotted some stuff down for the blurb. I know all you writers know just how awful the process o...

I know, it's been a while! In fact, it's almost been two weeks since HEMLOCK VEILS went live on Amazon ( get the ebook or paperback now )! I couldn't have asked for the book release to go any better, and its success so far has astounded me. It still shocks me when I get a picture of someone with the paperback. PEOPLE OUT THERE HAVE MY BOOK IN THEIR HANDS! Mine--the girl who doesn't really know how she got here. It's crazy and surreal and the best thing ever. It's been such a light in my recently darkened life lately, and I want to thank all those, again, who have contributed to its success. Most of the light has come from the awesome reviews. I have taken them all in, and I can honestly say that so far, I have loved every single review I've seen, even those with negative criticism. I appreciate them all like you wouldn't believe. Again, the way people love it ASTOUNDS me. I dreamed of this day for so long, and deep inside of me, though I couldn't ...

I was tagged last Monday in the Meet My Main Character blog tour by the lovely and sometimes hilariously inappropriate Sonya Craig , and of course jumped at the opportunity. Sonya is the author of the Outbound sci-fi series, and you can check out more about her and her  kickass protagonist here . If any of you are regulars here (hello, crickets!), you probably know that Sonya is one of my dearest Twitter BFFs, and one of the most real, down-to-earth, amazing, beautiful, caring, and funny people I know. My main character? As most of you know, my paranormal romance coming next month from Swoon Romance  ( HEMLOCK VEILS ) is a modern-day Beauty and the Beast retelling for adult audiences. In this adaption, the Beauty of this story is twenty-nine-year-old Elizabeth Ashton. My inspiration for Elizabeth: Kate Beckinsale (image from Everybody's Fine).  And she is drinking coffee, of course. Because...Elizabeth. 1. Is she a fictional or historical person?  A...

I promise I'll do better at the updates and posts. Especially now that my contract with Swoon Romance  is on its way to being finalized! Squeeeeeeeeee! Okay, I'm done. (Not really. I'll never be done squee-ing ) My agent wasn't lying when she said contract negotiations take a long time. But I am so grateful for an awesome agent who is willing to make sure everything is top-notch for me, and for the most awesome romance publisher out there. Seriously, guys. Check out their website (linked above). They don't put out anything but the best. And the covers? I've never seen any so gorgeous! I already love being a part of the Swoon team. It's like one big, amazing family. Awesome circle of authors, fabulous Publisher, and fantastic Editor. I cannot wait to get things under way! This week (hopefully) I will be handing over HEMLOCK VEILS and officially starting on the editorial process. Before I know it, the cover release will be here (*gasp*)! In about t...

In following and internet-stalking fellow writers and authors, I came to a realization today: I've got NOTHING in the form of a formidable website or platform (fellow Grammar Nazis, fire away at that last sentence). All I had going for me was a measly Twitter account (which I would love to grow one day). No author Facebook page (since I don't feel I've earned the privilege to have one yet, being unpublished and all), and only an outdated, less than par blog. So here I am, contributing to one of the necessary evils of the industry: keeping a writing blog. Or really, just revamping an old one. I hadn't blogged here since 2010, I think, and with how much I've written, learned, grown, been trampled in the dirt , and realized in the past three years, the old stuff--the posts before this one--is only here for record-keeping purposes: so I can look back one day and say, Aw, look at the little, naive writer . (And then say that again about this post in three more years...