The Payoff for Conquering Fears

Last week, after 10 years of being completely terrified of the idea, I got back on an airplane.  Woo hoo!!!  Although there were about 3 moments in the airport where there was a real chance I'd turn tail and run, it shocked me how calm I was once I got into my seat. 

 
What people say is true; you've got to face your fears to conquer them, and  I'm so glad I did.  Some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen have been from the air.  How can anyone help but be awestruck and inspired by sights like this.



The plane took me to Ft. Lauderdale where I got on a ship.  It was a great cruise, even though the music playing as we left port was the theme from Gilligan's Island.  Every holiday should start with a laugh.  A big ahoy to all the peeps I met on the Constellation last week. 

Tis the Season

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Holiday Season.  We've had a bit of rough weather in the Toronto area recently, but even with all the downed trees and power outages, I doubt that anyone who took a walk or ride outside the city wasn't awe inspired by the views.  The sun came out on the 24th, and as it shone on the ice covered trees, this city truly became a winter wonderland.  This was particularly fun for me because there is a scene in the early chapters of book three that captures this idea in a special way. 

Speaking of book three; my apologies.  I did intend to have it out by now, unfortunately the polishing is taking longer than I expected.  Did I ever mention how much I love polishing ... NOT!  On the bright side, there are always passages I've written that do come out better once I've had a second (or third, or fourth ...) go at them, and I think that the readers, as well as Kaylee, Will and the rest of the Imm crowd, deserve that.  As always, I will drop a note when the publishing day comes closer.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year!

Two New Covers!

I'm so excited today, because something I've been wanting for a long time has finally happened.  Presenting and Imm Tricks have both been reformatted, and have new covers, exactly in the original concepts I had for them.  Huge kudos go out to my new cover artist Laura Gordon.  Working with Laura was a blast.  She understood my vision perfectly, and we had alot of fun sharing ideas, back and forth.  The end products for both books are fantastic in my opinion.  They really capture the feeling of the story.

Here are the new covers ... YAY! :)

Rebooting

Yes!  I've just come back from a 2 week holiday, and I'm fresh and ready to get back to polishing book 3.  It was a great break, and I'd like to say hello to everyone I met who was interested in hearing about Presenting. 

One of the nice things about my holiday was that, instead of writing, I actually had a chance to break in my new Kindle Fire, and I did some reading.  The two books I read were The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau (fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent will like this one), and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (great writing, and a kick-ass lead character).  I really enjoyed both.  

As usual, being away from my normal routine got my creative juices flowing.  There were so many sights that gave me inspiration for new stories.  Ghah!  If only I could write a bunch of books at the same time!  But since there's only one of me, and since Kaylee's story is far from over, the new inspirations have stayed as scribbles on napkins and on the back of any piece of paper I could find (note to self - next time bring a notebook).  It's alright.  They'll keep.  

 

One of the other things I got a chance to do is go to a wax museum.  I've never been before because I always thought those places were kind of creepy, but this one was for movie characters, and it was actually alot of fun.  Who doesn't get a kick out of seeing characters who's stories they love.

Imm Tricks is out !!!

Phew.  Well it's been a long time coming, but Imm Tricks is finally all wrapped up, and is now available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.  Hurray!




This is book 2 of The Presenting Saga, and I'm really excited for those who liked Presenting to be able to read it now.  I've opened up Kaylee's world with new characters and new experiences.  Of course Will and the Gregorys are still very much a part of her world, but the new characters and some unexpected turns create consequences for everyone.  I hope everyone enjoys the ride!

Bongos at 8 a.m. are not cool!

Ok, so I normally would not be up this early on a Sunday, but since my freak neighbour thinks it's a good time to play some 70's kind of bongo instrumental, at full blast for a three block radius to hear, I figured updating my blog was a more civilised way to spend my time than throwing rotten tomatoes at his balcony.  Besides, I don't have any rotten tomatoes :(

Inconsiderate neighbours with crappy taste in music aside, there is something great about today.  I am expecting to see the first rendition of the cover art for book 2 by tonight.  Woo hoo.  That means we're just that much closer to getting book 2 published.  I can't wait.

As for book 3, I'm about a quarter of the way through the rewrite.  Actually, I'm surprised at how quickly it's going.  I really expected to have allot more to polish and tweak, but so far, it's been pretty smooth.  I love being an independent writer, but one of the down sides is not having a professional editor to help with this part of the process.  On the other hand, in a way, indie books are probably the cleanest transition of a story between writer and reader.  It's the literary version of unplugged I guess, and I like the idea of that.

Book 2 is Wrapped

It's happy dance time for me.  As of last night, book 2 is finished.  Now it's just a matter of waiting for the cover art, and it's off to Amazon.  Woo hoo!

Tomorrow I'll sit down to start the rewrite of book 3.  This is going to be interesting, because unlike books 1 and 2, I haven't touched the first draft of book 3 since I wrote it.  I'm expecting the rewrite of this one to take little more time, first because it's so rough, and second because it's a longer draft.  What I'm really looking forward to though, is the opening up of the story to a bigger world.  There are new settings and experiences for Kaylee, and more new characters thrown in the mix.  They were fun to write the first time, and I can't wait to revisit them.




Oh, and by the way, have you seen this?  Guess which poster is going to be spending some time up on my wall :)