I've got a few beta readers for the rewrite, I'm really excited to hear what they think. I like the direction it went, Caroline's story was more prominent. I've also been working on my guest post for GraveTells.com, it was harder then I thought it was going to be. I guess I'm just nervous that it's not going to be what they're looking for. Still shopping around for an editor, but I think I've got some promising leads.

Amazing book.

I just finished reading an awesome book over Thanksgiving and I wanted to share it with you all. The book is called Natural Selection (Forces of Nature) by Elizabeth Sharp. It was really well written, and totally engrossing. I was reading every spare moment I could find. It was very different from most YA books out there, and I found it very refreshing. I'm not a book reviewer at all, I'm not going to spell out the plot or anything here, I just wanted to say how much I liked it.

Description from Amazon.com
What do you do when you find out your family isn't your family, death is knocking at your door, and that guy you can't stop thinking about knows more about who you are than you do? 
Amelia Hoffman was just a normal 15 year old until she found out the truth. Now ancient myths, supernatural beings, and murder have changed everything. Tests and school dances are no longer the biggest worry in her life-- she has to figure out how to save everyone she loves and accept the future in front of her before its too late.


Link to purchase
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Selection-Forces-Nature-ebook/dp/B005GL93XI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1322604910&sr=1-1

My little guy and I are both sick, so progress on the books has not been great. I did however finish the rewrite on Marked and have so far done all the spelling and grammar edits. I'm still shopping around for a freelance editor, it's a little scary thinking about handing over my book to a stranger. But, I want it to be amazing, so I'll do it.

I'm enjoying the rewrite way more then I thought I would. It's giving me a chance to flesh out the characters a bit more, and to add more depth to Caroline and Jilly's past relationship. I'm about half done(ish), I got a ton of work done while I was on vacation. I'm  planning on going through it a few times to make sure its perfect.

So, I've decided to entirely rework Marked. The decision to do it didn't come easily, but I really want to put out the best possible story I can. So far I'm happy with what I've got so far, but its going to be a very long road ahead of me. Wish me luck.

Away on my Thanksgiving vacation, the cabin is beautiful, there's snow on the ground. I'm actually getting some work done, my little monster went to bed early. I've got both books going right now, trying to split my time between them. My author interview is going to be up on Starcrossed Reviews tomorrow, stop by and check it out. Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow, eat lots of yummy food.

New YA book

Here's a taste of what I've been working on. It's as yet untitled.

Some vampires are made, some are born, I am the latter. My parents were both vampires, so it was my lot in life to be one too. My name is Cali Ericson, I’m 16 years old, and I hate being a vampire. When people here vampire, they automatically think cool and put together. The image of Kate Bekinsale, or any of those vampire chicks from Twilight come to mind. I am so not that kind of vampire. First of all, I’m way too tall for my liking, and my black hair is always tangly, no matter what I do to it. I’ve got the whole pale skin thing going on too, but it doesn’t look good on me, I just look sick or something. My one redeeming feature in my opinion is my eyes, their big, but not too big, and the prettiest shade of lavender. They look just like my mom’s, it was the one good thing I got from her. My mom is impossibly beautiful, she is what you think of when you imagine a vampire. The pale skin totally works with her raven black hair, she’s tall like me, but not in a gangly way. Up until now, I’ve been in a private school for beings of a supernatural nature, but the economy took a crap, so now I get to go to public school. My mom says its just for a little while, until my dad can rebuild his financial empire or whatever. I contemplated running away, but that was too cliche even for me. So, I’m resigned to my fate, to waste away in public school like all of the mortal children. The only plus in this situation, is my best friend Greta Sorensen is going to be going with me, so at least I won’t be totally alone. Greta and I are total opposites, she’s short, with white blond hair, ice blue eyes, and tan skin. I’ve always envied her tan skin. She’s a shape shifter, she can turn into anything that’s alive, people, animals, bugs. I’ve known her my whole life, the supernatural community isn’t as big as you might think, our mom’s have been friends since before we were born. The first day of school is tomorrow, and I’m totally dreading it.

I just talked to my cover artist, and I should be seeing another sneak peak at the progress she's been making on the new cover. I got a tiny bit of writing done last night before going to sleep. Today however has been a different story, the mountain of laundry, plus a trip to the grocery store have monopolized all of my time. I'm still agonizing over what to write for my guest post in December. I know what I find interesting, but will the readers find it equally so?

Busy weekend, worked both days, plus I went to see Breaking Dawn with my husband Saturday night. I really enjoyed the movie for what it was, it was pretty true to the book. I'm hoping to get some writing done in the next few days, but I'm not optimistic its going to happen. Thanksgiving is hijacking my life for the week lol, not that I mind it at all, totally looking forward to spending some time with the family. Who knows, maybe I'll get some writing done while I have extra eyes to watch my little monster. I've got a review and an author interview scheduled for the 24th on Starcrossed reviews, everyone keep their fingers crossed that it goes well.

So, I'm going to be doing a guest post on Gravetells.com, and I'm having a hard time picking a topic. I want it to be interesting, and I want it to bring in readers. I have so much on my plate writing wise that its hard for me to buckle down and start writing it. I'm considering maybe writing about my love for all things paranormal and fantasy. Aaaahhh I don't know.
On a brighter note, I'm totally digging the new story I stared this week. I'm not very far into it, but its so different from Marked and that series that its been fun to write. It's going to be a YA novel for sure, the main character is a 16 year old vampire. I've always been interested in vampires and everything supernatural, so its only natural for me to write a vampire book. I'm going to try and stay away from all the cliche type vampire stuff, mainly I want to focus on her life and maybe add in some danger. Who knows, its still in the baby stage.
Since I've been writing the other book, I've taken a bit of a break from writing Chased. I still have another maybe 5 chapters left until I'm finished. I'm really hoping to have it finished by January so I can relaunch Marked with the new cover and then put our Chased a few weeks after.

Doing a bit of revamping, changed the title and url of the blog. I woke up yesterday morning with a totally different story in my head, and it would have felt weird posting about it with the old name. The new story is going to be a YA supernatural type story. I'm excited about it so far, its a different style then the Timewalker series. Not sure where it came from, I've been so focused on all things Timewalker. Maybe my brain needed a Jilly break or something lol.

AAAHHHH, I'm so excited!! I just got a preview of the main image from the new book cover of Marked. It's so amazing. I cannot wait for the relaunch.

Big things are in the works. Completely redesigning the cover for Marked, and the cover for Chased will be done the same way. I'm most likely going to be reworking Marked as well, adding in a few new things, and going through the story to improve the story line. I'm very excited to relaunch the series, I think its going to be amazing. I'm keeping the current version of Marked up for sale, and I'll most likely pull it about 2 weeks before the relaunch.

I just bought H.P. Mallory's book about self publishing, and its opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibility. I'm going to hire an actual editor to go through my books, not that I'm not super grateful to my family for helping me out in that department. I've realized that I need to to whatever it takes to be successful, which will mean redesigning my book covers as well. I'm really excited to move forward now.

I actually buckled down and wrote a bit last night. I was feeling very lazy and unproductive, but I pushed myself a bit and ended up writing a few pages. I think I was affected by the review of Marked more then I thought I was. I just felt nervous about writing, nervous about people reading it. I'm over it now, going to try and get some more done today.

Suffering from writer's block, or more aptly writer's laziness. I can't seem to make myself write anything, even though I know I really should. Instead, I've been looking at Christmas decorations online. Totally not a good use of my time, but its so fun. I've also been reading a bit more then I have been during the writing process. I usually find it hard to concentrate on a book when I have my own story line floating around in my head. I've been reading H.P. Mallory's newest Dulcie O'Neal book. I love her stuff, I can lose myself in her stories and forget everything else. Maybe this is what I need right now, a break from writing for a bit so I can recharge. I never want writing to feel like a chore, I always want it to be fun.

The first review of Marked is up, and lets just say it didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy. I know that not everyone will really enjoy the book as much as I do, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I have another review slated for the 23rd of this month, and I hate to say that I'm actually really nervous about it now. I wanted to be really excited about all of this, but its giving me anxiety. It's so hard to work up the courage to ask people to tell you what they think of your work. Marked is like my first child, I'll never have another first book just like I'll never have another first child. I've poured so much of myself into my writing, that it almost feels like asking someone to critique me, and not just my book. It's so easy to get discouraged, but I'm really trying to stay as positive as I can. I guess all I can do is hope for the best.

Switching gears a tiny bit for tonight, working on a side piece in the series. It's going to be about William's past, and when he first met Sabine, and the life they had together. I've been thinking about having it start at the very end of his time in Boston, I'm not sure what I want to focus on more though.

Getting so close to finishing Chased, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping to start designing the cover next week sometime. The amazingly talented Sunny Randel is going to whip something up for me. I'll have the cover up as soon as it's finished.

Marked is going to be on http://addictedtonovels.blogspot.com/ in the next week!! Very excited to get it reviewed, and get the word out. Hoping to do an author interview and possibly some giveaways.

Feeling great today, and I'm hoping to parlay that into some serious writing. Dinner is in the crock pot, and the munchkin is down for a nap, so a writing I will go. Going to start wrapping things up soon, the book is totally going the right direction for that. Trying to decide if I want to have a cliffhanger or not at the end. Decisions, decisions, what's a girl to do?

Marked is available on Smashwords now too. I'm very excited that now anyone with an ereader can buy and read it. Took the little one out for Halloween last night, so sadly no writing was done. I'm hoping to make up for last night today by getting in a solid few hours. I really want to finish the book by the end of the month.