WINGSPAN Cover Release

I am excited to show the cover for Wingspan, designed by the unbelievably talented Elaina Lee. She designed the covers for Spellbound, Everspell, and Ghostly.  As I made my choice to release Wingspan with a new publishing company, esKape Press, I was both surprised and delighted to learn she would be my new artist.  She just knows how I like the covers to look, and she just GETS me.  Thanks, Elaina.

So, I'd love to unveil the beautiful cover here, and entice you with both it and the blurb.  Look for Wingspan, coming early December, from esKape Press!

Chessa Dawning never thought she’d be the kind of girl who’d be on the run.  Yet, here she was, having left the only home she’s ever known, staying two steps ahead of the men chasing her and falling for a resourceful ex-criminal with colorful friends. And that was just this week.

Most of the time, Charlotte Lake can’t believe her life.  The reluctant leader of a rebel faction called the Ginger Nation, Charlie’s days are filled with planning surveillance, rescuing detainees, and exposing government conspiracy.  Surrounded by loyal friends and soldiers, she knows she can never reveal the true nature of her quest: finding her real father.

When a sudden twist in both their lives brings these two girls together, revelations about their past will make them rethink where they came from, and define their future in ways they never could have imagined.  Not every scientific breakthrough is a gift.

Queries and Loglines and Blurbs, Oh My! - Series Part Four: What the Heck is a Logline, Anyway?

The first time I went to a writer's conference, my head literally swum with all the buzz words being bandied about.  At the time, my first book, Spellbound, was a much-handled manuscript, and two others were as well.  It wasn't even a series book yet, a single standalone title.  (See how much I didn't know back then?).

Anyway, I sat in on different workshops and found myself writing down all these words and catch phrases to look up later.  Two I heard often, after I'd figured out "Query", was loglines and taglines.  Elevator pitch came up as well.  I nodded sagely every time I heard one, then rushed to a corner to google the damn thing.  Even then, I thought the two were interchangeable, called something different maybe by different areas, like an East Coast-West Coast thing.  So not the case.

So, in Part Four of this series, I want to dispel the rumors and misinformation.  They are not the same.  I know.  I was shocked too.  Then, embarrassed when I realized how many times I had misused the terms.  Here are the proper Webster definitions:

Tagline:   

Web definitions

A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising.

Logline:

Web definitions

The story in one active sentence, focusing on the concept, main character and main conflict. Ideally in 25 words or less..

My Take: Tagline:  You know how Amazon used to ask you to choose specific words to describe your books?  Well, your publisher will still do this.  These are the "tags" or words that will call up your book every time someone puts them in an internet search.  Words such as YA, paranormal, witch, first love, and supernatural are all tag words that describe my first novel, Spellbound.  And here's a HUGE tip: those tag words should appear in the description of your book in your query. See how everything is annoyingly related?  The good news is if you master one concept, you can master all. The tag words integrate into the logline, which becomes part of your query from which you develop your blurb. If you are new to the publishing industry, you will hastily learn that these processes are almost the only way a new novel from a new novelist, gets published for the first time.  If you have been in the industry for awhile, you now know that these things are a necessary evil.  Either way, you have to get your head around them. Practice explaining your book to yourself in the mirror.  What words are you punching?  What words are you missing?  Oftentimes, a compelling logline will actually appear on the very cover of your book.  That was the case with my latest, The Deadlies.  My logline:                   At Holly Hills Academy, being rich and pretty can be deadly. My publisher printed it right on the cover!  Man, I better love it and be passionate about it.  Happily, I am!  And the first line of my query AND blurb just expanded on the idea:                   When Calliope Flood catches the unwanted attention of the prettiest and most privileged girls at her new school, she learns they are possessed of more than just good ole’ Southern charm; they are also possessed by the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins.  From the tagline "rich and pretty" is echoed in the blurb with "prettiest and most privileged", and the deadly part is expanded upon with the idea of being possessed by the seven deadly sins. So, here are my steadfast rules for Loglines: Give the main character an epithet: vengeful divorcee, struggling aspiring writer, etc. Identify your main character's mission and what he stands to lose if he fails Brainstorm words and phrases that conjure up your personal idea of your book Pick 25-30 that sound the most compelling and right NOW, pick 5-8 of those that sound even better Fashion a tight, 25-word pitch.  THAT is your logline. Okay!  Now get loggin'!

Sherry Gloag from The Heart of Romance is on the Bloggy!

Before I was a published author for Secret Cravings Publishing, I was a newbie with Musa Publishing and even before that, I was a greenie with Astraea Press.  I read Amanda Hocking's blog and learned she credited her popularity with bloggers.  So I sought them out when I had my first release, Spellbound.  One of the ones who welcomed me with open arms was Sherry Gloag.  Little did I know we would both be published authors with the same Houses!

So, today I am so happy to showcase my longtime (in Facebook years, anyway) friend, Sherry Gloag.  Her blog, The Heart of Romance, has been a must-stop for all my releases and it should be for yours.  Learn a little more about her recent release from Sweet Cravings Publishing, No Job for a Woman.

No Job For a Woman ....by Author Sherry Gloag

Blurb:

Deborah Stavely is determined to overcome the increasing harassment from her neighbour without

calling on her brother for help. So she is not pleased when Freddie intervenes and involves his friend, Julian Fanshaw.

Circumstances demand Julian and Deborah learn to work together and Julian dares to dream that he might gain the love of the only person he’s ever given his heart to.

But will Deborah live long enough to discover that by releasing everything she values, she will gain everything her heart desires?

Julian Fanshaw answers a call for help from his life-long friend Lord Worth to help keep his friend’s widowed sister, Deborah, safe from her increasingly vindictive neighbours. It doesn’t take long to realise him or Freddie long to realise the Grangers aren’t using her as a long-promised act of revenge against them; but are playing a deeper and far more sinister game of their own.

Excerpt:

Julian Fanshaw ignored the other letters in front of him when he recognized one from his long-time friend Freddie Dalrymple, now Lord Worth. He broke the seal and scanned the single sheet with growing concern.

Julian, my friend, I am writing to implore you to put aside whatever plans you have in hand and to set out immediately to stay with us for an indeterminate period of time.

Thoroughly alarmed, Julian flipped the page in his hand to discover it had been dispatched more than a week ago.

If I bring to mind a certain student up at Oxford with us, and reveal that he and his wife are, and have been, my sister’s neighbors for several years, it will give you but an inkling of the root of my concern.

It has come to my attention, due to the arrival of his brother upon the scene, and recent events concerning my sister, Deborah, I am persuaded you need not only to know what is happening here, but be on hand to assist in circumventing any consequences of actions taken against her.

I have taken the liberty of gathering some friends together for a couple of shooting parties, thereby creating a reason for your presence.

Since his return from the Peninsular, Julian kept promising himself a trip to Worth’s Norfolk estate. Unfortunately in the last eighteen months, time and circumstances had worked against him.

Casting the letter aside, Julian strode to the door and called for his butler.

“I am leaving immediately for Norfolk. Please see that my bags are packed and have my horse ready within the hour.”

“You do not intend to use your chaise, sir?”

“No. I’ll ride, with a stop to visit Mr. Sewel. Arrange for Becket and French to follow me in the chaise with everything I’ll need for a month.”

Not by so much as a flick of an eyelid did Thomas reveal he recognized the name of his master’s man of business.

“Very good, sir.”

BIO

Multi-published author, Sherry Gloag is a transplanted Scot now living in the beautiful coastal countryside of Norfolk, England.  She considers the surrounding countryside as extension of her own garden, to which she escapes when she needs "thinking time" and solitude to work out the plots for her next novel.  While out walking she enjoys talking to her characters, as long as there are no other walkers close by.

Apart from writing, Sherry enjoys gardening, walking, reading and cheerfully admits her books tend to take over most of the shelf and floor space in her workroom-cum-office.  She also finds crystal craft work therapeutic.

As always, indie authors love to hear from fans, friends, and followers.  Give her a shout!

My Website: http://www.sherrygloag.com

My Blog: http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.com/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/SherryGloagAuthor  

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SherryGloag

Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/buj6zj8

Waiting on My Agent

So, I don't have an agent.  I have been happily publishing my books with the assistance of two dynamic publishing houses, Astraea Press and Musa Publishing for the past two years.  I hope to publish many, many more.  But I would lie if I said I didn't want an agent.  I, like, REALLY want an agent.  This desire takes away nothing from how fortunate I feel to be with my current publishers.  My issue is the marketing.  And the time.

Before I wrote my first book, Spellbound, I wasn't even on facebook.  Had no idea Twitter existed and even now, got no clue about Tumblr or Pinterest.  But a very smart marketing rep at one of my houses told me I was insane if I was writing and not on anything resembling a social network.  "Oh my God, you have to at least have a BLOG!" she wailed at me in emails with all caps.  So, I started one.  And I really have to admit, I enjoy it.  But the rest?  Time-suck sometimes.

Facebook gave me an amazing start and a wonderful base of great author friends and people I call fans (and then blush).  I'm very grateful.  But, I'm very tired too.  I have a great base of support online, but I think it would be neat to have that one person who really believed in me and got me.  Okay, to be fair I have that.  I'm talking about that one person who does all that and ALSO knows some New York publishers.

With that in mind, I confess, I have sent my recent manuscript, The Deadlies, out to the agenting world.  A dark, YA paranormal, set in the South, about catty girls possessed by the demons of the seven deadly sins, I am very proud of this one.  So I set it free in the deep end of the pool.  Two agents from the shark tanks have swum up to me, shown me their teeth, and asked for pages.  I sent them.  I was too scared not to.  Now I wait.

One agent wanted the whole manuscript and one wanted my first 100 pages., which is really the first third to a half of the book.  Now, I am wondering...how long is reasonable to be waiting for a response?  I don't want to look like a newbie, but....I kind of am.  I've only had two requests for pages before, when I was even more of a newbie, and tried my hand at my first story.  One agent and Harlequin Teen requested pages, then ultimately passed.  Quickly.  So, is it a good sign when it takes longer?

Agents must be busy.  There are, by my count, eleventy-billion of us trying to get one, and only, like, a handful out there to get.  You do the math.  They are only human.  Is it unreasonable to hear back from one in two months?  Four?  Eight?  How long is too long?

So, my post today is more of a call for help.  Like a call for submissions, I need you.  If you are one of my blog followers and you have a tad bit of insight into this mystery....could you clue me in?  The myth and mystery of agents reminds me of the same one surrounding the elusive and unknown "underwriter" who decided my hubs and I's fate when we were buying our first house.  One guy, one person, who held the key to my future.  Would it be a two story colonial with a yard for the kids?  Or a double wide in a questionable part of town with occasional hot-and-cold running water?  Will I get the agent who gets me?  Or always be one of the eleventy-billion.

Guest blog on A Dragon's Love

Guest Post - Samantha Combs

Write it Down

My stepmother is writing her memoirs. In fact, she is not just writing her memoirs, she is actually reliving some of the best moments of her life and loving every minute of it. Mind you, this may never be a publishable product, but it doesn’t matter. She will always love it, her daughter will always love it and she will have it forever. And the stories from her life will have a voice.

I’ve never written a memoir and I have a deep, abiding respect for anyone who does. There are some amazing moments in my life, sure. My wedding, my children’s births, etc. But there are those times in my life I would NEVER want to relive. Being dumped, having a car accident, the death of a friend by suicide. Yeah, not sure I want to write about THAT stuff just now. But it doesn’t mean I never will. Just as my experiences are important for my kids, the knowledge and experiences of my parents has become so much more valuable to me.

For instance, I have lost all four of my grandparents. I never knew my maternal grandfather, he having died shortly after my parent’s wedding. But, by all accounts, he was a multi-layered and fascinating man. From my mother I have learned he was a pugilist in her native England. From my father I learned that he ran the equivalent of a numbers racket in their London hometown. I knew my maternal grandmother, Nanny, since forever. She was funny and opinionated and my favorite story, she carried about two ridonkulously large purses. Because she needed to lug around so much crap, one bag couldn’t hack it. And she smoked cigarettes and constantly let the ash elongate with the threat of dropping on the carpet. From an early age, we learned to say, “Nanny - Ash!” before it tumbled to the ground. She would make a face and when the ash dropped anyway, we would cackle like maniacs. I miss her.

On my father’s side, I knew both grandparents. Grampa, as I remember, was curmudgeonly. He drank seven and sevens and smoked prolifically. My fondest memory is of him sitting in the worn-out armchair (think, Archie Bunker) with one hand around the ubiquitous highball glass, and the other just dipping into his breast pocket for his pack of smokes. When I got older, he didn’t move much from that seat, or any seat he chose, but it didn’t matter. Any family gathering sort of orbited around him. Like, he was the center of our universe and we were inexplicably drawn to him. And if you are thinking he was our rock, you’d be dead wrong. Grandma was.

Grandma was nothing short of amazing. She bore nine children on a farm in North Dakota. She raised them all with good humor and Catholic values. My father was the oldest. She watched all five of her boys join a branch of the armed service, and all four of her girls marry military men. In the late fifties, early sixties, those were the ways you got off the farm. She sent three of her boys to Vietnam, welcomed all of them home, and started collecting grandchildren early. She never forgot a birthday, she loved all nineteen of us grandchildren equally, and her favorite thing to do, back when we were all older and BIG drinkers, after hearing us all stumble in at an ungodly hour, giggling furiously, was to get up out of bed, storm into the kitchen, and throw the most enormous breakfast together we had ever seen. Those drunken, loud, unruly breakfasts are my most favorite memory of her. Oh, that and her ants on a log. (giggle if you know what I’m talking about).

But I digress. I want to make a case for the memoir. Right, so I’ve never written one, but I know the value of one. Since all my grandparents are gone now, their stories went with them. I don’t want that to happen again, so last Christmas I gave both my mother and my father blank life journals. I am encouraging them to write their life stories down. I want to know them, and share them with my children. Every family is different. Most think that their family is the most dysfunctional. Prove it is! Prove it isn’t! Just write it all down. I think, it’s possible, your kids may thank you for it. I know I will thank my folks. If I ever get them back. Um, excuse me now, I have a couple phone calls to make.

Samantha Combs, Author

Check out all 6 of my books!

SPELLBOUND  http://www.amazon.com/Spellbound-Samantha-Combs/dp/1463787936/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1336187025&sr=8-13

EVERSPELL  http://www.amazon.com/Everspell-Spellbound-ebook/dp/B006Z0LKLC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336187120&sr=1-1

GHOSTLY  http://www.amazon.com/Ghostly-ebook/dp/B005ONM5RE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336187148&sr=1-1

THE DETENTION DEMON  http://www.amazon.com/The-Detention-Demon-ebook/dp/B0077DTQHG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336187185&sr=1-1

TEETH AND TALONS  http://www.amazon.com/Teeth-Talons-Horror-Anthology-ebook/dp/B006X51I4S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336187215&sr=1-1

WAY PAST MIDNIGHT  http://www.amazon.com/Way-Past-Midnight-ebook/dp/B0088DXFP8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338755543&sr=1-1

Coming in September from Musa Publishing: WATERDANCER, a new YA paranormal

CONNECT WITH ME!

Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Combs-Fan-Page/205186202866933

Email:  samanthacombswrites@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/samanthacombs1

WRITE, PUBLISH, AND BE INFORMED!

Everspell is now touchable

I wanted to find a new way to make my announcement, but I'm sure every single way has been done to death.  In any case, here's my big deal:

Everspell is now available in print!

Get the touchable reference now?  Like pages and such?  *sigh*  Just excited.  Sorry.  Anyway, in case you either haven't seen the book or forgot the beginning, here is a piece to chomp on.

EVERSPELL

Book Two in the Spellbound series continues the love story of Logan and Serena.  Having previously dispatched Christophe, the dark demon trying to capture and kidnap Serena for her special witch DNA in Book One, the two lovers believe they are now free to plan and live their lives together.  Or are they?

When an innocent mistake made by their newlywed friends frees the way for Christophe to return, their idyllic attempt at happiness is marred by the nightmare they must outsmart, finally, to achieve the happily ever after they deserve.

They know they can rely on their coven to be there for them, and some new friends and additions to the family, as they once again embark on an epic battle that will secure their life, their love, and their future together.  Once, they were Spellbound, now their story continues.  For love, forever, for Everspell.

Musina Hogs the Spotlight!

This was such a great interview, I am double-dipping it and posting it here from my author friend Joanna Fay's blog.  Is it me, or does Musina sound like a spoiled teenager?

Meet Samantha Combs…and her Muse (up close and personal)

Samantha Combs, fellow author at Musa Publishing and awesome creator of Paranormal YA novels, stretched the boundaries of author interviews recently by posting an interview with me…by my budgie. Now it’s Samantha’s turn! And her feisty Muse-with-an-Attitude, Musina, has kindly (I think) stepped in to give us an amazing window into her pet author’s creative journey.

Welcome, Samantha and Musina. The floor is yours:

Hi, Musina. When did you first meet Samantha, and did she recognize you straight away?

I first came into Sam’s life when she was ready for me.  She had been writing since she was a small girl, but I never sensed the right time.  If you get it wrong, you can totally harsh the gig.  Like the human has creative overload and goes all postal on you.  So I waited.  One night, when she was having one of those conversations you can only have with a four-year-old, I introduced myself.  She didn’t know who I was until long after that, but she knew something had changed.  The writing became more than a hobby.  It became a passion.  She felt me compel her and we wrote her first published novel in 2 months of only writing at night and on weekends during nap time.

What is your favourite way to ‘appear’?

I like the “compelling” thing.  I start as an urge, almost like the human need to go pee…insistent, increasing in strength and just not going away!  She used to hate it, but she gets it now.  Now, she likes it when I compel her to open the laptop, and then we settle in together.  We have reached an easy alliance, her and I.  She knows I am there, and she knows I will run with seed, if only I allow her to plant it.  Most of the time, I try not to interrupt her regular life.  Well, some of the time.  What?  I have a job to do.  Whatever.

Which is your favourite book of Samantha’s? 

I have a special place in my heart for two of them.  The first is Ghostly.  I think more than anyone I resemble the sidekick friend Sixx from that book.  Without her knowing or really understanding, she wrote that character as me.  Smart-assed with an awesome fashion sense.  Yeah!  I also love the one about to release, Waterdancer.  I have always dropped bits of Sam’s life in our writing, but this time, she let a whole lot more in.  When we re-read the final draft, we cried.  We understood so much of Bailey, the main character, of her life.  A lot of it is in that novel.

Can you tell us the sequence of Samantha’s novels and why you chose that order to inspire her with? 

I must admit, I mess with her a bit on that score.  She wrote Spellbound, then I interjected the idea of another two stories before we broached the idea of the sequel.  Plus, those damn characters wouldn’t shut up!  Waking Sam in the middle of the night and making her poke ideas into her smartphone is MY job, damn it.  I couldn’t compete with their insistence, so I finally compelled her to write the damn sequel.  And now the greedy twits want another one!  *sigh*  A muse’s job is NEVER done!

What do you do when Samantha is saying ‘I don’t wanna’? Do you have more than one approach? 

She had a bad patch when she lost that silly job she had.  It was harder to get in.  One day I planted a seed more like the size of a watermelon and sort of smacked her stupid with it.  I came to her as her Mum’s voice.  Never fails now.  Also, like in real estate, it’s all location, location, location.  So I have a favorite.  In the shower.  Now, that’s my best  place to jam ideas in…she’s alone there and rarely anywhere else.  Or in her car while she’s driving.  At least there she can take notes.  Thank you, iphone and Siri! (A cousin of mine….distantly related.  She’s okay, just a bit of a know-it-all.  It’s annoying.  Whatever.)

What do you like to do best in your spare time (if you get spare time)?

Untangle traffic jams, find lost wedding rings, but nothing directly related to another individual.  For better or for worse, Sam and I are together for life.  See, once you discover a Muse, she will forever after be your inspiration, and yours alone.  It takes a while for you to find each other.  I’ve had failures, sure.  Vanilla Ice, the movie Ishtar, and Crocs.  But, then, there was Sam.  She’s a keeper.  But, you know, I was like, assigned to her.  I have to stay.  It’s not like I love her or anything.  She just….she gets me.  It’s cool.  Whatever.

Do you have any special advice to other Muses? 

Keep trying to find your person.  It’s really kicky when your seed becomes something that makes others laugh or cheer or cry. That’s when I know she is at her full creative potential.  And I am fulfilling mine.  What’s not to like?  Winner, winner, chicken dinner, everybody gets a prize!  It’s a rockin’ cool partnership, like….like peanut butter and bread.  Most people say peanut butter and jelly, but without the bread, where do you spread it?  Right?  She’s my bread.  Whatever.

Samantha, you’ve got your work cut out for you…and I somehow think Musina’s still got plenty of novels up her sleeve for you. Keep having fun, you two!

Take a look at Samantha’s novels :

SPELLBOUND

EVERSPELL

GHOSTLY

THE DETENTION DEMON 

TEETH AND TALONS 

WAY PAST MIDNIGHT 

And coming in September from Musa Publishing: WATERDANCER, a new YA paranormal.

CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA!

Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Combs-Fan-Page/205186202866933

Email:  samanthacombswrites@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/samanthacombs1

WRITE, PUBLISH, AND BE INFORMED!

The Kid Interview Series #10 - My daughter puts me under the lights!

When my 6 year old daughter heard that her brother did this interview, she got mad.  Like, tantrum-y and mean-faced mad. She demanded to be given the same chance.  If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that of my two children, in nature terms, one is the cool, island breeze, and one is a goddamn typhoon.  Guess which one my dinky diva is?

You will also remember that I credit her with bringing me to the publishing industry, quite unbeknownst to myself.  She wanted a fairy tale and I wrote her one.  Funny thing is, I never intended it to be a novel, much less a series.  She , of course, is the force behind Spellbound, my first published novel.  Cut to two years later and six pubbies, with one in the wings being released by the publisher in 3 weeks.  All due to the mini-me.  So, it was only fitting she got the chance to do this interview.  That, and it was worth peace in the house. *shrug*

THE KID’S INTERVIEW

Mallory Combs, age 6, interviews her author mom, SAMANTHA COMBS

Q.    Can you name all your Mom’s books? 

Mallory:  Um, Spellbound, Waterdancer….ah, Goosebump….um, ah… did you write down Waterdancer?  Oh, the tattoo one where all the tattoos came alive.  Next question?

Q.    Which is your favorite and why? 

Mallory:  Um, Spellbound.  Mommy, what are they all about?  Tell me and I’ll remember.

Q.    When does your Mom write?  Where in the house?  Describe her writing area. 

Mallory:  Maybe sometimes on Sundays and Saturdays.  Sometimes in the living room and sometimes in the lounge in her room.  Another writing area is kinda in her bedroom, it’s a big room. 

Q.  What are you doing when Mom is writing? 

Mallory:  Watching tv downstairs or playing with my dolls in my dolly house.

Q.    If Mom got rich and famous, what would you want her to do with the money? 

Mallory:  Buy her a fancy house and get a limo!

Q.   Do you read your Mom’s books? 

Mallory:  No.  Because I can’t even read yet *giggles*

Q.    Do you think you do better in school because Mom is a writer? 

Mallory:  Yes.  Why I am good in the school is because Mom makes me artistic and happy to be creative.

Q.  Do your friends know what your Mom writes?  Do you tell them? 

Mallory:  No, they don’t know.  I don’t tell them.  I keep on forgetting to.

Q.    Do you want to be a writer when you grow up?  If not, what do you want to be? 

Mallory:  No.  I want to be a ballerina.  And Momma, I hope you write a book about one named Isabella. *twirls*

Q.   If you could dedicate a book to your Mom, what would you say? 

Mallory:  To my artistic and beautiful Mommy. I love you so much! *runs outside*

Many of you who read this post already know Mallory, and you will know this is totally her!  I write about my family in a limited manner, but they appear in the posts now and again.  Each of them are THRILLED to see their name in print, and dedications on my books to them delight them endlessly.  She will LOVE this post.

And now, for my shameless plug:  I often think the character in my next release, Waterdancer, is the embodiment of how my girl will be when she gets older.  She is a natural waterbaby and loves baths, swimming, and even playing with the hose in the front driveway.  The character's precociousness and blind self-assurance smacks of my baby girl.  Check out the cover and look in the blog headers for the blurb.  And thanks for stopping by!

The Story of a Story - My Next Release: WATERDANCER -

One of the most important things I ever read on the Internet was about the toughness and loneliness of the writer's life.  How you are rejected, time and again, and how to beat the discouragement you may feel.  I have even blogged about the ways I shrug off the disappointment and soldier on.  And the single piece of advice that rang true for me was this:  Write a book, try to get published, and while you are waiting for that to happen, write another one.  And another one.

Happily, even though doing that is completely harder than it sounds, I've been able to do just that very thing. I keep at it, knowing that while I may never get rich at this, I am getting good at it and I am getting happy at it.  I now have six published books (six!) and besides my kids, nothing gives me greater joy than looking at them all lined up in a row, like pretty flowers in a garden of my own making.  And as the Head Gardener, (or Landscaper for the PC crowd), I decide what gets planted next, which seeds can be watered with the flow of words, and which lovelies are ready to be dressed up and showcased for all the world to see.  And so, I have a new flower for the yard.

WATERDANCER, published with Musa Publishing house, will be released on September 7, 2012, two months from now.  It occurred to me some aspiring writers might want to know what my whole process for the publishing is, laid out step-by-step.  So, here it is:

I submitted the completed, edited, properly formatted manuscript to the publisher on September 30, 2011.  I had one book already placed with the publisher, so predictably, I felt I had an edge.  But, make no mistake, the manuscript I submitted still had to be ready, in every sense of the word.  I felt it was, and still do feel quite proud of the story.  But, when I submitted it, I was nervous and doubtful, like I always am, of my own talent and ability to entice on a query.

On October 13th, the head editor requested the full manuscript.  A week later she offered me a contract.  I signed and was given my release date of 9-7-12.  It seemed a long way away, but I was over the moon with the acceptance.  I had four others planned for release anyway, to keep me busy.

I released my two self-published adult horror collections, TEETH and TALONS, and WAY PAST MIDNIGHT, and Astraea Press released EVERSPELL, the sequel to SPELLBOUND.  Musa also released my MG horror, THE DETENTION DEMON.  So, I was busy!

My edits for WATERDANCER began in May.  I completed two rounds of content edits and the manuscript has now gone to the last edit round, Line Edits.  Next step will be the cover design.  I'll keep you updated as to how this goes.  I have submitted my own ideas and some free images that embody my ideas.

I have experienced a couple different ways of being published, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.  Funny thing about being an author, after the joy of typing The End, its pretty much perfunctory following that.  The steps are always the same: Proof, edit, proof, edit, tighten, organize, format, then proof and edit a couple dozen more times.  Have people read it, people NOT related to you (trust me here, Mom will love everything you write...not a good foundation for truth there) and then proof and edit it again.  Also, spell-check is NOT your friend.

I will next update after the Line Edits and cover designing.  And look for WATERDANCER coming 9-7-12, and any of my others that might interest you.  And tell me about yours, too....I read as well!

If I Only Knew Then, What I Know Now

If you have been following this blog, you no doubt know that I have had nothing less than a tumultuous year. I lost my job in early 2011 when the company went bankrupt with no warning, not to be employed again until October, more than six months later.  As weeks turned into months, the economy and my bad attitude made the extra time seem like a death sentence.  My marriage was affected, my relationships suffered, and I began to experience self-doubt and a lack of confidence, the likes of which I had never experienced before.  I had one silver lining.....I discovered writing.

Not entirely, mind you.  I had written my debut novel a year earlier and received a contract offer exactly two months before I was let go.  I was never a super internet-y person, but I learned quickly I had better become one.  So, I joined facebook and read all the blogs I could get my hands on.  They all said the same thing....while you wait for the first book, write another.  And another.  And another.  So I did.  You would think that having all the time in the world would be wonderful for a budding author.  It would have been, if I didn't have two kids home from summer vacation.

So, I wrote at night, the same way I did before.  I wrote a second paranormal YA, a bunch of short stories, and started the sequel to the first.  I got a second, then a third contract for my novels.  I sold to a second publisher.  Then a third.  And still I couldn't get a job.  So I took more advice I found on the web and started killing off my enemies one by one.....in stories.  It was quite satisfying.  And always, always, I did the next thing on the list and remembered nothing is permanent.  Those are two of my Mum's sayings, and they saw me through.

So, I write this because I just realized that I just passed the anniversary of the publication of my first novel.  A year later, and I have a wonderful new job, my marriage is intact, my relationships thrived, and best of all, I am the author of six published books.  And the ideas still keep coming.  Thank Musina.

I also am stepping my toes back in the convention scene.  I could only go to one before I lost my job last year, but I am gearing up for two in 2012.  The Southern California Writer's Conference in Newport beach is a must.  I met agents, editors, famously published authors, and aspiring ones who have become friends.  Check it out here:  http://www.writersconference.com/la.  I hope to meet some new friends there this year.  Funny story, I read portions of Spellbound, my debut novel, in the Rogue Reads, and it was met with great favor.  I'll definitely do that again with a new work-in-progress.

I also am deciding on another one as well.  So, if you live in Los Angeles and plan on attending either the SCWC in Newport, or the Writer's Digest West Conference, check it out here: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/index.php?eventid=33554& .  I'd love to connect with you!

Update on Works in Progress

I feel compelled to update this blog on the progress I have had on my current projects.  I do this not to brag, I swear.  It's more designed as a kick-in-the-ass.  See, my idea is that if I put it in writing here, then it's out in the universe and more than being compelled to document it, I might actually be motivated to finish it.

I'm talking mostly about the project I am calling The Deadlies.  This is the one about seven girls in an antebellum school who have been possessed by the seven deadly sins.  I am only about 5-10k words away from the conclusion.  The problem?  I cant get there.  I have them in the last scene before the big confrontation I am planning and everything I am writing sounds lame-ass.  It was a three-day weekend and I don't think more than two hours have gone by without my thinking about the end of this story.  Including a Dodger game Friday night with 60k other people around me.  The story arc always creeps in.  But, luckily for me, so does Musina.  She and I are sorting out different ideas and we'll hit on one soon that works perfectly, I have no doubt.

I'm also beginning to jot down notes about the final book to Spellbound.  I am playing with titles, arcs, and a couple fun new characters I want to introduce.  There are a lot of loose ends to tie up and many of my notes do just that.  I'm looking forward to starting soon.  I'm not sure why I haven't yet, but I never force myself to write.  It will come when it's supposed to come.  But, I feel like it will be soon.  I tend to write really well in the summertime.  Something about the beautiful blue skies either makes me want to paint a glorious happily-ever-after, as with my YA's, or smash it all to hell, like with my adult horror.  Won't it be fun to see which way I swing?  *giggles evilly*

It's not all bad news, however.  I have completed the adult horror collection I have been working on for the past two months.  Way Past Midnight, an assemblage of five horror stories, is through the editing and I have commissioned the coolest, creepiest cover from my go-to gal, Paragraphic Designs.  What do you think?  Spooky, right?

I have always been able to rely on Paragraphic Designs for my homegrown stuff.  She also did the cover for my YA paranormal Ghostly, released through Astraea Press.  Check her stuff out here: http://paragraphicdesigns.blogspot.com/

I have another project I am working on as well.  This one is another YA paranormal, but edgier, like Waterdancer.  Actually, even more so than that one.  This one is scientific and biologic.  Called Wingspan, I am about 1/3 of the way through this one.  I'm looking for Summer and Musina to light a fire under me for this one too.

So, let me know what you think of this new cover.  I am not certain if I want to go through my publisher or try out the kindle program again. I'll keep you posted.

And thanks.  Every so often I need a good kick in the patootie.  You just let me administer one to myself.  :-).  I'm done moving, the new house is great, and the new job is awesome.  I'm out of excuses.  So pardon me now, if you will.  An impatient Muse is waiting for me.

Finding Your Voice

When I was only contemplating becoming published, I had many misgivings about whether or not I had the chops to do it.  I dove into my research, having written what I considered to be a publishable story, Spellbound.  Almost every blog, every author interview, and especially every agent interview I read, had something to say about two things:  having a platform and having a voice.

I had a voice!  Didn't I?  I sat down and re-read my story and decided I did have a voice.  Then further research advised me how I had to describe that voice in an engrossing manner, well enough to catch the attention of an agent or editor or, best of all, a publisher.  Describe it?  What the hell did that mean?  I had a story, I wrote it.  End of story, right?  Wrooooong.  So very wrong.

I submitted to a couple agents and while there was interest, they didn't take my bait.  And then I started hearing about the second thing:  platform.  Again, I was all, what the hell is that?  I studied some more (thank God for the internet!) and learned platform was actually the application of that voice you think you have.  You needed a blog, a facebook account, Twitter, all the social media one person could handle.  Whew!  It seemed like a lot but I had committed to this and besides, hadn't I told my husband this was my dream, and also it was my time?

So I started a blog.  Holy cow, did it suck at first.  I may have had a voice, but I certainly wasn't used to using it.  I wasn't sure what to do except talk about my story, which I did.  Then I started writing about my other work, then work I wanted to write.  I joined facebook and developed this whole community of other writers going through the same thing as me.  I bought Writers Searching for Agent-type publications and began to look for my angel.  I mean my agent.  I compiled careful lists of agents who I thought I might like, who had the same lists as the book I wanted to publish.

I taught myself how to write a query letter, how to play up the fact that I had zip for other publications, and I banged out blog posts.  I even started to blog on other people's sites.  For some reason they thought I had something to say.  Then my first exciting bite!  Defiantly, I had sent my submissions to a place that clearly stated they didn't take unagented submissions.  I figured, what was the worst that could happen?  Then the unexpected did happen: Harlequin Teen asked to see my manuscript!  I sent it in and me and the hubs made a list of things we would like to do with the advance money.  I know, right?  I didn't know ANYTHING!

The rejection came a couple weeks later, a lovely worded letter with some great advice.  They were passing on this one, but wanted me to submit in the future with any other projects.  I was bummed and elated at the same time.  Me and the hubs put the list we'd drawn up in a desk drawer.

Then a small independent publisher I had submitted to asked to see the manuscript.  Fully jaded now, and expecting, realistically, nothing, I sent it in.  Two days later they offered me a contract.

So, I don't have an agent yet.  But what I do have is a voice.  And five published works. And a platform.  You are smack in the middle of it here on this blog.  I passed 10,000 views recently and am pretty jazzed that most posts receive at least 35-50 or so hits.  I suppose the take-away from this post is exactly like many others will say.  Don't give up.  Keep writing.  Develop your own platform and your personal voice.  And it's okay if you make a list.....just keep it in that desk drawer.  I do, and I know someday I'll be pulling it out.  And if you have a blog, let me know about it.  I'll be happy to support you.

Letting Your Stories Choose You

As many of you know, I have been searching for a new house for the family for the past few weeks.  I've seen so many, the rooms and features have become blurred in my mind.  And then, this week, we found it.  The most perfect place for so many reasons, it was a glorious bloom in a sea of fertilizer.  Seriously.  What people think constitutes "a great family home built for entertaining" is truly scary.  Anyway.

We had two other places we were considering and those close to me kept telling me I had to make a choice.  But, over the drama of having to move in the first place, I made a decision:  I was going to treat this dilemma exactly the way I treated my writing.  In other words, I let the house choose us.

Everyone but my Mum and hubs thought I was crazy.  I heard it all.  If I didn't act fast, I'd lose it.  Someone else would get it if I didn't make a decision.  But I bided my time.  I nearly drove certain people nuts, but I swear, I knew what I was doing.  Sure enough, day by day, reasons to let the others go and choose the one we finally did, kept revealing themselves.  And I realized it was just like writing.

As I have admitted here before, I get ideas for books and stories in the shower.  And I like it fine that way.  I love that the ideas start as seeds and those kernels burst into paragraphs, chapters, story arcs, and finally, a finished project.  But I never sit down and say to myself, Today I will write about....witches.  Or ghosts, or things that you wish would have gone bump in the night.  Every story I write chooses me.

You know the old adage, write what you know?  I do that.  Not even consciously either.  When I wrote Spellbound, I was exposed to a person who was a practicing Wiccan.  Not directly, peripherally, but that was all it took.  Ghostly came about from a conversation with someone about how her grandmother came to her when she passed.  Musina wiggled in my head and said, Why are the ghosts always old grandparents?  What would be wrong with a hottie ghost?  Turns out...nothing.

Would it surprise you to know that when I was the general manager of a failing car rental facility, I wrote a story about aliens landing at LAX?  Or that now as a Risk Manager for a cab company, my freshest horror tome features a graveyard shift cabbie?  Or that my latest big project is set in the same state where I have family and once went to high school there? (shout out to Louisville, KY, ya'll!)

Your stories are out there, waiting, for just the right time to jump in your head.  I promise.  It happens to me time after time.  So what are you doing right now?  Your story has been looking for you.  Let it choose you.

Why I Thought I'd Never Write a Series.....Until I Did

Witchie and Ghosty YA’s

Posted on March 21, 2012 

Today I’ve got my dear friend Samantha Combs visiting. She the author of a YA series which features witches. Um, did I get the right which, or is it witch, where it’s suppose to be.

Why I Thought I’d Never Write a Series…..Until I Did

The first book I ever wrote was intended to be just that….a single book. I had read plenty of series and I had problems with them. I felt as though I had been roped into them, as though the writer was purposefully leading me on and making the end of each one a cliffhanger, so I was forced to go out and get book after book, just to get to the end of the story. It kind of made me mad. So when I was writing my first book with Astraea Press, Spellbound, I had every intention of writing it as a stand-alone. I was going to be the writer that captured my reader, then freely released them after my book finished. Kind of like the saying, “If you love them let them go, if they love you, they will return to you.” At least, that was the intention. It is definitely not what happened.

What I didn’t count on was the fact that I wasn’t really in control of the story, the characters were. Selena and Logan were telling THEIR story through me. And by the time I got to the end, 300 some odd pages later, I had a startling revelation: This was a series. Dear God, there was almost no way to control it or stop it from happening. I had embarked on a story, not just of two people, but of a family of people, more than twenty in all, and this opus I had written would go on. Not because I particularly wanted it to, but because they did.

I would wake up in the middle of the night with ideas. I would be driving and characters would have whole conversations in my head. Whenever my mind meandered, it drifted back to the lives of the Daniels’ and the Starrs’ and this fantastic, mystical, magical family of witches I had created. Or thought I had created. I didn’t know Musina well that first year (my personal muse), and wasn’t aware she was there even back then, guiding and gently nudging me in the creative process.

I know right about now you are thinking I should be committed, but honestly, if you write as well, you know exactly what I am talking about. It was about this time that I started making small notes on the side about the continuation of the story. Soon, I realized, these notes were the beginnings of the second book. When I succumbed to that realization, I gave in and took those notes and began writing a follow-up, with no idea what it would become. It became Everspell, Book Two to Spellbound. And it is what it was meant to be all along….a perfect continuation of the witch family’s story. But it’s not over.

Yes, against all my better judgment, even against my own preference, there will be a third book. There has to be. Loose ends must be tied up and important characters have way more life to live. At least, that’s what I have been told. Musina is definitely in the house on this one, too, as evidenced by the furtive note-taking I have recently found myself doing. I only recently gave the notes a name: Spellbound Three. *sigh* I seriously am not in control.

Samantha Combs is an author of YA/MG paranormal and supernatural fantasy, and adult and MG horror. She has five books published, three of them with Astraea Press: Spellbound, Everspell, and (a true stand-alone) Ghostly. Check out her blog atwww.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com to learn about all five of her books.

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