I'm alive, I promise

As a fellow writer recently lamented, blogging can get in the way of writing. And I've been so busy, life has gotten in the way of writing, so blogging suffered as a result. I'll try to make amends.

So NaNoWriMo didn't go as planned.

I wrote and wrote and tore out my hair, trying to make it work. I had a scenario that I'd dreamt about years ago and it's stuck with me for a long time. The dream terrified me. And while I was writing my horror story, I just didn't feel like I was doing it justice. I didn't have a purpose to the story. There was no antagonist. I only had characters that I tried too hard to like. When I had a bad day and killed off three characters within one paragraph, I did one of these:

So, I put that story on the back burner. I will return to it, but November just wasn't the right time. Instead, I've start writing another book that I've had stewing in my mind. This one goes back further than my horror story - I drew the first version of the main character when I was a junior in high school. Granted, that character no longer exists, but that sowed the seeds for this current book.

I'll go back to my little horror story either when I'm done with this one or the one after that. It will be better for it.

Other than that, if you haven't seen this short, then be prepared for the best six minutes of your life.

Enjoy!

A Quick Update on NaNoWriMo

It was the first day of NaNoWriMo and I had a good day. To be on pace is 1,667 words. I did 2,202. Hopefully I can keep that up.

I'm excited for this one. It feels nice to use explicit language in a novel again.

NaNoWriMo Plans

So November starts on Thursday and I'm going to *try* and do NaNoWriMo. I've tried a few times in the past, but I've never completed it. I started Jacob Smith as a NaNoWriMo novel last year, so even if I don't finish, it'll be a great start on it.

NaNoWriMo is where you write 50K words in one month (so 1,333 words a night), and you start and complete a novel. Even though I'm in the middle of writing Jacob Smith's sequel, I'm going to break from it and spend the month writing a horror story based upon a dream I had about two years ago. It's stayed with me ever since and I need to finally get out on paper. It should be fun, in the vein of Clive Barker. I'm excited.

I'll start putting a Pinterest board together for inspiration. It's a creepy idea in my mind. I hope it succeeds.

Stay tuned, peeps!

Erin

Just a hint of what's to come.

Photos of friends and fans

I just had to post these pictures of my friends and fans (and they're both at the same time). It means a lot to me and I hope they enjoyed my books as much as I enjoy seeing them with a book.

A special shout out Chandler, who's already reading Bedtime at the Zoo:

And a shout out to Emily, who was the first to tackle my very rough first draft of Jacob Smith:

Thank you Tina, Ashleigh, Chandler, and Emily. I seriously had tears in my eyes when I saw these pics.

With love,

Erin x

Reviewing Books

Here's just another shameless plug: Jacob Smith has been approved on iBooks! http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/jacob-smith-is-incredibly/id563129831?mt=11&uo=4
So if you haven't bought it yet, please do. I think you'll like it.

Onto the actual topic of this post:

I posted a few days ago that I would start posting written reviews for books I've read. Usually I'm pretty bad about reviewing a book. I might leave a review just in stars. Or I might just let others leave reviews for me.

After finishing one of my favorite indie author's books, Rhiannon Frater (for her excellent book, Pretty When She Kills), I realized that as much as I love any of my favorite authors and books, I rarely ever review it. And as someone trying to self publish, I know how much reviews can make or break your book. So I proclaimed that I'll start leaving reviews on books that I've read, whether or not I liked it.

Usually my feelings towards book are very dichotomous, but it should help I think. I don't know. As it is, I hope it acts as karma. I review a book, someone will review my book. That's the idea.

Hopefully.

Anyhoo, I did one of those Scarlett O'Hara moments (you know, where she promises that she'll never go hungry again) where I proclaimed that I would review books.

I hope it works.

I'm reading Life After Death by Damien Echols now. It's going to be interesting trying to come up with a review for it. It's absolutely fascinating and well written, I just need to collect all these emotions into a coherent review as it is leaving me both exhausted and contemplative when I read it. It makes me appreciate every bit of fortune my life has provided me.

Strangely enough, since I never read nonfiction, my next book might be Lizzie Velasquez's Lizzie Beautiful, as I had stumbled on her story yesterday and find it sad and fascinating as well. I wish her the best with every endeavour.

And that's the end of my blog entry. Jacob Smith is on Goodreads with a giveaway now. If you're curious, head here.

Until next time,

Erin x

Official Release and a whole heap of links

Hey guys!

So Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average has been officially released on all major platforms for ereaders. There are still a few stragglers that haven't had their approvals ready yet, but here's what's available so far:

Amazon:
eBook:
Print

Barnes and Noble:

Smashwords:

Kobo:
TBR

Sony:
TBR

Apple iBooks:


I'll be updating these as the links go live. Also, be sure to check out the Goodreads listing, where I'm giving away 2 print copies of my book for two lucky readers.

Please give it a go if you're interested in an extraordinary story about a very ordinary boy.

Sequel is well under way!

Thanks,
Erin

Night before the fabled release of Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average

So I'm sitting here, debating what to say about my release date for Jacob Smith.

I guess I'll go ahead and start.

If you're friends with me or Chris, you will have already heard that I've had a bit of a "soft" launch day already - the book is up on Amazon, BN, and Smashwords at the moment. It's also available in print at Createspace and Amazon, which I frankly think is one of the coolest things I've ever held. It adds a bit of reality to something that I've only otherwise seen on screen. I was in awe. I hope you guys will be too.

I apologize in advance, guys, because you will see me re-posting these links throughout the day on Friday on my social media sites.

So why the soft launch?

I am, admittedly, still new to this whole publishing thing. I knew that it would take some platforms a bit of time for them to post my book onto their store, not to mention I'm combating formatting and technology when I'm submitting it. So I tried allowing for a time difference between when I hit "submit" and when it appears in the store. Apparently, some are far quicker to approve than others.

Within a week or two, you'll see Jacob Smith popping up on Sony, Apple, Kobo, and some other formats that I didn't know existed. I'll be posting those links as soon as I know what they are.

The point is, I want this book to do well. Embracing Her Wolf has sold about 1300 copies, Bedtime at the Zoo is far less, but it's to be expected for that type of book.

Jacob Smith's story is exactly the story I wanted to write, and I want him to grow up to be special. I'm proud of the story, proud of the cover I did, proud of my editors, and I'm proud of the book. The premise has gotten a great reaction from friends and co-workers, which is encouraging. I'm also going to try putting a bit of advertising behind it to see what happens.

I'm not expecting a million best-seller or anything - I'd have to be delusional for that - but if I gain some fans out of this, I'd consider it a job well done. There are two other books I want to write to tell the rest of Jake's story, and I want there to be an audience ready for it. Don't worry, the first book is entirely standalone, just in case you don't like it.

So, what's next? I'm writing the sequel to Jake Smith, as I've said. I have a third book up my sleeve to complete Jake's journey, and I also have an adult horror novel to write, which I plan on doing for NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is a slippery slope - I've tried it the past two years and I have gotten too busy to finish it. But I do have an interesting story to tell there - oh boy. It's based upon a nightmare I had. And I think it has a place.

I've also decided that I should start writing more reviews for books I read, in light of all of the recent controversy around authors paying for reviews. I usually leave an honest starred review, but I am also going to start leaving a text review. I figure it's a karma thing. I shop like a normal person, so the more good reviews a book has, the more I'm inclined to read it. So, for karma's sake, I'll start reviewing books I've read, and I'll possibly go back and review some of my favorites. It's only fair, if I hope people review my books.

So, watch out on Friday, guys for the official release. And, as I've mentioned before, I hope you like Jake's story. Because I do.

Erin.