Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Plugging away

Since the last time I blogged I did two bookstore appearances. It's actually more difficult than I thought to convince people who have never heard of me to buy my book. Unless you have a bus load of family and friends show up, don't expect your sales to be through the roof. That being said I had an amazing day at both venues. I can't get over the number of people who admit to either considering writing a book or are in the process. My advice to all of them was "Just do it" If writing is what they are supposed to be doing they will instantly know and never look back.

I've had a book club pick up my book for their new read which is pretty exciting. There is another book club at the Chapters I appeared at that may consider my book as well. I gave a copy to the lady who facilitates it. Cross my fingers she feels its worthy enough for the club.

Tonight I have a radio talk show interview to discuss my book. I've never done anything like that before so I'm a little nervous. I emailed him and asked for a list of questions he will be asking but much to my dismay he doesn't "plan" his interviews. Ugh!

I received a response form a Harlequin submission I sent way back. It wasn't a form rejection so I am pleased. Unfortunately The Jaxon Effect doesn't really fit the Super Romance Category I submitted it under. They want 99% of the story to be between the hero and heroine. This title is a bit more complex than that. Maybe "The Men from Remington's," series would be better suited. Stand alone titles tend to work better for Harlequin.

On a good note I submitted to another publisher on Thursday evening. Monday afternoon I received a response, they requested my full manuscript. After hitting the roof I fine tooth combed it again and sent it to them yesterday evening. Before submitting it I did another round of editing and shaved 3000 words from the story. It could take up to thirty days to hear back, then again they said it could take up to eight weeks to hear back from the query I sent and it only took a couple of days so I hope its sooner. Even if they reject at least I know the most recent query letter that I struggled to perfect is in the pocket.

Book two is moving along well although I have to admit I have been writing scenes that I have no idea where they belong yet. The characters are being secretive and only giving me glimpses of the full story but I like what they are showing me. There is a bit of "one-upmanship" going on which is fun. It tells me their relationship will never become boring or monotonous. They are both too stubborn for that to happen.

Its time for me to relax my mind and get back into Jaxon and Kate's world. Have a wonderful day!

K.C.
Publish Post

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Cliff Hanging and Reviews and a Writing update!

First let me say I am sorry to the haters ;) who were angry enough to throw their e-readers across the room when they realized The Jaxon Effect book 1 was over. Although some of you paid me back by giving me a 1 or 2 star rating you are my best spokespeople!!! Why? Because although you gave me a low score and skewed my rating average you were motivated to do that because you were engaged in the story. You WANTED  it to not be over. You WANTED answers and you didn't get them. The characters came to life for you and you felt vested. Although I would have loved a 4 or a 5 star rating I totally understand.

The good news is you will get the answers Book 2! I will also say as of now my intentions are not to leave you dangling at the end of book 2. Hopefully you will want to read book 3,not because I left a dangling carrot but because you want more of  Jaxon and Kate's story. I hope you love the characters as much as I do.

For those of you wondering about book 2 I am pleased to say the characters have been very co-operative lately. The past three days I flew through six chapters. I spent 48 hours in the same pair of pyjamas but that's okay. When the characters want to speak I drop everything and I write.  I am becoming excited about this one as the story begins to unfold. What I thought I was going to write and what I actually wrote are two totally different things. I had the outline done. The entire book was in point form chapter after chapter and then I began to write it. I wrote five chapters. They were decent and were on point for the most part with my outline and then...... BLOCK!!!!! I left the story alone for a couple of weeks. I edited what I had wrote several times hoping that something would soon start up again but it didn't. I was getting worried and I thought if my husband or my kids asked me one more time how many chapters I had I was going to scream. I put away the outline and decided to take a break from the story all together. Funny thing happened after a couple of days of not trying to force a square peg into a round hole the characters began talking again and what they said was those five chapters I had been fiddling with for a month were completely wrong. As much as I wanted to be organized and plan out the story and all that good stuff it doesn't work for me. So I began again from scratch and I am happy to say I have already completed ten chapters. I have read some blogs from authors who talked about how they write a story. They have a schedule they follow. They outline, they research, they sit at their computers for a certain number of hours each day etc. I can't do that. It would be nice but its not how I roll. Hopefully the continuing sequence of events in Jaxon and Kate's life won't disappoint you. The story continues as its supposed to continue not how I thought it would originally.. I truly believe when the characters tell the story and make the decisions it can't be wrong.  I love the direction the characters are leading me in and I really hope you will too.

Sunday October 6th I will be doing a book signing at Chapters John and Richmond in Toronto. Please join me if you are in the area.

Have an awesome day!
K.C.