Belated Music Monday 5/31 - And #Loverboy Talk

Happy Tuesday, all. In case you missed it, Tastes Like Candy (Lean Dogs Legacy Book 2) is now live.

Get it here: on Amazon.

And here: on Nook.

I'm so very glad I got the book out early because I was sick this weekend and didn't feel like doing much of anything. But, I'm better and back to work today, and since I figure everyone's already burned through TLC, ya speed readers, it's time to dive right back into Loverboy.

In deference to yesterday's missed Music Monday, I'm currently hooked on this album.

Specifically this song. ("Say It [feat. Tove Lo]" - Flume) I just love her voice - though this track feels more like it belongs in a slick, NYC, gritty fire escape, walking home from the club kind of story. I'll get there one of these days.

I love that Tango's story lets me incorporate my guilty love of electronica - though, that's not fair to him, since he certainly doesn't love his own story, or most of the things that have happened to him. Poor boy.

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend. Hope you thanked a vet.

Hope you're enjoying Candy and Michelle's story.

Be on the lookout for teasers.

TLC is LIVE!

Tastes Like Candy is LIVE!

Amazon

Nook

Finally! It's here. I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday weekend and a happy early release day. Thank you all so much to the brave handful who read along with me while TLC was on Wattpad. The final version has a few extended scenes and an extra chapter. It ended up being 122K words, and 440 pages. Paperbacks are on the way, but for now, please enjoy the Kindle and Nook versions (links above).

Happy Reading. xoxo

#FicPromptFriday: 5/27/16 – Adventures in Presidential Babysitting

This week's #FicPromptFriday installment features Ghost and his grandkiddos. A short one today as I finalize details on TLC for our release this weekend. As with last time, please excuse typos - this is just for fun.

*The girls are all at a baby shower :)

5/27/16 – Adventures in Presidential Babysitting

There were four of them. Why were there four? Why had his children needed to multiply this many times?

Not grandfatherly thoughts to have, but Ghost had them all the same, as Lainie sat down on her butt and wailed up the ceiling. And of course, that woke Camille up in her swing and she wailed too, a thin, half-asleep cry that put screws through Ghost’s temples.

Notes From the Editing Zone

Boring writer post today. Possibly in bullet format.

Okay, definitely in bullet format.

Some TLC thoughts as I work through Editing Week:

• When I get emails from new writers seeking advice, the two things I always tell them are 1) Read, read, read, and read quality writing from amazing authors. And 2) Never box yourself in with labels. Don't set out to write a particular type of novel; just write the best novel you can. Because you have to allow for natural story progressions. And in this case, that natural progression was one I wasn't expecting.
• About three-quarters through writing the book, I realized not only had Candy not put those legendary teeth-smashing fists to good use...but that he wasn't going to. He was already a legend at the beginning of the book. And the most mature, attractive thing he could do was wield that reputation responsibly. So this book wasn't about Candy being a legend - it was about Michelle becoming one.
• I always like to end a book on a note that makes unromantic me feel a little sentimental. The original ending, that of the Wattpad version, didn't do that. But the new ending ticked all my boxes, so I hope everyone really likes the new sense of continuity and sentimentality Chapter 41 provides.
• The messy, strange family dynamics are my fave! I don't think of this as a very romance-heavy book, but a family-heavy one.
• Michelle is one of my new favorites because she isn't silly. She has goals, she's tough, she looks at the big picture, and stumbles along the way, like we all do. I have such a soft spot for the serious girls, for the ones who resist falling head over heels, because...I identify with that, if I'm honest. Work I understand. Interpersonal relationships are complicated and messy.
• Candy, to me, is so sexy because he gets his girl and he lets her spread her wings. In my mind, the fantasy is finding a guy who lets me do my thing. So A+ for Derek Snow.
• Albie is my favorite of Michelle's uncles, in a lot of ways, perhaps because I have a soft spot for the lonely intellectual types, but also because you need an uncle like that. I love Fox, too, but he's a bit of a wild card.
• Editing sucks, for real, but I think a week of painful rewrites will make the book that much better, and I can't wait to share it in its final form.

Extended Edition, Basically

Hi, happy Sunday! I would love to say that most of my weekend was spent consuming milkshakes (seriously, put chocolate chips in coffee ice cream and Oh My God), but I've been elbow-deep in TLC edits, with only the one milkshake.

Right now, I'm typing up one of several scenes that I'm going to be adding to the final, published edition of the book. Some that I've shared via #FicPromptFriday, and some that I have not.

There are two sides to Wattpad, the good and the bad. On the good front, I can get content to you guys regularly, and quickly. On the bad, I'm not posting chapters from a fully edited and revised manuscript; what you all read on Wattpad is more or less a rough draft. I figured the readers who were dying to know wouldn't mind a typo or two. Or three. Or four. The disadvantage, then, is that you haven't read the final, polished product.

When it comes to editing, I never quite know what I'm getting into. Sometimes I'm tickled pink. Sometimes...not so much. As has been the case with TLC. Despite the fact that this is a 116k word, 424 page book, there are some scenes I feel could benefit from expansion. And there's new content I'd like to add. I've debated with myself as I've edited this weekend, asking if I want to go through with it, and I've come to this decision:

I've always been wildly fanatical in my love for Lord of the Rings. The books. The movies. Anything affiliated. So when the Extended Edition DVDs came out? Oh boy. How wonderful. The EEs provided a more complete film experience. Nothing left on the cutting room floor. Theater-going critics might not have appreciated it, but the fans did.

So I've been thinking all weekend, and since I don't write for the critics (hello! I see you lurking) but for the fans, I decided to go ahead and bulk up the book with the extended material that's been kicking around in my head. When TLC releases, expect a fuller, more complete vision than what's represented on Wattpad. I'm dedicating all of this week to getting the book up to par with the rest of the series, and I hope you'll all enjoy the results when the final book premieres  on sales channels on the 30th.

5/21/16 Continuation of Yesterday

I decided I had to do a quick continuation of the #FicPromptFriday piece I did yesterday. Same warning applies: potential for typos, and potential for TLC spoilers.

5/21/16 Continuation

As predicted, it was taking a long time. Her contractions were much closer together now, and the doctor had said it wouldn’t be long the last time he’d taken a peek, but four hours was a long time to be in this kind of pain, in Fox’s company no less.

In the chair beside the bed, he plucked ice chips from a cup one by one and crunched them noisily.

“Those are supposed to be for me, you know,” she said.

He tilted the cup in offering.

“Oh no. You enjoy.”

Fic Prompt Friday - 5/20: Michelle

Fic Prompt Friday

Welcome to the first installment of Fic Prompt Friday! Here's how this is going to work: on Fridays - the Fridays I can make room for it on the schedule - I'll take prompts from you guys and write a little <1,000 word scene. Today's installment went just a few words over, but I trust that's okay ;)

Please be advised that this is a quick, off-the-cuff sample of writing and though I've speed-proofed it, there might be a typo or two here and there. 

*Contains spoilers for Tastes Like Candy* 

#FicPromptFriday

 5/20/16 – Michelle

Really, she thought, at nine-fifteen on Saturday night, she should have expected this. This would fall under that old Murphy’s Law thing, wouldn’t it? It felt like it would. It also felt like hell.

Music Monday - 5/16

Back from the weekend ready to write! By hand, ugh. I'm on doctor's orders to institute "major lifestyle changes" in order to reduce the constant inflammation in my back, yada yada. So. Greatly reduced computer time for me.

I'm hoping to get my Tastes Like Candy proofs in the mail today! I'll need a week or two to apply edits, so I'm thinking about a Memorial Day release. That will be our tentative date going forward - 5/30/16.

I'm also diving back into Loverboy today. I think a little breather away from the book was just what I needed, because now I'm excited to return to Tango's story. I'm thinking about a mid-July release, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

It's Music Monday, so here's a few tracks off the Loverboy playlist:

"I Can't Go On Without You" - Kaleo

"Sweater Weather" - The Neighborhood

"Lessons in Love (feat. Neon Trees)" - Kaskade

Crazy Like A...

Apologies in advance, because this post is long, and is sort of a rambling mess. It contains possible Captain America: Civil War spoilers, and it builds to a rather shamelessly self-serving point.

I started to write this Friday afternoon, then decided I ought to sit on it, and write it today, if I still felt the same way. Long story short, I still feel the same way. Short story long - skipping out on work and going to the movies Friday was the BEST decision. It unlocked all sorts of rusty creative doors in my head, and I'm currently pumped.

Here's why: