have you gotten your copy?

First off, let me say thank you to all of you who have been reading my writing here so faithfully. Your support means more to me than you can imagine, and it has kept me writing even when the words didn't come easily.

So, I want to make sure everyone knows that THE PROPHECY is available free for the Kindle on Amazon! The promotion will last through Monday, so if you are an ebook person stop over and pick it up...then let me know what you think about it :0)

Second, I thought I would tell you all a little bit about the story that's coming next. It's definitely quite a ways from being finished, but I'm having a lot of fun writing it!

It's not part 2 for the Sons of Tundyel (that one is still in the planning stages). I've delved into a different type of world for this one. My hero Roedel is of the Ula Ros--think elf-like for that one--and he has found out that somehow he is the only hope for the defeat of an army that threatens the whole land. Roedel is traveling with 3 others from 3 different races. His companions are responsible for getting him safely to the Vale in search of a teacher who can help him understand his powers. The problem with that is, the Ula Ros have been forbidden from ever returning to the Vale.

Like I said, I'm having fun writing this story. Roedel is a bit young and clumsy, and I'm finding myself amused and befuddled by some of the things he does (that sounds weird; I'm writing about him and yet still being surprised by him). His companions have kind of mixed feelings towards him as well, so their journey is a bit... interesting.

Again, thank you for taking an interest in the crazy ramblings of someone addicted to writing! If you haven't gotten it yet, head here to pick up your free Kindle copy of THE PROPHECY (and sorry, but the Kindle version is the only ebook available right now due to a 90 day exclusivity agreement with Amazon).

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it won't take me nearly as long to get this second story finished :0)

the big reveal...

I'm incredibly excited (and a bit terrified) to say...

IT'S HERE!

 This little thing (I say that, but it actually came to a whopping 496 pages...never would have imagined that!) has been a long time coming, but it is finally available in its entirety. You can get to it by clicking on the picture above for right now, because createspace is the only place you'll find it for a few days. Before long both the print edition and the Kindle ebook will be available through Amazon. I'll be sure to let you know when that happens--the ebook should be available by the end of the day today :0)

If you are an Amazon Prime member with a Kindle (or the Kindle for PC/MAC, or whatever other Kindle readers there are out there...I'm not very well versed in it myself!), you'll be able to borrow the book for free!

Can I ask a huge favor? If you get the chance to read it, would you take a minute to review it on Amazon for me when the book shows up? Good or bad, I would love to know what you think!

the big event!

I've been writing and editing furiously lately, in the hour or so I have between dropping my daughter off at school and teaching my physics lab each morning. And it has paid off--all the editing and rewriting is DONE!

I am beyond excited to say that this means the whole (first) story of Paodin and Syndria is ready to share with all of you, and it will be available on Amazon starting tomorrow, 31 May 2013.

I want to say thank you to all of you who stuck it out all this time, who have stopped by on occasion to see how this crazy writing journey of mine is going. It's been a bit of a bumpy road at times, but it's been fun so far...and I'm definitely not done yet!

The next part of Tundyel's story is outlined, not to mention Roedel's story that I carry around in my bag so I can write any time I have a spare minute (though I have to admit, Roedel's been abandoned lately while I've finished working on my first brain-child!). Writing is a part of me, and there's no way I'll be stopping any time soon.

*map made by my husband

SONS OF TUNDYEL: THE PROPHECY will be available both as an ebook and as a really truly paperback,so if you're like me and haven't given in to the idea of trading the smell of paper and ink for an electronic reader, I've got you covered ;0) Stop back by tomorrow and I'll have the links to where you can find both versions.

Again, thank you to everybody who has followed this path with me. Your comments and encouragement has meant the world, and I hope that in exchange you've gotten to escape the real world for a little while!

something's missing...

I've been doing some editing lately, trying to get SoT:The Prophecy ready to sell on Amazon (that still seems strange for me to say...). I actually printed the whole story out, after shrinking everything down and then printing two pages of the story to each printed page (what can I say--I really didn't want to go through that much paper and ink!).

A funny thing happened when I was getting everything ready.

I realized that I'm missing a chapter.

Yup, an entire chapter. And this is after I had "finished" and completely walked away from the story I'm thinking that maybe "oops" doesn't really cover it, huh?

I remember not writing it now. I was stuck and didn't really know how to get the story from point A to point B, so my mom suggested I just skip forward and then go back to it later. That's what I did, just with that one minor difference of not going back to it later.

So now, I'm finishing the editing and reading the story start to finish for the first time, believe it or not. I haven't quite gotten to that missing chapter yet, but it won't be too much longer before I get there. Then the story will truly be finished and I'll be ready--or at least as ready as I'll ever be--to put it out there for people to read in its entirety.

Roedel and his journey have been pushed to the back burner for a little while since I'm still planning on having SoT available by the end of the month, but I can tell you that I'm anxious and excited to get back to him. As a bit of a glimpse into his story, when I left him Roedel and his companions were approaching the Vale and trying to disguise Roedel's unruly red curls so the Ula Eos wouldn't recognize him as a halfbreed...

comfort in chaos

Lately, Nathan has been sending me to the coffee shop for an hour or two every couple of days so I can write.

I've been going to a Biggby's just down the street from us, getting a regular coffee with mint flavor and half and half, and setting upstairs at a little table with my back against the wall. I plop my pink notebook down on the table in front of me, pull my pen out, and write.

It took me a while to find a spot to write. I kept searching out someplace quiet, a place where I could set in peace with nothing to interrupt my thoughts. I would get there, get settled in, and then--
--get incredibly distracted.

Everything would be quiet, 
then somebody would cough 
or answer a phone 
or drop something 
or slurp their coffee
and I would totally lose my train of thought.

The first time I sat down in what is now my favorite writing place, I almost didn't. It was loud! People meet there for everything from business to studying to friends just getting together to Bible study...so it is anything but a quiet place. There's even a radio playing all the time, often with songs I know. I'm a huge music person (I was always a choir nerd in school), so I just knew I would be way too distracted by all the chaos to get anything written.

Then, I wrote 2 pages without even really noticing it.

Huh. That's interesting.

I went back a couple of times that week, and the same thing happened: people talked and laughed and slurped coffee and dropped things and made lots of noise, and I wrote 2 or 3 pages in my hour long lunch break.

Life has always been busy for me.There's always been noise and chaos and just plain stuff all the time. I had this idea that I needed to lock myself away somewhere to write, to find a quiet place with no distractions.

Apparently, I was wrong. I'm a person who has always done multiple things at once. I listened to the radio while I did my homework, I always had 2 or 3 books on my nightstand because I couldn't read just one thing at a time (unless it's a Dean Koontz novel), and then when I was teaching I sat in the living room with the t.v. on while I graded papers. We even had the radio on in my classroom quite often.

Maybe I'm odd. Maybe most people need quiet and peace and solitude to write. I've always dreamed of spending a week by myself in a cabin somewhere, just me and the quiet and my writing. Maybe I need to change that dream to a week spent in the middle of Times Square or something!

Until then, I'll be at the coffee shop. I'll be that girl setting in the corner, a cup of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other, somehow comforted and spurred on by the chaos and noise around me.

something brand new...

First of all, thank you for even reading this--it has been forever since I posted anything, but apparently some of you are still hanging in there with me!

I'm thinking it's time for an update, followed by a pretty big announcement. 

First, the update:
So far, I haven't had any luck with the query letters I've sent out. To be honest, all the responses I've gotten have been form letter rejections (which has definitely hurt a bit). The biggest thing that has happened, though, was the form letter rejection I got from my submission to DAW. I was guardedly hopeful about that one, because they were actually going to have my manuscript in their hands instead of just a query letter. Apparently that didn't matter too much, though, because I got the standard letter on Saturday: "Thanks for submitting...the economy...not a commercial success...everybody gets rejections...keep writing."

I'm not going to go into too many details about my exact reaction because I've already written all that stuff out of my system over here and really don't want to revisit that place. However, something has come out of that raw post I wrote on Sunday.

I have some amazing friends and family, and a few of them took the time to comment on my facebook posting for that other post I linked to above. Those friends don't know just how amazing it was to read their words, and how much they helped pull me out of a pretty dark spot. One of those friends mentioned something, and it made me think. There is a whole world of ebooks out there, and some people have actually gotten to see their stories read by huge groups of people they would never have reached otherwise.

So, now for the announcement:
SONS OF TUNDYEL: THE PROPHECY will be hitting the virtual shelves before long, and by before long I mean hopefully within a month or less!

I have a bit of work to do (some final editing and figuring out how to get a good cover design), but I've decided to take the step and just go ahead and put the whole story out there. It will be available through Amazon, definitely as an ebook. Right now we are trying to decide if we should set it up for people to be able to purchase a physical copy, but that part is still being debated.

I'm in the middle of a second story right now, though it isn't in the world of Tundyel, Syndria, and Paodin. It is a fantasy, though, and I have to admit my writing has matured since I started writing SoT about 8 years ago (wow, that was a lifetime ago!) which makes me more excited about this second story.

Here's a brief glimpse into the world I'm diving into these days...
 *****
Paideia: home to the Darkur, Men, Ula Ros, and Ula Eos

The Feron: a dead army created by the Forgotten One, wraiths sweeping the land and killing everything they encounter

Sharrukin: the Voros who showed up with a tale of a half Voros, half Ula Eos who would be Paideia's only chance against the Forgotten One who shared that strange bloodline

Roedel: a clumsy, young Ula Ros who has been told he is actually the half-blood hero

Caedfel & Beryl: a Darkur male and a female from the Men, companions for Roedel and Sharrukin as they travel to the Vale to find a Ula Eos who will train Roedel

The Stone: a smooth blue stone given to Roedel by his older brother, with only the warning that he must keep it safe because it in Roedel's hand is somehow the hope of Paideia in their fight against the Feron
*****

So, I'll keep you posted on how the ebook is coming along. I've got an outline for the next SoT story, THE DARKNESS, so once Roedel's story is finished I'll be moving on to the next installment of Paodin and Syndria.

Thank you to everyone for the encouragement you've given me. Hopefully you'll be able to have the whole story in your hands by this time next month (and here's hoping the next couple of stories don't take me quite as long to write)!
 :0)

a quick update...

I know I said I was taking a break from this blog, but since apparently there are still a few people stopping by I just wanted to let you know what's going on in my writing world...

First, I had started writing SoT:The Darkness.
There has been a bit of a snag, though--I gave in to the world of technology and I was typing it on my new notebook computer I got for school. Well, the computer died (completely) and I have now lost everything I just wrote. Granted it wasn't all that much, and it probably needed to be rewritten anyway, but it still hurt! I am definitely going to go back to the old fashioned method of putting everything down in ink on notebook paper. It may take me quite a while to type it up at the end if I do that, but that's okay. It will just be editing time that way!

Second, I've started sending out query letters for SoT:The Prophecy. I sent one a long time ago that I never got a response from, but looking back now that was probably a good thing since my story was nowhere near ready to be sent out. This time, though, I've got a list of agents to pester....I've also gotten my first rejection note. That part isn't so much fun, but I guess it welcomes me to the ranks of those who are trying to get published! I'm just going to stick to the idea that I'm in the company of writers like Stephen King and Dr. Seuss and Dean Koontz and probably just about every other author in the history of publishing. And I'm going to keep sending out query letters until I catch somebody's attention!