Pippa's Journal - 8/1/12

Campnanowrimo starts today! Can you hear the screaming? Well, it's only day one. The screaming will probably come in the last week when I realize how far behind I am in my word count. :-P For those who are wondering what all the fuss is about, and what the heck nanowrimo is, read on.

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a fun event to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Every year it runs from the 1st November until the 30th. There's no time for editing. The idea is that you sit down and churn out all those words until you hit the target, hopefully on or before the deadline. This is a challenge for new, seasoned and aspiring writers. Wanted to write a book but never got around to it? Got into bad habits with your writing? Need something to spark a new idea? Finish a WIP that's been hanging around forever? Do Nanowrimo. You can read more about it here.

I've only known about Nanowrimo since I first came onto Facebook back in November 2009 and met a Nanowrimo winner. I'd already missed out on that one, and didn't know enough about it. The following year I was studying my Creative Writing Course with the OU, and last year I had the edits on Keir. November didn't seem to be a good time for me to do it. But this year they introduced two Campnanowrimo events, one in June and one for August. It was too close to the June one for me, but the August one seemed feasible. I wanted a challenge and something to kickstart me back into writing after doing what seems like endless editing. But I needed to plot an outline (torture for a confirmed pantser) because I couldn't rely on muse to provide 50K's worth of inspiration in the time scale. So, with a little help from Sonya Clark and Misa Buckley, and a weird idea and desire to write a superhero romance, the plot and some copious notes to When Dark Falls... were born. Today I have to start writing it. I may be gone some time...

Blurb -
In a city where Dark Technologies Inc. runs the show after the fall of their guardian superhero - Blaze - Kadie Williams has more personal concerns than who's in charge. Every morning for five days in a row, she's woken up with fresh cuts on her arms, and no idea how she got them. As just one of thousands of civilians conscripted to slave away in the labs of Professor Dark on a special project, her injuries couldn't possibly be work related...could they?

Meanwhile -
Krystal Brookes did an interview at my blog for the release of her sfr Bounty. I also have the fantastic UK author Rayne Hall guesting on my blog tomorrow, with some great tips on stepping up the excitment of fight scenes, and the opportunity to 'chat'. I can highly recommend her book Writing Fight Scenes after reading it myself, so please take a moment to stop by and see if there's anything she can help you with. Last week I asked for help in giving the sequel to Keir a new title, and there's still time to come vote here if you would!

In the meantime my co-bloggers should be back from their Anaheim adventures with lots to blog about. I'm going to take a break from the Lounge for August, but I've another new sfr author - Angela Renee - guesting on my blog here on the 14th August, I'll be celebrating Keir's third birthday with a giveaway on the 17th, and starting the Romancing the Hop blog hop on the 31st with a surprise chat with Keir himself. Trust me, it's a hard thing to get him talking!

A sneak peek at GHOST PLANET . . .

First, apologies for being such a ghost on this blog (ha)! Between working on book 2 for Tor, finishing up production tasks for GHOST PLANET, beginning promotion activities, AND dealing with a former kindergartner now out of school and harder than ever to keep entertained . . . well, you other writerly folk know how it goes. Hats off to Laurie, Donna, and Pippa for keeping Spacefreighters humming along despite their own very full lives.

It's 3 MONTHS until launch! I decided it was high time to post my first excerpt. Well, I've had my first page up for many months, but this is the first time I've actually sat down and tried to pull out a significant chunk that would both serve as a teaser and acquaint readers with the world and characters. The excerpt includes the big first-chapter reveal, so if you don't like spoilers, this is your warning!

Be sure to check the comments, too, for a bit of trivia - what big contribution Laurie Green made during rewrites!

You can read the excerpt on my web site: A peek at GHOST PLANET

What do you think?

Pippa's Journal - 7/25/12

Good morning! This will be a short one as I haven't anything new to announce, and frankly I'm shattered. It's only three days into our summer holiday, and my children are running me ragged. Writing? Prrffft. I've been lucky to edit a paragraph in the last week, and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do the August Campnanowrimo without a tanker-full of extra strong coffee and some late-night candle-burning. But enough of my woes...


Happenings -

This month's SFR Brigade Amazon Tagging sign up is still open for you to add your title for the party on Thursday. Doing these monthly seems to be working out okay so I'm going to stick with that for now.
On Monday I hosted author Myra Nour on her latest tour for her latest release - Heart of the Dragon - a science fiction romance with dragons! Her guest post answered the question - Why Write Sci Fi Romance? I think a lot of us know the answer to that one, and would agree with many of her reasons.
I'm also doing a Writer Chat today with Natalie Wright who was kind enough to invite me, and who asked me some tough questions! She was mean with her choices. :-P
One of the sites that accepted Keir for review also invited me to do a guest post. I choose one on opening lines, an idea that had been buzzing around my head. Some of the SFR Brigade and my friends may have noticed me posting the question on favourites openings in the group and on my Facebook profile. I think it made for a great discussion topic! The post will be on Close Encounters of the Night Kind on the 27th July. I'd love to hear some more opinions on your favourite opening lines and what you think makes a good one.
I'm also interviewing romance author Krystal Brookes on the 31st, with an excerpt from her new release Bounty.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, the Firebirds are now in or on their way to Anaheim. I'm deeply jealous. Maybe one day I'll be able to do it too, but in the meantime I wish them all the best and hope it's a blast. Next Wednesday I start Campnanowrimo - prepare for much screaming!

Pippa's Journal - 7/18/12

With my co-bloggers at Anaheim, I'm trying to keep Spacefeighters Lounge active so bear with me. I may ramble!

Action!
This week I've been working on setting up a website. I love my Blogger site (I also have a Wordpress one, but I've struggled to work with it) but with one book out and hopes of adding some 'Coming Soon' titles, I decided the time had come to boldly take that final step. The Blogger site will still be my main point of contact and general workhorse, but the website should make it easier for readers to find out about my book(s) and ways to contact me, should they wish too. I have to admit I'd been putting it off as something too expensive and complicated to be justified at the time. I've been pleasantly surprised to find I was wrong on both counts! There are three simple steps, but I'll blog about those once the site is up so you can take a look for comparison. I'll be announcing the launch of the website as soon as I feel brave enough to upload it to a host, but in the meantime here's a sneak preview of my new banner, courtesy of the talented Misa Buckley.

And an update on the forthcoming print version of Keir. While randomly checking that the buttons and links on my new website design were working, I discovered that Barnes & Noble already have it available for pre-order here. Squeee! I'm stunned. If you're interested in a print copy, I recommend trying to pre-order - the price they're quoting is less than I think it's due to be sold at. It's also stating a release date for print of the 28th October, so I'm going to plan a mini-tour or event for then to celebrate. A Halloween special perhaps.

There was also the arrival of another shiny thing to my inbox first thing Monday, just the boost I needed after a disturbed night with my youngest and a difficult meeting with my daughter's school upcoming. But I'm keeping that under my hat for now. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Discoveries
After reading an article by Greta van der Rol on the use of body language here I was tempted to check out the book she quoted - The Definitive Book of Body Language. I haven't invested in a copy yet - it's quite expensive - but this is the kind of thing that's so helpful to an author to 'show' instead of 'tell'. Does anyone have any similar recommendations?
Also if you struggle with commas (my editor and one of my crit partners frequently cull them from my manuscripts) here's a blog post with a very brief but concise guide on their usage at Rainy of the Dark.

Pssst!
Silver Publishing have just announced a new division - Silver Stream Press - offering "mainstream romance and fiction. These general audience stories offer content commonly found in traditional bookstores—romance, action, thriller, suspense and so much more while excluding explicit sexual or graphic content. Additionally, this division of our publishing umbrella offers Young Adult fiction. Although these stories are enjoyed by all age ranges, their content is tailored with teenage readers in mind." They're currently accepting submissions, and you can check out their guidelines here.

Ping Pong
If you take a look to the right hand side of the blog, you will see the shiny new badge that will take you to the Firebirds website. I hope Sharon, Donna and Laurie are having a blast there!