Day 3

It's day 3 of November and I still haven't talked about what exactly I'm doing with my currently published stories. I know I've talked about releasing a 3 pack for the first 3 novellas of Millersburg and I haven't done anything since. My plan is to go back through the first two novellas and fluff them out, fix little inconsistencies, and overall add to the stories.

The reason why I haven't done that is because I can't decide if I should re-publish them or have a major update sent out. But if I re-publish them they will no longer be 99 cents. I am hoping to have made my decision and be able to bring all of you Millersburg Volume 1, containing the first 3 novellas of Millersburg.

So far it looks like the year of 2018 will be really busy for me and very fruitful for all of you. I'm hoping that with my new schedule I can still squeeze in a few hours of writing. (I know, I'm wasting precious time writing blog posts for you and I should be writing.) I'm going to spending my time tomorrow working on my projects tomorrow.

I hope all of you stay safe in the coming hectic holiday months. See ya!

Quick Question

Welcome to the month of gratitude! The month of the turkey! The month of NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is the one month a year that writers pledge to write 50,000 words in a month. 

In previous years I participated and brought several stories to life but never finished them. I have been thinking about those stories and how I would like to finish them. I have bulging file folders for these stories that sit and gather dust by my desk. They are unlike what I publish. They could be categorized as YA Fantasy. But if I reworked them would all of you be willing to read them? They won't be my primary projects but more of a secondary project. 

If some of you have been lurking about since before I change over to my pen name and reworked my blog then you might recognize what my secondary projects are. Once I have Worked on them for a little bit I will have an excerpt for all of you to read.

November Update

Sorry about the long absence. My life has been crazy. I am still working on my current project. I haven't been able to work on it as much as I'd like. I changed jobs at my place of employment and it has been hectic. Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish my current project until next year. I am hoping that I can get you a few unedited previews and maybe even a possible release date. Once again I am sorry for the long absence.

As to what I am working on. That is going to be a tough question to answer. I have several projects I am currently working on but my main project is the next book in the Millersburg series. I know several of you have been waiting on the next installment of the Trinity Mates series. I am currently working on the outline of the next book but I won't be starting on the writing process for a bit.

I am hoping that all of you hardcore followers continue to follow me as I continue on my journey through the writing world. I know I have been bad about updating anywhere and I thank you for sticking by me.

Prompt #1 Part 3

I am sorry for the delay on posting the next writing challenge. Pokemon Go abducted me. Yeah, I know, I'm a nerd so what? I also crochet, cross stitch, and collect Funko Pops. I also watch anime. And weirdly I still write romance stories..... So yeah I have certain quirks.

Anyway, moving on.

Obviously the name of my character doesn't match that of the prompt but hey it's my challenge. If you haven't read the first two challenges then I would suggest that you do. Prompt #1 and Part 2

Carly yawned as she walked to the diner. Her and Billy had been up late talking about how he had never realized his best friend was gay and that it had only taken her a few moments to realize it.

They had eventually decided on their sleeping arrangements as well, Billy on the lounge and her in the bed. She had been more than willing to take the lounge seeing as how the bed was a lot bigger than the one she had had and he needed more space to be comfortable. But he had declined saying that if she didn't agree he would shift and sleep under the bed.

Reluctantly she had agreed and had climbed into the massive bed that took up one entire wall. The entire apartment seemed to be bigger than before as well. Maybe it was some kind of spell, like in that Harry Potter movie she had watched a few years ago.

She waved to David through the pass-through where he was starting the lunch orders. She stashed her purse in her locker and clocked in. She grabbed one of the white frilly aprons that the waitresses were required to wear along with their usual uniform of pepto pink dress and white shoes. She grabbed a fresh order book and relieved Tory of her section.

She couldn't help but smile as Mr. Johnson walked through the door. "Mornin' Mr. Johnson. Are you sitting in your usual spot?"

The old man smiled, causing his already wrinkled face to become even more so. "I'll take my usual pot of coffee and heart attack waiting to happen burger."

She laughed. "One pot of extra strength coffee and the Baconattor coming right up."

He went to his usual booth. It was tucked back in the far corner. He always sat with his back against the wall and watched the people that came and went from the diner. Today seemed to be no different than usual, until she went to take him his food. He was sitting with his back to the door.

She placed his plate in front of him and poured him a cup of coffee. "Everything alright, Mr. Johnson?"

He looked up at her. "Why don't you have a seat with me dear?"

She looked around the diner, checking to see if anyone else needed anything. "Let me see if I can get someone to cover my section while I sit with you." She waved over Gail and asked her to cover her section while she talked to Mr. Johnson. She sat down across from him and looked at him expectantly.

He sipped his coffee. "We have a mutual friend that would like to see you go to a certain social event."

She looked at him in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He smiled at her. "Your roommate was invited to the Nightmare King's bicentennial ball. Someone wants you to go with him."

"But why? I'm just a human," she said.

He leaned forward. "You are much more than you seem." He pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to her. "Open this when you get home. It will explain some things that your mother kept from you." He took another sip of coffee and pulled a few dollars from his pocket. "I'll be seeing you next week, my dear. Thank you for talking with me." With that he got up and left.

Carly sat there wondering what he was talking about. Things just seemed to get weirder and weirder lately. She picked up the envelope and tucked it into her apron before clearing off the table.

NOTE: So my surprise for this post has actually been pushed off until either the next one or the one after that. Once again I am sorry for the delay in getting this up for all of you. The next post may not be prompt oriented but hey something may catch my eye.

Alice Frost on Writing

First off, to those of you here in the USA, Happy 4th of July! I hope your day is fun and filled with family, fireworks, and parades!  I'm hoping my day will be too. To everyone else, if you aren't celebrating a holiday then I hope you are just having an awesome filled day!

I can tell you that as a single mother with a full time job and a passion to become an established author that it isn't easy. Sometimes there just isn't time to write much less think. But as a new author myself the biggest piece of advice I can give any budding author out there is: Make time. Even if it is just a few minutes while the kid is in the bath and dinner is in the oven cooking. Just jot down the idea you had and slowly expand on this. I have QuickMemo on my phone and Nooote Free on my tablet, which come in handy when I'm at work. Having a voice recorder also works.

Another thing that as a new author that takes time and unfortunately money is finding a cover that fits your story, especially if you are self-publishing. Most readers, myself included, are cover shoppers. If the cover looks good then they will buy it. If you have the money to buy a professional cover then you can move forward a little faster in publishing. If you don't have the money you can save up for the one you have your eye on but you risk the chance of someone else buying before you. Or you can find a temporary cover that kind of fits your story but then you risk the chances of no one buying your book. Now there are several sites where you can get premade covers and I suggest looking through those sites like you were buying a new house. Yes, that one is what you WANT but does it fit the story? Does it have everything you NEED to express? Will it draw your potential buyer it?

Yes yes I know I am a new author myself how do I know what I'm talking about. I do a lot of research. I read a lot of reviews, about writing, and different types of writing. Do I know everything? No. But I know what steps I have taken to get my book self-published. Trial and error is ok. If you make a mistake learn from it and move on. Just don't let that mistake get you down and stop writing, editing, or publishing. Don't let anyone or anything stop you from obtaining your goals. (Unless you are a murderer/serial killer then just don't do it.)

AF out! I'm thinkin' bout doing AAF = Awesome As Fuck

I don't know what do ya'll think?

Writing Fantasy

I love writing fantasy and science fiction stories. But the one thing that I hate doing is research. Why would I need to research anything for a fantasy story? A lot of stuff. It may not be apparent when you write your story but later on you might see that things don't quite connect. Some authors are ok with things not quite connecting but not everyone is. I am one such person.

1. What Is Your Story About?

This is normally called the plot but I'm a little different. So what is happening in this story? Is your characters going on an epic quest or are we just going to see a small snippet of your fantasy world? Is this a big enough story to have a map and even languages?

J.R.R. Tolkien had not only maps of his world but even created a language for the Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit. You may not think these things matter but you may have a reader that wants these things.

2. Types of Fantasy

You may think that this should have been first but as I've stated before I do things a little bit different. There is a WIDE variety of fantasy out there and you can mix them as much as you want as long as you make it sound plausible. So you could have androids with unicorns as long as it is plausible then have fun with it.

Cyborg leprechauns, FYI.

They can be a thing. Anyway once you have decided what your story is about then you can decide just how fantastical you want to be. But what about my characters? Just hang on we are getting there.

3. Characters

I already have a blog post about making believable characters. So basically you just have to do the normal routine on your character and if you find something new to add into your fantasy world then go ahead and do it. You may even find out that your plot/story line whatever changes, even expands. Yea, yea whatever. But sometimes a change in the plot line is fine.

4. Writing The Story

Now the hard part begins, writing the story. Don't stop writing until you have finished. Just remember to let yourself be creative (it's part of writing). Yes I know this is a short redundant tutorial but hey I like writing these.

What are you still doing reading this? Go. Go write your story. It's never going to be read if you never write it.

NOTE: I originally wrote this on my Wordpress blog. I have decided to copy the posts over to here cuz you guys need some lovin' too.

Character Development

Coming up with characters is as easy as pie, but coming up with BELIEVABLE characters is a whole different piece of pie. I know each writer has a different process of how they write their characters. Now I will be giving you a tour of how I do this process.

1. Motivation - I start with what motivates my character. Is my character doing this because of x, y, or z? This brings me a clear view of how their personality will be. So if my character had to rob a bank then I want to know WHY he had to.

Example: Joe Bob needed to rob the bank to pay off the mafia boss that he had borrowed money from so they don't take their payment out of his flesh.

Once you have figured out the WHY then we can move onto the next step.

2. Background - I have had some writers tell me that they don't do a background on their characters but I feel that having one makes my characters a little more believable and relatable (at least to me). When we have our motives then we need to know why our character feels they need to go about it that particular way.

Example: Joe Bob grew up in a bad part of town, raised by a single mom who worked as a prostitute for the mafia. He wasn't a good student and never graduated from high school and the only job he has ever had was with the mafia. He slowly developed a drug habit and began borrowing more and more money to supply his habit.

Ok so now we know that Joe Bob hasn't had a great life. He might have had small moments of happiness but that all depends on how much background you want to put into your characters.

3. Personality - Personality is a tough one for me. I have a tendency to give my characters snarky personalities in the beginning. But not all characters stay that way. As with each person, each character has a unique personality and quirks.

Example: Joe Bob has a Napoleon complex. He is very domineering and aggressive which was only made worse by his drug habit.

4. Description - Describing a character can be really easy or it can be extremely hard. I always look at my characters background and their motivations before I start putting their description together. To make your character more believable their physical description needs to 'fit' their personality.

Example: Joe Bob is very short and underweight. His hair is unwashed and a dull brown color. His eyes are a bloodshot brown color. He has track marks covering his arms.

5. Naming Your Character - Obviously Joe Bob was given a name but lets give him an official name. Now poor Joe Bob has a bad history and isn't the greatest looking guy.

Honestly, he is completely forgettable but that's how I want him to be. Now if we look at my poor character we know he didn't grow up in a great neighborhood and has ties to the mafia. Joe Bob is not what his name should be. Why? Because it doesn't fit him.

What would be a good name for my unimpressive character? A name that is equally unimpressive. I think I will call him Keith. Now that we have a name for him it is time to write his story. Either way the end for Keith is always the same, death.

If he succeeds in robbing the bank the cops shoot and kill him before he gets away. If he doesn't succeed then the mafia makes him an example. He newspaper article never makes it to the front page, he's relegated to page 8.

Yes poor Keith's story is a dark path of misery but that is how I wrote him. When writing characters every piece influences the character you create. Now Keith could have had to steal the money to get his mother off the streets as a prostitute. His story all depends on you and what you make it to be.

NOTE: This was originally written on my Wordpress. I am slowly copying posts from there to here cuz you all need lovin' too.

Dark Things

I stopped using this blog a few months ago to switch over to Wordpress. I've talked about this before. I missed all of you. But there is another blog that I have abandoned for much longer that this one.

It was the blog were I let all my darkness seep out into and I left it behind so long ago. I think it's time to bring it back to life. I haven't touch it since November of last year and seeing the dust on it while the darkness swirls inside makes me want to cry.

So starting next week I'll slowly be resurrecting My Zombieverse. I won't be posting on there as regularly as I will be on here but I'm thinking that once the darkness begins to rise again then things will right themselves.

Most of the posts on there circle around Halloween but it's how my blog was before then that I want to get back to. The zombies. That's right. I, a romance author, loves zombies. Reading, movies, makeup, games. I love zombies. I have so many ideas for zombie stories but it doesn't fit within my writing parameters. Another reason for my writing challenge. I want to send my writing to the darkest parts of the horror realm and see what I can do.

Will I lose some readers? Maybe. But then I'll also gain readers who like the darkness spewing from within me. Will I mix my romance roots with the darkness that I'll be stepping into? Most likely. But I am trying to push my boundaries and see what I can do. If I publish anything that comes from my dark writing challenge I'll probably do so under a different pen name.

Yes, I use a pen name. I'm surprised if you haven't figured it out. Why do I use a pen name? I felt that I needed a fresh start. My original works were not something to be applauded. The concept of the stories were great but ultimately I felt that they were not what I wanted to present to my readers. So my pen name came about.

Now that I have gotten off track I'm going to say that if ya'll want to check out Zombieverse then please do. I'll be doing my dark writing challenge over on there so please keep an eye out for any updates (I'll mention them on here and Wordpress).

New Things

Hi everyone! *ducks* Hey! I know you want the next writing prompt but that's no reason to throw things! I'm actually working on it AND my next book. Seeing as how I'm completely and utterly behind schedule I'm sorry. *cries in corner* I've disappointed all of you and myself! But I'll have something for you soon. I swear!

But I came today to tell you that my next prompt is tied in with the first prompt. If I continue writing on this lovely story I might publish it and make it a free book. Fun stuff right?

Update on myself: I dyed my hair a purple pinkish black color. And chopped a ton of hair off. But I forgot about donating my hair! *sobs* I'm also going to start working out. I've gained some weight (a lot) since I had my son. I weigh almost 100 lbs more than I did before I got pregnant. I will not tell you exact numbers but I am a big girl. I'd like to get back down to my pre-baby weight. Especially now that he'll be 7 and he's an extremely active kid.

I'll even document the whole process on here and my other social media sites. I can say I'll be watching Coach Tulin on YouTube and talking to my doctor about an acceptable weight loss plan and diet.

I will be a very busy girl in the coming months. Especially since I plan on rolling out at least two more books in the next five months.

I hope all of you are doing ok and that you are having an awesome summer. In my neck of the woods, school will be starting in about month (oh thank you Jesus). The food bill at my house sky rocketed since school let out.

I also want to shout out to one of my besties who is writing her first book. It's a historical romance and I think it's going to rock! Totally biased I know, but hey who cares? While critiquing her rough draft I realized that I'm pretty good at giving writing advice even though I'm bad at listening to my own advice. I know over on Wordpress I've written a couple of posts on writing but I'm thinking that I either need to start doing that more or offer critiques on Fiverr. Yea, yea more work for me but the more I write the better at it I will become.

I'm also going to plop this down below. I've been quoting The Croods to my son a lot lately. I think all of you can benefit from it too. Reach for your dream and don't ever stop.