New Year Goals: Big and Crazy Style

It's that time of the year again! New Years Eve, traditionally the night of taking stock and setting resolutions.

If you've been by my blog for a few years, you'll know I don't do resolutions, though. I set goals. And on my other blog, I check up on my progress every three months to see how I did. December's check is here.

Today, I'm also taking stock of what I did this past month as part of my Big Dreams Bloghop. Most of the goals I set also go toward my long term goal of earning $7500 royalties per month every month.

Sign up here

But first: What I did in December. Honestly, not a ton. Mainly I rested, but I did make some good progress on editing Birds vs Bastards. 

Now, here are my goals for 2014. And yes. I know that this is insanely ambitious. But the way I see it, if I get a quarter of my goals done, I will still have achieved a lot.

Reading:

Read 75 books.

Read more William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and other classics.

Writing:

Research relevant time periods and facts for various works in progress.

Finish:

Drafts:

The Countess

The Wedding

Daniel

War of Six Crowns 4

Optional: One other on my to-do list

Rewrites:

Gray

Opsies and Lysties

Twisted

Robin

Optional: One other on my To-Do List.

Edits:

Eden’s Son

Bound

Otto

Query/Submit:

War of Six Crowns 3

Birds vs Bastards

Any two of the “Edits” projects.

Publish:

War of Six Crowns: The Heir’s Choice

Blogging:

Make a point of visiting every follower and commenter on both main blogs.

Weekly posts on my War of Six Crowns Blog.

Life:

Weigh 65kg by end March.

Maintain weight for the rest of the year.

Fence.

Do yoga.

Do more exercise in general.

Eat healthily. I.E. The minimum refined carbs.

Do other arts. E.G. Paint. Needlepointing.

Get involved with people with similar interests to me.

Get back to singing regularly.

That's it from me. Have any big goals you want to share? Please feel free to join my bloghop. Otherwise, just let me know in the comments. 

Happy New Year, awesome people! May your 2014 be filled with blessings and joy.

And the winners are...

Hey all! I'm busy painting my guesthouse, so I'm only dropping in to let you know who won copies of The Vanished Knight. 

Without further ado, the winners are:

Brandon Ax 

and 

Laura Clipson

Congrats!

If you've missed out on this round, never fear. There's always Amazon. ;-)

Since the death of her parents, Callan Blair has been shunted from one foster family to another, her dangerous secret forcing the move each time. Her latest foster family quickly ships her off to an exclusive boarding school in the Cumbrian countryside. While her foster-brother James makes it his mission to get Callan expelled, a nearby ancient castle holds the secret doorway to another land...

When Callan is forced through the doorway, she finds herself in the magical continent of Tardith, where she’s shocked to learn her schoolmates Gawain and Darrion are respected soldiers in service to the king of Nordaine, one of Tardith's realms. More than that, the two are potential heirs to the Black Knight—Nordaine's crown prince.

But when the Black Knight fails to return from a mysterious trip, the realm teeters on the brink of war. Darrion and Gawain set out to find him, while Callan discovers there is more to her family history than she thought. The elves are claiming she is their princess.

Now with Darrion growing ever more antagonistic and her friendship with Gawain blossoming, Callan must decide whether to stay in Nordaine—where her secret grows ever more threatening—or go to the elves and uncover the truth about her family before war sets the realms afire.

'Tis More Blessed Giveaway

Hey all! As promised, I'm giving away The Vanished Knight. Thing is, since it's my birthday tomorrow, I'm giving away not one, but two e-copies.

To see who else is giving away books today, go here.

All you have to do to win is leave a comment with your e-mail address. I'll announce the two winners on Monday.

For those of you who don't know anything about The Vanished Knight: 

Since the death of her parents, Callan Blair has been shunted from one foster family to another, her dangerous secret forcing the move each time. Her latest foster family quickly ships her off to an exclusive boarding school in the Cumbrian countryside. While her foster-brother James makes it his mission to get Callan expelled, a nearby ancient castle holds the secret doorway to another land... 

When Callan is forced through the doorway, she finds herself in the magical continent of Tardith, where she’s shocked to learn her schoolmates Gawain and Darrion are respected soldiers in service to the king of Nordaine, one of Tardith's realms. More than that, the two are potential heirs to the Black Knight—Nordaine's crown prince. 

But when the Black Knight fails to return from a mysterious trip, the realm teeters on the brink of war. Darrion and Gawain set out to find him, while Callan discovers there is more to her family history than she thought. The elves are claiming she is their princess. 

Now with Darrion growing ever more antagonistic and her friendship with Gawain blossoming, Callan must decide whether to stay in Nordaine—where her secret grows ever more threatening—or go to the elves and uncover the truth about her family before war sets the realms afire.

Can't wait for the prize draw? You can get The Vanished Knight at these following resellers: 

Just a heads-up

Hey all! I'm still on holiday, but I'll officially be back tomorrow. I'll be starting with:

A book giveaway. That's right. I'm taking part in Milo James Fowler's 'Tis More Blessed bloghop, so if you haven't bought The Vanished Knight yet, tomorrow might be your chance to win it. So don't forget to drop by!

50 States of Pray: South Africa

Lord God, Father,

Tonight, the night before Christmas, I want to thank You for giving us Your Son. The truth is that His short life on Earth was a game-changer. Your love for us goes so much deeper, so much further than we can even begin to imagine, and without that love, my life, everything I could possibly achieve... everything would have been meaningless.

Thank You, Lord, for the many blessings you've sent my way, and across the way of my loved ones. And thank You for the many opportunities You gave for us to bless others. I pray that next year, I'll learn how to use those chances even better.

Tonight, I want to pray for my country, still settling into a new era now that President Mandela has joined You in heaven. I ask that those appointed to lead our nation do so to the best of their ability. I pray that You guide them, Lord, and guide each of us as members of the nation to find ways to build it into something even stronger, more united than it is today.

I also ask that you be with people who lost loved ones this year. Christmas is a difficult time when those we love are missing from the feast. Please wrap them in Your love, and be with them in noticeable ways as their wounds heal.

Lastly, I want to pray down Your blessing on my family, my friends and their families and friends, and theirs. And theirs. Lead us, strengthen us, and open our eyes to the amazing things You do for us.

I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

John 3:16

Just a short Christmas wish

Hey all.

Today's a weird date for me. Today, the 27th, and 29th, are the only days this week that aren't someone's birthday or Christmas. (Mine's the 28th, by the way.) My mom's was yesterday.

But I figured that you'll all be busy visiting with loved ones from tomorrow if you're not doing so already. So tonight, I want to wish you a blessed Christmas.

May you have a wonderful, happy time with your loved ones and may you remember what an absolute blessing that is. 

Other than that, I'll be by tomorrow night for a Christmas prayer, but I'll take Christmas day and Boxing day off to be with friends and family.

God bless you all!

X

My new realization on "Show vs Tell"

Man, I thought I'd have time to post yesterday, but a friend got married and me, my gran and my mom did the flowers for her.

Being a total novice at flower arranging, I thought it'd be easy. It wasn't. We spent most of the past two days standing, and believe it or not, those arrangements are HEAVY. Add to that the fact that it was a garden wedding with no shade and at the hottest part of a summer's day, and it all adds up to exhaustion.

But today I'm a bit more relaxed, putting up my feet and reading my new crit partners' WiPs and suggestions for  mine.

One WiP I'm critting got me thinking about something interesting. We all know about the "rule" show don't tell. And if you've been writing and reading about writing long enough, you'll know why this "rule" exists.

It draws the reader in more, letting him/her experience the story as close to the same way as the character as possible. Doing that, the reader gets sucked in, which is something any fiction writer worth his/her salt should want.

There's something else I realized just now, that I thought I should share. Showing events rather than telling gives us as writers more scope in a story. It gives us more depth.

Let's say, for example, that the main character's mother died at a young age. You as writer could mention it briefly and let the story progress (telling) OR you could show the effect the mother's death has on the character. So how does this open up the story more?

By exploring something you would have just mentioned, you might find the internal conflict you didn't know you needed. You might even find a subplot that makes the main one stronger. You might even find a solution to a plot hole in a surprising place.

So showing strengthens a story in more ways than the conventional wisdom states. Don't miss a chance to expand your book's horizons, just because a scene doesn't seem to fit the plan. It might just be the difference between a good read and a great one, and leaving emotions un-shown is just one huge missed opportunity.

Have you found an unexpected but perfect story element by delving deeper into something a character just mentioned in the rough draft?

Just a few short updates.

Hey all! Just want to let you know that I have another blog out there. It's about my War of Six Crowns series and writing it, so if you want to find out more, head on over!

In the meantime, I just want to say thanks to everyone who've offered to be my crit partner. The offer still stands, so if you want/need a CP, please check out this post to see if we might match. :-)

What to Do... (Need a CP?)

So... today I finished my first round of edits to Birds vs Bastards. That's very fast, I know. But I don't know whether the first edits went so fast because the story's so good, or because I'm still blind to its faults.

Most likely it's the latter, but at least I'm sure that it's polished enough for crit partners to look at it. So I've sent the first chapters off to two so long.

In the meantime, I'm at a loss as to what I want to do while I wait for feedback. See, I didn't expect edits to go so fast, so I didn't really put thought into what I'd like to do next.

Really, I'm thinking I might rest until year end. Or until I feel the need to start in on something else. Right now, I don't, so maybe a rest will be a good thing while I wait for two of my CPs to get back to me.

By the way, I'm looking for a few CPs for Birds vs Bastards, so if you like reading adult urban fantasy and would like to see something new, please leave your e-mail address in the comments, along with a short explanation of what your book's about. Of course, I'm willing to crit in return, but please know I don't read erotica, horror, MG or Picture Books.

So what's Birds vs Bastards about?

Aleria Tyson wakes up in hospital, unable to remember the terrorist attack that put her there. In fact, she remembers nothing. Since she's immortal, that's a huge problem. 

Diamonds and Dust Launch

Hey all! Just a quick stop by to do a favor for my friend and fellow Untethered Realms author, River Fairchild. Isn't the cover amazing? 

It's Launch Day!

Diamonds and Dust

by River Fairchild

Book 1 of the Jewels of Chandra series

Magic is real. So is betrayal.

Two heirs. A Kingdom of dust on a troubled world. One might resurrect it. One might destroy it all.

Archaeologist David Alexander investigates the cave where his father disappeared and hurtles into another world, one filled with magic and bizarre creatures. The mad ravings in his father's journals of icemen and dragons may not be fantasies after all.

Convinced his father may still be alive, David begins a treacherous journey to find him and discover a way home. Along the way, he encounters a few unlikely friends. A Dreean warrior, a beautiful thief and a satyr join him as he searches.

David's arrival into this new world sets off an explosive chain reaction of events. Faced with powerful adversaries and few clues, he may not get the chance to rescue his father before disaster strikes, condemning both of them to death. Or worse.

Buy it here:

AmazonUS

AmazonUK

AmazonDE

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Apple

SmashWords
Paperback

**********************

About the author:

River Fairchild is somewhat odd, brandishes a dry sense of humor, owned by several cats. Lives in a fantasy world. A fabricator of magic. Makes stuff up and spins tales about it. Believes in Faerie crossings and never staying in one place for very long. Speculative Fiction wordsmith. The secret to her stories? Spread lies, blend in truths, add a pinch of snark and a dash of tears. Escape into her world. She left the porch light on so you can find your way down the rabbit hole.

Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon /

Editing Again

I've been taking a bit of a break after November. It was necessary. 

Sometimes, I think I let people think that I'm just rolling along and getting stuff done. That it's just coming easily.

In some ways that's the case. Being a writer really is a matter of sitting down and getting stuff done. It's about making sure that I finish the projects I set out  to finish. 

But at the same time, doing this is difficult. Last month, I went to sleep before midnight... maybe like one week while we were moving house. But only because I practically passed out from exhaustion. And whenever I had the chance, I wrote.

I learned what I'm able to accomplish, because I pushed myself way past my comfort zone. But the fact is that I did get tired, so I rested. 

That rest is over now. It's time for me to sit down, open Birds vs. Bastards  and get my first round of edits done. This week, I might still go a bit slow to get back into the groove, but I will get some editing done. 

Why? Well. I want to get four or five novels out on queries next year, so it would be nice if one is close to ready. So that's where I am at the moment.

Who else is editing in December? 

Thoughts on Madiba's Death

I wish I could call this a tribute, but I don't think I have the words to do this great man justice. Instead, I'll share my thoughts today (random as they may be) and hope they add up to something worth reading.

See I'm South African, born at the tail-end of the Apartheid regime. In fact, the reason why my birthday is on December 28 is that my mom had me born by c-section so my dad could see me before being posted to border patrol.

Those were war years. I wasn't even two when he was released. Oddly though, I remember seeing on the t.v. as this man left prison. I noted how everyone on t.v. was happy to see him free, but no one in my family was. So I asked what was going on and the answer I got was something like: "My child, it's the end of our nation."

Of course, it meant nothing to me then, because I was too small to understand what a country was. But I remembered thinking he had a nice smile, so I noticed when he was on t.v.

Every time he came on, my family (as I now imagine many Afrikaans families did) greeted his words with distrust. See, that war had set white people in general and the Afrikaners in particular on opposite ends of conflict. Madiba and his contemporaries were fighting for freedom. We... I honestly am very careful to say what we fought for. It's not really discussed.

The sense I have (and I could be wrong) is that the government was fighting for continued suppression, since complete freedom for all races would (and did) mean loss of power. But the white people on the ground level were fighting for survival.

Why this is is another history lesson in itself. But in short, our ancestors had fought for a place in Africa. If we'd failed, we would have been annihilated. In fact, some of us did fail through history, and most of those did die. It was a fact so long-standing that no white person could imagine that the war could end peacefully for us unless we won.

The day Nelson Mandela was released, we'd lost for all intents and purposes.

People expected "The Night of the Long Knives", like another Kristallnacht. We'd suppressed and the government had institutionalized so many wrongs that almost all white South Africans expected bloody reprisals, and for South Africa to be turned into something similar to the rest of Africa.

What we didn't hold reckoning with was that Nelson Mandela was a much better man than any of us had thought. Instead of revenge, he preached reunification. Instead of reprisals, he preached unity. And that coming from someone who'd been sent to jail for fighting for something that was, in retrospect, the right thing.

He won our trust, starting with that day he walked out onto the rugby field before the World Cup Finals in 1995, wearing a beloved Springbok jersey.

And in many ways, he'd steered this country free of disaster so that we could recover and move on. "Us" became something inclusive, something the whole country could belong to.

For that, I am immensely thankful.

Madiba, your strength, forgiving nature and love for humanity inspired more than just a nation. It changed the world. Rest now, Tata Madiba. Your life was and will be a standard the rest of us should and will try to emulate. You deserve it more than anyone else I know of.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Hey all! Wow. I can't believe it's the last IWSG post for the year. It really flew by. For those of you new to the bloggosphere, the IWSG is a bloghop where a few hundred writers come together and air out our insecurities. Then, we encourage each other as well. It's pretty awesome, cause heck, it feels good to know you're not the only one. We get together on the first Monday of every month, although January's post will only be on the 8th. If you want to sign up, go here.

So... I wish I could say that I'm insecurity free this month, but alas, no.

There's a very good reason behind this, but I'm not sure what's public and what isn't yet, so I'm just going to say this:

I've been pushed into a situation where I've had to balance my artistic integrity with my business sense. I've been approached by another publishing house for the War of Six Crowns. 

The terms are the same, as is the size, but the publishing house focuses more on marketing to YA readers, which means that me signing over makes a lot of business sense.

But.

I really really like working with my editor. And I think she was the one person who saw the story's potential when no one else wanted to. So in my mind, the better thing for the story is to stay with the person who I know gets it.

Yeah... so I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I have made a decision. Sort of. But I'll do a follow up post in a few days once everything has been cleared up and the dust has settled.

It's just a bit of a mess in my head at the moment. In fact, now is when I wish I had an agent to hold my hand. These are big girl decisions and really, I just want to stick my head in the sand. Because every time I think in one way or the other, I keep wondering whether I'm making the right choice.

Anyone else have to pick between your art and the business of selling it? How did you choose?

News Day December Edition

Hey all! It's been a while since I did News Day, but I thought these tidbits were too good to share.



First of all, Mark Koopmans is hosting 50 States of Pray. Here's what Mark's asking:

"I’m calling it the 50 States of Pray event and I’d love to find at least one person (but the more the merrier) from each U.S. state to participate.

But wait... as they say on TV... This is absolutely open to anyone, anywhere. Imagine if we got one person from 50 independent states (countries), too. That would be amazing!


All that’s required is to take a moment and about 100 words. Then, on Dec. 24, 2013, please share a prayer, a thought, a memory, a hope and even a regret about the past and/or a wish for the future.

If you can’t post on the day... it’s Christmas Eve, Mark... (I know, I know :) feel free to schedule your post to go live on the 24th.
I'm *NOT* expecting people to comment - my only hope is that people can stop by to read, relax and reflect for as much time as they can spare :)" 

Sounds amazing, right? Click here to join up. 

Next, Milo is hosting a Christmas Giveaway for every Friday in December. So if you have a book or story to give, why not spread a little Christmas Cheer? Click here to sign up. 

Last but not least, Nutschell is trying to raise funds for the relief efforts in the Philippines. You can help by either buying a book, or a t-shirt. Click here to find out more. 

Getting out of my comfort zone

You know, nothing has taught me so much about me as a writer as signing that publishing contract.

I know, weird, eh?

I mean, I'm a writer pure and simple, so publishing shouldn't really have an influence on me being one. Yet it does, I think in a good way.

See, when I signed the contract, I created an obligation towards my publishing house, which means that the book I promised  them has to be a priority for me in ways none of my other books are.

Which means that if they need that book to be revised during NaNo, that book has to be revised. No buts, ifs, or whys. And that's where I'm learning now.

Before, I could say that I couldn't combine drafting with editing, because it takes time for my mind to switch gears. True as it is, I couldn't just say that in November. I had to get some drafting done because I'm trying to create a "production line" of sorts, and I don't think I'll get another chance to draft before February/March next year. December's for editing Birds vs. Bastards. 

So that made complete sense until my editor let me know that I needed to get my book in by end November. With saying no and not drafting both not being options, I said yes and found a way to make it work.

Turns out that once you're writing fit (as I am nowadays), switching gears really isn't that hard. So I did those revisions in about two weeks and got right back to drafting, and I even won NaNo.

If I hadn't had the book under contract, I would never even have tried to work like that. To me, thou shalt not edit and draft at the same time was one big rule to my writing method. Being under contract pushed me beyond my self-imposed comfort zone, into a place where I can be even more efficient as a writer.

Which is great really, since it makes my five year goal that much more achievable.

So today I  want to say: Don't get stuck in a comfort zone. Find ways to push yourself gently, but firmly into places where you can grow as a writer. Even if it means writing something you'd never thought you'd write. Or changing up when or how you write. Sometimes those changes might be exactly what you need to get to the next level.

Have you pushed yourself as a writer lately? What did you do and how did it turn out?