More FullMoonStation

Since putting up Full Moon Station on a free promotion, several people have asked for more from the story.  It never seemed to speak to me beyond the first part but the story was so great I wanted to give it more. Here is what I have so far. Maybe after Beast Within is completed and uploaded to Amazon, I will be able to finish Mark and Ted’s story.

 

The sun reflected off the chrome of the ‘64 mustang, straight into the eyes of Detective Theo Logan as he pulled up to the gas station, It was in a ditch about forty feet away from the pumps. Local police and state patrol hovered at the edges of the vehicle trying to peek inside without actually looking in the window, a couple of the officers glanced his way as he parked next to one of the state patrol SUVs.
Ted was no where to be seen, but then they may have taken him into town to the station or the hospital. Positive thinking was a plus.
The desert heat poured into the car as he opened the door. It smelled like dust and dried weeds. It was only ten in the morning. “Detective Logan?” a younger female officer approached she was almost military in her uniform. Her black hair was pulled tight in a bun. Olive skin and flashing brown eyes took in everything about him and more.
Despite her small frame she seemed to radiate an aura that said “Mess with me, I dare you”. Her name badge read Hernandez. Theo unfolded his tall frame from the rental then leaned back in and grabbed his white stetson hat from the passenger seat popping it onto his head. He held out his hand, nodding his head in reply.
“The sheriff wants to see you before you get started. Could you follow me please?” the only reason Theo caught the accent in her words were from years of having a proud Latino partner.
He followed the young officer into the gas station. The front window had been broken out. Small shards of glass glittered in the sun like a million diamonds scattered across the pavement. There was a dark red patch of blood on the grey pavement just outside the window. He knew the body was already on the way to the local morgue.
He stopped himself before his mind raced around in circles with the thought of his son lying cold on a steel table.

The managers office was little more than a closet at the back of the store. Toilet paper rolls lined a small wire shelf packed in next to a file cabinet and a small desk. There was an ancient computer complete with green screen monitor and a small stack of three and a half inch floppy disks.
The sheriff was a roundish man with thick grey hair and a clean cut goatee. His dark brown sheriff hat sat atop the monitor while the man himself filled the small office chair beside the desk. Theo stood in the open doorway. Hernandez had dropped him off at the door then did a sharp about face and headed back through the store and out the front.

“Sheriff,” Theo said in greeting nodding to the man in the chair.
“Detective,” he replied. “ You wouldn’t happen to be the same Theodor Logan on the registration and insurance from that mustang out front now would you?”
Theo nodded.
The sheriff said. “Well, I spose that means you want in on this deal then?” again Theo nodded. “One thing first Detective Logan…” the sheriff glanced down at his hands then back up at Theo.

He could tell by the look in the sheriffs eye that he knew who was driving Theo’s car last night. “It was your kid wasn’t it.” It is a statement rather than a question.
“Yes, sir. My son borrowed the car so he and a friend could go to the concert out on the coast yesterday.”
The sheriff nodded his expression saying he already knew that as well. “Well, I suppose if you can report to my lead detective, I will let you get involved in the case.”

“That works for me.” Theo said.

 

Published and panicking!

Well not really Panic.

OK maybe a little. But really it is anxiety over whether or not people are enjoying the story! I have received one tweet from a friend who complimented the work. As grateful as I am, I am paranoid about the other people who have grabbed the book while it is in free promo. No one has posted a review as of writing this. Good or Bad. And I have read some awful degrading reviews for some of my fellow writers!

Full Moon Station is a short story in the Shifters and Sorcery Series that I will be uploading to Amazon on a regular basis. The story is about two college age guys on the road back from a concert who stop by a gas station in the middle of the desert. After Mark heads in to the station to grab cigarettes and coffee, a werewolf begins to tear the place apart. Ted must use the skills taught by his detective father to help his friend and stop the monster.

The next book in the set is called Beast Within. This story comes at werewolves from both sides. Beth is a young high school girl from Minnesota who has recently moved to Tacoma, WA to live with her mom. She starts her first day of school feeling outcast and alone. After the main bully and his girlfriend prey on her in the cafeteria, Beth is befriended by a young witch named Skye who sees great potential in her new friend.

On the flip side of the story is a sociopath werewolf who has gone around the town killing people. He fails to connect his humanity with the people he murders when he is a wolf. The killer has caught scent of Beth and her special abilities and has decided he wants her as his mate.

With the help of The Silver Moon Society, an organization made up of witches and other supernatural beings, and Mark (from the short Story Full Moon Station) Beth must learn who she really is to help stop the werewolf from killing again.

I hope to have Beast Within available for purchase around Halloween.

I hope you all get the chance to grab Full Moon Station while it is still free for another day! Please, if you do, stop and leave a review! If by chance you read this after the promo and still wish to support my efforts, the story will be available for 99 cents until the 90 days is up then I will make it available for free on other media. That should help drop the price to match 😀 Until then, know that I appreciate your love and support!

Thank you all

I hit the “Save and Publish” button.

Today I set out on a new adventure.

I hit the “Save and Publish” button in KDP.

If you have been following me for a while, you will recognize the story.

Full Moon Station. The short story about a couple of guys making an innocent stop at the gas station who end up running into a world of trouble when a werewolf kills everyone in sight.

I wanted to make it available for free because it is such a short piece but that was not an option. It is $0.99 and should be available sometime tomorrow morning.

If you choose to purchase the story, THANK YOU! Any money made from this will go toward helping finish Death’s Hope. I want to professionally edit the novel length story. Making sure you all have the highest quality book available.

I chose to publish Full Moon Station because I wanted to familiarize myself with the way KDP works. I don’t want any surprises popping up when I publish DH!

Again, to all who have chosen to support me, Thank you so much! SHARE the book with a friend.

Full Moon is just the start of another series I have in the works called Shifters and Sorcery. These books are going to be available through KDP as well. Keep an eye out for “Sunrise” (the story of a sorceress named Charlene Talon, the last living descendant of Merlin and prime suspect in several murders of supernatural people) and “Beast Within” (the story of an Alpha Shifter named Elizabeth new to her powers. Her town is being terrorized by a sociopath werewolf who wants Beth for his mate.)

Plot/Pants Eh? Thanks @MikeWellsAuthor

Long day on little sleep, Can feel myself winding down.

Feel accomplished however with 1,079 words of new idea that is Very clear 😀 

Should be an easy write (until 30k words where I beat my head against the desk asking God Why is this CRAP?!)

However, it should be easy to rewrite as well because I actually have plot outline (GASP!). So would be refining and perfecting.

With that said, I have been struggling with the rewrite of Death’s Hope simply because I sat down and wrote whatever came to mind for a month. Granted it was all about the same character, but there was no order. No reason behind the things that were happening beyond “Hey! This will really F*** up her day!” I have a dozen great scenes full of action and mayhem but nothing binding them all together.

So the task at hand for that book has become, TA DA! PLOTTING!

Thanks to the helpful tweet of a Mr. Mike Wells I found his Advice For Writers and  a wonderful bit of learning entitled “A ‘Secret’ Formula for Creating a Short Synopsis For Your Book.”

I have now managed to come up with a reason the main character is suffering. I even have a bad guy (or do I?) who is behind the mayhem. I have a way for her to get out of said troubles but it will require some serious soul-searching on her part. (I love stories of personal growth and discovery)

But! (You knew there was a but…) there is SOOO much more going on! I ended up with a tragically long synopsis of All the mayhem (ALL THE THINGS!) that I felt smothered by it.

I needed to get away from Hope and the world of the Pantheon for a while. I had stopped writing anything new because I was working so hard on finishing something I had already started.  Feelings of guilt would overwhelm me because I love this 50k of words and want to make them into a story people will actually want to read.

I am happy to say that again Mike saved the day. I started writing synopsis for the next two books I want to write involving Hope and the Crew. I am excited that they will have more focus and less mayhem when they are started.

I also managed to start a new book idea. Not sure if it will be short story or full novel. It has a great synopsis. The outline is coming smoothly and best of all?! I Don’t Feel Guilty!

Hope is not on Deadline. No one is tapping their foot at me waiting on the manuscript. I can ‘shelf’ her and move on to a different project that is better thought out.

The quote “Writers write.” (No I don’t remember who said it. Yes I am terrible for not remembering. Comment if you do please! I want to give credit where it is due!) is something I need to keep above my desk.

If you are not on deadline and a book is holding you back, it may just be that you are not in a place to understand what the characters need from you. Take a step back from it. Write something else. It can be another book about the same people. Or an entirely different genre! Just WRITE!

Don’t Let the Vampires Bite! Werewolves are Awesome!

Hunted by the Others by Jess Haines

I met Jess Haines on Twitter (@Jess_Haines) when she and Yasmine Galenorn were tweeting weird vids at each other. Really Weird Vids.

We began to chat a bit and exchange a few vids. Turns out we are both RPG Gamers back in the days of Vampire: The Masquerade  and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. With that common ground we have hit it off fairly decent. Not to mention the love of all things Urban Fantasy related.

It was not until recently that I actually purchased her books. (You can find a 4 book set on Amazon here ). I went in with high hopes that a fellow Pen and Paper gamer would know how to create a great story. I was not disappointed!

Hunted by the Others is a First person story of struggling Private investigator Shiarra as she grudgingly takes a job working for Veronica, a powerful magic user, who asks her to find a statue currently owned by the local Vamp celeb Royce.

With bills screaming at her and rent over due, she takes the job.

Shia is plunged head first into the world of the Others as the plot thickens and Everyone is out to either Kill her or convert her to their cause.

This book flew by and I am so glad I purchased the 4pack set! While there are a few loose ends at the end of the book and I felt it was a bit long in closing, I have faith that Jess will bring the loose ends back into the fold through out the next few books.

If you are in need of an Urban Fantasy book, go check out Hunted by the Others. You won’t regret it.

My Kickstarter Experience: A simple starter walkthrough

So I have been thinking, I am going to try to do a Kickstarter for my novel I wrote for this years Nanowrimo. I posted a brief bit with a link to the page I am working on.

And then I thought “Hmm, I wonder how many other authors might want to try the same thing but are not sure if they can?” I decided to write a blog post about how and what I am doing for Kickstarter. Giving a walk through of my experience so that you can have a better understanding of what they do and how to go about doing it for yourself.

First off, Kickstarter  according to their own site:

“Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. Everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of ambitious, innovative, and imaginative projects that are brought to life through the direct support of others.”

The way they work is they are an “all or nothing” style funding. Either you meet your goal and get paid or your don’t and no money changes hands. It is up to you to get people looking at your project and sponsoring you.

This opens up a whole new world to people seeking support for their creative projects. For writers, this may help you decide if you are going to self publish or pursue traditional publication. Something to keep in mind when you are getting ready to set your goal amount.

When you first start your Kickstarter project they send you through their GUIDELINES to learn what is a proper Kickstarter project and what is not. Things like getting an album produced or, for writers, getting the backing to self publish your novel.

Next are the BASICS of your project. In this case, your book.

• Project Image: Post the Cover Art if you have it already, if not post an image used for your author platform.  I am using a bit of art made by my husband that I am also using on Twitter. That way people will know it is really my project.
• Project Title: For Books you can just use the title of the book or try to put something that is Eye Catching. I just put Death’s Hope for now.
• Category: You will need to categorize your project. There is a section for Publication and sub sections on what type of thing you are seeking to publish. Fiction here.

(I strongly suggest going through their vids and such on how to pull off a successful kickstarter. You can get some great ideas and learn a great deal on how it all works)

•  Short Blurb: If you tweeted about your project (135 characters) what would you say?
• Project Location: Where is your project located? Kickstarter has a breakdown and you can look up current projects started by people in your area. If you are someone who likes to support local artists, check out what is being started in your area.
• Funding Duration: This section is for how long you want your project to run on Kickstarter. They have a ‘small print’ section here. Read through it to learn what is the best action for your project.
• Funding Goal: This is very important to research. Find out how much you will need for your project and then ask for that. Don’t get greedy. Look and see what other people are doing. I took a long look at the people who had achieved their goals and what they did.

Next section you will be asked to work on is the REWARDS section. This part was my favorite. Thinking up all the different things to reward my supporters with. Bookmarks, Signed book copies, Launch Party invites. Anything you feel would be seen as valuable and worth a person investing in your project. Keep in mind that you will have to pay for the things you are offering to your supports when you are setting goal and reward levels. Have fun with it and your supporters will too.

The next step is the STORY.

• Project Video: Post a video about what you are asking people to spend their money on. It does not need to be anything fancy. Some folks might even think “Well if you can afford to get that video all cool, why you need my money?” It will make you look more credible if people see the person behind the project. Authors should really use this as a time to get your audience started.
• Project Description: This is where you tell people about your book. What stage are you at? Is the book finished? Are you still working on it? What is it about? Tell people as much as you can without actually giving away the story. This is the section you want to be very honest and open in. People will read this to find out more about what the project is about and making their choice to give you money or not based on what they read here.
• Risks and Challenges: This section allows you to show your supporters that you are fully prepared for the things that might happen during the course of your project. Print delays? Computer crashed and need to get a new one to finish the rewrite? There ya go.

From here it is all ABOUT YOU. Who are you? What kinds of things are you interested in? How can supporters find out more about you? Do you have a webpage? PLATFORM people! This is it!

There are two other sections to completing your project with Kickstarter. Account and Review. I am just getting into these sections myself so I will do another blog in the near future about what it is like to get through them. You will need to create an Amazon Business account and have either a Debit card or Credit Card for them to deposit the fund onto if you should make your goal.

I hope this was helpful for people who are interested in learning more about the Authors journey through the Kickstarter process. I will be posting more about this experience to share for future or upcoming authors!

Enjoy and let me know if this was helpful or not! Click the speach bubble at the top to leave a comment!

New Look, Same Great…awe who am I tryin to kid? hehe

What do you think?! Huh? You like it? I had to find something that was Me, my writing and the voices in my head.

The book I am working on right now has the Greek Gods in modern-day. Walking around. Yeah. I hope to get a bit of a dark feel to it with some hot sex and combat. (not at the same time). There is a light in the dark. Hope. hehe

The other book is about a sorceress. Who owns a nightclub. And falls for a police detective who also happens to be a werewolf.

Last book ties in with the sorcress…same world different POV. MC is a werewolf. (This one is the rest of the story behind the short bit I did called Full Moon Station which I am debating on posting here or putting up on Amazon. Talking to my friend and fellow writer Jennifer Sights who also has a blog here on WordPress! Check her out!) Let me know what you think, post it or not? Leave a comment below!

There is an Epic Fantasy bit I would like to do later on when I have had more experience as a writer and a Hard core Sci Fi because I love the genre so much I took a class on it High School.

In addition to the great new background I am rocking, I have added two new things I will be talking about after Nanoinsanity is over.

Reviews.

There are three things I adore enough that I would write about them and feel confident that I would not sound completely stupid.

Books.

PC Video Games.

Music.

I look forward to sharing what I am reading, playing or listening to and what I thought of them after.

DONT FORGET!! Facebook and Twitter ————————————————————————->>>> Over here on the sidebar! Like the page and Follow the Twitter! I like you so won’t you like me too? (I may not autofollow on twitter unless you take a moment to drop me a “Hey! I followed you from WordPress!)

I am always interested in what people have to say so don’t be shy, if you find yourself wanting to answer any of my random questions GO FOR IT!

Have a Great Day! I am off to try to catch up on my word count!! (I am at 30,582 and need 33,333 but would like 34,000 by tonight.)