Write Here, Write Now

I still can't believe I signed up for CampNaNo - or that it starts tomorrow! But, I'm ready. I know my story, I know where it's going, where it ends, and most of what happens in the middle. All I need to do is get the words on the page without wasting time over-thinking everything. THAT is the biggest challenge with my brain still in edit mode. I'll tell you more about what I'm writing for CampNaNo next time. :D I literally just finished final edits for Game On around five minutes ago. Yeah, I know I said it was finished before, but then some small but important things were brought to my attention so I had to go back over some of the chapters again. NOW, I'm done, yippee! :D When I originally wrote the story it was complete at 154,000 words. Now, after cutting endless amounts of useless words, the final word count is ... 85, 851! To me, that is insane! Obviously, I am a brutal editor, but there really was a lot of crap in it such as scenes that didn't pr

... but before I indulge the weird thing I did, I must just give a shoutout to Jaycee DeLorenzo and Victoria Smith! They will be hosting the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun bloghop, which is a follow up to their Oh, My Hero Bloghop - which was super fun! To find out more, click on the links above! Don't miss it, it's gonna be great! Now - the weird thing I did. Yeah. Anyone who knows me will know that I have avoided anything NaNo because the idea of trying to force 50,000 words out of my brain in a month makes me shudder. However, I'd like to get my next book idea finished quite quickly, and NaNo seems like the perfect challenge to get it moving. So, in June, I am gonna go for it! I chose June because there is no freaking way I am spending August holed up in my house to write - it will be summer! Plus starting in June gives me less time to talk myself out of it lol.If you're participating, let me know! Here is my profile . I do still have a bunch of edits to d

Hey guys, I'm not here today, I'm over at Annalisa Crawford's place! Annalisa gave me my first ever interview which has made me very happy indeed! You can check it out by clicking here Please excuse the terrible photo of me :p . Have a great weekend all, and thanks Annalisa for allowing me to take over your blog for the day!

Is there anything more awesome than getting work back from a CP with nothing but awesome comments? I mean, there was constructive advice too, but for the most part - my feedback has been nothing short of amazing! Much love to Leigh Covington for making me do this this morning: Also want to say thanks to Clare Dugmore and Morgan Shamy who have given me equally awesome pointers and comments. You guys rock! So, now all I have to do is get my final (FINAL!!) edits done, format correctly for Kindle publishing, figure out all the tax drama (I'm halfway through figuring it out, and I'll post about it once I'm done), get my book cover finalised, and publish this bad boy! Okay, there's still a lot to do but I'm one step closer and that is making me very happy!

Spectral Summary Convinced she’s a part of the witness protection program, sixteen-year-old Jewel Rose is shuffled around the globe with her family like a pack of traveling gypsies. After arriving at lucky home twenty-seven, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy with magical powers claiming to be her guardian . . . and warning of imminent danger. Despite the obvious sparks between them, Jewel discovers a relationship is forbidden, and the more she learns about dark, brooding Roman, she begins to question who she can even believe — the family who raised her, or the supposed sworn protector who claims they’ve been lying to her all along. As she struggles to uncover who her family has really been running from, she is forced to hide her birthmark that reveals who she is. With new realities surfacing, unexplained powers appearing, and two tempting boys vying

Okay, so I promised you I'd let you know about my next project, but then I gave up and went into hiding for a few days. But now I'm back and ... I seem to actually be writing after a solid week of staring at an open, blank document. With Game On (ha, I still wanna say "my WIP") complete and out with my CPs, it's time for me to begin something new. Scary stuff, as I can't actually remember the last time I started a brand new story. Game On was written ... I guess six years ago. Wow. Anyway, after the A-Z challenge, I noticed that people had made some very encouraging comments about the minor characters from Game On. Most notably, Jesse Shaw, the eighteen-year-old soccer player who was just trying to find his place in the team. I had an idea to write a story about Jesse - which would mean writing WAY out of my comfort zone. I have never written boy POV before, and I haven't written YA since I was a YA myself! I have some boy POV words on my page, and t

Okay peeps, I think I'm ready to return to blogging now! Thank you SO SO much for all your support last week. Muchly appreciates, and I will do my best to be a better blogging friend now I've had some rest. :D I was going to give you a post about what I've been up to, but I realised that I have been given a BUNCH of awards from some awesome people, so I am going to post those first lol. I have decided in advance that I am not tagging people because no doubt most people already have them. If not, take them because you all deserve them! These awards also come with rules - but if I post 10 facts about me for every award, you'll soon get bored and I'm not sure I'm that interesting! :p So, I'll just do ten in total, and you can ask question if you want to lol! Okay, so firstly, Cassie gave me the Versatile Blogger Award, which I love, because I always wanted one of these lol! Thanks Cassie!  I also got the Kreativ Blogger Awards from Laura , Jenn an

It feels like a while since I posted, but that's not really true, it's just been a couple of days. But they've been a LONG couple of days. It's seemed like everything I've been doing lately, working so hard on getting my book finished, edits, looking for a CP and trying to hold down a day job have been a struggle. My stress levels have been higher than I want them to be, which is why I've been slow at replying to comments, and commenting on all of your blogs. Hopefully, having a couple more days off will get me motivated again, and I can give you some better updates on what I'm doing next! :D Before I go, if you're seeking a CP, check out the CP mixer the girls at Falling For Fiction are having today! It's gonna be lots of fun!

Yup, it's time for another post about how freaking awesome Jolene Perry is! :D But first, the details about Knee Deep! Knee Deep Summary Shawn is the guy Ronnie Bird promised her life to at the age of fourteen. He's her soul mate. He's more uptight every day, but it's not his fault. His family life is stressful, and she's adding to it. She just needs to be more understanding, and he'll start to be the boy she fell in love with. She won’t give up on someone she’s loved for so long. Luke is her best friend, and the guy she hangs with to watch girlie movies in her large blanketopias. He's the guy she can confide in before she even goes to her girlfriends, and the guy who she's playing opposite in Romeo and Juliet. Now her chest flutters every time he gets too close. This is

I love starting the week with a bloghop! :D The First Loves Blogfest was created by the amazing Alex J. Cavanaugh , and he wants us to confess our first movie,song/band, book and person loves! This was a fun little trip down memory lane, so, here are my first loves! Movie : I was very young when I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time, but right away, I fell in love. I loved the music and the dancing, and even though I didn't fully understand everything that happened in the film, I couldn't get enough of it. Patrick Swayze is probably the reason my standards are so high when it comes to men! Music : I've always been a huge music fan, and there were many bands I loved when I was growing up, but the one I was most crazy about was Boyzone. I was infatuated with Stephen Gately - I genuinely believed I would marry him one day. Too bad he turned out to be gay lol. When he died a few years ago, it was the first time I ever felt the need to grieve for a celebrity. He wa

Wow, it feels seriously weird posting something that isn't related to A-Z or a bloghop! I don't know what to do now I don't have any guidance! :p I'd just like to say, on behalf of Clare and myself, thanks for all the comments on our "dusted off" project! We have spent countless hours talking about it recently, and it will definitely be something we return to, in between our other books, edits etc. During the A-Z challenge, I finished my WIP, and it is with my CPs right now *wibbles*. I am excited and terrified because this is the first time I've been ready for a real critique, so I'm waiting with very mixed emotions! To celebrate my achievement of finishing, my friend bought me a super cool present! Yup, it's a genuine Hermione Granger wand! Sorry the picture quality is rubbish, I took it on my phone, but that doesn't take away from the awesomeness of having my own wand! I've ALWAYS wanted one. If I was offered a HP wand for fin

It's the final day of the Dust It Off Bloghop! Huge thanks to Theresa and Cortney for hosting, it's been really cool to re-visit shelved WIPs, and I've enjoyed reading what everyone else has dusted off! The last part of this hop asks us to reveal what we learned from our shelved WIPs. So, there were a few things I learned. First of all, when I first discussed writing with Clare , I was both excited and nervous. What if we couldn't make it work? What if we argued about plots/characters etc? Fighting with friends over a story is not a good idea. The worries were unfounded. The good thing about writing with a friend - and not just a friend, but a very close friend who I'd already known a long time, and spoke to every single day - was that it allowed us to be open with each other. That meant that we could discuss our thoughts honestly. And even better than that - we agreed on pretty much every aspect of where the story was going! I also learned that there

It's the weekend! I don't usually do a Saturday post, but it's round two of the Dust It Off bloghop , hosted by Cortney Pearson and Theresa Paolo , so here I am! For those who don't know, here is a description of the hop: We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off! On Thursday, I pitched a WIP I worked on many years ago with the awesome Clare Dugmore . Today, I will share one of my favourite excerpts from the story. :D This is from the perspective of Tori Henderson. ** When we found a cab, Caitlin subtly climbed in so I could say goodnight to Danny. “ It’s time I was in bed,” I told him, coyly leaning against the taxi door. “ And I thought you were the type who could keep going all night,” Danny replied, looking me up and down with

Welcome to day one of the Dust It Off Bloghop, hosted by Theresa Paolo and Cortney Pearson ! This hop is all about the WIPs you wrote, and then shelved! Okay, so I am teaming up with Clare Dugmore for this one, because back in 2006 - yup, we've known each other THAT long lol! - we started to write a book together. Unfortunately, other commitments got in the way and we never finished it - but even so many years on - it's still something we remember fondly, so we're going to dust it off for you! The first day, May 3rd: We want you to post a 1-2 sentence pitch (Great way to practice pitches) about the shelved WIP. Here is the pitch Clare and I came up with: For best friends Caitlin and Tori, their first acting job out of Uni opens up a whole new world for them – unfortunately, it wasn’t the world they were expecting. When the strains of adult life and tangled relationships threaten to ruin their friendship, they are forced to take a look at what’s really importan

Some of you will have seen this already - I accidentally posted it yesterday by mistakes lol! *blushes*  Can you believe it's time for another round of the Insecure Writer's Support Group ? Time is flying by at the moment! Today, I'll be having a mini nervous breakdown about publishing. I am SO close to having my WIP complete, but there are some things on my mind that just need to be released so I can move on! First of all, I still don't have a title for this bloody book! It's about soccer, it's chick-lit and obviously I need something lighthearted and attention-grabbing but I can't figure it out. No doubt I will whine about this a few more times before it's done! Second, I need to organise a front cover for the book. This isn't actually as big a problem as I first thought because I know what I want it to look like and I know a couple of people who may be able to make it happen for me. However, I can't do anything abou