Too Wyrd Cover Reveal Coming!

I've gotten the cover image for Too Wyrd. Who's excited?

I'll be doing a cover reveal event, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here's a hint:

Too Wyrd Book Trailer

Support your local author

Have you been enjoying the content so far? Do you think it would be great if I had MORE?

Well, I do. Time is the single biggest factor in my ability to get more and more words on the page. And that time has to be divided between the writing and the editing, and the blogging, and the posting, and the networking, and the interviews, and the promotional stuff... and that's not even counting the family and job.

The other big factor is money. Money for the whole food and clothes thing, mostly. People don't seem to appreciate it when I walk around naked in public. But money also to let my poor little posts get a bit of extra notice on social media. The metrics keep making it harder for the times when I need to post the "buy me" stuff without forking over some dough.

Also, money to get a small table at some conventions would make a huge difference... and there could even be some cosplay going on... Just saying.

The point is, as much as I would love for my stuff to be available to people in return for a little love and adoration, the utility company doesn't really accept "likes" as a way to keep the power on so I can use my laptop.

So I spend a big chunk of my already stretched time, getting money, so I can keep writing. But you can help!

There are two big ways to support your fav authors and other artists.

First, this:

Please, don't forget the reviews part. It doesn't have to be a big thing - just clicky on the stars and write "awesome" or something. But the fact that the review exists makes a huge difference in how webstores treat that author and book. A few seconds of your time can be life-changing for an author - when else do you get that kind of power, eh?

The second way is things like this:

It's like subscribing to your favorite author. Or artist. Or movie maker. It's like a monthly plan version of kickstarter.

And it keeps the artists out of the po' house while they continue to make great stuff for you and your world.

Sounds like a win-win to me!

NANOWRIMO 2015 on 'Between the Lines Book Talk'

A little something different - this is an author discussion I participated in during NaNoWriMo 2015, while I was writing Too Wyrd.

Nemesis

I grew up with comic books. They were my escape and the geek culture was my family.
I was an orphan, living in the System - foster homes, juvie halls, all that. But that's not what my story is about.
When I turned 16, I found out that I'm a superhero.
I have to say, it was a little shocking at first. I don't live in a world with the likes of Spiderman, or the X-men, or anything like that. I live in the real world.
The first time I did my thing, it took me a while to figure out what was going on. When I told the man who I'd caught raping my friend to "just die", he did. Instant heart attack.
My friend thanked me for saving her.
"It's nothing," I said. "Forget about it."
The next day, I asked how she was doing. She had no idea what I was talking about.
After a while, I found that I could control when my words would invade another's mind and make them do what I wanted. I left the System and never looked back.

I began to travel the world. Being a dark-haired Italian gave me an advantage in blending in with almost any culture. I just had to dress the part.
I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have too much time before I found my nemesis. All superheroes have one - the bad guy to do battle with. That's what superheroes do.
I started in Asia, boarding planes, buses and trains with no way to pay, but I told the ticket-takers that they'd already punched my ticket and that was that.
I found myself drawn to the ghettos and the slums of the world, searching for my nemesis, hoping to draw him or her out of the shadows with the temptation of having a "worthy adversary".
But no one came.
Finally, I came to the conclusion that my nemesis didn't know of his or her powers. They didn't know they had a role to fulfill.
So I started hunting them down.

In the comics, the bad guy is usually someone of wealth or power or both. They are a person who uses their position and abilities to take more power, grow more wealth, and abuse people along the way.
I sought out those people.
I invaded child-brothels in Thailand and Singapore, demanding that the men engaged in the horrors there "suffer and die".


They did.
I demanded that kidnappers of orphaned children in India tell me who they sold their kids to. I devestated the pedophile populations throughout southern asia.
I went to Brazil and killed an entire crime family.
I handed over a dozen men and women involved in immigrant slavery in the eastern United States to the authorities, and I forced a corrupt judge to give them maximum sentences before he died of a brain aneurysm.

After a full decade of bloodshed, I stopped.
I looked around, waiting for my nemesis.
Nothing.
I searched for signs that my work had been successful in slowing the horrors that humankind was bequeathing itself.
Nothing.
I wept with the blood on my hands and in my mind. I knew I wouldn't stop. I couldn't stop.

And I understood.
Finally, I got what the world was telling me. I had my nemesis.

Time to Celebrate!

It is time to celebrate!

I have been offered, and have accepted, a publishing contract for Too Wyrd!

Editing is Pain

Editing is a pain.

This much is true.

Having to face my own writing and determine what parts of my blood and sweat should be taken out, replaced, destroyed or reworked... it's pain. Each word was wrenched out of ME. It's part of ME. How can I analyze it for flaws?

They say you should love yourself for who you are, but I have to edit who I am because I'm not a body. I'm a body of works, of words, of stories. All enhanced by caffeine.

While I write, I go full-on drama llama. I yell out that I suck so bad. I let my fabulous hubby correct me, and I argue with him.

When I edit, I have to face the truth.

What if I really DO suck? What if my writing really IS horrible? What if I was right?

I finished my edits of Too Wyrd today. I tried procrastinating at the halfway point, but I eventually got it done.

It's really not so bad.

In fact, it's kinda great.

But don't tell my husband...