• Good Morning Monday! August already?

    Thought I’d try a different GMM pic today. 🙂 So can you believe it’s August already? Where the hell has this year gone? Lordy, does time fly when you’re having fun! My real life has been crazy-busy and my daughter turned 15! If someone could please explain to me where those 15 years went, that’d be great! LOL

    Weekly Update:

    This week I’ve been working on a few things. Re-working, adding to, fixing and re-writing some existing fics I’d written a long time ago. Both were once fanfiction, but they now don’t resemble the world they were created in. One is male/female romance, which is something I’ve not delved into for a long time. The other is an m/m ‘drabble’ story, meaning the entire story is told in 100 word chapters/instalments. This is the one I was going to upload a chapter per day into my blog but it was going to be too difficult and confusing. It will still be free though 😉

    But my priorities will be getting Yanni’s Story out on time. I’m still aiming for a release of August 29th, which is just four weeks away and it hasn’t even been edited yet. And well, about that… I’m trying to pretend I’m not panicking/dying/a total freakin’ wreck on the inside…


    This week:

    So, what’s happening this week? I was going to try and write a Christmas story but I’m feeling anything but festive right now, so instead, I’m starting something entirely new. I’m fairly certain I know which story I’m going to write… I have a cover, a title, aaaaaaand nothing else. LOL

    I *think* I know the character’s name but he’s full of attitude and has a chip on his shoulder, which makes me think this whole book will be like having a conversation with a teenager who got detention for being a smartarse. And for what it’s worth, this character isn’t a teenager. He’s in his twenties and just got out of lock-up.

    *sigh*

    I swear, each and every time I go to start something new, I think I’m going to write nothing but fluff — strictly guy meets guy, just fluff and smut, no plot. But oh no, then my brain laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs.

    So before I can actually start writing anything on this new story, I need to research Australian legal/penal systems, medications for certain illnesses, and the pharmaceutical breakdown of medicines, and how one might illegally obtain such medicines.

    Should be easy, right?

    Either that, or I could start my surfer story which is ultimately a happy tale of guy meets guy, fluff and smut and not much plot. 🙂 I have no cover, no title, no freakin’ clue at all really, but I’ll let the characters decide… whoever wants to talk first wins 🙂

    I’m also taking my Cronin’s Key trilogy out of KU (Amazon exclusivity) and putting them into other retail stores. I’ll post the links asap!


    Translation news:

    Spencer Cohen Book Two is now in ITALIAN!!  I’m so very excited about this and the response has been incredible!

    You can find it at Triskell or Amazon


    Audio news:

    Cronin’s Key II will be out August first!!!  Eeeek! I can’t wait!!  You can find it at Tantor or Audible.


    So that’s it for this week! I’m hoping to have a word count for something new to share with you next week! Until then…  <3

  • Good Morning Monday! Another busy week and a cover reveal…

    Well, rarely does a week go by when I’m not busy, but damn… I’m beginning to think I need a new word for busy!

    Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned a story I was going to put on my website in small chapters posted daily?  Well, I’ve been playing with that manuscript and really just think the best way to post it would to just upload the whole bloody thing in one go. The story is a “drabble” which is told in 100 word chapters, and for me to post each one individually at the same time every day would just be a whopping pain in the butt. Well, not the posting of the chapters, but rather how the reader would read it when WordPress will update each chapter on it’s own separate page, and last chapter first – it’s just a mess for me to post, and a nightmare for a reader to read/follow. So I do believe just posting it in one go is best.

    There were originally two parts to this story, and combining them into one makes it approx. 21,000 words. I have a cover for it now (which is gorgeous, btw) but I still have more fixing to do, then editing of course. So it’s a little while away yet, and while I still haven’t exactly figured out how I’ll release it, it’s definitely happening 🙂

    I’ve also been going over an old story I’ve had on my laptop forever. It started its life as a fanfic but I’ve re-written most of it, changed it, fixed it. It was a helluva mess (a sure sign that my abilities as a writer has improved, I hope!) It was also written in third person omni POV, which is weird. I don’t know why I wrote it like that all those years ago LOL. But to change this story to third person alternating POV wouldn’t work (not without basically scrapping it and starting again – which I’d rather not do) BUT it’s also a male/female story! *gasp/shock/horror* so my loyalist m/m readers who don’t delve into m/f anymore might want to give it a miss. It’s a 30K romance/action kind of story.

    I sent it off to some beta/critique readers to see if it works, or to see if I should just scrap it altogether. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.


    THE WEIGHT OF IT ALL:

    For any readers who prefer not to buy from Amazon, The Weight of It All is now out of KU and is now available at the following stores:

    Smashwords
    B&N
    iBooks soon – they’re being very slow…

    <3


    IN OTHER NEWS:

    Production of Red Dirt Heart 3 in audio is underway, with the audio of Cronin’s Key II due out on the first of August! Spencer Cohen 2 (Italian translation) is out on July 28.


    COVER REVEAL:

    As promised, I have the cover to Yanni’s Story to share with you! You may have seen it shown at LoveBytes Review blog over the weekend, but in case you haven’t, here is what I had to say:

    “Yanni’s Story is a 120K word story that took me by surprise. I always knew Yanni, from the Spencer Cohen Series, would get his own story. In case you can’t place him, in Book 2 of the Spencer Cohen Series, Yanni’s the poor guy that Spencer is hired to track down only to find out the ex-boyfriend was abusive, and poor Yanni is terrified. Spencer and Andrew take Yanni to Andrew’s parents’ house and toward the end of Book 3 of the Spencer Series, we learn that Yanni is much happier. Well, this is why it’s called Yanni’s Story – because it’s exactly what it is.

    Now, about the cover…  Matching covers to a completed series is never easy. Especially when the series has the MC on the cover! The Spencer Cohen Series covers are very distinct, to say the least. And adding a new cover for a character that wasn’t Spencer was never going to be easy.

    I needed something that was similar, that would look part of the series, but keep Yanni’s identity. Spencer’s covers, with the leaves and the primary colours, are totally Spencer. And after searching and searching, I found the right picture for Yanni and made up a mock cover of my idea. With some help from Sara York, who takes my mock covers and makes them better, we have the perfect addition to the Spencer Cohen series.

    BLURB:

    When Yanni Tomaras is kicked out of his family home, his parents’ final words are religious insults and an order to never return. Homeless and desperate, he’s lured in by Lance, charming on the outside, an evil predator underneath, who abuses him until he finds the courage to leave.

    After years of being trapped, Yanni should feel free, but by the time Spencer Cohen finds him, he’s resigned to being handed back to Lance, and once again being caged by fear.

    Starting school and a part-time job, Yanni starts to reclaim his life. But a love for silent films leads him to Peter Hannikov, a man twice his age with a kind heart, and an unlikely friendship between them blooms into so much more. Neither man knows what he wants, at first. Finding out exactly what he needs is Yanni’s story.

    “I’d spent years as a bird, caged with my wings clipped, tormented and beaten.

    I thought I’d escaped when I’d left my abuser, but in hindsight I could see that I was still caged, this time by fear and self-doubt.

    Spencer and Andrew, and Andrew’s parents, opened the door to the cage that confined me.

    But it was Peter who taught me how to fly.”

    Until next week… <3

  • Good Morning Monday ~ Another Monday!

    Another week! Holy hell, these weeks just keep flying by. The year is more than half over, and it’s now just three months til I leave for GRL. This year is just flying by!

    I spent this last week getting Yanni’s Story off to my editor, and burying my sanity in accounts and taxes. And believe me, my brain is not wired for numbers. LOL   I have the majority of my accounts done (July 31 is EOFY in Australia) so I need to get thinking about which story I’ll be diving into next.

    The truth is, no characters are talking to me like they usually do. Maybe that’s my brain telling me I need a week off after writing almost 70K last month! I have so many books to read, so this is not a hardship… I just also have equally as many stories to be written. And I suffer writer-guilt when I’m not writing! If I spend time reading, I keep thinking “that could have been X amount of words instead”…

    *sigh*

    Anywhoooo, I’ll have to see what my characters and my brain can agree on. LOL


    As you guys know, Point of No Return is now re-released on Amazon and I’ve approved the proof, so the paperback should be available any day!

    You can also find it in ebook at:

    iBooks

    B&N

    Smashwords


    I’m still hoping to have Yanni’s story out in the last week of August, though that will be a very tight deadline. My proofreaders may never forgive me when I send them a 120K story and tell them I need it back in like three days LOL

    I also have the re-release of Elements of Retrofit due in the first week of September! And Breaking Point re-release in October! Not to mention travelling half way around the world. So it’s a busy time for me with edits and cover art prelims… and speaking of covers, I’ll be sharing the cover to Yanni’s Story next week. I have shown it to a few Facebook peeps, but I’ll be posting the cover right here in my usual Monday post next week!

    Until then…

    <3

  • Good Morning Monday! Point of No Return is baaaaack!!

    Yes, that’s right!!  The rights to Point of No Return have been returned to me! I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am about that! It was my first ever submitted book, way back in 2011 (subbed in 2011, published in 2012) and what a roller coaster this poor book has had! It’s had two publishers (the first being Silver – no more needs to be said on that matter LOL) and it’s short lifespan, this new edition will be its FOURTH cover.

    No wonder people are confused, right??

    Just so we’re clear, this new edition has been re-edited and has a bright and shiny new cover, but there’s no additional content. The story hasn’t changed.

    It will have an introductory price of $2.99 for a week before it goes up to the permanent price of $3.99.

    I’m waiting on Amazon to approve it (I’m expecting delays because of the proof of ownership/copyright, so stay tuned!)

    I simply LOVE the new covers for this series. They’re really getting back to the original cover art design, which was utterly perfect. Reese Dante did an outstanding job recapturing the original. I just love Matt and Kira (and Sal and Yumi) and I’m so thrilled to have this book back!


    In other news, Yanni’s Story is now with some pre-readers and I’ll be sending it to my editor asap. The first draft came in at 119K words! I have shown the cover in my private Facebook readers’ group, but I’ll be showing it off to the world soon, I promise!

    I’d like to pick a release date for late August, though it will depend totally on edits. I could very well be crying in my coffee until September… 😉


    Personal update on me – I seem to be managing my Chronic Fatigue okay. Though this week, after travelling away and being busy with my son’s tennis from 6am until 9pm every day, I have contracted some god-awful chest infection. I’m on antibiotics and a few other types of medications, but it has wiped me. I’m exhausted. My kids also have this week off school, which does mean that they’ll be home every day in my workspace, but it also means I can sleep in! YAY!  🙂

    Now, the biggest question is… which story to start next? Decisions, decisions… Normally I have impatient characters who are yelling at me for their story, but they’ve all gone quiet. Maybe they’re kindly waiting for me to feel better, or waiting until I’ve finished my taxes *lol/sob*   I have ten thousand ideas in my plot-bunny folder, but no disgruntled characters in my head, demanding to be written. It’s kind of a toss-up between three ideas – one crime novella trilogy, one fluffy surfer/lifesaver stand alone, or a hugely plotty paranormal that I love the idea of, but after writing Yannis’ 119k in 8 weeks, I think I need something easy… It will all come down to which guys want their story first. As I’ve always said, I don’t get to choose – I’m just the typist. 😉

    Until next week! <3