Editing

Well, I did it! I finished the sequel to Lunula. Which, by the way, is called Poltarion.

So in case you were wondering why I haven't posted much, it's because I've been doing what writers do--actually writing stuff! Now I'm moving on to the editing phase, and who knows how long that will take me. I start full-time classes again in April, and with 3 kiddos, a husband who works and goes to school full-time, and an adventurous homeschooling pursuit, I might be scarce. Excuse me while I tie on my baby spit-up stained cape...

But I will continue to blog as much as I can! I want to promote Lunula, and if I ever finish editing this second book and feel brave enough to send it off to my publisher, let's hope that Poltarion is published sometime this year! WOOT!

So now I'm editing. Without coffee. I suppose hot chocolate and herbal tea will have to do!

Happy writing and reading to you!

Indie Book of the Day

Lunula has won another award! It was chosen as Indie Book of the Day:

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, I am ecstatic! There is nothing more that an author wants than to have their book recognized as something worth reading. So you can bet I will proudly display this badge on my blog!

If you haven't read my *award winning* book yet, you should go and check it out!

My Kingdom for a Title

This sequel is killing me! Not because I can't write it or anything (down to the last two chapters here! Eeee!) but because I can't come up with a good title.

See, I've had a title picked out, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Want to help me?

Okay, so here's the title:

Malafide

The tricky thing is that it is a Latin word, and is pronounced in a different way than you might read it. The pronunciation is "Mala-fye-dee."

I've been dithering back and forth about whether or not to change this name/title, but the real problem is that I haven't been able to come up with anything better. All the other names I found just didn't fit with what this is supposed to name. And NO, I shall not tell you what it is. That would spoil it.

So what do you think? Yea or Nay to Malafide?

Lunula Awards

They've been posted! During the Blogger Book Fair that I participated in last month, there was a contest held for Readers Choice Awards. Lunula won in two categories!

Thank you to everyone who voted for my awesome Fantasy novel.

If you haven't read it, you totally should! Go to my "books" tab to watch a trailer and find links to buy.

Happy reading to you all! I'm off to finish that sequel now...

Review Hiatus

To all the readers and authors I had promised reviews to, forgive me while I go on a temporary hiatus! I went to Salt Lake City this weekend, and seem to have misplaced my Nook. The hotel says they did not find it, but then, they never do.

I am also finishing up the sequel to Lunula, the title of which is still iffy, so for now it will just be The Sequel.

Oh, and I'm going to potty train my two-year-old. Fun times.

I hope to get reviews going again soon!

Character Actors

I have seen a lot of authors do this, and I thought it would be fun to do it myself. Who do I picture as my characters in Lunula? Who did I have in my head while I was writing? I know some authors might look after they have created the characters, but I like to have a concrete picture to look at while I am describing a character, so some of them were thought of before I even wrote the character out.

Are you curious who I had in mind?

Wynn:

Teresa Palmer--I saw her in "Warm Bodies," and I instantly thought she exuded the kind of kindness and grit that Wynn possess. She was one of the later additions, since Wynn's personality was more important as a first person character than anything else.

Gethin:

All along, I pictured a young Gerard Butler. He is fine.

Queen Alexandria:

Katie McGrath

Gavin:

Colin Morgan (Any guesses as to what TV show I watched during the time I wrote Lunula?)

  
Aias

Matt Dallas--Picture him with long, white hair. And a bad attitude.

Erik

I'm going to go with Chris Pine on this one, even though he isn't quite what I'm looking for. He's got the smirk down.

I don't have a very large cast, so these are the main ones.

What do you think? Good choices? Did I leave any characters out? If you had someone in mind while you read Lunula, tell me who!

Oh, and of course, if you haven't read my book, you should totally get on that. It's kind of awesome.

Word OD

Do you ever get a word stuck in your head?

Like some sort of crazed addict who got fixated on something, you keep using this one word over and over again, and it just feels so good when you type it out. Only at some point, you realize that you have slathered it all over your writing piece like too much mustard on a hotdog, where it's dripping down the sides and making the bun all soggy and gross. And then you have to go back and delete your precious word, saying farewell to it forever more, no matter how badly you want to keep on typing it out.

Swathed, for example. In the book I am currently writing (and oh yes, almost finished with! Lunula fans, the second book cometh), I realized too late that I had "swathed" all kind of things from darkness, to light, to bodies with blankets. It's such a satisfying word though. Just say it:

Swathed.

I get little shivers from how sweet that imagery is. I could say, "it was in darkness" or I could say, "it was swathed in darkness." So chic. So smooth.

But if everything is swathed then, like mustard (NOT ketchup. I hail from Philly.), it just ruins the main deliciousness I was trying to accentuate.

So what is my cure for this addiction? I give you Dictionary.com and their word of the day:

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday

You can look up past  archives of all the words of all the days, and eventually you are bound to find a new one.

Couthie, for example. Keep an eye out for all my couthie characters in future books.

I realize this is just taking the addict from one fix to another, but at least you're putting down the mustard and adding a little relish. Variety is the condiment of life, after all.

What words have you gotten hung up on? I want to know! (Maybe you'll give me my next one!) And what tips do you have for avoiding word overdose?