New Year's Resolutions

Sooo... last year didn't go so well with the whole New Year's resolution thing. I was really only able to keep one of my four resolutions, and even that one only lasted about six months. But with a new year comes a new chance, so here's what I'm going for this year:

1. Publish Pack Supremacy - No, really! I know it's been on my list for the last two years, but this one will be it. Honest! Alright, so I know I'm starting to sound a little like the girl who cried wolf, but hey, it's got to go up eventually, right? K.S. Lewis has it for one last pass, and my other CP has already signed off on it. After that it's just line edits and formatting. I'd really love to have it up by March, so it'll be ready for the Liberty State Fiction Writers' Create Something Magical conference.
2. Consistent blogging... again - I know, I know. I'm starting to get really repetitive. But these are areas I really want to work on. I was able to maintain a consistent blogging schedule for six months last year, and I hope I can make it 10 or 11 this year (there's no way I'll be able to keep up with my blog during NaNoWriMo, so I'm trying to be realistic).
3. Finish writing CH3 - Of all my resolutions, I think this is the closest to a "sure thing" I could have. I wrote over 50,000 words of CH3 during NaNo a few months ago, so if I haven't finished it by November, that'll be my project again. I think this one will require a little less editing than Pack Supremacy did at least.
4. Publish a paperback version of Pack Mentality - This has been something I wanted to do for a few years now, but I put it on the backburner so I could finish Pack Supremacy. Now that that's almost done, it's time to revisit the paperback. I'd love to have a physical copy of my book.
5. Begin to take the business side of writing more seriously - This is the vaguest of my resolutions, and the one that will probably take more than a year to complete. I was told to wait until I had three books published before I really invest time or money into marketing myself. If the rest of my goals go according to plan, by the end of this year I'll have two books published and the first draft of the third finished. At this point, I think it'll be time for me to start making some decisions about it.

I know some people think making resolutions is silly because no one keeps them, and I can't exactly argue, with my track record. But I like taking some time--whether it be at the beginning of the year or at any point along the way--to assess where I want to be and what I need to do to get there.

Did anyone else make some New Year's resolutions?

Teaser Tuesday - 6/16/15

Photo credit: The copyrights for the images are held by Katie Little | Dreamstime.com, James Hearn | Dreamstime.com, and Michael Shevlin. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

As I'm finishing up what will hopefully be my last round of edits for Pack Supremacy, I thought now would be an appropriate time to use it for Teaser Tuesday. This book has really been a labor of love, but there are so many things that I'm realizing I'm proud of, and I can't wait for you all to be able to read it.

If you're interested in reading more than the teaser, the prologue is on my website.

The Big Bad Wolf is loose in New York City...

Quinn Dunlap has never been the most involved member of the Mid-Atlantic Werewolf Pack. She isn't like her brother Carson, who's been training for his role as Beta since they were little kids. She isn't even like her best friend Lucy, who signed up to be a Guardian the day she turned 18.

So even with their help, Quinn's not handling her new responsibilities very well. Nor is the Pack handling all the recent changes that well either. They're in turmoil, and things are about to get even less stable when little girls start dying and all the signs point to a rogue werewolf.

...and he's got a connection to Lucy.

Lucy has always been a "hit first" kind of girl, but she's had to step up recently and start using her brain before her fists. She knows that letting her temper get the best of her can have dangerous consequences, especially with a rogue werewolf in town. But when things get a little too personal, Lucy's recklessness lands her in a situation she might not be able to escape.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

I'd never considered myself a violent person. I mean, just because I'm a werewolf doesn't mean I'm bloodthirsty and uncivilized. But if I had to listen to Carson and Lucy go one more round about whether we should allocate more Pack funds toward buying new Guardian equipment or reinforcing the fences at our borders, I was going dig out the gun Geoffrey had left in his office and shoot them both.

I just wouldn't load it with silver bullets.

Probably.

Apologies, or The Things Sports Do To Us

Sorry about the impromptu month-long hiatus I took. For those who don't follow me on Twitter, I've grown into a pretty big hockey fan in the last couple years, and the Rangers seemed to play every Monday this month, which is when I normally write my posts. But, sadly, I won't have to worry about that again until next year, so starting next week I'll be returning to my regularly scheduled posting.

A quick update on where I am right now: After having two very productive conversations with my beta readers, I'm midway through what should be final round of edits on Pack Supremacy (excepting line edits). I hope to have that done by next week at the latest, after which I can begin preparing to publish. While I waited for feedback, I began outlining Capitoline Hill #3 and continued to work on my outline for Bex Addison. I hope to begin writing CH3 in November, and Bex sometime next year.

I also had the opportunity to attend The Book Con last weekend in NYC. I wasn't able to go to any of the panels, but I visited all the exhibits, had some interesting conversations, got a few free books, and had a great time. (And then I got to see Finding Neverland on Broadway, which was as magical as you'd expect, and I highly recommend it for anyone who likes Peter Pan.)

I hope you all had a good May and are looking forward to June!

Writing Update

Things are still a little on the slow side when it comes to my writing. Pack Supremacy is still with one of my beta readers, and it's due for another round of edits once she's done. I came up with a better ending to the B story, so I'll start working on that once I get all the feedback. Hopefully this will be a shorter round of edits than the last few times.

I haven't done much work on Bex since my last post, but I have outlined more of the third Capitoline Hill book, and I accidentally started a new MG novella project. I say accidentally because it was supposed to be a short story, something I could throw up in a weekend or so. And then I made a map, and then it became a three-book project. But book one is fully outlined, and I've started writing, so maybe I can keep that one weekend from stretching more than a month.

I also spent some significant time this month redesigning my website. I wanted to create something more static, a separate entity from my blog. So if you have some time and are interested, you can check it out at www.tobisummers.com (the permanent link for this blog will now be www.tobisummers.blogspot.com).

And, because it's the playoffs and I'm listening to a hockey game while I write this, LET'S GO RANGERS!!!

New Website!

Go check out the new TobiSummers.com! It's a more static website that I feel will better showcase PACK MENTALITY, PACK SUPREMACY, and my future books. I'll continue to update this blog at this address, or you can view the most recent posts here.

Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

Writing Update

There isn't too much to report on the writing front, but I'm trying to write at least one post a month that's focused on my books, so here it is.

Pack Supremacy is with my beta readers right now. One just finished it, and I'm mulling over her notes; the other is reading it now and should have feedback for me soon. I was pleased by the critique I've received so far, and I'm really looking forward to getting the rest. I feel like I'm finally coming in for a landing with this book. Right now my expected publication date is June or July 2015. I'm hoping to have it up on Amazon for pre-order in the next couple weeks.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to write while I wait for the comments on Pack Supremacy. I've been intensely plotting the untitled Bex Addison project I've mentioned before, as well as Capitoline Hill #3 and another book that I'm not ready to discuss yet. And I'm trying desperately not to work on anything else, which is a lot easier said than done.

Like I said, not too much to report right now. Hopefully I'll have some good news for you about Pack Supremacy for my next update.

Writing Update

Finally, after months of sitting on a round of comments from my beta readers, I managed to get another draft of Pack Supremacy completely edited. Hooray!

I feel a lot better about this version than I did about the previous few. This draft was a relatively major overhaul of the story. Most of the core bits stayed the same, but I dramatically increased a part of Quinn's narrative in an effort to cut down on the amount of time she spends sitting in an office moping and talking to herself. It also allowed me to cut out several scenes between her and another character that really served no purpose.

That said, I always send a draft to my betas with the same comment: "I have no idea if this is good or complete gibberish." It always seems to me like during the editing process I take everything I wrote, throw it up into the air, and hope it lands in a reasonable order. Scenes that used to be in chapter 4 now don't appear until chapter 23. That revelation that Quinn had at the end of the book is suddenly bumped up to about a third of the way through. Because I've read it so many times and I know what's supposed to be happening, I can never tell if anyone else is going to understand who's who and what's going on.

I like to think of writing like a patchwork quilt. You start out with some fabric that's pretty nice on its own, but then, in the second draft, you find other fabric that's also nice and you sew some together. Then you share it with people, and they offer suggestions as to another pattern that might work, and you add some of that. And again and again, until you have either a beautiful quilt or a clashing, misshapen array of fabric squares.

In case you're wondering, I don't quilt. So that entire paragraph might not make sense.

Anyway, this is intended as an update. What's next for me? While I wait for feedback on this draft, I'm going to do two things. The first, like I talked about a couple weeks ago, is to make a few charts and lists for The Capitoline Hill Chronicles, namely a timeline and a character list so I can stop guessing every time I need to address one of those two things.

And the second is a new project, though one I've talked about before. I'm finally going to begin seriously outlining the currently untitled story about Bex Addison. I've been tossing this plot around for a couple years now, and I'm really excited to get started working on it. I'll post more about it goes along.

Every project is a learning experience

I've been putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard for as long as I can remember. I have five completed novels (six, if you count Pack Supremacy), a double handful of short stories, a hundred or so flash fictions (including fanfiction), and folders and folders of half-started projects. I've learned something new with every single one. And I still have a lot to learn.

Sometimes I take my writing abilities for granted. I feel like I can sit down at any time and pound out a story that may not be polished and perfect, but will at least be coherent and engaging. And so I don't think about perfecting my craft the way I probably should. Though I have a pile of writing books, I'm lucky to make it through a couple chapters of them. I don't traverse blogs looking for tips and tricks. I go to one writing conference a year, and that's because it's local and I can sleep in my own bed.

I don't even write as often as I should. It's hard to find time everyday, but not as hard as I've made it out to be in my mind. I could sacrifice an hour in front of the TV or a half hour of reading during my lunch break. I could push myself outside my comfort zone to see what it feels like to write contemporary or epic fantasy or literary.

But even with all my bad habits, I'm learning as I go. I'm noticing it acutely as I edit Pack Supremacy. I finished the first draft of Pack Mentality back in late 2012/early 2013. Since they're in the same series, details I included in PM are obviously incredibly important in PS. And I catch myself thinking, "Oh, I wish I'd done THAT in book 1," or, "I really shouldn't have included that bit so early."

I find I've learned a lot about the process of writing too. I really winged it when when I was writing Pack Mentality. I'm not sure I expected to actually finish it, so I have basically no notes. Which means I'm spending a ton of time checking for timeline continuity and making sure my character descriptions don't change from one page to the next. At some point (probably after this draft is done), I'm going to have to sit down and make lists and charts and maybe even maps because it's just getting ridiculous at this point. But it would have been a lot easier if I'd done this from the beginning.

Hopefully these are things I'll take with me as I work on my future books. I don't always learn from my mistakes, but if I can execute a few of these changes, it will give me room to learn new lessons once I get there.

Pack Supremacy Update

Photo credit: The copyrights for the images are held by Katie Little | Dreamstime.com, James Hearn | Dreamstime.com, and Michael Shevlin. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

Since it's now a few months past when I'd hoped to publish Pack Supremacy (THE CAPITOLINE HILLS CHRONICLES book 2), I thought I'd give a little update on its progress. I really have no one to blame for the delay but myself (ah, the curse of self-publishing). I gave the first draft to my beta readers last February, and they got me back comments by the middle of March, which was amazing of them. And then I looked at those comments and... did nothing. By the time I finally got myself back on track with my edits, it was August, a mere two months from when I hoped I'd be published.

Still, I sent a second round of edits out at the end of August, and again my fantastic beta readers came through, reading it within a week and getting back to me with in-depth critiques. Unfortunately, some of those critiques suggested I still had quite a bit of work to do before this book would be publication-ready. Which is fine. I'd rather the book be really ready than to put it up early and know it's not. But it did mean that I missed my deadline.

I took time off for NaNoWriMo and then the holidays, but for most of October and since the new year started I've been hard at work on another round of edits. I'm hoping to have those to my betas by the end of the month. I'm hoping some of the changes I'm making in this round will fix a few of the big problems that were pointed out to me.

In the upcoming months, I'll keep you posted on its progress, including a new publication date once I know it. If you haven't read Pack Mentality (the first CAPITOLINE HILL book) yet, you can buy a copy on Amazon or Smashwords.

2014 New Year's Resolutions

It's unusual for me to let half of January go by without writing down my new year's resolutions. I know a lot of people disregard this as a waste of time, or setting yourself up to fail, or any number of things, but I've always taking resolution writing pretty seriously. I think about it carefully, write them all down, go back sometime in the summer to see if I'm making any progress towards them, then evaluate at the end of the year. I like taking the time to be introspective. Plus, I always feel more grounded if I have goals.

2013 was a huge year for me. I wiped a couple big-ticket items off my bucket list, including publishing Pack Mentality, and because of that, I was floundering a bit when it came to deciding on this year's resolutions. But I've finally got some ideas--both personal and professional--and I thought, "What better place to write them down than the internet, where I can never lose them?" So here goes.

1. Publish CH2. I'm about halfway through my first round of edits on the second Capitoline Hill book, so I'm pretty optimistic about this. Right now, I'm planning for an early October release. You can keep up with the details by adding the book on Goodreads. Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway or two as it the release gets closer.
2. Write 1-2 more novels. Writing Bex and CH3 was one of my resolutions for 2013, but it never came to pass, so I'm taking another stab at it this year. I'm pretty sure Bex is a standalone, so I'd love to get that out into the world soon, and CH3 is basically entirely written in my head; I just need to put it on paper.
3. Read one nonfiction book. I'll admit I blatantly stole this from last year's resolutions, but it's still something I'd like to accomplish. Because seriously, it's just getting sad now.
4. Create and maintain a writing/blogging schedule. These go together. Basically, I just want to be more professional about my craft. Right now, I'm still doing a lot of the "write when the muse hits" thing, but I know if I want to start seeing more results, I have to be willing to put in the time... even when it's hard.
5. Dramatically reduce procrastination. This applies to both the personal and the professional. Not only do I occasionally get myself in trouble with my procrastination, but it causes me a lot of anxiety.

I think that's enough for now. Anyone else have some resolutions they'd like to share?

Teaser Tuesday - 1/14/14

Photo credit: The copyrights for the images are held by Michael Shevlin, Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes | Dreamstime.com, and Iakov Filimonov | Dreamstime.com. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

So my blog schedule fell apart before I ever started, but that's okay. I'm getting back on track this week. But since I'm still reading UnSouled, this week's teaser comes from my book, Pack Mentality, in honor of my completion of the first draft of book 2.

The Mid-Atlantic Pack has a problem: there’s a man-killing werewolf loose in their territory. As a Guardian—a protector of the Pack and its Alpha—Quinn Dunlap is one of the people tasked with finding him and eliminating the threat… by any means necessary.

But what Quinn finds isn’t the big bad wolf; it’s a scruffy, scared boy named Elijah who was bitten three months ago and has been running ever since. So instead of the typically accepted execution he probably deserves, she takes pity on him and brings him home to the Pack Alpha, a firm but fair werewolf named Geoffrey Reynolds. Geoffrey’s always respected Quinn as a good judge of character, and this time is no exception. He lets Elijah stay, but he makes it clear that the boy is Quinn’s responsibility.

Quinn doesn’t want Elijah to be her responsibility. She doesn’t even want to be her own responsibility. When she left five years ago, she had honestly never thought she'd be moving back to Capitoline Hill, a decidedly not hilly compound in New Jersey. So maybe it's time for her to accept that sometimes you have to go home again, no matter what the saying is. And maybe, maybe, it's also time for her to get over some of those fears that drove her away in the first place. But when someone attacks the Pack, Quinn finds out that everyone, even her Alpha, is afraid of something. And sooner or later, those fears always come back to haunt you

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

I'd always known violence was a part of Pack life, from the first time I'd seen my uncle Rick come home from an assignment with blood on his shirt. But I'd never been so directly affected before.

Interview on Examiner.com!

Check it out! Michael Garone interviewed me about PACK MENTALITY for his column on Examiner.com. I'm so excited about it!

Meanwhile, in NaNoWriMo news, I'm a day behind in the word count, which is about on par with how I usually am a week in. The end of CH2 is proving just as difficult to write as the beginning was. I don't know why, but every line in this book feels like I had to pull teeth to get it. But the end result has been a better first draft than I've ever written before, so I must be doing something right.

What I'm listening to while I write: The Piano Guys. Has anybody else listened to them before? They're awesome. Check out this mashup they did of Over the Rainbow and Simple Gifts:

Who else is doing NaNo? How's it going for you?

PACK MENTALITY on Amazon

PACK MENTALITY is live on Amazon! Thank you to everyone who helped/supported me/encouraged me/didn't tell me to shut up when I was rambling about this book. I'm so excited to introduce Quinn and her Pack to all of you.

Buy PACK MENTALITY on Amazon here.

On that note, I'd love to do a blog tour to promote PACK MENTALITY at the end of the month (October 24-31). If you're interested in or would be willing to host me, please either let me know in the comments or email me at tobisummers@writeme.com.

And the winners of the PACK MENTALITY giveaway are Nick Wilford and Dave H. Congratulations, guys! I'll be emailing you to find out in what format you'd like your prize.

My cover! My beautiful cover!

My gorgeous cover for PACK MENTALITY is done! I can brag about it without reservation, since my amazing friend Patricia Miller did all the hard work. I'm so in love with it.

The copyrights for the images are held by Michael Shevlin, Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes | Dreamstime.com, and Iakov Filimonov | Dreamstime.com. The copyright for the cover is held by Patricia L. Miller.

Reminder: PACK MENTALITY comes out tomorrow (October 8th), and you can win a copy of the ebook!

PACK MENTALITY Release - One Week!

Though I've done a horrid job of promoting it, my book PACK MENTALITY comes out in one week! So I am, predictably, running around like a chicken with no head trying to get everything set (including final tweaks on the cover, which is why I haven't done a big reveal). I knew self-publishing would be a lot of work--made more difficult by my tendency to get distracted from self-imposed schedules--but I'm really enjoying the freedom. Plus, I love this book and these characters, and I really can't wait to share them with all of you.

So PACK MENTALITY comes out on October 8th, and, in that spirit, I'll be giving away two copies of it (either .mobi or .epub). You can sign up below!

You can check out PACK MENTALITY on Goodreads for now, and I'll put up the links to buy the book when it comes out on October 8th. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Where Have I Been

I occasionally fall into long periods of introspection. I get so overwhelmed by everything that happens in the world and in my life that my brain turns off and I find myself unable to get motivated enough to write a birthday card, let alone a book. Like an attack of ennui, but less... depressed (because, I promise, I'm actually happy while this is going on, just sort of lazy).

That's at least partially to blame for my extended absence and complete lack of productivity over the last few months. As I mentioned in a previous post, I moved in April, which led to a downhill spiral of too much to do and not enough desire to do it all. Which led to five weeks spent vegging on my new couch (the comfiest couch in the history of couches, by the way) watching Buffy for the first time. Which led to two weeks of, "Why can't I write as well as Joss Whedon?" Which explains the half-unpacked boxes that are still cluttering my apartment four months later.

Plus, I got some more responsibility at work, which led to a few weeks of late nights trying to finish some projects.

But it's a new month, and I'm kicking my ass back into gear. Pack Mentality is so close to completion I can taste it. I pushed the release back a month, so it's expected publication is now October 8th. I plan to spend August finishing the edits, sending it out for a final proofread, and nailing down my cover, so the month of September will be devoted to promotion. I'm really excited about sharing it with all of you (and the rest of the world).

I hope everyone's had a good summer so far! Sorry I haven't been keeping up with blogs and book releases; I'll do better about that!

Teaser Tuesday - 5/21/13

Photo credit: Jane Green's website

It's been a busy week or two for me. Most of that time has been spent with normal life craziness, but the rest has been furiously editing Pack Mentality. See, what happened is that I wrote most of book 2 for NaNoWriMo last year, and, in doing so, I changed about half the rules I'd come up with for my world. Good, necessary changes, but the kinds of things my characters should know about in book 1.

I've still been making some time for reading though. I finished the latest Kitty Norville book (by Carrie Vaughn), and I just started Promises to Keep by Jane Green. Actually, I haven't even started it yet. It's sitting on my desk waiting for my lunch break to read it.

Callie Perry lights up every room she enters, and adores her settled family life in tony Bedford, New York. Steffi is Callie's younger sister. At thirty, she's still a free spirit bouncing between jobs and boyfriends in Manhattan. Their long-divorced parents, Walter and Honor, share little besides their grown daughters. But when Callie receives a difficult diagnosis, the family will come together for one unforgettable and ultimately life-changing year.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Steffi elbows her hair out of her eyes before grabbing a frying pan, splashing olive oil liberally into it and scraping the finely chopped onion into the oil. Ignoring the sweat running into her eyes, she spins around, hurrying over to the counter opposite, where Jorge is slicing spring onions.

Teaser Tuesday - 5/14/13

I'm not going to lie, I had to check three times to make sure it was actually Tuesday. But since it is, here we are. I'm actually in between books at the moment, so I'm going to do this week's TT from Pack Mentality, the first Capitoline Hill book. I don't have the cover to put up yet, but it's almost done, and I'm really, really excited about it.

Pack Mentality is up on Goodreads now, so check it out here.

The Mid-Atlantic Pack has a problem: there’s a man-killing werewolf loose in their territory. As a Guardian—a protector of the Pack and its Alpha—Quinn Dunlap is one of the people tasked with finding him and eliminating the threat… by any means necessary.

But what Quinn finds isn’t the big bad wolf; it’s a scruffy, scared boy named Elijah who was bitten three months ago and has been running ever since. So instead of the typically accepted execution he probably deserves, she takes pity on him and brings him home to the Pack Alpha, a firm but fair werewolf named Geoffrey Reynolds. Geoffrey’s always respected Quinn as a good judge of character, and this time is no exception. He lets Elijah stay, but he makes it clear that the boy is Quinn’s responsibility.

Quinn doesn’t want Elijah to be her responsibility. She doesn’t even want to be her own responsibility. When she left five years ago, she had honestly never thought she'd be moving back to Capitoline Hill, a decidedly not hilly compound in New Jersey. So maybe it's time for her to accept that sometimes you have to go home again, no matter what the saying is. And maybe, maybe, it's also time for her to get over some of those fears that drove her away in the first place. But when someone attacks the Pack, Quinn finds out that everyone, even her Alpha, is afraid of something. And sooner or later, those fears always come back to haunt you.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

With another sigh and a nervous glance at me, Eli stripped down and crouched to begin his change. Out of courtesy, we didn't look at him, but after a moment he said, "I can't do it with all of you here."

Trick sighed in exasperation. "Maybe it is like going to the bathroom," he said. "You got a shy bladder?" Eli flipped him off.

Big news!

OK, first off, I want to apologize for falling off the planet in April. I rather spontaneously moved at the beginning of the month/end of March, so the last few weeks have been a study in entropy. But I'm almost settled now, and I'm starting fresh in May. I'm refocusing on my writing and making more of an effort to edit Capitoline Hill (again).

Which brings me to my big news...

After a lot of thought (and a few long conversations with K.S. Lewis at varying levels of panic), I've decided to take the plunge and self-publish The Capitoline Hill Chronicles! I'm doing it for a variety of reasons: the timing seems right to publish a werewolf book, a speaker at the writers conference I went to in March really swayed me, there were several rather blatant signs from the universe, and, mostly, it just looks like fun. I always thought my pride needed a traditional publishing deal to make me feel like I was a successful writer, but having watched other self-published authors, I'm starting to realize that there's a lot more to it than that.

So I'm going to give it a whirl. I'll be posting more details throughout the summer, but right now I'm shooting for a late summer/early fall release. Which will mean mid-late summer blog tour, if anyone's interested in hosting me and/or my characters (more details on that as it gets closer as well). And I have a whole bunch of other fun things planned along the way.

How were all your Aprils? Looking forward to May?

New Year's Resolutions

Happy new year, everyone! I hope all your holidays were wonderful and that the new year began with promise. I've returned from my spontaneous hibernation with enthusiasm (and new year's resolutions).

1. Finish CH2. I'll tell you, I probably shouldn't have taken a month-long break from this after NaNoWriMo, since I've now forgotten any ideas I had for the ending. But that's okay, I'm sure whatever I come up with will be better (she says optimistically). I have about 25,000 words left, and I'm really, really planning to finish it by the end of the month so I can give it to K.S. Lewis and make her fix it.
2. Write two more novels. Or at least write one and start the other. Right now, I'm thinking Bex and CH3, but I often change plans unexpectedly.
3. Read one non-fiction book. I can't remember a non-fiction book I read all the way through that wasn't required for school. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed any--because I have--but I just can't seem to finish them for some reason. But I'm going to change that this year.
4. Read 52 books, averaging one per week. I exceeded this last year, so I don't think it's unreasonable.
5. Query 60 agents, averaging five per month, or until signed.
6. Submit 12 stories to magazines/contests, averaging one per month. I constantly toy with this, and occasionally send one or two things out, but I'd like to spend a little more time focusing on it. Plus, short stories are a good way to unstick myself when I get writer's block.
7. Blog twice a week. And this is where I owe you guys a small apology. Things got a little crazy here over the last few months, and I haven't kept up very well with my blog and others. But I really do love blogging and I love keeping in touch with all of you, so I'm going to shake off last year and really dive back into it.

Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway soon, since I've almost hit 200 followers on Twitter.

Did you make resolutions? Care to share? Also, how were your holidays?