How’s everyone doing this morning?? I’m caffeinated and ready to go. I’ve been a busy girl with PTPR stuff for the last week but I have been writing almost every night. I just haven’t had the time to update you guys here on the bloggy blog.
Dance With the Devil is huffing right along. Two nights ago, I axed two entire chapters. It hurt like hell but they were locking up the story. Rather than try to make them fit, I removed them altogether and pushed on. I’m back up to just shy of 48,000 words. Although I haven’t been blogging daily, I have been updating the WIP Update sidebar widget. Even if I’m not here, I’m still here, sort of. Looking at my story map, I’m still sticking to my prediction of finishing out around 70,000 words.
Untitled Executioner #2 hasn’t really moved much and it won’t until Dance With the Devil is done. I don’t plan on putting much focus into it until both Dance and Bad Wolf are in with my editor. However, I am constantly trying to work out the title. It would be nice to stop referring to it as E2. lol
I have a new fantasy project! I’ve been toying with an idea for a while now and have started actually planning it out. Just like E2, I’m not pouring a lot of time into it until Dance With the Devil is finished. It doesn’t have a title yet and the story map appears to have been drawn by a very intoxicated cartographer, so I don’t have a lot of info to give you. What I can tell you is, like all of my other writing, it’s still paranormal/supernatural in nature like Underworld, but as far as setting and tone goes, it’s something closer to Game of Thrones. My aim is to write an epic fantasy story but with the feel (and easy reading) of an urban fantasy novel. I know a lot of people who don’t like epic fantasy because of the usual dense, flowery language but I know it can be done. I’m a big fan of the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony and I always felt he wrote great epic fantasy without speaking over the reader’s head. That’s what I want to aim for with this novel. That’s another thing! It will be a standalone novel with a completed ending. No cliffhangers and no continuing story. That being said, I may write more in the same world later on down the road, but any books that come from this world will be standalones. Part of my excitement with this project is the extras I’ll have for you guys. I’m having a map of the world I’m creating so you’ll have a visual layout of the land to refer to when reading. There will also be a few other things but I’m going to keep them under my hat until release time. My hope is to build a world where I can eventually invite fantasy writers to pen their own standalone stories within my world.
(My fantasy novel planning board.)
That’s it for today. I’m off to go bust out some PTPR work. I have a long to-do list today so I likely wont be back to writing until later tonight.
Talk to you all soon!
WIPs UPDATE
Word Count Goal: 3,000 words/day Words Written Yesterday: Not sure….See post above. (Dance With the Devil)
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I’m writing to you today through exhausted eyes as I was up stupid late last night working on Dance With the Devil. I don’t have the progress to report that I’d like to but that’s because I started off the evening by deleting a bunch of content and re-writing. I’m making forward progress in the book again but due to the machete mission last night, I only netted 478 words for the day. I have no clue how many words I actually wrote (I go by my total word count when I shut down for the night). Let’s just pretend it was 3,000 words. I don’t think it was but I’m not kicking myself for missing my goal, either. Unfortunately, I won’t be doing much writing over the next few days because I’m working on another project.
I don’t have a story in it but I’m acting as publisher for the SEDUCTIVE anthology and we’re in the home stretch to release day (February 12th, bitches!). I’m working on formatting the ebook this weekend so I likely won’t be getting a lot done in my own WIPs until I’m all finished with that. If you’re into steamy contemporary romance (from 11 awesome romance writers), you can check out the anthology website here.
Now that the writing and publishing updates are covered…
Elon Musk is a frikkin rockstar. You probably won’t meet much bigger of a fan girl than me. I think the government should just step out of his way and let him do what he wants, but that’s just my opinion. He’s demonstrated over and over that he’s willing to throw his own time and money at innovation and those are the type of super rich people we need in this country, not ones who are so out of touch that they think you need an ID to buy groceries…
I just saw yesterday that he tweeted back on January 26th about an over-the-air feature upgrade they would be sending out to everyone with a 2016-or-newer Tesla. As part of this upgrade, a security system will be enabled turning all of your driver assist cameras into security cameras, and should anyone come too close to your car when in Sentry Mode, the sound system will then crank Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor. His tweet included a YouTube link to the piece performed by Hannes Kästner in its traditional manner. Then he added a tweet to the thread: “But, occasionally, the metal version.”
And I’m won over. He may have been joking (I’m honestly not sure) but I would totally rock that as my car alarm. In that video is musician Marcin Jakubek. He arranged, recorded, and mixed that entire performance.
Dude…is…amazing.
And now I’m subscribed to his YouTube channel along with a ridiculous number of Elon fans who visited thanks to the tweet (seriously, go to YouTube and look at the comments on that video…Elon Nation, just sayin’).
While writing and working this week, I’ve rewatched a bunch of movies I’d already seen before (for the most part, I don’t get distracted if it’s something I’ve already watched) and among them this time around was Need For Speed, the 2014 effort at launching a franchise based on the EA video game.
I didn’t watch it for the first time until about a year after it came out because I assumed it was a Fast and the Furious rip off (even though the game existed long before the first FNF movie). I’ve always been a reluctant fan of the FNF franchise. They’re fun and the action is entertaining but let’s be honest: the acting in the FNF movies is horrendous and the stunts are borderline ludicrous. Paul Walker was a stellar human being and so painfully beautiful, one could be forgiven for mistaking him as the offspring of a Roman gladiator and a mermaid. But he was a shit actor. Vin Diesel is gorgeous and intimidating as hell on film but couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. The whole franchise heavily relies on pretty people who are not at all convincing in their roles. The FNF movies are little more than 2-hour adrenaline rushes with fast cars and a hot cast, which is fine if that’s your thing. Need For Speed is something else entirely.
If you ever played the EA game on your computer, the movie will look all kinds of familiar. Locations like Mt. Kisco. The driving scenes, of which there are MANY. Even the way the dash gauges project onto the inside of the windshield in the Mustang—it looks just like the way the gauges appeared on your computer screen back in the day. There are two over-the-top stunt driving stunts in this movie (one of them is shown below), but they’re nothing so unbelievable as jumping a car from one skyscraper to another to another all while driving through walls…. More importantly, the acting in Need For Speed is leaps and bounds better than the entire FNF franchise. There is a death scene that will absolutely crush your heart thanks to the crazy talents of Aaron Paul and his ability to convincingly cry like a lunatic on cue. Seriously, I would give anything to ask him how he does that…
The whole cast is funny, each in their own right, and they work well together. With the exception of Dakota Johnson’s luke warm performance (I’m convinced her acting is basically her pretending to be her mom circa the 1980s), I love everyone in this movie. Aaron Paul (the man with one of the hottest voices in Hollywood – I tell you all about it here) plays extremely badass driver Tobey Marshall. Imogen Poots plays a professional car buyer and Tobey’s impromptu right-seater Jules. Rami Malek (Mr. Robot, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 are among his credits) plays genius mechanic and all-around adorable sidekick Finn. Kid Cudi plays funny man and military pilot Benny/Maverick/Liar One. Michael Keaton plays Monarch, the host of an illegal supercar race called the De Leon. Dominic Cooper plays Dino Brewster, a professional racecar driver and überdouche. Harrison Gilbertson plays Pete, the sticky sweet little brother-like friend of Tobey’s (you may also recognize Pete as Cameron from the movie version of Lauren Kate’s Fallen). Ramón Rodriguez plays Joe Peck who is basically Tobey’s crew chief (you might also know him from Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, The Affair, The Wire, and Netflix/Marvel’s Iron Fist and The Defenders). All of them play off of one another beautifully. The chemistry, comedic timing, and emotion are all on point. The only one who doesn’t really play into that is Keaton as his character is never actually in the same room as any other character. But he’s fucking Michael Keaton so whatever. He could film himself talking about the mating habits of dung beetles and I’d probably watch it.
The plot is solid, too. Without blowing too much, there is a race, someone dies, someone gets mad about that death and the way it went down, and it triggers a revenge-fueled cross-country race to another race. That’s way oversimplifying matters but I don’t want to ruin anything if you haven’t seen the movie.
Ugh, and the driving scenes… I tried to find one on YouTube that doesn’t also blow a major plot point and quickly found that’s actually kind of hard to do. This one is from the middle of the movie and doesn’t give up a whole lot so it’s good. Plus, Imogen Poots is driving in this scene and I adore her. 🙂 If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you must watch it. It’s so much better than the FNF franchise, all the way around. Unfortunately, the worldwide box office was shit (it only grossed just barely north of $200 million, which is not great when your production budget is $66 million) and the plans for the franchise were cancelled. Should I ever become Elon Musk rich, I will gladlyuse some of that Scrooge McDuck money to see that this franchise becomes a thing but it has to have the same cast. That’s non-negotiable.
Okay, that’s it for today. I’m going to go format my brains out now. Hopefully, I will get it all done this afternoon and be able get some writing done tonight. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow to let you know how that goes. Peace, love, and poptarts!
WIPs UPDATE
Word Count Goal: 3,000 words/day Words Written Yesterday: 478 Net (Dance With the Devil)
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Good news! BAD WOLF IN FINISHED! Yep, you read that right. It’s done. I finished it early this morning before I dove into work. I still don’t have a cover for you guys. I ended up scrapping most of the concept I was working on and will be revisiting it next weekend. I will more than likely be revealing the cover right before I hit publish. And I’m not doing a preorder period. You guys are just going to get a message one day letting you know that the book is live.
I’m really proud of Bad Wolf and can’t wait to launch this series. I adore all of the main characters. To celebrate reaching the end, I’ll be sharing an excerpt with you guys on Friday. So keep your peepers open for that.
Also, I’ve added a new widget to the sidebar here on my blog titled WIP Updates. I’m going to keep track of the projects I’m working on. It’s new so it’s going to take me a bit to get into the habit of updating it daily, but I will.
Up next is to finish Dance With the Devil. I’ve got 40,350 words completed in the project and following a re-evaluation of my story map, I’m thinking that one is going to be about another 25-30,000 more words before it’s complete. Now, if I can keep up the same pace, that means I should have Dance completed within the next 10-ish days.
With Bad Wolf complete, I will be back here blogging every day as planned. I just needed to throw myself into the project for a few days to get over the finish line.
Okay, that’s it for tonight. Talk to you all tomorrow!
WIPs UPDATE
Word Count Goal: 3,000 words/day Words Written Yesterday: A lot and Bad Wolf is officially finished!!!
THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS!
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Good afternoon! I’ve never been one for New Years resolutions but this year, I have a big goal at the end of the summer that I NEED to achieve for my own sanity (more details on that coming soon). To get there, I need to buckle down and make my writing goals happen. No more treating writing like a second part-time job. Time to get serious and bust my ass so I’m publishing more than one book per year.
Right now, I’m diligently working my way through Dance With the Devil (Hellfire Book Three) and Bad Wolf (Executioner Book One – Hellfire spin-off series). I started out with a 40,000 word goal on both and thought I was close to done about two months ago. I was wrong. Soooo very wrong. Both books are quickly closing in on 60,000 words each. The upside is longer books. The downside is it’s taking me forever to reach the finish line. But I’m almost there…
To help myself get there, I started dedicating a large chunk of writing time each day right around Christmas. I’ve been working doing the PR thing every day and then at night, I sit down with my tablet and crank out 3,000 words. It’s not always on the same project, but I always do at least 3,000 words total.
At the rate I’m going, I’m hoping to have both finished and edited by the end of February. Once they’re done, I will be diving right into the second Executioner book as I already have it fully plotted out. And somewhere in that schedule, I need to finish the Bad Wolf cover. lol I keep forgetting that the book doesn’t have a cover… I’ve been so focused on keeping my momentum on the book that getting the cover finished has taken a bit of a back seat. I promise, it’ll be along soon.
And yes, I know there is a typo in the graphic. I read over the stupid thing like twenty times before I posted it to IG. The second it went live, I spotted the typo. lol
Goal number eight is why we’re here today. I’ve been fucking horrible about blogging here on my site for…….well, the last couple of years. lol BUT, I’m determined to change all of that. I have my task manager loaded with a daily to-do list and posting on the bloggy blog is part of that. So you are going to be hearing a lot more from me going forward. Sometimes it will be writing updates. Sometimes it’ll be about what I’ve been watching/reading/listening to. Sometimes, it’s just going to be some random bullshit. If you’ve been following my blog for years, you’re already familiar with my kind of content.
Today’s plan
Finish Bad Wolf (yes, I’m THAT close)
Bang out at least three chapters in Dance With the Devil
Before I sign off today, I’m curious about you guys. I have a LOT of followers here on the bloggy blog. Comment below and let me know who you are! Blogger? Author? Reader? If you are an author or blogger, drop me your websiite link so I can come check you out!
Okay, I’m off. These books aren’t going to write themselves. 😉
Good morning, you sexy mofos! I’m excited this morning. I have nothing to do today except WRITE. I’ve busted out the Dance With the Devil manuscript document and I plan to spend my entire day writing between calls at the day job. Luckily, the benefit of working this close to Christmas is all the NORMAL people around the country assume we’re probably closed and leave us alone. Makes for a quiet day on the job. I’m hoping to have this bad bitch wrapped up by New Years (that would be AMAZING) so I can announce the release date.
Here’s a little snippet from Dance With the Devil. Last week, I released a piece of it as a part of a teaser. Instead of making a new teaser image, I figured I’d reveal just a little bit more of the conversation. 😉 Enjoy!
“You may be having trouble controlling your powers,” he said in a gruff whisper, his tone intimate, making her spine tingle, “but I know you, probably better than you know yourself. What sets you apart from them is the very core of what makes you Deziree. My Deziree. I know every part of you.” He leaned closer to her ear and she heard him inhale, slow and deep. “I know your scent, I can smell the effect I have on you. The energy I feel between us is the same vibration that’s been there since long before your powers ever manifested.” He came around her side again, circling her like prey.
“I’ve tasted you, Deziree. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to hide from me. Try to play unshakable all you want, I know the truth. You’re scared.”
Vegas, Dance With the Devil, Coming 2016
Oh! Also, I finally finished Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series (to date) and I didn’t hate it. I still have a hard time with some of the concepts in the book (like the main character being backbone impaired), but overall, it was good. The steam factor was WAY up there. Hot hot HOT sex scenes. Sylvia Day would be a truly gifted porn director. lol I will be (im)patiently waiting for the last book to come out in April. For the record, I’ve still yet to read any erotic romance with BDSM that holds a candle to Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series. She set the bar in my mind and nothing else has been able to compete as of yet.
Alright, I’m off to write! Talk to you all soon!!!!
Okay, I’m going to start dropping these all the way up to the release of Dance With the Devil. Here’s the first one. 🙂 Enjoy!
Demon hunting sucks.
Dez and Vegas decide to take the summer off to relax and be a normal couple for once. They quickly fall back into their old routine, mostly evenings spent together at Onyx. The nightclub for the supernatural denizens of New York City now hosts live bands and DJ’s nightly, and Dez is elated to find the club at capacity seven days a week.
Everything seemed perfect…until it wasn’t.
Without warning, their cozy life together gets tipped on its axis. Dez isn’t acting like herself, and Vegas believes something mystical is to blame.
Will Vegas get to the bottom of things before it’s too late, or will he lose her forever?
